Beyond Encouragement: Finding Christ at the Center of God’s Faithfulness

[00:01:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[00:01:16] Unified City Church family, we've missed you guys a lot. The snow has been a real bummer, but so glad to be able to get to worship with you guys and be together. If you guys would stand as we go into worship here. I've got Psalm 125 here, and it says,

[00:05:13] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]
[00:05:13] what if God had not been on our side let all Israel admit this what if God had not been there for us we can praise God over and over that he never left us and when I read that it just it
[00:05:30] gripped me what if God had not been there for me and then a bunch of other questions started flooding my mind like where would I be today if God didn't step in and save me from my sin
[00:05:43] from hell and the grave, what kind of trouble would I be in today? What kind of trouble would you be in today? Would some of you guys be in jail? I don't know. Not you guys in particular.
[00:05:55] Y'all are great, but other people. Thank you. What kind of bitterness would I be in if the Holy Spirit didn't teach me how to forgive? What kind of isolation would I be in if I didn't have
[00:06:11] the church family of God by my side through the tough times? What kind of addiction would I be in?
[00:06:18] What kind of depression or fear would I be in today? These are questions that I was asking myself throughout the week. If God hadn't been there for you and I, where would we be today?
[00:06:33] If Jesus hadn't lived a perfect life and died on the cross for our sins and rose again, where would we be? So as we sing today about what God has done, would you just bring to your mind
[00:06:50] all the times God has been there for you? And then would you take that thankfulness and that gratefulness and let it overflow into your worship and your praise? Let's have an attitude of thankfulness this morning from what God has saved us from, what he's redeemed us from,
[00:07:08] how he has been there for us every single time.
[00:07:13] So would you guys pray with me?
[00:07:15] Jesus, we love you this morning.
[00:07:18] We adore you.
[00:07:21] We worship you because you are so good.
[00:07:24] We thank you for your mercy and your kindness and your grace and your goodness.
[00:07:32] Thank you for thinking of us, of each one of us when you died on the cross for our sins.
[00:07:38] We thank you, Lord.
[00:07:40] and so this morning we want to do our best to repay you with our worship with our praise with our adoration of you lord this morning is all for you for your glory would you receive it this fragrance let it rise would it be a pleasing
[00:08:03] aroma for you lord of our worship we just love you we give you all of the glory this morning your name all as we pray amen

[00:08:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_17]
[00:08:16] depression maybe it's anxiety but jesus is stronger judah has over lying that judah has

[00:27:03] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]
[00:27:03] overcome hallelujah judah has over sing hallelujah the line that judah has overcome sing hallelujah

[00:27:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[00:27:16] the line that judah has overcome hallelujah to the king of heaven you are god with the songs that we

[00:39:07] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:39:07] say their hearts down before you or we give you permission to say whatever you want to say I can't stop thinking about you and all that you've done for us, for me.
[00:39:34] Lord, you've been so faithful.
[00:39:38] I can see just where you've worked everything out for good.
[00:39:42] And I know there's countless other people in this room that can say the same thing, because that is who you are.
[00:39:49] You are good.
[00:39:56] You can save us, lift us up.
[00:40:02] No other name can break chains.
[00:40:04] No other name can run off depression and shame and fear, but yours, Jesus.
[00:40:08] We run to a good Father who takes care of us and who loves us and provides for us.
[00:40:29] So, Jesus, we love you.
[00:40:31] This is our response to you.
[00:40:33] This is our heart for you, Lord.
[00:40:36] It's in your name.
[00:40:42] Amen.
[00:40:44] Well, good morning, everyone.
[00:40:46] Why don't you guys take a second and say hello to someone you didn't get a chance to earlier.

[00:40:50] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:40:50] All right.
[00:43:55] Well, good morning, everybody.
[00:43:58] It is great to see you all.
[00:43:59] If you guys want to come in, begin to make your way back toward your seats.
[00:44:04] We've got just a handful of announcements.
[00:44:07] And let me give you a little explanation for why my voice sounds a little bit strained.
[00:44:12] I am not at all sick. I'm not contagious. Don't worry about that.
[00:44:17] I don't think, man, I went to church and took that preacher's hand. Now I'm going to get sick.
[00:44:20] The reason my voice sounds a little bit strained is last night I was at the Chick-fil-A Daddy and Daughter Valentine's Dance. And a lot of you were there as well. I know I saw some faces.
[00:44:32] And let me just tell you, we shut the place down.
[00:44:36] We were, you know, in a Chick-fil-A, you know, we were eating sanctified chicken nuggets for one thing.
[00:44:41] But they had an open beverage table, so we drank Diet Lemonade and ate pink cupcakes until they shut the place down.
[00:44:50] And so we were doing the Macarena.
[00:44:53] And let me just say this, too, so everybody's aware because there were other people that were there.
[00:44:58] if there's ever any video footage of me that shows up on the screen up here.
