Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:01 <inaudible> led you through the Valley of darkness in Julia's wonder. Welcome, welcome. Welcome. I am so glad you are here with us today.
Speaker 1 00:00:44 All kinds of shouting and worshiping and celebrating. Cause that's what we do when we have victory in Jesus name. I mean, if you're sitting here somewhere and you're wandering, why is everybody shouting and so happy because God has led us through a hard season into victory in Jesus name,
Speaker 0 00:01:10 Hello,
Speaker 1 00:01:10 It's lights to get out of Egypt after 400 years of slavery and they crossed the red sea. You know, the first thing that they do, they shout and they celebrate and they worship with everything they've got because they realize how good their God is to them. And so to you, wherever you are, whatever campus you're at, or if you are online, I say to you, welcome to Valley Creek church. We are so glad that you are here with us today. And we haven't really been able to do this in a while. So let's go ahead and do it. Come on. Let's give it up for the Denton campus.
Speaker 0 00:01:46 Oh, welcome to the journey. Come on. Let's give it up for flower mile. Come on. Now everybody give it up for Lewisville is giving up all, come on and I'll give it up for the venue, everybody. And one more. Let's give it up.
Speaker 1 00:02:10 Everybody who's watching or listening online
Speaker 0 00:02:12 Somewhere in the world. Come on.
Speaker 1 00:02:18 So glad that you are here with us today. Hope is here. Everyone is welcome. And Jesus changes. Everything. Come on. Hope is still here because Jesus is still here. Everyone is still welcome because we still exist for the lost and the lonely and the broken. And Jesus still changes everything. Cause he is the same yesterday, today and forever. And so about seven months ago, we all got scattered seemingly out of nowhere, no one saw I don't care how prophetic you are. Ain't nobody saw that one coming. And all of a sudden we got scattered. And for the last seven months we've been a hundred percent online. And today is our first day of starting to open our campuses back up to have services. And like the Psalmist, like the Psalm has said, I rejoiced when they said to me, let's go to the house of the Lord.
Speaker 1 00:03:16 Come on. I rejoiced. There was something in my spirit that Rose up. When I realized I could come and gather with the people of God. So you got to remember the strength of the church is in the small relationships, the strength of the churches in the twos and threes in the circles, in the groups, on the teams. That's the strength of the church, but there is something supernaturally powerful about the gathering of the church. There is something significant that takes place. When we gather around the presence of God, he comes in, he inhabits the praises of his people. And so I know this has been a hard season. I know for so many of you for so many of you, this was the hardest season you've ever walked through in your life for a variety of different things. You feel like you've been in the Valley in every way, shape and form.
Speaker 1 00:04:05 And yet what I want to remind you of today is that even though it's been hard, God has been good to you. He hasn't left you nor forsake in you. And you have more to celebrate than complain about in jesus' name because of his goodness and his grace. And so maybe today is a day to shift that perspective, to change your focus and remind yourself of who he is and what he has done. And kind of, as we were starting to gather back at our campuses, again, it kind of feels like there's so many things that we have to like remind ourselves of celebrate. And, and us it's been so long since. So I'm like seeing people today. I'm like, Oh my God,
Speaker 0 00:04:42 <inaudible>
Speaker 1 00:04:51 No idea what it's like, just talking to a camera for seven months missing you and wherever you are. And so what I want to do, I just want to say, thank you. Like there are so many people in our church to thank, like I just, I just want to start with some gratitude, like to every person that has been choosing generosity and giving man, I just celebrate you. I thank you for your trust in the Lord that you choose to put him first, regardless of what's happening in a global pandemic economic crisis, because you want to honor the Lord with your heart and with your generosity. And because of you we've been able to serve so many people in this season. I want to thank everybody. That's prayed. I want to thank every person that's interceded prayed for the church, prayed for the mission, prayed for the movement, prayed for what God was doing, prayed for the online services.
