Pastor Oneka McClellan // I’m Staying

gonna just jump into my message today i'm so excited and honored to get to share and during the pandemic i don't know if y'all remember but earl and i did a marriage talk and during the marriage talk i decided so in heaven i'm going to be a singer i'm going to be a worship leader in heaven and also i'm going to be fluent in spanish those two things hola bueno bueno bueno fuego fuego fuego it just kind of rolls out but so does singing and when earl and i met in college my singing for him was a stress reliever because it would make him laugh and so sometimes out of the blue i just break out in song and so there's this movie i don't know if you've seen it it's called dream girls and there's this character her name is effy is that how you say her name effie and she basically has this moment where she tells her man i'm staying i'm not leaving i'm going to be by your side through the valley of the shadow of death i'm with you and she just sings it with this emotion and i thought you know what if they would have heard me sing it they would have cast me so i think just to kind of wake us up this morning you guys just need a little bit of my musical stylings so we're going to play it for you yeah it's my gift to each of you thank you [Applause] team i just wanna be free [Music] hold that note yes you're welcome you're welcome church and that leads me to the title of my message this morning and it is called i'm staying everybody say i'm staying i'm not holding back i'm staying that goes right into john 15. and as i read john 15 sometimes you just need to be reminded that you're staying that you're planted that you're not giving up that you're going to persevere that you're going to press through that life may come at you from every which direction that it can possibly think of but you're gonna stand and you're gonna stay and that is where we're going to dive in today i got so many scriptures to buckle up and get ready but first scripture john 15. here we go as jesus was talking to the disciples he was preparing them he was actually about to go back to heaven he was about to die and so when someone's getting ready to die and they leave you with words their last words if you will it means it's obviously very important i think about when i get ready to send my kids to school when elle goes to kindergarten we had so many pep talks with her same with grayson and when parker as we prepare him for college in just two years which is crazy but with that said i'm going to think about all the things that i'm going to send him to college with and this is the scene that jesus was setting with the disciples he was about to die and he wanted these weighty words to last to set to resonate with them so as you read these scriptures with me think of the importance and the weight of these words here we go john 15 verse 4. remain in me so this is just think of him he knows he's about to die he knows he's about to be crucified he knows he's going to be he's going to rise from the dead but he's leaving them with these words remain in me and i will remain in you for a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me yes i am the vine you are the branches those who remain in me and i in them will produce much fruit for apart from me you can do nothing anyone who does not remain in me is like a useless branch and withers such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned verse seven but if you remain in me so comforting and my words remain in you you may ask for anything you want and it will be granted finally verse 8 you will when you produce much fruit you are my disciples this brings great glory to my father did you hear how many times he said remain do you know why he said that because he knew persecution was coming so he said remain he knew a time of feeling misunderstood was coming so he said remain he knew a time that the hype was about to die down and he was going to need to see who's really with me so he said remain he knew there was a moment where the sun was not going to rise it was going to set and it was going to feel very dark very frustrating very forgotten but he said remain he also knew that a pandemic was coming last year and he said remain he said remain when many of us lost power during the storms he said remain he said remain when the church couldn't meet in person we could only meet online and talk to you to an empty building he said remain when spouses were getting on each other's nerves because they were stuck at home last year doing the pandemic wanting to just lose their minds he said remain when you lost your job that was your dream job and you got the phone call that they were doing laying laying off because they had less money because of the pandemic what did he say he said remain when you get ready to release someone in your life that you've been holding on to for a very long time but the word over and over again said it's time to let go was time to break up guess what he said he said remain and the beautiful thing about scripture is no matter what season you're going through we can find ourself in god's word but he's leaving us with this because it's important he's saying right now we could be on a high we could be living our best life but when life hits i need you to keep standing i need you to not throw in the towel i need you to remain and i believe that the church of this moment and this time in history is looking for some men and women and the next generation who's going to remain even when it gets hard even