Soul | The Core

at lighthouse church and i'm joined as always with my man tc what's up tc what's up is that lent started this past week no no listen listen i know that lent isn't something necessarily we do to church i grew up in a liturgical church you know the kind of church was stand up sit down kneel yep and we use lent and i continue to do it i find it useful but i know that lent tc is one of the least preferred versions of tc around the office i can verify that that is 100 verified so so as as you know i frequently give up sweets during lent hence the nickname everyone calls me unsweet tea i can't believe you y'all are getting in on some family secrets here that's a weird nickname but no one calls you let's be honest yeah nobody actually calls me that you are pretty miserable when you don't eat sweets but this is so this is the thing is that when i stop eating sweets about three or four days in and people probably don't realize how much sugar i eat like i tell people i eat like garbage people hear me talk about running they're like he's probably fairly healthy i am a garbage can when it comes to eating food i eat so much sugar and so when i go off of sweets i crash pretty hard and about three or four days in i go into what i call the sugar funk yeah yep that's accurate it sounds like it should be a song in the dance as well i'll try to copyright that more studio manager about that getting that as part of the theme song yeah yeah and so and so whenever whenever light comes around the whole office is like oh no here it comes again it's not that bad now because here's what he does guys so you give up sweets but then you bring them in [Music] so therefore that is where the miserab miserability mr eye makeup words must be miserable because you are giving up the sweets so yeah i do well whenever sweets come my way then i bring them in and i put them on the table in the office and people yell at me for that and your office is right near like the community table so like you took his head out oh i wish i could eat that sorry because last year was it no it wasn't last year two years ago we had a whole debate on this that almost toward the staff apart yeah it was pretty intense are graham crackers considered a sweet or not and so this this got really intense i was eating a graham cracker and our lh student director ryan minter accused me of violating my lenten fast of no sweets and i was like it's a graham cracker and he was adamant that it's sweets and so i actually want to ask our community right now in the chat i want to hear from you are graham crackers sweets am i right or is student director ryan correct that i can't wait i was eating sweets what do you think so for me i think graham crackers are a dessert like accessory or a compliment so i think when i hear graham cracker in a dessert i think s'more or i think graham cracker crust in a cheesecake yeah so it can be part of a dessert if i want a dessert am i like hmm i have a hankering for a graham cracker no no never but and i can't tell you the last time i ate one on its own so i'm gonna say no yeah they're not i'm i'm on team is it unsweet tea oh yes it is we're gonna have t-shirts next week it's gonna be real good yeah listen maybe maybe ryan picks up weird ideas from the the tic tac he does with the with the students all the time or the insta-face or whatever they do but i love ryan he's an awesome dude but he's totally wrong if someone said i'm gonna grab some sweets and came back with graham crackers i'd call them a lunatic true why as riveting as this conversation is and guys i'm so glad that you're going to be along the journey with us over these next couple weeks you can see on sweet tc we are so excited that you're here at the countdown with us we're doing this every sunday before service at lh online at 10 o'clock where get things started off at 9 50 and maybe you don't know this tc i know you know because you've got kids but our lh kids actually airs their online church at 9am which is absolutely awesome yeah every sunday 9am and so my kids you know i have one that's in that age range sometimes he's here in person we do have in-person services for kids they're pretty wonderful they know that graham crackers aren't sweets that's for sure uh so so my son he comes in here but sometimes it's full or sometimes you know whatever happens he's at home and he watches it he absolutely loves it and so we actually invited our lh kids director liz to just talk with us a little bit about her her vision for that why we're doing that so why don't we step over and chat with her on the studio that they use for lh kids yes which is this very studio with a very different backdrop well liz thank you so much for joining us here today on the countdown happy to have you i wanted to ask you talk to me about lh kids online we have a service every week where did that come out of yeah well in lh kids we love to partner alongside parents in raising up the next generation because no one wants to do that alone you know that is not um how jesus meant for discipleship to go so we partner alongside each other to do that for kids to build a biblical foundation and to have fun while doing it it's awesome um and i remember i think it was maybe the tuesday before we um stopped having services and i remember that tuesday it you and steve healy and me on the phone and he basically asked hey can you pull together an online service yeah by this weekend and i prayed about it and said yes yeah we will do it um so you know it came as kind of a surprise to us that we were gonna do an online service for kids but then god just showed us like how powerful it was gonna be we didn't know what that season walking into quarantine would look like um and how much it would be needed and how much it would meet kids and families in their home and just not only point them to jesus over and over and over again as a family we have a lot of parents watching too but also just to make them laugh and be a bright light in this time yeah and you know we were just talking about it because i was watching old episodes of lh kids online just saying how far late online has come and now you've got aramis and ryan yeah we've heard some of the stories but could you share with us on our lh online fam what are some of the stories of what god's doing on lh kids online yeah so we have heard from families that are local we've heard from families that are far away a family in arizona a family specifically in southern miami wow i know i know i know um the mom jessica reached out to us she has three girls sophia valentina and hannah and she said they found us right when their church got shut down as well um and just felt god calling them to watch our online services so they would wake up turn on that tv every sunday morning to tune in for lh kids online and had watched it all the way through um and just reached out to us to thank us for what we were doing so the impact i mean it it blows me away it is a surprise every single time of what god is doing in this season love that yeah you know both brit and i have gotten to be on at least online one time or another so i'll just point out she got to be in a party i got to have water thrown in my face so i'm really glad i was checking you for cups when you came on to see if that was gonna happen nothing i don't but uh yeah if we come