00:00:00.080 God, you are so good. You are so great.
00:00:02.480 You are faithful. God, we pray, God,
00:00:04.880 that these words would not just be words
00:00:07.120 in a song, but would be a declaration of
00:00:09.599 our lives. That God that we would live
00:00:12.400 this song out each and every day. That
00:00:15.599 you are great. You are worthy of our
00:00:18.080 praise. That God, you are the reason
00:00:20.480 that we are here on this planet. The
00:00:22.560 reason we have breath in our lungs to
00:00:25.119 even speak, to even praise you, to
00:00:27.359 worship you. God, may we use our every
00:00:30.080 breath, our every step, our every act,
00:00:32.800 and every day for your good and for your
00:00:35.440 glory because you are great in Jesus
00:00:38.320 name. Can we give God a great big hand?
00:00:40.879 He is so good. He's so worthy. Amen.
00:00:44.719 Well, you guys could be seated and
00:00:46.320 worship team, you guys can come on down
00:00:48.000 as well. Today, we have a very special
00:00:50.480 day. We have child dedications and uh we
00:00:53.840 have four children being dedicated at
00:00:56.320 the 11:00 a.m. service. We had one at
00:00:98.480 the 9:00 a.m. service. I want to say
00:01:00.239 welcome to everyone watching online as
00:01:03.120 well. So, we get stuff set up here. But
00:01:05.438 before I have the families come up, I
00:01:07.119 just want to share uh why we have child
00:01:10.080 dedications and what child dedications
00:01:12.720 are. So, Freedom Church, this is our
00:01:14.640 first Sunday ever having uh child
00:01:17.439 dedications. What child dedication is,
00:01:19.520 it's really more about the parents than
00:01:21.200 it is about the kids. As much as the
00:01:22.720 kids are cute and everyone wants to see
00:01:23.920 the kids, the parents are choosing to
00:01:26.720 dedicate their children to God. We see
00:01:29.680 that in the Bible in 1 Samuel with
00:01:32.000 Hannah. She dedicates her son Samuel to
00:01:34.880 the work of God, to the Lord himself.
00:01:37.600 And he actually becomes this prophet
00:01:39.680 Samuel, very well-known prophet in the
00:01:41.840 Old Testament. But we see that example
00:01:43.680 over and over again is people choosing
00:01:45.759 to dedicate, choosing to submit their
00:01:47.759 kids back to God because ultimately
00:01:50.640 children are a gift from the Lord. So
00:01:52.960 children being a gift from God, they
00:01:54.640 come from God. He provides life. He
00:01:56.640 provides their lives to us. See these
00:01:58.640 parents are choosing to dedicate their
00:02:00.320 kids to know God, to love God, to serve
00:02:02.880 God in kind of their own words in their
00:02:04.799 own way. This is not a uh does not
00:02:07.200 result in salvation. This is more the
00:02:09.038 parents decision for their children.
00:02:11.360 their children are going to have to make
00:02:13.040 that decision for themselves to choose
00:02:15.280 to follow Jesus as they get older. But
00:02:17.599 the parents are going to do everything
00:02:18.800 they can to help raise their kids in the
00:02:21.440 ways of God so that they do follow Jesus
00:02:24.000 and live for him the rest of their life.
00:02:26.319 So with that, I'm going to invite all
00:02:28.000 three families, Tyler and Lauren, you
00:02:29.599 guys can come up. Chase and McKenzie,
00:02:31.520 Jason, and Jean, make your way up to the
00:02:33.760 stage right up on front. You can stand
00:02:35.599 right in front of here. and uh they
00:02:38.879 actually filled out some information as
00:02:40.879 well as we're going to show you some
00:02:41.920 cute pictures here in just a moment. I'm
00:02:43.760 going to start with Jason and Jean,
00:02:45.920 specifically with Julianne. They filled
00:02:47.760 out some information about their kids.
00:02:49.760 So Julianne uh is a blessing who has
00:02:53.360 brought so much joy and love into our
00:02:55.440 lives. This is Joshua and Julianne.
00:02:98.640 Um, we love watching her personality
00:03:00.800 blossom. From her independent spirit and
00:03:03.200 curious mind to that sassy spark that
00:03:05.519 keeps us all on her toes. Seeing her get
00:03:07.760 lost in her coloring, singing her heart
00:03:09.920 out, and dancing around the house to her
00:03:12.080 favorite songs are just a few of the
00:03:13.920 many highlights in our day. As she
00:03:16.000 grows, our biggest prayer is that she
00:03:18.080 keeps Christ at the center of everything
00:03:20.239 she does. We hope his love guides her
00:03:22.959 choices, shapes who she becomes, and
00:03:25.519 gives her peace and purpose throughout
00:03:27.599 her life. That's for Julianne, which
00:03:29.920 right there. And Joshua, her brother.
00:03:32.480 Joshua has blessed our lives with so
00:03:34.560 much love and purpose. It is a joy to
00:03:37.120 watch him and his sister Julianne share
00:03:39.519 so many laughs, dances, and songs
00:03:41.920 together. Our prayer is that as he
00:03:44.239 continues to grow, he also deepens in
00:03:46.159 his faith modeled by the love of Christ
00:03:48.799 within our family. There he is. modeling
00:03:50.959 it, modeling it all for us all to see.
00:03:53.360 Good job, Joshua.
00:03:57.120 Next, Chase and McKenzie right here. You
00:04:00.560 guys can step over. You can get a little
00:04:00.560 closer. Uh, little Remington. We call
00:04:02.720 him Remy. Remington is one of the
00:04:04.799 greatest blessings God has ever given
00:04:06.799 us. Through him, we've experienced his
00:04:08.720 goodness, grace, and faithfulness in
00:04:10.959 ways we never could have imagined. Ever
00:04:12.959 since we were saved, our lives have been
00:04:14.959 forever changed. and being entrusted
00:04:16.959 with our son has only deepened our
00:04:19.120 gratitude for all the Lord has done. Our
00:04:21.519 prayer is that as he grows, he would
00:04:23.520 become a man of God, strong in faith,
00:04:26.000 full of love, and disciples making disciples
00:04:29.280 for the glory of Jesus. We pray his life
00:04:31.840 always points others back to God's grace
00:04:34.240 the same way he already has for us. So
00:04:37.199 that's for Remy. We give Remy a great
00:04:39.520 big hand. Cute little guy. And then last
00:04:42.880 but not least, Tyler and Lauren with
00:04:45.040 little Mila there. Mila is a is our
00:04:47.360 greatest blessing in this world. She is
00:04:50.000 so full of joy and giggles. We are
00:04:52.560 incredibly thankful that God chose
00:04:54.720 us to be her parents. She has the
00:04:56.800 sweetest smile, the kind that lights up
00:04:99.199 every room, just like that one right
00:05:00.880 there on the screen. She truly is our
00:05:03.280 perfect little angel. As Mila grows, our
00:05:06.160 prayer is that she will always know she
00:05:08.080 has a heavenly father who loves and
00:05:10.000 cherishes her deeply. We want her to
00:05:12.000 grow up with peace in her heart, knowing
00:05:14.000 she is saved by his mercy and forever
00:05:16.639 surrounded by his love. So, child
00:05:19.199 dedication, as sweet as all these little
00:05:21.360 kids are, it really is a a serious
00:05:23.440 responsibility on the parents that you
00:05:25.280 are choosing before God and these
00:05:27.120 witnesses to say you're going to commit
00:05:29.120 to raising them to be a man or a woman
00:05:31.360 of God, to know God, to serve God, to to
00:05:34.800 live for him and live according to his
00:05:36.800 word for the rest of their life. So,
00:05:38.720 that's what the parents are committing
00:05:40.240 to. and and dedicating their children
00:05:42.400 today. But also, you know, the church at
00:05:45.120 its worst is just a business. It's an
00:05:47.360 organization. But at its best, the
00:05:49.520 church is a family. And a family comes
00:05:52.320 along and supports one another. You
00:05:54.400 know, the old saying is it takes a
00:05:55.680 village to raise a child. I believe it
00:05:57.360 takes a church to raise a child, to do
00:05:59.120 it well, to do it as best we as we can.
00:06:01.280 And they're not up trying to raise their
00:06:02.880 kids all on their own, but together all
00:06:05.199 of us as a church family can support
00:06:07.280 them, can love on them, can help them.
00:06:09.600 Maybe not changing all the dirty diapers
00:06:11.199 in the middle of the night. If you want
00:06:12.639 to sign up for that, let me know. We got
00:06:14.160 another one coming. Um but but it's
00:06:16.639 really supporting them. It's loving on
00:06:18.319 them, offering to help. Give them watch
00:06:20.319 the baby so they can have a date night.
