For Every[ONE] - Live like Jesus | Sunday Message

Welcome to the Do Life Different podcast by 1128 Community.

Today you're listening to our most recent message.

We are a church community in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, led by co-pastors Mike and Colleen Francisco.

1128 is about helping people do life different by setting rhythms and values with Jesus at the center.

If you want to connect with us, text the word podcast to 414-441-1128.

We hope today's message helps you in your faith journey.

He'd been blind for as long as anyone could remember.

Some people they knew his name, but most people knew him by his condition.

The blind man.

Hoping that someone would stop, someone would see him, someone might give something to him, hoping that today might be different than yesterday.

And one day, the Jesus, the one everybody was talking about, one day, Jesus, this man, he was walking by with his disciples, those that were following him, his closest friends.

He was walking by with them and they stopped.

The disciples noticed him.

Maybe they'd seen him before.

Maybe they hadn't.

Maybe they'd just been so wrapped up in their own tunnel vision of where they needed to get that they hadn't ever noticed him before.

But this day they stopped.

They looked at the man and they said, Rabbi, what's up with this guy?

Who sinned?

Was it him?

Did he sin?

Or was it his parents?

Like, for this man to be born blind, clearly somebody had done something, right?

In other words, Jesus, like, this doesn't just happen accidentally.

Somebody is responsible for this man's blindness.

Whose fault is it?

Is it his or his parents?

Come on, Jesus, tell us.

And Jesus says, Neither.

It's not his fault.

It's not their fault.

And then he says something really kind of confusing and strange.

This happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.

What?

This happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.

And before they could like process that question or that answer fully, before they could really start to formulate their next question, because you know they're asking more questions in their head, and they just haven't started to be able to articulate them and to speak them out yet.

Before they get there, Jesus, he kneels down in the ground and he spits and he stirs it together, makes mud, and he takes it in his hand, he stands up and he puts it in the man's face.

He rubs it into his eyes.

And he says to the man, Go and wash yourself in the pool of siloem.

Go and clean that stuff off.

Now the man, he's in this space now where he was already blind, so he can't see the mud in his eyes, it doesn't really do anything.

It doesn't make it harder to see.

So he starts to navigate from where he is to this pool.

Maybe he had somebody help him there, maybe he slowly made his way there himself, but one way or another, he made his way to the pool.

Blind, mud-covered eyes.

And he got there.

And he got down and he took the water and he splashed in his face, scrubbed real good.

And he opened his eyes and there was color, there was light, there were faces, there were buildings.

His own hand, he had a hand.

He could see.

For the very first time in this man's life, he could see.

And as he's processing everything, taking it all in, the people who were around him, they were saying, Who is that guy?

Some of them were saying, Hey, that's the man that had sat here every single day for as long as we can remember, born blind, begging, hoping somebody would see him and stop and help him.

Other people are like, no, they didn't him.

That's not the same guy.

Meanwhile, he's like, it's me, it's really me.

I was the guy.

I was the one sitting there begging day after day.

I was the one who could never see.

I'm seeing my hands, I'm seeing your faces for the very first time.

And they say, Well, how did this come to be?

And he says, the man that everybody's talking about, Jesus.

He put some mud in my eyes.

It sounds crazy, but he put some mud in my eyes, and he told me, go and wash.

And as weird as it was, like, I did it anyways, and I came and I washed, and and I the mud was gone, and I could see.

I opened my eyes and I got hands and I see your faces, and he healed me.

And they say, Well, where's Jesus?

He's looking all around.

You know, like I actually don't know.

I've never seen the dude.

He just put mud in my eyes.

I don't know what this guy looks like.

Like, he's looking for he says, I don't know.

I don't know.

I don't know what Jesus looks like.

I don't know.

And maybe this is the strangest part in this whole story from John chapter nine.

The man born blind had been healed.

The man born blind, he could see.

The man born blind, he knew that Jesus had done something.

He knew that he was healed.

But when he's asked, well, where is Jesus?

Who is Jesus?

He says, I don't know.

I don't know.

