January 27, 2025 • 35 mins
Reflect on the contrast between earthly power and divine humility as we ponder human tendencies toward pride and self-absorption. The episode challenges us to transform our mindset and perception through baptism and immersion in Christ's teachings, reshaping how we see ourselves and others. With vivid imagery from the famous hall of mirrors, we confront the distorted self-perception that often accompanies power and wealth.
The story of baptism as a symbol of repentance and spiritual renewal takes center stage, following Jesus Christ's example as we explore themes of obedience and rebirth. With the triune God present at Jesus' baptism, we recognize the call to embrace our identity as co-heirs with Christ, sharing in His heritage and reign. Paralleling faith with learning a language, we're encouraged to go beyond surface understanding to true fluency in God's love. Through personal stories, we see how deepening our faith impacts not only our lives but also our community, inviting us to embrace the transformative power of trusting in Jesus.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The deep things of God.
That's what we're about.
That's what we've been talkingabout is the deep things of God
and, more specifically, about usbecoming more and more like him
, and we were talking about themind of Christ.
You know, I was thinking aboutthis struggle that we have so
often, because when we draw nearto God, we're thinking about
(00:20):
who he is as our creator, who heis in his majesty and all the
different aspects of what thatlooks like, and you think about
the stars that he hung in thesky and how he spoke light into
existence.
We think about all these thingsand how we interact with them
and how small we are in detailand how finite our lives are,
and we start to think about thegrandeur of God.
And then we get derailed alittle bit.
(00:42):
Anybody ever get derailedwhenever they're in their prayer
time and I'll be real honest,so many times you're like man
glory, thank you, god, thank you.
You're starting out with givingpraise to God and thanking for
all it is, and you're like manGod, thank you so much, thank
you.
And then your brain is likewhat about all the stuff you
have to do right now?
And you're like no, no, I'mbeing intentional.
(01:02):
We've been talking about this.
Pastor Celeste told me that Ineed to be intentional.
I'm being intentional to godeeper with God.
And your brain's like that'sgreat.
Pick up your phone and look atyour phone.
What if you missed the bleepsthat are on the phone right now?
What if you missed it?
And you're like no, no, I don'tneed that.
I mean, I'm going to thinkabout man.
How beautiful are all hiswondrous works.
(01:24):
Think about the sky and thinkabout the deep space of all the
different things that he's madeand created and all these
different things.
And it's like remember thatweird conversation you had in
high school and how you feelawkward about that.
You're like I'm old, what areyou bringing up high school for?
I don't.
This has no bearing on my lifeat all.
And your brain's like itdoesn't matter.
Anybody ever struggle wheneverthey're trying to go deep with
(01:47):
God and the things of God.
It's just me.
Okay, I'm going to repent tothis side of the room and you
guys, who are holier than me,can just find I think all of us
have been in that struggle.
Right, it's this idea of tryingto press into the deep things
of God and tell our mind no, Idon't need to be distracted
right now by my phone, old ideas, things like that.
(02:07):
Instead, I need to focus on whohe says I am and draw near to
him.
And that means pressing through.
And I'll tell you, man, it'swhenever we're in a season of
prayer and fasting, like we areright now, so often, that's
whenever we understand how muchwe need him, because we're being
intentional.
Fasting is doing withoutsomething good, like food, for
(02:29):
something greater, which is thepresence of the Lord, and so
that's a decision you're making.
No one's looking over yourshoulder.
It's not like Pastor Rich isgoing to pop up.
If you eat a tamale and yousaid you were fasting and be
like, I told you You're like, ohno, you see the eyebrow go up
and you're like no, and thejudgment of the Lord comes and
it strikes you down.
No, it doesn't work like that.
But I will tell you, if you arefasting, you will be able to
(02:51):
smell the tamales that yourneighbors are making and it will
waft into your home.
The wind goes the other way,prevailing all the time, but it
will come into your house whileyou're fasting.
You know what I'm talking about.
I had a friend of mine in theroom who, immediately, they're
like you said, they're going tooffer free food and on Monday,
when they started fasting, hey,you guys, who wants the potluck
(03:11):
that we're doing today?
Free potluck, of course, whenyou're fasting.
And the thing is, what we'redoing is we're choosing
something that's better thanwhat we already have.
That is good, right, and sothat's why we're being
intentional in this way to goafter the deep things of God.
I'll also tell you this becauseyou're doing without it.
Some of us deal with hangriness.
(03:32):
How many people know abouthanger?
It's when you're hungry andangry and you're mixed together
and you need Jesus, anybody.
You're supposed to be fasting.
Hopefully your neighbor, yourcoworker, doesn't know you're
fasting, because then you'd belike I said, I'm fine.
You're like are you okay?
You all right, you need a hug.
What's going on with you rightnow, friends, that we need to
(03:52):
break through that layer to goto the deep things that God has
for us.
I was thinking about it because,left to our own devices and our
own powers and all those things, we usually fail one of two
ways.
I was thinking about thisbecause we lived for years in
France and whenever visitorswould come to visit us, we would
take them to Versailles.
And Versailles is this amazingpalace that was built outside of
(04:12):
Paris, and King Louis XIV he'sthe one that built it.
He was the king of France andhe didn't like French people so
he didn't wanna be by them inParis.
He was like that they weresmelly and gross and he wanted
to be around shiny stuff.
And so he built this amazing,amazing palace and I'll tell you
if you go, it is all that Imean he did on the backs of all
his people, obviously, andpurged all their wealth and was
(04:34):
just using it on himself.
And it's crazy, the grandeur iswild and to think about how
this pales in comparison to theglory of God and his creation.
But it's interesting to see allthat he's done and on all that
stuff you're like man.
No wonder they killed the kingslater because you guys did this
to them on their backs.
But what was interesting aboutit is in his day it was so
(04:56):
difficult to get one mirrorThey'd have to go to Venice and
have the glassblowers make thesemirrors and he took all of his
wealth and he made this wholehallway of mirrors a hall of
mirrors and if you ever go, it'squite breathtaking because it's
just so beautiful and ornateand wild and you could
(05:16):
understand and see him in yourmind's eye, about him taking a
stroll in front of these mirrors.
Right, he'd just be like ohlook, this is the favorite thing
that I have in the world.
It's a picture of me.
Oh, that's me right there,hello.
And then he walks a few feetforward and, oh, look, there
again a mirror of me, thegreatest thing in the room,
hello.
And I wonder, if we were left upto our own devices and we had
(05:37):
the same kind of power and money, what would we do?
How, how would our ego be?
Would we be puffed up andbelieving our own press and
looking in the mirror all thetime, subjugating others to what
we wanna do, or would we bebenevolent and giving the way we
say we would wanna do?
The other side of it is this isthat have you ever been in a
(06:01):
fun house and looked at the wavymirrors inside the fun house?
And so that's one version wherewe're all puffed up on pride on
this side, and we know pridecomes before the fall.
But whenever we're in the otherside, it's what happens,
whenever the enemy pushes usthis other way and says we're
not worth anything and ourself-worth starts to be all
warped and we're not seeingourselves the way that God
(06:21):
intended us to see ourselves asa child of God.
And so we grow up with thiswarped perspective on ourselves
and we start to believe thesethings that are true about
ourselves that aren't true.
It's a curse and a lie from theevil one, and that you're a
mistake and that you have nofuture and all these other
things, and it warps who you are, and so you see yourself as
warped, even though you are achild of God and he created you
(06:44):
with purpose and on purpose, forpurpose.
And so we see these two things,and what we have to understand
is the more we go towards themind of Christ, the more that we
will A humble ourselves.
And two come into alignmentwith the way that we're supposed
to view ourselves, which is hismindset, as people who are
(07:06):
called to be in relationshipwith him, walking with him,
trusting him.
So, friends, let's go after thedeep things of God.
We see ourselves very much hereas cornerstone, as people that
get this opportunity to gathertogether to worship, so we're
thankful that we have thisopportunity today to do so
together.
We are people who aredefinitely not perfect and we
(07:28):
are on a journey following afterJesus.
