WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:03.439 So we've been going through the book of John in the New Testament. 00:00:03.839 --> 00:00:05.200 We're in John chapter 6. 00:00:05.440 --> 00:00:21.600 Last week we talked about this crazy this crazy principle in life and very clear in the story, the feeding of the 5,000, that power comes through vulnerability. 00:00:23.760 --> 00:00:29.920 And it's crazy that we might, not power like outer prosperity and wealth and houses or whatever. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:51.679 I mean, like an inner power of a security of your soul, a strength of your personhood, your identity, a connectivity with other people and intimacy with other people, and then also a connection with God and intimacy with God that this is accomplished through vulnerability. 00:00:52.079 --> 00:00:54.640 And that's extremely scary, right? 00:00:54.719 --> 00:00:56.719 Because that's the last thing we want to do. 00:00:56.880 --> 00:00:59.920 And that's what we talked about last week and last week's message. 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:07.519 Vulnerability is the path to connection and love with people, and God yet is the place we most fear to go to. 00:01:08.400 --> 00:01:12.480 And then this week we get these handful of verses in John chapter 6. 00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:15.920 It'll be like verses 37 through 40, and also in 44. 00:01:16.079 --> 00:01:24.239 And what we're going to see here is we're going to see, again, power, security of your personhood and who you are, and what God wants to do in you. 00:01:24.719 --> 00:01:26.560 This comes through belonging. 00:01:27.280 --> 00:01:31.040 But this belonging is not what we think it to be. 00:01:31.599 --> 00:01:32.560 Here's what I mean. 00:01:32.959 --> 00:01:45.439 This God who loves you and cares for you, wants to provide for you, and he wants to hear from you, this God, God is, he's all about himself, much more than you. 00:01:46.239 --> 00:01:48.319 That God is about God. 00:01:48.480 --> 00:01:51.920 He is about increasing his own glory. 00:01:52.159 --> 00:01:55.120 He is fully into himself. 00:01:56.719 --> 00:02:00.239 And in our modern mindset, oh, hold on a second, you know, I kind of like the like the God. 00:02:00.560 --> 00:02:05.439 I kind of meet him halfway, and he's kind of my Santa Claus, and you know, and he's like for me, and I kind of come to him. 00:02:06.959 --> 00:02:10.639 God is actually the center of the universe and of creation. 00:02:10.879 --> 00:02:15.120 Um, and he's actually fully into himself, and and this is this is the great thing. 00:02:15.280 --> 00:02:17.759 This is actually the best thing for us. 00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:25.759 For our life not to belong to us is such a freeing thing. 00:02:25.840 --> 00:02:29.439 So few people get the freedom of it. 00:02:30.080 --> 00:02:38.080 That your life has never really belonged to you, that it has always belonged to the creator of your life. 00:02:38.240 --> 00:02:42.080 Because the modern world says, well, you know, uh, God serves you. 00:02:42.319 --> 00:02:49.599 You're the center, you're the be you're you're the beginning of your own life, and we try to make ourselves the center of our entire world, really. 00:02:49.680 --> 00:02:57.199 Um, and you're the center, and God serves you, and you kind of go to Him when you want to, and then He kind of serves your life. 00:02:57.280 --> 00:03:06.240 Um but what God says through the scriptures very clearly is that you belong to me, is what he says. 00:03:06.560 --> 00:03:17.199 Your family, your career, your sex, your money, your entertainment, your golf, your shopping, your eating, your fitness, all of that, it belongs to me. 00:03:17.439 --> 00:03:21.439 And it belongs for my glory, and not your glory. 00:03:21.520 --> 00:03:23.759 And it kind of makes us squirm. 00:03:24.240 --> 00:03:24.560 Right? 00:03:24.800 --> 00:03:30.879 Kind of feels like we're maybe being violated a little bit, like you're kind of violating into my personhood and my glory. 00:03:31.840 --> 00:03:54.639 Um so last summer we were in Hilton Head for our kind of family beach week, and uh Josie and I are walking out to the beach, and so we're walking up that path, and you walk up those wood stairs up over the dunes, and uh, you know, the wood stairs, wood railings, and and we're walking, and she's kind of you know dragging her hand along the top of the rail. 00:03:55.120 --> 00:03:56.319 Y'all know what's coming, right? 00:03:56.479 --> 00:04:00.800 And and catches uh this is my five-year-old little girl, and catches that splinter. 