Embracing What's New and Now - Saddleback Weekend Service

Welcome to Saddleback everybody. We are so glad that you are here. If you're not standing and ready, why don't you stand up to your feet and let's worship God together. Come on. Here we go. Let's sing this together. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Let this be our prayer. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. Sing it out. for us. And all will believe. They will sing the song of ages to the Lamb. Your name is the highest. Your name is the greatest. Your name stands above them all. All thrones and dominions, all powers and positions. Your name, it stands above them all. And the angels cry, holy. All creation cries, holy. You are lifted high, holy. Holy forever. And if you've been forgiven, and if you've been redeemed, sing the song forever to the Lamb. And if you walk in freedom, and if you bury their head, sing the song forever to the Lamb. Sing the song forever and amen. And the angels cry, holy. All creation cries, holy. You are lifted high, holy. You're holy forever. Hear your people sing. Hear your people sing. The church will sing, holy. To the King of kings. Holy. You will always be holy. Holy forever. Oh Jesus, your name is the highest. Your name is the greatest. Your name stands above them all. All thrones and dominions, all powers and positions. Your name, it stands above them all. King Jesus, your name is the highest. Your name is the greatest. Your name, it stands above them all. All thrones will bow down before you. Your name, it stands above them all. And the angels cry, let's lift it up, holy. Oh you are worthy of our praise, Lord. This is for you, yeah. You are lifted high, holy. You're holy forever. Hear your church sing. Hear your church sing. Hear your people sing. Holy. To the King of kings. Holy. You will always be holy. Holy forever. You will always be. Holy. Holy forever. Come on, let's declare it today. You will always be holy. Holy forever. Your name above all names. You will always be holy. Holy forever. Holy, holy, Lord. ♪ Lord God Almighty ♪

♪ Early in the morning ♪ ♪ Our song shall rise to thee, your hope, Lord ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Holy, merciful, admiring ♪ ♪ God in three persons ♪ ♪ Blessed Trinity ♪ Come on, let's lift our voice as the angels sing holy, holy. ♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Oh, you are holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Early in the morning, early in the morning ♪ ♪ My song shall rise, my song shall rise to thee ♪ ♪ Oh, you are holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ You are merciful, admiring ♪ ♪ God in three persons, blessed Trinity ♪ ♪ Oh, God, God in three persons, blessed Trinity ♪ ♪ Oh, God, God in three persons, blessed Trinity ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy, who else is worthy ♪ ♪ There is no one, only you, Jesus, who else is worthy ♪ Come on, let's lift our voice to Jesus. ♪ Who else is worthy ♪ He is worthy of our praise. ♪ There is no one, only you, Jesus, who else is worthy ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy, yes, there is no one, only you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy, no one else but Jesus, yes ♪ ♪ Oh, no one else but Jesus, there is no one, only you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, Lamb of God, anointed one, who was and is and is to come ♪ ♪ Seated on the throne above, holy, holy, righteous one ♪ ♪ Who shed His blood and proved to us the Father's love ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ be lifted up, holy, holy on and on and on ♪

♪ Oh, Lamb of God, anointed one, who was and is and is to come ♪ ♪ Seated on the throne above, holy, holy, righteous one ♪ ♪ Who shed His blood and proved to us the Father's love ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ be lifted up, who else, who else is worthy ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy, no one else but you, Jesus ♪ ♪ You can have it all, give me Jesus, you can have it all ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy, no one else, who else is worthy ♪ ♪ There is no one, only you, Jesus ♪ ♪ There is no one, only you, Jesus ♪ ♪ There is no one, only you, Jesus ♪ Welcome to Saddleback. Thank you so much for spending these next couple moments with us as we get to worship together and hear a great message from Pastor Andy. And hey, if you are checking out Saddleback for the very first time, we would love to know about it. We hope that you feel welcomed and invited and loved here at Saddleback. But it starts with you letting us know that it's a great place to be. Thank you. it's your first time. And so if you are watching on YouTube, there is a link that you can click in the description to fill out a New Here form, or you can download our Saddleback Church app, set your campus to online community, and then fill out the New Here form there as well. But we have an incredible online community that wherever you are watching from in the world, you can be a part of it. So we wanna invite you to let us know it's your first time, and our team is so excited to reach out to you

and get to know you as well. Well, we also wanted to share an exciting story of life change that is happening at one of our extensions. At Saddleback Extensions are volunteer-led gatherings of people gathering together in person to watch service together. And at our Sydney, Australia extension, Sally and her two daughters experienced life change. Sally showed up to the extension looking for hope, healing, and for truth. And when she showed up, she was met with the love of Jesus Christ and an incredible community of believers. There, Sally decided to give her life to Jesus, and she wanted to publicly declare her faith and her surrender to Jesus through baptism. So she took the step of baptism, and it was so awesome and so beautiful. And to make an already beautiful story even more amazing, Sally was able to attend Activate with her two daughters. And at Activate, her two daughters also encountered Jesus and decided to give their lives to him. And now they are looking forward to the day that they get to publicly declare their faith through baptism as well. It is so awesome hearing stories like this remind us of why extensions matter, because God is moving through simple gatherings, through acts of obedience and people saying yes to Jesus. And we wanted to share it with you

