SUNDAY (LIVE) - March 22, 2026 | Inward, Outward, Upward with Dan Vidlak

But shame on me, and maybe shame on you for time and time again, me just saying, I can't do it. I could never. Things will never change. Yeah. You can't, but someone can. Because it always says that when we humble ourselves and become weak, what does he do? He becomes strong. He cannot only be able to make all this, he's able to rebuild you and to refresh you and set your feedback on the rock. Amen? He's able. [01:13:43] (41 seconds)  #HumbleThenStrong

In the last days, God's gonna take you, and you won't have all the junk that you have in your heart right now. You won't have all the train wrecks you can't get over. He's gonna take you in the final days. You, his prized possession, his people. He's gonna take you, and he's gonna present you to God almighty. Perfect, spotless, blameless, and you are gonna be full of joy. We're not gonna be having to go, oh, I'm so shameful for the life I live. We're gonna be joyful because we are perfect, and Jesus Christ is finally gonna get this motley crew, but we'll be perfected then. Amen? [01:14:35] (44 seconds)  #PresentedPerfect

Keep yourself in the love of God. And maybe if we go to Jude chapter one, I'll explain how you cannot escape the love of God. In your position in Jesus Christ and in the father, you are loved, and you're always loved, and someone else is keeping you there. It's simply just staying under the shower of God's love. We move outside of it, and we're like, where's God's love? Well, you just you just gotta get back under the shower because it's always there. [00:51:54] (33 seconds)  #StayInGodsLove

One of the reasons we hope and wait for Jesus Christ to come back is he's gonna save us from this place. Amen and hallelujah. And some of us may just about be ready to go. Hope is a game changer. It brings us out of life's prisons, out of the rebuilding years, and places us high and lifted up into our most certain glorious, merciful future with our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen? That's what it does. According to Titus chapter two verse 13, it's a happy hope. You wanna be happy? Start hoping. [00:55:57] (46 seconds)  #HopeChangesEverything

Maybe we should look to the author and the finisher of our our faith, Jesus Christ. The king of kings and the lord of lords, god almighty, the eternal son of god came down to dwell among us, and he he asked to be served? Did did he wanna wear, like, a special crown? Did did he wanna wear, like, a king's robe? Oh, no. Oh, no. Says that he did not come to serve, but he did not come to be served, but to serve and give his life a ransom for many. [00:59:48] (38 seconds)  #JesusServantKing

Could it be true that it truly is better to give than to receive? And if it is true, why are there so many narcissistic selfish people in the world, including me? That might be something you think about. It truly is better to give than to receive, and a wise people realize that, and they give themselves away. And there's a great fulfillment in that. There's a great happiness in that. I'm convinced the most fulfilled and happy you'll ever be is giving yourself to other people. [01:01:29] (42 seconds)  #GiveToBeFulfilled

Let's put it this way. According to Hebrews chapter 12 verse six, God chastens those whom he loves. A real son of God, you go the wrong way long enough, he's gonna take you behind the woodshed and give you a little something. Yeah. You guys been there? So what Jude's saying is, listen, Save your friends from the woodshed. Snatch them. Tell them, hey. There's a better way. Be careful with that. I see this trend. There's a better way to go. Be careful. You might have a blind side on this one. Amen? [01:08:46] (41 seconds)  #SnatchThemFromHarm

but you beloved. And if you get nothing else from today, I wanna encourage you believers, those of us who have embraced the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you believe that he died, was buried, and rose again for you individually. You. You. When you believe that, he loves you. Did you do you know that you are beloved? In Ephesians chapter one, he says that you are not only accepted in the beloved, but you have been given every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. What a position to be in, the beloved. Amen? [00:44:46] (42 seconds)  #YouAreBeloved

Sometimes we look out windows like this, and we have no problem reconciling in our brain that God almighty made that. Amen? That's easy. That's great. Hey. We even look at our body, and we're like, man, God's awesome. But somehow we don't trust him, and we have a hard time seeing him being an all powerful God in your life that he can be the strength of our lives. Amen? He can be the strength to make that. Of course, he can handle your little situation. [01:13:13] (30 seconds)  #TrustGodsStrength

Blessed, literally. You wanna be happy? There's a happy hope waiting for the Lord Jesus Christ. And maybe, again, if you get nothing else out of today, do you know that Jesus is coming back? And it could be today, perhaps today. Amen? You wanna be happy, you wanna be rebuilding, you might wanna think about hoping. Favorable, confident, expectation of the unseen future. It brings you out of this and into that. Amen? [00:56:43] (32 seconds)  #HappyHopeReturn

