The Foundation of the Christian Life | Jonathan Stutts | Definition Church

The Collective 4/13/2026

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Collective family, what's up? Good to see you guys. You can head back to your seat, say hello to somebody around you. Such a blessing to be back in the presence of the Lord. Guys, I am beyond excited for tonight's special guest speaker. This man, I'm not kidding. I'm not exaggerating, is one of the most faithful, God-fearing men that I have ever met in my entire life. You know, I I've had the opportunity to be around a lot of incredible leaders in my life. I've worked at some big churches. I'm not kidding, they could not hold a candle to this man. And here's why. Because he's not just a leader, he's a shepherd. He's not just a leader, he's a pastor. And I have never met a man like him. And so that is why it is my honor to introduce our executive pastor, Pastor Jonathan. Y'all give it up for PJ. Alright, PJ, we got a tradition here at the collective. Anytime someone speaks, we pray over them. So if y'all could extend a hand out to PJ for me. He's got six kids. We gotta pray for him. Father God, we thank you for Pastor Jonathan. God, I just take a moment and hear your voice. I just I hear you saying thank you to him for being faithful with what he has put in front of him. God, that he hasn't had to strive for more, but God, you have given him a blessing for what he has today. And God, he is impacting generations of people, generations of lives because of his faithfulness to you. And so, Father God, I also just bless him as a father, I bless him as a husband, I bless him as a man. And God, I pray that he can be rooted in that identity. But God, first and foremost, may he know that he is a son of the living God. That there is nothing he can do to sacrifice that or lose that. So, God, I thank you for his impact on my life. I pray may the Holy Spirit speak through him tonight. May he not be worried about an agenda, but only about you. In your holy almighty name, I pray. Amen. Amen. Y'all give it up for PJ one more time.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

Love you, man. Love you. What's up, y'all? How's everybody doing tonight? Hanging in there? Getting closer to the end of the semester. Anybody excited for summer? Thinking about it already? That's good. I want to say a couple things before uh jump in and get started. Uh, first, you guys have an incredible college pastor. And um, where'd Zach go? He went somewhere. He didn't leave the room for a moment. Where'd he go? Zach, come back in the room. That's crazy. That's crazy. Come here, bro. You just gonna love me and pray like that and walk out the room? What's good? Listen, I want you to understand that there are a lot of people, uh, there are a lot of people in the world doing ministry for the wrong reasons, who are incredibly gifted and talented. And from what they show on the stage, you wouldn't know. But what I can tell you about your college pastor is he's a man after God's own heart. That he loves him, he's pursuing him, and I want you to hear in front of everybody, I'm so proud of you. And I that I know there's some things in your heart that you're wrestling with, and um I think what God wants to say to you is you're gonna change the world. You just gotta let him do it through you. Right? So I believe in you, I love you, I'm proud of you. Can you guys just honor your college pastors and love and then I'm you know, I just want to say um I don't I don't feel like I deserve to be here. I don't feel like I deserve to get uh to do this. Um I'm a human being just like all of you. And I have imperfections and flaws. I have moments where I'm madly in love with Jesus and pursuing him, and and moments where I want to run away from him and hide, and moments where I struggle with all sorts of things. And um I was praying right before service started, and uh I I felt all the insecurity come back. I felt like I was who I was back in college again, and y'all, I was not cool in college. Uh, I've never been cool. I certainly was not cool in college. And uh so I'm coming into this environment and I felt all the insecurities uh again. Uh I've you know, I've got to, I've got to be wise, I've got to be clever, I've got to perform in some way. And and I I I just want you to know my heart tonight, the thing that I was praying and asking God for. I said, God, help help me not perform for them, help me love them. And I I just want you to know I really love you. Um there's a lot of stuff that you guys are facing. It is a difficult world to live and to grow it up in and to be at the life stage you're in right now. And uh my heart tonight is just to pour into you, to encourage you, to build you up, and I want to do that to the best of my ability. Um, I feel a strong connection to college ministry. It was the first role that I had here on staff. Uh I was a nursing major at UNC Genie, nursing majors in the room. A few, okay, all right. Yep. It's always a girls in the room. I was the only guy in the whole program. It's fine. You get used to it. And uh so I was a nursing major. I worked in a pediatric floor, had an offer in a cardiac ICU, and I started serving here at the church. I was leading worship for youth, I was leading small groups in college, and uh they they offered to let me run the college ministry. Why? I have no idea. No idea. I didn't have any clue what I was doing. I was still in college myself, and uh, I had an offer to work at a cardiac ICU. I turned it down uh to come make $12,000 a year here. And uh it was the best decision I ever made in my life, and uh, God has met with met me every uh season, every transition. And um, but I I love college ministry, I love college students. My wife and I spent the first three years of our marriage. We met uh at the church playing on the worship team. I was playing guitar, she was playing piano, and