Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Well, good morning, west campus.
[00:00:06] My husband likes to give me advice before I preach. And he'll say, just don't cry and make him laugh.
[00:00:14] That song makes me want to cry. Just be like, God's so good. He's so good. But no, I'm so. I never thought I would say this. I'm so thankful to be back in this building. I'm thankful to be indoors. We have had such a. Such a fun summer. With our summer services, we had the opportunity to go to our Columbia Station campus and be with them and our old Brooklyn family.
[00:00:38] We had service at the beach. Who else can say that? We had service at the lake.
[00:00:44] 26 people got baptized. How amazing is that? And then last Sunday, we had service outside. It was a beautiful Sunday. The sun was shining. Church, you can cook. Okay. There was some good food. But we have. We've had some awesome summer services. But it is good. It's good to be back in here, back to our Sunday rhythm. So if you've been sunburned, you're over the heat. Good news. We're back Sundays at 9, 30 and 11. And as Sarah said, our Pastor Chet, he is taking some time to rest and to be with his family. And I don't know about you, but as Sarah said, we are on just an amazing journey. We're in the process of building this brand new facility. And I'm so thankful for our Pastor Chet and for his leadership and for his faith to get us through.
[00:01:39] He's not here, but that was a little weak. Just saying.
[00:01:43] All right, but before we dive in, would you bow your heads in prayer with me?
[00:01:49] Dear Heavenly Father, you are a good and mighty God.
[00:01:55] Father, I thank you so much for this time. I thank you for the opportunity to get to share your word. And just like we sang, I pray that your presence would be with us. I thank you that you are a God who desires a deep and meaningful relationship with us. And Lord, when, when. When we meet you in that you grow us, you change us, and we thrive in this relationship world.
[00:02:22] So, Father, I pray that our hearts would be open to you.
[00:02:26] I pray that whatever we have brought into this building, Father, we can let it go and just see your goodness and that it would help us to just fall more in love with you and into a deeper relationship with you. And we could be the men and women that you have called us to be. And I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:02:47] Okay, well, as Sarah said, my name is Tina. I have been on staff here at the church as our campus director and if you have been coming for maybe the last two, three, four, I don't know, months, I have been saying how much I love summer.
[00:03:07] Summer is my season. Anyone else?
[00:03:11] Okay, Summer is my season. It is where I feel like I'm at my best. I saw this funny video, and it said, turns out I'm not depressed. I'm just solar powered. I feel that in my bones. I need the sun. I like to wake up early in the morning and go for a walk and be by the lake. It just. It brings my soul back to life.
[00:03:36] And I have two teenage daughters, Mia and Lexi, and they're on Summer Breakfast. So it's fun. We get to spend time together as a family. And one of the things that we like to do in the summer is go to Cedar Point.
[00:03:52] Any other roller coaster. Adrenaline junkies like to ride the rides.
[00:03:59] All right, we got a few people.
[00:04:01] You guys are nuts.
[00:04:04] It's just. It's good for you.
[00:04:07] I like to go because I like to go with my family. And sometimes we do things for our families that we don't always love to do, but we do it because we love them, we want to spend time with them. Let Chet preach on that another Sunday. But a couple summers ago, my youngest daughter and I, we got to go to Cedar Point, and we decided we were going to ride The Top Thrill 2.
[00:04:29] Okay, this is the second one. So it's faster, it's bigger, it's crazier.
[00:04:34] And we worked up the nerve to ride this ride. And we actually saw a family from church that they were in line with us, and they were like, it's fun. You gotta do it. This ride is great.
[00:04:45] And then they told us, this ride is so fast. It's so crazy. It's so wild. If you stick your hands up in the air, you could get hurt because it takes off so fast. And someone in their family dislocated their shoulder.
[00:05:01] We were like, okay.
[00:05:03] And we rode it and we survived. And it was wild and it was crazy. And honestly, I can't tell you if I loved it or if I hated it. I think my soul is still wandering around Cedar Point.
