A Life That Counts (Full Sermon) // Pastor Bryan Carter // Concord Church

[Music] would you take a couple of moments right now and just begin to thank the lord for the love that he has shown towards you would you begin to reflect on how he's faithful he's been to you how he's loved you through every situation in your life and right where you are just take a couple moments and tell the lord thank you for your love thank you for his love that is that has captured you that has strengthened you that has encouraged you come on take a couple moments just reflecting and thanking god for his love come on just thank him for his love [Music] father we say thank you today for the marvelous love which you have shown toward us and we can never thank you enough for your love that loved us while we were still sinners thank you for your love that calls you to die on a cross for our sins thank you for your love that can that nothing can separate us from the love that's in christ jesus so father we say thank you for your love for us and how it has totally transformed our lives and now lord i ask your prayer as we open your word today may your word give us direction and insight may your word just remind us and point us to you more and more every day we love you god we can never say thank you enough he said your son jesus name that we say this prayer and god's people said amen amen would you give god a great praise at this house amen amen you may take your seats it is so good to see you on this sunday morning and so thankful for both our in-person family and our online family we are thankful to start the day with you on today um it's crazy but for the last 18 months we've been walking through this season together and uh i could not be more thankful for just how god has continued to work through our church family i was reflecting just the other day and i said man 18 months and god has been so faithful and i want to thank you concord for your support and your prayers that our church has grown god has matter of fact last week and last saturday we got to see god in a particularly special way as we saw close to 70 people baptized on last saturday can you praise god for 70 people making a decision to follow after christ what a phenomenal time and uh that that that's a reflection of you concord you've been inviting your family and your friends and many of those that that that went public or were baptized some had never been in a building before but they joined online and this was their first collection point and so we're we're just incredibly thankful uh for how faithful god has been to our church family throughout this season and so there's a lot to be thankful for i want to thank our connections pastor pastor cecily jefferson who helped helps all of our new people get welcome to the field help me to thank god for her does an amazing amazing job and uh we thank god for her uh family i want to thank pastor greene preached last sunday for us and uh what an incredible word listen if you missed it you need to go on youtube and watch that message after the day it will bless you it was a powerful word to remind us that god's got you my wife and i we were out of town last weekend our oldest is a is a sophomore at uh at spelman college and she made it onto the dance team for morehouse and so we went down to watch their first home game last weekend on saturday we had so much fun uh listen we both went to predominantly white school she went to ou i went to oklahoma state and this was our first uh uh uh hbcu on campus experience and man listen i feel like i've been robbed i feel like i've been cheated my whole life i just i just feel like man this is this is this is it man i feel like i was back i was transported back in time and i was back in college again we had an incredible job just watching uh her we watched the game but we more watched the other part of the uh we watched the dance team we watched the game but neither left it was a phenomenal experience and we're so proud of her and all of our kids that we managed through this season one in college one in high school one in middle school and uh it's a fun it's my wife wants to go to every game she said listen let's go to all level and i had a 5 am or 6 a.m flight last sunday to come back because i wanted to preach god's word and the lord said to me that morning he said listen i don't know if this flight 5 a.m 6 a.m on sunday morning i just don't think that's of god i just don't think the lord's going to bless you to get to that flight so i turned over into bed stay with my family and and let pastor green know the day before i said listen you you got it that's why we have a great team i'm so thankful that we have an incredible incredible team and so thankful for all those that served together all right family would you grab your bible john chapter 15 verse 5 john chapter 15 verse 5. i want to read from that particular passage and then we'll jump into god's word on today john chapter 15 verse 5 reading from the niv it says these words i am the vine you are the branches if you remain in me and i in you you will bear much fruit apart from me you can do nothing john 15 verse 5. i want to i want to talk about for just a couple moments today a life that counts a life that counts a few weeks ago i was sitting there in this funeral service as it was celebrating one of the faithful members of our church and there at this service i watched as her co-workers or as people talked about the incredible influence and impact that she had one of the ways that she impacted others is that for 30 years at baylor university baylor hospital she was a nurse manager and administrator there and he talked about the incredible ways in which she served so many of her patients as well as her co-workers she was so well respected for the impact that she had upon their lives matter of fact people often talked about her always being a giver always being someone that was always willing to give to someone else help someone else coach someone else walk with someone else but not just her impact on her workplace on her proportional professional career but her also her family reflected as well on the influence that she had upon their lives she uh was single for all of her life but she talked about the way in which she invested in her nieces and her nephews she had an incredible impactful life her life counted the truth of the matter that all of us want to have a life that counts every single one of us when we think about our lives when we think about what we've where we've come from at the end of the day we want a life that counts but the question has to be asked what what does it mean to live a life that counts how do you measure that i mean it's a it's a life that counts one where you've had professional success where you've had promotion after promotion you've had a long career or you got your own business entrepreneur is that a life that counts or or or is it influence that you are known that you've been able to build your business your brand your