Sermon Shorts Sunday // Mitch Patterson, Chloe Romero, Sean Graney, and Courtney Crawford

Hey, my name is David, and I want to tell you about what you are about to watch.

A couple times a year we do this thing at TikTok Church called Sermon, where we take some young and developing leaders who have not preached often or at all, and we give 15 minutes last to give them an opportunity to grow in their own gifting, and for us as a wider body to learn and grow from what God has been saying to them and revealing to them and sharing to them from scriptures.

Every time we do it, I learn something, our people learn, and our preachers are learning and growing in their gifting, and it's just all around great to experience.

Hope you enjoyed these sermons that follow.

Sweet.

Good morning.

How are y'all doing?

Alright.

I'm gonna start off today with a question.

Who here likes TikTok?

Anyone?

Show of hands.

I know we're not a college church.

I feel it's a very college question.

Okay.

I missed that initial wave, so I'm not on TikTok, but I'm on Instagram reels, so that's kind of uh listen.

There's just a video that popped up for me uh recently that got me started on prayer.

The video that I found talked about the psychology of prayer.

What kind of effects that our brain experiences from praying?

So this video told me all about lowering cortisol levels, lowering stress, praying through difficult times, and then our brain chemistry over time gets changed.

And these are all great, but it really got me thinking: what does the Bible teach us about prayer?

Not kind of scientific benefits, but what kind of spiritual benefits do we get from prayer?

So the goal I have for us is to quick um take us through scripture and realize why prayer is so important, what's the point, and what the Bible says.

So, first and most importantly, I want to say that prayer is the foundation for building a relationship with God.

By talking with God, we begin to develop our relationship with Him.

It's not something that we just do to put our thoughts out there, it's not something that we do to speak truth over our lives.

We actually are trying to communicate with this God who made us in his image.

So all of our relationships here on earth, I think we can say, are built on trust, and God is no different.

We have to actually begin to trust God, and prayer is how we do that.

Each day, we open our hearts to him and we begin to kind of confess our sins to him and give thanks to him.

And in Philippians 4, 6 through 7, Paul specifically writes to say how prayer is for our benefit.

Paul writes, Do not worry about anything.

Instead, pray about everything.

Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.

Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.

His peace will guard your hearts and your minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

So these verses are literally telling us that God's peace will follow as a direct result of praying.

I don't know about you, but I'm the type of guy that likes to have control over my life.

I like to have a plan for everything, and then I find peace when I have control over that plan.

I first started coming here four years ago, and in many ways I had that desperate grasp onto a plan for my life.

I wanted my job to be perfect.

I had this whole idea of what I was going to do and who I was going to become, but there was one big problem.

I wasn't praying about it.

Like at all.

I had job applications and hiring freeze, and I still was not really praying about my career.

So I went to coffee with Danny Batarsi.

He's not here today.

I hope he remembers this story.

Anyone been to Boston Stoker?

Okay, cheese danishes, fire.

Anyway, the biggest takeaway that I had from that talk with Danny was he told me, Mitch, just pray for peace.

And to me at the time, peace looked like finding assurance in the fact that God had a plan for my life.

That day is something that I can look back to and say that, yes, this is where I started to pray to God and begin to trust him with my life.

Now I'm not saying that prayer is simply this transactional thing, we're gonna ask God and he's gonna give us this.

This is not a transaction.

But when we begin to pray and we seek guidance, let's do it with the assurance that God is a loving God.

James 1, 5 through 6 says, if you need wisdom, ask our generous God and he will give it to you.

He will not rebuke you for asking, but when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone.

Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind.

So here's a question that I want all of us to really think about.

How much do we actually trust in God instead of our own power?

So many times I feel like when we pray, we're out here praying and then we do something that's totally the opposite.

I'm praying for one thing, but I'm doing my own thing.

Or I want that relationship, but I'm out here seeking what I want versus what he has planned for me.

I'm following my roadmap instead of what God has for me.

Building a relationship on trust means you actually have to trust God.

One of our values here at 614 is prayer, and that value statement reads: Prayer is the engine room of our community, it's the key to an abiding life.

Everything we do and everywhere we go is immersed in communication with God.

Now I know what some of you might already be thinking, Mitch, I already pray.

I've already been asking God for these things, I've given it to the Lord, but he just hasn't answered me.

So let's talk about that.

Point number two is that God, when we pray and we pray, and we don't hear God's voice, that's where faith is built.

So when we're praying and we don't get that answer we want, and we don't have closure on these things, we might feel lost or crushed.

Anyone been there?

Because I know I have.

But that's kind of the whole point of faith.

If we had all the answers, if there was no reason to doubt, there would be no need for faith.

Faith is built when we don't hear God's voice and we learn to rely on what he has for us.

In 1 John 5, 14 through 15, we read that we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him.

And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.

Can we let that sit in for just a second?

That God hears each and every one of your voices when you pray.

Whenever we don't have closure on these things that we're asking for, we can always look back to Scripture and say, Here, God hears your voices.

This faith that we have isn't faith that God is going to give us whatever we want, it's faith that He knows what's best for us.

