A Fight For Meaning - John Challinor

Okay, so real quick, anybody enjoying the rain?

Yeah, if you've got friends that are here and

they're like, I didn't know Arizona could look

like this, make sure they're gone before a month

from now, right? Make sure they only see the

green. My 15 -year -old has been taking pictures

of rolling hills. She's like, I didn't know these

hills were like this. And I'm like, we drove

this road every day. So just amazing to see what

rain does. Okay, so fall. Anybody love fall?

Okay. Now I got to ask, anybody love summer?

Yeah. So what you have at this moment, and online,

whatever yours is, what you have at this moment

is you have people who are grieving and people

that are excited all in the same room. Like some

people are like, summer's done. I hate it. And

other people's like, yes, it's finally fall.

Okay. It's PSL season. Pumpkin spice latte, where

are you at? That doesn't bode well. I'm just

saying, Starbucks just released it. It doesn't

bode well for them, judging by the outcome of

people loving. There's a handful of you. But

with that, isn't it interesting things are seasonal,

right? Like they're intended to be seasonal.

And I just want to talk about this moment for

a minute. Like this is a moment. This is not

meant to be something that has to be and will

always be and will hold it. What it's meant to

be is this, that you are present here this morning.

And in the midst of being present, the hope,

our desire is that you experience God for yourself.

That you see him, that you know him. That you

walk out of here and you go, I feel like I met

with God. But it's only supposed to be a moment.

It's not supposed to sustain you all the way

through. It's not supposed to be something that

you're like, ah, we gotta stay. It would be weird

if you stayed because we turn the lights off

and everything, right? We all go home. But isn't

it fascinating that if we're not careful, we

chase these moments and these experiences. What

if the moment is just meant to be the moment?

What if today the Holy Spirit just wants to speak

to you? What if God just wants to show up for

you that you would see something different in

him? That you would experience something different

and it's just meant to be for right here, right

now. That it's not meant to, on Monday morning,

you're like, I gotta go back to church. But you're

meant to wake up and experience him in a different

way. Because if you're here and you go, John,

this better be good because it's got to hold

me over for seven days, I got bad news for you.

You're going to be a mess in six, right? You're

going to be a mess in five. You'll be a mess

by Monday morning. And this idea of seasonal,

this idea of things that come and go, anybody

remember? Let's ask it this way. Anybody used

the pneumatic tube mailing system? And I don't

mean at the bank. I mean in a city. Anybody?

No. Good. That means you're not old. Well done.

Apparently, there was... Two tube systems between

post offices and they would send letters and

packages like in New York City underground to

one another. Like we have a version of that at

banks because banks haven't figured it out yet.

But the idea is this, that they could send it

because it was faster than going on a horse.

And so they could air compress these tubes underground.

And so it started in Philadelphia and just grew

from there. What about this? Anybody remember?

The fax machine. You're like, yeah, of course.

Isn't everybody? So I watched this thing. They

took F1 drivers, Formula 1 drivers, and they

did a generational challenge. And they took the

oldest one as 41, and the youngest one was like

18 at the time, I think. And they just used things

like a fax machine. And people are like, a fax

machine? What is that? And the 41's like, yeah,

I remember that. Here's what's interesting with

the fax machine, right? I was looking at this

and there was a leadership group. I was listening

to a podcast that used to send 900 faxes every

Monday morning all over the country. And it was

the latest tips on leadership, right? Anybody

ever use a fax machine? They're awful. They're

awful, right? They only worked half the time.

Anybody remember pagers? Okay. My daughter, when

she was born. My oldest, my wife was two weeks

late. Gentlemen, it is something you never want

to experience in your life to have your wife

two weeks late in delivering a baby. It is a

special time of life. And what I learned was

I need to be on call. So the latest thing was

a pager, right? A pager you could clip on your

pocket. I could go do landscaping and the pager

would go off and told me it was time, right?

So I was ready and they were cool back then,

right? And so you got a pager and you could call

and send little messages to it and the whole

thing, right? But what about, okay, let's go

VHS tapes. Okay, younger generations in the room

than the people that are saying yes right now,

do not bring them back. Like you would sit down

to watch a movie and put your VHS tape in and

the machine would eat your VHS, right? And you'd

spend the rest of the night trying to get it

out of the machine. And then when you played

it, it sounded like the chipmunks, right? It's

not a good time. I know it looks good and it

looks retro. It's not a good time, trust me.

Remember, anybody in here have AOL back in the

day? You got mail? Anybody still got AOL? You

got to get rid of that. You got to get rid of

that. It's time to step forward into time, right?