back i i know my contract will say i have to get at least as good of a party it's fun yeah all right liz thank you so much for joining us here we are so grateful for what god is doing in you and through you and your team you know megan delaney yeah you know aaron ryan everybody it's just incredible thank you for what you do yeah thank you guys well i loved being on set with liz and i mean i just have so much love and respect for the entire lh kids team you know here at lighthouse church our mission is to reach the lost and make disciples and i think so many times people can think that's only applicable to adults yeah they are going after it in lh kids they are reaching kids for jesus and it's just absolutely amazing so thanks liz for being on the countdown with us and thanks for all you do in lh kids yeah they're they're so passionate and as excited and passionate as they are on lh kids online we see that passion throughout the week here we know there's nothing fake going on there they absolutely love what they do they're called to it and they're fun they have fun oh absolutely yeah they're not manufacturing that um and i just know that for my family like i said quinn will do it online for christmas they did a jesus jam where we actually took home a bag and there was interactive stuff to do on christmas morning it was just so cool and so fun and and i think that in a time where you know we all feel a little disconnected he knows he's got a church family because because he knows these people and he sees them regularly either in person or online and i can't wait to see what they're gonna do for easter honestly i'm sure that's gonna be fantastic hopefully candy because at that point i'll be allowed to eat it no this is i hope i hope they do have candy and then you just don't get it because that's like but i feel they're so nice that they'll they'll give it to you they are there they're some absolutely wonderful people so we're going to be joining our sanctuary in just a few minutes here getting started with our service i know that uh pastor sammy is going to be continuing the new series that we started last week yeah uh brit we actually did devos all throughout the week and we're gonna be doing that for the rest of this series we have a message on sunday and we got devos going throughout the week did you check out those devotions i did i did and i what i loved about it is it really helps me go deeper in the topic so you hear it on sunday and i think a lot of us do or maybe you know part of our lh online film what i love about it is you can watch it when it works for you but i think for me personally i like the practical applications so the devos were great it kind of hit you in a lot of different ways so you have you know the question here's the topic we're diving into you and sammy kind of unpacked it this week all talking about identity for me i know that's been a struggle personally in my life and i know for so many people and especially in today's day and age where like everyone is telling you what you should be or who you should be and realizing hey no our identity is found in jesus and once we get that straight no one can ever take that away so doing that and then for me i'm a journaler so that's how i like write and i process so taking those reflective moments taking time um and then i made sure to share them on social media because the ones that really spoke to me i just think that's a really good conversation point i've had a lot of conversations throughout the week with other people so yeah on behalf of everyone watching everyone who's done them thank you because i know you had a big part to play with that so that's been awesome to see hey you know and i just love i love taking what jesus says and saying how can this affect my daily life i don't want to i don't want to hear what god says and go man that sounds great and then not have it affect me yeah and so for heart you know i i had the privilege of working with sammy on these so i got to really dive into that and it does affect me yeah and i know that this week we're going to be talking about soul and and that's equally as powerful and um you know i'm someone who i'm a processor when it comes to emotions i need jesus's help and understanding how my emotions you know how to process that and make sure my personality is pointing at jesus and not at myself or something else and that's why i liked like having something every single day throughout the week because it just made it at the forefront of my mind every single day and really helped me think okay am i approaching this the way that jesus would want me to approach it and not the way that i'm wired to as a human you know so that's what i loved about it too you know and my approach is when when i don't listen to what jesus saying i'm missing out on a blessing he has that's you know like it's not this idea of like i've got to do it or else he'll be mad no no yeah i want to do it because i know that there's good in that yeah well let's take a minute let's just welcome anyone who's joining us who's new to the lighthouse community or new to lh online we are so happy you're with us we would love it if you would reach out to us let us know you're new you can text lhconnect to 24587 and that just begins a conversation that we can have and get to know you a little bit yep absolutely and so if you're not new around here or if you are new around here no matter how long you've been part of our family i believe jesus has something super special and powerful for us here in a moment we are going to go into worship and then we're going to continue in our current series the core week two we've got sam pastor sammy bringing another message so i'm really excited about that we're going to close out with more worship and i just want to encourage you guys as you're worshipping really sit in this moment so i know some people i'm a pretty active worshiper i know some of my friends are like i have to sit like two chairs away from you maybe you're more quiet and introspective however you worship however works for you just really take that and sit in that to prepare your heart to connect with jesus and all he wants to do this morning i love that you you don't have to fit into an expectation worshipping jesus yeah worship jesus as he made you if you're if you're an extrovert if you're an introvert you can worship jesus and so wherever you're at if you can stand up that's great if if not if you can just prepare your heart we're going to step into the sanctuary now and we're going to join with our whole community let's do it now [Music] [Music] we need no other hiding [Music] we place is we know [Music] promise never to forsake you begin [Music] upon the lord [Music] jesus christ has broken every day [Music] all of the heavens [Music] [Music] [Music] is this we know [Music] i will call upon the lord [Applause] every change [Music] right christ has broken every day we believe in god jesus name will break happy [Music] oh [Music] [Music] is jesus name [Music] [Applause] is strong enough to say [Applause] rise your shackles are no more but jesus christ has broken every i will call upon [Music] every day [Music] [Music] bless your name lord god we gather together as your sons and daughters this morning and we are just so grateful lord that we have a god who is not only strong enough