Rhythms (Week 1)

Got online, got that thing ready to go.

You know, you're gonna have a hard time finding space on a treadmill this next week, but come February, there'll be plenty of space.

So just keep going with it.

Some of y'all have already made your diet plans that you're gonna get to.

One of my friends, he said that every uh New Year's he's going to lose 15 pounds.

He gains it all back through the year, and then the next year, another 15 pounds, lose it in those first uh month or two.

So uh whatever you're planning to get into with your resolutions.

I don't know if you're a resolutions person or not.

Uh my wife is a resolutions person.

One time she made a resolution to not eat uh dessert for an entire year, and she stuck to that for a whole year.

She's one of those crazy people who do resolutions.

I don't know if you're one of those crazy people too.

I I'm one of those people who make a resolution, and like I'm like, all right, okay, I've had enough of this.

Um, like the most of us.

Uh but no matter what you are thinking as this year begins, um there's no judgment here.

Okay.

Whatever you're thinking, it's like, oh, okay, well, I need this fresh start, this new start for my health, for my finances, for my life.

You're thinking about things for the new year, or maybe you're in the place that this last few weeks with snow and ice and uh Christmas season and New Year's and all this, it like you haven't even thought at all about this.

Whatever it is coming in this place today, there's no judgment, okay?

You know, because there's a little bit too too much judgment nowadays.

Even the kids.

All watching these like YouTube reviews.

You know what I'm talking about?

Kids today, they're over here watching YouTube.

There's there's just like everywhere you turn, it's like the YouTube uh review generation.

Yup.

All these things that we have to judge all the time.

A few months ago, we had some friends come and visit us here in Frankfurt, they got some kids, and so we thought that we would take them to a place that all kids love and adults, Hoggy's ice cream, right?

Mmm, that's a good way to start the year off.

And I'm like, they're gonna love it, this is gonna be great, because you know, our family, we love it.

And they said, Yeah, our son, our our our middle child, our son, uh like he he's not like easily impressed, so we'll see if he likes it or not.

I'm like, how do you not like ice cream?

How does a kid not like ice cream?

So we go to Hoggies and we all get our ice cream, and so we get to in the mom.

I'm I'm kind of like waiting to see what this kid's gonna say.

He's like seven or eight years old.

And I was like, So how how'd you like it?

And you know, all the other kids are like, Oh, this is so great, we loved it, we loved it.

And the one son, he was like, Yeah, the cookie dough was a little too hard.

I'm like, what?

Seven or eight years old, and you say the cookie dough is a little too hard.

You're getting ice cream.

This is what's going on in people's brains, and they're in this judgment place, this judgment seat.

And then when you think about it, a valuation like that that is at an all-time high.

Everything has a review.

I'm thankful that there's not a church review at yet, but there will be eventually, I'm sure.

Everything, every experience that we have in our life, there's something out there that's reviewing it, that's judging it.

But I also think that evaluation is in some regard at an all-time low of what we are actually being introspective about and looking inward and assessing ourselves.

Did you know that you're made for meaning?

As we kick off this new year, 2023, and the steps that you take to prepare for this year and to kick it off right, I wonder if you would ask yourselves these two questions.

Who am I meant to be, and what am I meant to do?

Who am I meant to be, and what am I meant to do?

Because you're made for meaning.

You may be even made from more than what you're presently doing and what your present life rhythms are all about.

See, we're jumping in this new series called Rhythms.

We're talking about the rhythms of renewal that we have in our lives.

And we all have all kinds of different renewals that are different rhythms in our life.

If you get to think about it, your morning routine, you get up, you probably jump in the shower, brush your teeth, you do probably something in the same order every day, time that your kids get up, where you drive, where you go.

There's patterns, there's rhythms, there's habits in our life that if you just take a minute to think about, even if to write them out, you would begin to see that there's lots and lots of consistency, but in all of those rhythms, is it what you're really meant to do?

Are you being who you really meant to be?

See, because I'm thinking right now that all of us, and the world in general, is spending a lot more time and energy evaluating every experience in our life: restaurant, class, job, loss, relationship.

Spending a lot of energy evaluating those things versus evaluating what people are experiencing in you.

We're evaluating all different types of experiences.

