WEBVTT 00:00:01.143 --> 00:00:02.125 Well, good morning once again. 00:00:02.125 --> 00:00:03.350 Merry Christmas everybody. 00:00:03.350 --> 00:00:05.891 I'm holding out. 00:00:05.891 --> 00:00:11.942 I think today is probably pretty much the last day you can get away with a Merry Christmas, so I'm doing it as much as I can, man, and then it's happy new year's. 00:00:11.942 --> 00:00:15.563 I went and grabbed a coffee at Caraboo early this morning and I found two. 00:00:15.563 --> 00:00:31.266 It must have been high school or college girls there with the coffee and it was probably 7 am when I got there pretty early, you know, and I go in and I expect to kind of see like, oh man, we got to work on New Year's Eve and they were like super bubbly and they were doing their chalkboard and I went and checked out with my coffee and she asked me she's like so what's your New Year's resolution? 00:00:31.266 --> 00:00:36.543 And I really don't do a lot of that, and so I was kind of caught off guard and what I said was to be better. 00:00:36.543 --> 00:00:38.448 That's what I said, that's my answer. 00:00:38.448 --> 00:00:40.884 And she's like, wow, that's really deep. 00:00:40.884 --> 00:00:43.344 And I was like, yeah, I've been thinking about it a long time, you know. 00:00:43.344 --> 00:00:46.243 So, happy new year again. 00:00:46.283 --> 00:00:48.790 My name is Ben Krullers and the director of Student and Family Ministry. 00:00:48.790 --> 00:00:54.624 Great to be here with you worshiping on New Year's Eve and thanks for all of you online for tuning in this morning. 00:00:54.624 --> 00:00:55.287 There's a question. 00:00:55.287 --> 00:01:01.009 There's two questions I want to think about this morning, but the first is pictures kind of tell a thousand words. 00:01:01.009 --> 00:01:02.682 Right, that's why we take pictures. 00:01:02.682 --> 00:01:07.802 They tell a story, and I love Christmas and it's my favorite time of year. 00:01:07.802 --> 00:01:14.573 I go into a little minor depression following Christmas, and so after today you're going to catch me on the downhill slope, but I love it and there's. 00:01:14.795 --> 00:01:16.924 We have a lot of rituals and stuff in our family. 00:01:16.924 --> 00:01:18.451 I want to share one with you this morning. 00:01:18.451 --> 00:01:22.584 It's called New Hollen, newligen, what's it called? 00:01:22.584 --> 00:01:25.129 Hey, someone else. 00:01:25.129 --> 00:01:26.350 New Haven, newligen. 00:01:26.350 --> 00:01:27.974 Get a Volkswagen. 00:01:27.974 --> 00:01:28.721 That's what it's called. 00:01:28.721 --> 00:01:29.405 I don't know, it's all. 00:01:29.405 --> 00:01:33.783 All of my children from age five to fifteen can pronounce this correctly. 00:01:33.783 --> 00:01:35.466 But it's New Hall of the Newvigen. 00:01:35.466 --> 00:01:36.810 Nope, that's not it. 00:01:36.810 --> 00:01:40.805 But I want to show you just about a fifteen second clip of what it's like. 00:01:40.805 --> 00:01:49.709 Yeah, oh, there we go, there we go. 00:01:49.709 --> 00:01:58.751 Yeah, you guys got it. 00:01:58.751 --> 00:01:59.614 Alright, that's awesome. 00:02:00.301 --> 00:02:05.787 I got married eight years ago eight years ago, something like that, right eight years ago and prior to that I was. 00:02:05.787 --> 00:02:10.444 This was my first Christmas at my in-laws and my wife was like by the way we dance around the Christmas tree. 00:02:10.444 --> 00:02:12.200 I was like no, you don't, no one dance around the Christmas tree. 00:02:12.200 --> 00:02:21.683 And I got there and my father-in-law pulls out the tree and we form this circle and we sing Christmas carols and we sing the New Hall of the Newvigen song and we dance. 00:02:21.683 --> 00:02:27.808 And this year, for the first time, there were so many people there and our kids are all old enough that the kids got to form their own ring and dance around the tree. 00:02:28.692 --> 00:02:36.126 And if you were like me, like if you looked at this picture, this still shot of it, you'd have to ask what is going on here? 00:02:36.126 --> 00:02:37.792 What's the story? 00:02:37.792 --> 00:02:41.081 Pictures have that kind of power in our life, right? 00:02:41.081 --> 00:02:46.667 They invoke a story, they invoke feelings, and I got a few pictures that you might ask yourself what is going on here. 00:02:46.667 --> 00:02:47.711 So check this picture out. 00:02:47.711 --> 00:02:51.943 What exactly is going on in this picture? 