But just out of your cassette tapes, remember

the Walkman? Oh, man, you had a little fuzzy,

like, I don't even know what they were made out

of, the foam things on your ears. And you're

walking around, and you took your music everywhere,

and the same thing would happen. You had to take

a pencil and twist that sucker, right? You know

what's crazy with the VHS tape, though? My kids

will never know Be Kind and Rewind, right? Those

days are gone. Isn't it fascinating that things

that were so new became obsolete? Isn't it fascinating?

You had to have it. It was the thing to have.

If you're going to be the cutting edge of business,

if you're going to be the one that's out front,

and isn't it fascinating that those things, we

laugh at them now because they're obsolete to

the point where we're like, why would you ever

bring dial -up back? Just the noise alone of

dial -up. If you don't know what I'm talking

about, look it up later and listen to it. It's

a good time. But this idea of we're always, always

moving and trying to grasp something that will

make this moment better and have deeper meaning.

And that's really where we're going to sit for

a few weeks, maybe a few months. We'll see what

God does. It's the fight for meaning. Where do

I draw meaning in this life? And if you have

a Bible, we're in Ecclesiastes. Chapter one.

In Ecclesiastes chapter one, the first verse

says this, the words of the teacher, the words

of the teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem,

the words of the teacher, that word teacher is

one who gathers people. They gather people for

the purpose of telling them something. So the

teacher has gathered people and he is going to

tell people something specific. Now, there's

debate on who is actually the author. And it

comes more from modern scholars. Church tradition

puts this with Solomon, King Solomon. And yet

modern scholars have said, well, wait a minute,

this sounds like it was written years later just

judging by this stuff. But what's pretty consistent

is this, that if there's a different author,

a different teacher, what we're learning from

is the life of Solomon because he was the greatest

when it comes to discovering meaning. He was

the greatest experiment that we have. It would

make sense that it was Solomon. Here's what I

mean. That Solomon was said to be the wisest

person that ever lived. It's believed that he

spoke and wrote 3 ,000 proverbs. I don't even

have one. He wrote 3 ,000. He wrote 100 songs,

right? So you think about somebody who can create

out of words and create out of sounds, and there's

100 songs that he's put together that he built.

You talk about achievement. He built palaces.

And beyond that, he built entire cities. He built

the very temple of God, which was a monument

to God. You talk about somebody who has accomplished

some stuff. You talk about somebody who has chased

and done something in the name of God. You talk

about somebody who has success. His wealth alone,

his riches. They said gold, silver, livestock,

servants, you name it, land, he's got it. So

when you talk about wealth and what wealth can

bring, you talk about the idea of having everything

at your disposal, it makes him great for an experiment

going, can I find meaning in my stuff and in

my money? Is there something more to it if I

amass enough of it? You get to his wives. He

had 700 wives. And as if that wasn't enough,

300 concubines. Altogether, he had 1 ,000 women

in his life. Doesn't sound like the wisest man

that ever lived. I'm just going to throw that

out there. Just going to throw that out there.

But if it's found in pleasure, if meaning is

found in pleasure, then he's a great test subject

to go, tell us what you discovered. And over

the next weeks together, we're going to unfold

the life of Solomon. We're going to unfold what

this looks like to put the experiment and meaning

and the things that we're so captivated by on

planet Earth to the test of is there actually

anything there? You think about it. This guy

is the perfect test subject. I mean, whoever

is the wealthiest person that you think is the

wealthiest, Put their name in. Whatever music

icon you listen to because they're the most famous

one, put them in there. Whatever that looks like

from the innovative that can come up with something

new, put that person in there. Put the person

in there that they have ultimate success and

it's on display for all. And the man that had

everything, riches. success, achievements, women

in his life, money in his life, says this. Ecclesiastes

1 .1, the words of the teacher, son of David,

king in Jerusalem, meaningless, meaningless,

says the teacher, utterly meaningless. Everything

is meaningless. What do people gain from all

their labors at which they toil under the sun?

generations come and generations go, but the

earth remains forever. The sun rises and the

sun sets. It hurries back to where it rises.

The wind blows to the south and turns to the

north. Round and round it goes, ever returning

on its course. All streams flow into the sea,

yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams

come from, there they return again. All things

are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye

never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill

of hearing. What has been will be again. What

has been done will be done again. There is nothing

new under the sun. Is there anything of which

one can say, look, this is something new. It

was here already long ago. It was here before

our time. No one remembers the former generations

and even those yet to come will not be remembered

by those who follow them. Welcome to church.