00:06:21.919 It's take them to lunch, bless them with
00:06:23.680 some some finances or do something to
00:06:25.759 bless these families as they are raising
00:06:28.240 these children. It's such a vitally
00:06:29.759 important time in our life and our
00:06:31.600 culture to raise children to know God,
00:06:34.240 especially in 2026. So, everyone's going
00:06:37.520 to receive all the kids are going to
00:06:38.639 receive a Bible. If your hands are full,
00:06:40.000 we'll wait to do that before you leave.
00:06:41.440 But everyone's going to get a Bible.
00:06:42.639 It's a children's Bible. It's one we use
00:06:44.560 with our kids. I think it's a great
00:06:46.000 first Bible for the kids that you can
00:06:47.440 read and they can see pictures and the
00:06:49.759 word comes to life. We also have uh
00:06:52.160 child dedication certificates for each
00:06:53.919 of the families as well. But before we
00:06:55.840 do that, we're going to pray. So,
00:06:57.360 Rachel's going to make her way up on the
00:06:98.880 stage. And if you guys could all just
00:07:00.560 line up right in front, side by side.
00:07:03.280 I'm gonna pray over the parents. She's
00:07:04.960 going to pray over the kids. And uh this
00:07:07.039 is not just spectator time. I want to
00:07:09.199 encourage everyone here to like join in
00:07:10.800 prayer. You can pray your own prayers.
00:07:12.560 You can you can hear and join and say
00:07:13.919 yes and amen to what we're praying. But
00:07:15.599 we just want to pray a blessing over the
00:07:17.039 families uh today. So let's pray.
00:07:19.520 Heavenly Father, we thank you God for
00:07:21.199 each uh every couple up here. God, I
00:07:23.360 thank you for Chase and McKenzie, God,
00:07:24.960 for their marriage. God, I pray for
00:07:26.639 Tyler and Lauren. I pray for Jason and
00:07:28.160 Jean, God, that their marriages would be
00:07:30.080 strong. God, that the best thing that we
00:07:32.240 could do for our kids is to have a
00:07:34.080 strong godly marriage. God, that to
00:07:36.080 point these kids to godliness and how we
00:07:38.479 treat one another, how we treat our
00:07:40.400 spouses. God, I pray that their marriage
00:07:42.560 would remain in strong and grow in love
00:07:45.840 and grow in strength. Guys, that's the
00:07:47.759 most stable and secure thing we can do
00:07:49.520 for our kids. God, I pray your blessing
00:07:51.840 upon their their marriages. God, I pray
00:07:53.599 a blessing on the way they communicate
00:07:55.680 with each other even through sleepless
00:07:57.680 times and difficult seasons. God, I pray
00:07:59.840 for their marriages to be strengthened.
00:08:01.599 For them to press into each other, not
00:08:03.680 pull away, not let any little foxes of
00:08:06.319 the devil or anything of life get in the
00:08:08.240 way preventing them from what they are
00:08:10.319 doing raising these children. So God, I
00:08:12.400 just pray a blessing on their home,
00:08:14.000 blessing for provision, God, blessing
00:08:15.919 for business, God, blessing for
00:08:17.440 everything that they put their hands to.
00:08:19.120 God, may you anoint them, you grant them
00:08:21.120 your grace to parent these children, to
00:08:23.520 raise them to be men and women of God.
00:08:25.680 >> Yes, Lord. And we pray blessing over
00:08:27.280 each child that's up here, Lord God.
00:08:29.199 What a joy they are. We thank you for
00:08:30.879 their little lives. And we thank you
00:08:32.320 that they will grow to be men and women
00:08:34.080 of God. So we just pray protection over
00:08:36.240 each one. We pray that you would keep
00:08:37.919 them, that you would bless them, Lord
00:08:39.839 God, that they would be joy and life
00:08:42.159 everywhere that they go, and that they
00:08:43.760 would show your love to everyone they
00:08:45.519 encounter. We love you and we praise
00:08:47.600 you. It's in Jesus name. Amen.
00:08:51.120 >> Amen.
00:08:52.720 >> Give them all a great big hand.
00:09:00.880 these guys.
00:09:03.360 >> Then you guys can make your way down to
00:09:04.880 your seats. There's two for you. Cool.
00:09:07.200 Let's give one more great big hand. Such
00:09:10.000 a great day to celebrate. And uh
00:09:14.720 we're going to jump right into the
00:09:16.160 message today uh with this next sermon.
00:09:20.160 Uh I'm going to title it Generations.
00:09:21.760 And actually, as we were uh preparing,
00:09:24.080 as I was preparing for today, I started
00:09:26.160 realizing um my wife is pregnant. If you
00:09:28.160 guys have noticed that um baby's due in
00:09:31.120 next week, so we're actually planning to
00:09:33.360 take a couple Sundays off, like just one
00:09:35.200 or two. No, I'll be off. I'll actually
00:09:36.800 be off the next three Sundays of from
00:09:38.560 preaching. We plan to be here as much as
00:09:40.640 we can be. I plan to be here as well. Um
00:09:42.800 but letting other people share share
00:09:45.040 preaching the word of God. It's not all
00:09:46.560 about me. Freedom Church is not all
00:09:48.399 about me. It's a whole team of people, a
00:09:50.640 lot of different leaders, a lot of
00:09:51.920 different people serving and leading
00:09:53.920 that makes Freedom Church what it is.
00:09:56.160 So, the next three Sundays, next Sunday
00:09:98.080 is going to be Sly Williams. Most of you
00:10:01.200 maybe know him. If you've ever checked
00:10:03.040 your kids in, uh he's involved, he's
00:10:05.680 hosted, uh or MCed up top up here. Um
00:10:05.680 Jared is our youth leader. He's going to
00:10:07.279 be preaching in two weeks as well. So,
00:10:09.120 you're going to get to see him. And then
00:10:10.320 there's another pastor coming in on June
00:10:12.320 7th. So, the next three Sundays, I want
00:10:14.480 to encourage you, keep inviting people.
00:10:16.079 The last two weeks, I've invited more
00:10:17.600 people, I feel like, than in a while to
00:10:19.680 come be a part and come see what God is
00:10:21.920 doing through Freedom Church. It's not I
00:10:23.839 know you're not here to hear me anyways,
00:10:25.360 but we want to hear the word of God. We
00:10:27.200 want to be in community with one
00:10:28.959 another. So, the next three weeks, keep
00:10:31.120 coming. I want to look forward to uh
00:10:33.120 seeing each each and every one of you,
00:10:34.720 but I want to give you that heads up. If
00:10:35.920 you come and don't see me, I'm still
00:10:38.560 around. I'm just going to really put
00:10:39.920 some intentional time in spending time
00:10:41.200 with my wife and our newborn baby. Her
00:10:43.760 her name is Belle. I know people keep
00:10:45.360 asking. I just let's just let it out. Um
00:10:47.440 Belle is her name is what we're playing.
00:10:49.040 Till it's written on the document, it
00:10:50.320 doesn't count, but we're we're going to
00:10:52.240 have another another baby girl here
00:10:54.320 soon. So, let's jump right into Psalm
00:10:57.920 127. And today's message, I give you a
00:11:00.640 little context. It's a little bit of
00:11:03.120 pieces from here, a little pieces from
00:11:05.120 here. Kind of sometimes I stick to just
00:11:07.200 one core passage of scripture. Sometimes
00:11:09.600 I teach topically. Today, it's going to
00:11:11.600 be a little bit of everything. If I had
00:11:13.120 to put it all into one package, I would
00:11:14.959 say it's the power of perspective. Of
00:11:17.760 shifting our perspective is what changes
00:11:20.560 so much of our life. That really a
00:11:22.240 change in perspective can change your
00:11:24.240 entire life. I want to help us with that
00:11:26.480 with a couple different passages, a
00:11:28.240 couple different things to look at. And
00:11:30.079 with child dedications, this psalm fits
00:11:32.480 so well right into recognizing children.
00:11:35.279 It's written by Solomon. Solomon was the
00:11:37.920 son of King David. He was actually known
00:11:40.160 as the wisest man in the Bible. But yet,
00:11:43.200 he knew all these things. He shared all
00:11:44.959 these things. He wrote down all these
00:11:46.160 wise sayings, but he didn't always apply
00:11:48.399 it to his life in his choices. Solomon
00:11:50.800 made a lot of really poor decisions. But
00:11:53.120 yet, he was known still as the wisest
00:11:55.279 man known for wisdom, known for
00:11:57.040 building. He built the temple, built a
00:11:58.800 lot of different things. And this psalm,
00:12:01.120 just to give you a little context, is
00:12:03.200 known as one of the songs of ascent.