[00:45:03] Let me just remind you all, we're in the age of AI, and you cannot believe everything you see.
[00:45:09] So I can, however, confirm, and my wife will confirm this as well, I have two left feet and no hips.
[00:45:15] So dancing does not come easily for me.
[00:45:18] All right, that being said, we'll move right along here.
[00:45:21] That's why my voice is a little bit strained.
[00:45:22] I don't want you guys to think maybe I was sick or anything.
[00:45:25] I'm definitely not.
[00:45:26] But if you're here for the first time, and I did see some faces I had not seen before, it's great to have you with us.
[00:45:32] I want to welcome all of you.
[00:45:33] And we've got a digital connect card that will be on the screen here in just a minute.
[00:45:37] If you want to scan that QR code, and all that is is just to let us know who you are and tell you more about us as well.
[00:45:45] That's not some trick that we play to get your information so we can bombard you with requests for money.
[00:45:49] Nothing like that.
[00:45:51] Just a way for you to become more acquainted with who we are, and we'd love to meet you guys a little bit better as well.
[00:45:57] So that's what that is all about.
[00:45:58] If you guys would take a few minutes to do that, we would appreciate that and would love to know you guys a little bit better.
[00:46:06] Also, I want to share a very cool testimony.
[00:46:08] Most of you are aware we've got what we call the Justice Project, which is our community outreach, which is really something goes on with the Justice Project just about every single day.
[00:46:18] If you come by here during the week, there's something happening in this building that is community-oriented.
[00:46:23] and I've got a really cool testimony. Actually, a couple of them. One's a celebration. Yesterday, we received a donation of 2,000 pounds of food. Yeah, which is an awesome thing. Now, let's go ahead and celebrate that for sure. Now, that being said, that will be gone very quickly
[00:46:42] though. So, every Thursday, we have our food pantry open and there's such a great need in our community, as most of you are aware, that as soon as we get the food on the shelves,
[00:46:52] it is gone. And so that being said, we want to really be thankful for that donation that we had.
[00:46:58] Some of that was anonymous, and some was raised and collected and given to us by some local Boy Scouts. And so that was really, really cool. But we need more. And so as you guys are out shopping,
[00:47:10] if the Lord puts it on your heart, we can use things like cereal, peanut butter, canned goods, canned soups, things like that. We can always stick on the shelf, and they really do go out
[00:47:20] as often, as quickly as we get them on the shelf. And so, we need those. But also, a testimony.
[00:47:27] You know, some people come in here on Thursdays. We give them food, may never see them again.
[00:47:32] But then there are some times, though, the Lord just really makes a divine connection, and we get to develop a relationship with certain families. And I want to share a quick story about one of those. There was a couple that showed up a handful of years ago. They were not married,
[00:47:46] but they were homeless, dealing with some addiction issues, and they had lost their children. And so over the last handful of years, though, we have a lot to celebrate. They've been coming back, getting food, and what we've been able to see as we've worked with them is they
[00:48:03] were able to get a place to live, first of all, able to get a house, and for the last three years, they've been totally free of any substances. And now they've let us know they've gotten their kids
[00:48:16] back. And so just really awesome praise report. And so that's something that has happened. And that is some of the fruit of what God is doing here through the Justice Project. I want to share
[00:48:27] that because a lot of you are a part of that. Many of you volunteer. Many of you give toward that.
[00:48:32] And no matter what it may be, we really appreciate that. We appreciate your involvement, and we can see God is really doing things. And so that's just one example of many we could share, but really,
[00:48:42] really a cool thing that the Lord is doing. Also, let me talk about our U-Kids for a minute, especially for those that may be newer here. So we're in the process of building a new U-Kids
[00:48:52] wing. It'll be right behind this wall. It's going to be a great space. Its construction is already underway. But as I've said a few times, and all of you here know, construction always takes longer
[00:49:03] than we hope it will. And so we've rented a building. It's a few doors down where our kids are meeting at currently. That building is a great blessing, working out really, really well.
[00:49:13] Last Sunday was our first Sunday utilizing that space. It all went really, really smoothly. I got a couple of things to announce that we kind of learned the hard way what we need to kind of
[00:49:24] adjust. So one of them is the drop-off times. Since it's not going to be in this building for right now. We're just a very temporary season because it's going to be down the road a couple of doors.
[00:49:36] For the first service, and of course you guys are here for the second service, but if you come for the first service, unless you're volunteering, please don't drop your kids off before 840.
[00:49:47] It'll leave time for our kids workers to get in, get the lights turned on, the thermostat turned up, the doors unlocked and ready. So please don't drop off your kids before 840. And then for this
[00:49:58] service the second service please don't drop them off before 10 40 what we had happened last week was that transition period of one batch of kids leaving second batch of kids coming in there was
[00:50:10] just really really just a bunch of of just as you can imagine traffic jams and so we'll make sure that no kids are falling through the cracks everybody is is taken care of and we want to do
[00:50:20] things as seamlessly as we can so unless you're volunteering please don't drop your kids off before 8 40 or before 10 40 and we'll appreciate really acknowledge you guys for banding together this is a temporary season pretty soon we'll be meeting back here it'll be a lot easier we won't
[00:50:38] have these things to have to figure out but for right now just temporarily we do and in this temporary season if you would rather have your kids in here with you you're welcome to do that
[00:50:49] and we have this room over here is a nursing mother's room there's a television up in there where you won't miss what's going on in the service.