00:02:51.943 --> 00:02:58.725 I don't know if this is marriage counseling for reptiles or what, but you ask yourself what is going on here? 00:02:58.725 --> 00:02:59.508 How about this one? 00:02:59.508 --> 00:03:03.683 What is going on in this picture? 00:03:03.683 --> 00:03:08.081 I love the kid trying to get away, but I love seeing his reaction even more. 00:03:08.081 --> 00:03:10.471 Right, what is going on in this picture? 00:03:10.471 --> 00:03:13.484 Now this next one it's going to throw you for a big loop. 00:03:13.484 --> 00:03:16.093 Alright, what is going on in this picture? 00:03:16.093 --> 00:03:21.610 What you have here is two grown, fully grown adults going to Disney World, leaving their four children at home. 00:03:21.610 --> 00:03:29.161 Okay, and that smile of pure innocence on that grown man can only be brought out in Disney World. 00:03:29.161 --> 00:03:29.322 Right? 00:03:29.322 --> 00:03:33.830 You look at this and you're like what is going on in this picture? 00:03:33.830 --> 00:03:36.824 These pictures tell a story. 00:03:37.847 --> 00:04:08.788 My question for you, the first question for you this morning, is what if you took a snapshot of your life right now, if you took a picture of everything that was going on, or maybe just one certain area, and if you were able to take a picture of that and then have the ability to step away and look at that picture, not being in the moment, not being in all the heat of what's going on, but able to step back and ask this question what could God be doing here? 00:04:08.788 --> 00:04:18.367 It's not what is God doing here, because we'll talk about that a little bit, but it's what could God be doing in that snapshot of your life? 00:04:18.367 --> 00:04:21.052 What could God be doing? 00:04:21.052 --> 00:04:24.264 And this is not an easy question to ask. 00:04:24.264 --> 00:04:26.290 That's why a lot of us don't ask it. 00:04:26.290 --> 00:04:47.603 And so this morning, what I want to do is I want to kind of talk about three reasons, about, maybe, why we don't ask the question and then, hopefully, in kind of talking about these reasons, understanding what's going on, maybe, starting off this new year, we can have the courage to ask what could God be doing in our life? 00:04:47.603 --> 00:04:49.365 That's what we want to do this morning. 00:04:49.365 --> 00:04:50.870 So, before we get to that, will you pray with me? 00:04:50.870 --> 00:04:54.189 Hell, we follow. 00:04:54.189 --> 00:05:06.432 Oh God, we give you thanks and praise for this day, a day before a new year comes, and, lord, for many in this room, lord, we may have our list of goals and new year's resolutions and things we want to see different, and that's awesome. 00:05:06.432 --> 00:05:09.232 And for all of us, man, we don't really kind of think about it. 00:05:09.232 --> 00:05:11.071 We just kind of go about another day, another year. 00:05:11.071 --> 00:05:26.653 So I pray that in the next few minutes, lord, as we talk about this question which could impact our new year in amazing, incredible ways, lord, I pray that you kind of clear out all the stuff that might be blocking this message to receiving in the hearts and minds of everyone. 00:05:26.653 --> 00:05:29.052 And, lord, let your spirit come into this place. 00:05:29.052 --> 00:05:32.033 So, in the name that we pray, amen. 00:05:32.033 --> 00:05:37.317 So, reasons why we don't ask this question what could God be doing here? 00:05:37.317 --> 00:05:40.233 I think the first one is is because we love clarity. 00:05:40.233 --> 00:05:43.593 We love very simple, clear objectives. 00:05:43.593 --> 00:05:45.310 You go this way, this is going to happen. 00:05:45.310 --> 00:05:49.172 We go this way, this is going to happen and we can see it very clearly. 00:05:49.172 --> 00:05:53.910 It eliminates fear, it eliminates worry, it eliminates anxiety, and so we want clarity. 00:05:53.910 --> 00:05:54.752 We see clarity. 00:05:55.286 --> 00:06:13.156 When my wife and I were first dating, we were dating for about a week and I remember I was over at her house and we were watching the Wild Avalanche playoff game and we were sitting on the couch and we had been dating for a week and she had turned to me and she said you know what do I tell people we are when people ask, like are you my boyfriend? 00:06:13.156 --> 00:06:14.038 What's going on here? 00:06:14.038 --> 00:06:22.512 And I had this moment of fear because I had been telling everyone for a past week that we have been dating right, like not, that I've called my mom, called my aunt, called my uncle. 