The illusion of control | Pastor Morgan | Venture Church

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the service.

Well, good morning, Venture Church.

I was not prepared for that video to play this morning,

so I it caught me off guard.

I apologize. It's good to see everybody. How's everybody doing today?

Good man, It's good to have you here with us

at Venture Church. If I haven't met you yet, my

name is Morgan Blessed be one of the pastors here

at our Mill Creek campus. One of my roles here

is I get to oversee our men's ministry.

Where's my men? Where's the manhat? Today? Come on, hey,

I just want to remind you.

That we have a guys Night this Friday night. We

have a car show, We've got a barbecue going on,

We've got a guest speaker. It's gonna be a incredible time.

You can find more information on the app. But I

would love you here with us for that event. But

today we are continuing our series titled Chasing Purpose, and

in this series, we are reflecting on Solomon's words of

wisdom in the Book of Ecclesiastes, and Ecclesiastes is such

an interesting book because Solomon is writing it from the

other side of the successes that he's had in life.

We actually just got done wrapping up a series right

before Easter on really the life of Solomon and the

Kingship of Solomon. And if you miss that, I really

encourage you to go back because you can learn a

lot about his life and all the layers of things

that he accomplished and did in his life, and also

some of the fractures that his life had involved in

it as well. But after the wealth in Solomon's life,

after the accomplishments, after the influence, after the victories, Solomon

begins reflecting on all of the things that people chase

in life, all of the things that they go looking for,

they search for meaning, and he begins reflecting on these things,

especially after his life that he's just lived. And today

I want to look at one of the themes that

comes from Solomon's wisdom as he's reflecting on his life

in the Book of Ecclesiastes, and as I was trying

to like put it into like, what is he trying

to say here? The phrase that kept coming to mind

is he's defining what I would call the illusion of control,

the illusion of control. I think most of us are

perfectly fine with the idea of trusting God, right, Like,

it's kind of comforting to know that there's a guy

who is in control of all things, and he sees

me and he knows me, and he's in control of

my life. And I like the idea of knowing that

there is a God that is in control of all things.

I think we like the idea of trusting God until

life stops going according to our plan. I think that's

where the problem seems to be. The tension seems to be, like, hey,

I didn't think that it would go this way. Maybe

I'm not all that okay with this idea of trusting

in God as I.

Thought that I was.

And that's exactly where Solomon takes us in the book

of Ecclesiastes chapter three. If you have your Bibles, you

can open up there with me today Ecclesiastes chapter three.

I think, if we're honest, most of us really enjoy

being in control. Anybody, anybody just enjoy being in control. Okay,

maybe three of us Okay, good, pretty loose crowd. Well,

I think that probably even if you are okay with

things going the way that they go, I think most

of us can probably agree that even if you have

that kind of like lase fare, like hey, we're just

going to figure it out, you probably don't like it

so much when it doesn't go away that you really

don't like. It's probably a little uncomfortable when life doesn't

go as planned. And if we're honest, most of us

like having a sense of control. We like knowing the plan,

we like knowing the timeline, we like knowing how things

are going to work out. Some of you don't just

have a calendar. You have a system for the way

that you live your life. It's like on an Excel spreadsheet, right,

Like you relish the opportunity to make an Excel spreadsheet.

Probably your life is color coded, it is shared with

your spouse, the notifications for all things in life are

turned on. You've got plans for your plans and a

calendar for your calendar.

Right.

You love a good plan. But here's the thing. Life does.

What life so often does. You can have a plan,

You can have a calendar for your calendar, and a

plan for your plan. But at some point life is

going to do what life seems to do. A doctor

is going to give you a report that you did

not expect. A phone call comes that flips your world

upside down in a moment. Your kids grow up differently

than you imagine. Maybe finances shift, relationships change, a door

closes in your life. A prayer takes longer to come

to reality than maybe you thought it was going to

and that uncomfortable realization comes face to face with.

You in life.

You're forced to look at it square in the face,

and it's the realization that you and I are not

nearly as in control as we thought we were. And

this is the tension that Solomon brings us into in

the Book of Ecclesiastes. Are you guys with me this morning?

