Habits of a Healthy Heart: Part 3

Habits of a Healthy Heart

Part 3: Habit of Simplicity

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

Well, I will tell you, less than 12 hours ago my wife was supposed to be preaching today. And if you guys know when you have kids, nights can be crazy. It can be a roller coaster of emotion and surprises and twists and turns. And in the course of the night, what do we got? We got four. Four in the family got sick. And so I'm here, I'm doing good, praise God. My oldest daughter Adeline is here, she's doing great as well. So you got two of the six Sniders today for you. And with that, that means that I'm preaching. And so I'm preaching my wife's notes. This is the first time I've ever done this. So it may be short, maybe really long, maybe off topic. We'll see what happens, see where the Lord takes us this morning. But it's gonna be a great time. I'm glad you're here.

We have started this Habits of a Healthy Heart series and we're in week three, week one, where we talked about the habit of self-examination and really taking a pause and looking at where we are in life to be really honest with ourselves. And then last week, Pastor Andre talked about the habit of solitude, taking time during our week to pause the crazy and to connect with God, to take moments to stop what we're doing, the hustle, the bustle, the loaded calendar, the driving over here to over here to this appointment to this thing over here to work, to groceries, to all the things in life that we have to do to take time to be 100% intentional. 'Cause it's not gonna happen on its own, right? To be 100% intentional to stop and to say, "God, you're my focus. You're my source, you're my hope, you're my everything." And we learned that if we wanna change our life, we have to change our habits. But if we wanna change our habits, we have to let God change our hearts. And week one, we talked about the lies that we tell ourselves, right? All the lies, "I'm gonna be okay. This is gonna be fine. It's only for a season. It's not that big of deal. It's gonna be okay. I can handle it." We tell ourselves all of these lies 'cause number one lie, we're lying to ourselves, right? We're all lying to ourselves. And so I caught myself this week. And my wife goes, "I don't think that's right." And you're like, "You're right. And I don't like that you're right. Stop it." But I had to check myself and it changed my heart. And today we're gonna focus in on the habit of simplicity. And I know what you're thinking, "Oh, man. Here we go. Pastor Chris is gonna tell me to just go throw all my stuff away, downsize my house, get a bicycle, commute up and down 80 on that bike." I'm just kidding. No, honestly, I want you to stay focused if you could, please. Just the next 30 minutes or so. Just stay focused in that because the more that my wife studied the Bible on simplicity, no, I'm kidding, the more that we look at simplicity, we see such great truths in scripture for ourselves.

I think the biggest lie that we tell ourselves is more is better, right? We tell ourselves that if I could just have the newest, you fill in the blank, all my problems would go away. If I just had the newest phone that I guess now can like auto reply to your emails and your text messages, I would have so much free time with AI, I wouldn't have to do anything. I'd have all this vacation, all my work emails would be taken care of. I could do whatever I want, but I have to have more. More is supposed to make us happier, right? That's what the ads tell us, right? That's what the world tells us that if we have more, everything's going to be fine. My life will be that much better. But the reality is more turns into more stress, more bills, more anxiety, more worry. More is not better. This lie actually started in the garden. It started with Adam and Eve. It was amazing how the serpent was able to convince Eve that more was better. God creates Adam and Eve and they're in the garden, they're living life, they're naked and amazing. They don't have to worry about anything. Weather is perfect. They have everything that they could ever need and hope and desire and wish. God says eat anything in the garden. Do whatever you want. Walk up to that peach tree, go to town. There's an apple one about a mile down the road. There's some grapes over here. Life is great. There's a garden with vegetables if you want to go over to it. Do whatever you want. But there's this one tree. It's called the knowledge of good and evil tree. Don't touch it. Just don't go even near it honestly. And Adam and Eve start living their life and everything is great. And all in comes the serpent. The serpent says, hey, you have free range of everything in here. You can eat whatever you want, but God says you can't touch that. Wouldn't more be better? Wouldn't one more tree in your diet of all the fresh fruits and veggies that your heart's content. Wouldn't one more fruit just make everything perfect? And she falls for this lie and takes on more. And we realize that she ends up sinning. And this starts the world in a different trajectory. They're kicked out of the garden. They have to garden their own food. They have to work the ground. They have to survive the elements, the wild animal, everything around them. And more did not equal better.

Question for you this morning. What if the stuff you have is keeping you from the life you want? What if the things that you have, whether physical things, maybe in the garage, in a hallway closet, a guest closet buried in a box in the attic, basement. Maybe it's emotional stuff. Maybe it's relational stuff. Maybe it's your calendar. What if those things, this stuff, this more is better that we've been convinced that we need to have is keeping us from the life that we want. Now, hear me out. You're not having to give everything away. You're not having to purge it all and go to like two sets of clothing, have one car, one cell phone to share with the whole family. I'm not talking extremes here. But what I am talking about is less is freeing. Don't get me wrong. Stuff is a blessing. So many things that we get in life are a true blessing to our lives and they help us. They're valuable tools and resources that make our life easier to do things. But there comes a point when you have to acknowledge that we have enough, right? We just came out of the holiday season. I love Christmas. One of my favorite times of year. So good. I remember this year just sitting on the couch and kids are opening presents and papers fly and things are just going crazy. Everybody's laughing. It's such a great, great moment. We love it. We love blessing our children. We love blessing our family and giving gifts. But I did some research and the consumer spending on gifts in this holiday season has gotten astronomical. It's gotten completely out of hand, even in a recession with inflation. It's still out of hand. Every single year since 2009, the spending during the holidays from people buying stuff has increased every single year. And in 2024, the sales were expected, and I think they broke this, to break the record in 2023 of $955.6 billion in sales. That's billion with a B. That is just short of $1 trillion. I don't even know how to comprehend that amount of money. And listen, I love the holidays. I'm all for gifts. I'm all for blessing people. I'm all for having supplies and things you need, like socks and underwear and PJs, like some necessities that as a parent I've learned, you wrap up and give to your kids as a gift. And you're like, if this was a July month, I would have just been given this to put in my room. Right? But we wrap it up because it's Christmas.

But we have to ask ourselves, when is enough enough? Christmas is just one area I'm talking about. I'm talking about our everyday spending, our everyday lives. Where do we need to practice simplicity? I love this often looked over story in Acts 27. Paul is on a ship with his crew and they're sailing, I can't remember from what place to what place, but they get caught in this horrific storm. And they're trying to figure out what to do. They're being tossed back and forth. The waves are just beating them down. And the crew is literally going, I'm going to go see Jesus tonight. Like this is the moment when God's calling me home. They are staring face in the eyes. And they've gone about two weeks without eating anything. And yet in the midst of this, they break bread and Paul gives thanks. Read the scripture here, follow on. Paul, he took some bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all. When he broke it, he began to eat. They were all encouraged and ate some food themselves. When they had eaten as much as they wanted, they lightened the ship by throwing the grain into the sea. Another translation says, when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, throwing out the wheat into the sea. See, earlier in this passage, they had already lightened the ship once already. They were hitting some rocky waves. They realized they were overloaded. They realized we just got to make this call. Seems pretty extreme for us, right, to think we're just going to pitch this stuff and it'll be what it'll be. But they had to think about the long term here. And so they had already lightened the ship and now they were able to lighten it a little bit more by getting rid of some of the wheat or food that they had. Why? This is better. They can navigate the ship faster. They can maneuver it easier. They can keep going at a quicker pace to get through the storm to get to safety, to get to their destination. But when did they do it? They did it when they had enough.

What is enough? How much is enough? When you have what you need. So to begin to practice this habit of simplifying, you have to believe that you have enough. Say it with me. I have enough. Do you believe that? I have enough. See, we don't think we have enough, do we, truly, deep down inside, right? We don't truly think that we have enough because there's two aspects to it that we have to believe. The first of which is we have to believe that more won't make us happy, more won't make us fulfilled, more won't make us successful, more won't make us less anxious. It's about an identity. We have identity in the stuff that we have, right? I'll admit it. I'll be the first person to admit it. We have an identity with the stuff that we have. I love smoking meat and barbecuing. It's one of my favorite things. It causes me to slow down because you can't rush barbecue. You ever tried rush barbecue? It's horrible. It's the worst thing in the world. There's a reason they call it low and slow, baby. Low and slow because you have to slow down. But I have too much barbecue stuff. I have like three grills. I've got I don't know how many trinkets and gadgets, spray bottles for spritzing to make sure that brisket stays moist. I got peach paper to wrap it up. I got loads of foil. I got wireless thermometers. I have a device that I can connect up to my barbecue that'll keep my barbecue at the exact temperature. It's so funny. This Christmas, my mom was like, "Hey, what do you want for Christmas?" I'm like, "I have enough." I caught myself saying that and I was like, "Wait a minute, I want more." But I have an identity with barbecuing where I want to be the best barbecuer ever. When I sliced that meat, I wanted to be chef's kiss perfection. But it got to come with gadgets and gizmos and all the newest technology and the latest this and the latest that. It's an identity that I have.

The other part of this problem is that sometimes whether we want to admit it or not, we don't trust God to provide for us. This one hurts because we think, "Oh, no, God, you got me. I know you got me. My battle belongs to you. We're going to be glad." We sang all these songs this morning about God being our source of everything. But we want to be the hero of the story, right? We want to be the hero. We want to be the one that goes, "Look what I did for myself. Look what I did. Look what I provided, family. Look what I put on the dinner table, a delicious steak. Look what I did. We want to be the hero." But the reality is we have to let God be the hero because God is truly the ultimate hero, right? We haven't saved ourselves. We haven't forgiven ourselves. We haven't created grace. We haven't created love. We receive that. We receive it from God. When we step into a habit of simplicity, God becomes the hero of the story. We don't. We are not the hero. If we stay in this mindset of my identity is what I have and I'm the hero of the story, it'll ruin our lives. It'll take us to a toxic place that is so dark. It is lonely. It is hopeless. There is no peace. And we're sitting there trying to fend for ourselves. Some of us don't need more stuff in our Amazon carts to check out. We need to let God check our hearts out. We need to let God step into our lives and begin to work through what we have and to say and begin to pray this prayer. A regular is, "God, give me less of what doesn't matter and give me more of what does matter." That should be our prayer every single day. "God, give me less of what doesn't matter and God give me more of what does matter.”

Jesus himself says in Matthew 6:19-21, he says, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Jesus here is telling us we don't need to store up stuff on earth. We're not taking any of it with us anyway. You hear those stories of those people who get buried with their stuff, right? Get buried in their car, the trunk's loaded, the backseat's jam-packed and they think, "I'm taking it with me." The family goes, "No, you're not. We're taking it home." Throw the body in the hole, cover it up and they drive the car home. Stop accumulating for accumulation's sake. Stop hoarding. I need to tell myself this. I have a garage full of things I just don't need anymore. God's been working on my heart, I'll tell you.

Even before this series and before anything, we did a generosity series, practicing generosity as a community group and we went through and it talked about one of the aspects of living generously is living with less so you can give more. One of the challenges was to go give away some stuff. I went home and I started looking through my closet and I'm like, "I don't wear that shirt anymore. I don't wear that. Oh, those pants, those don't work anymore. They're out of style. I got this." All of a sudden, I'm walking out of our bedroom with three garbage bags and Lauren, my wife's like, "What are you doing?" I said, "She's got too much stuff." She's like, "Wow, you had that much stuff in there?" I said, "I know, right?" And guess what? I'm still dressed. I still got clothes. I'm not having to run around nudie day. Like I'm still covered. Everything is good. But I didn't need the stuff and it was just sitting in my closet collecting dust. I was kind of embarrassed, honestly. I was just like, "Oh my gosh, let's get this out of here before anybody sees this." I'm trying to load it in the trunk in the front yard. Neighbors driving by. "Man, that guy's got a problem." "Yes, he does." No amount of accumulation of the stuff or your purchases will ever be enough to satisfy us. It just won’t.

We keep believing this lie that it'll make us happy, we'll be fulfilled, less anxious. We'll be more like this. You fill in the blank. But it's all a lie. And honestly, I believe it's a lie straight from Satan to keep us preoccupied from Jesus. We don't trust God to provide for us. I have a whole bin in my garage of odds and ends hardware supplies. I got whipped cream containers from my grandfather of screws and bolts. And even like yesterday, working on our dryer, I needed a bolt. One of my kids came along, grabbed the bolt, thought it was their bolt. The bolt was gone. And I'm sitting there going, "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, oh no." So I went to the garage, opened my trusty whipped cream container. Sure enough, I got my bolt. But what got the bolt in the garage was the fact that I don't trust. Found the screw later. But I didn't trust. And so my garage is filled with stuff just in case. Well guess what? Home Depot's open seven days a week just in case. Where am I putting my trust? We want to feel safe and secure. And we think that money, status, resources, connections will make this for us. We make ourselves the hero of the story. But when we ask God for less of what doesn't matter, we are saying, "God, you are enough for me and I trust you to be my provider." How does this work?

Well it says in Hebrews 11:1-2 it says, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so entangles us. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." Throw it off. Another translation says, "Strip it off," like it's clinging onto you, like it's stuck. Pull it off. Let it be free. Go. Get rid of it. We're being suffocated by our own fear of our stuff and our schedules and the things that we consume. And the only responsible thing to do is to throw it off. I remember as a kid, my parents were big into backpacking. And I remember, I think it was like one of my birthdays, I think it was like 14 or something, me and a bunch of my buddies, we said, "Let's go backpacking for my birthday." And so talking with my dad, I started gathering up the stuff that I wanted to take on the backpacking trip. And my dad's looking at me in the most loving way, he kind of just starts laughing. And he turns to me and he goes, "Son," he goes, "Do you know everything you take into the woods? Do you take out of the woods with you?" I said, "Yeah, dad." He goes, "Okay." He's like, "So that 10 pound hammer you have, what's that for?" "Oh, it's to be set in our tents. We're sleeping outside. We don't sleep in our tents." "Oh, well I might need it." He goes, "Okay, so that's 10 pounds in, 10 pounds out." You realize that? I said, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah." Okay. So I remember loading up my pack and putting it on, I test it, put it on about fall over. This thing is so jam packed with some of the most ridiculous stuff that only a 14 year old boy would think that he needs to take in for a camping trip overnight into the woods. I got food for a week just in case. I got water on me. I got all this stuff. My dad's like, "No." He goes, "We'll take a pump, we'll pump water out of the lake with the filters." He goes, "We'll take dehydrated food so when it is light, you got like one pot, maybe a spoon, your sleeping bag, a change of clothes, and a shovel to take care of business when it hits." "That's about it." I'm like, "What about this? What about this?" He's like, "You don't need it. Trip it off. You're just going to hurt yourself more on the trip." And I'll tell you what, man, I was so glad. We got about halfway to camp and I was dying. And that was with like nothing in my pack. I was like, "Can I imagine having everything else in this pack?" I would still be out there. They would have just buried me along the trail and said, "Here lies the kid with all of his stuff. Don't be the kid.”

We had to ask ourselves, and my wife's done an amazing job with this in the last couple of years with us. She started having us ask this question of, "Do I want to manage this?" Because we think, "Oh, it's just in the garage. It's in the closet. It's just in the drawer of my desk. It doesn't matter. I don't have to look at it." You have to manage it still because you open the desk. Guess what's there? That thing that you have to dig around to find what you need. You go in the garage and you trip over that thing again because it's in the path where you need to walk. You're managing it. So we started asking ourselves, "Do we want to manage this?" It turns this just stuff that's there like we think it's out of our peripheral to something right in front of us. See, I think the problem is, is as we try to take stuff and put it behind us, like where we put Jesus, and then we're walking forward in life going, "Jesus, where are you? I can't see you. We got all this other stuff in front of us. And Jesus, where are you? I can't see you." And Jesus is like, "There's no room for me to be in front of you. I want to be in front of you. I want to be what you look at. I want you to follow me. I want you to be my focus and my attention, but there's too much stuff there. We can't even see it." Jesus needs to be removed from the background to put in our foreground, but we got to clear stuff out to make room for Jesus. We need to have the prayer of God, "Give me more of what does matter.”

Ecclesiastes says, "Better is one handful of tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind." What do I mean by this? This is what I mean. Because we want stuff, right? See, I can't even hold all my stuff. But we think more is better, right? So we pick this up and we're like, "Yes! I got it all." And then someone comes along and says, "Can you help me? I need a hand." You're like, "I got my stuff." Someone comes along, they're having a really bad day. They want a hug. They want a word of encouragement. You go, "That's awkward." Jesus comes along and says, "I have a project for you. I need you to do this for me." And you're like, "But God, my hands are full. I got my stuff." Jesus tells us to pick up our cross daily. How do you pick up a cross with your stuff? So Ecclesiastes said, "Better is one handful of tranquility. I can bless people. I can go to people. I can care for them. This is enough. This is all I need." See, my hand's even making what is true enough. As more falls off, it's just extra. Have enough. And honestly, the truth is that we have enough. Say it with me. I have enough. But the reality is, the truth in that is, I have enough because I have Jesus. Because I have Jesus, I have enough. Say it with me. Because I have Jesus, I have enough. God... See, I can't even get out of my fingers. God has so much that He wants for our lives. But we sit here holding on to things, and there's no room for Jesus. We think, "Jesus, I'm gonna put down just for church. I'm gonna go to church. I'm gonna worship you, praise you, give you... I'm gonna come home. Pick up my stuff." We may be setting it down for seasons, and that's good. That's healthy. But I think the next step that God wants us to do is to just get rid of it. To just not even have to think about it anymore, and to focus on what we do need.

Paul later, after this shipwreck accident, or storm in the ship, he writes to the church in Philippi. He says, "I know what it is to be in need on a ship facing death, in prison." I made a joke this morning in our team huddle. We're talking about the storm. I said, "It feels like Paul was in prison every Tuesday." Just like you read through the Bible and you flip a page like, "Oh, there's Paul back in prison." He knows what it is to be in need, to be locked up, to be starving, to be captured. He was shipwrecked. He was stranded. He was out in a... He found himself in so many places where he was in need. He says, "And I know what it is to have plenty." There are times where he showed up at churches and they just blessed him. They gave him everything that he needed, and then some. I've learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in one. I can do all this through him, who's Christ, who gives me strength. Paul understood that because he had Jesus, he had enough. We have Jesus. We have enough. And some of us, just regardless of where we find ourselves, we just want more. And I will say the desire for more is okay. It's the action of accumulating those is where it goes wrong. It's a natural bent in our inner being to want more. Just is. But for us, the problem is this decision then. Do we need the more finances? Do we need the more phones? Do we need the more clothes? Do we need the more house, the more square footage, the newer kitchen, the perfect backyard, the perfect neighborhood? You fill in the blank. And Jesus is here to tell us that you have more than enough because I am with you. Jesus, some of the very last words he says to his disciples before he goes back up to the heaven, he says, "And I will be with you until the end of the age or your age." Because then we're face to face with him in heaven. You know there's no more in heaven, right? God will give you the enough in heaven and you will be for the first time ever in your life completely satisfied.

I find it funny. I talk to different people and they always talk about, "I get all these questions for God when I get to heaven." I say, "Oh, that's really good." I say, "I bet God's gonna wanna answer those for you." But then I think to myself, I said, "You get to heaven, you're not gonna worry about your question. 'Cause your question's here and now is the, "I want more. I want more answers. I want more understanding. I want more of this. I want more of that." You get to heaven, you're in front of Jesus, you will have enough and your questions of more will be gone because you will be face to face with him just worshiping him to say, "God, thank you. You are enough." So this is our prayer. God give me less of what doesn't matter. God give me more of what does matter because I have you. I have enough. Let's pray.

Jesus, thank you for your enough. God, we are so grateful for the enough that you are. So God, I pray this week as we really wrestle, oh, this is a tough one, to wrestle with this habit of simplicity, God, that you would begin to reveal to us where we have too much. God begin to define in our lives of what enough truly looks like. And God, I pray that we would step in boldness. We would step in faith, not knowing what that life without that stuff may be like, but moving you from behind us, not being seen, to in front of us to where we follow you, Jesus. It doesn't matter where we're going to go. It doesn't matter what's going to happen. It doesn't matter what's around tomorrow. If you, God, are in front of us and we are following you, everything is taken care of. We don't have to know the more or the where or the what or the how. All we have to know is that we're following you, our hero, Jesus. And so God, I pray that this week we will begin to maybe start working through some of our more. And it doesn't have to be all done at once because that's just going to be chaos. But God, may it be simple, small steps of walking in faith in the simplicity of the life that you want for us, God, ultimately to have the freedom, the capacity, the availability, the freedom to do what you desire for our lives, God. Because if we're too busy holding up our stuff, we can't do what you've called us to do. And we can't truly, truly love you and worship you. God, I pray that you would become the hero of our story. We would remove our identity from our stuff and our things to you, Jesus our savior. We thank you, God. We love you. Give us the grace, the boldness, the endurance this week to step into a life of simplicity. Everybody said, Amen.

