The Grind - Week 1

We're starting a brand new series today called The Grind. And,

you know, school starts back for most people tomorrow. Some

people already started back. Some people started in a couple

of days. But this week, pretty much everybody's going to

be back into school. And if you're a parent or

a grandparent, what that means is you are back in

the routine. The Grind. The Grind. That, you know, maybe

you got to sleep a little bit earlier. I mean,

sleep a little bit earlier. You got to sleep a

little bit later. And now that's over. Because now you

got a brush tangled hair of a screaming kid. Come

on now. Let's be real. Those don't feel like Jesus moments,

do they? Those feel like devil moments most of the time.

But the reality is, is as we enter into those times,

those are the times that challenge our faith the most.

And over the next few weeks, we want to talk

about the grind, how we cope with it, how we

get through it, how we manage it, how we're able

to do all those things. You know, I want to

kind of position it this way. And this is a

little sad when you think about it this way. But,

you know, if you have a newborn, you got 18

summers left. If you got a first grader, you got 12.

If you got a sixth grader, you got six. It's

important that we don't get lost in the busy and

we maximize every moment. Amen? You know what? As a

matter of fact, the power of life is about experiencing

each day, not just surviving it. In Psalm chapter 9,

Psalms 9 · chapter mention

starting in verse 10, it says, The days of our

lives are 70 years, and if by reason of strength

they're 80 years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow,

for it is soon cut off and we fly away.

Who knows the power of your anger? For as the

fear of you, so is your wrath. So teach us

to number our days that we may gain a heart

of wisdom. Father, we thank you for your word. Lord,

we thank you that it's the only change agent on

the face of the planet and that in our time

together today, that you would plant those seeds deep at

the foundation of our being. Lord, that we would experience

a harvest of life. That we look back a few

weeks from now, a few months from now, a few

years from now, and we realize that you planted something

so profound in our lives. That it has blossomed and

brought transformations in areas we didn't even know we needed transformation.

And Lord, have your way in Jesus' name. Amen. You know,

this passage of Scripture, it says, count your days. Count

your days. And a lot of times when we hear that,

we think because we're counting down towards the end. But

that's not what the Lord's saying. He said, listen, bring

value to each and every day that you have because

the days we have here, the way we exist right now,

there's only a limited number of those. And most of

us get caught up in the toil and the trouble

and the sorrow and the hardship, and we allow a

lot of those days to pass by. Or just the

laziness and the mundane that we just discount and we think,

you know, I'm going to get to something tomorrow. I'm

going to do that tomorrow. I've talked to a lot

of people that get to the end of their life.

They get to the end of their life. And I

haven't really found anybody that says to me, I wish

I had worked more. Nobody has ever said, I wish

I had just taken a second part-time job. Or I

wish I would have stretched my work week to 80 hours.

Or they never say, I wish I had put my

kid to bed at 6 p.m. rather than 8 p.m.

It's always those moments that we look back and we

realize we didn't maximize those moments. If you will, go

with me to Mark chapter 6, starting in verse 45.

Mark 6 · chapter mention

Mark chapter 6, verse 45. It says, immediately he made

Mark 6:45

his disciples get into the boat and go before him

to the other side to Bethsaida. While he sent the

multitude away. And when he had sent them away, he

departed to the mountain to pray. Now when evening came,

the boat was in the middle of the sea, and

he was alone on the land. Then he saw the

boat was in the middle of the sea, and he

was alone on the land. Then he saw them straining it, rowing,

for the wind was against them. Now about the fourth

watch of the night he came to them, walking on

the sea, and would have passed them by. And when

they saw him walking on the sea, they supposed it

was a ghost and cried out. For they all saw

him and were troubled, but immediately he talked with them.

And he said to them, Be of good cheer, it's I,

do not be afraid. Then he went up into the

boat to them and the wind ceased. And they were

greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure and marveled, for they

had not understood about the loaves. because of their heart

was hardened. You know, this is one version of that

Jesus walking on the water. This is the one that

doesn't include Peter. If you'll notice, a lot of people

would leave Peter out because I don't think they liked

him very much. He was that guy that always would

talk before he thought. Come on now. And then call

it faith if everything worked out and then blame it

on somebody else if it didn't. Y'all got those friends

and if they're sitting next to you, don't look at

them right now, all right? This is the disciples in

the boat that Jesus had sent them away. But I

want to give a little context to what's actually happening

here because it's easy to just think he sent them away.

But when we read earlier in the chapter, this is

what it says if we start in verse 30. It says,

then the apostles gathered to Jesus and told him all things.

both what they had done and what they had taught.

