Following the Way

Good morning, church.

It is great to see everybody that's um in person this morning in this room and uh excited to to be with our church family that's online.

I know uh many people have yet to feel comfortable to come back uh personally, or maybe maybe for a specific reason.

You're not here this morning.

I I want to live with Larry.

Uh my friend Larry is at home, uh is down in his back, and uh praying for you, Larry, and so thankful for um uh people like Ken and Gail Fraker who who have given so much to this church, but it's a season where they're careful about their health.

Shirley Hayes, Kevin Gibson.

Um, I could go on and on.

And um I I think of um uh one of the one of the ladies that's in our uh community group that I'm in, Dana Seeger, um, you know, is is worshiping at home weekly because of being cautious about uh about COVID.

And so many of you, for whatever reason, maybe you don't feel comfortable coming back.

We care about you, we care about um each and every one of you.

And and if I haven't met you, my name is Russ.

Excited to have everybody that's here.

I do, if you're if you're here for the first time, we want to encourage you to go by the desk out in the lobby, and there's a gift that Pat will give to you.

And um you can go online and fill out what we call an encounter card through the Church at the Grove app.

We also began a uh a season of 21 days reading through the gospels and and praying and fasting.

And so on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings, and I this may be early for some of you guys, but we've recorded it where you can access it at any time.

We've been meeting at 6 a.m.

and we've had 30, 35 people that have been on Zoom calls together, praying together.

Um some of you are fasting.

You might be fasting food, you might be fasting social media, you might be fasting politics, um, it might be whatever it is you're fasting um uh during this season, but it's a time for us to press pause and to acknowledge that God is on his throne and he's in control.

Maybe it's a time for us to press pause and to acknowledge that people and politics and platforms do not make for good idols.

And idols eventually will crumble.

And so the only thing that will stand in the end is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and his kingdom.

And let me say, I love my country.

I am a patriot.

I I stand for the national anthem, but you know what else?

I'm willing to kneel and repent.

If I am tempted to make my allegiance to a nation on this planet ahead of my allegiance to my citizenship that is in heaven.

And so we've got to be reminded of these things.

When I was uh probably uh maybe I don't know, 18, 19, 20 years old, I remember my dad bought our first VCR.

And this was right when VCRs came out.

And by the way, if you don't know what a VCR is, um, it's a video recorder.

Um and and we used to have these VHS tapes that would fit into the VCR.

And the very first VCR that my dad bought, it also functioned as a coffee table because it was so big.

I mean, it really was.

I mean, we we couldn't fit it under the TV.

I mean, it had to sit beside, you know, it was so big.

And and but we thought we were big stuff.

As a matter of fact, my friends, we were, we were, my, by the way, we were a middle class family, and by no means were we wealthy whatsoever, but uh maybe it shows where my dad's priorities were.

But we were one of the first families that I knew that had a VCR.

And so even I had a friend, Deanna, that one time she introduced me as her friend that had a VCR.

I thought that was rather strange, but that's that's she said, Hey, this is my friend Russ.

His family has a VCR.

That's cool, all right.

You know, it's it's I I I didn't know it was that big of a deal.

But but and the strange thing is the only thing you could do with a VCR from sitting on a couch or sitting somewhere um in else in the house is you could you could press play or you could press pause.

If you if you wanted to do anything else, you had to get up and walk over to the VCR.

If you wanted to put in something to record, or if you wanted to put in something to play, you had to get up.

If you wanted to turn it on, you had to get up.

If you wanted to turn it off, you had to get up.

If you wanted to change the channel, you had to get up.

There was this wire connected to the VCR that was connected to this little button, and all it allowed you to do from your seat is to press play or to press pause.

That's all it was good for.

And so y'all remember when you watch sports or you watch TV, and and literally you you you were so afraid of missing something that was coming up.

If you had to go to the restroom, you waited for a commercial.

You remember that?

Now today, if you're if you're watching, if you're watching football and you wait for a TV time out, you can go to the bathroom, you can cook lunch, eat lunch, go back to the bathroom, and then come back, and then the TV timeout still is still not over.

I mean, that's just, you know, but but that's that's a whole nother thing.

