Jesus and Faith - Saddleback Weekend Service

Everybody welcome to Saddleback Church. Is there anybody glad to be in the house of the Lord today? I said, are you glad to be in the house of the Lord today? Come on, if that's you, go ahead and clap your hands like this. Come on! We worship the God who was. We worship the God who is. We worship the God who evermore will be. He opened the prison doors. He parted the raging sea. My God, He holds the victory. Say, there's joy in the house of the Lord. There's joy in the house of the Lord today. And we won't be quiet. We shout out and pray. There's joy in the house of the Lord. Our God is sure to be in this place. And we won't be quiet. We shout out and pray. Shout out your praise. We sing to the God who yields. We sing to the God who saves. We sing to the God who always makes a way. God, He hung upon that cross and He rose up from that grave. My God, He's still throwing stones away. Say, there's joy in the house of the Lord. There's joy in the house of the Lord today. And we won't be quiet. We shout out and pray. There's joy in the house of the Lord. Our God is sure to be in this place. And we won't be quiet. We shout out and pray. We were the beggars. Now we're royalty. We were the prisoners. Now we're running free. We are forgiven, accepted, redeemed by His grace. Let the house of the Lord sing praise. We were the beggars. Now we're royalty. We were the prisoners. Now we're running free. We are forgiven, accepted, redeemed by His grace. Let the house of the Lord sing praise. There's joy in the house of the Lord. There's joy in the house of the Lord today. And we won't be quiet. We shout out and pray. There's joy in the house of the Lord. Our God is sure to be in this place. We won't be quiet. We shout out and pray. There's joy in the house of the Lord. There's joy in the house of the Lord today. And we won't be quiet. We shout out and pray.

There's joy in the house of the Lord. Our God is sure to be in this place. We won't be quiet. We shout out and pray. We shout out your praise. We shout out your praise. We shout out your praise. Come on, let's give Jesus a great big shout of praise. Amen. The joy of the Lord is in this place. Because the Lord is in this place. Amen. The joy of the Lord is in this place. Come on, let me see your hands. We sing. This is the day you make. So I'll rejoice and be glad. Rejoice and be glad it is. This is where I believe. That you are more than enough. More than enough for me. I'm faithful to your promise, you are strong when I am weak And I'm standing in your presence, I have everything I need We sing! The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength It is more than a feeling The joy of the Lord is my strength Oh my soul, bless his name And all that is within me say The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength So Jesus, come on make So you're worthy, you are worthy of all Worthy of all my praise Oh you are faithful to your promise, you are strong when I am weak And I'm standing in your presence, I have everything I need The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength We believe it

The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength Oh my soul, bless his name And all that is within me say The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord So let it rise up like a river Overflowing, Holy Spirit Let it pour out, let it pour out With knowledge, it's available today It's overflowing, Holy Spirit We sing that again Let it rise up like a river Overflowing, Holy Spirit Let it pour out, let it pour out With knowledge, it's available today Overflowing, Holy Spirit The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength It is more than a feeling The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength Oh my soul, bless his name And all that is within me say Oh my soul, bless his name And all that is within me say Oh my soul, bless his name And all that is within me say The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength He is worthy of the song that only you can bring So let's sing to him now and bring our worship that he is to you We praise you Lord We sing together, all of the saints And all the saints and angels

Bow before your throne And all the elders past They're called before the Lamb of God And see you're worthy of it all It's the fact that he is worthy You're worthy of it all ♪ Of it all ♪ ♪ For from you are all things ♪ ♪ And to you are all things ♪ ♪ You deserve the glory ♪ ♪ Yes, you do, Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, we worship you ♪ ♪ Oh, we praise your holy name, Lord ♪ ♪ You are worthy of all the glory ♪ Yes, so we lift our voice and sing this together. ♪ All the saints and angels bow before your throne ♪ ♪ And all the elders cast their crowns before the Lamb of God ♪ ♪ And sing, you are worthy of it all ♪ ♪ You are worthy of it all ♪ ♪ And we praise this to you, Lord ♪ ♪ For from you are all things ♪ ♪ And to you are all things ♪ ♪ You deserve the glory, yes, you do ♪ ♪ You are worthy of it all ♪ ♪ You are worthy of it all ♪ ♪ All adoration and praise ♪ ♪ For from you are all things ♪ ♪ And to you are all things ♪ ♪ You deserve the glory, yes, you do ♪ This is our worship today.