00:06:22.512 --> 00:06:26.935 I don't like right, like I put a billboard on highway 10, she said, yes, you know what I mean. 00:06:26.935 --> 00:06:28.310 Like I was telling everybody. 00:06:28.310 --> 00:06:32.490 And here the girl I thought was dating for a while was like are we dating? 00:06:32.490 --> 00:06:34.812 Are we what Clarity is important. 00:06:34.812 --> 00:06:36.591 Now, here's the funny thing about the story. 00:06:36.591 --> 00:06:38.891 I asked my wife about it and I'm like you remember this? 00:06:38.891 --> 00:06:41.850 And she's like that's not how it happened, and I'm like, yes, it is. 00:06:42.524 --> 00:06:46.410 We see clarity, even though years later, clarity is something that we like. 00:06:46.410 --> 00:06:51.456 However, when we ask the question, what could God be doing here? 00:06:51.456 --> 00:07:04.067 We don't always, most of the time, get a clear cut answer, and that's what this passage today reminds us of, this passage that comes from up on the screen here Romans 11. 00:07:04.067 --> 00:07:08.973 This passage tells us a lot, but it also reminds us that God is big, god is huge. 00:07:08.973 --> 00:07:14.074 God is mysterious and His ways are mysterious and they're not always made clear to us. 00:07:14.074 --> 00:07:17.774 Oh, how great are God's riches and wisdom and knowledge. 00:07:17.774 --> 00:07:22.776 How impossible is it for us to understand His decisions and His ways? 00:07:22.776 --> 00:07:28.194 Let's read that again oh, how great are God's riches and wisdom and knowledge. 00:07:28.194 --> 00:07:34.916 How impossible is it for us to understand His decisions and His ways? 00:07:34.916 --> 00:07:44.452 For who can know the Lord's thoughts, who knows enough to give Him advice, and who has given Him so much that he needs to pay it back? 00:07:44.452 --> 00:07:49.663 For everything comes from Him and exists by His power and is intended for His glory. 00:07:49.663 --> 00:07:52.047 All glory to Him forever, amen. 00:07:52.047 --> 00:08:01.050 Throughout the Bible, you will find passages that continually remind us listen, god is huge, god is mysterious. 00:08:01.050 --> 00:08:03.055 That's part of the draw of God. 00:08:04.285 --> 00:08:10.033 Yet then, when we want clarity, we get frustrated when we ask the question what could God be doing? 00:08:10.033 --> 00:08:13.533 You see, that's why it's important that the question is what could God be doing? 00:08:13.533 --> 00:08:23.334 Not what is God doing, because we can look at a situation like, yep, this is what God's doing, well, maybe, but maybe he's doing this thing over here. 00:08:23.334 --> 00:08:26.937 Maybe we see something like God is doing this. 00:08:26.937 --> 00:08:34.015 Well, maybe that's where our heart wants to be, as opposed to the true question being what could God be doing here? 00:08:34.015 --> 00:08:39.917 What is this big, mysterious, powerful, loving God doing in my life? 00:08:39.917 --> 00:08:42.804 We seek clarity. 00:08:43.928 --> 00:08:52.956 Often, we use this image of we're on this journey, we're on this path and we want to be on the path that God has for us, right and we worry so much about. 00:08:52.956 --> 00:08:53.524 Is this the path? 00:08:53.524 --> 00:09:02.256 When we come to the fork in the road and we can go left and we can go right, and we have a decision to make and, in all honesty, we search our heart where does God want to lead us? 00:09:02.256 --> 00:09:08.732 And we make a decision and we focus so much on the path, and I think we need to flip the way that we look at it. 00:09:08.732 --> 00:09:22.033 I think it's more important that we put less pressure on the path and more importance on who you're walking the path with, because if we focus on the path and if we go down the road and we're like man, I made the wrong choice. 00:09:22.033 --> 00:09:27.942 We feel alone, we feel like we were, you know, less of a somebody or less loved. 00:09:27.942 --> 00:09:40.837 But if we walk this path with God, then, no matter which way we go, we are still with God and the clarity comes from Him. 00:09:40.990 --> 00:09:42.777 There's a couple of verses that I want to hit. 00:09:42.777 --> 00:09:43.773 I think I jumped ahead. 00:09:43.773 --> 00:09:46.019 Sorry, sorry, sarah, I'm all over the place. 00:09:46.019 --> 00:09:46.980 I'm all over the place. 00:09:46.980 --> 00:09:48.922 Look at this verse from Philippians 1-6. 