so that together we can celebrate what God is doing in and through our extensions. And if you might be wondering if there's an extension near you, or maybe you wanna start an extension yourself and help bring Saddleback and bring Jesus to those around you, then you can head to saddleback.com slash extensions and find out more information there. But together we get to celebrate all that God is doing and the life change that is happening. It is so awesome. Well, something else that I love about our church is that we don't just gather on the weekends, but together throughout the entire year, we go into our communities and we are the hands and feet of Jesus. And I just wanted to say thank you Saddleback for being a generous church. Because of your generosity, we are able to help vulnerable children, foster families. We're able to help provide meals for families in need, partner with local nonprofits, serve the first responders of our areas. So many different ways that we are being the hands and feet of Jesus. And just recently, over this past year actually, we have been able to provide over 274,000 meals for people in need to serve and to support over 1,500 foster care families,

and also to serve over 4,000 people through our outreach center. It is so incredible. This is something worth celebrating, the care that is happening. But we also believe that there is more change and more impact that can happen when we come together as a church, which is why we are so excited for our Love Local Serve Day that is happening on July 11th. On July 11th, all of our Saddleback campuses are going into their communities to be the hands and feet of Jesus. In 1 John 3, 18, it talks about loving, not with speech and not with words, but in action and in truth. And so this is what Love Local is all about. It's not just talking about love, but it is actually going and showing up and loving our communities. And so as an online community, we wanted to invite you to be a part of this day as well. On July 11th, we wanna invite you to invite your friends and your families, your small groups, or maybe you serve individually, and to go into your local community where God has placed you and to love people there. Whether it's writing letters of encouragement and of hope to first responders, or maybe it is bringing a meal to a family

that you know that is in need, or serving at a local school, whatever it may be, you can participate with us on July 11th to be the hands and feet of Jesus. And so to do this, you can sign up by going to our Saddleback app or saddleback.com slash serve day and sign up there. And then we will send you a list of ideas on how you can participate with us on July 11th. But we hope that you'll join us and join our entire church as we serve our communities together. Well, this weekend is also Father's Day. And so we wanted to say a thank you to the fathers, the grandfathers, the grandparents of our church, and to just show gratitude. And so with that, let's watch this video together. Hey dad, you mean a lot to me because you're always the guy I look up to. I love my dad because he helps me. My dad helps me pray. I'm just so thankful that you're my dad and that you've been my best friend since as long as I can remember. Okay, this is Rain. She has Down syndrome and autism and is non-verbal, but if she could give a message to her daddy, we set her tablet to help her. I love you, daddy. That's good, Rain. I love you, daddy. Yeah. Thank you for working so hard for me.

You bring me closer to God every day. I want to tell you how much you mean to me, like how you help me go through hard times and adversity, so I want to thank you for that because that really helps me grow and love you more. He reminds us to serve others before ourselves. I could never ask for a better dad. Oh my gosh. That was really awesome. Wow, did not expect that. Whew. You know, as a dad, you don't get a lot of recognition. This is showing me that what I do every day, every night, actually matters. Yeah, that's better than any work accomplishment or pat on the back from my buddies. I think, like you said, it's the ultimate sign of approval. I mean, what can be better, right? Like, the whole point of me being here is to raise those six children. You guys don't know. You know, some of the things that are between the lines of what they're saying, but, you know, I can picture the situations that they're referring to. Good reminder of why I'm here. To be Christ-centered in everything you do and to be a prayerful man and to teach your children the legacy of what the Lord has done for us, so that's the most important thing is the legacy of those that trust the Lord with their life. There's many times I've fallen asleep on the floor listening to the Bible, listening to them, and we're all just, like, next to each other, you know? You know, I've grown up in the church my whole life, and to be able to pass that on to my children is pretty amazing. My dad brings God into our lives by bringing us to church every Saturday night, and my dad always prays for us. He's helped me get closer to God by praying with me at night and driving me to church.

Just sitting at the four o'clock service with him, just having fun. It's really easy to come to you and be like, hey, how should I respond to this in a way that Christ would act? And I just want to say thanks a lot for doing that for me. You mean the world to me. I just wanted to say I love you, and thank you that you're just such a great grandpa to my kids. Thanks for being the best dad ever. Thank you, God, for giving me my dad. I love you so much. I love you, Dad. I love you. Happy Father's Day weekend to all of our campuses. Today is a day for us to honor the fathers who are a part of our church family, and if you're a dad or a grandpa at any of our campuses, will you please stand for a moment so that we can honor you as a church family? Now, I want to take a moment and speak to you about the significance of the role that you play and how important. You can stay standing for just a moment. We're going to pray over you guys at all of our campuses. The role that you play in the lives of your children and your grandchildren, you are a protector, you're a provider, you're a leader, you're a lover, and the most important thing about you in all of that is who you are as a son of the Most High God. And Almighty God sees you. He values you. Your role in society, the studies show us that nothing gives a child a greater privilege than an engaged father. And so we thank you for the ways that you engage, that you pray, that you protect, that you love, that you serve. And you might look around the room and you see these men, you don't know their story,