The vacations, the trip advisor, what restaurants you go to, you're reading the reviews, what do people say, all kinds of energy put into evaluating the experiences that you're having, but what energies are you putting into evaluating what people are experiencing in you?

Maybe you're today and you're thinking about the beginnings of this year, and you need to kind of open up your eyes, your mind, your heart to a new level of awareness of what people are experiencing when they get around you and your space.

Your life, your family, your home, your attitude.

What are others experiencing?

And we have these rhythms of our life of work, rest, and worship, over and over again, work, rest, worship.

A pattern that we should be in as believers that is very biblical.

But what's your assessment right now of what your rhythm is?

Is it alignment with what God wants you to do and who he made you to be?

Take an appraisal of what you're deeming is valuable in your life right now.

Make the calculations of the time that you're spending, the rhythms that you're doing, and is it in alignment with who God's meant for you to be?

Now, the reason why I'm bringing this up right now, just complete candidly, is because I'm one of the people I talked about earlier, the one that's gone from Christmas to uh traveling in the snow to getting away out of state for a couple of days, then hitting the New Year's, and here we are, and we're first day of the year, and you know what?

I I've not spent a whole lot of time evaluating what I want this next year to be like.

And maybe you're in that same place too.

Maybe you've evaluated some aspect.

You got the fitness plan going, you got the diet plan going, but when it comes to the things that truly have meaning of who God wants you to be, you may have not evaluated, taken an assessment, taken an appraisal of what 2023 should truly look like.

And in doing so, I want us to look at the scripture to posture our hearts and position our hearts to a place not of judgment, but us of openness to what God has for us.

Jesus kind of speaks it plainly and clearly to us in Matthew chapter 7.

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

In his famous sermon on the mount, it's Matthew 5, 6, and 7, as he's speaking to his followers, he puts this piece into his sermon for all of us to also follow.

Scripture says chapter 7, Jesus speaks.

Do not judge others, and you will not be judged.

For you will be treated as you treat others.

The standard you are that you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.

And why worry about a speck in your friend's eye when you have a log in your own?

How can I think of saying to your friend, let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye when you can't see past the log in your own eye?

Hypocrite.

First get rid of the log in your own eye, and then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend's eye.

The scripture, Jesus says, When you can't see past the log in your own eye.

The King James, I like what it says.

It says that you considereth the log in your own eye.

That you notice that there's something maybe in you that you need to take note of, take inventory of, evaluate, and take to the Lord for him to fix before looking in judgment somewhere else.

You ever felt judged before?

Speaking of getting new gyms a few years ago, I first moved to Charleston.

I was like, I'm gonna get into this new gym.

And so I had done a year of jujitsu, which I really enjoy.

I grew up doing martial arts, played football, I love athletics.

And I decided I'm gonna go and try out and try to find a jiu-jitsu gym in Charleston.

And so I went to this place called Charleston MMA, and I was thinking, okay, this is great, they got a jiu-jitsu class.

Well, when I got there, they weren't really doing jujitsu, they were doing full mixed martial arts UFC test style stuff, which I was not prepared for.

Actually, I wasn't really prepared at all because it's been a six-month break from really being in.

I was like very out of shape.

And so I was kind of walking into this class, which is supposed to be like the beginner class, like get back into it, but these guys were not beginners.

We got going with the class, and and we're really going hard, I'm just sweating like crazy, and we're doing it, we're grappling on the ground, and this acting up, I'm like, this is kind of nuts, and I start breathing heavy, and I'm like really having a hard time.

And I'm standing there, and all of a sudden, a black curtain starts to drop, not uh in the ceiling, but in my own head, in my own eyes.

Just like the end of the cartoon, everything starts going dimly down to black until all of a sudden I can't see, and I pass out.

Passed out.

I don't know how long I was out, but I was out long enough to where I woke up and they had an ice pack out in my head, and somebody was bringing a spoon with peanut butter on it to put in my mouth to get my blood sugar back up.

So I don't know how long it was, but it was long enough for them to think this new guy, this idiot, and I had to sit against the fence the rest of the time, and I felt like the biggest loser ever.

Completely judged.

All these guys are there, and you're like, who's this new guy?

An idiot.

In the same way.

How do you want for people to experience the love of God or the judgment of man when they experience you?

And somebody who is trying to get a fresh start or maybe begin anew this season at the beginning of the year.

