Lie #4 “I Should Do It All.” | Jud Wilhite + Central Live | Central Church

what is up everyone welcome to central online my name is chloe this is nick we're gonna be hosting you this weekend and if this is your first time with central at a central location in our auditorium or watching online we want you to know that central's a place where it's okay to not be okay and that's incredible because it means you belong exactly as you are you belong here with us your central family and we're so glad that you're joining us this weekend that's right and central is also a place that is available to you 24 hours a day seven days a week and what that means is that we have ministry leaders and pastors they're standing by they want to help you with any prayer requests you have any needs you have if you just need somebody to talk to if you're feeling alone you can reach out to them the number's on the screen they look forward to every interaction so make sure to text them just say hi they'll be anticipating those texts those calls and they're just there for you so make sure to take advantage of that well i have to interrupt you because we are getting so many live comments about our shirt and hat going on right now these people just keep on asking where they can get them and i don't blame you because it's an awesome shirt awesome hat we have another one right here and it's all to celebrate the release of central live's new single city of grace which is an incredible song if you haven't heard it yet check it out on youtube but i'm gonna go represent city of grace on stage right now so i'll see you guys soon that's awesome and they actually the city of grace has a brand new music video out as well on youtube you can check that out i know that they uh partnered with some artists that have also partnered with coldplay in the past to put this uh video out so make sure to check that out just go to youtube search central live city of grace um you'll be glad you did so make sure to check that out and as well like chloe was saying go to central.live to check out all that merchandise you can follow them on any music platform itunes spotify youtube you name it you just have to search central live and there you can find them there check out city of grace their brand new single that just released this last week but now i can hear that we're getting ready to ramp up we're getting ready to start so wherever you're watching from get ready to experience central online how we're doing this morning it looks all standard together come on [Music] here we go [Music] is is [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] me [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] me [Music] oh [Music] your hair will firstly move [Music] oh [Music] [Music] uh [Music] yes [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so welcome to central my name's nick i'm one of the pastors here and just want to say thank you so much for joining us today whether you're watching on your mobile device in your living room just thanks for being here with us central is a place where it is okay to not be okay we're just so glad you're here with us i'm joined by my good friend my co-host chloe segum chloe you want to tell them all about how they can share this experience absolutely what is more fun than watching church from home then watching church with your friends and family we want you to share so that your friends and family can be a part of the central live family too the central online family so wherever you're watching from just find that share button click that add it to your newsfeed your story whatever it is so that your friends can know how to watch as well yeah and also in that chat box below wherever you're watching whatever platform you're watching on we want to give shout outs and this week specifically special shout outs to those that are having watch parties want to watch party it's just the fact that you have people over watching from your living room we've been hearing that all over the country all over the world that people are inviting friends over they're watching church from their living room you're having a watch party and you didn't even know it was called a watch right but we want to give you a shout out so if you're having a watch party make sure to to put in the chat box that you're having a watch party and where you're watching from so that we can give your watch party a specific shout out we would love to give you a shout out but nick i'm gonna kick you out so you can get ready for the next on stage segment well while nick heads downstairs it's actually because nick has been on the front lines for the past six months or so alongside the incredible team with hope for the city and hope for the city has been an initiative that started basically because we had to there was a need that started about six months ago and um that was hope for the city so there was a need of food there was a need for community there was a need for prayer and we had an incredible team of volunteers step up and provide and that's the team that you are about to meet so um wherever you're watching from we're about to tune into a video right now where you can see a little bit more about what hope for the city is all about thank you so much for everyone who has given to this amazing [Music] initiative [Music] [Music] [Music] it's incredible what god's done this week marks six months since we kicked off all of our hope for the city relief efforts i got to tell you church if you would have said to me in february hey one day central will have one of the largest food pantries in the united states i would have said what i can't even imagine but what god has done over the last six months is truly a miracle of god and i want you to meet some people this weekend that's been on the forefront of making sure that this city goes uh with make sure that they get food and they don't go hungry these are the captains that have organized thousands of volunteers over the last six months yeah yeah and they've been on the front line six days a week so nick i know you want to introduce them well let's give it up big for them real quick and i'll introduce them here we got kevin we got kelly we've got claire we've got kristen shaniqua and jenny we've got hundreds of you in the room that have been volunteering these guys have careers they have other stuff going on but they've stepped up above and beyond they've gotten up early every single morning that we have food pantries they've stayed later than everybody