I think a perfect illustration of this is in Matthew 7.11, and he's comparing our earthly fathers to our heavenly father.

The verses read, So if you sinful people still know, so if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly father give good gifts to those who ask him?

My personal prayer life has deepened so much since that coffee four years ago.

And I've had my challenges over the years, but keeping my faith in times of unanswered prayers has led to the most incredible spiritual growth.

I can confidently say that I would not be the person I am by not keeping that faith through prayer.

That career that I finally started praying peace over, I feel like I'm living the dream as a Columbus firefighter.

But the best plan, but the best plan for my life wasn't the one I originally asked for.

So prayer builds our relationship with God, and it strengthens our faith in the waiting.

It also allows us to pray, to minister to each other.

We're allowed to pray for healing and for forgiveness.

James 5, 15 through 16.

Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well.

And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.

The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.

So the Bible clearly tells us that we are all able to pray for each other.

This is not something that's just reserved for the prayer ministry team or David or the elders.

We're all supposed to do this.

When was the last time we actually prayed for somebody going through it?

Was prayer a first response that we had, or was it something that we waited one or two days to see how they did, and then we started praying?

Too often I think we forget how powerful prayer actually is.

One of my favorite stories in the Bible that's always stuck with me is in Mark 9.

And in Mark 9, there's this man and he has this boy who's possessed by an evil spirit.

And he hears about Jesus doing these healings and these miracles, and he goes and finds Jesus, and he says, the spirit often throws him into the fire water, trying to kill him.

Help us and have mercy on us if you can.

And Jesus responds with, What do you mean if I can?

Anything is possible if a person believes.

And then the Father cries out, I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief.

And of course, Jesus heals the boy, but a few verses later, we read when Jesus is alone with his disciples, they asked him, Why couldn't we cast out that evil spirit?

And he said, This kind can only be cast out by prayer.

There's no sickness or stronghold on this earth that is too big to ask of God.

There's nothing.

So when we pray over each other in this exact same way, we're doing it with the full assurance that God is in control and he has the power to answer those prayers.

Not all of us are possessed by an evil spirit, but we all need healing and forgiveness.

Don't underestimate what God can do through prayer.

So here's my challenge.

Reflect on your own prayer life, and let's encourage each other to pray daily.

614 is a place where I've seen and experienced how prayer can impact us as a community.

Life groups are a great place to start.

I can go on about my own life group and how bonds are forged through praying together.

But I really want us to kind of reflect and see what we are doing with prayer in our life, praying over little wins and losses, the big ass and the small ones, even a simple prayer of thanksgiving.

Each Wednesday at 7 a.m.

in this building, we are all gathered as a church to pray together.

I know that personal prayer life is important, but there's something so special about everybody gathered together for the sole purpose of praying.

Even if you don't pray right now, I want to encourage you to start.

I know it can feel awkward, I know it can feel uncomfortable, but there are people here on the prayer and ministry team who are just willing to come alongside you.

I hope after today, today, you can understand that prayer is not just a science, and it's not just this good thing that we do.

The Bible teaches us that this is the very foundation for knowing the person of Jesus.

Wasn't that good?

Well done, Mitch.

Uh man, so good to be reminded of that.

I we're gonna have time after Chloe preaches as well for for us to respond to what the Lord is saying.

But I I just believe there's something in in what what Mitch was saying that if relationships are built on trust, I wonder if some of us are just don't trust Jesus.

And and you you you may not even be bold enough to say it out loud, but in your heart you're like, well, I don't know, I've been let down so many times.

So I I I just I trust the Holy Spirit's gonna do something in your heart today uh in this area.

Our residency program is something that goes throughout the year, and one of the the many things we look at is preaching.

And so it's just been so great to see we have eight preachers today across our three sites and our four services that are preaching.

So it's it's really exciting.

Would you give me uh would you say one more time?

And we're gonna welcome up Chloe Ramiro.

Good morning, friends.

Um, you guys can have a seat.

Um I just wanted to take a moment to honor the eldership team and the leadership team here at 614.

Um they've been a pivotal part of my life um this last season.

I moved to Columbus um last February.

And um David and Kathy have just loved me and have seen me and on a multitude of levels.

And I just wanted to thank them for being good shepherds.

And uh in alignment with that, I also wanted to just be focused on John 10 and the Lord who is our good shepherd.

Um so if you guys wouldn't mind turning to John 10 with me, I'm gonna start off on the beginning and then we'll jump down a little bit.

But John 10, 1 through 3.

Truly, truly, I say to you, the one who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way.

He is a thief and a robber.

But the one who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep.

To him, the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep listen to his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

I'm gonna jump down to um verse uh ten or eleven.

Well, eleven actually.

I am the good shepherd.

The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.

He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees.

The wolf snatches them and scatters the flock.

He flees because he's a hired hand and does not care about the sheep.

I am the good shepherd and I know my own, and my own know me, just as the father knows me and I know the father, and I laid down my life for the sheep.

And I I'm gonna You're gonna see, but we're gonna kind of pivot um in a little bit.

