Showing Up Consistently: Participating in God's Restoration

``And I I suppose here's the trap. When restoration takes longer than we expect, when results don't look like what we hoped for, what do we do? Often, we'll just quit. It's enough. Don't wanna do that anymore. In terms of sourdough making, we stop feeding the starter. We stop showing up. We stop believing that God can do anything. But what if, and this was alluded to earlier, what if showing up consistently is the work? What if faithful participation, even when you can't control all the different variables, is exactly what restoration looks like. [00:08:29] (43 seconds)  #FaithfulShowingUp

Alright? God isn't just reconciling people. He's reconciling your relationships with God, with relationships with others, and even with yourself. God is reconciling your physical body, the pain and the sickness and the aging that we all feel. He will redeem that. He will do that. That God is also reconciling creation itself, that the environment that we live in is broken. And so God will reconcile that and restore that. [00:15:34] (38 seconds)  #GodRestoresEverything

If you're here today and you're not sure you believe in God or if you're not sure restoration is even possible, here's what I'd invite you to do to consider, and I'll invite the team up. Look at the brokenness in your life, in the world. And if that's all there is, it's pretty bleak, isn't it? But what if there's more? What if restoration is possible? And I believe you're welcome to explore that at the table this morning in a life group that you can you can experience all of this. Just show up, taste, and see. [00:34:21] (54 seconds)  #ExploreRestoration

And so the table trains us in this rhythm of restoration. And so as we have participated today in today's communion, here's what we did. Right? We came to this table. We told the truth that the world is broken, that we are broken, and God is making all things new. So every week, this table and and one of the reasons why we do this every week, the table orients us back to the cross, forward to the feast that is to come, as well as right here, right now, our participation. We ate the bread. We drank the cup. [00:20:15] (44 seconds)  #TableOfRestoration

And when you taste either bread, I want you to think, you know, where in my life have I been faithfully showing up, you know, using the right ingredients, prayer, serving, and others other things, and the outcome still doesn't look like what I expected. I want you to remember that God's promise is real, that there will be a beautiful outcome someday. I hope I'll make a really good one someday. But God's promise is real that the ingredients are working. [00:31:18] (35 seconds)  #FaithIngredients

And that's the message for someone for some of you here today. Your faithfulness, your consistent showing up, your prayers, your service, your presence, they're all the right ingredients. And sometimes it produces a good loaf, and sometimes it produces a flat loaf. But God's work is good in both because you're using the right ingredients. [00:30:18] (28 seconds)  #FaithfulIsEnough

And and say it because of this. You can show up consistently in prayer, in service, in presence. You can use the right ingredients like, you know, God's word and community and faithfulness, and we can learn from others who have walked the path longer than us. We can pay attention to the signs of what God is doing, but you can't control the timing of the healing. You can't control how people respond to your faithfulness. You can't control the external circumstances affecting your life, and you can't control the exact outcome of your obedience. Alright? All you can do is show up consistently and trust that God's work is good [00:05:28] (48 seconds)  #ShowUpTrustGod

And then we look to the future. We look ahead to God's promises. Acts three twenty one says, God promised that he will restore everything, not just some things, all things guaranteed by the resurrection of Jesus. And so you need these three things. You need the past, the past recipe, God's design. You need the present fermentation that is God's current work. And we will we will realize a future bread that there is going to be a restoration of all things. [00:13:04] (44 seconds)  #RecipeForRestoration