Heart Church Escondido

Shane Rogers 0:00
Good morning. I don't know about you, but I don't sit still very well. In fact, that's kind of why I decided to teach from a stool today because I feel like in the last, what, five weeks now, we've been doing a lot of sitting and maybe not physically sitting, but sort of twiddling our thumbs figuring out what are we going to do in the middle of quarantine, because a lot of the activities that we typically do, we are not able to do and if you know me very well, you'll know that I'm active, borderline a DD and I love socializing. I love connecting. And I don't stay on one thing very long. And so I've been challenged in this season. And I don't know that it's a bad challenge. And I was thinking about that. And thinking about a time when I had a hard time sitting still. You know, I'm from San Diego, maybe like you. And so I've never been hunting up until I was in my mid 20s. And I actually lived in San Antonio at the time. Never really fired a gun before but always wanted to go hunting. And I was a youth pastor in San Antonio. This was before I was married. And I had a worship leader at the church that I was youth pastoring at and he loved deer hunting. And he also talked about it all the time. He had a couple of different guns. And he had a different few different ranches in Texas that he would go out to with his buddies, and they go deer hunting. And so after a number of times, kind of asking him about it. He's like, man, you should come with me sometime. I'm like, I don't even know how to fire a gun. He's like, Listen, you don't even have to fire a gun, you can just come with me. It's it's really fun. So I'm like, Okay, I finally took him up on it. So we got up super early in the morning. We had like a couple of things a thermoses of hot cocoa and coffee. And we bond a lot because it was, you know, winter in San Antonio, when I wanted these ranches. And I realized then that we were going deer blind hunting, you sit in a what's called a blind, and you wait for a deer. So I had envisioned and maybe you're like me, I had envisioned deer hunting being like walking through the woods, you know, you've got like your rifle and your scope and you're kind of figuring it out and you're looking, you know, look at the landscape and hiding in Iraq or in a you know thicket. What and hunting the deer. But that's not what deer blind hunting is deer blind hunting is literally you sit in a box, and you have to be completely silent the whole time. Otherwise, you'll scare the deer because the point in Deer blind hunting is that you camouflage this box that you sit in, and you wait for the deer to come to you. But if you're not completely still and completely collect quiet the whole time, they never come. So had I known this I probably wouldn't have come because I didn't even have a gun. I'm sitting there in all camouflage, freezing. And and completely bored. So I remember just sitting there and it was like for hours. And we had our thermos and a couple of different times he had to like tell me to change like you can't make any more noise you know, cuz I'd be unscrewing the thermos for some more coffee and then I clanging it around and then I'd be like, Hey, do you see anything yet? And he's like, sure, like, I felt like a little kid in the backseat of a car Dad, are we there yet? And so anyways, I was just like, do you know? So finally, there was like, these slats, small little slats in the deer blinds so you could see while you're sitting there. So as I'm sitting there, like in detention, not allowed to say anything. I see and I think I saw it before my buddy I see this deer through the slot. It was probably like 50 yards away or something. Huge antlers like it was a 10 point or 12 point. I don't know you know the antlers. That's how the scale how big a deer is and how good of a find it would be. So huge deer big antlers and remind you I've been sitting here for probably, you know, five hours, and we've seen nothing but like squirrels. So to actually see one. I mean my knee jerk reaction took over in that moment. I was so excited because maybe this torture is going to be done because there's a deer and so I stood up and I went

Shane Rogers 4:37
needless to say, the deer didn't stick around for very long, and my buddy didn't even have time to raise his rifle before the deer was completely gone. And that was the only deer we saw that day. So he hasn't invited me back. I don't do very well in quarantine. How about you? How are you doing? Sitting Still, and as I was preparing my message and thinking about what God would want to speak, I really feel like the Lord sort of led me to this idea of new strength, that we would find new strength in the middle of this time that I think is kind of a gift from God, even though I'm not enjoying it. By and large, I mean, I like having more time with my kids. And that's been really refreshing. And my wife's been able to stay home. And so that's been really cool. Like Caleb, and Haley and Heather, we have a lot more time together, which has been awesome. But I'm used to going. I'm used to, to continuing to have new activities and new ideas and new things. And I've had a lot more time like you. And I feel like the Lord has been saying, you needed this time our world needed this time to reboot, see Trump our president, he says that our country is not designed to be stagnant. And I would agree with that our economy does not too well when everything shut down. But I don't think that we were created the same way that our economy was created. We were not created to just go Go, go, go go. We were created to need to find new strength in a different way. And so there's a scripture that I love that kind of goes to the video that you just watched Isaiah, chapter 40, verse 31, it'll be up on the screen, it says this. But those who wait on the Lord will find new strength, they will soar high on wings, like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not

