1 00:00:01,501 --> 00:00:04,487 Ephesians 3:20-21 2 00:00:04,821 --> 00:00:08,575 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly 3 00:00:08,575 --> 00:00:11,578 than all that we ask or think, 4 00:00:11,611 --> 00:00:14,597 according to the power at work within us. 5 00:00:14,781 --> 00:00:18,802 To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus 6 00:00:18,802 --> 00:00:22,522 throughout all generations, forever and ever. 7 00:00:23,039 --> 00:00:26,042 Amen. 8 00:00:26,209 --> 00:00:29,129 Everybody, good morning and welcome to Christ Community Chapel. 9 00:00:29,129 --> 00:00:32,065 My name is Joe. I'm one of the pastors here. 10 00:00:32,065 --> 00:00:33,833 Thanks for coming. 11 00:00:33,833 --> 00:00:36,953 We have a great morning and a full morning, 12 00:00:36,953 --> 00:00:38,872 because we're going to be baptizing people. 13 00:00:38,872 --> 00:00:41,908 We're going to baptize 40 people over the course 14 00:00:42,175 --> 00:00:45,178 of all the services this weekend, which is awesome. 15 00:00:45,528 --> 00:00:48,148 I have to tell you one story quickly. 16 00:00:48,148 --> 00:00:51,201 Thanks for the overwhelming applause. 17 00:00:53,653 --> 00:00:56,639 Lost my train of thought there just. 18 00:00:58,007 --> 00:00:58,341 Right. 19 00:00:58,341 --> 00:00:59,342 Let me tell you this story, though. 20 00:00:59,342 --> 00:01:04,481 At 8:00, the baptism there one one of the people that got in was out, 21 00:01:05,098 --> 00:01:08,818 a young man, his wife, who is obviously pregnant, 22 00:01:08,818 --> 00:01:11,821 was waiting for him, with a towel. 23 00:01:12,422 --> 00:01:15,692 Found out afterwards she is going to be induced tomorrow. 24 00:01:16,292 --> 00:01:20,063 So he was getting baptized before his daughter was born. 25 00:01:20,580 --> 00:01:22,799 And then the next guy that got baptized 26 00:01:22,799 --> 00:01:25,802 was a grandfather whose grand grandkids were watching. 27 00:01:26,219 --> 00:01:28,638 I just thought, how awesome is that? 28 00:01:28,638 --> 00:01:28,938 All right. 29 00:01:31,708 --> 00:01:32,492 Yeah. 30 00:01:32,492 --> 00:01:33,593 Now you're going to be. 31 00:01:33,593 --> 00:01:36,529 Now you're going to be applauding. All right. 32 00:01:36,529 --> 00:01:39,115 This is the last message of our four part series 33 00:01:39,115 --> 00:01:42,118 where we're setting the theme for 2026, 34 00:01:42,452 --> 00:01:45,438 and our theme is simply More Life, More Life. 35 00:01:46,322 --> 00:01:49,225 And we're taking it from John chapter ten, verse ten, 36 00:01:49,225 --> 00:01:52,228 where Jesus gives us his reason for coming. 37 00:01:52,579 --> 00:01:56,933 Jesus says, "I've come that they might have life and have it more abundantly". 38 00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:00,587 Jesus wants you to have more life, 39 00:02:00,954 --> 00:02:03,957 a fuller life, abundant life. 40 00:02:04,707 --> 00:02:07,076 The passage we had read to us comes at the very 41 00:02:07,076 --> 00:02:10,113 end of a prayer in Ephesians chapter three. 42 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:13,817 It's my favorite prayer, probably in the whole Bible. 43 00:02:13,850 --> 00:02:15,318 I actually prayed for it. 44 00:02:15,318 --> 00:02:18,321 I prayed it for you early this morning. 45 00:02:18,505 --> 00:02:22,142 Let me read you the prayer and then we'll get to this final part. 46 00:02:22,142 --> 00:02:23,726 The benediction. 