Sing day and night, night and day, let incense arise. Let's all praise to Him. Day and night, night and day, let incense, sing that out. Let it rise. Day and night, night and day, let incense arise. Day and night, night and day, let incense arise. Let it rise. Day and night, night and day, let incense arise. Day and night, night and day, all we praise you, God. Day and night, all we praise you, God. All we worship, all we praise you, God. All we worship you, God. Oh, you are worthy of it all. You are worthy of it all. For from you are all things and to you are all things, you deserve the glory. Come on, let's tell Him how good He is, how worthy He is today. You are worthy of it all. You are worthy of it all. For from you are all things and to you are all things, you deserve the glory.

Glory, yeah. Well, welcome to Saddleback. We are so glad that you're joining us today to worship together. It's a wonderful weekend to worship together. No matter where you're joining us from, across the world, across the country, we're glad that you're here. If we haven't had the chance to meet yet, my name is Carissa and I get the opportunity to serve with our online community team. And if you are checking out Saddleback for the very first time, we would love to meet you and help you to get connected to our church. And so you can let us know it's your first time by clicking the link in the description. If you're watching on YouTube or we have a Saddleback app that you can actually download. Set your campus to online community and then open the notes section. There you'll be able to access our program and take next steps. Let us know it's your first time and also follow along with the message notes for today as well. But we would love to know that it's your first time so someone from our team can personally reach out to you and help you to get connected.

And for everybody else, we just want to remind you that Saddleback app is a great tool and a great resource to stay involved with what's going on in the life of our church. See some of the exciting things that are happening and just grow in our faith. You can find some great resources and tools on that app as well. But this weekend is a very special weekend because it's Palm Sunday weekend. We are a. Remembering the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem as we enter into Holy Week, as we get to remember Jesus' death and his resurrection on the cross. And so today we are wrapping up our series, Jesus on the Move, where we have been full on focusing on the life of Jesus. And we're also gonna get to step into Holy Week together. But we have a lot of other exciting things going on in the life of our church, so let's check it out together. Hey Saddleback, this weekend is Palm Sunday and it marks the beginning of something called Holy Week. And that's a time where we remember Jesus' final days, his journey to the cross, and ultimately his resurrection on Easter. Now Easter at Saddleback is just one week away and Pastor Andy is gonna be sharing a message

about what it means to be made new. The hope that we have that lasts for all eternity. It's gonna be a powerful time. And every Easter we see people come to church. People come that are more open than usual. They're open to faith, they're open to a fresh start, and they're open to taking a step toward God. In fact, studies show that 82% of people for the first time when they come to church, they come because someone personally invited them. And that means your one text message, your one call, your one conversation can make an eternal difference in someone's life. So who has God put on your heart to invite to church this Easter? I wanna encourage you to take a moment today to pray for that person. And then take a step to invite them. Go out and pick up one of the invite tools at their service today, or send them a digital invite from the Saddleback app, or you can go to saddleback.com slash Easter invite to be able to get tools to invite them. Now Easter is also the perfect opportunity to take the step of baptism. If you've made a decision to follow Jesus, but you haven't yet been baptized, we're gonna be baptizing at our Easter services and we'd love to celebrate with you. So today you can go sign up to be baptized

on the Saddleback app or at saddleback.com slash Easter baptism. Now if you call Saddleback home and you came ready to give your tithe and offering today, you can do so through the Saddleback app or by using the giving envelope. And your faithful obedience and generous gifts allow us to prepare an amazing Easter experience for you, your one life, and our community. So thank you. Thank you for being a church that's coming together to make an impact through your faithful generosity. Now let's all stand together as we continue to worship. ♪ I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood ♪ ♪ All as good as new, oh hallelujah ♪ ♪ I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood ♪ ♪ All because of you, oh hallelujah, come on ♪ ♪ Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on ♪ ♪ And I'm clean, sin was stained on me ♪ ♪ And shame was running deep ♪ ♪ But love was spilled on Calvary, oh hallelujah, I'm clean ♪ ♪ God, how can it be, I'm ransomed and redeemed ♪ ♪ I'm standing in your victory, oh hallelujah ♪ ♪ I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood ♪ ♪ All as good as new, oh hallelujah ♪ ♪ I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood ♪ ♪ All because of you, oh hallelujah, I'm clean ♪ ♪ It's not what I have done, but what you've done for me ♪ ♪ You've painted all upon that tree, oh hallelujah, I'm clean ♪ ♪ Your love has overcome, your mercy is supreme ♪

