Living In Denial

0:00:01.880 --> 0:00:04.439 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.720 --> 0:00:06.960 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:06.960 --> 0:00:10.280 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:10.280 --> 0:00:12.360 it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to 0:00:12.360 --> 0:00:15.160 see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.120 --> 0:00:19.599 A lot of times when I'm up here, I'm welcoming 0:00:20.120 --> 0:00:21.919 the guest who's going to preach, But today, I guess 0:00:21.920 --> 0:00:25.720 I'm welcoming myself because I had the incredible honor of 0:00:25.840 --> 0:00:29.080 being able to preach and bring God's word to you today. 0:00:29.120 --> 0:00:32.240 I'm so grateful that Pastor Stephen would trust me to preach. 0:00:32.280 --> 0:00:34.559 And I'm really excited about this word because God has 0:00:34.600 --> 0:00:37.360 been working it in my heart over the last several weeks. 0:00:37.360 --> 0:00:39.320 He's been preaching it to me so that I can 0:00:39.400 --> 0:00:41.600 have something to bring to y'all. I'm going to stay 0:00:41.600 --> 0:00:43.880 in the flow of our Savage Jesus series. Haven't you 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:47.960 loved Savage Jesus? In case you're new, We've been looking 0:00:48.040 --> 0:00:50.560 at the life of Jesus through the Book of Mark, 0:00:50.600 --> 0:00:52.360 and I think one of the reasons this series is 0:00:52.400 --> 0:00:55.280 resonating so powerfully with me and with our churches is 0:00:55.320 --> 0:00:59.000 really just an overflow of our pastor's heart. Because I've 0:00:59.000 --> 0:01:01.360 been here for eleven year and I can say in 0:01:01.520 --> 0:01:04.759 every single season, he has always fought to keep our 0:01:04.800 --> 0:01:07.080 focus as a church on the main thing, which will 0:01:07.080 --> 0:01:10.520 always and forever be Jesus. And it's not just what 0:01:10.600 --> 0:01:14.600 he preaches on the platform. It's in the decisions he 0:01:14.720 --> 0:01:17.319 makes behind the scenes. It's in the way that he's 0:01:17.400 --> 0:01:20.160 kind of savage, and how he loves and encourages and 0:01:20.200 --> 0:01:22.880 blesses people that you'll never hear about in a sermon. 0:01:22.959 --> 0:01:24.720 So I just want to thank God for a pastor 0:01:24.760 --> 0:01:28.800 he keeps as centered on the heart of God, which 0:01:28.840 --> 0:01:32.319 is to reach people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 0:01:33.680 --> 0:01:35.880 And I'm so excited about what God's going to do today. 0:01:35.880 --> 0:01:41.360 You guys can have a seat now. This is a 0:01:41.400 --> 0:01:44.399 significant weekend for me, not just because I get the 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:47.760 honor of preaching, but anyone who knows me knows that 0:01:47.800 --> 0:01:50.440 I'm pretty excited that there's a new Star Wars movie 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:55.160 out this weekend. If you're watching this later, Solo came 0:01:55.200 --> 0:01:58.360 out this weekend, and I am just a full fledged, 0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:01.680 unashamed geek. I love anything that has to do with 0:02:01.840 --> 0:02:04.160 a long time ago in a galaxy far far away. 0:02:04.720 --> 0:02:06.920 And it's not just me, I've converted my kids. So 0:02:06.960 --> 0:02:09.000 this is you can see our favorite like post dinner 0:02:09.480 --> 0:02:11.840 lightsaber fight. That's kind of what we do to bond 0:02:12.160 --> 0:02:14.480 as a family. But you know, my kids even have 0:02:14.520 --> 0:02:17.080 a Star Wars YouTube channel called the Three Pos. I 0:02:17.160 --> 0:02:19.680 was pretty impressed with that name. Three Kids, three Pos. 0:02:19.800 --> 0:02:22.680 My wife came up with it. But I'm also a 0:02:22.720 --> 0:02:24.640 forty two year old man who may or may not 0:02:24.720 --> 0:02:27.720 collect Star Wars comics. But that's that's okay. But I'm 0:02:27.800 --> 0:02:30.920 just I'm just a casual collector. I don't hold a 0:02:30.960 --> 0:02:34.200 candle compared to some serious collectors out there. And my 0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:37.320 friend who's on staff, Ryan Monette, he is a legit 0:02:37.720 --> 0:02:40.680 Star Wars, just anything sci fi collector. You go to 0:02:40.720 --> 0:02:43.000 his house and you feel like you're walking into a 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:47.440 sci fi museum. You got life sized, real costumes and replicas. 0:02:47.440 --> 0:02:49.600 And let me show you how much better he is 0:02:49.600 --> 0:02:53.080 as a collector than me. So this is the prize 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:55.000 of my collection. This was my R two D two 0:02:55.080 --> 0:02:59.240 when I was five years old and I still have it. Actually, 0:02:59.240 --> 0:03:01.359 one night it just randomly turned on in my room 0:03:01.400 --> 0:03:03.320 as a kid and just felt that it freaked me out, 0:03:03.360 --> 0:03:06.000 but still still kept it. But I love this thing. 0:03:06.080 --> 0:03:09.040 This is this is like the pinnacle of my collection. 0:03:09.800 --> 0:03:12.600 Let me show you the highlight of Ryan's collection. I 0:03:12.600 --> 0:03:19.880 want to introduce that to you really quick. In case 0:03:19.919 --> 0:03:24.600 you missed this, RTD two is on the stage at Valentine. 0:03:24.720 --> 0:03:29.079 I'm living out every childhood dream. My eight year old 0:03:29.120 --> 0:03:32.680 self would be going nuts right now. It took Ryan 0:03:33.560 --> 0:03:36.600 four years to build this. First of all, I've never 0:03:36.640 --> 0:03:39.280 realized R two is this big. I feel even kind 0:03:39.280 --> 0:03:44.240 of short scented next to him. But my thanks, artwo. 0:03:45.680 --> 0:03:47.560 It took him four years to build this because you 0:03:47.560 --> 0:03:49.360 had to get parts from certain parts of the country 0:03:49.360 --> 0:03:51.120 and they're only available at certain times of the year. 0:03:51.160 --> 0:03:53.760 There's this whole R two builders club. And how many 0:03:53.800 --> 0:03:55.760 of you think that the best way Ryan could honor 0:03:55.760 --> 0:03:57.560 his worship pastor after preaching all week and would be 0:03:57.640 --> 0:04:00.000 to let me take this home if you want to say, 0:04:00.120 --> 0:04:04.920 start a petition. So R two, is there anything you'd 0:04:04.920 --> 0:04:09.880 like to say to the people? Oh? Really, what was 0:04:09.920 --> 0:04:12.760 your favorite sermon ins What was your favorite sermon in 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:18.040 savage Jesus? Oh this is significant. I like that one too. 0:04:17.960 --> 0:04:23.800 Would you like to preach today instead of me? That's 0:04:23.800 --> 0:04:25.680 how I feel too, buddy. All right, you need to 0:04:25.720 --> 0:04:28.120 go because I'll play with R two the whole time. 0:04:28.160 --> 0:04:29.919 I won't preach, So go that way, give it up 0:04:29.960 --> 0:04:37.240 for our two. So that is what a true collector 0:04:37.960 --> 0:04:40.880 will build. And you know, sometimes collections get out of hand, 0:04:40.920 --> 0:04:42.520 and maybe some of you think four years to build 0:04:42.560 --> 0:04:44.239 that is out of hand. I don't I fully endorse 0:04:44.320 --> 0:04:48.080 that and support that. But if you've ever seen Hoarders, 0:04:48.640 --> 0:04:50.080 you know what I have you ever seen that show? 0:04:51.000 --> 0:04:54.120 There's some ridiculous, like gross stuff on that show. But 0:04:54.760 --> 0:04:57.080 what you can see sometimes is that someone starts out 0:04:57.120 --> 0:04:59.760 with an innocent collection, maybe a doll collection that's something 0:04:59.800 --> 0:05:02.080 good that you love, or a book collection. And I've 0:05:02.120 --> 0:05:04.400 seen the show where this woman was trapped in her 0:05:04.440 --> 0:05:07.600 house by the fifty thousand dolls that she collected, this 0:05:07.680 --> 0:05:10.640 tiny house surrounded by dolls, couldn't even move, couldn't function. 