47 00:02:23,726 --> 00:02:26,763 And this is what it says beginning at verse 14. 48 00:02:27,347 --> 00:02:31,551 For this reason, I bow my knees before the father, from whom every family in heaven 49 00:02:32,218 --> 00:02:36,689 and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory 50 00:02:37,373 --> 00:02:40,560 he may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit 51 00:02:40,977 --> 00:02:45,081 in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. 52 00:02:45,265 --> 00:02:48,685 That you, being rooted and grounded in love, 53 00:02:49,219 --> 00:02:52,222 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints 54 00:02:52,288 --> 00:02:55,592 what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 55 00:02:56,309 --> 00:02:59,312 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, 56 00:02:59,479 --> 00:03:03,566 that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 57 00:03:04,133 --> 00:03:08,721 And then this ending, this crescendo, he says, Now to him 58 00:03:08,721 --> 00:03:12,508 who is able to do far more abundantly than all that 59 00:03:12,508 --> 00:03:16,763 we can ask or think, according to the power at work within us. 60 00:03:17,247 --> 00:03:20,133 To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus 61 00:03:20,133 --> 00:03:23,102 throughout all generations, forever and ever. 62 00:03:23,102 --> 00:03:23,570 Amen. 63 00:03:24,888 --> 00:03:27,357 What an awesome prayer. 64 00:03:27,357 --> 00:03:27,690 Paul. 65 00:03:27,690 --> 00:03:31,527 Because oh, by the way, we did a this is a four part series. 66 00:03:32,095 --> 00:03:34,681 We started with John chapter ten, verse ten. 67 00:03:34,681 --> 00:03:36,382 That's the Gospels. 68 00:03:36,382 --> 00:03:39,502 The next week I preached on Psalm 19. 69 00:03:40,253 --> 00:03:44,607 Last week Zach preached using passages from Genesis and Revelation, 70 00:03:44,841 --> 00:03:47,927 and now we're using a passage in Ephesians. 71 00:03:47,927 --> 00:03:51,547 And the point is that from cover to cover, the Bible is about more life. 72 00:03:51,564 --> 00:03:54,567 God has always wanted you to have more life. 73 00:03:55,251 --> 00:03:57,503 And here in this passage, 74 00:03:57,503 --> 00:04:02,191 he tells us that more life is found in the middle of three things. 75 00:04:02,191 --> 00:04:03,960 And these are my three points. 76 00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:07,080 If you want more life, it will be found in the middle of a God 77 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:11,117 who is greater, a power that is stronger, 78 00:04:11,417 --> 00:04:14,420 and a glory that lasts longer. 79 00:04:14,687 --> 00:04:19,442 A God who is greater, a power that is stronger, and a glory that lasts longer. 80 00:04:19,442 --> 00:04:21,961 First, a God who is greater. 81 00:04:23,096 --> 00:04:24,297 Paul begins this by 82 00:04:24,297 --> 00:04:27,300 stacking like superlative on top of superlative. 83 00:04:27,600 --> 00:04:33,473 Sweat, he says now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we can ask 84 00:04:33,473 --> 00:04:37,577 or think, another version says, all we can ask or imagine. 85 00:04:38,328 --> 00:04:39,445 Paul says, you want more life. 86 00:04:39,445 --> 00:04:43,166 You don't start by looking at yourself in the deficiencies in your life. 87 00:04:43,466 --> 00:04:44,267 You want more life. 88 00:04:44,267 --> 00:04:48,438 You start by looking at God, at a God who is greater. 