[00:05:16] But as I was on this ride, I couldn't help but think a couple things. Number one, I love Jesus with all my heart.
[00:05:26] I love him so much. But, Lord, I don't want to meet you face to face today.
[00:05:30] I hope I get off this ride safe.
[00:05:33] But the other thing that I saw while I was on that ride, it's like life really is like a roller coaster.
[00:05:41] Like, there are moments in Our life where we feel like we are at our best and the ride is fun and we're enjoying it. And maybe we have a plan and life is going according to our plan.
[00:05:55] Maybe work is going well and we feel like we're doing a great job.
[00:06:01] And then there's times on the ride where we are holding on for dear life.
[00:06:09] Like, maybe life has taken us in a direction we were not expecting to go.
[00:06:14] And now maybe we're not thriving.
[00:06:16] We are trying to survive from one day to the next.
[00:06:22] Maybe the relationships in our lives, they're starting to fall apart.
[00:06:27] Maybe our schedules are so busy, if we fit. What one more thing on it. We're just gonna. We're not gonna make it.
[00:06:37] See, here. Here's the good news.
[00:06:40] See, we have a good heavenly Father who loves us, who created us and made us to be in a relationship with Him. See, we weren't meant to just survive and hold on for dear life.
[00:06:55] He wants to partner with us, and when we do that, we can begin to thrive in our lives.
[00:07:02] And I want to look at Psalm 92 this morning because it paints this beautiful picture of what it looks like to thrive in our lives.
[00:07:14] So we're going to pick up Psalm 92, Verse 1215.
[00:07:24] It says, the righteous flourish like a palm tree and grow like cedar and Lebanon.
[00:07:31] They are planted in the house of the Lord.
[00:07:34] They flourish in the courts of our God. Another word or translation is, they thrive in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old age. They are ever full of SAP and green to declare the Lord is upright. He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
[00:07:58] And I love this because this just reminds us that God created us to thrive.
[00:08:05] And we thrive in our lives when we are deeply rooted in Jesus.
[00:08:11] See, we don't have to just survive the challenges of life. We can actually grow and bear good fruit in any season that we're in.
[00:08:20] But, see, thriving begins with where we're planted.
[00:08:25] See, every single one of us here in this room, we're planted somewhere.
[00:08:30] And wherever you're planted becomes the source of our lives. So I just have to ask the question, where are you planted right now?
[00:08:40] Like, what do you wake up and think about? Like, what motivates you?
[00:08:44] What are your daily habits?
[00:08:47] See, some things are good. It's our family or our career or our finances.
[00:08:56] And there's nothing wrong with that. And those are good things. Those are gifts from God. But the problem is when those things become our foundation instead of Jesus.
[00:09:10] See, our careers can change our Circumstances can change and relationships can disappoint us.
[00:09:18] But when Jesus is our foundation, then we begin to thrive.
[00:09:28] See, when we're planted, what we're thinking about, those are the things that we water, and those are the things that'll grow.
[00:09:38] So what are you watering?
[00:09:41] Is it jealousy or comparison?
[00:09:47] See, if we want to be thrive and have a relationship with Jesus, we need to be planted in Him. Okay, so my husband and I, we are gonna be celebrating 16 years of marriage this fall.
[00:10:08] And it's been perfect. And.
[00:10:12] Just kidding, all the married couples, you know.
[00:10:15] But no, I'll never forget the first night that I met my husband. And we were not at a Bible study.
[00:10:22] We were somewhere else, a gathering of people.
[00:10:27] But no, I just remember seeing him for the first time, and I was like, who is that man?
[00:10:34] And we caught each other's attention. And as the night went on, we slowly started moving towards each other.
[00:10:42] And after we met, we were inseparable. We wanted to spend as much time together as we could. And I wanted to know more about him. And he's just so dang cute.
[00:10:57] So he had all my attention, and I took interest in the things that he liked.
