I'll tell you, I've never considered how big of a step that is until you do it in front of 150 people. You become very aware that this could end badly, especially with a table, and not good balance. So, hey, guys, thanks so much for being here today. If you were here, I'm so glad that you decided to join us for your home, watching online. Well, I'm half as glad that you're joining us. I'm just kidding. I'm not. I'm like three-quarters. If you are new or visiting, my name is Aaron. As Nate said, I'm one of the pastors out here, and I'm so honored to get to serve you guys. Just to kind of dive right in, if you missed last week, we started a new series called Final Thoughts. If you noticed, I had to glance at the screen because I forgot for a second, but it's true. It's called Final Thoughts, I promise. But no, if you did miss last week, listen, go online, check that out. Nate kind of set up the series in this final discourse, this final conversation that Jesus had with his disciples and why it should matter, why it mattered to them and what it means for us. But today, just to kind of give you a snapshot into the scene that we're stepping into, this is the last conversation that Jesus is having with his disciples before he is just a few hours time arrested and led off to his death. This is kind of the last marching orders. It's his final conversation, final prayer, final meal with his disciples. The final things that he wants to say to them is just kind of send them on as he's telling them, I'm no longer going to be here with you. You've still got work to do. We're not done yet. And as you go, just know I'm not here with you anymore. I have to go away. If you have your Bibles, you can turn into John 14 is where we're going to be today. You can then kind of put your finger in there, put a little, one of the ribbon things. We'll get there in a second. But just to set up today and the direction that we're headed, I'm going to set it up like this. So I haven't always been this perfect picture of physique and fitness that you see today. I didn't think it was really funny, but the, like, no. So I remember when I was in the second grade, there was a fifth grader named Brandon. I hated Brandon. I know hate's a strong word, but I did. I promise. Still not sure how I feel today, but he tormented me all the time. He was a fifth grader. I was a second grader. He was a lot bigger than me, and he just always kind of picked on me. He always tried to get a laugh from other people at my expense. And I remember we were at school one time and we went out to recess. For some reason, they decided to put second graders and fifth graders in the same recess. It didn't make sense. I'm not sure what could come bad of that. Me, I'm what could happen bad out of that, right? So I remember we were at recess and then there was one day in particular, Brandon, he got me on the ground somehow and he got on top of me and he was just kind of, he wasn't punching me or anything like that, but he was just kind of like doing that slap stuff, you know what I mean? Just like really annoying. Everybody was kind of laughing, and everybody was kind of joking, but there was another guy. His name was Greg. Greg was bigger than Brandon, and Greg saw what was happening, and then I was laying there on the ground and didn't really know what was going on. I have no clue why Greg did this. But then out of nowhere, he kind of came through and spear tackled Brad. And so I'm sitting here like this, like, no, no, what just happened? Like he went flying. And immediately I looked like, Greg, you're my dude. Like, I love you. You're the best person ever. And it really worked out because we went to the same school. We also went to like the same church. And so we would end up in a lot of the same places together. We would be in church camp or something like that. And anytime I would go somewhere and if I saw Brandon, immediately what I started to do was look. I was like, okay, I need to see if I can see Greg. Because if I can see Greg, I know I'm going to be okay. Like Brandon, you're a chump as long as Greg's here, right?, that's what makes things okay for me. And there was a bit of a safety. I kind of felt untouchable in some way. As long as I could see the person that I trusted to take care of whatever it was that was in front of me. And we've all experienced some sense of that, right? Like, as a kid, that's why there was such a difference. And if you ever went to your parents' room and talked about the monster under your bed. There was a difference than if they just sent you back after telling you there was nothing there and walked back with you. When you're with the person that you trust, there's a bit of a confidence that comes with that. As I was kind of thinking through that and studying this passage for this week, man, I couldn't shake this question that kept popping in my mind. And I just want to ask you real quick, have you ever considered, have you ever wondered what you would be willing to do if you were walking step in step with Jesus? Like, have you ever considered, is there something you felt like you wanted to move into? Is there something you felt like you wanted to be a part of? Is there something that you just kind of really felt like you wanted to step into? But for one reason or another, you talked yourself out of it. And you know that if you were to look over and see Jesus right there with you, it would kind of give you that little bit of courage, that confidence that you need to take whatever step it is that you want to take. Just don't feel like you can. The disciples have never had to ask that question up until this moment. Because for the last three years of their life, before this conversation, they had been walking day after day after day. And the things that they saw each day continued to build more confidence in the person that they trusted. They saw the things that made them believe, yeah, yeah, we can do anything. They felt invincible. They felt untouchable. They felt like as long as they could see Jesus, everything was okay. And in this conversation, all of the believing, all of what they believed is possible, vanished. Uncertainty began to shadow possibility. Their hope was suffocated by grief. Because Jesus, you just told us you're going away. And you just told us we're not done yet. How can we possibly do this without you? Like throughout this entire discourse, this upper room discourse, it's full of a lot of honestly confusing statements, hard to follow, especially on the heels of hearing that Jesus is going away. It's full of a lot of things that are hard to understand, like Nate talked about last week. He said, okay, Jesus told his guys, I'm going away. You don't know where I'm going, but you know how to get there. Like, wait, what? Okay, so I've given you one new command, right? Like commands were a big deal for these guys. And Jesus said, okay, here's what I want you to focus on, this brand new command, do this. Like, wait, geez, you're going to have to unpack that. But none of them, for me, in my opinion, is more confusing than this statement. Just on the heels of saying, I will no longer be here. I will no longer be with you. You're also going to be persecuted. Many of you killed, but I've got good news. He says this in John 16. Very truly, I tell you, it is for your good that I'm going away. Unless I go away, the advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. That kind of has the same ring and vibe as like the, it's going to hurt me more than it hurts you. You ever get those? I don't know about you, but like, so as a kid, I got whoopings. I don't know if you got whoopings, but I got whoopings. That's why I'm such a productive and well-behaved adult today. But I got whoopings, and I know this wasn't unique to my dad. He certainly, I don't know if he read it in a book somewhere, got it in a newspaper clipping, have no clue. But for some reason, I will never forget the day that I was getting one of my many undeserved whoopings. And he looked at me and he said, hey, son, this is going to hurt me more than it hurts you. No, it's not. I don't know if you've ever had a whooping before. If it hurts, if it does, you're doing it wrong, right? Like this is not true. Like it's a statement to try to bring some kind of comfort into the pain that you're about to experience. This statement from Jesus has the hurt me more than it hurts you kind of vibe. We know that it's not because Jesus doesn't lie. And it truly is encouragement. But think about it from the perspective of the disciples. For the last three years, they've seen the reason that they can trust in him. For the last three years, they've built up a confidence and a boldness that only came from being with Jesus. And now you're telling me we have to try to figure this out without you? Like, where do we go? What do we do? How do we do it? Like, Jesus, you're the reason all of this is possible. What's supposed to happen from here? And that's a feeling that you and I can resonate with. A place you want to step into. A place that you want to go. But if only I could see Jesus and step with him. But, like I said, this statement from Jesus, it's not to hurt me more than to hurt you. And the reason is because it's wrapped in a promise. What Jesus told them in this moment is he made them a promise of the Holy Spirit. Depending on your church background, where you grew up, maybe even your Facebook algorithm or YouTube algorithm, we all have very different understandings, or we can have very different understandings about who the Holy Spirit is, what he does in our life. A lot of things like tongues, speaking in tongues, or the gifts of the Spirit, that's what comes to mind. But here's what's pretty fascinating to me. In this promise that Jesus made, he didn't mention any of that. That's not the good news of the Holy Spirit. What Jesus told them in John 14, if you're there, we're going to start in verse 15 and read to 17. This was Jesus' promise. He said, if you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate. If you're the type of person who likes highlights in your Bible, that's a great one to highlight, another advocate. Or just write it on the person's neck in front of you, whatever. Remember another advocate. We're coming back to that. I'm giving you another advocate to help you and be with you forever. The spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows him. Here's the promise. But you know him for he lives with you and will be in you. Depending on the translation that you're reading, like some of the versions say advocate, some of the versions say helper. The word that Jesus uses here is paraclete. And paraclete changes everything. Paraclete is a legal term, and it literally means to come alongside. What Jesus says is, I am sending you another paraclete. I am sending you one who will come alongside through the challenges and the days ahead. I am sending one who will be with you forever. The only thing that would have made second grade me happier is if I had omnipresent Greg floating around all over the place, right? Like he was just always there because I would no longer have to rely on sight. It's an awareness. That's the promise of Jesus. He says, you don't have to rely on seeing me. You never again have to look over your shoulder and wonder, am I there? You never again have to step into a place and feel lonely, feel abandoned. You never again have to know that I'm calling you and going and leading you into a place that I will not be there with you. You will never be alone. Jesus's promise wasn't just that he was sending the Holy Spirit. Jesus's promise was the inescapable presence of the Holy Spirit. And not in a type of way like, hey, Jesus is watching, so you better act right. Like, man, I've heard that said, and that's just, honestly, it's manipulation and not something that I see throughout scripture. Jesus's promise of this inescapable presence of the Holy Spirit is, hey, the same love that you've received from me will be with you forever. The same hope that you have found in me will be with you forever. The same life that you have seen in me will be with you forever. I am sending you another, one of, one like, one the same as me to be with you forever, to come alongside, to aid you, to be with you forever. You never have to worry if you're alone. And that's great news. Like the thing that we have to realize, the thing that the disciples in this moment would have to realize, all of Jesus's earthly ministry from the time that he was born until his resurrection was empowered by the Holy Spirit. He is fully God and he was fully man. When he stepped onto earth, he surrendered some of his divine rights and he adopted some of the limitations of humanity. All of his ministry, the miracles that you see, the miracles that you read about, the signs that have been witnessed, the power and strength in his teaching, declaring who he is and who God is that comes through the Holy Spirit and what Jesus promised the disciples in this moment, that same power will be with you forever. You never again have to worry about, are you alone? Because the confidence in that does not come from the side. It comes from an awareness, an awareness of my promise. And not only did he promise that the Holy Spirit would be with them forever, but he said, we'll be within you. I'm sending another advocate that will be with you and be in you. There's a big difference in God working with you and God working in you, right? Like God working with you invites more observation than anything. It is what's happened over the last three years of their life. God has been working with them. They have seen, they have witnessed the power of Jesus. They've witnessed what he's able to do. It's the very thing that has built this confidence in who they were. But I can guarantee you in this moment, when Jesus said, I will no longer be here, I'm sending you another. John didn't understand the implications of what that meant, that the Holy Spirit was going to be working in them. Surely in this moment, John looked around the room and he saw a fisherman. He saw a tax collector. He saw zealots. He saw a room full of people who had been rejected as the best of the best, who rabbis of the day looked at them and say, unfortunately, you don't have what it takes to do what it is that I do. He saw a room full of unqualified people who were only where they were because of Jesus, who came along and he gave them a bigger purpose than day-to-day survival. He said, you can do what I do. You can come with me. And he saw the confidence that came with that, a boldness that just like you have Peter, who just from the sight and prospect of Jesus out there on the water in the middle of a storm, he said, hey, if that's really you, tell me that I can come to you. Like that's a boldness that only comes. And so now he sees a room full of people who are unqualified. And certainly the thoughts that start to come into his head is Jesus. Like it's been your power that it's gotten us here. How can we possibly do this without you? Because we're not good enough. Have you ever had that feeling? Like there's something that you feel, like something in your heart is moving you towards something to have a conversation, to step into a life of something, to step into aid for something. Have you ever felt like your heart was moving you in an area and what talked you out of it was, I would, but I'm just not good enough. I would, but I'm just not smart enough. I would, but I'm just not talented enough. Man, I would love to do that. Like, have you ever felt like God was moving you towards something and while you were in route, it came to an abrupt halt because you're like, yeah, I can't really do that. But Jesus says to the disciples in that moment, but I believe he says to you and me as well, is that he's sending another advocate, not only to work with you, but also to work in you. Again, the word paraclete is extremely interesting to me. And like I said, it changes everything. It's only used five times throughout the entire Bible. Four of which are right here in the Gospel of John. They're used by Jesus in chapters 14 through chapter 16. All of them are in reference to the Holy Spirit in this upper room discourse. The fifth and final time that the word paraclete is used is by John in 1 John chapter 2, and he uses it in reference to Jesus. When John heard these words, man, he certainly didn't get what it meant that the Holy Spirit is going to be working in you. Certainly, he was concerned with the power of Jesus no longer being with him. But the 65 to 90 year gap from when he heard these words and when he wrote these words, he understood something very different. He understood that the Holy Spirit is the power of Jesus working within you to impact the world through you. What John understood when he wrote these words was something very different than what he understood when he heard them. And the only thing that can make that difference, the only thing that I can imagine would change that, is what he experienced the coming days. What he experienced the rest of his life. Like what John saw happen was from this upper room discourse, a small room full of disciples and followers of Jesus who were terrified of what was going to come next. And then they saw the person they loved and trusted the most then start to move, be arrested, and was killed. And then he saw that same room full of disciples go to another room, and they were terrified to go outside because of what they may see, because they are certainly going to die too. And then he saw what happens when the Holy Spirit came down, just as Jesus promised, and entrenched the heart of Peter. There was this boldness