Solomon had more success than anyone in history up to

this point. We've heard this, more influence, more money, more achievement,

more opportunity. But by the time he writes the Book

of Ecclesiastes, reflecting on his life, reflecting on his kingship,

reflecting on all the great things that he does, I

can't help but read Ecclesiastes, and I feel like I'm

hearing the words of a different man. He sounds different,

for sure, he sounds a little older, a little wiser.

But you know what he really sounds.

He sounds reflective, like he's looking back on his life

and he has a different perspective for the life that

he's lived. It's I almost get this vision or this

image of these men sitting down for a cup of

coffee at Denny's and reflecting on reminiscing on their life,

and one of them almost saying, man, I spent years.

Trying to master life, only to discover that life was

never mind a master in the first place.

I hear the words of somebody who sounds, maybe even

like slightly disappointed with the way that it all went.

And one of the greatest illusions that Solomon exposes in

the Book of Ecclesiastes is this illusion of control. And

as I started thinking about the illusion of control, there

were some things that God was just like very clearly

speaking to my heart that I think can transform the

way that we understand who God is for our life

and how it is He's calling us to live with

this short little life that He's given us, and I

want to share some of those thoughts with you today.

We pick up in the Book of Ecclesiastes, chapter three,

Verse one.

If you're with me, say come on.

There is a time for everything, a season for every

activity under the heavens. A time to be born and

a time to die, a time to plant and a

time to uproot, a time to kill and a time

to heal. A time to tear down and a time

to build. No, I'm not a rapper, but I sound

like it right now.

Come on.

A time to weep and a time to laugh. A

time to mourn and a time to dance. A time

to scatter stone and a time to gather them, a

time to embrace, a time and a time to refrain

from embracing. A time to search and a time to

give up. A time to keep and a time to

throw away. A time to tear and a time to mend.

A time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate, a

time for war and a time for peace. Control will

do a lot of things in our life, and I

think oftentimes we think we can control. And friends, hear

me say, before we even dive in this morning.

There are things that you and I can.

Quite clearly do to set us up for the opportunities

that God wants to put in front of our life.

There are things that you and I can do to

put ourselves in positions to be in line for God's

blessings to pour out on our life. There is things

that we can control in that. But I think what

the first thing that I see one of the the

illusion of control reveals some things to us. And the

first thing that I see it revealing is this reality

that life is not appointed.

Life is appointed. It's not controlled.

Life is appointed. It's not control. Solomon write says. He says,

there is a time for everything, and a season for

every activity under the heavens. The Hebrew word for that

word time, a time for everything is this word et,

and it means an appointed time. It's not just a time,

it is an appointed time. It is a fixed season.

I like this definition the best. It's a divinely arranged moment.

So read that scripture back.

There is a divinely arranged moment for everything. In other words,

you know what Solomon is saying. He's saying life is

not random. But you know what he's also saying. He's

also saying that it's not always controllable by you. It's

not random, but it's also not always controllable by you.

He starts listing off opposites. He talks about birth and death,

planting and uprooting, weeping and laughing, mourning and dancing. And

what's interesting is that nowhere in the midst of that

Solomon ever tells us which season we get to choose. Frankly,

we don't get to choose a lot of them. Most

of them you didn't choose when you were born.

And you don't.

Fully control when opportunities come into your life. You can't

force healing, you can't fabricate breakthrough in your life. You

can't speed up God's timing. Anybody wish you could do

that one or We don't have control of most of

these things. And that frustrates a lot of people because

what our flesh loves control.

We want to be able to control.

We want formulas, we want systems, we want guarantees on

the dotted line. We want God to give us the

five step plan before we obey what he's asking us

to do. But the truth is is that God rarely

works that way At least he doesn't in my life.

Maybe you're lucky. I don't know.

He just doesn't seem to work that way in our life.

And maybe you find yourself in this tension right now.

Maybe you're in a season of life and you're frustrated

or discouraged by this reality that God's just not laying

it all out there. He's not provided for every need,

he's not making the path clear, he's not giving you

all the things that you wanted in plan of what

you had in mind. And if this is you, I

want to just remind you why God.

I think God doesn't operate this way.

I think it's because real faith requires real trust, and

real trust can only exist when control is surrendered to him.

Real faith in who God is for your life?

You know what it.

