I'm Tired of Trying to Be Strong... // Judah Smith

hey guys it's Judah I am so excited to announce version 2.0 for the church home app has arrived it is here it's a much more personalized experience it's gonna cater to ensuring that you're connecting with people face-to-face relationships and there is daily guided prayers Chelsea and I are gonna be your guide a Lee guiding you through prayers that I think will deepen your relationship with God and help you in your overall experience here on earth I want to talk to you about strength tonight strength and I want to show you how Jesus demonstrates teaches and illustrates for us what it means to be strong so the title of my message title of my sermon tonight is I'm tired of trying to be strong I'm tired of trying to be strong I'd like to speak specifically to anyone in this room or anyone watching who has ever found themselves or currently are finding themselves in a place of fatigue maybe emotional fatigue maybe mental fatigue you are constantly perpetually continually trying to be strong for everyone around you I look around this room amazing people like Ashley who have real Christmas trees and I can imagine how many of us are constantly trying to be strong constantly trying to be the rock for our friends the rock may be for your spouse the rock for your boyfriend or your girlfriend the rock for your co-workers and your loved ones and your friends or maybe it's that time of year where your family tries to get together but maybe your mom and dad parted ways years ago and it's kind of get the uncles and the aunts together and you're trying to make everybody happy and make sure everybody gets along and maybe you find yourself fatigued hey I'm tired of trying to be cool calm and collected maybe during Thanksgiving holiday you already lost it a little bit something kind of snap and you just just got so frustrated with trying to always be the Peacekeeper or the stable one or the cool calm and collected customer in the family I want to talk about that and I want to say this if you find yourself right now as we're talking feeling weak feeling drained feeling fatigue I would like to propose to you and put on the table tonight that you are actually in an opportunity you are actually set up to experience super natural strength more than you realize more than you realize and so if you have ever felt weak or you feel weak and you're tired of trying to be strong this message is for you I dedicated to you and I dedicated to Ashley and her real Christmas tree and Ashley is currently not single just to be clear actually let us know if you ever become single and will will let the church know okay Matthew chapter five who has a fake tree here's a fake tree let's publicly shame these people I'm kidding okay we don't do that or a loving community plastic is great it doesn't kill dolphins okay Matthew 5 verse 17 my friend in the front row telling me I got poor taste all right Matthew 5 and verse 17 words of Jesus now words of Jesus are you ready oh don't overwhelm me with your enthusiasm Matthew 5 and verse 17 says this Jesus now and I quote Sermon on the Mount two sermon on a mountaintop he's seated jumping in kind of mid sermon he says this do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets don't get hung up on the statement law or the prophets that is what Jesus called the Old Testament we later named it the Old Testament Jesus called the Old Testament the law and the prophets he says I've not come to remove it set it aside ignore it I have come not to abolish it hear the words now Jesus this is going to be important for us to understand his perspective and the era he's assuring in he says I have come to fulfill the Old Testament going on verse 18 for truly I say to you until heaven the earth passes away not an iota not a dot will pass from the law or the Old Testament until all is accomplished verse 19 therefore whoever relaxes taking a shot now at the scribes the Pharisees the teachers of the Torah at the temple who did this Jesus says whoever relaxes one of the least of these Commandments in the Old Testament and teaches others to do the same will be called the least in the kingdom of heaven but whoever does them and teaches them whoever does them and teaches them but whoever does them and teaches them going back to I think we jump to the other if we could fit it there we go all right I mean I knew it I just wanted you guys to follow along whoever shut up whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven now this is gonna be a really important verse for our study in message tonight verse 20 Jesus says and I quote I tell you unless your righteousness exceeds the word exceeds there is a Greek word it's word picture is a river with its banks being overflowing which is to say when Jesus says your righteousness must succeed it means it must far exceed that of your religious teachers it must far exceed the scribes and the Pharisees or comma you will never enter the kingdom of heaven now occasion you're not catching the cultural context that is not the most encouraging portion of the Sermon on the Mount everybody on this little mountaintop is ready to be encouraged they are mesmerized by this man who is changing the landscape of their culture their religion their tradition their temple and then he drops a bomb Jesus says unless you do more unless you try harder unless you do better than your full-time religious teachers you will never enter my domain I'm the king it's a kingdom you will never enter the kingdom of heaven now fast-forward to the conclusion of what we now call chapter five which I believe is verse 48 and Jesus says you