Adjust Your Grip | Summit Spokane

[Music] do [Music] [Music] [Music] do [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] do [Music] do [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] do [Music] [Music] do [Music] yes i mean hey hey good morning welcome to summit to our online campus my name is seth this is courtney hello we have the privilege of spending this morning with you i will be here on the front end for a few minutes we'll be live with you all service long you'll see us uh in the chat hanging out with you guys and then we'll be here for a few minutes afterwards just to kind of kind of wrap up talk about the service for a minute we're excited to get spin this morning oh i worked really hard to not did i say so excited if i say so excited just every time just boo in the chat just boo it is a privilege to spend this morning with you i am excited though too that's real full fan yeah both hey pastor grant is going to be continuing us on in our sermon series uncomplicated going through the lord's prayer very excited for that this is week four five five six five it's the last week that was the last the final week it is the final week which i i'm a little bit sad about but this sermon has just filled me with so many just good things to remember it's a good series yeah a lot of life in it so we're gonna really enjoy that today and glean a lot from that i know and then we also have worship and prayer just on the front end of things like we usually do so that's wonderful excited about those things uh online you are here online remember that there's a chat function part of this the whole idea of this is that we want this to be a family we want you to remember that we are god's church we're doing this together and so if you know people who are in the same city or maybe in the next state over anything like that feel free to jump in there and say hello say hello to us we'd love to know that you're there give them that shout out yeah for sure like i said we will be live especially if you're on the website you'll see that chat on the right that's that's where we'll be living and it's not just sunday right it's not just any sunday not just the final sunday it's super bowl sunday yep i'm excited i'm a nerd loves me some super bowls i'm still pulling for the bills uh i'm aware that they're not in the super bowl but a little bit too late but they should have been that's i stand by that are you guys are you super bowl people yes we're definitely super bowl people yes see seahawks first hackers close second because all my family is back in wisconsin oh shout out to wisconsin yeah okay so uh yeah yeah well we're football people all the way through not just super bowl fans just any of the football all the things go to snack food combo what do you what's your jam chicken wings chicken chips okay chicken wings and football the two things just like go together we don't have chicken wings at any other point in a year other than football that's interesting i just had to think i was like i don't think i've ever eaten a chicken wing not watching cooking yeah yep all the other things i'll eat at another point some time of the year yeah you just blew my mind a little bit i was like when else had i had chickens it happened how does that hurt my face a little bit i love it speaking of things that we get to celebrate yeah summit kids let's go back in session we are so excited to welcome your little ones back yeah on a february 21st at the 9 a.m service uh we are going to be having ages zero to five back in the building in person more information on that is to come but we're very excited about that and we're going to roll it out in like a phase process right kind of like the schools like the different ages yeah exactly like the school so if you are kindergarten and above your little ones are going to be coming back in the building eventually too so hold that hope it's happening yep that'll be online i think this coming week or so you get all the details and all the fun that is there and at some point for our adults as we are adult humans and we follow jesus together we really believe that there's the kind of three primary pathways uh to grow in our spiritual maturity to grow in our faith one is sunday's which welcome you made it you're here we're doing it pajamas and coffee whatever that might look like pajamas noon i mean yeah some people there's no shame it's a weekend enjoy enjoy uh so one of sunday's two is alpha and then three is community groups yes if you are really following jesus and you want to grow in your face you want to grow in your maturity you want to grow into your biblical understanding just really the whole kit and caboodle i debated saying that as it came out of my mouth i was like ooh kitten caboodle good job dad but that's okay you really want to grow in your faith that's kind of the the way that we frame that man come and join the community online in person whatever that looks like come and join alpha join a community group yeah and allow god to speak to you through that and see how he shapes your faith in life in it yeah and this courtney carbaugh is our community group's director so if you have questions yeah if you want to get plugged in if you want to know what's going on email courtney and she'll handle yeah absolutely answer all the questions and get you plugged in courtney saves the world yeah that's a real thing like she just does all of the things and i have a wonderful team that i work with so we do it all together it's good stuff hey if you're just jumping in to join us online we are glad you're here pastor grant's going to lead us into uncomplicated as we just talked about we're excited for our last week in that sermon series and we're going to have worship and prayer on the front end of that so we're going to move into that in just a bit yes full band worship too full band work it's been a while young pastor adam is leading just the whole squad it's crazy at the nine it was super fun just like oh there's like some volume this is this is happening what volume is like i love it i love the stillness of the last year or so and i also love like just the the volume the volume yeah getting to sit in that little bit of contemplative time too like right after worship after those couple songs is just amazing so stuff we're gonna kick it up to them uh get ready to worship whatever that looks like for you guys well good morning would you stand with me if you were able to those of you in the room it's so good to see you and those of you joining us online thank you for doing so we're just going to step into a time of using our voices to glorify the lord together so would you sing with us sing i searched the world i searched the world [Music] but it couldn't fill me man's empty praise and treasures that fate are never enough [Music] then you came along [Music] and put me back together and every desire is now satisfied here your love sing there's nothing oh there's nothing better than you there's nothing better than you lord there's nothing and nothing is better