What Are You Doing Here? (North OC)

Good morning, everybody.

Good morning, church family.

Good morning, friends.

And we'll start with a question.

You guys sit on the screen.

Why are you here?

Before you guys answer the question, let's pray real quick, okay?

Heavenly Father, thank you for just being who you are.

God, thank you for just being along with us as we navigate through life.

Uh, God, I pray if you do today's service, God, work

through me, uh, speak through me.

Uh, Father, help me to slow in my speech, uh, Father, I pray that

it's clear, uh, Father, we're here because we want to hear your word.

I pray that it resonates in our soul.

It moves us to draw closer to you.

Uh, Father, we love you, just say we pray.

Amen.

So, why are you here?

Now, I'm going to throw out some reasons at a high level why you're here.

And if it resonates with you, please say amen.

Alright?

Okay, are you here because you're a part of the church and

you do this on a routine basis?

Okay, are you, are you out of town guests and you are staying

in my house and you're here?

Okay.

All right.

So we have some there If you're here because maybe your kids

are in camp and you're here just for those reasons Amen Okay.

All right.

So At a high level, you know that we're here for a reason but

this question is much deeper.

It's You What are you doing here at this point in your life?

And all of us, we're on journeys, but we're on individual journeys.

And so, as of right now, everyone is at a certain point in their lives.

Whether you're a teenager, whether you're a, you know, a young adult,

maybe you're an older adult, whatever.

You're married, you're single, you are at a point in your life right

this minute where the question is, what are you doing here?

So this message is for us individually.

The Bible talks about bringing us to our senses, right?

And so we have to ask ourselves these kind of questions.

Okay, the journey.

We're all on a journey.

How do I get back?

Perfect.

Okay, how do I get forward?

Perfect.

The journey.

We're all on a journey.

Since we're born, the journey starts.

When we are kids, our journey is shaped by our parents.

Uh, it's, it's shaped by those responsible for us.

So they shape us, even shaped by our, our religion too, right?

A lot of us are kids kingdom, so it gets shaped in a way that we don't decide.

We just follow through and follow along, right?

Uh, as we go though, we realize once we become teenagers and become young adults,

what that adult means is that choices.

My choices are not made for me, I make my own choices.

And then the road starts looking like this.

There are so many options, um, for our, for our choices.

And where do our go?

And I love this quote.

It talks about that, um, life is just a series of choices.

Uh, it reflects our belief based on either love or fear.

So, um, When we make these choices, it could be made logic, you know, I'm in,

I'm in IT field, so I'm very logical, it just makes sense to go this route.

Or it could be made by fear, meaning I don't want to make the wrong choice.

So by default, I'll go the easiest path in front of me.

Or the love part is passion.

I love this thing so much.

I will deviate to another path.

And so, there are choices.

We mentioned passion groups here, right?

Uh, it's a marvelous thing we do in our church.

Whereas we have, uh, maybe about a month and a half.

And we just do whatever you're passionate about.

And so something that I have done for years is I watch movies.

And I, I don't watch them for entertainment.

I watch them because, um, they are proven to be one of the best.

And so I watch them to see, okay, is it really that good and why?

And I try to think about it.

I try to pull in my wife and my, my kids.

They never bite.

So I'm always watching by myself, you know, you know.

And I give them individual ratings too.

And so my passion was like, let me open it up to the church to join my passion.

So we get together on Fridays and we look at movies.

And we use the AF, I think it's AFI, I think.

American Film Institute.

They're top 20.

And we, every week we watch a movie.

We watch Citizen Kane.

And we realize Rosebud.

is change the trajectory of Citizen Kane's life.

So, this idea of loneliness affected his whole life, affected his navigation

through life, this feeling of childhood.

We have things in our childhood that, that navigates, or these feelings, emotions,

loneliness, that changes our choices.

Casablanca.

How many of you guys have seen Casablanca?

Right.

So, Casablanca.

Uh, it's about, you know, a person, the main character is deep hurt

over, um, a relationship that influenced the trajectory of his life.

And so, hurts can affect our choices, too.

Uh, then the last one we watched was Singing in the Rain.

How many guys have seen that?

Yeah, and so I just couldn't wait.

