New Year Reflection: In-Betweens | Stephan Tchividjian

Well, good morning. Why don't you stand to your feet? If you haven't really realized it yet, or it hasn't sunk in, it's the last weekend, the last Sunday of 2025. We're so thankful that you're here with us this morning. We just want to worship the Lord together one last time, together as a body. We're going to do that by telling the Lord, by reminding ourselves how worthy He is. So sing these songs with us. All the praise we could ever breathe. Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe. We live for you. Oh, we live for you. Jesus, the name above every other name. Jesus, the only one who could ever save. Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe. We live for you. Oh, we live for you. Sing holy. Holy, there is no one like you. There is none beside you. Open up my eyes in wonder. Show me who you are and fill me with your heart and lead me with your love to those around me. Won't you lead me, Lord? Won't you lead me every step of the way? I will build my life. And I will build my life upon your love. It is a firm foundation. I will put my trust in you alone and I will not be shaken. I will build my life upon your love. It is a firm foundation. I will put my trust in you alone and I will not be shaken. Holy, there is no one like you. There is none beside you. Open up my eyes in wonder. Show me who you are and fill me with your heart and lead me with your love to those around me. Holy, there is no one like you. There is none beside you. Open up my eyes in wonder. Show me who you are and fill me with your heart and lead me with your love to those around me. I will build my life upon your love. It is a firm foundation. I will put my trust in you alone and I will not be shaken. ♪ Will not be shaken ♪ Thank you, Lord. As a church over the last year, we've studied through 1st and 2nd Samuel, and we've looked at themes of waiting and wilderness, of failure and of victory and of restoration. And I was reminded that our God is always at work, even if it's slowly and quietly, but it is always faithfully. And so I wanted to give us just a moment to pause, to reflect, to look back at this last year and to ask the Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, would you remind us of the ways that our God has worked faithfully in our life? So right now, would you just begin to ask Him, Holy Spirit, remind us right now

of the times that our God has been faithful, that He showed up, that He kept His promises. Maybe for you, it was in your quiet time in the morning. Maybe His presence was so evident. Maybe you took a step of faith this year, you launched a business, maybe you welcomed a little one or a new grandchild into the family. Maybe He was faithful just by being constant this last year. He was with you in the highs and in the lows, through the joys and the grief that this last year brought. Thank you, God, for being faithful. Thank you for being with us every single day of this last year. And this is our response. We get to worship you, we get to remind our hearts of your faithfulness, and we get to declare these truths with our mouth together today as a congregation. So Lord, would you receive our worship this morning? Thank you, Jesus. Sing this with me. I'm calling on the God of Jacob Whose love endures through generations I know that you will keep your covenant I'm calling on the God of Moses The one who opened up the oceans I need you now to do the same thing for me Let's declare our dependence on Him. Sing this together.

Oh God, my God, I need you Oh God, my God, I need you now Oh rock, oh rock of ages I'm standing on your faithfulness On your faithfulness That's who you are I'm calling I'm calling on the God of Mary Whose favor rests upon the lowly I know with you all things are possible It's true, do you believe it? I'm calling on the God of David Who made us shepherds born courageous I may not face the light But I've got my own child Oh God, my God, I need you Oh God, my God, I need you now Oh God, my God, I need you now Oh rock of ages Oh rock, oh rock of ages I'm standing on your faithfulness On your faithfulness You're a faithful father in every season You heard your children Then you heard me ♪ Your children now, you are the same God ♪ ♪ You are the same God ♪ ♪ You answered prayers back then and you will, yes He does ♪ ♪ You are the same God, you are the same God ♪ ♪ You were providing then, you are providing now ♪

♪ Now we choose to believe you are the same God ♪ ♪ You moved in power then, God moved in power now ♪ ♪ You are the same God, yesterday you were forever ♪ ♪ You were a healer then, you are a healer now ♪ ♪ You are the same God, you are the same God ♪ ♪ You were a savior then, you are a savior now ♪ ♪ You are the same God, you are the same God ♪ ♪ Oh God, my God, I need you, oh God, my God, I need you now ♪ ♪ I need you now, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh rock, oh rock of ages, I'm standing on your face ♪ ♪ Oh yeah, on your faithfulness ♪ ♪ Oh God, my God, I need you, oh God, my God, I need you now ♪ ♪ Now, now, now I need you, oh God, I need you now ♪ ♪ Oh rock of ages, oh rock, oh rock of ages, I'm standing on your faithfulness ♪ ♪ On your faithfulness ♪ God almighty, Elohim, the great I Am, lives in me, El Shaddai ♪ ♪ You are Prince of Peace ♪ Emmanuel ♪ Here with me ♪ Your name is great ♪ And greatly to be praised ♪ Your name is great ♪ And greatly to be praised ♪ Your name is great ♪ And greatly to be praised ♪ Your name is great ♪ And greatly to be praised ♪ Oh, you're worthy, Jesus ♪ Tell Him today that He's worthy ♪ Worthy you were, worthy you are

