SPEAKER_00: This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_00: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_02: I'll say bless the Lord if you'll say, Oh my soul, bless the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: Bless his holy name.
SPEAKER_02: Would you pray with me?
SPEAKER_02: Holy Spirit, give us eyes to see and ears to hear.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus, would you go before us in this text and in your word and make a way?
SPEAKER_02: And together we say the words that ravish your heart.
SPEAKER_02: Speak, Lord.
SPEAKER_02: Your servants are listening.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: You can have a seat.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
SPEAKER_02: Well, good morning, church.
SPEAKER_02: If you have a copy of God's word, I invite you to take it out.
SPEAKER_02: We'll be in 1 Chronicles 16 this morning.
SPEAKER_02: If not, we'll put it up on the screen for you as well.
SPEAKER_02: Like Neil said, my name's Chris.
SPEAKER_02: I enjoy having a relationship with you and your church.
SPEAKER_02: And last time I was here was at Men's Retreat.
SPEAKER_02: So thanks for inviting me back.
SPEAKER_02: This is a special place.
SPEAKER_02: And if you're a guest, uh it's going to get even better next Sunday.
SPEAKER_02: Uh so you need to come back.
SPEAKER_02: But I would just commend this church to you.
SPEAKER_02: Um it's wild and woolly out there, and uh a trust is eroding in a lot of our institutions and authority structures.
SPEAKER_02: And so it's nice to have an extended spiritual family that you can trust, and that is one of these places.
SPEAKER_02: Um this morning, uh, I want to talk to you.
SPEAKER_02: You've been in a series called Words to Live By: Kingdom, Contentment, Forgiveness.
SPEAKER_02: Last week it was hesed.
SPEAKER_02: Um this uh this morning, I just want to commend the word to you for this week is look.
SPEAKER_02: Look.
SPEAKER_02: Um, I don't know about you.
SPEAKER_02: I'm doing a lot of looking in this season of my life.
SPEAKER_02: I've got four kids at four different schools.
SPEAKER_02: It feels very chaotic.
SPEAKER_02: I'm looking to make sure everyone's supposed to be going in the right direction.
SPEAKER_02: I'm looking to see if my wife still remembers me.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes I feel like I'm begging at the table for her scraps of affection.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like boxing kids out, going, uh-uh, I saw her first.
SPEAKER_02: Um, but I've got a senior uh who we're getting ready to launch, and I'm duplicitous about that.
SPEAKER_02: Some of me's a little bit sad.
SPEAKER_02: Some of me's like, it's time to go, buddy.
SPEAKER_02: There's some only certain things you're gonna learn by getting out of here, and I'm tired of cleaning up after you because I'm building bitterness and resentment towards you, and the gospel's not touching it as hard as I try.
SPEAKER_02: I'm kidding, it is, but it's still work.
SPEAKER_02: Um, but he's been looking at schools and then also looking at seeing what would it look like to get some sort of job training and cybersecurity and go straight into the workforce.
SPEAKER_02: Um, and so him going into school and looking at all these different options, I'm getting nostalgic because I used to be a college pastor.
SPEAKER_02: Before my family moved to Nashville, Tennessee.
SPEAKER_02: I was seven years in a small town in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, at a little university there called the University of Alabama doing college ministry.
SPEAKER_02: Somebody's got to minister to those heathens, right?
SPEAKER_02: So like we're we're all called.
SPEAKER_02: Well, I started to notice as I look closely, there started to be a pattern right before the semester began every year.
SPEAKER_02: All of a sudden, instead of college students, parents were calling me.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, this normally doesn't happen.
SPEAKER_02: That's like kind of like a youth ministry deal.
SPEAKER_02: The reason I got into college ministry is so I don't have to deal with you fools.
SPEAKER_02: Um, and you could drop your kid off and let's leave you alone and you can drive yourself to the event because Lord have mercy, that's a lot of coordination.
SPEAKER_02: But parents started calling me, hey, my son's coming the fall.
SPEAKER_02: We'd love to meet with you.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, hey, okay.
SPEAKER_02: So parents would come in with their kids, and I was all jazzing.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, oh man, thanks so much for coming.
SPEAKER_02: We got a college service on Wednesday night called The Well, it's incredible.
SPEAKER_02: We got these life groups, here's a discipleship pathway.
SPEAKER_02: We believe in training people up to do the works of ministry.
SPEAKER_02: They can be on the leadership team.
SPEAKER_02: We got these ministry trains, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_02: And I realized I'm getting real excited, and the students getting more deflated.
SPEAKER_02: And the parents are like, uh-uh.
SPEAKER_02: And I never started to notice a pattern.
