Sermon

Thankful For a God That Does Not Make Sense | Clayton Hentzel & Cole Miller

Crossing Church with Clayton Hentzel

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  1. All Crossing family, it is so good to be with each and every

  2. single. One of you this weekend.

  3. I want to welcome those of you joining at all of our different

  4. locations online and inside, I also want to welcome those of

  5. you who are joining us for the first time or perhaps the first

  6. time in a long time. And if at any point in time

  7. during this service, you want to get more connected.

  8. Learn more about our church, take your next step, I want to

  9. encourage you to use the QR code on the seat.

  10. In front of you. I also want you to know that, in

  11. my opinion. You are surrounded by some of

  12. the very best people on planet Earth.

  13. Now, look around, you may disagree based on where you sit,

  14. but there's a big. There's lots of places to sit

  15. and all of our different locations, and if you're

  16. watching at home, well, they're yours.

  17. Okay. If they're not the best people

  18. on planet Earth, you probably had a part to play in that.

  19. But speaking of some, of the best people on planet Earth, I

  20. would like to introduce you to Cole Miller.

  21. I first met Cole when he Was in the youth group of my best

  22. friend and roommate in college. The Crossing Macomb was in her

  23. infancy. As was, the crossing Macomb

  24. thrift store and my friend Matt's youth group was getting

  25. ready to go on a mission trip over spring break and they were

  26. going to go to Mexico but due to some challenges that were

  27. happening at that point in time, it was not a good idea for them

  28. to travel and so they were looking for a place to go for

  29. spring break. for those of you who know, Macomb, Why wouldn't

  30. you go there for your spring break?

  31. So it was a perfect fit. We had a lot of work that needed

  32. done and they were looking for a place to serve and make a

  33. difference. So Matt brought up his youth

  34. group and in that youth group was Cole Miller Cole went on to

  35. feel a call to go into full-time Ministry and he's when he

  36. graduated from high school from Texas which it's a Texas high

  37. school so he struggles with, you know, reading and writing but

  38. he's he's making serious progress.

  39. But he went on to my alma mater. Ozark, Christian college and was

  40. trained to go into full-time Ministry.

  41. He went on to go into full-time Ministry, at that church down in

  42. Texas and then about a year a little over a year ago he joined

  43. the crossing team at our Pike County location.

  44. Yeah. We're super excited about.

  45. He is married to a wonderful woman named Allison and three or

  46. about three months ago. They welcomed their first child,

  47. Thomas, James, into the world. We will grow our locations.

  48. I any means necessary and he is an up-and-coming leader at the

  49. Crossing and I asked him to come and help me preach this sermon.

  50. So would you guys, please welcome to the stage from Pike

  51. County by way of Texas? Cole Miller come here, man.

  52. You're gonna do great. Now I should note this.

  53. We also hired two of his friends Hunter, Escobar is the worship

  54. leader at our Macomb location and Nick Cannon.

  55. That's right. We have our own Nick Cannon.

  56. He works at our 929 location. And I just need to say this too.

  57. If you are a part of any of those locations Winter's coming,

  58. And these boys have never experienced a real winter, okay?

  59. When you talk to them in Texas, they're like yeah, it's down to

  60. 40 degrees, you know, highways are shutting down.

  61. They have no idea what February's like.

  62. And so if you could help them with some Carhartt gear because

  63. I don't want their fragile, Texas skin cracking in our harsh

  64. Illinois, winters these guys very well could have hair on

  65. their chest for the very first time.

  66. And we are all very excited about this, okay?

  67. But man, that's that's a heck of an intro.

  68. Anyways, thanks for having me. I've gotta say it is an absolute

  69. honor. It is an honor to be a pastor at

  70. the Crossing and an absolute honor to be a pastor to the

  71. people in Pike County Today, Cole and I are going to continue

  72. in this sermon series on the Gospel of John, during our weeds

  73. in my garden sermon series. He's one of the leaders in our

  74. church sent me a picture of this, of the side of his

  75. daughters Bible. This is what it said.

  76. This is how I fight my battles. The picture captures perfectly

  77. in that great. The picture captures perfectly

  78. coals and eyes heart for this message.

  79. Every single one of you, you are going to have battles to fight.

  80. And some of the way you fight, those battles are going to end

  81. up having causing you to fight more battles.