0:05:11.040 --> 0:05:13.640 Or this one man who had five hundred thousand books, 0:05:14.160 --> 0:05:16.600 and they're overwhelmed by their collection and they can't even 0:05:16.680 --> 0:05:19.839 live their life anymore. And the crazy thing is they're 0:05:19.839 --> 0:05:22.320 living in denial. They don't even see that they have 0:05:22.360 --> 0:05:24.960 a problem. It takes somebody else to come and show 0:05:25.000 --> 0:05:28.919 them that this collection isn't helping you anymore, it's hurting you. 0:05:29.000 --> 0:05:33.240 So collections can get out of hand. And Jesus in 0:05:33.360 --> 0:05:36.400 Mark Eate talks about a collection that can get out 0:05:36.400 --> 0:05:38.520 of hand and maybe something more important that we should 0:05:38.560 --> 0:05:41.080 collect instead. So this is our passage that we're going 0:05:41.120 --> 0:05:43.880 to focus on today. It's in Mark chapter eight, verses 0:05:43.920 --> 0:05:47.280 thirty four through thirty seven. So let's look at this now. 0:05:47.279 --> 0:05:50.120 It says, then he called the crowd to him, along 0:05:50.160 --> 0:05:53.000 with his disciples, and said, whoever wants to be my 0:05:53.080 --> 0:05:56.880 disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and 0:05:56.960 --> 0:05:59.640 follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:02.080 lose it. But whoever loses their life for me and 0:06:02.120 --> 0:06:04.560 for the Gospel will save it. What good is it 0:06:04.560 --> 0:06:07.160 for someone to gain the whole world yet forfeit their soul, 0:06:07.640 --> 0:06:10.800 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 0:06:11.279 --> 0:06:13.000 So I want to talk to you today about living 0:06:13.400 --> 0:06:17.280 in denial. Living in denial. Turn to your neighbor and 0:06:17.320 --> 0:06:22.000 ask them, are you in denial? So here we have 0:06:22.080 --> 0:06:25.239 Jesus talking. I'd be real curious to know. They answered 0:06:25.240 --> 0:06:28.679 to some of that. Here we have Jesus talking about 0:06:29.040 --> 0:06:32.880 a collection gaining the whole world, and it's meaningless you 0:06:32.960 --> 0:06:36.440 lose your soul and instead taking up something far more valuable, 0:06:36.800 --> 0:06:41.279 which is collecting, taking up across. And so for me, 0:06:41.960 --> 0:06:44.320 I grew up in church. My granddad was a pastor, 0:06:44.440 --> 0:06:47.039 my dad was the music minister, my mom played the organ. 0:06:47.120 --> 0:06:50.120 My aunt and uncle they worked with the youth. So 0:06:50.320 --> 0:06:53.159 I was always around these nice little Christian cliches. I 0:06:53.160 --> 0:06:55.599 heard all these things in youth group and sermon, and 0:06:55.640 --> 0:06:58.400 they would sound great on a bumper sticker, like deny yourself, 0:06:58.440 --> 0:07:04.160 take up your cross, and sounds cute. Right. Can we 0:07:04.320 --> 0:07:07.960 just admit that no one lives like that? No? I 0:07:08.000 --> 0:07:10.640 mean maybe you do, maybe you're way more holy than 0:07:10.680 --> 0:07:14.000 I am. But I'm trying to imagine how the disciples 0:07:14.080 --> 0:07:17.240 must have felt when they heard Jesus say take up 0:07:17.240 --> 0:07:19.680 your cross, because for them, across was not something you 0:07:19.720 --> 0:07:23.920 wore on a necklace. Across was where someone was brutally 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:28.280 murdered and executed. And the disciples had to be freaking 0:07:28.280 --> 0:07:31.160 out because, honestly, for them, up until this point, things 0:07:31.160 --> 0:07:33.840 have been pretty good. In Galilee. I mean, the crowds 0:07:33.840 --> 0:07:36.360 were growing, they were seeing miracles. Yeah, there was a 0:07:36.360 --> 0:07:38.760 little controversy here and there, but all of a sudden, 0:07:38.840 --> 0:07:42.440 Jesus is talking about taking up across and dying, and 0:07:42.440 --> 0:07:44.520 not just him taking up across, telling them to take 0:07:44.600 --> 0:07:47.080 up across. And so I'm imagining them kind of murmuring 0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:48.680 to each other like wait a second, or we do 0:07:48.720 --> 0:07:51.320 we have to die too. It wasn't what they wanted 0:07:51.680 --> 0:07:55.840 to hear. And what they wouldn't realize until much later 0:07:56.040 --> 0:08:00.680 is that Mark eight. This is the point where everything changes, because, 0:08:00.720 --> 0:08:02.400 like I said, up until that point, they'd have been 0:08:02.440 --> 0:08:07.280 in Galilee doing ministry there, doing miracles, feeding the five thousand, 0:08:07.880 --> 0:08:11.480 and this is the point where Jesus turns and faces Jerusalem, 0:08:11.800 --> 0:08:13.200 and the rest of the Book of Mark is the 0:08:13.280 --> 0:08:15.480 last week of his life in Jerusalem as he goes 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:20.160 to take up his cross. And so, like I said, 0:08:20.320 --> 0:08:23.800 when I was younger, that sounded nice, deny yourself, take 0:08:23.840 --> 0:08:25.280 up your cross, follow me, And I thought, you know, 0:08:25.320 --> 0:08:29.080 I've got this whole denying someend thing down, Like I 0:08:29.120 --> 0:08:32.000 feel pretty good. I'm in church every time the doors 0:08:32.000 --> 0:08:33.560 are open, but I kind of have to be because 0:08:33.600 --> 0:08:36.000 my granddad's the pastor and my parents work there, but 0:08:36.400 --> 0:08:39.120 that's cool, that should work in my favor. And yeah, 0:08:39.160 --> 0:08:41.280 I watch MTV every now and then, even though my 0:08:41.320 --> 0:08:43.160 parents tell me not to when they're out of the room. 0:08:43.200 --> 0:08:45.240 And if I'm getting really crazy, I'll watch the Simpsons. 