♪ I'm dancing in your victory, oh hallelujah ♪ ♪ I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood ♪ ♪ All as good as new, oh hallelujah ♪ ♪ I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood ♪ ♪ Because of you, oh hallelujah ♪ ♪ I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood ♪ ♪ As good as new, oh hallelujah, I'm washed in the water ♪ ♪ Washed in the blood, all because of you, oh hallelujah ♪ ♪ Cause you took away my shame ♪ ♪ And you nailed it to the cross ♪ ♪ You got me running on the grave ♪ ♪ So hallelujah, here I come ♪ ♪ Cause you took away my shame ♪ ♪ And you nailed it to the cross ♪ ♪ You got me running on the grave ♪ ♪ So hallelujah, here I come ♪ Help me Lord, I thank you Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah Come on, every voice, every voice say I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood, I'm as good as new I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood, I'm as good as new Every voice I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood, I'm as good as new Oh hallelujah I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood, I'm as good as new Oh hallelujah Lord, we're grateful that that's not just a song But that is our story We are made clean and made new by your sacrifice on the cross Lord, we thank you today that we know you've got good plans for the rest of the service

And so we give it to you in Jesus' name And everybody say amen Well hello Saddleback Church Welcome to Palm Sunday Weekend We are so glad that you're with us I want to say a special welcome to those of you joining us online Those of you at any of our numerous extensions all around the country And those of you at one of our campuses We're so thrilled that you're with us this weekend And a special welcome to anybody here who may be new Maybe this is your first or second time I hope that this weekend feels just like home to you Minus the chores Just like home, just no chores And the reason I mention chores is because I need to admit that I have a lifelong disdain for chores I really don't like chores In fact, over the course of my marriage What I've realized about my wife Rachel is that when I don't do a chore very well She takes it away from me And so now that we've been married almost 35 years I've just slowly sort of strategically gotten worse and worse at chores And she just takes them away slowly but surely Until now I've only got a couple chores left It's a beautiful thing, it's fantastic But I sometimes wonder like where did that come from? And I'm not sure, I should probably talk to a counselor or somebody about this kind of thing But I trace it back maybe to when I was in elementary school, older elementary school One of my chores, like most kids, I had quite a few chores But one of them was to mow the lawn And it was every Sunday, you know, no matter how hot it was

No matter what the weather was Unless it was raining, on Sunday I had to mow the lawn It was just the rule, it's what I did and I hated it And I can remember one Sunday my dad came to me and he said Kurt, today's normally lawn mowing day but here's the deal You're kind of getting a little bit older I think it would be good for you to start to decide when you mow the lawn And he said here's the only rule Every week by the end of the day Sunday before you go to bed the lawn has to be mowed I don't care when you do it, just as long as it's mowed by Sunday This is amazing, I'm free at last And so, you know, I didn't mow the lawn that day And Monday I didn't mow the lawn and my dad came to me at bedtime and said Hey Kurt, just a reminder, I don't care when you do it But just before you go to bed on Sunday you got to mow the lawn Okay dad, I get it, I got it, yeah, yeah, yeah Tuesday I don't mow the lawn, Wednesday I don't mow the lawn My dad comes in, hey Kurt, I don't care when you do it I don't care when you do it, but before you go to bed on Sunday you got to mow the lawn Yeah dad, I get it, yeah Not my back. Thursday I don't mow the lawn. Friday I don't mow the lawn. My dad came into my room on Saturday night, said, hey, Kurt, look, you can do it anytime this week. I don't care when you do it, but before you go to bed tomorrow night on Sunday, you've gotta mow the lawn. I got it, Dad, no problem. Sunday comes and goes, I don't mow the lawn.

Never crossed my mind to mow the lawn. I was having too much fun. About 1 a.m., Sunday night, Monday morning, I'm fast asleep, all of a sudden I feel a little tap. Hey, Kurt, time to wake up. What? Yeah, it's time to mow the lawn. Aw, Dad, I'll do it tomorrow. Kurt, son, wake up. It's time to mow the lawn. Dad, the lawnmower's gonna wake everybody up. My dad said, no, Kurt, the lawnmower's not gonna wake everybody up, but you are. Time to mow the lawn. So I go out there at one in the morning and mow the lawn, start a power mower and mow the lawn. I was so frustrated, so upset, and so were my neighbors. So were my neighbors. They were just as frustrated as I was. In that moment, I was reminded that, yep, I've got a part to play, I can do my thing, but at the end of the day, my dad was in charge. That was a reminder that my dad was in charge and he was gonna get his way. As we now start week five of our Jesus on the Move series, we're marching our way through the book of Mark. Ladies and gentlemen, I have good news. After five weeks, we are now officially at the top of chapter two of the book of Mark, ladies and gentlemen.

