Jesus Stories Week 4 | The Pursuit | 3.7.21

welcome to pursuit so glad to have you in the house of god this morning uh that that's that's where we're at let me start by saying this morning i'm not i'm not uh anti-government i'm not uh anti uh mask or even anti-vaccine what i am anti is unconstitutional mandates that have decimated small businesses locked families in isolation and have attempted to shut down the church of jesus christ and so at some point i just feel like someone has to say you've pushed this far but no further and so this isn't some sort of anti-this or pro-political party one way or another it's just a simple truth caesar is not the head of the church christ is and so as long as as long as jesus sits on the throne uh the church ought to gather and worship him because he's worthy of all praise and adoration and i know that this morning we have hundreds of folks from all over the world tuning online to be a part of this church community and we value that technology has been able to take a big community and bring us real close but my simple proposition to this community is this if you decide of your own free will and volition to attend church in person you should do so without intimidation and harassment from an unconstitutional mandate in this state and tomorrow we're taking out a new billboard in town i'm gonna place it up here on the screen just just for everybody to see we ain't cancelling easter either this isn't some sort of persecution complex or poor me or let's bring the focus on us in fact over the last number of months people who know my political background have said to me russell you've been surprisingly quiet as all of these things have been happening around you because i felt like my conviction from the lord is i'm gonna place my hand on the plow i'm gonna keep my head low i'm not gonna bother anybody else but we're gonna we're gonna operate in accordance with what we believe that scripture mandates and at the end of the day that's what we give account for when we stand before god what did scripture mandate what did christ speak over your life is it well done good and faithful or is it depart from me i never knew you so i am living for the affirmation and the attention of one and can i tell you if there's one thing that ought to be real good for you to crucify in this season it is your need to be affirmed and liked by people who don't share your values and there's something intrinsic inside of us that yearns for the affirmation of people around us it yearns for the likes and shares on our latest post it yearns for other people to say you're going in the right direction but when i look at the ministry and the message of jesus more often than not what i hear him saying is forsake all to follow me almost as if at the very center of the gospel it's not self-fulfillment but instead self-denial for unless a man deny himself and follow me he cannot be my disciple and so for you and i kind of we're in this season and we're doing the best that we can to keep our eyes focused on jesus the author and the finisher of our faith you know people have asked me over the last number of weeks is there a special legal fund that the pursuit has set up to fight some of this stuff and at this point we don't have one although there could be one in the future but here's what i will ask you to do as a pastor if you consider pursuit to be your church home what i would encourage you to do is to follow the lord in obedience with the giving of tithe and offering i almost never talk about money we don't do things by manipulation but instead by invitation but i want to invite you this morning if you are not already under the canopy of god's blessing in your life align yourself with his blessing by blessing his house and i believe if we all do our part together every need is going to be met every bill is going to be paid and ultimately jesus is going to be worshipped and people are going to find their home in christ and friend that makes this worth it and so if none go with us still we will follow jesus come compliments or critiques still we will follow jesus my heart is not to cast shade or or disparagement on any other pastor doing things any other sorts of ways a lot of people have to make different decisions on how they best manage their congregations it's just for us our team our board our elders we sense that this is our mandate in this season and i think we have seen the blessing of god connected to our obedience and so let's continue to rally let's continue to believe let's continue to count him worthy and we're going to make it through this thing together and we might come out a little battered in bruised but that just speaks to our greater testimony and i just know i just have this sense you know the mystic chaos when god just downloads a piece that passes understanding in your life i just have a sense that the story isn't over and somehow someway god is going to use what the enemy has meant for evil and use it for good now hear me clearly i'm not saying people are the enemy i'm not even saying policies are the enemy i'm saying that there is a spiritual atmosphere that many in our government aren't even aware exists and it works over time to bring harm to the people of god and the house of god and our battle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers and that's why we cancel every work of darkness coming against the church of jesus christ in the northwest and so that's that's that's our that's our position and you might be sitting here this morning or even watching online and you might think to yourself well if if