MOVE With Confidence | Bryson Koch

Hello, Pando family. My name is Jason Pace. I'm the new campus pastor, Southeast Christian Church in Shelby County. I'm so excited to be with you today. Listen, we would love to hear from you. You can write in to us. We'd love to hear how God's working in your life and even how we can pray for you. Right at the bottom of the screen, there's gonna be an address for you for you to write in to us. We would love for you to do that and give us an opportunity to connect with you that way. Also, another way to connect is to hit the subscribe button to the Southeast Christian Church channel. You can get all kinds of information, sermons, other media, and join about 30,000 people in that as well, just so you know. Like, listen, you're not alone and we're not alone. Today, we get to hear from Bryson Cook, our Franklin, Tennessee campus pastor at Southeast Christian. We're continuing our Move Siri and we're week four of that, where we're asking dangerous prayer of God. How would you move in me and through me? And today, Bryson is teaching about how to move in confidence,

not to place our faith and trust in ourselves and our own flesh, but to put our faith and trust in God, where He, only He, redeems and restores and He resurrects. So I'm excited to enjoy that sermon with you. And so now let's prepare our hearts and get ready for an encounter with God as we go in worship. Whoo. Come on, sing this out. Hey. ♪ We called sin and shame ♪ ♪ They were like prisons that we couldn't escape ♪ ♪ But He came and He died and He rose ♪ ♪ Those walls are up on high ♪ ♪ We were those giants we called death and grave ♪ ♪ They were like mountains that stood in our way ♪ ♪ But He came and He died and He rose ♪ ♪ Those giants are dead now ♪ ♪ Oh, this is our God, this is who He is, He loves us ♪ ♪ This is our God, this is what He does, He saves us ♪ ♪ He bore the cross, paid the grave ♪ ♪ Let heaven and earth proclaim, this is our God, King Jesus ♪ Thank You, Lord. ♪ Every whisper, those altars, now those altars in the wilderness ♪ ♪ Tell the story of His faithfulness, never once did it fail ♪ ♪ In heaven, well, oh, this is our God, this is who He is, He loves us ♪ ♪ This is our God, this is what He does, He saves us ♪ ♪ He bore the cross, paid the grave ♪ ♪ Let heaven and earth proclaim, this is our God, King Jesus ♪

You pulled me out of that pit. Come on, let it rock. ♪ This is our God, this is who He is, He loves us ♪ ♪ Who paid for all of our sins, nobody but Jesus ♪ ♪ Who pulled me out of that pit, He did, He did ♪ ♪ Who paid for all of our sins, nobody but Jesus ♪ ♪ Who rescued me from that grave, Yahweh, sing His name ♪ ♪ Who gives the glory and praise, nobody but Jesus ♪ ♪ Who rescued me from that grave, Yahweh, Yahweh ♪ ♪ Who gives the glory and praise, nobody but Him, this is our God ♪ ♪ This is our God, this is our God, this is our God ♪ ♪ This is our God, this is our God, this is our God ♪ ♪ Holy boy of the cross, be the grave ♪ ♪ Let heaven and earth proclaim, this is our God, King Jesus ♪ ♪ Holy boy of the cross, be the grave ♪ ♪ Let heaven and earth proclaim, this is our God, King Jesus ♪ And then come on, let's just celebrate him this morning. ♪ Let heaven and earth proclaim, this is our God, King Jesus ♪ ♪ No way to stay, constant you remain, every mystery ♪ ♪ The questions I've carried, are safe within your will ♪ ♪ So I trust you even still, I believe you are who you say you are ♪ ♪ You do what you say you'll do, you'll come through, you are always able ♪ ♪ I believe you've already made a way, so I'm running through parted ways, straight to you ♪ ♪ You are always faithful, Jesus you're holding, holding me steady ♪ ♪ Every word you speak, is a promise, you are my hope, you are my strength ♪ ♪ You do what you say you'll do, you'll come through, you are always able ♪ ♪ I promise that you keep, this firm foundation, cannot be shaken, cannot be shaken ♪ ♪ No, my God you never fail, never was, you never will, I believe you are who you say you are ♪ ♪ You do what you say you'll do, you'll come through, you are always able ♪ ♪ I believe you've already made a way, so I'm running through parted ways, straight to you ♪

♪ You are always faithful, Jesus you're holding, holding me steady ♪ ♪ I'm running through parted ways, straight to you ♪ ♪ You are always faithful, I believe, yeah, power in the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ I believe, yeah, power in the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ That on the cross your blood was spilled, and by your stripes I have been healed ♪ ♪ And every promise you fulfilled, I believe, I believe that you rose again in victory ♪ ♪ And that same power lives in me, I'm born again, I've been made free, I believe, we sing! ♪ ♪ That the gates of hell will not prevail, your church is still alive and well ♪ ♪ This gospel truth I'll lift you to, I believe, I believe, that one day soon you'll split the sky ♪ ♪ You're coming for us, spotless God, until my faith has been destroyed, I believe, I believe that you rose again in victory ♪ ♪ You're coming for us, spotless God, until my faith has been destroyed, I believe, I believe that you rose again in victory ♪ ♪ I believe, I believe, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ You do what You say You'll do, You'll come through ♪ ♪ You are always able, I believe You make a way ♪ ♪ You make a way, You make a way, You make a way ♪ ♪ So I'm running through parting ways straight to You ♪ ♪ You are always faithful, I believe, yes, we believe ♪ ♪ You make a way, You make a way, You make a way, You make a way ♪ ♪ And on that day I'll run my race ♪ ♪ I'll finally see You face to face ♪ ♪ And nothing then will separate, I believe, I believe ♪ ♪ I'll join with every tribe and tongue ♪ ♪ And bow before the Lamb of God, singing holy, holy, holy one, I believe, I believe ♪ Thank you, Jesus. Come on, in this moment, before we move on, can you just lift your hands all across the room and just begin to thank Him? Thank Him for the testimonies and the ways that He's broken through in your life. Thank you, Jesus.

Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for being a faithful Father. Thank you for being the provider. Thank you for being the Prince of Peace. God, thank you for shaking up the ground that we've walked on when we feel stagnant. I just see the Lord shifting mindsets today. He's breaking off religion. He's breaking off the routine of what we thought church and what we thought relationship with Him actually looked like. But He's saying, this is who I am. So Father God, would you come in this moment? Be in this place, because if you're not here, what's the point? So we thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, God. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you, God. ♪ There's just something about your name ♪ ♪ That makes me cry holy ♪ ♪ There is no other name ♪ ♪ There is no other name ♪ ♪ There is no other name ♪ ♪ Jesus, you're worthy ♪ ♪ You have been the friend to never let ♪ ♪ I won't forget your faithfulness ♪ ♪ Jesus, be the name ever on my lips ♪ ♪ It's sweeter every time that I call on it ♪ ♪ There's just something about your name ♪

♪ There's just something about your name ♪ ♪ There's just something about your name ♪ ♪ It makes me cry holy ♪ ♪ There is no other name ♪ ♪ There is no other name ♪ ♪ There is no other name ♪ ♪ Jesus, you're worthy ♪ ♪ There's just something about your name ♪ ♪ There's just something about your name ♪ ♪ There's just something about your name ♪ ♪ It makes me cry holy ♪ ♪ There is no other name ♪ ♪ There is no other name ♪ ♪ There is no other name ♪ ♪ Jesus, you're worthy ♪ ♪ Oh, you're so worthy, you are so worthy ♪ ♪ You're worthy, you are so worthy ♪ Oh, come on, tell Him this, Lord. You're worthy, Jesus, of every ounce, every ounce we can pour out for you. Come on, let's sing this together, Jesus, your name. ♪ Jesus, your name is like the morning light ♪ ♪ The one the darkness can't deny ♪ ♪ The resurrection and the life, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, your name can save, your name can heal ♪ ♪ Your name can make the storm be still ♪ ♪ You never fail, you never will, Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, the bread of life broken for us ♪ ♪ The wounded one and worthy one ♪ ♪ The first and last and soon to come, Jesus ♪

♪ Oh, Jesus, the King who overwhelmed the grave ♪ ♪ The Lord who will forever reign ♪ ♪ The name above all other names, Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus, be the name, oh, Jesus, be the name ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus, be the name that gets all our glory ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus, be the name, oh, Jesus, be the name ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus, be the name that gets all our glory ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus, be the name, oh, Jesus, be the name ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus, be the name that gets all our glory ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus, be the name, oh, Jesus, be the name ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus, be the name, oh, Jesus, be the name ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus, be the name that gets all our glory, yeah ♪ ♪ The only name, the only name, Jesus ♪ ♪ The only name, the only name, Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ So high you lift it up up ♪ ♪ No one like You, no one greater God ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Falling down in worship ♪ ♪ Sing the song of ages to the land ♪ ♪ In all who've gone before us ♪ ♪ Who will believe ♪ ♪ We'll sing the song of ages to the land ♪ Won't you sing this morning? ♪ Your name is the highest ♪ ♪ Your name is the greatest ♪ ♪ Your name always stands above them all ♪ ♪ Above all thrones and dominion ♪ ♪ Above all powers and positions ♪

♪ Your name, it stands above them all ♪ ♪ And the angels cry, holy ♪ ♪ All creation cries, holy ♪ ♪ You are lifted high, holy, holy forever ♪ ♪ Forever, hallelujah, Lord ♪ ♪ And if you've been forgiven, and if you've been redeemed ♪ ♪ Come sing the song forever to the land ♪ ♪ And if you walk in freedom, oh and if you bear his name ♪ ♪ Come sing the song forever to the land, oh yeah ♪ ♪ We'll sing the song forever and amen ♪ ♪ And the angels cry, holy ♪ ♪ All creation cries, holy ♪ ♪ Holy, you are lifted high, holy, holy forever ♪ ♪ Hear your people say, holy to the King of kings ♪ ♪ Holy to the King of kings, you are holy, you will always be ♪ ♪ Holy, holy forever ♪ ♪ Your name is the highest, your name is the greatest ♪ ♪ Your name, oh it stands above them all ♪ ♪ Above all thrones and dominion, all powers and positions ♪ ♪ Your name, oh it stands above them all, oh Jesus ♪ ♪ Your name is the highest, your name is the greatest ♪ ♪ Your name, oh it stands above them all, oh Jesus ♪ ♪ Above all thrones and dominion, all powers and positions ♪ ♪ Your name, oh it stands above them all, oh Jesus ♪ ♪ And the angels cry, holy, all creation cries, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Holy, you are lifted high, holy, holy forever ♪ ♪ Oh we sing, hear your people sing, holy to the king of kings ♪ ♪ Holy to the king of kings, you are holy, you will always be ♪ ♪ Holy, holy forever, you will always be, holy, holy forever ♪ ♪ Holy forever, you will always be, holy, holy forever ♪

