Closer | Vision Month Part 4

Try to find the table that God has been preparing in the midst of your enemies because that's what our God does. He always prepares a table so when you and I are broken or hurting or confused or not sure which way is up, you've got to remember that God provided the garden before man and woman could ever make a mistake. There is a place He's trying to invite you into, a place of salvation and forgiveness and encouragement and hope and destiny and transformation. This is what God does for His sons and His daughters, provision. Can't wait to see what God has in store. If you have your Bibles, I want you to open them up wherever you want to open them. Pick a verse. We're doing them all today. We're doing all the verses today. Now we've been in our vision month here in February. If you're here for the first time, you might not know this, but those of you who have been here at least two or three times this month, you should know what's our word for the year? Closer. That's right. Closer is our word for the year. Go with me to the book of Revelation chapter 22. Revelation 22 beginning in verse number 17. It reads, the spirit and the bride say come. This is the last book of the Bible. The spirit and the bride say come and let the one who hears say come. Let the one who is thirsty come and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life. The spirit is saying come and the bride is saying come and those who are hearing are all saying come. Come closer. This was the verse that we looked at at the very beginning of this month along with a couple of other verses. Go with me to the Gospel of Mark. It goes, Matthew, Mark, the Gospel of Mark chapter 10. Mark chapter 10 towards the end of this chapter shares a story about a man by the name of Bartimaeus. He's blind and he's calling out to Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. And he's asking Jesus to heal him. In verse number 49, it reads, Jesus stopped and said call him. So they called, there's the word again, to the blind man. Cheer up on your feet. Here's the word again. He's calling you. Verse number 50 of Mark chapter 10 says, throwing his cloak aside he jumped to his feet and he came to Jesus. As he is calling out to Jesus and then Jesus calls him, blind Bartimaeus does not throw his cloak aside and move further away from Jesus. He moves closer to Jesus because when Jesus is calling you, he's always calling you closer. What we talked about a couple of weeks ago is if your calling is not bringing you closer to Christ, then it's either not your calling or you're living your calling out incorrectly. So we want to make sure we get in our brains because the world is trying to lie to us some saying, and when I walk in my calling and then I can get in my own head, get in

my own life and do what I want to do. But Jesus calls you and when he calls you, he's calling you closer to himself, closer to his church and closer to his mission. So we're trying to paint the very, very clear picture that Jesus is trying to call us closer. Go with me down to the book of Genesis. This is the first book of the Bible and we're going to go to Genesis chapter number three. In Genesis chapter three, verse number eight, it says, then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And they hid from the Lord, they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. This is why all of our platforms at all of our locations have this garden theme, if you will, to them. It's because we've been resting in this garden the last couple of weeks and you can see that God had placed Adam and Eve in the garden, but now they're hiding from God. But they're hiding from God amongst the trees of the garden. The very place that God gave them for relationship and connection is the place that they are now using as a shield and to almost reject God. and to hide from God. I gave it to you as a gift, and now you're using it for another purpose. Have parents in here, or not even just parents, those of you, you know, might be an aunt or an uncle, you ever give a kid a toy, and they're playing with the toy, and then they take the toy that you gave them, and they turn it on their sibling, and begin to beat their sibling with the toy? Or beat you with the toy, you ever have that happen? You're like, oh my gosh, I'm about to hit you with that toy, give me that toy, which you can't do, don't do that. But the toy was a gift, but now they're taking the toy, and they're using the toy for a purpose for which it was not given. The problem is not with the toy, the problem is what's being done with the toy once it gets put in your hand. So the question is, what are you going to do with the gifts that God has given you once they're put in your hand? A lot of people are married. What do you do with the gift of marriage when it's put in your hand? Because some people say, I'm married, I got a ring, but they're not taking that gift and

