After the Shaking

i want to preach a sermon to you this morning entitled after the shaking after the shaking and uh we're going to go to acts chapter 16. i'm going to read you a story and then we're going to make some observations from this story this will be hopefully a real clear message after the shaking after the shaking let me read you an interesting story um we're not going to be able to get the whole context for sake of time but acts chapter 16 and verse 20 is a story about uh one of the one of the most um talked about figures in the early church is this man named paul who at one point was an elite religious leader who actually did not know jesus or the ways of jesus he uh inflicted uh religious standards on people quite literally and killed christians he saw christians as heretics god encounters him changes his life he becomes paul by the time we meet up with him in acts 16 he's been doing it for quite quite a few years and he's very effective he's very brilliant he's become one of the lead communicators and thinkers and writers he'll go on to write more than 50 percent of the new testament inspired by the holy spirit of course god is the author but he uses people to write the book so paul becomes a pretty central figure in our legacy in our heritage and he's a very key player when it comes to doctrine and theology of the new testament and it's here he is doing work in a city and it disrupts the economy basically and the town doesn't like it it says the whole city was in an uproar because of these jews they said they shouted to the city officials acts chapter 16 verse 20 21. now they're teaching customs that are legal for us romans to practice okay all this is exaggerated to make a point but they were preaching jesus free grace free forgiveness no religion needed you don't have to be in the synagogue all the time to be forgiven and loved by god right so it was very disruptive because the religious system at the time had a lot to do with the economy um you had to pay to get certain animals to sacrifice and what paul was preaching was going to disrupt animal sacrifices for instance excuse me what paul had started preaching at one point he was the opponent of this and so they said listen this is not good so it says a mob quickly formed against paul and silas and the city officials ordered them to be stripped and beaten with wooden rods so they're naked in front of the whole city they're being beaten they were severely beaten and they were thrown into prison the jailer was ordered to make sure they didn't escape so the jailer put them into the inner dungeon and clamped their feet in the stocks most historians don't believe that these dungeons would have been uh full of uh sewage so they're probably you know knee deep waist deep in in human sewage so the conditions are not ideal they're really horrific um and i love how the bible just does this kind of tells you like they're in the inner dungeon you're like oh that probably just has like one lamp and like one little bed and cot no no no like this is antiquated archaic very difficult conditions and it just jumps to the next verse and says paul and silas were singing amazing you know and i read that and i'm like why why were they singing like i've been through a pandemic with you does anyone feel like singing you know like la la la oh my word you know like it's the opposite of what i feel like but it says around midnight paul and silas were praying and singing hymns to god and the other prisoners were listening i love that statement the other prisoners were listening like what else are they gonna do like talk about a captive audience all right tough crowd here but anyways um suddenly which is uh a word that seems to be associated with with a lot of um what god does suddenly there was a massive earthquake by the way i should be careful here the text never says the earthquake was god's doing it's kind of assumed but not not deliberately told to us there was a massive earthquake and the prison was shaken to its foundations all the doors immediately flew open and the chains of her prisoner fell off the jailer woke up to see the prison doors wide open and knew that this was the end for him he assumed the prisoners of course had escaped what prisoners don't as soon as their chains fall off and the doors open what kind of prisoners stick around right so he assumed pretty safely so he drew his sword to kill himself because in those days like you it's you could die anyways for what you've done and paul shouted to him saw him about ready to commit suicide and said stop we haven't left we're all still here the jailer called for lights and ran to the dungeon and fell down trembling before paul and silas what'd you think about this now in a matter of seconds this jailer has come come from his pompa's ease overlooking his secure prison to trembling on his knees before paul and silas and he said what do i have to do to be like you guys i've heard your sermons salvation right when he says what do i do to be saved you can assume he had heard the message he had heard the story what do i need to do to be to be like you guys and they replied uh well you have to go to synagogue and you have to give a lot of money to work really hard no they didn't they said just believe in jesus that's interesting again that's very disruptive to the norm of the culture they said you just got to believe just got to accept that jesus is who he says he is and you'll be saved and it'll change your whole house and so they shared the word of the lord with him and with all who lived in this household he told them story even at the hour of the night the jailer cared for them and washed their wounds and he and everyone in his household were immediately baptized he brought them into his house set a meal before them and his entire household rejoiced because they all believed in god wow amazing story and much to be made of this story and i'd like to ask for your liberty to take this story that that in truth um is quite literally what it's about but i'd like to extrapolate along with you some observations that i think that can serve us very well in the conditions that you and i find ourselves in now you may read this story and say to yourself like hey i i don't think anybody in here is in sewage and chained up and you know beaten to an inch of their life for the gospel fair and yet the conditions that you have been enduring and i have been enduring are exceptional unusual and unprecedented and they haven't been easy and they have been challenging one scripture says whatever can be shaken will be shaken so that what remains is what cannot be shaken the truth is we have