0:08:45.280 --> 0:08:49.959 But you know, that's that's okay. And maybe I think 0:08:49.960 --> 0:08:52.760 about Kelly Kapowski a little too much after watching Say 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:54.280 By the Bell. But I've repented of all this at 0:08:54.320 --> 0:08:59.040 youth camp, so I'm good. I'm good. But then I 0:08:59.040 --> 0:09:03.480 got older and I started to be confronted with the 0:09:03.520 --> 0:09:06.440 depth of my sin, and I started to realize that 0:09:06.440 --> 0:09:09.040 there was a lot of jealousy in my heart when 0:09:09.240 --> 0:09:13.040 someone got something that I thought I deserved. And I 0:09:13.080 --> 0:09:17.160 realized I was pretty selfish in my relationships and I 0:09:17.200 --> 0:09:21.040 wasn't ever really content. I always wanted more. And I 0:09:21.080 --> 0:09:23.679 began to feel really discouraged and defeated because I was like, well, 0:09:23.720 --> 0:09:25.959 I gave my life to Christ. I said, I was 0:09:26.000 --> 0:09:28.760 going to commit my life to following Jesus. But how 0:09:28.760 --> 0:09:31.440 do I deny the sin because it's always right there 0:09:31.440 --> 0:09:33.520 before me? And I feel defeated all the time, like 0:09:33.559 --> 0:09:35.520 I could never live for God because I don't know 0:09:35.600 --> 0:09:39.000 how to deny my sin, and maybe you feel the 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:42.160 same way. Maybe right now you just hear the voice 0:09:42.440 --> 0:09:47.160 of accusation all around you, saying you're a liar, you're 0:09:47.160 --> 0:09:52.440 an addict, you're an adulter, you're a cheat, you're insecure. 0:09:52.559 --> 0:09:55.200 You're hearing just the voice of your sin right in 0:09:55.200 --> 0:09:57.679 front of you, and you feel like it's impossible to 0:09:57.720 --> 0:09:59.920 deny your sin, and you don't know what it means 0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:05.079 to live for Christ. With that being the case, God 0:10:05.120 --> 0:10:08.520 showed me something in this passage this week that has 0:10:08.559 --> 0:10:11.640 helped me so much. And I've been praying all week 0:10:12.000 --> 0:10:14.640 that would help you in the same way. Because I've 0:10:14.679 --> 0:10:17.959 read this passage for years, for my whole life, I've 0:10:18.000 --> 0:10:20.920 read it wrong. I've never noticed this until this week, 0:10:20.920 --> 0:10:23.000 and I want us to look at it again. Let's 0:10:23.040 --> 0:10:26.120 read it one more time. Then he called the crowd 0:10:26.160 --> 0:10:29.080 to him along with his disciples, and said, whoever wants 0:10:29.120 --> 0:10:32.160 to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up 0:10:32.160 --> 0:10:35.760 their cross and follow me. Whoever wants to save their 0:10:35.800 --> 0:10:38.240 life will lose it. But whoever loses their life from 0:10:38.280 --> 0:10:41.120 me and for the Gospel will save it. What good 0:10:41.160 --> 0:10:43.360 is it for someone to gain the whole world yet 0:10:43.440 --> 0:10:47.319 forfeit their soul, or what can anyone gain in exchange 0:10:47.320 --> 0:10:52.120 for their soul? Did you notice what's missing in that 0:10:52.160 --> 0:10:57.640 passage The word sin. The word sin is nowhere in 0:10:57.679 --> 0:11:01.360 that passage because Jesus wasn't talking about sin this whole time. 0:11:01.360 --> 0:11:04.200 I thought it was about denying my sin. Jesus never 0:11:04.240 --> 0:11:10.800 said deny your sin. He said deny yourself. But what 0:11:10.880 --> 0:11:13.480 about my sin? I mean, that's still a pretty big deal. 0:11:13.559 --> 0:11:15.840 Yet it is a big deal, And that's the whole reason. Jesus, 0:11:15.880 --> 0:11:18.360 when he said this, was about to head to Jerusalem 0:11:18.720 --> 0:11:20.640 to deal with your sin once and for all on 0:11:20.760 --> 0:11:23.719 his cross, on his cross. He was going to deal 0:11:23.720 --> 0:11:25.959 with your sin on his cross. He was going to 0:11:26.000 --> 0:11:28.200 deal with your shame on his cross. He was going 0:11:28.280 --> 0:11:31.360 to deal with your condemnation once and for all. We 0:11:31.440 --> 0:11:36.240 receive his grace because of his cross. But the thing 0:11:36.320 --> 0:11:38.320 that has just been blowing my mind all week is 0:11:38.360 --> 0:11:41.640 that Jesus never told us to take up his cross. 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:47.800 He said take up yours. You can't take up his cross. 0:11:48.600 --> 0:11:51.120 It's too big of a weight to bear. And the 0:11:51.120 --> 0:11:53.280 good news is you don't have to. He took up 0:11:53.320 --> 0:11:56.640 his cross, dealt with your sin once and for all 0:11:56.760 --> 0:11:59.280 it is finished. You do not have to atone for 0:11:59.360 --> 0:12:04.280 your sin. You do not have to make yourself righteous. 0:12:04.320 --> 0:12:08.520 He made you righteous on his cross, and you can't 0:12:08.559 --> 0:12:11.640 deal with your sin on your cross. Your cross has 0:12:11.720 --> 0:12:16.079 nothing to do with sin. We deal with self on 0:12:16.120 --> 0:12:21.520 our cross. And if our cross has nothing to do 0:12:21.600 --> 0:12:25.000 with sin, maybe it means that there are some things 0:12:25.000 --> 0:12:28.760 that we've never thought of as sin, maybe even some 0:12:28.840 --> 0:12:33.320 good things that we're holding on to that God wants 0:12:33.400 --> 0:12:36.800 us to let go of, that God wants us to 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:39.800 deny in order to follow him. Because this, I believe 0:12:39.840 --> 0:12:41.920 is the word of the Lord for our church this week. 0:12:41.960 --> 0:12:45.839 And if you're a follower of Christ, your sin has 0:12:45.880 --> 0:12:48.000 been made right because of the cross of Jesus Christ. 0:12:48.080 --> 0:12:51.600 But your refusal to deny yourself will cause you to 0:12:51.640 --> 0:12:54.640 miss out on the power of God in your life. 0:12:54.840 --> 0:12:59.080 We cannot experience the fullness of life in Jesus Christ 0:12:59.240 --> 0:13:02.920 if we do not deny ourself. And His cross was 0:13:03.000 --> 0:13:06.040 done once and for all, but we take up our 0:13:06.080 --> 0:13:10.560 cross daily, every single day. We have to learn what 0:13:10.600 --> 0:13:12.880 it means to take up our cross and deny ourselves. 0:13:12.880 --> 0:13:14.880 In fact, in the Book of Luke, when Luke is 0:13:14.920 --> 0:13:17.920 talking about this same passage. He says, you have to 0:13:17.920 --> 0:13:21.840 take up your cross daily. This is a daily dying 0:13:21.960 --> 0:13:24.040 to self. And I've been asking myself all week, and 0:13:24.120 --> 0:13:26.440 God has been showing me that there are some good 0:13:26.440 --> 0:13:29.520 things that I need to let go of, and maybe 0:13:29.600 --> 0:13:31.800 there's some good things that you need to let go 0:13:31.840 --> 0:13:33.800 of as well, in order to embrace the power of 0:13:33.840 --> 0:13:38.520 God and your life. I know some of you are thinking, well, okay, 0:13:38.520 --> 0:13:40.840 so I have to feel bad about my sin, and 0:13:40.920 --> 0:13:42.680 now I have to feel bad about the good things too. 0:13:43.679 --> 0:13:46.600 That's not the point at all. But Jesus is saying 0:13:47.000 --> 0:13:49.160 that when you take up your cross, you're taking up 0:13:49.480 --> 0:13:52.080 his way of life and his way of life. He 0:13:52.160 --> 0:13:57.120 promises peace, he promises joy, he promises fulfillment, but it 0:13:57.160 --> 0:14:01.920 does require letting go. So a couple weeks ago, I 0:14:01.920 --> 0:14:04.000 have my little Saturday routine with my kids before I 0:14:04.040 --> 0:14:08.440 get ready for church, and Ferris, my wife, she took Sydney, 0:14:08.480 --> 0:14:11.360 our youngest daughter, to dance class, and so I was upstairs. 