Speaker 1 00:05:42 I think you've got to see more answered prayers in the season than maybe in the last couple of seasons combined. Cause I've just been watching God answer the prayers of his people. I want to thank every person that has chosen to just serve, serve it, serve the city or the next step center or the invitations and the opportunities along the way. I think in this season, we've probably been able to live out our vision more than maybe any other season before, which sounds so paradoxical because we haven't been gathering. And yet we've been able to serve the city more in this season than maybe ever before. I want to thank every person that's been on mission. Every person that invited somebody to watch online or lived as a hope carrier or walked across the street or walked across a, an awkward conversation to just bring the hope of Jesus into that moment. I want to thank every person that just stayed engaged. I get it. Like I get it
Speaker 0 00:06:35 Like, like I get it. Okay.
Speaker 1 00:06:38 Like this is my life and I get it. Like, I'm sure there's lots of those days that it's like, man, some of you online, your this is your world. So you're good. But some of us that
Speaker 0 00:06:49 They're all the time. We're like, I don't know.
Speaker 1 00:06:52 I don't know that I want to press play today. I get it. It's okay. In jesus' name, you're forgiven and free. So the fact that you stayed engaged, I celebrate and thank you. There are so many people to thank and celebrate and, and, and above all, just one thing, Jesus, he really has been so good and so gracious to us. If you've ever wondered if the church is supernatural, if you've ever wondered, if the grace of God is actually in the church, if you ever wonder if it really is his spirit that holds us together and just got proven to you, there's no question. Think about it for seven months. We couldn't even get together. And yet thousands of people have chosen to stay engaged and giving and serving and loving and want to keep moving forward on their journey with Jesus. If that's not supernatural, I don't know what you will think is in a world where everything is peeling apart in a world where everyone is divided in a world where everyone is against everyone else, the church of Jesus and its unity and its movement and its commitment shows us the supernatural grace of God.
Speaker 1 00:08:03 And so today's kind of like a defining line. It's a marker point. It's a, it's a beginning of a new season that we get to walk into with God. We've kind of in a sense, crossed the red sea. We're kind of on the other side, we're going to move forward together and we're going to start figuring out how to move forward. And so we're just going to week by week, just start slowly, moving forward and adding things back. And here's what I want to say to those of you that are online. Some of you we've reached you. We've connected with you. We found you. You found us over this season and I want to say to you, if you live beyond this region or you feel like, man, I never feel like I'm feel comfortable coming back right now or maybe ever I say to you, that is so, okay, welcome to Valley Creek.
Speaker 1 00:08:44 You are a part of this family. And I believe the online experience is going to be 10 times better because there are people in the room now, again, bringing a faith atmosphere that gets through the technology and sent to you. So you take whatever time that you need, you go at your pace. And if you live beyond the ability to come to a physical campus or you feel like for whatever reason, you don't feel comfortable coming, you are Valley Creek. Come on, let's just celebrate everybody. That's online somewhere in the world. We love you. And you are us. You're just in a different room. And that's the beauty of having multiple campuses. A lots of us are in different rooms right now. And some of us are in some rooms because some of our campuses, it overflow and we don't have enough seats for you. So next week we will add some more services at some of our campuses to make some more room for some more people.
Speaker 1 00:09:41 Here's the deal. We just didn't know what to expect. It's a season where there's a whole lot of unexpected stuff. So we're going to go slow and we're going to add things and we're going to figure out when we can get kids back and all those different kinds of things, kids service is still online every single week, but, but it will start moving forward together and we'll go on this journey. And here's, here's just what I want to say. Here's just what we're going to do. And I love that this is who we are. Okay. We're just going to love each other. We're just going to honor each other. We're going to practice and family how we're supposed to live in the world. We're going to practice and family how we're supposed to take the kingdom into the world. Cause if you can't figure out how to love and honor each other and family, how on earth are we going to figure out how to do it in the world?
Speaker 1 00:10:29 So, so we're just going to like choose to be like, Hey, you know, I'm just, I'm going to love it. I'm going to honor. And I'm going to kind of like read the other person and read the situation and read the room and do what would be good for, for them. See, I know some of you and let me just go ahead and say this, cause I know some of you, it like stresses you out. Like you want a whole lot more rules right now than we're giving you. And the truth is in our spirit, we often crave rules over relationship. This is how we actually want oftentimes life with each other in life with God. That's why people love to go back to religion because rules are really easy. I did it or I didn't. And you either did it or you either didn't but relationship actually requires me to listen, to learn and to love, to pay attention and then choose to sacrifice or serve or give something up or let something go.
