Thank you for listening to this message from Life House Church.
All right, everyone. Good morning.
So I am super excited to share this morning with what the Lord has laid on my heart.
And I know I've only been here since September, actually, the time has flown by.
But I'd like to give you a little bit of background on who I am, that kind of thing.
But first, if you just bow your heads with me as we pray for this morning.
Heavenly Father, God, we just thank you for this morning.
We thank you for the opportunity to be here today, that we have been welcomed into your house and into this beautiful journey of life.
Father, I just pray that as I speak this morning, that it's not me that is seen, but God, you seen through me,
that every word that I speak and every everything that is happening in today's service be all for you and for your glory.
Father, I pray that you provide revelation through the word that as we read, as we study, as we go into what it is that you have planned for this morning,
Father, that you soften the people's hearts to hear and receive from you today.
So, Father, we love you and we worship you in Jesus name. Amen.
All right. So I was actually born in China. Start there.
I was adopted at five and a half months old by my wonderful family.
My parents are here today and I have three older brothers.
I'm the youngest of three boys.
I'm the baby of the family, the only daughter.
They are all married. They are all happily married and with kids.
And I get to live with the love of my life, which is my golden retriever, Annie.
I'm just kidding.
I do love her and of course she does live there, but I am engaged to the actual love of my life, which is Ryan.
And he's back in the production booth this morning.
Ryan and I were both raised in the Church of God.
So we've grown up around Pentecostal world and that thing.
But while I am now happily where the Lord has placed me, I didn't always start exactly this way.
There's a few things that I never thought would happen.
Number one, I never thought that I would be in ministry.
Kind of shocking now that you know me, but before I had no idea.
Number two, I never thought I would marry a pastor.
And number three, I never thought I would be the pastor of which someone was marrying.
But here we are. And in the midst of kind of all that chaos and the beautiful change of this journey that the Lord has brought us on over the last few years.
And also now here at LifeHouse, we're also planning a wedding.
One detail that we have not yet figured out is we're working on the music for the wedding.
And that includes our first dance song.
So, of course, if you've ever been to a wedding, you know that by this point in the wedding,
the officiant has already declared the husband and wife as a united front.
They have then the opportunity to demonstrate that partnership in a dance together.
Likewise, we have the opportunity to step out of the shadows and step into a dance with the Lord.
So give your neighbor a little nudge there and say, let's dance.
Now, before you tune me out because you hate dancing or you have two left feet, let me just ask you this question.
Do you believe that music can move you?
Being in theater and other music settings most of my life, I've seen music move people physically,
whether it's like tapping of their foot or nodding of their head, but also emotionally.
I mean, for instance, the worship team this morning as we sang these songs, like I cried.
And I've also seen the way that a tempo or the speed of a song can change how people react.
For instance, if you watch a movie and there is a dramatic scene going on, it's a slower song.
It's a little bit quieter versus when the McCallister's are late for their Christmas flight.
They are zipping through the crowd to run, run Rudolph.
Similarly, the music behind our dance with the Lord is also important.
And that music is the word of God in our lives.
It's guiding us through those ebbs and flows of life.
And as we tune into the music, we'll find ourselves more in step and connected with the Lord.
So if you have your Bibles or devices or you can look up on the screens, we're going to do we're going to turn to John, Chapter 15.
And we're reading verses five through eight.
So these are actually red letters in the Bible, which means that Jesus is speaking and in this case, he's speaking to his disciples.
So John, Chapter 15, verse eight, verse five says, I am the vine.
You are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him abide.
Oh, sorry. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit.
For without me, you can do nothing.
If anyone does not abide in me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered.
And they gather them and throw them into the fire and they are burned.
If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you.
By this, my father is glorified that you bear much fruit.
So you will be my disciples.
So I know that some scriptures can be a little bit confusing to unpack, but there are places in scripture that Jesus provides word pictures to help us grasp a concept.
As a visual learner myself, this tends to help me.
In this case, I want us to focus on the second chunk of that first sentence where Jesus says, for without me, you can do nothing.
