Chad Veach — Conference Sunday: The Place I Craved

[Music] you're running but you don't know why you lost your way everything around you is speeding by but you feel like you're not moving and then there you are standing before the ruins of your own life will you choose to start again you are caught in a struggle with your own existence one desperately trying to get away one desperately trying to hold on up is down and down these up and everything you've known your now unsure of you've lost your way [Music] the way [Music] Oh [Music] [Music] some of you tonight you need to get it in your spirit you need to remember to forget I'm telling you the cross of Jesus Christ that is your 40 I know the old things have passed away every single thing in my life is brand new because Jesus was for me not my name but his name brings salvation [Music] hebrews chapter six i'm gonna give you some context before we jump into today's reading hebrews we don't know exactly who wrote the book of hebrews but we are for sure on his intended audience so we're not quite sure who authored the book but we are certain on the crowd that he's writing to the author is writing to a crowd of really jewish people that have left their practice left their faith and they are now trying to go the jesus way they're trying to follow god they're trying to follow jesus in the midst of becoming Christians and followers of the way this grace thing and Jesus thing is a little bit difficult for them so they start to get kind of shaky in their faith so they start to waver a little bit and they actually want to go back to what is comfortable back to what is convenient back to what is familiar back to their families and the writer of Hebrews writes and says not family back is not an operative word for the believer come on anybody thankful today that Jesus never calls you backwards come on he only calls you forward in the name of God come on anybody believe today the best is yet to come he's calling you forward he's wooing you forward into the plan that he has for your life he says no we're not going back to the law we're not going back to religion we're not going back to that old life everything's better in Jesus the worships better the destinations better the coffee is better somebody say Amen everything is better in Jesus we're not going back to that old way because we found Jesus we found grace and everything is better in this space one encourage some people you've come to conference this weekend it's not that conference changed your life it's that Jesus changed your life you didn't find a great conference come on you found a great Savior this weekend some they say Amen watch what the writer of Hebrews says to the crowd and his intended audience Hebrews chapter 6 verse 18 watched these scriptures as it comes on the screens it says so it is impossible for God to lie for we know that his promise and his vow will never change and now we have run into his heart to hide ourselves in his faithfulness this is where we find his strength and his comfort for he empowers us to seize what has already been established ahead of time an unshakable hope we have this certain hope like a strong unbreakable anchor holding our souls to God himself our anchor of hope is fastened to the mercy seat which sits in the heavenly realm beyond the sacred threshold and where Jesus everybody say Jesus now a little bit louder than that everybody say Jesus where Jesus our 4runner has gone in before us he is now and forever our royal priest like Melchizedek I like that the writer is writing to the crowd he's like y'all y'all remember Melchisedec right and they're like yeah for sure which by the way milk is a deck is just an awesome Bible name like anybody love Bible names like my favorite Bible name in all the Bible is Mephibosheth like his parents had him and we were like we shall call him Mephibosheth he's like y'all remember milk is a dick right and they're like oh we grew up on milk is a dick for short he's like okay we'll remember Melchizedek we have now and forever a greater priest he is a truer priest and his name is Jesus I don't know if you knew this before today but you have your own personal profit and you have your own personal priest his name is Jesus and he's here to prophesy over you he's here to go to God on behalf of your knees come on anybody thank for today that you have your own personal priest and your own personal prophet Jesus Christ I want to preach a message today you can write down the title it's called the place I crave the place I crave I'm gonna pray and believe that God will come today and encourage us and speak to our hearts and lift up our heads and let us realize that he has a greater future and a greater plan than we've ever imagined for our lives amen come on let's bow our heads Jesus we thank you today that you are awesome and amazing we thank you that you are good and you are great you are greatly to be praised we ask today that you would open up our eyes so we can see you and open up our ears so we can hear you do the unique and profound god thing that happens when your word is open and your word is communicated let it land in good soil today we love you we live for you bless every father and Lord as a city together we're asking you to bless the Miami Dolphins this year though we need a miracle of God we did a miracle of heaven so do what you can Lord do what you can in Jesus name and everybody said together come on - instead this come on clap your Manos let's get some faith right now in Jesus name may the spirit of Don Shula rest this year on the Dolphins amen any food lovers in the house anybody love food where the food is that oh man don't let the skinny jeans fool you your boy loves to eat hot ludie man I love some food I like you ever get a craving you ever get like a food craving we're like I have to eat this food now this is my favorite part of my wife being pregnant my wife got pregnant four times my favorite part of her being pregnant was I come home from work I walked through the or black all