Marathon Training And Finishing Strong

SPEAKER_00 0:00

The year was 2018. And I was uh training for what would be my third uh Chicago marathon experience, and you know I will tell you, you've heard me tell these stories again and again, and sometimes they're not always for you, they're for the person that may have not been here yet, so you gotta act like you've never heard it. But in 2018, it was gonna be our third marathon, and I had trained kind of sporadically the first year of 2016, and didn't train great, didn't really pay attention to my diet, didn't really invest in the whole idea. I was just like, I'm gonna I'm gonna start and I'm gonna finish. And I did start and I did finish, but I was a little the last finisher in our home in 2016, and I vowed that would never happen again. And for those of you keeping track, that means Pastor Ursh beat me by about 45 minutes. And uh yeah, it was a real deal. So that was a test. That was a test I'm still getting over, but uh I vowed at that moment, like having to go backwards down the stairs for the next two days, that I was gonna train a little better. So I trained a little better in 2017 and ran the race and finished a lot better, better time. Um that year I don't I don't like to brag about this, but I did beat her Shauna that year. So in fact, I beat her so good she decided not to ever run again. So I'm joking. That's not why. She just she was like, I'm done. I did it two times, once, two times and enough. And so 2018 is the year I'm talking about, and I started training, and I got really intense about the training, and I got really intense about like, hey, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do a lot better this this race. And I did all the long runs that I was supposed to do, and if I missed a day, I I made it up, and I just I I stayed really, really committed. And on race day, we got to the start line, and they, you know, they shoot the gun off, and uh everybody starts running, and I started and it started raining, and I was like, oh no, this is gonna be terrible. And actually, as I was running through those first few miles, I realized I I had a new strength. I I I wasn't I wasn't really worried about the whole race. I I ran with a new confidence and a new strength. And then I got to the spot where every year before that I had really had to battle and say, no, I'm gonna finish. I'm not gonna give up here. And and I ran through that really strong. And then the last mile where you're like, there's no hills in Chicago, thank God. And so, but there is one hill, it's a man-made hill. You run over Roosevelt Bridge to end the race, and I running up the bridge, and I'm like, you know what? I think I could I could keep going. I feel pretty good. And I I ran and finished strong, and that was the first year, actually, the day after the marathon, I we went downtown and hung out and as a family, and I could walk, I could go up and down the stairs. It's what I really learned is in all of the training and in all the exercising, I actually grew, I got better, I got stronger, and I was more capable of not just finishing, but finishing strong. And it was all because I had invested the time in the time to grow so that I could finish strong. It's the year that I learned if you will commit to the growing season, that will make the harvest season so much better. So why don't you turn to your neighbor and say, man, we are still growing. And to the one you just ignored a little bit, just say, I'm gonna run a marathon this year. Joking, just just kidding. Just kidding, just kidding.

Series Wrap And Fall Announcements

SPEAKER_00 3:55

Listen, we're gonna close out this 5G summer series today, and then next week, I have a message I want to share for the church just looking ahead to fall. The week after that, the 23rd of August, is our student takeover. And that is Amen. That is our annual back to school blessing. We'll pray for every student in the room, we'll pray for every teacher, every administrator, faculty member, staff member. We'll pray for at-home, uh homeschool parents and families. Um, we'll we'll pray for everybody next uh on that Sunday. And then August 30th is small group Sunday. As we kick off another season of small groups, the whole everyone knows that uh small groups, we we we get to know God on Sunday, but we find freedom through small groups. And so I can't wait to get another season of small groups going. It's gonna be an incredible fall.

