More | Week 6

Any anybody agree? Now, if you're probably a teenager, you absolutely disagree with that statement maybe right now, but you'll learn. And

and I realized like, you know, my mom taught me a lot of wisdom, and and no matter what age you are, you know that moms often teach you wisdom, but you know, there's there's there's there's obvious wisdom. There's things that your mom my mom taught me that paid off immediately, and it worked.

I mean, I mean, she was a couple things that that that she did like she she taught me how to hit a curveball. I've preached that before and and and so that immediately paid off. I couldn't hit a curveball. My dad had no patience with me on it. She taught me how it paid for college.

So thanks, mom. That was good. That was an obvious one. But the weird thing is those things that mom will do that at the time you think sounds ridiculous. But over time, you find out was wise. For example, my mom did several of those. One of them was she always said, take care of your teeth and your feet.

Yeah. Everyone who laughs at that every service is my age or older. It's like, you get it. Like, take care of your teeth or feet. It's like, we go to buy shoes. I want these shoes. Are they sturdy? And she would always yell at me because we're bad here in Arizona. We'd wear flip flops all summer. She goes, don't wear flip flops all the time. It's bad for your feet. You're going to pay for it later. Whatever, mom. And now when I wake up in the morning and I'm walking on, you know, plantar fasciitis on my feet, I'm like, oh, I'm walking like my mom did. Now, I know why she told me that and then when I go for my fifth crown, I'm like, man, I should have taken better care of my teeth because you know what? If you don't take care of your teeth, your teeth will take care of your wallet.

I'm just telling you. And so she said something like, but at the time, it didn't make sense. It really didn't. The other one she told me is is, take a speech class.

Speech I go, why? I don't wanna take a speech class. You're gonna want it. You need to know how to speak. And I go, well, I I have no desire or plan to do any career where I'm standing in front of people talking. Thanks, mom. I took a speech class. And

the other the other one that was weirder was she finally said, learn computers. She told me this in the seventies. Nobody had computers. There was no home computers. There there were there was nothing. A computer was the size of this room.

And there was only three careers that used computers. Computer installer, computer repairman, and computer programmer. That was it. No one else actually used a computer. And she goes, do it. I go, why? Because someday, you're gonna need to use computers. And someday, you might even work for one.

Work for one? Like, this was before Terminator movies. Did she foresee a robot apocalypse and we had computer overlords? Don't know. But she was right about the learn computers. I can't do a meeting as a pastor without everybody with their computers.

It's crazy. It's like if computer like, we're sitting there at work, and all of sudden the network went down. No one can get on the Internet. Everyone leaves. And then they they should thank Drew for the day off because he didn't fix the network. Congratulations by way. Haven't seen you since you got married. Good job.

So anyways, I just got distracted there seeing Drew. But moms give us wisdom that sometimes, at the time, seems weird. But you know what the greatest bit of wisdom I got from my mom? And it wasn't something she said. It was just the way she lived.

This wisdom is why I have even stuck in ministry, even when there's been dark nights, dark times. And it was simply this, she found that there is absolute joy and satisfaction and significance found when you live your life not for yourself.

That's really why we celebrate Mother's Day, because a good mom is someone that is probably living her life focused on others. But my mom went beyond my she just that's where she found joy. She lived a life and she made her life not about herself.

And she found real joy in that. And the truth is, it wasn't just her personality. She hit on the wisdom that comes from scripture. It's the wisdom that actually comes right out of the book we've been looking at. This series we've been in called More. We've been going through this book called Ecclesiastes.

And it's the story of a man named Solomon, who kind of autobiographical, sharing how he was the richest man who ever lived, the wisest man who ever lived. He decided instead of taking the advice of his dad to just honor God, go after God first, and

live your life for Him and serving and trusting Him. He decided, I'm going go try to find meaning in everything else. He ran after all these things we've looked at over the last few weeks. He ran after political activism. He ran after working hard. He ran after wealth. He ran after pleasure. He ran after all of these kind of things that ironically,

he wrote this almost three thousand years ago, and the list of the things that we try to go find significance in life out of is still the same list. And what he discovered was no matter how much more of that you get, how much more money you get, more fun, more good experiences,

more change, more this. No matter how much more you get, you end up with less. Because why we run after more of these things is that God built us with a longing for more. But it was built with a longing for more of eternity.

Meaning, the more of a relationship with the God who created us. And it doesn't matter how much more we run after in this world, it'll never ever satisfy that longing. And so at the end of the book, he finally gives us the wisdom, kind of like when I think of my mom and moms, he realized that he had some wisdom.

This whole book is declaring a wisdom that when we're young, we think is weird, but in the end, we find out we should have listened. In chapter 12 of Ecclesiastes, he starts off saying this, don't let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your creator.

Honor him in your youth before you grow old and say life is not pleasant anymore.

He then goes on for the next six verses to describe old age in a beautiful and poetic way. In a way I never understood, but every every day now it seems I'm understanding it more and more. And what he's saying is, I should have listened to my dad, the advice he gave me when I was a kid. I should have listened to that wisdom of

seek God. Seek that relationship with him. I'm telling you, if you're a young person in this room, I don't care if mom or dad dragged you here. The smartest thing you're ever gonna hear is remember God while you're young.

You're gonna think church is boring. God's whatever. I wanna go do my own thing. Take it from this old guy. He was a trillionaire. A trillionaire. You know how many toys and game systems I would buy? He had everything. And in his older age, he realized I got nothing out of that. And he says, should have remembered God

before I got old and realized I wasted so much of my life. So he's saying at the end, remember that. And then he ends the book with how do you do that? He basically says in verse 13, that's the whole story. Here is now my final conclusion. Fear God and obey his commands,

for this is everyone's duty. So basically, he says to remember God, fear him and follow him. Meaning, have this respect for him. Meaning, make my life about where God wants me to go, and then follow him and and and be in a relationship with him. Pursue that relationship. Go after what he's called me to go after. Be a part of his kingdom. Be a part of what he has for me. Even if it seems scary.

Trust him. And that is the only way you're gonna find more. In other words, the big idea I wanna unpackage here today by looking at a different story is simply this. The secret to to to a life of more. If you really want more out of life, the secret to a life of more is to make it less about me.

The secret to a life of more is to make it less about me.

And that's what he's saying here. Because watch, there's a a New Testament passage I wanna read, and we're gonna go back to a great story in the Old Testament and unpackage that the rest of the time. But it's it's it's Matthew six thirty three. And in Matthew six thirty three, it it says this.

Seek the kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously,

and he will give you everything you need. That righteously doesn't mean you live perfectly. It means live in right relationship with God. Seek to live in the relationship with God the way he wants you to live with him. Follow him. But he says, what's the first thing you need to do?

Seek the kingdom. So that means don't make it about yourself.

Don't run after what you think you need. That says it's about me. Run after what God says. Go after his kingdom first. Sell out. Live in right relation with God, and seek his kingdom, and you'll have all you need. Now, this verse comes in context that he just got done teaching him about, hey, you guys are worried about what you're gonna eat, where you're gonna live, what you're gonna wear.

He basically that's back then, that was their their concerns of their life. Do I food? Do I have shelter? Do I have clothes?

We would add, what phone am I gonna have? What car am I gonna drive? Where am I gonna live? What job am I gonna have? You know, all these you know, am I gonna get a boat? Where am I gonna go on vacation? Do I have money to do this? Can I do that? We have all these other things. But basically, he says, you guys are so worried about everyday living.

And you think the purpose of life is to worry about how you get more of that. And you're gonna miss it. What you need to do is seek the kingdom of God and living in right relationship with God first. And when you do that, God then says, I promise you'll have what you need.

Well, that's true, why don't we do that? If that's true, why is most churches, even this church, filled with Christians that just don't do that? Because that's terrifying. You know why? Because to seek the kingdom first means sometimes,

not making it about you and seeking the kingdom, the way God takes you, the road looks like a road of less. It looks like a terrifying road of less. It's almost like you come to two roads. And and Jesus even describes there's a road

that leads to death. It looks wide open and inviting. And a road that leads to life. And it's narrow. He's almost describing like, if you're gonna go kingdom first, you're gonna come across these two roads. You're trying to get somewhere, you come to this intersection. One is an on ramp to a beautifully awesome, well lit,

great freeway with no traffic.

Like, that's gotta be the way and then it says, the Kingdom Way. God says, I want you to be on this road. You look alternate route and you look at the dirt road with bumps and it's overgrown. There's no lighting. It's dark. It's scary and there's even red dot eyes staring out of the darkness at you. And God says, that's the kingdom way. And you're like, but I

that seems like less. That seems like more. I want more. And God's like, trust me.

Just like the idea of if you really want more in your life, make it less about you. You wanna receive, you give. You wanna have real joy, you serve. But we don't like doing that. Because the wide road seems safer. The problem is God's not on the wide road. God didn't die for that road. God died to take us down a specific road.

And it only works the secret to more is the kingdom first. That's really what Solomon is saying at the end. I should have stuck to what my father told me to do, and I didn't. But I want to show you how less, the way that looks like less, the way of kingdom first really turns into more

when you don't make it about yourself by looking at a great story in the Old Testament. It's great for Mother's Day. It's a story of a woman named Ruth. Anybody ever heard the story of Ruth before?

Fun story. You're gonna like it. We're gonna we're gonna look through it. Now if it's it's early on in the Bible. It's on page two fifty. It starts in my Bible. So if you have the exact same Bible as me, page two fifty.

And and the story of Ruth takes place in the time of Judges in the Old Testament. It was the period in Israel called this era of the Judges. They had no king, but the weird thing about the period of the Judges is it says everybody did what was right in their own eyes. I did a series not too long ago called Right in the Eye.

And and it really was they lived in this culture that said everybody had their own truth and you can't judge me and I'm gonna do what I want to do. So you're gonna have to work hard because I know that doesn't relate to our culture at all. Alright. You're with me. Good job. You're paying attention.

And and and in this period of time, there was a famine that happened in the land of Israel. And so a family by a man by the name Elimelech and his wife Naomi, and their two sons moved to Moab, a foreign country. And why they were there, the two sons married Moabite women. One of the women was named Orpah, not Oprah, Orpah.

The other one was named Ruth, which the book is named after. It's the story, her story. And and and as they lived there in this foreign land, married to the the the these sons, after ten years, the sons both had died, and Elimelech died. So now Naomi, the mother-in-law,

is a widow living in a foreign land in a time when it would be bad to be a widow, and it'd even worse to be in a foreign land. All she has there is two daughter in laws that are both widows now.

So what she finds out is the the the famine has ended back home. So she's decided, you know what? It'd be better off if I'm gonna be poor and broke and alone. I'm gonna go home. You know, I'm just gonna I'm gonna go back home to to my people. Well, at first, the two daughters in laws decide to go with her. But then she encourages them to stay.

And it sounds like it makes sense.

What she tells them is, why would you do this? If you come with me, you're gonna be the widows that are poor and broke in a foreign land. You're gonna have less opportunity, because you're probably not gonna get married, because because the Jewish guys, you know, they're they're taught they they don't want to marry the foreigners. So so you're gonna end up

just growing old and dying with me, where and you and I'm poor, and I'm going back to poverty. I don't know what's gonna happen. So you're gonna end up with less opportunity, less hope, less stuff. Stay here with your families.

You'll have more. You'll be taken care of. You're young. They pray if it's been ten years they've been married, sadly, they're probably still in their mid twenties.

They're not that old. So you could go on with your life. You have much more opportunity. It made more sense from a worldly point of view to go that direction. Well, Orpah decides, you know what? You're right. I'll stay.

But Ruth does something different. That's where we pick up the story in verse 14 of chapter one. It says, and again they wept together because they're saying goodbye. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye. But Ruth clung tightly to Naomi.

Look, Naomi, said to her. Your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. You should do the same. But Ruth replied, don't ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go. Wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your god will be my god. She had faith in their God.

So because of that faith in God, she goes, I'm not gonna stay here. This isn't my God. I wanna go with you. Wherever you die but then she's also committed to her. I wanna love God and love you.

Wherever you die, I will die, and there I'll be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us. When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said nothing more. So she said it pretty boldly. So

she basically declares this, I'm gonna seek first the kingdom of God and make my life not about me.

I care for her. I care for Naomi. I don't want her to go off and be alone. So I'm willing to go a route that looks like it's gonna lead to less for me because I'm not gonna make it about me. I'm gonna make it my relationship with God, love God, and loving others.

And so they go. And when they get there, it's exactly what Naomi expected. They're impoverished. And Naomi, Ruth goes out and starts working to support them just so they can eat. And she gets the only job she can go do is she gleans. I don't know if you know what gleaning is from the Old Testament, but it was basically

their version of going and sitting by a freeway off ramp with a cardboard sign. It's begging. What you would do is when they would harvest the fields, they had a law. This is how they would take care of poor people. It's like they're they're, you know, whatever.

They would as they harvested the fields and they cut, they weren't allowed to pick up little scraps that would fall here and there. Only take what you got. You can't if you're sloppy, you can't pick stuff up, and the poor people were allowed to follow behind, and they get to pick up the scraps, and that's what they ate. That's what Ruth was doing to support them. Basically, she's barely getting enough food for them to maybe eat.

That's how they're living. But she chose to do that. That seems like a choice to make it about not her, but Naomi. It seems terrible, doesn't it?

Well, why she's in this field? The guy who owns the field that she's in this one day is named Boaz. And he sees that she doesn't he doesn't recognize who she is, so she asked some of the word, hey, who is that? And he hears about her story.

So he tells the guys, hey, throw extra stuff, take care of her, and that's why I wanna pick up the story, because she comes over and Boaz talks to her. So Boaz went over in chapter two verse eight, and said to Ruth, listen my daughter, stay right here with us when

you gather grain. Don't go to any other field. Stay right behind the young women working in my field. See which part of the field they are harvesting, and then follow them. I have warned the young men not to treat you roughly.

And when you are thirsty, help yourself to the water they have drawn from the well. You can even drink their juice boxes if you want, is what he's saying. Ruth fell at his feet and thanked him warmly. What have I done to deserve such kindness? She asked. I'm only a foreigner.

Yes, know, Boaz replied. But I also know about everything you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband. I have heard how you left your father and mother in your own land to live here among complete strangers. May the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge,

seek ye first the kingdom of God. May he reward you fully for what you have done, Took care of her needs. Now what's interesting is Boaz reached out and he gave her he started the story goes on, he was helping her out extra. Why would he do that?

He has nothing to gain by this either. Boaz is a God fearing man. He's a kingdom guy. And he just chooses to help her.

He chooses to do this. He chooses not to make it about himself. I mean, what do do? Even if even if he, like, thought she was hot or something like that and wanted to marry her, that would be a weird thing. To marry a foreigner would would would not be a really respectable thing to do either. Here's the crazy part.

For those of like little biblical insight nuggets. Does anyone know in the Bible who's who Boaz's mother was?

Her name was Rahab. She was a foreigner. When the Israelites were going to take the land of Israel, it was controlled by other people. And there was a city called Jericho. And that was the first city the Israelites took.

And when they went in, they sent spies, and the spies needed to hide. And a prostitute living in Jericho named Rahab took them in and hid them. And said,

I basically believe in your God. And even though we have the great walled city, I believe that your God and your people are gonna be victorious here. I know it, and I wanna help you out. Could you please just spare my family?

That's all I want. Spare my family. And they said, okay. And they did. Well, Rahab ended up marrying one of the Israelites. That was Boaz's mom. She was a foreigner in a tough spot, working a job as a prostitute that put her faith in God and wanted their people to be your people. So I think when Boaz heard her story,

he saw a lot of his mom. He learned to love others. He learned to care about that. He was willing because he had learned it from his own mother's story. Isn't that cool how God works? When you put his kingdom first, he provides in ways you can't imagine.

That's the problem. We we fear kingdom first because when we look in our own logical sense and how the world normally works, you go, if I give,

I won't have enough. If I serve, I won't have enough time. If I love someone and don't make it about myself, then I'm gonna be drained. If I do this, I won't have. We have this weird economy that we can't see how God can work it out. Because guess why? God is smarter than us. You can't see how he's gonna work it out because he's gonna work it out in a way you never expected.

And that's what's so cool about it. So she goes home and tells her her, mother-in-law, and she goes, Boaz? I know Boaz. He's one of your kin. And she hatches this crazy idea.