right was it gonna be today and she be like today I'm craving Thai food how much your wish is my command let's go next day I come home like alright what's it gonna be today she's like today I'm craving teriyaki I'm alerting yesterday but let's go look I just love it one time I walk home she's like today today I'm craving ice cream I'm like I'm with you I was with everything until one day I came home I was like what's it gonna be today it's just like I want to pickle like you're sick you just you disgust me you know that I'll get a food craving once a week on the same day same hour happens every week same day same out every Sunday at about three o'clock I start craving chick-fil-a I don't know what it is I can't explain it to you about three o'clock I'm like dang I don't know why but I feel like I can we are and to be honest I don't just crave the chicken I want the french fries like I'm damn for chick-fil-a french fries and if I'm really being honest it's not just the fries I want the sauce come on somebody like they got a little Trinity going on you know what I'm saying little father-son holy what just start craving it like I know like I need it now we'll talk today about the reality whether you knew this or not your soul has a craving your soul has a longing and there's only one person there's only one place there's only one thing that can satisfy your soul that can satisfy your desire oh I love how the psalmist wrote it listen to the words of David that had come on the screen psalm 42 it says as the deer pants for the water Brooks so my soul pants for you O God my soul thirsts for God for the Living God I want to tell you what your soul really needs you're so crazy too be in the presence of the Lord there's nothing that's gonna satisfy you no purchase no vacation no relationship no no amount of success no amount of followers anybody thankful today that is Jesus and Jesus alone that can satisfy my soul as a deer panteth for the water Brooks so my soul longs for you O God longs to be in your presence I love what the writer of Hebrews is saying here he says because you are a promise giver and a promise keeper because you're not a man that you would lie because you give promises and fulfill your promises therefore because of your character God because of your nature therefore I run into your heart I'm gonna give you four things to write down to encourage you today write down number one you run to what you trust you run whatever you trust in you run to so the writer of Hebrews is said because of your trustworthiness because of who you are I run into your heart I want to encourage you today Christianity is about learning how to get good at running in fact if you're gonna stay around in this thing you got to learn how to run you got to become like a Forrest Gump for Jesus I started running don't make fun of my fours go that was pretty good but the Bible says we flee from temptation like we run from the evil stuff oh I love this weekend because it's not about just what we're running away from we're not just running away from toxic relationships we're not just running away from our old ways we're not just running away from our addictions it's not what we're running from it's what we're running to I'm running to God I'm running to vous Church I'm running to his house I'm running to my boo crew I'm running to grow track I'm running the next year's conference come on anybody down to get good at running I'm running the God because I trust in God whatever you trust in you run - and by the way some of us have been trusting in the wrong thing whatever you're running - when you get stressed out whenever you run - when you're anxious whatever you run to when times are hard you just revealing what your trust is in some of us are putting our trust in a bottle some of us are putting our trust in some pills some of us are putting our trust in social media I do not need temporary solutions I need long-term fixes and that is only found in the presence of the Living God I'm not running to something that will numb me for an evening or distract me for a weekend I need something if I drink from it I'll never be thirsty again that only happens when I drink of living waters somebody give Jesus a mighty shout of praise I don't need a distraction and I don't need to be numbed I don't need something for a week a weekend or a month I need something that's gonna satisfy me you ever notice how these things promised to fulfill you but always leave you empty dry and full of shame ain't nobody going to conference this weekend go on I'm so ashamed that I got washed and forgiven and healed and I got so many great relationships I've just I feel awful about it whatever you turn to you trust in and we are saying the writer of Hebrews saying we trust in God you're a promise Giver promise keeper I know your character I know your new nature therefore I run into your heart notice the difference between religion and relationship religion walks to God like I'm good I'm cool don't need anything don't need anybody I'm fine when you're broken and when you've got issues and you're going through some stuff you run to the house of God you run to your come on foo crew you run - because I'm not playing games I need Jesus I'm now desperate I'm broken I'm coming to God we're there everything I've got so the Bible says in Proverbs 3 trust in the Lord with all your heart Leyna on your own understanding in all your ways submit to him and he will make your paths straight just love that because some of us today we've got to increase our trust in God because if you trust in God you'll run to God you got feel I feel pressure I feel like this happened in my business in my home life in my marriage with my kids I'm not gonna numb I'm not gonna get the temporary I'm going for the everlasting thing I'm gonna run to God right now it's just it's just a revelation of your trust what are you gonna trust in it for me I want to trust in God I'll never forget growing up I played high school basketball and on my basketball team my coach