What Spiritual Growth Really Means

SPEAKER_00 4:50

We've been focusing this whole summer on growing up godly. If you know that reference, you watch too much TV in the early 2000s, and the goal of this growth is just not really to make us stronger or bigger or better, but the reality is the real goal of us growing up and growing stronger and growing in all these areas is that we draw closer to God. Spiritual growth isn't measured in how much you know of God, it's measured in how much of you belongs to God. You see, when we grow in generational blessing, we're impacting generations because our worship outlives us. When we grow in grace, we understand that worship is our response to what we cannot earn and do not deserve. When we grow in generosity, we learn to worship with open hands. And when we grow in gratitude, our worship is a reminder of just how good God is. When we grow in the fruit of the Spirit or in spiritual gifts, we understand that it's really not about us, but it's about redeeming the world around us through the gift God's given us. But the real mark of maturity and growth isn't that we're bigger, stronger, serve more, give more, join more teams. The mark of maturity is that everything that grows higher has to bow lower. Because there's something that happens when we start to grow because of our nature that we think that our growth indicates we're better maybe than the others around us. Or that we have the capacity to carry more than we can carry. And we start putting trust in ourselves because we've gotten so much stronger rather than relying on God and making sure that everything in our life bows to the name of Jesus.

Worship Is Surrender Not A Song

SPEAKER_00 7:10

And so today, as we close out this series, I want to talk to you about growing in worship. You see, worship, the first thing I would tell you about worship is number one, worship is more than a song, it's surrender. Look at what Paul writes in Romans. He says, Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. Now notice what Paul doesn't say. Paul doesn't say, I want you to uh I urge you in the light of God's mercy to offer your microphone or to offer the stage or to offer your ability of voice. He's saying, I urge you to offer yourself. Present yourself as a living sacrifice. You see, it's not about so much about the song, it's about the singer. It's not so much about the lyric, it's about the life. And we don't just sing worship, we actually become worship. It's not about the highlights or the reals or the perfectly put together moments, it's about our everyday, ordinary life, surrendering our eating, our sleeping, our going to work. Everything was made for worship. And worship says, you can have my life. You can have my Monday, you can have my thoughts, you can have what I say, where I stand, I surrender it all. You know what's interesting if you pull up that scripture again? Look what it says in Romans 12 when it says, present your bodies as a living sacrifice. Now, this is the peculiar thing about a living sacrifice on an altar. That means if it's alive, it can still move. And so the tendency is on Sunday for us to lay ourselves on the altar and make commitments. Oh, I'm gonna do this, Jesus. This time it's for real. I'm giving you my life. I'm giving you what I sing, what I say, what I see. I give it all to you. And then Monday rolls around. And because we are a living sacrifice, we roll ourselves off that altar and fall right back into the same condition we were in. Listen, the reality of surrender is that I say I surrender all. And I'm gonna surrender myself as a living sacrifice on the altar. I'm not gonna always be perfect, but I'm gonna try my best to live a life pleasing to God, reasonable offering of worship, and all that is is giving myself daily. Just daily. Daily surrender. Because it's more than a song on Sunday, it's about the surrender on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday. It's my ability to say, listen. Man, this is what this is what gets me, this is what gets me on Sunday when we're worshiping, is is when we're we're lifting our voice, and I'm thinking, God, I I don't deserve what I feel in this moment. And I'm thinking, God, what do I, what can I give? What can I offer? And the reality is, all he says is, I just want you. And I'm like, well, God, I just want you. And he's just like, just surrender. Just surrender. Worship is more than a song, it's

