Where Did My Time Go?

It is Mother's Day weekend, and this past week I was in Texas. My grandmother actually passed away. She was 93, and I saw her this summer, and she was like, Chad, I'm ready to go. So God answered her prayer, and she's in heaven. But when I was at my granny's funeral, and there were a couple hundred people there, I was just reminded again of the power of a mother, of a mother, the power of a grandmother. All of our lives greatly affected by the life of my granny. Some of the best childhood memories I have revolve around her. Literally the other day, before it got into the hundreds, I was sitting on my couch with a blanket that she made for me not too long ago, and she's got a little message to me stitched in that, and I'll have that for the rest of my life. Moms, we love you. You are powerful. I wanna pray for you and bless you. In fact, I wanna pray for all the women in our church. And so I wanna invite you, if you are female, I'm gonna pray for moms and just all of our women and girls. So if you are female and you're in one of our services, will you just stand right now, and I wanna pray for you and speak a blessing over you. Let's pray together, and men, I wanna invite you as I pray to pray as well in your own heart and mind. Father, we thank you for these women.

We thank you for their influence, for their leadership. I use this word for the power they have in our lives. It's been said that the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. That is so true. I am who I am today because of a good mom who loves you and who raised me to do the same. And so I pray that you would bless every mom, that you would bless every grandmother, that you would increase their influence in Jesus' name. And Father, for every woman in our church today, bless them. Some are struggling today. Mother's Day is a hard day for different reasons. And so I pray that you would bring comfort. And we thank you for the gift of these women in our lives and in the life of our church. And so ladies, may the Lord bless you and keep you, and may he make his face to shine upon you. May the Lord be gracious to you. May he lift his countenance upon you, and may he give you his peace in Jesus' name. Men, can we just thank our ladies? Yeah, we love you. We love you. Thank you. So we're starting a brand new series today called The Art of Rest. And what we're actually talking about is rest for our souls. And so over the next few weeks,

we're gonna talk about how to experience that, rest for our souls. So as we start this series, I'll just ask you, how is your soul? How anxious are you? How much contentment and rest are you experiencing in your life? Now, life has different seasons. There are good times and there are difficult times, but it is God's will for us in whatever season is going on in life that we find rest for our souls. You know, the most common response I get from people when I ask this question, hey, how you doing, is this, I'm busy. I'm busy, I'm busy, I'm busy. Now, some of you are not busy, you're lazy. That's a whole different conversation. And so you need to grow up, get a job, and get on with it, right? I mean, that's a whole different deal. Get out of your mom's basement. Come on, dude, stop playing video games. Be a man, okay? So that's a whole different conversation. But the most common answer, especially where we live, is I'm busy. And it's just go, go, go, go, go. And it's our jobs, but it's also kids' sports. Yeah, I said it.

It's kids' sports. It's we're all worshiping the false God of potential. Have you ever heard this? The worst thing you can die with is potential. All right, let me be your pastor for a second. That's not true. God hadn't called me to live out my potential. I mean, after all, how would I even know I did? I can always do something else. I mean, can we just be logical here for a second? I can always do something else. How would I ever know that I fulfilled my potential? Here's what I'm supposed to do. I'm supposed to live out God's calling on my life. What does that mean? I'm supposed to do what he says. I'm supposed to live out God's calling on my life. If you're doing what God says, you're solid. I'm supposed to live out God's calling on my life. But we're all chasing the false god of potential. It's just on and on and on and on it goes. The most common response, how you doing? I'm busy. Your soul was made for rhythm. Everybody says balance. Balance is a myth. Life is not balanced. Winter is not balanced with summer. Right? I wish it was.

I mean, this summer, it can be hot during the day. It'd be great if it dropped down to the 50s or 60s at night, right? But it's not going to. It's hot, it's summer. That's the season we're gonna be in. There's rhythm. It's not balance, it's rhythm. And in the rhythms of life, there's a time to be busy and there's a time to be at rest. There's a time to work hard and there's a time to enjoy your life. And it's God's will that you do both. So over the next few weeks, we're just gonna talk about it. The art of rest. How do we find rest for our souls? And how do we live in the rhythms that God has for us? You are not a human doing. You are a human being. Just let that sink in. So how is your being? How is your soul? Because it's God's will that we be at rest in our souls. And here's what we're gonna talk about today. And I wanna encourage you to take notes on the Sun Valley app. You can download that for free on your mobile device. But I wanna unpack this thought with you because we're so busy and we're like,

