At Sandals Church, our vision is to be real with ourselves, God and others. This channel features sermons and teaching from Pastor Matt Brown and other members of the Sandals Church preaching team. You can find sermon notes, videos and more content at http://sandalschurch.com/watch
Thanks for tuning in to the Sandals Church podcast. Our vision as a church is to be real with ourselves, God, and others. We're glad you're here, and we hope you enjoy this message.
Melody Workman:Well, hey, everybody. Welcome to Sandals Church. Can you believe we're at the end of another year? It's just hard to believe that a whole year has gone by, and here we are. And maybe at your house this week, you're taking down all the Christmas decorations.
Melody Workman:I know in every household, there's usually, like, the more nostalgic person. In my house, that's my husband. And he just said to me, can we just leave it up, like, all year? And I'm like, no. No.
Melody Workman:My motto is out with the old, in with the new. And I said that he just looked at me. I said I said don't take that too far. Okay? What I'm talking about is the Christmas decorations, but we're we're packing everything up.
Melody Workman:We're looking into the New Year. Maybe you've paused to reflect on this past year, and did it go the way that you wanted it to? Maybe you made plans to to lose weight or make better decisions or and maybe those things didn't pan out. So now you're looking ahead and you're saying, you know what? There's gonna be a new me in the new year.
Melody Workman:Right? I mean, and here's what's great about that. God loves doing a new thing. Like he loves doing a new thing. Listen to what it says in Isaiah.
Melody Workman:It says, behold, I'm doing a new thing. It springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Revelation 21:5 says, and he who is seated on the throne said, behold, I'm making all things new. Lamentations it says that his mercies never come to an end.
Melody Workman:They are new every morning. 2nd Corinthians 5 says, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone. The new is better. Does anybody wanna be new in the new year?
Melody Workman:Listen, if you want it and you said you did, and God can do it, and he says he can, then then what's the problem? Why doesn't it always work out the way that we want it to? Here's the truth that I want us to sit in together today, and and we might have to wrestle with it, but but I really believe it's true. Listen. Here's what it is.
Melody Workman:There is no new you until you know you. There won't be a new you in the new year if you don't know you. I mean, how well do you really know yourself? Why do you do the things you do? Say the things you say?
Melody Workman:React the way that you react? Man, I will never forget many years ago sitting across a couple where there had been an affair, there had been betrayal. And as the wife was trying to absorb the news, she looked at her husband and she says, I feel like I don't know you and I'll never forget what he said. He looked at her and he said, I don't know myself. It's a powerful thing to know yourself.
Melody Workman:And you want here's the truth. If we wanna grow, if we wanna be new, here's the truth. To grow yourself, you need to know yourself. You need to understand how you are the way you are. I was talking about this with a friend not long ago and he used this phrase.
Melody Workman:He said, too many of us are not awake to ourselves. I mean, think about life. Think about how you handle something in life when it hits you at 10 AM or 11 AM. You've had your coffee, you know, you've had some sunshine, you've had some time with Jesus, You've had a shower. You feel ready.
Melody Workman:Think about how you would handle that at 3 AM. You're stumbling around. You don't know which way is up, which way is down. There's a lot of us 3 AM ing our way through life. We're not awake to ourselves, and here's the problem.
Melody Workman:When we actually start to learn a little bit about ourselves, I don't think we like what we find. So you know what we say, that's just how I am. Like that's just how I am. Deal with it. That's just how I am.
Melody Workman:I wanna suggest pause though and think about that logic, okay. Several years ago, my husband and I went on a double date. We're in the back seat. The other couple picked us up and, we're we get along, we're in the car, we're driving, and we come to the 1st stop sign and the car makes this crunchy sound. Like the kind of crunch I wanna hear when I'm eating fried chicken not in the car.
Melody Workman:Okay? Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, I don't wanna hear that. And I looked at my husband, I don't know about cars and he gave me a look of concern. We went we got to the next red light and there was this crunching, squeaking, and I'm like, something's wrong.