Requires, Real trust on your part, real trust that He

is who he says he is, that he will do

what he says he will do, that he will be

the provider and the sustainer of everything you could possibly

need in life. And real faith in him requires real

trust in us, and that trust can only exist when

the control that we have on life is surrendered at

his feet. And what makes this so powerful is the

realization that Solomon is writing this as a man that

spent most of his life trying to make take his

world as secure and as unshakable and as stable as

humanly possible. Look at all the things Solomon spent his

life doing. If you study the life of Solomon and

the kingship of Solomon, you'll see that he built massive

projects man. He built his kingdom to be the largest

that it could possibly be. He created political alliance to

give strength. He accumulated more wealth than anybody in the

history of the world. He strengthened military power so that

he would be unstoppable. He expanded his influence into regions

that were untouched and from the outside, Solomon has created

the appearance of ultimate control.

It was the illusion of control.

If you know the life of Solomon, If you remember

back a few weeks when we studied the life of Solomon,

you know that while all of that was happening, while

the political alliances and the wealth and the buildings and

the army were all being created and strengthened, underneath all

of that, in Solomon's life, cracks were forming. His heart

had slowly drifted away from God, his dependence had shifted

towards systems and success and security and and friends. Truthfully,

this is this is what we do all the time

in our life. We trust, at the end of the day,

our planning. We trust our ability. We often trust our

resources to pay for the things when when when problems arise, well,

if I have the resources that I can just handle

it with money, maybe we we we we use. We

trust our own experience. Well, I just know how to

work my way out of certain situations. Man, I've just

got it all put together in my head. I'm a

pretty savvy person. Will make our way around it. And

we do this all the time. We trust our plan

and our ability, and our resources and our experience until

life reminds us how fragile we really are. And some

of you know exactly what I'm talking about. Some of

you know how one unexpected phone call can flip your

entire world upside down. Just literally, two weeks ago, I

sat with a family in their living room as they

gave me the news that literally the night before, their

dad just passed away, totally unexpected. You know how fragile

life can be in one phone call, one moment, one diagnosis,

one decision, one tragedy, one open door, one closed door,

and Solomon says, there is a season for everything. And

you know what that should actually bring you and I

a sense of hope for our life, because you know

what that means. It means that God is still present

in seasons you would have never chosen to step into

in your life. It means that He's present in the

moments that you would have never asked to be in

in your life. It means that He's going to be

present in the moments that you never.

Expected to find yourself in in life.

The illusion of control, it reveals that life is appointed,

it's divinely arranged.

It's not controlled by us.

But the second thing that the illusion of control reveals

we see Solomon in looking towards it and highlighting it

in verses nine through fourteen. Let's keep reading it says,

what do workers gain from their toil? I've seen the

burden of God that God has laid on the human race.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has

also set security eternity in the human heart. Yet no

one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

I know that there is nothing better for people than

to be happy and to do good while they live,

that each of them may eat and drink and find

satisfaction in all their toil. This is a gift of God.

I know that everything God does will endure forever. Nothing

can be added to it, nothing can be taken from it.

God does it so that people will fear him. The

illusion of control reveals that life is appointed, not control.

But you know what the illusion of the illusion of

control also reveals is it reveals that God sees what

you and I can't. He sees what you and I can't.

Solomon says something really, really deep in verse eleven. I

don't know if if you caught it. I don't know

if it made you, like think twice. But this is

what he says. He says He's made everything beautiful in

its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart.

That phrase set eternity in the human heart. It's really interesting.

The Hebrew word use here is alone, and it carries

this idea of yes, eternity and everlastingness. But the thing

that really caught me is this word is referring to

a sense of something beyond the present moment.

It's as if God.

Has planted something in our hearts that is drawing us

and calling us.

To search for something greater in life.

There's something more out there than what just meets the eye.

And as I started studying this more, most theologians believe

that it's likely that Solomon is trying to indicate that

God placed inside of us this awareness that there is

more to life than we can presently see.

And this makes total.

Sense to me because you know who I see coming

in the doors of our church. It's people wandering who

don't know Jesus, asking the question, what is this life

all about?

Where am I going? What am I doing?

Maybe you're here today and you're like, man, there's gotta

be more. If it's just about a cure cumulating, if

it's just about building my little kingdom, that can't simply

be it.

People are searching for purpose and meaning.

It's the reason that success alone never seems to satisfy.

The deepest parts of our hearts.

It's the reason why promotions and accomplishments and awards they

look good on a wall and they feel good for

a moment. But friends, hear me say, they can never

heal your soul. He's saying God has planted eternity in

your heart, and it's the reason that people are searching

for something greater. It's the reason that you find yourself

coming into a church and asking God, if you are real,

what are you trying to do in my life? Where

are you trying to take me? What are you calling

me to? There is something beyond the present moment that

is constantly calling us that there has to be more.

But then Solomon says something that's actually.

Kind of annoying.

He makes the statement and then he says, yet no

one can fathom God has done from beginning to end.

And I just find that incredibly annoying. In other words,

we can see that there's something bigger to the story,

but we can't fully see it. Cool God, man, God,

You've got something out there for me. You've got something

so amazing in store for me, but I can't see it.

How's that gonna help me? This is the tension that

we struggle with in life. This is the tension that

we find ourselves in. Because here's the truth. Friends, I

know you. You want explanations for life. You want to know

why the prayer was delayed you and I want to

know why the relationship ended you and I want to

know why the healing hasn't happened when we wanted it to.

We want to know why the season changed and why

the door closed. But Solomon reminds us of a truth

that we need to hear from our lives.

God sees the beginning and he sees the end. He

sees it all.

And we, even though we can sense in our hearts

that there's something greater out there, we can only see.

The paragraph that we're standing in. But God sees the

beginning and he sees the end.

It reminds me of of when Nicole and I went

on a on a just trip of a lifetime. We

went to Italy with my family for three weeks. It

was amazing and we got to go visit my favorite

city in.

The world, Florence, Italy.

Oh my Lord, praise the heavens, because Christian and I

know there's a sandwich in Florence that will transform the

way that you live your life. But we went to

Florence and one day we're walking through Florence and Nicole just.

Really wanted to go to an art museum. She really

enjoys walking through our museums.

And because I love my wife, we went to an

art museum and I remember walking through the art museum

and honestly, like Nicole's just like in awe, you know,

just like soaking it in, just all the art. And

literally I'm probably like three steps behind her, like, dude,

is there a gelato standing here?

Like?

What when we how long is this gonna take?

And at one point she's just like she's just like

in her own little world, and I've just decided I've

got to get out of this place. So I am

walking through and you know, I'm just like walking through

these different corridors, just trying to find the exit, and

all the while, I remember I'm walking past giant pieces

of art, like as big as this led screen hanging

on the wall, giant murals, and I'm just walking past

them as if they're nothing. But you know what, I

what I found myself doing. I found myself walking past

them and just.

Like looking at them.

And as I'm looking at them up close, I'm like

three inches away from the painting. I can't even tell

what this painting is. I see brushstrokes, I see color,

but the painting doesn't make any sense.

What you have to do for a picture that because

you have to step back and you have to take it.

All in, to be able to see what is going

on and to see what the artists really had in

mind outside of just the strokes and the colors, and friends,

here in lies the truth that we need to hear

for our life. The reality is is that we are

often interpreting.

Our lives from two inches away.

We're asking questions like God, how could you do this

to me? How could this happen? How could you put

this in my life? How could this door close? It

doesn't make sense.

Well, friends, you're two inches away from the painting.

It's like God, these brushstrokes don't make sense, These colors

don't make sense. Some of you are in here and

you're asking hard, difficult questions. You're saying, God, why haven't

you given me the child that I've been praying for?

And it's breaking your heart. But friends, you're looking at

brushstrokes and color, and God is stepping back and he's saying,

I see the beginning in the end, I see all

of it, see the canvas.

And you're interpreting the things that you're going through from.

Two inches away. God sees the entire canvas. Paul says

it this way, and second Grinzians five seven. He says,

we walk by faith, not by Can I tell you

that Paul wasn't like making fun of sight. He wasn't

like saying, hey, you should go away and like become

blind because then you'll be better. That's not what he's saying.

What he's saying is that sight is limited. He's saying,

you gotta walk by faith, not by sight, not because

site is bad, but because site is limited. Do you

know what faith says in our life? When faith is

playing out in our life?