been through a shaking i said this in the 9 a.m we talked about hope for the future think about who's wondering about their future my son's sophomore year high school is pretty much awash didn't get to play on the basketball team his sophomore year really didn't have much of a sophomore year at all i think of my niece here who would just graduate as a senior from her high school i won't embarrass her like judah you already are you're pointing in her direction and referencing her no no i won't say her name so you'll never know my niece emmy here but um she graduated from her high school and and by the grace of god we were there there was a graduation the year before there wasn't even a graduation but emmy's senior year high school was unprecedented right it was a a fraction of what it normally is a lot of things have been shaken our relationships have been shaken when you don't see someone for a really long time it's hard to be close like you once were how about this how about we got married not knowing we would be quarantined together i didn't sign up for that part of marriage i signed up for like colliding at night after work you know like and sometimes that colliding is just really enjoyable if you know what i mean you know like wait wait wait we got to be together the whole time wait you're not going to go to work anywhere can you can you not have your meeting in bed on your laptop this is annoying i'm trying to watch sportscenter you know like then we've been through some shaking and i realized that a lot of the shaking is what we call first world problems in some cases but but don't diminish what you've been through don't diminish a lot of the psychological community is saying as i've said before it's going to take 10 years for us to make sense of and recover from a lot of the trauma that we have endured it was trauma we were unprepared for unexpected and it has affected us emotionally mentally spiritually relationally it's been some shaking it's been some shaking so here's here is the premise i'm going to work from for the next few minutes a lot of people want to talk about what you do during the shaking but here's the problem with shaking you didn't really have a heads up so once the shaking happens sometimes it can go like this and that's kind of what you do while it's happening i'll never forget my first earthquake i was nine years old in alaska my dad was doing a week of revival meetings in alaska and i was nine years old and i remember the trip very vividly because i remember being like two three four in the morning going we could still golf you know we could play tennis dad like this is amazing it was still it was it was amazing i think it was anchorage i forget where it was um so on a sunny middle of the night that's what it felt like it was still light out all of the sudden this little cottage on the church property started to shake now when you're nine years old and you've only heard of earthquakes when you're actually in one it's nothing like they told you right and my dad had enough reference to go get under the doorway i don't even know if that's still like a thing with earthquakes i don't actually know but we we literally got in the doorway and i'm like dad you know it's just like and everything you thought was stable secure and sure is like rolling like water some of you've been in those earthquakes you know and you could it's like the pavement is going like this and you're like it's not reassuring when pavement looks like a lake this is not good right it's like there's a couple of things we can count on and usually it's like it's like this so a lot of people will say hey during this coveted pandemic what did you do because what you did during the pandemic will define your future not true i don't believe that what you do during trauma and tragedy is overrated the question is what will you do now what will you do after will you change the way you live because of what has happened to you most of us do in trauma we go well i'll never let that happen to me again so i won't do that and i won't do this right this is this is not an indictment this is called human nature it's called human nature once you're hurt by something traumatized by something you find whatever means possible to not let that happen again it's not what you do during the shaking really it's what you do after after the shaking is done now what will you do what will you do and that's what i want to ask you now i want to be very sensitive and careful to say that the shaking is done because in truth i know i had a friend who was vaccinated and as a four percent chance and contracted covet again even after the vaccination i don't say that to breed fear by any means i'm just saying let us be sensitive caring and considerate to one another you know we all have our opinions about what should be done but we don't really know what we're talking about is that okay to say like david said this i don't consider concern myself with things that are too wonderful for me which is to say like that's beyond my pay grade like i i don't actually make decisions from millions of people if i did i would but i don't so i'm not going to like speak beyond the measure of my sphere right so a lot of us are like we should do this and we should do this well you know let's leave that to those who it's kind of their their job i just want to say i am so grateful that i will never be the president and i know you are too okay so like i am just like there's not enough money in the world to uh talk me into that like there are certain roles i want nothing to do with and the reason i'm not gifted grace called capacity so it's like i just let's pray for our leaders and let's trust god but there's a lot of things we we don't understand and don't know so i want us to be careful and considerate of one another by the way it's called deference it's in the bible it's considering one another's journey and perspective and culture and context and experience and it's really important in walking out the love of jesus so i realize when i say after the shaking there's still some shaking happening so i want you to bear with me if that's okay i don't want to assume that we're just all in the clear because we all understand that some people are predicting there'll be a resurgence or whatever and i'm again i'm not trying to breed fear i'm just trying to breed sobriety so that we're honest and we're we're careful and caring one for another but as we perceive this coming to a close somebody say amen as we believe this extraordinary unprecedented season is coming to a close what will you do now what will you do now well i'll just do what i always