Thriving | Pastor Kami Palmer | Faith Church

I wrote a sermon last night. I'll tell you, I've

been preaching out of Hebrews and I said that

my next sermon was going to be in Hebrews 12,

but I was not, I didn't, I'm really feeling that

one and I needed to sit and soak in that one

another week. And so that one is going to be,

I know you're so excited and have been waiting

for it on the correction and discipline of the

Lord. Yeah, it is. You should be excited. It

means you're a son and a daughter. However, I've

got another word for today. And here's, I'll

tell you how I came to this place. I had a dream

Friday night that I was about to preach on the

word thrive. And so when I was informed last

night that I needed a sermon, I was like, okay.

Well, I dreamt that I was about to preach on

thriving, so that's what I'm preaching on today.

So today we are talking about thriving in Christ.

How many of you would like to thrive and not

wilt and die away? Right? And so in Proverbs

Proverbs 11 · chapter mention

chapter 11, and you know, I quote out of Proverbs

11 often because this is the chapter that says,

he who waters will himself be watered. Right?

He who is generous will receive generosity. Well,

later on in that chapter, we have this verse

right here. Those who trust in their riches will

fall. But the righteous will thrive like a green

leaf. But the righteous will thrive like a green

leaf. I don't know about you, but when I go into

places and I see half -dead plants, I just can't

get beyond it. It's so sad. This plant is not

thriving. And I know it's not thriving because

it's turning brown, right? I'm thinking of all

the piles of leaves that have been in my yard

from winter. I do not want to be a crispy, brown,

easily crushed leaf. I want to be a green leaf.

And so Proverbs gives us the key. Those who trust

in your riches, well, you say, well, I'm not

rich. I would interpret it as this. Those who

trust in self, those who place their trust in

self will fall. But the righteous, now listen,

this is a verse that is in the Old Testament.

And so if this were true in Old Testament life,

when they were striving in themselves to be righteous,

what does it mean for us? Us who are trusting

in the righteousness of Christ. How much more

can we flourish today? And so, we're going to

be in the book of John here. So, how many of

you have your Bibles and your notebooks? You're

ready to go? Down here, our young adults have

been giving each other a hard time about who

brought their Bible and who didn't. Oh, I know,

you stole mine from my bag. John chapter 10,

John 10:9

verse 9. Jesus, and this is in the context of

him being our good shepherd, it says, I am the

door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved

and will go in and out and find pasture. The

thief does not come except to steal and to kill

and to destroy. I have come that they may have

life and that they may have it more abundantly.

So let's just set the stage for a moment. Jesus

says, I'm the door of salvation, right? And if

you will come through me, there's no longer a

veil before the Holy of Holies. Jesus has become

that. that we enter through, right? And any are

welcome through the veil of Christ. And so anyone

who enters through Jesus will be saved. And what

I love is this next portion. They will go in

and out and find pasture. What is happening here?

What it's referring to is as you go about your

business, as you are going in, coming out, as

you are going to church and going to work and

doing family life, going to basketball games,

going to the bank, going to Walmart, as you are

going in and out, you will find pasture. It is

no longer to say, come to church and find it.

It is your life now. You are living within the

pasture. You are one of his own. And so wherever

you are, whatever you are doing, you are in his

pasture, being cared for by the good shepherd.

Isn't that good? So you're not alone at your

difficult workplace. The Clarks don't get that.

Theirs is a heaven on earth because they all

work together, right? Along with Zach over there.

We're not talking about their place. It's a wonderful

place. But maybe your place. I don't know. Sometimes

our families are not places where it feels like

the best place. He offers us pasture, care, protection,

wherever we're at. And so this is what he has

brought us into when we were saved, into the

place of pasture. Now, it is right after that

in the next verse that what we see are, what

we see is really a tale of two goals. Okay, so

everybody say a tale of two goals. You can write

that in your notes, a tale of two goals. The

first goal is the goal of your enemy. Your enemy

has a goal. He is a thief. And he has one goal

to steal, to kill, and to destroy. It's not enough

to just steal from you. He wants to kill you

and destroy everything about your life. He is

ruthless. He doesn't care if it's fair or unfair.

He doesn't care if he ruins your life because

you were wounded as a child. He will walk right

into that wounded place. He's not fair. And I

think it's interesting that there's those three

little words, he does not come, actually four,

except. Does not come except. There is no other

reason that the enemy would come to you except

to steal, kill, and destroy you. He comes often

and tries to lure us with promises of this and

that. He's not trying to bless you. What he has

is what Darren has. A tackle box full of lures.

