Check Up Part 1 | How Is Your Soul? with Chris Schlotterbeck

Hey guys, this is Tracy. If at any time you'd

like to connect with HCV, go to hcv .church forward

slash connect. If you feel called to give, go

to hcv .church forward slash give. And if at

any time you feel called to make a change in

your life, text change me to 970 -00. Enjoy the

message. So typically you'd be watching a video

with our announcements. I'm your announcements

today. So welcome to HTV. We're so glad you're

here. Listen, if this is your first time joining

us, welcome. And make sure you stop by our...

Hippie bus that has been broken down and cut

in half. We now have a hippie bus table where

you can sign in and be welcomed, and we'd love

to give you a gift to check that out. If you're

joining us from home, thank you for welcoming

us into your space, and you can come in later

and see our new welcome table, which is a hippie

van cut in half, which I think is kind of cool.

If you've been here for a while, stop and get

your picture by it and say, hey, join me at HCV.

It's the place to be. So our first announcement,

we served at Reach this past week. Hey, if you

were a participant and served at Reach, give

yourselves a hand. Thank you. It was a challenging

week because we had a lot of snow. It was cold.

But we had hundreds of hours dedicated to serving

those less fortunate than us. Kelsey and Aaron

Palmer are actually still there, closing it up,

finishing it up for the last day. So thank you.

Thank you for making a difference and being appreciative

and grateful. for everything that God has given

us. When we hang out and spend time with those

that are less fortunate than us, it makes us

realize how much of a blessing we have. Today

is the first Sunday of the month, so it is Start

With Why. If you want to learn about our community

of faith, where we've been, where we're going,

all that God is doing in our midst, join me right

after this gathering. We'll go to the prayer

room. Stop by the Welcome Hub first, then we'll

go to the prayer room, and I'll teach you all

about, share with you all about our community

of faith. Tonight is our... First installment

of Who is the Holy Spirit? Rick Vance and I are

going to be leading a class tonight at 6 o 'clock

right here in the auditorium. We're believing

God's going to fill this house because the Holy

Spirit is the least talked about, least understood

part of the Trinity. And we want to change that

because we believe he empowers us and changes

our lives. So I want to encourage you, if you

have questions, you don't understand the Holy

Spirit, you want to learn a little bit more,

show up. We'll be here from roughly 6 to 8. Child

care is provided. If you do need child care,

please stop by the Welcome Hub and let them know

you're bringing your children so I don't overwhelm

my daughter with 62 kids, okay? So let us know

if your kids are coming. Today is the first day

of HCV softball sign -ups, and you're thinking,

the snow is on the ground, Chris. How are we

playing softball? Well, it'll be a couple months.

We'll have two or three teams, four teams, who

knows. Sign up. Be a part of our softball teams.

Coming soon to all of our families, we're going

to do a free movie afternoon matinee and compassion

letter writing. So if you adopted, excuse me,

not adopted, that's not the right word. Correct

me when I'm wrong. Compassion. If you sponsored

a child, we would love to gather together as

a community of faith, write letters to them,

and watch a movie. The other thing I want to

share is many of you know that God moved some

mountains last year as we were praying for those.

We now have land across the street that we're

turning into a parking lot. Slowly but surely,

we're getting the permits necessary to make that

happen. It will open up 200 parking spots for

you, for us. To be safe and to welcome more people

to experience God's love and forgiveness. Now,

to go along with that, we have a new vision that

we're kicking off for this year, be it 2026.

We met with our contractor who built this wonderful

house of miracles that we're meeting in, gathering

in. And we can actually add a balcony to our

back auditorium. So, right back there. We can

add hundreds of seats right there. And you'll

get an upper. Higher level, closer to God seat.

And he gave us, he's drawing up plans for us

so that we can see them, we can cast vision for

them. Their price tag is roughly around $200

,000. So if you would like to give towards that,

please stop by the Welcome Hub, talk to Steve,

talk to Tracy. We are setting up a fund so that

that can be built. And some of you are thinking,

wow, that seems like a lot of money. It's not.

That is very inexpensive so that we can add hundreds

of seats to our auditorium and continue to reach

people with the love of Jesus. Amen? All right.

So we're just believing that's going to happen

by July. That's not bold ambition. That's faith.

