Navigating Normal: Just Like Us | Part 1

Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast.

We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ.

Thanks for tuning in.

Today we're kicking off a brand new series called Navigating Normal.

How do we navigate the normal we now find ourselves in that we're now living and going through?

You know, over the COVID seasons of things, I picked up a new hobby.

Some of you picked up bread making, uh, but I picked up a new hobby, and the hobby was golf.

Um, I'm not a golfer, I kind of golfed like once a year and thought, like, okay, it's something I can do with my dad, uh, my wife likes it because it's something I can do and not get hurt, uh, which is a fantastic deal.

Um, and also, you know, having just torn my Achilles five months ago, this is something I can do.

Uh, and even I I played even in a boot uh a little bit, probably not wise, but still did that.

Anyways, and so I hate being bad at stuff.

I hate it.

I'm fiercely competitive, and I'd play with guys and I'm terrible.

Like if you play once a year, you're not gonna be good.

Uh and so um I got you know a new pair of clubs.

I only had my dad's hand-me-down, so now I felt like an adult golfer because I own my own clubs.

Uh, and then I got you know, golf attire.

In fact, I asked um, I put them on this morning and I was like, Ginny, how's it look?

She's like, no, uh, you know, you can't go to church like that.

That'll just be distracting.

And I was so like sad.

I'm like, serious?

I was like, I wanted to show off my like Lululemon golf pants.

Yeah, I have Lululemon golf pants, hello, and they're fabulous, by the way.

Uh and I I got because if you can't play well, you might as well look good and play bad, you know, and look the part.

And I look the I look like a golfer.

I look good, gang.

You should have seen it.

One day you'll see me when my wife's out of town.

Um and so um I started doing this.

I'm like, okay, gotta practice.

Uh I've played athletics, you know, sports my whole life.

And so I got these little foam golf balls, and um I went into my backyard and I'd be start to you know take some practice, and I'd hit the golf balls, uh, these little orange and yellow foam golf balls over my house, you know.

Uh so if you're walking past my house, all of a sudden you might see like this foam ball like flying over, and I'd hit them over and then walk around to the front and try to find them everywhere.

So I don't know what all of my neighbors thought.

Or I tried to hopefully, you know, but I'm walking around with a club in my hand and just kind of pacing up and down the street, trying to find these golf balls everywhere that I'm hitting.

Um, and and then I realized I it's getting expensive because I kept losing these foam golf balls because I had no idea where they went.

Uh so then I got a net, okay?

And so I got this net now that I have a golf, you know.

I actually I hit a few this morning, if I'm honest.

Um, and I I go back there and I and I practice.

I've been practicing for months.

And I'd go out and play, and it I wasn't really any better.

So then I'd watch YouTube videos, right?

That's what you do when you want to learn something.

You watch YouTube videos and Instagram videos and watching all these things, and I kept trying as hard as I could, and as hard as I tried, I still was not making, I was making incremental at best progress uh in my golf game.

And uh at Christmas time, my dad got me golf lessons for Christmas.

Now, because of my Achilles, I wasn't able to utilize those lessons until August.

And so in August, I took my very first golf lesson, and it was amazing.

He asked me, so what do you want to learn?

You know, and I was like, Everything?

Is that a thing?

Like, can I just start from the beginning?

And he said, Well, swing.

And he said, Wow, okay, we'll start from the beginning.

Hello.

And then he began to walk me through there's position one.

I'm like, oh, really?

Position one.

And he's like, well, when you do it, your golf club's like that, and you're there's no way you're gonna hit it.

I'm like, really?

Okay, so you this way, and then position two.

And he began to walk me through the entire step by step.

And here's the reality.

I think many of us in this season that we're in and navigating, we're really trying hard.

We're really working hard.

We're we're we're we're hoping that we can just make it through, do better, figure out what to do with the emotions inside, what to do with the anxiety, with the character stuff, with the relationship, and we're really trying hard, but if we're honest, we're just making so little progress.

And then you do what I do in that case, right?

It we put on our best attire, post it on Instagram so everybody thinks we're actually doing well, but on the inside, we're struggling.

And the reality is nobody prepared you to enter into a pandemic in the last 18 months and the chaos, right?

Nobody gave you a preparation and said, hey, here's what's headed, and nobody taught you how to navigate the season we're living in, and to compound it, here's something that a word that we've been using that actually is holding us back.

It was actually 2020's word of the year for uh the people's choice of word, uh word it was.

It was unprecedented.

Remember that?

Remember hearing that like every other day?