  82. And some of the way you fight, your battles could end up,

  83. starting new Wars, but God's word Will Never Let You Down.

  84. It is a light unto our feet. It is a lamp unto our path.

  85. It is the very best way for us to fight our battles because it

  86. is the source of Godly wisdom and it is our rule of Christian

  87. faith and practice. However, I'm guessing that some

  88. of you have opened your Bible and you have started reading and

  89. all of a sudden you found yourself looking at the pages of

  90. scripture. And uttering these words.

  91. Anybody at any of our locations? Okay.

  92. The rest of you didn't raise your hand.

  93. Okay? Okay.

  94. All right. We'll deal with that later.

  95. Can I let you in on a little secret?

  96. Even those of us who have been spending considerable time in

  97. God's word, On a regular basis from time to time, we bump into

  98. scriptures, that just don't make any sense.

  99. So what do you do? When you're reading and you're

  100. trying to grow in your relationship with the Lord and

  101. God doesn't make sense in his word, doesn't make sense and

  102. sometimes even your life doesn't make sense.

  103. Can I tell you something? Just because something doesn't

  104. make sense. Doesn't keep you.

  105. And I from loving it's not an excuse to top stop pursuing and

  106. it doesn't give us an excuse to not lean in cold.

  107. Give us some examples of that. Yeah, I think you're exactly

  108. right. I think, in fact, one of the

  109. best examples of things not making sense can actually be

  110. found in marriage for instance and Men.

  111. I want to make sure this just isn't my wife help me out here a

  112. little bit. But have you ever noticed that a

  113. Has the distinct ability to carry a bag of trash all the way

  114. to the garage door, but not the additional 30 feet to actually.

  115. Just put it in the trash man, preach cold, but that difference

  116. makes sense and ladies, I'm a nice guy, right?

  117. So like I'll pick on men to write.

  118. For example, have you noticed men?

  119. We can organize the garage, we can detail a car but for some

  120. reason, we Can't take our clothes off the floor and put

  121. them in the laundry bin. That doesn't make sense.

  122. I got a couple for you and listen fellas.

  123. I might need a place to sleep. So be thinking about how big

  124. should have you noticed fellows that it is impossible for the

  125. ladies in your life to tell you how long it's going to take them

  126. to get ready. They've been doing it their

  127. entire life but they have no clue how long it's going to

  128. take. They're done when they're done.

  129. Okay? But they can tell you, no matter

  130. where you are on planet Earth, exactly.

  131. What time you need to leave. To pick up the kid to take him

  132. to the very next thing that they need to go to how many people

  133. have had that experience when you can back me up, that does

  134. not make sense and I'm an equal opportunity offender.

  135. So ladies, here's something I give for you have you noticed

  136. that your man can remember exactly how the deer was

  137. standing? Where we came from, how many

  138. points, he had the direction of the wind, the temperature, what

  139. they shot him with how far he ran after, they shot him, but

  140. cannot remember your wedding day or your wedding colors.

  141. Are there any ladies who would go that not make sense?

  142. So just to be clear, we experience on a regular basis

  143. things that well they don't make sense but that does not keep us

  144. from loving grow. Being or deepening our

  145. relationships and the same is true with our relationship with

  146. God. So today, what we're going to do

  147. is we're going to walk through some stories found in John, 11,

  148. 12 and 13. And as we do that, what I'd ask

  149. is pay attention to see if you notice things that don't make

  150. sense. So John 11, as we begin, were

  151. greeted with some, some bad news.

  152. Okay. The first thing we find out is

  153. there's a guy named Lazarus who was sick.

  154. In fact, he was sick enough that lazarus's.

  155. Sister sent word to Jesus that well, he wasn't doing too.

  156. Well, we find that in verse 4, when he heard this Jesus said

  157. this sickness will not end in death.

  158. No, it's for God's glory. So that God's son may be

  159. glorified through it, verse 5. Now.

  160. Jesus, he loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

  161. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was

  162. two more days after two days. Jesus, and the disciples they

  163. set out to go see Lazarus. Is and on their way.

  164. Jesus reveals to them. That Lazarus had died verse 14.

  165. So then he told them plainly Lazarus is dead and for your

  166. sake, I'm glad I was not there so that you may believe but let

  167. us go to him eventually. Jesus, he's surrounded by Mary

  168. and Martha and a whole crowd of people.