Habits of a Healthy Heart: Part 2

Habits of a Healthy Heart

Part 2: Habit of Solitude

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

Last week, we started and Pastor Chris said this, "If you want to change your life, you need to change your habits. But if you want to change your habits, you have to let God change your heart." Last week, we talked about self-examination. Pastor Chris spoke from Psalms and the need to let God reveal to us what might be going on inside of us, what might need to change, what might need to be surrendered, and then let the work of the Spirit do that work within us.

Today, we're going to move on to our next healthy habit. Are we excited? Do you know? I think it says on the bulletin. I can't even do a surprise. It's solitude. We're talking about solitude today. And whenever I bring up solitude in a group, it's usually pretty, some people are excited and some people are like, "I hate being alone. So why would I want to do the spiritual practice of solitude?" But I want to say that there's a difference between being alone and exercising solitude. Wayne Cordero says that there's a difference between isolation and solitude. They may contain similar characteristics, but in reality, they are worlds apart. Solitude is a chosen separation for refining your soul, and isolation is what happens when you don't pay attention to the first. So with that kind of solitude, how many of you, let's take a little time here to get a sense of where we're at. How many of you enjoy solitude, an intentional time of being alone? Yeah, just very few hands. Oh, more hands. Yes, great. How many of you get that regular time? You might enjoy it, but do you actually? Yeah, now I see some less hands. It's hard. It's hard. The truth is getting regular times of solitude is difficult. Our lives do not really allow or encourage for that time. Like Pastor Chris said, our society often values maximizing time, keeping us busy, grinding out every hour, doing work as much as you can.

But the way of Jesus shows us something different. Jesus lived and modeled a practice of regular solitude. The Bible shows us that solitude is where God does some of his most transformative work within us. Now you might be saying, "But my life is too busy. I just, you know, there's too many people dependent on me. It is so hard to practically get this time of solitude." And I hear you. I do. I'm one saying the same thing sometimes. But I want us to think of the life of Jesus for a second and all that he had going on. He had ministry straight for three years, chose disciples. He was teaching the values of God's kingdom. He was healing people. He was casting out demons. He was raising people from the dead. He was cleansing the temple. He was showing love and compassion to everyone, the crowds that came to follow him. He endured persecution and ridicule and opposition from the Pharisees, all while fulfilling the law and all while looking forward in his mind to knowing what he knew was going to come, which was the sacrifice that he would have to make. And he was called while doing the will of God every day. Jesus consistently and intentionally created space to hear from his Father in heaven, to spend time with God. And if Jesus did it, lived it, modeled it, and we are followers of him, want to live life like him, then I think we too should practice regular solitude. We have to realize that it's not possible to be intimate with God, to have an intimate relationship with him without intentionality. That just doesn't happen by accident. God, I know you and I love you and I just hope that we can get close over time. That's very wishful thinking. It doesn't happen like that. Think of your relationships in your life, the closest ones you have, be it a marriage or your closest friend, family. At some point, you are intentional to whatever degree to spend time with them, to invest in that relationship. As one pastor said, you can't busy your way to God, even by doing good spiritual things. If I just read my Bible, and then I do this, I do this, I do this, eventually, that might put your attention closer to him, but it's not going to move you. You're not going to take steps towards God. So one of the most important ways to be intentional with him, to deepen our understanding and our relationship with him, is to spend time in solitude with him.

Now let's further define what solitude is. Ruth Haley Barton, who is an author and has a great book. If you're a person who likes resources and wants to read more after this or wants to listen to a podcast, come find me. I will give you tons of information about solitude. But she writes this, "Solitude at its most basic and profound level is simply an opportunity to be ourselves with God." Just to be ourselves with God. All of who we are, the good, the bad, the polished, the unrefined, to bring our desires, our hopes, our pains, our struggles, and to just be with him. And to listen, often in times of silence. It's time to just focus on our relationship with him. Just the two of you. I don't know if you have someone in life like that that you have where you don't always have to talk with whatever's going on out loud. You just be with that person. They know you. They know what you need. And they know when to speak and when not to. That is solitude with God. Just being with him in whatever you are feeling. Henry Nouwen, another author, says, "Without solitude, it is virtually impossible to live a spiritual life. We do not take the spiritual life seriously if we do not set aside some time to be with God and to listen to him." This one's a bit convicting. I've had seasons where I'm better at having a regular rhythm of solitude and having a newborn in our lives right now does not naturally lend to that. It's hard. And I know that God understands where I'm coming from. He has compassion on me. But it's no excuse. As the most important relationship in my life, I still need to be spending time, intentional time of solitude with God. However long or short that is. We cannot live our lives to the fullest extent without spending time with God. And then John Mark Homer, author and pastor, he writes this about solitude. He says, "Solitude is not an easy path, but it is an ancient path, the Jesus path to a strong, deep, joyful, vibrant life with God." I love this. The Jesus path. Jesus showed us that it truly does lead to the best relationship with our Heavenly Father. And so for the rest of this morning, with this understanding of solitude, I want to focus on four points that we see from scripture, specifically in the life of Jesus. And that is first, that our environment when it comes to solitude matters. Secondly, in that time of solitude, we're going to encounter ourself. It's what that means in a bit. We're going to encounter the enemy. And then ultimately, we're going to encounter God. So let's take a deeper look into these moments.

Let me pray first one more time and then we'll get into it. God, thank you again for our time this morning, for this series of talking about what our hearts need to be healthy in the way that you intended them to be. And as we talk about solitude, I pray that you would help us to be honest with ourselves. God, that your spirit would speak through your words, your scripture, reveal to us what we can change in life, what practical things might need to change in order that we can have a deeper, more intimate relationship with you. We pray this in your name. Amen.

We’re going to start in Luke. We're going to jump around today. So if you want to follow along your Bible, all for it. But we'll have it on the screen because I'm going to be going pretty fast. So Luke 5:15 through 16 says this, "Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came near to him or came to hear him and to be healed of their sickness. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed." I want to focus on that last part there. Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. Lonely places. I love that. The NASB says he withdrew to the wilderness. The ESV says desolate places or deserted. Jesus was alone in nature, just him and God the Father. You know what's significant about where he went, about his environment, is that there was no other people. There was no other man-made noise or distraction to draw his attention away from what he was out there to do. People and noise are a distraction from when we're trying to commune with God. The spiritual practice of solitude is often paired and said as silence and solitude. We need that environment to encourage us to focus in on our relationship with him. To find a quiet and lonely place takes great intentionality on our part these days. The noise of the world is getting louder and louder. It's only growing. For Jesus, he had crowds of people in his own mind. He had the will of God. He had to carry out lots of broken and needy people. So he had to get away. He had to be alone in order to commune with the Father. But like I said, for us today to find that lonely place, that's really difficult. To find a place of true silence is even harder. Let me share with you the findings of Bernie Krauss, who is a musician and ecologist. He executed a study for many, many years. He was reflecting on it. In 2008, he wrote this paper reflecting on the changes in sound that he witnessed over 40 years. He would go out and study sound. He said this, "In 1968, it took just 15 hours to record one hour of silence." Just nature, not complete, like nothing. You could have birds, you could have whatever, the wind. But no human noise. So no airplanes, no power lines buzzing, no traffic. It took 15 hours to get one hour of silence. In 2008, it took nearly 2,000 hours to get one hour of silence. The noise of this world is only getting louder. And it's a hindrance to us in getting that solitude with Jesus. Bernie, who did this study, said when he was reflecting on these, and he's not a religious man, he said, "Humans are denied an experience of the wild natural essential to an interaction between themselves and their organically resonant surroundings." As a believer, I think he's just a little bit off. And I would say, with all that noise, humans are denied an experience to be in creation and be drawn closer to their creator like we were intended to.

Another part of our environment that is arguably an even bigger factor in regards to distractions and hindrance is the digital noise that we face. In this digital age, we are dealing with smartphones, alerts, Wi-Fi, e-mails, social media, streaming services, endless queues of information and entertainment. In this digital age, it is now possible, and this scares me when I say this, it is now possible to go your entire life without ever being truly alone with God. Our devices keep us tethered to the world of noise and regularly drown out the voice of God in our hearts. As Mother Teresa said, "We need to find God, and He cannot be found in the noise or restlessness. God is the friend of silence." We were made to commune with God, like Adam and Eve in the garden, taking regular walks with God in the garden. But do we have that time? Do we have a place? Do we have a moment in our day where there is no noise, be it audible or digital? So as you think, as you reflect on your life, you take inventory of your day, do you have a regular time with God? Do you have a place free of distraction where you and God can truly commune? Remember, Jesus often, often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. We want that to be true of us, too. So the first thing is our environment. When practicing solitude, it will either, our environment helps us or hinders us. And so find a place that will help you.

The next point is our encounter with self. When we come to a place of quiet, if we ever do get that time of solitude, we are often coming to it feeling worn out, exhausted, beat down by life. And we expect solitude to kind of be this day spa for our souls. God, if I just get some alone time, my soul is going to feel so good and pampered. I'm going to come back refreshed and renewed. Sometimes it goes that way. I will say sometimes it goes that way. But often it can feel less like a day spa and more like intense emotional surgery. Because we can get away from people, but we can't get away from ourselves. Henry now and again, right? Solitude is not a private therapeutic place. Rather, it is the place of conversion. The place where the old self dies and a new self is born. The place where emergence of the new man and the new woman occurs. And when he writes this, he goes on to talk about how the reality in alone time, we have no buffers for what's going to like distract us from what's going on inside of us. We don't have friends to talk with. We don't have updates to check or social media to scroll through. No music to entertain. No books or shows to immerse ourselves in. We're just there, weak and vulnerable, sinful and broken before God. And that's difficult for us to just sit in our own brokenness, our own sin. That's an uncomfortable tension that we don't like. And so we're often desperate if we start to have alone time and solitude time, we're often desperate to be like, "Oh, should I just go check my phone? I don't like what's going on in here. Let me go distract myself with something else." But when we get free of distractions, we're better able to see the mess of what's going on inside of us, like the self-examination that Pastor Chris was preaching about last week. Every emotion, every emotion, every feeling of exhaustion, worries, sadness, anger, shame. It all rises to the surface when we spend time in solitude. Our soul is thinking, "Finally, I have some time to deal with what's going on inside of us." The problem can be that we don't know how to deal with it. We feel these emotions, we feel these things coming to the surface, like, "What is going on? I don't like this. I don't even know what to do.”

But Jesus did know what to do. And he shows us on the evening before his crucifixion in the Garden of Gethsemane in Matthew 26, it says this, "Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane. And he said, 'Sit here while I go over there and pray.' He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him and he began to be sorrowful and troubled." Jesus knows what's coming the next day. He knows what's going on. He knows that he needs some time in solitude. And as he does, he begins to feel his pain. And he shows us how to deal with that by bringing it before God. As we continue, it says, "Then he said to them, 'My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.' And going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, 'My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me, yet not as I will, but as you will.'" It's through this simple but difficult practice of noticing and naming our emotions before God in prayer and offering them up to God in raw honesty. That we are deeply formed to the people that God has always desired for us to become. Don't run from those negative feelings. Rather, lay in them before God. Surrender them. Again, most of us don't like that tension, especially that inner tension. But it's through that tension that God works and transforms us, refines us, purifies us, restores us into being more like Christ. So the first two points. Your habit of solitude needs a healthy environment. And when you are in that place, it will lead to a difficult but necessary encounter with yourself.

Next, we will encounter the enemy. For centuries now, since the early days of the church, it has been recognized that there are three enemies to the soul. The world, the flesh and the devil. All three test and tempt our faith when we are in the quiet. And usually this comes in the form of thoughts that assault our minds with lies, deception and temptation. It did for Jesus in Matthew 4. Jesus goes out into the wilderness. It says this in Matthew 4, 1 through 11. Then Jesus was led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." Jesus answered, "It is written, 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.' And the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 'If you are the Son of God,' he said, 'throw yourself down, for it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.' Jesus answered him, 'It is also written, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.' Again the devil took him to the very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 'All this I will give to you,' he said, 'if you will bow down and worship me.' Jesus said to him, 'Away from me, Satan, for it is written, 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.' Then the devil left him and the angels came and attended him." In that moment of solitude, Jesus faced the ultimate test with Satan right there in the world, in his own flesh of not being, not eating anything for 40 days. When we go into solitude, when we choose solitude, we will feel the resistance of all three enemies. The world conspires against our need for quiet and solitude by polluting our lives with noise. Our own flesh comes up with all sorts of emotionally loaded reasons not to spend time in the quiet. And then the devil, just as we read, is always looking for an opportunity to draw us away from Jesus' call on us to spend time with him. Ruth Haley Barton writes, "All the forces of evil band together to prevent our knowing God in this way, because it brings to an end the dominion of those powers in our lives." Solitude is so important. It's in that time that we will best deal with the enemy. We must be ready, just as Jesus was, equipped with the truth of scripture, ready to call upon his name, because we will face lies and deceit and temptation. So spending time in solitude means being prepared for the resistance that we will face. But if we are willing to fight, it will be hard at first. But if we do this in the long term, it will yield great freedom in Christ and the deepest intimacy with our God. The fourth point is that we will in solitude encounter God. This is the truth that really drives and motivates us to spend time in solitude. Solitude is this place of encounter. We go to encounter ourselves and all the emotions that we are dealing with. We go to encounter the enemy and get free of our hearts entanglement with the world, the flesh and the devil. But ultimately, we go into the quiet to encounter God.

We go there because there is nothing like God's presence. We go to listen to his voice, to hear him speak over us, over our identity and our calling. And while some of it is us speaking to God, much of it should be spent in silence listening for God. And that practice of speaking and listening, it's not just communication, it is communication with God, but that is truly communing with him. John Mark Comer says, "Ultimately, the most important thing that happens in solitude is that we love and are loved by God." If you hear nothing else, take that home with you. Spend time in solitude because that's when we love God the most and that's when we are loved by God the most. Let's look at another example from Jesus in Mark 1. It says, "That evening, after sunset, the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was." So Jesus had just spent this time pouring out, doing the ministry of God's kingdom. And what does he need? He needs time alone with God. Not alone time, just a veg, just be like, "Man, there's so much people time, so social. I just need to scroll some social media really quick and catch up on my favorite sports team." No, he's getting away from the, not just the noise, but he's being intentional to spend time with God, his heavenly father. Then it says in verse 35, "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went off to a solitary place where he prayed." He knew. After doing all that, all that ministry, intense ministry, he knew he needed the time to commune with God, to spend those quiet moments in rich relationship with his father. And it's from that time that his soul feels renewed and refocused and ready for what the next day held. Verse 36 says, "Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed, 'Everyone is looking for you!' Jesus replied, 'Let's go somewhere else to the nearby village so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.'" So he traveled through Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out doing this. After that time of solitude, Jesus was ready to continue the calling that God had on his life. And that's what we need, to be reminded of what God has created us for, to be reminded of our purpose as men, women, husbands and wives, friends, co-workers, sons and daughters, followers of Jesus in our communities. When we have an encounter with God, we better understand our identity and purpose.

Spending time with the Creator, our Father in heaven, gives us what we need to live out our lives as ambassadors for Christ. So Jesus shows us how a quiet environment will lead to an encounter with what's within us, an encounter with the enemy, and most importantly, an encounter with God. And so in this new year, let me ask you this. We're talking about healthy habits. Do you want to make it a habit of spending necessary time with your Lord and Savior? Will you make it a habit of spending regular time in solitude? And just our question for the whole series, will you live like Jesus in 2025? I want to end by getting very practical. If you're a note taker, if you're someone who likes to plan permission to get out your notes, bring out your phone and calendar, we're going to get very practical and I hope you're going to walk away today with a plan for solitude. All right. First one, you need to prepare your environment. Where is the best place where you can find solitude and silence? And when in the day? Is it morning? Is it evening? Is it right before work? Is it when the baby goes down for a nap? I would suggest doing it as close to the morning as possible. Start your day with God. And then how often are you going to do it? Daily? Weekly? I would not go any less frequent than weekly. I would aim for daily, even if it's just for 10 minutes. Find a time, put it in your calendar, put an alarm, set the... This is my 10 minutes with God. Find a quiet place. I would suggest if you can do it in nature, get with the Creator in creation. If you can't, maybe it's just in your car before you head into work. You just sit in your car for a little bit. Don't turn on the music. Put your phone on the seat over there. Throw it in the back if you need to. Just sit alone with God. Next, be prepared to deal with what's going on inside you. Don't always view it like, hey, I'm going to have some day spa time for my soul. He's going to sit. He's so good. Again, that can happen. That's awesome. If it does, but be prepared for a lot of the brokenness within you to rise to the surface. Like Jesus in the garden, when he began to feel sorrow, use that prayer that he prays. Identify what's going on within you and give it to God. Give God your feelings. All of them unfiltered. God does not care if you are swearing at him or to him or in front of him. Much of the Hebrew and the Old Testament with David, it's probably not PG. Tell Jesus how you feel. Give God your desires. Tell him what you want. What you really want. Good or bad. Just like, God, this is what I'm feeling I want right now. Just tell him that. And then give God your trust and that time by surrendering your heart to him. Stop grasping for control and instead yield to God. You can pray Jesus own words, not my will, but yours, God. So know that this time of solitude is going to bring up some difficult memories, some challenging feelings that face that pain with God.

Next, be prepared to deal with the enemy as you find your quiet place and you're wrestling with what's going on within you. Also be aware that you're going to deal with the distractions that are going to come with the enemy who doesn't want you to spend time in solitude. And so here's a practical if you're taking notes. Holy reading or lectio divina. What's anciently called. It really means holy reading. Pick a short verse. Short passage, I would suggest the Psalms if you want somewhere to start and in your quiet time, do the four Rs. Are you ready? Read the passage, but very slowly. Don't just like, God, I do my reading time. Somebody just blitz through this really quick. No, read very slowly a short passage, then reflect on it. Read the read it again, word by word, slowly turning over every word that you're going through, wondering, God, what are you trying to tell me in this verse? Then respond. Pray that to God. God, I'm just it seems like you're saying this. I'm getting these ideas. This is what my mind is going. Give that before him and then rest. Rest in whatever you just encountered with God. Whatever you just read. Just sitting there. Our minds want to go to the next thing. God, I read it. Great. Amen. Thank you. Let's go. Take a time to pause and rest in the truth that you just heard.

If you do this, the enemy is going to have a harder time getting to you. The enemy is going to have a harder time lying and deceiving you because you're going to be focusing on God's truth. And finally, be prepared to encounter God. Go into your solitude time ready to listen. Slow yourself down. Ask God to silence the voice of the enemy, to clear out your own mind and then ask God to speak to you. Sometimes we say, like, hey, I've never heard God speak to me. And I sometimes like, have you asked? Have you asked God, God, can you speak to me? I want to hear your voice. I want to hear your truth. Maybe it's audible. Maybe it's through scripture. Maybe it's through a friend. But ask God, God, can you speak to me? And then do the following. Open your mind and your heart to God and just be still. Close your eyes and listen. And hopefully what comes to mind is maybe a line or a passage of scripture. Maybe it's from something you just read, if you just read the Bible. Maybe it's a word or phrase, a thought or a feeling. Maybe it's a picture. If you're a visual person, maybe you're getting a picture in your head. Or maybe it's a memory. Maybe it's a dream of something in the future. Maybe it's something you've recently experienced or thought about, read or heard. But have it be a part of your solitude time where you are trying to listen to God. Now, this is difficult to kind of get a hold of because we spend some time in solitude. I'm like, I'm just being quiet. Am I doing it right? I don't know. Don't strain. Don't you achievers out there are going to have a hard time with this. Don't try to achieve something in this and like, I got it. I did it. I mastered it. Just let yourself be in front of God and just wait quietly. And oftentimes the first thing that comes to mind is from God. Maybe it's a verse. Maybe it's a truth. It's a memory. It's a feeling. Something may come. Maybe it's not. You'll spend that time in quiet and nothing came to mind. That is OK. Our job is to listen, not to make God talk. Sometimes I need to hear that. I want I'm like, God, you better speak. Our job is just to listen, to take time and to listen. Now, if God does say something to you, I want to say this. Just use discernment. Take that thing and hear it against scripture. Go see this. This is true. I heard this from God. That was kind of putting this on my heart, on my mind. Go find that in scripture. Make sure it aligns with his truth and use your community. Check with your pastors. Hey, pastor, I just I heard this this week and want to see what your thoughts were. You're the other people in this community. But reflect and rest. And if something comes to mind, ask the spirit to clarify in your mind what that means to you. God, I heard this. Now, what do you want to do with that?

