SPEAKER_01: All right, well, good morning.
SPEAKER_01: So um before I get started, um, I just want to take a moment to say that it is truly um an honor and a privilege uh to be able to share this word with you this morning.
SPEAKER_01: My family and I are so grateful uh to be a part of this church family, and we're thankful that God has brought us here and allowed us to just run alongside people who are just as passionate as we are about truly living for the Lord and seeing people set free.
SPEAKER_01: So if you're new this morning, um welcome.
SPEAKER_01: Um I can personally tell you that this church is the real deal.
SPEAKER_01: Um, it's just a place full of people who love God and who love his word and just desire just to see uh lives just transformed by his power and his presence.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Um, I'll be honest with you, it's been a minute since I preached on a Sunday morning, so I'm a bit nervous.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna pray over this message and then we'll go ahead and get started.
SPEAKER_01: Is that okay?
SPEAKER_01: Father God, I love you so much, God.
SPEAKER_01: God, I thank you, Father, for this word.
SPEAKER_01: God, I thank you for giving it to me, God.
SPEAKER_01: God, I ask that you open the hearts of every single person in this room to receive exactly what you would have them receive, God.
SPEAKER_01: God, and I ask that you um just let it fall on good soil, Father, and I will give you all the praise and honor and glory for it.
SPEAKER_01: In Jesus' name, amen.
SPEAKER_01: So um many times, not always, but many times when I'm given an opportunity to minister, the Lord has already given me a word to speak before I'm asked.
SPEAKER_01: And it's not an entire message, but it's a word that's already been planted in my heart.
SPEAKER_01: So a few months ago, Pastor David asked me to minister on a Wednesday night, and the moment that he asked me, I already knew what message to preach on, and it was on fresh oil.
SPEAKER_01: Um, if you were here that Wednesday night, it was a good message.
SPEAKER_01: If you weren't here, you missed it.
SPEAKER_01: No, I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_01: You shouldn't, you need to come on Wednesday nights.
SPEAKER_01: Um but my point is that the Lord had already given me that word.
SPEAKER_01: Um, I say that because when Pastor David asked me to speak this time, I was actually caught off guard because I didn't feel like the Lord had given me a word yet.
SPEAKER_01: And um, in fact, when Pastor David asked me last last month to speak on a Sunday in August, um my immediate response was, well, what about a Sunday in September?
SPEAKER_01: Because, in my opinion, I didn't feel like the Lord had given me a word.
SPEAKER_01: I thought, God, you need more time.
SPEAKER_01: As if God needs more time, right?
SPEAKER_01: Um, but immediately when when David walked away from the conversation, immediately the Lord um or the Holy Spirit just convicted my heart.
SPEAKER_01: Um, because it wasn't that I didn't have a message, the issue was I was speaking out of fear.
SPEAKER_01: Um I didn't know what the word was going to be yet, and um I just really allowed that uncertainty uh to make me question God's timing.
SPEAKER_01: And so um that evening, after Pastor David talked to me, the Lord just began dealing with my heart about my lack of trust in him, and and I really hate admitting that.
SPEAKER_01: And but I could hear the Lord saying, you know, Janna, like, don't you know that I knew that he would ask you to speak in August and not in September?
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Yes, Lord, I know that.
SPEAKER_01: And so um, I go to Patrick, he can attest to you.
SPEAKER_01: I I came the next morning and I said, I am so sorry, just forget about what I said about September.
SPEAKER_01: I will speak in August.
SPEAKER_01: So here I am, August, the whatever date it is.
SPEAKER_01: I will be honest though, when I walked away from him saying yes, I said, God, you better give you got me a few weeks to tell me what this word is.
SPEAKER_01: So over the next few days, I just really wrestled with the Lord, like, God, like, what is this word do you want me to speak?
SPEAKER_01: I don't take being up here lightly.
SPEAKER_01: I wanted to make sure that whatever the word was, that it was the word that he wanted me to speak.
SPEAKER_01: And so I just kept asking him, Lord, like what is it?
SPEAKER_01: And and I heard nothing.
SPEAKER_01: And I thought, well, Lord, do you want me just to reuse a message?
SPEAKER_01: Because if you've been in pastoral ministry any length of time, you start accumulating a lot of messages over the years.
SPEAKER_01: Um, just words that you've written and preached, and just words that God has given you over the years.
SPEAKER_01: And so I thought, well, gosh, I guess you want me to like I went on my computer and I've got this folder on my computer with all my saved sermons.
SPEAKER_01: And so I started going through all my sermons, and as I was going through it, and I was like, I was like, well, Lord, is this it?
SPEAKER_01: No, is this it?
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: And I kept going through all my sermons, and I finally came to this thought, none of these are it.