and you're like, I don't know their story. I don't know their story. I don't know their story. I don't know their story. I don't know their story. I don't know their story. And you look around the room and you see these men, you don't know their story, but there's so much that is poured out. And maybe there are some of you men who are listening right now that you're not a dad, but that longing is inside of you to be a husband and to be a father. And what I would say is in a culture that has torn down the role of men, we here at Saddleback see the value and honor what you do as a husband, as a father, that we're raising up a generation that's different in this church, of men who pursue the heart of God, that love Jesus, that serve the church, that pour out their lives. And we're seeing God do that in our church. family, and we honor the men who are a part of this house. So one more time, can we thank the men for their serving and loving, and if you will, if you will, just extend a hand to somebody that's standing around you, and let's pray a blessing over the husbands, the fathers, the grandfathers in our church. Lord, we thank you for the men of God in this church, the anchors that hold families together that love and serve and pour out their lives, Lord. We bless them. We thank you for the call to godly manhood, to be a model, a role model of what it means to be a father that loves our family, and I pray, Lord, that you would bless these men, that this Father's Day weekend they would see from you and hear from you their value of how much you love them and you value what they do. We love you, Jesus. We pray these things in your name. Amen. Amen.

You may be seated. Well, today we are in a journey together. Last week we kind of kicked back off into reading through the gospel of Mark, so we're calling it Jesus on the Move, and we've been looking at how Jesus, when he came, he came in such a way that he changed the religious system. He changed the way that people related to God, and there was this early band of people that followed with Jesus called his disciples, and several of them wrote accounts or books about the life of Jesus. That's where we have Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and we've been journeying through the gospel of Mark, looking at Mark describing the ministry of Jesus, and today we're going to jump in. We're going to see Jesus interact with a group of religious leaders, responding to one question around fasting, and we're going to see so much about Jesus in these few moments, and I believe God wants to speak to you through his word. Now, wherever you are in your journey spiritually, whether you're new to faith or you've been here for a long time, God's word is relevant. God's word is authoritative. It gives us the power that we need to live a different kind of life, and God can speak to you through his word today. So I want to invite you, if you will, Mark chapter 1, verse 14 and 15 is on your notes. You can pull your notes out, and I want to read these two verses out loud together at all of our campuses. Mark 1, 14 and 15 says this, after John was put in prison, I hear four people at Lake Forest. I know we can do better. Okay, ready? After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee proclaiming the good news of God. The time has come, he said. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news.

Now, I want to stop for just a moment, because the gospel of Mark really is helping us understand there's this kingdom that Jesus is bringing about, the kingdom of God, and all of the Bible has been pointing towards this moment where the Messiah would come. There'd been prophecies, there'd been anticipation, and now what Mark is saying is that moment is here. God is among us, and this kingdom of God is available to anyone who would turn to him. It's a kingdom of life, it's a kingdom of joy, it's a kingdom of purpose, it's a kingdom of relationship with God where Jesus is the king, and he's saying this invitation is available. It's at hand right now. The kingdom of God is breaking through into our reality here on planet earth, and many people throughout the gospel of Mark are going to respond. They're seeing Jesus move. They're being healed. There are miracles that are happening. They're listening to him teach, and yet there are some people that when the kingdom comes, they miss out on the kingdom of God. All the good things that come with the kingdom of God, including relationship with Jesus. And in Mark chapter two, these few verses, I want us to notice, it says, once when John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, some people came to Jesus and they asked him, why don't your disciples fast like John's disciples and the Pharisees do? Now this is important because in their culture, fasting was like this outward sign for people of how religious you were. In fact, in their day, they had all these traditions, and one tradition was that you would fast two times a week if you were super spiritual. So like on Mondays and Thursdays, those were your days to fast. And Jesus comes and his disciples are not fasting like John the Baptist or like the religious leaders, and they want to know, this question is really important to them. Why don't your disciples fast? It seems like they're less spiritual than the Pharisees and John's disciples. So Jesus responds.

He says, do wedding guests fast while celebrating with the groom? Of course not, Jesus said. They can't fast while the groom is with them, but someday the groom will be taking away from them, and then they will fast. Besides, who would patch old cloth with new cloth? For the new patch would shrink and rip away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger tear than before. And no one puts new wine into old wine skins, for the wine would burst. The wine skin. and the wine and the skins would both be lost, new wine calls for new wine skins. Now, there's a lot of imagery that Jesus gives in these few moments, but I wanna tie it back to this question where Jesus is asked, why don't you fast? Like, why are your disciples not doing all the religious order, tradition, rules that we've stacked on top of God's principles? You know, it's important for us to see that Jesus lived inside of a religious system that had been waiting for the Messiah to come. And if you go back to the Old Testament, Moses received the law from God. So there were all these laws, starting with the 10 commandments, that the Israelites were living under the guidance of the law. But what the law did was it revealed to them how much they needed a savior because nobody was able to keep the law perfectly.

So Jesus comes and there's not only the law that exists, but there are all these rules that are stacked on top of the law. So Jesus actually is not following their man-made rules and they're really confused about it. And Jesus wants them to understand, this is very important, if you're taking notes, I wanna invite you to write this down. God's purposes and plans require the right response at the right moment. So Jesus is making a very massive point in this moment. He's saying, this is the moment that all of the Bible has been pointing towards and you're asking me why my disciples don't skip fish on Tuesday afternoon. And the significance of this moment is Jesus is helping them understand that this is a moment in time that is here, there's a window of response. And if you don't respond, you're going to miss what God wants to do in you and through you in this moment. Now, it kind of reminds me of the reality that life flows in seasons and there are windows, there are moments of opportunity that are here and then they're gone. So this last week, Stacey and I gathered together with our extended family. I celebrated my 45th birthday this week and my dad sent me a birthday card and said,

