Who, Not How

[Music] [Music] hello Valley Creek we are so glad that you decided to join us online today wherever you're watching from we want you to know we miss you and we're grateful that in this season we can leverage technology to worship together if you want to stay connected with us follow us on social media Facebook Instagram and YouTube are all ways you can stay connected in this season and now we're gonna worship with two songs feel free wherever you are to invite God into your space remember God is with you and hope is on the move forget the wonder of how you brought deliverance the exodus of my heart you found me you freed me held back the waters from my relieves hopefully I you're the [Music] [Applause] you are you [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you is the guard and you found [Music] two artists from Oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] thought of every victory hallelujah hallelujah and you have to depart the sea you and me through the deep [Music] now to me for all things will be [Music] things will pass some way but his kingdom he is due [Music] soon the God of all crazy [Music] oh Jesus but you are in our salvation the altar of redemption only won't lose [Music] [Music] - [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] hi Aaron hi lived either [Music] hi Aaron yes we lift up the name of Jesus with thankfulness and with gratitude we thank you for who you are for the amazing things that you've done and the amazing things that we know that you will do and we lift up the name of Jesus over every area of our lives that needs a fresh touch from you today would give you permission we invite you and we welcome you into our homes and into our hearts today Holy Spirit would you come and speak to each and every one of us would you come and move in power in our lives today we worship you but give you all the praise in Jesus name Amen [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] alright hey everybody welcome to Valley Creek online I am so glad you are here with us today and wherever you are in the world I want to ask you to just for a moment as a sign of faith and a sign of connection will you just give a big welcome to everybody who's joining us all around the world come on wherever you are right now give a clap give a cheer give a holler and let's welcome each other together and I know you may think that feels silly doing that in your house but it's a sign of faith that reminds us that none of us is on our own that we're in this thing together that we're on a journey with one another and if this is your first time with us a whole bunch of people all around the region just gave a big cheer and a celebration to welcome you in because we want you to know that hope is here everyone is welcome and Jesus changes everything you see we are one church that is currently meeting online that carries the hope of Jesus to thousands of locations a movement of hope for the city and beyond and I love what God is doing in the midst of this hard season you see God's taking things that Satan intended for harm and he's using them for good and you just saw that video of our next steps enter Hope On the Move food relief because of you and your generosity we've been able to feed more than a thousand families with a week's worth of groceries come on in the midst of this season we still get to be used by God to bring the hope to the lost lonely and broken people in our region and I am so grateful for how you're responding for how your generosity is is blessing the people around us to be a movement of hope for the city and beyond means we actually have to move to bring hope to those around us and that's what we are doing as a church you see I know this hasn't been the easiest season for so many of us in so many different ways and now things feel like they're changing again and the government is starting to allow things to open up slowly but and I know that's gonna create a whole lot of different emotions and a lot of us and so I want to say the same thing to you today that I said on the very first weekend this whole thing started and it's simply this let's be people of honor no matter what is happening no matter what the government is allowing or what restrictions are there let's be people of honor we said on that first weekend that you got people on a spectrum you're gonna have people over here that have a lot of anxiety and don't want to don't want to see anything open back up and you're gonna people all the way over here with a lot of anger that are like let's open everything up and you're gonna have people in the spectrum all in between and it doesn't matter if you're over here or if you're over here or somewhere in the middle let's be people of honor in this season I mean I love this verse it says honor one another above yourselves come on in this season let's be people of honor let's understand that not everybody has your perspective or your opinion that there are some people who are gonna want things to open faster than you and there's gonna be some people who want things to open slower than you that there's gonna be a spectrum of how we all view this world that they're stories in all of our lives that we know nothing about and so we can do choose to be people of honor in this season you see honor is the culture of the kingdom and we honor people not because they deserve it but because we are honorable because we are people of Honor that choose to honor that they have been made in the image and likeness of God that we choose to honor the gifts in their lives the destiny upon them the calling that God has given them and this is a season where we can honor one another even though we may be a little bit anxious about things opening up or a little bit angry that things aren't opening faster in fact I love this next verse that says submit to one another out of reverence for Christ come on this is a good verse for this season submit to one another as a way of honoring Jesus and you know what that means that means some