Speaker 1 00:11:20 That might be important to me for your benefit. And so I think God is inviting us. This is like a kingdom growth point. It's not about rules. It's not about regulations. It's a kingdom growth point to say, can I be engaged in relationship and learn how to live kingdom values in this family? So I can actually learn how to, how to live them in the world. Cause I don't know if you've watched the world lately, but the world could sure use a whole lot of that. So we got to figure it out together. And here's the thing that I would just say to you just choose right now, refuse to get offended,
Speaker 2 00:11:56 Refuse to get offended.
Speaker 1 00:11:58 If you didn't get into the service that you wanted to get into to them, really just refuse to get offended
Speaker 2 00:12:05 In jesus' name.
Speaker 1 00:12:08 We're all doing our best and we're all gonna do our best together. But if you just make it dis like literally offense is a decision. It's a choice that you make, you choose to pick it up or you choose to let it go. And it's a whole lot easier to decide. I'm just never going to pick it up before it even comes to just, I refuse to get offended. Why? Cause I'm more interested in being a part of the family of God than I am being offended and trying to be validated and trying to be right. I'm more interested in relationship. You see like, like I would bet that maybe you would agree with this with me. Um, this has been a season where there's been a whole lot of things that have been exposed, tested, and pruned. Anyone else feel like that? Like a whole lot of stuff in your heart, like God exposed in the season. A whole lot of tests probably came into your life. A whole lot of things got pruned off. You know what I'm talking about? Like, you don't know how strong your faith is until you face the impossible. You don't know how much you trust God until you lose all sense of control. You don't know how deep your roots are until the storm comes. And you don't know how loving you actually are until you have to deal with someone who has a different perspective.
Speaker 2 00:13:24 Then you,
Speaker 1 00:13:26 The season has been a lot of exposure and pruning and Jesus says he cuts off the dead things in our life and he prunes the good thing. So there'll be even more fruitful. And a whole lot of dead things probably got cut out of your life in this season. And a whole lot of good things. Things you love things that are good, things that are valuable in your life. Even like our gathering, they got pruned, they got cut back. Why Jesus says so they can be even more fruitful. And so half of it is just being aware and paying attention to what God's been saying and doing. And just like that's happened in your life. And my life that's actually happened for us as a church. See, this has been a season where you've actually been able to evaluate and say like, what is it that we're actually doing?
Speaker 1 00:14:04 What are you doing in your life? What am I doing in my life then? What are we doing as a church? And so quickly, let me just remind you of who we are and what our vision is. We are a movement of hope for the city and beyond say, what are we doing? Why do we exist? We're a movement of hope for us, for the city. And beyond you say, what does that mean? A movement is when unique individuals come together and they submit their gifts and their passions and their talents and their resources to a common vision for an exponential return. It's when they choose to say, we're the church of Jesus and the church of Jesus is a community with a cause. We are a force. The kingdom of God is advancing. And in Jesus name, we are that kingdom and like a bunch of little streams coming together to form one raging river that shapes the landscape around it. As we unite with one another, we start changing culture, shifting the atmosphere, changing the environment in the world around us. And you say a movement of what a movement of hope, hope is not an emotion. Hope is not a feeling hope is not wishful thinking. Hope is a person and his name is Jesus and Jesus. His main message when he was on this earth was repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. In other words, change your mind.
Speaker 2 00:15:19 Cause hope is here.
Speaker 1 00:15:21 And what I love about Jesus as he meets us where we are to take us where he wants us to go, he gives us what we want so he can give us what we need. That's why Jesus gave Peter a net full of fish. So he could speak to the destiny in his heart. He gave the woman at the well a friendship. So he could give her Springs of living water. He gave the blind man sight, what he wanted so he could give him salvation. And I don't know if you've known this or not, but in this season, God has met you where you are. So he could take you where he wants you to go. We're a movement of hope for what? For the city, not for ourselves. Why? Because we exist for the lost, the lonely and the broken and beyond because hope is contagious.
Speaker 1 00:16:01 Host, cope, cascades, and hope flows. A movement of Oak where the city and beyond. And we create harbors and hope carriers, harbors campuses, whether in person or online, where people come in, like a ship comes in and gets into that Harbor, a safe place where it unloads it's junk and it's refuge gets filled up with fuel and life and encouragement and then goes back out because a ship is not meant to stay in a Harbor. It's meant to sail the ocean. And a follower of Jesus is not meant to live in the Harbor, but they need a home.