welcome to the third quarter of your life, which I don't know how he knows it's the third quarter, but we celebrated my birthday, then we celebrated with Stacey's family. We had a big event where we get together once a year. We've been doing this for almost 20 years now. I want you to see Stacey's side of the family, her mom or dad, siblings, grandkids. And when we gather together now, all the kids are older. It's a lot easier at a lake than when they were all small and you're always worried about somebody drowning. So we have a great time, we love them. And while we were there, in addition to that, my brother and his wife and their two kids came and hung out with us. So they kind of got adopted into Stacey's family for our reunion. And I want you to see a picture of my brother. He's a few years younger than me. So Sammy and Charis are there. And then his two daughters who are six and five or seven and five. And while I was with Josh, I was thinking about something, looking back on my life. So it moves so fast. I can remember very easily how short of a time it seems like that we were in that season. But some of you are parents right now with kids about that age. Raise your hand if your kids are about like elementary age,

early elementary age. Just raise your hand up high, it's okay. I see you. I wanna encourage you to enjoy the fact that your kids like to hang out with you. It's a wonderful thing in this season. And the reality that struck me is that life moves so fast and one season is done in a flash of a moment. And it seems like it was just yesterday that the kids were being born and now my oldest turns 20 this fall. And as I was reflecting on this, I was like, there's a longing, there's a part of me that longs for an earlier season in life. And then yet the reality, there are great, wonderful things about this season of life. Like I can bowl with all my kids and play pickleball. And this weekend, I would like to tell you that I beat my whole family in bowling this weekend. I just feel so wonderful about that. And I lost in pickleball, but I feel great about bowling. And this season of life has wonderful gifts, but there's something really important I want you to hear because when Jesus is speaking, there's a frame of reference of time that Jesus is pulling from. So the frame of reference of time, we often consider time through chronological time. And the word in the Greek language is chronos.

So it's a chronological day, it's a week, it's a month, it's a year that life flows in chronological time. And we all live within chronological time, but there's another very important concept that Jesus is pulling from, and it's the concept of kairos. And so kairos time is different than chronos. Kairos is a season or a month. moment that is here, and then it's gone. And Jesus is wanting them to understand, right now is a window of response, a kairos moment that you might entirely miss. Now, whenever moments come, there's new, there's current, and then there's old. So there's like the stuff that's happening right now in your life, and then there's the old stuff that used to happen. And the natural tendency when it comes to new and old with kind of the journey of kairos moments is there are some people that have a tendency to hang on to the kairos moments of the past. You know anybody like that? Married to anybody like that, hang on too long? There's those who, they move too far into the future as well. Hang on too long is one temptation, and then move on too soon is another. So there's a natural tendency. And what happens is usually opposites attract. So in a marriage, there's often one that hangs on too long, or there's one that moves on too fast.

How many of you are married to somebody that moves on too fast, out of curiosity? And my wife, Stacy, she'll raise her hand right now. There's this natural tendency to always be on to the next thing. Now, for both extremes, the challenge is that we will often miss what is happening right now in the moment. So the tendency to hang on too long might be a mom that is still living as though her kids are babies, and now they're college students. Or it might be somebody that's living in the past of what God did and not the current moment. Or it might be that you're just looking ahead to the next season and missing what is in front of you. And what God wants from us and for us is to be a people who can respond to the current moment of what God is doing. That our eyes are open to see that God is on the move right now, both in our lives and in our world. And if our eyes are not open, we will miss what God is doing. So Jesus comes, and there are some people that miss the moment, and there are some people that respond to the moment. And it makes me think about this verse in 1 Chronicles chapter 12. There was this one group of people

called the sons of Issachar. And the sons of Issachar were different. They were a small group of warriors. There were only 200 of them. And notice in 1 Chronicles 12 what it says. From the tribe of Issachar, there were 200 leaders. This is in a list of about 5,000 leaders. There were 200 from the tribe of Issachar. And it says, all of these men were men who understood the signs of the times and knew the best course for Israel to take. So their eyes were open and they saw differently. So they noticed God was on the move. They noticed what God was doing around them, and they responded to it. So what Jesus is saying, I'm gonna unpack what he's saying, but I'm trying to set the table for us a little bit. That what Jesus is saying is there's a kind of person in a Kairos moment like a son of Issachar that sees that God is moving and moves with God. And then there are some people that are just oblivious to what God is doing all around them. And then there are some that are pointed in the past of what God did years ago, and some skipping over to tomorrow. And what we're after is right now God is moving. And the question is, how are we responding? So Jesus gives these three illustrations and they are packed with so much meaning. And in these three illustrations,