This is unprecedented times.

Aren't you tired of hearing unprecedented?

Like, seriously, shut up, okay?

But the truth is, these are not unprecedented times.

These are not new or unique to all of history.

They are new to us, but they're not new to history.

In fact, history is replete with these times, and God's word speaks powerfully, insightfully, and authoritative in how to navigate these days, how to navigate the normal we now find ourselves in.

And what we want to do for the next few weeks is actually study the life of Elijah, a prophet.

We'll unpack who he was in just a second, and discover together how do we navigate these days together?

How do we actually not just keep trying harder, doing the same thing, hoping to get better, but you're never really making progress?

How do we have God's word then lead and guide and give us the lessons we need to navigate well?

In fact, here's what I want to talk about today as we wrestle with this.

Like, why is it trying hard?

In the areas that matter most, it kind of hardly ever works.

You ever notice that?

You've experienced that.

I'm not talking about at work, I'm not talking about in some of these kind of you know practical applications, I'm talking about your character.

I'm talking about, you know, the areas of anxiety or uh fear or worry or some of those core relationships, and you've really tried hard.

You spent the time, you're like, I'm working so hard at this, but it's hardly working.

God wants to speak into that today, Lord Jesus.

I ask that you would speak to us, that your word would come alive, that that you would move with power, that we would be attentive, and you would be our teacher, you would be our golf coach in life.

And God, would you help us to soak that in and be transformed by you in Jesus' name, amen.

So let's talk about Elijah because he lived and walked through a time not too unlike the time that we have experienced.

Listen, we're gonna spend the next few weeks looking and doing a character study of the prophet Elijah.

We find his story in 1 Kings chapter 17 through 19 and also parts of 2 Kings there.

1 Kings 17 · chapter mention

Uh, and the book of 1 Kings and 2 Kings originally was just one big book that he just broke up into two books to make it manageable, and all it is is telling about the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah.

And if you read it, it's kind of a depressing book because it's the kings that really straight away from God made lots of bad decisions, and over and over you just see one bad king after another bad king after another bad king.

Then you have a good king, you're like, oh, Josiah, oh, we're so glad you're here, and then another bad king.

That's the book of kings, and the prophet Elijah shows up in this story of Israel around 9th century BC.

Now, we don't know a whole lot about uh Elijah's origins, his family, um, but we do know that he he was a bit eccentric, dressed in this, you know, kind of hair garment that eventually became known as, you know, the uh the garb of a prophet.

You know, he was uh much like think how we talked about John the Baptist uh years later, before Jesus there, his name means my God is Yahweh.

Elijah means my God is Yahweh.

And it simplified his ministry was declaring, Israel, your God is Yahweh, and you've been strained apart to all these other gods, and it was a returning saying, No, no, no, I'm drawing you back to the one true love, your uh your God Yahweh.

His role really was to fulfill as a prophet like Moses.

And as we study his life, you'll see these illusions, and he did miracles just like Moses, and he had this ministry of bringing the people of Israel to and back to Yahweh, and there's all these parallels, and ultimately his ministry was to bring about spiritual and social renewal.

And by the way, when there is spiritual renewal, there is always social renewal.

And we begin to bifurcate this.

Jesus said, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

And the application of that, he said, the second command is like it, the greatest command is to love your hell, who?

Neighbor as yourself.

Like spiritual renewal always brings about social renewal because we can't love God and not love other people well at the same time.

And this was his ministry.

So, what were the days of Elijah like?

How were they kind of like our days?

Well, first there was political corruption.

And so Elijah's the main character, but we're introduced to two other characters, King Ahab and Queen Jezebel.

Now, King Ahab's father was incredibly successful in his reign politically, socioeconomically, made lots of um different alliances, and uh his father then made an alliance with uh the kingdom by the sea Phoenicia to ensure that border would be a safe border.

They would be, you know, on the same team.

And so he gave his son uh to be married to their king's daughter, Jezebel.

And we'll get to her in just a second.

But here's what the scripture says about Ahab.

Now remember, it's just one bad king after another, one evil king after another.

And it says of Ahab that he did more evil in the eyes of God than all the other kings behind him.

Like those were really bad dudes, and he was even worse.

And he marries Jezebel.

And for some, you're you've known this name as like you maybe used it.

Oh, she's such a Jezebel.

She's so mean or manipulative.

It comes from this story.

Jezebel was an incredibly powerful, manipulative, evil queen who led the people of Israel astray.

And so they're under political corruption, and then you see that there's spiritual and moral decay.

