2024 Women's Conference - Session 3

[00:00:00] Let's open up our Bible so we have one more passage for us to explore. We're going to get back to Acts 17, but first I want to tell you a little bit about Riley Grace.

[00:00:12] Riley Grace is my daughter and she is wild and so smart and so incredible. How many of you have a just fierce daughter?

[00:00:25] Yeah, oh wow! Incredible! Okay then you're going to love this story about Riley. So Riley's my firstborn and I love this meme that I saw on Instagram.

[00:00:39] It basically said like with all your other kids you watch them grow, but with your firstborn you grow up with them.

[00:00:51] And I feel like that is so true. I mean I feel like I was parented so well, but being parented well doesn't always equip you to be the perfect parent.

[00:01:00] Can I get an amen? And so right we were given our firstborn. I'm incredibly strong willed. My husband is incredibly strong willed.

[00:01:09] You know, most marriages you kind of marry your opposite. Well we have like similar strengths, similar weaknesses, and just all of our strengths got put into Riley.

[00:01:22] And so if you can just imagine two fiercely intelligent people like, like I mentioned my husband's in a doctoral program.

[00:01:29] Hopefully you think I'm smart after telling you so much philosophy. If you don't, I've tried my best.

[00:01:35] But just imagine this girl, she's wildly intelligent and wildly fiercely willed. She gets it from both of us.

[00:01:41] We were making muffins and I thought this would be a coachable moment for her.

[00:01:45] You know, I'm always trying to teach because God has given me this gift of teaching.

[00:01:49] And I'm always trying to teach my daughter and so we're making muffins.

[00:01:52] And you know, we've got the milk in there and then we've got some water.

[00:01:56] And then she starts pouring the oil and I say, now Riley, sometimes coconut oil is a liquid and sometimes it is a solid.

[00:02:07] And I thought I was being so brilliant teaching my six year old this.

[00:02:10] And she goes, oh, so it's a non-Antonian fluid.

[00:02:13] And I was like, excuse me?

[00:02:17] I was like, possibly?

[00:02:21] Let me Google that real quick.

[00:02:23] So she's just incredibly bright.

[00:02:25] Keeping up with her is a real challenge.

[00:02:28] But this is a story about the incredibly willful Riley.

[00:02:32] The incredible willful Riley one Monday not long ago decided to throw the fit of her life.

[00:02:40] Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:02:41] That fierce strong will.

[00:02:43] Every time she's raging against me, I just go to a safe place in my mind and I say, this is her saying no to drugs.

[00:02:53] Don't break her will.

[00:02:55] The Lord has given it to her.

[00:02:57] Like your job is to parent her through it.

[00:03:00] You cannot back down from her.

[00:03:01] Like, just stay here.

[00:03:03] Stay calm.

[00:03:04] Like I go to my safe place and I say that.

[00:03:06] So anyways, it was my small group time.

[00:03:09] And I've made this commitment because of what I've shared of the lie of I am poison to not cancel small group.

[00:03:15] Like every week I want to cancel small group and not go be honest and vulnerable.

[00:03:18] But every week I just have a discipline of not canceling small group.

[00:03:22] And so we are 30 minutes into a really intense fit.

[00:03:28] And I don't want to hand my six year old who's throwing a rager off to my husband because to be frank, he's better at parenting her and I don't want to lose.

[00:03:41] So it's just I'm simple.

[00:03:42] Remember the red?

[00:03:43] The red.

[00:03:44] There's a lot of red in there.

[00:03:45] But I also I know that he has to take care of the two other kids.

[00:03:48] And I'm just like, I'm going to have to do this small group while helping Riley through this fit.

[00:03:54] And so I have this brilliant idea.

[00:03:56] I'm going to put her in her room.

[00:03:58] So I I've read all the Instagram like posts, you know, about how to parent a kid.

[00:04:04] I'm like, we create a safe place for her.

[00:04:06] We put some art in there and it's going to be beautiful.

[00:04:09] It's going to be amazing.

[00:04:10] And she's going to go in there.

[00:04:11] She can be like, I have amazing parents.

[00:04:13] And of course, I'm just going to calm down in this safe environment that's been created for me.

[00:04:18] That is not what happened.

[00:04:20] The Instagram reels lie.

