Is together for Jesus who loves us, and he's with us and for us. Amen, Amen, Amen. They're doing an announcement about water baptism. I watch it, I'm like, what in the world didn't we just do water baptism? And and we did just do water baptism, and and people just keep coming to Christ. Y'all come on. That's that's what's. It's so exciting. It really is. You might not know this, but I want to build your faith. And also just to encourage you, that one. Um, every single weekend, people are coming to Christ, to Grace Church in Chapel Hill and in alma. It's actually amazing. And and I'm so very grateful. And, and part of the encouragement is it's not just here, like God is doing something right now that's really special, and we want to participate with him because Jesus Christ is the hope of our world. Um, he is the hope of our world, and we need him. And I think there's a hunger and a thirst that people have in their hearts for the Lord right now that we can participate with. So anyway, um, that I think all that's, uh, pretty exciting. I want to mention this to, um, step one. You know, if you've been coming for a little while and haven't sort of, um, made Grace church your home or had a chance to kind of get planted or whatever we call step one because it's a great first step.
Step one, and it's actually after service today. 1230 you can stick around and say, wasn't I supposed to sign up? Yeah, we don't even worry about it. I'm kidding. We don't not like you don't need to sign up. Come, just walk in. We've got lunch. We've got kids. Ministry. If you've got kids, we'll take care of your kids. They'll have a blast. And we're going to share vision, values, culture. Um, how to take a step and really maybe move from being an attender to saying, this is my church, and we're going to explain what it means to be a member. And, and, and what a blessing that can be in your life.
And so we'd love to invite you to that today. Right after service again. You don't need to sign up. Just hop right in and we'd love to have you. So today we're going to wrap up our series on disciple. We kind of kicked off the New Year with disciple, and we've been diving into this topic week after week, uh, talking about what does it mean to be a follower of Jesus. He gives us an invitation, follow me. And we've been talking. That means be with me, become like me, hear me, worship me. And we've been hitting on all these different issues. So, um, I want to say this. I really hope and pray this series has been a blessing to you. Um, uh, some, you know, I think this might be a good sign if I'm learning and growing a lot. I'm like, I've sure enjoyed it. I hope you all have. You know, and I really pray it's been a blessing. I want to say this. I have heard really good reports from our small groups. We've been doing disciple small groups and, uh, we've been talking about the relationships of a disciple and putting into our lives healthy relationships that are so vital in our lives. To have Paul's, to have Barnabas and Timothy's. What that means is who's mentoring you? Coaching you. Who inspires you? Who are you drawing from and learning from? Who are your peers? Who are your friends? You know, like when you're driving home from work and you just want to process your day? Who do you call and then who are you investing in your life? You fill your life with those three relationships proactively take initiative. I'm telling you, you end up with a rich life. And just to say this, it also helps you before the crisis comes. Because when the crisis, when pressure comes, difficulty comes, it reveals the strength of that network of relationships. And you can't build it in a moment.
And, well, one last little encouraging thought is life is always changing. Seasons change.
People move and come and go. And you need to. I want to encourage you to be a lifelong person that's continually filling their relationship grid. It's not a one and done. I got this figured out next. And so anyway, praying that blessing over you. Now some of you may say this. You might say, hey, our small group, we had a great time. We're on a roll. Um, here's my thought for you. Keep on rolling. In fact, many of the groups are going to continue to meet for our spring semester. Um, some of them are going to do, like, a message discussion group and kind of break it down and apply it. We've got resources that we give you every week if you would like to do that.
But maybe you want to do a Bible study. Uh, a book of the Bible. Maybe you want to do a book study. Uh, maybe you want to do an activity group. We got pickleball groups and movie groups and different things. Whatever, whatever you might want to do. I just want to encourage you to consider, um, continuing on with your small group. So, um, uh, that could be a real encouragement. Blessing. So now, last little thing. Next weekend we're kicking off for weeks on Make a Difference. And I want to encourage you to to to come and experience this. Not only does God work in us, he works through us. We're all made to make a difference. That's actually my topic for next week, made to Make a difference. And um, when you tap into that, we grow and change and we make an impact. And there's something inside of us that I think wants to be significant, have a purpose, be part of God's plan. And we actually spend four weeks kind of leading up to Easter. And I really am hoping and praying that that builds your life and helps you spiritually and, and, uh, so today, um, here's our topic. Trust me. Trust me. Now, that word trust, I mean, trust is a really fun word to talk about. Easy to say, but when you actually have to do it, it gets a little more challenging, right? You know, it's like the disciples, we trust Jesus, you know? And then he says, hey, step out of the boat. And you're like, ah, I've been out of the boat on the water, you know?