uh, if you're looking for a spouse, start serving. Just gonna throw that out there. It's a great, great way to meet a spouse. And uh then we gave the next few years of our life uh just to pouring into college students. So you guys just hold a special place in my heart. There's so many decisions that you've got to make, so many things you're wrestling with. It's a big transition moment. And as we kick off kind of a new series tonight, we're talking about a very significant transition moment. When you begin to follow Jesus for the first time, what's next? What's the first thing that you should do when you begin to follow Jesus? That's a huge transition from not following him to following him. And there are all sorts of things you could choose to do first, but what's next? I grew up in church, I was taught that Jesus loved me and that he had a plan for my life, but I ran away from that for all sorts of reasons. I didn't really begin to follow Jesus until college. My sophomore year specifically, made a lot of mistakes, did a lot of dumb things freshman year. I got ahead of the process, got myself into trouble, and I found myself stuck. Uh freshman year, I was drinking far more than I should have, pursuing all sorts of relationships I should not have. I was addicted to pornography, just struggling and stuck and frustrated. And I decided to begin following Jesus, but even in that, I didn't feel like I could change those things. I came to church, I want to follow Jesus, I want to be close to him, but I'm still doing these things. And so I'm frustrated. And often it when we make this transition, right, we know like I man, I've accepted Jesus, I'm following him, I'm in heaven, that's great, but I'm still the same person. And I I want to change, I have this desire, I'm willing to put in the work, but I I feel stuck. And so we get frustrated and we begin trying all sorts of things. And what I learned, what I have learned since then, is that my immorality was not a result of a lack of desire. I desired Jesus. My inability to change was not the result of a lack of effort. I was trying, desperately trying. And so often when that's true, we begin to look to all sorts of things. Well, let me go find a different church. Man, it must be the preaching. I need someone to feed me something different. And we begin to look in all these different places, trying to change. And what I've realized is that I just skipped the first step. What I want to talk about tonight is uh what's the foundation of the Christian life? Again, the not just the first thing that we do, but the thing that we have to continue to do over and over and over and over and over again if we're going to experience the life to the fullest that Jesus said he came to bring. Most people think the Christian life starts with doing try harder, be better, fix yourself. This is all very American and it's very difficult to break in our culture. We frame this sometimes as more positive, right? Run after Jesus. Pursue God's call on your life, build the kingdom. But scripture really flips all of that. It starts with being, it starts with your identity, who you are in Christ. If you got your Bibles, hold it up for me. You guys got a little uh culture here, bringing, we believe this thing is alive, that God still speaks today. Amen. If you want to go ahead and turn to Ephesians chapter 1, and if you want to hold that and look at Matthew chapter 3, those are the two passages we're gonna be in together tonight. Ephesians 1 and Matthew 3. Watch Manes says Christianity doesn't begin with walking, it doesn't begin with standing, it begins with sitting. Sitting puts us in a posture to receive. And nothing is more important when it comes to following Jesus than receiving. Y'all say this with me first. Sit. First, sit. Look at your neighbor and say, sit down. Zach mentioned I've got six kids. I got six kids, and it means it is a circus at my house, okay? And uh all all of my kids, as I've had other kids, have really enjoyed helping take care of the little ones, right? They want to hold them, they want to help with them. And it's really cute and adorable. And this is also true of my youngest. My youngest, her name is Eden. Uh, she is two years old, and she's my favorite. Uh it's just it is what it is. You know, when you're a parent, you'll understand all parents have favorites, it's fine. And my other kids know that they're her uh she's their favorite too, so it's it's fine. And uh, but she loves to hold babies specifically. And my wife has 10 brothers and sisters, right? Like I said, it's a circus all the time. And uh so between all of them, my kids have like 30 cousins. I mean, like there's a bunch of them. And so even even though that she even though she's only two, she has multiple baby cousins younger than her. And so she she'll anytime one of them comes over to the house, she said, I I want to hold baby Judah. Can I hold baby Judah? And the first thing we'll have her do is sit. Because if you're gonna hand someone something weighty, if you're gonna give them something important, you wanna make sure they're secure enough to hold it, that they're ready for it. And so sitting puts us in a posture to receive something weighty. Something important. See, how often we want to pick up our calling and run with it. We're not ready to hold it, and so we fall. We see this all the time. If we don't understand where we sit, we'll struggle in how we walk. We won't be able to stand when it matters. So let's look at Ephesians chapter 1. We're gonna see this, beginning in verse 17. Ephesians 1:17. Paul says, I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. So these are some new believers. He's praying over them. I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called, his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God's power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God's right hand in the heavenly realms. Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else, not only in this world, but also in the world to come. This beautiful kind of introduction to Christianity, right? I'm praying that you have wisdom, praying that you have insight. I pray that you grow in your understanding of God. And the first thing you need to understand is that Jesus is seated in the heavenly realms and he holds all power, all authority, everything needed to protect you, to cover you, to lead you. He's seated there, but then he says this in chapter two. This is incredible. Chapter two, verse six. For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness towards us as shown in all he's done for us who are united in Christ Jesus. When you make a decision to follow him, the Holy Spirit comes and lives inside of you, and then you are united with Christ, which means you are seated in the heavenly realms with him. You have a seat. And where you're seated is a reflection of your identity. I go to a lot of weddings. The pastor has officiated a bunch of them. My wife is a wedding photographer. There's no telling how many weddings I've been to. And you go to a wedding, you got the ceremony right, and then you head towards the reception, and right before you walk in the reception, what's one of the first things you do? Is use a little chart there. And it tells you which table you're at. And so the first thing you do is you go to the chart to determine, to, to, to uh try to get understand how important am I to this couple? Because if you're seated in the back by the bathrooms, you know where you stand in the relationships. Right? That's tough. And if you're seated at the table of honor in the front, you know where you stand. I've actually been, I've officiated a couple weddings where they didn't even put me on the chart. I didn't even have a seat. So it's like, hey, can I just like get a seat outside and grab some food to go? Or what do you want me to do? And but where you're seated is a reflection of your identity. And what you need to understand, what you need to see in this passage, is that Jesus made a decision to seat you with him. Above everything else, that you hold a position of incredible honor and privilege because of the relationship that you have with him. So, what do I mean by sit? Again, sitting is being in a posture to receive, a position of surrender, an understanding of your place and your identity in Christ. It's a belief that I am nothing without Christ, but because of God's great love, I'm united with Christ, and with Christ I have everything. When I was in probably eighth or ninth grade, I remember going to a friend's graduation. Um, well, it's uh a couple friends of mine, their older brother's graduation. And I remember sitting there and uh Michael was his name. He was at the front, his dad got up to kind of give a speech and to talk about him. And I remember in that moment he looked at his son and he said, You're getting ready to go through a big transition. You're going out into the world. He said, You're ready. He said, You're capable. You have what it takes. When you fail, I'll be there. And I remember desperately wanting to hear that from my father. That I was ready, that I was capable, that he'd have my back. These are life-changing words for a child. In that moment, Michael was seated in the presence of his father, secure, prepared, ready. And we all need to hear these words. We all need to understand God's heart for us to receive from him, to believe what he says about us. And when we don't learn to sit, every relationship we have, every minute we live becomes more challenging. We're striving, we're pressing, we're longing. I took a sabbatical last year after just a little over 15 years of ministry. I took a couple of months off, had some extended time, and I remember I spent a lot of time sitting, uh, sitting in the presence of God, trying to connect with him, hear his voice. And at the very beginning of sabbatical, I felt like he really pressed on my heart this question do you believe I love you? And after 15 years of being a pastor, you'd think that'd be an easy question to answer. But with ministry stripped away, with work not in the equation, alone in the presence of God, I got real honest with him. And my answer was I'm not sure. And it began this process for me of wrestling with my father, of real honesty with him. And through that process, uh, he's continued to speak over me and to show me that he does love me. And I don't think there's anything more important in your Christian life than believing that God loves you. The underst than understanding your position with him. And one of the things we see in scripture that's so powerful is Jesus actually needed the same thing. He was fully God, but he also became fully human. He had some basic needs that we all have as well. If anyone was gonna just run after their call, right? Build the kingdom, if anyone was gonna skip this first step of learning to sit, it could have been Jesus. But what we see is that the secret to his life, the secret to his power, the secret to his ministry came from his ability to first sit. So we're gonna look at his baptism story. I'm not sure there's a moment where Jesus accepts Jesus into his heart, right? But baptism is really where you see him begin his journey of stepping into ministry. So in Matthew chapter 3, we see the baptism of Jesus. Verse 13 says, Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, I need to be baptized by you. And why do you come to me? In other words, you don't need to sit. You don't need to surrender, you don't need to take this step. But Jesus replies, Let it be so now. It's proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness. If I'm going to become everything my father has for me, I've got to learn to sit and surrender as well. So John consents, verse 16. As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment, heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God, his father, descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven says, These three things. This is my son, whom I love, with him I am well pleased. He speaks three powerful things over him: his affirmation, his affection, his approval. And I want you to take a moment and just think tonight which of these do you really long for the most? I just know there are people in the room who, like me and my friend's graduation, are desperate to hear from a father figure. I believe in you, I love you, I'm pleased with you, I want you, I desire you, I want to be close to you. You have what it takes. And if we don't learn to sit and to receive these things from God, our Father, and certainly if we didn't receive them from our earthly father, the Makes this much more challenging. We will continue to struggle. And so Jesus comes out of the water. He receives these three things from his father. And then it says the Holy Spirit leaves Jesus to be tempted. That's a crazy concept. The Holy Spirit takes Jesus into the wilderness to fast and to be tempted. So he's sitting, he's baptized, he's surrendered, he goes and he fasts. And have any of you ever fasted a long time before? I've never done 40 days. I've done a week and a half. All I could do at the end of it was sit. I mean, there was nothing else that was happening, right? And so in this moment, he's humbled himself, he's sitting. Holy Spirit leads him. Why? Sometimes the Holy Spirit does that because it's a test. Are we ready? We're ready to walk. Are we ready to run? Are we seated in our identity? Sometimes it's preparation or confirmation. Temptation reveals what's really inside of us. And the Holy Spirit wants to expose that so we don't take off running and fall on our face. And so Jesus has this experience. And he tempts them with three things. And we see the same three things that we all face when we begin following Jesus, three strong temptations, three different times. He starts with this statement if you are the Son of God, he's questioning where he's seated. He's questioning if God really affirms him, loves him, approves of him. If you were the Son of God, the first one it says he takes him to the top of the temple. He takes him to his dad's house. Takes him to the very top, and he says, throw yourself off and see if anyone catches you. Because God said, Angels will come and take care of you. Satan quotes scripture at him. The temptation here, the question is, does anyone really want you? Are you worth saving? And then he brings a second temptation. He's hungry, he's been fasting for 40 days, and he says, Take these stones. If you are the son of God, take these stones and turn them into bread. And he's asking this question: Will anyone care for you? Will anyone provide for you? And then he comes again. If you're the Son of God, I'll give you everything you see. He takes him to the highest point of the highest mountain in the area. He says, Look out at all of it. I'll give it to you. You'll rule it all if you'll just bow down to me. And the temptation here, the question is, Am I good enough? Have I done enough? And these are three temptations we all face. And in response, Jesus, in every single one of them, quotes scripture right back to Satan and says, My father says something different. The first one he says, My father says, Don't test him. I am the Son of God. That doesn't need to be tested. And the second one he says, man doesn't live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the Father. I'm secure in that. And the third one he says, God says, Don't worship anyone but me. See, he quotes scripture right back at him. See, because he's been seated, he doesn't give in to temptation. Because he understands his position, what he already has from his father, he doesn't need anything else. If we're going to live this Christian life, if we're going to walk it out, if we're going to build the kingdom, if we're going to experience life to the fullest, first we have to understand what we already have from our Father. Otherwise, we will easily give in to these three temptations. 1 John 2.16 captures the three of them. It says, For the world offers, not the Father, the world offers, only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and a pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but they're from this world. Theologians have named these three primary offers: lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, pride of life. It's the same three things that Satan offers. It's all Satan has to offer. Counterfeit versions of something you can get a better version of from the Father. Often we'll begin following him and he'll give us a picture to inspire us, to give us desire and passion. But if we get ahead of God, and if we haven't sat in our identity with that vision, we'll mess it up or we'll delay God's plans. So you look at Joseph. Joseph gets a beautiful vision from God. Your brothers are gonna bow to you. You're gonna lead and rule over all these people. You're gonna be a blessing. But he gets ahead of himself. And instead of learning to sit and receive from his father in that moment, he goes in his pride and his ambition and he brags to all of his brothers, you're all gonna bow to me one day. And because he's running ahead with his calling and leaving God behind, he has to go through a process. And so he spends a bunch of years in prison. You know what he learns to do in prison? He learns to sit, to hear God's voice, to be secure in his identity, what his father says about him. And then because of that, he's able to fulfill that calling and live that out. We see the same thing with Moses. Moses is called, he gets a vision, he hears from a burning bush, you're gonna go and set my people free. You're gonna lead all of Israel out of Egypt and into the promised land. But the weight of his calling is too much for him. He's too