WEBVTT 00:00:01.209 --> 00:00:03.890 Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, 00:00:04.450 --> 00:00:06.389 our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and from the 00:00:06.389 --> 00:00:10.150 Holy Spirit. Amen. Special welcome to those of 00:00:10.150 --> 00:00:13.210 you watching online. If you are watching live 00:00:13.210 --> 00:00:15.669 via Facebook, do us a favor, hit like, hit share. 00:00:16.010 --> 00:00:18.890 That is a way to invite all of your friends to 00:00:18.890 --> 00:00:21.609 worship today. Let's go to our God in prayer. 00:00:22.769 --> 00:00:25.589 Lord God, Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you for 00:00:25.589 --> 00:00:29.670 this chance to worship today. to be together, 00:00:29.690 --> 00:00:32.789 whether here in person or online. Lord, help 00:00:32.789 --> 00:00:36.310 us to be present with you. Lord, I thank you 00:00:36.310 --> 00:00:38.729 for the chance to share this message, and Lord, 00:00:38.729 --> 00:00:41.170 let it be your message. Speak through me, speak 00:00:41.170 --> 00:00:44.289 in spite of me as I submit myself to you, and 00:00:44.289 --> 00:00:46.750 I pray that we all would be willing to do the 00:00:46.750 --> 00:00:49.869 same, to submit ourselves to the power of your 00:00:49.869 --> 00:00:53.890 Holy Spirit, to speak truth to us, even if it 00:00:53.890 --> 00:00:58.960 convicts. Lord, let that be spoken to us. In 00:00:58.960 --> 00:01:05.420 your name we pray, amen. Some two months or so 00:01:05.420 --> 00:01:09.819 ago, the congregation of Emmanuel Lutheran Church 00:01:09.819 --> 00:01:14.359 in Hood River, Oregon, voted to extend divine 00:01:14.359 --> 00:01:21.359 call to me. And thus began weeks and weeks of 00:01:21.359 --> 00:01:25.900 worry. of trouble, of discernment, of lots of 00:01:25.900 --> 00:01:29.040 prayer, and one of the most difficult decisions 00:01:29.040 --> 00:01:34.019 of my entire life. But in the end, it really 00:01:34.019 --> 00:01:37.799 wasn't about my decision at all. You'll see why 00:01:37.799 --> 00:01:40.480 in a minute. But first, let's back up to give 00:01:40.480 --> 00:01:44.780 a little context. So, Christ Memorial is part 00:01:44.780 --> 00:01:47.879 of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, LCMS. 00:01:49.019 --> 00:01:52.819 That's a particular flavor or sect of the Lutheran 00:01:52.819 --> 00:01:55.099 denomination. There are other different synods. 00:01:55.159 --> 00:01:57.439 There's the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod 00:01:57.439 --> 00:02:00.540 Wells, as it's often called. There's the Evangelical 00:02:00.540 --> 00:02:02.599 Lutheran Church of America, ELCA. There's even 00:02:02.599 --> 00:02:05.859 LCMC, which is Lutheran Congregations and Mission 00:02:05.859 --> 00:02:08.139 for Christ. You don't hear about that one quite 00:02:08.139 --> 00:02:11.000 as often, a little smaller. But these are all 00:02:11.000 --> 00:02:13.360 kind of different flavors, different doctrines 00:02:13.360 --> 00:02:17.330 of Lutheranism, if you will. Well, as an LCMS 00:02:17.330 --> 00:02:19.810 pastor, that means that I went through training, 00:02:19.909 --> 00:02:23.150 got a graduate degree at one of two seminaries. 