else they organize all week long and we're so thankful for the hundreds of you that have served out at the food pantries it's been amazing we couldn't do it without you but this is a really special group of six because they have just led the way so one more time central give it up big for these six come on it's incredible i just want to say thank you if you saw pastors jud video that went out this week we get to hear thank you from people all the time it's remarkable i mean you think about it just in the city of las vegas alone we have now fed 25 of this city and made sure they didn't go hungry and across all of our movement church listen in kingman arizona in flagstaff arizona and prescott arizona in perdido bay florida in pensacola florida we've been on the front line six days a week feeding people making sure that they know there's a god in heaven who cares for them and won't let them go hungry and it's the generosity of the central family that's made that possible so we say to you on behalf of all those who thanked us thank you for all of your generosity and the difference you've made over these last six months over 3 000 households have stepped up and given to hope for the city and here's the bottom line we're not done because the needs are still great i was out at the food pantry on friday at the fiesta and a well-known couple they're in entertainment you would know them came through the food line in tears never dreamed that they would be in this kind of position and we were able to pray with them and give them food and give them hope because of your generosity you're making a huge impact in the lives of people in ways you could never fathom or imagine and it's easy to get involved 35 can feed a family for a week 35 dollars and some of you you've been on the side and you're like i need to get involved in this listen we need your help now more than ever the needs aren't going away and we don't plan to back down we want to be on the front lines are you with me church let's go let's keep doing this so i want to encourage you you can make a gift it's easy to do you go to central online.tv you can type in your web browser central.family and click the link give a gift you can give on your mobile app you can give right after our experience if you're meeting at a live location across the u.s our generosity team will be in the lobby hand your credit or debit card to them tell them how many families you want to sponsor and they'll swipe it you'll be good to go or you can give by check or cash but thank you thank you for caring for people thank you for loving many of these people you may never meet but it's making a huge difference well let's go to god in prayer would you join me father we love you and we thank you thank you for being our god thank you for loving us thank you for willingly laying down your life and going on a cross on our behalf shedding your blood and dying so we can experience new life god thank you for being our provider for richly blessing us for protecting us and providing for us and god we recognize you as being the giver of all things and we pray that as we give our gifts you would use them and multiply them and impact lives and if it's lives that have never met you and they don't know you may your holy spirit be at work in their heart showing them that you love them and that you care for them and ultimately you desire to be in a forever relationship with them and i pray that they would one day name you the leader and forgiver of their life for we pray these things in jesus name amen well the bible tells us that there's no more powerful name than the name of jesus how many of you all know that and believe that jesus's name is all powerful let's all stand and let's declare that jesus is all we need and his name is powerful above all things [Music] what a beautiful name it is [Music] so jesus [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] is his name is beautiful his name is wonderful his name is powerful let's believe that in our hearts today and sing to the god who death could not hold [Music] silence [Music] [Music] forever [Music] [Music] what a powerful name it is [Music] [Music] see is [Music] walking around these walls i thought by now they'd fall [Music] but you have never failed me waiting for things to come knowing the battles for you have never failed me yet your promise still stands great is your faithfulness [Music] faithfulness i'm still in your hands this is my confidence you've never failed me [Music] yet and i know the night won't last my heart will see your praise again [Music] again come on let's declare this today that is your faithfulness faithfulness [Music] [Music] [Music] and so you've never failed me [Music] come on i've seen god show up in my life and move thousands i believe you'll do it again let's declare this together [Music] there was no way [Music] [Music] well there was no way you made [Music] [Music] again [Music] your promise still stands great is your faithfulness i'm still in your hands this is me [Music] and i never will forget that you've never failed me yet anybody believe those words in this room today god will never leave us nor forsake us if you've been a christian for some time maybe you've experienced feelings just like i have when i'm faced with an obstacle or a challenge in my life or a wall that surrounds me where you you know god's gonna show up you have hope you have faith that he's gonna do the impossible but it's mixed with emotions of is god matching up with my timing my need right now will he actually show up should i should i take this matter into my own hands you know the bible just tells us that we just need a little bit of faith the faith the size of a mustard seed and if you have that much faith you can say to the mountains in your life to move and it will happen because nothing will be impossible for you so if you're here today and you're struggling if you're hurting you're not alone you have come to the right place we are a family we bond together we are here for you we want to help you if you're faced with a relationship crisis you're not alone god is with you if you're faced with something financial maybe you're going to get evicted from your home or you're desperate to find a job maybe you've got a loved one in the hospital maybe you're sick maybe you've recently lost someone i don't know what you're faced with but i want you to know you are not alone god sees your problem and he's gonna see it through but you got to have a little bit of faith