Living With Hope | Living Well (Part Two)

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connect with us online at Riverbend Church dot live.

The Fleming so thankful that they were able to share their

story with us, Darcy and Tommy and of course heart and really,

if you got anything from their story, really the main character

of their story is God and and their reliance on him.

One of the things that that that we love to do is just be able

when people are telling their story, their God's story to

people is we love just to kind of promote that.

Darcy actually just came out with a book, Me But Mighty

starring God and heart with that.

Highly recommend that you pick that up.

Sweet, sweet book. You know, one of the things

that, that, that part of that interview is they did start

praying for not just heart's finger, but also Heart's heart.

And Heart had been asking a lot of questions about what it means

to follow Jesus. And, you know, walking through

those questions with a child, with a, with a kid can be really

tricky. And Julie does an incredible job

of, of, of basically giving tools to parents to help them

take the ball and move it forward and to help them have

conversations with their kids. And a couple months ago, if you

were here with us, you may remember that we got the honor

and privilege of being able to baptize Heart.

So love just being a part of their story.

We are, in case you didn't know, we are just on the very front

edge kicking off today, actually tonight at 6:00, our 21 days of

prayer and fasting. And if you've been with us for

for a few years and you've been a part of 21 days of prayer and

fasting here at Riverbend, you know what a powerful, powerful

time that is. And over the course of this

month, you're going to be seeing more stories like this play out

about how people just specifically prayed to God about

something and how God really just blew them away and answered

above and beyond what they could possibly ever imagine or hope

for. And one of the things that I

would tell you as, as, as your pastor is a lot of things that

we're able to do now that or the prayers that God answered during

these seasons four years ago. So 21 days of prayer and

fasting. We very much invite you into

into this time is kind of where we're going to be aiming our

message series throughout this month and then on into next

month. We also want to provide

resources for you that are going to help you to be able to just

spend some more time with God and to experience him like never

before. And maybe you've never been a

part of a fast and and that's OK.

And I would say that 2026 is a perfect time for you to begin.

Some of the resources that we make available to you is number

one. We want to invite you back here

tonight, 6 O clock. We're going to have just a night

of worship, a night of worship and a night of prayer from six

to seven just to kind of kick off the season.

And then on top of that, you may have noticed in the lobbies as

you came in, we developed devotional gods in house

devotional gods. So we developed one for adults,

Nathan developed one for students, and then Julie

developed one for kids and families.

And these are on the tables in the main lobbies, in the rear

lobby, in the main lobby up front for you to pick up and for

you to walk through and for you to journey through.

They, they go side by side with the same scripture references.

And we just think it's going to be a very, very powerful tool

for you and your family during this time and during this

season. So really excited about about

being able to kick this off. With that said, if you are new

to Riverbend, thank you so much for choosing to be with us.

I hope that your 2026 has started off well.

If we haven't had the chance to meet yet, my name is Ben get to

serve as the lead pastor here. We'd love to get to meet you.

We'd love to get to know you would actually love to to be

able to connect you with some people, maybe similar age stage.

That's what that connect card is for that you received on your

way in. That Connect card also allows

us, if you're new to Riverbend, it also allows us to know where

to ship a small thank you gift out into the mail to you.

So again, thank you so much for choosing to be with us.

But whether you're new to Riverbend or call Riverbend

home, like I said, I hope that your 2026 has already started

off well, regardless of who you are, regardless of your

background, regardless of all the different variables and the

factors out there. I know that if we were to

summarize kind of our goals, our collective goal for 2026, it

would be if we were to boil it down into a couple of words, it

would be to just simply live well.

We just want to live well. Here's the here's the issue with

wanting to live well. However, there's a discrepancy

between what you may think is living well and the person next

to you or the person in front of you or the person behind you may

think is living well. So for some, living well maybe

to to gain name recognition, to gain likes and followers and

notoriety online social media, maybe.

Maybe you're in a business that's dependent upon that.

While likes, followers, notoriety, name recognition.

For others that may be your worst nightmare.

For some, living well would involve maybe a promotion, maybe

maybe a raise at work. While for others they hear that

and they automatically start thinking about how those things

inevitably come with sacrificing more time away from home.