00:12:05.920 meaning that the Jewish people, the
00:12:07.440 Israelites, they would sing these
00:12:09.120 certain there's 15 psalms, they would
00:12:11.279 initially uh typically sing as they made
00:12:13.839 their journey up to Jerusalem. So again,
00:12:16.079 Jerusalem was an elevated place. You had
00:12:18.560 to go uphill in sometimes harsh weather,
00:12:21.440 harsh conditions. They didn't have
00:12:22.639 planes. They didn't have vehicles to
00:12:24.639 just drive up to Jerusalem. They had to
00:12:26.399 walk or use a donkey or carts. So it was
00:12:29.200 difficult. And they would sing these
00:12:31.040 psalms in a difficult time of traveling
00:12:34.880 uphill. So think about hiking uphill in
00:12:37.279 the desert, dirt and all that stuff.
00:12:39.200 Your kids are not listening and obeying.
00:12:40.720 They're fighting in the backseat of the
00:12:42.000 wagon. You know, they're not getting
00:12:43.600 along. So you're trying to get and
00:12:45.360 they're singing these songs that are
00:12:46.880 actually songs of praise, songs of
00:12:49.519 glorifying God and actually shifting
00:12:51.680 their perspective and their focus off of
00:12:54.480 some of the difficulties of their
00:12:55.920 circumstances onto who God is. So this
00:12:98.800 Psalm 127 is one that I picked to share
00:13:01.839 with you today. So Psalm 127 verse 1,
00:13:04.160 unless the Lord builds a house, the work
00:13:07.440 of the builders is wasted. Unless the
00:13:10.000 Lord protects a city, guarding it with
00:13:12.320 sentries will do no good. So the first
00:13:14.959 real assumption here is that working on
00:13:17.839 building a house is going to take a lot
00:13:19.680 of work, right? It takes a lot of work.
00:13:22.320 And the work is not what's questioned.
00:13:24.880 It's who's doing the work. Are we doing
00:13:27.279 the work in our own effort, our own
00:13:29.440 strength, or is the Lord building a
00:13:31.519 house? And the word house here isn't
00:13:33.519 just talking about a physical structure.
00:13:36.160 He's actually in many other points
00:13:37.600 Solomon talks about house as your
00:13:39.600 household, your family, the people who
00:13:42.240 live with you that like your initial and
00:13:44.880 closest people that unless the Lord is
00:13:48.160 building your home, unless the Lord is
00:13:50.240 building your family, unless the Lord is
00:13:52.000 building and working on your future and
00:13:54.399 in your dreams, I think it applies to so
00:13:56.639 many different aspects of our lives.
00:13:98.800 Unless the Lord is in it, we're going to
00:14:00.959 do all this work and it's going to be
00:14:02.720 wasted. It's going to fall short. it's
00:14:05.040 going to result in something so much
00:14:06.880 less than what we initially wanted, what
00:14:09.040 we intended for it to be. So unless the
00:14:12.000 Lord builds the house, the work of the
00:14:14.320 builders is wasted. Unless the Lord is
00:14:17.279 involved in your everyday life, he's
00:14:19.680 involved in your home, he's involved in
00:14:21.519 your decisions, he you consult him first
00:14:24.160 and say, "God, what do you think about
00:14:25.440 this job? Should I take it? Should I not
00:14:27.440 take it? What about this house? What
00:14:28.959 about my travel plans? How am I spending
00:14:30.959 my finances?" Unless the Lord is
00:14:33.199 involved in that, you're going to do a
00:14:35.120 lot of work that I believe is going to
00:14:36.560 be wasted or not as efficient as it
00:14:39.120 could be. The second part of that, he
00:14:40.639 says, "Unless the Lord protects a city,
00:14:42.959 guarding it with sentries will do no
00:14:45.120 good." In ancient cities especially,
00:14:47.600 they relied on watchmen on the wall to
00:14:50.720 to guard against attacks. So attacks are
00:14:53.120 coming. They could see the armies coming
00:14:55.199 from a long distance, close the gate,
00:14:57.120 seal up the walls, protect the city. But
00:14:99.440 often we see even if people are watching
00:15:03.760 and putting sentries or guards if God
00:15:06.399 if you do something that disobeyed God as
00:15:08.399 we see in the Bible time and time again
00:15:10.399 people would put their trust in other
00:15:12.320 things and God they would rebel against
00:15:15.360 God would allow bad things to happen to
00:15:18.240 them. The armies of God even would would
00:15:20.560 go we're going to go without consulting
00:15:22.000 God. We're going to go and we're going
00:15:23.279 to take on this army. We're going to
00:15:25.279 take on this land. We're going to take
00:15:26.639 and attack this nation. But they never
00:15:28.320 asked God or God told them not to.
00:15:30.320 Almost every single time they failed.
00:15:32.160 They lost the battle. So unless the Lord
00:15:35.040 is protecting your life, unless your
00:15:37.279 security is in Jesus Christ and in the
00:15:40.000 Lord, guarding it with natural things
00:15:42.399 and worldly things will do no good. What
00:15:44.959 does that look like in 2026? Well, we
00:15:47.040 often put our security in our finances
00:15:50.240 and our bank accounts and insurance
00:15:52.480 policies, security systems, the
00:15:55.199 government or our personal abilities.
00:15:57.600 And all these things have value. But
00:16:00.399 nothing can replace God's protection.
00:16:03.680 Our ultimate security is not in what we
00:16:06.399 control, but in who controls us.
00:16:10.240 It's not about what you have, it's about
00:16:12.720 who has you. When God has your life,
00:16:15.440 when your life is literally in God's
00:16:17.519 control, that's the most secure thing
00:16:19.360 you could ever do. Because what happens?
00:16:21.759 We have our security and our money and
00:16:23.440 then the stock market crashes or the
00:16:25.199 government taxes everything or the
00:16:26.639 inflation goes up. Now our security is
00:16:29.199 shaken. Or you put your hope in
00:16:31.279 something else or in your business or in
00:16:33.199 somebody other than Jesus and then when
00:16:35.759 that person leaves, your security gets
00:16:38.320 shaken. But when your security is in the
00:16:40.720 rock of Jesus Christ, the foundation
00:16:42.880 that is unshakable, unmovable,
00:16:46.320 your security can never be shaken.
00:16:48.880 Everything else can fall apart around
00:16:50.480 you, but your security in the Lord is
00:16:53.440 the only thing that's going to guarantee
00:16:55.759 your security. In verse two, he says,
00:16:98.240 "It is useless for you to work so hard
00:17:01.040 from early morning until late at night,
00:17:03.839 anxiously working for food to eat, for
00:17:06.319 God gives rest to his loved ones. In
00:17:10.000 such a culture of work, I mean, I I'm
00:17:12.240 guilty of it, too. Wake up early, go to
00:17:14.000 work, work till night, don't take a day
00:17:16.160 off. I used to work non-stop every day,
00:17:19.199 never taking days off, not taking
00:17:20.959 vacations, not taking a a Sabbath. And
00:17:23.679 it got to where I was so tired, so
00:17:26.160 anxious, so worthless really to so many
00:17:28.880 people because I was so exhausted. And
00:17:31.840 this verse talks about how it's
00:17:33.760 useless to do all that work and be
00:17:37.360 anxiously working for stuff, for money,
00:17:40.000 for food to eat when really God gives
00:17:42.880 rest to his loved ones. It describes
00:17:45.919 people who get up early but yet still
00:17:48.240 feel uncertain. And if you're chasing
00:17:51.039 the dollar, you're chasing some work.
00:17:52.880 Now, I'm someone who thinks we should be
00:17:54.799 the hardest working people. I believe we
00:17:56.400 should work hard. You should not be a
00:17:58.559 sluggard, not be lazy. That the Bible
00:18:00.559 talks so much about not being lazy, but
00:18:02.799 there's also a tension of going too far
00:18:05.039 where we wake up and it's toil. It's
00:18:07.360 anxiety working to get money just to get
00:18:10.160 by, working for food to eat. When really
00:18:13.840 rest, rest is what God gives us. That's
00:18:16.480 his gift. He gives us rest. He actually
00:18:18.960 gives us himself that we rest in Jesus.
00:18:22.640 So it's not just sleep, even though
00:18:24.480 sleep should be restful. He's actually
00:18:26.559 saying what I'm going to give you is
00:18:28.240 I'm going to give you rest in me that
00:18:30.400 when you're in Jesus, you can experience
00:18:32.799 true rest. And rest really is a
00:18:36.559 declaration of trust that God, I trust
00:18:39.840 you. That I don't have to work seven
00:18:41.760 days a week, 12-hour days. I trust that
00:18:44.559 I'm going to put in the hours. I'm going
00:18:45.840 to do hard work. But ultimately, God,
00:18:47.679 it's up to you to provide. As we see in
00:18:49.840 Matthew 6, it said the flowers of
00:18:51.840 the field and the birds of the air, they
00:18:53.440 don't work anxiously, but they trust
00:18:55.760 that God is going to provide. You know,
00:18:59.440 when you think about trust and
00:19:01.280 falling asleep, you know, think of kids.