Shane Rogers 6:43
faint. We're always looking for new strength, I mean, outside of quarantined, think about it, we're always looking for renewed energy, renewed joy, we take up new hobbies, we start working out, we start eating healthier, because we always are looking for that new strength, that new inspiration, new creativity, the renewed hope, new renewed vision. These are things that we're always chasing, and those are good things to desire. God created us to need those things. But I would suggest to you that I think oftentimes we look in the wrong place for those things. And so, in fact, even Paul, the apostle speaks to this, this idea of needing inner strength. In Ephesians, chapter three, verse 16, says, Paul says, I pray for that from his God's glorious, unlimited resource he will give will empower you with inner strength, through His Spirit, His unlimited resource, he would empower you with inner strength. And so we're gonna take a look at the life of Jesus and how he found inner strength, how he found new strength. And I would submit to you that maybe the new strength that you're looking for maybe the place that you're going to find that new vision and inspiration maybe isn't the day when we get out of quarantine. But maybe it's right in the middle of having to sit still. God wants to breathe new life into you and I and we see it in Mark chapter one, and it'll be up on the screen. But it's a simple story. Jesus is in Capernaum. This is the the town that he started his ministry and he was just in the synagogue and he was preaching and doing healings. And then he goes back to Peter's house. And we pick up in verse 2032. of Mark Chapter One says this, that evening at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick, or oppressed by demons. And the whole city was gathered together at the door. So get this picture. I mean, those cities back then, between three and 400 people would be gathered around a small house, because Jesus was there. And verse 34 says, and he healed many who were sick with various diseases and cast out many demons, verse 35. And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there, he prayed. And Simon, and those who were with him, search for him, and they found him and said to him, everyone's looking for you. And He said to them, let's go to the next town, that I may preach there also for that is why I came. And he went out throughout all of Galilee, preaching in their synagogues, and casting out demons. It's the hardest thing in the world to self quarantine. I don't think any of us would choose this level of isolation. We were created to be together. We were not created to have this sort of distancing and all of those things, The Stay At Home orders. I believe that they're there. Right. And I believe that we're going to be led by our officials. but never known was created for that level of quarantine. And yet, we see that at some level, Jesus, self quarantined. And we're going to take a look at that. But the first idea of three ideas that Jesus did and what he received from that. First one is this, Jesus stopped. So he could soar. Jesus stopped, so that he could soar.