utilizing it and leveraging it for God's plans and purposes to make the other person better or to make themselves better or to make the world better. Instead, they're using it as a crutch, they're using it to hide. They might even be abusing somebody with that gift. Singleness is a gift. As y'all are like, no it ain't. Easy for you to say, you're married. We had a great singles night this past week, it was so powerful. Some beautiful things I think were reframed for all of us, but singleness is a gift. The question is not, do you have the gift or not? The question is, what do you do with it when it's in your hand? And you make that choice. Money is amoral. It does not have any type of nature in and of itself. It just takes on the nature of the person who holds it. So if the person who holds it is stingy, then the money's stingy. But if the person who holds it is generous, then the money's generous. What do you do with the gift when it's put in your hands? Some of us were praying for a house, we're, oh Lord, bless you with the house, bless you. Lord, would you give me this house? I'm going to have connect groups in this house. I'm going to have people over my house. Lord, this house is going to be a sanctuary for people to get healing and restoration. Thank you Lord for this house. And you ain't had nobody over your house for three years. Since COVID, you haven't had anybody over your house since COVID. Still wearing a mask at home. Listen, God gave you the gift. Now once it's in your hands, what are you going to do with it? You can't blame other people for you not using the gift that God gave you properly.

It's not contingent on them. God gave the gift to you. So here God gave humanity the gift of this garden, inviting us into relationship, connection, something deep and profound. Last week we talked about how the garden is an invitation into the presence of God, into the provision of God, and into the purpose of God. And last week we only got into the presence. I'm going to see if we can get through the other two today. Go with me now to Genesis chapter two. Go with me to, let's read verses four through eight. It says, this is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created. When the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up. For the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground. But streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living being. Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden, and there he put the man he had formed. First thing we're going to talk about with the provision of God is found in verse number eight that God planted the garden and he made this garden in Eden for Adam and Eve. And he made the garden before Adam ever showed up. God is always, I heard one theologian put it this way. is always previous. He's always first. So what God has done, and what we see here in Genesis, is before humanity can ever do anything, God has set up and built and planted a garden that he invites the man and the woman into. They did not earn it.

They did not work for it. Before they could ever do a thing, God prepared it for them before they ever got there. This, my friends, is a picture of what Jesus Christ did for every single one of us. Before you and I could even say, God, forgive me, God made a way for forgiveness. Before you and I could even make a mistake, God made a way for your mistakes before you made the mistakes. The Bible says it like this, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us, that you and I were not the ones to even mess up first. God was the one to make a way first before you even made a mistake. This is the goodness and the grace of God, and this is why it's foolish for any one of us to think that because I've messed up and because I've sinned I've somehow exhausted the grace of God. God already made contingencies for your mess ups. He already knew that you were going to fall and made a way for your falling. God's always previous. At our San Antonio campus we have Andrew and Hannah Scott, and Hannah is one of the best chefs on the entire planet. When we first met them, they were just coming back from the mission field in Guatemala. They were actually the ones, along with Nate and Whitney Louder, to go down to Guatemala and to start our campus down there.

There were no people, it was just the four of them started meeting in a home. And now it's beautiful to see what God has done with our Antigua campus and the Guatemala City campus and all the homes that have been built. It's been miraculous to say the least. But when Andrew and Hannah came back from the mission field, they were jaded. I mean, some of the smiliest people you ever meet and still like suspect. They were like, we're kind of looking at you like, hmm. And they were kind of confused by Onik and I, this is what they told us, because we were in ministry, Onik and I, and we were happy. And they weren't used to this. You must be faking it. You must not, you're not keeping it real. You know, that's how they would look at us. And we're like, uh, no, this is just us. So they invited us over for dinner and we went to their house for dinner. And Hannah, she can throw it out, okay? I think she's black. Um, she can cook, I mean, this food, that's how you put your foot in it. She can cook, this girl can cook. And we're there at the house. I don't know what she did to this chicken. This chicken came, an angel delivered this chicken. It was so incredibly juicy.

The sauces were perfect. She made a huge apple pie. You remember this, honey? She made a huge apple pie for us, made the crust by hand. I'm like, do you work? She did all of this in one day for us. And we sat down and had the best meal. It was so much fun, but it was so beautiful to go to a home and we walked into the house and you could smell the food. She didn't start cooking when we got there. She did it before we ever got there and was preparing something for us before we ever walked into the room. I need you to understand that God has been preparing something for you before you ever walk into the room. Can you smell it? Can you taste it? Do you know that the goodness and the grace of God, he is preparing, matter of fact, Psalm 23 says he prepares a table before us in the very presence of our enemies. If you have anybody trolling, anybody coming against you, anybody trying to tear you down, don't just listen to their voice. Try to find the table that God has been preparing in the midst of your enemies because that's what our God does. He always prepares a table so when you and I

are broken or hurting or confused or not sure which way is up, you gotta remember that God provided the garden before man and woman could ever make a mistake. There is a place he's trying to invite you into, a place of salvation and forgiveness and encouragement and hope and destiny and transformation. This is what God does for his sons and his daughters, provision. Now, not only. is their provision. I want you to see that there's something else. Go with me to verse number 7. Verse number 7. In verse number 7 it says, then, I'm in chapter 2 still. Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living being. He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living being. God has formed a man but the man does not come alive until God breathes into the man. It takes God to give the man breath in order for the man to come to life. So not only did God provide a garden, God also provided the breath that the man needed to do what God had called him to do. Now breath is, in Hebrew, there's a number of words that are all kind of connected. You've got breath, you've got wind, and you've got spirit. And all these words are connected. So it could read that in order for the man to be alive he needed the breath of God or put another way the Spirit of God to fill him for him to come to life. I am shocked at how many followers of Jesus are trying to live a Christ centered life separated from the work of the Spirit in their lives. I'm blown away that we think we come to faith in Jesus by our own merit somehow some way or we come by grace then once we come by grace now we are living by works. And that is not the picture that God has painted for us in the Bible at all. What we see here in Genesis is we see a picture that man is here but he's not yet breathing. And in order for him to breathe God says I'm going to give you

what is me. I'm going to put that on the inside of you. And this is what happens when you and I surrender our hearts and our lives to Jesus Christ. There is a powerful spiritual exchange that takes place. Not only your sin for Christ's righteousness and not only your brokenness for his wholeness but also your dead soul for an alive spirit as a Holy Spirit infuses life on the very inside of you. And some of us are living with too many lies right now thinking thinking well I'm just gonna kind of exist. Matter of fact I think there's so many people that come to church on Sundays or watch online on Sundays or you know pull up at whatever point in time and you think you know what I just need another hit. I need another hit on Sunday. I had a rough week. I hope they sing my song. I hope the preaching is good. I hope I hope this. And you're waiting for Sunday to be the thing that kind of lifts you. And I love Sundays. Do not get me wrong. But I don't think you're supposed to live from a Sunday to a Sunday high. I think the Spirit of God that we experience when we gather corporately is the same spirit that is with you in your cubicle or in your corner office or in the car when you drive. I want us to have the understanding that the Spirit of the Living God is who has filled you up from the top of your head to the soles of your feet. And this is not just for church stuff. It's for life stuff. So if you don't know how to be a husband, stop trying to do it in your own strength and power. You can be a spirit empowered husband. You can be a spirit empowered wife. What would it look like, business owner, if you did not just try to figure out everything on your own but you said, Holy Spirit, would you lead me and guide me in this moment? What would it look like, bosses, if you were looking at your team and saying, Lord, would you give me strategic ideas on how to bring everybody together? Do not dare relegate the work of the Spirit to Sunday mornings or connect groups. It is for every single day of your life. Parents, you're gonna need the Holy Spirit because your kids are lying. They're lying to you. Oh yeah, I'm fine. They're lying to you. You need the discernment of the Holy Spirit. We'll just give you a dream at night. Speak to your heart. You're driving in the car. You got a

little thought like, hmm, I wonder about that friend. I wonder where they are right now. It's the Holy Spirit that's working on the inside of you. Don't just give yourself credit for that. It's the Holy Spirit. Spirit, that's trying to fill you and lead you and guide you. And God provided the Spirit from the beginning. Let's not run from this. Let's breathe it in. Breathe Him in, brother. Spirit, fill me. Acts chapter 1, verse number 8. You can jot it down. It says you're going to receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. This power is not just going to be good in the synagogue or at church. This power is going to be good everywhere you go. Yes, in church, but also in Judea and Samaria to the other ends of the earth. It's going to work in the educational system. It's going to work in the medical system. It's going to work in the entertainment industry. No matter where you go, the Holy Spirit is able to work and flood and move in you and through you. Zechariah chapter 4, verse 6. And I think it may be verse 7 as well. But it says, this is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, not by might and not by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord. I am praying that moms and dads and single people and husbands and all business leaders, all of us

would stop trying to live life on our own. We'd live life saying, Holy Spirit, would you fill me? Then would you guide me? What if you ended your day each day on your knees? And if your knees aren't good enough for that, just sit on the edge of your bed. Hands open, maybe eyes closed. Lord, as I get ready to go to bed tonight, I ask for the Holy Spirit to fill me up fresh and new. And I thank you that just like the Spirit was hovering over the waters in Genesis 1, you're hovering over every single issue that I am navigating. And as I go to bed, you don't sleep. I'm sleeping. You're working. And when I wake up, I'm going to find out what you've been doing all night, Lord. Remember on Elf? When everybody left, they left the department store and Buddy was there working. Come on, y'all remember? Buddy was there. He had the Legos, cutting everything up. And they came in. Who did this? Who did this? Who did? I'm telling you while you're sleeping, God is there working, putting things together. It's the work of the Spirit.

Not only did God provide the Spirit, He provided the garden, provided the Spirit, but also He provided relationship. Go with me to verse 23 of chapter 2. Verse 23, it says, the man said, this is like the first song that man ever said to a woman. Before Bruno Mars. Here it is right here. Take this, Neo. The man said. I wish I had Auto-Tune as I read this right here. This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman, for she was taken out of man. It's beautiful. It's harmony. It's relationship. God said, it's not good for the man to be alone. Then it reads earlier, I'm going to make a helper suitable for him. Now some who are, I don't know, dumb, chauvinistic, selfish, I don't know. I don't know who did it. I'm not sure. Maybe it was good intentions. I don't think so. They took the word helper, and they demeaned, disrespected, and set aside woman as saying, she better just be barefoot and pregnant. Shut up in the corner and let the man do his thing. But that's not what the Bible teaches.

The Bible teaches that there is authority and power put on the man, and then there's authority and power put on the woman as well. Matter of fact, the word helper that is used there, you will find God using that same word of himself in the Old Testament. So if it means barefoot and pregnant, do you think God's supposed to be barefoot and pregnant? No, my friends. When God saw what he had given man, and the strength he gave man, and the calling that he had on man's life, he said in order for this man to accomplish all that I've called him to do, it's going to require somebody else who's strong. and capable and anointed and ready for the task and God brings together a man and a woman to advance his cause and his plans and his purposes in the earth. It is not weak men hiding out in the corner and it's not weak women hiding out in the corner. It's a man made in the image of God and a woman made in the image of God and they come together to fulfill the purpose of God in their generation. This is what we see here in Genesis. So now you can write this verse down later. First Corinthians I think it's chapter 11 verses 11 through 12. I don't have to put it on the screen but it talks about the interdependence between man and woman. It is beautiful to see. God said hey I don't want you alone. Now sometimes we use that in the church against singles. So you got to get married in order for God to use you and the problem with that is Jesus was single. So boom blew that one up. It's not about are you married or not. Jesus was not married but Jesus was not alone. He was not alone. He fulfilled his purpose in community and if anyone could have done it himself it would have been Jesus and Jesus did it. He brought people around him and you and I are here today because people said yes. That is provision. He provided the garden. He also provided the spirit and then he provides relationship. But now let's get into this last piece of purpose. Look at this Genesis chapter 2.

Let's look at verse number 5 and verse number 15. Y'all still with me? Verse number 5 says now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up and he's going to give us the reason why nothing had yet sprung up. The first reason is this. The Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there's another reason. There was no one to work the ground. There are two reasons nothing had sprung up. God didn't do what only God can do that's make it rain. Am I talking? It's not. Not this make it rain. Okay not that make it rain. Literally precipitation rain. God had not made it rain but there was another reason nothing had grown. There was no one to work the ground. Look at me in verse number 15. The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to sit around relax and go on a vacation. No he took him and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. Everybody say work it. Work it. Okay he put him in the garden. I'm gonna need to edit that out. That might be a little much. I'm feeling free today. He put him in the garden to work it and to take care of it. So nothing had grown because God didn't send rain and there was no one to work the ground and now in verse 15 we see that God put the man in the garden to work it and to take care of it. So now we discover this that the garden of Eden was not a hangout spot. It was a place of stewardship. It's a place of responsibility. It was a place that man had to work. This is before the fall. This is why your work can be holy and it can be worship. Some of y'all like I'm ready to get done with work. Work was God's idea. So how do we now reclaim it and not allow the world to define it but instead say God you gave this to me. Huh this is a part of purpose. A part of man and woman's purpose was to work it and to take care of it. Are you working and taking care of what God has given you? It's easy to point to other people. They're not taking care of that. They're not. I'm not talking about them. I'm talking about you. I'm talking about you. Well I'm busy. We're all busy. Work it and to take care of it. I love that this is here Because God could have said anything he wanted to say here. Can I step on some sacred cows for just a quick second? I don't know if y'all are going to like this, but that's OK.

This whole comfort era, soft era, this is not gospel era. It's not, OK? It's not. The problem with comfort era and soft era, let me say this first. I don't believe in burnout era either, OK? So it's not burnout era or comfort era. I think both of those are wrong. But something is in the water in our day and age that we think I need to build a life that works for me. The problem with comfort era and soft era is you're at the center of it. The question is not, God, what do you want? The question is, what do I want? What works for my schedule, what works for my time, what works for the season of life that I'm in. And the reality is God will usually do things in your life that require you to have faith. And if he requires you to have faith, that means it's outside of your comfort zone. So I wonder, when your kids are 15 or 20 or 25, will they look back and say, my parents lived a comfort era, soft era life, or will they say they live a Christ-centered, gospel-centered life? And I want my kids knowing I took steps of faith. I know you want that, too. So now we're being invited into a different story. I do not like the mindset of even our worship sometimes could be all, it's me and God.

It's me and God, it's me and God, it's me and God. I'm going to take off my shoes, and me and God, and me, I'm going to walk in the garden, me and God. And I'm like, man, take off your shoes. I don't care if you let your dogs out. That's fine. And I'm all for worship. I love it. I love singing the songs. I love my soul being filled. I absolutely love that. I love that. But I wrote it down like this. We were never called to bask in the presence of God, to enjoy the provision of God, and then to neglect the purpose of God. That was never the plan. And I am concerned that in our day and age, the music is so good that it's stopping us just at his presence and us being filled up. And you're not letting your soul come alive to understand that you've got to work the ground that God gave you, and you've got to steward what he put in your hands. So God, thank you for your presence, and thank you for your provision. But it's connected to purpose. It's connected to your kingdom moving forward. It's connected to your rule and your reign in the earth. You can see that Adam and Eve, Adam rather specifically, was given the task of naming the animals.

In the ancient world, this would have signified authority, responsibility, relationship. So he's going through. He's naming the animals. God could have named the animals. But God said, Adam, I'm giving this to you. Here is God partnering with humanity. I'm not God. I don't know that I would have done it this way, because you all know how jacked up we are. But God in his love and his kindness and his infinite wisdom said, hey, let me bring you into the story. Go ahead and name all this. He starts naming all the animals. What you name, you shape. What you name, you shape. What you name, you shape. Can I encourage you to start to begin to name the season that you're in right now? But name it properly, because you're shaping it. Some of us keep naming the season that we are in. I'm so alone. You might be alone, but I want you to put some Jesus on that name. I'm alone, but I thank you, Jesus, that you placed me in a church surrounded with people that will genuinely care about me. So help me to lay down my insecurity and my fear. You can say what you're feeling, but you

got to put some Jesus on the other end of that. Man, I feel like my body is just hurting right now. My marriage is struggling right now. Don't let that be the only name that you give your season. You got to put the word of God on that name as well, on that season as well, because the name of God begins to shape it. I don't have time to turn here, but you can read it later. In Luke chapter 1, really the whole chapter is amazing, but John the Baptist is about to be born. And his dad is given the name. Zachariah is given the name John. When it comes time to name the baby to be born, Zachariah still can't speak, and his mother, Elizabeth, gives John the Baptist the name John. Everybody else goes, no, you can't name him that because no one in your family is named John. The only problem is God told them to name their child John. John. So you and I will experience the same thing. You will have something that God has given a name, and everyone else in your world will try to give it a different name. And you gotta say, I'm not listening to the name that you're trying to give my season. I'm not listening to the name that you're trying to put on me. I'm not listening to the name that you're trying to give this part of my life.

I'm giving the name that Jesus told me to give this thing. And he says I'm fearfully and wonderfully made. He says I'm called for such a time as this. He says I'm created in his image and in his likeness. He says I'm set apart and I'm holy. You gotta take the name that God gave you, and don't let everyone else name your season. All of this is closer. Closer to Christ, closer to his church, and closer to his mission. And the mission is not just about our comfort. The mission is about heaven coming to earth, and his plans and his purposes moving throughout our generation. If you wouldn't mind, family, bow your heads for just a moment. In the theater, at all of our locations, just bow your head for just a moment. Now I ask you to bow your head not because it's like extra holy or something. It just helps you focus. This is not your time to look at your text or to think about your lunch. This is a moment for those of us who are already followers of Jesus to be praying for those in the room and online who are not. If you have never given your heart and your life to Christ, or at one point in time you did, you slipped away, and today you're saying, I don't wanna go my own way anymore.

I wanna go the way of Jesus. If you're saying, my heart is not in God's hands. I'm not a follower of Jesus. My question is not, do you believe in God? Even the demons believe in God and tremble. It's not about do you believe in God. It is have you surrendered your will, your faith, have you surrendered your will, your way, your life to the way and the will and the path of Jesus, to the person of Jesus? Have you turned from your own ways and now you're going His way? If you've never done that, today's your day. Or if you did at some point in time, a long time ago, and you're like, man, I've drifted. I've gone my own way, but now I'm ready to come back home. I'm ready to give my heart and my life to Christ. On the count of three, I want you to do something simple, but something bold. Friends online, friends in the room, you're going to say, that is me. I'm gonna raise my hands so high because I want to give my heart and my life to Christ. Ready, one, two, three. Just lift your hand up. You're saying, yeah, that's me. I want to give my heart and my life to Christ. This is beautiful. We've got friends all over. You're saying, yeah, I want to give my heart

and my life to Jesus. Friends in the very back row, all the way down on the floor. Friends online, you're saying, yes, I want to give my heart to Jesus. Do not turn, do not leave this day and knowing that you're going your own way still. Today is the day of salvation. Today is the day for you to turn and go the way of Christ. Who else wants to get in on this prayer? You're saying, yes, I want to give my heart and my life to Jesus Christ. I'm gonna ask everyone to do me a favor. Put your hand over your heart if you would not mind. And I want everyone to repeat this prayer out loud after me. Say, dear Jesus, I ask you to forgive me of all my sins. I admit I've made mistakes. And today I give you my heart. I give you my life. Give me the power to live for you. In Jesus name, amen and amen. Can we lift our heads up, clap our hands. Come on with joy and enthusiasm. We're talking about people going from lost to found, from dead to alive. We're talking about people going from lost to found. you you you you you

you you you you you you you you you you you you you