Melody Workman:And my husband mouths me, he goes, it's the brakes. And so he said, hey, because we're all a little concerned. He said, hey, like, everything okay? Like, with the brakes, you know what they said? That's just how we break.
Melody Workman:Listen. I I don't can I take an Uber? Because I don't wanna be with you because I don't think this thing is gonna break right much longer. Like, we need to get your car to the shop. We need to get under the hood or the wheelie thing.
Melody Workman:Whatever you do to fix the brakes. But some of us, we need to go under the hood of our lives. We need to be willing to go into the shop with the Holy Spirit and say, what do I need to know about myself so that I can grow myself? Our vision at Sandals Church is to be real. So let's just start with real with self, and let me ask you the question.
Melody Workman:What are you learning about yourself? Do you study yourself? Do you know what you're like in moments of stress when you're hurt, when you're angry, when you're disappointed, when you're afraid, when you're unsure, when you're losing control? Who is the real you? What situations in life bring out the real you?
Melody Workman:I will never forget. I made a reservation for my husband's birthday dinner not too long ago, and we get to the restaurant. It's packed, but we had a reservation that always makes me feel kinda like special because everyone's waiting and they're like, let me take you right to your table. I'm like, okay. Thank you so much.
Melody Workman:The problem the problem is is you can't make a reservation for the restroom. And so my family went to the table and I said, I'm gonna hit the restroom and I'll meet you there. And I got there and there was a line. Now, I'm just gonna be real, be real with you. Whenever I'm in a line in the restroom, I do something.
Melody Workman:I take a look at the woman in the front of the line and determine if I can trust her as my leader, and what I mean by that is has she done her due diligence to justify that we should all be in line? Like, has she checked the stalls to make sure they're all full? And I got in line and I I looked at her and I didn't trust her. I just I just just knew she hadn't done the work. So I'm standing waiting for a while, and so you know what I do?
Melody Workman:I'm like, well, alright. Two stalls are open. Valerie, stall number 2. Janet Janet, you're gonna go in number 4. I just started moving things along because we needed to get things going.
Melody Workman:Oh my goodness. I get back to the table. I'd say to my husband, you'll never believe what I just had to do in that bathroom. He's like, what did you do in the bathroom? I tell him the whole story, and do you know what he said to me?
Melody Workman:You didn't have to do that. I said, what do you mean? He goes, you just started telling these women what to do? And I'm like, yeah. Because those align and we all and he and I said, you know how I get?
Melody Workman:I get impatient. I get irritable, and then you know what he said? Maybe that should change. We divorced immediately. You know what I said?
Melody Workman:I said that's just how I am. That's just how I am. That's just that shit and listen. I you know what I said too? I said that's how I've always been, but I'm gonna prove it to you.
Melody Workman:I want you to take a look at this photo of me at 1 year old. Look at my face. Why am I mad? You know what my mom said? The photographer was taking too long.
Melody Workman:That is what happened. I wasn't I didn't have self awareness at 1. I need to have self awareness at 46. I need to be aware of how I'm behaving. I need to be aware of how other people are experiencing me and you need to do the same.
Melody Workman:Here is where we struggle. This is where I struggle and I think this is where you struggle. We tend to elevate ourselves more than we evaluate ourselves. As soon as I say that's just how I am. You know what I'm saying?
Melody Workman:Leave me alone. Leave me alone. I'm elevating myself past your critique, past your criticism. Adam, don't tell me that I need to change. This is just how I am, and here's why that's a problem because elevating ourselves is a form of pride.
Melody Workman:It's a form of pride. First Peter 55b says this, God opposes the proud. Man, I don't wanna be on the wrong side of God, but what does he do? He shows favor to the humble. For years, I've just said, you know, I'm like that because I'm a leader.
Melody Workman:You know, I'm a leader. I'm a natural born leader. That's what leaders do. We try to make situations better, but here's what I love. In Philippians, Paul gives us a description of how the greatest leader to ever live, how he led.
