Make It Rain | Drew Karschner | Full Service

thanks again for joining us online for church today we'd love to connect with you whether you're walking through something difficult and you need prayer or just want someone to talk to we care about you jumping into your chat is the easiest way for us to get to know each other we have hosts who would love a chance to introduce themselves and answer your questions you can also go to i want dot info in your web browser to ask for prayer or to tell us about your experience today for every person who's new around here and connects with us through iowa info we will give five dollars to help strengthen families and poverty and seek justice in our community and around the world at northridge we often say welcome home and that's because we want our church to feel less like a crowd and more like family well that's our goal maybe church doesn't quite feel that way to you maybe you've enjoyed attempting sunday services but you don't feel like you're really part of the community maybe you know some people but you don't really feel known by people we believe we were created to know god and be known by others but experiencing community doesn't happen without intentionality we have to take the initiative to surround ourselves with other people who want to know god and know each other we're beginning a new community group trimester next week community groups are the primary environment we have to help you connect with god and share life with others groups meet regularly all over rochester both online and in person if you're looking to develop intentional friendships visit iwant.info for more information if you're a middle schooler or parent of a middle schooler we wanted you to know that starting september 15th northridge youth ministry will be going multi-site our webster campus will be open middle school students in 6th to 8th grade going multi-site gives nym the opportunity to serve our webster families well and enables us to dream toward a 6th through 12th grade ministry down the road our rochester campus will still host 6th through 12th grade students and both campuses will meet from 6 30 to 8 30 pm on wednesday nights if you're a parent of a middle schooler and you have any questions please feel free to email our student industry executive director kyle thanks again for being with us today good morning northridge church come on did we just stand your feet with us [Music] we worship he opened the prison doors he parted the raging sea my god he holds the victory [Music] [Music] we sing to the god who heals we sing to the god who saves we sing to the god who always wakes away hung upon the cross and he rose up from the grave my god we won't be quiet we won't be quiet [Music] we were the beggars now we're royalty yes we were the prisoners now we're running free we are forgiven accepted redeemed by his grace let the house of the lord sing praise [Music] [Applause] [Music] we won't be quiet [Music] joy in the [Music] you house out your face [Music] shout out is [Music] [Music] before i spoke you were singing over me [Music] foreign [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] of god [Music] still your love for me [Music] you have been so so good to me [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] all the overwhelming is [Music] you love us [Music] [Music] coming after me is me [Music] there's no shadow you won't light it up [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] [Music] he says we keep going i want to share a little bit about a story from the old testament a man by the name of abraham if you want to read this whole story i'm not going to share all of it but you can do that in genesis 22 maybe this week but abraham was called by god to do an impossible task something that just seemed impossible it was against all odds and as he stood at the base of this mountain and looked up to the top looking to what was coming i can only imagine the fear that was running through his mind the questions god why would you call me to this are you in this are you really working through this i know if you're like me you can identify with those questions today you're facing something you're in the middle of something and you're staring at the base you're at the base of a mountain looking up going how am i going to get through this as abraham made his way up the mountain each step not only was probably a physical workout but a spiritual one took taking steps toward god trusting him each step praying for his provision seeing his faithfulness he reaches the top and he experiences god's provision in an amazing way and he names the place jehovah jireh which means the lord will provide me now i'm a dad of four so i've been through the battle of naming children it's not a fun battle and as my wife and i wrestle to these names we fight about it a lot because names are significant they have meaning they have purpose and uh this jehovah jireh the lord will provide i think there's a lot of purpose in that name it's not the lord provided he's done something in the past or the lord may provide it's possible he could do it if he wanted but the lord will provide provision is who he is it's his name it's his essence we're gonna teach you this chorus a song you might already know sing it with us when you do he's our provider chair you are now [Music] chara you are not so i will be contact in every circumstance [Music] i'll never be more loved than i am right now wasn't holding you up so there's nothing i can do to let you down it doesn't take a trophy to make you proud i've never been more loved than i am right now [Music] you would cross an ocean so i wouldn't drown you've never been closer than you are [Music] [Music] forever [Music] i know who i am yes i know what you've spoken i'm already loved more than i could imagine [Music] [Applause] i am is [Music] [Music] you are [Music] how much more will [Music] how much more does he love you how much more does he [Music] love him [Music] is [Music] much you are [Applause] yes [Music] [Music] so i will be i will be content in every circumstance [Music] so i will be so i will be content in every circumstance [Music] hey we love sundays around here at northridge and it's not just because nfl football games are on sunday although that is a great reason to love sundays especially this year if you're a bills fan bills fans can i hear you come on it's going to be a great season no that's not the the only reason or even the most important reason that we love sundays now we we love sundays for really significant reasons we're actually going to think about those at the end of our service today a little bit more fully but we're glad you're here we're glad you're sharing a part of of this sunday with us we're thankful to have you with us wherever you're joining us from that could be at your living room at home it could be in a car we don't know where you're at right now but we're so thankful that you're here at online campus with us for this sunday service and we're looking forward to it it's going to be a great day we're kicking off a brand new series today and we would love to hear from you especially if you're a first time guest today we'd love to meet you and you can connect with us right in the chat on whatever device you're joining us on there are some hosts that are ready to interact with you others to share today's experience with and if you've got kids we've got some great kids ministry resources available to you at the website on your screen right now well our faith isn't only about sundays it isn't just resigned to a single hour in a week but no it's it's an everyday seven day a week kind of faith and it means that whatever day of the week it is we are engaging uh and we're seeking to go beyond just a one-hour time block beyond just programs we're seeking to go into our community and live the love of jesus christ and so we want to share with you one example of how northridgers like you are doing just that take a look somewhere along the line i just decided that i wanted to teach third year of college i started working with some students and then when they say that education really is a calling it really is [Music] when we opened in 2018 we really wanted to do things differently so if you ask any of the teachers in the building they will say that i probably say that like a broken record but how are we going to do things differently so really making sure that we stay student-centered at all times promoting the leadership for our students community really building that time together making sure that you know of course we're building 21st century skills for our students and then i think most importantly for us is that family so really building that community that where we can trust each other and grow together the rise community you know it's it's more than just this building right here it's you know it's northridge church our community partners it's our parents our students all members within the school such as you know whether it's the secretaries the administration teachers you know everyone is on the same page and really is just out for the benefit of the students and helping them become lifelong learners and successful in whatever avenue they pursue you know in terms of the partnerships that we have we look for people who understand our mission understand who we are and and really understand what we're here to do which is really to not only provide a solid education but to help students develop those leadership skills those qualities so that they advocate for themselves and that ultimately that they can go out and be leaders and advocate amongst the community too northridge has given us so graciously have given us books and this was a huge piece for us our students do not get enough of literature that looks like them or to see themselves in books and you know we were able to really focus on some culturally responsive text to give to our students so they could see themselves in reading and really make sure that they felt acknowledged and they feel like they're part of you know the greater world so northridge has been just an excellent ally for us at rice community school you know and they support what support looks like within our school you know you guys have been great in the sense of coming to us and saying what would benefit you as well as your students we've problem solved together and come up with some solutions and i think of events where we had you know you guys come in to work on the flower bed and we had volunteers from northridge come in and the students were so eager to get to know them and people were just donating their time and just being generous you know and they were living out pie square which when i think of northridge church i think more and better disciples and i think we have a great opportunity here for students to kind of if they're open to it be directed to that opportunity of living a godly life man that video really gives me all the feels and it's a true picture of our partnership between northridge church and rise during the last few years i've had the privilege of being part of the northridge family as well as a rise community school 106 family and one of the similarities that i have seen is the importance of relationships it rise we work really hard and we're intentional in building our relationships with students families and our surrounding community here at northridge we do all of those things and we also take it a step beyond and we come together in community groups where we strengthen our relationship with god and for that we are grateful relationships are so much more and they are a fabric of our being and it's at the root of who we are in both settings located only two miles apart from one another our partnership was destined for success and we have had some monumental moments that have really shown that moments that come up to me that i think about are when community groups such as eric lintala's group created a little library for us at rise community school or maybe it's volunteers coming