00:04:01.039 --> 00:04:11.120 You know, ah, you know, and and and so we turn turn the hand over and and and kind of pull it, you know, you can get in there, you try to get your little two little fingernails to touch each other, it's extremely hard. 00:04:11.199 --> 00:04:17.680 And um pull that thing out and um a little bit stayed in there, you know, you didn't get quite good at all. 00:04:17.839 --> 00:04:22.879 And and and so you know, next you go, well, you know, hopefully the water, you know, it'll it'll work it'll work its way out. 00:04:23.040 --> 00:04:29.040 And so um a lot of swimming that day, you know, every once in a while kind of look down at it, you know, and it's still in there. 00:04:29.199 --> 00:04:30.800 Um it'll work its way out. 00:04:31.120 --> 00:04:35.120 You know, so let's let's just let it ride, put some neospor on at night, let it ride the next day. 00:04:35.199 --> 00:04:39.120 Um in it, but it's getting just a little, just a little bit you know, redder. 00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:45.600 Um and so by kind of middle of next day, uh going, all right, we're gonna have to have to go into this. 00:04:45.680 --> 00:04:46.959 We're gonna have to go digging. 00:04:47.040 --> 00:04:53.279 Um part of you is kind of excited about it in a strange, kind of morbid way. 00:04:53.439 --> 00:05:02.000 Um so get the needle, get the tweezers, get the lighter, you know, light it, get it not that we want to let it cool before we go to the daughter, but um to kind of burn off the germs. 00:05:02.079 --> 00:05:06.480 And so uh get back to the condo and and we're we're gonna we're gonna go we're gonna go digging. 00:05:06.560 --> 00:05:09.920 We're we're going in to get the splinter, right? 00:05:10.079 --> 00:05:13.439 We've all done this, and you dig, and and and there's kind of a trickle of blood. 00:05:13.519 --> 00:05:18.240 She's kind of wincing back, but it had become tender, so you know, I mean it's got it's gotta come out. 00:05:18.639 --> 00:05:19.600 It's gotta come out. 00:05:19.759 --> 00:05:25.439 And so, you know, dig for maybe, you know, oh it was just so long, it's probably like 32 seconds, right? 00:05:25.519 --> 00:05:28.639 I mean, and and and get it out, and and what happens immediately? 00:05:28.879 --> 00:05:29.600 Relief. 00:05:30.160 --> 00:05:30.480 Right? 00:05:30.959 --> 00:05:32.879 The splinter was was removed. 00:05:32.959 --> 00:05:38.000 Here's what I'm saying there's there's a splinter in your heart, my heart. 00:05:38.319 --> 00:05:42.959 And what the splinter says, you're the center of the world. 00:05:43.920 --> 00:05:46.399 Make yourself the center of the world. 00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:49.600 This, this is what would be good for your life. 00:05:49.759 --> 00:05:53.519 Can I just ask, how's that working out? 00:05:54.480 --> 00:06:19.680 Like when life is all about you getting the world to conform to you, timetables, your children's behavior, your career, your advancement, uh, your investments, uh, how's that working out for uh your wants, for illnesses, for other people's illnesses, for you being in control of the world and the world conforming to what you want? 00:06:19.839 --> 00:06:23.600 How's that working out for you to be the center of the world? 00:06:23.839 --> 00:06:31.920 And maybe you're here and you're working very hard to keep yourself at the center of the world and to be able to say your life's about me. 00:06:35.600 --> 00:06:47.040 Maybe you don't even realize you're doing it, but but when you're you're about your record, like your spiritual record, your Christian moral record, and you're all about that and kind of keeping tabs on how you're doing. 00:06:47.120 --> 00:06:56.720 Um, I you know, I'm doing pretty good today, tomorrow I'm not, uh I didn't do as good, tomorrow, okay, I'll do better the next day, or maybe you do that with your fitness, or maybe you do that with your food, or maybe you do that with your career. 00:06:56.879 --> 00:07:01.040 When you're just all about yourself, you're placing yourself at the center of the world. 00:07:01.199 --> 00:07:04.639 There's an unbelievable amount of anxiety and fear. 00:07:05.519 --> 00:07:08.560 Because what you're saying is you're saying, I belong to myself. 00:07:10.240 --> 00:07:12.240 And it's all for my glory. 00:07:12.879 --> 00:07:18.319 And we do this, I was reading this week some different sociological articles about why would we even do this? 00:07:18.399 --> 00:07:22.319 We do this because we actually think we're safer at the center. 00:07:22.560 --> 00:07:35.920 Because see, if we're at the center, what it means is we think if we just get good enough or perfect enough, beautiful enough, or kind of high performing enough, then the the chance of being rejected goes down. 00:07:36.959 --> 00:07:38.000 And I'm gonna be okay. 00:07:38.319 --> 00:07:40.800 If I'm not rejected, then I'm okay. 