89 00:04:49,072 --> 00:04:52,258 Let me tell you a few things that God is greater than. 90 00:04:53,059 --> 00:04:56,629 The first is God is greater than your past pain. 91 00:04:57,330 --> 00:04:59,632 God is greater than your past pain. 92 00:04:59,632 --> 00:05:02,635 I read a good book last week. 93 00:05:02,702 --> 00:05:06,189 It was called Make Sense of Your Story by a guy named Adam Young. 94 00:05:06,205 --> 00:05:07,607 Adam Young is a counselor. 95 00:05:07,607 --> 00:05:10,610 The premise of the book is that 96 00:05:11,060 --> 00:05:14,330 we experience a lot of his experience, pain 97 00:05:14,731 --> 00:05:19,502 as a child that then become the wounds that we organize 98 00:05:19,502 --> 00:05:24,357 our life around as adults because we haven't quite healed that pain. 99 00:05:25,375 --> 00:05:25,825 And I 100 00:05:25,825 --> 00:05:28,828 that's there's some truth to that's why I say it's a really good book. 101 00:05:29,012 --> 00:05:33,800 But I also believe that God is greater than the pain of your past. 102 00:05:33,833 --> 00:05:38,154 You are not defined by the worst chapter of your life. 103 00:05:38,755 --> 00:05:41,941 And I say that because every great story, every great book, 104 00:05:41,941 --> 00:05:44,927 every great movie is the same kind of arc. 105 00:05:45,361 --> 00:05:49,799 There are some dark and in Lord of the rings, one of my all time favorite books. 106 00:05:49,799 --> 00:05:53,970 There are some really dark chapters, but it's the darkness of those chapters 107 00:05:53,970 --> 00:05:58,291 in the middle that make what happens later is so incredible. 108 00:05:58,891 --> 00:06:01,878 I think of the story of Joseph in the Old Testament. 109 00:06:02,011 --> 00:06:07,884 Joseph at the age of like 16, was sold into slavery by his own brothers. 110 00:06:08,851 --> 00:06:09,602 Are they find 111 00:06:09,602 --> 00:06:12,588 something more traumatic than that? 112 00:06:12,805 --> 00:06:16,309 And we catch a glimpse of the trauma in a single verse, 113 00:06:16,309 --> 00:06:20,012 kind of tucked away in that story where the brothers who sold him, 114 00:06:20,012 --> 00:06:22,498 they feel like the judgment of God is coming, 115 00:06:22,498 --> 00:06:25,501 and they're talking to each other about why it's happening. 116 00:06:25,518 --> 00:06:29,639 And they say, did we not see his distress 117 00:06:30,656 --> 00:06:32,959 when we sold him? 118 00:06:32,959 --> 00:06:35,962 But we did not heed his cries. 119 00:06:36,662 --> 00:06:40,917 You could just imagine Joseph screaming, crying, 120 00:06:41,100 --> 00:06:46,222 begging to not be taken away and to no avail. 121 00:06:46,222 --> 00:06:49,192 He ends up alone, sold as a slave. 122 00:06:49,192 --> 00:06:52,495 And just when he's getting used to life as a slave, 123 00:06:52,728 --> 00:06:55,731 he gets wrongly imprisoned. 124 00:06:56,132 --> 00:06:56,599 For what? 125 00:06:56,599 --> 00:06:59,419 In what seems to be a life sentence. 126 00:06:59,419 --> 00:07:02,822 It's enough to make anybody angry and 127 00:07:03,356 --> 00:07:05,992 and hostile, violent. 128 00:07:07,110 --> 00:07:09,262 But by the end of the story, what we find is 129 00:07:09,262 --> 00:07:12,565 Joseph is full of wisdom and compassion 130 00:07:13,883 --> 00:07:16,469 and forgiveness 131 00:07:16,469 --> 00:07:18,438 and integrity. Why? 132 00:07:18,438 --> 00:07:20,756 Because God is greater 133 00:07:20,756 --> 00:07:22,525 than your past pain. 134 00:07:22,525 --> 00:07:25,611 God can redeem your past. 135 00:07:26,395 --> 00:07:27,480 That's just true. 136 00:07:27,480 --> 00:07:32,518 The second is God is greater than our present needs, than our present needs. 137 00:07:32,552 --> 00:07:37,290 It says that he's able to give more than we can ask or think. 138 00:07:38,241 --> 00:07:40,560 You know, there's a verse in the book of James 139 00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:44,147 that says, you do not have because you do not ask. 140 00:07:44,697 --> 00:07:45,448 And I was thinking, what? 141 00:07:45,448 --> 00:07:48,801 Why don't I ask for more from God? 142 00:07:48,868 --> 00:07:49,585 To be honest, 143 00:07:49,585 --> 00:07:53,523 I mean, there's some things I don't ask God for because they seem so small. 144 00:07:53,789 --> 00:07:55,558 I don't want to bother him. 145 00:07:55,558 --> 00:07:58,344 And then there are some things that are so big. 146 00:07:58,344 --> 00:08:01,981 I don't want to put God in the awkward position of saying no and seeming 147 00:08:02,181 --> 00:08:04,317 like he didn't come through for me. 148 00:08:05,568 --> 00:08:08,120 But the Bible says, go ahead and ask. 149 00:08:08,120 --> 00:08:11,123 There's a there's a story about Alexander the Great. 150 00:08:11,123 --> 00:08:11,841 I really like 151 00:08:11,841 --> 00:08:15,228 where Alexander the Great had a general that served him for many years, 152 00:08:15,711 --> 00:08:19,582 and the general came to Alexander the Great and said, I want to ask for a favor. 153 00:08:20,299 --> 00:08:23,152 Would you pay for my daughter's wedding? 154 00:08:23,152 --> 00:08:26,756 And Alexander the Great said, okay, y'all do that. 155 00:08:26,756 --> 00:08:30,176 Just go to the court treasurer and ask for what you need. 156 00:08:30,893 --> 00:08:34,013 Like three days later, the court treasurer came to Alexander the Great 157 00:08:34,230 --> 00:08:34,914 and complained. 158 00:08:34,914 --> 00:08:38,818 He said, This general has come and he's asked for an enormous amount of money. 159 00:08:39,652 --> 00:08:42,972 And Alexander the Great thought about it, and he said, go ahead and give him, 160 00:08:42,989 --> 00:08:45,391 give him it. Give him all of it. 161 00:08:45,391 --> 00:08:48,377 Because by asking, he has paid me two great compliments. 162 00:08:49,161 --> 00:08:53,749 One, he thinks I'm rich enough to give him such an exorbitant amount. 163 00:08:54,267 --> 00:08:57,270 And two, he thinks I'm generous enough to give it to him. 164 00:08:57,737 --> 00:09:01,757 And by paying me these two great compliments, he honors me. 165 00:09:02,725 --> 00:09:04,827 Listen, God loves you. 166 00:09:04,827 --> 00:09:06,212 God is a generous God. 167 00:09:06,212 --> 00:09:08,447 Go ahead and ask and trust him. 168 00:09:08,447 --> 00:09:12,602 If if what you're asking for seems like it, it's the best thing for you. 169 00:09:12,602 --> 00:09:14,186 But God knows it's not. 170 00:09:14,186 --> 00:09:17,607 You have to trust him that he'll say no, but ask him 171 00:09:17,607 --> 00:09:20,610 he is greater than your present needs. 172 00:09:21,177 --> 00:09:23,779 And finally, God is greater than your future. 