♪ Worthy you will be forever, Yahweh ♪ Worthy you were, worthy you are ♪ Worthy you will be forever, Yahweh ♪ Worthy you were and worthy you are ♪ Worthy you will be forever, Yahweh ♪ Worthy you were, worthy you are ♪ And worthy you will be forever, Yahweh ♪ Your name is great ♪ And greatly to be praised ♪ Your name is great ♪ And greatly to be praised ♪ Worthy you were and worthy you are ♪ Worthy you will be forever, Yahweh ♪ Forever your way worthy you were ♪ ♪ Worthy you are worthy you will be ♪ ♪ Forever your way worthy you were ♪ ♪ Worthy you are worthy you will be ♪ ♪ Forever your way worthy you were ♪ ♪ Worthy you are worthy you will be ♪ ♪ Forever your way ♪ Would you tell him he's worthy today? Would you lift up your hands? Would you tell him Jesus you are worthy? You're worthy of my heart. You're worthy of my praise. You're worthy of my time. You are worthy of my attention. Worthy of my life. Oh yes you are Jesus. We behold you this morning.

♪ Oh you're worthy of it all ♪ Would you tell him today? ♪ Oh you're worthy of it all ♪ ♪ You deserve the glory yes you do Jesus ♪ ♪ You are worthy of it all ♪ ♪ You are worthy of it all ♪ ♪ For from you are all things and to you are all things ♪ ♪ And to you are all things you deserve the glory ♪ Oh Jesus would you receive our praises this morning. For hearts Lord who are grateful for all you are and all you've done Jesus. Thank you that you have sustained us to this day. Thank you for the breath in our lungs. For blood that flows through our veins. Father thank you for a mouth that can sing your praises, hands that can be lifted up to worship. God we don't know how we would have made it through this year yet another day without your grace over us. Thank you. We just stop right now to just acknowledge your goodness, your favor in our lives. Thank you. Thank you for breakthrough you brought Jesus. Thank you Lord. Because you are beautiful Jesus. There is nothing that can diminish your splendor, your glory. You are majestic in power. Matchless in splendor.

And we just stand in awe of you this morning. We behold your glory this morning. And we praise you not for only the things you've done but for who you are. We set our eyes on you today. We ask that all distractions, any weight, anything taking our attention away from you Lord would just be silenced this morning. And we ask Holy Spirit fill us with a greater measure of understanding of the glory and knowledge of Jesus. Would you take us deeper in our walk. Holy Spirit empower us to start this year living boldly for our faith. We ask this because we need your help. We can't do this apart from you. But we ask in faith and all God's people together say, amen. Amen, amen. Give it a hand to our wonderful, incredible worship team. We're blessed. Lately I've been considering and thinking a lot about in-betweens. In fact, frankly, this is an in-between week. We're in between the year 2025, moving into the year 2026. And typically what happens in this particular week, we will always do it in some form or fashion. But you spend a little bit of time thinking about the past. You think, you sort of reflect back on 2025. You think about the ups and the downs of 2025.

But at the same time, you also project as you think forward and you think about your hopes and your dreams. And we all spend a little bit of time doing that. Sometimes, in some cases we. New Year's resolutions that's probably a bit shallow because we make these promises to ourselves and within a couple of weeks we usually break them. This is way more important than that as we think about the in-betweens of our life. Life has all kinds of in-betweens. A sunset is an in-between for example. When you think of a time when you watch a beautiful sunset and you sit there and as you sit there and watching the sunset waiting to maybe catch the green flash, you find yourself reflecting on the day. If you're on holiday or vacation you think about the boat ride you took or the lunch you had or the sport you played or the extra rest you got or the book you're reading. But you're also at the same time thinking about the next day, thinking about the rest that you're about to have, thinking about what you expect happening in the next day. My wife and I are celebrating 39 years of marriage today. Now, you would think if we're spending 39 years that we would be together but I'm here and she's at home and she should be here. But we're not together today but she's there at home. We'll celebrate later, 39 years. That's an in-between. I remember when we were dating, she was the first girl I ever kissed. I was like 21 years old or something and my kids tell me, Dad, that's called like a nerd. You were like a nerd. I go, I don't know if I was a nerd or not but I can tell you one thing, your mom, I was not the first boy your mom kissed. But after I kissed her, I said, I had to confess. I said, you know, you're the first girl I've ever kissed and she said, no.

