When Blessings Make Us Forget: Remembering God's Gifts

Let's go. Good morning, everyone. How's it going, Refuge? You guys doing good?

I can't see you, but I trust you. Man, I am so thankful. And here's what's really

cool about being here. I feel like every time I'm here, can we give a huge round

of applause to the worship? Because every time I'm here, you guys kill it with the worship.

And yeah, I just love getting to be here with you guys, getting to come back and share stories.

And fun fact for actually me, Logan and Kelsey this coming August will be 16 years

that we've been friends maybe 15 and a half 15 and a half years that we've been

friends sharing hermit crabs guitar hero and crazy roommates all in

like one semester and I'm really thankful for that all of those memories but

a cooler anniversary that I get to share now that I've not had,

ever before in my life is that Actually, my baby just turned five months last week, which is insane.

Yeah. At my church where I'm from, I'm a young adult pastor and young married

pastor at Midway Church over in North Texas, and they're blown away still because

they've seen me as a single pastor for 10 years, then get married,

and they're like, we just,

can't believe that you have a kid. And I'm like, me neither.

I don't even know what I'm doing, right?

And so I'm always willing to take advice and learn.

And I don't know about you guys, but kudos to every single person in this room

that has had a kid and that kid has survived because I, yeah, I just, I don't know.

I just respect you guys so much. And here's the deal.

I wrote like just tips that I keep in my phone and now in my notes of just little

things that I'm learning that I'm like catching myself either do or,

you know, reminding myself like, hey, this is just a phase in my life.

One of those things, I don't know about you guys, but one of the things that

I wrote was everything takes an extra two hours, okay? So...

I know for me, like getting out of the house is a big commitment.

After this service, we're gonna get ready to have dinner. I'm not even joking

because I feel like it's just gonna take that long to just get ready, okay?

And so I just know that now. When I'm on the phone with somebody,

I talk to them and I just kind of briefly explain to them, I was like,

yes, we would love to have dinner with you tomorrow, okay? Tomorrow we'll get

ready. We'll start right now, okay?

Number two, I wrote, always be ready to hold your baby.

I don't know if if you were a new parent and you're like this,

but I always find myself doing this, you know And I don't even know why sometimes

i'm not even holding a baby

And i'm doing this and it's kind of awkward, you know, or when i'm talking to

somebody i'm like doing this and i'm like Yeah, it's you know,

it's just because just in case i'm ready to have a baby like i'm holding him

And that's kind of what it is And I I want to show you a picture of of my family

really fast before I keep moving here because this is my baby We just celebrated,

a actually one of our young adults got married in florida And so we got to go to this wedding.

Yeah, we, we, we took a 16 hour road trip to, yeah, yeah. Woo.

I don't know if that's a good woo or a bad woo, but it wasn't, it was an okay woo. Okay.

Number three, I wrote your spouse

always wants to have the best conversations at three in the morning.

And so, you know, we're in that phase where I feel like, you know,

it's my turn to change the diaper and she's waking me up and she's just kind

of like, you know, honey, I've just been thinking a lot about her life insurance

policy plan and I'm not sure.

And I'm like, I don't, I don't even know what date is. I don't even know why

you're talking to me like at three in the morning about these things.

And so I've come prepared now to where, when she wakes me up,

I'm, I'm willing to just share.

And so as soon as she wakes me up, I walk up and I'm like, you know,

I've been thinking a lot about her homeschooling curriculum to what,

when he turns five and he's getting ready to go into kindergarten.

And these are all the different plans that we have laid out.

And she's just kind of like caught off guard, but I'm like, I'm ready for these,

I'm ready for these kind of conversations here.

Number four, I wrote, there is a time limit to talking and baby that should

not exceed past 10 seconds in a public place.

And so a lot of times, you know, I love my baby, but when we're in public places,

like, you know, maybe Walmart or target, I do find myself catching myself just

going and like past 10 seconds, I've realized that is the.

The time I feel like that I've exceeded that time limit and people come to stare

at me and they're like, okay, we get it. You have a baby.

Like you got to stop talking in that voice and I'm okay with it.

And then number five, kids show you how much you don't know.

We, we, we got into like this kind of argument of, you know,

when is the perfect time to get ready to change his clothes,

you know? So like he's in his PJs.

Should we keep him like that until 3 PM? And then when we go out,

we like change him into his nice clothes.

And we always have that kind of argument or that discussion.

And so I really fought with this of like, man, you know, he's ready to go to

church. He's awake. He's, he's alive. Like it's time to change him.

And, uh, and so this is a, this is a picture of him and his outfit.