therefore you must be perfect just in case you're one in his standard you must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect you must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect again the title of my sermon tonight is I'm tired of trying to be strong I'm tired of trying to be strong you may be shocked to realize that one of the premises I'm working from tonight is that I would like to suggest that you stop trying to be strong I would like to suggest that you stop trying to be strong will you join me in prayer Jesus we thank you for the moments we share we also recognize that without your club involvement without your active involvement in these moments this is just an ordinary exchange of concepts and ancient history and principles but with you it is an opportunity to read a book that points us to a person who is alive and we want to encounter you in a real active way god help us to understand how you define strengths help us to understand what you mean when you say strength help us to leave this room more aware of you than even ourselves thank you for the Seattle Seahawks thank you that we're leading the division help us to continue to win the rest of our games we thank you for that against the LA Rams this Sunday night in Jesus name and everybody said super big game tonight I mean Sunday night speaking of boys to men it's one of my favorite bands all-time one of my favorite bands all time raise your hand if you love boys to men the rest of you can leave immediately I grew up on boys to men I love boys to men and I always wanted to go to a boys swimming concert for those who don't know my dad started this church and he was the pastor his dad was the pastor his dad was a pastor so we got a long line of being pastors kids and I grew up in the church in the 80s and the 90s for those that are not familiar with the 80s or the 90s and being a pastor's kid in the 80s of the 90s as a pastor's kid you did not go to what they called killer concerts now I'm the pastor and I'm cool with it so that's what's so great right so oh well that's what's awesome when you become the pastor but so I decided since I'm the pastor I want to go to a boys to men concert so I talked to my wife of 20 years I talked to Elijah and Emery my best friends and I said let's go two boys two men now for those who don't know boys two men has a residency in Las Vegas at the Mirage they have also given me discount on my tickets to use this as an opportunity to encourage you to go okay okay that's it I started inserting commercials that would be great and I want to thank Geico tonight for making this sermon possible that wouldn't be a bad would you guys mind I wouldn't so wry actually my friend got us tickets I want to thank you right publicly for getting his tickets great seats by the way and we went to the boys to men concert at the Mirage now I'm 41 everybody at the show was my age okay so it was a collection of 40 year olds and you could tell we were all kind of reliving the 90s right we were reliving like I think that the biggest voice time in song of all time literally came out in 1994 before the vast majority of you were born and so it was kind of going back in time but man we were pumped the waters are there Chelsey's there it's like this is our night we are going to Boise a man we were slightly late I will remind you waters pretty much blame that on you publicly we walked in the show had already begun I didn't know this I knew once we arrived the show that there was once for boys to men there's a contractual dispute so there's now only three at the show boys to men and they're not really boys to men they're more like men becoming older men okay he's got jokes tonight right right parade in our prayer group before he's like it helped you to really do well with his jokes so we know that God doesn't hear Ryan's prayers but um it's uh it was unbelievable now before the show started I didn't tell the waters in order that tell Chelsea this just a little internal self talk and this what I've told myself I'm 41 just keep it together relax play it cool you can't you can't be 41 and be like you know like you can't you just got to be like it's cool right we kind of dressed up kind of had a date night with our best friends and some like hey when you get to the show it's true story I really told myself I was like just enjoy it relax don't fan out don't get weird I understand this is one of my favorite groups all-time hands-down anyone who knows me will tell you I love boys to men I was asked today what are my favorite albums you better believe boys to men just it's just I love boys to men okay so I told myself just play it cool so we get there Elijah nanri will tell you this is a true story no word of a lie there's a guy behind us and as soon as we sat down in our amazing seats provided by right good we sat down and this this this gentleman god bless him was was standing you know and again most of us were seated at that time saying he was like saying sing and we're all kind of looking back like that that's what we're all here for that's definitely why we've all gathered in this 1200 seat auditorium here at the Mirage cuz they're gonna go ahead and sing in fact they're currently singing sing we'd be like oh man and I remember looking at the waters and looking at Chelsea and I'm like this guy it's just got a dialer back right it's just too much it's just too far it's a grown man he needs to relax about an hour under the show my friend is still enjoying himself he would you know one of the guys were going to run he'd be like what is he doing and then I thought to myself you know again he needs to calm down