[Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] wow thank you it's such an incredible feeling to walk in a room you've never been in before and feel home it's such an incredible feeling to look at a bunch of faces you've never seen before and yet I recognize you because I see the love of the father in you when you lift up your voices there's something so familiar about the way we walk together we're so excited just to be here with you tonight and uh before I start more than anything else I want to take a minute and just honor this house and honor the leaders of this house um as I Was preparing to come I was praying and Dom is a dear friend and I just asked the Lord I said what's a fresh word that you would say for your son and for your daughter tonight that you want to be said in front of the house that we could come into agreement because I believe something happens when we agree with Heaven he said this D about you the phrase I heard immediately driving down the road was Dom as a friend of God and what was incredible is I actually heard the tone of the father's voice and saying it he's like he's my friend and I don't know much on planet Earth that can't be done with a friend of God when I walk with you what I sense is John the Beloved that you constantly lean back on the chest of Jesus listening to what he says and what I felt like the Lord wanted me to say before anything else is to come here and to call for for Gold Street Garden Church to say this listen to the friend of God listen to him and I sense that you do but don't treat lightly what he says don't say oh that's just his personality or oh isn't he gentle because he's not seeking to buildt his own kingdom and if you listen to the friend of God there are things that God is going to do that is going to establ you and then Jackie once again when I went to pray for you Jackie I immediately heard so I'm I'm asking God a question you ever have God interrupt you when you're talking to him and I'm starting to ask a question before I could even get it out God interrupts me I said Lord what would you say to Jackie he said she was well- named and I said that's interesting he said you need to look up her name and so the name Jackie and you probably know this Jackie but for the rest of us there's there's two meanings to Jackie's name the first is that God has been gracious and what I heard was this you are both a display of God's grace and a donor of God's grace you're a display of his grace and you're a donor you give it out freely and I love this I'm a I'm a language nerd you're going to hear about this some tonight I love digging into the Greek and the Hebrew and what words actually mean and that word Grace when God said that you are a donor of Grace I got really excited driving down the road because maybe you've heard before that Grace is unarmed to favor from God somebody's heard that that's actually only part of the definition it is true that we can't earn Grace and it is true that it's favor from God but it actually the full definition is this favor from God that he wants to pour out on you that he's giddy with delight and that he's going to continue pouring it out until you're giddy with delight so I want to say this if you're not at the place where you just bubbling up within you and you can't contain it you haven't received the fullness of Grace and that's not a condemnation that's an invitation that there's more and this matters because if God says that Grace is him being giddy with delight and pouring it out so that his children would be giddy with delight and he says you're a donor of Grace that says a whole lot about your heart the second thing I heard was this though I looked at the second definition and the first one made me happy right away the second one I was like the second one doesn't sound good and it's not what I want to stand on a Tuesday night and say because the second one is supplanter of the heel to grab on to the heel and it's actually the same root as as Jacob the name Jacob and this is what I heard immediately he said you are not Jacob wrestling against God you are Jackie who holds firmly to my heel even when it's hard and what he took me to immediately was Genesis chter 3 Jackie when it says that God is going to come and crush the enemy through his heel and this is what I heard he said Jackie you hold on to Jesus and you hold on to others to see their full restoration even when it brings you squarely into the path of pain he said tell her I see that she holds on to me and tell her I'm holding on to her lastly I asked the Lord for a word here to come into a place and say Lord what what is it that you want to say because I don't want to just show up with anything my biggest prayer is that you wouldn't hear any thought that I just cooked up for an opportunity to come and talk and so I'm just going to submit this to the house and I'll send this to you but this is what I heard from the Lord is I was quiet and I said what would you say to Gold Street he said this he said You are young and zealous for my name and my kingdom you burned for me if you will allow me to continually stoke your flame in my Refiner's Fire and listen to the wisdom of those who have gone before you it will be a safeguard so that you will continue to burn without being burned in the process if you would hold on to your first love I will continue to Astound you I'm proud of you and how you carry me with that can I just pray for us tonight father I believe that you have things in store door for us tonight that you planned from eternity past things that only you can do there are ways that you want to speak to our heart there are breakthroughs and father all we're asking right now is that we would walk in step with the spirit that what you want to say to us that we would hear that what you want to do father we surrender and we just ask you to have your way if you agree with that would you say amen amen amen before I dive in I want you to know a little bit about me um my name is Chuck I've been in Ministry actually since 1998 and I've actually been a pastor at the same church since 2001 over overflow church and went through being a teaching pastor and a youth pastor and now have the opportunity of uh leading a lot of the vision at the church and I'm married to my high school sweetheart Jill right here in the front row um we met when when she was 14 and I was 15 and actually here is our family uh we have five children um people ask do you know what causes that yes we do um we do it's a good gift from the Lord he gave us these kids and so my kids actually range from 20 Bradley there at the front all the way to my twins uh at the back Annabelle and Andrew that are 13 or about to be 13 and and actually it was the kind of thing people ask did you set out to be a large family we didn't we thought maybe we'd have a few kids we had a child we said we don't think God's done we had another child we said we don't think God's done we had another child and three kids and we like you know maybe I don't think God's done and then it was surprise I'm pregnant surprise its twins God's done like we knew at that point like this is it this is the family that