I wrote a sermon last night. I'll tell you, I've
been preaching out of Hebrews and I said that
my next sermon was going to be in Hebrews 12,
but I was not, I didn't, I'm really feeling that
one and I needed to sit and soak in that one
another week. And so that one is going to be,
I know you're so excited and have been waiting
for it on the correction and discipline of the
Lord. Yeah, it is. You should be excited. It
means you're a son and a daughter. However, I've
got another word for today. And here's, I'll
tell you how I came to this place. I had a dream
Friday night that I was about to preach on the
word thrive. And so when I was informed last
night that I needed a sermon, I was like, okay.
Well, I dreamt that I was about to preach on
thriving, so that's what I'm preaching on today.
So today we are talking about thriving in Christ.
How many of you would like to thrive and not
wilt and die away? Right? And so in Proverbs
chapter 11, and you know, I quote out of Proverbs
11 often because this is the chapter that says,
he who waters will himself be watered. Right?
He who is generous will receive generosity. Well,
later on in that chapter, we have this verse
right here. Those who trust in their riches will
fall. But the righteous will thrive like a green
leaf. But the righteous will thrive like a green
leaf. I don't know about you, but when I go into
places and I see half -dead plants, I just can't
get beyond it. It's so sad. This plant is not
thriving. And I know it's not thriving because
it's turning brown, right? I'm thinking of all
the piles of leaves that have been in my yard
from winter. I do not want to be a crispy, brown,
easily crushed leaf. I want to be a green leaf.
And so Proverbs gives us the key. Those who trust
in your riches, well, you say, well, I'm not
rich. I would interpret it as this. Those who
trust in self, those who place their trust in
self will fall. But the righteous, now listen,
this is a verse that is in the Old Testament.
And so if this were true in Old Testament life,
when they were striving in themselves to be righteous,
what does it mean for us? Us who are trusting
in the righteousness of Christ. How much more
can we flourish today? And so, we're going to
be in the book of John here. So, how many of
you have your Bibles and your notebooks? You're
ready to go? Down here, our young adults have
been giving each other a hard time about who
brought their Bible and who didn't. Oh, I know,
you stole mine from my bag. John chapter 10,
verse 9. Jesus, and this is in the context of
him being our good shepherd, it says, I am the
door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved
and will go in and out and find pasture. The
thief does not come except to steal and to kill
and to destroy. I have come that they may have
life and that they may have it more abundantly.
So let's just set the stage for a moment. Jesus
says, I'm the door of salvation, right? And if
you will come through me, there's no longer a
veil before the Holy of Holies. Jesus has become
that. that we enter through, right? And any are
welcome through the veil of Christ. And so anyone
who enters through Jesus will be saved. And what
I love is this next portion. They will go in
and out and find pasture. What is happening here?
What it's referring to is as you go about your
business, as you are going in, coming out, as
you are going to church and going to work and
doing family life, going to basketball games,
going to the bank, going to Walmart, as you are
going in and out, you will find pasture. It is
no longer to say, come to church and find it.
It is your life now. You are living within the
pasture. You are one of his own. And so wherever
you are, whatever you are doing, you are in his
pasture, being cared for by the good shepherd.
Isn't that good? So you're not alone at your
difficult workplace. The Clarks don't get that.
Theirs is a heaven on earth because they all
work together, right? Along with Zach over there.
We're not talking about their place. It's a wonderful
place. But maybe your place. I don't know. Sometimes
our families are not places where it feels like
the best place. He offers us pasture, care, protection,
wherever we're at. And so this is what he has
brought us into when we were saved, into the
place of pasture. Now, it is right after that
in the next verse that what we see are, what
we see is really a tale of two goals. Okay, so
everybody say a tale of two goals. You can write
that in your notes, a tale of two goals. The
first goal is the goal of your enemy. Your enemy
has a goal. He is a thief. And he has one goal
to steal, to kill, and to destroy. It's not enough
to just steal from you. He wants to kill you
and destroy everything about your life. He is
ruthless. He doesn't care if it's fair or unfair.
He doesn't care if he ruins your life because
you were wounded as a child. He will walk right
into that wounded place. He's not fair. And I
think it's interesting that there's those three
little words, he does not come, actually four,
except. Does not come except. There is no other
reason that the enemy would come to you except
to steal, kill, and destroy you. He comes often
and tries to lure us with promises of this and
that. He's not trying to bless you. What he has
is what Darren has. A tackle box full of lures.
