Experience Christian Church
Changing of Seasons| ECC
- Welcome to the Experience Christian Church Message Podcast. We are a church startup based out of Exton, Pennsylvania, committed to giving the community a fresh start with God and with church. Our mission is to help people experience God's love in a practical way. We would love to connect with you. Would you text ECC info to 94000 or go to our website experiencecc.org for more information and to learn how you can be a part of our community? Enjoy today's message. - You know, these things are painful for me to use. So I'm gonna be down to one arm today. Somebody wanna come hold it the whole time. Does that sound exciting? That'd be great. Well, today is a wonderful day. Speaking of things not working. Today is the first day of what season? Fall, man, just makes sense now, doesn't it? It's fall. Today is the day, it's the 22nd. And for some of you, it's your favorite, correct? Show of hands, it follows your favorite season. And the reason being you love pumpkin everything, right? You're not like Craig. Craig says apple everything. It's not apple everything, it's pumpkin everything. Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin. It's gonna start getting crisp outside when you wake up. Football's on, people are having a great time. Well, turn to someone or chat online. What is your favorite holiday and why? Just take a minute, connect with somebody near you. Get 'em engaged, favorite holiday and why. (crowd chattering) Okay, well done. Drew, you look like a man that's excited to tell us what your favorite holiday is, which is it? Your favorite holiday? - Christmas. - Christmas, there you go. The season would be winter, is that your favorite? Is that your favorite season, yeah? - The month of May. - The month of May, okay, spring, spring guy. Who's a winter guy or gal who likes winter the most? Okay. All right, why? What do you like about winter? Jay, it's because there's no allergies, probably, right? All right? (crowd laughing) Anyone else have a more fun reason why winter's your favorite? It's a beauty, is it? - The crisp breeze. - The crisp breeze, okay. Who's a spring person? Anybody like spring? All right, what do you like about spring? - Fishy. - Fishy? - New growth. - New growth? Flowers, okay. Summer, summer people? Okay, what do you like about summer? - Sunshine. - Sunshine? A lot of it. - Swimming in the pool. - Swimming in the pool, love it. It's a good call. - No school. - No school? Very good call. I was waiting on that one. I thought there'd be more hands and more people representing that. Fall, who likes the fall? Okay, look around, it's probably the majority. Why do you like fall the most? - Halloween. - Halloween, there you go. What's that? Different colors, yep. Pumpkins, there you go. All right. So, you know, one of the things that's great about a season is it gives us an opportunity to reflect on life, doesn't it? It reminds us that change occurs, change happens. Some of you a little older in the room, you might even hear a little melody that whole turn, turn, turn song, that for everything there is a season, you know, that was 19, what year was that? 1959 by Peter Seager. But before he wrote it, King Solomon recorded it, right? Couple thousand years earlier in the book to be Ecclesiastes, maybe you knew that, maybe you didn't. But read along with me on this scripture. Ecclesiastes 3. Says for everything, there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven, a time to be born, and a time to die, a time to plant, and a time to harvest, a time to kill, and a time to heal, a time to tear down, and a time to build up, a time to cry, and a time to laugh, a time to grieve, and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones, and a time to gather stones, a time to embrace, and a time to turn away, a time to search, and a time to quit searching, my least favorite verse, a time to keep, and a time to throw away. How many of you are keepers in the room? You keep everything. How many of you are married to someone who likes to throw things away? (audience laughs) It's a battle verse, it's a battle verse in her home, a time to keep, and a time to throw away, a time to tear, and a time to mend, a time to be quiet, a time to speak, a time to love, and a time to hate, a time for war, and a time for peace. What Solomon's saying here is, regardless of the situation, times vary, and things are appropriate at times, and inappropriate at others, and also, sometimes we have a hard time accepting what's appropriate now, and what's hard at other times, isn't it? Seasons also don't mean the same thing for each person, even though it's September 22nd for each of us, fall represents something different for us, don't they? My dad was a farmer. For farmers, they've just finished a big season of planting in the spring. They harvest in the summer, and now they get a chance to kind of sit back a little bit. It's not that they become lazy by any means, but their long days are being shortened by the sunlight, and so there's only so much work to do, so then they're starting to rest more. But think about a teacher or a student. You're gearing up, aren't you? You got nine months ahead of you, nine long months ahead of you before you have a chance to rest. You're angry at the teachers because they work so hard to teach you so well, and here you are working really hard trying to stay caught up. Last week, I dropped my son's car off at the auto body shop to get a fender bimber looked at, and they're like, I said, what's the turnaround time? And they said, I was probably about two weeks we can get you in here, and I'm like, really, that's pretty good. He's like, yes, but come back next month. When the wet leaves are on the ground, and the cars start sliding, deer start running across the lane, then you'll be waiting weeks to get in here. We basically wake up in its spring, right? Makes sense. And how many of you worked retail before? If you worked retail, you remember Thanksgiving to Christmas, only 8% of the year, 30% of your sales. The point being, vocationally, each of us see September 22nd is different. Maybe it's triggering a season of rest, maybe it's triggering a season of busyness, but the date means different things for different people, likewise. It's wise for us to think about the seasons that we're in because each of us is in a season. While we find ourselves entering them differently, I do what you'd like you to reflect on three opportunities that you may need to think about. First is, is God leading you into a season of planting? Planting is a time when we're beginning new things. We're filled with hope and energy. Maybe God's leading into a time of harvest. You've started lots of new things, and now it's time to be consistent and tend and see what God's gonna produce. Others of you, maybe it's time to rest. It's time to just slow down. You've harvested. Before you start that new thing, take time to strategically pause. Honestly, I wish there were two seasons. I really wish there was only plant and harvest. How many of you are like me? Resting, I do not enjoy doing. My parents would look at me and my mom would say, Matthew, which means here comes something intentional, right? She would say, Matthew, you know you always wish there were more hours in a day. And that's actually true. I hate going to bed. I hate when the day has come to an end. I don't like resting. I like to start new things. I like new adventures. I like to go, move, move, move. But if I'm honest, the season I believe God is calling me to is to a season of rest, to slow down. Not to stop, but to just be more intentional, say no more, sleep better. Sometimes I ask you to think about your RPMs, right? How are your relationships right now? Are you having fun? Me, when I start working too much or going too much, much, much, much, fun decreases and fun, I gotta have fun. I like throwing a Frisbee. How many of you are going to play Ultimate Frisbee in a couple of weeks with me? I will wait until there's more people hands, because I'm not playing. You can't play Ultimate Frisbee by yourself. We'll have a Sunday afternoon, we're playing Ultimate Frisbee. Maybe we do something else, but fun is important, right? Relationships are important. Laughing together is important. When you're working too much, it doesn't happen. How about physically? How are you feeling physically? Feeling good? You're feeling great, it's time to start planning. Maybe it's time to start harvesting. If you're like me, I start my workout moaning. Like it's like, ugh, I start running and I'm like, this is painful today. I start lifting and it's hard and that's because I've been pushing hard, right? Mentally, how you feeling mentally? Are you sharp? Right now I'm forgetting people's names that I know really well. That's a sign that you're tired, isn't it? It's like, ugh, that's not right here. And spiritually, do you have an enjoyment, a long time with God or does it kind of feel like you and God are on the go? Like, hey, I'll do my devotion today while I'm praying or I'll do my devotion while I'm working out. I'll have this quiet time on the move and it's not that it's a problem per se in any of these things, it might even be categorically but here's my question to you, what's the season? 'Cause it's worth slowing down during this transition time and just really reflecting on what's God calling you to do. Do you need a time of slowing down? Are you like me? 'Cause what happens if you don't slow down? How many of you have been through the seasons where you kept going and going and switching from season to season, what happened? You burn out before you know what you're depressed. What happens if you've been in a season of rest and you feel God's prompting you to start planning and what happens if you don't start planting? You start feeling complacent, right? You wonder if you have a purpose. And when you keep starting new things and you're not actually harvesting anything productive, you feel like, oh, this is what I do really matters. You're not seeing any results. So it's important to think through like, what is God doing and where is He calling you? What season are you in, planting, harvesting or resting? What I need to do is acknowledge it, first of all, identifying our seasons as critical. I love how my life application commentary talked about it in Ecclesiastes 3. This was the commentary on that section. It said, timing is important. All the experiences listed in these verses are appropriate at certain times. The secret to having peace with God is to discover, accept, and appreciate God's perfect timing. There's danger in doubting or resenting God's timing. This could lead to despair, rebellion, or moving ahead without his guidance. I'll give you a second just to read over some of that text again because you've probably been there before, right? You've ignored God's prompting when you knew you should be resting. You ignored God's prompting when you felt you should be moving. You ignored God's prompting when you said you should be harvesting, but you kept trying new things. And it can lead you to feeling frustrated, concerned, confused. After we identify the season that God is calling us into, it's important to remember that God is with us in every season. God's with us in every season. Paul was a follower of Jesus who experienced a wide range of seasons, time when he was forced in prison and he wished he could get out and be on the move, times when he was on the move, being persecuted, wishing he could find some rest. And so he enveloped all the seasons quite well, but he knew God was with them in every one of them. In Philippians 4, 11, he says, I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I think you could equally say in whatever season that I'm in. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I've learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it's with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength. I love how translation sets forth. I can endure all things, regardless of the season. This text really parallels that Ecclesiastes 3 text, doesn't it? Two extremes, well fed, hungry, with, without. It may feel like this is just predominantly physical needs, but look back to Philippians 4, 4 to 7. He says, always be full of joy in the Lord. In other words, be full of joy, regardless of the season that you're in. I say it again, rejoice. Let everyone see that you're considerate in all you do where other translations say, let your gentleness be known to all. Remember the Lord is coming soon. Don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need. Thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. Paul is saying that we can have joy despite our season. Rather than worry about our current season, what's happening, we can trust in God, knowing that He's good and in control. And we know that there's an opportunity for a testimony in the midst of all of those things. Jesus is with us in every season. A lot of you know that Pastor Ertell, his wife had surgery just here recently. It was a week and a half ago, and it has been anything but smooth sailing for them, unfortunately. She was scheduled for a Wednesday morning surgery, and she wasn't actually taken in until Thursday. I talked to Pastor Ertell and he's like, "Yep, I believe God's working this out, changing the timing for us," which I agree with. She had her surgery, but she was able to come home, but the meds aren't really working. She's in a lot of pain, so yesterday I had to go to the hospital and they had to have a CT scan. And you know, the worst pain that you can be in is sometimes watching the person you love the most in pain, isn't it? You can't switch places, you can't do anything other than just sit and be with them, and that's what he's experiencing now. So we are texting back and forth, and I said, "Is there anything we can do? Do you need someone to swap places with you at the hospital? Anything we can do to support you?" And this was his response. He said, "Thank you so much, brother. We are blessed with a village of caregivers and resources. We're grateful to God to count experience among those who are part of our village. We're blessed with the grace of God beyond measure, so much so more than we deserve." He said, "I was sitting at home yesterday, just so grateful for God's goodness and provision. I continue to be blessed by the experience of so-called inconvenience." By the lessons learned about God, about others, and about myself, be blessed, my friend. It's a powerful look at a hard season, isn't it? To recognize God in the midst of that hard season. I then said, "Can I share that?" And he didn't lose a sense of humor. He said, "Sure, brother, feel free to share whatever is helpful, I'm gonna bill you for that." (audience laughs) I said, "That'll be shared as well." And he gave me thumbs up, so I'm allowed to do that. But there is something about having a sense of humor in the midst of waiting on a CT scan, isn't it? It's beautiful, it's an understanding that even in the midst of this season, God is with me in this moment, God is with me. That's my next point we can experience God at work every day and every season. I talked to Lee Magnus this week, I think it was Thursday, just about this message and about seasons, and hey, I'm really captured by what's happening. He said, "Yeah, I was on a hike recently with a lady, and we saw this leaf that had changed. I looked at her and said, "Oh, it looks like fall is coming. The leaves are changing." And she said, "Hey, here's my perspective now. I don't see seasons as only four times a year. I see seasons as every day. You see a tree doesn't change four times a year. It changes a little bit every day." And when you think about that, it's not like it's winter and there's no leaves and then all of a sudden there's a day in spring and there's leaves everywhere. And then summer, you start seeing them shift, maybe a hair, and then in fall, they're gone, right? It's not how it works. It's every day. It got me thinking about this. What if we could watch a tree transition through a year? So here's a 365-day video of a tree just transitioning. A group of trees, I guess you would say. (crying) (crying) (crying) (crying) (crying) (crying) (crying) (crying) (crying) (crying) (crying) To me, it's important to remember that God works every day because sometimes we can feel stuck in a season, can't we? There's a lot of months without any leaves on those trees and we can say, "Man, my life is barren right now. God's not at work. Things are so hard." Or maybe things are so good, it's never going to be bad again, right? It's important to remember that God doesn't work every single day. We're not stuck where we are. We may not see growth like we wish we would, but there's hope and there's a promise that we will see continual change that God is going to be moving. Another way that we can view our lives is in seasons. A common way of outlining our seasons is kind of as follows. People would say spring is zero to 25 years. There's growth and learning and new beginnings. Summer is productivity, work, family life, that's 26 to 50. Fall is 51 to 75 times of reflection. Reaping what was sown in winter is the idea of 76 to 100 wisdom, legacy and rest. Others, obviously, not everyone abides by that ranking system and there's kind of categorization, but there's something important to know that you are in a season of life, isn't there? Life is fragile. Life is moving on. But I think equally part of that message is to embrace the season we're in. Do you remember what it was like to be 14 and you couldn't wait to turn 16 to drive? It's like the longest two years of your life. And then when you started driving, you didn't want to graduate. Actually, you wanted to graduate and as soon as you went up to college, you're like, man, I wish I was back home with mom and dad for a bit, right? Like you had that little season, maybe, maybe not. Ian's still there. I'm not afraid to throw him under the bus. He's still there right now. He's three weeks in. But then you graduate and there's times when you're just like, I can't wait until I get established. For some, it's marriage, finding a life partner. For others, it's moving out independently and doing your own thing. Then if you are married, you can't wait to have kids, then when you have kids, you can't wait to get out of the hard season of sleepless nights, then you can't wait to get into the next season when they're gone and then they're gone. You can't wait until they come back with kids. And then if that's not your path, you ultimately know what it's like to work and ultimately want to retire, right? You're like, man, just a couple more years and I'm retiring. And people retire and they're like, I'm bored. I don't know what to do. I'm finding myself more busy than ever. You know, when you see that kind of timeline, it helps us to remember like, what season are we in and how can we embrace the season we're in today? How do we not wish for the future or long for the past? How do we really embrace what we're doing when we view our lifespans as seasons? Psalms 90 12 says, teach us to realize the brevity of life. So that may may grow in wisdom. What's the wise thing to do in the years that we're living in now? And we need to embrace the season we're in. That's the big message. I was horrified by this. I saw on Facebook this morning. Look at this slide here. It says Marty McFly went from 1985 to 1955, which is like traveling back to 1994 today. Oh, how old does that make you feel? 30 years ago. I mean, 1994, I didn't even have a cell phone, right? I think back to high school, I was a senior that year. The glory days, right? No. How can I embrace today? The style just great, but don't stay there. In every season, we need to find our fulfillment in God. He Ecclesiastes 3, 11, just a few verses after that beautiful poetry we read. It says, yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. In other words, for every season, he has planted eternity in the human heart. But even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end. Again, I'll just want to read directly from my commentary. It said this. It says, because we are created in God's image, we have a spiritual thirst. The reason we always look ahead or look behind is because even in the present, we recognize something's missing, don't we? Something's not fully filling us. It says, we have eternal value. Nothing but the eternal God can truly satisfy us. God has built us a restless yearning for the kind of perfect world that can only be found in this perfect rule. He has given us a glimpse of the perfection of his creation, but his only a glimpse. We cannot see into the future or comprehend anything, everything. So we must try and trust God now and do his work on earth. You know, when we identify our season, the next thing is identifying what we're going to harvest in this season. You're growing something tomorrow, right? Or you're not growing something tomorrow. It's kind of the point, like if you continue down the path you are, if you live tomorrow, like today, what will your relationships look like? If you live this season continuing at the same pace that you're living, how does your health look? If you live this pace the way you're living, what fruit will you have? Galatians 6 sounds harsh. Don't be misled. You cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. It's actually a beautiful verse, isn't it? God ensures that what we plant is harvested. And the question to me is that I keep living this way. If I keep going down this path, what's going to grow? What's going to be the outcome? And that leads me to this point of focus on bearing fruit today. It's our last verse for the day and it says, "Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked." This is Psalms 1. This is David giving us an overview of life. He says, "They're stand around with sinners or join in with mockers." In other words, making a mockery of life, thinking, "Oh, none of this has consequence. I can live with however I want in every season and I'll be fine." But he says, "But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating what it day and night." Thinking about what you're thinking about, thinking about what God wants to produce. And it says, "They are like trees planted along a riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither and they prosper in all they do." Something refreshing about that verse isn't there. Their leaves never wither and they prosper in all they do. To me, it helps me think through that I can prosper in seasons of planting. God will help things grow. In times of harvesting, God will be with me in the harvest. And even in rest, healthy things are growing. The tree looks like it's dying for four months, five months. It's recharging, ready for a new season. Sometimes when we think of seasons, we can think, "I don't know that I can change. I don't know if I'm stuck." But we're sure you, it's not. How many of you are familiar with the last name, Nobel? If I said Alfred Nobel, you might know the Nobel Peace Prize, right? What you may not know, Alfred Nobel for, was he was the inventor of dynamite. He was a Swedish chemist, engineer, innovator, and weapons manufacturer. And one day in 1988, he had the opportunity to read this obituary that shocked him. His own. How do you read your obituary? It was actually his brother. Ludwig had died. But a French newspaper had, ironically, been told it was Alfred. And say, wrote an obituary about Alfred that Alfred wrote. And the headline was, "The Merchant of Death." It condemned him for his invention of dynamite, stating, "The Merchant of Death is Dead." Dr. Alfred Nobel, who became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before, died yesterday. How would that feel reading that about you? Well, Alfred Nobel was devastated by the foretaste of how he would be remembered. And he decided to see how he could make a difference. And that's how he created the Nobel Peace Prize, the award given to individuals who have contributed to peace and humanity ever since. And what does that tell us? Is even if we find ourselves beyond 75, where we think, "Ah, it's just always set like no." Legacy matters, doesn't it? None of us are guaranteed tomorrow. We look around the room. When you're starting with that story, I mean, fascinating, right? You lose friends. You lose people that don't have the gift of a full season of life, as we would call it. So let's not take anything for granted, but let's also not feel stuck. Let's actually invite God into the current season we find ourselves. Ask God how we can produce fruit in the current season. And to do that, I want to give you an opportunity just to reflect. There'll be a time, there's a video on the screen, and you can go ahead and start it now, and I'll just give you these. There's three questions that you're going to come across. Is God calling you to plant, harvest, or rest in this season? That's the first question. Rotating on the screen will be, "Have you embraced your season of life?" You know, if you're 25, if you're 50. And what can you do to ensure a good harvest in this season? Just been a few moments, communicating with God, pondering those questions. We'll close up in just a moment. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Somebody have anything that they felt that they'd like to share? Did you hear anything specifically? There's season you'd like to discuss, the next step you're taking practically. I'll share for me, rest has called me to do something awful. I leave my cell phone out of my room. I know it's terrible, I hate it. So if you call in the middle of the night, make sure you call for a good reason, because it's out of the room and I've got to go grab it. I'm doing the Kindle reading thing, but why am I doing that? Because I think the season of rest, I think sleep is the answer to a lot of things. I think if I start sleeping better, I think my mental clarity will happen, I'll remember names better. I think my quiet times will be earlier, which will make them quieter in my house. And so it's something I'm doing, kind of kicking and screaming. That's what I'm doing. How about you? Thank you, Des, for being on us all out. Nobody was moving until I had at least one. I feel the same way, I feel like I'm going to see the most attraction. We were taking things out of my life, I don't necessarily need it. Yeah, season of subtraction. More time to work, more time to rest, putting the phone away. Yeah, alright. It's easy to feel emotionally charged by something, but just what's the next step? Have a conversation with someone. Make it practical. See what God does in his season and he'll meet you in it. He closes some prayer friends. God, thank you so much for the chance to come together. God, thank you for a visualization of change. God, we see your faithful hand guiding the stars, guiding the trees, guiding nature. And we're so thankful that you're willing to guide us. Sometimes frustrated that you don't control us a little bit more than you do. But we respect that you love us enough to give us choice. God, I pray we will point our feet towards you, towards the sun who provides everything we need to grow. God, that we trust you in the seasons that we end. Rather, we're feeling a little scared to start something new, timid to start harvesting, or I feel like there's too much on our shoulders to rest. Our prayer will give us wisdom and discernment. God, I pray you'll give us somebody to walk with us. We don't have to do life alone. So give us a friend who can walk through the trail with us wherever you're calling us. To encourage us. To be someone that we can also encourage. And God, thank you for your unfailing love. Thank you for the reminder that if we feel too far from you, that God, your word, tells us your faithful and just to forgive us for all unrighteousness. Thank you for your forgiveness. Thank you for calling us back. Give us the wisdom and knowledge on what to do and the strength to live it out. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Have a great week, friends. Thanks for joining us. We hope something you heard today will draw you closer to God and encourage you to know him better. If you found this message podcast helpful, please subscribe, write a review, and consider sharing it with someone else. If there is anything we can do for you, a question we could talk through with you, a prayer we could say on your behalf or a need you have, please don't hesitate to let us know. We are better together. Please connect with us soon. Take care. (upbeat music)