Disruptive Discipleship: Where Do You Seek Validation?

here on earth as it is in heaven in

Jesus name amen amen hey Christian's

been working super hard can we just

honor Christian he's like this message

is going to be really good i'm excited

you're too kind um Suzanne come come up

here and uh I put her I am putting her I

have put her on the spot because I've

already told her I am putting her on the

spot because here she is we um had a

great message by Phil Chan last week on

fasting and uh we like you said we have

some resources up there but I have um

there's a slide several if you're doing

the slides there's another slide I have

up there that just gives you the front

page you can keep going until you find

this one that has like the front page of

the of the fasting page and I just I

want to bring you to that but before you

do that I just want Suzanne to share a

little bit about our group our community

group which she has the the honor right

it's an honor of leading uh with with

Daniel and Fallon they they just did a

great job getting into the discussion of

fasting i asked her to give you a taste

of what it was like both for our

community to process fasting as well as

if you don't know Suzanne like when she

goes after something the temptation is

to compare yourself to her don't compare

yourself to her just be inspired by some

of the things that she's putting into

practice i love how you put to practice

your relationship with Jesus that's all

so give us a taste both you personally

and our community what it was like i

love our core group we have awesome

people i asked Daniel and Fallon to

share about their experience with

fasting because I'm not that great at

fasting um and then I gave it up for a

while thinking I don't want to be too

legalistic or too prideful so um Daniel

and Fallon are like fasting warriors

they have fasted for 40 days they've

fasted for 30 days they fasted for weeks

they and they had all these incredible

testimonies so in our group we had

people that have never fasted and had

just tried it the first time after

Phil's sermon we have people that have

told God that they're never going to

fast and they changed their mind after

they heard Daniel and Fallon uh we have

people that have fasted social media

that have fasted um coffee that have

fasted different like addictive things

so we had kind of a mix between a super

encouraging inspirational testimonial

and educational like how does this

actually work like how long do you go do

you drink water not drink water what

kind of can you put can you put creamer

in your coffee can you drink coffee you

like they're like "Okay don't be

legalistic don't be nitty-gritty about

it." Like the Lord has to anoint it he

has to lead you into it and it's it's a

spiritual fast a lot of people in our

group had health fasted like

intermittent fasting or fasted for

health reasons but then just adding the

feasting on scripture feasting on prayer

feasting on focusing on Jesus so I

wasn't planning on doing this so we had

a a potluck uh bring the food that you

would find it hard to fast from so um

inspired by Phil I I totally had

In-N-Out Burger on my mind thanks to you

um so I I could be a vegetarian almost

except for cheeseburgers so I went to

In-N-Out and bought 10 cheeseburgers and

brought it to the potluck and after so

and then the idea was like okay we're

gonna feast and then we're going to talk

about fasting and I got really inspired

because Daniel and Fallon are great at

um delivering like grace and freedom and

liberation and no performance no not not

doing it for your ego not doing it for

your flesh actually the opposite reason

right to try to get rid of your ego and

your flesh not to boost it up how

spiritual you are um so I went home I

ate an extra In-N-Out Burger and so that

two In-N-Out Burgers and a huge bowl of

cookies and cream ice cream like huge

then I'm like "Okay starting tomorrow

starting tomorrow."

