Christianity Is Too Hard

hey church i'm so excited to share this message with you this sermon with you i've got about 30 of my closest friends here in a studio in seattle a sunny warm balmy seattle i might add some of the nicest weather in the union right now is in seattle washington which we are very very proud of um but if you have tuned in today or you're in this room and you have ever felt that following jesus or as it's called christianity is hard difficult challenging upstream uphill wind at your face this is too hard this is the sermon for you one of the heart behind this message in my own life is when christianity starts getting hard i personally know something's off something's off now i'm not saying that you're not going to have challenges difficulties or maybe friends or family members who are like oh boy here comes the christian cousin here comes my christian aunt oh boy here comes prayer warrior auntie you know to the picnic to the hangout oh boy here you know here's my little brother showing up again at the burger place and i'm sure he's gonna talk to me about jesus so you're gonna have some challenges where maybe everyone isn't gonna be pleased to see you all of the time because you are that jesus follower but i'm talking about in your own life you want to grow you want to become more loving you want to become more kind you want to become more gracious you want to become a better learner and a listener and yet you're looking at your body of work maybe during this pandemic and going i'm not really making any progress i've found an amazing trend or i should say an alarming trend not amazing and that is most of us feel like we've lost ground during these difficult couple of years most of us in a number of different ways professionally people feel like they're losing ground socially people think they're people feel and are in some cases losing ground relationally mentally mental health has never been more of an uphill climb than it is right now i am having countless conversations with church members and friends about their mental state their perspective how they're seeing themselves seeing their world seeing their job if it still exists and so as a result when it comes to difficult uh someone i text a pastor today and i said how you doing and the pastor said good i think and i was like yeah that about sums it up you know when someone's like hey how are you like good i i think unless you're gonna tell me something that won't make me good right like you know how about this right now have you heard and you're like what right i mean because there is so much calamity so much injustice so much tragedy so much pain so much loss that probably has always been there it's never just been this apparent to all of us collectively at the same time or so it seems right and so as a result news right now is very rarely good head you hear the news and we all brace for bad news that's hopefully while you're watching this broadcast or in this room because you're looking for good news and you've come to the right place okay we are committed to the news that is good the news that is life-giving the news that is hope filled the news that is full of purpose and the news that is full of a person who is more good he is gooder than good he is beyond our understanding and definition of good therefore the news about him is good so we'll talk about that good news we're going to do it in a way to help you and i to understand what really is the makeup and the constructs of our relationship with god um spiritual growth is a really interesting concept growing up spiritual growth was taught to me basically it was you get in what you get out what you put in right by the way my football coach told me that too so that's weird right like my science teacher told me the same thing so that's weird right like my my tennis coach should be like you you played tennis yes my tennis coach grateful dead big grateful dead fan always showed up high to practice he was the best um he told me the same thing he said what you put in you'll get out so here's the issue i take with preachers everywhere why are we still preaching what football coaches preach tennis coaches science teachers like and shout out to all coaches and teachers everywhere you are the heroes in this room whatever room you're watching or any room in the world for that matter so no shade on any of my coaches or teachers i'm just saying when it comes to telling the story of jesus and communicating what we call the gospel or the news that is good we ought to be a little bit different because by nature our message is supernatural so i would like to propose to you that christianity is unique and my message today my message while you're watching is not that hey you're going to get in or you're going to kid how to keep reversing that you're going to get out what you put in if you put in the time of prayer if you put in your time in scriptures if you get the little star on the chart anybody grow up in sunday school okay and every sunday you'd show them whoever got the most stars and they were blue stars there were red stars and there were yellow stars all kinds of stars that meant different things and we basically were teaching young minds that when it comes to god it's no different than your grades it's no different than working on your car it's no different than working on athletics if you put enough time and enough energy and enough smarts you'll get good at it so it's in moments like this where we're like i'm not good at being a christian you ever felt like that i'm just not good at it i still have friends the number one reason they're not christian is because they're just not good enough and it's too hard to do it where like i would rather just do to do whatever i want say whatever i want with whoever i want watch whatever i want think whatever i want i feel like jesus is a cosmic principle and he's going to be managing my behavior and that's exhausting because life is hard enough and christianity just makes it harder