that rose up, and he stepped out in front of thousands of people, and he said, hey, you, you killed an innocent man. The guy, Jesus, that you just championed the death of, he was innocent and you murdered him. But by his grace, forgiveness is possible. Repent. Change your heart. Repent of who you believe about Jesus to be. And he saw thousands of people from the boldness of Peter coming out of a room terrified of what's next. He saw thousands of people surrender their heart to Jesus. John saw the gospel spread and transform the world around him from this small room of scared disciples into the ends of the world as they know it. What John saw was the gospel wreck the heart of a guy named Saul, who was a persecutor of Christians, many believe to be one who Stephen, he was in charge of the execution of one of the disciples. What he saw happen was the Holy Spirit came in and changed the heart of this guy to who you know as Paul, who was one of the most influential Christians that have ever stepped onto this earth. Like what happened in that timeframe made John believe something different about this promise of Jesus. And here's what's crazy. Here's what we've got to make sure that we hear in this. Like, I don't think John said it so that you would know how awesome they are. And I don't think John said it so that you and I can read about how great it is that Jesus wanted to use these guys. And let's just root those guys on. I think that John wrote this. John wrote the account of the conversation that he had with Jesus in this moment so that you would know and so that I would know. God is working around you. He's also working in you to impact the world through you. Like John in this moment was terrified that his purpose had ended. That with Jesus gone, he served no more purpose. But what he saw happen was he wasn't done. He was created with a purpose, for a purpose. And the Holy Spirit was at work in his heart, was at work in his life. What I believe he would tell you and what I believe he would tell me is at work in your heart. God is shaping and molding and stirring in you passions and desires that align with his. He's moving you and ushering you into something and leading you into something. And if you've ever had that moment where you felt like you're not enough, if you could sit down and have a conversation with John, what I believe he would tell you is, hey, I understand how you feel. I felt the same way. But the Holy Spirit, the paraclete, Jesus sent another and he is working with and he is working in. He's never going to leave you alone. What is it? Like that very first question I asked, let's revisit that. Have you ever thought about what you would be willing to do and walk into if you were walking step by step with Jesus? Have you ever thought about what type of life you would live? And again, I'm not talking about behavioral type stuff like, oh, got to act right. I'm talking about what would you do that you feel like God is kind of moving your heart towards? What would you finally step into? Even if you feel unequipped. The band, you guys can come up. I'm gonna talk for a few more minutes, but you guys can go ahead and get where you need to be. I grew up in the church. I wasn't always a Christian. When I finally surrendered my heart to Jesus, I immediately associated loving God with serving God. Honestly, I was willing to do anything. It didn't matter what it was, and that was my prayer. I was a mediocre, at best, musician, and that may be very generous to say. I was pretty terrible. But what I was doing in this little church that we were at, I was playing the drums at the time. I loved music. I just wasn't great at it, right? But my prayer at the time was, hey, God, listen, I'll legitimately do anything. I really hope it's this, but whatever you ask me to do, and my heart was very sincere in that. So I was praying that. I had people praying that with me. I called a friend that was down in Florida, and I had him praying that with me, and at this point in time in my life, I was serving as a night auditor in a hotel, which really meant I was working about an hour a night and then napping for seven. Let's relax. I did good, okay? So I was working as a night auditor in a hotel. I was going to school full-time, and I was also a basketball coach, high school basketball coach, which just meant really I had no sleep at all. But there was about a two-week stretch where the amount of sleep that I got was even less. There was always, you ever had something on your mind so much that it keeps you awake? That's what was going on. I would lay down and I would try to go to sleep and there was a music, musical riff, there was a guitar lick, there was a lyric that I had to write down. And like, don't worry, you'll never hear any of those. They were terrible. But it was just on my mind so much that I had to go and jot it down. And I remember one night I was getting ready to go to work and I stepped out and I saw my phone had vibrated off the shelf. This was back when they flipped and stuff. And it could fall and not break. So it fell on the floor and I picked it up and had a voicemail from the guy who prayed with me in Florida. And what I remember is nothing from his prayer, but the moment that I heard his voice, there was one sentence, one request in the prayer that stood out to me. He said, hey, God, put it on Aaron's mind so much what you want him to do that he loses sleep at night. And when I heard that, I was like, man, you couldn't pray something else? Like, that's not true. I didn't. But when I heard that, I knew who I was as a musician. That was not me. But I also knew what direction he was sending me in. There is no better place for you to be in your life than in passion-filled purpose and dependence of the Holy Spirit. There is no better place for you to be, no more thrilling of a place to be than passion-filled purpose and simultaneously fully dependent on the Spirit. But it was started with a willingness to do anything, like a genuine prayer. God, whatever you want me to do, I'll do. Maybe you have something like that in your heart. It's burdening you to the point to where it's keeping you awake. There's something that you just can't shake. There's something that you just feel drawn to. It breaks your heart for the things that breaks the heart of God. Like there's something there you just can't shake. Maybe start walking towards it. Maybe there's nothing. Jesus come down here and you talk to me. I'll pee on myself and then I'll go exactly where he tells me to go. As long as he tells me, listen, here's my request. Here's what I would invite you to do over the next week. Ask. Because according to Jesus, what we have is the promise that we will never be alone. The same guidance, same direction, same hope that we found in him is with us always. We were created more. We were created for more than just day-to-day survival. God has wired you and equipped you and working in you to impact the world through you. So I'm going to invite you to stand. I'm going to pray for us in just a second. But this song that we're going to sing, the bridge, it simply says, Spirit, lead me. Spirit, direct me to where my heart feels it needs to be. I just want to invite you to make that your prayer this morning, tomorrow. Say, God, listen, I'm willing to do anything. Could you show me and give me direction? God, thank you so much for your love, for your grace, for your kindness. We thank you for the promise, the promise of the Holy Spirit, God, that honestly sometimes we can't wrap our head fully around, but what we lean into is the promise that you made the disciples. That the same confidence, the same hope, the same encouragement, the same grace that we see in you is with us always. Not only with us, but working in us to impact the world through us. We trust you. We need you, and we thank you. In Jesus' name.
I'll tell you, I've never considered how big of a step that is until you do it in front of 150 people. You become very aware that this could end badly, especially with a table, and not good balance. So, hey, guys, thanks so much for being here today. If you were here, I'm so glad that you decided to join us for your home, watching online. Well, I'm half as glad that you're joining us. I'm just kidding. I'm not. I'm like three-quarters. If you are new or visiting, my name is Aaron. As Nate said, I'm one of the pastors out here, and I'm so honored to get to serve you guys. Just to kind of dive right in, if you missed last week, we started a new series called Final Thoughts. If you noticed, I had to glance at the screen because I forgot for a second, but it's true. It's called Final Thoughts, I promise. But no, if you did miss last week, listen, go online, check that out. Nate kind of set up the series in this final discourse, this final conversation that Jesus had with his disciples and why it should matter, why it mattered to them and what it means for us. But today, just to kind of give you a snapshot into the scene that we're stepping into, this is the last conversation that Jesus is having with his disciples before he is just a few hours time arrested and led off to his death. This is kind of the last marching orders. It's his final conversation, final prayer, final meal with his disciples. The final things that he wants to say to them is just kind of send them on as he's telling them, I'm no longer going to be here with you. You've still got work to do. We're not done yet. And as you go, just know I'm not here with you anymore. I have to go away. If you have your Bibles, you can turn into John 14 is where we're going to be today. You can then kind of put your finger in there, put a little, one of the ribbon things. We'll get there in a second. But just to set up today and the direction that we're headed, I'm going to set it up like this. So I haven't always been this perfect picture of physique and fitness that you see today. I didn't think it was really funny, but the, like, no. So I remember when I was in the second grade, there was a fifth grader named Brandon. I hated Brandon. I know hate's a strong word, but I did. I promise. Still not sure how I feel today, but he tormented me all the time. He was a fifth grader. I was a second grader. He was a lot bigger than me, and he just always kind of picked on me. He always tried to get a laugh from other people at my expense. And I remember we were at school one time and we went out to recess. For some reason, they decided to put second graders and fifth graders in the same recess. It didn't make sense. I'm not sure what could come bad of that. Me, I'm what could happen bad out of that, right? So I remember we were at recess and then there was one day in particular, Brandon, he got me on the ground somehow and he got on top of me and he was just kind of, he wasn't punching me or anything like that, but he was just kind of like doing that slap stuff, you know what I mean? Just like really annoying. Everybody was kind of laughing, and everybody was kind of joking, but there was another guy. His name was Greg. Greg was bigger than Brandon, and Greg saw what was happening, and then I was laying there on the ground and didn't really know what was going on. I have no clue why Greg did this. But then out of nowhere, he kind of came through and spear tackled Brad. And so I'm sitting here like this, like, no, no, what just happened? Like he went flying. And immediately I looked like, Greg, you're my dude. Like, I love you. You're the best person ever. And it really worked out because we went to the same school. We also went to like the same church. And so we would end up in a lot of the same places together. We would be in church camp or something like that. And anytime I would go somewhere and if I saw Brandon, immediately what I started to do was look. I was like, okay, I need to see if I can see Greg. Because if I can see Greg, I know I'm going to be okay. Like Brandon, you're a chump as long as Greg's here, right?, that's what makes things okay for me. And there was a bit of a safety. I kind of felt untouchable in some way. As long as I could see the person that I trusted to take care of whatever it was that was in front of me. And we've all experienced some sense of that, right? Like, as a kid, that's why there was such a difference. And if you ever went to your parents' room and talked about the monster under your bed. There was a difference than if they just sent you back after telling you there was nothing there and walked back with you. When you're with the person that you trust, there's a bit of a confidence that comes with that. As I was kind of thinking through that and studying this passage for this week, man, I couldn't shake this question that kept popping in my mind. And I just want to ask you real quick, have you ever considered, have you ever wondered what you would be willing to do if you were walking step in step with Jesus? Like, have you ever considered, is there something you felt like you wanted to move into? Is there something you felt like you wanted to be a part of? Is there something that you just kind of really felt like you wanted to step into? But for one reason or another, you talked yourself out of it. And you know that if you were to look over and see Jesus right there with you, it would kind of give you that little bit of courage, that confidence that you need to take whatever step it is that you want to take. Just don't feel like you can. The disciples have never had to ask that question up until this moment. Because for the last three years of their life, before this conversation, they had been walking day after day after day. And the things that they saw each day continued to build more confidence in the person that they trusted. They saw the things that made them believe, yeah, yeah, we can do anything. They felt invincible. They felt untouchable. They felt like as long as they could see Jesus, everything was okay. And in this conversation, all of the believing, all of what they believed is possible, vanished. Uncertainty began to shadow possibility. Their hope was suffocated by grief. Because Jesus, you just told us you're going away. And you just told us we're not done yet. How can we possibly do this without you? Like throughout this entire discourse, this upper room discourse, it's full of a lot of honestly confusing statements, hard to follow, especially on the heels of hearing that Jesus is going away. It's full of a lot of things that are hard to understand, like Nate talked about last week. He said, okay, Jesus told his guys, I'm going away. You don't know where I'm going, but you know how to get there. Like, wait, what? Okay, so I've given you one new command, right? Like commands were a big deal for these guys. And Jesus said, okay, here's what I want you to focus on, this brand new command, do this. Like, wait, geez, you're going to have to unpack that. But none of them, for me, in my opinion, is more confusing than this statement. Just on the heels of saying, I will no longer be here. I will no longer be with you. You're also going to be persecuted. Many of you killed, but I've got good news. He says this in John 16. Very truly, I tell you, it is for your good that I'm going away. Unless I go away, the advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. That kind of has the same ring and vibe as like the, it's going to hurt me more than it hurts you. You ever get those? I don't know about you, but like, so as a kid, I got whoopings. I don't know if you got whoopings, but I got whoopings. That's why I'm such a productive and well-behaved adult today. But I got whoopings, and I know this wasn't unique to my dad. He certainly, I don't know if he read it in a book somewhere, got it in a newspaper clipping, have no clue. But for some reason, I will never forget the day that I was getting one of my many undeserved whoopings. And he looked at me and he said, hey, son, this is going to hurt me more than it hurts you. No, it's not. I don't know if you've ever had a whooping before. If it hurts, if it does, you're doing it wrong, right? Like this is not true. Like it's a statement to try to bring some kind of comfort into the pain that you're about to experience. This statement from Jesus has the hurt me more than it hurts you kind of vibe. We know that it's not because Jesus doesn't lie. And it truly is encouragement. But think about it from the perspective of the disciples. For the last three years, they've seen the reason that they can trust in him. For the last three years, they've built up a confidence and a boldness that only came from being with Jesus. And now you're telling me we have to try to figure this out without you? Like, where do we go? What do we do? How do we do it? Like, Jesus, you're the reason all of this is possible. What's supposed to happen from here? And that's a feeling that you and I can resonate with. A place you want to step into. A place that you want to go. But if only I could see Jesus and step with him. But, like I said, this statement from Jesus, it's not to hurt me more than to hurt you. And the reason is because it's wrapped in a promise. What Jesus told them in this moment is he made them a promise of the Holy Spirit. Depending on your church background, where you grew up, maybe even your Facebook algorithm or YouTube algorithm, we all have very different understandings, or we can have very different understandings about who the Holy Spirit is, what he does in our life. A lot of things like tongues, speaking in tongues, or the gifts of the Spirit, that's what comes to mind. But here's what's pretty fascinating to me. In this promise that Jesus made, he didn't mention any of that. That's not the good news of the Holy