You are glad you fought the traffic to be here

today. He starts out with meaningless, meaningless,

says the teacher. Utterly meaningless. Everything

is meaningless. We don't have a great translation

of the word. The word is hevel in the original.

And across, we use this word meaningless. Futile

is another one. But it actually carries a better

picture of smoke or vapor. And so the idea of

the word is actually found in what's created

when you try to grasp smoke or a vapor. That

what happens is the harder you grasp doesn't

help you hold on to it. So the idea is that the

word is smoke or vapor. And what we are doing

is trying to hold on to something that was never

meant to be held on to. So when you put it in

the context of the conversation. You put it in

the context of the experiment, what he's getting

at is that everything we think matters is like

trying to grab smoke and hold onto it to gain

something from it, only to open your hand and

it is empty because you cannot grasp smoke. It's

meaningless. It's a meaningless task that you

would go and try and grasp smoke, that you would

grasp a vapor. and try and hold on. So he says,

meaningless, meaningless, everything is meaningless.

Verse three, what do people gain from all their

labors at which they toil under the sun? What

do people gain from all their labors at which

they toil under the sun? That phrase under the

sun shows up some 29 times in the book of Ecclesiastes.

Under the sun is our earthly realm. It is planet

earth where we live. We are under the sun. And

so when it speaks of it, it's speaking to the

here and now, a time and place. You are anchored

in time. This is the only place that you will

be anchored in time and to a specific place.

When you think about eternity, eternity is endless.

And so the idea is, as we build this over the

next weeks together, the idea is like a tree

that has rings and the rings mark time. That

what actually the ring is doing as in this time

and this place, it's leaving a mark. What we're

saying is that we are in the fight for meaning

in this time and this place right here, right

now. Not in the fight of my parents' generation,

not in the fight of my future kids, grandkids,

great -grandkids, whatever it happens to be.

I'm here and now in this moment. And in this

moment, what is the fight for meaning? What is

it that I'm trying to hold on to? What is it

that I'm trying to gain more from in this time,

in this place? And so what's set up here is he

goes, what do people gain? That word gain. is

an accounting term, right? That when you put

all your expenses in, what is your advantage?

What is your profit? The idea of labor is all

of the activity that went into whatever it was.

And his summation is that all of your activity

and all of your resources and all of that into

the fight for meaning is meaningless. That it's

like trying to grab smoke. What do people gain

from all their labors at which they toil under

the sun? So here's how we're gonna frame this.

That we fight in this time, in this place. Just

like a tree marks the year and the season, we

fight in that space. But you are fighting every

single day for meaning. You are fighting every

single day for purpose. You are fighting every

single day. And so what happens here then is

if the fight is for meaning, what he lays out

in the next parts is where we will explore over

the weeks to come. And you could think of it

this way, that you get into the ring and verse

three is the bell is rung, the fight is on, the

fight for meaning. And what he lays out is round

one. And in round one, starting in verse four,

generations come and generations go, but the

earth remains forever. The sun rises and the

sun sets and hurries back to where it rises.

The wind blows to the south and turns to the

north. Round and round it goes, ever returning

on its course. All streams flow into the sea,

yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams

come from, there they return again. What is he

getting at? That you are here now and you are

giving all of your labor to try and gain something

in this fight for meaning. You are giving all

of your resources. You're giving everything you

have. And what he's saying is, guess what? You're

gonna do that and you're gonna die and the earth

is gonna continue on without you. That's a sobering

thought. But what he's getting us into is in

the first round of this fight, it's the fight

for control of time. It's the fight for the control

of time. It's the fight that you want to hang

on and you want to control this moment. You want

the moment to build. You want to extend time.

And the image here is that we need to have of

the sun chasing its tail. The sun never stops.

And all your toil and all your work and all your

labor is like the sun chasing its tail or the

wind going from one side and pursuing itself

in the other. And he goes, you're never going

to find the meaning you hope for. And what he's

getting at, right, what he's talking about is

in this round of the fight, that when you decide

that you're going to try and control time, it's

like grasping at smoke that's not there. That's

great. Do you do me a favor? There is somebody

that's triggering a button behind me. Why does

it matter? Because we're obsessed as humans with

trying not to age. You ever notice that? It doesn't

matter what country. It doesn't matter where

you are. Everybody's got their ways to not age.