Jezebel, when she is then married into uh Ahab and comes to Israel, she brings with her 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophetess or priestess of Asherah and introduces the worship of Baal and Asherah to their uh country.

Now, Baal is the fertility god.

Uh he's said to have um rode on the wings of the clouds, and that when the rains came, it was the exercise of his power and his dominion, and you worshiped him and appeased him, and Asherah was his counterpart, the female counterpart, uh, and you worshiped them to bring about a good crop to make sure that you were flourishing in life.

And so much of the worship revolved around fertility and uh sacred prostitution.

In our day, it would be around the lines of human trafficking.

And also, when we're desperate, they try to evoke Baal to bring flourishing, they would engage in child sacrifice.

And so you see this spiritual and moral decay that then is introduced, and then a great persecution.

Jezebel, uh, she wants to eradicate anyone who is a follower and a worshiper of Yahweh.

And so she systematically goes about persecuting and killing every prophet of God.

You can imagine and connect it to what we saw in Afghanistan and what Christians were going through and fleeing for their lives in this time.

This is the landscape that Elijah is living in.

And then a word, the word of the Lord comes to Elijah, and he says, uh, tell Ahab that a great famine, I'm gonna bring about a great famine.

Now, this is important.

Think about this.

Baal is the God of fertility and rides on the crut the clouds.

And so this is in uh a confrontation to Baal's authority, saying, No, no, Yahweh's alone God, and he's gonna stop up the rain and stop up uh, you know, all of the storms.

And so he says there's a great famine, and then he has to go into hiding because he's a fugitive.

He lives actually in the land of Phoenicia in Sidon, uh, and he's now hiding for his life as they're searching for him to kill him.

For three years, he's hiding for his life.

And this is where we pick up the story in 1 Kings 18 of what we'll call the showdown on Mark on Mount Carmel.

And the showdown on Mount Carmel is really probably Elijah's most famous kind of miracle uh moment that happened in his um ministry.

And after three years had elapsed, God says to Elijah, go to Ahab and tell him, rain's coming.

After three years.

Now, this is important.

God wants to say, rain's coming.

Not because you prayed to Baal, not because you did this, but because God said it, rain's coming.

Not because you did all these sacrifices, God said it, and so he will do it.

And so he shows up, says to Ahab, and he has this Elijah's awesome, by the way.

He's he's got some moxie.

We don't use that word much, but look it up for those who don't know what it means.

He's got it.

Um, and and here's what he does: he goes to Ahab and he says, Hey, um, what what if we had a contest to see which God is the true God?

You up for that?

Sure.

So why don't you take the 450 prophets of Baal, 400 prophetess priestess of Ashrah, and let's meet up on Mount Carmel.

Now, Mount Carmel is this incredibly fertile mountain right on the border of Phoenicia and Israel.

And it's actually known as a as like a place where Baal's power is specifically or more poignantly placed.

Like he is, you know, more powerful in that place.

So he's actually picking home court advantage for the prophets of Baal, saying, This is where you think your God is most powerful.

Let's do something there.

You want to try that out?

Absolutely, let's try that out.

So he says, okay, how about this?

How about we each build an altar, slaughter a bull, and the God that responds by fire, he's the one true God.

Sound good?

You know, Baal, lightning, fire?

That's his thing, right?

He can do that.

Absolutely.

Fantastic.

So that's what they do.

They gather everyone, they get up onto the Mount Carmel.

Uh, the prophets of Baal build this altar, they slaughter a bull, and in the morning, they start early in the morning, start calling on and chanting and dancing and uh and nothing.

Noontime.

You gotta love Elijah.

Like I said, he has moxie, um, and he just starts to mock them.

Um, he literally goes, Um, maybe you need to pray louder.

Maybe your God is hard of hearing.

Um, maybe he's asleep.

He could have gone on vacation.

Maybe he's not around.

He just begins to mock them publicly.

I mean, think about this one guy standing against 450 prophets, they're dancing, they begin to cut themselves, work themselves into a frenzy, mutilating, just trying to evoke their God.

And by late in the day, nothing.

And so Elijah.

It's now his turn.

And he begins to rebuild the altar of the Lord and takes 12 stones to represent the 12 tribes of Israel and puts those together.

They slaughter the bull, put it on there, and then he says, Bring some water.

I know water's precious, but rain is coming.

Bring some water.

He finds these huge cisterns and they come and he says, he says, they build the altar and then he digs a big ditch around it.

And he and they dump the water and it pours over the altar and the sacrifice.