0:14:11.360 --> 0:14:14.160 I have twin girls that are nine, and I was 0:14:14.240 --> 0:14:16.760 upstairs and I was playing video games with them, which 0:14:16.760 --> 0:14:18.960 is what any good dad would do when alone with 0:14:19.000 --> 0:14:22.720 the kids. And so I'm playing video games, and I 0:14:22.720 --> 0:14:24.520 feel guilty. After a while, I'm like, well, we need 0:14:24.560 --> 0:14:26.520 to go downstairs and go outside. It's a nice day 0:14:26.560 --> 0:14:28.960 and do something productive. And so I'm about to go 0:14:29.000 --> 0:14:31.080 down the stairs. And here's one thing you need to 0:14:31.080 --> 0:14:35.840 know about me. I am addicted to soda. I love if, PEPSI, coke, 0:14:35.920 --> 0:14:39.600 whatever it is. I love it a little bit too much. 0:14:39.800 --> 0:14:42.840 So like none ten soda is a day. I know 0:14:42.920 --> 0:14:51.280 it's it's bad, don't judge me. But this is my 0:14:51.400 --> 0:14:53.760 healthy option. This is ZeVA and so this is what 0:14:53.840 --> 0:14:55.640 makes me feel a little bit better about drinking all that. 0:14:56.400 --> 0:14:58.320 And so I always have one of these in my hand. 0:14:58.400 --> 0:15:01.640 And so we have this long flight of wooden stairs 0:15:01.720 --> 0:15:05.400 at our house. Zv is in my hand and I 0:15:05.480 --> 0:15:08.920 get three stairs from the top. My feet slip out 0:15:08.920 --> 0:15:12.160 from under me. It's like time stands still in this moment. 0:15:12.200 --> 0:15:14.280 And the first thought, I kid you not. The first 0:15:14.280 --> 0:15:16.440 thing I think of is oh no, I don't want 0:15:16.440 --> 0:15:22.240 to spill my ZBA. First thought, second thought is wow, 0:15:22.400 --> 0:15:25.720 that stair hurts my head really really bad. My head 0:15:25.760 --> 0:15:28.040 slams against the stairs, my back slams, and then I 0:15:28.120 --> 0:15:31.160 hit every single stair on the way down. I mean, 0:15:31.240 --> 0:15:33.240 think of the worst scene in a movie you've ever 0:15:33.280 --> 0:15:35.560 seen of someone falling down the stairs. I can't even 0:15:35.640 --> 0:15:38.440 get words out. It hurts so much. It's just like 0:15:39.840 --> 0:15:43.480 it's the sound I made in my mind. I'm thinking, 0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:45.320 this is how I am. This is the worst way 0:15:45.360 --> 0:15:48.880 to go, most embarrassing way to go. I slam on 0:15:48.920 --> 0:15:52.440 the bottom of the floor in the fetal position, and 0:15:52.520 --> 0:15:54.840 I hear adleon Leonna just come to the top of 0:15:54.840 --> 0:15:56.720 the stairs in the rail and they just look down, 0:15:56.760 --> 0:15:59.680 and I kind of like compare about them, like, Daddy, 0:15:59.720 --> 0:16:02.960 are you okay? Once again, I can't like vocalize words. 0:16:02.960 --> 0:16:07.480 I'm just like, ah, you would think my beloved daughters, 0:16:08.120 --> 0:16:12.280 who love me, who are compassionate, who are kind, would 0:16:12.280 --> 0:16:15.040 come and run to the aid of their loving father. 0:16:16.120 --> 0:16:19.240 That is not what happened. They were so scared and 0:16:19.280 --> 0:16:21.600 thought that I was dying that instead of coming to 0:16:21.600 --> 0:16:23.840 help me, they ran to their room, screamed and slammed 0:16:23.840 --> 0:16:26.320 the door and just left me there all by myself 0:16:27.680 --> 0:16:31.560 for like five minutes. I'm there all by myself, and 0:16:31.600 --> 0:16:35.040 then once I can finally move, and then I start 0:16:35.080 --> 0:16:37.040 getting mad at them for running away, forgetting that I'm 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:38.840 the dad that they're not supposed to take care of me. 0:16:39.400 --> 0:16:41.640 They come down the stairs to check on me, and 0:16:41.680 --> 0:16:43.520 I'm just like, well, just clean up the zvia, And 0:16:43.560 --> 0:16:45.120 so they clean up the zva and then we have 0:16:45.160 --> 0:16:47.040 a nice chat about what to do if mommy or 0:16:47.080 --> 0:16:54.440 daddy actually was hurt. But here's what I realized after 0:16:54.480 --> 0:16:58.000 the fact. If I just let go of the zvia 0:16:58.280 --> 0:17:03.920 and grabbed the handrail, I could have just saved myself 0:17:04.520 --> 0:17:10.960 a lot of pain, a lot of embarrassment right now. 0:17:11.240 --> 0:17:13.480 And I was driving later that day and I was wondering, 0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:17.719 are there any things in my life that I'm holding 0:17:17.720 --> 0:17:21.000 onto that are going to hurt me if I don't 0:17:21.080 --> 0:17:31.400 let go? And in your life, are there any things 0:17:31.440 --> 0:17:34.600 that you're holding onto any zba is that you're just 0:17:34.640 --> 0:17:36.439 refusing to let go of. And God is saying, if 0:17:36.480 --> 0:17:39.040 you just let go of this, not only will it 0:17:39.080 --> 0:17:41.240 save you from getting hurt, but actually have something better. 0:17:42.320 --> 0:17:48.159 And so today I want to talk about three things 0:17:48.200 --> 0:17:51.600 that don't fall in the category of sin, and maybe 0:17:51.600 --> 0:17:54.400 some are even good things that God may be calling 0:17:54.520 --> 0:17:57.960 us to let go of. And I can't preach everything 0:17:58.000 --> 0:18:00.959 about what it means to deny yourself. In twenty minutes. 0:18:01.000 --> 0:18:03.719 But I think these are things that we can make 0:18:03.800 --> 0:18:07.120 decisions on every single day, and I think God will 0:18:07.119 --> 0:18:08.920 bless us if we learn how to have a posture 0:18:09.160 --> 0:18:11.840 of letting go in the first thing is this, let 0:18:11.880 --> 0:18:21.359 go approving yourself right. Let go approving yourself right now. 0:18:21.480 --> 0:18:25.560 Do marriage counseling sometimes and one of the things I 0:18:25.560 --> 0:18:28.119 try to tell the husband's right away this is marriage 0:18:28.119 --> 0:18:32.440 one oh one fundamentalism. Marriage. There are four words, four 0:18:32.520 --> 0:18:35.280 words that you have to avoid at all costs, no 0:18:35.280 --> 0:18:37.360 matter how right you think you are, no matter how 0:18:37.440 --> 0:18:39.640 vindicated you would feel in saying them, no matter how 0:18:39.800 --> 0:18:44.080 justified you think your case is, don't say these four words. 0:18:44.119 --> 0:18:45.879 I have never said these four words because I'm not 0:18:45.920 --> 0:18:48.119 that foolish and my wife would never do anything wrong. 0:18:48.600 --> 0:18:53.240 But fellas, tell me if you if you feel me 0:18:53.240 --> 0:18:59.360 on this, I told you so. It's not worth it. 0:18:59.680 --> 0:19:03.639 Do not do it. Not even if you're putting the 0:19:03.680 --> 0:19:06.399 rowing machine on Craigslist that your wife begged for for 0:19:06.480 --> 0:19:08.800 Christmas and you said, honey, you don't need a rowing machine, 0:19:08.840 --> 0:19:10.439 you're perfect, and she said, no, I'm going to use 0:19:10.480 --> 0:19:11.960 it every single day. I want to get in shape, 0:19:12.000 --> 0:19:14.120 and I'm going to use it every day, and you're like, well, okay, 0:19:14.119 --> 0:19:15.520 I'll go ahead and buy it for you. And then 0:19:15.720 --> 0:19:17.119 she uses it twice and we use it as a 0:19:17.119 --> 0:19:18.720 coat rack in the closet after that, and you're putting 0:19:18.720 --> 0:19:20.760 it on Craigslist, which is exactly what you say, what happened. 