VISION SERIES: ”Formation” // A Life Formed By Making God Home, Ps 71

This is going to be a lot of fun. All

right, that's it. Christian,

[applause]

beautiful job. Thank you guys. Uh, all

of you, that was that was fantastic.

Much needed and thanks for your grace as

we kind of navigate a lot of lot of

details this morning, but a lot of

beautiful, important, serious things as

well. Um, turn to Psalm 71. We're going

to be uh right smack if you're fresh to

scripture. That's if you if you're

holding a real Bible, that's a that's

like the thickest book you probably own.

It's right in the middle and it's the

book of Psalms is called Psalms. And

we're going to look at the 71st song. As

we do that though, um I'm just curious

by a by a show of hands. How many of you

um have been familiar with the the Shawn

BS Mike Winger online thing with Bethl

going on? I I don't mean that to like

Yeah, quite a few. I want to do that for

those of you that have no idea what it

is when you space out for the next

couple moments. Um, I want you to kind

of realize that there's quite a few

people that are navigating um that

reality just to name it a a little bit.

I just want

um to to address what that is. And the

reason being is is because it's

something that Yes, we we uh we see

these kind of things happen online all

the time where someone calls out

somebody else. Don't we all love it? You

guys love being called out online

yourselves? Isn't that fun? Someone you

haven't talked to in like five years

like just like blows up your page, you

know? I don't know, [snorts]

never happened to me. Um, but here's

here's the here's what happened. Um, I

want to give an example. Actually, this

is this is something the topic is really

what it's getting into is how the

broader church handles the ministry of

prophecy,

uh, accountability and discernment. And

so that's why I think it's like when

when things are brought to the surface

culturally, um it's a it's a beautiful

moment for us to pastor it as a

community of what does this maybe

encourage us to look at in our own

lives, in our own ministries, in our own

church. What are we doing well? What can

we do better? And what does the world

around us and the church, the broader

church need from us in order to continue

to be faithful? So, here's here's just

an example of what we're talking about.

Uh, any of you heard a prophetic word

that might have sounded like this? Uh,

God told me that you're in a season of

transition.

He told me,

"You must be really close with the Lord,

Christian, if he told you that." And

you're so confident. God says, "Uh,

you've been praying about a big

decision.

The Lord showed me you're called to

influence.

You should move to Los Angeles.

Not as much laughter on that. Too many

people that happened.

That's like [snorts] half half the room

got here because of that one, right?

Was I not supposed to listen to that

word, Christian? What are you saying?

Statements like this, God told me, God

says, the Lord showed me. All of them

could be true.

hopefully are true if people someone

said that. But this those statements are

they can be broadly true for most people

if you say them in the right way. You

know, we're all praying about big

decisions.

We're all called to influence, but they

can be they can be presented like you're

getting specific supernatural

revelation.

And it's not that God can't speak like

this. It's that it's the concern is when

we're vague, when we have high

probability statements and and that

they're qu when we treat them like

they're unquestionable. God told me.

We we train our people. Now, we we may

miss it and you may have received prayer

or ministry where someone's praying and

asking for direction from the Lord on

your behalf and and maybe they say

something in this vein in this way. But

the way we train our people is not to

say God told me or God says this to you.

It's I get a sense that God may be

whatever.

As I pray for you,

I get a feeling. I get a sense. I'm

reminded of this scripture.

You see how it doesn't have this

authoritative thus says the Lord because

I am an infallible human being.

Thank you. Fallable.

And while my doctrine is perfect, my

speech is not

very fallible. I serve an infallible

word of God.

Fallable servant. Thank you. It's why

she's an elder. Yeah. Okay. So,

I don't want to take a lot of time on

this, but it is important.

Here's here's what I want us to name at

a at a at a high level. So, Mike Winger

was the gentleman. You can look this up.

Uh he he had concerns about the

credibility and practice of prophetic

ministry in the wider charismatic

movement.

Uh he he called out Bethl Church who

many of us know and have been blessed by

in many ways. Uh he called out Sean BS.

Many of you have even attended the

church that he pastored when he was

pastoring it years ago here in Los

Angeles. And uh most of you probably

that raised your hand have sat under his

ministry or speaking at a conference or

something in the area like I have. But

here were the concerns that were brought

up. How are prophetic words given?