Okay so uh so then from from Thursday

morning when I woke up I I just didn't

eat till uh till Saturday and I just

thought "Lord tell me when to stop like

when I get hungry or when you tell me to

stop or should I go 24 hours or 36

hours?" And it just kept going it

actually felt easy and um I've realized

in doing our spiritual inventory that

some of the worldly um you know I've

been starting to do a lot of worldly

things like I like to eat too much i

like to drink too much i like to play my

phone game too much i like to shop too

much and I was just thinking oh my gosh

I'm spending too much money i'm eating

too so the Lord just gave me three

things to quit for a week and so I just

quit those i mean I'm only on day four

so far but halfway through but it's

feeling easy when I feel like it's

anointed or the ideas from God it feels

easy it doesn't feel like a struggle and

it's sort of like you're driving your

car on autopilot or cruise control or

distracted driving like I have eaten

breakfast in the car i have put on

makeup in the car i have texted in the

car i've done all the And when you're

kind of like on autopilot because you

drive automatically but you're you're

actually kind of a dangerous driver

right because you're not paying

attention my friend rearended somebody

on the freeway just because she wasn't

paying attention my my Honda has a

little display that says um a little cup

of coffee thing pops up and says

inattentive driving if if you hit the

little bumps on the side of the road too

many times it says inattentive driving

like okay I better grab onto the wheel i

know how to drive but I better pay

attention okay so this is sort of like

my life was just like hitting the bumps

a little bit too much just just kind of

cruising off the freeway of faith right

so just gratifying my flesh too much

with all the things that I just wanted

uh feeding my flesh too much so just

this the three things God told me to to

abstain from and then just not eating

for a couple days i feel like it really

did get me back on focus back on the

freeway like okay remember what's

important um focus on Jesus i probably

prayed worshiped and read scripture in

the last three days more than the last

three weeks or maybe the last three

months i don't know but just really

refocused me and it makes you feel like

what is really important what am I doing

what's my life about so um I just

recently moved and in moving you look

through all your boxes i literally just

sorted my paper clips my journals my

hair bows my toothpaste my papers i went

through everything I owned do I need

this why am I holding on to this is this

Marie Condo right marie Condo the art of

cleaning is this useful does it bring me

joy it has to be useful or bring you joy

so I think I just did a physical purging

of all my stuff now I know everything I

own it's useful or it brings me joy

otherwise I got rid of it and I think a

fast is what you do inside like that is

it useful look at all these and I only

limited myself to three because like I

suddenly start to think so many areas of

my life need reforming not these three

like I could think of 12 15 things I

should be fasting from but let me just

start with three because you can't take

on too much and you start to feel like

gosh there's so many things I need to

work on to like up my up my faith or up

my spiritual game so and it's kind of an

in inner inventory is this useful does

this bring me joy and joy is different

than pleasure i could seek pleasure all

day long but that's not joy like

sometimes after you indulge in pleasure

you actually feel worse you're like "Oh

man I just ate too much or I just binge

like five Netflix shows." Like I

actually feel worse about myself after

that so pleasure is different than joy

so I feel like it's kind of a Marie

Condo thing for the inner world and um

thank you Phil because it just I just

been kind of drifting you know not only

my physical habits but noticing I'm

getting more irritable noticing I'm more

distracted noticing I'm getting more mad

at people um noticing on on the free I'm

getting more impatient in line like what

is taking this person so long you know

just an attitude of impatience of like

when things aren't going my way I'm just

getting more gh just more reactive um so

so worldly attitudes come with worldly

habits too right and then spiritual

attitudes come with spiritual habits so

I feel like that was just a great reset

for me and and our whole group excited

to come back and say like what did God

tell you to fast from and how did it go

and how what did you experience in the

middle of that so it's really good amen

and give her a hand i I should just say

"Let's stand and have the benediction."

Come on

Suzanne she's all nervous about nothing

to say and then it's like boom boom boom

she's got a three-point message in there

and everything come on so yeah our

website has some helpful resources

here's what here's what we're doing we

are going after an ancient but renewed

sense of how do we do disciplehip in the

modern age we're going to look at three

practices in this season starting with

fasting we're going to get into

scripture how to study the Bible how to

pray really we don't assume you know how

to do this because these are things that

are meant to constantly be taking your

life and putting it on the altar and

saying "Holy Spirit I give you this and

invite you to disrupt this in my life."