All right, so many of you know it's the first

Sunday of the month. If you don't know, every

first Sunday of the month at our community of

faith, we celebrate communion. So if you could

stand back up, we are going to honor God. Now

here at our community of faith at HTV, if you

need an element, I'm sorry, put one hand up.

If you need gluten -free, put two hands up. There

you go. And while the teams are getting people

their elements, I want everybody else to focus

up here on me. We believe that this isn't just

something we do here at church. We actually believe

that Jesus told us to do this, left this as an

ordinance that we should practice because he

said, do this, share in communion as a remembrance

of me. So what we are actually doing is we are

activating. We are activating the presence of

God in our lives to remember Jesus' broken body

and his shed blood so that it can cover our sins.

It can set us free. It can heal us. But it's

all about submitting to him and honoring him

as we partake in these elements. So I'm going

to pray. I'm going to ask the Holy Spirit to

come to reveal anything that's in our hearts

that's separating us from God. And then we get

it right, meaning we say, God, forgive me for

that. Remove that because I want all of you in

my life. And then as we partake of the elements,

I'm going to pray for the Holy Spirit to come

down and overwhelm you and release his love and

peace in your heart. Amen? So Holy Spirit, come.

God, reveal anything that's keeping us from you,

God. Any ceiling between us, any blockage. And

as you reveal that, God, we lay it down at your

feet. Forgive us, God. The broken people, we

want to come into your presence. And we might

connect with you in a real way this morning.

In Jesus' name. So on the night that he was betrayed,

Jesus took bread. He broke it. He gave it to

his disciples and said, Take, eat, and do this

in remembrance of me. Let's eat. Likewise, after

supper, Jesus took the cup of wine. He said,

This is my blood. which is shed for you and for

many for the forgiveness of sins. Drink it often,

and when you do, do it in remembrance of me.

Let's drink. So God, we are thankful for what

you do in our lives. We are thankful, God, grateful

that we can gather together. I just pray that

you would silence distractions in Jesus' name,

that your spirit would be here, your presence

would be here evident, In our lives, God, open

our ears, our hearts, and our minds to receive

your truth. And we pray this all in Jesus' name.

Amen. So today we happen to be kicking off a

new series for the month of February called Check

Up. And if we're honest with ourselves, we are

good at checking on everything in our lives except

for our spirits. We check our phones before going

to bed. We check our phones before we get out

of bed. We check our bank accounts. We go over

our schedules. We monitor and check our steps.

Maybe once a year, we go to the doctor for a

physical checkup. But when is the last time you

paused, we paused, and asked, how is my spirit

today? Or Vineyard National Director Phil Strout

used to look at me and say, How is your soul?

How is your soul? Not how busy are you, not how

religious you look, but how healthy is my heart

before God? And this month we're focusing on

a spiritual checkup, not for shame, not for fear,

but for growth, for change, for us to become

more like Jesus. I'm going to jump into the book

of Colossians this morning. And the intro of

the book, which was a letter written by Paul,

reads like this. Colossians chapter 1, verses

Colossians 1:3–5

3 through 5. We always pray for you, and we give

thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus

and your love for all of God's people, which

come from your confident hope of what God has

reserved for you in heaven. You have had this

expectation ever since you first heard the truth

of the good news. So Paul opens the letter. By

writing a prayer. And he's writing this prayer

to the church in Colossae. Which is a city in

modern day Turkey. Now remember, Paul was a man

that was highly educated. He was zealous in his

earlier years of life. Zealous for a wrong cause.

Paul was a Pharisee, a religious leader. He was

extreme. Actually killing and murdering innocent

Christians during the early formations of the

church. Then Paul had an encounter with God on

the road to Damascus. His life was shaken to

the very core. He goes all in for God. He follows

Jesus and ends up changing the world. It's a

reminder to all of us, we're not too far gone.

None of us have too bad of a past that God can't

use our very lives. Paul submitted to God, becomes

a leader in the church, and now he's writing

this letter from prison to a group of people

that he never met. Now, most of the churches

that Paul writes to, he actually started or planted

the church, but not this one. Many scholars believe

this guy named Epaphras, who was a disciple of

Paul, went and started this church in the city

of Colossae. Then he goes back to Paul and he

says, hey, Paul, we got this church going. It's

going well, but now we have some issues. Please

help. Paul is writing this letter to them from

Rome. Rome is about 1 ,000 miles away. He's sitting

in a prison dungeon, and he's writing this letter

to the church to bring some challenge and correction.