I kept telling myself internally you're doing great tonight did I was like honestly you're playing this well you're a man of God you know enjoying it and then and then it happened I was cool I was calm I was collected man I got and then water runs dry came on and I literally if you don't know what that song is please find another church honestly this is not gonna work here it's just not gonna work you're not gonna ever understand the messages we share here at church Oh water runs dry is very important okay so go home young people and discover water runs dry okay and literally they start singing this time I guess it's water runs dry it's our song right Justin I like this is one of our songs and I'm literally filming have you ever filmed it a concert you play it back later and you realize all you can hear is you singing we're gonna make the biggest mistake of all and I'm looking at strangers I'm like don't do it baby I'm literally I I lost it I'm 41 I'm like looking for people to make eye contact we don't do it baby and then this is a true story the boys who've become older men started throwing out roses I'm like Chelsea Emory get a rose 41 I'm sending my wife the rose was for me get a rose they like throwing out roses I'm like Chelsea get in there every you came back with nothing oh you actually got a rose is that true you got four roses is that what you just said oh you have a photo to prove it Chelsea did not get a rose Chelsea failed that's why she's not here tonight oh man I say that story because life can be a little bit like that you you do a lot of self-talk you tell you something got to hold it together you gotta tell you something to be strong right and I know it's a funny funny story but it all seriousness when it comes to life our culture the way we're raised we're told to be strong every single one of us in this room has a favorite show or a favorite movie and I can almost guarantee there is some kind of scene or episode or portion of your favorite show or movie where somebody somewhere is on the verge of life and death and a loved one is there in the scene and there say to themselves sorry you gotta help but what are you doing oh my god they're gonna die right and then there's an actor or an actress that goes you listen to me and the camera zooms in you listen to me these next few moments are critical and I'm gonna need you to be strong right and then the camera pans to the main characters freaking out they're like okay be strong right and like the hand our hair stands up on our arms were like Jesus be strong right you're like I love this show right because we were taught from a young age at soccer practice right and cut the ball hits you in the stomach good and your dad's like sod no crying it's soccer okay daddy okay get in the car and you can't get your straw in the capri-sun and you're like that no crying it's a pouch of fake juice right no crying be strong but that's what we're taught right one of the great compliments in our culture is what somebody walks up to you and they go you're so strong you know what you're one of the strongest people I've ever met and you think to yourself I got a point yeah I'm really strong right when's the last time someone walked up to you and said honestly you're rock-bottom right now aren't you I respect that about you right when's the last time someone said you know what I love about you your absolute weakness you're so broken and I respect that right I mean that's that's just not even how our culture works we look to find people who keep it together cool calm and collected and then the person who's losing it we're like okay you need to relax okay all right you're gonna I know I cut in line at your chick-fil-a you need to you know and we we we look at people who are holding it together we see people who aren't strong and we're like okay you know and and and we're talked you know you got to be strong for your marriage you now you got to be strong for your kids now you got to be strong for your teenage you got to be strong for your grand kids you got to be strong now in this crisis you got to be strong it's retirement you got to retire and be strong and you got to in pen that's what we're we're taught and of course we equate being strong with keeping it together cool calm collected not weak not broken not emotional not unstable all these things were told hey hey hey you need to be strong our heroes and film are people who are strong and we admire them now tonight I'd like to show you a different way actually let me rephrase that I'd like to show you Jesus showing you and me a different way Jesus speaks of strength differently and you need to know that it is very counter culture to the way most of us in this room I'm not trying to presume upon you that you've had kind of the same upbringing as me but probably somewhat safe to say that most of us understand the Western culture of strength let's be strong cool calm and collected Jesus proposes a different way of living and he will call it strength starts here on this in this scene on this little mountain Jesus is seated and there he starts to articulate something that is nothing short of groundbreaking and revolutionary he says this he says I have not come to ignore the old testament pretend like it's not there or put it aside of course the old testament was inspired by God it's inspired written by but Jesus says this about the Old Testament I have come to fulfill it more specifically Jesus is saying I have come to finish the Old Testament I have come to cross all the T's and dot all the i's I have come to change the Old Testament as you know it in other words Jesus is saying I have