Whether some relied on prior information

or vague language. For instance, when it

sounds like you could have gotten all

that information off of social media and

then it was turned out some of it was

how accuracy and correction were were

handled from church leadership. Whether

there was sufficient accountability when

someone said the God told me so type of

statements. There were also concerns

about boundaries and leadership

oversight and and whether the Holy

Spirit actually speaks in certain ways.

The issue is how prophecy is practiced,

tested, and then submitted. Practiced,

tested, and submitted. There was six

hours of content. At the heart of it is

how should we practice prophecy? How do

we test it? And how do we submit it to

one another? That's really the issue,

right? And if if you don't even if if

you're fresh and new in this realm, we

will talk about the the realm of

prophecy uh regularly as a church. And

we have a strong strong conviction that

the gift of prophecy is living and

active. And that is why it is so

important that we take it seriously and

that we are held accountable to God's

word and to one another. And as we go

and practice this, that we are

continually

operating as fallible, not infallible

human beings.

So here's here's what we learn. The

tension we have to hold and what

frontier goes after and what we do not

go after. Scripture tells us to eagerly

desire eagerly desire spiritual gifts. 1

Corinthians. But we have to test

prophecy. A church that genuinely

pursues the gifts of the spirit has to

then open itself to real risk and real

uh real beauty.

If you want the gift, you have to

acknowledge there's some sort of risk

with it. But when when there's a dynamic

where the gifting outruns someone's

character, when the platform is is

something that runs past accountability

and and when there's no testing that's

just completely dried up and

disappeared, we have a real issue.

People get hurt.

Sometimes the intentions are are

sincere, but the impact causes problems.

You know, I've seen in in certain

charismatic circles, any discernment is

brushed off like they're being cynical.

That's dangerous.

Accountability is not quenching the Holy

Spirit.

That's insane.

We will always be accountable.

And the tension has to be biblical. And

this cannot be optional. So what we have

to go after? We have to go after the

active presence of God in the spirit of

God. We have to exercise spiritual gifts

with absolute humility.

We have to go after prophetic words that

as Paul t teaches and talks about it

encourages, strengthens, comforts,

builds up words that are submitted,

weighted, discerned and that scripture

is our final authority. Always

leaders have to be known.

They have to be known before they're

followed. And and just because someone

has a following doesn't mean they can't

be questioned.

And we have to always go after spiritual

formation over a performance or a stage.

And and we're always looking at fruit,

never distracted by all the hype and

momentum. And so what we don't go after

then celebrity prophecy.

We don't go after untested God told me

so type of words.

We do not go after performance or

manipulation in spiritual moments.

We don't go after gifting without

character. We don't go after vague words

that can't carry weight. We don't go

after spiritual power that doesn't have

accountability. And we never go after a

platform that would replace covering

pastorally.

myself included. So,

we just ask you as we go after the word

in the spirit continually as a people.

We believe the spirit still speaks. At

the end of the message today, I'm going

to invite you and those that want

someone to pray for them because the

spirit speaks to ask the spirit to speak

through them for you. We will do that

every Sunday as long as we're a church

and we have life and breath.

We believe that the spirit never

contradicts scripture, humility or love.

The word and the spirit do not

contradict. They belong together and

they cannot

be given without one another.

And this is how we pursue the gifts

without losing our grounding.

So our goal is never to shut down the

spirit. It's not to chase spiritual

hype. It's not to become a people that

are shaped by anything other than Jesus.

And we have to walk that with

discernment, maturity, and love. If some

measure of what I'm saying resonates,

can we just all say amen? Amen. Okay.

Psalm 71. Beautiful. All right. We are

in a series that I believe is

foundational. And this was going to be

Psalm 71. I encourage you to go spend a

lot of time in it this week. I have a

lot more that I'd like to say that I'm

not going to be able to say today. So,

this is going to turn more into a

devotional than a sermon. But the at the

heart of it, I'm going to read the first

few verses and then I'm going to give

you the big idea. Psalm 71 starts like

this. It's a song by by kind of a

middle-aged person. It that I resonate

so much with because it's someone that's

not super young and their faith, not

super old, but they're starting to get

there, starting to reflect constantly

about getting old. Any of you in the

room just starting to I find myself

multiple times a week going, "Oh, life

is so short. What am I doing?

Like, I don't mean to make light of

this, but like I It hit me that Kevin

Mallister's mom passed away this week,

and I like hit me hard. She was 71 years

old. Life is short. Like, you can't

avoid it.

I know it's a weird analogy to bring

into this, but it's just like I'm just

saying I'm this these are the things

that I'm like I I had a moment with God

going, "Oh my gosh, she's younger than

my mom." And it's like, anyway, let's go

to scripture, please. In you, oh Lord,

do I take refuge. Verse one, Psalm 71.

In you, oh Lord, do I take refuge. Let

me never be put to shame. In your

righteousness, deliver me and rescue me.

Incline your ear to me and save me. Be

to me a rock of refuge to which I may

continually come. You have given the

command to save me, for you are my rock

and my fortress. The writer of this song

is is someone that's looking back on the

other songs, looking at the the expanse

of their life, and they're coming to

God. It's not written by some young

zealot or some old weary elder. It's

it's written by someone learning to take

the long view of truth. the long view

formation,

the long view of truth, the long view of

faith and really asking what does it

look like to to use the words of Jesus

to abide to abide in me to to not live

by adrenaline but by abiding to live by

faithfulness that's steady not big

picture heroic moments but the steady

faithfulness that shapes an entire life.

How many of you, if you're honest, do

you want to be known because you had a

couple great days

or because you lived a life in the midst

of the highs and lows, you were steady

and aimed at the right course.

That's the thing like I need high high

water mark moments. I need I was just

talking to someone last night. There's

there's um anyone been to Pirates Cove

for a baptism before? Oh my gosh. You

haven't been to Pirates Cove for a

baptism? You haven't lived life unless

you've [snorts] gone down. I mean, I

make fun of Orange County constantly. I

was doing it last night and all the

Christians down there. It's the Bible

belly of California. God bless them. Um

but they have this history, the Jesus

movement. Pirates Cove is this beautiful

thing. If you saw the Jesus Revolution

movie, that's where the big baptisms

took place. Uh I took my son down there

to have a moment with him as I started

his primal path uh adolescent to

adulthood journey for manhood that we're

walking through together. Uh but it has

just a lot of history. It's just a

beautiful place. Idllic spirit of God

rests there. A lot of history

and those things feel good.

But at the at the at the end of the day,

um those big moments, getting baptized

or or when you go to a conference and

there's 20,000 people worshiping Jesus

or you're you're crying your eyes out at

youth camp when you were 15 or or or you

met God in a near-death experience.

Those those mark you. Those are

significant. We need those. If you

haven't read the book, by the way, Power

of Moments, not written by a Christian,

but if you haven't read that, that one

of my top five favorite books of all

time, and I have all our staff, I

encourage them to read that because I

feel like what we're doing is we're

helping people mark the moments of their

life. But you help people mark major

moments of your life by being there in

the not so impressive moments of life.

Jesus was showing his disciples, you

want to call down fire from heaven,

that's going to expose something inside

of you that's really nasty and ugly. But

what I'm trying to form in you is the

type of thing that when when you are

squeezed

when you're squeezed, Peter, what's

going to come out of you is a man that

can't even can't even confirm his faith

in front of a little girl. Or or when

you face that reality, you can stand up

in front of the most powerful kingdom on

earth and proclaim the kingship of Jesus

in a matter of a few weeks. And and this

is because what we have capacity for is

bigger than ourselves. What we live for

has to be shaped by these moments. And

and your worst moments are never the

ones that define your future in the

kingdom of God. And so wherever you're

coming from today, I want you to look at

Psalm 71 as an invitation to a

lifestyle. And and this man is not

looking at God to change his

circumstances. He's looking at God to

become his home.

That was a long introduction for a

devotional. Here's what I want to do

today. Three practices of a life formed

over time. Three practices of a life

formed over time. It's not a psalm about

a moment of crisis. It's a psalm about

real life. And so what we want to do is

first see how to make God our home.

Not just our helper. Many of us look at

God as a helper in crisis. I'll pray,

but is he your home?

Second, it teaches us how to trust who

God actually is,

not just what we want him to do. Again,

your prayer life

is going to point you to how you

actually view and walk with God. Third,

how a life lived this way actually

becomes a sign of hope for other people.