SPEAKER_02: Usually, not always, but usually, this was an overconcerned parent, and rightfully so, that their kid was finally getting out underneath their roof, and they were gonna look at everything the world had to offer, and they were gonna jump straight into a pit of depravity.
SPEAKER_02: And they were looking for me for some kind of spiritual guarantee that their kid was going to be a good student.
SPEAKER_02: This is me interpreting.
SPEAKER_02: So I learned in those moments just to kind of condense it down to about five minutes.
SPEAKER_02: Um, and then at the end, uh I would look at the student and say, hey, buddy, look at me for a second.
SPEAKER_02: Whatever you're looking for, you will find it here.
SPEAKER_02: If you're looking for Jesus and community and a place to figure out your faith and friendship and not have your act all together, but to struggle and to learn and live life to the full that God has offered us, it's right here.
SPEAKER_02: You'll find it.
SPEAKER_02: And it's in plenty of other ministries and churches.
SPEAKER_02: We don't have the market cornered on it.
SPEAKER_02: Hey, but if you're looking to go off the deep end, to burn it all down, to live a life of depravity and debauchery and do all the things you've always wanted to do, but now have the opportunity to do without mom and dad around, you will find it and it's waiting for you.
SPEAKER_02: That's about the time that the parents and the kids looked for the door.
SPEAKER_02: So they will go, wow, and that was it.
SPEAKER_02: So this morning in our text, I want you to realize that a lot of things depend on our perspective and our intention and what we're looking for.
SPEAKER_02: So listen to how the word of God describes it.
SPEAKER_02: We're in uh 1 Chronicles 16, starting in verse 7.
SPEAKER_02: That day David first appointed Asaph and his associates to give praise to the Lord in this manner.
SPEAKER_02: Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name, make known among the nations what he has done, sing to him, sing praises to him, tell of all his wonderful acts, give glory in his holy name.
SPEAKER_02: Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
SPEAKER_02: Look to the Lord and his strength.
SPEAKER_02: Seek his face always.
SPEAKER_02: Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, the judgments he has pronounced.
SPEAKER_02: Servants, the descendants of Jacob, and Israel is chosen one, he is the Lord our God, his judgments are in all the earth.
SPEAKER_02: The word of God for the people of God.
SPEAKER_02: If I were to ask you, what did you look at this week?
SPEAKER_02: If I had, and this is probably gonna happen in two years with AI, it's getting really scary, right?
SPEAKER_02: If there was some kind of algorithm where I could download everything that your eyes focused on in this past week, pumped it into a program, what would it tell me about you?
SPEAKER_02: What themes would emerge?
SPEAKER_02: Based off of what you were looking at this week, what would it tell me you're looking for?
SPEAKER_02: Because here's the problem for me and for you.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes what we're looking at is not really what we're looking for.
SPEAKER_02: Alright, that's the Scottish writer who said, Every man who knocks on the door of a brothel is looking for God.
SPEAKER_02: What is he saying?
SPEAKER_02: What he's looking at is not what he's looking for.
SPEAKER_02: Alright, that's the country music songwriter looking for love in all the wrong places.
SPEAKER_02: Or as I know it, from Eddie Murphy on Saturday Night Live.
SPEAKER_02: Nope, okay.
SPEAKER_02: Sorry, that's a generational gap, guys.
SPEAKER_02: Cheers.
SPEAKER_02: It's on YouTube.
SPEAKER_02: Um make sure that what you're looking at is what you're looking for.
SPEAKER_02: Most of the people in my congregation, and some of my leaders who I know battle and struggle with pornography.
SPEAKER_02: Hey, you know what they're looking for?
SPEAKER_02: Love, intimacy, and adventure.
SPEAKER_02: And but they have some kind of toxic shame or woundedness that makes them retreat to what C.S.
SPEAKER_02: Lewis would call the sweet poison of the false infinite.
SPEAKER_02: A sacred substitute.
SPEAKER_02: And that may not be your brand, but all of us have sacred substitutes, right?
SPEAKER_02: Instead of looking to the Lord, we look at people and places and possessions around us to give what only He can give.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: Mindlessly scrolling through curated images of peoples and possessions and thinking, oh, if I just only had this, if I could just live like that, hey, go to the church.
SPEAKER_02: Make sure that what you're looking at is what you're looking for.
SPEAKER_02: Because the sacred substitutes, the idols, consumerism, materialism, and God forbid, narcissism are all the acceptable idols that we bow down to in American culture.
SPEAKER_02: And we bring pride and shame as we compare ourselves one to another rather than letting iron sharpen iron and allowing God's unique hand handiwork and mastership be displayed in and through us.
SPEAKER_02: Make sure that what you're looking at is what you're looking for.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because William Blake said this: you become what you behold.
