Jesus Is Greater | Donovan Rillion | Greater Than Wandering

I need to start with just saying, I think it's

really interesting the way God speaks to people.

You know, we're in this book of Hebrews and in

the very first chapter of Hebrews, the Hebrew

writer says, in the past, God spoke to our forefathers.

He spoke to them through prophets and through

angels. But now he speaks through Jesus and he

speaks through the word. And I find it interesting

because it's like when you're dealing with something,

you find God speak to you in a way that maybe

he hasn't before, or maybe you weren't expecting.

And the reason I bring this up is because today's

lesson has a lot to do with encouragement. And

last week on Monday, I had a buddy. He's a friend

of mine from Montgomery. He has a... asked me

how things were going up here in a while. So

he texted me. He's like, hey, man, I just want

to check in on you and see how things are going.

And I was like, dude, I'm going to be honest.

Things are great, but I'm also pretty discouraged.

And if you don't know how I kind of work through

my lessons, on Monday is just kind of like a

debrief of the week and doing more like technical

work. And then Tuesday, I start working on Wednesday

night's Bible class. And then Wednesday and Thursday

is when I start working on my sermon. Well, Tuesday

comes and I look at my notes and you'll never

guess what the lesson was about. Discouragement.

And how Satan likes to use discouragement to

get us to not do the will of God. And then Wednesday

afternoon comes and I'm looking at my notes for

what today's lesson needs to be and encouragement.

And the idea that if you're discouraged, you

may be tempted to wander. and not fulfill the

will of God. And so I say that to say it's really

interesting that when I'm struggling with discouragement,

God looks at me and says, hey, dude, I've got

something for you. And so this morning, maybe

you've been struggling with being discouraged.

Maybe you've been struggling with things not

going exactly how you want them to or things

not going exactly as you planned. They're not

working on your timetable. I don't know what

your struggle may be, but if I had to guess,

there are people in this room that are pretty

discouraged right now. And what I want you to

hear from me this morning, and don't just hear

it from me, hear it from God, you need to take

heart because Jesus... has something better in

store for you than what discouragement does.

Don't allow Satan to take you off course. Don't

allow Satan to try to stop what God is trying

to do. He wants to discourage you so that you

will either stop or go astray. But God has something

so much better ahead. We just have to stay the

course. And so that leads me to the lesson. I

have this. when I'm going somewhere that I've

never been before or I'm going somewhere that

I haven't been in a long time, I do what any

sensible person would do. I use a GPS or as we

call it in the 21st century, Apple Maps. And

so I put this address into my maps and I plug

it up to my car so that it shows me on the screen

so I don't have to look at my phone most of the

time. Sometimes I'm not really good at that.

And I let it lead me to where I need to go. But...

I also have this problem, and my wife will tell

you very clearly, that I will put the address

in, I'll have the directions on the screen, sometimes

it'll even talk to me, but I'm really bad about

not actually paying attention to the directions.

I'm really bad about, you know, getting caught

up on the road signs or the billboards or in

conversation or even my phone, and next thing

you know, I've missed the turn. or I didn't stop

where I was supposed to, where I turned where

I should have kept going straight. And what happens

is I end up lost. Now, yes, the map is telling

me, it's constantly saying rerouting, rerouting,

and it's trying to tell me how to get back on

course. And my wife maybe is even saying, hey,

the thing is telling you to turn, just turn.

But I get stressed out and I start to panic.

Or I'm still so distracted that I can't really

get myself back on course, even though I've got

something telling me where to go and what to

do. And so I'll end up wondering, am I ever going

to find the place? Am I ever going to make the

right turn? Am I ever going to just calm down,

listen to the GPS, and do what it's telling me?

Because it's trying. It's trying to lead me.

It's trying to direct me. It's trying to teach

me. But in my mind, I'm not trusting it. And

so if you're following along in the fill -in

-the -blank notes on the back of your bulletin,

you'll see that the very first thing says that

the problem isn't that you're not getting the

directions. The problem isn't that you don't

have the directions. It's not that somebody's

not guiding you. It's not that somebody hasn't

told you where to go, what to do, how to live.