Praise Based On Character Not Circumstance

SPEAKER_00 11:08

surrender. The second thing is, worship isn't a response to my circumstances. Worship is a response to his character. We like to worship when the door opens. But real growth means that we worship in the hallway. I think about Hebrews 13 and 15, it says, Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that openly profess his name, continually, constantly, without like, listen, just make it a habit to be thankful. In not not regarding any circumstance, but regarding his character of who he is. Like we a lot of times we think about praise and worship, we think about worship in terms of celebration, and it is. I don't know, there's no more moment that I love more than what just took place in this house where just just a strike of a chord and one one lyric come out of somebody's mouth, and and and and the band playing to their best ability to the glory of God and giving their talent to God and offering that sacrifice of praise and the room be moved. That's amazing. So, yeah, worship is a celebration, but actually, worship is more of a warfare. It's good to have the high moments and woo, yeah. Man, that chill just went down my spine like I felt that one. But there's something about turning worship into warfare. Look what happens in the book of Acts, chapter 16. Before we pull up the scripture, too late. Sorry. Um in the book of Acts, chapter 16, Paul and Silas are preaching the gospel, they're making a stand for the cause of Christ, they're making declarations, people are being healed. They're, I mean, amazing things are, and and they get persecuted and attacked and judged and beaten and thrown in prison. And now we can pull the scripture up. And after they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell, which means he put them as far into that prison area as they could be put. Like, I'm gonna put you so far in there you will not be able to see the day of light. And there's no way for you to get out because he fastened their feet in the stocks. And then about midnight, there's something about midnight. Midnight is that one moment where it's no longer yesterday, but it's not really today. Even though the timeline says it is, but we know nothing good happens after midnight. I mean, if you're a parent of a teenager, that's your number one line that you say to your kids when they're leaving the house. Hey, nothing good happened after midnight, so you need to be home before midnight. You'd be surprised at the number of people I've told that to you. Nothing good happens after midnight, so get home before midnight. But it was about midnight when Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Now, look at this is interesting because that midnight hour is that spot where it's not yesterday, but it's not quite today. It's that darkest moment of the night. It's like, man, we know weeping endures for a night, joy comes in the morning, all that's good to say, but it was midnight in the prison in the deepest inner cell, and Paul and Silas decided to start worshiping. Not because the doors were open or the chains had fallen, but just because the character of who God is is worthy of worship, no matter the circumstance. So they start singing, and as they sing and worship, the prison begins to shake, and you know the story. The chains fall off, the doors go open, and they're gonna be able to find their way out of there because of the worship. And it occurred to me as I was reading through this story that there is a mindset that is a baby mindset, an immature mindset. When we follow Jesus and we get this mindset that says, I'll worship when it's fixed. I'm gonna pray. I'm going to God, but I'll worship when it's fixed. And a growth mindset says, a growth mindset says, I'll worship while I wait. Because my worship isn't based on what God does, it's based on who God is. He alone is God. There is no other beside him, there's none before him, there's none more powerful than him. He's worthy of my praise and my worship, regardless if he does another thing for me or not. He's already done so much. And I'm not worshiping him because life is good. I'm worshiping because he's good. Listen, my circumstances may fluctuate, but he remains faithful. My conditions change, but his character stands firm. My feelings come and go, but his goodness and mercy follow me all the days of my life. He simply is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And my worship is not based on what's happening around me. It's based on his character. And he's worthy of my worship even in the darkest moments of my life. Now notice that's not where that's not where the story ends. Can I can I have one more minute to look? Look at what happens in Acts 20, 16,

Midnight Worship That Shakes Foundations

SPEAKER_00 17:39

26. It says this suddenly there was a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. Here's what I felt like the Lord tell me yesterday. I was, I was, I had prepped this message before I left, and then I just was on vacation. So I got home and I was reviewing my notes, and I felt like the Holy Spirit just reminded me of this moment that so many times we like to fix things on the surface level. Fix it on the surface so it looks good. We argued all the way to church, but as soon as we walk up those stairs into the church, we're smiling the happiest family. Isn't God good all the time? All the time, God is good. On the surface. Well, how are you doing today? Oh, I'm so good. I'm blessed, too blessed to be stressed. On the surface. When deep inside, at the foundation and at the core, we're battling. And there's something in us that says, this is not right. We got to get it right. But you're not gonna be able to fix the outer shell and not worry about the inner shell. Jesus said, You spend all the time looking good, but you're leaving the most important part out, and that's what's inside. And I'm gonna tell you, when you begin to worship based on his character and not on the circumstance, you begin to shake the foundation of what's wrong in your life. I told this story. I came to a prayer meeting a few months ago on a Saturday morning. You know, I'm getting old. I I admit it. I'm gonna be the first to tell you, I'm no longer 45. I know it's a shock. I'm no longer 50. I'm not even 55 anymore. That's crazy. And I'll have little ailments here and there. My knees hurt, my hips hurt, my back hurts. Come on, you know. I'll still run with you, but I'm gonna have to recover a little bit longer. But I came to prayer and we were praying, and I wasn't really paying attention. I just my knee had been hurting that day. I I actually, on the way to church, was like, oh man, this knee. Lord, you're gonna have to do something about this knee. And then I remembered my grandmother who suffered with uh with arthritis most of her life that I knew her. I she I remember her having arthritis, and I remember her knees being so swollen, uh, and she was in a wheelchair for most of most of my memory. She was in a wheelchair, but I remember she would just be sitting there, and I you knew she was in pain, but she would just start saying, Thank you, Jesus. Just thank you, Jesus. And and as I was driving to church that day, it that hit me, and I just went, Thank you, Jesus. And that's all I that's all I did. And we got to prayer, we prayed, just good prayer. Prayed for the church, prayed for all of you. Got out, went back downstairs, got in the car, went home, and it hit me. My knee doesn't hurt anymore. And I was like, isn't that something that you can worship your way through what's ailing you, and it will go straight to the foundation and heal it. And I'm just telling you, if you will get past the habit of worshiping on circumstance and dive into the habit of worshiping on character, your life will be transformed. Because you won't have to wait for it to get good because he is good. In fact, he's just not good, he's God. And he can do what only he can do in a matter of seconds that I could never do in a lifetime. Come on up, band. Let's get ready. So we know worship is more than a song, it's surrender. We know that worship isn't based on the