following and you've been able to accomplish it is that a life that counts or is it in your in your family life right or maybe it's your marriage and your family and the stuff you've been able is that a life or is it your money or your financial capacity maybe you've been able to accumulate and have the car and the clothes and all the stuff is that a life that counts the truth of the matter is that many people spend their lives trying to find out what it really means to have a life that counts but i want to suggest to you that it's right here in john chapter 15 verse 5 that i believe that jesus in his words to his disciples and us gives you and i the secret to really living a life to count that no matter where you are in your season of life no matter where you are in your journey i believe right here in john chapter 15 verse 5 he helps us to understand that if you really want a life to count it is summed up in one word really this phrase be fruitful fruitful is really the terminology here he says listen you abide in me you will bear much fruit he's trying to help us to understand if you really want your life to matter your life to be significant if you really want to for your life to have had an impact to have mattered it all revolves about a life just around fruitful now fruitful not a term you and i use often right let me define what fruitful is this term fruitful really has two aspects to it it means both inward character and outward conduct and what he's literally saying in this text he's saying listen you want a fruit you want a life that counts you got to be a fruitful life inward inward character means how you think about people how you think about life how you feel about life your attitude in life character is who you are when nobody else is looking it's not what you do just on your job it's what you do it's what your your smaller circle of friends think about you uh outward conduct is how you treat people how you treat people that may have done your own how you treat somebody that may not be able to to to return anything back to you he says to us if you want to have a life that counts it all revolves around you being a fruitful person so the question how does how do you accomplish that let me walk you through three ideas i think come out of the text to help us to really live a life to count here's the first one somebody say rest he really says this rest in jesus as the vine rest in jesus as the vine it is this i want you to look at john 15 5. look what he says i am the vine and you are the branches if you want to live a life to calculate first of all you got to learn how to rest in jesus it was february of this past year when many of us began to had a vivid reminder that we are not we are not our own homes are not the source of our power it was there while many were in their homes trying to deal with this winter storm that we discovered that the only reason that we have power at our house that we pay a company who then has an electrical grid who then provides us power that then lights up our homes and then that was in that vivid reminder that we realized that the only reason we have power is who we are connected to even if you have a generator the generator doesn't have power in and of itself the generator then has to have propane or natural gas or gasoline or solar something else so that they can have power even of itself it is a reminder friends that the only reason your house has the power that it has is because it's connected to electric company that you pay to provide you the energy that you have friends in the same way the only way that you can live a life discount is to recognize that power doesn't exist in you the only reason you have power is when you are hooked up to jesus christ and when jesus christ gives you power he will give you what you need so that you can live the life that god has called you to live without your connection to him you are powerless it's a reminder friends that jesus has never had to requisition for more power he's never had to ask anybody to give him more grace to give him more great more power more resources no because he's divine he already has everything that we could ever need in our lives and as long as we are connected to him we will have everything that we need we will have more power we will have more direction we will have more wisdom why not because it's in us but it's because of who we are connected to and when we are connected to jesus he meets us in this moment this is a picture of what he says i am the true vine he is reminding you and i that the power source that you have in your life is not found in you alone but the power source you have in your life is found in jesus christ and that's the only way you can cope and make it through life you have to rest in him one of the things this pandemic has reminded us this vivid reminder of how fragile some stuff can be the the supply chain from many different industries has been interrupted even now car manufacturers have been producing cars but the problem is they don't have the computer chips the computer chips there's a shortage so there are there are there are spaces where cars feel the lots of manufacturers where there are cars but the cars can't be utilized because there are no chips to allow the cars to function properly the supply chain has been interrupted and here they are waiting on the supply chain to be able to provide them with the chips they need for the cars to function properly but when you ch when jesus says i am the true vine what he literally is saying is that my supply chain has never been interrupted he's never had the requisition for additional overtime he's never had the requisition for more power or more resources he's never had to ask somebody else to get a co-signer to be able to get a bank loan so he can begin to expand the capacity of his business no because he's jesus he already has everything that he needs while other people are praying to the universe jesus is the creator of the universe and so he has everything that he needs inside of himself he is self-sustained he is self-existent and so friends you and i must remember to know that jesus is divine is to have a confidence and to rest in who he is that because he's jesus the same jesus that gave you that job it's the same jesus that will give you the next job to know that because he's jesus the same jesus that got you through your twenties it's the same jesus that will get you through your thirties that because to know he's divine means the same jesus allows you to have children is the same jesus that will sustain you in raising your children you've got to know that jesus is the true vine and because he is i can rest in him friends you will wear yourself out if you begin to believe that you're the source of everything you will kill yourself trying to accomplish and trying to prove and trying to validate yourself but when you come to realize that jesus is the source you don't have to compete with anybody else you ain't got to compare yourself to