  169. Jesus, he sees Mary, we PCS the crowd around him, weep and it

  170. actually leads us to the short This verse and the English

  171. translation, John 11:35 simply says, Jesus wept right after

    John 11:35

  172. Jesus weeps. He tells them to take away the

  173. stone in front of the Tomb. And I love this part in

  174. scripture because Martha is like, hey, Jesus dead people

  175. stink, right? Like you might not want to move

  176. the stone away. Could smell pretty bad, Jesus.

  177. He goes out of this is for God's glory.

  178. Then after quick word to God, He calls out to Lazarus and verse

  179. 43 and he says this, he says, Lazarus come out and the dead

  180. man came out alive. Y'all man I'm like what a

  181. powerful story, right? Like Jesus, he brought a dude

  182. back to life. That is awesome but not before

  183. doing a few things that make you go.

  184. Well, Exactly. That does not make sense.

  185. First and foremost, Jesus finds out one of his friends that he

  186. loves from a family that he loves is sick and gonna die.

  187. And he decides to kick his feet up for a couple days with the

  188. boys. It was just the other day that

  189. my wife found out that her grandma of was going on hospice

  190. and immediately. She was trying to figure out how

  191. she could drop everything and how she could get down to Texas

  192. and see her Jesus, just Waits two days.

  193. Did you catch it? Jesus literally said in verse 4

  194. that Lazarus is sickness would not end in death and then he

  195. died Clayton. You're a professional.

  196. Pastor, I take it, is that makes sense to, you know, it doesn't

  197. then. And this is crazy to me.

  198. Jesus was like yeah. If I had been there, he would

  199. not have died. And Jesus was glad that he

  200. wasn't there, right? And I'm not like a over-thinker,

  201. I don't think I am but it just leaves me wondering.

  202. Was Jesus. Glad that his friend died

  203. because that doesn't make sense. In the thing that blows my mind.

  204. The most man, this is absolutely wild to me.

  205. It's first 35, Jesus wept. But he wept knowing didn't just

  206. a couple verses, he was going to be the one to bring Lazarus back

  207. to life, like I say clay and I think you're right.

  208. Like there's certainly things that scripture that don't make

  209. sense, and in fact, John 12 doesn't get any better.

  210. Well, it does happen to start on a happier note Jesus, he was

  211. attending a dinner in his honor, you know, he raised Lazarus up

  212. from the dead and with that, we aren't told how Good.

  213. The food is but instead we find out that Lazarus is Sister.

  214. Mary takes a pint of expensive perfume.

  215. And I'm talking expensive when I say expensive, I'm talking about

  216. the Louis Vuitton special. This was some nice stuff.

  217. Okay. Now I actually, I know quite a

  218. bit about the cologne and perfume game, and the reason why

  219. is because I am too big to stink.

  220. Like if I smell bad, I could ruin a car, a plane, a city bus.

  221. And so, if and, you know, if a normal, you know, normal-sized

  222. man were, you know, have a bad day, nobody would notice, but

  223. when you get to this size, it's a real liability.

  224. And so there is. And I mean, this is like letting

  225. you in there's never a time of my life where I am not wearing

  226. cologne. Never.

  227. I have it in my car, I have the same kind in my bag.

  228. I keep the Febreze stuff in my office.

  229. I'm shower to three times a day. I just don't want to be that guy

  230. who walks up to give somebody a hug because that puts you right

  231. in my armpits. When I do, listen, when I do

  232. international travel and they have like the tax-free place and

  233. everybody's buying, you know, their cigarettes, I go in and

  234. buy all the cologne that I can buy because I'm like, I gotta,

  235. you know, I got it. Stay away from the tax man as

  236. much as possible. Well, Mary is taking this

  237. cologne. That is our perfume.

  238. That is worth a year's salary. This is more than likely the

  239. greatest asset that she possesses.

  240. What would, what would that be for you?

  241. What is the most expensive thing you own?

  242. Is your car, your house. I don't know what you have.

  243. What I do know is that Mary takes a perfume, that's worth an

  244. entire year's salary and pours the entire contents onto Jesus

  245. feet. And then she wipes it in with

  246. her hair. How in the world could Jesus

  247. allow a woman to take 20,000 50,000 100,000, I don't know

  248. what you make in a year and dump it at his feet.