things are going to be different than you want them to be they might be a little bit uncomfortable little bit inconvenient maybe your gym might not do things the way you want them to maybe the schools aren't doing things the way you want them to maybe even the businesses that you're a part of maybe even our church is not going to do things exactly the way that you want them to be done is things start opening up too fast too slow restrictions not all that okay let's just submit to one another and choose to extend a lot of grace in this season knowing that everybody's trying come on I love what Jesus tells us in this next verse he says a new command I give you love one another in this season maybe we can choose to set aside our opinions and our preferences to love each other because if you think about what love does love is patient love is kind love is not self-seeking love keeps no record of wrongs love is not angry and love always perseveres come on everybody in this season is trying so if something's going away that you don't like too fast or too slow you don't need to jump on line and tell everybody how disappointed or upset you are you know what you need to do you need to pray for them and you need to bless them in Jesus name and you need to submit and say hey you know what I'm just grateful that I have a school that my kids can go to hey you know I'm just grateful that there are businesses in this town hey you know what I'm grateful that there are things to do in places to go and I submit and honor them in Jesus name come on this is a really really big deal we can't do what we've done for the last few weeks and then all of a sudden get really grumpy because things are going faster or slower than we want them to so are you with me on that oh come on are you with me on that because if we're gonna be a movement of hope for the city and beyond we got to choose to be people of Honor you see I know this hasn't been an easy season and I know we've all talked a lot about a lot of different stuff with this o coronavirus we've talked to each other we've talked to our family we've talked to our friends we've talked to strangers on the internet we've talked to ourself even along the way and yet the one person we should talk to the most is maybe the person we've talked to the least you see in seasons like this we need to talk to God we need to pray and converse and have conversation with him that's how we keep a healthy heart and get through these hard seasons in fact I think if you just think of Jesus for a moment a lot of us when we think of Jesus we think he kind of had it kind of easy until the cross like I mean he's the son of God he's got supernatural and power the Spirit of the Living God upon him he can do signs and wonders and miracles we're like I was pretty easy for him but actually that's not true man his disciples betrayed him his family thought he was crazy the crowd wanted to use him the Pharisees wanted to kill him it wasn't all that easy for Jesus along the way and look what he did I love it says but Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed Jesus would pull away from everything often and he would pray he would talk to God he would share his heart and then listen to the heart of the Father and that gave him the courage and the strength to keep walking forward to be a man of integrity and honor and what I think is so cool about this is if you think about you you are a beloved son or daughter and whom the father is well pleased in Jesus you have the spirit of the Living God inside you the same one that Jesus has you've been given supernatural power so the same life that Jesus had in a lot of ways you now have in him and if he had to withdraw often to pray how much more to you and me and in a sense what's happened in this season is a whole lot of things have been removed that have forced us to lonely places shelter-in-place and the invitation has been to talk to God or how about the Apostle Paul the guy who writes a lot of in the mood New Testament and Paul had a rough go to man he was stoned shipwrecked persecuted beaten hated they tried to kill him and yet look at this next verse Paul had a thorn in his flesh we don't know what that is probably some kind of sickness maybe like the coronavirus in his life and look what it says it says three times I pleaded with the Lord I prayed and I ask God to take it away from me to heal me from this sickness but he said to me my grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness I love this when Paul has a difficulty or a challenge in his life what does he do he prays and when he prays what happens he hears God's voice he receives God's grace and God's power shows up in his weakness when you and I choose to pray in hard seasons just talk to God we hear his voice we received fresh grace and his power shows up in our weakness and I don't know about you but I could use a little bit of that in this season like I could use some wisdom I could use some perspective I could use some patience and some peace and some power and so all we got to do is talk to God and yet if we're honest we we often don't you ever wonder why like why is it when it feels like everything is falling apart around us we don't go right and talk to God well I think the reality is I think if we're honest we just don't know how I think it's in our heart I think we want to I think we actually believe that God can do some amazing things I just think we don't know how and so we're kind of afraid and intimidated so we don't really lean into that space and you know what the disciples didn't know how to either and so they watched Jesus have this amazing prayer life and then finally one day they said Jesus teach us how to pray and Jesus says okay and he gives them the Lord's Prayer which maybe you're familiar with and he gives them these kind of this paradigm this perspective this isn't the exact words you have to use he's just giving them handles like this is how you pray say our Father in heaven Hallowed be your name