Make Room ⎸ Pastor Jordan D. Waage

FA Admin: Welcome to the Faith Alive Sermon Podcast. This is a replay of a past sermon from Faith Alive Church. Whether you missed it, want to hear it again, or share it with someone you know, we're glad you're here. This sermon is by Jordan D. Waggy, lead pastor at Faith Alive Church. Let me speak to this just a second. Who was with us last week at church on the lawn? Yeah, come on. we had an amazing time. We had full-on service out there. And the intention behind it was to get the whole Faith Alive church family together for one service under one tent. And man, I gotta tell you, the the the tent looked huge before you all got there. And and I was like, man, this thing filled up quick. And that was so encouraging to me. I think we saw over 600 people there with us last weekend. And yeah, beautiful. But most importantly, we saw 25 people give their lives to Jesus. Come on. Woo! Which we are so excited about. And man, just so thankful that you chose to join us for that. And there is more to come, more to come. And you know, who knows in this place that a united church is a good church? A united church is a good church, and I'm so excited that we are a united church for one mission, and that is to see the world come to know Jesus in the same way that we do. And so excited about that. Well, I'm excited that you're here with us this morning. I wanted to start off with a a recent study that I saw, and I found this really, really interesting. I hope that I can share it with you here. it shows that the average lifespan today for an American person. is seventy nine years. Now, some of you in this place have beaten those odds and we're praising God for that. but the average age for an American person is seventy nine years. Now I I don't know if I just got kind of curious about this, but I wanted to know what 79 years equated to in hours. I wanted to see, you know, we we we look at hours so many times. We work a certain amount of hours. We go there, it's a couple of hours away, whatever it is. I was just curious how many hours makes up 79 years? And the answer is 692,000 hours. 692,000 hours. Now listen to me, I know that life is short. Life is short, but that's a lot of hours. Yes? That's a lot of hours. And as I began began to think about those hours, I was curious on how we spend those hours. 692,000 hours is a lot of hours. How do we spend those hours? And this is fascinating. I want you to see this. 33% of our life is spent sleeping. Amen. Yes. For some of the parents, the young parents, right now, we're we're feel we're losing some, right? We're losing some. 33% that equates to 26 years of our life is spent sleeping. What? That's a lot of wasted time, if you ask me. 33% sleeping or 26 years, 16.5% or 13 years is spent working. Spend time working for thirteen years of the seventy-nine years. This one's super interesting. Ten point eight percent or eight and a half years of our life is spent looking at screens. Now you all are the statistic today as you look at that screen. but this is computer screens, this is iPads, this is your phone. I'm I I guarantee this is increasing, you know, even right now. But eight and a half years of our life is spent looking at screens. Four and a half percent or three and a half years is spent enjoying hobbies. Anybody have a hobby, a passion in the place? Yeah, just a few of you. But you spend on average three and a half years enjoying those hobbies. Now, as I kind of went through this list, I got curious again. And I said, Well, I'm curious on how much time as Christians we spend in the Word of God or we spend with God praying and in communion with the Lord. And I want you to see this. On average, 0.8 years of our lives is spent with God. That equates to 1%. I'm gonna let that soak in for just a moment. Not even a year of our seventy-nine years is spent in prayer and scripture reading and devotion unto the Lord. It's interesting, is it not? It's interesting, is it not? Church, I want you to hear me in this. Nobody has to teach you to make room for what you love. Nobody has to teach you what to make room for in your life. If you love golf, you'll make time for golf. This is gonna hit home for so many of us. If you love hunting, you're gonna make time for hunting. And all the hunters said, okay, some of you, some of you caught it. Some of you went, hey, no, I'm not gonna do it. Some of you are so passionate you couldn't stop yourself from saying no. We make room in our lives for what matters the most. Yes. And I know that most of you in this place know me by now, but I absolutely love the game of golf. Any golfers in the house? Where are my golfing buddies at? Come on, there you are, Austin. Yeah, come on. Yeah, yeah. Now I know for those of you that don't golf, you're like, what's the big deal? You smack a ball around the course, you get outside, whatever. It's way harder than you think. All right. I feel like I have to preface what I say next with that so that you're not like this guy. Come on. It's way harder than you think, but I absolutely love the game of golf and I love practicing. I love staying on the range. I love you know, watching the ball flight. I love watching tournaments on TV. In fact, a lot of times I will go home after preaching three services. I'll sit down on the couch as my babies are sleeping. And