THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING - The Problem With Plans

well every relationship we enter into has an impact on our personal lives every single one now obviously some more than others like your parents are gonna have more of an influence on you than like your mailman unless he's just like a really dynamic mailman but every relationship has some kind of impact on our lives you may have some professors or teachers you basically forgotten but you've had others that their perspective worldview has shaped yours you're never the same after having interacted with them so all different relationships touches with different levels of impact but for each one of us there's a handful of relationships that when we enter into them they leave no area of our life unchanged and for donna and i where we stand in life we get to meet with pete a lot of people entering into to kind of critical relationships in life we talked a lot of people that are entering into marriage and we've talked to a lot of people who are entering into Parenthood having a child and those relationships spouse and child are some of those relationships that when you enter into those no area of your life remains untouched and my guess is most of us in here know that that's kind of self-evident like Moore's I know that it would be weird if you had a friend get married and you were to see them later and say hey man how's it being married and they go you know what it hasn't changed my life at all like really nothing's changed you wouldn't celebrate that you would say like y'all need counseling like what's wrong what happened like you don't know you just make your life together with that person that deep intimate union has implications for how you spend money where you live what you do with your time where you are on Friday night it has implications for every part of your life and same with being a parent if someone had a kid and you said what's it like being a parent they're like you know what it has changed nothing about my life I spend my money the same I do all myself the same you go I don't think it's supposed to be like that I think becoming a parent should have a profound impact on how you make choices how you perceive of yourself when you look in the mirror and how you navigate this world that relationships should change everything and let me tell you something it is no never more true than in a relationship with God you tell humanity yeah I have a relationship with God yeah I know God that should change every part of your life it'd be weird to say you know what I have an intimate connection with the maker of the Stars but you know what it really has no bearing on the way I make choices career actually I don't even think about it most day that's a crazy collection of sentences I know the one who kick-started history and will end it I know the one who made Mars and everything between us in there and yet that has no bearing on how I see myself or navigate the world he created that's a crazy thing to say and that's James Point through most of his book if you have an intimate connection with God it changes everything it changes the way you talk to people made in His image completely changes the way you treat people no matter what socioeconomic background they're from change is the way you spend money change the way you spend time and then today's gonna say and it should radically impact the way you make plans the way you make decisions in life should be shaped by this most fundamental of all relationships it should change how you plan now it's interesting about James is he's gonna say that but he's not gonna say it gently like a counselor this should have implications on your planning he's gonna say it more like a drill instructor that's what he started with come now it's kind of like saying hey come on now you who say and then he's gonna talk to a group of people and commentators you don't say hey he's probably talking to business people right that he's talking about people who travel to trade and make money so he's talking to business people but then he's also probably talking to believers because this whole letters written to people who believe in Jesus so he's probably talking to believing business people and that's true and yet he kind of generalizes the language to discuss anybody who makes plans and basically anybody who says these five things today or tomorrow we will go they plan to travel into such a town they plan to arrive spend a year there they plan to spend a certain amount of time trade they plan to do something and make a profit they plan for their activity I have a certain result so if you've ever said I plan to go someplace arrive there do a thing and have a result James is talking to you and not only is he talking to you James has a problem with you do you notice the end he'll call you arrogant so if you've ever said anything like I'm gonna go to DC and get an internship that's arrogant I'm gonna go home tonight and have dinner how dare you I'm gonna show up to work tomorrow AVO James has an issue with you talking that way now why does he have that does James have a problem with you making plans no he does not in verse 15 it's okay to make plans is he have a problem with people making a profit no this isn't about business Jesus will tell us to make a profit with our gifts and talents we should have a good return for what we do and so it's not about that what James is getting on to is our words he says those of you say that instead you should say if the Lord wills will do this net which is honestly why I used to hate this passage because I just thought