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thank you so much for having me i can’t
even begin to tell you how grateful
i am my family is anytime we have the
opportunity to be a part of hillsong
church it just feels like a gift to us
to be able to connect with you
being in an at color conference and now
being a part of your church services
listen wherever in the world you are
joining us from i love that god is
giving me an opportunity to hopefully
encourage you today challenge you that’s
what god’s word does he speaks to us he
convicts us and the fact that he can do
this virtually that the holy spirit is
as much here with me where i’m standing
as he is with you wherever you are
sitting or standing god is with you and
i’ve prayed and i’ve asked the lord to
open up all of our eyes so that we can
see him clearly so that we can hear him
personally and intimately today at
hillsong church let’s pray together
lord i thank you i thank you that your
word is living and active and sharper
than any two-edged sword
i thank you father for a church like
this where we can know that we have
leaders with integrity that we can know
we have leaders who honor the word of
god i thank you for this church father
and i thank you for what even right now
in the midst of everything you were
doing to cultivate and to cause your
church to flourish and to thrive i honor
you father today for how you were going
to use your word to spur us on to
spiritual victory in jesus name i pray
amen
it was in september of 2008
that something happened that marked
history
there was a category 2 hurricane named
ike
that caused extensive damage
in the u.s but particularly in the state
of texas there were 110 mile per hour
winds they ripped through texas but
particularly a little small ocean
community in texas on the shoreline it
was devastated
by this incredible hurricane that swept
through the beachside town is known as
gill crest and gilchrist was the worst
hit
that little serene peaceful community
boasted about 200 homes or so
they had beautiful landscaping and
walkways and sidewalks and it was just a
serene little ocean setting where people
would go mostly in their retirement age
where they wanted to just sit and have a
little peaceful season of life and yet
in 2008
the unexpected happened
ike swept through
the aftermath of this storm this
hurricane was absolutely devastating
in fact people said that when they went
to visit the site the day after the
hurricane it was nearly completely
unrecognizable
in fact
it was once populated by
brightly colored homes and detailed
landscaping and green lawns and friendly
sidewalks but where 200 homes had been
now
only one house remained
just one
other than that it looked like no more
than a muddied swamp a wasteland there
was nothing left except fragments of
what once was and the only thing that
gave a little bit of a hint that there
used to be a community there was this
one house that was still standing
it’s actually odd
and quite shocking to see the images of
this town the day after the storm
to see one house standing where there
used to be many
and honestly
it caused me when i saw the image to beg
the question
what was it about this house that kept
it standing through a storm that others
could not stand through
what was it about this house that gave
it the fortification to be able to
remain steadfast no matter what storm
came
the interesting thing though is that
when i look at that landscape
it reminds me of some of the landscape
of our lives because the truth is when
we look around us at the relationships
at the people that were supposed to go
the distance with us that were committed
and covenanted they said to walking with
the lord or to their calling in ministry
or to
friendship or relationship with us the
reality is that the older and older you
get if you’ll notice there are very few
people who have actually built a house a
life
that has stayed standing
because the storms of life come have you
noticed
if you’ve lived through the past two
years you’ve noticed that the storms of
life come
because the reality is y’all we haven’t
just been through one pandemic i mean no
matter where on the globe you live where
i live in texas in the u.s or where you
live in different continents and
different cultures listen we’ve all been
through multiple pandemics the medical
one yes but political ones and racial
ones layer on top of layer of storms and
hurricane and if we want any chance of
being able to have a life that is
steadfast unmovable and always abounding
in the work of the lord then we’re going
to make sure we build houses lives
that have a cornerstone that keep us
steady no matter the winds and the hail
and the rain that may fall
and they are going to fall
you don’t have to go looking for the
storms just keep living and the storm at
some point is going to come and find you
so i’ve been thinking about
how do we build a life that stands
how do we remain over the course of time
where are the saints who will remain
the ones who will still be standing come
hell or high water the ones who are
making a decision that as for me and my
house what we’re going to do is we’re
going to serve the lord the political