There's one, I know the song, I was waiting for that to come on, but, you

know, we watched it and very interesting movie in that, um, his, uh, security,

his, his, his security was disrupted by, um, the career movie industry changes.

Right?

So, and for me, I think about technology, I'm in technology, and there's this

fear that, because technology moves so fast, that there'll be some concept

that I just can't grasp, grasp.

And then there's my career, I can't, I can't figure it out,

I can't move past this concept.

And so I can relate to that.

So all of these movies, they have journeys.

And for us, we have a journey and we are the main character in our journey.

If you can see your life as that, right?

And so you're navigating through your life's journey here.

Now, I want to look at, Give me a second here.

And so, We have our life's journey, and then most of us here, it got

interrupted in some manner, right?

Matthew 7, 13, it says, Enter through the narrow gate, for wide

is the gate, and broad is the road that leads to destruction.

And many enter through it.

But small is the gate, and narrow the road that leads to

life, and only a few find it.

So many of us, we had all of these choices, but then God intervened, right?

And it says here in Titus chapter 3 verse 4 through 5, it says, But,

Titus 3:4–5

when the kindness and love of God, our Savior, appeared, He saved us.

Not because of righteous things that we have done, but because of His mercy.

He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.

That's right.

So, a lot of us had our lives interrupted by God's love.

If not, He is trying to interrupt your life with His love.

Saving us.

Many of us have been saved, many of us are on the path to getting saved.

Right?

And so, He's saying, Alright, I've made clear to you, all of these

choices is really boils down to two.

There's a road to destruction and there's a road to life, right?

And so to many, one is wide, everybody goes through it, you know, by default.

If I am fear based, I want to go through the wide road because it's safe, I think.

But God makes it clear once you, once he talks to you and speaks to you and

his love, he makes it look like this.

There's two.

What do I choose?

And then he says, after you choose, then he says, trust in the Lord with all

your heart and lean on not on your own understanding and all your ways submit to

him and he will make your path straight.

So, so a lot of us here, we've, okay, we've got, this is the path that I chose.

Okay.

How does it look right now on the screen?

Bright, vibrant.

And so he's saying, I'm going to always make that path look that way.

I'm going to make it straight for you at all times.

And so now many of us, that's our journey.

How do I make that path straight for me?

It gets crooked, it gets turned, it gets, it looks a little gray at times.

Sometimes, I don't even realize I'm walking on a path.

I don't even see a path anymore.

And so, what are you doing here?

We're on a narrow road.

And this is a scary picture because I've been in Yosemite and me and my wife

went on our first wedding anniversary and we went to, um, on the trails.

And they had, like, three levels.

They had, like, the novice, the intermediate, and they

had the, the tough guy one.

I don't know what that's called, but I said, let's go on the tough guy one.

Let's do this, honey.

We went on this trail, and it looked very similar to this.

We got to a point where it was so high, there was no rail.

It had to have been three foot of runway.

And, um, I got to a point where I was, and I realized I was really scared

of heights is my, my knees started buckling, and I couldn't, I couldn't

stop them from buckling, I had a hard time breathing, I was really starting

to panic, but I was trying to panic and look cool at the same time with my

wife, and, but people were passing by, older, I was like, and to a point, I

was like, I, I can't take another step.

And so let's, let's go back, honey.

As we're going back, my knees are wobbling, and I'm like,

please, let's get to the bottom.

And I was just so thankful to get to the bottom of this.

I was like, I can't, I just physically can't do it.

And so that's how this narrow road can feel sometimes for us, right?

And so, when we choose the narrow road, God says, now I'm on it with you.

You are no longer alone making these choices.

We are on the road together.

I will, and there's a scripture that talks about that, I am in you, I'm giving you

the Holy Spirit, we are in this together.

So I'm going to guide you, and direct you because I'm in you.

I want to speak through you, and to you, and guide you because you need guidance to

stay on this narrow road that you chose.

I'm going to equip you too.

I'm going to give you a backpack, I'm going to make sure you got water along

the way so you don't get dehydrated.

I'm going to make sure you're mentally prepared.

I got you on this road, this narrow road that you chose.

You know what?