[00:50:56] And if you do bring your kids in, we just ask, please do your best to keep them a little bit quiet.
[00:51:01] That way we're not disturbing those that are sitting around us.
[00:51:04] And feel free to step into the nursing mother's room, you moms with any babies or toddlers if you need to.
[00:51:10] If they start getting loud, I know that happens.
[00:51:12] I've got four children.
[00:51:14] I know that happens, but that room is there for that reason.
[00:51:17] So feel free to take advantage of that.
[00:51:20] Also, and I apologize for the large number of announcements, But we have quite a few today.
[00:51:25] There will be a pop quiz here in about five minutes.
[00:51:27] I hope you guys are taking notes.
[00:51:29] But two doors down this way, there's an accounting office.
[00:51:34] We cannot park in their parking lot.
[00:51:36] They used to have a barrier up, and for some reason, they took the barrier down.
[00:51:41] But here's the problem.
[00:51:41] If we pull in the parking lot, it notifies the police.
[00:51:45] And so we've been asked not to park in that parking lot in front of the accounting office.
[00:51:50] So if we could please not do that, we're trying not to go to jail at least for something like that, you know, so.
[00:51:57] And also, just with this kids transition, we're not going to have any family services until we get to meeting back over here.
[00:52:04] With it being, with our kids being a few doors down, it's not going to be practical and feasible to have a family service.
[00:52:10] So no family services for now.
[00:52:13] Okay, one more announcement.
[00:52:15] Tonight is our business meeting.
[00:52:18] So we have two business meetings a year, one around the first of the year, one in the middle of the year, just to kind of give a report of how God is blessing us financially, how
[00:52:27] we're using the money.
[00:52:28] And it's open to everybody.
[00:52:30] If you have any questions, if you want to have any more insight into the finances of the church, that's what this meeting is for.
[00:52:37] We've got one tonight.
[00:52:38] We'll have one around the middle of the year.
[00:52:40] And just in a nutshell, I can tell you, and a lot of this is thanks to you guys and your obedience to the Lord, is the Lord has really blessed us as a church.
[00:52:48] We're debt-free. We've got some money in the bank.
[00:52:50] We're able to do this renovation back here to build this new kids' wing without going into debt.
[00:52:57] We have some cash we can use.
[00:52:59] And so we're very, very thankful for that.
[00:53:01] And so thank you guys for your generosity.
[00:53:03] But tonight will be a meeting that we set aside for anybody who wants to come to get more of a summary and a rundown of the church's business side of what we do.
[00:53:14] We'll talk about this renovation, the building down the street.
[00:53:17] We'll go over all those things tonight.
[00:53:18] If you guys would like to come, we'll be more than happy to talk with you and share all of that.
[00:53:24] Now, that being said, we're going to go ahead and take up an offering.
[00:53:27] And we have, as usual, four ways to give.
[00:53:29] You can give in person.
[00:53:30] There's a box by that door right over there you can slip it into.
[00:53:34] You can give on the app.
[00:53:35] You can send it in the mail.
[00:53:37] Or you can scan that QR code there and give that way as well.
[00:53:40] And as I often have said and we often say, thank you guys very much.
[00:53:45] You're a very generous congregation.
[00:53:47] again the Lord has met our needs as a church and that is through the generosity and the obedience of his people and so I believe the New Testament pattern is that we're not supposed to give under
[00:53:57] compulsion but we're supposed to give as we purpose in our hearts and so I know many of you have got a generous heart and so we really appreciate that and that does not go unnoticed
[00:54:07] if you want to give we appreciate your gift as well and you know as well as I do many of you can say we really can never out give the lord as we give the lord he promises to to give back and
[00:54:18] he blesses us truly so that we can become a blessing in return and so that being said thank you guys again i'm going to pray over the offering and then we'll keep moving lord in jesus name we
[00:54:30] thank you for this day we know that this is the day that you have made and this day has been on your heart uh even from before the foundation of the world the bible tells us and so we know that
[00:54:41] you've got plans for us today. We know that you are here with us today. I thank you for our time of worship earlier, and I know you're going to be with us for the remainder of this service. I pray
[00:54:51] that we would encounter you, Jesus, in ways that we never have before. I pray that you would speak to our hearts. I pray that your word would come into our hearts. As the Bible says, the entrance
[00:55:02] of your word brings light. I pray that we would receive that today. Your word is a lamp to our feet and alight our path. I pray that we would hear your voice through the remainder of this
[00:55:13] service, that you would lead us and guide us and direct us. We ask you also, Holy Spirit, to help us to become increasingly sensitive to your voice. I also want to just pray, Lord, that you would
[00:55:25] bless this offering as you always do. Even as we give what may seem like loaves and fishes, you multiply that. And so I pray that you would help us as a church to be faithful stewards of
[00:55:36] the resources you've given us. And I pray, Lord, blessing for all those that are giving, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen. All right. Well, as you may have guessed, since I'm giving announcements today, I'm not the one speaking. I want you guys to please join me and make welcome Molly Youngquist.