We wanna be more like Jesus,and so that's why we use this
imagery of walking with him,because we know we haven't
arrived anywhere.
We're still walking after whereJesus is leading us to go, and
so that's why we're beingintentional at the beginning of
this year 21 days of prayer andfasting, and let me encourage
(07:49):
you to participate, that youwould be intentional with it.
We've been using a prompt in ourprayer guide and even on our
social media.
Every day you can throw it onyour story and share it with
others and pray it in yourprayer time in the morning or at
evening, and just a way for usto stay connected and stay
linked up.
So you can take a shot of thisprayer guide, use it, let it be
a blessing to your life.
But how many people have beenparticipating in the fast?
(08:09):
You guys been doing fasting,and I'll tell you this if you
haven't, let me encourage you toparticipate, to go ahead and
jump in and be a part of whatGod wants to do.
It's a way for us to draw nearto him with intentionality, to
take steps deeper with God, tothe deep things of God.
Now I'll tell you I was blessedby Pastor Celeste's message last
week.
How many people were blessed bythat message.
(08:31):
What a great message.
How deep with God will you go?
And she was talking about thisidea of the differences of what
we've been saying in this deepseries about ankle deep to waist
deep, to all in with Jesus.
And using this imagery ofwalking along the shoreline and
how, while staying in the sandand the beach is fun for a
season, we need to go for thedeeper things of God and we need
(08:54):
to go in towards where he candirect us and not just retreat
and run back to our old life.
And we need to get in morecommitment than just waist level
.
We need to go all in with him.
See, what we realize just likewe've seen in baptism today is
that when you go all in, thenyour mind, the mind of Christ,
is submerged underneath what hewants to do in your life, starts
(09:15):
to wash over your mindset,starts to change the way you
think about things and how youview others.
It changes the way you viewyourself because it starts to
wash over you the deep things ofGod.
Looking today we have thisscripture.
I'm going to encourage you toturn in your Bible, your tablet,
your phone.
It'll be a jumping off pointtoday.
(09:36):
First Corinthians 2, verse 9.
It says, as it was written noeye has seen, nor ear heard, nor
the heart of man imagined whatGod has prepared for those who
love him.
These things God has revealedto us through the Spirit, for
the Spirit searches everything,even the depths of God.
(09:57):
Lord, we pray over your wordtoday, asking you to make it
alive in us.
Lord, use it to transform us,to turn us more into your
character.
We pray this in the powerfulname that is Jesus, christ, amen
.
Now, thinking about the deep.
We've been talking about whatit means to go deep with God,
(10:19):
into the depths of what he wantsto do for us.
A piece of that is seen in thisbaptism.
Obedience being baptized is asymbol of that.
It's a symbol of what we'vesaid obedience after Christ.
He modeled it for us and thatwe would do, in step, the same
thing.
And so, as we look to scripture, we start here in Matthew,
thinking about going deep withJesus, starting in this
(10:41):
obedience with baptism,following our decision to follow
Christ, to follow Christ Johnthe Baptist he was a pre-runner,
a precursor to Christ and hestarts to share with people and
tell them what he was there todo.
He says I baptize you withwater for repentance, but he
who's coming after me ismightier than I, whose sandals
(11:05):
I'm not worthy to carry.
He will baptize you with theHoly Spirit and fire.
It continues in verse 16.
It says and when Jesus wasbaptized, immediately he went up
from the water and behold, theheavens were opened to him and
he saw the spirit of Goddescending like a dove and
coming to rest on him.
(11:26):
And behold, a voice from heavensaid this is my beloved son,
with whom I am well pleased.
We see this imagery of Jesus,and he's being baptized here.
It's not for repentance of hissin, he's giving us a model of
obedience, of what we're calledto do.
And so he goes out to John, hiscousin, and John is trying to
(11:46):
say I'm not worthy to baptizeyou.
He said no, I need to beobedient to the Father in this
moment.
And as he comes out of thewater, we see here in scripture
that's the triune God, it's thisHoly Spirit in the form of a
dove above the Son, and theFather speaking over him.
And so it's this imagery of Godloving us.
Father, son, holy Spirit, andso it's this imagery of God
(12:10):
loving us, father, son, holySpirit.
It's also an interesting piecebecause it talks about the steps
in which we see the formationof ourselves after God.
The first thing is right therein repentance, we're called to
be those who turn away from ourlives to the life after God, and
we're called to go away fromsin and away from destruction
and go towards his purposes.
(12:30):
It says it there in Matthew3.11.
He says I baptize you withwater for repentance.
See, the water symbolizes thatgrave, it symbolizes death
spiritually.
And so they're saying I'm goingto be dead to these things,
this old way of living, dead towhat we call our flesh man or
flesh person, the one that wouldpull us down into destruction.
(12:52):
And instead I'm gonna be deadto that.
I'm gonna be alive to God andwhat his purposes are for my
life.
And since I'm gonna be dead tothose things and I'm gonna be
alive in God, the first thing wehave to do is be someone who
repents and turns towards God.
You can't have formation, youcan't have anything else that
happens in your life, unless youfirst say yes to God and commit
(13:14):
to him.
Friends, so often we forget thispart, that first we have to
have a contrite heart, we haveto be people of repentance so
the change can happen, that wecan embrace what Christ wants to
do.
It's also a revival becauseChrist, as he goes into the
water, symbolizing death, hecomes out of the water and it
(13:34):
shows that he's there, comingout of the water and the spirit
above him, symbolizing hisanointing and the father
speaking over him.
It's a sign of revival orcoming back alive.
Aren't you glad that you're notworshiping a dead deity, but
your God is alive?
And, friends, that's thehinging point for us is that
(13:55):
Christ, though he goes to hisdeath and takes all the sin of
the world upon himself, he's notdead but overcame death and
hell and the grave and he isalive.
And so that's what's on yourlife as well, that you would be
revived or made alive again in anew way, that you become a new
creation in God, and that thatstarts to happen in your life
(14:17):
and those things start to takeshape.
You're no longer going to bedead and living in death and
tied back to your old ways, yourold habits, your old
perspectives, but those thingsare going to be dead and cut off
and you're made alive in Christ.
We see the next piece of whatthat is and it says the father
is speaking over him.
He says this is my beloved son,with whom I am well pleased.
(14:42):
What is he saying?
He's like he is my heritage,this is my son.
He's speaking over Christ.
He's speaking over him and he'sgonna say that he's going to
reign with me here.
And we see the same thing withus as Christ followers, that he
calls us co-heirs, meaning weget to come alongside what Jesus
is doing, as made on our behalf.
(15:03):
In the scripture it says inRomans 8,.
It says, for who are led by theSpirit of God are sons of God.
And so those of us who arefollowing after the Spirit of
God because we've said yes toChrist, those of us who have
embraced what he's doing in usand have been dead to sin and
alive in God, those who invitedthe Spirit of the Holy God to
(15:25):
direct us, we are called sonsand daughters of God and so
because of that we get to havethe same heritage is that we get
to rule and reign with Christ.
And it's not of our own doing.
We can't do enough good works.
It's not like we've earned it,it's by faith.
It's our faith in Christ andwhat he has done on our behalf.
(15:48):
We see it here in Galatians asit moves forward.
It says in Galatians 3.25,.
But now that faith has come, weare no longer under a guardian,
for in Christ Jesus, you areall sons of God through faith.
For as many of you werebaptized into Christ, have put
(16:09):
on Christ.
And that's what I'm talkingabout is that we put on Christ,
we say yes to him and his workin our life and we embrace what
he is doing.
And I'll tell you, friends,that's not always easy to
embrace what Christ wants tochange in us.
That's why we need to be all inwith him so he can actually
(16:33):
change the things in us.
I'll tell you that's one of thedeepest, the hardest things.
To go deep with God is tochange your mindset about what
you believe about yourself,about what you believe about
others, about what God has saidover your future and over your
life.