But what I do know is that Jesus saw me.

Jesus didn't see me as a problem.

He didn't see me as some theological thing that needed to be figured out.

He didn't see me as a bum on the side of the road.

He didn't see me as something that was unworthy or unlovable.

He saw me for who I was and he loved me and he freed me.

And he changed my life.

You see, the man born blind from John chapter nine had this encounter with Jesus that changed his life.

He came to know who Jesus was, but he couldn't tell you where Jesus was.

He had this encounter with Jesus, the Savior, where he knew this man has the power to heal and free me.

But he didn't know which man to follow from here on out because he didn't know.

And I'm guessing there's some of us in the room like that here today.

We've had an encounter with Jesus.

We've had an encounter with God where we know, like God has spoken to me, God has inspired me, God has put something on my heart, God has called me out of my pain, my shame, my guilt, my hurts, my hangups, my habits.

God has called me out of that past, that history, that life, and into something new.

And it was that moment where I knew I am healed, I am changed, I am transformed.

And somebody then says, What's going on in your life?

How is this happening?

And we look around like the blind man and we say, I don't know.

Jesus?

This morning we continue our series called For Everyone.

Because the good news of Jesus, it's not just for me, it's not just for you, it's for everyone.

Thank you to Lucia in the back for being the loudest.

Let's try it again.

The gospel's not just for me, it's not just for you, it's for everyone.

Yes, thank you.

It's for everyone.

The gospel is not meant to be contained in here or in here.

It's meant to go into the ends of the earth.

And last week, as we we jumped into this series called For Everyone, we talked about what it means to know God.

We talked about this kingdom and how God invites us to follow Him and to learn and watch and see, how He invites us to know the love of God, how He invites us to follow Me.

But ultimately, when we say, Yes, I'm going to follow after Jesus, there comes a point in time when we have to decide, am I going to stand up?

Am I going to follow Jesus with everything?

And this morning, our journey takes another step forward.

Yes, we're invited to know God.

Yes, this invitation to come and follow me is where it begins.

But Jesus actually invites us to start living differently.

He invites us to not just learn about it.

He doesn't just say, hey, learn about this way of life.

He doesn't just say, I'm going to teach you about this new way of life.

No, he says, I want to invite you into living a new life.

I want you to live differently.

Now, over the last several years, the most common question that we get as a church is, what does 1128 mean?

Or where does it come from?

In fact, weirdest situation happened to me the other day.

If you didn't know, over the summer our office flooded, and so we had to move out.

And so now we have a storage unit and my garage and our trailer.

And so, in the process of getting everything kind of reset and reoriented for Sunday mornings in the fall, I had the trailer sitting out on the side of my house, and I had like every box and bin on that trailer in my garage.

And Colleen calls it my summer office.

Anyways, at one point, a lady in my neighborhood, she's like, uh she's driving by, she stops and she rolls down her window.

It used to be like this, but definitely the she rolls down her window like that.

And she goes, uh, okay, so this is a lady I've never talked to before either.

I don't know her name.

She drives a uh Hyundai EV of some sort.

Anyway, she she hey question.

She yells at me into my garage from the road.

Question, what's up with all the mystery boxes?

I'm like, it's it's it's it's a church on wheels.

We meet right across the street at the middle school, 10 a.m.

Hope you can make it.

She's not here.

That invite didn't go as well as I thought.

Not kidding.

About 10 minutes later, the FedEx guy.

He didn't even have a package for me, shows up in my garage, and he's like, hey, I've seen the truck kind of driving around town before, and I notice you got all these boxes here in your garage.

Is this a like you gotta be like a mobile church, right?

I'm like, yes.

Yeah, we meet right across the street, 10 a.m.

at the middle school, right there.

You're more than welcome to come.

If you live in the area, I hope to see you there.

He's not here either.

If you're watching online, my neighbor or my FedEx guy, like I hope you could be with us next Sunday.

It's the question we get all the time, though, is like, hey, what's going on?

And then maybe more so, what's 1128 mean?

Where do you get that from?