Shane Rogers 10:27
So you have to understand the picture of what was happening. Jesus was starting his ministry, he was just beginning the process of ministering of doing miracles, He had just done the water into wine. And now he's in Capernaum, where he started his ministry. And all of a sudden it's happening, what he'd been talking to disciples about what he had been planning is to minister now he has an entire town around him. He's healing. I mean, the ministry is exploding, people are getting saved. I mean, this is what every pastor, every Rabbi wants to see happen. And in the middle of that, Jesus gets up in the morning, way before anyone else comes back to the house. And he goes off into a desolate place. And there he prays. And Peter shows up, after looking everywhere for him. And finally says, everyone's looking for you, oh, my gosh, like, Where have you been? And look at Jesus's response. Notice the most caring, compassionate person in the world, which is Jesus, the one who wants to meet people want to meet people's needs more than anyone else on the planet ever has or will. And notice, Jesus's response moves away from the need. And he unplugs he stops, and he makes himself available. And this is where he does it, I did it, I have a picture of where Jesus actually went, I was able to go to to Israel. And this is the mountain there's two pictures. The first one is a view from the Sea of Galilee, you can see the cliff and they they know that this is the place where Jesus went because it was the only place around like it in the whole area, the rest, rest is really flat. And this was the hill that Jesus often would go up to, and find rest and solitude and isolation from the people and become unavailable. And the next picture is literally you see where Jesus spent time and we spent about an hour up there. And it was literally the most profound, peaceful place you could be. Jesus unplugged. He stopped, and he makes himself an available let me ask you a question. How often are you unavailable? In the midst of the hustle, the hustle and the bustle and the busyness and the demands? Notice Jesus with the demands, Peter comes in, says everybody's looking for you. And Jesus is like, wait a minute, I'm not available. This is my time with God. Why? Because Jesus needed to stop so that he could soar. There's an interesting principle in airlines. And many of you, if not all of you have flown somewhere before. And so you know, the drill, you're sitting there, whether you're watching him on monitor, there's actually a stewardess there. And they tell you the same thing every time in the event of an accident, when the masks fall, install or place your mask on your face first, and then help someone else. And it's an interesting principle, see, when there's chaos going on. And when there's so many needs around and so many demands and pressing on all of us, our tendency is to take care of everything else. And we're the last person that we take care of. And notice Jesus, there's all kinds of needs and demands on his life, so much so that he needs to retreat and become unavailable, so that he can soar. I was thinking about this mounting up like wings is eagles and my wife actually gave me this illustration and reminded me that the only time we've ever seen an eagle or a hawk really like frantically flap their wings was to slow down and hover so that they could make a you know, a dive bomb and kill and grab something out of the water or something in the ground. So they literally frantically flap so that they can hover and then die bomb. See, oftentimes, we think that we're going to get altitude and soar by frantically flapping our wings. Why do you flap your wings? Now? I would imagine that it's because you're anxious. I would imagine it's because you're restless or you're discontent or you're seeing all the things around you or even just you're bored, and you're looking at all the Facebook feeds and you're just, you're just consuming information. Maybe you're afraid to fail. Maybe that's one of the reasons why you kind of flap your wings when you're frustrated. And yet, the very thing that you think is helping you lift off is actually causing you to hover in place. anxiously notice what Jesus said to Martha.

Shane Rogers 15:19
You're anxious and troubled about so many things. You're anxious and troubled. And notice Mary, sitting quietly. Spending time with Jesus, John chapter 15 says this in verse five, I am the vine and you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him bears much fruit. for without Me you can do nothing. I think that the things that we're searching for that new strength, the the reasons why we have a tendency to strive and and to perform, is because we're searching for that fruit that interferes with fruit, the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, long suffering, those things that well up within us, and make us feel empowered. And so oftentimes in our attempt to desire to look for those things, instead of stopping instead of ceasing, unplugging, making ourselves unavailable. We do the opposite, don't we? We try to make ourselves busy and preoccupied. And what's the next thing? In our quest? To perform? See, how am I doing God? How am I doing everybody else and we flap and we think we're reaching out to do but in fact, we've actually stopped ourselves and we're hovering in place, rather than soaring. Maybe it's time. Maybe God is trying to speak to you through quarantine, unplug, stop, cease, and breathe. I want to teach you something that I counselor taught us, my wife and I years ago, and it's the simple act of breathing. Breathing is a powerful thing. And it's a rhythm of life. And I believe that it connects with the rhythm, rhythm of life that God's created in rest in stopping daily. This is not a retreat, it's not a hey, I need a vacation. It's not a hey, you need to get away. This is a daily rhythm like breathing. Inhale, what you need. Exhale, what you don't need. Inhale, what you need. Exhale, which you don't need. There's a sense of contentment, and satisfaction. When you stop long enough to notice your breathing. I'm bringing in those things that I need for my life that come from the river of God. And I'm exhaling those things that maybe I've been holding up within me those anxious worries, those strive that tendency to strive, maybe that unforgiveness or frustrations, I'm exhaling those things because I don't need them. And those are the places that we begin to soar, like Jesus did. And we stop performing, stop performing. Some of us are restless, and we have a hard time staying at home because we have a hard time performing. And listen, I'm a pastor. And my job is partly to stand up on the stage and an audience full of people. And I can tell you that there's no crowd here. I'm speaking to a camera that doesn't give very much feedback. And so I'm preaching to the choir, that oftentimes what we need is to be content in a place where I'm not performing. Jesus was not performing for the crowd. He was not performing for the disciples. He was performing for an audience of one. So Jesus stopped to soar. The second thing we see is Jesus stopped so he could see. See, success