And Peter was the only one that did, you know. And I think it's true for our lives. Right. Like, it's it's I trust Jesus. And then he asks you to step out of the boat. I trust Jesus, you know. And also, when you lose your job, you go, oh, like, how am I going to make ends meet? What's going to happen?
How am I going to get my next job? Be like, uh, we need to trust him and step out of the boat. It's not easy or fun, right? I trust Jesus, right? And then you get a health diagnosis that's not good.
And you're like, oh, this is real. And now you really have to trust him. I trust Jesus, you know? And I'll see one of your kids is really struggling and you just can't reach them. And you're seeing them make a decision that's really painful and it's hard to watch. And and you need to trust them. And, you know, it's a little bit like. Well, I'm all for trusting Jesus. I was thinking more like for a parking spot, you know, circling the parking lot. Lord, I pray I'm going to trust you for a parking spot. I wasn't thinking one of these more bigger things. I didn't think I got to get out of the boat, you know, and, like, really trust you. And and learning to do that is not easy. Learning to do that is not easy. And sometimes let me say this, learning to trust Jesus is a journey, not a destination. It's not just a one event that we do. It's actually let me say this when you learn to trust him in one area, it's kind of cool. There's like a trust, muscle or faith that you build and you get pretty good and it becomes more easy to trust them in that area. And then here's the here's the thing. God will lead you to a new area. And you're like, ah, now I need to trust him here, and it will challenge you again to trust God. And then you might learn and you go, oh, I kind of got that. You know, in my marriage or maybe with my money or with my, like, a different area. And then sometimes you'll circle back and, you know, um, let me give you an example of that.
When I was a little kid, my parents taught me how to swim. You know, little kid, uh, and then, um, you know, we'd jump off the dock and swim, but then he was like. We were like, they told me, why don't you dive? I'm like, I don't know how to dive, you know? And and I'm like, I don't know that whole head first thing, you know, and you kind of watch somebody and like, ah, I don't really want to do the belly flop, you know. And, uh, so anyway, I didn't learn we were on family vacation one time. My, my parents were both, um, high school, school teachers. So they had the whole summer off. We'd load up the station wagon in our tent and go kind of tent camping. And we did this big West Coast trip, and we were in Victoria, uh, Canada, Victoria Island. And my parents knew somebody there, and they had a dock and water. And anyway, this family was like, well, we can teach you how to dive. And it is interesting sometimes when we hear it fresh from someone else.
Sometimes we can, you know, get it. So your parents say it like, whatever. Then someone else says it.
Anyway, they taught me this is what they taught me. Oh, here's your you're swimming. Your diving lesson.
Y'all ready? It's just three things. Hands above head bend at the waist, and then you can't move and then just fall forward. I'm like, well, let me try that. Hands above head bend at the waist. And I just fell for it. And I'm like, I did it. And then before you know it, you're like, who's diving? You know? And then from then on, you're you're like. It was amazing. It worked. My parents were like, you know, and someone gave me the steps and I did it. Once I got it, I got it right. It's like learning to ride a bike or whatever. So anyway, I had a friend who said you should do a backflip, and, uh, and he was like a freestyle snow skier super legit like competed nationally and you know, like if y'all noticed. But this body wasn't really built. The frame of this body wasn't really built for gymnastics. You know you don't see 26 for gymnast. You know. And so like it was never really exactly my thing. So anyway I tried a backflip that turned into a back flop. Okay. You know there's the belly flop. Well, I did the back flop. And after that I'm kind of like, I'm good, I'm good. And, you know, interestingly, it really became a self-imposed limit. I can't do backflips. I don't do backflips. I did a back flop that was painful. That was no fun. I'm not doing it.
And here I am, and I have yet to do a backflip my whole life. And I'm I'll be honest, I'm probably on it in from here. Okay. Um, here's the point. I never learned, never got the breakthrough. spent my whole life thinking I can't do a backflip. I remember watching one of my kids. I was like, my son. Like, whoosh! I'm like, I can't do that. I never could do it. And they got it. And and let me just say this. We can learn to trust God in one area and get it.
And he helps us. And maybe he gets into the flow of our life, and then we trust him without even really hardly thinking about it. But there could be another area that we just never trust him with our finances, or with our marriage, or with our kids. And I'm still just stressed and overwhelmed with about my kids or whatever it might be. And here's what happens when life flops. This is what happens. We all end up with trust issues. Here's my first big idea for today is we all have trust issues because it's true for all of us. We've all had a relationship flop. True, we've all had a job flop or a family flop or a health flop. And when life flops, we end up with trust issues. It's not like you consciously go, I got trust issues, but you just it just happens when trust is broken. Like in a relationship, we end up self protecting when we get hurt. Like I don't want to do that flop again, right? That hurt. That was no fun. That betrayal that I was on the receiving end of something negative. You recoil and self-protective. You go, I don't want that to happen again. And here's the principle. When one person fails us, hurts us. Acts in a way that isn't trustworthy. It impacts our ability to trust.