00:09:48.922 --> 00:09:57.015 Philippians 1-6, see, even though clarity in God is hard to see, there is some things that are crystal clear. 00:09:57.015 --> 00:10:00.859 And it may not be, oh, do I take this job or do I take this job? 00:10:00.859 --> 00:10:02.856 Do I buy this car or buy that car? 00:10:02.856 --> 00:10:04.054 Do I do this or do this? 00:10:04.054 --> 00:10:09.457 But there are things that are made crystal clear in God, and Philippians 1-6 tells us something about it. 00:10:09.457 --> 00:10:19.780 It says, and I am certain that God, who began the good work within you will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. 00:10:19.780 --> 00:10:29.541 See, we may not be clear on some things, but the Bible is very clear on this is that God is always making us more like Jesus Always. 00:10:29.541 --> 00:10:32.336 See, there's no asterisk in that passage. 00:10:32.336 --> 00:10:35.894 That says he is making you more like Jesus if you choose the right path. 00:10:35.894 --> 00:10:39.398 He is making you more like Jesus if you do this. 00:10:39.398 --> 00:10:45.702 He says God is constantly at work in your life, making you more like Jesus. 00:10:45.702 --> 00:10:49.320 That's one clear thing that we see when it comes to God in our life. 00:10:49.669 --> 00:10:51.895 The second thing comes from Romans 8-28. 00:10:51.895 --> 00:10:55.774 Romans 8-28 says this. 00:10:55.774 --> 00:10:59.572 It says something, a lot of things here, romans 8-28. 00:10:59.572 --> 00:11:08.692 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good, for the good. 00:11:08.692 --> 00:11:15.094 So the two things that we can have clarity about are the things that should really can bring us peace. 00:11:15.094 --> 00:11:23.480 Is that, no matter where we go in this life, the path that we choose, we walk it with God and the clarity that we have when we ask the question what could God be doing? 00:11:23.480 --> 00:11:26.198 We know that he is making us more like Christ. 00:11:26.198 --> 00:11:31.515 He knows, we know that he's making us more like Christ and he's working for whatever happens in your life for the good. 00:11:31.515 --> 00:11:35.014 Is that enough clarity for us? 00:11:35.014 --> 00:11:37.472 Can it be enough clarity? 00:11:37.472 --> 00:11:44.581 Can we focus less on the path that we're walking, but who we're walking the path with? 00:11:44.581 --> 00:11:50.272 But this is a major reason why we don't ask that question what could God be doing? 00:11:50.272 --> 00:11:54.493 Because we know that if we ask, we might not get the clear cut answer we want. 00:11:54.493 --> 00:12:01.049 So if we focus on who we walk the path with, maybe that'll make it a little bit easier to ask the question. 00:12:01.049 --> 00:12:07.692 The second reason that I think we don't ask this question is that it could bring about change. 00:12:07.692 --> 00:12:15.032 It could bring about change If you will open up your Bibles your Pew Bibles or your own, if you brought it to Matthew, chapter 19. 00:12:19.024 --> 00:12:29.727 And that's page 800 in your Pew Bible, page 800 in your Pew Bible, matthew 19,. 00:12:29.727 --> 00:12:31.533 Starting at verse 16. 00:12:31.533 --> 00:12:36.850 And this is a passage we're probably familiar with the rich young man, right? 00:12:36.850 --> 00:12:38.191 We've maybe heard this story before. 00:12:38.191 --> 00:12:39.770 If we haven't get ready, it's pretty great. 00:12:40.465 --> 00:12:47.091 But what I love about this story are there are certain characters, there are certain people in the Bible who gets a bad rap, right? 00:12:47.091 --> 00:12:48.330 Peter, I think, is one of them. 00:12:48.330 --> 00:12:50.811 Peter's always up and down, making the wrong choice the right choice. 00:12:50.811 --> 00:12:51.808 I think Peter gets a bad rap. 00:12:51.808 --> 00:12:53.730 I know Thomas does right. 00:12:53.730 --> 00:12:56.852 We know him as who, we know him as doubting Thomas. 00:12:56.852 --> 00:12:57.486 What man? 00:12:57.486 --> 00:12:59.668 Talk about all the good stuff he did and that's what he's labeled with right? 00:12:59.668 --> 00:13:00.692 He gets a bad rap. 00:13:00.692 --> 00:13:05.955 I think in this story we also see a character who gets a bad rap, right. 00:13:05.955 --> 00:13:08.312 So this is the rich, the young rich man. 00:13:08.764 --> 00:13:11.429 And I'm gonna read a bit of this passage because I think it's pretty powerful. 00:13:11.429 --> 00:13:15.570 Remember, what we're looking at here is reasons why we don't ask the question what could God be doing? 