Pastor Earl McClellan // I'm Home Now

hey we got all of our campuses tuning in as well north antigua everybody online you can clap for all those folks too we're clapping a whole bunch today everyone who's a college graduate no matter where you are around the world or a high school graduate want to celebrate you you made it great job that senioritis is a real thing it's a real thing and i'm so so glad you finished uh we've been in a little series these last couple weeks my beautiful wife started this series i'm so glad that she did basically whatever onika does i just try to let's jump on it you know i'm just like let's do this thing i'ma follow right along with what she did and we started in john chapter 15. if you have your bibles you can open up there with me john chapter 15. if you didn't bring your bible gonna put the scriptures on the screen so you can follow along with us john chapter 15. uh we're gonna start reading in verse number four and the scripture reads this is jesus speaking here he says remain in me everybody say remain it says remain in me as i also remain in you no branch can bear fruit by itself it must remain in the vine neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me there's the word again verse number five i am the vine you are the branches if you what's the word if you remain in me and i in you you will bear much fruit apart from me you can do nothing if you do not remain in me you are like a branch that's thrown away and withers such branches are picked up and thrown into the fire and burned if you remain in me and my words remain and you ask whatever you wish it will be done for you this is to my father's glory that you bear much fruit showing yourselves to be my disciples uh if you were with us last week or you tuned in online or you could even go back if you're watching this on demand you you remember we were talking about say no to pot right some of you might remember this and uh the idea behind being potted versus being planted and we looked at bonsai trees and we looked at palm trees we even looked at redwood trees remember we talked about the root touch and the intertwining that happens there but this word remain is an important word biblically this word means to be left after others have withdrawn to rest or or abide in the same place but others are removed when someone's lost destroyed or taking away you you still remain and this last year 2020 was trying to uproot a lot of us trying to knock a lot of us off course as a matter of fact they keep hearing week in and week out that it's somebody's first time you know back to campus so somebody's first time tuning in online because a lot of us just kind of we had our feet taken out from underneath us and and i wanna i wanna dig into this a little bit here because this idea of remain i think really really matters to your spiritual health it really really matters to you becoming who god has called you to be we don't think that you're just an accident we don't think that you're just here to exist we actually believe that god made you on purpose we actually believe that there's a purpose and a destiny on your life we actually believe that he's for you we actually believe that god has been orchestrating your entire life even to bring you to this moment so he can grab a hold of your life and propel you forward into the future and the destiny that he has for you we believe god is on your side we don't think he's actually mad at you we think he wants to pull the greatness and the destiny out of you we think that greater is he that's in you than he that is in the world we actually believe all of this we also know we have an enemy the bible is clear on this enemy and and and some folks think man this is a little bit weird this whole enemy thing but but jesus didn't think it was weird jesus over and over again he was by the fact the bible tells us he came to destroy the works of the devil i want you to read this verse of scripture with me ephesians chapter ephesians chapter six and don't think us having an enemy is all that crazy because look i got a bunch of verses today we'll see we'll see how many we get through we'll see look at this um you know this world is jacked up okay right we all know this right if you don't know that i don't know where you're living okay it's like turn on the news there's something crazy going on all the time and now this 24-hour news cycle is just telling us basically every bad thing that's happening anywhere in the world and we don't even get all the bad news there's actually more of it which is terrible it's just going on and on and on individuals being sex trafficked wars uh there's poverty there's a lot of weights that are on a lot of people i i want to read this verse of scripture in ephesians chapter 6 verse number 10 it says finally be strong in the lord and in his mighty power put on the full armor of god so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes first struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers against the authorities against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms i want to bring your attention to verse 11 for just a second he says uh take your ground he says put on the full mark of god so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes schemes schemes if you're uh in america right now you probably know the nba playoffs are are happening uh at this point in time the dallas mavericks who are where we're from that's where they're in the playoffs they actually just beat the los angeles clippers poor los angeles clippers dear god almighty if you don't know who i'm talking about you can google los angeles clippers if you're in europe and you're just beginning to weep uncontrollably it's a very very disappointing franchise