[00:11:02] And if you know my husband, one of the things that he loves, he loves cars. He appreciates cars, old cars and new cars. And I don't, and I didn't at the time, but he was just so cute that I wanted to get to know a little bit more about it. So he would teach me and I would listen. And I'll tell you what, might not be impressive to you, but I can tell you most make and models of cars.
[00:11:30] He's impressed.
[00:11:32] But see, if we want to have a deep relationship with Christ, if we want to be planted with Christ, it starts with a relationship.
[00:11:43] It starts with our hearts moving towards God. See, he's already moving towards us.
[00:11:50] It's us that need to move towards him and God. Here's the good news about God.
[00:11:58] He already plants a seed in our heart.
[00:12:03] He's already moving towards us. Maybe you were invited here by someone.
[00:12:09] Maybe you have a curiosity about God. There's something that's starting in your heart.
[00:12:17] I've been coming to this church for over 10 years, and I've just seen so many amazing men and women that love the Lord.
[00:12:27] And it seems like they're just so close to God and the way they pray. And I'm just like, I am not worthy.
[00:12:35] Like, anybody want to pray. And I'm like, mm, that girl's real good.
[00:12:43] But I've seen them ride the roller coaster of life. And it seems like when life is hard, like there's something different about them.
[00:12:55] And I've learned that we can't just hope for or wish for this faith.
[00:13:03] We have to be intentional about growing our faith.
[00:13:09] I've heard that women in their 30s, that's me, they like to do one of a few things. They like to play pickleball.
[00:13:21] They bake sourdough. Clearly that's not me.
[00:13:27] They like to bird watch or they like to garden.
[00:13:33] You think this is funny, and I thought it was funny. But I hit two of those categories.
[00:13:37] Never in my life did I think that would be me. But here we are. I love watching the birds.
[00:13:42] You'll get there one day, I promise.
[00:13:46] I would have laughed at me, too.
[00:13:49] But here's the thing. I have this friend who, she loves gardening. She plants and grows the most gorgeous flowers and puts them in beautiful arrangements. And she says that it is a labor of love.
[00:14:04] She says, you have to be patient. It takes time.
[00:14:08] The one thing I do know when we're planting is you need some soil, sunlight and water, right? You're welcome from a non gardener.
[00:14:19] But if we want to grow deep roots in Jesus, we have to be intentional. And we have to learn how to grow those deep roots. And I love this because Jesus, he actually teaches us how we can grow deep roots.
[00:14:36] And he teaches us in Mark, chapter four.
[00:14:39] And he teaches a parable. So it's a story that he'll teach to illustrate what he's trying to say.
[00:14:46] So he tells this story about a farmer who scatters seeds. And he says the seeds fall on a path.
[00:14:54] He says that the seeds on the path, since there's not a lot of soil, they don't take root.
[00:15:03] So the birds end up eating the seeds.
[00:15:06] He said some of the seeds will fall on rocky soil, so the plant might start to grow a little bit, but the roots don't get deep enough, and eventually they'll get blown away.
[00:15:23] Then he says some of the seeds get scattered on some thorny soil.
[00:15:33] He says that this is a seed that's taken some roots.
[00:15:43] This is a seed that's growing.
[00:15:45] But eventually the thorns, they choke out the seeds and the plant doesn't grow.
[00:15:52] And then he says that some of the seeds fell on good soil.
[00:15:59] He said the seeds that fell on this soil, the plant grew thirty, sixty, and a hundred times.
[00:16:12] And as he was teaching this, after he taught it, some of the people that were with him, they were like, jesus, what's that mean?
[00:16:22] Anybody ever read something in The Bible, you're like, hold on, Lord, I made you explain that one.
[00:16:29] But see, Jesus is saying that the seed is God's word.
[00:16:35] And God is so good, he's planted a seed in every single one of us.
[00:16:41] And he says the soil represents our heart.
[00:16:47] See, the path was a hard seed.