But but the whole the whole thing is today's in today's culture, all we've got to do is press pause.

We don't have to miss anything.

All we've got to do is press pause.

And I think there's a lesson there.

And what's happening in our culture as we begin a new year 2021, as we look back at a year that we will not miss, we let's press pause and let's be reminded.

That's what that's what why we're going through 21 days through the gospel.

Press pause.

Let's be reminded of who's in control, um, who is the author and the finisher of our faith, and who is on the throne.

Let's press pause.

Why do you fast?

Because when you hunger or you long for something, it reminds you, oh, I'm I'm I'm going after, I'm pushing after, I'm pressing forward after something that really can't fulfill me.

So let me press pause and let me starve that and let me be reminded that Jesus is my bread and he is my portion.

He is the bread of life, he is He is the water that will that will allow me to have never have to thirst again.

He is the living water.

And so press pause.

And so prayer.

Prayer is when when you say, you know what, I I am anxious, I am stressed, I I'm I I look at the world events, press pause.

Jesus, I need you.

I acknowledge you.

You are good and you are faithful.

My son, my son Caleb is 15, he's back in the broadcast room, and and we we had just one of those great conversations this week, looking at world events, looking at what happened in our nation's capital this week, and and and you could tell he he he was he was trying to reflect and think through it, and I said, Caleb, now let me just remind you, and we walk through the history, um uh history of America, but we also looked at the history of the world, and I and I said, Caleb, this this is this is not a uh a unique time in the history of the world.

It's not a unique time in the history of our of our country.

Our country has been through crisis after crisis after crisis, and and so so the world has gone through crisis after crisis after crisis.

We need to be reminded that Jesus is on his throne.

And let's press pause and let's be reminded.

Maybe, maybe, maybe as we look at at New Year's resolutions, and I'm all about you know uh fresh starts and and eating right and getting your body into shape and getting your finances under control.

Do all those things.

Nothing wrong with those things.

Lifestyle adjustments are are hugely important.

And and and and and it's it's it's important for you to uh be reminded of how you can have fresh starts in all areas of your life, but don't dismiss the need for a spiritual adjustment and for repentance that's needed, and for us to go back to the heart of God and be reminded that really we should be concerned and we should be burdened over the things that concern and burden our Lord.

And so the big idea this morning, as a matter of fact, if you want to experience the life of Jesus, because that's really what we want to press for.

That's why when you press pause, you say, okay, all right, all right, 21 days through the gospels, let's look at the life of Jesus.

Hey, let's let's starve ourselves a little bit from something that that is that is that is that we become dependent upon, this outside of the Spirit of God.

Let's press pause and let's fast and and and let's let's pray and let's depend on God.

Let's lean in to Him, let's get on our knees, let's get on our faces.

And if you want to experience the life of Jesus, if we read the Gospels, you have to adopt the lifestyle of Jesus.

And Jesus had this ability to press pause when he needed to.

Listen, you look at your life, everything that you've set up in your life is perfectly designed for the results that you've been getting.

Every system is perfectly designed to get the results that it gets.

And so if we want change, we've got to be willing to adjust.

If you want to get unstuck, you've got to be willing to loosen something up and make some type of adjustment.

Matter of fact, some people said, somebody has said this, and I don't know where who to give credit to it, but if you keep doing the same thing over and over and you expect the same result, if you expect different results, that is the definition of insanity.

To do the same thing over and over and expect different results, it's insanity.

And so we want to look at Jesus, who says, listen to what Jesus says.

He says, He says, Come to me, all you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke.

And I explained a couple weeks ago, we we looked at this verse, and I explained the yoke and how two oxen would be yoked together.

He said, Take my yoke upon you, let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy to bear, and my burden I give you is light.

Now, I want to read this out of what's called the message translation, which is Eugene Peterson, this great theologian.

Um took the New and the Old Testaments and he he translated them while trying to maintain as much accuracy as he could.

He translated them into what I would refer to as street language.

I love it.

So I'm gonna read the same set of verses out of out of Eugene Peterson's translation, the message.

He says, Are you tired, worn out, burned out on religion?

Come to me, get away with me.

You'll recover your life.

I'll show you how to take a real rest.

Walk with me and work with me.