Our prayer is that we are all spending time, more intentional time with God in silence and solitude this year, because in that time, God will work. He will work. We will be transformed. Our hearts and souls will be renewed. We'll be better equipped to serve others, to love others, to endure life's challenges. I would love. I don't know if I'm going to remember. Maybe I'll put it on my phone. A year from now, 2026. Oh, my gosh, that's scary. We're in 2025? A year from now. If you those who make the point to practice solitude, I would love to hear how a year of regular solitude affects you. I almost guarantee you are going to be closer to God. You are going to love God in new ways. You're going to know Him in new ways. So let's make solitude one of our healthy habits this year.

Let's pray. God, thank you again for your truth and for your word. And for how you show us what is necessary in life. And for our relationship with you, what is necessary is solitude. God, I pray that for those of us in this room who are going to make solitude a regular part of our lives, that you would encourage us, you would equip us, empower us to do that. And God, as we face the noise of this world, I pray that you would help us find a place where we can truly commune with you that is silent and that we can hear your voice. And God, as we deal with what's going on inside of us, the mess within us, God, I pray that you would give us grace and compassion even to have on our own selves. But God, that you would work through all that's within us. And then as we deal with the enemy, the world, the flesh. And the devil, God, I pray that you would give us strength, give us truth. Help us to stand firm on your word, to be able to face those things. And then, God, ultimately, we are coming into solitude to hear from you. So I pray that we would be able to hear your voice. Make it distinct. Make it be that there's no doubt that we heard from you. And God, we're excited. We're anticipating, we're expecting you to do amazing work in us and through us for your kingdom. We pray this in your name. Amen.

Habits of a Healthy Heart: Part 1

Habits of a Healthy Heart

Part 1: Habit of Self-Examination

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

I wanna ask you a question this morning is, when you lie, who do you think you lie to the most? When you lie, who do you think you lie to the most? We're gonna start this new year off, we're gonna get a little ridiculous, honest, if you're new here, welcome. We get after it, it's 2025. But when you lie, actually let's do this. I don't normally do a raise of hands, but I kinda wanna do this one. Raise your hands if you lie or if you have ever lied. Look around, if anybody's got their hand not up, they're lying, okay? We lie, it happens, we lie. And when you lie, who do you lie to the most? Oh, we got some people jumping in this morning. Have you ever lied to your boss? Ever lied to your boss? You look outside, the sun is shining, you go, oh yeah. I'm definitely coming down with something. Hey, hey boss, yeah, I'm just not gonna make it in today. I'm sorry, just under the weather. And you're gonna be out in the great weather is really what's going on, right? Have you ever lied to your kids? Boy, I do, I'll be honest. They ask to do something and you sit there and you go, oh, let me think about it, we'll see. There ain't no chance, we ain't doing that. There's no way, there's no way, we are not going to do it. I'm just stalling. Have you ever lied to your parents, kids? You ever lied to your parents? It wasn't me, mom, it wasn't me, dad, I promise. It wasn't me. Have you ever lied to your friends? You get that phone call, hey, you know what? I'd love to help you move, I really would. But you know, I just got a lot going on that day. Lots of things to do, lots of things to do, sorry. You ever lied on social media? Life's great, everything's going great. Post something that isn't really true. My life's so blessed, hashtag blessed, hashtag living the best life. But life isn't good, life sucks. You're in the dumps, maybe you're even depressed. Anyone ever done that? It's interesting to look at the lies that we tell, right?

And when you think about who do you lie to the most, as you said, you lie to yourself the most. You, you lie to yourself. And we tell ourselves all of these lies, right? We tell ourselves all the time, I'll do it tomorrow, when you know you won't. You tell yourself, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine. I'm fine, when you really aren't fine at all, right? You're not even a smidgen fine, you're just not fine at all. You tell yourselves, I don't care what they will think when you 100% care what they will think. We tell ourselves, it's really not that big of a deal, right? Not that big of a deal when it's really a big deal. Studies show that when you lie, you lie to yourself the absolute most. And it says in Jeremiah 17:9, it says, "The human heart is the most deceitful of all things. And desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?" The unredeemed heart has the capacity not only to lie to others, but to lie to ourselves. It's one of the major reasons why New Year's resolutions fail. We were talking about these this morning at our team huddle before church, talking about the failure of New Year's resolutions. And the problem with these New Year's resolutions is we have all the great intentions, right? We have all this great intention to focus on changing something in our lives. We want to get more organized, right? We're tired of being behind on things and procrastinating. We want to get up earlier in the morning, right? We wanna get up, seize the day, and kick things off just right, get that workout in maybe before the morning, before the kids get up. You wanna stop looking at things that you shouldn't look at. Maybe you wanna start eating better, you wanna save more money, or maybe you wanna start being more kind to your spouse, or your family, your friends, your neighbors. But whatever it is, the problem is with that New Year's resolution, as good as it may be, the reason that it will fail is it's focused on external behaviors. But where are behaviors actually born? Behaviors are born in our hearts. And if you wanna change your life, you change your habits, but if you wanna change your habits, you have to let God change your heart.

And this year, we're starting on the outside, where most people think to start. But I think for God, he wants us to start on the inside. And we're gonna ask God to change our hearts into who he wants us to be. We're beginning a new series this morning called Habits of a Healthy Heart. And we're gonna go through five different habits over the next five weeks, focusing in on different ways that we can have more of a heart that is a healthy heart. And today, we're gonna focus on the habit of self-examination, to give a truly honest, sincere look at our own lives, and then to give God permission to work in our lives. The next part is gonna be the habit of simplicity. Almost all of us, if we're honest, are looking for more and more and more and more and really, it's less is what we need more of in our lives. The habit of solitude, slowing our lives to be quiet before God. This is a hard one. To slow our lives down and to genuinely seek after God and his word, to have his voice speak into our hearts and to direct our steps. We're gonna talk about the habit of sorrow. You may think, God, pastor, I don't wanna be sorrowful. I think when we think of sorrow, we think of earthly sorrow. But when we study scripture, we see that there is actually something as godly sorrow, that we let God bring to us and transform us and actually this godly sorrow leads us into a place of salvation. And then we're gonna talk about the habit of slowing. Where in a world is so, so, so fast paced, we have a hustle culture, a get after it, go get it, take what's yours kind of a world that actually God preaches against that. The Bible says that the opposite that is really where true freedom and joy and fulfillment is actually truly found to where we would slow ourselves down to give God a true Sabbath of rest, which is truly how we honor God with our lives.

But today as we launch into the new year, I wanna talk about the habit of self-examination. It says this in Psalm 139, David writes this, he prayed this prayer, he says, "Search me." Someone say, "Search me." There we go, we're waking up, come on. "Search me," he said, "Search me God and know my heart." 'Cause we know the heart is actually deceitful, deceitful above all things. He said, "Test me and know my anxious thoughts." Anybody have anxious thoughts in their life? God see that there is no offensive way in me and lead me in the way of everlasting. Well, I'd love to do right now if we can, if we could just take a pause. And I want us very prayerfully, quietly, but still, still verbally out loud, we're gonna read this scripture together. Maybe say it as a prayer to God right now. As you start 2025, you begin this new year, let's pray this prayer together. It says, "Search me God and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting." Search me God, know my heart, test me, see if there is offensive way in me.

This was a prayer that David prayed. And you may ask why did David pray this prayer? Well, if you looked at David's life and you saw as a whole, you would have discovered over time that David began as he journeyed through life to understand, and I hope that you'll understand today, that he had this propensity to lie to himself. And he was the master at it. I think so much like just we are ourselves, a master of self-deception. And he started to discover later in life, especially what happened after 2 Samuel 11. It says, "In the spring of the year, when kings normally go out to war, David sent Joab and the Israel army to fight the Amorites. However, David stayed behind in Jerusalem." Normally in this season and the flow of life in the Israelites at this time, that when a kingdom was at battle, the king, whenever the season was, we don't really truly know, would go out and join the army in battle. Now he necessarily wouldn't go and battle himself, but he would at least go out, walk among the soldiers, give them the hurrah speech, send them out, encourage his under commanders. But he would be present out in the battlefield area. But David this time decides not to. We don't truly really know why he decided to stay home, but we can kind of read into this a little bit. David might have thought to himself, man, you know what? I've been at war a lot in my life. I fought. I woke up a little sore this morning. Not really feeling it. You know, I am kind of like a war hero. I mean, I did take down Goliath and everybody kind of knows that. I've earned my time out on the battlefield. I've done the chants and I've marched forward and I know all the battle cries. I've written some myself. I know all this stuff that is, but I probably deserve a break. I've been going hard. You know, maybe a little time off might be good for me as a leader, as a king, you know, really some me time so I can be my best so that when I do go out in the battlefield, I can truly be present. Really, I mean, really that's what my men need. I need a break. And so maybe at some point he thought, oh man, it's gonna be a good sunset tonight. Maybe I'll take dinner, I'll go up on the roof, watch the sunset, relax, have a drink.

So he goes up and he finds himself up there relaxing and he looks over and he sees a woman taking a bath on the roof next door. And the Hebrew word here actually is raah. And so Dave is up there having a nice dinner, maybe a drink, enjoying himself. He looks over, he sees a very beautiful woman taking a bath and he goes raah. The word raah means to look at and to continue to stare. David looked over and he continued to stare and he saw this woman and he raah'd at her and he probably thought to himself, I'm not really doing anything bad. This isn't really hurting anybody. I'm just relaxing. And he began to deceive himself again. And then he thought, you know what? Yeah, we could really take this relaxation to the next level, might be some companionship. So he sent one of his people to go bring her over and invite her to the palace and she comes over and they go out on the balcony and they're hanging out and he's probably like, I want to maybe get to know her and tell her about the kingdom and what's her life like, what's my life like as a king? Like she wanna know that stuff, right? So they start talking and maybe he brushes up against her and says, hey, you look a little tense. You could use a back rub, right? One thing leads to another and they find themselves in bed with each other. And David sins. Shortly after that, he finds out that she's pregnant.

David goes, okay, what am I gonna do here? And so he comes up with this brilliant plan. Bathsheba's husband is actually a warrior, a soldier, Uriah. So he thinks, oh, I'll bring Uriah home. He'll get to spend some time with his wife and one thing will lead to another. He's home from a battlefield and maybe he'll begin to think that the child is his. So he brings Uriah home from battle. But the problem was that Uriah was a very standup guy. And he said, if my men who are on the battlefield cannot be home with their family and their wives, neither will I and he actually does not stay at the house. He stays with the soldiers. And so David realizing, okay, this isn't going where I needed it to go. He goes, well, you know what, let's just send Uriah back and maybe he'll end up on the front lines. Oh no, oops. And Uriah goes back to war, front lines, and he loses his life.

And so David, step by step by step, rations. Step by step, rationalized his sin. And the whole time he's thinking, it's not that big of a deal. It's just one soldier, just one look, one back rub, one night. But what he actually did was he abused his power. He violated an innocent woman in Bathsheba. He committed the sin of adultery. He wrecked an entire family. He essentially murdered Uriah. And then when the baby was born, there were consequences. The baby ended up getting sick and died. Step by step by step, sin by sin by sin by sin. To the point that he couldn't even recognize his own sin because the heart is deceitful above all things and we are the master of self-deception. Psychologists call this a cognitive bias. Scripture actually calls it flattering yourself or deceiving yourself, having the deluded heart. Psalm 36:2 says, “In their own eyes, they flatter themselves too much to detect or hate their own sin.” This is why it is utterly important to adopt a habit of self-examination.

Looking at the research and all of this, our self-deception tends to manifest itself in five different major ways. You might see yourself in some of these categories. The first would be addiction to distraction. Because we're doing something wrong, we find ourselves unintentionally distracting ourselves by anything that keeps us from facing the truth about ourselves. This might be an addiction to pornography. Maybe it's social media. Maybe it's addiction to news. Maybe it's talking bad about other people. Maybe it's alcohol. Or maybe it's some form of any drug. Any addiction possible that can distract us from facing the truth about ourselves. The second would be manic cheeriness, is what I'm gonna call it. You are absolutely depressed. You're sad. You're not happy. There's no joy in your life. And yet you're always smiling. You're always cheerful. You're always the one making jokes. You're going around telling everybody, life's great. Everything's wonderful. Some might call this the Lego syndrome. Everything is awesome. Yeah? You have to have kids if you get that reference. But it's this lie that we tell ourselves that everything is fine, but the reality is we're depressed, we're discouraged, and maybe even to the point that we're thinking about taking our own life. And yet you don't show it. You don't let anybody in. You're trying to deceive yourself. Third would be judgmentalism. Everybody else is the problem. There's something deep down inside of us that we know is wrong, but we love to point out the faults in everybody else. To the point that we look for things in other people to judge them. We look for the little tiniest scripture says, the speck in their eye, and yet we got a giant log just hanging out of our own. But we're deceiving ourselves because we don't wanna be vulnerable about our own lives and be truthful about ourselves, so we judge others for the very thing that we dislike in ourselves. What about defensiveness? We're offended if anybody makes any indication or even a suggestion that we might have something wrong in our lives. We're never vulnerable. We might be probably most likely, yes, you're doing something unwise. You're probably doing something sinful. But any suggestion in that, you are 1000% against them. You deflect, they have the problem. It's not our fault. It's everybody else's. We're the victim. We're completely against any suggestion to change. The final one would be cynicism. We surrender to being cynical. Everything in life is just bad. Everything's horrible. Everyone else is the problem. Everything is wrong. But we're deceiving ourselves 'cause we don't wanna look at the truth about us.

This was a horrible, horrible thing that David did. He deceived himself and his life fell apart. What happened when he said, "I'm not doing anything wrong. Everything's okay. I can get away with this. I mean, I'm the king. I make the rules. It's not that big of a deal. Everybody dies at some point." Sin by sin by sin, he found himself in a very, very, very dangerous place. And then the Lord sent David a prophet by the name of Nathan. And Nathan comes and he sits down with David, has a little conversation. He says, "Hey, King David, let me tell you a story. Let me tell you a story." And it goes like this, the story of two guys. First guy is rich beyond rich. I mean, he makes the rich look poor. He is loaded beyond all loaded. He has thousands of sheep and cattle and cows and acres upon acres of land. I mean, he has everything that his heart desires and dreams and then some. And then there's a really, really, really, really poor guy. And all that this poor guy has is one little sheep. And the poor guy finds himself with his sheep at the rich guy's house. I know maybe their neighbors are hanging out. Maybe the rich guy had pity on the poor guy, begging on the streets that, "Hey, come to my house, I'll take care of dinner." And so the rich guy invites the poor guy over for dinner and they sit down and the rich guy realizes he has to prepare a dinner meal. And so he goes out to slaughter a lamb for supper. And he has the pick. Any of his thousands upon thousands of thousands of animals he can pick to slaughter. But he sees the poor guy's lamb and he picks that one and he slaughters it, he prepares it, he cooks it. And he feeds the poor guy his own lamb. David immediately says, "That is the most horrible thing I have ever heard." That rich guy needs to go to jail and he probably should be killed because he even thought about doing that. And Nathan turns to him and says in Hebrew, ata-ish He says, "David, you are the man." Man. You are the man. You, David, are the one who did this. You are the one judging this man and his actions. And yet you are guilty of the exact same thing. You're the one that's been defensive. You're the one that's pushed back. You're the one that's made excuses. You're the one that rationalized your actions. You are the one that has done the very same thing. The habit of self-examination. It's a tough one. It's not easy to do. Search me, God. Search my heart. Show me if there is any offensive way in me. Any sinful thing. Anything in my life that I don't see, God. Show me how you want me to change. I'd ask you right now to stop for a moment and let God search you.

What problem are you denying? What sin are you rationalizing? What issue are you hiding? Welcome to church early 2025. We're gonna get after it this year. If I haven't stepped on your toes by now, I probably will. And I'm stepping on my own toes just to let you know. All right? But where does God wanna work in your life this year? Maybe it's a secret addiction. Maybe you're addicted to porn. Maybe it's alcohol. Maybe drugs. Maybe it's the way that you lose your temper over and over and over again. You say, but pastor, if they wouldn't act like that, I wouldn't have to respond like that. Maybe you're flirting with an affair. Maybe you're in a full blown affair. Maybe you're addicted to overeating. You make jokes about it and you think, ha ha, that's just who I am. Oh man, buffet Bob. That's just who I am. Maybe you're addicted to overspending. And you pretend, ah, it's not that big of a problem. I'll end up selling most of them and I'll make some profit. Like it's not that big of a deal. Maybe you're numbing yourself consistently. Maybe it's with a drug. Maybe it's just turning the TV on and just staring for hours on end. Maybe it's scrolling mindlessly on social media all day long. You say, I don't need help. I'm okay. It's not that big of a problem. But you really do. See, asking for help is never a sign of weakness. Asking for help is actually a moment of wisdom. Maybe you're here at church. Maybe you don't know why. It's the first of the year. You're here, but your mind's not there. You're not there. You're here, but your mind's not here. Your heart's far from God. Search me, God. Know my heart. See if there is any offensive way in me.

As we close up this morning, I wanna share three different warning signs. These are maybe three different ways you can watch out for maybe some things that you have in your life. The first of which is, watch for what others have tried to tell you. If someone has tried to tell you you have something going on that's maybe a big problem, maybe a small problem, I always thought of a good rule would be if I have two or more people who I know love me and care for me and truly want the best for me. If two people come to me and say, hey, Chris, you got a problem here, I need to take pause and have some self-examination. Maybe it's someone telling you that you work too much. Maybe someone telling you you're not present. You're spending too much time with video games. Or maybe someone who loves you tells you you have a drink every single night. And you say you can stop at any time, but you don't seem to be able to go without. Maybe there's somebody who tells you that you're dressing immodestly. And you say, well, you know, it's just the style, it's just how everybody's dressing, it's just the look right now. But people are telling you who love you that it's an issue. Or maybe you can never say no because you have a problem with people pleasing. But when you ask God to search your heart, look for what others who care for you and truly love you in life have tried to say to you. Second one is watch out for what you rationalize. Watch out for whatever you try to explain away when someone questions you about something. Ah, it's not that big of a deal. I can handle this, I got this, I got this. I'm not hurting anybody, it's not that big of a deal. Watch for when you're rationalizing. 'Cause reality, it's gonna sneak up on you, that's the truth. Watch out for when you say, you know, I wouldn't have to do this if they didn't have to do that. Watch out for when you're most defensive. Whenever you push back and you say, I don't have a problem, maybe you get a little angry. You say, leave me alone, get out of my business. I've heard it said from someone much wiser than myself that the more convinced that you don't have a problem, the more likely it is that you actually do.

I had to learn this one, the school of hard knocks last year. It was, I don't know, I don't know, but probably about 16 months ago, we welcomed our fourth child, Aliyah, into our family. And I've always been known as someone who's a really hard worker. And I've always had a strong work ethic. It began to become more of an identity than I realized in my life. And it was about that time when I became dad number four and I didn't slow down. I kept driving at a thousand percent, pushing forward, working harder, busy with the family, busy with the newborn and the kids and just constantly go, go, go, go, go, and not realizing and thinking, oh, how much harder could it be to go from three kids to four kids? It's not that big of a deal. It was a really big of a deal. It was actually harder for me to go from three to four than it was to go from two to three, which people say that two to three is worse than anything else. And so for me, it was, I wasn't going to slow down. I was still driving at a thousand percent, even though everything in my life seemed to be harder and harder and harder to just get done. Even this most simplest task in life just took exponentially more time. And it was around February that I started to get a little bit of a cold. And I thought, no big deal, I'll be fine. I'll push through, I'll take some extra vitamins. It's fine, I can drink some tea, whatever. It's no big deal. I kept pushing myself and pushing myself and pushing myself and I'd find myself on Mondays sleeping in until almost noon. I'd push myself so hard for the week to prepare for church, through the family and everything, and then through the weekend that I couldn't even get out of bed on Monday mornings. And that cold kept getting worse and worse and worse. I would be okay after I would sleep in so late on Mondays. I would recover by Tuesday, Wednesday I was good, Thursday I'd start to feel it again. I'd push myself Friday, Saturday, Sunday and I'd be back to where I was. And the cold got worse and worse and worse and it went right into my lungs. And I would call what most over-achievers would say they have and it's called walking pneumonia. It's what normal people have that actually will put them into the hospital. But I thought to myself, I'm gonna be okay. I'm fine, I got this. I'd find myself on my phone looking up, try to find the next home remedy. I wasn't gonna go to the doctor, I wasn't gonna waste my time. I had it figured out. So vitamin after vitamin after regular drugs after, I don't know how many trips to Walmart to try to clear themself out of Sudafed and Mucenex and all this stuff, I was gonna be okay. It's gonna be no problem.