It's not that you don't have the directions.

God is still speaking. He's still trying to reroute

you. He's still trying. When you make the wrong

turn, God says, hey, I just need you to listen

to me. We can get back on course. My will can

still be done if you will just go this way. But

we try to figure it out on our own rather than

just listening. And that's exactly what the Hebrew

writer warns about in Hebrews chapter 3 and chapter

Hebrews 3 · chapter mention

4. He's talking to these Jewish Christians. He's

going to remind them of a generation that they

had heard God's voice. They had seen God work

miracles. They had seen God try to lead them

physically, visibly, and yet they still never

reached their destination. And the reason they

don't reach their destination is not because

they didn't know the way. It's not because they

didn't have directions. It's because they didn't

trust the one who was leading them. They allowed

the things, these minor inconveniences, these

temporary inconveniences, they allowed those

things to stop them from getting where God was

trying to bring them. Instead of remaining faithful,

they allowed their discouragement. They allowed

their distrust to take them off course. And what

the Hebrew writer is going to tell them and what

he's telling us is that God is still speaking.

He's still trying to give you the directions.

These directions are still available. You still

have access to them. They didn't go away. And

the time for us to follow the directions is today.

So let's look at this warning from the Hebrew

writer, starting in Hebrews 3, verse 7. If it's

Hebrews 3:7

underlined, I would love for you to read along

with me. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,

today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your

hearts as in the rebellion on the day of testing

in the wilderness where your fathers put me to

the test and saw my works for 40 years. Therefore,

I was provoked with that generation and said,

they always go astray in their heart. They have

not known my ways. As I swore in my wrath, they

shall not enter my rest. In this letter to these

Jewish Christians, the writer, he's constantly

quoting Jewish scripture. He wants to use words

that they were familiar with. He wanted to tell

them stories and bring up things that they would

have known from an early age. And so he's telling

them, he's quoting the scripture. And I believe

he's doing this to help them see what they're

facing now is nothing new. And I want you to

notice who the writer says is speaking there.

He credits these words to the Holy Spirit. to

the Spirit of God. He attributes this Old Testament

quote to someone other than the human author

of it. He attributes it to God. He's doing this

thing where he's establishing this divine authority.

He's telling them, these are the words of God,

so listen up. Pay attention. These aren't the

words of me. These aren't the words of the writer.

These aren't the words of some rabbi. These are

the words of God, so pay attention. And what

are those words? Well, it's a passage from Psalm

95 where David, he's referring to the Israelites

not entering the promised land, this generation

of Israelites not getting to be a part of or

take part in God's rest, not getting to go into

that land that their forefathers were promised,

not getting to go into that land that they had

been marching towards, that they had been wandering

towards for 40 years. They'd just been wandering

in disobedience. They'd been allowing their distrust,

their discouragement. They've been allowing other

people in their own minds to lead them astray.

And David warns, like the Hebrew writer is intending

to warn, don't do as they did. Don't follow their

example. Don't follow their leadership. Because

their leadership kept them outside of what God

intended for his people. It kept them out of

the promised land. They know no rest. They only

know wandering because they did not trust the

directions that God was giving. And so he says,

don't do as they did. Do not harden your heart.

And it's not just information for tomorrow. He's

not saying don't harden your hearts tomorrow.

He's saying today. If you hear God's words today.

If you hear the gospel proclaimed today, don't

shut it out. Don't hold back from it. Don't turn

away from it. Don't walk away from it. Don't

wander from it. Today, don't test God. Today,

don't let your hearts wander. Today, don't ignore

God's way. Because when you do this, what you're

doing is you are incurring the wrath of God.

Yes, the God of the Old Testament, the wrath

of God. I know we want to say that God is all

loving and God is all gracious and God is all

merciful, and that is all true, but God is also

righteous. And He's also a God of wrath, that

God that struck down cities, the God that flooded

the earth, the God that brought punishment on

those who opposed Him. That God, He's still existing.

