This morning's message is entitled Standing in the Gap. Because if you ever
found yourself in a place where you are doing everything that you can, And yet,
you're not seeing the response that you're hoping for, right? Maybe you pray,
but you don't see an answer. Maybe you parent, but you don't see progress. Maybe
you share, and no one's responding. Or you invest in people and in
relationships, but yet nothing seems different. Or you serve, and you're
wondering, am I making a difference at all? See, life is filled with gaps and
the gaps from where you are and where you wanna be, or the gap between your
expectation and your experience. Sometimes one of the hardest places to be is
not just where you plant your faith, but in between planting faith and
experiencing a harvest. So what do you do when you wait? Well, if you find
yourself in a gap, if you find yourself in a waiting season, I wanna encourage
you with some good news this morning. And I want you to encourage you with this
truth. God's grace meets us in the gap. God's grace meets us in the gap. You
see, grace is something that we sing about that we say is amazing. You know, we
talk about it when it comes to salvation. We're saved by grace through faith.
But grace by biblical definition is God's unmerited favor, receiving something
that you don't deserve. And so yes, it applies to salvation. But it also applies
every moment of every day for our lives. See, I growing up, I learned grace
through this acronym that spells grace. It's, it's God's riches at Christ's
expense. God's riches at Christ's expense. It's this idea that we have received
the blessing of God, and we did nothing in return to earn it. That you need
grace to sustain your very season of life right now, just as you did the moment
you prayed to receive him into your life. That grace is needed across the board.
You see, all month long, we've been walking through the stages of the Christian
journey. We talk about the Christian journey really has 4 stages. And so you
have the seed stage, where the Word of God is planted into your life. Then you
have a root stage in which you start to establish biblical foundations. And then
as you start to read the word, obey the word, follow it, you'll start to grow in
maturity. And as you grow, you start to produce fruit. And that fruit is the
benefit of others and that if you have a group of people gathering of people
together, all producing fruit for the glory of God, that eventually you landed a
place of a harvest. We have disciples making disciples who make disciples. Now,
how do you go from one stage to the next? Well, to go from seed to root, you
have to plant the gospel. You have to actually allow the word of God, not just
to be read out loud, but to actually take residence in your heart. How do you go
from roots to fruit, where you actually have to grow in community, that you need
to be known as well as know other people, that you can come alongside and that
we encourage and lift each other up in community that we grow collectively
together. And how do you go from fruits to harvests? We believe that you best
grow and you multiply through service. That you weren't created just to be
served, you were created to serve, to go from consumer to contributor. Plant,
grow, multiply. That's what we're trying to do here as a local church gathering.
That's why we're called Mission Grove, because no single tree makes a growth,
but a grove can start from just one tree. But here's the problem. That looks
nice on a chart. But everyday life is kind of messy, isn't it? And see, growth
happens in stages, but life happens in the gaps. Right? Anyone else got a
complicated Monday ahead? You know what I mean, you gotta get the kids out of
the door, and then you got the meeting for the meeting about the thing with all
the emails, and all the stuff to follow and responsibilities. And of course, on
your busiest day next week, that's gonna be when appliance in your home breaks,
or the school calls and says your kid's got a fever, you gotta pick them up.
Right? And you got to rearrange your schedule and so life just starts lifen. You
know what I mean? Growth happens in stages, but life happens in the gaps. And so
what do you do in those gap moments? Well, the good news is we have a God of the
gap. We have a God who meets us in those spaces, and, and that God gives you
grace for the exact moment, exact season that you're in right now. And so we're
gonna take a look at Galatians, a letter where in which Paul writes about grace,
talks about grace, and then even talks about a fruit of the Spirit, which we
walked through this summer as a church family. But we get to Galatians chapter
6, and he's gonna share with us 3 gaps where God meets us. So we have 3 gap
seasons that I think most of us would identify with one of the 3. So I want you
to think about these 3 and ask yourself, which season am I in right now? The
first gap we're gonna take a look at today is the gap of brokenness. Are you
going through a hard time? Or are, do you have a loved one going through a hard
time? Right? What do you do with that? Then 2, we're gonna look at the gap of
intentions. That's why there is a space between where you are and where you
wanna be, right? There's two kinds of people in the world, people that do, and
then people that might, right? What do you do in that middle space? And then
third, we're gonna take a look at the gap of weariness, where, hey, I'm doing
the right thing. I'm saying the right thing, and I'm just not seeing things
change. What do you do? If you have your Bibles, go ahead and open up to
Galatians chapter 6. We're gonna pick things up here in verse chap uh verse 1.