Now, scholars call many of these smaller letters

in the New Testament prison epistles. And the

reason is their letters were written by Paul

while he was in prison. I mean, how about making

the most of your time and the season of life

you're in? Paul is like, I'm in prison. I got

all the time in the world. Instead of pouting

about it, complaining about it, being upset about

it, I'm going to write some letters to churches

that are literally going to change the world.

And Paul is writing this letter to the Colossians,

and the purpose of this entire book is this.

It's a refocus on Jesus. It's calling them back

to put their focus on Jesus. See, as the church

was birthed, they started with good faith and

focus. You heard Paul say in the beginning of

the letter, We have heard of your faith in Christ

Jesus and your love for all of God's people.

Then Paul shifts and he brings a little correction

into the letter or correction into their lives.

Now he does this suddenly. He noticed first he

celebrates their faith, their accomplishments.

Then he throws in some correction followed by

more celebration of them again. It's a healthy

way for all of us to learn how to practice correction.

For example, when Jess and I are correcting our

six -year -old Phoenix and his love for his dogs,

right, we have two standard poodles. Both of

them are bigger than him, right? But he loves

them. He runs up and down the yard with them.

But then he decides, I wonder if they'll wrestle

me. So we have to look back at Phoenix and say,

Phoenix, we know you love your dogs. We know

you love your poodles. But they're not people,

okay? That knee. That knee lift and that elbow

drop to the skull may make them a little mad

at you. Don't do it anymore. But we love that

you love your dogs. See how I did that? It's

like, celebrate. Correction. Celebrate. The proper

way of correcting an individual. Paul is doing

this in our letter today. Starts out with encouragement.

I heard of your faith. What you're doing. But.

But you've deviated from it. And his whole message

brings the focus right back on Jesus. And the

central theme of the book or letter to the Colossians

is, it's all about Jesus. And that should be

the central theme for anyone that is in a relationship

with Jesus. Church, it's all about Jesus. The

church and Colossi made a crucial mistake that

so many Jesus followers do. It's they started

with a focus on Jesus, and then they began to

mix parts of their world into it. Now, in their

culture, they mixed Gnosticism, which was different

philosophical ideas and beliefs. Then they brought

politics in and religious rituals and practices

and circumcision. The Colossians believed it

was okay to have Jesus and all this other stuff.

And I want to challenge you, church. We have

to guard against that in our culture today. We

have to be very careful not to mix Jesus and.

Jesus and politics. Jesus and self -help. Jesus

and social media. Jesus and our news feeds. Listen,

everyone has opinion. And they all want to tell

you how to live your life and what you have to

do and what you should say. We should only be

paying attention to Jesus. We have to be careful

not to mix up our relationship with Jesus and

these other things. Saying, this is what it means

to follow God. No, it's not. All those other

things don't mean that's how we follow God. It's

all about Jesus. Even when we gather as a church,

we must remain focused on Jesus. We have to point

people to Jesus. After all, if we're honest,

think about it. It can be a little weird for

a person that has little to no church background

whatsoever and to walk into this building. Think

about it. None of it makes sense at all if it's

not about Jesus. None of it makes sense. You

walk into a cafe full of people and you think,

why are all these people really happy to see

me? Like they're high -fiving me and they're

hugging me. I don't even like to be hugged or

touched. Like these people are over the top excited.

What's the deal? And now they're offering me

coffee and hot chocolate and Crumpy's Donuts.

I want to pay for it, but I can't. Like, what's

the catch, man? What's happening here? Then you

walk with them into the auditorium where worship

has already begun. They begin to look around,

and they're wondering, why is that person passionately

singing to the ceiling? And this person over

here, they're weeping. What is going on? And

who are they waving to? I mean, what is happening?

Is there someone in the rafters? I mean, what?

And then there's this guy. He walks out in jeans

and a t -shirt. And wait, he has tattoos. I thought

he was supposed to be wearing a robe. Like, what's

going on? Friends, none of it makes sense if

we're not focused on Jesus. And I believe this

letter is a reminder to our community of faith.