And he says, Do it again.

And they do it again.

They pour water over again.

Then he says, Do it again, and they do it again.

Now the sacrifice is soaking wet, drenched, the wood is wet, and the the trench around it is filled to the brim.

And he calls on his God, and fire hits so dramatically, so intensely, that it not only burns up the sacrifice and the wood wood, but it laughs up the entire water in the trench.

And Elijah says, Now we know who is God.

And he says, Command the people, he tells the people, grab the prophets who killed all the prophets of God and let them meet the same doom and fate.

And then he turns to Ahab, says, Rain's coming.

Go feast.

And Ahab goes to enjoy a feast, and God tells him, You better tell Ahab to get home because it's going to be a heavy rain, and his chariot ain't gonna make it through the mud and the muck.

And so he tells Ahab, Ahab heads back to Jezreel, about 17 miles away from Mount Carmel.

And you gotta think about Elijah is so amped up in this moment, he's so excited, he just starts running ahead of him, 17 miles, beats Ahab to Jezreel.

And in chapter 19, we see what happens to this great prophet, and begin to experience how do we navigate the normal we find ourselves in.

Chapter 19, verse 1 says this now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he'd killed all the prophets with the sword.

So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.

And then notice Elijah's response.

And Elijah was afraid and ran for his life.

We'll pick up the rest of the story next week.

What happened?

I mean, what what happened?

Think about the way his day began.

Elijah started standing alone on Mount Carmel with 850 of the prophets and priestess of El and Asherah against him, the king against him, and all the people, and by the end of the day, Ahab's standing alone, and Elijah with the people.

And then one person gives a threat, and fear takes over his heart, and he runs.

What happened?

How could you experience such a mighty move of God, such an incredible demonstration of his power, and not days later, not months later, or years later, hours later, hours later, be completely afraid and run for your life.

How did the mighty prophet collapse before the queen?

Here we find a principle that I think all of us know.

And I believe probably some of us have told to other people, but may not have embraced it for ourselves.

The principle is very simple.

After you've poured everything out, there's nothing left to pour.

After you've poured all of your energy, your effort, your time, your emotions, your physical, your spiritual, after you've poured everything out, there's just nothing left to pour.

You're on empty your E.

See, after a great exertion, no one is immune to a letdown or even a breakdown.

After a great exertion spiritually, physically, emotionally, is exhaustion.

Your depletion.

See, and I think for some of us, the way we're feeling and what we're experiencing, we might say something along this, if only I was more spiritual, then I wouldn't feel this way.

If only I was more godly, if only I had more faith, and there's all this shame that comes over because you're tired, because you're weary, because you're depleted.

And it's no no no.

You may not have called down fire from heaven, but for many of you, you've walked through fire, haven't you?

You may not have outrun a chariot, but you've been running hard and you feel really run down, don't you?

See, after you have a great pouring out, there's just the reality that there's depletion, there's exhaustion.

And if the prophet Elijah was prone to it, what makes us think that we wouldn't experience the same thing?

One of my favorite lines about Elijah comes in the New Testament, James, when he was pinning his letter, he's talking about the power of prayer.

And he's saying, Elijah prayed and the rain ceased for three days, and then he prayed fervently, and God answered with rain right here.

And you know what he says right before it?

He says, Elijah was a human being just like you and me.

Just like you, just like me.

No one is immune.

You know, one of the things that I um when I'm counseling people and sitting down and working through, and someone's walking through, oh man, I'm just the season, it's just been so overwhelming and anxiety, and you know, I just I just feel like anger is just below the surface, and I don't know what to do with that.

I've tried everything, and and the worry and the concerns and the doubts, and you know what I say?

You're normal.

Maybe God just brought you here this morning just to hear you're normal.

I I think I think so often we think we're broken.

We think what we're going through is abnormal, and everyone else with their you know filtered lives presented on Instagram is is got it together, and we know the real world of our interior, and we just feel so broken, and like that nobody could be experiencing what I'm experiencing, and guess what?

You're just normal.

After you've poured everything out, there's nothing left to pour out.

And this is why, by the way, working harder hardly works when you've poured everything out, because you have nothing to draw from.

And it's not about being more godly, it's not about being uh stronger, having more faith.

It's about understanding, okay, it's not about working harder, then what is it?

My coach, my golf coach, I remember I told you briefly, you know, he looked at my swing and then he said, Let me just tell you there's four positions in a golf swing.

I said, fantastic, show me that.

And he said, position one.

I'm like, really?