so i'm really not that into it if you have ever had that emotion now if you haven't had that emotion you obviously are a direct descendant of mother teresa for the rest of us right we had that emotion a lot this is just too hard this is just hard it's just hard you ever had the thought like it'd be nice to be a like like like just to take on like the bad gal bad guy person i'm just gonna be the bad guy you know it's like because it seems like floating downstream right and sometimes our christianity feels like you're fighting a current you're fighting a headwind it's like when your parents told you they walked to school uphill both ways in the snow when they were kids you're like and there is a metaphor for my relationship with god it's hard now if in fact that is true i take issue with these words we're about to read from jesus john chapter 15 we're just reading a couple of verses we don't have time to exegete all of john 15. that would be far too much of an assignment to bear at this point but listen to the words of jesus john 15 5 to 7. i'm the vine you're the branches when you're joined with me and i with you the relationship is intimate and organic the harvest is sure to be abundant separated you can't produce a thing anyone who separates from me is dead wood gathered up and thrown on the bonfire but if you make yourself at home with me and my words are at home in you you can absolutely be sure that whatever you ask you'll be listened to and acted upon this is how my father shows who he is when you produce grapes when you mature as my disciples now many of us in this room or watching right now have heard the metaphor used from jesus john 15 is one of the great passages of the words of jesus ever given as a gift to man but we are told here that jesus is likened to a vine and we are a branch on the vine here's a great place to start have you ever walked by a vine come on you know where i'm going some of you've been in bible school you've heard preachers like me for so long but it's a really really good example have you ever walked by a vine and heard [Music] right like no you never heard vine striving think about it you never walk by a tree i mean like and you're like what is that that's the tree trying to pump out some apples oh cool cool no what's happening is god has set something in motion hasn't think about it god set something in motion seed time harvest right it's a time to sow it's a time to yield it's a time to reap it's times and seasons that god has set in motion how does the apple tree know just knows how does the vine know that it's supposed to pump out grapes how do all the vines know at the same time to pump out grapes well god god we would say god god set this in motion we haven't greatly complicated the human soul and the one that created it and their intention for connection we have complicated that astronomically and i'm going to prove it to you in this passage what i'd like to give to you as a gift is four observations to help your misnomer that christianity is too hard for you it's too noble of a task for you that you'll never be as spiritual as dot dot dot come on we all have somebody in our life who were like if one day i could be like her someday i'm gonna be like him you know what's amazing about life is when really when you really add it all up we're all just human beings we're all just human beings and you never cease to amaze me and don't tell my kids i told them because i'm going to tell you something a little secret about the smith family smith family has heroes like any other family and my kids have athletic heroes they have artists and entertainment heroes but i'll tell you a little secret and over the course of years i've been able to try to do my best to tell the story of jesus to athletes or entertainers or singers or actresses and actors you know what's crazy without fail any actor singer or athlete or artist that my kids meet they almost immediately cease to become that same kind of like amazing because there's something in all of us that wants to believe that a few of us are not human that a few of us right are like we float in our hallways and we never have to go number one or number two right there are some people that i can't even visualize go in the bathroom you know what i mean it's like they are so great they are so amazing i'm not saying i visualize people go in the bathroom that really backfire i did that that that didn't that's not that's not what i meant that's not what i'm saying but um i blame you for that like blame the audience what you know um but you know what i mean there's always those people and what's crazy is my kids once they meet you know in some cases that person you know i mean justin bieber is the hero of the smith family and always will be he's like family to us but i think you understand what i mean once you meet you're like oh man they actually have skin you know i mean like it's not plastic it's skin shoot like this person is just really average and normal and so i say that only to say because we don't have time to really get into it comparison is really one of the great thieves of our relationship with god because it perpetually tells us we're not good at this and i want to say that you're a lot better at connecting with god than you're even aware of and i'm going to prove it to you he says i'm the vine you're the branches when you're joined with me and i with you the relation intimate and organic i want to make an observation that's very important and that is nowhere in this passage will you find a very distinct and deliberate description of what it means or how you become a branch in the vine it's very intuitive language and you if you get a chance read all of john 15 and there is not a lot of language there's definitely a hair in my mouth but i did just get a haircut i'm not going to lie just to get a haircut i hadn't had a haircut in a long time my wife even said how long has it been and i was like she's like you've been wearing a hat every day and i was like