your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us today our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we also forgive forgiven our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one maybe you've heard that before and as you read that and you see that it might feel like a lot of big words and you're like I don't know that that really helps me how to pray all that much okay let me just put it in a modern paraphrase for you and it would simply go something like this here's how Jesus says how to pray he says you just pray like this hey dad you're a really good dad and you have a great perspective on life and I'm so grateful you're my dad because you're kind and compassionate and loving and generous and I know you have great plans for my life and so I don't want my plans for my life I want your plans for my life I want your kingdom to come into my world and I know because you love me you're gonna meet all my needs and I know that when I mess up I can go right to you because you're gonna forgive me and as you forgive me you teach me how to forgive those who have hurt me and I know you are going to protect me and give me victory dad you're a great dad it's really a lot easier than we think and so what I want to do is I just want to walk through this with you really quick I want to just break it down into the simple principles so you can apply this to your life because this is a season to talk to God and so this is real fast and then I want to actually do it with you in a moment so see if you can just grab this with me let me break it down for you the first thing is just our Father in Heaven now when the disciples would have heard the words our Father that would have been like mind-blowing to them you and I are used to hearing this prayer this way it's maybe is familiar to us the disciples they never saw God as a father they saw him as this distant creator the Almighty the powerful judge and all of a sudden Jesus says hey when you pray say our Father and it would have opened up their mind to a whole new reality the call was their father and they were beloved sons and daughters you see when Jesus uses the word our who is the are the our is you and me and Jesus in other words what Jesus is saying is he's saying hey the same way I talked to the Father you now can talk to the father because of what I have done I have brought you into the family you now can go right god you don't need somebody else to translate it for you you're not a servant you're not a slave you're a beloved son or daughter and whom the father is well pleased and just like my kids can come running into my office anytime they want we can go right into the throne room of heaven and talk to our good father you see the key to the entire Lord's Prayer the key to prayer in general is understanding who you're talking to is more important than how you pray who you are praying to your father is more important than how you pray because when you understand he's your father and you're a beloved son or daughter you know you don't have to use all these perfect words you don't have to get it right why because the father just wants to listen to your heart and he now hears us on behalf of there he hears us the same way that he hears Jesus because of what Jesus has done it's not about what we do it's about what Jesus has done our Father in heaven in heaven not somewhere way far out because Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is within us the kingdom of heaven is at hand our Father in heaven in other words heaven a healthier perspective a higher way of thinking a higher a sense of wisdom that allows us to have a better picture of our life our Father in Heaven go to the next one hallowed be your name hallowed be your name in other words worship gratitude Thanksgiving Jesus says start by acknowledging he's your father he has a great perspective and then just thank him tell him who he is tell him what he has done tell him that you're grateful for his kindness and his patience and his love and his provision in other words just worship God and be grateful because when you start worshipping God what starts happening is the atmosphere around you and in you starts changing when you start worshiping you stop focusing on what's wrong with you and you start focusing on what's right with God you stop looking at what's happening to you and you start looking at what God has done for you and what worship does is it lifts up the name of Jesus over your life and then faith hope and love righteousness peace and joy begin to rain down you see worship allows us to rest from our worry worship when we give thanks to God it allows us to rest from the worry and the anxiety and the fear and the doubt and the depression why because when you're worshiping God you can't worry and you can't be anxious and you can't be depressed at the same time so it's an invitation for us to be free and to build our faith so we give thanks and we worship and then it goes to your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven when you get that he's a good father and you start thanking him for who he is all of a sudden you have a boldness and a faith to take the authority that God has given you and it's this your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven in other words Jesus is telling us we have the authority to invite God's kingdom into this world to invite God's will into our life to invite heaven to earth this is about submitting and surrendering to the lordship of Jesus allowing him to rule and reign over every area of our lives and when we get were beloved sons and daughters were saying it's our father's Kingdom and he has empowered us to bring his kingdom his will and heaven into the circumstances around us we have been empowered by God to bring down his grace and his truth his power and his peace and his provision and so we want his will and his kingdom and heaven to come into our marriage and our homes and our business and our finances and our bodies and we've been empowered to do that in Jesus name and then he says