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:46.879 Because we think if we're at the center, we can minimize the pain and the judgment of others. 00:07:47.040 --> 00:07:49.120 The problem is it doesn't work. 00:07:49.439 --> 00:07:55.120 It's exhausting to be at the it is exhausting to be at the center of your own world. 00:07:57.040 --> 00:08:04.560 Because life was never meant for you to be all about yourself and finding and securing your own belonging. 00:08:04.720 --> 00:08:08.639 Alright, so we jump into John chapter 6, verses 37 through 40. 00:08:09.120 --> 00:08:12.480 A handful of verses here, not a long passage this morning, handful of verses. 00:08:12.879 --> 00:08:15.839 Unbelievable promises when it comes to belonging. 00:08:16.160 --> 00:08:20.800 Who we belong to, who's in charge of this belonging, where it came from. 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:23.120 Verse 37. 00:08:23.279 --> 00:08:30.160 All those the Father gives, Jesus is talking here, he's teaching, all those the Father, God the Father gives me will come to me. 00:08:30.319 --> 00:08:31.199 Oh, powerful phrase. 00:08:31.279 --> 00:08:32.320 We're gonna have to come back to that one. 00:08:32.399 --> 00:08:36.480 And whoever comes to me, I will never drive away. 00:08:37.200 --> 00:08:42.080 So God gives those who come to faith, become a Christian, God gives those to Jesus. 00:08:42.320 --> 00:08:45.679 Jesus secures them on what Jesus did, not on what we did. 00:08:45.759 --> 00:08:47.279 Okay, so that's that's really good. 00:08:47.440 --> 00:08:47.919 That's really good. 00:08:48.240 --> 00:08:50.799 It's secure and it's settled, but have to worry about it. 00:08:50.879 --> 00:08:52.320 Verse 37, verse 38. 00:08:52.639 --> 00:08:58.159 For I've come down from heaven not to do my own will, but to do the will of him who sent me. 00:08:58.320 --> 00:09:07.840 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall, another great promise, I shall lose none of all of those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:09.600 He loses no one. 00:09:10.960 --> 00:09:17.759 You place faith in Jesus to be your deliverer and savior of all your unrighteousness and your inadequacy. 00:09:18.399 --> 00:09:19.759 It's sealed. 00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:21.759 It's done. 00:09:22.000 --> 00:09:31.600 I mean, there's no screw up, there's no moral failure, there's no, I haven't quite been performing good enough as a Christian, and now all of a sudden I'm outside the favor of God, I've got to earn my way back in. 00:09:31.759 --> 00:09:32.480 None of that exists. 00:09:33.679 --> 00:09:36.080 It's on Jesus' record for us. 00:09:37.039 --> 00:09:38.320 It's done, it's sealed. 00:09:38.399 --> 00:09:38.799 I lose. 00:09:38.879 --> 00:09:40.320 He's saying that I lose none of them. 00:09:40.480 --> 00:09:41.759 I lose none. 00:09:43.840 --> 00:09:54.000 Verse 40, for my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day. 00:09:54.159 --> 00:09:56.399 I mean, it's promise after promise after promise. 00:09:56.559 --> 00:09:59.759 He's saying, everyone who looks to the sons in the family, saved, period. 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:00.799 What do you need to do? 00:10:00.960 --> 00:10:01.840 What do you need to do? 00:10:02.000 --> 00:10:04.960 What do you need to be do to be in good favor with God? 00:10:05.039 --> 00:10:16.480 To feel like when I die, I go to heaven, to feel like time here, that I that I have a secure identity, I'm secure with my creator, I'm relieved of guilt, I'm a righteous person, even though I don't always behave righteously. 00:10:16.639 --> 00:10:18.000 Where do I get this sort of position? 00:10:18.159 --> 00:10:20.720 It's not by what you do, it's by what He did for us. 00:10:20.799 --> 00:10:23.279 And that's what Jesus is saying over and over and over again. 00:10:23.440 --> 00:10:27.679 I secure you, I hold you, I maintain you, and I lose none of you. 00:10:28.559 --> 00:10:29.440 And we can go. 00:10:31.600 --> 00:10:33.519 It's just like it's unbelievable. 00:10:33.759 --> 00:10:35.759 Relief and rest. 00:10:37.600 --> 00:10:41.919 If you jump to verse 44, you're welcome to read 41 through 43 later. 00:10:42.720 --> 00:10:44.799 It's kind of segueing into 44. 00:10:45.039 --> 00:10:46.720 No one can come to me. 00:10:46.960 --> 00:10:49.679 This is going back to that first phrase in verse 37 said we'll come back to. 00:10:49.840 --> 00:10:50.399 It's kind of difficult. 00:10:50.480 --> 00:10:52.080 Verse 44 makes it more difficult. 