00:19:03.280 Kids fall asleep in a car seat in the
00:19:05.039 back of a vehicle, right? Because they
00:19:06.960 trust the driver. They don't worry about
00:19:09.440 what's going to happen. Are we going to
00:19:10.559 make it there safe? They trust the
00:19:12.320 parents. They trust whoever's driving
00:19:13.919 them and they can fall asleep because
00:19:15.360 they trust who's in charge of their
00:19:17.360 life. Similarly, we should be able to
00:19:20.559 rest in God because he's ultimately in
00:19:23.280 the driver's seat. If he's not in the
00:19:25.200 driver's seat of your life, you're
00:19:26.799 probably going to have some stress.
00:19:27.840 You're going to have worry because
00:19:28.799 you're trying to control everything in
00:19:31.039 your life instead of allowing God to
00:19:33.120 control it. And when you give control
00:19:35.440 over to God, he gives you peace. He
00:19:38.559 gives you that rest that calms your
00:19:40.799 mind. that calms the anxiety and we can
00:19:43.520 truly trust in him because he knows what
00:19:45.679 he's doing. Speaking of children, verse
00:19:48.080 three says, "Children are a gift from
00:19:50.480 the Lord. They are a reward from him.
00:19:53.280 Children born to a young man are like
00:19:55.360 arrows in a warrior's hand." These two
00:19:97.760 verses are actually painted on the wall
00:19:99.760 in the kids ministry area down the
00:20:01.760 hallway. There's a big mural painted on
00:20:04.000 the wall because I wanted to always make
00:20:05.600 sure that we remember children are a
00:20:07.760 gift from the Lord. Children are a
00:20:09.679 reward. They're blessings. But the world
00:20:13.120 says that kids are inconvenient,
00:20:15.039 restrictive, or problems, or they're
00:20:17.200 just going to hold you down. But
00:20:18.960 scripture calls them a gift, a blessing,
00:20:21.600 a reward, treasured possessions
00:20:24.799 entrusted to us to steward for God
00:20:28.240 himself. You know, ultimately, our
00:20:30.720 children do not belong to us. They
00:20:33.039 belong to God. And parents, we're called
00:20:36.799 to teach our children diligently and
00:20:39.520 consistently the truth about God so that
00:20:42.799 they would know who he is. One of the
00:20:44.960 saddest verses in the Old Testament in
00:20:47.280 the Bible is that there was a whole
00:20:48.640 generation that grew up and did not know
00:20:50.720 God. That's where we're living today.
00:20:53.440 There's a whole generation of people
00:20:54.799 that don't know God. And it's not to
00:20:97.039 point fingers and blame. It's like, what
00:20:98.960 are we all collectively going to do?
00:21:01.520 Whether you have kids or not, what are
00:21:03.440 we going to do to help the current
00:21:06.000 generation and the next generation know
00:21:08.799 God and experience him as well? For them
00:21:11.039 to find freedom in Christ. For them to
00:21:13.440 discover their God-given purpose and for
00:21:15.520 them to be able to make an impact in
00:21:18.000 other people's lives. It takes all of
00:21:20.480 us, not just the parents, but every
00:21:23.280 single one of us have the ability to
00:21:25.520 influence this generation.
00:21:28.320 those arrows that they're like arrows
00:21:30.480 designed uh to be released. They're to
00:21:33.200 be aimed. They're to be sharpened.
00:21:34.799 They're to be made accurate and straight
00:21:36.960 and true. And then what happens is you
00:21:38.880 pull them back and when you ever release
00:21:40.799 an arrow, it's supposed to go forward,
00:21:42.960 right? It's supposed to launch. Anybody
00:21:44.640 archery hunt? Anybody ever shoot a bow?
00:21:47.200 Anybody ever shoot a bow at all? Ever?
00:21:48.880 No. Okay. Okay. A few of you. You're
00:21:50.480 like, archery? If you go out in the
00:21:53.120 woods with a bow, you can call it you're
00:21:54.640 doing archery. I know you might not get
00:21:56.000 anything. I know guys that go fishing
00:21:57.679 and I'm like, "How much do you catch?"
00:21:58.960 Like, "I never catch the fish." I'm
00:22:00.400 like, "That's okay. You're going
00:22:01.679 fishing, but you're just not catching
00:22:02.880 anything." So, you might go out in the
00:22:04.320 woods and not get anything. But yes, so
00:22:06.880 you understand the idea. The arrow gets
00:22:08.799 pulled back and then it gets launched.
00:22:10.640 Where is it getting launched to? Because
00:22:12.480 guess what? Our kids in the next
00:22:14.080 generation, they're going to be sent
00:22:16.000 somewhere. They're going to be launched
00:22:17.600 somewhere. So, our job is to guide them
00:22:20.240 and point them to godliness, to guide
00:22:23.200 them, to point them at God's truth.
00:22:25.440 Because right now the world there's so
00:22:27.200 many what is truth? What it's it's the
00:22:30.000 age-old saying Pilate was like what
00:22:31.760 is truth? The world is asking that
00:22:34.000 people are asking that question. You may
00:22:36.159 be sitting here today wondering what is
00:22:39.440 true because I don't know about you
00:22:41.200 anytime I see a news article or news
00:22:43.200 headline I go I don't know if this is
00:22:45.120 true or not but this is what they're
00:22:46.559 saying. I tell Rachel like I I read this
00:22:48.480 I have no idea if it's true. Like it's
00:22:49.919 so sad that we cannot trust the the
00:22:52.559 journalism and the news and the articles
00:22:54.799 and the headlines. But what we can
00:22:56.880 trust, think about this. So many things
00:22:99.520 through culture have shifted and
00:23:02.000 changed. 50 years ago, even like 20
00:23:04.799 years ago to now, so many things shift
00:23:06.960 and change in culture to culture and
00:23:08.880 country to country. What has not changed
00:23:11.200 for thousands of years is the word of
00:23:13.679 God. It is unchanging. It's
00:23:16.400 infallible. It's the word of God. It's
00:23:18.320 the compass that guides us in our lives.
00:23:21.600 It's the one thing we can point our
00:23:23.360 children to. It's the one thing most
00:23:25.679 important thing for each and every one
00:23:27.120 of us to hold fast to, to hold tight to,
00:23:30.640 and to make sure that we know how to
00:23:33.120 raise up and train our children in the
00:23:35.600 way of God. Verse five, how joyful is
00:23:39.280 the man whose quiver is full of them.
00:23:41.520 Talking about children. Now, I'll tell
00:23:43.520 you, after first service, someone came
00:23:45.280 up to me and said, "We thought we were
00:23:46.799 done having kids. Now we're going to
00:23:48.159 have another one." And I said, "That's
00:23:49.840 not me. I did not tell you to have more
00:23:51.679 kids." God said to have more kids. I'm
00:23:53.600 just I'm just reading the verses. But
00:23:55.280 how joyful is the man whose quiver is
00:23:57.520 full of them. He will not be put to
00:23:99.200 shame when he confronts his accusers at
00:24:01.840 the city gates. In ancient times and in
00:24:04.240 many cultures today, uh having a lot of
00:24:07.039 kids is a sign of honor. It's a sign of
00:24:09.280 vitality and strength. And it's not just
00:24:12.320 for more workers, but really it's a
00:24:14.320 fulfillment of God's command to be
00:24:16.880 fruitful and multiply, right? To be
00:24:19.200 fruitful and multiply means you are to
00:24:21.360 be in relationship with somebody that
00:24:23.600 you're married to and then you have kids
00:24:24.960 with, right? That's the that's the prime
00:24:27.200 example. That's the goal. And
00:24:29.520 unfortunately, we live in a culture
00:24:31.120 where the world says that parenting just
00:24:33.360 isn't worth it. And you might not be
00:24:35.600 involved as much as, you know, I'm
00:24:37.200 involved in some pro-life ministry and
00:24:39.039 some work. And we see birth rates are
00:24:41.039 down, marriage rates are down, less and
00:24:44.320 less people are having children. And and
00:24:47.600 reality is God commands us to be
00:24:50.480 fruitful and multiply in the right
00:24:52.320 context of biblical marriage within the
00:24:54.640 right context of a family. And I I tell
00:24:97.679 people all the time, I love getting to
00:24:99.039 talk to men especially that my greatest
00:25:01.120 one of my greatest joys in life is being
00:25:03.200 a dad. I love being a dad. I love just
00:25:06.320 having my kids and teaching them and
00:25:07.919 training them. I love the times when I
00:25:09.520 come home and they they'd come running
00:25:10.960 to dad. And that's there's there's very
00:25:13.200 few things that are better than that in
00:25:14.960 life is the joy of being a dad. And I
00:25:17.440 want to help more dads know and
00:25:19.520 experience that joy to know and
00:25:21.440 experience the fun that comes. Yes, it's
00:25:23.760 challenging. Yes, it's tiring. Yes, it's
00:25:25.679 exhausting. But it's so worth it because
00:25:29.279 their life is going to go beyond my
00:25:31.919 lifetime. That there's a legacy. There's
00:25:34.559 a there's something beyond
00:25:35.919 generationally that happens when we pour
00:25:38.320 into kids in the next generation that
00:25:41.279 exists beyond just my life. So question
00:25:43.919 for you is what is God doing that is
00:25:46.159 bigger than your life? What is God what
00:25:49.440 could God possibly do in you in you or
00:25:52.000 through you to impact others that would
00:25:55.360 go beyond your lifetime?