did a drill with us he had us do the trust fall and so he would line up half the team on one side with our arms out like this and the other half would be on that side with our arms out and then he stuck a chair right here and he would say okay you've got to cross your arms and fall backwards into your teammates arms and it's gonna is gonna establish trust so we would do this you know and then I'll never forget when I got up on the chair I got up on the chair and I looking at back of my teammates I'm like hey y'all don't play no games now your boy is fragile and what we are saying when we run to God is God I choose to trust in you I'm not gonna trust in these things that I've been turning to they leave me dry and empty and filled with shame I'm running to the God man I'm running to my Savior I'm running to the thing that can heal me and fulfill me come on clap today if you're down to run to Jesus because your trust in Jesus so therefore because of who you are I run into your heart and I hide in your faithfulness write down number two today hide in his faithfulness I want to remind some people today our God is faithful faithfulness is who he is and faithful is what he does he's a faith has God been faithful to anybody in this house come on just clap right now if God has been better to you than you deserve greater to you than you imagined when you were faithless he remained faithful come on just clap right now has he been faithful to your finances faithful to your family faithful to your children he's faithful to a thousand generation come on foo let's give praise to a faithful Jesus right now oh I love God he said God so good he says run into my heart and hide in my faithfulness just under my shade under my umbrella ella ella just came to me I had to say okay hide in my faithfulness see our problems some of us you go through hard times and you're like I got to solve it I got to strive I gotta earn I gotta make it happen and gods like no no no no no no come come come come come come you just you just hide in my faithfulness and you watch me go out and fight your battle got so good got God's Craig got everything God does is different than the way we do stuff God's man doesn't even make sense to us God says things like this he says the first is this Oh God shall be last and the last shall be first watch God God goes like this the greatest of them all is the servant of them all this is God God God does things different one of my favorite stories about God in the Old Testament they got ready to go out and do a big battle they're going into war so they got all the guys all the warriors lined up all the big you know CrossFit and the people that came to the bootcamp at 7:00 in the morning 800 signed up 200 showed up what that's a movie right there so pastor Rich's Jim and all the guys lined up you know leg day never done it and so you guys laughed a bit aggressive on that I felt like just feel like that was mean-spirited so I lined up all the guys they all all the big boy and then got so good guys like hey oh can we get Zac and Manny and the crew we need all the worship leaders out here in the front cuz the way we're gonna win this battle is with our hands lifted and our voice raised and we're gonna praise God and we're gonna see the victory be one somebody thank God right now I'm just gonna hide in your faithfulness and I'm gonna let your faithfulness go before me some of us need to get good at running and others of us need to get good at hiding hide in his faithfulness and let God go before you oh I love this song watch here in Psalm 91 it says he who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty I will say of the Lord what will I say he is my refuge and my fortress my god in him I he's gonna trust you Jesus he's gonna trust you God you got it you got a a cousin or an uncle be like you better get out there and solve it you're like nothin you don't understand my god can go before me I need to hide in his faithfulness because for my soul this is what I need I don't know if you noticed this but the writer of Hebrews was very deliberate to tell us what happens when we do these things when you run into his heart and you hide in his faithfulness there are some things that transpire while you're hiding God doesn't just have you in protective witness services so you can just be hidden out for a little bit no God has you in hiding because he wants to do something in you so he can do something through you but he's brought you here to his table he's brought you here to his refuge he's brought you here to his shadow so you can get into his presence to get to to you what you need so because your promise giver promised keeper because of your character in your nature and who you are I run into your heart and I hide in your faithfulness and it is here that I receive strength and comfort empowerment to cease and an unshakable hope all this happens in hiding all this happens while you're resting in his shadow right down number three today everything I need is in his presence everything I need is in the presence of the Lord everything that my soul really needs is found in the presence of Jesus come on clap right now if you love the presence of God come on just think right thank God right now if you are addicted to the sweetness and the beauty of the presence of the Living God said when you come in here you get strength oh I love this because you can't you can see it happen and all week in a conference you can see it happening right now on Sunday you see people you might have walked in one way but you're gonna leave another I love this about Jesus when you encounter Jesus you come in and you're tired and you're broken and you're depleted and you feel overwhelmed and you want to quit but you get in the presence of God and all of a sudden you start getting the eye of the tiger' back you start getting your confidence back you start giving your I can back you start getting some swag back come on is there anybody that has found some newfound strength in the presence of the Living