it was the Bible being super nitpicky I know I'm sorry okay so now every time I thought I'm saying if the Lord wills I'll come by for dinner if the Lord wills I'll Drive home tonight if the Lord wills I'll go to bed I'm like come on man and I just thought he was nitpicking semantics but now I realize that's not his issue his issue isn't words his issue his worldview his issues perspective what he's challenging in us is presumption that you're gonna go out and make plans and you're missing some key data before you make decisions as you walk on God's earth and what's fascinating about that is if you notice who he's talking to he doesn't say come now you who say today or tomorrow I will sit on my couch and eat chips and drool and stare at the ceiling he's not talking about people who don't do anything he's talking about people who plan to move people who want to get stuff done he's talking people to like I'm getting up tomorrow I'm going to the city I'm gonna make some moves I'm and get some money look on the latter ought to be a success he's talking to go-getters he's talking to Washington DC people those of you who want to mix it up make moves get stuff done you be careful before you let go that you don't start going to work without the right worldview that you don't start making plans when your perspective is off because if you do he's gonna call that arrogant he says you're making your plans and you're missing some key information before you do it and James is gonna chow you in two areas how you see yourself and how you see God and you need a right understanding of yourself and you need a right understanding of God if you're gonna walk the right way to the earth that God made you see it so first he's gonna address the way you think about yourself and so I love the way he does it that whole first section is just the subject if you read it he says come now you who say today or tomorrow we'll go into such-and-such a town spend a year there trade and make a profit yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring what is your life what's funny is that's all one sentence in the original and the simple sentence is what is your life all that stuff beforehand is the subject come on now you who say today or tomorrow I'll travel it arrived at a place to spend a year there trade and profit and yet you don't know what tomorrow will bring what is your life and so all that is people beforehand people who are gonna talk a bunch but are missing some key data namely two piece of key data about themselves and two about God the first one is he says you don't know what tomorrow will bring he says you're making all these plans like you assume you're gonna get to do something tomorrow and that's presumption because here's the thing you have limited visibility you don't know what tomorrow will bring and the Bible warns about that all through the wisdom literature it's interesting proverbs 27 says don't boast about tomorrow for you do not know what a day will bring forth to assume you're gonna get what you want tomorrow it calls arrogance or boasting you don't know that and so yeah you like well of course technically I'm not a prophet I don't know the future but the Bible wants you to take that in really deeply don't assume tomorrow will roll on like every other day you have to acknowledge your own limitations I don't know that I have a limited visibility I don't know if tomorrow I'll meet the one or tomorrow I'll get hit by a bus I don't know that and I really don't have control over that and that limited visibility should give us humility I don't get to control everything that happens somebody else does it's interesting I read a book years ago called the survivors Club there's talking about this lady Ellen she was heading to her her brand new knitting group very exciting so she was heading to her knitting group she got her knitting materials she was coming up she's running late to her knitting meeting and so as she was on her way up there she tripped and fell on her way towards the door very embarrassing landed on top of all her knitting stuff right when they opened the door to welcome her she's just yardsale on their front steps and so she got has to collect herself as she gets all her Gator I'm so sorry walks in the room set some stuff down sits down and everyone's just staring at her with their mouths open real awkward way to enter a group we won't do that to your community group she's wearing like what are these people's deal and then she looks and notices that her knitting needle not sewing needle knitting needle had pierced her breastplate and was resting in her left ventricle of her heart change of plan we're not knitting tonight we're gonna call the ambulance they get her to the hospital they run a bunch of tests x-rays yep that is a needle yes it's in your heart and so they began to work on that they removed that needle get it out you survived the experience then she gets a call a little bit later and says hey here's crazy we were looking at your x-rays and whatnot and while we were looking at that huge needle sticking out of your chest we noticed an enlarged lymph node telltale sign of breast cancer and so she was able to get on it early get chemotherapy change a plan for the next several months of her life as she went through chemo but she survived cancer a cancer she wouldn't have even known about if she hadn't got a needle through her chest so the needle that almost killed her actually ended up saving her life none of that was what she planned to do on that Wednesday right she thought she was knitting no you're gonna risk your life to save your life