from northridge church to rise to build a flower garden just as you saw in the video that's living out pie squared or maybe it's a culturally relevant text that had been purchased from generous donations from people such as yourself our partnership is very powerful and i'm grateful to be part of it so you may be asking yourself church family how can i be part of that partnership well there are ways that we can rise together and one of those ways is by going to i want dot info and looking over a wish list which was created by our administrators families and teachers and the hope with this wish list is that the items that are on there will positively direct our students academic progress you can also go to the northridge app to contribute and we know that these are going to be some ways that we can partner together i thank you for your time and i look forward to seeing what our partnership can do together thank you [Applause] go ahead and stand with me we're jumping into a new series we're going to dive into trusting god sing this old song together when peace like a river attendeth my [Music] below [Music] it is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] praise the lord [Music] [Music] and the lord hates the day when my face [Music] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] is [Music] sing it as well [Music] no matter what circumstances you walked in here today with we can sing that song because of who jesus is and what he accomplished for us that it is well we're gearing up to dive into god's word and start a new series and i want to pause and just pray real quick and every once in a while when when i pray i put myself in in this posture where i put my hands out and they're open and i think this posture does two things one it lets go of things it relinquishes things maybe today you need to let go of something that's been wandering around with you maybe today you need to relinquish the stress of the week the baggage you brought in here today and you just need to let it go i'm telling you if there's ever a place to let it go it's in the house of god but also there's there's something once you let go of something it positions you in a place to receive and i don't know about you today but i showed up ready and willing to receive what god has for me so let's pray together and i would ask you just to assume this posture at all of our campuses at webster online here at rochester would you just put your hands out [Music] and we just let go of what you need to let go of to give it to surrender it to god and would you prepare yourself to say god i want to hear from you i didn't show up to church to check a box i showed up because i'm desperate for you god but we're ready we're willing and god i know because i came here today with my own baggage that i i laid at the feet of the cross today that i'd surrender it to you and god today i pray that you'd speak to us man so many circumstances in this room how can god do that well he can and he will so god here we are with open hands ready for what you have for us meet us right where we are speak exactly what we need to hear today in jesus name amen all right go ahead and grab a seat at all of our locations you can go ahead and get nice and cozy and comfortable that's okay we like it that way and can i just say welcome to northridge church if you don't know who i am my name is drew and one thing we like to say at northridge church on a regular basis is just welcome home right we we desire that this gathering place that webster online and here at rochester would feel less like a big crowd and more like a family a place where you're known and accepted and loved and a place where you can grow closer to god and so hey rochester can you help me do it can you me a favor help me welcome all of our campuses come on yeah our online family hey whether you're watching whether it's on the channel cw or you are at your home or wherever you are we love you guys welcome to our line campus and those of you at webster man it's been cool over the summer to get the chance to hang out with you see what god is doing at webster and our rochester family as well it's great to be with you to everyone welcome to northridge church and welcome home and in life have you have you ever been in a situation where you you just felt like the odds were stacked against you right you were in a circumstance or or some situation where it just felt like life was piling on you and there was no chance of success you couldn't win the odds were stacked against you maybe it just looks as simple as this right you go to bake your your famous cookies for somebody and you go through the ingredients and you realize you don't have baking soda or baking powder right good luck making a cookie or maybe it's a little bit a little more severe than that right maybe you know the nfl's starting today can i get an amen come on it's okay it's okay to say amen i'll say it for you guys come on go bills right okay i knew you were out there i see all the jerseys the nfl right but if you go back a couple years the nfl right super bowl the falcons are playing the new england patriots right and what would most of us do we turned the game off at halftime right because the falcons were crushing the patriots so we ate our pizza in our wings and we forgot about the game and actually statistics say that the new england patriots and tom brady had .3 chance of actually winning that game but as we know when i figure out thursday night when i watch my cowboys you just don't give tom brady any time even when the odds are stacked against him or maybe it's even more severe than that right a girl who came into the world her name was igna and she was born without arms are you talking about the odds being stacked against you come into the world without any arms right like how do you live a normal life but yet this young woman through perseverance and endurance lives a normal life we would call normal without any arms because the odds wouldn't stop her and maybe today you feel