Melody Workman:Listen to what it says in Philippians 2. He says, if you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ Why do we follow Christ? Because he's the leader. If his love has made any difference in your life, if if being in a community of the spirit means anything to you, he goes on and on. Then he tells them what I want you to do.
Melody Workman:He says, put yourself aside and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand. Man, are we willing to stop elevating ourselves and evaluating ourselves and understanding the role of pride in our lives?
Morgan Teruel:Hey, everyone. My name is Morgan, and I'm a part of the digital media and online team that reaches tens of thousands of people every week through content just like this. In everything our team creates, our hope is to serve you as you grow in your own spiritual journey. Before we end the year, I wanna take a moment to ask, has this podcast inspired you, challenged you, or helped you grow closer to God? If so, would you consider partnering with us through a financial gift?
Morgan Teruel:Every dollar you give helps us to share this vision of being real with ourselves, with God, and with others. You can make a gift today by visiting sandalschurch.com/support. Thank you for believing in this mission, and thank you for being a part of it.
Melody Workman:What if this year, you began the practice of evaluating yourself over the pool of elevating yourselves. And Philippians 2 goes on to say, to think of yourselves the way that Christ Jesus thought of himself. How did Christ Jesus think of himself? The God of the universe that came to earth. It says that he became human.
Melody Workman:He stayed human. He didn't think of himself and cling to the advantages that came with being deity. It says it was an incredibly humbling process. Jesus himself became humbled. He didn't claim special privileges.
Melody Workman:It says he lived a selfless obedient life and he died a selfless obedient death. When it comes to this idea of of elevating ourselves, over evaluating ourselves, there's a really simple question we can ask in almost any situation. You know what it is? God, what do you want me to do? God, in this conversation, how do you want me to respond?
Melody Workman:God in this line, how do you want me to behave? God, what do you want me to say? Oftentimes, you know, we say, well, I'm I'm I'm I'm confused. You know, I got confused because I wasn't sure. We kinda go through this whole thing, but I have to tell you what I really believe.
Melody Workman:And this is where God has challenged me. Most of us don't need more clarity. We just need more humility. It's pretty clear. It's pretty clear how Jesus lived his life.
Melody Workman:So here, here's your first takeaway. If you wanna be new this year, if you want it to be different than last year, if you wanna be better this year as a person than you were last year, here's what I'm gonna invite you to do, embrace humility. I don't have to be right. I don't have to get the credit. I can apologize first.
Melody Workman:We we don't have to do it my way. What if your New Year's resolution was to take the phrase, that's just how I am out of your vocabulary? Where do you need to embrace humility? Listen. Your ability to evaluate yourself and embrace humility has a direct impact on your relationships, which leads us to being real with others.
Melody Workman:Let me ask you this question. I want you to think, how healthy are your relationships? Like like really healthy. How healthy is your marriage? How healthy is your dating relationship?
Melody Workman:Parents, how healthy is your relationship with your kids? How healthy is your relationships at work? Do you want them to be better, healthier? Do you want them to be new in this new year? Here's here's the interesting thing about relationships.
Melody Workman:It's always really easy to tell what the other person is doing wrong. Like, why is it so hard for them to see? Like, you're in a relationship with them and you can just like, I can tell you what's wrong with you. Like, I I can make this all better right now. The problem is you have no idea what it's like to be in relationship with yourself.
Melody Workman:You're not in relationship with yourself. Of course, it's easy to see others and what they're doing wrong. You know how you find out what it's like to be in relationship with yourself. You ask. You ask.
Melody Workman:My husband is an amazing parent and he does this pretty routinely. He will sit down with our kids and he will say to them, how can I be a better dad to you? And they tell him, and he listens. And the last time we did it, he said, hey, guys. It just I wanna be open.
Melody Workman:How can I be a better dad? And they all shared, and when they were wrapping up, he looked at me. And I looked at him like, you're doing great. Like, you're doing I mean, do do you want me to tell you how you could be a better dad? He was saying if I was brave enough to go next, and I wasn't.