that god's going to do the impossible so i want to take a moment right now and i want to pray for the central family wherever you're at if if you need god to show up in your life would you just slip your hand up in the air let's raise them up high don't be ashamed if you're next to somebody with their hand raised i want to just encourage you stretch your hand out towards them you don't have to touch them let's just pray let's ask god to move and work through their lives would you join me god i gotta imagine that somebody today in this room had a hard time walking in this room had a hard time waking up and heading to church because they're they're challenged they're faced with something that many of us may never know but god you know exactly where we're at right now god you know the emotions that we're carrying the challenges we're faced with so right now in this very moment god we just lay those down before you we just sacrifice god and give up what we're holding on to today and we trade it for your joy and for your hope god i just pray that today you would move mountains in our lives i pray that we would walk out of this room change and we would experience your hope we love you god and we thank you for it's in your name we pray and everyone in this room declared together amen let's sing this come on i've seen you move you moved the mountains and i believe come on [Music] [Music] [Music] where there was no way we're just getting started [Music] and i believe [Music] you made [Music] awesome thank you so much drew for that powerful time of worship i hope you've all enjoyed it as much as we have and hey i want to remind you again that central live released a single called city of grace and it's incredible if you haven't heard it yet you can find it on any music streaming platform and we have incredible merch to go along with it you can find it at central.live to purchase online or if you're at a physical location you can find it in our lobby by the coffee shop but please go check it out and support our incredible worship team and as you listen to it as you're streaming just take a screenshot and share it on your social media tag at central live so we can give you guys a shout out yeah quick shout outs real quick to everyone watching online we've got leah from kingman bobby marie from oklahoma samantha cook from vegas star from washington jamie evelyn and avraf ava from palo alto california and robert from colorado thanks for being online with us we love you guys hey we're so excited to hear from pastor judd this weekend so let's give a big central welcome to him as he comes to share a message of hope all right nice to see you guys today hope you're doing all right glad you're here with us excited to dive in a little bit with you hey have you anybody felt uh overwhelmed recently just kind of right on the verge of like if one more thing falls in my lap i'm gonna i'm gonna lose my lunch you know it's gonna be all over right yes i think we all know that experience and um you know depending on the season of life you're in different things can trigger that for you i know for those of you with young kids you know you get into that kind of season of life where you're so excited when they're little bitty when they first say mama and dada and it's like that's amazing you know they're saying our names it's so cool right and that lasts about a month and then they realize the power of those names some of you right now you're trying to navigate life and you feel a lot like this clip from the family guy check this mom mom mommy mommy mommy mama mama mama ma ma mom mom anybody relate to that you're like that's my life right now right that's my life yes kids get a little older and then they move from mama and dada to mom and dad and now they need things they need rides they need to be dropped off stuff like that and then they get a little older and they they they call you mother or father which any time my kids walk in and say father or father dearest i know the ass for money is right around the corner right i need some i need some money so um other thing that i think is funny is how you know as my kids have gotten older they they just ask me the most random things like my daughter will walk in and she's like dad have you seen my hair scrunchies i'm like in what world in what universe would i ever know where your hair scrunchies are right like but this is what my family does or my kids are always hitting me up like hey dad you know do you know where the hair dryer is do you know you know do you know how to fix this thing over here do you know how to get the vacuum cleaner deal and i'm always saying to my family like google is your friend just google it man i don't know and the worst is when the internet goes out come on people i don't know if you're this like my family thinks that i'm on the geek squad that i'm like the tech guy because when the internet goes out in our house it's like the end of the world it's like apocalyptic it's like dad dad dad maybe they start texting me there's no internet the internet went down the internet's gone there's no internet what are we gonna do i'm like i don't know what to do at one point i got my family i took them all into the room where like the internet comes in the house and i said this is all i know to do i want everybody to watch me okay watch me now and i unplugged it and i plugged it back in and i just said next time don't call me don't text me don't bother me i'm already overwhelmed just unplug it yourself and plug it back in and if it doesn't work we got to call somebody okay it's that simple anyway all these little things start adding up right you got family dynamics you're trying to navigate you've got life dynamics you're trying to keep you know the house running the dishes finished your clothes reasonably clean you're trying to navigate work and bills and payments and things and then on top of that you know some of you are in a work situation where you feel like you're stuck between customers that demand more and more maybe a boss that expects more and let's be honest maybe co-workers who should be doing more and so you're you know you're trying to navigate that tension and you feel that pressure sort of adding up maybe you're in a situation where uh you know you're trying to navigate school and home school with your kids but you know it feels like as you're doing that and as you're trying to facilitate online learning there's more and more papers and more and more things coming at you and you can get