God come on give them a praise right now I'm getting my strength back happens every time you encounter Jesus you walk in one way you leave another way you encounter Jesus and you're like I'm down I'm discouraged I'm defeated we lost LeBron delaine's gone our pets heads are falling off but all of a sudden although I was weary now I'm like let's go people like whoa did you um you take a vacation I got with Jesus some of us are so stupid and believing I need a week off I need a month off and inner Bragg you don't need a vacation you don't need a nap you need an encounter with the presence of the Living God that will change you from the inside out that will give you more motivation more faith more ability more courage and stamina than you can ever bargain for somebody praise Him right now I'm getting my strength back today all of the Bible it says even youths will grow weary even young people will get tired but those that wait upon the Lord they shall renew their strength they shall rise on the wings of an eagle they will walk and not grow weary they were running not faint walk as I've spent time in the presence of the Living God I've got my strength back I don't know about you but I want to get stronger I want to get stronger I want to get better that only happens it's not retail therapy it's not some bottle or pill it's not some vacation it's not a relay it's not an opportunity it's just being with Jesus I'll get my strength back I can change your city I can build a church I can raise a family I can blossom my marriage I can change your world I can touch the nation all from the presence of the lid I wish you'd receive some strength from the Living God today it's all from Jesus it's all from Jesus I get my strength and I get comfort or I love this part because the comfort of the Holy Spirit I come into his presence and I start to worship God and all of a sudden I receive I get it enveloped by the divine and courage er the Holy Spirit comforts me you um you ever try and snuggle with a blanket that's too small like a blanket they hit you at your ankles who's testing these blankets are they using nine-year-olds to test our blankets but you ever get when they're big old whole family can fit under the blanket blankets we got a blanket at our house all five of us we just we just brought six of us we just roll I lost track of my kids right there you know it's a it's a lot of them it's a lot I got a minivan I got we got a name okay all right we got two strollers I don't even know I got a run into his heart come on some honey yeah yeah you ever noticed when you get in his presence everything you were so anxious about just fades in the background everything you walked in with and your burdens and your concerns and your worries and how am I gonna pay for this and is this gonna happen and this relationships broken and then you get in his presence you're like I don't have any problems where'd they go and if I can be honest it's not that your problems changes that you changed I just get comfort the comforter comes and comforts me I I would just make a decision if I were you that every time the church's doors are open you're gonna be there it's not that church needs you is that you need Church because you need his presence you needed to sign up for conference right now I'm like I need this thing I need a couple days in his presence cuz I got to get comfort for what I'm facing I need comfort and these things promise to comfort me but they left me dry empty and filled with shame and Jesus comforts me and I feel great about it I feel good about it I feel like I know where I'm going he says you hidin my faithfulness and and you get strength back and comfort and I love this one and empowerment to see this is so God because God is like a good parent God's like a good parent that has a 24 year old that moves home back in the basement you can stay for three months son we're so happy to have you back eating the food out of our fridge you are welcome here for three months but after three months you got to go God so good God's like plum on a Sunday come to conference but listen you can't stay here you've got a gospel to preach you've got a city to change you've got a church to build this is a calling on your life there's a future I have and I've got you're not gonna stay in hiding you're gonna go somebody praise Him right now go therefore into all the nations preach the gospel baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit I'm with you somebody praise him right now and thank God that he's ascending God the problem with most of us is that we love his presence so much we just want to stay and like frolic and be like oh my god this is amazing this is like Coachella before Jesus oh my gosh I'm a decade I'm a doctor no you're not you're weird you ever meet a creepy Christian oh come on don't point at him you ever meet a creepy Christian you meet a creepy could you ask them a normal question hey how you doing it all blessed Holly favorite of the Lord just heads up weird answer got so good guys like hey hey come come you can run you can hide but just a heads up once I give you your strength and once I give you the comfort I'll just a heads up I'm so good I got I'm gonna empower you my question to you is who empowers you are you self-appointed and self anointed no God himself has placed his hand on your head he knows how many hairs are on your head he knows when you stand up and sit down and go out and come in and he knows the plans he has for you and he wants to empower you to move out in the direction he's called you to go when I give him this presence does not just strike the comfort I just feel like there's more there's more for my life it's more for my future and I feel have been sending me I feel sent by God I just a heads up I've had the time of my life here in Miami but I'm going back to LA changed I'm going back to Los Angeles empowered by God I'm going back because I got strength this weekend I got comfort this weekend I feel empowered to shake a city upside down I feel empowered