00:02:23.530 --> 00:02:26.210 There's one in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and one in 00:02:26.210 --> 00:02:29.469 St. Louis, Missouri. And that's where I went 00:02:29.469 --> 00:02:31.490 was Missouri. And that's why we're called the 00:02:31.490 --> 00:02:33.330 Missouri Synod, by the way, because the headquarters 00:02:33.330 --> 00:02:37.919 are there in St. Louis, right? And coming out 00:02:37.919 --> 00:02:42.039 of seminary, that first call, that four -year 00:02:42.039 --> 00:02:46.219 education included a year of intensive, basically 00:02:46.219 --> 00:02:49.419 being an intern. It's called a vicar. And they 00:02:49.419 --> 00:02:51.439 tell you where to go. You don't get to pick. 00:02:51.460 --> 00:02:53.819 You get to go to some church somewhere across 00:02:53.819 --> 00:02:55.900 America. I actually got the chance to have mine 00:02:55.900 --> 00:02:57.840 right there in St. Louis, so I didn't have to 00:02:57.840 --> 00:03:01.680 move. But when you graduate from seminary... 00:03:01.740 --> 00:03:04.599 They have this big ceremony, big pomp and circumstance. 00:03:05.020 --> 00:03:06.900 They call you up to the front and they give you 00:03:06.900 --> 00:03:09.080 a little envelope with your name and the name 00:03:09.080 --> 00:03:13.280 of a church on it. And that church is your first 00:03:13.280 --> 00:03:16.560 call. It's an arranged marriage in every sense 00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:20.319 of the concept, right? And that is where you 00:03:20.319 --> 00:03:23.120 go. That is where you serve as pastor at your 00:03:23.120 --> 00:03:27.159 first call. Well from there, actually, the pastor 00:03:27.159 --> 00:03:29.960 does have a little more say for the next place 00:03:29.960 --> 00:03:32.960 to go, right? And the way it works is, so we 00:03:32.960 --> 00:03:35.860 have the LCMS, that is the governing church body. 00:03:36.219 --> 00:03:38.180 Underneath that, there are districts. They're 00:03:38.180 --> 00:03:40.659 regional, geographic, though there are some non 00:03:40.659 --> 00:03:43.680 -geographic districts. And then underneath that, 00:03:43.819 --> 00:03:45.960 there's circuits and regions and whatever, but 00:03:45.960 --> 00:03:49.389 ultimately it's the congregation. So the congregation 00:03:49.389 --> 00:03:52.050 finds themselves in need of a pastor whether 00:03:52.050 --> 00:03:54.370 their pastor has retired moved on or they're 00:03:54.370 --> 00:03:57.550 looking for a second pastor They contact the 00:03:57.550 --> 00:04:00.349 district and the district gets to put on the 00:04:00.349 --> 00:04:02.650 fiddler on the roof soundtrack and and do a little 00:04:02.650 --> 00:04:05.530 matchmaking Somebody might get that reference 00:04:05.530 --> 00:04:08.069 matchmaker matchmaker fine. You're fine. Catch 00:04:08.069 --> 00:04:10.310 me. That's right a musical theater They didn't 00:04:10.310 --> 00:04:12.050 let me sing with a microphone though. Strangely 00:04:12.050 --> 00:04:15.810 enough. Anyway, put me in the back But so they 00:04:15.810 --> 00:04:18.430 get to play matchmaker. They essentially, they 00:04:18.430 --> 00:04:20.629 get a little profile from the church that says, 00:04:20.970 --> 00:04:23.910 this is the demographic study. This is the history 00:04:23.910 --> 00:04:26.250 of the church. This is kind of the personality 00:04:26.250 --> 00:04:29.110 of the church that is looking to call a pastor. 