than you [Music] sing i'm not afraid and i'm not afraid [Music] to show you my weakness my failures and flaws lord you've seen them all and you still call me friend the god of the mountain is the god of the valley [Music] and there's not a place your mercy and grace won't find me again oh there's nothing better than you there's nothing better than you lord there's nothing nothing is better than you oh there's nothing oh there's nothing better than you there's nothing better than you lord there's nothing and nothing is [Music] you give beauty for ashes [Music] you turn shame into glory you're the only one who can't you turn more you turn mourn into dancing you give beauty for ashes you turn shame into glory [Music] you turn bones into you're the only one who cares you're the only one who cares [Music] oh there's nothing better than you there's nothing are better than you lord there's nothing and nothing is better than you there is nothing oh there's nothing better than you there's nothing better than you lord there's nothing and nothing is than you cause he's turning gray you turn crazy you turn bones into army [Music] you're the only one who cares you turn into gardens you turn bones into army you turn seas into highways you're the only one who can't you're the only one you're the only one who cares you're the only one who cares [Music] [Music] so see me see what you can do you've seen what you can do oh god of wonders [Music] you will do again cause there's no prison wall you can't break through no mountain you can't move all things are possible there's no broken body you can't raise no so that you can't save all things are possible the darkest light you can light it up you can light it up oh god of revival let hope rise death is overcome you've already won oh god of revive you rose in victory and now you're seated forever on the throne so why should my heart fear what you defeated i will trust you alone [Music] the dark is not you can light it up only you can light it up oh god of a revival let alright death is overcome you've already won oh god everyone oh god of revival lord if we sing this over our city we sing this over our church just an outpouring of your spirit god we want more of you god come awaken come awake [Music] [Music] every stronghold will crumble [Music] your people [Music] you can light it up only you can light it up oh god of a is revival but you've already won oh god [Music] let your will be done here in this place [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] hit the ground oh [Music] your presence be known in this well you can have a seat [Music] after singing together we've been carving out this time to just sit and reflect on a couple verses and pray [Music] and the verse for this morning comes out of psalm 63 and david is writing this before he becomes king he's been anointed king and in this moment he's running for his life and that's just not that's not a metaphor he's like actually fleeing the king who is trying to kill him and what strikes me about these couple of verses is that david doesn't present his request to god and just be like god just deal with this situation and [Music] what he does is he just enters into a time of telling of telling the lord just his need for him and starting in verse 1 it reads you god are my god earnestly i seek you i thirst for you my whole being longs for you in a dry and parched land where there is no water i have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power in your glory because your love is better than life my lips will glorify you [Music] i will praise you as long as i live and in your name i will lift up my hands i will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods with singing lips my mouth will praise you later on in this psalm he he acknowledges the situation he's in but right after that he says but i will earnestly seek you and just what we can do in this time of prayer we all have things going on in our lives we all have these situations that we probably want god to just take care of but we're going to enter into a time of just earnestly seeking after the lord so let's pray together [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] lord just we thank you for another day of getting to be alive um thank you that we are are gathered together right now and i i pray specifically lord that during our time together through the power of the holy spirit that you would just you would do your thing that this would be about you and what you are doing in us and desire to do through us so lord would you would you realign our desires that you would be the greatest desire of our heart that you would be our first love that we would truly know and experience a life that loves you with all our heart soul mind and strength and love our neighbor as ourselves give me clarity of speech help me not say anything stupid and uh i trust you we pray this in jesus name amen amen good morning everybody how we doing super bowl sunday yep america's easter is what i call it um everyone online welcome we're so glad you're hanging out with us my name is grant and i have the honor of getting to serve uh here as one of the pastors and um if you were with us or joined online for one of our christmas services i mentioned the story i have two younger daughters and i mentioned the story before i walked over or walked in to preach my daughter goes on christmas she goes dad why are you wearing mom's sweatshirt and i'm like why are you going to talk to me like that like i think this sweatshirt looks dope and she's like it looks like a sweatshirt mom would wear and i was like awesome and then this morning i got hit with the same thing by my three-year-old so she's standing there in her unicorn pajamas and she decides to throw some shade at me and say dad why are you wearing mom's sweater and i'm like these kids man so i don't know i'm just a wreck as a parent i was i think i literally said to her you're wearing unicorn pajamas i will never take style advice from you i love you i gotta go to work and so i'm gonna need to get some ice cream or something tonight to iron that out but uh a couple of just opportunities um just to bring to our attention um coming up in a couple weeks on the 21st sunday february 21st we're beginning a phased approach back into having kids ministry uh on sundays in-house and so yeah that's exciting um i'm excited my daughters are thrilled and uh we're still gonna continue to provide the online learning and uh and resources for kids on sunday um i was actually talking to one of our elders and he has two younger children and he was telling me that like during kovid one of the things that has happened is his kids will actually ask to watch church as opposed to cartoons and that's not the case with my girls so he's living right i got to figure some stuff out in the leadership of my family but um that that's still going to be something that our kids team is going to do and over the last couple months well we've just had a little bit of a a time of waiting we actually kind of gave a facelift