Why don't we do a talk here today that we've had a few weeks of switching from
How to listen to God to following God
and talking a little bit today about what following God actually looks like and
Wanted to talk a little bit of a story that has me and my sister now
The thing is is that when I was in college my sister was a Mexican
Now we were both driving at the same time, but this was really
It was a really backwards really difficult time
See if you wanted to watch a movie you had to actually lead your home
You had to go to this place that had these boxes
We call them cassettes and these things cassettes
They had tape that would play like movies and stuff and so you would take them
You'd have to go to the place that was called a blockbuster
I think it was a name
And you take them from this place this store and you put in another box called a VCR
Okay, and you have to get a reminder. It's very strange
Now here's the worst part about it
Is if you went to this blockbuster and they didn't have one of those boxes there for you to rest
You could watch the movie
I know
Oh my goodness, it was like oh man
This was like a difficult time third world nation has stuff right there
I don't even know how we survived, but somehow somehow we made it through and the thing is is that my sister and I
We were gonna go right on these cassettes and we were carrying down the blockbuster
I have no idea why maybe she was like I want to drive this
You know that's what you get excited about whenever you're younger, right?
And so we're driving down and she's following behind you and we were coming up to a light and that light was yellow
and it was definitely yellow for a moment or two and
I really needed to go ahead and stop because it was definitely going to turn red
But I have a behind me and I swear my sister is this far from my bumper. Okay now
I'm sorry high schoolers. I love you. I don't need to be anxious in any way
But you haven't been driving long enough for me to trust you to not be able to stop with that much of a warning
So I'm like there is no way there's no way I'm stopping at this one
So I push through that yellow which was probably a little orange and my sister definitely ran it as a red for sure
And we finally get over to the blockbuster. She gets out of her car. She's like why in the world did you run through that yellow?
Yeah, that's because you're on maniacs. Why?
And she okay, so if she ever listens to this sermon. All right, you really were just that close. I promise
It was it was it was a bit much
So but that's the thing is that oftentimes following somebody can be harder than the oftentimes stick
The idea of what it is to be close
But also to realize that you need to see where you are going and
That's a good about what I want to look at with three people today
The first one I want to talk about the same
Samuel was young boy
Young boy his mother was able to have any kids and so what happens is that she asks God is that if you were giving me a child
I would dedicate that child to you so Samuel being a
Young boy is that going to live in the temple with the priests
So at this point in time is a very young kid, but one night he ends up hearing
God calling his voice. He doesn't know
who it is
He's not used to this and he goes to Eli because Eli at the time was a high priest
Now you know something about Eli
Eli
He had been serving as priests for such a long time, but his sons
Turn out to be really terrible people
You see the thing is that when making this after us you're supposed to give me over and it's when you
have
Perky like sons
Instead you see this was back in the days where there was no such thing as the last cross you see all the path that you wanted
It didn't matter right that's totally not worked right cross-coded didn't exist before last century right
Okay, well with it though is it well, I know you gotta give us some of the meat
In advance so we can roast it because that he parts
You know like the part of you kind of like watching it drip from the barbecue right the barbecue like I shouldn't eat it
I'm totally going to yeah that was the thing is that they were saying you have to give a sense
And so now the third day sitting against what I wanted, but they were causing other people to feel like the sacrifice
The offering is time important God doesn't happen because you can take whatever you want
But even more than that is that they were also being grudges with some of the women that were there working in the local area
They were setting a terrible example with the offerings also with their own their own personal lives
And God had told Eli
This is not acceptable in your family is going to be caught off
for the priestess
There's a little boy and he's hearing from God and Eli realizes that you speak to him says
Go here what it is that and say or your servant is listening
How serious that
To realize that God is working and speaking in you
And it's up to you to just listen
Don't even hurt her
God tells Samuel to tell Eli that his family is being caught off
How would that be to know that you're going to have to go to the person that you are respecting and learning from and happy to speak
And tell them something that they're not going to want to hear
That's one of the things about following God
Is that all the time to find ourselves in difficult places that we don't want to have to go forward
Because you have to not only be learning from the people who are older than you and more alright
But there are times where you also have to speak the truth to people
when you wonder who the money to see is
I mean, I'm a little bit of a weird snapper. I don't have that much right here in my head
I know that there are times in places where I have to do and say things that are difficult
Question
There's a time when I or somebody else has to say you're going down the wrong path
Would you listen?
How difficult is it to sometimes say what someone needs to hear which features more than that
Is that Samuel speaking those words to you? I
Was in front of you something you already knew
See one of the things that's hard about it is that sometimes
Are saying it
Even if you feel like taking the already know maybe something they don't want to hear is that sometimes it's that moment
When they're garden is down on the economy list
It's sometimes being the person to say it's needed because you're the only one that they can hear
The little boy who has no god living
And he's the one to god
But it's more than just saying we're also listening to john the baptist and don't the baptist
It is that you know listening watch that chosen video series that shows everything and they always talk about them called crazy
And that's really in many ways
John the Baptist they live in the middle of nowhere and he's wearing like this skin
I mean I get that leather comes from a cow but if you come out here wearing a hide of a deer
You're just great over me. I mean you feel a little bit concerned. It's like a kind of a lady Gaga moment here or something like that
And the thing is is that there he is tying around the Sun Belt walking around it
And eating whatever you can find whole things are rocking along the ground
Do you ever see me going out and trying to keep locusts alongside of the road?
Just go check on me if you have a fever or something like that. It does not sound like a good idea
But this is the guy
Why was he like that?
