OCTOBER 17, 2021 SUNDAY MESSAGE
JOIN US AT 10 AM TODAY!
Transcription: (Please ignore any errors, as a result!)
Good morning. How's everybody doing? To be honest with you, this is very homey today, and I'm kind of excited about it if you're here with us in person, thank you. And if you're online, if you're somewhere on a beach or something, we say, Hi. My first question, I just want to start off with you for today is just
when you're tired. When you're hurting. What is your go to? Where do you go? How are you being Christian when these times come around? I think about a lot of times when I think about Paul and how he does things and a lot of his letters start off, you know, hey, I'm in chains, but I'm coming for you to give you energy.
But how do we think about these things? And as for myself, I've tried to really dial it down here recently and try to find three things that I can hang on to that hopefully I can share with us today. And those three things are always just remembering the ultimate price that Jesus paid for us to have everlasting life, remembering that God is here with us and just remembering that if we chose and we decided that we love Jesus and he died for us on the cross, we are a part of this walk, and it is our job to continue to spread the good news no matter what.
My name is Anthony Dumas, and I'm one of the elders here at Common Ground. My family is normally on the west side of the sanctuary, and I'm just excited to be here with you today. And we are Common Ground northeast. And we are a Church that is here to spread love and to seek justice and to seek justice whenever we can. And I like to pray for us before I get started. Heavenly Father, we just thank you for this time. I thank you for everyone that is here in person and anyone that is online or will get to see this in the future.
Dear Lord, that you use our words to give you glory and to spread your Kingdom here on Earth. Your name, we pray Amen. It seems like any time I get a chance to come up here, it always ends up coming with a lesson for me. It always ends up that I have a ready and prepared and set and nice and pretty. And then God decides to bring another lesson in my heart. Eric, my brother Ken, how you guys do it each and every week is beyond me because this is a lot.
But when I get up here and especially for today, I promise you that what we're going to talk about. I'm not pointing at anybody. What I am actually doing is reflecting what is going on real time this time in our lives. And as we go and hopefully it helps us all. And it's already ironic. I mean, I've talked to very few people this morning and first talked to Jonathan and just hearing what's going on with his family and hearing the songs. We didn't plan this. It just is God, it's the Holy Spirit already working and what we're doing.
So since we're here, let's go on fall break right now, let's take a trip to the Gulf. We're at the Gulf of Mexico. We're at Destin Gulf shores wherever. But you're on the beach. Last couple of months, you've been at the wide practice and your stroke, getting it all ready for when you get out to the ocean and your wife's telling you, watch out for the sandbar and the Reef and you're like, yeah, whatever. And you get the swimming and you get to swimming out there.
And then you look back and realize it's kind of far away. And then that wave hits you and being from Indiana not used to that salt water. And you take that big mouth full of salt water, and now you're gagging and you're choking in the middle of the ocean and you're like, oh, no, what is going on before you know it boom, another wave hits you. Now you're kind of spinning, and now you can figure your feet like, out of the water like, oh, no, what is going to happen?
And then another wave hits you, and now you've just lost it. And you don't know where you're at, but by the Grace of God, you get just washed back up towards the shore and you go towards your family. But guess what? Everybody's worried about getting to that seafood restaurant tonight. Nobody's really worried about what just happened to you, even though, you know, in your heart that was scary that something happened. So what I want us to do is parallel just that little metaphor with our lives when you think about it sometimes.
And in our lives, how we take those waves, how we take those beatings, how as soon as we feel like our heads are above water, Bam, we get hit with another wave, and another wave. Has anybody show hands felt like that recently where it's just like, man, we cannot get out from underneath the water.
And again, as I say that I come to you today, tired, exhausted, waiting in pain with the current ache in my heart, just for how those waves keep hitting us. And then as for us, individually, it doesn't matter what your pain point.
And it doesn't matter what your struggles are, because whatever you're dealing with, you're dealing with as a family, as yourself. And I understand, let me kind of explain a little bit where we're coming from. Two Fridays ago, we were doing what the Dumas family does entrenched in football at Lauren Central's game, watching my two sons do what they do incredibly. And that's a blessing to be able to see your own sons on the same line playing high school football together. Oh, my God, I love it.