go on and say give us today our daily bread like it's okay to ask God for stuff he says hey when you get it your father and you thank him for who he is and you start declaring the kingdom and inviting his lordship it's it's okay he wants you to ask him asking it will be given to you seek and you will find knock and the door will be open to you he already knows what you need before you even ask him and I love that it says today our daily bread in other words this is daily dependence upon God not asking him for something once every 10 years like every day God would you meet my needs today everything that's going on in my life would you would you meet what I need that I might have all that I need in your name and a love the daily bread who is the bread of life it's Jesus Jesus is the bread of life so what he's really saying is why don't you ask for a fresh revelation of Jesus for a fresh encounter with Jesus because in Jesus all of our needs have been provided for and then if you go to the next one he says and then say forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors in other words because he's your good father you can go right to him with your mistakes and your failures you can confess and repent and as we acknowledge the areas where we've messed up in our lives were reminded of the finished work of Jesus that in Jesus there's no condemnation there's no fear there's no striving we have been fully forgiven as far as the East is from the West we're a new creation in Christ Jesus and as we start understanding how much he has forgiven us it gives us the strength to go ahead and forgive the people who have hurt us in our lives and then he says and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one in other words say God there's some real challenges and temptations and difficulties in my life would you give me victory over those things prayer reminds us that victory is where we start from not what we have to fight for because of what Jesus has done and we say would you be the one to deliver us to protect us to keep us safe in this broken and lost and dying world come on it's not about using those exact words it's about understanding the heart of who our Father is and what we get to do come on hey dad you're a good dad and you have a great perspective on life and I'm so grateful you're my dad because you're kind and compassionate and loving and I am so thankful for you and I want your will in my life your plans and your purposes and I know you're gonna meet all of my needs because you're a good dad and you take care of me thank you for forgiving me and giving me the grace to forgive others and I know you're gonna help me find victory and breakthrough and that you will be the one to protect me you're a great dad and I'm so grateful for you in Jesus name you see what I think is so interesting about prayer this prayer is really two things it's intimacy and its authority its intimacy because the whole thing is having a conversation and a relationship with God our Father and our Father wants to hear our hearts and he wants to speak to us so it's about intimacy and it's about Authority it's about stepping into the authority that we've been given as followers of Jesus that God has literally empowered us as citizens of heaven of representers of his kingdom and who he is as hope carriers in this world that he has given us his children the authority to pray down his kingdom and his will and his heaven into the world around us to bring all things into the submission and the surrender of the lordship of Jesus to bring all things into the alignment with the finished work of what Jesus has done you see prayer is not about getting what you want it's about getting what you need you know what you and I need we need to be reminded that we're beloved sons and daughters that he's a good father that we live in his kingdom and that he is with us and for us and is taking care of us and so what I want to do today is I want to invite you to wherever you are - just pray through this with me real quick you see what I love about this whole coronavirus season is what it's allowing us to do is integrate our faith into our daily life I think so many of us we think our faith is at the church building and when we leave the church building we kind of leave our faith there but no our faith is meant to go into our homes and maybe you've never prayed before that's okay but maybe you've never prayed in your home before that's okay maybe you're a student and you think I don't know how to do this that's okay let's just do it together and invite the presence of Jesus into our homes into our world and into our life right where we are right now because I know this has been a difficult and challenging season for all of us and God is inviting us to pray and Jesus has showed us how to do it so let's just do it together so you do this with me will you just close your eyes wherever you are just close your eyes and let's just have a moment together and if you are like listening and you're like I don't even believe in this stuff that's okay why not just give this a try what could that hurt close your eyes and position yourself and maybe for a moment can we just let's walk through each one of these our Father in Heaven can you just start by just acknowledging and maybe just talking to God saying you're my father you're my father and if you're my father that means I'm your beloved son or daughter and as you acknowledge him as father can you just become aware of his presence there right now the good father is with you in whatever room or whatever place you are see he's the dad that you always wanted he's not like your dad growing up no no no he's exactly what Jesus is like because Jesus came to show us the heart of the Father and so maybe you just say dad father thank you that I am your beloved son or daughter and you are well pleased in me because of Jesus our Father in heaven maybe you just say God I want your wisdom and your perspective in my life in this season and then as Jesus tells us hallowed be