First Sunday with Pastor Russell Johnson

[Music] honestly passionately anita pastor head are some of my favorite people on earth they're the best leaders I know and it's a privilege it's an honor for me to be here this boarding I don't preach a whole lot of places because I don't get invited a whole lot of places but we're passionate lady called bee I said absolutely I love being here it feels like home in a lot of ways presence driven we're going after what counts I think maybe one of the most dangerous things in life is to reach the end of your life and become successful at things that don't matter and so we want to live a life that matters we want to go after things that matter and we want to be people who seek the one thing because when you get the one thing you get everything else and friend I'm here to tell you this morning that if you get the presents nothing else matters and if you don't get the presents nothing else matters and so we are presents driven people it's not just a tagline it's not just a philosophy it's not just some sort of kind of theological abstract idea it is the imperative of our spirituality cuz scripture says in his presence there is fullness and so I hope you came to get fold this morning and it's not for me it's from him because in his presence there is fullness and in his presence the mountains still melt like wax and the crooked ways are still made straight in the low ways are still made high in the highways are still made low and there's still water that appears in the desert because in his presence you are equipped with everything you need pertaining to life and godliness this is the goodness of God is that what David said I would have lost heart unless I believed I would see the goodness of God in the land of the living I'm here to tell you this morning that when the Holy Spirit shows up and shows off it is a demonstration of the goodness of God he is better than you think and he is closer than you think and when Jesus is here anything can happen and for me that causes me and I hope it causes you to sit on the edge of your seat I'm here to see the god of everything do anything I'm just I'm just here this I'm just hearing this moment and I am daring him to be bigger and better than I've ever experienced before because he is the father of light and in him there is no shadow of turning and every good and perfect thing comes from the father above that means if it's not good and perfect it's not from him and there's nothing more perfect than his presence there's nothing more perfect than his presence it doesn't mean that God won't use your pain it means that God didn't cause your pain so we got to learn to walk the tightrope between those two ideas isn't even this what Joseph said that what you meant for evil God will use for good see the cross isn't a symbol that removes my pain it's the thing that gives purpose to my pain see we didn't sign up to follow Jesus because it was easy but because it's worth it and so that means for you and I being a part of a church doesn't mean that I have any less trouble than people around me what it does mean is I'm a lot more prepared to handle the trouble I will have because if he's in the fire I will be in the fire right with him this is the God that we serve this is the goodness of God in the land of the living you know what I kept hearing during worship pastor Landon I kept hearing the Holy Spirit say this what is starting in Fort Worth won't stay in Fort Worth but from here to the nation and from the nation to the nation's and and Fred's this morning could we could we believe that God is still the desire of the nation's he still is he's the bright and Morning Star the one who was high and lifted up he is the wounded lamb at the center of the universe who in his woundedness rereceive wholeness and healing this is the God that we serve man he's so good you can't afford to have any thought in your mind this morning that hasn't been baptized in the goodness of God because if you do what you allow is you will allow injured incidences to injure your view of God I say god I don't understand my pain but in the midst of it I'll choose you and when I do you give a redemptive purpose to everything that I've walked through because nothing is wasted when it's broken at his feet come on every issue that you've walked through everything that you've experienced where was God and my abuse where was God in my divorce where was God in that curveball or the speed bump that I hit friend God didn't cause your pain but if you let him he will use your pain there is something redemptive about the woundedness of Christ isn't that why Paul talks not just about the power of his resurrection but the Fellowship of his suffering it's interesting that everybody wants a resurrection but nobody wants to die everybody wants a revival but nobody wants to admit that they're lifeless without Christ and friend I'm telling you that there is something that is found in the heart of God when you pursue it there is something that is found there that speaks to you on such a profound level and I want to encourage you today don't be educated out of your experience don't become so impressed with what you've learned that you miss out that what God is looking for is not informed minds but inflamed hearts and could that flame that burned on Pentecost burn in us today it's not a new flame it's an old flame and it's God stirring it up coming back to our