Because we start to believe thelie of the enemy, that we're
not gonna account to anything,that we're not gonna be able to
(16:53):
do enough, that God's not reallygonna heal, that God's not
really gonna restore, that I'mgonna have all these worries
because what if, what if?
What if, friends, what if Godkeeps his promises, like he
always has, and then we cantrust him and have the mind of
(17:13):
Christ.
We come back to 1 Corinthians 2,and it says it like this in
speaking to us.
It says what no eye has seen,nor heard, nor the heart of man
imagined what God has preparedfor those who love him.
Friends, that's what he'sspeaking over your life today.
He's speaking that over youthat he has this love that's
greater than what you cancomprehend, than you can write
up, than you can make up in yourimagination, and he's given you
(17:35):
a great mind.
He's made you in his image withcreativity.
God loves you even more thanthat.
That's the kind of promises hehas for you and for your
children and their children, andfor the future to come, until
he comes back for his church.
That we can trust him becausehe has great love for us and
(17:56):
he's revealing it to us by hisspirit, and so we need to be in
step with that.
It says in 1 Corinthians 2, 11,for who knows a person's
thoughts except the spirit ofthat person which is in him?
So also, no one comprehends thethoughts of God except the
spirit of God.
(18:16):
Now we've received not thespirit of the world, but the
spirit who is from God, that wemight understand the things
freely given us by God.
And we impart this in words nottaught by human wisdom, but
taught by the Spirit,interpreting spiritual truths to
those who are spiritual.
(18:38):
You see the levels at which itstarts to talk about, about
understanding that there ischange available and then
engaging with that change andstarting to see what happens in
our own lives and then startingto become people who are people
of the word and are led by thespirit and what God can do in
and through them, and thenpeople that are walking in the
(18:58):
spirit, how he can use them as atool in his hand to help others
and see friends.
That's the change that we wantto see in your life.
That you would not just besomeone who's blessed change
that we want to see in your life.
That you would not just besomeone who's blessed by God or
occasionally experiences theblessing of God, but you walk in
the peace of God, that you walkin the presence of God and that
(19:20):
the presence of God goes withyou wherever you go and other
people encounter the presence ofGod because you are there.
Other people encounter thepresence of God because you are
there.
I was thinking about this as itgoes to learning culture and
language.
Celeste and I we moved to Cairoin 2015 following a second
revolution and the Arab Spring.
It made chaos in the Arab world, north Africa, middle East and
(19:44):
Arab Gulf, and what we found wasthat people were unsettled, but
the people were still warm,were still hospitable, still
wanted you to learn culture andlanguage, and we were thrown
into it.
A city of 25 million people andhigh rises and dirty and crazy
and chaotic and loud.
When people are greeting you,they sound like they're yelling
at you.
You know it's crazy.
So it was a learning processand, as we go in, to start to
(20:08):
learn the basic, rudimentaryArabic to try to function, it
was a lot, because Arabic is somuch different whenever you
start to write it, thecharacters are different, the
sounds are guttural, it comesfrom the different part of your
throat and your voice and youread it from right to left.
Everything was difficult and Ithink about this in process as
(20:30):
we start to wrestle with thethings of God.
So many of us we don't come froma heritage where we grew up
learning about God from a youngage.
Maybe we didn't grow up inchurch or we didn't grow up
going to Sunday school or tolife group or kids' church, and
so we don't know the stories, wedon't know how the things are
tied together.
We don't know the stories.
(20:51):
We don't know how the thingsare tied together, we don't know
the narrative of the crimsonthread of God's redemption from
the very beginning to today.
And since we don't understandit, then we're trying to put it
together the best we can.
And so when we start to hearthese scriptures about the deep
things of God, we're like man, Idon't know about that.
I don't even know if Iunderstand the basic things of
God Anybody been there?
And I think it's hard for us toadmit, because then we start to
(21:11):
understand that maybe we don'tknow as much as we think we know
, myself included.
Because the deeper you go, youknow, you get like a you know
basic understanding.
Then you get a piled higherunderstanding and a piled higher
understanding about this muchknowledge.
And you don't know all of thisknowledge Anybody been there?
(21:33):
And so the things of God arelike that, in that we have to
wrestle with the understanding.
But what I love about it is thatGod does not leave us alone.
He will teach us by his spiritto walk out the obedience of the
word.
And so, as we ask the Lord toreveal it to us, if we read the
Bible without having faith inGod, then it just seems like a
history lesson and a set ofrules and a story about a really
(21:55):
great guy.
But if we start to read itthrough the lens of faith, we
start to see a teaching thatwill transform our lives.
We see a God who loved usenough to correct his people and
who kept on being gracious tothem and directing and guiding
them, and even whenever thedifficult lessons came, he still
(22:16):
did not leave them without afuture, but he gave them a
future and a hope that no onecould take away.
That person was called Jesus,and that person, jesus, is the
one that came and took all ofour sin and all of our mistakes
upon himself, and he took it tothe cross so that we could be
brought near and have arelationship with a holy God,
one that we could not earn,could not do enough good things
(22:38):
for, couldn't buy our way in, wecouldn't do anything to
ingratiate ourselves to a holyGod.
So he came to us, and so whatwe start to understand is that
as we wrestle with this process,it will come alive to us the
more time we spend in hispresence and press through the
(22:59):
distractions that our mind willtry to throw in front of us.
We press through thedistraction of trying to pick up
our phone every time we try togo in to pray, we press through
the awkwardness and we go to thedeeper level.
Then we'll start to comprehendwhat God is trying to share with
us and not just comprehend itlike okay, I start to put these
letters together to form a word,but no, like in the way that,
(23:26):
okay, there's something biggerthat I need to go deeper with
here.
And then we go from acomprehension to an
understanding.
We start to understand what itmeans and we understand it
because we start to walk byfaith through the situation and
the information becomesexperience, because we're
trusting God as we're walking itout.
And then I understand that Ican trust him, and that I can
(23:47):
trust him not just the smallthings and not just with my
tithe or not just with mygenerosity, but I can trust him
with everything with my futureand my children, my future
grandchildren, with my hopes, mydreams, my aspirations, with
all of it.
I can give it to God because Iunderstand that he loves me.
And then what starts to happenis we walk in process with the
(24:09):
spirit that he starts to use usas a mouthpiece to speak to
other people, and we start tointerpret what the spirit is
saying.
He starts to use us in a way sothat other people can
experience his love by usingyour voice.
And that's like what happenswhenever you see a friend who
knows a language and theyactually start to get it where
(24:32):
they can actually interpret foryou.
You ever had a friend whothinks they know a language, but
it's like basic stuff off of amenu, anybody.
You're like I'm super fluent,spaghetti, you know.
You're like uh-huh, yeah, superfluent you are.
Or even the next thing, whereit's like you took some classes,
maybe in high school, maybe incollege, and you can kind of ask
(24:52):
where the bathroom is in maybeone tense.
You guys know what I'm talkingabout.
But whenever you're like, hey,translate for me real quick,
they're like what?
No, but then a friend who knowsthe language, it's already
inside of them and so wheneveryou ask them to translate
(25:13):
something, they can just startto speak and start to share
because it's already inside.
They don't have to go look itup.
It's already inside of who theyare.
And that's what I mean about ourtime with God.
The more time we spend with him, the deeper we go in his word,
the deeper that we go inrelationship with him.
I don't mean facts and numbersand this one begat, that one,
that's great.
(25:33):
But I'm talking about thetrusting God through the process
of walking out this difficultlife stuff.
Whenever you start to sharewith someone who's been in it
and they're like let me tell youabout this.
God is faithful.
You know how?
I know Because we uprooted ourwhole family and Yard sold
everything and he took care ofus when we lived in Europe.
It was super expensive againstthe Euro.
(25:55):
We had one income and it was sohard.
We were crying about how brokewe were.
God is still faithful.
We are still here crying abouthow broke we were.
God is still faithful.
We are still here and God isnot just going to leave us out.
No, he's going to bless us andbring the blessing and a friend
and a colleague and look out forus.
He's going to do all thosethings as we follow after him.