Shane Rogers 19:12
and need would dictate Jesus, going from the mountain top, back down to the town. Because this is where the ministry was exploding. This is where people were getting saved. This is where the rally, the big rally was happening. I mean, the church is being born. Come on Jesus, why you came to seek and save the loss. And you've got the whole town gathered around all to see you You're popular, it's working. And the disciples are saying, not only is it working, but everyone needs you. There is a need there's sick people. And isn't it so easy to allow our vision, our perspective to get bogged down by simply either what's working in our life or a need a pressing need? That's there and it's not what we see with Jesus because as I said he was performing for an audience One what I love about this picture of soaring like an eagle is that we all know because of the phrase EagleEye, the Eagles have unprecedented unparalleled vision, they can see a rabbit in the grass five miles away. And not only that, they actually have a difference in their color palette, where they're able to see multiple dimension colored dimensions. So that way they can see through the water, a fish, you know, when they're high up high above. And I believe spiritually it connects because God has given us spiritual eyes to see in a different dimension. So as we're soaring, we can have new vision. But if we never get above the clouds, then our vision is one of the first things that goes and I can tell you this, your vision is one of the most powerful, potent things that you possess. I can tell you for me, I can't ever hide when I'm tired. Heather knows immediately or if I'm on like a FaceTime call with the family. It happened yesterday, it was the middle of the day, we were talking to Heather's dad, and we were kind of on this FaceTime call. And I was looking at myself and I'm like, wow, I know, I'm exhausted. But I know I'm exhausted simply looking at me. Because what happens to me and maybe you're like me is that my eyes start to get really watery. When I get tired, and I start to rub my eyes. And it's just, it's just blatantly obvious that I am exhausted. Because when you're weary when you're exhausted, your vision goes. First, your perspective wanes when you're buried amongst the burden of performing. And I love this scripture, in First Corinthians chapter two, where Paul talks about something really profound. He says, I has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit seat, there is incredible things that God has prepared for us and has for us. Now see, the kingdom of God is here. And now we know that it's not something that we hope and wish for when Jesus came to the earth, he changed the game. He says that the kingdom of God, God has come here and now. And I'm doing something in your midst. And I have revealed this, not to the natural eye, but to the spiritual eye, through the Spirit of God in you. And so when we tap into the Spirit of God, then we can see what he's doing. And we can have vision for our life and for our family, and for our loved ones and for our kids. And we can see beyond the curvature of the earth and see what's coming. And that gives us an empowerment of hope and joy. See, sometimes we need to close our eyes to see this is the second discipline that I'm I'm relearning in my life. The first one is to remember to breathe, inhale what I need. Exhale what I don't need. But the second idea is when you're having a hard time seeing a hard time with perspective, close your eyes. I believe that Jesus stopped. So he could see Jesus stopped long enough not to just breathe. But to close his eyes. Daily, I want you to practice this retreat, make yourself unavailable and close your eyes and simply ask this prayer God would you open up my eyes to see