you don't control things you have no idea tomorrow what's going to happen to you and it's important to understand that I don't control it I have limited visibility and that should bring some humility I'm not gonna presume I get what I want tomorrow I don't know I had a friend who was a pastor in Houston that he was going downtown into Houston to a meeting which he never does if you live on the outskirts of Houston you don't want to go down and there takes forever it's a huge city but he had to go downtown for a meeting got down there was in a meeting meeting ended early and he realized I'm downtown I'm never downtown but MD Anderson's down here I know somebody who's in the hospital there I'm just gonna go visit him so he went and did this visit to see a friend and while he was there the doctor knows hey man you don't look so good he's like actually I've not been feeling too good doctor was like hey what are your symptoms let me take a look at you hey come here for a second doctor put him on a treadmill while he's on the treadmill doctor was like all right stop don't do anything come with me my buddy went to pick up his stuff and I said no don't carry anything and he grabbed him by the hand and began to walk him out put him in a car ran him next door rush into surgery he says do you know what was happening to you during that stress test you failed badly he said your heart was trying to have a heart attack and I don't remember the official name of the what do you call it artery but I know colloquially they call it the Widowmaker they said your artery was 90% clogged your heart was trying to have a heart attack and they call it the Widowmaker because you don't see it coming but you die right away he said you would have died today and my buddy realized oh I thought I was going to a meeting by chance I decided to go visit a friend and in doing that now I get to see my kids tonight but that wasn't a guarantee today I was almost gone and he had to realize at the end of that you know what I don't know what's happening we're not a near is as much control of this life as we say we are that I have limited visibility what's coming and that should bring some humility to me and not just humility this is interesting that was just a minor point his main point is what is your life he's like you don't know what's coming tomorrow and what is your life anyway he says you are a mist that appears for a little time and then goes it's same word for smoke he says you're like smoke in front of the Sun it just passes by for a second you're like a little mist in front of one of these pictures it's gone you're like a spritzer in a bathroom that was you you're just not here very long you are a vapor what's he saying about that there's not an enduring substance to you we go into each day like I get another day and I get another day and I get another you're just not here very long and so we can get an arrogance about well I'm gonna do this I'm gonna do that what are you gonna do what are you gonna copy a round that long I remember for me learning this in elementary school I don't even know why they had us read this they had us read a poem from the 1800's by Shelly called Ozymandias and it's about a guy he said I met a traveller from an antique land who said two vast and trunkless legs of stone stand in the desert near them on the sand a half sunk a shattered visage lies and then at the end of the poem it says and on the pedestal were the words my name is Ozymandias king of kings look at my works ye mighty and despair it was funny about that he's like man I saw what I guess used to be a huge impressing statue all it was now has some legs and a little head but then next to the LEDs it's like stand and terror before the king of King of Kings you're a busted statue in the middle of the desert bro you thought you were building a kingdom for your power for glory but you're a vapor none of us even know who you are and so for us there's a fragility to us we don't last long and that fragility should shape our priorities it should change the way we think Jesus spoke about this this is James again just ripping off his brother Jesus was telling a story in Luke chapter 12 about a guy who was very successful in business he said the guy was like man I crushed it I'm gonna cash out invest all this money and retire and have a blast eat drink and be merry I won and then Jesus ends the story by saying you fool tonight you die which you could say how am i a fool I didn't know I was gonna die tonight and Jesus answer would be no but you knew you were gonna die and the fact of your fragility should have impacted your priorities the fact that you know death is coming and all of us do the death-rate is what it's always been one per person and that fact is true of all of us in a different times in history it was more obvious different times in history even early in America they put the graveyard in the center of town so you'd always walk by that's where we're headed kids you know I remember learning about the Puritans when they were teaching the alphabet to their kids one of the rhymes was the letter a a as Adam did died so you and I wow that's real upbeat technically accurate but they wanted to let their kids know that because early in America death was always at the door now we hide it we keep the cemeteries far away and so we get surprised by what will be inevitable for all of us and yet Jonathan Edwards wrote it and his resolutions resolve to think often of my death and the common circumstances that attend death remember the first time I read that I was like dude that guy sounds depressed why would you do