Rise Above The Cycle | Rise Above | Pastor Rob Koke | Full Message

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Good morning, everybody. It's great to have you at church today. Let's give a very warm welcome to everyone who's watching online from around the community, around the state, around the nation. We welcome you to our campuses here in Austin, Texas. We're very excited about the fall season here at Shoreline, and one of the reasons why is because we launch groups. We have groups that meet throughout the summer, but we make a special emphasis to launch all kinds of new groups as we go into our latter part of August and into September. And we have incredible volunteers who serve as life group leaders here at Shoreline, and we would love for all of them to take a moment and stand if you're a life group leader and come on down here to the very, very front. We want to kind of pray over you as we launch into this new season. Would you give all of these incredible leaders a great big hand clap? Wherever you are, just make your way down. While they're coming, I just wanted to plant this seed. You know, when we talk about, you know, what our mission is here at Shoreline, it's really, honestly, at the end of the day, nothing more profound than this. We want Shoreline to be all about creating fully devoted followers of Jesus. And, you know, when we think about community, when we think about groups, when we think about, you know, doing life together with other believers, it's really not an option. If you're going to be a fully devoted follower of Jesus, it's not just a good idea to be relationally connected.

You can't actually become everything God wants you to do if you're not connected in relationship with others. So it's not just something we, you know, might want to do or should do. It's something that we all have to do if we want to become all that God wants us to be. If you don't mind, would you stretch out your hands to these group leaders and let's just pray a blessing over them. Father, we thank you for each and every person, Lord, that's stepping into this role to help provide leadership and growth here at Shoreline as we do life together. Father, we just pray a blessing upon them, encourage them, minister to them. Father, give them the strength, the added blessing. Father, just do all of the work that you need to do in them and through them, Lord, as we grow together in community here at Shoreline in Jesus' name. And everyone said? Amen. Amen. Again, one more big hand clap for our small group leaders. As you make your way back to your seats, let's all of us stand to our feet. We do something at the beginning of every single message here at Shoreline. It's called our creed. And we say this out loud together. This is our way of remembering that Christianity at the end of the day is not about rules and regulations and do this and do that. It's honestly at the end of the day the story of God's redemptive love. It's about grace. And we celebrate that with our creed. And so if you're new to Shoreline, you can read along. The rest of us, we're going to say this with some enthusiasm and power. You guys ready? Okay, here we go.

I am loved by God. I cannot earn it. I cannot lose it. I am forgiven and made brand new. In Christ, I live with passion and purpose. I am empowered by the Spirit to be the church in the world and to live this love revolution. Come on, let's give God praise for that. And you may be seated. Have you guys ever been to a carnival? Where I grew up in the northeastern part of our country, these carnivals would come from time to time. They would have these big trucks, you know, that would bring rides in, and they would have all kinds of food. But here I noticed in Texas, these carnivals are often associated with the rodeo. And if you go to the rodeo, there's also going to be a carnival. And the food at these carnivals are, you know, they're incredible. You know, genetically altered turkey legs. You know, cotton candy the size of hot air balloons. Funnel cake. where one bite of that funnel cake will give you your calorie count for the entire month. And, you know, they do things with food at a carnival that should never be done. They fry everything. Not just the things you're used to having fried, like, you know, fried chicken and so on, but they fry Oreo cookies. They fry Coca-Cola. I don't even know how they do that. They fry butter, and that should be illegal. And the rides, right? We don't know how safe they are.