insecure because he hasn't yet learned to sit. And so, in the weight of that, he kills a man. And so he goes into the wilderness for a bunch of years. You know what he learns to do? Sit. Hear the voice of his father to gain that affirmation, affection, and approval. And then and only then is he able to carry that mantle and lead his people into the promised land. Yeah, I've been tempted to run, I've been tempted to strive so many times. I've been here at this church almost 20 years now. I was a campus pastor for a number of years. I've been almost every role you can be on the staff. And uh, people don't ask me this as much anymore, but there was a season where uh constantly people were asking me, when are you gonna plant your own church? When are you gonna be a lead pastor? Man, it was hard. There are things that are in my heart. I want to make a difference in the world, I want to accomplish everything that God has for me. And I was tempted in all of those moments to take that vision and take that pressure and to begin running, to begin working, begin trying to make it happen. But every single time there was a test. And I'm so thankful for those tests. In those tests, in those temptations, I paid attention and I was humbled. I realized in every single season I was not as ready as I thought I was. So I've learned to slow down. I've learned to listen. If we don't learn to sit in the affirmation, the affection, the approval of God our Father, we can confuse temptation for calling. We can jump straight to the vision without the power of God's presence in our lives. Be careful. So, what gave Jesus the boldness, the ability to face these temptations, right? He was close to the Father. He sat in his presence every day. He received these things from him. He'd learned to sit, to surrender, to receive from his father. He understood that Satan is like a roaming lion looking for someone to devour at all times. And if you don't learn to sit, you'll get bit. Satan will come for you. John 12, 49. Jesus, the Son of God, says, I don't speak on my own authority. The Father who sent me has commanded me what to say and how to say it. He's so humble, so secure in who he is and what he's called to. I don't need to be anyone else. I don't need to do anything else. What my father says, that's my lane, and I'm sticking to it. You see this in the language that he has for his father. He calls him Abba. It's an Arabic word. The closest English word we have to it is daddy. He's close to him, intimate with him, able to receive from him. And we've got to learn to do the same thing. So I want to point out three things, and I want to show you some of the ways that we can identify if we're struggling with some of this. So we've talked about these three things already: affirmation, affection, approval. These are the three things that I believe God wants to offer us that if we're seated with him are available to every single one of you. First thing I want you to see is we can sit with the affirmation of our Father. We can sit with the affirmation of our Father. He would say to every single one of you tonight, you're my son. You're my daughter. I want you. Some of you have been wrestling with does anyone want me? Maybe you've experienced rejection in relationships, rejection from your parents. Maybe you don't even know who one of your parents is. God would say, You're mine. I want you. And part of the challenge is when we don't receive affirmation from our father, we begin to struggle with our identity. Lust of the eyes. The counterfeit offer here is something that will cause us to feel validated. And so when we don't receive affirmation from the Father and we begin to wrestle with our identity, we turn to all sorts of things. We turn to social media. How many likes can I get? I'm receiving my affirmation from what others think about me. Let me get as many likes, as many views, as many whatever as I can. We'll turn to pornography. This is the primary reason that people turn to and are addicted to pornography. I don't feel like I'm wanted or desired, so let me turn to something that causes me to feel wanted or desired. Something that causes me to feel like a man. God would say to you, You are a man. You're my son. I want you. I desire you. You're my daughter. I want you. I desire you. If we're not careful, we'll begin to be defined by everything but God in a pursuit of affirmation. We'll begin to associate with all sorts of unhealthy tribes, defined by all sorts of different things. Our occupation, our political party, our football team, our race or ethnicity, our sexuality. We begin to find our identity in all sorts of things. Looking for affirmation. And if you learn to sit in the presence of God, what you'll discover is that you already have it. He's given it to you. You're his. I remember when I was probably a junior in high school, I was working at some tennis courts. I played tennis, taught tennis, did maintenance on all the courts. And so I remember leaving one day in my car and I went around this curve. I was at a country club near this lake, and they're doing some construction, and so things are messy, and there's a bunch of sand. And I remember reaching down for something in my seat or in the floor. And by the time I looked up, my back tire had caught the edge of the road and pulled me out into the sand. And I took this guy's mailbox out. I mean, I destroyed it. And I remember pulling over and I was devastated. Man, it's my parents' car, it's an accident. I just started working. I'm trying to get some money. And the man walks out of his house, and he is the grumpiest, meanest old man I've ever met in my life. And he just goes off on me. You sorry kid. Your dad should take away your license right now. You don't deserve to be driving out. I mean, then he said all sorts of worse stuff that I can't even remember, but he goes on and on and on, and I just feel so beat up. I'm