Darren's enjoying it because Edmund is of an

age and has his own tackle box, so they compare

lures together and show them off. Your enemy

has a tackle box of lures. Oh, the fish aren't

biting on this one. I'll try something else.

I'll try it. Let's put a different lure on. He

knows, and you know there are certain lures that

work for certain fish, right? I mean, I'm not

a fisherman. John likes catfish. So I'm assuming

there are certain lures for catfish that you

wouldn't use for crappie. Is that right? Yes.

I don't know. I'm just saying, people. There

are different lures, different bait. Some of

you might be a catfish. I don't know. That means

you're a bottom feeder, and I would try to aspire

to something else. He has lures that he knows

can hook you. It might not tempt your neighbor,

that lure, but it sure will tempt you. And it

looks all shiny and pretty and beautiful. He's

out to eat you for breakfast. One goal. Now,

that isn't something we have to be fearful of.

And quite honestly, I don't give too much attention

to my enemy. I would rather be fixated on my

Savior, Jesus. So I'm not too focused on, oh

my, is the enemy trying to do something? I'm

not going to give attention to him. However,

we do have to know how to deal with him. And

in James 4, it says, submit to God. And when

we do that, it says, resist the devil. And what

will he do? Flee. He will flee from you. So yes,

you have an enemy, and yes, he is trying to steal

and to kill and destroy. And just because you

come to Christ and become a Christ follower does

not mean he's going to leave you alone now. No,

he's going to increase his efforts to steal,

to kill, and to destroy you because he's after

making God mad. And so I love, as believers,

Derek said that, how many of you have broken

some generational chains, right? I love in Mark

Mark 7 · chapter mention

chapter 7, we have the account of the Gentile

woman who's coming to Jesus with her demon -possessed

daughter. And she's saying, Jesus, would you

deliver her? And Jesus says, should I take from

the bread, the children's bread? to give to you.

Jesus was saying, I'm here for Israel. But she

said, well, even the dogs at the master's table

will eat the crumbs. Just give me a crumb, Jesus.

And Jesus was so in awe of her faith that he

did what she wanted. What we get from this passage,

though, is that it is the children's bread to

walk in deliverance. And when we come to Christ,

What we need now is a good working of deliverance.

We carry generational curses. We carry just things

that have been passed down through the DNA of

your family. He comes to break and establish

a new bloodline. Addictions. Sin that have been

places of iniquity that you just can't, the enemy

just oppressing and putting shame upon you and

accusation upon you. What you just might need

is the bread for the children, a work of deliverance.

And so if you want to thrive in Christ, listen,

it's not a thing to be ashamed of because we

all had to have a working of deliverance upon

our lives. when we came to Christ. Every one

of us needed a working of deliverance, and some

of you today, you're like, why can't I thrive?

Why can't I flourish? Well, you have an enemy

that's trying to steal, kill, and destroy, and

maybe you just need a working of deliverance.

Maybe it's time for you to say, I'm stepping

up, and I'm saying to the devil, nope, go. Resist

him. Say no. Break all of those generational

things. Break all of those bondages and oppression

that are part of your past. And today, you can

do that. You do not have to walk out those doors

today still carrying that stuff. Jesus is in

the deliverance business. And I'm so thankful

for it because he's delivered me of a lot of

things that I am so grateful to be walking in

freedom from because it's my bread as a child

of God. And so your enemy has a goal. He's out

to steal. He does not want you thriving. He does

not want you flourishing. He will do everything

he can. He's like what my next -door neighbor

used to be. Darren had planted yet another grapevine

because he didn't think I had enough grape jelly

to make. And so that would have been three. We

have two. So he had planted along the fence line

on one of our sides a new grapevine. Well, I

had a neighbor who would mow our front grass.

He loved to, and he would like kill all of the,

along his borders. He always had like a space

this big of no grass, just dirt. He didn't like

to edge, I guess. And so numerous times we would

have to say, no, we don't want you doing this

to our yard. No, we don't want you doing this.

Well, I caught him out with his poison spraying

along my fence line. I said, he just. Killed

my grapevine. And so I told Darren, because this

is how I deal with it, you need to go talk to

the neighbor. You need to go tell him to keep

his poison on his side. I am not a poison person

in my garden. We are all natural. Right here,

right? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And so he had to go

say, listen, you need to quit spraying your stuff

around our yard. This is what the enemy does.

He comes and he tries to spray toxin all over

you. I'm going to say no. I'm saying no. I'm

establishing a clear boundary with the blood

of Jesus. Do you see the blood of Jesus? It is

my boundary. The blood of Jesus is the no trespassing

sign on properties, right? All of the people

that own property and have no trespassing signs.

What is that? That is a declaration of you cannot

cross this boundary. And this is what the blood

of Jesus is. When the enemy tries to steal, kill,

and destroy, you stand upon the righteous blood

of Christ that says, no, you cannot cross here.

This space... belongs to Jesus. Amen? And so

today, if you just feel like the enemy has been

after you, oppressing you, we're going to pray

with you before you leave today that you would

walk out in freedom. And so take hope in that.

Okay, our second goal we find here in our tale

of two goals. So your enemy has one goal, but

the good news is that your Savior has a goal

also. And it is in direct opposition to the enemy's

goal. What did it say that Jesus came to do to

give life, and not just life, but how does he

want to give it? More abundantly. He wants you

to have abundant life. In Ezekiel 34, I want

to read this. It's a little bit lengthy, so you

might want to turn there in verse 25. And this

is actually the chapter where he's rebuking the

shepherds of Israel for not shepherding. And

as pastors, it's always a passage that is a warning

to us in our shepherding. But Ezekiel 34, starting

in verse 25. This is God's heart towards Israel.

I will make a covenant of peace with them and

cause wild beasts to cease from the land. And

they will dwell safely in the wilderness. And

the joy of my family, they will sleep in the

woods. Some of you would like to have a really

nice fashionable cabin that you can sleep in

in the woods. and Darren will be out in his tent

on the side yard. I will make them and the places

all around my hill a blessing, and I will cause

showers to come down in their season. There shall

be showers of blessing. Can we catch that there

in their season? Sometimes it's not the season,

and we want it to always be showers of blessing.

But obviously there's seasons here. Then the

trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and

the earth shall yield her increase. They shall

be safe in their land, and they shall know that

I am the Lord, when I have broken the bands of

their yoke and delivered them from the hand of

those who enslaved them. And they shall no longer

be a prey for the nations, nor shall beasts of

the land devour them, but they shall dwell safely,

and no one shall make them afraid. I will rise

up for them a garden of renown. I love that.

And they shall no longer be consumed with hunger

in the land, nor bear the shame of the Gentiles

anymore. Thus they shall know that I, the Lord

their God, am with them, and they, the house

of Israel, are my people, says the Lord God.

You are my flock, the flock of my pasture. You

are men, and I am your God, says the Lord God.

Listen, this is one of those things he's talking

about King David, and King David's promises were

always futuristic. This is what we are moving

toward one day when Christ returns and establishes

the new heavens and earth. And so often we take

these promises and we understand it, we perceive

it through our Western perspective. The Western

perspective that wants a clean, beautiful, comfortable,

That's a Western perspective on the gospel. There

are people around the world, Christians in the

body of Christ right now. We talk about it a

lot. We just sent over $2 ,000 to Cuba. Believers.

Would you say, though, that their spirit man,

inward man, are abundant life -living people?

Yeah. It's very humbling for Americans to go

to places like that who are destitute. And you

would never say they're not living an abundant

life. They have discovered a secret that is hard

for Americans to grasp of what real true abundant

life is. The Western perspective is so focused

on the outward. When what Jesus is focused on

is the inward. Your inward realm. Your inward

world. Your mind. Your soul. This is the place

where abundance lives and dwells. And this is

the power of the gospel of Christ. Is that it

doesn't... Matter the circumstances. That does

not determine your ability to thrive and to flourish.

I heard a story last week that I wanted to share.

I was at a one -day dinner church conference.

It's just churches that are places where you

have dinner and tell a Jesus story. It's a different

way of doing church. And so they were the founder

of this movement that is now, dinner churches

are everywhere. They're all over Europe as well.

They started out in Seattle, Washington. And

they were telling one of their victories of Mama

Rosa. And Mama Rosa was a little Cuban woman.

And she saw the sign on the sidewalk that said,

free community dinner. So she wandered in. and

was so excited to find that it was actually a

church. And so there were a group of men, Spanish

-speaking men, that were having trouble really

grasping. I mean, they ate the food, but to hear

the Jesus story, they couldn't grasp. So Mama

Rosa quickly became the interpreter for them.