Which it says, brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, notice the
all incumbency nature, if anyone is caught in any transgression, right? He's,
he's including all of us in this mix. You who are spiritual should restore him
in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. So
the idea here initially, when you talk about when someone is caught in sin, that
we are to restore, we're to, to come alongside to correct. But that word restore
is interesting because the word restore is actually the same word used to
describe when fishermen mend nets. Can you help mend the nets in someone's life?
Same words also used when doctors set a broken bone. And that's what happens
when we restore, is that we are the goal of, of restoration or the goal of
confronting sin is not punishment, but rather growth, reconciliation, connection
again. So, as Christians, if you've ever grown up in a legalistic environment or
seen that, um, as church people, church, Uh, we get really good at pointing out
sin, right? It's almost like we're in the wild, wild west, but instead of guns
on the side, we just got our fingers and we're like, sin, sin, you're wrong,
you're wrong. And we love to judge people, right? There's no I in team, but
there's an I in sinner. Ah, right there, that's a sin. That's a sin. And we
especially love to point out the sins that we're not struggling with, right? You
know, we live in a culture that is like a cancel culture, right? So it's not
just Christians. It's it's, it's human to judge other people. But as believers,
we're called to restore. We're not called just out to call out sin. We are
called to bring sin to light for the purpose of bringing that person into
alignment with community, back into alignment with Jesus. And in order to do so,
we have to restore in three ways. We have to restore first gently. It says
gently, tone matters, right? They come alongside. Then it says be care uh then
it says in there, it talks. Keep watch on yourself, which is the idea of
humility. Right? You have to recognize, oh well, we sin too. So, you have to
restore it gently, you have to restore with humility. And then third, we have to
restore carefully. So be careful lest you too be tempted. So when sin enters
into the life of loved ones, we're, we are called to call it out, but for the
purpose of mending the nets. So we can call it out in, in gentleness, and
humility, and, and carefully. But then it continues on. Let's keep reading here,
verse 2. Says bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. For
if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. I love
verse 3.6, don't, don't be prideful, right? If you got that really narcissistic
person in your life, you know, they probably aren't gonna read the Bible. You
can be like, hey, I read Galatians 6:3, thought of you today. Like, oh, I'm in
the Bible, yeah. If someone thinks there's something when they're not, OK,
they're deceiving themselves. Continues John verse 4, but let each one test his
own work and then reason to boast will be in himself alone and not his neighbor,
for each will have to bear his own load. I love this distinction because I love
this distinction, because what happens here is, is there's a difference between
burden and load. They're different words there. And see, at its core, here's
what grace does. OK, when it comes to the gap of brokenness, grace changes what
we carry. Grace changes what we carry. So when you carry a burden, That is
coming alongside and lifting something alongside that it is too heavy for one
person to carry. Maybe it's a relationship, maybe it's financial, maybe it's
health, maybe it's emotional. When you're walking through something that's too
heavy for you to carry by yourself. It's like carrying a couch. No one's moving
a couch by themselves. OK, if you are, we're doing this thing, you've ever done
this? Like no one's home, you're like, OK, I gotta move this couch. They're come
back, OK, we're gonna come back over here. And we go like, we're gonna come back
over here. All right? It doesn't work. If you're gonna carry the couch, you
need, you need two people more to carry. In the same way, there are things in
life that we go through that you need the support and love of other people. And
just as much as it's important for us to carry other people, it's important for
you to acknowledge that you too need help. Right? In college when I was playing
basketball, Uh, they would put similar people or, you have your friend groups
that you lift with, and I am not the strongest person. And so I would pair up
with people who are buddies of mine, and then we'd similar match and he would
lift. Well, this day, my buddy wasn't there. So I got paired up with the
starting center, uh, Anthony Delempo. He's like 6'10. Maybe 6' 11, like 260. He,
and he was even louder than he was large. Like he was just a massive human
being. And I got paired with him, and I'm not even anywhere close lifting to
what he's lifting, but we're trying to max the bench press that day, and he's
over top of me. And the thing, the reason I didn't want to lift with him, one,
because I feel bad, I couldn't lift as much, but two, he's really sweaty. Right.