Do you know what faith says?

Faith says God, even when I can't see a trace

of your hand.

In this moment, I trust your heart for me. I

trust who you are for me.

I trust that your promises are good. I trust that

you love me. I trust that you see me. I

trust that you know me. I trust that you know

my anger. I trust that you see my pain. And

I trust that you have a solution for where you

want to take me. I trust that you're not a

god who sees my life from two inches away like

I do. But you're a God who sees the beginning

and the end. You see the full canvas of my life.

And this is where we as spirit filled believers, we

have to mature in our walk with Him.

We have to.

Grow in our trust in who He is for our life.

Because faith is not just experienced in the emotional excitement

of good seasons in our life. Real spirit filled faith

trust God in seasons of absolute, complete uncertainty. Anybody can

praise God in the middle of a miracle, but mature faith,

says God, even if I don't understand the season, even

if this doesn't make sense to me, even if I

can't see what you're trying to do.

In I still trust my Savior. I trust who you

are for my life. Hear me out, friends, It's not

always going to happen like that.

Sometimes the Holy Spirit will give you the clarity that

you desperately are looking for.

It'll just happen.

Sometimes he's going to give you the comfort without any

explanation in the world. Sometimes his presence will be the

only thing that you need to sustain your life. And

sometimes you won't feel any of it.

And guess what.

The same question remains. Do you trust that He's in

control of your life? Do you trust that he is

the God who sees the beginning in the end? The

illusion of control reveals that God sees what we can't see.

Are you guys with me this morning?

The other illusion of control that's revealed to us is

that there is.

A cost to us trying to control our life. Did

you know that there's a cost of us trying to

control our life?

In Chapter four, Solomon shifts his attention toward what striving

produces in our lives. Listen to what he says in

verse four four off for he says, and I saw

that all toil. What does he mean by toil physical

mental labor, us working and striving and trying to produce things,

and all achievement they spring. Listen to this, They spring

from one person's envy of another. He says, this too

is meaningless. It's like a chasing after the wind. Can

I just can I tell you what that scripture is

right there? That's uncomfortable. That is an uncomfortable verse in

the Bible, because Solomon is pointing to the uncomfortable truth

that I think speaks so loudly to the way that

our culture lives. What he's saying is that so much

of our ambition in life is not actually God breathed

purpose for our life at all. It's ambition, but it's

fueled not by purpose for our life. It's fueled by

things like comparison. It's ambition fueled by competition. It's ambition

fueled by trying to prove ourselves or make a name

for ourselves.

And friends, hear me.

When you combine comparison with control, people become exhausted. This

is how you feel like you just can't go anymore.

Because think of what the result of a life is.

When we combine comparison with control. Now life becomes all

about striving. It becomes all about performing. It becomes all

about chasing and proving and building and competing. I don't

know who you are in this room, but we have

such a great example of how this lives.

Out in our life.

Every day, people spend way too much time thinking about

how to post the perfect picture of their life so

that they get the right amount of clicks, so that

they get the right amount of followers, so that they

get the right amount of attention, and so that people

get the best.

Idea that their life is better than everybody else's. And

what does Solomon say? It's meaningless.

He goes a step further. He says, it's like it's

like chasing the wind. In fact, Solomon uses that phrase

chasing the wind all throughout.

The book of Ecclesiastes.

And this image that Solomon is painting is so powerful.

What he's saying is that you and I trying to

control our life is like trying to.

Grab the wind. It's so silly.

It's like we can feel it on our fingertips.

We can chase it. For friends, you'll never grab it.

You'll never grab it.

And the painful thing that God began to speak to

me as I was thinking about the Scripture as men,

so many of the people that I know and love

are chasing wind with their life. They know that there's

something deep inside of them that longs for more, that

wants to know what purpose is, that wants to have

this thing that's been planted in their heart, and they're

chasing for anything that they can grab. And friends, we're

chasing after things that you will never be able to grasp,

hoping that it solves that hunger that we have inside

of us for what's ahead. And I think that if

we were to allow the Holy Spirit to search our hearts,

to speak to our hearts, some of us are tired,

not because we're busy. We're tired because we're trying to

grab and hold things for our life that only God

can sustain. We're spending our life chasing all these things

that we're hoping solve, these deep desires of our heart.

