Encounters : So Close, But So Far - Sam Kelly (Full Experience)

♪♪ Good morning Fellowship Church. Come on, let's stand on our feet. We're here to give God glory today. To lift up the name that is above every name. Come on. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ Raising Him, reigning Him high ♪ ♪ Something comes out of the grave ♪ ♪ Every time I call the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ I call you, I call you Savior ♪ ♪ Raising Him, reigning Him high forever ♪ ♪ Something comes out of the grave ♪ ♪ Every time I call your name, chains break, chains break ♪ ♪ A child falls away, every time I call your name ♪ ♪ The gates are closing, every time I call your name ♪ ♪ Dead things come alive, dead things come alive ♪ ♪ Dead things come alive in the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Dead things come alive, dead things come alive ♪ ♪ Dead things come alive in the name of Jesus ♪ Give glory to your King today. Give Him thanks, give Him praise. He's worthy. ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ There was no way until you made one day ♪ ♪ Grace upon grace, hallelujah ♪ ♪ And even though I don't deserve it, you did it ♪ ♪ And even though I couldn't earn it, you freely give it ♪ Give Him thanks. ♪ Oh, who am I that you keep me on your mind, God? ♪ ♪ I'm just grateful for you, God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ All my life, all my life, you've been right here by my side, God ♪

♪ You've been right here by my side, God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, oh, there's only one worthy of praise ♪ ♪ I give you glory for all that you've done ♪ ♪ And even though I don't deserve it, you did it ♪ ♪ God says that it's finished, even though I couldn't ever earn it, He freely gives it ♪ ♪ Oh, who am I that you keep me on your mind, God? ♪ ♪ I'm just grateful for you, God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ Give Him thanks, give Him praise. All my life, all my life, you've been right here by my side, God, I'm just grateful for you, God, I'm just grateful for you Say, who am I? Who am I that you keep me on your mind, God, I'm just grateful for you, God, I'm just grateful for you All my life, all my life, you've been right here by my side, God, I'm just grateful for you, God, I'm just grateful for you Psalm 136 says this, that is faithful, steadfast love endures forever The God of the universe knows your name today So we give Him glory and praise Sing, I, I, I, I, oh, I'll lift Him both of my hands Cause you gave me chance after chance, sing that to heaven today And I, I, I, I, oh, I'll give you all that I am Cause you gave me chance after chance, after chance And I, I, I, I, oh, I'll lift Him both of my hands Cause you gave me chance after chance, after chance Thank you, Jesus I, I, I, I, oh, I'll give you all that I am Cause you gave me chance after chance, after chance And who am I that you keep me on your mind, God? I'm just grateful for you Give thanks, give me praise I'm just grateful for you All my life, all my life, you've been forever faithful

♪ My God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ God, lift your eyes to heaven, say who am I ♪ ♪ Who am I that you keep me on your mind ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ Oh God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ And all my life, you've been right here by my side ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ I survived and I'm here to testify ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ I'm alright if they say I'm out of my mind, God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ Oh God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ Come on, is anybody grateful this morning for the love and the faithfulness of Jesus? The Bible says, this steadfast love endures forever. So no matter what we're going through, God is good. Can anybody testify to that today? Welcome to Fellowship Church. So good to have you with us. It's gonna be a great day. So before we go any further, look for like three people you don't know, high five them and just remind them, today's gonna be a good day. And you may be seated. Welcome to Fellowship Church. It is a great summer day here in the house of God. Welcome, if it's your first time, we put our hands together for all of our first time guests. My name's Derek, I know I'm one of our pastors

and on behalf of the entire Fellowship family, pastors Ed and Lisa Young, we wanna welcome you and thank you for being with us, especially if it's your first time. And shout out to everybody joining us around the globe online. Listen, we believe Jesus didn't just create the church for us to come and casually attend. He created it for us to find community and a mission and a purpose to be a part of that's bigger than ourselves. And we wanna make it so simple for you to get involved in that and connected to that. So all you have to do right now is reach out in front of you and grab this blue card, it's called our connect card. You can wave yourself off, wave it at me, cool yourself off, it's summertime, I know it's a little toasty out there, but take some time right now just to fill this out. If you're online, you can just simply drop your information in the chat and we'll follow up with you. First thing this week, because getting you involved in community and helping you find people to do life with that can build you up, that's our greatest priority. So we'd love to connect with you, answer any questions that you have about the church. Of course, if there's something going on in your life

you would like prayer for, you can write at the very bottom of this card your prayer request. We have a team that prays over these all week long and we would be honored to pray for you. So just take some time, fill this out. We're gonna have an offering later in our experience. You'll drop it in the offering and we'll follow up with you. Myself or somebody much cooler than me will be calling you. But today you're in for a treat. We're gonna be hearing in just a moment a message. We're kicking off a brand new series. We're gonna be hearing from our global youth pastor, Pastor Sam Kelly. I'm so excited for you to hear this message and this series on the life of Jesus. But before we hear from Sam, speaking of the next generation, we're gonna do something really special right now. There are a group of families who are making the decision to raise their kids in God's house. And parents, I'm just gonna tell you, young parents, soon to be parents, that's the greatest decision you could ever make. Take it from a guy who has four kids. So they're gonna make this dedication today to raise their kids for the Lord in the house of God.