first love not our second love not our third love but our first love there's something that's found in the heart of God that's available for you and I today what I love about following Jesus is that sometimes it'll make you weird but you don't have to be weird I want to be as weird as he is but I also want to have a heart that says god I'm not going to try to prove something on the exterior I'm just gonna have a flame burn on the interior and whether I ever get noticed by people around you if I catch the eye of the Father that's enough because scripture says if I'll humble myself under the mighty hand of the Lord he will promote me in due time see we live in a world where a bunch of people try to promote themselves and God says but when my promotion shows up no man can stop it because when I open a door no devil can close it see a place that you promote yourself into is a place that you have to keep on promoting yourself to stay in but when he pulls out a seat at the table with your name on it come hell or high water this is my seat at his table being famous on social media is like being rich in monopoly it doesn't count [Applause] we just have to adjust our value system friend I just want to do things that count about a decade ago I left the world of politics I was a lobbyist I worked for our State House of Representatives and I heard God calling my name and calling me out and scripture talks about how the voice of God is haunting in a sense like no matter how far you run it's always one step in front of you because there's never a place that you'll go that he hasn't already been you know like nothing surprises God never wakes up in the morning and goes man I didn't see that coming he never has to apologize to you for having an out of character moment that's not how he works where faithless he's faithful is that what Paul tells Timothy and in second Timothy also repeats it in the book of Romans that when we have been faithless he has been faithful for he cannot deny himself see what I am in Christ seated in heavenly places for Jesus to deny me would be for Jesus to deny himself see we are joined in union with him and so for you and I this morning I guess the question is who sits on the throne of your heart because when the answer is Jesus everything aligns it's like going to the chiropractor when your back is out of whack they got to align the spine some things begin to flow it's I think sometimes the struggle for us is that we've tried to have everything and Jesus and can I tell you it's Jesus plus nothing that gives you everything you can search the rest of your life trying to fill your heart with a bunch of things that look eternal but until the one who created eternity takes residence in your life and I'm not talking about taking residence in just an awareness sense well I know there's a God seeing the northwest everybody's spiritual everybody well you know I believe in God and I'm spiritual but I'm not religious and you know I don't believe in organized religion I always tell people to come to my church we're not organized at all should hug this you know like organized religion sign me up neither but sometimes we kind of live in the spiritual ambiguous culture like yeah you know she's kind of into everything what do you believe now you know whatever you believe I'm just kind of a just a little this and a little bit of that and pretty soon what we have is the syncretism of everybody else's beliefs and we haven't made room for the one and there is one thing that I have said she says I am the way not one of the ways I am the truth I am the life no man comes to the Father except through me friends he is still the all-consuming fire not the all negotiating fire and he's come to consume every excuse and he's come to consume every reason for why you can't be everything he's called you to be because the devil would tell you you're too young until one day he tells you you're too old and he'll tell you you're too dumb until one day he says oh you're too educated to act like that and he'll tell you man you don't have enough until one day he says you have so much I wouldn't want you to risk it doing these things and Fred's for you and I that's why we have to have ears trained to here heavens voice because he who hears his voice should not harden his heart come on could you hear his voice calling calling you back to him calling you back to life and life eternal remember eternal life doesn't just start when I reach there it's when Christ has reached me on the day that I profess Jesus my eternal life begun I have life and life more abundant some Christians get saved there's such miserable lives I just can't wait til I get to heaven so what you're saying is you have more faith in death than you do in life and friends we're here to say this morning when Jesus sits on the throne of your heart everything begins to change and I wish it changed all overnight and sometimes a lot of it does but I'm telling you friends you might get breakthrough at the altar but when you marry it to the follow-through of your Monday routine that's what spiritual development begins to happen pastor I want breakthrough I'm sure you do me too but you're gonna show up for small-group know you're gonna tithe nope you're gonna serve nope you gonna be here every week nope I'm still gonna live my life just as busy as I was before but I think church hurt is real you know people been hurt by church people been hurt by