This is not written to create a sense of fear, but rather to show that vast difference between existing and thriving.
To say that we can do nothing makes some people kind of tilt their heads like a dog who just heard a squeaky toy.
But in the most basic sense, he is the one who gives us life and breath.
But we were created for way more than to just breathe.
The visual that is given is that you are part of a vine, but if it's just there, if it's not bearing fruit, if it's not growing stronger, it'll wither.
Scripture continues to say that those withered branches then won't remain there, but rather they'll be thrown into the fire and burned.
I think of this little garden that we actually have in the backyard.
It is brown and dying, mostly because it's no longer receiving the nutrients that it needs to produce and to thrive.
So later on, we may find that it's better off used as a fire starter than to create new fruit.
So rather than to just exist and wither and eventually burn, our lives have eternal purpose.
But we won't discover that purpose until we show up to the dance.
Showing up means making that decision to step into something, even if we don't know all of the details.
We know the concepts, we can play out the scenes in our head.
And while there could be other factors that we haven't yet calculated, we're still curious enough to go.
So at this point in my life, I am past the point of homecomings and prompts, but I am at the point where most of my friends are getting married.
I've been invited to weddings of people in high school or people that I knew from high school or knew from college,
basically people that I don't know very well anymore.
And while it was an honor to be invited, that RSVP, man, I had to make the call of do I actually want to show up or not?
I had to go through those pros and cons lifts, things like, well, at some weddings, Ryan won't be there with me.
Some weddings, I don't even know the person anymore.
I don't know who else will be there, and I'm not a confident or bold enough person to be on the dance floor.
So I'll probably sit in the corner in a seat by myself just watching other people dance the night away.
I don't know if that's you or not. But my point is this.
When we choose to hold back, instead of showing up, we're missing out on what the Lord has for us.
When we choose to just exist, the word of God is just background noise.
I'd even venture to say that to just exist is to not believe in the full gospel power of God.
If I'm just existing one day when I stand before the Lord and see him face to face, knowing very well that he is real,
I would have to hear the words of I never knew you depart from me.
To just exist and to not choose a relationship with the Lord leads to an eternal separation,
which is why choosing and finding your partner is just the first step.
Even if all you know on the dance floor is a simple two step, you know that there is at least a first step.
And choosing Jesus, accepting Jesus is that first step.
Since you've showed up, now you have to have the boldness to accept his invitation.
Jesus tells us two parables in Luke, chapter 15.
You don't have to turn there, but in Luke, chapter 15, verse 10, he says,
there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.
Heaven rejoices over even just one person who chooses to make Jesus their life partner.
And unlike a wedding recessional, there's usually not a line of people waiting with confetti or blowing bubbles or ready to clap wildly.
But honestly, when I think of heaven, I think that even that is weak in comparison to what heaven looks like when that one person turns to him.
So then my question for you, if you if you believe that you have already accepted him as your savior,
is what's it going to take for us to be unsatisfied with where we are currently?
Maybe we found our partner in Jesus, but we're a little out of sync when it comes to our faith.
The moment that we convince ourselves that we either know it all or have it all together is when progress stops.
You start dancing alone instead of dancing with Jesus because you've closed yourself off from learning and improving.
It's kind of like if you have a kid who decides that they know it all and doesn't want your help anymore,
or even a teenager who thinks that they don't need your advice because you don't know what they're going through.
Sometimes our form of existing looks like doing church, looks like going through the motions,
whether you're reading the verse of the day, but never reading further.
You're going to church on a Sunday morning, but never reflecting back on the message.
Maybe you're going to a life group, but it's really only to gossip with the people that you're around.
Are these just items on our to do list?
Are they our only time with the Lord?
Because while these things should pique our interests in going deeper with the Lord, they should not be the peak of our week.
First Peter 2 9 says, but you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession
that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness and into his wonderful light.
Our decision to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, to acknowledge the perfect will of the Father
and to be guided by the Holy Spirit means that we become a part of the vine.