did i don't know if that's realistic what will you do now some stuff has been shaken things that we thought were sure things that we thought were true and accurate have been shaken what do you do after the shaking now again this is not a perfect parallel acts chapter 16 and any any preacher exegeter or communicator or teacher who takes a scripture like this and then applies it to covid 19. needs to be honest to their audience and say this isn't a perfect parallel but there are some principles at play here through the inspiration of the holy spirit and the person of jesus that i think we can learn about our conduct is jesus followers what do you do after a massive earthquake what do you do after a massive shaking well here's some normal things we do um we search we start to question everything we start to wonder like what is true what is sure what can you count on maybe you can't count on anything and so disenfranchisement settles in a very profound level and suddenly like you i've had conversations with people that basically are i can summarize our conversation with disenfranchised it's just a general sense of and trust me i get it i understand it in some cases i'm like that's pretty accurate it's like what can you count on who can you trust what should i do for some of you your decisions are going to impact your children your children's children well where should i live how many conversations have you had well i think we all just kind of need to move out and live in the country and farms okay i think we all need to go back to the cities and serve people okay right i mean i've lost count of the different conversations i've had and what everybody feels that you know how many people have told me like man if i were you i'd get out of seattle in la i'll tell you that much and i'm like oh that's where like we actually like i i follow jesus so like my life is like a missionary so where it's it's bad and there's been a lot of upheaval like that's where we go people don't like that answer because they're like are you better than me oh no that's not what i meant i'm just saying like you keep like making fun of my cities that i love so you know i just want you to know that's where i live and i love the people there so could you not do that anymore and then don't talk about the seahawks because then we'll start fighting you know like these are my people you are my people i love the west coast i love seattle i love what's happening in our church we've got church at home all over the world in different languages and it is so exciting as we continue to grow and launch and it's amazing but i'm from here man right so like one more person tell me that i should move out of seattle in l.a and i might scream just a little bit because where there's a problem where there's pain that's that's where we're going to be right what what do we do now and maybe you haven't even thought of that what am i going to do now can i encourage you i don't want to go back to 2018 is that okay to say and here's why because god doesn't work like that if we were supposed to go back to the way things were 2021 would turn into 2018 on the calendar but it doesn't i'm not trying to insult your intelligence this is very obvious it becomes 2022. god invented linear time and space do you know that he invented it it was his creation and one of the reasons i think he invented it was to keep us moving forward forward we're going to move forward now the ascending helix is real some you know what i'm talking about i'll have time to explain it but in the narrative of scripture it's you know how people say what goes around comes around that's one way to describe how the ascending helix of god works but it's always moving upward and onward but there are truths that are resurfaced and there are things that have happened and so you kind of feel like history is repeating itself but make no mistake god has history moving like this and so we're moving forward so i'll say this about what we do now what we do now is not wish to go back what we do now is we face forward and trust the god who holds our future we're going to go forward your family is going to go forward your career is going to go forward your faith is going to go forward god's plans for you are forward god has not taken you out this far to take you somebody help me preach to take you back again no he brought you this far to take you into what he has prepared and planned for you and for your family man plans his way but the lord directs his steps so let the director interrupt your regularly scheduled program what are we going to do now and this is where this story comes in and it fascinates me and i hope that you see it because i just saw the last couple of days and i was struck by it again paul and silas preach the gospel and it costs them dearly physically emotionally mentally they're exposed they're humiliated uh they're they're stripped naked in front of a whole city and a whole town they're beaten with wooden rods and then they're thrown into what's most likely you know waist-deep human feces and they're shackled with chains okay this is a difficult moment now i don't know why or how or if they like talk themselves into it but we're just told they started to pray and sing and i just really don't like that part because i'm like that's unfair these guys seem like superheroes i mean this is this guy iron man like how are they singing and praying except that sometimes things get so difficult there's only one option they hate god anybody ever been there you're like well i've ran out of options talked to my boss tried to get my job back tried to figure it out tried to forge a career don't know what i'm doing don't have a job don't know where i'm going to get a job applied to multiple jobs been turned down not even called back so i uh god all right this is that happens they're singing and then if i forgive me for assuming on the text i would assume what they're praying for kind of happened right like i don't know what you'd pray for if you were shackled naked beaten in human feces but i would pray something like this get me out of here wouldn't you like that's what i prayed during the covet 19 season get us out of here god spare your people spare life please help this disease whether man made or whatever just help it stop lord please please right that's our prayer so they pray and it seems we don't know for sure but it seems that the earthquake probably is in response to their prayer and their wildest dreams have come true the doors fling open the shaking is so severe their chains fall off oh and by the way the other prisoners who are listening because they have nothing