Shane Rogers 23:50
have I gotten too buried, too weighed down by the things of life. And I've somehow lost your perspective, his ways and his thoughts. There's so much higher than ours. And it's so easy and I'm preaching to the choir, it is so easy for us to just make decisions and and and draw our strength based on what we can see. And I'm telling you, we see best when our eyes are closed. May we be a church family that leans in with our eyes closed, breathing deeply of the things of God. When we do this every day, then quarantine all of a sudden becomes self imposed. See, when we get out of quarantine i My hope is that we have reset ourselves in a way that we've remembered. Maybe I don't have to run at the pace that I was running. Maybe I don't have to perform like I was performing. Maybe actually it's more loving and more productive to retreat every once in a while become unavailable. Close my eyes And breathe deeply. And lastly, we're gonna close on this is that Jesus stopped so he could go. See, the first thing is that we see as Jesus stops so he could soar above the clouds of blood, the minutiae above the demands. The second thing is that we see is that he stops so he could see and have a perspective. That's from heaven. And lastly, he stopped to go, I love this notice when Jesus, what he does next, see the disciples come up and everyone needs you. And, and you would almost expect Jesus say, Listen, I'm worn out. That's why I'm not going back down with you. I'm not coming down to the hundreds of people that are pounding on the door looking for me, because like, I just need a rest. I'm exhausted. So can you just leave me alone, I'm up here all alone for a reason. But instead, Jesus found new direction. He said, Listen, I'm not going back down there. I'm going on to a new place, because he was able to see a new direction. But notice, he goes on to the new town to serve people. He wasn't going off to have a retreat. He wasn't up for a vacation. See, he wasn't weary. He wasn't frustrated by the demands, he was empowered by new strength. I believe all my heart that we were created, to sow our life, to give away our life, this is the time for the church to rise up. It's not for time for us to be weary. It's not a time for us to be bogged down by looking at CNN, and all the news and all the bad news, and all worried and distracted. This is not the time for that we need to soar, which means we need to stop, we need to pause every day, we need to have that soul care and get God's perspective so that we can be the hands and be the feet of Jesus. See, I'm the most selfish. I'm the most self serving version of me when I am weary. And I forget to close my eyes and breathe when I'm all anxious. And I'm frustrated. And I'm looking with my physical eyes. I am literally the most selfish version of me. But I have found that when I can get above the clouds, when I can get being on all the the distractions when I put my phone down, and I'm not just spending all my time consuming information, but I pause long enough to get the heart of the Father, then I find that that my knee jerk next response is, who can I bless today? How can I be a part of what Jesus is doing on the earth? Like the eagle we were created to have power and strength to go. And there's so many needs around us even in the midst of quarantine, who's that person that you need to just text and say, Man,

Shane Rogers 27:51
I was thinking about you, I was praying for you. Maybe going online and looking for things that you could be praying for who can you write a letter to, or maybe there's somebody that is a need that you could give, you know, give to their need. I want to give you an example of something that has been taking place in our community. And it's truly one of the most inspiring things. And I you'll see a slide up there, you'll see a lot of familiar faces. This is something that our churches sort of adopted, but it's been going on. And it's been going on for months and months and actually years by Fernando and Perla and Joe Panetta, these guys are incredible. And the pictures that you're seeing are literally over the last couple of months, how we've been able to give out food to those in need. And this is something that is difficult to do when we have a stay at home quarantine order. And so obviously, our church hasn't been involved in this, but I can tell you this, that there's been people behind the scenes like Joe and like Fernando and his wife and their team. They have continued this ministry. In fact, just yesterday, he Fernando called me. And then Joe called me also and said that we just decided to set up camp in my garage in Fernando's garage, and they had masks on the head, social distancing, and they had just a few of them and they stuffed about 100 grocery bags. And then they went out and they dropped them off in a small park near our apartment complex. And people were able to come by at their leisure and pick those bags up because there's people even now in need. And I love this because it demonstrates the heart of the Father, it demonstrates here are people who are not weary, they're not overwhelmed. They're not just a completely burdened down by the circumstance of life, but they know that we were created to go and so I want to encourage you today. I want to encourage you to take joy in stopping but but not stopping because the the mission is over or because it's somehow been ceased in the stay at home order. I'm talking about being unavailable every day for a little bit of time, long enough to hear yourself. Breathe long enough to close your eyes, talking to the Father and allowing him to breathe new strength into you when you close your eyes and bow your heads with me today. Father, God, I thank you that it's clear that you are at work that your church is advancing, and that there's needs all around us. But you haven't created us to just be people that are frantically going from one need to the next. You desperately desire for us to walk with our cup full, empowered with vision and hope for the future. And so God I pray today that we would reset our rhythm of life and we would adopt or re adopt those times to stop and soar. Stop and see, so that we can go and we give you praise for that in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. God bless you have an awesome rest of the day. And we'll see this week

Transcribed by https://otter.ai