that just sit around and think about how you're gonna die like twelve people a year apparently died from falling coconuts you're just gonna pray like Lord let that not be me like that like what's the point of this and then I realize he's just ripping off Moses from Psalm 91 where Moses says you are like grass you sprout up in the morning by the evening it's withered away but then Moses says so Lord teach us to number our days aright that we may present to your heart of wisdom you're supposed to think about the fact that you'll end so that it will impact the way you live that my fragility should shape my priorities it should so let me ask you a question that should've done this earlier but as you're walking in here what are the top three things you're thinking about well the top three things you're trying to solve in life what's the problem you're trying to tackle what's the thing you're trying to get done what's the mission you're trying to accomplish what are the top three what its top five main things you're thinking about right now how can I get this figured out how can I get that how can I get there how can I move this what are you thinking about now let me ask you this question what if you found out tomorrow that you weren't gonna live to see 2020 that you had something terminal would those be your same five priorities I remember I talked to a friend once and she said you know what man I've attended a lot of funerals and she said when I was young I would have 10 these funerals and think what am I doing with my life I'm so concerned about this person like me and did these people notice me and did I get this position and she said every time I attended a funeral I just realized so much of what I cared about was meaningless but now as she was in ministry she said you know what's changed about my life later she said now when I attend funerals I look at my set of priorities and I say nothing is more important than what I'm doing now and I want to challenge you in the face of death are your priorities beautiful or are they broken are they never more important or they something that you go this won't matter a bit when I'm at death's door what do you let shape you we are gonna die every single one of us and we don't know when and our fragility should shape our priorities so I want to be about the main things before I go out do you see it now here's the interesting thing all of that's true and all of that's helpful perspective and I hope for some of us this encourages you to make that phone call you've needed to make some of you need to ask for forgiveness and you haven't because you're a little insecure little embarrassed a little proud right and you just thought I'll do it later Oh at some point I'll tell them oh maybe they'll just forget it and you don't have some day and you don't know that and tomorrow's a gift so maybe you just need to call someone say hey I was the jerk earlier I'm sorry or another do you need to reach out to someone say I meant to encourage you and I never did it I'm gonna start now if somebody say you know what I've been meaning to join this church get involved start serving people that's what I want to be true of me when I die I just never got around to it well you know what I don't know what I'm gonna die so I better get about the things I want to be about now some of you I hope this shapes the way you make decisions right now I just did our first funeral of passion city church DC few months ago buried him this week in Arlington National Cemetery and let me tell you something standard that was somebody that was in our ranks somebody who set up those walls every single week is now no longer with us and I don't know how long you will be I don't know that all of us will be here within a year but I want you to be able to say man I had good priorities with the fragility of my life I did good with a few moments God gave me and yet here's the reality all of that's true but none of this is distinctly Christian live every moment like it's your last I mean I could have just played you what's that the bucket list right or just played you that song I hope you dance you know I mean and just like times a wheel or something so I hope you dance I don't know I could done that but but James isn't done that not only half the message right that there's a fragility to us and that should shape our priorities we have a limited visibility that should give us humility maybe I don't know everything that's going on and so maybe I should evaluate what should I be about before I go out right but then James turns and says you've not just failed to see yourself rightly you failed to see God brightly because there's another player in this game and what he says is in fierce 15 instead you ought to say those of you say I'm gonna do this do that I'll get this done he's like you don't know that's presumption you need to think less about presumption and more about Providence you don't run this place but somebody else does so instead you ought to say if the Lord wills and then it gives you two things we will live and we will do this now those are the other failures of perspective if the Lord wills I will live what's fascinating about this too is so many people in history have come to faith when they contemplate this somebody else is driving you see at million Perini's story you see an Abraham Lincoln's story you see it for me most recently an Andrew Jackson story I just read a biography of President Andrew Jackson by mistake I thought I was reading Thomas Jefferson I bought the wrong biography it was by the same author all right don't judge me I can hear y'all doing