Uh I've I've been wrestling with other

forms of fasting and how we integrate

them for instance if you have if you've

listened to maybe five sermons in the

last year of your life I don't know any

pastors that don't have to constantly

talk about how we use our devices and

social media and all that stuff do you

know I've actually been thinking about

this you know you can't fast social

media in the same way as you can fast

food fasting is not fasting social

media like overland we talk about things

like you can fast from you know a good

Catholic might go down to like two

glasses of wine a day or something like

that i'm just

kidding u but the the we can do all

kinds of different things but fasting

bib biblically fasting was to abstain

from food for a period of time what is

the difference with fasting food and

other kinds of fast you have to eat to

live you have to guess what you don't

ever have to do

again social media internet devices wine

whatever we're not anti-wine i love wine

i have I have felt that uh we have

whatever reason we go to France every

summer i'm now I'm now

like almost no alcohol and it's not

because we're anti-alcohol just was like

something that felt like the Holy Spirit

was highlighting so this is

relational it's for you and these

resources are here so that something

that just seems like maybe that you

dread

it i love to feast i dread fasting i'm

realizing I'm getting excited for it

because I'm realizing I have mindsets in

a worldview that is keeping me from

flourishing because I'm not simply

living out the fullness of what Jesus

has on offer everything he has is for us

so yes stop your social media but you

can't fast social media you fast food

because you need it and what it does is

when you fast food even one meal is you

get reminded that I'm so fragile i am

not in control you are you're my

sustenance jesus was from Bethlehem

bread this means bread bread basket it's

the bread of life he's our substance he

is what we feast on he is what we need

and when you just taste what your

physical body for a moment can't deal

without you're reminded my dependence is

really on you all of this is so fragile

i'm not in control this world is bigger

than me i'm part of a larger story so

let's fast together um there's two

there's two practices on fasting that

are on this page starving the flesh and

feeding the spirit and fasting is prayer

i just encourage you those can be either

guides for your whole community group to

do together or they can be guides for

your own quiet time and your devotions

with the Lord throughout the weeks so I

just encourage you to go to that use

them in your daily practices with the

Lord and then there's some other

optional listening and so forth podcasts

that are on there as well as some books

if you're interested all right so let's

pray jesus would you come this morning

in this abbreviated message would you

disrupt our lives and would you reorient

us to an exciting worldview and

perspective that puts the world around

us in its proper

place and gives us a confidence at the

invitation of inviting the world in in

Jesus name amen all right the the number

one question I just want to land on if I

don't get to anything else today is a is

a simple question where do you seek

validation what's the core area where

you seek validation in your life uh I if

I'm if I'm honest as a pastor

um it's it's the easiest thing in the

world to look at Sundays as validation

for instance it's nice that some of you

are here about 95% of you were not here

when we started worship if you don't

know 10 o'clock is when we start the

team's always here love you all just

letting you know when it starts

um temptation every time we start

worship this is the day no one comes to

church i knew it God the church is gone

no one I've screwed up it's all on me

and and then the valid my maturity level

is do I really seek anything like that

is that really my valid that's going to

just crush you and that's one of the

things I've certainly grown in from from

pastoring is you cannot look at human

measurements for your

validation but then we have tension well

if no one comes what are we doing if

you're in business and you're seeking

validation based on how well your

business is doing well that's great to

say I don't find my validation or how

well my business is doing but how how

many of you know like when your business

is not making money that is a problem

right and so we have this tension of of

success

uh