And we're gonna cheer them on. Y'all put your hands together. Let's welcome these families to the room right now. Come on, families. Here they come. Keep it going, guys. Keep it going. Let them feel the love. Let them feel the appreciation. Look at these beautiful families. Yes. Look at these beautiful families. You guys look great. You guys look great. Here they come, here they come. Y'all look so great. Beautiful families, beautiful families. Hello, hello, hello. Oh, let's go. I love it. Come on. Nothing like seeing all these beautiful families in church. Am I right? Well, listen, we're gonna call their names one at a time. And as we call their names, I want you guys to give a massive Sunday morning Fellowship Church applause. Here we go. Scott and Monique, dedicating Scott Campbell, Jr. Melina, dedicating Navy Cathy.

Seth and Aerie, dedicating Santos Donaldson. Whitney, dedicating Maverick and Blakely Gutierrez. Brian and Jessica, dedicating Quentin and Nina Hunter. Jude and Sandra, dedicating Jade Innocent. JC and Daniella, dedicating Remy Salm Lopez. Trent and Mackenzie, dedicating Emmeline Kessler. Brandon and Shay, dedicating Brooks and Miles McBride. David and Holly, dedicating Diana and Catherine Neal. Frederick and Carolina, dedicating Isaac and Samantha Peralta. Tim and Ariana, dedicating Nathan Peterson. Sarah, dedicating Camila and Valetta Ramirez. Adrienne and Christy, dedicating Violet and Madeline Segovia. Christian and Angelica, dating Darceo Soto-Selarez. Can we show our appreciation to these families one more time? Thank you. Parents, I'm gonna ask you to turn and to face me, face the stage. I wanna congratulate you on making this decision. We know that the only entity that underscores and highlights the values of the family is the local church. And so today, you're making that decision to raise your children to know and to love the Lord. And that's not a small decision. How many know that when you have kids, it can be a little daunting, right? Say, man, what am I gonna do?

How am I gonna do this? But the good news is, we don't have to do it alone. We get to partner with the only thing that Jesus ever built, the local church. I wanna read something to you right now. It's a passage of scripture in Psalm 78. This is verse four and verse seven. It says, we will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the Lord. So each generation should set its hope anew on God. And that's what we're doing here today. That's the call. That is the challenge, to raise our children to know and to love the Lord. Standing before us today, each child here represents future leaders, future business leaders, future pastors, future missionaries, future teachers, future leaders in our community. We don't know what God has in store, but he has something miraculous in store for each and every little one that's represented here. And our opportunity and our job is to raise them to know and to love the Lord. That's the call, that's the challenge, and that is the commitment to us this Sunday morning. So families, I'm gonna read a charge to you. And after the end of this charge, if you agree, you'll simply respond by saying, we will. So families, do you commit to lead your family like Jesus desires?

To be a man or woman of God in your words, in your actions and behavior? For spouses to love each other like Jesus loves us? For parents to lead and raise up men and women who glorify God? For families to make church involvement the top priority in the home? Parents, will you? I know you will. And now, Fellowship Church, we know that raising kids in today's culture is not an easy task, and that's why God has given us the church. And so there's a call to us and a charge to us as well as the church. So I'm gonna read a charge to you, and at the end of that. Church family, I would encourage you to respond in saying, we will. Fellowship family, we know that Jesus and his church are the only hope of the world. Do you commit to stand with them, these families, to pray fervently, serve tenaciously, and give generously to make sure this next generation grows up in a church that's alive, creative, and bold for Jesus? Will you? I know you will. Church family, if you would, and you feel comfortable, extend a hand towards these families,

these little ones this morning, and we're just gonna pray a blessing over their lives this morning. Heavenly Father, we come to you right now, God, and we lift up these children, and we lift up these families to you. God, you know these precious little ones so intimately. You know the number of hairs on their head. God, we thank you that you created them so fearfully and so wonderfully. God, we pray for the path that is set before them, the calling that you've placed on their lives. God, we pray that they would know you, that they would love you, and that they would fear you. God, we pray for these parents that each and every day, they would make decisions that encourage these young people to follow you. God, we pray for their decisions, we pray for their commitments, we pray for their love for your word and for your house. God, we pray that they will prioritize that each and every day as they raise these little ones. God, and we pray for the Fellowship Church family. God, that we would come alongside these families, we would encourage them, we would strengthen them, we would equip them, and we would hold them up in prayer and encouragement each and every day. God, we commit this to you, we love you, and we praise you, and it's in the mighty name of Jesus that we pray, and everyone said, amen, amen.