come the word fulfill means to bring it to its intended goal this is very important and many of us do not get this in our Bible teaching we are not told that Jesus has finished the Old Testament the law and the prophets he has fulfilled it more specifically Jesus is now pointing to his death burial and resurrection which will happen in a few more in a few years and Jesus by his death burial and resurrection will fulfill all the rules of the law and all the prophecies of the prophets did you know for the six hours Jesus hung on the middle cross on Golgotha He fulfilled over 600 prophecies in 6 hours that is mathematically impossible to say the least so when he says I'm going to fulfill the law and the prophecies he literally means it I'm going to be the fulfillment now when something is fulfilled when something is finished we move on now this is important for us to understand Jesus the same the Old Testament yes it is still useful in that it continually perpetually points us to the one who has fulfilled it and the one who has fulfilled it is Jesus did you know the Old Testaments not about Adam it's not about Noah it's not about Abraham it's not about Ruth it's not about Boaz it's definitely not about Mephibosheth I start going into all these ornate names you're like okay we get it you know your Bible but I'm telling you if Solomon the wealthiest man to ever live he was here he'd be like it ain't about me proverbs is not about picking up the wisdom of Solomon Solomon is like my wisdom points you to the ultimate wisdom which is Jesus the Old Testament is only as elephant as it points you and me to Jesus it is about Jesus I'm not saying that you can't extrapolate at times wonderful concepts and principles but I'm telling you if David was here he'd be like it's not about my life my life is a type of Jesus David and Goliath is not about David and Goliath anymore it is about David as a type of Jesus slain sin itself and doing for us so we cannot do for our selves that's what it's about the Old Testament I've been saying this I'm gonna keep saying it is about Jesus now why is that important when we're discussing strength why is that important when we're talking about strengths and weaknesses well let me summarize the Old Testament that Jesus is claiming in Matthew chapter 5 to complete and finish and bring to its intended goal by his death burial and resurrection can be summarized like this it is entire section of ancient scripture that is based on your performance before God it is a book that actually has a lot of similarities the Old Testament as we call it the law and the prophets to how we're raised in culture how we're raised in our culture we are told you get what you put in you got to work it out you got to do it you got to handle your business you got to take care of stuff and that's wonderful and that's fine I'm just saying as it pertains to God and the basis for which we exist Jesus changed it all he said I am finishing this arrangement and this orientation which is based on your performance based on your performance what he's now going to usher in and what we named the New Testament Jesus is now you can honestly the Old Testament you can call it the the Jewish Bible the New Testament is the Christian Bible in what we now call the New Testament not that new but you understand what I mean this new era Jesus is saying it's going to be based on his performance please hear me now there's going to be important it's gonna be based on his performance now I'ma show you where Jesus is totally pointing to himself in this portion of Scripture he says in verse 17 I've come to finish the Old Testament and I'm gonna uh sure in a whole new orientation with God look what he says in verse 18 he says now until heaven earth pass away not an iota not a dot will pass from the Old Testament listen now until all is accomplished what did Jesus say he was going to do with the Old Testament he was going to accomplish it that is another verse about Jesus he's saying I'm going to accomplish nobody gets to mess with the law I'm going to fulfill all the requirements of the law for human beings that cannot for instance upon Jesus saying this actually in real time the Jewish people are trying to fulfill over 600 laws and to say the very least the teachers of the Torah were trying to cover some of these laws but they were manipulating them twisting them to make exception to actually try to find a way for people to somewhat fulfill some of the rules but of course if you break one of the rules you break all the rules no one could keep them Jesus says I'm gonna accomplish them verse 19 he says if anyone manipulates the law they're gonna be called the least in the kingdom of God everyone knew what he was saying Jesus was saying your teachers of the Torah are the least in the kingdom he says now whoever does the law and teaches the law please hear me whoever does the law and teaches the law that person will be called great in the kingdom of heaven do you know who Jesus is talking about he's talking about himself for he is the only one who kept the law perfectly and taught the law perfectly he kept the law perfectly he taught the law perfectly I love the order because Jesus would always do it live it and then he would teach it we got so many people who teach it and then hope to live it Jesus lived it perfectly and then he taught it perfectly verse 19 is about Jesus and then he drops the bomb this is alright in case you're not picking up on what I'm laying down unless your moral behavior your good deeds far exceeds the scribes and the Pharisees who are paid full time to live moral noble lives now you'll you'll notice