00:25:59.600 All of us can answer that has not that's
00:26:01.440 not just for the parents to the children
00:26:03.360 but every one of us have the ability to
00:26:05.679 impact others with purpose with meaning
00:26:08.320 that it's going to extend beyond our
00:26:11.200 lifetime and that change in perspective
00:26:14.159 because I find especially some older
00:26:16.080 people don't think they have anything to
00:26:17.520 say to the younger people they can't
00:26:18.880 influence them you have so much ability
00:26:21.120 to influence the younger people in our
00:26:23.760 culture start within the church serving
00:26:27.120 kids ministry
00:26:28.240 serve with the youth ministry. Serve and
00:26:30.000 pour out and ju not even serving on a
00:26:32.159 team but blessing them just coming
00:26:34.000 alongside them, spending time with them,
00:26:36.080 encouraging them. Parents need more
00:26:38.159 encouragement in our culture. Amen.
00:26:41.039 >> So, we're going to shift big amen.
00:26:44.240 Little shift in uh context. I want to
00:26:46.480 give a little context. There's a man by
00:26:47.840 the name of Joseph in the Old Testament.
00:26:50.159 So, in Genesis, and I'm not going to
00:26:52.080 have time to go through his whole life
00:26:53.360 story, but we're going to try to
00:26:54.720 summarize it. Joseph, I call this the
00:26:57.039 Joseph perspective. So, Joseph, if you
00:26:99.440 don't know the story, I'm gonna try to
00:27:00.400 give it to you. Um, he is one of 12
00:27:03.440 kids. So, talk about big families,
00:27:05.120 right? One of 12 sons, actually, just
00:27:06.960 the sons were 12. He's the son of Jacob.
00:27:09.440 So, there's Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
00:27:11.200 that you hear about in the Old
00:27:12.080 Testament. Like, they're the God of
00:27:13.440 Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. Jacob's one of
00:27:15.279 his 12 sons is Joseph. Joseph, he gets
00:27:18.720 betrayed by his own brothers. They throw
00:27:21.039 him in a pit because they're jealous of
00:27:22.799 him. They would want to kill him. One of
00:27:24.640 his brothers says, "No, let's just sell
00:27:25.840 him into slavery. That's going to be
00:27:27.120 better than killing him." So, he's sold
00:27:28.880 into slavery, goes gets taken to a
00:27:30.880 foreign land. There, he's falsely
00:27:33.600 accused by a man's wife. He gets thrown
00:27:36.080 into prison. So, now he's in prison for
00:27:38.400 something he didn't do in a foreign land
00:27:40.159 because he sold into slavery by his own
00:27:42.240 brothers who who betrayed him. Then he's
00:27:44.640 in prison. He gets this opportunity
00:27:46.400 where there's a cupbearer. He's the guy
00:27:48.240 who drinks the wine to make sure it's
00:27:49.600 not poison for the king. And and he's in
00:27:51.919 he's in prison, too. This guy has a
00:27:54.159 dream. Joseph interprets his dream and
00:27:56.960 the cupper is like, "Great. I'm going to
00:27:58.640 get out of jail." He goes, "Hey, don't
00:28:00.640 forget about me. When you get back to
00:28:02.559 Pharaoh, remind him about me." But what
00:28:06.080 happens? He's forgotten about. He's left
00:28:07.679 in prison for another couple years. So,
00:28:09.600 this is Joseph's life up to this point.
00:28:11.919 About 13 years of being betrayed by his
00:28:14.880 brother, sold into slavery, in prison,
00:28:16.799 forgotten about in prison, years in
00:28:18.799 prison for something he didn't do. his
00:28:21.919 circumstances do not make sense. Right?
00:28:25.679 Looking at his years, for years his
00:28:27.840 circumstances don't make sense. He could
00:28:29.840 have very easily began to live with a
00:28:32.799 victim mindset, a perspective of why
00:28:36.080 does this all happen to me? God, where
00:28:38.080 are you? God, I thought and God showed
00:28:40.320 him a dream as a young as a young man.
00:28:42.720 And that dream looked like it was so far
00:28:44.720 from ever coming a reality.
00:28:47.039 Joseph though is never recorded as
00:28:48.880 complaining, whining, angry at God,
00:28:51.760 rejecting God. But over and over again,
00:28:53.760 the Bible says the Lord was with him.
00:28:55.760 That he stayed his course. He stayed
00:28:57.600 with the right perspective on who God
00:29:00.880 said he is. So what happens is Joseph
00:29:03.360 becomes the second most powerful man.
00:29:05.600 Pharaoh ends up having a dream. Joseph
00:29:07.760 interprets that dream and and Pharaoh
00:29:10.159 nominates him the second most powerful
00:29:12.080 man in all of Egypt. He has two sons,
00:29:14.799 Manasseh and Ephraim. Saves countless
00:29:17.200 lives because his dream was about a
00:29:19.120 major famine that was going to come. And
00:29:21.120 Egypt at the time had about 10 had tens
00:29:22.880 of millions of people. Historians, they
00:29:24.640 don't have an exact number. There was no
00:29:26.000 census at the time. They said tens of
00:29:27.840 millions of people. And this famine that
00:29:30.080 was coming, God gave Joseph the ability
00:29:32.399 to make a plan to come up with it to
00:29:35.200 save countless number of millions of
00:29:37.200 lives are saved because Joseph stayed
00:29:40.159 the course. and also his relationship
00:29:42.960 with his dad and his brothers ends up
00:29:45.120 getting restored. What a beautiful final
00:29:48.880 story as you kind of come to the end of
00:29:50.399 it. But I I want you to understand the
00:29:52.399 perspective change as those 13 years
00:29:55.279 where Joseph was betrayed, lied about,
00:29:98.240 put in prison, forgotten about. If he
00:30:01.360 would have at any point lost sight of
00:30:03.520 God, change his perspective. Many times
00:30:05.679 we do that same thing. When bad things
00:30:08.080 are happening to us, we can get our
00:30:10.159 focus on the wrong things. We shift our
00:30:12.559 perspective off of God and onto our
00:30:15.360 problems. The reality is the problems
00:30:17.440 are real. That's the hard truth is
00:30:20.159 there's nothing that Joseph suffered
00:30:22.240 that wasn't real, but he kept his focus
00:30:25.679 on God. So the perspective shift here is
00:30:29.600 not to focus on our individual lives,
00:30:31.520 but to see the bigger picture and what
00:30:33.919 God is doing. And in Genesis 50:20 kind
00:30:36.799 of the conclusion of the story he's
00:30:39.520 speaking to his own brothers who
00:30:41.120 betrayed him. He says this. Joseph says,
00:30:43.440 "You intended to harm me, but God
00:30:46.000 intended it all for good. He brought me
00:30:48.960 to this point so I could save the lives
00:30:51.760 of many people." Joseph wasn't living in
00:30:55.200 the bubble of himself. He understood
00:30:57.679 that God had a bigger picture. Maybe he
00:31:00.240 was remembering that dream that God put
00:31:01.840 in him at 17 years old that took 13
00:31:04.240 years later to come to pass. So
00:31:07.360 remembering that our lives are not just
00:31:09.360 about us, that there's a bigger picture.
00:31:11.760 There could be people's lives that are
00:31:13.440 impacted and changed because of your
00:31:15.840 life. If you stay the course, if you
00:31:18.320 don't get caught up in fixating on the
00:31:20.320 problems, but looking for eternity. And
00:31:24.000 Paul says this in 2 Corinthians 4. He
00:31:26.640 says, "Our present troubles are small
00:31:29.200 and won't last very long. Yet, they
00:31:31.520 produce for us a glory that vastly
00:31:34.399 outweighs them and will last forever."