it and I just decided all right I'll read about Andrew Jackson lived a pretty crazy life I mean he's you know gotten duels and he's weird but you know was a real life self-made man I'm doing in my own way kind of guy and made it through his presidency and towards the end of his life showed up at a church gathering and while he was there the pastor saw him in the crowd and adapted his sermons for him should pastors do that I don't know maybe maybe I'm doing it for you right now but anyway he sees Andrew Jackson and he starts listing off parts of his life how can somebody that was almost killed as a kid by a soldier that had to go through the wilderness survived all these wars he said how can someone be through all on this wilderness and all this war and see that their life's been preserved and be an intelligent person and not see the guiding hand of Providence and it bothered Andrew Jackson I'm a self-made guy but he's like wait a minute yeah how did I make it through all that so he called the pastor's like I need you to come over my house and fast like I'm busy visiting other people which really ticked off the president like you put me on hold bro but he made him sit by himself for like a day and as he sat there and contemplated his life he realized I'm not as in as much control as I thought I was and somebody else is in control and I need to make peace with that man because I don't have years left and Andrew Jackson came to faith in Jesus at the very end of his life and it changed his heart repetitive a lot of things because he started to realize somebody else is driving so James letting us know you're not in as much control as you think you are but somebody else is your will doesn't determine what happens tomorrow you don't know but if the Lord wills we will live if he wills we will live and here's the good news he wills it because you live and that's an encouraging thought your life is a gift and that grace should produce gratitude and I've noticed it usually takes a life-threatening situation for people to get that you know it's fascinating Kevin Hartz by the most recent one you know Kevin Hart enormous ly successful I love watching his career Kevin Hart just began to get in shape I don't have your chart like just begin to read all yakked and so you follow him on Instagram more and more shots to him with no shirt on you're like get a little proud Kevin you know just just some just marbling of arrogance and yet maybe I don't know I'm not judging and just making some observations it just seemed a little bit like that and then what happened he got in a huge car wreck flipped a car went dark social media we know he's hurt we know it almost cost him his life I don't know how bad and then just a few weeks ago he came back out and you see him going to rehab back braces all this stuff but the voiceover so different he's calm he's saying you know it's funny how you think you got your life all figured out and then all of a sudden in a moment everything changes and then the next thing he says was I'm so grateful I thank God that I'm alive I thank God every day because my breath is a gift my family is a gift this life is a gift and I want to treasure it and it just dawned on him I'm not in control of my life one wrong turn could have ended me but God preserved me and that grace produces gratitude I don't deserve to be here but somebody has let me that's a powerful thing I watched that happen to my friend who's a pastor when it dawned on him man that sequence of events that kept me alive I was gonna die today but I just happened to drive downtown and that meeting happened to end early and so I happened visit a friend and a doctor happened my symptoms that doctor happened to decide to help me and that doctor happened to realize it and was able to get me to a surgery where I could immediately have my heart fixed so I could see my kids tonight he said somebody was willing to keep me alive and it was not me because the normal course of my life I would have been dead by the evening god preserve my life if he wills we will live and he willed it and I live and I say thank you because I didn't have to be here and I'm here I felt that when I hurt my back I remember when I injured it and I remembered being there with that doctor he told me hey I don't know if you'll be able to walk again and then he pointed at my pregnant wife and he says but I know you won't be able to hold that baby and I remember when he said that it was like my face got hot the room started to spin I'm like this can't be real like this is a nightmare and he said I can't fix you you got to go home and hope your back fixes itself it was terrifying to see my vulnerability to that I can't stand up by my own volition and that happened in a moment and yet God by His grace started to heal my back I was able to get up I was able to walk with a cane I remember I when I finally got back to preaching while the band was playing they would have me on a table back behind the curtain working on my back during the last song I'd slowly slide off and I would do like one of those FDR deals right walk with the cane and right before I got on stage I'm like go ahead and take this you just sort of walk out very dramatically gingerly give some sermons while flying on drugs they weren't my best we took them take them all offline but I tell you every time I pick up my kids I feel grateful because I didn't earn that I don't deserve that but he willed that I live and he willed that I can do this too that I'm happy about that it's the same with you and that humility should permeate our perspective it should shape our priorities