when they're misunderstood even when they're frustrated even when the world is acting a hot mess he's looking for some men and women in the next generation that says you know what i'm going to remain the pressure's on i'm going to remain i'm frustrated right now i'm going to remain beautiful beautiful beautiful tarim reign means here's a definition to be left after others have withdrawn to rest or abide in the same place when others remove or are lost destroyed or taken away here's another definition to continue to rest or abide in a place for a time that is indefinite one more not to be lost not to escape not to be forgotten god is calling us to remain he's calling us to remain when the winds and waves come he's calling us to remain he's calling us to remain when it's not popular to be a christian he's calling us to remain he's calling us to remain when sometimes as a church we can be misunderstood because our church looks like heaven he's calling us to remain when i think about this past year and what it was like for earl and i to lead a church that looks like heaven here's here's the interesting thing okay so shoreline city you know this this picture if you look all around and online if you even pay attention in the chats as well and at north you look around the room or you look at the photos on instagram and facebook this is not normal it is not normal for this many people from this many walks of life for this many stories and backgrounds to be in church together and for us it's normal right but it's not normal every we gotta clap for that yeah yeah it's not normal and when we bring in guest speakers from all around the world the first part of their message is they're actually thrown because they're not used to looking at audiences and people that look like heaven so they get nervous at the beginning of their messages and these are some of the most powerful world-renowned speakers and they kind of pause and they go slow at first and they tell us later this church it's very rare to see a church that looks like heaven and it just reminds earl and i what a gift that this is and it's such a celebration but during the pandemic leading a church that looked like heaven was also very unique because the beautiful parties were all different but then that's also difficult when stuff hits the fan and so there were times as leaders when we thought this is hard this is the most weighty thing that we could ever possibly imagine when we dreamt about a church and we dreamt about a church that looked like heaven we didn't think oh we'll be leading when the world is shut down we'll be leading when people are arguing about political things we'd be leading during a time a a very intense time with just all the racial tension and just the weightiness of our world and i'm going to be honest with you we were we cried many nights we lifted our hands to jesus many nights we surrendered and said god do you need to tap us out because this is weighty this is difficult and we are trusting and looking to you but at the same time sometimes we don't want to remain we're raising a teenager we have a five-year-old we have a ten-year-old we're trying to entertain them also trying to just make sure that the church is good and to remind us to keep our eyes on jesus also getting used to the dynamics of being married when we're trapped in our home and we love each other but we're also getting on each other's nerves there were times trust me that we didn't want to remain there were times there were times when really we thought you know what let's go into another profession or we can just travel and speak so then you just kind of pop in and you pop out you don't have to deal with any drama you just get to love people from afar but you don't have to deal with the pain or the dms or the crazy things that people say on instagram you just get to just fly around the world bring your kids with you and this life just seems lighter and easier but then we had to decide are we here just for people to tell us whoa this church is so amazing it looks like heaven or are we going to remain when the church is actually tested and when the gates of hell are trying to come against this church are we going to keep standing are we going to keep praying are we going to realize that we were called to the city of dallas for such a time as this to bring hope to a lost world are we going to wake up to our sermon and realize that the reason why this church looks like heaven is because the world is hungry to see unity the world is hungry to see perseverance the world is hungry to see lean in and we decide we're signing up again so we thank 2020 for what it taught us because we are rooted and grounded and more determined than ever to bring this gospel all around the world so that's how we decided to remain but in the bible you'll see people who thought they were going to remain but then things got tough and they peaced out for a season peter we're going to just learn from peter for a second we're going to learn what not to do peter was one of the top 12 disciples he was in the top 12. so if it was a basketball lineup and they were coming out you know and cause they would play that song do you know that song from games okay so peter was one of those they he was he was in the lineup do they still do that song and games okay y'all were quiet so it made me think we don't do that at games anymore so peter he was full of fire he was the one who walked on the water he was there when jesus fed the five thousand he was there when jairus