Why? Because if I can control this space, if

I can control my life, if I can control the time

of my life, if I can control, and what it's like

is grasping smoke because guess what? You can't

control your time in your life. You don't know

if you just have this moment. And what he's saying

is, is when you try and take the moment and make

it more and extend it and have it, he goes, you

can't because generations come and generations

go. Round two is found in verse eight. All things

are wearisome. Amen, said every parent in the

room. Parents of toddlers, you're like a double

amen. You know what I'm saying? All things are

wearisome. More than one can say. nor the ear

its fill of hearing. The second round is the

fight for satisfaction. You have desires deep

inside of you that long to be satisfied. And

you will give your entire life trying to fulfill

that desire with satisfaction to be satisfied.

The idea of, you talk to an addict, right? The

idea of an addict that, will tell you, I just

thought the next one would be different. I thought

the next one would last longer. I thought the

next one, right? But it doesn't even have to

be on a substance. The person who is a workaholic,

that the achievement they have, that they told

you was the finish line, they got there and realized,

no, this isn't the finish line. There's actually

more to be had. I've got to chase the next thing.

And what they're saying is that they thought

there would be meaning in reaching and accomplishing

only to find that when they got there, it wasn't

enough and they needed something else. The eye

is never satisfied. Think about it for a second.

3 ,000 years ago, we're told the eye is never

satisfied. And what do we have today? An infinite

scroll. Why? Because that's built on the fact

that your eye will never be satisfied. Fully

what? Satisfied. You're always going to want

the next thing. So what's created around it?

An algorithm that tells you and picks up on what

you like and keep feeding you what you like,

hoping that eventually, right? Like you're like,

eventually I'll have my fill. The only problem

is you don't have your fill. I mean, you can

put this to anything in life, any desire that

you have. The desire itself is not bad. But when

I ask the desire and I pursue satisfaction and

I ask satisfaction to give me a meaning for this

moment, it was not meant to do so. And it is

like, it is like doing what? It's like grabbing

that just this time, maybe I'll be satisfied.

There's an interview with Tom Brady after he

won his third Super Bowl. And in the interview

with Brady, they, you know, are celebrating his

win. And he said, he goes on record saying, why

do I have three Super Bowl rings and still there's

something greater for me out there? How is it

that he reached the pinnacle of what he was going

for only to go, it's like grabbing smoke. It

hasn't fulfilled the way that I thought that

it would. You talk to a gold medalist. especially

a young gold medalist. They get home, and they

should be on this high, but the problem is at

21 years old, they've accomplished what they

set out to do, and now they sit there and they

go, what do I do now? Because this hasn't sustained.

The medal goes to a shelf. I saw a video, or

not a video, a picture recently. My wife was

showing me. It was an estate sale that was happening.

I don't know the man at all, but in one of the

pictures, there is a row of marathons from all

over where this person has run. I looked at the

picture and I went, they're just all medals and

he's no longer there. They're all achievements

that he gave hours and hours and hours. And something

tells me that after running the first marathon,

it wasn't enough. And that's what he's getting

at, that this idea of satisfaction and desire

will never be filled. Verse nine, what has been

will be again. What has been done will be done

again. There is nothing new under the sun. Is

there anything of which one can say, look, this

is something new. It was here already long ago.

It was here before our time. The next round of

the fight, if you like, that we all deal with

is the desire for new, the desire for better,

the desire for innovation, the desire to have

something novel. Something unique. I lived this

one out for many years. I used to show up early

in the morning, stand in line, sometimes sit

for hours on a pavement in the cold because it

was October. And that Apple phone, right, the

iPhone, it's like, guess what? This one is revolutionary.

You got to have it. And so I'm standing in line.

Why? Because I got to have the next phone. And

guess what? Next year, it's revolutionary. And

the year after, it's revolutionary. The idea

that there was something new. This one's new

and it's better. And we're searching for meaning

inside of what is new and what is better. Any

fans of The Bachelor? Not in church. I see you.

I see you. What does The Bachelor say? This is

the most dramatic season ever. We've never seen

this before. And you're like, ooh, something

new. We call them the new seasons. And we consume

them only to get done and go, it was a terrible

ending. They should have done it different. But

the idea of new, we are consumed with getting

something new. And we're not void of that in

church, by the way. If you showed up and I preached

my message from two weeks ago, some of you would

be like, ooh, that was a new word. And some of

you would be like, that's the same message you

gave two weeks ago. And if you show up next week

and I gave you the same message, and you show

up the next week and gave you the same message,

you'd be like, I'm going to go to a church where

I can get something new. But let me ask you,

have you applied what we talked about two weeks

ago yet? I don't mean that as shade. But what's

funny is you probably don't even remember what

we talked about two weeks ago. You're sitting

there like, I don't remember what the message

is about. And that's not shade on you. That's

just the... how we're built and how we're wired

and the fight we're in that it's always got to

be new and different and better. You better have

a new interpretation of the scripture. And when

we do that, when we do that, when we try to gain

meaning from something new, it is like what?