Watch how I do it.

Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.

I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.

Keep company with me, and you'll learn to live freely and lightly.

Can we just all take a deep breath?

Oh, that's good, that's good food for the soul, isn't it?

I mean, I could, I could, I could just pray, and that would be enough.

But you're not that lucky this morning.

The promise for Jesus is rest.

It's not a vacation, time off from work, rest.

It's not just a fantastic night of sleep, rest, which we all want and long for, but it's a true rest.

That is a heavenly rest, it is a spiritual rest, it is a God-given rest.

It is freedom from anxiety, it is freedom from worry, it is freedom from fear, and it is the kind of rest that we as the church need to lean into.

And my prayer is that the church, through this yoking up with Jesus and this rest for our weary souls, that we would be awakened and refreshed and revived, and that the weary world would look at the church and be able to see that the answers that it's longing for maybe through the ballot box, through bullets, through bombs, through unrest, it's only found through the yoking together with Jesus and the way of Jesus.

You want the life of Jesus, adjust your lifestyle to the lifestyle of Jesus.

He was never too busy.

He was never too busy.

And so let's look at this passage.

And that's a long introduction, which scares you, I'm sure, but but but let's look, Mark chapter 5.

Mark 5 · chapter mention

And we're gonna look at this passage.

And listen, sometimes, listen, even believers have to be hit in the head with the brick that the Holy Spirit provides for us.

Listen, this is reading through the gospels this past uh week.

Um, Matthew chapter 16.

Matthew 16 · chapter mention

Jesus takes his disciples up to Caesarea Philippi and he takes them to what's called the gates of Hades.

And it's a place I've been to in Israel, and they believed it's where hell, the gates of hell, uh, existed there.

And he he took his disciples to that place.

He turned to his disciples and he said, Who do people say that I am?

And his disciples said, Well, some say you're Elijah, some say you're John the Baptist, some say you you're you're another prophet.

And then he said, he said to his disciples, Who do you say that I am?

And who spoke up?

The big-mouth Peter spoke up, right?

I mean, he always was just quick to speak out.

He said, You you're the Christ, you're the Messiah, Messiah.

You you're the one.

You're the one he's acknowledging.

You are the Lord.

And he says, based on what you just said, I will build my church.

Your name is no longer Simon, your name is Peter, which is Petra, which is rock.

And on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of hell, as he pointed to them, will not prevail against it.

And so we need that reminder, don't we?

But do you know that they just like the next little section of scripture?

Jesus starts telling them, I'm about to have to go and give my life up.

I'm gonna be arrested, I'm gonna be crucified.

And Jesus, here this is what it says.

He just acknowledges you are the Messiah.

And then it says, Jesus rebuked, I mean, Peter rebuked Jesus.

Peter, rebuke the Lord.

No, you're not, they're not gonna kill you.

And what did he say?

He just had told him, on this rock, your name is changed.

And what you just said, I'm gonna build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

But this time he says, get behind me, Satan.

So in one minute you can be walking with the Spirit, and the next minute you've got a brick upside the head reminding you.

That's called humanity.

That's free.

That would be part of the sermon.

The point is that we've got to be walking in tune with the Spirit.

And our example is Jesus.

So Jesus in Matthew chapter 5, he's just cast out these demons, this legion of demons from this one man, and he cast them into a herd of pigs.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

The pigs run off the cliff into the water.

The community in the Decapolis, which was on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee, they they tell Jesus to leave.

We don't want you.

You've just ruined our economy.

And so Jesus crosses back over.

And it says in verse 21, Jesus got in the boat again and went back to the other side of the lake where a large crowd gathered around him on the shore.

So these crowds, they were always following Jesus.

He had performed miracles, he had cast out demons, he had healed people, he had fed thousands.

And so you think the creator of the universe is a busy man, right?

He's a busy, he is a busy being.

He has a lot on his plate.

I mean, Jesus, I mean, here's, listen, if Jesus, 21st century Jesus, he's a oh, so-and-so texted me.

I gotta I gotta respond right now.

I gotta I gotta text, uh, I got the Holy Spirit just texted me, I gotta text him back right now.

