Achilles: Week 3

Well, welcome to Church of the Crossing. My name is Andrew, and

I'm so glad that you're here today. This is the last week of our

message series called Achilles. And in this series, we've been looking at spiritual

weaknesses or blind spots that can sabotage or corrupt our faith journey or our spiritual

lives. And it's just like that story in Greek mythology about the great mighty

warrior Achilles, and he was taken down by a little arrow shot through his

Achilles tendon behind his heel. And so today we're gonna be looking at the

Achilles heel of comfort. Comfort can be an Achilles heel that sabotages our faith.

And I don't know about you, but I really enjoy comfort. I

like having air conditioning in the summer. I like having a roof that doesn't

leak. I like a comfy bed. I like a refrigerator that keeps everything

cool. I like comfort. And I think, especially here the United States,

we are conditioned to gravitate toward comfort, to seek out comfort, to

make things more easy, more convenient, more comfortable. For example, last

fall, I got to attend my first Colts game. Back in November,

Now, most football games in November are cold, maybe some snow, but

not at the Colts Stadium because it's indoors and we got a roof, it's

temperature controlled. The seats were comfy. I didn't need a coat, I

wasn't getting rained on. It was a great football experience. Just last week,

I was traveling and the airline try to do everything it could to get

me to upgrade to comfort plus, you know, comfort plus four inches of

extra leg room, or comfort plus snacks plus drinks whatever, comfort plus.

Now, speaking of traveling, one of my personal comforts in life is my

morning coffee. I love my coffee every morning, and I've made it a

religious experience because I enjoy my coffee when I'm praying or doing my Bible reading

first thing in the morning. So it's like a spiritual experience to have a

cup of coffee. In fact, I will go to sleep some nights with

a smile on my face because I know I get to wake up and use

my an espresso machine in the morning. Now, now some people say it's

an addiction, but I call it a hobby. So when I'm traveling,

I want to have my comfort, my coffee. It's it's my comfort.

And so I have a travel coffee kit that I take with me whenever I

travel. It has a collapsible funnel with the filter where I put the coffee.

I have a travel kettle like the boils and heats up the water.

So wherever I go, wherever I'm traveling, I got my comfort in my

coffee. I guess maybe I do have an addiction that I didn't know.

We all have our little comforts, we all have our little pleasures in life.

Many of you know that I'm from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and I'm a

big fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the head coach of the football team

is my time comin and Mike Tomlin's had a great career nearly two decades.

He's never had a losing season, and he's a great coach, a great

leader, and part of his leadership style is Tomlin has these coaching sayings or

these wisdoms sayings, these expressions that are called tomlinisms. And one of his

tomlinisms is seek no comfort. He tells his players seek no comfort. It's

this idea of we're not gonna get comfortable, We're not gonna relax, We're

not gonna take it easy. We're gonna push harder, We're gonna train harder.

We're gonna be the first ones in and the last ones out. Don't

make excuses, seek no comfort. It's this idea, it's it's one of

his wisdom sayings. I think that following Jesus is not always comfortable. I

think following Jesus takes work. I think following Jesus takes discipline, and it's

not always easy or convenient. I believe that most of us here wants to

grow our faith. You want to be more like Jesus, you want to

know God more. That's why you're here listening to this message. And I

believe that growing our faith takes work. It takes sweat, it takes energy,

and it's not always easy. But following Jesus is rewarding. It's life

giving, it's life fulfilling, it gives us purpose. It's not always comfortable,

but it's rewarding. And so today we're gonna look at a passage in

the Bible from the Book of Ecclesiastes. Now, Ecclesiastes is located in the

genre of the Bible known as wisdom literature. There's different genresm and these.

Wisdom literature is a collection of wisdom's sayings, much like coach Tomlin has his

Tomlinisms. The Bible has a collection of wisdom sayings, and the Book of

Ecclesiastes was written by King Solomon. And Solomon lived about a thousand years before

Jesus was born, and Solomon is known as the wisest king in all of

history. He's known as the one of the most successful, one of the

wealthiest, greatest kings in all of history. And toward the end of Solomon's

life, he starts to look back on his accomplishments. He looks back over

his life of wealth, his life of success, and he records some wisdom.