Melody Workman:Because sometimes that's hard to hear, but here's what we have to understand. Your relationships will only be as healthy as you are. You cannot be an unhealthy person inside of a healthy relationship. Do you wanna know why? Because you're one of the main ingredients.
Melody Workman:The other person can be as healthy as they want, but if you're not healthy, the relationship is not healthy. So we have to ask ourselves, do I do I want better relationships? Do I want healthier relationships? Then here's the question we have to wrestle with. How are my desires impacting my decisions?
Melody Workman:If I desire better relationships, then how are those desires impacting my decisions in those relationships? We can all say why? Of course, I want that. Of course, I want a blessed marriage. Of course, I want a blessed relationship with my kids.
Melody Workman:We can say all of those things, but what are we doing with our decisions? Years ago, my middle son got double pink eye. It was gross. I'm not even gonna try, like, I love my son, but it was gross. It was like these crusty eye boogers, like, he couldn't even open his eyes.
Melody Workman:And then it must have been painful because he was like, oh, I was like, it's just your eyes, bro. Right? Like, so what's going on? It was terrible. And so we had to take him to the doctor and they're like, yeah, he's got double pink eye.
Melody Workman:You're gonna have to use these eye drops every 4 hours. And the problem was Mehdi cannot stand anything touching his eyes, like nothing. So he was like, I'm not using those eye drops. I'm like, well, I hope you enjoyed seeing for the 1st 14 years of your life because this is what I look like. If you can see me real quick, like you're if you don't use these drops, you're not getting better.
Melody Workman:So so his dad said, okay, Mehdi. I'm gonna do it first, and and so you can you know, here's what it feels like, and then you're gonna have to do this because we gotta go to work tomorrow, bro, and it's every 4 hours. So he's sitting there all crusty eyes, and Adam's like, okay. Here they come. And when it was like Mehdi could feel them.
Melody Workman:Soon as the drops started to come down, Mehdi's head started to go back. So the drops are like falling on his shirt. So I'm like moving his head forward, and finally all of a sudden the one goes in and the other goes in. Oh, okay. And so then 4 hours later, we we helped him do it.
Melody Workman:I got home the next day from work. His eyes looked almost completely better. I said, you did the job? She goes, yeah, mom, I wanted to get better. You see, Mehdi's desire impacted his decision.
Melody Workman:And in our relationships, we have to kind of get to a place where you go. If that's what I want, then this is what I'm willing to do. Here's where we get stuck with our relationships. We tend to hold on to conflict instead of handing out compassion. We hold on to conflict.
Melody Workman:We revel in it and I wanna ask you, where have you given conflict a foothold in your relationships? In your home, your marriage, your friendships, your community. Some of you are sitting here and you're like, I I don't have any conflict. Like, we're good. You know what I wanna challenge?
Melody Workman:Where I wanna challenge some of us? There are a lot of us in conflict with other people and those people don't even know it. We're holding on to so much resentment and anger towards them. We're not fighting with them. We're not having a full out brawl, but in our hearts, we are not in harmony with each other.
Melody Workman:And here's what I wanna ask you. To be new this year, what would it look like if you decided to lay down your conflict and pick up compassion? Who in your life needs compassion even though they don't deserve it? They don't deserve it. They have done the thing.
Melody Workman:They have wronged you. You have you have been treated unjustly. Listen to Ephesians 4 32. It says, be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other. How?
Melody Workman:Just as in Christ, God forgave you. If there are people in your life who don't deserve compassion, they're in good company because neither do you. He goes on in Ephesians 1. It says, Jesus is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his son and forgave our sins, and he showered his kindness on us. I wanna challenge some Christians here because all around us in the news and in culture and in churches, I hear about and I see about Christians living in perpetual ongoing conflict with each other.
Melody Workman:And I'm gonna say something and I I and I want you to sit here because this is true. You can't live in harmony with Jesus and live in hostility with others. You you can't. You go to the New Testament and tell me where in New Testament Christianity you see that that's okay. It's not what Jesus has called us to.