provision and validation is

essentially it's a deeper it's not

provision provision is different

validation is what do you need to tell

you that that you've got

worth that's the place that identity

finds its its happiness or its torment

and where do you find validation it's

it's it's can be so simple in so many

things and and it and it fluctuates over

the years many of you when you were

younger you found validation in being

the class clown or super attractive and

beautiful like my wife or she's not even

paying attention that's why I do this to

see if she's writing

you're not writing notes yet it's not a

note i know what I'm that's not that's

not even in my notes this uh I'm just

kidding so no but just think about even

how how you're where you've sought

validation how it's changed so so it can

start with relationships boyfriend

girlfriends it can go through

desperately seeking the validation of a

parent it can go into like if you were

smart academically maybe you were

terrible academically and you found it

in a in sports or another

outlet maybe all of a sudden in college

you discovered something that like oh

I'm good at this there's nothing wrong

with being good at something

the problem is is that then our entire

lives are then rearranged around how do

I discover who I am how do I then build

my life

around a dream that I achieve we talk

about this over and over again the

biggest temptation of the American dream

is that underneath that is an idea that

you have to determine who you are you

have to determine what you're going to

live for you're going to have to

determine then how you live this out and

achieve this dream and to whatever

measure you don't how are you going to

deal with the disappointment that comes

when you don't live out whatever that

dream is and so underneath that is

identity and a sense of

worth your validation where does it come

from and how has that shifted over the

years you know mine's mine's shifting

even now there's different aspects as a

pastor as a father even as a friend

where I have time that is shifting and

changing

constantly what is it that if it was

taken away from you you would lose the

will to live that's really the

issue every single one of us whether

you've just been invited here and you're

not even sure that you believe in God uh

or you're just curious about

Christianity it's a valid question for

every one of us where do you seek your

validation if you've been in the church

pew I know we don't do pews but if

you've been sitting here for your entire

life you still wrestle with the realm of

where do you seek your validation what

is it in your life if it was taken away

from you your will to live would be gone

because what's on offer from the way of

Jesus is something that can be stable

and secure and that can be with you

through any storm any issue any hardship

any

suffering romans 8 I just felt so

strongly i got called out at a

conference not myself personally but the

pastor was yelling at everyone for not

having their Bibles and the dude was on

an iPad and

um so I just yelled at I don't ever talk

when they like ask when I ask you for

like to say something I just really

appreciate you saying something when I'm

in the crowd I don't respond like like

there's too many people i never say

anything and uh I I yelled really loudly

he goes "Where's your Bibles?" And I go

"Where's yours

well the reality is look at this this is

so awkward right now i'm trying to put

this thing up

here and so um that's why this is why so

many of us don't because we have these

you know these things but um this is

what I read out of my daily time with

the Lord romans 8:31-39 if you're not

Romans 8:31–39

familiar with Romans 8 the book of

Romans written by Paul to the church in

Rome

uh this is a theological masterpiece

this section Romans 8 might be the

greatest chapter in all the Bible we're

going to read eight verses out of it or

so what then shall I say to these things

if God is for us who can be against

us he's answering the question what is

God like if God's actually for you what

else

matters this is a man in and out of

prison his entire ministry life and then

he goes "He who did not spare his own

son but gave him up for us all how will

he not also with him graciously give us

all things?" How do you know God is for

you and that nothing else matters and he

goes "Because he showed

you he showed you through his

son." And then verse 33 "Who shall bring

any charge against God's elect?"