where did the time go? And it's all these different things. Here's what I wanna tell you. And we're gonna build on it the next few minutes. What you believe about God is the most significant thing about you. When it comes to rest for your souls, you boil all that down, you get down to what lies beneath. I'm so busy, I'm just burning myself out, right? You're burning the candle at both ends. If you're doing that, you're not as bright as you think you are. I mean, it's all those kinds of things. What you believe about God is the most significant thing about you. So let's talk about this over the next few minutes because it's gonna build the foundation for the next few weeks. What do you believe about God? If you and I sat down and had a cup of coffee in the morning and I said, tell me about God, what would you say? By the way, if you're here this weekend and you're just here because your mom or your grandma invited you, I'm so glad you're here. And you may be thinking to yourself, pastor, dude, I don't believe anything about God because I don't believe there's a God.

Okay, if that's what you believe, that is the most significant thing about you. Because what you believe about God shapes your worldview. So I'll ask you, what do you believe about God? Because your focus of life, your worldview, how you see things, whether you realize it or not, is coming from what you believe about God. For example, there are some people in the world that believe that God is just angry and he hates infidels. And so they live their life wrapped around that belief. And they bring a terror literally to the world because of what they believe about God. At the same time, there are people that believe God is loving and kind. And people like Mother Teresa changed the world because of their belief about God, changed the world through giving and serving. Another word for giving and serving is love. And they changed the world through love. What you believe about God is the most important thing about you. So I'm gonna ask you, if God were to call you today and you picked up your cell phone and on caller ID, it said, God, would you answer it? Bunch of you'd go, nope. Because it would terrify you. You would immediately think that's bad news. What you believe about God's the most important thing about you, and I'm telling you, it's affecting your soul. And it's affecting whether or not your soul can be at rest.

So again, what do you believe? Who is he? I'll just tell you, the worst evil in the world is the religious kind. There's no greater evil than evil that's wrapped around wrong belief about God. It's awful. And the truth is there's not any particular faith that is immune from that. I mean, have you ever met a jerk for Jesus? Just so you know, there are no jerks for Jesus. I'm gonna say what I say. There's just jerks. But why are there jerks for Jesus? Why are there people who suppose? Play for our team that stand on the corner with bullhorns and yell at people and talk about how God hates them One particular weekend here at Sun Valley we were picketed by Westboro Baptist Church Anybody ever heard of Westboro Baptist Church? Yeah, they go around and cause trouble and what they want to do is they want you to hit them and pick a fight with Them so they can sue you. They're actually a bunch of lawyers Nobody knows that but they've built this reputation of God hates and then just fill in the blank And so the Super Bowl was here one year and so they decided we're a large church to picket us now the beautiful thing is they stood out front of our Gilbert campus and fog rolled in And I don't know if you know this but we live in the desert Do you know how rare fog is? And a buddy of mine was driving by they were out there with all their signs about God hates whatever in front of our church, and you couldn't read their signs the fog was too thick and My buddy sent me a picture of that and said well played God well played And as soon as they left the fog

lifted What you believe about God is the most important thing about you so What do you believe? Who is he and how does he see you? And how does he feel about you? Because that is affecting how you feel about everybody else and a wrong view of God Ripples out to create a wrong kind of life So let me show you this passage of Scripture if you brought your Bible We're in the book of Nehemiah That's in the Old Testament, and I'm going to show you actually One verse of Scripture. We're going to read today is a pretty famous verse of Scripture in fact My granny had it stitched in a pillow in her room for the past few years This is Nehemiah chapter 8 Beginning in verse 9 and let me tell you what's going on Nehemiah is a leader And he's leading the people to rebuild the wall Around the city because the wall had been torn down and in this day and time no wall no city I mean you could be easily attacked you weren't considered even a people group unless your city was fortified and So the book of Nehemiah is actually a really good leadership book if you're a leader And you want to pick up leadership principles read the book of Nehemiah They're God-given leadership principles all the way through it in this passage of Scripture They've read the law publicly So this is what God says and when they start to read the law the people start to weep because they get convicted of their sin and They feel shame And what's interesting is God is not shaming them. God is just telling them the truth