The person who has this hope on their head of Jesus's return, his merciful return for his church purifies himself. There's a lot of junk going in our minds. It's at your fingertips. Your eyes take in a lot of junk in this society, in this world system on purpose. And if you wanna be purified from that, start hoping for Jesus' return. Amen? Happy hope. Purifying hope. [00:57:25] (32 seconds)  #PurifyingHope

Now listen, this is this is authentic Christianity we're talking about here. Right? This authentic Christianity can't stay inside. We make a big mistake when we just get bloated with information, and me me me me me, I didn't get enough. I wasn't fed. Me me me me me. That's not the Christian life. Yes. We need all those things, but if it doesn't turn us into and look to meet someone else's need, it's not authentic Christianity. It can't stop there. It has to be others centered. [00:58:42] (36 seconds)  #OthersCenteredFaith

Now come on. When Jude just says simply, keep yourself in the love of God, he's trying to rise up inside of you a feeling that we have already been given so much in our position. Could we just simply start acting like we are? Keep yourself in the spot that Jesus Christ won for you. In your spiritual position, in Jesus Christ, you have everything. You've been made the righteousness of Christ in in in God in Christ Jesus. You've been given all spiritual blessings. You're accepted. [00:53:14] (36 seconds)  #LiveInYourPosition

See, doubt says, I'll never believe it until I see it. Right? And faith said, I'm gonna believe it, and then I'll see it. It's a big difference. So we come alongside and we treat the wavering with mercy and compassion. We are God's sympathizers. Amen? That's what he's calling us to do as we look outward, and then he asks us to do something else as well. He says, we are to actually save or rescue others by snatching them out of the fire. What? [01:07:34] (42 seconds)  #RescueWithMercy

Start focusing upward. Get your eyes off yourself. Realize that worshiping will keep you from worrying. It will keep you from the moly grubs. It's a wise saying. Amen? And then the second thing, we'll stay with our scripture. He says, keep yourself in the love of God. Right? First thing he says is he says, to pray in the spirit and then keep yourself in the love of God. That's number two. [00:51:16] (39 seconds)  #PrayAndRemainInLove

You're down. You wanna build yourself up again. He starts like this. You beloved, and in a society and in a culture that weighs so light on the scale of self responsibility, of agency, everybody wants to play a victim. It's you. Jude says, it starts with you. You are responsible for your spiritual life, and it's a no brainer, but we need to be reminded of this. For some who does pastoring part time, it's super frustrating listen. [00:42:49] (37 seconds)  #OwnYourSpiritualLife

You guys have everything you need. You don't yes. We can we can break apart scripture and stuff, but but it starts with you and me individually adjusting our mindset and asking ourselves a simple question. Is it me, oh, Lord, that needs to change my attitude and my perspective? You see, God has to have something to work with. And if you don't get yourself in the right spiritual frame of mind and change your attitudes and perspectives for the better, you're not gonna have a chance. [00:43:25] (38 seconds)  #ChangeYourPerspective

Oh, God, you are holy. Oh, God, you know all things. You surely haven't forgotten me. Oh, God, you're all powerful. Surely you can be the strength of my life. Oh, God, you could just go on and on. The focus the focus though, if you wanna be rebuilt, the focus is on him. Amen? That's how you worship as the saying goes and the hymn goes, when we turn our eyes upon Jesus, the world will grow strangely dim. That's the idea. You want to start rebuilding. [00:50:30] (33 seconds)  #EyesOnJesus

So he says, you, beloved. So we first look inwardly, not in a narcissistic, independent, bootstrap religion kind of way, but just to stop for a second and take responsibility for your spiritual life. Amen? One of my favorite things my dad used to always ask people, and it was embarrassing when I was young, but I got used to used to say, how's your spiritual life? Oh, I don't know. I guess I hadn't thought about it in a while. Well, you should. [00:44:04] (32 seconds)  #CheckYourSpiritualLife

You know, I think if we're all honest with ourselves, and I and I I hope we are here this morning. I think if we're honest with ourselves, we'll all admit there's times in our life when we feel a little downtrodden. We feel a little beat down by this life. Right? We can feel a little tore down. Whether it's from that slow and insidious grind that our daily grind can pulverize us up and push us down, or whether it's from that flash, that shock and awe of some of the devastating realities that this life can thrust upon us. Amen? [00:35:27] (47 seconds)  #HonestAboutStruggle