to save who is not only mighty and sovereign but he is a god who never sleeps never takes a day off is never in a bad mood and always invites us to come and be with him and dwell with him and worship him and be in his presence you are a good good god father we worship you [Music] i love you lord [Music] is [Music] with every breath that i am [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] did [Music] [Music] [Music] is i give you everything goodness today [Music] with every breath that i have [Music] [Applause] is [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] let's just take a minute and reflect on our own lives and express to the lord our gratefulness and our thankfulness to the way he's been good to you let's just take a minute [Music] so and of course he's never shown his goodness and his kindness to us more so when he took our sins upon himself and nailed them to a cross and then rose again in resurrection and gave us life with him and in him and because of his great love for us god who is rich in mercy made us alive with christ even when we were dead in our sins it is by grace that you have been saved and god raised us up with christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in christ jesus in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace expressed in his kindness to us in christ jesus thank you for resurrecting us with yourself [Music] the head that once was is crowned with glory now the savior now to wash [Music] [Music] of perfect love now shines for all [Music] in your name your name is victory all praise will rise to christ our king your name your name is victory [Applause] all praise will rise to christ our kings [Music] [Music] is and your name your name is victory our praise will rise to christ our kingdom your name is [Music] by your by your spirit i will rise from the ashes of defeat the resurrected king is resurrecting me in your name i come alive to declare your victory the resurrecting [Music] is resurrecting me by your spirit i [Music] [Music] to is your victory the resurrected king he [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] the two soldiers watched three days his body there would not remain [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] name i is alive to declare your victory the resurrected king he [Music] is is [Music] is [Music] amen amen it's sort of hard to go from all that to just that is it not amen why don't we uh i don't know if you're joyful in the house let the redeemed of the lord say so amen amen amen in a world gone mad it is certainly good to come in and have your hope renewed or at minimum reminded or at minimum told you so you have something to sort of reach down and be grateful for i don't know about you but in a dry and weary land it is wonderful to come into the house of the lord with the people of god with the spirit of god and be reminded of the sovereignty of god and um i'm just grateful to be with you this morning and i'm grateful to have our online community with us that reaches farther and wider than we ever expected we just want to say that we love you we consider you part of the lh family part of the family of god we're so grateful to have you with us can we just give them a warm welcome this morning let them feel [Music] and uh where you find us if you are joining with us for the very first time and if you are i just want to say what an honor it is to have you here with us and our heart and our our prayer our cry really is that you would experience this most incredible jesus that's radically shaped and transformed our life what we want for you when you come to lighthouse is not just for you to experience a community that's warm and welcoming and loving but we want you to understand that's all a byproduct of the one that we met and his name be jesus and we want you to meet him as well and have an experience that radically transforms your life and whether that's sitting in this room or in our chapel right now or online we just want you to know that we love you but our prayer for you is that you would meet the most incredible loving savior as we have and where you find us is you find us in the second week of a collection of talks we launched into last week entitled the core and i'm not going to make uh long in by way of intro i want to jump right to it this morning i got a word on my heart and i really believe that uh uh over the course of this past week as i've sort of been chewing on it digesting it myself the simplicity of it is all together in and of itself it's it's life transforming now that shouldn't come as a surprise because that's god's word what he promises is that when my word goes out it doesn't return void it shapes and it cuts and it does a work that we so desperately need my prayer is that it would do the same for you this week as it has done for me so i'm gonna pray we're gonna get right to work we're going to have a good time doing it excited yeah yep all right jp is that's really all that matters [Music] let's go ahead and pray heavenly father we love you lord jesus with humble and contrite open and fertile hearts father we we pray that you would come and dwell richly in and among us father we know that the anointing is in your word father that it's sharper than any two-edged sword it divides soul and spirit cuts the very motives and intents of our hearts shows us things father that we haven't even understood about ourselves and i pray father as we spend a few moments together in your word it would do just that we don't go through emotions we don't want to leave here the same as when we arrived we want to experience you we take great confidence in the fact father you want to be with us even more so than we want to be with you and so in that we revel pray that your holy spirit come and do a work that we can't do for ourselves and we pray this in the matchless and incredible name of jesus and all god's people said amen last week we lunch launched into we launched we launched into this series entitled the core and we looked at this aspect that as you consider the physical body your biological construct the muscles and ligaments and all they're in when it comes to sports medicine or sports trainers or physical therapists or coaches they will tell you that your physical well-being and strength is by and large rooted in the health of your core that if you undermine your core and you try to circumvent it giving credence and and attention to your extremities and other areas of your body with a neglect of the core well you're only creating more work for yourself and you're all together undermining your efforts that in your physical body your core is what provides your posture it provides your balance it provides strength to all the other areas of your body and that truth about your physical body is only as equal as that truth applies to your spiritual person as well that your spiritual well-being and your health is largely dependent on the health of your core that you and i designed by god form fit fashion fearfully and wonderfully under the infinite design of this sovereign divine architect he created you and i with a core and that core as it's as it's laid out clearly in scripture is what jesus said in matthew 22 when asked of him how is it that someone should ultimately walk with you and prioritize certain things as supremacy or as most