but they feel shame and the reason they feel shame is because they're they're guilty and So here's here's what happens the law is read and the people are convicted and they feel guilty and they're weeping and crying Nehemiah 8 beginning in verse 9 the Bible says in Nehemiah who was the governor and Ezra the priest and scribe and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people This day is what's the next word say it out loud with me is what holy okay? Everybody look at me for a second what we're reading here is about holiness Okay, so real quick What you believe about God's the most important thing about you if I were to say hey, what is holiness? What kind of things would come to mind? Let's let's watch what happens let's read this So they say this day is holy to the Lord your God Do not mourn or weep Why are we not mourning or weeping? Because the day is holy For all the people wept as they heard the words of the law and Then he said to them we're talking about holiness Go your way Eat the fat and drink sweet wine Okay, some of you want to highlight those few words Go your way we're talking about holiness Eat the fat And drink sweet wine now those of you who struggle with alcohol This is not for you for those of you who can do it in moderation this is for you to the glory of God eat the fat and Drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready for this day is what's the next word? Holy to our Lord hey this day is holy eat the fat This day is holy drink the sweet wine

This day is holy to our Lord, and do not be grieved, look at this, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. Would you guys read that out loud with me, beginning with the, it's in bold on the screen. The joy of the Lord is your strength. The joy of the Lord is your strength. So the Levites calmed all the people. Some of you, that's God's word for you today. Calm down, lighten up, calm down. So the Levites calmed all the people saying, be quiet for this day is, say it with me, holy, do not be grieved. And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions to make great rejoicing. Why is there great rejoicing? Because the day is holy. Great rejoicing because they had understood the words that were declared to them. Let's put this together. The joy of the Lord is your strength. Who is God? God is full of joy. And it is his desire that his joy be your strength. So let me just preach to you for a little bit about who God is. God is love. That's from the book of 1 John. Now he's not your definition of love or my definition of love. He is the representation of what love is.

God loves you no matter where you've been or what you've done or what's been done to you. His love for you has nothing to do with you. His love for you has everything to do with him. He doesn't love you because you're awesome. You can't earn his love. You don't deserve his love. He just loves you because he's awesome. And he's always loved you. And he's always known who you are. And he knew you would sin. And he knew you would do things that are wrong. And he knew that you would break his law. And so while you were still a sinner, Romans 5, 8, Jesus Christ gave his life for you to cover all sin for all time. You wanna know why? That's how God demonstrated his love for you. You're loved. You're loved. It's why you're breathing in and out. You were created to be loved by God. And his joy is to be your strength and mine. They're convicted because the law has been read over them and they've been found guilty. All of us are found guilty. Everybody, beginning with me, we are all more sinful than we can possibly imagine. Okay, just let that sink in. We're not setting the truth aside.

We're not like ignoring the reality of our sinfulness. We are all more sinful than we can possibly imagine beginning with me. And yet we are all more loved than we ever dared hope. In this passage, it is obvious that the people have done wrong. In this passage, it is obvious that the people have sinned. They own it. They feel it. They're weeping. And then the leaders stand up and go, stop. God is good. And today is about his holiness. And in his holiness, his grace washes over you. In his holiness, his mercy watches over you. In his holiness, go eat the fat. And in his holiness, go drink the sweet wine. You look in the original Hebrew here, it's like, go make out with your wife. Go enjoy your family. Go experience the gracious gifts that God has given you in this life. Why? Because the joy of the Lord is your strength. Today is holy. What you believe about God is the most important thing about you. What do you believe? When it says the joy of the Lord is your strength, that word strength in Hebrew

is where we get this word, stronghold. It means joy is to be a stronghold in your life. What do strongholds do? They protect you. Joy is to be a fortress for you. In fact, the more holy joy that you experience, the less you will sin. Just let that sink in. Your problem is not that you don't love God enough. Your problem is you do not realize how much he loves you. If you and I. I understood his joy. If you and I understood his love, we would actually never sin because we would trust him completely. If you're like, I got a sin problem, you're not having enough fun in your life. I mean, real righteous, holy laughter. Because the more that shows up in your life, the less sin is attractive. Hmm, some of us drink too much because we haven't dealt with our pain. There's joy for you, he wants to free you. Go to celebrate recovery, deal with it so you can heal from it and experience the joy he has for you in this life. You're drinking too much, not because you're having fun. You're drinking too much because you're masking pain. Your problem is you don't have enough joy in your life. It's the same with eating too much.