That's right, to us. We don't want to be like

this church that started well, is doing well,

but deviated from it because of what our culture

told us to mix into our faith, which leads us

to our first truth this morning. We need to focus

on Jesus. Continuing Paul's opening prayer in

Colossians 1, 9 through 10, we ask God to give

you complete knowledge of his will and to give

you spiritual wisdom and understanding. then

the way you live will always honor and please

the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind

of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as

you learn to know God better and better. See,

Paul makes it very clear in his opening prayer.

Our faith, our life, our hope is built on Jesus.

The author of Hebrew writes it this way in chapter

12, verses 1 through 2. Therefore, we are surrounded

by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life

of faith. Strip off every weight that slows us

down, especially the sin that so easily trips

us up. Let us run with endurance the race God

has set before us. We do this. We live our lives

by keeping our eyes on Jesus. See, we have to

keep our eyes on Jesus. We have to fix our attention

on Jesus. And let's be honest, we all have moments

where our eyes get deviated off of what is most

important. And I want you to ask yourself, what

is it that has taken your focus off of Jesus

today? Is it the busyness of life? The rampant

do, do, do culture? Could it be that you're just

distracted in this life? You got a lot going

on with your family, with your sports, with your

business, with social media, and you've taken

your eyes off Jesus. Maybe it's just worldliness.

You know, our world is enticing. We have money,

and we can make more money, and we can get more

stuff and fame and followers, and it tempts us.

It lures us away from our focus being on Jesus.

It could be pride, the subtle idea that we can

do life without God. We find a little success.

We go back to school. We get a degree. People

praise us. And immediately we begin to think,

it's all me. I did it. See, pride pulls our focus

off Jesus. Maybe for some of you it's doubt.

A lie is whispered into your ear and we begin

to question who God really is. Where is he in

this difficult season I'm walking through? See,

it draws our eyes away from Jesus. For some of

you, it's religion. It's the ceremonies, the

rituals, the duty that I must perform in order

for God to love me. For others, it's relationships.

It could be a boyfriend, a girlfriend, a husband,

a wife, family, friends. When we prioritize people

over God, it takes our eyes off Jesus. And Paul,

he's challenging us today, stop making your relationship

with God about all these other things. We have

to remain focused on Jesus, Colossians 1 .23.

But you must continue to believe this truth and

stand firmly in it. Notice, don't drift away

from the assurance you received when you heard

the good news. The good news has been preached

all over the world, and I, Paul, have appointed

as God's servant to proclaim it, which leads

us to our simple, practical steps. How do we

remain focused on Jesus Christ? Well, Paul outlines

it for us. He writes a beautiful passage of Scripture

that we're going to discuss today from verses

15 through 20. Now, in church history, this section

has been called the Christ hymn or the Christ

song. And many scholars believe that this passage

either became a worship song in the first century

or was a popular song, hymn, or poem that the

early church would recite. And then Paul writes

it into this passage to put our focus back on

Jesus, which leads us to our first step. We have

to recognize Jesus as creator. We recognize Jesus

as creator. Colossians 1, 15 through 16, listen

to the beautiful words written by Paul. Christ

is the visible image of the invisible God. Pause.

You read that sentence and you're like, wait

a minute, I've got to pause there for a second.

If you've ever wondered what God looks like,

read the Gospels. That's all we have to do. Now,

some of you are saying, well, I can't see Jesus.

He lived 2 ,000 years ago. Yeah, but you can

read about him, and history knows that he was

a real, living, breathing person. He existed

before anything was created and is supreme over

all creation. For through him, God created everything

in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made

the things we can see and the things we can't

see, such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities

in the unseen world. Everything was created through

him and for him. Church, Jesus is our creator.

He is our originator of everything we see and

experience. It all started by him. And this passage

is for him. And it's interesting. Quite often

we look at the news. We get overwhelmed with

the world. We get stressed out with what's happening

in our country. We get stressed out with wars

and sickness and all the things that bombard

us in our modern day social media. And we have

to realize, friends, Jesus created it all anyway.

He's in control of it. And if we pause and we

take a walk, or a bike ride along the canal and

we see a beautiful bird or a wind blowing in

our face or on a beach and we see a sunrise and

a sunset, we recognize that this world and all

its beauty was created for us to live in. It's

unreal to think of the universe that we live

in, and Paul points the people, he points them

back to God who created it. Paul writes this

in Romans 11, for everything comes from him,

everything, and exists by his power and is attended

for his glory, all glory to him forever, amen.