00:10:52.320 --> 00:10:57.759 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them. 00:10:58.159 --> 00:11:02.240 And again, promise, I will raise them up at the last day. 00:11:02.639 --> 00:11:08.159 No one comes to the Father without God wooing them and saving them. 00:11:08.559 --> 00:11:12.000 Now, some of you all have been around church, some of you haven't been around church a lot, some of you have been around church. 00:11:12.159 --> 00:11:13.600 Um here's what I don't care about. 00:11:13.759 --> 00:11:25.600 I don't care too much, and sorry if I offend you, I don't care too much if um whether you become reformed or not, or Calvinistic or not. 00:11:26.080 --> 00:11:31.039 Um I don't know if I even care if you don't know what those words mean. 00:11:31.679 --> 00:11:37.519 Um here's what I care about, and if you care about this, and then you care about those things, then I'm all for those things. 00:11:38.240 --> 00:11:39.519 That makes sense to some of you. 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:45.120 I care that you rest in the truths of God that can give you peace. 00:11:47.120 --> 00:11:48.639 That's what matters. 00:11:49.440 --> 00:11:52.000 This idea is a little uncomfortable. 00:11:52.480 --> 00:11:57.120 That the only people who become uh believers are those that God draws. 00:11:57.279 --> 00:12:03.279 We feel a little violated of maybe of my will, or maybe of somebody who doesn't make that decision. 00:12:03.360 --> 00:12:04.960 What about their will to come? 00:12:05.039 --> 00:12:09.759 And we feel a little violated because we've been removed from the center of the universe. 00:12:10.159 --> 00:12:12.480 And God has become the center of the universe. 00:12:12.559 --> 00:12:14.399 And so we're gonna we're gonna talk about this. 00:12:14.480 --> 00:12:18.879 Um I'm gonna read Romans 8, 28 through 30, and a lot of you would say, don't read that. 00:12:19.039 --> 00:12:20.000 Don't please don't read. 00:12:20.159 --> 00:12:21.039 I brought a friend. 00:12:21.200 --> 00:12:25.679 Like that's the verse we want them to read later on, um, like down the road. 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:29.600 The problem is, is people read the Bible on their own and they'll they'll hear this eventually. 00:12:29.759 --> 00:12:30.799 They're gonna go, what is this? 00:12:30.960 --> 00:12:31.679 This is crazy. 00:12:31.759 --> 00:12:34.399 Um so we're just gonna read it and we're gonna talk about it. 00:12:34.639 --> 00:12:35.919 Now, verse 28, we all love. 00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:38.240 We put on the coffee cups and t-shirts and stuff like that. 00:12:38.399 --> 00:12:39.600 You'll love verse 28. 00:12:39.679 --> 00:12:42.080 Uh, 29, you're not gonna some of you won't like too much. 00:12:42.240 --> 00:12:43.440 Um here we go. 00:12:43.679 --> 00:12:52.000 And we we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him who have been called according to his promise. 00:12:52.720 --> 00:13:03.039 For those God foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 00:13:03.279 --> 00:13:05.440 And those he predestined, he also called. 00:13:05.519 --> 00:13:09.200 Those he called, he also justified, those he justified, he also glorified. 00:13:09.360 --> 00:13:18.480 Now, I've I've read a lot, I've studied a lot over the years, I've I've heard a lot of sermons uh when it comes to these ideas of predestination, foreknowledge. 00:13:18.720 --> 00:13:23.759 And maybe if you're not familiar with predestination, uh a philosophical term for that would be determinism. 00:13:24.159 --> 00:13:28.000 Um God has determined steps of people. 00:13:28.960 --> 00:13:51.360 And so I've heard lots of sermons, I remember I heard a sermon one time about, well, there's there's a there's a tension with you know, there's a tension in reality, and it's kind of like a like a like a pole, and and the illustration is a cable that comes off that pole to one end, and that's predestination or determinism, and and there's a tension, there's a cable that comes off the other end, and that's free will, and that we sort of live in the middle of this tension, and that that's okay. 00:13:51.840 --> 00:13:52.799 Oh, all right, whatever. 00:13:52.960 --> 00:14:04.559 Um I've also heard another the two wills of God, some of you might be familiar with that, that God can will everyone to come to him, and yet at the same time, he can only will certain people to come to him. 00:14:04.720 --> 00:14:06.320 That's tough to reconcile in our minds. 00:14:06.480 --> 00:14:08.159 That kind of makes my brain hurt a little bit. 00:14:08.320 --> 00:14:09.600 Here's what I don't want us to do. 00:14:09.759 --> 00:14:13.279 Let's not redefine words for our convenience. 00:14:13.440 --> 00:14:18.159 So foreknowledge foreknowledge means that God knew something before it happened. 00:14:18.480 --> 00:14:20.240 That's what it means to foreknowledge. 00:14:20.320 --> 00:14:21.600 So that's what foreknowledge means. 00:14:21.679 --> 00:14:23.120 Predestination means something totally different. 00:14:23.279 --> 00:14:27.279 Predestination means he chose of his own willing. 00:14:27.840 --> 00:14:29.200 That's what that means. 00:14:29.360 --> 00:14:32.080 This that's what makes us feel a little violated. 00:14:32.720 --> 00:14:37.360 Um, that he would violate our will because you say, I make my own decisions. 00:14:37.440 --> 00:14:38.879 I've I made my own decisions. 00:14:39.039 --> 00:14:45.440 I know my own life, I know my my my mental abilities, um, I've made my own decisions. 00:14:45.600 --> 00:14:59.120 Uh possibly, could I could I go on a limb here and say, possibly uh could we humbly realize that maybe we don't grasp all things? 00:14:59.519 --> 00:15:01.440 Maybe we're not omniscient. 00:15:02.879 --> 00:15:03.679 Omnipotent. 00:15:03.919 --> 00:15:08.320 Maybe we're not maybe we're not like in all of time in all moments. 00:15:08.720 --> 00:15:10.639 Maybe we don't know everything. 00:15:10.960 --> 00:15:13.440 But I'm I'm just I'm going out on a limb here with that. 00:15:13.600 --> 00:15:14.159 I don't know. 00:15:14.320 --> 00:15:16.159 Maybe, perhaps. 00:15:17.200 --> 00:15:19.279 Um here's my conclusion. 00:15:19.519 --> 00:15:24.000 We're not the center of brilliance and omniscience and omniscience. 00:15:24.240 --> 00:15:24.639 We're not. 00:15:24.799 --> 00:15:25.279 I'm not. 00:15:25.360 --> 00:15:27.120 I don't I'm assuming you're not. 00:15:27.200 --> 00:15:30.720 Um if you are, um we'll just rename the church after you. 00:15:30.960 --> 00:15:33.840 Um you know, Jake the Redeemer. 00:15:34.480 --> 00:15:37.200 Uh here's I'm not the center of the universe. 00:15:37.279 --> 00:15:47.360 I can chase my tail here for a long time, or I can come into some measure of intellectual humility and mystery and receive this truth as is clearly stated. 00:15:48.960 --> 00:15:51.039 Um God's outside of time. 00:15:51.519 --> 00:16:05.840 When I preached on predestination back last year about this time, this is one thing I broke down and lengthened is because God is outside of time, that he is in all of time and all of moments equally, that time is contained within him. 00:16:06.320 --> 00:16:08.960 I mean, that's what eternity is not forever time. 00:16:09.120 --> 00:16:11.279 Eternity is is no time. 00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:13.360 I mean, what does that do? 00:16:13.519 --> 00:16:15.039 I mean, I I we we can't even get there. 00:16:15.120 --> 00:16:20.639 I mean, how do you even see reality or or decisions when you're outside of time? 00:16:20.799 --> 00:16:26.480 I don't even, I can't even get to what that means when it comes to predestination because I'm inside of time. 00:16:26.639 --> 00:16:32.320 All I know is I receive the truth that God foreknew and he also predestined. 00:16:32.480 --> 00:16:43.759 And here's what I do know uh He somehow wills everyone to come, and yet only some come, and those some that do come only come by His grace. 00:16:44.960 --> 00:16:46.080 That was an amen. 00:16:47.679 --> 00:16:49.120 And you say, hold on, hold on. 00:16:50.159 --> 00:16:51.759 I made a decision. 00:16:51.919 --> 00:16:52.960 Like I remember it. 00:16:53.039 --> 00:16:58.240 Like I had my Precious Moments Bible, I was with my mom, we were in the trundle bed, you know. 00:16:58.320 --> 00:17:01.519 You say, I I walked the aisle, I signed the card. 00:17:01.759 --> 00:17:12.640 You say, No, I remember it because I drank a lot the night before, and I was hungover, and my friend came over and he told me I was wasting my life, and I prayed a prayer, I made it, I made a decision. 00:17:12.720 --> 00:17:19.039 Like you would say, I felt so shameful because of something, and I decided I was done with it, and I handed it over. 00:17:19.200 --> 00:17:20.960 You say, Russ, I made a decision. 00:17:21.119 --> 00:17:22.000 I would say, you know what? 00:17:22.160 --> 00:17:23.599 I remember that too. 00:17:23.839 --> 00:17:37.680 I can remember being 13 years old and parents divorcing and wondering, you know, where do I belong, and beginning to hear about a love outside of myself greater than all of this, and forgiveness, and I've told this story a lot, but it's just so fantastic. 00:17:37.759 --> 00:17:55.200 I mean, in a in a field outside of a Baptist church and a reenactment of the rapture and the end times, and there's machine guns and like bloody babies, and it's crazy, and they're scaring you, and then you're in a tent afterwards, and you know, and they're you need forgiveness of your sins, and and they were right. 00:17:55.359 --> 00:17:58.480 I mean, the bloody babies and the chainsaws and stuff was an interesting part of it. 00:17:58.640 --> 00:18:01.359 Um the in the tent part was was right. 00:18:01.440 --> 00:18:03.279 Um I was messed up. 00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:10.000 I I I I did need forgiveness, and I wanted God a part of my life, and and I received Jesus as Savior. 00:18:10.079 --> 00:18:16.079 I I remember standing there, I remember praying the prayer, I did it, I remember this. 00:18:16.319 --> 00:18:26.480 And I remember he said, uh head, you know, eyes closed, head bowed, you know, um, and uh raise your hand if you prayed the prayer, and I looked up and see if anybody else is raising their hand. 00:18:26.559 --> 00:18:32.400 And it's a couple other people, well, I'll raise my hand too, and so I raised my hand, I did that, I remember that. 00:18:32.880 --> 00:18:45.279 Um here's what I also know is I also know the compulsion to pray that prayer was that faith had already entered my heart. 00:18:47.039 --> 00:19:01.519 The faith was given, and it and it created a desire to take a step, to pray prayer, to take the communion, um sign your precious moments Bible at the front. 00:19:01.680 --> 00:19:03.279 I don't know what girls do. 00:19:03.440 --> 00:19:05.920 Um I'll find out quickly. 00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:12.079 We understand and experience life by our own decisions, right? 00:19:12.240 --> 00:19:13.440 I mean that's how it plays out. 00:19:13.759 --> 00:19:23.279 And then a lot of times what happens is we get so we get through the doorway of say becoming a Christian on the front, it says confess, repent, uh, place faith in Jesus. 00:19:23.359 --> 00:19:37.279 And we see that, and we understand that by our own decisions, and we walk through the doorway, and then what we see in time as we turn around and look at that doorway, is on the other side of that doorway, what we see is it says only by my grace. 00:19:37.440 --> 00:19:45.279 And we begin to see there are so many other factors at play that God was doing in our lives, drawing us and wooing us. 00:19:45.759 --> 00:19:49.519 Ephesians 2, 4 through 9, I mean many of you heard this so many times, but it's so good. 00:19:49.599 --> 00:19:50.559 I'm gonna read all of it. 00:19:50.720 --> 00:20:01.599 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made alive, made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in transgressions, what kind of dead people make good decisions? 00:20:01.920 --> 00:20:02.640 I don't know anybody. 00:20:02.799 --> 00:20:05.359 It is by grace you've been saved. 00:20:05.680 --> 00:20:18.079 And God raised us up with Christ, seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace expressed and his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 00:20:18.400 --> 00:20:21.839 Four, it is by grace you've been saved through faith. 00:20:22.079 --> 00:20:25.119 This is not from yourselves. 00:20:25.519 --> 00:20:29.519 It is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. 00:20:29.680 --> 00:20:33.119 Listen, of course you're coming to faith was your decision. 00:20:33.279 --> 00:20:35.680 That's how it worked out in present time. 00:20:36.160 --> 00:20:38.079 That's how you understand it. 00:20:38.480 --> 00:20:40.720 That's how you understand your coming to faith. 00:20:40.799 --> 00:20:49.359 You understand it from, yeah, okay, I understood this, I embraced this, I walked the aisle, I took communion, I came to some conclusions. 00:20:49.680 --> 00:20:54.319 But the faith that caused that was given to you by God. 00:20:54.480 --> 00:20:55.680 And that was a grace. 00:20:55.839 --> 00:21:03.119 This is good news because what this means is that in the wake of this pride and arrogance, there's none of it. 00:21:03.759 --> 00:21:05.039 There's none of it. 00:21:05.359 --> 00:21:13.759 And all the jump that that creates, like comparison, Christianity, and kind of constant measuring or judgment towards other, all of that, it's gone. 00:21:13.920 --> 00:21:15.440 Legalism gone. 00:21:15.680 --> 00:21:21.200 And there's a grateful heart left that he would come for you while you were dead. 00:21:21.440 --> 00:21:27.279 That he would give you faith when you didn't have the ability to create faith on your own. 00:21:28.799 --> 00:21:33.519 This is a freedom of belonging when we're not the center. 00:21:35.119 --> 00:21:47.920 So years ago when I was in seminary, so probably maybe 12 years ago, uh, sometimes I'd go speak at these camps and retreats, and you think that's kind of cool for like the first few times, and you realize it's not really cool at all because it's boring. 