like that about your life right the odds are stacked against you and your marriage because you look at where it's at and and all the fights that you have and you just say the odds are are stacked against us it's just going to end in divorce maybe it's your your future marriage right where you're single and you've been dating guy after a guy girl after girl and you're just like man am i just the odds just seem to say i'm just never gonna be married maybe it's with your retirement right you've been saving and saving and just the odd makers say like hey you're just never gonna have enough money in that account to stop working or maybe it's your future you've been interviewing and interviewing job after job and they keep saying no and the odds are just stacking up and they're saying maybe maybe i'm just not hireable the good news is today in in in life we experience those moments and we're starting this series out called against all odds and what we're going to do over seven weeks is we're going to study the bible in chronological order person after person who walked through life and the odds were stacked against them and we're going to see through their trust in god god overcame the odds he overcame the odds we're going to see it in story after story and the key ingredient to overcoming the odds is that word it's trust that's what this series is all about learning and growing in our trust to god the problem is is we're not really good at trusting right it's hard because the reason why is we don't like to trust fully why because it puts us in a position to be hurt to trust you got to rely on somebody and a lot of times when you do trust somebody they let you down and it hurts you and so what we've done throughout society and in our relationships is we've tried trust it didn't work out and so we build up these walls in our lives and we don't trust and in fact our culture is there right now right our society is there right now we're waging war with this idea this concept this major issue called trust and culture you guys us everybody in our world today is asking really two questions who can i trust and what can i trust right you've probably maybe asked these questions or you've heard somebody ask these questions in our current climate can i trust the government can i trust a vaccine to protect me can i trust the information the media is giving me can i trust the former or the current president you see right now we are asking these questions on this topic right trust and here's the problem we take all this trust baggage that we all have and we bring it into our relationship with god and it's really hard to trust god that you don't see a god with a bible that is really really old and you know what's hard about that is maybe above everything else the very thing that god wants from you is your trust right if you maybe if you were to ask god god what do you want from me he might just say to you i just want you to trust me fully in fact our theme verse for this series is proverbs chapter 3. look what the author says he says trust in the lord with all your heart lean not on your own understanding in all your ways submit to him and he god will make your paths straight so we see it's evidence in the bible that god wants our trust not just pieces of it but all of it and then what we see in proverbs chapter 3 it teaches us a couple things about trust early on the first thing to trust god right you don't need all the answers but we want them don't we right when it comes to trust if you have all the answers is that really trust right what we most do is we say to god hey i'll do what you want me if you dot every t and cross every if you dot every i and cross every t that's how those work just by the way okay just testing you okay we want god to just paint the picture fully and once we see the picture and we like the picture we're okay going with the picture but is that trust no what i call that is manipulation that's what i call it we manipulate god to giving us control rather than him and we say god you give me the answers and then i'll trust you the second thing proverbs teaches us here is you don't when you trust you're going to need to submit to somebody else this is what's really hard about trust for all of us is when i put my faith and trust in someone or something i now am giving control to that person or that thing and we don't like that because we've been hurt by that so we just choose not to trust anything but when it comes to this this word trust the reality is the bottom line is we all trust something but the question is is it worthy of our trust right maybe you're here today like i just don't trust anything that's false if you don't trust anything you trust yourself and so we are all putting our belief our trust into something but the question is is it worthy of the trust we're giving it we're banking on something whether it's yourself someone else or something we all trust in something but is that really worth it let me put it to you like this i'll show you how i i think we trust pretty regularly and in in weekly let me ask you this show me your hands right at webster online here at rochester how many of you like road trips throw your hands in the air okay a lot of you i'm learning okay i'm learning to like road trips and maybe it's a slow journey because i have four kids okay so it can get pretty pretty wild in the car when you're driving a long period of time and so on my sabbatical we went on a pretty lengthy road trip right and anybody knows whether you're taking a short trip or a long trip two things you got to know one where you're going and how you're going to get there right so let me just take you on a little bit of a journey of road trips and how people have done that right back in the day when i was a young boy my dad would use an antique you might not know what this is it's called an atlas okay it's full of maps and so you know as a family all six of us we'd get in our town and country minivan and dad would be driving mom would be in the passenger