Meaning how can anyone accuse you of

anything he's not saying you're in the

clear you haven't done anything wrong

there's nothing to that you're you're

you're so

worthy you guys remember I I told you

about my my um I maybe my favorite

Pelaton instructor but this instructor

ended every single session like "You are

worthy you are this and you are that and

blah blah blah blah blah don't baby

don't let this knock you out." Something

like that start your day whatever and I

go someone someone telling you you're

worthy for no reason doesn't have any

authority it feels good because we all

want to be worth something the problem

is is that what do we what do we set up

our worth

on because we're all broken and and try

setting it up because your life is just

a little bit more put together or you've

been more successful than the next

person that's also incredibly fragile

that can all be taken away from you in

an instant so what is it that what is it

you're building your life on what is it

that your worth is built on and he's

saying who can bring any charge against

God's elect who can say anything about

your worth and he goes it is God who

justifies who is it to condemn so to

when we hear the word condemnation it's

more like are you guilty or not and he's

basically saying you're all guilty but

no one can bring any guilt against you

if you're dealing with shame guilt this

is a modern problem as much as an

ancient one what is my worth what

validates me how do I deal with shame

and

guilt which is brought on by the word

we're not allowed to say anymore

sin and when you when you just

understand sin for how Jesus talked

about it it's not a bad word it's just

the word we're all trying to find new

words for shame guilt

identity worth these are all things that

we're just trying to understand what do

we do with the reality of

sin brokenness a broken world and a

broken soul what do we do with it who is

to condemn jesus Christ is the one who

died paul says more than that who was

raised who is at the right hand of God

who indeed is interceding for us who

shall who then well let's just stop

there verse 34 he's basically building

his entire argument on your worth your

identity and why you aren't guilty on

the cross and the resurrection

and because of that who shall separate

us from the love of Christ this Bible's

getting really heavy that's the other

reason why I think no one holds these

things it's

heavy who shall separate us from the

love of God do you know what secularism

the modern worldview of

today its fruit has been the loneliness

generation in human history as far as

research can

tell and what is Paul saying the core

need of

us is to know that nothing can separate

you from Christ's love for

you shall tribulation distress

persecution famine nakedness danger or

sword he started with four questions and

then he gives four hardships of

suffering seven seven hardships four

questions and then as it is written

thank you so much is that from my Bible

don't put the laptop there that that has

to go up there no I know that's all

right no no that'll never work yeah I

know what I'm doing Suzanne i've done

this before

yeah I don't know what I'm doing with

this you're right but I do know that and

I'll figure out eventually uh if my

wrist doesn't break thank you that is

actually helpful i'll put it down in a

second uh what am I going to do what

shall separate me from Christ's

love any suffering and he goes as it's

written and he quotes a psalm for your

sake we're being killed all day long we

are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered

he's he's basically promising you again

suffering's coming the world is trying

to get rid of suffering and ease

suffering the gospel doesn't the gospel

looks suffering in the face and promises

that it's coming and instead of trying

to tell you here's how you get out of

suffering it says here is why suffering

is coming and why your suffering will

have purpose and why your life will have

meaning and when suffering comes this is

how you can face any suffering

in all these matters we are more than

conquerors through him who loved us for

I am sure that neither death nor life

nor angels nor rulers nor things present

nor things to come nor powers or height

or depth or anything else in all

creation any

suffering nothing is going to separate

you from the love of God in Christ Jesus

our Lord and all God's people said

"Amen."