to that place where you just feel like if one more thing falls in my lap if one more kid comes up and says mom or dad if there's one more need in my life i'm gonna lose my stuff and you just feel like saying i can't do it all i cannot do it all and the good news today is god doesn't intend for you to do it all and it's okay to admit that you can't do it all in fact you know what would be a great practice right now just turn the person next to you just say i can't do it all i can't do at all does that feel good i can't do it all people you're not telling god anything he doesn't already know listen god's going to call you to do many things but god does not call you to do everything he doesn't call you to do everything you don't have to do it all and sometimes we've been talking about the different lies that we get in our head and how that can wreak havoc in our life and one of those lies is this lie that somehow i should do it all i should be able to handle everything coming at me in my life on my own i should be able to navigate all of this with poise and you know with togetherness and i think that becomes really a lie that leads to a lot of guilt and shame so i want to talk about how you can't do it all but you can always be empowered to do god's will in your life and to do that we're going to look at a passage in luke chapter 10 today beginning in verse 40. now let me just set this up this is a story about jesus and his interaction with mary martha and lazarus two sisters and lazarus this kind of family unit jesus comes into town he's got his disciples with him he goes in he's hanging out he's doing some teaching and all of this and martha is in the kitchen like getting stuff ready she's cooking she's getting all the things ready for the meal but mary is just like sitting at jesus feet listening mary's not helping out in the kitchen she's not doing any work she's just kicking back listening to jesus and martha starts getting frustrated you ever you ever feel like for me when i'm if i'm ever like cleaning in the kitchen and the rest of the family's just like sitting around not doing anything i start banging stuff around anybody anybody ever do that you know i'm like i want them to know real loud like i'm in here y'all i'm in the kitchen i'm cleaning stuff you know so i'll bang the cabinets cause i also want them to get up off their backside and walk in the kitchen and help a brother out right you know what i'm talking about so i'm i'm banging things around you know like like being a little extra loud with things you know just hoping they know and then and then you know some of you you have like your my family has like a switch they can just turn the switch off and i can bang stuff around as loud as i want nobody's moving so eventually you can either get really mad about that or you can be like hey y'all i'm in the kitchen i'm cleaning stuff up why don't you help me out well what martha does is she doesn't go to mary and ask mary to help her she's getting the dinner ready she's frustrated nobody's helping her mary's just kicking back listening to jesus and so she goes to the boss himself she goes to jesus she goes right over mary's head right to jesus and look at what she says to jesus luke chapter 10 verse 40. we get to the red word here i'll just ask you to say this out loud real loud with me but uh it says martha she came to jesus and said lord doesn't it seem what unfair to you that my sister just sits here well i do all the work come on somebody i'm in your house right now right you're like this isn't right they're just sitting on their backside just taking it in watching that sports center you know and i'm like somebody come help me out tell her to come and help me any of you ever been here you finally just got to a place where you're like lord i can't she's not listening to me he's not listening to me they're not listening to me i need you to tell them to come and help me somebody better help me or i'm going to lose my stuff martha's frustrated she lays all this out to jesus interesting thing about jesus is jesus i think he's sympathetic to martha but he actually defends mary and her basically willingness to sit and to listen and to learn at his feet and i think it teaches us a very important principle yeah we all know situations where things feel unfair yes we all get to a place where we feel totally overwhelmed with different things coming at us in our lives but the best way to handle feeling overwhelmed is to go to our god and spend time with him so that we feel empowered to face the things that are coming at us that's what mary's gonna teach us in luke chapter 10. so how do we move from being overwhelmed to feeling empowered here's a few thoughts one is to set healthy boundaries to set healthy boundaries i don't know if you know somebody like this in your life but in my family i'm the guy that once everybody in the family if we're at a restaurant and they order food once the food kind of gets down on the table i always eat off everybody else's plate you know i just it's you know you know this but i know it's very annoying right my wife i drive her crazy with this i saw this on a menu i thought it was pretty funny uh it says uh on the menu it's called they're not hungry and it says for that special someone who never seems to be hungry when you order but ends up eating all of your fries we will double your fries and add three onion rings for three dollars not bad right smart i get food envy and i just want to eat off everybody else's plate what's interesting is you look at jesus story with mary and martha jesus actually does a little word play on this whole idea of food because martha's cooking this meal martha's preparing all of these things martha's all stressed out about it and yet what jesus actually says about mary is that mary has chosen the best meal the best portion right if you're gonna have food envy envy mary because she's chosen to sit at the feet of jesus and listen and learn here's what jesus says to martha luke chapter 10 beginning in verse 41 it says but the lord said to her my dear martha you are worried and upset over all these details now i'm in somebody's world right now you know who you are you get worried and you get upset over all the details right all the things jesus is coming over for dinner jesus coming over dinner okay all right all right jesus coming over dinner we gotta get stuff together we gotta have all the details food's gotta be just right we gotta get the table just right we gotta get