seat and we were all in the back and and dad would would pull out the map right because he needed to know where we're going and every once in a while dad would get flustered with mom not doing a good job with the map and he would hand it back and the first one of the kids that grabbed it was now in charge of directing the minivan and when you grab this dad would do you know two things he'd say okay here's the interstate we're on here's the city we're next to you need to tell me in 10 minutes where we're going next and you were like have you seen the writing on these things like i have good eyes and like i can't dad i and every once in a while you'll get to like a state where it crosses lines and you're like we're here and then we're now we're there we're here and now we're there okay and so hey some of you like good for you this is how you got around everywhere but then technology started to advance oh yeah and then we came to map quests right and mapquest was great they gave you a map and like line by line directions right it was great the problem was is like if you're alone you got to read the the thing everybody's so mad about texting and driving we used to read and drive at the same time and what's hard about mapquest is like okay in 9.27 miles seriously come on i don't know what 9.27 miles are look at your odometer and turn left now okay but then technology got even better and pretty much every day meetings at work we just grab our phone and say yo siri take me here and siri's amazing right she gives me this like soft-spoken australian woman who's like good day mites turn left in 3.5 miles it's like soothing to go where you need to go but here's the reality i don't care which process you use whether you still use maps or map quests or siri to help you it all requires one thing trust you got to trust that that map is actually accurate you got to trust that those directions are going to get you where you want to go you got to trust that siri said hey i'm going to five willow drive new york not michigan because when they get it wrong yeah it gets frustrating but you have to trust and here's my question for us today why are we so willing to blindly follow our technology but we struggle to follow the creator of the universe i'm serious like with our phone hey this thing will do anything i need i just ask it and it provides for me but yeah when it comes to god it's like hold on a second god you need to answer a lot of my questions before i ever trust you we'll trust our phone more than we trust your sustainer your creator the god who created everything that we see we struggle to trust him and so for the next seven weeks we're going to dig deep into this word trust and my prayer for my life in your life is that i would learn to trust god and i would grow in my trust towards god and so if you've got your bibles genesis chapter six is where we're gonna be today genesis chapter six as you're turning there i'd encourage you to grab the northridge tribe at church app you can take notes genesis 6 let me paint the picture for you it's really early on in your bible it's the first book right and in genesis chapters one through three god creates the world as we know it he creates the heavens and the earth light and darkness and he creates male male and female like all of it the birds all the animals it's created and then in chapter three adam and eve disobey god's one rule they sin and sin comes in the picture they're kicked out of the garden and they're given just one command be fruitful and multiply and so adam and eve start having kids their kids started having kids and and the earth begins to become populated full of of people and guess what was true about all these people they were really good at following adam and eve's example of sin and wickedness because the world in this time period is very wicked let me actually describe it to you in genesis chapter six verse five it says the lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth and everything about that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time the lord regretted that he had made human beings on earth and his heart was deeply troubled so the lord said i will wipe them from the face of the earth the human race i've created and with them the animals the birds and the creatures that move along the ground for i regret that i have made them so here at the beginning of this story that that humanity is wicked right you think about how how crazy that is that every inclination every thought every action was only evil all the time you know we complain about our society a lot as christians but yet we still get to see the good in humanity in this culture in this time period there was none of that every thought every inclination was evil and we see a side of god that we don't often see where god is is is troubled god is is ticked off he's mad at all the wickedness spreading and he actually says i regret making humans and we don't have a lot of time to to really dig into the theology of that if you listen to our podcast on tuesdays it releases every tuesday we're going to dig a little bit into that we'll talk a little bit about that but also this story you're going to have some questions i'd encourage you i want that info if you go to our equip email you sign up for that we're gonna send you resources to help you with the questions that you have and so god is like i'm just gonna get rid of humanity i'm gonna just wipe it out but the story changes with just one word the next verse starts with but and i know about you but this is going to sound middle school but i love the butts of the bible because usually they mean god's saving us from ourselves but god showed mercy but god died while we were still running right and here we see out of all the wickedness in the world there was still one man who wasn't it says but noah found favor in the eyes of the lord this is the account noah in his family noah was a righteous man blameless among the people of his time and he walked faithfully with god and so just