you've given us for the last seven years I got to tell you the testimonies you were just giv are so near to my heart because for the last seven years our family has served as a foster family um going to Broken families to see them entirely restored and this is what I've loved watching in seven years God just isn't the Savior for the broken and the abused God also came to be the Savior for those who break things and abuse them he's not just the Savior for kids who don't know their father he's the Savior for moms and dads where everything is blown up and can I just tell you by the grace of God what we've watched in seven years we've seen five children reunified back to their home but here's the cool part here's the cool part all five of those kids were taken from their mom and they were reunified back to their bi ological father we live in a system where they say that doesn't happen one of these kids by the way they told us they said listen we don't even know who the dad is and anyway dads don't step up and I can remember the day they said that and something just rled up within me not mad at them but mad you know what I mean they said dads don't step up and that night around the dinner table we all sat me my wife my kids and I said here's what we're to pray right now we're to pray number one that they will find who dad is number two that this Dad will step up and number three we will get to be a part of a miracle and watch what the father alone can do two weeks later I'm in another state at a conference with some people from our church when all of a sudden I get a call from a case manager she says you're not going to believe this we found dad and you're really not going to believe this dad wants to step up and do a visit and they said but here's the deal dad's a kind of rough looking dude like he's this big like guy you don't want to meet in the back side of an alley and apparently you know they saw something about my stature and said why don't you let us oversee the visits because they felt like maybe the only kind of warfare I knew was spiritual right so and I'm normally very easygoing but right then I said listen we prayed for this Dad to come we will be overseeing the visits and I was shocked as we started seeing the first few visits he was rough and Gruff and he looked like the guy you would not want to cross in an alley but several weeks in all of a sudden he started to open up to me and a few weeks later his voice broke as he said you know I actually have some adult children that I don't have a relationship with he said I've never really been able to figure it out and put it together and then his voice cracks and he starts tearing up and he said I just know within me what kind of father I can be if given the chance and I said my friend it's going to be the greatest joy to watch God give you the chance did you know it was 8 months later we stood on my driveway right here where you're seeing this picture take place and I was able to say dad here's your daughter we walk with them to this day they're a family that is put together and watching they regularly come and visit us at church and Jesus has caught this Father's Heart not only for his daughter but for his [Applause] father as Dom talked about a lot of my Ministry has to do with fatherhood and where we're going to go tonight has to do with fatherhood and that matters because if it comes to my testimony I can't really remember a time uh that I did not believe in the god of the Bible I have a rich Legacy of Faith so from the time I was Littest littlest memories I remember being taught about Jesus remember being taught about God and saying yeah I believe that's true but here's the problem I believe that God was really angry and really frustrated with me and all of my life I lived under this shame where I felt like I was this close to actually being something great but it felt like no there's something just really broken there was shame that went everywhere I went and when I got about 15 years old I started getting more serious about my faith and I knew that what you needed to do if you're going to be serious about your faith is you needed to read the word of God and I knew if you read three chapters of the Bible a day then in a year you could get through the Bible and so I said that's what I'm going to do and I never really got much further than Exodus any of the times that I tried this because just a few chapters into the Bible all my words fears seemed to be realized I read a God who seemed to be angry and I was convinced that he was angry at me and I wish I could tell you I was joking but at 15 when I would go to read my Bible I would lock the door like a self-imposed prison sentence to not let myself out say I'm going to stay in this and lived in Florida and thunderstorms come in the sunmer and when a thunderstorm would hit at 15 I was convinced that all this stuff I was reading about that was going wrong it was like God's coming and he's coming for me and he's not happy I remember being 17 when there were some friends that just wouldn't let go and kept inviting me to their youth group and finally I went and I started plugging into church but I got to tell you in the in the years and weeks that followed I probably came down to the altar to give my life to Jesus like 117 times not to mention all the times I stayed in my seat and wouldn't raise my hand because I was embarrassed and so I went home that night having prayed the prayer but not knowing if it works because is Jesus really going to come for a coward despite all of that God's grace moved where I felt a call into Ministry and I went to Bible College having never read the Bible I showed up at bible college those next years I started to get into God's word and to study Theology and what you know it it was like hand and glove it was something I was great at and for the next years I could go into rooms and I could go into relationships and I could see Colossians 1 127 Christ in you the hope of glory and I could speak it out and I watch God move but that shame that had been buried deep here that part that somewhere maybe there was a faker here or something that wasn't quite right those addictions that I wrestled with that I kept trying to lay down those mindsets those dark thoughts that I couldn't quite get past kept me where what I what I would say my discipleship Journey was was like have you ever been to the the the gym and watch that machine that I'm certain is going to be in Hell the endless stair climber you know what I'm talking about it's just a mini escalator that keeps going until apparently you die right that's the point that was my spiritual journey that every day I got in and in fact the more that I learned about the Bible and the more I learned about discipleship and then more I learned about plans every plan I read was about steps that you needed to climb Step One is this and step two is this and step three and so much of it was just self-help with a steeple on it but I didn't recognize it and so I kept running and running and running till about 10 years ago at this point I've been in Ministry a long time I've been watching God move I love Jesus with all of my