Melody Workman:To be in harmony with Jesus means to live the way that Jesus lived and listen to what he says in Romans 12910. He says, don't just pretend to love others. If you're walking around in conflict with other Christians, you are living a life of pretense. You're showing up in church. You're smiling.
Melody Workman:You're lifting your hands during worship, but you've got an issue with your brother or sister. The book of Matthew is clear. Put your offering down and go make that right. That's what it calls us to do. It says, love each other with genuine affection and take delight in honoring each other.
Melody Workman:Listen to what it says in verse 18. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. Someone may want to engage in conflict with you. You can decline the invitation. You say, I'm not I'm not gonna be in conflict with you.
Melody Workman:I'm gonna pray blessing over you. I'm gonna shower you with kindness and forgiveness. The way that God has done that for me. I'm not going to be an active participant in this conflict. Instead, I'm going to hand out compassion and I know that that sounds difficult, but I just finished reading the story of Martin and Gracia Burnham.
Melody Workman:Missionaries to the Philippines, who were captured by Muslim terrorists in 2,001, and for 11 months, they had no access to a toilet. They went as long as 9 days with no access to food. They got incredibly malnourished and ill in the jungle. Many of the hostages that they were with were were murdered because their countries would not pay ransom for them. And after 11 months in the jungle, in a botched rescue attempt, gracious husband Martin was killed, shot and killed.
Melody Workman:She was shot in the leg and survived, And I read this harrowing story. They had 3 kids back in the US, and I got to the end of the book where Gracious says that she went back many years later because some of these Muslim terrorists were put on trial, and she was there because she believes in justice and God is a God of justice, but after many of her captors went to prison, she began to write them. She began to get bible stories translated into their language. She began to send them money for soap and different goods in prison. She began to send money to their families, so they could go visit her captors in prison.
Melody Workman:You know what she said? The cost of living with unforgiveness is just too high. Here's what I wanna tell you. Holding on to conflict will cost you way more than handing out compassion ever will. You wanna grow?
Melody Workman:You want your relationships to be stronger, healthier this year than they were last year? Here is a mature prayer you can pray. God, give me compassion for what I can't see. All I see is the anger. All I feel is the hostility.
Melody Workman:All he experiences is the unkindness, but God, you can give me compassion for what I cannot see. So here here's the practical step in your relationships. If you want them to be new, learn to practice empathy. Do do you know what empathy is? I want you to listen to this definition of empathy.
Melody Workman:Empathy is the art of stepping imaginatively into the shoes of another person, Understanding their feelings and perspectives, and get this. Using that understanding to guide your actions. You know what we do? We justify our unkindness by our own false narratives. I get to hold on to my hostility because I know why you did that.
Melody Workman:No, you don't. You don't know why you do what you do. So you don't know why they do what they do. So God, give me compassion for what I can't see. Teach me to practice empathy.
Melody Workman:Let me Help me to understand their perspective, and let me tell you about this about empathy. Empathy doesn't excuse behavior. It just seeks to understand it. And when you can't understand, remember what Grisha Burnham said. Living with unforgiveness is just a price I'm not willing to pay.
Melody Workman:And I wanna ask you. Where are you really? Where are you really in your relationship with God? Like don't give me the Oh, God's been good to me. I know.
Melody Workman:You know, too blessed to be stressed. Okay. I I get it. I get it, But, like, how's your relationship with Jesus? How would those people closest to you best describe your relationship with God?
Melody Workman:Do do you know where I think we get stuck sometimes? All of us. We can tend to be casual rather than committed in our relationship with Jesus. Like take take some stock about your relationship with Jesus. Would you say that you're casual?
Melody Workman:Would you say that you're committed? Do you slide into his DM's every time you have a problem? Or if you're still on the Facebook, sometimes you're scrolling and all of a sudden you'll get this new it says, in a relationship. Someone is letting you know, we went to the next level. Right?