landscape may change and the cultural
landscape may shift the stock market may
plummet but no matter what i’ve made my
decision my feet are firmly planted and
i will remain where are the saints who
have chosen to remain and to be
steadfast how is it that so many who
were once strong were noticing them
beginning to lose their strength or the
community of faith that we used to be
able to count on for some longevity and
consistency how is it that those virtues
are becoming now more and more hard to
come by people are drifting away
spouses are leaving
parents are giving up
dreamers are throwing in the towel on
the dream they say god gave them
ministers are quitting what they said
wasn’t a job it was a calling
why is it that finding someone who has
weathered the storms and is still
standing such a rarity instead of a
common occurrence
can i tell you that the older and older
i get the more
impressed i am
with people who have just plain old flat
out
remained
they’ve just been
faithful
they may not be famous
but they’ve remained
they may not be rich but they have
remained they may not be applauded or
noticed or have a lot of followers on
facebook or on instagram or a lot of
likes on every tweet that they post but
they’re not interested in that they’re
trying to be steadfast and unmovable and
always abounding in the work of the lord
the older and older i get the less
impressed i am with the easily
instagramable or the easily famous
uninterested and attracted to and
endeared to
the saints who have
remained
and so i want to encourage you and us on
this sunday about remaining
about being steadfast oh i know it’s
hard i know that the storms have crashed
down upon your house and upon mine i
know that it has been difficult to
remain upright and to keep ourselves
steady in the midst of such uncertain
times but the holy spirit himself will
undergird us and support us so that we
can have longevity and be faithful to
our god
to the end
john writes to us about that
john he’s the one who gave us his gospel
the book of john but then he also wrote
to us a trio of letters
first second and third john
scholars call this the remaining
trifecta
the remaining trio
because over and over and over again
this brother keeps writing about
remaining the word he uses most commonly
throughout his writing to allude to this
idea of being steadfast and remaining
the word he uses is
abide that’s the word you might
recognize you remember in john the
gospel he writes about abiding in christ
and allowing christ to abide in you over
and over and over again he writes about
abiding and the main theme the main
thrust of the word abide
is to stay
it’s to hang out
it’s to chill
it’s to be steadfast
i’m a tea drinker i like hot tea a lot i
probably drink at least one cup a day
before i go to bed it’s just kind of a
thing that helps me to wind down a
little bit i like green tea jasmine
green tea to be specific and i’m the
kind that i put my tea bag in even
before i put the hot water in the mug so
i have the tea bag sitting there then i
put the hot water in and i allow the tea
bag to just
abide
it just sits there
it just hangs out in the hot water the
hot water going through the tea bag the
tea bag meshing in with the hot water
it’s becoming one with the other i’m the
kind of person that just leaves the tea
bag in there the entire time that i’m
drinking the tea the the tea bag is just
remaining
i was with a friend and we were sitting
across from each other having tea and i
noticed she wasn’t an abider
she was a dipper
she was taking that tea bag and just
dipping it in and out as we’re talking
she’s just dipping it in and out and i
was a little irritated by the whole
dipping situation going on across the
table and i said to her girl you realize
you can just leave the bag in there
right you realize you could just leave
it sitting there it’ll be fine
and she said well i don’t like to let it
sit there too long because if it sits
there too long if it remains in the
water too long
the tea will get too strong
there is a strength that comes with
abiding
with remaining
you know if you like dip in on sunday
but dip out on monday
if you dip into spiritual things when
stuff is tough in life and that’s when
you pray but when everything is steady
and calm you actually don’t connect with
god if you dip in and out you will not
have the strength that you need to have
the scaffolding that you need the
foundation that you need the rooftop
that you need to have a house that can
weather
any storm that comes your way
so john he writes to us about the
importance of remaining about abiding
i’m going to read to you from his first
letter it’s first john
i’m going to read chapter 2
verse 12
and then i’m going to read to you 13 14
and 28.
let’s start first john chapter 2 verse
12.
john says
i am writing to you little children
because your sins are forgiven you for
his name’s sake verse 13 says i am
writing to you fathers because you know
him who has been from the beginning i am
writing to you young men because you
have overcome the evil one
i have written to you children because
you know the father
that verse was so important he almost
repeats the exact same thing in verse
14.