Thank you God. Yeah, thank you Jesus for your goodness, for your kindness and your mercy towards us. We thank you for this Sunday, we thank you for this service, Lord. Would you continue to move throughout this whole service? So Jesus, we just thank you, we love you, and it's in your name we pray. And everybody said, Amen. You guys can go ahead and be seated. Hey, Southeast family, I want to talk to you just for a few minutes before the sermon. I'm coming to you from Bullitt County. I'm just kidding. I'm coming to you from Germany this week as I am joining with dozens of our missions partners from around the world for what we call a mission summit. And I just got to tell you, like, I find myself just wishing you could be here with me over the past few days, just getting to connect and hear from so many of our partners. I've just been overwhelmed by what God is doing. And I so want you to feel a part of that. It's happening oftentimes in places that you may never have heard of through people that you may never meet, but you're very much a part of it. And it's because you've prayed that prayer, God, how do you want to move in me? How do you want to move through me? And again and again, our missions partners have said,

Hey, Kyle, please make sure the church knows. Like, they just want you to know how much they appreciate your support and your prayers and your partnership in the gospel. And listen, Southeast, God is on the move, not just locally, but globally. And as I've listened to these stories, I just keep thinking about what Paul wrote to the church in Philippi, Philippians chapter one, when he says, I thank my God for you because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And then he says, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it onto completion until the day of Christ's return. Southeast, I thank my God for you. So thankful for your faithfulness and for the work that God is doing. And I'm confident he's going to carry that to completion until the day Jesus returns. So just know that every time you pray, every time you give, every time you sacrifice and serve, it is echoing into places that you've never been. And it's touching lives of people that you will probably never meet this side of heaven. On my flight here, I received a text from a guy in our church that, gosh, I've been friends with him since like 1998. His name's Kurt Mischler. He was texting me to let me know that his daughter

was going to be here with us in Germany and just how much it means to him that as a church, we care for her. Sadie, his daughter, is a missionary in France. We get to partner with her. I've known Sadie since she was born. My daughters played volleyball with her in middle school. She was a resident at Southeast. And currently, Sadie is in Paris and she is deep into language school. And when you talk to her, she'll tell you one at a time stories about the Muslim woman that she got to share the gospel with and an Uber driver that she got to share Jesus with. She'll talk about the challenges in France, trying to share the gospel with people who don't think they really have much of a need for God. Let me just give you some context of where she serves. Where she serves, the city of Paris, it's one of the top five most influential cities in the world. But 51% of the people identify as free thinkers, meaning they have no religious affiliation at all. And only 1.1% identify as evangelical Christians. In Sadie's district alone, there are 150,000 people and only three evangelical churches. For perspective, Oldham County has about 70,000 people and 20 churches. And many of the people that Sadie encounters have never touched a Bible, never met a Christian friend, have never heard the gospel.

But she's there, giving her life there because you've partnered with her. You've said yes. And her story isn't just her story. Her story is your story too. In the coming months, we're gonna hear more stories like this as we continue just to share how God is moving through you and through our church. And we're gonna get to hear and celebrate a lot of those stories together. I hope every story just reminds you of what you're a part of that when we say yes to Him, like when we stop playing it safe, when we stop holding back, when we decide that, you know what, comfort is not gonna be the highest calling for my life, God moves. I'm standing on the shore of a frozen lake here in Germany. There are people who've been out on this lake during the day and mountains behind me, there are people climbing and exploring the mountains. Can I tell you the truth though? I kind of like it down here. I kind of like it on the shore. This is where it's safe and comfortable. I can go grab some tea in there if I get a little bit too cold. The view from here is beautiful. I can see the mountains.

I can appreciate the ice. I can do it all from a safe distance. And I think that's a picture of how a lot of us approach faith. We wanna stay on the shore. We like to have a view. We admire the people who step out. We think it's inspiring when we hear stories of people like Sadie and others who leave everything behind or families that. uproot their lives to follow God's call. We watch them from the shore and think that's amazing, but we wanna stay where it's safe, where nothing is required of us except just to spectate. And I'm just telling you the missionaries that I've been meeting with this week, humbling for me, inspiring for me, because they're not just watching from the shore, they've left comfort behind, they've stepped out onto the ice. And they're experiencing things and seeing things and they're part of things that people who play it safe just never know. And so I just wanna ask you what I'm asking myself while I'm here. Am I just enjoying the view? Am I content to just watch from a comfortable distance? Am I okay to just admire the mission without actually joining it? And as I spend time with our missions partners this week,

I'm just convicted of this, that we need to be reminded that He hasn't made us for comfort. He hasn't made us just to hoard what we have and protect what we've built and hope nothing disrupts our lives. God's made us for more than that. Like you and I, we've been made for something bigger than our own security and our own savings account and our own plans for retirement. Like you weren't made to retreat to the back of the cul-de-sac. You were made to be swept up into what God is doing around the world. And so at this missions gathering, I've just been encouraged. In fact, there's a booklet that's been passed out that has pictures of the partners that we have around the world and their names and where they're serving. But there are a number of places where it just says due to safety concerns, we're not able to share their picture or their location. Like we can't even tell you what they look like or where they serve because it would put them in danger. And I don't know about you, but that inspires me. And maybe God will call some of you to places like that. But I know this, He's called all of us to live, not on the sidelines, not just watching, but to be a part of what He's doing.