Melody Workman:Like you is my boo. We are together. There's nobody else, and I let the whole world know through Facebook that it's you and me babe. Right? How many of you want to take your relationship with Jesus to the next level in this new year?
Melody Workman:Have you considered if you are casual, like why? Like why you're casual? Parents, I want to sort of, talk to you directly for just a moment and ask you what your kids would say about your relationship with Jesus based on what they see. Can I just can I just shoot straight with you? I mean, I've got a 21 year old, 18 year old, 17 year old.
Melody Workman:That's why I look so old. But here's what I'm here to tell you. Our kids know what we're committed to. We can tell them, but they can watch. I I've told you guys before I grew up right outside of Philly, and, I gave birth to my first son 45 minutes from the stadium, and I gave birth to him on a Saturday.
Melody Workman:And the very next day was a Sunday. I was still in the hospital. He sat as a one day old wrapped in his blanket in his dad's arms, watching the Philadelphia Eagles. Now you can get all mad about whatever you wanna get mad about but the Eagles are in the Bible. Okay?
Melody Workman:So it I wanna just I just wanna clarify. It doesn't say that you will mount up with wings like a ram, like a chief, definitely not like a cowboy. It says the Eagles. If pastor Fredo gets to talk about the Lakers, I get to talk about the Eagles. Okay?
Melody Workman:By the way, they're winning right now. Grace and peace. But here's He was one day old. He's 21 now and if you follow him on Instagram, go with God. He does what he wants on there, but I'm just saying he's committed.
Melody Workman:Elijah's grown up in the Philadelphia Eagles household. But can I tell you? Can I tell you my my deepest hope and my deepest prayer is his mom? That in his 21 years of life, Elijah has seen and knows that his dad and I are way more committed to a person than we are to a football team and that person is Jesus. Parents, I wonder sometimes why we expect or hope for our children to go deeper with Jesus than we are.
Melody Workman:I wonder sometimes when I look at statistics that say that 70% of 18 to 22 year olds are walking away from the church and many walking away from their faith if they haven't detected parents in us a hypocrisy or an immaturity in our faith that's just not very appealing to them. You've been in an immature relationship at times. Right? When I was 16, my dad said, Melody, I want you to make a list of everything you want in a husband. I was like, cool.
Melody Workman:Number 1, he plays basketball. I mean, that was where I was at. That's what I did. I played basketball. I loved basketball.
Melody Workman:My friends and I, we played basketball. We played on a team. We played pickup at the park. That's what we were into. And so before it was basketball season, this kid in my class starts kinda showing an interest in me, and I was like, yeah, he's kinda cute.
Melody Workman:And I was like, oh, yeah. Let me check out his game. Like, okay. And so I kinda started to like him. And then I, one day I decided I loved him.
Melody Workman:So I was like, well, I might as well tell him. And because that's what mature people do. And so I'm like, so I love you. He was like, oh, I love you too. I was like, okay, we're in love.
Melody Workman:This is great. And, basketball season came and he didn't make the varsity team. He made the j b team. I was not into that. So I thought I could get past it, but then one day we were had we had an away game.
Melody Workman:And so the varsity got on the bus and the JV got on the van. So we're walking outside and we're kinda, like, you know, holding hands, and then we get to where we have to part ways because he has to get on the van. I have to get on the bus. I'm like, I don't love him anymore. I don't love him at all.
Melody Workman:It's very me. It's very superficial. I was an idiot. I'm just telling you right now. I know.
Melody Workman:So I get on the bus, and then a guy that was on varsity was making jokes. And I was like, oh, he's fine. Okay. I think I love him now. Like, I I just changed really quick.
Melody Workman:And you're like, because you were immature. I know. I get it. My question is, how often do we do this in our relationship with Jesus? Jesus, we love you so much, but Sundays are for the river.
Melody Workman:Jesus, we love you so much you've changed our lives, but we can't do a discipleship group because I've got bunko on Mondays, the kids have clarinet on Tuesday, they've got soccer and all my kids are gonna be professional athletes, Lord. I mean you know this. Jesus, I love you but I don't have time to read the Bible because Yellowstone is in its 6th season and I can't. I gotta get caught up. It is immature.