Darren's enjoying it because Edmund is of an
age and has his own tackle box, so they compare
lures together and show them off. Your enemy
has a tackle box of lures. Oh, the fish aren't
biting on this one. I'll try something else.
I'll try it. Let's put a different lure on. He
knows, and you know there are certain lures that
work for certain fish, right? I mean, I'm not
a fisherman. John likes catfish. So I'm assuming
there are certain lures for catfish that you
wouldn't use for crappie. Is that right? Yes.
I don't know. I'm just saying, people. There
are different lures, different bait. Some of
you might be a catfish. I don't know. That means
you're a bottom feeder, and I would try to aspire
to something else. He has lures that he knows
can hook you. It might not tempt your neighbor,
that lure, but it sure will tempt you. And it
looks all shiny and pretty and beautiful. He's
out to eat you for breakfast. One goal. Now,
that isn't something we have to be fearful of.
And quite honestly, I don't give too much attention
to my enemy. I would rather be fixated on my
Savior, Jesus. So I'm not too focused on, oh
my, is the enemy trying to do something? I'm
not going to give attention to him. However,
we do have to know how to deal with him. And
in James 4, it says, submit to God. And when
we do that, it says, resist the devil. And what
will he do? Flee. He will flee from you. So yes,
you have an enemy, and yes, he is trying to steal
and to kill and destroy. And just because you
come to Christ and become a Christ follower does
not mean he's going to leave you alone now. No,
he's going to increase his efforts to steal,
to kill, and to destroy you because he's after
making God mad. And so I love, as believers,
Derek said that, how many of you have broken
some generational chains, right? I love in Mark
chapter 7, we have the account of the Gentile
woman who's coming to Jesus with her demon -possessed
daughter. And she's saying, Jesus, would you
deliver her? And Jesus says, should I take from
the bread, the children's bread? to give to you.
Jesus was saying, I'm here for Israel. But she
said, well, even the dogs at the master's table
will eat the crumbs. Just give me a crumb, Jesus.
And Jesus was so in awe of her faith that he
did what she wanted. What we get from this passage,
though, is that it is the children's bread to
walk in deliverance. And when we come to Christ,
What we need now is a good working of deliverance.
We carry generational curses. We carry just things
that have been passed down through the DNA of
your family. He comes to break and establish
a new bloodline. Addictions. Sin that have been
places of iniquity that you just can't, the enemy
just oppressing and putting shame upon you and
accusation upon you. What you just might need
is the bread for the children, a work of deliverance.
And so if you want to thrive in Christ, listen,
it's not a thing to be ashamed of because we
all had to have a working of deliverance upon
our lives. when we came to Christ. Every one
of us needed a working of deliverance, and some
of you today, you're like, why can't I thrive?
Why can't I flourish? Well, you have an enemy
that's trying to steal, kill, and destroy, and
maybe you just need a working of deliverance.
Maybe it's time for you to say, I'm stepping
up, and I'm saying to the devil, nope, go. Resist
him. Say no. Break all of those generational
things. Break all of those bondages and oppression
that are part of your past. And today, you can
do that. You do not have to walk out those doors
today still carrying that stuff. Jesus is in
the deliverance business. And I'm so thankful
for it because he's delivered me of a lot of
things that I am so grateful to be walking in
freedom from because it's my bread as a child
of God. And so your enemy has a goal. He's out
to steal. He does not want you thriving. He does
not want you flourishing. He will do everything
he can. He's like what my next -door neighbor
used to be. Darren had planted yet another grapevine
because he didn't think I had enough grape jelly
to make. And so that would have been three. We
have two. So he had planted along the fence line
on one of our sides a new grapevine. Well, I
had a neighbor who would mow our front grass.
He loved to, and he would like kill all of the,
along his borders. He always had like a space
this big of no grass, just dirt. He didn't like
to edge, I guess. And so numerous times we would
have to say, no, we don't want you doing this
to our yard. No, we don't want you doing this.
Well, I caught him out with his poison spraying
along my fence line. I said, he just. Killed
my grapevine. And so I told Darren, because this
is how I deal with it, you need to go talk to
the neighbor. You need to go tell him to keep
his poison on his side. I am not a poison person
in my garden. We are all natural. Right here,
right? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And so he had to go
say, listen, you need to quit spraying your stuff
around our yard. This is what the enemy does.
He comes and he tries to spray toxin all over
you. I'm going to say no. I'm saying no. I'm
establishing a clear boundary with the blood
of Jesus. Do you see the blood of Jesus? It is
my boundary. The blood of Jesus is the no trespassing
sign on properties, right? All of the people
that own property and have no trespassing signs.
