Inland Empire: Riverside
Endings & Beginnings - Audio
[ Music ] So today we're talking about endings and beginnings. And we're thinking about the new year, we're thinking about the holidays, seeing family, and all that that. That will do it. Seeing family, I guess I asked for it, didn't I? All right, well. And some of this may be a repeat of about a month ago. So if you're a member of the church here, you probably have heard some of it. But really it's kind of a preview as we're looking into the new year and we're going to have a workshop in the early February here and kind of re-engage as a church. We're going to start some things and end some things. And, you know, part of it was, I'll call this a heart sermon versus a really studied sermon. It's more of a lived sermon. Mostly to be honest with you because we got home from the airport at about 1 a.m. last night from Florida. And so we were up at like 7 a.m. and we didn't get to our bed until like 1 something in the morning. Sometimes those are the best ones because the filter's off. Okay, so today you might, you know, I'll give me some grace in advance on that. And a couple weeks, about a month ago, I made a comment about some people being spiritually soft. Do you remember that comment? Okay, and just like how we need to be more gritty and everything and I got sick the next day. And so that whole week, I was just thinking to myself, you know what, I think I'm spiritually soft. And, you know, so it was, I was grateful it happened the week before I went to see my parents who were 88 and 86. So we got through it there. And so let's have a prayer. I know we don't have any kids kingdom today. So you see a few little ones here and some little ones that probably stayed home. And I want to pray about, a friend of Danielle's Tamara Rodriguez, her niece suddenly passed away over the holidays. And she's a young woman, about 30. She had a baby and was home recovering and just six days later had a brain bleed and died. And so it's kind of an intense situation. It's one of those things where you're just asking God, like God, like why? And maybe you've had something like that happen to you this year and your family or whatever. And there's some things that we can't explain. And we just, God, I don't get it. I don't like it, but I do trust you. And so we're going to pray for her, her name's, her family, Tamara Rodriguez and her family. So let's pray. Father, we're just, we're grateful to be together, God. Thank you for how you love us. Thank you for how you sent Jesus to this earth. Thank you that he's still with us today as a manual. And wherever we go with your spirit, you're here. Do pray for Tamara and her family, God, that you comfort them and just help them through this difficult time. You help be with her, her daughter Avery and her husband and just all those questions, God. I pray that you're at the end of each one of them. We don't know your story, but you do, God, and we trust you. Be with our time today and your word, and we love you. We pray in Jesus' name, amen, amen. Well, endings and beginnings. And last week, if you weren't here with us, we had our Christmas service at Martha's Village and Kitchen, which is one of the largest homeless providers, the only homeless provider for families in the valley here. And it was probably, these are some of our stars of our show there. We have our two reindeer children that did a dance in our band and Danielle's dad who was fortunate enough to be one of the founders of this organization. And it was really so cool. I just wanted to thank everybody that was there and you made a huge impression. All these pictures were sent to me by the president of the board there who was just like so excited about everything that happened and we had a visit from a special friend who's, I'm looking around, I don't think he's here with us today, but that was really cool. There was probably like 75 kids just lined up to meet Santa and have lunch. And so it was just a really beautiful time. And I think even as I was thinking about the new year and thinking about some of the ways that God has changed us and opened up doors and some of the scriptures that I'm even going to share today or maybe have led us in that direction and led me in that direction personally. And we also got pictures from our friends in Lebanon who we support the Middle East mission field and a new brother Joe got baptized. And it was actually Mufid and Jesse, you know, because we don't just share money with them. We share like love, we share our hearts, we share stories, we talk about God together and really inspire each other. And one of the things that they did a few years ago when they were here is they were just talking about some of the connections that they were making with some of the evangelical churches over in Lebanon. And really as he was telling it, it was so real. It was just like we don't have anyone else that likes us. No one likes us except for the church people, right? The evangelicals taking us in. And so they just started and they made connections with an elderly home and they made connections with their new building. And just as they're sharing these stories that weren't just like, hey, I met this person over on the corner, which is great, but it was like we built relationships, we built roots, we built connections. And then years later God made it grow. And I think that was something that kind of inspired us and with my father-in-law's involvement with