Like implying, I think, that that was a really good kiss. I said, yeah, I've been practicing on the mirror for years. So for those of you that are mirror kissers, there's hope for us. There's hope for us here. But that was an in-between because, you know, we weren't living together. We were engaged. It was not like I'm dating around, she's dating around. We're waiting for the big day, you know, to get married, which was, again, 39 years ago today. And so there was this in-between. It was this weird season of like we're together but we're not together. That's an in-between. A teenage years, for those of you that are teenagers, that is certainly an in-between because on one hand, you want the freedom of an adult. Hey, I want the freedom of an adult. I want to be able to drive. I want to stay up late as I want. I want to go to my friends. I want to do everything. But very little responsibility. You can't afford anything. So you still need mom and dad to help pay for stuff so that you can have the freedom. Well, that's an in-between and there's all kinds. My wife and I have five children, 10 grandchildren, soon to be 11 grandchildren. They all live like five minutes from us. Very large family. But, well, hang out. You may not, hang out with us. You may not clap. But I bought myself a really nice noise canceling headphones for Christmas because that's the

only way I can have some degree of sanity in my house. But like we know what it's like about raising kids. You know, I mean, we've been through that. It's not our first rodeo and, you know, there's some tense evenings when, you know, you're, the kids are wanting to do one thing. That's an in-between. Being a teenager is an in-between. In-betweens also sometimes when you're traveling, you're in-between. Sometimes we get delayed in a flight and we're like, I'm in-between from where I was to where I want to be. And I'm in-between. In-betweens come in all shapes and sizes. Career changes can be an in-betweens awaiting a clean bill of health. You had some tests done. You're waiting for the report to come back from the doctor. You're in-between not knowing what's going to happen. What's the report going to say? We know that in this church, we have a wonderful ministry called Calvary House for Men and Calvary House for Women. These are men and women that have decided to leave a life of addiction and go through a program for eight, nine, 10 months to come out the other side. You'll see a picture of people whose lives have literally been changed as a result. An incredible ministry, an incredible ministry, but that's an in-between. When they leave a life of addiction, then they go into a very uncomfortable, unknown type situation, environment, unfamiliar environment, only to have their hearts and minds changed so they can come out and live a free life without being addicted to whatever their addiction is. So relocating to a new country, a new state, wherever it may be. In-between comes in all shapes and sizes. In-betweens sometimes are fun and exciting and a lot of fun.

Sometimes in-betweens are terrifying. Sometimes in-betweens can be messy, awkward, and certainly heartbreaking. God actually uses in-betweens. I know in my life, he's used in-betweens to prepare me for things. Sometimes it's a way for him to get me unstuck from the status quo. God's used in-betweens to help me see things differently. I remember going to bed several years ago, and again, all the kids were at our house and they had gone to bed early. Playing board games and all kinds of stuff and the house was super loud. And as I was falling asleep Trying to fall asleep. I couldn't fall asleep because it was so noisy and I began to complain in my mind Like what's wrong with this family? What's wrong with these kids? I almost got out of bed and said hey guys Some people around here need some rest Thank goodness. God stopped me because he says hey, hey, hey bad attitude really bad attitude I want you to stop and listen to the laughter and the joy and consider it a blessing Sometimes in-betweens help us see things differently than the way we saw them at front at first God teaches us patience during in-betweens. There's a famous saying if you've ever been around me I say it all the time patience is a weapon that forces Deception to reveal itself So if you're thinking you're being deceived by something be patient because it's a god-given Weapon to let that whatever that deception will have to reveal itself as for what it is and you begin to say Oh my goodness. I'm so happy. I didn't make that decision because that was a bad decision. I'm so happy. I slowed down God can also use in-betweens to build our Faith the Bible this book that you're holding that you have access to In essence, it's a story of in-betweens the beginning of when God created the heavens and the earth and everything was perfect He breathed life into mankind. We're created in his image. He created us with free will He created us with the ability to choose to love him or choose not to love him Mankind chose not to love him because mankind so I'd rather do things my way than his way And that is what we call sin for those who are new to the Bible That's when sin entered into the bloodstream of mankind and from that moment

Mankind the world was broken and we were separated from God and God says yes But I have a rescue plan and I'm gonna have a rescue mission and I'm sending my son Jesus And that's the story of the gospel. The gospel is a fancy word. That means good news that Jesus came on a rescue mission So now that as we believe in Jesus in our heart God no longer sees you alone He sees you through the eyes of Jesus and he sees you as whole and holy And once again, we have this relationship with God That's an in-between from Genesis the first book in the Bible to Revelation the last book the whole story if you look at the meta narrative of the whole story of the Bible, that's it It's about an in-between So if you have your Bibles, I want to we're gonna look at two in-betweens in the Bible to this morning The first one we find in Exodus chapter 14. We're gonna start with the fifth verse Let me give you a little bit of context the children of Israel often referred to as the Israelites Have been enslaved in Egypt for about 400 years 400 years earlier the story of Joseph the guy with the coat of many colors Because his family had had a famine they had moved their their family into Egypt at a place where there was plenty of food So they were refugees moving from one part of the country what is now called Israel moving into Egypt And this is where they found refuge as refugees it all started out really good But after several decades and hundreds of years they went from being refugees to being enslaved by the Egyptians They were the backbone of the Egyptian economy and they started complaining rightly So they started asking God for help They had heard about this thing called the promised land a land where they owned the land Where they there was something God had given them they were no longer going to be enslaved and so they're praying dear God What about this promised land dear God rescue us dear God rescue us and God says I'm gonna send Moses He's my guy and he's gonna come and lead you out of Egypt into the promised land lead you from slavery to freedom Now we talked about Moses as being a type of Christ That's a way of saying look we see images of Jesus in the Old Testament Just like how Jesus comes and he's pulling us out of the slavery of sin into the promised land of eternity with him

