Family Church - Drifting

[Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] dog [Music] [Music] hey everyone my name is oscar welcome to family church online if this is your first time watching welcome our hope is that you would be encouraged by this online experience we'd love to connect with you and know that you were here you can just click the pop-up link and let us know our weekend gatherings and communities look different during this season but family church is never closed through your engagement and your generosity we're still moving forward together and making a difference in people's lives through family church kids with a weekly online experience at home craft ideas and resources for parents youth connections for 6th to 12th grade students community groups online for people to continue to connect with one another throughout the week as well as our weekly food and clothing distribution to those who are in need in our communities but most importantly we're still bringing the life changing message of jesus to thousands of people none of this would be possible without the incredible faithfulness and generosity of those who continue to step out in faith and worship god in their giving generosity is our privilege and we give thankfully because everything we have is a gift and god deserves our first and our best you can be a part of making a difference by giving today if this might be your first time giving back through family church i'd like to invite you to ask god to speak to you right now the easiest way to give is to text the word fc whittier or fc signal hill and the amount to the number 28950 and just follow the prompts or you can go to familychurch.co to check out other ways to give set up reoccurring giving or even send a check through the mail let's pray together thank you god for this opportunity to give back to you right now thank you for providing all that we need in our lives i pray that you use this gift to make a difference in the lives of others thank you for using us in jesus name amen thank you for your faithful sacrifice as you continue to worship god in your giving now let's lean in and engage in a song from our team and a message from our signal hill campus pastor matt ansel hey church come on we sing this out together today [Music] everlasting [Music] in [Music] forever [Music] skies [Music] you all alone have made a way for [Music] us [Music] you are [Music] forever be lifted [Music] living in the light of my savior forever [Music] [Music] is [Music] the mountains are still being moved [Music] [Music] [Music] god we believe yes we can see it wonders are still what you do we are here for you [Music] we are here for you [Music] cause we need [Music] are still being raised giants are still being slaves [Music] [Music] can't [Music] we are here for you [Music] we are here for you [Music] [Music] cause we need [Music] [Music] miracles [Music] healing is coming [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] this is this is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is coming cause we need to move you are here [Music] come and do what you do we are here for [Music] do one more time we are here we are here for you come and do are here for you come and do what you do [Music] cause we need to [Music] hey everyone welcome to family church online and happy new year my name is matt i'm one of the pastors here and i'm so glad you've joined us today it's the first sunday in january of 2021 and i don't know what the future holds but i know the one who holds the future so no matter what comes our way this year one thing is for sure god is faithful i'm so glad you're here and i'm excited to share god's word with you this morning one of the things i i want to do more of this year though is is surf i love to surf it's one of my favorite things to do but i need to do more of it this year i just i didn't do enough of it and there's just something about being in the water that changes me i come out a different man my wife will testify my attitude's better my mood is better i go in that water one way and come out just a completely different person it seems like maybe it's the exercise maybe it's the salt water or enjoying god's beautiful creation or maybe it's just fun i don't know but it's just it's awesome i love it and i'll never forget my first time learning how to surf i didn't get to start out in the warm waters of hawaii unfortunately on you know on long boards where the waves are peeling ever so gently i had to learn the hard way and i didn't i didn't own anything so all the gear was borrowed from friends i didn't have a surfboard i didn't have a wetsuit and so they took me out in the dead of winter season here in southern california and uh the water temperature is of course below 56 degrees right now uh in this in december and january and so it's too cold to just go out there and board shorts at least for me and i didn't own a wetsuit so my friends had to dig around their houses to find something that would fit me for the first time out and so i didn't have a clue what i was doing so i'm listening to every word that they're telling me and it turns out i was wearing a woman's wetsuit you could tell because there was a vacancy in the breastplate area and we didn't we get out there and i'm paddling on a board that is you know has two out of three fins one's missing and uh the water is freezing i'm filling up with water the waves weren't small i'm getting hammered and they're screaming at me paddle battle battle and i'm so tired i'm trying to paddle but i have this is my first time ever i don't know what i'm doing i never made it out past the white water that day i stopped paddling i just gave up i was exhausted and before i knew it i had drifted so far away from the group that i had no idea where i was i got swept up in a current that had dragged me hundreds of yards down the beach and the walk back was pretty miserable but i learned a valuable lesson that day in surfing and it's when you stop paddling you start drifting and the same thing is true in life you stop paddling you start drifting all you have to do to drift is nothing just do nothing and you'll drift and this is true in every area of our lives and so that's what i want to talk about right now i want to talk about drifting it's one of the things we all have to deal with it's this human tendency that we all have is to drift in my marriage all i have to do is nothing in order to drift i don't need to go have an affair for our marriage to break up we can drift apart from each other if i just simply do nothing and pay no attention to my marriage in my health and fitness i can basically become the most unhealthy out of shape couch potato not necessarily because i'm eating a whole box of krispy kreme donuts every day but just simply do nothing to look after my body or my health or my fitness in every area of my life it's also true in your commitment to a job or a task you start out very committed probably and about a year in you start to drift a little bit in your commitment it's chewing our attention we want to have attention we want to listen i really want to listen to hillary my wife i want to listen to every word that she says but my attention i gotta admit it it just drips i'm sorry and sometimes i wish it wouldn't but it just does we also drift in our faith we drift in our spiritual growth you're either getting closer or farther away from god you're either growing in your commitment to jesus christ or you're growing stagnant stale lukewarm the bible would call it not hot not cold just in the middle complacent and so in the book of hebrews chapter 2 verse 1 it talks about this and i'm going to read it to you right now it says therefore we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard or we may drift away from it and so let me just give you some context to what is happening here the writer to the hebrews he's writing to a bunch of jewish christians who are being persecuted for their faith they were being marginalized they were being ostracized and criticized they had lost their property they had lost their rights many of them had been ostracized from their families if they were following christ and in fact there was this big fire in rome and nero was blaming the christians that were running and hiding in the catacombs basically underground tunnels underground churches because it was dangerous to be a christian it was likely to cost you your life it certainly cost you everything else and i don't think they're that we're there at this point in america just yet but the days in which we are living it's not really cool to be a christian right now i mean you and i are living in a very secular very humanistic culture we live in a progressive post-modern post-christian world we're living in a time where it's not cool to be a christian you could be anything else you want to be you can go to nevada riding a rhino eating a piranha hugging a whale kissing a rock holding a tree do whatever you want as long as you don't say that jesus is the only way and it's almost like there's a real pushback in culture against biblical values but i just want to remind you that if we read scripture we see that time is moving forward and we know that things are just going to heat up even more but in the midst of everything christians are called to bear witness to the truth of jesus christ you and i are called to exhibit the fruits of the spirit to be full of love to be full of joy to be full of peace to be full of kindness to be full of gentleness to be full of long-suffering to be full of goodness to be full of self-control and somehow in the midst of all the chaos of our world you and i are supposed to live in victory in the midst of a dark chaotic extremely divided culture and time in history and you go well how do you do that well the writer to the hebrews is helping these hebrew christians understand this he says so we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard or we may drift away from it in other words let's remind ourselves of the supremacy of christ and that's what i'm here to do right now i want to remind us that we serve in all sufficient savior we were never meant to be cool enough our strength is in christ our sufficiency is in christ alone we are in a season where we've got to pay much closer attention to the things that we have heard or will begin to drift and drifting is it's the default setting for all of us growing up my brother and i we're only a year apart in age and so we shared a bedroom most of our young life and we slept in bunk beds and we flip flopped from top to bottom bunk as we throughout the years but this one night my brother um was on the top bunk and uh he would talk in his sleep almost every night and so i just got pretty used to it and there were times where he would even sleepwalk i mean he would go down the ladder of the bunk beds and walk throughout the house and come back it was the creepiest thing ever and one night he went to a whole new level he scared the crud out of me the bunk bed began to shake i thought we were having it was an earthquake and he was grabbing the railing and i peeked over the edge and i could see his eyes were wide open but he was still asleep and he was screaming at the top of his lungs we're drifting we're drifting white knuckling the railing and then he went back to sleep i was like my heart was pounding i'm like what in the world is going on weird we're drifting if you don't pay careful attention it's just human nature you just start to drift and the bible says this in colossians chapter 1 verse 23. it says but you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it don't drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the good news the good news has been preached all over the world and i paul have been appointed as god's servant to proclaim it the good news of course that paul is talking about is the truth that jesus loves you that he gave his life for you and i on the cross and that he offers you and i forgiveness and life to the fullest and grace that we do not deserve and this is a reminder to stay anchored to christ to not be tossed and turned by every wave i can think of all kinds of ways that we can drift when it comes to faith sometimes we drift into a judgmental attitude toward other people sometimes we drift into being more concerned about what people think rather than what god thinks sometimes we drift into a cynicism or a laziness about our faith and if you think that you don't struggle with this just take another look because it's part of the human condition we drift often it's simply because we become preoccupied with other things we just get distracted we start loving other things more than god sometimes we become trapped by a sin or a way of living that we just refuse to give up and we drift and we get off course and we grow distant and we look around one day to find ourselves nowhere near where we want to be not because we necessarily wanted to drift it wasn't intentional but we just did nothing about it and just don't wait for the storms of life to hit you before you realize man i've drifted and so i heard a story about a guy named bill who called his boss on the phone one day and he said i believe you're looking for an experienced talented hard-working manager for your front office and i'd like to apply for the job and the boss replied well we already have someone in that slot and he's doing an excellent job by the way your voice sounds familiar what's your name and the guy replied it's me bill i was just checking up on myself the bible tells us that we need to check up on ourselves regularly so check out this next verse in 2nd corinthians chapter 13 verses 5 through 9. it says test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith don't drift along taking everything for granted give yourselves regular checkups you need first-hand evidence not mere hearsay that jesus christ is in you test it out if you fail the test my favorite part do something about it now i love that if you fail the test don't feel like god has failed you don't feel like there's no hope in the future just do something about it that's why you take a test in the first place to see where you're at so you can get better if you don't like where you're at do something about it i want to show you an example of this in the bible of someone that drifted so that you can see that even some of the greatest men and women of faith drift a guy by the name of david in the old testament of course david was known as a man after god's own heart the bible says he had a heart for god but he drifted he drifted into temptation and out of that temptation he drifted into adultery and then murder and it's the famous story of david and bathsheba the bible says in second samuel chapter 11 verses 2 and verse 4 it says one evening david got up from his bed and walked around the roof of the palace and from the roof he saw a woman bathing and the woman was very beautiful and then david sent messengers to get her she came to him and he slept with her so all of a sudden this man after god's own heart is in a place where god would never have wanted him to be doing the exact opposite thing that god had told him to do and i just want you to see that the pattern there's a pattern in the in david's life because when it comes to drifting there are patterns that we all have and here's the pattern in david's life he saw he inquired he took he sees this beautiful woman taking a bath on the roof next to him the bible says then he sent some people over just to ask about her just wanted to know her name i'm just inquiring into who this woman is and then out of that he sent some people over to bring her back and he commits adultery with her he saw he inquired and so he took and that's how you drift now you could say well the seeing wasn't his fault it wasn't david's fault that this woman was taking a bath where she could be seen it wasn't my fault my eyes saw what i saw well if you go a couple of verses earlier the bible says in the time when kings were supposed to be out at war fighting for their country david was back in jerusalem so david was in the wrong place and because he was in a place he shouldn't have been he saw something that he shouldn't have seen and he did something he shouldn't have done so you have david this man after god's own heart he drifted but we're gonna see in a moment some ways that god can bring us back and god brought david back even out of the drift he brought him back to a place of faith and strength even out of the worst destructive decisions in his life and he can do the same thing in our lives so i just want to get real practical towards the end of this message i came up with four ways to drift from god because i felt like a little sarcasm would keep your attention longer and so let's just have some fun as i give you some really bad advice you want some really bad advice here you go here's how you drift from god just in case you were wondering four ways to drift from god number one neglect your time with god number one it's so important neglect your time with god this is really important if you want to drift from god if you want to be really far away from him just neglect your time with him psalms chapter 63 verse 1 david was in the desert of judah and he cried out oh god you are my god i earnestly search for you my soul thirsts for you my whole body longs for you and this parched and weary land where there is no water well if you want a drift from god don't do that don't seek god don't yearn for him don't crave his presence because that'll only make you close to him just keep neglecting your time with god don't get a bible reading plan and spend time in god's word because i mean the word of god is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword it washes your mind and makes you new it speaks to you and encourages you it builds your faith it gives you strength now why would you want that by all means neglect the word of god and don't ever worship him in your house and in your car keep the worship music off and when we do worship as a church together come in late if you have to sit in the back and don't pay attention if you can help it just don't go to church at all that's even better and then don't get involved don't use your gifts don't serve anybody don't pray don't seek god don't ever discipline yourself to fast and pray the best you know how just ignore god and neglect your time with him this is really hard to be sarcastic for this long but i'm going to keep going number two hang around the wrong people the second thing that you want to do if you truly want to drift from god is i encourage you to just hang around the wrong people all the time why because it's impossible to live the right life when you have the wrong friends if you want to be outside the will of god just make sure you hang around some people that are really ungodly all and and they and they don't you don't ever share your faith with them hang with the wrong people just because you like being around people that are worse than you because it makes you feel better about yourself then they will drag you down here's what the bible says in first corinthians chapter 15 verse 33 it says do not be misled bad company corrupts good character why would you hang around people who are faithful in their walk with jesus you know they'll do stuff like encourage you in the lord and annoying stuff like that they might hold you accountable as iron sharpens iron that might even pray for you and who would want that don't be around people who make you better and make your life more like christ if you really want to drift from god hang around the wrong people number three give in to temptation if you really want to drift from god just give in to temptation and do it over and over and over again and never resist why because sin is so much fun at least for a short time until you begin to experience the consequences and if you don't believe sin is fun you're just either either lying or you just haven't done it right because it's a blast until it's not it's like a sneeze it feels good coming out and then there's not everywhere and so if you want to drift from god give in to temptation in fact this is what james said the brother of jesus in james chapter 1 verse 14 and 15. he said temptation comes from our own desires which entice us and drag us away these desires give birth to sinful actions and when sin is allowed to grow it gives birth to death and isn't that the goal right isn't that what you want spiritual death where you've got no joy no passion no life no faith yeah spiritual death isn't that our goal when you're tempted don't fight it don't resist it just give in to it tell yourself well this is just the way i am i can't overcome this i mean this is just my one or two or five things that help me cope with life besides i can just ask god to forgive me and then keep on doing it just tell yourself he understands and just keep on doing it and above all else hide your sins rationalize them don't tell anyone about it if you want to drift from god just neglect your time with him hang around the wrong people give in to temptation and number four if you really want to drift from god love this world more than you love god john said this in first john 2 15 he said do not love this world nor the things it offers you for when you love the world you do not have the love of the father in you if you want a drift from god just make yourself believe this world is your home sell out to materialism get more and more and more stuff and then if you can get into debt that's even better because you'll have financial bondage to go along with your materialism obsess about things that really don't matter follow people on social media and instagram and twitter that make you hate your life you just look at them and go i hate them i hate my life my life stinks they've got exciting lives mine is horrible i'm boring i want more of this world how do you drift from god love and pursue the things of this world more than you love and pursue the things of god now that was really hard to be sarcastic for that long but i hope you have sensed the and and see some of the effectiveness and what i just did the reason why i was so insistent on trying to make this point is not because i'm coming down on anybody else but because this is a real issue for all of us i drift you drift we all drift we stop paddling we grow complacent we get lazy we get swept up in the current of this life and instead of being battle ready we do like david did when he stayed back to chill in the palace while his men were at war and that's when he fell and if we're not careful will drift further and further away from the truth what is the truth well the truth has a name his name is jesus he claimed to be the way the truth and the life he said jesus said no one comes to god the father except through me you know sometimes i feel like i can become a full-time pastor and a part-time follower of christ i drift some of you might say well sometimes i feel like i'm a full-time parent and a part-time follower of christ because you just drift or i'm a full-time student and a part-time follower of christ or i'm a full-time business owner and a part-time follower of christ if there ever was a time before that you were closer to jesus than you are today what happened i just think we need to recognize that he didn't move but we actually drifted away and if you're feeling convicted right now it's a good thing if this is speaking to you right now it's a good thing because your heart is good soil that means that as the word is going out the holy spirit is speaking to you so don't worry if this