And so here I am trying to bench, and I got Anthony Dilempo, his big bell like
bellowing voice. I'm like, Come on, Kraigle, come on, Kraigle, don't give up.
And this bead of sweat just starts to go. Right down. I, I'm like, no. And like,
he's like, you got this. Like, I don't think I do, you know, and like it's
coming down and like I didn't have it. And so I was like, I was like, I'm
struggling, but well, I don't know if it was fear or if it was encouragement or
what, but just a little help of Anthony. I was able to lift more than I had
previously, and we got it back up and it, and it was a good experience when all
was said and done. And here's the thing, there are going to come times in your
life where you need a spot. You need encouragement. You need someone to lift a
little bit, OK? But what I like about this passage is that it doesn't just talk
about burdens, it denses, but don't forget, you're also supposed to carry your
own load. And see where burden is something so heavy that multiple people need
to carry it. Load is like a backpack that you're supposed to carry. Like, uh,
when we go on trips with the family, you know, we, we try to empower the kids a
little bit. OK, backpack your backpack for what you need for the road. And if
you've ever seen a little kid pack a backpack, like my daughter, like put it in,
it was like a block, like a Barbie, like a cheese stick. You know, and like cat
ears. You know what I mean? Like, it's like, all right, I'm ready. Like for a
five-day trip, like this is what you need. Like, yep, I'm ready to go. Right?
And, and so then as a parent, you got to go back and be like, OK, no, no, we
need this stuff. You need clothes, you need this, you know, these things, you
need a toothbrush, right? And you go through. And, and so understand that a lot
of times we, we do the same thing with God. I got a tough week ahead. OK, well,
are you packing what you need for the week? Are you carrying what you need?
Cause there's probably people in your life that you have conversations with and
they tend to blame everybody else. Right? It's never their fault. It's always
the employer or the teacher or the coach, or the family member or the friends or
the government or whatever, right? Like I've had conversations with people like,
oh man, I'm just being spiritually attacked. I'm like, I think he might just be
spiritually lazy. And it seems harsh, but I'm like, I just wanna know the will
of God. OK, did you pray? No. Have you read your Bible? No. Are you sleeping
well? No. Are you listening to right like some good worship music? No. Are you
in community? No. Are you giving? No. Are you serving? No. Are you fasting? No.
But I just wanna know. It's like, OK, the, the will of God can be found in the
Word of God. Like, like, there's more to it, but understand that there's
responsibility. Right, there is, again, there's no I in team, but there's 3 I's
in responsibility. I think, I think, I think there's 3 I's. OK. Right? There's
this, I, and I love this balance because we have to carry our own backpack.
Right? Our own choices, what we say, what we do, our own actions, right? You
can't have somebody responsible for your responsibility. When you get to heaven,
you are not gonna be held responsible for other people's actions. You're gonna
be held responsible for your actions, right? There's ownership, there's agency
there. And part of that responsibility is to come alongside those who are
broken, who are hurting, to help lift where they need a spot. Or if you're in a
hard time, and this is tough too. If, if we become really responsible, sometimes
it's hard for us to even say we need help. Right? But we gotta be willing to
share. Uh, my friend Aaron's here in, in the auditorium. If, imagine if I got
really mad at Aaron, cause Aaron, where were you yesterday? You're supposed to
paint my fence. He's like, what are you talking about? It's like, I thought you
were gonna paint my fence. Well, did we ever have a conversation about it? Well,
no, but I just assumed. You would know, right? And like, here's the thing,
sometimes we get mad that people don't meet our expectations that we never
expressed. No one supports me. I'm going through this alone. OK, but have you
ever opened up to somebody? Have you ever been vulnerable? See, too often we try
to be independent, saying like, OK, I do this all on my own. We never express
hurt, we never express need, we never express doubt. And then we wonder why
we're struggling. Then there's other people who just live fully dependent.
