Down.
Gone, [music]
gone.
Now my [singing] sin is dead and gone.
And I sing hallelujah.
[singing]
Done. Dawn. [music]
Jesus. [singing]
And I sing hallelujah.
[singing]
Oh.
[singing]
Oh, man. Well, hello everybody. Good to
see you.
Good to report that we didn't lose
anybody at the beach last week.
I hope no one came here uh last Sunday
expecting to find us on our two two time
two Sundays a year we're away. Uh
usually one Sunday in July we go to the
beach and we have baptisms and a
barbecue and a nice day um there. And
then at the chus Sunday we're always at
a picnic in the park next to the river.
So if it's those two Sundays we're not
going to be here. Other than that we're
open 50 Sundays a year. Yeah. So we're
still here. We're still doing that. So
praise praise Jesus for those things.
And I'm so grateful that it was last
Sunday for our beach day and not today
because it is hot. It is last week was
like the most perfect weather. I mean,
it rained for a little bit, but it was
really fantastic and wonderful. Um, and
then I have the great praise report that
uh I did get three-year visa. So, I'm
very very grateful that I got three-year
visa. Um, it's my first time ever to get
a three-year visa. So uh the prayer
really did work and really did help
because there's no there's no
explanation there's no criteria from
which they like you would know I qualify
for one year two year three year they
can give you up to five years it's
solely at their discretion and um so I'm
just very grateful that God put the
right people with the right favor and I
didn't know until I actually received
it. So they they didn't I just knew I
got my visa accepted I didn't know how
long. So I'm very very grateful for
that. So um praise Jesus for those
things. Um at the same time as we're
here in summer and you know welcome all
of our guests and our visitors um
friends who come and visit us in the
summertime and then people who are
first-time visitors who found us. Uh
we're really grateful that you're here.
um you know with the transition of
summer and the transition um even in our
own community right now it it's a very
interesting time because uh we just had
to say goodbye to some friends uh who
have moved to Canada and say goodbye to
other friends who who've moved on to the
next stage of which God has called them
to do and so we just had like too many
people in the same exact week like the
Lord moved on so like summer is this
season of change and transition. And I
don't know how you are with change and
transition. Um, but I'm not necessar And
it's kind of shocking, but I'm really
not good with change. Like I'm the
person who who traveled like four years
non-stop. You know, the Lord sent me out
on an outreach uh and uh I just it just
kept going and going and I slept in over
like 450 beds. But that was like normal
because it was the normal
the change now all of the sudden when
you when you start to adjust and you
start to have different seasons and and
then there's so much change thrust upon
you like what do you do what do you do
when you're in that season of pruning
the season I saw I watched as the the
trees were the the trees the trucks were
trimming the the um yko trees actually
just down the street here and uh I I was
I was watching that and I thought, "Oh,
it's that season." And I'm like, "Oh,
there's still an electrical wire." So,
they're always like trimming because
they don't want there to be a fire and
they're and they're trimming for for
these different things. But this is a
season in which the Lord prunes
and the Lord prunes and that we might be
able to grow. And then the world is in a
season like it's every other week. We
don't know which new war is happening.
We don't know which new crisis is about
to happen. We don't know, you know,
somebody else comes up and like this is
the week that the all the stock market's
going to crash and this is the week that
the housing is going to crash and this
is the week that there's going to be a
next uh uh terrorist attack and then oh
that there's there's no war this week
and then there's war again next week and
and and it's just this constant cycle
of like where are we standing
and what do we stand and what do we do
in those times?
What do we do as a community? What do we
do as followers of Jesus? What do we do?
Who do we look to and look for? And as
long as we're looking to Jesus,
as long as our eyes are fixed on him and
and we sing these wonderful songs, you
know, about about Jesus and come and
break every chain and and all hail King
Jesus. But when we stop to really think
about like what this means, what does it
mean to look at him? What does it mean
to be standing on the solid rock? What
does it actually mean to truly hail King
Jesus?
And I had like four different people or
five different people in my life from
somebody in Japan, our friend Cudday in
Wales, um somebody from America, another
person um as if Alaska is not America,
but you know, sometimes you think Alaska
is not America. You know, you get you
get another, you know, encouragement
there and then a few people in Korea and
it was all almost the exact same
message.
Don't look at the prune branches.