  249. Between you and me. That feels like a complete waste

  250. of money. Think about all other people

  251. that it could help. Think about how we can solve

  252. Community hunger, you don't have to be that critical to think

  253. about how many people you could win to Jesus just by buying him

  254. a slice of Casey's breakfast pizza.

  255. It just doesn't make any sense to waste all of that money on

  256. Jesus's feet. It really does.

  257. And in fact, you and I we're not the only ones, and this story

  258. wondering why Jesus would allow something like this to happen.

  259. In fact, one of the disciples asked the question in verse 5.

  260. He says, why wasn't this perfume sold?

  261. And the money given to the poor, it was worth a Year's wages.

  262. And you know what which disciple said that?

  263. It's heavy. Was Judas.

  264. And I don't know about you but my goodness, it scares me.

  265. It scares me that the thing in this story that makes the most

  266. sense to me, is the thing that makes the most sense to Judas in

  267. the same exact moment. Well it's the day and a chapter,

  268. come to a close. We've get these words in verse

  269. 37. He says, even after Jesus had

  270. performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not

  271. believe and him. And quite honestly, this is

  272. extremely disheartening to me, right?

  273. I just really gets to me because I want to believe so badly.

  274. Did if I could see Jesus in the flesh that Faith would grow so

  275. much stronger. But you've got people here.

  276. They saw Jesus In the Flesh. They saw Jesus raised a dead man

  277. up to life. And they still didn't believe in

  278. him. It just doesn't make sense,

  279. right? Well, we've got one more

  280. chapters on 13, that we're going to look at but before we get to

  281. that, I've just got to say, do yourself a favor, do your

  282. family, a favor and scan, the QR code in front of you.

  283. I say that because we are rushing through those chapters.

  284. And there are so many good things happening at John 11, 12

  285. and 13 and you will be better by finding that John reading plan

  286. and spending time and God's word.

  287. So I hope you'll do that. But with the next chapter, John

  288. 13, It another meal and even more feet and I'm talking about

  289. some dirty feet, this time. These folks, they wore sandals,

  290. right? They didn't have like the Croc

  291. covering I'm talking about the strap, right?

  292. They wore sandals and they walked unpaved roads.

  293. I'm talking about some dusty crusty toes.

  294. Right. In fact, people's feet were so

  295. dirty and nasty that when you enter someone's house, they had

  296. the lowest member of Of the household wash your feet but in

  297. John 13, something different happens.

  298. And the middle of the meal, Jesus gets up.

  299. He begins to prepare himself to wash the disciples feet and he

  300. washes them one by one by one. and the crazy part is, Jesus, he

  301. grabbed judas's feet. Knowing that he was going to

  302. betray him and he still served him.

  303. And that does not make sense. He goes on to say this in verse

  304. 14, he says, now that I your lord and teacher have washed

  305. your feet, you also should wash one another's feet.

  306. I've set you an example that you should do as I have done for

  307. you. Jesus, the one we call King the

  308. one we call. Lord, the name that is above

  309. every name. He got down.

  310. And he served them and he expects us to do the same.

  311. And inside of me, I'm like, come on man.

  312. Right? Like feeder nasty, what kind of

  313. king or Lord washes his servants feet?

  314. Well, the kind of King who says this in verse 34, he says a new

  315. command, I give you love one another as I have loved you.

  316. So, you must love one another. And if you're anything like me,

  317. there's a war inside of you right now, right?

  318. Because you like the first part, a new command, I give you love

  319. one another. That's a great bumper sticker.

  320. But not so much. The second part, right?

  321. Like as I have loved you. as I have loved you, so you must love

  322. one another It just leads me to think it, you know, it's not the

  323. cross necklace, it's not the showing up to church, it's not

  324. the Bible. Verse tattooed on your arm, it's

  325. not the Facebook post about Jesus.

  326. The only thing that will truly identify you as a Christian.

  327. Is loving others. You know, Jesus, he's over here.

  328. He's loving people, selflessly, sacrificially and we're going.

  329. Hey, we love because we get something out of it, right?

  330. We love something because we get something back.

  331. We love as long as it doesn't cost us to dearly.

  332. We love people who love us back. Jesus is going.

  333. Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you

  334. Jesus says, hey love your neighbor.

  335. We're going. Yeah, but could you tell me who

  336. my neighbor is please? As you can see, in just these

  337. three chapters, there are all kinds of moments that make you

  338. go. That does not make sense.