your name maybe can you just start giving him thanks just give him thanks for who he is for what he has done take a moment and just worship Him just just focus in on your fault just tell him who he is maybe you thank him for your family have you thanked him for your finances maybe you thinking for your health or this church or your life or or or or his goodness and His grace I don't know what are you grateful for come on just start giving him thanks give Him praise lift up his name tell him who he is to you and what he has done on your behalf let that gratitude start changing you and as you give him thanks what it does is it starts to build your faith because you know he's good and so now let's pray that his kingdom come that his will would be done that heaven would come to our earth and so where do you need his kingdom to come where do you want his will in your life maybe you even say right now God I invite your will into my marriage I invite your kingdom into my finances I invite your heaven into my home I invite your breakthrough into my body come on where do you need to submit and surrender to the lordship of Jesus where do you need to invite his authority and his love and the Kingdom of Heaven into your world and then he says to go ahead and ask him for our needs so come on right now what do you need tell him ask him come on I know you need something so ask him that maybe you need a breakthrough now maybe you need a job maybe you need a healing in your body or a miracle maybe you just need a friend or some compassion and some mercy and some forgiveness I don't know what do you need come on he wants to hear from you and he says whatever we asked for in prayer in Jesus name we shall receive don't be afraid to ask your good father come on ask him what do you need and then he says to ask for forgiveness and offer it to others so maybe right now what's been in the dark that you need to bring out of the darkness into the light but where do you need to say Lord would you forgive me for this I confess and repent for my attitude for this action for the way I've been treating people during this quarantine season or for the lack of faith and that I've have had as I'm just I'm I've been so full of doubt I don't know what do you need to just say Jesus would you just forgive me for that and then feel the cleansing forgiveness of Jesus washing over you that in Jesus name it has been paid in full and when we become aware of that forgiveness we can forgive others so who's one person in your life right now that you're offended that one person you've been holding a grudge against one person that even as I say that that name pops up so fast in your mind that's the person in Jesus name and if you feel like you can't do it even ask him God please give me the courage to forgive them because I'm not ready to Jesus we choose to forgive would you help us bless cancel the debt and credit the count the way you've done for us come on let him remove those rocks out of your heart and then the last thing he says is pray for protection so right now would you just ask the Lord to protect you to protect you and your family and your life in this season to give you victory in Jesus name come on have a little bit of faith that rises up to say I'm not fighting for victory I'm fighting from victory because of the finished work of Jesus so just ask him come on right now Lord would you bring your protection would you bring your victory would you bring the security and the safety that I crave in this season would you bring that into my life into my home and into my family in Jesus name come on he's a good dad and he loves to hear from his children and he wants to move on our behalf so thank you Father that you're teaching us how to pray how I'm broken and desperate and and hard seasons we're able to cry out to you and you come with compassion and love and grace thank you that because of Jesus you hear us today so we rise up in relationship and intimacy with you and authority to say your kingdom come your will be done in our homes in our lives in our church in our city in our region in Jesus name we pray a man come on you can do that in Jesus name and if you say is is that really what we wanted to take the whole day to do today the answer is yes because I want to equip and empower you to do this in your own life and so my challenge for you this week is take that little template and do it every day this week Monday through Friday come on we'll put some stuff on our social media to encourage you along the way we'll give you that that little paraphrased version out there but come on this week every day just take some time to just acknowledge your good dad give him some gratitude and some thanks invite him into your life ask him to provide for your needs you'd be amazed at what God will do as we start turning our heart and our attention as we stop talking to everybody else and just start talking to him in Jesus name hey if you're here and you want somebody to join you and anything that you're praying a need in your life if you go to our website and fill out the prayer request thing we would love to join you in those prayers for those of you that want to give you can give online at Valley Creek org giving is just part of acknowledging that God is the provider of our lives that we don't provide for ourselves he's our provider and we want his kingdom to come and his will to be done in every area of our lives including our finances in a moment there's gonna be some response questions I would encourage you as a family or whoever you're watching with this your friends or even by yourself take some time and go through those questions it's one of the best parts of online service but I pray that you go this week knowing that God is good that Jesus has forgiven you that you are loved and everything is possible in Jesus name I love you we'll see you next week [Music] you

Channel: Valley Creek Church

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Length: 43min 55sec (2635 seconds)

Published: Sun May 03 2020