[clears throat] Don't look at the season
of of uncertainty. Look to Jesus. Look
to the vine dresser. Look to the king.
And all of this was I I got all of these
words from in over two days this last
week after the Lord changed my message
for this week. So this week I was
actually going to be teaching on
something else and then on Monday the
Lord's like no there's been too much
uncertainty and there's a bit of anxiety
and he's talking about my own heart. So
if he's talking about my heart I can
imagine some of your hearts as well
and then I got these words
look to Jesus
look to Jesus. So, I started meditating
upon that. Like, in my life,
there's even this one Christian grandma
influencer. I love the fact that there's
like grandma influencers because we need
grandma influencers.
And and she she was even talking about,
you know, she's like she's 85 years old
and she says, "You know, the thing that
I realized looking back in my life is
that more than half of the things that I
worried about never ever came close to
happening.
and I can't get any of those days back.
I can't get one of those days back. I
can't get one of those hours back.
She's like, you just need Jesus.
And I thought, okay, even the grandma
influencers having the same message like
my algorithms are being used by Holy
Spirit to speak to to heart.
And Jesus is something spectacular and
wonderful.
Because our God isn't a distant God. Our
God isn't unknowable. Our God like we
can know him and we can have intimacy
with him and he has given us his word
that we have his word that has been
found in history and in time and in
culture that we have been tested and
been proven that we would have a
confidence in the actual scriptures on
which we are basing who our God is. But
then we have thousands of years of
testimony of the saints of the people
who have said these were the words of
God. This is who our God says he is. And
guess what? This is who our God actually
is.
The whole world right now it seems like
it feels like as a Jew that the whole
world is looking to the Jewish people as
if once again we are Satan on earth. Now
there are a lot of Jews who do a lot of
very bad things
just like everybody who doesn't know the
Lord sins horribly and horrifically.
But the thing that is missed is that God
said you need to look to Israel
because Israel is the one in whom he has
released his revelation to. So that way
you have hope because why? You don't
look at Israel and go, "Wow, aren't
they?" Okay, Korea. Okay, true story. 20
years ago, 18 years ago, when I was
coming to Korea, it was like Jewish,
wow, so smart. Oh, so rich. Oh, so
successful. And I would say because you
don't know the dumb, stupid, poor ones.
I can introduce you to some if you want.
Oh, Jewish education the best.
And now on the news it's like Israel is
evil. Jewish people are evil.
And this is a plan of the enemy to twist
in the hearts of people about who our
God truly is. It is a humbling thing to
submit your life to Jesus. It's a
humbling thing to declare that he is
Lord and King. It's a humbling thing to
say that he chose one man, Abraham, and
then he allowed him to have one son,
Isaac, who then chose one son, Jacob,
who then chose his 12 sons. And they
weren't all fantastic individuals or
being, you know, they were lots and lots
of sin.
But God is not consumed
with what we're not
because he knows if we have him, we have
everything.
When we have him, we are in this place
of continuous
perfection in him. Because of him, not
because of me.
I can never be perfect just me.
Israel can never be perfect without God.
Yet because Israel exists, it is a sign
to the world that he is a faithful God.
Not because of Israel's righteousness,
but because of his righteousness.
Because of what he did,
Israel sinned. He says, "Don't do that.
They did it." He said, "Don't do that."
They did it again. He said, "I'm really
telling you, don't do that." And then,
"Okay, thank you, Babylon. Carry them
away.
There's going to be some epic movie. Did
you guys watch the trailer about Daniel?
On YouTube, if you're curious, there's a
brand new movie coming out about the
life of Daniel that looks quite epic
and, you know, very amazing. So, I'm
hoping that it's good. I'm hoping, but
I'm hoping it's more like chosen good
versus House of David bad. Like, I don't
know if you've watched any of those
shows. It's a season in which God is
revealing things through this creative
medium, the scriptures, that we would
know about his faithfulness.
His faithfulness to three young men who
were carried away into a foreign land,
who were raised by a foreign king with
foreign gods
and commanded to sin, yet they didn't
sin.
And God prevailed.
than a man Daniel who was taken away and
forced to become a unic.
Yet God spoke and used and used him
mightily for his kingdom
because he would not turn his back on
God.
And we're living in this day and this
time
that those who grab a hold of Jesus and
keep Jesus and hug onto Jesus and learn
about Jesus and and ingest his words and
believe his words and actually act on
his words.