worth a lot of money but man it's disappointing i uh uh but whenever you're you're playing any sports uh before they get out on the field or before they take the court uh the the coach actually has usually a white board and and he says on not a white boy board uh he has a white board something like did he just say white boy no board and on that board the coach will write out he or she will write out here's here are our plays here's our scheme this is how we're going to try to defeat our opponent and they're saying if we're playing against x player this is how we're going to defend that player that player can shoot so we want to do is want to put two players around him or her that player is fast so we want to do we want to do this to slow them down they'll have this board and they'll write everything out the scripture here is teaching us that the the enemy has has schemes that when when he's looking at humanity god's most prized possession the enemy has a whiteboard with his imps you can read c.s lewis's book screwtape letters to get a look-see into behind the scenes it's not from the bible but just some great storytelling on what might be going on to try to get your life derailed there's a scheme and the scheme a lot of pieces that are in it are are you being uprooted are you being discouraged and you being isolated i just want to talk about the scheme for just a second because you and i are going about our lives this is kind of looking for another job or looking for another man i'm looking for another woman uh looking forward to even a date forget not another one just give me one i just want somebody to say i'm pretty okay he doesn't even have to have teeth just wink at me whistle i don't even care [Laughter] and if you're a man in here don't have any teachers you know you're welcome okay we love we love you everybody's welcome here but you're hoping and praying that you're just your life will get better but as you're going about your life i need you to understand i want to understand this that there is a scheme that the enemy has on your life and this idea of uprooting and discouraging and isolating you you got to understand that these are some of the ploys of the enemy and if 2020 didn't do anything to some of us it did this to a lot of us it uprooted us it discouraged us and it isolated us now we know that god can work in the midst of all that we believe that god is greater and more powerful but i just i just feel like some of us have maybe fallen back into and rested into a spot that we think is centered on jesus but it's actually from a whiteboard and the enemy trying to work to scheme to destroy your life and he's trying to uproot you trying to discourage you trying to isolate you and you think oh it's just my new season i don't think it's your new season i think it's an old strategy i i don't think this is a new season for you i think the enemy has a scheme to try to destroy your life and he'll play the long game man we just had a baby so it's kind of you know it's just tough right now we just got married so it's just kind of tough right now i got i got a i got a new job so i just got to focus in there and this i think babies come from god i think marriages come from god i think new jobs come from god i think all of these things are blessings from god but i have seen plenty of people take the very blessing of god turn that thing into an idol and that enemy used that thing to uproot discourage or isolate an individual and then when all you know what it's the fan they're sitting around wondering what the heck happened to my life i didn't even tell you my title for today's message some of you all like what's the title uh it's not nearly as sexy as last week's but this one is i'm home now i'm home now i'm home now i'm home now i'm home now i'm home now i'm home now i'm home now i'm home now i'm home and i was working on this message i just felt like god was speaking to my heart i was working on it even a couple weeks ago just i'm home now i'm home now i'm home now i'm home now some of us been uprooted i'm just i'm home now remain remain remain i'm home now let your soul be settled i'm home now i'm home now you don't have to be so anxious you don't have to be so tight-fisted you don't have to be so angry i'm home now i'm home now when uh you ever been in the hospital it's it's like you need to stay in the hospital it's a terrible experience okay i want to say thank you to every nurse every doctor appreciate you all but it's terrible you can't sleep in the hospital [Music] babe you you start getting into that sleep you're like okay okay somebody comes in okay let me take your temperature let me the second you're about to get to that good place of sleep i appreciate it because they're trying to make sure we're still breathing so i i again nurses doctors thank you so so much but but you can't really rest in the hospital but matter of fact if you're in the hospital long enough the only thing you want you just want your own bed just give me my bed god just get me out of here give me my bed give me an opportunity i don't care i don't have to have a nice bed i can hate my bed but it's my bed i get get me home immediately this is one of the difficulties that covet that happened with so many people because they had to get stuck in hospitals for so long and they didn't even have any community or anybody around them but you just can't wait you cannot wait to get home i just feel like that's a it's a cry this is a lot of people's hearts with everything that's going on in the world it's like where do i fit where do i go where do i belong i just wish there was a place i could be home there's so much anxiety i mean you feel it in the air there's so so many of us are so tight so tightly wound but