Very similar. So this is this is the context of what we're doing. So now what's happening is Instantaneously almost overnight the story of the ten plagues all of a sudden the children of Israel are now free Pharaoh says get out of here. You're a nuisance leave So Moses leaves them and they leave literally overnight and this is where we pick up on the scene Exodus chapter 14 starting with the fifth verse When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services So he had his chariots made ready and took his army with him He took 600 of the best chariots along with all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites who were marching out boldly. The Egyptians, all of Pharaoh's horses and chariots, horsemen and troops, pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi-Hiroth, opposite of Baal-Savan. As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and there were the Egyptians marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die, sarcastically? What have you done to us by bringing us out to Egypt? Didn't he say to you in Egypt, leave us alone, let us serve the Egyptians. It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert. Moses answered the people, do not be afraid, stand firm,

and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still. Then the Lord said to Moses, why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on, raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so the Israelites can go through the sea on dry land. I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so they will go in after them and I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army through all his chariots and his horsemen. The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen. Jump with me now to the 21st verse. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind that turned it into dry land. The waters were divided and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground with a wall of water on their right and on their left. Now jump with me to verse 30. That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the seashore. And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him

and in Moses, his servant. So what's the in between here? I would venture to say that part of the in between, part of the biggest in between is a sense of moving from the old to the new or from the familiar to the unfamiliar or from being a slave to being free. So we think about that in our own lives. Now put yourself, this is how we read the Bible. You insert yourself in the story. Don't just read this as a story about Egyptians and Israelites and Pharaoh and the sea. You put yourself in that situation. And you think about times when you have moved from the familiar to the unfamiliar. Remember what's happening. Moses is pulling them out of Egypt, God's direction, where there's a life of slavery into a life of freedom. And they had all these expectations. They had heard about it for decades, decades, hundreds of years, they'd heard about the promised land. They were excited the night that they left, thinking we're heading to the promised land. Everything's looking great. Except a little while, few hours later, they find themselves cornered. They find themselves in a situation where they've got a mountain range on the left, a mountain range on the right.

They've got a sea in front of them. And all of a sudden they look behind them and what do they see? Pharaoh and his army coming aggressively after them to slaughter them and destroy them. And all of a sudden, all their hopes, all their dreams, all their expectations crushed. And you see it. You see the way they talk to Moses. What are some of the expressions? What are some of the attitudes? What are some of the behaviors that we notice? Well, numb, they begin to doubt. They begin to doubt this whole charade. They begin to question the promises that were made to them by God and by Moses. They begin showing a ton of fear. Basically, they say very clearly, we want to go back. Have you ever been in a situation like that? Where you're moving out of a toxic relationship. You're moving out of a toxic work environment. You're moving out of an addictive behavior. You're pushing hard. You're going to the promised land. You're going to what has been promised. You've got your faith in God. You've got your faith in your family. You've got your faith in a loved one. Everything's looking good. High expectations, high hopes.

And then all of a sudden, reality sets in. And you look to your left and you look to your right and you look ahead and you look behind and you go. So, oh my goodness, what have I done? And everything inside of you says, even though I know it's bad to go back, at least I know the rules of engagement when I go back. I don't know what I'm heading for and it doesn't look very good. And so there's this sense of going back, getting back into where it's the very thing that we left in. There's an old song by a worship leader by the name of Keith Green. If you've been a Christian a long time, you'll know who I'm talking about. If not, he died in a horrible plane crash, but he wrote a song in 1980 called So You Want to Go Back to Egypt. Let me read you the first verse. So you want to go back to Egypt where it's warm and secure. Are you sorry you bought the one-way ticket when you thought you were sure? You wanted to live in the land of promise, but now it's getting so hard. Are you so sorry you're out here in the desert instead of your own backyard? It's normal to feel afraid and anxious

during and in between. So you may say, you got it. That's exactly how I feel. You nailed it, so what do I do? Well, what we do is what we do. We go to the Word of God and we say, okay, so we know what the Israelites were feeling. We got it, but now what did they do about it? So we say, well, what is it that Moses instructed? What's the Word of God tell us about that? Well, Moses says a couple of things that are very clear. He points to the people. Number one, don't be afraid. Number two, be still. Number three, be calm. Moses promises them, hey, God's in control and you're not. Now, it's much easier said than done. I love that right there, by the way. Reminds me of home. Very cool. So it's much easier said to be done than you just sit there and you go, look, it's easy. I'm full of anxiety. I'm full of fear. I've got this situation where my entire life is being surrounded. It's falling down, it's crushing down on me, and you simply say, don't be afraid. Just be still, be calm. Yeah, that's what the Bible's saying

because everything inside of us wants to take control. So for example, again, I can never speak about your life. I can only speak in my mind. When I find myself trying to take control of something, if I were to follow the little ribbon of where is this coming from, it's usually because I'm afraid. I'm afraid of something, and I may even feel abandoned by God, or God's distracted, he's doing some other things, and so I'm left to my own, and all of a sudden, I've gotta take over, and I've gotta fix this problem. That's usually what's going on in my heart and my mind. It's a very natural human thing to do. But God's asking us to trust him, not trust ourselves. If I trust myself, I'll take control, and I will do what I think might be the best thing. In most cases, go back. But in this case, God's saying, I've got it. Be calm, be still, don't be afraid. Stefan, you don't have the ability to fix this problem on your own. I may think I can fix this relationship. I may think I can fix this job. I may think I can fix my body, but I can't, and I have to find myself in a very vulnerable place, literally being still before God, trusting in God. That's what faith is all about. We throw that word a lot around.

You have faith in this, have faith in this. I have faith in Jesus. I sing songs about faith, until we really have to do it. And all of a sudden, you go, well, this is tough, because I'm just having to sit here and wait for God to do his thing. However, when we see that, we recognize the fact that we, as we read in this particular thing, that God did do his thing. Several hundred years later, King David is writing in his Psalms, and we just spent a year studying the life of King David, and he was a psalmist. He wrote psalms, and he says this in Psalm 77, 19. Reflecting on this story that I'm telling you, and he goes, your road led through the sea, your pathway through the mighty waters, a pathway no one knew was there. In other words, when you look on the hindsight, David's able to look in the hindsight and go, hey, they felt cornered, but the entire time, God had a pathway that no one could see. And he was like, just trust me, I've got this pathway. So what I'm telling you to do as we consider this, I want you to reflect on a few questions that we're gonna throw up on the screen. As you reflect on this, think about this during the past year. Did you ever experience a sense of hopelessness in the last 12 months?

Perhaps as a repeated unhealthy behavior, a state of mind, a sadness. Can you identify with the children of Israel where they're sensing complete hopelessness? We have high expectations, reality sets in, we're all gonna die, and there's a sense of entrapment, there's a sense of. hopelessness. Have you experienced that in last year? Did you respond as Israelites, tempted to go back, beginning to doubt, beginning to question the promises, everything that you believed in? I'll just go back. I know it's not healthy, but at least I know the rules of engagement. Or did you respond to the advice of Moses? Be still, trust God, watch him do what he does, and not be afraid. As you think forward, I want you to consider these questions. As you prepare for the upcoming year, what is it that you hope for? There's something you're hoping for, healthy relationship, a new job, maybe it's as simple as joy, maybe it's a stronger faith, maybe has something to do with your finances. What is it you hope for? What area of your life are you tempted to go back? What is drawing you right now? And you know it's not right, you know it's not healthy, but it's got this strong magnetic field because you feel out of control. And God says, be still, don't be afraid, let me fight for you. If you have your Bibles, I want you to open up to Matthew chapter 26. Again, a familiar passage of Scripture. We're gonna start with the 36th verse, but let me give you a little context here. Jesus is about 33 years old. This is the last night before he's betrayed and before he goes to the cross. He's just had what is called the Last Supper. That was a Passover meal, a traditional meal that Israelites did every single year. Remembering the exact story that we were told about how they were brought out of Egypt. So this was almost like our Thanksgiving. And so they're having this meal. Jesus is at the end of his ministry. He's had 30 years of preparation, has a three-year ministry. He has his, I call them interns, his disciples around him. And this is that night. The conversation around the table is odd. Jesus does some

weird things like that most people would not do, especially a leader or a rabbi or a teacher. He washes the feet of the disciples. He talks about the fact that one of them is going to betray him. He says a few things and they're thinking, this is not a normal conversation. What's really going on here? This is where Peter says, Lord, you talk about people betraying. You talk about dying. I don't get it. I'll die for you. I've got your back. This is what I do. And Jesus said, no, Peter, you'll deny me three times before the sunrise tomorrow. Peter's thinking, what are you talking about? What's in you? Why the downer? What's happening here? This is what's, this is the context. After their meal, they head on over to their hangout place, which was the garden of Gethsemane. This would be like us having a meal at our home and then saying, let's go down to the local park where we're going to hang out and play a game or to the beach or do something. This was our hangout place. So they're in this garden of Gethsemane. And this is a scene that we open up to in this thing. Chapter 26, starting with the 36 verse. Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane. And he said to them, sit here while I go over there and pray. He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with them. And he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here, keep watch with me. Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, my father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me, yet not as I will, but as you will. Then he returned his disciples and found them sleeping. Couldn't you men keep watch with me for one hour? He asked Peter. Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. He went away a second time and prayed, my father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done. When he came back, he again found them sleeping because their eyes were heavy. So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing. Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. Rise,