See, God didn't just create the world. He created

our worlds. He created our life and wants to

be in control of it so we can experience and

walk in abundance. Anything. that is good in

our lives, comes from God. Originated with God

is maintained through God. I mean, I still remember

the day, Justin, I was invited to be a part of

a missions trip in Kenya. As soon as I was asked,

I knew we were supposed to go, but we prayed

about it, and sure enough, we said yes. And being

a part of that trip opened my eyes to God's greatness.

standing at what is called the Rift Valley. We

would look out over thousands of miles of African

land, and God's wonder and creation just overwhelmed

me as I began to tear up. I thought to myself,

here I am standing on the other side of the world,

22 -hour plane fight that I'll probably never

do again, a kid. That grew up in Hagerstown,

Maryland. Whose father didn't want to leave the

state. Was hard headed and struggled just to

get out of the county. And here I am standing

in Africa. Seeing, witnessing, experiencing God's

glory and animals. And it wasn't anything I did.

It wasn't anything I said. God put me there.

Led me there. So that I would experience abundance.

so that we would change lives halfway around

the world. We would build kitchens, and now my

family would experience what it means to trust

in God. For those of you who don't know, check

out this image. This image here is an image of

my son and his students. My oldest son, Isaac,

now lives in Kenya, is a secondary STEM teacher

there, science, technology, engineering, and

math. And he is the first. He is the first non

-African to ever step foot in that village. Now,

Isaac has established and is establishing a track

team and a basketball team for his students.

Pretty cool, huh? Now, here's where you come

in. Isaac shared with us that they have no shoes.

They play basketball barefoot. They run track

in their loafers that the school gives them.

And he wanted to know if we could send some used

sneakers to Kenya. Do you think we could do that?

So if you're a lady or a woman and your foot

size is 7 1⁄2 to 10 and you have an extra pair

of sneakers, bring them in next Sunday. If you're

a gentleman... and your foot size is 8 to 10,

or especially 9 to 10, if you could bring in,

and I'm not asking for just one pair. If all

of us brought in one pair, we would have hundreds

of pairs to not just give to the students, they

can give them to the whole village. Why not?

You know why? Because God is in control, and

God desires that we make a difference. And if

we would develop the type of gratitude and appreciation

for all that God gives us, does through us, you

know what would happen? We would be full of smiles,

laugh. We would be people that support and encourage

others to come experience it with us. And many

would just be drawn to our shadows. But so often

we get distracted. And we forget that Jesus is

the creator of my world and this world. It's

not me. It's not us. It's him working in us because

he created us, leads us, provides for us, and

loves us. And if you're here this morning and

you feel like God doesn't love you or value you,

that is a lie in Jesus' name. And you need to

stop believing it. Well, Chris, it's not that

easy. Yeah, it is. Stop doubting your value because

you're not the one that determines it. Neither

does your ex or your boyfriend or your abusive

parents or our culture because our value is determined

by what our creator says we are worth. And what

does our creator say we are worth? We are worth

the price of his son dying on the cross. That

is how much you are worth. And we must remember,

His son, Hebrews 1 .3 tells us, radiates God's

own glory and expresses the very character of

God. So whenever you doubt your worth or your

abilities in God, listen, believe what Ephesians

2 .10 says about you. You are a masterpiece.

You were created new in Christ Jesus so you can

do good things he planned for you to do. God

says he formed you in your mother's womb. You

are not an accident. He says there's a purpose

in your life. God gave it all to you, and he

gave it to us by nailing his son to a cross so

that we can have a relationship with him. Stop

doubting, church, and embrace abundant life that

is given to us by our creator, which leads us

to our next step. We rely on Jesus as sustainer.

Colossians chapter 1, 17 says, again, Paul writing

Colossians 1 · chapter mention

these magnificent words. He existed before anything

else. And notice, he holds all creation together.