come on to raise my children in the presence of God I feel empowered by God to preach the good news all over the world somebody praise them right now we're not empowering ourselves we're getting empowered by God so we get empowered by God and we receive I love the last one we receive an unshakable hope an unshakable hope why is he using the word shaken because this is a crowd that is so shaky in their faith he said no when you get in his presence all of a sudden what became what was hopeless all of a sudden you're now filled with hope what look tire will look broken what look ruin all of a sudden it's got a chance at redemption it's got a shot at restoration it's got a shot at revival because I feel like there's hope that's being received all of this happens in the presence of the Lord worship team you can come join me I love these scriptures so much and you can hear the urgency that he's riding with to a crowd that wants to go back no no no no we've got a promise giver promise keeper we're not going back we're gonna run into his heart we're gonna hide in his faithfulness we're gonna receive everything that we need in his presence he has said all of that to get to my favorite part of today's reading my favorite part of today's reading is so powerful because the writer goes into symbolism watch here on the screens and you could put up these scriptures here in Hebrews chapter 6 and we just go to these last scriptures here Hebrews 6 this is where we find his strength and comfort for he empowers us to seize what has already been established ahead of time an unshakable hope put up the next scriptures if you can and we have this certain hope like a strong unbreakable anchor holding our souls to God himself our anchor of hope is fastened to the mercy seat which sits in the heavenly realm beyond the sacred threshold we have this hope as an anchor for the Soul firm and secure just love that word anchor right there it's using a symbol anchor remember our faith is marked by symbolism like let's take for example the cross the cross is just a symbol the cross is symbolic whether you see it on a necklace or you see it on a bumper sticker when I see that symbol it reminds me Jesus chose me over himself when I see the cross it reminds me no matter what sickness I have in my body I'm healed by the stripes of Jesus the cross reminds me that when I look at it I don't have to face eternal damnation I have the hope of everlasting life because jesus said it is finished and paid the price for my salvation is there anybody thankful for the finished work of the Cross today you ever get discouraged just look at the cross the cross reminds me I'm saved I'm healed I'm free I'm delivered all from the symbol of the Cross but the writer of Hebrews in this section has chosen an anchor as his symbol and he is paralleling the words of the Apostle Paul Paul writes he says I pray this is his words he say I pray that you be rooted and grounded in the love of Jesus but here the writer of Hebrews he uses the symbol of an anchor he said I pray that you be anchored to the love of God you be anchored to Christ himself you be anchored to Jesus right down the fourth and the final thought today God is trying to anchor you in his love all of this the lights the cameras the design the parking team the kids team it's all so that all of us could be anchored in a love that surpasses knowledge and understanding and God is wooing you God is beckoning you God is romancing you into a place where you drop your anchor and say I'm anchored in his love and no situation no trial no tribulation nothing I face is gonna uninformative me out no I'm tethered to Jesus I'm with Jesus I've dropped my anchor I'm not up for sale no I'm with Jesus come on somebody praise Him right now because it's the Father's love that's getting us to drop our anchors and anchor ourselves in the love of Jesus Christ today that's what he's trying to do you could always go live opposite the devil is trying to do everything he can to get you to be shaky to get you to be tossed and turned to not know to question to guess I don't know don't drop it you can't trust him I'll give you this that and the other come on here's some pills here's here's a relationship here's this no no Jesus saying just drop your anchor drop your anchor drop it right now drop it right here I'll promise you I'll fulfill you I'll give you strength I'll give you comfort I'll empower you I'll let your faithfulness my faithfulness go come on hide in my heart never forget a few months ago we're out on a boat in the middle of nowhere like middle of nowhere we're out on this boat and you couldn't see land anywhere and we're conversating pastor rich and I were together actually and we're conversating together having a great conversation middle of nowhere couldn't see kneeling and the captain of the boat came back and interrupted our conversation he said hey I don't mean to interrupt but just a heads up if you wanted to this would be a perfect place to drop our anchor and when he said it my first thought was um sir sir why why here but I refrain from my reply and my second thought was wow this is not a man with an opinion this is a man with an experience and he knew drop your anchor come on the writer of Hebrews is trying to encourage this church he's saying listen I've been through some trials I've been through some tribulations I remember Melchizedek but we've got a greater priest right now we got a greater profit right now and he's trying to get us to drop our anchors I wish you just say I'm in heart and soul I'm dropping my anchor and nothing that's facing me no storm no situation nothing I go through it's gonna give me to be untethered from the presence of the Living God come on somebody thank him it's what I crave it's what I need it's who I want all I want is Jesus oh come on if you believe it today let's lift our voice

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Id: mfXAjER76Qc

Length: 38min 7sec (2287 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 17 2019