He's still active. He still is the same God.

So we must not mistake him for some laissez -faire,

anything goes, gentle parent kind of God. No,

God is still the God that doles out consequences

where they are due. And when we turn away from

God, when we harden our hearts towards God, when

we wander from God, we find ourselves in the

wrath of God. So what punishment did the unfaithful

receive? Well, verse 11 tells us they weren't

allowed to enter God's rest. The moral of the

story is don't harden your hearts towards the

direction of God or you'll never reach the destination.

You know, if you stop paying attention to the

map altogether and you're trying to go somewhere

you've never been, then before you know it, you

may very well be completely lost. And if you're

like me and you don't know how to navigate in

places that you've never been before, and, you

know, I know some people, they can figure it

out and they can just find a main road and kind

of work their way back until eventually they're

on the right way. I can't do that. And I feel

like life is too difficult to do that. Life is

way too difficult to try to find your way to

the promised land, to find your way to rest without

the directions from God. It's far too difficult

because there's way too many curves. There's

way too many turns and bumps in the road to figure

it out on your own. And so what we have to do

is we have to follow the direction. And that

leads us to verses 12 and 13. I want you to look

at the challenge to this audience. He says, take

care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an

evil, unbelieving heart leading you to fall away

from the living God. Encourage one another every

day, as long as it is called today, that none

of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of

sin. Other translations there say, watch out.

Watch out, brothers. Be careful. Pay attention.

Pay extra attention. Be extra careful. Watch

out that nothing forms in you that pulls you

away from God. that nothing builds up in your

life, in your heart, in your mind that pulls

you away from God, that pulls you away from the

path that God has you on. Watch out. And the

what is the same thing we talked about with the

GPS, the lack of trust, the lack of belief, the

lack of attention. And I want you to notice who

he's talking to. He says brothers. Again, that

is a collective. That's the whole church. He's

saying together. Watch out together. And look

who he's worried about. Any of you, none of you,

he's telling the entire church, you're responsible

for each other. You are, quite literally, your

brother's keeper. You are your sister's keeper.

Watch out, all of you, so that none of you will

fall astray. Watch out for each other. Make sure

you're taking care of one another. Encourage

one another. Don't allow your brother to be so

discouraged that he falls off the path. Don't

allow your brother to start lacking in trust

of God so much so that the next thing you know,

they're gone and they're not on the path. Don't

allow your brothers and sisters to fall away.

Watch out for each other. And that's perhaps

exactly what went wrong with Israel. I want you

to think about the story. If you're familiar

with the Old Testament, maybe you've heard the

story of the 12 spies and they're sent to scout

the promised land. And so they go into the promised

land and they see all of these things. And 10

of them come back discouraged. They all came

out. But 10 of those 12 came out discouraged.

And their discouragement spread among the Israelite

people until eventually the entire nation wanted

to just give up and go back to Egypt. Yes, Egypt,

the place where they were enslaved. They thought

it was so scary. They thought the task was so

daunting that they did not want to go into the

promised land, the place that God describes as

his rest, the place that God describes as a place

of safety and abundance. They did not want to

go in there because it was too challenging. And

so they would rather go back to slavery, to being

in chains, to being treated horribly, to living

in poverty. and oppression. They would rather

go back to that. And their discouragement captivates

the entire nation of Israel. But there's two

spies, Joshua and Caleb. These two guys tried

to encourage everybody. They tried to be a voice

of hope. They tried to be a voice of courage

among these discouraged people. But it wasn't

enough. In fact, the people of Israel wanted

to stone them. They were so discouraged that

an entire generation of people never entered

God's rest. And it started with just 10 discouraged

voices. I want you to hear this. Discouragement

is contagious. It is like the nastiest virus.