0:19:21.520 --> 0:19:23.480 I would never say I told you so if that happened. 0:19:23.480 --> 0:19:26.119 That never happened in the Joy household. That's just a hypothetical, 0:19:26.640 --> 0:19:32.840 hypothetical situation. But we love to be proven right. And 0:19:33.040 --> 0:19:36.919 sometimes it's silly like that. Sometimes it's more serious. I 0:19:36.960 --> 0:19:40.959 listen to a podcast sometimes on potential wrongful convictions, and 0:19:41.000 --> 0:19:44.359 I can't imagine how infuriating it would be to be 0:19:44.440 --> 0:19:47.280 on trial for something that you did not do and 0:19:47.320 --> 0:19:51.240 to be convicted for that. But that's exactly what Jesus 0:19:51.280 --> 0:19:55.639 was walking into in Mark chapter eight. He was going 0:19:55.680 --> 0:19:59.720 to Jerusalem, where within days he would go from celebrated 0:19:59.760 --> 0:20:04.320 miss Pah to accuse blasphemer, where the son of God 0:20:04.720 --> 0:20:07.120 was going to be treated like a common criminal, and 0:20:07.240 --> 0:20:10.320 he didn't fight back. He could have said one word 0:20:10.440 --> 0:20:12.960 and a host a legion of angels could have come 0:20:13.000 --> 0:20:17.080 down and proven his credentials, but instead he was mostly 0:20:17.200 --> 0:20:22.680 silent at his trial. He didn't fight back. Jesus didn't 0:20:22.720 --> 0:20:26.480 try to prove he was right with his words. He 0:20:26.600 --> 0:20:31.560 simply did the right thing. And it's got me thinking 0:20:32.760 --> 0:20:37.120 about all the times I've sabotaged my relationships, not by 0:20:37.160 --> 0:20:39.840 what I did wrong, but by trying to prove that 0:20:39.880 --> 0:20:44.560 I was right, refusing to humble myself. And I believe 0:20:44.680 --> 0:20:50.760 taking up our cross in relationships means laying down our 0:20:50.840 --> 0:20:54.080 needs and taking up the needs of others, because that 0:20:54.200 --> 0:20:56.560 is the heart of Jesus, and we see that in 0:20:56.600 --> 0:20:59.640 Philippians too. Let's look at this. It says, do nothing 0:20:59.680 --> 0:21:03.880 out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility, 0:21:04.280 --> 0:21:07.800 value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests, 0:21:07.840 --> 0:21:10.200 but each of you to the interests of the others 0:21:10.440 --> 0:21:13.480 in your relationships with one another. Had the same mindset 0:21:13.680 --> 0:21:17.000 as Christ. Jesus, who, being in very nature God, did 0:21:17.040 --> 0:21:20.119 not consider equality with God something to be used to 0:21:20.200 --> 0:21:24.720 his own advantage. So have you been wronged? So is Jesus. 0:21:25.720 --> 0:21:28.399 Have you been betrayed? Jesus was betrayed by one of 0:21:28.440 --> 0:21:32.080 his closest friends. Have you been misunderstood? That is part 0:21:32.160 --> 0:21:35.320 of following Christ. Jesus was misunderstood the whole time he 0:21:35.440 --> 0:21:38.760 was in Jerusalem. And this isn't permission to be walked 0:21:38.800 --> 0:21:41.439 all over, but this is a call to value the 0:21:41.480 --> 0:21:49.159 relationship over the argument. I think the most powerful cross 0:21:49.200 --> 0:21:51.240 you can take up in any relationship is the cross 0:21:51.240 --> 0:21:56.960 of forgiveness. That means that instead of reminding your wife 0:21:57.000 --> 0:21:59.320 at the fifty seven other times she did this wrong thing, 0:22:01.400 --> 0:22:05.760 it means loving her and serving her, not reminding her 0:22:05.760 --> 0:22:08.160 of her past failures, but reminding her of her potential. 0:22:08.720 --> 0:22:11.920 It means maybe, instead of focusing on how she needs 0:22:11.960 --> 0:22:15.000 to change, focusing on how you need to change. This 0:22:15.040 --> 0:22:16.520 is the part where all the women are supposed to 0:22:16.600 --> 0:22:21.760 give me an amen. But no matter how much you 0:22:21.840 --> 0:22:25.040 feel like your hurt is justified, God is calling us 0:22:25.040 --> 0:22:28.719 to take up this cross of forgiveness. And it's not 0:22:28.760 --> 0:22:32.800 always when we're wronged, but it's when we're misunderstood as well. 0:22:32.800 --> 0:22:34.480 And I wish I'd learned this in high school, that 0:22:34.560 --> 0:22:38.160 following Jesus means you're going to be misunderstood, You're going 0:22:38.480 --> 0:22:41.680 to be criticized, and it means trusting God that he 0:22:41.720 --> 0:22:44.480 will prove that his way is right in his time 0:22:44.560 --> 0:22:46.920 and he is the one who will make things right. 0:22:48.240 --> 0:22:51.280 And I love how my friend Nico here at Valentine, 0:22:51.320 --> 0:22:54.200 how he lives this out. He's one of our production volunteers, 0:22:54.400 --> 0:22:56.960 eighteen years old. He's been serving since he was fifteen. 0:22:57.359 --> 0:23:01.760 There he is right there action pose, but he he 0:23:02.320 --> 0:23:05.640 just centers his life around serving. So he's serving every weekend, 0:23:05.680 --> 0:23:09.880 every Christmas, every Easter inside Elevation, the live recording serve 0:23:09.920 --> 0:23:11.639 as stacks. He's going to serve it youth x and 0:23:11.640 --> 0:23:14.800 now as an eighteen year old, he's actually training volunteers 0:23:15.200 --> 0:23:17.919 as a youth. But he used to do these camping 0:23:17.960 --> 0:23:21.399 trips with his friends and they were pretty regular. But 0:23:21.480 --> 0:23:23.280 when he got more involved in church and felt God 0:23:23.359 --> 0:23:26.520 calling him to serve the needs of others through his gift, 0:23:27.119 --> 0:23:29.040 he started saying he couldn't do some of those trips, 0:23:29.080 --> 0:23:31.479 and his friends didn't get it. And then sometimes on 0:23:31.480 --> 0:23:33.560 Saturday nights he said he I have to leave from 0:23:33.640 --> 0:23:36.080 this because I get up early for church in the morning. 0:23:36.080 --> 0:23:37.760 And I said, well, just skip church. He's say, no, 0:23:37.800 --> 0:23:39.439 I can't skip church. I love church. This is what 0:23:39.480 --> 0:23:42.560 God is calling me to do. And he was constantly misunderstood. 0:23:42.600 --> 0:23:44.359 And when I asked Nico about it. This is what 0:23:44.400 --> 0:23:46.920 he said. He said, when I tell them why church 0:23:47.000 --> 0:23:50.560 is so important, sometimes they don't understand. It doesn't really 0:23:50.600 --> 0:23:52.640 matter though I know what God has called me to do. 0:23:53.840 --> 0:24:00.800 That's an eighteen year old who has his priorities straight 0:24:00.840 --> 0:24:03.200 and realize that because he is taking up the needs 0:24:03.200 --> 0:24:06.000 of others, the youth that he wants to reach, it 0:24:06.119 --> 0:24:08.639 might mean letting go of the opinions of other people, 0:24:08.680 --> 0:24:10.199 and it might mean letting go of some of the 0:24:10.200 --> 0:24:13.160 things that he wanted to do. And I believe when 0:24:13.160 --> 0:24:15.080 we learned to let go of other people's opinions, when 0:24:15.080 --> 0:24:16.920 we learn to let go of offense, and we learn 0:24:17.240 --> 0:24:20.359 to let go of being misunderstood, that's when we're the 0:24:20.440 --> 0:24:23.600 most like Jesus. And that's when God wants to use this. 0:24:23.680 --> 0:24:25.520 So that's the first thing. Let go of proving yourself 0:24:25.600 --> 0:24:31.119 right now, Let go of living in the past. Let 0:24:31.200 --> 0:24:33.000 go of living in the past. So this one hits 0:24:33.040 --> 0:24:37.120 close to home for me. So Jesus says follow, which 0:24:37.119 --> 0:24:42.480 implies moving forward, looking forward. But you've probably also noticed 0:24:42.480 --> 0:24:45.399 a lot in scripture talks about looking back and remembering. 