It's the same with sleeping around. It's the same with taking too many pills. It's the same with, you know, compulsive shopping. On and on and on and on it goes. There's all this crap that we do because we do not understand the joy of the Lord. And what happens is it perpetuates itself and it makes it worse and worse and worse. I'm telling you what the Bible says. The joy of the Lord is a stronghold. It is a fortress. Do you know where we get the word holiday? Picture the word holiday in your mind. Do you see it? Holiday. It comes from this passage of scripture. We get the word holiday from holy day. What's a holiday? A holiday is a day that is set apart. That's what the word holy means, set apart. A holiday is a day that is set apart. Why? So that you can enjoy your life. God wants joy for you. And some of us, when it comes to God, here's what you need to do. We just read it. Calm down. He is full of grace. He is full of mercy.

He loves you. All right, let's just go a little bit further. And then I got three points I want to unpack quickly with you, okay? You're like, he's just so disappointed in me. Think with me. Can you actually disappoint someone who knows the future? Let that sink in. Here's the answer. No, you can't. Why? They knew that was coming. You can't disappoint somebody that knew it was coming. God's expectations of you are much lower than your expectations of you. And he loves you and he's made a way for you. See, here's what happens. When we walk around burdened with guilt and shame, it just makes it worse. But when we lift our eyes to the gracious God of heaven, who has made a way for us in Jesus, and when we with open hands allow his love and mercy to wash over us, it changes us. We begin to see him differently and we begin to see life differently. Your problem is not that you don't love God enough. Your problem is you don't realize how much he loves you. The joy of the Lord is to be your strength. Is this sinking in? See, the problem with what I'm talking about

is I can't teach it to you. The Holy Spirit has to reveal it. He loves you more than you can possibly imagine, fathom, or comprehend. And you are safe in the amazing grace of God. You can't earn it, you don't deserve it. All you can do is receive it. But listen, when grace gets a hold of you, it changes you. I don't wanna sin because I love God. It's not that I'm afraid he's gonna punish me or hurt me or harm me. Now, I do think sin is stupid. It always leads to destruction. It takes you farther than you wanna go, keeps you longer than you wanna stay, and it costs you more than you wanna pay every time. And so the smartest, most intelligent, brilliant thing you can do is repent of your sin every single day. But the motivation of my heart, and my hope is the motivation of your heart, is you don't wanna sin because you love God. It's not about punishment. It's just about pleasing him because you're so in love with him. And the more that you know him, the more in love with him you will be. And that love will fuel you towards righteousness. The joy of the Lord will be your fortress, will be your strength.

What you believe about God is the most important thing about you. Three things here in your notes. I'm gonna give you these three things about God, and here's what I'm doing. I'm taking all of the Bible and I'm compressing it. First thing in your notes, God does not desire to shame you. He wants to heal you. God does not desire to shame you, He wants to heal you. The primary message of the Bible is not shame on you. The primary message of the Bible is shame off you in Jesus' name. All right, everybody, all right, I'm gonna say lean in, because that's what I say, people make fun of me about it, okay, lean in. God's not the accuser, the devil is, did you know that? In fact, that's what the name Satan means, it means the accuser. And so what Satan does is he accuses us before God both day and night. This is how they've done wrong, this is how they deserve punishment, this is how they've gone with me and not you. Satan, his name means the accuser, it's what he does. The name Jesus means the Lord saves. The name Jesus means the Lord is our salvation. The name Jesus means it is not up to you to save yourself. God has made a way for you, Jesus the Lord saves. In Hebrew, it's Yeshua, in English, it's Joshua,

in Greek, it's Jesus, the Lord saves. So Satan accuses and Jesus saves. Wrap your mind around that truth. Because we're walking around thinking Jesus is accusing us, and you're believing a lie. Satan accuses and Jesus saves, do you receive it? I'm gonna say it again. Satan accuses and Jesus saves, do you receive it? I'm gonna quote for you the most famous verse in the Bible, John 3.16, for God so loved. Do you believe that? For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever might trust in him, believe in him, would not perish but have everlasting life. Here's what the next verse says. Jesus is talking about himself, John 3.17. For the son of man did not come, listen to these words, for the son of man did not come to condemn the world, but so that the world might be saved through him. He did not come to condemn you, he came to save you. And if you will receive him into your life, he will impart to you his own righteousness, his own holiness, his own goodness, and he will cover all of your sin for all time. Jesus, Yeshua, Joshua, the Lord saves, do you receive it? The message of the Bible is not shame on you, that's the message of the enemy. The message of the Bible is shame off you in Jesus' name. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that save wretches like you and like me.