Jesus gives us three invitations that apply to every single person that's listening to this message today. And the first illustration that Jesus gives is the wedding. And I wanna spend a few moments focusing in on this image of the bride coming down the aisle to the bridegroom. So the bridegroom and the bride would have this huge wedding in their culture. They would gather together for about a week. Friends and family would come into town, maybe on their donkeys or walking into town. And then when they got there, everything would stop. Like all activity would stop so that the entire focus could be on the bride and the bridegroom. And there would be joy, celebration. And it was tradition, it was good religion that in a week of fasting, a week of feasting with a wedding you would not find people fasting. Like if you were over in the corner skipping lunch or hummus or whatever they're eating, the wonderful lamb, if you're over in the corner missing that, it would be bad religion. And Jesus points out, he's making a statement. This is not a moment that we are waiting for a wedding to happen. This is a moment where we are in the spot where we have been waiting for generations. We have been from the beginning of time. I'm going all the way back to the book of Genesis. There was a moment and there's this thread of prophecy

all throughout scripture pointing to Jesus, pointing to the one who's gonna come. Prophets are speaking of a savior and now the bridegroom is here in front of you. And the question is, are you going to fast when the bridegroom is here or are you gonna lift up your vision, lift up your eyes to realize the king is in your midst? The king is present now. And Jesus is saying, I am the bridegroom. He's using the image that God, the bridegroom to the nation of Israel, this bride awaiting the coming of her bridegroom. And Jesus is saying, the one you've been waiting for is here and you're worried, you're threading the needle on me skipping a tradition that man made and now you're missing this great sovereign plan of God that is right in front of you right now. And the invitation is an invitation to delight. It's that Jesus is here. He's in our midst. And the same is true now in this moment. Now it doesn't mean that there's never gonna be fasting. Jesus is not saying there won't ever be fasting because now we're waiting for his return. But there is an invitation to delight in the presence of God, to delight in the joy that God wants to bring into our lives in this current moment. And in every season of life, God is moving.

God's doing things when you're a young parent. God's doing things when you're a grandparent and you get to hang out with those grandkids. And God is doing things when you're a young single and you have more time on your hands. And all of it, there's an invitation where almighty God is saying to you, come into this kingdom of mine, this river of life that never runs dry to receive this kingdom of delight, that you enjoy the presence of God, that the great reward is not religion and checking a box. The great reward is the very presence of God in your midst. And the question for us has to be like, is there delight in our lives over who God is? And maybe there's a tendency for us like the religious leader to focus on the box that we can check rather than the presence of the living God. And the truth is God is in our midst. The spirit of the living God is in our midst at every one of our campuses right now this morning. You believe that? That he is here. And the invitation is to delight in his presence, that there would be joy in our hearts that he's near. So Jesus says to them, the groom is here. Delight, don't be onto the next thing. Don't be focused on fasting when it's a day of feasting and the king is in your midst.

That's the first invitation. Now, the second invitation that Jesus gives is an invitation with a garment. And he says, all right, so you got these garments. How many of you guys have watched The Chosen out of curiosity? Okay, so I love that show. Jesus always has the same outfit on in every show. Now, we don't know if he wore the same garment all the time, but that kind of tradition was you would wear a garment and at some point the garment wears out, you get a new garment. And what Jesus is saying is that you are trying to take a little patch and you're treating me like a patch that you're putting on a garment, hoping that somehow you can figure out where do I fit in your religious system? How does this guy who's teaching and performing miracles fit in this big religious system and all of our boxes that we're trying to check? And Jesus is saying, you're just trying to patch me on your side. But what happens when you take a patch of cloth that has not been shrunk, it's a new patch of cloth and you put it on an old garment, you're gonna tear the garment, you're gonna tear the patch and it's not going to work. And Jesus is saying, what you need is a new garment. What you need is a new operating system. What you need is a new way of thinking

and understanding who God is, that there was this old covenant that was all about what you could do to get your way to God. And now there's a moment where Jesus is saying, actually, God has come to you. And there's a new covenant that will not be meshed with the old covenant. It will be fulfilled in Jesus' death on a cross and his resurrection. But this new invitation is an entirely new way of living that you're not gonna fit him into the system of your life. And what Jesus is saying, this invitation is to go all in. It's like, are you gonna try to patch me into your system or are you going to embrace who I am, my teaching and the life that I invite you into? Now, what I think is interesting is, so often when we. think about God, we look at God through compartments. And maybe you have your compartments. You got your golf compartment, you got your USA soccer compartment, you got your Buenos Aires, Argentina soccer area, you focus on sports, you got your career, you got money, you got all these things. And then I take God and I put him in a little compartment in my life, like God, you get this little piece of the pie, 75 minutes on a Sunday, don't go longer than 75 minutes because I'll leave if you do. And that wasn't aimed at anybody, but that was just a point. But sometimes it's like, well, you just got to fit

into this little slice of my life. And what Jesus is saying is no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, I came to take over. I came to be in charge of your entire life and the kingdom of God is like this full overhaul of your operating system that your allegiance would be to Jesus. Your allegiance would be to his kingdom above anything else and it's not a patchwork kind of thing. So what God is after is not a part of you. God's not after just a little part of your life for a few minutes. God wants the whole of you because God wants to bless your entire life. So any part of my life that I'm holding back from him cannot be blessed. And there's a fresh invitation to go all in with Jesus every season of our lives. So if you're a follower of Jesus and you've been following him for four decades and you walked with God in one season, you're all in and another season does not guarantee you're all in today. And the invitation from him is to say, what does it look like for you in this moment in a fresh way to surrender your whole heart to me and what I wanna do both in you and through you? It might mean that you go all in with discipling your teenage son who's at home now. And it might mean that you go all in to serve in ministry

because you're single and you won't have as much time later. Or it might be that you decide, grandparents might I say, you decide not to move to Texas or Arizona away from your family and you stay put in California to help your children raise the grandchildren and pour into them. And the invitation is that you would say, there's something that God wants me to do to engage now that's different in this season. So what is that thing that God is saying, I want you to go all in? It might be your business, that you've just kind of been towing the line with surrendering your work to God. And God is saying, go all in with me here. So Jesus says, I will not be patched into your life. I want the whole of you, I'm giving you a new garment and a new way to live. That's the second invitation. The third invitation that Jesus gives is the invitation of the wine. And he says, there's this wine. Now, in our culture, very different with wine, wine gets placed in barrels. Stacey and I lived in the Bay Area for a long time, Napa's up there, there's a whole industry. But for them, wine was just integrated into every part of their culture. And what would happen is they would get a lamb that after the lamb died, they would take the leather.