  339. However, I'm going for a second, doesn't it make sense?

  340. That things with God would not make sense.

  341. After all, thank you, God bless you, and you keep coming.

  342. Okay, that way you're trying to pack all the goodness of an

  343. infinite, God into our finite brains my worry, my fear is that

  344. a God who made sense to me Probably wouldn't be all that

  345. good. All that wise.

  346. We're all that trustworthy. So what do we do?

  347. Well, I think John illustrates in a couple of ways, some tools

  348. that we can use when the Bible when God, and when life don't

  349. make sense. The first principle for you is

  350. this just because we don't see the reason doesn't mean that

  351. there isn't one Jesus delay in John chapter 11, was motivated

    John 11 chapter mention

  352. by nothing more than love. There was a Jewish Superstition

  353. that the soul lingered over The body for three days after a

  354. person died. Jesus by waiting four days left,

  355. no doubt in the minds of all the people that Lazarus was

  356. completely dead. He waited because there was a

  357. reason he waited. So that there would be no doubt

  358. to the people there, that Jesus is the resurrection and the

  359. life. And that people would eventually

  360. come to believe in him because of it, it makes sense to me,

  361. that Jesus wept. There was a reason, Jesus

  362. absolutely loved all the people that were around him and he saw

  363. the sin in the world and it broke, his heart, hear me.

  364. Just because Jesus knows, it will all be okay, tomorrow.

  365. Doesn't keep him from weeping with you in the pain of today.

  366. Even though Jesus knows that one day, everything will be made

  367. right in heaven. Doesn't keep him from going

  368. through the pain of all of the day's today until we get there.

  369. I can't give you a reason as to why you might have lost a loved

  370. one or why someone in your life is hurting or sick.

  371. But I can tell you that for Lazarus his sickness and even

  372. his death, somehow managed to bring people closer to Jesus.

  373. I can tell you that when Jesus saw the pain and the suffering,

  374. his heart had compassion on the people and it broke and he wept

  375. with them. I can tell you, confidently.

  376. But even though you don't necessarily see, the reason for

  377. your pain, there is a God in heaven.

  378. Who does understand the reason and loves you in the middle of

  379. it. And then the next tool is this.

  380. It's just because we don't get it now, doesn't mean we won't

  381. get it later. You know, this?

  382. Have you ever had an aha moment? You do the moment I'm talking

  383. about where there's this problem.

  384. There's this difficult situation, you just can't figure

  385. it out, right? And then one day you're going,

  386. oh, I got it, I got it right, then you sit there and you're

  387. like, how did I miss that? Check this out.

  388. Already. We know why Jesus waited?

  389. We know why Lazarus died. We even know why Jesus web but

  390. there's more. Why did Mary pour out that

  391. perfume? Why was Jesus okay with it?

  392. Because it's Mary poured out that perfume.

  393. She was recognizing Jesus as Lord.

  394. She meant it as a Act of complete and humble Devotion to

  395. him. And I can guarantee you that if

  396. you saw Jesus as Lord as clearly as Mary did there wouldn't be a

  397. single thing in your life that you wouldn't be willing to lay

  398. down at his feet because in and hear me your finances.

  399. Your possessions that's not what takes care of the poor.

  400. Jesus does that all we can do is partner with him and hear me

  401. nothing given to God is ever ever wasted.

  402. But try as you might Jesus doesn't become Lord when he has

  403. enough of your money to be Lord. Jesus is Lord, no matter what,

  404. Mary she recognized that And so, she worshipped.

  405. And there are problems and difficult situations that could

  406. be going on in your life right now.

  407. I don't know what you brought with you, but I do know that one

  408. day. You might look back on that

  409. moment and go. He was there.

  410. God, he was with me the whole entire time.

  411. It's all throughout these stories.

  412. They get it. After Jesus raises Lazarus from

  413. the dead. They realized that the perfume

  414. was to anoint, Jesus body for the burial.

  415. However, it was more than likely purchase to be used on Lazarus

  416. in the first place but he's alive.

  417. Now, remember when she was worried, Lord, he stinks, he

  418. stinks because Lazarus hasn't had the perfume poured on him.

  419. He hasn't been fully buried yet. But she comes along, she goes,

  420. why don't have to use it on my brother because you gave him

  421. back to me? Can I use it on you?