SPEAKER_02: What is he doing?
SPEAKER_02: He's just using scripture.
SPEAKER_02: We with all unveiled faces who are beholding the glory of God are being transformed from one degree of glory to the next.
SPEAKER_02: If that's true, my question for you this morning is: are you glancing at God or are you gazing at his glory?
SPEAKER_02: Are you here just to give God a quick glance and make sure, hey, did the church thing, so hopefully I shouldn't have any problems this week?
SPEAKER_02: Are you gazing at his glory so that you can be the kind of person that can handle difficulty and challenge and adversity and grief and sadness and loss, all with a measure of inexpressible joy.
SPEAKER_02: Wait, what?
SPEAKER_02: That's not means we don't deny those things.
SPEAKER_02: It means it gives us the capacity to handle big emotions in difficult circumstances.
SPEAKER_02: Make sure that what you're looking at is what you're looking for.
SPEAKER_02: That's why the psalmist tells us, turn my eyes from worthless things so that I may find life in your ways.
SPEAKER_02: I can't think of a better repentance prayer for the season of Lent going into Resurrection Sunday, right?
SPEAKER_02: Turn my eyes from worthless things, the distraction, the compulsive ability to go, I just need a dopamine release because I can't deal with the discipline that it takes to lock eyes with Jesus and lock eyes with my life.
SPEAKER_02: I just want to be a church finally that can fiercely look at the eyes of the world and say, we have something that is greater that is in me than is in the world.
SPEAKER_02: And he is overcome.
SPEAKER_02: And I may not always feel strong, but his power is made perfect in my weakness.
SPEAKER_02: That's the New Testament, right?
SPEAKER_02: Look at you.
SPEAKER_02: Look at what you are, look at what you were.
SPEAKER_02: It's not because you're strong or powerful.
SPEAKER_02: Your IQ, no, that's a DQ.
SPEAKER_02: We are the kind of people that God takes the foolish things to shame the wise, the weak to elevate.
SPEAKER_02: That's the subversive nature of the kingdom of God, that left-handed power, the reason you and I actually have an opportunity and a role to play in this whole thing.
SPEAKER_02: Make sure that what you're looking at is what you're looking for.
SPEAKER_02: And that phrase that I just want to laser focus in on in this text look at the Lord and his strength.
SPEAKER_02: Seek his face always.
SPEAKER_02: So when my kids were younger and they actually listened to me, that was so great.
SPEAKER_02: That was beautiful two months.
SPEAKER_02: Um I'd try to get them to memorize scripture.
SPEAKER_02: Secretly, it was me who needed to do it, but I just wanted to look like the spiritual leader.
SPEAKER_02: So I get them all in the kitchen, and this was one of them that we would do, and we do hand motions like look to the Lord and his strength, seek his face always.
SPEAKER_02: All right?
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna ask you to do it with me.
SPEAKER_02: I know it's silly.
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna have fun, we're gonna act like we're children who have their father's approval and don't care what other people think.
SPEAKER_02: Okay?
SPEAKER_02: If you're tragically insecure this morning and can't do this, that's okay.
SPEAKER_02: That's it's quite all right.
SPEAKER_02: See what I did there.
SPEAKER_02: It's called projection.
SPEAKER_02: Hand motions to repeat after me.
SPEAKER_02: Look to the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: Whoa, let's try it again, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Seriously, I need some affirmation.
SPEAKER_02: Look to the Lord and his strength, seek his face always.
SPEAKER_02: Good job.
SPEAKER_02: Give yourselves a hand.
SPEAKER_02: I don't see.
SPEAKER_02: Just memorize some scripture.
SPEAKER_02: Congratulations.
SPEAKER_02: I got a sneaky suspicion, something's gonna happen this week.
SPEAKER_02: Or you're gonna be in the bathroom, and you're gonna realize I don't have what it takes to go out and confront what just happened.
SPEAKER_02: Look to the Lord and his strength.
SPEAKER_02: Seek his face always.
SPEAKER_02: Remember his marvelous works, his judgments, and his miracles.
SPEAKER_02: We look to the Lord and his strength.
SPEAKER_02: Seek his face always.
SPEAKER_02: Make sure that what you're looking at is what you're looking for.
SPEAKER_02: David's writing this.
SPEAKER_02: Great.
SPEAKER_02: This is his great worship song.
SPEAKER_02: It's ridiculously long.
SPEAKER_02: Worship leaders love long songs, okay?
SPEAKER_02: It goes all the way down.
SPEAKER_02: I don't have time to read it all, right?
SPEAKER_02: We're just gonna do the first and the last verse or whatever.
SPEAKER_02: But he's writing this because they're bringing the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem, right?
SPEAKER_02: He's God's anointed king.
SPEAKER_02: He's out there, he's giving instructions for everybody.
SPEAKER_02: Asaph is the drumline, right?
SPEAKER_02: And he's telling them, look to the Lord and his strength, seek his face always.
SPEAKER_02: I think this is because David knows what it's like for people to overlook him, for him to constantly compare himself to others and wonder if he has anything to offer in God's kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: I think we have this sanitized view of David that we just kind of nestle him in his sweet spot, not when he struggled towards the end of his reign, not at the beginning, but right here where everything was good.
SPEAKER_02: We forget that he was a little ruddy little runt in the shepherd's field, that when Samuel came and said, Hey, we need some new leadership, line up your sons, his dad didn't even call him in.
SPEAKER_02: What do you think that does for a kid?
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: Samuel has to go down, like, no, no, no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_02: God's not picking anybody.
SPEAKER_02: Samuel says, Lord, what's going on?
SPEAKER_02: Jesse, do you have any other kids?
SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, David, but you don't want him.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, thanks, Dad.
SPEAKER_02: Brings him in and God says, Hey, you look on the outside, but I look on the heart.
SPEAKER_02: God, you're his masterpiece.
SPEAKER_02: He has works that he's created in Christ Jesus in advance for you to do.
SPEAKER_02: David's reminded, hey, you better look to the Lord and his strength and seek his face always, because you'll never find that in other people's approval.
SPEAKER_02: You'll never be able to lead enough, achieve enough, own enough, or give enough to understand that you are the recipients of God's grace, and the only reason you're breathing is because of the grace and goodness of God.
SPEAKER_02: Look to the Lord and his strength.
SPEAKER_02: Seek his face always.
SPEAKER_02: And by the way, just a side note, he got anointed to be king.
SPEAKER_02: Isn't that awesome?
SPEAKER_02: Do you know the first place he went after that?
SPEAKER_02: Straight back to the shepherd's field.
SPEAKER_02: Hey, look at me.
SPEAKER_02: Some of you are in the shepherd's field, don't despise the shepherd's field.
SPEAKER_02: You know the first time he got to go to the king's palace was to serve him and play the harp.
SPEAKER_02: Some of you are underneath leadership that you need to serve and play the harp.
SPEAKER_02: That may be just for somebody else.
SPEAKER_02: Look to the Lord and his strength, seek his face always.
SPEAKER_02: Now, you may be going, okay, Chris, that's great.
SPEAKER_02: I got it.
SPEAKER_02: I got your little hand motions.
SPEAKER_02: Doo-da-do-da.
SPEAKER_02: How do we do that?
SPEAKER_02: Well, it's interesting.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes I really enjoy doing some uh the research on brain studies, right?
SPEAKER_02: Because the more that we learn about the brain, which we know very little about, the more it just confirms that God is absolutely amazing and his theology is absolutely in line with our anthropology.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
SPEAKER_02: So every human being, we know this by the way, desires to belong and matter, seek safety and security, and live life to the full.
SPEAKER_02: That's called Zoe, gospel life.
SPEAKER_02: You belong, you matter.
SPEAKER_02: He's gonna make you sure that you are safe and secure in his arms and that even death can't separate you from him.
SPEAKER_02: And he's inviting you to live life to the full.
SPEAKER_02: So, in this brain study, here's there's two things I want to share with you.
SPEAKER_02: All right, the first one is they took a summer camp, sixth to twelfth graders, right?
SPEAKER_02: Because look what you're looking at, um, make sure that what you're looking at is what you're looking for.
SPEAKER_02: Um, because sometimes what you're looking at will affect your choice of what you're looking for.
SPEAKER_02: They put a screen up, and Neil, uh Neil and I have done a lot of youth camps, and Neil used to always say it smells like uh Cheetos and puberty in here.
SPEAKER_02: Or maybe it was Cheetos and B.O.
SPEAKER_02: I don't remember which one it is, but it's out of date because now kids eat talkies.
SPEAKER_02: But anyway, um, you know, I have teenagers who they they just mainline processed food and refined sugar.
SPEAKER_02: Um, and it makes me so angry because secretly I'm jealous I can't eat that stuff anymore.
SPEAKER_02: But anyway, they're usually at camp, they're away, they're guzzling so do all this stuff.
SPEAKER_02: They put uh LCD TV in the middle of a summer camp cafeteria, and all they did is rotate images of salads.
SPEAKER_02: Wanna know what happened?
SPEAKER_02: Salad consumption went up by 90%.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because what you're looking at affects what you're looking for.
SPEAKER_02: And what they've learned is that what they thought the brain that just processed and interpreted images was separate from the place where you made decisions.