Worship Anywhere In Spirit And Truth

SPEAKER_00 22:43

So when she's talking to Jesus, he asked me for water, she's like water. There was there was a social component there. And then then he's like, Well, listen, I am asking for water, but if you ask me for water, you would drink from a well and never started again. Well then she's like, I don't even what do I ask after that? So then she says, he has a conversation and he kind of reads her mail, kind of what you are all scared about happening in the room. And I'm right there with you. Don't do it in front of everybody. And Jesus says to her, like your whole life now, this is the situation. And she's like, You're right. And it's at that moment if you're reading the story, she says, Well, I perceive you're a prophet. It's like but she still didn't ask the right question. Watch this. She says this our ancestors worshiped on this mountain. But you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem. So she's like, Hey, my people have worshiped here all the time. But you're saying we got to go there to worship. What? What's the deal? And Jesus says, Woman, believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. For you worship, you Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we know for salvation is from the Jews. But yet a time is coming and it's now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. For they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. Where am I supposed to go to worship? And Jesus was trying to show her you worship anywhere you go. It's not about a location, it's not a geographical location, it's a spiritual orientation. Meaning the presence of God as strongly as it is in this room right now can is with you. Know you not, know you, let me see. I was trying to say in the King James Version, know ye not that ye are a temple of God. That's the old English version. But you are the temple of God, meaning wherever you are, the presence of God is. What I'm talking about, worshiping in spirit and truth, is about your lifestyle. Not where I should worship, but who deserves the worship. Listen, Sunday might give us or give worship a song, but Monday through the week is giving worship a life. Look at Colossians 3:17, and I'm closing right here.

Whatever You Do Can Be Worship

SPEAKER_00 26:46

Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Whatever. Everybody say whatever. Here's the thing about words. Like you can use whatever, like a teenager. Or I'm not picking on teenagers necessarily, but like just like whatever. How many times? Parents, have we heard that? You say something, bah bah, you need to whatever. How many times do we do that to God? Whatever. Flip it. Remove kind of the awe and the honor of the moment. Just whatever. That's not the language Paul's using right here. He's saying, whatever, whatever, whatever you do. Whatever you do, whether in word or in deed, do it in the name of Jesus. Why? Because worship isn't about a location, it's about a lifestyle. So when I'm responding to email, it can be worship. When I'm folding clothes, it can be worship. When I'm mowing the lawn, it can be worship. When I'm walking the dogs, it can be worship. When I put the kids in the bathtub, it can be worship. Why? Because whatever I do, if I do it under the Lord, it becomes worship. And he's worthy of it. He's worthy of it.