00:31:37.120 Now, this is the Apostle Paul who was
00:31:39.039 beaten, tortured, whipped, stoned to
00:31:41.600 death, brought back to life,
00:31:43.039 shipwrecked, all kinds of things, thrown
00:31:44.880 in prison, wrote most of the New
00:31:46.640 Testament from a prison cell. And here
00:31:49.200 he's writing this letter saying, "Well,
00:31:50.960 our present troubles are small and won't
00:31:52.799 last very long." It's like what if
00:31:55.120 anybody could be like, "Hey, we got some
00:31:56.640 major problems." Hey guys, like news
00:31:58.799 flash, things are bad. Paul says, "No,
00:32:02.399 no. Our our present troubles are small
00:32:04.640 and won't last very long. Yet they
00:32:06.480 produce for us a glory that vastly
00:32:09.519 outweighs them and will last forever.
00:32:12.480 Your problems, as big as they are, and I
00:32:15.200 know some of you have major
00:32:16.880 life-threatening problems right now in
00:32:19.120 your life compared to eternity, they are
00:32:22.720 small. It's not to diminish or diminish
00:32:25.840 uh make small a light of your situation.
00:32:28.640 But when we really shift, and he
00:32:30.000 actually tells us, what do we do? We
00:32:31.600 don't look in verse 18, don't look at
00:32:33.919 the troubles we see now. Rather, we fix
00:32:37.120 our gaze. That's to set our eyes, set
00:32:39.919 our attention, set our focus, our gaze
00:32:42.960 on things that cannot be seen. For the
00:32:46.000 things we can see now will soon be gone,
00:32:48.960 but the things we cannot see will last
00:32:52.000 forever. Paul's situation is very
00:32:54.720 similar to uh Joseph's in a sense that
00:32:56.799 they had a lot of bad circumstances in
00:32:99.840 prison, lied about, beaten, betrayed,
00:33:01.919 persecuted, forgotten about. Yet he's
00:33:04.640 saying don't look don't be fixated on
00:33:07.360 your current problems because there's
00:33:09.600 something so much greater that you
00:33:11.360 cannot see yet. There is hope in a
00:33:14.320 hopeless situation. There is faith when
00:33:16.880 it seems like there's no way out. When
00:33:18.880 we look at things in the natural view,
00:33:21.039 we fail to see the things that God is
00:33:23.440 doing. The things that cannot be seen.
00:33:26.480 The things we see now will soon be gone.
00:33:28.960 But the things we cannot see will last
00:33:31.120 forever. faith, hope, love, the things
00:33:34.000 that God is doing will last forever. You
00:33:37.600 can certainly do it. The human mind is,
00:33:41.760 I believe, amazing. It's God's creation.
00:33:44.480 When you look and study the human brain
00:33:46.159 and all the the thousands or millions of
00:33:48.399 nerves and the veins and everything
00:33:50.000 going through the spinal column and how
00:33:51.679 God has created the human mind, it's
00:33:53.679 amazing. It's amazing to me that anybody
00:33:55.679 could see that and not believe in God,
00:33:98.240 right? His beautiful creation,
00:34:00.080 everything he's done. But the human mind
00:34:02.080 and the human body has so many more
00:34:04.399 abilities than we can really understand
00:34:06.559 and fathom. I want to share a short
00:34:08.159 story with you. Um there used to be in
00:34:10.480 the 1940s this idea that um nobody could
00:34:14.239 ever break the four-minute mile.
00:34:15.679 Actually 1944 a man by the name of Arie
00:34:18.639 Anderson. He ran a mile in four minutes
00:34:21.040 and 1 second. The very next year 1945
00:34:24.079 another man ran the mile in four minutes
00:34:26.800 and 1 second. So then kind of the legend
00:34:29.599 became no human could possibly run a
00:34:32.320 mile in under four minutes. Now I'm like
00:34:35.280 sign me up for that club. I'm not
00:34:36.560 getting under four minutes. You could
00:34:38.000 chase me with a dog. I'm not running a
00:34:39.918 mile in under four minutes. But the idea
00:34:41.918 it it in sports it became this feat. It
00:34:45.040 became this legend that nobody could run
00:34:46.960 a mile and under because these guys kept
00:34:48.480 hitting four minutes 1 second. So that
00:34:50.639 was in the mindset in the perspective of
00:34:53.599 these professional Olympians and
00:34:55.520 athletes. One doctor even went on record
00:34:98.560 saying that it is physically
00:35:00.320 anatomically impossible for a human
00:35:03.440 being to run a mile in under four
00:35:05.760 minutes. And then he even said if it
00:35:07.599 somehow a human could their heart would
00:35:09.920 explode and they would they would die.
00:35:12.000 That was the mindset of people in the
00:35:14.160 1940s because they thought they were
00:35:16.000 told they couldn't do it. But then in
00:35:18.640 1954, so nine years later, nine years
00:35:22.320 after this four minutes and 1 second
00:35:24.320 world record was set, nine minutes
00:35:26.000 later, this man by the name of Roger
00:35:27.520 Bannister, and that's his photo right
00:35:28.960 there, as he's crossing the finish line,
00:35:31.599 he set a new world record and ran the
00:35:33.920 mile in 3 minutes and 59 seconds. Now,
00:35:38.160 you think about this amazing feat. And
00:35:40.720 he actually shared later like he just he
00:35:42.400 just rejected the idea that he couldn't
00:35:44.640 run a mile in under four minutes. He
00:35:45.839 said, "I'm going to do it." He practiced
00:35:47.280 for it. He trained for it. He prepared
00:35:48.960 for it. And even on the day he did, it
00:35:51.280 was a cold and windy day. It wasn't
00:35:53.040 ideal circumstances, but he broke this
00:35:55.920 mindset, this mind barrier that no human
00:35:58.560 could run a mile in under four minutes.
00:36:01.440 And and so many people questioned and
00:36:04.000 thought he there's no way for thousands
00:36:05.520 of years, all all of history of mankind
00:36:08.000 as we have record of, nobody had ever
00:36:10.240 been able to run under four minutes. So
00:36:13.040 you think this guy comes along, he's a
00:36:14.800 miracle man, right? He's he's a
00:36:16.480 superstar. There's he's he's like one of
00:36:18.800 of everyone in the world. Well, his
00:36:21.040 world record lasted 46 days.
00:36:24.800 46 days later, then over 20 some people
00:36:27.200 over the next couple years broke his
00:36:28.800 record and kept getting under four
00:36:30.400 minutes. Now, current world record is 3
00:36:32.800 minutes and 43 seconds to run a mile.
00:36:36.240 And I think it this story and I why I
00:36:37.920 tell you this is a quote from Henry Ford
00:36:40.160 says, "Whether you think you can or you
00:36:42.320 think you can't, you're right."
00:36:46.160 Now, this is humanly naturally speaking.
00:36:49.200 I believe so much of our mindset is we
00:36:51.920 think what we think we can or cannot do.
00:36:54.480 We're right. If you don't think you can
00:36:56.240 make a difference in people's lives,
00:36:98.000 you're going to always limit yourself to
00:37:01.839 taking steps of courage, and you're
00:37:03.760 going to hold back. If you never think
00:37:05.760 you can actually get out of financial
00:37:07.440 debt or out of the calamity that you're
00:37:09.359 in, you're going to stay there. But
00:37:11.680 shifting perspective, this isn't just
00:37:13.359 think your think positive positive
00:37:14.960 thinking and think will to existence.
00:37:17.280 But there's truth to this statement that
00:37:19.040 what you think you can and can't do is
00:37:21.520 mostly true. I want to challenge you and
00:37:24.320 encourage you that humanly speaking this
00:37:27.440 is this statement is true. Change your
00:37:29.680 thinking from what you can't do to what
00:37:31.599 you can do. And then you add on 1
00:37:35.520 Corinthians 2:9 where God says, "No eye
00:37:38.800 has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has
00:37:41.680 imagined what God has prepared for those
00:37:44.800 who love him." Now you add the spiritual
00:37:47.680 element, the power of the Holy Spirit
00:37:49.760 that nothing is impossible for God to
00:37:52.560 do. Why would we ever take steps of fear
00:37:56.000 or timidity? Because God can do all
00:37:98.880 things. Amen. that nothing is impossible
00:38:03.200 with God. That he has prepared something
00:38:06.880 so great, so amazing that we can't even
00:38:10.160 think or imagine it. We can't even see
00:38:13.040 it. We can't even hear it. We can't even
00:38:15.040 picture it in our minds because it's so
00:38:16.720 much better than what we have in our
00:38:19.760 lives. And I'm not just talking about
00:38:21.440 heaven. He is talking about salvation.