Martha, that's kind of what opened up me to be on the board there and be able to. Now I'm in the executive meeting there basically because he invited me. And it's just amazing. And I'm like, wow, this is just God opening up doors just because of Danielle's family and because of our relationship. And I share that not because I'm so great because most of the time in those meetings it's all about finances and we just look through all these pages of numbers and I'm just like, I have no idea what I'm looking at. I'm just excited that we have a service there now. I actually have something that I can do. I'm like, oh, this is great. I can't do any of that, but I can do this. And just to see how you guys are a part of that now and meeting the residents and meeting the staff there, they're blown away. They've come out, I was encouraged by Lewis and Jan, they were talking with three people who were here from South America seeking asylum and just to see him connecting with them and helping them out. And it's just like, wow, this is the beautiful way God's working. And so kind of why do I share that? Because I want us all to be looking and praying and having our eyes open and hey, how is God helping me to build roots and spiritual connections around me? Yes, I want you to meet people that you don't know and just the people at the grocery store and the waitresses and everything, but just really looking even more personally, like, how can God use me? And how can I invest? And it wasn't like the big light bulbs went on when it first started. I've been on the board for like five years now. And it's finally just starting to go somewhere. So just even being aware, like, where does God want me to be? Who does God want me to be around? How can I pay attention? And so that's part of why I share that. Because that's something that's been super life-giving in my walk with God. And then the oranges, it's the end of a year of oranges, it's the beginning of a year of oranges. I have an orange tree that I kind of look at and take care of all year and it bears fruit right all around the new year. And so this is the first few oranges that I have, and I don't know what you could tell me about them. They're not that great looking. Green and the one in the back looks sick. The one in the right is like tiny. I have the real, my superstar in the back left. You know, I'm going to make juice out of it. I'll tell you how it is. But I know that God has plans for you in the new year. And you might be somebody that doesn't like New Year's resolutions. How many people don't like them? Okay, I don't like them. Last couple years as a church, we haven't even made any real big plans, right? It was just more like, "Hey God, we want God the Spirit to lead us and try to find where He's going, and hopefully He has, and we're going to try to commit to some of those things that we see Him doing as we go into the new year. So this year we're still looking for new things, but we want to also commit to the things that we see God doing, amen? So let's say a prayer, and then I will share a couple scriptures with you here. Father, we're grateful to be together. Thank you for all the ways that you're with us, the way you're opening things up for us. I pray you open up our hearts as we get into your Word. Help us to see the beginnings in our lives, the way that your Spirit is leading us. Help us to see things in our lives that need to end, that just don't do anything good for you or for us, and we can just cut them out. God, give us discernment, and give us faith as we look to you for life in the new year, in Jesus' name, amen. And how many of you got to hang out with family over the holidays? Okay, because I noticed in my fellowship today it was a very different kind of fellowship as we talked about family, and I was telling them I went across the country and just seeing people I haven't seen in a while. I saw family members that looked at me and kind of were like, I have no idea who you are. You have family like that, right? I've seen the kids probably three times in the past 25 years, right? So they look at me and it's like nothing, blank. And that can be challenging because you're like, we're family, we're supposed to be close, but we're not, right? You have your own life, I have my life, you have your community, I have my community, I have your crew, I have mine, and that was very disconcerting for me as we were there, and a couple of people even asked me today in the fellowship because my sibling, both of my siblings are past, right? So we're hanging out with family, and my brother was the one who would kind of like initiate and pull everybody together and rally everyone, and he's not there anymore. And so people are kind of scattering, you know, and not always the most interested in your life as an out-of-towner, if you know what I mean. And so I'm leaving and I'm just like, wow, what is happening? You know, how do I make sense of family? Do I invest? Do I stop investing? You know, I've been investing my whole life, do I, if it's a dead end, do you keep going? I mean, these are the kinds of questions I was having with myself, and amazingly enough, God opened a few doors to really show us how to reconnect. You know, now that my parents are getting older, we need to start going over there more. They can't come here, so it's like, every time we say goodbye, they're crying, right? Because nobody talks about it, but in their minds they're thinking this could be it. We