We've made it, we've made it to the book, to the second chapter in the book of Mark. And in the second chapter of the book of Mark, there is an incredible Jesus on the Move moment. It's a moment where Jesus reminds the crowd that he's in charge. He reminds everybody, hey, I'm in charge here. And he does it because he chooses to forgive the sins and heal the sickness of a paralyzed man. He forgives a sin and he heals them. And the reason he chooses to forgive and heal this paralyzed man is to honor the faith of four of his friends who brought him to Jesus. It's I'm in charge, but I'm doing it because of their faith. Now, before we dive into that passage, I want us to go to the Old Testament for just a minute, because in the Old Testament, there is a faith statement. It's my favorite faith statement in the entire Bible. I think it's the most powerful statement of faith in the entire Bible. And we see it in the book of 1 Samuel. And just to set the stage a little bit, what's happening is the Israelite army and the Philistine army are camped out like at opposite sides of this ravine. And they're gonna go to war in the morning. And the problem is, is that the Israelite army is completely outnumbered, vastly outnumbered by the Philistines. It's a theme that happens numerous times

in the Old Testament. The Israelites are always the underdogs. Their backs are always against the wall. And this is the case this time. And it just so happens that the king's son, Jonathan, is in the army. And because he's royalty, he has an armor bearer, somebody who carries his armor and his shield, kind of has his back in battle, looks out for him. And Jonathan says to the armor bearer, hey, let's go scope out this situation and see if it's as bad as it seems. Why don't you and I sneak over and check things out? And that's what's happening. And we'll pick up the story here in 1 Samuel 14.6. It says this. Jonathan said to his young armor bearer, come, let's go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised men. Perhaps the Lord will act on our behalf. Perhaps the Lord will act on our behalf because nothing can hinder the Lord from saving whether by many or by few. Perhaps the Lord, you can shorten that to two words, a two-word statement, a two-word definition of faith. Simply this, perhaps God. Perhaps God will intervene. And he did. Turns out that God sent a spirit of fear. in the Philistine army and they fought themselves

and the Israelites won the battle. Now you fast forward to the New Testament to Mark chapter two. And in Mark chapter two, we see a very profound perhaps God moment. Let me read it to you. Here, it says this. A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door and he preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it. And they lowered the mat the man was sitting on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, son, your sins are forgiven. Now, some teachers of the law were sitting there thinking to themselves, why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming. Who can forgive sins but God alone? Immediately, Jesus knew in his spirit that this is what they were thinking in their hearts.

And he said to them, why are you thinking these things? Which is easier to say to this paralyzed man, your sins are forgiven or to say, get up, take your mat and walk. But I want you to know that the son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins. So he said to the man, I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home. He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone. And they praise God saying, we have never seen anything like this. Perhaps God, maybe if we got our friend in front of Jesus, maybe something could change. You see, it's an awesome story of a miracle, two miracles of forgiveness of sin and healing of the paralyzed man. But really, it's really a story, an account, a moment of faith. Jesus did this to honor the faith. Because of your faith, I say to him, your sins are forgiven. When I look at this passage, I see four facts about faith. Four faith facts that I want us to explore together this weekend.

Here's the first faith fact is simply this, is that my faith can set the stage. My faith can set the stage. My faith sets the stage for me. My faith can set the stage for others. My faith sets the stage for Jesus to do what Jesus wants to do, what Jesus chooses to do. Now it can be dangerous when we read these kinds of stories. It can be a little bit dangerous to start reading too much between the lines. We don't wanna read too much into scripture. Scripture stands alone. But it is really helpful sometimes to kind of put ourself in the story. And I think about these four people. I go, man, what would it be like if me and three of my friends were in this situation? Like, how would we have responded? And I can think of me and a few friends. And if I said, hey, we've got a paralyzed friend. Let's take him to Jesus. I got one of my friend named Ryan. He'd be like, yeah, let's do it. I'm in. He would just, yeah, sounds awesome. Let's do it. I've got a friend named Brett, who's a little bit more of a financial guy.

He works with money. And his response would be, well, hold on. Before we do anything too crazy, let's think about the financial implications of going up on a roof and digging a hole. Are you sure that's what we wanna do? I have another friend who, for some reason, loves fast food. And I know his response would be, awesome, I don't care what we do. I just wanna get a chili cheese dog at the Wienerschnitzel first. That would be his response. And I'm not sure what your friend responses would be, but you have to know that there was some conversation going on before these guys decided to take their friend up onto the roof of a busy house and claw through it. Can you think of a more stage setting situation than that? They go up this busy crowded house. They make a scene by digging a hole in the roof. Everybody's paying attention. What's going on? What is happening? What are these guys thinking? They lower their friend to the feet of Jesus, right in front of Jesus. The stage has been set. What's Jesus gonna do? This is their perhaps God moment. If we can just get our friend somehow in front of Jesus, perhaps he'll do something for our paralyzed friend.