i have written to you fathers
because you know him who has been from
the beginning
i’ve written to you young men because
you are strong and the word of god
abides in you and you have overcome the
evil one
and then verse 28
and now little children
here’s our word
remain in him
some of your versions may say abide in
him
here’s why
so that when he appears
we may have confidence and not shrink
away from him in shame at his coming
john starts right off the bat and says
in verse 28 i’m going to tell you why
remaining why abiding why being faithful
not perfect but purposeful and
intentional the overarching theme of a
lifespan is consistency in honoring god
he’s going to tell you why that matters
and why it’s important he says in verse
28
because
jesus is coming
jesus is coming
i don’t mean in theory
i mean he’s coming
i mean the sky is going to split and the
trump is going to sound and jesus is
going to appear he’s coming back and i
don’t know about you but when i see my
savior face to face i am looking for
well done
i want to hear him say well done i won’t
be perfect but i can be purposeful and
intentional and remain in my lifestyle
my walk with him over the course of life
i don’t want to just be faithful in one
season of life or in one decade of life
but over the span of the time that he
gives me and the time that he gives you
i want to be consistent in honoring him
because
he is coming
when you and i keep in our view and in
our mind
that jesus is coming back it causes us
to look at everything that is happening
in our daily life everything happening
in the course of time and history as an
opportunity to honor god because he’s
coming we we see things through an
eternal lens when we remember that the
reason why we remain is because he is
coming back
and so john writes to us about remaining
and he says the the overarching reason
why we want to make sure that we do that
is because jesus is coming but then he
does acknowledge progression
did you notice in the verses that i read
to you he speaks to little children
then he speaks to young men or
adolescents and then he speaks to
fathers he recognizes progression and
growth in remaining he acknowledges that
you’re going to go through different
seasons and different stages of growth
that it is a journey this process of
remaining
and honoring god throughout a lifetime
and so i thought for just a few moments
we could walk through each of those
stages together you could see where you
are in the journey and i can see where i
am
he started off in verse 12 by saying i’m
writing to you little children because
your sins are forgiven for his namesake
little children is a phrase that he uses
all throughout his writing and yet while
it’s translated into one word little
children or to those two words in
english
there are two different original words
that are used for little children
translated the same in english but from
two different original words
that first original word is translated
little children in verse 12 but it has
nothing to do this original word has
nothing to do with age
it has nothing to do with maturity level
it’s only a term that denotes
relationship meaning it doesn’t matter
what success level you are doesn’t
matter how long you’ve been a christian
doesn’t matter your age your
achievements or your lack thereof he
says i’m just writing to all y’all who
have a need for a father
so he says i want you to know that just
in case you think this message might be
for the person that’s sitting beside you
or behind you or in front of you but not
for you he says i want to clear the
playing field right now i want to level
it all out and let you know that i’m
writing to all y’all little children
because all of you are in need of a
father if we want to have any chance of
having a life that remains over the
course of time and history weathering
the storms and the difficulties that
we’re going to traverse through you’ve
got to have a relationship with a father
and i love so much that
john goes out of his way to make sure he
uses that word that levels the playing
field because what that does is make
sure that the proud among us recognize
oh no you need a father it also helps
the lowly among us the ones who feel
like we’re too weak or we haven’t
achieved enough or we haven’t done
enough we feel lowly in some way it
helps us to know that that our
relationship with god elevates us to
sons and to daughters we’ve been adopted
into the family of god at the cross all
of us come level in need of the same
grace and the same mercy and the same
relationship with god the father through
jesus christ and so john levels the
playing field right off the bat and he
says i want you to know this message is
for you
for all y’all because he was from texas
probably for all y’all little children
then he says in verse 13.
i’m writing to you fathers because you
have known him who has been from the
beginning i’m writing to you young men
because you have overcome the evil one
and i have written to you children
because you know the father
i figure if we start at the bottom of
verse 13
we can just speak to the children
the young men
and then the fathers
in verse 13 the word that he uses for
little children
is the opposite word from verse 12.
this one
actually means
an infant
a baby
he says i am writing to any of you who
are in an infant stage in some season of
your life a fledgling stage meaning
you’re just starting out in that
marriage you’re just starting out in
that entrepreneurial endeavor you’re
just starting out in that ministry you
are young an infant a fledgling in some
area of your life maybe you just came to
know the lord or you just sort of
committed yourself to actually having
being a disciple and growing and
achieving some spiritual maturity you’re
just recommitting yourself to that he
says i am writing to any of you in that
stage and he says here’s what i want you
to know about that stage little children
the end of verse 13. i am writing to you
little children here’s why
because you have come
to know
the
father he says i’m writing to you in
this stage to make sure you know that
the goal and the point of this stage of
your growth and the development if you
want any
possibility of being able to remain over
the course of time in history then
you’ve got to utilize this stage for
coming to know
the father
we had the privilege to go
to hillsong south africa this was quite
a few years ago now but we were there it
was the time of our lives we brought our
three sons with us when we went we knew
about a year in advance that we were
going to be able to to visit the
beautiful church there in cape town
south africa and participate in color
conference that was being hosted there
that year and church services we loved
it so much love all the beautiful people
there
in that church
and um we we loved being able to bring
our boys it was exciting and because we
knew we were going in advance we kind of
saved up money to be able to take the
kids i was homeschooling them at the
time and i thought in advance hey why
don’t we study geography of cape town
and study some of the things that are
unique to that area nelson mandela
apartheid so that when we get there i
can take them to robben island to see
where nelson mandela was imprisoned i
could take them to the museums and we
can see the geography of cape town not
just online but be able then to take
them to table mountain and lion’s head
and all of that and so i was so excited
to bring the boys and i thought you know
they’re going to think this is vacation
for them they’re going to want to like
hang out in the hotel and all that stuff
oh no we’re waking up every morning
you’re going to every museum you’re
going to see the top of this mountain
you’re going to see this every morning
they were waking up going mom do we have
to see something else
yes you do and you’re going to be happy
about it you’re going to love it and one
day you will rise up and call me blessed
is what you’re going to do you’re going
to enjoy this
and so we went to all the museums we did
all the things
and one of the things i got to take the
boys to do was to drive outside of cape
town a couple of hours to have a little
safari just a few hours on an open-faced
jeep with this very
lively learned guide that sat at the
front of the jeep and he turned around
and he would talk to us about the
animals we were seeing
we saw some animals we’d only seen in
books we also saw some animals that
we’ve seen before in
in the states
in the zoo or something we’ve seen some
of those animals and i remember when we
passed familiar animals i thought to
myself we don’t need to know about these
animals let’s move on to the other
animals
but i was so glad when he stopped at the
zebra
there was a little herd of zebra and
there was a baby zebra and he paused
there for a moment and he said you know
i know you guys have seen a zebra before
but i’ve got to tell you
this is the first time i’ve actually
seen that baby back with the herd in
about three weeks
after that foal was born we hadn’t seen
him for three weeks or so now and he
said let me tell you why
when a new baby is born the mother will
take that baby zebra away from the herd
for a little while and the reason why is
because the stripes on every single
zebra are as unique as human beings
fingerprints
you can’t see it with the naked eye but
particularly particularly the
configuration that’s right there in the
middle of the forehead is unique one
zebra to the next
and he said so when a baby is born the
mother will take that zebra away from
the herd so that all the baby is doing
is zeroing in on the configuration of
stripes on his mother’s head
that way the first two weeks or three
weeks of that baby’s life he has come to
know his mother
come to know the one who loves him the
most
so when she brings that baby back to the
herd with all those other stripes that
baby will never ever be confused about
the configuration of stripes that
belongs to the one who gave birth to him
the reason why when you’re in a
fledgling stage it’s not the time to go
away from the father it’s time to cuddle
up close and just get to know who your
father is it’s so that you will know
that it is by his stripes that you have
been healed so that when you are coming
face to face out there in the world with
all the other configurations that are
trying to be presented to you you will
never ever be confused about who your
father is
the one who gave birth to you the one
who adopted you into the family the one
who gave you rights and inheritance as a
son or daughter grafted into the family
of god you need to know who your daddy
is
and i
sadly think
that there are a whole generation of us
as believers that oftentimes we try to
skip this phase
we to try to jump right to adulthood