might not see you again, you know, one of those times. So that's kind of where I was praying, that's where I was at today. Where do I invest? How do I go forward? How do I make sense of all these things? Hearing about, anyways, we'll get to that in a minute. But I think in some ways as Christians are to continue to maintain our faith is a big deal, right? We're going to talk a little bit about distraction and boredom today, because at some level we can be, we're all bored, right? We, what do you do when you're bored? You eat, what else do you do when you're bored? Shop? Okay, until you run out of money, you shop? Oh, you call somebody, you call a friend? Hey, I'm bored? Maybe you watch shows? Yeah, maybe you go on your phone and look on your phone and, you know, and I'm not, I'm not here to be like down on technology and be like technology is evil. That's not what I'm saying, I'm saying we're bored and what do we fill that up with? I don't think any of us are getting to the end of the year and like my year was complete because I saw Yellowstone, like now my life is set. Like, because in the grand scheme of life, that doesn't matter. But when we're bored, that's what we, and I've done it too, right? You wake up and you're going through your day and like this is a busy day, but at the end of it, I'm going to watch whatever. And you kind of like look forward to that and my hope for my own new year is that God is going to take that place more, right? That that boredom will be filled with God and filled with study and filled with prayer. And I realize that it's hard to pray sometimes. Let me read the scripture first. We haven't read one yet. Here we go. Here's Jesus. Talking about a new beginning of the heart. Not just what you do, but how you do it and who you are. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meat for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And as we look to the new year, I pray that we look to the heart that God wants us to have. Even reading that verse is difficult. It's challenging because I know in my nature I want to fight back. I want to figure it out. I want to respond in kind. And even as I was talking about my family, I'm like well if you don't want to hang out with us and I don't want to hang out with you either. And I'm just like wait a second. That's not really where God wants us to go and to be merciful. And that's where I want to be. As you make your resolutions, it's not who you are, but it's who do you want to be? What do you shoot? What's the goal? What are you shooting for? And for all of us in here, I'm assuming it's to have a heart like Christ. To be merciful and to be peacemakers and to be righteous and all those things that we need Jesus for. And this next verse in Luke chapter 4, and I'm just giving you, these are some of the verses that have guided my last few years. When I'm trying to figure out where do I am best? What do I do with my time? Who do I hang out with? And in Luke chapter 4, when Jesus is in his hometown and says the scroll of Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it was written, "The spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind to set the oppressed free and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Jesus is announcing a year of jubilee where God is bringing freedom, bringing love to the poor, freedom for the prisoners and sight for the blind, some that were spiritually blind, and some that were physically blind. And some that were oppressed, and some that were spiritually oppressed. And I pray that as we go into the new year that that's our heart too, that we want to bring freedom. If you notice what all the people that Jesus was talking about were people that were not going to help him. There were people that he wanted God to use him to help. And to be people that serve and people that think of others, people that help each other with the word and help each other get closer to God and to be set free. You know, they're still there. We've lost a bit of our focus at times, and I take responsibility for that. And one other scripture that I think of is something that we do really well, many of you do very well, and it's about family. You know, when I talked about what kind of impact is Jesus going to have on your family? He said, "I will send the Prophet Elijah to you before the great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the hearts of the children to their parents, or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction." And it's an intense verse, but he came to bring families together, to build bridges, to break barriers, to bring forgiveness and help us to figure out how to love and raise families and how to take care of our parents and all those things. And we were blessed with some kids in the church last year, four amazing babies were born, which we're excited about. I have their names here. I don't want to miss anybody. But I know we have Jason Jr. and we have Eden. And who else? We have a couple more. We have Lincoln and Ezra. And just to know that because of Christ, we have a chance with our kids. We can point them to Jesus. If you're a new parent and you want to figure out what do you do, just follow Jesus. They're not going to do what you say. They're going to do what you do. Be humble, apologize when you're wrong, and help them to see their mom and dad that loves Jesus with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength. That's all you can do. And trust God with the rest, right? Many of you are shaking your heads. Sometimes that doesn't work in our time frame, but that's why we're here so we can have a place for our kids to come. Amen? I'm excited about having a group this year for even parents with young kids and parents with adult kids and everywhere in between. Because we need that fellowship. We need that prayer for each other. And Lord knows we do need help. Amen? All right, we have a lot of kids here. I'm in Revelation 21. You can read that and just having a vision of where we're going. God coming down and bringing peace, wiping every tear from their eye. That should motivate us as Christians each day, each year, and that's where I want to go. That's where I want my friends to be. That's where I want my family to go. And to have that vision of living with God in the garden all over again. That's where we're all headed. Amen? There's a verse about the church. And I'll read the parts that's in yellow. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. And then it says, "Together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying favor of all the people." And the Lord added to their number daily those that were being saved. And I'm excited for us as a church to really lean into these principles that many of us know. And we started to reclaim them over the past year. And a couple things that have been on my mind, and I'm kind of just sharing my heart, I know. And February 1st, we're going to have a workshop, like I mentioned, for the whole church. And we're hoping that all of you could be there for a half a day. It's a Saturday morning, like 9.30 to 2. Just so we can come together and grow together and decide where we want to be, who we want to be, and where we want to go together. So a couple things I'm excited about is the good neighbor and prayer ministries. And this Wednesday, from noon to 1.30, instead of having our normal midweek service here in the evening, we're going to meet there for anybody who can make it. I know it's a holiday and everything, so we don't know. But basically just to get some time to pray in the neighborhood around our church, to be able to come back together and be able to share what God put on our heart and come together, as we kind of claim the area for God. And help people to know who we are and to be able to pray that God will continue to make inroads in this area. I'm excited about mentoring in the new year to be able to take care of kids we have. The teens, the pre-teens, to help the younger marriage and those that have had kids and to be able to help them on their journey together, like so many people helped us. And to really recommit to discipling, and as we've already done in Kingdom Kids, but to kind of get back to who we are. I think over the past few years, we've drifted and now we're coming back and we're like, you know, these are the things that we really believe. These are the things that changed us and we're going to recommit. We're asking everyone in the church to recommit to these things, so that we can give God that opportunity to keep growing us as a church, amen. And then the thing that I heard a lot about last year as our women had women's days and women's book clubs and all kinds of stuff, there was some of you that were like, "Hey, what about the guys if the women are having all of their stuff? What are we doing?" And so this year, we are going to kick off not that we don't have a men's ministry, but we're going to focus on our men's ministry in our church, in our relationships, in our time together. Donald here was one of the big proponents of this, so we're kind of kicking off. We're going to do about monthly events, but what we want to have is for you, if you're a man, to really commit to these and make it a priority in your schedule and your life so that we can really build up what God has given us and build each other up. So I applaud Donald for this. It was a little bit self-serving because we're doing it on his birthday. So I don't think it was just to get a bunch of gifts. Okay, so he did join, but we're going to have a barbecue at Darren's place at six o'clock and just be able to fellowship together, pray together, come together, and just dream about how God's going to work in our men's ministry, amen. So those are a few thoughts, a few scriptures that you can think about for the new year and really pray that God gives you faith and gives you hope. I feel more hopeful this year than I have in a while. And so I know that God's going to use that through whatever we put our hands to as a church, amen. Let's pray and we're going to take our communion together. Father, we're grateful to be here, God. We're thankful for the scriptures that you inspire us with, God. Thank you for Jesus and His message of Jubilee. Thank you for the new beginnings that He brought. Thank you for the Malachi talking about bringing the families together at a dark time, God. Thank you that we can bring families together through you. And thank you for that vision of heaven that John gives us that we can see a new heaven and a new earth, God. I pray that you bring all of us there, that 2025 can be one where we walk with you, where we're close with you, where if we haven't committed ourselves to you, that it can be a year that we take major steps in that direction, God. We love you. Thank you so much for Jesus. Thank you for His love for us. Thank you for His sacrifice. It's in His name we pray. Amen.
Inland Empire Church of Christ