And he said to them, come aside by yourselves to

a deserted place and rest for a while. For there

were many coming and going and they did not even

have time to eat. So they departed to a deserted

place in the boat by themselves. Jesus said, listen, I

want you to go rest. Jesus recognized that they were tired,

that they were in the middle of the grind, that

they were in the middle of life. This is who

they were now. This is who they were. They were

going and teaching and they were laying hands on people

and they were casting out devils and they were doing

all of those. People were getting healed. They were doing

all those things. And Jesus recognized that they were tired.

And he said, listen, just go and just rest a

little bit. Just get in a boat, go to a

deserted place, rest. And it says, because they didn't even

have time to eat. Do you ever feel like your

life is so busy that you just kind of look

up at the clock and it's 3 p.m. and you

just forgot all about lunch? You feel so busy that

it just gets away from you. But the reality is,

more than you just being so busy, you were just

so on autopilot. Right? You were just checking things off.

You were just checking boxes off. You were just rolling along.

Autopilot happening. Hunger hadn't happened yet, so it hadn't got

your attention. And the reason hunger hadn't happened yet is

because we really hadn't done as much as we thought

we were doing. When you work hard, you get hungry.

But those things escape us and we go through the

day and we look and we realize, oh, wow, this...

Time has just flown by because I'm in the middle

of the grind. They didn't have time to eat. So

Jesus said, hey, I'm going to take care of this.

Get in the boat, go over to a deserted place

and rest. They jumped in the boat and the people

saw them and recognized them. Listen, the people saw them

rowing down the shoreline trying to get to a place

where they could rest. And they started running down the bank.

I just want you to, in your mind, I want

you to imagine this. They're in the boat rowing and

there is a multitude of people running down the shore.

And it says they got in front of the boat

and they were waiting on them when they got there.

And they had gone to a deserted place, a remote place.

They get out of the boat and then Jesus does

what Jesus does. He gets out and there's a multitude

gathered and he's always got a sermon ready. He's always

ready to teach. He's always ready to impart. He's always

ready to heal. He's always ready to set free. He's

always ready to meet you right where you are. always

it doesn't matter how discouraged you are it doesn't matter

how hungry you are how tired you are how happy

you are he's ready to meet you right at your

point of need And Jesus gets out and Jesus starts

doing the Jesus thing because he doesn't get tired. Jesus

is a machine. Not because he's the son of God,

but because he is consumed by the call. You know,

a lot of times when I think about the church...

And I think about you. That thought runs into my mind.

If I could only get them to. And then I realized,

y'all don't go to bed every night thinking about this place.

Don't act like you do. I know you don't. I

know you don't. The whole pastor, yeah. I will not

deny you, Lord. That's Peter again. You're being like Peter

right now. You don't go to bed thinking about those things.

You don't go to bed about whether they're going to

send the right size screws to do the construction. You

don't think about those things. Last night, I literally laid

in the bed and I thought, what if they send

the wrong size screws? It's not even my responsibility to

make sure the screws are the right size. That was

a thought on my mind. And now, thanks to Laura,

all I can think about is whether they're going to

have plastic or not. I will be vexed by plastic

for a week. Probably just going to go buy it

tomorrow just to make sure. And Jesus is doing that

and disciples, they're struggling because they're already tired and they're

already hungry. They're in the grind. They're in the grind.

You know, there are people around you that do the

same thing you do and they don't get worn out

by the same things you get worn out by. Because

they're wired different. There's a different passion. There's a different connection.

And you're not wrong in that. You're gifted differently. It's

just like Pastor Clay and I, we talk about this

all the time. You guys love me so much because

I'm lovable. Not so much over there, right? I mean,

not so much. I mean, and we talk about those

things like, oh, gee, if you just ask people, they

just bat their eyes. They just do whatever you want

them to do. I'm like, yeah. Why don't they for you?

Because you're mean. No, I'm just kidding. But didn't he

do a good job over the last four weeks, by

the way? Preach the house down every week. And they're

there and they get, in my mind, they get together

and they say, listen, we're about to starve to death.

Jesus is preaching. These people are shouting. He's going to

go for hours. And we're starving. Somebody needs to go

tell him. Somebody, and they all look at Peter. Somebody

needs to go tell him that these people need to

be sent away because the people are hungry. Now the

reality is, the people were there because they were hungry. So,

you know, Peter was like, Lord, powerful message. Powerful. I mean,

when you laid the hands on and the arm grew back,

five fingers, it was amazing. But, we're in a deserted

place like you told us to go to. And these people,

they're hungry. So send them away so they can go

get something to eat. What he really meant was we're

worn out and tired and starving because we've been in

the middle of the grind. We've been in the middle

of just making life happen, of getting things done. And

we're hungry and we're tired. So send the people away

so that we can get what we need. And Jesus

looks at them and he says, hey, I got a

better idea. You feed them. And he said, we don't

have enough money to feed these people, Jesus, because you

don't pay us enough. How are we going to do that?