Let me tell you the story.
And so what happens is the wordof God combines with our
(26:18):
testimony and we see overcominghappening because people are
spurred on by the Holy Spirit ofGod.
It starts to transform how weare.
It starts to transform ourfamily culture.
It starts to transform ourcommunity around us.
It starts to transform our workrelationships, because it's
(26:40):
transformed first in us and thenit starts to change as we
interact with others.
Man, I am so good at complainingyou guys, I'm super good at it.
God, how come blah, blah, blah,blah, blah, blah, blah Anybody.
I will out complain you, I'mthat good at it.
But what I love more than thatis I love how consistent God is,
(27:01):
and I love how, though we cancomplain it does no good, by the
way we can complain, but thenGod continues to be faithful and
we can complain, but God isactually using that as a way to
teach you a lesson, and you getlike God, what about this
circumstance?
He's like are you going to walkwith me or not?
Are you going to trust me ornot?
(27:21):
Are you going walk with me ornot?
Are you gonna trust me or not?
Are you gonna obey me or not.
Friends, I wrestle with thiswisdom piece because so often he
tells us things that are hardto do, we don't wanna do, but
when we don't do them, then weget our result.
(27:42):
And I want blessing for yourlife.
And I want blessing for yourlife, I want blessing for your
family, I want blessing for whatyou put your hands to do.
I want a blessing of God that'supon you that people can't deny
.
They see God's hand upon yourlife.
But we have to walk in thewisdom of God, because without
it, what good is it?
It's just our good ideas.
But if we live according to histransformative process,
(28:03):
according to the spirit, then wecan be those who are used in
his hand for greater things thathe has for you than your own
plans, says God.
Greater love has he for youthan your own imagination.
He has the answers you'relooking for.
He has the direction thatyou've been asking for.
(28:25):
He's the one that sometimes isclosing the doors in front of
you because you ask fordirection from God.
Even whenever you kick the doorbecause you're trying to go
through the door, and he's likenope, and he's got his foot on
the other side of the door.
He's like I'm not letting youthrough this door.
You're like I need to gothrough that door.
He's like I need to go throughthat door.
(28:49):
He's like no, you're like, butI'm supposed to be a billionaire
.
He's like you won't pay titheon 10 bucks.
Why am I giving you a billiondollars?
I'm sorry, I'm going to back up.
That was not in this sermon,that was in another sermon.
The answer is you've beenlooking for.
The answer is I've been lookingfor the answers I've been
looking for.
He has them and as we continueto walk with him, close to him,
he'll speak them to us.
(29:10):
But we have to go all in to thedeep things of God.
Today, with this opportunity torespond to him and to his
message for us, with thisopportunity to respond to Jesus
and to draw message for us, wehave this opportunity to respond
to Jesus and to draw near tohim and embrace all he's done
for us.
And that's a question for youis have you embraced Jesus?
(29:32):
We've already had friends makea decision to embrace Jesus.
Today, we encourage you thatyou would do the same.
Maybe you're here.
You've never made a decision toinvite Christ into your heart
and life.
You're hearing this messageabout Christ, who loves you,
about how he actually went tohis death to take on your
mistakes.
(29:52):
You're hearing this story abouthow Jesus loved you so much
that he forgives you of all thethings you've done wrong, and he
does that by faith andbelieving in him and saying Lord
, forgive me of my sin.
I want us to start a new life,a new relationship with you and
friends.
That's how we spirituallybecome a new creation.
That's why, to us, the symbolof the cross is one of
(30:15):
transformation, because thesymbol of the cross was used as
a threat.
It was used as scare tactic,and it was used as a scare
tactic and it was used to bringabout demise.
But Jesus, he lived a sinlesslife.
He took on all of our mistakes,all of mine.
He took all of our sin and hepaid the price for all of us.
(30:38):
He took on our sin and he diedwith that sin so that that sin
could be taken care of.
But the amazing thing aboutJesus is that he didn't stay
dead, but he is alive and on thethird day he came back to life.
He overcame death, hell and thegrave, the creator, god, who
overcame all these things andmade a way for us to be in
(31:00):
relationship with the holy God,one that we couldn't earn, one
that we couldn't work our wayinto.
He came all the way to us thatwe would just embrace him and
what he wants to do in andthrough us the apostle Paul.
He writes to the church at Romeand says because if you confess
with your mouth that Jesus isLord and believe in your heart
(31:22):
that God raised him from thedead, you will be saved.
For with the heart one believesand is justified, with the
mouth one confesses and is saved.
Friends, today is your day.
It's your opportunity to sayyes to Jesus.
I'm gonna ask everyone in theroom for you to stand to your
(31:43):
feet and bow your head rightwhere you're at.
If you're online, you prepareyour heart for what God wants to
do, no matter where you are torespond to him.
Today, friends, you've heardthis challenge.
Now is your opportunity to sayyes.
Maybe that's for the very firsttime, to invite Christ into
(32:04):
your heart and life, or maybeyou've made that decision in the
past, but you have not beenliving it.
It's your opportunity to drawnear to him, to recommit your
heart and life back to Christ,as heads are bowed here in the
room, if that's you, if you justraise your hand right where
you're at, say, pastor, justremember me in that prayer.
Today I wanna make a decisionto follow Jesus.
(32:24):
See the hands that are herethere another hand that's here,
another hand that's there,people making decisions to
follow Jesus, friends online.
Thank you, lord.
I'm gonna ask if everyone would, if you would all repeat this
prayer after me Lord, thank youfor loving me, thank you for
(32:53):
sending Jesus.
I believe Jesus died on thecross for my sins.
I believe he rose again.
Forgive me of my sins.
I surrender my life to you InChrist's name.
I pray Amen, amen.
(33:13):
Friends, we rejoice with thosemaking a decision today, those
who raised their hand, thosemaking a decision online.
Praise the Lord.
Hey, just like others, we wantto make sure that you are
successful in living this lifeafter Christ.
If you would connect with usbefore you go, let us know that
you made that decision.
We want to put some resourcesinto your hands, but, praise God
, it's exciting day, friends, ofpeople already being obedient
(33:35):
to Christ in baptism, peoplealready making a commitment to
follow after Him.
Today is your opportunity tocome and make an altar with God,
to draw near to God, to ask Godto impart to you his spirit,
his wisdom for more of his peace, more of his grace for this
next season ahead, that we wouldgo deep with him.
Lord, we thank you so much as weopen up this altar, we do so
(33:57):
intentionally, lord, to drawnear to you and the things of
you.
Lord, that we come to you withour whole hearts, holding
nothing back.
Lord, we thank you, lord, todraw near to you and the things
of you.
Lord, that we come to you withour whole hearts, holding
nothing back.
Lord, we thank you, lord, thatwe can spend time with you and
draw near to you and you speakto us.
Lord, we thank you for yourprovision for us.
We thank you for your joy indifficult circumstances.
Lord, we thank you for thepeace of God that rests upon us
and, lord, for the provision,lord, and how direction, lord,
(34:20):
wisdom, lord, that doesn't comefrom us but comes from you.
Lord, we thank you for opendoors.
We thank you for closed doors.
In Jesus' name, lord, we thankyou for all these things and as
we come to your altar today, wedo with hearts of gratitude and
worship.
We pray this in the powerfulname that is Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
We are excited Next Sunday, right after service, we
will be having life groupsign-ups, and so there's a new
season of life groups coming,and my prayer is that you just
go as deep as you can with Godthis semester and find one, two,
three that fit you and jointhem, and we'll see all the
amazing things that take placethis semester.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
I want to give a special thanks to our kids'
teams and our tech team, who hadno internet on campus today
when we started the day and theyfought through all this stuff
to make it go.
We appreciate you guys so verymuch for all.
You are Amazing and if you guysare part of the church, if you
want to help us, we have tobreak this whole stage down
following this service.
If you can lend a hand for 10minutes, we'd appreciate you.
Before we go, I want to place ablessing over us.
(35:20):
Before we go, I want to praythis blessing over us.