This was like two months ago. And, and then I'm like, see, he's fine.

He's happy. And then five seconds later, here's another picture of just kind

of like, yeah, okay. I guess I don't know what I'm talking about.

You're right. We shouldn't have changed him that fast. He's, he's okay.

And I don't know if you've ever been in this position before where you're just

constantly learning things.

You're always trying to stick to, you know, a schedule and you're trying to

find a rhythm and a balance of life of what your new life might look like.

Whatever season you might be in. I remember having this season where when I

was single and getting my first out-of-college adult career job and learning the balance of that.

I remember when now I was engaged and then learning that season of life where,

You're looking forward and you're starting to plan for things and you're taking

on more responsibility and you're unifying your life with that person that you

love. And then when you get married, like you're having to check calendars, right?

Your schedule is not your own anymore. And all of these different seasons of

life, you're learning what a balance looks like for you.

And I don't know if you've ever taken advice from people before,

but I bet you've heard some of these phrases.

And so if you have, I would love for you to just kind of repeat this back to me.

Okay, so i'm gonna i'm gonna start the phrase i'm gonna see if you can finish

it So i've heard a phrase that like this when it comes to parenting or when

it comes to a new season of life that you might enter into Which is no pain No gain no pain.

No gain. You guys know this one you get out Yeah, you get out what you put in

right practice Makes perfect. Okay, uh time flies Time flies when you're having fun.

Uh, here's a bonus one that I found finding no, no, no, refuge. No, no, no.

It's finding refuge in God's word, which is foundations. It's a six week thing

that you guys probably need. I set you guys up for that. You need to sign up

for this. Okay. All right.

But all of these different phrases that I'm learning, this one sticks out to

me. Time flies when you're having fun.

You know, something that I've learned and that I'm still learning is that it's

not just time flying when you're having fun.

It's that memories fly as well when you're having fun or when you're in a new season of life.

You tend to forget things. You tend to always think, will this always be the same?

I was actually having a conversation with Logan and Kelsey last night.

And I was talking about this of like, will this ever end? Will I always have

to feed my baby at three in the morning, right? Like, oh, is this going to be forever?

And I tend to think of this time of my life where, yes, there is joy.

Yes, there is happiness. Yes, there is fun.

Man, I sometimes forget that. And so if you have your Bibles with you,

I would love for you to turn with me to Deuteronomy chapter eight,

and we're going to read a very familiar and famous passage.

This is actually a passage where Moses is about to lead his people into the

promised land, but before they do that, they hold almost like this big worship service.

And God forces these people, his chosen people, his Israelites,

to kind of pause, to stop, and to say, hey, before we enter into a season of

blessing, can we just reflect on the memories?

Because when time flies and you're having fun, or when time flies and you're

in the thick of it, whatever season you might find yourself in,

can you also remember that when time flies, your memories seem to go as well?

You don't remember as quick as you do when you're living in the moment.

And so here's what I think is really interesting about what we're going to read

in Deuteronomy chapter 8 is as we read these verses, we come to find that Moses,

Deuteronomy 8 · chapter mention

a lot of times you might hear sermons that talk about, you know,

what to do when your life is in tragedy or what to do when your life is not going so well.

And we tend to look at the Bible and we see all of these different Psalms and

how Paul is in prison and he's writing these letters in the New Testament and

these different passages.

That really speak into this idea of how to lean on God during hard times.

But what I find really interesting about this passage is Moses does the opposite.

He actually writes this whole chapter here on how to lean on God during the

good times. Because he says this, that suffering is,

is not as bad as prosperity. He says prosperity sometimes is even more of a

danger in our own spiritual lives than you might think.

And I love getting to remind myself of when good times are happening,

when I'm enjoying God, when it is a season

of rest, as it tends to be in the summertime, where schedules tend to slow down,

there's not as many busy things happening, you're not in your normal routine, how to still

remind yourself that God is present and he's with you.

And so if you have your Bibles, read with me. I'm gonna be in Deuteronomy chapter

eight. This is what Moses says.

And he speaks to us in verse number one. He says, be careful to obey all of

the commands that I'm giving you today.

Then you will live and multiply and you will enter and occupy the land the Lord

swore to give to your ancestors.

Verse two, remember how the Lord your God led you through the wilderness for

these 40 years, humbling you,

testing you to prove your character and to try to find out whether or not you

would obey his commands.

And this is really real for the Israelites that they were in this season for

so long of just tragedy and suffering that now it's kind of like they're getting

to go into this vacation mode and they're just so excited.

And Moses is just carefully.

Picking apart the memories and like reminding them of what they just went through.

Verse 3, yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with

manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors.