maybe a leader or a pastor who said that they were one thing but then there was really another thing but can I tell you friend that there has never been a person who's been more hurt by Church than Jesus and he still shows up and if he's here I want to be here because those who are planted in the house of God those who are planted in the house of God will flourish not a bee who likes to pollinate everything but those who are planted because you can bless a lot of things but you can only build one thing and Jesus says I will bless my church no he says I will build my church and I think when we commit to being builders of what God is building something happens in our lives do we believe that simple obedience changes history because we should and friends when we obey things begin to shift in our lives I put my five-year-old to bed a few months ago now and and as is our routine I said Matthew so we're gonna pray our prayers before we go to bed and so I prayed and and then he closed his eyes he folded his hands and he begun to prayed he said dude of Jesus he said praying that she would bless my friends prayed she bless mom I pray that you would bless Grandma and Grandpa prayed she bless pursuit and praise she blessed my friends at school and in Jesus name Amen and he opened his eyes and unfolded his hands and looked at me looking for the nod of approval and I looked at him I said Matthew what about dad he said Oh folded his hands closed his eyes I kid you not God is my witness he said dear Jesus what about dad amen [Laughter] okay Fred what about you we'll talk about that a little this morning I believe that God is the eternal optimist meaning this he's always making decisions about your present based off of your future think about what David ate the showbread off the altar only reserved for the priests of first samuel 21 god makes a judgment about david's present off of David's future when Peter denies Christ only to be restored a few days later Jesus makes a judgment about Peter's present based off of Peters future when Moses is called out of the wilderness through a burning bush experience God is making a judgment about Moses his present based off of Moses's future see God is looking ahead and because he has seen what we haven't we can trust him with the unexpected even Jesus tells us to his disciples I go to prepare a place Jesus prepared this place before your eye ever got here this morning Jesus was making a place at the table sometimes in life we get frustrated like we are stuck in seasons longer than we want them to it's sometimes out of that frustration we try to help God out because maybe we think that he has forgotten that all of his promises are yes and amen we have forgotten that he holds time and space in his hand and he is not bound by what we're bound by all of a sudden we forget that he called us out of the miry clay and has crafted an entire destiny for us without our help in the first place but sometimes we allow the frustration of our current season to cause us to act out in a way to try to help provoke God to promote us out of time one of the worst things in your life that you could ever do is to get where you're going before it's your time in God the eternal optimist is not panicked about your future and if he's not in a hurry friend you shouldn't be in a hurry God is not nervous he's not dealing with a nervous disorder he's not in heaven wringing his hands no Jesus lives to make intercession on our behalf he's doing a really good job and he has seen what you haven't seen he has seen beyond the curve that's why we can trust him in the valley of the shadow because we are walking through even when it feels like I am stuck I think often of the three Hebrew boys standing in front of Nebuchadnezzar's furnace in abaca deser says you will bow and worship me which is the competing voice of culture you will bow your knee to my values and the three Hebrew boys said no we will not he said well I'll throw you in the fire and they say this and God will save us but it's even more profound what happens next and even if he doesn't we won't worship you essentially this even if it doesn't work out the way that I thought it would work out I still won't bow my knee at your altar and friends can I tell you faith is it tied to your preconceived idea or notion of how your life ought to turn out it's tied to this idea that even if it's the end for me right here and right now he is still worthy of all of my praise all of my honor and all of my glory even when I'm stuck even when I feel like God did you forget no he hasn't forgotten he's the God who sees that watch unexpected doesn't even exist as a concept for the God that we serve can I tell you what I love about Jesus he knows the future but is still present with us in the moment let me give you a great picture of this jesus knew Lazarus would rise again but still he wept with Mary and Martha at the tomb whoa you ever watch a movie that you've already seen with somebody who hasn't seen it and you get irritated at the amount of questions they're asking you and you're going just wait you go see it's gonna get there it's gonna go just wait and if I'm Jesus that's my response to Mary and Martha but that's not his response to Mary and Martha he says if you're weeping I'm weeping if you're rejoice in I'm rejoicing if you're in this moment I'm in this moment because I'm the friend that sticks closer than a brother and even though I know