Spirit. What Jesus told them in John 14, if you're there, we're going to start in verse 15 and read to 17. This was Jesus' promise. He said, if you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate. If you're the type of person who likes highlights in your Bible, that's a great one to highlight, another advocate. Or just write it on the person's neck in front of you, whatever. Remember another advocate. We're coming back to that. I'm giving you another advocate to help you and be with you forever. The spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows him. Here's the promise. But you know him for he lives with you and will be in you. Depending on the translation that you're reading, like some of the versions say advocate, some of the versions say helper. The word that Jesus uses here is paraclete. And paraclete changes everything. Paraclete is a legal term, and it literally means to come alongside. What Jesus says is, I am sending you another paraclete. I am sending you one who will come alongside through the challenges and the days ahead. I am sending one who will be with you forever. The only thing that would have made second grade me happier is if I had omnipresent Greg floating around all over the place, right? Like he was just always there because I would no longer have to rely on sight. It's an awareness. That's the promise of Jesus. He says, you don't have to rely on seeing me. You never again have to look over your shoulder and wonder, am I there? You never again have to step into a place and feel lonely, feel abandoned. You never again have to know that I'm calling you and going and leading you into a place that I will not be there with you. You will never be alone. Jesus's promise wasn't just that he was sending the Holy Spirit. Jesus's promise was the inescapable presence of the Holy Spirit. And not in a type of way like, hey, Jesus is watching, so you better act right. Like, man, I've heard that said, and that's just, honestly, it's manipulation and not something that I see throughout scripture. Jesus's promise of this inescapable presence of the Holy Spirit is, hey, the same love that you've received from me will be with you forever. The same hope that you have found in me will be with you forever. The same life that you have seen in me will be with you forever. I am sending you another, one of, one like, one the same as me to be with you forever, to come alongside, to aid you, to be with you forever. You never have to worry if you're alone. And that's great news. Like the thing that we have to realize, the thing that the disciples in this moment would have to realize, all of Jesus's earthly ministry from the time that he was born until his resurrection was empowered by the Holy Spirit. He is fully God and he was fully man. When he stepped onto earth, he surrendered some of his divine rights and he adopted some of the limitations of humanity. All of his ministry, the miracles that you see, the miracles that you read about, the signs that have been witnessed, the power and strength in his teaching, declaring who he is and who God is that comes through the Holy Spirit and what Jesus promised the disciples in this moment, that same power will be with you forever. You never again have to worry about, are you alone? Because the confidence in that does not come from the side. It comes from an awareness, an awareness of my promise. And not only did he promise that the Holy Spirit would be with them forever, but he said, we'll be within you. I'm sending another advocate that will be with you and be in you. There's a big difference in God working with you and God working in you, right? Like God working with you invites more observation than anything. It is what's happened over the last three years of their life. God has been working with them. They have seen, they have witnessed the power of Jesus. They've witnessed what he's able to do. It's the very thing that has built this confidence in who they were. But I can guarantee you in this moment, when Jesus said, I will no longer be here, I'm sending you another. John didn't understand the implications of what that meant, that the Holy Spirit was going to be working in them. Surely in this moment, John looked around the room and he saw a fisherman. He saw a tax collector. He saw zealots. He saw a room full of people who had been rejected as the best of the best, who rabbis of the day looked at them and say, unfortunately, you don't have what it takes to do what it is that I do. He saw a room full of unqualified people who were only where they were because of Jesus, who came along and he gave them a bigger purpose than day-to-day survival. He said, you can do what I do. You can come with me. And he saw the confidence that came with that, a boldness that just like you have Peter, who just from the sight and prospect of Jesus out there on the water in the middle of a storm, he said, hey, if that's really you, tell me that I can come to you. Like that's a boldness that only comes. And so now he sees a room full of people who are unqualified. And certainly the thoughts that start to come into his head is Jesus. Like it's been your power that it's gotten us here. How can we possibly do this without you? Because we're not good enough. Have you ever had that feeling? Like there's something that you feel, like something in your heart is moving you towards something to have a conversation, to step into a life of something, to step into aid for something. Have you ever felt like your heart was moving you in an area and what talked you out of it was, I would, but I'm just not good enough. I would, but I'm just not smart enough. I would, but I'm just not talented enough. Man, I would love to do that. Like, have you ever felt like God was moving you towards something and while you were in route, it came to an abrupt halt because you're like, yeah, I can't really do that. But Jesus says to the disciples in that moment, but I believe he says to you and me as well, is that he's sending another advocate, not only to work with you, but also to work in you. Again, the word paraclete is extremely interesting to me. And like I said, it changes everything. It's only used five times throughout the entire Bible. Four of which are right here in the Gospel of John. They're used by Jesus in chapters 14 through chapter 16. All of them are in reference to the Holy Spirit in this upper room discourse. The fifth and final time that the word paraclete is used is by John in 1 John chapter 2, and he uses it in reference to Jesus. When John heard these words, man, he certainly didn't get what it meant that the Holy Spirit is going to be working in you. Certainly, he was concerned with the power of Jesus no longer being with him. But the 65 to 90 year gap from when he heard these words and when he wrote these words, he understood something very different. He understood that the Holy Spirit is the power of Jesus working within you to impact the world through you. What John understood when he wrote these words was something very different than what he understood when he heard them. And the only thing that can make that difference, the only thing that I can imagine would change that, is what he experienced the coming days. What he experienced the rest of his life. Like what John saw happen was from this upper room discourse, a small room full of disciples and followers of Jesus who were terrified of what was going to come next. And then they saw the person they loved and trusted the most then start to move, be arrested, and was killed. And then he saw that same room full of disciples go to another room, and they were terrified to go outside because of what they may see, because they are certainly going to die too. And then he saw what happens when the Holy Spirit came down, just as Jesus promised, and entrenched the heart of Peter. There was this boldness that rose up, and he stepped out in front of thousands of people, and he said, hey, you, you killed an innocent man. The guy, Jesus, that you just championed the death of, he was innocent and you murdered him. But by his grace, forgiveness is possible. Repent. Change your heart. Repent of who you believe about Jesus to be. And he saw thousands of people from the boldness of Peter coming out of a room terrified of what's next. He saw thousands of people surrender their heart to Jesus. John saw the gospel spread and transform the world around him from this small room of scared disciples into the ends of the world as they know it. What John saw was the gospel wreck the heart of a guy named Saul, who was a persecutor of Christians, many believe to be one who Stephen, he was in charge of the execution of one of the disciples. What he saw happen was the Holy Spirit came in and changed the heart of this guy to who you know as Paul, who was one of the most influential Christians that have ever stepped onto this earth. Like what happened in that timeframe made John believe something different about this promise of Jesus. And here's what's crazy. Here's what we've got to make sure that we hear in this. Like, I don't think John said it so that you would know how awesome they are. And I don't think John said it so that you and I can read about how great it is that Jesus wanted to use these guys. And let's just root those guys on. I think that John wrote this. John wrote the account of the conversation that he had with Jesus in this moment so that you would know and so that I would know. God is working around you. He's also working in you to impact the world through you. Like John in this moment was terrified that his purpose had ended. That with Jesus gone, he served no more purpose. But what he saw happen was he wasn't done. He was created with a purpose, for a purpose. And the Holy Spirit was at work in his heart, was at work in his life. What I believe he would tell you and what I believe he would tell me is at work in your heart. God is shaping and molding and stirring in you passions and desires that align with his. He's moving you and ushering you into something and leading you into something. And if you've ever had that moment where you felt like you're not enough, if you could sit down and have a conversation with John, what I believe he would tell you is, hey, I understand how you feel. I felt the same way. But the Holy Spirit, the paraclete, Jesus sent another and he is working with and he is working in. He's never going to leave you alone. What is it? Like that very first question I asked, let's revisit that. Have you ever thought about what you would be willing to do and walk into if you were walking step by step with Jesus? Have you ever thought about what type of life you would live? And again, I'm not talking about behavioral type stuff like, oh, got to act right. I'm talking about what would you do that you feel like God is kind of moving your heart towards? What would you finally step into? Even if you feel unequipped. The band, you guys can come up. I'm gonna talk for a few more minutes, but you guys can go ahead and get where you need to be. I grew up in the church. I wasn't always a Christian. When I finally surrendered my heart to Jesus, I immediately associated loving God with serving God. Honestly, I was willing to do anything. It didn't matter what it was, and that was my prayer. I was a mediocre, at best, musician, and that may be very generous to say. I was pretty terrible. But what I was doing in this little church that we were at, I was playing the drums at the time. I loved music. I just wasn't great at it, right? But my prayer at the time was, hey, God, listen, I'll legitimately do anything. I really hope it's this, but whatever you ask me to do, and my heart was very sincere in that. So I was praying that. I had people praying that with me. I called a friend that was down in Florida, and I had him praying that with me, and at this point in time in my life, I was serving as a night auditor in a hotel, which really meant I was working about an hour a night and then napping for seven. Let's relax. I did good, okay? So I was working as a night auditor in a hotel. I was going to school full-time, and I was also a basketball coach, high school basketball coach, which just meant really I had no sleep at all. But there was about a two-week stretch where the amount of sleep that I got was even less. There was always, you ever had something on your mind so much that it keeps you awake? That's what was going on. I would lay down and I would try to go to sleep and there was a music, musical riff, there was a guitar lick, there was a lyric that I had to write down. And like, don't worry, you'll never hear any of those. They were terrible. But it was just on my mind so much that I had to go and jot it down. And I remember one night I was getting ready to go to work and I stepped out and I saw my phone had vibrated off the shelf. This was back when they flipped and stuff. And it could fall and not break. So it fell on the floor and I picked it up and had a voicemail from the guy who prayed with me in Florida. And what I remember is nothing from his prayer, but the moment that I heard his voice, there was one sentence, one request in the prayer that stood out to me. He said, hey, God, put it on Aaron's mind so much what you want him to do that he loses sleep at night. And when I heard that, I was like, man, you couldn't pray something else? Like, that's not true. I didn't. But when I heard that, I knew who I was as a musician. That was not me. But I also knew what direction he was sending me in. There is no better place for you to be in your life than in passion-filled purpose and dependence of the Holy Spirit. There is no better place for you to be, no more thrilling of a place to be than passion-filled purpose and simultaneously fully dependent on the Spirit. But it was started with a willingness to do anything, like a genuine prayer. God, whatever you want me to do, I'll do. Maybe you have something like that in your heart. It's burdening you to the point to where it's keeping you awake. There's something that you just can't shake. There's something that you just feel drawn to. It breaks your heart for the things that breaks the heart of God. Like there's something there you just can't shake. Maybe start walking towards it. Maybe there's nothing. Jesus come down here and you talk to me. I'll pee on myself and then I'll go exactly where he tells me to go. As long as he tells me, listen, here's my request. Here's what I would invite you to do over the next week. Ask. Because according to Jesus, what we have is the promise that we will never be alone. The same guidance, same direction, same hope that we found in him is with us always. We were created more. We were created for more than just day-to-day survival. God has wired you and equipped you and working in you to impact the world through you. So I'm going to invite you to stand. I'm going to pray for us in just a second. But this song that we're going to sing, the bridge, it simply says, Spirit, lead me. Spirit, direct me to where my heart feels it needs to be. I just want to invite you to make that your prayer this morning, tomorrow. Say, God, listen, I'm willing to do anything. Could you show me and give me direction? God, thank you so much for your love, for your grace, for your kindness. We thank you for the promise, the promise of the Holy Spirit, God, that honestly sometimes we can't wrap our head fully around, but what we lean into is the promise that you made the disciples. That the same confidence, the same hope, the same encouragement, the same grace that we see in you is with us always. Not only with us, but working in us to impact the world through us. We trust you. We need you, and we thank you. In Jesus' name.
Well, good morning, everyone. My name is Nate. I get to be one of the pastors here. If I haven't gotten to meet you yet, I'd love to do that in the lobby after the service. Real quick, before I just dive in, I believe next week we're going to Mexico. Is this correct? Yeah? Raise your hand if you're going. Pipe down, Howard. All right. Good, good. We got a crew that goes. You need to cheer for something. It's not going to be UNC right now. I'll tell you that. Sorry. Sorry. That was not fair. That was uncalled for. I repent in dust and ashes, Howard. But this is something I failed to do. They're going. They've been going for years. It's a good core group of people every year. A couple new people go. But while they're here and while we can do it, let's just pause in the service and pray for them and their team as they prepare to go that God will do some incredible things in and through them as they go. So pray with me for our Mexico team, and then we will get started. Father, thank you for impressing upon the people of grace, the very heart of grace, your heart for others. Thank you for this Mexico trip. Thank you for what it means to us and the relationships that we've built there. Thank you for the people who are going for the first time and for the 20th time. I pray that your hand of protection would be on them. I pray that meaningful relationships would be developed and cultivated. I pray that your love would be felt both by the folks we're going to see, but also by the folks who are going, and that they would mutually minister to one another, and that it would be a good trip with great stories. We pray these things in your son's name. Amen. Speaking of praying for people as we dive into what I think is part five of our Gentle and Lowly series, something that happens almost every Sunday morning that most of you have no idea about is something that humbles me tremendously. Most every Sunday morning, there's a group of elders and resting elders. And resting elders is someone who served as an elder before, and they're not an elder now, they're a resting elder. They get together in my office at about 935, 940. Now, they didn't do it this morning, and all of you who normally do it are here, so I don't know what gifts. Maybe you just didn't care about this particular service. But almost every Sunday, not by my request, they get together in my office, and they pray for the church, and they pray for me. And being a pastor is a tremendously humbling experience in some ways because it is with great regularity that I look out on the faces that I see on Sundays or interact with you in the lobbies. The lobby, we don't have more than one. And just feel tremendously humbled that you guys choose grace, that you guys choose to listen to me. I don't take that for granted, and I don't take for granted the men and the women who gather in my office, each of whom I respect deeply, and they pray for me, and they pray for the church. And another thing that happens on Sunday morning that you probably don't know about is Aaron Gibson, Gibby, and I get here early. I get here usually beforehand, but we both get here early. And one of the things we do before we engage in our morning is we sit down in my office and we just say, what are you bringing in here this week? What do you got? What's going on in your life? What other things are you thinking about besides what job God has for you to do this morning of preaching or leading worship? Because I don't know if you know this about your pastors, but you guys have had the Sunday mornings where you're coming in here with your hair on fire. You and your spouse had a bad day yesterday. You're upset with each other. Things aren't good right now. Your kids are driving you nuts. I walked in the door this morning and there was a mom walking her children out to go next door. And I saw her and she's usually a pretty chipper person. And I said, hey, how you doing? And she goes, I'm here. It was one of those mornings. We've had those mornings where you're yelling at the kids, you're stressed out, work is hard, there's stresses in life that are impacting you, and you come in on two wheels and then you sit down and then you get a moment of quiet. Well, I have news for you. I don't know if you know this about your pastors, but we're people too. And we have mornings like that. We have Sundays like that. And I love knowing that my friend Aaron is going to pray for me and I can tell him anything that's going on in my life and, and he will pray for it. And I love him knowing that he can have whatever's going on in his life and I'm going to pray for him. And some days we'll look at each other and I'll go and one of us will go, I don't have it. And the other person will go, well, I'm feeling it. I got you. Let's go. And the spirit is great. He always shows up. He always gives us the strength when we don't have it. But I love knowing that I have him to intercess for me. And I love knowing that we have people who gather to pray for grace because it reminds me that it's not all on me. It's not all on me to preach a great sermon, to be a good leader, to do all the things. I have people who care about this place wrapped around me and gathered around us that are lifting us up too. And I know that many of you pray for me and for the service and for the church. I got a text this morning from my dad, hey, praying for you. And I can't tell you how much it lifts you up to know that you're being prayed for. And I say all that because you also have someone praying for you. We see this person in Hebrews 7, verse 25, where the author writes, Therefore he, being Jesus, is able to save completely, or to the uttermost, those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. Hebrews tells us that Jesus still has a job. And his job is to sit at the right hand of the Father and intercede for you. And the way that the author of Gentle and Lowly explains this, I think, is a beautiful way to understand it. Jesus is quite literally praying for you at all times. We have this misnomer of an idea that Jesus did his work. He came and he lived a perfect life and he died a perfect death and he hung on the cross for you and for me. And now he's just sitting in heaven, biding his time until act two, when in Revelation 19, he comes crashing out of the clouds and is coming to wreck shop and make all the wrong things right and sad things untrue. It'll be the greatest day in history. We have this misnomer, I think, sometimes without really cognitively being aware of it, that Jesus did the work then, and he's going to do the work later, and right now he's just chilling out. Certainly not blessing Falcons football. I'll tell you that's what he's not doing. But he's just hanging out in heaven. Not true. Hebrews tells us. He's an intercessor for us. He's actively praying for you. And I don't know how to explain in his divinity, his ability to pray for you and to pray for me and to pray for him and to pray for her at the same time in the same way. But that's what Jesus does. He prays for you constantly. He intercedes for you constantly. He's lifting you up constantly. And Jesus' intercession reminds us that it isn't all on us. Knowing that Jesus is praying for you should remind you in the same way when I'm reminded people are praying for me that it's not all on me. Jesus is praying for you. It's not all on you. Your marriage is not all on you. Your job is not all on you. Your parenthood is not all on you. Your friendships, your stability, your health are not all on you. Your success or failure is not all on you. Your moral goodness, your sanctification process, becoming more like Christ in character, is not all on you. Your moral goodness, your sanctification process, becoming more like Christ in character, is not all on you because we have Jesus interceding for us on our behalf, literally praying to God for you. And time, if he's your constant intercessor, that Jesus prays for you when you don't have the strength or the inclination to pray for yourself? Last week, we talked about Jesus is gentle with sinners. He's gentle with those who sin ignorantly and he's gentle with those who sin on purpose, the wanderers. Do you know that in your season of wandering, and maybe you're in one right now, And maybe you haven't prayed for yourself in a long time. Maybe you haven't prayed for your kids in a long time. Maybe it's been a minute since you prayed for your spouse. Maybe you've been floating for a while, not really spiritually engaged. Or maybe I was talking to a friend this week who told me that he was just dry. I want to want Jesus. I just don't right now. And I don't know what to do. Maybe you're in a season of dryness. Maybe it's simply been a minute since you prayed for the people and the things in your life, including yourself. And maybe when I say that and you go, oh, shoot. Yeah. Maybe it hits you right between the eyes. Maybe you can relate to it in part. But I think our reaction to that, to our attention being arrested to that truth, man, it has been a minute since I prayed for my spouse. It has been a minute since I prayed for myself. It has been a minute since I prayed for my kids. Do you know who's never stopped praying for those things on your behalf? Jesus. Even in your wandering, even when you're far off, do you know who's praying on your behalf that you would come back to the Father? Jesus is. Do you know who is your strength when you don't have it? Who says your prayers when you don't say them? Jesus does. And his prayers, I'm so grateful for the prayers of the elders and the resting elders. And sometimes I sit in and I listen to them. And I love hearing people pray who've walked with God for a lifetime. I love hearing people who have a generation or two on me pray. I love to listen to that. Sometimes they invite me to pray. I'm like, I don't want to. I just really prefer to listen to y'all pray. I want to hear how you talk to God. And I covet those prayers because they pray better than me, right? But do you know how much better than them Jesus prays? And he's praying that for you, over you. And it brings us to this principle that I think is foundational to Christianity. It's a quote from the book. Dane puts it like this. It is the most counterintuitive aspect of Christianity that we are declared right with God, not once we begin to get our act together, I'm going to read it again. We have this mindset sometimes about pursuing the Savior, about our spiritual health and journey, that we kind of need to get our act together before we can really go to the Father, before I can really go to small group, before I can really start to consistently go to church, before I can really engage in any sort of service. I really have to get my act together. I have to clean myself up before I can go to Jesus, because if I go like this, I'm not going to be good enough for him. So I have to make myself a little bit better so that I feel better about going to Jesus. It's this silly idea. We treat it. We treat sometimes going to Jesus like I do going to the doctor. Now, listen, I'm going to say some things here. And what I don't want is 30 moms momming me after the service about my need to go to the doctor. So please don't make me regret this. Okay. I'm 44. I'm, I'm getting old. And those of you who are older than me and you think, Oh, that's not old. I mean, what are you calling me? I'm not calling you anything. I'm just telling you I'm old. Okay. Matter of fact, this week, um, I met with our architect, which by the way, there's going to be an email coming out this week that's going to share about the progress that we're making towards getting this building built around the corner. I know that there hasn't been a lot of information coming out, but there has been a lot of work being done trying to get some certainty around what we can share. And so that's going to come out this week and then hopefully more news after that. But I saw our architect this week, and I hadn't seen him in about two years. And the first thing he said to me walking down the hall, I said, hey, Jim. And he goes, hey, you got a few more grays in that beard, don't you? Thanks, buddy. Good to see you. This dude's like 75, whatever. I just want to be like, Jim, you're just blanket old. Like, I'm getting there. You just, anyways. I'm getting old is my point. And I know that at 44, I need to go to the doctor. I didn't have, you're not going to believe this, some of you will. I did not have a primary care physician until I was 39 years old because I had to go for the gout, right? I had to go for that. But after I had Dr. Mann until I was 18 years old. And then after that, nothing. I went to urgent care like twice to get a Z-Pak for a cold. No doctors for me. I'm not doing annual checkups. I hate going to the doctor, but I'm getting old and I know that I need to go. But here's my thought and here's why I haven't gone. If I can just lose a little bit more weight and do a little bit more exercise, then I'm going to have a better blood pressure and all my levels are going to be good and I'm going to get a clean bill of health and that's what I want. So if I can just get myself ready a little bit, get my act together, then I can go to the doctor. I don't have anything to worry about right now. If I go to the doctor, he's just going to be like, you're fat and sedentary. And I'm going to be like, yeah, I know actually not anymore. Cause I've lost a lot of weight since last year, but that's why I didn't go last year. Cause I was trying to lose the weight. Now that I lost the weight, I should probably go. But he's, he, he's just going to say you're sedentary and out of shape. Like you need to do things. And I know that I need to do things. So my thought is, let me just do the things and then I'll get a good bill of health, right? And I think we treat Jesus like I treat the doctor. I just need to take care of some stuff and then I will go to him. Then I'll be ready. Then I'll be acceptable to him. Now here's the difference. I can actually get myself in better shape and get a better doctor's report when I go. That is possible. It is not possible to clean yourself up to make you adequate for Jesus to get a good bill of health from him. The only way to go to Jesus is to finally put down your sword and admit that you can't get yourself in good enough shape to go see him. We have to fall helplessly into his arms and say, Jesus, I know that I'm not enough. We sing that song. I'm broken, but I'm not forsaken. I am who you say I am. Jesus says we're a child of God. He says he loves us. He says, as Aaron pointed out, that he calls us and he purposes us and he knows who we are and he knows where our shortcomings are and he intercedes for those things. We are who he says we are. But we will never get ourselves there by trying, by white knuckling and being try-hards. We have to fall into the beautiful, glorious, comforting intercession of Christ. So, Christians, those of us that would seek to pursue righteousness need to know that our pursuit of righteousness begins and ends with our pursuit of Jesus. Our pursuit of righteousness begins and ends with our pursuit of Jesus. Our pursuit of righteousness begins and ends with our pursuit of Jesus, of joining in with him in that intercessory prayer, of agreeing with him what he must be praying over us and over our families and over our children and over our careers and over our friendships and over our relationships and over our marriages. If we want our marriage to be better, it begins and ends with our pursuit of Christ. If we want to be better grandparents, if we want to be better parents, if we're realizing, oh my goodness, I haven't prayed for my kids in a long time. I haven't prayed for my spouse in a long time. Where do you think the impetus to pray for others comes from? It comes from a pursuit of Jesus so that he is filling you up so that your cup now spills out on those around you. I love that verse. I remind you of it often. And from his fullness, we have all received grace upon grace. It's like Jesus is so full of grace that it spills out of him and onto us. And if we are there for it, if we are there to receive it, if we will pursue him, if we will be in relationship with him, our cup will be filled to overflowing and we will pour that grace out ourselves on others. And so what I would say to you gently and a non-accusatory way, because it certainly applies to me too, if it's been a minute since you've prayed for yourself, since you've prayed for your children, since you've prayed for your spouse, since you've prayed for your friends, if it's been a minute since you intercessed on someone else's behalf, perhaps it's because you have not been pursuing Jesus consistently either, and so your cup is not full. If we want to be the kind of people who reflect Jesus's intercession for us and pray for others in our life that we love very much and pray for things that matter a lot to us. If we want to be people of prayer, the impetus to pray begins and ends with our pursuit of Christ. So if we're dry there in our prayer life, my suspicion is that we are dry here in our pursuit of Christ. And then maybe we're just trying to lower our blood pressure just a little bit more before we go to him. Our pursuit of righteousness, of all things good in life, begins and ends with our pursuit of Christ and leaning into his intercession. But this morning, I've coupled two things together because Jesus does not just intercede for us. First John chapter two, verse one tells us of another role of Christ that I think is all the more encouraging. John writes this, my dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. He says, I write this to you so that you don't sin. But if you do, we have in Jesus advocacy. If you do sin, Jesus is at the right hand of the Father, not simply interceding for you, but he is advocating for you in the places where you do sin. And when I say he's advocating for you, there are times in my house when I have to advocate for John because Jen is just mean to him and I have to defend him. John is four and a half. He's four and a half, right? Sure. He's four. I don't know if we've gotten to half yet. Half years matter a lot under 10. But he's all boy, man. He just like, if he doesn't run around enough, he just kind of gets, like have you ever seen a dog get the zoomies and just buzz around a room? Which is another reason why they're dumb. John gets this energy coursing through his veins where he just has to scream. This is not something that we experience with Lily. Lily, when she was four, sit down and color for like an hour and let mommy and daddy talk. John, no chance. No chance. That kid is annoying. He is there all the time. And we love him. He's hilarious. But he just has this energy. And one of the things that he loves to do is show you how hard he hits. And he's been told, just hit daddy. You can hit daddy whenever you want. Do not hit your sister. Do not hit your mom. Just hit me, whatever you want. And so he'll come up, and I can see it in his face. I know that he's just about to get me. And he just, I kind of, you know, I kind of turn and just kind of let him get the leg and he just will roar and beat on my leg for like 30 seconds. Stick around. He'll probably do it after the service today when he sees me. But sometimes he and Lily get to horsing around and Lily's playing with them and they're having fun and they're laughing and giggling. then that just boy rage will come up and he'll just start wailing on her. And then she gets mad and she'll cry or she'll cry out and she'll play act like it hurt and then you have to put up with that and like whatever. Watch you stub your toe harder than that. But it's all