00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:51.119 And so uh was at Epworth by the Sea in St. 00:21:51.279 --> 00:21:51.920 Simon's. 00:21:52.079 --> 00:21:59.599 So this Methodist camp retreat right on the water, beautiful area, kind of cabins, little motel, chapel, kind. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:01.200 Cafeteria, that kind of thing. 00:22:01.279 --> 00:22:05.119 And so I'm down there and been down there some, had met a few people. 00:22:05.200 --> 00:22:07.039 And so down there I preach in the morning. 00:22:07.119 --> 00:22:09.519 It was like high school camp, preach in the morning, preach at night. 00:22:09.599 --> 00:22:11.599 So long sections of the day in the middle. 00:22:11.839 --> 00:22:14.079 A lot of times I would study since I was in school. 00:22:14.400 --> 00:22:15.599 One day I get a little bored. 00:22:15.759 --> 00:22:18.480 I'm in that little motel room, and it's just it's just too little. 00:22:18.559 --> 00:22:28.640 And I remembered uh like six months ago I'd been down there, and through a friend, uh this this guy had we had gone to the cloister together, and cloisters on Sea Island is a little bit different than Epworth by the Sea. 00:22:28.720 --> 00:22:32.720 The cloister is like the president goes, you know, like the summits meet there and stuff like that. 00:22:32.799 --> 00:22:34.720 And it's it's it's the deal. 00:22:34.960 --> 00:22:41.759 And so I'm you know, I get in my little Ford probe and uh not knock it. 00:22:41.920 --> 00:22:43.519 If you drive a Ford probe, I mean I'm I'm with you. 00:22:43.599 --> 00:22:44.480 I was in the family. 00:22:44.640 --> 00:22:51.599 And so I get in my Ford probe and get a book, get a you know, get my sunglasses, get my hat, and I'm I'm going for the cloister. 00:22:51.680 --> 00:22:54.079 I'm gonna head over there and just see what plays out. 00:22:54.160 --> 00:22:55.119 I don't park close. 00:22:55.200 --> 00:22:58.000 If they see that Ford probe coming, I'm not I'm not getting in. 00:22:58.079 --> 00:23:03.599 And so I park a ways down, and I kind of walk and just see if can I can wiggle in, is what I'm wondering. 00:23:03.680 --> 00:23:12.240 And mind you, I'm preaching at a Christian conference, and this is probably trespassing, stealing, I don't know, an ethical aside here for a moment for the sake of the story. 00:23:12.400 --> 00:23:27.759 So I kind of wiggle my way into the cloister, and what I remember the first time, and the reason why I kind of like this place is uh I remember the kind of the pool area, it was, you know, it was near the beach, and they had watered the sand on the way out to the beach so it wasn't hot on your feet. 00:23:27.920 --> 00:23:41.119 And when I experienced that, I thought this is the kind of place I want to be that would take that and recognize to me, I mean, when I walked out, they had watered the sand, I thought these people care, they care for me. 00:23:41.200 --> 00:23:42.559 I'm gonna I'm gonna come back here. 00:23:42.720 --> 00:23:46.960 I want to come back, preferably when I'm not paying, but they water sand here. 00:23:47.039 --> 00:23:53.119 Um I'm into that, and so I decide I'm not gonna get greedy with this coming into the cloister. 00:23:53.359 --> 00:23:56.640 And so I kind of find this little courtyard off to the side of the pool. 00:23:56.720 --> 00:23:58.000 I'm not gonna go for the pool. 00:23:58.160 --> 00:24:00.079 I don't want to raise too much suspicion. 00:24:00.400 --> 00:24:05.200 My game plan here is get a lounge chair, hear the ocean, read. 00:24:05.440 --> 00:24:07.680 If anybody walks by, act like I'm asleep. 00:24:07.839 --> 00:24:08.160 Right? 00:24:08.480 --> 00:24:11.039 Who's gonna wake up somebody who's asleep? 00:24:11.200 --> 00:24:12.640 That would just be rude. 00:24:12.960 --> 00:24:22.559 So I'm laying there and I'm reading, and if I kind of see somebody coming, like an employee or something, I just kind of you know, just drop the head. 00:24:23.200 --> 00:24:24.480 And it and it worked. 00:24:24.559 --> 00:24:25.119 It worked great. 00:24:25.200 --> 00:24:25.680 It worked fine. 00:24:25.759 --> 00:24:28.480 I was an hour and a half, two hours, just had a good time, a good nap. 00:24:28.720 --> 00:24:29.680 But here's the thing about it. 00:24:29.839 --> 00:24:38.640 The thing about it was every noise, every person who walked by, just the anxiety. 00:24:38.880 --> 00:24:39.200 Right? 00:24:39.440 --> 00:24:40.480 Just the anxiety. 00:24:40.720 --> 00:24:42.559 I'm gonna be I'm gonna be found out. 00:24:43.200 --> 00:24:53.039 I mean it was totally different than than the time before when I belonged there, and I'm walking on the wet sand and you know having a good time. 00:24:53.519 --> 00:24:58.160 Totally different all because, all because I didn't belong. 00:24:58.480 --> 00:25:00.799 Belonging is a powerful thing. 00:25:00.880 --> 00:25:05.359 And when you have belonging, it brings inner peace and security. 00:25:05.440 --> 00:25:09.599 And when you don't have it, there's anxiety and there's fear. 00:25:10.319 --> 00:25:14.160 And and when we don't have belonging, we do crazy things. 00:25:14.720 --> 00:25:24.079 I mean, we we we have affairs and we we we cheat people and and we uh we try to please people to ridiculous points. 00:25:24.160 --> 00:25:27.119 I mean, we have school shootings because of belonging. 00:25:27.440 --> 00:25:30.720 We we eat too much or we don't eat or we work out too much or we work too much. 00:25:30.799 --> 00:25:37.599 I mean I mean all the unhealthy things that occur kind of come out of I d I feel like I don't belong. 00:25:38.400 --> 00:25:39.519 So I'm gonna try to earn it. 00:25:39.599 --> 00:25:41.359 I'm gonna f I'm gonna find it. 00:25:43.119 --> 00:25:46.480 But what if you have always belonged? 00:25:49.759 --> 00:25:58.880 What if there's a belonging you're a part of that has always been there because you were loved and chosen by God through Jesus? 00:25:59.599 --> 00:26:07.440 And that you don't have to find or earn your belonging, but you receive it because he has called you. 00:26:07.759 --> 00:26:09.599 Christy read me a tweet last night. 00:26:09.920 --> 00:26:16.000 We were in bed, and a pastor friend of ours tweeted this out and she read it, and this this is the summation right here. 00:26:16.160 --> 00:26:22.880 Your salvation is not based in the strength of your faith, but in the power of the one who saves you. 00:26:23.039 --> 00:26:26.160 That's what this John chapter 6, these verses are saying. 00:26:27.119 --> 00:26:28.480 That's what Jesus is saying. 00:26:28.720 --> 00:26:30.720 I called you, I saved you, I'll maintain you. 00:26:30.960 --> 00:26:33.519 I'm gonna raise you up on the last day. 00:26:35.119 --> 00:26:36.400 That'll change your life. 00:26:36.720 --> 00:26:38.000 This is the gospel. 00:26:38.559 --> 00:26:43.440 While we did not choose to belong, God chose us and he loved us in our weakness. 00:26:43.519 --> 00:26:48.799 And so when it comes to predestination, determinism, we kind of feel like, oh, maybe we're getting violated here, I'm not sure about that. 00:26:48.880 --> 00:26:53.599 That's actually the very thing that creates for you peace and security. 00:26:55.920 --> 00:27:04.720 Because what it means is it means you are always loved, you will always belong, you will always be righteous, and none of it, none of it can ever be taken away from you. 00:27:05.759 --> 00:27:06.880 And I just need this. 00:27:07.039 --> 00:27:14.559 I mean, I I woke up Friday morning and I went to work out, and I'm working out, and I just felt like a failure. 00:27:16.640 --> 00:27:17.680 You know why I felt like a failure? 00:27:17.759 --> 00:27:29.920 Just because I don't live up to my own expectations, that's why I felt not necessarily because I am, well, I am a failure in a lot of ways, but um, I just don't live up to my own expectations of where I should be, who I should be. 00:27:31.119 --> 00:27:42.000 And just sort of feeling like a failure, and I'm working out, and I'm thinking about there's that inner voice of judgment going on, and kind of bringing stuff up, and just feeling like it's just not enough, and I'm not living up the expectations. 00:27:42.240 --> 00:27:43.359 You know what helped me? 00:27:43.599 --> 00:27:53.279 What helped me was was remembering John chapter 6, remembering these verses, and remembering this one line, you belong to me. 00:27:56.720 --> 00:27:58.160 And I can rest in it. 00:27:59.200 --> 00:28:00.559 Let's pray together. 00:28:01.680 --> 00:28:07.359 God, we thank you that we belong to you. 00:28:11.279 --> 00:28:14.400 You have called us, you have wooed us. 00:28:14.640 --> 00:28:17.119 You are calling some of us now. 00:28:18.799 --> 00:28:26.960 We don't we don't get everything when it comes to your ways, but man, are they good for us? 00:28:27.680 --> 00:28:39.759 Help us to place faith in you and to trust you, to find the security of our heart and our soul and in you and in you alone that we belong to you. 00:28:40.880 --> 00:28:48.480 And the belonging is not because we place ourselves at the center of our own faith, but because you are the center. 00:28:52.000 --> 00:28:57.119 Would we know the freedom of life being about you? 00:28:59.599 --> 00:29:04.000 And us coming under your authority over our lives. 00:29:05.039 --> 00:29:08.160 For you are a banner of love over us. 00:29:10.880 --> 00:29:13.519 We pray this in Jesus' name. 00:29:13.759 --> 00:29:14.319 Amen.