Their faith set the stage. Your faith for challenges in your life, for challenges in your family's life, for situations you see your friends and coworkers going through, those moments where you're going, man, if only God could do something. Your faith, you're saying, you know what, perhaps God. Perhaps Jesus might do something. That sets the stage for Jesus to do something in your life. For Jesus to do something in the lives of others. Faith fact number one, my faith can set the stage. Here's another faith fact is this, is every faith opportunity has obstacles. Every faith opportunity has obstacles. These guys face so many obstacles in this story. First obstacle, they've got a paralyzed friend. They've got to carry him across town. There's no Uber, there's not a pickup truck. They put him in the bed of the pickup truck. They've got to carry their friend through town. It might've been a quarter of a mile. It might've been three miles. We don't know, but they had to carry their friend on a mat all the way to this house where they heard that Jesus was. They get to the house, the house is packed. The reason the house is packed is because Jesus had made Capernaum sort of his home base for his ministry. And he had left Capernaum and gone and begun his ministry and word was spreading.

His popularity was growing. Some of the controversies around what he was saying and doing, they were increasing. And so when people heard Jesus is back in town, he's in this house, people showed up. Who is this guy? What's going on? Maybe others like these men. I just need, I've heard he heals people, maybe, perhaps. And so these guys get there, they're carrying a paralyzed friend. They can't get through an obstacle of the fact that their friend was paralyzed and people's perception of that. Last week, if you were with us, Pastor Stacy talked about the social stigmas of people with leprosy and everything that was attached to that and the shame. And it was very similar with people who were paralyzed. They assumed it was something they or some sin that somebody in their family had committed that resulted in this. They were usually outcasts. Most paralyzed people had to beg for support. Most paralyzed people did not have four friends who would take the time to carry them through town to get to Jesus. And so it's possible that when these four guys got to the house, nobody's moving out of the way to make room for a paralyzed guy. What's Jesus gonna do with this guy?

Figure it out. And so they figure it out by going up onto the roof. And then they have to dig through all these obstacles. But these friends, they looked past the obstacles and they saw the opportunity. Like, we're not gonna focus on the obstacles. We're gonna focus on the opportunity that Jesus is in the house. And maybe, perhaps, if we get our friend there, perhaps Jesus, perhaps God will intervene. When you're going through a trial, when your friends are struggling, when there's a situation in your life where you're saying, okay, perhaps God. You're having a perhaps God moment. There's always gonna be obstacles. There's always gonna be obstacles. It might be fear. It might be a sense that you don't deserve God to work on your behalf. Oh, why would God? I don't deserve it. A big one, maybe the biggest one, the biggest obstacle for us is doubt. Does God really? Can He really? Would He actually? What if, what if you and I were men and women like these friends and we pushed past the obstacles and we look at the opportunity of what might happen?

What if, perhaps God, perhaps Jesus will intervene on my behalf, perhaps Jesus will intervene on behalf of my son, on behalf of my wife, on behalf of my neighbor? And we push past the obstacles and we look at the opportunity. Here's a third faith fact we see in this passage is simply this, Jesus isn't inconvenienced by interruptions. Jesus isn't inconvenienced by interruptions. I think I speak on behalf of every pastor preaching in every church across the country, maybe across the world today, it's simply this, we don't like interruptions while we're preaching. We don't like interruptions while we're preaching. If right now while I was speaking, in this room here at Lake Forest, or even in our campuses, as you're watching this message, if somebody were to raise their hand. in the crowd, we would all look at that person and be like, hey, buddy, read the room, right? Like this is, and I would be smiling, like if it was here at Lake Forest, I'd be smiling and I'd ignore you. But in the back of my mind, it'd be going like, what, dude, you think this is Q&A time? What's going on? Like, huh, when's the last, what? But I'd smile and just ignore you because I don't want to be interrupted. If, and now this has never happened,

never, ever, ever, but just pretend on the off chance that somebody's phone rang in the middle of a sermon right now. I would smile, I would ignore it. But in the back of my mind, I'd be going, come on. Your cell phone can send people to Mars. You live on your cell phone, your entire financial habits, your entire, it's all on your phone and you can't remember to just silence it for 20 minutes. That's what I'd be thinking in the back of my mind. You would all see me just smiling and ignoring it. We don't like to be interrupted. Jesus loves interruptions. You see, Jesus is going to town. I mean, Jesus is in the middle of doing business in this house. He knows he's only got three years to do the mission that he's been sent to do. He's starting a worldwide movement and part of it includes going to homes like this and sharing the good news, talking about the kingdom. This is who I am. This is the authority I have. I'm in charge, let me show you. And he's not interrupted by a hand raised. He's not interrupted by a cell phone. He's interrupted by four knuckleheads on the roof digging through and lowering their, can you imagine if that happened right here tonight?