anybody else you ain't got to be jealous of anybody else you ain't got to be envious of anybody else you ain't got to look at nobody's feet and wonder why can my life be like that instead you rest in the fact and the reality that because jesus is divine anything that's meant to come to you he will help it get there and the less you try to fret yourself and instead you rest in him the more you'll see him work through your life and the more fruitful you will become he said i want you to catch this jesus it's a true vine so friends you got a real you got a real dilemma you got to decide upon him either you can rest in jesus or you can be restless in yourself it's your choice friend you got to decide which one you're going to choose you can rest in jesus and who he is you can rest in the fact that your entire salvation is not based on what you did it's not based on you keeping a list of not doing this not doing that no your salvation is found by resting in the righteousness of jesus christ and what he did on the cross for you for your sins you can rest in that you can rest in the fact that because jesus has all wisdom he will give you the wisdom that you need to make the decisions that you need because jesus has all power he will be able to guide you through situations when you don't have power because jesus is a healer of all diseases you can have confidence that if he doesn't heal you today he will heal you in the next life but either way you will be him because jesus is who he is you can have a confidence you can have a boldness you don't care what your boss says you don't care what your ex says you don't care what somebody else said you say listen you ain't my source you might be a resource but jesus is my source and because he's my source i can rest in him whether the pandemic lasts 18 months or 19 months or 20 months or 24 months i can put a mask on i can get vaccinated and i can keep on moving and why because jesus is my source that jive ain't my source that man ain't my source my ex ain't my source my kids ain't my source no jesus is my source the gospel of john has these seven i am statements when he says i am the true vine is not the first time he ever says this seven times in john he has these seven i am savants i am the good shepherd i am the way the truth and the life i am the door i am the bread of life he has these seven i am statements and all of these i am statements are meant to give us a fuller picture of who jesus is the entire gospel of john is written to convey to god's people and to compare it to the world that jesus is the son of the living god who has come to grant eternal life to those who believe and the more we rest in who jesus is it changes everything you can live a life that counts because it's not just resting on you it's resting on what jesus is doing through you here it is not only rest in jesus vine but secondly you must remain remain in jesus remain in jesus name look at the verse if you remain in me and i knew you will bear much fruit that word there remain some virgins say abide it is a it means to stay it means to loiter it it's a greek word mino m-e-n-o it means it is some cases a home it means to stay he says if you want to bear much fruit i need you to stay close to me i need you to remain i want you to stay connected i want you to catch that he said i want you to remain i want you to stay i want you to i want you if you just if you just stay come on jamal i want you to i want you to stay if you if you just he says i want you to stay i want you to he said if you just stay right there just just just he said i want you just just to stay if you just stay you're going to bear much fruit i want you just to remain i want you to remain if you just if you just remain if you just if you just stay right there if you just stay if you just i just want you to stay it i want you to stay if you stay right there you're gonna you're gonna you're gonna bear much much fruit but the challenge is often we don't want to stay i need you to stay if you just stay well you don't understand i got a plan i got to make this happen no i just need you to stay you don't understand i got i got a plan on my life and i'm trying if i don't do it who else gonna do it no i just need you to stay i thought i'd be married by now i thought i'd have this business by now i didn't ask you that i just need you to stay i'm looking at my friends and my friend i'm the only one i didn't ask you all that i need you to stay if i don't do it who else go do it i just need you to stay if you would just stay right where you are i would do some stuff in your life and through your life and with your life and for your life but i need you to stay for somebody today god has brought you all the way here today to tell you if you just would remain in him if you just stay right where he has you right now if you would just stay right where he has positioned you right now that god will do some stuff in your life but you got to stay it's so easy to want to get up and move and to leave some situations but some situations cannot be changed and sometimes god says if you just remain right here i'm gonna do some stuff in your head i'm gonna do some stuff in your heart i'm gonna do some stuff in your life so that when it's time for you to go you'll be ready to go but if you don't get ready now you won't handle what i'm doing in the next season of your life [Applause] i just need you to remain in him right now somebody today god wants you to tell you just because it doesn't look like you're making much movement doesn't mean god's not working right where you are but god right now is using your life he's preparing you to produce fruit when you read that text the text says sometimes god has to prune some stuff off your life sometimes god that when you've been fruitful he has to cut some branches off of your life so that you can be more fruitful and sometimes the pruning may be painful but the pruning is also purposeful because god is trying to grow you and trying to enlarge your territory and trying to make you a greater son or daughter of his but you have to remain our church in the last 30 days we've had more funerals than we've ever had in history of our church it has been incredibly difficult our team led by pastor williams and others has done an incredible job serving families and sometimes i want to i want to we've never had to preach so many eulogies and sometimes i want to tell the lord lord can we when this go in i don't want lord this is this is how many more times but i feel the lord sometimes whispering to my heart and to our team and to others and somebody in this room knows what it's like to lose somebody you even know what it's like to lose multiple people but sometimes the lord will allow you to stay right in the season of grief right in that moment of loss because god is trying to do something in your life he's trying to make you closer to him he's trying to develop something in your heart and soul he's trying to get you to take life even more seriously he's