[00:04:22] They are parenting different kids than my kid.

[00:04:25] Those of you that raised your hands, you can totally relate.

[00:04:27] It's like every Instagram piece of advice is just completely false and we should stop getting our parenting advice from Instagram.

[00:04:33] Well meaning, well meaning Instagram posts.

[00:04:35] So anyways, I put her in there and I'm sitting in my small group across from Heidi, who I told you about on the first night.

[00:04:41] And I am really trying to show up and be there for her.

[00:04:44] But my small group room is right next to the room that Riley safe places in and she is destroying her safe place.

[00:04:54] I am I am hearing furniture fly.

[00:04:58] I am hearing things being thrown and I'm just in there and I keep going back in because I'm an awesome parent and I've read, you know, all the blogs and the books and I keep going in and be like Riley mommy loves you.

[00:05:10] You need to stop.

[00:05:11] You can't you can't get your way.

[00:05:13] I don't even remember what the fit was about, but you know, if it was not about what it was about and I was like you can't get your way.

[00:05:18] I'm here.

[00:05:19] I will talk to you when small group is over.

[00:05:23] And so she's like, Daddy, I need you.

[00:05:26] And she's just like she's throwing a rager fit.

[00:05:29] And Shane is being an awesome parent of just letting us parent through this mother daughter dynamic that's clearly happening.

[00:05:35] And so I go my whole small group.

[00:05:38] Right.

[00:05:39] Like I show up for Heidi.

[00:05:40] Heidi is just looking at me and she's like, I'm praying for you.

[00:05:47] She's like, I work with foster youth and I've never seen anything like this.

[00:05:54] And I'm like, I don't think that's encouraging.

[00:05:58] But thank you.

[00:05:59] So so we're having a great conversation in small group.

[00:06:02] Nothing of any import happened in small group except that Heidi was there praying and interceding and she's great prayer warrior.

[00:06:08] So anyways, we get to the end of quiet time somewhere 15 minutes into 45 minutes and she she just calms down.

[00:06:16] And I was like, oh, thank you, God.

[00:06:18] So I go in there.

[00:06:20] I go into her room and her room is destroyed, which I was fully expecting.

[00:06:24] And I kind of thought to myself, OK, fit over.

[00:06:28] We learned the lesson.

[00:06:29] We don't get what we want.

[00:06:30] I thought that was the lesson.

[00:06:32] My husband, who's frankly a much better parent than I am, he goes into the room and he says, Riley, you destroyed your library book.

[00:06:43] And I was like, oh, no, because we have this thing about Riley, like just, hey, you have to treat things well.

[00:06:49] You have to treat people with respect.

[00:06:51] You have to you can't let your anger, you know, overflow and hurt people.

[00:06:55] And so he saw her library book and she had ripped pages out of it and tore them to shreds.

[00:07:02] And see, I'm not a great I'm not that great a parent.

[00:07:05] I was like, hey, lesson learned.

[00:07:07] The lesson was about, you know, you don't get your way.

[00:07:10] We're just going to have to pay for that library book.

[00:07:12] Right. Like that's what's going to happen.

[00:07:14] But Shane, who's a frankly better parent than I am.

[00:07:16] And I don't mind telling you that because he's watching our kids right now.

[00:07:20] He says no kid is ever going to be able to read this library book ever again.

[00:07:24] And you are going to have to go in and tell the library what you did.

[00:07:28] And you're going to have to pay for this library book with your own money.

[00:07:32] And I was like, oh, no.

[00:07:36] I was like, I don't want to be there for that moment.

[00:07:40] I was like, oh, no.

[00:07:41] OK, so so every single night that week, Riley has a great day.

[00:07:45] And then she goes into her room and she sees her library book and she cries all over again, fit all over again.

[00:07:52] I don't want to pay for the library book.

[00:07:54] I don't want to do it.

[00:07:55] It's going to be so hard.

[00:07:56] Like halfway through the week, she goes, I asked God not to let me rip up the library book.

[00:08:06] She's like very spiritual halfway through the week.

[00:08:08] She's like, I told God I didn't want a consequence and he didn't stop me.

[00:08:15] I was like, all right, that's not that conversation.

[00:08:17] Like God gives us free will and sometimes.