A life that actually remembers the

future. So, first, make God your home,

not just your helper. So, this is

looking at verses 1 to six. So, what's

happening here? The psalm opens up with

language that's borrowed uh from other

places, particularly Psalm 31 if you

care. But the author is making a

deliberate shift. David, not the

psalmist here, not the songwriter here,

David's the most prolific. David

actually called God a refuge. He used

this word called ma o. The psalmist

calls God a dwelling or habitation here,

which is a similar word, ma, but it's

it's not exactly. It's meant to pick up

on David. Am I losing some of you? He's

what he's doing is he's saying remember

David but he's emphasizing something

unique here and this is not accidental.

So instead of calling God a refuge he's

calling God a dwelling place a

habitation a home.

It's interesting too that David wasn't

allowed to build the to the temple in

the dwelling place of God. Even his

songs almost represent that. So that's

not accidental. Refuge is where you run

when things go wrong. David did a lot of

that. Dwelling is where you go and when

you live when nothing dramatic is

happening, most of your life.

So what this reveals about this this

songwriter here,

he's not asking God to do something

heroic. He's not demanding to be rescued

immediately like David often did. He's

asking God to simply be present, to be

stable,

reliable.

It's amazing prayer. How many of us

like, "God, can you just be reliable?

Can you just be a stable force for me?"

I know that's that's really what a lot

of you women that are still single or

just put one man in this city that can

just be a stable, reliable force. Are

there any in this godforsaken land?

There are ladies.

Again, his prayer has very little to do

with please change my circumstances,

which is [snorts] not a bad prayer. It

just can't be your only prayer or you

don't know how to pray.

It's more about be the place my life is

held. God, what if that was more of your

prayer life than change my

circumstances?

That's what this psalm is about. What if

you spent most of your prayer life

leaning into the God that is stable

instead of the God that you want to be a

hero?

Be to me a rock of habitation. and he

says, "You've given me the commandment

to save me." His confidence isn't in his

own faith. It's in the fact that God has

already committed himself. So, he's

looking back about a God who is is these

things and is active actively being

these things for him. And many of us are

simply still praying crisis prayers

constantly.

And so, here's what I want you to ask.

Ask, "Where do I treat God like an

emergency contact

instead of my home, my dwelling place,

the person I'm going to see when I walk

through the door?"

What would it look like to just pray

less for escape and more for presence?

So, our our our language around this is

frontier.

We're a countercultural family that

trusts this story. This is the story

that this family is connected to with

this God.

And what we're what we're wanting you to

see is that we're being invited into

this countercultural family that refuses

to live by urgency or panic. An example,

um, back to this emergency contact

example. Uh,

you guys ever had an awkward moment

where you're just like, "Oh, please fill

out your emergency contact." and you've

moved to a new city and you're like, I

don't know. I'm alone. Oh, no.

Can I still use my mom? She lives far

far away from here. Yeah,

it's a we it's a weird reality, but just

for think for a moment. Most of us, we

have an emergency contact in our phone.

We have to fill it out for different

things, right? Uh that person's always

important, but that person is never

where you live. That's why they're an

emergency contact.

You don't you don't typically share

meals with your emergency contact. If

you do, that shouldn't be your emergency

contact.

And you don't arrange your life around

their presence. You call them when

something goes wrong.

Again, is God your emergency contact?

If you're honest,

is that how you treat him? You only call

when there's a crisis.

When something breaks

and when things are stable,

the airwaves, the phone calls disappear.

Psalm 71 is simply starting with asking

God

not about being an emergency contact,

but being

the daily abiding homedwelling

personable God that you live with

all the time. It's a big deal.

Refuge is where you run in danger. There

are plenty of psalms for that. If you're

on the run right now,

go sing the songs of David.

But make sure you don't forget to sing

the songs of dwelling place, of a God

that'll be there when life is stable,

that'll define you for the long haul.

God's not just who we call when life

breaks. He has to be with us when life

is quiet.

Next couple verses, verse five. For you,

oh Lord, are my hope, my trust. Oh Lord,

from my youth. Upon you have I leaned or

yeah leaned before my birth.

You are he who took me from my mother's

womb. My praise is continually of you.