Okay that that is a good word and um all

I'm trying to do is to let that good

word do

something in our lives and then we're

going to go home and we're going to try

to live this out disciplehip and

secularism there's there's several

leading questions we're this series is

called disruptive disciplehip in a

secular age how are we making mature

disciples as a community what is our

disciplehip abiding with Jesus is what

he calls it abiding in the vine is some

of the language he uses what does that

look like and how are we living out

practicing the way of Jesus those are

just the three things that we're doing

in in this series and really all of our

anything we do at Frontier then what

does disciplehip in our moment look like

i'm trying to answer that question in

this series the disciplehip I'm going to

define it and then give you the tension

disciplehip is the intentional process

of becoming like Jesus by countering the

cultural forces that shape us and

actively aligning our lives with his way

so disciplehip is becoming like Jesus

period but in this modern moment

disciplehip is intentionally doing it

because you got two things you have a

battle going on you've got a worldview

of the secular and you've got a

worldview of the kingdom and they don't

align and so in disciplehip you're

intentionally aligning yourself to

becoming like Jesus by countering the

cultural forces not by separating from

it like so many have done in human

history but by allowing this

counterculture of the kingdom to shape

you and actively align your life with

his way and inviting the world in

letting them see your

flaws and your

brokenness and letting them watch him

heal you

it's not

passive many of us need to repent from

passivity myself

included there's four key aspects we're

going to look at over and over

again jesus practice counterculture

community imitating Jesus from just

believing in him to actually following

him practicing that means it has to be

intentional from fasting and like not

just this is a good idea sometime I

might do it how about we just go I'm

gonna allow this practice of fasting to

completely disrupt my life I am going to

do one thing one thing to see if this is

actually going to make my

life more like his can I do one

thing

counterculture this means living against

the cultural al norms uh if you're like

me I also just start to roll my eyes

sometime times when when preachers or

the church just keeps telling us that

like you know we look all look like the

world and this and that of course we

look like the world we're in the world i

mean it's it's like we we're not it's

also not very effective for all of us to

like completely not to bash on different

kinds of groups and populations that

that all go off and dress differently

and completely live separate from the

world we should have a measure of like

the people of the world want to do life

with us or what are we

doing what was what's so what's been so

fascinating about the Jewish people for

all their flaws and their their uh

strengths is that they've always somehow

been able to

integrate even though they're they're a

separate and distinct people that know

what they're like and and how they build

their lives around and and yet at the

same time they know that they're called

to be substance and salt and light in a

in a community there's something about

that that we have to completely take

into account always counterculture

intentional imitating Jesus and then

finally that we have to have this

measure of community which means we're

accountable to something bigger than

ourselves i have seen a wave of

Christians because they've seen the

brokenness of churches use that as an

excuse to just do the Christian life

really on their own and isolated now

even that it it has measures of their

own hurt and brokenness that's usually

valid the other side of that is that

there's a worldview that's infiltrating

and the worldview is that you can

actually do this on your own there's an

individualistic mindset that looks at

your faith as if that's possible the

Christian faith isn't your faith and

it's not my faith it it is a communal

faith it's not possible to fully worship

without the community it's not possible

to do disciplehip without a community

it's not possible it's not

possible because we're part of a bigger

story it's not my story so I can't live

the Christian life just in my story

we're inviting the spirit then to

disrupt our casual Christianity that

conforms to culture rather than

transforming it as he calls us to a

higher standard of a robust

countercultural faith that shapes

individuals families and communities to

reflect Jesus in every aspect of life

and I love how John Tyson puts it

disciplehip then simple simple

definition is the slow steady formation

of a life that looks like Jesus through

the power of the Holy Spirit in the

context of a loving community that's

disciplehip secularism which is a I

don't know I feel like that's a common

word but just to define secularism

uh Keller calls secularism a worldview

that seeks to establish meaning morality

and

purpose apart from God

the kingdom is a worldview that seeks to

establish meaning morality and purpose

because of God secularism simply takes

God completely out of the equation and

the main idea of secularism is it

promotes the idea that individuals can

define their own truth their own worth i

know I you do you your truth all that we

we Christians love to bash on that and

get triggered every time someone says

something close to that i The problem is

is that we do it ourselves all the time

so look at it more when you say

individuals can define their own truth i

actually think worth is more helpful

individuals can define their own

worth because that's what we're all

doing we're all seeking to be like why

am I worthy and then we we're forming

identities and it's like well and then

you've got to contend for this identity

and then you've got to get agreement

around your identity and you have to

have validity someone has to validate it

and that's what we're in a culture war

of will you validate my identity and

Christians are all freaking out and

we're all like jerks because we're just

I'm not going to validate your identity

because it's wrong it's

truth and then we don't bother to do the

hard sacrificial work of laying our

lives down and showing that and and

hearing that the reality everyone is

crying out for is worth they don't feel

worthy they're seeking a worth and what

we need to give them is why you're

worthy isn't because of this can I just

show you

Jesus and that tide is shifting because

I think the church has

realized you know shoving a response

down someone's throat that they're truth

bomb doesn't truth right doesn't work

showing

someone the love of a father laying down

his life for a son just continues to

work

i gave a an example a couple weeks ago

of

uh my friend Mike who who had a friend

uh in grad school whose wife had

suddenly passed

away and he said this friend went dark

for months in grief and uh he had been

happily married until this you know

sudden trag tragic thing happened and

his wife

died and of course the grief's immense

as it should be and he wrestled with God

and his new life for months and then all

of a sudden one day out of nowhere he

reaches out to Mike wants to meet up his

entire demeanor has changed and of

course Mike says "I'm just happy to see

you but what's changed what happened?"