You need to doll yourself up. Go where he's sleeping. Snuggle up next to him. And hopefully, it'll lead one thing will lead to another, and then that other thing will happen. And in this culture, if that other thing happens, that's as good as a marriage contract. So now you got him to marry you, and and he could be the kinsman redeemer.

The family redeemer. Now that's a weird thing we don't understand in our culture. I gotta take time to understand the power of the story.

For Israel, God gave them the land. It was broken down by the by the tribes, was the families, and different families got allotment of land. You're supposed to keep your land. You could sell your land if you're impoverished. You can go, but in the year of Jubilee, every time they had fifty years, it was supposed to revert back to the original families. That never happened. They never did it. Israel resisted God. Once they got land, they didn't want to give it up. They were more about themselves,

which is part of the reason

they went into captivity. But anyways, they're supposed to do this, but the importance was the land was this inheritance. So they would track the inheritance through the male heirs. It would stay in the male's family name. So that's what they would do. So here's the problem. Naomi's gone home,

and the reason she recommended, maybe this is a chance for a kinsman redeemer. My son's died. I'm too old to have a kid. But to lose her whole legacy, the whole family legacy, her husband's legacy, her son's legacy, her family legacy,

they need to have a kinsman redeemer. Which was in their culture was if you didn't have a male heir, the closest relative, like a brother or something of the husband, is supposed to marry the widow in order to produce an heir. Well, Naomi's too old. So it would have to be Ruth.

So now Ruth has an opportunity to try to marry a guy she barely knows in order to save Naomi and the family name and the land. Naomi has a crazy idea. It's not real God honoring. Basically, get him to just, in the heat of the moment, do something, kinsman redeemer.

But they she does it doesn't work that way. They sit up. They talk. Boaz is an honorable man. And in that moment, this is thousands, thousands years ago. Such a modern woman. She looks at him and basically proposes to him. She goes, listen, we're trying to save Naomi's land.

Will you be the kinsman redeemer? Basically, will you marry me? And he says, yes. There is nothing in here that says there was romance going on. Could have been.

He probably liked her story, but whatever reason, he chose to go the way. And you know what? Here, it could cost him. Kinsman's Redeemer doesn't gain you something. It could actually hurt cost you. You're doing it solely for the sake of redeeming this relative of yours, legacy.

And and and and so he says, yes. But he says, there's another relative that's higher up on the list. He's a closer one. He has the choice, the first rights.

And and so he goes, I'll go take care of it. And in chapter four, you actually see God all over this without it actually mentioning God. Because it says Boaz went to the town gate and took a seat there. How did you find somebody back then? If you didn't actually know where their house was or whatever. You you you didn't have cell phones. You have this. So you everybody would pass through the town gate at some point. So he goes, I'm gonna go sit at the town gate. That could sometimes take days.

So he's probably there waiting. He goes to sit down. He's alright. This might take a while, but I'm gonna sit here. Gets his little pop seat out. Sits down. You know, and and and gets ready to go. And it says, he sat at the gate, and it says, just then the family redeemer you had mentioned came by.

You don't think God's doing something here? He goes, I'm gonna do the honorable thing. I'm gonna take care of you. But I gotta go find this other guy. Right? Have no idea when he's gonna show up. Oh, there he is. He's like there. Right then and there. And he's like so he goes over to him, and and and it says,

come over here and sit down, friend. I wanna talk to you. So they sat down together. Then Boaz called 10 leaders from the town and asked them to sit as witnesses. That was a biblical thing. If you're gonna do this family redeemer, you had to make it an official deal. You needed witnesses.

And he goes, and Boaz said to the family redeemer, you know Naomi who came back from Moab. She is selling the land that belonged to our relative Elimelech. I thought I should speak to you about it so that you can redeem it if you wish.

If you want the land, then buy it here in the presence of these witnesses. But if you don't want it, let me know right away because I'm the next in line to redeem it after you. Well, the mayor replied, alright, I'll redeem it.

But then Boaz says, of course, your purchase of the land from Naomi also requires that you marry Ruth, the Moabite widow. That way she can have children who will carry on her husband's name and keep the land in the family.

So he didn't realize. He probably, oh, I know Naomi. She's too old. So I can marry, redeem the land, and the land will stay in with me.

And he goes, no no no. The daughter-in-law came. You're gonna have to marry this foreign woman and produce a kid, and then all that land is gonna be in their name. Elimelech's name. You don't get anything out of it. And he so what does he say? Well, then I can't do it.

Verse six, he goes, I can't redeem it. The family redeemer replied, because he says, look, he says, because this might endanger my own estate.

You d redeem it. I cannot do it. You know what they I cannot. He says, I will not. Now, there seems to be something in it. Not only would he get nothing out of it. When he thought he was just getting some land, okay. But when he found out he didn't get the land, he actually said it would actually maybe endanger his own estate. So it went even deeper.

The reality is, it could have been that this guy did not have a male heir of his own yet either. So what it's saying is, woah. Woah. Woah. Wait. If I have to marry and produce an heir, that land stays. But then if I die with no other heirs, then since that's the family redeemer child,

all of my land now goes into that name. So I'll lose mine too. There is no indication that Boaz had any kids. He was willing to take that deal. For the sake of Naomi and for the sake of Ruth, he was willing to do the deal that this guy wouldn't. See, this guy said I can't take that's the path of less.

If if I redeem this, that's gonna cost me. Once again, Ruth took the path that looked like less. Boaz did the same thing. This guy wouldn't do it. And ironically, it doesn't even give us his name.

So Boaz marries her. He takes the risk.

They end up having a son. If you look down in verse 17, it says, the neighbor women said, now at last Naomi has a son in it. Meaning she has an heir, her grandson. And they named him Obed. This is cool. You know what Obed means in Hebrew? Servant. You know what it means to be a servant? Means it's not about you.

They named their son, basically, it's not about me. That's what his name was. It's not about me.

In this story, that sounds like a beautiful story of, wow, it seems like the story was Ruth and Boaz realized they went kingdom first. They took the way that looked like less, and they end up with more, and God blessed him. And they're married. She ended up secure. They have a kid. They have this they secured Naomi's land. It seems like they got what they wanted, and that was the moral of the story. Do you realize the story of Ruth, even though it seems like it's about Ruth, it's not about Ruth.

Here's what's funny. When we go after the kingdom, even when it does seem like it's about us, it's not about us. Did you know that? This whole story is not in here just to say, hey, look at how nice it was that Ruth trusted God, and she got what she she she got blessed in the end. That's not the point of the story. The point of the story is they had a son named Obed, and he was named servant, which is another reminder of it's not about you. Even the story when it seems like it's about you, it's not about you. If you trust God, you get blessed. You get to be a part of it, but you're really a part of a bigger story. You're a part of something so much bigger and so much better that that's where the real satisfaction in life comes from.

Because if you read the rest of who Obed was, look what it says next. He became the father of Jesse and the grandfather of David. So that made him the great grandfather of who? Solomon. The one who wrote the book of Ecclesiastes. And if you look into Matthew chapter one, starting from Abraham,

which was before them, read the genealogy. And that genealogy in Matthew chapter one runs right through Ruth and Boaz, right through Obed, through David, through Solomon, and you keep going down until you end up with who? Jesus. Who said, I did not come to be served, but to serve. He is the servant of all servants.

He is the ultimate family redeemer. He is the one who came to redeem all of us. Not land, not legacy, but us.

And the story of Ruth is a prophetic image. A story of who Jesus is gonna be. It's the story of all stories. And Ruth and Boaz could have missed it like Orpah, an unnamed dude that wouldn't do it. They could have missed out because they wanted more land, more stability, more security, and they weren't a part of it.

If we choose kingdom first, you're a part of a story that's bigger than anything you could ever possibly be a part of. And you really will get more. You really will get more. The question is, do you see it? And are you willing to trust the Lord? Are you willing to say, what in my life have I made it about me?

Where do I need what do I need to shift to be kingdom first? What do I need to do to be on mission with the Lord? What do I need to go? Even if it seems like that road to less, it's the only way to more.

That's what Solomon's saying. But a lot of us in this room are gonna sit there and do the same thing he did. You're not gonna listen to the wisdom because it sounds weird. Just like a lot of things I didn't listen to my mom on.