But the first thing that just stood out to me was the shepherd knows a sheep, the shepherd knows who's in his flock, the shepherd knows us by our name, um, he knows our stories, he knows our background.

But there's also a reciprocation of being in the flock and being in the fold of Christ.

Um and sheep follow because they recognize who's speaking to them and who's leading them.

Um Jesus continues to say in a different version, um it says, I am the good shepherd, I know my sheep, and my sheep know me.

And again, just the comparison of I know my own and my own know me, and I know my sheep and my sheep know me, of just the ownership that Jesus is taking when he's speaking.

So I have a few questions for us this morning.

Is do we know his voice?

And maybe more importantly, and I feel like this is the question I've been asking myself, is is the Lord's voice clear?

I think a lot of us know the Lord's voice, but are we paying attention and are we seeking clarity in his voice and in his words?

The question isn't simply does God speak.

The question uh may s be more um Am I close enough to recognize his voice when he does.

I can look back at my life in this last season and see the evidence of the Lord's provision.

I can see the evidence of his faithfulness, and I can see moments where he's given me peace and circumstances didn't always make sense, but I knew that I was where the Lord asked me to be.

One of the ways, and I really love that Mitch one before me, but uh just how important prayer is um but also seeking wise counsel and making sure that we're actually in community and surrounding ourselves with people who love and hear the Lord's voice.

Um I have intentionally sought out people that I've trust that I trust who've demonstrated and there's evidence of fruit and obedience in their life.

And it's helped me to discern, yes, Lord, I did hear you correctly, or maybe I haven't seen something, or they're pointing out something that I haven't seen in myself, or again in the circumstances that I brought to them.

Um but ultimately I have to know the Lord's voice for myself, and so but again, with community helping us direct us also to the Lord's voice.

Um there's plenty of moments when I have filtered the Lord's voice through other people's and acknowledging the difference of of uh just the wisdom in that of like Lord, I I don't want to I want to hear you for myself.

I don't want to hear you through the filter of my parents or or my friends or even worldly things.

And uh because we need people around us who simply who simply don't just tell us what we need to hear, but also love us enough to tell us the truth.

Two stories I guess is where you are our shepherds here on earth who are the people that God has placed around us to shepherd in this church, in this season, in this context, who's guiding, who's loving, who's challenging, who's encouraging us to live in a life of full abundance.

Now here's my story.

Uh I've been I've had the privilege of living in a house with parents who I know who hear their Lord's voice and who have guided me and they haven't they didn't just tell me this is what you need to believe, but they actually encouraged me to have a relationship with Jesus for myself.

And I think that's what healthy shepherding looks like.

I think when we have good people around us, they're not expecting us to take what we have what they have to say and run with it.

They're expecting us to take their words and weigh it up and align it with the word of God and with what the Lord has already told us.

And so in there's moments where we feel like the Lord's not speaking, it's then we need to go back to what he said previously.

If the Lord hasn't said go, then are we being faithful and staying?

If the Lord said go, why aren't we going?

Um But again, there's wisdom.

And also I think it's important that we're intentional about inviting people into that space because again, healthy shepherding isn't someone who's gonna bulldoze and just say this is what you should be doing.

They're actually gonna wait until you approach them and ask them for their feedback and their wisdom.

And I think that's also what the Lord's been challenging me about is are we taking responsibility for that?

So again, think about my own life.

Who am I allowing to speak into my life?

Who am I giving permission to challenge me um and tell me things that I don't always want to hear?

Are they seeing something that I'm not seeing myself?

So um my dad has this whistle.

And when we were kids, my brothers and I, when my dad whistled, there was a response.

And it needed to be a quick response.

Um it was danger or it was a r a shifting of of task or um uh whatever it may be.

Again, I th most times it was like strange or danger, you need to get to me, I need to have eyes on you.

That was typically a whistle.

Or we were arguing.

There's lots, lots of reasons.

But he had this whistle.

And um but we went and we looked for him, and uh we turned, and there was a quick response.

Um to his basic his basic command.

He didn't say anything, but we knew we knew what was expected of us in that moment.

And then there was another story.

There's another time.

There was a wedding.

I was helping here at the church and David was officiating.

And I I thought I heard his voice.

Like I thought I heard him call me, but he wasn't, he wasn't in the room.

Like I was standing back there.

And I just I like again the subconscious thing of like, oh, David's looking for me.

Like I I need to go.

I need there was a response that happened.

And and I positioned myself to go and help and go and do whatever I thought was supposed to happen.

Um but when I was processing honestly this these words from John 10, and when the Lord was bringing these stories to mind, was I was realizing how much proximity mattered.

And I lived in a house with my dad for 25 years.

And I lived in a house with David and Kathy for five months.

And knowing that my parents have been a safe place for me because again, proximity matters.

I spent time with them.

They loved me, they've shepherded me well, they led me towards Jesus.

I've sat with David and Kathy even way before I moved to Columbus, and just like I feel like this is what the Lord is saying.

Can you affirm or deny what I feel like he's saying?

And so I'm just thankful.

I'm thankful for these opportunities and these people that the Lord's placed in my life.

But also how close are we to the Lord's voice?