See, Jesus starts to work in our life. When we

declare that he is Lord of our life. But he also

sustains the work in our life. And Paul is correcting

the church saying you started in faith. You were

following Jesus. But now you've deviated. You

got sidetracked. You allowed for the culture,

the world to sneak into your relationship with

me. And that's not God's best. And I want us

all to just pause. And I want us to think about

the earth just for a second. The earth that we

live on. is sustained by God. How do I know that?

Well, I did a little research this week. There

was a specific zone for our planet and where

it is in our universe, and it's called the habitable

zone. Our earth is in this zone where it's not

too cold and it's not too hot. It's actually

perfect for life. And when you do the research

and realize how perfect it is for life, you suddenly

realize that God's hands on it, because if it

was 1 % to the left or 1 % to the right, you

know what would happen? There would be no life

on this planet. If it was a little bit closer

to the sun, we would all burn up. If it was a

little bit further away, we would all freeze,

which we understand what that feels like. If

it was not tilted the exact way that it's tilted

on its axis, we wouldn't have the season to sustain

life. See, God is the one holding this all together.

And it's not an accident. This is not circumstantial.

It is by the grace of God that we're living on

this planet. Because God is a divine creator

who positioned life perfectly to sustain life

and allow for us, his creation, the glory of

his creation to flourish and prosper. Now scientists

tell us that our world, think about this, it's

going to blow your mind. Scientists tell us that

our world is spinning at 1 ,000 miles an hour.

Like we are literally spinning in a circle 1

,000 miles an hour, yet here we are living, breathing,

functioning, worshiping, not even realizing that

our world is spinning. And then circling around

the sun. Every day that we wake up, the earth

has spun around again, and we should say, God,

thank you for sustaining it. Thank you for sustaining

me. Thank you for giving me another day. Everything

that we have is being held together by the sustaining

power of God. Hebrews chapter one, verse three

says, the sun radiates God's own glory and expresses

the very character of God. Notice this line,

he sustains everything by the mighty power of

his command. And anytime we feel like life is

falling apart, we're overwhelmed, we're stressed,

It might be the fact that the sustaining power

of God has been removed from that situation.

Let me say it this way. Anything that we need

held together, we need to make sure that Jesus

is involved in it. And if something is falling

apart in our lives, it's probably because we

pushed Jesus out of it. And when we push Jesus

out of it, church, the sustaining power is no

longer there. Your marriage won't be sustained

when Jesus is not in the middle of it. That's

the truth. And some of you, we are launching

our marriage class at the end of this month,

and it's not guilt, it's not shame. Your marriage

could be okay, but it certainly can be better.

Your marriage may be failing. Let's fix it. So

I want to encourage you, if you want to be a

part of the marriage class, stop by the Welcome

Hub and get signed up, because it's an opportunity

for your marriages to flourish. And see, the

purpose of our lives will not be sustained when

we make it about other things instead of Jesus.

Our friendships, our joy, our business, our career

won't be sustained when we make it about other

things instead of Jesus. He is the glue that

holds life together. And let me say it this way.

Jesus is not some cheap Elmer's school glue.

He is gorilla glue that can't and won't be separated.

And when Jesus is the focus of our life, he sustains

us. And when it feels like we're in over our

head, God is under your feet. He's there to support

you, care for you, and love on you. And you may

be here this morning and feeling overwhelmed.

Let me encourage you. Jesus will sustain you.

Psalm 55, 22. Cast your cares on the Lord and

he will sustain you. He will never let the righteous

be shaken. When we give up control to God, he

sustains us in our weakness, which leads us to

our third step. We have to submit to Jesus. As

king. We have to submit to Jesus as king. Colossians

1 .18. Christ is also the head of the church.

Which is his body. He is the beginning. Supreme.

Over all who rise from the dead. So he is first

in everything. And Paul challenges us right here.

He says put Jesus first in our lives. And that

word supremacy. Or supreme. When it's written

in this context there. Is a verb. And it means

to be first. Or to have preeminence. Meaning,

we go to Jesus above all other things. So what

I want you to think about today is this. I want

you to think about your life, and I want you

to think about what holds your life together.

And for many of us, we look at this as different

examples in our life. We have health, we have

marriage, we have children, we have relationships,

we have finances, and we have a career. And which

one of these would you say holds your life together?

Maybe for some of you, you say it's your marriage.

He sustains it. me. He takes care for me. He

provides for me. Or she loves me. She makes me

a better person. And listen, I want to encourage

you, all that is true and good. I love marriage.