And not only that, but he did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone.

Rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

For all of these 40 years, again, another reminder, the year 40,

that your clothes didn't wear out and your feet didn't blister or swell. Think about it.

Just as a parent disciplines a child, the Lord your God disciplines you for your own good.

And one of the things that I'm very reminded of, any season or any step of life

and faith that I'm about to walk into that is just so carefully designed of

like, yes, I'm finally entering into a season of blessing.

Yes, I see that glimmering shine of hope. Yes, I'm about to step into something

that is like good for me in my life.

It is also helpful to remember, don't forget the one who gave you your blessings.

To remember this, that man, how do I stay faithful after God has been faithful

to you is the real question.

Because a lot of times I tend to look at my life and I'm like,

man, you know, when things are rough, I really lean on God. Those are the prayers

that I pray that are desperate.

Those are the actions that I commit that are like, yes, I'm willing to go to

church every Sunday just to lean on God. But when things are good,

I tend to have this attitude of.

Oh man, that promotion finally paid off.

Yes, I worked hard. Yes, man, my kids are finally in the state where they're

more independent and I've taught them well, right?

And I so quickly forget that it's God who has given me these blessings,

that the time, the talent, the treasures that I have, the resources that God

has given me to be a good steward of.

And it's so important to remember these things.

I love how he quickly reminds them too that God is somebody in a season of suffering

that oftentimes disciplines us and teaches us different things.

And three different things that he really teaches them in these few verses,

Moses says, God has purposes for the things that you go through, good and bad.

For the good, he's reminding you that God is the creator of everything and that

God is the God of good many gifts and blessings.

But for the bad things, it's also helpful to remind you that,

man, whenever suffering or tragedy comes, they are to humble you,

they are to test you, and they are to teach you dependence upon the Lord.

But also many times in blessings, I come to remind myself that it is very much the same thing.

That when I'm in a season of blessing, It is to humble me and to remind myself,

like, it is not I, it is God who has given me these things.

It is also to test me, God, with the resources that I have, with the promotion

that I just got, with my kids being more independent.

Like, I give this back to you with praise. And it is also to teach me I still

depend upon you, whether I have a lot or whether I have a little.

And I love this attitude that Moses is teaching the Israelites as they're about

to step into something. And I want to keep reading here because it mentions

more and more interesting things. In verse 6.

Moses again teaches them something. He says, So obey the commands of the Lord

your God by walking in his ways and fearing him.

Continue to take the steps towards God is what he's saying and continue to have

that awe of respect towards him.

Verse 7, For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land of flowing streams

and pools of water, with fountains and springs that gush out into the valleys and hills.

It is a land of wheat and a land of barley, of grapevine, fig trees,

pomegranates, of olive oil and honey, basically a land of

resources that you've never had that now you get to step into and that you get to enjoy. Verse 9,

It is a land where food is plentiful and nothing is lacking.

It is a land where iron is as common as stone and copper is as abundant in the hills.

Man, resources that you cannot even imagine and resources that are very expensive

that are now just common.

Verse 10, when you have eaten your fill, be sure to praise the Lord your God

for the good land he has given you.

And I love this because what this gets to be a reminder of is that God delights

in giving good gifts. I think so many times I come to church and I kind of forget that.

Or so many times I'm living my life and I forget that God delights in giving good gifts to us.

And I love this because Moses doesn't say, feel guilty and enjoy them.

Like feel guilty about the gifts that you have.

Man, other people are in a poorer state than you are, but you have a lot.

And so you should feel guilty about that. You should maybe spread the resources

that you have and the abundance that you have, right?

That's not what Moses says. Moses doesn't say, feel guilty for enjoying them.

He says, actually, when you have eaten and you are full, then you shall bless the Lord.

It's almost like a command. It's a twofold.

Like when I am in abundance and man, when I am full and when I am enjoying,

then I get to also step up my relationship and enjoy God as well.

And this is what he says. Thank you.

He basically says, you have a responsibility in the season that you find yourself

in to respond by enjoying through worship, enjoying what God has given you through worshiping God.

You know, one of the healthiest Christian habits is thanking God after receiving

good things, not just asking him for them beforehand.

I often find myself in this trap a lot of times where I feel like,

God, I need, I need, I need, instead of living a life of, God, I have, I have, I have.

And I think there's so much to the power of just contentment in this way of this Christian life.

Paul actually goes further in the New Testament and kind of like unpacks this

thought of what it looks like, of like, man, whether I have a lot or whether I have a little,

like I've learned the secret of contentment and the secret of contentment is

practicing the art of gratitude. Right?

