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Happy 2012. I hope it’s been a great start. You’ve had 11 hours, eight of which were probably asleep. If you stayed till midnight. All right. I know some of you didn’t. I wish I were in that boat. Goals for 2012. It’s always a good way to start things new, to look at life at a new perspective. To get better oriented with what you want to achieve in your life for this coming year. And you know, as a church, we have goals as well, things that we would like to see and we’re asking God to do in us and through us as a family. We’re always looking for people who desire to serve the Lord. You know, here at our church, we we don’t particularly always come and ask the individual to seek a particular ministry they want to serve in. We just simply provide the opportunity to let you know what those ministries are. And if God works in your heart to serve in an area, we just ask you to let us know. We’re happy to help you achieve that. One of the other things that we’re about here at church is discipleship. We’re always interested in the way that we can encourage one another in the Lord, and growing and getting to know him better. You’ll see in both of your bulletins today. Those messages are communicated because you should have two pieces of information. One is studies to be involved in community groups, to grow and be a part of, in places in the church that you can serve.
One of the long term goals that we had when we started this church was to build the first freestanding church in the city of Lehi. You remember a year ago, I think just under a year ago, some of us even took a journey just up the road to a bar. It’s two blocks up, and we went inside of it and toured it. And our desire is if the Lord would open up the doors for us to even be able to have that facility, to have a church with a. How great would it be if we turned a bar into a church and we put on the Billboard Happy Hour Sunday, 1030 to 12. In fact, Stacy and I were back east in November, and that’s that’s my wife. To those of you who are new, my name is Nathaniel. Hi. Um, when we were back east in November, we had the opportunity to tour some with some area churches, let them know the needs that are here in Utah, and we asked them if they would be interested in helping us to build the first free standing church in Lehi. And while Stacy were back east, we were able to have over $60,000 pledged to us for this church family to be able to build that first freestanding church. And so, yeah, some of you didn’t know that, right? Most of us didn’t know. There’s the announcement for us.
Right. That’s a it’s a wonderful thing. And so we have lots of wonderful goals for us as a church and what we desire for God to achieve. Those are just a few of them. You know, when I think about it, the primary goal for us as a church never changes. God built his church to make disciples. And more than anything, above all other things, what we desire for you as a church family is that you could have this year just to seek the presence of God in your life, that you might have the opportunity to know and grow with him. And as you get to know the Lord personally in your own life, see the way that God works through you to to be influential in the lives of other people. God desires to know you more than anything. What God wants from you is your heart. And so for our desire for 2012, we seek the face of the Lord and his presence in our lives. But you know, as we see with all goals, there comes adversity. In fact, when I read verses in the Bible many times, I find that they they challenge me in my position with the Lord. If God wants me to walk with him, a lot of times the way I want it to go is just easy. But then I read verses like Luke chapter 12, and what I find from the Lord is that life with him isn’t always easy. It says in Luke chapter 12 and verse 52, for, for from now on, five members in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three.
They will be divided father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother in law against daughter in law. You saw that over the holidays and daughter in law against mother in law. You’re walking biblically. But, you know, I see verses like that and understand the reason that Jesus is talking about this passage of Scripture is because of him. When people make decisions to seek after the face of the Lord, not everyone enjoys your decision. And what God is saying in this passage of Scripture is that when you pursue me, it causes division. Can I say this morning the most loving thing that you can do for your family, regardless of their opinion of who Jesus is, is to pursue God with all of your heart. Amen. Because in loving the Lord the way that God desires, you’re pointing your family to the direction which God would want them to pursue as well. And just because the road might be difficult, and just because there may be some persuasion to to back off, the most loving thing that you can do for your family is seek after the face of God. Because in so doing, God changes your heart. Jesus says a verse like this and it presents to us adversity, difficulty, challenges. We set a goal to seek after the face of the Lord, and we see things like this that tell us, and the road might get complicated.
And so the question I ask is, well, how do we deal with this adversity? How do we stand strong as followers who want to seek the face of the Lord in 2012? The great news for us is that Jesus and His own example faced adversity every day. And his example to us as people spoke volumes to the individual. And how to stand strong when it seems difficult to pursue after the Lord in your life. If you bought a Bible this morning, I’m going to encourage you to turn to John chapter six. John chapter six, beginning in verse 35 and also in verse 38, it begins to share a story in the life of Jesus. And Jesus has just performed in chapter six, a glorious miracle. He’s fed over 4000 people in in one setting with just a few loaves. He’s got the masses pursuing after him right now. Some people have been pursuing after him for years, and and they’ve got to know him personally and intimately. And Jesus has got to call them his friend. In John chapter six and verse 35, Jesus begins to share a message about his pursuit in life. And Jesus said unto them, it says, I am the bread of life. It’s interesting when you look at the term bread of life. In Israel’s temple, they had a bread that they offered inside of the Holy place.