[00:55:53] Molly, you guys all know her. She and her husband, Austin, are our youth leaders. And Molly's on our teaching team as well. It's been a while since we've had her up here, but excited about this.

[00:56:04] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]
[00:56:04] so Molly, it's all yours. All right. Well, thank you guys. So if you've been here and listening to the messages for the last couple of weeks, Mike has done a fantastic job of teaching about building
[00:56:19] the kingdom of God, the importance of that, the importance of studying the word and applying that to our daily lives. And so today we're going to talk a little bit about our focus and his
[00:56:30] faithfulness. And we're going to go through a couple of points, and then I'd also like to take some time at the end of the service and just give time for us to listen to the voice of the Lord,
[00:56:41] because I fully believe that the most important words that you can hear this morning are not mine.
[00:56:49] So we're going to start off with, where is your focus? In our lives, focus is prime real estate.
[00:56:58] um if you have ever opened your phone after talking to your spouse or your friend and lo and behold what you're presented with is an ad about directly what you were just talking about right i hear yeah i'm hearing a lot of yeses and amens in the crowd we all know what that's like
[00:57:18] companies fight over our focus they pay big money for our focus and every time you even scroll your phone, you're getting personalized ads that they know to show you because they're tracking what you focus on when you use those apps. And Hebrews 12, 2 tells us exactly where we should be putting
[00:57:42] our focus. It says, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy said before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand
[00:58:00] of the throne of God. And I really like this because it is using a certain tense of the word fix. It's using the word fixing, which means this is a continual action. This is not just something
[00:58:14] that you can set and then forget about it. This is not a cruise control for your life.
[00:58:19] This is a continual action that we're doing.
[00:58:21] We are continually fixing our eyes on Jesus.
[00:58:26] And when I was in school, which has been scarily longer than I like to think about, I don't know what they give you nowadays in school lunches, but one of the most stressful areas of the school
[00:58:39] for me personally was the lunchroom.
[00:58:43] Because you enter this enormous area with a bunch of chaos and kids and then you have to carry food to a table and you have to figure out what table is your table, right?
[00:58:58] So there's the cool kids table, there's the sports table and you have to figure out which one is your table.
[00:59:03] What you definitely don't wanna do is spill your food.
[00:59:07] Again, I don't know what they have now, if they still have the little box juices or if they have the open juices.
[00:59:13] Yes, they have box juices, okay.
[00:59:15] So I got the open lid juices, I guess predating the box juices when they realized we should put a lid on these things.
[00:59:22] And so you had a tray of juice and something that we probably don't still know what it is, cream corn, bread, whatever it was on your tray.
[00:59:33] And you definitely didn't want to spill anything.
[00:59:36] But what you really, really did not want to do was drop it.
[00:59:40] because for whatever reason, the plastic that they make those trays out of, if you drop it, echoes into all of eternity.
[00:59:48] And every head, yes, someone else has done this, every head in the lunchroom snaps at you and it's not momentary.
[00:59:55] They stare at you while you try and figure out what to do with the cream corn that's sloshed on the floor and the juice that's on you and you are humiliated.
[01:00:05] It's one thing you never wanna do.