00:04:30.050 --> 00:04:33.410 And the district reps flip through their digital 00:04:33.410 --> 00:04:36.490 Rolodex, their big national database, and they 00:04:36.490 --> 00:04:39.910 pull out some 15 or so names. of pastors that 00:04:39.910 --> 00:04:42.050 they provide to this congregation, that then 00:04:42.050 --> 00:04:44.470 that congregation usually sits down with, whether 00:04:44.470 --> 00:04:47.009 it be a call committee, which is a group of people 00:04:47.009 --> 00:04:48.769 within the congregation, or board of elders, 00:04:48.829 --> 00:04:51.430 whatever, and they go through these profiles 00:04:51.430 --> 00:04:53.670 and they say, this one, not this one, maybe that 00:04:53.670 --> 00:04:55.910 one, and they end up with a list of five to seven 00:04:55.910 --> 00:04:58.910 names or so, and then somebody, head of call 00:04:58.910 --> 00:05:02.129 committee, congregational president, is in charge 00:05:02.129 --> 00:05:05.149 of calling those pastors and saying, hey, Would 00:05:05.149 --> 00:05:07.649 you be interested in having the conversation 00:05:07.649 --> 00:05:11.230 about this call? Up to this point, the pastor 00:05:11.230 --> 00:05:13.889 has no idea that his name has been submitted 00:05:13.889 --> 00:05:18.930 to a church. Now, my personal policy, as these 00:05:18.930 --> 00:05:21.490 churches would call, is I'll always have the 00:05:21.490 --> 00:05:23.949 conversation, right? Because it is a process 00:05:23.949 --> 00:05:26.790 of divine call. We believe that God is at work 00:05:26.790 --> 00:05:30.720 in the call, right? So I always have the conversation. 00:05:30.819 --> 00:05:33.180 Usually what that looks like is one or two, whether 00:05:33.180 --> 00:05:35.279 it be that first one with that call, congregational 00:05:35.279 --> 00:05:37.579 president, or later on with another group, they 00:05:37.579 --> 00:05:39.560 come to know me, I come to know them, and eventually 00:05:39.560 --> 00:05:41.019 we just kind of go, yeah, I don't know that it's 00:05:41.019 --> 00:05:43.379 a good fit, right? Because let's be honest, I'm 00:05:43.379 --> 00:05:46.720 not a normal LCMS pastor. I'm not wearing a suit 00:05:46.720 --> 00:05:49.459 and tie. I've got kind of a youthful energy about 00:05:49.459 --> 00:05:53.139 me. If I were an ice cream flavor, I'd be pistachio, 00:05:53.579 --> 00:05:56.129 right? Like, some people love it, some people 00:05:56.129 --> 00:05:57.990 just not their thing. And that's fine, I'll take 00:05:57.990 --> 00:06:00.470 a no thanks, that's perfectly, I'm mature enough 00:06:00.470 --> 00:06:05.790 to handle that, right? Now, this is a process 00:06:05.790 --> 00:06:09.529 that usually doesn't happen all that often. Usually 00:06:09.529 --> 00:06:12.629 a pastor, maybe we'll get one or two conversations, 00:06:13.269 --> 00:06:17.910 call in inquiries per year. However, in the midst 00:06:17.910 --> 00:06:21.129 of COVID, as I've talked about, the LCMS clergy 00:06:21.129 --> 00:06:25.529 are aging. Right? We're getting older. The vast 00:06:25.529 --> 00:06:28.910 majority, percentage -wise, of LCMS pastors are 00:06:28.910 --> 00:06:31.209 nearing retirement. And then as we went through, 00:06:31.209 --> 00:06:34.129 I don't know, a global pandemic, where months 00:06:34.129 --> 00:06:37.009 felt like years, especially in ministry, where 00:06:37.009 --> 00:06:39.970 there was no right answer. Right? You had people 00:06:39.970 --> 00:06:44.089 in a congregation saying, if you do this, I will 00:06:44.089 --> 00:06:46.529 leave this church. And then you had other people 00:06:46.529 --> 00:06:49.689 saying, if you don't do that, I will leave this 00:06:49.689 --> 00:06:52.759 church. And you're going, we can't win. So all 00:06:52.759 --> 00:06:54.899 these poor pastors that were nearing retirement 00:06:54.899 --> 00:06:56.980 probably had a number of good years left in them. 00:06:57.120 --> 00:06:58.759 They were burned through in the midst of COVID. 00:06:58.860 --> 00:07:01.480 So there were a lot of churches that have been 00:07:01.480 --> 00:07:04.139 looking for pastors. All that to say that over 00:07:04.139 --> 00:07:06.399 the past six months, I have been contacted by 00:07:06.399 --> 00:07:09.600 seven different churches. And most of those conversations, 00:07:09.660 --> 00:07:14.120 again, pretty cut and dry. However, the church 00:07:14.120 --> 00:07:16.540 in Hood River, Oregon contacted and it just kind 00:07:16.540 --> 00:07:19.620 of stuck with me. And there was something there 00:07:19.620 --> 00:07:22.439 that God just kept kind of drawing me back to. 00:07:23.740 --> 00:07:25.579 Now why am I telling you all this? Apart from 00:07:25.579 --> 00:07:27.620 just kind of helping you to understand the process 00:07:27.620 --> 00:07:31.920 and the polity and how things work. Because I 00:07:31.920 --> 00:07:35.980 look at our gospel reading. I look at our New 00:07:35.980 --> 00:07:40.519 Testament reading. And I see God challenging 00:07:40.519 --> 00:07:47.860 us as Christians into being uncomfortable. I 00:07:47.860 --> 00:07:50.600 see Jesus talking to His disciples and saying, 00:07:51.060 --> 00:07:53.620 stop thinking about things of man and start focusing 00:07:53.620 --> 00:07:57.240 on things of God. Because see, when this church 00:07:57.240 --> 00:07:59.560 in Hood River extended me the call, that's when 00:07:59.560 --> 00:08:01.319 things get serious, because that's something 00:08:01.319 --> 00:08:03.819 to take seriously. That's when you sit down and 00:08:03.819 --> 00:08:06.800 you write out your pros and cons and you do all 00:08:06.800 --> 00:08:09.680 your budget sheets and housing costs and all 00:08:09.680 --> 00:08:12.240 of those things, right? Your future planning 00:08:12.240 --> 00:08:19.000 and all of that. Jesus is telling his disciples, 00:08:19.339 --> 00:08:23.420 stop focusing on the things of man and start 00:08:23.420 --> 00:08:27.860 focusing on the things of God. Be willing to 00:08:27.860 --> 00:08:32.399 bear your cross. And the reason that this church 00:08:32.399 --> 00:08:35.700 in Oregon kind of kept popping up is I was told, 00:08:36.220 --> 00:08:38.480 so right now, here in Texas, we're part of the 00:08:38.480 --> 00:08:39.919 Bible Belt. You guys know that, right? You know, 00:08:39.940 --> 00:08:42.299 the southern kind of swath of the United States, 00:08:42.379 --> 00:08:44.019 the Bible Belt, right? And of course, that's 00:08:44.019 --> 00:08:46.960 kind of eroded a little bit culturally over time 00:08:46.960 --> 00:08:49.759 in the past couple years, decade or so. It's 00:08:49.759 --> 00:08:52.039 gotten a little less potent. It's still there. 00:08:52.500 --> 00:08:54.519 There's still kind of this cultural understanding 00:08:54.519 --> 00:08:57.000 that church is probably something that you should 00:08:57.000 --> 00:09:00.529 consider, right? Well, there's another part of 00:09:00.529 --> 00:09:03.730 the country that is often called the unchurched 00:09:03.730 --> 00:09:07.169 belt. And that is Northern California, Oregon, 00:09:07.330 --> 00:09:11.990 Washington, Idaho. I was told that Oregon is 00:09:11.990 --> 00:09:15.250 the second least religious state in the country. 