It's the negative energy that walks in a room

and it just changes the entire atmosphere. Discouragement

is contagious, but so is encouragement. If enough

people enter the room with encouraging voices,

with encouraging attitudes, with encouraging

mindsets, with encouraging actions and words,

if enough people walk in with encouragement,

It changes everything. And I do believe that

one of the greatest plagues in our world today

is too many Christians, Christ followers, too

many people among the church walk around with

a very discouraged mindset, with a pessimistic

mindset, with a negative mindset. But guess what?

That's not how we should live because we know

who wins. We know that God is victorious. We

know that God has something better in store for

us. It's like when I'm dealing with my discouragement

on Monday, I need to be reminded on Tuesday and

Wednesday that God has something good in store

and he is not going to allow my discouragement

to end his plan. We need that reminder. It's

kind of funny yesterday watching football. I'm

in a group chat. Two of my best friends are both

Alabama fans. I know I have poor taste in friends,

but they're both Alabama fans. And early on in

the game, one of my friends, he texts in the

group and he goes, man, it just seems like everybody

has figured out how to get over on our defense.

This is just embarrassing. Saban would have never

done this. And the other friend goes, dude, you

are way too pessimistic. We're going to win anyways.

And what happened? Alabama rolled. And they did

win. They won big. And that's the story for the

church. Yeah, we take these minor losses. Yeah,

things get hard. Yeah, the world tries to oppress

us. Yeah, we get put down. Yeah, in other countries,

Christianity is a dying religion. Yeah, in America,

it seems like everybody's gone secular and everything's

gone wayward. When we look at that and we have

two choices, we can be discouraged by it and

we can lay down and we can just say, man, the

church in the old day would have never stood

for this or Jesus would have never allowed this

to happen. Yeah, we can do that. Or we can look

at God's track record and we can know that no

matter what happens today, God wins in the end

and he wins big. Because the truth about Israel,

yeah, that entire generation didn't get to go

into the promised land, but guess what? Somebody

entered the promised land. The question is, are

we going to be among that number? Or are we going

to allow our discouragement to take us out of

that will? And so the remedy is encourage one

another every day. The word for encourage there

means to come alongside someone, to walk alongside

someone, not to lecture to them and tell them

how wrong they are, to tell them how bad they're

doing or how awful they're living. The word encourage

is to come alongside and put your hand on their

shoulder and say, let's walk. Let's walk and

talk about this. And let's figure out how to

keep moving forward. Let's figure out how to

do the right thing and live the right life and

trust God more. And let's figure out how to get

back on track and go where God needs us to go.

And so I want to pause and just ask two questions.

You don't have to answer these out loud. But

if your heart started to wander, if discouragement

was building up inside you to the point where

you started to drift from God, to drift from

the church, to get off course, Would anybody

notice? Would anybody in this room notice? Do

you have people that are walking alongside in

a discipleship relationship with you that would

notice that you are starting to drift away from

God, that you're starting to drift away from

the church, that you're starting to drift outside

of the wheel, off the path? And likewise, if

someone else in this room. if someone else's

heart started to wander, if their life started

to drift outside of the will of God, would you

notice? Because as we said in the mission statement

portion of the welcome this morning, and as is

the message of what the church was established

for, we are supposed to notice when our brothers

and sisters are discouraged and wandering. And

the question we have to ask is what are we going

to do about it? Are we going to pay attention

enough to our brothers and sisters so that we

can notice and then act? And if we can't answer

those questions in a positive way today, then

this is exactly the divine challenge that we

need today. Because the window to encourage someone,

the window to help someone or walk alongside

them is not going to stay open forever. One day,

we will all die. One day, our time will be up.

One day, God is going to send Jesus and it's

going to be over. And the question we'll have

to ask is, did we do what we needed to do for

our brothers and sisters? And if we didn't, then

we'll have to answer for that. Now look at what...

the Hebrew writer says next in verse 14. For

we have come to share in Christ if indeed we

hold our original confidence firm to the end.

That word share means to partner. It's a collective

effort, a joint mission. What he's saying is

if you're a Christian, You're not just a fan

of Jesus. You're not just a follower of Jesus.