How close are we to his word?

How close are we in prayer to recognize and to respond when we know that he's speaking and when we know that he said something.

So I just want to challenge you guys to be in your word.

I'm not the best at it, guys.

I'm speaking to the choir.

I need you guys to know that.

This week has been challenging to say the least, especially because I know you know the enemy likes to bring things up when you're gonna speak on a Sunday morning.

And again, just staying true to what the Lord is saying.

And then also challenged me in so many other ways, but how are we shepherding others and how are we loving others?

Um John 10 16 says, and I have other sheep that are not in this fold, I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice, and they will become one flock with one shepherd.

So how are we loving people?

How are we leading people?

And a a plug for life groups.

I'm like, again, timely things that the Lord is saying, but like I just one of my biggest encouragements, and I think um just I want my life to represent something, and I want people to see my life and say, oh, she has something, there's something about her.

Like, what is that?

And I want it to be the Lord, like that's what I want them to see, and that's what I want them to grasp.

And I I want to encourage you guys with that too of again, how are we living in a life with a full abundance?

And I think uh naturally fruit is gonna be produced and be shown in those moments.

And I think again, I lead a life group, it's not easy.

Um there's there's days, and not because of them.

My the girls in my life group are so great.

Um, but again, it just a challenging of how are we loving people and how are we leading them well.

And I think all of this just goes back to the Lord and and just being in alignment with what he's asked and the gospel and going out and reaching and being and I hope this makes sense.

I feel like I'm a little scattered, so I apologize.

But I'm just thankful.

I'm thankful for opportunities, I'm thankful for opportunities to love people, opportunities to say yes to challenging things like being up on stage right now.

Um but again just being in alignment with what I feel the Lord has asked of me, and I hope that it's just an encouragement to to you guys and just to seek out uh what he's asked of you and to if it's conversations with leaders, if it's being in a life group for what are the next steps that you feel you need to make to be in alignment with what he's asked of you.

I just encourage you guys to do that.

So thanks.

And let's give it a big up to John Grainy, who's gonna share the words of the joan particularly likes it when you give him a lot of feedback during the sermon.

Good morning, Mana.

Good morning.

You can have your seats.

How's everyone doing today?

Doing well?

Good.

The day was September 14th, an encounter retreat.

The weekend was full of worship and teaching and people encountering God, evidently.

And it was the very last session on Saturday night during the response time where what I would describe is that I became aware of God's presence.

It felt like I was so enveloped with his love that anything in my surroundings I was unaware of.

Maybe you've had a moment like that where whether a Sunday morning during worship song, you've just become aware of God's presence or in a life group or at a conference or a retreat, or you've encountered God in a way that's left you changed.

And then Monday morning hits, and you've got 15 karmic assignments to chug away at, or it's 9 a.m.

at work, and you're clocking in and you check your email inbox, or you're just taking the trash out, and life is as boring and bland as it ever gets.

It feels like there's a chasm between encountering God and the spiritual high of being in his presence and being aware of him and the everyday realities of mundane life.

Between Sunday and a Monday, retreat and a work week.

I believe Jesus has something to offer us in John chapter 15.

John 15 · chapter mention

If you'd like to switch, uh, split your Bibles there.

We'll be reading in starting in verse 4 of John chapter 15.

John 15 · chapter mention

Jesus says, Abide in me, and I in you.

As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.

I am the vine, you are the branches.

Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit.

For apart from me you can do nothing.

If any one does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers, and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.

If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples.

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.

Abide in my love.

If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.

These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

Known as the farewell discourse, Jesus is sitting down with his disciples for his very last meal.

That same night, he's going to be betrayed and suffer a humiliating death on his crucifixion.

But before then, he enjoys one last intimate meal.

He's been with them for the last three years or so.

They've lived with him, walked with him, talked with him, ate with him.

You can think of it like they were having encounters with God every day because the Son of God in the flesh was walking with them.

And now he's telling them that things are gonna change and that they have to learn to live alongside him, even though he's physically not present with them.

So, in a similar predicament, how do we bridge this gap of experiencing Christ, say on a Sunday and a Monday morning, and the disciples' predicament that Jesus is telling them that they're no that he's no longer gonna walk with them physically?

Leading to my first point.

Jesus invites us into a life of abiding.

A life of abiding.

Verse 4, abide in me and I and you.

Other ways to say that would be remain in me, dwell with me, stay connected with me, be united with me, make your home in me, live your life alongside me, dine with me.

See, when we hear this word abide over and over again at church, we tend to lose its meaning and its understanding.

This is an intimate invitation from Jesus to live life with him.

Verse 5, I am the vine, you are the branches.

This image is conveying that those who trust in Christ are already united with him.

And so it's not like we're summoning him down or calling him down.

He's already united with us.

So we don't fight him for his presence.

Abiding is simply acknowledging that he's always with us.

So what exactly are we abiding in?

Verse 9 says, As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.

Abide in my love.

See, he's saying that the same love that the Father has for him is the same way that he extends that love to his followers.

It's a crazy statement.