And after that leather dried out, they would then put in fresh wine. And that fresh wine would work with the new wineskin. But after the wine had been in that wineskin, if that wineskin was empty again and it had dried out and you put new wine into it, what would happen is the whole thing would burst. So the whole wineskin would burst and all the wine would be wasted. And it would often happen with a loud pop, like a loud noise. So it would just kind of get in there and it would expand and then boom, it would break open. And what Jesus is saying is you're trying to take a new wine, a new covenant that I'm bringing about and putting it into an old system. That's why in their mind, they're trying to calculate how Jesus fits into their religious order. And what Jesus is trying to help them understand through this illustration, and it will teach if you keep thinking on it longer and longer. What Jesus is saying is I have come to bring new wine. I've come to bring new life. He's saying, I have come to bring a new covenant between humanity and God. And this new covenant that Jesus is gonna teach on is not about works. It's not about religion. It's not about earning. And Jesus, all the way through the Gospel of Mark

is gonna teach about this kingdom and it's gonna culminate with a cross and an empty tomb. And what Jesus is going to do through the cross and the empty tomb is he's going to establish a new covenant with the people of God. So by which every human who would turn to the heart of God, not just Israelites, but anyone who would come to God, not based on the merit of religion. or whether or not you fast on Tuesdays and Thursdays, based upon what Jesus has done on a cross, the invitation is to new life, to receive from God forgiveness and mercy, and ultimately to be forgiven of our sins, and now this new covenant is here. And Jesus is saying, you cannot mesh the two together. The new covenant, the old covenant, the old covenant never solved your problem. I'm here with new life, new wine, will you receive? And the invitation from him in this one is to make space for God to move, to make space for the new covenant Jesus is explaining. But for all of us, there's an invitation from God in the moment to make space for him to move in our lives. Now, many of us are so busy, we have so many things going on, and perhaps your life has been running at such a pace, maybe you just kinda crashed into summer, and school finished, and all of these activities now are starting for the summer,

and it's so easy just to move through life and never slow down long enough to say, God, I wanna make space for you, to hear from you, and it might mean something as simple as I go for a prayer walk early in the morning, and I listen, and I ask God to speak. Or it might be that you spend a little bit of time, 30 minutes before your day starts on Monday, and you open the Bible, and you say, God, I'm making space for the new thing that you wanna do in my life. And the truth is, God is moving. God is moving in your life, God is moving in our church, God is moving in our community, God is moving in our world, and there are some people that their heads are so down, and God is doing all this stuff around them, trying to bless them, and I just want you to imagine all of these blessings that God is raining down around you, on your family, on your children, on your business, on your work, all these things that God is wanting to do, but our eyes are down, and what Jesus is saying is your eyes are on the wrong thing. Your eyes are closed, and I want you to open them. I am here, the King of all kings is in your midst, the one who is crowned with glory for 33 years

will walk among you on planet Earth, and you are about to miss the fact that Jesus is here. And the sobering news is that there are some of us flying from season to season to season, and then we get to the end of our lives, and we look back, and we say, why did I not slow down and engage the Kairos moment, the fullness of what God was doing in the moment, and the invitation from God today is to you. There is a Kairos moment for you to fully lean into, for you to say, God, I want my life to count. I wanna know you, God. I wanna see what you're doing in my midst. I wanna encounter your presence. I don't just wanna do religion, and go through, and check boxes, and be some kind of religious professional. No, God, I wanna be undone with your presence. I wanna know the fullness of who you are. I don't wanna just dip my toe in what you're doing on planet Earth, God. I wanna immerse my life into your kingdom. I want the wholeness of my life to be about you, and your kingdom here on planet Earth. I understand, this is radical, this is not like check a box, like country club Christianity, but that's not what Jesus came for. Jesus came for the whole of your life, to offer you eternal hope, to invite you into a kingdom that will never end,

to give you this rushing river of life that nothing on planet Earth can ever satisfy. No boat, no house, no hobby, there's nothing that will ever quench that deep groan inside of our souls. You were made by God, for God, to know him, and Jesus is saying, it's not about skipping lunch on Thursday. It's about the King of kings, and the Lord of lords being here right now in this moment. And the question is, will we respond? So I wanna give you a couple really practical things that we wanna help with. This is why this week, we're having a prayer time. We're inviting all of our campuses to come to Lake Forest stateside for what we call a return night with worship and prayer. And if there's something in you that's just longing for more of God, just saying, I wanna know God at a deeper level. I wanna encounter his presence. We wanna invite you to be a part of that. We're inviting all of our campuses coming together Tuesday night of this week. Such a great way to launch into summer with all of what God's doing with our students and kids and praying over them. So I wanna invite you to be a part of that. Also, small groups are another great way to make space in our lives.