So second second practice, let us let's

trust let trust be about who God is, not

just what he does. Can we trust him for

who he is, not just what he does? Every

element of scripture is always answering

the the question, what does this teach

me about what God is like? What is God

like? It's not about you. If you start

with you, you will never get to what

scripture is is inviting you into. It's

always about God. Jesus even shows us

that he came to show us the father. The

life of Jesus is all about showing us

what God the father is really like. So

when we come to this to this song again,

we're seeing this guy that has written

this song. He does not ask for

deliverance. So deliverance is not the

foundation of his trust. So there's two

different ideas going on. Hope and

trust. Hope and trust. Hope is the event

one looks for. Trust is the person one

looks to.

So this guy's writing this song and he's

holding both of these things in tension.

He's anchoring himself though on the

trust.

And then he gives this this robber

imagery. He goes, "Rescue me from the

hand of the wicked,

from the grasp of the unjust and the

cruel man." One translation says, "So

there's this image of a robber which is

very unique here. Almost no other place

in the songs. It's not just danger. It's

it's loss over time

because robbers steal what's been built

slowly. That's what's at play here. The

question underneath it is what will have

the last word over my life?

That's the challenge for you to see God

for who he is.

What will have the last word over your

life? Fear, bitterness, cynicism,

or a God who you make home. Will you

make God your home?

He goes, I've leaned on you from before

my birth. It's an interesting statement.

You took me from my mother's womb. He's

saying that his his trust isn't just a

theory.

He's saying that he's rooted in an

experience. He looks back beyond the

limits of his own memory.

And he's saying a relationship that's

been lifelong, a faithfulness proven in

his own weakness and a story that wasn't

his own making. He sees outside of his

own space and time from before he was

born. And he's bringing that entire

story to the forefront. And then he's

commanding himself to stay on that vein.

He's basically saying, "You've already

proven your faithfulness, God. I'm not

asking you to prove yourself. I'm asking

you to govern my life in the right way."

Big. I mean, this is like completely

different than all the attention we give

most of the other moments in scripture.

This is the key to live daily,

the long haul. And this is the question.

When circumstances don't change, what

happens to your trust?

Do you trust God only if he acts the way

you want? And this song teaches you to

trust not just his power, but his

character.

We want to be a people that practice the

way of Jesus in this way. Formation is

long obedience, not quick fix.

So quick example,

there's just do you want a resultsbased

relationship or a covenant-based

relationship? Covenant is this biblical

term that's like usually made in blood

with someone else. A marriage covenant

is is the highest covenant we have

between human beings. But ultimately the

original covenant was an agreement a

depth of agreement made between God and

man. So in that some relationships when

we look at covenant and relationships

the world

tends to look at relationships very

transactional.

They're good for you as long as they

work.

And even marriages, they're good for you

as long as they work. As long as you get

what you want, they show up how you

expect them to, and the outcomes feel

good. The moment the expectations aren't

met, you've been abused.

Truth erodess, trust erodess. And that's

not covenant. That's transaction.

How does that relate here to Psalm 71?

Many of us, we relate to God like a

transactional relationship, too. And the

reality is is if you're doing that, if

you heal me, God, I'll trust you. if you

fix this, I'll follow you.

That's not trust.

This is a different kind of faith. It's

saying, I trust you because you're

faithful.

When you look at scripture and all of

history, when you even look at your own

life, sometimes it's so easy to forget

part of your prayer life needs to be

remembering where God has been in your

life. The reason why you need to

document it in journal isn't because

it's a spiritual act that'll make you

holier. It's because it documents God's

activity in your life when you forget

and you need to be reminded of how he's

already been faithful. You can open up

his word and you should be able to open

up the words over your life that he's

been there for you.

And if you don't have that history yet,

because this is all new to you, if talk

to one person that's been walking with

Jesus more than five seconds and ask

them to tell the stories of how God's

invaded and been with them in their

life. And I promise you, it's really

cool when God sends an angel to veer you

out of the way from a tree late at

night. That's amazing.

But you know what? I love hearing those

stories. But that doesn't give me fuel

to get up tomorrow. That gives me

anxiety when I'm driving at night.

I need to hear how he was with you in

the long haul. I I need to hear how he

whispered to you when you were

depressed. I need to hear how how when

you had no one else to call, he spoke to

you.

I need to hear when everyone else gave

up, why you didn't.

That's that's the way that we're talking

about.

And many of you feel like you're

failing, but you're still moving forward

because this is the God that's your

home.

Would you remember the It's your home

today.

It may be the only fuel you need.