And just like any other play a regular play. Andre is doing a sing on a young man. And boom, he goes down and we see him fall, and it hit us because we knew he would get up if it was just something small. And he didn't get up. And so we ran down on the field, son and I and by the time he got to the trainer's table, we knew his leg was in trouble. And this was a year and a day ago to when he had ACL surgery on his other knee.
So we watched this young man work hard, watch him and his brother do their thing. But just knowing that something bad had happened. And at that point, as a father, my heart just sunk. I was entrenched in pain. I was in pain for him. He looked at me and we looked at each other. And we knew that it was going to take some time. Whatever happened. And I have six kids. We have six kids. And we turned around. And it was one of those first times I said, God, take my leg right now.
Give it to this kid. Let him get back out on the field and do what he wants. We've seen pain. I felt pain, but that time, whatever I could have done to make him pop back up, I would have. But it wasn't going to happen. We got up well, that night, after everybody got to bed, I probably cried more than I've cried for a long time. Got into the doctor the next morning, but he wanted to go be around his buddy. So
after his doctor's appointment, I dropped him off at the field.
I couldn't even drive home. I had to pull in a parking lot and stop because of the pain that I was feeling. And at that time, I knew I had to preach next Sunday. I didn't want to do it. I want to call in. I wanted to get somebody else to do it, because right then, the faith that I felt that I had was waning. I began to go into, why it's not fair. Kids work too hard. Why God, Saturday? Why? What is going on Sunday?
What's the point? Why Monday? I get up and I go to work and I can barely work. And that Sunday, last Sunday, we sung, It is well with my soul. And I was just like, Is it really well with my soul? And to be honest with you, I was just beat down. But it was crazy because I kept asking, Why, God, why? And Tuesday morning, I was getting ready for work, and I was in the mirror, and it's like, something hit me. And he said, Dude, that pain that you're feeling, that anger, that sorrow that you're feeling for your son.
That love, that guttural love. He's like, That's how I love you. And he was like, oh, my God, so much. God loves us so much. Jesus loves us. And it took me that time of pouting and being in my feelings to begin to realize and go back to the beginning of why we're here because God loves us. God loved us so much. He went to the cross for us, and it just hit me. And it was just like, wow, just slow down and just try to find a way to be able to get through this.
And so today we're going to just look at a few references from the Bible just to maybe help us. And I'll think about it when we're beginning to take those waves. And for myself, those three things are simply just, you know, that Jesus paid the ultimate price for us by death on the cross because of His incredible love for us, that God is always around in the middle of these waves and these trials and tribulations that we may be going through or even when it's the good times.
And then lastly, when we are weary when we're tired when we're going through things, please remember, we chose to say God died for us and that we want to still continue to be the ones that are sharing the good news and that we are disciples and that we are commissioned to do that. So I want to just read Romans five, six through eight. And it says, you see, just at the right time when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though,
for a good person, someone might possibly dare to die.
But God demonstrates His own love for us in this while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And there was that moment when Andrew was on the table where I was just like, I would do anything for this kid. And what God was telling me, and what God is saying in this is that, yeah, you can do that for somebody you love. But I did it for everybody. I did it for the people that don't want to be loved that aren't loved that are maybe doing things to hurt people.
I love them too. And it is our job. It is our job to continue to touch and love those that maybe don't get the love they need or deserve. Number two, God is here with us, and we can look at James chapter one, verse twelve. And it just says, Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial, because having stood the test, that person will receive the Crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Blessed is the one who perseveres under trials because having stood to test, that person will receive the Crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
When I look at this and I go back to that night, I was even wondering that night, where are you at God? What is going on here? And the craziest thing when we stopped back. And when I talked to my wife and when we thought about that night, I saw something I never seen before in my life. There were teenagers, boys on the football field, his brother in tearsre in the middle of playing a high school football game. And what God was trying to show me was that your sons are doing what I need him to do.