SPEAKER_02: They're actually together so that what you look at affects your decision making.
SPEAKER_02: Here's another one.
SPEAKER_02: We'll have one have some fun with this?
SPEAKER_02: I promise no more hand motions.
SPEAKER_02: This one was done by the University of Michigan.
SPEAKER_02: They use this image to discover that your decision making and your visual cortex are all attached together.
SPEAKER_02: In the count of three, I'm gonna show you a picture and I want you to raise your hand as soon as you see the duck, okay?
SPEAKER_02: As soon as you see the duck, go got it.
SPEAKER_02: All right.
SPEAKER_02: This is not like advanced chemistry or anything like this, but as soon as it comes up, you see the duck, raise your hand.
SPEAKER_02: Three, two, one, go.
SPEAKER_02: Who sees the duck?
SPEAKER_02: Got it?
SPEAKER_02: Nice.
SPEAKER_02: Look at this guy.
SPEAKER_02: A little AP nerd in the class.
SPEAKER_02: Everybody see the duck?
SPEAKER_02: Raise your hand, you see the duck.
SPEAKER_02: Anybody want to tell me something different?
SPEAKER_02: Rabbit, you bunch of outlaws.
SPEAKER_02: Texas thing.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, you guys are so funny.
SPEAKER_02: Don't tell me what to do.
SPEAKER_02: I love it.
SPEAKER_02: You made me an anomaly in this study.
SPEAKER_02: Do you guys see the rabbit now?
SPEAKER_02: Take your time.
SPEAKER_02: I know it takes a while.
SPEAKER_02: Put it back up.
SPEAKER_02: Some people are frustrated.
SPEAKER_02: We gotta go back to it.
SPEAKER_02: They're not gonna listen to another word I say.
SPEAKER_02: Dang it, where's the rabbit?
SPEAKER_02: Let's not chase that rabbit.
SPEAKER_02: See that?
SPEAKER_02: See where the duckbill is?
SPEAKER_02: It's his ears.
SPEAKER_02: Then the ears come down into the eye.
SPEAKER_02: There's the rabbit.
SPEAKER_02: Good.
SPEAKER_02: I do that one to refresh your attention span.
SPEAKER_02: Two, to tell you this.
SPEAKER_02: Here's what's interesting.
SPEAKER_02: Because we look to the Lord and his strength, and we seek his face always, because what we're looking at is the word of God and the ways of God with the people of God, it can actually change what you see.
SPEAKER_02: You can see things that people can't see, and you can make decisions that people around you are not making.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because you see things differently.
SPEAKER_02: All of a sudden, when you realize I am love and accepted through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, that I was an enemy of God and by nature an object of his wrath, and yet he looked upon me with kindness and his steadfast, stubborn love and favor, and he loves me as is, not as I should be, not as I'm going to be, but emphatically right now, that unconditional love is setting me free and breaking bondage.
SPEAKER_02: When you look in the mirror, instead of just seeing an ugly duckling and everything that's wrong with you, and why you don't compare, and why you don't look like everybody else, and why you're unworthy of love, all of a sudden you'll see a beautiful velveteen rabbit that is loved by its creator.
SPEAKER_02: And no matter what is happening to your face, you're getting shabby, your joints are getting loose, your eyes are falling out, you know you can't be ugly because you're real and God's love has made you real.
SPEAKER_02: When you start to look at other people, right, instead of just being constantly infuriated and frustrated by the fact that they're disrupting your agenda and your convenience, all of a sudden it'll flip.
SPEAKER_02: And you'll see through the lens of faith and forgiveness and understanding, and you'll actually be curious about what's driving the behavior behind the individual in front of you.
SPEAKER_02: Because you're looking to the Lord, when you look at other people, the image changes.
SPEAKER_02: And all of a sudden, when we see the world, we don't just have to rant and rave and be enraged by what's wrong and be polarized.
SPEAKER_02: We can actually go into the broken places and go, God wants to bring beauty out in here.
SPEAKER_02: I want to lay the kingdom down.
SPEAKER_02: You may see hopelessness, but I see hope.
SPEAKER_02: You may see faithlessness, but I see faith.
SPEAKER_02: You may see powerlessness, but I see the power of the gospel that raised Christ Jesus from the dead that lives and reigns within me, and I'm able to usher that in, and I can see where God is working, and I'm gonna join him.
SPEAKER_02: It's no longer Longer by my strength or by my mind.
SPEAKER_02: I look to the hills.
SPEAKER_02: Where does my help come from?
SPEAKER_02: My help comes from the I'm beaten on the pulpit.
SPEAKER_02: I'm so excited.
SPEAKER_02: I just had an out-of-body experience.