daughter was raised from the dead he was there on the mount of transfiguration like he was a ride-or-die he was one of christ's three closest friends he had the t-shirt he had the mixed tape before the mixtape was out he was selling stuff out of the back of his trunk he was there when nobody knew who he was he was the usher to justin bieber i mean he was there he was there was there at the last supper he was like i will never leave you i'm your rider i'm gonna roll with you this world is coming against you but i'm gonna stand with you i'm peter let's go jesus but look what happens matthew 26 33-35 so this is peter just sharing his you know sacrificial love peter declared and declared that means he said it with some passion even if everyone else deserts you even if the church shut down and i have to wear a mask for a season a short season even i will never leave you or desert you verse 34 jesus replied because he was smart i tell you the truth peter this very night before the rooster crows you will deny me three times you will deny that you even know me verse 35. peter's like no i'm a rider dying i'm rolling with you i'm rolling with you through a pandemic i'm rolling with you when the shiny new churches come to the city i'm rolling with you when i feel misunderstood i'm rolling with you when i get offended i'm rolling with you [Applause] no peter insisted insisted even if i have to die with you i will never deny you and all the other disciples said yep we're all in they vowed the same thing 30 verses later everybody say 30. one pandemic later one tough season later one not being able to find a parking place later one text message not responded to later listen listen to how peter just flips listen to how he flips matthew 26 verses 69 through 74 i'm just getting all in the business this morning meanwhile peter was this is after jesus so listen jesus was on trial he was crucified the nobody was wanting the mixtape no one was wanting the fresh merch nobody was wanting to see miracles the sun was not shining it was probably it was raining i'm just emphasizing the story it was crickets remember jesus knew this was going to happen so we had the pep talk 30 verses later look at how it changes verse 69 this is after jesus had passed away meanwhile peter was sitting outside in the courtyard the same peter who was like i'm gonna roll with you listen to this peter was sitting outside the courtyard a servant girl came over and said to him hey i recognize you you were one of those with jesus the galilean verse seven but peter denied it in front of everyone i don't know what you're talking about he said verse 71 we're talking about remaining today verse 71 later out by the gate another servant girl noticed him and said to those standing around this man this man was with jesus of nazareth verse 72 again peter denied it this time with an oath so this time he was like i'm serious y'all i don't even know the man he said a third time a little later some of the other bystanders came over and said to peter you must be one of them we can tell by your galilean accent galilean accent peter swore a curse on me if i'm lying i don't know that man and immediately the rooster crowed how quickly someone who was with jesus someone who was one of his guys one of the people who saw him at his very best did not remain all throughout the bible they're examples of people who can ride the high but can they be with you in the low lows can they be with you when the sun sets can they be with you when your marriage is not what it looks like on instagram can they be with you when you don't get into the college that you dreamt of getting in can they be with you when they open up and say i have an eating disorder can they be with you when you say i need you to pray for me i have a pornography addiction can they be with you when you feel like giving up and you need someone to speak life and to believe in you can they be with you life is made up of mountaintops and valleys but i believe today that god is calling us as a church to remain to be steadfast to be immovable to not be moved by the trends of this world but to be planted on christ and to be planted in him and to abide in him another example moses he went up so the children of israel had been through all of it this we're going to exodus 32 next we're going on a bible adventure going on a road trip we're going all through the scriptures all just weaving in and out so just stick with me moses exodus 32 he was going up to go be with jesus to get a word for the next season so he left aaron in charge and he said i'll be back but i need you to hold it down basically but moses was gone for a long time so i started to think about this last year church was not meeting in person for a long time we were at home for a long time and for some of us it was great for us because we got extra time for the family but for others of us it left us unrecognizable it took the spark out of our eye it put a weightiness on us because we didn't know if we were coming or going we didn't know every time that we turned on the news there was division just everything was going nuts in exodus they felt like moses is he coming back and let's see how they responded when it came time to remain exodus 32 1-4 people in the bible just like me and you when the people saw how long it was taking for moses to come back down the mountain they gathered around aaron come on they said make us some gods who can lead us we don't know what happened to this fellow moses who brought us here from the land of egypt they had all this good stuff that happened to them they were free they even got the gold from the people that have pressed them so they had the drip drip drippy drip drip they were blessed but instead of just being thankful and giving god praise for how he had delivered them they got distracted because things didn't happen on their timetable so aaron was the next in charge so they said you know what it's taken too long let's take this jewelry that wasn't actually a gift and let's burn it and let's turn it into an idol and let's worship it and sometimes the gifts that god has given us in this season we take them we melt them down and we worship them some of the new jobs and relationships that have come out of this season if we're not careful we'll take them we'll melt them we'll build an altar and we'll start worshiping them instead of thanking god for the person who actually gave us that gift and that's what happened here in the bible if they melted it down they molded it into a shape of a calf which sounds crazy but in the moment they were it made sense to them isn't it wild when you lose your mind for a second things that are crazy make sense and that's what happened to them because it's easy for us now reading the story we're like who would do that who would take that jewelry and turn it into a calf but when you're not in your right mind when you're not surrounded by the right voices you do dumb stuff and so when the people saw it they explained the calf oh israel these are the gods who brought you out of the land of egypt when moses went up to hear from god the people during the pause they lost their minds and i want you to know that there will be more pauses ahead there will be more times when you want to quit more times when you want to give up more times when you want to tap out but god is saying i need you to remain i need you to remain i need you to be planted i need you to stay in community i need you to keep pressing i need you to keep praying i need you to stay in my word i need you to fight for relationships and friendships i need you to show up i need you to keep giving keep building keep serving i need you to remain it's not popular to remain it's easier i mean people break up in dms like for real like really they it's like normal to end a relationship in a dm that's the world we live in today but god is calling us to be different he's calling us to do what's actually harder which is to remain here's some here's some handles here's some handles how do you why didn't people remain why didn't moses why didn't peter remain here's just some handles for us to hold on to to help us as we try to walk this out when the voices of the people around you are louder than the voice of the holy spirit in you you don't remain just marinate on that for a second when the people what when what people think about you becomes more important than what god called you to you don't remain here's another one when your timetable carries more weight okay when you're waiting on him or her and you decide to get involved yourself and kind of make it happen when your timetable carries more weight than god's schedule you don't remain here's another one another handle when what other people have done to you gets more attention than what god did for you you don't remain we all it's so much easier to be a ride or die to be a fan to be fully in when things are going good but i believe that this morning god is setting an alarm and a reset on all of us to remember that actually it's more powerful to remain during the tough times and of course this does not apply if you're in an unhealthy toxic abusive relationship this message does not apply instead of remain you run you run you don't remain you run but i'm talking about health i'm talking about not giving up too soon i'm talking about remembering that you're called i'm talking about adding some prayer instead of complaining i'm talking about standing when things get rough and they get tough and they get weighty that's the type of remaining that i'm talking about and when i think about jesus his time here on earth there was some beautiful women that were with him and i think today more than ever we need people with us during the highs and also the lows and so there were some women that were with jesus in the bible when he was doing miracles like when everything was phenomenal they were right there in the crowd seeing him they're like i'm with him i know him but guess what they were also with him i'm going to drink some more water my throat's getting dry love y'all i'm an excuse me okay that allergies so they were with him isn't that funny when someone's sick and they blame it on allergies this really is allergies it's dry today but with that said they were with him when the miracles were happening but guess what they were also with him when he was on trial and guess what and these are the stages of life y'all i feel like with life there's the miracle season there's the trials season of life there's the crucifixion season where you just feel like all hope is lost and there's a resurrection season and so today i'm looking for some men and women that are going to remain during the miracles they're going to remain during the trials they're going to remain during the crucifixion stage and they're going to remain during the resurrection because these women that were with jesus they didn't just wear the t-shirt when he was the man and performing all the miracles and there was crowds lining up they also were the ones that were