Speaker 2 00:16:32 Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:16:32 That's why I feel so good for those of you that are at campuses today, your soul needs this and our city needs this. There's been a whole lot of heart damage. That's taken place in the storm over these past seven months, a whole lot of life damage that's taken place. And it's time for harbors of hope to be opened back up for the lost, the lonely and the broken. And eventually we try to help them reach connect, develop them, help them take a next step from hopeless to hope carrier. So eventually we can send them back out to where God has created and called them to be that's who we are. That's our vision. That's what we're doing. And if you've been here for a long time, you know, we talk about vision a lot, but if you've been here a long time, you know, the only thing that I try to talk about more than vision is culture.
Speaker 1 00:17:16 Culture. You say, what is the difference? And why do I care today? Here's why, what the difference is. And here's why you care. Vision is a direction. Culture is an identity. Vision is what you're doing. Culture is who you're becoming. The vision is the direction that you're headed and what you're focused on. Put your culture. It's your identity. It's your core. It's your DNA. And the reason culture matters is because identity determines behavior and who you are determines what you do. You can have the best vision in the world, but if you don't have the right culture, how we live function and engage
Speaker 2 00:17:50 And believe you'll never achieve your vision. But if you have a great culture, you don't even need a vision statement cause you'll naturally live it out. Okay? My biggest concern over us being separated for seven months is losing sight of our culture. So I want to encourage and remind you as we start gathering back again, remember the culture and be the culture where there is no vision. The people perish without a vision, people are aimless. They wander where there is no culture. People don't have an identity they're insecure. They don't know who they are. So they spend their life trying to please others or please the world instead of walking with God. But we know who we are, where Jesus focused, a spirit filled and life giving. And so I know a lot of us we're going to have forgotten the culture. Well, as we start regathering and let's remember the culture, let's remember, we're a people who unify.
Speaker 2 00:18:45 Let's remember, we're a people who passionately worship. Let's remember world people who engage and talk loud and services. Let's remember that we're people who are kind let's remember. There were people who are generous and who are on mission, who are inviting other people. Cause when lost lonely and broken people come here, they don't come to a building. They come into a people, they come into a family and it's okay. It's like you haven't been with your family in a while. And then you get back together and we kinda all forget, like how do we actually do this? And then you're like, Oh, there it is. That's us. It's okay. It's going to take us a little while. But the culture really matters because it's our heart. And for those of you that really missed being here. That's what you've missed. Just so you know, you've missed the culture and the presence of God and our desire to encounter and engage him together. So you're with me on all that. Oh, it's so good. When I say, are you with me on that to hear people actually say back to me, yes.
Speaker 0 00:19:43 When you're watching online. And I say that, I just picture you saying yes, maybe my breakfast is getting cold. Could you wrap it up? I know how one day cup of coffee to see.
Speaker 2 00:19:58 Here's what I think this whole season has brought us back to. What does this really matter? What are we really doing? And I think you could summarize life in this. Jesus is inviting us to follow him on mission. That's what I think this season has like really taught us about the church. In fact, if you just think about Peter and the first time Peter calls Jesus in Matthew chapter four, Jesus comes to Peter and he says, come follow me. And I will make you fishers of men. We know this first, come follow me, Peter. And I'll make you fishers of men. In other words, feed Peter, come follow me and live a life of mission. And when Peter stood there on the, on the shore of the sea of Galilee, wondering if he was going to follow Jesus, I think in Peter's mind, he kind of did a little checklist and he kind of ran through in his mind.
Speaker 2 00:20:44 And I think he had an expectation of what that was really going to be. And I think in Peter's mind, it was going to be like, what is, this is Jesus, the son of God. So it's going to be all right. It's going to be comfortable and convenient. There's going to be signs and wonders. There's probably going to be riches and wealth. There's going to be power and blessing and, and, and significance and influence. This is yet gee I'm in. Yes, go Jesus. This bone, ain't got nothing on where you taking me shit. And then as the journey started, all of a sudden Peter realized it wasn't really what he thought it was going to be. Was it, he had to go through storms and deal with demonic oppression, then face persecution and rejection and issues with people. And didn't have a place to lay his head because he was a Jesus and Jesus didn't have a place to lay. Is there like all of these different kinds of things? It really wasn't what Peter expected it to be.