SPEAKER_02: Like, what are you doing?
SPEAKER_02: And it's not even wooden.
SPEAKER_02: My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.
SPEAKER_02: I think the Lord likes me right now.
SPEAKER_02: I'm his favorite.
SPEAKER_02: So that was weird.
SPEAKER_02: My grandfather be so proud of me.
SPEAKER_02: Oh gosh.
SPEAKER_02: Look to the Lord and his strength.
SPEAKER_02: Seek his face always.
SPEAKER_02: What about what are we trying to tell you in this?
SPEAKER_02: The same thing for some of you maybe who have a stronger church memory.
SPEAKER_02: You'll remember this scripture translated this way.
SPEAKER_02: Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Remember that?
SPEAKER_02: Who wants to start singing it?
SPEAKER_02: Do you feel the maternal love of God in that lullaby?
SPEAKER_02: After a hard day.
SPEAKER_02: After a day where you think you're worthless, you don't have hope, you don't have a future.
SPEAKER_02: It's amazing the songs that were sung in my childhood, how much they come to me when I get alone with God.
SPEAKER_02: Just bubble up.
SPEAKER_02: Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Look full in his wonderful face.
SPEAKER_02: And the things of this earth will go strangely dim in the light of his glory and his grace.
SPEAKER_02: Helen Lemel actually was the one that put those lyrics together.
SPEAKER_02: It was based off of the poem and the writing of Lilas Trotter.
SPEAKER_02: Lilas Trotter was born in 1852 in London, England.
SPEAKER_02: I'll show you a picture of her.
SPEAKER_02: And she was a really talented watercolour artist.
SPEAKER_02: She was a painter.
SPEAKER_02: But she also loved Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: She did a lot of ministry.
SPEAKER_02: She would go out in the streets of London and partner with making sure prostitutes could get off the street, get job skills and training, and be introduced to Jesus and live a better life.
SPEAKER_02: But she was also painting, and it caught the eye of one of London's top critics.
SPEAKER_02: And when he saw her work, he said this.
SPEAKER_02: John Ruskin said, She would be the greatest living painter and do things that could be immortal.
SPEAKER_02: And so she began to study with him.
SPEAKER_02: And about a year into their training, she was still doing ministry.
SPEAKER_02: He pulled her aside one day and said, You're at a key place in your career.
SPEAKER_02: I will make you one of the world's greats, but from now on, I need your undivided attention, only going to your art.
SPEAKER_02: In her journal that we have a copy of, she said she ran out into the woods and began to weep.
SPEAKER_02: She said, I see clear, as daylight now.
SPEAKER_02: I cannot give myself to painting in the way that he means and continue to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.
SPEAKER_02: She stepped away from a career as a painter, but kept painting and writing and had a heart for those who were disenfranchised and far from God.
SPEAKER_02: She went to Northern Africa and wanted to be sent as a missionary.
SPEAKER_02: No missionary agency would sponsor her or send her, so she raised her own funds and spent 40 years in the desert in obscurity ministering to those people.
SPEAKER_02: There's a painting from her time there.
SPEAKER_02: She still painted and she still wrote.
SPEAKER_02: And now the world's still rediscovering some of her artwork.
SPEAKER_02: But when she was there, stripped of everything she had known and all of her worldly ambition and all she had was the Lord, she is the one who wrote in her journal.
SPEAKER_02: Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Look full in his wonderful face.
SPEAKER_02: The things of this earth will go strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.
SPEAKER_02: Hey, look, congregation, I'm not asking you to do anything God hasn't already done for you.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not giving you another list of things to do.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not going telling you, go out, hey, try harder.
SPEAKER_02: I'm asking you to train yourself in the ways of the Lord so that you can see things that no one else can see, and you can be something no one else thinks you can be in the light of who God is calling you to be, right?
SPEAKER_02: Jesus did this.
SPEAKER_02: He did this first for us.
SPEAKER_02: He got it from his father, who has this really bad habit of searching and finding lost things.
SPEAKER_02: He did it in the garden when we were hiding in our sin and our shame and couldn't even admit the truth to ourselves, let alone him.
SPEAKER_02: Where are you?
SPEAKER_02: And when Jesus came here, his primary mission was to seek and save that which was lost.
SPEAKER_02: Here's Jesus in the Gospels.
SPEAKER_02: Looking at the city, he wept.
SPEAKER_02: Where are my prophets who weep for their cities?
SPEAKER_02: Looking at the people, he felt compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless like a sheep without a shepherd.
SPEAKER_02: Looking to the crippled man lying there, he said to them, Do you want to get well?
SPEAKER_02: Looking at the religious leaders in anger, grieved at the hardness of their hearts.
SPEAKER_02: Looking at the people, he said, With man it's impossible.