And it got so bad my wife said, "You're going to the doctor's." I said, "Okay." Well, mama says something, you do something, right? So I go to the doctor begrudgingly, sit down, they start taking my vitals. My blood pressure is in stroke zone. The doctor is so freaked out about my blood pressure in that moment, she doesn't even give me any drugs or anything. She literally tells me, "You have to leave right now "and go to the ER. "You're going to stroke." And I'm sitting there drinking my coffee going, "I'm fine, no problem." Do I go to the ER? No. I go home, tell myself it's gonna be okay, no problem, be all right. Two weeks later, it's still not all right. I find myself back at the doctor's office, literally drinking my coffee, waiting, and almost falling asleep in the lobby, waiting to be seen. I dragged myself back in there. And what I told myself was, "Ah, just a momentary lapse "in high blood pressure was just as high, if not worse." And the fear that the doctor showed in his eyes looking at me scared the living daylights out of me. And I found myself in a moment of crossroads to say, "I need to change my life. "Something has to change. "I have to stop lying to myself "that everything was gonna be okay. "Hi, I'm Chris, I have a problem." And so I talked to my wife. I actually got some antibiotics that time. Went home and started resting. Let things slide. Still felt guilty about them 'cause things weren't getting done. But I had to take care of myself before anything else. Because if I wouldn't have taken care of myself, there's no chance that I could have been able to continue to be there for my church, for my family, for my kids. And so, start taking the proper medicine. I get on blood pressure medication. Start getting better, my blood pressure comes back down. I start exercising more. I make different changes in my routine. I start eating better. I start exercising. I picked up boxing, super therapeutic, to punch something. It's amazing. Not thinking about you guys when I do it. Don't worry, don't worry. But all of these changes, I got back to having correct nutrition and vitamins and sleep. And I wanna tell you this today, not to say have pity on me or, "Hey, way to go, Chris, you figured out." I still haven't figured it all out. I'm still working on it. I'm still trying to lose weight. I'm still trying to get healthier so I know I can be around longer for my family and for my wife. I'm still trying to figure out all this stuff. What I want to share with you guys is this.

There comes a time when you have to make a decision. And I hope and pray that none of you ever have to get to that point in your life. I'm so thankful I didn't have a stroke. I'm so thankful I didn't collapse. I'm so thankful I didn't end up in the hospital. I am so thankful to God. But that is directly where I was heading with my life. But we come to ourselves and we have to watch out for what other people are telling you. Because I had people in my life that loved me, that told me, "You have to slow down. "You're going too fast. "You're doing too much." And I said, and rationalize it away, "It's not that big of a deal. "I got this handled. "It's gonna be okay." Even to the point where I was getting cynical of people and you just don't understand, this is what God has called me to. You just don't love God as much as I do. You just aren't as committed to the calling that Jesus has on your life. That is not my problem. That is your problem. But it was a problem. And one of the best things that I did even in that was I began to meet with a counselor or my spiritual director, my therapist, whatever you want to call them. And he graciously sat down with me and started talking through life. And he turned to me at one point and said, "Chris, you got a problem and I think you know it." And I said, "Yes, I do." And I even had opportunity to go out on a date with my wife, which was amazing last week. And we sat down and we started talking about 2024 and she turned to me and she goes, "You know what? "When you started meeting with that counselor, "you completely changed." It broke my heart that I was so focused in that moment, rationalizing my choice step by step by step that I couldn't even see it myself.

Search me, God. Know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me. Lead me in the way everlasting. So the reality is you cannot change what you won't confront. And one of my greatest things that I love about this scripture is the last part. You got to go through some hard stuff first, right? But that last part that says, lead me in the way everlasting is like a breath of fresh air. Yes, we believe that all those who call on Jesus for salvation will have eternal life in heaven. But I think what the Psalmist David here writes in this prayer is that he wants a little bit of heaven on this side right now. We just came through a season of Christmas and Jesus coming and Emmanuel, God with us. And I love one of the names that they call Jesus. Did you guys pick up on that? The Prince of Peace. God wants to be a prince of peace. God wants to give you peace in your life. But it takes letting God to search you, to know your heart, to know your anxious thoughts. What is God showing you right now that you don't want to face? Maybe you're afraid of what it is. Hey, here's the best news. God already knows and he's not afraid of it. God already knows what you are facing because he's active in your life. He's right there with you. So you shouldn't be afraid to let God know. You should be afraid of what that will cost you in the long run. So what are you gonna do? I'd encourage you run to him. I walked out of that doctor's office, got in my car and I almost started to begin to cry and I said, I am so sorry, God. I am so sorry that I have let myself get to this point in my life. Forgive me. I had asked for forgiveness. I was being so selfish. I was holding on to everything thinking I had it all figured out, but I did not. I was so far from it.

I love what David writes in Psalm 51. This is his other prayer. I think it's so good. “Create in me a pure heart, oh God. Renew a steadfast spirit within me. Restore to me the joy of salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me.” David sinned big time, big time. And yet he is known as a man after God's own heart. If there's hope for David to earn that title after what he did, there ain't nothing what you have gone through or what you have done. God wants to give you a new heart. He wants to free you. He wants to give you life. He wants to give you joy. He wants to give you peace. He wants to give you everlasting life. Don't resist it. He loves you. So week one, habit self-examination. To give God permission to show us what we need to hear so that we can do what we need to do. This is our prayer. I'd love to close this out this morning. Let's all pray together. Psalm 139, we get that back up on the screen. Let's pray this together. Search me God, know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.

Jesus, we thank you for today. God, we thank you for who you are. God, the fact that you deeply love us more than we could even ask or imagine. And God, you have a desire for the very best for us. But God, we know that sin gets in that way. And we know that our own choices, as good as they may be in our mind, in our plan, may be just the best thing that we could ever think of, God. It pales in comparison to what you desire and what you want for our lives. And so God, I pray as we start 2025, Jesus, that you would search our hearts. You would take a deep look inside of us and you would begin to stir within us and reveal to us what needs to change and what you want to do in the year 2025 in our life. And God, I pray that it would begin right now in this moment. That your Holy Spirit would begin to nudge us to share with us some of the things that we need to change as we give a thought to self-examination. God, may we honor you with our lives. May we give you full access to our whole heart. God, not holding back this section over here, God, you can have full reign everywhere else, but this over here, this is mine. No, I pray that we would just hand it all over to God right now, offering it up, giving it wholeheartedly over to you. God, I pray that you would transform our lives, you would change our life, you would change our habits, you would change our hearts, and you would transform us, God, into who you desire for us to be. Jesus, we're thankful for who you are. We thank you for your power, God, to transform us 'cause we know we can't do this on our own. There's no way we could figure all this out. God, thank you that you can and you will and you are. Jesus, we love you, we praise you. Everybody said? Amen.

Unexpected Moments - Part 4

Unexpected Moments

Hope - The Power of Memory

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

Sometimes you don't know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory. Any guesses on who that author might be? Any guesses? I don't know. Dr. Seuss. Dr. Seuss. That's what you were thinking? Yeah, you got it right. Sometimes you don't know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory. Sometimes we have moments in life that we know are big occasions. So maybe it's a wedding day or the day your child is born or maybe for work you've been working on a project for months or years and it comes to completion. And the natural pomp and circumstance of that moment means you will remember that. You know it, you're living in it, you're like, "This is a big moment." There's other times that you go through something and it's not till later that you recognize or realize that that moment was significant in your life. In the moment it was just a normal situation, maybe a difficult situation, and it's not till weeks, months, maybe years later that you look back and see that was significant in what God was doing in me, working, how I got here, where God brought me. Sometimes we don't know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.

In our series Unexpected Moments we've covered several, a few unexpected moments. We started with the angel, the unexpected moment of the angel telling Mary that she would be the mother of the Messiah. And then we had the unexpected moment of Joseph, the angel telling Joseph to stick with Mary and his obedience in that moment. And then last week Pastor Lawrence shared about the angels descending on the shepherds. And that beautiful unexpected moment of the good news of Jesus going to very ordinary people. This is our concluding message of our series. And we're going to be back in Luke 2. We've been here before, but we're going to focus on one verse, but just to get the setting again. Starting in Luke 2:10, I don't know if we have it, but just follow along. It says, "But the angel said to them," this is to the shepherds, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all people. Today in the town of David, a savior has been born to you. He is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you. You will find a baby wrapped in claws and lying in a manger. And suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel praising God and saying glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth peace to those whom his favor rests."

And we know that afterwards, what do the shepherds do without hesitation? They go to Bethlehem, they visit the baby, and they're telling everyone the good news of the birth of the Messiah is being spread. It's like if today they were to get on like Instagram live or Facebook live or send out the mass text, they're just telling everyone and anyone this is what's happening. We just found out. I got to let everyone know. And everyone who heard was amazed. I love that response too that everyone who heard isn't just like, "Oh, there's some crazy shepherds going around." No, everyone who heard it was amazed. And this next verse is what we're going to focus on today. This little verse that's so important, verse 19, actually a little bit farther down in our passage, it says, "But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart." Again, sometimes you don't know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory. Today we're going to talk about the power of a memory and the hope that we have in Christ. Would you guys pray with me one more time?

God, thank you again for the time to gather. And in this Advent season, when we celebrate and await the birth of Christ and this moment in time that changes the world, God, I pray that you would help us to have our hearts to have a posture of waiting and ready to receive. And God, one that wants to glorify you, that's our goal, is to bring glory to you. And no matter where we're at this morning, caught up in the busyness of the season, or maybe it was just everything we had just to get here, God, I pray that you would meet us through your Spirit, through your Word, and that as we leave, we would be empowered and encouraged and uplifted and drawn near to you. So we pray this in your name. Amen.

So Mary treasured up all these things. She's treasuring up the angels' visit to her, the shepherds visiting, the crowds being amazed at the news of the birth of the Messiah, even maybe the miracle of Elizabeth, her relative, which we didn't cover this Advent season, but her relative in her old age becoming pregnant, that was its own miracle. And then Joseph being visited by the angels, she's treasuring up all these things, pondering them. You know that moment when something happens, you go through something and you know, like, that was probably pretty big. I don't know why it was so big. I don't know why it's so significant, but as time goes on, you look back and you're like, "Oh, I'm starting to understand more." I think that's what Mary knows, there's a lot happening right now. I can't fully grasp everything and what it means, but this is monumental. But Mary, as she treasures these things up and ponders them, what do we think Mary remembered? Well, we can't be certain, but we don't have her exact thoughts, but we can look at these experiences and the conversations that she's had and come to three things. She remembers, one, God's promises from the past, two, God's peace in the present, and thirdly, God's power in the future.

That first one, let's start there, God's promises from the past. Mary has just given birth to a baby, the son of God in a stable, with no epidural by the way, just a miracle, that's amazing. And what could be more memorable than giving birth? She's a new mom, it's been chaotic. The shepherds were there. They finally go, as great as that is, I bet she was looking forward to like, "Okay, I would love to just rest a little bit." She gets a moment to reflect. We know she remembers the encounter with the angel. I don't know if she did this exactly, but how cool would it be if she was able to, in that moment, or maybe over time, just connect some of the promises and prophecies from God over the past centuries about the coming Messiah, about her and her son? Like maybe Micah 5:2, that was prophesied 700 years before, that says, "But you, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come from me, one who will be a ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times." See, even them being in Bethlehem speaks to God's promise from the past. You see, at that time, there was a census that had to be taken, so everyone had to go back to their hometown. And Mary is nine months pregnant at this point, and so on top of dealing with pregnancy, they have to move temporarily. They were living in Nazareth, and they had to go to Bethlehem. That is a hundred-mile journey. That's like going from here in Rocklin to San Francisco or Reno, Nevada, on foot over ten days. That's a long, nine months pregnant. There's no in-and-out or Chick-fil-A along the way to make it better. There's no DVD player on the back of the donkey to pass the time. In fact, traveling even had its elements of danger, right? It was winter, and so there might have been some weather elements that they had to face. There's criminals and thieves along the road, also wild animals. It's a very different time than when we think of, "Hey, let's go on a road trip." And so Mary could see that God took them to Bethlehem, and that was fulfilling a promise that God had made pertaining to her. Or maybe she thought of Isaiah 7:14 that says, "Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign. The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Emmanuel." Mary was holding Emmanuel. God is with us. And the truth is that He's with us today every single moment, every step we take, every day and through the night. The truth of Jesus on that night when Mary gave birth is true for us today, that God is with us. I want you to know that today. I just want to stop for a moment. And sometimes we need to do this in our lives, in our days or in our weeks. We just need to stop and ponder and know and remember that God is with us. He is always with us. Mary stopped and she treasured up all these things. She pondered first God's promises from the past.

Secondly, she ponders God's peace in the present. We see that she pondered what was happening in this moment. All these things. And she needed to do that to give her peace. As she did it, it gave her peace. She knows that she was blessed to become the mother of Jesus, but that doesn't mean that life was going to be easy. There's potential for her life to still be chaotic and to still experience the unexpected. We talked about this in the first week, that Mary, upon hearing the news of becoming the mother of Jesus, had some anxiety. But by the end of that conversation with the angel, she was given peace. From chaos to something divine. Despite earthly unknowns, there's a heavenly peace. A peace that surpasses understanding. Whenever she needed to, Mary could pause and be comforted to know that God was presently giving her what she needed to get through each moment. And to go from unexpected moment to unexpected moment with confidence that God was going to be with her through it all. Mary and Joseph would continue to experience unexpected moments and God would continue to give them answers and ways forward and peace amidst the initial chaos. A little bit later in their lives, the wise men visited. It didn't happen that night, despite what every nativity scene looks like. It happened later. And maybe this was God's provision. You know, Joseph was a carpenter. That's not the most money-making career back in that time. And what did the wise men bring? They bring frankincense, myrrh, and gold. It also says in that passage in Matthew 2, it says, "When they had gone, the wise men, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. Get up, he said. Take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him." King Herod at that time had heard from the wise men of this king being born. And obviously as present king, he doesn't like that that's a threat. And so he's trying to, he plays it off like, "Oh yeah, I'd love to go worship the new king." When really he wants to go end that threat. And God miraculously comes and tells Joseph and Mary, "You guys need to leave." God gave them a plan and provided for them in that moment. And in so doing that, he gave them peace, that they were going to be okay. In the middle of chaos, God gave peace. Peace beyond understanding. Or how about later in life when Jesus is 12 years old and gets left behind at the temple. Many of you know this story, that Mary and Joseph leave after being at the temple and their days journeys away. And we all think like, "How can you forget a child?" But they leave Jesus behind at the temple and so they have to go back.

And Luke 2:48 says, "When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said, 'Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.' 'Why are you searching for me?' he asked. 'Didn't you know I had to be in my father's house?'" It's a 12 year old by the way. "But they did not understand what he was saying to them. Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. And for the second time in scripture we hear, 'But his mother treasured all these things in her heart.' And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man." So Mary knows that this is a child unlike any other. And it's so interesting, we can get into one day just that dynamic of child and parent relationship but it's Jesus as a 12 year old kid. But she had a habit of treasuring up these unexpected moments that happened. These unexpected moments that turned into holy moments for her. Whenever we see Mary face a moment of chaos, anxiety, uncertainty, we also see God give her peace. And then we see her treasure up all those things in her heart. It's those moments of chaos that we would have never chosen for ourselves. It's not what we really wanted. But when we stop and look back at those moments, we can see how God used them for our good.

I've told this story before, but I also have, I mean just like you, I have some of these moments in life, these unexpected moments. And it's true of how I became a pastor. Full of unexpected moments. I graduated, well my senior year of high school I was ready to be a doctor. I did an internship at Kaiser and I was like going to college, I'm going to be a doctor. And then I struggled my freshman year in science classes. I was working really hard. I wasn't a bad student. And I was working really hard to get C's in my science classes. And I was like God, I don't think I can do four more years of this. Slash after that in the med school, I don't think this is my future. And I was taking that as a sign that God was changing my direction but I didn't know where. And at that time, my freshman year, I was getting involved in a nonprofit and I discovered I loved being a voice for those who didn't have a voice. I served as the director of social justice on that campus for a year. And again, just it grew a love for me to be able to help other people. And so I changed my major to intercultural studies thinking that at the end of my time in college I was going to serve overseas. I was going to work for something like World Vision and go help people who didn't have a voice around the world and provide sustainable ways for them to grow and progress in ways that appreciated their culture. And so I spent the next few summers overseas in preparation for a lifetime of being a missionary. By the time my senior year of college rolled around, I again was left in this place of I don't think this is where I'm going. A lot of people who were in my major had countries that they felt God was calling them to. And I was like I don't know where, I don't think I'm going overseas. And then I was faced with this moment of did I just waste my whole college experience, like you know, all that money and all those years and all those hours studying and I'm not even going to go overseas. I was not good. It was a very pressure situation. And then I remember Christmas of my senior year, I came back home for Christmas break and I had a dinner with my pastor at the BJ's over by the Galleria here. And it's a conversation that changed my life. Where he asked if I would become the youth pastor at the church that I grew up in. There was another unexpected moment. And I look back and there were some more unexpected moments after that too.

But I look back and I see through all the circumstances with all the disappointments really too. Not becoming a doctor, changing my major and then not entering the field in which I studied for. Through all of that, God was faithful. God was at work and he was giving me peace through it that even though I didn't know, I knew I was going to be okay. That God was still with me. And God used all that to bring me here now today with you, Spring Valley Church. I love it. Yes. Praise God. To answer a calling, a gradual calling, one that I feel confident in now, I'm so thankful for. And all those memories, I think back, I tell that story to you and I'm thankful for all of them. In the moment I was like, God, can you please change this? This is the worst. But now I'm thankful to have them, to see them and see how God works in my life. And that way I can look forward and know that he's going to continue to do the same. The power of a memory. I'll say it one more time. Sometimes we don't realize the value of a moment until it becomes a memory. If you were to look back at certain moments in your life, do you have those memories where God gave you peace in that present moment, even though it may have been chaotic, it may have been difficult, it may have been full of unknowns? And are they moments that are you treasuring them up? Are you pondering them? Are you carrying them with you? If you look at your life, I think you'll see that God has been faithful to you. Always present. And that can be monumental in us knowing that he has the power to help us in the future.

So thirdly, we think of God's power in the future. Going back to our story, the birth of Jesus, just eight days after Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph take Jesus to the temple to be dedicated. And they meet a prophet, Simeon, who takes Jesus into his arms and starts praising God, recognizing that Jesus is the Messiah, the bringer of salvation, the glory of Israel. Just imagine as a parent bringing your child there and someone else is prophesying over the life that your child is going to have. That's the first proud parent moment right there. Luke 2:33 through 35 says, "The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother, 'This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be spoken against so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed and a sword will pierce your own soul too.'" That's a promise that no parent, no one ever wants to hear, a promise of future pain and future heartache. And even with this prophecy and Mary knowing that something challenging was up ahead, there's no way she could have known that the world's greatest blessing in Jesus Christ would be her greatest breaking in her life. That years later, she would be standing at the cross, seeing her son, her innocent son, suffering and dying on the cross. Mary who served and walked with Jesus for years, who knew before anyone else who this child was and the life that he would lead. And at that cross, she knows that he's been faithful. She looks in the past. She knows that he is good up on that cross, dying a death that he didn't deserve. And she knows that she can trust him with her future. And as she does that, just three days after her son died, God raised him from the dead. And I believe just as she had been doing since Jesus came into her life, she was trusting in God, looking back, feeling peace in the present, and then looking forward with even more hope after that moment. Hope and trusting in the power of God. It was the power to raise life from the dead, to overcome sin. In every unexpected moment that she faced, God gave her peace. And that peace gives her hope. Every unexpected moment that we face, however big or small, we can learn from Mary to slow down and reflect and ponder on what God has done and is doing in our lives. So I want to do some of that for us right now. If we could just reflect. Let's first, let's take the past. I want you to look back and think about the work that God has done in your life.