heart but something was broken and I showed up at this power and love conference where they said that the same things that happened in the days of the Bible happen today through Ordinary People and I said yes and amen and they said Jesus wants to transform our cities as we love them with the love of the father I said yes and amen and they said now go out in the city and show the love of Jesus and I said I was like I'm sorry I need a training manual or something because I'm going to mess this up God sent me back to my hotel room and the easiest way I can say it to you is in 30 minutes he turned my life completely upside down no Fanfare nobody else present a quiet worship song playing and all of my wrestling all of my striving would you lay it down would you lay it down would you lay it down and finally he asked me this question at the end of all of it he said are you ready to stop being the guardian of your reputation and are you ready to become the recipient of your identity are you ready to stop being the guardian of your reputation of what everybody else thinks of you of what you think of you are you ready to step down and and call it what it is this is pride you're elevating what you say about you above what I say about you and in this hotel room it was like I saw a racing stripe across the carpet and I wasn't one to normally see Visions but I saw it clearly and without a second thought I lunged across it before realizing that my window was open to the parking lot the whole time so for the last 30 minutes who knows how many people went by watching a lunatic just Pace back and forth and argue seemingly with himself before lunging across an imaginary line but I got to tell you something crazy happened in the days in room 120 in Naples Florida the guy who walked in never walked back out for the next days I was walking around like a Christian version of Elf everywhere I went I'm like hi you're lovely this is wonderful like everywhere I got home and it was some weeks later that my wife noted she said something is completely different about you and here's what was different I wasn't striving to hold it together anymore I knew I was a hot mess and Jesus absolutely adored me what I want to talk about tonight is what it would look like for us to put two concepts together and marry them as one one of them is intensity for Jesus the other is intimacy with Jesus what would it look like to see intensity for Jesus and intimacy with Jesus married not as two separate things to be balanced but as one and so I'm a words guy so as I step into this definitions matter to me I want to Define this what do I mean by intensity when I'm talking about intensity for Jesus intensity means to focus your attention on something with passion and precision to focus your attention with passion and precision so if you think about passion that's going to be enthusiasm or energy that's what you're excited about it's the stuff you can't shut up about when you think about Precision that would be like an undistracted intentionality an unwavering productivity it would be like looking at your life and saying if I don't do anything else today I'm going to hit this target so can I ask is there anybody here in the room that would say I know somebody that is intense for Jesus they have an intensity they have a passion about Jesus and oh my goodness there unwavering productivity they just run and run and run after him yeah okay the second we talked about was intimacy when I talk about intimacy I'm talking about a relationship of peculiar familiarity affection and trust that word peculiar matters because to be peculiar it means it's not like anywhere else it's a fire that burns hotter for someone than anywhere else it's a history that runs deeper it's somebody captivating your heart unlike anybody else it's you being safe in somebody's arms where you can drop the mask and just rest and just be you and you know I think we wouldn't dare say it but often what happens is this we live as if intensity for Jesus and intimacy with Jesus are like two Polar Opposites of a magnet that can never quite come together as one thing we've got to choose one or the other if we're going to run intense for Jesus then at some point we're going to burn out and go back and say oh Jesus it's only about you but is it going to cost us something we never say that the truth is they're not Polar Opposites they actually are the two connecting parts of a magnet that we're not going to have either one of them unless we have them together he's called us to walk in intensity and intimacy and so our hope tonight would not be a balance between resting in the kingdom and running in the Kingdom for many years that's where I I I wanted this balance between this completely sold out life and this intimate Stillness with Jesus I I would want to run and say we're going to go save all these Souls but then I'd read unless you abide in me you don't bear any fruit and I was trying to find how do you do both of those and it's like my whole life going back to the gym which is a place that reminds me of Hell a lot apparently going back to a gym you ever seen those stability balls right that little half ball that has the thing and you stand on the stability ball that is what it looks like for you to try to balance intensity and intimacy is that if you think it has to be balanced you're never going to rest you're always making adjustments and always making tweaks and if you listen to the things that we say we're always running as people as Christians after some Finish Line that never quite seems to get there and once it gets there then I'll have peace then I'll have joy once it gets there then I could rest maybe you're guilty of of saying something like me where you show up and you say well it's just a busy season I'm in has anybody said that I just want to give a news flash if it's been the last 5 years it's not a season it's just your life right our hope would not be trying to balance intensity and Intimacy in fact I'll tell you the truth is they only stand as one and I'll prove it to you in the words of Isaiah chapter 40 it says this says even youth shall faint and be weary and young men shall fall exhausted but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength they shall Mount up with wings like eagles they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not be faint listen to me tonight the sons and daughters who rest are the ones who run with him we can only be resting Runners ever so can I remind us and joy that you are not a pendulum to be balanced you're a beloved to be loved you're beholden to be held and so I want to talk about what it would look like for us to recover this and I want to go to a very familiar story but I'm praying tonight that we'll see it through new eyes I want to look at two sisters what I could only call the sister of intensity and the sister of intimacy I want to look at the story of Mary and Martha and it takes place if you got your Bible we'll have it here on the screen too Luke Chapter 10: 38-42 it says as Jesus and his disciples were on their way he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened up her home to him and she