173 00:09:23,779 --> 00:09:25,548 Fear. 174 00:09:25,548 --> 00:09:28,768 In John chapter 11, it's the story of Lazarus 175 00:09:28,768 --> 00:09:32,121 where Jesus has a friend named Lazarus who gets sick. 176 00:09:32,538 --> 00:09:35,791 By the time Jesus gets to where Lazarus was. 177 00:09:35,808 --> 00:09:38,010 Lazarus has been dead for four days. 178 00:09:38,010 --> 00:09:41,013 Seems like that book is as close. 179 00:09:41,297 --> 00:09:44,300 Jesus makes one of his most iconic statements. 180 00:09:44,550 --> 00:09:48,287 He says, I am the resurrection and the life. 181 00:09:48,888 --> 00:09:51,991 Whoever believes in me, though he were dead, yet 182 00:09:52,191 --> 00:09:55,194 shall he live. 183 00:09:55,411 --> 00:09:57,647 And then, as if to prove his point, 184 00:09:57,647 --> 00:10:00,916 he goes to the grave of Lazarus and calls him out. 185 00:10:01,250 --> 00:10:04,253 And Lazarus is raised from the dead. 186 00:10:04,253 --> 00:10:05,788 Amazing. 187 00:10:05,788 --> 00:10:08,090 You know, there are certain stories in the Bible where I can't 188 00:10:08,090 --> 00:10:11,093 wait to get to heaven and hear kind of the rest of the story. 189 00:10:11,927 --> 00:10:13,913 We don't hear much about Lazarus. 190 00:10:13,913 --> 00:10:16,916 After I would like to know what Lazarus life was like 191 00:10:17,216 --> 00:10:20,670 after that, because I just think he would be a tough guy to rattle. 192 00:10:21,237 --> 00:10:22,371 Don't you? 193 00:10:22,371 --> 00:10:23,973 I mean, what are you going to make? 194 00:10:23,973 --> 00:10:25,141 How are you going to make him afraid? 195 00:10:25,141 --> 00:10:29,128 You're going to say Lazarus, you may get laid off next year. 196 00:10:29,312 --> 00:10:29,929 You know, he's like, 197 00:10:31,530 --> 00:10:34,650 seriously, that's going to shake me, right? 198 00:10:34,950 --> 00:10:38,220 Because Lazarus knew beyond a shadow of a doubt 199 00:10:39,438 --> 00:10:42,441 that the best was yet to come. 200 00:10:42,858 --> 00:10:46,012 Listen, Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life. 201 00:10:46,028 --> 00:10:50,483 Whoever believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. 202 00:10:51,534 --> 00:10:54,587 And I believe in Jesus, which means I may not know 203 00:10:54,587 --> 00:10:57,590 what's going to happen next week or next year, but this I know 204 00:10:58,441 --> 00:11:00,743 the best, is yet to come for me, 205 00:11:00,743 --> 00:11:02,912 and the best is yet to come for you. 206 00:11:02,912 --> 00:11:05,898 If you believe in Jesus, that's the first thing Paul says. 207 00:11:06,182 --> 00:11:07,016 You want more life. 208 00:11:07,016 --> 00:11:10,019 You find it in a God who is greater. 209 00:11:10,369 --> 00:11:12,138 Then he says, you want more life. 210 00:11:12,138 --> 00:11:15,141 You find it in a power that is stronger. 211 00:11:15,858 --> 00:11:19,562 He says this now to him who is able to do far more abundantly 212 00:11:19,562 --> 00:11:24,800 than all we ask or think, according to the power at work within us. 213 00:11:26,302 --> 00:11:28,187 What Paul says is that that 214 00:11:28,187 --> 00:11:31,757 that power is not a power I have inside of myself. 215 00:11:31,791 --> 00:11:35,361 More life isn't found with more stuff or more experiences. 216 00:11:35,394 --> 00:11:40,383 It's found in the the power of God that is actually in me. 217 00:11:40,883 --> 00:11:41,550 In you. 218 00:11:41,550 --> 00:11:44,387 If you belong to Jesus. 