I hope that there's somebody in the house today that you've come into church and you are wanting a fresh start.

That you kicked off this year, Christmas, you got to thinking about life, what's important, and you're coming to church, and maybe this is the first time you come to church in a while, maybe it's the first time ever.

And you're saying, hey, I I I I want to kind of take a new path and figure out what's new.

You you want to know what?

I'm so thankful that you're here, and I do not want you to feel like I did at that gym, feeling judged for me and at the beginning, but instead for you to be welcomed with open arms and the love of God.

And you can rest assured that you're joining in with a group of people, that we also are going to take an inventory, an assessment, an evaluation of where we are in our life with God to see him do something powerful in us this new year.

We have all different types of rhythms.

We really need to assess what our rhythms are and what God wants them to be.

You see, because this is also a time that can be extremely superficial.

And if I just if I just lose these 15 pounds, woo! I'll get back on the dating app.

That girl's gonna get that girl.

Lose 15 pounds, I feel better about myself.

Get in the gym, do the diet.

Thinking about all these external things.

You know, we can be guilty of that too, even in our spiritual life.

In the scripture, the Pharisees, the religious leaders of the day, were at odds with Jesus most of the time, trying to trap him, trick him, trying to discredit Jesus, eventually plotting to kill him and his murder.

Jesus speaks directly to them in their heart of superficiality.

In Matthew 23, 25 and 26, he says, Oh, what sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and Pharisees, hypocrites.

Same word as before.

Hypocrites.

For you're so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but the inside of you are filthy, full of greed and self-indulgence.

You blind Pharisees, first wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean too.

Let me ask you this question.

Do you get cleaned up before you get in the shower?

No, not normally.

So, you know what?

We don't get cleaned up before we come to God.

He does the cleaning.

That's right.

If you're here today and you're thinking, you know what, I've got a f I need a fresh start.

You don't need to worry about getting yourself cleaned up before the shower.

You need to come to Jesus and let him clean and wash you.

See, there's religious leaders here who thought, you know, it's all this outside stuff, but inside Jesus saw that they were filthy.

I got one of these, uh, this is called a blender cup.

Blender bottle.

This is for the real fitness people, okay?

If you ever see somebody with one of these, they're like real fitness people.

Not one of those like old 80s work bottles.

Like, no, this thing right here, this is a blender bottle.

You know what this thing is?

It's got a little thing in there.

It's a something like a metal ball.

This one has like some grates, and it's for putting protein in your water because just eating regular food isn't good enough for fitness.

You gotta drop it down into a powder and shake it into a bottle like this and blend it up so you can get your protein in.

Now I'm joking a lot because I I I've used one of these plenty uh different times.

I've been on my fitness games, there's times I've been off.

Not too long ago, I was using this, and I put the protein powder in there, and I shook it up and I used it.

I was going to the gym, whatever I was doing, and uh then I I left in my car.

And then and then I then I left it in the sink, and I kind of cut back around to it, and uh I popped the top on this, and the smell about made me throw up.

The smell of that old protein powder that had just been rotting away in there for days was just an absolute stench.

You know, something that was meant to make me healthy all of a sudden could make me diseased.

The outside appeared to be clean, but when I popped the top, it would have probably put me in a hospital if I had drank that.

You know, we're really good at cleaning the outside of the cup and the dish.

But what about the fifty part that's inside that we need God to clean?

We all have been there, we've all gotten it.

We may be in that place right now.

And the reason why it got to that place was out of neglect.

I neglected it.

And it began to fester.

What is it in your life and heart right now that's meant for health, but because of neglect is now creating hurt.

Maybe it's a wound that you have.

Something way that you were sinned against.

Something you experienced at one point and you were in a healthy place in your relationship with God, but you've now neglected it.

And now you're hurting.

And you need God more than ever.

We need a renewal.

See, this series is a highly highly influenced by a book called The Rhythms of Renewal by Rebecca Lyons.

I uh I highly recommend.

And each of us have rhythms in our life that we get to think about what our rhythms look like, but are our rhythms actually helping us to be more healthy, to be full of God's word, to be full of God's love, his peace, and his grace?

Or are those rhythms that we have in life that we're going frantically from thing to thing to thing?