I once was lost, but now I'm found. I was blind, but now I what? Do you see the joy of the Lord is your strength. Eat the fat. Somebody should say amen to that. Drink the sweet wine. Why? Because every day is holy to the Lord. Now don't sin, don't go off the rails, trust God, but enjoy your life. Second point in your notes, God's grace heals. Shame doesn't heal. Shame and conviction help, but they don't heal. But the weight of the past, if you're still carrying that around, deal with it, heal from it, get over it. God's grace is there for the receiving and God's grace heals. You know, for some stupid reason, the church has spent the last 2000 years focusing on the wrong thing. And even in Christianity, it's like everybody's cursing the darkness. This is how we're terrible, this is how we're sinful, all true, but Jesus came not to curse the darkness, catch this, but to proclaim the light. And here's the thing about light, it beats darkness every time. Like a little bit of light beats a whole lot of darkness. I mean, I've been in the woods when there was no moon

and there were no. stars, and that flashlight was like, boom. It just cut through it all. And the grace of Jesus is like that. When the love of God enters into your life and you receive it, darkness flees. The joy of the Lord is your fortress. The joy of the Lord is your strength. Take hold of it. What you believe about God is the most important thing about you. Last point. What are you saying, Pastor Chad? God wants you to enjoy your life because he loves you. God is not a killjoy. God is the author of all joy. Flip the script. Jesus said, I have come that you may have life and have it to the full. Okay, let me ask you. Are you having it to the full? You know, I'm gonna keep it real. So I'm in a difficult season in my life. Like I got some junk going on, and it's painful and it's hard. And at the same time, I got a whole lot of joy in my life and a whole lot of peace and a whole lot of contentment. And I'm telling you, no matter what's going in your life, you can hold both of those realities at the same time.

Why? Because the joy of the Lord is our strength. I have sat around the hospital beds of people who were dying and we were telling jokes and laughing. How is that possible? I'll tell you how. The joy of the Lord is our strength. You can hold both at the same time. And by the way, that's kind of how life is. Everybody's got this idea that it's really high highs and really low lows. No, it's this tension of great stuff and lousy stuff happening all at the same time as we run down the two tracks. Does anybody know what I'm talking about? But the joy of the Lord lives in the tension of a broken world. And the joy of the Lord is our strength. He wants you to enjoy your life. Now I'll tell you, seven, 10, 12, 14 years ago, I felt like the Lord spoke to me and he said, I want you to enjoy your life. And I was like, really? Because I had no idea who he was. I had no idea who he is. In fact, I was like on sabbatical and I was supposed to come back here, and tell all you guys what the Lord told me

because I had a bunch of time off, right? So go meet with God and then come back and tell us. Your face better be glowing, bro. And so I come back and I'm like, well, God told me to enjoy my life, right? That just doesn't sound very spiritual. But then as I dug into it, I realized I didn't know how to do that. And then as I dug into it, I realized I don't have a proper view of God. And then as I dug into it, I was like, I don't really believe grace. And then as I dug into it, I listened to the accuser more than I listened to the savior. Huh, I don't think I'm experiencing real Christianity here. And I repented and things began to change. And I started to have a little more fun and I became a whole lot more likable. If nobody likes you, you got a problem. And you need to repent and understand the love of God so it can begin to flow in you and out from you. Because the joy of the Lord is our strength. What's it mean to be holy? It means the fruit of the spirit is in your life. Listen to the fruit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. That's the flow of biblical Christianity. Over the next few weeks,

we're gonna talk about the real thing. And my hope for you is that you begin to experience deep rest in your soul. Because God is great and God is good. And the joy of the Lord is our strength. And what you believe about God is the most important thing about you. Let's pray together, will you pray with me? Holy Spirit, give us wisdom of these things. I said it a moment ago, I'm gonna say it again. I can't teach this, you have to reveal it. And so Holy Spirit help us, reveal it to us. Change us. I pray we would grow in grace over the next few weeks, find rest for our souls and discover that your joy really can be our strength. Teach us, we pray. May it be for the glory of Jesus and also for our good. In his name, in Jesus' name, amen.