What is that? That is a declaration of you cannot
cross this boundary. And this is what the blood
of Jesus is. When the enemy tries to steal, kill,
and destroy, you stand upon the righteous blood
of Christ that says, no, you cannot cross here.
This space... belongs to Jesus. Amen? And so
today, if you just feel like the enemy has been
after you, oppressing you, we're going to pray
with you before you leave today that you would
walk out in freedom. And so take hope in that.
Okay, our second goal we find here in our tale
of two goals. So your enemy has one goal, but
the good news is that your Savior has a goal
also. And it is in direct opposition to the enemy's
goal. What did it say that Jesus came to do to
give life, and not just life, but how does he
want to give it? More abundantly. He wants you
to have abundant life. In Ezekiel 34, I want
to read this. It's a little bit lengthy, so you
might want to turn there in verse 25. And this
is actually the chapter where he's rebuking the
shepherds of Israel for not shepherding. And
as pastors, it's always a passage that is a warning
to us in our shepherding. But Ezekiel 34, starting
in verse 25. This is God's heart towards Israel.
I will make a covenant of peace with them and
cause wild beasts to cease from the land. And
they will dwell safely in the wilderness. And
the joy of my family, they will sleep in the
woods. Some of you would like to have a really
nice fashionable cabin that you can sleep in
in the woods. and Darren will be out in his tent
on the side yard. I will make them and the places
all around my hill a blessing, and I will cause
showers to come down in their season. There shall
be showers of blessing. Can we catch that there
in their season? Sometimes it's not the season,
and we want it to always be showers of blessing.
But obviously there's seasons here. Then the
trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and
the earth shall yield her increase. They shall
be safe in their land, and they shall know that
I am the Lord, when I have broken the bands of
their yoke and delivered them from the hand of
those who enslaved them. And they shall no longer
be a prey for the nations, nor shall beasts of
the land devour them, but they shall dwell safely,
and no one shall make them afraid. I will rise
up for them a garden of renown. I love that.
And they shall no longer be consumed with hunger
in the land, nor bear the shame of the Gentiles
anymore. Thus they shall know that I, the Lord
their God, am with them, and they, the house
of Israel, are my people, says the Lord God.
You are my flock, the flock of my pasture. You
are men, and I am your God, says the Lord God.
Listen, this is one of those things he's talking
about King David, and King David's promises were
always futuristic. This is what we are moving
toward one day when Christ returns and establishes
the new heavens and earth. And so often we take
these promises and we understand it, we perceive
it through our Western perspective. The Western
perspective that wants a clean, beautiful, comfortable,
That's a Western perspective on the gospel. There
are people around the world, Christians in the
body of Christ right now. We talk about it a
lot. We just sent over $2 ,000 to Cuba. Believers.
Would you say, though, that their spirit man,
inward man, are abundant life -living people?
Yeah. It's very humbling for Americans to go
to places like that who are destitute. And you
would never say they're not living an abundant
life. They have discovered a secret that is hard
for Americans to grasp of what real true abundant
life is. The Western perspective is so focused
on the outward. When what Jesus is focused on
is the inward. Your inward realm. Your inward
world. Your mind. Your soul. This is the place
where abundance lives and dwells. And this is
the power of the gospel of Christ. Is that it
doesn't... Matter the circumstances. That does
not determine your ability to thrive and to flourish.
I heard a story last week that I wanted to share.
I was at a one -day dinner church conference.
It's just churches that are places where you
have dinner and tell a Jesus story. It's a different
way of doing church. And so they were the founder
of this movement that is now, dinner churches
are everywhere. They're all over Europe as well.
They started out in Seattle, Washington. And
they were telling one of their victories of Mama
Rosa. And Mama Rosa was a little Cuban woman.
And she saw the sign on the sidewalk that said,
free community dinner. So she wandered in. and
was so excited to find that it was actually a
church. And so there were a group of men, Spanish
-speaking men, that were having trouble really
grasping. I mean, they ate the food, but to hear
the Jesus story, they couldn't grasp. So Mama
Rosa quickly became the interpreter for them.