00:13:15.570 --> 00:13:19.528 And this reason is because maybe God is asking us to bring about some change. 00:13:19.528 --> 00:13:22.990 So and I'm reading from an NLT, so what you have is probably different. 00:13:22.990 --> 00:13:25.986 Sorry about that, but it's the Bible, verse 16,. 00:13:27.048 --> 00:13:32.854 Someone came to Jesus with this question teacher, what good deed must I do to inherit eternal life? 00:13:32.854 --> 00:13:35.250 Why ask me about what is good? 00:13:35.250 --> 00:13:38.234 Jesus replied there is only one who is good. 00:13:38.234 --> 00:13:42.548 But to answer your question, if you want to receive eternal life, keep the commandments. 00:13:42.548 --> 00:13:44.647 Which one the man asked? 00:13:44.647 --> 00:13:51.293 Then Jesus replied you must not murder, you must not commit adultery, you must not steal, you must not testify falsely. 00:13:51.293 --> 00:13:54.291 Honor your father and mother, love your neighbor as yourself. 00:13:54.291 --> 00:13:57.010 I will obey all these commandments. 00:13:57.010 --> 00:13:57.846 The young man replied. 00:13:57.846 --> 00:13:59.351 What else must I do? 00:13:59.351 --> 00:14:07.629 Jesus told him if you want to be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasures in heaven. 00:14:07.629 --> 00:14:09.229 Then come and follow me. 00:14:09.229 --> 00:14:13.751 But when the young man heard this, he went away, sad, for he had many possessions. 00:14:14.784 --> 00:14:20.491 So here is this young, rich man who feels like he's doing everything right in life. 00:14:20.491 --> 00:14:24.967 He feels like he's doing pretty good we talk about that path right Like he would look like man. 00:14:24.967 --> 00:14:27.912 I'm doing right, I'm making good choices, I'm feeling really good. 00:14:27.912 --> 00:14:29.792 And he's going to Jesus probably first. 00:14:29.792 --> 00:14:32.133 I'm like, hey, good job, good and faithful servant, right. 00:14:32.133 --> 00:14:33.750 And he's like what must I do? 00:14:33.750 --> 00:14:34.970 Well, you gotta keep these commandments. 00:14:34.970 --> 00:14:37.352 And Jesus here knows what's going on. 00:14:37.965 --> 00:14:42.488 We don't look to this passage of scripture to be like what are the most important commandments that we need to follow? 00:14:42.488 --> 00:14:45.111 Jesus is using this just to make a point here. 00:14:45.111 --> 00:14:46.990 He's saying, okay, these commandments. 00:14:46.990 --> 00:14:50.308 And the guy's like I've followed him, what else do I have to do? 00:14:50.308 --> 00:14:59.971 And then Jesus looks at the heart of this young man and he knows he's rich, he knows he's wealthy and he knows what has his heart. 00:14:59.971 --> 00:15:07.368 And he says get rid of all that stuff, get rid of all those possessions, and then come and follow me. 00:15:08.784 --> 00:15:14.168 And then the story goes that he just walks away sad, and we view this as like oh man, you had Jesus right in front of you. 00:15:14.168 --> 00:15:16.806 He told you how did you miss that man? 00:15:16.806 --> 00:15:29.708 I would put a wager on many, many of us in this room if we went and asked the same question and Jesus said you have to get rid of this, you have to give up this, you have to change this, the majority of us would have walked away. 00:15:29.708 --> 00:15:34.052 That's the pressure that comes with this question. 00:15:34.052 --> 00:15:35.965 What could God be doing? 00:15:35.965 --> 00:15:37.308 If we ask that? 00:15:37.308 --> 00:15:39.235 God will search our heart. 00:15:39.235 --> 00:15:56.192 God will search the deepest parts of our heart, where we try to keep everyone away from, where we try to keep ourselves away from, and he'll bring that bubbling to the surface and he'll say hey, maybe this is something, maybe this is something you want to peek at, maybe this is something you want to deal with. 00:15:56.192 --> 00:16:02.105 And then we have the decision all right, am I going to listen to that or am I going to keep shoving that back down and keep on living life. 00:16:02.105 --> 00:16:08.404 Because the thing about the story is this guy was having a good life, he was living a good life, he was doing the right things. 00:16:08.850 --> 00:16:10.143 Most of us in this room can relate to that. 00:16:10.143 --> 00:16:13.671 Right, like man, all right, we make mistakes from time to time, but life might be pretty good. 00:16:13.671 --> 00:16:16.924 And then we open up to this what could God be doing? 