And you know what the Word of God says. It

says in Psalm thirty something four, Delight yourself in the

in the Lord, and He will give you the desires

of your heart. Man, he will fulfill those deepest parts

of your life that hunger for something more and search

for purpose.

And I think that this.

Is where God would like to just come into our

life and say, man, it's not that you're busy, it's

that you're trying to do something that is not going

to solve all the problems that you have. Solomon is

warning us of the real danger of striving. In verse six,

he says, better is one handful of tranquility than two

handfuls with toil chasing after the wind.

What a verse for our.

World to hear.

Better is one handful of the peace of God than

two handfuls of trying to chase after the wind? Because

our world celebrates bigger, faster, busier, more.

But you know, what Solomon says.

He says, peace is so much better than striving after

something you'll never be able.

To grab, so much better.

And the truth is, when you look at our world,

and maybe when you look at your own life you're realizing,

is that you.

Have full schedules, full.

Savings accounts, full calendars. And yet friends, the greatest tragedy

of life is for you to have full everything, but

an empty soul. And you know why it ends up

like that because control never produces peace.

Our control on life are trying to grab.

The wind, are trying to build this little kingdom for

us that never produces peace.

Do you know what it produces? It produces pressure in

our life.

The more you try to control everything, the more anxious

you become, the more fearful you become, the more exhausted

you become. You know why, because now it all depends

on you. And the truth is is that you are

never designed to carry the weight of sovereignty. That word sovereignty,

it's a really really not often used word, but sovereignty

simply means this is that God has authority and power

over what you and I cannot control. He sees what

we can't see. He knows what we don't know. He

holds together what we can't hold. And the reason that

control exhausts us is because we keep trying to sit

in a seat that only God.

Was designed to sit in, chase it after the wind.

Trying to control, trying to grab all the things, and

God is sitting there like man, you don't see what

I see. You can't hold what I hold. You don't

know what I know. There's a cost to control the

last thing the illusion of control reveals in our life

is something that, honestly, I believe this could just literally

change your life forever. It's that real purpose begins with surrender,

not just one time here on Sunday morning, but.

Every day, every moment of your life.

Real purpose begins with us surrendering our life to him.

This is where Solomon ultimately leads us in the text.

Purpose is not found in controlling your life. Purpose is

found in surrendering to God this little life that we've.

Been given every day.

We've said it so many times, but you can't control

every season, you can't control every outcome, you can't control

every person or every circumstance.

But friends, hear, what you can choose to do. You

can choose to trust him with your life.

You can choose obedience to what he's asking you to do.

You can choose.

Surrender, laying down control of your life each and every day,

saying God, I give you full authority of my life.

You can choose faithfulness to his word. And maybe this

is just where you are today. You've been gripping life

with every ounce of strength, trying to force outcomes, trying

to make things happen, trying to hold things together, and

you're exhausted because your care what was never meant for

your shoulders. Jesus said in Matthew six, seek first the

Kingdom of God.

You know.

Notice notice what he didn't say. He didn't he He

didn't say control your future. He said, seek first the

kingdom of God. Don't don't try to grab it all

for yourself. He said, no, no, seek first the Kingdom of God. Church,

hear me say. Purpose is not found in mastering your life.

Purpose is not found in controlling your life. Purpose is

found in trusting the one who already holds it.

In the first place.

And maybe today the Holy Spirit is just asking you,

He's whispering to you, what are you still trying to

control What are you still lording over in your life?

What are you still trying to master? Is it your future?

Is it your kids? Is it your timeline?

Is it your healing? Is it your calling? Your reputation.

I just want to remind you here this morning that

surrender is not weakness. It's worship to Him. When God's

a heart that says God, to give you my life,

this is the most pleasing thing that you can bring

to God. It's like the greatest thing that you could

put before Him is a heart that says, God, use

my life. I give you control. I give you control

of the outcomes. I give you control of the seasons

each and every day. God, even when I don't understand God,

I give you control of my life. And this morning,

I just believe that the Holy Spirit wants to lift

a weight off of your life. Not because He's going

to answer all your questions immediately, but because God never

asked you to carry tomorrow.

He just asked you to trust him today. So here's

what I want to do.