It comes from Scripture, it comes from Matthew 1128 through 30.

It's this invitation that Jesus is inviting us into.

Not just learn about this life, but but step into this life, live differently.

He says in verse 28, come to me, all you who are weary and burdened.

That was a verse of the day not too long ago, just within the last couple days, I noticed.

And I love when I see that one in there.

Come to me, all who are weary and burdened.

It's a side note as well, just all kinds of side notes here.

1128, come to me.

This Wednesday, if you're in middle school or high school, there's this See You at the Poll uh event, and it happens before school, and students and teachers and everybody in the school that wants to meet and pray together can do that.

And it happens at schools all across the country.

This year their theme is come to me, and their theme verse is Matthew 1128.

Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Come, take, learn.

Come, take, learn, come, take, learn.

Like come with me, come follow me, take things, learn from me.

Watch how I do it.

The message version says learn how to live freely and lightly.

Do life with me, and you'll learn how to live freely and lightly.

Do life with me, and you are going to live differently.

Are you doing life with Jesus here today?

Like, yeah, maybe right now within this moment, because it's 10 to 11 o'clock on a Sunday, and this is when you do Jesus time.

But but what happens at like 11.05?

Are you still doing life with Jesus or have you left here and you're out in your car honking at somebody because they're not going quick enough through that light?

What about on Tuesday when you got that meeting and there's one gal that just does not shut up, and you're like, come on, like, let's go.

Come on, Cynthia.

Sorry to any Cynthia's.

It's probably my neighbor.

Jesus wasn't saying, come and listen to me, uh, come and watch me, come and develop your knowledge and understanding, come and develop a full-blown theological perspective on everything of who I am and how I interact with God and the Holy Spirit.

Like, he's not saying any of those things.

He's not saying, come and learn how to how to do all the things.

He's saying, come and learn how to live, come into this life of difference, do life different.

That's the invitation.

And and what's the result?

It's it's clear.

You'll find rest for your souls.

You will learn to live freely and lightly.

Anybody here want to live a little bit freer and lighter?

And I'm not talking like shedding a few pounds.

I'm talking like I want to live freer and lighter.

I want to experience life at a different pace.

I don't want to be burdened by the same things that feel like burdens every single day.

The way of Jesus leads to a different kind of living.

The way of Jesus leads to a free and light living.

The way of Jesus is better, and I always have to clarify this because I don't want it to be confused with better equaling blessing and money and things like that.

It's not easier circumstances, it's not fewer problems, it's not less responsibility.

The way of Jesus leads to freedom internally, it leads to healing, and it leads to peace.

It leads to a different pace, a different relationship with money, with people, with yourself.

It might give you purpose and direction and clarity.

The way of Jesus is the best way.

And here's the thing: Jesus doesn't just want to change what you believe.

A lot of times we come into the church setting thinking like Jesus wants to change what I believe.

Jesus wants to change how you live.

Jesus wants to change how you live.

And if you're going to live like Jesus, you've got to let go and let God.

Anybody seen that like cheesy sign before?

Like let go and let God.

I feel like it's at Hobby Lobby or Michael's or something like that.

But it kind of fits here.

Let go and let God.

Living like Jesus is letting go.

It's surrender.

It's not holding so tightly to everything that I care about.

It's not holding so tightly to everything I believe in.

It's not holding so tightly to everything that I want to happen my way.

It's it's letting go and letting God take the wheel, carry underwood.

Living like Jesus is living a life of surrender.

Now, here's the deal.

Like we often think, like, I want to be free.

I want to experience life.

And we think freedom equals doing whatever I want.

Freedom equals doing whatever I want.

But but Jesus presents something a little bit different where he says, freedom equals becoming the person that God created you to be.

Freedom does not equal doing whatever I want.

Freedom does not equal I'm gonna have it my way.

Freedom equals becoming the person that God created you to be.

Are you becoming the person God created you to be this morning?

Or are you becoming the person that you want to be?

Sometimes those are two very different things.

And so we have to remember surrender, letting go is not losing our freedom.

Letting go does not take away our freedom.