Melody Workman:We are too casual when Jesus is inviting us into something much deeper. The the book of Hebrews was written many scholars believe it was written to a group of casual, dare I say immature believers and I want you to listen to Hebrews 5 where they're trying to explain some things about Jesus being the high priest and going over things that they should already know and the writer of Hebrews says this. There's so much more we would like to say about this, but it's difficult to explain, especially since you are spiritually dull and you don't seem to listen. You've been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others, but instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God's word. Listen.
Melody Workman:You're like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn't know how to do what is right. Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong. Listen. Wouldn't it be weird if when you came into church today, we had to break up your communion cracker so you could eat it?
Melody Workman:Wouldn't it be odd if you had to hold your communion cup with 2 hands? Because you're past that and some of us need to get past this very casual relationship we have with Jesus. The question you have to ask yourself is, do I really want to grow? I love how the book of Psalm in the very first chapter paints this beautiful picture of what spiritual growth looks like. He says, oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked or stand around with sinners or join in with mockers or shallow thinkers.
Melody Workman:Are you on the Internet? K. It says, but you could also insert the word instead. They delight in the law of the Lord. Meditating on it day and night and don't miss.
Melody Workman:They are like trees planted along the riverbank bearing fruit each season. Here is what this passage is telling us. Spiritual growth is not a both end. On Saturday, I'm gonna dabble with with my fun, but on Sunday, I'm gonna be with the Lord and on Monday, I'm gonna go to happy hour and kinda drink too much and do that, but then on Wednesday night, no no no. It's either or.
Melody Workman:I gotta drop that to do this. Healthy things grow. Are you growing? And can I just ask you this question? Has has life punched you in the gut yet?
Melody Workman:Have you gotten news yet that just sucks the breath out of your lungs? It's in those moments where we realize being casual with Jesus just doesn't feel like enough. Because when you need Jesus to meet you in the waiting room or the emergency room or the doctor's office or the bedroom where someone's stuff is packed up and left, you know what you want? You don't wanna just be near Jesus. You wanna know Jesus.
Melody Workman:And Jesus wants to be known by you. So guess what? In this new year, to be new in your relationship with Jesus, what if you decided to choose consistency? I'm going to be faithful. We're not gonna plan our year and look at where we can fit church in.
Melody Workman:Church is going on the calendar and everything else will get worked out around that. We're gonna be in a discipleship group. Kids, you're gonna be in 1. We're gonna be in 1. We're getting ready to go through the book of Matthew for the whole year as a church.
Melody Workman:I'm gonna get into my Bible and I'm gonna start to read and when I come across something that I don't understand, I'm not gonna quit, I'm gonna study. I'm gonna move past being casual to be committed and I'm gonna do that by choosing consistency. And as I was wrapping up this message and thinking about those three things, I don't know which one God has for you. Maybe there's multiple. Do you need to choose consistency?
Melody Workman:Do you need to practice empathy? Do you need to embrace humility? As I was wrapping up final study for this, God brought me to a verse and here's what I wrote down. What are you carrying into this new year that you need to lay down? Like what's heavy on you?
Melody Workman:What what keeps you up at night? What feels like you're gonna crumble under its weight? I wonder if today could be the day where you would be willing to lay that down. Not too long ago, I went to the grocery store on my way home from work. We needed like 3 things and it was really random.
Melody Workman:It was like coffee, like toothpaste and apples. It was so random that I was irritated that I had to stop, but I did. But you know what? I said to myself, I'm not getting a cart. Like I'm not getting a car because I'm just grabbing those three things and I'm getting home.
Melody Workman:I make my way to the back of the store to get the coffee. Then I'm making my way to the middle aisle to find the toothpaste. And then, on my way there, I found out, oh, yeah. We need that too. So I grabbed that, and then I get the toothpaste.