to our kids kids ministry area back there it's less of a cave um i'm not embarrassed to walk a family back there and be like yeah drop your kid off here it's dope uh but so it's a it's a it's really cool and our teams are so excited uh two weeks ago i was just walking through there and i was just praying and thinking and just envisioning kids in those rooms and getting to how sweet the gospel is when it's as it's proclaimed in the life of a child that's an important thing in our church amen and so uh although we had to pivot this year and it looked different that god was faithful in that and so we're going to be re-engaging that process and phasing into that and so that's heads up on that and then next discipleship is a really important thing to us and just the uncomplicated nature of discipleship is that we are practicing the way of jesus together that we are learners of jesus's teaching and his way of life and there are multiple ways in which we engage discipleship whether it's in a community group setting because we believe that we're better together amen church we're always going to be better together and so community is a place for us to follow jesus with one another alpha is going to be firing up that's another place where it doesn't matter if you are brand new at following jesus or i like to refer to them as legacy christians if you've been following jesus for 85 years and you should be up here preaching right now instead of me um i think alpha is a great space for us to ask questions in a non-threatening environment where it's just hey i got this question about this thing or that thing and the point of alpha is not to prove a point it's to facilitate open dialogue and to to learn who jesus really is so alpha is an awesome space to do that that's getting launched pretty quickly so make sure you go to summitchurchmw.com and get registered if that's something that you're interested in um also this is just a moment in our service where we continue to worship god and trust him in obedience with regard to finances and so there's multiple ways in which you can contribute to the life of this church so that we can continue to carry the mission that jesus has for us and our city forward that's a lot are you ready for me to preach i'm ready okay buckle up put your seat belt on right now okay for the last six weeks we've been kind of wading through this this master class of prayer that jesus gives us in what is commonly referred to as the lord's prayer and throughout this time together we've recognized how jesus leads us and guides us toward a very uncomplicated conversation and encounter with the beloved of our soul with god who knows us better than we know ourselves jesus says when you pray pray like this and it is simple but the beautiful thing about the lord's prayer is that the simplicity does not come at the expense of the depth there is an eternity a lifetime of depth for us to cultivate as we understand the meaning and the heart of the lord's prayer it's a simplicity that journeys through complexity and comes out the other side and it is a simplicity that can be trusted amen so we could literally preach on each of these uh kind of launch pads in the lord's prayer for for weeks and months and we've just observed just deep dives into a couple aspects of the lord's prayer and today we're going to wind down this sermon series and we're going to be examining the last prayer prompt that jesus offers us in the lord's prayer we're going to be taught looking at temptation and satan so this is your first time to summit we love you i am glad you are here i am going to do my best to faithfully preach the word of god and i believe that the holy spirit is going to build us up and we're going to go out and kick some butt amen i said but my bad i'm going to read through the lord's prayer and then and then we'll go from there in matthew chapter 6 verses 9 through 13 jesus said this pray like this our father in heaven may your name be kept holy may your kingdom come soon may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us today the food we need and forgive us our sins as we have forgiven those who sin against us and don't let us yield to temptation but rescue us from the evil one don't let us yield to temptation but rescue us from the evil one for my friends in in the rumor online that are note takers the title of today's sermon is a just your grip would you say that with me adjust your grip i want to introduce you to a man this is ben hogan and ben hogan is one of the greatest golfers of all time and a couple years ago i burned all of my golf paraphernalia and walked away from that god-awful game for the rest of my life and uh and then i met a guy in our church a brother of ours and he led me back to the light and uh he got me back into golf again and cole is someone who i've got to go golfing with every thursday for the last two or three years and it is just a great place to just decompress and just catch my breath but over that time i picked up this book it's ben hogan's book it's called five less five lessons the modern fundamentals of golf pretty riveting read right uh and there's a chapter in this book on the grip and you would never know if you had never golf before how intricate the grip of a golf club is it's one of the most important things and when i read this a couple years ago it made me laugh this specific line that i want to share with you and then while i was preparing for my sermon it just came to my mind again and i thought that's a useful uh illustration to get us to where we're going today but it's the the line in the book said in 1946 ben hogan made it just an uh a radical shift to his golf grip where he moved his left thumb in eighth of an inch to the middle of the golf club and i'm like what who cares an eighth of like what are we talking about here people and then it goes on to describe that this minuscule adjustment of his grip resulted in unbelievable impacts on his golf game his irons didn't just become more accurate they came precise like he was dropping dimes on the green and leaving himself very short putts to win these tournaments and he just took off and and i think i think that as jesus followers we all have an approach to life we all have a grip on our life and what it looks like to live as apprentices or disciples of jesus on this earth and two of the most common mistakes that believers make when it comes to their grip are legalism and license legalism the grip of legalism on a christian life is the idea that somehow good behavior determines god's love for us or the inverse is possible that bad behavior decreases god's love for us so either way legalism literally chokes the life out of you wherever you are so if you're trying to earn god's love through good behavior you will realize that you could never earn it enough and you will always fail more than you ever hoped it's like running on a hamster wheel your whole life it's exhausting but jesus said i have come that you may have life and life to the full and legalism teaches us that that is