You were made to give and to go and to sacrifice and to trust and take risks that might make no sense to people who aren't living for the kingdom. I know it's hard to believe, but the truth is, listen, comfort will never fulfill you and security will never satisfy you and playing it safe will never produce the kind of life that you really long for and that God made you for. So can I just remind you what I need to be reminded of? Like you were made for a calling, not for comfort. You were made for a mission, not just to live a life of maintenance. You weren't made to ask what's safe. You were made to say, God, what are you wanting? What are you saying? You weren't just made to spectate, you were made to participate. You weren't just made to watch, you were made to move. And so as we continue in this move series, we're gonna be hearing from our Franklin Campus Pastor, Bryson Cook. He's gonna be preaching to us from the Franklin Campus, which is just south of Nashville. I'm just really thankful that he's gonna be preaching in a series called Move because for Bryson and Holly, Move isn't just the name of a sermon series, it's like what they did. Literally, they moved. They moved with their two kids from their home

and families in Southern Indiana to say yes to what God is doing in Franklin. And when they made that decision to move, they weren't asking, hey, is this convenient or is this comfortable? They were saying, God, what do you want for us? Like, what's your calling for us? And they got off the shore and they stepped out onto the ice and they're not the only ones. In fact, there's another couple, Keisha and Dale Hall, who were sitting in a service at the Bullitt County Campus when they first felt the Lord calling them to move to help with the Franklin Campus. They weren't looking for a reason to uproot their lives. They weren't restless, they were just open. And when God spoke, they moved. And so before we hear from Bryson, I want you to hear their story. I hope it inspires you to keep moving, however and wherever God may call you, because here's what I'm learning from these missionaries this week, that God is on the move. The question isn't whether He's working. The question is whether we're willing to join Him. Hi, I'm Dale. And I'm Keisha. And we attend the Southeast Franklin Campus.

We had three children. We had this total reevaluation of life. We wanted a house that we could have all of the things that, you know, kind of COVID took away from us. We took a house plan that we found online. We took it to an architect and we made it ours. You know, the dream house was the Pinterest, the Instagram, so many fun things of planning and designing and kind of chasing that dream for security. But the first year was super sweet because we just opened it up. We started a new group during that time. We did a family group. We were praying like, Lord, if you close this process out for us, like we promise to use this, you know, for your glory and for your kingdom. And it's yours, like we'll do whatever with it. I would just say that I didn't know that doing whatever with it would mean. selling it. We learned about the Franklin campus in August of last year. Nothing came about it then it was kind of like oh that's so cool like we're gonna have a campus in Nashville. We go home that night and I'm like I'm like this really funny feeling in my belly when they announced Franklin campus tonight did you feel that too? I'm like no I didn't feel it. When that happened and they announced it I thought well I'm just gonna pray about it. I had been feeling unsettled probably at that point for three or four months like we have not at this point not told a soul about what we're praying about. We go to dinner with our best friends and at the end of the night I decide like hey I'm gonna bring this up to them. I don't even get like the first few words out of my mouth

and my friend looks at me and she was like you're gonna tell me you're moving then I'm like okay it's not just her hunger pains that are making her belly feel weird like all right there's something to this now. At that point we decided like we're gonna ask the Lord to open doors we're gonna identify the mountains that he has to move and we're gonna start walking this path what does it look like and we've told our kids that was met with some mixed emotions aside from like the initial like oh there was excitement. It's like the Holy Spirit is like saying we're done here I didn't want to miss out on what the Lord had if he truly called us. I don't want to miss out on what the Lord has planned for Franklin. And really I think we were being faithful within our comfort zone and that changed and that was okay for us there's been more peace in that than there has in our comfort. So we throw our house in the market of course we spent a ton of time house shopping in Franklin and to be honest that was a discouraging part of the process for us. We would need double the house budget in Franklin to replace what we had which is not realistic and that was kind of a step of faith that we felt like the Lord was asking us to take in this season like this is gonna require a downsize for you and then our house sold and it sold quick then we're kind of scrambling like oh my gosh we have 30 days to be out of this house and we don't have anywhere to go. The last time that we went and house shopped I can remember the specific spot that we're on on 65 and I I'm not very emotional but I was like teary leaving feeling like I feel like we're leaving home instead of going home and that for me was the moment that it was like the Lord had gently disconnected me from even my hometown to go. We decided to rent a house it is so vastly different it's like the Lord picked us up out of our life and dropped us into somebody else's life we had to sell a whole lot of stuff we cut our square footage in half. We don't really know what's next but we're there at Southeast we sing this song you can have it all if it costs me everything and I remember standing at the Bullitt County campus and thinking you know I can't sing this song if I'm not really willing to do what it says we have to be willing for it to cost us everything. I