For some, living well may involve having a getting a new

car or truck or house or boat. While for others you may

automatically start thinking your your brain may

automatically start thinking to increased insurance cost and gas

cost and upkeep cost. You see our definitions of

living well. They they all vary.

The issue is not the goal for us to or the collective goal for us

to want to live well. The issue is having the right

definition of what it means to live well.

I don't know your church background.

You may be very new to church. You, you may you may have

started 2026 off thinking, you know what, I'm going to give God

a shot. I've I've tried doing it my own

way for so long. I'm going to give God a shot.

And if that's you and welcome, we just so happen to believe

that God himself has a definition of what it means for

us to live well. And that definition is also

serving as the main truth or the big idea throughout this series.

So if you, if you're taking notes with us, it's on the back

of the bulletin. If you're taking notes with us,

I want to get you to jot this down.

To live well is to live God's way, firm in faith, steady in

trials, anchored in hope. To live well is to live God's

way, firm in faith, steady in trials, anchored in hope.

And what we're going to do throughout this series is we're

going to allow God's word and specifically a small book

towards the end of your Bible called First Peter to guide us

in what it means to live God's way and how we are to be firm in

faith and steady in trials and and anchored in hope.

So if you have a Bible with you, I invite you to find the book of

first Peter, like I said, is towards the very end of the

Bible. Just kind of give you a quick

pastor tip. If you find the book of second

Peter, you've gone too far. Flip back a couple pages.

You'll find first Peter as typically how I find first

Peter, give you some context on what we need to know about first

Peter before diving in. If you were with us last week,

Pastor Todd did an awesome job of being able to introduce to us

and to remind us who this guy Peter was.

And if you weren't able to be with us last week, I would

highly encourage you spend some time in this week to come kind

of go back through, walk back through, listen back through

that message. But in a nutshell, Peter was one

of Jesus's chosen 12 apostles. And of those chosen 12 he had an

inner circle of three and Peter was one of those 3, meaning

Peter was one of Jesus closest friends.

So Peter knew Jesus like like no other.

He was one of Jesus chosen 12 apostles, or after Jesus died

and resurrected from the dead and ascended back to heaven,

Peter finds himself in the position of pretty much

anchoring the church, this new thing called the church, in the

city of Jerusalem. Well, if you know anything about

history, you know that the Roman Empire came down on the

Christians in Jerusalem like a sledgehammer and then the

Christians had to disperse all over that region of the world.

It's called the Diaspora. And from that point in time when

the Christians scattered from Jerusalem, guess what they took

with them? They took the gospel of Jesus

with them. Well, the Roman Empire in that

time and, and stage in history was very, very vast, very, very

powerful, very, very evil. So they started persecuting

Christians wherever they found Christians.

So the book of first Peter, if you want some historical

context, Peter wrote the book of first Peter to persecuted

Christians. He wrote it to them and it was

circulated by persecuted Christians in modern day Asia

Minor around 60 to 62 AD. That gives us a little bit of

historical context because if you think that the Bible is all

about like, you know, golden brick roads and like flowers

and, and, and, and everything is going great all the time, then

you're going to find a lot of affinity towards what Peter's

actually going to write here. Because I happen to believe even

though we may not be facing the level of persecution that the

Christians were in 60 to 62 AD, we still grapple with what it

means for us actually to live by faith and for us to be faith

focused. And if we're not faith focused,

then it's very difficult, I would even say really impossible

for us to actually live in hope. So in order for us to become

faith focused, I want to, I want to invite you to read with me.

We're going to read just for a little bit first, Peter chapter

1, verses 3 through 9 this morning.

This where Peter starts off. He says blessed be the God and

Father of our Lord Jesus Christ according to his great mercy.

He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through

the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance

that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for

you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for

a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Verse 6. In this you rejoice, though now

for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved

by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your

faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is

tested by fire, may, may be found to result in praise and

glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Verse 8, though you have not seen him, you love him.

Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice

with him, that is with joy that is inexpressible and filled with

glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of

your souls. Now here's what I want to do in

our time together this morning is I want to unpack that for us.

And I want to 1st talk about how we can be faith focused, what it

means for us to be faith focused and, and, and, and what is

required of us to be faith focused in order that we may

live in hope that, that the, that the trials and the issues

and all the stuff that's going on in our lives right now.

