WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.319 Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast. 00:00:02.479 --> 00:00:07.040 We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ. 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:08.640 Thanks for tuning in. 00:00:19.440 --> 00:00:21.600 Well, good morning, Awakening Church. 00:00:21.679 --> 00:00:22.320 How are we doing? 00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:26.399 Go ahead and grab your seat if we've not yet Matt. 00:00:26.559 --> 00:00:27.679 My name's Ryan. 00:00:27.920 --> 00:00:30.800 We're absolutely thrilled to have you join us today. 00:00:31.039 --> 00:00:34.000 And happy Super Bowl Sunday. 00:00:35.200 --> 00:00:36.640 Is it happy? 00:00:37.039 --> 00:00:37.600 Is it? 00:00:39.840 --> 00:00:44.399 I'm a Cowboys fan, so I don't want the Eagles to win. 00:00:44.719 --> 00:00:47.280 And then who really does want the Chiefs to win? 00:00:47.439 --> 00:00:48.159 Okay, there's one. 00:00:48.240 --> 00:00:48.640 There's one. 00:00:48.719 --> 00:00:51.359 Yeah, you just happen to be from Kansas. 00:00:51.520 --> 00:00:57.439 Um I was just wondering, could it be the first year for the Super Bowl that neither team wins? 00:00:57.600 --> 00:00:58.960 Wouldn't that be amazing? 00:00:59.200 --> 00:00:59.679 Perhaps. 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:01.759 That's what I'm hoping for. 00:01:01.840 --> 00:01:04.319 I don't think it will happen. 00:01:04.560 --> 00:01:13.040 Um today we are continuing our series that we kicked off last week called Foundations, a Beginner's Guide to the Universe. 00:01:13.200 --> 00:01:17.599 And the truth is, and we get this, we are all constructing a life, aren't we? 00:01:17.760 --> 00:01:23.920 We're all building a life, and we're centering and founding it on all sorts of things. 00:01:24.079 --> 00:01:44.239 Uh, whether it is, you know, perhaps a relationship, finding your person uh or your family or career or upward mobility or financial security or living your best life, you know, be the best version of you uh you possibly can or experiences. 00:01:44.480 --> 00:01:52.719 We're all building and constructing a life, and the question we have to ask is what are you building your life on? 00:01:53.200 --> 00:01:56.719 What is the foundation of your life? 00:01:56.959 --> 00:02:06.000 Now, we're going back to Genesis, and as we're doing this, uh we are looking at the very first chapter. 00:02:06.239 --> 00:02:17.439 Now, the very first chapter in the Bible, it's actually not just about how the world and everything began, but why it all matters. 00:02:18.159 --> 00:02:19.599 Because wouldn't it be amazing? 00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:20.719 Think about this. 00:02:20.960 --> 00:02:31.439 In a world that's constantly changing, ever turbulent, the foundation shifting, to have something that you can build your life upon. 00:02:33.280 --> 00:02:37.840 A guide or a manual to help navigate life well. 00:02:39.199 --> 00:02:44.479 Genesis 1 gives us a foundation actually to build our lives upon. 00:02:44.639 --> 00:02:46.000 Here's what we said last week. 00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:48.159 It began this way in the beginning. 00:02:48.400 --> 00:02:49.599 Anyone know that next word? 00:02:51.199 --> 00:02:53.360 Wow, that was that was underwhelming. 00:02:53.520 --> 00:02:55.039 Uh let's let's try that. 00:02:55.280 --> 00:02:57.360 In the beginning, God. 00:02:57.599 --> 00:02:58.159 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 00:02:58.879 --> 00:03:00.960 In the beginning, God. 00:03:03.199 --> 00:03:06.319 Like God is the center of it all. 00:03:06.479 --> 00:03:09.680 He's the main character of the story. 00:03:09.840 --> 00:03:10.719 Okay, here we go. 00:03:10.879 --> 00:03:11.919 Oh boy. 00:03:13.280 --> 00:03:15.680 Foundation block, building our lives. 00:03:15.840 --> 00:03:19.680 In the beginning, God, he's the main character of the story. 00:03:19.840 --> 00:03:25.360 And so life makes sense when he's the center of our lives. 00:03:25.759 --> 00:03:30.159 When we begin to orbit or have our lives revolve around God. 00:03:30.240 --> 00:03:31.360 But the line continues. 00:03:31.439 --> 00:03:37.439 It says, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 00:03:38.080 --> 00:03:43.280 That he is actually the architect of the universe, the designer. 