Think about the promises that he has made to you. And if you're saying, I have never heard a promise audible from God, let me point you to scripture. The promise of the Savior is for you. And Paul's words in Philippians 1:6 say, "Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry out to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Those words are for you. That the work that Jesus starts in you, he will finish. And he is going to keep working in your life until that work is complete when you are in heaven. So take note of your past moments that God has, where God has provided for you, where he has been faithful to you. And see and connect the dots that that is part of the work that he is doing in your life. Some of the hardest moments that you have endured. And I know you have all endured some very, very difficult moments. God is not absent in those moments. He's present. He was present with you. And he's still present with you. Ponder them and treasure them. Next, think of your present situation right now. Whatever season you're going through, know that the peace of God and the peace that is Christ is with you. Emmanuel, God is with us. We know, pastors, Chris, Pastor Lauren, myself, we know that so many of you here at church that it's been a very tough year. It's been a year of upheaval, of loss, of chaos, of pain, of a lot of unexpected moments. But in the midst of it, it has been so good to hear from so many of you that in the midst of it, you felt peace. You felt God being present with you. In some moment, big or small, God showed up. Whether through someone else, through his word, or just you felt his presence with you in the toughest of moments.

And I want you to remember that. Treasure those up in your heart because they're going to mean something in the future. You're going to need those moments to look back on. It may not seem significant now, but the memories from this present situation may be valuable for you in the future. And now I want you to think of the future. 2025 is just around the corner and the years to come. Some of you are looking to the future with anxiety and worry. It's hard not to. We don't know what the future holds. All of us, guaranteed, will face difficulties, challenges. Some of them will completely disrupt our lives. But we have hope. We have hope that is found in the person of Christ. In Christ, we have all hope to endure all things. For those who believe, we too, all that we face will be temporary. We will share a glorious future with him in heaven. Your afflictions, whether now or in the future, however hard and gut-wrenching they are, however heartbreaking they are, in church I know that they can seem impossible to overcome. But they are nothing compared to God's power and what God will do for you and the good that he is working. God has it. It's under his control. He is sovereign over all. And in the person of Christ, we have hope, true hope that is only found in him. This world will tell you of a lot of things that may give you hope, but they all fall short. And they are nothing compared to God and his power and his love for you. So this Christmas, I just want to end. I want to close with this. I want to remind you of who Jesus is, your Savior and your Messiah. When you're hurting, he is your comforter. When we're afraid, we need help, when you're in times of trouble or feeling weak or overwhelmed, he is our strength. When we're feeling rejected and alone, isolated, he is our friend and he will never leave you. He's always present with you. When you're facing financial struggles, he is your provider. When you're facing sickness, he is your healer. And when you are dealing with the sin in your life, he is your Savior. He loves you and he is working good in your life. And he's with you now. Ponder it, embrace it, remember it and treasure it. Even in this moment, he is Emmanuel. He is with us. Amen.

Let's pray. God, we can't do this life without you. And your Son is truly a gift, Jesus Christ. And we need him every moment of every day. And God, as we look back and we think of our lives and all the unexpected moments we faced, I hope that we can see how you have been present in those moments. And as we look at our present situation and we think of all that we're going through, whether it's a season of joy or it's a season of distress, God, I pray that you would give us peace and help us endure. And God, as we look to the future, again, full of unknowns, I pray that you would give us hope, that you would be our anchor, that we can move forward with all confidence that even if we don't know how anything will work at all, you do and you are with us. God, give us your peace this Christmas season. We are so excited to celebrate you. We pray this in your name. Amen.

Unexpected Moments - Part 3

Unexpected Moments

Love - God’s Love Can Reach Everyone

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

We are in our Unexpected Moments series, week three. First week we talked about Mary and the peace that she experienced in her unexpected moment that she was willing to do, as the Lord had said, and the peace that she experienced. And then Joseph was week two and we talked about the faith that he had and his obedience in that, that it took a lot of faith for him to be obedient in his unexpected moment. But both of those situations were unexpected and then turned into holy moments. And so today we're going to look at the perspective of the shepherds and how they had quite the unexpected moment. But again, God used it and turned it into a holy moment. And you know, isn't it just like God that when you are talking about something or learning about something or really focused on it, you see it everywhere and he just like really hits the point home. You know, like when you're like needing to work on patients, you hit every red light on the way to the place that you're late to, right? Like he just is really good that way, right? He just really hits that point home.

Well, this week we had an unexpected moment ourselves. I've been telling friends and family for weeks that this past week was my doozy of a week. Good stuff, but we just had so much planned. We had something almost every night. It was just a big, full week. Well, then Monday rolls around and I'm like trying to mentally gear up for this week. Hey, we got a lot to do. My five-year-old says his tummy hurts. That is not what you want to hear at the beginning of your busiest week of the month, right? So I'm like, all right, buddy, we're just going to, we're going to, hopefully this is no big deal. We're just going to roll with it. And so he just didn't feel it. It wasn't like himself all day long. And he goes to bed that night seeming to do better. But we'll see. And then at 3.38 a.m., yes, I know exactly what time it was. 3.38 a.m., our second oldest, Ellie, who shares a room with her brother, comes in. Mom, this is sick, come on. So I run into there. Thankfully, we had a bucket already prepared. She had given her brother the bucket and it saved the sheets. Can I get an amen? Okay, so save the sheets. So he's, I'm trying to comfort him and make sure he's okay. And I go, okay, buddy, I'm going to get you a wet washcloth. Hold on. I turn around and his big sister already has a wet washcloth ready for him. I'm like, oh, thanks, babe. Okay. And he's like, Mom, I want something to drink. So I go to the kitchen to get him something to drink. By the time I get back, his older sister has rinsed out the bucket for him and brought it back into him in case he needed it again. And this unexpected moment, this unwelcome moment, turned into this almost sacred moment where I got to see my kid, my older daughter, serving her brother. And in turn, she served me. It was the easiest middle of the night sick kid experience. I think I was awake for five minutes. It was great. We were just all, we all went back to bed. But she was so caring and kind and just, she just had such this heart to serve her brother because she'd been there too. She understood what it was like to be sick in the middle of the night. And so she did all the things that she knew would comfort her. And it was just, it almost, I was so proud of her. It really was this holy moment of getting to experience that and see her love her brother that way. And so we're going to dive into that and see how God can take some of these unexpected moments and often unwelcome and turn them into really holy, sacred things for us.

But before we do that, let's pray. God, we just thank you for today. I pray that you will use your word to speak into hearts today. May you be glorified in all we do and say. Amen. Oh, one more thing I promised to say. He was better. He woke up the next day. The week was not derailed. So thankfully, he was good, but he felt much better the next day. Just want to make sure I clarified that on his behalf.

So the shepherds, we don't know a lot about these shepherds. We don't know their names. We don't know how many there were, but they are a crucial part of this nativity story. So we're going to be in Luke 2. If you would turn there in your Bible or in your phone app, or it'll be on the screens as well, we are going to read verses 8 through 20. It's 12 verses. We're just going to read all the way through today. Starting in verse 8. And it says, “And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you. He is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you. You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.’ Suddenly, a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth. Peace to those on whom his favor rests.’ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherd said to one another, ‘Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.' So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and the baby who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child. And all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherd said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.”

So as far as we know, this was a run of the mill night for these guys. They were just out doing their job, taking care of their sheep, and then an angel appeared out of nowhere. I think glowing probably. It was, you know, it said there was light. So there was just this angel. And I think an appropriate response is fear. I would be a little nervous if all of a sudden an angel appeared and was talking to me. And so they were. They were terrified. But the angel told the shepherds, "Do not fear." It was the same message he gave Mary and Joseph when the angel appeared to them as well. "Do not fear." Now, having this creature sitting in front of you suddenly would bring about fear, but he was from God. This angel was a messenger from God. So there really was nothing for them to fear. So while it was unexpected, they did not need to fear because this message that the angel was bringing was from a loving God. And what do we know about love and fear? Well, 1 John 4:18 says, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment." The angel wasn't there to bring punishment. The angel wasn't there to bring a terrifying message or bring bad news. He was there to bring a good message of love. That was his whole goal. And so we can take this truth with us too, that love drives out fear. We don't need to walk in fear when we're serving a loving God. We don't need to be afraid when God speaks to us through His word or through other people or through our time in worship. We don't need to be afraid. Now, maybe we're a little nervous about what He's calling us to do. That can be a little scary sometimes, but we don't have to be afraid of the call He has put on in His life or the messages He gives us. We don't need to be afraid when we get bad news or when we're facing a really tough situation.

Again, those things that are humanist may seem scary, but we don't have to be afraid because we serve a loving God, and love drives out the fear. I imagine the angel just kind of standing there going, "I know, I know. This is kind of unexpected, but don't be afraid. All right? It's good. It's good news." And that's what He said. He immediately told them why they didn't have to be afraid. "I bring you good news. So don't be afraid. It's all good." So what was this good news? Well, there was a new baby in town. That always feels like good news, right? New baby, the long-awaited Messiah. This was the good news the angel wanted to share. It says in John 3:16 through 17, I'm sure many of you are familiar, "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him." This right here sums up the good news. This is the gospel, that God sent His Son out of His love for us. Now, the Jewish people had been waiting a really, really, really long time for a Messiah. God had been hinting at it since the fall of man. He'd been sending prophets and priests to help them know that He had a plan. But then there was also 400 years of silence. That's a long time to not hear from God. It was really dark times. There was a lot of waiting, a lot of hoping, waiting to see if God was going to come through on His promises. There was actually, in their case, a lot to be afraid of. But the angels told the shepherds not to be afraid because they knew that love can drive out fear.

Sometimes fear is our natural first response, fight or flight, right? That's just kind of the natural way our bodies react to certain situations. But what would it look like if we chose to rest in God's love rather than leaning into the fear? How would we live differently? I think we would actually live a lot differently. I think we would be more bold in our faith if we weren't afraid of what other people would say or think. I think we would be more confident in our identity in Christ. We would operate in a surer identity that we are Christ's, that we are His. Ultimately, I think we would just be more effective for the kingdom. We would share the gospel more. We would make different choices. We would respond differently if we weren't afraid. But we can. We can choose to do that because love drives out the fear. Now, although God had been silent for hundreds of years, the Israelites still had the prophecies from the Old Testament to hold onto. And that really is what they held onto as they were waiting for the Messiah. And one of these prophets was Isaiah. And in Isaiah 9, we see just one of the prophecies. Verse 2 and 6 says, "The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. On those living in the land of deep darkness, a light has dawned. For to us, a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

With Jesus' coming, He was fulfilling these prophecies. And the shepherds got to be the first to hear about it. In a literal dark of night on a hillside outside of Bethlehem, light came into the world. The light came to the world. This tiny baby brought light after 400 years of silence. Waiting is really, really hard. Ask my five-year-old. He'll tell you. "Mom, waiting is so hard." I know, bud. But waiting is even harder when you're waiting in the darkness. When you feel like your situation is never-ending. When you feel like you have no idea what the next right step is. When you're just like, "God, I've been praying for this one specific thing for a very long time." And your answer is still no or not yet. That is really hard. But I promise you that even a no or a not yet from God is not Him withholding His love. In fact, in His sovereignty, Him answering in the affirmative might actually be unloving. It might not be what is best for you. And that doesn't feel good, right? But because we serve a loving God and He can't do anything outside of His character, He will only do what is loving. And sometimes loving is no or not yet. So when He feels like He's silent, it's not a lack of love. It's an invitation for us to wait. To wait on Him. To surrender to Him. To be still. Maybe not literally still all the time, but a heart posture. Because when we do that, when we are waiting on Him, when we are still before Him, it's so that we don't miss when the breakthrough does come. When the light does peek through. When the darkness gets pushed back either just a little bit or blown out. We don't want to miss it. So it's an invitation to draw closer to Him. To draw near to Him, even in the darkness. Because He's there. He will never leave us. I don't know what these particular shepherds were going through in this time in their lives. Again, we don't know much about them. But I wonder, you know, did they have a fight with their wife before they went and watched the sheep? Were they having financial troubles? Maybe some health issues that they were dealing with? I don't know. We don't know, but they were human. So we can assume they had something going on. Just like us, we all have some sort of thing we're facing. But despite their struggles, this unexpected moment turned into a holy moment because the light came into the darkness.

Again, back to Isaiah. It says, "The people walking in darkness have seen a great light." Now, this particular idea is meant regarding people who are walking in the darkness of sin without the light of salvation. But it also can apply to those of us who are walking in seasons of darkness. Thankfully, the light came. They didn't have to stay in darkness. The light came and His love dispelled darkness, and it does the same for us, too. Darkness can be different for all of us, and even in different seasons. We might face different seasons of darkness or types. Maybe it looks like relationship problems or financial concerns. Maybe you've received a tough diagnosis or a close one has. Maybe you've lost someone this year like so many in our church have, and you're going through grief. It could be mental health struggles or feelings of loneliness. It could be sin issues. Maybe there's a sin that just has a hold on you that you're struggling to surrender. Or maybe you aren't walking with Jesus yet, and that's your darkness. But whatever it is that you're facing, whatever darkness you're experiencing right now, His light is bright enough for any of it. He can break through any darkness that we face. John 1-9 says, "The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world." That is some good news. So where do you need Jesus's light in your life right now? What darkness do you need Him to come and dispel? Because He's so good to do that. He is the light of the world, and He dispels the darkness. Well, here's the kicker for us. The angel said that they bring good news, which we've already talked about what the good news is, but it wasn't just good news for the shepherds that day. It was good news for all people. Good news of great joy for all the people.

Now, I wanted to dive a little bit deeper into this, so I went and looked up the Greek. I wanted to know what the original language meant. So the Greek word here for all is "pas." P-A-S. So "pas." And here's what it means. All. All of it. All against you. Individually, each, every, any, all, the whole, everyone, all things, everything, collectively, some of all types. It literally means everybody. How many people is that? All the people. It is for everyone. If that's not good news, I can't help you. That is some good news. No matter what we're facing, no matter what fears we have, no matter what roadblocks we're up against or feeling like it's never going to get better, he came for all of us. So my next question was, well, if this message is for all people, why did he come to a bunch of shepherds? We don't even know these guys' names, so why would he go to them? Why didn't he go to some king or some political figure that could send out some proclamation and spread the word quicker? Why didn't he go to maybe raise up some new prophets? They already had a history of hearing from prophets, so why didn't he raise up a new prophet to spread the message? Why didn't he do it in a more populated city? Bethlehem was already small, and then they were in the outskirts of Bethlehem in a hillside. Why didn't he go in a more populated city? Or why didn't he go in the daytime when more people were out and they could see this amazing display? Why did he choose to tell some shepherds in a countryside outside of a tiny town in the middle of the night? We don't know specifically, but we can look at the rest of Scripture and make some educated guesses. First of all, shepherds weren't necessarily like the lowest of the low by any means, but their job was real dirty. Like, if you've ever been on a farm and smelled the smells, it was not a glamorous job, right? They were taking care of sheep, they were sleeping outside, they did not have hot showers at the end of the day. It was not a job that people were necessarily envious of, but it was important. And there are some things that we can pick out that I think really speak to this. Shepherds were there to take care of the sheep who also had lambs. And in this time period, lambs were used for sacrifices. They were still doing sacrifices in the temple at the time, and so they needed shepherds so that their supply of lambs would continue. The Jewish is just a really important part of their Jewish culture. So while it was not a glamorous job, it was an important job. And this little hint for us, this little Easter egg that we see in the story is that the shepherds cared for the lambs that would be used as sacrifices so that it would point to Jesus, who was the lamb, who would be our sacrifice. He was the ultimate sacrifice. I think the second reason that God sent angels to shepherds was because Jesus also called himself the shepherd. It's like a hyperlink to another scripture.

In John 10:11, the same word for shepherd there is also what is used in our Luke 2 passage. And it says, this is Jesus talking, He says, "I am the good shepherd." The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. So highlighting the shepherds points us to the grown man Jesus, who was going to lead his sheep, his followers, us, and he was going to sacrifice himself and lay down his life for his sheep. There's these little things that we can find that say, oh, maybe that's why God went and told some shepherds. And lastly, I believe that it was because they were ordinary. I think that was important. He could have gone to the elite. He could have gone to a king. But he went to ordinary men very intentionally to show us that God's love is for all people. It wasn't just for the rich and famous. It wasn't just for the ones who had it all together. It wasn't just for the elite or the upper class. It was for everyone. By verse 17, we can see that they were already spreading the word. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about the child and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. They were already believing them. They were already getting the message. Because Jesus' love is for all people, the message of love went to the ordinary people so that the other ordinary people would hear it and know that it was for them too. The beautiful thing is that it's also for us. It wasn't just for them at that time. We can know that this message of love, of this Messiah that came to save us, to shine his light in the darkness, it's for us too. Because it's for all people. It's for those of us who have major fears or who are facing darkness. It's good news for all people across space and time. For those who are facing struggles, who think they're too far gone. Or maybe you think someone else is too far gone. It's for them too. It's for the ones that feel like their sin issue is too much. What they've done is too far out of God's realm of forgiveness. It couldn't possibly be them. It is. It's for them too. It is for the ones that don't feel important enough or polished enough or smart enough. It is for all people. The good news that these angels brought to the shepherds was that the light had come. Fear had no place with love. And that the good news was for all the people.

Let's pray. Jesus, we thank you for who you are. We thank you that you came and that you told some ordinary shepherds in a countryside that you were here. In your sovereignty, in your goodness, and in your love, you came to us. And you did it in such a way that tells us that it's for all of us. God, I pray that in this season, whatever we are facing, that you would remind us of your light and of your love. That we have no need to fear. And that your light and your love is big enough to push back the darkness. Be with us as we face those dark seasons. Comfort us as we mourn. Be present as we're unsure of the next step. And remind us that the good news is for us just as much as it is for anybody. We praise you and we thank you for who you are. And then we get to celebrate you this Christmas season in Jesus' name. Amen.

Unexpected Moments - Part 2

Unexpected Moments

Faith - Obedience in Faith

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

The idea in this whole series is focusing in on moments that were completely unexpected with the Christmas story. But when we see them from a heavenly perspective, not necessarily our earthly perspective, we see the purpose in those. And what most people would consider earthly chaos, God actually has ordained and to put into motion for his heavenly purpose. And last week, Pastor Andre talked about Mary who came on scene and we know the whole story of her happening. But today I wanna talk about someone who may not necessarily get the limelight or the spotlight or the sermons or the paintings or the stained glass that Mary does. But first I want us to think about, it's been said that life is not measured in time, but life is measured in moments. Life is not measured in time, life is measured in moments. And this is true in so many ways when you think about it, when you look back maybe this past year or this past month, maybe this past week or even yesterday, we don't remember everything that happens in that time. But what we do remember are the moments, moments in our past, moments in our past year, in the past week, the past day, yesterday. And we really, when you think about it, moments are what we hold onto.

I remember as a kid moments of vacations with my parents. I remember moments of holidays and Christmases, moments with my grandparents who have gone ahead before me to heaven, the special moments with them. I remember the moment when I answered the call to become a full-time vocational pastor. I was at a youth conference in North Carolina. I remember that moment almost like yesterday. I remember moments when I proposed to my wife on the beach in Catalina Island in Southern California. And it was that moment, that special moment. I didn't eat any dinner hours before, I was so nervous. But I remember that moment playing her a song I had written her and getting down on one knee and asking her to be my bride. And then a year later, I remember the moment she walked down the aisle at our wedding just here in Loomis at the flower farm. I remember that moment. I remember the moment when I found out I was gonna be a dad for the very first time. And Lauren telling me and surprising me and we had been trying for a while and we were so excited for that moment I became a dad. I remember the unexpected moment. When I had to put our family dog Ace down, he had brain cancer and it wasn't doing well. I remember that moment holding him as he breathed his last breath. And I remember the other moments of holding my children for the very first time. They were just minutes old and get to hold them in my arms after praying for them for nine months in that moment. Time is measured by moments.

And in our series of unexpected moments, we're looking at specific moments in the story of the birth of our savior, Jesus Christ. And to look at a very powerful moment this morning, a very unexpected moment. And when you hear about this moment, I think you might find yourself learning from this time. Because you and I have no idea what God can do through one unexpected moment of obedience. We have no idea what God can do. And some of you know that. You've been prompted at times unexpectedly to do something. To do something, to say something, to give something. And you did something, you said something, and you gave something. And you look back and you think, oh wow. Look at what God did through that unexpected moment in my life. I can't believe what he did through what seemed to be a small act of obedience. Other times you felt prompted to do or say or give something. And we didn't know all of the details. And because it was unexpected, we didn't do it. And maybe sometime in the future, we look back and wonder, what did we miss out on? What was God doing in that unexpected moment that he wanted to do through us? And because we chose not to obey, God didn't do it through us. If you wanted to write down the title for this morning for notes, it would be, When It's Hard to Obey, Obedience and Faith. And when we think about the obedience and faith that was needed, even before Jesus was born, it's pretty incredible. Surrounded by unexpected moment after unexpected moment after unexpected moment. And yet, even though it was hard to obey, they had obedience and faith. Pray with me. Jesus, thank you for this morning. God, I pray that our hearts would be open to you, that you would do a work in us through your word. Give us the faith to obey today, God, knowing that you are always good and that your word is always true and that you are always with us every single moment of every single day. We thank you, Jesus, for who you are. We pray all this in Jesus' name. Everybody said, amen, amen.