Can you imagine what would happen at your campuses if all of a sudden you hear this noise and somebody's tearing the roof apart? It would be complete mayhem. We'd have lawyers jumping up, I'll take the case. We'd have contractors, I'll give you a bid, Saddleback. I'll give you a bid for the repairs. We'd have parents taking their kids, making sure there's no debrief. It would be crazy. I'd run off and just hide somewhere. I mean, it would be bonkers. And maybe it was there too. We don't, I mean, we don't know, right? You have to imagine it had to be a big interruption. People must've been frustrated. Do you know who you're interrupting? Do you know who's teaching us right now? And you got the nerve to come through the, what are you thinking? Jesus allows him to settle at his feet, sees the faith of the friends. He doesn't chastise them. He doesn't rebuke them. He says, you know what? Because you guys have faith, I'm gonna forgive his sins. And then there's the Pharisees. Who does this guy think he is? Only God can forgive sins. And Jesus says, oh, well, just so you know, I'm in charge.

Maybe in addition to forgiving his sins, because of these guys' faith, I'm gonna heal him. Pick up your mat and walk. All because four guys said, perhaps God, perhaps Jesus, if we can just get our friend in front of Jesus, perhaps something can be different. You see, it's impossible for you to interrupt Jesus. You need to hear that. He's not too busy for your problems. Your problems aren't too small. Your fears aren't ridiculous to him. Your job matters to him. Your health matters to Jesus. You can't interrupt him. You know why you can't interrupt him is because one of the things he's doing for us right now, the Bible says, is he's interceding, he's praying on our behalf. We're on his mind right now. So if we're on his mind, how can we interrupt him? He would love for us to go, hey, Jesus, hey, Kurt, I was just praying for you. What's on your mind? Really? Yeah. He's waiting for us to interrupt him with our faith moments, to interrupt him with our pain, to interrupt him with our fears. He's waiting for us to say, hey, perhaps Jesus, perhaps God.

So faith facts, one faith fact is that my faith can set the stage. Another faith fact is every opportunity has obstacles. A third faith fact is that Jesus is not inconvenienced by interruptions. And a fourth faith fact that we see in this passage is simply this. Jesus and I both have a part to play. Now if you're anything like me, you're reading that Jesus and I, isn't it me and Jesus? Which is it? I need to let you know, I am very confident, I'm 100% confident, English teachers out there you know, it is Jesus and I. In fact, I might have spent as much time making sure it was Jesus and I as I did on the rest of this message. Because in my mind, I'm going, I would never say, hey, Jesus and I, I would say me and Jesus. But it's Jesus, it's proper grammar, just in case you're wondering. Jesus and I both have a part to play. When you look at this story, when you look at this Jesus on the move moment, the men had a part to play. They had a big part to play in it, they had to get their friend to Jesus, and then Jesus had a part to play. I like to think of it a little bit like this graph might show it here, it looks like this, is that my part is to have a perhaps God attitude, to hope, to believe, to ask, to act. That's my part, that's your part, to hope, believe, ask, and act, that perhaps God will intervene. Jesus' part is to always act within his character and to always act within his will. You see, Jesus will never violate either of those. His character is truth, love, grace, mercy. He'll never violate that, justice, fairness. God can't be unfair because he is justice.

And he'll never violate, he will always act within his character, and he'll always act within his will, which simply means this, he's in charge. He gets what he wants, he does what he wants, and he'll never violate his will and he'll never violate his character. We have a part to play, perhaps God, we're gonna set the stage. Jesus has a part to play. And then our part is simply whatever happens, we trust. Whatever happens, we trust. Now that's easy to do when our scoreboard and God's scoreboard for our life aligns. It's easy to do, you know, like these men, think about these guys. It was a lot easier for them to trust Jesus moving forward when they saw him heal their friend, right? They got what they wanted. Their scoreboard matched God's scoreboard in that case. Easy to trust. It's a lot harder when it looks a little bit different. Here's kind of a visual that works for me. We've all got a scoreboard in life. I feel like my life, I'm at about 93% of what I hope for. My family, my health, my job, my hopes and dreams, how many waves I'm gonna catch this year, politics, what I think should be going on with politics, friends, all of that. Hey, I'm at about a 93, that feels pretty good. When my scoreboard and God goes, yeah, Kurt, that's kind of what I want for you too. Easy to trust. But when God says, hey, Kurt, my scoreboard for your family is gonna look a little bit different. My scoreboard for your career, it's not gonna quite line up to what you think it is. My scoreboard for the state of America is different than what you think it should be. It's harder to trust, isn't it? It's harder to trust.