00:16:16.924 --> 00:16:20.245 We take a 10,000 foot view of our life and we look at it. 00:16:20.245 --> 00:16:21.932 We're like what is God doing? 00:16:21.932 --> 00:16:31.644 And we see that dark corner that we don't want to deal with Because 99% of everything else we see, 99% of that picture, looks great. 00:16:31.644 --> 00:16:37.730 It's that little, tiny corner and when we ask that what could God be doing? 00:16:37.730 --> 00:16:43.549 Question, that might be the corner that he brings up and we don't want to deal with that. 00:16:45.287 --> 00:16:49.413 And that's why this question is hard, because it takes risks. 00:16:49.413 --> 00:16:56.253 It takes courage to go away from the moment and look at the greater picture of our life and open it up. 00:16:56.253 --> 00:16:58.416 Say God, what could you be doing here? 00:16:58.416 --> 00:17:02.953 Maybe there's something in our life that we can change, Moving into the future. 00:17:02.953 --> 00:17:07.441 So I said there was three, so there's one is not a clear answer. 00:17:07.441 --> 00:17:12.518 We're not gonna get a clear answer sometimes on which way we should go, but it's more about who we go with on the journey. 00:17:12.518 --> 00:17:16.067 The second thing is it could bring about change, just like the young, rich man. 00:17:16.106 --> 00:17:23.670 And the third one I was reminded of by Pastor Sonia this week, and that's just hurt and pain, hurt and pain. 00:17:23.670 --> 00:17:32.673 I was talking to her a little bit about my message this week and kind of trying to struggle and finding a find in a direction to go, and I knew I wanted to talk about this question what could God be doing? 00:17:32.673 --> 00:17:37.403 Because it's a question that Sonia reminded me that in ministry we ask all the time. 00:17:37.403 --> 00:17:39.336 Right, we ask it weekly. 00:17:39.336 --> 00:17:43.553 We literally have weekly staff meetings where we gather like all right, what's going on, what is God doing? 00:17:43.553 --> 00:17:48.388 And we and we take a look at the ministry of this place and of what's happening and we ask that question. 00:17:48.388 --> 00:17:59.788 And she reminded me that we may ask it all the time at work, but it's a lot different when we're outside of that, when we're not looking at the ministry pieces of this place and of the ministry. 00:17:59.808 --> 00:18:05.502 And she reminded me that there are people sitting in the pews and in the life of this place. 00:18:05.502 --> 00:18:18.210 That is the last question they want to ask Because right now, men there are going through some incredible hurt and pain and they are dealing with anger towards God that this question is the last thing that they want to answer. 00:18:18.210 --> 00:18:23.003 It's the last thing they want to take to God, because they don't understand. 00:18:23.003 --> 00:18:26.606 People are dealing with loss in their life of loved ones. 00:18:26.606 --> 00:18:33.355 There's people in this church they're dealing with loss of young children, and why in the world would they want to go to God and say, god, what are you doing? 00:18:33.355 --> 00:18:35.150 Because what you're doing is destroying my life. 00:18:35.150 --> 00:18:40.109 So she laid that on me and then she asked what would you say to someone like that? 00:18:40.109 --> 00:18:44.369 And I was like I'm gonna change my sermon title, we're gonna figure something else out. 00:18:44.369 --> 00:18:50.376 But that was reminded of a time in my life and, trust me, it's nowhere near what some of you guys are going through, nowhere near. 00:18:50.376 --> 00:18:57.084 But there was a time in my life where I did feel very great anger towards God and I would not want to ask this question and it dealt with this here. 00:18:57.104 --> 00:19:00.961 This picture here, that's my son, arlo, when he was first born, probably about day three. 00:19:00.961 --> 00:19:03.554 I have four kids. 00:19:03.554 --> 00:19:12.772 My two olders are technically my step kids, man, but they're my kids, and so we have four, but this was my first child, this was my first born son and man, I and I love being a dad. 00:19:12.772 --> 00:19:15.929 Right, there's nothing more in life I love being a dad besides being a husband. 00:19:15.929 --> 00:19:17.921 Right, that's number one. 00:19:17.921 --> 00:19:18.967 Okay, being a dad is number two. 00:19:18.967 --> 00:19:32.300 But, like this, this changes your life, right, being a dad changes your life, and I remember I was, I had Arlo on my chest and you know that, that, that skin to skin contact and I'm not sure what that is, and you know that, that that skin to skin contact. 