later in the sermon Jesus take a shot at these leaders and he'll say in fact these leaders they pray long prayers in front of you guys in the open square and by the temples so you're impressed and Jesus basically says I'm not impressed he tells everyone he goes stop praying all these long prayers in front of people to impress people it's about talking to God not impressing people everyone's like Oh tell us what you really think while you're seated right meek mild kind sweet Jesus he's like hey unless you guys like try harder than the people who try the hardest you're never gonna get in and here's my point no one tried harder than the scribes and the Pharisees what is this everyone in the room outside of the mountain is thinking themselves we can't compete with that no one tries harder than the scribes and the Pharisees they try hard in their dress they try hard in their words they try hard in their prayers they try hard with their money they try hard with their appearance everything they do they do to be seen as elite and moral and wonderful and the gap between the scribes and the Pharisees and the ordinary townspeople was astronomical now you think to yourself like well I mean Judas seems actually pretty average I'm thinking to myself if that guy can be a pastor I think anybody can be a pastor in those days it was intentional these scribes and these Pharisees the ornate clothes they wore the words they used bless you my child I mean everything was like they were so removed from the ordinary people and Jesus is like you got to do better than they you got to do better than that and then they do and everyone's like I what I what I don't even have enough money to do the proper sacrifice how can I remember now what Jesus is doing he's always pointing to him South now when he says your righteousness must exceed the scribes and the Pharisees he means two things here two primary things and I'll draw your attention because it's gonna really help us understand in the remaining fifteen 20 minutes we have it's gonna help us Jesus is trying to do two things here number one he is clearly saying that the moral acts of the current regime of temple leaders is not enough to gain favour or relationship with God now that was a bit of a newsflash but not as bad as the second one Jesus is first of all saying your moral behavior does not even come close to fulfilling the 600 laws in the Old Testament you're not even close everyone's like hey man but what was he also saying he was also saying this entire approach to God is soon becoming irrelevant what's irrelevant what's irrelevant what was irrelevant was trying to relate to God based on our own performance now that was devastating news Jesus literally just seated so nicely he's like everything your whole thing is built on is I'm gonna finish it fulfill it it's gonna be over it's useless animal sacrifices the hierarchy the Torah I'm gonna fulfill it all I'm gonna be the once and for all sacrifice and now a relationship with God will be based on my performance not people's performance it's over and then he goes oh you're not hearing what I'm saying I want you to be perfect when you say perfect what do you mean perfect just like God your father who's in heaven is perfect and everyone's like what I want you to be perfect I want to say something I want to say this very clearly relating to God and frankly this life your identity your value and your standing in life and before God I want you to I want you to hear this Jesus the same that is over you don't have to believe it's over you don't have to accept it's over you can still try to live your life attempting to be good enough for God and good enough for people Jesus would like to bring every one of us some relief by saying that era is over and my death burial and resurrection are going to usher in a new era the Bible declares all have sinned and all have erred done wrong or sinned and fallen short of the 600 loss we can't keep him let alone 10 right let alone 600 we can't keep 10 we know one so Jesus came to earth was tempted in every way we are tempted completely without sin so he who had no sin could become sin so that we could become right in our relationship with God not based on what we do but based on what he has done now I want to draw your attention to verse 48 and then I promise we're gonna go to one of the passage and we're gonna end verse 48 uses the word perfect this is a very important operative word he says I want you to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect now why did he not say be perfect like I'm perfect because his perfection the jury was still out on the perfection and deity of Jesus so he says heavenly father now everyone there believed in a heavenly father so he says I want you to be perfect as your heavenly father now Jesus he later will say to his disciples they'll say show us the father Jesus we'll go guys if you've seen me you've seen the father we are one and they're like wait what so when he says Heavenly Father guess who Jesus is pointing to again himself but people don't know that yet the word perfect means this number one it literally means to be mature it means to fully become what you're intended to be the word picture here for this ancient word perfect is a caterpillar becoming a butterfly that was the butterfly perfect no but it is fully becoming what it was intended to be second meeting same coin two sides the second meaning is literally perfect means and Jesus says perfect so that we come to the end of ourselves I can't be perfect God I'm not perfect I know but my standard is perfection what am I gonna do I can't be perfect I know what are you gonna