[00:08:20] Anyways, so we get we get to the end of the week.

[00:08:22] It's Monday.

[00:08:23] It's one whole week since this happened.

[00:08:25] And Shane's like, we got it.

[00:08:26] We just got to do this.

[00:08:26] We got to take her to the library.

[00:08:27] We got to finish this lesson.

[00:08:30] And I was like, OK.

[00:08:31] OK.

[00:08:31] And so I feel anxiety all Monday.

[00:08:33] And I'm like, this is so weird.

[00:08:35] It's kind of like the room is spinning and I get like this stomach ache.

[00:08:38] Why am I anxious?

[00:08:39] And then I realized I'm anxious about taking my six year old daughter to the library to have her go confess what she did and return this library book and pay for it.

[00:08:50] I was just like, honestly, I don't want to do this.

[00:08:54] So we're there.

[00:08:56] We're in this moment.

[00:08:58] And we get in the car.

[00:09:00] I'm feeling anxious.

[00:09:01] My daughter is again throwing a fit.

[00:09:04] Shane says, I'll meet you at the library.

[00:09:06] And I'm just like, hey, kid, we got to do this.

[00:09:09] Get in the car like we're doing this.

[00:09:11] And so she gets in the car and she's just crying.

[00:09:14] And then she says, Mom, what if they're mad at me?

[00:09:20] What if they don't forgive me?

[00:09:23] I go, Riley, because I'm going to be honest with you.

[00:09:26] Our library people are not people people.

[00:09:32] And this is what I've been anxious about if I'm going to be totally honest.

[00:09:36] And I say, Riley, if that happens, we will be right there with you.

[00:09:40] And Juju says, and Juju will be with you.

[00:09:45] So I'm in the car and I want you to keep that image with you in your mind as we go through this message.

[00:09:52] In our last two sessions, Paul has asked and answered the two most important questions that man could ever ask.

[00:09:58] Is there a God and has he spoken?

[00:10:00] I hope against hope that walking out of here, you know that God exists.

[00:10:08] And I also hope you know that he has spoken.

[00:10:11] I hope last session you began to experience the power that comes from identifying the lies that we believe and replacing them with the truth.

[00:10:21] And if we were to just end there, that would be a great conference.

[00:10:26] I'm really glad we didn't because I wanted to see that makeup thing happen and it was as beautiful as I was expecting.

[00:10:32] I hope Heather doesn't wash it off.

[00:10:34] I just she looks amazing.

[00:10:36] But there's more.

[00:10:37] There's more to this passage.

[00:10:39] And walking out of here, there is more that God is calling us to do in terms of response.

[00:10:44] So let's read.

[00:10:46] The question Paul is answering is what is God doing?

[00:10:50] The God that exists, the God that has spoken, what is he doing?

[00:10:54] The times of ignorance, God overlooked.

[00:10:58] But now, but right now, he commands all people everywhere to repent because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed.

[00:11:14] And of this, he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead into the question.

[00:11:22] What is God doing?

[00:11:24] Paul says, God saves.

[00:11:28] God is saving the world.

[00:11:31] That's what is meant by the word repent.

[00:11:34] The word repent means to turn, to exchange your old ideas for God's ideas, to exchange your old ways of living for the new way of living.

[00:11:44] Repent.

[00:11:45] You see, if we come to this conference and our behavior doesn't change, then we're not doing what God has called us to do.

[00:11:52] And we're not joining in on what God is doing.

[00:11:56] Because what gets you out of bed in this morning?

[00:11:59] What gets you out of bed this morning other than just knowing you're coming to a conference?

[00:12:02] What's going to get you out of bed on Tuesday?

[00:12:04] I hope what gets you out of bed is that God saw you before the dawn of creation.

[00:12:11] And he chose right here and right now to put you.

[00:12:16] And there are problems in this world that only you can solve.

[00:12:20] Because God has given you what it takes and he's put you in the time and place where you can actually solve some problems.

[00:12:28] God is saving.

[00:12:30] And we mean this in an eternal way.

[00:12:32] We mean this as in God is forever altering people's destiny.

[00:12:37] But if we only talk about that part, we're doing an incomplete representation of what it means that God is saving us.