And he said, well, I don't know, but it's your

responsibility to feed them. So they get together and they

find five loaves. They find two fishes and Jesus blesses it.

He said, tell them to sit down in groups of 50.

They went out among, they started passing it out, started

breaking off pieces of bread, started breaking off fish, giving

it to them. Everybody got all they wanted to eat.

And then they went back and they picked up the

leftovers and there were 12 baskets left. 12 baskets left

after they pass. Listen, it's the largest numerical miracle in

the New Testament. The largest numerical miracle in the New Testament.

And after the people are fed and Jesus gets through preaching,

he looks at the apostles and he says, okay, get

in the boat and go to Bethsaida. Get in the boat.

Get in the boat. Now go over to Bethsaida. You

have earned your rest. Well done, my good and faithful servant.

Get in the boat and go. And it says that

they didn't understand the loaves because their heart was hard.

They looked past the miraculous because the grind was more familiar.

When they looked back on the greatest multitudinal numerical miracle

in the New Testament, they remembered how tired they were

rather than the multiplied loaves and fish. They missed the

miracle because life was on autopilot and things were happening

and they were tired. So they did not see Jesus

in the middle of the moment. Do you know that

so many times we miss Jesus in the middle of

the moment? That that moment when your kid walks up

and listen, I've done it a hundred times. I'm not

preaching at you. I'm sharing with you. And they walk

up and they say, hey, can we play a game tonight?

And you think, oh, I'm just wore out. And the

game is the loaf. That game is the miracle in

the middle of the moment. But we're on autopilot and

we've convinced ourselves that we're tired. So we miss the loaf.

So they're out there, man, and they're rowing. They've been

in the middle of the grind. They're rowing, they're rowing,

they're rowing. A storm kicks up. You know, Jesus didn't

go with them. Jesus stayed and prayed on the mountain.

Now watch. If Jesus was able to be alone on

the mountain, they also could have gone on the mountain

and been alone. But Jesus sent them to do another

task that to go to another place because he needed

to send a message wrapped up in the place that

he sent them because most of these men were fishermen.

Most all of these men were fishermen and they made

their living from the sea. And he told them to

go to Bethsaida, which literally translated is the house of fishermen.

He said, okay, this is what I want. You've served well. Now,

you're a fisherman, so I want you to go over

to the house of fishermen and wait for me because

you need to decide if your old life is better

than the potential and the possibility of the new life.

Is the grind you used to operate in better than

the grind with Jesus in it? Because if the grind

with Jesus in it is better, then you will be

aware of the moments where the loaves present themselves and

you can celebrate those moments because it's not... Do you

know the people in the back of that crowd, they

didn't even know it was a miracle? No. The only

people that knew it was a miracle were the ones

passing out the bread and the fish. They just kept

reaching in and taking it out. Nobody knew what went

in in the first place. They didn't know that all

that was in that bucket when they started was the

left gill and pectoral fin. They just kept pulling out fillet, fillet, fillet,

fish fillet for you, fish fillet for you. More fish fillet,

fish fillet, fish fillet. Your kids may not even realize

the miracle is happening in the moment when you're spending

that time together. Your spouse may not even realize that

you booking that hotel for one night just to get

away from the grind for a moment, that it's a miracle.

But for you, because you're in the middle of it

and you can see it and you can experience God

in it, you can see the loaf. So Jesus comes

walking to him and this is... particularly important to the story,

it says that Jesus' intention was to pass by them.

When Jesus left, he was going to walk by the boat.

He was going to let them see him, but he

wasn't stopping. He was just on his way because he

wanted to give them a revelation of who he was.

But then something happened because they were so busy rowing

that their vision wasn't clear and they didn't recognize that

it was Jesus and he didn't want them to be confused.

And he said, no, no, no, no, no. Don't be afraid.

It's me. And in this translation, it says, be of

good cheer. It's also translated, be of good courage. Same words.

Don't be vexed and perplexed. Be free and expect it

for the encounter that's going to happen. And Jesus walks

over and he climbs up in the boat. And now

watch this. They had just seen the greatest numerical miracle

done in the New Testament. And Jesus gets in the

boat and they arrive to the shore and they marvel. Marvel.

The fact that they got to the other side was

more powerful than the multiplied fish and loaves. And if

they had just kept rowing, they would have made it

to the other side because Jesus made it easier. Stop

asking Jesus to just make your life easier. Stop. And

get involved in the middle of what seems like chaos

and the busyness and the work that you have your

hands on because He's surrounding you with people that need

to experience the loaf. That need to come in contact

with that miracle, whether they realize... sitting down in the

break room next to that person that just looks busted, broke,

and disgusted. They may not see it's a miracle, but

you know God sent you there and you can't wait

for what happens next. This isn't when Jesus got in

the boat. This used to perplex me about this story

because Jesus said, go to Bethsaida. Jesus gets in the

boat and when they get to the other... Let me

read this to you. Mark 6, 45. Immediately he made

his disciples get into the boat and go before him

to the other side to Bethsaida. Verse 53. When they

had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret

and anchored there. So Jesus told them to go to

the house of fishermen. that represented the life that they

had known before he showed up. He gets in the boat,

and somehow they end up in a different place. Was

Jesus wrong in the beginning of where there should be?