not the life that jesus promised us and many of us have got caught on that wheel myself included amen it is easy to do and then with regard to license license is the idea that because god loves us so much we have complete freedom and autonomy to do what want it's my life i'm going to make the calls i'm going to discern what's good and bad and right and wrong and sinful and faithful and i am licensed says i am my lord because god loves me i am my lord instead the life and life to the full that is promised to us in jesus we learn that true freedom comes when we recognize that we have a lord and savior and he is the one who leads and guides how we order our days that is freedom because the crazy thing is when we live with license it actually becomes enslavement we become enslaved to ourselves i'm preaching right now like that's that's real i struggle with that it's like ah what do i do with this i'm just gonna make the call it's like no who's you who's your king you have a king you have a lord you have a savior a lot of people myself included get really enticed and and adored jesus as savior and neglect the lordship he said you i am your lord and your savior that that confronts us but the way of jesus the grip go here with me the grip that jesus reveals to us is not the squeeze of legalism or the detachment of license it's a grip of grace grace changes everything we preach that around here all the time and the grip of grace is one where our lives are submitted to the will of god and empowered by the holy spirit to actually live it out it's not legalism and it's not license it's grace it's a way of humility that compels us to serve others with delight and confidence and also a boldness that empowers us to walk around the dark place called earth as bold as lions humble but bold there's a tension in that that doesn't come from legalism or license it only comes through the empowerment of the spirit of god and we live grace out so when jesus encourages us to pray don't yield don't let us yield to temptation but rescue us from the evil one i think that there's two major adjustments that he's animating us toward the first adjustment is the adjustment of being guided you and i don't don't call the our shots on our life as jesus followers we are submitted and we are empowered by the leadership and the guiding of the holy spirit we don't just do whatever seems good to us but it's not controlling it's not manipulative we need to be led into life to the full we can't find it on our own so the first adjustment on the grip is guidance and the second is recognizing that we need to be rescued guidance away from temptation as well as guidance out of sin when we've fallen into it and rescue from a very real enemy that works to lead us astray from the person of jesus first i want to just address guidance away from temptation and sin similar to jesus making the assumption in the lord's prayer that we will be people of prayer he doesn't say he doesn't say if you pray he says when you pray pray like this prayer is assumed as jesus followers we want to converse with god and we cultivate that life similarly to the assumption that as jesus followers we will pray there is an assumption in this prayer that sin is real and that as children of god as followers of jesus we hate what sin does not that we hate the sinner but that sin itself becomes increasingly detestable to us our own sin it should gross us out smells like that nasty thing you tried to make for dinner and it didn't turn out the way you wanted it right it's like my mom taught me not to say hate but i think she gets it in this instance as you grow to love god you learn to hate sin and and that said what pastor seth beautifully walked us through last week was that what sinners need most is forgiveness and in the name of jesus we have been given just that we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory the the glory of god and the life that he desires for us but the good news is that in his unfailing love god made a way for sinners broken women and men just like you and i to receive transformative life-changing forgiveness we don't have to be who we are and when our past get brought up gets brought up it has no power over us yeah i might have been that and people will do that you will do that to yourself the self-talk the remembering what you were before jesus rescued you the power of sin is broken in the death and the resurrection of jesus that's a fact like that is part and parcel of accepting the gospel the power of sin in your life has been broken through the death and resurrection of jesus and as sinners saved by grace through faith all who believe in jesus are set free from the power of sin and the holy spirit residing in us means that we no longer have to bow a knee to the unshakable master that sin once was in our lives you are not what you once were and you are not what the sin attempts that you're tempted into is right now we bow to jesus and jesus alone and we can rise up in the name of jesus against any sin or temptation we experience and there is grace upon grace upon grace when we make mistakes because we're going to mess up we're going to blow it but we don't grow tolerant of our sin we grow in the grace and the repentance as a rhythm of walking in the spirit the holy spirit sets us free from the pathetic master of sin and away from legalism and out of license into the grip of grace releasing us to the lordship of jesus and it is one of the most beautiful things a common misunderstanding is this amongst followers of jesus the misunderstanding is that because we've been saved by the grace of jesus we somehow think we're immune to the enticement of sin none of us are immune to it being a follower of jesus removes the power of sin but in no way removes the possibility of temptation that is why jesus says pray that you would not yield to temptation temptation charms us it is rarely ever packaged as the death poison that it is to our soul it is bright and it is shiny i remember as a youth pastor students would be like yo like i know i'm not supposed to go get wasted at this party and do this thing but it's so fun and i'm like yeah i know i did it for years it's a blast but you want to know what happens on the other side of the fun a broken life in shambles and you're met by grace in that moment but just trust me don't go down that path i've already traveled it and been brought back by the grace of jesus don't go that way we're stubborn though amen i know i was god provided ample opportunity for me not to go down the route i did temptation charms us it charms us to believe that the pleasures and empty promises of sin could somehow fulfill our desires better than god that actually would satisfy me that actually would fulfill my life more than god i think it's helpful for us to recognize that there's a distinction between temptation and sin they're not the same just because we're struggling with temptation does not mean our life is riddled with sin entering into temptation is to entertain or consider to linger around the