They are being leaders. He was telling me to step out and let him be God. These guys have other young men that are becoming better young men because they like and they understand and they relate to what Audrey brings and that's to God. And that's kind of where I wanted to think that he wasn't there. But not only was he there, he was intertwined between everybody and everything that
was going on at that time. So when you think about the things that are going on in your own life and you feel like God has separated, maybe try to step back and see where he's actually extra intertwined into everything that is going on with us for us and about us.
And then just the last verse is Colossians 21, 24 through 35. And Paul is just saying, now I rejoice and what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh was still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, which is a Church. I have become its servant by the Commission God gave me to
present to you the word of God and its fullness. And there are going to be times when we are having tough times, but we have to remember that we are commissioned by God to continue to share the word and to be the Word.
So what that means is that there are times that if you are on the end where you're tired and you're at Wits end where you have to talk to God. But you also have to talk to your brothers and your sisters and your people around you. I talked to our elder team. I explained what was going on. I talked to my boys that I've grown up with and explained to them where I'm at. I talked to some friends from work and just explain how heavy my heart was.
And they all have come alongside to pick up and pick me up in prayer and allow me to be able to share with them and to hear prayer and to hear word because I don't know about you. Sometimes it's even hard when you open up the Bible when you're in this place to figure out where do I go? And I've had people that have given me words right now of encouragement, giving us words, giving our family words of encouragement just to keep on going. You think about Joseph, what an incredible leader he was in the Bible.
I mean, think about the waves that he went through as a young man who had a gift of dream interpretation. His brothers were so mad they sold him into slavery. He ended up taking that and ended up beginning working for Potiphar. And his wife wanted him. He didn't want her. She lied on him, had him sent to jail. Another way he goes to jail has to fight what you have to fight in jail to become literally the man running to jail through waves and waves. You think about Job, a wealthy man, an honorable man, a man of God's own heart that was stripped of everything, stripped of his wealth, stripped of his family, stripped of the respect of his wife and of his best friends.
And he did end up reclaiming that. And he got it back and God replenished him. You think about Moses, a man that had so many troubles, didn't even know he wanted to do what he had to do. But for 40 years, he had to leave God's people who were so hard on them, who didn't want to do right all the way to the promise land. But to get there and be told, you can watch. But you're not going in to know that when he passed, he didn't even have a tombstone for people to honor him.
He didn't end up with that Rudy moment. He didn't end up with everybody cheering his name. But he knew that he was going to get his victory in the end. And I just want to read to you. I guess my question is, when you're in the middle of your storms, what do you look to? How do you look? What do you look to that can finally get you to point back up to your faith and to what God has for us and the love he has for us.
In Hebrews, the Jewish people where they started off strong and going well and going good, and then they begin to get persecuted. They begin to get frustrated. And there was an author. We think it was Paul that had to encourage him. And here's one section in Hebrews, and it is chapter eleven, verses 29 through 40. And it says by faith the people passed through the Red Sea on dry land. But when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned by faith. The walls of Jericho fell after the army had marched around them for seven days.
By faith. The prostitute rehab because she welcomed his spies, was not killed with those who are disobedient. And what more shall I say? I do not have the time to tell you about Gideon Barrack, Samson, Jebtaff, David, and Samuel, and the prophets who, through faith, conquered kingdoms, administered justice and gained what was promised, who shut the mouths of Lions, quenched the furious flames and escaped the edge of the sword, whose weakness was turned to strength and who became powerful in battle and rooted foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised life again.
There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced cheers and flogging and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning. They were sought into. They were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated. The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in the deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes and in the ground. These were all commended for their faith. Yet none of them received what had been promised since God had planned something better for us, that only together with us would be made perfect.
That was in the same paragraph. Guys, I don't know if you saw that, but the triumphs of what some people had. But then what other people had to deal with. But it was by faith because regardless, we're going to end up with the glory of God. We're going to end up with Jesus. But just know that there are going to be times. That where it is tougher. And for myself. Even this verse gave me so much comfort. And the only reason I got this verse to share with you was because I was talking to a friend, my coworker, faith.