I mean I had a pastor friend he used to do this he's telling buddy can we do this class he said hold up these two fingers right here he said put him right here grab his butt like for y'all are doing it come on everybody what is that it's your pulse right feel a beat if you don't you got a problem raise your other hand come find your butt yeah that's your heart pumping blood through your body question what do you have to do with that you didn't make that happen but it wasn't happening you wouldn't be here you're not making it happen now you're not sitting here going beat beat beat beat beat but someone has decided to let that continue and that's all of Grace and when you realize it's the grace of another that keeps me alive that gives you gratitude if the Lord Live wills I will live any wills then that should shoot our day through with gratitude God you're directing my story and when you realize that then that gives you the humility to go then what do you want me to do with this day because if the Lord wills we will live and if he wills we will do this or that and what I love about that is what that's saying here is that everything that exists exists because God wills it to what does that mean it means God has a will God has a desire God has a journey God has a purpose and so we're not just accidentally here there is a God who has made all this and continues to let this exist and continues to let you exist because he has a purpose he's accomplishing and we can get alongside of that and when you understand that that rescues you from a mundane life because so many people think the world's a closed system well the Sun rises and sets because the Sun always rises and sets and we go to work to earn money to buy food to get a job to raise kids so those kids can get a job to buy food and then die and then we all die and we just kind of in this little closed system that has no purpose or meaning and meaninglessness is the plague of our generation but when you've realized this know all this exists because someone wills it to be so and he has a will he has a purpose and I can align my will with his that shoots every day through with straight-up magic that makes every day amazing I don't have to be here and I won't always be here and yet there's a god who's chosen that I'm here and all of us here and we get to move so don't buy the lie we're just in some closed system has no purpose or meaning you hear that sometimes in scientific circles Stephen Hawking said that we know there's a law of gravity therefore the universe created itself that we don't need to posit a deity because we understand the scientific processes John Lennox challenged him on that in a number of ways but the mathematician from Oxford John Lennon lennox said this he asked the question I love the way it came out he said why does water boil so why does water boil he said well you could say water boils because the heating coil in my kettle causes the molecules in the water to vibrate as they vibrate they pick up heat and as it heats up it gets 200 degrees Celsius then it begins to boil that's one way you could answer why water boils or you could say because I want some tea and both are true and just because you understand the scientific process does not remove the need for agency so don't go oh the life just kind of spins on because this is the world and it just keeps going no it keeps going because someone willed it to be so so don't lose the wonder that there's a will behind all of this I love the way GK Chesterton talks about an Orthodox he called it the ethics of Elfland he said I'm tired of this mentality that says there's nothing magic about the universe it can all be explained away he says yes you can explain the process of how things work but you can't explain the why it works that way the why sounds just like fairytales he said in fairytales I say princes become bears and you go ok and some of you go that's a fake and he's like but look at your world eggs become chickens he says that's weirder he said I know Prince's that look more like bears than chickens that look more like eggs you just accept that well it's become chickens why oh because we understand becomes an embryo yeah but back it up that's weird it's a weird process in this whole place we can understand the process of how it works but the whys just straight magic because God chose it to be that way and the fact that it keeps rolling on like this is completely a gift of his we are not in a dead universe that just got wound up and left behind and I love it he likens it to a child he said a child likes to kick and rhythm and he said that's not because of an absence of life an excess of it is the same with you the Sun goes rises and sets rises and sets not because it's an absence of life some machine but because of its an overabundance of life because God has not lost his youthful vigor that when he sees the Sun Rise and puts it down he's just like a kid little kid do it again do it again do it again and the reason the Sun keeps coming up is because God loves to see it that way the reason why all daisies look alike because God's not tired of making daisies that this world rolls on because there's a will behind it because God wants it to be that way he wants this world to work and he wants you to work within it and so you can look at that and say you know what I don't know what's going on unlimited but you know I'm fragile and that fragility should shape my priorities I'm not here very long but you made this place you made me you have a will and I want to align my will with yours it's the Lord wills I will live and I live so if the