let us go, here comes my betrayer. So what's the in-between here? We see a lot of that is very telling in his prayer to his father. So remember the scene here, Jesus is with his interns, his disciples, and he says to three of them, Peter, James, and John, hey guys, come with me. And they walk another, you know, say 50 feet or something. They find a little time. Acquire a place and then Jesus says okay now you guys stay here watch over me like I need you guys right now I need you. I am overly Overwhelmed with stress. I'm Sorrowful even to the point of death like he's heavy. This is sort of a Just a cut cascading from the Last Supper the conversations and he said guys I this is a time I need you guys. He's looking at him counting on them the very person who said I'll die for you I'm counting on you guys, and then he goes another 50 100 feet Whatever he falls on his face on the ground and he begins to talk to his father His father the conversations he'd had his entire life with his father the Bible Sprinkled with stories where Jesus would leave and go alone and have these conversations with his father Intimacy with the father and he's with the father and he's begging him in this prayer. It's very telling verse Because you see both the humanity of Jesus he was true human just like you and I there's flesh and blood he bled Trust he was true human, but he was also true God and So you see the humanity of Jesus because in his humanity. He's doing what you and I would do all day long Saying father this thing you've asked me to do This mission I'm on I can't do it take it away from me take this cup That's what the cup means take this cup from me And then he immediately pivots and he says yeah, but not my will my will is take it from me his will But your father your will be done. My will is I want to abort mission father your will is to keep going Be still don't be afraid know that I'm God the enemy you see today I will defeat the same narrative is being spoken here and So then he goes back and he finds him sleeping and he says guys seriously I counted on you I mean then he goes back and says the same prayer three different times. We see that very telling now. What's the in-between? God's finds himself in between The world of man the broken world the world that we talked about in Genesis with mankind said look

We don't we love you God, but we really don't we love ourselves better. We're gonna do things our own way He's finding himself between that world and God's world He finds himself in a situation with the very people that he wants to love and that he is loving and we read about this in the next couple of chapters when Jesus is on the cross and he's dying for your sins my sins for the sins of People and they're mocking him Laughing at him making a joke about him Spitting at him and the Bible says he had the power to call legions of angels and just nuke them all But he says instead of him. He says father Forgive them Because they have no idea what they're doing the amazing capacity of grace and mercy and love At a time that you're on the receiving end of hate and mockery That's only something God Can do that's the in-between that he was in what are the behaviors we notice in these in-betweens? Unbelievable pressure, I don't know about you, but none of us have ever experienced the pressure that we're talking about here However, we have experienced pressure some of you in this room here some of you online some of you in the VR room You're experiencing pressure physical emotional spiritual that says I've never Experienced what I'm experienced right now to the point that it's it's beyond you're about to break it's this pressure of this in-between that we deal a sense of abandonment and loneliness the One thing he asks his disciples guys. I've been with you for three plus years You said you'd have my back the one time I say guys. I need you right now They fall asleep, and he says be careful the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak We also notice this sense of he's on the receiving end of this Ungratefulness on this hate and this mockery and yet He continues to display love and mercy and grace the in-between of the way man's world works and the way God's World works, so what do we do? We say got it We find ourselves in a situation like this. What do we do?

We do what the Bible says we watch Jesus's life. What did he do well? We see three things? Probably more, but I'll figure focus on three we spend time with the father Intimacy with God there are no shortcuts. We're living in a world where everything's to be efficient We love artificial intelligent because it gets us answers for things really quickly and makes life simple and easier and sometimes We want to do this with our faith if I could just make easy God easy faith Just God answer my prayers make life easy for me. This is what I want check the box And he's going no no no no there's no shortcut to intimacy with the father We're doing a whole series on prayer, and that's on purpose because prayer directs us into this intimacy with God. And there's no shortcut to prayer. Sometimes we think prayer is just as simple as pray before the meal. Dear God, thanks for my meal. Or some rote prayer that we learned as a child. And yet prayer is this conversation. It's when I expose my heart before God. It's when I listen to him. As I learn to recognize his voice. That's prayer. It becomes powerful. Sometimes prayer is celebrating. God, you're amazing. I love you, God. You're so cool. Sometimes I'm arguing. God, seriously? You say you're a God of love. You're a good God. And look at what's happening. Seriously? I don't get this. You're confusing me. I'm angry with you right now. Sometimes I'm interceding. I'm praying for somebody else. Dear God, I want to help this person. They're dealing with cancer. Or their marriage is falling apart. Or they need a job. I want to step into the gap. I want to pray for them. I want to advocate for them. That's called intimacy with God. And there's no shortcut to that. Spending time in his word. Do you know that there is a massive effort, literally hundreds of millions of dollars being spent by the Christian world to translate the word of God into the heart language of everybody in the world? Because there's places in this planet that no one can read the word of God in their own language. They literally can't. You and I, me, can't speak for you. We have dozens of Bibles in our homes. We have Bibles on our phones. We have access to God's word. And yet we don't engage. Yet. Do you know that if you, I'm going to confess, in your YouVersion app, which is the app you have on your phone, they have a thing that's called the streak. And you can toggle it and it keeps track of how many times you open up the app and read the word of God. And so people pride themselves on going, I want to have a streak. I want to have 365 days and say, I've read the word of God every single day. Okay. And if you miss one, it goes back to zero. Do you know that I have been guilty of opening the app, not reading the Bible and closing