that's kind of offensive to me because i thought every day you said i was handsome but anyways the point is um nowhere in john 15 i'll be careful john 15 is not a here's what you need to do passage he says i'm the vine you're the branches okay how do you become a branch go ask a branch how did you become a branch just a branch how did you become a vine just a vine i've said this before i'll say it again you were made to connect with god don't forget that you were made to connect with god you were more made to connect with god than you were made to connect with other human beings it's the primary reason you were made was to connect with god so we have made so much about teaching people to pray when actually it's a primal cry it's like talking to yourself it's like talking to your dead relatives and if you haven't done that you don't have any relatives that are dead okay and i don't mean like i'm actually like my dad doesn't talk back but when i came in this auditorium today at this location um you know my dad's 71st birthday don't tell my mom um i was like hey dad i don't even know if you can hear me but i'm doing my best with this church man you really tricked me into this one but i'm you know i'm here and just you know and i'm like i don't even know how this works i think we're already all there together you know what i mean but but but when it comes to talking to god like we really have to collectively calm down as christians we have taught people we have over top people about prayer we have we've taught people certain words to say and phrases to say and that's not necessarily always really imperative or important it really is primal he says the relationship is intimate and here's the operative word i love it in the message because the message unpacks some of the original language it's organic and here's my first observation that's important if your christianity is too hard you need to go back to organic christianity yeah now if you look at obviously food and the organic movement and by the way a lot of it is not legitimate you gotta do your research and i had a friend who who owned an organic food company and one day late in new york city we were hanging at this house and he's like yeah none of it's organic and i was like wait what he's like i sell to this supermarket and this is none of it's organic we just put organic on it i'm like huh like my world is crumbling you know anyways i don't know why i shared those details no names no stores so now you don't know all right but true stories like yeah none of it's organic and i'm like i know it's like one in the morning but say that again hey you live alive this house you paid for anyways um organic is no additives let's define it for a second it's no additives right organic is in theory it's how it was originally intended right it's like you get a little beef from the cow you take that beef and you serve it right it's like it's it's it's organic i'm not trying to insult anyone's intelligence organic now as a overused term i want to say it again your relationship to god is organic which means when you add additives that's that's not necessary when there are additives that's better that's a better it's a better phrase when you add additives it's like all right when there are additives it ceases to be organic probably i'll be careful probably the scariest theology or philosophy or approach to christianity that is still proliferating in our culture today is jesus plus anything equals spiritual growth jesus plus bible memory be careful now jesus plus perfect church attendance now some of you grew up in the 70s and 80s and 90s like me and church attendance was everything now we got you know church home you could be at the lake right now watching something you know you're good to go right like the world is changing somebody's saying hallelujah okay but like jesus plus volunteering at church jesus plus morality jesus plus no cussing jesus plus not smoking anything right it could be and we laughed but there were days where it was jesus plus no hats sorry stephen i mean this was a real jesus plus no long hair come on gentlemen this was a real thing and we laughed but it wasn't that long ago it wasn't that long ago right and in some cases the gospel was used to set other ethnicities above others jesus plus we have decimated communities and cultures and countries with jesus plus jesus plus i've preached whole sermons in churches only to get emails back saying judah your sermon didn't have any practical takeaways and i'm like listen ladies and gentlemen we are literally dying a slow relational death with all of our practical takeaways there are some things i can't just serve up a pre-packaged takeaway and that's where prayer kind of lands sometimes where it's like now here you pray this our father art in heaven hallowed be your name your kingdom come your will be done like the jesus did the lord's prayer isn't just supposed to be repeated mindlessly i encourage you to repeat it you certainly can repeat it you could also not use it at all and just let your own heart cry out to god right but we are we are so uh pre-dispositioned for practical takeaways tell me how i it's goal setting it's it's it's a cerebral kind of approach to life all these things that are pervasive in our culture which aren't inherently wrong they just greatly affect our connection with god and so we treat god like a principal like a coach like a trainer like and he is the lover of your soul and the father of us all so he's not to be treated like a trainer or a preacher or even like a river guide that's written that no he's a dad he has revealed himself with his own examples that we can just go ahead and take right he said i am the vine you are the branches that's an interesting distinction because in reality we just call that divine even the distinction is like what's this this is the branch of the vine if i was there with you in some vineyard i'd be like homie that's just the vine right like it's just the vine it's just like you like