You know, they just kind of pull up and set up, and you go on these rides. I used to like carnivals, with a heavy emphasis on used to, because of one ride. I couldn't remember what it was. I just know that it was the ride that cured me of ever wanting to go to a carnival. And I looked it up online, and I found out it was Graviton. Have you ever been on Graviton, that ride? This is the ride that starts to spin slowly, and then it goes faster and faster and faster, and then the floor drops. And you are just suspended, plastered by centrifugal force to the wall, and you try to move your neck out, but you can't. I mean, it's just like, you try to move your arm, but man, it's just, it's stuck. You try to, you know, kick your feet out, but you can't, because the centrifugal forces keep you in that place. I saw that ride. It looked awesome when I was standing there looking at it, but when I got on it, it was, it was a ride invented by the devil himself. And when that ride was over, I got off. I was so dizzy. I probably looked like I was intoxicated, and then I threw up. My grandkids are getting to the age where now they're thinking, you know, that maybe a carnival would be a good thing. But if they asked me to go on that ride, you know what I'm going to do? I'm just going to buy them some fried butter. The idea of a ride that keeps you spinning and keeps you stuck is not just something that happens at a carnival, it's actually something that happens in life. We can go on a ride, and we can spin on that ride, and the forces of that ride can keep us stuck. It's not just something that happens at the carnival. It's something that happens in life. We are going over the next couple of weeks to really do a deep dive into the story of Gideon.

The story of Gideon is such a rich story. It is full of human experiences and God's divine power. There is so much to unpack here. But to give us the context of this particular season in the children of Israel's lives, the book of Judges describes how the children of Israel were caught in a cycle. And it went something like this. They were living free and blessed, and then they would forget about God and start worshiping idols. That led to a season of bondage and slavery and negative consequences. And then they would cry out to the Lord, and God would send a leader, a deliverer, someone to help them reconnect with God. And then they would experience a season of freedom. And that cycle actually repeated itself over and over. Freedom to bad choices, to consequences, to crying out to God, and then back to freedom. In this particular case with Gideon, we find the story in Judges chapter 6. Let's read together. The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord. And for seven years, he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain cliffs and caves and strongholds. Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, the Amalekites and the Termites and other Eastern people invaded the country. They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel. Neither sheep. nor cattle, nor donkeys. They came up with their livestock and with their tents like a swarm of locusts. And it was impossible to count them or their camels. They invaded the land to ravage it. The children of Israel were caught on a ride.

They were spinning. And that spinning created a gravitational pull. And it was a really difficult season for them. I'm sure they tried to pull out of that gravitational pull, but every single time they planted seed, the enemy would come and swat it away, burn it up, steal it for themselves. They stole their cattle and their sheep and they ransacked the land. And the children of Israel were caught in this negative spin cycle. But you know what? The children of Israel aren't the only ones that go for a ride. We do too. We can make choices when we forget about God and those choices lead to negative consequences. And we find ourselves trying to break free from the gravitational pull of our choices. And I've seen this as a pastor. I've seen this play out all kinds of different times, people living with a sense of freedom. And then they sin, they make bad choices. And then that sin leads them into a season of bondage and they get tired of living there. And they cry out to the Lord and the Lord sets them free. This isn't just something, this spinning cycle isn't just something that happens in carnival. It isn't just something that happens with the children of Israel.

It happens with us. And I see men caught in that cycle, women caught in that cycle, young people caught in that cycle, older believers caught in that cycle. And they take a ride that they desperately want to get off of. Sometimes the consequences of this spin cycle are rather minor. It's not a big deal. Sometimes we just get caught in a pattern of thinking. I realized that in a couple of weeks, the college football season will kick off and lots of Longhorn fans, I see shirts spotted throughout the sanctuary this morning. And you know what, sometimes in my past, maybe you as well, you can get your whole joy level wrapped up into what 18 to 22 year olds do on a football field with some leather. And it's an attitude and it's a cycle and we are pinned because of our devotion to something as minor as the outcome of a football game. Sometimes it's just bad habits. The author of the book, Atomic Habits, talked about how when you do something bad in a cycle, one time it's a mistake, but if you do it twice, it's the start of a habit. And those habits actually create a gravitational pull that keeps you stuck and you want to break free, but it's not easy.