And it wasn't just that she interpreted. She
became Mama Rosa for a reason. She was keeping
those guys in line. What have you been doing
this week? She became a mother figure. So Mama
Rosa said to the team one night, I want to cook
a Cuban meal for you. I want you to come to my
house. So they came to her house, and she cooked
her Cuban meal and began to share her testimony
of back when she was in her 20s living in New
York. And she got pulled in to Satanism. in the
occult, to such an extent that she had decided
to become a high priestess in the occult. And
so it was the day before, whatever their ceremony
is to do that, the day before somebody, a lady
in her apartment building, heard about it and
said to her, well, what do you think God thinks
about that? And she's like, I don't even believe
in God. What does that mean? She believed in
Satan, had no problem with that, but didn't believe
in God. But that night, she was like, okay, God,
well, if you have something to say about this,
then you can say it. So before she had the ceremony,
walked through it, she had a knock on her door.
And there was a man on the other side of the
door, and he said his name was Jesus. and he
wanted to come in and talk with her and have
coffee with her. So she invited him in, and for
eight weeks straight, a knock came at her door.
A man named Jesus said he wanted to come in and
talk with her. What you have to understand is
that she did not know who Jesus was. She just
knew this man's name was Jesus. And so one day
as she's leaving her apartment, she's like questioning,
and I'm not clear on the details of this, but
she was questioning who this Jesus was, and there
was a nun there by her. There just so happened
to be a nun there who began to tell her who Jesus
was. And she was like, well, I don't know. I
just know some man named Jesus keeps coming to
my apartment. And the nun was like, okay, Rosa.
She gave her life to the Lord, though. And so
fast forward to dinner church. And Rosa has been
helping now with the team. And there was one
night that it was stormy and wet. And for those
of you that help with food pantry, you can imagine
this. You bring all of these people in, this
massive humanity, and they're wet and steamy.
And let's just say the aroma is not one you would
put in your oil diffuser. And so one of the leader's
wife is very petite. She kind of reminds me of
Kathy Schmidt, you know? And she was like, could
not take the smell. She was just like, Lord,
I can't do this. And she leaned against a pole
and pretty soon Rosa came up to her full of joy.
And she said, do you smell it? Do you smell it?
And she's like, yes, Rosa, I smell it. She said,
that's what Jesus smelled like. She could remember
that smell all those years later. And she went
joyfully off to serve the people. because the
aroma of Christ was filling the room. I tell
that story because Rose's perspective on abundant
life was not a sweet -smelling thing. For her,
it was the unpleasant aroma of humanity. That
was Jesus to her. And so I want us today to just
be open to the possibility that maybe abundant
life isn't what America has defined it as. What
the Church of America has defined it as. But
to say, Jesus, you're the one that gives abundant
life. What does it look like for me? What does
that mean for me? What does your abundant life,
how is that expressed in my life? And the truth
is, Psalm 92 .13, I think, says it beautifully.
Those who are planted in the house of the Lord
shall flourish in the courts of our God. For
me, this is another way of stating his presence.
When you are established in the presence of the
Lord, in the courts of the Lord, you will flourish.
That is the promise here. This is the place that
you will flourish. There's a book written by
C .S. Lewis called The Screwtape Letters. How
many of you read The Screwtape Letters? Yeah.
It's a good one. Satire. And it is telling. It's
a little book. So if you haven't read it, it's
an easy read. Our young people would probably
enjoy it. But it's the story of a senior demon.
screw tape. And he is training his nephew, Wormwood.
And so they are letters between the two of them.
Because what is he teaching Wormwood? He's teaching
Wormwood how to steal, kill, and destroy. And
so you find their interactions. Okay, here's
what you need to do to trip them up. Here's what
you need to do to deceive them, right? And so
in one... of the letters, he says, do not be
deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in
danger than when a human, no longer desiring
but still intending to do our enemy's will, will
look surround upon a universe from which every
trace of him, God, seems. to have vanished. Has
anybody been in that place? You look around and
you're like, where is God? I cannot see him.
I cannot hear him. You look and it seems every
trace has vanished. And when asked why he has
been forsaken, still obeys. That's the greatest
danger to the enemy. when it seems that there
is nothing that would cause you to flourish,
yet you continue to obey, you're flourishing.
It doesn't feel like you're flourishing. But
remember, we're after God's definition of flourishing
and not our own. And so your ability to thrive
is not dependent on your circumstance. if I could
hammer that into us, your ability to thrive is
not dependent on your circumstance. Your ability
to have abundant life does not require the ideal
outward circumstances. We have to learn to abide.
We have to learn to abide in Christ wherever
we are at, whatever the circumstance. And you
will thrive. And you will flourish. It is so
quiet in here today. John said it just a couple
of chapters later. A branch can't bear fruit,
can it? unless it abides in the vine. Neither
can we bear fruit unless we abide in Christ.