he's trying to remind you of the gifts that he sometimes gives us in our lives but if you don't stay and remain in him you're gonna miss what god is trying to do in your heart and soul doesn't mean it's gonna be easy but i want you to know that god never wastes anything in your life that god never wastes any pain god never wasting the difficulty but if you stay god is going to do something in your life while you sit in that seat while you sit in that job while you sit in that relationship while you sit in that house while you move in with somebody while you stay where you are because god is about to do something that he can't do unless you remain in him thank you jay i appreciate you dr tony evans tells a story about abiding he says there are two types of people that when it comes to tea drinking tea there are two types of people there are dippers who are constantly dipping the bag in the water trying to get the the tea bag to to flavor the water and they constantly dip it but then there are those that abide they leave the tea bag in the water and they allow the work of the water to work with the tea bag and allow the two to fuse together and far too many of us are dippers when it comes to what god is called we we dip in one relationship without the other one we dip in one job out the other one we dip in one problem out the other one instead what god is saying to us if you would just stay where i plant you if you would just stay where i position you if you would just stay close to me i'm going to let the work of the holy spirit work on your life i will do something in the conjunct in the in the mixture that will change your life forever friends you've got to remain have you ever wondered why god doesn't move faster ever wonder why why doesn't why why some prayers we've prayed haven't been answered yet i believe what he teaches in this text is that you can't measure your life and you can't measure god's response by somebody else's instead he tells us if you stay in me i will bear fruit in your life even when you can't see it and some stuff you go through will make you stronger will make you wiser will make you more mature will make you clearer in your thinking will make you more like jesus christ he says listen i just need you to abide somebody says okay what does it mean pastor tell me how to abide here it is it's about four ideas come out of the text so you want to abide he said you got to keep believing jesus you want to abide every day you got to choose jesus i'ma keep believing you even when it don't make sense i'm gonna keep believing you even when it's not what i plan i'm gonna keep believing you even when i even when you've blessed me beyond what i could expect i'ma keep believing you every day i'ma keep believing you i'm gonna keep trusting you i'm gonna keep honoring you i'm gonna keep working i'm gonna keep chasing after you that's how you abide you just keep on believing jesus here it is another way he says in the text is you gotta keep obeying jesus the the text goes on and says listen if you want to be close to him you got to do what he says which means you got to learn how to reorder your life around what his word says around what his plan said that it's just not about what you want and how you want it but you got to reorder your life and say jesus whatever you say in your word whatever you say in my life i am following after you a young couple in our church a couple of years ago they were wrestling with a decision they had been dating for quite a while and uh they were ready to get married he wanted to move in with her but she said listen i don't want you to move in with me just yet i want to wait till we get married and they're going back and forth so they said okay pastor can you sit down and talk with us i said all right we sit down and talk to them we said okay what does god's word say right and so we start going with the word and having conversations and uh and it's a fascinating conversation because he he had already figured out how much money it could cost him how much money he's gonna save he had a whole balance sheet about how this thing was going to work out and then she had the bible for where she was going to honor god and he said to me he said listen i guess at some point you got to get beyond the balance sheet and you got to decide whether i want to honor god or not and friends there gonna be so many points and junctures in your life where you gonna have to decide whether i'm an honor god or whether i'm gonna do whatever feels right and he comes and says you obedience is the pathway to honoring god faith here it is i gotta keep praying i gotta keep believing i gotta keep praying i just gotta stay close to him there could be so many things that wanna pull you away from him but you gotta stay close to him my wife and i were first getting our first home we were 25 years old we were new teachers we had uh we were starting our careers together and we were ready to get this new home and uh you ever wanted something but you knew uh your money wasn't right for what you wanted and so we went looking house to house and showroom we found one but we knew we didn't have what it took and so we drew close to jesus in every way we could man we prayed over that house they were building the house which meant it taken like eight nine months which gave us money to save while we were waiting on the building while they were building that house we walk around that house we prayed over that foundation they were putting they were putting wood up we'd walk around it again we would have prayer walks because we knew there was no way this was going to happen unless jesus moved in a miraculous way we moved in with her parents and we prayed and we fasted and we sought god we got as close to god if we possibly could because we were like listen god we really want this but we're trusting you for this thing and god would answer money came out of nowhere from a relative that we didn't even know my grandmother had a cd that had been sitting there for 20 years that was 5 000 just the amount of money that we needed because we were short in areas and we saw god work and i thought to myself brian when's the last time you prayed over your own house today isn't it amazing how when you want something from god how close you get to god but somehow we can drift into complacency and we can begin to walk as though everything is fine but maybe can i tell you something if you want to if you want to abide next to god you're going to have to get close to god and it is your prayer and it is your fasting that will reach for him in every way here it is i gotta remain in here let me give you this laughs with friends and i'm done i gotta resist somebody say resist i gotta resist and here's here's the big prince here it is i gotta resist the the urge to do it alone look at the test apart from me you can do nothing there's a temptation for you to try to do it on your own there's a temptation in life for you to do life on your own dating on your own marriage