So you go home from work and you're tired and you're bored and you flip on the TV. All of us have done that and there's nothing wrong with watching some favorite television shows. But if you do it every single night, hour after hour after hour, I guarantee you, you'll walk into your home or your apartment and you will feel that gravitational pull. You'll feel the force of you doing something that your habits have created in your life. And it's hard to break free. You know, you think about all of the ways that we make decisions and the pull that it has. Sometimes the consequences are not that big of a deal, but then sometimes the consequences are life altering. How many people have taken a spin with drugs and alcohol and they couldn't get free? How many people take a ride spending more money than they have? How many people get on the ride of lust and infidelity? How many people get on the ride of gluttony? And not only have I seen lots of people take those rides, I've taken those rides myself. How many times have I taken a ride on the comparison cycle and I look at what other people are doing compared to what I am doing and I feel that. sense of insecurity. How many times have I taken a ride on the cycle of fear and anxiety, wondering if I'm going to lose someone

or something else in my life that's irreplaceable? How many times have I taken a ride with chocolate chip cookies? I mean, I just got back from vacation. I've been gone for the last couple of weeks and it's so good to be back here at Shoreline. I gotta tell you, I'm so excited to be here today. But when I was on vacation, I had determined that I was not gonna eat bad. I was gonna eat healthy, I was gonna exercise, I was gonna come back in better shape than I was when I left. But then Laura, and I'm gonna blame her, she bought a chocolate chip cookie that had a touch of caramel and sea salt in it and it was to die for. And all of my resolve went away and I found myself on the graviton of chocolate chip cookies. I think we all know what it's like. What kind of cycle is running through your mind? Sometimes it's not a cycle necessarily of sin, but it's a cycle of circumstances or ways of thinking that have got you paralyzed. I ran into this beautiful couple a couple of weeks ago in the lobby of our church. And in our conversation as we were talking, they were just saying that they love Shoreline, they love marriage, but they weren't gonna have any kids. And it just kind of caught me by surprise.

And so I asked them why. And they said, oh, we don't wanna bring kids into this dark world. Then I thought to myself, that could be a cycle of thinking. If everybody thought that way, what would happen with the next generation? We need Christian moms and dads to raise up Christian young people that are gonna serve God in their generation. We can't have those negative thought processes. Sometimes it happens in business and we are doing everything we know to do. We're planting the seeds that we know to plant and we're engaging in creative solutions and we're working hard, but it feels like we're caught in this cycle and we just can't turn the profit that we were hoping to turn. Sometimes even the whole idea of getting involved in community or using your gifts and talents to make a difference in the lives of others, you're stuck in the spin zone of being so busy that you can't even imagine carving out a few extra hours to make a difference in the lives of others or to make an investment in your own spiritual journey. So many of us are just caught in this loop and we wonder if we'll ever have a marriage that we have longed for and some people just opt out of a marriage

that could be awesome or they opt out of ever getting married in the first place because they're caught in that negative spin cycle. For the children of Israel, they were locked down for seven years, the Bible says. Sometimes that spin cycle seems to experience in our lives for longer periods of time than we ever imagined. And sometimes it happens quickly where that spin cycle happens over and over and over. I've seen it happen in people's lives multiple times in a single day. But it's time to break out. It's time to break free. This is a message of hope, I hope, for each and every single one of you here this morning that you can break that cycle and you can live free. I don't care how long it's been or how short it's been, you are going to get victory in this battle. But you will not win this battle with worry and you will not win this battle with fear. You will not win this battle trying to figure it out on your own. You won't win this battle by reading a self-help book. You won't win this battle by just picking and choosing what you like about Christianity and leaving everything else on the shelf, robbing the gospel of its power in your life. You're gonna win it if you do what the children of Israel did.

