Drop the Mic

Welcome

Thank you for joining us today. Let’s welcome everyone that is listening to us via our podcast. I hope if you are in the Orlando area, you will stop by and worship with us. To understand where we are going, we need to look at the end. Jesus explains at the end of His sermon, it is wise to hear His words and do them. Not because they are ingredients that will allow us to avoid trouble but when trouble comes, our foundation is strong enough to survive. In this series, we will unpack this new standard, this Wild Standard.

Scripture(s)

(ESV) — 24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.

Series Summary

Jesus is the standard

The wild standard is not something we live up to, it is something we are invited to live in

Where there is no standard, there is confusion

Jesus is the standard

Empire vs Kingdom

Empire vs Kingdom

The presence of problems is not the absence of blessings

The presence of problems is not the absence of blessings

You are not blessed because of what you have, you are blessed because of who you have

The Lordship of Jesus isn’t dependent on my comfort

You are not blessed because of what you have, you are blessed because of who you have

The Lordship of Jesus isn’t dependent my comfort.

Your feelings may be valid but they don’t always bring value

To be whole, sometimes you have to let go

You are called to build your life on the rock, not live under one

Up to this point, we have dealt with the mind, the heart and this week we are going to look at our walk...

Serving/outreach:

Prayer:

Fasting:

Giving:

Anxiety...

(ESV) — 25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Illustration

Are there any reality tv fans in the house today? It is truly a guilty pleasure of mine. I typically don’t like to admit it, but since we are family I feel like this is a safe place. I used to avoid them like the plague. Then I started to ok with watching them with my wife. Then it got to, “did you watch the bachelorette without me”? I think what I love to see is how people’s character evolve as the camera continues to roll. The pressure to perform is a fascinating thing to watch. I particularly love the singing competitions. Especially when they do all the background character development. There was this one episode where this young man laid his entire life on the line for the opportunity to be the next superstar. His daughter was in the next room, his family was cheering him on. He was so nervous. You could tell he had talent but his emotions got the best of him…none of the judges turned around for him. He had the talent, but when he was reconnected with his family he simply said, I lost myself. He was so consumed with making an impression, that he lost his authenticity.

Transition/Bridge

We live in a world where we are under such pressure. Pressure to perform. Pressure to be perfect. Pressure to have it all figured out. Pressure to have all the answers. Pressure to be the perfect father. Pressure to be the perfect family. Pressure to be the perfect executive. Pressure to be the perfect pastor. Please believe me, pastors are under constant pressure, myself included. I am standing on a platform that I didn’t build. Pastoring a church that I didn’t plant. Leading a staff I didn’t develop. You don’t think the pressure to be perfect isn’t trying to find a way to work its way into my soul? However, Jesus said, take MY yoke for my yoke is easy and my burden light. () I have decided that I can’t make people come, stay, give, serve. All I can do is be faithful to God, my family, and my calling and God will add the increase.

Pressure to be the perfect pastor. Please believe me, pastors are under constant pressure, myself included. I am standing on a platform that I didn’t build. Pastoring a church that I didn’t plant. Leading a staff I didn’t develop. You don’t think the pressure to be perfect isn’t trying to find a way to work its way into my soul? However, Jesus said, take MY yoke for my yoke is easy and my burden light. () I have decided that I can’t make people come, stay, give, serve. All I can do is be faithful to God, my family, and my calling and God will add the increase.

The pressure to be perfect isn’t from God. Being perfect isn’t a fruit of the Spirit, goodness is. That means that we are trying to achieve something outside of the boundaries of grace. It’s only when we drop the mic, that can we pick up peace. I’ve decided if I am good enough for God, then it is good enough for man.

Being perfect isn’t a fruit of the Spirit, goodness is. That means we are trying to achieve something that we aren’t graced to do.

Please understand, be driven to be great. Study your craft. Put the work in. What we are talking about here is motive. If we are doing it so that others will applaud us or to fill a void, we are setting ourselves to live lives where our validation comes from man, not God. We give far too many people ink pens in our lives. Man can’t write your destiny, God does. Man highlights, affirms, what God is doing but God calls, promotes, defines.

This is how David was able to know that Saul’s amor was inadequate for his battle with Goliath. He said, I can’t go in these. David knew that the battle was the Lord’s so he wasn’t going to depend on man’s strength when he had God’s power. Are you trying to impress when God has called you to leave an impession?

When we drop the mic, we will pick up peace

Background-Context

God’s people have witnessed and been influenced by performance driven spirituality; both by the world and by His followers. Pagans would carve their skin and have all sort of rituals their commitment to their god. The religious people would often “show off” how spiritual they were, making those that weren’t feel they could not measure up. They had a form of godliness…()

(The Message) — 1 “Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don’t make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won’t be applauding.

Jesus wanted to make sure His followers understood that their walk was for an audience of one. Jesus walks us through a singular train of thought that is directly associated with what it means to be a resident in the kingdom. Notice they aren’t commands because in the mind of Christ, this is what you do. So He says, WHEN...

Serve with humility

Drop the mic and pick up peace

Serving

Serve with humility

The text makes emphasis on the needy. That means people that are in need of encouragement. People that are in need of acceptance. People that are in need of love. Jesus says, that when we step out to meet those needs, do it with humility. Humility is power under restraint. Each week we have hundreds of people that serve in our church. They set up, pack up, park, change diapers, pray for students, make sure we are safe, the list goes on. They don’t do it because they are looking for an instagram post. They do it because as citizens of the Kingdom of God, we are all called to serve. Many in our community serve in the marketplace. You pray for your employees, colleagues, bosses, customers…that is a form of serving. To serve with humility means I don’t expect anything in return. The Bible says, God sees you and blesses you. Well done my faithful servant…God blesses the faithful. When you serve with humility, God will pay you back.

Pray with simplicity

Prayer is when we commune with God. It is a conversation where we are able to worship, lament, and request. Unfortunately, we have complicated it. Dr. Charlie Dawes tells us in his book, Simple Prayer, “simple prayer is a movement toward God and away from the distractions that keep us at a distance from God. Simple prayer focuses our attention on God and reminds us that our heart, not our vocabulary, is what God hears when we pray.”

Jesus tells His followers to dial it down and provides an outline for us to keep in mind. God is our Father who is in heaven. That means He personally made us which means He knows us and is with us but He is also above us so whatever we are facing, He sees the whole thing. Our goal is to recognize who God is and invite His will into our situation. Jesus invited the will of God in the garden and He was strengthened by angels. Prayer elevates our perspective and allows the grace of God to empower our next steps. I don’t pray to move the hand of God, I pray to position myself under the hand of God.

Fast with sincerity

Fasting was initially designated to food. It was a great to draw closer to God recognizing that He was our provider even more than the essentials needed to live. Allow me to explain. Pagans would have banquets where they would engage in all types of sinful behavior and eat food sacrificed to idols. So fasting was a direct response in how God’s people would say that God provides all of their needs. This is what Daniel and his team did. They said, we are in the world but not of it. We are going to disconnect from the world so that we can create space for God.

People would fast but brag about it so show how spiritual they were. Jesus says, anoint yourself, compose yourself and keep it moving. Fasting accomplishes 2 things: it strengthens your self control and sharpens your discernment. This is why we fast as a church because we want to be strong and sensitive.

Give with liberty

Jesus talks about giving and the importance of investing in things that have eternal impact but starts talking about our eyes and serving 2 masters. He is saying, if we don’t have a healthy perspective when it comes to money, when it comes to money, it will consume us. He says it is impossible to serve God and be obsessed with money. The love of money is the root of all evil.

When the Lord’s prayer makes the statement to give us this day our daily bread, Jesus was giving them a glimpse of the children of Israel in the wilderness and how God provided for them every day!

This why when we give, it is not a transaction, it is not a donation, it is worship. It is our way of saying, God is my provider and I trust Him. When the Lord’s prayer makes the statement to give us this day our daily bread, Jesus was giving them a glimpse of the children of Israel in the wilderness and how God provided for them every day!

Jesus gives some of the deepest revelation about money in the Bible: where your treasure is, there your heart will be. What you invest in, invests in you, and what invests in you, shapes you.

Closing

Closing

Jesus connects his entire thought to anxiety but puts a special emphasis on resources, provision, and giving. Let’s be honest. The thing that keeps people from being obedient to God isn’t as much rebellion as much as it is fear. We are afraid of what people will think. We are afraid of how it will affect us. Anxiety is the oxygen that allows fear to breathe in our lives.

Anxiety a feeling of worry, nervousness or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with uncertain outcome.

Psychiatry a nervous disorder characterized by a state of excessive uneasiness and apprehension, typically with compulsive behavior or panic attacks.

It means to be trapped in future.

It is to constantly process what if with no resolve.

It is to perpetually buffering.

Scriptures:

(ESV) — 25 Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.

(ESV) — 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

(ESV) — 6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

2 years after our contestant when home, he came back and crushed it. When the judges inquired about what he did with his time, he responded “I decided to drop the act and be true to myself”. He went further being true to the gifts God had given him, instead of “going in someone else’s armor”.

God is calling us to drop the mic and pick up peace! (PRAY)

Communion

I can’t imagine a group of people under more pressure than the disciples and the early church. They have spent the past 3.5 years being mentored, pastored, taught, lead, developed, prepared to pick up the mantle of Christ and change the world. They had a responsibility that exceeded their exposure. In His brilliance, Jesus sits with His disciples, commonly known as the Last Supper and tells them the bread represents His body broken for them and the wine represented His blood shed for them. He tells them, do this in remembrance of me. Paul recounts it this way...

(The Message) — 23 Let me go over with you again exactly what goes on in the Lord’s Supper and why it is so centrally important. I received my instructions from the Master himself and passed them on to you. The Master, Jesus, on the night of his betrayal, took bread. 24 Having given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body, broken for you. Do this to remember me. 25 After supper, he did the same thing with the cup: This cup is my blood, my new covenant with you. Each time you drink this cup, remember me. 26 What you must solemnly realize is that every time you eat this bread and every time you drink this cup, you reenact in your words and actions the death of the Master. You will be drawn back to this meal again and again until the Master returns. You must never let familiarity breed contempt.

In other words, Jesus saves, not you, take the pressure off. Jesus heals, not you, take the pressure off. Jesus restores, not you, take the pressure off. Our responsibility is to be humble servants, that pray and fast so that we can be sensitive to His will, and be generous with all that God has given us. As we take communion today, I want us to remember that Christ has already done the heavy lifting, we are called to simply cooperate with grace.

(ESV) — 25 Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.