[00:12:44] Because God is not only redeeming eternity and transforming it.

[00:12:48] He's redeeming and transforming the right here and the right now.

[00:12:53] Oh, you know, you know, I'm going to talk about philosophically.

[00:12:57] Philosophically.

[00:12:58] Big picture.

[00:13:00] Why do we need saving?

[00:13:02] Well, every single world view that you have ever encountered is really built around four things.

[00:13:08] Creation, fall, solution, and destiny.

[00:13:12] The question of creation really asks what is the basis of all reality?

[00:13:16] How did things get started?

[00:13:18] But then there's the fall.

[00:13:20] There's this sense within all of us and as we go out and explore the world that something deeply,

[00:13:26] truly wrong has happened.

[00:13:29] And now every world view has a different idea of the wrong that has happened.

[00:13:33] And then, of course, because we have different ideas of the wrong that has happened,

[00:13:36] we have different ideas of how to solve that problem.

[00:13:39] And then ultimately, the meaning of life question.

[00:13:43] Where is all of history heading?

[00:13:45] That is our destiny question.

[00:13:48] And I want to briefly give you philosophically the biblical answer to those four questions of creation,

[00:13:56] fall, solution, and destiny.

[00:13:58] So that you know where you are situated and what God is calling you into.

[00:14:04] So first of all, creation.

[00:14:05] We've already talked about that.

[00:14:07] There is a God.

[00:14:08] He created everything, including you and me.

[00:14:11] Which means he is Lord of all.

[00:14:14] Meaning that your vote doesn't matter as much as his vote.

[00:14:18] Frankly, what he cares and what he wants matters more because he created everything.

[00:14:23] But he also knows what is best.

[00:14:26] He is the creator.

[00:14:27] That's creation.

[00:14:29] But then at some point, God created you and I.

[00:14:33] He decided to create humanity.

[00:14:37] And that is amazing because the biblical story says that when he created humanity,

[00:14:41] he specially created us.

[00:14:43] So that we have two sides.

[00:14:45] First, we have the Imago Dei.

[00:14:47] We have the image of God within us.

[00:14:49] It says that, you know, when God spoke everything, he actually metaphorically, you know, rolled up his sleeves and got into the dirt and formed us.

[00:14:58] And put part of himself, his spirit of life into us.

[00:15:02] We are created in God's image, which means we are separate and distinct from all of creation.

[00:15:08] And when he did that, he gave us a choice.

[00:15:12] He gave us a choice and the choice was really simple.

[00:15:15] In the garden, it looked like this.

[00:15:18] Obey or disobey?

[00:15:20] And on Tuesday, it's the same choice.

[00:15:23] Obey or disobey?

[00:15:25] More fundamentally, trust or distrust.

[00:15:29] Trust and obey, distrust and disobey.

[00:15:32] And in the biblical story, it says that the first humans, they fell.

[00:15:37] They didn't trust and they didn't obey.

[00:15:42] And you might be like, why?

[00:15:44] Why would Adam and Eve do such a thing?

[00:15:46] God had walked with them.

[00:15:47] They had been so good.

[00:15:48] Why would they distrust God?

[00:15:50] Why would they disobey God?

[00:15:51] But to be honest, you know God's goodness, but you still choose to distrust and disobey.

[00:15:57] And so do I.

[00:15:58] We make the same choice every single day that Adam and Eve made back in the garden.

[00:16:03] We can't just look back and accuse them because we, you know, we who follow Jesus, we have the Holy Spirit, God himself living inside of us.

[00:16:11] And still we distrust.

[00:16:15] Still we disobey.

[00:16:17] We keep repeating patterns that the original parents set into motion.

[00:16:23] So humanity fell.

[00:16:25] You see, when God created Adam and Eve, he gave them a mission.

[00:16:29] The mission was to steward all of creation.

[00:16:32] And when they fell, when they distrusted, when they disobeyed, everything that they were responsible for fell with them.

[00:16:41] You see, every time I sin, it impacts my kids.

[00:16:46] Every time I have a problem, my kids also have the consequences of that problem.

[00:16:53] And so that fast forwards to right here and right now.

[00:16:58] You see, you're wondering why you have that cancer diagnosis.

[00:17:03] And you're wondering why he had the affair.