i was if i was russell i wouldn't say it that way or i might be a little more risk adverse than he is or i might be a little more bold than he is i wish he would say things differently and here's what's great about church is you're invited to sit next to people in whom you don't always agree with it's also what's great about relationships it's also what's great about marriage it's also what's great about life is that you can still be equally yoked with people even when you don't always see things eye to eye we've got to agree on the main thing which is this jesus is worthy of all praise and adoration and i think the most important human activity on earth is the gathering of god's people for the express purpose of worship the most important human activity oh there's a lot of really cool human activities i would say there's a lot of really significant human activities but i think and i think you can make the case for this biblically the most important human activity on earth is the gathering of god's people for worship and over the last 2000 years the church has survived a lot of things it survived war and pestilence and plague and prosecution and persecution and totalitarian regimes it has survived going underground it has survived being the official religion of rome it has survived a whole lot of things and we not only will survive but we will thrive in this moment as a church so thank you for standing with me and our team and and to god be the glory in in in in this context and let me end with this uh a statement i feel like the lord spoke to me out of the book of acts and in chapter four where the the apostles are preaching and in the face of of some different persecution and complexity and they say this now lord consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant jesus and after they prayed the place where they were meeting was shaken and they were all filled with the holy spirit and spoke the word of god boldly listen when you are in a house that the holy spirit shakes you are unshaken when you stand before men when you are in a house that does something in your spirit it stirs you for fresh hope and belief declaring that my best days are not behind me but ahead of me god has got this handled i don't know what tomorrow holds but i i know the one who holds my tomorrow when you when you start to come into agreement with what scripture says about your life and about this community it gives you boldness to stand without shrinking back in the world around us this morning i'm going to share with you a story that i think in a way aligns with the topic at hand and it comes from the gospel of matthew in chapter 8 and it's it's another story about about jesus i love the synoptic gospels and and matthew has the privilege of being a tax collector who's been radically transformed by the love of christ who writes his perspective his first hand eyewitness account of the life and ministry of jesus in matthew 8 starting in verse 18 the bible says this when jesus saw the crowd around him he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake and then the teacher of the law came to him and said teacher i will follow you wherever you go and jesus replied foxes have dens and and birds have nests but the son of man has no place to lay his head and yet another disciple said to him lord first let me go and bury my father and jesus told him follow me and let the dead bury their own dead then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him i want you to see something that i think is interesting in the first six verses of the portion of scripture we're reading today fans won't make it where we're going jesus is looking for followers christianity seems to have a lot of fair weather fans when life is good when family is good when emotions are good when finances are good therefore god is good what if we reverse the equation this morning god is good in the midst of family being bad finances being bad health being bad a fear of the unknown future causing trauma in my life in the midst of whatever valley i find myself in today god is still good and worthy of all of my praise i think one of the things that we are plagued by in the west is we have a lot of people who are comfortable fans but as soon as the tide of culture begins to change they begin to sense a little resistance in their life all of a sudden their faith begins to shrink friend costless christianity produces powerless faith watch what happens in verse 24 of matthew 8 and then suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake and so much so that the waves swept over the boat but jesus was sleeping as i read this uh since the spirit of god saying this to our community storms are inevitable but storms that steal your peace are optional see sleeping in storms is a discipline of your spirit meaning this i'm not going to rehearse the anxiety of today's problems or tomorrow's uncertainties instead i will cast my cares upon jesus for he cares for me and at the end of the day i'm going to bed sometimes going to sleep is one of the most prophetic acts that you ever engage with throughout your day why because what you're declaring is god's got it handled he is the one who does not sleep nor does he slumber which means this every minute of the day every day of the week every week of the month every month of the year we serve a god who is working to bring all things together for the good of those who love him i am serving a god who works overtime on my behalf and this is why we see even the sabbath being enshrined in the decalogue the ten commandments as being so important to the hebrew