Can we show our appreciation to these families one more time? Amen. Families, we're gonna invite you to follow and exit out the room this way. We can continue to clap for them and show them our love and our encouragement and our support this morning. We're so proud of you, we're here to partner with you and encourage you along the way. So grateful for this time together. Church family, I'm gonna invite you to stand to your feet right now, and we're gonna continue in a time of worship together. ♪ It's all for you, it's all for you, Jesus ♪ ♪ We lift our praise to you, Lord ♪ ♪ Maybe we've made this complicated ♪ ♪ More than it was ever meant to be ♪ ♪ Hasn't it always been about the same thing? ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, bring us back to sympathy ♪ ♪ For you be the center of it all, my heart belongs to you ♪ ♪ My Savior all in all, you're the one I trust ♪ ♪ I hold on to for the beauty of your name ♪ ♪ My soul will live to say, Jesus I love you ♪ ♪ Teach us to discern the moment of when to serve ♪ ♪ And when to sit here at your feet and keep us awake ♪ ♪ Keep us awake to what's important ♪ ♪ Just like Mary chose a better thing ♪ ♪ We sing you're the center for you ♪ ♪ You're the center of it all, my heart belongs to you ♪ ♪ My Savior all in all, you're the one I hold on to ♪

♪ I hold on to for the beauty of your name ♪ ♪ My soul will live to say, Jesus I love you for you ♪ ♪ Oh you are the center of it all, my heart belongs to you ♪ ♪ He belongs to You, my Savior all in all ♪ ♪ You're the one I hold on to for the beauty of Your name ♪ ♪ My soul will live to sing Jesus I love You ♪ ♪ Oh how I love You, we love You Lord ♪ ♪ We love You Lord, oh how I love You, Jesus I love You ♪ ♪ Oh how I love You, oh how I love You, Jesus I love You ♪ ♪ And my heart for Your glory, my heart for Your glory ♪ ♪ For You owe me everything, for the honor of Your name ♪ ♪ And if my days tell a story, let it be ♪ ♪ Of You owe me everything, for the honor of Your name ♪ Sing it out. ♪ And if all for Your glory, all for Your glory ♪ ♪ All for You owe me everything, for the honor of Your name ♪ ♪ And if my days tell a story, let it be ♪ ♪ Of You owe me everything, for the honor of Your name ♪ ♪ My whole life, my whole life, for Your glory, my whole world ♪ ♪ For You owe me everything, for the honor of Your name ♪ ♪ And if my days tell a story, let it be ♪ ♪ Of You owe me everything, for the honor of Your name ♪ ♪ Oh how I love You, oh lift Your voice, lift Your voice ♪ ♪ Oh how I love You, Jesus I love You ♪ ♪ Oh how I love You, You're all we want, You're all we need ♪ ♪ Oh how I love You, Jesus I love You ♪ ♪ My whole life, for Your glory, my whole world ♪ ♪ For You owe me everything, for the honor of Your name ♪ ♪ And if my days tell a story, let it be ♪ ♪ Of You owe me everything, for the honor of Your name ♪

♪ Lift Your voice in my whole life, for Your glory, my whole world ♪ ♪ For You owe me everything, for the honor of Your name ♪ ♪ And if my days tell a story, let it be ♪ ♪ Of You owe me everything, for the honor of Your name ♪ ♪ Oh how I love You, we love You Lord ♪ ♪ Oh how I love You, Jesus I love You ♪ We pour out our praise. We love You Lord. ♪ Oh how I love You, Jesus I love You ♪ Jesus be the center of it all God, of our lives, of the families, of the church. We love You, we give You all the honor and praise today. Amen. Church you may be seated. Would you join me in prayer before we get started this morning. Jesus, thank You that You are in our midst. And may we never forget what a privilege that is. God I know life can get crazy, it can get chaotic and we can forget that, that You're with us. That Your spirit dwells within us. of the believer. And so I pray that this morning would be more than just some songs and a talk. But this morning would be a morning of transformation, of change. Thank you that your word says that it never returns void. And so I thank you in advance that your scripture, your word is gonna do what it was intended to do. And I pray that our hearts would be open and receptive

to what you wanna say this morning. We ask all these things in your son's name, everybody said. Amen. Quick question. Why are you here? Sincerely. Like I wonder what made you show up today? Cause it's not like you don't have options, right? And you decided on a Sunday morning, May 31st, 2026 to be here. I'd venture to bet that some people in the room, it's like you're a creature of habit. That's what a good Texan does. If the Cowboys aren't playing, you show up to church. If they are, it's a toss up. For others of you, like you showed up maybe for a family member or a niece or a nephew that was getting dedicated this morning. You received the invite, you felt obliged. It's like, oh, I'm gonna go and show support. Others of you, you've genuinely been changed and transformed by the message and the story of Jesus and this community. And you can't imagine being anywhere else on a Sunday. And then I'd venture to bet that there's a group of people here today, here at Grapevine, at Dallas, at Fort Worth and Frisco, and probably a higher percentage than we'd be willing to admit. And the honest answer is you don't know.