my wife and I will watch the tournament. Right now they're in Minnesota at the 3M opened. And I'm actually really excited because this weekend, Jotty and I are going on a day date down to Detroit to see the Rocket Classic. So we are actually gonna go and see these professionals in person. So I hope that shows you how passionate I am about golf. Some of you in this place are like, that is like watching paint and dry. And no, no way, no way. But you'll sit in a blind for 19 hours a day. I'm just Come on. I had to take my jab right now. Come on. That's not in my notes, all right. But I love studying the swings of professionals. I love the challenge of golf, and it is a challenge. Now listen, I would consider my love for golf a passion. I would consider it a hobby. My wife would consider it a problem. All right. So pray for me in that, pray for her rather. but a few years ago, I wanted to share a quick story with you. A few years ago, I was on the driving range, I was practicing my swing, and I had a golf club in my hand, and I I had this kind of realization come over me, and I began to ponder how much time, how much effort I have invested into the game of golf. And as I was standing there pondering these things, a question. Crept into my mind. And the question was this, Jordan. I ponder in the third person, apparently. Jordan, what would it take for you to give up this passion? What would it take for you to give up the game of golf? Now, I gotta tell you that the question made me nervous. Now, not the question itself made me nervous. No, what made me nervous was the hesitation to answer. The hesitation to answer. See, in this time in my life, there wasn't one thing that could pry me away from my passion. It couldn't pry me away from my love that I had for golf. During this season in my life, the Holy Spirit began to work on me and he began to convict me of what was going on and where my priorities really lied. He said, Jordan, do you make that same kind of room for me? Here's a reality, Faith Alive Church. We don't struggle to make room for what we love, like hobbies or passions, yet we struggle to make room for our savior. It's hard. It's hard. But in Luke chapter 4, verses 42 and 43, if you want to turn with me there, Luke chapter 4, verses 42 and 43, Jesus shows us what it looks like to put God first. I'm going to share this with you today. Scripture says in Luke chapter 4, verses 42 and 43. If you don't have your Bible, it'll be on the screen behind me. Scripture says this at daybreak. Jesus went out to a solitary place. That means that there was nobody around him. It was deserted. He was alone. The people were looking for him, and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. But he said this: I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why. I was sent before we jump into the meat of this. Would you pray with me? Father, we thank you for another opportunity to hear from you. Father, I pray that with every word that proceeds from my mouth, may it be your words and your words alone. Lord God, let these scripture references leap off the page into our spirits. Lord, that you would guide and direct this time together. It's in the precious name of Jesus I pray. Amen. Amen. Verse 42. At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place. I want to give some context to this verse. I want to give some background. Jesus had just been in Capernaum. And Jesus in Capernaum was teaching the crowds. He was teaching the multitudes. He was healing people by his name. And we saw people set free. we saw healings take place. We saw people come to know Jesus in a personal way. And I want you to know, and I want to remind you that Jesus is fully God. Yes. But he is also what? Fully, he's fully man. So Jesus was tired. This took effort. This took effort. So what do we see Jesus do? He goes to a solitary place. And that's how he chooses to recharge. See, he doesn't recharge by playing a round of golf. He doesn't He doesn't recharge by going hunting. What does he do? He prays. That's how he recharges. Almost every time that we see Jesus get alone, when we see Jesus go and seek solitude, he prays. Look what it says in Matthew chapter 26 and verse 36. Jesus says to his disciples, Sit here while I go there and what? Pray. Matthew 6 and verse 6 says, But when you pray, go into your room. Close the door and pray. In other words, get alone with God. See, Jesus makes room for prayer. He makes room for the presence of God. I want you to notice something. He doesn't find time to pray, he makes time. He makes time to sit in the presence of God. He makes time to seek The presence of God. He makes time to get on his knees and cry out to the Father in heaven. Will you make time in your life for the King of all kings, the Savior of your soul? Make time. See, you will make time, you will give priority to what's important to you. You will. See, one of the greatest dangers in the modern church isn't persecution necessarily. It's not opposition, even. It is that our calendars are full, our minds are full, our notifications are full. We don't have time to sit in the presence of God, so our souls are empty. See, somewhere along the way we've made room for so many different things. And God gets the secondary effort. He gets the secondary time. It's if I have time, Lord, I will seek you. If