important when it comes to following you what jesus said is that he said oh well the first and foremost that is the greatest commandment of which you've heard probably he said i want you to love god with all of your heart all of your soul and all of your mind when you do that when you do that it's going to provide you a healthy core therefore out of that strength you're going to be able to love your neighbor as yourself do know that you and i cannot love our neighbor we cannot treat others prefer others live sacrificially for others until we have a healthy core you may get away with it for a little while but eventually you're going to hit a wall where you run out of steam and you realize i don't have the strength to actually do what god's called me to do all of that is predicated on the health of your core and so jesus essentially said that your core if you will these areas that are essential and their well-being essential is your heart your soul and your mind last week we looked at this idea of the heart that being your identity the real you not the masqueraded you not the not not the veneered you not to pretend you the real you and this has a ton to do about what you think about you and what god said ultimately is i want you to give me all of you so i can give you all of me that i want you to carry my identity over you i want you to see you as my kids no matter your label no matter your reputation no matter your past sins no matter the train wreck and baggage that you bring to me i have called you loved i have called you mind i have called you redeemed and so you are not what you have done you are who god says you are can i get an amen somebody amen and so so that's that's you and until you get that right well everything else is going to sort of be out of gear but it begins with identity living with this sort of kid mentality under the sovereignty sovereignty of god's fatherhood living as a student wanting to learn and understand and grow in wisdom and living empowered by his holy spirit not your own husband or will do or stick-to-itiveness or pull yourself up by the bootstraps but by the divine holy spirit the same spirit that raised jesus from the dead that now dwells in your mortal body you live with that strength and that strengthens your core your heart but today i want to talk to you about your soul your soul as some would say would be the seat of your emotions your your mind your will and your emotions your personality your idiosyncrasies your certain individualities your soul the inside you and that just is just as important is part of your core and i want you to understand something in this very sort of big macro idea as we sort of talk about this this morning and that is is that you and me all who sit within this room the chapel and orlan online you are not a body with a soul as much as you are a soul with a body let me say that again you are not a body with a soul as much as you are a soul with a body now that's not just word arrangements or semantics that means something that puts the rightful weight where it should be that within this room this this room is filled with souls more even more more importantly than bodies that online what is watching and hearing and listening right now are souls those within the chapel are souls and that that means something because when all is said and done when all all you you come to the end of your age whatever date time and place that is your body goes into the ground your soul lives for eternity it's a big big deal that we understand that many times what we do is we give a ton of credence and importance to our body how we look and you know and what we have and how peeled back and tucked in and and and shape it it might be but this is precisely why scripture says what does it benefit a man to gain the whole wide world look good act good and and have good and yet forfeit their soul why because the soul is the core of who you are we see this actually in the very beginning of the creation account in genesis it says this it says and the lord god formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life listen to this and man became a living soul that's what we are it's who we are that's when god designed you when god designed you he was he was more more focused upon your soul maybe than anything else you and i are a living soul and so understanding that and then giving rightful weight to that is is is essential to you and i and right now we live in a culture that's giving a ton of credence and and time and bandwidth and attention and talk to you're in my mental well-being mental health emotional health and the like and i think it's it's it's a it's a conversation that we should give credence to in no way shape or form do i want to undermine it but i really do believe that there's a plight and that we take too much in and our intake has really halted cultivated really the the the unhealth that we have but many times when you talk about mental health and emotional well-being and and the like it is foolish to do so with the neglect of one's soul and so often our emotional unhealth or our mental wellness is directly connected to the health of our core or our soul right now what you find in the midst this culture amidst that conversation in the midst all of our comings and goings is that one of the biggest plights that we struggle with whether this is in the family of god or outside of the family of god is that we struggle with what i want to call the the syndrome of the restless soul that you're in my soul's motor is constantly in the red that we're grinding and we're going and we're striving and we're stressing and we're worrying and we're thinking and we're not stopping it's the restless soul it's the soul that that that fatigues you and i because it it has it's it's chalk full of anxiety or chock full of searching or chock full of of this pursuit of of rest that inherently in humanity whether it's in the states or global or or in your family or those that you know everybody has a soul that requires rest and the problem is is that it's rest less it's not finding rest we live in the information age now they're starting to point at the disinformation age we don't know what's true and what's a lie what's right and what's a fallacy we're consuming information at a rapid rate beyond anything that we can consume to any degree we have more at our our beck and call we have more luxuries and we have more self-help and we have more lectures and we have more ted talks and we have more sort of tutorials and we have all of these things that promise to provide you and i rest and yet it's only increasing our restlessness if you're wondering where does all this come from why is it that intrinsically so many struggle with restlessness well actually actually what i find very interesting is you can go all the way back to the old testament and find what scholars will conclude is the curse of the restless soul and it took place in what is known as the first murder that ever transpired in humanity between two brothers one named cain one named abel and abel and cain had this relationship that ultimately lent itself to where cain had this deep envy and jealousy and contempt towards his brother so much so that he looked upon him with wickedness couldn't stand his brother and so one day them being out in the field cain rose up the scripture's