Surrender is the pathway to experiencing true freedom, true healing, true transformation.

My way says I want to be free to do whatever I want.

And Jesus' Jesus' way says I want to be free to become who God created me to be.

Surrender, letting go.

It doesn't take away our freedoms.

It leads us into really, truly experiencing it.

Now, let me ask you this question.

Do you think the human side of Jesus wanted to end up nailed on a cross, hanging there until he breathed his last?

I see a lot of heads shaken, no.

I see a lot of heads that are like, I don't know.

I mean, we get it pretty clearly said to us in Mark chapter 14, where we read that they went to a place, place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, Sit here while I pray.

Mark 14 · chapter mention

He took Peter, James, and John along with him, and he began to deep to be deeply distressed and troubled.

And he said, My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.

Stay here and keep watch.

Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him, saying, Abba, Father, everything is possible for you.

Take this cup from me.

Yet not what I will, but what you will.

Do you think like this is his chosen pathway?

I don't think so, because he says, like, everything's possible for you, God.

Like, if it really has to happen, like maybe could you take it away?

But like, I understand, like, if not, I let go.

I surrender.

Not my will, but yours, Father.

Not what I want, but what you want.

Not my way, but yours.

He surrenders.

He shows us what it looks like to submit, to surrender in the hardest moments we face.

This is the hardest moment Jesus faced, and he surrendered, saying, Not my will, but yours.

I surrender my dreams, my desires, my thoughts, my actions, my plans, my hopes.

I surrender everything, my life fully to your purpose is essentially where Jesus is in this conversation with God.

And he knew, he knew that this moment of surrender, this letting go and saying, not my will, but yours.

He knew that it would lead to healing.

He knew that it would lead to freedom.

He knew that surrender was the only way for this pathway into freedom to really take flight.

He knew that we would be freed from sin, that his death on a cross would take our place, and we would be freed from the burden of sin, the consequences of sin.

He knew that if we accepted that and received the forgiveness he offered us, that we would experience freedom internally, that we would be changed and transformed.

He knew that anything that happened after this in our lives, that it would be exponentially greater if he surrendered in that moment.

That the freedom and the healing that we create for ourselves pales in comparison to this moment of surrender, that he knew this surrender leads to the ultimate freedom, the ultimate healing, the ultimate possibility of transformation and change.

It's interesting, right?

Like, I think all of us at one point or another, or maybe even here today, we all want healing and freedom.

Is there anybody here that's been like, hey, I don't want healing or freedom in my life?

Anyone that's like gonna say like, yeah, we've all wanted it, right?

We've all wanted to experience freedom.

We've all wanted to live a healed life.

And when we're a kid, we're like, I can't wait until I get a little bit older because maybe my bedtime goes up a little bit, and then I got some more freedom, or then we get to like, I'm gonna be 16 in just a little bit, and then I'll be able to have all kinds of freedom, and then it's like I'm gonna be 21 and the questionable freedom.

There's all kinds of things out there that happen in life, and we're like waiting for the next step in our freedom.

And Jesus knows, like, this moment of surrender, not my will but yours, it leads to the ultimate freedom and healing.

It's interesting.

When we strive for freedom in our lives, a lot of times, me and maybe you, we we end up more stressed.

We end up thinking, like, man, like this is a lot of planning, there's a lot of steps involved to get from here to there.

And it ends up stressing us out.

It makes us uh lose our minds, we we lose peace, we lose our freedoms, maybe, and the way of trying to get to more freedom, we give up freedom, and it's this weird situation that we find ourselves in.

Rarely does creating our own freedom work the way that we thought or hoped that it would.

We can't create free and light living for ourselves, though we try.

It only comes through surrender.

And Jesus modeled that for us.

Surrender.

Where are the places in your life that you need to surrender here this morning?

Over the last several years, I got a weekly check-in that I do with myself uh early in the morning once a week.

And uh, it's taken a lot of different twists and turns over the years, but I've kind of locked in um to like a format and a picture that my friend Brian created not too long ago.

And uh here it is.

I think I got a picture of it.

You want to throw that up there?

Uh it's RPMs.

RPMS.

RPMs.

It kind of goes in a circle there.

And I know that's really tiny and you can't read it.

And if you could read it, you'd be like, what is this handwriting on here?

But that's that's the piece from my digital journal there.

And I go through this once a week and just kind of evaluate where I am.

And you're like, okay, so what does RPMs stand for?

And how does this help you process these things?

I I start to ask myself, RPMs, how are my relationships?

That's R.

How are my relationships?

How am I with my family, my friends?

How am I with strangers, FedEx guys, and my neighbors?

Like, how am I with people?

Am I becoming more patient with them?

Am I more forgiving?

Am I less defensive?

Am I more present?

Do I see people like Jesus sees people?

Do I do I see people the way that he wants me to see people?

Do I see people as having value and worth?

Do I see them that way?

And then you know what I do?

I kind of scribble in and color in like uh like it's a bar graph almost and say, like, I'm doing really well with my family, but I'm struggling right now with with the neighbors that keep asking me about these boxes in my garage.

And I'm doing really well with friends because I love hanging out with them.

And so I fill that in, and then it kind of gives me like a little picture right there in that quadrant.

And then I get on to my next one, and I'm like, okay, how am I doing physically?

Work, play, my body, how am I doing?

How do I feel?

And is my life sustainable?

Am I working from an identity that's rooted in Christ, or am I working for an identity so that people say, like, oh, that's the pastor, or that's the good golfer, or that's the guy that rides 50 miles a week, or whatever it might be?

I don't really ride 50 miles a week.

I don't know why I threw that in there.

But like, am I working from my identity or for an identity?

Do I make room for joy?

Am I caring for the the temple, my body that God gave me?

How am I mentally?

M.

How am I doing mentally?

How's my peace, my pace, my money, my media?

Is my life peaceful?

Is my pace peaceful or do I feel rushed?

Do I feel like I'm going too slow?

Like, do I feel like I'm moving with Jesus and have a healthy rhythm in life?

Uh, does money own me?

Am I stressed out about my finances and how I'm using them and how I'm not using them?

Do I wish I could be more generous?

Do I think like I need to pull back and stop eating out?

I like does money own me?

Does my phone control my attention?

How am I using money and media?

And is it one of those things that I just kind of use in unhealthy ways?

What am I consuming?

How am I mentally?

And then finally I say, how am I spiritually?

How am I with Jesus?

How am I with the church?

Do I have clarity and confidence in my purpose?

Am I actually spending time with Jesus?

Am I doing that?

Am I praying?

Am I reading?

Am I journaling?

Am I connected to his people?

Am I regular and consistent at church?

Do I have a small group that I'm connecting with?

That's important.

Do I know what God is calling me towards?

And I'm am I practicing the way of Jesus in my life?

These are the questions and the things that I evaluate regularly.

And my graph, as I fill it in, no, it's gone, no.

As I fill it in, it's it takes all different kinds of colors, and sometimes this is high, and sometimes that's high, and other times it's low here and high there, and it never looks the same week after week.

But you know the thing is, my goal isn't to become really, really good at filling this thing in.

It's not to see a wheel that's 100% colored in perfectly.

Yeah, that's not my goal.

I don't want to be the RPM's ace, right?

Like my goal is to practice surrender, to practice the way of Jesus.

And and this isn't a scorecard to tell me where I'm failing or where I suck.

This is a scorecard that that's actually just a mirror.

It's a mirror.

It's a mirror.

It's not a scorecard.

When I look into this mirror, when I do some self-reflection, when I say, like, where am I in my life with Jesus?

I can ultimately start to say, like, am I seeing in the mirror a whole lot of Mike?

Or am I seeing more of Jesus?

You see, if I let go, if I surrender, if I'm learning to live freely and lightly, when I look in the mirror, I'm not gonna see Mike.

I'm gonna see more of Jesus.

And so let me ask you this question.

Hold up your hand like it's a mirror.

I know it feels weird, but hold it up.

Like look right into that hand.

That's your mirror right now.

When you look into that mirror, are you seeing Jesus?

Or are you seeing yourself?

When you go home, like actually maybe go to the bathroom, look in the mirror, and say, like, dang, I'm good looking, but then also say, like, man, I want to see more of Jesus when I look into this mirror.

I want to see more of him when I peek into the mirror.

What's Jesus asking you to surrender here today?

That's the question.

Because if we're gonna look into the mirror and see more of Jesus, it requires us to surrender.

Last week we talked about baptism.

You talked about it as a next step.

We had three people that said yes to baptism.

And maybe last week you put off baptism because you're like, yeah, I don't know, like, I don't know if that's my thing.

But like ultimately, you were probably feeling something inside of you saying, like, yeah, I should be baptized.

Yes, I know that's a next step for me.

And now today you're sitting here thinking, like, oh, I'm safe.

There's no tub, there's no water, like, I'm all good.

Yeah, you're not really though.

Because if if you sensed last week that God was saying, like, hey, take this step of baptism, you've got to say yes to that.

And I've already had a couple people express that they'd like to do that, and so don't worry if if last week you passed it up, we'll get it back here next month in October and be able to baptize a couple more people on a Sunday morning.

But but maybe you're like, okay, that's that's that wasn't the thing.

Maybe maybe you're saying here today, and the question of like, what is God asking me to surrender, or what's God asking of me in my life here today?

Um, I don't know.

I don't know.

But I have some ideas of what maybe you're hearing.

Umbe your surrender today involves money.

Maybe that question of like, am I owned by money or uh am I being generous?

Maybe that hit you in a way.

And and you need to you need to have a different relationship with money.

Maybe God's speaking to you and saying, like, hey, what does it look like for you to surrender control of your finances and to trust me in uncomfortable ways?

I'm gonna surrender those things, Jesus.

I'm gonna be extra generous towards this church, or I'm gonna be extra generous towards another ministry that supports ministries uh globally or supports orphans and widows, or you name it.

Like, God, like I want to be generous.

Help me to surrender that and to trust you in this way.

Maybe your surrender means serving and stepping outside of your comfort zone.

Maybe you come in and you sit here regularly, but you've never said yes to joining a team.

Maybe you help in other places outside of here, but you've never committed fully to helping and serving this community.

Maybe God's asking you to surrender and to serve in that way here this morning.

Maybe it's forgiveness.

Maybe you came in holding a grudge, being angry, hurt, or mad about something or someone, and you just need to forgive and let that thing go.

Maybe it's slowing down.

Jesus, I don't want to live at this pace anymore.

It's wearing me down physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually.

Like I need to surrender my pace.

I need to slow down.

I want to live freely and lightly.

I want to do life different.

Maybe it's a spiritual practice.

Jesus, I'm gonna begin actually spending time with you.

I'm not just gonna pretend any longer.

I'm actually going to do it.

I'm gonna jump into scripture.

I'm gonna sit in a chair and pray.

I'm gonna go for long walks and have conversations with you.

I'm going to practice silence and solitude.

Man, when we surrender, when we let go, when we release the things that we cling so tightly to and we become obedient, we are positioned to experience the life Jesus has invited us into.

The life of freedom, the healed life, the life with God.

And Jesus doesn't want to just change what you believe.

Don't forget that.

Jesus wants to change how you live.

And that's the blessing.

That's the real blessing.

The blessing is called freedom, the blessing is called peace, the blessing is called healing, transformation, and purpose, clarity.

The blessing is the increasingly free and light life.

A life that's possible because we increasingly learn to surrender and let go.

And so here's your invitation this morning.

Here's your invitation.

This is your personal invitation this morning.

Jesus says, take my yoke, learn from me, come and follow me and learn to live freely and lightly.

Come and follow me and learn to live freely and lightly.

Thank you for listening to today's message.

We hope you had a meaningful moment with Jesus.

You can join us on Sundays at Oak Creek High School at 10 a.m.

for our in person gatherings.

Hope to see you soon.