is you be encouraged today i love what jesus said in revelation chapter 2 about returning to your first love some very strong words he said to the church in ephesus he said this to them he said you have forsaken the love that you had at first in other words there was a time when you were more passionate about the love that god had for you then he said this consider how far you have fallen and maybe that's what some of you need to do right now just consider where you were and consider where you are consider how far you've drifted away and then jesus said very simply and if there's any application for the message this is hands down the application jesus said this what do you do repent and do the things you did at first in revelation chapter two verses four through five repent and do the things you did at first what does repent mean repent simply means to return i'm turning back to god and i'm going to do what i did at first i don't know what that means for you i don't know what you did at first but you know what i did at first i was passionate about god and his word i shared my faith everywhere all the time i had a strong prayer life with the lord every single day serving and using my gifts it it's not out of a religious ritual it's it's not a lie i guess i have to it's i get to do this i get to serve the lord i get to serve god i live out of a response to the grace of jesus who saved a person like me who was lost and my only response is is jesus take all of my life everything i have i give it to you i want to know you pursue you put you first nothing less in my life but serving you with all of my heart so what if you do if you recognize you drifted from god you repent you crave something more something better i don't want to sell out to the things of this world i don't want to be held in bondage to the temptations in life i don't want to be dragged down by the wrong people i want to be a light that drives people closer to god i don't want to neglect the god who sent his son for me i want to put him first i want to love his church i want to embrace his word i want to be filled with this spirit i want to be led every day step by step and i want my life to glorify the one who gave his life for me so what do we do very simply we repent and we do the things we did at first and the grace of god is there to take us back in a moment and i just want to encourage you to keep paddling keep your eyes fixed on jesus christ pursue him with all of your heart mind soul and strength and now i want to i just want to close in prayer and if you would just pray with me god i pray that every every person would have a special encounter with your living presence even right now as they're watching this lord would you open our eyes to the sinfulness in our own lives and anytime we've neglected you or taken you for granted open our eyes lord to see where we are i'm so grateful that you have loving arms to welcome us back when we simply repent and tell you that we're sorry we thank you god that your goodness and your grace takes us back just as the prodigal son returned to the father so you receive us with joy and grace and thanksgiving and you say let's have a party my son is back my daughter is back and as we keep praying there may be some of you who would say you know i really don't know if i'm really if i really drifted from god i don't know if i was ever really close to god at all i don't know if i've ever really known god personally and so i want to encourage you that when you call on jesus and do just what we talked about when you repent when you say i recognize i've sinned and i turn away from my sins and i turn towards jesus and when you call on him the one who is without sin who died in our place on the cross to do for us what we couldn't do for ourselves when you call on him he hears our prayers he will forgive your sins in a moment and you'll be completely brand new in fact that's why many of you are watching right now and you can sense it and i'd love to lead you in this prayer just pray heavenly father forgive me thank you for your grace and your mercy thank you for dying for me on the cross to take my sin upon your shoulders i confess on my sinner and today i'm asking you to be my personal lord and savior cleanse me make me new change me from the inside out and from this day forward i give you my life i surrender it to you lord help me to follow you and become more and more like you jesus every day amen [Music] i [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] is [Music] like you as a father [Music] [Music] oh [Music] me [Music] oh [Music] with every breath that i am [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] of the goodness of god [Music] what a faith-building message we hope you were encouraged and if you just made the decision to follow jesus congratulations this is the most important decision of your life all of heaven is throwing a party and so are we let us know about your decision today by clicking the button in the chat or if you're watching on demand just click the link that pops up on your screen our team would love to connect with you and give you your next step thank you for watching family church online if you tuned in a little later and you'd like to partner with us and making a difference as we continue food distribution to those that are in need and all our other online community efforts just text fc whittier or fc signal hill to two eight nine five zero and follow the prompts or go to familychurch.co and click the give tab for other ways to give if you've never been to a family church location in person we would love to have you come through to one of our services you can find service times and locations at familychurch.co we love you church stay connected see you soon

Channel: Family Church

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Length: 46min 39sec (2799 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 02 2021