Finding Hope and Purpose in Jesus Amid Division

1. "And what that tells me is that y 'all are out here doing this. You're living this. You're embodying this. We're putting our hope and our trust in Jesus. We're placing everything, every anxiety. That's what Scripture tells us to do. Don't be anxious about things. Instead, take them to Jesus. He cares. He'll provide. We're putting our hope and our faith in him. We're seeing each other as members of God's family, not as opponents. Or enemies. Or the problem. We're loving. We're serving. We're living at peace with one another. And we're forgiving. Well done. Well done, Paradox." [00:01:19] (39 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2. "I want to just say, keep on going. This is what Hebrews 11 says. It's that Jesus is the author and the perfecter of our faith. He completes what he starts. So what you've begun doing, continue to do. See it through. Fix your eyes on him. When uncertainty and insecurity and hopelessness. Or fear and anxiety come in over the next couple of weeks. Go back to him. Fix your eyes on him. He's the author. He's the perfecter. We can put everything under him as we've been doing." [00:01:58] (33 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3. "And today, we are a church that is actually, this is the answer to prayer. Many, many years of prayer. We are a very diverse church. Racially. Ethnically. Generationally. There's so many different, and even politically. We're a diverse church that is brought together, united under Jesus and his mission, his kingdom, here on earth. And no matter who your party, who your tribe, who your person of choice is, he or she, let's admit it, if we're going to humble ourselves, is not perfect. They're not perfect." [00:05:59] (36 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4. "Who do we put our hope in? Who do we put our trust in? We put our trust in Jesus because Jesus is who he said he was. The son of God, without sin, born of a virgin, came from heaven to embody, deliver perfectly God's law, fulfill God's law, and lay down his life as a perfect sacrifice for us. Jesus is who he said he was. And he has done what he said he would do. He has the character to accomplish it. He has the desire to accomplish it. And he alone has the ability to accomplish it. Today I want to say, put your trust in him. Cast your vote of confidence for him. It will relieve so much of the pressure you might feel today." [00:07:41] (49 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5. "If Jesus is the candidate. If Jesus were to reign. As he is. And I hope that he is in your life, too. In our country, yes, but in your life, in your heart. If under the reign of Jesus, the burden of earning will be lifted. The burden of earning will be lifted. I want to go over to that verse that Mike read as we dedicated children, our children, our children to the Lord today in Deuteronomy chapter 6. This is coming out of, this is a new commandment. And it's coming out of this place where, the people of Israel were in slavery in Egypt. And they cried out to the Lord, similarly to what we already read and prayed. They cried out to the Lord. And God hears their cries, cares about their cries, and delivers a solution to them." [00:11:41] (51 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6. "You did not always do something wrong. There are times when you you've been wronged, and it's okay to be angry about those things, but here's the thing that I found in me. Maybe you find it in you too. When we believe those things in all of our relationships, we tend to put them on God as well, and when we feel distant, or when things start to go wrong in our lives, we go, I must have done something wrong. God is punishing me. I must have done something wrong. That's why there's distance. I didn't do enough good stuff, so I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to earn God's favor. I'm going to earn God's love. That will lead to exhaustion. It will lead to resentment. It will lead to anger, and it will only increase the distance between you and God. I promise you." [00:19:28] (46 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7. "Jesus came, and he says, I want to ease the burden of earning. I'm going to lift that, you're not what you have. You're not what you earn. You're not what you do. You're a beloved child of God, and there's nothing that you can do to change that. Now, you could definitely receive it or reject it. You could say, no, thank you. I will earn more of that. I do this all the time. As ridiculous as that sounds, I do it all the time. There's people in my life that love me, that care about me, that say, hey, can I help? And I go, no. I mean, seriously, I'll do it myself. No, thank you." [00:20:03] (37 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8. "We continue to go back to this, though, and go, there is nothing that I need to earn in the economy of Jesus. As Matthew 5, 5 says, he says, the more we trust in him, we're actually blessed and find ourselves the owner of everything that can't be bought in his kingdom. I love the way the message puts that. We're blessed. We find ourselves the owners of everything that can't be bought. They can't be earned. There is so much more joy in receiving this gift of relationship, specifically. More joy." [00:20:42] (36 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


9. "Jesus will eliminate your debt. He will eliminate your debt. I know this is a hot topic. It's one that we've discussed culturally as well, but again, in Hebrews chapter 9, verse 14, this comes up again, and it says, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works? All of our works, remember, lead to death, but then we're free to serve the living God. Our conscience is actually purified. Our debt is eliminated because of Jesus." [00:21:51] (39 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


10. "Jesus just keeps, he keeps on serving and loving and giving and as we give it, the more we do that for others, the more he seems to do it for us. John 13, Jesus washes his disciples' feet. He kneels down. He humbles himself, and he serves them, and he says, the way that I am loving you, I want you to love others. I'm calling you to do the same. That's what Romans 12 says, is that instead of offering sacrifices at a temple, there's a reason you don't bring goats to Paradox, okay?" [00:31:26] (31 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)