[00:16:51] It was a seed that it's not open to God.
[00:16:56] Maybe your heart right now is like, I'm here and God's okay, but it's not really for me.
[00:17:05] Jesus is saying we won't grow deep roots.
[00:17:10] He says that the rocky soil is a shallow heart.
[00:17:14] See, growth will happen quickly, but it can't withstand the pressures of life.
[00:17:21] So maybe you come here on a Sunday, you listen to Chet. He's funny, he's got a good word.
[00:17:31] You hear God and you're like, I'm a Christian.
[00:17:34] You're telling everybody.
[00:17:37] Then life gets a little hard.
[00:17:40] And Wednesday, you're like, well, I wasn't that much of a Christian.
[00:17:45] But, see, we can't grow deep roots with a shallow heart.
[00:17:50] He says that the thorny soil, it represents a distracted heart.
[00:17:58] God's words begin to grow, but the worry of this world, it distracts us. The busyness.
[00:18:12] I have a confession.
[00:18:15] I do like Instagram. I like social media.
[00:18:18] I am their number one client. Client here. I am like, who they are talking to because I am so easily influenced.
[00:18:28] Anyone else? If it's, like, gonna clear your skin and tighten your body. And I mean, I. They got me.
[00:18:37] I'm buying it all.
[00:18:40] Anyone else? Okay, just make sure it's not me.
[00:18:45] But here's the thing.
[00:18:47] The latest trends and all the supplements and the things of this world, they never live up to the hype.
[00:18:59] They never do the thing they say they're gonna do.
[00:19:03] They have this way of baiting and switching us.
[00:19:12] Lastly, Jesus said that the seed that fell on the good soil is an open heart to God.
[00:19:24] It flourishes, it grows, it bears fruit.
[00:19:29] And that's a heart that wants to know God.
[00:19:33] That's not a perfect heart.
[00:19:35] Let me just make that clear. We are all broken people. But it's somebody that shows up time, time and time again. Good job. It's you.
[00:19:44] You're here on Sunday at church. Way to go.
[00:19:48] I thought you were gonna clap. It's fine.
[00:19:51] It's really cheering for you.
[00:19:54] But an open heart is somebody that is open to God and his Word. And maybe open to the fact that, like, maybe I don't have it all figured out.
[00:20:04] Maybe God's way is better than my way.
[00:20:09] And I just want to do an honest assessment here, because if God is planting the seed and we need good soil that will help us grow, I just want to do a little assessment and ask, where's your heart at this morning?
[00:20:27] Is your heart just a little hardened?
[00:20:34] Is your heart distracted, worried, overwhelmed?
[00:20:42] Here's the good news.
[00:20:44] God promises to open our hearts. He promises to give us a new heart. So no matter where you're at, he's the one who will help us grow.
[00:20:56] Okay? So we need God good soil, we need water, and we need some sunlight to grow our plants.
[00:21:08] Here's what I love about this psalm.
[00:21:11] This psalm models what it takes to grow our faith.
[00:21:18] I always love the end of the verse because it talks about flourishing and thriving and where we want to end up, right?
[00:21:27] But sometimes we have to. Like, we have to go back, you know? Anybody else impatient Amazon has ruined my life.
[00:21:37] It's not even next day shipping. It's like you can get shipping day of it has ruined me.
[00:21:44] But here's the thing. I just love the beginning of this psalm because it just models. It models how we can grow deep roots in our faith. So we have to go back to the beginning. And it says, it's good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O most high, to declare your steadfast love in the morning and your faithfulness by night. To the music of the lute and harp, to the melody of the lyre. For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your works, at the work of your hands, I sing for joy.
[00:22:23] How great are your works, O Lord. Your thoughts are very deep.
[00:22:30] If we want to grow in our faith and closer with God, we have to spend time with him.
[00:22:39] If Bob only wanted to spend time with me one day a week, we'd have a problem.