what is this you're like that's a tree no but i mean like the limb what is this it's still a tree bro still the right answer still the right answer right like he is divine he's all-consuming he's all resourceful he's everything you need you can't put him in a box you can't treat him like your sunday school teacher this isn't about you as much as it's about him so it's organic it's organic if your christianity is getting too hard or you're not good enough what are you adding allow the person of jesus to pinpoint what you've added for the customs and traditions of men and women make the story of jesus and the message of jesus no longer effective that's how destructive our additives are that's how destructive you can take something like a strawberry and pump it full of so many chemicals to make it redder than it was ever supposed to be and it will not serve your body nearly to the degree that a healthy organic strawberry can right and you know i mean we can talk about salmon you all want to talk about salmon like talk about organic salmon versus harvested salmon i'm from seattle you want to talk about salmon salmons piled on each other in a little cessed pool where they're eating each other's stuff and then they serve it up you want to talk about salmon you want to talk about hydrogenated oils like judah we're not red 40 like relax bro relax all right but spiritually speaking let's get back to the main point these things can really hurt us in the process and make us believe that what we're taking in is somehow wrong it's what we've added to it and predominantly what we add is traditions and customs and cultural norms things that we think are right up there with godliness right cleanliness is next to god it's not even close to godliness okay no offense but it's not even close to godliness that is just so far from god helps those who help themselves terrible horrific theology and philosophy but these are pro just be a good person man i tell you what it's all about it's all about being a good person as if there are those people right like it's not just about being good it's it's it's about being saved it's about a superhero who we were always predispositioned to know and connect with and walk with it's organic here's a question you can ask yourself if your christianity's gotten too hard or you're not good enough in your relationship with god what have i added holy spirit help me pinpoint what i've added and help me eradicate what i have added every time i step on stage or in this case step on the pavement in this uh studio um i always have that last minute just like dang um i don't know if i'm really qualified um and i've talked to great heroes about this and preachers and mentors and board members now and i i try to incorporate in every sermon that bishop t.d jakes is a board member now and we talk all the time i don't want to get into it but he's probably from chicago he's not but um i love bishop um but we talk about brokenness and how imperative is yeah that's where the oil flows in a broken vessel and and so what i do every time i walk on stage we'll call it stage is i have to relinquish again any of my um impulses and desires to walk here based on my own criteria in my own performance yeah now i got to be honest some sundays and saturdays and wednesdays it's really convenient because i have had a really good run for a few weeks you ever been there you're like you're going into work and you're like it's going to be a good week because i've been good you ever done that you're like i have been and for those of you married i have been such a sweet spouse i've been amazing to my kids i have i i i have i have uh eradicated all proclivities and anything that alter my mind i am free i am holy i am sanctified it's going to be a good week we expect good based on our performance jesus plus my performance jesus plus my holiness that that qualifies me no just jesus just jesus it's organic the harvest is sure to be abundant separated you can't produce a thing we're going to keep moving here number two second observation striving is separation let me explain striving to you over and over in scripture you'll notice particularly g in the teachings of jesus he talks about striving for without me you can do nothing this idea of striving is something very simple but it's so prevalent and none of us want to admit it i don't recommend that we start walking around going you're striving you know because it would be like all the time striving is this it is action or effort apart from god now if you don't have a problem with this let me tell you about mine there are a number of things i intuitively include god in like preaching i can't remember if i've ever discluded god in my preaching i've always been like oh god have mercy you know like please help me everyone's going to be sitting there going start whenever you're ready and i'm like okay you know like and and sermons are funny because they're like art you just kind of write them in your head or your heart and then you're like i hope this resonates that resonates i don't want it to resign i hope this resonates you know um and so it is a little it is a little iffy so you you all know what that feels like in your own respective uh a job gift mix and ability where you're like man i gotta include god so he shows up at my big uh board meeting and he shows up on my book but like when's the last time we just included god in our like tv watching why he's doing other things with other with other like people that are doing like board meetings and preaching you know like are you like me like have you ever like come home from work if you will and you kind of like you're like okay god great day of work good to see you i'll see you tomorrow right y'all know what i'm talking about and you walk into your house you're like shut up and sit down i'm in charge of this house dinner was supposed to start 15 minutes ago smith kids let's go you know it's like there is no sign of god anywhere in the smith household because parenting is