else to do the same happened to them wouldn't that be an indication to you that god is saying now get out of here wouldn't that be wouldn't your mind i'm just trying to be really honest right now just as human beings if you were in a prison in these conditions and after asking god to help an earthquake happen your doors fling open and everything's changed wouldn't you literally silas let's go and the prisoners are like where are you going we're like i don't know but follow me onward and upward we're out of here right and the last thing i'd be concerned with i don't think this is popular but i'm going to say it is the guy who kept me in there i'd be like deuces bro peace like i'm out like clearly god has said leave my child be free well then isn't that why the story's weird the the sheriff if you will the marshall if you will there realizes the doors are open he assumes that they will do what every other prisoner has done and that is when given any kind of opportunity to get out of the situation they're gone and paul yells out we're all still here what i want to yell back is why hey don't kill yourself we're here okay thank you why are you still here do you want to be here we're still here i don't know what happened someday we'll see the video in heaven but like did he convince the other prisoners to do the same like guys we're not gonna leave yet we're gonna or did some of them take off we don't know for sure but we know that paul and silas is jesus followers didn't leave where they were after the shaking after the imprisonment after the challenge they they stayed um i'm reminded of a verse that says be still and know that i'm god just be still i think when god starts to move and i want to say this about covet 19 god is going to take what the enemy meant for evil and he's going to work it together for good because he is good and all he does is good and he always acts good because he is good through and through so he will turn this for good through the tragedy and the loss and the pain he will it's some of you lived long enough with jesus to know that's what he signature move of jesus he just makes it good but when i start seeing god kind of like opening doors and breaking chains i'm always like let's go let's get out of here right like and paul and silas just like now let's um let's just stay right here for a second wait what let's let's just be still and i think often times at the end of very difficult seasons when things start we see it as an opportunity to kind of get stuff back and here's what ensues it's this little word in new testament called striving what is striving striving in my definition i'll just put it in my words for sake of time striving is this striving is when you assume the captaincy of your own ship and you start trying to make things happen that is supposed to be god making it happen well judah what's the fine line that's between you and the spirit of god i'm gonna turn in my resume okay i think you should pray about it well how will i know i think you'll know when you know her well what do you mean i think in the same way you were designed to breathe you were designed to hear from god how much do you think about breathing hopefully a little bit because deep breaths help a lot you know but anyways that's another that's another point it's people telling me about wim hof get in the cold water and breathe deeply for 40 times i'm like 40 times i'm trying to stay in here for four seconds you know well wim hof can breathe deeply for i'm like i don't even know how to spell wim off okay but like you were made to hear from god did you know that i know we we do teachings on how to hear from god except that hearing from god is more intuitive than anything else and tested by scripture of course but i think there are things that we might be doing already that's kind of stressing us out kind of causing worry and angst that maybe we're supposed to just be still before we step out just be still wait on the lord and he shall renew your strength and you'll mount them with wings like eagles who run and not grow weary you'll walk and not faint wait be still i am the trend that i'm seeing in our church and in interactions i'm having is there's not a lot of people right now you have to be like hey you should actually do something i'm talking to christians now for a moment a lot of christians right now are like okay we're gonna we're gonna like come on we're gonna go do and what i'm not seeing as much of is i'm just gonna kind of wait here and ask god what is he doing in my city what's he doing in my neighborhood what's he doing with my friends god i'm just gonna be still yeah but look the doors are open everything's come on you gotta go yeah but it's not where i'm going as much as it's about people like i'm just gonna stay here for a second now paul and silas eventually left the prison area by the way let that be an encouragement to you god didn't say now live in the sewage [Music] right and never take a shower no no no no they they eventually went to his house they got all cleaned up and then they went on their journey but they weren't in a rush they weren't striving they were still there are you still here i don't really even mean to church i mean just are you everybody's making decisions now dr molly jensen molly busher is right here she's one of chelsea eyes counselors by the way her husband dr busher is also our naturopath doctor this is free advertising for our doctors who keep us healthy dr bush are between services might have been i blame him for being a little late on stage but i got a shot right about here of uh what is it again that i get b12 thank you very much you know b12 um just for energy and strength and that and dr molly will tell you with her 12 master's degrees i've lost count how many degrees she has is true she's a genius that that in trauma we don't make a lot of good decisions [Music] that's not usually when it's like when people get traumatized that's when they make the best decisions no it's usually like shaking's going on and the shaking stops and we're like oh thank god come on come on kids come on we're going to dallas right we're getting out of we're getting out of the west side we're going to the east side we're getting out of the east side and we're going to spokane come on you know like why because this is our one chance i see a window [Music] i think right after the trauma right after the pain what i think we should do is be still scan the horizon god what are you no striving no stress can i ask you a really simple question why are you in such a hurry right now [Music] what are you hurrying for you know what's wild about god let this