Speaker 2 00:21:40 And then after about three years, I think Peter kind of finally thought, okay, I got this thing figured out now I kind of, okay, now I know what it is. And just about the time you, and I think we know what it is. God does something different. So he can show us that we don't really know what it is. And there's more that he's inviting us into. And so after three years, Jesus tells the disciples. He says, Hey guys, um, I'm about to be crucified and I'm going to go. I'm gonna be arrested. And all of you are going to deny me and Peter. And only the way that he can do, he steps forward and very confidently and boldly says, I'm excuse me, Jesus. Like, I've been walking with you for three years. I've got this thing figured out. Now I am not going to deny you. I don't know about these guys. I don't know what Thomas is going to do. I don't know what John's going to do out of Noah. Bartholomew's go. I don't know what Matthew is going to actually know what Thomas is going to do. Thomas is definitely going to deny you, but, but the rest of them, I don't know about them, but I'm no me, Jesus. There is no way I will deny you.
Speaker 2 00:22:45 And in that moment, Jesus looks at Peter and says, Peter, you don't even know what you're saying, but he says tonight, you're going to deny me three times to a servant girl. And a rooster is going to Crow. Oh, not me. Jesus. In that moment, Peter made the classic mistake that you and I tend to make in our lives that we probably made during this Corona season. And he was more focused on his commitment to Jesus instead of Jesus, his commitment to him, what Peter should have done is he should have stepped forward and he should have said, Jesus, I'm gonna be honest with you. I don't even know what's all in here. So I don't know what I'm going to do, but I know what you're going to do. And you're not going to deny me. I don't know about my commitment to you during this hard season.
Speaker 2 00:23:32 Jesus, but I know your commitment to me. It's not going to fail in any way, shape and form. You see, this is why I love this next verse that says, if we are faithless, he will remain faithful. But see, it's not about your faithfulness to God. It's about his faithfulness to you in the mistake that we all make is we try to make it about our commitment to God and our faith in God and our love for God. But it's the wrong focus. It's about his faithfulness to you. This is why we say we want to be a Jesus focused church, which means we want to focus more on what he has done for us than what we have to do for him. A self focused life is all about what you want for you. A religious focused life is all about what you got to do for God. The Jesus focused life is all about what he has done for you.
Speaker 2 00:24:21 And it's so easy to enter hard seasons like this and be like, I got this. I'm going to walk with God. I'm going to be, I'm gonna be flying high in victory all the way forward. And maybe the first week, maybe the first month, maybe you made it six months. And then all of a sudden, maybe all those things start creeping up in your heart like Peter. And you're kind of like, I don't even know where this came from because we misplaced the focus. See, this is why the next first tells us, this is love. Not that we loved God, but that he loved us. Come on. Love is not what you do for God. It's what Jesus has done for you. We spend so much time in Christian circles talking about, do you love God? How much do you love? God love God love God.
Speaker 2 00:25:08 No, no God loves you. And when you get to God loves you and creates within you love for him. In fact, have you ever talked to really spiritually mature people? Maybe you are one, maybe, you know, one, maybe you live with one. I don't know if you've ever talked to really spiritually mature people. Here's the really interesting thing. They almost never talk about their love for God said, well, how, how are they mature if they're not talking about their love for God because they spend all their time talking about God's love for them because all they ever talk about is his grace and his goodness and his kindness and his compassion. His love, his faithfulness, his commitment. It creates it within them. Here's my first John four 19. The next verse says we love because he first loved us. In other words, the more you can focus on what Jesus has done for you.
Speaker 2 00:26:01 The more it will create that very thing within you, towards him, the more you receive his love for you, the more you love him, the more you receive his commitment to you, the more committed you are to him. The more you receive his passion for you, the more passionate you are for him. It's not about what you do for Jesus. It's about what Jesus has done for you. So in that moment, Peter totally misses the point. It's not about you, Peter. And it's not about what you're going to do for me in this hard season. It's about what I'm going to do for you in this hard season. And so where's the focus and what I think is so cool as John, one of the other 12 disciples, he sits there and he watches the whole thing. And years later, when John's writing the gospel of John, John refers to himself, never as John, only as the disciple whom Jesus loved. And no one wants to be friends with that guy.