00:09:16.129 --> 00:09:19.169 And Hood River, as a tiny little town, 8 ,000 00:09:19.169 --> 00:09:22.789 or so, per some survey, is the least religious 00:09:22.789 --> 00:09:28.710 city in Oregon. This is a mission field. And 00:09:28.710 --> 00:09:32.230 I've shared before that I have a passion for 00:09:32.230 --> 00:09:35.389 the unchurched, the de -churched, the people 00:09:35.389 --> 00:09:38.750 who've been wounded by church. And I look at 00:09:38.750 --> 00:09:42.149 this and say, God, what are you leading me towards? 00:09:42.750 --> 00:09:46.070 God, what are you calling me towards? I've preached 00:09:46.070 --> 00:09:49.470 so many times about how we, the church, capital 00:09:49.470 --> 00:09:52.669 C, not Christ's memorial, the whole church, the 00:09:52.669 --> 00:09:55.230 priesthood of all believers, that we are called 00:09:55.230 --> 00:09:59.610 to be uncomfortable. And so as this call came 00:09:59.610 --> 00:10:01.669 in, my response was, you know what, I've got 00:10:01.669 --> 00:10:04.370 a pretty nice house. I like the neighborhood 00:10:04.370 --> 00:10:06.450 that I'm in. I really love the church that I'm 00:10:06.450 --> 00:10:09.009 in. I'm comfortable now. I think I'm good. I 00:10:09.009 --> 00:10:12.570 don't want to respond to this call. If that was 00:10:12.570 --> 00:10:16.120 my response, I would feel like a hypocrite. I 00:10:16.120 --> 00:10:18.240 would feel like I'm turning my back on what I 00:10:18.240 --> 00:10:21.159 have preached for so long. God is calling me 00:10:21.159 --> 00:10:24.279 and has gifted me to be able to share the message 00:10:24.279 --> 00:10:27.539 to this place where there are so many who desperately 00:10:27.539 --> 00:10:30.240 need to hope. I look at my life and I see that 00:10:30.240 --> 00:10:36.100 my siblings aren't in church. Some of my closest 00:10:36.100 --> 00:10:40.860 friends are non -believers and outspokenly so. 00:10:42.289 --> 00:10:45.429 I've said before that God has gifted me to be 00:10:45.429 --> 00:10:49.370 able to speak the language of the atheist. And 00:10:49.370 --> 00:10:51.870 unfortunately, in the LCMS, that's a language 00:10:51.870 --> 00:10:54.450 and a culture that a lot of pastors struggle 00:10:54.450 --> 00:10:58.409 with, through no fault of their own. And so I 00:10:58.409 --> 00:11:00.950 see God is calling me into this mission field, 00:11:01.049 --> 00:11:03.470 and truly it is a mission field. It's the closest 00:11:03.470 --> 00:11:05.870 you can be to be a missionary and still be in 00:11:05.870 --> 00:11:09.669 this country. And so I had to respond. My life 00:11:09.669 --> 00:11:13.970 verse comes from Isaiah chapter 6, where God 00:11:13.970 --> 00:11:16.850 says, who will go for us? And Isaiah says, here 00:11:16.850 --> 00:11:22.649 am I. Send me. And it's not safe, it's not comfortable, 00:11:22.710 --> 00:11:25.570 it's scary. I said earlier, it's bittersweet. 00:11:25.649 --> 00:11:27.950 I'm waiting for the sweet part to kick in, but 00:11:27.950 --> 00:11:32.730 I trust in God. Now again, why am I telling you 00:11:32.730 --> 00:11:35.440 this? What does this mean for you? Well, first 00:11:35.440 --> 00:11:37.000 of all, earlier somebody asked me, what does 00:11:37.000 --> 00:11:38.899 this mean for Christ and Memorial? My goodness, 00:11:38.919 --> 00:11:41.940 it's never been about me. It's not about me. 00:11:41.940 --> 00:11:45.460 It's not about your pastor. It is about the church. 00:11:45.559 --> 00:11:47.120 It's about the priesthood of all believers. It's 00:11:47.120 --> 00:11:49.639 about this community. And there are incredible 00:11:49.639 --> 00:11:52.200 things happening in this church, in this school. 00:11:52.220 --> 00:11:54.759 We have record enrollment in the school. That's 00:11:54.759 --> 00:11:57.179 amazing. This church is growing. It's triple 00:11:57.179 --> 00:12:00.179 the size that was when I arrived here. There's 00:12:00.179 --> 00:12:02.799 so many exciting things happening here, and it's 00:12:02.799 --> 00:12:05.759 not about me. There are so many things that you 00:12:05.759 --> 00:12:07.919 can be proud of, be part of Christ's memorial, 00:12:07.980 --> 00:12:11.720 but more than that. What does this mean for you 00:12:11.720 --> 00:12:14.720 individually? What does this Scripture mean for 00:12:14.720 --> 00:12:19.019 you individually? For me in full -time ministry, 00:12:19.120 --> 00:12:22.519 to bear my cross, to bear the cross means to 00:12:22.519 --> 00:12:27.220 go to places where I'm uncomfortable. To proclaim 00:12:27.220 --> 00:12:30.539 hope to those who maybe are straight -up adversarial 00:12:30.539 --> 00:12:32.340 to it. That's what it means for me. What does 00:12:32.340 --> 00:12:36.789 it mean for you though? What cross is Jesus calling 00:12:36.789 --> 00:12:41.389 you to bear? What uncomfortable situation is 00:12:41.389 --> 00:12:43.309 God asking you to be in? I don't know what it 00:12:43.309 --> 00:12:47.009 is for you, but I'm gonna guess you do. I'm gonna 00:12:47.009 --> 00:12:49.250 guess when you're hearing this, there's something 00:12:49.250 --> 00:12:51.330 that's rising to the front of your mind and you're 00:12:51.330 --> 00:12:55.009 going, oh, he's talking about this. Because that's 00:12:55.009 --> 00:12:58.899 how the Holy Spirit works. Maybe it's a conversation 00:12:58.899 --> 00:13:00.779 that you need to have with your neighbor to invite 00:13:00.779 --> 00:13:02.879 them to church to talk about faith. Maybe it's 00:13:02.879 --> 00:13:07.720 a conversation with your kid about faith. Maybe 00:13:07.720 --> 00:13:11.559 it's a conversation with yourself about leaving 00:13:11.559 --> 00:13:15.379 behind a habit, leaving behind an addiction, 00:13:16.039 --> 00:13:21.500 a behavior, an attitude. Maybe it's about finding 00:13:21.500 --> 00:13:25.409 a new path. Maybe it is about ministry. Maybe 00:13:25.409 --> 00:13:28.250 God is calling you to do more when it comes to 00:13:28.250 --> 00:13:30.690 the church, when it comes to helping out in the 00:13:30.690 --> 00:13:33.490 community. Maybe God is calling you to leave 00:13:33.490 --> 00:13:37.669 behind the comfortable. Because man, it'd be 00:13:37.669 --> 00:13:40.809 easy to stay safe, wouldn't it? It'd be easy 00:13:40.809 --> 00:13:43.309 to stay comfortable. It'd be easy to say, this 00:13:43.309 --> 00:13:47.210 is familiar. This is my happy area. I'm good 00:13:47.210 --> 00:13:51.769 here. But God says no. Pick up your cross and 00:13:51.769 --> 00:13:57.509 follow me. And when I preached on Psalm 23, if 00:13:57.509 --> 00:13:58.830 you remember, this is one of my first sermons 00:13:58.830 --> 00:14:03.009 here, that though God is leading you on the paths 00:14:03.009 --> 00:14:06.970 to greener pastures, what's along the way? The 00:14:06.970 --> 00:14:10.049 valley of shadow of death. You're going to pass 00:14:10.049 --> 00:14:13.149 through difficult times. Don't abandon your message. 