just sink in for a second do you know what god never is i said never in a hurry now i have told him multiple times he should be sometimes i really have like this would be a really good time to be in a hurry god you ever felt like you're out in front of god and you're like fun we're moving to austin let's go with everybody else [Music] be still your captain is not in a hurry your commander in chief is not ringing his hands okay stop praying i'm stressed out you're asking too much it's too much i don't really know what to do he sits in the heavens and he laughs at those who think he doesn't know what he's doing the earth is his ottoman be still [Music] june then there will be july and there will be august but we're still here taylor's like what yeah we're the we're the peculiar people on the planet that don't move until god says [Music] give it everyone leaves when the prison chains and doors open yeah we it's not really how we see it don't you want to run and be safe safety's overrated in our relationship with our god it's oh so i think we should be still i i the next point is just already we're already talking about it and then be still here before you go there just stop and be still here there will still be there but just be here before you leave your neighborhood just be in your neighborhood for a few days and just say god is there anything left you want us to do in this cul-de-sac i know we're packing up our house and we are out of here man hi if i have learned anything about covet it is not safe to be in densely populated areas we're getting out of here but just be still here for a second what do you want to do i want to search i want to search i don't know about you but as soon as the shaking's over you want to search i remember at nine years old i'm in alaska and the shaking was over and all of a sudden you're i'm looking at my dad i'm like daddy is it over and he's like it's over son and then you kind of want to just kind of start running around going look at everything that broke this is crazy this is wow and it's amazing you go from like paralysis to like manic at least i did it at nine years old you're like under the under the doorway you're like oh they're dead and then he's done he's like it's done you're like this is crazy dad look at this place it's just wild it's called our nature but i think what god wants us to do even when the shaking's over no striving no searching i love what paul writes to timothy in one of his letters i think it's first timothy he says there's a genuine faith that's been passed down to you timothy from your grandmother don't go searching for what you already have i passed it down timothy do you know why paul wrote that to timothy because timothy's church was growing so large he was being criticized by his own christian friends and paul said you listen to me what god gave you was been passed down generationally don't you go searching i've given you all things pertaining to life and godliness and then funny all of a sudden the shaking's over and we're like i need more than i have i i there must be more i have to get more i need more i don't have enough we've got to go something something has to change something has to change how many conversations have you had with people like things are so bad cancel culture we'd let's just stop having conversations about cancer culture let's just see what it is it's cancer culture it's real and god's bigger you know like i you know what's bad when the late night shows i was watching jimmy fallon if that offends you this may not be the church for you but i was watching jimmy fallon and one of the jokes now on late night is like i forget what the segment was but he's like or we can sit around with each other and talk about how bad cancer culture is i'm like okay listen when the late shows are making jokes about how many of us are having conversations about cancer culture christians can we collectively calm down well you know cancel culture i just don't like cancel cultures if we talked about jesus as much as cancer culture it might help us like i get it cancel culture there's always been weird things in culture that hurt people and listen i want to focus on jesus and making a difference and loving people and going where it's bleak and difficult and challenging and people are being overlooked and marginalized like that's where we're gonna go cancel culture we're just gonna we're gonna be the difference we're gonna be the difference we're gonna be the difference we're gonna be people been canceling people my whole life what god doesn't do cancel people so let's just keep following jesus but but i think in these days we're like we need more i just need to get i need to get i need to get more i just need to get more god morgan and you start to strive and search and god's like be be still i got you by no means am i propagating or promoting today that some sort of indifference or lazy living or people like you know see us just hanging out hey what are you doing being still man knowing that he's god you know you're not doing anything for anybody and you're like what are you doing man i heard a great sermon it's called after the shaking you know what you're supposed to do after the shaking nothing it's the best that's what it's what our church is about man we're not going to do anything now it's like i don't that's not really what i was trying to say but but right after man we've got ourselves all worked up and what's so funny is how we typically get ourselves worked up is opinions about the shaking have you noticed like i won't be worked up at all but then i'll get into conversation where we start exchanging opinions and all of a sudden a new opinion i've never pre-conceived starts to come out has this happened to you well you're like yes and you know leeson what i think lisa and starsley right here been a part of our church for 112 years you know what lisa you know what i think and i don't know what i think yet you ever have one of those conversations well you know what i think about cohen i think and then you're like what do i think i don't know but we're having an opinionated conversation so then you like yeah and then you say your opinion and you're like that's really good i totally believe that it's terrible what's happening out here people are so bad and then you're like you get in your car and you're like that was a really good coffee i i think what did we talk about again how bad things were how silly people are how bad politicians are and how much more we should do this or that and i think our church should do this and that's what i think we should do and then we drive home and we're like did that