[00:17:07] And you're wondering about all of these very real pressing problems in your life.

[00:17:13] You're wondering why some people are able to go around and have so much joy.

[00:17:17] And yet you feel so just numb all the time.

[00:17:23] Like you can't access the good and you can't access the bad.

[00:17:26] You have these very real problems.

[00:17:29] And if you're not careful, you can be so consumed with what is going on right now that you forget the overall biblical picture of creation and fall solution and destiny.

[00:17:41] Because right now, the Bible says there is a reason you are suffering.

[00:17:46] There is a reason that you are experiencing brokenness.

[00:17:51] And the answer is simply this.

[00:17:53] You are experiencing brokenness because humans have fallen.

[00:17:58] And everything they were responsible for, the creative world, fell too.

[00:18:02] And so entered into the world, human sin.

[00:18:06] But also so entered into the world, natural disasters, natural evil.

[00:18:12] Things that God never intended for creation are part of our everyday story.

[00:18:18] That is what the fall means biblically.

[00:18:21] So what's the solution?

[00:18:23] Well, his name is Jesus.

[00:18:24] Jesus entered into human history after chapter, after chapter, after chapter of humanity proving that no matter how clear God was, no matter how good God was, that humanity himself would never willingly choose what is right.

[00:18:41] Would never willingly choose to trust and obey.

[00:18:46] And so the God of the universe didn't abandon humanity.

[00:18:49] He entered into their story and said, I'm going to change things.

[00:18:53] I'm going to make it possible once more for humanity to trust, for humanity to obey.

[00:19:02] So Jesus Christ, God himself, came to earth.

[00:19:05] He lived among us.

[00:19:08] And ultimately, though he was a sinless person, he decided to hang on a cross and pay the penalty that you and I could never pay.

[00:19:17] He perfectly trusted.

[00:19:19] He perfectly obeyed.

[00:19:21] And that is why, as he hung on the cross, he was able to pay the price for all that you and I had done.

[00:19:28] So now, solution, we live in the part of the story where we still experience all the brokenness.

[00:19:36] But we get to taste redemption.

[00:19:41] Because destiny, the eternal destiny of all, is that there will be a day where all mankind is judged.

[00:19:48] Where all mankind comes before the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and simply has to give an account for his or her life.

[00:19:57] And when you give an account, you will be asked one question.

[00:20:02] Which book do you want to be judged out of?

[00:20:05] In Revelation, it says that there are two books.

[00:20:08] The book of deeds and the book of life.

[00:20:11] The book of deeds records what we have all done.

[00:20:15] And the book of life records the names of those who said, I don't want to be judged by my record.

[00:20:21] I want to be judged by his record.

[00:20:24] That is destiny.

[00:20:26] So one day, every single person will come before God and will give an account of his life.

[00:20:31] And he will have to simply say, or she will have to simply say, I want to be judged on the basis of my works or on the basis of Christ's work.

[00:20:40] And that is where all of history is headed.

[00:20:43] But right now, we live in a world full of brokenness.

[00:20:48] And the reason God has not simply zapped us and taken us into heaven is really simple.

[00:20:56] The Bible says that he will not bring about the eternal destiny that we are headed for until everyone that will repent has repented.

[00:21:07] God continues to march out history, though it is painful.

[00:21:10] God continues to give opportunities for mankind to sin because he also is still giving mankind an opportunity to repent.

[00:21:20] In 2 Peter, there's these martyrs who are crying out to God.

[00:21:24] And they're basically saying, why are you allowing your people to be killed?

[00:21:29] The people that you came down to save, the people who are now loving and following you.

[00:21:34] Why are you allowing them to be tortured and literally lit up for entertainment as lanterns for the Roman Empire?

[00:21:40] Why are you allowing this?

[00:21:41] Why are you allowing your people to be fed to wild beasts in the arena so that people can state their desire to be entertained?

[00:21:48] Why are you allowing this?

[00:21:51] And in response to those people in 2 Peter, it says God is not slow in keeping his promise as some understand slowness.

[00:21:59] He's not slow to bring about that eternal destiny.

[00:22:02] But he is patient waiting for everyone to repent.

[00:22:07] So that's where we live right now.

[00:22:10] Creation, fall, solution, destiny.