  422. Look at Jesus washing his disciples feet.

  423. While it doesn't make sense to us.

  424. We know that the fastest way into a person's heart is through

  425. service. If God was trying to create a

  426. kingdom, that was as fast as he could, and as powerful as he

  427. could, he would need a group of people that were in a race to

  428. the bottom. And willing to serve instead of

  429. being on a race to the top last one and this is good, just

  430. because I don't understand, it doesn't mean that God doesn't

  431. love me. Jesus in John 11, 12 and 13.

  432. He was growing the faith of his followers.

  433. He was proving that he was the resurrection and the life, he

  434. was proving that he had the power over death and he was

  435. inviting him into believe. Faith.

  436. It's the currency of God. It's how he's pleased, right?

  437. And so Jesus, he was helping them, please God.

  438. He was showing them. That Earthly riches home, I

  439. there nothing in comparison to being rich towards God.

  440. He was showing that the most fulfilling way to live.

  441. Your life is in service to God and others.

  442. Jesus. He was loving them even when

  443. they couldn't understand it. We do not want a god.

  444. We do not want a God who makes sense.

  445. I know there's a part of us that we want to cling to that.

  446. But we want one, it doesn't make sense.

  447. And trust me when I say this because there are all kinds of

  448. things. That God does on my behalf and

  449. on your behalf that don't make sense, I'll give you an example.

  450. The cross, the cross doesn't make any sense to me and I think

  451. you're exactly right. If I'm being transparent with

  452. you, after the birth of my son, the, the cross doesn't make

  453. sense to me anymore. How in the world?

  454. Could God ever send his one and only son to die on a cross?

  455. For people, that The time don't even love them back.

  456. I don't get it and I really don't think that I could do it

  457. myself. The only way that the cross

  458. makes sense to say that there really is a god out there that

  459. really does love you, it doesn't make sense to me, but the Son of

  460. God died on the cross for me, but I think you would all agree

  461. that I'm thankful for it. It doesn't make sense that it's

  462. Grace is a free gift, but I'm glad that I can receive it.

  463. It doesn't make sense that his mercies are new, every morning,

  464. but I'm glad I can walk in them. Does it make sense?

  465. That my future is secure in his Nail pierced hands, but I

  466. wouldn't have it any other way. It doesn't make sense to me that

  467. God uses people, like, you and me to build an advance, his

  468. kingdom. But I'm thankful that I have a

  469. place in it. It doesn't make sense that he's

  470. put his holy spirit inside of me, but I'm glad that I'm not

  471. alone. It doesn't make sense to me.

  472. That Jesus would forgive me for all that I've done, but I don't

  473. know where I'd be without it. I don't know about you but I'm

  474. thankful that we serve a God. That doesn't make sense.

  475. I'm thankful, we serve a God who is doing things on my behalf.

  476. I don't always understand him, but I can always be thankful for

  477. him. And I know that there are some

  478. of you right now in a season or a circumstance that it does not

  479. make sense to you. And you're going, I don't see

  480. God in this. I cannot see his Adrian Rogers.

  481. The great preacher said it this way one time.

  482. Even if I cannot Trace his hand. I can always trust his heart and

  483. even though right now, you might be in a spot where you cannot

  484. see the hand of God moving on your behalf, you can trust the

  485. heart of God and know that he is.

  486. I want you to think about that as we move to this time of

  487. decision. There's something else that

  488. doesn't make sense to me. And it doesn't make sense to a

  489. lot of people in this room. But there are some of you in

  490. here today that have never started an intimate personal

  491. relationship with Jesus Christ. And for one reason or another,

  492. you just keep putting it off. That seems crazy to me. because,

  493. There's some of you right now. Right now.

  494. That when you go home after church, today, you're going to

  495. see a bunch of dishes in the sink.

  496. And you don't want to. You don't want to do with the

  497. dishes but you're not going to put it off.

  498. Because you just won't be right, unless, you know, that they're

  499. where they're supposed to be. There's some of you guys you're

  500. going to drive home and you're going to pull into the garage

  501. and before you get out of the car, you're going to be like how

  502. did I accumulate this many straws and receipts?

  503. And you want to get out of the car and just go in and sit down

  504. and watch the game, but before you do, you're not going to put

  505. it off. You're going to go these straws

  506. these receipts, this stuff has got to get out of here. if I

  507. were to ask you to give a testimony about what dishes have

  508. done for you, I'm guessing nobody in their quiet time.