everything laid out we got details upon details upon if look if you weren't stressed already in the coronavirus and a pandemic and the whole shutdown and all that you'll get stressed over something like dinner but look at what jesus says there's only one thing worth being concerned about remember this next time you watch the news there's only one thing worth being concerned about mary has discovered it and it will not be what taken away from her jesus says no no mary's discovered the one thing the most important thing which is your relationship with god which is your spiritual foundation and because she's sitting here listening and learning and being poured into i'm not going to take that away from her i'm not going to say she's wrong because she did that and so jesus affirms that boundary in this moment listen if you want to move from being overwhelmed to feeling empowered if i want to move in that direction in my life it's going to be happening in large part because we set boundaries in our life you got to say no to some things so that you can say yes to some better things if you look at jesus jesus often says no right that's the saying no is just what we call a boundary a boundary is the line between what you want to do boundary is the line between you know what you want to do and what you um ultimately maybe feel like other people expect you to do and so it's a firm no that protects an important yes and sometimes that we think to be a christ follower to be a good person well that means you can't say no right you know you can't say no because you say no that may not make you mean and you look at jesus jesus said no all the time jesus was loving but he often disagreed jesus was kind but but often firm he was patient but he often corrected others jesus was welcoming but he was also discerning he was humble but never like a pushover in his life he was he was open-hearted but very strong-minded he was filled with grace but he was also filled with righteousness jesus loved all people but he only served one god he came to save all people but he said i'm the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the father but by me jesus could have lived for himself but instead he chose to give his life on the cross so that everyone could be saved i mean that's who he is he understood boundaries he was okay saying no and the same is true for us those who set the strongest boundaries often live the strongest lives so here's just some thoughts when it comes to how we say no to certain things in our life so that we can say yes to god in our life when it comes to boundaries psychologists will point out that we have different ways that we own things in our lives one way is we one group of people we might call over owners over owners when there's a situation they tend to jump in and they tend to take over right they just sort of grab a hold of it they start taking over they start doing their thing they see themselves as a rescuer that they sort of do instead of feel they just jump into action they might even kind of boss people around and micromanage but they're over owners and that's their their bent now the challenge with this is if that continues to go on and on and on bitterness can start to build up and a lot of times with an over owner they'll kind of explode or just go off the handle all at once because they'll feel like nobody's helping me i can't do this all on my own i'm having to carry all of this because they're over owners they're not really that great with boundaries on the other extreme you might have people over here that would be like under owners right they just sort of fall back they need a rescue in their life they're like i need somebody to help me out you know they often feel instead of do and so they let their emotions sort of overpower everything and they get swallowed up in that and kind of the end result is they can feel powerless but i want to suggest that when it comes to boundaries in our lives there's another way that we can partner with god that has a more healthy perspective towards boundaries and that's to realize with god we're co-owners so we show up right sometimes we take charge sometimes we take orders that's not the most important thing we show up to do the things that god has called us to do we're present we realize that we're rescued to be a rescuer right that we don't over own the you know the the so the problem we don't kind of over own the ultimate outcome we do what we can do with what god has put in our hands um we feel our feelings but we're not totally controlled by our feelings we want to be filled up by god so that we can pour out into the lives of others and both of those things have to happen and the inward result then is we feel empowered and it is okay to set boundaries to ensure that this is what your life feels like when it comes to managing the different things that are coming at you one of my greatest uh favorite stories in the bible about all this is the good samaritan good samaritan's this guy he's uh he's walking along the road and you know he sees this guy that's been mugged and beaten up and all of this and he jumps in and he takes the guy and he helps him and he takes him he puts him up in lodging he helps his wounds get mended i mean you know he does an amazing service to this guy but we often miss in the story of the good samaritan is he also had boundaries you ever think about what the good samaritan didn't do i mean he didn't like pay the guys lodging forever he didn't um you know like just take care of every single need in the guy's life he didn't cancel his work situation to take care of this guy he was already going to this place on his way to a job so he took him with him right he paid for him to be taken care of he didn't personally fix all of his medical issues he paid what he could to help the guy out and then he left some people be like how could he just leave the guy there just left him there it's called a boundary it's called a boundary he's still the good samaritan he may not be the most amazing samaritan to ever live but he's a good samaritan but i read that story and i think about that's kind of co-owning with god like i i do what i can do i acknowledge when god has called me to help somebody when somebody's in my path i realize god calls me to do many things but he's not called me to do everything and so i do what i can do but i still set healthy boundaries listen god calls you to serve but only he can save god calls you to love but only he can transform god calls you to