And so let's look at Ecclesiastes chapter two. Starting in verse one,

he says, I said to myself, come now, I will test you

with pleasure to find out what is good. But that also proved to be

meaningless. Laughter, I said, is madness, and what does pleasure accomplish.

I tried cheering myself with wine and embracing folly, my mind still guiding

me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do

under the heavens during the few days of their lives. I undertook great projects.

I built houses for myself and plant at vineyards. I made gardens and

parks, and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made reservoirs

to water groves of flourishing trees. I bought male and female slaves, and

had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds

and flocks than anyone in all Jerusalem before me. I am silver and gold

for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired male and

female singers, and a harem, as well the delights of a man's heart.

I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all

this, my wisdom stayed with me. And then in Verse ten, Solomon

says, I denied myself nothing my eyes desired. I refused my heart no

pleasure. My heart took delight in all my labor, and this was the

reward for all my toil. So if there was ever somebody in history who

enjoyed all the comforts, all the pleasures of life, it was Solomon.

He had it. All anything his eyes desired, he had it. He

wanted it he took it. Now, notice how he ends this passage in

verse eleven. Yet, when I surveyed all that my hands had done and

what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the

wind. Nothing was gained under the sun. So Solomon says, after looking

back over all the accomplishments, all the achievements, all the success, pleasure,

everything he had, he said, it's meaningless. It's like chasing the

wind. And this is the big idea for today's message. The main point

today is what are you chasing? Are you chasing after the wind? Are

you chasing after comfort, after pleasure? Or are you chasing after Jesus?

Are you chasing after success, after a reputation, after a career, or

are you chasing after the things of God, the will of God? Are

you chasing Jesus? Now, before we go any further today, I want

to say that today's message is gonna be a little bit different than when I

typically share or preach a sermon. First of all, when I typically share

a message, I like to look at one passage of the Bible and work

our way through that text step by step and discover what is the meaning of

that text. That's called expository preaching. Today it's going to be a little

bit more topical as we look at what does the Bible say about this topic

of comfort. This sermon is also a little bit different because as I was

preparing and praying, I really felt strongly that there are two themes in this

idea, this Achilles heel of comfort. There's there's two themes, and so

today is really two messages in one. We're gonna have too many sermons today.

Now that doesn't mean it's going to be twice as long, but there's

two themes we're gonna look at. Think of it this way. We each

have two legs, which is two feet, two ankles, and two achilles

tendons. That the left achilles tendon and the right achilles tendon. We have

two of them. So we're gonna look at the two Achilles heels of comfort,

the left side and the right side. So let's look at this very

first one. Let's start with Achilles heel number one, and I'm calling this

comfortable Christianity. Comfortable Christianity. Comfortable Christianity is an achilles heel in the American

Church. It's an achilles heal for the American Church because Comfortable Christianity says,

I want to follow Jesus if it's convenient. I want following Jesus to fit

my schedule, fit my agenda. I want it to be the way I

want it. Comfortable Christianity says that Christianity should be cost free, it should

be pain free, it should be a stress free, convenient So comfortable Christianity

will make it to church if it's convenient, or maybe it'll it'll just sleep

in and you know, it's been a stressful week. We just need to

relax. When comfortable Christianity comes to church, it expects that the worship service

will last no longer than an hour. Comfortable Christianity expects the music to not

be too loud or too soft, and the sermon needs to be challenging but

not convicting because that's too uncomfortafortable. Oh and the coffee at church needs to

taste really good. It's comfortable Christiani. Comfortable Christianity does not expect sacrifice.

Comfortable Christianity does not expect sacrifice. But when I look at the Bible,

when I look at Jesus, when I look at the Gospel, I see

that sacrifice is right at the center of the gospel. There is no gospel

without sacrifice. There's no good news without sacrifice. There's no salvation without sacrifice.