prospect of sin long enough temptation is the intersection it's the intersection where we make a decision if we're going to live our life on our own terms or on god's in that moment what are we going to do what's our grip right there jackie hill perry one of the sisters in our faith is brilliant she's one of the most she just is poetic i wish i could write poems like her and just she's dresses cool too and she's talks cool but she is a brilliant theologian she doesn't just ascend the mountaintop of intellectualism she comes back down into real life so people like us can understand it it's a good theologian right there she says this the beautiful simplicity of faith is this taking god at his word by faith you are saved and by faith you take god at his word as followers of jesus we don't just trip and fall into lives devastated by sin there is a mechanic to how we get there there is a spiritual regression that takes place when it comes to sin the spiritual deterioration in the human heart begins with disordered desires that entice us away from jesus into sin leading to death when allowed to grow i wrote that this week i'm really proud of it i'm going to read it again because i want you to hear this you will never as a follower of jesus you don't just trip and fall and one day wake up and be like i just how did i wind up in this life of sin there's a regression in our heart and because sin charms our desires we need a realignment of the desire within us god i desire you and your kingdom and your plan and your word and when we are saved we are saved and our dis our desires are so disordered they still are i mean you want to like i get greedy around money i get stingy around my time i get selfish when other people aren't telling me grant you're the best i need the holy spirit to constantly adjust my grip on my life and reorder my desires the spiritual deterioration i'm going to read it to you again because it's that good in the human heart begins with disordered desires that entice us away from jesus into sin leading to death when allowed to grow desire temptation sin and death c.s lewis in his book the screwtape letters writes this he says indeed the safest road to hell is the gradual one the gentle slope soft underfoot foot without sudden turnings without milestones and without signposts we need signposts we need to know we need to be attentive we need to be watchful of our lives because yes we are saved and the power of sin is broken in our lives but it does not mean that we are excused from the possibility of temptation temptation plays on disordered desires causing you and i to imagine and consider questions like this does god really mean what he said is god really good can we actually trust god does he really even care or to make audacious statements like it's not that big of a deal but the help of the holy spirit gently reminding us whispering in the depth of our soul causes us to know by faith yes god did say that sin is sin and he was very specific about it yes god really does care more than you could possibly imagine you and i get appetizers we get to taste a part of god's care for us yes he really is a good and loving unfailing lovingly god yes he can be trusted at every twist and turn in every mess and every mountaintop experience we have in life god is trustworthy and yes these things these small compromises that we make along the way they are a really really big deal i'm not much of a fisherman as most of you could probably pick up on your initial judgment of me right when you saw me you're like yeah guy probably doesn't fish much you can see it right now right me just on the river just fly fishing majestic but i i've endured the hobby a time or two and i say endured because i'm being cheeky but i went with some pretty advanced anglers and uh i was most fascinated by the tackle box i'm easy to entertain i guess but i start like this tackle box opens or these like these this fly box when i was fly fishing with these guys and there are just hundreds of different types of flies hundreds of different kinds of lures and baits and i'm like what's this one for and and these like master fishermen they're like oh this one's for this type of fish if the river's moving like this at this hour of the day and i'm like i thought we just came out here and kind of hoped like yep that looks like a good spot come on and and one of these fishermen they said to me fishing is in the details and i was like damn i'm going to steal that and preach that someday because that was deep but all of life is i don't whatever craft if you're a musician it's in the details if you're preaching it's in the details if you're parenting it's in the details if you're a student it's in the details temptation is a lot like fishing lures and bait different kinds of fly setups satan is a punk and yeah i said it and i'll preach it till the day i die but he's not stupid big punk soft punk satan i love like i feel like i'm just like yeah what's up dude go ahead say satan's a punk where you are it feels great you're a punk i have to bow to you but he's not stupid and the reason why i say temptation is a lot like fishing paraphernalia is because you and i are going to be tempted in a plethora of ways and he's not throwing stuff at us that we're not interested in but he also knows how to dress it up he also knows the time the place he charms our desires away from trusting that god is enough if you shouldn't be alone in your in your room with your computer don't bite that hook if you're primed and ready to just light someone up with gossip don't go there you know you've bitten that hook before and you know where it goes it goes nowhere we have a real enemy that acts actively works to lead us away from god's plan for our life in praying don't let us yield to temptation we're asking that god would lead us from the moment and even the opportunity of temptation to arise that's a beautiful prayer to pray over our lives together god keep us from even the opportunity to sin not just sin itself i don't even want to get close to it don't let us yield to temptation if you've lived in spokane for any time you already know that we are atrocious at yielding on i-90 right you've all experienced it you got the like hard breaker and you're like what are we doing you just stopped 60 miles an hour worth of traffic so i could merge on or you got the like no let's race let's just kind of keep it real even and who moves i'm not moving don't let us yield to temptation god will never tempt us i think that that's important thing to recognize god is not a tempter and this prayer is a pr is something that we're asking god to empower us with strength to watch the bait go by and just be disinterested in it i could care less and just because you looked at the bait going by doesn't mean that you've fallen into sin but what you do next is important what do you do with that desire with those those those thinking patterns with those small behaviors those small compromises that lead you to that point where you i think god has supplied us with signposts