And we were talking and she's like, dumbass. Let's pull up Hebrews. And so what I'm sharing with you is literally what I'm talking about is just what God says is that we are all part of this Kingdom. And when you're in one spot, there's somebody else that's going to come and help us to fill in that other spot. So just in closing, I just want you to try and remember that Jesus paid the ultimate price for us to have eternal life by death on the cross.
And because of this incredible love for us, that God is always around, take your time to find Him in the middle of your storm and we're weary. And when we are weary, just remember that we still are commissioned to share good love, good news and be a part of that by sharing your story with others. And I just want to pray for us. Heavenly Father, I just thank you for this time. Dear Lord, I thank you for your story. I thank you for Jesus. Dear Lord, thank you for coming ground northeast.
It gives us a place to be able to do what we do, dear Lord, and we just thank you for always being our strength, our comforter, and someone that we can look to when the waves just seem like they're too
great in your name, we pray Amen.
So we've come to the time in our service where we're asked to respond and just listening to Dooms message. It just reminded me of the difference of response within the Church versus response outside of the Church. Everything outside of this place outside of this community calls me to grab a little tighter, to grab a little tighter to the hopes and dreams that I have for myself, for my career, for my family, for my kids. When Jesus called us, he actually called us into that sweet relief to let go of those things that we find ourselves clutching, too.
That's what we call you to. The response here this week, we call you to respond through giving, and often everything in your life calls you to give right? Everyone in our society wants something. And so everyone calls you to give. And yet when Christ called us to give, he offered us the opportunity to release the giving of the first fruits is not just a blessing for those that you're releasing it, too, but even more so, it's a blessing for ourselves to just be able to let go of those first fruits and say, God, I know that you give me enough.
And so I will just give the first of what you've given to me. There are ways that you can give, and we would offer those opportunities to you. Whether you partner with our Church, we have online giving, and you can partner with us. We have Ministry partners that we engage with that you're welcome to join in that giving with them. Obviously, you have neighbors and friends who are in need that you can
give to. So we just call you to really just meet with God and ask him where he's calling you to give, where he's calling you for that free, sweet release of giving.
Another way that we respond is we pray and through prayer again. That's another way to release the hardest things in our lives. They hide in the darkest places they hit us in the lowest moments in the world around us would tell us to not show weakness, to not show pain, to not show that you're not perfect. But the Kingdom actually offers us the sweet release to let go of those things, to share those with a community that we're connected with. We want to be that community common ground.
We want to offer that opportunity to people to release those things that retain a hold on your life. Retain a hold on your heart that continue to act as an anchor to allowing you to have that close Communion and community with the living God. The last way that we respond is through singing through worship. Is there anywhere else in your life where you would stand in the middle of a group of people and just let out and saw the sweet release of losing those inhibitions of letting go of your keys and wallet?
Taking your hands out of your pockets and just freely releasing, standing and worshiping before your creator? The sweet release of song.
COMMUNION:
(1 COR. 11:23B-26)
“The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
PRAYER REQUESTS:
We are hosting prayer team meetings for both the congregation at large and individuals to sign up for individual prayer.
SUGGESTIONS FOR WORSHIP:
“Praise & Worship” Spotify playlist and “Praise & Worship” YouTube playlist (slightly different from each other), both of diverse music that are being constantly updated!
Bethel Music :
Bethel Music’s hours of live music YouTube Playlist, also being constantly updated
Bethel provides chords to most (if not all) of their songs here (just have to register email, but free!)
Live worship moments from the Upper Room YouTube Playlist
Journal writing! (I’m a writer too, so sometimes creative writing and writing my thoughts to God is my form of worship.)
Declare and worship with truth by singing and praying scriptures.
WORSHIP NIGHT! Dedicate a night to worship with friends and family, your house church or neighbors, those who need prayer, love worship, or just enjoy music through a video chat platform like Zoom. You can have one person leading at a time (switching off to whoever else wants to lead) while others sing along, pray, or prophesy, etc.
Serving your community, both online, in person, or both, is a great way to worship God, from spreading encouragement and God’s Word online to physically serving food to others. If you are able to go out and serve, click here for opportunities.
COMMISSIONING:
As Jesus said in John 20:21,
"Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."
Go, be the Church!
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen.