Here’s Your Sign

Message Transcription

Well, good morning, Broadway. It is really good to be here with you this morning. Turn to the person next to you and just say, I'm glad that you're here. Mitch I don't think that was as good as the first time. Tell him with some enthusiasm. I'm glad that you are here. Hey, here's the important thing. I am glad that you are here, because if you watched Broadway today, you know that there's no lack of things for you to be involved in. There's so much going on. This is a great family to partner with on all of these events. You heard about trunk or treat. So if you go right across the elevator, there's all those little QR codes. Mckenzie has ten tons of jobs for us, not just the staff, not just the elders, but for us to put on a great community event that will be an awesome outreach to so many here in Lubbock. You also have a great opportunity to do some some pretty fun things as well. Corn maze $10. It's normally like 12 or 15. I got you a 2 to $5 discount. I can't remember which one it is, but I got you a little bit of a discount. Church wants you to go and have a great time together with your church family there. Then we also have common ground, the blended worship experience for for us and full armor. That is going to be a night that you do not want to miss.

I want all of our church to be here with full armor worshipping them as well. I mean, I was reminded by just my first few conversations today. There's a lot of good stuff going on in this church, but there's also a lot of hurt going on in this church. And I want to just acknowledge that some things are going on. There's there's physical hurt that you might feel your body might be hurting. I was talking to a couple of students. I'm hurting so bad. And I was like, Wait till you're older and then you just hurt all the time. In the middle of the night, you wake up and you're like, My knees hurting, and I didn't even move today. That's that's how this goes. But this morning, we all come with some kind of burden. And so instead of putting that to the side for today, I want you to lean into it, recognizing that this is the house of God. He wants to comfort you in that pain. He wants to comfort you in that sorrow. So don't just block it out today. Let's lean into it and see what the Lord has for us. As was mentioned as well in in the Take five video, I hope you guys are enjoying those. They're putting a lot of effort into it. I hope that they're doing their regular jobs as well, but the videos look really good. I have yet to appear in one, so maybe I'm just working harder than everybody else.

I'm not 100% sure, But no, those are great. So this is 25 years of Carpenters Kitchen, so raise your hand if you've been involved as Carpenters Kitchen in the last 25 years. Almost everybody's room hand in this room is going to be raised 25 years of serving this Lubbock community. And God is faithfully blessed that time and time again. But that doesn't mean that it's without its own challenges. And so today I want to ask that you would prayerfully consider giving towards Carpenters Kitchen. I know we've kind of been getting on you guys about the money stuff, but we're just asking for a little bit more and we'll continue to ask for more and more and more. But this is going to be a way that we can bless the community around us. There's a need for food, there's a need for supplies. And I think you guys know your trips to the grocery store are costing just a little bit more these days. So the cost to fund things like Carpenters Kitchen also goes up. So if you would prayerfully consider about giving towards that, we would be very appreciative. The goal is $25,000, Camilo. That's a lot of money. That's a lot of money for you to spend. And I know that she needs all of it. So this morning, if you are taking notes on pen and paper, I want you to go ahead and pull those out.

If you're a person who's taking notes on your phone, you too can go ahead and pull out your phone. Or if you're just going to passively disregard everything that I just said, go ahead and do that, too, because I recognize that there are some of you in the audience who will do that. Go ahead and pull that out. I'm about to pop up a picture. Not quite yet, Robbie. We're going to let them get completely ready. I want to pop up a picture. It's not a very impressive picture. It's not a picture with a lot of things. But for the next 20 or 30 seconds, I want you to just write down everything that you can see that is going on in this picture. So, Ravi, would you go ahead and put that picture up there? All right. So I'm going to give you 20 seconds. Start taking notes. Now, you might want to say where exactly do you think this picture was taken? What are some of the colors? Some of you aren't writing notes. I see that. So hopefully you're getting them here in your brain and I'll give you another 10 seconds or so. Any observations that you see going on in this picture? Five, four, three, two, one. All right, your time's up. How many how many notes did you guys get? Probably just like two or three. There's really not that much to observe in this picture, right? Unless I really hope that Richard Evans got this one.

I'm really hoping that he did. Robbie, we just go out and click to the next side because you probably didn't notice that there's a little chameleon right there. Oh, Richard's nodding his head. Of course Richard's nodding his head. He saw the chameleon. We get it. Pets. Plus, go visit them. They need it. Sometimes there are these things that we see in these in these everyday pictures in our everyday lives. And we just miss this one tiny little thing. Sometimes it blends into the community that is around us, and that's exactly what a chameleon is doing. He's blending in with the environment that is around him. And sometimes we as Christians tend to even fall back into that ourselves, mind you. And the good thing is, guys, is that we're in we're in really good company because we're going to read about the disciples. We're also going to read about the Pharisees, which Terry, again, these are the bad guys. Remember Herod Bad. He's bad. We're going to read about them. Reece Red Force and Mark eight. But sometimes we are just so caught up in the things of this world that we forget. We are inattentive, we are indifferent to the things that God is doing in our lives. So if you would go ahead and turn back over to Mark eight. So in the stories just before this.

So remember, there's Matthew and Mark is the second gospel. So if your kiddos in the room, you're keeping track. It goes Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. So you've read a lot of miracles already in Matthew. You've also read an awesome genealogy, which is super fun and I'm sure that everybody read and took very much to heart. But there's also all of these other signs that are being performed. Jesus has just performed what I think is one of his his coolest ones, because I think everybody in this room is probably a little hungry right now. Right? Jesus has just fed 4000 people, so a little bit more. That's in this auditorium. Just just a smidge. Right. Jesus has done sign after sign after sign in the Pharisees again, approach him in verse 11. They came to him and began to argue with him, seeking a sign from heaven. To test him. They're trying to put Jesus to the test every second that they can. They want to catch him slipping up. They want to catch him in a lie. They want to they ultimately arrest him for blasphemy. So they're trying for years and years and years to get him to blaspheme against the name of the Lord. And so they think if they keep asking him to do things that ultimately is going to cause them to to slip up Jesus going to slip up and they're going to be able to arrest him, kill him earlier than they ultimately think that they are.

Now, it's also important to know that the Pharisees have seen him do quite a bit of miracles. They've seen him give sight to the blind. They've seen him heal leper. They've seen him raise from the dead. And yet they still continually ask, Hey, Jesus, can you do just another thing for us? It's like asking Patrick Mahomes, Can you give me another 80 yard touchdown throw? I mean, I know you can do it, but can you just do it one more time? Because it's really cool. Like, that's so annoying to guys like Patrick, I'm sure. I'm sure that you all have coworkers or spouses who could you cook that meal just one more time? That was absolutely amazing. I would kill to have that meal again. And I'm sure that Jesus gets mildly annoyed being Jesus, don't you think? Because people are always coming to Him. Jesus, do this, Jesus do that. Can you prove yourself to us just once again? And what we think is, is that the Pharisees are unwilling to see what Jesus is doing time and time again. He's proven himself and they are unwilling to see what Jesus was doing. And so then as you keep going and you think about this. They're unwilling to see. Jesus is clearly done. All of these things. And in our everyday lives we are unwilling to see certain things that are around us.

That piece of mail comes. Oh, no, I know what's in that piece of mail. I don't want to know how much I owe on my student loans. I don't want to know how much my credit card is. I'm sure that every single one of you thinks that when you open your pal Bill, write. I've been paying, pal, since I was a junior in college. Not a fun conversation to have of paying your utility bill. It feels really high. They're inattentive to the things that are going on. One way that we see God and we see him very clearly, it's just in creation. So I'm going to flash up just a couple of really awesome pictures in nature, Rob. He's going to flash those up here. This first one is really cool. I think it's really cool. Oh, did you guys know that there are Rainbow Mountains in our world? How many of you knew that before you walked in the auditorium today? It's okay to raise your hand. Curtis has seen a couple other people in the back. It's okay. Whenever we're in church. I said this to our teens. When you know something about God or you want to boast in his goodness, it's all right to just stand up there and boldly declare that we don't have to do this. We can boldly declare the beauty of the creation. We can boldly declare the plan that he has for our lives. So these are the Rainbow Mountains, and I'm going to get this name wrong.

I'm going to mispronounce it someone come find me after Zong Yi National. Geo Park is where these Rainbow Mountains are located. And then in the very next picture, this is probably one of my favorite ones. This is the Blue Lagoon in Iceland, so I'm sure. How many kiddos do we have in here? I want everybody to lean to the person next to you and say what superpower you would want if you got beamed superpowers today, What would your superpower be? Going to the person next to you. You guys aren't doing it. Come on. I would want to fly. I think flying would be really awesome. I can't prove this beyond a shadow of a doubt, but I feel like if you went and drank the water here, you would probably get the superpower you were looking for, right? It's an absolute beauty. It's breathtaking. We see God in this form of creation. Then there's one last one here. These are the gazoo falls. I'm a West Texan, guys. I can't pronounce anything. And these are in Argentina. Just take a second to soak these things in. It kind of looks like I know the movie Avatar keeps coming back out in theaters because they're trying to break box office records. But the first time I saw this, I was like, That probably belongs in one of their big waterfalls when they're jumping onto their giant beasts and like, putting their hair in the beast to connect with it is this really weird movie.

But it looks like that and it almost looks like some of these pictures are fake. But these are all. The creation that God has gifted us to care for, what he points to and says, How could you believe in anything else? How are you unwilling to doubt or to believe that I created this? Sometimes we do that, we look at people, we look at relationships, we look at our jobs, and we're unwilling to see that God has put us in this exact place for this exact time and this season. Some of you are teachers and you have really difficult kiddos this year. Guess what God put you there? For that purpose and for that season. He's not inattentive to the detail. He's attentive to the fact that you are needed in that world. So the Pharisees. Ultimately show us This point is if you're not willing to believe, you will overlook or discredit even the most obvious signs of God. If you aren't willing to believe, you will overlook or discredit even the most obvious signs of God. One of the most obvious signs in my life was coming here to Broadway, knowing that that's what he had for our family. And I tried to overlook it or discredit it for a few weeks. Not because it was anything against you guys. It had to do with my own pride, my own selfishness.

It kind of being okay where I was at, but I'm overlooking and discrediting that. I said, God, I just need I need this or this or this. And he kept providing and I was like, But can you do it again? Can you do it just a little bit more? Can you do it more to my liking? I said, No, I've already done enough. Go do it. And that's exactly what he did. So now, you know, we've talked about the Pharisees. These guys are some inattentive dudes. That's the best way to put it in 2022. They're inattentive dudes. Then we look at the disciples and versus 14 through 18. Now, they had forgotten to bring bread and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. And it cautioned them saying, Watch out, delay, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees in the leaven of Herod. And they began discussing with each other the fact that they had no bread. And Jesus was aware of this. He said to them, Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not perceive or do you not understand? Are your hearts hardened having eyes? Do you not see and having ears? Do you not hear and do you not remember? And if you if you go back to that verse, verse 11 and verse 12, in my translation, I'm using the ESV, it says, Jesus sighed in his spirit.

How many of you parents have sighed at your kids before? I sighed at mine. He's 14 months old. I can't hardly communicate him, but trust me, I sigh when he wakes up at 4:00 in the morning ready to to play and do all of these other things. I don't just sign my soul, I sigh out loud. I also say some other things out loud. But we're not going to get into that just quite yet. He sighed in his soul to the Pharisees alone. And I imagine there's some, some similar displeasure with Jesus here in the moment with his disciples, the guys who he is called deeply, our students. We talked about a lot of those callings of the disciples early on, during my time here, and Jesus ultimately just, you know, the Pharisees want a sign. And he said, Tough. You don't get a sign. You don't deserve a sign. I've already done all of these things. You're inattentive. But then he gets there with his disciples. And surely you think to yourself, the disciples. No, there's no need for them to complain. He just fed 4000 people. But they're still worried about the pizza that's trying to be delivered to the boat. They're more worried about their own hunger. And we have a medical term for this. I don't know if you know this. It's called being hangry. The samples are just a little hangry in this moment and they're letting their stomachs dictate.

What Jesus was trying to ultimately say. The disciples. They're inattentive to what Jesus is doing. They've seen all the signs the Pharisees are unwilling because they're trying to levy charges against Jesus. The disciples. I feel like probably once they saw it once or twice, they thought, Well, he'll just do it again, and he might even do it at our convenience. And as Christians, we all have a story about how we met Jesus for the very first time, how his love came in and transformed us into this new, new and unique way of living. And the disciples don't ever let that be their anchor point. The disciples doubt him just as much we were talking about on Wednesday night. The disciples doubt him all the way to the end. Peter, one of the most devout ones, is saying, I don't know him. I don't know him. I don't know him. That is what he says. But the disciples are inattentive to what they're doing and church. I think that on some level this morning we are probably unwilling and inattentive to the ways that God is moving in our lives. Nod your head if you kind of believe that. If you felt that about yourself for the last week or so, I will be honest with you, I have been more. I've probably been more inattentive than I've been unwilling lately. So one thing that I want us to practically do, we mentioned at the outset, Blake said this as we moved into family prayer time.

We are a praying church. Do you know how many churches say they are a praying church and yet do not pray? It's a lot of them. And I'm one of the people who said that, and I haven't followed through on my commitment. So we as a church, we are going to be attentive to what Jesus is doing. We know that he's active in a live. So if you were walking into the auditorium and you were coming from the classrooms over here, you might have come through the garden room. You notice that there was a big whiteboard on your way in. There were lots of names on the whiteboard. Some of the names you you probably knew you've known for quite some time. Then there's some other names on there that you've probably never heard before. We do have some new members and things like that out on this board. In the garden room is the name of every single one of our students birth to senior in our youth ministry. Now this is a disclaimer. Brian and Mackenzie might have gotten something wrong. We worked very hard all week to look at all of our records to make sure all of our students were there. We might have missed someone. I don't think that we did. But if we did, will you come let me or Mackenzie know and we will get it squared away.