Don't rob us of our faith or don't rob us of our hope.

If you're taking notes with us, looking first of all at what it

means for us to be faith focused, we have to remember

this, that whatever captures my attention eventually guides my

steps. Whatever captures my attention

eventually guides my steps. Whatever captures my attention

eventually guides my steps. Tell a quick story.

We, we lived in Jacksonville. We had a, we had a boxer, a dog,

not a man that fought. We had a, we had a boxer named

Cooper. Cooper got a picture of Cooper.

Cooper was man, he was, he's awesome, sweet, lovable, but

dumb, Really, really dumb. So anyway, I called up a dog

trainer, a very highly recommended dog trainer to come

over to our house to do an in house session of obedience

training with with Cooper. Like I said, this guy, highly,

highly recommended, comes over to our house and man, he is

pulling out all the stops. He's giving Cooper commands and

Cooper's not listening. This guy's expertise was no

match for Cooper's dumbness. All right, so as a, as a last

resort, as a last resort, the guy looks at us and he goes,

hey, I want to try one last thing before I leave.

And he sees that we have an Ottoman, you know, up against a

chair. He, we, we have an Ottoman in

our living room. He, he, he gets Cooper to go up

on the Ottoman. And then while got a picture of

Cooper up on the Ottoman. You see, he's really happy about

it. But from there, he was able to

give Cooper a command. And to all of our surprise,

Cooper followed the command. And we're like, what in the

world? We have a magic Ottoman.

So I asked, I asked the guy like when he was when he was about to

leave, I was like, hey, man, like what is it about this

Ottoman that, that, that like triggered obedience in, in, in

our dumb dog. And he goes, listen, I'm going

to tell you something. He said it's not really about

the Ottoman at all. He said it's really about

getting Cooper off of his feet, off of his normal grounding so

that then I can give him command so that he can, I can command

his attention. He said, if you can get, if you

can get a dog's attention, then they're prompt to take commands.

And then from there he taught us how to, how to use, how to use

an E collar on Cooper. And some of y'all are like, I

don't know what that is. And some of y'all are gasping

going, oh, that is so medieval. We didn't shock him or

electrocute him. An E collar, if used properly,

what it does is it sends a slight vibration to to the dog

and it's almost like a tap to get their attention.

And once you have the dog's attention, then you can train

the dog. You can give the dog commands.

Now, not to sound demeaning to any of us.

Here's what I want to remind us of right here.

Very front edge 2026, the statement that we're about to go

back and review again and read again.

I think that this is a Holy Spirit E collar.

I think there's a Holy Spirit tap for us to say, hey, don't

miss this. Don't miss this because it's so

easy for us to gloss over. Go back to where Peter first

started. Blessed be the God and the

Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's it.

Blessed be the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Do not miss that. That is huge because here's what

I know. Everything that was behind you,

everything that is ahead of you, everything that you're in the

midst of right now, it is all about God.

And it is all about you and I acknowledging God for who He

really is. We cannot start 2026 with any

measure of success without this small little tidbit of a worship

service that Paul's or that Peter starts with here.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

That's where it's got to start, because we've got to remind

ourselves that whatever captures my attention will eventually

guide my steps. So if a guy or a girl is the

object of your attention, don't be surprised when that guy or

girl eventually guides your steps.

If a title or a promotion or raise is the object of your

attention, don't be surprised when it's that company that

guides your steps. And if you and I are truly

serious about God transforming us from the inside out and

directing our steps into a new direction that honors His Word,

His will, His ways, then God has got to be the central focus

point of our attention, our affection, and our devotion.

Whatever God's our steps, or whatever captures our heart,

captures our attention, will eventually guide our steps.

I love how Peter starts this off with a seemingly small little

worship service, but that's not where he ends.

Check this out back half of verse 3.

According to his great mercy, he's caused us to be born again

to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ

from the dead. If you and I are to live faith

focused, we have to remember that it all comes down to the

second point. Here we go is I am not who I

used to be because there's a new king over my life.

Notice it doesn't say I'm not who I used to be because I made

a good resolution. I'm not who I used to be because

I learned from my mistakes. I'm not who I used to be because

I have good intentions. No, no, I'm not who I used to be

because there's a new king over my life.