Really, lust is, I want, I want, I want. Nothing is ever good enough.

That's envy. That's jealousy. That's always like, I need, I need, I need.

But gratitude is, I have, I have, I have.

And there's always something that God has given us.

Every single person in this room, whether we feel like we've been in a season

of blessings or whether we feel like we're lacking a lot of things,

God has shown us time and time again, like, hey, remember this or think about

this or you should respond to these things that I have given you and be reminded

of those things. And this is so comforting for me.

And I come to find myself in these last few verses where it kind of really hits

home because Moses hones in in three separate ways in which he says this.

But I want you to read this with me in verse 11.

He says, this is the time to be careful.

Beware that in your plenty, you do not forget the Lord your God and disobey his commands.

His regulations, his decrees that I am giving you today.

For when you have become full and when you have become prosperous,

when you have built fine homes to you today.

For when you have become all of these things and when your flocks and your herds

have become very large and your silver and your gold have multiplied along with

everything else, be careful.

Don't become proud at that time and forget the Lord your God who rescued you

from slavery in the land of Egypt.

Do not forget that he led you through the great and terrifying wilderness with

its poisonous snakes and scorpions.

Where it was so hot and so dry. He gave you water from the rock.

He fed you with manna in the wilderness, a food unknown to your ancestors.

He did this to humble you and test you for your own good.

And I love that in all of these things, Moses is carefully describing how unique

God is and how he cared for the things that you needed when you needed them.

Verse 17, he did this all so that you would never say to yourself,

I have achieved this wealth with my own strength and my own energy.

No, no, no, no. Remember the Lord, your God. He is the one who gave you the power to be successful.

In order to fulfill the covenant, he confirmed to your ancestors with an oath.

And this is all in what he's saying.

And really this whole chapter in which he unpacks, He basically says this,

like, rely on the Lord always, meaning learn how to figure out what it looks

like for you to stay dependent upon the Lord.

That is true success.

Oftentimes I think success in this world is being independent.

Success in this world is having no boundaries. Success in this world is ultimate

freedom with no one telling me what to do.

But in this chapter, in what Moses often describes, he says,

the secret to the Christian life is to be always dependent upon the Lord,

whether you have or you don't have.

It is both. It is the art of reminding yourself, keep praying even when there's no crises.

Keep reading even when there's much to still learn.

Keep growing even when I've arrived and I feel like I'm a mature believer.

Always keep relying on the Lord because he will always show you more and more

things in these new seasons of life. I heard a pastor once say that.

You know, the secret in a lot of times and what we live our lives is most often a defense mechanism.

We come to think of life in terms of when this happens, I react in this way

and therefore I go to counseling or I go to therapy or I go to church, right?

Like I react a lot of the trauma of what's happening in my life or the things

that unfold that I have not foreseen.

But what he said, and I love how this pastor worded this because he says the

secret to life is not defensive, but it's also offensive.

That in the seasons of blessings that I'm preparing myself for saying,

okay, God, this is a good season that I'm in. My family is healthy.

We're doing okay. Like, man, I feel like I see these spiritual blessings and

I'm acknowledging you for who you are and I'm grateful.

And so help me to prepare as best as possible. Help me to keep a prayer journal

and write these things down so that I don't forget.

Like help me to always rely on you because I know that this won't last forever.

That if I've learned anything of what the Israelites have faced,

that life is like a roller coaster. There are ups and there are downs.

And sometimes I'm in those downs for a lot of time.

And sometimes it seems like I'll never come back down because of how high I am and up.

But I always am reminded that, man, I should be offensive and defensive in my Christian walk.

And so he says, rely on the Lord always. And I love how he says this because

he doesn't say wealth is evil.

He doesn't say success is evil. He doesn't say work is evil.

None of these things. He doesn't say any of these things are sinful. He says.

To succeed comes from God. He said, man, it is knowing that there is an attitude

that you should have towards this.

And you know what I've come to find in the Christian walk and in my life,

when it comes to living in a season of fun, having a season of blessing,

so many times, riches are not my enemy.

Abundance is not my enemy. Prosperity is not my enemy.

Success is not my enemy a lot of the times i'm reminded amnesia is my biggest

enemy like man so many times do i forget that this is where i land and and i

i come to wonder like how in the world,

am i so add to where i forget these things so fast and i just move on to the next thing,

And I started to realize, I'm like, maybe this is culture feeding me that I

should keep moving on. Actually, you know, there was a guy back in 2008 that

drastically changed the world without even realizing it.

You know, what's really interesting is that this Harvard student at that time,

was writing code for an app out of selfishness to just try to say,

what if our world was more connected than we might think?