219 00:11:44,387 --> 00:11:47,957 And that means that it's a power that is stronger than certain things. 220 00:11:47,957 --> 00:11:50,192 Let me tell you what it's stronger than. 221 00:11:50,192 --> 00:11:50,876 It's stronger than. 222 00:11:50,876 --> 00:11:53,729 Sin's grip. 223 00:11:53,729 --> 00:11:54,563 Let's be honest. 224 00:11:54,563 --> 00:11:59,118 Some of us don't have more life because of sin, 225 00:11:59,819 --> 00:12:03,055 because we're involved in sin and you may feel stuck, 226 00:12:03,873 --> 00:12:06,859 but you are not powerless. 227 00:12:06,892 --> 00:12:09,178 If you are stuck in sin. 228 00:12:09,178 --> 00:12:11,597 And the reason I say that, you know, we sing songs 229 00:12:11,597 --> 00:12:15,384 that say that through Jesus every chain is broken. 230 00:12:15,384 --> 00:12:18,471 We sing songs like that because over and over in the Bible 231 00:12:19,105 --> 00:12:21,774 it says that we are no longer slaves of sin. 232 00:12:21,774 --> 00:12:26,429 Romans six says sin will no longer have dominion over us. 233 00:12:26,462 --> 00:12:29,698 John chapter eight Jesus says, here the sun sets 234 00:12:29,698 --> 00:12:32,701 free, is free indeed. 235 00:12:32,852 --> 00:12:39,208 Listen, sin is you are not a slave to sin anymore because of the power within you. 236 00:12:39,208 --> 00:12:43,162 And I always think that the power that I have with self-discipline, 237 00:12:43,462 --> 00:12:46,465 and I like to think of myself as a self-discipline person, 238 00:12:47,183 --> 00:12:51,003 is like the power of like a triple A battery compared to what? 239 00:12:51,237 --> 00:12:57,059 What Paul is saying is I have access to a power that could power an entire city. 240 00:12:57,810 --> 00:12:59,879 That's the power that is yours. 241 00:12:59,879 --> 00:13:00,329 It's greater. 242 00:13:00,329 --> 00:13:03,716 It's more powerful, stronger than sin's grip. 243 00:13:03,716 --> 00:13:08,487 It's also stronger than shames boys, shames boys. 244 00:13:10,940 --> 00:13:13,192 In the movie good Will hunting. 245 00:13:13,192 --> 00:13:15,711 Matt Damon plays a young man named Will. 246 00:13:15,711 --> 00:13:17,930 Robin Williams is his counselor. 247 00:13:17,930 --> 00:13:20,966 And there's this moment in the movie where, 248 00:13:23,035 --> 00:13:24,470 Matt Damon, he. 249 00:13:24,470 --> 00:13:28,941 As a boy, he was abused, and he felt like it was his fault. 250 00:13:29,458 --> 00:13:33,979 And you got Robin Williams as a counselor saying, well, it's not your fault. 251 00:13:34,797 --> 00:13:36,932 It's not your fault. 252 00:13:36,932 --> 00:13:37,900 It's not your fault. 253 00:13:37,900 --> 00:13:38,968 You keep saying it over. 254 00:13:38,968 --> 00:13:43,105 And finally, Will breaks down sobbing because he finally believes it. 255 00:13:44,240 --> 00:13:46,141 Some of you need that. 256 00:13:46,141 --> 00:13:49,612 So you, you know in your head that Jesus has forgiven your sin, 257 00:13:49,612 --> 00:13:52,615 but you still feel the shame 258 00:13:52,915 --> 00:13:56,185 and you need to hear Jesus said, taking your sin. 259 00:13:56,969 --> 00:13:59,522 But I've also taken your shame. 260 00:13:59,522 --> 00:14:01,907 I've taken your shame. 261 00:14:01,907 --> 00:14:02,808 I've taken your shame. 262 00:14:04,677 --> 00:14:05,578 The power that we 263 00:14:05,578 --> 00:14:08,731 have is stronger than sins. 264 00:14:08,731 --> 00:14:10,316 Grip. It's stronger than shame. 265 00:14:10,316 --> 00:14:13,135 Voice is stronger than Satan's attacks. 266 00:14:13,135 --> 00:14:13,769 I always think my. 267 00:14:13,769 --> 00:14:16,622 If my life was like a like a chess game 268 00:14:16,622 --> 00:14:19,608 and I was playing against Satan, he would crush me. 269 00:14:20,042 --> 00:14:22,378 But if Jesus is on my side, 270 00:14:22,378 --> 00:14:26,749 then every time Satan makes a move, then Jesus counters. 271 00:14:27,950 --> 00:14:29,101 Paul says, you want more life. 272 00:14:29,101 --> 00:14:30,319 You're going to find it. 273 00:14:30,319 --> 00:14:34,073 The God who is greater power that is stronger, and finally a glory 274 00:14:34,406 --> 00:14:35,507 that lasts longer. 275 00:14:35,507 --> 00:14:40,429 This is what he says to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus 276 00:14:40,796 --> 00:14:44,216 throughout all generations, forever and ever. 277 00:14:44,783 --> 00:14:46,352 Amen. 278 00:14:46,352 --> 00:14:47,186 How is it? 279 00:14:47,186 --> 00:14:50,756 I'm surprised at how quickly glory fades 280 00:14:51,173 --> 00:14:54,176 in our kind of current culture. 281 00:14:54,777 --> 00:14:56,178 It's so fleeting. 282 00:14:56,178 --> 00:14:57,780 The older I get, the more I realize that. 283 00:14:57,780 --> 00:15:02,101 I just read about a mom who is trying to explain to her daughter 284 00:15:02,101 --> 00:15:03,502 who Robert Redford was, 285 00:15:04,470 --> 00:15:05,004 right. 286 00:15:05,004 --> 00:15:06,622 Her daughter had no idea. 287 00:15:06,622 --> 00:15:11,360 So the mom said, oh, Robert Redford was like the Brad Pitt in my era. 288 00:15:12,411 --> 00:15:15,414 And her daughter said, Who's Brad Pitt? 289 00:15:16,532 --> 00:15:18,767 That's how quickly it goes. 290 00:15:18,767 --> 00:15:21,737 I remember reading a poem years and years ago. 291 00:15:21,737 --> 00:15:23,639 I made such an impression on me. 292 00:15:23,639 --> 00:15:25,708 It was written by Percy Bysshe Shelley. 293 00:15:25,708 --> 00:15:30,379 It's called as Amanda's, and it's a it's a poem about just about the futility 294 00:15:30,663 --> 00:15:35,784 of whatever you are pouring your life into right here, right now. 295 00:15:36,568 --> 00:15:39,505 And I memorized I think I can still remember it. 296 00:15:39,505 --> 00:15:41,540 This is the way it goes, says I. 297 00:15:41,540 --> 00:15:46,629 I met a traveler from an antique land who said to vast and trunk lists 298 00:15:46,645 --> 00:15:51,150 legs of stone, stand in the desert near them, half sunken. 299 00:15:51,617 --> 00:15:54,887 A shattered visage lies, whose frown and wrinkled 300 00:15:54,887 --> 00:15:58,140 lips stamped on those lifeless, lifeless things. 301 00:15:58,307 --> 00:15:59,808 Tell. Well, it's sculptor. 302 00:15:59,808 --> 00:16:01,493 Read the hand that mocked them. 303 00:16:01,493 --> 00:16:03,412 And the heart that fed. 304 00:16:03,412 --> 00:16:05,597 And on the pedestal these words appear. 305 00:16:05,597 --> 00:16:09,201 My name is as Amanda, King of kings. 306 00:16:09,652 --> 00:16:12,988 Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair. 307 00:16:13,922 --> 00:16:16,108 Nothing beside remains. 308 00:16:16,108 --> 00:16:18,527 Round the decay of that colossal wreck. 309 00:16:18,527 --> 00:16:20,512 Boundless and bare. 310 00:16:20,512 --> 00:16:23,666 The lone and level sands stretch far away. 311 00:16:24,199 --> 00:16:24,450 What? 312 00:16:24,450 --> 00:16:29,788 That says once was a king who had built a massive kingdom. 313 00:16:29,788 --> 00:16:31,223 His name was Asmodeus. 314 00:16:31,223 --> 00:16:35,811 He was so confident of his glory that he built a statue to himself, 315 00:16:35,911 --> 00:16:40,532 with an inscription that challenged anybody who thought they'd done something 316 00:16:40,532 --> 00:16:45,838 with their lives, to look on his kingdom and despair of what they had accomplished. 317 00:16:46,855 --> 00:16:48,440 And the only irony is, the 318 00:16:48,440 --> 00:16:52,611 only thing that was left was this broken down statue. 319 00:16:52,978 --> 00:16:54,563 It's my question. 320 00:16:54,563 --> 00:16:57,366 What are you spending your life on? 321 00:16:57,366 --> 00:17:02,054 What do you think will go with you forever and ever? 322 00:17:02,071 --> 00:17:03,889 It's not what you do for a living. 323 00:17:03,889 --> 00:17:06,775 It's not what you accumulate. 324 00:17:06,775 --> 00:17:09,628 What this says is there's a glory that will last forever. 325 00:17:09,628 --> 00:17:12,981 And it's connected to Jesus and his church. 326 00:17:12,981 --> 00:17:16,168 And that goes back to what Zach said last week, right? 327 00:17:16,168 --> 00:17:20,122 That we want to be a church where God is big, we are small. 328 00:17:20,222 --> 00:17:24,476 We love each other so well that people keep coming 329 00:17:24,860 --> 00:17:28,530 and they keep coming to find Jesus to get baptized, 330 00:17:29,031 --> 00:17:31,233 because that's what lasts forever. 331 00:17:31,233 --> 00:17:33,719 Listen, you want more life in 2026? 332 00:17:33,719 --> 00:17:35,971 That's what Jesus wants for you. 333 00:17:35,971 --> 00:17:38,957 If you want more life in 2026, you will find it 334 00:17:39,324 --> 00:17:41,777 in a God who is greater. 335 00:17:41,777 --> 00:17:46,548 Greater than your past pain, your present needs, your future fears. 336 00:17:47,549 --> 00:17:50,369 A power that is stronger 337 00:17:50,369 --> 00:17:54,273 than sin's grip and Satan's attacks and shames voice 338 00:17:54,773 --> 00:17:57,776 and a glory that lasts longer. 339 00:17:58,527 --> 00:18:01,130 Choose life 340 00:18:01,130 --> 00:18:04,133 now to him who is able to do far more abundantly 341 00:18:04,583 --> 00:18:08,670 than all we ask or think, according to the power at work within us. 342 00:18:09,505 --> 00:18:12,624 To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus 343 00:18:12,775 --> 00:18:15,778 throughout all generations, forever and ever. 344 00:18:15,861 --> 00:18:16,862 Amen. 345 00:18:16,862 --> 00:18:19,348 Would you pray with me? 346 00:18:19,348 --> 00:18:21,233 Father in Heaven, I am so grateful 347 00:18:21,233 --> 00:18:24,236 that you are for us and not against us, 348 00:18:24,536 --> 00:18:29,241 as you've always wanted us to have more life, and you want every person here 349 00:18:29,241 --> 00:18:33,729 to have more life in 2026 than we did in 2025. 350 00:18:33,745 --> 00:18:36,899 I pray that we will find that, find that right 351 00:18:36,899 --> 00:18:39,918 in the midst of what you want us to be. 352 00:18:41,120 --> 00:18:43,639 Lord, I pray that you will, 353 00:18:43,639 --> 00:18:47,426 pull everyone in this room closer to yourself. 354 00:18:48,210 --> 00:18:50,863 We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.