in life to help us from letting our disordered desires lead us away and i want to just briefly touch on three of them the first is the holy spirit the second is the word of god and the third is one another believers in christ together one of the things that always makes me tilt my head to the side and go that is crazy is in the book of john jesus describes it being better that he go away so that he could send the spirit of god i'm like hold up i actually would prefer to have you right here with me all the days of my life that would be great and jesus himself said it's better that i leave so that i can pour out the spirit of god and when he arrives the holy spirit will comfort you in your sufferings guide you into all truth capital t truth and i'm just going to lovingly take a shot right now woke culture needs to take a nap and i say that with love we do not need to wake ourselves up to a way forward the way forward has been revealed to us and it is the person of jesus christ and the kingdom of god on earth as it is in heaven and don't get me wrong this stuff sounds good it charms your desires it seems like we could build a tower of babel and make the earth great again we can't we've tried it we've got to stop being so slow to learn from the pattern of behaviors of believers that have gone before us we stay true to the gospel we love one another above all else we serve people with an audacious grace but we trust in jesus not a new way forward sorry i went there for a minute but the holy spirit convicts the world of its sin of god's righteousness and the coming judgment conviction is a gift from god don't be afraid of it ask for it convict me of my sin god help me see what i don't see we all have blind spots which drips into the second the word of god the word of god is a lamp to our path and a light to our feet it is a disorienting world amen anyone else feel like we're just in this washing machine and then it opens up and it's like go for it like that way i don't know maybe let's try this way but the word of god dwelling richly in us animates us to the way of jesus we don't read the god the word of god with the grip of legalism we we read the word of god with the grip of grace and it's something that we know we need and we delight in we're not looking for facts to prove points we're looking for the way of jesus we're being reminded of our identity as children of god we're being reminded of the mission of god at hand we're being reminded that we don't just get a ticket punch to heaven and sit and wait we participate in the reconciliation of all things through the gospel that is where what we are reminded of in the word of god it is never a waste of time two minutes in the word of god is well worth it chew on that savor that the word of god is so such a beautiful signpost to help us understand the temptations around us and the desires of our heart and the god who loves us and lastly each other we need each other my friends we need each other so bad i need you you need each other as jesus followers we are called to foster a love of for jesus with one another we're called to a fear of god and cultivate that with one another it's a healthy thing it's the beginning of all wisdom if you want to grow in wisdom learn about the fear of god but i think that a lot of us myself included are quiet when it comes to the temptations we're struggling with or the sins we're battling because we are afraid that we will be met with shame like in the rows that we sit in or the homes that we're engaged in this in we keep quiet i don't want anybody to know what's going on like you you just look at me weird because we do we sit in judgment of one another we shame one another sometimes unintentionally instead of being met with the gospel covenant community a group of jesus followers practicing the way of jesus together deferring one another above all else loving one another deferring to one another humbly serving one another a covenant community is a place where we know that in sin and temptation we are met with the gospel not shame or condemnation like i i it's strange like serving our church in the role that i do i don't get to i don't get to like drive a vision i don't just get to sit there and be like this is my vision for our church it's like god what are you doing and i caught a glimpse of something this week and i just want to share it with you because it's one of the most beautiful things could you imagine could you imagine what our church looked like what this community would be like if instead of being concerned about being shamed when we are sinning or being tempted by sin we were met with grace and the gospel i would run in here not away from the community it would change the way we engage with each other we wouldn't be repulsed at one another we would be wounded healers alongside one another oh you're struggling with that i've struggled with that let's pray let's cling to each other and to the cross together that's what your soul needs that's what it means to be in a covenant community it means you slow down long enough to actually be present with the people around you and i say this with all grace all grace but it's gonna sting a little bit i think there comes a moment in the life of a believer when you stop going to church and start living as the church and that is a beautiful bridge to cross but it's freaky i've been there i stood at this side of the bridge and be like dude i don't know what's on the other side what if they hurt me over there what if i open up and i get hurt that's happened since i've walked across the bridge because we are broken messy people if you're new to summit you're like what is this group of people about we're jacked up and i probably am the worst of all but we cling to the gospel and the cross of jesus together we don't push each other away in sin but we also have the courage to call one another up out of it we need friends that will stab us in the front you know what i'm saying not the back we got plenty of those but the church is a place where it's okay for us to be confronted by one another because above all else we love one another so we need people in our lives that will speak the truth and call us up when we're getting squirrely i'm going to get squarely you're going to get squirrely but jesus has provided a signpost in the community of his church to help us from being led away could you imagine that has to come from the pulpit i can preach that all day long but it also has to come from the congregation me saying that or whoever's preaching once a week is great we ought to but hearing that once a week as opposed to living that day by day is a completely different experience because a lot of life happens between monday and saturday you know what i'm saying we need people actively reminding us of who we are reminding us that in our sin it doesn't undo our identity it doesn't it doesn't remove uh who we are in christ it doesn't undo god's love for us hey you you messed it you blew it let's pray we say it's good not excusing the sin but it's good