Notice what Jesus says in Luke nine twenty three. He says, whoever

wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and

follow me. Jesus says, you have to deny yourself. You have to

deny your pleasure, deny your comfort, deny your preferences. And then Jesus

says, take up your cross daily. He's saying, let go of your

agenda, let go of your desires, and take up the cross. Embrace

suffering. When I look, get the gospel sacrifices at the center. Jesus

denied his divine rights to come to earth because you and I human beings were

separated from God, living in brokenness, living in shame, stuck in our

sin, and in his love. God sent Jesus to earth to be a

sacrifice, and Jesus took up the cross. He carried that cross to Calvary

where he was crucified as a sacrifice for you and me. Sacrifice is what

it means to be a Christian and follow Jesus, and then Jesus says,

follow me, follow me, And that's the big idea. What are you

following? What are you chasing in life? What are you pursuing? Pursue

Jesus, chase Jesus. Theologian C. S. Lewis from England once said,

I didn't go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a

bottle of port wine would do that. If you want a religion to make

you feel really comfortable, I certainly don't recommend Christianity sacrifices at the center of

Christianity. So how do we overcome comfortable Christianity? Well, hear me,

clearly, I am not advocating that we just do the opposite and make ourselves

uncomfortable. I'm not saying that we hurt ourselves or torture ourselves. Please please

do not go home and say, kids, we're too comfortable for Jesus.

So this summer we're gonna turn the air conditioning off in the house, and

all the money we save we're gonna give to Jesus. We are sweating for

Jesus this summer. Don't do that. If we want to overcome comfortable Christianity.

The first thing I would say, is chase obedience chase obedience obedience over

comfort. I just returned last week from a mission trip to Rohatan, Honduras,

and one of our team members was having a lot of difficulty with their

passport. Before we left the States, she had turned in the application,

the registration all in advance, but there was a mix up somewhere with the

paperwork, and the week before the trip, she did not have her passport.

So she tried calling the passport office. I think she even reached out

to a senator trying to get this resolved, but there was no answer until

the very day before the trip, twenty four hours before the trip. Her

only option was to go to one of those passport centers that the same day

service, but the problem was it was too late for her to make an

appointment for that same day service, and the office was more than a four

hour drive from where she lived, and so, in faith, without an

appointment, without a reservation, she got up super early, made that four

hour plus drive to be there when the office as soon as the office opened

in the morning, just hoping that somebody would have mercy on her because she

was so convinced this is what God was calling her to do, and she

shared her story to the passport official, told them about the mission trip,

and by God's grace, they gave her an appointment that day, and she

went through the long process that day and got her passport and then made the

four hour plus to drive back home that night, just in time to get

on the airplane early the next morning with the team. Now, it would

have been really convenient for her to say, well, I tried to apply,

this must be a sign that I'm not supposed to go, Or she

could have said I tried calling, I tried contacting, but maybe God is

telling me this isn't what I'm supposed to do. No, she knew God

was calling her, and so she wanted to obey Jesus, no matter the

cost, no matter the sacrifice, even if it was an eight hour plus

uncomfortable drive all day, she wanted to obey Jesus. Do not misinterpret difficulty

or disappointment as a sign that you're doing the wrong thing. Do not be

deceived that hardship or struggle, or trial or persecution is God's way of telling

you to stop. We gotta be wise. We got to discern it's not

always easy following Jesus, It's gonna be challenging. There's gonna be difficulty.

That's why we have to trust. If it takes faith to follow him,

chase obedience over comfort. If we're gonna overcome comfortable Christianity. The second thing

I would say is that we need to follow Jesus beyond your comfort zone.

Follow Jesus beyond your comfort zone. Now I'm gonna share a story from my

life that is a little bit uncomfortable for me to share with you today.