how it's gonna turn out I refuse to leave you in this moment you're in see that's the goodness of God on full display he doesn't just wait for me on the end of the finish line he runs the race he's in all places at all times I mean this is the God that we serve he's not bound by what we're bound by not only is he my finish he's also my beginning he's also with me in every moment and in every process now watch how this works let me give you some verses here in Genesis 16 but before I get there watch this in the Old Testament the prophets proclaimed someone is coming in the Gospels the authors declare he is here in the epistles Paul exclaims this is why he came and in the book of Revelation John declares he is coming again the Apostle Paul talks about the great hope or the expectant hope of all believers I really do feel like like we live within a moment's notice of the return of Christ I just do that maybe that makes me a fundamentalist or maybe that makes me crazy but I bet you believe some crazy things too and I just feel like man if you and I are living on borrowed time then let's live like it I want to live a life that honors the great sacrifice that Christ paid see my life is not my own I've been bought with a price see the message of culture is my body my choice but the message of the gospel is his body broken for me his choice and so I want to live a life that honors the high calling of God which is in Christ Jesus now watch what happens here in Genesis 16 1 through 10 it might be on the screen it might not but but starting in verse 1 the Bible says this now now Sarah and this was before Abram had his name changed now Sarah Abraham's wife had borne him no children but she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar and she said to Abram the Lord has kept me for having children so go sleep with my slave and perhaps I can build a family through her so Abram agreed to what Sarah had said watch when you mislabel your pain you will mishandle your solution see Sarah looks at her barrenness and says this is God's fault when you don't submit your mindset to the revealed character and ethic of Christ you will reach bizarre conclusions about the difficulties of life I think God made me sick I just think God gave me cancer I just think God did this to me God was just trying to teach me a cosmic lesson oh yeah cuz that's how a good father acts you may not understand it but if you bow at the altar of your understanding then you are the god you serve friend I'm telling you a lot of life I feel like the more I grow the more I learned the less I know honestly I feel like that the more I grow with the Lord the less the more I know about him the more I know about me but the less I know about life you walk through things and you go now what did I do to deserve that and God says oh that has nothing to do with you oh that's just the result of the fallen world in which you live and well we don't always understand the things that are happening in the background of life but I trust that everything in my background God is working together to one day bring it to my foreground and once it gets there it's gonna look good friend if it's not good it's not done because he's working all things together for the good all things nothing's wasted when it's given to Jesus nothing nothing's wasted remember when the woman breaks the pound of cost the pound of costly perfume in the jar that at the feet of Jesus and Judas cuz he was stealing money says why wasn't this sold and given to the poor and Jesus says oh it's not a waste when it's given to me it's not a waste oh man Church felt like a waste of time today I'm a devotional life it just feels like a waste of time all right you'll go through seasons where sometimes you feel closer to the Lord and other times you feel like am i is it what who I don't what's going on but I think sometimes we make eternal decisions off of temporary emotions and can I tell you that emotions can sit in the car but they can't drive the car your three-year-old can sit in the backseat but he's not holding the wheel and sometimes we become so emotionally did you feel today I didn't really feel did you feel I don't know I don't really feel Adam feel I didn't I didn't feel it and really we serve the God of feelings I didn't feel it if I do feel it then I'll feel it not a fact I don't feel like I don't feel like giving I don't feel that it feelings are a terrible master they're a great servant but they're a terrible master and Fred's for you and I if we are led by the nose as it pertains to what we feel then we will only serve God when it benefits our emotional cortex that's benefiting me I feel good I feel good I feel like being in church today well congratulations you're checking the bare minimum requirement of Christ followers here's an award just suffering for the Lord out here mad I want to church twice this month faster I'm suffering for the law I'm sure you are well halfway around the world the blood of the saints which is the seed of the church why don't we have stuff that we got overseas what we do is the same Jesus the problem is we need to send half our people overseas have them experience some of those things in places like that and then come back and have a real appreciation for what we got here I'm a quick I'm a quit talking like that but anyways just we know according to Romans 8:28 that he's working all things together for the good of those who love him but