The Lord bless you and keep you.
Lord, make his face to shineupon you and be gracious to you.
Lord, lift up his countenanceupon you and give you peace.
(35:40):
Lord, I pray a blessing uponyour church, your people.
Lord, you must empower us byyour spirit to live your love
out to those around us.
I pray this in the powerfulname that is Jesus Christ.
Amen, amen.
Know this.
We love you very much here atCornerstone.
God bless you and have a greatweek.
The deep things of God.
That's what we're about.
That's what we've been talkingabout is the deep things of God
and, more specifically, about usbecoming more and more like him
, and we were talking about themind of Christ.
You know, I was thinking aboutthis struggle that we have so
often, because when we draw nearto God, we're thinking about
(00:20):
who he is as our creator, who heis in his majesty and all the
different aspects of what thatlooks like, and you think about
the stars that he hung in thesky and how he spoke light into
existence.
We think about all these thingsand how we interact with them
and how small we are in detailand how finite our lives are,
and we start to think about thegrandeur of God.
And then we get derailed alittle bit.
(00:42):
Anybody ever get derailedwhenever they're in their prayer
time and I'll be real honest,so many times you're like man
glory, thank you, god, thank you.
You're starting out with givingpraise to God and thanking for
all it is, and you're like manGod, thank you so much, thank
you.
And then your brain is likewhat about all the stuff you
have to do right now?
And you're like no, no, I'mbeing intentional.
(01:02):
We've been talking about this.
Pastor Celeste told me that Ineed to be intentional.
I'm being intentional to godeeper with God.
And your brain's like that'sgreat.
Pick up your phone and look atyour phone.
What if you missed the bleepsthat are on the phone right now?
What if you missed it?
And you're like no, no, I don'tneed that.
I mean, I'm going to thinkabout man.
How beautiful are all hiswondrous works.
(01:24):
Think about the sky and thinkabout the deep space of all the
different things that he's madeand created and all these
different things.
And it's like remember thatweird conversation you had in
high school and how you feelawkward about that.
You're like I'm old, what areyou bringing up high school for?
I don't.
This has no bearing on my lifeat all.
And your brain's like itdoesn't matter.
Anybody ever struggle wheneverthey're trying to go deep with
(01:47):
God and the things of God.
It's just me.
Okay, I'm going to repent tothis side of the room and you
guys, who are holier than me,can just find I think all of us
have been in that struggle.
Right, it's this idea of tryingto press into the deep things
of God and tell our mind no, Idon't need to be distracted
right now by my phone, old ideas, things like that.
(02:07):
Instead, I need to focus on whohe says I am and draw near to
him.
And that means pressing through.
And I'll tell you, man, it'swhenever we're in a season of
prayer and fasting, like we areright now, so often, that's
whenever we understand how muchwe need him, because we're being
intentional.
Fasting is doing withoutsomething good, like food, for
(02:29):
something greater, which is thepresence of the Lord, and so
that's a decision you're making.
No one's looking over yourshoulder.
It's not like Pastor Rich isgoing to pop up.
If you eat a tamale and yousaid you were fasting and be
like, I told you You're like, ohno, you see the eyebrow go up
and you're like no, and thejudgment of the Lord comes and
it strikes you down.
No, it doesn't work like that.
But I will tell you, if you arefasting, you will be able to
(02:51):
smell the tamales that yourneighbors are making and it will
waft into your home.
The wind goes the other way,prevailing all the time, but it
will come into your house whileyou're fasting.
You know what I'm talking about.
I had a friend of mine in theroom who, immediately, they're
like you said, they're going tooffer free food and on Monday,
when they started fasting, hey,you guys, who wants the potluck
(03:11):
that we're doing today?
Free potluck, of course, whenyou're fasting.
And the thing is, what we'redoing is we're choosing
something that's better thanwhat we already have.
That is good, right, and sothat's why we're being
intentional in this way to goafter the deep things of God.
I'll also tell you this becauseyou're doing without it.
Some of us deal with hangriness.
(03:32):
How many people know abouthanger?
It's when you're hungry andangry and you're mixed together
and you need Jesus, anybody.
You're supposed to be fasting.
Hopefully your neighbor, yourcoworker, doesn't know you're
fasting, because then you'd belike I said, I'm fine.
You're like are you okay?
You all right, you need a hug.
What's going on with you rightnow, friends, that we need to
(03:52):
break through that layer to goto the deep things that God has
for us.
I was thinking about it because,left to our own devices and our
own powers and all those things, we usually fail one of two
ways.
I was thinking about thisbecause we lived for years in
France and whenever visitorswould come to visit us, we would
take them to Versailles.
And Versailles is this amazingpalace that was built outside of
(04:12):
Paris, and King Louis XIV he'sthe one that built it.
He was the king of France andhe didn't like French people so
he didn't wanna be by them inParis.
He was like that they weresmelly and gross and he wanted
to be around shiny stuff.
And so he built this amazing,amazing palace and I'll tell you
if you go, it is all that Imean he did on the backs of all
his people, obviously, andpurged all their wealth and was
(04:34):
just using it on himself.
And it's crazy, the grandeur iswild and to think about how
this pales in comparison to theglory of God and his creation.
But it's interesting to see allthat he's done and on all that
stuff you're like man.
No wonder they killed the kingslater because you guys did this
to them on their backs.
But what was interesting aboutit is in his day it was so
(04:56):
difficult to get one mirrorThey'd have to go to Venice and
have the glassblowers make thesemirrors and he took all of his
wealth and he made this wholehallway of mirrors a hall of
mirrors and if you ever go, it'squite breathtaking because it's
just so beautiful and ornateand wild and you could
(05:16):
understand and see him in yourmind's eye, about him taking a
stroll in front of these mirrors.
Right, he'd just be like ohlook, this is the favorite thing
that I have in the world.
It's a picture of me.
Oh, that's me right there,hello.
And then he walks a few feetforward and, oh, look, there
again a mirror of me, thegreatest thing in the room,
hello.
And I wonder, if we were left upto our own devices and we had
(05:37):
the same kind of power and money, what would we do?
How, how would our ego be?
Would we be puffed up andbelieving our own press and
looking in the mirror all thetime, subjugating others to what
we wanna do, or would we bebenevolent and giving the way we
say we would wanna do?
The other side of it is this isthat have you ever been in a
(06:01):
fun house and looked at the wavymirrors inside the fun house?
And so that's one version wherewe're all puffed up on pride on
this side, and we know pridecomes before the fall.
But whenever we're in the otherside, it's what happens,
whenever the enemy pushes usthis other way and says we're
not worth anything and ourself-worth starts to be all
warped and we're not seeingourselves the way that God
(06:21):
intended us to see ourselves asa child of God.
And so we grow up with thiswarped perspective on ourselves
and we start to believe thesethings that are true about
ourselves that aren't true.
It's a curse and a lie from theevil one, and that you're a
mistake and that you have nofuture and all these other
things, and it warps who you are, and so you see yourself as
warped, even though you are achild of God and he created you
(06:44):
with purpose and on purpose, forpurpose.
And so we see these two things,and what we have to understand
is the more we go towards themind of Christ, the more that we
will A humble ourselves.
And two come into alignmentwith the way that we're supposed
to view ourselves, which is hismindset, as people who are
(07:06):
called to be in relationshipwith him, walking with him,
trusting him.
So, friends, let's go after thedeep things of God.
We see ourselves very much hereas cornerstone, as people that
get this opportunity to gathertogether to worship, so we're
thankful that we have thisopportunity today to do so
together.
We are people who aredefinitely not perfect and we
(07:28):
are on a journey following afterJesus.
We wanna be more like Jesus,and so that's why we use this
imagery of walking with him,because we know we haven't
arrived anywhere.
We're still walking after whereJesus is leading us to go, and
so that's why we're beingintentional at the beginning of
this year 21 days of prayer andfasting, and let me encourage
(07:49):
you to participate, that youwould be intentional with it.
We've been using a prompt in ourprayer guide and even on our
social media.