[01:00:07] Not that that happened to me, but one piece of advice a teacher gave me after the cream corn issue was just when you get your tray look straight ahead when you walk don't don't walk like this staring at your juice and your corn
[01:00:29] trying to make sure it doesn't spill wherever you're headed just look there and I thought they were just playing a joke on me. Like, seriously, how's that going to help anything? If I'm not watching it, how do I know it's not going to spill? But what was surprising is that it actually
[01:00:48] worked. When I actually looked where I was trying to go and I wasn't paying so much attention about making sure things didn't get out of place on my tray, I actually made it there with far
[01:01:00] less spills. And when we fix our eyes on Jesus, focusing on the table that he has called us to sit at, somehow it turns out better than when we hyper fixate on everything moving around
[01:01:13] on our tray. So we're going to come back to that. So how do we keep our focus? It's easy to talk about keeping our eyes on Jesus, but how do we do that? And why is it so hard? One of the most
[01:01:29] prolific ways that God throughout the Bible has commanded his people to remember him for is his faithfulness. And I want to pause here and just say that one of the neatest things for me serving
[01:01:42] in ministry is when I come in and I have something prepared that I have written days in advance that I've not told anybody about. And I get here and the worship set is exactly on point with everything
[01:01:52] on my paper. So me and Dustin and Patrick did not chat when we coordinated any of these things. So this is definitely the Lord speaking this morning. I love when that happens. So God's commanding his
[01:02:05] people to remember him for his faithfulness. And one of the things that he did often was he told them to build an altar, to remember something powerful that he had done for them. And so
[01:02:16] one of the first places that we see this is in Exodus 20. And we're going to kind of bop around to a couple different verses today. A lot of them will be on the screen behind me, but you can turn
[01:02:27] there if you'd like to read all of it together. So in Exodus chapter 20, verses 24 and 25, it says, you shall make an altar of earth for me and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings
[01:02:40] and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you. If you make an altar of stone for me, you shall not
[01:02:53] build it of cut stones for if you wield your tool on it you will profane it so he's God has just given the 10 commandments in this chapter and he tells them to create an altar to remember
[01:03:08] who he is he also tells them to build an altar after they entered the promised land in the book of Deuteronomy Abraham Isaac and Jacob all built altars in places where God met them and why why
[01:03:22] is that something that God asked them to do? I think it's because he knows that we're human and we have short memories that get even cloudier when we experience pain. He knows how quickly that
[01:03:35] we are going to get discouraged when the miracles stop, when the silence sets in, and when there's more questions than there are answers. And he knows that we need sometimes even a physical reminder to refocus and remember who he is.
[01:03:54] And one important note that I want to point out that is easy to read over is that in all of these altars mentioned, one of the requirements is that they were built with uncut stones.
[01:04:08] Why is that important?
[01:04:10] It's important because it shows an emphasis that this altar is meant to be purely a remembrance of God, him alone.
[01:04:18] none of our work God met them in this place and he said take these stones don't try and make them better don't try and make them into what you think they should look like take these stones make an
[01:04:36] altar and remember me and when we look at these altars we should see and be reminded of his power his faithfulness, what he did for us, that there's not anything that we could have created or done
[01:04:52] ourselves or added to it to make it look any better. Not even the stones had effort by men to shape them. It was purely God's. And so why is remembering his faithfulness so important?
[01:05:09] because our lives are unpredictable to us and unpredictability often breeds anxiety and anxiety can breed self-reliance. It can be a lot easier to depend on ourselves and what we can do when we feel unsure of what might happen around us and it can lead us to
[01:05:36] develop patterns and choices that reflect what makes us feel secure, but are actually very unhealthy. So Proverbs 3, 5, and 6 is one that a lot of us know. Trust in the Lord with all your
[01:05:51] heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he will make your path straight. Trust is a bold choice when life feels unsure. And we can actually look at
[01:06:13] the story in Exodus chapter 32. If you want to flip over there, it's also going to be on the screen behind me. If you look in Exodus 32, so God has given them the 10 commandments through Moses,
[01:06:24] but then this happens. Moses goes back up the mountain again to meet with God. And in verse one. It says, now, when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled around Aaron and said to him, come, make us a God who will go before us.
[01:06:42] As for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. Okay. So Moses brings down the 10 commandments. Then he goes back up and they
[01:07:00] have no idea what's going up on the mountain, right? There's no FaceTime. There's no phone calls. I don't think there was a carrier pigeon. Moses is just up there and they have no idea what
[01:07:12] is happening. They're just down on the bottom of the mountain trying to figure out what they're supposed to be doing. And there's no indication. They don't know the next chapter of the Bible.
[01:07:24] they're living it. They don't know that Moses is going to come back down in a couple of days or a couple of weeks or a couple of months. They don't know what is about to happen. They are quite literally being asked to live by faith.
[01:07:42] And so people begin to get frustrated and antsy and anxiety sets in. And so then in verse two through four, it says this, Aaron said to them, tear off the gold rings, which are in the ears
[01:07:59] of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me. Then all the people tore off the gold rings, which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. He took this from their hand and
[01:08:12] fashioned it with a graving tool and made into a molten calf. And they said, this is your God, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. So remember we talked about anxiety
[01:08:27] can breed self-reliance. Someone, I don't know who it was, I don't remember, but someone wisely said this. They said, Israel built the calf during silence, during delay. While Moses was on the mountain, God felt distant. So they filled the silence. They didn't necessarily stop believing
[01:08:52] in God. They just got tired of waiting for him. So they made something that they could see, something that they could touch, and something that they could control. And this is important to dwell on because when they lost focus of his faithfulness, all they could see was their own
[01:09:11] lack of control. And when we lose focus on who he is and what he has done, we will tend to try and take control of a situation that really just requires our trust and patience. So in my own
[01:09:26] personal moment of weakness, which I'm not the only one that has those, right? I prayed and I just asked the Lord to help me. Has anybody else ever been in a season where God just feels silent?