Because what happens when they get out of the boat,

Jesus preaches more. He heals more people. More people get

set free. The things that Jesus does. That word... Genesaret,

the meaning of that, the cultural meaning of that is

the garden of abundance. The garden of abundance. So they

were going and their destination was their old life. was

more of what they had wrestled through, more of what

they had struggled with. They were on their way to

the house of fishermen as fishermen, and Jesus gets in

the boat because they refused to allow him to pass by.

They got involved with him in the moment, in the

middle of the grind, and Jesus delivers them to the

garden of abundance where things grew that should not even

grow there. Ooh! Do you realize that every product in

the entire Middle East region grows in Gennesaret? Things that

should not grow there, grow there. Things that only grow

at altitude grow there. Things that only grow in cooler

climate grow there. Because with God, all things are possible.

And the abundance of what you need is there if

you will just realize that the loaves, the loaf is

more important than the load. Recognizing the miracle in the

moment is more important than the work and the effort

that we expend every day because we think the effort

is the point. The point is to count your days.

To make every day count. not to check it off

towards retirement, not so that, you know, my kids are

finally going to get out. Come on now. Listen, I

don't know your kids personally. I know some of y'all's kids.

I don't know all y'all's kids personally, but a lot

of you, you're just on like a countdown to 18.

It's like, oh, three more years, they're going to be 18.

I'll be free. I'll be free. I'll be free. I'm

going to walk around in my underwear. I'm never going

to put on a shirt. I'm just going to dance

in the living room with my wife. And she's like,

when my babies leave, you ain't coming close to me.

Only reason I hold your hand is because I want

them to hold their husband's hand. And we get this

image in our mind that There's something else. And when

we get there, that's when God's going to show up.

And that's when we're going to love life. And that's

when we're going to start enjoying life. And we forget

about the loaves that happen every single day. That God

is doing miracles in you and through you every single day.

But we got our minds so focused on the grind

that we missed the miracle. So right now, I want

you to take a breath. Just for a moment. And

maybe you came in here today, you're exhausted. You're exhausted

from work. You're exhausted from waiting. You're exhausted from trying.

You're exhausted from lack. You're exhausted from whatever it is.

You're exhausted. You're exhausted. Jesus says, look for the moment.

I believe there's probably somebody here today that if you

were honest, if you were really honest with yourself, you

would say, I don't have a relationship with God. Maybe

you did and now you don't. Maybe you never have.

I don't know what classification you fall in, but if

you don't have a relationship with the Lord, He can't

get in your boat. He can't use you to multiply

the bread and the fish. He can't put loaf moments

in your life because you can't recognize them because you

don't know the sender. But right now in this moment,

if you find yourself far from Him, I want to

invite you into a close... passionate, loving relationship with the

Lord who gave His life for you. He just laid

it down. Beaten and bruised and killed For you. So

you could recognize the miracles in the passing moments. Every

head bowed and every eye closed. If you're here today

and you say, Pastor, I'm not where I should be

with the Lord. My heart is not closed. far from Him.

But I want to know Him. I want to experience Him.

I want Him in my boat. I don't want the

old destination. I want the new destination. If that's you,

just slip your hand up and say, that's me, Pastor.

Pray for me. I want to invite Jesus into my

heart and into my life in a fresh and thriving

way Amen. Amen. I'm going to wait. The Lord's still

dealing with somebody. Just put your hand up and put

it right back down and say, pray for me, Pastor. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

I'm going to wait another 20 seconds. Somebody else, you

just feel broken. You just feel broken inside. You just

feel empty. Poured out. Put your hand up. Put it

right back down. Amen. Every eye open. Everybody stand to

your feet all over the building. Dennis, I need small

term workers. Amen. If you raised your hand, I'm going

to count to three. And when I get to three,

I don't want you to look around to see if

other people are moving. This is between you and God.

This is about your refreshed relationship with Him. It's not

about popularity. It's about transformation. It's about giving up the

load in order to recognize the load. So on the

count of three, if you raised your hand, or now

you've decided you should have, but you didn't, you're invited also.

On the count of three, I want you to step

out and move. The band's going to play this song.

Stay with me for just, I got a couple more

things I need to tell you at the end, so

just stay with me. Unless you got an airplane to catch,

just hang out with me. One. Two. Three, step out

and move right now. Come on, where are you?