You are his partner. He has brought you into

the mission. He's brought you into the work that

he's doing. You have a stake in what he's accomplishing.

Back in verse six, we didn't read this, but back

in verse six, the Hebrew writer says, we are

his house. If indeed we hold fast. our confidence.

In that same verse, he says Jesus is the son

over God's house. In other words, Jesus is in

charge of the house. It seems to me that whatever

belongs to the son, we have a share in because

he calls us the house. And so we have a share

in the work that he's doing. We also have a share

in his rest. And I want you to notice that this

is an already true fact. He says, we have come

to share. Not we will share. Not one day we're

going, but we have come to share. It's this perfect

tense in the Greek that means it's already happened

and it's still true. Like I would have called

it past present. Like it's already happened.

It's still happening. This is already going on.

But then he says, if. We have come to share if

indeed we hold our confidence firm to the end.

Now here's why this is important. Every Israelite

who left Egypt as a slave was then delivered

and made free. Every one of them walked through

the Red Sea. They escaped Egypt's armies. They

escaped the death that was sure to find them.

And they passed through the Red Sea on dry ground.

Every one of Israel, every one of those people

was given a new beginning. They were given that

redeemed life that only God could give. But that

new beginning did not get them home. At least

not all of them. because they let go of the confidence

that they started with. You know, when you're

in a rebellion and you're in a revolution and

you've got a fearless leader, everybody's ready

to go. And it's like, yeah, let's do it. But

then you get into it and things get hard and

your confidence starts to dwindle. And over time,

the wax and the candle runs out until eventually

the flame is gone. And that's what happened to

these Israelites. So an entire generation dies

before Israel is able to enter the promised land.

I want you to know that and remember, remember

when you placed your trust in God. Remember when

you first heard the gospel for the first time

and it did something in your heart. And it did

something in your mind. And all you can think

about is how I need to do that. I need to respond.

I need to give my life to Jesus. I need to be

a part of that mission. That sounds so good.

I want to be a part of it. I can remember when

I was baptized, like I was on fire. And it's

kind of like church camp syndrome where you go

to camp for a week and you come back and you're

on fire. But then you go to school and a couple

of weeks pass and that fire starts to fade. confidence,

that energy, that passion that you had at the

beginning, and then it dwindles. I'm sure the

Israelites could remember the Red Sea. I'm sure

they could remember all the cool things that

Moses did in Egypt that led to their freedom.

I'm sure they could remember how it started,

but remembering how you started isn't enough.

You have to hold onto it firm with a tight grip.

because Satan will do everything he can to rip

it out of your hand. Satan wants to take out

that confidence. He wants to take out that passion.

He wants to take out that encouragement. He wants

you to forget and to let go. In my study this

week, I came across a quote from Charles Spurgeon,

and I want to just give a disclaimer. I don't

agree with everything Charles Spurgeon says,

but I love what he said on this subject. The

concept that he puts out is this idea of holding

on and holding out. Here's what Spurgeon had

to say. You are to hold fast, to hold on, and

to hold out to the end. And the grace you need

in order to do this is waiting for you if you

will look for it. and daily live under the power

of it. But what are we holding on for? What is

it exactly that we're holding out for? Well,

it's the very thing that the wandering, unfaithful

Israelites missed out on, the promised land.

Except their promised land was just a temporary,

earthly promised land. But the promised land

that we are holding on for, that we're holding

out for, that promised land is eternal. And it

is far more abundant than the one that they were

supposed to get to. And that's our destination.

That's what we're looking for. That's where we

want to go. Once this life is over, once we finish

the race, once it's all done, we have the promise

of an abundant and eternal home with God, a place

where suffering has no place, a place where pain

and worry have no place, a place where hurt and

fear do not belong. And this endless toil, the

constant working and chasing and striving that

we do here does not exist. And this is a message

of hope. Because to a weary people, to a people

that are struggling with what their life is becoming,

to a people that are struggling with what might

become of their life, a people that's worried

about persecution, a people that's hurting, a

people that's been working, a people that is

toiling under the sun, this message. It's one

that they need. The message of a home. Something

so grand. Something so pleasant and peaceful.