already feeling bad before he walks out. Now I feel worse. And I'm scared of what my dad's gonna think, what he's gonna say, how much it's gonna cost to fix the car, and all the different things. And so he goes on and on and on and on. And I call my dad, Dad, I I I wrecked the truck. I need you to come get me. And and so he comes, and when he comes, the guy's still yelling at me, just going off. And he turns to my dad and begins to do the same thing. Your son is no good, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Just on and on and on and on. And I'll never forget. My dad looked at him and he said, That's enough. That's my son. And I just know some of you are in the room and you feel attacked, abused, overwhelmed, exhausted. I want you to know that God sees. And that if you'll let him, he will step in and say, That's enough. That's my son. That's my daughter. There's affirmation there if you'll learn to sit with him. 1 Peter 2 9 says, You're not like that. You're not like everyone else. You are a chosen people. You are a royal priest, a holy nation, God's very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. He chose you. 1 John 3:1. See how very much our Father loves us, for He calls us His children, and that is what we are. But the people who belong to this world don't recognize that we're God's children because they don't know Him. Everyone else will always question your identity. They don't know any different. But you can be secure in the fact that God chose you, He wants you. I'll give you a couple simple ways to do this. Theologians, Christ followers for years have practiced something called centering prayer. And it's the kind of prayer where you don't talk, you sit and you ask God, God, what do you want to say about me? And just listen. And when other thoughts and distractions come in your mind, let them float away and come back to, God, what do you want to say? What do you want to say about me? I just want to encourage you, take some time to do that. I think you'll be surprised what you hear God say about you. Another thing we can do is we can make scripture declarations, right? We can read what scripture says about our identity, about what God says about us. We can memorize it and repeat it and stand on it. So you can do a quick Google search. What does the Bible say about my identity in Christ? And there'll be 20 different websites that give you 20 verses on what God says about you. And man, take those, write them down on sticky notes, put them all over your mirrors, right? Remind yourself daily what God says about you. So we can sit with the affirmation of the Father. Second, we can sit with the affection of our Father. I think all of us have a desire for affection, to know that we're loved. And God would say to all of you, just like He said to Jesus, I love you. At different points we all wrestle with, does anyone care about me? Will anyone take care of me? And if we don't receive the affection of our Father, we will begin to struggle with our appetite. If we don't receive affection from our Father and learn to hear that we're loved, we'll begin to numb the pain of that absence with all sorts of things. We'll turn to food, we'll turn to alcohol, we'll turn to sex, we'll turn to relationships. Anything that produces that feeling of I'm cared for. And our appetites will control us. Or we can sit in the presence of the Father and receive his affection and his love for us. First John 4.19 says we love each other because he loved us first. John 3.16, you all know this, for God so loved the world, you, that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. When you find yourself controlled by any type of appetite, I want to encourage you to go back and to wrestle with that idea, the same one that I had to wrestle with just last year. Do you really believe God loves you? Do you really believe He will take care of you? He will provide for you. Because when we feel loved, I don't need to feel fill that with anything else. The bondage that all of these different appetites and cravings have on me is broken because of the love of God. So I want to encourage you, real simply, just to tell God what you need. Don't be afraid to share your emotions with him. Don't be afraid to ask him for what you want. And scripture actually says to do it again and again and again until he answers. They are experts at this. They'll come every day and ask 20 different times for the same thing. Not yet, not yet, maybe later, but they will keep asking. The most common question with my older boys is can we can we play video games? Can we play video games? I don't know. Five minutes later, Dad, can we play video games? I don't know, ask your mom. She said to ask you. Dad, can we play video games? Right. Why do they do that? Because they know I have the ability to give it to them. Do you trust that God wants to give you good things because he loves you? Now there are some times when I say no because it's not good for them. I say no because I love them. But I love that they ask me. I love that they trust me enough to keep coming to me. And God loves the same thing when you go to him and you're willing to ask. Ask him. Tell them if you're angry, tell them if you're hurt, tell him you're upset. Tell them what you need. And let him show you his love. Amen. So we need affirmation. We need affection. We can sit with the affection of our Father. And third, we can sit with the approval of our Father. We can sit with the approval of our Father. He says to Jesus, and he says to every single one of you. You're my son, you're my daughter, I love you. Third, I'm pleased with you. I'm pleased with you. All of us often wrestle with this question, Am I good enough? And this really deals with our ambition. Because if we don't receive the approval of our Father, we'll begin to strive, to work, to earn, to prove, to do whatever is necessary to earn that approval. And uh you see this trophy is too big. You can't even see the word ambition. This was my this is my trophy. And uh you know you can tell I don't struggle with this one anymore at all, right? This was the most difficult one for me. Uh I grew up in a household where I think my parents really tried to love me. They wanted a lot of things that were good for me, but I just felt so much pressure. And I I felt like I had to perform to receive their love, to receive their approval. And when I wasn't perfect, it didn't feel like there was love there. And so I began to hide anything that didn't look good, and I began to push to be the best at everything. My ambition began to drive everything. And when that's true, we have no boundaries, we defend ourselves against anyone that doesn't fully approve of us. We strive to prove to everyone else we're good enough. But here's what scripture says Ephesians 1 5. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is incredible. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. Jesus didn't go to the cross out of obligation. He didn't go to the cross out of duty, he didn't sacrifice because he had to. It says he wanted to do it. It says it brought him pleasure. It says that you bring him pleasure. When we were pregnant with my fifth, uh, we were trying to come up with a name for him. And uh, when you have as many. Kids, as I have, you start running out of names you like. And so we were really wrestling, really struggling with that. I was out uh on a run one day and um just kind of praying about that and some different things, and I and I felt like God just spoke to me really clearly in that moment. I felt like he said to me, if you name your son after you, I would be pleased by that. If your son turns out just like you are, if he's the same man you are, I would be pleased with that. And y'all, I'm out there on the road running and I just stop and I'm bawling like a baby. Because that temptation, the temptation to believe that I'm not good enough, that I'm gonna have to keep working and striving was always there for me. And to hear God, the Father, say to me, I'm pleased with you. If one of your kids turns out just like you, that would be amazing. Man, it just broke me. You know, God wants the same thing for you. He actually wants to give you his name, he wants you to carry that. You're ambassadors. One of the best practices to really embrace the approval of our Father is Sabbath. And a Sabbath has been such a powerful practice for me. Sabbath is the practice of taking a full day where you don't work. And a lot of people think Sabbath is about rest. You do Sabbath when you're tired. That's not it at all. That's a byproduct. Sabbath is about presence, it's about learning how to sit with your father, knowing if I don't accomplish anything else, God is still pleased with me. And the only way you'll be convinced of that is if you stop and sit. Otherwise, everything you do will contribute to this temptation, to this issue. And this is often what we do when we begin following Jesus. With the best motives and intentions, let me try harder, do better, change, let me get in a group, let me serve, let me run after my calling, let me let me change and do all these things. But listen, you can't. It's God that changes us. It's his affection, affirmation, approval that changes our hearts. And once our heart is changed, our behavior comes as a result of that. But if you don't learn to sit, nothing will ever change. I want to remind you, all these things were spoken over Jesus before he began his public ministry. They were not a result of his perfection or his servanthood. They were a result of his relationship with his father. These are not things you do, they're things that you receive. If you'll receive them, you can face any temptation. You can take anything this world throws at you. You can carry the weight of a big calling. You can change the world. If you'll learn to first sit. Many of us uh believe we don't deserve a seat at the good table. Some of you thought God was far away. You walked in tonight thinking that he didn't care, that you're not good enough, you've made too many mistakes, he's angry with you. And I just want to be crystal clear. God is close in this moment, he is not far away, he is right here. And he loves you, and he's pleased with you. He desires you, wants to be close to you, he wants to call you son or daughter. You can have that relationship no matter what you've done, and no matter what you're struggling with, no matter what you're carrying right now, you can have it. And we see this so beautifully in the parable of the prodigal son. In Luke 15, there is a son who wrestled with all three of these things. And he leaves the father's house because he doesn't understand that he has these three things. And he goes out into the world and he gives in to the lust, the eyes, lust of the flesh, pride of life. And he blows everything, squanders all his money. He ends up taking care of some pigs, and he finally hits rock bottom, and he says, I have no choice but to go home. And this is what we see. Luke 15, verse 20 says, He returns home to his father, and while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. And he doesn't wait for him to come. He didn't have all these expectations, he didn't have to clean up or fix anything first. It says, filled with love and compassion. He ran to his son. He embraced him, he kissed him. His son said to him, Father, I've sinned against both heaven and you. I'm no longer worthy of being called your son. I don't deserve that seat anymore. But his father says to the servants, Quick, bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet and kill the calf we've been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, for the son of mine was dead and is now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found. So the party began. There are three gifts given here. I want you to see this. He gives him a ring. And a ring is a sign of status, it's a sign of identity, it's connected to the Father's name. He's saying, You're my son. And I want everyone to know it. Wear this ring. And he gives him a robe, which is a symbol of royalty, protection from the elements. Love covers. He gives him his affection. And he gives him sandals. Sandals are something servants did not wear. He's saying to him, You're not valued for work. You're valuable to me because you're my son. He gives him these three gifts. And then there's actually a fourth gift, right? He goes and he gets the fattened calf. And they kill it and they party and they eat. The story says they sacrifice the calf. They're able to go into the house and sit and eat. And what's true for all of us is without a sacrifice, you can't sit. If Jesus doesn't give his life for you, we don't have the ability to sit and to receive these things. But God gave everything. His one and only Son Jesus as a sacrifice. He died, was raised from the dead so that you could be reclaimed, so that you could be adopted into his family, so that you could be forgiven, healed, and seated with him. Remind you of Ephesians 2 again, for he raised us from the dead along with Christ, and he seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. Make this the foundation of your entire life. The place, the posture from which you grow. Work, learn, transform, pursue your calling. First, sit. And we're able to receive everything we need from God. He'll do it. So I'm going to lead you in a simple prayer. Maybe some of you are here tonight and you don't feel like you have a relationship with Jesus. Maybe you grew up in church, maybe you didn't, but you're hearing all this and you've recognized, man, I've just been working, I've been striving, or maybe you've been running because you didn't believe that God loved you and you just showed up tonight. And I want to give you an opportunity just to sit and to receive from God in this moment, to recognize He is a Father that sacrificed everything for you. So if you would bow your head, close your eyes with me. If you're here today and you just recognize I need to sit with my Father, I need to surrender to him. I need to receive from him. I want you to pray this prayer with me. Jesus, thank you for being close. Thank you for loving me first. Thank you for choosing me. I want to follow you. I admit that I haven't been perfect. I've fallen short. I believe the lies of Satan. But I turn to you tonight. I want you to be my father. I want to follow you. In Jesus' name. Amen. I want to end with a declaration. If you'll put these up on the screen for me, I mentioned this earlier. But again, I think this is a powerful practice that just helps us sit and solidify that. Caris, can you give us the first one? Hey, I want to encourage you to read this with me out loud. Okay, let's do this together, strong, believing that God's word is true and these things are true of us. So say this with me. I am chosen by God. He has not rejected me. He chose me and appointed me to bear good fruit. Through Christ, every curse of rejection is now broken off of me and my family. I am God's masterpiece. I am his child. I am fearfully and wonderfully made. I am a citizen of heaven. I am rooted and grounded in love. If God is for me, who can be against me? There is nothing in all creation that can separate me from God's love. Amen. Give me the next one. Let's read this together. I am lovable and I am loved. I no longer answer to the cravings of my old sinful nature. In Christ, I am a new creation and I have everything I need. I am free from condemnation. My body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, so I flee from impurity and lust. I take captive every thought. I am sober-minded and alert. I resist the devil and he must flee from me. My thoughts are true and noble. My hands are clean. My conscience is clear. My heart is pure, and the pure in heart will see the face of God because we are the children of God. Amen. Last one. Let's read this together. I want to encourage you to go ahead and stand with me. Let's say this one together. Come on. God chose me before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. The blood of Jesus washes away my sin, purifies my heart, cleanses my conscience, and gives me a fresh start. I trade my striving and works for the finished work of Jesus. I trade my heaviness for the hope and joy of the Lord. I run from darkness into God's radiant light. It's so good. Because there's a lot we've talked about that I know you're probably wrestling with. And at the collective, we believe in practicing radical honesty and giving the last 10%. And man, some of you tonight, you just need to sit. You need to receive from God. You need to admit maybe that you've been running. Maybe you've been pursuing some different things, right? Maybe you've been pursuing affirmation, identity in all the wrong places. Maybe your appetite has gotten out of control, right? And you've been giving in to your cravings, lust of the flesh. Maybe you've been striving, trying to earn and to prove yourself to everyone. And I want to give you an opportunity. I want to extend an invitation to sit. So the prayer team is up here. They would love to stand and pray with you for anything that you're wrestling with. Maybe some of you just need to sit, literally. This is not a moment where there's any pressure to prove anything to anyone else in the room. This is a moment to sit. Maybe some of you need to come up here and just symbolically sit in your Father's presence and ask, God, what do you want to say about me? So on the count of three, I'm gonna just extend an invitation. When I say three, I want you to go. Okay? Our team's here. God's with you. There's an invitation. No pressure, just an invitation. One, God loves you. Two, you're here for a reason. Three, come sit. Come on, let's sit.