00:03:43.759 --> 00:03:48.639 And here's incredibly good news: is you are not a cosmic accident. 00:03:49.599 --> 00:03:56.479 You have intention, you have purpose, you have design, you have intrinsic value. 00:03:56.560 --> 00:04:08.240 And as a result, since he's the architect of the world and all that we see and know, life works best when we work according to God's design. 00:04:08.879 --> 00:04:11.280 Life works best according to his design. 00:04:11.360 --> 00:04:23.839 When we begin to go, God, you're the designer, you get a you made me, you made this world, and so I'm going to organize my life around the way you say life works best. 00:04:24.639 --> 00:04:46.160 Now then this begins to beg another question when we look at the world around us, when we look at the state of things, when we look at the world within us, and how we feel, like, gosh, there, okay, God, if you're the center of all, if you're the architect, and I see so much chaos, confusion, not just out there, but in here. 00:04:46.959 --> 00:04:50.000 Like, what is God doing in the world? 00:04:50.560 --> 00:04:53.120 And what is he doing in my life? 00:04:54.240 --> 00:05:00.079 I mean, do you ever look at the world around you and go, like, what's going on? 00:05:02.079 --> 00:05:03.360 What's happening? 00:05:03.600 --> 00:05:08.319 Doesn't it feel like the world just continues to spin further and further out of control? 00:05:08.959 --> 00:05:11.360 There's chaos and confusion. 00:05:11.680 --> 00:05:24.639 And then you go internally into your own world, and there's chaos, there's confusion, it feels like things are unraveling. 00:05:26.000 --> 00:05:31.040 And we wrestle with this question: what in the world is God doing? 00:05:31.920 --> 00:05:38.399 What is he doing, not just in the world, but in your life? 00:05:39.120 --> 00:05:46.160 Uh, in Genesis, and if you got your Bibles, would you open up to Genesis chapter 1, verse 2? 00:05:46.399 --> 00:05:49.040 We get a picture of what God is doing. 00:05:49.199 --> 00:05:52.720 The sermon title today is called The Wild and the Waste. 00:05:52.800 --> 00:05:53.439 Oh boy. 00:05:55.040 --> 00:05:58.079 Oh man, need to choose lighter props. 00:05:58.319 --> 00:06:00.800 Um, Genesis 1 2, wild and waste. 00:06:00.879 --> 00:06:01.839 Go ahead and say that with me. 00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:03.199 The wild and the waste. 00:06:05.519 --> 00:06:21.759 Genesis 1, 2 is actually going to show us what God is doing at the very dawn of creation, and what he's doing at the dawn of creation, he is doing and working in our world, and he wants to do this very same thing in your life and my life. 00:06:21.920 --> 00:06:23.040 It begins this way. 00:06:23.199 --> 00:06:26.000 Now the earth was formless and empty. 00:06:26.240 --> 00:06:32.639 Darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 00:06:33.120 --> 00:06:38.319 And this singular verse holds the key to what God's doing in our world, what he's gonna do in your life. 00:06:38.480 --> 00:06:40.959 So let's take a moment, roll up our sleeves, if you will. 00:06:41.120 --> 00:06:43.519 Let's really break down this verse. 00:06:43.680 --> 00:06:46.399 Uh the first thing I want you to know it says, now the earth was what? 00:06:46.560 --> 00:06:50.399 It was formless and empty, or formless and void. 00:06:50.480 --> 00:06:54.639 This is the Hebrew uh words, tohu wabohu. 00:06:54.800 --> 00:06:55.600 Isn't that fun to say? 00:06:55.759 --> 00:06:56.480 Say that with me. 00:06:56.720 --> 00:06:58.319 Tohu wabohu. 00:06:58.480 --> 00:07:03.439 Yeah, it even rhymes, it has a metric to it in the Hebrew, tohu wabohu. 00:07:03.920 --> 00:07:15.439 It means wild and waste, chaos, emptiness, confusion, unreality, a wasteland. 00:07:15.600 --> 00:07:21.120 It's the image of a world that is unordered and uninhabited. 00:07:21.360 --> 00:07:28.959 Now, in the ancient Near Eastern mindset, non-existence wasn't just nothingness. 00:07:29.600 --> 00:07:35.199 Non-existent meant to have no purpose or no order to it. 00:07:36.000 --> 00:07:38.160 This is what our souls are suffering today. 00:07:38.319 --> 00:07:42.160 So many of us are walking around with non-existence. 00:07:42.639 --> 00:07:46.800 There's this craving to live and to truly live. 00:07:47.040 --> 00:07:48.639 Like you're just walking around. 00:07:48.800 --> 00:07:52.240 We feel like we're just sleepwalking through life. 00:07:53.759 --> 00:07:56.399 The world is increasingly becoming disordered. 00:07:56.560 --> 00:08:00.240 We try to create our own purpose because we're told there's no greater purpose. 00:08:00.319 --> 00:08:06.000 And so life, no matter how full it is, at the end of the day, feels wild and waste. 00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:21.920 Christopher Walken, theologian, says, Tohu wabohu is shorthand for each culture's worst nightmare of social disintegration, and its specter stubbornly lurks in the dark corners of our ecological and social imaginaries. 00:08:28.399 --> 00:08:38.159 It's what we feel when life's confusing, when nothing makes sense, when you feel lost without direction. 00:08:38.879 --> 00:08:44.799 It's the spiritual and emotional wasteland that we sometimes find ourselves in. 00:08:45.039 --> 00:08:50.879 It's when we look at the world and see the brokenness and injustice and division. 00:08:51.200 --> 00:08:52.240 That's tohu. 00:08:54.879 --> 00:08:56.080 And it goes on. 00:08:56.320 --> 00:09:02.559 It doesn't just say that the earth was wild and waste, it also says that darkness covered the surface of the deep. 00:09:02.799 --> 00:09:05.759 This deep abyss is the word to home. 00:09:06.720 --> 00:09:10.879 That word abyss is a word for ocean or sea. 00:09:11.039 --> 00:09:13.759 It's the chaotic waters before creation. 00:09:14.000 --> 00:09:26.559 In the ancient Near Eastern mindset, the vast, unteemed, uncontrollable ocean represented disorder, destruction, and the place where the forces of evil had their full way. 00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:34.879 It was the most fearful place in the ancient world was the chaos of the sea. 00:09:35.360 --> 00:09:44.000 See, so when the Bible begins with Genesis, this pre-creation state, it doesn't depict this like blank canvas. 00:09:44.639 --> 00:09:46.320 I'm just painting. 00:09:46.799 --> 00:09:51.039 But a chaotic wasteland, untamed, formless, deep in darkness. 00:09:51.200 --> 00:09:52.559 Think Mad Max. 00:09:53.840 --> 00:09:56.559 Post-apocalyptic wasteland. 00:09:57.440 --> 00:09:58.639 Desolation. 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:04.960 And what is God doing in our world and in our life? 00:10:05.360 --> 00:10:06.960 Says this incredible line. 00:10:07.200 --> 00:10:17.759 Over that wild and waste in the darkness, and the spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 00:10:19.200 --> 00:10:32.480 In the middle of disorder, in the middle of confusion, in the middle of no purpose, no meaning, the spirit of God was there, was present, was hovering over the waters. 00:10:32.559 --> 00:10:36.879 And this is such an incredible foundation block when we're asking, what is God up to? 00:10:37.039 --> 00:10:38.080 Don't miss this. 00:10:38.320 --> 00:10:44.240 The wild and the waste is not where the story ends, it's where God's work begins. 00:10:45.039 --> 00:10:46.399 The wild and the waste. 00:10:46.559 --> 00:10:59.440 So often when we look at our world, when we look at our life, when we look at everything, it feels like the minute of unraveling, the minute that life begins to just fall apart, it feels like it's the end of the story, doesn't it? 00:10:59.919 --> 00:11:08.399 And what the new uh the Hebrew writers are trying to tell us is that wild and waste is actually not your end of the story. 00:11:08.639 --> 00:11:18.799 It's not the end of the story, it actually begins the story, and it's where God's work begins in your life and my life. 00:11:19.279 --> 00:11:22.240 The story doesn't end in chaos, it begins there. 00:11:24.240 --> 00:11:25.759 And so, what is God doing? 00:11:25.840 --> 00:11:28.080 I just want to draw your attention to a few things. 00:11:28.399 --> 00:11:33.039 First, God is present in the chaos, he's not absent. 00:11:34.480 --> 00:11:37.120 I don't know what you're walking through. 00:11:37.360 --> 00:11:44.480 I don't know the heartache and the pain or the disappointment or the disillusionment that you are walking through. 00:11:44.720 --> 00:11:48.559 God is not absent and he is not indifferent. 00:11:48.879 --> 00:11:52.960 God has not abandoned you in the midst of the darkness, the uncertainty, or the pain. 00:11:53.200 --> 00:11:55.039 He is closer than your breath. 00:11:55.759 --> 00:11:57.519 In fact, go ahead, do this with me. 00:11:57.600 --> 00:11:58.960 Would you breathe in? 00:12:01.600 --> 00:12:02.639 Breathe out. 00:12:04.159 --> 00:12:07.840 And he is closer than your very breath. 00:12:08.159 --> 00:12:12.320 The most often command in Scripture is do not be afraid. 00:12:12.399 --> 00:12:14.879 It's repeated well over 300 times. 00:12:16.480 --> 00:12:23.360 And most often it is coupled with this line, for I'm with you. 00:12:24.879 --> 00:12:26.159 I'm with you. 00:12:27.120 --> 00:12:34.080 Jesus' final words to his disciples was, I am with you to the very end of the age. 00:12:35.679 --> 00:12:38.720 God is present in the chaos. 00:12:39.360 --> 00:12:47.519 He is not absent, and he has not abandoned you, no matter what you're walking through. 00:12:49.360 --> 00:12:50.639 And it's even better than that. 00:12:50.799 --> 00:12:54.720 He's not just present, he's actually moving in the midst of the mess. 00:12:56.080 --> 00:12:57.919 Even when you can't see it. 00:12:59.519 --> 00:13:05.360 Even when you can't see exactly what he's doing, God is actually moving in the middle of the mess. 00:13:05.519 --> 00:13:05.840 I love it. 00:13:05.919 --> 00:13:10.799 It says that the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:17.919 Like in the middle of this turbulent picture, this wild in waste, and you're not seeing any activity. 00:13:18.000 --> 00:13:21.360 It says that his presence was there and his presence was moving. 00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:26.559 That word for hovering, uh, it means to flutter like a bird. 00:13:26.799 --> 00:13:29.440 It means to tremble with anticipation. 00:13:29.679 --> 00:13:38.639 It is the picture of a mother bird covering their young chicklings, like bringing protection and care and nurture and attentiveness. 00:13:38.799 --> 00:13:43.600 It's like that is what the Spirit of God is doing in the midst of that moment. 00:13:43.840 --> 00:13:48.159 He is moving in the midst of the mess. 00:13:48.559 --> 00:13:54.799 Now, here's the thing: when we think about God and we think about our mess, what do we do, even when we know the right answer? 00:13:55.919 --> 00:13:59.279 We think God is repulsed by our mess. 00:14:00.480 --> 00:14:03.120 That He somehow moves away from us. 00:14:03.279 --> 00:14:05.279 I was going to try to pull that back up, not yet. 00:14:05.360 --> 00:14:08.159 That's just, I gotta watch out for the back. 00:14:08.320 --> 00:14:11.039 Um, we we think, you know what? 00:14:11.279 --> 00:14:15.200 I screwed up my mess, I'm in a mess of my own making, and what does God do? 00:14:15.279 --> 00:14:18.639 He's got his arms crossed going, oh come on. 00:14:20.639 --> 00:14:23.039 It says the Spirit of God's hovering. 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:27.360 Attentive, caring. 00:14:29.120 --> 00:14:36.240 In Jesus, God is not just moving into the mess, it says that God stepped into the middle of the mess. 00:14:37.200 --> 00:14:38.720 That is the gospel. 00:14:39.279 --> 00:14:48.720 That God looked at the wild and waste, the emptiness and the void, the chaos and the struggle, and he looks at it and he doesn't say, go figure it out. 00:14:50.320 --> 00:14:51.840 Sucks to be you. 00:14:53.279 --> 00:14:55.360 You should have chosen better. 00:14:58.559 --> 00:15:02.240 He steps into the middle of the mess. 00:15:03.360 --> 00:15:05.600 Into the middle of your mess. 00:15:07.759 --> 00:15:08.399 Why? 00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:14.080 Because God is creating beauty and purpose from chaos. 00:15:15.279 --> 00:15:17.519 That is what God does. 00:15:18.960 --> 00:15:22.639 That is what God did from the very beginning. 00:15:23.360 --> 00:15:30.720 And what he's done from the very beginning, he continues to do to this day, and he longs to do in your life and mine. 00:15:30.960 --> 00:15:35.120 God is creating beauty and purpose from the chaos. 00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:36.799 It's interesting. 00:15:36.879 --> 00:15:38.960 Remember Tohu Wabohu? 00:15:39.279 --> 00:15:39.759 You with me? 00:15:39.840 --> 00:15:40.799 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 00:15:42.159 --> 00:15:42.799 Right? 00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:46.399 Formless and void. 00:15:48.720 --> 00:15:51.279 Wild and waste. 00:15:52.159 --> 00:16:07.679 When you look at the days of creation, the six days of creation, it actually follows the outline of breaking forth new creation amidst the formlessness and the emptiness, the wildness and the waste. 00:16:07.919 --> 00:16:12.559 Days one, two, and three, God forms and brings order. 00:16:13.039 --> 00:16:15.840 Day one, he separates light from darkness. 00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:19.279 Day two, he separates the sky from the water. 00:16:19.519 --> 00:16:22.799 Day three, he separates the land from the sea. 00:16:23.039 --> 00:16:25.440 God brings structure to the formless. 00:16:25.679 --> 00:16:30.000 Day four, five, and six, God fills and brings purpose. 00:16:30.240 --> 00:16:35.919 He then orders and creates order and structure for life and flourishing. 00:16:36.080 --> 00:16:39.039 And then he brings a purpose and fills it. 00:16:39.200 --> 00:16:41.840 Day four, he fills the heavens, sun, moon, stars. 00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:44.639 Day five, he fills the sea and air, fish and birds. 00:16:44.799 --> 00:16:47.919 Day six, he fills the land, animals and humans. 00:16:48.159 --> 00:16:50.480 This is what God does. 00:16:50.720 --> 00:16:53.840 He brings abundance where there was emptiness. 00:16:54.000 --> 00:16:55.919 This is the pattern of God. 00:16:56.240 --> 00:17:00.399 And what he's up to in our world and your world. 00:17:01.039 --> 00:17:03.919 And the pattern follows that, by the way. 00:17:04.240 --> 00:17:07.680 He brings order before he fills it. 00:17:08.480 --> 00:17:10.799 So often we want God to fill our life. 00:17:10.880 --> 00:17:13.599 We go, God, would you okay, I get it. 00:17:14.400 --> 00:17:18.640 God, we want you to fill our life, but I don't want you to order my life. 00:17:20.960 --> 00:17:24.000 And then we're wondering why we're struggling. 00:17:25.599 --> 00:17:32.960 But he says, I in the tohu, the emptiness, the void, the wabohu. 00:17:34.880 --> 00:17:38.240 I want to form and I want to fill. 00:17:39.200 --> 00:17:41.440 And this is where many of us are. 00:17:44.480 --> 00:17:46.079 We feel empty. 00:17:47.359 --> 00:17:55.039 And when we think about building our lives, really what we're building upon is just things to fill the void. 00:17:56.880 --> 00:17:59.279 It might be that relationship. 00:18:00.240 --> 00:18:04.400 If only I meet the right person, then it will finally fill that void. 00:18:04.559 --> 00:18:07.599 If only I have a career that like sets me up. 00:18:07.759 --> 00:18:09.359 I need the right education. 00:18:09.680 --> 00:18:11.599 If only I can be upperly mobile. 00:18:11.680 --> 00:18:14.960 If only I can be like that influencer that I'm following. 00:18:15.039 --> 00:18:17.599 Like if I had their life, that would fill my void. 00:18:17.759 --> 00:18:21.839 And we keep building these things only to find it empty. 00:18:22.799 --> 00:18:26.000 And then here's the thing: God's like, I want to fill that void. 00:18:26.160 --> 00:18:29.440 And here's our picture when we think God fills the void of our life. 00:18:29.599 --> 00:18:31.920 It's like this gray brick. 00:18:32.720 --> 00:18:36.559 He fills the void, and you're like, sweet, I don't really want that. 00:18:37.680 --> 00:18:40.160 I mean, I'm glad that it's filled. 00:18:41.440 --> 00:18:47.680 But if God were to order my life and to fill my life, it's probably the most lame life ever, right? 00:18:49.599 --> 00:18:52.000 Like, he's a fuddy duddy. 00:18:52.640 --> 00:18:54.960 He doesn't want what's good for me. 00:18:55.680 --> 00:18:59.440 Yeah, sure, it might fill it, but it's gray and it's bleak. 00:18:59.599 --> 00:19:03.839 And God is the one who creates beauty and goodness. 00:19:04.319 --> 00:19:07.519 He wants to fill your life with purpose and meaning. 00:19:07.759 --> 00:19:10.559 Boom! That one didn't go. 00:19:11.759 --> 00:19:14.240 This is what God is up to in the world. 00:19:14.400 --> 00:19:18.240 This is what God is up to in your life of bringing beauty. 00:19:18.400 --> 00:19:19.839 I know, isn't that beautiful? 00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:22.400 I had no part in putting that together, by the way. 00:19:22.559 --> 00:19:23.839 You can thank Bailey. 00:19:26.559 --> 00:19:31.599 Where once there was bleakness, where once there was lifelessness. 00:19:33.359 --> 00:19:35.279 Where we walk around, don't we do this? 00:19:35.440 --> 00:19:46.160 We walk around filling our lives, trying to somehow eke out an existence that feels like living, not sure how to get there, and on the inside it is just gray. 00:19:46.319 --> 00:19:48.079 He says, I want to bring life. 00:19:48.240 --> 00:19:51.680 I want to bring life and purpose and meaning. 00:19:52.000 --> 00:19:55.200 That is what God does. 00:19:55.839 --> 00:19:59.920 And he did it from the very beginning, and he's doing it today. 00:20:06.079 --> 00:20:08.640 This is who God is. 00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:12.319 So, what is God doing in our world? 00:20:12.720 --> 00:20:14.640 Well, he's present in the chaos. 00:20:14.880 --> 00:20:21.279 He's moving in the midst of your mess, and he's creating beauty and purpose from the chaos. 00:20:22.400 --> 00:20:34.720 And then, in the midst of whatever storm you're walking through, the chaos you find yourself in. 00:20:37.039 --> 00:20:40.240 The things this world throws at you. 00:20:42.079 --> 00:20:45.279 God is not threatened by the deep, he rules over it. 00:20:48.000 --> 00:20:49.200 It's a home. 00:20:50.880 --> 00:20:52.000 The sea. 00:20:52.640 --> 00:20:55.119 The uncontrollable, the untamable. 00:20:57.920 --> 00:21:02.559 It was the thing that struck the deepest fear in the ancient mind. 00:21:02.720 --> 00:21:05.359 What strikes fear into your heart and mine? 00:21:11.279 --> 00:21:21.200 Jesus, one day, after a really long day of ministry, he tells his disciples, hey, let's go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, this is the sea. 00:21:21.440 --> 00:21:23.680 And he hops in the boat. 00:21:23.920 --> 00:21:26.880 Many of his disciples were professional fishermen. 00:21:27.519 --> 00:21:39.440 So they're gonna go across the sea in the middle of the night, and though it is the place of greatest fear, it is the place of their work, and so they have some mastery over it, though they still have fear in it. 00:21:40.880 --> 00:21:47.680 In the middle of the night, as Jesus is asleep, says a furious squall hit the sea. 00:21:48.960 --> 00:21:52.240 The wind came rushing in. 00:21:53.599 --> 00:21:59.680 The waves began to buffet and break over the boats, the way the rain pelvic. 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:01.440 Their faces. 00:22:02.319 --> 00:22:09.599 These professional fishermen are at the mercy of the violent sea. 00:22:10.559 --> 00:22:19.279 And they respond the way we often respond in the midst of the wild and the waste, in the deep abyss, when we think, God, where are you? 00:22:19.440 --> 00:22:20.480 What are you doing? 00:22:20.640 --> 00:22:26.160 Because they're in the middle, afraid they're gonna drown, and Jesus is still asleep. 00:22:29.440 --> 00:22:35.200 Isn't that how we often feel when you're going through your wild and waste through your storm? 00:22:35.279 --> 00:22:36.720 You're like, God, where are you? 00:22:36.880 --> 00:22:43.359 You're asleep, you're absent, like show up. 00:22:45.599 --> 00:22:49.359 They wake Jesus and they ask the question and we all ask. 00:22:51.920 --> 00:22:52.880 Don't you care? 00:22:56.079 --> 00:22:58.079 Jesus, don't you care? 00:22:59.200 --> 00:23:01.359 Don't you see that we're struggling? 00:23:01.519 --> 00:23:06.319 Don't you see that we're about to lose our life and you're just asleep. 00:23:06.640 --> 00:23:11.039 You possibly couldn't care. 00:23:11.920 --> 00:23:13.119 He gets up. 00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:20.400 And he rebukes the wind and the waves. 00:23:20.799 --> 00:23:22.799 Peace be still. 00:23:22.880 --> 00:23:28.079 And at his voice the waves cease, the rain stops, and the wind comes to a silence. 00:23:31.839 --> 00:23:37.680 And they're left in the boat, and they're asking this question: who is this? 00:23:39.440 --> 00:23:42.960 Because only God can still the sea. 00:23:43.359 --> 00:23:50.799 And the God who hovered over the waters was the same God asleep in the boat in the sea. 00:23:51.839 --> 00:24:00.400 And friends, what they interpreted as uncaring was simply Jesus unthreatened. 00:24:03.680 --> 00:24:11.519 Jesus was asleep not because he was uncaring, dispassionate. 00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:18.799 He's asleep because he's the one who ordered the seas from the very beginning. 00:24:19.599 --> 00:24:23.039 He has all control, all dominion. 00:24:23.200 --> 00:24:29.440 And with a word, he spoke the universe into existence, and with a word, he can calm the seas. 00:24:29.920 --> 00:24:36.240 He is unthreatened by whatever storm you're walking through, walking into, or that is surrounding you. 00:24:36.559 --> 00:24:49.119 Though it feels like it's going to take you out, he says, I am present in the middle, I am moving, I am working, and ultimately I am going to bring things out for beauty and purpose. 00:24:49.279 --> 00:24:56.799 And so when you're in the middle of it, what you need to know is you have a God who is not threatened by it, he rules over it. 00:25:01.279 --> 00:25:12.000 And the good news is God's spirit still hovers today. 00:25:16.960 --> 00:25:19.519 He hovers over that heartache. 00:25:22.079 --> 00:25:26.400 He's hovering over the longing of your soul. 00:25:26.559 --> 00:25:31.200 He's hovering over that desire for healing. 00:25:33.119 --> 00:25:44.160 He's hovering over the areas of your life that you've been praying, that you've been seeking, that you've been desiring, that you keep trying to fix in your own way or take back into your own control. 00:25:44.640 --> 00:25:49.599 The Spirit of God is still hovering and still working and still moving. 00:25:49.920 --> 00:25:53.200 This is what God does in the world. 00:25:54.480 --> 00:25:56.240 It's what he does in your life. 00:25:56.480 --> 00:26:00.079 What the Spirit did in creation, he's still doing today. 00:26:00.240 --> 00:26:07.839 Bringing life, beauty, and purpose to the places that feel empty and dark. 00:26:10.160 --> 00:26:11.680 Let me ask you. 00:26:15.599 --> 00:26:18.240 Where do you feel the most chaos right now? 00:26:23.200 --> 00:26:33.839 What areas of your life do you feel wild and waste, lost, uncertain, out of control? 00:26:36.400 --> 00:26:38.880 Where do you need God to move? 00:26:44.400 --> 00:26:46.480 Is it over a relationship? 00:26:48.960 --> 00:26:50.720 Is it about your future? 00:26:53.200 --> 00:26:55.440 Does it concern healing? 00:27:06.640 --> 00:27:12.559 The reason we keep our lives so busy and so full is just so that we don't have to feel at all. 00:27:18.960 --> 00:27:34.160 Jesus talking to a religious leader named Nicodemus, he said this very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they're born of water and the spirit. 00:27:34.720 --> 00:27:39.279 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the spirit gives birth to spirit. 00:27:39.839 --> 00:27:50.000 Unless the spirit of God comes into your life and animates everything you do, you'll remain empty, lifeless, dead. 00:27:53.039 --> 00:27:59.920 What we need is not better strategies, more self-help. 00:28:01.599 --> 00:28:04.160 And those things aren't necessarily bad. 00:28:04.559 --> 00:28:12.000 But what your soul needs more than anything else is a fresh move of the Spirit of God. 00:28:15.200 --> 00:28:23.119 The same spirit that hovered over the waters, the spirit that breathed life, and that's what the word here in Hebrew means. 00:28:23.200 --> 00:28:32.880 It's ruach, it means breath, it means spirit, it means wind, the same spirit that breathed life into Adam and Eve from dust. 00:28:34.240 --> 00:28:38.240 The same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. 00:28:40.160 --> 00:28:45.200 We need that spirit to move afresh in our life. 00:28:45.279 --> 00:29:00.240 And the same spirit where Jesus told his early followers after he ascended, wait until the spirit comes on you and you'll receive power. 00:29:00.480 --> 00:29:01.119 Wait. 00:29:01.759 --> 00:29:08.240 See, I think we miss out on the work of God because we just don't have patience for it. 00:29:09.920 --> 00:29:18.480 We live such fast-paced, hurried lives, and you're gonna run from this place because you have, you know, some snacks to make for Super Bowl. 00:29:18.799 --> 00:29:19.279 Right? 00:29:19.440 --> 00:29:19.759 I do. 00:29:19.839 --> 00:29:24.480 I've been thinking about my marinade for my steak that I've got to make from our Super Bowl party, right? 00:29:24.640 --> 00:29:29.680 This morning I'm thinking through all the ingredients and we spend our lives distracted. 00:29:29.920 --> 00:29:32.319 And would we wait long enough? 00:29:33.279 --> 00:29:42.240 Would we be desperate enough for new life to break forth into our life that we would wait and we would say, breath of life, breathe into me. 00:29:42.799 --> 00:29:44.640 Come, Holy Spirit, come. 00:29:44.880 --> 00:29:48.960 And I'm not gonna move until you move in me. 00:29:51.119 --> 00:29:52.559 And so that's what I want to do. 00:29:54.480 --> 00:29:58.160 As we close our time, I want to wait. 00:30:00.559 --> 00:30:15.279 Whether you're brand new to Jesus or have yet to start a relationship with him, and you want to wait, you long for the emptiness to be filled, and you simply say, Come, Holy Spirit, breathe life into me. 00:30:16.559 --> 00:30:28.240 Or you've wandered away, you've walked away, you're in the middle of your mess, and you think God wants nothing to do with you, and He's no, I stepped into the middle of that mess, and would you just invite me? 00:30:28.480 --> 00:30:29.440 Would you just invite me? 00:30:29.599 --> 00:30:35.279 I've been hovering, I've been waiting, but I'm not smothering, I'm not a smothering God, I am a hovering God. 00:30:35.440 --> 00:30:38.640 I'm hovering, I'm waiting, but I wait for an invitation. 00:30:39.920 --> 00:30:40.880 Come back. 00:30:42.720 --> 00:30:56.640 Or maybe you had a first love and you had that first fire with God, and it's grown cold. 00:30:58.799 --> 00:31:07.759 Rhodes, and you long for the Spirit of God to move afresh in your life. 00:31:08.079 --> 00:31:09.200 That's what I want to do. 00:31:09.359 --> 00:31:10.720 Would you wait with me? 00:31:10.960 --> 00:31:13.359 I have a little prayer that I wrote. 00:31:14.799 --> 00:31:16.240 I want you to get comfortable. 00:31:16.480 --> 00:31:17.119 I will. 00:31:20.720 --> 00:31:22.559 Take a deep breath in. 00:31:25.440 --> 00:31:26.640 Breathe out. 00:31:27.680 --> 00:31:29.359 Settle your soul. 00:31:32.960 --> 00:31:34.319 Would you pray? 00:31:37.359 --> 00:31:38.559 Breath of God. 00:31:40.640 --> 00:31:42.319 Breathe life into me. 00:31:48.400 --> 00:31:51.119 Breath of God, breathe life into me. 00:31:52.160 --> 00:31:56.799 Breathe life into my mind where the noise of the world drowns out your voice. 00:31:58.079 --> 00:32:02.720 Breathe life into my heart where fear and hurry have taken up too much space. 00:32:04.319 --> 00:32:08.880 Breathe life into my body where exhaustion and striving have left me empty. 00:32:11.680 --> 00:32:16.640 Breathe life into my soul where I long for more but settle for less. 00:32:18.880 --> 00:32:20.640 Come, Holy Spirit. 00:32:22.400 --> 00:32:24.480 Come, Holy Spirit, come. 00:32:27.039 --> 00:32:38.720 You hovered over the waters at creation, moving, stirring, ready to bring light where there is only darkness, order where there was chaos, life where there was nothing. 00:32:38.960 --> 00:32:41.039 And you have never stopped moving. 00:32:41.920 --> 00:32:43.759 So hover over me now. 00:32:45.200 --> 00:32:48.160 Hover over my mind, my soul, my body. 00:32:48.400 --> 00:32:51.839 Hover over my family, my friendships, my future. 00:32:54.000 --> 00:32:57.200 Hover over this world so desperate for your presence. 00:32:57.440 --> 00:32:59.200 Come, Holy Spirit, come. 00:33:01.279 --> 00:33:04.319 Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me. 00:33:06.480 --> 00:33:08.960 Slow me down to notice your presence. 00:33:10.240 --> 00:33:12.799 Wake me up to what you're already doing. 00:33:14.480 --> 00:33:17.200 Where I've grown cold, rekindle the fire. 00:33:18.640 --> 00:33:21.440 Where I've become rigid, make me soft again. 00:33:22.799 --> 00:33:25.119 Where I've lost my way, guide me home. 00:33:26.400 --> 00:33:28.559 I don't need more noise, I need you. 00:33:29.759 --> 00:33:32.559 I don't need more striving, I need your presence. 00:33:34.000 --> 00:33:36.400 I don't need more control, I need surrender. 00:33:39.279 --> 00:33:44.880 I don't want to live in autopilot going through the motions, chasing after things that don't last. 00:33:46.160 --> 00:33:48.079 So, Holy Spirit, have your way in me. 00:33:50.720 --> 00:33:52.880 Holy Spirit, have your way in me. 00:33:53.920 --> 00:33:55.119 I wait for you. 00:33:56.799 --> 00:33:59.039 Breathe into the dry and weary places. 00:33:59.680 --> 00:34:02.799 Fill me with your power, your presence, your peace. 00:34:03.680 --> 00:34:08.079 I open my hands, my heart, my life. 00:34:08.800 --> 00:34:11.599 Come, Lord Jesus, and make me new. 00:34:13.599 --> 00:34:16.000 Breathe into the places I thought were dead. 00:34:16.159 --> 00:34:17.599 Make me alive again. 00:34:17.920 --> 00:34:20.320 Fully alive in you. 00:34:21.599 --> 00:34:23.840 We hope you are blessed by this message. 00:34:24.079 --> 00:34:28.480 Please subscribe to our podcast for access to every episode as they're uploaded. 00:34:28.639 --> 00:34:30.719 And hey, we'd love to connect with you. 00:34:30.880 --> 00:34:36.719 Take a next step by filling out our virtual connection card at awakeningchurch.com slash card.