produce righteousness peace or joy it was one of my dad's favorite little gauges whatever you do should produce righteousness peace and joy you can't produce your unrighteousness but it should remind you that you are righteous because of jesus you know how many conversations i'm having right now that don't bring me joy that you certainly don't bring me peace and they definitely don't remind me of my gifted righteousness they remind me a little bit more that somehow i've earned this and i'm elite and i'm better than people that's my own conversations it's just the normal trajectory of a conversation now it's just like yeah i think we should yeah i think and then the church should do and you know the white house and you and that and we should do this yeah totally it's terrible all right man well see at church and you're like wait and you read acts 16 and you're like why why is paul and silas like singing and praying then they get the answer to their prayers and they don't go anywhere they stay there and they help people i don't want to do that i want to go online and criticize people i want to write a new blog about the jailer and the dumb prison that tried to keep me but god broke me out we're still here why god has us here what i'm about to say just bear with me see i am persuaded that paul and silas believe that god even had a plan for them in prison now you're like judah of course really then does god have a plan for our country does god have a plan for our economy or is it dependent on us because the conversations we're having or at least that i'm having sounds a lot more like god's in heaven going i have given the united states of america over to its people and i nothing i can do it's up to you guys so so paul and silas were persuaded that they were even though it was unjustly and it was wrong they were in prison and that god had a plan and after the shaking they were like maybe there's more to the plan we're just going to stay here for a second i wonder what god whatever else god's going to show us oh he's going to kill him hey bro don't kill yourself we're here he is so dumbfounded at the fact that they're not running from the prison he runs in drops to his knees and essentially is like i don't know why you're still here i've never met anyone like you guys certainly never met any prisoners like you so what you have told this city which got us in an uproar it's on the front page of the newspaper tell me more about that because all i hear is opinions but from you i see genuine care and concern you stop me from killing myself and yet i'm your captor tell me more you're like oh bro it's simple all you gotta do is believe and you're probably pretty persuaded now because the earthquake we thought it was just about us getting out of prison but we're pretty sure now that the earthquake is about you getting saved and your whole family wait what yeah so the earthquake we know now according to scripture wasn't just about paul and silas getting out of the sewage or getting out of the chains or getting their wounds mended and healed it was also about [Music] wait wait what god wants to save republicans god wants to save democrats [Music] wait who'd you vote for oh well then i know who you are i know who you are that's what we've come to god bring us out of prison yes we're out see mr jailer you voted for the wrong guy let's go i mean are they not opponents here's my question are they not opponents paul and silas and the prison guard are they not are they are they not playing for two different teams however you define that and yet the man playing for the other team god's like oh you're so cute paul's eyes you think this is just about you getting out of prison i actually want to save the one who put you in prison wait what yeah the whole earth is mine and i love everybody in it well not not the democrats right god not the republicans you don't like the republicans they're all about money yeah i love it i love everybody well i just met my neighbor i don't know if you know this but you wouldn't believe who they voted for [Music] someday we're gonna enter into eternity and we're gonna go oh man dang it it wasn't about like what i spent a lot of hours a day on god didn't really care well you know our neighbors they have a lot of tattoos [Music] i smelled our neighbors smoking weed i did they're probably gonna offer it to our children and we and i'm not trying to make you laugh i'm trying to talk about like real real stuff we we think like paul's like we're still here man we love you it's all good he's like then tell me what's different about you because i never seen prisoners like you guys and he's like bro you never believe it all you got to do is receive it let's go to your house we'll tell your family we'll baptize you tonight do you know the bible says they stayed up all night do you know that they stayed up all night till the sun came up why passion love we're busy passing people on our way to church passing people on our way to mission plan purpose career everything god has and he's like i got you right here but i got you right here i got you right here just be here just be here for a minute just be here and my last point is very simple when i'm done it's it's be still it's be still here and it's be still helping i have noticed that after the shaking what a lot of us are prone to do is go seek safety and comfort okay judah i appreciate your sediment and your missional preaching and everything about reaching people and loving people but i have to protect my children that is number one i didn't so you can do that 100 times you can protect your children 100 of the time sounds like you're the god of your children somebody like you know judah when you when you're not here live the sermons are a little nicer i will say that am i the only one that's like i would i need to be god for my kids anyone know what i'm talking about so i'm just kind of like no that's my kids no you can't nope i felt like god told me the day hey you're raising adults you're not raising teenagers my focus is not what they are at 16. it's what they're going to be when they don't have you to walk with them every day that's what you're that's and you know what parenting is it's a microcosm of how god it's just what he teaches us he's like judah these are your babies for a real short time and then you hand them off to me and they gotta go live in the world [Music] my mom still says and i know i'm gonna tell my kids you don't call me enough says every parent ever why because his parents were like hey where are you going i love you i'm going to protect you oh no no no gambling for you oh no we don't smoke cigarettes