Many many years ago, I was serving out a different church, and at

that time in my spiritual growth, I was learning some new things. I

was stepping out of my comfort zone, and I was learning some new spiritual

gifts and prayer ministry, like praying for healing, praying prophetically which means hearing

from God for others and sharing encouragement with them. And this was out of

my comfort zone. So I was learning about these new spiritual gifts. And

one day our church was offering a healing service, and before the service,

I practiced listening to God and I was asking Him who did he want to

heal that in that service? And I started writing down whatever came to my

mind. Like hip pain or joint pain or wrist pain. I just wrote

these things down. The Bible calls us a word of knowledge, where the

Holy Spirit may impart or reveal some inside or some knowledge about someone you're praying

for for their healing, for their encouragement. This was all new to me.

I was just stepping out of my comfort zone, testing this out.

And so during that healing service, I approached the senior pastor of the church

and asked him what should I do with these words of knowledge? And before

I could think twice, the pastor pulled me up onto stage and he said,

hey, everybody, Andrew has some words of knowledge he's gonna share and

if any of this means anything for you, we want you to come forward.

We're gonna pray for you. So, in front of a hundred plus

people, I looked at what I had written down earlier, and I shared

it, and I saw people responding. When I said hip pain, a

young man came forward with hip the pain, and he was prayed for and

he was healed. When I said wrist pain, a woman came forward with

a wrist brace on and for and she was healed. And we saw God

moving, We saw people responding. And I did this all the way down

this list until I got to the very last thing that I had written down,

the very last thing on my list, And I was really tempted to

skip this last thing and sit down because it was really uncomfortable, but I

wanted to be obedient. So in a room of one hundred plus people,

I said, out loud, if anyone here has a UTI, we'd really

like to pray for you. Now, if you don't know what that stands

for, you can google it. Obviously, nobody came forward. Now,

the next day, I called one of my dear friends, because you know,

I'd felt embarrassed. I felt awkward. I called one of my dear

friends the next day to tell them about this story. I called Pastor James,

and James has always been encouraging. James has always lifted me up or

when I'm feeling discouraged, He's always been supportive. And I called James and

I told him this story and told him how awkward and uncomfortable it was,

and then he laughed at me, and he laughed and he laughed, and

then he couldn't wait to get off the phone so he could call some of

our other friends. And tell them about the story. Now, since then,

I've grown a lot in prayer, ministry and spiritual gifts, and today

I would probably do things a little bit different. You know, if that

were to be today, I would probably say something like that, there might

be somebody here with with a very personal or private, painful issue we want

to pray for me. I want to protect privacy. But I think what

God was doing when I was young, stepping out of my comfort zone,

God was teaching me obedience. I think God was showing me, are you

willing to be obedient even if that means being embarrassed, even if that means

being uncomfortable. And since then, God has led me further out of my

comfort zone, and I've been a part of some amazing things, humbling privilege

to be a part of God healing people, healing cancer, healing our right

as tumors going away, all sorts of things, because God has led me

out of my comfort zone. Now, hear me, clearly, I'm not

prescribing that God's going to do the same thing with you that He's done with

me. I don't believe that God wants every single person to stand up in

front of a hundred people and give a prophetic word. I'm just sharing my

experience of following Jesus out of my comfort zone. How is God leading you

out of your comfort zone? Is it an evangelism? Is God stretching out

your comfort zone to share the gospel with others? Is it in generosity?

Is He leading you out your comfort zone financially? Or maybe it's something like

leading you somewhere where you're feeling awkward or uncomfortable or ill prepared, like maybe

he wants you to work with children or teenagers and you just feel awkward with

that age group. He's leading you out of your comfort zone. Whatever it

is, follow him out of your comfort zone. Because when you follow Jesus

out of your comfort zone, he grows your faith, he increases your trust.