00:38:23.200 He's talking about what God is preparing
00:38:24.720 for those who love him. When you love
00:38:27.040 God, when you follow Jesus, when you
00:38:29.440 have a relationship with him, God has
00:38:32.240 life and life abundantly for you. That
00:38:35.119 doesn't mean riches and wealth. That
00:38:36.560 doesn't mean everything's perfect. But
00:38:38.320 in your difficult circumstances, in
00:38:41.119 difficult seasons, we shift our
00:38:44.240 perspective from our challenges to the
00:38:47.440 one who has overcome all challenge. We
00:38:50.320 shift our focus from our obstacles to
00:38:52.480 the one who's overcome all things. It's
00:38:55.280 a change in perspective, a broader
00:38:98.400 perspective to see with eyes on Jesus.
00:39:01.920 In Hebrews 12:2 be the last verse I
00:39:04.480 share with you. It says looking to
00:39:06.960 Jesus. Notice it doesn't say looking at
00:39:09.760 Jesus.
00:39:11.280 Looking at Jesus is kind of like at him
00:39:13.440 in a general direction. We see his
00:39:15.440 picture. We look at Jesus. But looking
00:39:17.440 to Jesus, it's actually a running term,
00:39:20.320 a an athletic term that says you're
00:39:22.240 fixing your eyes. That same thing that
00:39:23.599 Paul says in Second Corinthians like fix
00:39:25.440 your gaze, fix your focus looking to
00:39:29.200 Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our
00:39:32.240 faith who for the joy that was set
00:39:34.560 before him endured the cross. The one
00:39:38.160 who gave his life so that we could have
00:39:40.400 life. His name is Jesus. He endured the
00:39:43.119 cross with joy.
00:39:46.079 He experienced the most brutal, horrible
00:39:48.160 physical death that you could imagine.
00:39:50.240 Yet he did it with joy. Why? because he
00:39:53.040 wasn't focused on his limited physical
00:39:55.520 pain. The small troubles that he faced
00:39:98.720 in comparison to the glory that vastly
00:40:01.920 outweighs it all. What was the glory?
00:40:04.480 What was he focused on? His focus, I
00:40:06.720 believe, was on you, on all of us, on
00:40:09.680 all the lives that were going to be
00:40:11.119 saved because of the work that he was
00:40:13.599 doing on the cross. Jesus could go to
00:40:16.560 the cross with joy because he knew his
00:40:19.440 sacrifice was going to make a way for us
00:40:21.760 to be saved.
00:40:24.240 He wasn't joyful in his circumstance,
00:40:26.720 but he was joyful in the bigger
00:40:28.240 perspective of what was happening. He
00:40:30.800 despised the shame. And now he is seated
00:40:33.280 at the right hand of the throne of God.
00:40:37.200 Jesus is sitting at the right hand of
00:40:38.960 God. He's praying for us. He's mediating
00:40:42.240 for us. that Jesus wants what's best for
00:40:44.960 you. He's the coach. He's the guide.
00:40:47.200 He's the leader. We fix our eyes on him.
00:40:50.480 It's like when you're running the race.
00:40:51.839 The verse right before this in 12 verse
00:40:53.839 one, he's talking about strip off the
00:40:56.240 sin. Get rid of the stuff in your life
00:40:98.560 that so easily trips you up and fix your
00:41:01.440 gaze as you run the race of endurance,
00:41:03.760 the race of life. Fix your eyes looking
00:41:06.720 to Jesus. How do we do how do we strip
00:41:08.880 off sin? How do we run this race of
00:41:11.040 endurance? We look to Jesus. He's the
00:41:14.560 only one. He's the founder. He's the
00:41:16.560 initiator. He's the perfector of our
00:41:18.720 faith. It's only by Jesus Christ that we
00:41:21.920 can be saved. That we can have a life
00:41:24.480 abundantly here on earth. So, would you
00:41:27.599 please stand to your feet if you're able
00:41:29.040 to? I want to close with a time of
00:41:31.599 prayer, but I want to give you the
00:41:32.720 opportunity as well. First, the
00:41:35.520 opportunity is maybe your perspective
00:41:37.599 has just gotten shifted on your stuff.
00:41:40.720 Maybe it's just the busyness of life,
00:41:42.960 your calendar, your finances, stress at
00:41:45.520 work, whatever your whatever situation
00:41:47.839 or problems or circumstances are going
00:41:49.680 on in your life. Maybe you just need to
00:41:52.319 shift your perspective off of them and
00:41:54.160 back on to Jesus. It's just a slight
00:41:56.560 shift that can change so much in your
00:41:58.400 life. Doesn't mean all your
00:41:59.440 circumstances and your problems go away,
00:42:01.280 but shift your perspective off of them
00:42:03.440 and onto Jesus. If that's you, I just
00:42:05.280 want to pray for you right where you
00:42:06.960 are. Heavenly Father, I pray for every
00:42:09.760 single person in this room, God, that
00:42:12.240 whoever here is needing to get that
00:42:14.240 perspective shift, a slight adjustment,
00:42:17.119 a change off of their problems, off of
00:42:19.359 the busyness, off of their
00:42:21.040 circumstances, God, as real as they are,
00:42:24.880 God, as big as they seem in light of
00:42:27.680 what's going on in their life, God, I
00:42:29.200 pray you'd shift their perspective. get
00:42:31.599 their eyes back on you, the perfector,
00:42:34.720 the initiator, the one who's given us
00:42:37.040 salvation not just for eternity, but
00:42:39.520 that we can live a life of abundance
00:42:42.160 here and now. God, I pray you'd shift
00:42:44.400 their focus onto the things you've
00:42:46.319 already done in their life. God, that
00:42:48.240 you'd remind them of answered prayers in
00:42:50.160 years past. God, that you'd show them
00:42:52.480 how far you've brought them. That
00:42:55.280 they've gone through bad situations and
00:42:57.359 bad circumstances before, and God,
00:42:99.440 you've brought them through those. you
00:43:01.040 you've brought them through those fires.
00:43:02.640 You've brought them through the
00:43:03.680 betrayals. You've brought them through
00:43:04.960 the hurts, God, that that would bring
00:43:07.040 faith and to rise faith within them,
00:43:09.839 God, that they would fix their eyes on
00:43:12.000 you. God, we pray your blessing on each
00:43:14.640 and every person. God, we ask for your
00:43:16.079 grace, God, by your spirit to fix their
00:43:19.119 gaze on you, to fix our perspective, to
00:43:21.520 have a broader eternal perspective that
00:43:24.640 we could be more like Jesus in having
00:43:26.560 joy no matter what our circumstances
00:43:29.119 are.
00:43:30.800 Second thing I want to do is offer you a
00:43:32.400 chance today. Maybe you've never fixed
00:43:35.440 your gaze on Jesus. Maybe you've never
00:43:37.520 really trusted your life to him. Maybe
00:43:39.760 you've never given control of your life
00:43:42.319 to Jesus. I want you to know Jesus loves
00:43:45.760 you. He wants what's best for you. He
00:43:48.319 wants you to know him in a real and
00:43:50.640 personal way. And it's not about church.
00:43:52.640 It's not about religion. It's all about
00:43:54.319 a relationship with Jesus Christ. If
00:43:57.760 you're here today, I just want to pray
00:43:99.839 for you. You're here making that
00:44:01.920 decision. You say, "I want to give my
00:44:03.520 life to Jesus. I want to learn what it
00:44:05.119 means to follow him. I want to have that
00:44:07.599 security and that peace that comes by
00:44:10.640 giving control of my life over to him."
00:44:13.839 If you're here today, I just ask that
00:44:15.040 you'd slip up your hand right where you
00:44:16.480 are. I'm going to pray for you. Amen.
00:44:20.560 Anyone else?
00:44:22.720 Anyone else? Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly
00:44:26.160 Father, I thank you, God, for what
00:44:27.920 you're doing in each and every one of
00:44:29.119 our hearts. God, I thank you for those
00:44:31.680 making that decision right now to give
00:44:34.000 up control of their life to you. I know
00:44:36.640 it's a scary thing, but God, I pray that
00:44:39.119 your perfect love would cast out fear,
00:44:41.680 God, that your perfect love and what you
00:44:43.440 want for them, God, that they would know
00:44:45.280 that it is a leap of faith. It's by your
00:44:48.079 grace. It's by your mercy. It's by your
00:44:50.240 love, God, that you can we can be saved.