do well it's pointless to try to be perfect because I'm not perfect I'm never gonna be perfect right right so then what would you say to that Jesus be perfect right but we've already established I can't be perfect so right but I still need to be perfect well again he's ending something he's starting something well then I can't do that say that again Jesus I said I can't do that really yeah it's impossible did you say impossible yes Wow like what so what are you gonna do I can't do anything it's like I need like a superhero or something really like what you know like someone who would like save me or something interesting wonder if there's somebody like that around right and that's what he's doing to bring us to the end of ourselves and then suggest that we become fully who were supposed to be now by using this word perfect he actually has given us the roadmap to becoming the butterfly we were meant to be you know how it happens it is not by trying harder it is not by trying to be strong and be cool calm and collected and impress everybody with your noble deeds it is by coming to the end of yourself and this is what Jesus does in his sermon where we throw our hands up and go I can't do it I'm help he's like okay I will what's going on I can't I can't save myself really I can't do it I mean I'm capable of some temporary good stuff and it's great and everything but I ultimately I just fail I fail I fail I fail I fail and Jesus I am tired of trying to pretend I can do this on my own really what are you tired of I'm tired of trying to be strong I'm not strong I'm weak of course the response in Scripture is I know your dust you're made from dirt I know how weak you are you know God I think I think because fellow humans you ever told someone they're going oh you really did have a bad Thanksgiving what did you do to your mom just I just I can't believe you said that oh my god can I pray for you and you leave that prayer time like oh I'm worse than I thought do you know God does not suck air at your performance in fact he knows exactly what you're gonna do in 2020 it's very clear to him okay Judah relax 2020 okay it's he not okay that was kind of what we like to call a soft ball in the industry but it's cool its but but but he knows everything you're gonna do like he's not he surprised he knows that you're weak now I've heard people say this bear with me I've heard people say this I'm really going through like this such a season of weakness and God has just been so real to me now I know what you're saying and I totally respect that and if we were in a conversation I wouldn't adjust you or challenge you or change you but since it's like like this elusive non real conversation with this person that's not named let me correct you there's no such thing as what seasons of weakness there's just called whole lifetime's of it haha that's all it is a bit funny yeah we're like it's been such a season of brokenness for me no that's your whole life ba-bop like those aren't seasons those are every minute of every hour of every day even when you feel strong you're weak right it's called reality and I'm telling you we're heading out to a place and space called weakness and God caused that place an opportunity for power and I end with this is this guy his name was Saul and he hated these people because he represented these people he represented performance performance performance adhere to the law trust in the prophecies keep the rules and then these people started to swell Jesus death burial resurrection they called us the people of the way the news was spreading and the name of Jesus was being used as a king and a savior and a super here on a deliverer and this guy saw found out and he's like no this life is about people who are noble and good and try hard and be better and he hated these people so much he killed him he was a religious thug he was a gangster and he killed people of the way children little boys and girls he was a very bad person Jesus meets him on a trip literally pushes him off of his animal and audibly says you're my guy I choose you he says who are you he's I'm Jesus I'm the person you're fighting but you're not gonna fight me anymore because I win and I choose you and Saul becomes Paul a years later he will plant all kinds of churches of the way Christian churches like we're a part of here and later he will write his second letter to a church that he started in the place called Corinth it was a wild metropolitan city and he comes to the close of his second letter to that church and he starts to divulge about his own personal weakness and I want you to hear this this is fascinating remember this is a guy who understood the Old Testament lifestyle he has now been converted to a New Testament lifestyle which is trusting in the performance of Jesus not his own and he says this and I quote I pleaded with God three times that God would take my weaknesses away God would take this weakness away and then he quotes and I don't know if he heard the audible voice of Jesus but he says this is what Jesus said out loud to me he said my grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect that's the same word is Matthew 5 verse 48 that Jesus used in Sermon on the Mount my power comes to its full maturity in the middle of your weakness perfect timing for the piano thank you and her Lion King sure it's so cool now what what's this cuz this does not this is I'm not very familiar with this we're coming to a close I want you to hear this it's from an ordinary guy who met Jesus all he knew was rules and then he met Jesus he says so I now boast about my weaknesses I'm like he's definitely not