had a sister called Mary who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said but Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made she came to him and asked Lord don't you care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself tell her to help me Martha Martha the Lord answered you are worried and upset about many things but few things are needed or indeed only one Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her can I ask honestly here in the room tonight how many of you would say I see a lot of myself and Martha how many of would be able to say I see a lot in the intensity of all the things I want to get done and here's the deal y'all Martha gets a bad rap I don't know if you've heard the messages about Martha and the things we've said about some people are going to owe an apology to Martha when they get to heaven it's bad I remember once seeing a t-shirt that said I'm a Mary not a Martha and I'm like that's bad but can I remind us something Jesus wouldn't have even been in the house without Martha Martha opened her home to him listen to me Mary would have had no space to hang on every word Jesus had to say if Martha hadn't prepared the Place had Martha not prepared the place Mary had no space to be there the fact of the matter is we need a whole lot more marthas now by this time in Jesus's Ministry he would have been really well known we know in the gospel accounts it says things like when Jesus showed up in town sometimes so many people came around they had to put him in a boat and set him offshore just so he could preach and Echo out and the fact that all of those people wanted to be near Jesus and he ended up at Martha's House tells us something about the intensity in this fervent Saint we know that Martha loved Jesus because she worked herself to exhaustion to the point of wanting to please him have you ever invited an important guest over to your home right now I don't know how it is for you but my very mild-mannered very kind very sweet wife turns into a forar General when guests are coming over to our home and all of a sudden we are the Battalion me and my five children lining up against the enemies of dirt and grime and coming for our assignment right and here's the deal that happens the more dignified the guest the longer the list of preparation it's like why in the world are we alphabetizing the pantry right now right is the way that this usually feels so here's my question how how would you prepare your house for the king of glory to come in see Martha loved Jesus and she worked hard to please him Martha invited Jesus Martha cleaned Martha cooked Martha oversaw all the preparations that had to be made except when Jesus arrived it wasn't good enough for Martha yet she knew there was dust in the cupboard she knew there was junk shoved into miscellaneous drawers I mean come on be honest in my kitchen we've got a drawer that we've lovingly named the junk drawer anybody else have a junk drawer in your house okay some of you the bigger your family gets you don't keep it to a drawer you put it in a Cupboard or some of you have a whole junk room you know the junk room it's the one that when guests come over you're like I'm going to show them anywhere else but this one with the exercise bike that hasn't been used since Jesus left us right it I'm not letting anybody in this room Martha knew she had junk that was out of order and the king of glory was coming in and so feverishly even though he was there she kept trying to clean it up and make it better so that Jesus would come in and that he want to stay I would say looking at this and the other stories that we see of Martha in scripture she would be somebody who well lived out those words Zeal for my father's house consumes me because she knew this wasn't just another Rabbi coming to town she really believed the savior they had hoped for was here present and she wanted full partnership as a good Jew Martha would have known passages like this one in Isaiah which I believe burned in her heart when God said is not this the fast I chose that you would loose the bonds of wickedness and undo the straps of the Yoke that you would let the oppressed Go free and you'd break every yoke is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring your homeless poor into your house when you see the the naked to cover him and not to hide yourself from your own flesh to pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of The Afflicted and then your light shall rise in the darkness and your Gloom will be as the noon day she knew the intensity of pouring out and she was trying her best to pour herself out for the kingdom of God so that she could get to the place where one day she would see a light shining in her Darkness Martha was on the treadmill that I was running on saying if I can work hard enough if I can work intensely enough if I can spend myself enough then maybe Jesus will want to stay and if I could submit to you I would say this at a very starting point for everybody who rais their hand and say I see myself in Martha I'll say we need a whole lot more of the fervency of Martha in the kingdom of God on Earth today because there are so many problems that we're facing guys that the question isn't where is God it's where are his sons and daughters we talked about the foster care crisis going in the amazing work you got guys did going out there did you know right now the statistic in the Tampa Bay area is if one family in every seven church I'm sorry one family in every three churches would Foster we would have no Foster crisis it would be done so that means overflow church and Gold Street and we can go down the street and grab another church and all we need in those three churches is one family to say I'll Foster and if that happens across the Tampa Bay Area the foster care epidemic is over because the church stepped in but did you know right now the statistic is one family in every seven churches steps up it's not to shame the church it's simply to point out what Romans 8 said that all of creation is hungering Full Tilt they're crying out for what for the Sons and Daughters of God to be revealed we need the fervency of Martha that says I will spend every last ounce of who I am for the kingdom of God in a consumer culture when so many people are just consumed with me we need Sons and Daughters who will spend themselves but here's the problem and it's the big idea I want to drive home tonight intensity born anywhere other than intimacy will wreck your identity intensity born anywhere other than intimacy will wreck your identity what I would love to do briefly and you know anytime a pastor says briefly it means we're going to be here another two and a half hours we won't I can land this Dom I can land this in a solid two hours from here briefly I want to share four warning signs that we're starting to shift into a Lane where we're going after intensity for God and we're losing intimacy and what I would love to do with these four is to hold a mirror up I would love for us to hold a spiritual mirror up and just look and say let's be honest where am I because in the kingdom of God there's no condemnation there's