never intended to move out of state but I think it was in moments of quiet for me that I heard the Lord's voice and things like girl your dreams are too small. What we were a part of for the kingdom that there was more for us like and there was more asked of us you know when somebody asked hey what brought you to Franklin and we're like hey we came to join the launch of the newest campus of our church it's just this instant connection point with people and we've actually seen that come to fruition already like we're getting to interact with so many people and we've got new people attending our campus from those conversations. I would say my heart and and our hearts are way more on mission than they were. God has definitely showed us that he's much more interested in people and life change than he is in your dream home. When the move initiative asked us to make a commitment we did increase from our standard commitment fully in faith when we turn those cards in a second time is when we made the commitment that we would keep our committed dollar amount the same but we would also commit to moving our family to Franklin. Yes. Now that we're there we're still praying for the Lord to make that number happen. He's gonna have to, you know, provide. As he always has, and he always does. Well, church family, I am so grateful for stories like the Halls, so many that are happening and playing out across all of our campuses, as we continue praying that bold prayer that we started a year ago. God, how do you wanna move in me and through me? And we've talked over these last couple weeks about just the tension that can be felt in the middle of the journey. All right, like maybe for some of us, like you haven't stepped into a commitment around move

because you think, well, what impact would my commitment even have? Or maybe you're in a spot where life is just hitting you so hard and you feel discouraged in the midst of your commitment and you feel like pulling back. Maybe for you, you find yourself in just a season where you're coasting, right? Like you've already leaned fully into your commitment, but you've stopped continuing to pray that prayer. God, how do you wanna continue to move in me and through me? And so listen, in this midpoint of our journey, we're gonna have an awesome opportunity here in two weeks on February 26th and March 1st to lean into engaging with these midpoint commitment cards. We're across all of our campuses on that Thursday and Sunday. We're gonna have the opportunity that maybe if it's your first time engaging with move, or maybe it's a time to be reminded to don't give up, or maybe it's a time to step forward into greater levels of faith. Like we're gonna be able to prayerfully just follow the Lord and his leading around these cards. You can find these in the back of your move book if you wanna grab those and begin to pray over the next two weeks. You know, I'm standing on this stage here at our Franklin campus, surrounded by your family down here in Franklin.

And the reason that we can stand in this building and worship today is because we as a church said yes to how God wanted to move in and through us across all of our campuses. And so church, do not give up. I cannot wait to see the stories like the halls that are gonna continue to be written in and through our church as God moves powerfully in us. You know, I wanna take you back to the year 1986. I was negative nine years old. So go ahead and get all your groans out. But I don't know what you were doing in that year. Like maybe you were graduated and married with kids, or maybe you were a little kid sitting in front of a TV. Many of us, not me, but many of us were in front of TVs in 1986 on a particular day when from Cape Canaveral, there was the launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger. And on that shuttle, there were seven astronauts. One of them though, really special, was a woman by the name of Krista McAuliffe. She was a high school teacher that was selected from 11,000 different applicants to be the very first civilian ever in space. Like this is a really monumental moment. People were glued to their TVs. Some of her kids were like in class watching on the TV as she lifted off, off the launch pad, into the air. But the devastating reality was 73 seconds post-launch, Challenger exploded and everyone on board lost their lives. In the investigation that followed,

the engineers were questioned on things and they revealed that they were aware of a potential problem. The rings that sealed the rocket boosters weren't designed to function well in cold weather. And it was an unusually cold morning that morning in Florida and so they had some anxiety and some concern around this, but the launch went off without a hitch still and proceeded in terms of the planning because NASA was confident. They were confident in their track record. They were confident in their expertise and the systems that they built. But listen, 73 seconds, that's how long it took for confidence placed in the wrong thing to leave behind nothing but destruction and emptiness. In Southeast, listen, if I could put it this way, what you place your confidence in has the power to either bring life or bring death. And when I look at my own life and I know many of us, it's probably very similar, like all too often, I think we settle for the latter. Like we find ourselves placing our confidence in the systems we've built or the credentials that we've earned or the track records that we've established, like things that seem solid to hold up our lives. Maybe you just grinded it out for the scholarship to the right university and all of a sudden, you placed all of your worth into the hands

of an admissions committee to deem whether or not you're worthy. And maybe for you, it was chasing the dream salary or the perfect house or the right number in your bank account because you believed if you achieved these things, then all of the sudden, like it would value. validate that you're enough and that you've made it. Maybe for you, it's perfectly curating this image in this life on social media where you want everybody to look and say, man, they got it all together. Even though, listen, you are handing, you're putting into the hands, your value into the hands of other people who are struggling with the same insecurities that you are on their side of keyboards and screens. Yeah, I think there's so many different reasons that we place our confidence in a number of these things. Maybe for you, you're just trying to prove someone wrong. Maybe it's the parent that doubted you, or it's the person that left you, or the coach that cut you. And so all of these things that you're pursuing in life, it's not just to pursue them to achieve them. Like you are literally building up like a case against everyone in your life who doubted you to say, see, you were wrong. Maybe for you, it's this sense of, you're just trying to fill that void in your heart

and approval that you never received. Like you're thinking, if I just get the right promotion, or if I can check this box in my life, then I will finally be validated by the person that means the most to me. Maybe it's a dad who looks you in the eyes and finally says, I'm proud of you. And so you chase after all of these things, but listen, beneath all of this, all that you are looking for is just to know that you matter, that you're enough, that you're loved. I know this isn't news to us, but research tells us that this pursuit of placing our confidence in so many different things, our value, our worth, it's a losing game that leaves us exhausted. A 2023 study found that people who derive their self-worth primarily from external sources, like career success, or appearance, or financial status, they report significantly higher levels of anxiety and depression. Literally, the things that you think will actually validate and bring you a sense of comfort and peace, actually they're making you more miserable when you place them in that position. Another study found that 61% of adults believe that they're only, listen to this, it's so sad, they're only as valuable as their last achievement.