Let me get you to think in these terms.

Every single person with us in the room and online, every

single life has one throne, has room for one throne in that

life, in and over that life. And what that means is when push

comes to shove, there's one voice of authority that dictates

the decisions and the choices that we make.

Whoever sits on that one throne in our life, whoever has that

singular voice of authority dictates the decisions and the

choices that we make. Here's something else.

You and I, every single one of us in the room online, we

actually have been given the choice, the ability to choose

who sits on that throne. For some of us, it may be your

spouse, For some of you, it may be your family, maybe your kids.

For some of you, it may be your sense of financial security.

It may be a boss, it may be a supervisor.

It may be it may be a best friend.

For some of us, I think that this is probably the most likely

scenario. It's ourselves, it's what we

think, it's our preferences. It's our experiences.

We put ourselves on that throne, or we can choose to put Jesus.

On that throne you may say, OK Ben, first of all, that sounds

really churchy. Second of all, why in the world

would I do that? Why would I put Jesus on that

throne instead of myself? Well, two reasons.

Number one is because you and I, we need to understand and we

need to remember that there is a God that created us and loved us

so much that he sent Jesus, his only son, into this world to

down a cross so that we can be forgiven of our sins.

And this Jesus came into the world and he lived a perfect

life and, and, and he healed and, and he performed miracles

and he pointed people to a relationship with God and how

they can have a relationship with God.

And, and in the midst of his teachings, he even predicted his

own execution and resurrection from the dead.

And sure enough, he was executed.

He was murdered on a cross. But three days later, after he

was dead, three days later, he rose again from the dead.

And that grave is still empty. As a matter of fact, you and I,

we can go to Israel right now. And there are various spots to

where people think that the empty grave is.

They're not even sure which grave it is.

There's various empty holes in the ground.

Do you know why they didn't memorialize the empty tomb?

Because there was nobody in it to memorialize.

He's not there. And if Jesus rose from the dead,

then anything is possible. And he did rise from the dead.

And I just so happen to think that it's a really good idea to

go with the one that called his own shot and that he was going

to be murdered and resurrected himself from the dead.

I just think that's a really good idea #2 how's your way been

working for you? How's my way been working for

me? It hasn't.

So we settle for lesser things like New Year's resolution, New

Year, New me, when we really just find out that just because

a calendar flips over doesn't mean that we leave our past in

the in a previous year. We need a savior.

And you, you may say, well, Ben, why in the world would God do

that for me? Ben, if you knew me, I wouldn't

do that for me. Why would he do that for me?

Because He loves you and because He's merciful and He's gracious

and He's kind. And catch this, He's not

finished with you. You are not too far gone.

If you were here with us this morning or with us online, it

doesn't matter what's in your past, what you've done, what

you've been about, how much you know, how little you know.

God is not finished with you yet, and the only way for us to

live a full own true transformational life is to be

born again, to lay down, to surrender our lives to Jesus and

go Jesus, I can't do it. You take my brokenness and give

me your healing. You take my sin and you give me

your holiness and your righteousness.

And the Bible teaches us that we'll be born again.

And that is the only way that we have hope for living a

transformed life. I'm different now not because I

have gained education, because I've read a lot, because I have

good intentions, because I have good ideas, but because there's

a new king over my life. But the third element for us

that we have to understand in order to live faith focused is

to go back to what Peter said in first Peter, starting in verse

four, he talks about an inheritance that is

imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for

you, who by God's power being guarded through faith for a

salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

This is what we're reminded of. Third and final point of this

section of our notes is what lies ahead of me is far greater

than what lies behind me. What lies ahead of me is far

greater than what lies behind me.

When Peter talks about inheritance here, he's using,

he's kind of tapping into an Old Testament language or Old

Testament concept of inheritance and basically that verbiage and

that concept was simply this. All that the father has, the

descendants would be given. It is same thing for you.

All that the father has, the descendants, the children would

be given. Here's the keyword and what I

just said. Given, not earned.

It's given. Given not based off of anything

that you've done or anything that you've accomplished or even

your own potential, but given because you were a son or

daughter of the Most High God. Isn't it interesting how much

time we spend like worrying and stressing out over things that

will eventually dull and fade and and wear out?