no condemnation for those who believe there's only invitation so tonight if we see that I'm running a course and I see I'm wearing out like Martha I don't have to go there anymore if we could hold up a mirror and say if the shoe fit kick it off it's not your shoe to wear right you got new shoes the gospel of peace so I want to look at these four and say where are we at if we start running after intensity and we start losing intimacy number one is this if we walk in intensity without intimacy we will confuse progress with presence it says in the story that Martha was distracted by all of the preparations that had to be made in G GRE that word distracted it means to over occupy your mind with too many things so many of us the thing we say now often is I'm just so busy I'm just so busy I'm just so busy you know if somebody came in tonight and they said I'm an alcoholic or I have a drug problem we'd have many people wanting to come around them with the compassion of the Lord to lay hands on them to see it set right right because we'd recognize that there's something that you're feeding yourself that is poisonous to your soul but do you know with busyness in the church we don't treat it as a sin we treat it as a badge of honor saying I'm so busy is often synonymous with I'm so important but to be busy by definition is to have more things to do than you can have the time to do it is that fair fair definition of busyness so here's the deal God gave us 24 hours a day seven days a week because it's sufficient and if we're trying to cram more into 24 hours a day seven days a week then what that means is we're walking a Time debt of poor stewardship of the gift of time that he's given us and according to scripture we are distracted we're over occupying our soul with too many things in a space that wasn't supposed to be there so where Martha came first and all the while she's looking at progress AT progress but look at what's getting done look at what got cleaned look at what I figured out but the king of all Kings is in her house and she's missing it for doing dishes and for preparing meals if we're not careful we can start setting false priorities for all the things that have to be done it's our way of getting ourselves off the hook you don't understand I have to do all these things we start hearing about intimacy and you hear about sitting at the father's feet but you don't know all that I have to do and usually at least if your life looks anything like mine when I held up my mirror this is what I saw most of the things that I've picked up that I have to do I've picked up in comparison with somebody else that I'm trying to keep Pace with if we run after intensity and we lose intimacy we will confuse progress with presence and we will run ourselves ragged while Jesus is in our house we will miss him the first question I'm going to ask tonight is this is is there anywhere your pursuit of progress is distracting you from Dancing With Jesus progress at your job progress with your health even progress with your family we can go after all kinds of good things and miss it sometimes progress looks like achievement I said it earlier it's the when I accomplish this or I get rid of that then I'll be happy versus the joy of the Lord is my strength is there any place you're running yourself ragged if you're just really being honest you say I'm exhausted is there any way you're delaying your joy to once I figure this out then I can be joyful we're going to do something about that in just a minute the second warning sign I want to give us if we start walking after a life of intensity that loses intimacy is we will end up in a place of resentment toward others Martha goes on and she says my sister left me to do the work by myself tell her to help me now in Greek we kind of miss something when we just read it in English because my sister left me doesn't sound that harsh except in Greek the word left means to abandon or forsake my sister has forsaken me my sister has abandoned me and I tell you what I think's happening right here is Martha elevated her agenda for the part she wanted to play in the story in a way that made her sister the villain and Martha the victim and so something happened where Martha found herself in the last place she'd ever want to be have you ever found yourself really really angry and you don't know it until you open your mouth and suddenly words start falling out and you're like wow I'm pretty upset this is the moment you see with Martha because I want you to understand up to this point she's been cleaning the house she's been preparing she's been trying to put on the perfect image for oh Jesus we're a happy family and we're so glad that you're here and that you've come the last thing Martha wants to do is what comes out of her mouth in correcting Jesus but suddenly when she goes and I don't know maybe it was like I I showed you my kids when my kids were little sometimes they would know when a guest came over they could try to get away with things right because they were like Mom and Dad aren't going to like want to embarrass themselves in front of this guest so they would just start acting up I know your kids don't ever do that but you know what it is right because my parents would do this with me and I did it with my kids there's the stair any parent know what the stair is right where all of a sudden you like bore a hole into the back of your child's head like you are going to look at me right now right I imagine that Mary Martha gave Mary the stare for a while from the other side from the kitchen just peering out around except Mary was there hanging on every word Jesus had to say and I imagine at that point she would have come around the corner I don't know picked up a piece of fruit tried to throw it like what can I do that will get Mary's attention and not Jesus's attention but whatever it was she tried nothing was working and and and there she had the very thing she was the one that opened her home she was the one that invited she was the one that tried hard and Mary was getting the reward and suddenly she opens her mouth and lets out all of this resentment see what starts to happen if we live in intensity without intimacy we will become a victim to every person who's not furthering our little K Kingdom we'll start walking in a place that there's always somebody or something that's blocking me from the blessing I need we'll start talking about how you don't understand what my boss did and what my job did and and and what happened in my family my kids won't listen to me and this is what's going on in my marriage and you don't understand my financial situation they won't give me my doe there's always something else blocking the way because if we go after intensity without intimacy we're only left with resentment we get jealous of other people's successes and breakthroughs because we're working harder and they're getting the reward you know it's interesting that Martha says tell her to help me you know the word help in Greek means to co- strive tell her to leave the place of abiding at your feet to come strive with me and Jesus said oh there's going to be an exchange here but it's