When we find ourselves lonely and hurting, a lot of times it's because we didn't invest earlier. And the invitation from God is to make space for him by making space for community. And that's one really simple way that we wanna help is just to say, we'll come alongside you in that journey of making space. Now, as we respond to God, one of the things that God has really been putting on my heart for our church is sometimes what happens in a church service is that we move so fast, just like we do in the rest of life, we're just onto the next thing. And in the moment, there was something that God was wanting to do in us that we missed. So we just got to the end of the service, we passed the buckets, we sang one more song, and then we were out to get kids and it's all over. And there's something that God is doing every time we gather. And my prayer for you is not that you walk out of a church service with more content. My prayer for you is that you walk out of every service having encountered the living God, that you might hear his voice spoken over your life. That's what we need more than anything else. And what I wanna invite you to do right now is just to take a moment to reflect on two really important questions with me.

And let's let God speak into our hearts as we do. The first one is where do I see God working in my life right now? So God is at work in your life. He's doing things around you. And it might be in the heart of somebody in your life. You might even write down, where do you see him working? It might be something that God is putting on your heart to do. Might be a business endeavor. It might be a vision for ministry. Maybe God's calling you into vocational ministry. It might be something that God's telling you right now, this is where I'm at work in your world. It might be a child, a grandchild, that God is saying, I'm working here and I want your eyes to be up. And what I'd like to ask you to do is to speak to God from your heart right now and to say, God, give me eyes to see. Give me eyes to see where you're at work. Sometimes it's little things. It might be you're checking out, getting your triple grande latte at Starbucks and somebody right in front of you needs to be ministered to. It might be in the busyness of work and right in front of you is somebody that's walking through a deep crisis in life. And just to say, God, I wanna have these eyes.

So where is God at work in my life? And the second question is, where is God at work in our world? So where is God at work in my world and where is God at work in the bigger world around us? And what we see right now is God is moving in a powerful way in our day. This is a kairos moment. This is a time that many Christians have been waiting for where there is an openness to the message of Jesus unlike I've ever seen in my life. And studies show right now that the younger generation, Gen Z, Gen Alpha, my kids' age, college age kids, there is a massive window of opportunity to reach young adults, kids and students with the good news of Jesus. So if you're a grandparent or you're a parent, get your eyes up because the enemy is trying to steal, kill and destroy the good work of God in the lives of our children and our grandchildren. And what God is looking for is some people who are a part of his family that will say, my eyes are up to be on a mission with Almighty God to reach a generation with the good news of Jesus. That's why we're doing all kinds of camps this summer. Kids are going out. We're sending them to these different gathering spaces, but they need our prayers, they need our heart, they need our full engagement. Also what this means is God is doing something

in this moment that's different than the last season of our church and the last season of our lives. And the invitation from God is to respond to the new that God is doing right now in this moment. It's leaning into his presence. It's hearing his voice. It's going on mission with him to reach the world around us and to have our eyes open to what God is doing in the world. And many people are seeing just massive response of communities and churches are growing at unprecedented rates across the United States of America. There's just so many wonderful things that God is doing in our day, and I don't wanna miss it. I don't wanna miss what God wants to do in our generation. In our church family for 46 years has been a people that has responded to the wave of what God is doing in our world. You know, in Southern California for our international campuses, we have this thing called the wedge. And there's this huge wave that builds and it happens a couple times a year. and people over the last several weeks have been flying into Southern California to go to the Wedge. My son told me he was gonna go boogie board the Wedge. And I was like, bro, that's not good. He's like, no, I don't mean this arrogantly. I'm like the best boogie boarder I know. And I'm like, okay, well that's,

I just, please stay off of that wave. But people are coming to watch a wave and to see the power of that wave as it comes crashing. And there is something about when God is on the move, people wanna be where God is working. And the question for us is will we have our eyes open that when the wave of God comes that we're ready to respond and to receive and to say, God, do the new thing that you wanna do in our midst. Have your way in me. Have your way in us. So I wanna just ask you to make space for God in your heart to say, God, move. I wanna invite you to have your way in me. So what I would like to do, I wanna invite you just to posture yourself in a place of receiving. And maybe even some of you, there's something on your heart. You might even write down a prayer that you have on that card in front of you. But just between you and God, I wanna invite you right now to express your desire for more of him. You might just say, come, Holy Spirit, from your heart to him, just say, I welcome you, Spirit of the living God. God is in the room. He sees you.

He loves you. He knows every hair on your head. And he wants to lead and guide your life. So just invite him. Show me where you're at work, God. Show me where you're at work in my life. Show me where you're at work in our world, God. Give me eyes to see. Eyes to see, God. Some of you, as you're just praying, you're recognizing that you've never opened your heart to God. You can do that right now. Faith in the Lord Jesus and what he's done on a cross. You can just very simply, eyes closed, nobody looking around, just you and God. Just say, God, I need you. I welcome you. I welcome you into my heart. Jesus, I believe you died on a cross and rose again from the dead. And I wanna follow you today. You can do that right now. And he's entering in, he's making you new, changing you from the inside out. Others of you just need a fresh touch from God, fresh filling of the Holy Spirit. And you might just say to him today, I need you to fill me afresh with your presence. Streams of living water that never run dry.