SPEAKER_01: And I thought, Lord, what is it you want me to speak?
SPEAKER_01: And finally, he spoke to me.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Janna, I've already given you this word, and you aren't gonna find it in your saved sermons.
SPEAKER_01: And I thought, no, you haven't, you haven't given me this word, and he said, Yes, I have.
SPEAKER_01: I've been growing this word in your heart your entire life.
SPEAKER_01: You know this word.
SPEAKER_01: Tell them what I have done.
SPEAKER_01: So this morning, well, hold on.
SPEAKER_01: This word wasn't something that I had written down years ago, and it wasn't something, you know, sitting on my computer waiting to be discovered.
SPEAKER_01: It was something that God has been developing in me through every season, every mountain and every valley, and every moment where I've seen his hand at work.
SPEAKER_01: And the word is this God is faithful.
SPEAKER_01: So the title of this message is The Fullness of God's Faithfulness.
SPEAKER_01: Say the fullness of God's faithfulness.
SPEAKER_01: Do you know the faithfulness of God?
SPEAKER_01: I am 43 years old, so I got one year on you.
SPEAKER_01: I am 43 years old, and through all the mountain, mountaintops and all the valleys, and every season in between, one constant has remained, and that is the unmistakable faithfulness of God.
SPEAKER_01: Psalms um 89 says this.
SPEAKER_01: Can I do it?
SPEAKER_01: That's it.
SPEAKER_01: Psalms 89, one.
SPEAKER_01: This is what it says.
SPEAKER_01: I will sing of the Lord's great love forever.
SPEAKER_01: With my mouth, I will make your faithfulness known through all generations.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know every circumstance represented in this room today.
SPEAKER_01: I joke with Mike all the time that every time I come in here, there's someone in here that I don't I've never seen before.
SPEAKER_01: But I can tell you this every person sitting in this room has a story.
SPEAKER_01: It's a story that I'm sure I do not know.
SPEAKER_01: And I can imagine that everyone hearing my voice today is facing something.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's a diagnosis that you never expected, maybe it's a financial struggle, maybe it's a marriage that's hurting, maybe it's someone with a child who's lost and bound by addiction.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you're the one that's bound by addiction.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know every situation represented in this room, and I don't have all the answers, but I do know this.
SPEAKER_01: Whether the mountain you're facing is huge or whether it's small, God is faithful.
SPEAKER_01: He knows.
SPEAKER_01: He knows every battle you're fighting, he knows every tear you cried, and he is faithful to walk with you through it.
SPEAKER_01: And I know that because I have lived it.
SPEAKER_01: Mike and I, we have been married for almost 21 years, and up until this past year, we have spent our entire marriage in ministry.
SPEAKER_01: And over those years, we have had the privilege of serving in different roles in children's ministry, and youth ministry, and pastoral ministry, and we have seen God do absolutely just incredible things.
SPEAKER_01: We have witnessed lives changed, we have seen just people set free and just the goodness of God displayed in so many ways.
SPEAKER_01: But with ministry, it can also come with difficult seasons.
SPEAKER_01: Moments of heartbreak and moments of disappointment, and just battles that people just don't see.
SPEAKER_01: And this is just a side note.
SPEAKER_01: We need to make sure we're praying for our pastors, make sure we're lifting them up in prayer, right?
SPEAKER_01: Pray for strength and wisdom and guidance.
SPEAKER_01: Just make sure that in your prayer closet at home, you're praying for them.
SPEAKER_01: But I want to tell you something.
SPEAKER_01: In 20 years and being in ministry, I have learned this.
SPEAKER_01: The enemy, he may come steal, kill, or destroy, but the faithfulness of God always remains.
unknown: That's it.
SPEAKER_01: There have been times in my life that I didn't know how in the world God was going to move.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't know how he was gonna work the situation out.
SPEAKER_01: And to be honest, he didn't always answer the way I thought he would, he didn't always fix the situation the way I wanted him to.
SPEAKER_01: But in every single situation, God was still in control and he knew exactly what he's doing.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says his ways are higher than our ways, his thoughts are higher than our thoughts.
SPEAKER_01: God is not surprised by your situation, he's not surprised by your circumstance, he doesn't look at what's happened and become overwhelmed or become nervous.
SPEAKER_01: He sees the beginning and the end, he cares for you, he's with you, and he is he knows exactly what he's doing.
SPEAKER_01: And this is what I've learned.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it just takes time to be able to look back and say, God, you truly were faithful.
SPEAKER_01: Now, don't misunderstand me.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't always pull me out of the fire, but he was faithful to walk with me through it.
SPEAKER_01: Next month, this is August, so next month is September.
SPEAKER_01: Next month it will be three years.
SPEAKER_01: I can't believe I'm actually saying that.