Lord wills I will do this or that well I want to do this or that now here's the thing I know I've said all this and for some of you none of this sounds like good news you go ok then so basically the point is I'm not in control of my life someone else they control me life hate this message because some of you like control and you hate being told what to do and for some of you someone had power over your life and they abused it and they abuse you so talking about the sovereignty of God and your fragility bothers you I don't like this I don't want Providence I want my plan and here's the reality of that James has grabbed a sentence that was actually kind of common in the time for ancient Greeks they would say if the gods will if the gods will this craft will make a defense Allah and I can all see it if the gods will I'll make it home alive to see my family and they said it that way because they were just very close to death it was always kind of up in here like hey about half these boats crash so if the gods will make it if not never see again like they just didn't know but as they said that there was a resignation to it because the gods were capricious and mean and they were like the gods may let me live they may kill me and I don't know man it was just an admonition of just their vulnerability to forces outside the control it's not a fun play to live James doesn't say that James says if the Lord wills we will do this to that and he takes the personal name Lord in Hebrew is the name Yahweh we translate Lord is the personal name for God the Covenant will name for God the name God said I'm giving you this name as a covenant like I promise to love you I promise to be here with you like a husband and a wife and it's the name given to Jesus he is the Lord it was the first Creed of the early Christians Korea Yaesu Jesus is Lord the one who leads me is the Lord and I can know him and I can trust him and the more I trust him the easier it is to submit to him it's not some random capricious deities controlling my life it is the Lord who loves me how do you know he loves you because he's not asking you to do something he wasn't willing to do himself that Jesus when he saw the wreckage of humanity God did not stand far off but God willed that his son would enter the story and Jesus Christ took that infinite condescension to become a human being with you and me and he stepped into this world he took on humility he didn't come to accolades he walked around as a homeless man and yet he was gracious to those who are hurting he was tender to those in pain he was forgiving of those who were in shame he was beautiful and yet what happened when he walked this earth he said I say what the Lord wills for me to say I do what the Lord wills for me to do I will submit myself to the will of God and when he finally got to the end of his life knowing that cross was coming he said Lord if there's any way to let this cup pass from me let it but not my will but yours and he kept submitting his will to the will of God and he died on that cross taking the sins of the world on himself and they buried him but that he didn't stay dead and he made death not a cave we enter into for eternal sleep but he blew out the back and made it a valley that we walked through the valley of the shadow of death but we come out the other side and his most tragic day became our most victorious that his death became our pathway to life that that cross is not a dark thing but an illuminated thing because it brings life and his submission to the will of the Father though painful for a season exploded into life like a seed in the dirt it's bloating with much fruit and the same will be true of you the same Jesus that's submitted to the will of his father who is good and whose purposes are redemptive tells you submit to the will of your father walk with Him and I promise you he will not waste your life and so this can be a good thing God's purposes are better than mine I don't want to build my little sand castles that fade in time I want to build his kingdom that races on into forever I don't want to raise up my little banner that will be blown away by the slightest wind I want to raise up the banner of the name Jesus because it will echo through eternity because he's the true king of kings and Lord of lords I'm going with him and so that's what we're called to today I want to line my will with his and when I understand that that produces wonder every day's an adventure I don't know what's coming but I know the one driving and he's not gonna give you all the information so I just align my will to his I will keep in step with you and for some of you that means getting involved in church and you make it well man I don't even know if I want to get involved in church what I really do is I want purpose and meaning in my life I'm lost well I guess what you may arrive in a place in six months where you get that diagnosis and you're laying in a hospital bed but there's six of us around you holding hands with you praying over you because you took the step next week to go to friendsgiving and not be so long but put yourself out there and you got into a community group into a Fight Club you got to know some people so there's six months down the road when that diagnosis did come you have some people around you that love you and you get to know the extreme warmth of having a community that cares but you don't know if that diagnosis is coming you don't know what's going on all you know is he put in front of you you should go to church and you did it today and that's good now what's next or others of you you won't be the one