I have time, Lord, I will spend time in Scripture. If I have time, Lord, I will commune with you. But what do we see so often is that we run out of time. I want to hear I want you to hear me in this place. Do not make communion with Jesus just another item on your checklist. Make room for God to speak. Make room for God to move in your life. Listen to me. If Jesus needed solitude to stay connected to the Father in heaven, don't you think that we should do the same? We need to seek solitude and seek out the presence of God in a brand new way. All right. After Jesus sought solitude, the crowds gathered once more and tried to prevent him from leaving. See, the people. Had seen broken people restored, oppressed people set free. And because of that, they didn't want Jesus to leave. Would you? I wouldn't. Jesus, stay here. We want to see more of what you're doing. But Jesus says to the people what does he say? I must proclaim the good news. I want you to notice that he doesn't say, I probably should. He says, I must. I Must see, he knew why he had been sent. And because he knew his purpose, he wasn't distracted by every opportunity. Now I want you to catch this. This opportunity to heal people was a good opportunity, but Jesus sought what was most important. You hear me in this? A life without purpose becomes controlled by other people's priorities and other people's requests. If you allow your calendars to get full. If you allow your notifications to keep stacking up, you will run out of time. Jesus was driven by purpose. What is your purpose? What's your purpose? What has God called us to do? I want you to hear me in this place. Many believers are exhausted because they're saying yes to everything except for the great thing that God has called them to do. See, the enemy doesn't always distract us with bad things. A lot of times, the enemy will distract us with good things. In its nature, golf is not a bad thing. Now, I know that some of you in this place have had a bad experience with golf. All right. But it's not in nature a bad thing. It's a hobby if it's checked. But the enemy will use the things in your passions. To take up time in your life. So I want you to hear me in this. Good things become dangerous things when they mess with God things. Let me say that again. Good things become dangerous things when they mess with God things. See, having hobbies, having passions aren't bad. It's when they take precedent over the things that matter the most. So if you feel that you're giving too much priority, To the things that in the grand scheme of life do not matter, I want to encourage you to reprioritize. You can do it. You can do it. I know you might be like, Pastor, listen, I I I got so much going on at work. I I I got, can you spare 30 minutes before you even go in? Can you give God the first 30 minutes of your day? Jesus says this in Luke chapter nineteen and verse ten, he says, The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost. This was his mission, his very heartbeat, one of his greatest priorities. I want to ask you, who are the lost? Everybody better be pointing at themselves. Who are the lost? It's me. It's you. It's people. It's people. Everything Jesus did pointed towards redemption. He is the redeemer of our souls. And if the mission of Jesus was to seek and save the lost, then the mission of the church needs to be the same. Yes? It needs to be the same. Faith Alive family, we do not exist to gather. We exist to reach. We exist to carry the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. We are not consumers. We are missionaries in every facet of our lives. We are missionaries at our workplaces. We are missionaries in our families. We are missionaries at our schools. We are missionaries at the gym. We are missionaries in our neighborhoods. These are not suggestions or something that we should do just occasionally. It is who we are. It's who we are. You are a missionary. Make room for the lost. Make room for the lost. Because Jesus first made room for us. Think about that. Think about that. Jesus gave everything. We just talked about it in communion. He gave everything he is for us. Make room. For Jesus, be a missionary every day. If it's important to Jesus, it's important to us. If it's important to Jesus, it's important to the church. Yes? Praise God. Rich, you can come at this point. Thank you. I wonder today, I want to ask you question. What is it that you've made room for in your life? A simple question. What is it that you've made room for in your life? Is it success? Is it that you've chased? Money. Now listen, the the the the money being successful is not is is not a bad thing. Hear me in this. I hope you can hear my heart in this. It's not a bad thing. But it's that thing that might take you away from the greatest thing, which is relationship with Jesus Christ. Is it success that you're chasing that you've made room for? Is it comfortability? Is it, I'm good. I know Jesus. He's my savior. And that might be true, but go higher. Go further. Reach higher. We use this word a lot. I know it's a big, big word, big phrase, progressive sanctification. Now, all that means is that we are a continued work in progress to become more and more like Jesus Christ. That's what we need to be seeking. Never be comfortable with where you're at in your relationship. Go