The song is about hope

for deliverance. It's it's it's trust.

It's anchored in his character. And if

your trust only survives the good

outcomes of your life, it's it's not

really trust.

You're building a relationship built on

leverage.

God will never surrender to a

relationship of leverage.

Verse four, I need to move. Rescue me,

oh my God, from the hand of the wicked,

from the grasp of the unjust and cruel

man. For my enemies speak concerning me,

for those verse 10, I jump to verse 10.

Those who watch over my life consult

together, and they say, "God has

forsaken him. Pursue and seize him, for

there's none to deliver him. Oh God, be

not far from me. Oh God, make haste to

help me. May my accusers be put to shame

and consumed with scorn and disgrace.

May they be covered who seek my hurt.

What's going on here? Trust doesn't deny

danger.

He's acknowledging danger. What tr what

trust does is it decides who gets the

final word. Who will have the final word

over your life.

So final application, become the sign.

Become the sign for the world. How?

remember the future.

What's the text doing here? I've become

a sign or a marvel in some translations.

I've become a sign to many. He's saying

again, this the word play here is is

referring to the Exodus. You don't say

just I become a sign. It's like a nice

little like, hey, I held it on the sign

and offended some people. This is this

is language that's referring back to the

Exodus. Like that kind of massive sign

that the family of God would be

remembering when they read this song and

sing this song. It's like national acts

of divine power type of sign.

And it's here he's describing a single

human life.

And he's saying his life has become a

sign. Not because his suffering has

disappeared. Your suffering doesn't have

to disappear for your life to be a sign.

People need to see your suffering

and see the songs that you sing in the

midst of your suffering.

Don't stop singing in your suffering.

Pick your songs more strategically

in the suffering.

His suffering hasn't disappeared.

His praise increases.

His confidence endures. This is the

crescendo you see in this song. What's

happening? And that what happens is what

he's giving you a picture into is that

people are astonished not by his comfort

but by his steadfast life. That's what

he says

in the midst of this. He's giving you a

picture of of going into old age,

weakness, vulnerability, and he's

borrowing prayers.

It's a unique psalm because he's

borrowing other psalms. It's almost like

he doesn't have the confidence to come

up with the words himself. He's just

taking the things that he thinks he

needs in this moment and he's putting

them into his own heart posture. It's

amazing. Some of us don't have enough of

our own words to stand on anything.

That's why you go to the word, why you

go to the testimonies of God in other

people's lives and you stand on that in

your moment of weakness and

vulnerability. And he's saying, "Name

your weakness honestly.

Take your community's testimony

and when you have confidence in nothing

of your own, look at God's story over

time. Make it your own.

And the midst of this, he's doing

something profoundly Christlike. What

did Jesus do in his weakest, most

vulnerable moment on the cross?

He sings a couple psalms.

Two of his three prayers on the cross

come from the Psalms.

When Jesus needed strength, this is the

story that carried it. And if it could

carry Jesus,

maybe there's hope that these silly

little songs might be exactly what you

need

to build your life on.

Questions, reflections.

How are we learning to trust God?

Who is learning to trust God? By looking

at my life, there's always someone

looking over their shoulder at how the

difficulty, the struggles of your life

are shaping you and forming you. And

what is it that's sustaining you? Are

you forming a story worth passing on to

others? Psalm 71 is simply teaching us

this. We remember what God has done.

Remember what he's done so that you can

live faithful into what God will do.

He's never fixated on what he will do,

but what God has done and what God will

do. In other words,

you carry hope because you see the

future and you remember it and you live

into the present with that vision

intact.

You never walk alone because the story

doesn't let you because God is your

home.

And ultimately

we live a formed life and that becomes

the quiet witness

on every single frontier that we're

coming across in our city.

That's where a life with God becomes a

testimony.

Even when you have no strength left.

I want to invite the team to come up.

And here's my final illustration and

then we're going to land on this.

Think about just the person that

everyone watches. In every family, in

every workplace,

even here, there's usually somebody that

people quietly are watching when things

get hard.

I I as a pastor, I have people that I

like go to when I'm trying to figure out

how to navigate this. I'm like, I wonder

what he's done in this situation.

Sometimes it's someone I don't know, a

pastor, you know, from from another city

or another era. Other times it's someone

that I know personally.