I support marriage. I love my wife. But as soon

as a fight creeps into it, that can certainly

crumble and fall away. And if we put it at the

center, we have to be careful not to make it

a god. For some of you, it's your children, right?

And you say, oh, they're my world. They're everything

to me. Well, my response to you is this. If they're

your world, be careful because one day they're

going to move out. And one day they may move

to Africa, which will really rock your world.

There is no promises when it comes to our children.

Maybe for you, it's your career. Oh, I need my

career, Chris. My career provides for my wife,

provides for my kids, allows me to pay my bills,

allows for me to be successful and to be acknowledged

in this culture. Which again, my encouragement

to you is, what happens when your career changes?

What happens when your career ends? What happens

when you get laid off? Which Paul is telling

us, no, it's got to be Jesus. Jesus has got to

be at the center of everything that we do when

it comes to life. But let's look at what the

church in Colossae was doing. See, the church

of Colossae, they started this way. They put

Jesus at the center. They were excited, but then

they allowed other things to creep in. Say, for

example, it's your health. Say your health or

their health was struggling and health went to

the forefront of their focus, right? They begin

to diet. They begin to take medication. They

make sure they look right. They make sure they

eat right. They do exercise. They do everything

right. And Jesus kind of gets pushed to the side,

right? But here's the reality when it comes to

our health. Every day we wake up, something's

going to hurt a little bit more. Because we get

older and our bodies are going to break down.

And we're not promised anything when it comes

to life. But when we focus too much on health

and we push Jesus out and our focus is just on

health, we begin to lose track of what is most

important. Or say for you, it's not your health.

Say it's your friendships, right? You value your

friendships. And because you have these friendships

and you want to hang out with people and you

want to spend time with them, you push Jesus

out of the center. And because of those friendships

that you love and you want to be with people

and hang out with people and high -five people,

but some of those friends aren't in a relationship

with Jesus. And you begin to doubt and you begin

to question your faith because they're leading

you down a wrong road because you made Jesus

a Sunday morning thing, a quiet thing, and you're

not bold in your faith yet. And you push Jesus

out. And Paul says, no, stop pushing Jesus out,

put him back in the center where he needs to

be, because when we put him in the center where

he needs to be, everything works out. That's

why Jesus reminds us in Matthew 6, 33, seek the

kingdom of God above all else, live righteously,

and he's going to give you everything you need.

You know what that means? We see God, Jesus first,

he's going to provide. For all these needs. I

love the way that C .S. Lewis says it. He says

it this way. And this is our quote of the week.

Put first things first. And second things are

thrown in. Put second things first. We lose both

the first. And the second thing. The things that

make you go. When we put our focus on the other

things, we lose everything. And Paul is reminding

his church, put your focus back on what is most

important. And that's Jesus. Colossians 119.

For God, in all his fullness, was pleased to

live in Christ. And through him, God reconciled

everything. Everyone say everything. To himself.

See, Jesus reconciles all things in our life

back to him. You know why? Because he has the

power to move in and sustain every area of your

life, which leads us to our final step. See,

when we make Jesus as king, then we can embrace

the peace that's found in him. Colossians 1 .20,

he made peace with everything. In heaven and

on earth by means of Christ's blood on the cross.

And in a world that's constantly pulling us into

anxiety, fear, and doubt, Jesus offers something

radically different. He says, I am going to give

you a peace that does not depend on your circumstances,

John 14, 27. I am leaving you with a gift. Let's

all open that gift. Peace of mind and heart.

And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot

give. So don't be troubled. Or afraid. Or doubt.

Or anxiety. Or fear. And you know what that tells

us right away? Peace is not fragile. It is not

borrowed. Peace is from God. The world's peace,

what is it? It's temporary. It says, yeah, you're

going to have peace when your bills are paid.

You'll have peace when you're healed and that

diagnosis changes. Yeah, you'll have peace when

the fight's over. But you know what Jesus says?

He says, just come to me now. Come be in my presence.

Not after the storm passes, but while the waves

are crashing all around you. And we see that

clearly when Jesus is asleep in the boat while

the storm is raging, Mark chapter 4. But soon

Mark 4 · chapter mention

a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking

into the boat. It began to fill with water. Jesus

was sleeping at the back of the boat with his

head on a cushion. Talk about specifics. The

disciples. Don't you care that we're going to

drown? What did the disciples do? They panicked.