[00:22:12] That is philosophically the big picture.

[00:22:16] But then there's the practically.

[00:22:18] Here's the practically.

[00:22:20] You are not beamed up to heaven the second that you decide to trust Jesus for your eternal destiny because you have a part to play.

[00:22:30] You have a part to play right here and right now.

[00:22:34] And failure is absolutely a possibility.

[00:22:38] It is possible for you to fail your assignment.

[00:22:42] I believe that God is in charge of eternal destinies.

[00:22:45] That couldn't be more clear from scripture.

[00:22:48] But we are very involved in what the here and now looks like.

[00:22:54] We are very involved in whether we let the enemy rule this world or whether we are actively bringing his kingdom come.

[00:23:05] So what role are you playing today?

[00:23:09] I want you to remember back to Riley in the car asking that question.

[00:23:14] She's just asking, Mama, what if they're mad at me?

[00:23:18] What if they don't forgive me?

[00:23:20] And I as a mama, I am just so scared.

[00:23:21] I'm just like, that's a very real possibility because we live in a day and age where not all people are kind.

[00:23:28] And what if this little girl who every week has been having just such anxiety about going and doing this and she's thrown the fits and she's been so scared.

[00:23:37] What if she goes in and she gets a lecture?

[00:23:40] What if she goes in and instead of this lesson about grace and reward for doing the right thing, she gets judgment and that cement something.

[00:23:48] And I'm just going through all of these things as her mom and I'm just praying, God, let her learn the lesson she's supposed to learn right now.

[00:23:56] And so we're heading in.

[00:23:59] And she goes up.

[00:24:00] She takes her library bag.

[00:24:02] She goes.

[00:24:04] And I watch my six year old bravely walk in those library doors and straight to the desk.

[00:24:10] And she goes in and she says the words that we've been practicing in the car.

[00:24:14] Hi, my name is Riley.

[00:24:17] I broke my library book.

[00:24:20] I'm very sorry.

[00:24:21] And I would like to pay for it.

[00:24:23] Will you please forgive me?

[00:24:27] And this incredible woman kneels down to her level and says, I am so very proud of you.

[00:24:38] That is a really hard thing to do.

[00:24:41] And we are so proud of you for doing the right thing.

[00:24:46] And then she lets her pay for the book.

[00:24:48] And I just watched this cloud lift off of my daughter.

[00:24:53] I watched a smile return to her face that hadn't been there for a week.

[00:24:57] I watched her learn a really hard, really important lesson.

[00:25:02] The right lesson that it's good to do the right thing and that it actually benefits you to do the right thing.

[00:25:09] And that you're going to feel better once you do the right thing.

[00:25:13] And I don't know if she was a believer.

[00:25:16] But I got to believe, because of some of the things that she said, that she knew Jesus.

[00:25:23] She said the right things to a child who is in need.

[00:25:28] And I just want to say, like, that was so small.

[00:25:31] That was such a small moment.

[00:25:33] But all of us have moments where we were four, five, six years old where someone didn't do the right thing.

[00:25:42] And we're still paying the consequences.

[00:25:46] Our choices in this life have a ripple effect that we may never know.

[00:25:53] So what motivates you to get out of bed on a Tuesday?

[00:25:56] I hope and I pray that it's your part in the redemptive story of God that motivates you to get out of bed.

[00:26:04] You see, you don't need to come and tithe here because God needs your money.

[00:26:09] You need to come here and tithe because that's your part to play in this redemptive story.

[00:26:14] You don't need to come here and use your talents to serve because God needs you and can't accomplish his works without you.

[00:26:22] You need to come because God has put you in this place, in this zip code, in this time.

[00:26:29] And without you, it's very, very possible that there will be a ripple effect that will destroy things and break things when you have the opportunity to build things here at Calvary Monterey.

[00:26:43] In a moment, we're going to respond just like we do with all of these messages.

[00:26:48] And I'm going to call you back to how we started.

[00:26:53] We started with two groups of people.

[00:26:56] The first group of people we called the skeptic.

[00:26:59] You know, the first group is someone who says like, I really just don't know if God exists.

[00:27:04] And I asked you on the first night to simply invite God to make himself known to you.