And you know what we're gonna miss? We're gonna miss the joy of real meaning in our life and real satisfaction. Because you know I watched my mom. And when you understand where real joy and satisfaction comes from, that can happen despite your circumstances. You are unchained from joy and fulfillment and happiness

from being controlled by your circumstances. The type of joy, fulfillment, and significance God wants to give you can happen despite your circumstances.

So you're not controlled by it. And I learned that with my mom because my mom died in 2003. She died about eight and a half weeks after my dad died. My dad just keeled over and died, had a heart attack. And in the process, my mom discovered they had missed a breast cancer that had metastasized.

It was in her bones. It was through her whole body. And my mom lived her whole life taking care of others. And she had a lot of ups and downs. Had If anyone, and this bone cancer, it was brutal. She was in brutal agony. The only thing you can be thankful for is she died within six, seven weeks of finding out.

But I am telling you, if I had a choice of how to die, I'll take the way my dad went. Here when we gone. It was torturous. If any person could say, why God? And be bitter, and angry, and just go to their death just shaking their fist, you think it could be my mom. But that's not what she did.

She was in the hospital, thought it wasn't gonna happen, then she got a little bit better. They sent her home, which was a mistake. She ended up being home for like three days. Back in hospital, in hospice, died five days later. In that two, three day period she was home. And it was terrible.

I went to see her and I brought my friend Randy. We just wanted to sit with her. And she was in so much pain. She couldn't even sleep. She couldn't lay down. She could only find a little bit of repent, which she was super drugged up. She was leaning in a wheelchair.

She was sitting in this wheelchair looking all funky. And it was the closest thing she can get to just not being screaming in agony. And as she sat there, like, we're over there feeling so bad for her, wanting to take care of her. She looks at us and she goes, you boys want a drink?

We're like, yeah. And then my friend goes, I'll get it. He goes, no, wanna get it. He goes, no, I'll get it. Goes, let me get it. But she couldn't even get up. She couldn't roll her thing. She had to Fred Flintstone it. She put her toes on the ground. It was like, do do do do, would drag herself. And she was moving like this slow

across the room. And so my friend Maggie goes, Diana, let me get it. And I knew. I knew better. I wasn't gonna say anything. Mom's

forbiddable enough. Don't give her cancer. She's going to be, you know, she's going to wreck you, man. So, he's like, she's moving real slow. He goes, let me get it. She goes, no, I'm going do it. Let me get it. No, Randy. He finally goes over. He puts his hand on her shoulder. Go, Dana, let me get the drinks. She grabbed his arm, looked him in the face, and said, Randy Deal, don't you dare

take this from me.

Why would she say that? What did she mean?

She learned where joy really came from. I have my son and his friend in my house, and I find real joy in making it not about me. And maybe this is the last time I'll be able to do this, but I'm gonna drag my butt in there, and I'm gonna get him a soda. Because you know what she was thinking?

If I can't do that, why am I still breathing? How many people, how many of us think that way? If I can't serve this way, if I can't make it about someone else, I don't need to be alive anymore. Because when she made it about other people, that's what made her alive. And that was not her natural personality.

Somebody said, well, she learned to be that way. She found joy in that, and that's the only reason I'm still pastor. Because there's so many times when I'm like, you know what, I'd rather punch someone in the throat for real, and walk away than deal with this anymore.

And then I remember my mom, and when I dig in there, I find the real joy, the real meaning, the more that comes from making it not about me.

Don't take this from me. How many of us walk away from it? So thirty minutes later we got our drinks. Dehydrated as all get out, but that was one of the last sentences my mom was ever able to say clearly. Don't take it from me.

Take it from the wisdom of my mom that comes from the wisdom of God's word. You will find more if you choose to go down that road. You will not find what you're looking for if you keep running down the road of self satisfaction, more money, more fun, more just trying to change everything on your own.

You'll find more when you make it less about you. So I wanna give us a moment to reflect on that, to just close-up. And we're gonna take communion, because that is the key to unlocking the courage to trust in God in anything in your life.

Is we don't trust God because we think he'll then love us. We don't do things for his love. Did you know that? We do we follow God from his love. See, when you realize how much he loves you, you can go down the scary road more. Because you have a tracker going, man, God loves me so much. If he says this is the way to go,

I believe him. So a lot of us won't go down the scary road because you just don't understand how much he loves you. Well, before Jesus died,

he had this little moment, this last supper moment where he took bread and he broke it. He said, this is my body broken for you? He then took some wine, he poured it. He says, this is my blood spilled for you. The disciples didn't understand what he's talking about. They had no idea. They didn't want him to die. They had no idea what he's about to do for them and for all of us.