And the friend says he says "I'll never

forget what he said he looked at me i

found that Jesus is real." The friend

said this is a seminary friend that was

you know

Sometimes Christians need to get saved

again don't theology check that i I

found that Jesus is real have you found

that Jesus is actually real do you

realize that most of the stuff that you

and I are wrestling with is that we

forget that he's real like you cannot

have a bad day when you just the core

the core essence of the the the

directive of your life is that he's real

if you if you just never if you never

got away from from the atmosphere that

Jesus is real then you could get into

all the different junk of life and you

cannot you cannot look at it the same

way i cannot look at the fact that I I I

lost a job or didn't get a I didn't get

the promotion or I I got you know for

the 5,000th audition didn't work out but

Jesus is real yeah I know but I was

supposed to get that part but Jesus is

real i know but my marriage is on the

But Jesus is

real it doesn't It doesn't mean you

don't have horrific stuff happen to

you it means that he's

real and it means that he's gone through

something so much more extraordinarily

painful than anything you and I have

gone through that you can trust him to

tell you that he's with you and that

he'll never leave you and that this

isn't the end so this friend says "I

found out that he was real." He says

that Jesus's sufferings are real he

needed to know that his sufferings were

real but why because life has suffering

and when you face suffering you will

either realize that what you built your

life on doesn't work or you will find

out that what you built your life on

actually

works what a Christian will find out is

not that dealing with death is easy what

they will find out is what you built

your life on actually has something for

you when the worst things hit

you i found out his sufferings are real

they were for her and they're for me

even now i needed him to show me he was

real

because what I was going through was

more difficult than I could

handle you know most of us don't deal

with things that we can't handle and I I

found that I'm just getting to the point

of life where I'm running into things

that I can't

handle is that anybody else like it took

you 40 some odd years to realize there's

things you can't

handle those of you that realized it

earlier God bless you that was a gift

i mean I mean

that I can think of friends who lost a

parent when they were like in high

school or

college they learned they learned

something I haven't learned i don't want

to learn

that my parents are right there i'm

going to learn it when they're 108

that's what I've decided the Lord can

teach

me and that's why I have hopefully my

kids will take care of them because

they're I have some nurturing little

ladies i'm just kidding we we

um we do like to joke in our family

about who's going to take care of what

i've already started joking with my kids

who's going to take care of me and I've

told my boys like I really hope you guys

don't have to take care of me that's why

that's why we kept having kids i think

so so we found one that I'm going to let

her do that that's going to be great i'm

going to be very

comfortable it's Cece

yeah it's why we had to have all

five plus a bonus i guess she wasn't the

youngest yeah anyway enough about that

every week I got to bring it up don't I

the five kids blah blah blah i get it

pastor you got five kids talk about it

again over and over again every week can

you come up with another

example so the entire story of scripture

is about a God that shows us that he's

real that that's so okay with

suffering and that's that's what I

suffering is like

fasting because you're you're just that

little bit of of physical suffering

reminds you that life is suffering and

we've spent so much of our life numbing

that right and food numbs it but so much

in life can numb suffering and the

gospel is

feasting but it's also suffering and

it's there for you and you will

sometimes not realize how real he is and

how much he's ready to show you how much

he loves you until life has put you in a

situation where you've got nowhere else

to turn you have nothing that's that's

that's going to give you an answer to

how to deal with that suffering and all

of a sudden all you're left with is "Is

this gospel real jesus are you real i

need you to show me." And that won't

happen in a moment it'll be when you sit

with it because you have nowhere else to

go other than your pain

the world needs people that have sat

with Jesus in their pain and he didn't

leave them and you know he didn't leave

you you know that he showed you

something that was real he's not like

the other

gods second little example i'm ripping

this off from other pastor and I'm

ripping off the example so I'm not going

to overly quote because uh I like the

way I tell it it was probably told

better the first time so think vintage

like Americana like late 1800s early

1900s train systems to get you

everywhere there was a man living

somewhere kind of out west that he had

one role and he could see off in the he

had the role of changing the train

tracks for the trains that would come

through his little his little area his

town and from his home he had the

ability to to adjust the tracks because

there was only one track or whatever and

so if he didn't adjust them um you know

the train would go off a cliff and blah

blah blah um one day he can see in the

distance his son is playing in the

tracks and he has to make the

decision does his son

live does he change the

tracks and all the passengers die or

does he save his son so does his son

live people die or the people die and he

sacrifices his son

and you can sit with that example and

and you just immediately go well what

would what would you do what would I do

some of you are just like I know exactly

what I would do kill those people

right i mean but imagine it's not even a

real story okay I just I'll just end the

tension a little bit for you there's

been a lot of tension already in my

stories it's not even a real story it's

a real story that I've heard pastors use

but just so you know I'm not going to

end the story for you because it's not a

real

story but the tension is this is this is

the tension of that's the hardest thing

in the world the thing you love the most

versus the greater

good and that's the entire story of God

is that he's communicating to humanity