SPEAKER_02: But with God, all things are possible.
SPEAKER_02: And don't forget in Revelation that the one who is seated on the throne said, Look, I'm making all things new.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know about you.
SPEAKER_02: I don't want to wait to heaven to get in on that.
SPEAKER_02: I want to be a part of him making things new and renewed and back to his original design right here and right now.
SPEAKER_02: I think, man, if we can look to the Lord and his strength and seek his face, we'll be shocked at what we see and also the responsibility we now bear for what we have seen.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
SPEAKER_02: I have a buddy Boggs who I did life and ministry with for a number of years.
SPEAKER_02: He's gone back to his home state of Oklahoma and like Oklahoma and Texas.
SPEAKER_02: You guys are like cowboy cousins.
SPEAKER_02: Like you guys are rough and gritty.
SPEAKER_02: I'm usually just like your sensitive friend and cousin that comes in from the East Coast every once in a while, and you're just like, I ain't got no boots.
SPEAKER_02: But that's how Bog Boggs was kind of like that.
SPEAKER_02: He grew up uh rough and tangly.
SPEAKER_02: And anyway, he goes back to his home church and he said, I'm I'm looking around and I see a dude I think I know.
SPEAKER_02: You ever have that moment you're like, I think I should know you?
SPEAKER_02: And it's also uh for me, like you realize you've aged, but you don't think you have, and then someone else's age, and you're like, Whoa, what happened to you?
SPEAKER_02: Oh.
SPEAKER_02: And you're like, Oh, that was me too, huh?
SPEAKER_02: Well, he's looking at this dude and comes up to him after church, and it's his buddy from high school who is real hard liver and uh liver, not liver, but live life really hard.
SPEAKER_02: And he's like, Mark, man, good to see you.
SPEAKER_02: I can't, I gotta tell you, I'm surprised to see you here.
SPEAKER_02: And he said, Yeah, man, me too.
SPEAKER_02: God found me, and I'm trying to live on the straight and narrow, you know, but it it's been rough.
SPEAKER_02: And he said, Really?
SPEAKER_02: Uh he says, Yeah, man, I I did the whole thing, right?
SPEAKER_02: Hard living, drugs, prison.
SPEAKER_02: And he said, Man, it's it's just tough.
SPEAKER_02: When I look in the mirror, I see the results of my sin on my face.
SPEAKER_02: Like, I look 20 years older than I should.
SPEAKER_02: Like, it's it's just tough sometimes to see myself, um, the way that I look right now.
SPEAKER_02: And I was really proud of Boggs because most of us pastors sometimes we're so insecure we want to fix things or we want to be quick to give advice when all we really need to do is look at someone for an extended period of time and see if their soul will come out.
SPEAKER_02: And so he looked at him and said, Tell me more about that.
SPEAKER_02: And he goes, Well, one thing I've been doing with China helping me in the morning is I'll get up and uh before I look in the mirror, I take out a Sharpie and I write scripture over the mirror.
SPEAKER_02: I said, Oh man, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_02: Is that to help you memorize scripture?
SPEAKER_02: And he said, No, that's so that I look at myself through the words of God.
SPEAKER_02: Look to the Lord and his strength.
SPEAKER_02: Seek his face always.
SPEAKER_02: It'll change the way you see yourself, it'll change the way you see others, and it'll change the say that you see this world.
SPEAKER_02: That's what Grand Parkway is about.
SPEAKER_02: Setting the kingdom down, a bunch of people who've been radically redeemed, fully free, full of an inexpressible joy.
SPEAKER_02: I can't believe you have that much joy.
SPEAKER_02: Look at your life.
SPEAKER_02: I know what's going on.
SPEAKER_02: Me either.
SPEAKER_02: That means we don't mean we'll talk about hard stuff.
SPEAKER_02: Actually, it gives us the courage to face that stuff head on.
SPEAKER_02: Now, if you were one of my kids right now, here's what you would be doing.
SPEAKER_02: Write message, Dad.
SPEAKER_02: Look to the Lord and his strength, see his face always.
SPEAKER_02: And then my son, who's like a logic guy because he doesn't know how to deal with the true emotions of his heart, so he mass it in intellectualism, would come up to me and go, Hey dad, how can you look to the Lord when he's invisible?
SPEAKER_02: It's time for you to go, son! I love you! Great question.
SPEAKER_02: Great question.
SPEAKER_02: I would say this.
SPEAKER_02: Uh we may not see the face of God this side of heaven, but I believe we can recognize it.
SPEAKER_02: Or as old Billy Graham used to like to say, I've never seen the wind, but I've seen the effects of the wind, and I know the wind is real.