What he's saying is the first and second persons of the Trinity who've existed for all of eternity and in perfect union and intimacy and trust, ever sharing in joy and love and affection with one another, is the same image of the flow of love from the Father to the Son, to the Son, to his followers.

And at one of the rare glimpses of the Father's love for the Son and dialogue in the scriptures that we have is in Matthew 17.

If you flip there really quickly, it'll also be on the screen.

Where the Father speaks over the son and says, This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased.

Listen to him.

Gordon MacDonald, commentating on this passage, says, A son seeks from his father three assurances.

That he, the son, belongs, that he's valued, and that he's competent.

See, if we're not living our lives as an outflow of experiencing the love of the Father, we're going to search anywhere, far and wide, to experience that belonging, that value, and that identity.

So what he's saying is it's not just Sundays or conferences when you hear a good message or you hear a good worship song, when you understand and realize your identity.

It's in the everyday mundane moments as well.

So what is he saying?

In other words, Jesus is saying, continually live in this reality that your identity is fixed in me.

Live your life from experiencing the pleasure that I have in you.

And as you know my love for you, you will grow in who you are most deeply meant to be.

He's inviting us to live in this love every day, every moment.

That's what he means by abide in my love.

There was a time on a particular Saturday that was just like any other Saturday.

Um, overcast sky, cars going by, and I had a kind of a rough week, just a little bit tired, running, running low on empty, and I decided to sit on my porch and pray.

And I didn't have a whole lot of faith, I just kind of was showing up.

Um, average day, less than average week.

Anybody just kind of show up when you pray?

That was me, and as soon as I sat down to pray on my porch, you have a picture of my porch.

It's pretty nice porch, I'm not gonna lie.

Yeah, that's it.

Um as soon as I began to open my heart to the Lord and pray, before I could even get a word out, the Lord spoke to me.

And the Lord will often speak to me through a spontaneous thought in my mind that will not sound like it's from me.

And what he said was, I'm proud of you.

And it was like in that moment with my average day, my below average week, and my little expectancy that the Father wooed me again and he drew me in into his love.

It wasn't just in the encounter at the encounter retreat, but it was on my porch, like any other Monday, any other Saturday, when the Lord was drawing me back in.

He was saying that no matter what you've done, no matter how your performance has been, I'm proud of you.

You're mine.

See, isn't that what the human heart aches for?

I loved Zayn's story.

It was just a beautiful story.

It was touching.

Uh it's cool how there's kind of connection.

I didn't even hear your story before I started writing this.

I didn't know it was gonna be in the announcements.

So in this moment, hear the Father over you right now.

That He's proud of you, that He loves you.

For whatever reason, I've come to know that the Father enjoys company with me, and I've come to enjoy his company.

You see, if I didn't pray, I I probably would have had an average day, a below average week following, and what would happen is my heart would have drifted into busyness.

How many of us are spending our times and our days wasting away on something that's urgent and catching our attention, and we miss the invitation of the Father to abide in him.

That's what we do, we're drifters.

And there's something about the human heart that just drifts away from the Lord.

I wonder how many of these stories that you and I have missed out on because we've simply not engaged with him, we've simply not taken his invitation to abide and experience our identity, our belonging, our competency in him.

But we search everywhere else and then we're left empty.

And we wonder, God, where are you at?

And he's saying, Abide in me.

Point two, abiding in Jesus leads to incredible joy.

See, when you experience and know Christ's joy in your life, everything changes.

It's like when he said, I'm proud of you, suddenly the rest of the day was just brighter.

It was like I was naturally slower, I was more quick to love, slower to listen, or quicker to listen, slower to speak.

And uh you get what I'm saying?

More generous, unhurried, present, all the things that I try to be, but I fail at a lot.

I try to be a good Christian and I fail.

But when I accept Jesus' invitation to abide, it's like I want to do those things.

It's like it comes easily.

It's an outflow of hearing the Father's pride over me.

Verse 11.

I've told you these things so that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be complete.

What's crazy is that he's telling his disciples this as he's about to go to the cross and be stripped naked in front of everybody, die a humiliating death, and they're gonna have to endure that emotional trauma of seeing their Lord, the person that they've been following, humiliated to such an extent.

And they're gonna have to run the logistics of the ministry, who's gonna be leading, what's what's gonna be going on.

You can imagine the thoughts that are racing in their head.

And he's saying, The reason I'm saying this to you is that you would experience my joy, and that it would actually be overwhelming and overflowing in you.

See, what Jesus is offering to his disciples and to us is joy, not apart from our busyness or circumstances, or pain or hardship, or even just the mundane realities of life.

He's offering his joy in the midst of it.

It's hard to say this in words.

It's like uh I'm reminded of Augustine's cry where he says, Oh Lord, you have put salt on my lips to thirst for you.

I can only hope and pray that what I'm saying is bringing salt to your lips so that you're longing to experience the love and the pride of the Father.

Because that's what we're all aching for.

That's what we're all chasing for.

We spend our lives pursuing that I'm proud of you, that I love you, that you're you're mine, you belong with me.

Do you see what's on offer?

Christianity isn't a get out of jail free card or good morals to live by.