See, I thought you just went up like this, and that's what I was doing.

And then I come down like this, and no wonder it wasn't working.

Because the very first position wasn't up, it's just the pulling of this right back here.

That's the very first position in the golf swing, and I had no idea.

I had been doing it wrong the entire time, and I'm wondering why I'm working so hard, trying so hard, and yet I don't even have the very first position.

He said, then positions two right here.

What I want to do, and what God wants to help us through with this moment is just help give you the very first position, the very first step in navigating this season well.

The very first thing in the practice, and here's what's so fascinating Elijah would have known this.

This was written long before Elijah was a prophet.

In fact, he would have had this memorized, but he probably was so caught up in the moment, in the excitement, in the, you know, um the energy and the uh adrenaline that came from it that he pushed well beyond and he moved past it.

Maybe he thought he was above it because he was a prophet, he could move beyond it.

And the very first practice is simply found in Proverbs 4, 23.

Navigating well, above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

Above all else, if you do nothing else, above all else, the first and most important thing above your work, above even times with your kids and investing with your in your marriage.

Above all of that, the most important first step, first moment right back here that gets everything set is guard, watch over your hearts.

Why?

For everything you do flows from it.

Here's the image.

It's the image of a spring or reservoir.

And he says, your heart is the center of your mind, emotions, and will.

It's not just your feelings.

When scripture talks about your heart, it's the seat, seating place of who you are, your mind, your emotions, and your will, all of your interior world.

He says, your heart directs the course of your life.

And whatever is in your heart and whatever you allow into your heart then will flow out of your life.

And so I want to show you a picture that I showed our church a couple years ago.

And this is one that I'll come back to time and time again because it's so important that we get this picture, and it's the streams of influence, and thank you very much.

And understanding, okay, what is this first step for us?

And this will explain why trying harder hasn't been working for you.

And you have this picture in your bullets, and here's what I want you to do.

I want right in the middle of this heart.

Um, by the way, this is a lovely heart.

I didn't draw, I can't do a heart that nice.

Um just write your name.

So I'm gonna go ahead and write Ryan right there.

Write Ryan right here.

This is the picture that uh the proverb is trying to help us understand that your heart is like a well or like a spring or a reservoir.

And then right down here, I want you just to kind of draw lines right here, and I want you to write life and identity.

Identity.

There we go.

All of your life, how you think, how you act, how you feel, who you are, what you do, it flows from your heart, is what he's saying.

All of what you are, your character, your identity, your tech all that you put your energy into, it flows right here.

And here's what he's saying.

And here's what's so important.

This is why working hard isn't working.

Most of us try to fix the things downstream.

Man, I'm really angry, so I'm trying to fix anger down here.

Man, I'm really struggling with lust, and so I'm trying to fix lust down here.

Fear and insecurity and doubt, and it's all these things downstream that we begin to address.

These are the outflows of our life, and here's what he's saying: above all else, watch over or guard your life.

Pay attention to the streams that are influencing your heart and life.

What is coming into your life?

So, one potential stream might just be past hurts that you've walked through.

One stream, maybe family of origin.

And you have have a history of what you grew up with and what was spoken over you, and and you've just, it's been an influential thing in your life, and the words that have been spoken, you are trying to live out, or or you're trying to, you know, somehow prove that they aren't true.

Maybe it's your self-talk.

I have a buddy that once said, you know, if you if someone else talked to you the way you talk to you, you get a restraining order against them.

And we have such destructive self-talk and shame and pain.

I'm a nobody, I'm worthless, you're no good.

How could you?

What were you thinking?

Okay, let's let's get personal here.

Um what about your friends?

Your friends are a stream of influence.

You know, who you surround yourself with, you'll become like.

And for some, you have some friendships that that honestly have pulled you away from Jesus.

For some, you're dating somebody you need to break up with.

Let's just be real, and I just said it out there, uh, and you realize, you know what, this person is an influence, and my heart is being drawn away from Jesus.

Let's get real personal with social media.

You guys all saw the Wall Street Journal article?

Remember that?

If you didn't, you missed it.

Groundbreaking uh news from Facebook.

Not really.

Uh Facebook, you know, their internal documents got leaked and discovered that.

Guess what?

I uh Instagram is terrible for teenage girls.

We didn't need leaked documents to tell us that.

Here's what we know is social media, Instagram, TikTok, um, and the rest?

God, anxiety, comparison, depression, suicide, all those things skyrocket up.

What about COVID newsfeed?

Didn't our newsfeed just amp up over this season?