Everything is somebody else's fault. Everything is somebody else's issue, and we
can do nothing. But how the Bible teaches us through this passage is that we're
called to be interdependent. We are called to carry our own backpack, to carry
our own responsibility, and help carry the burden of other people. See, if we're
standing in the gap of brokenness, grace changes what we carry. We are looking
to support the needs of others, to help carry the emotional couch that they got
in their life, and take responsibility of our own lives where we can. OK? It
says in Galatians 2:20, it says, I have been crucified with Christ, that is no
longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. The reason grace changes what we
carry, it's the power of God working in us and through us. So it's not even our
own strength. It's that we're living dependent on Christ through the Holy Spirit
to work out through our lives and for Christ. So that's the gap of brokenness
really changes what we carry. But the second thing we see here is the gap of
intentions, the gap of intentions. This is the gap between where we are and
where we want to be. Let's read verse 6 to 8. It says, Let the one who is taught
the word share all good things with the one who teaches. Do not be deceived. God
is not mocked for whatever one sows, that will, he will also reap. For the one
who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. But the one who
sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And there's so much
there, there's so much power there. Because at its core, grace changes what we
cultivate. Right? First thing that for those that hear the word or receive the
teaching are called to share with the one who teaches. Now, commentators point
out that there's actually financially responsibility that you support
ministries, support the church, or support ministry leaders. And it's a part of
this exchange, but it doesn't just say treasure, it also talks about your time
and your talents. That when we give, we give our treasure, our time, our talents
to the betterment and the building up of the body. And so I'm not just asking
for something from you, but rather, I really want something for you. And as your
pastor, as your friend, I want to tell you that you become more like Jesus when
we give. If you got kiddos, have you ever, uh, got the gift, you know, they
wanted, and they open that, and you see that joy on their face, and they're so
excited, right? What happens? You actually experience joy too. That the giver
really is blessed in the process of that. And so understand that we are called
to give. But then it says some intense statements says, hey, don't forget, God
won't be mocked. You will reap what you sow. You will reap what you sow. And
here's the thing. You can't pray for a harvest with a seed that you've never
planted. Right? I can't plant corn in my life and really hope for strawberries.
Like you will reap what you sow. And on one hand, it's, it's a little scary,
because he says, don't forget, God will not be mocked. God does see the sin in
your life. That if you keep living a pattern of sin, a pattern of lies, a
pattern of destruction, at some point, you will be found out and there will be
consequences for that. But the reverse is also true. It's not just anti-
corruption, it's actually for the spirit, is that if you keep planting the seeds
of the Spirit, eventually, which we'll talk about in a few moments, in due
season, you will reap a harvest. And so the way to think about this is, what are
the seeds that you're planting in your life right now? Because you're never
gonna become tomorrow what you don't start becoming today. Let's, let's just go
through a little test here for a second. OK? You may say, I want a life that
prioritizes my family, right? Harvest. Let me ask you, OK? Take inventory. What
does your calendar look like? Right. You may say, John, I want a pure mind. OK,
what does your screen time look like? You may say, John, I want to be generous,
and I wanna live in financial freedom. OK, what does your bank account show? And
there's two kinds of people. There's people that do, and then people that might.
You know, I've, I've heard it said it's a thought that counts when given a gift.
Let's be real, that's not true. It's not I wish it was true. I think about being
healthy all the time. I think about like, like nothing changes until something
changes, right? Like, have you ever made the mistake of grocery shopping while
hungry? You end up with some extra stuff in the cart. You know what I'm talking
about? My kids, my kids really want for dad to do the grocery shopping when
dad's hungry, because like, we'll have the grocery list, and I'm like, I want to
be healthy. I want to be good. And then somehow there's like double fudge
chocolate ice cream and it got in there. I don't know what happened. But I put
it in the cart. Here's why I'm saying this. Like we say we want things from God,
but what are you putting in your cart? What seeds are you planting? Oh, man, I'm
anxious. I'm struggling. But all I'm doing is scrolling and watching and all
these things and I get stressed out about the world. Like, oh, I want, I want to
be close to God. OK, have you read? No. If I worshiping? No. Am I reading? No.