not going to work that way there's something that needs to be joined but it's actually your striving I want to send out the door and it's intimacy and adoration that I want you and your sister to share in together sometimes it gets real ugly if you think about the things we go through and I if you ever wrestle with insecurity or jealousy where you look at what God's doing in another believer's life and it just just starts to get you upset anybody been there you watch what's happening am I the only one has anybody been there where you're watching the success of somebody else's life whether you know them or you don't and you just feel like it's not fair I don't feel seen and here's the deal there's this word in scripture where God calls us beloved I love that word you know what the word beloved means it means favorite means receiving the maximum amount of favor from the father and here's the deal as parents we're told to never play favorites with our children but did you know God our Father only plays favorites you're his favorite and you're his favorite and you're his favorite and you're his favorite and you're his favorite and what that means is not based on your performance but based on his performance right now whether you know it or not you are receiving the maximum amount of his favor you can kick against it you can push against it you could resist it or you could just receive it you're his favorite so here's what that means if suddenly I see next week that something I've been going after in the Kingdom God just blows Dom and Jackie's minds and they get all the fruit that I've been praying for I have two responses if I'm going after intensity that has lost intimacy and now I'm running then I resent them and I resent him but if I'm an intimacy and I understand that our father only plays favorites the minute He blesses you I go that's what our father does and they're beloved and I'm beloved so the only thing this tells me is just the storehouses of the generosity of my father if he can bless them in that way and they're his favorite and I'm his favorite then oh my gosh the blessings that can come to me but it won't happen if we leave the place of intimacy sometimes it's tougher than this sometimes we resent people because they're actively opposing us because they're living in a way that maybe is even two- faced now I don't know about you but the hardest people I've had to forgive on planet Earth are the ones who claim the name of Jesus when I meet people who say I don't love Jesus and they act like they don't love Jesus I'm like you just reported the news that makes sense to me but when I meet people who say they serve the same father and then they treat me in a way that feels nothing like it I wrestle with that and when I watch God blessing seeming to bless that I feel like the psalmist how long oh Lord do I have to put up with this person but at that point I know that I've taken my eyes and I put it in the wrong place see Jesus is sitting in Martha's home and Martha's looking at Mary how silly is that Martha's looking to blame Mary and the father who only plays favorites is right in the living room and listen beloved one if you know Jesus Christ as your savior you are a new creation with an entirely new heart that beats to praise him and every day he's sitting in your living room and we get caught up on these trit things every time we leave the place of intimacy if we leave intimacy let me flip it this way I'll say this if tonight you're living in with W resentment towards somebody else and you're thinking they're the issue I want to tell the issue is not what they need to do it's whose feet you need to get back at we're going to do that in just a minute the third warning sign is this if we walk in intensity without intimacy we will develop an orphan Spirit toward God Martha finally comes to at her breaking point and she asks this question Lord don't you care it's like she finally says now at this point what she's been struggling with for so long are you even taking care of me or is it all up to me me to secure the favor to be seen to become enough to get free to walk in Victory to hear your voice to find my place in the world those words Lord don't you care I think that's it that's the root of all striving it's the orphan spirit this says I've got to work to be worthy of the father's gaze and if we're willing to be honest many of us exhaust ourselves every day thinking if only I can run with enough intensity in this world then maybe one day I can get to the place where I can sit in intimacy and I want to tell you friends it can never work that way you will never get to int intimacy from intensity but if you would get on your face before the Lord in intimacy it always pours out in an intensity for God because God gives more than we can handle everything that he ever gives he gives life to the Overflow that's what that word means in John 10 he gives a love that surpasses our knowledge he gives a peace that surpasses our understanding he gives a joy that's unspeakable if we sit before him that word abide means to stubbornly sit to sit and say if I have one Target today I'm not leaving your feet I'm staying here and what he's promised is this if you sit here he gives you all of his love all of his Joy all of his peace and I promise you it is so much you can't possibly contain it if you want a picture it's like if you've gone to those water parks where you see that giant bucket right where you see the kids will play and they've got that giant bucket that fills up with water and you'll start seeing it sway I remember a time that I looked at a water park and there was my like four-year-old son out there just having a bell and I look up and it's the largest bucket you could possibly imagine and it's starting to sway and Terror takes over because you know what's going to happen if that thing spills like I'm picking up pieces of my son from around the park right it's crazy because it's going to completely overwhelm his vessel God says that's what I want to do with my love and my joy and my peace I want to show you how deeply I love you so that you would finally love yourself the way that I love you and if you love yourself the way I love you loving other people will be simple but it only happens if we're at his feet I want to share one last one and then we're going to move into some Ministry if we walk in a place of intensity without intimacy we will end up in Burnout finally when she pleads to Jesus he says this he says Martha you are worried and upset about many things it literally is a a word about her getting ready to overturn herself and the problem is this if we refuse intimacy we will live a life defined by industry and eventually we will shut down we will get cynical we will get jaded our love will grow cold and we'll find ourselves saying I just don't want to do this anymore the truth is you and I burn for Jesus I agree with the words of Augustine that says that our hearts are restless and we'll never rest until we find it in him but when we find ourselves in this place it's only because we're carrying a yoke that Jesus came to take now if I stopped here then I haven't given you