And you just begin to like digest all of that constantly and what's happening?

Okay, Ryan, why don't you get to some positives?

Thank you very much.

I'm getting depressed.

All right, thank you.

So, how about this?

Another stream of influence, God's word.

Getting into God's word.

You know, uh Romans 12, 2 tells us how we're to be transformed.

It says, do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, that we are to actually stop up the areas that are uh the patterns of this world and the things that are drawing us away from God, instead uh be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you amp up the streams of influence in your life.

Maybe it's your group.

You're like, I really don't feel like going to group, but it's a stream of influence that is going to be filling your life.

Worship and worship music and beginning to play that in your life, church, godly mentors.

Here's the point.

We work so hard down here, and yet it's hardly working.

And the stress and the anxiety and the pain and the delay and the fear.

He says, above all else, pay attention to what's entering into your heart, guard it diligently, because all of life flows from there.

You know, from me.

Um, I'll just tell you how I'm applying this.

Because I started to wrestle with this, you know, like what are the streams of influence in my life?

Are they polluting or are they purifying?

Are they just so I can numb out or are they actually nourishing my soul?

And then I begin to ask this question.

This is pretty convicting.

What are the things that I embraced because of COVID?

That I wouldn't have previously.

You know, we just go, it's just a season, it's just a thing.

I'm just trying to cope to get by.

It's just because of this that we embrace it, and so I I excused it.

And then now it's still a part of my life.

I'll I'll just be real with you.

Mine was Instagram social media.

Years and years ago, uh, I just took it off my phone.

It did nothing good for my soul.

My own personality, my own struggles, and then my addictiveness.

Like, I just do this.

And I found that my times with Jesus in his word were distracted, were shallow, that I that I couldn't even be present in those moments.

And not too long ago, about a week ago, I just took my phone to Jenny.

I deleted Instagram off, and I had her set the code so I can't like add back on because my own personality is I'll make an excuse later.

That's me.

Because I'll be like, oh no, I I feel so disconnected from everybody.

I need to let everybody know.

Oh, wait, I don't hardly ever post, anyways, never mind.

Can I tell you?

This isn't something that like you take a year or two and all of a sudden you see a difference.

One week, one week right here, filtering the social media, the settledness, the presence with my savior, my times in the morning with Jesus.

And then I realized just part of me, one of the streams of influence that was so refreshing was going for a run, listening to worship music.

And because I tore my Achilles, I haven't been able to do that.

So I started, now I can walk, and I'm walking with worship music.

I'm like, oh my gosh, that was one that got taken away.

That now, oh, I used to listen to worship music, and it was just so filling my soul, cutting that out, amping that up.

I just gotta tell you.

It's powerful.

How about for you?

What are the streams that you look at and go, man, I need to be attentive to that, or I need to cut that out, or I need to, you know, limit that?

What are the ones you need to amp up?

You know, for some, as you walked in, he's like, you know, Ryan, I'm really empty and I'm really weary.

And the invitation of Jesus, I love this.

Jesus says this to you as you walk in.

He says, Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.

Are you thirsty?

Are you tired?

He says, Whoever believes in me literally puts the full weight of their life in him.

As scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within him.

Like, think about this.

Come on.

Jesus wants you to flourish, but it's even better than that.

He is your flourishing.

Jesus wants you to flourish, but it's even better than that.

He is your flourishing.

In him is life, living waters, the things that you go, man.

I'm so tired of what's going downstream, and you come and you surrender your life to him and you say, Jesus, you are my life.

He says, I want to bring flourishing and life and peace and hope.

And for some, you've never said yes to Jesus.

You've been a part, you've kind of been on the fringes, but you've never put the full weight of your life on him.

You've liked him, but you've never invited him into your heart.

I want to invite you simply to pray after me, just a very simple prayer, a conversation where you say, no, no, no, Jesus, I believe you are my flourishing.

Would you pray with me?

If this is where you're at, Heavenly Father, I'm tired, I'm weary.

It's been long.

And today I believe, Jesus, you are my flourishing.

And so I put the full weight of my life, my trust, my hope, my expectations on you.

Would you come into my heart?

Would you fill me afresh and make me new?

I need you.

I can't do this on my own.

And he in this moment will meet you and will refresh you and will fill you with his spirit and his presence.

God, right now, in this moment, would you draw our hearts close to you?

May we have a moment where we lean in.

And for some, there's some decisions about the influences we've allowed in.

Would you show us exactly what you want us to do and give us the courage to take that step.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

We hope you are blessed by this message.

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