And let me tell you, following Jesus feels like an accelerated heart rate,

sweaty palms, dry mouth. Sometimes that's what faith feels like. And

I want to say one more thing about that story that I just shared about

the me being awkward in front of a group of people. It would have

been really easy for that senior pastor to be harsh with me or maybe rebuke

me or correct me. But he didn't. It would have been really easy

for other people to tease me or judge me because things didn't really work out

or was a little uncomfortable, little awkward. But they didn't because I was

in a safe place. I was in a place that I trusted. I

was in a place that I knew I was loved, and I could step

out in faith. I could step out beyond my comfort zone and I knew

I was safe. I knew I'd be in coursed even if it didn't go

right, even if I stumbled. And we see this is how Jesus discipled

his twelve followers. He gave them room and space to stumble and get back

up. In Mark chapter nine, Jesus's disciples are out doing ministry and they're

sharing the gospel and they're healing people. But there's this one boy who's demonized

and they can't heal him. They can't cast out the demon. And then

Jesus shows up and in one word, he heals the boy, and we

read in Mark nine, verse twenty eight. Afterward, when Jesus was alone

in the house with his disciples, they asked him, why couldn't we cast

out that evil spirit? Jesus replied, this kind can be cast out only

by prayer and fasting. Jesus wasn't harsh with them. Jesus didn say,

oh, you lack the faith, or you guys aren't good enough, or

you guys can't be the same as me. He teaches him. He gives

them room to try something and stumble, and he helps him get back up.

And then just a short time later, after Jesus goes to heaven and

the apostles are out doing ministry, we read in Acts five, as a

result of the apostle's work, six people were brought out into the streets on

beds and mats so that Peter's shadow might fall across some of them as he

went by, and many people were healed. So they went from testing things

out stephan out of their comfort zone, not working out all the time.

So now even their shadows carry the power of God. Church of the Crossing,

May we be a place that encourages people to follow Jesus, even if

it's uncomfortable, even if we don't get it right all the time, even

if we stumble. May we be a place that is judgment free, a

place that helps people take steps in obedience to Jesus. Even when it doesn't

work out, if it's not perfect, let's cheer one another on and not

judge or criticize one another. You know, we have a really young staff

team here, a young staff that is passionate about reaching people for Jesus.

And undoubtedly we're gonna try some things that may not work out perfectly. Or

we may think something's gonna be great, but it may be a flop.

Or we might try a ministry approach or strategy and it's not perfect. So

let's encourage, let's let's get back up, Let's try something again. This

is a safe place to try things. And I want to say something,

especially to our students, to our high school students, to our college students.

I want to tell you that Church at the Crossing one to step out

of your comfort zone and this is a safe place. You are loved here,

you are supported here. And when you step out in faith, when

you try things that and maybe it doesn't work out, or maybe you stumble

a little bit, I want to tell you Church at the Crossing has your

back as you're following Jesus. Let's be that kind of church. So that's

the end of the first mini sermon today. I hope that that was encouraging

to you. If that didn't resonate with you, don't worry. I got

a second mini sermon for you. So now we're gonna talk about Achilles heel

number two. Achilles heel number two is worldly comfort. Worldly comfort. Worldly

comfort is an Achilles heel for all of us. Whether you're a follower of

Jesus or you don't follow him, or you got questions about God, every

single one of us struggle with this Achilles heel of worldly comfort because worldly comfort

deceives us, telling us it will heal our pain, telling us it will

solve our problems, but it leaves us empty. It actually sabotages our lives.

And the same question, it's the same question, what are you chasing?

What are you chasing when you're hurting, when you're lonely? What do

you look for to give you comfort? What are you chasing to give you

comfort when you're disappointed? When when you're feeling depressed and you need comfort,

what are you chasing to give you that comfort? Worldly comfort seeks things outside

of God to numb, distract, or escape our pain. Worldly comfort does

a great job of treating the symptoms of our pain. You know you can

numb this, You can get distracted with this, you can escape for a

little bit. But worldly comfort will not bring the inner healing that we need.

It will not resolve that the things that are broken in our souls.