children the nation of god that they would understand and recognize that god can do more in my resting than i can get done in my working do you know that god can get done more in one moment in his presence than you can in an entire lifetime of striving and slaving away to earn his favor god in moments shifts entire nations now what can this god not do and i love that jesus is in the storm sleeping he's not denying that the storm exists he's denying that storm an undue place of influence in his life he's not denying that storms happen even when you're following jesus i think some of us have signed up for a faith that says if i agree to follow jesus all of my problems automatically disappear and can i tell you more often than not the reverse is true when you decide to follow jesus all of your problems come to the surface and then you got to deal with them and that's tough work but the more that we reject that developmental work of the spirit the more we position ourselves as fans of what he'll do in the lives of others but not followers of his edict or ethic or mandate for our own lives storms are inevitable but storms that steal my peace are optional the bible says this in verse 25 the disciples went and they woke him saying lord save us we're going to drown another another portion of scripture where this is recorded says lord save us don't you care that we're perishing and jesus replied watch you of little faith why are you so afraid and then he got up and he rebuked the wind and the waves and it was completely calm i want you to notice the disciples are reaching conclusions about their circumstance prior to christ ever uttering a word before jesus ever speaks to the storm the disciples are already declaring with their mouth we're going to drown and so before jesus ever rebukes the storm he's got to rebuke their unbelief and so many times we're asking god to fix our circumstance when what god is really after is the attitude of our heart he's really after our spiritual designation he's really after the fact that we don't believe he is as good as scripture says he is he's really got to correct the interior narrative before he ever addresses the exterior narrative don't you care that we're perishing we're gonna die and it's like jesus stands up and says who told you that it's reminiscent of what the father says to adam and eve in the garden when he says why are you hiding and they say because we're naked and we're ashamed and we're afraid and we're fearful and i love the first question ever uttered in all of scripture comes from the father and it's used to address a misunderstanding of identity who told you that who told you you could ever develop out of that who told you you was always going to be an addict who told you you were always going to be sick who told you you weren't going to see revival in your day who told you you couldn't believe god for good things who told you that you were just a product of your circumstance who told you that see through agreement we have allowed the enemy to wrap us in bondage and then blame god for the lack of supernatural results in our own life and it's high time for us to break agreement with what the enemy has said about where we're going or what our conclusion will be can i tell you there's been multiple times over the last number of weeks dealing with some of this legal stuff that i have had to allow my voice my confession of faith to correct my perspective about where we're going you know they called and said we're gonna charge you with two gross misdemeanors punishable by ten thousand dollars each and up to 90 days in jail and all these types of things i don't think they're ever going to do it they got a bigger bark than they have bite in fact i kind of i kind of i kind of say bring it on i think they lock me up the church doubles we pay off the building everything works out fine but what i do know is this that there have been several times this week where i've had to catch myself from making a declaration that doesn't align with what god has said about my future oh we're gonna die we're gonna perish everything's gonna collapse we're gonna get sued the church goes shut down we're gonna get arrested who told you that before god can ever address what's going on around me he's got to address the attitude of the spirit in inside of me and see that's why we got to maintain well self-differentiated attitudes and spirits meaning this i refuse to develop codependent relationships with circumstances that i can't control because if your emotional health is attached to things that you can't control you're going to be an emotional adolescent the rest of your life and it's high time that we develop out of emotional adolescence into spiritual maturity by which we say even if i can't control it and even if i don't like it and even if i don't understand it i am rooted and grounded on a rock that is higher than i and this is the reality that we have as we worship and give honor and praise to this type of jesus the first thing christ rebuked wasn't the storm it was the disciples response to the storm i can rarely control what happens around me but i can always control my response watch what scripture says proverbs chapter 25 a man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls one translation says it this way a man who doesn't rule his spirit is like a city broken into and left without walls verse 27 the bible says this the men were amazed and they asked what kind of man is this that even the winds and the waves obey him can i ask you something this morning can i make a request of of you this morning