Speaker 2 00:26:57 You read that and you think really John you're special. No, John was wise. He watched Peter boldly declare that Peter Peter would have called himself the disciple whom loved Jesus. And John understood that didn't work out all that well. And so for the rest of his life, John refers to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved because he understood what it was about. So Peter falls, he fails big time and you know the story, Jesus is crucified. He's, he's gone. They think it's over. So Peter goes fishing and he's sitting in this fishing boat. He's defeated, he's discouraged. He's got shame. He's got condemnation. And he's full of apathy because it's like, I thought I had this thing figured out. I thought I knew what was in my heart and all kinds of junk got exposed. And I can't even believe it. The rooster crowed a servant girl, like it's bad.
Speaker 2 00:27:55 And he's sitting in this little fishing boat. Cause you always go back to the places that you feel like you can control when life is out of control. And he sat in his little boat of apathy holding an empty net. Can I just tell you in this season, I think that the thing that I've seen in so many people is that we're sitting in a little boat of apathy because it's been a hard season. Maybe it's the boat of Netflix or the boat of Facebook or the boat of just sitting on your couch or the boat. I just don't want to leave my house. I just don't want to move. I want life to come to me. I want it to get easier. Listen to me, the spirit of apathy does not belong in your heart because he's given you a new heart in Jesus name.
Speaker 2 00:28:42 And so Peter sitting there, apathetically holding this empty fishing net and the resurrected Jesus comes walking down the shore of the sea of Galilee and he calls out to him, friends, have you caught any fish? They don't know it's Jesus. And the answer is obviously no because the apathetic heart never finds what it's looking for. So just understand that the apathetic heart will never find what it's looking for. Cause it's actually not looking for anything other than comfort, convenience and an enemy. So they say, no, Jesus has them throw the net on the right side of the boat they do. And in that moment they haul it in and it's so full of fish. The net begins to break and Peter realizes it's Jesus. He jumps out of the boat, swims to Jesus all the way he gets their way because kindness leads you to repentance.
Speaker 2 00:29:29 It's kindness to give Peter a net full of fish that he did not deserve. But that kindness mean Peter towards Jesus. And in this season, can I just tell you something, no matter how bad this Corona season has been for you, his kindness is leading you towards repentance. He says that I have loved you with an everlasting love. With my loving kindness. I have drawn you. Grace. Kindness is an undercurrent in this world that is always drawing us to God below the surface. And you might not think he's been kind to you. Oh, if you take some time and just sit and think about how good and kind God has been, you'll realize he's drawing them to you. And then Jesus and Peter sit and Jesus gives them this little meal, some bread and fish. He wants to satisfy the hunger and Peter's soul. He wants to give you bread of life to satisfy your soul. He wants to give you Springs of living water to satisfy the thirst that's been created in this season. And then Peter and Jesus go for a little walk. Why? Because Jesus wants to spend time with Peter because he misses Peter.
Speaker 2 00:30:31 And I would say God's kindness has been drawing you towards repentance. He's been offering you Springs of living water and bread of life. And he wants to go for a walk with you. Cause he just misses you. And as they go for this little walk, three times, Jesus asked Peter, Peter, do you love me? Here's the flip on the story. I thought it wasn't about our love for God, but his love for us. So why, why are you asking me if I love you three times, Peter denied Jesus three times, three times. Do you love me? Do you love, do you love finally, Peter realizes he doesn't really have a good answer. And I think in that moment, Jesus is looking at Peter and he's like saying, Peter, do you get it? Now? It has never been about your love for me. It has always been about my love for you.