And I love that a lot of these are coming from
the book of John, which was written by the disciple,
the apostle John. And remember, just a few sermons
ago, we talked about the sons of thunder. And
John was a son of thunder. John was zealous.
John wanted to call down fire from heaven. John
wanted to be seated in the highest place in heaven.
He was a son of thunder. And what he became was
the beloved. right? I think the book of John
is one of the most beautiful books because John
got the intimacy of Jesus. John is the one that
writes this about bearing fruit. John is the
one who was reclining with Jesus at the table.
He is the one whom Jesus loved, according to
himself. In fact, after Jesus had resurrected
and the disciples had gone back to fishing, remember?
And so we have the account at the shore lake,
the lakeshore, of Jesus cooking fish for the
disciples. And so they've been out all night
fishing and they see Jesus in the distance. And
this is where he restores Peter three times.
I think it's interesting, though, that the first
person to recognize the man as Jesus was not
Peter. It was John. John told Peter, hey, it's
Jesus. And so I think John got something. And
John knew. He knew a lot of suffering. But John
got intimacy. John got abiding. John got that
flourishing is found in his presence. Oswald
Chambers, who wrote My Utmost for His Highest,
said, There is no condition of life in which
we cannot abide in Jesus. We must learn to abide
in him wherever we are placed. And so I hear
it all the time, well, if you just knew what
I was going through. I know. And I'm not saying
your stuff is easy. I'm not saying it's not hard.
It is. But we must learn to abide in him no matter
the circumstance. If you want to flourish. If
you want to thrive. And so this morning, I'm
going to ask the team to come back up. This morning,
I want us, there are two groups specifically
that we're going to have some time around the
altar. And the first group are those of you that
just feel like I need some deliverance. I just
have felt the oppression of the enemy. I have
felt him just attacking everywhere I turn, and
I need some deliverance. Or I've had sin I just
can't get rid of. I need some deliverance. Listen,
we want to pray for you. It's like going to a
doctor's office and leaving without the cure.
Don't leave and not get prayer today. The second
group here, there are some of us that need to
get firmly planted in the pasture. The place
of abiding. You've been letting your circumstance
dictate whether you are going to abide or not.
And today you have to kind of draw a line in
the sand and say it doesn't matter. When we remove
the choice, life gets easier. Abiding gets easier.
If we depend on how we feel, I guarantee you,
you'll never feel like abiding. You'll never
feel like it. But we want you to be people that
are thriving. We want you all to be green and
flourishing and bearing fruit. And bearing fruit.
We want you to look as green as these beautiful
plants up here that are not real. The truth is,
is that when I take care of my plants each week,
my thriving healthy plants sometimes have brown
leaves. And I go through and I pick them all
off. And maybe some of you today need Jesus to
just come and take some of the brown off of you.
Some areas of life that have just gotten a little
crusty and a little brown and you need Jesus.
You need the Holy Spirit. to just come in and
say, let's get rid of that. You don't need to
have that on you anymore. And so it's going to
take boldness. Maybe it's going to take courage.
But we believe in altars around here. We believe
in you moving by faith and taking a step outward
and letting the body pray for you. Pray for you.
I remember one time being at an altar. I wasn't
even praying about generational things. And the
evangelist came up and said, there's something
through your family, and he named something,
and we just need to cut that off. I had not thought.
I was just like, yes, Lord, whatever. You need
to cut off. Cut off. I don't want to carry that
stuff. I don't want to carry toxicity. Let's
deal with it so we can thrive and flourish with
Jesus. Amen? And so if you'll stand with me this
morning, we're going to worship. I'm going to
ask if our elders and Dennis and Linda, I think
Brian might be our only elder here today. I'm
going to ask if Dennis and Linda and maybe Suzanne
and Mike, if you'll just come on up here. These
are people that want to pray with you. You can
join in prayer as well. Come on up here so they
can come up to you and receive prayer. And the
rest of us, we just want to create an atmosphere
of worship so that where deliverance needs to
happen, it can happen. Where we need to recommit
into the pasture and abiding place, we do that.
And so whatever group you are in today, maybe
you just need to spend time kneeling at the altar,
recommitting. find a place to kneel and to do
that. But let's not be content to carry brown
stuff. Let's not be content to just being half
abundant. Let's just say, Jesus, I want all the
abundant life that you have to give to me today.
Amen? And so as the team begins to lead us in
worship, if that's you, I want you just to come
on down and receive prayer as we worship together.