They placed it upon a table. It was to remind them of the Word of God, and they were to keep that bread fresh and change that bread every day. And in the Bible we see that the, the, the Bible is referred to as the bread of life for us. It’s to keep us fresh and renew us as we seek the face of God and reading his pages. And Jesus comes upon the scene and he says, and I also in that bread of life, he who comes to me will not hunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst. He says in verse 38, for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. Immediately Jesus begins to receive a response to the statement that he’s making. It was an unpopular statement. It says. Therefore, the Jews were grumbling about him because he said, I am the bread of life that came down out of heaven to call yourself sustaining in our lives like bread. Only God could do that. And to say that you came from the place in which God dwells. Only God does that. And the Jews began to grumble with Jesus. Says in the next verse, Jesus does what loving people do. He continues to stand for truth, not in an annoying way, but in a loving way to direct their hearts to him. He says, truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me has eternal life.
He goes on in verse 51 he says, I am the living bread that came down out of heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread also, which I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. Jesus is attempting to get these people to seek after him. He is their salvation. And it tells us again that the Jews began to argue this time rather than grumble with one another, saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat? Jesus responds once more, He who eats me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread which came down out of heaven, not as the fathers ate and died. He eats this bread will live forever. And the Jews give one final response to Jesus. It says, as Jesus stood before this crowd of masses of people, therefore many of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, this is a difficult statement. And who can listen to it? But Jesus, conscious that his disciples grumbled at this, said to them, does this cause you to stumble? What then, if you see the Son of Man ascending where he was before? It is the spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. You got the gist of what Jesus is saying, right? Take Jesus, Jesus’s life. He keeps reiterating the point and it says, but there are some of you who do not believe.
For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were, who did not believe, and who it was that would betray him. And he was saying this for this reason I have said to you that no one can come to me unless it has been granted him from the father. And listen to this verse 66. It kind of screams out to us as a result, many of his disciples withdrew and were not walking with him anymore. So Jesus said to his 12 disciples, you do not want to go away also, do you? Jesus’s disciples were in a place of abandonment. I don’t know if it was the beginning of a year. Let’s call it the beginning of 2012. Here for Jesus, with all these wonderful goals and ideas of what he sought for the Kingdom of God and the lives of people in this world, and yet there was adversity. And what we find in the life of Jesus is rather than walk away, he stood strong. And so the question we ask in the midst of Christ’s adversity, how did he stand strong? I know Jesus is God. It tells us in Colossians two nine, in his flesh the fullness of deity dwelled. But Jesus was also a man. It tells us in Philippians two that in verse five that he didn’t seek after the the glory of his godhood, but became the form of a man and served this world.
And we know in being a man Jesus experienced emotions like we experience as people. Could you imagine if you were to stand before thousands of people and one minute they love you, and the next minute you share a message and they all hate you? Could you imagine the emotions of Christ as he watched the people that he had done ministry with for years? The people that he had counted close, the ones that he had grown to love, turn their backs and walk away from him. How he would have felt. We know Jesus felt emotions because when Jesus went to the tomb of his good friend Lazarus and he saw Lazarus lying in the tomb dead, Jesus wept from his heart. Now look at this moment and I ask the question, I wonder how Jesus would have felt. Now, when we read the Scripture, we honestly don’t know how Christ would have felt in this passage of Scripture because it it doesn’t communicate to us the way Jesus feels in this particular point. But what Jesus communicated to us throughout all of his life is how we deal with situations like this. When we set goals that we know that God desires for us, and we stand strong in the midst of that adversity. And so this morning, what I want to share with you is just four simple points to how we as people can stand strong for the goals that God places on our heart for 20 2012.
The first is this the way that Jesus did, strong in adversity, the way that you can stand strong in adversity is to be secure in the father’s love. You know, we look and find acceptance in life for the things that are important to us. We value their opinion. If God’s not important to us, we will not care if God loves us. But when we talk about the context of Jesus, what Jesus enjoyed more than anything is the love that the father had for him. In fact, if you look in John chapter five, just the the verse or the chapter right before us, and in the context of the verse, it says, For the Father loves the son. What was important to Jesus is that he enjoyed the love of the father in his life. It’s been said by an important theologian that the first thing that we should seek for every morning is to surround ourselves with the love of the father. Everyone else in this world may fall away. Everything else in this world may fall apart. But the love of the father is what sustains. In fact, in thinking about the love of the father and the relationship between the father and the son can’t help but think, as John wrote the book of John, he also wrote this is in first John. I know it says John here, but this comes in first John chapter four and verse 18. It says, there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.
The context in which this passage of Scripture comes to us is talking and illustrating about the love that God has for us and the love that we have for God. And when we focus upon enjoying that love and savoring that love with one another, everything else seems to fade away. You’ve been in that puppy love moment, I’m sure, at some point in your life, right? Your parents, maybe even in high school, tell you that that guy’s a loser. Get lost. And you just can’t hear what mom says because you’re so fixed on that puppy love, right? Love for the father is much like the same way. Only more than puppy love. It endures. We focus so much on enjoying the love that he has for us, proven to us by coming to this world and dying on a cross for your sins, that we enjoy nothing more than to seek his face. And in seeking that love, all other problems and worries seem to just fade away. You give it to you. Like this. An illustration. Have you ever been away from home for a while? Or any of you have a job where you have to journey on the road for a little bit and all of a sudden, you know, Friday is coming and it’s about that time where you begin your track home and you start to think about home, what you miss, how it makes you feel, the comfort that you get when you walk in the door as you’re surrounded with people who care about you in that place.
Home is what you long for. Jesus is much the same way as if you were to go to bed every night, and you wake up every morning as if you have been away from home, and nothing that you would enjoy more in this world is than just to seek his face and enjoy his love for you. The Bible tells us that perfect love casts out fear. Can I tell you the one of the best ways to do this in our life? This is going to sound crazy for a minute, but is to not make God first in your life. That sounds like blasphemy. Don’t walk out. Don’t make God first in your life. We have a tendency to do this when we make New Year’s resolutions as we come up with a list, right? If anyone wears orange and white underwear to church, you’re kicked out. Okay? We don’t want that. All right? We’re not going to kick you out. But. But don’t worry. Orange white underwear. But this is what we tend to do. We make New Year’s resolutions and we list them out. This is what I want to achieve. Okay? God, we’re starting over this year. I know I messed up last year. So this year, number one, I’m going to love you above everything. I’m going to read my Bible. Probably I’m going to come to church at least three out of four times a week.
Month is my goal, right? We’ll make a goal like make it four for four. Okay, let’s shoot for the top four for four weeks in the month. That’s my goal. And then and then second, I’m going to love my family. And that sounds great to your family because you show up and you’re like, honey, I love you. Second. How does that go over? Rather than make God first in your life and rather than prioritize it, the tendency is when we do this is we segregate our life. I come to church, and church is Sunday and this is the day I love God. And then Monday is the day I do this, and Tuesday is the day I do this, and and Wednesday is the day. Whatever. You know, we just we prioritize it day by day rather than make God first in your life. How about this we make God the center of our lives. What God desires to be is in the middle of every activity of your life. God is not about a God of Sunday. He’s a God of Monday through Saturday too. God wants to be as much involved with your life right now as he does when you go to work on Monday morning, or when you’re home taking care of the kids on Tuesday and they’re screaming at the top of their lungs. God wants to be in that moment.
God wants to be there in your challenges and adversity. God wants to be there in the joy and triumphs. In fact, in Colossians it says this Colossians 115, he is the image of the invisible God. For by him all things were created both in the heavens and on the earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things have been created through him and for him. You got that? Jesus is the center of it all, and he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Jesus is the center, not first. He is the center of everything in this world. The way that we stand strong in adversity is to seek the face of God’s love for us in this world, to understand that God loves you. To understand that what God desires more than anything is your heart. He doesn’t care what you do as much as he cares just about you. God loves you and God wants you to spend time with him. And perfect love casts out fear. And when the weight of the world is on your shoulders, if you can take the moment to pause in your life and enjoy the love of the father, some of that worry and that fear and that tragedy begins to fade away as you seek him, like you seek the love and comfort of your home. As you seek him to be the center of your life rather than just first in your life.
Second is this not only do we surround ourselves with the love of God, but we also play for an audience of one. We live life for an audience of one. Jesus’s life wasn’t about entertaining the masses. God didn’t care that if on the third year of the Sabbath, if there were more people attending church than there was on the second year of the Sabbath. Jesus knew his goal in this world was to seek the will of the father. It says in John chapter six and verse 38, I have come to do the will of God who sent me, not what I want. Can I tell you in your life, when you live for an audience of one, when you do things for God, it doesn’t complicate life. It simplifies. If you live life to please people, if you respond to this world because of loneliness and fear, or you respond to this world because of popularity or convenience or feel good. Can I tell you as a pastor, I will drive myself crazy if that becomes my job to make everybody happy. I can’t make everybody happy. But to simplify life, there’s one objective. I live for the will of the father. I play for an audience of one tells us in John chapter six and verse four, John chapter six and verse 18. Your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. And whether it’s in a public forum with thousands of people or behind the scenes, God is always watching what you’re doing.
And his desire is that you live for an audience of one, that we simplify our lives for him, but we’re not going to care about loving God if we don’t first accept the love of God in our lives. If you don’t experience God’s love, you will not live for his love. But if you begin to experience his love, you can respond with love. And the interest in your life will be to play for an audience of one. In fact, it says that in first John 419, we love him because he first loved us. The way that we begin to live for an audience of one in our lives is that we just fill ourselves with the love of God. We understand for what he created us for in this world, we. We see that he came to this world to die for our sins. We see that he desires nothing more than to know us. We see that he he provides opportunity to get to know him by church, family, and or the Word of God, or working in our hearts and in our lives and in those loving things that God has done for us. We can respond with love for him. Jesus had a purpose. Jesus made life simple. It wasn’t about pushing people away, though. People did leave him. It was about seeking the will of the father because Jesus knew and seeking the will of the father.
It was the most loving thing he could do for people, because in loving God, above all other things, he could show people the way to understand and grow in a relationship with God in their own lives. People aren’t concerned with what God thinks because they don’t love him. People aren’t concerned with what God wants. If we’re honest, is because they don’t love him. Do you know that it is possible to skip church on Sunday in the center of God’s will? Some of you can nudge your spouse right now and be like, yes, we’re coming back at least one more time. It is possible to skip church on Sunday in the center of God’s will. For instance, you work late one night, had to take an extra shift. You wake up and you know if you come on Sunday. Church, when it starts at 1030, you get off at ten. You’re just going to sleep through the service. Might be better to go home, get some sleep. I don’t want you driving home and racking after church. Right? Your family’s sick. Maybe it’s a good idea just to minister to them, stay home and take care of your kids and your spouse. If if they’re sick, it’s possible to skip church in the center of God’s will. But you know what I fear and the decisions that we make is that when we do things like, I don’t know, skip church, it’s not because we’re seeking God’s will. We don’t come to church on Sunday because our interest is God.
What I desire this morning is just to love you. We come because it’s for us, or we skip church and sleep in on Sunday morning rather than come and be a part. Not because we cared if it was God’s will, it’s just because that morning it was just more convenient to sleep in. Good job staying up till midnight and coming to church today, by the way. That’s good. God’s desire more than anything. Seek his love in your life. Live life to play for an audience of one. And when the rest of the crowd seems to fade away, it’s not going to matter to you. Because you know what you’re standing for. So when you stand and live life for the response of other people rather than God, it’s persuaded by the response of the crowd. Jesus could have looked at that moment, and all those people began to leave him because he’s standing with the father. And he said, you know what? You know what you know. Don’t leave. I take all that back. Love me, please just love me. Please don’t make me feel lonely. Or please just accept what I’m stating. Or let’s just forget it and all seek to feel good. But what Jesus desired more than anything in his priorities, to stand strong for the Lord was to play for that audience of one. And can I encourage you to do that? Because that sounds hard.
That sounds hard to stand for the Lord when it seems unpopular. But let me give you a few more points that can encourage you to do so. Third is this learn to process life with your inner circle. What I mean by that is even Jesus didn’t do it alone. Remember what Jesus said to the 12 disciples? He said in this passage of Scripture, Jesus said to the 12, you do not want to go away also, do you? And Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God. Even Jesus didn’t do ministry in this world alone. He had the 12 disciples with him. Out of those 12, we know that one deserted. But even in the 12 he had an inner circle Peter, James, and John. And even out of Peter, James, and John he had Peter, who was very close to him. And Peter made the remarks here, Lord, where in the world are we going to go? And so can I tell you this morning, if you want to stand strong in adversity, learn to bounce everything off of your inner circle. Learn to trust and and and and listen to what your inner circle speaks into your life. And let me tell you what I mean by inner circle. We all need someone in our life that is willing to tell us.
That.
We have spinach in our teeth. You know what I mean? Do you have those friends? You go to a restaurant, you order something with green in it, and then you start chewing. The next thing you know, you smile and they look at you and say, spinach in your teeth, man. We all need someone in our life that is willing to tell us you’ve got spinach in your teeth. What I mean by that is we need someone in our life that’s going to speak very important and relevant truth when we’re going in this world and we’re living selfishly and we are messing up. We need someone that loves us enough to say to us, hey, you’re off track. Someone that cares enough to speak into your life and tell you I think you’re missing the mark. Yeah. I can’t tell you everything that God wants in your life. But I can tell you what God probably doesn’t want. And right now, you’re making a stupid decision. Everyone needs a friend that tells them they have spinach in her teeth. Second is this. You all need a homie. Everyone needs a homie who’s got your back. You think about it for a minute. When everything in the world seems to slip away. When you’re losing something important to you, you need somebody around you. You need somebody to let you know they’ve got your back. Jesus. In these moments, we don’t know what was going on emotionally in his mind as he looked at these thousands of people that were walking away from hope and eternal life in Christ.