Melody Workman:And then I'm on my way to get to the produce to get the apples, and then they were having a sale, so I'm like, I'm not going to be stupid, like it's on sale, so I'm going to grab that. By the time I get to the apples, my hands are full and I've got my 2 fingers left to grab the bag of apples, but I was like, I'm going to do this. People are looking at me like I'm so strange, and, and I grab the apples with my 2 fingers and I'm walking like this to the line. And of course there's not enough cashiers and that's where the Lord has to work on me. Okay.
Melody Workman:Because I, you know how I get, and just as I'm getting to the line, you know what happened? Everything fell. I dropped everything, and it was my own fault, but a person, a very kind person is walking by works in the store, and they looked at me and as I'm trying to gather my my random groceries, they said, can I get you a cart? Like, they're free here. This isn't Aldi.
Melody Workman:Like, you can just have one. You you just you just you should just go take it. Like, you know, they're looking at me like, can I help you? And I'm like, no. No.
Melody Workman:I'm good. I'm good. I I denied their help, and stood there and tried to again grab all my stuff and then stand in in the line, and now I'm angry. I'm angry that there's not enough cashiers. I'm angry that I didn't get a car, but I'm I'm mad at myself that my fingers weren't strong enough to hold the apples.
Melody Workman:Like, I'm having all these thoughts, and then you know what I realized? I'm ridiculous. There's something perfectly capable of holding what I'm carrying, I just said no to it. We have a really, really capable God. He's looking at you, he's looking at me He's saying, I can carry that for you.
Melody Workman:My cart never runs out of room. Pile it in there. Walk in freedom. Walk in joy. Walk in peace.
Melody Workman:First Peter 5:7, give all your worries and cares to God. Like throw here's this one. Here's that one. Oh, didn't see that one coming, but here's that one. I love how the amplified says this.
Melody Workman:Casting all your cares, all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns. Listen once and for all on him. For he cares about you with deepest affection and watches over you very carefully. There's nothing that you're carrying that he can't take away from you, so that you can feel light. So that you can walk into this new year full of joy, full of peace because Jesus, our capable God, is holding you and he's holding all things together.
Melody Workman:What's he inviting you into today? Do you need to do you need to embrace humility? Is there a relationship in your life that's on the verge of of being destroyed because you just you're wrapped up in pride? Is he inviting you to practice empathy? Your relationships, they're just they they need so much work and they would get there if you would just learn to to practice empathy.
Melody Workman:Is he inviting you to choose consistency? To to to do with him what you've not done before. I love what Pastor Matt said. He said, we'll never become what we do occasionally. Are you ready to move from casual to committed with Jesus this year?
Melody Workman:And then what's he inviting you to lay down? To throw it in his cart once and for all. I'm gonna invite you right now to pray over your life. However, the Holy Spirit has been talking to you or pressing in on you. Take this moment right now.
Melody Workman:Jesus, we humble ourselves before you and and what we say is we need you. I have never been so aware of just how much I need you. God teaches to to live in that place of desperation for you, but also in freedom and enjoy because you freely give us yourself. God, what are you calling us to do? Where do we need to practice empathy?
Melody Workman:Where do we need to choose consistency? Where do we need to embrace humility? Jesus, what are you inviting us to lay down? God, there will be no new us in the new year if we don't know us. And so as you invite us to kind of tinker under the hood a little bit to help us figure this out, I pray that we would we would humble ourselves.
Melody Workman:We would submit ourselves. We would be willing to ask the hard questions and then God, that we would be willing to obey. You love doing a new thing. It's who you are. It's what you do.
Melody Workman:So we accept your invitation to be new in the new year, and we dedicate ourselves to the work necessary to bring about that result. Through your power and through your strength, we cannot be defeated. We thank you. We thank you for who you are, for what you've done, and we believe with full hearts and expectancy for what you're going to do. In Jesus' name.
Melody Workman:Amen.
Morgan Teruel:Thank you so much for tuning in today. If you want more content from this series, we have a YouTube playlist linked in the description. And if you want more information about who we are and what we do, you can go to sandals church.com.