[01:09:45] and distant and you sort of relate to the Israelites at the bottom of the mountain wondering I don't know how I don't know how long this will be I don't I don't know what else I'm supposed to
[01:09:58] be doing so I prayed God please just give me some kind of direction some kind of encouragement something that will lift my spirits you know and a lot of times I think when we pray that we expect
[01:10:12] this uh sweet little voice that points us to some really great psalm that just feels great but what I heard in my spirit was very clear. Matthew chapter one, which I've read that before.
[01:10:29] And immediately I thought, Hmm, sat down and opened it. Let's just look at the first few verses of Matthew chapter one, the record of the genealogy of Jesus, the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac and Isaac, the father of Jacob
[01:10:47] and Jacob, the father of Judah and his brothers. Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar.
[01:10:55] Perez was the father of Hezron and Hezron, the father of Ram. And I bet you're wondering, are we really going to read through all of these names? No. But when I sat down after begging for encouragement, I began to think, genealogy? But as I read, I realized he is the
[01:11:23] same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. And as I read the names, it sank in deeply that each of these lives are not just names on a page. These are real people who lived real lives, so many years
[01:11:41] of decades of history, so many joys and tears and pains and mistakes and losses and victories and failures and promises, all weaved together as a lineage for the Savior. And here's the encouragement. If he can hold all of these lives and direct them, how would he not do the same for
[01:12:04] me? This Matthew chapter 1 is not just genealogy. It is a track record, and it is proof. So let me take the life of Abraham as a little bit of an example today. It's easy to read his name and kind
[01:12:25] of remember some Sunday school lessons and move on. But I want to just highlight some of his story as an example today. So we don't forget that each one of these names is a fully lived life.
[01:12:41] these are people that struggled and persevered decades of history in each of these names it's not just a listing it is a track record of faith and perseverance and hope and so we're going to look at Abraham a little bit and just remember how much he really did not know
[01:13:05] what was coming next in his life and how his perseverance was recorded so here's what we know about Abraham. So you're going to find Abraham's story back in the book of Genesis, and it's quite a few chapters. So I would encourage you, if you've never studied Abraham,
[01:13:22] do that. But here's some things we know about him. We know that God called him out of his family's land and told him just to go. He didn't actually tell him necessarily, hey, I want you to leave
[01:13:34] your father's house and your friends and all these things and move to Winston-Salem, and there's going to be this house, and you'll buy that house, and then you'll live there 20 years, and then you'll leave again. There was not that plan. It was, hey, Abraham, leave it all and go. So to
[01:13:51] Abraham's credit, he goes. He just starts walking, which is incredible faith. But as he goes, as you read, he starts wondering, when is all these things going to happen? Because God made him three primary promises. One was to have land of his own, to be made into a great nation, and to receive
[01:14:12] blessings, that he'd be blessed and favored. So he starts walking, but he naturally starts, you'll read in the first chapters where he starts entering the scene, he's experiencing some doubts. And then if you flip over to Genesis 14, which we don't have the time to read the whole chapter.
[01:14:30] So Abraham is traveling with his wife and they're moving around. And then in chapter 14, about this time a war broke out and if you read down through the chapter um abram's nephew is captured so what does abram do well if you read through in the rest of the chapter um he goes
[01:14:55] after them to try and rescue his nephew now i just have to wonder so god tells him leave everything go i'm not gonna tell you where you're going just go you're gonna be blessed and highly favored
[01:15:08] You're going to have all these things. And then he finds himself in the middle of wartime.
[01:15:14] And I have to ask, I wonder what he was thinking at that point. Like, I don't remember this in the original promise. I don't remember you saying anything about me being in the middle of a war.
[01:15:25] Like, am I doing this right? Because it doesn't feel right. This doesn't feel like blessing.
[01:15:33] He didn't know what was coming next. And so if you keep reading in Genesis 15, verses 1 through 4. So the Lord is speaking to Abram and he's encouraging him. But Abram's still trying to figure this out. He says, after these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a
[01:15:51] vision saying, do not fear, Abram. I'm a shield to you. Your reward will be very great. Abram said, oh Lord God, what will you give me since I am childless? And the heir of my house is Eleazar
[01:16:04] of Damascus. And Abram said, since you have given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir. Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him saying, this man will not be your heir,
[01:16:18] but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir. So here's Abram.
[01:16:25] God is encouraging Abram saying, hey, look up into the heavens and count the stars if you can.
[01:16:31] your descendants will be like that. And Abram is sitting there thinking that, well, I don't, I don't have one kid. The only thing I've got is a kid that was born in my house.
[01:16:45] So I guess that's going to be my heir. And God would yet again promises him, no, you're going to have an heir that is your son. And Abram is still struggling with this. And I think,
[01:16:58] why am I taking so much time here? Because this is so relatable. Have you ever been in a season where you stepped out because God said to go and he promised you things and then you find yourself
[01:17:10] wondering, where is it? Anybody ever been in a situation like that? I know I have found myself in moments like that. And it's easy to think just because it doesn't feel like a promise fulfilled
[01:17:25] that it's not still coming. And we can read Abram's story and learn from his perseverance and faith. And so even then in Genesis 16, if you go to the next chapter, we see that even though
[01:17:39] God encouraged him saying, nope, it's going to happen. Very much like the Israelites, Abram felt the silence. He felt the distance. He felt the lack of control. And he said, you know what? I don't know if this is going to happen. So he took matters into his own hands and he fathered
[01:18:00] a child in a way that he wasn't supposed to because he wanted to take control. He felt the silence. He felt the tension. He felt like he needed to help it along because it may not happen.