the gospel because I've spent about the last 25 minutes telling you all the bad things that can happen if we don't walk in intimacy it's not bad news I'm a good news person so why don't we turn the page what would it look like to walk in intimacy I'll give you this quick note I don't have enough time to unpack it all but you could stay on this one for days and weeks and I promise you it's true intimacy is developed through proximity permission and pursuit intimacy is developed through proximity permission and pursuit real briefly let me tell you what I mean proximity is where you draw near in presence over time what does proximity look like it looks like dropping the mask and dropping the excuses it looks like opening the door is saying Jesus Come Close and stay here in fact I'll go even further than that the second one of permission is when you let Jesus in and you say I refuse to hide anymore here's my junk drawer and here's the cupboard and please come straight into this room I've been trying to straighten this room up in my life for the last two years and it only gets Messier and I don't know what to do about it but I can't fix it and I'm actually going to choose to believe that you love me enough that you don't want me to try to fix all these things but that you've come in to help clean it up with me it's an intimacy of into me you see I'm going to give you full access into every single room and the last part of that is a Pursuit where you move with Jesus and I love this picture that came to me some years ago from a friend he said I had this this image where I was dancing with Jesus and he saw himself as a young son and Jesus there and he said you know what starts to happen with any of us especially guys try to learn how to dance we're going to step all over somebody's feet and so he said so what happened was he put my feet on top of his feet and he started to lead me and I had my eyes locked on him and I had an Embrace around it's son and father and he's teaching me how to dance and he said we're dancing and we're going and all of a sudden remember this is Jesus he said I started looking around the ballroom and I saw a blind guy over here and I saw a leper back over here and I saw some homeless people back over here and I saw people that were social outcast over here and I saw somebody who was lame over here and he said and in my heart I said Jesus is in the room and Jesus can do something about this and so he said I ran from that place and I ran over to the blind person and I said in the name of Jesus have your sight and nothing happened he said I tried to run to the next person and so maybe they didn't have enough faith maybe they didn't know and he comes in the name of Jesus would you be well in the name of Jesus receive what you need he went to every single one of them and nothing happened and finally defeated and a little frustrated he came back to Jesus he said I don't understand you're Jesus you're the king you want more than anything to heal these people and I want to heal these people he said my son you lost my gaze and you left my Embrace he said if only you'd lock back in with me here and not let go I will dance you everywhere my kingdom needs to go and as he held onto Jesus they danced around and when they danced past the blind person without him ever breaking the Gaze without him ever breaking the Embrace without any work that he did at all suddenly he could see and all around Miracles poured out every place that he turned because he stayed with his father I want to ask tonight if there's any place because listen what I know coming into this house is this is a house of people that are intimate and passionate about the father but is there any place you're running yourself ragged is there any place your intensity of the things that you want to see in this life for him or outweighing your life with him if so I I want to give this word and we're going to take it right into Ministry Revelation Chapter 2 it says this says but I have this against you you've abandoned the passionate love you had for me at the beginning think about how far you've fallen and repent and do the works of love you did at first see some of us I think we're lost in the woods of all the things we're doing for Jesus of all the things we think we have to do to lead in our church and in our ministry and in our family and it's sapping our energy and it's wearing us out and it's breaking our gaze but all Jesus wants tonight is two things if that's you in any way he says what I want is first for you to repent that word isn't nearly as bad as it sounds in English the word repent simply means turn around means you've been running in the wrong direction it means you've been going the wrong way and you stop and you turn around not you make it right not you figure it out not you get a plan not you bridge the distance you remember the story of The Prodigal Son it says that when the son left that the father stood with his toes on the edge of the property line waiting and looking the entire time for the moment that his son would do one thing just turn his head and it says that when the son turned the father saw him coming over the hill and the father bridged the distance of every Wayward second to be there to repent simply means you say oh God I'm running after intensity I'll ask this question do you Sabbath do you rest do you spend time and Delight before him doing what makes you come alive you and I aren't the same but for me you want to know what makes me come alive time and space when I get to go walk with Jesus something is different I see the world more clearly but all too often I let all the things that have to be done start to crowd it out if that's you tonight all he's saying the first step is this just stop stop and say God this is a problem I do this and then there's an invitation can you just do me a favor in fact I'm going to ask for just a moment if you close your eyes can you remember the last time you were absolutely overwhelmed by the love of your father can you remember the last week where you said oh I'm living in a place that I can't believe this is my life I can't believe that you love me I'm a I'm a mess I don't have it figured out but I just know that I know that I know that I'm adored by you can you remember the last time where you wouldn't have used the word busy to describe your life can you remember the Wonder of when Jesus set you free of all the things that you didn't think you would ever be able to be free of can you remember what it's like to sit at his feet and maybe right now you're there and this is just a word to encourage you to continue but I'm believing with all of my heart that God called me and my wife across town tonight because there are some people who need to come back to rest in the father so if I could ask this with your eyes closed can you just take your hand and lay it right on your heart because now what we're doing is we're going to take all that Revelation out there and we're going to bring it right in here right in home Jesus desires for intensity and intimacy to be married for you to burn for him and for you to rest in him without ever losing his gaze and without