on your own your career on your own your finances on your own there's a temptation for you to think you can handle everything by yourself there's a temptation to think that you're smart you can figure this out right this is a temptation that you will be falling into to try to do it on your own matter of fact text says this apart from me you can do nothing he's trying to help us to understand that you and i will be tempted do relationships however you want to even try to do god however you want you try to do you say you know what maybe i don't need church i can just do it on my own i can take a little bit of jesus a little bit of crystals a little bit of sage mix it all together and find me something that works for me and he says listen you're gonna spend a whole lot of activity trying to do stuff on your own but just because you're doing stuff doesn't mean you're really making progress you ever seen a hamster we go to my mom we have a we have a couple pets at the house and so we're always at pets mark buying something and they're in there at petsmart there's a hamster and that hamster he makes a whole lot of activity i mean he runs and he runs and he runs on that little little wheel running and running and running and he thinks he's going somewhere i mean he is convinced that he is making all kinds of impact but what he doesn't know is that he's going in a circle the entire time friends when you attempt to live your life without jesus oh you are you're the same way as a hamster on a wheel you think you're going somewhere but listen you're not going anywhere you may think you have everything you may think you're making progress but it's a lie from the enemy you're making motion but you're not making an impact your hat you have activity but you're not making an accomplishment you're just a hamster on the wheel because if you don't have jesus in it you can't accomplish anything you're just going round and round and around but you'll never get to where god wants you to go because you left jesus out of the equation and he says apartheid you can do nothing he says the only way for you to accomplish to make your life a life that counts a life that matters a life of significance is to invite jesus into every aspect and arena of your life and to then rely on jesus to work through you not you trying to do it and add jesus on no it's every day when you wake up jesus i need you today when you get ready for your meeting jesus i need you today as you take care of your kids jesus i need you today when you're in relationships jesus i need you today it is you inviting jesus into every aspect your money your dating your love life your communication your career it's saying jesus if you don't do it in my life it cannot be done because i can't do it i'm not smart enough i'm not resourceful enough i'm not mature enough i need you in every arena of my life if you invite jesus in then you will see jesus do through your life and make your life the fruitful life that god has called you to do i mentioned we were on our way home back home last weekend from atlanta and as we were coming back to dfw airport we were headed up to the parking lot and there there they had a a huge huge escalator and it reminded me that that when i when i begun to realize that what it means to abide in jesus is simply this when you abide in jesus it's not about you on a hamster wheel trying to do everything yourself but when you abide in jesus all it means that you you are literally stepping on the escalator of jesus christ and you simply stand on the escalator and then you you watch jesus and you watch him be in the vine as he takes you exactly where you need to be you ain't gotta go up the steps you ain't gotta hit no button you just step on jesus say jesus i need you as a man i need you as a woman i need you to guide me i need you to direct me i need you to tell me what to do with this career i need you to help me with these kids and if you stay in jesus jesus will take you exactly where you need to be you just gotta rest in him and rest to who he is and watch him work in your life and that's how you have a fruitful life not about you trying to make everything depending upon yourself it's about you resting in jesus and watching jesus do through you but you can't do on your own and there are men and women in this room today that knows when you look back over your life you've seen god bear some fruit in your life you've seen god give you joy that you know it's not yours you've seen god make you a loving person when you know what you've been through you've seen god give you a peace that you know it's not your own peace you've seen god give yourself control you've seen god give you a love you've seen god give you a patience you've seen god give you an endurance and all you can do is say listen that has to be the jesus in me that's coming through me that's helped me to be who god has called me to be in this season and what you are seeing is jesus working in my life friend that's my prayer for you that you would have a life that counts she would have a life that honors god in every way but it only happens it's the more you surrender your life to him and the more you surrender your life to him the more he works through you and he helps your life to be fruitful would you buy your hands a moment of prayer as you by your head would you simply ask the lord lord i want my life to count you take a moment right where you are and simply ask him lord i want my life to count take a moment now and just begin to ask the lord lord i want my life to count did you pray that for your life today lord i wanted to cow lord i want it to matter lord i want you to work through me lord help me to rest in you lord help me to rest in your plan let him help me to rest in your work lord help me to rest in you come on you ought to ask him for it in your own life lord i want to be fruitful lord i want my life to count i want my life to matter lord i want you to do through me what only you can do come on ask him ask him ask him father we come today and we simply want to tell you thank you we come today and we honor you lord for all you've done and all you're doing we trust you god for the work you're doing in our lives help us to be fruitful help us live a life that counts that impacts everyone around us whether it's our co-workers whether it's our neighbors what is our family our friends our church that people can see you with us in such a way that their lives are made better help us to be lights wherever you place us help us to rest in you and allow you to work through us we love you we trust you we commit everything to you it's in the name of jesus that we say this prayer and god's people said amen come on and bless god together in this place amen we now want to invite someone today that doesn't have a relationship with jesus christ if you're today in this room and you've never said yes to jesus christ you've never surrendered to him you've been doing life on your own i want to invite you this very moment to make