[00:22:46] But I love this because it says it's good to give thanks to the Lord.
[00:22:56] When we spend time with God and we say, God, thank you, it shifts our perspective. Gratitude changes everything.
[00:23:08] James Clear, he is an author of this amazing book called Atomic Habits.
[00:23:13] And in his chapter, he talks. His book, he talks about creating new habits and rhythms. And he says that there is this mind shift when we go to Gratitude.
[00:23:26] He says that our minds can shift from I get to or I have to do this to I get to do this.
[00:23:36] And when we spend time giving thanks to God, it completely changes our hearts.
[00:23:52] I don't know about you, but I have a really hard time spending time with God sometimes.
[00:23:58] And I work at a church.
[00:24:01] Don't tell Chet.
[00:24:04] No, but really, when we Spend time thinking about who God is and what he's done.
[00:24:14] It changes our hearts.
[00:24:18] There is this book that I read recently. It's called the Ruthless Elimination of Hurry.
[00:24:27] And he says the reason we have a hard time becoming the men and women we want to be, it's because of the hurry in our lives.
[00:24:39] He says we, for every kind of reason, good and bad, are distracting ourselves into spiritual oblivion.
[00:24:48] It's not that we have anything against God, depth and spirit. We would like these things.
[00:24:56] It's that we are habitually too preoccupied to have these show up on our radar screen.
[00:25:02] We're more busy than bad, more distracted than non spiritual, and more interested in the movie theater, the sports stadium and shopping malls, and the fantasy life they produce in us than we are. Church.
[00:25:17] Pathological busyness, distraction and restlessness are major blocks today within our spiritual lives.
[00:25:26] Church I felt this to my bones. One of the biggest reasons that we have time being with God is because of the busyness.
[00:25:38] I'll find myself asking people like, oh, how are you? And they're like, I'm busy.
[00:25:42] I'm just busy. Busy for me is like, I'm holding on. Guys.
[00:25:46] Life is moving so fast, and sometimes we can be busy doing good things, but we get.
[00:25:55] We limit ourselves when it takes us away from being with God.
[00:26:03] See, hurry exhausts us.
[00:26:08] It distracts us, it overwhelms us.
[00:26:13] Worship and love. It turns our attention back to the one who made us and created us and wants to have a deep relationship with us.
[00:26:25] Okay, So I wanted to challenge us because we are gonna be people who thrive in this church. Amen.
[00:26:31] All right, so I wanted to give just practical ways that we could spend this week with God. Here's saying I'm gonna give it to you and I know you're gonna do it. Cause we're gonna thrive.
[00:26:44] The psalmist says, it's good to declare your love in the morning and your faithfulness by night.
[00:26:50] One or the other, morning or evening. He gives us a whole day. Just choose the morning or the evening. But maybe wake up 15 minutes earlier this week.
[00:27:01] 30. If you're like me and you just love sleep. Need to wake up a little more.
[00:27:07] But just spend a few minutes with God in the morning.
[00:27:13] Take time and go for a walk. Dear Lord, while we have this weather, it's good for the soul to get outside and just go for a walk and think about God.
[00:27:23] Think about where you're planted. Think about where he's calling you.
[00:27:28] Listen to worship music. This week that song almost wrecked me. It was so Good. But it just shifts our attention, and we can just listen and again, think about who God is.
[00:27:40] Okay, those are a couple things.
[00:27:45] Here's the last thing I want to say.
[00:27:51] See, God wants to work in us to help us grow good fruits in our lives.
[00:28:00] Patience, some more. Joy. He doesn't want us weighed down. Kindness and gentleness.
[00:28:07] And see, God, he wants to do those things in our lives. But it's not only for us.
[00:28:15] See, God wants to use you to bless the people around you.
[00:28:22] When I first started coming to the church a while ago, I felt out of place.
[00:28:31] I felt like I didn't fit in here. Or God could use other people, but he couldn't use me.