00:14:13.250 --> 00:14:15.870 Don't abandon your path. Don't abandon God's 00:14:15.870 --> 00:14:18.769 guidance during that time. Trust in Him in all 00:14:18.769 --> 00:14:21.539 things, and here's why. We don't just do this 00:14:21.539 --> 00:14:23.240 out of obligation. We don't just do this because 00:14:23.240 --> 00:14:25.700 we have to. Because the Bible says so. Because 00:14:25.700 --> 00:14:28.740 the preacher says so. No, we do this because 00:14:28.740 --> 00:14:32.000 we have a God who knows what it means to be uncomfortable. 00:14:33.539 --> 00:14:35.679 We have a God who didn't just sit back in the 00:14:35.679 --> 00:14:37.799 throne room and shout down to people, hey, figure 00:14:37.799 --> 00:14:41.159 it out. Hey, I told you what to do. What are 00:14:41.159 --> 00:14:43.620 you doing wrong down there? They never get this 00:14:43.620 --> 00:14:47.340 right. He didn't just stay in paradise. We have 00:14:47.340 --> 00:14:51.000 a God who entered into our lives in the first 00:14:51.000 --> 00:14:54.360 century, like before air conditioning, in the 00:14:54.360 --> 00:14:58.080 desert, wearing sandals. You guys ever gotten 00:14:58.080 --> 00:15:01.480 a rock in your sandal? Well, Jesus did. He knows 00:15:01.480 --> 00:15:03.580 what it means to be uncomfortable. He walked 00:15:03.580 --> 00:15:08.580 around among His people. He mourned. He wept 00:15:08.580 --> 00:15:12.559 at the loss of His friend. He went through such 00:15:12.559 --> 00:15:15.639 anxiety and panic and fear that it says that 00:15:15.639 --> 00:15:17.799 he was in the Garden of Gethsemane preparing 00:15:17.799 --> 00:15:20.399 for what lay ahead. His sweat poured out of him 00:15:20.399 --> 00:15:24.519 like blood. He was so anxious about it that he 00:15:24.519 --> 00:15:26.700 went to his friends and said, I need support 00:15:26.700 --> 00:15:28.639 during this time. And they kept falling asleep. 00:15:28.820 --> 00:15:30.600 And he just was getting angrier and angrier. 00:15:30.759 --> 00:15:33.179 Guys, why can't you stay awake during this time? 00:15:35.019 --> 00:15:39.419 And yet, he was able to pray the prayer. not 00:15:39.419 --> 00:15:44.240 my will, but thine. Every time we pray the Lord's 00:15:44.240 --> 00:15:50.120 Prayer, thy will be done. May God's will be done, 00:15:50.139 --> 00:15:52.259 even if it draws us out of our comfort zone. 00:15:52.259 --> 00:15:55.740 We have a God who was willing to leave his comfort 00:15:55.740 --> 00:16:00.539 zone and go to Golgotha. And even from the cross, 00:16:01.379 --> 00:16:03.620 even in the midst of the pain and torture, He 00:16:03.620 --> 00:16:06.460 says, forgive them, for they don't know what 00:16:06.460 --> 00:16:10.519 they're doing. We have a God who knows what it 00:16:10.519 --> 00:16:13.279 means to be uncomfortable. That's why we can 00:16:13.279 --> 00:16:15.519 be bold enough to walk into the uncomfortable. 00:16:15.600 --> 00:16:17.600 Because we know that this world isn't it. Take 00:16:17.600 --> 00:16:19.840 your mind off the things of this world. You're 00:16:19.840 --> 00:16:22.820 off your mind off the things of man. Start focusing 00:16:22.820 --> 00:16:26.399 on the things of God. How is God calling you? 00:16:28.759 --> 00:16:33.279 I want to share a story. And I share this. It's 00:16:33.279 --> 00:16:37.019 not even necessarily topical to to the message, 00:16:37.059 --> 00:16:39.940 but it's so powerful. And it reminds us of why 00:16:39.940 --> 00:16:42.460 we do what we do. It reminds us of who we serve. 