skipping this foundation of our houses
the strength of a good house is that its
foundation of knowing who your father is
is solid you have a
clarity on who god is the i’m talking
about the god of abraham isaac and jacob
you have come to cultivate a
relationship and we have a generation of
christians who are growing up too fast
they haven’t valued the season this
stage of just doing what a baby does
cuddling up to his parent
knowing what his voice or her voice
sounds like trusting and depending like
infants do on that father that mother to
provide for you to love you to feed you
that baby can offer nothing in return
all it can do is depend learn to depend
the one who loves them the most
any of you that have had children or you
got nieces and nephews then i remember
when i had my kids and i’d take them to
their checkups at the pediatrician one
of the things that those doctors will
often say is be careful about taking a
baby and bouncing them up and down on
his or her own legs too soon it’s always
tempting to sort of stand them up on
their legs and bounce them up and down
but
sometimes if you do it too soon those
bones are still soft and still malleable
and too much weight too much pressure on
their legs too soon
could cause their spine to just be
slightly malformed or twisted so that
they might walk with a limp for the rest
of their lives if they put too much
weight
on their little bodies too quickly
don’t grow up too fast
remain here getting to know the one who
loves you
stay there build a firm foundation
remain there until he releases you
the reason why you’re going to need a
steady foundation john says is because
you are going to grow up
and become
young men
young women
the word there in the original language
is adolescence it’s puberty it’s being a
teenager
he says i’m writing to all of you who
are little children but i’m also writing
to you who are teenagers
adolescents you’ve grown up a little bit
and he says here’s why i’m writing to
you verse 13. i’m writing to you young
men or adolescents because you have
overcome the evil one he reiterates it
in verse 14 and he says i am writing to
you young men because you are
strong
because you’re getting some muscle on
you
so these three boys that i have
they are
giants
they’ve always been big boys now i’m
looking at one getting red turned 20 and
then i got the 17 year old and the 14
year 13 year old he’s already taller
than me
they’re they’re like six foot two inches
tall my older two boys they wear a size
14 men’s u.s shoe i mean these boys are
giant somebody come help you feed these
people they just eat all the time got
these big old boys
they’ve got all these muscles all over
them their chest sticking all out they
walk around their house with their shirt
off it’s nasty it’s gross i’m like put
your clothes on boy
they’re just walking around showing off
all their strength
now when they were younger like nine and
ten years old they already had a lot of
strength i remember around 13 or so they
could literally pick me up and throw me
on the couch and we’d be wrestling and i
couldn’t win against them anymore now
this was before their bodies had fully
developed so there wasn’t a lot of
muscle on the outside of them but they
still had a whole lot of strength
inside and and they were able to kind of
pick me up and throw me around and we’d
wrestle together and i realized that
that stage i remember it happening where
i really couldn’t fight back that well
anymore they had me
they are athletes and my husband has
been really detailed with their coaches
and trainers and stuff about making sure
that there was not too much weight put
on those boys too early he didn’t want
them lifting weights when they were
younger and their bodies were still
developing he would tell their coaches
they can do push-ups and resistance
things using their own body weight but
let’s hang off on adding actual weights
and dumbbells to their workout regiments
too early
so it’s only in the past two or three
years that these boys have actually
started lifting
weights
and i’m telling you once they started
actually lifting weights once the
resistance was added to their workout
regimen
all of a sudden all of that power and
strength that was always in them
started taking shape on the outside of
them
now you could see the muscle that was in
there but now it was developed and it
was cultivated and you could start to
catch sight of it on the outside of them
it’s why i’ve got big grown men walking
around my house now with all this muscle
on the outside of them the power was in
them
but adding the resistance allowed you to
see the muscle on the outside of them
john says i’m writing to you and your
little children so that you’re coming to
know the father but i’m going to write
to you when you’re teenagers and
adolescents because you’ll know you’re
there when the resistance of life is
added when you feel like this is weighty
in my ministry or in my marriage or in
my parenting or in my finances or my
entrepreneurial endeavor i feel like
there’s been weight added on to me if
the lord has loud weight something you
feel like man emotionally i can’t carry
this financially i can’t carry this
mentally i feel like i can’t carry this
spiritually relationally i feel like i
can’t carry this the reason why he is
adding weight is so that finally
the power that is in you
can begin to take shape on the outside
of you
this is the time when people will start
looking at you on your job or in your
church or in your house or in your