SPEAKER_02: You are the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_02: And if you want to look to the Lord, look in each other's eyes.
SPEAKER_02: Look to the word of God, the people of God, and the will of God.
SPEAKER_02: And you'll behold God beholding you and smiling.
SPEAKER_02: So as we walk out of here, we're gonna give you some time to do a little bit of mental worship and figure out if you want to be someone who hears the word of the Lord and obeys it, not someone who sees a reflection and walks away and forgets it.
SPEAKER_02: But I say this: you got two choices, right?
SPEAKER_02: You can just glance at God.
SPEAKER_02: Hey, you did a good Christian thing this morning.
SPEAKER_02: Go back out, live your life.
SPEAKER_02: Just glance at him, don't gaze at him.
SPEAKER_02: And when you get out there, start looking to yourself, right?
SPEAKER_02: Look to your own strength, your own intellectual power, your own ability to provide, your own strength.
SPEAKER_02: Don't seek his strength, your strength, right?
SPEAKER_02: You made yourself, you make it happen, get out there and do it again.
SPEAKER_02: And if you don't control it, bad things are gonna happen.
SPEAKER_02: And don't remember his miracles, his marvelous works, or his judgments.
SPEAKER_02: Forget about all that, right?
SPEAKER_02: That's yesterday.
SPEAKER_02: You've run out of grace.
SPEAKER_02: You got no more favors.
SPEAKER_02: Whatever happens from now on out is totally your responsibility, and make sure that you have the approval and recognition of everyone else, and they're the ones that totally determine whether or not you're going to have a good week or you're gonna have any joy.
SPEAKER_02: Or look to the Lord and his strength.
SPEAKER_02: Seek his face always.
SPEAKER_02: Remember his miracles, his marvelous works, and his judgments that are true.
SPEAKER_02: Make sure that what you're looking at is what you're looking for.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Let's worship together through listening and reflecting and seeing where the Holy Spirit wants to highlight.
SPEAKER_02: And you're welcome to take um a picture of some of these questions.
SPEAKER_02: This may be a great table conversation for you, for your family, or your friends.
SPEAKER_02: And by the way, if you're like me, don't force people to share.
SPEAKER_02: Um I don't know is an acceptable answer.
SPEAKER_02: But process some of these and maybe on the way home go, hey, do you want to share what you you processed from the Lord?
SPEAKER_02: What did you look and see this morning?
SPEAKER_02: So let's listen together.
SPEAKER_02: Thanks, guys, for being here.
SPEAKER_02: Um, we've got some quick video announcements to show you some of the things that are happening in the life of this church for you to celebrate and then also for you guys to hear an invitation to participate in.
SPEAKER_02: Let's look at the screen.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for joining us today.
SPEAKER_00: Here are some things we want you to know.
SPEAKER_00: If you have any questions or want someone to pray for you, find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.
SPEAKER_00: If you're new, text welcome to 281-626-5707.
SPEAKER_00: This way we can also know you're here and get you connected with the church.
SPEAKER_00: Redeeming Heartache Conference is happening this Saturday.
SPEAKER_00: Register at theallendercenter.org slash events.
SPEAKER_00: Men's breakfast is this Tuesday at 5 45 a.m.
SPEAKER_00: in the student building.
SPEAKER_00: The gathering is for women married 20 years or less.
SPEAKER_00: There will be dinner, child care, and a panel discussion to hear from older women getting real about marriage and sharing their wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: Register at grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_00: Beginning March 5th, Bible studies for fifth grade through adults will move from 9 a.m.
SPEAKER_00: to 10.30 a.m.
SPEAKER_00: This will help balance attendance in our services and make room for those who are new.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for helping serve in this way.
SPEAKER_00: Speaking of serving, a few weeks ago we hosted a night to shine.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you to all who gave their time and effort to bless those with special needs.
SPEAKER_00: Here's a look at the evening.
SPEAKER_01: This is Graham Parkway Baptist Church housting the Tim Tebow Foundation's Night to Shine.
SPEAKER_01: It's a prom for those with special needs, and tonight is our third annual hosting of this tremendous event.
SPEAKER_01: We've got over 120 special guests, and we've got about 200 volunteers.
SPEAKER_01: So our campus is teeming with activity.
SPEAKER_01: It's live, it's off the chain, and we are having a good time loving on each other.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you everyone for tuning in.
SPEAKER_01: I appreciate you being here.
SPEAKER_02: May God be gracious to you and bless you.
SPEAKER_02: And cause his face to shine mightily upon you.
SPEAKER_02: His face.
SPEAKER_02: May this week, may you behold God, beholding you, and smiling.
SPEAKER_02: Because of the life, the death, the resurrection, and the return of King Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.