  509. This week, it's like heavenly. Father, I just I beseech you

  510. with gratitude and Thanksgiving in my heart.

  511. For the porcelain dishes that I get to eat my pizza off of.

  512. I don't know where I'd be God if I was on styrofoam right now.

  513. We're paper plates. Guys I don't think I've ever

  514. heard of testimony of like listen man me having a clean car

  515. changed my whole life. I used to be this guy and then I

  516. became the Clean Car Guy. And then look we're God's taking

  517. me. Right?

  518. We don't like doing chores and as you get more mature, you're

  519. just like I just got to get it done and I just gotta, I gotta

  520. ask you. Why would you prioritize dishes

  521. over the divine? Why would you not put off taking

  522. care of the receipts and the straws and the mess?

  523. But put off the Majestic relationship that you could have

  524. with Jesus. I don't get it. we prioritize

  525. the things that don't matter and we don't prioritize the things

  526. that matter the most And the heartbeat of this church is that

  527. absolutely every single person that, you know, that you meet

  528. that, you see, can have an intimate personal relationship

  529. with Jesus Christ. And if you decide to keep

  530. coming, this church for the next 30 Years, you're going to hear

  531. the next couple of lines. Every time you show up because

  532. I'm never going to get tired of telling them that if you were to

  533. walk out in the lobby and you were to grab a camera and a

  534. microphone and you were to ask everybody to give Testimony, you

  535. would here to recurring themes, the best decision I ever made.

  536. Was starting an intimate personal relationship with Jesus

  537. Christ. My biggest regret is I didn't do

  538. it sooner. And there are some of you

  539. sitting in this room or watching online.

  540. You're going maybe next week. That don't make no sense.

  541. So if you're going, you know what, maybe today's my day.

  542. Maybe I got to get some stuff figured out, there's going to be

  543. somebody right over there by the baptistry.

  544. That would love a chance to just talk to you.

  545. Answer some questions. Just so, you know, we don't

  546. kidnap you handcuff. You and just drag you out in the

  547. water in front of everybody. You do all of this on your own

  548. free. Will it costs you nothing to ask

  549. you a question. It cost you nothing to go.

  550. I need to figure some stuff out. It cost you nothing to go.

  551. Hey, can I get some prayers answered?

  552. The only thing you have to lose is the weight of your sin.

  553. To the rest of you in the room. You following Jesus for a while.

  554. And right now, you're a little ticked.

  555. God. My life is not going the way I

  556. thought it would. Things are not turning out how I

  557. thought they were going to turn out.

  558. God, you know, I prayed extra this week.

  559. I got up a little early. And even with all of those

  560. prayers, this is how things are going in my family.

  561. God, I read my Bible for an extra 15 minutes and Becky was

  562. still rude at the office. What's the point?

  563. Jesus says, in this world, you will have trouble.

  564. Take heart. I've overcome some of you.

  565. Maybe God is going to point people to his son through your

  566. suffering. Do you like that?

  567. Doesn't make any sense. I know, I know it doesn't but

  568. that's how we did it in your life.

  569. Jesus didn't deserve anything that he got, but because he

  570. suffered, We got a savior. And maybe the way we suffer

  571. through the things in our life, that don't make sense is exactly

  572. what God is going to use. Two point, other people to him,

  573. So if you're a Christian and you love Jesus, can I give you two

  574. little things to do one? Would you be willing to come

  575. forward? And just spend a little bit of

  576. time on your knees thanking God, that he doesn't make sense to

  577. you? Because I need to know that

  578. nobody in this room wants you to be God.

  579. We're thankful that he is the other thing could some of us

  580. surrender, some of our suffering to his glory because I think a

  581. church like that would be pretty powerful to be a part of I want

  582. to be a part of it. I think you do, too. but you

  583. stand with me, God, do something that only you can do move in a

  584. way that only you can move bring about a change that only you can

  585. originate and only you can sustain God, I'm nothing.

  586. The service is nothing, the worships nothing.

  587. The preachings nothing. The response time is nothing,

  588. unless you're in it. So, please just do something

  589. that only you can do. And I'm asking you to do it.

  590. And every single heart, that is in this room or watching online,

  591. don't leave anybody out your name, I pray.

  592. Amen.