on chelsea right right dinnertime is on chelsea i don't see god making dinner you know like think about all the things we start telling ourselves like well if god did my job for me i would let god do it but god gave me the strength to do it so i'm gonna do it but the point is partnership the point is partnership the things the reason it's getting hard is because you're trying without including him and by the way including him is not complicated including him goes something like this help everyone's like i just need a preacher to teach me how to include god in every part of my low you do what no you don't it's like anything else is it hard for you to include people you really love think about that when i'm really excited about something i want to include everybody chelsea knows this is true i want everyone to see it i actually don't enjoy it until everyone enjoys it and then if you're not enjoying it i'll be like why are you what look at this look at that you know like i want to share it with people no you know how to include god anything separate anything that we just don't and by the way i don't think we intentionally go i'm gonna come home from work now and leave god on the porch as if you could we don't mean to we just get in habits don't we and then we're like man marriage has been so hard said everyone in covid you know everyone's like i'm single i so wanted to get married and now covet imagine if you were married you know but anyways um i love all these single people like covet's been so hard single oh has it try marriage i love marriage and money they're the same thing they're neither good nor bad they just make you more of what you were before you had it that's the only thing mayor just like oh this is who i was yeah when you can't sit at home by yourself watching whatever you want eat whatever you want talking to everyone think about everyone and now you got somebody you got to include we find out who you really are isn't that the truth how many know when we're broke it's like man i just trust the lord and all said here comes all the money and you're like well maybe i don't need the lord as much you know i you get one of those bumper stickers he who dies with the most toys wins you know and you're like you were never that person but money is an amazing thing so is marriage okay here's the point let's be people who include god in everything we do and i know this is so silly but it can be something as simple as right before you walk through the door right before you get in the car use thresholds even physical thresholds to be like god i thank you you're coming right in to dinner tonight with the family one of my favorite things to do is to invite god to give me uh random impulses and this is a big part of my pastoring is today for instance i was praying about people and a a lady i won't say her name she's a friend of mine and she works in the golf industry and i just started praying for her and i started thinking about her and she's a friend of kind of a bunch of our friends and and i text her i said hey how are you holding up and she said did you hear and i said no i didn't and and she said i i tore my acl and i was like oh my gosh she's like how why did you text me today and i was like i'm just praying for you and i just felt like impressed to text you now it doesn't always sometimes i text people like are you okay they're like actually i'm having the best day of my life and i'm like and that's why i'm praying for you you know like why is it as fast as when we tell someone we're praying for them they're like oh my god my life's falling apart you're like i knew i knew i should be praying but i like don't want your life to fall apart so i don't know why i take pride in that but anyways um just asking god like god throughout the day wherever i am just give me thoughts and then learning to work with those thoughts like if someone randomly comes to your mind you got a decision to make you can go uh that's just out of nowhere that person just came into my mind or you can be like listen i got a connection with god we're walking hand in hand shoulder to shoulder he's my father he's just giving me a nudge he's giving me a nudge and i'm gonna take it as a nudge send them a text call whatever it is just following the leading of the holy spirit in any environment will help you include god in everything you do one of the reasons we have such extreme spiritual fatigue is striving striving the old testament priests wore linen i love linen but the reason they wore linen it was a portrait and a picture linen took the sweat off the body and the picture in the new covenant now is no stressing and no striving just worship and relying so no sweat no sweat i'm not saying you don't work hard the sweat represents again activity and action apart from god you plain god in your own life you know why oftentimes our job overwhelms us because we forgot to involve the one who made the economy to begin with we forgot to tell him we got bills in two weeks right and like i'm just gonna include you in my bills i'm gonna include you in such an amazing practice and we could talk more about that anyone who separates from me is deadwood gathered up and thrown on the bonfire again that is extreme language that is trying to be extreme it's trying to get the listener to go wait deadwood bonfire what me god wants to throw me on the bonfire listen scripture interpret scripture john 15 5-7 can't mean that you are thrown on the bonfire because god so loved the world john 3 16 that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him will not perish but of everlasting life god wants you to have life god wants you to have life more abundantly john 10 10 write scripture interpret scripture so this isn't saying listen you're dead wood i'm going to gather you up i'm going to throw you in the fire it's saying all of your works and all of your efforts are empty hollowed and dead and should be burned in a fire unless you are following the partnership and leadership of the holy