And so what you have is just this hamster wheel that maybe you've seen in your own life where you're chasing the next dopamine hit, and the next, you did a great job, and you do it over, and over, and over again, and there's no rest, and there's no gratitude, it's exhausting, and then what if the things that you did achieve all of a sudden are removed? Like the career gets derailed, or the relationship ends, or the perfectly curated life that you have put together suddenly feels like it's under attack. Listen, what you place your confidence in, Southeast, has either the power to bring life or bring death. And it's this very tension that Paul writes to the church in Philippi, where we're gonna pick up here in Philippians three, starting in verse one. If you got your Bibles, go ahead on your phone or paper copy, flip to Philippians three. And Paul's gonna start this way, we'll have it on the screens here as well. Hey, whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you these things, and I do it to safeguard your life. Watch out for those dogs, those people who do evil, those mutilators who say that you must be circumcised to be saved, for we who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. Maybe you're new to the church,

or just church in general, or the Bible, you're checking this out for the first time, and you checked out the moment that I said circumcision in church. Listen, when Paul is writing this, I know it sounds weird, but in his day, circumcision was viewed as this powerful Jewish image of right-standing before God. In the mind of these false teachers, these dogs, as Paul calls them, who have just infiltrated the Philippian church, they view circumcision as this sort of checkbox of what they needed marked, this proof that they were in, that they measured up before God. But what Paul is directly saying here to challenge it is, hey, we don't place our confidence in external things apart from Jesus. Like, not even religious performance, or moral achievement, or anything that we can do to somehow prove ourselves. Like, we place our confidence fully in Jesus. But what I love about Paul, he does this all the time, he's like, you know what, I'll play your game, though. We'll kind of go down this rabbit trail and see where this leads. Paul's gonna give us seven different kind of resume builders that he had in his own resume that would have been so impressive in the minds of these false teachers and his Jewish audience. He says this, verse three, we put no confidence in human effort,

though I could have confidence in my own effort, if anybody could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more. I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I'm a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin. Benjamin was one of the most faithful tribes in Israel amongst the 12. Yeah, I was a real Hebrew, if ever there was one. Like Paul doesn't just have Jewish bloodline, like he is steeped in the Jewish culture. And with those four, in case anybody wanted to challenge Paul and be like, well, Paul, you're just like a nepo baby. Like you were born into all of that. Paul's like, hold up now, like I worked hard for this. He says, I was a member of the Pharisees who demanded the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. Like Paul would have had to memorize the entirety of the Old Testament word for word. He had worked his way up into this religious elite circle. I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault. This is the ancient equivalent to, man, I graduated from Ivy League, cuma sum laude, I'm a CEO by 30, like everybody loves me. Like this is a mic drop moment for Paul. If anybody has the ability in this moment to stand before God with seemingly their own resume and say, I'm enough, it's Paul. But yet look how he responds in verse 7. He says, yeah, I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yeah, everything else is worthless when compared to the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. One of my favorite pastors and authors, the late Tim Keller, he described it this way that our struggle is with what's called performative identity. It's this idea that I have to perform and keep it up and keep attaining in order to achieve and be deemed as enough. But yet, we know this, you achieve one thing and the goalposts move, don't they? Like all of a sudden there's more things to chase after and ultimately the things that you're really looking for, like validation, that you matter, that you have worth, that you're loved, they can't be earned through achievement. And what Paul's gonna say here is some really strong language to call this out. Verses 8 and 9, he says, for his sake, I have discarded everything else, counting it as garbage, in his words, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him.

Paul's language here with this word garbage, it's the Greek word skubalon. I know we want to say it at all of our campuses. So one, two, three, skubalon, right? And really in English, it's almost always translated as garbage. But in the Greek, the word would kind of be closer to the idea of excrement, of feces. And if we really wanted to be accurate here to the Greek and paint how graphic this word skubalon is, its closest equivalent would be a word that if I said it up here on this stage in front of all of us right now, like poor Kyle and all of our elders would get a ton of email complaints. You would probably never see me again ever and yeah, we'll just leave it at that. But here's the deal, like you would ask like why is Paul being explicitly harsh here? Like why is he being intentionally graphic? Why is he being borderline vulgar? And it's for this reason, to drive into the depths of your very heart and mind the point that Jesus is that much better than anything else that you could stack up against him. Like your dream job or house, like skubalon compared to Jesus in life with him. Like your perfect image that you obsess over maintaining, skubalon compared to Jesus and who you are in him. The approval of others to like fill the void in your heart, skubalon compared to Jesus and his love for you and what that means. Like whatever list is forming in your mind right now of all of the different ways that you have tried to place your value and worth and things to prove you're enough. Listen, Paul says it's skubalon compared to Jesus and what he offers. Paul, let me be clear, he's not saying that all of these things are worthless. Like some of these things are really good and are incredible blessings to be thankful for in life. But when blessings in our life take the place of Jesus or our confidence is placed in them, Paul says they are foundations of skubalon. The distance from your greatest achievement in Jesus is the same distance from the most vulgar form of sewage in Jesus. Everything else Paul says is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord. Southeast, what you place your confidence in has the power to either bring life or bring death. And what Paul says here is that your confidence can be secure in his words, knowing Jesus your Lord. That word knowing that Paul uses, it's not talking about like this intellectual knowledge, right?