And it wasn't just that she interpreted. She

became Mama Rosa for a reason. She was keeping

those guys in line. What have you been doing

this week? She became a mother figure. So Mama

Rosa said to the team one night, I want to cook

a Cuban meal for you. I want you to come to my

house. So they came to her house, and she cooked

her Cuban meal and began to share her testimony

of back when she was in her 20s living in New

York. And she got pulled in to Satanism. in the

occult, to such an extent that she had decided

to become a high priestess in the occult. And

so it was the day before, whatever their ceremony

is to do that, the day before somebody, a lady

in her apartment building, heard about it and

said to her, well, what do you think God thinks

about that? And she's like, I don't even believe

in God. What does that mean? She believed in

Satan, had no problem with that, but didn't believe

in God. But that night, she was like, okay, God,

well, if you have something to say about this,

then you can say it. So before she had the ceremony,

walked through it, she had a knock on her door.

And there was a man on the other side of the

door, and he said his name was Jesus. and he

wanted to come in and talk with her and have

coffee with her. So she invited him in, and for

eight weeks straight, a knock came at her door.

A man named Jesus said he wanted to come in and

talk with her. What you have to understand is

that she did not know who Jesus was. She just

knew this man's name was Jesus. And so one day

as she's leaving her apartment, she's like questioning,

and I'm not clear on the details of this, but

she was questioning who this Jesus was, and there

was a nun there by her. There just so happened

to be a nun there who began to tell her who Jesus

was. And she was like, well, I don't know. I

just know some man named Jesus keeps coming to

my apartment. And the nun was like, okay, Rosa.

She gave her life to the Lord, though. And so

fast forward to dinner church. And Rosa has been

helping now with the team. And there was one

night that it was stormy and wet. And for those

of you that help with food pantry, you can imagine

this. You bring all of these people in, this

massive humanity, and they're wet and steamy.

And let's just say the aroma is not one you would

put in your oil diffuser. And so one of the leader's

wife is very petite. She kind of reminds me of

Kathy Schmidt, you know? And she was like, could

not take the smell. She was just like, Lord,

I can't do this. And she leaned against a pole

and pretty soon Rosa came up to her full of joy.

And she said, do you smell it? Do you smell it?

And she's like, yes, Rosa, I smell it. She said,

that's what Jesus smelled like. She could remember

that smell all those years later. And she went

joyfully off to serve the people. because the

aroma of Christ was filling the room. I tell

that story because Rose's perspective on abundant

life was not a sweet -smelling thing. For her,

it was the unpleasant aroma of humanity. That

was Jesus to her. And so I want us today to just

be open to the possibility that maybe abundant

life isn't what America has defined it as. What

the Church of America has defined it as. But

to say, Jesus, you're the one that gives abundant

life. What does it look like for me? What does

that mean for me? What does your abundant life,

how is that expressed in my life? And the truth

is, Psalm 92 .13, I think, says it beautifully.

Those who are planted in the house of the Lord

shall flourish in the courts of our God. For

me, this is another way of stating his presence.

When you are established in the presence of the

Lord, in the courts of the Lord, you will flourish.

That is the promise here. This is the place that

you will flourish. There's a book written by

C .S. Lewis called The Screwtape Letters. How

many of you read The Screwtape Letters? Yeah.

It's a good one. Satire. And it is telling. It's

a little book. So if you haven't read it, it's

an easy read. Our young people would probably

enjoy it. But it's the story of a senior demon.

screw tape. And he is training his nephew, Wormwood.

And so they are letters between the two of them.

Because what is he teaching Wormwood? He's teaching

Wormwood how to steal, kill, and destroy. And

so you find their interactions. Okay, here's

what you need to do to trip them up. Here's what

you need to do to deceive them, right? And so

in one... of the letters, he says, do not be

deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in

danger than when a human, no longer desiring

but still intending to do our enemy's will, will

look surround upon a universe from which every

trace of him, God, seems. to have vanished. Has

anybody been in that place? You look around and

you're like, where is God? I cannot see him.

I cannot hear him. You look and it seems every

trace has vanished. And when asked why he has

been forsaken, still obeys. That's the greatest

danger to the enemy. when it seems that there

is nothing that would cause you to flourish,

yet you continue to obey, you're flourishing.

It doesn't feel like you're flourishing. But

remember, we're after God's definition of flourishing

and not our own. And so your ability to thrive

is not dependent on your circumstance. if I could

hammer that into us, your ability to thrive is

not dependent on your circumstance. Your ability

to have abundant life does not require the ideal

outward circumstances. We have to learn to abide.

We have to learn to abide in Christ wherever

we are at, whatever the circumstance. And you

will thrive. And you will flourish. It is so

quiet in here today. John said it just a couple

of chapters later. A branch can't bear fruit,

can it? unless it abides in the vine. Neither

can we bear fruit unless we abide in Christ.