It's something that they need and it's something

we need. Because again, I've been dealing with

discouragement and I imagine you have too. And

it may not be personal discouragement. It may

be what you've been seeing on the news. It may

be what you've seen online. It may be the conversations

you've had with people or overheard people having.

It may be the constant litany of things that

come in on a prayer request where you just see

sickness, sickness, sickness, death, sickness,

sickness, job loss, and all of these things just

continue to compile, and your life is just, it

feels heavy, and you're thinking, does it ever

get better? And the Hebrew writer says, yes.

The good news of Christ says, yes. In fact, this

is the worst it will ever be. And I know sometimes

it feels like it just is going to continue to

get harder. Sometimes it feels like it won't

get better. But what we have to know and believe

is that there is a place waiting for us that

is fully peaceful. It is fully abundant. And

nothing bad will ever happen there. Nothing bad,

negative, horrible has any place there. And only

Jesus can get us there. You think about Joshua,

he led Israel into the promised land. But Hebrews

4 .8 says, even Joshua couldn't give them rest.

And it's just kind of an interesting note that

in the Greek, Joshua and Jesus are the same name.

The first Joshua couldn't give them rest. He

could only lead them into it, and it was just

kind of a temporary rest like we said. But the

greater promised land, Jesus brings us to. Jesus

prepares and establishes and brings us into.

But again, the hardening of hearts, the unbelief

and disobedience will be what keeps us out. That

will be the thing. That keeps us out. And this

is why Spurgeon says you have to hold on. You

have to hold out. This is why the Hebrew writer

has already told us to encourage each other daily.

This is also why I think the Hebrew writer says

this in verse 11 of chapter 4. Let us therefore

strive to enter that rest so that no one may

fall by the same sort of disobedience. To clarify,

that's not striving to earn rest. It's just striving

to enter it, to get there. It's striving to stay

close to the one who gives it. But we need a

prescription for how to do that because it's

one thing to just say, yeah. Pursue Jesus. It's

one thing to say, stay close to God, read your

Bible, go to church. But there's some more there.

And I want you to look at verses 12 through 16.

It's a little lengthy, but guess what? The word

of God is worth it. So follow along with me and

read if it's underlined, if you'd like to. For

the word of God is living and active, sharper

than any two -edged sword, piercing to the division

of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow,

and discerning the thoughts and intentions of

the heart. And no creature is hidden from his

sight, But all are naked and exposed to the eyes

of him to whom we must give account. Since then,

we have a great high priest who has passed through

the heavens. Jesus, the son of God, let us hold

fast our confession. For we do not have a high

priest who's unable to sympathize with our weakness,

but one who in every respect has been tempted

as we are. yet without sin. Let us then with

confidence draw near to the throne of grace that

we may receive mercy and find grace to help in

a time of need. There's two parts there, and

it all centers around Jesus. First is let the

word of God pierce your heart. What he's saying

is let the word of God get in. Find what needs

to be found. Get out what needs to be gotten

out. Let the Word of God in and approach Jesus

with confidence. So let's break those down as

we wrap up. The first one, let the Word of God

pierce your heart. He says the word of God is

living and active. It's sharper than any two

-edged sword. There's a reason the Hebrew writer

leads with the word. And there's a reason he

leads with this like poetic writing. He's explaining

how the word of God can cut through the heart,

how it can find even the most hidden things.

It's like a scalpel. that is cutting into our

hearts, that's cutting into our lives to find

the problem. And when it finds the problem, it

cuts it out. It's kind of like a biopsy. It cuts

it out and it tests it. And if it's not supposed

to be there, it gets rid of it. If it's supposed

to be there, I guess God will put it back. The

word of God is sharp enough to get in, to find.