On this road, you're gonna, it's gonna be life to the full as I define it.

There's going to be some enjoyment.

There's going to be some changes.

There's going to be some, some aha moments for you.

Uh, it's going to be wonderful.

You'll look back and say, What an amazing journey we had together, Lord.

Or when you get to heaven, it'll be those like, What an

amazing journey we had together.

Life to the full.

And then, We go to, now that road looks a little troublesome, right?

He says, I promise you, this narrow road, there will be trouble.

There will be challenges.

There will be obstacles.

I promise you that.

And so they'll be there because of perseverance.

You will have to persevere during this narrow road, which means there'll be

character development along the way.

Don't shriek from it.

And he says, the things I do, discipline.

Expect me to discipline you, as a good father does.

So all these things are a part of this narrow road.

A lot of things happening, a lot of great things.

But, it's going to produce good.

Do you believe that, for on the road that you've chosen?

Dorca.

Alright.

Alright.

And so, I want to talk about a prophet.

We're going to go through his life a bit, uh, Elijah.

And he's gone through the same thing.

He's a prophet.

God spoke to him.

Moved him.

He's doing what God wants him to do.

And we're going to walk through his narrow road.

As well, we'll read through.

It's in, uh, 1 Kings, chapter 19, verse 1 through 8.

1 Kings 19:1–8

You can follow on the screen.

or go to your electronic devices.

It says, Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done, and how he had killed

all the prophets with the sword.

So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, May the gods deal with me, be

it ever so severely, if by the time tomorrow I do not make your life like

that, like, like that one of them.

Elijah was afraid and ran for his life.

When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there while himself

went a day's journey into the wilderness.

He came to a broom, a broom bush, bush, sat down under it

and prayed that he might die.

I have had enough Lord, he says, take my life.

I am no better than my ancestors.

Then he lay under the bush and then he fell asleep.

All at once, the angel touched him and said, get up and eat.

He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked

over hot coals and a jar of water.

He ate and drank, and then he laid down again.

And the Lord came back a second time, touched him, and said, Get up and eat,

for the journey is too much for you.

So he got up, and he ate again, and he drank again, but he

was strengthened by the food.

He traveled another 40 days and 40 nights until he reached

Horeb, the mountain of God.

And so this is Elijah, and, but Elijah, God wanted him to go to Ahab,

to go with Ahab, and God wanted him to deal with all the prophets, um,

the prophets of Baal, who, um, were under this particular religion.

And he wanted them to destroy them.

God said, do it.

And so he ordered God and he did it.

And so after this journey, he realized that Queen Jezebel didn't like that.

And so Queen Jezebel says, I'm going to put a hit on your life.

And she was serious.

And so Elijah was terrified.

And scared, and lonely, and he ran, and he hid.

And he's saying, God, I'm following you, your journey for

my life, but I want it to be over.

I don't want this.

I'm depressed.

I am tired.

I'm dejected.

And I'm alone, and I'm about to get killed.

I'd rather kill myself.

Could you imagine that kind of fear?

To the point I can't eat.

Anybody can sleep.

That's depression.

Like, I just want it to, to end.

Like, I tell God, and God had to wake him up.

You know, he's like, I just want to die.

You know, I want it to end, even suicidal.

And so, that's Elijah's journey.

And, look at your own journey here.

What mental state are you in right now in regards to your own journey?

You know, there are a lot of ebbs and flows.

You know, there's a lot of the battle with depression, fears.

It's life, right?

Even God's men and women struggled with mental health.

They struggled with challenges along the way of their going

along their narrow path.

They want so much, you know.

the state of sin.

They were in, they were going along their state, their, their

path and they had these poles.

And so, that makes these things very realistic here.

And just think about where you are in your state, you know, to make

your decisions, uh, and your choices.

And God wants to meet needs.

And so, Father's question is, uh, you know, what are you doing here?

But he wants to reflect.

It's like, What do you need?

Really?

He didn't know what he, he he needed, but God says, I'm gonna feed you.

He didn't ask for it.

He fattom because he know what you needed.

He'd help you with your, your mental state.

You know, you need a little direction here.

You know, I know you need to go a little further.

I want to help you out here.