I want to ask you about your heads and close

your eyes all of this room. Maybe you're here this

morning and you would just say, Morgan, that's me man.

I have been trying to control each and every part

of my life. Man, there's this part of my life

that I have just been holding on to and trying

to figure out on my own.

And maybe you're here.

This morning, and said Morgan, I just know that God

is wanting me to release control. He's wanting me to

trust who he is for my life. He wants to

sit on that throne in my life of complete sovereignty,

complete control, trusting who he is, Trusting that he sees

what I can't see, that he knows what I don't know,

and that he sees the full canvas of my life.

If that's you here today and you want to just

surrender that control, I want to pray a prayer over you.

So would you just lift your hand anywhere over this room.

If that's you here today, you want me to pray

this prayer? You Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you,

hands up all over this room, thank you, thank you,

thank you. Put your hands down. And here's here's the

other thing that I wanted to ask. Maybe you're here

this morning and you've never given your life to Jesus.

Maybe this could be one of the first times you've

ever been to church. Maybe you're here after being gone

for a long time, and you're realizing, Man, God, there

is this thing I have been chasing after answers in

my life, and I feel like I've been chasing the

wind this morning. Can I just hear you say? Hear

me say this. You don't have to chase. God wants

to meet you right here. He wants to meet you

and give you a purpose. He wants to fill that

void that you've been chasing after in your life. If

that's you here this morning, you want to make that

decision on the counter. Three, Would you just slip up

your hand wherever you are in this room one two three.

If that's you, you want to invite Jesus into your life.

Thank you, Thank you. You can put your hand down.

I want to pray for us this morning before we close. Father, God,

thank you so much for who you are in our life. Father,

I pray for all those who just said, God, I'm tired,

I'm tired of trying to control life on my own.

And Father, I pray right now in Jesus name God,

that that control would be released to you, Father, that

they would surrender control of their life to you. And Father,

I pray that their trust in who you are for their.

Life would be renewed. God, that you.

Would remind them God that you see the full picture God,

even when the season that they're in doesn't make sense.

God.

I pray that their heart would trust you and say, Father,

I trust your heart for my life.

I trust that you love me.

I trust that you're for me, and I will surrender

to you and I will follow you, and.

I will trust who you are for my life.

And maybe today God, there was those who said, Father,

I want to know you with my life. I want

to begin a relationship with you.

Lord.

I pray right now over those people, Father, that you

would reveal to their life what it means to have

purpose and hope and joy in who you are. And

we pray all these things in Jesus's mighty name.

And everyone said, hey, man, thank you for watching today's service.

I hope it was.

Beneficial to you. Please like subscribe let us know what

you thought.

Next that you can find on our app or on

the website with questions and more information. Ways for you

to talk about this around the table and with your

roommates or as you're driving to the car, for you

to unpack this message.

Your life or really encourage you to check that out.

I'm gonna take this a couple more minutes today to

do another Kingdom Builder's Light Bearers Project update.

If you find kids being here.

We're at the finish line of a two year project

to get that done.

Look forward to seeing you next week in the middle

of the Dominican Republic. We're literally going to bring light there.

And a team of us just got back this week

from kicking that Lightbearer's project off in the Dominican Republican

and you're going to see a short video about it

in just a moment. But it was really just an extraordinary,

beautiful and really humbling experience I can say without exaggeration,

those families live in a sort of grinding and inescapable

poverty that would be difficult for most of us to understand.

But as you walk through this really a really tough neighborhood,

you get to the end of the street and at

the end of the street is this bright, beautiful, cheerful

center for the kids that is put on by Compassion International.

And that we partner with.

And we visited that center and met those kids and

this center, while it is bright and beautiful lacks electricity.

They've been praying for electricity for sixteen years. They've had

no electricity since December, and they've been praying that something

would happen. And the pastor looked with tears in her

eyes and told us, lots of pastors come here and

say they'll do something, very few come back and actually

do something. And so they were just blown away that

we came back two years later with the resources to

actually start this solar project and it will just make

just it's hard to describe the impact it will make

in these kids' lives, and that's something that we.

All get to do together.

One of the moments that really impacted all of us

is that we got to give the kids a hot

dog lunch.

Now, hot dogs may not sound like a.