He was like that because he was called to be different
There were times he was never allowed to drink this was a I have a personal decision. I don't feel like
no
To be the prophet who's supposed to be
He was never supposed to drink alcohol. That would put a cram on the brewery ice
Definitely, I think it just would be it just would be
How many times though would he be willing to let something go?
Because we know it's hitting between us and God
Or more than that, how many times would he really be just a little bit different?
There's times we know that we can just
It's kind of keeping our clothes and act like everybody else and be like everybody else and somehow blend in you know
Everything's gonna be okay because you also know
You're making the only person in that place in that time
And
saying what someone needs to do from God
What as we're coming toward next about a month we're looking toward
Essentially letting something go or six weeks fasting or something
When's the last time you fasted?
I did a juice cleanse about five years ago worse three days of my life
No, I was okay, but
Beyond that though
Would we be willing to do what is needed to separate ourselves because let's be honest
We don't eat because we're hungry most of them
We eat because we're bored we eat because it's there in front of us
We eat because somebody marketed to us really really well or driving on the road. That was good. I'll just drive over here
How many things do we place between us?
And you're in for not
That was the least of the person that John was pointing to our third person Jesus
See there are two parts that I want to point out about Jesus one
Was being baptized by John the baptizer and the other part was
He's going out into the wilderness
See here's the thing is that Jesus
He's saying to John I need you to baptize me
Imagine your hero coming and asking something about you
And all John is able to say is no no no no I told you baptized by you and Jesus says no
This is how it's supposed to be. This is the right way to do it
Because now he's instituting
The entrance into the kingdom for both Jews and Gentiles
This is the beginning of how others will be brought into the church
He's supposed to get started
And this is the case with us oftentimes is how many things do we think about that we say oh, I don't really mean that
You know that's not really something I don't really need to go through this part
We do that with so much of our own studies but also even our accountability
The times when we know that we need people in our life to hold us in check
Not just to check on us make sure okay, but also take hey, you know, it probably wasn't the best idea
Not because they're angry at us or they hate us is to make sure because they genuinely love us
But so many times that we don't think we need that
So many times when we back away from our groups and classes and the people that we need the most
Or even more than that
What about the times whenever we are stepping in and saying I don't need to do this to someone else
I keep asking Linda's like do you have people for food bank and that's the thing with it
I'm happy to go and just want to make sure that everybody else has spots to go with
Because I'll go some other time
But there are so many times when we say you know what I don't need to do is somebody else to make it good
Like we have people who take care of the grounds here and they do a great job and it's amazing and I'm really glad we have been doing it
So then does that mean that we should never have a work day we should never come here and take care of things ourselves
Or maybe we pause and say that if we did we might talk to each other more
Might be good they got there and work with your mans
But also to physically connect with the place where you worship
Because we're spending so much time in our heads saying oh we don't need to do that
Instead of saying no we can get to do that
And I want to believe that also to what Jesus is doing in the time of the wilderness
See the temptation is always starting to change
What's such a big deal of bread
This is also actually a part of the need to exist so there were no good guys for anything back then
If you well enough the gluten can just go away
But with it though is we end up seeing that Jesus is being tempted to make these stones into bread
Jesus is out there for reasons
We all know that it is a serious communication to Jesus
There are so many things to make yourself more comfortable
How many times are we tempted to change things just to fit and make ourselves somehow a little more comfortable
Instead of asking what God is already doing at that time
Even more than that
The intention is to throw yourself off of the temple
That Jesus will catch you
You and I both know that this is not how you're going to end up dying
So let's just throw yourself off the temple
Prove that you are the Messiah
How many ways are we tempting God
This time whenever we know that the choices we're ever making are not the choices that the child of God would make
We keep saying God I'm still going to do the same thing
You're still going to love me, I'm still your child, right?
You're still going to love me anyway
And God is saying God is a temple to me
But even third, God I'll worship me and I'll give you all the kingdoms
What kingdom is it that you're wanting?
What is it that you believe you're meant to have or to do or to get to
And you catch yourself doing whatever is needed to get there
Whatever it might be that whether it is fame or it is money or it is safety or it is love
Whatever it might be and you're going to give up whatever is needed to get there
And Jesus says no
Because in reality he's going to need to give up himself
That's in so many ways what we find ourselves
You see, we end up looking at what it is to follow God
And we keep waiting for the times when, okay, I feel complete peace about this
Everything feels like this is exactly the way it's going to go
When in reality all we're doing is just saying well that's the easiest way
So I'm going to hope that that's it
And yet God is calling us to take time with him
To let go of the things that distract us
To spend time in and among the people who are going to draw us closer to him
The times when we say I don't need that
Being the very times when we say yes to you
What is it right now that you realize has been pulling you away?
What is it that you've been running away from because you think it's just a little too hard or a little too much?
And then pause and ask God is this the direction of God is leading you?
See that's the thing is that following is not easy
We can all at times end up taking the pride away
And we can all at times be honest, our kids and our future and with us who are younger than us
If they do all the dumb things that we did, if they do, if we just don't talk about them very much
And sometimes we're afraid of saying hey don't do this knowing very well
Yeah, I would do that
That's the thing about God
That God does not place us here to seek truth because we've got it now perfectly
God calls us to speak truth saying I'm just as much of a sinner as you
And I'm telling you what I know God has said to seek to me
So this morning I will speak to you as people that I think have all together
And I also will speak to you as a baby who pretends that he's out of all together
But instead what I say is that there are times where the times when I've known I've been loved the most
And the times when people did what was difficult to reach me
And I invite you to do what is difficult to reach others as well
Thank you