Okay, uh Abraham just texted me, I gotta text Tim, I gotta text, I gotta text John and Jane, I gotta, and so this is Jesus walking around, right?

Because he, important people walk around responding to important messages.

That's just that's how we're wired.

No, you know what Jesus did?

He was he was sensitive at the same time to the Spirit of God and to the people around him.

Listen, Jesus knew how to press pause.

And the large crowd is gathered around him.

It says in verse 22, then a leader of the local synagogue, whose name was Jarius, arrived, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet, pleading fervently with him, My little daughter is dying.

He said, Please come and lay your hands on her.

Heal her so she can live.

Jesus pressed pause.

The next verse is, Jesus went with him.

Jesus went with him.

Sensitivity to the Spirit of God, sensitivity to the people around him.

Now, there's I could I could tell you uh what who Jarius was, I could explain to you how he was a leader in the Jewish culture and the Jewish religious life, and by approaching Jesus, who was an outsider, would have compromised his position and his leadership.

I could I could go into detail and how how significant all that is, but that's not the point.

The point is Jesus' response.

The point is who Jesus is.

Jesus pressed pause and went with him.

He went with him.

And it says, all the people followed, crowding around him.

So here, Jesus is walking, he's crowding around.

Jared makes it through the crowd.

Jesus, I need you.

I need you.

My my daughter is dying.

He presses pause.

Okay, I'm going with you.

He allowed interruptions into his life.

It wasn't, let me check my schedule, let me see what's next on the agenda.

But here's where it gets interesting.

So Jesus is responding to an emergency, and then all of a sudden, there's another emergency.

Verse 25 a woman in the crowd had suffered for 12 years with constant bleeding.

Suffered a great deal for many doctors, and over the years she had spent everything she had got.

She had to pay them, but she had gotten no better.

In fact, she had gotten worse.

She had heard about Jesus.

She had heard about Jesus.

She'd heard about Jesus.

She didn't hear about religion.

She didn't hear about, you know, the church.

She didn't hear about she didn't, she didn't hear about a system.

She didn't hear about a political party.

She she heard about Jesus.

So she came up behind him through the crowd and she touched his robe.

Now, I could stop and I could teach you about what she was going through physically and how what she was going through physically made her ceremonially unclean.

And because she was ceremonially unclean, she couldn't go to worship at the temple.

She couldn't be around people.

She had to isolate herself.

I could go into great detail about everything that this woman had had to go through because of her physical condition, which she had no control over.

And it made her an outcast.

I'm not going to go into great detail.

I want you to focus on what Jesus does.

I want you to focus on what Jesus does.

She reaches out and she says, if I could just touch the hem of his garment, I could tell you about that garment and how it was a prayer shawl.

And on the end of that prayer shawl, it had little tassels, and those tassels are called C and it refers to an Old Testament passage about how the Messiah would come with healing in his wings.

And that's how she knew if I could just touch the hem of his garment.

But here's the focus.

Immediately the bleeding stopped, and she could feel in her body that she'd been healed of her terrible condition.

That's a mirror, is that not a miracle?

What a blessing of a miracle.

But listen what look what look at how Jesus responds.

Jesus realizes at once.

Now he's already responding to one emergency over here.

Another emergency approaches him over here.

He realized at once that healing power had gone out from him.

So he turned around in the crowd and he asked, Who touched my robe?

I mean, this massive, had to be massive group of people.

And he feels somebody touch his robe.

He was aware at the same time of the work of his heavenly father and the needs of the people around him.

So much that all these people pressing in that he feels power and healing flow out.

And let me tell you that this woman, she had faith.

And she knew she's not even supposed to be around people.

She is supposed to stay away from people because of her condition.

Because of her being ceremonially unclean.

But let me tell you what, she knew who she knew who Jesus was, and she's throwing elbows to get to him.

That's what it means to press pause.

I've tried the Sadducees, I've tried everybody in between.

I've tried the religious system.

I've tried any and everything I could try to find an answer to my dilemma.

I'm getting to Jesus.

And so he stops.

Now remember, he was on his way to heal, he was on his way to address the emergency that Jarius had with his daughter dying.

He stops for the next emergency.

He says, Who has touched me?

Who has has drawn this power out of me?