going to tell us and slaughtered his brother and when he did so god immediately came came to cain and said and said hey king where is your brother seeing this from his sovereign throne watching this transpire he came to cain and said where where's your brother cain with such a haughty heart such an unhealthy core such pride said as a retort to god what am i my brother's keeper essentially what god wanted him to know is yes you are your brother's keeper that's your blood that's your kinsmen that's it that's that's that that's your family yes and then god said this now now you are under a curse and driven from the ground which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand when you work the ground it will no longer yield its crops for you and you listen to this will be a restless wanderer that's what he said about cain that you're going to go but you're never going to find you're going to search but you're never going to get laid hold of you you're going to be in pursuit but you're never going to be satisfied you're always going to wonder where my people are where my where my fit is where my purpose lies where my where my contentment is oh he says you're going to go but you're just going to be a restless wanderer you're never going to be satisfied your soul is never going to find the seat you're never going to be content and he said that that's that's the byproduct of your sin that you're always going to be in pursuit but never laying hold of your wheels are always going to be spinning you're always going to be thinking but you're never going to find rest now here's what i'm really happy to tell you if that didn't depress you enough that now we're in the new testament new covenant come on somebody which means jesus redeemed all of the payment and the hardship and the curses and the and the the the unhealth that we had with god of the ot now in the nt oh now jesus took all that upon his back satisfied the wrath of the father redeemed our souls to be in right relationship for all of eternity and yet i will argue we still wander we still even we can claim the name of jesus we can come to church regularly we can be in the house of god with the people of god and the spirit of god and we still restlessly wander we're looking we're thinking we're buying we're purchasing we're scrolling we're we're stressing and never having our fits met talk to people all the time and and i'll listen to them and i listen to the pace and rate of their voice i i ask them you know tell me what you think about at night when you're all by yourself ask them what they do as a as a mean time sort of to rejuvenate and and what it sounds like to a heartbreaking degree is just restless wandering we have a culture right now that's so pervasive and so pressuring upon you and my eye to say don't you ever stop wandering don't stop wandering don't stop searching don't stop scrolling don't stop buying don't stop dreaming don't stop oh bigger better batter shinier newer cooler get it that's you dream go pursue b all in this sort of marketing scheme to say and when you acquire it you're going to find rest now think about this for a minute think about this for a minute that right now doctors are prescribing in rapid degree upon our certainly in the western culture what is now known as low-grade low-grade perpetual depression it's not a real sort of apparent depression or or even visible if you will it's just a feel that people communicate and so then what what what they are we'll do is just prescribe something and this depression is i can't stop thinking can't stop worrying can't stop you know going down in my in my thoughts i can't stop being melancholy i can't i can't get up so much of it is rooted in a restless soul and so what happens is we just prescribe it medicate it and mask it when in fact what it is is in so many ways not to undermine modern medicine by any degree but here you may what ultimately many times is not prescribed is an unhealthy core a soul that's restless now more than ever in the history of mankind are we prescribing sleep aids as an additive to give someone so they can find just physical rest why because maybe you've gone through a season of life just like me of where the one place god did design us think about this the one place i don't care how wealthy you are what your pedigree is how educated what what you've accomplished how much you oversee god designed his creation in such a way that your biological clock has to shut down and require sleep just like a baby i don't care how accomplished and big and bad and authoritative you are you have to crawl into a fetal position pull those knees towards your torso tuck those hands behind that head flip that pillow and go nut night just like a baby and i believe god designed that in humanity just to show them you are not sovereign you are not as in control as you think you are i will shut your motor down when i choose and whether you like to or not or you want to grind it all out or you want to be up all hours of night or you want to pursue your dreams i will make sure that you humbly take a posture beneath me because i don't sleep nor do i slumber i don't grow weary and i don't get tired but even in that even in our sleep maybe some of you sit within this room or watching you would say when i go to sleep i can't shut this down some now have actually developed a phobia of the night time why because everything goes quiet except their soul and so they lay there and they stress and they worry and they can't stop thinking and they lose physical sleep over it and their souls never find rest in it this is why solomon wrote in ecclesiastes he said this what does a man gain this is sort of depressing but bear with me what does a man gain for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun all his days his work and his pain and his grief and even at night his mind does not rest man and the reality is is that we're all on the same playing field all looking for the same thing and it's called rest even when you slumber you can't shut it down even when you're in fetal position you can't stop thinking what does it gain a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul i think when it comes to humanity i don't want to oversimplify although i am a bit of a reductionist i like to know what the least common denominator is that we're dealing with when you look at a world in turmoil and you look at people going crazy and don't forget it we're the people so often it has to do with the unhealth of our core that we don't know who we are neither do we know whose we are so our heart is not healthy and we don't know where to find rest so our soul our core remains unhealthy as well so the question then begs itself where then do you and i find this deeply desired rest where if the plight is is that we're popping pills and we think that we'll find rest in vacation or a new location or a new occupation or a new medication some of us we've tried all that now we're thinking you know what maybe i need to get a bigger home or maybe i need to get a different spouse or maybe i need to trade my kids in and upgrade them or maybe i need to try all these things only to realize wait a minute that didn't fix it the question then is where do you and i find rest and as cliche as it may sound i want you to hear it afresh that our souls find rest in god