what if his goodness is best demonstrated by the fact that in the midst of your trouble he stays right by your side see we treat Jesus like a vending machine and when we get into trouble I put my church quarter into the machine and out pops an answer and if I don't get that answer then I get mad at church and I get mad at God and I got to find somebody else to complain or blame for my problems what I have found in pastoral ministry and maybe it's similar for you or maybe it's not but what I have found in pastoral ministry is that oftentimes people want me to cast out of them the sphere to stupid you know or they want to live vicariously through somebody else's spirituality there's only one thing vicarious about Scripture only one thing vicarious about the gospel is the efficacious blood of Christ and it is applied on my behalf and on your behalf but friend as we think about our spiritual walk oftentimes we make it everybody else's responsibility around us to develop the Christ followership inside of us and the Apostle Paul when he writes Timothy he says you stir up the gift that is in you he didn't say wait for me he didn't say attend the next conference he didn't say blame me when your life is bad he said you stir up what's been placed inside of you and friend you might not have a lot today but if you have a mustard seed it's enough to uproot mulberry trees and move mountains you might feel like a one-trick pony this morning but I got good news all God needs is your availability because he's not looking for experts Here I am God sent me I'm a man I'm clean lips and a midst of and unclean people but God if you could take this humble availability and God says all use that he's always using the force things the world to confound the lies God doesn't look at your resume as he prepares your calling it's not based on what you've done it's based on what he's done you don't want what you deserve I don't want what I deserve because what we deserve is the opposite of what we get when were founded in Christ see now I get what Christ deserves because he took what I deserved on the cross he didn't just take my sin he became my sin and as I placed faith in Christ Jesus I don't just take his righteousness I have become his righteousness it's the good news of the gospel that watch what happens here sometimes God is silent because it serves as an invitation to come close see sometimes he appears absent because it serves as an invitation to press in friend don't misinterpret your pain you ever wound up wound up at the hospital because you think you're having a heart attack and really you just say too much Mexican food the night before you just a little gassy but all of a sudden you got a pain in your chest and you're like kind of I'm dyin taking me home this is the Widowmaker is that the Lord's like no that's the third enchilada you had and I saw that hey Doc I'm dying he says here's a time you'll be okay here's some times see when you misinterpret your pain you reach all sorts of bizarre conclusions about your life God doesn't love me God doesn't like me God he doesn't have the identity crisis you have the identity crisis he knows who you are and that's why he judges you based on what Christ has done and who you will become I am so glad I don't get what I deserve ha ha I'm so glad I don't get what I deserve now I know this is is a prophetic Church and I honor the prophetic and I hope the Lord grows me in in in the prophetic it pastor Laden mentioned kind of sometimes the prophetic things that that happened for whatever reason inside of me and it always activates when I'm around him I don't know why but I just I get agitated I get around him and all of a sudden just something something begins to stir up in my life but but friends can can I just humbly submit to you this idea this morning I think in the church today not this church but in the church I think we have a God pulled me problem and I would humbly suggest that we need a lot less God told me and a lot more it is written and see prophecy soaked in Scripture is what has the power to transform a city see worship soaked in Scripture is what has the power to transform the nation and sometimes we get so high or intoxicated off of our own abilities it's a communicator sing or pontificate in an eloquent fashion that we forget that Paul said I didn't come to you in fancy words but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power and I'm for developing your mind and I'm in a in a doctoral program today at Northwestern University I'm for all of that stuff sometimes I sit in these classes and I have to fight against being educated out of what I know and what I know is him crucified in him resurrected and what I know is that there is a Jesus who so desires to break in to the mundane of my life it's nada is God still speaking problem it's a is Russell still listening problem and friends I'd encourage you if you ever want to hear the audible voice you can just open your Bible and read it out loud I heard God speak audibly this morning he was just right from Scripture it's incredible now i'ma quit that now watch verse 3 so after Abram it's interesting that Abram listens to Sarah when Sarah's like you got to sleep with my maid servant he's like that's the Lord yeah I'm going to listen to my wife I just I believe you a good husband I'm gonna listen to my wife says I'll know your tricks I know your tricks Abram goofy now watch verse 3 so