0:24:45.440 --> 0:24:47.159 I mean, Psalm nine one says I'll give thanks to 0:24:47.160 --> 0:24:50.000 the Lord of my whole heart. I will recount all 0:24:50.000 --> 0:24:53.240 of your wonderful deeds. So looking back can build your faith. 0:24:53.440 --> 0:24:55.119 I mean, I preached about a year ago about how 0:24:55.119 --> 0:24:57.159 God healed my daughters and healed my family, So I 0:24:57.160 --> 0:24:59.480 look back on that a lot to build my faith. 0:25:00.680 --> 0:25:02.760 But sometimes Paul messes me up when I look at 0:25:02.760 --> 0:25:04.760 Philippians three and it says, but one thing I do 0:25:04.840 --> 0:25:07.600 forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. 0:25:07.640 --> 0:25:09.760 So what is it am I supposed to to forget? 0:25:09.760 --> 0:25:12.280 I'm not supposed to remember? And I get confused. But 0:25:13.520 --> 0:25:16.760 I think Mark eight helps put some of it in perspective. 0:25:16.800 --> 0:25:21.919 Because Jesus was calling the disciples to look ahead towards Jerusalem, 0:25:22.760 --> 0:25:24.840 but there's a cross waiting in Jerusalem that doesn't look 0:25:24.920 --> 0:25:28.840 very appealing. Looking back at Galilee looks pretty nice. That's 0:25:28.880 --> 0:25:31.560 where the miracles are, that's where the crowds are. I 0:25:31.600 --> 0:25:35.359 could imagine them wanting to look that way instead of 0:25:35.600 --> 0:25:37.639 looking forward to Jerusalem. Now, looking back at this can 0:25:37.720 --> 0:25:40.600 inspire your faith to move forward, but that's not the 0:25:40.640 --> 0:25:43.600 direction you need to continue to look. And I realize 0:25:43.600 --> 0:25:46.840 in my life sometimes I'm so focused on looking back 0:25:46.880 --> 0:25:49.600 at the good old days that I miss what God 0:25:49.640 --> 0:25:54.080 wants to do right here and right now. I imagine 0:25:54.119 --> 0:25:57.879 there's some parents out here that you're constantly looking back 0:25:58.920 --> 0:26:00.679 at the days when your kids would run up to 0:26:00.680 --> 0:26:02.200 you and greet you at the door. Your five year 0:26:02.200 --> 0:26:04.120 old would come and be like, Mommy, Daddy, your home, 0:26:05.000 --> 0:26:08.040 And there's nothing like that. And now you have teenagers 0:26:08.080 --> 0:26:11.879 and the greeting is not the same way anymore, and 0:26:11.920 --> 0:26:14.840 you wish things were like they used to be. But 0:26:14.880 --> 0:26:16.800 you're missing out in the last two years you have 0:26:16.920 --> 0:26:19.600 with your teenager when they actually need you the most, 0:26:20.119 --> 0:26:21.800 And you're missing the work that God wants you to 0:26:21.840 --> 0:26:24.679 do now because you're constantly looking back. And here is 0:26:24.720 --> 0:26:28.159 what I'm learning that a momentary glance can be motivating, 0:26:28.840 --> 0:26:34.880 but a constant gaze can be paralyzing. A momentary glance 0:26:36.040 --> 0:26:39.560 can be motivating, but a constant gaze can be paralyzing. 0:26:40.359 --> 0:26:43.360 So here is how I've learned this in my life. 0:26:43.480 --> 0:26:45.800 About two years ago, I felt the Lord call me 0:26:46.720 --> 0:26:51.320 to let go of something that I loved. I'd done 0:26:51.359 --> 0:26:53.520 it for over two decades, and I felt a sense 0:26:53.520 --> 0:26:56.119 of calling. When I did it, I felt so much joy. 0:26:56.359 --> 0:26:59.439 I was passionate about it, and I define myself by 0:26:59.480 --> 0:27:01.879 this for so long, and that was leading worship. For 0:27:02.320 --> 0:27:04.080 over twenty years I was a worship leader. In the 0:27:04.080 --> 0:27:05.760 fact that I got to be a worship leader at 0:27:05.800 --> 0:27:08.320 Elevation Church, the greatest church in the world, was just 0:27:08.400 --> 0:27:11.639 amazing for me, and God used me and it was great. 0:27:11.680 --> 0:27:14.800 But over the years I began to sense the stirring 0:27:14.880 --> 0:27:16.639 in my heart that one day God was going to 0:27:16.680 --> 0:27:19.520 call me to let go of that because he was 0:27:19.560 --> 0:27:22.560 bringing just anointed people to the team, and talented people 0:27:22.600 --> 0:27:24.879 to the team, and people that were honestly better than me, 0:27:24.920 --> 0:27:27.600 and He was showing me that my best use of 0:27:27.600 --> 0:27:29.640 my gift was going to be able to empower them 0:27:29.680 --> 0:27:31.560 and to push them forward so that they can reach 0:27:31.920 --> 0:27:33.399 more people. And I wish I could tell you that. 0:27:33.440 --> 0:27:38.080 I was like, that's awesome. Not so much. I was like, Okay, 0:27:38.080 --> 0:27:40.639 that's great, but I could still lead worship, right And 0:27:41.200 --> 0:27:43.200 I kind of fought that, And then about two years 0:27:43.240 --> 0:27:45.640 ago I felt God saying no, like this is what 0:27:45.880 --> 0:27:47.440 I want you to do, and so I just kind 0:27:47.440 --> 0:27:50.720 of eased into it and I stopped scheduling myself at campuses, 0:27:50.800 --> 0:27:53.640 and like I said, I wish I could say that 0:27:54.040 --> 0:27:58.119 all this peace just flooded my soul, But instead I 0:27:58.200 --> 0:28:00.720 began to see a lot of unk in my heart 0:28:01.400 --> 0:28:04.680 that I didn't realize was there all this pride, all 0:28:04.680 --> 0:28:08.399 this ego, the fact that I wanted people to know 0:28:08.440 --> 0:28:11.159 who I was. I'm just being real, And I remember 0:28:11.200 --> 0:28:14.199 the first time that I was at a campus and 0:28:14.680 --> 0:28:16.720 I wasn't known as Wade the worship leader. Somebody said, hey, 0:28:16.760 --> 0:28:18.200 are you here for the first time. I was like, Oh, 0:28:18.320 --> 0:28:23.399 that's stings a little bit. And what I began to 0:28:23.440 --> 0:28:26.639 realize was that God wanted me to let go of 0:28:26.680 --> 0:28:28.840 That wasn't just about ushering me into a new season 0:28:28.840 --> 0:28:31.399 of ministry. It was about wanting to give me a 0:28:31.440 --> 0:28:34.520 new heart and a new perspective, because for too long, 0:28:34.600 --> 0:28:37.400 I defined myself by what I did, and God wanted 0:28:37.400 --> 0:28:39.000 me to realize that he didn't love me based on 0:28:39.040 --> 0:28:40.600 what I did. He loved me based on the fact 0:28:40.640 --> 0:28:43.360 that I was his child and based on the cross 0:28:43.400 --> 0:28:49.400 of Jesus Christ. And so over the course of several months, 0:28:49.480 --> 0:28:51.360 God began to work that out in me. And now 0:28:51.400 --> 0:28:53.000 I can say, not just because it sounds great in 0:28:53.040 --> 0:28:55.960 a sermon, but I'm more fulfilled in ministry than I've 0:28:55.960 --> 0:28:59.120 ever been before. And it's because I let go of 0:28:59.160 --> 0:29:03.240 something I thought I can never live without God. When 0:29:03.240 --> 0:29:05.200 he calls us to let go, he wants to move 0:29:05.280 --> 0:29:08.239 us in to a new perspective, a new season, and 0:29:08.280 --> 0:29:13.000 sometimes a new understanding of ourselves. Sometimes you're not bound 0:29:13.040 --> 0:29:16.560 by past success, though, you're bound by past pain. And 0:29:16.600 --> 0:29:19.000 you're afraid to trust because of somehow someone's hurt you. 0:29:19.000 --> 0:29:21.160 You're afraid to get involved in church because of a 0:29:21.200 --> 0:29:23.880 bad church experience in your past. And God's word for 0:29:23.920 --> 0:29:26.120 you today is that your destiny is not locked up 0:29:26.120 --> 0:29:28.320 in your past. Your destiny is ahead of you. It's 0:29:28.360 --> 0:29:32.320 in your future. So keep trusting, keep moving, keep walking forward. 