a big deal. And before she can react, because he's about to get walloped, you know, he's about to get taken out. Before she can react, I'll have to jump in and I intercede for John. I advocate for him. And I say, Lily, he's four. He's not trying to hurt you. He's not trying to be mean. He's playing. This is how he plays. This is how boys play. So don't be mad at him. Be nice to him and just know that he doesn't understand what he's doing. And then I have to pull John aside and say, this is why we don't hit the girls. We hit daddy. When you feel that, you hit me. Okay, Daddy. And then he hits me. But I have to advocate for him. Hey, Lily, he doesn't know what he's doing. Let's calm down the anger. This is what Jesus does for us in our sin. And I think that that's remarkable because it is in our sin when he advocates. It is when we mess up that he somehow doubles down on this intercession and is in the ear of God saying, hey, I've covered him. I've covered her. They're good. They're righteous. They're lovely. They're your children. They don't know what they're doing. There's that famous advocacy when he's hanging on the cross, when he looks at the Roman soldiers and he says, Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. This is a picture of the advocacy of Christ. And the thing that I love, and I would just make this point real quick. So the way that we think about it is intercession is proactive and advocacy is reactive. Intercession is proactive. It's always happening. He's always praying to the Father on your behalf. It's ongoing. Advocacy is reactive. Advocacy happens when you sin. It doesn't happen when you're healthy. It doesn't happen when you're righteous. It doesn't happen when you're walking the right path and you're doing the right things and your cup is overflowing and you're giving grace out to everybody around you and you're praying for everybody around you and you're following Jesus' intercessory model for the people in your life. That's not when he advocates. He advocates when you're low. He advocates when you mess up. The mornings that you wake up and you feel like a failure and you don't want to look anybody in the eye and you don't want to look in the mirror. Those are the mornings when Jesus is fighting for you the hardest. Those are the mornings when he advocates for you most. I write this so that you do not sin. But if you do, you have an advocate in Jesus. Someone who is in the ear of the Father advocating for you, Father, forgive them. They're your child. We love them. And I thought about this this week, too. And maybe some of you have gone there in your head. Why is it that I need an intercessor and an advocate between me and God the Father? Is God the Father so disposed towards wrath towards me that I need Jesus there to be running interference the way that I get in between Lily and John when John's taking things too far? Is God so predisposed towards justice and wrath and anger that he needs Jesus to talk him off the ledge when he watches us do the thing again? And this is where the Bible gets really tricky and understanding the person of God gets really tricky because it's difficult to understand. God can't fully explain himself to us. God can't fully explain himself to us any more than I can explain literature to John. I just got done. This is going to, I almost decided not to share this because it sounds like I'm bragging, but I just got done reading a book. Okay. Like a whole book. I read East of Eden by John Steinbeck. And I love reading the classics. I love reading books that have been in circulation for more than 50 years, because if they, if they are, there's a reason. And the thing I love reading books that have been in circulation for more than 50 years because if they are, there's a reason. And the thing I love about old literature, about books that are 50, 200 years old, whatever, is the incredible insights the authors have into the human psyche. The incredible things that they have to say in those books. The commentary on humanity that's so nuanced where it will sometimes articulate thoughts that I've been loosely aware of for a decade and then here in a paragraph it's lucid and detailed and cogent and helpful. And it articulates things in a way that I would have never done on my own. It teaches me. If you guys were to ask me what was East of Eden about, I could give you probably a longer answer than you actually wanted, so I would not advise that. But if John asked me what it was about, how much would I have to dumb down the plot? How much would I have to simplify it for him to get even an iota of an idea of what that 650-page book was about? That's been in circulation for 75 years. Right? John can no more understand literature. And trust me, my understanding of it is incredibly rudimentary. I regret that either I didn't take English literature in college or I didn't pay attention. I can't remember which one it was. But I've never sat in a classroom with a professor telling me how to plumb the depths of literature. How to really, what was happening in the author's life and what the point was and what the critics say and how deep you can go. I have a very rudimentary understanding of it. It's just kind of, I read it and what I think is what I think. How much less so can John understand literature at the age of four. The gap of understanding between me and my son is infinitesimally small compared to the gap of understanding between us and God. So sometimes God is left to explain himself to us Neanderthals, and he's limited by what he can do and say and express. And so the more I thought about this question and the way that God is choosing to express it through Scripture, depicting Jesus as an intercessor and an advocate, I do not believe the point of that is to remind us that God is predisposed towards wrath against us. I do not think that the point of it is to point towards the Father and his character at all. Rather, I think it's simply to get across to us the very heart of Jesus towards you and the heart of your Savior, of your gentle and lowly Savior on whom we are focusing this fall. his heart is predisposed towards love and grace and mercy, so much so that he never ceases to intercede for you and pray for you on your behalf, so much so that when you are at your lowest, he doubles down and advocates for you. I do not think that those two truths are placed in Scripture to depict to us what must be the character of the Father and leave us to determine that. I think they are left in Scripture so that we would know the heart of Jesus towards us. So, what do we do in light of his intercession and advocacy? We pursue Jesus. First and foremost. The beginning and end of our pursuit of righteousness is our pursuit of Jesus Christ. What do we do in light of this wonderful Savior whose job is not done, who still works every day praying at the right hand of the father for you and at your lowest advocates for you. What do we do in light of that? Well, first of all, we mimic it as his followers. So we intercede for others. And if we're not interceding for others, maybe we should start interceding for ourselves so that we might be filled up with grace and then begin to proactively pray for others out of the overflow of our hearts. We advocate for people. We see the best in them. We hope the best in them. And we speak the best of them. But we can never do any of that if we don't pursue Jesus. So what I want to leave you with this morning is, how can you leave here and pursue Christ? What can you do? What step can you take? I say often, I haven't said it often enough lately, that the single most important habit anyone can develop in their life is to wake up every day and spend time in God's word and time in prayer. So if it's been a minute since you had a quiet time, start tomorrow. If you don't know where to start, these are in the lobby of the information table. This is a daily devotional guide that I wrote up last year. It just gives you a practical approach. I want to have a quiet time. What do I do? If that's a question you have, pick this up. I wrote this to answer that question. It's not as long as East of Eden. You can get it done today. If you don't even know what version of the Bible you want to read, I get that question sometimes too. I wrote a translation guide so that you'll understand the options that are out there. I do not advocate for one over another. I just put in front of you, this is how you can understand translations. So maybe there's one out there that would work better for you. But those are out there. So the first thing if we're going to pursue Jesus is we read his word and we pray. In a minute, we're going to have a chance to sing again, right? Yeah. We're going to have a chance to sing again. Call out to Jesus. Praise him. Rest easy in his intercession. Be present with him in that moment. Engage in your small group. Engage in church. Come ready to hear from God. And here's a big one. Invest in spiritually nourishing friendships. Lean into the people in your life that encourage you spiritually. And maybe for some of us, take a step back from the people in our life that don't. Lean into the ones that refresh you and give you life and make you more desirous of Jesus when you're with them. I don't know what you can do to begin to pursue Jesus today. But as I'm praying, I hope that he'll put something on your heart and I hope that all of us will move with obedience towards him as we go from here. Let's pray. Father, we are grateful for the way that you've chosen to depict your son. We don't imagine, God, that you are angry with us, that you're disposed to wrath. But, God, we are grateful that your son prays for us, that he advocates for us. God, I know that there are those in this room that even right now need that intercession desperately and are reflectively grateful for what's already been taking place. As he pleads to you on our behalf. God, those of us who have been brought low by poor decisions we've made. God, thank you that your son advocates for us in those moments. That he doubles down on the intercession and he raises us up in front of you. Help us be people who mimic those things, who pray for the people around us and who think the best and speak the best of the people who even may have wronged us. And God, as we go from this place, we pray that you would develop in us a hunger and thirst for you and for yourself. So much so that we would overflow with your fullness of grace upon grace. In Jesus' name, amen.
Well, good morning, everyone. My name is Nate. I get to be one of the pastors here. If I haven't gotten to meet you yet, I'd love to do that in the lobby after the service. Real quick, before I just dive in, I believe next week we're going to Mexico. Is this correct? Yeah? Raise your hand if you're going. Pipe down, Howard. All right. Good, good. We got a crew that goes. You need to cheer for something. It's not going to be UNC right now. I'll tell you that. Sorry. Sorry. That was not fair. That was uncalled for. I repent in dust and ashes, Howard. But this is something I failed to do. They're going. They've been going for years. It's a good core group of people every year. A couple new people go. But while they're here and while we can do it, let's just pause in the service and pray for them and their team as they prepare to go that God will do some incredible things in and through them as they go. So pray with me for our Mexico team, and then we will get started. Father, thank you for impressing upon the people of grace, the very heart of grace, your heart for others. Thank you for this Mexico trip. Thank you for what it means to us and the relationships that we've built there. Thank you for the people who are going for the first time and for the 20th time. I pray that your hand of protection would be on them. I pray that meaningful relationships would be developed and cultivated. I pray that your love would be felt both by the folks we're going to see, but also by the folks who are going, and that they would mutually minister to one another, and that it would be a good trip with great stories. We pray these things in your son's name. Amen. Speaking of praying for people as we dive into what I think is part five of our Gentle and Lowly series, something that happens almost every Sunday morning that most of you have no idea about is something that humbles me tremendously. Most every Sunday morning, there's a group of elders and resting elders. And resting elders is someone who served as an elder before, and they're not an elder now, they're a resting elder. They get together in my office at about 935, 940. Now, they didn't do it this morning, and all of you who normally do it are here, so I don't know what gifts. Maybe you just didn't care about this particular service. But almost every Sunday, not by my request, they get together in my office, and they pray for the church, and they pray for me. And being a pastor is a tremendously humbling experience in some ways because it is with great regularity that I look out on the faces that I see on Sundays or interact with you in the lobbies. The lobby, we don't have more than one. And just feel tremendously humbled that you guys choose grace, that you guys choose to listen to me. I don't take that for granted, and I don't take for granted the men and the women who gather in my office, each of whom I respect deeply, and they pray for me, and they pray for the church. And another thing that happens on Sunday morning that you probably don't know about is Aaron Gibson, Gibby, and I get here early. I get here usually beforehand, but we both get here early. And one of the things we do before we engage in our morning is we sit down in my office and we just say, what are you bringing in here this week? What do you got? What's going on in your life? What other things are you thinking about besides what job God has for you to do this morning of preaching or leading worship? Because I don't know if you know this about your pastors, but you guys have had the Sunday mornings where you're coming in here with your hair on fire. You and your spouse had a bad day yesterday. You're upset with each other. Things aren't good right now. Your kids are driving you nuts. I walked in the door this morning and there was a mom walking her children out to go next door. And I saw her and she's usually a pretty chipper person. And I said, hey, how you doing? And she goes, I'm here. It was one of those mornings. We've had those mornings where you're yelling at the kids, you're stressed out, work is hard, there's stresses in life that are impacting you, and you come in on two wheels and then you sit down and then you get a moment of quiet. Well, I have news for you. I don't know if you know this about your pastors, but we're people too. And we have mornings like that. We have Sundays like that. And I love knowing that my friend Aaron is going to pray for me and I can tell him anything that's going on in my life and, and he will pray for it. And I love him knowing that he can have whatever's going on in his life and I'm going to pray for him. And some days we'll look at each other and I'll go and one of us will go, I don't have it. And the other person will go, well, I'm feeling it. I got you. Let's go. And the spirit is great. He always shows up. He always gives us the strength when we don't have it. But I love knowing that I have him to intercess for me. And I love knowing that we have people who gather to pray for grace because it reminds me that it's not all on me. It's not all on me to preach a great sermon, to be a good leader, to do all the things. I have people who care about this place wrapped around me and gathered around us that are lifting us up too. And I know that many of you pray for me and for the service and for the church. I got a text this morning from my dad, hey, praying for you. And I can't tell you how much it lifts you up to know that you're being prayed for. And I say all that because you also have someone praying for you. We see this person in Hebrews 7, verse 25, where the author writes, Therefore he, being Jesus, is able to save completely, or to the uttermost, those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. Hebrews tells us that Jesus still has a job. And his job is to sit at the right hand of the Father and intercede for you. And the way that the author of Gentle and Lowly explains this, I think, is a beautiful way to understand it. Jesus is quite literally praying for you at all times. We have this misnomer of an idea that Jesus did his work. He came and he lived a perfect life and he died a perfect death and he hung on the cross for you and for me. And now he's just sitting in heaven, biding his time until act two, when in Revelation 19, he comes crashing out of the clouds and is coming to wreck shop and make all the wrong things right and sad things untrue. It'll be the greatest day in history. We have this misnomer, I think, sometimes without really cognitively being aware of it, that Jesus did the work then, and he's going to do the work later, and right now he's just chilling out. Certainly not blessing Falcons football. I'll tell you that's what he's not doing. But he's just hanging out in heaven. Not true. Hebrews tells us. He's an intercessor for us. He's actively praying for you. And I don't know how to explain in his divinity, his ability to pray for you and to pray for me and to pray for him and to pray for her at the same time in the same way. But that's what Jesus does. He prays for you constantly. He intercedes for you constantly. He's lifting you up constantly. And Jesus' intercession reminds us that it isn't all on us. Knowing that Jesus is praying for you should remind you