In Judges chapter six and verse six, Midian so impoverished, the Israelites, listen to what happened, that they cried out. To the Lord for help. They cried out to the Lord. Here's where the hope is, my friends. The children of Israel were just like you and I. In their day, they were living in a relationship with God when all the people groups around them were not. They had access to the living God, the creator of the universe, the all-powerful, all-knowing, everywhere God. They had access to this God. Just like we have access to this God. The children of Israel were living in a relationship with God, and we are living in that same reality. They cried out to the Lord to break the cycle, and we can do the same thing. We can cry out to the Lord. We don't have to live stuck on the same ride for the rest of our lives. We can cry to the Lord for help. Now, that word cry in the Hebrew is za'ak. Za'ak, and it means that this is a heartfelt, kind of guttural prayer. It is filled with authenticity. It's filled with humility. It's real. It's raw. It's honest. It's humble. This is not an eloquent prayer. This is not a prayer that you pray, you know, when you're sitting around the dinner table, when we have our grandkids, you know, and we're praying. It's always the same thing. Hands up, hands down.

God is good. God is great, and we go through this prayer over the food. Sometimes you pray over your children before they sleep at night. Nice, eloquent, rhythm kind of prayers. This is not that. This is not dignified or eloquent. This is guttural. This is from the heart. This is real. This is raw. We cry out to the Lord. That's what this word za'ak means. And we can za'ak in our prayer closet where no one is around us, and we can cry out to the Lord, and we can lay our circumstances before Him, and our hearts are troubled, and we need an answer. We are caught in the spin cycle of a carnival ride that is keeping us from being all that God wants us to be, and we can za'ak, cry out to the Lord in our prayer closet, and we can za'ak together as a congregation. We can cry out to the Lord when we gather together in church. I can't tell you how many times I've run into somebody who came after the service with a testimony similar to this. My life was a mess. I was stuck on a ride I didn't want to be on, and I thought to myself, if I can only get to church, if I can only get to Shoreline, and we'll worship God together, and I'll hear an encouraging word, then I know it's going to be all right in my life. And you came to church, and you za'ag to God, and He met you. Or you can za'ak in your life group, in your small group. Laura and I, we have a wonderful group that we meet with, and when we get together, we honestly, we share laughter. We share good times. We share praise reports about what God's doing in our lives. But then there's always a moment where we talk about what's real, and what's raw, and what's honest, and what's happening in our world. And together, we za'ak to the Lord. We cry out to the Lord. Heal this situation. Mend our kids. Help us to, you know, to fight the good fight in our businesses, and in our walk with God. Help us to be everything you want us to be. We cry out to God. And here's the bottom line. Every single time you cry out to God, God responds. Judges chapter 6 and verse 11, and the angel of the Lord came. This is after they cried out to the Lord. The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Oprah, belonging to Joash, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a...

Gideon is, is a good man. He's an honorable man. He's a respectable man. He's the kind of person that you would want your daughter to marry. He's hard-working. He's faithful. He's trying to, you know, make ends meet. He's trying to feed his family. He's trying to do what he can to take care of the people in his world, and he's hiding from the Midianites. He's in this wine press. And there the angel of the Lord sits down underneath an oak tree, and it's a moment in his life that changes everything. Okay. It changes Gideon, and it changes the entire nation. One day, Gideon just shows up at work, doing the best that he can, and an angel of the Lord shows up. He had a moment. I love moments. I've had some moments in my life. I think back to when I was in college, and I was kind of in a leadership position at the university, and I was helping new students get registered for class, and there was a long line of new students, and they were registering to get their student ID, and I was responsible for taking the pictures of the student ID, and I saw Laura in that line, and it was a moment that changed my life forever. There were hundreds of pretty girls, but there was only one Laura Shannon who would become Laura Koch,

and I saw her. I had a moment. You know what? I had a moment last night. I'm sitting on the couch. Laura and I are having a conversation. I slouch when I sit on the couch. I shouldn't do that. Laura's a chiropractor, so she tells me I ought to sit up straight. She's sitting up straight like a normal person, but I'm slouching, and we're having this conversation, and Laura's sitting right next to me, and I don't know what it was. It seemed like slow motion to me. She just turned to me, and her hair kind of flipped over, and I thought she was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life. Just in that moment, as her hair was flipping over, I had a moment, and I said, Laura, I love you. You are so freaking beautiful. Now, yeah. I don't want you to think it led to anything else last night. It didn't, all right? So don't go there with your imagination. Just had a moment. I had a moment. I'll never forget when I was in college, and the Lord just filled my college dorm room