It's the creator of the cosmos who upholds the universe by his word, that one came as a man, died a humiliating death just to be with you and me.

Hebrews says it's the joy that was set before him that he endured the cross.

How could he have joy to die on a cross like that?

It was what was before him.

What was before him?

It was you and me.

The reason he went was because of the joy of being with you.

That's why he went to the cross.

And now he's inviting us, not just on a Sunday, not just at a retreat, not just at a conference, but to live a life where we're regularly experiencing his love, his pride, his joy in us.

And it leads to a life that's full, that's abundant, that's unbelievably life-giving.

See, joy is anchored in the truth that no matter what I experience now, there's coming a day when me and him are gonna sit on that porch together fully and finally forever.

And I can't wait for that day.

But until then, I'm invited to come out on that porch, say, Here I am, Lord.

Here's my burdens, here's my heart.

Here I am once again.

So practically, how do we abide?

My first point is having unhurried and honest time with the Lord.

Um, oftentimes I've been noticing that uh I'm married, me and my wife Sydney sometimes will just get busy and not connect super well, but just kind of go along the motions of everyday life.

And we've really enjoyed walks where we leave our phones, we leave everything else aside, and we just slowly walk and we're present with each other, and we're sharing honestly what's actually going on in our hearts.

And I know it's the same with the Lord too, when we're not spending unhurried, honest time with him, we begin to be become busy and urgent, and and suddenly our value and identity is shifting into something that's not supposed to be him.

Whether it's drugs, whether it's a relationship or something good like ministry or school or whatever it is, we we look for it in anywhere but the heart of the Father, and it's ultimately fleeting.

My second point, always respond to the impulse to pray.

The great Welsh preacher, Dr.

Martin Lloyd Jones, says, always respond to every impulse to pray.

My question is, are you interruptible to him?

See, if if my wife or best friend kind of interrupt me and knock on my door and say, Hey Sean, can you come out here for a second?

No matter what I'm doing, I'm probably gonna drop what I'm doing to be with them because there's a closeness and there's an intimacy.

So I'm gonna want to lay down what I'm doing and pay attention to what they're saying, what they're doing.

It's the same with the Lord.

See, oftentimes I feel like myself, and maybe you will carve out your time with the Lord in the morning and then you just kind of live your life and your weeks throughout the day.

What if he wants to interrupt your time?

What if he wants to spend time with you on his time, not just yours, not just your 15-minute or 10-minute or two-hour time?

And it doesn't have to be anything crazy.

Oftentimes I'll just be driving and I'll just feel a prompting to pray, and I'll just simply open my hand and I'll say, I'm here, Lord.

I love you.

And I can't tell you how many times I've experienced and known his affection on a deeper level.

And my day just tends to go smoother.

No matter what's actually going on, my heart is at peace.

I'm present, I'm unhurried.

I'm slow because love is slow, it's intentional, it's unhurried.

It's gonna look different for everybody, whether you're in college or maybe you're a new mom.

But I encourage you to take these two questions seriously.

Let me pray for you.

Father, I thank you.

That you longed to be with us so much so that you would you didn't even withhold your only son.

Just so we could be together.

I pray, Lord, that these words would be yours and that you would put salt on our lips, not just this Sunday morning, but tomorrow morning when we wake up and we feel anxious, and we feel stressed, or even tonight, when our heart is enticed and drawn away, Lord.

I pray that you'd stir up a thirst for you.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Thanks, guys.

Thank you, Sean.

Wow.

You sense the presence of the Lord here, guys.

Thankfully, the Bible tells us the Lord is everywhere, he is omnipresent, so we know this about the nature and the character of God.

But sometimes he chooses for his presence to become manifest, become known, become fulfilled by you and I.

I just sense that's what's happening here this morning as we've been worshiping him, honoring him, ministering to the Lord, and Sean's beautiful reminder of this relationship that the Lord wants us to have with us, to abide with us, or to this invitation to spend this time with him.

Just take one more moment, would you close your eyes?

In my career before working for the church, I spent many times in the in the boardroom and the in the executive suite of of the company I was at, and you're often making really big decisions and tough decisions and a lot of egos in the room.

And you're always wondering, wow, Lord, I'm I'm here and this is banking work, so it doesn't feel like spiritual work, but it impacts people's lives and it impacts decisions that that we're making.

And the practice of in a boardroom, in the middle of conflict, in the middle of stress, to learn how to close your eyes, whether it's for a second or close your spiritual eyes to be less distracted, and just invite the presence of the Lord into this moment.

And I can tell you over and over where I can spend tens of seconds asking the Lord for his guidance, his presence in the moment, his abiding, that he makes himself known and he calms the heart to be able to make the right decisions and the right next step.

What Sean was encouraging us to do is to live daily with a daily, moment-by-moment encounter with the Lord.

So I trust that becomes our practice as well.

I'd like to invite up our next speaker this morning.

Um as I said, we do this residency, and if you're serving in the church, I had a few questions after the first service.

How do I get into this residency?

If you're a servant leader in this church, by the end of the year, I'm going to invite anyone who is serving in the church and tell you more about the residency that we offer for people to grow in their leadership.