in the same way when I'm reminded people are praying for me that it's not all on me. Jesus is praying for you. It's not all on you. Your marriage is not all on you. Your job is not all on you. Your parenthood is not all on you. Your friendships, your stability, your health are not all on you. Your success or failure is not all on you. Your moral goodness, your sanctification process, becoming more like Christ in character, is not all on you. Your moral goodness, your sanctification process, becoming more like Christ in character, is not all on you because we have Jesus interceding for us on our behalf, literally praying to God for you. And time, if he's your constant intercessor, that Jesus prays for you when you don't have the strength or the inclination to pray for yourself? Last week, we talked about Jesus is gentle with sinners. He's gentle with those who sin ignorantly and he's gentle with those who sin on purpose, the wanderers. Do you know that in your season of wandering, and maybe you're in one right now, And maybe you haven't prayed for yourself in a long time. Maybe you haven't prayed for your kids in a long time. Maybe it's been a minute since you prayed for your spouse. Maybe you've been floating for a while, not really spiritually engaged. Or maybe I was talking to a friend this week who told me that he was just dry. I want to want Jesus. I just don't right now. And I don't know what to do. Maybe you're in a season of dryness. Maybe it's simply been a minute since you prayed for the people and the things in your life, including yourself. And maybe when I say that and you go, oh, shoot. Yeah. Maybe it hits you right between the eyes. Maybe you can relate to it in part. But I think our reaction to that, to our attention being arrested to that truth, man, it has been a minute since I prayed for my spouse. It has been a minute since I prayed for myself. It has been a minute since I prayed for my kids. Do you know who's never stopped praying for those things on your behalf? Jesus. Even in your wandering, even when you're far off, do you know who's praying on your behalf that you would come back to the Father? Jesus is. Do you know who is your strength when you don't have it? Who says your prayers when you don't say them? Jesus does. And his prayers, I'm so grateful for the prayers of the elders and the resting elders. And sometimes I sit in and I listen to them. And I love hearing people pray who've walked with God for a lifetime. I love hearing people who have a generation or two on me pray. I love to listen to that. Sometimes they invite me to pray. I'm like, I don't want to. I just really prefer to listen to y'all pray. I want to hear how you talk to God. And I covet those prayers because they pray better than me, right? But do you know how much better than them Jesus prays? And he's praying that for you, over you. And it brings us to this principle that I think is foundational to Christianity. It's a quote from the book. Dane puts it like this. It is the most counterintuitive aspect of Christianity that we are declared right with God, not once we begin to get our act together, I'm going to read it again. We have this mindset sometimes about pursuing the Savior, about our spiritual health and journey, that we kind of need to get our act together before we can really go to the Father, before I can really go to small group, before I can really start to consistently go to church, before I can really engage in any sort of service. I really have to get my act together. I have to clean myself up before I can go to Jesus, because if I go like this, I'm not going to be good enough for him. So I have to make myself a little bit better so that I feel better about going to Jesus. It's this silly idea. We treat it. We treat sometimes going to Jesus like I do going to the doctor. Now, listen, I'm going to say some things here. And what I don't want is 30 moms momming me after the service about my need to go to the doctor. So please don't make me regret this. Okay. I'm 44. I'm, I'm getting old. And those of you who are older than me and you think, Oh, that's not old. I mean, what are you calling me? I'm not calling you anything. I'm just telling you I'm old. Okay. Matter of fact, this week, um, I met with our architect, which by the way, there's going to be an email coming out this week that's going to share about the progress that we're making towards getting this building built around the corner. I know that there hasn't been a lot of information coming out, but there has been a lot of work being done trying to get some certainty around what we can share. And so that's going to come out this week and then hopefully more news after that. But I saw our architect this week, and I hadn't seen him in about two years. And the first thing he said to me walking down the hall, I said, hey, Jim. And he goes, hey, you got a few more grays in that beard, don't you? Thanks, buddy. Good to see you. This dude's like 75, whatever. I just want to be like, Jim, you're just blanket old. Like, I'm getting there. You just, anyways. I'm getting old is my point. And I know that at 44, I need to go to the doctor. I didn't have, you're not going to believe this, some of you will. I did not have a primary care physician until I was 39 years old because I had to go for the gout, right? I had to go for that. But after I had Dr. Mann until I was 18 years old. And then after that, nothing. I went to urgent care like twice to get a Z-Pak for a cold. No doctors for me. I'm not doing annual checkups. I hate going to the doctor, but I'm getting old and I know that I need to go. But here's my thought and here's why I haven't gone. If I can just lose a little bit more weight and do a little bit more exercise, then I'm going to have a better blood pressure and all my levels are going to be good and I'm going to get a clean bill of health and that's what I want. So if I can just get myself ready a little bit, get my act together, then I can go to the doctor. I don't have anything to worry about right now. If I go to the doctor, he's just going to be like, you're fat and sedentary. And I'm going to be like, yeah, I know actually not anymore. Cause I've lost a lot of weight since last year, but that's why I didn't go last year. Cause I was trying to lose the weight. Now that I lost the weight, I should probably go. But he's, he, he's just going to say you're sedentary and out of shape. Like you need to do things. And I know that I need to do things. So my thought is, let me just do the things and then I'll get a good bill of health, right? And I think we treat Jesus like I treat the doctor. I just need to take care of some stuff and then I will go to him. Then I'll be ready. Then I'll be acceptable to him. Now here's the difference. I can actually get myself in better shape and get a better doctor's report when I go. That is possible. It is not possible to clean yourself up to make you adequate for Jesus to get a good bill of health from him. The only way to go to Jesus is to finally put down your sword and admit that you can't get yourself in good enough shape to go see him. We have to fall helplessly into his arms and say, Jesus, I know that I'm not enough. We sing that song. I'm broken, but I'm not forsaken. I am who you say I am. Jesus says we're a child of God. He says he loves us. He says, as Aaron pointed out, that he calls us and he purposes us and he knows who we are and he knows where our shortcomings are and he intercedes for those things. We are who he says we are. But we will never get ourselves there by trying, by white knuckling and being try-hards. We have to fall into the beautiful, glorious, comforting intercession of Christ. So, Christians, those of us that would seek to pursue righteousness need to know that our pursuit of righteousness begins and ends with our pursuit of Jesus. Our pursuit of righteousness begins and ends with our pursuit of Jesus. Our pursuit of righteousness begins and ends with our pursuit of Jesus, of joining in with him in that intercessory prayer, of agreeing with him what he must be praying over us and over our families and over our children and over our careers and over our friendships and over our relationships and over our marriages. If we want our marriage to be better, it begins and ends with our pursuit of Christ. If we want to be better grandparents, if we want to be better parents, if we're realizing, oh my goodness, I haven't prayed for my kids in a long time. I haven't prayed for my spouse in a long time. Where do you think the impetus to pray for others comes from? It comes from a pursuit of Jesus so that he is filling you up so that your cup now spills out on those around you. I love that verse. I remind you of it often. And from his fullness, we have all received grace upon grace. It's like Jesus is so full of grace that it spills out of him and onto us. And if we are there for it, if we are there to receive it, if we will pursue him, if we will be in relationship with him, our cup will be filled to overflowing and we will pour that grace out ourselves on others. And so what I would say to you gently and a non-accusatory way, because it certainly applies to me too, if it's been a minute since you've prayed for yourself, since you've prayed for your children, since you've prayed for your spouse, since you've prayed for your friends, if it's been a minute since you intercessed on someone else's behalf, perhaps it's because you have not been pursuing Jesus consistently either, and so your cup is not full. If we want to be the kind of people who reflect Jesus's intercession for us and pray for others in our life that we love very much and pray for things that matter a lot to us. If we want to be people of prayer, the impetus to pray begins and ends with our pursuit of Christ. So if we're dry there in our prayer life, my suspicion is that we are dry here in our pursuit of Christ. And then maybe we're just trying to lower our blood pressure just a little bit more before we go to him. Our pursuit of righteousness, of all things good in life, begins and ends with our pursuit of Christ and leaning into his intercession. But this morning, I've coupled two things together because Jesus does not just intercede for us. First John chapter two, verse one tells us of another role of Christ that I think is all the more encouraging. John writes this, my dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. He says, I write this to you so that you don't sin. But if you do, we have in Jesus advocacy. If you do sin, Jesus is at the right hand of the Father, not simply interceding for you, but he is advocating for you in the places where you do sin. And when I say he's advocating for you, there are times in my house when I have to advocate for John because Jen is just mean to him and I have to defend him. John is four and a half. He's four and a half, right? Sure. He's four. I don't know if we've gotten to half yet. Half years matter a lot under 10. But he's all boy, man. He just like, if he doesn't run around enough, he just kind of gets, like have you ever seen a dog get the zoomies and just buzz around a room? Which is another reason why they're dumb. John gets this energy coursing through his veins where he just has to scream. This is not something that we experience with Lily. Lily, when she was four, sit down and color for like an hour and let mommy and daddy talk. John, no chance. No chance. That kid is annoying. He is there all the time. And we love him. He's hilarious. But he just has this energy. And one of the things that he loves to do is show you how hard he hits. And he's been told, just hit daddy. You can hit daddy whenever you want. Do not hit your sister. Do not hit your mom. Just hit me, whatever you want. And so he'll come up, and I can see it in his face. I know that he's just about to get me. And he just, I kind of, you know, I kind of turn and just kind of let him get the leg and he just will roar and beat on my leg for like 30 seconds. Stick around. He'll probably do it after the service today when he sees me. But sometimes he and Lily get to horsing around and Lily's playing with them and they're having fun and they're laughing and giggling. then that just boy rage will come up and he'll just start wailing on her. And then she gets mad and she'll cry or she'll cry out and she'll play act like it hurt and then you have to put up with that and like whatever. Watch you stub your toe harder than that. But it's all a big deal. And before she can react, because he's about to get walloped, you know, he's about to get taken out. Before she can react, I'll have to jump in and I intercede for John. I advocate for him. And I say, Lily, he's four. He's not trying to hurt you. He's not trying to be mean. He's playing. This is how he plays. This is how boys play. So don't be mad at him. Be nice to him and just know that he doesn't understand what he's doing. And then I have to pull John aside and say, this is why we don't hit the girls. We hit daddy. When you feel that, you hit me. Okay, Daddy. And then he hits me. But I have to advocate for him. Hey, Lily, he doesn't know what he's doing. Let's calm down the anger. This is what Jesus does for us in our sin. And I think that that's remarkable because it is in our sin when he advocates. It is when we mess up that he somehow doubles down on this intercession and is in the ear of God saying, hey, I've covered him. I've covered her. They're good. They're righteous. They're lovely. They're your children. They don't know what they're doing. There's that famous advocacy when he's hanging on the cross, when he looks at the Roman soldiers and he says, Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. This is a picture of the advocacy of Christ. And the thing that I love, and I would just make this point real quick. So the way that we think about it is intercession is proactive and advocacy is reactive. Intercession is proactive. It's always happening. He's always praying to the Father on your behalf. It's ongoing. Advocacy is reactive. Advocacy happens when you sin. It doesn't happen when you're healthy. It doesn't happen when you're righteous. It doesn't happen when you're walking the right path and you're doing the right things and your cup is overflowing and you're giving grace out to everybody around you and you're praying for everybody around you and you're following Jesus' intercessory model for the people in your life. That's not when he advocates. He advocates when you're low. He advocates when you mess up. The mornings that you wake up and you feel like a failure and you don't want to look anybody in the eye and you don't want to look in the mirror. Those are the mornings when Jesus is fighting for you the hardest. Those are the mornings when he advocates for you most. I write this so that you do not sin. But if you do, you have an advocate in Jesus. Someone who is in the ear of the Father advocating for you, Father, forgive them. They're your child. We love them. And I thought about this this week, too. And maybe some of you have gone there in your head. Why is it that I need an intercessor and an advocate between me and God the Father? Is God the Father so disposed towards wrath towards me that I need Jesus there to be running interference the way that I get in between Lily and John when John's taking things too far? Is God so predisposed towards justice and wrath and anger that he needs Jesus to talk him off the ledge when he watches us do the thing again? And this is where the Bible gets really tricky and understanding the person of God gets really tricky because it's difficult to understand. God can't fully explain himself to us. God can't fully explain himself to us any more than I can explain literature to John. I just got done. This is going to, I almost decided not to share this because it sounds like I'm bragging, but I just got done reading a book. Okay. Like a whole book. I read East of Eden by John Steinbeck. And I love reading the classics. I love reading books that have been in circulation for more than 50 years, because if they, if they are, there's a reason. And the thing I love reading books that have been in circulation for more than 50 years because if they are, there's a reason. And the thing I love about old literature, about books that are 50, 200 years old, whatever, is the incredible insights the authors have into the human psyche. The incredible things that they have to say in those books. The commentary on humanity that's so nuanced where it will sometimes articulate thoughts that I've been loosely aware of for a decade and then here in a paragraph it's lucid and detailed and cogent and helpful. And it articulates things in a way that I would have never done on my own. It teaches me. If you guys were to ask me what was East of Eden about, I could give you probably a longer answer than you actually wanted, so I would not advise that. But if John asked me what it was about, how much would I have to dumb down the plot? How much would I have to simplify it for him to get even an iota of an idea of what that 650-page book was about? That's been in circulation for 75 years. Right? John can no more understand literature. And trust me, my understanding of it is incredibly rudimentary. I regret that either I didn't take English literature in college or I didn't pay attention. I can't remember which one it was. But I've never sat in a classroom with a professor telling me how to plumb the depths of literature. How to really, what was happening in the author's life and what the point was and what the critics say and how deep you can go. I have a very rudimentary understanding of it. It's just kind of, I read it and what I think is what I