[00:27:10] And my action step for you, my response is if you believe that the God of the universe has reached out and made himself known to you to actually respond.

[00:27:22] And I'm going to give you an opportunity to take your pen to paper or in your notes app on your phone to type out a prayer of repentance.

[00:27:31] To say, here are all of the ways that I've been living according to what I think is right.

[00:27:36] Here are all the desires that I have that are about my good.

[00:27:41] And I repent of them.

[00:27:43] I decide to trust and to obey you.

[00:27:47] And today going forward will mark a significant change in my life because I have come to know the God that is.

[00:27:54] I have become alive to God.

[00:27:58] That's going to be the first type of person.

[00:28:00] And then there's a second group of people in this room that we talked about on the first night.

[00:28:05] You are alive to God.

[00:28:07] You know God.

[00:28:09] And hopefully throughout these last two sessions, you have come to know him better.

[00:28:14] Perhaps he has healed some hurt in your heart.

[00:28:17] Perhaps he's undone a lie that you believed.

[00:28:20] Perhaps it was good just to be in the presence of his people and to worship him.

[00:28:26] Whatever way God has reached out to you this week, I'm going to ask you to respond and commit to joining the redemptive story that he is writing.

[00:28:37] I'm going to ask you to do something hard.

[00:28:40] I'm going to ask you to put pen to paper and to write a list of the brokenness that you see in the world.

[00:28:47] I think too often we as Christians, we really gloss over the brokenness in the world.

[00:28:52] I remember when COVID happened and the world was being rocked.

[00:28:57] I'm sure it rocked you as well.

[00:28:58] But something about the way Christians were responding just felt so off to me.

[00:29:04] It's like they were like, God's going to do a great thing.

[00:29:08] And I was like, yeah, yes, he is because that's what God does.

[00:29:13] And they were like, I think that God has so many purposes in this.

[00:29:16] And they would quickly list them out.

[00:29:18] This is what God is trying to achieve.

[00:29:19] He's trying to slow mankind down.

[00:29:21] He's trying to topple the governments of the earth.

[00:29:23] He's showing that he's still suffering.

[00:29:25] And yes to all of that.

[00:29:28] But it just felt like we had skipped a step.

[00:29:31] It felt like we had skipped a step of mourning and seeing, truly seeing the brokenness that we were experiencing.

[00:29:41] It was like we rushed over the acknowledging what was wrong part on the way to talking about how God was going to change it all.

[00:29:48] And in so doing, I fear that many of us and the global church in particular may have missed what God wanted to do through us in COVID.

[00:30:01] Let's not go back and rewrite history.

[00:30:05] Let's change tomorrow.

[00:30:06] What brokenness exists in the world today that you and I have done a good job of distracting ourselves from?

[00:30:15] You see, if you find that you cannot go to sleep without some form of entertainment, odds are you're distracting yourself from the very real brokenness.

[00:30:25] And the problem with distraction is it helps you fall asleep.

[00:30:29] But it keeps you from doing what you're supposed to when you wake up.

[00:30:33] And God is calling us to be a people that trade distraction for impact.

[00:30:39] God wants you to join what he is doing, the redemptive work of saving people, but also of righting the wrongs in this world.

[00:30:48] There are moral evils that are occurring that God has called us to change.

[00:30:54] There are children that need to be loved that God is calling us to love.

[00:30:58] There are sicknesses that need to be cured.

[00:31:01] And God is asking us to do our work to find the cure to those sicknesses.

[00:31:06] He is sovereign.

[00:31:08] And in his sovereignty, he has chosen to work through us.

[00:31:12] I love the story of the feeding of the 5,000.

[00:31:16] Because Jesus possessed within himself every ability clearly to feed all of the people gathered.

[00:31:24] If you don't know the story, basically Jesus is talking for a really long time and they didn't think to bring snacks like our amazing conference leaders thought through.

[00:31:33] And everyone's hungry.

[00:31:35] There's just a really simple line in the Gospels where it's like Jesus was teaching for a long time and everyone was hungry.

[00:31:41] And Jesus looked at his disciples and said, you feed them.

[00:31:46] And they're like, excuse me?

[00:31:48] And I love the math that they do.

[00:31:50] They're like, um, do you know how much it would cost to feed everyone?

[00:31:54] And Jesus is like, that's the wrong question.

[00:31:58] And so some of the disciples are like, Jesus is probably hungry himself.

[00:32:02] So let's just play along.

[00:32:03] Let's just play along.

[00:32:06] Go round up whatever food we have.

[00:32:08] Like we're just, we're humoring Jesus right now.

[00:32:12] So they go and they scope it out.

[00:32:14] And some, probably chubby boy because his mom packed him a lunch, has lunch.

[00:32:20] Okay.

[00:32:21] He's, he's got a lunch.

[00:32:23] And so, uh, you know, they're like, all right, this will put it to rest.

[00:32:26] Um, we'll show Jesus how much we have and who knows what he'll do with this.

[00:32:30] Maybe he's hungry.

[00:32:31] He'll eat the fish and then send everyone away.

[00:32:33] We'll see.

[00:32:33] So they bring Jesus the loaves and fishes and then Jesus begins to perform the miracle.

[00:32:39] But it took the disciples going out and getting the food and bringing it to Jesus.

[00:32:43] And then, and this is the part that we often miss, Jesus broke the bread, but he didn't walk around and pass out the food.

[00:32:50] He handed it to his disciples.

[00:32:53] He put it in the hands of his people to take it to the hungry.

[00:33:00] You come here hopefully every Sunday or to another church.

[00:33:04] You go there every Sunday.

[00:33:06] I hope you come in hungry, but I hope you don't leave simply full because it says the disciples had their fill, but they also went out and they fed the hungry.

[00:33:17] Every workplace you go into, there are the hungry.

[00:33:21] Every child that you see is hungry.

[00:33:25] Every person you encounter is hungry for what you as a believer have the ability to give them.

[00:33:32] But so often we miss, we simply just pray, God give it to them, God give it to them, God give it to them.

[00:33:38] That's not actually the way God usually chooses to work.

[00:33:42] God meets the needs of his people through his people.

[00:33:46] He has invited us to participate.

[00:33:49] He has taken the loaves and fish and he's handed it to us.

[00:33:53] And now sometimes we're freaked out because we're like, I only have a piece of a loaf here.

[00:33:57] A piece of a loaf.

[00:33:58] He said, I didn't ask you to feed everyone.

[00:34:01] Go put that bread in someone's hands.

[00:34:04] What is in your hands?

[00:34:06] What does God put in your hands?

[00:34:09] What gifts do you have that he is asking you to use on behalf of someone else?

[00:34:14] I shudder to think of what would have happened if Riley had encountered some of the other people at the library that I've encountered.

[00:34:21] That day, there was a woman there that I have never seen at the library before and I have not seen her since.

[00:34:28] But she treated my daughter with such care, such compassion, such kindness.

[00:34:34] And it changed my daughter's story of how that lesson turned out.

[00:34:39] And what does God want to do through you?

[00:34:42] So for those of you that you are alive to God, I'm going to ask you to make a list of the brokenness that you see in this world.

[00:34:50] Be honest.

[00:34:53] Whatever stirs in your heart that you maybe have been trying to distract yourself from, write it down.

[00:34:58] And then I'm going to ask you to talk to God and say, God, this is the brokenness I see.

[00:35:05] Please use me to start fixing this brokenness.

[00:35:10] And walking out of here, I hope you will have an idea of how he does it.

[00:35:13] But even if you don't, keep going to God and saying, God, I want to do something about this brokenness.

[00:35:19] I want to do something about the homelessness that I see.

[00:35:23] I want to do something about the children who are being wrongfully cared for.

[00:35:28] God, I want to do something about the broken marriages.

[00:35:31] God, I see that my daughter is struggling and I don't know how to fix it, but I want to make it better.

[00:35:36] Use whatever God gives you.

[00:35:38] Go to him and ask him to help you join his kingdom come.

[00:35:43] So that's what we're going to be doing in this time.

[00:35:45] Just have five minutes.

[00:35:47] If you have not yet made a decision to follow Christ, write a prayer of repentance.

[00:35:52] And then when we come back, I'll lead you in a time of actually praying and receiving the Lord.

[00:35:57] And those of you that are alive to God, write your list of brokenness and invite God to show you how he wants you to bring his kingdom to earth.