And uh email will have all the details there, and then you decide.

Is this something you can commit to?

And then we commit into you for training and developing you.

So that's what our leadership residency is.

It's such a privilege to invite one of our residency members and life group leaders and college leaders, Courtney Crawford.

Would you stand with me, please?

And give Courtney a big, big, big hand.

Is anybody here in Courtney's life group?

All right, let's go.

Let's go, Courtney.

You can go ahead and take your seats.

Um, for those of you guys that don't know me, my name is Courtney.

Um it is such an honor and a privilege to be here this morning.

Um I found 614 Church actually through the college ministry, my freshman year on campus, and since then my life has been just completely changed.

Um I found a family here, I've found just a church community and people here that are willing to support me and love me no matter what.

And now, as David mentioned, I serve on the kids team, the college team, and lead an amazing life group, and I highly encourage you to help and get involved in those ways.

So now, as we begin, I want to take a second and reflect.

I want you to take a second.

How have you responded to struggle, loss, and pain within your life?

Maybe you responded with anger.

Was it unforgiveness, worship, resentment, blame, joy, sadness, maybe even doubt.

When I consider those questions, I'm reminded of a season in my own life, also about three years ago.

During this time, I experienced the loss of someone that I loved.

Going from laughing and enjoying the moments to suddenly nothing was very difficult.

I felt lost, I didn't know what to think, and I blamed God.

Now I didn't know why he would do this.

I questioned God and wondered why he would allow something like this to happen.

Why would he cause this pain?

What is the reason?

Now instead of running to God, I distanced myself from him because I didn't know how to trust him after suffering.

I held on to bitterness and refused to believe that anything good could come from my pain.

But about a year later, I began to see things differently.

I began to recognize that even in the moments when I felt distant from God, he had never been distant from me.

Even when I couldn't see it, he was working through me.

Through my pain and suffering, God began to soften my heart.

And he transformed a heart that was once hardened from bitterness and grief into a heart that was desired to worship him.

Now I didn't receive all the questions to my answers, but I found something greater.

I found God.

I drew closer to God and Jesus in the midst of my doubt, and I learned to trust him, and slowly began to let go of the control I had been holding on to.

And through that journey, God led me home to a home that I get to be in for the rest of my days.

And now our stories might not look the same, but I think that we can all relate to the question of what happens when suffering enters our lives.

And when we look in the Bible, we can see that Job's story challenges us to look at our own response to suffering and ask, what do I do when everything around me begins to fall apart?

So as we turn to Job chapter 1, verses 13 through 22, we're going to see a man who, in a matter of moments, loses almost everything.

Job 1:13–22

And yet, in the midst of unimaginable grief and pain, Job chooses a response that challenges us all.

So I encourage you to open up your Bibles and turn to Job chapter 1 with me as I begin reading at verse 13.

Job 1 · chapter mention

Now it states, Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house.

And there came a messenger to Job and said, The oxen were ploughing and the donkeys feeding beside them.

And the Sabeans fell upon them and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.

While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.

While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, The Chaldeans formed three groups and made a raid on the camels, and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword.

And I alone have escaped to tell you.

And while he was yet speaking, there came another and said, Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house, and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.

Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshipped.

And he said, Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return.

The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord.

Now in all of this, Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.

Now the suffering that Job experienced and the suffering that we experience in our lives is unpredictable, but it is always directed by the sovereign wisdom of God.

Job did not understand at the time the reason for his suffering, but he took it with grace and continued to honor God.

The end of this passage highlights the three ways that Job responded to suffering, and this morning we're gonna take a second and break down each one of those.

So the first being with that Job never lost his worship.

In the midst of losing almost everything, his oxen, his servants, his sheep, camels, his sons and daughters, Job mourned his losses, but still decided to worship God despite his circumstances.

Job realizes that he cannot do it alone and calls upon God, acknowledging that all that he has is from the Lord.

He brings pure worship greatly glorifying to God.

Now, in a situation where he could have easily responded with anger, bitterness, and blame, Job still chose to remain faithful to God.

At his lowest moment, Job blesses God's authority over all circumstances of his life.

Now Job's first response was worship, but what will be your first response?

How will you respond?

Will you worship?

Will you weep and mourn?

Will you become angry?

Maybe your first response isn't worship.

Maybe like me, your first response is anger, confusion, doubt, or blame.

But I want to encourage you to draw deeper.

Bring your questions to God, bring your grief to him, bring your anger to him, and even when you may not understand, trust that he is still present.

Sometimes it is through our deepest pain that God transforms our hearts and teaches us how to worship in a deeper way.

Now my pain did not disappear overnight, my questions did not go away, but over time my response began to shift.

Now I had a choice, and you have a choice.

Will you let the pain push you away from God, or will you allow it to draw you closer to him?

Will you allow it to draw you closer to him?

And that leads us to the second point of this is that Job continued to trust God.

Even though Job could not see or understand why God would bring this upon him, he trusted him.

Job knew that God was in control of his life and that it had to pass through the loving and wise hands of God to get to him.