00:16:42.659 --> 00:16:45.860 It reminds us of who we follow. See, we've been 00:16:45.860 --> 00:16:50.820 praying for months for Kimberly Hare's mom, who 00:16:50.820 --> 00:16:54.320 needed a lung transplant. And she, mid -week 00:16:54.320 --> 00:16:57.460 or so, got the call that there was a potential 00:16:57.460 --> 00:17:00.379 donor, there was a potential lung available, 00:17:00.460 --> 00:17:02.620 and so they rushed to the hospital, and it turns 00:17:02.620 --> 00:17:07.140 out it was a match. And that lung has been installed? 00:17:07.519 --> 00:17:09.460 I don't know what the right term is. It's in 00:17:09.460 --> 00:17:12.900 there and it's working and like she's up and 00:17:12.900 --> 00:17:15.579 walking around now. It's astounding what the 00:17:15.579 --> 00:17:18.380 medical world can do, right? But what Kimberly 00:17:18.380 --> 00:17:20.759 called and she was just overjoyed and she shared 00:17:20.759 --> 00:17:23.799 this. She said the doctor told them when they 00:17:23.799 --> 00:17:26.920 take the lung out of the donor, which like out 00:17:26.920 --> 00:17:30.220 of tragedy comes a miracle, right? Out of pain 00:17:30.220 --> 00:17:35.289 comes life. And she said that he holds this lung, 00:17:35.329 --> 00:17:38.069 which is flat, in his hand and he just massages 00:17:38.069 --> 00:17:41.589 it. And if it's a good lung, if the muscles are 00:17:41.589 --> 00:17:46.190 right in there, it actually inflates. And that 00:17:46.190 --> 00:17:49.829 song that we just sang, she quoted that to me. 00:17:50.750 --> 00:17:55.970 It's His breath in our lungs. Every breath that 00:17:55.970 --> 00:18:00.039 we draw in is a gift. from God. It is a miracle. 00:18:00.099 --> 00:18:03.099 We overlook it because it happens every second 00:18:03.099 --> 00:18:06.279 of every day and yet what a powerful gift it 00:18:06.279 --> 00:18:08.980 is from our God. May we never lose sight of that. 00:18:09.099 --> 00:18:11.200 Maybe that breath gets a little restricted at 00:18:11.200 --> 00:18:14.359 times. Maybe panic sets in and gets a little 00:18:14.359 --> 00:18:16.640 faster and we're having a hard time catching 00:18:16.640 --> 00:18:20.980 our breath and yet it's still there. May we remember 00:18:20.980 --> 00:18:25.849 that every moment is a gift from God. No matter 00:18:25.849 --> 00:18:27.849 where we are, no matter how we are serving, no 00:18:27.849 --> 00:18:31.150 matter who is there with us, it is a gift from 00:18:31.150 --> 00:18:35.269 God that we can rejoice and be glad in. May we 00:18:35.269 --> 00:18:38.069 find peace in knowing that as we get uncomfortable, 00:18:38.069 --> 00:18:41.509 we have a God who's been there, who got uncomfortable 00:18:41.509 --> 00:18:45.349 for us. May we know that no matter where we go, 00:18:45.369 --> 00:18:47.650 no matter who we serve, no matter how we serve, 00:18:47.670 --> 00:18:50.390 no matter how we respond to God's call, He will 00:18:50.390 --> 00:18:53.369 never leave us nor forsake us, never abandon 00:18:53.369 --> 00:18:59.160 us. Our God is so much bigger than anything we 00:18:59.160 --> 00:19:03.400 have in this world. Praise Him for that. And 00:19:03.400 --> 00:19:07.220 above all else, know that we have a God who is 00:19:07.220 --> 00:19:13.079 with you, no matter what. Our God is with you. 00:19:13.740 --> 00:19:14.039 Amen.