And he turns to Peter, and I’m thinking, he’s asking Peter, are you my homie? Bible says this in Ephesians chapter four as a prisoner for the Lord. Then I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle. Be patient, bearing with one another in love. And you know what? If you’re a homie of someone else, your friend isn’t always going to make it easy to love them. And it says in verse two that anyway, regardless, you have made the decision that regardless, you’ve got that person’s back. In verse three, make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace. And when you guys don’t get along, you’ll work it out. You don’t abandon each other. You work it out. And so this morning, if you feel like you’re kind of on an oasis all by yourself and and you’re looking for some more hopes and dreams and some satisfaction in your life. Let me encourage you. Don’t leave church without your homie, right? Ask this question. Or if you’re not a homie, maybe a honky, right? I ask this question this morning. I don’t know what that means. I don’t even know what that means. I ask this question. Seriously, find your homie this morning. Ask this some question. Um, if I have spinach in my teeth, will you tell me if I’m messing up in life? Will you speak that truth? Maybe you can ask him when the rest of the world seems to be falling away. Will you fight for me? Our kids, you can tell.
Have them this morning. They have got each other’s backs. But to stand in the middle of adversity, the encouragement to us to seek the father’s love. Second, play for an audience of one. Third, get your homie. And fourth is this trust in God’s sovereignty. Matthew ten and verse 28 to 31 says, do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul, but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear. You are more valuable than many sparrows. Well, Jesus is saying in this passage of Scripture, as you know, these people lost out and left and they abandoned me. But big deal. He knows what the importance of life is, and he knows his value in this world. And Jesus is saying the same thing to you When the world seems to be slipping away and adversity seems to be coming our way, and we need to stand strong in that moment, that to know that regardless of what anything in this world circumstantially might happen to us, God has got it under control. It tells us in Romans 828, For God works all things out together for good to those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. You know my favorite part of this whole story in John chapter six is, is what Jesus doesn’t do.
Because I know what church people sometimes will do. But I love what Jesus doesn’t do in this passage of Scripture. And let me tell you, Jesus doesn’t complain. I know I’ve read it a bunch of times. I look for it. He didn’t complain. Jesus didn’t get angry. Jesus didn’t get wrathful. Jesus didn’t get fearful. In the moment. All Jesus did was trust the will of the father. Listen, in the end, we know when Jesus hung on the cross, every one of his disciples abandoned him. Every disciple ran away. And in those moments, he had no one else to help hold him up. But I can tell you, in the end, God’s sovereignty wins out anyway. God works everything together for good to those who love him. Trust in the sovereignty rather than complain, understand that God sees your moment. Rather than get angry, allow God to work in that moment. And if his wrath needs to come down, let God’s wrath come down. It’s far worse than yours anyway. But trust in him to work through that moment. How do you overcome adversity? To stand strong? Allow the experience of God’s love to be most important to you. Long for it like you long for home. Make him the center of your life rather than first in your life. Love him by playing for him as an audience of one, life becomes far less complicated. Finding encouragement in other Christians and trusting God’s sovereignty to satisfy. We’re going to take communion in just a moment. What I want to invite you to do right now is just go ahead and bow your heads for just a moment.
The most loving thing that we can do is to pursue the face of God in the midst of adversity. Because in doing so, we show other people the way to trust and hope and the experience of love that they can have with the Lord. This is the beginning of 2012, an opportunity to renew our hearts with Christ, an opportunity to seek his face more than anything this year, above all the goals that we have, that is our desire here at alpine that you have the opportunity to grow close in your relationship with the Lord and he become the center of your life, giving you an opportunity just to talk to him. Whatever desire that you have for this year, just to seek his face and ask him to direct it. Let me pray for us. God, we just thank you for this morning. Thank you, Lord, that you love us. God, thank you for your grace and mercy. We thank you so much that God you care for us, that you meet our needs. God that you supply the strength that we need in this world. God, we love you, God. May this be a year that we seek your face. May every year be a year, Lord, that we seek to desire to live for you and love you and serve you and know you God. We look forward to everything that you have for us in 2012. And it’s in your name we pray. Amen.