a decision to follow him there are text codes on the screen in front of me and also on those that are online and we want to invite you right at this very moment to begin the choose to follow after jesus christ you can text and accept to that number and you can begin your new journey today or you can join our church family or maybe you're ready to get baptized whatever your whatever you are in your journey i want to invite you this very day to take your next step with jesus christ to take your next step become a follow right now grab your phone wherever you are or online you can do that right now i met a young man after the first service today that he made a decision it was him and his family and two kids they joined the church family this morning listen it's the right time to take your next step time out for trying to do it on your own but to put your faith in jesus christ and begin your journey today so again everyone making that decision come on let's praise god for everyone make a decision at this time listen friends we've been celebrating our young adults today and so they're going to come for a panel in just a moment where we're going to celebrate and have a conversation about how this is lived out as young adults but before we do that i want to uh invite where's kendall briscoe it's kendall kendall briscoe where's kendall's kendall here this morning hey kendall would you stand for me kendall come here for one second man shakira would you come with him as well his wife kendall is getting ready he's the younger of our church and uh again he's been he's been he's getting ready to um be send off he has commissioned overs overseas to go and serve our country this is his first time to go away serving our country and they just asked for prayer all right and so i want to offer a prayer we want to pray for you guys and then directly follow that the video will come so shakira and kendall our prayers are with you come on fam would you extend your head to them and let's pray for them together as he goes to serve our country overseas come on let's pray for him church family the god will be with him the god will protect his family the god protect everything their home the lord would be with them first time away [Music] lord we come praying right now for kendall we pray lord that you will keep your hand of protection upon kendall thank you for his wife and his family and friends that came today just requesting prayer we pray for him as you send them overseas to serve lord would you guide him lord would you cover him lord you protect him thank you for his courage thank you for his willingness to serve his country and father we just pray lord be with him every step along this journey be with his family be with his children lord strengthen them and cover them is our prayer we thank you lord for how you're going to walk with him and we thank you lord for how you're going to keep him we thank you in advance lord for all that you're going to do in him and through him may he be a light to his other soldiers may you use him as a witness to others may they see jesus in him in every way that he walks with you may you keep him close to your word and close to your people we love you lord for all you're going to do who kendall we give him to you right now in the name of jesus we say this prayer and god's people said amen come on and give god praise for all right praise the lord god bless you great all right all right family let's watch this quick video then let's have this conversation with our young adults [Music] there's some stuff that happens in our lives some things that come we will never understand it we will never be able to put the pieces together it'll never add up but we have to trust it because god is sovereign i can trust god even when it doesn't make sense to me no i really can't complain [Music] she said could it be that god has uniquely picked you for this assignment and she began to remind herself that when you are a follower of christ understand this you are built for this [Music] good morning we are so excited that you decided to worship with us today we you just saw a quick recap of our young adult experience that happens once a month on wednesdays called the table and something that's special about the table is after we hear the message we go into a q a where we get to digest and talk about how to really apply this in our lives so we have some special folks with us and i'll let them introduce themselves and we will jump right in hello hello my name is scott jenae traylor i am a licensed master social worker in a middle school in denton texas my name is will cyrus no relation to miley cyrus i'm a developer i'm an owner of purpose builder and developments and i build modern new construction homes in fair park [Applause] so pastor carter thank you for that amazing word on making your life count um i want to start off with this yes it was an amazing word thank you so much um has there i want to start off with this question has there ever been a time where you were complacent in staying close to god how did that affect you walking in purpose and what did you do to really push past that oh i guess i i can start i can start us off um i'll give it like a personal example so for me like i've had so many instances in my life um so just to kind of like wrap myself and throw myself under the bus i remember when i first got saved so this was 2011. that's when i gave my life to christ and started taking my relationship with god series but before that like i didn't come from like humble beginners right you know i used to be a street dude you know i got out in mud got out of the streets and got kind of started to do some things in my life i made some changes you know got on my purity walk so about two years into that you know i had a stumble i had a fall and in that stumble and in that fall i felt like god could no longer use me so in that moment in my walk with christ i walked away from god and i started to follow the ways in the past of the world i started focusing on getting my bag right getting my money because i felt like well god can't use me in the church so let me let me try to figure this out a different way so long story short kind of like the parable of the lost son i kind of made my way back to jesus and then that god started speaking to me and started showing me that hey the things in which you did in the world i've turned those things around to put you on a path towards purpose henceforth you know these many years later i started my company purpose builder and developments and the hearts intent behind my company is to build modern homes for these kids in these lower income communities to be able to see outside of what their neighborhood represents because in fair park you can see downtown dallas but i want these kids and these residents to be able to see that hey we can have knife stuff in our own neighborhoods too and hopefully that can inspire that next great thing or that next great leader to do what god's taught them to do i would