never lose your amazement of the one in which even the wind and waves obey never lose that gaze in your eyes when you see him for who he actually is never leave that first love that captures your breath never leave that place of constant amazement that jesus is everything scripture says he is and he can do everything scripture says he can do i just love it and the disciples were amazed you know when jesus is interjected into the midst of a difficult narrative even the things that you can't control are subjected to his lordship and authority and we don't always know how it's going to work out but we confess this morning that if it's not good it's not over because he's working all things together for the good of those who love him [Music] you know crisis has a way of coalescing community bringing us all together i imagine that these 12 disciples who followed jesus had a little bit of interpersonal drama between each other john is saying to james why are you always so loud james is saying to philip you kind of stink philip is saying to matthew i never forget when you screwed me out of that money that i hold up my taxes [Applause] [Music] but you know what's awesome in crisis i guarantee you that they were hanging on to each other like they were best buddies like they were best friends i love you man we're going to get through this thing together and the boat is rocking back and forth and things are feeling a little bit unstable but the disciples huddle up because even in the midst of the storm the boat is the best thing afloat i'm here to tell you that the church of jesus christ is the best thing afloat where else you gonna find living bread where else you gonna find living water where yes he gonna meet a god as good as the one that we worship where else are we gonna go only he has the words of life but can i offer a subtle critique [Music] crisis has a way of coalescing us together but after the crisis ends do we have the faith to continue as one [Music] it's easy to be on the same team with people in the midst of trauma because they all you got can i tell you this moment shall soon pass and we'll have the option as a community to either go back to the same lack of intensity that some of us have come out of or instead to remember the passion the energy and the commitment that we shared in that moment of crisis and apply it to building what god's about to do next do you know in the next 18 months i read this last night in the next 18 months in this country 60 000 churches will permanently close that tells me this it is our season to build that even in the midst of things that seem like they are dying around us god is breathing fresh breath again on his bride and that's why i'm asking you this morning don't just be a fan of what's happening here don't just come and be a looky lou because russell's real passionate or the worship sounds real great but i like to dip my toes in but i could never be in that boat friend i'm calling you out this morning i'm asking you will you stand with me not just in this season of chaos but in the next season of building and development would you join me on this journey as we're going after the heart of god like never before now i know you came out of another wine skin and i know you came out of another system and i know you came out off the street and i know you came out of a certain level of dysfunction but if you would join me in this boat friend you and i can make waves in the northwest [Applause] you know what i love about boats not everybody can sit in the same seat and that's good news i don't need everybody to sound like me agree with me think about things of life exactly the way that i think about things in life but together could we share a common commitment the church is important jesus is worthy and we are on a collision course with a move of god like we have never seen before see some of you feel this morning like in the valley of decision you're torn between two places two positions you're torn in your mind you're torn in your family and i can promise you this morning committing yourself to a church family is not easy and it isn't always fun let me promise you something friend it's the best thing afloat and together you and me both not just one rock star on stage or one particular set of gifting elevated above the other but no together you and i as priests before god have the opportunity to build a church in the northwest unlike anything we've ever seen before and let's not miss this opportunity let's not treat it as casual let's not close our eyes and hide away until this moment passes this is our season for sons of issachar who know the times to arise and be a builder and be a bringer and do this thing together friend that's my ask don't allow crisis to bring you close only to allow the stability of the next season to cause you to go far let's do this thing together let's see the kingdom of god invade this region like never before come on would you stand with me as we close

Channel: The Pursuit NW

Views: 287

Rating: 4.5555553 out of 5

Keywords: the pursuit, the pursuit nw, pursuit snohomish, russell johnson, pursuit church, pursuit seattle, pursuit, pursuit worship, bethel, bethel music, bill johnson, kris vallotton, pentecostal, steven furtick, elevation church, elevation worship, zoe church, chad veach, view church, kyle veach, vous church, rick wilkerson, upperroom, upperroom worship, mercy culture, landon schott, jesus is king, creative churches, churchhome, judah smith, jake hamilton

Id: 6DZsjKait8s

Length: 25min 50sec (1550 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 08 2021