after Abram had been living in Kaden 10 years Sarah his wife took her a Gyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife now he slept with Hagar and she conceived now when she knew she was pregnant she began to despise her mistress and Sarah said to Abram you are responsible for the wrong I'm suffering I put my slave in your arms and now that she knows that she is pregnant she despises me now may the Lord judge between you and me friend could I remind you of what proverbs 14 says there is a way that seems right to a man but in the end it leads to destruction what's the message of culture follow your heart but what it what what about what its deceitfully wicked above all things right people just walk around say love love wins love this love that but it denies the reality that you can love the wrong things and sometimes we become so drenched in the message of kind of what culture preaches that we can even believe things that are antithetical to the message of the gospel and Frank can I tell you that Jesus ain't embarrassed of one scripture he's not he's not like in the Bible trying to erase things hoping you won't discover them and I think he's embarrassed a lot of the time of how people butcher contextualization in hermeneutic but I don't think he's embarrassed of what was written because even in the wilderness when he's tempted by the enemy he says but it is written see even the word is submitted to the word see it is it is written it is written so interesting that the wilderness experience happens right after his baptism it's like the ultimate expression up until this point of Jesus's life and the dove lands on his shoulder and the voice from heaven speaks and then right after that the Bible doesn't say the devil leads him to the wilderness it says the spirit leads him to the wilderness why because there are some things that you will only learn in wilderness seasons of your life and if you are afraid to trust God to lead you into and out of wilderness seasons then you will only learn what aspect of his character see God is like the most brilliant diamond that you could ever imagine and every time you hold them up to the light you see a different reflection you see a different cut you see a different facet but some of us are only willing to look at one facet of God because the other facet labeled wilderness might make us uncomfortable and can tell that can I tell you friend that he has come to comfort the afflicted but even more than that he has come to afflict the comfortable and may God the great afflict er of our comfort visit us and may we respond in trust to say God if it's the wilderness I'm with you if it's in a home is I'm with you but we planted the church I think we had 10 or 12 we're meeting in the living room now called pastor Lane I said my crazy is that I don't know he came and he preached in that living room and I think we took an offering with 10 or 12 young adults and about $20,000 came in and I just thought to myself man God is in this thing and it hasn't been easy and sometimes I'm not even sure if it's worth it but I'll tell you every day I wake up with a fresh conviction that if God is in the business of building church then I've got to be in that business as well I want to be about the father's but I just do I just want to be invested in what he's invested in and this journey has led us to and fro we ended up launching in a barn and then rented a church and then we bought the oldest church building in our city and then sold it two years later for double what we bought it and then just last year we bought a JC Penney building and we've been remodeling it and I don't know nothing about remodeling but we've been doing it I remember when we offered money on that property is 2.7 million dollars there's a twenty two thousand square foot building and we called the agent and said we're gonna offer it all cash and the agent said accept it we had no cash and I said I said god no this is your problem because you go build your church and so I and six months later we closed on that property and every step of the way God has shown up and shown off and I think God is doing something at the persuit just to prove that he doesn't need experts to do what he wants to do and I hope in my life what it provokes there's a lot of people around me to go rustle can do it anybody can do it maybe in your life if you just be willing to be foolish for him see remember it's in his kingdom that the cultural paradigm is shifting because in order to be first you have to be in order to lead you have to serve and he who seeks to save his life will lose it but he who loses his life for his sake will find it see it is the opposite it's counterintuitive to the world system now watch what happens here there isn't any shortcuts worth taking that will bring you the harvest you're missing just because you haven't seen it yet doesn't mean you won't see it so see how you respond when you feel like God is either slow or absent best reveals the depth of your spirituality say it's easy to be a mile wide and an inch deep and we have that everywhere in Western Christianity I can talk the talk I can look at the look well I can even raise my hands on the right part of the song but I'll tell you what it is the maturity of your spirituality that is tempered by the seasons in which you feel like God isn't doing what I've asked him to do and I want you to trust God today he holds your future he's seen