Listen, I'm not at all saying that the things that that are in

your life, the issues and the trials and the storms and the

concerns in your life, I'm not saying they're meaningless.

I'm not even, I'm not saying that they're worthless and I'm

certainly not even saying that they're not worthy of giving

over to God in prayer. As a matter of fact, if it's a

big enough for you, if it's a big enough deal for us to worry

about, it's a big enough deal for us to give over to God in

prayer. What I am saying is a lot of

times we lose sight of the things that we cannot lose

because we're worried about not gaining the things that will

eventually wear out. And here's what I would

encourage you with is there's absolutely nothing.

Come what may, there's absolutely nothing.

If you've surrendered your life to Jesus Christ, there's nothing

that can ever change the fact that you are a son or daughter

of God Almighty. The fact that that that you are,

that your, that your sins have been forgiven and that you will

spend eternity with him face to face, your eternity is secured.

Nothing will ever change that. So we can say from a very real

and a very authentic and a very, very genuine point of view, what

lies ahead of me is far greater than anything that lies behind

me. That helps me.

Those three reminders help me to be faith focused.

We need those reminders in order to understand what it means to

live and to walk by faith. Here's why that's so important.

Here's why that's so important is if you and I, if we are going

to live in hope and if hope is always future tense and it is

and we have things that are going on in our lives, storms or

trials or issues or complications or whatever we may

call them that they will never, none of those things will ever

last forever and they won't. Then what do we need to know

about hope or what do we need to know about our current

situations that do not rob us of our future hope?

You follow me. What do we need to know about

our current situations, whatever that situation or circumstance

may be? What do we need to know about

those situations that they will not rob us that knowing these

three essential truths will keep us from being robbed of our

future hope? Well, let's turn back to Peter

first. Peter chapter 1 read with me

1 Peter 1 · chapter mention

starting in verse 6. In this you rejoice, though now

for a little while if necessary, you've been grieved by various

trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more

precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by

fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at

the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen Him,

you love Him. Though you do not now see Him,

you believe in Him and rejoice with joy.

That is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the

outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

So what are three reminders that you and I here, January 11th,

2025, need to hold on to about what we are currently going

through so that what we're currently going through does not

rob us of our future hope as we kind of turn towards the final

lap of our time together this morning.

If you're taking notes with us, here's the first thing.

This isn't earth shattering. And as a matter of fact, I'm

sure that I'm just reminding you of something that you already

know. Here it is.

God's never surprised by our trials.

God's never surprised by our trials.

Again, my guess is this morning, you probably are already

familiar with that truth that God that what surprises me

doesn't surprise God, that wasn't that that what surprises

me doesn't surprise God. Let let's kind of put some feet

on that to to take it more into the into the personal that that

boatload of questions that was just recently dumped on you and

your spouse. God wasn't surprised by that.

The downturn in business that has now led to a lot of doubts

about future plans. God wasn't surprised by that.

The change of a relationship status.

God wasn't surprised by that. You may go well, Ben, OK, I get

it. God's not surprised by what

surprises me. What's the big deal?

It's a huge deal. You see, God's not surprised by

what? By what surprises you.

Neither is God surprised by where that leads you.

You see, your story is not unraveling.

Your story is still being written.

And the author of your story is still God.

He is loving, He is merciful, He is good, He is kind.

Again, your story is not unraveling.

Your story is being written. Let me kind of go a layer deeper

on that thought. Number 2, Not only is God not

surprised by our trials, God never wastes our trials.

God never wastes our trials. There is nothing that you and I

will ever go through simply because God's bored or simply

because we just chalk it up to, well, that's life.

There's no such thing in the Kingdom of God.

There's no such thing as gratuitous suffering or

suffering without a point. God uses all things, all things

for our good and for His glory. Let me get you to look at the

top of your note sheet, at the passage at the top.

And if you have a Bible with you have, if you have a Bible, you

can circle what I'm about to ask you to circle on your note

sheet. You can circle it in your Bible.

It's 2 words that change everything in this text.

It's the words if necessary, if necessary.

In this you rejoice. Now, though now for a little

while, if necessary, you've been grieved by various trials.

Let me tell you what if necessary means.