Well, we're gonna dive into this morning a very special part of the Christmas story. And we're gonna be in Matthew's Gospel, chapter one, starting in verse 18. And I will read a portion of this to you right now. And it says, "This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother Mary was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit." Chances are pretty good here that many of you were very familiar with this part of Scripture. You may have heard the story before and you probably know Mary, right? Mary gets all the sermons, Mary gets all the limelight. Everybody focuses in on Mary. But what I wanna focus in on and talk to you about today is about Joseph. And who is probably one of the most important, least talked about characters in all of the Bible. One of the reasons he's not talked about a lot is we just don't know a whole lot about him. He didn't, what we understand is that he didn't live the normal length of a life in that day. We think that he probably passed away earlier in life than what was normal. But what I want us to focus in on here for a second is what we do know about Joseph, okay? So what we do know about Joseph is he was a carpenter. He says that in Matthew 13:55. It also says that he was a righteous and faithful man. We know that he was a descendant of David through the chronological order of Scripture in there at the beginning of Matthew, as well as in Luke 2:4. We know that Joseph was Mary's husband in Matthew 1:16. And we know that Joseph was Jesus's earthly father. But outside of that, we don't know a whole lot about him.

What we do know about him is that he had one unexpected moment of obedience that helped bring about a change that impacts each and every one of us even today. When we look at Joseph and we see him in Scripture, we see him very early on in the life of Jesus from this part of Scripture in Matthew through his younger years. And the last time that we actually hear about Joseph is when Jesus is about 12 years old, and then he seems to kind of disappear. And what scholars tend to believe is that he most likely died sometime after when Jesus was a teenager. And we believe this and understand this is because Joseph and Mary would have divorced, it would have been something very important to the story that would have been included in Scripture and it's not there. But what is mentioned is the fact that Jesus lived at home until about 30 years old. Now, they didn't have video games back then, so Jesus just wasn't living in Joseph and Mary's basement, like a bum, okay? But it was actually culturally seen as a way that if your mom was widowed, you lived at home to help her until you're about 30 years old. And so when we see this, we hear about Jesus, then at the end of his life on the cross, we see that Jesus asked the beloved disciple, John, to actually take care of Mary. And this would have been culturally accepted to pass off that caretaker of Mary to someone else because she was a widow. So in the context of our story, back to Matthew chapter one, the Scripture here says that he, Joseph, was engaged to Mary. Now, in our modern thought, we may think that being engaged happens, what, 22, 23, 25, 26 years old? But actually in this way, Mary was probably 14, 15, maybe even 13 years old. You may think, wow, that's pretty young, but that's kinda how they did it back then. And Mary was a virgin, and she comes to Joseph and says, "I'm pregnant." Joseph hears this news knowing that he had not been with her intimately yet, that Joseph would have been devastated beyond all measure. And the more that we think about this, probably because in the understanding, the context of the first century, engagement culture is when you got engaged. But it wasn't just the proposal, right? It wasn't just the proposal with the whole moment and the outdoors with the photographers, like that capture that moment for the gram, right? That moment for Instagram, you have that picture and that moment of hashtag ring before spring, hashtag I'm married, you're not, like hashtag check out the ring. Like that wasn't how the proposal thing was in the first century. It was a little bit different. A proposal meant a legal agreement when they got engaged, and they were technically, as we understand today, in our context, they were married, but they weren't allowed to consummate the marriage. And when they were engaged, until they had the official ceremony. And so Joseph and Mary would have not participated in any gift of lovemaking at that point. They would have been waiting until after the ceremony.

So when Mary comes to Joseph and says, I'm pregnant, she has gone off and slept with some guy. And for Joseph, I can only imagine the emotions and what he was feeling, and that the reality was that this was going to be a life ruining scandal for both of them. Because in that context, Mary, who he loved with all of his heart, who was gonna be the future mother of their children, who his best friend, everything that Mary was in that moment was broken. She had disobeyed God. She had dishonored her family. She had put Joseph in a place that he was going to be disgraced publicly. He'd been laughed at. He would have been mocked. He would have been shunned from his own friends and family and community. And it was considered such a horrible sin in that culture that in Deuteronomy 22, Joseph could have legally had her stoned. Now that wasn't common practice. What was more common practice was that to avoid all of the shame and all the scandal for Joseph's side, he would go before the city council and he would have basically his name cleared, showing that he had no part in participation with this, that he would have his name good. But for Mary, she would have probably ended up living by herself, raising her only child, giving herself away to make income, which most likely ended in prostitution that day. So for Joseph, he's in this horrible place. The woman of his dreams has apparently betrayed him. And how his next actions and how he chose to walk forward could potentially ruin her life even more. But what do we know about him? You remember we had just talked about him? We know that he was a righteous man, and he didn't want to disgrace her or to shame her. And so that's why when reading the scripture, he was thinking about basically separating from her or divorcing her quietly. But what Joseph didn't realize is that at this lowest unexpected moment, it was about to become one of his holiest moments. In his life. Moving from what was earthly chaos into heavenly purpose.

Scripture tells us continuing on in verse 20, “As he considered all of this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. ‘Joseph, son of David,' the angel said, 'Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife.’” Before we look at what Joseph did, I want you to notice what Joseph did not do, okay? The angel of the Lord said, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. But what didn't he do? He didn't explain away the dream. He didn't wake up and go, man, I should not have had that pizza that late. That was weird. Right? He didn't argue with God. He didn't say, hey, hold on, wait a minute. You're asking me to put my name on a line and trust some random dream? I'm not gonna do that. Joseph didn't negotiate with God. Go, okay, God, if this is really you, next time I take a nap, I need a dream with 12 angels. And I need each of them wearing a T-shirt that says this is your sign. Okay? No, he didn't negotiate. He didn't fight back. He didn't ask for details. Ooh. Okay, God, if I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna need to know how all of this is gonna play out before I make one decision going forward. He didn't do any of that. As the angel said before, did you guys catch that? Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. Verse 24, when Joseph woke up from the dream, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. I think if there was one statement for us, when we were to come to the end of our life, we would want to be known as we did what God commanded us to do, that we were obedient. Without understanding all the details. And Joseph proves this thought to us, is you don't have to understand completely to obey immediately. We don't. We don't have to understand completely to obey immediately. We don't have to know every single detail. We don't have to have every single thing ironed out. We don't need to have all of the information before us, before we make that decision. All we need to know is that if God is in it in the beginning, God will be in it through the end. 'Cause when you think about it, what Joseph didn't know he didn't have hardly any information at all, right? Think about the details that Joseph didn't know. Joseph didn't know that when Mary was gonna be nine months pregnant, there was gonna be a decree issued and they were gonna have to travel a hundred miles by donkey or horseback or walking to Bethlehem. They didn't know that. Joseph didn't know that on that journey, his wife was gonna be very, very, very, very, very, very pregnant. Probably wasn't the most joyful trip in life. They were gonna be traveling a long distance at winter time with low freezing temperatures at night. They were gonna go through areas of wild animals, of people known for robbing others along the journey. It was gonna be a dangerous trip. Joseph didn't know that when they arrived in Bethlehem, that there weren't gonna be any hotel rooms. Everything was gonna be sold out 'cause everybody was there for the census. Joseph didn't know that. Joseph didn't know that his wife was going to give birth in basically a farmstead in a barn next to animals. Joseph didn't know that. Joseph didn't know then that at some point, all this information was gonna get out that Herod, the king, was gonna issue decree that all boys under the age of two were to be killed and they were gonna have to go on the run. Joseph didn't know that. Joseph didn't know that he was gonna have to deal with the weight as they escaped with baby Jesus, knowing that their friends, their families, people that they loved that had children, boys under two, those kids were gonna be killed. They didn't know the weight that they were gonna have to hold and the guilt, knowing that their baby was safe and others were being killed. Joseph did not have any idea of the weight it would have been to raise the son of God. And yet, without knowing any details, he obeyed immediately.

So how does this apply to you? Well, at some point, God is gonna ask you and prompt you through his word, through his Holy Spirit to do something. And he's gonna ask you to do this without knowing any of the details. And you're going to find yourself maybe in a relationship, maybe dating, looking at the younger people in the room, and you're gonna think, I can't be with the right person if I'm currently dating the wrong person. And you're gonna have to have that conversation of thinking, I need to end this. But you're gonna think, well, God, I put so much time into this relationship. I've been with this person for so long. Like, I just can't cut it off. I'm gonna be all alone. But God's gonna prompt you to do something, and it's gonna be our moment then to see, do we obey or do we not? God's gonna stir in your hearts to use your gifts in the church. Because we know that we don't go to church, but that we are the church. And we all have gifts, and we all are important, and we're all valuable, and we all have our part to play in the body of Christ. We don't just watch what happens in the kingdom of God. We are partners in the kingdom of God. And you're gonna say, but God, I'm just so busy. I've got so much going on. And yet God's gonna prompt you to go, maybe some of that going on isn't what I want you to be going on doing. You need to change your priorities. God may prompt you to give something, to bless somebody. But God, money is just so tight. Have you seen the cost of a banana lately? Gas is expensive, life is expensive, inflation is through the roof. Interest is crazy. Stock markets are up and down, left and right, upside downwards, upside overs. But God, he's gonna prompt you to give something to be a blessing. Or maybe somebody betrays you, and God's word is gonna pierce your heart. And he's gonna say, you have to forgive others in the same way that I have forgiven you. And we have a choice to make. And it may be hard, and it may not know all the details. It may cost us something. God is prompting you, but you don't know how it's all gonna play out.

I want to encourage you in these moments, these unexpected moments, to remember that obedience is our responsibility, but the outcome is God's. Obedience is our responsibility, and the outcome is God. And he's gonna lead us to these moments of prompting, and all we can do is make the right choice and to trust him with the details. That's all we can do. That's all that he's asking us to do. And I think when I, the more I have conversations with people in the church, and I meet more Christians in my life, some of these things keep coming up. And what I would consider, or what I would call maybe more cultural Christians, the problem is that there are so many Christians that I would say are way educated beyond their level of obedience. In other words, we have all this head knowledge of who God is, and the Bible, and how church works, and how salvation works, and all this stuff, but our lives do not reflect a life of application of what we already know. People will say, "Feed me, pastor. "Feed me, pastor. "Feed me, pastor. "Teach me, pastor. "Give me more information. "Grow me, pastor. "Grow me. "Give me more. "Give me more. "Give me more. "Feed me, feed me, feed me." And I think what we need is to be obedient to what God has already told us. We need to be obedient to what his scripture has already said to our hearts, but we just want more information. We live in an information hungry world, right? We have to know what the details are. We have to know how things work. We caught ourselves this week Googling different things in our household of questions about Christmas that we didn't know because we couldn't just sit with the unknown, right? We have to know more, but this is not the life that God has called us to. We have to be obedient. We know his word and we should apply it. And we should also walk in obedience without knowing all the details and to trust him with the results. This is called faith. Joseph didn't have all the details. And yet he did what the angel of the Lord told him to do.

And the angel said this, verse 20, "For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and she will have a son and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." This is why Jesus came. This is why God sent Jesus to us. The child within Mary was a miraculous, holy birth conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. Why does this matter? Chris, why are you telling us this? Well, I'm telling you this because what is happening here is that if Jesus was conceived by human seed, then what would have followed would have been sin nature because sin nature is tied with the human seed. But instead, the spiritual nature of God, he was born into Jesus without sin so he could live without sin in order to be the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world. I don't know about you, but I know that I need grace. I, every single day, I need God's forgiveness. So let me ask you, what is your sin? Where are you heavy? Where are you feeling the weight of that on your heart today because I wanna tell you, you battling greed? God's got grace for your greed. Are you battling jealousy? There's forgiveness for your jealousy. Are you, have you been angry? His grace covers your sins. There is no sin too great that cannot be covered by the grace of God. Jesus was born of a virgin without sin so that he could die and we could have the forgiveness of our sins.

And the angel says, "Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife." And Joseph obeys. Knowing that there will be significant cost, knowing that he's gonna face serious opposition, he's gonna face ridicule. But time and time again in my life, see, I'm in this interesting place. Realize this this week. That I'm too old to be considered young but then I'm too young to be considered old. I'm in this no man's land, right? Right, I'm too old, right? Yeah, I'm too young, right? Right, yeah, I'm too, yeah. I'm too old and I'm too young at the exact same time. But I will tell you the life that I've lived, the short life that I have lived, of these almost 40 something years on earth, that every time that I have said yes to God and stepped out in obedience to where he has called me, there has been opposition. And there will be opposition. Your obedience will cost you something at some point. You'll have to say no to friends or others about being around them 'cause they're pulling you away from God. Maybe it's social drinking, maybe it's participating in activities you're not supposed to be doing. You know God's word and you know you're not supposed to do that. And yet you're gonna have to say no and step away in obedience, but you'll face opposition. Your friends will judge you. Those who call your closest in your decision to choose God will ridicule you. You'll have to step away from sexual proximity. You'll have to say no to those things. Why? Because you know that should be done only within the context of marriage. For those who are younger, the scripture tells us there's a better way to live and that's to wait for sex until you're married. And then you make up for lost time. Okay? It's not no forever. But we know that because God has a better life for us to live. There's gonna be times where God's gonna call you to be generous. And the world is gonna say, you're giving away your money. You're gonna give 10%, 11%, 12%, 15%. And if you're real crazy, I know people who will give away 50% of their profits to God for His glory, for His church and His kingdom. But the world's gonna look at you and go, you're nuts. Know what you could do with that money? You could have a vacation house. You could have a brand new car. You could have the vacations of dreams. The world's gonna ridicule you. You're gonna have to step out and trust God. And obedience is going to be difficult. But you have no idea what God can do through unexpected moments of obedience, just as He did with Joseph. And the angel said to him, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. And Joseph did as the angel commanded, a moment. Life isn't measured by time. It's measured by moments.

So where does this leave us? Here's a question for us to ponder. Where do I need to be obedient to the prompting of God? It may be as big as Joseph in this moment to stay with Mary. It may be as simple as I need to delete an app off my phone. But where do I, ask yourself this question, where do I need to be obedient to the prompting of God? God's gonna prompt you by His word, I promise you. I hope you're reading His word. You should be reading His word. I'll tell you that today. He's gonna prompt you by the leading of His Holy Spirit in your life. He might ask you to confess a sin. He might ask you to confess an addiction that you need help. You might need to apologize to someone for something you did wrong. He might lead you to forgive someone in the same way that Christ has forgiven you. He might prompt you to pray for somebody, not just pray for them, but to let them know that you're praying for them. He might prompt you to be a witness to someone. Probably not on the street corner with a bullhorn shaking a sign, but probably in the small moments of life in the way that you love others, the way that God has loved us. He might prompt you to invite somebody with the Christmas card this season. But maybe even beyond that, to have a relationship with someone who doesn't know Jesus yet and live a life in a way that is attractive to them, that is different from the world and to the place that they want to come to church with you because they want to know more about this Jesus and this God and this love and this peace that you have in your life that the world cannot understand. You have no idea what God might do in you through one simple, unexpected moment of obedience.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, stir within us today. God, I pray that you would give us the faith and the courage to obey. And as we're reflecting today, God, I wonder how many of us would say that I want to hear from you, God. And not only, God, do I want to hear from you, I want to be even more obedient. God, I see the courage and the incredible obedience that Joseph had in that situation with Mary. God, I want that for my life. If that is you right now, I would do something different. I want you to just raise your hand and say, I want to be obedient to God. I want to be obedient to Jesus. I want to say yes to God. Raise your hand right now if that's you. You want to say, I want to be obedient. And God, I pray that you would give us the faith, Jesus, you would give us the faith to be obedient as Joseph was obedient. God, speak to us, God, convict us, God. Wherever we are sinful, God, I pray that you would lead us in the right direction. God, search our heart. Lead us in your way that's everlasting. God, speak to us. I pray that there would be people, God, that couldn't even walk out of the church building today without reaching out to someone with a word of encouragement. A word of blessing, a moment of prayer, God, that you would help us to be available to you in every moment, in any moment, God, and especially in unexpected moments. That God, when you speak, you would give us the faith to obey just as the angel said and just like Joseph did. That when you speak, God, we will obey.

And as you keep praying this morning, there might be some here today that would say that you're hurting spiritually. And today, Jesus wants to bring you spiritual healing. I told you earlier that I need grace every single day. I need grace for my sins. I need grace for my mistakes. And I'd be curious if we were to sit down and have an honest conversation about spiritual things. And I said, where do you stand with God? Like chances that some of us would say that yeah, we messed up. I've done things wrong. And I want to know this love. See, we've all sinned. Bible tells us that, that every single one of us, and we actually inherit this sin nature. We were born into sin. Sin is passed down from generation to generation. And that is why Jesus was different because he didn't inherit the sin nature of man, but the spiritual nature of the heavenly father. See, this is the good news is that Jesus was without sin. He was the perfect sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins. So if you're under condemnation, you have the weight, you have the burden of sin in your heart, I want you today to know that you can confess that and you can receive forgiveness. That we turn away from our sins. We call on the name of Jesus, our hearts and our prayers. He forgives us of our sins that you're not here in this moment right now by happenstance. It's not an accident that today you are here and Jesus wants to give you that forgiveness today. So today you would say to Jesus, I surrender my life to you. Those who would say that I'm ready. Today I leave my old life, I give my life to Jesus. Take a moment, show me, look at me today, raise your hand, say yes today, I want to receive that love of Jesus. I wanna receive that forgiveness. For those of you who said yes, this is my prayer for you. Jesus, I need your grace, I need your mercy, I need your salvation. Know that when you are in the presence of a good God who loves you so much, I want us all to pray this together. I think this is a great reminder. Even if it's your first time praying this prayer, maybe you've prayed this prayer before, you received Jesus before. I don't want anybody to pray alone this morning, I want all of us to pray together. I want all of us to pray and to have a reminder about this moment in our life when we say yes to Jesus. So repeat this after me out loud. Heavenly Father, forgive my sins. Jesus, I trust you to save me, to make me new, to fill me with your Spirit so that I could know you and serve you and obey you and show your love in all that I do. My life is not my own. I give it all to you. Thank you for your new life. Now you have mine. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. Can we just give God praise?

Unexpected Moments - Part 1

Unexpected Moments

Peace - Trusting that God is in Control

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

Like Pastor Chris just said, I'm so thankful to have a season focusing on gratitude and now we're gonna turn our attention to Christmas. It's the first Sunday of Advent. You may hear the word "Advent" a lot in church and maybe you know, but in case you don't, I just want to remind us that Advent is the four-week season in the church calendar dedicated to anticipating the arrival or the advent of Jesus, the long-awaited Messiah and King. Simply, it's a time of waiting for Jesus. One pastor says the good news of Advent is not that we are faithful in our waiting, we often aren't faithful in our waiting, but that God is faithful in His arrival. And it's that arrival that we celebrate every year. And I just want to take a moment for all of us to think and back up a bit to recognize and appreciate that Christians all over the world from many different backgrounds celebrate this time with reflections of peace and hope and love and joy and we are joining with them in anticipating the arrival of Christ. This Advent, we're gonna take some time to reflect on some of those moments of hope, peace, love, and joy, but through a unique lens. In our Advent series, we're gonna take a look at four specific moments in the birth story of Jesus, what we are calling unexpected moments. Moments from the human perspective that look like they may be full of chaos and crisis, but actually turn into divine moments, holy moments filled with heavenly purpose. We'll look at various angles of the birth of Jesus starting today from Mary finding peace in the midst of life-altering news, to the obedience that Joseph needed when being asked by God to partner with him in the birth of his son, to the news of Jesus' birth being brought to the shepherds of all people. Our theme throughout this series is what we see as unexpected may actually be God-ordained and might be a holy moment for us too. And as we look back on these unexpected holy moments in Scripture, we'll also look to our own lives and await how God might move in unexpected ways, producing something holy in and through us for his glory. So I'm really looking forward to seeing each one of these stories in an unexpected moment being used for God's divine purpose.