So it's not just that I don't trust that one person. I don't trust people. It's not that I just don't trust that man. I don't trust men. It's not that I don't. I don't just trust that one, boss. You don't have to think about. I don't trust bosses in companies. It's not that I don't just trust that one pastor. I don't trust pastors and churches. You, you. Subconsciously, you end up with a trust issue and ultimately kind of at the bottom of it. Sometimes we can end up feeling like that, that God let me down and have a little trust issue with God because I trusted him.
It didn't work out or that it was hurtful or it was difficult, or my prayer wasn't answered, or there was a devastating loss or a painful family situation. There was just a really challenging season emotionally, and I was just so under it. And you think, where was God, right? Like it. Let me say this. Sometimes it takes a little while to even connect the dots in our own head that you go, oh, I think I got a trust issue with God. Sometimes we don't even have the self-awareness, but that's kind of what's at the root of it a little bit is that I'm struggling to trust because I felt like God let me down in some way, but this is what happened. We try to figure out when there's a situation that's heartbreaking, difficult, painful, whatever. We want to figure out what happened. You intuitively ask, why did that happen? I don't want that to happen again.
Maybe I would like to get out of pain and we look for something or someone to blame because we're trying to answer the question, why did this happen? How did this happen? Right? Where was God? And we end up blaming people. We end up blaming a situation. We end up blaming God. We end up blaming ourselves, maybe, and we may not realize it's really impacted our ability to trust. In general, like in general, self-protection kicks in, I'll share a story where I felt self-protection kicking in for me. Or I realized, like, I'm starting to get trust issues here. It was, you know, several years ago, but I was serving on a staff and we had a ministry that was struggling. There was a leader that was like being a little difficult. And so the leadership decided, hey, let's send in Kendrick to help fix it. You know, I'm like, okay, great. You know. But I was like, okay. So I go in there and try to work. And it was it was a really challenging situation. And it wasn't, you know, anyway, we get a couple of months down the road and basically like, I mean, and they're like, um, like, you know, it feels like you're struggling like, like with this leader is a problem with you or with the leader. It feels like y'all have a personality conflict.
And I'll be honest, I was a little bit like I was just hurt and a little mad about the whole thing.
I'm like, ah. There was a problem before I got here. I came in to try to help. This person's dysfunctional. If you want to coach me up and tell me I've done something wrong, please feel free. But don't just say we have a personality conflict. Wondering whose problem this is. They had a problem before I got here. I'm trying to help. I feel like you don't have my back. And what I realized was, like, I'm getting trust issues. Because if you ask me to do something, I step out and I feel like you don't have my back. Correct me if I'm wrong, coach me up if I can get better. But otherwise, please have my back. And I realize I was really tempted to say I'm not trusting. Like again.
And and let me tell you this, it happens to all of us in some way, shape or form, right? And what we don't realize is there's a bigger issue of trust in general that's really at stake when we go through something like that. People will let you down.
I mean, again, I'm Mr. Positive Kendrick who encouraged her. But let me say this at the end of the day, I don't care how great your marriage is, how great your family is, how great your churches, how great, whatever your friendship is at the end. There's no perfect person. And God will not allow you to be perfectly related to and loved and affirmed and encouraged. There's going to be some misunderstanding. There's going to be some hurt feelings. The best marriages aren't like mistake free, problem free marriages. They're marriages that have learned to process pain and problems and misunderstandings and hurt walls like like hurts and walls like that. That that's all you end up with any healthy relationship. And and people at some point will let you down.
Organizations will let you down, church will let you down or friend will let you down.
Circumstances will let you down. Your health might let you down. Let me tell you this God will never let you down. God will never let you down. He's unchanging. He's faithful.
He never sleeps nor slumbers. He never drops a ball. He doesn't shift or change.
Psalm 118, verse eight says this. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in people. Isn't that interesting? It's better to take refuge in the Lord. Trust him than it is to trust people. And so where we might go in our heads is okay. Praise God, I'll trust God, not people. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way because in your relationship with people, in order to have a healthy relationship, you need to have trust. Let's say at work, if you want to build a cohesive, unified team that's going to like, you have to build trust in that group, in that team, in order to produce something good. So trust is necessary for your relationship, but it's better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in people. How's this going to work? Point number two we trust people by trusting God. We trust people by trusting God. Now, if I may ask. Hang with me a minute. Let me develop this thought. This is going to take a minute to.