And I love that a lot of these are coming from

the book of John, which was written by the disciple,

the apostle John. And remember, just a few sermons

ago, we talked about the sons of thunder. And

John was a son of thunder. John was zealous.

John wanted to call down fire from heaven. John

wanted to be seated in the highest place in heaven.

He was a son of thunder. And what he became was

the beloved. right? I think the book of John

is one of the most beautiful books because John

got the intimacy of Jesus. John is the one that

writes this about bearing fruit. John is the

one who was reclining with Jesus at the table.

He is the one whom Jesus loved, according to

himself. In fact, after Jesus had resurrected

and the disciples had gone back to fishing, remember?

And so we have the account at the shore lake,

the lakeshore, of Jesus cooking fish for the

disciples. And so they've been out all night

fishing and they see Jesus in the distance. And

this is where he restores Peter three times.

I think it's interesting, though, that the first

person to recognize the man as Jesus was not

Peter. It was John. John told Peter, hey, it's

Jesus. And so I think John got something. And

John knew. He knew a lot of suffering. But John

got intimacy. John got abiding. John got that

flourishing is found in his presence. Oswald

Chambers, who wrote My Utmost for His Highest,

said, There is no condition of life in which

we cannot abide in Jesus. We must learn to abide

in him wherever we are placed. And so I hear

it all the time, well, if you just knew what

I was going through. I know. And I'm not saying

your stuff is easy. I'm not saying it's not hard.

It is. But we must learn to abide in him no matter

the circumstance. If you want to flourish. If

you want to thrive. And so this morning, I'm

going to ask the team to come back up. This morning,

I want us, there are two groups specifically

that we're going to have some time around the

altar. And the first group are those of you that

just feel like I need some deliverance. I just

have felt the oppression of the enemy. I have

felt him just attacking everywhere I turn, and

I need some deliverance. Or I've had sin I just

can't get rid of. I need some deliverance. Listen,

we want to pray for you. It's like going to a

doctor's office and leaving without the cure.

Don't leave and not get prayer today. The second

group here, there are some of us that need to

get firmly planted in the pasture. The place

of abiding. You've been letting your circumstance

dictate whether you are going to abide or not.

And today you have to kind of draw a line in

the sand and say it doesn't matter. When we remove

the choice, life gets easier. Abiding gets easier.

If we depend on how we feel, I guarantee you,

you'll never feel like abiding. You'll never

feel like it. But we want you to be people that

are thriving. We want you all to be green and

flourishing and bearing fruit. And bearing fruit.

We want you to look as green as these beautiful

plants up here that are not real. The truth is,

is that when I take care of my plants each week,

my thriving healthy plants sometimes have brown

leaves. And I go through and I pick them all

off. And maybe some of you today need Jesus to

just come and take some of the brown off of you.

Some areas of life that have just gotten a little

crusty and a little brown and you need Jesus.

You need the Holy Spirit. to just come in and

say, let's get rid of that. You don't need to

have that on you anymore. And so it's going to

take boldness. Maybe it's going to take courage.

But we believe in altars around here. We believe

in you moving by faith and taking a step outward

and letting the body pray for you. Pray for you.

I remember one time being at an altar. I wasn't

even praying about generational things. And the

evangelist came up and said, there's something

through your family, and he named something,

and we just need to cut that off. I had not thought.

I was just like, yes, Lord, whatever. You need

to cut off. Cut off. I don't want to carry that

stuff. I don't want to carry toxicity. Let's

deal with it so we can thrive and flourish with

Jesus. Amen? And so if you'll stand with me this

morning, we're going to worship. I'm going to

ask if our elders and Dennis and Linda, I think

Brian might be our only elder here today. I'm

going to ask if Dennis and Linda and maybe Suzanne

and Mike, if you'll just come on up here. These

are people that want to pray with you. You can

join in prayer as well. Come on up here so they

can come up to you and receive prayer. And the

rest of us, we just want to create an atmosphere

of worship so that where deliverance needs to

happen, it can happen. Where we need to recommit

into the pasture and abiding place, we do that.

And so whatever group you are in today, maybe

you just need to spend time kneeling at the altar,

recommitting. find a place to kneel and to do

that. But let's not be content to carry brown

stuff. Let's not be content to just being half

abundant. Let's just say, Jesus, I want all the

abundant life that you have to give to me today.

Amen? And so as the team begins to lead us in

worship, if that's you, I want you just to come

on down and receive prayer as we worship together.