and called me into ministry. I'll never forget that moment. There have been moments in my life where God had answered prayer, moments at the birth of our children or our grandchildren, some marvelous times with God, and you know what? I'm sure you have your own stories of moments where God met you at the point of your need. That's what happens when we cry to the Lord. He gives us these moments, but he doesn't tell us in advance when these moments are going to happen. God, in his grace, doesn't give us the information ahead of times, because if we knew ahead of times, we would often miss it or manipulate it or do something screwy with it. I just want you to know that when you cry out to the Lord, you will get your moment that will break the cycle of negativity in your life, a timely moment, a moment of fresh faith, a moment where God shows up in your life and changes everything. And it was my prayer this morning that God would give to each and every one of you this morning here through this message, a moment, a moment of encouragement that God would speak to you something that would break whatever cycle is happening in your life. Now, we're gonna pick up this story next week,

but I wanna close this message with what God spoke to Gideon. What God spoke to Gideon, I believe he wants to speak to each and every one of you this morning. I think that that cycle of freedom to bad choices, to consequences, to crying out to the Lord is a ride that all of us are familiar with. All of us have experienced it in our lives, but we need to somehow get some information that will break that cycle between freedom and bad choices. What? we need. I think what we need is a revelation of who we are. We need to know something about God, and we need to know something about who He has made us. If we know that, we can break this cycle of freedom to sin. You just need to know who you are. And I want you to listen. I want you to listen to what the angel says to Gideon. Judges chapter 6 and verse 12, when the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, the Lord is with you, mighty warrior. The Lord is with you, mighty warrior. And these two things are what I believe God wants you to know today. The Lord is with you, and you're a mighty warrior. Knowing who you are, and knowing that God is with you, is the biggest factor in breaking the negative cycles in your life. We all behave out of what we believe. And if you believe that you are nothing, if you believe that you are just a dirty, rotten sinner, then you're going to act exactly how you believe. But if you believe that God is with you, if you believe that you are a blood-bought son and daughter of the living God, if you believe that you are more than a conqueror, if you believe that you are a mighty warrior, you will behave out of what you believe. Sometimes it feels like our confidence has taken some body blows from the enemy. Here is Gideon. He's hiding from the enemy in a winepress, doing his best to just get

some food to feed his family. He had no idea that this day would be different from any other day. And maybe you just came to church today, doing your very best to put one foot in front of another. Your circumstances seem really difficult. You're caught in that spin cycle either of behavior, of circumstances. You're trying to lift your head against the pull. You're trying to break free. But you got here today. And I believe God brought you here today to hear this word. God is with you, you mighty warrior. You mighty warrior. I want you to believe this. Receive this. As if God himself was speaking it. I am with you, mighty warrior, for your marriage, for your kids that have gone astray, for your business, for your health, for the challenging circumstances that you might feel pinned by. God is with you, you mighty warrior. Now you might not feel like a mighty warrior. You might have come today feeling like a loser. Feeling like you don't matter. That nobody sees you. Maybe you look at your life and you say, you know what, it doesn't amount to much. But I want you to know that your bank account does not validate you. Your academic achievements don't define you. Your worth is not determined by how many social media likes or followers or reposts you have. Your value is not based on the size of your office or how well your children behave. Your value is simply determined by how we value all things. The price that was paid. A couple of months ago I decided to sell my motorcycle. I hadn't ridden it in a while. And when I do ride it, I just ride it for like a day and then it sits in the garage for months and then I'll ride it like to the grocery store and back. And I just thought to myself, you know what, it's depreciating in value every single year. I don't ride it much. It's time to sell. So I went on Bluebook to find out how much it was worth. And then I placed an ad on cycle traders. And I added a thousand dollars to what the Bluebook said it was worth. Because it was my bike. And I was emotionally attached to it. And it was in the garage and it was in pristine condition. And I thought it was worth more. So I listed it for that price. A week went by, and two weeks went by, and three weeks went by, and nobody texted me