Our main text, Ecclesiasties, chapter two, has a lot to say about

chasing the worldly comfort. In verse three, it says I tried cheering myself

with wine and embracing folly. This is the world saying, hey, you

can numb your pain. More alcohol, more of this, more of that.

You can numb and and and numb all that pain. Verse four says

I undertook great projects, and I built houses and planet vineyards. This is

the world saying, are you grieving? Are you hurting? What? Will?

Just get distracted in your work, Get another project, get busy distracted,

don't think about those hard things. Verse eight says I am asked silver

and gold for myself and all the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired

male and female servants, and a harem as well. A harem is just

a polite way of saying he slept with a lot of people. The delights

of a man's heart. This is the world saying, hey, you can

escape your problems. You know, try the dating scene. Are you feeling

lonely? We'll try the hook up scene. Like like you can escape in

these other things. Worldly comfort treats the symptoms, but it doesn't bring the

inner healing we need. It doesn't heal our brokenness. It doesn't satisfy what

our souls are longing for. What are you chasing when you need comfort,

when you need help, when you're hurting? What are you chasing? When

I was in Honduras a couple of weeks ago, I met a young man

named Victor. Victor's at his mid or late twenties. Young guy, Victor,

although he's Hondura, didn't grow up in Honduras. Victor actually grew up

in the United States. He was raised in the US. He went to

church with his family growing up. He graduated from the University of Michigan.

He's a trained professional chef. But when I met Victor on the little island

off the coast of Honduras, I met him at a drug and alcohol rehab

center on this tiny little island. How does this educated professional end up on

this tiny little island, in this little drug and alcohol rehab center. Well,

his grand parents lived in Honduras, and when his grandfather passed away,

Victor and his family moved back to Honduras to help the family. And he

got caught up in the world, in the comfort of the world and the

things of the world, the pleasures of the world, and he lost his

way. He's trying to numb things, trying to escape things, trying to

distract things, and it landed him rock bottom in rehab. But in rehab,

that's where he met Jesus, and that's where he encountered the real inner

healing that only God can do. That's where he discovered the unconditional love of

God the Father. And then the day that I spent with Victor, Victor

was embodying his purpose because we were visiting a local jail and we were sharing

the Gospel to those in the jail, and Victor shared his testimony, and

that day five people committed their lives to following Jesus when they heard the gospel.

Victors now walking in his purpose because he encountered Jesus, because he had

an inner healing. What we need is an inner healing. When you feel

broken, when you feel overwhelmed, you need an inner healing. When you

feel like you are grieving and you feel hurt, you need a soul healing.

You don't need another one night stand to feel better about yourself. You

don't need a shopping spree to distract yourself from all the problems. You don't

need to take an extravagant, expensive trip to somewhere exiotic to escape the anxiety

and the worries and all the things that are that are running around in your

life. What you need is Jesus. We need Jesus because when Jesus died

on the cross, he paid the price for our sin, and he purchased

our healing. When he rose from the dead, he rose in power,

and it's that power that brings the inner healing. We need the comfort of

God, not the comfort of the world. We need Godly comfort. Are

you chasing Jesus? Godly comfort seeks God's healing in the midst of our pain.

Pay attention to this phrase. It's in the midst of our pain.

Godly healing meets us in the midst of our pain. This doesn't mean that

God's going to remove you from a painful situation. It doesn't mean that the

healing is going to be instantaneous. It might be a long journey, but

God's walking with you on the journey. God's with you every step of the

way. He enters into your pain. See this is the gospel. Jesus

left heaven to enter into our pain. Jesus denied himself to enter into our

pain. Jesus gave up his divine privileges to enter our pain. And that's

where we find healing. That's where we receive healing. God says in Isaiah

fifty seven, I have seen their ways, but I will heal them.