And he understood that.

And if we look back at verse 21, within Job, it states, and Job said, The Lord gave away, and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord.

Now in this action, Job analyzed his situation.

He understood that all that he had was from God, and God provided everything that he needed.

And if God took that away, then there was a reason.

He didn't doubt God's reasoning.

He knew that God approved of this pain and suffering, even though he didn't know why.

He accepted God's gifts graciously and graciously returned them when the time came.

He understood that everything that he owned was God's, and Job didn't allow what he'd lost to define who he was.

His life still had meaning.

And if we flip ahead in the Bible as into Luke, within which Jesus is teaching a parable, the parable of the rich fool, we can look at Luke chapter 12, verse 15, which states, Take care and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.

Luke 12:15

Now Job understood that and Job's life still had meaning.

And even when everything familiar was stripped away, he trusted that God would continue to be enough.

So I ask, where does our trust go when life no longer looks the way that we expected it?

I know that for me, when I experienced loss, trusting God was difficult.

I wanted answers, I wanted to understand why.

And when I couldn't see the purpose behind my pain, I struggled to believe that God was still good.

Maybe you're in a season right now where you cannot see what God is doing.

Maybe you've prayed for answers and you haven't received them.

Maybe something has been taken away from you and you're struggling to understand why God would allow that.

Now Job reminds us that trusting God does not require us to understand everything that God is doing.

So will you trust even when you cannot see?

Even when there is no clear reason, will you trust?

Will you surrender and lay it all down?

Now sometimes faith is not having all the answers.

Sometimes faith is simply saying, God, I don't understand, but I still trust you.

Now we can trust that God is still faithful.

He is still faithful in the seasons, even when we cannot see what he is doing.

So this leads us to Job's third action, in which he did not sin nor blame God.

Job remained faithful.

He did not sin or place blame on God or himself, and he feared God and displayed his unshaking commitment to him.

Even when it would have been easy to break down, give up, or turn away, Job endured.

He remained steadfast.

He understood that God is worthy to be blessed and praised in any and all circumstances of life.

And now Job remained steadfast in the face of fear in which he did not panic, in the face of pride, where he humbled himself before God, in the face of himself where he worshipped a higher power, in the face of unbelief, where he did not question God, and in the face of anger where he did not blame God.

Now we may not experience the same losses that Job experienced, but we all face moments that test our faith.

Moments when fear, anger, pride, or doubt try to take over our minds.

Now I know in my life when I experience loss or pain, I often struggle with anger.

I'm quick to blame God for the pain, and instead of drawing closer to him, I distance myself.

Maybe your struggle looks different.

Maybe fear is keeping you from trusting God.

Maybe disappointment has made you distant yourself.

Maybe pride is keeping you from surrendering.

Now instead of allowing your circumstances to shape your view of God, will you allow God's character to shape how you view your circumstances?

Will you remain steadfast and draw closer to Him?

In the midst of your fear, anger, doubt, and suffering, will you continue to turn towards God?

Now being steadfast isn't about being strong enough on our own.

It's about continually choosing to hold on to the one who is faithful, even when everything around us feels uncertain.

Now often God places us in seasons that we may not understand, but he has a purpose.

His ways are higher than ours, and although we may not see it in the moment he is working, he is not blind to our suffering.

He is kind, gracious, and gentle, and he loves us so deeply.

Now, if you continue reading the story of Job, we see him questioning God.

We see his weaknesses, his imperfections, his questions, drawing for something more, longing for answers.

And in Job's weaknesses and imperfections, we can see ourselves.

Our brokenness, our hurt, our questions, and our doubt.

But Job's suffering ultimately reveals something deeper, our need for a redeemer, a savior.

And Jesus became just that.

In our weakness, we are pointed to the strength of Jesus Christ, he who willingly suffered on the cross so that we could experience redemption, healing, and hope.

When we have nothing left, Jesus is still enough.

When we don't understand, Jesus is still enough.

When we are hurting, Jesus is still enough.

Now his strength will prevail when ours cannot.

And through Jesus, we find hope.

We find forgiveness, and through Jesus, we are drawn closer to the heart of God.

And if we look in Romans, in which Paul wrote at Romans 8, 18, Paul wrote, For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

There is glory coming, there is joy coming.

God is working through your story.

Trust him.

Fall down and worship.

You don't have to do this alone.

Call on Jesus, there is beauty in what's to come.

And there is a faithful God who will meet you in the middle of your suffering and walk with you through it.

When Courtney told me what she wanted to preach on, I was like, girl, you're going to Job for your first sermon.

Like, wow, that's brave.

But hopefully you could hear in her words and in her story, it was revelation for her, something that she has been walking through.

And I trust the Lord wants to minister that that very thing that she's talking about to those of us in the room.

We're struggling to frame our condition, our suffering, our troubles that we have gone through in life.

And I want to invite us today to respond to this and this invitation to abide with the Lord as the worship team comes up.

Close.

We respond to what the Lord has shared with us in the sermon through a time of reflection, of worship, of acknowledging Him, and allowing the Holy Spirit to work in our heart in these next few moments.