Appointment, appointment, appointment, meeting, meeting, meeting, kid pickup, drop off, kids, whatever it is.

Is that you're doing.

You got rhythms, but are they rhythms that are actually renewing your soul?

Renewing your mind in Christ.

Can I remind you what the scripture says in Romans 12, too?

Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the what?

Renewing of your mind.

And then you'll be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good, pleasing, and perfect will.

For us, that rhythm of renewal in our life, it begins with review.

It begins with review.

It begins with you taking an honest assessment of 2023, I've been to 2022, it's in the past, it's gone.

Praise God, all those words of last year.

We got a fresh start.

But we can't neglect, we can't ignore, but instead, for us to have a rhythm of renewal of God's love, his peace in our life, we've got to review and take an assessment evaluation of where we're at so we can move forward.

Pastor Greg Bosch, in his urine review, encourages us to ask these questions.

And I want to take a minute for us, for you to write these down, take a picture of it, and for us to think about these questions together as a church.

The first one is who do I want to become this year?

What do I need to leave behind?

Where are my values in conflict with my reality?

Which voices should have a larger platform in my life?

Which voices should I minimize or eliminate?

What dream, risk, or bold move will I finally act on?

These questions that really are centering us around what our rhythms are and are they in alignment with our values?

Are they in alignment with who God has meant us to be?

And I want you to know, church, I'm going to take these questions and I'm going to be looking through them.

I want to encourage you all to be looking through these questions and evaluating because it's going to lead us into our next week's sermon where we go from here.

But I would be so remiss if I didn't say this.

Only Jesus can do that.

Only because of the cross of Christ, the fact that when we were dead in our sins, that Jesus went to the cross and he died in our place to bridge the gap for us to be able to walk in harmony, in rhythm with God through his word and through the power of the Holy Spirit.

You see, it's the Holy Spirit of God.

His Spirit that God granted us through his sacrifice on the cross that when we believe in Jesus, that he imparts and gives us his spirit, his Holy Spirit.

And it's through the power of the Holy Spirit where we can actually have lasting change.

Those things are helpful, but what we need more than anything is the power of the Holy Spirit to transform us, renew our minds so that we can be transformed.

Maybe for you today, you're in this place and you aren't feeling the Holy Spirit in your life.

God feels so distant, so far away.

Maybe two reasons for that.

One is that you're a believer, you're a Christian, but your rhythms are so messed up that there's not space enough for God to do the renewal that he wants to do in you.

The other option is that you've not yet given your life to Jesus and become a follower of him, a believing Christian, by accepting his grace for you, purchased on the cross, and a pathway and a gateway for you to have a relationship with God, but not just a relationship with God, for you to walk with God and one day to be with God in heaven when you die.

Maybe that is you today, and you need to start 2023 not doing it on your own, but by giving your heart and life to Jesus so that he can do a transforming work, so that he can bring hope, love, health, goodness, charity into your life.

Mending of relationships, reconciliation that you so desperately need.

Would you bow your heads and pray with me?

Father, today I pray over both groups of people who I just mentioned today.

Father, I pray right now for every person who's in the room who is believing, confessing, follower of you, a Christian.

God, that today we would be introspective.

We would truly evaluate, God, where we are and our walk with you, what our rhythms are.

Where God, we may be missing you.

Father, I also pray today for the person who's in the room who has come in today.

They wanted a fresh start in 2023.

And God, I pray right now that you would impress on their heart and mind that they cannot do this alone, but they need to give their life to you, to accept your forgiveness on the cross.

To be made new.

So Lord, I pray right now for anybody in the room today that that's the place that they're in.

That today they would give your, they would give you their life, their heart.

And they could do it by prayer, praying something like this Jesus, save me.

Believe that you're the Son of God, that you died on the cross for my sins.

Forgive me.

So that I can be in heaven with you one day.

Transform me.

I give my life to you as you gave your life for mine.

Thank you for saving me, Jesus.

It's in your name I pray.

Amen.

If you prayed that prayer today to start this year off fresh, new and right with God, we want to walk with you, we want to come alongside you, we want to encourage you, we want to speak to you, give you a high five, and tell you what the next steps are.

Church, for anybody in the room who made that decision today, can we just praise the Lord and give a celebration to Him?

I want to invite you to stand to your feet right now as we close in worship.