So God and angels, the angels moving all around us guys.

They're angels.

that help us along too.

And so, it's amazing.

Then we continue on.

We go through God Passes By which is pretty amazing.

So God makes his presence in our lives.

We may miss it at times.

We may catch it.

We may think it's a phenomenon.

You may think just bad things just happen in the world.

We may think, you know, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes are

just a part of just California.

But God says, I make passes all the time.

Not to the whole world in general, but to you specifically.

Do you catch me passing by you?

Or is it just a thing or a phenomenon?

Or just a temporary, you know, uh, blip in your life?

And let's read further in 1st Kings 19 9 through 12 So 40 days he went

There he went into a cave and Spent the night and then here we go again.

The Word of the Lord came to him the question What are you doing here Elijah?

And he replied, what I said before, I've been very jealous for the

Lord God Almighty, the Israelites have rejected your covenant, turned

down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword.

I am the only one left, and now they're trying to kill me too, Lord.

The Lord said, go out and stand on a mountain in the presence of the Lord,

for the Lord is about to pass by.

Then a great and powerful wind tore through the mountains, tore the mountains

apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind.

And in the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was

not in the earthquake either.

After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire either.

And so now we have the Lord passing by.

He passes by our lives too.

Uh, one of my favorite singing groups is Earth, Wind, and Fire.

And so, when I read this, I was like, all my tunes going through

my head and everything, so.

So, wind.

First comes the wind.

It says, for wind, you can't see wind.

You can only feel it.

Right?

So, God passing by could be refreshing.

It's refreshing.

You know, wind cools us on a hot day.

You know, maybe you had, um, something in your life that

was very refreshing for you.

You know, maybe you got, um, encouraged by something.

You know, another person or an event was very encouraging for you.

Maybe you're right there right now.

It's like, man, I'm in a state of encouragement.

Life is so good.

Or, Maybe you're a part of another wind where it's challenging.

I have a lot of friends, um, from the church isn't here today because

of the resurrection of COVID.

God's amazing, right?

Can you think of one thing if God wanted to get everybody's

attention on this entire world?

What could he do to get everybody's attention?

How creative can he be?

An earthquake?

No.

A fire?

No.

He tried it with Noah.

How about the wind?

Where I can put a virus in the wind to get every single person

in this world's attention.

How about that?

To get acknowledgement.

I'm passing by and I'm gonna pass by again.

How amazing is God, right?

The wind.

Then we talk about earthquake.

We know our earthquakes.

And you can't, you can't get away from an earthquake.

It's happening when I first felt it.

I wanted to run outside.

Like, run outside is still there.

You know, I can't, you know, I want to go to the table, but it's still happening.

You can't, it's, it's your foundation.

Alright.

And maybe God is passing by through an earthquake in your life.

Maybe from a positive perspective.

Yeah.

Uh, you got a job or something, it makes you, you know, some more job

security, you got more income, you know, maybe that's a good thing.

Right?

Or maybe it's a challenge with an earthquake.

Maybe you lost the job.

Or you lost a relationship that was really important to you.

You know, either by just disconnection or death.

Where it shakes the foundation.

Do you see God passing by here?

To get your attention.

Fire.

I have two dogs at home.

You know, uh, and what's amazing about animals is that all creation

knows stay away from fire.

Innately.

It doesn't know.

I know what it is.

I ain't going close to it.

And so, fire warms us when we need it.

Maybe something's going on that's warming you.

Or, fire can burn you.

leaves a mark, leaves a scar.

Maybe you have things in your life, too, right now that, something that,

it's, I'm thinking about it right now, it's causing an angst of anxiety.

It's a scar that I just can't get rid of.

It's been there for a while.

It's something I can't let go.

It keeps me up at night.

This, this scar.

God's moving through it, too.

And so, we talked about that as far as the earthquake, the wind.

The fire and how he leaves a mark and then let's finish it up here with

The whisper And so he makes this stuff gets our attention here, but he

says I Passed by that But the way I want to communicate to you is through

a whisper But to hear someone's whisper, you have to be in a spot

to hear someone's whisper, right?

You have a lot of noise going on, a lot of things going on

in life, you won't hear it.