You don't know why you're actually here. But I would argue today that there is one thing that threads all of us together, that we have one thing in common, one reason why we're actually here. And that is that underneath it all, underneath the habit, the loyalty, the love, the not fully knowing, whether we acknowledge this or aware of this or not, we all have this desire to get closer to God. Even the person who's sitting in the seat and it's like, Sam, I just showed up because I kind of had to today. I don't even believe in this stuff. I would say, I would bet cash money that somewhere in the recesses of your soul, you have asked the question like, if God is real, could I know him? Could I actually get close? And it just so happens that you're not the only person that's asking that. Because one of the most Googled or chat GPT'd questions, because let's be honest, who uses Google anymore? But one of the most frequently asked questions in our world today is a spiritual one. And it's that, how do I get closer to God? Which tells us all something to varying degrees. If we're willing to be honest, we all kind of feel a little distant. We feel maybe a little bit further than we wanna be

or we feel like we ought to be. And so we're doing our best to close the gap. And so I wanna ask a second question completely judgment free. And I sincerely mean that. And that is this, if you were to rate your closeness to Jesus this morning between a scale of one to 100, 100 being like, I'm in heaven singing with the angels, a one being like, couldn't be further apart, where would you find yourself on that scale? And as I give you a second to actually consider that question, I do have to explain one theological truth that is very, very important. That is the difference between union with Christ and communion with Christ. So this is very important that we understand this. Union with Christ is the reality that anyone that has confessed and put their faith and trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ has been unified with Christ. The Holy Spirit dwells with inside of you. That doesn't fluctuate, that doesn't change. You are unified and together with Christ. But there is another theological concept called communion with Christ. This is the relational aspect. And just like any other relationship, that fluctuates. And so as far as communing with Christ, like where do you find yourself on that scale?

Not where do you feel like you should be, not where does your spouse think you are, not where do your friends think you are, not where were you after that missions trip when you were a teenager, where are you today? May 31st, 2026, if you're being really honest with yourself and with God, where do you find yourself on that scale? scale, here's what I found. It is possible to externally look like a 97 and internally be like a negative 30. Like you can come into church with all the smiles, dab the people up on the way in, get there in worship, put both hands up, have one single tear come down from your eye, get to the message and be excited and then go to 17 different serving positions and everybody can look at that person, that guy or that girl and be like, man, they're close with God. But internally, you're like, my soul feels like a desert. The dominant disposition of my heart in relation to God's heart would be defined as distant. And the scary part is, for many people, nobody knows it but you. And there are some people that have been in that state for so long, you've just given up. So you'll show up. Sure, you'll come to church and do the church thing because that's what you're supposed to do. You'll come because it's good for your family.

But you're checked out. You're present but you're not really present. And to you, I draw your attention to Genesis 1 and 2. The creation story, we see something really unique and also incredibly powerful. And that is like, unlike the other creatures, God doesn't just speak humans into existence, he speaks with them, which shows you and me something. We were made for communion with our creator. We were made to be in a relationship with God. So what's your number? Sincerely, what is it? Whatever it is, I want you to hear this this morning, I don't believe God's disappointed. I don't think he's upstairs in heaven like with his arm crossed like 78, try 54, big guy. Your Bible's been gone and lost and found for two weeks and you don't even know it. I don't think that's what's happening. You know what I think? I think if you've been honest this morning, I think he's really glad that you're honest. Why? Because you can't move closer to God if you won't first and foremost admit where you're actually at. You wanna know where distance tends to come in for me in my commuting with Christ? It's when life gets busy. Because when life gets busy, I tend to get distracted.

And when I get distracted, I tend to get disoriented, meaning I orient my life around the wrong stuff. Like I forget the whole point of life is about him. And this is one of the benefits, one of the many benefits of us coming together as a body of believers. We get to remember what life is actually worth living for. Like, oh yeah, it's bigger than just me. I'm not the main character here. I've been invited into an eternal story where he's the main character. That is the beauty of what we get to be a part of. Like this is what we believe as Christians. Like the reason there's breath in our lungs, the reason there's a heart beating in our chest cafetes, pumping blood throughout our bodies is not just because of Christ, but actually for Christ. But do our lives reflect it? I don't know about you. I don't wanna get to 90 and look back in the rear view mirror of life and think, I missed it. I lived life disconnected from the creator of mine. I wanna get there towards the end of my life and look back and think, thank you, Jesus. I wasn't perfect, but I did my best to live with you and for you. And every day I get here on earth is a day closer to seeing you face to face forever. Where my communing with Christ will be unhindered by sin. And I get to be with him forever.