Verse 31, his disciples said to him, Look at this crowd pressing around you.

How can you ask who touched me?

But he kept on looking around to see who had done it.

And then the frightened woman, trembling at the realization of what had happened to her, came and fell to her knees in front of him and told him what she had done.

And he said to her, Daughter, your faith has made you well.

Go in peace.

Your suffering is over.

Now the word well, it's why you gotta, it's good study.

You get you a good study, Bible, because this is it.

I'm gonna tell you, you don't have to go to seminary to tell to find out what I'm trying to tell you here in a second.

All you gotta have is a good study Bible.

That word well is the word sozo in the Greek, and it literally means to save.

It is spiritual salvation.

So he's saying, your faith has saved you.

Your faith has has given you spiritual salvation.

Your faith has now reconciled you with your heavenly father.

You have eternal life.

You're not just healed physically, you have eternal life, eternal hope.

You've been reconciled with your heavenly father.

You've been healed of the separation that sinful humanity has had to endure since the beginning of human rebellion and sin in the garden.

You are saved.

Then he says, Go in peace.

Your suffering is over.

So he's saying you're eternally well, and now you are physically well.

Now, I'm part Pentecostal.

So that's where I'd be like, yes, I need some of that.

Come on.

Hallelujah.

Somebody say amen.

Is anybody with me?

Come on.

Where's my organ player?

He is not rushed.

Jesus is not in a hurry.

He's in control.

He is aware of the work of the Spirit.

He is aware of the people around him.

If we want the life of Jesus, we've got to press into the lifestyle of Jesus.

We sometimes got to press pause.

And so it says, while he now, see, see, if I'm Jarius, I'm like, okay, man, she just got everything I was supposed to get.

While he was still speaking to her, messengers arrived from the home of Jarus, the leader of the synagogue.

They told him, Your daughter is dead.

There's no use troubling the teacher.

Now, can you imagine?

How he would have felt.

But in verse 36, but Jesus overheard them and said to Jarus, don't be afraid, just have faith.

So if you keep reading, you'll find out that his daughter is healed.

God is able to do two things at one time and he is present spiritually and physically.

He is with us.

He is in control.

So here's the question: how do we press into the lifestyle of Jesus?

It's through understanding that if we want the life of Jesus, we've got to press into the lifestyle of Jesus, which means sometimes we've got to be willing to press pause.

We've got to be willing to allow for interruptions.

And the reality is most of us are too busy to follow Jesus.

Now that's not counting the guy after he's 21 and he's still living in his mother's basement, how many hours he continues to play video games.

When he should be getting a job, finding a good wife, and moving forward to expand the kingdom of God by sharing the gospel and living out what it means to have a family.

Now, does that mean that video games are evil?

Not necessarily.

My children have played video games, but but there is that that's that's the only good thing about Alexa right now is we say, Alexa, would you set a timer for 10 minutes?

Say, hey, get up, get off the video game.

I'm almost done.

I'm almost done.

Well, I'm almost done means two hours.

Alexa, set a timer for 10 minutes.

And I don't, you know, I I can't remember what is what's the sound it makes.

Alexa, the alarm goes off.

It's time, it's time to get off.

If not, Mama ain't gonna be happy.

If mom ain't happy, nobody's happy.

So we're gonna do what mama says.

So you could have mastered a language with 10,000 hours, you could earn a master's degree, you could have had, you could have all kinds of you know accomplishments in life, but rather than being called doctor, you know how to play Call of Duty.

The average American spends 705 hours a year on social media, 2,737.5 hours watching TV and the movies, and and I'm not, listen, we I want you to know this.

I'm gonna remind you next week, we are not a church that is legalistic.

It is not it is not evil to watch TV.

You know, it's not evil.

We're not, we're just not that that we're not that kind of church.

I I'm, you know, I I have things that I enjoy watching.

I love to enjoy sports, and there's things that I enjoy.

But here's here's what the apostle Paul says.

He says, look carefully, then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.

Do you get this?

Do you hear me?

This idea of the days are evil, that idea of unrest.

It's nothing new.

This is 2,000 years ago that Paul would have written this.