alone alone [Applause] our souls find rest designed by god and for god infinitely and wisely and sovereignly under the hand of god to find rest in god alone and this is why the psalmist says my soul finds rest in god alone and my salvation comes from him now here's here's what i want to point out there just for just for clarity notice the exclusivity of that verse notice the psalmist did not say that sometimes my soul finds rest in god or or occasionally i find my fit in god or every once in a while when i exhaust all other mediums i find rest in god no no what he said is i've come to realize that my soul finds rest in god alone there's nowhere else there's no there's there's nothing that i've tried or pursued or laid hold of that provides me the rest that my soul requires and i've tried it all i've tried it all in my pursuit of rest as i say often it led me right to the precipice of death in my addiction of trying to find rest of trying to get my motor to stop and trying to find some temporary joy and trying to find a feel good i almost went all to the point of death and some of you you carry the same exact testimony this is why saint augustine the great theologian one time said you have made us for yourself oh lord and our soul is restless until it finds rest in you but you don't want to know the problem let's just get real for a moment the problem is is that we prefer and are spring-loaded towards counterfeits and i'm i'm telling about myself i ain't throwing stones or condescending towards you i'm telling you right now we love counterfeits why because we believe that counterfeits are more efficient that i can just get prescribed something or i can buy something or i can go somewhere or i can change something and it's going to provide me the rest that i'm looking for i don't know why i don't know why god must must baffle him but he sees the frailty within us that we do this some of us will spend a lifetime on that hamster wheel chasing the elusive rest that you need all in pursuit of counterfeits it reminded me this week i was i was thinking about um years ago i i bought this import car and it was the first car that i ever owned that required premium gas problem is i bought i bought a car that required premium gas with uh no actually i was getting ready to say with like unleaded low-grade fuel money i didn't even have any money okay so so i rocked this old car that was an import that needed premium gas and after a while of of filling it up i was just like me because i was ignorant and because i thought i knew better than everyone i was like well gas is gas gas is gas 93 87 i don't sweat that i'm putting 87 in and and that's gonna work all right all right i saw you know back to the future he put banana peels and you know soda cans and you know i'm i'm just putting gas in and it was in two weeks two weeks and i don't know why it even went that long i talked to a mechanic he's like you're lucky it should have been you know two days two weeks i mean i i'd come off a light you know and you know i almost had to wear a neck brace you know you know when pistons you know warming up you know little injectors all clogged and then it would catch and then it would snap my head back and you know and that's how this this beautiful car that was supposed to be the smooth ride and nice and luxurious that i bought way beyond my pay grade not knowing you know what i was doing started to put 87 in a 93 tank let me tell you what happened not only did it slow my my my flow down and not only did i look like a goofball jerking all over like i was getting ready to drop the transmission out of it but it cost me an arm and a leg to have my system flushed when i realized i'm breaking my motor because i'm putting cheap gas in a premium tank why do i tell you that because when you pursue counterfeits in your pursuit of rest thinking that in some way shape or form it's going to provide you rest it's not that just rest remains elusive you are destroying your core you're creating greater unhealth you're creating trauma you're creating despair you're creating hopelessness you're creating depression you're creating further further feelings of i'm never going to get there why because you were designed to run on premium by god and for god with the filling of the holy spirit of god you were designed for that and i got the sneaky suspicion right now that culture is waking up and if it's not waking up to its need for premium let me tell you what it is waking up to it's simply waking up to 87 doesn't work 87 doesn't work in my tank anymore that cheap thrill doesn't work in my tank that cheap thrill almost cost me my life that cheap thrill now has has called me cause me to look back over my wake and realize i have left a mess everywhere i go why because i'm trying to find rest and so when we start realizing that my core is shot and that i'm not healthy and i'm not happy and i'm not content and i don't have rest for my soul then this invitation rings the loudest and the invitation is from jesus himself when he says this come to me all you who are weary and burdened all you who have put 87 in a 93 tank and i will give you rest and take my yoke upon you and learn from me you know why god said that you know what a yoke is a yoke is what they would put over oxen to pair them parallel so when they pulled a row it would be even and what jesus was saying is here's the deal i want for you to yoke next to me and you don't even have to pull i'll do all the pulling for you you just you just stay connected to me i don't need your strength i don't i don't i don't need you to bring a whole whole lot to the table just give me you that's all i want and yoke upon me and learn from me and then listen to this listen to what the sovereign king of heaven says and he says for i am gentle and humble in heart are you kidding me i the one that created everything seen and unseen as the apostle paul will say that in him we live we move we have our very existence the one that just sovereignly allowed you to inhale and exhale the one that sees you and has your very hairs on your head numbered and watches us perpetually put 87 and a 93 and then says for i am gentle and humble at heart and this is what he says and you you will find rest for your souls everything you're looking for jesus said it's in me everything that you stay up at night worrying about i got it all your problems i already see the solution all the hardship i got you all the weariness i want to refresh you all the heaviness i want to lighten you and you will find rest for your souls the question then becomes okay sammy all right amen amen word says it i'm in it i want to do it what's it look like give me give me give me a handle give me a handle last week we talked about finding identity finding a healthy soft heart it was become a kid again be a student again be filled again though this may sound really simple what i'm going to tell you it's going to be hard for you and i to do but when it comes to scripture it tells us how how to yoke with jesus it tells us how that we get 93 in the tank and i just want to give you a couple things real quick and the first is this is that you and i must learn to be still before god there's no replacement of it see i said it was simple it's not going to be easy some of us don't even know how to be still and here's what i'm convinced