nope we don't oh god no tattoos and then our kids grow up and they're adults and we're like call me call me i literally have to tell my mom mom i'm 42. i'm 42. mom think about it 42 like it's i'm a grown man like a long time ago and that's not because my mom's just normal you're a parent and you're like i got to protect my son mom it's time for me to protect you like i'm 42. but we wanna i gotta protect my kids number one [Music] i don't think you can all the time what are you suggesting absent parenting no totally the opposite but i'm suggesting that you trust god i trust you with my kids trust you with their path you're in control and we we want safety more than we want to serve the purposes of god judah why do you say that oh that's coming from me i didn't hear any stories about you somebody like did someone tell him that we're moving to austin no no no no no and you probably are supposed to move to austin and god's called you and it's awesome so please don't people hear me make statements and they're like i i am moving to pensacola florida why did you say that you know like no it's awesome but but but like but like be helping let's get our kids involved in the mission let's get our kids involved in the great rescue mission of the world let's show them what life's all about it's about giving your life a way to find it words of jesus not mine let's be still helping do we not know our legacy do we not know our heritage in pandemics and plagues in the past do some history you'll discover you know where the christians are in the plagues do you know where the christians are in the diseases do you know where the christians are in the wars do you know where the christians are in governmental upheaval look at our history look at church history do you know where you most often find jesus followers during the most uncertain and upheavals of continents and countries and towns and villages do you know where we typically are if you read our history book if you read about our heritage and our legacy and our lineage we are oftentimes walking in the exact opposite direction of the culture and i don't mean not on instagram i mean walking towards the plague walking towards the pandemic walking towards the pain walking towards the injustice walking towards the marginalization walking towards it going where is it let's go kids come on that's where we're going dad what happens if it gets on us we're going to trust god we're not going to be reckless we're not going to be prayerless we're going to trust god we're gonna be still we're gonna wait but then we're gonna assess the situation we're gonna listen to his voice and we're gonna ask him where can we help god now send us there and everybody wants to go to india nobody wants to go two houses down god show us where to help and that's what we'll do here's what we'll do and i'm done and i'm done and i'm done i promise i'm done sermon is over it's a very short one when you consider easter and july 18th will be much shorter but that's a lie let's be honest but [Music] you ever um you ever have kids or grandkids and i said this at the 9am and when you're walking out the door they grab your leg daddy don't leave mommy don't leave please papa grammy grandma don't leave i want you to stay and you're like i gotta go buddy i gotta go that's kind of how i view my relationship with god right now i just wanna go where you're going that's it i just and the cool thing about god he's not like well i have to leave you though i literally have to go he's like i love this so much come on this is gonna be the best i'm like okay just wherever you want me to go that's where i want to go here okay i'll be here so you opened doors and you broke all the chains so that i could stay here for now okay what do you want me to do i want you to help your opponent the liberals god god the super wealthy selfish conservatives who do nothing to help people god would don't make me a friend with a republican god oh god not a democrat no god and it's silly and it's silly isn't it silly oh it is i want you to love the man outside the prison who put you there yes sir it's funny because for paul and silas that didn't seem very odd at all if i was paul and silas i would have inserted into the story as the jailer runs into the dungeon and falls on his knees in the sewage and says tell me more i would have said are you shocked we didn't leave do you know why we didn't leave because we listened to the voice of god and god said to stay so that you sir might be saved [Music] paul and silas are like what else are we going to do just follow the spirit of god don't kill yourself bro we're here why because we're supposed to be what do you want to do well tell me more all right let's go to your house stay up all night you can be baptized we'll tell your kids your wife everybody it'll be awesome oh okay and then the guy's like well i could like help bandage you up where i hit you no that'd be nice thanks [Music] sorry about that i understand i mean am i the only one that reads act 16 and go that's a little different than some of the christianity i'm living can you help me with that because i'm down here striving and searching and seeking safety and comfort that's the conclusion of my sermon here's what i want to do once cobit is completely over i want to start making it happen i want to start searching for something more and then i want to seek safety and comfort above all that's what i want to do in case you didn't in case you were wondering what this pastor wants to do i want to be okay where is safety let's go get stuff we don't have and didn't have before and so that's why it was bad and then let's um do more let's just do more let's do and god's like be still be still here and then ask me how you can help okay okay okay some of you have been saying this in your prayers and now i'm prophesying but it sounds just like i'm preaching so bear with me some of you been saying this in your prayers god show me what to do and god's response is on behalf of god i'll be bold enough to tell you what i feel prophetically god's telling me to tell you i already told you [Music] no you didn't yeah i remember when you moved to seattle i told you remember when you moved into that condo i told you remember when you moved into that cul-de-sac i told you god show us where to go i did oh but we've been in this home for like two years straight like never leaving like we want to go somewhere else i know not not now but you want us to love the neighbor that at the last barbecue we had we got an argument over politics you want me to love him can we just get new neighbors we can start new with and they can