say for me when i am in moments and seasons which we all have where we get complacent that is when i need accountability the most my prayer partner my bible study members they really pushed me and in one season accountability looked like they were my no man right like no scott don't do this don't do that but in this season they're my yes men like yes god has called you to this place god has called you to do this thing do that walk that way and um that has really helped me get complacent because i will be i'm like gideon i'm like god show me a sign show me another one and another one but really having my prayer partner keep me accountable accountable and pushing me has kept me from being complacent thanks pastor carter any insider sure sure i think that um part of what i've what i've when i get complacent is really i think god uses other people in my life to kind of help me there um because i think all of us have a tendency to drift you know what i mean just kind of lose focus or drift away from whether than toward so a real practical example just this past uh friday and saturday i had a really bad attitude right and i don't know why i had it but my wife and i were just talking she said listen what's wrong with you why do you have a bad attitude right i was real short or sarcastic i know you can never imagine pastor being sarcastic but i was you know i had quick answers right and uh they weren't the most thoughtful and i don't know what it was but i needed her at that point to say listen what's wrong with you why do you have a bad attitude you know why you know i don't know why you know y'all asked so many questions you know women y'all asked a whole bunch of questions y'all can ask questions man but not neither not neither back to the point but but anyway um but but but it was helpful right i i think you need accountability in your life i got some good friends of mine that i can talk to right and so their accountability in my life helps me to make sure i'm i'm growing as i need to grow in my walk with christ and so i think relationships are essential to kind of help us not be complacent and drift to just being our worst version of ourselves rather than our best version of ourselves [Applause] so as young adults there are so many things that are vying for our attention really just in general so many things that are vying for our attention how do you stay close to god in the midst of those situations where there's so many things that are trying to grab at you but you know and you want to stay close to god there's so much happening around you i i guess i'll go because that is so true this i mean i work in um education so school is open um social medias run rampant and in a covet you know in an unprecedented time how do you stay connected how do you how do i go to work every day knowing you know that i could be sick or someone i come into contact could be sick it's hard but i think it starts with sunday showing up to church right but then it also starts with monday in your routine do you pray in the morning do you read your bible plan in the morning do you have people like pastor carter were saying that you could call when you're slipping when i need a word of encouragement i think it's um protecting my peace by putting in those safeguards into my day and into my week monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturday until i get here on sunday and can get a word [Applause] i just like the piggyback off of you i know for me um i'll be honest so i keep it a book i keep it a hundred i don't always do as i should right so um in the moments in which i am on track i think what helps me is just really just reaching out to brothers right because sometimes it can be real hard especially for us men you know because we have this pride we have this thing of not wanting to seem weak not wanting to let others know that we're hurting so for me man it's just imperative and important that i reach out to my accountability partners my mentors and the men that are in my life that are helping me to stay grounded because people may look at me on social media whatever the channel they they may look at me and it may seem like i have it all together but truthfully speaking i don't dude i need help i need my brothers to keep me accountable i need people to check on me and be like hey bro you good how was your week how was your day so me just doing my part and just being open and being available really helps me out [Applause] i would say i mean those are great answers um just continue to build on that i would say that um you need some habits in your life right it's like going to the gym so so physical fitness and godliness are just alike right you got to have some habits to help you get there and they're going to be some signs there will be some seasons where you're doing really good season when you're falling right and so i think the habits the disciplines i think that's i think that's helped me and i think it's it's it's what we see through our scriptures it's whether it's prayer or fasting reading the god reading god's word in st bible study worship on sundays all those things are important and sometimes you don't want to do them but you got to make yourself do them right you know what i mean like like you got to make yourself go to church right because this you know that you need this for your soul and if you don't do it then all the other stuff just invades your soul and you you miss out on god even reading the word like you can have a bible reading plan but say you fall off it's okay to be on day 30 you know in in march or in april you know i mean it's fine so i think i think you got to give yourself permission to know it may you may not meet it every day but i think you've got to have some goals of where you're trying to go right but i want to spend some time with god i'm trying to journal about what i'm going through and some mornings when you don't you don't feel like reading you don't feel like journaling you can sit there turn on a worship song and and worship your way to work right so you got to give yourself permission to know i'm gonna meet with god but i'm gonna give him permission to kind of show me what that looks like for that day i love that and it's also giving yourself the grace that god has already given us i love that this is one last question um growth in growth seasons we always think like oh something's going to be added to me there's going to be addition but growth doesn't always mean an addition sometimes it means subtraction how have you seen god subtract in your life in order for you to bear fruit and kind of speak to what you potentially learned in that situation um i can start um i would add to that growth does not always mean it does mean subtraction it doesn't always mean addition sometimes it means multiplication like i look back over my life and i can see you know where god has taken something from me or taken right something from me and this season but he's added so much more in the next maybe he's given me joy