of i just want to let you know this okay and this is a whole nother conversation for a whole nother time and maybe i'll preach a sermon on it but i'm telling you right now when scripture describes satan the enemy of your and my soul as the prince of the airways i think there is a correlation a direct correlation to how much technology you and i have at anywhere we turn how over stimulated your eye gate is how addicted to cell phones we are how many entertainment options we have i think all of that is to keep or at least the degree of that is to keep you and i from simply being still still this is what psalmist said be still and know that i am god this is what he said this is what he said be still shut it all down be quiet stop going thinking striving working manipulating be still and know that i am totally completely eternally fully in control i'm in control of you i'm in control of what you can't see i'm in control of the future i'm in control of all that you can't fix and and and and do i am god and and just as as a reminder you are not that's what it means to feel like a kid be still and know that i am god for some of us what we could afford to do just practically speaking is to set an alarm on your phone and every hour on the hour just be still for five minutes turn all sound off turn all distractions off turn all needs off and just be still for five minutes and watch your core your soul get refreshed you know what that's going to require is you and i saying no some of us we don't even know that that word we just say yes to every impulse every emotive response every emotion every every feeling we just say yes to it we just go it's going to require your soul to say no no to your soul i know you want to look i know you want to scroll i know you want to pick that up i know i i know you want to you want to call i know you want to text i know i know you want to do something no no this is why the psalmist says this but i have stilled and quieted my soul like a weaned child with its mother like a weaned child is my soul within me beautiful beautiful perfect perfectly said about paul samuel foster that your soul needs to be weaned from what it feels like it needs and it wants and it demands and and and and your feelings tell you to give it your soul like a child when it's weaned from a mother that's been nursing it what happens it cries it throws a tantrum it flips out it doesn't sit still it bows its back yada yada had three of them asher still does it anyway hey i love you i'm driving with him lately so i have to throw a little jab at him okay so so all this stuff all this stuff it needs you and i to tell it no no you don't get what you want no you don't you don't get what you emotionally demand no you don't get what your feelings say no you don't you gotta you gotta wean it you gotta wean it from all of its impulses and get it still for it to grow quiet for it to grow healthy i have learned to wean and quiet my soul for some of us we would say hey hey sammy i don't have time to be still i would say you don't have time not to be still that your soul was built by god for god to run on 93 which is found in stillness second be still before god second is we must learn to wait for god we're just not we're we're not built to move at this rate we're just not you can't sustain it it's not good for you it's not good for our kids it's not good for our culture it's not good for for your core it's not good for your heart it's not good for your soul the psalmist says this be still before the lord and wait patiently for him just say lord i know you're going to speak i know you want to be with me i know you want stillness before you i know i know god that you are going to come and show yourself real to me and this is why this is why psalm 130 says this i wait for the lord and my soul waits and in his word i put my hope my soul waits for the lord listen to this more than watchmen wait for the morning what does that mean that in ancient palestine when watchmen would stand guard when they would be out on on the ramparts as they were called certain soldiers that would that would stand watch so they had night shift and they would wait for the morning because that means they could clock out and the new squad would come in but here's what they would do they would wait knowing without a shadow of a doubt the morning is coming it's not it's not like they had never heard just like anybody else in humanity even to present day nobody has ever heard the morning not showing up now maybe in alaska when it goes through those weird lights you know where it's dark forever they still know when when morning comes that's that they figure it out by clock but in in israel they knew the sun's coming up and they knew the sun's going down and the psalmist says i wait knowing you're going to come i wait with a certainty knowing that as i'm patient my soul waits patiently for you you're gonna show up and speak to me you're gonna show up and show yourself real to me the question is not will you the question is will i be still and wait for you and while you wait while you wait here's just three questions when you read scripture there's one pastor that i love and there's an incredible book that i've gleaned so much from it's called the soul detox from craig rochelle there's another book called how's your soul by judah smith incredible but therein they say that that one pastor writes that he actually um he reads scripture until it speaks to him he waits in the text reading until something jumps out and goes that's that's there you are god there you are this a.m this evening this this time i'm reading it you're speaking to me here's my questions about it what do you want to say to me what do you want to show me and what do you want to do in me because i know you're going to show up what do you want to say to me god that's going to either change the trajectory of my life that's going to shape me that's going to convict me that's going to comfort me that's going to encourage me what do you want to say to me that i need to walk in and what do you want to do in me how does your soul get 93 in it be still before god wait patiently for god and then lastly that you and i must habitually reflect on god's goodness sometimes if you're going through the fury of life and it's hard and it's tensions and it's stressful your soul aches for you to remind it of god's goodness to where to where you tell your soul like a weaned child no i'm not going to let you speak to me as much i'm going to speak to you and i'm going to remind you of how good my god is of where my salvation is rooted in of what i have to look forward to of who my protector and my provider and my sustainer is i'm going to tell my soul with a 93 degree petrol what it needs to hear so that it gets healthy in my core and the psalmist says this in psalm 116 be at rest once more o my soul for the lord has been good to you for you o lord have delivered my soul from death and my eyes from tears and my feet from stumbling that i may walk before the lord in the land of the living your soul no matter what anybody would tell you no matter how many counterfeits are offered to you no matter what what habitually you do know this your soul needs that it needs to reflect for a time god you've been good god you've been so protective in providing you've been so so so present