think about that that shark contrast right think about the description at the beginning of the world right wickedness every inclination was evil all the time and then you come to know it and it's the complete opposite noah was blameless he was righteous and he walked faithfully with god and can i tell you today christian that's how you should be described in a cr in a culture that is walking away from god we should be going the different direction when god looks at us does he see someone who fits in or someone who stands out who's righteous and blameless that was noah and because noah's faithfulness god found favor with him and he uses noah to spare mankind even though god wants to wipe out the human race he sees noah and he says they're worth saving genesis 4 we see that plan right god comes to know and he says so make yourself an ark of cypress wood make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out i'm going to bring flood waters on the earth to destroy all life under heavens every creature that has breath of life in it every thing on earth will perish and so god comes to know he says hey i'm going to use you to spare humanity and here's what i want you to do now i want you to build a boat i want you to build an ark because it's going to rain and i'm going to flood the earth and and as we read this story from our western our 21st century this makes total sense right like if you're going to have a flood you're going to want a big boat right this makes sense but let's read this story from noah's perspective god comes and always says hey i want you to build an ark hold on a second god uh what's an ark you realize noah had probably never seen a boat before and if he did it was a tiny one it wasn't a cruise liner right so the first part of this calling is like hey i need you to build a boat that you've never seen before oh yeah and it's gonna rain hold on a second god what's rain now we deal with rain pretty significantly here in rochester right but most scholars believe that it hadn't rained on the earth the springs of the earth actually watered the ground that's how it was in the garden of eden and so most scholars believe that noah had never seen rain before so wait god you want me to build a boat i haven't seen for something that i haven't experienced you want to talk about the odds stacked against you noah is like okay god this is kind of confusing this doesn't make a whole lot of sense and i have no clue what i'm doing and it probably got a little bit worse later but look what hebrews 11 says it says by faith let's replace that word kind of with the same word by trust noah when warned about things not yet seen and holy fear built an ark to save his family and so it was bad but god would make it a little bit harder for noah verse 19 it says you are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures male and female to keep them alive with you to every two of every kind of bird every kind of animal and every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you and be kept alive you are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and stored away for food for you and food for them no this is really important make sure you bring food for the animals or you might become the food of the animals all right okay think about that right i gotta build a boat i don't know what a boat is i gotta prepare for rain i don't know what rain is oh and now i've gotta take care of every kind of animal right this is a daunting task this is almost ridiculous and here's the reality god when he came to noah he wasn't asking noah to be a master craftsman when god came to noah he wasn't asking him to be a meteorologist when god came to noah he wasn't asking him to be a veterinarian when god came to noah he was asking one simple question noah do you trust me i know this sounds crazy noah i know you've never seen a boat i know you don't know what rain is i know you don't know how to take care of animals but noah do you trust me right what does proverbs say it says trust god with all of your heart you're not going to lean on what you know and what you understand and what makes sense you're going to lean on god and guess what you aren't directing your path guess who is god can i tell you today if noah can trust god with a boat he's never seen and if noah can trust god with rain he's never experienced and if noah can take care of animals he's never taken care of you today can trust god with your life you today can trust god with your kids your future your retirement your singleness your job your finances your future whatever it is you can trust god and so let's see how noah responded because i think in noah's response to god we see a lot about what trust truly is genesis 6 and genesis 7 it says noah did everything just as god commanded him genesis chapter 7 and noah did all that the lord commanded him and right here as we start the series on trust noah defines it noah brings clarity to this word that i think in our culture today and in people's relationships we have forgotten what truly trust is and noah makes it clear trust is 100 when you trust somebody you either do it or you don't when it comes to god you either trust him or you don't there's no neutral there's no middle ground i don't kind of trust god i either do it or i don't because trust is 100 and we see this the evidence of this in in the two words that that that describe noah's response everything and all noah did everything that god commanded him noah did it all you see he didn't pick and choose the pieces of god's plan that he liked hey god i like this boat idea i'd like to learn how to build a boat and you know i don't know about rain but i i could get ready for that but the animals god that's just weird okay so two out of three with god we would we'd call that a win right no you're either faithful to god or you're not you do it all you trust him with your life or you don't i mean think about this for a second okay we just got through wedding season right yeah i mean come on let's go at least someone's paying attention right so it's wedding season right and and you know weddings are beautiful like some of you just reminisce about your wedding or some of you getting ready to to be the star of the wedding and you know every wedding the flowers are in bloom and it's beautiful and the groom comes out and it's really nice trendy you know tuxedo or tie or jeans or whatever i don't know and and the groom was not the groom the bride the star of the show walks down that aisle and in her beautiful white dress and she's glowing she's gorgeous and i mean grandma's crying mom's crying it's just like this beautiful scene and then you get to the part of the ceremony that's really important right where where the husband and wife they they look at each other and they exchange vows and can you imagine if the groom looked at his bride and he says baby i will trust you most of the time and she's like that's fine because i'm going to trust you about 50 of the time can i tell you that's how we do relationships that's why a lot of marriages fail because trust is a percentage to us it's not 100 that's why we struggle with god because he wants all of me not just pieces of me and so so so noah teaches us that trust is 100 of putting your faith in god but the second thing he teaches us is that trusting god is is a marathon not a sprint i think we abuse god i do i think we use god for a safety net right because i don't want to experience hell and all the nastiness of this so i'll tell god i'll trust him in that moment so he can be my safety net right we view this exchange with god this one time exchange it's like he's our atm god i need you to protect me for all of eternity and so i'll trust you right now but the rest of my life i got this you don't need this and then trusting god as christ followers if we truly trust god it's a mantle we carry on and we say god whatever and wherever you call me i trust you now what do you think about this god comes to noah and he says i want you to build a boat most scholars believe the boat to build the boat it took 55 to 75 years let's think about this for a second 55 years preparing building a boat and it's never rained do you think there were times in noah's life where he was like am i crazy have i lost my mind did i really hear god's voice telling me to build a boat because i've been grinding i've been i've been cutting wood and and the ground is drier than it was before i can barely water my crops and i'm banking on a rain that's gonna flood the earth have i lost my mind and you can bet the town the culture was looking at noah and being like oh my goodness this guy is nuts what is wrong with him and he's dragging his family into this journey like bro get a grip look around you it's been 30 years anybody see any rain no you know what's sad is we grow reary with god after three months we get frustrated with god when he doesn't come through after a year three months and noah grinded out for 55 to 75 years trusting that god would provide exactly what he said he would provide and i know some of you get this because right now you're trusting god to bring your children back to him and you've been praying year after year and you're growing weary you're like god i want to trust you but can you do something some of you i've been sitting in counseling for your marriage and you're just waiting for your spouse to change and you've been praying and praying and you're like god i haven't seen any evidence of you moving some of you are waiting on a spouse and you're like god i've been praying for year after year and nothing how can i trust you god when you won't do anything for me can you imagine 55 years that's the minimum most scholars believe and noah was willing to wait because he trusted god with everything 100 percent and then the day came genesis chapter 7 where his trust came to fruition it says in the 600th year of noah's life on the 17th day of the second month on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth and the floodgates of heaven were opened and the rain fell on the earth for forty days and forty nights on that very day noah and his sons shem ham and jabeth together with his wife and the wives of his three sons guess what they did they entered the ark 55 years of trust and then one raindrop fell do you want to know why you can trust god today because when he says something he does something it might not be on your timetable it might not be what you think it's going to be but when god promises you something i promise you he will come through with it it might take 55 years it might take to you get to heaven but you can bank on god because god never he never doesn't fulfill his promise and noah although he had doubts probably all know he questioned himself on that day he said god you are faithful and you are worthy of my trust so i just have two questions for you we'll wind down and we're gonna dig even deeper into this word but i want two questions to marinate your heart all week long i want the spirit of god to you just can't get around these two questions right when you turn your gps on at work on monday you're like dang it drew i gotta try i want you to think about this and the first question is simple but yet it's probably one of the most powerful questions of your life do you trust god for a second let's realize what this is this is not a group question this is a individual question you can't bank on grandma's trust in god to get you where you need to go you can't bank on your boyfriend or your girlfriend's your spouse's trust your your parents trust the legacy you got a bank on yours and so this is for you not anybody else it's for you it's an individual it's for me do you trust god and i'm not talking about this portion of your life i'm not talking about segments of your life i'm talking about with everything your children your work your future your future spouse your dating relationship in every area of your life do you trust god think about it as you go through the week when you make choices do you trust him you