the app to not break my streak? How insane is that to think I have intimacy with God when I just open an app and God, I did it. Check the box, reading the Bible every single day. I'm doing good. You guys, you're not doing nothing, dude. You haven't read anything, but I didn't want to break my streak. Shame on me. Shame on me. Trust me. I'm probably sure I'll do it in the next year. It's a good little trick. So Christian community, this is important. And if it's not here, it's in your small group. This is important. I'm going to use an old example. It's a good one though. Take a Weber grill, pour that charcoal in there and take that those toxic fumes, whatever, light it up. And after about 45 minutes, an hour, those black charcoal becomes white hot. They're hot, red, white, hot. You understand they're feeding off of each other. If you take one of those white hot chalk charcoals and you take some tongs, don't use your hands, take some tongs and you move it over and you stick it on the shelf or you stick it on the paver or side. In a matter of minutes, it begins to cool. And eventually it'll go hard and cold again. And yet the others are still white hot. An incredible illustration. I need you to live my Christian life. I learned from you. I watch your faith. You keep me hot. I need you need me. You need to watch me. I hope I encourage you. I hope I build her. This is called Christian community. So when we think about these, we talk about intimacy with God through prayer, through his word and through community. We have to remind ourselves of who God is. Let me give you some illustration. God is all powerful. God is all knowing. God is all present. God is all sufficient. God is all faithful. God is all holy. God is all wise. God is all loving. God is all just. God is all glorious. This is the God that we say, and not your will, not my will, but your will be done. So I have a choice. The in-between, do I do things my way, which hasn't proven to be successful yet, or do I surrender my will to his will and do exactly what Jesus did in that garden and say, not my will. Cause his will at that moment was to not do go through with the cross, not my will, but your will father be done. And he prayed that multiple times, you know, he was struggling with it, but he surrendered his will to his father's will. And so as we close, we're going to take communion. It's nothing. These, these little communion things that we have, the there's just symbolic. what he told us to do, and he did it at that last supper. And as I bring it to a close, I want you to reflect on a couple things

as we prepare for communion. As you reflect on the past year, can you think of a moment where you battled between your will and God's? Can you think of a moment where you battled between your will and God's? Where have you recently taken a step of faith in your life? As you think forward to the future, and as you prepare for the upcoming year, is there a part of your life that is yet to be surrendered to God? A place where you struggle in your obedience to God's will? Do you trust God? If yes, why do you trust him? If not, why don't you trust him? As you gather these communion elements, and if you don't have them, raise your hand, we'll make sure you have them. As you gather these, in a few moments, we're gonna take some time for you to reflect. Reflect on these questions. But there's another in between that I want you to consider, and it's obviously implied throughout our entire morning here. And that is the in between of your soul. Because you were born, and our life, according to the Bible, is but a vapor, but a blink of an eye. We live 70, 80, 90, 100 years or so. And according to the Bible,

that this life here is but this brief thing. And God's created in us this thing called a soul. It's eternal. My body is not. This body, it's old, it's aging, it'll eventually die. That heart that I referred to will eventually stop. But that soul continues. And God, and the whole mission of Jesus, the whole story of the Bible, as we talked about earlier, was God's rescue mission to come and rescue that soul. Because what happened was that when I'm in possession of that soul, when I say, I'm in charge, and I'm holding it, it's mine, I'm in charge, all of a sudden I find myself distant from God, and yet he says, step on, there is no rescue mission in that. You don't have the ability to rescue yourself. Just like he was telling the children of Israel. Just be still. Just don't be afraid. Watch me defeat the Egyptians. This very day, they will be your enemy no more. He did the same thing for sin. So for me to be able to say, Lord, I'm gonna take the very soul that you've given me, and that's my life, and I wanna give you my life. I wanna say, this is it. Now for some of us, we've done that. We've said, hey, Jesus, come into my heart. I did that at five years old.