Like you know things about Jesus, like facts and things for a test or quiz, like this is relational knowledge. In fact, all throughout scripture, like this word knowing is used to describe the intimacy that a husband and wife have. with one another in their relationship. It's deeply relational, it's personal, it's experiential. It's the difference between like me saying I know about someone and I know someone. Right, like I could stand up here and tell you about like my favorite athletes and like some cool facts about them, but that's it. But man, if you put me on the spot to talk about my wife, Holly, who I stood on an altar with nine years ago and said I do, I wanna believe that I know her and I'm seeking to know her more and more. I could tell you about how she likes her coffee. I could tell you about her smile and the things that make her laugh. I could tell you about the dreams that she had when she was a little girl growing up. I could tell you about all of the things that I do that drive her crazy. And it's experience. It's not just random facts, it's life with her. It's time, it's presence, it's attention, it's investment. Listen, guys, some of us have sold it short in terms of knowing Jesus. You have settled for some type of divine equation where if you just say or think the right things in your mind, then you get to go to a place called heaven one day when you die.

And at the same time, listen, what Paul is talking about is so much more than that. He's talking about Jesus, a person to be known and loved and for your love in him and with him to grow deeper and deeper. And so Southeast, the question that I wanna ask us is this, are you growing more and more in your love for Jesus and knowing him? Like, do you make time for him each day? Where he's not just this obligation. Like, are you actually carving out time in your schedule to like sit with him where prayer isn't just like this checklist of coming to Jesus and saying, here, I need X, Y, and Z done by you. But instead, like you're getting to sit almost as if you're across a coffee table from a best friend and get to talk about your day. And then he genuinely cares and wants to talk back and encourage and challenge. With scripture, like, do you engage with his word long enough in a manner that it actually like can seep into the corners of your heart and you actually like hear his voice? Like, you're not just reading for facts, you're reading to like know him and the words that he spoke. Paul just keeps going on in this verse and in verses nine and 10 and 11, talking about the confidence that we have that Jesus has justified us, that our identity is placed in his faithfulness,

not our own. He talks about our future eternity with Jesus, like intimately knowing Jesus changes everything. Like when your confidence is in you, every setback in life is a shot at your worth. Like you didn't get the job, you're not enough. A person leaves you, you are unlovable. You failed at something, you're a failure. But when your confidence is in Jesus, it's just circumstances. It's just things that hit in life, but it doesn't change your identity. Like you are secure in him and his faithfulness for you, not your own faithfulness. Southeast, I wanna ask you again, are you getting to know Jesus more and more? Are you getting to know him more and more? Would you just relentlessly pursue him? Because listen, the temptation to place our confidence in things outside of Jesus, it doesn't just happen outside the walls of the church. It can happen inside as well. It can happen even in the midst of move. In Revelation chapter two, Jesus himself writes this letter to the church in Ephesus. And it's a church that's just killing it, right? They're doing all of these amazing things. They're getting to be a part of just serving their community and to the outside world, like it seems like if you were to look at them,

like they're doing it well, they're killing it. They're making an impact. And Jesus says, look, I see all the things you're doing, but then he says these really haunting words. But I have this against you. You've abandoned the love that you had at first. It's the picture of a church that has drifted from connection to Jesus as the primary pursuit and doing the activity of following Jesus. They've lost sight of the being in the intimacy with Jesus from which the action naturally flows. Listen, I don't know about you, but I don't want that to be true of us as a church family. Like we can do all the right things. We can be in all the right places. We can give sacrificially. But yet if we're doing it from a place of checking boxes to prove that we're enough, listen, you're placing your confidence in the wrong thing. You're placing your confidence in the doing rather than the one that you're doing it for. 73 seconds, that's how long it took for confidence in the wrong thing. to leave nothing behind, but destruction and emptiness, but a life anchored in Jesus, a confidence anchored in Jesus. It's a confidence that stands. It's a confidence that thrives. It's a confidence that flourishes and blesses you

and so many others around. So church family, relentlessly pursue Jesus. Everything else is just a bunch of scuba line. Let me pray. Jesus, we love you. Help us to believe that you're enough. Help us to place our confidence in you. Help us believe, even in our unbelief, that you are enough. It's in your precious and holy name we pray, amen. Amen. Where's your confidence? Where does your confidence rest? I mentioned this last week at the 1115 service, but just has just constantly been at the top of my heart. I was over in our next step room. I was sitting with a friend of mine who had brought a friend of his to church. Come to find out this man that one of our members brought to church was a private investigator. He had helped this man find his daughter who's in the streets of Louisville. And he had, I just sat there and listened to these incredible deeds that this man had performed. I mean, he had restored children back to their families. I mean, he had done so many things in the name of justice. And it was just a beautiful story to hear. I mean, my eyes were already tearing. And so I looked across the table