Grasping at smoke and it's pointless because

you can't hold it. You ever wonder why car companies,

if they got the best car, have to make a new

one? And you have to have it? Right? And that's

what he's getting at here. Which, by the way,

just one point on something, because somebody's

going to be like, well, John, you don't understand,

because when Elon Musk did what he did with a

rocket ship, and it went up and it parked itself,

that's new. No, it's not. It's just travel. People

have been traveling the whole time. We're just

doing it differently. Travel is travel, right?

Like the idea of something that has been, right?

You go, well, hang on, John. The tubes under

the ground, they were just communicating. Same

as what you're doing with your phone. Same as

what you're doing with your fax machine. It's

just communication in a different variety. It's

not new. It's still communication. And yet we

want to go, no, no, no, this is new. Why? Because

there's something we're trying to grasp at and

hold on to, like smoke. Verse 11. I mean, if

you aren't cheered up yet, wait for this one.

No one remembers the former generations. And

even those yet to come will not be remembered

by those who follow them. Okay. I heard this.

This is not unique to me. But when I heard it,

it marked me. Everybody has two parents, four

grandparents, eight great -grandparents. Okay,

by show of hands, both here, Baghdad, Paulding,

online fam, show of hands, who can name all eight

great -grandparents first and last name? One,

two, three. Okay, there will be a quiz. You need

to come forward at the end of this and you need

to write the names because you are the first

three that I have seen in every gathering. You

guys, we're not talking about famous people.

We're talking that you don't know. We're talking

about people who you have their DNA. And they

were only three generations ago. And you can't

even remember the names. Don't feel bad. Other

than three, nobody can. Isn't that, this blew

my mind. That my grandson, when he has kids,

their kids will not remember my name. And yet

round four is the fight, the round where legacy,

everybody is trying to build a legacy. Everybody

wants to be remembered. Everybody is fighting

to have significance. Everybody wants. to have

a life that was bigger than just your time on

planet earth. And we're trying to find meaning

and build. Don't believe me? There is a ballroom

being built. Right? Like we're trying to establish

this earth and a memory and people remember us

and know our name and be, right? Like this is

not new. They did a survey recently. It's interesting.

We call people influencers. They did a survey

amongst high school and middle school students

of what careers would you like to have? 60 %

said they would like to be an influencer. Students

don't feel bad. 44 % of everybody said they want

to be an influencer. And when asked why, famous

and make money. I want to be known. I want to

be known. Everybody got to know my name. Kobe

Bryant, right? Kobe takes an off season or in

the off season. He decided he needed to score

more points. And in 2001, the end of the 2000

season, 2001, it's believed that he put on 12

pounds of muscle so that he could be bigger in

the box, so to speak, so that he could score

more points. Kobe came out of that season and

did just what he wanted. I'd be curious if anybody

can quote the stat of that season on his scoring

points. Right, like what was he doing? I'm gonna

establish my name. I'm gonna win more, right?

Like, and he gave an entire off season to gain

meaning from a point scoring number that now

people are like, he did what? Back then, I gotta

look it up to remember. What does he say? No

one remembers the former generations. When we

try to make legacy something and we are going

to gain meaning from our name being known, it

is like what? It is like grabbing smoke and trying

to hold on to it. When I find my significance

in being known by people, Which right now we

have flags at half mast for a lady who passed

away. That in two generations won't even have

a clue who she was. It is like trying to grasp

smoke that disappears. Turn to John chapter 10.

John 10 · chapter mention

Because where we're going is the antidote. where

we'll be for the next weeks, is speaking specifically

into each of these rounds and inside of the rounds.

Well, what's the answer, John? What's the answer

if it's all meaningless? And in John 10, 10,

it says this, Jesus speaking about the good shepherd

and being the good shepherd, the thief comes

only to steal, kill, and destroy. He would love

to take your life. He would love to take your

life and make it meaningless. But notice what

Jesus says. I have come that they may have life

and have it to the full. So Jesus goes, hey,

the reason I came for humanity, this struggling

down here in this time and space, the reason

I came and stretched out my arms and let them

put me on a cross, the reason I took your sin,

humanity, and put it on me, the reason I took

all your brokenness, The reason I took everything

that separated you from God and put it on me

is so that I could put it to death for you. Why?