because we have a good and gracious loving god let's go walk to that together and that requires intimacy that requires vulnerability that requires you can't just be this this passing like a sea of passing passing ships called a church you gotta like stop dock the boat for a minute get out see someone in the face be in a community with someone interact with people more than once a week i think that something that covett has taught us is it slowed us down and all of us are reconsidering our lives i pray that we would reconsider our orientation toward one another what is the grip adjustment that the holy spirit is guiding us in right now is the grip adjustment an invitation for the spirit of god to fill you up so that you have that guide on the side that guide from within reminding you convicting you leading you to truth and i don't want to get all caught up in what that looks like we like people have literally blown churches up over what a filling of the holy spirit looks like what if we just took it at face value god is faithful to his word he said pray that you would be filled with the holy spirit and whatever that looks like we're going to trust him with that now let's fight you didn't speak in tongues you're not filled with the spirit of god what i mean don't get me wrong i love those conversations and they're good and we ought to have them but maybe the grip adjustment is for the first time in your life you just say i want to just release control of my life and i'm going to trust that you will guide me holy spirit fill me and lead me and guide me is it a grip adjustment as it pertains to the word of god and allowing it to dwell richly in you and engaging with it or perhaps it's stepping into authentic community a covenant community with other people to journey through life i want to just take a moment to reference that second portion of the last verse rescue us from the evil one you're like oh my gosh you went that long on do not let us yield from temptation i'm going to be more succinct okay but temptation's a big deal i've never preached a message on temptation in my life i've been a pastor for eight years and the lord was like dude you gotta pay attention right now i need to teach you some stuff and i'm like okay rescue us from the evil one i want to take a moment to just consider what jesus is saying when he when he speaks this remember this is all couched in the lord's prayer he's leading us in how to pray and so he's saying pray this often pray that you would be rescued from the evil one we cannot afford to be foolish or naive to the reality that satan absolutely hates you hates everything about you hates your worship of god and despises your love for others there is an insidious and crafty liar that desires to kill still and destroy anyone and everything that god loves and created that is fact jesus does not want us to be ignorant to that reality this plea this rescue me rescue us rather from the evil one is a recognition of our helplessness before the devil on our own i am weak and unable no match for this evil that is opposing me have no power on our own but you and i also have a unique vantage point that the original hearers of jesus's master class on prayer didn't have because they lived on the front end of the cross of christ you and i now exist in the aftermath of the cross and the resurrection so we aren't praying this prayer saying ah rescue me rescue us there is also a bold declaration in you have we're praying something that already happened we're reminding our spirit and our soul that we were rescued that we find ourselves in the gracious grip of god when we could have done nothing to save ourselves on our death beds it will not matter how much money we have in our bank account our lifted trucks will not save us all of our friends cannot save us it is jesus christ and jesus christ alone that will be the salvation of our soul but we have that so we aren't asking like hey maybe if you could as followers of jesus were recognizing and when you recognize that it causes you to change the perspective of the people around you there are far too many days in my life where that i've spent deeply annoyed at non-believers for acting not like christians what the what are they doing why are they doing that they know no different we are sent to love people we are sent to be ambassadors of the kingdom of god we don't stand and argue them into the kingdom of god show them the life and life to the full that we have in christ and watch the spirit of god draw lost people to salvation god will do his thing we get to participate in that and when we recognize and remember frequently that we are a rescued people you don't want to know what happens is you want to join in the rescue god i don't know what part i play in this person's life but let me be the sweet aroma of christ when i interact with them amen we have a unique advantage point satan is a punk and he may have bruised the heel of christ on the cross but christ has crushed the head of satan in the resurrection the power of sin is snapped like a twig in the life of jesus and because as jesus followers our faith is in him and the spirit of god dwells in in us we find ourselves in a position of power over sin you don't have to bow to it and i don't know who needs to hear that right now i know i needed to hear it this week as i was preparing there is no temptation or sin that you have to bow down to none you have a new king you have a new lord and you have a re-ordered desire you can do this we can do this together i want to end with this hebrews chapter 4 verse 14-16 so then since we have a great high priest who has entered heaven jesus the son of god let us hold firmly to what we believe this high priest of ours understands our weaknesses for he faced all of the same testings we do yet he did not sin so let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious god there we will receive his mercy and we will find grace to help us when we need it the most i will always be vulnerable and open with you but i don't need to go in the gory details of my temptation i want you to know i am a simple man who is tempted every day by all kinds of stuff and i hope that we remember that our savior stood under the weight of every type of temptation we've experienced and his knees never buckled once never even flinched at it never even sniffed at it and my hope and my heart is that as we recognize this when it comes to temptation we have one who gets it we have a lord and savior who gets it we aren't just like talking to someone that doesn't get it have you ever done that before or that it actually goes this way more you get advice from someone who's never gone through what you're going through and they want to tell you that they get it i've been there before as the one giving the advice because i like to talk but jesus is instructing us to pray lead us not into temptation let us not yield to temptation more than likely because it's how he lived how did jesus do that never once yielded to it the word of god dwelt richly in me i was