What if everybody had the opportunity to know everybody? What if I could send

emails across the world and be interlinked in this way?

And so he started asking these questions that many of us ask,

like what if we could have a platform online that could just radically connect

everybody together? And so he came up with this company, which you well know, called Facebook.

Radically changed the world. Back in 2009 as a college student.

And what's so interesting is that he was interviewed all of these years later in 2022.

And in 2022, they asked him, Mark, what is the secret to your success?

How did you come to build this company that has now over 3 billion people join on your platform?

You have all of these social media outlets. Instagram was bought through this.

You now have all of these other access and avenues to which people can feel

more and more connected, right?

And this is what he said. I love this. He laughed at the reporter and he started

to say this. He's like, I was just a college student. I had no idea what I was

doing when I built Facebook.

All I knew this was when Facebook got to be successful and it got to really

take off and launch in such a short amount of time.

He said, I lived off of this motto, which I deeply regret.

And this is what he said. He said, we built our whole company off Facebook just

with the slogan of move fast and break things.

Meaning this. If I can just...

Keep scrolling, if I can just keep looking, if I can just never stop enjoying,

if I can just look forward to the next thing after the next thing,

if I can just stay stuck, if I can just keep scrolling and keep moving in this pace of life,

then I could never think about the consequences.

It's okay just to break things and just to keep moving in this direction and this pace of life.

And can I tell you something? I fell for that trap. For so many years,

I was a part of culture's agenda in which I'm like, okay, God,

thank you for this blessing. Now let's move on to the next thing.

Okay. Okay. I need to keep moving fast. I need to chase after more and more

success. The money was never good enough.

The promotion never lasted, man.

The, the vacation, it was never long enough, right? I can never feel like I

was in this state of continual blessing because I had to keep chasing after the next thing.

And I had to slow down and remind myself oh my goodness like this is what culture

is teaching me can i tell you guys something.

Jesus' ministry was never move fast and break things. That's not the life of the believer.

Jesus' ministry, if anything, was move slow, mend things.

This is the ministry that we get to participate in as believers.

This is what you and me get to be called to.

And this is what Moses reminds his people as they enter into a season of blessing back then.

He states, hey, move slow. Take things in.

Enjoy the good gifts that God has given you for what they are.

Remind yourself, I have, I have, I have.

Mend the time that you have with your family. Mend the relationships that you

need to mend. Like, move slow.

For some of you, prayer is often a discipline or a habit that is just based

out of habitual things that you do in your routine, whether that's praying before

mealtimes or praying before you go to bed.

It's just something that's natural, right?

And I would encourage you that whatever season you find yourself in,

man, I would ask and pray that you would take this moment to just slow down,

to remind yourself of all of the good things that God has given you.

And to just say, God, what do you want me to do with these blessings?

How can I further praise you? How can I further worship you?

How can I further glorify your name?

Help me to move slow and mend things just like the ministry of Jesus.

And so I'm going to ask that as everyone is bowing their heads and closing your

eyes, I want to give you this moment that I want to invite you into this season

that you're stepping into and just reminding yourself these things.

God, help me to rely on you.

God, with what I have, with the health our family has, with the blessings that we have,

so oftentimes I fall into the trap of listening to a college student's advice

all the way back then of just moving fast, breaking things, not even thinking

about the consequences of what I'm stepping into.

That's not how you want me to live my life. God, you want me to live a life

that is not just typing things out on the internet without thinking about them and just posting them.

It's not just being ungrateful because I feel like it's never lasted and I should

keep going and going and going Lord teach me to move slow and remind me of the

many blessings that you have given me.

Lord I am thankful,

that in three separate times in this passage you call us to remember,

you say don't forget be careful prosperity has often the consequence of amnesia,

that I tend to put on all of these things and I think it's me,

it's me, it's me when really it's God,

Lord teach me,

to put you in the center of my life.

God, that when relationships fail me, when my career fails me,

God, when my dreams and desires fail me,

when my finances fail me, God, that you're still here and you've always been here.

And what a huge blessing that is for me that I still get to rejoice and carry

this attitude that I get to walk through a season of enjoyment,

not with guilt, but with praise.

God, I am thankful that I get to enjoy life by enjoying you.

And I'm reminded of that, that I don't have to put you in a corner.

I don't get to put you in just a Sunday morning ritual.

God, you're with me Monday through Saturday, every facet of my life.

Thank you, Lord.

Thank you, Lord, for teaching me to move slow, to take things in, to breathe,

to mend. Help us to do exactly that as a church family.

And in Jesus' name we pray, Lord. Amen.