Today we're going to be in Luke chapter 1. If you want to turn there, it'll be on the screen. Luke chapter 1:26-38, which again holds this unexpected moment where Mary learns that her life will never be the same. Changed forever with the news from the angel that she would become the mother of the long-awaited Savior. I just want to quickly provide some context for where we're at in the story of the Bible. We're at the beginning of the New Testament where the Israelites have been waiting for the Messiah for a very long time. I'm gonna do--this is gonna be super brief--overview of the entire Bible, okay? Well, kind of. We're starting in the Exodus. But after the Israelites, God's people, escaped Egypt. They went to the Promised Land, but they were not satisfied with that fulfillment of God's promise. They wanted more, and they wanted a king. And so God sent judges and then kings, and then the kings led to Israel's downfall. And it was a sad downfall for the nation of Israel, and they were in captivity for a long time. And we just had a series earlier this year in Nehemiah talking about the end of captivity and Israel coming back to their land, but never reaching their former status of glory like they were in the days of King David and King Solomon. It was still a struggle, but God continued to reach out to them, hoping that they would follow him, specifically through prophets who brought truth and tried to, again, bring them back to what they were supposed to do, a life of obedience to God's Word. And these prophets always pointed them forward to a coming Savior, the Messiah, who would save them. And ever since captivity, ever since those glory days of Israel, other foreign powers had been the superpower of the world. And at this time, Rome is the world's superpower. And so Israel is hearing these prophecies and is thinking, "Man, we have a Savior coming at some point. We hope that our Savior, our King, is going to overthrow this superpower, Rome, and that we will be back on top in the world." But it's been 200 years since the last prophet. It's a time of silence, and the people are just waiting for God to move. It's a long, long season of Advent. And it's in that time of waiting that we come to our series and our sermon today.

So I want to go ahead and read our passage together, starting in verse 26. You guys can follow along. It says, "In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, 'Greetings, you who are highly favored. The Lord is with you.' Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, 'Do not be afraid, Mary. You have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. You will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever. His kingdom will never end.' 'How will this be?' Mary asked the angel, 'Since I am a virgin.' The angel answered, 'The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth, your relative, is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month, for no word from God will ever fail.' 'I am the Lord's servant,' Mary answered. 'May your word to me be fulfilled.' And then the angel left her.”

Let's pray one more time. God, thank you again for your word, for your truth, and for the arrival of your Son Jesus, the Incarnation, that bring about the redemption plan that you have had since sin, since before, since the creation of the world. And we are just so thankful to take time in our lives and in our calendar to celebrate. God, I pray that you would be with us this morning as we read about how you take unexpected moments that aren't unexpected to you at all, and reveal to us the plan that you are working, making things holy in our lives. Speak to us this morning, God, we pray this in your name, amen.

So I just want to point out a few things in our lens of unexpected moments. Really we're gonna see two sides of this unexpected moment. One that is earthly chaos, and the other side which is heavenly purpose, represented in these two parties. Mary being the one who embodies potential chaos and crisis, and the angel as one who carries this future heavenly purpose, this message of a divine purpose. So let's take a look at this situation through the lens of Mary. In verse 27 we find out that she's a virgin pledged to be married. This news is a source of possible chaos initially, disrupting her plans, what she thought her life was going and what her life was going to look like. Just like we do today, I'm sure Mary had dreams and expectations and a life forming in her mind of, "I'm pledged to be married, these are the relationships and the family, this is what life is gonna look like, this is what our home is gonna look like." Wondering how they're gonna fit in to the community and their family. I'm sure you guys have done something similar, maybe moving to a new area, getting a new job, and you just start thinking about, "Oh, am I gonna become friends with co-workers or my neighbors or what's it gonna look like in this dynamic and what is life gonna be?" And you start wondering but also hoping and expecting, "This is what it is gonna be, I'm gonna make effort for it to be like this." And then what if at some point in that, you just get news that it's gonna be totally different. That is a moment for me at least, for someone who likes control and wants to know what's happening, that is major stress, major anxiety, it's a lot. And so that's where Mary is in this moment. And then in verses 28 through 29, the angel spoke and Mary was terrified. This is another chaotic moment. Angels who were, you know, they're not the precious moment angels that we think of. They're not very cute and cherubs and baby halos and wings, they're terrifying. Every encounter in the Bible with an angel, the person is terrified and the angel has to say, "Hold on, it's okay. I'm from God, I'm good and God's got something good for you." And so this is, even not just mentally for Mary, in the moment, this is chaos, this is crisis. And then in verses 30 through 35, there's this future possible chaos, having a child out of wedlock, the unknowns of her relationship with Joseph. How would he take the news? The message that the angel brings is good news and we'll get to that in a second, but at first glance, when hearing these words, the situation is just boiling over with anxiety, confusion, doubt, and stress. What would people think? How is this gonna happen? What would become of, again, the relationship? Would she have to raise this child alone? What would this child be like? It was certainly unexpected and it could have meant a lot of chaos and led to a crisis. But instead, we know that the message is of good news and there's this presence of peace that the angel brings. So this other perspective of divine purpose, heavenly purpose, verses 30 through 33, the angel delivers the good news of the coming Messiah. And now we're getting to that divine meaning and that heavenly purpose. This is the Messiah that Israel has been waiting for, the one who would bring about God's kingdom. And as the prophet said, this would be the Prince of Peace, the King of Kings, Emmanuel, God with us. And this is the holy news. Mary is being called by God to partner with him in his ultimate plan of redemption for humanity, a most holy calling.

And then in verses 35 through 37, the angel brings reassurance and heavenly support. Again, the angel is countering this chaotic mind that Mary is having with good news, the truth of Jesus and his incarnation, the arrival of the Messiah. And the angel encourages Mary with the truth, and I love this verse, "For no word from God will ever fail." I don't know where Mary's emotions were while the angel was talking, but I bet that this verse, when he said this, it gave her peace. Because that response in verse 38, "I am the Lord's servant. May your word to me be fulfilled." I read that and I think that the chaos and anxiety running through Mary's mind dissipated so she could rest in the assurance of God and his word and his character, and it gives peace to her soul. So are we seeing this passage now through the lens of unexpected moments, potential chaos, future divine purpose? Let me just run through it one more time, summarizing everything. So in this conversation, verses 28, the angel greets and it's unexpected, very unexpected, but in verse 29 we have Mary trying to figure out some things.

And then in 30 through 33, the angel announcement brings the heavenly purpose to the forefront. But then in 34, we're back to unexpected and chaos, because she says, "How will this be? I don't understand. This doesn't make any sense." And then in 35 through 38, we see heavenly purpose again, heavenly support, this divine plan that Mary has been invited into. And the passage ends with Mary having peace in her heart. While we may not be able to personally relate to Mary's exact birth story, I know we can't, what I think we all can relate to is having an unexpected moment in our lives. That has the potential to lead us to chaos and crisis, or to heavenly purpose. It could be the news of a new job, means you have to move, maybe a diagnosis of health that could go either way, you're not sure. Maybe it's a relationship that you have that's on the rocks, and it could work out, but it takes work and it's gonna take a lot of intentional focus on healing and restoration. What I know is this, unexpected news, often at the onset, looks like chaos. It seems impossible, and it can easily turn into a crisis. And if we don't or can't see the heavenly purpose in the unexpected, it will turn to chaos, and it will become a crisis. But seeing and understanding that God has a plan, that He is present with us in that moment, changes it all. It doesn't mean that the outcome is now perfect and amazing, it just means that God is with us, and we can have peace as we go through that unexpected situation. I think it'd be nice, I mean think of Mary, if we could all have a Mary situation, not be terrified by angels, I think in the modern age maybe it was like a text or an alert from God, just being like, "By the way, unexpected moment coming up, I'll be with you," but just like a little ding from the phone and be like, "Hey, the next 24 hours, expect something unexpected." I would love that. It doesn't work like that, but what we do have, fortunately and even better, is the Holy Spirit in us, direct access to God in our hearts, dwelling in us. The Holy Spirit brings and assures us of God's plan, reminds us of the truth of God's character, and brings us the peace of God. Let me say that again, the Holy Spirit assures us of God's plan, reminds us of the truth of God's character, and brings us the peace of God within us. And here's what I hope speaks to you today, when we experience the unexpected moments that push us towards chaos, but we understand that there is a heavenly purpose, that God is at work, God gives us peace in that moment.

And if we look back on our passage again, Mary moved forward after this moment, her last words are, "May your word to me be fulfilled. I am the Lord's servant." I don't think she says that without the peace of God within her. She had peace to endure pregnancy unlike any other. She has peace to endure all the ramifications of what that means socially, facing friends and family and the neighborhood of judging her possibly for a situation that they don't understand. She has peace that surpasses all understanding of how this will work out, how is this going to happen. Even after the angel tells her, I don't think she's like, "Oh, that makes perfect sense. Thank you, angel. I get it now." But she has peace that allows her to keep going, peace that brought her into God's will, and peace that would give her the confidence to partner with God in his plan. And so from the emotional response we see in verse 29, Mary is greatly troubled to seeing her measured response in verse 38. It's because she understood that there was clearly a heavenly purpose for what she would endure, for what she was called to, and God gave her peace. That peace from God kept her from getting too hyper fixated on what was ahead and also kept her from being taken over by fear and a desire for control that would have kept her from being present. With the peace of God, she was able to face any confusion and uncertainty and be present in her new reality. I think that's true for us. The sooner that we turn to Jesus and accept our limitations, our limits in understanding, the fact that we are dependent on him, the sooner that we can be content and calm. And with the peace that God gives us, we can be more present with God, with others, and with ourselves. This unexpected moment for Mary changed her life. It had the potential to be a source of chaos and crisis, but as she surrenders to God, she accepts the heavenly purpose, and this unexpected moment is transformed into a holy moment for her, one that I'm sure she comes back to over and over again. In her pregnancy, raising Jesus as a child, I'm sure she remembers the moment she was visited by an angel, was told the plan of God, saying, "I'm calling you to something, and I will be with you as you endure." I want to spend the rest of our time thinking of our lives and our unexpected moments, hoping and praying that they might turn into something holy.

So let me ask a few questions as we reflect on our current situations. First is this, have you ever had an unexpected holy moment? Just think back in your life. Could be recent, could be a long time ago. Have you ever had an unexpected moment turn into a holy moment? In the moment, it was very chaotic, it was a potential crisis, but as you look back now, you see, you know what, God was working, God was moving, and there's something holy was produced from that. I'll share with you one of my biggest unexpected moments turned holy. It's got a happy ending, don't worry. But years ago, well, like four years--time is weird--four years ago maybe, I was working at a church for a long time, church I grew up in, had a similar history to here at Spring Valley Church, and at this moment in time, the pastor resigned. It was a good thing, but it was hard. And then soon after COVID hit, and we had an interim pastor, and that was actually great, and at that moment I think I started to see a divine purpose, but losing the pastor that was a mentor to me, like an older brother, that was hard. That was the first moment of potential crisis, and then COVID hit, and that was a crisis for the entire world, and then the church wasn't sure if it was going to continue. And so I just was kept being--the future was just unknown, and I just kept going to God, like, "What is happening right now? Lost my boss, my friend, my brother, and now the church that I'm working at that I thought I could work here forever is facing closure, and the world, the world is just chaos right now. What is happening?" In the midst of all this, too, my wife had a job change, and so because of the situation, we decided to live with my parents, just for temporary. And so that first year living with them, we were always looking at houses. We were putting bids, we were just going, visiting, having conversations, sending letters, just trying to advertise yourself, like, "Hey, pick us! Look at us! We're a wonderful family! Don't you want us to grow up in your home? And aren't we awesome? And we'll take care of it. We won't change a thing. It's amazing." You know, those conversations that, if you know, you know. And it was hard. That's taxing after a while. And then, through COVID, the housing market, just, we couldn't afford anything. And again, just coming to this moment of, "God, what is happening? We're here. We trust you. It's hard to trust you because I don't, I want to know the future. I want to know the plan. I want to know where we're gonna be." Many difficult conversations, hard nights, facing rejection from these people with housings and with the houses, and unexpected moment after unexpected moment. And for me, it was leaning more and more towards chaos and crisis. I was not yet seeing the divine plan, the divine purpose. And then, we found out that my dad had MCI, which is mild cognitive impairment, with a high likelihood for dementia. And that changed everything. And again, that was another moment where we, I think, God was cluing us into, "I have a plan. I'm doing something. You need to trust me." And I was actually interviewing at, not this church, a different church. And at that same weekend, that Sunday, went out and interviewed. And the Friday before that Sunday, I just found out about my dad's health. And on the way back, my wife and I were talking in the car, and we just felt like, "I don't think we're supposed to go anywhere. I don't think we're supposed to leave my dad." So I look back now, and I see the divine purpose. And what God was calling my wife, Becky, and I to do. And it was twofold. And it happened simultaneously, because at the same time, I had a great coffee with Pastor Chris, and this church was here and hiring. And so the plan, thankfully, and now I see clearly, was to come here and be a pastor on staff, and to stay home and take care of my dad, help take care of him.

But we had to trust God. And as soon as that became clear, that chaotic noise and the doubts and the fears within me were stilled. Being clued into what God was doing, saying, "I wanted you to be at this house. I don't know if on my own plan I would have chose to live with..." I can tell you, I would not have chosen to live with my parents. They're wonderful, and it works out. They're here, by the way, which was not expecting. Unexpected moment, live. I don't remember what I was saying. But yes, the chaos and the fears were stilled, because once you know that you are a part where you are exactly where God wants you, when you are partnered with Him and His plan, He does give you peace. And it's a peace that doesn't matter what anyone else is saying, the judgment the world is giving you, the confusion that other people, they don't get what you're doing. They're like, "Why? Just hire some help. Just do that." And it's like, God has a different plan for us. And I was able to be more free to be present with God, to be present with myself, and present with others. And it's not to say that now that it's all done and it's been going great that I never struggle with that. It's still things that come up after a little bit. But I come back to this moment, where God wants you. When you are partnered with Him and His plan, He does give you peace. And it's a peace that doesn't matter what anyone else is saying, the judgment the world is giving you, the confusion that other people, they don't get what you're doing. They're like, "Why? Just hire some help. Just do that." And it's like, God has a different plan for us. And I was able to be more free to be present with God, to be present with myself, and present with others. And it's not to say that now that it's all done and it's been going great that I never struggle with that. It's still things that come up after a little bit. But I come back to this moment, where God revealed His plan and said, "This is why." And I always come back to that and say, "That's exactly why." And it gives me peace all over again. So, have you had an unexpected moment turn into a holy moment? Again, maybe it's right now. Maybe you're in the midst of it. Or maybe you look back and it was four or five years ago and you can see now clearly what God is doing. Maybe you're in the crisis mode where it's like, "I don't understand yet. This is just a lot of chaos. It's a lot of stress and anxiety." And I'm praying that God does have a plan. I want to reassure you, He does. And you can continue to talk with Him and pray, "God, please let me know. Give me a little sense of the plan so I can just hold on to something and I can understand that this is of you and that you are doing something through this." Be reminded that chaos can easily turn into crisis without sensing the divine plan.

Second question is, "What is your typical go-to response when feelings of anxiety and confusion surface in your life?" We sent out this email yesterday and I don't expect any of you to have read it. You're on holiday mode. It's totally okay. But it is an Advent meditation. It's an invitation to meditate each week. There's four meditations on the peace that Jesus brings. And one of them brings up this question, "What is your typical go-to response when feelings of anxiety and confusion surface?" Because oftentimes we want to handle everything. We want to control something. We want to come up with a solution. And God becomes further and further from the solution and the answer to our problems in that moment. I want to read Psalm 131 because I think it speaks directly to this idea of, or this moment when anxiety and confusion surface. It says, "My heart is not proud, Lord. My eyes are not haughty. I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have calmed and quieted myself. I am like a weaned child with its mother. Like a weaned child, I am content. Israel, put your hope in the Lord both now and forevermore." The psalmist is encouraging us to have a go-to response of humility and hope. Humility, understanding that God is in control. We can't do, we're limited in what we can do. And then hope, to put our hope in Christ as the answer, as the source of joy, of hope, peace. It's helpful to be mindful of our natural response when feelings of anxiety and confusion surface, to be intentional, to draw closer to Jesus in that moment. Instead of backing further away from him, sometimes we do that unintentionally, but to be intentional to say, "Jesus, I need you right now. I'm feeling stressed. I'm feeling anxious. God, let me meditate on your truth, on your character. Let me draw near to you. Let me just come with all my questions and let me just ask them all to you." And just release it and say, "God, you do the work that you're gonna do. I don't have to know everything, but we have a moment with Jesus." So take some time this week and think about what do you do in moments of anxiety and confusion, and is it drawing closer to Jesus? And if it isn't, what can you do to make that happen? And lastly, what chaos or crisis are you facing and have you seen the heavenly purpose in it yet?

This is similar to the first question, but again, just having a moment to assess your life. Maybe it's, again, three or four years ago. Maybe it's happened earlier this year. Maybe it's a recent development that's happened in the past couple weeks. But whatever that potential chaos and crisis, have you seen the heavenly purpose yet? And if you haven't, then ask these questions. What might God be trying to tell me? How is God trying to lead me right now? What is God trying to invite me into? What blessing and growth and opportunity might lie ahead if I follow Jesus? Will you trust God and rest in the peace that He alone brings? This Christmas season, during Advent, our prayer is that we experience the peace of God. That we can take joy in who He is and what He's doing in our lives, and that we can see clearly the love that He has for us, and that we are filled with hope for our future. Would you guys pray with me?

God, thank you again for this story, and I pray you know everyone's story here, and you know exactly where they're at, and you know the past moments that are unexpected that they've gone through, moments of chaos and crisis. Maybe presently you know people in this room who are going through a very difficult season or an unknown season. And God, you also know for those of us who are enjoying life right now that we will have future unexpected moments. And I pray for all of us that when those moments arise, that we would be able to see your divine purpose. God, that we would ask the right questions to you, to better understand that you are at work, and to rest in the fact that you are in control. Nothing is a surprise to you. And that you have a plan through it all. And God we ask that you would give us peace. Peace in this season. Fill us with hope, joy and love. We pray this knowing that you are a good God, that you are good for us. We pray all this, Amen.

The Guide To Gratitude - Part 3

The Guide To Gratitude

Gratitude and Contentment – Trusting in God’s Provision

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

Been a while since I've been in front of you. Just wanna say, by the way, missed all of you. It was so good. We're a family, our church family, and so not seeing you for a couple of weeks felt it. And so we're so glad to be back. In case you haven't seen us or seen baby and mom, we're doing well, we're alive. And we're very thankful for that. And I think someone, people, I mean, you guys are all very kind in asking. And I think one of the best descriptions of how we're doing is we're doing well, but I am drinking coffee at seven o'clock at night, which I don't do. So that's just a little picture of, you know, sleep being still necessary. But we're in this new series of gratitude and in our new series, and because of it, I wanted to share some things that I'm thankful for. I know hopefully some of you or all of you have one of these and you're day by day going through, or maybe you do it at the end of the week and you look back on each day, but you're filling out this card and marking and acknowledging what you're thankful for. And so I'm gonna share some of mine from this past couple of weeks. I'm thankful for all of you, as I said, church family, you guys are so, all your prayers and support, especially in the last couple of weeks, they mean so much to us. I also wanna thank, thankful for all the meals that you guys have provided. We love those and they all have tasted delicious and they mean so much to our family and just feel your care and love. Also wanna be, I'm very thankful for the letters of encouragement and the financial contributions from pastor appreciation. I know pastor Chris and I are both super thankful and it is such a privilege and an honor to serve as pastors at Spring Valley Church. And so we're very thankful for how you show your appreciation, it means the world to us. And then lastly, I am very, but most importantly, I am very thankful for my family, for my beautiful daughters, Kinsley and Hallie and my beautiful wife, Becky, who sacrifices so much to make our whole lives work. And so just very, very thankful. I'm very thankful for this series to get me to think about what am I thankful for? What's going on in my life? What is God doing? How is he providing for me? And all to say that very, very thankful and hoping and praying for a spirit of gratitude within me to grow.