you just wanna wanna wanna breathe i was thinking about going all the way to the book of genesis uh when uh adam uh first sees eve uh it's in genesis chapter 2 verses 22-24 i won't read all of it right now reminds me of when i saw my wife on our wedding day honestly because uh god presents thank you that's points from me right there honey you're welcome so so you can put the scriptures on the screen too if you want to but uh but uh you know adam's put to sleep and uh god then pulls out a rib and and builds a woman and so now she's there then she you know brings adam and eve and brings them together and then adam he busts out in song he's like bruno mars right right there in the first tube he's like oh my gosh versace is on the floor right now i see look at this woman bone of my bone flesh of my flesh dang gina i mean he's just he's just writing oh my goodness i never knew it never man that's not a hippopotamus that's not an elephant that's woman that's woman that's woman that's a woman he's just feeling like ah yes yes i'm so excited but if you go to genesis chapter 2 verse number 18 after adam has been naming everything a god is like hey hey there's no helper suitable for him and it's not good for man to be alone and i don't have time to get into the word helper because helper does not mean what we think it means help is actually a word that god uses for himself it's actually a very powerful word i don't have time to get into that right here so women you are not designed to be some subservient quiet thing that sits over in the corner you were designed to be a warrior and a strength and to partner with man to make it on earth as it is in heaven but i don't have time to preach that right now but it's important that's important because some you're like help her who are you going to help her is that okay okay it's a powerful word but it's not good for this man to be alone he's not going to be able to accomplish what he's supposed to accomplish if he's alone now the crazy thing is he had god come on y'all he had god some of us like to say i don't need anybody i just need god well god looked at humanity said you have me but it's not good that you're alone this doesn't mean you have to be married because jesus wasn't but he did have disciples and some people around him so you can't you and i will not be able to fulfill the call of god on our lives be who god has called us to be step fully into the destiny he has for us if you and i choose to be uprooted discouraged or isolated if you and i think we can do anything that god has called us to do all by ourselves we are missing it we are missing it we are missing it it's not good that man would be alone it's not good that woman would be alone let me put these folks together let me help them now i like god i appreciate him doing this i appreciate it because again we get so spiritual all the time we just think i just need jesus i just see jesus and yes you totally just need jesus for salvation you do you don't need anybody else you don't need me jesus is enough he's enough to make sure every sin every bit of shame every bit of darkness is taken off your life he is fully sufficient everything that christ did on the cross and his death his burial and his resurrection is fully sufficient for you and i to have a right relationship with god but you and i were not called to get this right relationship with god then go hide out in some corner somewhere you and i are now designed to be with each other so that we can step forward and be who god has called us to be we've been called to have dominion together so it's like god is saying to adam adam i know you have me but i want to i want to give you another body that'll even be a bridge to me i want to connect you with somebody else i want to connect her with you and you with her and as i connect the two of you together this will help you believe because some people it's hard for them to really believe in god unless they see god it's hard for them to to wrap their brains around wait you love me unconditional love yeah right until they meet someone who was a representative of heaven and they interact with that person and then they're like hmm i've never felt love like this before i've never felt like someone would before me and not trying to take something from me i've never i've never heard anyone just encouraging me pouring life into me just because of who i am not because of what i can do for them so if you meet the right body the right person that individual can open up your eyes to who god actually is and that is not a small amount of faith that's a powerful faith can be birthed in that moment so here uh go with me to john chapter 20 real quick john chapter 20. john chapter 20 gospel of john matthew mark luke john let me let me talk about body for just a second uh john chapter 20 verse 24 verse 24. yeah verse 24. now thomas also known as diddy one of the twelve that literally just came to me okay uh was not planned that joke was not playing one of the twelve was not with the disciples watch this was not with the disciples when jesus came so the other disciples told him we have seen the lord he's alive like he died but he's alive but thomas said to them unless i see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were and put my hand into his side i will not believe i want to pause for just a second here is he asking too much i don't think so now we know the story thomas does not know the story so he's sitting there with his disciple with the with his brothers and they're like hey you saw him beaten bloodied killed murdered he's alive quit playing tom was in line with we're not lying man quit playing telling you he's alive we all saw him listen i'm not going to believe that a guy that i saw died is now