that this is how much I love you this is

how I would go out of my most valuable

thing I will give to you and so what do

we do with that

the major issue that we're dealing with

is our

security where are you most vulnerable

where do you find your worth where do

you seek your

validity it's it's like how is am I

secure anywhere how can I just get some

security well like do people love me am

I doing something positive with my life

we we seek out some measure of

security and what Paul is trying to tell

us is this is your security

this is a kind of

identity that's there for

you in the most absolute worst

circumstances of

life god is for you that's what this

passage is talking about but that's a

huge assumption god being for

you paul goes "What then shall we say to

these things if God is for us who can be

against us he who did not spare his own

son but gave him up for us all how will

he not also with him graciously give us

all things the entire premise is he's

for you and he's shown

you throughout your disciplehip

journey everything is based on that one

core thing we're still a people in

process that seek validation through so

many different things but we're maturing

we're growing we're moving we're

practicing and in our suffering we're

realizing that God is inviting us into a

place where no one can bring anything

against us and I don't have to prove

anything not because of who I say I am

not because of my truth or my

worth it's fully based on an

external force an external validator and

you know what the only time you really

experience true validation is when

someone that you adore adores

you it's the

ultimate some of us experienced that

from parents they adored you as much as

you adored them and then many of us

didn't those of you that didn't that's

why he calls himself father

but regardless of how pure and sound

your earthly relationships are every

earthly relationship will let you down

it is limited and it's meant to limit

you your fasting shows you your

limitations and if you are under the

guise that you can do everything and

that you're in control you

simply are on a waiting game because

it's a matter of time until you look

life in the face and go I'm fragile i'm

not in control

what am I worth where's my

validation and if that's true that

there's a God that loves me that

validates

me that is the

ultimate i want to invite the team up

and I want to transition this to just a

response a couple questions to ask as we

close we're going to be getting into

some of the the worldview dynamics you

guys remember that i think we can put

that picture up that that silly picture

of uh it's it's Well look at that

picture of the I don't want to say it

because if I say it there we go thank

you has anyone not seen this picture i

feel like this is like one of the most

common anyone not seen this picture

before i see a couple hands not to

embarrass you yeah i don't know where

you've been your whole life this I've

seen this like a thousand times i don't

know you're supposed to see one of two

things right what do you see

how many of you see a beautiful

woman how many of you see an old older

less beautiful

woman you see both because you've seen

it a million times just like me i can

see both because I've been told to see

both uh research shows that the younger

you are the more likely you are to see

the beautiful woman the older you are

the more likely to see the older woman

the point is that we have worldviews we

have lenses we never see things

perfectly and you'll see things first

you can Google this this is going to be

a bad shot those of you trying to take a

picture of it the point is is this you

are predisposed to see things the way

you see

them worldviews

clash multiple things are there at the

same time

we're trusting

for for a way of life and a

disciplehip that's surrendering our own

viewpoints our own worldviews that are

not working and that fail us and we're

asking the Lord to show us real worth

real truth real

validity real

identity that can take on any suffering

[Music]

secularism has several problems it's

lost identity it's lost the

story and it's lost true

freedom we'll be going after this in the

coming

weeks it's redefined freedom as the the

freedom from constraints nothing can

hold me back and tell me what to do i'm

free to do

[Music]

whatever the gospel uses freedom with

purpose

is a whole different kind of freedom

it's a

freedom to live your

life and to lay it

down and whatever the world's forces

are that bring anything against the name

of

Jesus they cannot take you

out and they cannot keep you from what

he has on offer

just want to invite us to minister into

a few

things if you were just stirred this

morning just by a sense that you're

seeking validation in something in the

world myself included I'm standing with

you there's some measure of validation

that you know that if that was taken

away from you you'd have a real hard

time managing that

and you just want to stand today and ask

the Holy Spirit to put his hand on that

you're not expecting everything to be

solved today you're simply

saying "God I invite you to fill this

void in my life." If that's

you there's a validation that you want

the Holy Spirit to be your validator i

just invite you to stand

[Music]

there's some of us in the room that are

just new to all this and you're just

seeking and you're just curious and

hungry and I just feel the Lord just

saying just welcome be ask the questions

stay curious you don't have to have it

all figured out if this God is real he's

patient and

kind to stick with him in the process

and I just invite you to open up your

heart open up your mind and just

invite this God and invite Jesus if

you're real be real to me and show

me and those of us in the room that have

been trying to follow Jesus maybe for

for many

years where we still are aware that

there is just far too many things in my

life that I find validation

in give me a a holy disgust for the

things that are never going to satisfy

my

cravings and would you reestablish my

desires and my cravings to the things

that are going to bring

life and that can sustain any amount of

suffering that this life

[Music]

brings that's our

cry we invite this Welcome back Brian

and Sam thank you for being here they're

going to lead us in a song and then

we're going to invite you into ministry

make that cry of validation only in him

make that the cry of your heart and

let's respond together