think. How much less so can John understand literature at the age of four. The gap of understanding between me and my son is infinitesimally small compared to the gap of understanding between us and God. So sometimes God is left to explain himself to us Neanderthals, and he's limited by what he can do and say and express. And so the more I thought about this question and the way that God is choosing to express it through Scripture, depicting Jesus as an intercessor and an advocate, I do not believe the point of that is to remind us that God is predisposed towards wrath against us. I do not think that the point of it is to point towards the Father and his character at all. Rather, I think it's simply to get across to us the very heart of Jesus towards you and the heart of your Savior, of your gentle and lowly Savior on whom we are focusing this fall. his heart is predisposed towards love and grace and mercy, so much so that he never ceases to intercede for you and pray for you on your behalf, so much so that when you are at your lowest, he doubles down and advocates for you. I do not think that those two truths are placed in Scripture to depict to us what must be the character of the Father and leave us to determine that. I think they are left in Scripture so that we would know the heart of Jesus towards us. So, what do we do in light of his intercession and advocacy? We pursue Jesus. First and foremost. The beginning and end of our pursuit of righteousness is our pursuit of Jesus Christ. What do we do in light of this wonderful Savior whose job is not done, who still works every day praying at the right hand of the father for you and at your lowest advocates for you. What do we do in light of that? Well, first of all, we mimic it as his followers. So we intercede for others. And if we're not interceding for others, maybe we should start interceding for ourselves so that we might be filled up with grace and then begin to proactively pray for others out of the overflow of our hearts. We advocate for people. We see the best in them. We hope the best in them. And we speak the best of them. But we can never do any of that if we don't pursue Jesus. So what I want to leave you with this morning is, how can you leave here and pursue Christ? What can you do? What step can you take? I say often, I haven't said it often enough lately, that the single most important habit anyone can develop in their life is to wake up every day and spend time in God's word and time in prayer. So if it's been a minute since you had a quiet time, start tomorrow. If you don't know where to start, these are in the lobby of the information table. This is a daily devotional guide that I wrote up last year. It just gives you a practical approach. I want to have a quiet time. What do I do? If that's a question you have, pick this up. I wrote this to answer that question. It's not as long as East of Eden. You can get it done today. If you don't even know what version of the Bible you want to read, I get that question sometimes too. I wrote a translation guide so that you'll understand the options that are out there. I do not advocate for one over another. I just put in front of you, this is how you can understand translations. So maybe there's one out there that would work better for you. But those are out there. So the first thing if we're going to pursue Jesus is we read his word and we pray. In a minute, we're going to have a chance to sing again, right? Yeah. We're going to have a chance to sing again. Call out to Jesus. Praise him. Rest easy in his intercession. Be present with him in that moment. Engage in your small group. Engage in church. Come ready to hear from God. And here's a big one. Invest in spiritually nourishing friendships. Lean into the people in your life that encourage you spiritually. And maybe for some of us, take a step back from the people in our life that don't. Lean into the ones that refresh you and give you life and make you more desirous of Jesus when you're with them. I don't know what you can do to begin to pursue Jesus today. But as I'm praying, I hope that he'll put something on your heart and I hope that all of us will move with obedience towards him as we go from here. Let's pray. Father, we are grateful for the way that you've chosen to depict your son. We don't imagine, God, that you are angry with us, that you're disposed to wrath. But, God, we are grateful that your son prays for us, that he advocates for us. God, I know that there are those in this room that even right now need that intercession desperately and are reflectively grateful for what's already been taking place. As he pleads to you on our behalf. God, those of us who have been brought low by poor decisions we've made. God, thank you that your son advocates for us in those moments. That he doubles down on the intercession and he raises us up in front of you. Help us be people who mimic those things, who pray for the people around us and who think the best and speak the best of the people who even may have wronged us. And God, as we go from this place, we pray that you would develop in us a hunger and thirst for you and for yourself. So much so that we would overflow with your fullness of grace upon grace. In Jesus' name, amen.
Well, good morning, everyone. My name is Nate. I get to be one of the pastors here. If I haven't gotten to meet you yet, I'd love to do that in the lobby after the service. Real quick, before I just dive in, I believe next week we're going to Mexico. Is this correct? Yeah? Raise your hand if you're going. Pipe down, Howard. All right. Good, good. We got a crew that goes. You need to cheer for something. It's not going to be UNC right now. I'll tell you that. Sorry. Sorry. That was not fair. That was uncalled for. I repent in dust and ashes, Howard. But this is something I failed to do. They're going. They've been going for years. It's a good core group of people every year. A couple new people go. But while they're here and while we can do it, let's just pause in the service and pray for them and their team as they prepare to go that God will do some incredible things in and through them as they go. So pray with me for our Mexico team, and then we will get started. Father, thank you for impressing upon the people of grace, the very heart of grace, your heart for others. Thank you for this Mexico trip. Thank you for what it means to us and the relationships that we've built there. Thank you for the people who are going for the first time and for the 20th time. I pray that your hand of protection would be on them. I pray that meaningful relationships would be developed and cultivated. I pray that your love would be felt both by the folks we're going to see, but also by the folks who are going, and that they would mutually minister to one another, and that it would be a good trip with great stories. We pray these things in your son's name. Amen. Speaking of praying for people as we dive into what I think is part five of our Gentle and Lowly series, something that happens almost every Sunday morning that most of you have no idea about is something that humbles me tremendously. Most every Sunday morning, there's a group of elders and resting elders. And resting elders is someone who served as an elder before, and they're not an elder now, they're a resting elder. They get together in my office at about 935, 940. Now, they didn't do it this morning, and all of you who normally do it are here, so I don't know what gifts. Maybe you just didn't care about this particular service. But almost every Sunday, not by my request, they get together in my office, and they pray for the church, and they pray for me. And being a pastor is a tremendously humbling experience in some ways because it is with great regularity that I look out on the faces that I see on Sundays or interact with you in the lobbies. The lobby, we don't have more than one. And just feel tremendously humbled that you guys choose grace, that you guys choose to listen to me. I don't take that for granted, and I don't take for granted the men and the women who gather in my office, each of whom I respect deeply, and they pray for me, and they pray for the church. And another thing that happens on Sunday morning that you probably don't know about is Aaron Gibson, Gibby, and I get here early. I get here usually beforehand, but we both get here early. And one of the things we do before we engage in our morning is we sit down in my office and we just say, what are you bringing in here this week? What do you got? What's going on in your life? What other things are you thinking about besides what job God has for you to do this morning of preaching or leading worship? Because I don't know if you know this about your pastors, but you guys have had the Sunday mornings where you're coming in here with your hair on fire. You and your spouse had a bad day yesterday. You're upset with each other. Things aren't good right now. Your kids are driving you nuts. I walked in the door this morning and there was a mom walking her children out to go next door. And I saw her and she's usually a pretty chipper person. And I said, hey, how you doing? And she goes, I'm here. It was one of those mornings. We've had those mornings where you're yelling at the kids, you're stressed out, work is hard, there's stresses in life that are impacting you, and you come in on two wheels and then you sit down and then you get a moment of quiet. Well, I have news for you. I don't know if you know this about your pastors, but we're people too. And we have mornings like that. We have Sundays like that. And I love knowing that my friend Aaron is going to pray for me and I can tell him anything that's going on in my life and, and he will pray for it. And I love him knowing that he can have whatever's going on in his life and I'm going to pray for him. And some days we'll look at each other and I'll go and one of us will go, I don't have it. And the other person will go, well, I'm feeling it. I got you. Let's go. And the spirit is great. He always shows up. He always gives us the strength when we don't have it. But I love knowing that I have him to intercess for me. And I love knowing that we have people who gather to pray for grace because it reminds me that it's not all on me. It's not all on me to preach a great sermon, to be a good leader, to do all the things. I have people who care about this place wrapped around me and gathered around us that are lifting us up too. And I know that many of you pray for me and for the service and for the church. I got a text this morning from my dad, hey, praying for you. And I can't tell you how much it lifts you up to know that you're being prayed for. And I say all that because you also have someone praying for you. We see this person in Hebrews 7, verse 25, where the author writes, Therefore he, being Jesus, is able to save completely, or to the uttermost, those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. Hebrews tells us that Jesus still has a job. And his job is to sit at the right hand of the Father and intercede for you. And the way that the author of Gentle and Lowly explains this, I think, is a beautiful way to understand it. Jesus is quite literally praying for you at all times. We have this misnomer of an idea that Jesus did his work. He came and he lived a perfect life and he died a perfect death and he hung on the cross for you and for me. And now he's just sitting in heaven, biding his time until act two, when in Revelation 19, he comes crashing out of the clouds and is coming to wreck shop and make all the wrong things right and sad things untrue. It'll be the greatest day in history. We have this misnomer, I think, sometimes without really cognitively being aware of it, that Jesus did the work then, and he's going to do the work later, and right now he's just chilling out. Certainly not blessing Falcons football. I'll tell you that's what he's not doing. But he's just hanging out in heaven. Not true. Hebrews tells us. He's an intercessor for us. He's actively praying for you. And I don't know how to explain in his divinity, his ability to pray for you and to pray for me and to pray for him and to pray for her at the same time in the same way. But that's what Jesus does. He prays for you constantly. He intercedes for you constantly. He's lifting you up constantly. And Jesus' intercession reminds us that it isn't all on us. Knowing that Jesus is praying for you should remind you in the same way when I'm reminded people are praying for me that it's not all on me. Jesus is praying for you. It's not all on you. Your marriage is not all on you. Your job is not all on you. Your parenthood is not all on you. Your friendships, your stability, your health are not all on you. Your success or failure is not all on you. Your moral goodness, your sanctification process, becoming more like Christ in character, is not all on you. Your moral goodness, your sanctification process, becoming more like Christ in character, is not all on you because we have Jesus interceding for us on our behalf, literally praying to God for you. And time, if he's your constant intercessor, that Jesus prays for you when you don't have the strength or the inclination to pray for yourself? Last week, we talked about Jesus is gentle with sinners. He's gentle with those who sin ignorantly and he's gentle with those who sin on purpose, the wanderers. Do you know that in your season of wandering, and maybe you're in one right now, And maybe you haven't prayed for yourself in a long time. Maybe you haven't prayed for your kids in a long time. Maybe it's been a minute since you prayed for your spouse. Maybe you've been floating for a while, not really spiritually engaged. Or maybe I was talking to a friend this week who told me that he was just dry. I want to want Jesus. I just don't right now. And I don't know what to do. Maybe you're in a season of dryness. Maybe it's simply been a minute since you prayed for the people and the things in your life, including yourself. And maybe when I say that and you go, oh, shoot. Yeah. Maybe it hits you right between the eyes. Maybe you can relate to it in part. But I think our reaction to that, to our attention being arrested to that truth, man, it has been a minute since I prayed for my spouse. It has been a minute since I prayed for myself. It has been a minute since I prayed for my kids. Do you know who's never stopped praying for those things on your behalf? Jesus. Even in your wandering, even when you're far off, do you know who's praying on your behalf that you would come back to the Father? Jesus is. Do you know who is your strength when you don't have it? Who says your prayers when you don't say them? Jesus does. And his prayers, I'm so grateful for the prayers of the elders and the resting elders. And sometimes I sit in and I listen to them. And I love hearing people pray who've walked with God for a lifetime. I love hearing people who have a generation or two on me pray. I love to listen to that. Sometimes they invite me to pray. I'm like, I don't want to. I just really prefer to listen to y'all pray. I want to hear how you talk to God. And I covet those prayers because they pray better than me, right? But do you know how much better than them Jesus prays? And he's praying that for you, over you. And it brings us to this principle that I think is foundational to Christianity. It's a quote from the book. Dane puts it like this. It is the most counterintuitive aspect of Christianity that we are declared right with God, not once we begin to get our act together, I'm going to read it again. We have this mindset sometimes about pursuing the Savior, about our spiritual health and journey, that we kind of need to get our act together before we can really go to the Father, before I can really go to small group, before I can really start to consistently go to church, before I can really engage in any sort of service. I really have to get my act together. I have to clean myself up before I can go to Jesus, because if I go like this, I'm not going to be good enough for him. So I have to make myself a little bit better so that I feel better about going to Jesus. It's this silly idea. We treat it. We treat sometimes going to Jesus like I do going to the doctor. Now, listen, I'm going to say some things here. And what I don't want is 30 moms momming me after the service about my need to go to the doctor. So please don't make me regret this. Okay. I'm 44. I'm, I'm getting old. And those of you who are older than me and you think, Oh, that's not old. I mean, what are you calling me? I'm not calling you anything. I'm just telling you I'm old. Okay. Matter of fact, this week, um, I met with our architect, which by the way, there's going to be an email coming out this week that's going to share about the progress that we're making towards getting this building built around the corner. I know that there hasn't been a lot of information coming out, but there has been a lot of work being done trying to get some certainty around what we can share. And so that's going to come out this week and then hopefully more news after that. But I saw our architect this week, and I hadn't seen him in about two years. And the first thing he said to me walking down the hall, I said, hey, Jim. And he goes, hey, you got a few more grays in that beard, don't you? Thanks, buddy. Good to see you. This dude's like 75, whatever. I just want to be like, Jim, you're just blanket old. Like, I'm getting there. You just, anyways. I'm getting old is my point. And I know that at 44, I need to go to the doctor. I didn't have, you're not going to believe this, some of you will. I did not have a primary care physician