walking around y'all that does not happen this is not too out there i know thomas got us a bad rap he's like doubting thomas what that's so terrible he's like makes like one mistake in his life he's like known for it for the rest of his life and it's like a mistake all of us would make it's not even a mistake it's like no it's common sense he died i was at the funeral and you're like he's walking around eating chicken i'm telling you he's not so they are all still hanging out and thomas they keep telling thomas he's alive you would think jesus would show right up he does it look at the text it says one week later for a week these guys are walking around going to the temple going to the club i don't know where they're going they're going to hang out and thomas is crying they're like bro stop crying man he's alive he's like no he's not he's dead i mean it's a week of like misery and pain and like okay okay just for thomas we're not we're not even dealing with you anymore a week later his disciples were in the house again this time as thomas was with them though the doors were locked now this is dramatic jesus though the doors were locked jesus just came and stood among them open the door jesus so and jesus says peace be with you it just seems like lots of music in this moment right like smoke coming up behind him peace be with you but then he said to thomas touch my body come on touch my body put your finger here see my hands reach out your hand and put it in my side stop doubting and believe thomas is like my lord and my god and jesus goes on to say because you have seen me you have believed but blessed are those who have not seen but they still believe he had to touch the body in order for him to believe the difficulty in our day and age is a lot of people have touched the body of christ and it's the reason they don't believe they interacted with the body and because of their interaction with the body they're like oh no not interested so you walk up and you're like hey you want to come to church with me they're like church already done it already been there already met them and they're all hypocrites they're all fake they're all you know you kind of lump people together and you and i now being the body of christ being his representatives we now have to deal with some of the residual impact of when somebody met the body and didn't go according to plan thomas touches the body and believes other people touch the body and they don't believe go with me to luke chapter two uh i won't read all these verses here so i can get you all uh out on time uh luke chapter two uh verse verse number 42. uh it starts off this is something that's hopeful for every parent okay if you're not a parent yet and you want to be one day it's a great passage of scripture because jesus parents lose them mary you're like you got like one job mary like it's a savior right we need him we need that we need the savior like if we don't have him mary and joseph we're all screwed so we need you keep them alive until it's time for them to die but keep them alive until this time don't lose the savior you can read it later they all go to jerusalem then they leave jerusalem they don't even account for jesus i guess when they all start getting in the minivan they don't even look for them they don't even look for them they are a day's journey away and then they're like where'd the mary you seen jesus i thought you had jesus he's 12 years old okay 12 years old they go back to jerusalem they're looking for their son frantically the bible says three days later you heard me right three days later we've lost our kids in like the mall for like 30 seconds you know they kind of went and got underneath one of the little coat racks there and they're kind of hiding think anything's funny and you're like you have to do that again i'm gonna whip you behind in public because i need to see you the whole time because there's some crazy people out here 30 seconds i'm like parker don't deal with timmy bugger you know i see too many movies so i'm like feeling this deep and he's like i don't know to cry or slap him or something right three days later they find jesus he's at church he's at church asking questions talking to people they walk in they're like uh you're just going to sit there jesus you're just going to sit there and act and he says wait why were you verse 49 why were you searching all around for me didn't you know i had to be in my father's house like you you didn't have to wonder where i would be you are going to find me in my father's house like you're going to find me with the people of god talking about the things of god celebrating the glory of god that's where you're going to find me i had to be in my father's house oh with my boxing gloves park oh parker right here in the front row thank you parker yeah put them on for me parker help me out help me out thank you here you go yeah that's how i am right there let's go man thank you thank you good job good job give me my other one two good job parker's getting a haircut this week uh his fate his fate is not tight right now i reckon wait no no keep pushing it on there keep going keep going yep keep on going yep you're strong there you go thank you all right close that one up for me too please thank you man love you uh parker and i were wrestling last night too i actually poked him in the eye he got a red eye uh this is true story we were wrestling and i won because i poked him in the eye he's getting strong now i'm like i don't care i'll go ghetto on you i'm like biting his ear like mike tyson so which leads me to the gloves the uh we are saying you're welcome come to the house come to the father's house come on you're welcome and folks show up online and in person every week with these