Big deal to you, but it was two big deals,

lunch and hot dogs, and.

So I understood the hot dogs were.

This huge treat.

So we handed all these hot dogs out of the kids.

It was really exciting. We did it with a song,

and the kids just held those hot dogs and stared

at them, and all the teachers kept saying, you can

eat them, you can eat them, but the kids wouldn't

eat them. They just held the hot dogs, and so

we started asking how you can eat, and they wouldn't

eat them because they wanted to take them home to

their mamas, because their moms don't get to eat until

the one meal at the end of the day, and

sometimes they don't get to eat those either, and so

we had to assure them we'll make sure your mom

can eat too, before they would eat. And you know,

it didn't just make me think about the difficult circumstances

they were in, but as I reflect on, it made

me think about what kinds of kids are being raised

in that center. It's that center is full, it's bright,

it's beautiful, it's welcoming, and it's got teachers who love

and see those kids and they teach them what is true, They.

Teach them their identity, they teach them about how to live.

And it's those kind of kids that were able to

think beyond themselves in that moment. And so we were

bringing light, but those kids were operating as light and

just made me think, Hey, these two projects do belong together.

It's the same thing that we are doing here.

We are building a bright, beautiful, safe, and welcoming center

full of teachers that love and see kids so that

we can teach them who they are and.

What life is all about.

And so we just want to encourage everybody let's finish

this work together. I want to invite up two friends

who are going to help me talk about it today.

But as they make their way up, I just want

to say, like, as they bring up the kind of

where we're at in the midst of this, I want

to point out the one hundred and eighty three donations

on there. I just want to say, like, this is

something that we can complete if we will all participate

in it together, to bring light to Mill Creek and

light to.

The Dominican Republic.

These projects are starting together, move together, and we'll complete together.

Someone just ask you to do something, and it's just prayer.

Would you grab an offering envelope out of the chair

in front of you. There should be a stack of

them that now last time I had to do this, No, actually,

would you.

Grab one of those in front of you. This should

be in a chair right in front of you.

You can open the app and look at that page.

I'm just going to ask you to hold and pray, like,

how could we all participate in this together?

Because it will it will take all of us.

I've invited two of our elder statesmen, Grandpa's at Venture,

to say.

A little bit about why they're participating in it.

Well, thanks, Pastor Christian, and my name is Dan Strandy,

And what a wonderful opportunity we all have to support

and invest in our kids in youth, not only here

with the Venture family, but also in the Dominican Republican.

Over the years, my wife Karen and I we have

participated in similar opportunities to invest in youth. And you

know what, we've seen lives changed for Jesus Christ, and

those are eternal impacts. So my prayer and ask for

each one of you is to be a participant in

this Lifebearers initiative and support and invest in our young people.

That's the future of the church. So that's what my

prayer and hope for all of you, all of us

is to embrace that. And you know, like the Nike

tagline says, just do it, Praise God.

Hi.

My name is WALP. Eels and they just heard this.

This week.

A professor at Princeton University took a survey. Thirty one

percent of the students have never read the ten Commandments

or heard the Ten Commandments at Venture. We're trying to

make a place where people know who Jesus is and

know the Ten Commandments. So the investment that we're making

in our kids will pay off in the future and

we'll all benefit by it. So that's why I give,

and that's why we all should participate in this worthy cause.

Yeah, thanks Jen, I appreciate it. Thank you, Thank these

two men for giving that moment to Jeff.

I'm going to invite our ushers forward to take a

second offering. If you've grabbed an offering envelope or you're

on the app.

I'm never really am.

Please let's continue to finish this work together. Thank you

for being such a radically generous church. It was fun

to go represent us all and get this project started there.

This week they were here scanning all the rooms digital

scans so they could begin making the decals and the

paint and all the structures they need to finish these

two projects. Let's get them done together. Thank you so much.

Join me in this prayer and then there'll be a

fun video about what we did there.

Can Jesus be saying earlier you're worthy of it?

All?

We heard through this sermon to hold our life with

an open hand and trust you with the whole thing.

And so we do. We just entrust you with our

life and our resources.

We desire deeply to participate in what you're doing. May

your name be glorified and all we do and think

and say, and the way we serve you and build

your kingdom around the world in Jesus' name.