And then he went and he died on the cross for you and for me to make us right because that we're all sinners. We are all broken from God. We are all separated from the eternal. And you know why? Because the heart of sin is we make it about us. That is what sin is. Is when we make our life or anything about us,

we run away from God. And so he didn't. He died for us. Instead of just judging us, he made it right. He made a way.

And so that's why he said when he broke that bread and poured it together, because you know, you need to gather as believers. If you follow me and do this in remembrance of me. It's not some magical potion. It's not a a moment of any when you take communion, what we're about to do in a few minutes, if you think it's so magical, you're just eating a piece of Styrofoam and drinking a thimble of grape juice, as I always say.

If you don't know the Lord, what's magical about it, what's powerful about it, it's a moment to remember what Jesus did for us. And the reason he told us to do this is it's a reset button.

Because we can start getting worried, we can start making life about me, we can start not trusting God, and we're like, that road looks too scary, I can't do it anymore. And we lose our courage, and we run the other way. And to remember how he died for you and for me, to remember how much he loved us, is an opportunity to go, wow.

Why can't I trust him with my money? Why can't I trust him with my time? Why can't I trust him with my marriage? Why can't I trust him with my job? Why can't I trust him with my kids? Why can't I trust him with that habit, that hurt, that hang up? Why? And when you see the love, you can then want to follow him

from that love. Not for it, he already loves you. He already proved it. So that's why we take communion. So if you already know the Lord, I want you to start reflecting right now before we take it. I wanna give us a moment reflect. Where have you made it about you?

Let the Holy Spirit talk to you. What is something that's holding you up in you trusting him and seeking his kingdom and his righteousness? And then ask God for the courage from his love to do it, to follow, to trust, to let it go. Whatever it is, Holy Spirit does a better job than me at that. But some of you,

you've never put your faith in Jesus at all. You're not a Christian. And and it's easy. You don't come to church a whole lot and become a good person, and then he loves you. That's not what you do. You simply need to put your faith in him and not yourself. And what that means is is is the Bible says if if you believe

and confess that Jesus went to the cross and died for you, but then came back to life, and that is the only way to be made right with God, not anything I do, but in my faith in that. And I put my faith, I choose to say, Lord, I'm gonna believe in you. I'm gonna turn from trying to

earn my own salvation in life and earn my way. I'm gonna turn to you and say, I believe in you. I trust in you. I am sorry for when I went the other way.

But now in the best way I know how I put my faith in you, that's what makes you a believer. That's what makes you a Christian. That's what makes you born again. However you wanna say it. That's what makes you right with God. That righteousness seek is right. That's what makes you right with God.

And so you can do that right now before we take this. Otherwise, you're wasting your time. So as we reflect, some of you just need to pray. And do what I just said. Pray to the Lord. Put your faith in Jesus. Say, believe that you're my savior. I believe you died for me. Sorry. Thank you. That's all you gotta do.

Whatever you need to do, just take a moment, and then we're gonna take communion. Just a a moment. We'll take it, then we'll close out.

So Jesus took the bread and he broke it. He said, this is my body. Take and eat.

He then took the cup and said, this is my blood spilled for you, for the forgiveness of your sins and for this new covenant. In other words, he said, I love you this much. You can trust me. Take and drink.

Father God, I thank you, Lord. My prayer for us is simple. May myself and everyone in this room continually look to you as the source of more. You are the God of more. Help us to realize that when we run after less. The less that we think is more, but it's not. Remind us of your love.

Help us to turn back and run to you even if it seems like we're gonna have less of what we're afraid of. So we can experience more of you, more of your presence, more of your love, more of your kingdom, more of your life. And Lord, I pray if anyone in here is struggling with something, a hurt, habit, a hang up,

an issue where they just can't seem to let go and trust you. Lord, I pray that you will just wrap your arms around them, whisper into their heart that you love them, and they can let go and trust you.

Lord, I just pray that we would all see this and realize this, and experience the joy that comes with this decision. I pray it in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.