there when he was being crucified so when you get that report about sickness you need some friends in your connect group that are going to remain even if they can't go in the hospital room they're going to remain in the parking lot just praying speaking scripture over your situation when you send that text message that says my marriage is about to end you need some community around you that says i'm going to remain when for a season as a church we have to make certain decisions we need a church that's going to say you know what erno nica i don't always agree but i trust you i'm gonna pray for you and i'm gonna remain we're looking for some sons and daughters that says i'm gonna be there on the miracles i'm gonna be there when there's double overflow i'm gonna be there when there's new locations but i'm also going to be there when it's tough and these women were there i can't imagine what that would be like to be there when he was when jesus was doing the most but also be there when he's on trial he's misunderstood things feel dark you start to question like was he really the savior but even in the questions that i'm sure they had they still remained they were there when he was put up on that cross and i'm sure they were crying but they didn't run they remained and guess what those same women went to the tomb and i think this is so fitting on mother's day as we celebrate the strength of women those same women went to the tomb and they remained and guess what that's where they learned that he was alive and that he was brought back to life because they remained i wonder if we remained what miracles we would see if we remained i wonder if we remained when it was the darkest the most forgotten the most the most where it feels like why are you still going to church why are you still showing up what if we remain then what miracles are on the other side of us remaining because guess what these two women they were the first to tell the disciples that he was still alive and it's because they remained that they were able to carry the good news and the gospel of the resurrection was able to spread all around the room because a couple women decided to remain so i'm wondering what if you decide to remain no matter what comes your way when you get the sickness when you get laid off what if you decide to remain what miracles are on the other side of you deciding to stand i think about one of our campus pastors he's actually a brother to me his name is ben stokes and he pastors our north campus with casey stokes he's amazing he's been with the church from the very beginning they casey and men were one of the first couples to say you know what you have this dream in your heart i'm going to remain i'm going to move from austin to dallas i'm going to downsize and live in a two-bedroom one-bath and i'm going to pray i'm going to show up no salary no questions asked i'm gonna remain and you see ben today he's like our resident john the baptist he's just full of fire and passion and just has the most beautiful heart but guess what there was someone who went before him who also had to remain it was his grandmother his grandmother prayed for him his grandmother lost sleep can you turn me up a little bit because i'm losing my voice his grandma did not give up he was out partying he was getting arrested he was doing drugs you look at his life now his family is is literally like an instagram family they all look like models they have a dog and just everything looks neat and tidy and amazing but there was a grandmother her name was mimi i believe is it mimi casey who prayed in the middle of the night when ben was out partying who prayed when he was getting arrested she literally said hell cannot have my grandkids she was willing to remain and now we are all blessed as a result of the legacy of ben stokes grandma who decided to remain who decided to persevere who decided to not give up she walked the floor at night and said god that's my son i'm believing for greatness and god is looking for a church who's willing to walk the floors and say god i look to you i put my hope in you this world is trying to destroy the body of christ but on christ the solid rock i'm gonna stand i'm gonna persevere i'm gonna pray i'm gonna praise i'm gonna surrender i'm gonna remain in the mighty name of jesus church will you remain another day in the books yep another day in the book hey if you gave your heart and life to jesus christ we would love to know if you text jesus first one word to 97 000 uh let us know we would love to follow up with you with some next steps to help you grow in your walk with christ yes and just a reminder one of those next steps is getting to grow track and so we'll actually drop the link in the chat for you to make it a little bit easier for you to get there but feel free to reach out to us with any questions that you might have even before going and we'd love to come alongside of you but we'll see you there yes now also church let's continue to stay generous let's continue to keep jesus first in our finances they're really our lives people being impacted because we're such a generous church so i want to encourage you let's continue to stay generous yes it has been a wonderful time celebrating mother's day with you we love you so much church family have a wonderful wonderful week

Channel: Shoreline City Church

Views: 3,519

Rating: 4.9565215 out of 5

Keywords: shorelinecity, onekamcclellan, imstaying

Id: 3JpZpw4SI-I

Length: 31min 30sec (1890 seconds)

Published: Sun May 09 2021