Everything We Need

Lately has been a time of need

For everyone - whether they attend church or not

It’s also uniquely been a time of need for us IN the church, with all the restrictions and everything else.

But now that we’re starting to get back - we run the risk of possibly, just possibly, losing sight of why we’re here to begin with.

God’s got a few big priorities for us as a church, and he’s got some promises in return.

Seek Him

Matthew 7:7 NIV

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

Jesus says this in the middle of this thing we call the sermon on the mount. He basically takes some time to try and fix people’s perspectives on God.

And the jews, they had this idea that was really foundational to how they understood God. And that was this - that God hated them, and was just WAITING to get rid of them.

Jesus challenges them on this. After this verse, he says, if your own child asked you for bread, would you give them a stone? or a snake? So, if you think YOU’RE so bad, and you still know how to do good things for your children - how much better do you think God is than that?

So jesus invites us all, every one of us. and he makes promises here.

He says, if you just come to me and ask, you’ll receive.

This doesn’t mean, I say, hey God, I want a million dollars, and BAM. Because Jesus says, yknow, God knows how to give GOOD gifts.

STORY - MY KIDS AND THEIR USE OF THE WORD ‘I NEED’

If you just look for me, you’ll be able to find me.

We often act like God is trying his best to avoid us. Like he can’t stand us. But jesus says right here, seek me and you’ll find me.

But the key is, ACTUALLY seek. And seeking isn’t the same as standing in a room and saying, OH IF GOD WERE REAL, HE COULD DO SOMETHING AMAZING RIGHT HERE AND NOW!

Seeking is saying, God, I need to find you. And really meaning it.

And if you knock on my door, i’ll invite you in.

And this is important. Because Jesus is saying, if you look for me, you’ll find me. But on top of that, if you’re standing outside of my house, just knock - I’ll invite you in.

Have you ever met that kind of a person that was just niceness incarnate? They would have you over whenever you wanted? They will give you whatever you need, be there whenever you need?

STORY - FRIDGE RIGHTS. YOU BELONG WHEN YOU KNOW YOU CAN JUST COME IN

God has given us all fridge rights. He says, whenever you want, just knock, and you’re welcome in.

Rely on Him

Matthew 6:33 NIV

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

So first off, Jesus is talking about stuff we need on a daily basis.

Jesus is saying, look at the whole world and how God sustains each and everything thing. Aren’t you worth so much more than that? Don’t you think that God knows you need food and drink?

STORY - FORGOT TO FEED GUPPIES FOR LIKE… EVER.

Jesus calls us back to this basic idea of life. That we’re here just to seek out who God is, and how to be in his kingdom. And all these other worries we have - God will take care of them.

Now, this doesn’t mean, stop working. Just, stop acting out of worry or fear, and start acting out of obedience and faith.

And this idea of, how can we know what God wants , how can we understand how to live a godly life - this is a big question, and it’s important.

2 Peter 1:3 NIV

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

This is the hard one to accept sometimes. Because it seems like it SHOULD be so big and so complex. But the truth is, God helps us even in this area too.

All the ways he asks us to follow Him - he’s already backed us up with power to get it done.

Praise Him

Hebrews 13:15–16 NIV

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

God asks us to continually praise Him - even when things seem to not be going well. That’s why it’s called a ‘sacrifice’ of praise. It’s REALLY easy to praise God when things are going well.

When you set yourself aside, when you say, yknow what God, even if things don’t seem good for me, i know YOU are good, and so I’ll praise you for that. It takes sacrifice to do that.

But he also adds on the end - don’t forget to always do good, and always share with others.

So basically, seek to benefit others as much as you can, and seek to give of what you have as much as you can.

God makes a promise here - that with THESE sacrifices of praise, others-focus and giving out of what you have, that we please God.

And that’s what is on many of our hearts. How do we do something that’s pleasing to God.

And the amazing, wonderful part about all of these things:

We can do them whenever and wherever we want

we dont’ need a place, or a time. We don’t need things to be going our way. We don’t need to have answers or a clear understanding of what’s going on. We just need to choose.

and that’s a deep truth that we can run the risk of forgetting in the coming weeks. As things go back to normal, As we start to get back and comfortable again, we can forget what we learned out of all of this.

Jesus said once, that it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it was for a rich man to enter the kingdom. And the truth is simple - the more we have things that we THINK we need, the less we look for the things that we ACTUALLY need.

STORY - HAVING WISDOM TEETH OUT AND GOING TO CHURCH. Strong pain meds = lack of awareness when you’re hurt.

We can never, ever let ourselves rely on something enough that we’re willing to hold it up WITH God. I need God AND I need this thing. I don’t feel complete until I have God AND this thing.

The last year taught us that we can worship God at home as well as in this room - some people taking this service in right now are still at home. It taught us that the church was a people calling, checking in on each other, praying for each other, supporting each other, more than it was just a place somewhere else. We were never outside of a church - we were simply a church on the outside.

We can’t ever, ever forget that God and this thing we call church is way, way bigger than a simple Sunday morning service. We can be the church, we can connect right to God, whenever and wherever we want.

And that’s God’s will for us for the next while as a church - that God is calling us back to a simple idea of faith, a faith where we are all here to just seek God, rely on God, and praise God. And that we teach other people how to do that too.

So let’s pray, and I invite you to just commit back to the basics with me.

My first sermon at the church, I talked about how I felt God’s draw on my life was a simple one - to love God, and love other people.