Am I praying? No. Like, I want to give you the freedom to understand that there
is some agency that you can actually, there's a lot of things in this world you
can't control. But there are things in your own life that you can. And so if you
want to cross over the gap of intentions, you gotta start planting better seeds.
Here's what I want to challenge you to do. I want to challenge you on one side
this week at some point, write down what are the harvests that you want in your
life? What's the harvest you want? I want a connected family. I want a
financial, whatever. I want. Spiritually mature, I want, and you and you put in
some goals here. But then I want you to, on the, on the column next to it and
say, OK, what are the seeds I'm going to plant this week? That go towards that.
Because you'll never reap a harvest that you're unwilling to sow. You got to
plant a seed. Are you gonna plant seeds of flesh this week? Are you gonna plant
the seeds of the spirit? It's not an automatic. But it says in there that God
will not be mocked. But just as it should scare us, it should also actually
encourage us. Because he says that if you plant the right seeds. Eventually, you
will see that harvest come through, which leads us to the 3rd gap. That's the
gap of weariness, gap of weariness. Um, and you know what, let me go back here.
Um, I'm gonna go back Nash here to, let's go back to 2 Corinthians 3, so you can
see this process that doesn't happen overnight. Uh, 2 Corinthians chapter 3
verse 1718, it says now that the, now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the
Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom, right? There's a collective. OK. Verse
18 says, for we with unveiled face, which is a crazy phrase. I say that because
he's referencing Moses, Moses, like the Moses, like Mount Rushmore of Old
Testament Moses. When Moses interacted with God, he was so close with God that
his face shined, that when he came down from the mountain, and he interacted
with the people of Israel, his face literally glowed, and so they asked him to
cover his face with a veil. In this passage in Corinth, which is a really crazy
city that a church is trying to follow God, Paul writes, is actually, you can be
closer to God than Moses was. So you with unveiled face, beholding the glory of
God, are being transformed. That's what's described as present, passive. In
other words, it's ongoing, and it's what God does in and through your life. That
we are being transformed. This is the name of our series. You are being
transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this
comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. And so it doesn't happen overnight, but
it does happen over time. You ever seen family members or kids, like nephews,
nieces, friends, and, and you hadn't seen them for a while, and then you come
back and see them and they're like, 1 ft taller. Like, whoa, where'd that come
from? And they, and they don't, they don't know they're growing. They don't see
it because it's they're, they're everyday, right? I think sometimes the same
thing happens spiritually and maturity-wise. We don't necessarily see it. But
over time, you'll feel it and other people will actually see that maturity in
your growth. All right. Now, what happens if you're doing all these things, but
you don't see the results? What do you do? That's the gap of weariness. He
doesn't leave us hanging. He says verse 9 and verse 10. He says, so let us not
grow weary of doing good. For in due season, we will reap if we do not give up.
So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, especially to those
who are of the household of faith. See, in the gap of brokenness, grace changes
what we carry. In the gap of intentions, God, grace changes how we cultivate.
How do we work the garden in our soul? What do, what do we try to do? What seeds
are we planting? But in the gap of weariness, grace changes how we continue. He
says, don't give up. Don't give up, that you have the opportunity to love and
bless and serve others. It says in due season. The problem here is we don't
understand the length of time for in due season. I wish in Greek in due season
meant tomorrow. I wish answers to prayer worked like Amazon Prime. Right? Like
we've been spoiled in today's culture because we want instant results right
away. We want to air fry faith. You know what I mean? We want to push a button,
like, mm, nice, tender, crispy faith, right? We get, like anyone else watch a
series stream on any streaming platform, and then you catch up to present day,
and then get really annoyed that they only release one episode every week now.
Like, there was a time where you had to watch the show. And if you weren't there
on time, you had no way of recording, and you just missed it, right? And then,
but now we like watch it, and if it's not ready in 10 seconds, we're like, oh,
I'm being persecuted. You know what I mean? Like, we're just like so spoiled,
and we think God's gonna work the same way, but he doesn't. He says in due
season. That's why in the Lord's Prayer, it says, give us this year, yearly
bread? No. Give us this monthly bread. No, give us this daily bread. Because
there are different words for for time in the Bible. Two of the words are really
interesting. There's a word for chronos. It's like where we get chronology.
Right? It's, it's like calendar and dates and clock and time and orderly. And I
love that we have a God that loves order. He brings order out of chaos, right? I
love that. But there's another word, kairos, which means God's appointed moment
or season. For example, in Romans 5:8, says while we were sinners, at the right
time, Christ showed us the love for us that He died for us. You see, every major
biblical character had a waiting season. Noah waited 25 years for the promise of
a child, or Abraham, sorry. Noah had a boat. Abraham had a baby. OK. So Noah
waited about 120 years. OK. Abraham waited 25. Joseph waited about 13 years in
prison before he'd get brought out of Egypt to, to save his family. David waited
anywhere from like 12 to 15 years from the time he was appointed king to the
time he actually became king. Jesus didn't even start his earthly ministry till
he was 30. Paul, when he gets saved in Acts 9, actually goes away for a few
years, goes away before he starts his public ministry. And so all these major
characters follow this waiting season. Moses with the people of God wandered the
desert for 40 years. Jesus, after he gets baptized, the first thing the Spirit
does is lead him into the desert for 40 days of temptation. The waiting season
is part of the process. But at the right time, at the right kairos, you will
reap what is sown. Some of you are praying for kids, some of you are praying for
a loved one. Some of you are praying for an experience or breakthrough. And the
reality is you don't know when it's coming. But I want you to take this promise
here to not give up. There's a story, for example, where the people of God, they
go into the promised land and they, they have this battle in the city of
Jericho. And God tells Joshua, here's the plan. You're gonna take the people of
God, you're gonna circle the city in prayer for 7 days, once a day for 7 days.
And on the 7th day, you're gonna circle 7 times. Then the walls are gonna
crumble and I'm gonna give you the city. Pretty cool story. Pretty cool miracle.
But I wonder, what if the people stopped on days 1 through 6, right? Probably
not day 1, right? They're like, OK, Joshua took us over the land. He's our
leader. We have our God, right? Let's walk the city. Yeah. OK. And then day 2,
this feels a little repetitive, but we're with you, Joshua. OK, day 3, this
seems a little redundant. Right? You, you know, there's some quiet questioning
at that point, day 3, especially days 4 and 5. Like, what are we doing? We're
circling the city. There's a wall. There's craziness, right? There's this idea
of like, all these things happening, and they didn't realize what was working,
but God was working. And so I don't know when day 7 is for you. I don't know
when the breakthrough is for you. I don't know when the light bulb moment is for
you. I don't know when that's gonna come. But what I wanna tell you is God does.
And in the meantime, he says, don't give up. He is the God in the past, the
present and the future. Check this out in in Titus, chapter 2, verses 11 to 14.
Paul writing to his pastor, writing to Titus. He says, for the grace of God has
appeared, bringing salvation to all people. So here's what Jesus did in the
past, right? Again, it's grace, it's all grace. But then notice here goes to the
next thing, verse 12, training us, that's present tense to renounce all
ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly
lives in the present age. In other words, that he is, we are being transformed.
We are growing. We are growing. So then what happens, that's the present. What
about the future? Well, verse 1314 says, waiting for our blessed hope, the
appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who, in case we
forgot, verse 14, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and
to purify for himself a people of his own possession who are zealous for good
works. The grace of God provided salvation in the past, who then we receive that
grace and through the grace of God trains us to become more Christ-like here in
the present, all while we're waiting for the return of Christ in the future.
What I want to encourage you with today, if you're in a waiting season, is don't
waste the wait. Waiting is not passive. Think about waiting like a server at a
restaurant. What are you gonna do with me? We're gonna serve. We're gonna grow.
See, obedience is our responsibility. Outcome is God's responsibility. You see,
collectively in world history, right now, the church is living in a gap. We are
living in the gap from when Jesus rose from the grave, providing salvation for
all people. And then he said, I'm coming back. We are somewhere in between. I
think we're probably closer to the return that we are there, but we don't know
when he's coming back. We are literally living in a gap. So what are we gonna do
in the meantime? Some of you are waiting right now, struggling, didn't get the
answer, didn't get the res resolution, didn't get The move. I don't know what
that breakthrough is gonna be. I don't know what day on your seven day journey
you are, but I want to tell you, keep walking, keep marching, keep going. You
can take all those things you worry about, instead of clinging on to it to let
it weigh you down, give that to God, and instead of worry, it becomes worship.
That's why in the Book of Psalms, the largest group of Songs are actually we're
called lament songs where people are questioning, struggling, burden, battling,
saying, God, where are you? I don't see you. I don't see the future. I don't
know. But what I do know is that you hold the future. So at the end of it, I'm
gonna keep on walking. I'm gonna keep on marching. I'm gonna keep on believing.
I'm gonna keep on trusting, because you created the world with your word. You
saved the world with your word, and you gave me your word that if I don't give
up, we will reap a harvest. Amen. So if you're praying for, it's not just
praying for, you're praying through. If you're walking, you're taking another
step. If you don't see the outcome, understand that God has given you another
chance. To take a step closer to him. to bring people with you. That's why he
says the harvest is plentiful, but the workers and the laborers are few. I don't
know when Christ is returning, but I do know he is returning. So while we wait,
let's, let's go share the gospel. Amen. Don't give up. Because God's grace meets
us in the gap. God's grace meets us in the gap. What season are you in right
now? If you're in the season of brokenness. Let grace change how you carry. What
is one burden you can help carry in someone's life this week? Maybe it's bring
that person a meal. Maybe it's shoot that person a text. Maybe it's come watch
their kids for an hour so they get a break. Maybe it's just encourage, maybe
stay after work an extra 10 minutes to do something that's not even your job
responsibility. How can you help carry the burden for somebody else? While also
recognizing the load and responsibility in your own life. What about the gap of
intentions? Remember, grace changes what you cultivate. What is one healthy seed
you can plant this week? You know what, I was reading my Bible, I got away from
it. OK. You can start today. I can pray today. I can take one healthy step,
plant one healthy seed towards the the spiritual harvest that I'm longing for in
my life. You don't need perfect conditions. You don't need a perfect situation.
What, what you have. is enough to make a difference. To plant that seed, to take
that step. Or lastly, if you're doing the things, and like the tank feels on
empty, and you're not seeing the future, understand. Take one step this week to
continue. Keep praying, keep reading, keep serving. You might be just one
moment, one Kairos day or moment away from breakthrough and don't even know it.
I don't know when God's gonna come back, but I do know he's coming back. As we
live in the gap between the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the return of Jesus
Christ, let us be the people that grows and lives faithful. To put our hand to
the plow, to say, God, I'm gonna live obedient for you. I'm gonna share. I'm
gonna show up. I'm gonna love people. I'm gonna make a difference. And I don't
know what the outcome's gonna be, and I don't know if I'm even gonna see the
result this side of heaven, but I'm gonna keep trusting you, I'm gonna keep
believing, I'm gonna keep worshiping you, and I'm gonna trust you with the
outcome, because our job is obedience. God's job is outcome, and we can trust
God because we have a God who stands in the gap. Amen. Whatever you're walking
through right now, let me pray for you. Dear Heavenly Father, just thank you for
who you are and what you've done. God, we know that grace changes what we carry.
It changes what we cultivate. God, it changes how we continue. That a
transformed life happens moment by moment. May your grace meet us where we are.
If someone's in the gap of brokenness, God, I pray that you would bring somebody
in their life to help carry that burden. If somebody's in the gap of intention,
God, I pray that we can put down the things of the flesh and and plant healthier
spiritual seeds this week. And if somebody is in the gap of weariness, they're
trying to walk after you, they're trying to obey you, they're just tired. May
you give them the rest. May you give them the strength. May you give them the
encouragement to keep going. May we worship you, for in due season, you will
bring about the change and that will glorify you. May we not give up. May we
stand in the gap, for you are God of the gap, and you meet us here. You are with
us. You are for us. You will work through us today. We love you, God. It's in
your son's name we pray. Amen.