I will guide them and restore comfort to Israel's Mos. God wants to restore

comfort in your life. God wants to release more of his love in your

life. Several years ago, I was hurting. I was in a dark

place, in a painful place. I experienced a personal tragedy and I was

suffering. And I reached out to my dear friend Dale and we met for

coffee and I just skilled my guts to Dale and told him what I going

through. And Dale met me with godly comfort. Dyale listen to me,

he prayed with me, he hugged me, and then from that day forward

he walked with me on a journey of spiritual healing, daily phone calls,

regular lunch or coffee. He encouraged me. He couldn't fixed my situation,

but he walked with me. He showed me godly comfort. Godly comfort is

with you and your pain. And I think it's important that today, being

Father's Day, we remember that our heavenly Father is perfect and that he knows

everything that we need, and he knows exactly what we're going through, and

he wants to release more of his love and more of his grace into your

life. And as I close, I want to end with just one scripture

and one more story we read in Second Thessalonians two. Now, may our

Lord Jesus Christ himself and God, our Father who loved us and gave us

eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts. May your Heavenly

Father comfort your heart today and wherever else you go from here. The comfort

of God is eternal, The healing of God is undeniable. The power of

God is supernatural to transform and to heal our lives. I've shared this story

before many years ago, but it might be new for many of us.

When I was a boy, I was on a fishing trip with my dad

and some friends out west in the Rocky Mountains, and I was standing on

the edge of the river fishing and my dad in the other group, was

downstream from me, and I lost my footing and I fell right into the

river, and I couldn't get back out. It was a really cold river

because it was all the ice melt from the Rocky Mountains in it. It

just shocked my muscles and it took the breath out of me. And I

was panicked. And I was wearing these waiters, fishing waiters, and they

started filling with water, pulling me down under the water. And I was

so small that I couldn't stand up and I couldn't fight again the current.

It felt like I was drowning. I was panicked. I imagine that you

may be here today feeling like you're drowning in life. There is something going

on in your situation that's overwhelming. You got something going on that is threatening

to drown you, to wash over you, an addiction issue, a sin

issue. It might be something in your family that's just too much for you

to handle. You're trying to keep yourself above water. You need rescued,

don't you need, you need saved. And so while I'm panicking in this

water, my dad's downstream, and my father sees me and he hears me.

And I really believe that somebody today needs to hear this truth. Your

heavenly father sees you, and he hears you today. He sees what you're

going through. He sees your situation, he sees your disappointment. He sees

even the hidden parts of your life. He sees the secret parts or the

shameful parts that you don't want anybody to know about. He sees it,

and he hears you, your heavenly father. He hears your cries of desperation,

he hears your prayers, he hears your weeping. My father saw me

and he heard me, and then he stepped out into the river, stepped

out into my uncomfortableness, into my pain. Because my father is tall enough

to stand above the water. My father is strong enough to stand against the

current. And he reached out and he pulled me out, brought me on

a dry ground, and dried me off and got me warm clothes. He's

my father, Your heavenly father is bigger than the thing that's trying to drown

you. Your heavenly Father is greater and mightier than the thing that's overwhelming you.

He's bigger than that diagnosis. He's greater than that disappointment. He is

stronger than that sin thing in your life. He is greater, He's mighter,

and he is full of love. He's full of grace, and he's

reaching out to you today. He's reaching out. We don't need the world's

comfort because we have a heavenly Father who loves you unconditionally. Let me pray

for us. Father, God, we thank you for your grace, and

we thank you for your presence. God, you are a perfect father,

a good father. And today, God, I pray that you will remind

each one of us of your unconditional love. I just I get a sense

that someone here today needs to hear that God's love does not depend on your

righteousness. It doesn't depend on your goodness, and it's not like you need

to impress him He loves you. God, would you impress that on our

hearts and our minds today, that when we leave here, that we will

walk into boldness. We will walk in a confidence that we are your children,

that we are your sons and daughters, that our identity is rooted in

You. We are covered in the grace and the blood of Jesus. And

so God, I pray that you impart that confidence, that you impart that

peace and that security to each person today, that we walk in your truth

and in your love. And we pray all this in Jesus name. Amen.