who gets to diagnosis somebody else in your community group will and you'll be the person holding their hand praying over this person that right now is a stranger to you but in six months from now you can't imagine doing life without but here's the deal you're wrestling with a deep insecurity because you weren't sure if you were loved the right way as a kid you don't know if you have any friends in the city and you kind of look at social media and it kind of paint your insecurities and you're going how do I get out of this web and what's gonna happen is six months from now you're gonna be holding someone's hand praying over them as they march into the face of Jesus and as you're holding their hand you go this is so worthwhile this is exactly who I want to be this is the kind of life I want to live as I die now suddenly I'm liberated from the tyranny of self-absorption that was coming from my social media but not because I tried to just because I took this little step of getting to a community group and I knew these people and suddenly my life is shot through with purpose you can't see all that your visions limited all you can see now as he said don't neglect the gathering together let's encourage one another as long as it's called today that's all he's gonna give you he's not gonna tell you the rest but you can know he's guiding things and that's not oppressive it's liberating it's not liberating to have no idea where the story's going if Harry Potter was born he said what's this life about I don't know what's it about to you is there real evil in the world dissolved more evil I don't know is he evil to you do I have a purpose in my life I don't know do you have a purpose someone tell me what's going on it's not oppressive to tell him yeah man there's real evil in the world but you've been born for a purpose and you can fulfill that purpose how are the mechanics gonna work out I don't know man but I know you should probably figure out how to use this wand I think it's gonna have something to do with this [Music] and same with you there's real evil in the world but Jesus done something decisive about it and he wants to use your life to make a difference he doesn't waste the lives of his people this is precious to me the blood of my saints precious for their tears I keep them in my bottle he knows your pain and he knows you he's positioned you for a purpose and you say well what am I gonna do in five years I'm not going to tell you that that's behind the curtain of mystery but I'm gonna tell you today that you were made to know me so why don't we crack open my word and listen to what I have to say to you I know you were made for community that we are members of one another so why don't you go ahead and probably over times getting to know some people you know I know that the forgiven people forgive people so why don't you make that phone call you been scared to me and I know when I take steps with him I look up and sometimes he just lets the path unfold but at the end of these days let me tell you you're gonna want to live that life when I did that burial this week at Arlington National Cemetery the man's a hero by every measure of the word for a service to our country absolute hero but I was sent all this stuff about the kind of life he lived that wasn't maybe necessarily printed on the medals he won as many of them as there were but I look at his life and God calls husband's to sacrifice to love their wives and he asked his wife how can I serve you and she never cleaned the house today he was loved he knew she hated cleaning the house so he just did it rode a bike to work for ten years so he could save money to adopt some kids from overseas every time he switched deployments gave away his car to somebody who needed it just live the kind of life you will have wanted to have lived when you died I had a mentor tell me that we're all gonna preach our own funerals someone will get up and say something but everybody knows what kind of person you were so what kind of person you want to be he didn't know that 20 19 was gonna be the end of his time here but man he lived the way you would have wanted to live if you knew it was your time and I want that for you I want you to look at my life and say I know I'm transient so I'm gonna get around God's purposes I know the Lord wills that I live and I don't want to take a day for granted I know Jesus marched through this life in obedience to his father and I want to march and rhythm with him and I know he led through a valley of the shadow of death and I may go through it too now but he came out the other side and I'm rolling with him so if you know what to do and don't do it that's sin he said God's not gonna tell you everything but he's gonna tell you some things you need to do and let's get about doing it and trust him to do his part we don't get to know everything but we get to know him and that's enough that's enough to live a beautiful life so at the end of it we could say you know what I did something what a few years he gave me I took my little flicker of a flame and I put in that eternal flame of Jesus I took the little brick of my life and I stacked it on the cornerstone of Jesus to build his kingdom I took my mouth and I used it to sing an eternal song that'll echo into eternity I took my life and I aligned it with the purposes that matter most that's my prayer for you and for me

Channel: Passion City Church DC

Views: 27,719

Rating: 4.9232612 out of 5

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Id: dEZDmVlwSA0

Length: 42min 8sec (2528 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 20 2019