Some of you did it last week. Some of you have done it a year ago. You can think the best thing I did in the last couple years was give my life to God. Has it been perfect? Absolutely not, it never is. For some of you, you're holding on. You're thinking, no, I still wanna do it my way. I like God, but I don't know if I fully trust him, and I wanna be fully surrendered. So Jesus said, when he sat around the table, he says, okay, guys, I want you to do something, and I want you to remember me when you do it. This bread that we eat is my body broken for you. This juice represents the blood of Christ that has been shed for us. He said, when you take this, I want you to remember what I've done, because when we remember, we reflect, it helps encourage our current faith. It helps build our faith. If you're not a follower of Christ, this is not for you. This is something he's only asked followers of Christ to do. If you say, well, I wanna become a follower of Christ. Well, it's a simple prayer. Dear Jesus, I acknowledge I'm a sinner. I invite you into my heart, and God will separate your sins as far as the east is from the west. For the Bible says, for all have sinned

and fallen short of the glory of God. Every single one of us have sinned, and every single one of us is separated from God. Some of us may have grown up in a belief, whether it's back in a Catholic world, a Protestant world, the non-world, whatever, that I can make my way to heaven if I'm just a good person. That's a narrative that we've all had been ingrained in our brain at some point. We still believe it to some degree. But we could say, no, there's nothing I can do. But the Bible says, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But then the very famous verse, John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him shall have eternal life with him. And the Bible says, if you declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you proface your faith and are saved. So, in the next couple minutes, we're gonna sing a quiet, reflective song. And I want you to take that time to be silent. To go to God and be, God, I don't have a relationship with you and I want to invite you into my heart. It's called grace. It's a gospel message. It's a gift that he gives you. I just simply want, there's nothing you can do other than invite him in. For others of you, it may be, there's an area of my life I need to surrender. I'm in an in-between. Maybe I'm heightened levels

of anxiety and fear and I'm anxious and I see Pharaoh charging down and I want to go back. That's your conversation. Lord, everything inside of me wants to go back. You've got to fight for me. Help me, Lord. Maybe you're distressed and you're battling between your will and God's will. You're going through this battle, my will, God's will, my will, God's will. It's just this repeat, repeat, repeat. You're just like, I can't do this anymore, Lord. I want your will. We're going to reflect on that. Then when you're ready, just open up this and take the bread and drink the cup. Then I'll come back and close us in prayer. We're going to celebrate in song as we end. Beyond all measure That he should give his only son To make a wretch his treasure How great the pain of searing loss The father turns his face away As wounds which more than chosen one Bring many sons to glory Now we abide As children of light To love as Christ has loved his bride As we close, I'm sure there's quite a few, whether you're here in our VR church, whether you're online, that you're carrying some burdens and some pressures that are overwhelming. I mean, we all carry, every single one of us carries something, but most of the time they're manageable. That's sometimes dangerous because we think, well, I don't really need to involve God in every aspect of my life, only in the big and hard stuff. Yet God wants to be the God of all of our lives, every bit of it. He wants us all in. For those of us that are carrying some things that are so heavy, we go, you have no idea what I'm carrying. The fact that I'm physically here, the fact that I'm virtually here, the fact that I'm even paying attention, it's taking everything inside of me to be here. That's very much the way Jesus felt in garden and his father never left him. And when we look at the Egyptians chasing the Israelites and the Israelites feeling like God had possibly left them, he never did, even though they felt that their very existence was threat. The Bible says, God never leaves us or forsakes us that he's an ever present help in trouble. And so maybe one of the greatest things you can do as you prepare for the next year and you reflect on the past is to get serious about your relationship with God, that you really get serious. You don't just believe in God. The devil believes in God. Satan

believes in God. We're all guilty of checking the box. And I do the church thing. I read the Bible once in a while. I'm not overly serious about God, but enough to, I believe in him and hope to go to heaven kind of thing. He wants so much more. Some of us look at our faith in a monochrome kind of way. It's sort of boring. I would hope that you see it in a technicolor way, that God's spirit just invades your heart and your mind, that you will see God in some new light, that you will experience him in ways. There will be miracles in your life. There'll be burdens lifted. There will be answers to questions. There will be hope to the hopeless. So I would pray that you, you do exactly what Jesus did in that garden. And you say, Lord, not my will, but your will be done. Let's pray. And then I want you to stand up and we're going to sing a song of gratitude. And I want you to sing it, like with everything inside of you, like, like you're serious. Lord, I just thank you for our time. I pray that your word would bear much fruit in our lives. And now as we sing, and as we worship Lord, don't just hear our voices, but see our hearts and our minds in Jesus name. Amen. So come on my soul, oh, don't you get shy on me, lift up your song. Cause you've got a lion inside of those lungs. Get up and praise the Lord. Let's sing that again. Come on my soul, oh, don't you get shy on me, lift up your song. Cause you've got a lion inside of those lungs. Get up and praise the Lord. Oh, come on my soul, come on my soul. Oh, don't you get shy on me, lift up your song. Cause you've got a lion inside of those lungs. Get up and praise the Lord. Oh, I'm throwing my hands to praise you again and again.

Cause all that I have is a hallelujah, hallelujah. And I know it's not much, I'm nothing else fit for a king. Except for a heart singing hallelujah, hallelujah. Thank you for worshiping with us today. Before you go, if you're in need of prayer, please come forward. We have a prayer team that's gonna be right here up front, ready to pray with you. But if not, we hope you enjoy the rest of your year. I hope it's full of rest and time with family and friends. We'll see you again in 2026. Happy New Year.