American he wouldn't raise the United States of America it's America we don't boast about our what does that weaknesses and by the way it says weaknesses hisses hisses plural is that God boasts about all of them so that the power of Jesus may what's the word rest upon my life not seasonal rest on my life going on verse 10 for the sake of Jesus then he says last verse he said I'm gonna boast about being weak now he says I'm content I'm content I'm not trying to change it I am content and I love this he divulges in weakness citizens insults hardships persecutions mean things people say online that's in there calamities do you know anybody who talked like this I mean honestly what's the last time you ran into someone and said honestly man the two predominant things that come like to my heart when I think about my weaknesses is I'm gonna boast about it and I feel so content in it the Glynn's the last time you had coffee with somebody like that we're boasting and contentment was an association with their weaknesses no we're we're not taught that we're taught hate covered up cover your weaknesses hey work on your weaknesses hey hey hey all right all right enough about what you're struggling with Wow don't share that with too many people like people respect you not a Bible college teacher who told me that I can't tell - he said when you as you grow as a preacher make sure you don't tell too many stories about your personal life because people need to respect the pulpit and they lose respect for your role in your position if you tell them too much about your ordinary average life boy that Professor was so wrong it's too late now I'm so over that this stage is the height that is for your viewing enjoyment it has no moral implications whatsoever this pulpit is simply to hold my Bible in my notes it has no sacredness to it we are just ordinary average people who either are going to pretend we are not weak oh we're just gonna boast about it dude I'm so broken I'm so weak but the more I just own that and acknowledge that the more I feel his strength in his power did you know you are not supposed to create your own power according to the teachings of Jesus you know you're not supposed to create your own power that we're not taught that we're taught work hard be successful have a certain aura about you walk into a room command the room be in charge act important speak important talking part and by all means necessary don't let anybody see your weakness that's power that's how you get power and I will prove to you that we still believe earthly power is so important there are many of us in this room and I am not in any way belittling the offices of leadership in this country but they do not pare compared to the king of kings and Lord of lords and I would like to go on record to say no matter who gets voted in I'm gonna be alright I'm gonna be alright I'm a vote I'm not gonna tell you who I'm voting for a vote for Jesus so only people act that's only person I talk about who I'm voting for I'm over it my emotions going up and down with who has earthly power earthly power is earned by jockeying and politicking and acting tough and being a peacock listen to me there's another way and it's the way of Jesus it's a way of humility and meekness and kindness and love and care it's where you consider others better than yourself it's where you walk into a room like a servant that's what Jesus represents and so no we don't cover our weaknesses we don't strive over our weaknesses and we do not seek to create our own power we are conduits and do you know how you conduct the power of God best when you acknowledge who you really are ha ha ha now do you pretend to be or who people want you to be but who you really be and who you really be is we gonna be crazy if we had a whole church where all of us just outed ourselves yeah I got a problem with anger for sure you know many times I've told the Lord Lord if you would just take my anger away I wouldn't embarrass Rui when we play golf and I guess God's response is my grace is sufficient for you every time you get angry you remember I need Jesus isn't that the eternal truth oh god I I need you today and Jesus says when you acknowledge when you are aware when you welcome when you boast and our content with your weaknesses it's there that my power is most available and most sane how we thought we funny when did the church get all caught up in the same road to power as our culture when did this happen when did we also become a space or people like you I'm good I'm good how you doing I'm good I'm good it's all good it's all good yeah man you're great it's true man guys doing I'm just you know praise God amen hallelujah good all the time Amen guy it always works out amen I'm always good I'm always good somebody says they're always good I'm like I don't believe you I'm 41 I don't believe you even boys to me and broke up I don't believe you come on we ain't it crazy we sit in a room like this and even and I'm closing I'm done I mean we're playing the piano and everything the band could come out but I uh you ever realized in churches like that we're like I wonder who's gonna go first though like for real I wonder who's gonna go first I wonder who's gonna go first what's amazing about Jesus one of the most powerful moments we ever witness in his ministry is when he hangs naked on a cross for six hours suffocating in his own blood and there his power is on display for the world as we know it you believe a relatively unknown revolutionary Jewish rabbi who said he came to fulfill the law turned Rome upside down in less than 200 years that's crazy it didn't happen because Jesus beat