And so could those events bring you to a point where I can hear God's whisper?

So let's start with Elijah.

He says, So after the fire came, after the fire came a gentle whisper.

When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out

and stood at the mouth of the cave.

Then a voice said to him, What are you doing here, Elijah?

Um, he replied, I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty.

The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put

your prophets to death with the sword.

I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.

And so again, the Lord said, Um, you know, go back the way, go back

the way he came and go to the desert of Damascus when you get there.

Anoint, um, Hazel King over Arum.

Um, and also a name Joe who's son of MSU King over Israel.

And anoint Elisha, son of Shepa from Abel, um, ALAH to succeed.

You as a prophet, Jehu will put to death any who escaped the sword of Hazel.

Of Hazel and Elijah will put to death any who escaped the sword of Jehu.

Yet I reserve 7, 000 in Israel, all who, whose knees have not been bowed,

have not bowed down to bow, and those whose mouths have not kissed them.

So he says, I got you.

I'll send Elijah to help you out.

I'm here.

You know, I got your back, but he had to tell him in a general whisper.

Elijah, he could tell us a lot of ancient thoughts going through his mind.

He says, I can't sit here and just talk to you.

I got so much going on in my mind.

So he had to pass by, pass by, to put you in a spot where now, I want

to talk to you in a gentle way.

And the same for us.

You know, we get to, um, he went into hiding.

Sometimes it's easy to go hiding, right?

I want to hide from the things I'm feeling.

Uh, I want to just, I want to pull away.

I want to deal with it myself.

Oh, I don't want to think about it.

I just want to escape.

He says, come out of the cave and talk to me.

I want to, and get a quiet spot.

For many of us, it's, how often do you go to a quiet spot with God to

hear what He's trying to tell you?

God speaks to us all through His Holy Spirit.

What is He telling you?

And so, and when He asks questions, He He always ask it

multiple times in the scripture.

So as you go to God, you'll hear, you know, he's saying, he's asking

me the same questions multiple times to get me to really understand

in a deeper, in a deeper way.

Um, he's always speaking through us, through the spirit,

throughout our spiritual journey.

And we move forward here, and so, Hmm.

What is God asking you?

Alright, we'll go, it didn't go exactly the way I wanted it

to, but what is God asking you?

Is He asking you, what are you doing here?

Meaning, this spot in your life right now, what are you doing here?

Is He asking you, do you love me?

Do you love me?

Do you love me?

Meaning that your life, I want your life to reflect your love for me.

Or, maybe He's asking, where are you?

Meaning, you don't come to me enough.

I don't see you enough.

You know, where are you?

Why are you hiding from me?

Why don't you want to connect with me?

Why don't you want to talk?

Why don't you want to pray with me?

Maybe that's the question he'll ask you.

Or maybe he'll ask you, what is this?

These are all questions that he asks throughout his word to people.

Maybe he's asking you, what is this you have done?

Trying to bring you to a level of repentance.

Can you first of all acknowledge what you've done?

Because I've seen it, I'm in you, I experience it with you.

So, I want you to acknowledge what have you done so we can

truly forgive and move forward.

Maybe he'll ask you, why are you so afraid?

to go the path that you know that I'm pointing it to.

You know, when I can give you confidence, uh, you can trust me.

Why are you so afraid?

Why are you so afraid?

Why are you so afraid?

Or, maybe, what do you want?

Like, I said, I tell you whatever you ask for my name, I'll give it to you.

What do you want?

And so, he's asking that over and over again, What can I help you on your story?

What do you need help with on your spiritual journey?

I know what it is, but I have to have you understand that you know what it is.

It's all about you.

Or, I was asking you, what is your name?

That sounds very simple.

You know my name, Lord.

Like, no, no, no, no, no.

You are my disciple, right?

And sometimes the way I see you, you don't look like me.

You don't act like me.

I don't see you in me.

So I'm asking you, what is your name?

Say it.

I'm your child.

Say it again.

I'm your disciple.

Tell me again.

Who are you?

I'm different from the world.

Yes, you are.

So I'm telling you, when we're together, what is your name?

Remember that.

Or, he's asking you, do you believe this?

Do you really believe this?

Do you believe what you're reading?