[01:18:15] And then in Genesis 17, we see God making a covenant with Abram and he's telling him all these wonderful things and spelling it out. And then again, in verse 17, Genesis 17, 17, then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said in his heart, will a child be born to a man
[01:18:34] 100 years old? And will Sarah, who is 90 years old, bear a child? He's still struggling. He's still struggling to hold on to the promise because it just feels like, where is it? And this continues.
[01:18:51] And we see the journey of God's continuous favor on Abraham, blessing him, but not always giving him the answers and certainly not on his own timeline. Abraham questioning and trusting, struggling sometimes to follow, but choosing to continue. And this is a full life. If you flip
[01:19:11] back to Matthew chapter one, look at all the names on that list. Abraham is the beginning.
[01:19:27] And if I've just spent just a brief moment recapping the amount of things he walked through and experienced and struggled through and persevered, imagine the stories of everybody else beneath him. I would encourage you, look into each one of these people. Their lives
[01:19:42] are full. And so why is this important to us? Because these lives, these chapters are glimpses into God's faithfulness that we can look to as we walk our own real-time road of faith.
[01:20:04] We can return to these stories almost like they would return and look at those altars that they built from the moments to remember God's faithfulness. We can look at these stories that were recorded for our benefit and remember how God saved and redeemed and forgave and empowered
[01:20:23] and how he loved and he blessed and he moved.
[01:20:26] And we can anchor ourselves to that truth.
[01:20:31] He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
[01:20:37] And I mentioned at the beginning, I wanted to leave us some time at the end to just listen to the Lord.
[01:20:43] So I'm going to go ahead and start wrapping up.
[01:20:46] So as I close, I want to paint this in perspective.
[01:20:53] We all, a few weeks ago, just watched the Super Bowl, right?
[01:20:59] Some of us did, some of us didn't.
[01:21:00] Some of us were very disappointed in who won and lost, right?
[01:21:04] When people come on the screen, these football players, which I know hardly anything about, what's one thing they flash on the screen often?
[01:21:14] When the guy comes out, they like to show his stats.
[01:21:18] They like to show what he's done.
[01:21:21] and one thing I've noticed that is that oftentimes I know nothing about these football players but you'll be watching a game and then even if you know nothing about anyone the announcers come on and I don't I can't even use a name because I don't even know anybody but the announcers come
[01:21:45] on and they say oh man here comes this guy like they're they're sending in the big guy now like he is going to take care of business. He is going to come in there. He is going to win the
[01:21:59] game. He is going to clean up. And why do they say that? Because they've kept track of his record and he has made a name for himself. People have watched him play and they pay attention. And I
[01:22:20] think, I know Matthew 1 looks like a list of names, but these are stats. And so how much more so can we find strength? I mean, when an elite football player walks on the field, and it may
[01:22:33] not even matter how the game is going, because everybody thinks, oh man, I know what that guy can do. Maybe we're down 17 points, but here comes so-and-so. How much more so when we know the God
[01:22:48] that we serve? We know, and we can look at this track record right here, and we can see, I know, I don't care what the game of my life looks like right now, because I know the God who has stepped
[01:23:00] on the field of my life. And I know what he's done for Abraham, for Isaac, for Jacob, for every single person in this list. And I know he's the same God yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He's not going to
[01:23:13] stop. And so here's what I know about my life is that when God shows up, it doesn't matter what we are carrying, because we have the greatest MVP that has ever existed, that never fails,
[01:23:31] never gets tired, never gets injured, to step in every single time. And we should have the same confidence in every season. So I want to circle back. I wonder if you picture yourself as that kid with the tray. And what are you carrying? What are you holding right now?
[01:24:05] Some things we don't have the luxury of not holding. We get things put on our tray, like the juice we never wanted that doesn't have a lid. Sometimes that happens. Sometimes we put stuff on our own tray. Whatever it is, what's on your tray today? And what are you so worried about
[01:24:29] spilling. Here's what I know is that when we lose sight of where we're going, when we don't pay attention to the track record of the God who fights on our behalf, then we can get so distracted
[01:24:46] and we can often feel like that kid in the lunchroom carrying their tray, worried about all the people around us, all those chaotic kids that are going to bump into me, or maybe I'm going
[01:25:00] to bump into them and make them mad. And then they'll hate me forever. Or maybe they already hate me forever. You're so concerned about everybody around you and just trying to make it to your seat with your tray and your shoulders are up by your ears. Or maybe, maybe that part
[01:25:14] doesn't bother you. Maybe there's things you're carrying that you are so consumed with that are just sitting on your tray. And all you can think of is you just staring at it. Please don't spill.