00:44:53.119 So God, I pray that every person that
00:44:54.560 made that decision, God, that they would
00:44:96.800 continue to follow you, they would
00:44:99.280 continue to take next steps in growing
00:45:01.040 with you, God, that they would give over
00:45:03.440 control of their life. All their
00:45:05.359 anxiety, all their fear, all their
00:45:07.839 worries, all their doubts would be
00:45:09.359 handed over to you. And God, that you
00:45:11.599 would give them that security, that
00:45:13.119 peace of trusting you. God, I pray that
00:45:16.800 they would celebrate knowing that today
00:45:18.960 is a new day for the rest of their life,
00:45:21.359 that they get to spend eternity with
00:45:23.119 you. It's in Jesus name I pray. Amen.
00:45:26.319 Can we give God a great big hand? He's
00:45:28.720 so good, so worthy. You guys can be
00:45:30.400 seated. Jared's going to come on up and
00:45:32.800 close us out.
00:45:35.280 Amen. Thank you so much, Pastor Eric,
00:45:36.720 for such a great great word. And and
00:45:39.280 we're going to have actually have an
00:45:40.720 extension of our worship with an
00:45:42.240 opportunity to give this morning. And as
00:45:44.640 we had uh I don't know about you guys,
00:45:46.079 but I just love the time that we get to
00:45:47.680 spend uh dedicating children to the Lord
00:45:49.599 and and celebrating as a church family.
00:45:51.839 And I would be remiss if I try to give
00:45:53.920 any other motivation for giving than to
00:45:56.560 invest in the next generation and and
00:45:58.800 what God is doing in and through the
00:46:00.240 kids ministry, the youth ministry here
00:46:02.400 at our church. And I'm encouraged by
00:46:04.319 Proverbs 22:6 that says, "Direct your
00:46:07.119 children onto the right path, and when
00:46:09.200 they are older, they will not leave it."
00:46:11.920 You see, our giving in our prayers and
00:46:14.079 just partnering and uniting our hearts
00:46:16.400 as a church family brings an opportunity
00:46:18.800 for our kids and our youth to encounter
00:46:21.359 God, to have the means and the space to
00:46:23.760 receive love, care, and guidance to know
00:46:26.960 and follow Jesus to run that race. And
00:46:29.599 your giving makes an opportunity for
00:46:31.200 that. So, I just want to say first and
00:46:32.720 foremost, thank you for those of you who
00:46:34.640 generously and consistently give. You
00:46:36.640 know, my wife and I have been privileged
00:46:38.560 along with some other leaders here to go
00:46:40.640 to different conferences and mission
00:46:42.720 trips with youth students with young
00:46:45.040 people. And your giving has made a way
00:46:46.960 for that to happen and their lives in a
00:46:49.680 moment in time radically transformed and
00:46:51.520 shifted for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
00:46:54.000 And that's what we get to give to this
00:46:55.680 morning. An opportunity for more and
00:46:57.359 more children to know and follow God, to
00:47:01.920 encounter his love and his truth. There
00:47:01.920 are several ways to give. Cash or
00:47:03.520 check. There's a giving station at the
00:47:05.119 back of the room there. You could also
00:47:06.960 uh pull out your phone, scan the tap
00:47:08.720 card, a seat pack in front of you, or
00:47:10.240 the QR code or give through Zelle.
00:47:13.760 No matter no matter how we're giving
00:47:15.599 this morning, more than anything, let
00:47:17.040 our hearts be encouraged knowing that
00:47:18.880 we're investing into generational
00:47:21.440 kingdom impact and so much greater as
00:47:24.400 1 Corinthians 2 was up on the
00:47:26.160 screen. so much greater than we could
00:47:27.599 think, see, or imagine the impact that
00:47:29.839 our giving gets to have on eternity for
00:47:33.200 this generation. Let's pray. Father, we
00:47:35.520 thank you so much we have an opportunity
00:47:37.520 to partner with you as family. That
00:47:39.920 you're our heavenly father, Lord God,
00:47:41.280 and that uh we just thank you that we
00:47:43.200 get to all run our race and that the
00:47:44.880 next generation watches us as we lead
00:47:47.280 and run our own races, Lord God. that
00:47:49.200 that we can run alongside them and say,
00:47:51.280 "Run the race strong and know that your
00:47:53.599 creator, your king, your heavenly father
00:47:55.280 is there with you to guide you, to
00:47:57.119 counsel you, to show you your value in
00:47:59.040 your purpose." And Lord God, as we give
00:48:00.560 this morning,
00:48:02.400 help us, Father, to give with eyes set
00:48:05.200 on you in eternity and the impact we get
00:48:07.599 to give to the next generation. We love
00:48:10.000 you. We thank you. It's in Jesus name we
00:48:11.760 pray. Amen. Amen. And if you're new here
00:48:14.240 with us this morning, I just want to say
00:48:15.440 welcome and thank you so much for
00:48:17.119 choosing to spend part of your Sunday
00:48:18.319 with us. It's a beautiful day. We're
00:48:19.760 glad and grateful you decided to spend
00:48:21.119 part of your day here with us. We would
00:48:23.119 love to get to know you and hear a
00:48:24.400 little bit more about your story, who
00:48:26.079 you are, uh how you got here, and uh
00:48:28.160 we'd love for you just to pull out your
00:48:29.920 cell phone. If you scan a QR code on the
00:48:32.240 screen or on the seat back in front of
00:48:34.240 you, fill out just some basic
00:48:35.839 information. We would love to keep in
00:48:37.760 touch with you and keep you up to date
00:48:38.960 with all the amazing things that God is
00:48:40.640 doing in and through our church family
00:48:42.000 here. Also on your way out the door
00:48:44.000 there at the connection point by the
00:48:45.839 exit, we'd love to put a gift in your
00:48:47.839 hand as well, just as our way of saying
00:48:49.680 thank you and maybe uh to remind you of
00:48:51.520 the time spent with us throughout the
00:48:53.440 week. Perhaps you're even here this
00:48:55.760 Sunday morning and you would like to
00:48:57.200 become an active part of what God is
00:48:59.040 doing in and through Freedom Church.
00:49:00.640 Unite your heart with us as a church
00:49:02.559 family. We would love for you to attend
00:49:04.480 our next steps class. It's actually
00:49:06.559 taking place immediately after dismissal
00:49:08.960 out the hallway to the left past a cafe
00:49:10.880 in a room there. Um, it's an amazing
00:49:12.960 opportunity too to really discover how
00:49:14.559 you are uniquely gifted by God to make a
00:49:17.599 profound impact to build and expand his
00:49:20.000 family here locally and worldwide. So,
00:49:22.079 we'd love for you to come to our next
00:49:23.359 steps class. There will be food and
00:49:25.200 childcare provided as well. U, last, but
00:49:27.920 certainly not least, we also have um an
00:49:30.480 opportunity to pray and seek God
00:49:32.800 together. Um, so if there's anybody here
00:49:34.800 today, if you have any need whatsoever,
00:49:36.480 whether it be physically, financially,
00:49:38.960 relationally, we believe we serve a a
00:49:41.200 great big God who loves and cares for
00:49:43.200 his kids. So, at after I pray, at
00:49:45.920 dismissal, there are going to be prayer
00:49:47.760 teams up front. If you have anything at
00:49:49.760 all that you would like prayer for and
00:49:51.599 believe God, we can believe God
00:49:53.040 alongside one another and see him make a
00:49:55.200 big, big impact in our lives. If
00:49:97.200 everybody could please stand to your
00:49:98.400 feet. I'm going to pray. Uh, whenever
00:50:00.559 I'm finished, you are dismissed.
00:50:04.559 Heavenly Father, I thank you so much
00:50:06.000 that we we get to celebrate, Lord God,
00:50:08.240 as these children are dedicated to you
00:50:09.839 and celebrate the families and the
00:50:11.200 parents. Um Lord, I I just thank you
00:50:13.359 that we are it's an honor that we get to
00:50:15.200 run this race together, Lord God, and
00:50:18.480 that you've already won. You've already
00:50:19.839 been a victor of this race. And so,
00:50:21.200 we're just looking to you as our
00:50:22.800 example, as our leader, as our heavenly
00:50:25.200 father. Lord God, I ask you, help us
00:50:26.800 this week, Lord, to reflect who you are
00:50:29.440 to our co-workers, to our friends, to
00:50:31.200 our neighbors. Father, that each and
00:50:33.040 every person that we encounter would see
00:50:34.960 the love and the light of our father
00:50:36.880 within us by your spirit. And Lord, I
00:50:38.960 thank you that you would open doors of
00:50:40.480 opportunity to share how good and how
00:50:42.480 great you are. Thank you for all the
00:50:44.240 testimonies of what's going to come
00:50:45.599 because of it. In Jesus name we pray.
00:00:47.839 Amen. You're dismissed. Have an awesome
00:00:49.200 week, everyone.