In this series, in the past couple of weeks, we've heard the importance of having a foundation of gratitude, a heart of thanksgiving. We've also talked about gratitude in action, living from a thankful heart. And today I wanna focus on the role contentment plays in living with gratitude. Gratitude and contentment, which really focuses on trusting in God's provision. This is the next simple step in living a life with a more grateful heart. Pastor Phil alluded to this last week through his sermon as he emphasized the need of naming things that we're grateful for throughout our day and throughout our week. Things that we aren't necessarily always wanting, but we see that God is working through it or is present in the midst of it. And it's still important to always express that gratitude. And so today we're gonna lean into that and talk more about being content. But before we begin, let me go ahead and pray right now. If you guys could bow your heads with me. God, thank you again for our time of gathering together. And God, I pray that in this moment here in this room, that you would reach each of us through your spirit exactly where we're at, you know what we need. And God, be it your word or the worship or just interactions with each other, God, I pray that we would be encouraged and pushed and drawn closer to you. God, I pray that your spirit would do work in our hearts, that you would move in us, that you would refine us and sanctify us. And God, we wanna give you all the glory for all that you're doing, give you all the praise. We pray this in your name, amen. Let's start by defining contentment. Merriam-Webster defines contentment as the freedom from worry or restlessness, also a peaceful satisfaction. The Oxford Dictionary defines contentment as a state of happiness and satisfaction. In the Hebrew, in our Bible, the Hebrew, it's translated as to be pleased. And in the Greek, it's very similar, to be pleased or to take delight or sufficient. A theological dictionary defines contentment as a state of mind in which one's desires are confined to his or her lot, whatever it may be. It reminds me of that song, "It is well." Whatever my lot thou has taught me to say, it is well with my soul. It's a song about contentment. This theological dictionary also says that contentment is more inward than satisfaction. It is a habit or a permanent state of mind where satisfaction is a bit more outward and is a response to outside realities that we encounter. Contentment arises from an inward disposition. It's an offspring of humility and thankfulness. And it's present when trusting in God's provision. So where I wanna head today, talking about God's divine providence, God's provision. And before we get there, again, covering contentment.

So we have those definitions, but what about contentment in the Bible? We know that the Bible teaches that Christians should exhibit contentment in the following areas of life. In their respective callings, whatever God has called you to do in your job. First Corinthians tells us that. With our wages, with the money that we make, we are to be content. Jesus tells us that in Luke. Also with the things that we have, that's found in Hebrews 13. And then also with food and clothing. We'll get to those passages in 1 Timothy later today. But before we dive into scripture, let's do something together. I want us to take a moment to measure our current level of contentment. So don't worry, you're not sharing this with anyone. You don't have to whisper it to anyone else. You're not gonna reveal it. But just be honest with yourself. And this isn't measuring of like, okay, this is where I wanna be, or this is where, you know, if I were to share this, I'd be at this number. Just be completely honest and vulnerable with yourself. On a scale from one to 10, I think, oh good, we have it up there. One is feeling the anxiety of greed and a desire for more in your life, specifically with money, possessions, or status. And 10 is feeling non-anxious and satisfied with what you have. Where would you plot yourself right now? Think about that. Take inventory of your life. Think of all the areas. Think of your work situation, your home situation, school grades, belongings that you have, clothes, shoes, vehicles, your home, all the maybe projects that you have going on, appliances. How many times in the last week or two have you caught yourself saying, oh, I just wish I had this, or I wish this was different. I wish, fill in the blank. Keep that number in mind, whatever that is. Keep with that in mind this morning. We're gonna come back to that at the end of our sermon. Today, we're gonna be in a New Testament mostly, in the following letters to the early churches where living with gratitude was a very pertinent topic and being content was so counter-cultural, just like it is for us today. We live in a world and a society that always wants the next best thing, that preys on you being dissatisfied and grows in you a desire for more worldly things. I don't mean worldly as in evil, just things of this world, which could inherently be fine, could be good, but the world wants you to have more of it, which often leaves us feeling stressed and anxious or less than. And that's not what Jesus wants, and it's not what Jesus teaches we should have. So in our passages today, we're gonna see that gratitude leads to contentment, and we'll see how practicing gratitude helps cultivate contentment within our hearts and souls.

You guys wanna get your Bibles out, you can follow along on the screen too, but our first passage this morning is found in Philippians 4:11-13. Let me go ahead and read. It says, "I am not saying this because I am in need, "for I have learned to be," this is Paul speaking, "I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. "I know what it is to be in need. "I know what it is to have plenty. "I have learned the secret of being content "in any and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, "whether living in plenty or in want. "I can do all this through him who gives me strength." Paul is saying what's important is to have contentment despite life circumstances. That last verse, "I can do all things "through Christ who strengthens me," that's the version I grew up learning in the New King James, is very popular. You've probably heard it before. A lot of people, that's their life verse, maybe they have it tattooed somewhere. I mean, Philippians 4:13. We often think of that as a rallying cry. We use it to motivate us when things are tough. And that's not necessarily wrong or bad. It is a very motivating verse. But one pastor points out that for Paul, this was more than a motivational speech to roll up sleeves and face life circumstances. It was a statement about contentment in spite of life circumstances.

Pastor John Mark Homer, he writes, "Many of us long to experience the content life, but it can feel elusive. We wait for a sense of contentment to trail behind the next thing, a raise, a promotion, keys to a home we can finally call ours. But contentment in Paul's experience was not derived from his circumstances, but pronounced over them. It was not accumulated or purchased, but discovered in Jesus and his way." I love that quote. I think it's very convicting when I first read that. "That is often what I think of. "If I just have this, then I will be content." I think his words perfectly pair with Paul's words to the church in Philippi, that contentment can be and needs to be present in the believer's life, despite life circumstances, not because of life circumstances. When we can practice a deeper sense of gratitude, as we talked about in these previous weeks, expressing thanks in all things for what God is doing, then the next phase, the next state of our heart and soul is contentment. Like that theological dictionary says, "A state of mind in which one's desires "are confined to his or her lot, whatever it may be." This doesn't mean that you can't want more things necessarily. You can't want improvement in your home that you live in, in the car that you drive. But we can't let that turn into greed or discontentment in a way that we are now dissatisfied with what God has blessed us with. So this contentment arises from an inward disposition. It's an offspring, again, of humility and thankfulness. And it's present when trusting in God's divine providence.

Quick story, I try to go, I really enjoy going disc golfing. And there's a course about five minutes from here. And I meet a lot of different people on the disc golf course. Lots of different kinds of people in various walks of life. And I met this one guy, I have a friend of this guy named Casey, great guy. He's in his 40s. And he told me his story once as we're playing, just the whole round, I got to hear his life story. And it's a difficult story. He used to do a lot of drugs and drinking. And a few years back, he had a massive stroke and it completely changed his life. And he had to relearn everything. He had to relearn how to walk, how to read, how to talk. And his relationships at home became very strained and difficult. And as he's telling me this, he's not telling me this in a way of like, it used to be that and now we're good. He's like, my marriage is going through a hard, it's difficult right now. My relationship with my kids is difficult right now. His ability to work is limited. And yet as he's sharing this story, and he shares about how he met God through this situation, and he's very thankful that God is with him through all these hardships. You can tell, I could tell. He's one of the most content people I've ever met. And whenever I see him now, and he shares a bit more of the latest that's happening in life, within minutes, I can just sense this deep peace and satisfaction in where God has him in that moment. Doesn't mean he doesn't want life to get better, but he is content with what God has provided for him, where God has put him in, in that place, in that moment, in that time. I'm so thankful to have, to hear that through rough times, he has found God, he's clinging to God.

And it's such an example for us today that his contentment is not found in his current life circumstances. They are tough. They are discouraging at times, they're very challenging, and yet he is still content. And so we as believers need to be encouraged to be content despite life's circumstances. So first point. Our second point is found in 1 Timothy 6, verses six through eight. It says, "But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, you'll be content with that." We see here that contentment and godliness are a sacred pairing together. Paul, in this verse, is stressing the importance of contentment by encouraging us to have an eternal perspective. We came into this world with nothing, we're gonna leave this world with nothing. And yet so much of our lives can be found focusing around what we can have, the possessions and the money and the status that we can gain. We stress, we get anxious, we spend time devising plans, we worry, we commit time and energy towards personal gain for us. And just like that quote earlier, we can be tricked into thinking that contentment will follow the next thing that I get, or the more money that I make, then I will be content.

That's not what the Bible teaches. Paul says, "If we have food and clothing and we'll throw in shelter, then we will be content." I'm not adding to scripture. Clothing, if you translate it, it can also mean shelter. So we're saying food, clothing, and shelter. That's Paul's way of saying, "We need the minimum." In the world's eyes, that's not a lot. But in the kingdom of God, that's more than enough. And the reason for that is because we have God. God is everything that we need. Meaning, let me back up here. We have to think of the future, right? Here, let me get, I strayed from my notes and then I got all off course. Okay, hold on. We're gonna get to the future in a second. Let me say this first. Paul mentions godliness, being like Christ, living a holy life, depending on God, just as Jesus did, as we see Jesus' life in the gospels. Every moment, he's depending on God. He gets away in the morning to connect with God so that he can go through that day depending on God. Contentment or godliness does not pair well with materialism, but rather contentment. And Jesus knew where true joy and contentment came from. Nothing on earth, nothing on earth brought true joy and contentment, but it came from God. God is our provider and our sustainer, and contentment comes from him now and forevermore. You see, contentment in the present depends on one's belief in the future. Think about that. Contentment right now depends on what you believe is gonna happen after you die. For those who believe in heaven, we know that nothing material is coming with us into heaven. The Bible is clear that storehouses of worldly treasures do not equal any heavenly treasure or benefit. But if one doesn't understand that or believe in the eternal life with God after death on earth, then of course, materials and wealth make all the sense. This life is all I have, so I might as well get as much as I can.

But for believers who understand that heaven is about being in the full presence of God in a world without sin, all in the fullness of God's glory, and everything material falls short, then that helps us understand that we don't need it now either. We want what we're gonna have in heaven, which is the fullness of God. We can be content with however little we have on earth. Again, Paul says food and clothes and shelter, and that's really enough. We don't wanna become attached to more than that, 'cause we're not gonna have those other things in heaven with us. And that glorious future can help our current state of contentment. I just read this book called "Giving is the Good Life" by Randy Alcorn, and it's a book all about needing to live a generous life. And in that book, there's story after story after story of people who give generously because of heavenly implications. And one of the stories is there's a couple who retired early, made a lot of money, and they were wondering, what do we do with this? We have calculated what it means to live by, still within means, and we have all this extra, what are we gonna do with it? And so they got connected, I think one of their sons was a soccer player, and so they had this connection with an organization overseas in South America that was wanting to build a soccer complex. And so they donated their money to build this soccer complex. This project took millions of dollars to complete, and they gave enough to make it happen because they understood that that money wasn't coming with them into heaven, and whatever they could buy with that money wasn't coming with them into heaven. But that Christian soccer camp, where we gather kids from the community and they were gonna hear the gospel, that would have heavenly implications. That would be money well spent. And so their contentment with what they had helped them to live more like Jesus and to give more like Jesus. And so we see that contentment and godliness are a sacred and powerful pairing that work both inwardly for our souls, but also to the benefit of God's kingdom to the people around us. That's our second point, contentment and godliness are a sacred and powerful pairing.

The third one comes from Hebrews. Hebrews 13:5-6, and it reads, "Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, 'Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.' So we say with confidence, 'The Lord is my helper, 'I will not be afraid. 'What can mere mortals do to me?’” So continuing that thought that gratitude leads us to contentment, which combats materialism and anxiety. The author of Hebrews knows that materialism fueled by greed and anxiety, stress, pride, and selfishness can be answered by the truth that God is the one that we truly need, and the one who provides everything that we need. I can't say it enough, our world that we live in does us no help in pushing us towards contentment. Again, just the opposite. Every ad you see preys upon your desire for more, your dissatisfaction with what you have. Living in the area that we live in, middle to upper-class America, is not gonna help you be content with what you have. Social media, you scrolling, all the ads, all the algorithms that have, know the things that you say, and all, "Oh, I wish I had this." And then all of a sudden you're like, "Oh, the clogs that I wanted, how's that? "Look at that." It's not gonna help you be content with what you have. All the things around us and more stir within you the opposite of contentment. Envy, greed, selfish ambition, anxiety, feeling discontent, dissatisfied. This world wants you to live out of a motivation of discontentment and fear. I don't have enough. I don't have what I need. I need to do something about that. And again, that's not how Jesus wants you to live. He wants us to be confident in his presence and in his power and in his provision. Says in this verse, "He will never leave us. "He will never forsake us. "He is our helper, "and we do not need to be afraid or anxious.”

I have a friend who I grew up with in middle school, high school, college. And because of some unfortunate financial decisions that happened from his parents, he has always made it a point that money is never gonna be an issue for him. And it has determined every step of his life. What major he was, the job that he took out of college, all the promotions and job changes that have happened, where he's lived, everything has been determined by this goal, which at first, I totally understand, I never want money to become an issue. I wanna be able to provide for my family. I wanna have this life. And so I'm gonna make sure that I have enough to have that. Well, his whole life is run, again, by what he would say is a good goal, what others might say, I call it fear. The job he's had, the hours he's worked, the priority that work and money has had in his life, it's caused significant worry, stress, anxiety, health problems. He and I have talked every couple of months for the last 12 years. We just keep up with each other. Sometimes he's lived close, other times he's lived elsewhere in the state, but we talk and sometimes, 'cause I'll bring it up, I'm like, hey man, it sounds like once again, you're really worrying about this. And let me just tell you, you have more than enough. You have a lot actually. And there's times where he recognizes the pattern in his life. And he understands that God is with him and that he'll provide for him. But by the end of the conversation or by next time we talk, it's his common lines of, if I just make this much, if I just take this promotion, I think it's gonna get me to where I want. If I can retire at this age, I think I'll be good. And gratitude and contentment have taken a backseat in his life. And I wanna tell him, man, you don't have to live with these anxieties and fears that are masquerading as strength. In the world's eyes, everyone around me, you're so good at what you do. Look at the promotions that you're getting. You've really risen in the corporate job that you've had. But no one's addressing what's inside of him, which is anxiety and fear. I always wanna challenge him to practice gratitude, combat that and remind him that contentment will be the best defense against those materialistic and anxious forces that are pressing in on him.

So again, the point is that contentment combats materialism and anxiety. This is both a spiritual and physical battle that we face and that we are fighting in this world, especially in a season that we're heading into with Christmas and all the sales and all the online deals. We need to watch our hearts and where we're at with greed and wanting things. I'm not saying don't take advantage of a good deal. I mean, if you need it, obviously God's provided, it could be the right deal. Be mindful, I'm giving myself an out for the things I'm about to buy. I'm like, but it's God's, it's God's provision. Not telling you yes or no, just hold it before God and be like, God, should I? Be mindful of how your purchases, the things, the way that you're approaching material, your job, whatever it is, be mindful of it and reflect on how it's affecting your heart. Is it feeding something bad? Is it just saying like, I got this, but ooh, now I want more and now I need this because I got this thing. That means these three other things. And maybe you're like, oh, I don't know if that's good for me. Or is it a place of like, hey, I've worn these shoes into the ground. There's three holes in them. My feet are getting wet. It's good to buy new shoes, whatever that is, but just hold it before God. Be mindful.

I wanna ask a few questions as we close for us to reflect on. Number one, are you letting your circumstances determine your contentment? Are you like that quote that says, if I just have this, this and this, then I'll be content. And you're letting, you're allowing whatever's happening in your life to determine whether you are content or not. Just as Paul was teaching in Philippians, we need to learn to be content no matter what is happening in the world around us, no matter what is going on in our lives, what we are going through. And just as he is implied, he says, I learned this. It is a learned skill. So have grace with yourself, but it's gonna take effort. It's gonna take time. You're gonna have to do it over and over again. You're gonna catch yourself being like, oh, I'm greedy again. Oh man, my heart is envious or man, I'm really pursuing the selfish ambition. And so give yourself grace and understand that it's a process, but start, put your time and effort towards wanting to be content with whatever you're going through and pray. Pray to God, God, give me what I need. Give me the contentment that I need. Help me to see how what I have is enough to have the right perspective. So that's the first one. Are you letting your circumstances determine your contentment?

Second, is your contentment in life bringing you closer to God? We want that sacred pairing of godliness and contentment. As true contentment requires a relationship with God, dependence on God, humility of oneself to say, God, I cannot be in control to provide for my every need. You, God, are the one who can provide for all my needs. And then it takes a trust that God will provide. And as we live with contentment, we should be brought closer to God and should develop this cycle of praise and thankfulness and gratitude. And as we thank God and we see that he provides again, and then we go back into praising him and being content. So being content with God molds us to live more like Jesus, dependent on him.

And thirdly, last question, are you being proactive to combat materialism and anxiety in your life? Now I wanna be clear, I'm not saying that you have to lie to yourself or pretend to be happy and be like, oh, if I just put on this face, if I just pretend that I'm good with what I have, but inside you're rotten and you're like, oh my goodness, I can't stand anything that, you know, that's not good. Don't do that. But are you taking steps to be content? And again, that doesn't mean that you'll never complain. I was talking with a pastor this week and we were talking about this idea of contentment. And sometimes when people ask, I'm finding myself this, this is true of me in the last couple of weeks, how are you doing? And we, there's the response, I can't complain, right? Well, the truth is you could, you definitely can. I could, and I have. But we were talking about how complaining can sometimes be a necessary act to get us to contentment. Venting, airing frustration or disappointment. It's much of what the Psalms is. You hear David crying out, God, why is this happening? Why are my enemies? Why does it have to be this way? But he always ends, but you Lord are worthy of my praise, but you, oh God, are so good. Blessed are you, God. And so I don't wanna hear me carefully. I'm not giving you permission to complain all the time. What I'm saying is that as long as you don't end on that complaint, as long as that's not your ending spot and your heart is just resting in a status of complaining, we're in the newborn phase and it's hard. A lot of you know, it is hard. Becky and I are exhausted and frustrated at times. And we are two people who like to have it dialed in. And this is not a phase where things are dialed in. So I'm struggling. And so when people ask, how's it going? Obviously I wanna convey the good, but sometimes I'm also like, man, that's really tough. But I try to be sure not to end on like, oh, this is all my complaints. I try to end with, man, but I'm thankful that we are blessed with another daughter. I understand that life is a gift and that having their child is truly a blessing. And so all the nights of sleeplessness and all the moments of losing sanity are worth it. And so I want to express, I wanna end on, but I'm thankful. I'm thankful for what we have as a family and in this world. But I do complain a little bit to get me to this place of contentment. Sometimes it takes airing the negative to land on the positive. In other words, sometimes it takes complaining to get to a place of contentment. And by doing this, this whole point is that maybe that's proactive in combating materialism and anxiety. Maybe you need to be like, man, I really wish, I'm so, I was just talking with Matt, who, I can't find him, but Matt, he's got microwave issues. And he airs his frustration about the microwave, but then he ends on this place of, but it's all good. I can cook, I can still cook food. And I just love that. I love seeing that sometimes you gotta air the negative and then we reach this place of contentment. And it's combating against this, I asked him, I was like, well, are you gonna buy a new microwave? He's like, no, I'm good. Just shut it really quick and it should be fine. Be proactive by expressing gratitude, living with contentment.

So, okay, I wanna come back or circle back around to that contentment measurement again, that one through 10. If you remember your number, great. If you're reassessing some things and you wanna come up with a new number, that's fine. But on a scale from one to 10 again, one, feeling the anxiety and greed and desire for more in your life, specifically with money, possessions and status, and 10, feeling non-anxious, satisfied with what you have. Where would you plot yourself right now? Now, the follow-up question is this, what steps can you take in this next week to get to a 10? Where are you feeling, where you're feeling non-anxious and satisfied with God? What needs to change in your life? Is it a perspective change? Is it a conversation with someone? Is it just some prayer time with God and just being honest, God, here's what's on my heart. I'm really discontent, but God helped me become a 10. Whatever it is, what do you need to do in this next week to get yourself to a place where you're living in a place of gratitude and contentment? As we close, I just wanna encourage all of us to identify areas in your life where discontentment may be present and to offer prayers of gratitude in those areas, trusting in God's provision. And as we trust in God's provision, we'll have gratitude for what he's doing, how he's providing for our every need, and it will lead us to a deeper sense of contentment.

Let’s go ahead and pray together. God, again, thank you. Thank you for your word, for our time together. It is a gift from you. And we wanna pray that through gratitude and contentment, we will be able to overcome some of the anxieties that we face. As we explore, gratitude may help shift our focus from anxiety and worry to your faithfulness, God, and how you provide for our every need. And I pray that it would provide a deep sense of peace and contentment in our hearts so that whatever we're going through, granted, it may be difficult, it may be challenging, God, that we would rely on you, depend on you, trust you, and be able to go through it and see how you provide in ways that we probably can't even think of. But at the other end, as we get through it, we can look back and say, God, you did that, and I'm so thankful. And now I'm gonna live my life content with what I have, with where you have me. God, some of this world does a really good job at making us feeling dissatisfied with what we have, with our current lives, our possessions. God, give us strength, give us endurance, perseverance, fortitude to fight against that, and to see that what we have is enough. Be it in relationships, be it in possessions, be it with finances. God, we trust you and we love you, and we give all that we have to you. Use it for your kingdom, God, we pray this in your name. Amen.