If necessary means that God, in his infinite wisdom and His

goodness, He knows not only how we need to grow in our

relationship with Him, but the ways in which we will grow in

our relationship with Him. If necessary, If necessary means

that God allows certain things to grow us, to come into our

lives, to grow us closer to Him and nothing more.

You see, I think that there's a lot of us that we get in the

midst of a trial or a storm or, or something in life and we sit

there and go, God, can you just ease off?

Why do you got to keep pouring it all?

Listen that God knows what it will take to grow you closer to

Him and the ways that you can only grow close to Him.

But He also knows because He is a good and loving Father, He

will allow certain things and not an inch more if necessary.

Means that even though I may not understand the methods, I trust

the heart of God to do what seems like it hurts.

But I trust knowing that God is actually using what hurts to

bring about my ultimate healing. Let me get you to think of some

storms and trials in your life. Maybe there's something going on

in your life even now. Let me get you to to to reframe

what's going on in your life right now.

Think of God as that world class master surgeon and in a in, in

any, any surgery, a surgeon is going to make strategic cuts and

incisions not to inflict pain, but to bring about healing.

Maybe what God is allowing us to go through now, maybe what God's

allowing you or your family to walk through right now.

You feel the pain of the cut and the incision, but think of it

this way, the cuts and the incisions are necessary on you,

are necessary to remove the harmful and the deadly cancer

from within you. You see, God is not allowing

these storms and trials to afflict you in a way of

punishment, but in a way of bringing you back to Him.

He never wastes anything in our lives.

Third thing that we need to keep in mind about what we're

currently going through is God has saved us and is saving us.

Let me kind of quickly kind of walk through this.

If there's been a time and moment in your life to where you

ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins based off of what He did

for you on the cross, that you asked Him to take control of

your life and you committed to following Him for the rest of

your life, you were at that very moment you were saved.

In other words, if 15 seconds after that moment of surrender

you had died, you would have opened your eyes and seen Jesus

face to face in heaven for all of eternity.

That is secured. That is you, God having saved

you. If you want the big theological

word, for whatever reason, it's the word justification that if

you've surrendered your life to Jesus, we have been justified

before God. But not only have we been

justified, and not only has God saved us, but God is saving us.

You see, every single day that we walk with God, we spend time

with God in prayer and in his word, and every single day that

we walk with Jesus is another day that we're becoming more and

more like Jesus. And becoming more and more like

Jesus means that it's a new day for Jesus to kind of chip away

and knock off the core of our main issue.

Do you know what the core of our main issue is?

It's us. So every day that I walk with

Jesus is a new day that I'm becoming more like Jesus.

And in that way, he is saving us.

There's an old adage out there that says, listen, if you think

I'm a jerk now, you should have met me five years ago.

The big theological word there is sanctification.

We are being sanctified and all of us need to continue being

sanctified. You see, we have been saved and

we are being saved. So never allow what's going on

in your life right now to rob you of that future hope.

What is that future hope is simply this.

Go back to first Peter 17 to result in praise and glory and

honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Right now, every single one of us, we worship Jesus.

We love Jesus by faith, not by sight.

There's not a single one of us that have seen Jesus face to

face this past week. I was, I was sick, I was in bed

for four days and after cough medicine and Nyquil, I think I

may have seen something. It wasn't Jesus, it wasn't

Jesus. None of us have seen Jesus with

our own eyes. But one day we will.

One day we will all see Jesus with our own eyes, face to face.

And here is what I want so badly to be able to do.

I want so badly to be able to when I see Jesus face to face,

if I'm able to get any words out at all.

Which is highly doubtful. I want to see Jesus face to face

and to fall down at his feet and to say thank you, thank you,

thank you. This is what you gave your life

for. And anything good that ever came

out of my life is all a result of you.

It's never me, it's all you. All glory and honor and praise

all go to you Jesus. And living with that end in mind

helps me navigate whatever I may be going through today.

So here's what I want to do as we close out.

I want to turn it to the Super personal and I want to walk us

through four key questions very, very quickly this morning.

Here's the first one. I want you to wrestle with these

this morning. I want you to continue wrestling

with them this week. What or who has captured my

attention? What is the object of your

desire? What or who has captured your

attention? It could be a future version of

you. It could be a a relationship.

It could be a a promotion or a title.