But if we go back to, he'll never violate his character. And his character is one of love. His character is one of truth. His character is fairness and justice. And if I can believe that and trust that, then I can trust that even when my scoreboard and his scoreboard don't quite align, he's in charge. He's in charge. And I don't know about you, but I would rather have God in charge of my life than me in charge of my life. I just think overall things are gonna work out way better if I can just trust that God has a will for my life, he's driven by his character, and his will and his character are in charge. I can trust. I can trust. Especially when I look at my problems, my challenges, I look at my friends, their struggles, and I say, perhaps God, perhaps Jesus, perhaps if I do my part, if I do what I can do to set the stage. You see, we don't dictate how things turn out. We don't dictate what Jesus does. but we contribute. These men didn't dictate that Jesus would heal their friend, but they contributed. Their willingness to say, perhaps, Jesus. Their willingness to go, look, there's obstacles, but we're looking at the opportunity. Their willingness to go, it's gonna be crazy, but we're just gonna interrupt. We're just gonna interrupt Jesus right now. That all set the stage. They did their part.

Jesus did his part. I want you to watch a story of a young man named Ricky. Ricky attends our Anaheim campus, and because his uncle said, perhaps, Jesus, Ricky's life was changed. Let's check this out. So growing up, my dad was my hero. He worked in law enforcement, and that was something I wanted to do. I wanted to follow in his footsteps and be like my dad. And in 2015, he ended up telling my mother that he didn't feel good and asked her if she could take care of church for him that night. And when she got home from church, he was gone. Less than a week later, my mom got served with divorce papers, and I found out he was living with a woman in Kentucky. In October of 2007, I began working in law enforcement. A few months later, my second day off training, we had an inmate go unresponsive. When I got out there, I tried life-saving measures, but I failed. And some of the guys that I worked with that had been around a while, it's just like, go have a beer, you'll be all right. What started out as just a relaxing drink after work, and eventually, I got a job at a law firm. What started out as just a relaxing drink after work, and eventually, just isolating and drinking by myself and not even going anywhere.

The only reason I'm still here is because of God. I made the decision that I was gonna end my life. I was drunk out of my mind. It was 3.30 in the morning, and I texted my brother goodbye and that I loved him, but I couldn't do it anymore. For some reason, he was awake, and he got ahold of my aunt and uncle, and they came over to my house before I did anything stupid. A couple days later, my uncle texted me and said, you've done it your way for a while now, it's time to try it my way. I agreed to go with him to CR for the first time in February of 2024. A couple days later, my uncle asked me, hey, come to church with me on Sunday and check it out. Just come check it out. He's the tech director of the church, so we got here super early, and then he said, okay, you're stage manager today. If it hadn't have been for the way that the team welcomed me that very first day, I don't think I would've came back. You could feel the genuine love coming from everyone. And I was like, okay, God, I'm gonna try it your way. And so I made the decision to give my life back to Christ. I attended a return gathering last year. Stacey said something that flipped a switch for me. If Jesus can die on a cross, you can raise your hand. You know, I've asked God to forgive me

for everything that I've done over the course of my life. But then I started thinking, how can I expect Him to forgive me for everything I've done if I can't forgive my dad? In that moment when worship started up again, I grabbed a sheet of paper and I wrote, I forgive my dad on it, and I went and nailed it to the cross. I went back to my chair and I grabbed my phone and I texted him just something simple. I forgive you and I'm sorry. And he responded almost immediately and said I had nothing to apologize for. He was the one that was sorry. I was just hit with all this emotion. And it was like, that chapter's finally over. Like, I can move forward now. There's a light at the end of the tunnel now where there used to be just darkness. You know, I'm even blessed to have a campus pastor who will text me on the fourth of every month to congratulate me on another month sober. Like, it means a lot to have that support. ♪ Now I see your light ♪ I don't know where I'd be if I didn't have the community I have here at Saddleback. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, sir, thank you. Thank you.