or got in touch with me saying that they thought that my bike was worth that price, that they were willing to pay. So I had to drop it down a thousand, and then I had to drop it down another thousand, and then I had to drop it down a little bit more, and finally someone from Dallas texted me and said, I'd like to buy your bike. It was worth what he paid for it. Not what the blue book said, not what I thought, but it was worth what he paid for it. And I want you to know today, you are worth what was paid for you. And God looked at you and paid the price of his own son. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes on him would not perish, but have everlasting life. If you were the only person living on planet earth, he would have died for you. Do you want to know how much worth you have? This much. When Jesus died on a cross for you, that's how valuable you are. Mighty warrior, God is with you, and it's time to break the cycle of defeat and win the battle. And you can turn that cycle around. You don't have to live in the cycle of freedom to bad choices, to consequences, to crying out to the Lord. You can change that cycle from freedom to good choices, to a harvest of blessing, to deeper worship. That's a cycle that you can get on and you'll never want to get off. You go from freedom to good choices, to a harvest of blessing, to deeper worship. That's a ride all of us want to experience. And it doesn't mean that you won't go through difficult circumstances. It won't mean that you won't go through challenging times. But you'll have the strength and the confidence of knowing that God is with you and you are a mighty warrior. Come on, let's give Him praise.

Like I said before, this story is so filled with human drama and a real God who meets us right at the point of our need. And I can't wait to continue that story next week. Let's pray. Father, I thank you so much for the opportunity to be together here this morning. You are so good. Father, I pray that the revelation that you are with us and who you have made us, Lord, would give us the confidence to break free from the cycle that holds us back, paralyzes us with fear and worry and anxiety, addictions that have taken control of our life. Father, help us to realize that you are with us and who you have made us, more than conquerors and overcomers, the head and not the tail, above and not beneath, seated with you in heavenly places, mighty warriors, in Jesus' name. If you came to church here today and you'd say, pastor, I feel like I'm caught on that ride, made some bad choices. Those choices have led to consequences. Well, you're here and you can zaach to the Lord. You can cry out to the Lord right now and you can get off of that ride and live in the freedom that he's called you to live in. Maybe even as a believer, you made a decision and you were free and you were making some good choices and you were living in the harvest of blessing and your worship was real and sincere. But maybe like the children of Israel, you forgot about God and began to worship or maybe prioritize other things in your life. And it led to a season now where you know you need to rededicate your life to serving him. If you want to meet him for the first time or you want to rededicate your life to serving him, would you please raise your hand right now, wherever you are? You said, that's me. I need to get right with God. Wonderful.

Hands are going up all over this building. It's amazing. I want to lead every single one of you who have raised your hands. I want to lead you in a very simple prayer and I want you to pray this prayer out loud after me. Would you do that? And everyone else is a reaffirmation of your faith. Your faith in God, let's all of us pray together. Heavenly Father, come on, let's pray together. Heavenly Father, I thank you for sending Jesus. Jesus, I ask you to come into my heart. Forgive me of all my sins. I put my trust in you, and I will live for you from this day forward, by your power, for your glory, in Jesus' name, amen, amen. Amen, would you give them all a great big hand clap? I'm gonna ask all of you to stand to your feet, but let's not leave just yet, just a thought that I wanna share with you. If you made a decision today to follow the Lord, there are so many of you to rededicate your life to the Lord. We have people holding signs, made brand new, both on our east and on our west, and they wanna give you some information that'll really help you to live this Christian life that you just prayed to receive. So as we're dismissed, make sure you go to the left or to the right. Also, if you wanna sign up to be involved

in ministry or groups, there are signups available out in the lobby, we encourage you to do that. That's what Shorefest is all about, helping people take that next step in their journey. And I just wanna close with this blessing. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord turn his face to you and give you peace. God bless you, have a fantastic rest of your Sunday, and we look forward to seeing you next week. God bless.