00:19:32.340 --> 00:19:38.998 And I'm laying in the room and on cloud nine, and I noticed that his body starts moving rhythmically. 00:19:38.998 --> 00:19:43.593 His arms and his legs just start moving, not like kind of sporadic, just Rhythmically. 00:19:43.593 --> 00:19:45.463 And I'm like, oh great, he's gonna be a drummer. 00:19:45.463 --> 00:19:46.409 I love it, this is perfect. 00:19:46.409 --> 00:19:47.595 Right, he's already drumming in, you know. 00:19:48.377 --> 00:19:49.423 And so I didn't think much of it. 00:19:49.423 --> 00:19:54.743 But the nurse came in and I did ask I'm new at this, right, first, dad, I don't know if this is normal babies jamming out, I don't know. 00:19:54.743 --> 00:19:56.872 And so, hey, nurse, lady, is this a? 00:19:56.872 --> 00:19:58.116 Is this normal? 00:19:58.116 --> 00:20:02.201 She looked at me and said no, I was like what does that mean? 00:20:02.201 --> 00:20:05.838 The next day I know the doctor came in now. 00:20:05.838 --> 00:20:06.461 This isn't normal. 00:20:07.590 --> 00:20:11.781 And the next thing I knew they had an ambulance there ready to take my newborn son to children's. 00:20:11.781 --> 00:20:24.650 They brought in this like this case that looked like you put a bomb in to deactivate it, right, and they put him in there and then we couldn't ride in the ambulance and the whole way I'm angry. 00:20:24.650 --> 00:20:36.799 Then we get there and then on I have to go in the room with him but they pull a curtain and we're lying on a couch and behind the curtain they're hooking Arlo up to all these things and I can hear him crying. 00:20:36.799 --> 00:20:37.883 I can't do anything. 00:20:37.883 --> 00:20:40.917 Absolutely brutal. 00:20:40.938 --> 00:20:48.970 And Days go by and they can't figure out what's going on and my anger is growing and growing and growing and I needed prayer, man. 00:20:48.970 --> 00:20:52.473 And so I call up my group of guy friends and I say guys, man, this is the situation. 00:20:52.473 --> 00:20:54.806 Arlo's struggling and I had to find some levity in it. 00:20:54.806 --> 00:20:55.549 So I sent him this. 00:20:55.549 --> 00:20:57.509 I can't remember, do I cut the red or the blue wire? 00:20:57.509 --> 00:21:01.515 What is going on, god? 00:21:01.515 --> 00:21:12.369 And I didn't want to ask the question Because I knew I probably wouldn't get a clear answer and I was also afraid what if the answer was the darkest possibility I can think of. 00:21:12.369 --> 00:21:21.020 Now, seven years later, arlo's up here taking pictures of the video of the band and interview guys. 00:21:21.020 --> 00:21:23.548 So sorry about that, but he's doing just fine. 00:21:23.548 --> 00:21:24.521 Praise God, right. 00:21:26.180 --> 00:21:30.590 But in the heat of that moment, what could God be doing? 00:21:30.590 --> 00:21:33.246 It's the last question that you want to ask. 00:21:33.246 --> 00:21:36.467 So what do we do about that? 00:21:36.467 --> 00:21:40.768 What do we do about when we're in the hurt and the pain? 00:21:40.768 --> 00:21:44.329 The question that Sonia asked what would you say? 00:21:44.329 --> 00:21:53.263 And this is my only answer I'd say ride that wave, be angry as long as you want to be, grieve as long as you want to grieve. 00:21:53.263 --> 00:22:13.230 If that's weeks, months, years, a lifetime, just ride that wave, because the truths don't change the truth that God is at work in your life and the truth that God works all things for good, even in the darkest parts of your life. 00:22:13.230 --> 00:22:16.807 They don't change with the situations of our life. 00:22:16.807 --> 00:22:31.586 Ride that wave and maybe, hopefully down the line, months, years, you're able to come back to this question what could God have been doing during that time? 00:22:31.586 --> 00:22:34.665 And allow God to work? 00:22:34.665 --> 00:22:42.521 But if that time never comes, it doesn't change who's on the journey with you and that's okay. 00:22:42.521 --> 00:22:49.305 These reasons stop us from asking a pretty important question in our life what could God be doing? 00:22:49.305 --> 00:22:54.183 Whether it's clarity is the issue, whether it's bringing about change or there's just too much hurt and pain. 00:22:55.859 --> 00:23:00.443 The last thing I'll say about hurt and pain is the passage in Scripture that you're all going to memorize Scripture today. 