until I was 39 years old because I had to go for the gout, right? I had to go for that. But after I had Dr. Mann until I was 18 years old. And then after that, nothing. I went to urgent care like twice to get a Z-Pak for a cold. No doctors for me. I'm not doing annual checkups. I hate going to the doctor, but I'm getting old and I know that I need to go. But here's my thought and here's why I haven't gone. If I can just lose a little bit more weight and do a little bit more exercise, then I'm going to have a better blood pressure and all my levels are going to be good and I'm going to get a clean bill of health and that's what I want. So if I can just get myself ready a little bit, get my act together, then I can go to the doctor. I don't have anything to worry about right now. If I go to the doctor, he's just going to be like, you're fat and sedentary. And I'm going to be like, yeah, I know actually not anymore. Cause I've lost a lot of weight since last year, but that's why I didn't go last year. Cause I was trying to lose the weight. Now that I lost the weight, I should probably go. But he's, he, he's just going to say you're sedentary and out of shape. Like you need to do things. And I know that I need to do things. So my thought is, let me just do the things and then I'll get a good bill of health, right? And I think we treat Jesus like I treat the doctor. I just need to take care of some stuff and then I will go to him. Then I'll be ready. Then I'll be acceptable to him. Now here's the difference. I can actually get myself in better shape and get a better doctor's report when I go. That is possible. It is not possible to clean yourself up to make you adequate for Jesus to get a good bill of health from him. The only way to go to Jesus is to finally put down your sword and admit that you can't get yourself in good enough shape to go see him. We have to fall helplessly into his arms and say, Jesus, I know that I'm not enough. We sing that song. I'm broken, but I'm not forsaken. I am who you say I am. Jesus says we're a child of God. He says he loves us. He says, as Aaron pointed out, that he calls us and he purposes us and he knows who we are and he knows where our shortcomings are and he intercedes for those things. We are who he says we are. But we will never get ourselves there by trying, by white knuckling and being try-hards. We have to fall into the beautiful, glorious, comforting intercession of Christ. So, Christians, those of us that would seek to pursue righteousness need to know that our pursuit of righteousness begins and ends with our pursuit of Jesus. Our pursuit of righteousness begins and ends with our pursuit of Jesus. Our pursuit of righteousness begins and ends with our pursuit of Jesus, of joining in with him in that intercessory prayer, of agreeing with him what he must be praying over us and over our families and over our children and over our careers and over our friendships and over our relationships and over our marriages. If we want our marriage to be better, it begins and ends with our pursuit of Christ. If we want to be better grandparents, if we want to be better parents, if we're realizing, oh my goodness, I haven't prayed for my kids in a long time. I haven't prayed for my spouse in a long time. Where do you think the impetus to pray for others comes from? It comes from a pursuit of Jesus so that he is filling you up so that your cup now spills out on those around you. I love that verse. I remind you of it often. And from his fullness, we have all received grace upon grace. It's like Jesus is so full of grace that it spills out of him and onto us. And if we are there for it, if we are there to receive it, if we will pursue him, if we will be in relationship with him, our cup will be filled to overflowing and we will pour that grace out ourselves on others. And so what I would say to you gently and a non-accusatory way, because it certainly applies to me too, if it's been a minute since you've prayed for yourself, since you've prayed for your children, since you've prayed for your spouse, since you've prayed for your friends, if it's been a minute since you intercessed on someone else's behalf, perhaps it's because you have not been pursuing Jesus consistently either, and so your cup is not full. If we want to be the kind of people who reflect Jesus's intercession for us and pray for others in our life that we love very much and pray for things that matter a lot to us. If we want to be people of prayer, the impetus to pray begins and ends with our pursuit of Christ. So if we're dry there in our prayer life, my suspicion is that we are dry here in our pursuit of Christ. And then maybe we're just trying to lower our blood pressure just a little bit more before we go to him. Our pursuit of righteousness, of all things good in life, begins and ends with our pursuit of Christ and leaning into his intercession. But this morning, I've coupled two things together because Jesus does not just intercede for us. First John chapter two, verse one tells us of another role of Christ that I think is all the more encouraging. John writes this, my dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. He says, I write this to you so that you don't sin. But if you do, we have in Jesus advocacy. If you do sin, Jesus is at the right hand of the Father, not simply interceding for you, but he is advocating for you in the places where you do sin. And when I say he's advocating for you, there are times in my house when I have to advocate for John because Jen is just mean to him and I have to defend him. John is four and a half. He's four and a half, right? Sure. He's four. I don't know if we've gotten to half yet. Half years matter a lot under 10. But he's all boy, man. He just like, if he doesn't run around enough, he just kind of gets, like have you ever seen a dog get the zoomies and just buzz around a room? Which is another reason why they're dumb. John gets this energy coursing through his veins where he just has to scream. This is not something that we experience with Lily. Lily, when she was four, sit down and color for like an hour and let mommy and daddy talk. John, no chance. No chance. That kid is annoying. He is there all the time. And we love him. He's hilarious. But he just has this energy. And one of the things that he loves to do is show you how hard he hits. And he's been told, just hit daddy. You can hit daddy whenever you want. Do not hit your sister. Do not hit your mom. Just hit me, whatever you want. And so he'll come up, and I can see it in his face. I know that he's just about to get me. And he just, I kind of, you know, I kind of turn and just kind of let him get the leg and he just will roar and beat on my leg for like 30 seconds. Stick around. He'll probably do it after the service today when he sees me. But sometimes he and Lily get to horsing around and Lily's playing with them and they're having fun and they're laughing and giggling. then that just boy rage will come up and he'll just start wailing on her. And then she gets mad and she'll cry or she'll cry out and she'll play act like it hurt and then you have to put up with that and like whatever. Watch you stub your toe harder than that. But it's all a big deal. And before she can react, because he's about to get walloped, you know, he's about to get taken out. Before she can react, I'll have to jump in and I intercede for John. I advocate for him. And I say, Lily, he's four. He's not trying to hurt you. He's not trying to be mean. He's playing. This is how he plays. This is how boys play. So don't be mad at him. Be nice to him and just know that he doesn't understand what he's doing. And then I have to pull John aside and say, this is why we don't hit the girls. We hit daddy. When you feel that, you hit me. Okay, Daddy. And then he hits me. But I have to advocate for him. Hey, Lily, he doesn't know what he's doing. Let's calm down the anger. This is what Jesus does for us in our sin. And I think that that's remarkable because it is in our sin when he advocates. It is when we mess up that he somehow doubles down on this intercession and is in the ear of God saying, hey, I've covered him. I've covered her. They're good. They're righteous. They're lovely. They're your children. They don't know what they're doing. There's that famous advocacy when he's hanging on the cross, when he looks at the Roman soldiers and he says, Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. This is a picture of the advocacy of Christ. And the thing that I love, and I would just make this point real quick. So the way that we think about it is intercession is proactive and advocacy is reactive. Intercession is proactive. It's always happening. He's always praying to the Father on your behalf. It's ongoing. Advocacy is reactive. Advocacy happens when you sin. It doesn't happen when you're healthy. It doesn't happen when you're righteous. It doesn't happen when you're walking the right path and you're doing the right things and your cup is overflowing and you're giving grace out to everybody around you and you're praying for everybody around you and you're following Jesus' intercessory model for the people in your life. That's not when he advocates. He advocates when you're low. He advocates when you mess up. The mornings that you wake up and you feel like a failure and you don't want to look anybody in the eye and you don't want to look in the mirror. Those are the mornings when Jesus is fighting for you the hardest. Those are the mornings when he advocates for you most. I write this so that you do not sin. But if you do, you have an advocate in Jesus. Someone who is in the ear of the Father advocating for you, Father, forgive them. They're your child. We love them. And I thought about this this week, too. And maybe some of you have gone there in your head. Why is it that I need an intercessor and an advocate between me and God the Father? Is God the Father so disposed towards wrath towards me that I need Jesus there to be running interference the way that I get in between Lily and John when John's taking things too far? Is God so predisposed towards justice and wrath and anger that he needs Jesus to talk him off the ledge when he watches us do the thing again? And this is where the Bible gets really tricky and understanding the person of God gets really tricky because it's difficult to understand. God can't fully explain himself to us. God can't fully explain himself to us any more than I can explain literature to John. I just got done. This is going to, I almost decided not to share this because it sounds like I'm bragging, but I just got done reading a book. Okay. Like a whole book. I read East of Eden by John Steinbeck. And I love reading the classics. I love reading books that have been in circulation for more than 50 years, because if they, if they are, there's a reason. And the thing I love reading books that have been in circulation for more than 50 years because if they are, there's a reason. And the thing I love about old literature, about books that are 50, 200 years old, whatever, is the incredible insights the authors have into the human psyche. The incredible things that they have to say in those books. The commentary on humanity that's so nuanced where it will sometimes articulate thoughts that I've been loosely aware of for a decade and then here in a paragraph it's lucid and detailed and cogent and helpful. And it articulates things in a way that I would have never done on my own. It teaches me. If you guys were to ask me what was East of Eden about, I could give you probably a longer answer than you actually wanted, so I would not advise that. But if John asked me what it was about, how much would I have to dumb down the plot? How much would I have to simplify it for him to get even an iota of an idea of what that 650-page book was about? That's been in circulation for 75 years. Right? John can no more understand literature. And trust me, my understanding of it is incredibly rudimentary. I regret that either I didn't take English literature in college or I didn't pay attention. I can't remember which one it was. But I've never sat in a classroom with a professor telling me how to plumb the depths of literature. How to really, what was happening in the author's life and what the point was and what the critics say and how deep you can go. I have a very rudimentary understanding of it. It's just kind of, I read it and what I think is what I think. How much less so can John understand literature at the age of four. The gap of understanding between me and my son is infinitesimally small compared to the gap of understanding between us and God. So sometimes God is left to explain himself to us Neanderthals, and he's limited by what he can do and say and express. And so the more I thought about this question and the way that God is choosing to express it through Scripture, depicting Jesus as an intercessor and an advocate, I do not believe the point of that is to remind us that God is predisposed towards wrath against us. I do not think that the point of it is to point towards the Father and his character at all. Rather, I think it's simply to get across to us the very heart of Jesus towards you and the heart of your Savior, of your gentle and lowly Savior on whom we are focusing this fall. his heart is predisposed towards love and grace and mercy, so much so that he never ceases to intercede for you and pray for you on your behalf, so much so that when you are at your lowest, he doubles down and advocates for you. I do not think that those two truths are placed in Scripture to depict to us what must be the character of the Father and leave us to determine that. I think they are left in Scripture so that we would know the heart of Jesus towards us. So, what do we do in light of his intercession and advocacy? We pursue Jesus. First and foremost. The beginning and end of our pursuit of righteousness is our pursuit of Jesus Christ. What do we do in light of this wonderful Savior whose job is not done, who still works every day praying at the right hand of the father for you and at your lowest advocates for you. What do we do in light of that? Well, first of all, we mimic it as his followers. So we intercede for others. And if we're not interceding for others, maybe we should start interceding for ourselves so that we might be filled up with grace and then begin to proactively pray for others out of the overflow of our hearts. We advocate for people. We see the best in them. We hope the best in them. And we speak the best of them. But we can never do any of that if we don't pursue Jesus. So what I want to leave you with this morning is, how can you leave here and pursue Christ? What can you do? What step can you take? I say often, I haven't said it often enough lately, that the single most important habit anyone can develop in their life is to wake up every day and spend time in God's word and time in prayer. So if it's been a minute since you had a quiet time, start tomorrow. If you don't know where to start, these are in the lobby of the information table. This is a daily devotional guide that I wrote up last year. It just gives you a practical approach. I want to have a quiet time. What do I do? If that's a question you have, pick this up. I wrote this to answer that question. It's not as long as East of Eden. You can get it done today. If you don't even know what version of the Bible you want to read, I get that question sometimes too. I wrote a translation guide so that you'll understand the options that are out there. I do not advocate for one over another. I just put in front of you, this is how you can understand translations. So maybe there's one out there that would work better for you. But those are out there. So the first thing if we're going to pursue Jesus is we read his word and we pray. In a minute, we're going to have a chance to sing again, right? Yeah. We're going to have a chance to sing again. Call out to Jesus. Praise him. Rest easy in his intercession. Be present with him in that moment. Engage in your small group. Engage in church. Come ready to hear from God. And here's a big one. Invest in spiritually nourishing friendships. Lean into the people in your life that encourage you spiritually. And maybe for some of us, take a step back from the people in our life that don't. Lean into the ones that refresh you and give you life and make you more desirous of Jesus when you're with them. I don't know what you can do to begin to pursue Jesus today. But as I'm praying, I hope that he'll put something on your heart and I hope that all of us will move with obedience towards him as we go from here. Let's pray. Father, we are grateful for the way that you've chosen to depict your son. We don't imagine, God, that you are angry with us, that you're disposed to wrath. But, God, we are grateful that your son prays for us, that he advocates for us. God, I know that there are those in this room that even right now need that intercession desperately and are reflectively grateful for what's already been taking place. As he pleads to you on our behalf. God, those of us who have been brought low by poor decisions we've made. God, thank you that your son advocates for us in those moments. That he doubles down on the intercession and he raises us up in front of you. Help us be people who mimic those things, who pray for the people around us and who think the best and speak the best of the people who even may have wronged us. And God, as we go from this place, we pray that you would develop in us a hunger and thirst for you and for yourself. So much so that we would overflow with your fullness of grace upon grace. In Jesus' name, amen.