We need the people that we're watching

to see how their story with God has

impacted their difficult moments.

But the reality is every single one of

us is that person for somebody else

whether you like it or not.

And this isn't because we're loud

or have all the answers. But the reality

is

we've walked with God

and that carries weight.

I heard this story this week. I

apologize to use sports analogies. It's

just the stuff that that I do to get my

mind off of you guys.

So the LeBron James

the greatest player who's ever lived.

>> False. No.

Lakers

uh legend, I guess.

If you don't know who he is, whatever.

He's played for the Lakers. LeBron James

said almost never he's almost said

nothing about faith ever,

good or bad. And and I I recently after

after a Lakers game in in Portland, I

don't know if it's this season or last

season, a ball boy hands LeBron a small

card in a Bible verse that says Isaiah

Isaiah 41:10

41:10 on it. And he says, "Jesus loves

you."

And and you know what LeBron did? He

posted it to Instagram. Little thing.

It's like the only thing he's ever done,

something with faith. And he's he's

asked after after the game about it. So

there was no speech. There this this kid

had obviously no there was no speech.

There was no platform. There's no

nothing. No attempt to make a moment.

Just a little kid living his faith out

to the most powerful. If you're a ball

boy, he's God.

Imagine being a ball boy. I'm sorry.

With the balls to go to LeBron James. I

don't know how else to say it. I'm

sorry.

That ball boy has balls.

Spiritual balls.

I'm ruining my analogy right now. I can

tell

to go to LeBron James with a Bible verse

and say, "Jesus loves you."

That kid has his priorities in intact.

When LeBron's asked about it, he just

goes, "It just spoke to me."

He he explained the boy, the ball boy

gave it to him. He said, "The kid was

grateful enough and gracious enough to

give it to me and and that the words

were meaningful to him in that moment."

It's what this psalm is about.

The psalmist says, "I've become a sign

to many, not because his sufferings

disappeared, but because his trust

endured." And this kid didn't

manufacture this sign.

He simply became one.

You're in a hard season. People people

aren't watching for your brilliance.

They just want to see integrity.

And this song is about over the long

haul being formed over time. And that's

what carries weight in our life.

Whether you're old, whether you're

young, whether you're strong, whether

you're weak, this is for every single

one of us.

Some lives,

some of our lives preach louder in

weakness

than others do in strength. And I want

[music] to be someone who even in my

weakness,

I'm a sign

to the powers of this world.

Would you stand with me?

I want to invite you to close your eyes

and I'm just going to read the final

scriptures of this psalm over us that I

haven't yet read up to verse 18. Just

posture your heart before the Lord.

Close your eyes and imagine yourself

singing this to the Lord. Verse seven, I

have been as important to many, but you

are my strong refuge. My mouth is filled

with your praise and your glory all the

day. [music] Do not cast me off in the

time of old age. Forsake me not when my

strength is spent. [music]

My mouth will tell of your righteous

acts of your deeds of salvation all the

day. For their number is passed my

knowledge. With the mighty deeds of the

Lord God will come. I will remind them

of your righteousness. Yours alone. Oh

God, from my youth you have taught me.

[music] And still I proclaim your

wondrous deeds. So even to old age and

gray hairs, oh God, do not forsake me

until I proclaim your might to another

generation, your power to all those who

come.

We're going to respond in a moment of

worship. I know we've gone a little bit

long today. Those that need to go, go

when you need to. But I invite our

ministry team to come out to to your

right, my left. Those of you just need

to to make a moment with the Lord. That

the moment in this moment is about

making every moment a place where God,

[music]

you are my home. You are you are more

than my safe refuge. You are the place

that I habitat, that I dwell with.

You're the place that I go to

continually in the boring, in the

mundane.

And because of that, in my moments of

crisis, you're already there.

In my suffering,

I'm already following you. We're already

talking.

And those of you that feel like you

failed at this,

it invites you into a relationship with

Almighty God. This says, regardless of

how you've treated him in the past, as

your emergency contact

or as your intimate partner,

he's waiting

to be your home.

Holy Spirit,

move this morning in our lives. [music]

Stir our hearts to be the people that

live for the long haul. Form us as a

family that trusts you, [music] that

lives with an awareness that we remember

the future

and that changes everything [music]

about how we live in the now. We pray

this in the name of the father, son, and

holy spirit.