Do you believe what Kenny is saying in front of the church?

Do you believe this?

Or are you just hearing it and you go home and it's gone?

Do you believe it?

Well, if you believe it, you'll do what?

You'll try to do it.

So just ask me, do you really, really believe this?

So, these are the kind of questions you get some time with God and these questions

will start coming to you from your Lord.

And it's like, how are you going to respond to this?

You know, I just got chosen as um, or selected as, as an elder,

which was um, pretty humbling.

Um, but it's, I had to ask myself the same questions, like, what are you doing here?

You know, it's my own questions, God was like, and I had to think about

that, like what am I doing here?

Um, I don't feel worthy, I don't, you know, but I had to not wrestle, but

just go to God to see a path here.

A path that God has done, which is very, um, gives me confidence.

And you have your own path, too, that God has done to bring you here.

And so, we'll move to, uh, the next part is, we're gonna talk about, it's

a call to action, as we close up.

And so the call to action is, just to commit to a consistent time

with God, and word, and prayer.

With no interruptions, with the heart is that I want to hear from you, Lord.

Talk to me.

Tell me.

Uh, what questions are you asking me?

Uh, consistently going, and it'll, it'll come.

And then, write it down.

Journal it.

Um, and then, um, you know, what is he asking as he opens

up your heart to your spirit?

Just write it down.

Look at it, and you'll see it may become again, and again, and again.

Share with somebody.

Your spouse, or friend, uh, or even your elder.

You know, just share what, you know, what is God asking you?

And then, when He's asking you something, there's a response.

And, uh, and that response is the faith action.

Okay, whatever you're asking me, you know, the question he's asked me so

many times is really, do you love me?

Do you love me?

Do you love me?

That comes up all the time when we're together.

But then the response is, okay, if you love me, do what?

Feed my sheep.

Comes to me all the time.

He's like, feed my sheep, Kenny.

Feeding my sheep for the longest time.

That's what he tells me.

So I'm like, I'm going to help me help me to do that.

And so for all of us, there's some action Hey!

So help me to do what God is calling me to do.

And, and that's what it means that we're going to talk.

Sometimes when you talk to each other, you realize there's some common things.

And so there's some corporate wide things that God is telling us as

a whole that affects the church.

And so we make up the church.

So you're going to talk like, you know, he told me the same thing, the same things.

Like, so corporately, he's calling us to do something as a church together.

And that's how he works.

I was going through, we're going to close it up.

I was going through the, um, uh, in revelations that

talks about all the churches.

The first couple of chapters about seven different churches and every church was

unique, which always gives me faith.

There's no perfect church.

We all got our stuff, right?

Cause we're not perfect.

But those letters were to the angels.

So each of those churches had angels representing those churches.

So for a body of people, God has angels assigned to bodies of people and God and

these angels are talking to God for us.

And so sometimes the angels are trying to get these corporate messages to all of us.

They're telling us kind of the same thing.

And so for us all to grasp it and understand what is it as a church we

have to change collectively because all together we show we have a different you.

Church personality because of us But some things we need to change and we're

growing so I just want to leave I'm in with that so Guys, thank you for

the you know for hearing me out and I'm going to pray for the communion

Heavenly Father Lord, thank you for just being who you are for the hope

that comes for following you God.

for giving us a path To follow and, uh, to help with your spirit.

Uh, Lord, what an amazing journey we get to experience here on earth.

Uh, Father, that culminates in heaven.

Uh, God is valuable to you.

Uh, Father, it changes the world as we go on this journey.

Uh, Father, I thank you so much for the sacrifice in Jesus.

God, that brings us to our knees.

Uh, that slows us down.

That humbles us, Father.

Um, the, the juice that represents, um, Real blood that flowed on the cross, uh,

real blood, real pain and father, and how that washes over all of our sins.

Uh, God, we're not worthy.

Uh, I pray for the, um, the bread that represents the body

that was beaten, uh, for us.

The pain and the agony, uh, Father, so we can have a relationship with you.

Uh, God, we so appreciate you.

God, we respect you so much for doing that for us.

Uh, help us to remember that as we take communion.

Uh, Father, we love you as we pray.

Amen.