by anger, he was paralyzed by bitterness, he was paralyzed by an addiction to alcohol. But because his uncle believed that perhaps God will intervene, if I can just get my nephew in front of Jesus, perhaps things can be different. In every chair in front of you, there's a card. I want you to grab that today. Let's just all do this together. Grab one of those cards in the seat back in front of you. And my hunch is, it would be pretty easy for you to come up with the name of someone in your life, family member, a friend, somebody at work, and you know they're up against it. You know they're struggling, you know they don't know Jesus. You know their sickness, you know they've got financial struggles. You know somebody whose marriage is in trouble. And you know, man, perhaps God, perhaps God will intervene on his behalf. Perhaps God will intervene on her behalf. Perhaps God will intervene on their behalf. Would you write that name? Would you write that name on the card? Everything could be different. Everything could be different. This week, a few of us, me and two of the other pastors at the church, we decided, we had a day off, and we decided, hey, let's go fishing. And so we went out onto the ocean on a fishing boat, and while we were out there, I kind of started thinking, huh, you know, there's not very many places for pastors just to be safe and just to be honest. And so I said, hey, guys, I have an idea. Why don't the three of us, this is a safe place, we're just out here, the three of us on a boat, why don't the three of us each share our darkest sin, our biggest struggle? Oh, gosh, okay. And so one of them said, well, I'll go first. And he said, man, my biggest struggle is gambling.

I just gamble all the time. In fact, I can't even go by an a.m. p.m. without like running in and buying lottery tickets. Okay, well, hey, thanks for sharing. And the other pastor said, well, my biggest sin is taxes. I cheat on my taxes. I haven't paid taxes in years. Okay, thanks. And I was kind of nervous, but kind of also excited. And they said, well, Kurt, what's your biggest sin? I said, well, my biggest sin is gossip. And I can't wait to get off this boat and share it with the people at church this weekend. I can't wait. Here's what I'm gonna ask as we close. This week, I'm giving you permission. I'm asking you to gossip. Gossip about Jesus Christ. Whisper to people about how God's changed your family. Gossip about our church and what Saddleback has meant to you. A great place to start would be the name you wrote down. Gossip a little bit this week to this person. Because if you do, if we believe, if we hope and we trust, perhaps God, like He did for Ricky, like He did for me, like He's done for almost all of us in every auditorium, at every campus at Saddleback Church, perhaps God will intervene. And when He does, everything can change. Jesus, thank you that you're in charge. Jesus, thank you for your power, for your might, for your authority. And Jesus, thank you for your gentle voice, your love, your compassion. Jesus, may we be men and women who walk through life not afraid of faith moments, not afraid of opportunities that stretch our faith, but Father, that we would approach those with

a mindset that says, perhaps God, perhaps Jesus will intervene. Father, you have, and you will, and all along the way we trust, we trust. In your name we pray, amen. I just want to speak the name of Jesus over every heart and every mind. Because I know there is peace within your presence. I speak Jesus. I just want to speak the name of Jesus. Till every dark addiction starts to break. Declaring there is hope and there is freedom. I speak Jesus. Your name is power. Your name is healing. Your name is life. Break every stronghold. Shine through the shadows. Burn like fire. Your name is power. Your name is healing. Your name is life. Break every stronghold. Shine through the shadows. Burn like fire. Shout Jesus from the mountains. Jesus in the streets. Jesus in the darkness over every enemy. Jesus for our family. I speak the holy name of Jesus. Shout Jesus. Shout Jesus from the mountains. Jesus in the streets.

Jesus in the darkness over every enemy. Jesus for our family. I speak the holy name of Jesus. Your name is power. Your name is power. Your name is healing. Your name is life. Break every stronghold. Shine through the shadows. Burn like fire. Your name is power. Your name is healing. Your name is life. Break every stronghold. Shine through the shadows. Burn like fire. Well, thank you so much for joining us today. And before you go, Pastor Kurt was talking about writing down a name on a card. And we want to encourage you to get out a piece of paper or maybe your notebook or a journal and to write down the person that perhaps God needs to intervene on their life. And be praying over them as we step into this week together. And we would love to come alongside you and pray with you for that person. And so you can let us know by clicking the link in the description or opening the Saddleback app and submitting a prayer request. We would love to come alongside you and be praying for that person as well. And if there's another next step that you want to take, maybe you want to get baptized during Easter weekend or maybe you need prayer for something else in your life, you can let us know through the Saddleback app as well.

But we also want to remind you we're stepping into Holy Week this week. And so our Good Friday services are going to start on Thursday. And then our Easter services are going to start next weekend as well. And so we would love to see you as we get to celebrate the death and the resurrection of our Jesus together. So will you join us for that next week? We'll see you then. ♪ ♪ You