All of those negative things, all those things

that are plaguing us, all of those things that

are weighing us down, that are leading to the

discouragement, that are leading to our wandering,

that are leading to our disobedience, it'll cut

it out and it'll remove it. And maybe you've

felt that before. You've been reading scripture

and all of a sudden you have this feeling as

you're reading like God knows exactly what you're

thinking about, like God knows exactly what you're

going through and he's speaking directly to you.

And that's a significant thing because in order

to fight an issue, you have to first know the

issue. And so the word of God, like I said, it

acts like a surgeon, cutting out the issue, scoping

out the problem so that we can know how to attack

it. And number two, approach Jesus with confidence.

He says, let us then with confidence draw near

to the throne of grace. that we may receive mercy

and find grace to help in time of need. Reading

the word and being convicted by it is just one

part of the equation. We can read the word and

say, yeah, man, that's powerful. That's so good.

Yeah, God, that is awesome. That's a great word.

You can hear a sermon and you can be so encouraging.

You can be so fired up. And it's, I'm going to

change the world on Monday. It's one thing to

hear it and be convicted by it and have a passion

about it. But if I've said it once, I've said

it a hundred times, learning something, hearing

something, being convicted by something demands

a response. And so when the word of God exposes

something in you, when it reveals something,

when it calls you to something, we have to respond.

And the response the Hebrew writer gives, it's

not earning our way. It's not accomplishing more.

It's not proving ourselves, doing more. It's

simply approaching the throne of grace with confidence

through Jesus. And this is good news. It's such

good news for these people because they're used

to a priestly system where they would have to

go to a high priest, give him their sacrifice

to then take before God. And even he was not

able to approach God confidently because if he

did the wrong thing or if he wasn't in right

standing, there was a fear that he would die.

And so they could not do this with confidence

and they can only do this like once a year. But

for us, remember, Jesus closes the gap. So now.

Any time of day, anywhere we're at, anything

we're going through, whatever it is, whatever

our circumstances, we can go to God with confidence

because of Jesus. And we can lay it all at his

feet. And we can turn it all over to him. And

we can let him be the one to give us mercy and

grace to help us in a time of need. Y 'all, that

is beautiful. The idea that we don't have to

wander. The idea that we don't have to try to

accomplish on our own, that we don't have to

try to figure out the way to where we want to

go on our own. We don't have to try to piece

together the plan, but that Jesus has given us

the plan. He's given us the directions and he

is still giving us direction and he's still rerouting

us whenever we're not really going according

to the directions. We're warned not to wander.

But instead, we can and we should approach the

throne of God through Jesus with confidence,

knowing that in Him we will be led to the rest

that God intends for us to know now and for eternity.

Because there is an abundance that we can have

in this life if we will lean on Jesus, if we'll

trust in the Spirit. to guide us, to empower

us, to strengthen us, and to comfort us. And

then we can only imagine how good it's going

to be for eternity. So remember my GPS. Like

I said, when I miss my turns, I start to stress

out, and I may not pay attention to it because

then I try to figure it out on my own and I sort

of overthink things, and it never stops rerouting.

It never stops trying to lead me in the same

way God hasn't stopped speaking. And maybe he's

speaking to you this morning. Maybe the word

has started to cut through in your heart this

morning. And you're thinking about some things

and you're realizing that you need to get back

on track with God, that you need to find your

way back onto the path that he's so clearly laid

out. Or maybe you're realizing that you've never

even turned on the GPS. You've never started

following. You've never started listening. Or

maybe you know somebody who's wandering, who

they are outside of the path. They're outside

of the will of God this morning. And you need

to encourage them. Whatever you're carrying,

take heart and know. Be encouraged by the fact

that you can lay it down at the feet of Jesus.

And so this morning, we offer you the invitation

to confidently approach the throne of grace.

Whatever you carry, whatever it is you need,

We would love to pray with you. We would love

to talk with you and encourage you this morning.

We invite you to come now as we stand and as

we sing.