[01:25:29] just I'll walk as slow as I can just please don't spill and your whole focus is just please don't spill just whatever you're so hyper fixated on what you're carrying that you lose sight of where
[01:25:43] you're going and what happens is we end up in a perpetual cycle of aimlessly walking around carrying things so trying so hard to balance our lives that we end up exhausted and disenchanted And here's the good news.

[01:26:04] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[01:26:04] God says, come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

[01:26:21] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]
[01:26:21] That means there's a seat with your name on it.
[01:26:32] I want to give us some time and I want to just give you time to listen to the Lord today before we close.
[01:26:37] So I just have some questions because here's what I know.
[01:26:45] He is the same God who parted the seas.
[01:26:50] he's the same God that met with Daniel in the lion's den he's the same God that met them in the fiery furnace he's the same God that calms the storms that storms that heals the lepers that
[01:27:03] raises dead that provides food for thousands of people that weren't expecting it he's the same God that casts out unclean spirits and he is the same God he is alive and he is moving and he is
[01:27:17] trustworthy, and he is faithful. So let's just take a minute, and I just want to ask us some questions today, just to reflect, because like I said, the most important words you'll hear today are not the ones coming out of my mouth. So let's listen to the one who truly matters.
[01:27:39] I invite you just to close your eyes and just think, what are you focused on right now?
[01:27:45] where are your eyes what has your attention my next question is are you holding on to or have you created something that makes you feel in control rather than trusting the one who truly holds it all together have you created something in the silence that gives you the illusion of
[01:28:30] control? What would it look like if you let go of that thing and decided to replace the trust that

[01:28:47] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[01:28:47] you've built in your own strength and placed it back on God's? What if he's really that good?

[01:29:08] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]
[01:29:08] I want to take just a minute. I want to ask you, what has God done in your life?
[01:29:15] What has he done for you? Maybe just take a second and just think, maybe just even one thing.
[01:29:21] what has God done for you? It's amazing the encouragement it brings when we just remember what he's done. I encourage you, if you have notes and you're writing down notes, or if you have a
[01:29:55] phone app, or maybe if you don't have any of that and you can do it when you get home, I would encourage you, whatever that was that you thought of, write a little note, maybe a word or two,
[01:30:05] even just an illustration that you know what it is. Write that down and put that in a prominent place that will remind you every single time you look at it, that this is who God is, and this is
[01:30:18] what he does. That's a tagline that I have under some things that I've written in my own journal.
[01:30:28] The date, what happened, and then this is who God is, and this is what he does. And I also want to encourage you, maybe you're the person with the tray, you feel heavy laden and disoriented,
[01:30:45] and I want to encourage you, it really is easy to refocus your eyes. I want to encourage you, if you're the person that you're like, hey, I've got my eyes in the right place and I can tell you
[01:30:57] I've never felt more secure ever. And I know a hundred percent it's because of where my eyes are because nothing in my life makes sense for me to feel this secure. But I know the one who
[01:31:09] holds it. If that's you, my encouragement to you is tell somebody. Tell somebody. Oftentimes I get a little choked up when I talk up here and that's because I have seen the goodness of God. And I can
[01:31:27] tell you that it is real. It is not fake. And with every breath that I have available to me, I will tell of his goodness. Because I know the difference it will make in other people's lives if they
[01:31:43] understand and grasp it. If that's you, tell somebody. That would be my encouragement. And I want to just encourage us this morning. If you don't know what to do with your focus, it can be
[01:31:56] so easy. It really is as simple as the old song says. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his

[01:32:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[01:32:11] wonderful face and the things of this earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory moment with the lord jesus we just thank you for who you are father we just say that you are good

[01:33:27] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]
[01:33:27] you are worthy in a world that fights for our focus that pays money for our focus you are the only one worthy of it. Father, may we remember as we leave today, the goodness and the hope that
[01:33:45] you carry, that as we walk through life, we can keep our pace steady and just follow you with our eyes set on where you've called us to sit in peace at your table under a yoke that is easy
[01:34:05] and a burden that is light.
[01:34:07] Father, may we have ears to hear you, that we would hear you through your correction, through your encouragement, through your guidance.
[01:34:17] Father, speak to our hearts this morning and through the rest of the day.
[01:34:19] God, I ask that you would implant a hope that cannot be shaken as we fix our eyes on who you are and that you never fail.
[01:34:30] We trust you this morning, Jesus, and we love you.
[01:34:34] Amen.
[01:34:35] If you need prayer or if you would like to come up and just give something to the Lord.
[01:34:39] Our prayer team's gonna be up here.
[01:34:41] I'd encourage you to take some time and just pray with them.
[01:34:44] I hope you guys have a fantastic week and we love you guys.