and with more words essentially said, why do you wanna get baptized today? I just, I wish you were sitting there with me. Because his tears fell from his eyes. He essentially said, I'm still not worthy. Like all the things that I've done, all the righteous deeds that I've done, it's not enough. Just reminded me of the words of Jesus. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. In other words, those who realize that they've come to the end of themselves, that everything good that they have to offer is still nothing compared to a holy and a good God. Here's the good news. I was able to sit across from him. And I was able to tell him, he couldn't be in a better spot. That because of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, where he may feel bankrupt, he is positioned perfectly. If he would repent and put his faith in Jesus, that he would have the greatest exchange happen. He would be able to take his sin and Christ would be able to bury it. But because Christ did not stay dead, but that he rose again, he would have new life. And he would be righteous, not because of his own working and own earning, but because of the righteousness of Jesus, he would be able to be called a son of God.

And standing in that pool right behind me, just like there's some folks that are getting ready to right now, he declared not because of his own righteousness, but because of the righteousness of Jesus and the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, that Jesus Christ was his Lord and his Savior. We are getting ready to worship together through communion. My prayer is that for some of us, I know the temptation is to start to add things to Jesus, to start to be distracted by the things that we can do in our lives and our own righteousness. Let us remember the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. The fact that Jesus laid down his life so that we could find ours. And maybe for some of you in this room, like you've been trying to build your life this whole time and today is the first time that you've realized, like it's not adding up. Your righteousness is not sufficient to save you. The good news is today can be the day that you place your faith in Jesus's hands. We'd love to talk to you over in our next step room on my right, your left, the same place that I had that conversation with that man. I wanna encourage you, don't wait. Let today be the day. the day that you discover the incredible path of placing your faith in Jesus's hands. We're gonna worship together.

We're gonna take communion. We're gonna remind our hearts that our righteousness is not of ourselves, but it's of Jesus Christ. Let's worship together. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ Amen. ♪ ♪♪♪ -♪ I am an instrument of exaltation ♪ ♪ I was born to lift Your name above all names ♪ ♪ You hear the melody of all creation ♪ ♪ But there's a song of praise that only I can hear ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy? ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy? ♪ ♪ There is no one, only You, Jesus ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy? ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy? ♪ ♪ There is no one, only You, Jesus ♪ ♪ You are the infinite, God of the ages ♪ ♪ Yet You chose to make my heart as well in place ♪ ♪ You healed my brokenness, showed me Your glory ♪ ♪ So I have songs of thanks, not even angels sing ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy? ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy? ♪ ♪ There is no one, only You, Jesus ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy? ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy? ♪ ♪ There is no one, only You, Jesus ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy? ♪

♪ Who else is worthy? ♪ ♪ There is no one, only You, Jesus ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy? ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy? ♪ ♪ There is no one, only You, Jesus ♪ ♪♪ ♪ There's no one else more worthy ♪ ♪ No one else more deserving ♪ ♪♪ ♪ A Lamb upon the throne, the only one ♪ ♪♪ ♪ Lamb of God, anointed one ♪ ♪ Who was and is and is to come ♪ ♪ Seated on the throne above ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, righteous one ♪ ♪ Who shed His blood, You prove to us the Father's love ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, be lifted up, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Lamb of God, anointed one ♪ ♪ Who was and is and is to come ♪ ♪ He's seated on the throne above ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, righteous one ♪ ♪ Who shed His blood, You prove to us the Father's love ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, be lifted up ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? ♪ ♪ There is no one, only You Jesus ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? ♪ ♪ There is no one, only You Jesus ♪ ♪ You Jesus ♪ ♪ Lamb of God, anointed one ♪ ♪ Who was and is and is to come ♪

♪ He's seated on the throne, come on ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Righteous One who shed His blood ♪ ♪ He proves who was to find His love ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, be lifted up ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Lamb of God, anointed one ♪ ♪ Who was and is and is to come ♪ ♪ He's seated on the throne, come on ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Righteous One who shed His blood ♪ ♪ He proves who was to find His love ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, be lifted up ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy, who else is worthy ♪ ♪ There is no one, only You Jesus ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy, who else is worthy ♪ ♪ There is no one, only You Jesus ♪ ♪ There is no one, only You Jesus ♪ ♪ There is no one, only You Jesus ♪ Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Welcome back, Pando family. I hope you were really encouraged by that message by our Franklin, Tennessee campus pastor, Bryson Cook, just challenging us to move with confidence. And listen, I also want you to be aware that there's a Pando specific exclusive podcast just for the Pando family

that comes out brand new every Thursday. There's special guests, different interviews. Really want you to stay connected with that. And I think you'll find it to be an amazing encouragement as you walk in in your faith as well. But we always want to lead out in prayer. So get ready now, maybe get a pen or a pencil and ready to write this down and let this prayer resonate with you throughout the week. We pray that our love may abound more and more with knowledge and with all discernment so that we may approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ. Filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and the praise of God. Amen. Listen, family, I am so glad that you joined us today and I hope you have a blessed week.