But we are distracted. Because life gets busy, it gets crazy. I recently saw something that speaks to this level of distraction that we all deal with. And I've kind of tweaked it a little bit for today's purposes. But if you're 35 years old and you live tonight, 90, this is your life expectancy in months. Now, I don't know about you, I'm pushing 35, I'm 32, I'm like, I want more dots, give me more dots. I need more months than that. But that's it. So if you're 35, those dots are the amount of months that you have left. And again, I look at them like, give me some more. But then we start to look at some things and you realize how limited our time is. Because as you look at this, you're gonna sleep for 220 months, you're gonna work for 144, cooking and eating, 83, bathroom and hygiene and stuff, 61 months, driving, 41 months. For some of you, 39, I've seen the way you leave this parking lot. And chores and errands, 41. So that's your free time. That's the stuff that you get to decide fully and entirely. This is what I'm going to do with my time. For some of us, this is where you get to fully realize

some of your God-given dreams, goals, and purposes in your life. 53 months. But there's one more stat. And that is that for the average American, 49 of those 53 months are gonna be spent scrolling a screen, looking down at a phone outside of work. This is just scrolling and doing stuff. And this is not an anti-technology talk, so don't worry. But we'd be lying if we all didn't say and realize and admit that we've all got weapons of mass distraction sitting in our pockets. We do. And I don't know anybody that wants to get to 90 and be like, man, I wish I would've scrolled more. And so here's what I've realized. Most of us aren't living evil lives. We're just living distracted ones. Distraction slowly, slowly steals what matters most. And you begin to drift. And so I believe that if the enemy can't get you to deny God, he'll just distract you from him. And so let's go back to the OG question here. How do we get closer to God? Well, in order to unearth that, we're gonna take a trip, a mental field trip to ancient Israel in a tiny living room as we kick off this brand new series called Encounters,

where we're talking about divine interruptions that Jesus has with people in the Gospel of Luke on the way to Jerusalem to the cross. And here's what we'll see. In all of these divine interruptions, they actually turn into divine invitations. And my prayer is that as we look at these encounters, as we look at these divine interruptions, that we would have our own encounter with the risen Christ and we would receive and accept the divine invitation being given to us. And so we're gonna go to a tiny little living room in ancient Israel with two sisters and the most famous human being to have ever stepped foot on this round ball we call Earth. He actually made it. His name's Jesus. If you got your Bibles, you can go to Luke 10. We're gonna read five verses. And I believe these five verses have the ability to not just change our Sunday mornings, but to change our lives. Here's what the word of God says. As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary who sat at the Lord's feet, listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted. Somebody say distracted.

Distracted. By all of the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, Lord, don't you care, I love this, that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? I love it because it's not a question, it's a rebuke. And this emphasizes it. Tell her to help me. Emphasis on the me, because Martha has slipped from serving Jesus to serving herself. 41, Martha, Martha, the Lord answered, you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed, or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her. So let's get a recap here. There's two sisters, and at first glance, it looks like a paradox between a type A personality and a type B personality. You've got the older sister, Martha, who's responsible. She's got lists, and she's like, I'm about to make the best meal that Jesus has ever had in his entire life. And then you've got Mary who's just like, she doesn't know what going on. She's like, oh, it's Jesus. This is awesome. He's here. I'm gonna sit down But as we dive into this text, we're gonna see that there's way more going on than just that In fact, the first thing I think we have to point out is that in ancient Israel Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus was taking the seat of a Disciple of a rabbi and that was not allowed for women in that day

So this text is just as much as a point of Jesus saying hey guess who's welcome at my feet Absolutely, everybody the people who culture says they don't belong in church. They shouldn't be sitting in that seat You don't know what they've done. Jesus says no. No, no, all are welcome to be a follower of me That's good news for you. And it's really good news for me Like who gets access to God think about this is absurd who gets access everybody Anyone who wants it you've got a VIP pass 24-7 unhindered access to God It'd be like imagine if you went to your mailbox When you got home and there was a letter from the King of England and it was like hey Come and have tea with me because that's what they do in England Flights been paid for everything's taken care of and so you get on a plane and it's first-class you get to lay down in The flatbed you're like, this is great you land and you get the rental car and you're kind of driving a little bit nervously on the wrong side of the road and you make it to Buckingham Palace and imagine you just stop at the fence and just look at Buckingham Palace and you're like, wow That's so cool You'd be like What a fool like go in you you get to meet with the king But imagine you just sat there like look at that thing Now why is the fence there it's there for a reason because not just anybody can roll in on royalty and yet We know that because of the finished work of the cross of Jesus Christ that there are no fences in the kingdom of heaven that you Have an invitation personal to you to come and sit down with royalty beyond royalty the king of kings the Lord of lords But how many of us? Sit behind fences we created by ourselves and look at a distance ago Wow in God great you've been invited to have a seat at the table and you're sitting behind the fence of busyness and Distraction what a shame it is and that's Martha She's stressed she's got stuff to do and it's not even bad stuff and before we throw too much shade on her