We're going to kind of dive into this here for a little bit, because this is a little nuanced okay.
Nuance discussion here. Here we go. Follow track with me. We trust people not because people are trustworthy. We trust people because God is trustworthy. Like you can't fully trust people. Let me say this even Jesus didn't fully trust people. Look, this is interesting. It says this John 224 Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person And the context of this is this they they wanted to, like, make Jesus king and they had a plan for him. All right. We got a plan for you. Like, like, you know, um, like, I'll be your marketer for you. You know, I'll be the I'll be your agent for Jesus. We're going to get you on a trajectory here. And Jesus is like, yeah, no. And he wouldn't fully entrust himself to people, even though people had a plan for him. He goes, he goes, I'm going to trust my father. Now, does that mean that Jesus doesn't trust people? You think he didn't fully entrust himself to him because he knew what he knew? People are a little selfish, fickle at times, so I'm not going to fully entrust myself to it. But check this out, y'all. Look at this at the end of the story, when Jesus goes to heaven, he leaves his disciples here. And what's his plan? To get the message of God to the whole world? Literally every tongue, tribe, nation, every people, group. People. People are the plan. His disciples, I mean, 12 ragtag guys that are a little messed up and one of them goes AWOL. I mean, like, that was the plan. You and I are the plan. God trusts people. You and me, his people, to be his messenger. His ambassador is pretty amazing. It's pretty like. Like incredible God in it. Jesus entrusted us because he trusts God, that he who began a good work in us will bring it to completion. Jesus hope is not in people. His hope is in God, and he believes and his faith that God, who began a good work in you, will bring it to completion. That God who is working in his people, will bring the good news of his love and grace to the whole wide world. See, his faith ultimately was in people. It was it was ultimately in God and that he could trust people. So let's apply this to you and me. When we get hurt or disappointed with people, we forgive people and trust God. We're going to forgive people and we trust God. We don't necessarily fully entrust ourselves to that person. Let me make two applications the specific situation or person. And then secondly, all other people. First of all, the specific person. Let's say that you have a hurt offense, a wall up with somebody. Um, we we said we forgive people and we trust God. This is what we do within a relationship with that person. We forgive freely, but we rebuild trust wisely. Okay? We're going to forgive freely, for forgiveness can be instantaneous. Rebuilding trust takes time, takes time. And the way that I see it is this is like I've had a situation where I've got this relationship with somebody and then let's say we have some misunderstanding and and let me say this is important. I, you know, you got to self-reflect on your part, but let's say they've done something hurtful, unkind or whatever. Your trust level gets knocked down. Okay. And and, um, we forgive freely, but we. But but we can rebuild trust over time. And let me just say this. At the end of the day, here's a little math equation for the math teacher. I already trust level equals relationship level. So your trust level that you have with somebody is going to equal your relationship. Like let me put it this way. Think of a person that you have a great relationship with okay. I don't know family member or friend thing got him into your mind. All right. Let me tell you this. I can assure you that your you have a high level of trust with that person because your, your trust level equals your relationship level. If your trust level goes down, your relationship can only be as deep as your trust level is. When you have little trust.
You're going to have a shallow relationship. It's just that's what happens. That's that's. And so what I want to do is this when this has happened, we have we had trust, we had relationship. Now it's gotten knocked down to here. What do we do. And I'm going to do what I want to do is talk through three levels kind of small to midsize issues, mid to larger issues and then the real big ones. Okay. So first of all three level of hurts and offenses.
If there's a small to midsize ish hurt offense, misunderstanding something that goes on. Let me encourage you this. You can overlook a matter.
Love covers a multitude of sins. You can give grace.
You can believe the best. And you can sort of sidestep the issue.
Like the the Ephesians talks about the fiery darts of the evil one. And and sometimes the way I think about it is you get a fiery dart thrown at you. Ever get a fiery dart zing at you, you know. And what I used to kind of teach my kids. Okay. When that dart comes, um, here's the first thing. Here's the easiest thing we can do is go zing! Oh, here comes one zing.
You know, and and just sidestep it. Believe the best. Don't take it personally. It's usually not. There's usually something else going on.
Like. Like when I was a school teacher coach, basketball. Um, I prayed this a lot. Um, there's a verse in Ecclesiastes. He says, do not listen to every word that your students say.
It actually says servant. But don't listen to what your servant says lest you hear him curse you. I feel like I would say, don't listen to every word that your students say, lest you hear them curse you, for you realize you too have cursed others. And, and and that was really helpful for me, because what I realized is, is as teenagers and students and coaching basketball, like there's a lot going on in teenagers lives. They got family, they got hormones, you know, like, you know, it's not easy. And sometimes I get the brunt of their trying to do their math right. And math is frustrating. And at times I would get zinc. I have to absorb their angst.
And I was taking a kind of personally, and I feel like I was like. Don't take it personally. It's usually not. And the picture from Ephesians, from the um, is, uh, is a shield of faith can extinguish the fiery darts of the enemy. I kind of like that, that there's a dart thrown at you and you have it. You can sidestep it or put it on a shield of faith, and it just gets extinguished. Because you have faith to believe the best you have faith to to to sidestep it to, to, to not take it personally. It usually isn't.
Let me put it this way. Let me give you a vision for this. By God's grace, I want to encourage you in your life to have a vision, to be a person who's hard to offend, be hard to offend like some people are easily offended, like they easily, you know, get angry, they go out, fly off the hook they like, are showered and some of these things are tough. I shall damn, you know why they did this? And I let them have it right here. I'm tough. I'm like, no, you're not tough. You're actually weak. Strong people are hard to offend.
Weak people are easily offended and and get angry quickly and get their feelings hurt easily. And I've been there. We've all been there, y'all. Here's my thought for you.
You want a happy life. You want a healthy life. You want to enjoy life. You want to be blessed. Work on this. The first thing we're going to work on is sidestep it. Extinguish it. Don't take it personally. Believe the best. Be hard to offend. Like it's it's it's like people got stuff going on at work in your family. We don't often even know what's in someone's head, in their heart. Let me tell you this, most of the time it's not even personal. And even if it is, you know. Well, we'll get to that. But anyway, y'all catch this. I want you to do well. You're going to be happier this week if you're harder to offend. And if you just sidestep stuff and believe the best. Carry that shield of faith. So okay, now here's number two. It's a little bit like with my students. I feel like I ended up helping me a lot, where most of the time I did really well. We're like, I it just didn't like bother me and I just cared and whatever, sidestep it. But this is what was my experience. Every once in a while it bothered me. It got me something somebody said or whatever, like I'm driving home going, dang, I kind of like it got in there. Let me tell you this, no matter how mature in Christ like you are, every once in a while a fiery dart will come your way and it'll get in your head. In your heart you go like that hurt. That was painful. I'm thinking about that. Why did they say that? I had this happen to this reason. I'm like, oh, that was interesting. I didn't know that. And it gets in the back of your head and you kind of replay the tape a little bit. Now what do we do then? Well, we're going to forgive freely and rebuild trust wisely. And you may want need to put up a healthy boundary. Now here's a key about a healthy boundary. Because remember trust is up here. Got knocked down to here okay. And sometimes you know there's a whole huge discussion about healthy boundaries. And there's a place where you can put it in healthy boundaries. Here's my only encouragement to you. I just want to touch on is, is sometimes what we call a healthy boundary is we're putting we haven't forgiven freely And aren't in a place of wanting to rebuild trust. And so our healthy boundary isn't redemptive. It's punitive. You hurt me. So I'm going to put up a healthy boundary to hurt you back. You can't be near my kids.
And here's my thought. Healthy boundaries are important. You need to do it. But if you want to make them a healthy boundary, then you need to work on processing your own heart. Is is. I'm going to forgive freely and fully. And I'm going to realize the relationship may have got knocked down to here. And this is what I'm going to be careful not to do, is just write the person off.
Because what we do sometimes is I'm just going to write them off. I'm going to write off my parents.
I'm going to write off my friend. I'm going to write off whatever. And I'll be honest, like, I think when I was young and fiery, a little bit younger, like I used to do that a little bit more.
Like every time someone crossed me, I'm like, you're out. You're out. You know. And the problem with that is you do that for a year or two years. Five years turns into ten years. You get down the road and all, suddenly you realize you're pretty isolated. You put up walls and you're pretty lonely. And no one really knows what's going on inside of you in your life, because you've been just writing off people and cutting them out. And that's not healthy, right? So we gotta say, this relationship was here, got knocked down, and this is the way I had to think about it. Now the trust level relationship is here. This is this has helped me. I'm going to enjoy the relationship to the degree that I can. I'm not cutting you out. And I'm going to believe to rebuild the relationship and rebuild trust wisely might take some time. Might happen, might not happen. But I'm not writing you off. And and maybe there's a healthy boundary that needs to get put in place, but I'm going to do it with an intent to be redemptive, to rebuild the relationship wisely. I'm not being punitive or vindictive trying to get you back. It's powerful y'all. That can really be helpful. Really be healthy. It's going to help you be healthier.
And then over time, God can really do that. He can work. He can change a heart. He can restore a relationship. We trust people by trusting God. Let me just give you an example that's been very challenging to me, probably where I've learned this. It's the best example. It's really helped me personally is, is there's a woman in the Bible by the name of Sarah, and it's just a fascinating story. Abraham was married to Sarah. Sarah was Abraham's wife. And, you know. So Abraham and Sarah get called to leave their home to go to this promised land. And God they said, well, where's that? God says, well, I'll let you know. You know, you just leave. Well, they did that and they're wandering around. And then there was a famine. So they had to go to Egypt. So, I mean, it sounds a little bit like Joseph, but it's kind of like it's similar. But they literally there was a family, they had to go to Egypt. So when they were going to Egypt, this is what Abraham says to his wife, Sarah. Sarah, you're a beautiful woman. And when we get to Egypt, I'm gonna worry that Pharaoh of the Egyptians, um, they're going to kill me. And so I need you to lie and say that you're my sister. Because then I think I'll be okay if actually, if you go back and reread the story, there's a lot of me and there's a lot of I like. Abraham was just looking out for himself. So they go, that's what they do. And then Pharaoh is like, she's very beautiful. So he's going to take her to be his wife. and God supernaturally intervenes. I mean, he's going to sleep with her. God supernaturally intervenes and causes some sickness to break out. They're trying to figure out what the why in the world is this happening? And then they figure out, well, you're about to take Abraham's wife to be your wife. And he goes, what? And he goes to Abraham. Dude. What's up? He said to my sister, he goes, yeah, well, I was a little afraid that you're going to kill me. He goes, I am now. No, he didn't say that. I just made that up. Yeah, he actually said, get out of here, you know? Um, and, uh, this is what first Peter said. I mean, okay, I don't know about y'all, but if I'm Sarah, I got trust issues. You know what I'm saying? Oh, super macho man. Going to protect me? No. You didn't. You know what I'm saying? Like, come on. Like you're just self-centered, selfishly looking out for yourself, not protecting me. Putting me in a vulnerable spot that I'm about to get slept with by this guy. But God interviewed and honored her. And here's what's helped me is first Peter three says that Sarah hoped in God. Did not give way to fear and trusted Abraham. See, she hoped she trusts she. We trust people because we trust God. She hoped in God. She didn't hope in Abraham. Abraham was not on his A-game. But she didn't write him off. She didn't cut him out. See him saying, y'all. Now, the third level, by the way, is this there is a time. Let me just this is very important to mention. There is a time in the place for completely cutting somebody out and never trusting him again. There's a place for that. Okay?
There's there's kind of what I would kind of call extreme situations of abuse of, you know, where you, you, the healthy right thing to do is to write the person off and cut them out. You still have to forgive them. Let me just say this. In that mid area, I think we jump to saying I'm cutting them out too soon and I and I, I feel like God, says McKendrick. Trust people by trusting God.
Trust people. Don't write them off. Don't be too quick.
I go, Lord, I don't know if I like this. Step out of the boat. Trust me. Trust me. And then trust me.
There's so many applications for our lives for this. You may have a tough situation at work.
That's just really where you feel like a small cog in a big wheel. This place can't change, and it's dysfunctional. And maybe you've been the recipient of some negativity or something that's been unfair, unjust, and part of you wants to defend yourself or retaliate and and look at this example of Jesus. When they hurled their insults at him. He did not retaliate. When he suffered, he made no threats. How did he do that? Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. It's amazing that when Jesus received like insults, when he was suffered, was literally beaten and flogged and ultimately crucified. He made no threats. Instead, what did he do? He entrusted himself. But because he knows this, God's keeping score. Like God's watching in a good in a in a good way, that every time you trust God and rely upon him and respond, right. Like when you get into a situation and you don't receive evil with evil, but you overcome evil with good. God goes. I'm watching. I'm. I judge justly. And sometimes there's a time frame. But to see it all happen.
But he's. You reap what you sow on an increase in a different season. He's keeping score. And when you do what's right, and when you trust God, and when you entrust yourself to him who judges justly. God's. God's, I got you, I got you, Sarah. In fact, I'm going to supernaturally show up in your situation. You trusted me. You look to me and and, and and I'm going to have your back. You might not feel like everyone's got your back. I got your back. I'm going to judge justly and trust yourself to me. Don't defend yourself. Don't return evil with evil. Overcome evil with good. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you. Like you. Just keep doing what's right and keep trusting God. And God says, I'll take care of you. I'll take care of you.
Maybe you need to ask God to trust him with a family relationship. There's been a breakdown in relationship. Misunderstanding walls up. You feel like you're not connecting or getting through.
There's been some hurtful things said or done and it can feel impossible, he said. The relationship stuck. We're in the same place. Maybe it's been years even. Let me tell you this God can do the impossible. Trust God. The length of time or the depth of hurt is not a hindrance to God. He loves to work and move. God says, trust me with your spouse. Trust me with your kids. Trust me at work. Trust people by trusting God. Believe for the best.
Here's my question for you what person or situation do you need to trust God for? And maybe even as I was speaking, someone or something came to mind you go. That's where I need to trust God.
I need to trust God there. And I need to be willing to trust people, to rebuild wisely. And maybe there's been a breakdown, but I'm going to trust people by trusting God. My hope isn't in them.
Sarah hoped in God, and she related well and trusted. So, um, what's God speaking to you? Now, you may ask this question. All right, pastor got me. I'm good.
But how do I grow in my trust? Like, I want to trust God for people, but, like, I feel like I kind of have tried it, and I feel like my faith level is low and I'm not really trusting. Like, how do you grow your faith? How do you trust God more to see God work in people's lives or situations? And I want to give you remember this fall over. Okay. This is going to be very simple, but not easy. It's powerful, I think. Okay, here it is. How do we grow in trust? We do this. We trust God's character and God's ability. We trust God's character and God's will. We say this. It always comes down to these two things. Let me tell you this every time you struggle to trust God, maybe you've been thinking in the back of your head, well, I'm feeling like I have to be honest. I'm kind of struggling to trust God. If we could get into your head and your heart and, like, if you could see and really analyze everything you're thinking and feeling and processing and what you're really wrestling with, let me tell you this every single time it comes down to this. Do I trust God's character? Is he good? Does he care? Is he for me or his ability? Like, does he have the power and will he do something about it? Let me give you a goofy example. Let's say someone came up to you and said, I want to give you $1 million.
You go, wow. Now what would you think? Well, I think you would analyze it. You might go, Praise God. Okay.
But the the skeptic in you, in the back of your head, you'd be like, let me think this through. For example, let's say your uncle comes up to you and says, I want to give you $1 million. Now, phone call is a fun uncle. Okay. And you go, uncle. I love you, uncle. You are so much fun. You love me. I love you, but dude, you're broke. Okay? You're just broke, okay? You don't have $1 million like your character. Your heart is wonderful, but your ability to come through here is nil. Okay. Now, let's say you go to work and you got that rich, sketchy coworker. I'm going to I'm going to give you $1 million, and you're like, I think you got it. I think you have the ability, but I don't trust you. See what I'm saying? It always comes down to those two things. And what happens is this God says I'm trustworthy. My character is good. I love you. Um. And I'm for you. And I have the ability.
Now, listen, we tend to always believe that, right? Of course. God loves me. Of course. God's for me. Uh, and we believe, like, God's got all power and he can do all things. Yes. But let me say this. When we get into the crisis, when we get in the painful situation, when the marriage isn't doing well, when the health issue, when the kids melting down. Let me tell you this. In the crisis, what comes out of our heart? It always comes down to those two issues. Let me give you an example. The disciples. I love this example. The disciples are in a boat in the middle of the night. Storm comes up. They start taking in water and they're about to drown. And in that place Jesus is asleep at the back of the boat. Which again, what a picture of how we can feel when we're in our storm and our crisis and in our pain.
That tough relationship. And it feels like, Jesus, you're asleep. You're not working. You're not moving. You're not helping. Now, this is the profound part. The disciples come and wake up Jesus and they say this, don't you care that we're perishing?
Don't you care that we're perishing? Don't you care about our finances? Don't you care about my marriage? Don't you care about my kids? Don't you care about my health? Don't you care about the fact that we want to get pregnant? Don't you care about. See what I'm saying? What comes out of your heart is what comes out of the disciples is. Don't you care which is what you want. Character and ability. This is really. It's a it's a questioning of God's character. Don't you care? Jesus wakes up, he rebukes the wind and the waves, and the whole thing goes whoosh, calm. They're like, oh, We had no idea that you had the authority. The ability to do that. Oh, ye of little faith. What was Jesus trying to say? Oh, you. Your faith was little. Your trust level was little because you. You didn't really know that. You know that. You know, deep on the inside in the crisis that I care and that I have the ability to help. Let me see this. If you had rewound 12 hours earlier, Jesus was about teaching. Uh, uh, Peter, uh, we would like to interview. Uh, do you believe that God cares for you and loves you? Yes or no? Like, of course you would have said yes. He loves you. Yeah. Do you believe that he has the power to do great things? Oh, 100%. He's incredible. He's got all power and amazing. And then go 12 hours later.