SPEAKER_01: It'll be three years since my mom passed away.
SPEAKER_01: It's a hard that was a hard season.
SPEAKER_01: If any of you guys have lost a parent, especially a mom, that is really hard.
SPEAKER_01: And I lost my mom kind of unexpectedly, and then 30 days later, I lost my grandmother.
SPEAKER_01: So within a month, I lost my mom and my grandmother.
SPEAKER_01: My my dad lost his wife and his mother.
SPEAKER_01: And that was just a really hard season.
SPEAKER_01: And God didn't heal them the way I wanted him to.
SPEAKER_01: They got their healing, just not on this side of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: But almost three years later, when I look back on that season, I see how God gave me strength when I didn't feel strong, and he gave me peace while I was walking through grief, and he comforted me in ways that really only he could comfort me.
SPEAKER_01: And what is amazing to me is that a season that really could have been marked with just sadness has now become a season that when I look back, I can say, God, you were faithful.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't remove me from the valley, but he walked with me through it, sometimes carried me through it, and he was faithful every single step of the way.
SPEAKER_01: So I can stand here today and I can testify of his faithfulness in my own life.
SPEAKER_01: See, me just standing here, ministering this word is God's faithfulness.
SPEAKER_01: Watching my son Elijah worship the Lord by playing the drums, learning how to be led by the leading of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: That's God's faithfulness.
SPEAKER_01: God bringing my husband and my son here to run alongside all of you guys, it's God's faithfulness.
SPEAKER_01: And it's not just in my own life, I know it.
SPEAKER_01: Because there's people in this room that I know can stand up and boldly proclaim of God's faithfulness.
SPEAKER_01: This book is filled with story after story after story of God's faithfulness.
SPEAKER_01: But it's so easy, though, when you're in the middle of a really difficult situation, to question God.
SPEAKER_01: Like, why am I here?
SPEAKER_01: Like, why have you brought me to this place?
SPEAKER_01: And it's in valleys like that where you can feel isolated and utterly alone.
SPEAKER_01: Really question God, like, God, do you even know that I'm here?
SPEAKER_01: And can I tell you something?
SPEAKER_01: He knows.
SPEAKER_01: You know, there's so many scriptures in the in the Bible that highlight just God's knowledge of us.
SPEAKER_01: You know the obvious ones.
SPEAKER_01: God knew you before he formed you in your mother's womb.
SPEAKER_01: But there's other scriptures that you may have not thought about.
SPEAKER_01: Do you remember the time when Jesus first first meets Nathanael?
SPEAKER_01: Do you remember that story?
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna read it to you.
SPEAKER_01: It's in John 1.47.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna do it on this that thing, I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_01: In John 1.47, it says this When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.
SPEAKER_01: How do you know me?
SPEAKER_01: Nathanael asked.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus answered, I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.
SPEAKER_01: Then Nathanael declared, Rabbi, you are the Son of God.
SPEAKER_01: You are the King of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus said, You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree.
SPEAKER_01: You will see greater things than that.
SPEAKER_01: See, Jesus in that moment reveals his omniscience to a skeptical Nathaniel.
SPEAKER_01: Amen?
SPEAKER_01: I did some research on that scripture, and I didn't know this until recently, but the phrase under the fig tree, it's actually a phrase that rabbis often use to describe their meditation time on the scriptures.
SPEAKER_01: Now, of course, it's possible that Nathaniel liked to spend time under a fig tree and the Lord saw him there in his omniscience.
SPEAKER_01: That is possible.
SPEAKER_01: But more than likely, Jesus is saying, I saw you while you're spending time with me in the scriptures.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that beautiful?
SPEAKER_01: So even when we don't physically see him while we're spending time with him, we can know that he sees us.
SPEAKER_01: He is acutely aware of where we are.
SPEAKER_01: What about the time when Jesus goes to the pool of Bethesda?
SPEAKER_01: It's in John 5, verse 5.
SPEAKER_01: It says, One man was there who had been an invalid for 38 years.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, when Jesus saw him there and knew, he already knew he had been there for a long time.
SPEAKER_01: He said to him, Do you want to be healed?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus already knew how long that man had been in that condition.
SPEAKER_01: He knew the depth of his hopelessness, and he immediately stepped in.
SPEAKER_01: So he sees us, he knows our struggle, he even knows our thoughts.
SPEAKER_01: Mark 2.8, it says, Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit what this what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, Why are you thinking these things?
SPEAKER_01: God knows.
SPEAKER_01: John 10, 14 says, I am the good shepherd, I know my sheep, and my sheep know me.
SPEAKER_01: And see, God doesn't just know about his sheep, he knows his sheep.
SPEAKER_01: There's a difference.
SPEAKER_01: I don't just know about my son Elijah, I know my son Elijah.
SPEAKER_01: And not only does he know us personally, he has a plan for us individually, and it's a good one.
SPEAKER_01: Far greater than anything we could ever imagine for ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: My absolutely favorite scripture in the entire Bible is Jeremiah 29, 11.
SPEAKER_01: He says, For I know, he knows, the plan I have for you declares the Lord plans to prosper you, not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.
SPEAKER_01: And that's just a handful of scriptures that highlight that Jesus knows.
SPEAKER_01: And there are many more, but my point is this God knows your situation right now.
SPEAKER_01: He's not forgotten you, and he is faithful to see you through.
SPEAKER_01: This morning, that's my introduction.
SPEAKER_01: I'm looking at the time.
SPEAKER_01: This morning, um, this message is actually in two parts.
SPEAKER_01: And the first part is a reminder of a few stories in the Bible that just prove God's faithfulness, and the second part is a warning.
SPEAKER_01: Are you ready?
SPEAKER_01: So I'm not gonna read you all these stories.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna remind you of them, but I highly suggest that this week, I'm being for real, this week I want you to go home and I want you to reread these stories.
SPEAKER_01: The first story is Joseph.
SPEAKER_01: Remember Joseph?
SPEAKER_01: Joseph, he's betrayed by his brothers, he is sold into slavery, he's wrongly imprisoned, and just when you think Joseph might catch a break, he is for completely forgotten about by the cupbearer.
SPEAKER_01: But despite every setback, God continually gave Joseph favor, he gave him wisdom, he gave him strength, ultimately elevating Joseph to this position where he could save countless lives, including his family, in the middle of a famine.
SPEAKER_01: What does the story of Joseph tell us?
SPEAKER_01: God's faithfulness is unwavering.
SPEAKER_01: His presence never leaves us.
SPEAKER_01: His timing is perfect, and he can bring good out of even the most difficult situations.
SPEAKER_01: That's what that story is about.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, let's do another one.
SPEAKER_01: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
SPEAKER_01: Remember those three guys?
SPEAKER_01: They refused to worship King Nebuchadnezzar's golden image, and they were thrown, thrown into a fiery furnace.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says that that fire was heated seven times, seven times hotter than usual.
SPEAKER_01: That's an impossible situation.
SPEAKER_01: The flames, this is what the Bible says.
SPEAKER_01: Go back and read the story.
SPEAKER_01: The flames were so intense that the soldiers that were assigned to throw those three guys in, they died.
SPEAKER_01: It says they perished because of the heat.
SPEAKER_01: But God.
SPEAKER_01: God remained.
SPEAKER_01: It says there was a fourth man in the fire, protecting them so completely that their bodies were not burned at all.
SPEAKER_01: It says not a single hair on their head was cinched, their robes were untouched.
SPEAKER_01: They didn't even smell like smoke.
SPEAKER_01: Talk about the faithfulness of God.
SPEAKER_01: One more story.
SPEAKER_01: Hannah.
SPEAKER_01: God heard Hannah's prayers and remembered her in his perfect timing.
SPEAKER_01: And yes, she endured years of bareness and deep sorrow, but she continued to seek the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: God blessed her with a son.
SPEAKER_01: Do you know who her son was?
SPEAKER_01: Samuel.
SPEAKER_01: Samuel, he was one of Israel's greatest prophets.
SPEAKER_01: Talk about the faithfulness of God.
SPEAKER_01: Amen?
SPEAKER_01: This morning, I just want to encourage you that if you're in the middle of a really difficult situation that seems utterly impossible, he knows and he is faithful to walk with you through it.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, we're good, right?
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: Here's my warning.
SPEAKER_01: God's faithfulness is constant because it flows from his character.
SPEAKER_01: He is faithful because that is who he is.
SPEAKER_01: But this is what I've learned over my life.
SPEAKER_01: Our experience of his faithfulness can be affected by our response to him.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I have titled this message, The Fullness of God's Faithfulness.
SPEAKER_01: Why did I do that?
SPEAKER_01: Because we don't always experience the fullness of what God intended for our lives.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to give you an example.
SPEAKER_01: This is an obvious one.
SPEAKER_01: The Israelites.
SPEAKER_01: After delivering Israel from Egypt, promising them the land of Canaan, God tells the Israelites to enter it.
SPEAKER_01: You remember the story?
SPEAKER_01: They sent spies into the land.
SPEAKER_01: And ten of the 12 spies, they come back with the fearful report.
SPEAKER_01: And what happens?
SPEAKER_01: The people refused to trust God.
SPEAKER_01: As a result, that generation, they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years.
SPEAKER_01: And they died before entering the promised land.
SPEAKER_01: And you can say, where's God's faithfulness?
SPEAKER_01: No, no.
SPEAKER_01: God remained faithful to his covenant by eventually letting the next generation into the land.
SPEAKER_01: But that first generation, they missed it.
SPEAKER_01: They missed experiencing the promise.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because of their lack of trust and unbelief.
SPEAKER_01: Take Saul.
SPEAKER_01: God chose Saul as Israel's first king.
SPEAKER_01: Gave them every opportunity to succeed.
SPEAKER_01: But Saul, he repeatedly disobeyed God's commands, choosing his own judgment over obedience.
SPEAKER_01: God remained faithful to Israel by providing another king, David, but Saul forfeited the kingdom that could have been established through his line.
SPEAKER_01: My last one, Samson.
SPEAKER_01: God set Samson apart from birth, gave him supernatural strength to deliver Israel.
SPEAKER_01: Yet Samson repeatedly ignored God's commands and he pursued his own desires.
SPEAKER_01: God was still faithful to Samson.
SPEAKER_01: He gave him strength one last time.
SPEAKER_01: But Samson, he never fully experienced the leadership and the purpose that God intended for his life.
SPEAKER_01: God is a faithful God.
SPEAKER_01: When people are not, I'm so glad that God's faithfulness is not dependent on my faithfulness.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
SPEAKER_01: That's who he is.
SPEAKER_01: He's faithful because faithfulness is his nature.
SPEAKER_01: But here is the question I have had to ask myself examining the scripture.
SPEAKER_01: Are you ready?
SPEAKER_01: Have I positioned my heart in trusting and obeying him to experience the fullness of what his faithfulness wants to accomplish in me?
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to give you an example.
SPEAKER_01: When Pastor David asked me last month to come minister, I could have easily told him no, and I almost did.
SPEAKER_01: But if I would have told him no, I would have missed the opportunity to experience the fullness of what his faithfulness wants to accomplish in me right now ministering this word.
SPEAKER_01: When I look back over my life, I can count countless moments where God has been faithful.
SPEAKER_01: But if I'm being completely honest, I can also point to moments where I've missed.
SPEAKER_01: Not because God failed me, but because my heart wasn't where it needed to be.
SPEAKER_01: See, every story that I've told you, it reminds us of this exact same truth.
SPEAKER_01: God remained faithful.
SPEAKER_01: The difference was the condition of the human heart.
SPEAKER_01: In the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they boldly declared this to King Nebuchadnezzar.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to read you the scripture.
SPEAKER_01: It's in verse 17.
SPEAKER_01: This is what they said.
SPEAKER_01: It says, if we're thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from your majesty's hand.
SPEAKER_01: But even if he does not, we want you to know, your majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.
SPEAKER_01: Their hearts were already made up.
SPEAKER_01: They were going to serve the Lord whether he delivered them or not.
SPEAKER_01: It was their hearts.
SPEAKER_01: Joseph is the same way.
SPEAKER_01: Now Joseph never said the words, not that I know of, even if.
SPEAKER_01: But his entire life reflects that.
SPEAKER_01: At no point in the story of Joseph do I see, personally, that Joseph became bitter toward God.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, when he's tempted by Potter for his wife, you remember what he says?
SPEAKER_01: He says, How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?
SPEAKER_01: His heart was already made up.
SPEAKER_01: And Hannah, Hannah really gets me.
SPEAKER_01: After Hannah gives birth to Samuel and she weans him.
SPEAKER_01: Do you guys remember what Hannah does?
SPEAKER_01: This gift that she deeply longed for, she takes this child and she gives him back to the Lord with thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_01: And this is not just like a baby dedication service.
SPEAKER_01: No, no.
SPEAKER_01: She lets the priest raise him.
SPEAKER_01: Talk about the condition of her heart.
SPEAKER_01: Now, later in God's kindness, God does give Hannah five more children.
SPEAKER_01: But Hannah didn't know that.
SPEAKER_01: That God was going to do that when she left her two or three-year-old child with the priest.
SPEAKER_01: Her surrender came before the blessing.
SPEAKER_01: So I say this.
SPEAKER_01: What do Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, Joseph, Hannah, what do they all have in common?
SPEAKER_01: Well, they lived very different lives, they faced very different trials, they experienced God's faithfulness in different ways, but beneath every story is the same settled heart.
SPEAKER_01: None of them manipulated God with being faithful.
SPEAKER_01: God was already faithful.
SPEAKER_01: What positioned them to experience the fullness of his faithfulness was the condition of their heart.
SPEAKER_01: And I believe that's the question God asks us today.
SPEAKER_01: Is my heart already settled?
SPEAKER_01: Will I trust him before I know the outcome?
SPEAKER_01: Will I obey him even when it costs me?
SPEAKER_01: And will I surrender what I treasure the most if he asks?
SPEAKER_01: Because God's faithfulness, that's never the issue.
SPEAKER_01: The issue is this whether my heart is positioned to receive and experience and walk in everything that his faithfulness wants to accomplish in me.
SPEAKER_01: May we be a people whose hearts are fully his.
SPEAKER_01: So that wherever he leads and whatever he allows and however he chooses to work, we can confidently say, God, I trust you.
SPEAKER_01: Because you've always been faithful.
SPEAKER_01: And you will be faithful today.
SPEAKER_01: And you will always be faithful.
SPEAKER_01: Amen?
SPEAKER_01: So there's one more story I want us to look at concerning God's faithfulness and the condition of the human heart.
SPEAKER_01: And that's Judas.
SPEAKER_01: So for three years, Judas walks beside Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: He heard, I'm just gonna guess, probably every sermon.
SPEAKER_01: He probably watched all the miracles.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus washed Judas' feet.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus loved Judas to the very end.
SPEAKER_01: And there was never a moment when Jesus stopped being faithful to Judas.
SPEAKER_01: But Judas, he never fully surrendered his heart to Christ, and it kept him from receiving everything that Jesus was offering.
SPEAKER_01: Now I want you to put Judas over here for a minute.
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever thought about the man who actually took the place of Judas?
SPEAKER_01: You might not have.
SPEAKER_01: I don't think he's actually ever mentioned them in the Bible like once or twice.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna read you the story.
SPEAKER_01: You can find it in Acts chapter 1.
SPEAKER_01: You can turn your Bibles there.
SPEAKER_01: It's in verse 21.
SPEAKER_01: So Acts chapter 1, verse 21, it's Peter that's talking.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna read it to you.
SPEAKER_01: This is what it says.
SPEAKER_01: This is Peter.
SPEAKER_01: So now we must choose a replacement for Judas from among the men who were with us the entire time we were traveling with the Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: From the time he was baptized by John until the day he was taken from us.
SPEAKER_01: Did you hear that?
SPEAKER_01: From the time he was baptized by John until the day he was taken from us.
SPEAKER_01: Whoever is chosen will join us as a witness of Jesus' resurrection.
SPEAKER_01: So they nominated two men.
SPEAKER_01: Joseph, also known as Joseph, also known as Justice, and Matthias.
SPEAKER_01: Then they all prayed, Lord, you know every heart.
SPEAKER_01: Show us which of these men you have chosen as an apostle to replace Judas in this ministry, for he has deserted us and gone where he belongs.
SPEAKER_01: This is what it says.
SPEAKER_01: Then they cast lots, and Matthias was selected to become an apostle with the other eleven.
SPEAKER_01: Now I love that story.
SPEAKER_01: And it's a story you could easily skip over if you're not careful.
SPEAKER_01: But there is so much beauty and so much truth in this story.
SPEAKER_01: Matthias, he is virtually invisible in the Gospels up to this point.
SPEAKER_01: But when God needed a replacement, who did God use?
SPEAKER_01: Not the most famous, not the loudest, not the most gifted speaker.
SPEAKER_01: We've never even heard of this guy.
SPEAKER_01: They looked for someone who had simply remained.
SPEAKER_01: That was the only requirement.
SPEAKER_01: Someone who had been there from the beginning.
SPEAKER_01: He just faithfully followed the Lord day in and day out, just trusting and obeying him from the beginning to the end.
SPEAKER_01: And after praying, Lord, you know every heart.
SPEAKER_01: God pointed the disciples to Matthias.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that incredible?
SPEAKER_01: Now, Judas, he had every opportunity, but he forfeited it.
SPEAKER_01: Matthias, though, he surrendered his life without seeking recognition, and when the moment came, God knew exactly where to find him, and that was right beside him.
SPEAKER_01: Now, don't misunderstand the story.
SPEAKER_01: Matthias's faithfulness did not earn him God's love.
SPEAKER_01: But his faithful, surrendered heart positioned him for God's assignment.
SPEAKER_01: See, I can't help but wonder how many of us spend our lives just trying to be more talented and more successful and more influential when God, He's just looking at your heart.
SPEAKER_01: Because it's one thing to be around the things of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Judas did that every day for three years.
SPEAKER_01: It's a whole other thing to belong completely to him.
SPEAKER_01: So today my prayer is not God, show me your faithfulness.
SPEAKER_01: My prayer is God.
SPEAKER_01: Give me the kind of heart.
SPEAKER_01: The one who trusts you fully, obeys you completely, and follows you every day, that can receive everything that your faithfulness wants to accomplish in me.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: This year, especially, God has just really just stopped me in my tracks with just how like incredibly faithful He's been to me and my family.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, I hate to admit this, but there have been moments this year where God He's done things that I've just like stood in awe and I thought, God, I can't believe like you love me this much.
SPEAKER_01: And this is the deal.
SPEAKER_01: If I told you the things that he's done, it wouldn't make sense to you.
SPEAKER_01: But to me, it's special because God knows me.
SPEAKER_01: And he knows what to do uniquely for me to show me how much he loves me.
SPEAKER_01: And this whole time, this whole year, I've kind of been upset with myself because I've been shocked by what he's done.
SPEAKER_01: And it's like I'm just now realizing, after 43 years, how much God loves me.
SPEAKER_01: And Mike and I, we we were recently watching a conversation with two well-known individuals in the Christian culture.
SPEAKER_01: I won't tell you who they are, but you can look it up on YouTube.
SPEAKER_01: But these two guys, one is an author and an evangelist, and one is a Christian artist.
SPEAKER_01: And they were having this conversation about God's love.
SPEAKER_01: And one of them, the pastor, or not pastor, he's an author and evangelist, he said that he had just recently left a pastor summit.
SPEAKER_01: And it was a pastor summit where there was hundreds of pastors in attendance.
SPEAKER_01: And he stopped in the middle of his sermon and he asked these pastors, he said, I've got one question for you.
SPEAKER_01: How many of you, without a shadow of doubt, believe that God loves you?
SPEAKER_01: And he said that 80% of them could not raise their hands.
SPEAKER_01: These were pastors.
SPEAKER_01: Now my mom passed away three years ago, but I knew she loved me.
SPEAKER_01: I knew she loved my sister.
SPEAKER_01: I knew it.
SPEAKER_01: I had no doubt in my mind that she loved me.
SPEAKER_01: I love my son.
SPEAKER_01: I would do absolutely anything for him.
SPEAKER_01: He knows I love him.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm sure for parents in this room, you have that same feeling for your own children.
SPEAKER_01: But I say that because don't you know that God loves you like that?
SPEAKER_01: In fact, he loves you even more.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says that he delights in you.
SPEAKER_01: I say that because of this.
SPEAKER_01: I believe that's why Paul writes to the Ephesians church.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know, can you go to the next thing?
SPEAKER_01: It's okay.
SPEAKER_01: Paul writes to the Ephesians church.
SPEAKER_01: He says he's on his knees praying that they would truly grasp how much God loves them.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to read it to you.
SPEAKER_01: It says, and I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the Lord's holy people to grasp how wide and how long and how high and how deep is the love of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be, here it is, be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
SPEAKER_01: Do you see that?
SPEAKER_01: See, Paul, he understood this important concept.
SPEAKER_01: Knowing Christ's love is directly connected with experiencing God's fullness.
SPEAKER_01: See, if we doubt that God truly loves us, we're less likely to trust him, we're less likely to rest in his promises, obey him wholeheartedly, recognize his hand at work.
SPEAKER_01: And I say that because I can't help but wonder if underneath so much unbelief and so much disobedience and all of those biblical stories where they didn't experience the fullness of God's faithfulness, if underneath all that was a failure to truly know the heart of God, maybe they truly didn't understand how wide and how long and how high and how deep God truly loved them.
SPEAKER_01: See, God's faithfulness has never been the question.
SPEAKER_01: His faithfulness has been constant from the beginning.
SPEAKER_01: The question this morning is where is my heart?
SPEAKER_01: Do I really trust him?
SPEAKER_01: Have I fully surrendered to him?
SPEAKER_01: And do I really believe, not just in my head, but deep in my heart, that this faithful God loves me?
SPEAKER_01: Because my prayer isn't simply that we leave this place believing that God is faithful.
SPEAKER_01: My prayer is that we leave this place absolutely convinced that we are deeply loved by a faithful Father.
SPEAKER_01: That we know his love so deeply that we can trust him when we don't understand, that we can obey him when we don't know the outcome, that we can surrender when it costs us, and we can follow him through the valley just as faithfully as we follow him on the mountaintop.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: I I've got to be honest with you.
SPEAKER_01: I don't really like doing altar calls.
SPEAKER_01: The reason why is because I'm always nervous, like, is anyone gonna show up?
SPEAKER_01: So this morning, as I was praying, I was like, Lord, I'm preaching a message on surrender.
SPEAKER_01: I guess I'm gonna do this altar call.
SPEAKER_01: And I told David, and I put my I told David I'm gonna do the altar call.
SPEAKER_01: So I've been thinking about it, and I thought, you know, Lord, I've got to give people an opportunity to respond.
SPEAKER_01: So if you don't mind, I want everybody to stand up.
SPEAKER_01: And can I have the altar team, I guess, come up here?
SPEAKER_01: I want everybody to bow their heads.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you're in the middle of something right now, and you've just been struggling to trust him.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe fear has gotten into your heart.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe there's something God has been asking you to surrender and you've been holding on to it.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you've been around the things of God, I don't know, maybe for years.
SPEAKER_01: But if you're honest, there's an area in your heart that you haven't completely given to Him.
SPEAKER_01: Or maybe, maybe you've been like me this whole year, and you just really don't know how much God loves you.
SPEAKER_01: You believe God loves people, and you believe God's faithful, but somewhere along the line, you've just struggled to believe that he's faithful to you, that he sees you, and that he knows you, and that he delights in you, and that he loves you.
SPEAKER_01: And if that's you this morning, if any of those things, I ask you to come.
SPEAKER_01: And I want to make sure I'm clear on this.
SPEAKER_01: When you're coming, it's not because like you're coming to an altar to earn anything from God.
SPEAKER_01: It's not because you're trying to convince God to be faithful, because he's already faithful.
SPEAKER_01: This is about our hearts, it's about saying, God, my heart.
SPEAKER_01: My heart is yours, Lord, we trust you when we understand, and we trust you when we don't, and we trust you when you answer the way we pray, and we trust you when you don't, and we trust you when you're on the mountain, and we trust you when I'm in the valley, God.
SPEAKER_01: We surrender what we've been holding on to, and God, you have our heart, and Lord, help us to know, to really know, God, how wide and how long, and how high, and how deep, God.
SPEAKER_01: You truly love us.
SPEAKER_01: Because, God, you've always been faithful, and you're faithful today, and you will always be faithful.
SPEAKER_01: God, we want to experience the fullness of your faithfulness.
SPEAKER_01: We want to experience everything, God, that you have intended for our lives, God.
SPEAKER_01: God, and we give you all the praise and all the glory in Jesus' name.
unknown: Thank you.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and it's not just you're not embarrassed, but there's a thing of um it's kind of responding, like the thing of hope and trusting the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: It's like you feel like you've tried so many times and you were let down.
SPEAKER_00: That's what she's hitting right here.
SPEAKER_00: There's a thing where we just we get our feelings hurt from the Lord when things don't happen the way that we thought it should.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord's wanting to heal and address some of those things.
SPEAKER_00: So, can y'all come up here?
SPEAKER_00: If the Lord's tugging on your heart, there's something profound about having a brother or sister in Christ agree with you in prayer, pray over you.
SPEAKER_00: There we go.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And there's some frustrations, there's hurt, there's uncertainty.
SPEAKER_00: There's almost like chaos in your life.
SPEAKER_00: Will you come up here, please?
SPEAKER_00: I'd like to pray with you.
SPEAKER_00: And if I didn't get the age thing right, too, if you know, whatever age and if you have that, you can come up here.
SPEAKER_00: But I saw a younger guy searching, there's chaos in your life.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just confusion, it almost feels like chaos, never-ending storms.
SPEAKER_00: Who is that?
SPEAKER_00: Please come up here.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna break that off of you.
SPEAKER_00: That's not just your personality, there's a demonic assignment that we need to break off.
SPEAKER_00: When I said that, you got really nervous.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord says that's you.
SPEAKER_00: You got really nervous.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord's like, I'm talking to you.
SPEAKER_00: Get up here.
SPEAKER_00: I'll wait for you.
SPEAKER_00: I don't mind looking awkward.
SPEAKER_00: There we go.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, my man.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And I love that because the Lord would not let me move on.
SPEAKER_00: He said, David, if you gotta look awkward, look awkward, I'm good at that.
SPEAKER_00: But he says, I want to wait.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what the Lord does is he'll wait.
SPEAKER_00: He'll wait for you.
SPEAKER_00: So many times I feel like I've let the Lord down and he's no patient for me, but he waits for me.
SPEAKER_00: But thank you, Father.
SPEAKER_00: I thank you for the plans and the purposes.
SPEAKER_00: I thank you for Mr.
SPEAKER_00: Jamie the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Wasn't that word awesome?
SPEAKER_00: Woman is anointed.
SPEAKER_00: She's anointed.
SPEAKER_00: I'm down here give a minute or two.
SPEAKER_00: Church, we love you.
SPEAKER_00: If you want prayer, um, I'm gonna ask the altar team just to late up here a couple more minutes.
SPEAKER_00: If you would like prayer, please come on up.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna leave the music going.
SPEAKER_00: But uh, we hope you have a good week.
SPEAKER_00: We love you.
SPEAKER_00: We'll be kicking off the Wednesday night services, not this week, but it's gonna be next Wednesday.
SPEAKER_00: We'll be starting all that stuff, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Love y'all.