ever breaking the Embrace can I ask right now is there any place that you're exhausting yourself trying to clean yourself up trying to clean up the house I want to tell you Jesus knows that there is dust in your cupboards and dirt on the floors and he doesn't want you to clean it up he simply wants you to open the door and say here into me you see come see everything what's the mess that you are striving what's the thing you're trying to outrun from your past or for some false perception of yourself maybe right now hand on your heart you'd be willing to say that what was true and my testimony is true for you you've been lifting up some pretty nasty beliefs about yourself above What God Says for you and tonight you want to say I yield I let it go would you wash over me what you say can I ask is there any place you've left the simple Wonder of intimacy with Jesus what are the things that you're worried and distracted about what are the weights and the burdens these things I have to do these but Jesus you don't understand can you lay your half to down at his feet can I ask who or what has broken your heart is there a place where you sat yourself in some way back on the [Music] sidelines would you get honest and tell him God this is what's broken this is the resentment and I'm not going to try to fix it on my own I'm not going to try to deny it I'm not going to try to be more Christian than it I'm simply going to let you in and come to your feet Jesus I don't know what to do I'm angry I'm heartbroken I'm alone remember I said intimacy is that presence that proximity over time what could it look like for you to stop trying to fix yourself and simply come sit at his feet knowing that you're with him and he's already pleased can I ask hand on your heart where is it that you've lost your intensity You've Lost Your Passion where is it you had a dream you had something you ran after and then something happened could you ask God to heal your heart and restore your dream where are you living like it's all up to you and here's what I want to do with whatever the Holy Spirit prompted your heart with in these last few minutes I see him stepping into your house right now with a broom in a dust pan would you take all that dirt all that junk all that stuff you don't want to hold on to anymore even the stuff you haven't figured out and somebody right now hearing my voice you're trying to figure it out still that's control would you let it go you couldn't save you and you can't hold you but beloved he wants you to come and be loved whatever it is that you say this is less than the intimacy my father desires this is my worry my distraction my heartbreak my hurt my angst my too busy my unfinished can you just see it taking it right from your heart there and laying it right down on the floor in front of you can you just see yourself do that okay God I've been holding all of this stuff I've been holding resentment and anger and heartbreak and busyness and have to I've made Christianity so complicated and I just want to go back to the simple wonder of when it was just you and me would you lay that dirt right down on the ground and would you watch Jesus with delight with grace to come in with that broom and to sweep it up and say oh I Delight don't apologize I Delight to take it and I'm going to keep sweeping until you're filled with [Music] delight father I pray father I pray that shame would be broken father I pray that places in our minds that have gotten so wound up with all the ways that we think it needs to work all the things that we think we need to do would you come and uncomplicate it right now all of the answers we think we need would you come uncomplicate it right [Music] now would you right now in your heart to him just say Jesus I yield come into my house come in and take over there are two moments of ministry I'd like to have before we're done is you're just there with your eyes closed before the [Music] Lord the first one is this I never want to take an opportunity I never want to miss an opportunity where there might be somebody in the house hearing my voice right now and you'd say the way you just talked about Jesus in your relationship I don't know if I've ever had that with him he's been a distant Doctrine he's been a thing to believe but I want the relationship with a son or daughter with their father I want to know the depth of his love and his forgiveness and his grace I want to fully surrender I'm going to ask right now with nobody else looking around if that's you the international sign of surrender is just to lift both hands over your head say I yield I give I'm going to ask if there's anybody in the room tonight that would say I don't know that I've ever fully Sur rendered to Jesus before I don't know maybe I prayed the prayer but I don't know and I want to know that I know that I know that I know that I'm beloved that I'm his favorite that I'm forgiven I want to be made new I want to stop striving and I want all the junk that I can't outrun and I can't pay off for my God to take off my shoulders if that's you would you just lift both hands over your head oh thank you Jesus anybody else I just give you a minute there just both hands over your head I just want to pray with you in agreement with what God is doing in your life thank you Lord thank you thank you Jesus would you just say this with your hands up in the air Jesus I yield Jesus I yield not my way but your way be done show me you love [Music] me I ask you to forgive [Music] me would you come and completely take over I want to know you as my [Music] father and I want to promise you we serve a really good father who hears our heart every time we call as you lifted that with a sincere heart he met it with more passion or in Pursuit than you could imagine I ask right now that he come and fill you with his spirit [Music] and that leads me to my second call I'm going to ask my wife Jill just to join me here on the [Music] platform if there's anybody in the room right now that you would say what you need tonight looks like what I shared in my testimony of what I could only call a baptism of love to be baptized is to be immersed to be submerged that you've been wrestling that you're even hearing this right now that you prayed the prayer and you're like I need something to be different I need to know that he loves me I asked the father tonight and this is what I'm going to ask if there's anybody here in the house saying I need a fresh baptism of love from the father whether it's the first time or whether I've forgotten my first love or whether I'm running as Faithfully as I know how but I'm tired and I'm exhausted and I need to see him all over again I need to know the depth of his love I'm just going to ask that you'd come up here right up front that you just kneel here and and Jill and I just want to take a minute and pray for you believing my prayer has been this God as you have done in my life would you do for my brothers and sisters so even now if that's you if you would just come we're to take a few minutes just ministering here before we're done would you come receive a baptism of love thank you Lord thank you Lord [Music] so