Jesus says, so it is with those who believe in me, as the scripture has said. So God, we make space for you. We respond to you, Lord. Help us not be like the Pharisees that are worried about fasting regulations and miss the fullness of what you're doing. And God, we long for more of you. We long for your presence. We long for your leadership. Oh, we're so grateful that you're good, that you're kind, that you're faithful. From generation to generation, oh God, you are faithful. We turn our hearts to you now. In Jesus' name, amen, amen. I invite you to stand with me. We're gonna respond some worship with just a couple of songs and just center our hearts with a declaration, God, I'll make room for you. And I invite you, this is not the end of the service in case you're tempted to move around. We're just gonna respond now and just make space to seal what God's done in our hearts. Let's sing as the band leads us in worship. ♪ And I will make room for you ♪ ♪ To do whatever you want to ♪ ♪ To do whatever you want to ♪ ♪ And I will make room for you ♪ ♪ To do whatever you want to ♪

♪ To do whatever you want to ♪ ♪ And I will make room for you ♪ ♪ To do whatever you want to ♪ ♪ To do whatever you want to ♪ ♪ Yes, I will make room for you ♪ ♪ To do whatever you want to ♪ ♪ To do whatever you want to ♪ Oh, I will make room for you To do whatever you want to To do whatever you want to, Lord And I will make room for you To do whatever you want to To do whatever you want to, Lord Shake up the ground of all my tradition Break down the walls of all my religion Your way is better Yes, Your way is better Shake up the ground of all my tradition Break down the walls of all my religion Your way is better Yes, Your way is better Shake up the ground of all my tradition Break down the walls of all my religion Your way is better Yes, Your way is better Shake up the ground of all my tradition Break down the walls of all my religion Your way is better Your way is better And I will make room for You

You can do whatever You want to You can do whatever You want to And I will make room for You To do whatever You want to To do whatever You want to I will make room for You To do whatever You want to To do whatever You want to And I will make room for You To do whatever You want to To do whatever You want to You know, when we worship and we sing songs to God, we're not just like going through the motions just to sing songs. This is a part of our worship back to Almighty God to declare His worth and His value from our heart to Him. And I know for some of you, maybe you're new to church and the idea of like singing with your whole heart to a God that you don't know yet is maybe a little bit foreign. But sometimes I think for a lot of believers who are followers of Jesus, we have the wrong concept of fully giving our heart to God and worship. Like if I were to get into your living room and watch you, watch your favorite soccer team, hopefully if you're from here, you know, you got a team that you watch, the United States just won, Mexico won. You would be cheering and celebrating when a goal went in and you'd be like whole heart in, your team just scored the goal. And sometimes we're like so reserved with God. Like, yeah, Jesus, shake up the room. And you're like, like, am I giving God my whole heart? And I want you to imagine for just a moment,

we're going to sing one more song, but I want to call out of you your heart in the presence of God. I want to call, if you're a follower of Jesus, I want to call out of you your heart to declare from your heart to God how grateful you are. You know, in Revelation chapter 5, there's this vision of heaven at the end and it says, I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll. There's this opening that the kingdom of God and the ultimate eternal plan of God would be revealed. And this image of the scroll's not open. And he says, no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. And he said, I started to weep. This is John. I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or inside. And then the elder said to me, don't weep. This is the vision of heaven. The lion of the tribe of Judah, speaking of Jesus, the root of David has triumphed. He's able to open the scroll and it's seven seals. And I saw the lamb looking as if it had been slain. This is Jesus being crucified, standing in the center of the throne encircled by four living creatures and elders, seven horns, seven eyes. And he came, he took the scroll from the right hand. And when he had taken the four living creatures started worshiping and they sang, you are worthy.

You are worthy to take the scroll to open its seal because you were slain with your blood You purchased us for God from every tribe and nation and people You have made the king them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God They'll reign on earth and that songs being sung in heaven that he is worthy. He's taken away our sin He's freedom. So I want to just declare who else is worthy. Just declare. He's worthy of our praise tonight We're going to finish with this who else is worthy. Come on, let's worship Oh, who else is worthy. Who else is worthy. There is no one, only you Jesus. Oh, who else is worthy. Oh, who else is worthy. There is no one, only you Jesus. The Lamb of God, anointed one, was in years and years to come, seated on the cross and holy, holy, holy The righteous one who shed his blood, who proved to us the Father's love, Jesus Christ be lifted up, holy, holy The Lamb of God, anointed one, was in years and years to come, seated on the cross and holy, holy The righteous one who shed his blood, who proved to us the Father's love, Jesus Christ be lifted up Oh, who else is worthy. Who else is worthy. There is no one, only you Jesus. Oh, who else is worthy. Only you God. Only you God. There is no one, only you Jesus. There is no one, only you Jesus. There is no one, only you Jesus. Well, thank you for joining us for service today. What an awesome message from Pastor Andy and a great reminder of what God is calling us into in the life that he is calling us into. And we want to invite you, if you want to respond to the message today, maybe God was stirring something in your heart to get plugged into community or to say yes to him for the very first time and to start a relationship with him. Maybe you want to get baptized or join community through a small group. You can do it by letting us know through the Saddleback app or if you're watching on YouTube, click that link in the description to take a next step. But we would love to come alongside you and to help you walk through that. Church family, we're so grateful that you joined us today and we hope to see you again next week as we continue the series, Jesus on the Move, taking a look at the life of Jesus in the book of Mark. So we'll see you again next weekend.