Stopping at that first step is like knowing the words of a song, but not being truly engaged.
So rather than sitting alone in a dance hall by ourselves, we are invited to dance with the God of the universe.
We declare that we have become one with him.
And from there, we have to agree not only just to dance, but to embody what it means to be a dancer.
We have to embody a dancer, but let him lead.
Now, again, I get it if you're stiffer than a deer in the headlights on the dance floor.
But when the Lord asks us to dance and we accept, we step into a partnership,
but we have to truly embody Christ, which is more than just saying yes.
The bare minimums that we could do and call it a dance is like that little sway or the tap of our foot or the bob of the head.
Somebody might consider that dance.
Maybe not.
But when it comes to dancing with the Lord, we aren't called to just exist or to just do the bare minimum.
Rather, we are called and for him, he desires for us to be his disciples.
John 15, eight, like we talked about earlier, said that by this, my father is glorified that you bear much fruit.
So you will be my disciples.
The word be here in the original Greek translation actually means to become.
So to become means you have to become a dancer when you're following Jesus.
You must embody the character, the movements, the emotions of Christ.
In John 15, basically, when it said that we accept Jesus and we became part of the vine,
we now have a duty as disciples to glorify him and bear fruit that he allows us to bear.
Now, as a disclaimer, as I was talking about with the wedding, I, Ryan and I do not claim to be world class dancers whatsoever.
So what we do at the wedding, it might be a sway and that's OK, too.
But we have dabbled in a few like at home swing dance lessons just for fun.
It's fun.
He doesn't remember most of them, but it's OK.
I've come to learn, though, that when a partner submits to the leader.
That the partner doesn't actually have to know what next move what the next move is,
but rather they are just to follow the subtle guiding of the leader.
So in order to follow, there's a level of respect, a level of understanding for me to not step on Ryan's toes.
When we're trying to go through a dance means that I have to submit to him as he chooses and communicates
through a guiding movement of what is to come next.
If I choose not to follow, the dance will get interrupted.
The dance will not nearly flow the way that it was supposed to.
Often in wedding messages, you'll hear that the efficient will share scriptures based on the couple's union and how the two become one.
In the same way, we have to accept Jesus and the Holy Spirit then dwells within us and we become that one.
We become that extension of Jesus Christ.
But still, if we choose not to listen to the guiding of the Holy Spirit and we fall back into old patterns,
fall back into old rhythms and just begin to do the bare minimum, the effects of our dance become less and less exhilarating.
On the flip side, when we agree to dance with the Lord and let him lead, our dance will become more intricate and more beautiful because he's in control.
To embody Christ means that we're going from just talking about Christ to living like Christ.
Embodying Christ means things like knowing his example so that we can be an example.
It's learning how he served so that we know how to serve.
It's recognizing his sacrifice so that at times there are things that we have to sacrifice.
It's knowing just when to let go or when it's time to hold on to something.
It's forgiving when we don't want to, resisting our temptations, striving for that pure and clean heart and mind that he has.
And now I know that we're not all knowing, nor will we ever be.
But as I said, we don't have to know the next move, but to embody Christ means that we have to follow his lead.
So at this time, I am going to ask the worship team to come back up.
And my question for you guys, though, is what is your wedding song with the Lord?
What scriptures have made a difference in your dance with God?
Threaded through the message this morning was the music of God, the scriptures that he spoke to us to ask us to dance with him.
Some scriptures remind us things like we need to slow down.
We need to wait with him or learn from even a present moment that they're in.
Some light a fire for us to move with intention.
As the word of God gives us revelation and movement through scripture, we begin to claim that song of partnership with the Lord.
I love praise and worship songs.
And so if we're talking lyrically, you have ones like trust in God.
I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered.
And sometimes that resonates or other ones like all my life you have been faithful.
Yeah, some things like that tend to resonate with us through different seasons of our life.
But it's still important that we don't remove the music from the songs.
And what I mean by that is we have to remember to seek the scriptures, the meanings, the context behind the lyrics that we dance to.