Jesus is traveling with at least 12 of his of his disciples She's got 15 plus mouths to feed and so she's rolling around the kitchen She's looking around and the sourdough bread is not rising the way that it should and she's looking over at Mary and Mary's like Oh my god. This is so great. And she's like, are you kidding me? She busts down the door I don't think there's a door but it would be awesome if there was Just to put an exclamation on it and here's here's the picture this is something we miss in the English but here's here's the picture Jesus Jesus would be seated on the ground and Mary would be seated at his feet and So Martha comes up and is standing over Jesus pointing down going don't you care and How many of us? Do the exact same thing with God? When life gets chaotic when life gets crazy, we come strutting in and trying to tell God why didn't you show up? Why aren't you doing something or telling somebody to help? Jesus doesn't scold her He responds in grace and compassion and says Martha Martha you are worried and upset about so many things The thought here is there is a riot going on in your soul But few things matter indeed only one So let's just pause for a second and acknowledge that Martha is showing us That it's possible to be around Jesus and never actually be with Jesus Like think about this she's 12 feet away She's losing her mind in stress and anxiety and she is 12 feet away from the Prince of Peace but she can't acknowledge it because she's just caught up in all of the stress and I think that this is a struggle of Dallas Fort Worth Christians in

The fact that there is a lot of people who are content with knowing about God, but never really know Him Him for themselves. So you come to church, you do the things, but you don't know Him. And what a shame, and I don't believe that God is like, are you kidding? Again, I think He's gracefully coming to you. There is something better for you. I was talking to someone about this text, and they said to me, you know what, Sam, I've realized that there's a lot of Christians who know about the love of God, but very few have actually experienced the love of God for themselves. So another question this morning, when's the last time you experienced the love of God for yourself? And if that sounds like an odd question to you, chances are you maybe never have. And what I mean by that is like, when is the last time like you were just upended by the grace and the mercy of God, that He chose someone like you, that He died for you? It's like people are desperate for validation in our world, and I'm like, what more do you need than royalty hanging from a tree, giving His life for you? We get busy, we get distracted, and we forget. And then you go to Mary, and this is one of my favorite parts of the text, because Mary doesn't say a word. I don't know about you, if you have siblings, but I'd be like, Jesus, tell her, I'm doing the right thing, you better let her know. I chose the one thing. Or like after He says it, like, yeah, that's right, Martha. She just sits. She just sits there. In fact, the Greek says this, and this is, you want the point of the sermon, this is it right here. So if you tuned out, tune back in. She intentionally positioned herself at the feet of Jesus. She intentionally positioned herself at the feet of Jesus. She oriented her life around the Creator of hers. She said, if He's here, nothing else matters more than this. And so a question that I've got for you today is, what would it look like if you intentionally positioned yourself at the feet of Jesus? And I know, I know, I know what some of you are thinking. You're like, Sam, I'm a single mom of three. Or Sam, I run a business, and well, I'm responsible for a lot of people. So if this, if the idea of today is like, hey, I've just got to sit down in the Lord's presence for two hours, man, it sounds like a great idea. I can't, there's a lot of stuff that I've got to do, and I can't just do that. And to think that that's the answer would be to totally miss this text. I always make a joke that worship leaders love this text, because they're like, we need to stop working so hard. We just need to sit down and enjoy the Lord's presence. I can make that joke, because I was a worship leader. Anyways, I'll keep going. But that's, that's not, that's not the idea. It's not like,

sit down for four hours and pray and read your Bible, which if you can do that, man, I think that's awesome. This is not a text to cover up laziness or to like, cut your ambition out. We know that because this is intentionally off of the heels of the Good Samaritan, where the Good Samaritan just did a whole lot of doing and working and helping a friend and a brother in need. And Jesus says, go and do likewise. So this isn't just like, sit down and do nothing. Here's, here's what it is. If your doing is severed from your communing, you're in trouble. Let me rephrase that. If you running a business is severed from you and your relationship with Christ, you are in trouble. If you're parenting and leading the family where you feel like it needs to go, is severed from communing with Christ, you are in trouble. And so I think we all should answer this question. What does it look like for me in my context, in my season of life to intentionally position myself at the feet of Jesus? For some of you, it might be as simple as turning on worship music as you drive to and from work instead of listening to the news, and just praying. For others of you, it might be instead of going to your phone first thing in the morning, you're going to go to God's Word. For others of you, it might look like putting your time with the Lord in your calendar, because your calendar reveals your priorities, and you want to prioritize the most important thing. I don't know what it is for you, but please don't leave here today without defining it. Because if you don't, you will get to the end and you will think, man, I missed it. I fully and completely missed it. I've been doing all this stuff and there's a riot in my soul and I've had access to God and I've overlooked it because I've been distracted. The psalmist says it this way in Psalm 42. He says, as the deer pants for water, so my soul pants for you. So my soul longs for you. So the last question I'll ask this morning is, what is your soul longing for?