And it's not that we need more time, it's that we need to press pause and we need to be sensitive to what the what the Spirit is guiding us to do and be aware of what the needs of the people around us are.

So, how do you practice the way of Jesus?

You know, I'm gonna go back to last week.

And and let's lean in to the 21 days that we're reading through the gospels.

If you weren't here last week or if you're behind, just pick up.

Just start reading Matthew, or you can go look at the reading plan that we have through our website and just pick up with today or tomorrow.

Just start somewhere.

Don't be overwhelmed.

Don't allow, don't allow the guilt that the enemy wants you to feel uh to be part of your life.

See, the Holy Spirit will convict you.

The enemy wants to to to to to put guilt and shame upon you.

And so slow down.

One of the things we can do is is to build in and and and some silence and some solitude.

Silence and solitude.

It's just, listen, you're not, you're not reading, you're not watching.

The other day, Jill walked through the house, and I was sitting in my in my den and I think she was just caught by surprise.

Nothing was on.

I didn't have a book in my lap, which, you know, would be two common things.

And she said, What are you doing?

But I mean, which tells me that I need, you know, that I I this is she's caught by surprise.

She shouldn't be.

And I said, I'm thinking.

I'm sitting here thinking.

I'm I'm I'm wrestling.

I'm going over in my mind some things that the Lord has put on my heart.

And so sometimes we will not hear how the Holy Spirit is leading us to be sensitive to somebody's life until we shut everything else off and we can really lean in to his voice.

And practice the Sabbath.

God put this rhythm in place in the beginning of time to be a principle, to be a rhythm, to be a guide, not to be a legalistic practice.

That doesn't have, I mean, if you go to Israel, I've been to Israel, it's very unusual to be in Israel on a Friday night and to be with a Jewish brother, a messianic follower of Jesus, and he says, by the way, um, it's going to be dark in an hour and a half.

If you need anything, we need to go to the store right now.

Because as soon as the sun goes down, everything shuts down in the whole country.

I mean, they still practice that.

Now they don't they don't practice it maybe for the same reason that we would.

Everything is closed until sundown on Saturday.

And so they all stop and they pause, and it's a reminder.

We've got a creator, he's in control.

And so for us, it's not meant to be legalism, it's meant to be a rhythm where we press pause to acknowledge that God is in control and to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit's guidance and to the needs of people around us.

It's fun to watch your faces.

No telling what people are feeling like online.

I mean, I that this is a unique part of being physically present, but also ministering using technology, is we're we're uncomfortable.

We think something's wrong.

But sometimes in the silence, God speaks the loudest.

Even as we're quiet, even as we're sensitive to the Holy Spirit's leading, I'm gonna ask them to come and to prepare to lead us into a time where we respond to what God has spoken.

Now you can you can dismiss what God has said, and you can maybe check off that you've done your duty by being a part of church.

Or you can say, God, would you continue to speak and guide and lead me?

And let's pray for us for God's leadership and how we are sensitive to the spirit and to the needs of our people.

And as you look at the events of this past week, what we've done is we've lost our compass and connection to the Holy Spirit.

And we've placed our trust in systems or people.

And it and what I think our world and our nation needs is a great awakening.

And I don't know if it'll look like the first Great Awakening or the Second Great Awakening, or it might look a little bit like the Jesus movement of the early 70s.

It might look like a revival that you've experienced.

I was part of a church in the early 80s that experienced a revival that started with young people and exploded into a community.

And so I don't know what it what it will look like, but I'm telling you, it will look different because we'll begin to love people the way that Jesus loves them, and and it'll it will have a rippling effect.

I'm telling you, we got to start somewhere.

And we might as well start right here and say, Father, I repent of busyness, I repent of putting my faith in systems, I repent of being hurried.

I repent of putting my hope and my time and my energy in things that do not have eternal value.

And Father, I want to slow down and I want to be sensitive to the life of Jesus, and I want to press into the lifestyle that he modeled where I can be able to hear the Holy Spirit guide me and respond to the needs of those around me.

Father, may you bring revival, may you break our hearts for what breaks your heart?

Would you begin a fresh move, a fresh work of your spirit?

May it start with your people, and may it bear the fruit of your Holy Spirit.

It's in Jesus' name, I pray.