And as seasons change, our partnership should continuously grow stronger as we embody Christ.
He'll continue to lead us through yet another dance, no matter the pace or the action required or the emotions we feel.
But we have to submit to him and say, OK, God, let's dance.
If everyone could stand.
I want to first give an opportunity for those of you who maybe have not yet accepted that invitation.
To dance with the Lord.
To me, again, as a pretty visual person, oftentimes I think of this as an open dance floor and the Lord is standing right there, holding his hand out to you and saying, come dance with me.
And I know for guys, that's a little bit of a weird analogy because you're used to being the lead.
But in this case, you can't be.
You cannot take the lead in comparison to when the Lord needs to guide you somewhere.
He'll take the lead. He'll guide you every single step of the way.
But if you haven't said yes yet and put your trust in him, then now's your time.
So we'll do this in two parts.
So if everybody would close their eyes, bow their heads, nobody's looking around, it's just me, it's just you and God.
If you reflect on that and truly think, you know, have I accepted that invitation?
If that's you, I just want you to just very simply, all you're going to do is slip your hand up, put your hand right back down, just long enough for me to see.
OK, thank you.
I see those hands and I know that heaven is rejoicing.
And so we're going to continue into that this morning.
We'll do that prayer in a second.
But the second part is the large majority of you in this room maybe have already accepted that invitation.
You've already been in a relationship with him, but maybe you've tried to force your way into the lead.
Maybe you've grown stagnant to where you're coming to church and doing the right thing.
But you realize you've become numb.
You've just started to sway.
You're doing the minimum of what's required of you and trying to call it a day.
Sometimes we come up with all sorts of excuses when that happens.
We say that, oh, well, we're just so busy or the pastor's message really didn't strike a chord with me.
And excuse after excuse after excuse, we just continue to sway through the motions.
But now is the time to truly follow his lead.
So in the same way with every eye closed and with every head bowed, if that is you this morning, same thing.
Simply raise your hand and put it back down.
I see those hands and I know that the Lord knows your heart too.
Thank you, Jesus.
All right. So this morning we are going to pray.
And for those of you who have not yet accepted that invitation to Christ,
those few hands that I saw, this is your time that we are we are dedicating this time in your life back to the Lord.
Back. We are coming back to life as we sang earlier that we were once dead in our sins,
dead to our transgressions, but now we have been freed by the blood of Jesus,
that we believe that he has died for your sins, that he has made you clean.
He has wiped your slate.
So that now as you step into that dance with him, it is this beautiful partnership that is about to begin.
So pray with me this morning.
Heavenly Father God, we thank you.
God, we thank you for this morning.
We thank you for the hearts that are turning back to you this morning,
for the ones that have never yet accepted your invitation,
for the ones that are saying for the very first time or rededicating their lives to you that say,
God, right now, all I want is you.
And I know and I believe in my heart that you have died for my sins.
And I know that you have died and come to life so that we can live a life eternally with you.
Father, I want to believe that everything that you have for me, everything that will come to pass,
everything in this dance and this partnership with you is going to be guided by you,
that I don't have to do it all on my own.
But Father, as I'm surrounded by several witnesses, as I'm surrounded by several people in this body
who also feel that presence, who also know that you are the God of the universe that has invited us all to dance.
Father, we come back to you this morning.
We come back to you and say, God left dance.
I don't want to sway anymore.
I don't want to just go through the motions.
But Father, today I choose you.
I choose you today, tomorrow and the rest of my life that I want to for the rest of eternity, spend my life with you.
God, you are so good and you are so gracious to forgive our sins
that we don't have to hold on to the guilt or the shame or the regrets of those things.
But we are propelled forward into the future with you.
That as this tempo begins to speed up, as our songs begin to move and ebb and flow with life,
that we trust in the scriptures that you have given us, the music that you have given us for our lives.
Father, continue to move on your people this morning as they turn back to you and give you absolutely everything they have.
Father, we worship you and we thank you again for this morning.
In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
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