Because what we're going to do is, in just a few moments, I'm going to dismiss you guys after we sing all that good stuff. But as you're walking out, what I want you to do is I want you to simply just grab the magnet of a name of a student. You are not allowed to grab the name of someone you're related to. So if you are Brian and Sarah Brunson, we cannot grab Barrett's name. It's kind of assumed that we are praying for our son on a daily basis and in the honor of Take five. This is kind of a stand alone lesson right here, but we're going to take five in the way of you're going to grab one of those magnets off the white board. You can grab one, you can grab two, probably max yourself out at two. I want you to grab the name of a student and I want you every single day to pray for that student for 5 minutes. Put it on your refrigerator. So when you're grabbing your coffee creamer in the morning, you're grabbing your lunch on the way out. Whatever it is, you will be reminded, Hey, this morning, I need to pray for Zach Smith. This morning, I need to pray for Nora ahead. I need to. Do that. You might have two or three students on there, and then on Sunday morning, you're also going to take 5 minutes and you're going to go talk to that student and their family and say, Hey, what's going on in your world? I don't care if they're in first or second grade and they're like, my teacher just hands me lollipops and the world is great.

It doesn't happen in second grade. My wife's a first grade teacher. I can tell you that is not how a normal day goes in first grade, but you're going to grab that and you're going to go talk to that kid. What can I pray for? Even if they're two years old and their prayer request is something that we think is really silly. You're going to pray for that thing. Because that's God at work in that kiddo right there of you building that relationship and moving forward. And one thing that I also wanted to say was in First Kings 19 versus 11 through 13. You can turn there if you want. Oftentimes whenever we hear the voice of God, he speaks in two voices. And all of us have this. We have an outside voice. We have an inside voice. If you've ever met me, I only know one volume and that's my outside voice. I'm also a youth minister, so it's important for me to use that more than ever. When I went up to Sarah's classroom to help her get everything ready, there's four voice levels. Three there's four voice level zero means that we don't talk Sometimes when we're in our house.

Sarah looks at me and says, We're in a voice level zero. And I'm like, Oh, all right, whatever. Sometimes we get a voice level one and it's a whisper. Voice Level two is conversational, level three is presenter voice and four is outside voice. I get all this right. It's pretty close. Yeah. All you teachers in the room give me a thumbs up. That's good stuff. God has both of these voices as well. And this story in First Kings 19 kind of speaks to that. Elijah is in this very difficult season of his life. He publicly punked a bunch of false prophets. He is running away from a wicked queen, and he's camping out in a cave. Not similar to some of our youth ministry trips in the past. I'm sure you probably camped out in a cave with some people here in this room. But in this in this passage of scripture, I think this is so beautiful about how God communicates with us. And behold, the Lord passed by and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke the pieces before the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind. And after the earthquake, a fire. But the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, the sound of a low whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.

And behold, there came a voice to him and said, What are you doing here? I would love it if God spoke to me every day in his outside voice and plainly put his instructions there in front of me. That's just not how it works some days. Sometimes he speaks to us in the low whisper. He speaks to us and the voice of a friend. He speaks to us in the voice of our small group. He speaks to us in the voice of the people that were serving at Carpenters Kitchen Church. You have to be plugged into the life of the church in order to hear the voice of God. That's a non negotiable. And so my hope is that we get plugged in that we began to hear and be attentive to what God is doing. It's a new and it's a beautiful thing. And it starts with us collectively bearing the burdens of one another like we're going to do with those students. What I think about that is I wish that somebody would have done that for me. Be the person that you wish that this student needed in their lives when you were that age. And church. There's a lot going on today. There's a lot of prayer request needs among our family. So let's be a praying church that is attentive to what God is doing. I'm going to pray this out and the boys can come up here, lead a couple more songs.

But please, please, please, please do not leave here. If you were an active member of Broadway, if you're if you're visiting, I don't expect you to grab a magnet because that would be really weird. But hey, if you want to go for it. But if you were an active member of Broadway Church of Christ, I'm challenging you. Go pick up a magnet and begin praying for somebody and be intentional about it. Let's bow for a word of prayer. Father. We are so we are so thankful for your word. We're so thankful. That we can hear your voice, that others have heard it before. Took the time to write it down. And tell us how important it is. So, Father, at this moment, I recognized just how much pain, how much anger, how much anxiety is in this room. But I'm also so mindful that hope, the ultimate hope in your son, Jesus, drowns all of that out. That is all running at the mention of your name Jesus. Father, would you embolden us to live lives with eyes wide open, with ears open and with open minds to see where exactly you're taking us? And at times, whenever you don't speak in the earthquake and you don't speak in the fire and you don't speak in the wind, you speak in that low whisper. Would we be willing and attentive to the things that you're trying to do in our lives? God, we're so thankful for your son, Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen.