It Takes Faith and Praise

Good morning, Salt Church. Good morning to everybody here in person, everybody online. Thank you for joining us. Let us know where you're watching from online. Also, if the children have not yet been released, they're going to be over here with Warren.

We can, you know, go ahead and come on down if you are still in here. First and foremost, I want to thank Pastor Leon for giving me the opportunity to speak this morning. I'm a 21-year-old kid. He doesn't really know what I'm about to say. All he knows is that I'm aligned with God.

But I just wanted to thank Pastor Leon for this opportunity to speak, as well as for his leadership over here at Salt Church. Who am I? Some of you may not know me. My name is Andrew. This is my third time preaching since I've been here in August of 2021.

The first time I preached was last August. And I preached about the lifestyle of worship. And how the lifestyle of worship requires obedience and it requires sacrifice. But through that comes blessing, and it comes freedom, and it comes salvation. The second time I got to preach was during our Right in the Eye series, which was about Gideon and being an extraordinary person.

Not just being extraordinary at something. Like, where's TJ? He's an extraordinary drummer. Fantastic drummer. Before I move on, I just want to shout out the teams that I am so lucky to lead with the praise team with TJ and Alex Rubio and Stefan and Miranda.

Just so thankful for them. And then I get to co-lead this tech team with George, which is, it's amazing to lead alongside him and to lead these incredible men. And this message today is not the one that I wrote and prepared about a month ago when Pastor Leon and I agreed that today would be the day that I preach. This is not the second message that I wrote. This is not the third message.

This is like the tenth message that I've written over the last month since Pastor Leon and I. That's what I'm saying. Like, maybe we'll just, maybe this turns into a series at some point in the future. But for now, you are getting a very, very raw, a very vulnerable message. A message that I am very, very scared, if I'm going to be honest, to preach this morning.

Because God has asked me to be vulnerable, and that's not something that I am comfortable with, as I'm sure many of us are not. In addition to that, he also asked me to share with you the tools, resources, and scripture that he has given me over the last 10 years of my life. When I was probably 10 or 11, I started to notice different things about my life that didn't make sense as compared to some of my friends. I was low drive to do things. I was always nervous about things.

I was just not, I just wasn't great. And from the ages of 10 until 16, I had attempted suicide four times. And all four times, God said no. From the ages of 16 until 19, 20, I'll be honest, 20, I struggled with self-harm. That's not something that I like to share, but God wants to do something with that this morning.

There's people in this room that think that they're alone in their struggles and suicidal ideation or attempts or self-harm or depression or anxiety. Maybe, or whatever it may be for you, two years ago, February of 2020, it was actually on my birthday. It was kind of cool. It was a Sunday morning. I was interning at a church at the time.

And so I got up, got started getting ready for my day, showered, you know, thinking through the last, you know, few details for the set list for that day, you know, similar stuff to what we're doing here. And, and I'm standing there in the shower and God says, this is your Judah year. I said, God, I don't know what that means. I'm, I'm lost right now. What does that mean?

Show me what that means. Keep in mind, this is on my birthday, my, my 19th birthday. And so I went throughout my day, led worship for the church, went out for lunch, you know, had a good birthday and then decided to go to a young adult service that night. The pastor gets up on stage and he says, I had this message planned out just like me this morning. And God said, no, do this instead.

And he preached out of Genesis 29, 31 through 35 said, when the Lord saw that Leah was not loved, he enabled her to conceive, but Rachel remained childless. Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben for, she said, it is because the Lord has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now. Now she conceived again.

And when she gave birth to a son, she said, because the Lord heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one too. So she named him Simeon. And again, she conceived. And when she gave birth to a son, she said, now at last, my husband will love me and become attached to me because I have born him three sons. So he was named Levi.

Now, wait just a second before we go on to this next verse. We got three, three sons here. We got Reuben, we got Simeon, we got Levi. I want you to pay attention to this fourth son's name. Verse 35 says, she conceived again.

When she gave birth to a son, she said, this time I will praise the Lord. So she named him Judah and stopped having children. I said, okay, God, cool. Give me a verse that has the name Judah in it. What the heck does that mean that this is my Judah year?

He said, this is when you praise me. Through everything that you are about to go through, you praise me. And so I said, okay, God, but what about these other three sons? He said, three years for three sons. Reuben, the first son, was my suicidal ideation and attempts.

Simeon, the second son, was my self-harm. The third son, Levi, was getting the diagnosis of major depressive and anxiety and ADHD. But not just getting those, but placing my identity in them. That I was depression. That I am anxiety.

That I am ADHD. And I said, all right, God, cool. So you've brought me through some of this stuff. What did this mean that this is my year of praise? And I'm sure, just like many of you, 2020 was one of the most difficult years of my life.

We can just start with the isolation that you feel when you are told to stay at home. That's pretty isolating. It's you and whoever you live with. And there's only so much you can take of the people that you live with. I was living with some buddies from college, and there were times that we just, we hated each other, but that pushed us into further isolation.

So 2020, two months after God tells me this is my Judah year, COVID hits, everything starts shutting down, and I'm working this job at the time, I'm working at Chick-fil-A. Nothing for Chick-fil-A, wow, finally people are on my side, it's not good. I'm working at Chick-fil-A, and I'm working the front of house, so I'm greeting people, you know, the good old My Pleasure, how many sauces do you want, all that kind of stuff, right? And I'm working like 35 hours a week or so, and I'm also going to school full-time, and so I'm like, I'm really relying on these paychecks for gas and groceries and rent and stuff like that. And my hours go from 35 to 20 to 11 to 8, then they just stop scheduling me.

And so I'm like, God, what are you doing? You know that I need these finances, you know that I need these things. And he said, praise me. I said, alright, cool, what does that mean? And then if you were here in August, you remember the first point of my sermon last year was that the lifestyle of worship requires sacrifice.

And so I said, okay, cool, God, what do you want me to sacrifice? And he said, sacrifice your finances. I said, I don't have any finances. I don't have any income. I'm working no hours.

He goes, sacrifice them. I said, okay. Sacrifice them. Sacrifice your future. Okay.

I got you, God. I'm giving you my future. I'm letting go, and I'm just going to let you do what you want to do. I get a call from the store that I'm working at, and they say, hey, we know you worked for another store. Do you by any chance know how to work in the kitchen?

I'm like, of course I do. And God said, this is what happened when you praised me. You went from no hours to now you're working 35 again. I said, cool. That's awesome.

Like, here we are. And from March until May, I am praising God every single day. I walk into that shift. God, thank you for this job. Thank you for this job.

You're amazing. Thank you. May 15th, 2020, having a terrible shift to the point where I am cursing God for what I asked him for. And I said, God, why did you give this to me? And he said, because you asked for it.

I said, oh, right. So what do I do in response to this bad shift? He said, praise me. I said, oh, yeah. That is what I'm supposed to be doing this year.

You told me this is my year of praise. So I start praising him in this Chick-fil-A, working the Fry Station, actually out loud saying, God, thank you for this job. Jesus, I love you. This is awesome. Thank you so much.

And I had this really, really intimate experience with the Holy Spirit. And right after that, he says, Andrew, in one year, you will be a worship pastor. I said, I bet that's kind of cool. Like, that's awesome. Like, that's what I want to do.

That's what I'm going to school for. Let's do it. So like I said, I'm interning at a church at this point. And I start to move forward. Right.

And spent a lot of time in isolation, nearly lost my job because of COVID. This is supposed to be my year of praise. But so far, just a couple of moderately bad things that everybody else is kind of experiencing. And then July 11th of 2020, I called one of my friends and said, man, you got to come here. I'm not doing great, not doing well.

This isolation is killing me. I need to do something. He came and picked me up, brought me to the Virginia Beach psychiatric unit. A couple months later, get kicked out of my apartment, have to move back in with my family, which is not a bad thing. I love my family.

I do. But I had taken so much pride in being an 18 year old that moved out and started a life on his own. So that when I got kicked out of that apartment, it felt like I was taking steps and steps and steps back. I'm having regular panic attacks, regular depressive episode. And then while I'm living with my family, we were down in Florida.

I get a call from a church that I had applied to. They're like, hey, let's go meet for coffee. I'm like, okay, cool. Let's do it. Like, this is like, this is the fruition of the promise that God has for me.

We sit, we sit down and they pretty much say, no, we don't want you. So here I am in the year that I'm supposed to be praising God, spending time in isolation, spending time in the Virginia Beach Psych Center, spending time nearly losing my job, getting kicked out of an apartment, losing the things that I had worked for. And now I'm getting turned down from the dream job. All in this year that God told me to praise him. How am I supposed to praise God when it feels like all he's doing is putting obstacles in my way?

How am I supposed to praise God when it feels like every time I turn around to what could possibly be him? It's another closed door. I'll tell you how. Praise him. It sounds, I don't even know how it sounds, but it sounds like it.

Praise him. So how do we, how do we overcome and praise him through these things? If you're taking notes this morning, point one is have faith and pursue God. Luke 17, 11 through 14 says, while traveling to Jerusalem, he passed between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered the village, 10 men with serious skin diseases met him.

They stood at a distance and raised their voices saying, Jesus, master, have mercy on us. Now, wait just a second before you go to the next, this next one. This, this verse was brought up to me a couple of weeks ago and it stopped me. Go ahead to verse 14. It says, so when he saw them, he said to them, go show yourselves to the priest.

And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. As they went, they were healed. They're going to Jesus. And he says, go back to the priest and show them that you're healed. And it's not in the moment when they're right there in front of Jesus.

It's the faith and the pursuit of God that they had, that they walked away from Jesus because they had faith that he could do what he said he could do. As they went, they were healed. Luke 8, 43 through 48 says, a woman suffering from bleeding for 12 years, who had spent all she had on doctors yet could not be healed by any, approached from behind and touched the tassel of Jesus robe. Instantly, her bleeding stopped. Who touched me?

Jesus asked. When they all denied it, Peter said, master, the crowds are pressing up against you. And Jesus said, somebody did touch me. I know the power that has gone out for me. When the woman saw that she was discovered, she came trembling and fell down before him in the presence of all the people.

She declared the reason that she had touched him and how she was instantly cured. Daughter, he said to her. Your. For faith has made you well. Go in peace.

So she had the faith, just like these ten men, to go to Jesus. Right? And with those ten men, Jesus said, as they went, and all this woman had to do was touch his robe. And she was healed. Which brings me to this, this idea that one of the greatest indicators of faith is courage.

One of the greatest indicators of faith is courage. It took courage for those men to turn away from Jesus and walk. But that courage was because of their faith. Just like that woman, who we see here in these verses, that she is afraid. But she still walks up to Jesus.

And because of the faith, and because of the courage that her faith gave her, she went and touched Jesus. And then he says, go in peace. Which brings me to our second point this morning. Search for peace slash rest. By show of hands, how many of us enjoy rest?

Cool. Everybody. How many of us actually know what rest is? By show of hands. Got one or two back here.

We got, okay, we got a few people who actually know what rest is. And just to clarify, it's not not feeling anxious. It's not not feeling overwhelmed. As nice as it sounds, it's not laying on the beach. Or by the pool.

Or in bed watching TV. TV all day. There's a difference between rest and laziness. Rest is intentional. Rest is something that we are commanded to do by Jesus.

He tells us to take a Sabbath. Right? It is, Pastor Leon pointed out earlier in the discussion that that is the most broken commandment. When is the last time you actually searched for rest? Somebody was very honest over here and said, never.

I love that. That's what I'm talking about. The honesty of never. So how do we rest in God's peace? John 14 27 says, I am leaving you with a gift, peace of mind and heart.

And the peace that I give is a gift that the world cannot give. So don't be troubled or afraid. Does it say that you have to work for that peace? Does it say that you have to strive for that peace? The only thing that you have to do is choose to accept it.

That's it. It's as simple as saying, Jesus, I want your peace. I have a quick question for you guys. You can answer it out loud if you want or just in your head. What do you guys do when you go home?

Let's say you leave here today and maybe you go get lunch after that. What do you do? Play with your puppies? Laundry. Take a nap.

I like that one. Take a nap. Yeah. Cook lunch for the kids? I usually will put music on or a podcast on or watch TV or something.

Some sort of entertainment. Right? And my headphones, when I'm at home, George and Lydia can attest that if they're not playing music, my headphones are in. And that's just how it is. Very, very, very few times am I just in silence.

In fact, I got really, really scared of silence recently when my girlfriend asked me if she could borrow my headphones for a trip that she's taking this week. Y'all, I got scared. I don't want to, no, I don't want to take a couple of days without my headphones. Like, those things are always in my ears if I'm not playing music through a speaker. And then, oh, now you're challenging.

I don't like that. You don't have to challenge me like that. But then God hit me with something. He told me, our lives are so filled with noise that we drown out the voice that we're trying to hear. Our lives are so filled with noise that we drown out the voice that we want to hear.

Sure. Like I mentioned earlier, I spent a couple of months early 2021 living with my family. We moved down to Florida from January until April. I lived with them. And for those few months, I was very angry at God.

And I was asking him why he stripped me of everything that I knew here in Virginia Beach and Chesapeake, the position that I had leading worship every Sunday, the community I had with my friends at school. Everything that I knew was stripped away. And I said, God, you told me a couple months ago that in one year, I'm going to be a worship pastor. We are now four months away from that one year. And the only slight thing that I've heard from a church about me is I'm not good enough.

What are you doing? Why are you pulling me out of my calling? He said, I'm not. I said, what do you mean? He said, you need to slow down and you need to rest.

It's kind of funny. It's not funny. It's a little bit funny. I sat down two weeks before I knew I was moving with the two pastors that I was interning under and effectively let them know that I was going to start stepping away and I was going to leave. And they asked me, well, what church are you going to go to?

I said, I don't really know. Looking at maybe Wave Church or Salt Church or someone like that. And I firmly believe that if I had come here to Salt in December of 2020 and saw the need of worship leader, I would have hopped in, taken it, and been done by February, two months later. But because God pulled me out of the situation that I was in and allowed me to see that my calling at that time for those few months was to just rest, I was able to come back up here rejuvenated with vision and excitement because I took time, whether I liked it or not, I took the time to rest. Understanding that this peace that we have, the privilege to rest in, is a gift.

Understand that that peace that we get to rest in is a gift. So now that we know what God's peace is, let's ask ourselves the question, have we actually entered into it? Psalm 46.10, a lot of people know this verse, but they just know it until God. He says, be still and know that I am God.

And that's where a lot of churches, a lot of people leave it. But then it says, I will be exalted among the nations and I will be exalted in the earth. And this brought something out of me as I was looking at it. First it says, be still and know that I am God, right? Know stillness.

And then it says, I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted among the earth. It says, people will know me. I will be praised and exalted. The person, I'm gonna, this is, this might step on toes. The person who does not know stillness does not know God.

The person who does not know stillness does not know God. And for so long in my life, I have been running from that stillness when I thought I was running with God. And that's what led me to that place last year in January when I had to move down with my family and felt like my life was uprooted. It wasn't until I stopped and was still that I could clearly hear God's voice say, you're in your calling by resting right now. I have a, I have a buddy named Josh and he was one of my worship leading kind of mentors when I was in college.

And it was one night I, I just got this really big press on my heart. Like just go drive around Virginia Beach, pray, text people to see if they need prayer. This is two o'clock in the morning. So get my keys, get into my car, start driving around. I'm texting people when I'm at stop lights and stop signs and texted Josh and say, hey man, God really wants me to be praying for something.

How can I be praying for you? Like, I don't know what it is, but God wants something. And he, he called me. He said, what is God trying to tell you? I said, I don't know.

That's what I'm trying to figure out. And he said something that really offended me at the time. But now looking back at it, I'm thankful he had the guts to say it. He said, Andrew, shut up and listen to God. I said, no, no, no, no, no.

He wants me to pray. He wants me to talk to him. He goes, no, no, no, no, no. He wants you to be quiet. He wants you to just be quiet.

He wants you to be still so that you can know him. God speaks more often than we listen. We just don't shut up to listen to him. So again, the person who does not know stillness does not know God. So now that we've looked at peace and we've looked at having faith in pursuing God.

How does this relate to us? I want to challenge us this morning to learn who we are in Jesus. Ephesians 6, 10 says, finally, be strong in the, in the Lord and in his mighty power, put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. And then this goes on to talk about putting on the armor of God, equipping ourselves.

But I, I, I really want to focus on this flesh and blood idea. My, my struggles with mental health for, for so long, I looked at them as I struggle with depression. I am depression. I struggle with anxiety. I am anxiety.

But recently somebody challenged me to, when I'm getting those thoughts, tell the devil to go away. And what do you know it worked? We, when we talk about fighting flesh and blood, I feel like oftentimes we think of the, the, you know, me and Matt maybe going and, and duking it out and, you know, punching each other and, you know, the flesh and blood. Sometimes it's, it's ourselves. We're not supposed to be fighting with ourselves.

So you, these verses are telling you that you have the authority because this is not an issue with flesh and blood. This is an issue. I, I firmly believe that mental health and mental illness, it's a spiritual issue. It's not a flesh and blood issue. And with that, you have the authority because of who you are in Jesus to say, Satan, get out of here.

What Satan meant for evil, God will turn around for your good, for the salvation of others. Don't get, don't get confused with these flesh and blood battles. You are not designed, I'm gonna tell you a little secret here. You're not designed to be anxious. You're not designed to be depressed.

You are not designed to be anxiety. You are not designed to be ADHD or depression or whatever that may be for you. Maybe it's not mental. Maybe it's physical. Maybe it's not physical.

Maybe it's financial or relational or whatever it is that the devil is trying to tell you. You are not designed for that. Anxiety is not a virtue. Depression is not a personality. And death is not the answer.

Because of Jesus, you are enough. You are cared for. You are seen. You are forgiven. And you are free.

I'm gonna have, can you throw up the next slide for me? This says, I have the same power that raised Christ from the dead dwelling inside of me. Now, if you believe that this morning, like I know a few of these ladies do, I want you to shout that at the top of your lungs, like you believe it. So on the count of three, all together, we're going to get a little interactive here. If you believe this, that you have the same power that raised Christ inside of you, let's shout this out together.

All right, one, two, three. I have the same power that raised Christ from the dead dwelling inside of me. That's powerful. You have the authority because of who Christ has called you to be, not because of anything that the devil says that you are. You have the authority against those things because you have that power inside of you.

Because of Jesus, you are enough you are cared for. You are seen. You are forgiven. And you are free. And if that's not a reason to praise, then I don't know what is.

You are free. Acts 16, 25 says, at midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God. And the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly, there was an earthquake. Now, I'm gonna stop here for a second because this at midnight clause is really, really cool.

It's cool. It's cool because they were put in the deepest and the darkest cell. So they have no clue what time it is. It could have been 3 p.m.

in the afternoon for all they know. So I think that this at midnight was put in here intentionally to represent maybe an emotional darkness or mental darkness that they made the decision to pray and praise through. And because of that, right, there's an earthquake and chains are broken and the walls are coming down. There is freedom because of their praise through the midnight. The cool part about the end of this story is there's this jailer who's supposed to be watching them who had fallen asleep while this is happening.

And after he wakes up and sees that everybody's free, chains are broken, walls are down, he takes out his sword to kill himself. And Paul cries out, wait, wait, wait, wait, don't do that. Everybody's still here. And because of Paul and Silas' faith and praising in their darkness, not only did the jailer come to salvation, but the jailer's entire family came to salvation. When you feel that you have nothing else to give, give praise.

Because praise is not based off of your circumstances, it is based off of God's character. If there's one thing I've learned in the most difficult of decisions that I've made, it's this. Peace does not always feel like comfort. As a church culture, we can often get the two confused. Many times in my life, the feeling of peace has felt anything but comforting, but it felt right.

Imagine being in the middle of Exodus, a raging force of death and slavery chasing after you on one side and logic defying massive walls of water towering you on the other side. And these are your options. You have two choices. One is Yahweh. One is your savior, your Jehovah Jireh, your protector and provider.

And the other is the devil. One is bad, but familiar. The other is good, yet uncertain. This was the decision that the Israelites had to face. Shall we surrender ourselves back into slavery or we'll be abused for another 400 years?

Maybe it was horrific, but it was home. Or do we trust this man who claims to be one of us? This man who was the first to walk out of Egypt? Do we trust him not only with our lives, but with our children's lives? Where we're going, no eye has seen, no ear has heard, but our hearts fully know.

There are no promises left in Egypt. Get out of Egypt. Let God lead you out of your Egypt. What once was a place of salvation has become our captivity. For captivity always disguises itself as comfort.

And peace is always a matter of trust. So we walk. We walk on the holy ground that was once a raging sea. With every uncertain step, our feet are that much closer to the promise. For all we have to do is nothing but take the next step.

One more step in the direction of the uncomfortable peace. Beloved, Yahweh will go before you. He will fight for you. Every ocean that stands in your way will become a mountain that will be moved. You just need to be still.

You just need to hold your peace. For the stillness of your spirit will take you further than the desperation of your body. So take a hold of your uncomfortable peace and never let it go. For in it is deliverance. And let go of your familiar captivity.

For it only leads to oppression. There is a promise in this land. Step in. I want to challenge us to think about the struggles that we've been through. The circumstances that maybe we're going through right now.

Maybe the situations we're going through right now. Thank God for them. I think it's good for me to have been through what I've been through and to go through the things that I'm going through because it brings me closer to the presence of God. If you don't go through something with God, that something will go through you. I drive a lot for my job.

Like most of what I do is just driving. And I regularly have to go to Williamsburg or Yorktown or, you know, somewhere where I have to cross a bridge and a tunnel. When you go through a tunnel, you're going through it. You don't get to it and then just stand in the middle of it like, what am I doing here? In the same way, God is going to not only lead us to these circumstances, but he is going to lead us through them should we choose him?

You are going through something. You are not staying there. God will use situations and circumstances to push you closer to him. So many times we look for God to change our circumstances before we ask him to change us. So lift up your circumstances, your situations, your thought processes, yourself, and watch God do amazing things in you.

Pursue God through these circumstances and watch him do amazing things in and through you. Seek peace through your circumstances and watch him do amazing things in and through you. Praise him through your circumstances and watch him do amazing things in and through you. So I want to ask us a question and I want us to be honest. I've been very vulnerable and honest for the last 30 minutes.

Is anybody going through something right now? Does anybody want freedom from that something? Does anybody want peace or rest from that circumstance or situation? Let's praise him through that. We saw it with Paul and Silas where they've praised and they worshiped God and chains were broken.

So I want us right now to literally lift up a shout of praise like Alex Rubio would do. Hallelujah! Thank you Jesus for what you have brought me through. Because you have brought me through it, because you have brought me through what the devil meant for evil, you have now used for my good for the salvation of people. So I want to give us an opportunity to respond this morning with eyes closed and heads bowed.

Is there somebody in this room or online that you feel like you're at the end of the road, you feel like you are stuck, and you just don't know what else to do? If that's you, do you lift your hand in the air? I want to pray for you right now. Jesus, I lift up those people that just raised their hands, the people whose hands are raised right now. Jesus, touch their hearts.

Remind them of the authority that you have given them. Remind them that their battle is not against flesh and blood. But it's in you that we have the same power that raised your body from the dead. And similarly, if you're in this room and you know that you are not, you're not following Christ, you're not a believer and you want to make that decision today, would you also raise your hand? There is freedom in Jesus' name.

Seek him. Seek his peace. Pursue him and praise him. Jesus, we love you. Jesus, we praise you.

Thank you for the breath inside of our lungs, God. Thank you for leading us through the circumstances and situations that you have led us through. Thank you that your name brings freedom. Thank you that you give us the choice to accept your peace, God. Thank you for that gift of your peace.

Jesus, we love you. Jesus, we praise you. It's in your name that we pray.