god you've been good i've i've i've been an idiot but you've been good i've been faithless you've been faithful i've wandered you came looking for me i i've been i've been all up in the cookie jar of counterfeits and you keep reminding me and let me tell you something right here right now sometimes when you don't have something sometimes you're in the thick of it the mire of life is so so waist high that you're thinking i don't have anything to recount right now i don't have any blessings or bigness that i can that the recent testimonies that i can lean on you know what you better have in your craw you better have god's word hidden in your heart you better have someone else's testimony that you can reflect on the truth about god's word that says amen it stands true whether you've experienced and present or not you better have his word hidden in your heart and so it was just the other day during the snow day that i was sitting there and and my mom came over she came over and she was sitting on the sofa had a little fire going ruth wanted to play little cards ash and i were talking and mom sat down on the sofa and she said hey can i tell you something that i got in me as of late and sitting on that sofa she just recited psalm 91 verbatim over us there we were in the living room she just didn't didn't open a bible didn't pull out our phone didn't just and the whole atmosphere of the room shifted so this morning i want you to hear what it sounds like to have god's word hidden in your heart when you need to reflect on your goodness because your soul needs 93. and so mom mama dukes come on up girl [Applause] whoever dwells in the shelter of the most high [Music] will find rest in the shadow of the almighty i will say i will say of the lord you are my refuge and my fortress my god and whom i trust surely you will save me from the fowler snare and deadly pestilence you will cover me with your feathers and under your wings i will find refuge your faithfulness will be my shield and my buckler i will not fear the terrors of night nor the arrow that flies by day nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness nor the plague that destroys at midday i will only see with my eyes the punishment of the wicked a thousand will fall at my side and ten thousand at my right hand but it will not come near me i will trample i will tread over the lion and the cobra i will trample the great lion and the serpent because he loves me says the lord i will rescue him because he call because he acknowledges my name i will protect him and this is the end of this this psalm is coming up the end of it is coming up and i just want you to hear what god is saying to you through this psalm his love for you this is a love note from jesus from god almighty to you all it says he will call on me and i will answer him i will be with him in trouble with a long life i will satisfy him and i will show him my salvation that's what god says through psalm 91. i think i messed up ain't nobody now but um i just want to say this is not 93 this is 100. this is premium having the word of god in you it's got it's when you're going through storms and darkness you've got that word in your soul that you can you can you can call on and you can say it over and over again because you know it and i just want to encourage you my son david said to me mom why don't you start memorizing scripture and i've never tried in my life to do that and and so i i started trying with small songs and uh and then and then i found psalm 91 and i want to say there's a system to it so you can't fail so i really want to encourage all of you to get the word of god in your heart and in your soul so that you don't forget it amen amen you pray us out you pray yourself [Music] want to stand with us and mama dukes is going to pray us out lord jesus i i thank you for today and i thank you lord for giving me the gift of your word it sustains me lord and it sustains all of us i thank you for this congregation i thank you for what you're doing in this house and i pray blessings on on these peop on these these brothers and sisters lord that i love and i ask that you would give them rest for their souls amen and you would bless them with your peace lord so that they can learn more and more and more about you amen amen [Applause] [Music] oh lord when the world has fallen quiet you stand beside me [Music] do praise forever [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] forever [Music] singing [Music] forever remember remember mercy cries before me cries behind me your loving kindness has never failed me christ before me cries behind me [Music] your loving kind [Music] behind me [Music] behind me behind me [Music] [Applause] [Music] forever [Music] is [Music] man as always so powerful yeah like we were talking about getting into the soul and it's a great start but we're not stopping there we're gonna have core devos going all throughout the week and i i'm not lying i'm excited to hear what jesus tells you shows you does in you does through you as you continue to lean in to the life-giving words that he offers to us yeah absolutely and like we were saying earlier it's not just the one and done this is i'm feeling you know when we we're talking about this sermon here it's called the core i'm actually feeling it and i can feel it like my soul that's transforming so super excited to hear those stories and hey i just wanted to take a second and we talk about it a lot on staff i just wanted to say thank you to all of you who faithfully and generously partner with us financially we couldn't do things like the core devos or even the countdown or lh chat we couldn't do that without your generosity jesus is moving we are hearing stories we are seeing lives transformed week after week so thank you so much for giving we could not do this without you yeah if you haven't heard of lhchat you can talk to us right now on the app of the website if you want to you know talk to us about what you heard in the message if you want to ask about what's your next step we would love to chat with you about that we're a community of people following jesus and just looking to help one another as we do that so if it's okay let me pray for us and yeah we'll move forward well jesus thank you once again for our community for our family that god when you when you redeem us when you save us not only do we find that we have relationship with you but we find that you place us in a family we have brothers and sisters we are never alone and god i pray that as we go through this next week and we we dive into your word and and we hold your hand holy spirit and go into our own soul that you would bring healing that that you would bring light and life that we we can't do that on our own but we know you offer it help us jesus to accept what you're giving to us we ask this in your name amen amen well hey we've loved spending some time with you today we will be back next sunday 9 50 a.m sneak peek we're gonna have a little contest so we actually did a poll to see who has the cutest pet on staff so we're going to be doing that you don't want to miss that 9 50 next sunday we'll see you back here for the countdown you

Channel: Lighthouse Church

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Length: 94min 27sec (5667 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 21 2021