spirit that's not to be overthought you can do it you can do it lastly we're coming to a close if you make yourselves at home with me my words are at home and you you can be sure whatever you ask me listen to and acted upon observation number three and then we'll do number four and we'll be done and we can have the piano playing because it makes me feel good i feel so selfish but i'm really people are like i love the piano part i'm like oh yeah that that's for me you know but anyways um if you make yourself at home with me and here's when i read something like this i'm like god how how do i explain to my friends at church how do they make themselves at home with you and again no explanation no explanation in other words you already know it's not a trick if you make yourself at home how do i make myself at home you will you know you will you know oh it's like i love how the bible you know begins in the beginning god you're like oh good question when though was this where how what was the day what was the time where it was the wait none of that stuff in the beginning god so god was before the be the beginning so there's a lot of stuff before we're even yet right it's also what the bible doesn't say it's not just what the bible says if you make yourself at home with me my words are at home in you you're like perfect and this is where christianity gets it wrong we're like you know how you make yourself at home with god you read your bible every day you pray every day and you be at church every day don't you smoke or wear hats always get like a southern accent [Music] but here's what i tell you you know he's at home with you when what he says is at home with you now i want to show you how to read your bible because how you're reading your bible may not be the way jesus teaches people to read the bible do you know jesus taught post-resurrection you know he taught people to read the bible differently did you know that luke 24 check it out then he said everything i told you i was with you comes to this all things written about me in the law of moses in the prophets and the psalms have to be fulfilled i'll say this in the old testament the old testament is only relevant as it points us to jesus that's why the world doesn't understand you have a maniacal vindictive god in the old testament what is going on with the bible by the way we don't need the old testament to prove the death burial and resurrection of jesus so i want to set you free the old testament is inspired by god and it should be used in teaching and preaching and doctrine it is sound it is good but if you know anyone who's really upset about the old testament can i just give set you free let it go let it go let it go i don't need the old testament to reveal the but i can but it ain't about abraham i don't care if abraham didn't even exist i know jesus did now people don't like this kind of preaching well moses isn't real jesus and no says who says who would you to the genesis account i have issue with all right perfect anyways back to historical fact back to historical fact we got more proof of jesus christ than abraham lincoln back to historical fact everything i told you i was with you the law of the prophet psalm had to be fulfilled so it's been fulfilled jesus has fulfilled it he went on to open their understanding of the word of god showing them how to read their bibles this way what way what way what way what way should i read the bible this way what way go back to the verse before go back to all things written about [Music] all things written about me he taught them how to read their bible this way what's the bible read the book all of it is about me jesus says so you go to the law of moses and you look for jesus you go to the prophets you look for jesus you go to the psalms you look for jesus you go to the book of job you look for jesus you go to proverbs i don't just need wisdom i need jesus so many business men and women tell me well i read a proverb every day because god gives me the wisdom for my job i'm like y'all can have wisdom i want the one who is wisdom like i i need more than just like good understanding i need the man who is understanding i need him in the boardroom with me i don't even know pulpit i need him at the dinner table i need him in my home i need him in my bed i need him when i walk i need it when i talk i don't just need law or prophecies or songs i need jesus so this is how we read the bible we look for jesus we look for jesus then you've got to understand that the bible has to be read backwards we've talked about this before it needs to be read backwards it needs to be read backwards let me say it like this the epistles inform the gospels and the gospels inform the old testament there's much more to say about that but you're saying so post-resurrection is where you start for the resurrection has changed everything and now resurrection informs the life and times and ministries of jesus you understand what i'm saying so when jesus says but i say but i say you know in the sermon on the mount when he keeps upping he's like but you say if you lust out a woman in your heart or you say if you sleep with a woman i say but i say if you even think about her in your mind and in your heart you have committed adultery and you're an adulterer and a lot of people say see jesus ups the ante see jesus is about holiness but i am telling you if you go post-resurrection why would jesus be preaching about these things in the sermon of the mount because post-resurrection he is the resurrection in the life he is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets and the psalms so what he's actually saying is do you feel inadequate do you feel like you don't measure up do you lust in your heart after people then you know what you need you need a superhero who can beat death hell and the grave and so the message of the sermon on the mount is not your moralism it's jesus so we take the sermon on the mount and we run to the resurrected jesus and we say i am not good god and i need you and jesus said all right here he taught them to read their bibles this way don't don't look for knowledge look for jesus don't look for statistics about christianity in its history to impress others look for jesus oh i wish i could just and i'm done i'm done i wish i could put one one of the old saints on this chair and you ever talk to an old saint an old believer an old jesus follower who who just who who who will never impress you with their bible knowledge you ever met one of these old christians they don't know a lot of verses but boy they know the ones they know and the ones they know have already been put in play you haven't met those christians they they don't know nothing about habakkuk they don't even know about mordecai they don't even know that methuselah is in the bible and they've got no time for melchizedek bartholomew you you can't even tell these people bartholomew was a disciple bartholomew boy you talked to one of these saints they're like love your neighbor ask yourself you know pastor i've just been dedicated my whole life to love my neighbor because jesus loves me so much and so you know for me pastor it's just about loving my neighborhood and you're like oh how much of the bible do you read i read a fair bit i guess okay pastor the truth is i do the verse of the day on the bible app that's what i it's all like when did this turn into a competition of who knows the most [Music] like that matters we all running around these church conventions and retreats and conferences and advances telling everybody all the stuff we know about the hebrew bible and the words of jesus i don't totally care anymore at 42 raising teenagers i'm like i need to talk to somebody who knows him who knows him and i just look for jesus that's what i do i open up my bible and i go jesus show me you show me you with ruth show me you through esther show me you in matthew i want to see you in the relationship that paul and timothy have speak to me from the church in corinth and show me what you're doing and what you did i want to see you jesus do you read the bible the way jesus taught post-resurrection to read the bible it's about him that's all it is it's all it is he's the main character and i'm done and i'm done your words his words will be at home in you his words will be at home and you his words i'll never forget i met a preacher one time he said you know jude i don't write sermons and i said that's not true i've heard you preach a lot of sermons he says i never write sermons i just look for jesus and i just read my bible and then i get up on stage and i just communicate from the overflow and i thought well that sounds really nice but for the rest of us normal human beings but the point is isn't it it's like you you this ain't about getting so you can disseminate in and communicate and and then you got that big delta you ever heard that i'm not talking about the delta variant i'm talking about the delta the difference when you like how you talk to people and all the things you know and how you live and that delta starts to grow and you keep looking at the person people see and think you are and the person you really are and you want to what are you going to do about this delta um let jesus meet you here and then just i don't read the bible without jesus does that make sense i don't read the bible without him and that's one place i always invite him it's really easy to remember because you're usually reading about him it's like go ahead and show me show me and lastly he says um you can be sure that i hear you that's when it says i'm i'm done he says and luke sorry guys back to back to john 15 he says and you can be sure that whatever you ask i love it how the message bible says it because it really gets it right he says it will be listened to and acted upon and there is the distinction christians need everywhere does prayer work oh yeah but it rarely works the way you want it to and do you know why because most of life is a mystery and any preacher who tells you different isn't telling you the whole truth why did this happen well i don't know why did i mean i the the atrocities that have happened in the last two years just in the country i'm from and it makes you go to god and say really and so we pray and the promise we're given is that he hears us and action is already in motion and here's what i'm learning to get excited about i used to pray and get excited about getting the answer i wanted and what i'm learning to do is pray and get excited that the action he wants in response to my prayer is in motion and here's what i know i will get the answer in my lifetime or it will come in the legacy of my lifetime but i know a god who is the god of abraham isaac and jacob which is to say he's the god of all generations he doesn't think in terms of your linear lifetime that's not his this is not his economy that's not his construct that's not his so when you talk to him from your linear lifetime god he doesn't answer the way you ask does that make sense he doesn't go 2021 [Music] i can't remember the month july hopefully you have empathy for me we're in this together july 2021. um are you like me i'll pray and then a clock starts in my mind but i don't tell anybody yeah it's been a week it's been three weeks i've been praying this for six months lord do you know that doesn't that it i can prove to you in jesus mind and thoughts he's not like oh my word six months where's the time gone he's not from time he's not from time but here's what here's the promise we're never given the promise that god's saying if you ask me from time and space i will answer you specifically from time and no he doesn't answer from time and space think about it now for a moment i'm not trying to be deep i'm just trying to be honest he answers from a realm that has no time has no sun has no moon for he is the light that fills eternity god i'm preaching a sermon tomorrow and the title of my sermon tomorrow is why does the storm stop when i get in the boat it's the title of my talk tomorrow because when peter walks on water the most inconvenient thing happens in the world the storm keeps going until he's back in the boat and jesus is back and then like the storm it's like no no the storm can go when i'm in the boat i just need god to deal with the storm when i'm not safe god meet me he's like i will and you're like when have you seen the wind and the waves it's like yeah i guess kinda and you're like the scene's like cuts and they're in the boat and it's like everything dies and you're like wouldn't have been cooler if it happened the time i wanted it where i wanted it here's what i know about god when we pray from the time and the space and the place we are it seems to me my opinion bear with me it is very rarely that god answers our prayers according to our time our space and our location so you know what we do we have taught people that they're praying wrong [Music] ladies and gentlemen do you want me to show you the pathetic prayers in the bible bad prayers dumb prayers that weren't even prayers that god kind of turned into prayers yeah i mean it's you've ever read that scripture i promise i'm done it says elijah was a man like us or elisha elijah one of them i always get them confused and he prayed that it would rain or that it would not rain and it did you ever gone back to his incredible prayer ends like first and second kings or whatever his prayer is like i see a cloud the size of a man's hand rain is coming that's a prayer that sounds more like a sentence to me you think this is about who prays the best do you think it's about who prays the best no he says whatever you ask it'll be listened to and it'll be acted upon and here's what i know prayers never die and i'm talking to god that i'm talking to god in ways that other generations will see the actions of it i have told people this i promise you there are about 17 things going on in my life right now and i never prayed for one of them but in some cases i was there when my dad did i promise you i have had the craziest experiences and time doesn't permit for me to tell you church all things that have happened in my life but people have asked judah how did this happen and i am telling you he is the god of abraham and then isaac and then jacob just be careful abraham be careful isaac because what you ask for god will probably give it to jacob and that's when you step back and you go boy i've gotten so drunk on my timeline i've gotten so drunk with my lifetime and he is the one he is the eternal one wow and now what i've gotten excited about is that the eternal one hears me and that when i talk to him motion starts to happen i just think that's cool if that's okay to say i don't even know what'll come from all of it all of my prayers to play on the pga tour i don't know what will come of those words and i'm looking at my kids and i'm like i don't think you're answering it anymore you know but you know help their talent god but it's exciting to me and i want prayer for you to be exciting again i want you to relinquish the results of prayer to the one who only holds them i want you to allow yourself to enjoy this connection with god that you were organically pre-wired for it's not hard it's not hard your work jesus said is to believe i trust you god you're doing better than you think you are god is closer to you than you think he is god is listening to you all of the time even when you think you're talking to your sealy i'm telling you he's so proud of you and he loves you so much and i want to say this about christianity being difficult and hard you know life is difficult and life is hard someone recently said you know those christians and i said you know actually it's people and christians are people too so we're mean like people life christianity's heart oh life's hard i can't imagine it without jesus i can't imagine it without my father god i thank you for the minutes and moments we shared just studying just a few verses in your supernatural storybook i thank you for it thank you for what you're doing in our church thank you for what you're doing around the world just in this moment in your living room maybe you're listening in your car maybe you're on a road trip maybe you're with some friends maybe you're watching at halftime of your favorite sporting event i know god's talking to you right now and if you would like to receive the free gift of forgiveness that on jesus offers i want to remind you that is available to you always and forever you don't have to be in church to access the forgiveness that god provides he provided it through the person of jesus the bible says he became sin he who knew no sin became sin so that we might become the righteousness of god in christ jesus if you'd like to receive a right relationship with a perfect holy god jesus and only jesus has made that possible by simply receiving that's what believing means accepting the free gift you're forgiven of all your air wrong and sin forever past present and future and you have a relationship with god that is unbroken for eternity that's the gift only jesus offers if you'd like to receive that gift wherever you are watching just lift up your hand and i'm going to include you in this prayer god you see that young man at that park right now raising his hand looking at his cell phone feeling his heart pound with the reality of your nearness and i thank you for it and i thank you for my new friend who's receiving the forgiveness that only you provide we love you jesus and lastly god i pray for our church today for all of us who got weary and worn out in our relationship with you we have allowed additives and traditions and customs to complicate things we just let go and we trust you cast all our cares upon you because you care for us in jesus name

Channel: Churchome

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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: 5DSmToYF4ws

Length: 55min 25sec (3325 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 26 2021