Not the church answer, the real one. What are you longing for right now? For some of you, it's more money. And you've convinced yourself that once you get to that certain number, you'll finally have security. And here's what'll happen. If you get to that number, you'll just add a zero. For others of you, it's like a spouse. It's like, man, once I get married, life will totally make sense and everything will be perfect. Talk to any married couple ever. Ha ha. Ha ha. For others, it's like the promotion at work. It's like once I become the partner of the firm, I'll finally be able to be proud of myself. And here's what'll happen. If you get it, you'll be proud of yourself for like seven days. And then those same insecurities will bubble back up. There's a famous quote that says this. Every young man that rings the bell at a brothel is unconsciously looking for God. What is the point? All of our longings, both good and bad, they're pointing to our greatest longing and we often misplace it. What if, what if, what if your soul could long for God?

I believe it can. In fact, I believe you were made for it. Scripture calls him the desire of all nations. You were hardwired to commune with your Creator. So what if the point of life isn't who you impress, what you achieve, or what you accomplish? What if the point of life is a person? What if Jesus isn't a way to life? What if he is life? Friend, he is. How do you get closer? Intentionally, position yourself at the feet of life, of freedom, of purpose, of hope, of joy, of whatever you need. You can fill in the blank. He's got it. It's him. You feel like there's a riot going on in your soul today? Bring it to him. And the only reason you and I can get close to him is because 2,000 years ago, he got close to us, put on flesh and bone, said I'm not gonna leave them in their sin stained problem. I'm gonna do something about it. Every head bowed, every eye closed. If you've never made that decision to commit your life to Jesus Christ, to receive the free gift of grace that it freely offers, if you don't have union with Christ, I'd love to lead you in a prayer

to bring that union into your life. And I want you to be reminded that as you receive that union, the goal is to live out communion with him, to get to know him, to spend time with him, to intentionally position yourself at his feet. Just pray this after me. You don't have to pray it out loud. Just say, Jesus, I admit the obvious, I am far from perfect. Thank you that you are. Thank you that you lived a perfect life. You died a sacrificial death. And three days later, you rose again from the grave. Today, I choose to give up, to surrender it all to you. And God, I don't. I just want union, although I'm very thankful for that. I wanna live in communion with you. I wanna grow, I wanna learn. I want the one thing that actually matters. It's you. And Lord, right now, I just pray over your people that for any sense of conviction that we feel wouldn't lead to shame and condemnation, but it would lead to grace, to mercy, to love. God, help guide our longings to you. Oh, how much we need you. We ask all these things in your son's name. Everybody said, amen. How many of you are thankful for a savior who has an open invitation that we can stay at his feet

and we can experience him each and every day? Are you grateful for that? I know I am. If you prayed that prayer to receive Jesus as your personal savior, that is the single greatest decision that you could ever make. It's the beginning of a journey of walking with Jesus each and every day, and I don't want you to keep that decision private. That is a public decision that should be made, and we want to partner with you. We wanna help you as you begin to follow Jesus. We have some tables that are located on the side of our room. Some of our team are there. We would love to give you a Bible. We would love to answer any questions that you have. Don't try to follow Jesus alone. That's why he gave us the church. It's why he gave us one another. It's why he gave us community, and so, and we wanna walk with you. We wanna encourage you, and one of the things that scripture tells us that we're to do after making that decision is we're to go public with our faith in Jesus Christ through baptism. You may say, what is baptism? Baptism is something that we were commanded to do.

It's a representation of that outward decision, that inward decision. It's an outward expression of that decision as we get baptized, and so you may say, I've never been baptized, but I've been following Jesus. We would love to talk to you about that. Come to the tables. Talk to someone. We would love to help you get baptized. We got everything you need. You know, maybe you've been coming to Fellowship Church for a number of weeks, maybe a number of months, maybe even a number of years, and you're like, you know what? I've never really gotten connected to the community that exists here. I've never really gotten involved. I've never really gotten plugged in. How do I do that? Well, today is your day. Make today the day that that changes. I'm telling you, you are one decision away from the greatest relationships that you will ever have in your life. I promise you, I promise you. So get involved. Serve alongside some people that want to encourage you, that wanna sharpen you, that wanna help push you closer to Jesus.