Every day you can throw it onyour story and share it with
others and pray it in yourprayer time in the morning or at
evening, and just a way for usto stay connected and stay
linked up.
So you can take a shot of thisprayer guide, use it, let it be
a blessing to your life.
But how many people have beenparticipating in the fast?
(08:09):
You guys been doing fasting,and I'll tell you this if you
haven't, let me encourage you toparticipate, to go ahead and
jump in and be a part of whatGod wants to do.
It's a way for us to draw nearto him with intentionality, to
take steps deeper with God, tothe deep things of God.
Now I'll tell you I was blessedby Pastor Celeste's message last
week.
How many people were blessed bythat message.
(08:31):
What a great message.
How deep with God will you go?
And she was talking about thisidea of the differences of what
we've been saying in this deepseries about ankle deep to waist
deep, to all in with Jesus.
And using this imagery ofwalking along the shoreline and
how, while staying in the sandand the beach is fun for a
season, we need to go for thedeeper things of God and we need
(08:54):
to go in towards where he candirect us and not just retreat
and run back to our old life.
And we need to get in morecommitment than just waist level
.
We need to go all in with him.
See, what we realize just likewe've seen in baptism today is
that when you go all in, thenyour mind, the mind of Christ,
is submerged underneath what hewants to do in your life, starts
(09:15):
to wash over your mindset,starts to change the way you
think about things and how youview others.
It changes the way you viewyourself because it starts to
wash over you the deep things ofGod.
Looking today we have thisscripture.
I'm going to encourage you toturn in your Bible, your tablet,
your phone.
It'll be a jumping off pointtoday.
(09:36):
First Corinthians 2, verse 9.
It says, as it was written noeye has seen, nor ear heard, nor
the heart of man imagined whatGod has prepared for those who
love him.
These things God has revealedto us through the Spirit, for
the Spirit searches everything,even the depths of God.
(09:57):
Lord, we pray over your wordtoday, asking you to make it
alive in us.
Lord, use it to transform us,to turn us more into your
character.
We pray this in the powerfulname that is Jesus, christ, amen
.
Now, thinking about the deep.
We've been talking about whatit means to go deep with God,
(10:19):
into the depths of what he wantsto do for us.
A piece of that is seen in thisbaptism.
Obedience being baptized is asymbol of that.
It's a symbol of what we'vesaid obedience after Christ.
He modeled it for us and thatwe would do, in step, the same
thing.
And so, as we look to scripture, we start here in Matthew,
thinking about going deep withJesus, starting in this
(10:41):
obedience with baptism,following our decision to follow
Christ, to follow Christ Johnthe Baptist he was a pre-runner,
a precursor to Christ and hestarts to share with people and
tell them what he was there todo.
He says I baptize you withwater for repentance, but he
who's coming after me ismightier than I, whose sandals
(11:05):
I'm not worthy to carry.
He will baptize you with theHoly Spirit and fire.
It continues in verse 16.
It says and when Jesus wasbaptized, immediately he went up
from the water and behold, theheavens were opened to him and
he saw the spirit of Goddescending like a dove and
coming to rest on him.
(11:26):
And behold, a voice from heavensaid this is my beloved son,
with whom I am well pleased.
We see this imagery of Jesus,and he's being baptized here.
It's not for repentance of hissin, he's giving us a model of
obedience, of what we're calledto do.
And so he goes out to John, hiscousin, and John is trying to
(11:46):
say I'm not worthy to baptizeyou.
He said no, I need to beobedient to the Father in this
moment.
And as he comes out of thewater, we see here in scripture
that's the triune God, it's thisHoly Spirit in the form of a
dove above the Son, and theFather speaking over him.
And so it's this imagery of Godloving us.
Father, son, holy Spirit, andso it's this imagery of God
(12:10):
loving us, father, son, holySpirit.
It's also an interesting piecebecause it talks about the steps
in which we see the formationof ourselves after God.
The first thing is right therein repentance, we're called to
be those who turn away from ourlives to the life after God, and
we're called to go away fromsin and away from destruction
and go towards his purposes.
(12:30):
It says it there in Matthew3.11.
He says I baptize you withwater for repentance.
See, the water symbolizes thatgrave, it symbolizes death
spiritually.
And so they're saying I'm goingto be dead to these things,
this old way of living, dead towhat we call our flesh man or
flesh person, the one that wouldpull us down into destruction.
(12:52):
And instead I'm gonna be deadto that.
I'm gonna be alive to God andwhat his purposes are for my
life.
And since I'm gonna be dead tothose things and I'm gonna be
alive in God, the first thing wehave to do is be someone who
repents and turns towards God.
You can't have formation, youcan't have anything else that
happens in your life, unless youfirst say yes to God and commit
(13:14):
to him.
Friends, so often we forget thispart, that first we have to
have a contrite heart, we haveto be people of repentance so
the change can happen, that wecan embrace what Christ wants to
do.
It's also a revival becauseChrist, as he goes into the
water, symbolizing death, hecomes out of the water and it
(13:34):
shows that he's there, comingout of the water and the spirit
above him, symbolizing hisanointing and the father
speaking over him.
It's a sign of revival orcoming back alive.
Aren't you glad that you're notworshiping a dead deity, but
your God is alive?
And, friends, that's thehinging point for us is that
(13:55):
Christ, though he goes to hisdeath and takes all the sin of
the world upon himself, he's notdead but overcame death and
hell and the grave and he isalive.
And so that's what's on yourlife as well, that you would be
revived or made alive again in anew way, that you become a new
creation in God, and that thatstarts to happen in your life
(14:17):
and those things start to takeshape.
You're no longer going to bedead and living in death and
tied back to your old ways, yourold habits, your old
perspectives, but those thingsare going to be dead and cut off
and you're made alive in Christ.
We see the next piece of whatthat is and it says the father
is speaking over him.
He says this is my beloved son,with whom I am well pleased.
(14:42):
What is he saying?
He's like he is my heritage,this is my son.
He's speaking over Christ.
He's speaking over him and he'sgonna say that he's going to
reign with me here.
And we see the same thing withus as Christ followers, that he
calls us co-heirs, meaning weget to come alongside what Jesus
is doing, as made on our behalf.
(15:03):
In the scripture it says inRomans 8,.
It says, for who are led by theSpirit of God are sons of God.
And so those of us who arefollowing after the Spirit of
God because we've said yes toChrist, those of us who have
embraced what he's doing in usand have been dead to sin and
alive in God, those who invitedthe Spirit of the Holy God to
(15:25):
direct us, we are called sonsand daughters of God and so
because of that we get to havethe same heritage is that we get
to rule and reign with Christ.
And it's not of our own doing.
We can't do enough good works.
It's not like we've earned it,it's by faith.
It's our faith in Christ andwhat he has done on our behalf.
(15:48):
We see it here in Galatians asit moves forward.
It says in Galatians 3.25,.
But now that faith has come, weare no longer under a guardian,
for in Christ Jesus, you areall sons of God through faith.
For as many of you werebaptized into Christ, have put
(16:09):
on Christ.
And that's what I'm talkingabout is that we put on Christ,
we say yes to him and his workin our life and we embrace what
he is doing.
And I'll tell you, friends,that's not always easy to
embrace what Christ wants tochange in us.
That's why we need to be all inwith him so he can actually
(16:33):
change the things in us.
I'll tell you that's one of thedeepest, the hardest things.
To go deep with God is tochange your mindset about what
you believe about yourself,about what you believe about
others, about what God has saidover your future and over your
life.
Because we start to believe thelie of the enemy, that we're
not gonna account to anything,that we're not gonna be able to
(16:53):
do enough, that God's not reallygonna heal, that God's not
really gonna restore, that I'mgonna have all these worries
because what if, what if?
What if, friends, what if Godkeeps his promises, like he
always has, and then we cantrust him and have the mind of
(17:13):
Christ.
We come back to 1 Corinthians 2,and it says it like this in
speaking to us.
It says what no eye has seen,nor heard, nor the heart of man
imagined what God has preparedfor those who love him.
Friends, that's what he'sspeaking over your life today.
He's speaking that over youthat he has this love that's
greater than what you cancomprehend, than you can write
up, than you can make up in yourimagination, and he's given you
(17:35):
a great mind.
He's made you in his image withcreativity.
God loves you even more thanthat.
That's the kind of promises hehas for you and for your
children and their children, andfor the future to come, until
he comes back for his church.
That we can trust him becausehe has great love for us and
(17:56):
he's revealing it to us by hisspirit, and so we need to be in
step with that.
It says in 1 Corinthians 2, 11,for who knows a person's
thoughts except the spirit ofthat person which is in him?
So also, no one comprehends thethoughts of God except the
spirit of God.
(18:16):
Now we've received not thespirit of the world, but the
spirit who is from God, that wemight understand the things
freely given us by God.
And we impart this in words nottaught by human wisdom, but
taught by the Spirit,interpreting spiritual truths to
those who are spiritual.
(18:38):
You see the levels at which itstarts to talk about, about
understanding that there ischange available and then
engaging with that change andstarting to see what happens in
our own lives and then startingto become people who are people
of the word and are led by thespirit and what God can do in
and through them, and thenpeople that are walking in the
(18:58):
spirit, how he can use them as atool in his hand to help others
and see friends.
That's the change that we wantto see in your life.
That you would not just besomeone who's blessed change
that we want to see in your life.
That you would not just besomeone who's blessed by God or
occasionally experiences theblessing of God, but you walk in
the peace of God, that you walkin the presence of God and that
(19:20):
the presence of God goes withyou wherever you go and other
people encounter the presence ofGod because you are there.
Other people encounter thepresence of God because you are
there.
I was thinking about this as itgoes to learning culture and
language.
Celeste and I we moved to Cairoin 2015 following a second
revolution and the Arab Spring.
It made chaos in the Arab world, north Africa, middle East and
(19:44):
Arab Gulf, and what we found wasthat people were unsettled, but
the people were still warm,were still hospitable, still
wanted you to learn culture andlanguage, and we were thrown
into it.
A city of 25 million people andhigh rises and dirty and crazy
and chaotic and loud.
When people are greeting you,they sound like they're yelling
at you.
You know it's crazy.
So it was a learning processand, as we go in, to start to
(20:08):
learn the basic, rudimentaryArabic to try to function, it
was a lot, because Arabic is somuch different whenever you
start to write it, thecharacters are different, the
sounds are guttural, it comesfrom the different part of your
throat and your voice and youread it from right to left.
Everything was difficult and Ithink about this in process as
(20:30):
we start to wrestle with thethings of God.
So many of us we don't come froma heritage where we grew up
learning about God from a youngage.
Maybe we didn't grow up inchurch or we didn't grow up
going to Sunday school or tolife group or kids' church, and
so we don't know the stories, wedon't know how the things are
tied together.
We don't know the stories.
(20:51):
We don't know how the thingsare tied together, we don't know
the narrative of the crimsonthread of God's redemption from
the very beginning to today.
And since we don't understandit, then we're trying to put it
together the best we can.
And so when we start to hearthese scriptures about the deep
things of God, we're like man, Idon't know about that.
I don't even know if Iunderstand the basic things of
God Anybody been there?
And I think it's hard for us toadmit, because then we start to
(21:11):
understand that maybe we don'tknow as much as we think we know
, myself included.
Because the deeper you go, youknow, you get like a you know
basic understanding.
Then you get a piled higherunderstanding and a piled higher
understanding about this muchknowledge.
And you don't know all of thisknowledge Anybody been there?
(21:33):
And so the things of God arelike that, in that we have to
wrestle with the understanding.
But what I love about it is thatGod does not leave us alone.
He will teach us by his spiritto walk out the obedience of the
word.
And so, as we ask the Lord toreveal it to us, if we read the
Bible without having faith inGod, then it just seems like a
history lesson and a set ofrules and a story about a really
(21:55):
great guy.
But if we start to read itthrough the lens of faith, we
start to see a teaching thatwill transform our lives.
We see a God who loved usenough to correct his people and
who kept on being gracious tothem and directing and guiding
them, and even whenever thedifficult lessons came, he still
(22:16):
did not leave them without afuture, but he gave them a
future and a hope that no onecould take away.
That person was called Jesus,and that person, jesus, is the
one that came and took all ofour sin and all of our mistakes
upon himself, and he took it tothe cross so that we could be
brought near and have arelationship with a holy God,
one that we could not earn,could not do enough good things
(22:38):
for, couldn't buy our way in, wecouldn't do anything to
ingratiate ourselves to a holyGod.
So he came to us, and so whatwe start to understand is that
as we wrestle with this process,it will come alive to us the
more time we spend in hispresence and press through the
(22:59):
distractions that our mind willtry to throw in front of us.
We press through thedistraction of trying to pick up
our phone every time we try togo in to pray, we press through
the awkwardness and we go to thedeeper level.
Then we'll start to comprehendwhat God is trying to share with
us and not just comprehend itlike okay, I start to put these
letters together to form a word,but no, like in the way that,
(23:26):
okay, there's something biggerthat I need to go deeper with
here.
And then we go from acomprehension to an
understanding.
We start to understand what itmeans and we understand it
because we start to walk byfaith through the situation and
the information becomesexperience, because we're
trusting God as we're walking itout.
And then I understand that Ican trust him, and that I can
(23:47):
trust him not just the smallthings and not just with my
tithe or not just with mygenerosity, but I can trust him
with everything with my futureand my children, my future
grandchildren, with my hopes, mydreams, my aspirations, with
all of it.
I can give it to God because Iunderstand that he loves me.
And then what starts to happenis we walk in process with the
(24:09):
spirit that he starts to use usas a mouthpiece to speak to
other people, and we start tointerpret what the spirit is
saying.
He starts to use us in a way sothat other people can
experience his love by usingyour voice.
And that's like what happenswhenever you see a friend who
knows a language and theyactually start to get it where
(24:32):
they can actually interpret foryou.
You ever had a friend whothinks they know a language, but
it's like basic stuff off of amenu, anybody.
You're like I'm super fluent,spaghetti, you know.
You're like uh-huh, yeah, superfluent you are.
Or even the next thing, whereit's like you took some classes,
maybe in high school, maybe incollege, and you can kind of ask
(24:52):
where the bathroom is in maybeone tense.
You guys know what I'm talkingabout.
But whenever you're like, hey,translate for me real quick,
they're like what?
No, but then a friend who knowsthe language, it's already
inside of them and so wheneveryou ask them to translate
(25:13):
something, they can just startto speak and start to share
because it's already inside.
They don't have to go look itup.
It's already inside of who theyare.
And that's what I mean about ourtime with God.
The more time we spend with him, the deeper we go in his word,
the deeper that we go inrelationship with him.
I don't mean facts and numbersand this one begat, that one,
that's great.
(25:33):
But I'm talking about thetrusting God through the process
of walking out this difficultlife stuff.
Whenever you start to sharewith someone who's been in it
and they're like let me tell youabout this.
God is faithful.
You know how?
I know Because we uprooted ourwhole family and Yard sold
everything and he took care ofus when we lived in Europe.
It was super expensive againstthe Euro.
(25:55):
We had one income and it was sohard.
We were crying about how brokewe were.
God is still faithful.
We are still here crying abouthow broke we were.
God is still faithful.
We are still here and God isnot just going to leave us out.
No, he's going to bless us andbring the blessing and a friend
and a colleague and look out forus.
He's going to do all thosethings as we follow after him.
Let me tell you the story.
And so what happens is the wordof God combines with our
(26:18):
testimony and we see overcominghappening because people are
spurred on by the Holy Spirit ofGod.
It starts to transform how weare.
It starts to transform ourfamily culture.
It starts to transform ourcommunity around us.
It starts to transform our workrelationships, because it's
(26:40):
transformed first in us and thenit starts to change as we
interact with others.
Man, I am so good at complainingyou guys, I'm super good at it.