neighborhood and they will notice a
faith that is powerful and palatable
it’ll be heard in the way that you pray
it’ll be heard and seen in the way that
you serve in the resilience that you
have there’s spiritual muscle coming to
you in that stage
so remain
through the infancy because infancy is
for intimacy
but remain through adolescence because
adolescence
that’s where you accrue power
that’s where spiritual muscle starts
taking shape in your life and it changes
the landscape of your entire spiritual
life and walk with god the dynamic
completely shifts because of spiritual
muscle that begins to take shape
in your life
and then he says finally
i am writing to you fathers
because you know him who has been
from
the beginning
please notice that he doesn’t say i am
writing to you adults
he says i’m writing to you fathers
or mothers
he uses a term that denotes spiritual
parenting
spiritual legacy
the handing off of a baton one person to
the other he says i am writing to you
who are in a season of life where you
have lived long enough where now you
have the opportunity to pass on the
baton of faith to someone who is coming
up after you mentoring he’s talking
about here
so he’s speaking to men and to women
whether you have biological children or
not is not his reference here he’s
talking to people who have walked with
god long enough that they have a
testimony a story to tell where they can
encourage someone who is coming along
after them he says i’m writing to you
fathers spiritual parents and here’s why
i’m writing to you because you know him
who has come from the beginning
he says i’m writing to those of you who
have come to know who jesus is
not a program not a platform not a
religion not a routine i’m writing to
some people who have a house that’s
still standing over the course of time
and you can fling wide open the doors of
your house and invite some people to
come in and take a seat so that you can
tell them and show them the one who was
from the beginning he’s talking about
jesus y’all this is john here who wrote
at the beginning of his gospel john
chapter one verse one in the beginning
was the word and the word was with god
and the word was god he was talking
about jesus then and he’s talking about
jesus here he says we need some people
who know who jesus is not just in theory
not just in a christmas nativity scene
not just through the testimony of other
people no they have lived long enough
and remained with him long enough and
walked with him long enough that they
have a story to tell
and in a world that is beginning to
water down the gospel in a culture that
is generalizing god so that he is one of
many gods and not just a singular
unmatched entity without comparison and
with no counterparts we need some
christians who’ve walked the road long
enough and who have enough years under
their belt who have tried him and have
seen for themselves that there is a one
true god who still has a specific name
an eternal name a name that they are not
afraid to stand and say a name at which
every knee will bow and every tongue
will confess his name is jesus christ he
still is the chief cornerstone
he still is the lily of the valley he is
still a bright morning star he is the
one of whom the prophet spoke he is the
one who was born of a virgin so that he
knew might become the light to all
mankind he is the one who laid down his
life so that we would not have to pay
the wages for our own sins he was the
one who was resurrected from the dead by
the power of the holy spirit the same
power that lives on the inside of us he
is the one at whose name demons tremble
he is the one who will return to judge
the living and the dead john says we
need some people who will tell us about
that jesus
and so he says we need some saints who
have remained whose house is still
standing who haven’t been perfect but
they’ve been purposeful intentional
about making sure that despite the
cracks or the wounds or the scars or the
scuffs that their house may have because
of the hail and the rain and the winds
that have blown their house still
stands
they have a firm foundation they have
firm scaffolding they have a roof over
their heads a father named uh god who is
the one true and living god and they
have a house that is still standing and
they fling open the front doors of that
house and they say come on in and let me
tell you about jesus
he says remain
remain over the course of time a
lifetime of growth
because y’all it’s not about arriving
it’s about remaining
each wobbly step that we take is
building our strength and our resilience
and our fortitude and if you skip any
part of the process if you skip over
infancy or skip over adolescence you
will have missed some formative stages
of your spiritual life that are required
for you to have the assurance and the
strength that you need to stay steady
over the course of time so he encourages
you and i encourage you and me and us to
remain
why
verse 28
because jesus is coming
he’s coming
be steadfast
be immovable
and by the power of the holy spirit be
always abounding in the work of the lord
lord jesus i thank you that by your
spirit you give us the strength to
remain
for those of us who feel like right now
we’re particularly exhausted and weak
and feeble and faltering in some area of
our life because the storm we’ve just
been through has been more difficult
than we ever imagined imagined it would
be i pray for fresh wind and fresh fire
fresh encouragement and fresh strength
by your spirit today
in jesus name i pray
amen
you