00:23:00.443 --> 00:23:04.250 So here we go Ready, it's John 1135. 00:23:04.250 --> 00:23:08.404 And it's a very simple or it's John 1135. 00:23:08.404 --> 00:23:09.086 I got that right. 00:23:09.086 --> 00:23:09.727 That's a good start. 00:23:09.727 --> 00:23:11.789 It's two words Ready, anyone know it? 00:23:11.789 --> 00:23:13.673 Jesus wept. 00:23:14.701 --> 00:23:15.604 I love this story. 00:23:15.604 --> 00:23:17.564 We often look at it and be like man. 00:23:17.564 --> 00:23:19.509 Jesus knows what it means to go through pain. 00:23:19.509 --> 00:23:22.066 In the story he loses his best friend Lazarus. 00:23:22.066 --> 00:23:30.384 His best friend is gone and Mary and all these people are crying for their loss and they're mourning their loss and it says Jesus wept. 00:23:30.384 --> 00:23:32.984 It's a beautiful story, but I think we get it wrong. 00:23:32.984 --> 00:23:44.451 I think we view it as Jesus is weeping for his best friend Lazarus, and I don't think that's the case, because the Scripture tells us that man, he was doing just fine and then he saw Mary weep. 00:23:44.451 --> 00:23:57.984 He saw all the people who mourned the loss of Lazarus weep and mourn and cry, and that is what brought about Jesus' tears, because Jesus knew he was going to raise Lazarus. 00:23:57.984 --> 00:24:00.306 He knew that he was just sleeping, right. 00:24:00.306 --> 00:24:05.066 He knew it was coming, but in the moment he wept with Mary. 00:24:05.066 --> 00:24:10.671 So as you grieve, as you mourn, know that Jesus weeps and mourns with you. 00:24:10.671 --> 00:24:13.346 That's the love that is in Christ Jesus. 00:24:13.346 --> 00:24:15.906 All right, so here we go. 00:24:16.599 --> 00:24:18.467 We've talked about three reasons not to ask the question, right? 00:24:18.467 --> 00:24:20.484 So then, why the heck would we? 00:24:20.484 --> 00:24:22.826 Why would we ask the question? 00:24:22.826 --> 00:24:30.606 If we're not going to get clarity, if it's going to bring up some shadow stuff, and if we're just in too much hurt and too much pain, why on earth would we ask the question? 00:24:30.606 --> 00:24:32.266 And I think the answer is this. 00:24:32.359 --> 00:24:42.826 I think because when we ask the question, as tough as it may be, it brings us closer to the heart of God, and in church we use that expression a lot the heart of God. 00:24:42.826 --> 00:24:43.828 And I thought about that. 00:24:43.828 --> 00:24:44.730 I'm like what does that mean? 00:24:44.730 --> 00:24:47.709 Right, like we can get up and spout these really cool church phrase like the heart of God. 00:24:47.709 --> 00:24:50.047 But what does that mean and what does it look like? 00:24:50.180 --> 00:24:54.818 And why is it so important that we go through the process of asking this question? 00:24:54.818 --> 00:24:57.968 To bring us closer to that, or to feel the heart of God. 00:24:57.968 --> 00:24:59.030 What is that? 00:24:59.030 --> 00:25:02.288 And it brought me back to Christmas every time. 00:25:02.288 --> 00:25:16.544 It brought me back to the manger every time, because in Christ Jesus we find peace, we find hope, we find joy and we find love. 00:25:16.544 --> 00:25:21.510 All of these things come back to the manger, come back to the Christmas story. 00:25:21.940 --> 00:25:38.827 If we want to ask what the heart of God is, it's here, in this moment, in the manger, and it's in Him that we find that peace where things look so confusing and we don't know and the road is so scattered and we have to make decisions here, and decisions here we find peace, knowing that wherever we go, we go with God. 00:25:38.827 --> 00:25:43.730 We find joy in life, in all the people and things around us. 00:25:43.730 --> 00:25:50.826 We find hope, man, when all the light is turned off and we grieve and we mourn and we have soul loss and our heart is breaking. 00:25:50.826 --> 00:25:52.583 We find hope here. 00:25:52.583 --> 00:25:56.805 This is the heart of God. 00:25:56.805 --> 00:26:08.483 This is why thousands and millions gather at Christmas time and this is the reason why we ask the tough questions what could God be doing here? 00:26:08.483 --> 00:26:16.548 This is why we ask so central this new year as we celebrate it. 00:26:16.548 --> 00:26:27.171 May we be people, a church, a community that somehow bring up the courage to ask the question what could God be doing? 00:26:27.171 --> 00:26:28.507 Amen.