he's given me peace through my grief so much more and i think um i just thinking about biblically right you think about um just even our creation story like how he took from adam and made eve or how he um joseph right in one season was in a pit or in trouble and then another season found himself in a palace like i just look to see how god has taken but he's always multiplied so sometimes it's addition sometimes it's multiplication and that's what i've learned is just i need to stay connected to him and his math sometimes does not make sense right to my finite like mind but it always adds how much mores but i think how much more and he always gives so much more than he takes [Applause] i'll piggyback off of you um when i look all throughout my life i think in the moments of subtraction god has given me the greatest addition so for example i remember um what kind of got me on my path towards salvation was when one of my best friends that i was in the streets with committed suicide so this was 2011. so that was a huge subtraction in my life and god sovereignly used his death to push me towards the cross and that's just one example and then in what led me to dallas right i lost a job when i was living in temple i was working in corporate america had a real good job um back with 2013-ish and god subtracted and took that job for me and it forced me to step outside of my comfort zone and move to dallas texas henceforth you know it's 2021 god has done some amazing amazing things in my life because of those things he started subtracting and i started my company i got a seven figure company um and life is just moving in a direction that i never could have dreamed or fathomed coming from the hood coming from lower income america and i just i'm just very thankful that whenever i see subtraction i know god is about to add something big so that's just my two cents that's good i mean i've seen the lord take away from my life in a in a number of ways um or subtract i guess the hardest part has been when he's taking certain people so there were a season where god had surrounded me with mentors these were men that were pouring into my life right they that's why i called first i saw i got wisdom from what i was failing or whether i was success and success they were there right but then all three of them they all passed away in a series of a short period of time and i was like dang man like who do i go to now like god you don't let me out here you know and it was it was hard right because i'm like dang this is what i don't that's what i leaned on but then i saw god add people right over time i saw god add people into my life but i also got tell me that i had to be that for somebody else right and so i had to deal with that piece and then i've seen god in my life subtract some people that i needed that i'm thankful they were subtracted right i mean there were some relationships and some situations where the lord had to remove so he's attracted some stuff right and and and he was working in a bigger way and i had and sometimes it was painful through the process but now as i look back i have to trust what god was doing in my life and that thing man so i'm i'm just learning you know what when he do it it's painful sometimes but sometimes he's working through that thing all the way through good stuff good stuff this was just a snippet we do this at like i said at our table experience so we'd love for you to come out and just worship with us and get more of this and have more insight so that the word is applicable in your life so i want to tell you just a little bit about the young adult ministry we're a group of people who love christ and our main goal is to equip other young adults to navigate their faith journey connect and impact others as we walk in purpose and the table is where we gather once a month in a contemporary space for that experience and we just anticipate the presence of god we worship we pray we have a message we're encouraged and we have a great time so i want you to come out and join us this wednesday to the 29th at deck on dragon doors open at six we have a live dj uh and the experience starts at seven we're going to go ahead and transition into our giving would you just give one more round of applause for these amazing people and their insight thank you there are two ways to give here at concord the general offering that supports our mission and vision and the love offering that supports and cares for our pastor and family you can find the information on the screens and we'd love for you to be a cheerful giver and give from your heart today again thank you so much for worshiping us with us we have one more worship song to just get you lifted and ready for your week but before we do that i want to leave you with a blessing for the week may the lord bless you and keep you make his may his face shine upon you and be gracious to you may he turn his face towards you and give you peace y'all have a great week one more worship song we'll see you next sunday amen if you're able to you can stand on your feet as we sing this last song of worship together bless you father god we thank you for grace and mercy grace and mercy anybody grateful for grace and mercy over your life the song just says lord i thank you for new life and new mercies that i have and you were no longer bound no more chains are holding us it talks about the freedom that is found in jesus christ [Music] thank you father thank you lord [Music] thank you father [Music] [Music] there we go here we go put your hands together [Music] god we thank you for new life that is found in jesus christ the lyrics on the [Music] who could carry that kind [Music] and i was breathing [Music] i tried to hide oh [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] now your mercy safe [Music] oh [Music] thank you lord and now your freedom is all i know i know jesus jesus [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] does anybody have a testimony in this place that you know what god has set you free from god we thank you this next part this is my testimony here we go i needed a rescue my sin was heavy but chains break at the weight of your glory i need a i was an orphan now you call me a citizen of heaven when i was broken you were my healing now your love is here that i'm breathing i have a future my eyes are open cause when you call down [Music] [Music] is [Music] somebody just tell them thank you father god for new life that is found in you new life and the new mercies that are found in you put your hands together oh god we say i am free to the old song we're gonna take it back it says i am free praise the lord is anybody grateful for freedom that is found in jesus do you know what god could when he set you free from when you say i am free sing it out you say praise the lord and we're no longer bound

Channel: Concord Church

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Id: 9-0vzVI7Z_U

Length: 65min 54sec (3954 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 26 2021