It's going to be so important to have
this foundation that can't be shook.
How many of you have ever had financial
difficulties in your life?
Okay, three and a half. All four, five,
six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11. Okay,
almost everybody. Yay.
How many of you had health issues in
your life?
How many of you have watched somebody
else get the miracle
while you're waiting for a miracle?
And how many people have watched your
miracle while they're waiting for a
miracle?
This is the life with Jesus.
See, if we just keep focusing on me, if
we keep focusing on my problem, if we
just keep focusing on my situation, if
we keep focusing on my season and these
things, then then we get tunnel vision
and we get blinded. We get jaded. We
start to question where is God? Why did
God let this happen in my life? Why is
God doing this to me? And then you start
like highlighting. And it's amazing that
when people start to question like why
is God allowing bad things to happen to
me, they always compare and contrast
that to unrighteous people
getting what they perceive as benefit?
Why is it that that person has more
money? Why is it that person has a
better house? Why is it that that person
and and and they always use these
examples of people who don't know God
because you can't compare and contrast
your situation to somebody who is
following Jesus. It's very difficult
like oh does God love you more than love
me? Well, no. God loves you. And if God
loves you, God loves me. And if I can
rejoice in what he's doing in your life,
then I can hold on to the truth and
wait, as we talked about two weeks ago,
in the hope of what Jesus is going to do
in my own life.
I've gone through seasons of
of almost nothing
in my life. Both as a child, as a
teenager, as a young adult, as a
missionary,
I've gone through these seasons of truly
not getting any money
and having to totally be dependent upon
how is it going to happen this month?
How is it going to happen?
I remember in like 2008
200
Yeah. 2008 2009 I lost 100% of my
support as a missionary. 100% gone.
Like what am I going to do? What am I
going to do? God is good.
God will provide.
God will create a miracle. God will do
something. And he did. He He created a
miracle. He created a path. And all of a
sudden, did I get like millions of
dollars? No. I just got enough for the
now.
that I could look at that 23rd Psalm
where it says that he leads me to the
green pasture
to discover that my shepherd truly can
take me to make sure that I get what I
need
because we know in the 23rd Psalm when
we think about that leads me to the
green pastures it's not like in the
middle of Wales or UK right where you're
going back Taiwan's leaving very soon
too make sure that you get lots of love
with him. He's only got a few weeks left
before he and Dong and Eden go back to
UK to back to their life as
missionaries. Um, and things that God
has, you know, he's blessed us with an
extended stay that we weren't
anticipating.
But when he he's he spends a lot of time
in Wales, like uh very close to where I
spent a lot of time in Wales, which is
there's, you know, again, I think more
sheep than people. and you just see and
it's so open and there's fields and you
can go through the mountains and the
fields and you'll see flocks and flocks
of sheep and and open space. It's not
like Korea at all.
But that's also not like what David grew
up with when he wrote that 23rd Psalm.
He wasn't thinking of those three weeks
out of the year in which the fields
actually have grass in Israel.
But it's like this time of year
when there's no grass
and there's only enough dew from the
coolness of the ocean air at night that
wets the ground that allows the smallest
amounts of of little bit of sprouting
that comes up. And he leads the sheep
and they get to have a few more morsels
of food. And then he leads the sheep and
then they get a few more moist morsels
of food. And then he leads the sheep and
then they get he he's leading them to
their bites of food, their bites of
sustenance, their bites. So that way by
the end of the day
they've had enough.
And that's the way that the Lord like
and I and I've received that. I know
that.
And I've watched as people have been
healed miraculously of tumors and
cancer. I was in a worship service and I
and a woman had a tumor on the side of
her neck and her head was like this and
nobody was praying for her. And we all
watched as this tumor completely just
melted and disappeared.
But then I've had like this is this week
is like around the one-year anniversary
of a very dear friend who passed away
last summer
who desperately loved Jesus and served
God with all of her heart and ser their
home served the Lord and their family
serves the Lord and the generations
serve the Lord and yet
she wasn't healed on this earth
but she is face to face with Jesus her
beloved.
And then now her husband is actually
terminal cancer right now.
And so you kind of go through these
things that's you have absolutely no
control over it whatsoever.
And if we focus
on our need, we'll be like the first
century church. A lot of people say, "I
want to be like the first century
church." I think the first century
church was amazing. And I think if you
were meant to live like the first
century church, you would have been
alive during the first century.
