More Than We See

Introduction

Good morning y’all! I am so glad to have each of you here today, ready to grow closer together and I hope and pray we grow closer to God. That is the reason why we gather.

New School Year. New Life Groups. New Classroom, you sixth graders. New Series of Talks. We are starting today a series of talks called “Step by Step”. A series about how God’s Spirit transforms us into the character of Jesus.

Now a lot of y’all may have a puzzled look on your faces on what that means, others might have an idea of what we will be talking about.

Share with someone next to you the answers to these questions.

Whats the most annoying question someone has asked you?

Whats the best question someone has asked you?

What question do you find yourself asking a lot?

There are so many questions in life! WE’re always getting asked questions every single day. We are going to be asking a question through out this series. This is the question:

Tension

“Where did you see God today?”

Now you probably haven’t heard or asked this question before. Not a question you think about a lot, also. I know I haven’t. BUT it’s actually a really important question to ask.

Obviously, I don’t mean literally speaking. I am not expecting you to be looking for God in your hallways, walking around in human form. Now not saying it wouldn’t be cool if that was the case!

What I am meaning by “where did you see God today?” is where did you see evidence of God’s love, peace, and goodness in the world around you each day?

Where did you see God today?

Now somedays its easier to see God than other days. When life is going good, relationships are on a high note and life is going smooth.

But other days when life is messy, hard, and when you go through difficult times it may be harder to answer that question.

We see stuff in the people we live with, our friends, our community, and online. Sometimes it feels like God’s love and goodness is all around us. Other times it feels like we are the ones that are making life a little messier. Either way, when we see all that difficult stuff, its ‘s much harder to see God at work in the middle of it.

But as we all know this is life! Sometimes life is full of really great things and sometimes its just not. Sometimes we see God everywhere, and sometimes we have no idea where God is. And when that happens, when we struggle to see God’s goodness and love in our everyday lives, we usually do one or two things:

We step up. Try to do something to make it better. We see a man on the side of the street and you give them your allowance or extra cash. Maybe you befriended someone that has been kind of on the out cast in your school.

We step back. Maybe you struggled to know what to do. You might even think there is nothing that you can do that will actually make things better in the world or in yourself, so you step back completely. You stop looking for whats good in the world because it just seems all too messy. Sure, you don’t feel great about it, but at least you won’t be disappointed when things don’t really change.

No matter how we respond, it can be easy to look at the mess of the world and in our lives and wonder, “Where are you God? Where do I see You in this?” Whether you are walking through great things and feeling like there still could be more to life than this or you’re just wondering what is happening and if God is there around you, I want us to focus our time together in this area. Where did you see God today?

Truth

Now if there was one guy who knew a lot about faith, it was the apostle Paul.

Paul started following Jesus after Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension.

He was key to the church movement early on. He took the Great Commission seriously, planting churches and sharing the good news about Jesus and what He did on the cross for us, all around the ancient Roman Empire.

Paul wrote letters to a bunch of those churches that he planted. These letters now take nearly half of the New Testament.

One of the letters was written to a group of Christians in an area called Galatia. Their letter is, you guessed it, Galatians. And he writes in there to help new christians how to live for Jesus even when their circumstances were messy.

He was honest about the messes they all saw in the world around them and within them. He knew that the hatred, jealousy, anger, lack of self-contol, selfishness, and tension between groups of people could impact them!

Does any of that sound familiar? It’s crazy that how the mess Paul described in 50 AD is a near perfect match to our mess today. Like another part of the bible say, “there is nothing new under the sun that, what has been done will be done again.”

Even though its not new, the mess of this world can still be discouraging. And honestly, if the mess was all there was, it would feel really, really sad. If thats all we can see, then life would seem a little bit hopeless.

BUT there is good news! Paul wrote about difficult stuff that the Galatians might see in the world, Jesus gave us a promise that we can hold on to. Especially when we are going through a tough time.

John wrote in his gospel account of Jesus that can help us understand more about the mess we see in the world around us.