see where does trust start it starts with a relationship with god right our journey we most of us we think this the journey of trust ends here it's actually the beginning where we recognize just like in genesis chapter 6 we are sinners we're flawed and because of our sin we're all of sinners every single one of us i'm not picking on anybody we are all sinners and because of our sin it separated us from god because he's holy but through jesus christ he came and died in your place in my place and rose again on the third day and if we choose to trust in his work we can have a relationship with the god of the universe and that's where trust begins and i would ask you have you made that declaration with your life because it's not just words coming out of your mouth it's your heart saying it's all yours god and if you haven't done that listen that's okay we're so glad that you're here but man i'm telling you the people of this church desperately want you to do that to surrender to god and if you have questions we're not afraid of them so go to iwant.info talk to the person who invited you hey just meet somebody out next in the lobby or send your your questions through the chat online to start your journey of trust with god but then for most of us as followers of christ let me ask you a second question not only do you trust god with all your life but has that trust continued to stretch you right most of us as christians were like yeah i trust god he's good but that trust actually makes our life easier rather than more uncomfortable and i just don't think that's that's the way god wants it i think as a follower of christ man as i carry this mantle of trust on my shoulders god's calling in my life can take me places maybe i never wanted to go to to ask me to do things i might not have all the answers to [Music] can i ask you has your trust in god made you crazy generous when it doesn't make sense has your trust in god made you comfortable being uncomfortable for the sake of the gospel as your trust in god made you bold at your workplace and in your office and in your home and in your classroom sharing the good news of jesus christ inviting people to church has your trust in god caused you to save yourself before marriage when the culture is going a different direction has your trust in god made you look like noah when the world's calling you a idiotic and you're like i'm following jesus because i trust him maybe a better question is does this describe your life today proverbs 3 that you would trust in the lord with everything that you are and because of that trust you don't need to know the answers you don't have to have that picture painted but you choose to submit to god and his ways rather than your ways and you're banking on not on yourself but him to direct your path do you trust god let's pray together [Music] god i know in my own life i struggle to trust because i've been hurt and i carry that hurt around it's baggage and i put walls up in my life that keep me from trusting not only people but you fully and god i know there are many people here listening that are like me so god i pray this week that we would take that question seriously that we would evaluate we would look deep into our souls and ask us do i really trust god with all of my life and maybe this is the beginning of the process to transferring our full trust in you help us to do that in jesus name amen well being challenged about why we should trust god with our lives and being encouraged that god is altogether trustworthy and that we can count on him and we'll never make a mistake when we trust him hearing that today reminds me of why we love sundays around here hey i told you i was going to share a little bit more about why we love sundays well to put it quite simply sunday is the first day of every week and we know that jesus christ was risen from the grave risen from the dead on the first day of the week so sundays for us signifies the reality that we have a new life in christ the reality that we have power over sin power to live a life that pleases god and on sundays we get to gather just like this online and be encouraged in our faith and encourage one another as we interact together we also get to be encouraged and inspired by stories of how god is changing lives reminding us that god is still at work in our world we also get to have our lives realigned around the truth of god's word found in the bible we need that because through the week monday through saturday you could say we get bumped around a little bit in our culture and we get probably a little bit i don't know unaligned is the best term i can think of we get a little bit off track in terms of how we should think about what it means to please god and so on sundays we get to be realigned around god's truth those are just some of the reasons we love sundays around here and we're thankful today that you've chosen to spend yours with us well we want to help you on your spiritual path in whatever way we can it's why we're here and the best way to connect with us is to go to i want dot info on any device we hope you'll check out what's available there this is an exciting time of year with so much to offer and we want to encourage you toward getting into a community group you'll see that option at iwant.info getting into a group groups are kicking off next weekend and we're just excited about living life together encouraging each other on this faith journey so help let us help you find a group and then there are many other options available to you as well there at iwant.info but hey i hope you have a great rest of your sunday and that you can join us right back here for part two of our new series until then have a great week

Channel: Northridge Church - Rochester

Views: 17

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: northridge, church, rochester, new york, Jesus, worship, community, bible, north, ridge, music, songs

Id: pdb2Y6LBGLI

Length: 73min 5sec (4385 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 15 2021