his chest and told everybody that they need to file do this and do he came considering others as a servant all my brothers and sisters we can change the world but we're gonna do it in weakness my dad told me and my dad's right he's right man he said son you don't ever forget this when it comes to leading people people will relate far more with your weaknesses than with your strengths I got a world crying out for authenticity and Jesus said it's the only way for when we come to the end of ourselves when we say I'm weak Jesus goes I know I Swami am going to make up the difference in your life and here's what I dream about I promise I'm coming to a close I wish the band would come out but they won't even listen to me I humbly submit that you join us I want to be 70 someday and I want to be 80 and I'm gonna say like this I want to be the most surprised about my life now I want you to be surprised about yours I want somebody come along some day and be like hey man you did some stuff with your life and you'd be like bro it's crazy and I'd be like how'd you do it and you liked it so you don't know my story there's like no you got a few minutes you know we're gonna be like 82 looking for young people to talk to you buy you whatever you want I need someone to talk to but may it be at the end of our days that were the most surprised by it all that was like just the weaker I became the more willing I was like oh god I can't do it Jesus just kept coming through for me and would it be cool someday to pass on to each successive generation that story not the story of all the great decisions we made and all the amazing accomplishments but the real story that every day we woke up going Jesus I don't really know what I'm doing but I trust you today I only got today without you I know who I am I need your strength today ah there's so much beauty there that I hope that you crave can I pray for you Jesus I thank you so much for these moments it's like all of us in this room are just kind of overwhelmed with this concept of how much we are candidates for power we are so weak and evidently that's this wonderful platform where your power will be on display thank you thank you for usher in a new era it's not based on our own strength our own performance but it's based on your strength and your performance Oh God you're extraordinary you predicted your death burial and resurrection and you pulled it off there is no one like you we thank you for these moments if you're here and you say Judah I I want to receive the the free gift of forgiveness that only Jesus offers free gift of forgiveness that only Jesus offers only Jesus offers can't earn it or deserve it or warrant it you just accept it and receive it again Jesus performance makes it available not yours so you just accept it based on his performance not your own it's pretty awesome if you'd like to do that right now I'm gonna ask our eyes closed just for a moment this decision begins ultimately first and foremost between you and God if you'd like to receive this forgiveness purchased and made possible to you and for you by the performance of Jesus on the count of three I'm gonna ask you to lift up your hand and I believe when you respond on outside to what's happening on the inside just makes it more real that's all you know you are one two three that you would you shoot up your hand all over the room thank you so many hands that's amazing God you see these hands see these souls you see these hearts you are so indescribable I cannot believe how good this news is I cannot believe how great this is God we thank you so much and thank you so much for your grace and for your love Lord surround assure confirm remind us again how loved and forgiven we truly are we thank you for that I don't always do this but just in this moment if you're here and you say Judah I'm so tired so try it tired of trying to be so strong I'm just tired I thought you would just shoot up your hands some minutes me I know God's talking to me so god we quote the Prophet Joel let the weak say I am strong let the weak say I am strong we asked now in these moments as we sing with the band we ask that you would use music as a as an opportunity for us to meet you in our weakness God we thank you weakness is an opportunity to experience your supernatural power and God we anticipate tonight and tomorrow we thank you for the day that's ahead of us we're gonna be able to walk in the authentic weakness that we have and know that your power will sustain us God we just let go of trying and earning and deserving and warranting and we give up and we come to the end of ourselves and we yield and we surrender to you and we ask you to make up the difference guide us lead us assure us remind us surround us in Jesus name so do you love our youtube channel does it remind you of The Fresh Prince of bel-air I knew it right ok maybe not totally but if you love it you could subscribe right here and we could just keep hanging out and we're gonna have new content like every week so subscribe right here if you love it press it click it now subscribe I miss you we want hang out more

Channel: Churchome

Views: 52,822

Rating: 4.8842816 out of 5

Keywords: Churchome, Judah, Judah smith, church, message, anxiety, depression, how to, elevation, Steven, Hillsong, oceans, sermon, the city church, church home, Chelsea smith, bobby Houston, td jakes, pastor, pastor preaching, carl lentz, Jesus, conference, guest speaker, sermon jam, worship, Justin Bieber, la Hillsong, Selena, preaching, Judah message, performance

Id: 2hsTZm0oT2E

Length: 54min 55sec (3295 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 11 2019