[00:28:43] And everything was new and praying was new, and it was scary and all that.
[00:28:50] But, see, God was doing something in my heart.
[00:28:59] And a couple summers ago, I had the absolute honor of my life, and I got to baptize my dad at our Lakeview service.
[00:29:17] Neither one of my dad or Chet told me this, by the way, so it was a pretty big surprise.
[00:29:26] But, see, I didn't realize that God was working something in me.
[00:29:33] And I was just so consumed with, like, getting it right, but He.
[00:29:37] He used that.
[00:29:40] And not only that, a few weeks ago, I got the honor and privilege of baptizing my mom as well.
[00:29:51] Let's go.
[00:29:57] See what God plants in us. It starts so small, but when we take the steps towards him, he really does do something amazing. Not only in our lives, but the lives of the people around us.
[00:30:13] And I just want to encourage you if you are new to faith, if you're coming here for the first time or you're just trying to figure this out, keep going.
[00:30:26] Keep praying. Keep spending time with God.
[00:30:30] Cause you truly never know what God's gonna do through you.
[00:30:34] And I want. This is one of my favorite parts of this verse. It says they still bear fruit in old age. Healthy and green. To declare the Lord is just.
[00:30:49] He is my rock.
[00:30:52] They still bear fruit in old age.
[00:30:56] He doesn't say how old.
[00:30:58] I'm not gonna guess.
[00:31:01] But some of you here have walked with Christ for decades.
[00:31:07] Some of you have been through some of the hardest moments in your life, loss and grief.
[00:31:14] Some of you have put your kids through college.
[00:31:18] Some of you have gone through the hardest moments in your marriage.
[00:31:24] I'm telling you, God has something for you in this church.
[00:31:29] God wants to use you. He has a purpose for you. And sometimes it can feel like I'm just too old.
[00:31:40] What's my purpose?
[00:31:44] You're the ones we need.
[00:31:50] I Don't know what season you're in right now.
[00:31:53] I don't know if you feel like you're at your best, you're thriving, life is just going exactly how you planned, or if you're just trying to hold on. Right now you're surviving.
[00:32:05] You feel like if one more thing goes wrong, Lord, where are you?
[00:32:10] What are you doing? What are you working?
[00:32:14] I promise he is with you.
[00:32:19] Whenever I get on the roller coaster, any of them, I'll buckle my belt.
[00:32:27] Obviously not that crazy, but I'll check the buckle and I'll make sure it's secure. I just want to know I'm not going anywhere. And then the workers will come around and they'll check it again and they're like, you're good. I'm like, check it again and I'll like, just pull at it. And I just. I want to make sure that I'm safe on this ride.
[00:32:53] I want to. I want to make sure that I'm secure, that I'm not going anywhere.
[00:33:00] And here's the good news. Because of what Jesus did on the cross, we can be so secure in him.
[00:33:15] We don't have to wonder, does God love me? Will he use me?
[00:33:20] Lord, did you hear me?
[00:33:24] He made the ultimate sacrifice on the cross. And he said, you are enough.
[00:33:31] I've got you. Put your hands up. Laugh, enjoy.
[00:33:37] Ride.
[00:33:44] Like I said, I don't know what season you are, but I just want to take a minute and if you just bow your heads, I want to say a prayer over us.
[00:33:53] Dear Heavenly Father, I am so thankful for a God like you.
[00:34:02] I'm so thankful that you. You call us to be yours.
[00:34:08] I'm thankful that you.
[00:34:10] You don't give up on us.
[00:34:12] You don't turn away from us and our brokenness, you turn towards us.
[00:34:20] I'm thankful that you help us to grow deep roots in you that help us to thrive no matter what season we are in.
[00:34:29] I pray that you would be with our hearts this morning. I pray that you would be with us as we go through our weeks. I pray that we could get a sense of your presence.
[00:34:39] And I pray, Father, that you would just help us to thrive in our lives. And I pray this in Jesus name, amen.