0:29:33.040 --> 0:29:37.280 God will honor that. And finally he wants us to 0:29:37.360 --> 0:29:42.040 let go of living, let go of the need for certainty, 0:29:42.320 --> 0:29:47.560 let go of the need for certainty. So one of 0:29:47.640 --> 0:29:49.440 the things that I try to do with my daughters. 0:29:49.480 --> 0:29:51.040 I don't do this all the time, I regularly, but 0:29:51.040 --> 0:29:53.840 I try to do daddy dates and I'll take them 0:29:53.840 --> 0:29:56.160 on a day to like get doughnuts or ice cream 0:29:56.160 --> 0:30:00.240 because I'm trying to teach him to eat clean. And 0:30:00.240 --> 0:30:02.560 and I was taking one of my daughters adlely on 0:30:02.560 --> 0:30:06.120 this date, and she's like our type a Enneagram three 0:30:06.320 --> 0:30:08.480 daughter always wants to make a plan. One time she 0:30:08.560 --> 0:30:10.000 ran into our room at like six in the morning. 0:30:10.040 --> 0:30:11.920 We were going on a trip, and she was like, mommy, Daddy, 0:30:12.520 --> 0:30:15.120 who's going to take care of the dogs. And I 0:30:15.160 --> 0:30:16.320 didn't have the heart to tell her that that was 0:30:16.320 --> 0:30:18.080 the first time I'm Mary, Daddy had thought about the dog. 0:30:18.200 --> 0:30:21.800 So Adley sometimes keeps things together in our house. But 0:30:21.880 --> 0:30:24.280 I do this thing sometimes called ask Me Anything time, 0:30:24.400 --> 0:30:26.040 because I want him to get comfortable talking to me 0:30:26.080 --> 0:30:28.800 about anything. And usually it's who's your favorite avenger? But 0:30:28.920 --> 0:30:32.520 this time she said, she said, daddy. In our devotionals 0:30:32.520 --> 0:30:36.479 the other night it said that we shouldn't like trust 0:30:36.520 --> 0:30:38.320 in our plans. But I'm a planner, so does that 0:30:38.360 --> 0:30:41.360 make me bad? And I was like, oh gosh, this 0:30:41.440 --> 0:30:43.320 is like a real life parenting moment right here. Please 0:30:43.360 --> 0:30:48.440 don't let me screw this up. And I said, Adley 0:30:49.000 --> 0:30:52.000 being a planner is great. Like look through the Bible 0:30:52.040 --> 0:30:54.520 and it talks about how we're supposed to make plans 0:30:54.520 --> 0:30:56.320 and that's a beautiful part of how God made you. 0:30:56.400 --> 0:30:58.480 He's going to use it. I make plans a lot 0:30:58.520 --> 0:31:00.400 with my job planning for the weekend, and we do 0:31:00.480 --> 0:31:02.640 that at church, and so God's going to use your plans. 0:31:03.480 --> 0:31:06.280 But we just can't hold too tightly to our plans 0:31:06.320 --> 0:31:11.240 because sometimes God has a better plan. And I'm thinking 0:31:11.240 --> 0:31:16.040 about the disciples hearing Jesus say we're going to Jerusalem, 0:31:17.080 --> 0:31:19.360 and they're like, well, I thought if we were going 0:31:19.400 --> 0:31:21.280 to Jerusalem, it's because you're going to be king and 0:31:21.640 --> 0:31:23.240 you were going to deliver us. But you're going to 0:31:23.320 --> 0:31:27.680 Jerusalem because of a cross that wasn't part of their plan, 0:31:28.920 --> 0:31:32.920 but it was always part of God's. And they were 0:31:32.960 --> 0:31:35.440 so comfortable in Galilee that I imagine they didn't want 0:31:35.440 --> 0:31:40.680 to risk all of that for a cross. And are 0:31:40.720 --> 0:31:43.520 we so comfortable where we're at sometimes that we don't 0:31:43.560 --> 0:31:46.680 want to make the everyday risks that God is calling 0:31:46.760 --> 0:31:49.120 us to make. And that's where God truly moves in 0:31:49.160 --> 0:31:51.080 our life. It's not the big risk all the time. 0:31:51.160 --> 0:31:55.480 Sometimes if those daily risks to get uncomfortable, So you 0:31:55.880 --> 0:31:59.160 may know you need to volunteer at church, and you 0:31:59.240 --> 0:32:01.480 love technology. You thought about production, but what if I'm 0:32:01.480 --> 0:32:02.960 not good enough and you never go to the tent. 0:32:03.040 --> 0:32:05.480 You talk yourself out of it, or maybe you have 0:32:05.520 --> 0:32:07.880 this idea for your company, and it's going to increase 0:32:07.960 --> 0:32:10.320 revenue and it's going to make things more efficient. But 0:32:10.480 --> 0:32:12.000 you think your boss is going to laugh at you, 0:32:12.040 --> 0:32:14.760 so you never actually make the presentation or the pitching. 0:32:14.840 --> 0:32:18.840 We just settle for status quo because status quo is safe, 0:32:18.880 --> 0:32:21.320 and we're afraid of the uncertainty on the other side 0:32:21.360 --> 0:32:23.720 of a what if. But let me tell you, God 0:32:23.920 --> 0:32:27.280 always moves on the other side of a what if. 0:32:27.320 --> 0:32:31.280 He always moves on the other side of obedience. He 0:32:31.400 --> 0:32:35.160 always moves on the other side of faith. And anytime 0:32:35.200 --> 0:32:37.880 we take the step of faith and uncertainty to let 0:32:38.040 --> 0:32:42.080 something go, God always gives us something greater. Every time, 0:32:42.120 --> 0:32:48.040 anytime we surrender something good, God always gives us something better. 0:32:48.160 --> 0:32:50.160 I've seen it in my life, and we see it 0:32:50.160 --> 0:32:52.560 in the life of Jesus. Here. Jesus, if he had 0:32:52.600 --> 0:32:55.600 stayed in Galilee, could have done more good things. He 0:32:55.640 --> 0:32:58.360 could have healed more lepers, he could have fed more people. 0:32:58.720 --> 0:33:00.600 He could have cast out more dem so he could 0:33:00.600 --> 0:33:04.320 have writed in justice. He could have continued collecting those 0:33:04.440 --> 0:33:07.760 miracles in Galilee. But he let that go so he 0:33:07.760 --> 0:33:10.840 could go to Jerusalem, knowing he'd be persecuted, knowing he'd 0:33:10.840 --> 0:33:13.640 be misunderstood, knowing he'd be falsely accused, and knowing that 0:33:13.680 --> 0:33:16.720 he would ultimately die because his father had sent him 0:33:16.760 --> 0:33:20.560 to collect something greater, something even better. And we find 0:33:20.600 --> 0:33:24.160 that in John chapter fourteen says, truly, I tell you, 0:33:24.200 --> 0:33:27.040 whoever believes in me will do the works I have 0:33:27.160 --> 0:33:29.920 been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, 0:33:30.200 --> 0:33:33.920 because I am going to the Father. So Jesus laid 0:33:33.920 --> 0:33:36.320 down the works he could have continued to do on 0:33:36.400 --> 0:33:39.080 this earth to do an even greater work through you. 0:33:40.000 --> 0:33:41.880 And that is what see what God can do through 0:33:41.880 --> 0:33:44.920 you is all about. It's about taking up the heart, 0:33:45.240 --> 0:33:47.800 taking up the purpose of God, and knowing that God 0:33:47.840 --> 0:33:51.480 wants to do a greater work, a greater miracle through you. 0:33:51.640 --> 0:33:55.160 So when we live in denial, you're not losing, You're gaining. 