John 10:10 (NIV)

10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Now anytime we read scripture it is good to read before & after, to get good context of what that verse is talking about. HERE it is talking about how Jesus is described as a good shepherd and a good shepherd is in charge of protecting and caring for their sheep.

Here Jesus is talking about thieves coming in to the shepherds pen, and steals his sheep. Thieves want to steal just as evil wants to kill and destroy what is good.

But we look at what Jesus says in the that next part:

John 10:10 (NIV)

10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Jesus came for something different. Something so much better! He came so we could live a life to the fullest. He came to give us a full life! All the good, amazing, awesome and incredible things that God’s doing in the world are things Jesus made a way for us to experience.

It might be easy for us to think that a full life is about what we have or don’t have. If we look and see great things in the world, then life must be full. But what happens when we don’t see those great things? What happens when we see pain, suffering, and struggle in the world? Then life doesn’t seem so full.

What I love about Jesus’ words is that He didn’t say we will find a full life in our circumstances. We find it by having a relationship with Him! And the more we walk with Jesus, step by step, the more we’ll grow into the kind of person who sees God at work in the world.

After Paul got done talking about the diffucult things in the world that he saw and experienced, Paul wrote to the Galatians about something that could help them see more than just the mess.

The truth is God is doing more than we can see. Theres more than just the mess in front of us; there’s God working in it all! When you believe in and follow Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, lives inside of you. The Holy Spirit goes everywhere with you and is with you in everything you do. And that Spirit works in us to make us more and more like Jesus.

Have you ever seen on the internet or even watched on tv a ice sculpting competition? Where people make these huge sculptures out of ice with tons of detail? Like a big beautiful swan or something? It’s amazing how they can do that!

Do you know how that sculptor made that swan? She started with a large block of ice and an image of a swan in her mind. Then she cut away everything that wasn’t the swan.

Thats what the Holy Spirit does in us! The Spirit takes the messy stuff Paul calls out, like hatred, jealousy, anger, or selfishness, and cuts it away so we look more like Jesus. And also, so we are able to see more of Jesus in the world. Paul calls this the fruit of the spirit. Is the fruit of the spirit an apple? NO! Is the fruit of a spirit a lemon? NO! Is the fruit of the spirit a coconut? NO! What is the fruit of the spirit??

Galatians 5:22–23 (NIV)

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance (patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.

If you’re wondering what exactly the fruit of the Spirit means and what fruit has to do with God, let me explain! Fruit grows from a tree, right? And you can tell a lot about a tree based on the fruit it produces. We can also tell a lot about a person based on the fruit, or qualities, they produce. And all this good stuff we just read about like love, joy, patience, peace, and kindness? All that stuff comes from God’s Spirit at work in us. The Holy Spirit works in us to cut away what isn’t helping us and makes room for what is good, kind, loving, and more! When we look at the world with those eyes, it’s easier to see God in all of it. It’s easier to recognize that God is doing more than we can see.

Application

How do we actually learn to recognize it?

Choose to believe that God is doing more than we can see.

It can be really easy to see the messy and difficult parts of life. But even in those moments, we must to choose to believe that those circumstances don’t change the fact that God is present and working for our good in this world.

Choose to look for God around you.

The next time you have a bad day, the next time you’re struggling with a difficult circumstance, the next time life just feels really, really hard, I want you to try to change the way you see what’s in front of you.

Consider even saying out loud, “Things in front of me feel messy, but I’m choosing to believe that God is doing more than I can see right now.” Or ask, “Where can I see God in what I’m going through?”

Think about the fruit of the Spirit that Paul wrote about and use that list to start. Where do you see things like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, or self-control in yourself or your circumstances?

They are all glimpses that remind us that God is doing more than we can see.

Landing

And here’s where you can start today: Keep this conversation going with your small group. I know this whole idea of seeing God’s Spirit at work around you can feel big and maybe even confusing. Your small group is a place where you can talk about these big ideas about faith and figure it out together. Your small group can even be a place where you see God working in you and in each other, too. So let’s keep this conversation going by asking questions and looking for God at work around you with your small group today!