be faithful but only he can control the outcomes god calls you to be kind but only he can judge what's in another person's heart god calls you to stand up to evil but only he can give you the strength to do that god calls you to make good choices but only he can give you the wisdom that you need god calls you to comfort others but it's he that comforts you first listen god calls you to give your life to him but it's only possible because he gave his life for you first boundaries boundaries and so if you're starting to feel overwhelmed if you're just kind of right on the verge where if one more thing falls in my lap i'm going to lose my mind then it's a great time to just step back and say i need some clear boundaries here and i way that's kind of worked out in my life um that i think has been pretty helpful is every at least yearly sometimes twice a year um i create a stop doing list i don't know if you've ever done this we're always good at creating start doing lists right you know like here's the things i need to do and all the things i but i also try to create stop doing lists here's all the things i need to stop doing come on somebody i've been doing all this stuff i've been pulled in all these directions and this stuff doesn't really matter for what i already know god's calling me to do for how he's wired me up for what gives me life this isn't the most important stuff i need to stop doing some of these things so that i can have the margin to give myself to the things that are most important so i create a stop doing list another thing that i think is really helpful is to just ask yourself uh not simply what time it is this is what we do a lot in our lives we'll say hey what time is it what time is it some of you you're coming to church hey we gotta get in the car you know what time is it what time is it right and and then some of you show up uh late on the regular and you're like uh time well time's relative uh you know we're here but when it comes to boundaries in our lives i think there's a there's a more important question than just what time is it and that is what is the purpose of the time that we're in so you know the greeks had two different words for time the word chronos chronology right which kind of comes at time like that's what time is it they also had another word called kairos kairos was more about what is the purpose of the time that we're in listen some of you you're a young adult you're in college you're adulting for the first time you're navigating all that thing you're in a certain season in your life there's a purpose for that season you can't do it all but you've got to acknowledge in that season you can do some things for your own sake and for the sake of your future and your family some of you you're in a place with little kids right now you're trying to navigate that in your life and it's overwhelming and i'm here to tell you it gets easier in some ways um i'm in counseling but other than that it gets easier it just becomes more mental than like than like just chasing them around all the time right so you're in a certain season and it's okay to just acknowledge it's a crazy season it's a busy season it's an overwhelming people used to ask me when i had little kids what's your hobby and i looked at them like hobby are you on drugs i got little kids man and a huge job like that's my hobby you know you know there's nothing else you know you get a little older like now you got a little margin like things look a little different that's that's great what's this what's the purpose of the season that you're in for some of you right now with little kids in your life in that season one of your greatest purposes is to be the hands and feet of god to those kids to love them to be present with them and it's okay to say no to a lot of other things to give yourself to the main thing god's called you to in that season they're gonna have a lot of things in their life but they're gonna only have one mom one dad you know you you got a that's a special season in your life and there'll be other seasons where you may some of you are in a season where your kids have grown up a little bit you've got a little margin and uh you know or maybe margin isn't the right word but you don't have those same responsibilities related to your kids so you got to ask yourself now what's the purpose of this season that i'm in how do i leverage it for the sake of god and for the sake of others you can't do it all but you can be empowered to do god's will in your life set healthy boundaries start a stop doing list as well as a start doing list ask yourself what's the purpose of the season that i'm in here's another thought and that is to simply put god first to put god first so i've i found online um one of my favorite toys that i used to play with as a little kid i don't know if anybody recognizes this but this is this dude is called stretch armstrong anybody play with stretch armstrong remember this guy as a kid some of you like i have no idea what you're talking about um so you know this is stretch arm song i love them because you know you just what you do is you just stretch him out and then that's it but he always goes back look at that right back to the same position he was in before so you could just play with this guy you could stretch him out you could stretch his legs out i could spend hours i could tie stretch armstrong into knots the whole thing or you know like i saw this picture of little kids this is what you do with your friends everybody grab them and you try to i never could pull stretch arms strong apart i tried you just stretch them out and a lot of us i think we kind of live our lives like stretch armstrong you know we're pulled in a million directions with kids and you know with work and with relationships and with the golden knights and then you know like different things right pull us in a lot of and right now it's you know well let's not talk about that um get pulled in a lot of different directions and we just feel thin we feel thin sometimes i don't feel overwhelmed i just feel thin really thin it's like in the movie lord of the rings bilbo says to gandalf he says i feel thin gandalf stretched like butter spread over too much bread i can understand that it's a symptom in my own life of not only not not having healthy boundaries but also of kind of forgetting my priorities and if you're a follower of jesus today if you're a believer then you know when i say like we need to put god first we all go duh yeah we got that came the church in the coronavirus we're in but i would just say like for me it's about intentionally and regularly daily putting god first in my life that's what moves me back from that edge of feeling overwhelmed and helps me feel more empowered in fact luke chapter 10 verse 38 sort of sets up this whole story at the very beginning of it and here's what we see was going on it says martha welcomed him jesus into her home which is awesome her sister mary sat at the lord's feet listening to what he taught which by the way this is very um counter-cultural uh this is in a time where women didn't just hang out with guys women didn't just sit at the feet of rabbis to sit at the feet of somebody in that and that culture would have been uh seen as a kind of a description of a disciple or a follower women simply didn't sit at the feet of jewish teachers or rabbis in that time mary sat at the feet of jesus as a disciple of jesus and don't miss this jesus affirmed it this was radical stuff for the culture and for the time and um so he protected that boundary so she listened to what he taught but martha was what distracted anybody get distracted by the big dinner she was preparing it's all the distractions look if i asked you today you know as god first in your life many of you would say absolutely god's first in my life but if i asked you are you putting god first in the day-to-day part of your life if people followed you around this week would they know god's first in your life this is where i think distraction becomes such a temptation for all of us we just get pulled in a million different ways and distraction makes you lose traction and so jesus affirms mary because she held on to the one thing that we need to be concerned about don't let the many things distract you from the one thing that gives you everything right don't let the many things distract you from the one thing that gives you everything netflix can give you some entertainment but it can't give you everything gaming can give you some adventure but it can't give you everything amazon can give you some new stuff but it can't give you everything social media can give you some connection but it can't give you everything listen the news can give you information maybe i think but it can't give you everything right that side hustle can give you extra income but it can't give you everything that hobby can give you a little escape but it can't give you everything that substance can give you some relief but it can't give you everything that new guy or new girl who's coming to your life can give you butterflies for a very short little while but they can't give you everything look crushing your to-do list that can give you a feeling of productivity but it can't give you everything in your life you rock your finances that can give you security but it can't give you everything a vacation anybody remember those vacation that could give you a sense of relief back in the day but it can't give you everything even serving can give you a sense of purpose it can do a lot of good but it can't give you everything there's only one thing that can give you everything and that is jesus so when you start believing man i i got to do it all i should be doing it all just remind yourself i can't do it all god calls me to do many things but he doesn't call me to do everything it's okay that i can't do it all i just gotta go to god and i gotta trust him and i gotta lean into him i gotta protect that time and ask god to show up in it and he will he'll show up and he'll move in it put god first that'll look different for all of us but for me that means that every morning most mornings almost every morning lots of mornings i get up and the first thing i do i make coffee and then i go sit for a few minutes or half an hour whatever time i've got 10 minutes sometimes and um i just pray through a psalm a day that's what i do if you've been around central you've heard me talk about this year again i just go through them again and again and again right now i'm on like psalm 43 this morning right so i just open up to psalm 43 i just read it some of them apply like super directly some of them are sort of like wow okay you know david's like hardcore you know in the psalm like anyway um but i'll just read a few verses and then you know i just stop and whatever i get inspired to pray from the psalm like pray for protection i prayed for you the central family this morning you know i pray for god to move and where then i just read on that's just what works for me there's a million ways to do it if you just go to the bible app there's a million different reading plans there's a million opportunities i don't care what you do i just encourage you to do something right i don't even care when you do it just find a time that works for you to do it if you want to take some of the pressure off and feel empowered you've got to move your faith from just a sunday thing into a daily thing even for a few minutes you got to let god really speak to you in that moment got to put him first and that's why we're here you know we we try to provide week in and week out at central a chance to sit at the feet of jesus a moment where god can pour his life and his love into your heart this is why you should never let sort of anything distract you from this time i just believe no matter what's going on in our life there's very little that's more important than us coming together and worshiping and acknowledging god church should be your excuse for missing everything else not the other way around because we're putting god first so it's not just one more thing that we do it's about what god has already done and what he can do for you robertson mcquilkin was a president of columbia bible college and he made the news years ago when he stepped down from his presidency he was very loved college president very gifted and he devoted the rest of his life full-time to taking care of his wife muriel muriel had alzheimer's and was basically in a place where she needed more and more care and so he made this decision even though the school had provided him with a caregiver who could take care of her full-time and like all of her needs were met and he could be with her as much as he needed he still made the decision to resign and to be with her full-time and people kind of asked him to explain that decision and he said well first of all he goes it's not that i have to do this it's that i get to do this secondly he said my wife the only time that she's really calm is when she's with me she doesn't really know where she is anymore she doesn't but when she's with me she's calm so she lived about him they lived about a mile from the university and sometimes his wife would walk from their home to the university ten times a day just to be with them he said once he was putting her to bed and her feet were bleeding because she had been walking so much to be near her husband and so he said the decision then was made if that's where she's gonna feel calm and not agitated then i'm just gonna be around all the time so that she can be at that place in her life in fact he said this said i love her dearly she's a delight it's a great honor to care for such a wonderful person i think about that story because it's not just a touching story of how one person cared for another it's a picture of how god cares for you without his presence we get scared we get agitated we get confused our life falls into pieces we forget who we are we're underpowered and we're overwhelmed but when we seek him we discover he's near his presence gives us peace his presence gives us guidance his presence helps us see his best and gives us the power to live toward it his presence fills us up so that we have the strength to pour out for others there's simply no substitute for god's presence and this is why he says i'll never leave you i'll never abandon you it's like god's telling us in sickness and in health right in good times and in bad that's the kind of love he has for you so don't believe the lie that you should do it all move from feeling overwhelmed to feeling empowered by setting healthy boundaries don't destroy the peace god gives you by doing things he has not given you those who set the strongest boundaries often lead the strongest lives and then put god first don't let the many things distract you from the one thing that can give you everything you can't do it all but you can always be empowered to do god's will god calls us to many things but he doesn't call us to everything so this week put him first every day when you roll out of bed make some time for god in your life sit at his feet like mary did set some boundaries so that you can do that don't do get too concerned about all the details but be concerned about the one thing that can give you everything maybe you're here today and maybe you've never crossed that line of faith in your life and i believe jesus invites you today to place your faith and your trust in him to just acknowledge that you believe in him that you believe he died on a cross and rose again 2 000 years ago so that you could be forgiven and free and to acknowledge you're going to trust him in your life today the bible says if you do that several things happen you receive the gift of forgiveness of all your sins and mistakes and failures in your life you receive the gift of god's spirit to come dwell within you you receive the gift of god's presence to know that he will never leave you and never forsake you he'll always be there you become part of a larger church family you have the hope of eternity set in your heart and you have a purpose for today that can begin to guide you you have a journey ahead of you as you grow and as you study and as you learn more and more of what god calls you to do all of that can be a part of what you experience today if you reach out to him in faith and trust him in your life so i'm going to ask everybody to bow your heads and close your eyes and if you'd like to take that step of faith today if you'd like to reach out to god you can begin that journey by repeating after me either out loud or in your own heart just say dear god i thank you for loving me thank you for sending jesus into the world i believe he died on the cross for my sins i believe he rose again forgive me for my sins give me the gift of eternal life help me face the challenges that i'm up against god i surrender my life to you in christ's name friends with every head bowed and every eye closed if that's your prayer today if it's your commitment i want to ask you to just slip your hand in the air just make eye contact with me just to stay before god to say to me you're going to trust him in your life today just slip your hand in the air god bless you guys thank you slip your hand in the air god bless you god i thank you for each person just reaching out to you i pray you'll fill their life with your purpose your goodness your joy may we all follow you faithfully set appropriate boundaries lean into you as the first and ultimate source of power and strength in our life and may we find that comfort and that sense of being empowered that we all need god we love you and we praise you in christ's name amen let's put our hands together for those who made spiritual commitments in their life today and if you made a spiritual commitment in your life i'd love to tell you about a resource that we've created called how to follow jesus uh it's just a simple resource that can be a great guide for you it's free and so if you'd like to receive that electronically you can just go to central.family and just click the link i've decided to follow jesus and we'll make sure you get that free resource today too so make sure to check that out all right well at this time let's put our hands together for uh pastor nick who's going to close out our experience that was incredible i don't know about you i needed that today thank you pastor judd hey and if you're one of those that raised your hand congratulations you made the most important decision of your life and as pastor jed mentioned just simply type in your web browser central.family we have that free resource how to follow jesus we want to put into your hands so make sure you take that meaningful next step but congratulations again it's incredible absolutely we're so happy for you hey we want to invite you next weekend to join us for church as well and if you have someone in mind that you want to share this experience with they can actually watch the same experience wednesdays at 5 00 and 7 pm but we'll see you next weekend at 5 p.m on saturday sundays at 8 a.m 10 o'clock and noon we're so happy you joined us and like always we're going to end our experience reminding you to hang on to romans 8 which says if god is for us who could be against us thanks so much for watching see you next week [Music] you

Channel: Central Church

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Id: dNkwZNneiHo

Length: 71min 32sec (4292 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 13 2020