It could be you in a different setting.

Remember, what captures my attention eventually guides my

steps. I can think of no better way to

start off 2026 then asking Jesus.

Jesus, would you recapture my attention?

Would you put Holy Spirit blinders on me to where when I

look straight ahead, I just see you.

When I look to my left, to my right, I just see you.

Because Jesus above everything else, I want you to guide my

steps. Nobody else.

Not myself, not a company, not a group of friends.

I want you, Jesus, to guide my steps.

But in order for that to happen, Jesus has to become the object

of our attention, our affection, and our devotion.

Second question, what or who is king over my life?

What or who is king over my life?

Here on a Sunday morning at church, it's easy to go, whoa,

Jesus, I'm going to ask that we kind of look really, really deep

within us. Be really, really honest with

ourselves about ourselves. Who is ultimately, when push

comes to shove, who's ultimately making the call in our life?

Who has ultimate authority in our life when we want to go a

certain way, when we want to make a certain decision or a

choice, yet the Bible says something else.

Do we allow the Bible to to win when we have somebody else in

our life that that is pressuring us to go a certain way and to

make a certain call? Yet that's different from what

the Bible tells me. Do I allow the Bible to win?

Who is sitting on the throne of my life?

Who is the king of my life #3 in what ways have I allowed my

trials to define me rather than refine me?

That's a big one. In what ways have I allowed my

trials, the things that I'm going through, the things that I

have gone through to define me rather than refine me.

There's a lot of times that I'm convinced and it's so easy for

us to do. We get stuck in the trial, we

get stuck in that trial and we allow that trial to define us.

This is what's been taken away from me.

This is what wasn't granted to me.

This is the road that I've walked.

This is the journey that I've gone down that that's that's a

trial that has defined me. A trial that refunds me is God

led me through that season and out of that season.

I would never want to walk that road again.

But out of that season I am so grateful because this is who He

now has caused me to become. You see, the difference between

define and refine is the difference between victim and

victor. What trials have I allowed to

define me rather than refine me and then last question for us

this morning. What would it look like for me

to let go and lean fully into the hope of Jesus.

I am so 100% convinced that there are men, there are women,

there are kids, there are students with us this morning in

the room online called Riverbend home may be new to Riverbend

that God has a calling on your life that that these 21 days are

not about asking God, God, what do you want me to do?

He's already made that clear. You know what God wants you to

do. You're just scared and hesitant

to do it. My hope and my prayer is though

over these next 21 days, it would be OK God, I'm going to

let go of my fear and my hesitation and I'm going to lean

fully back into your hope through obedience.

I'm going to follow you no matter what.

What would it look like if you were to let go and to lean fully

back into the hope of Jesus this morning?

Here's what we're about to do. I'm going to pray over us.

And this prayer after, after we pray, we're going to open up the

front just for a time for us to come down and be able to pray

together. Maybe you want to come down and

pray on your own. Maybe you want to bring somebody

with you, or maybe you want to pray with a pastor.

Anything and everything will be an option for you, but we want

to give you the opportunity to start 2026 in a mode of here I

am God, do whatever you want to in my life.

God, I love you and I trust you. What areas do you need to trust

him in this morning? Let's pray.

God, we thank you for your word. God, we thank you for your

presence with us. God, we thank you that you call

us to live by faith and and everything that that means.

God how it reframes what we may be currently going through.

God, I pray that you would remind us that the only way for

real and true and lasting and genuine and authentic

transformation to take place is by making you king of our life.

God, if that's the step that we need to take this morning, God,

I pray that we would come down and God that we would ask you to

take your rightful position on the throne of our lives this

morning. God, maybe this morning we need

to be reminded that what lies ahead of us is much greater than

what lies behind us. God, if there's an area of our

life that you still need to save us from, that you're still, that

you're still working on, God, we want to give those areas over to

you and we want to give you full permission to go into the deep

places of our souls and to do the deep work of your spirit.

God, whatever you're calling us to God, I pray that we'll be

faithful and obedient to respond to you, to surrender to you, and

to trust you. And it's in Jesus name that we

pray. Amen.

Thank you for listening to Riverbend Church's podcast.

To find out more about this message or Riverbend Church,

connect with us online at Riverbend Church dot live.