You say, how do I do that, Dave? Attend newcomers. It's happening immediately following this experience. We're serving a meal. You'll meet some great people here at Fellowship Church. We'll talk about all the different ways that you can get plugged in, from our Bible study classes to serving opportunities, and it'll begin the journey of meeting some of the greatest people that you will ever meet and helping you become the person that God has called you to be. Show up to newcomers immediately following this service, and I know God will begin to do something in your life that will change your life forever. So we'd love to see you there. We're serving a meal. If you got kids, we'll take care of your kids. Come join us. Just follow the signs in the atrium, and we would love to have you. Well, right now, we're gonna move into a time of generosity where we have an opportunity to worship by bringing our tithes and offerings here at Fellowship Church. If you're a guest, you're visiting with us, sit back, relax. There's no pressure on you to participate in this time. This is for those of us who call Fellowship Church home. This is our time to just return a portion

of what God has blessed us with in our lives to him. The scripture calls it a tithe. It says we're to bring the tithe to the storehouse, and when we do that, it's an act of obedience, and it says God blesses our lives, sometimes financially, but sometimes not, but he blesses our lives, and oftentimes in ways that money can't even touch, and we are a part of a generous church here. I wanna thank you, Fellowship Church, for your generosity. It's because of the faithfulness of so many people that we're able to do so much right here in our communities to be the hands and feet of Jesus. We're able to do so much around the globe, impacting people who are hungry, people who are in need, people who need the hope of Christ. We're able to do so much for the next generation, for kids and students, and so thank you for being the church. Thank you to so many of you who have stepped up and step out and share the love of Jesus through your generosity. I think about our Anchor Project. You may say, what is the Anchor Project? We've been in a campaign for the last year, and we got another year to go. We're raising $30 million to build a facility that is dedicated to the next generation, to kids and students. And it's set as a beacon of hope

in the light of Jesus in our community. It's gonna be an incredible space where we're gonna invite the community come. They can hear about Christ. Our young people will meet there. We'll have classrooms and dedicated space. It's gonna be absolutely incredible. So thank you to those of you who have been a part of this project in helping us raise the funds. We're about halfway through it right now. We've got a ways to go, but we're planning on breaking ground this summer in faith. And we know that God is going to continue to move in hearts and continue to motivate so many people to step up and to step out and be a part of the Anchor Project. So thank you, Fellowship Church, for your faithfulness. Thank you for your generosity. It is making a difference in our world. Turn on the news. And it seems like every day, it's like our world is succumbed to darkness, doesn't it? But I'm telling you, there is a hope and there is a light. And it is because of Jesus and his church and the faithfulness of so many people. So thank you for stepping up and thank you for stepping out. I'm gonna invite our host to come right now. We're gonna receive our offering. Speaking of one of the things that we do here at Elaso Ranch, because of so many people's generosity,

our Fellowship Church is Elaso Ranch. We have a camp and retreat center in East Texas called Elaso Ranch. Maybe you didn't know. But about a two-hour drive from here, it's an incredible space, an incredible place where so many kids and so many students get to experience the hope of Jesus. Elaso is not like any camp I grew up going to when I was a kid, I'm telling you. When I went to summer camp, it wasn't like Elaso. But it's an incredible space where we hear stories of so many that are impacted with the good news of Jesus. So we're excited for this summer, as we'll have kids camp and junior high camp and senior high camp. We have a camp for pastor's kids that we're doing out there as well. So, so much amazing ministry is gonna happen at Elaso. Maybe you haven't signed up your child or your student yet. Wanna encourage you to do that. There are still a few spots left. We would love to have them join us. And maybe you're interested in serving and being a part of summer camp at Elaso Ranch. We have opportunities for one day of service through arrival days and departure days. Maybe you wanna go out and be a trainer and serve all week. We would love to talk to you. Come and find one of us or fill out some information online.

We would love to talk to you about being a part of Elaso Ranch this summer. Will everybody say next Sunday? Oh, come on, you can do better than that. Next Sunday. Next Sunday, we are continuing this series called Encounters. Did you guys appreciate that message from Pastor Sam? Man, what a challenge. Awesome. Hey, bring someone back with you. Invite them to experience what you experienced here this Sunday. But I wanna invite you right now, stand to your feet, and we're gonna declare the truth of God's Word over our lives before we leave here today. So repeat this with me. Say, Jesus, thank you that in you I am loved, forgiven, and blessed. For you, I will reach up in worship, reach out to share my faith, and reach in to become more like you. And because of you, I know the best is yet to come. Thank you, Fellowship Church. We love you. See you back next week. ♪ I call you Jesus ♪ ♪ I call you, I call you healer ♪ ♪ Risen and reigning in power ♪ ♪ Something comes out of the grave ♪ Every time.

♪ Every time I call you Jesus ♪ ♪ I call you, I call you savior ♪ ♪ Worthy of glory forever ♪