And in the storm, when the boat sinking. The marriage is melting down.
The health isn't getting better. The stress is too much. The bills aren't being paid. The debt is growing. Don't you care?
That's the issue, y'all. So no. Here's the positive. Let's go. Turn it on. The positive. How do you build your faith to trust God more in these situations? You got to go back to that issue. God, your character, your good, and you are loving and you are for me, and you are with me. And I'm going to read your word. I'm going to fill my mind. I'm going to fill my spirit with your unfailing love and your goodness. And I'm going to reflect back on how in the past you were faithful. I'm going to exercise that muscle. I jumped off that dock and I learned how to dive. I'm going to dive again, Lord, I'm going to trust again, Lord. And I'm going to proclaim, Lord, that you're good, and your love and your power is with me. And you start building your faith by really going to God, your character and your power, your love and your goodness and your ability to come through. And as you have experiential knowledge in those two things, your trust level, your faith rises.
And that is how we trust God more. And we can trust God with people like, hey, Lord, with this person in this situation, I'm going to trust you, Lord. With what do you want to trust with him with today? I'm going to trust him with my emotions.
I'm going to trust him with my future. Today, I'm going to give God. I'm going to trust him with my finances today. It's that painful relationship, distant relationship, or the wallop. I want to trust God in that area. And I want to pray for you here in just a minute. But I actually had one other one as I was praying this week. An area that maybe you haven't considers an issue of trust, but I want to speak to this area. Then we're going to pray. And here was the thought that I was, as I was praying for you this week that came to my mind is I think some of us struggle was really trusting that God's forgiven you.
That if you carry around guilt, shame, a sense of negativity in your thoughts toward yourself or you beat yourself up, have some secrets. And there's just this cloud. Let me just say this. You don't really have a sin problem. The way out isn't sinning less. The way out is trusting more. You. You really have a trust problem. I mean, we all have a sin problem, But you're not going to send less your way out of that. And really, at the root of that, you're beating yourself up. And carrying that around is a trust issue.
Maybe you've never thought of it that way, that Jesus Christ says, I came to earth, I lived a sinless life. I died on the cross. I shed my blood. I rose again for the forgiveness of the sins of the world. And that includes yours that you did last week or 20 years ago. And you can receive forgiveness through faith. Trust in Jesus that the blood of Christ cleanses us from all unrighteousness, and you're beating yourself up and carrying guilt and shame is not a sign of your humility. It is actually a sign of your unbelief in the truth of God's Word that he loves you and he cares. And he has the power and the ability to forgive and to cleanse. And he's just saying, trust me, I love you, I did it, I paid the price. You can't do anything more. You don't have to prove anything. Just. Just receive it and trust me. Trust me, trust me, trust me. And I just felt like God wanted to free some people. Free some people to really say, Lord, I trust you. And I'm going to let go of my.
Guilt. Shame. I'm not going to get my good stuff to outweigh my bad stuff and try to be a better Christian. I'm going to receive and trust you. I tell you what, that will liberate you and free you in such a life giving way that we all have got something. So let's pray I love y'all, let's pray together. Father. Thank you today. Lord, I really believe you're speaking to our our hearts. I believe that you are here where 2 or 3 gather together in your name. There you are in their midst. And I believe you're here, that you're here to speak to us, encourage us, challenge us, reveal our own hearts to us, that we could turn to you. That we could turn away from our own strength, our own ways, turn away from our sin and trust God. And Lord, I pray that today there would be a fresh infusion of faith and trust. As we lift up our eyes and look to you. We'd see you. We'd see your eyes of love and care. And we would believe that you're a good God, and you are for us and with us. And that we would trust in your power, your power to work and to move and to change and transform our lives and our world, and, Lord, to forgive our sins. And I want to pray for anyone here today, Particularly, who would want to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and trust God with their life that you really feel like God saying, trust me and what you need to trust him with is in some sense beyond a situation or even a relationship. But it's with your very life to say, Lord, here's my heart, here's my life. I believe in you, Jesus, that you did come from heaven to earth, live a sinless life, die, rise again from the dead in order that I might be saved, forgiven, adopted into your family. And I receive it today by faith. I trust you, I trust, and I believe your word, and I want to follow you all the days of my life. Jesus. I want to start afresh with a new relationship with you, with you at the center of my life, in order that I might live for the glory of God. In Jesus name, Amen.