on you'll come but you ready like you're on guard waiting for somebody to give you a side eye waiting for somebody to walk past you waiting for somebody to judge you waiting for somebody to disrespect you waiting for the preacher wait for them to talk about money come on i know come on don't look at me like that i know i know wait waiting for the church to do this or that or oh they're just about themselves or look how flat you got your guards up got your guards up and there are churches that oh man there's some there's some there's some jacked up places in the world okay uh and god continues to bless uh but uh anyway you come and you're like bring it church people and we're like we love you you're like oh yeah i don't know you like that i don't know you like that don't hug me don't hug me these are great for fighting man these are not great for home these aren't great for home you can't eat with these you you can't make a bed with these these are great for fighting they're not great for connecting i just wonder i just wonder coming out here p please i just wonder if we can uh if we can get these gloves off a little bit come on if we get some of this anxiety off of us a little bit you can begin to say all right god i i'll trust you who and your body there's some things uh there's some things that you learn in a healthy home i mean let me go through some of these uh real quick when you remain in a healthy home there's some things you you get in a healthy home in a healthy home not some of us grew up in unhealthy homes i recognize that but in a healthy home it's where you discover your identity it is in a healthy home you discover like this is who i am like with parents that speak life and and speak hope and challenge and encourage you you understand like oh this this is who i am in a healthy home it's actually where you rest you just you're able to rest you don't have to perform for someone's love you get recharged rejuvenated it's in a in a healthy home in a healthy home where you find forgiveness and truth in a healthy home not guilt and shame but forgiveness and truth in a healthy home is where you find accountability and encouragement those of you who are maybe about to get married this is some stuff that you can insert into your relationship those of you who are dating you want to talk to your boyfriend or girlfriend i want a house that feels like this but we have we have in our day and age we have a dare i say pushed aside the body pushed aside the gathering pushed aside the remaining and we're just thinking i'll do this thing all on my own and it wasn't good for adam and it's not good for me and it's not good for you you being connected to the body though doesn't have anything to do with god's love for you just so you know it's unconditional you can't mess with that you being connected to the body has nothing to do with your salvation actually again now all that happens in jesus we're talking now about your spiritual health i'm talking now about your spiritual development in first corinthians chapter 10 verse 23 uh it says um i can do whatever i want you say i can go my own way do my own thing i have the right to do anything you say yes true but not everything's beneficial i can do i can decide how i want to do this thing just because you can decide it doesn't mean you ought to decide there are some things that are that are permissible but it's not best for your soul and and honestly i was feeling like some of us some of us are feeling uh how how would i put this politely and and kindly uh if you are if you're a you've ever watched on the news on tv and you see the number of kids in our society that are displaced they don't have a home sometimes these kids not all sometimes these kids live with a suitcase packed like they're in the house but they're not settled in the house and because they're used to being taken from home to home to home to home they they will be in a place where they are loved unconditionally but thinking that they're going to be taken away at any point in time i i want to ask you to unpack your suitcase i want to ask you to to stop thinking someone's about to kick you out i want you to stop waiting for the other shoe to drop i'm going to ask for you to remain yes i'm going to ask you to remain this is why we talk about connect groups and growth track and all of these different things because we're looking for a people that will that will remain and churches look a whole lot of different ways all over the world you got house churches you got big churches you got small churches i mean there's all types of different churches it doesn't have to look how ours looks but you need community you need people it's not good that any of us are alone and this whole thing that god has put together this whole thing called church it's for god it's for his glory for sure but it's also for us to get the the help and the community and the strength that we need but it's also not just for god and for us it's also for our neighbors it's also for the losses also for people to be able to touch the body and to know hey i was hurt before but look i'm healed i was messed up but look how god has carried me yes i was in a pit but god pulled me out yes i made so many mistakes matter of fact i made more mistakes than you but god in his grace and his mercy he redeemed me and he put me on a firm foundation he can do the same thing in your life you don't have to run from god you can be home too i'll say it like this and i'll be quiet um we need your life we need your body to spread his love because you'll be the only jesus some people will ever meet i won't have the opportunity to meet them maybe the person on your right or left won't get the chance to meet them but they can meet jesus in you i'm home now i'm home now i'm home now if your mind bow your head for just a moment antigua north white rock friends online father i pray that you'd break off the anxiety and the fear i pray that you break off the angst the depression i pray that you would help us to rest in you souls that are tied up knotted up i ask in the name of jesus christ that you would begin to untie and in our guts in our souls we'd experience your peace if you're under the sound of my voice right now as your head's about and you've never made jesus christ first in your life you've never made them number one you've never said jesus i want you to be in charge of my life or at one point in time you did you said jesus i want you to be first i want you to be number one i want you to be lord of my life i want you to be my savior i want you to be my guide i want you to be my everything but you slipped away you've gone another direction you're if you're honest with yourself right now you would say you're in the driver's seat of your life and christ is not if that's you here you've never given your heart and your life to christ or at one point in time you did and you slipped away or you're online right now you're hearing this message you're like oh my goodness it is time for me to come back home and it's time for me to give my heart and my life to jesus i'm gonna ask you to do something simple but something bold i literally want you to throw your hand in the air and say yes that's me i want to give my heart and my life to christ if that's you just go ahead and put your hand in the air right now you're saying yes that's me i want to give my heart am i i want to get my life to christ i want to make him first i want to make him number one we got friends all over in this room i'm sure friends online right now saying yes i want to give jesus my heart i want to give him my life i want to make him first i'm going to ask everyone to do me a favor put your hand over your heart if you would not mind i'm going to ask you to repeat this prayer out loud after me say dear jesus i ask you to forgive me of all my sins i admit i've made mistakes and today i give you my heart i give you my life give me the power to live for you in jesus name amen and amen can we lift our heads and clap our hands of enthusiasm north antique i'll turn it over to you but every person online or in the room that raise your hand to give your heart and your life to christ we do have a number we'd love for you to text so that we can make sure we get the right stuff in your hands to help you become all that god has called you to be and what you're going to do is you're going to text jesus first to 97 000 jesus first to 97 000. that gives us an opportunity to know your name know your story get connected with you so we can help you on your journey because your next step is not just to go back to living life the way you've always lived life your next step is to get planted your next step is to go from potted your next step is to remain that's your next step we're going to ask that that next step be growth tracking what we do here at shoreline city we do it online we do it in person online it's 8 p.m central standard time every single wednesday and if you're in the room right now it happens after every one of our services after uh at 11 45 and at 1 15 and what is growth track we're not going to ask you a bunch of crazy questions and you're not going to have to stand up and do something you don't want to do really it's an opportunity for you to get around some other people some other bodies and for you to hear not just the vision and the values of this church family what we're about at shoreline city but beyond that we want to help you discover the purpose and the potential that god has put on the inside of you we want to help unlock that so this is just a step for you to say okay i'm home i'm planted i'm here and this starts the journey of us understanding what it means as we partner together to make it on earth as it is in heaven that this is where our destinies become alive our eyes get open that our lives are not about ourselves but about someone and something so much bigger than us so i want to encourage you take this next step whether online or in the room today i believe is step number two but that's fine we've got two steps you can do step two first and then do step one we don't care we're just trying to make it as easy as possible for folks to jump on this journey together so again we can make it on earth as it is in heaven hey we're just about to to sing just for a moment longer but before we do i want to remind us of the wonderful honor and privilege we have to give uh for us as a church family uh it's important that we continue to talk about this because we believe it's part of worship it's part of our spiritual development we do believe that uh this is not you paying god this is not you trying to get god not to make bad stuff happen in your life we don't believe any of that craziness this is a god being after your heart in my heart and my wife and i this is something we personally do we try to live lives that are ridiculously generous so the first time we ever get any money into our family that first 10 we do take it aside and we say god this is our reminder that you're our provider there is no shame there is no guilt there is no quid pro quo this is not any of that stuff this is us saying god we want our hearts to be on you and on the things that matter to you and you and i get drawn closer to the things we invest in as you continue to invest in the kingdom of god your heart will grow towards the kingdom of god

Channel: Shoreline City Church

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Length: 44min 56sec (2696 seconds)

Published: Sun May 23 2021