0:33:55.600 --> 0:33:58.320 When you're living in denial, this is actually how we 0:33:58.360 --> 0:34:02.360 truly live because God has something better, something more fulfilling, 0:34:02.400 --> 0:34:04.920 he actually wants to place in your hands. So when 0:34:04.920 --> 0:34:09.080 we were talking about Nico earlier, Nico said, yeah, had 0:34:09.120 --> 0:34:10.759 to give up some time with my friends. Yeah, I 0:34:10.800 --> 0:34:13.160 had to give up some camping trips. But when I 0:34:13.200 --> 0:34:15.799 saw these guys in my e group actually give their 0:34:15.800 --> 0:34:18.320 life to Christ. To know that they were at Stack 0:34:18.400 --> 0:34:20.600 when I was serving at Stack, and they were there 0:34:20.600 --> 0:34:22.200 on the weekend when I was serving there, and they 0:34:22.200 --> 0:34:23.560 were there on Eastern when I was serving, and I 0:34:23.640 --> 0:34:25.440 know I had some part to play in them giving 0:34:25.480 --> 0:34:28.200 their life to Christ. That is far greater than any 0:34:28.239 --> 0:34:33.399 camping trip. He was not losing, he was gaining. Then 0:34:33.440 --> 0:34:38.520 you've got my man Chris down here, and Chris right here. 0:34:38.719 --> 0:34:40.520 This will be the third year the outreach coordinator here 0:34:40.520 --> 0:34:42.799 at Valentine. This will be the third week you've taken 0:34:42.840 --> 0:34:45.920 a week of vacation to help serve for Lovely. Is 0:34:45.960 --> 0:34:48.200 that right, yes, sir. And so Chris was telling me 0:34:48.239 --> 0:34:50.320 that he did that. He knew he could be spending 0:34:50.360 --> 0:34:52.359 time with his family, but he wanted to set an 0:34:52.400 --> 0:34:54.640 example to his family that this is what it means 0:34:54.640 --> 0:34:57.320 to follow God, and that is to serve people. So, Chris, 0:34:57.480 --> 0:35:00.279 you're losing a week of vacation, but you're game a 0:35:00.360 --> 0:35:03.680 legacy for your family. You're gaining a legacy for your son. 0:35:03.800 --> 0:35:06.239 So once again, when we open our hearts and our 0:35:06.280 --> 0:35:10.040 hands to God, he gives us something better. Elena at 0:35:10.120 --> 0:35:12.799 Lake Norman she's part of our welcome team there and 0:35:13.200 --> 0:35:15.600 at the end of the year for the Waymaker End 0:35:15.600 --> 0:35:18.880 of the Year offering season, she felt called to embrace 0:35:19.239 --> 0:35:22.240 a life of generosity, to open her hands to God 0:35:22.480 --> 0:35:24.920 and get herself uncomfortable and to begin to give. And 0:35:24.960 --> 0:35:28.239 she also began to pray for her sister, Debbie, who 0:35:28.239 --> 0:35:30.959 didn't know the Lord. So as she began to prioritize 0:35:30.960 --> 0:35:33.120 her faith, she began to pray for her sister Debbie. 0:35:33.160 --> 0:35:36.279 Debbie ended up coming to church, gave her life to Christ, 0:35:36.360 --> 0:35:41.560 and last month, Debbie was baptized at Lake Norman. Anytime, 0:35:44.080 --> 0:35:47.440 anytime we open our hands to God, he fills it 0:35:47.480 --> 0:35:51.200 with something far greater than anything we ever let go of. 0:35:51.520 --> 0:35:55.640 And I believe that is God's heart to you today 0:35:55.920 --> 0:35:59.600 to go from this position because God won't bless this 0:35:59.640 --> 0:36:04.240 position to this position, and this position is a position 0:36:04.280 --> 0:36:07.520 and a posture that the Lord will always bless. So 0:36:07.560 --> 0:36:09.919 I just want to invite you to stand at every 0:36:09.960 --> 0:36:12.879 location and I want you to hold your hands out 0:36:12.920 --> 0:36:20.719 like this. Let's close our eyes together. I believe there's 0:36:20.719 --> 0:36:24.680 something I've been sharing God's word today that God has 0:36:24.760 --> 0:36:27.400 put on your heart, that he is calling you to 0:36:27.480 --> 0:36:30.880 let go of that he's calling me to let go of. 0:36:31.840 --> 0:36:34.800 Hebrews twelve says, let us throw off everything that hinders 0:36:35.440 --> 0:36:39.839 and the sin that so easily entangles. Let us run 0:36:39.880 --> 0:36:44.120 the race marked out for us towards Jesus. So maybe 0:36:44.160 --> 0:36:46.000 there is some sin that you need to confess and 0:36:46.040 --> 0:36:48.680 you need to repent of, and you need to lay 0:36:48.680 --> 0:36:50.919 at the feet of Jesus. But maybe there's some good 0:36:50.920 --> 0:36:53.680 things that are no longer right for you in this season. 0:36:53.719 --> 0:36:57.840 Maybe there's some attitudes, some mindsets that are slowing you 0:36:57.920 --> 0:37:00.000 down and holding you back from the fullness of life 0:37:00.120 --> 0:37:03.680 that God has for you. And today as a church family, 0:37:03.719 --> 0:37:07.479 we want to let that go. So in a moment, 0:37:07.520 --> 0:37:10.480 after I pray, we're gonna single come to the altar 0:37:10.520 --> 0:37:12.640 and at every location we're gonna have ministry dreams and 0:37:12.680 --> 0:37:15.319 prayer volunteers at the front. If you want to come 0:37:15.360 --> 0:37:17.719 down and just ask somebody to pray for you to 0:37:17.760 --> 0:37:19.680 have the strength to let go whatever it is that 0:37:19.719 --> 0:37:21.240 you need to let go of, we have some people 0:37:21.239 --> 0:37:23.360 that would love to pray with you. But I believe 0:37:23.360 --> 0:37:26.279 all of us in our hearts can ask God to 0:37:26.280 --> 0:37:28.720 show us what that is. Because taking up your cross 0:37:29.280 --> 0:37:32.160 is an active thing. There's something that God is actually 0:37:32.160 --> 0:37:37.040 calling us to release and then to take up. So God, 0:37:37.120 --> 0:37:40.200 right now we come to you with open hands and 0:37:40.320 --> 0:37:44.320 open hearts, thanking you for the fact that your plans 0:37:44.320 --> 0:37:48.640 for us are perfect and they're far greater than anything 0:37:49.400 --> 0:37:51.840 we could plan ourselves. So we surrender to your ways, 0:37:51.840 --> 0:37:55.040 we surrender to your will, and we trust your heart 0:37:55.080 --> 0:38:01.000 in this place in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, I hope 0:38:01.000 --> 0:38:03.440 you enjoyed the podcast today. If you did, there are 0:38:03.480 --> 0:38:05.600 just a couple things I'd love for you to do. 0:38:05.800 --> 0:38:09.319 Number One, subscribe to our show. That way, the most 0:38:09.360 --> 0:38:12.600 recent episode will always be in your feed, waiting for 0:38:12.640 --> 0:38:16.160 you ready when you are. And Secondly, if this ministry 0:38:16.160 --> 0:38:18.640 has impacted you and you'd like to help us continue 0:38:18.640 --> 0:38:20.719 to reach others, you can click the link in the 0:38:20.719 --> 0:38:23.600 description and you can give now and I'll see you 0:38:23.760 --> 0:38:26.240 next time on the Elevation Podcast