what's around the curve he has seen beyond your Berenice he has seen beyond your brokenness see we are so tempted to make statements about what we will always be based on the frustration of the temporary season I'm always gonna be broke I'm always gonna be single I'm always gonna be married but wishing I was single I'm always gonna be I'm always gonna be I'm always gonna be and you know what I hear the father's voice saying a lot is what he said to Adam and Eve when they were standing in the garden who told you that who told you that who told you you're gonna be broke who told you that God couldn't who told you that so we believe the subtle lie of feelings over God and friend I'm telling you nothing could be more dangerous it will praise before my breakthrough it's easy to sing it's harder to live verse 6 now watch what happens your slave is in your hands Abram said do with her whatever you think best so watch Sarah mistreated Hagar isn't it interesting that when we are angry at ourselves we are angry and everybody around us see Sarah says you know what this wasn't a great idea because now Hagar is pregnant and she's Abraham's favorite and I've just made an entire mess of everything that God was putting together I got upset that he was taking his time so I figured I would step in and develop a shortcut or a formula to the answer that I'm seeking friend can I tell you that there is no formula to intimacy with God it doesn't exist and the reason we like formulas is because they exist as shortcuts but God isn't interested in the shortcut he's not interested in three weeks or three months or three years but life-long Christ followership whereby even when you don't hear his voice you know his heart am i hearing your voice oh but friends you know my heart you ever have a friend or a partner or somebody in business somebody you just love that you've got covenant relationship with and when they walk in the room without them even telling you audibly what's going on you know what's up why cuz I know your heart you know what I found is longer than I walk with God how do I say this the longer that I walk with God it seems like the less demonstrative ly I hear his voice not that I don't hear his voice but I feel like the longer that I walk with him the quieter his voice is become because when you have a friend you don't have to shout and see when I started my relationship with God he had to shout because there was so much noise around me that unless he was yelling I miss him but now he walks with me and he talks with me and he does it in the smell still small voice like he said to Elijah I wasn't in the fire and I wasn't in the shaking and I wasn't in the lightning but I was in the whisper there's not a shortcut to the whisper afraid watch what happens Sarah mistreated Hagar then the angel of the Lord the angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert April says her do whatever you think is best Sarah mistreated her and so Hagar runs away now the angel of the Lord found Hagar near spring in the desert and it was spring that and it was the spring that is beside the road too sure and he said to Hagar slave of Sarah where have you come from and where are you going can I tell you that when the Lord asks you a question it's not because he doesn't know it's because you don't know see he is testing the waters of a person's heart he is searching deep into who they are when the Lord asks a question he's not looking for you to give him info that he doesn't already know it's like he's testing your response he's testing this thing he did this with Moses is what he's testing those things in your heart now Hagar said I'm running away from my mistress Sarah she answered and the angel of the Lord told her go back to your mistress and submit to her the angel added I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count now she gave the name to the Lord now Hagar gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her you are the God who sees me for she says I have now seen the one who sees me that is why the well was called beer-lahai-roi it's still there between Kadesh and birds so Hagar bore Abram a son and Abram gave him the name Ishmael to the son she had born now Abram was 86 years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael now watch as she is running the angel of the Lord appears to her and says go back home I got you and I will multiply your descendants and Hagar responds she gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her you are the God who see I want you to see something Genesis 16 is the first time in all of Scripture that God is named it's the first time in all of Scripture that he is named by an individual and who is it an Egyptian slave girl mistreated by her master it's almost like Genesis 16 is reaching into acts 2 that in the last days God says I will pour out my spirit on all flesh and even your menservants and maidservants will prophesy it's like she is saying something about the nature of God that will serve as a witness for every generation that comes from her and reads this letter the God who sees me before I saw him the God who sees my mistake but speaks to my future Hagar prophesized this is the God who sees and no friend he doesn't see like the all-seeing religious Pharisees who have come to micromanage my mistakes but instead the God who judges my difficult present off of my redeemed future I want you to see one thing and I'll close here