So that you can have life and life to the full.

That word full, some translate it abundant. That

word full is more than enough. What Jesus is

saying is this moment in this space and time.

can be more than enough for you because he's

giving it back to you. The enemy would love to

steal it and make it about something else. And

in this moment, he is giving back to you. So

what's the antidote? It's that Jesus makes me

present right here, right now. You get to be

present in the moment. Why? Because you're not

trying to extract something greater from the

moment than just the moment. We're not trying

to make the moment more than what the moment

is. We're not trying to get some meaning and

some significance. We're not trying to control

the moment. We're just present in the moment.

And that's more than enough. That you can have,

we'll read in Ecclesiastes as this continues,

that you can have joy in this moment. When you

don't make everything deep, all of a sudden I

can be present and have joy. I'm not trying to

fight and work and I can just be present and

go in this moment. There is joy that I receive

from Jesus to be present and be joyful no matter

what is going on. Why? Because I got a savior

that if he can go to a cross and take care of

all of that, he can take care of this moment.

And so I get to just be present and I get to

just have joy. And his more than enough means

I'm not trying to grab and control. I'm not trying

to grasp for smoke. I'm not trying to make the,

I get to just let go. That even though I don't

know how everything works out, it's more than

enough right here, right now because of Jesus.

And I get to just be present with joy and let

go. And it allows me, it allows me, don't miss

it. It allows me to enjoy the moment. I promise

I didn't do this for sermon illustration. I was

in my backyard this week and I had this little

guy hanging out. That's my grandson, Beckham.

And he's just hanging out. We're in the backyard.

It's that time of day when the sun's just perfect

for pictures. And so I'm like, I'm just going

to take pictures of the kid. I'm just going to

take as many pictures as I can take. And so I

channeled some of my inner Simon, who is our

production director for the whole church, right?

Like, you can give it up for Simon. He's actually

doing sound today. He loves to take pictures.

He's a good follow on Instagram when you need

to just scroll. But I was like, I'm going to

capture my inner Simon and take the best pictures

I can. So I'm just taking pictures. And we bought

Beckham something. It's in the next picture.

And the man went to work, right? We're like,

train up a child the way he should go. Put him

to work. He's going to mow his grandpa's yard.

And so we give him, and he just loves to push

things. And so he's doing his work. And as he's

pushing this, what he begins to notice is what

comes out of it, and we got it in the next picture,

are bubbles. And he's so excited for the bubbles,

right, that he starts to run around in the next

picture, and he's got, I mean, he's just chasing

wherever they go, right? And he's just after

these bubbles. And in fact, one of them ends

up in the next picture. It ends up landing on

his head. Look at the joy. You didn't have to

tell him to be joyful. Why? Because he's just

present. And what I love is when the bubbles

disappear, he just goes back to work. And he

doesn't know he's working because his work's

not really work because he's just present. And

the bubbles come up again. And he chases them.

What happens when you grab a bubble? It pops.

That's Havel. It just disappears. Because a bubble,

we would all tell Beckham, a bubble was never

meant to be held onto. It's to be experienced.

It's to be present. Team, you can come on out

because I believe what this picture is, you guys,

is what we should be right now. I believe we

should be just present right here, right now.

And by being fully present, I don't have to worry

about all the things and trying to get more out

of this. You don't have to worry about none of

that. You just get to be present. Like a little

kid chasing a moment, a bubble. You get to have

joy. What would it look like in this moment to

be present and just have joy that God made you?

That he loves you, that he is for you, that he

is kind, that he is gracious, that he saved you.

And the life that he gives you is more than enough,

which means you're more than enough right now,

right here. And you just get to. Be present and

with joy sing. And you get to let go because

it's not that deep. If you suck at singing, it

doesn't matter. It's going to disappear anyways.

But you get to just let go because you don't

have to make the moment more than what it is.

I'm just here and I'm present and I'm joyful

and I get to worship so I can let go and I get

to enjoy my God that I was created for. I've

had a song in my head all week creating this,

like in the background to this message and it's

this. Who am I that you keep me on my mind? God,

I am just grateful for you. And I get to just

be present and go, God, I'm just grateful. This

life is more than enough and I can be here and

I can have joy. I can let go and I can enjoy

because God, I'm just grateful for you. Would

you stand and worship with us?