Getting Off The Throne Of Your Life

SPEAKER_00 28:43

I have this chair up here because I think Luke, hop up here real quick. Oh, you're gonna stand right here on my right side. Right side? Yeah, right side. This is what a lot of us do in terms of our life and our lifestyle. We we we take the seat and we plan out the success of our life. We have plans to be successful in, to be financially free, to have a great home, to go on vacations, and we we make this great plan, and then we ask Jesus to stand at our right hand and bless everything we've planned. Bless this job, Lord. Bless this car, bless this vacation, bless this trip, bless my finances. And we're sitting in the throne of our own life, and we have Jesus at the right hand of us, asking him to put our hand on us and bless all of it. But what worship does is worship says, you know what? I don't deserve this seat. This seat is reserved for my savior. And I'm gonna actually occupy the spot on the right hand and ask my savior who's worthy. What's next? What about this job? What about this relationship? What about this purchase? What about this opportunity? And I'm gonna actually surrender the control. And that's what worship does. Worship reminds me I'm no longer in control. Worship reminds me that I actually am able to surrender to who he is and what he's doing, and when I do that, it transforms the view that I have of my life. Because I can say things well, like, look what you got us into now, Lord. But when he's in control and he's sitting on the throne, it removes any aspect of my own personal life from taking that spot that only belongs to him. And you. We have to get to a spot where we surrender. We surrender at all. We say, listen. And when we worship, that that's actually, thank you, Luke. Everybody love Luke.

Sending Luke Back Stronger

SPEAKER_00 31:58

Heading back to college this week. He's been such a blessing to our church this summer. I love you, Luke. I'm so proud of you. I feel like there's a big difference in what's happening this year. Last year you went to campus with maybe a lot of questions, with a lot of kind of space in your life of like, this is so new. Not sure what God's gonna do in my life. You've told us all this, so this is not, but I just feel like to tell you, like, I see you walking into this semester just so much stronger and with such a God confidence. And I I anticipate that all of the growth you experienced in your freshman year is you're still gonna grow. You're still gonna keep growing. But I anticipate that the growth is gonna be noticeable and the new confidence that you walk in is gonna allow you to sit in new seats that maybe you haven't sat in yet, and and to have space and opportunity for declaring what God is doing in a new level. And I really believe that what you started in the Bible study group, I know you didn't do this for notoriety and you didn't do it for any any kind of claim to fame or anything like that, but I I feel like to tell you don't put any restriction on God for what he wants to do on that campus. Because I has not seen nor has any ear heard what he has in store for you. Look, and I would just say, let God be in control, but just expand your horizons to just dream what God might do. And he's gonna do amazing things in you. I believe that with Allah.

Expression Versus Heart And Closing Worship

SPEAKER_00 34:19

Listen, I I ask the team to come back and lead us in a song because I feel like when you talk about worship, you need to end it with worship. And I want you I want you to know that that's what I was getting ready to say. When we worship, we every time we worship, it isn't just it isn't really about the expression, uh whether it's vibrant and really outgoing and vocal. I mean, there is scripture. Let me just tell you, there is scripture. The Bible says, clap your hands to the Lord, all ye people. Shout to God with the voice of triumph, sing songs, sing loud songs, sing with the crashing of cymbals, sing with the string and instruments. So it's all Bible. I'm not I'm not I'm not trying to separate one form of worship to another. But I'm gonna tell you, it's it's really not about all, it's not all about the expression, it's about the heart. Because I know people that can sing and shout with the best of them, but you wouldn't know it Monday through Friday. You'd be like, what? And you can cut a rug on Sunday morning, but I I don't know what you're cutting there, but it's it's a lot. So it's not really all about the expression, it's the heart. What I'm telling you is every time we worship, it creates in us the capacity to step out of control and put God in the place that he deserves, number one in our life. There's no other name except the name of Jesus. I want you to stand up. I feel like we're gonna go into the song. I don't know. If you have to leave, you can be dismissed, you can give on your way out. We're a little fundraiser for our Psalm 139 small group as they continue to impact unplanned pregnancies and young mothers around this area. So buy some pancakes on your way out. It's gonna be delicious. But I I just feel compelled to just linger for a moment and I invite you to linger with me and we're gonna go ahead and sing for a minute.