Speaker 2 00:31:33 And I tell you that story today, because I think that defines this last season. If we're honest, I think a lot of us got into the coronavirus season. We're like we got this, I got a relationship with God. My roots are deep. My faith is strong. My trust is high and let's be honest. Maybe you just didn't crush the coronavirus season. Maybe it was a week worth. Maybe it was a month worth. Maybe it's been up to today. And it took everything for you to turn this on or come to a game. Maybe it just, it just not been. And all of a sudden you're like Peter, there's this doubt in this fear and this anger and this sin and this numbing and this hiding in this apathy and this, Oh my goodness. And now you kind of can even sit here and as you look back, you're kind of like almost like, Oh, serving curl. Cock-a-doodle-doo like, I really, I watched like 40 hours of Netflix and one week, like I can't even believe did that. Did I know yet? Oh no. Hear me. There is no condemnation. Those who are in Christ. Jesus, none. So today I speak to you to say it is not about your love for God. And this past season, it's been about his love for you and I come to you like a friend and on your shoulder, some of you it's heavy and it's weighty. And I brush it off in Jesus name. I brush off the condemnation. I brush off the shame I brush off the doubt I brush off the fear I brush off the resentment,
Speaker 1 00:33:06 Apathy and the sin that you're like, I can't even believe I went back to that. Like some of you went back to an addiction. Why? Because in seasons, when they feel out of control, we will go back to what we feel like we can control. And yet in the midst of that, it's still a him who comes and finds us in our boat of apathy and says, come on. It's not about,
Speaker 2 00:33:24 Well you do for me. It's about what I've come to do for you.
Speaker 1 00:33:27 This is why Philippians one six. I love this. It says be confident of this, that he, who began a good work in. You will carry it on to completion. Come on. It's not about your work for God. It's about his work in you in Jesus name. And you can be confident that he is going to complete it. That it is in work at this very moment. Online listening somewhere in the world, God is doing a work in you
Speaker 2 00:33:50 Right now. What about what you're doing for him? Never has been. It never will be. And Jesus is always more interested in your next step than your misstep. Doesn't matter what you did. Okay? Brush it off in jesus' name. What are you going to do now? Because then Jesus says to Peter now, Peter, now, now that you get it, come on, come and follow me. Come on, come in, follow me because I'm good to you. Last verse there, you saw how the Lord, your God carried you as a father, carries his son all the way until you reached this place.
Speaker 2 00:34:39 Here's a prophetic picture of your last seven months. Even if you have not been following him, he's been carrying you. Even if you've not been interested in him as a father, he's been very interested in, even if you've not been seeking him, he has been seeking you and like a good dad whose kid thinks they can make it, but can't, he's picked you up and he's carried you to this place to right here right now. Not because of your love for him, but because of his love. And when you get that in here, every thing changes, come on, it's a new season. It's a new day. The best is yet to come. Wherever we're going. It's better than where we have been. It doesn't matter what you did. What are you going to do now? And it's not about your love for God. It's about his love for you. Come on today is the day to step forward and say, Jesus, I don't even know everything that's in my heart, but I know this.
Speaker 2 00:36:05 You will never fail me. Jesus, you will never stop loving me. Jesus, you will never stop carrying me. Jesus, no matter where I go or what I do, you will never stop being committed to me. And so Lord, today we come before you with gratitude and thanks, overwhelmed by goodness and grace. The way Peter must have been that day. Lord. Sometimes we're so confident in ourselves. We're so confident in who we are and what we're doing and our strength and our determination and our character and our morals and all those. And then sometimes God, we, we forget and it's really all about you and who you are and what you have done. So Lord, I celebrate that. You have carried every one of us to this place. And if you've carried us to this place, it means you have something for us in this place. You have something for us in this season. You have something for us in this moment. So we honor you and we thank you. And we celebrate you. Come on just even in your own way right now, whatever. Can you just say, thank you God for loving me.
Speaker 2 00:37:37 Thank you that when my faith was low and my doubt was high and my fear was big and my attitude was poor and my spirit was broken and my heart was just flat. Wore out. You held me on your shoulder, even though I wasn't following you, you are carrying me. That's Jesus focused living. And that changes everything. So may that be true in the season to come? May your perspective be like John, that you, my friend are the disciple whom Jesus loves. May you walk with confidence? May you walk with boldness, may you walk fearlessly? May you walk with a big faith and a large hope because you are the disciple whom Jesus loves Jesus. We thank you for just gathering together again. Today, we give you permission and authority to lead this church, to carry this church wherever you want her to go in the days to come. Holy spirit, you are wanted and welcomed here, cut off the dead things, prune the good things. And may we fully reflect the image and the likeness of Jesus Lord. I bless this church today. I bless every one of us with your love and your grace. Thank you God. In your name, we pray. Amen.