think that we're really nice and friendly i don't want to befriend the neighbors we've gotten into fights with that's that's that's that's that's not fun and god's like what did i tell you so what should i do bake them cookies and say you're sorry and ask him to forgive you for arguing but i'm right god my neighbors don't know you so i know i'm right and they're wrong [Music] come on you know i'm talking to you and i'm talking to me let's be here come on church he already told us what to do if he wants us to go somewhere he's gonna make it clear in the meantime let's be still i love that phrase and i'm done i'm done this is it be still and know that i am god translation be still and know that you're not god and here's what happens when we're not still we start to pretend we're god and then i think this don't touch that stop okay yep and we turn into controller yeah that's good all right all right get in the car kids come on okay we're getting babe let's go all right got everything all right striving man be still am i the only one right now like being still kind of stinks right now because you're still and you're like oh this world is wild and then you're like now i'm overwhelmed because i was still enough to assess what's really going on in the world i was at dinner last night in miami florida with rich and don cherie wilkerson who pastored the great great shirts that you helped start boot church thousands of people it's amazing and 10 miles down the road 156 people are still missing in rubble [Music] and when you get still enough you go oh god have mercy what do you want us to do what he wants to do god be still and remember you're not god you're not the god of your children you're not the god of your business you're not the god of your marriage you're not the god of your own life be still and know that i'm god and i'm really good at being god what do you do after the shaking whatever you do don't make quick rash monumental decisions for your life be still and the path of the just will grow brighter and brighter to the coming day let me prophesy to your future what's ahead of you is going to exceed your prayers and your dreams it may not be the billion dollars you were praying for because that billion might destroy you it might be the thousand dollars you didn't specifically pray for when you prayed for a billion but it will exceed what you thought you wanted and it will blow you away what god will do i want you to imagine with me and if the band could join me because if the band joins me then we will know that the sermon is over and we can look at the tattoos of the drummer so wouldn't it be cool to be a part of a church where everybody is patient no striving and there's a stillness now now transit a little bit wouldn't it be cool to be in a neighborhood or you had neighbors that were still peaceful patient [Music] wouldn't be great to get into conversation with someone who's peaceful patient how you guys doing well you know a lot's going on and instead of engaging in the pin you go tell me more that's great you know listening doesn't mean that you're learning something new it means that oftentimes you're just adding value to people that's why god listens god doesn't listen to learn oh god i'm gonna tell you a couple things you need to do oh you are adorable no you're not ever well then why are you listening i love you tell me more it's fun to hear your heart wouldn't it be refreshing in 2021 to have conversations with people like that wow so you're really into the democratic party yeah i'm a big republican tell me more well what are you ah just tell me more about you really that's who you voted for tell me why well who'd you vote for ah come on i wanna hear more about you [Music] if you have those conversations tell them you come to this church if you have the other kind of conversations tell them you don't go to church come on let's be the difference let's demonstrate righteousness peace and joy in our neighborhoods and our communities god we thank you so much for what you're doing we thank you for the truth of scripture we thank you god for the heritage we have and the likes of paul and silas who knew you in such a way that even after the earthquake they trusted you to stay where they were help us in these unprecedented unheard-of days of 2021 to be who you have called us to be to be where you have called us to be if you're here today and you said judah i would like to become a follower of jesus i would like to receive the forgiveness that only jesus offers you don't earn it or deserve it just like paul and silas said to the jailer said to the prison guard they said just believe just believe just believe just believe that's all you got to do today you just got to believe to believe is to receive to receive the jesus and all the work for you that you couldn't do for yourself jesus became sin so that you could become the righteousness of god in christ jesus jesus earned it all jesus did it all jesus paid it all now all you got to do is accept it all you got to do is receive him if you would like to receive the free gift of forgiveness that only jesus offers on the count of three i want you to shoot your hand up all over the auditorium one two three if that's you just shoot your hand up and say that's me thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you anybody else i want to receive the free forgiveness that only jesus offers god i thank you for every hand which represents every heart that is forgiven now forever all of your past present and future heir wrong and sin is forgiven in one moment of receptivity one moment of faith we are the righteousness of god in christ jesus and we thank you for all that you've accomplished and all that you're doing and we declare over a church home that what you started in this church what you started in this community you will be faithful to complete it we love you and we trust you and we worship you in jesus name in jesus name if you're able and willing would you stand to your feet and join me and let's join the band now and let's use music as a platform to connect with our god come on church home

Channel: Churchome

Views: 7,202

Rating: 4.942029 out of 5

Keywords: Churchome, Judah, Judah smith, church, message, anxiety, depression, how to, elevation, Steven, Hillsong, oceans, sermon, the city church, church home, Chelsea smith, bobby Houston, td jakes, pastor, pastor preaching, carl lentz, Jesus, conference, guest speaker, sermon jam, worship, Justin Bieber, la Hillsong, Selena, preaching, Judah message, performance

Id: 7fOJ8m7Ae_A

Length: 63min 25sec (3805 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 19 2021