Dr. Ted Sri: Follow | SEEK2019

[Applause] have you ever seen a baby take their first step it's an amazing moment that's what I want to start off with you I want to tell you a story about one of my 27 kids 8 actually as Steve was saying little Josephine when she took her first step we were on a retreat our family was on a retreat with a bunch of students and we're in a big lodge in the Rocky Mountains and there was a circle of chairs of students sitting in a circle and there was one chair in the middle little Josephine saw that chair and she crawled right to that chair and she pulled herself up and she had done things like this before and but I wanted to her on I was hoping she would take her first step right there and so I was over here saying come on Josephine you could do it take that first step honey and all the students started cheering Josephine Josephine and you could tell she she'd let go with one hand and she got to look over and we kind of think about it that she go oh maybe not I don't know and I rather right now and she did cheer on some more and she'd let go go maybe I don't know if I want to leave this chair so but then eventually she did something that she had never done before she let go with one hand and then she let go with a second hand and for the first time in her life she was standing on her own two feet all by herself and she you could tell she was so proud she is glowing and this is all she's all excited and we're all excited like come on Josephine you can do it now come to Daddy and everyone's Jarod Josephine Josephine but then all of a sudden her her knees started to go like this and that look of excitement quickly turned to horror and she desperately went backwards to cling on to the security of that chair but she got her footing again and eventually she let go with one hand again and she let go with the second hand now she's standing up again on her own two feet but this time when her legs got all shaky instead of going backwards to the security of the chair she fell forward one to free and fell into my arms and took her first three steps and then she crawled right back to that chair got up and she said again and she fell in my arms 1 2 3 4 took 4 steps he came right back and said again and we did 1 2 3 4 5 when we played that game for about a half hour that afternoon and we played that game for several weeks and eventually walking became Josephine's primary mode of transportation but it could be scary to step out to take a step that you have never taken before to go out into the unfamiliar zone and I think that's where many of us find ourselves at different moments in our relationship with Jesus I know some of you have never been to a Catholic conference like this before you're hearing all these speakers there's adoration and confession and a lot of this may feel kind of new to you then there's others that are like all this is old had I've been to three conferences already I do all this kind of stuff before but my prayer for all of you this whole week has been this whether you're new to all this or you've done things like this before my prayer is that the Lord has touched you in some way here in these in this week that the ledge you've sensed the Lord calling you inviting you like the Heavenly Father taking another step another step closer into his arms a step closer into relationship with him what will you do when you sense that call maybe you're sensing that God's calling you to give more to him maybe you're sensing God's inviting you to make a change in your life there's there's some things that just need to change they've needed to change for a long time but now I've got to make that decisive choice I've got to make that change now what will you do will you go forward even if you stumble even if you fall will you go forward into the father's arms or will you just go back to what's comfortable to what's familiar and stay at the security of your chair one things I'm blessed to do each year I lead pilgrimages to Rome I love taking people to Rome and secondly a church that's obscure it's not well-known it's called the church of san luigi saint louis and english it's right near the piazza navona and i like to take people there because it has a famous painting by the baroque artist Caravaggio and it's the call of saint matthew that moment when jesus walked into the tax collectors office and called matthew and said matthew follow me jesus inviting matthew to follow him as a disciple now I love taking people there not just to admire this magnificent masterpiece that this painting is but more for what this tells us about discipleship about what it really means to follow Jesus you see in the painting you've got on one side of the painting Jesus walks into the tax collectors office and he's pointing and he's pointing at Matthew but on the other side of the painting Matthews here with all of his tax collector buddies and and it's really dark on this side of the painting but where Jesus is there's a window behind him so there's all this light shining into the room from behind Jesus the symbolism is clear it's about Jesus the light of the world walking in to Matthews darkness shining light on Matthews darkness but even though he sees darkness he sees something in Matthew and he says follow me but what I love the most about the painting is the expression on Matthew's face it captures multiple conflicting emotions all at once on one hand Matthews just kind of shocked he's looking at just going but I you kidding me you want me I mean do you know who I am I'm a tax collector I am a Jew that works for the Roman enemy and collects taxes for them even you don't want me I'm like a traitor to the nation I'm a sinner and do you know what I do when the week ends are you sure you want me to be a follower of you he's just surprised but what you also see in the painting is in his looking on his face you can tell he's actually kind of thinking about it he's considering this possibility you could tell he's gone well I wonder what would my life be like if I actually did make a change and I did follow Jesus me maybe my life would be better maybe I'd be happier you could tell he's actually kind of thinking about it but in the same instant there's a look of horror on his face he's like whoa I don't know that would be a lot that's overwhelming I've never done anything like that before that's pretty scary I might have to make some changes I might have to give up this job give up this office let go of all this money I don't know if I want to do that I think I just want to stay right here at the security of my chair and not leave this table and follow Jesus I love this painting because it captures that pivotal moment between Matthew the tax collector and Matthew the disciple what will Matthew do and what will you do when you find yourself in those Matthew moments were you since God calling you since that tug on your heart you sense he's drawing you he's inspiring you to give more of yourself to him what will you do in those moments you know I think sometimes when we look at the stories like this you know these biblical stories of Jesus calling people he walks by and he says come follow me and that everyone just drops everything and follows him you ever wonder about those stories it makes sometimes I think we get an impression Jesus is kind of like a Jedi Master he just comes with says follow me and the people go yes my master I just got something follow but you know what I don't think that's what happened here Matthew knew Jesus they already knew each other the Bible is clear that Jesus went around and he had meals with the tax collectors he was famous for doing that he surely had many meals with Matthew before this pivotal moment they got to know each other they lived in Capernaum which is not that big of a town and they would have seen each other Jesus would have been preaching and healing and Matthew would have seen all that Matthew would have been maybe pretty impressed by Jesus maybe he was a fan of Jesus but on that day Jesus stepped into his life in a powerful way and invited Matthew not just to be a fan not just to be impressed by Jesus Jesus doesn't want us just to be a fan he wants us to be a follower to follow him Jesus doesn't want us just to have him be a part of our lives he wants to be at the very center of our lives will we say yes when we answer that call now in our men's sessions today dr. Reyes said this he said the last thing the world needs right now the last thing the world needs right now are more half disciples half disciples there are many people in Jesus's own day that were very impressed by Jesus they saw these signs and wonders he's a dynamic speaker and he's a great preacher they were amazed at his preaching and his wonderful works thousands of people were fans but there were only a few that answered the call and followed Jesus as a disciple will you be just part of the crowd or maybe the ones that follow Jesus when you go back to your campuses you go back to your hometowns will you follow as a disciple you know I have to be honest with you my own life I was a half disciple for many years I was a half disciple you know back and in my college days I would have looked I wouldn't have called it that I would have said I'm actually doing pretty well I mean I'm doing better than most people I mean I I believed in God I went to church every Sunday and even those holy days of obligation I was pretty good Catholic and I didn't get into as much trouble on campus as some other people did I was doing pretty well I actually even went to some retreats every once in a while and was a little bit involved in my Newman Center I mean I must have been about the 95th percentile at Indiana University and I felt pretty good about myself [Applause] go Hoosiers but if I was honest Jesus was just a part of my life I would even say I might say he was an important part of my life but he wasn't Lord he wasn't at the center of my life and I'll never forget the night I went on one of these retreats and there was a priest that gave this reflection and the Saturday night of this retreat and it was a story from the Bible I had heard many many times before but I never heard it like this until that night so personal did I find myself in this biblical story it's the story of the rich young man I remember the priest saying oh here's a guy who has got it all together apparently he wants to follow Jesus he says what do I need to do and Jesus says you have to obey the commandments and the man says I'm already doing that that's pretty impressive right how many of us could say we got all those Ten Commandments down we're nail and those I mean this is an impressive guy he's following the Ten Commandments and then he even says well what more can I do he really wants to do more than that what a nobleman but then Jesus says what I want you to do is give up everything and follow me and at that the rich young man said no I can't do that you know Jesus picked up on something that the man had a lot of desire a lot of fervor but he had an attachment he had something that was holding him back from being all land and Jesus put his finger on it and the man walked away with his possessions he walked away sad why is he sad because we're made my friends my brothers sisters were made for friendship with Christ were made not to be half disciples no we're made to give everything to Jesus and when we hold back we're gonna walk away sad in life cuz we're in made not just for comfort were made not just for security we're not made for just what gives us pleasure and what's familiar no we're made for greatness were made to follow Jesus and I heard the story I remember I was just stunned and everyone else left the chapel and I just stayed there I couldn't leave and I just thought that's me I'm the rich young man I Jesus I don't want to do that you know in my wife I have all these books up here pretend these are different parts of my life you know my life I would have said you know I give some to Jesus I give him part of my life I give him you know this part of my life over here you know I go to church you know I go to church and believe and and I might pray every once in a while or do some you know spiritual activities at the Newman Center I'll give him that part of my life too and and and you know what I'll try to be a good person I'll try to be a good person and not hurt other people yeah I'm doing pretty well but then Jesus wants this part of my life too I don't know if I if I could do that or he wants this part of my life and he wants this part and that's where I was I was oh no I don't I don't know if I can do that but in the end that night I knew I didn't want to be the rich young man and I begged Jesus don't let me go down that road and I told him I I want to give you everything and the beauty is when we give Jesus everything we put everything on the table it's not as if he's gonna take it away it's just who's in charge of your life who was really the lord of your life you see Jesus wants to be Lord of all if he's not Lord of all of my life if I'm holding something back if he's not Lord of all he's not Lord at all and if he's really the Son of God who died for me and rose from me I want to give him everything and I want to trust him more than I trust myself who's the Lord of your life what do you run after the most is it God really is God just a part of your life where is he the center who's the lord of your life is it sports is it Netflix is it what other people think of you the impressions you leave the likes you get you're having a boyfriend having a girlfriend great success what is really at the center of your life Jesus is calling us to give him everything I'm gonna give you two things that you're gonna need is you go back home as you go back to campus there are two things you need if you want to live as a disciple a true follower of Jesus first of all you're gonna need prayer the first thing you're going to need is prayer to be committed to prayer each day but one of the big challenges people have is they say well I just don't have time to pray I don't have time to pray if you ever heard people say that I'm just too busy I don't know how to it all in you know Pope Francis has a great quote about this he says we Christians we have to take in the deep breath of prayer I love that image from Pope Francis the deep breath of prayer we need prayer our souls need prayer like our body needs oxygen another spiritual writer put it this way he said have you ever heard of a man who died of hunger because he was too busy to eat you know we make time for the things that are most essential just picture the autopsy on that oh yes we figured out oh yeah this man died of starvation because he was just too busy he had too many papers to write he had to watch all seven seasons of his favorite show in one week and didn't have any time to take a break and he died how sad no no we make time for the things that are most important put it in your schedule make get a calendar a missionary was just telling me this she said she came to seek one year loved it but then went back and did not make a commitment to pray and the fruits of seek did not bear out and in her life she came again two years ago and then the difference was a missionary sat down with her and said how are you gonna live this out when you go back you want to pray okay good when you gonna pray where are you gonna pray get it in your calendar getting her schedule make it a priority another challenge that keeps us from really following Jesus in prayer is sometimes we feel like you know I don't have a I don't get much out of prayer I don't have those feelings and I went to seek and it was really awesome and it was great but now I'm just in my own little tiny chapel and I'm have this nice of Chapel as Jason Everett does and I don't really know if I feel that close to Jesus and you know so I don't get those insights and prayer and that that that's really you know a thing that could keep us from moving forward in prayer and I want to I want to encourage you on this one because sometimes we can get really discouraged because think I'm just not good at prayer I stink at this why should I even bother going because it's just too hard I don't get a lot out of it I don't think I'm that good at this who's putting those thoughts in your head are those thoughts coming from God those thoughts are coming from the enemy from the devil because he hates it when we pray and it'll use everything to keep us from praying he'll make you feel like you're too busy you don't have time or you make you feel discouraged that you're not good at this that you can't do it well prayer is not about feelings it's about faithfulness it's about faithfulness you know my little daughter I have a little baby Eleanor a little two-year-old my little daughter Eleanor she's the cutest thing you've probably seen me chasing her all around here but she when I come home from work she's all excited and she's like she runs the door she opens the door for me she's like dad to home dad at home and then she like loves me to give her piggyback rides so she says back back and that means I supposed to get on all fours and I give her a piggyback ride around those so when I'm with little Eleanor in those moments I just say she said I just I just have all these more I'm feeling than just she's just so awesome but then there's other times like at 3:00 in the morning when she's wailing hysterically and I can't get her to stop I don't have those warm fuzzy feelings I have feelings but they're the kind you bring to confession but I still have to be faithful I sought to help her the same is true in a marriage not about just all romantic feelings all the time I just love being with you I mean those feelings are wonderful when they come but many times it's about just showing up and laying down your life and serving love is not about feelings it's about faithfulness it's about sacrifice it's about being there and fulfilling what God wants you to do do you love Jesus enough to show up at prayer when it's hard when you're busy when it's difficult when you feel like you don't get anything out of it real love is not about feelings make sure you're there for prayer last thing here friends you're gonna need friends you're gonna need fellowship proverbs 27 tells us iron sharpens iron iron as one man sharpens another when you go back you need friends you need friends it's easy to live your Catholic faith mirror surrounded by 17,000 other on fire people but when you go back many of you may not have that back home you got to get connected Curtis gave that great analogy about the burning coals on the opening night when you're making a barbecue you put all the charcoals together you keep them all together and they heat burns off of each other and what you want to do is if you but you don't want to just keep one isolated call if I take one call and put it over here what's gonna happen to that call the heats gonna die out it's gonna lose its heat and that's what's gonna happen to you if you are separated and you're all alone you're saying well I want to follow Jesus but you're all alone it's gonna be really hard many times it's not going to work out you need friends you've got to find friends are there any runners out there my wife my wife's a big distance runner she's pretty committed but I'll tell you when she's got a running partner someone she's gonna run with she's really consistent and goes really far I mean I don't care how early it is in the morning they're gonna meet I don't care how much rain or how much snow it doesn't matter she'll get up and go meet Elizabeth there Cal she's just gonna do it but I'll tell you one night this last year one day this last year she was went for a run came back three hours later I was like honey what happened she was oh I'm so sorry go County I just got talking and we end up running 12 miles sorry I go honey you you you almost ran a half marathon on accident who does that but you go farther and more consistent when you got a running partner the same is true with Jesus if you want to go far in your relationship with Jesus if you don't want to just stay at the security a chair but you want to walk with them and go the distance you need a partner you need a burning coal you need iron sharpening your iron so my friends I'll close with this here you've heard many of the speakers quote the great hero of our era saint john paul ii who often said be not afraid be not afraid and that's what i want to leave you with be not afraid do not be afraid to give Jesus everything don't be afraid to leave the security of the chair walk with him trust him don't be afraid to give up what you need to give up maybe you need to give up that boyfriend maybe you need to give up watching that show that you know you shouldn't be watching maybe you need to give up that that circle of so-called friends that aren't really they don't really care about you that much and they're not gonna build you up in the faith maybe you need to to give up just going to prayer when it's easy and when it's fun maybe you need to give up that thing you're doing on the weekend that you know you shouldn't be whatever it is don't hold back give Jesus everything be not afraid may God bless you all [Applause]

Channel: FOCUS Catholic

Views: 8,508

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Keywords: dr. edward sri, focus catholic, catholic, christian, catholic conference, seek 2019, catholic church, focus talks, edward sri, youth catholics, college catholics

Id: 6gjsVaK8erM

Length: 22min 6sec (1326 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 07 2019