higher. Go higher. Go higher. Is it your hobbies? For me, it was golf that the Lord convicted me on. Is it a hobby? Is it a passion of yours that taking you away from the relationship, a greater relationship with Jesus? Maybe it's worry. Maybe you've allowed worry into your spirit. Maybe you're giving it too much room in your life. Maybe it's anger. Pastor, I'm just angry all the time. Give it to God. Make room where the anger was for Christ Jesus. Maybe it's anxiety in your life. You've given so much time to worry and anxiety that you don't have time for Jesus. Replace it. Replace it. Cause here's the fact maybe we've made room for everything except for growing closer to Jesus. You want to hear the good news? It's never too late to make room for Jesus. Greater room for Jesus in your life. Today he's asking you this question Will you make room for me? Will you make room for me? Will you make room for prayer? Will you make room? Will you open your ears to my voice? Will you make room for the mission in which I have called you to? Will you make room for the people I want you to reach? Listen to me, Faith Alive Church. Revival, favor, salvation doesn't happen when we give God just a little more space. No revival. And favor and blessing and salvation happens when we give God the room that He deserves in our lives. So today before we pray for salvation, because we're gonna pray for salvation, I wanna ask every believer this in this room, have you allowed life to distract you from what matters most? If so, today is the day to make room again. Make room. Make room, make room, I can't say it enough. Make room for his presence, make room for his purpose. Make room for the lost. Make room. With every head bowed, every eye closed in this place. We're going to pray. But I want to encourage you in this place, if you are. If you knew Christ at one point, if you knew Jesus at one point, and you feel that you've just allowed the distractions of life to put a wedge between that relationship and you just feel that you need to get right with him again. Or if you're in the place and you've never known Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, I want to give you an opportunity to do just that. So if you're one of those two categories, one of those two groups, would you just lift your hands? Nobody's gonna shame you. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Look at the hangings. Come on. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for speaking, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Just another moment. I don't want to miss anybody. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. I want everybody, especially those that lifted their hands to pray this prayer after me. Say, Dear Jesus, and mean this from your heart. Mean this from your heart. Say, Dear Jesus, I love you. I ask that you would forgive me of my sin. That you would make me clean. Make me new. I believe that you came to this earth. And you died for me. And I believe that you, Jesus, rose again three days later. And I believe that you are here with me today. Be the Lord of my life from today until the end of my days. I love you, Jesus. And it's in your name I pray. Amen. Come on, let's celebrate those that said yes. Come on. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. I saw five, six, seven hands lifted for Jesus today. To make room for Jesus in a new way. Praise God. Praise God. Praise God. Before we pray, the final blessing here, I do want to let you know that we do have a what we call the what's next pathway. I almost just fell off the stage. That would have been wild to end the service like that. But my what am I doing? I keep doing the same thing. I almost did it again. I I just want to be with you. but we have what's called the what's next pathway. Focus, Jordan. we have what's called the what's next pathway. This is an awesome pathway. There's a there's a big board right out in the lobby that shows you exactly what you need to do as a new believer, as a Christian, as a disciple of Jesus Christ. And it starts with welcome lunch. You got splash party in there and so many different things. You can also scan that QR code that will take you to a five-step video that shares with you what we believe at this church. And most importantly, we just want to walk this journey with you. it can be it can be hard. It it can we don't know which way to turn. We don't know that. That's why we're here. We want to support you in that. So make sure that you do just that. Father, we thank you again for who you are. Thank you for speaking today. Thank you for the salvations. in the place. And Lord, if those that are online lifted their hands, I pray that you would get a hold of them in this time as well. Lord, you are so worthy to be play praised. Bless the people here today and give them a wonderful day. Protect them in the precious name of Jesus. Come on, somebody, say Amen. Amen. Have a wonderful day. We love you. We love you. We love you. Thanks for listening to the Faith Alive Sermon podcast. We hope this message encouraged you. If it did Be sure to subscribe or share it with someone else who may need it. If you want to get connected or reach out to one of our pastors, go to our website at faithalive.church. We'll see you next time.

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