empowered by the spirit of god to walk this thing out i had the disciples around me it's weird to think that jesus was tempted that's fact like the kitchen sink was thrown at him in the wilderness and in the garden of gethsemane tempted to drink of a different cup temptation says trust yourself more than god if you're struggling with temptation i want to encourage you that god is loving and patient and gentle and kind with you and it is his kindness that leads us to repentance he doesn't shame us out of it or guilt us out of it and right now if your life is soaked in sin understand that is god's kindness saying repent and receive grace you don't have to live like that or right now if you're grinding and you are struggling with a temptation look around you of the sea of people and understand welcome to the club it is not unique to you but you also aren't called to navigate your temptations on your own i want to end with this and it is so simple but i think similarly to how jesus taught us to pray there is a simplicity on the far end of complexity that can be trusted jesus has promised to be with us always never abandoning us to face temptation on our own as we step back out into the minefield of temptation before us like i'm probably going to watch the super bowl do you want me to tell you what the commercials are going to be about i'm going to tell you what you're going to start thinking about money lust greed i'm not good enough i wish i had a different life i'm not skinny enough i'm not this enough like today right now in front of us we got we got a perfect opportunity and understand that in the middle of those temptations god is with you and the holy spirit is reminding you i love you i don't just love you i like you i delight in you you are my child this series has reminded me personally that prayer is a gift i often treat it as some sort of duty but this series has reminded me that prayer is a delight and i pray that for us that as we continue to just engage in the daily rhythm of praying through the lord's prayer just because we stepped into it for six weeks doesn't mean we gotta shut it down now but my hope and my heart's prayer for us as a church is that prayer would move from a duty to a delight that it would move from a labor to a love amen i'm going to pray for us by just reading through the lord's prayer i'm just going to read it over us and then i'll ask you to stand and i'll give a benediction so if i put you to sleep go ahead and wake up now that was a joke good joke grant way to go thanks that was what's going on in my head right there let's pray our father in heaven may your name be kept holy may your kingdom come soon may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven in our lives in our church in our city as it is in heaven give us today the food we need god you are our provider and we trust you forgive us our sins as we for as we have forgiven those who sin against us god help us be aware of ours of ours of our forgiven state in you and would that motivate us to be deeply forgiving people and don't let us yield to temptation but rescue us from the evil one god help us see the the hook and the bait for what it is and strengthen us to not give into it we pray this in jesus name amen amen would you stand with me uh i'm going to give a benediction before i do next week i'm really excited we're going to have some of the young gun leaders on our church staff team and we're going to sit and have a conversation myself and four of them and we're going to talk through what god has been teaching them this year uh with regard to what it means to love the lord your god with all your heart soul mind and strength so it's going to be really cool we're going to get to hear from some other voices and and kind of sit under what god has been doing in their life so i'm really excited for that but that's a little sneak peek i didn't tell the 9 because i like the 11 better but don't tell them okay it's a joke i'll be here all week um what was i doing benediction there we go may we be women and men who learn to delight in the gift of prayer may we be women and men who are who are not quick to snap at the bait and the hook of temptation may we be women and men who recognize that we are in the grip of grace and maybe we be women and men who allow the holy spirit to constantly adjust our grip on our life we hold on to it loosely and trust and follow jesus amen amen you're incredible have a great week go cowboys it was such a good message i was with him and then he ended with go cowboys i was like what what is happening do you even know jesus i think it's good though it's another opportunity to pray for our lead pastor so i think that we go truly i love it i i love our church i love sitting under the teaching uh that was amazing i have like pages of notes right here i'm not just randomly looking at my phone yeah i think my favorite part of that whole sermon was when he said we don't trip or fall into sin it's like spiritual deterioration right it's not just this like how did i get here what did i do and i was like that's me mark that down my wife i sit in room with my wife and she was just like nudging the whole time i'm like i'm babe i'm taking notes this is good i got it yeah i had uh we don't bow to sin because jesus has conquered sin we bow to jesus um that just makes me think so much of like what am i making much of in my life am i making much of sin am i making much of satan or am i making much of my savior and the spirit inside of me and that's such like a mindset and shift to switch that way but hey we would love to hear what your takeaways are we would love to hear what's going on in your lives we are here to pray for you all the things so there's digital connect cards feel free to free that to fill that out and uh if you don't see one on your screen right now hop on to our website you can fill out a connect card there also yeah for sure jump in and it's truly anything it's a question you might have it's a follow-up it's something you disagree with or just something you love i think there's a there's this belief that's like everyone knows that they did a really good job once and he's like dude nobody knows that everybody's insecure like if you're like man that was good and this is what god's doing we believe in story and hearing just the narrative what god's doing in our church in people's lives so punch through that jump on the connect cards just be like hey god's doing this we love it we would love to hear that from you so i'd love to hear from you we love you guys thank you for spending some time with us this morning and we'll see you wednesday for the midweek yep we will be there with bells on oh with thousands yes that's the only way yeah show ups bells with bounces [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] do [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] do [Music] you

Channel: Summit Church NW

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Length: 107min 5sec (6425 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 07 2021