They were panicking. Jesus, rest. He's resting.

Why? Because peace is not the absence of trouble.

Peace is the presence of God. It's trusting that

God is in control. See, when we invite Jesus

into our boat, into our life, we may still face

storms, but we won't face them alone. Embracing

the peace of Jesus. Church, it requires surrender.

Philippians chapter 4. Don't worry about anything.

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

Instead, pray about everything. Tell God what

you need. Thank him for all he's done. Then you

will experience. There it is. God's peace. Which

exceeds anything we can understand. His peace

will guard your hearts and minds as you live

in Christ Jesus. And notice what it says there.

It says guard. See, God's peace stands watch

over us when our thoughts are running wild. So

today, the invitation is simple. Stop striving.

Stop carrying a weight on your shoulders that

you were never meant to carry and rest in him.

And he doesn't promise that it's going to make

your life easier, but he promises a steady life

of abundance. And in him, church, that's more

than enough. Will you stand with me? So I was

praying about how to close this gathering. I

felt compelled that So many of us, each and every

week, we walk into this place and we have a weight

on our shoulders. It could be worry, doubt, fear,

stress, anxiety. It could be finances. It could

be your marriage. It could be a relationship.

It could be anything. And quite often when we

bring those things into here, we just carry them

in and then we carry them out. And God says,

no, will you lay them down today? Will you trust

me? Will you lay him down? Will you put me first?

Will you stop focusing on all the other stuff

in your life and put me first and center on me?

And when you center on me, my peace, which passes

all understanding, the Bible tells us, will fall

on us. So here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna

invite the Holy Spirit to come. I'm gonna ask

the Holy Spirit to reveal anything in us that

we are carrying in our own strength on our shoulders.

And then I'm going to walk you through a prayer

where you choose as an act of your will to lay

it down. And then I'm going to pray a prayer

of abundance and peace over your life. Because

I believe God is going to set you free today.

So Holy Spirit come. Open our hearts, our minds

to see your truth this morning in anything that

we are worried about, stressed about, overwhelmed

about. That we've put in as a priority over you.

Now, church, let's pray together. I choose by

an act of my will to lay down. There you go.

Lay it down. Lay it down. Say, forgive me, God.

I put you first. I put you at the center of my

life. There you go. Now I'm going to pray for

the peace of God to come. Holy Spirit, come.

Release your peace. into this gathering, God.

I just pray that each and every heart would sense

and know that you are here with them. That your

rest, your joy, your abundance, your love would

be released into each and every person. That

we don't leave this place carrying a burden,

but we laid it down at your feet and now free

to walk with you. In Jesus' name, amen. Now there

are several, hold on, there are several words

of knowledge I want to share with you before

we go and then we're going to pray a prayer.

If you have left ankle pain because of arthritis,

you have headaches caused by the nerves behind

your eyes, you have left hip pain, you have pain

in your jaw on the right side. If any of those

are you, they're pretty specific. Our prayer

team will be on my left and my right. We're going

to pray for you and believe that God will heal

you. But for the rest of you, we pray a simple

prayer here every single Sunday at every single

gathering. We believe that God brings people

in our midst that are distant and far from God

and that want to meet him for the first time

and come home and be welcomed into our family.

And we all pray this prayer together, believing

that God's going to set people free. Amen? So

if that's you, pray with us now. Jesus, I'm broken.

I'm full of doubt, shame, regret, sin. Change

me. Forgive me. I believe you're God's son. I

believe you died for me. I believe you're alive

today. Make me new. Set me free. Fill me with

your spirit. Help me, God, to serve others. In

Jesus' name, amen. Now, if you prayed that prayer

for the first time, see me. Tell me, hug me,

do something so I can get you baptized, so I

can give you some next steps on how to follow

him. Don't forget, before we leave, hold on,

hold on, chill, chill. It's cold out there, dude.

You want to be in the warmth. Start with wise

today right after this. If you want to meet with

me, go to the welcome home. Holy Spirit class

tonight, six o 'clock, child care provided, right?

God bless you guys. Now go and be the hands and

feet of Jesus. Amen.