But then most of your ancestors weren't
anywhere near Jerusalem. So I don't know
what you would have done.
But they had problems and they had
squables and they fought over money and
they fought over alms and they fought
over, you know, the the handouts and
they fought over time and they fought
over like proceeds and they they they
tried to hide. They tried to steal. They
tried to covet. They and and the
[clears throat] widows and the orphans
and and people who who your heart would
just bleed for. They were fighting one
another and each other because everybody
was looking. It's not fair. I don't have
enough. Why did they get it before I got
it?
This is a problem in Korea. We all know
this, right? Korea, no matter how great
Korea is and how like developed and
blessed Korea is, they still have a
poverty mentality when it comes to
stuff. And it's very clear, you show up
and you give and one person gets
something free and everybody else is
like, why didn't where's mine?
I want mine. I think that's why like the
driving is like the way that it is, too.
Like, you know, like I have to get that
light. that light has to be mine and
I'll cut off everybody else to make sure
I get the light before other people get
the light. And you know there it's just
this something that that is still here
because there's that fear of that was
ingrained for so many centuries of there
not being enough. So you got to get it
when you can get it.
But is that our God?
Is that our King? Is that our Lord? Is
that what we want to be the basis of who
we are?
I don't want to live in a life of fear,
of anxiety. I don't want to live a life
of fear because of of of sickness or
because of of wealth or or the lack
thereof.
And so Luke 12:22,
now this is a story you all know. This
is a passage that almost everybody has
heard. And you know why we have to hear
it again?
Because we're sheep. And sheep are what?
Thank you. Sheep are stupid.
But we can hear the voice of God, the
voice of our shepherd calling out
and bringing comfort to our hearts.
And Jesus said to his disciples,
"Therefore I tell you," do not be
anxious about your life,
what you will eat, nor about your body,
what you will put on. For life is more
than food, and the body is more than
clothing.
Consider the ravens. They neither snow
sew nor reap. They have neither
storehouse nor barn. And yet God feeds
them. of how much more value are you
than birds?
Jesus is leading us somewhere, I think.
What is your value?
What is your worth?
What's your self worth?
What's your identity worth? What's your
heart worth? What's your life worth?
I have some very dear friends of mine.
And um they're very very progressive
liberal friends. Love them dearly.
And they're very very confused by my
life because I live out the principles
that they say they stand up for, but
then they absolutely don't do anything
to actually support. They don't support
any poor. They don't support anyone in
need. They don't like volunteer or give
help. They actually say like everything
I have I worked for.
This is all mine.
Not understanding
that the very blessings that have opened
up the doors to their very careers or
the ability to have homes and families
and stability and to live in a country
of stabil stability and excess and all
these things that it all kind comes from
somewhere that goes beyond you and your
individual work. We are all people who
are in the process of stewarding these
things of God. We are stewarding this
world. We're stewarding this community.
We're stewarding our resources. We're
stewarding our families.
Those of you who have children,
you did nothing to actually bring this
child into the world.
God called these children into the
world. Just as he called each one of you
at the appointed time, in the right
moment, God said, "Let there be life."
And you lived.
And then someone stewarded you, someone
took care, someone instructed hopefully
well.
But I know some of your stories and not
everybody had really good stewards or
teachers or helpers or parents or
pastors.
But some of you had amazing parents and
amazing teachers and amazing pastors.
And we can't be we have to be people who
find Jesus
around us, who find what the Lord has
done around us, that we gain his
character in his heart, that we steward
these things
because he thinks you're more valuable
than any bird.
He thinks you're more valuable than
anything.
My friend in Japan sent me this prayer.
Yet
Jesus loved you yet while you were still
a sinner.
And sometimes we struggle. We think
like, okay, God blessed me now and oh
no, God's God's taking away. It must be
because I'm a bad sinner.
I'm a filthy sinner. I'm a dirty sinner.
I'm a losing sinner. So therefore, God
is taking everything away because I'm
just a such a bad
what what do I have to do, God, that you
won't take anymore away.
He's like, I loved you
even when you were still in sin. How
much more can we relate to his love once
we've actually received it?
Verse
25. And which of you by being anxious
can add a single hour to his span of
life?
If then you are not able to do as small
a thing as that,
why are you anxious about the rest?
We have to ask ourselves these
questions. Again, I I do this all the
time for me because Anxiety runs in my
family. I don't know about others. I
know some but not others. But like panic
attacks, anxiety, depression, um these
things run very very high in my family
line.
And I don't want to be ruled by it.
And so I always whenever this anxiety
and usually anxiety and wants to lead to
depression starts to come up, I have to
ask myself,
is this a temporary thing or is this an
eternal thing?
And I used to be a very very serious
missionary, you know, I was very
serious.
We're on the front lines for God.
and every single school and every single
like Bible school and and outreach and
everything we're do like this is life
and death and if we get it wrong people
are going to go to hell because we're
doing it wrong and we got it wrong and
we're and and it it just I remember
feeling guilty of taking half a day off
to have to do grocery shopping and
laundry.
Really true. I felt like it was a waste
of time, like I should be doing more for
God.
And it was like so
anxietydriven.
And the Lord started to teach me and he
started to take me and he started to
have patience patience so much patience
with me.
And he asked this question. Is this an
eternal issue
or is this a temporal issue?
He's like, "But it's outreach." He goes,
"Well, who is the God of the outreach?"
He came born of a virgin, lived a
perfect life, died one of the most
horrific deaths the world has ever
conceived, was laid in the grave, rose
from the dead victoriously,
and is alive to this day in the fullness
of authority and the fullness of power
and the fullness of glory. And I'm
worried that I'm gonna mess it up.
You know, in in Jerusalem, have you seen
pictures of like where the the old city
of Jerusalem is today? And if you look
and you can see like from the Mount of
Olives going to the old city where the
the Dome of the Rock is and the the
mosque and things like that. And in
front of the the eastern gate, there's a
Arab cemetery. There's a Muslim cemetery
that they put in front of the gate. And
the reason they put that cemetery in
front of the gate was they they they
know in the Torah it says that a priest
is not allowed to walk through a
graveyard.
And it's true. A a Levite
is not allowed to walk through a
graveyard.
But Jesus is from the tribe of Judah.
And he's of the high priest of the order
of Melkisedc, a different type of high
priest. He's not bound by the Levitical
Torah, he supersedes it, higher
authority.
And so, but in their mindset was this,
just in case the Bible was true, and
just in case he actually does come back
to the Mount of Olives, the same place
he went up, and he comes to Jerusalem
where it says he's supposed to walk
through the eastern gate, the golden
gate. And he's just in case when he does
all that, he comes down with his glory
and his feet touch the earth and, you
know, there's shouting and there's
trumpets and the world is paying
attention. And then he go, "There's a
graveyard.
I gotta go back.
What am I gonna do? There's a grave." I
thought he can raise every single one of
those bodies if he needs to get them out
of the way. You know, like he's when he
rose from the dead, you know, like
people came out of the grave. But the me
that that kind of mentality of like how
can we keep or keep God from being
victorious when he's already the victor?
How can we keep and ruin God's plan when
he's the one who orchestrates the plan
from the beginning? When he told Elijah,
"I have 4,000 more who have not bowed
down. I'm just choosing to work with
you." When we start to move our place
out of the primacy, we are not the
primary importance in the kingdom of
God. Jesus is.
He is what is the most important.
And I have to be reminded about that
because, you know, I get worried.
Am I going to make my plane on time?
We don't like to be inconvenienced, but
we might be inconvenienced.
We don't want to suffer, but you know
what? You might suffer. We don't want
hardship, but you know what? You're
going to go through hardship.
Those
are promises that Jesus has already
made.
And I don't know, enjoy it
because the only hardship you're ever
going to have is now.
The only time
I'm assuming everybody in the room at
some point has been sick
and has gotten well the way God created
our bodies to heal.
That's not going to happen in heaven
because you're already going to be in a
new body and in a new form and in a new
way. There's not going to be tears.
There's not going to be pain. There's
not going to be death. There's not going
to be sickness. There's not going to be
wars. There's not going to be
persecution. There's not going to be
problems. There's not going to be
personality conflicts. There's not going
to be depression or worry. Like, all of
that is temporal. It's temporary. It is
only for a finite time.
So, we have to stop ourselves and pull
ourselves back from the rabbit hole of
anxiety.
What now? What now? What now?
Does that absolve us from any planning?
No. Does that mean we don't take the
right steps and we still don't? No. Of
course, we still must plan. We still
must move forward. We still must do
things. God wants to use us. God wants
you to be the place of the extension of
the kingdom of God here. He wants your
life to be the example of the restored
kingdom here. He Jesus came to not just
save. He came to save and to restore.
That was the dual aspect of the Messiah
when he came.
So so much time in evangelical are
thinking we only get fixated on the
salvation part. It's like get yeah let's
just get saved and then everybody will
get to heaven and then like we don't
have to worry about this world. No,
Jesus became king of the whole world. He
wants the whole world to be coming by uh
influenced by his principles and his
ways and his laws. He wants our lives to
be changed forever to be more like him.
He wants the world to see
what happens when there is a storm. What
happens when there is persecution?
That's our Jesus. That's our God.
So consider the liies and how they grow.
They neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell
you, even Solomon in all of his glory
was not a raid like one of these.
Solomon would be so jealous of my shirt
today.
He didn't have this nice lightweight
fabric like we have.
If you're not able, no.
But if God so clothe the grass which is
alive in the field today and tomorrow is
thrown into the oven, how much more will
he clothe you,
oh you of little faith?
Now how do you read the voice of God?
Oh,
such little faith.
I go.
He's like the uncle
and the joyful grandpa.
I know something you don't.
I know something you don't know.
That it's okay. you with just a little
faith because he already taught us just
a little bit of faith and you can change
the whole world. We just need a little
faith.
Yeah. He actually said, "I have a little
faith." He could have said, "You with no
faith," but he said, "I have a little
faith." Yeah. That's fantastic.
Because with this little faith and then
beginning to challenge the words of
Jesus,
we can have more faith, more examples,
more testimony, more times of his
goodness. So do not seek what you are to
eat and what are you to drink, nor be
worried.
For all the nations of the world seek
after these things, and your father
knows that you need them.
He already knows what you need.
For all the nations of the world seek
after these things, and your father
knows that you need them. Instead, seek
his kingdom,
and these things will be added to you.
Look to the king. Look to the eyes of
the king. Look to the heart of the king.
Look to the character of the king. Hold
on to who he is.
Hide that in the depth of your soul and
your spirit.
And don't let the voice of the world, of
the enemy,
of your past, of your old man come and
try to steal the truth of who God says
we are.
Fear not, little flock,
for it is your father's good pleasure to
give you the kingdom.
He wants
you are in this world because there is a
part of your life which is the
restoration of God's kingdom that the
world needs.
Whether that is you who received the
miracle or you who live life in the
midst of waiting for a miracle. You who
have plenty and are generous or you who
have none and are still generous.
Whether you have the best parents who
showed you a true picture of who father
God is or you had parents
whom you have to break off every
generational curse that you would become
the first generation in Christ to
transform the generations that come
after you.
We are not all we are all called to be
the light of God.
But the king and his pleasure to give
you his kingdom is on his time and in
his way. So don't discount what the
kingdom of God has been released in your
life already. Don't discount the
testimony and the light of what Jesus
has because when you focus on what you
don't have, you lose what you do have.
He already knows what you don't have.
He knows
So let's be grateful and thankful and
focus on what we don't.
So sell your possessions
and give to the needy. Provide
yourselves with money bags that do not
grow old, with a treasure in the heavens
that does not fail. Where no thief
approaches and no moth destroys. For
where your treasure is, there your heart
will be also.
Don't let anyone manipulate you with
this passage.
I know people whom God said, "Sell your
house and give everything away to the
poor."
And they did. And their family still
thrived. And their children still grew
up loving the Lord and serving God all
these days. And I've known people who
believed, "Oh, I should sell everything
that I have." and were resentful every
single day. Bitter every day that they
gave up the life that they had.
God doesn't want you to live a resentful
life or a bitter life.
But he wants you to be taking up and
understanding where is your treasure and
what is your treasure.
If you're only consumed with storing
treasure on this earth, you have gained
nothing.
But if you use your treasure, your life,
your skills, your gifts, your time, your
family, and your resources
for his glory,
then you will gain so much more than you
ever could have imagined.
I try to be an optimist
because I grew up a pessimist.
God challenged me in my 20s to try to
change my thinking from being a negative
to being a positive. From being a
complainer
to being a praiser to being someone who
is grateful instead of somebody who is
only seeing what I don't have
and he's transformed my life because of
it. He generally gen genuinely
has done that.
So I want to encourage you.
We all have anxiety in different ways
and we all worry in different ways and
we all can get anxious in different ways
and we all sin in different ways and we
all struggle in different ways.
So this isn't about a comparison,
but it's about the Holy Spirit doing a
work in you that you don't look at the
thing that is causing you to be anxious,
but instead begin to look to him. That
we look to Jesus, we look to his face,
and we look to who he is.
And we need to be reminded
again and again and again. So even me,
I still
have to look at myself in the mirror and
have to ask the Lord and have to be
vulnerable with friends so that they way
they can say it's time to pull your head
out from you know and look to the
heavens
to be encouraged.
So I want you guys to be encouraged
today. I want you to encourage each
other.
So even as we come to a co a close
our discussion groups so um right after
the the the the preaching and things are
done we we move into a time of
discussion groups and um you're more
than welcome to stay and to participate
in that. Um and if you have to go you're
more than free to also be able to go.
But um today's questions I really wanted
like what areas of your life are you
anxious about?
I want you to be as real as you can be
without monopolizing the whole time.
We don't need to know every detail of
your anxiety.
God already knows. However,
I do think it's important that we can
share and be honest because the next
part is something that I'm hoping that
you will actually work into your life to
use as you are a light in your workplace
and in your family life and in your
friend life and in the community
wherever God has sent you that we would
look up scriptures
to encourage each other.
And there's a wonderful thing called
smartphones which I think everybody has.
And there is even Wi-Fi. If you need
Wi-Fi and you don't have it, there's a
Wi-Fi code somewhere back there and you
can use Wi-Fi. So, you can actually
search unique scriptures of
encouragement. And I want you to pray
those scriptures over one another. And
what do I mean by praying those
scriptures is let's believe the word of
God as a light and an encouragement to
you.
And that when you're reading this
scripture, you would like read it over
each one of you. So, we're doing it just
slightly different today.
But I want to let's just take a moment.
Relieve
you of this temporal anxiety
and this temporal worry.
May he teach you how to put it at the
foot of the cross
where he carries your burdens.
And may you receive from his hand the
healing,
emotional healing, psychological
healing, spiritual healing, physical
healing
for you to know how valuable you are.
May you come into the season of
discovering what does it mean when it
says it was the father's pleasure to
give you the kingdom.
May God concretely
and practically put before you how you
are to expand his kingdom and his
goodness.
So we bless you, oh Lord,
the one who goes before and the one who
comes behind.
the one who watches over are coming in
and are going out. And may you rise up,
O Lord.
Let your enemies be scattered.
Let your people come forth as you shine
like the noon sun.
Strengthen your people in Jesus name I
pray. Amen.
Shalom, Crossway fam. So good to see
you. It's awesome to see so many
visitors. I'm not sure if it's the Holy
Spirit or the Holy Heat that brought you
into this cool sanctuary, but we're so
glad you could worship with us. We just
have a couple quick announcements. This
week, we have two uh gatherings as
always. On Tuesday, we have a Bible
study at 8:00 PM led by Pastor Ian on
the how to do a Bible study, how to read
the Bible. And on Wednesday at 8:00 PM,
we have a prayer meeting as well. We're
transitioning on to Discord. So, we've
used Zoom and Kaka before.
On July 26, we're going to have I don't
think we have a slide for that. We're
going to have a all church prayer
meeting. We had one two weeks ago and it
was amazing. So, it's for all our church
members, but visitors are welcome to
stay and pray with us as well. So,
Pastor Matthew already went through the
discussion questions, but what areas of
your life are you anxious about? um look
up scriptures together and encourage one
another and pray those scriptures over
one another. So if our regular crossway
family members could reach out to our
visitors. Um yeah, so if you guys could
stand up and get into groups of three,
no more than three, please. We have 30
minutes to discuss. Thank you so much.
Oh, if you have to go, that's okay, too.
with that. Um, go ahead and rise. I just
want to bless you.
May the spirit of the sovereign Lord be
upon you. May he anoint you for good
things.
May he give you beauty in the oil of
gladness.
May he give you comfort
and give you strength. May his light
shine through you and may your oil never
run dry. May the goodness of God go
before you and may you proclaim his
goodness all the days.
Be blessed in Jesus name. Amen. Have an
amazing week everybody. Keeping the
blessing as you are a blessing.