God, how come blah, blah, blah,blah, blah, blah, blah Anybody.
I will out complain you, I'mthat good at it.
But what I love more than thatis I love how consistent God is,
(27:01):
and I love how, though we cancomplain it does no good, by the
way we can complain, but thenGod continues to be faithful and
we can complain, but God isactually using that as a way to
teach you a lesson, and you getlike God, what about this
circumstance?
He's like are you going to walkwith me or not?
Are you going to trust me ornot?
(27:21):
Are you going walk with me ornot?
Are you gonna trust me or not?
Are you gonna obey me or not.
Friends, I wrestle with thiswisdom piece because so often he
tells us things that are hardto do, we don't wanna do, but
when we don't do them, then weget our result.
(27:42):
And I want blessing for yourlife.
And I want blessing for yourlife, I want blessing for your
family, I want blessing for whatyou put your hands to do.
I want a blessing of God that'supon you that people can't deny
.
They see God's hand upon yourlife.
But we have to walk in thewisdom of God, because without
it, what good is it?
It's just our good ideas.
But if we live according to histransformative process,
(28:03):
according to the spirit, then wecan be those who are used in
his hand for greater things thathe has for you than your own
plans, says God.
Greater love has he for youthan your own imagination.
He has the answers you'relooking for.
He has the direction thatyou've been asking for.
(28:25):
He's the one that sometimes isclosing the doors in front of
you because you ask fordirection from God.
Even whenever you kick the doorbecause you're trying to go
through the door, and he's likenope, and he's got his foot on
the other side of the door.
He's like I'm not letting youthrough this door.
You're like I need to gothrough that door.
He's like I need to go throughthat door.
(28:49):
He's like no, you're like, butI'm supposed to be a billionaire
.
He's like you won't pay titheon 10 bucks.
Why am I giving you a billiondollars?
I'm sorry, I'm going to back up.
That was not in this sermon,that was in another sermon.
The answer is you've beenlooking for.
The answer is I've been lookingfor the answers I've been
looking for.
He has them and as we continueto walk with him, close to him,
he'll speak them to us.
(29:10):
But we have to go all in to thedeep things of God.
Today, with this opportunity torespond to him and to his
message for us, with thisopportunity to respond to Jesus
and to draw message for us, wehave this opportunity to respond
to Jesus and to draw near tohim and embrace all he's done
for us.
And that's a question for youis have you embraced Jesus?
(29:32):
We've already had friends makea decision to embrace Jesus.
Today, we encourage you thatyou would do the same.
Maybe you're here.
You've never made a decision toinvite Christ into your heart
and life.
You're hearing this messageabout Christ, who loves you,
about how he actually went tohis death to take on your
mistakes.
(29:52):
You're hearing this story abouthow Jesus loved you so much
that he forgives you of all thethings you've done wrong, and he
does that by faith andbelieving in him and saying Lord
, forgive me of my sin.
I want us to start a new life,a new relationship with you and
friends.
That's how we spirituallybecome a new creation.
That's why, to us, the symbolof the cross is one of
(30:15):
transformation, because thesymbol of the cross was used as
a threat.
It was used as scare tactic,and it was used as a scare
tactic and it was used to bringabout demise.
But Jesus, he lived a sinlesslife.
He took on all of our mistakes,all of mine.
He took all of our sin and hepaid the price for all of us.
(30:38):
He took on our sin and he diedwith that sin so that that sin
could be taken care of.
But the amazing thing aboutJesus is that he didn't stay
dead, but he is alive and on thethird day he came back to life.
He overcame death, hell and thegrave, the creator, god, who
overcame all these things andmade a way for us to be in
(31:00):
relationship with the holy God,one that we couldn't earn, one
that we couldn't work our wayinto.
He came all the way to us thatwe would just embrace him and
what he wants to do in andthrough us the apostle Paul.
He writes to the church at Romeand says because if you confess
with your mouth that Jesus isLord and believe in your heart
(31:22):
that God raised him from thedead, you will be saved.
For with the heart one believesand is justified, with the
mouth one confesses and is saved.
Friends, today is your day.
It's your opportunity to sayyes to Jesus.
I'm gonna ask everyone in theroom for you to stand to your
(31:43):
feet and bow your head rightwhere you're at.
If you're online, you prepareyour heart for what God wants to
do, no matter where you are torespond to him.
Today, friends, you've heardthis challenge.
Now is your opportunity to sayyes.
Maybe that's for the very firsttime, to invite Christ into
(32:04):
your heart and life, or maybeyou've made that decision in the
past, but you have not beenliving it.
It's your opportunity to drawnear to him, to recommit your
heart and life back to Christ,as heads are bowed here in the
room, if that's you, if you justraise your hand right where
you're at, say, pastor, justremember me in that prayer.
Today I wanna make a decisionto follow Jesus.
(32:24):
See the hands that are herethere another hand that's here,
another hand that's there,people making decisions to
follow Jesus, friends online.
Thank you, lord.
I'm gonna ask if everyone would, if you would all repeat this
prayer after me Lord, thank youfor loving me, thank you for
(32:53):
sending Jesus.
I believe Jesus died on thecross for my sins.
I believe he rose again.
Forgive me of my sins.
I surrender my life to you InChrist's name.
I pray Amen, amen.
(33:13):
Friends, we rejoice with thosemaking a decision today, those
who raised their hand, thosemaking a decision online.
Praise the Lord.
Hey, just like others, we wantto make sure that you are
successful in living this lifeafter Christ.
If you would connect with usbefore you go, let us know that
you made that decision.
We want to put some resourcesinto your hands, but, praise God
, it's exciting day, friends, ofpeople already being obedient
(33:35):
to Christ in baptism, peoplealready making a commitment to
follow after Him.
Today is your opportunity tocome and make an altar with God,
to draw near to God, to ask Godto impart to you his spirit,
his wisdom for more of his peace, more of his grace for this
next season ahead, that we wouldgo deep with him.
Lord, we thank you so much as weopen up this altar, we do so
(33:57):
intentionally, lord, to drawnear to you and the things of
you.
Lord, that we come to you withour whole hearts, holding
nothing back.
Lord, we thank you, lord, todraw near to you and the things
of you.
Lord, that we come to you withour whole hearts, holding
nothing back.
Lord, we thank you, lord, thatwe can spend time with you and
draw near to you and you speakto us.
Lord, we thank you for yourprovision for us.
We thank you for your joy indifficult circumstances.
Lord, we thank you for thepeace of God that rests upon us
and, lord, for the provision,lord, and how direction, lord,
(34:20):
wisdom, lord, that doesn't comefrom us but comes from you.
Lord, we thank you for opendoors.
We thank you for closed doors.
In Jesus' name, lord, we thankyou for all these things and as
we come to your altar today, wedo with hearts of gratitude and
worship.
We pray this in the powerfulname that is Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
We are excited Next Sunday, right after service, we
will be having life groupsign-ups, and so there's a new
season of life groups coming,and my prayer is that you just
go as deep as you can with Godthis semester and find one, two,
three that fit you and jointhem, and we'll see all the
amazing things that take placethis semester.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
I want to give a special thanks to our kids'
teams and our tech team, who hadno internet on campus today
when we started the day and theyfought through all this stuff
to make it go.
We appreciate you guys so verymuch for all.
You are Amazing and if you guysare part of the church, if you
want to help us, we have tobreak this whole stage down
following this service.
If you can lend a hand for 10minutes, we'd appreciate you.
Before we go, I want to place ablessing over us.
(35:20):
Before we go, I want to praythis blessing over us.
The Lord bless you and keep you.
Lord, make his face to shineupon you and be gracious to you.
Lord, lift up his countenanceupon you and give you peace.
(35:40):
Lord, I pray a blessing uponyour church, your people.
Lord, you must empower us byyour spirit to live your love
out to those around us.
I pray this in the powerfulname that is Jesus Christ.
Amen, amen.
Know this.
We love you very much here atCornerstone.
God bless you and have a greatweek.
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