the angel of the Lord when that word is used in the Old Testament one time it was when the angel of the Lord was wrestling right it was the angel of the Lord who showed up in the three Hebrew boys the fire Nebuchadnezzar and and the angel of the Lord also shows up in Genesis 16 the angel of the Lord refers to a theological term that we call a christophany or a theophany and it's a pre-incarnate picture of christ that means a pre New Testament picture of Christ now Christ was born of a virgin in the New Testament absolutely but Jesus didn't just start existing in the New Testament it's been God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Spirit from before time began and even in the darkness his spirit hovered over the earth what's so interesting about Genesis 16 is the angel of the Lord which is a name for Jesus it's a name for Christ it's a name for the picture of the person of the Son of God is appearing to a woman and a well which means that John four isn't the first time that Jesus ministers to a woman at a well it happens in Genesis 16 as well and he tells both women similar things I'm not here to judge you based on the mistakes you've made sure you have five husbands and the one you're with now isn't your husband but I offer you living water that you would never thirst again no Hagar I know that you're messed up I know that you're running away from life's problems but the problem is wherever you go there you are I know things seem confusing I know you're being mistreated I know that you've despised your masters I know that this is a complicated family system I know that things aren't turning out right for you I know that there's a lot of conflict in your system I know that there's a lot of things that are working against you but the angel of the Lord shows up in the middle of the wilderness and says but Hagar I am working for you and you'll never reach a season in your life where the curse that is against you is greater than the blessing that's inside you and Hagar an Egyptian slave girl knocked up by her master mistreated by his wife is the first one in all of Scripture to name a facet of God and what is it you are the God who sees me Fred I want you to hear from my heart to yours this morning that you serve a God who sees you you're not a number you're not one of many you're one of one in the book of Revelation it's the Beast that gives us a number but the lamb gives us a name you're not one of a million you're not one of a billion you're not one lost inside this sea of face here in this charge you are one of one to him you bear his fingerprints you bear his image from before you were bored he was crafting a vision and a dream and a destiny while you were in your mother's womb he hasn't forgotten about you and you might feel stuck you might feel slow you might feel like God but when is it my turn to finally come on the scene and he would just speak over you this morning I am still the God who sees you I love the church I love what God blesses in a corporate environment but God is taking what is happening here corporately and gonna make it happen for you individually as well because he is the God who sees come on would you stand to your feet all across this room let me pray for you and I just believe Fran God is at work I just do I just do I just believe that he's good enough and and all-seeing and all-knowing and he's better than you think he's better than you give him credit for he's closer than you could ever imagine and friend that God is personally interested in your life you might be here today you don't know God or you don't know him like you should and friend I'm I'm here to tell you this morning that we serve a God who so radically loves that he radically gave and your name has been brought up before him and his eye is on you this 40 come on would you pray with me this morning father we love you we honor you we thank you that when the church gathers with expectation God responds with impartation and God we've gathered with an expectation today to know you to make you know and God we thank you that at this moment all of Heaven crashes in our reality and God we pray that your kingdom would come and your will would be done yes in Fort Worth as it's being done in heaven and god I pray that in the hustle and bustle of our own spirituality we wouldn't miss out on the God who sees and God I pray from this day forward a greater revelation of your love and your kindness and your goodness that draws us under repentance a greater revelation of the angel of the Lord who still shows up in the wilderness seasons of life and causes us to come back home and friend if you're here today you're far from Jesus I've just got three words for you today come back home you've been hurt by church you've been wrapped up in prodigal living I've just got three words for you this morning Fred come back home allow the god of more than enough to fill you up to overflowing and he would do exceedingly abundantly more than you could ever ask think dream or imagine God we say this morning do your best work in us in Jesus name all Gospels [Music]

Channel: Mercy Culture

Views: 542

Rating: 4.75 out of 5

Keywords: Landon Schott, Heather Schott, Mercy Culture, Mercy Culture Church, Holy Spirit, Presence Driven Church, Presence, Fort Worth, Texas, Mercy, Mercytown, Encounter, Jesus

Id: i6d5tB0lTno

Length: 46min 33sec (2793 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 10 2020