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September 3, 2024 · 50 min · Patria Sermons
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Adam Mesa is Lead Pastor of Patria Church and speaks to a congregation of 12,000 about how the gospel of Jesus Christ brings purpose to every life. Patria
492K followers
At the Movies: Connecting Faith and Film 0:00 Well, we're starting our series called At the Movies. You know, our At the Movies series is a series that we step into, really as it's back to school time, and everybody's getting into new rhythms and new things, that we0:11 want to go into this series because it allows people who've never been church before or far off from church for us to be able to invite them because of kind of all the things we're doing in the courtyard. It's a good0:21 first step, but also it allows us to share about who God is in a way, in a context they understand. I'll tell you for instance, last year I met someone who had never been to church before. Been a very long time0:33 since they even thought about stepping into church, but really had never even been in 1 before. And we are at the movie series. His wife started attending church around that time. She kept inviting her husband to come.0:43 Hey, come come to church. When we come to church, when we come to church, every time he'd say, No, I'm not interested. I'm not interested. Well, on the last weekend of At the Movies, we did, we were talking about marbles0:53 in So she told her husband who loves0:56 the marble. And my church is talking about in game this weekend. You want to0:56 And my church is talking about in Hey, my church is talking about Endgame this weekend. You want to come? He said, Oh, that's my favorite movie. I'll go to that. And so sure enough, we played like a 1 minute clip of1:06 Endgame and 35 minutes of talking about God. And he happened to give his life to Jesus during that time. And so that's that's why really we're doing at the movies is to connect something1:18 people understand, who maybe have never been in a church before a long time, and then be like, okay. That that's that's who God is, and and and the bible is richer than any movie you'll ever see. And we want to connect1:30 those themes to what God is doing. So as this week and in the weeks to come, we're going to be approaching we're going to allow film as a whole to impact us through the kind of moving inside out. If you've ever seen that1:41 before, the new 1 has a various host of emotions. And each week, we're going to look at a key emotion, and we're going to look at films that highlight those emotions. And then on top of that, we're going to look at1:52 people in the bible who exhibited those emotions, but God still used in the process. So let's go ahead and start week 1 of At the Movies. Right?Understanding Anxiety Through Film and Scripture 3:01 Come on. Come on. We're gonna miss the previews. I should've left it earlier. This is ridiculous.3:14 I know these people are gonna talk through the whole movie. I hate that. I should have gone to the earlier showing.3:29 Oh, I'm gonna miss the previews. I just know it.3:34 Yeah. For who?3:38 Why bring a child to an adult movie? This is horrible. Who does that?3:50 Oh my gosh. Do I leave my ChapStick at home? I can't have my popcorn without my ChapStick. The butter irritates my lips and makes it look all crusty, like4:02 I've been eating powdered donuts or something. I think I'm allergic to butter. That can't be normal.4:15 Oh, great. Now my allergies are acting up. What if I catch hives again? The last time was a disaster. I so4:27 don't feel like going to urgent care. Did I pay my Kaiser balance? Oh, no. What if it's gone to collections?4:46 I can't believe it. I've missed the previews. Oh my gosh. I am just such a huge fan of yours, and now here I am meeting you face to face. Okay. How can I4:57 help? I can take notes, get coffee, manage your calendar, walk your dog, carry your things, watch you sleep. Wow. You have a lot of energy. Maybe you could just stay in 1 place? Anything. Just call my name, and5:09 I'm here for you. Okay. Love that. And what was your name again? Oh, I'm sorry. I can get ahead of myself. I'm anxiety. I'm 1 of Riley's new emotions, and we are just super jazzed to be here. Where can I put my stuff?5:21 What do you mean we?7:42 Let's all go to the lobby. Let's all go to the lobby. Let's all go to the lobby to get ourselves a treat. Okay.7:55 Broke the crayon.7:56 Are you okay, mister Dirk?7:58 Take it easy. Tell me. Sorry. Just jerk. Sue. Okay.8:10 Check the heart. Check the check the is it the brain? No sign of cardiac anomaly or unusual brain activity. Okay. So it's poison? My diagnosis is that you've experienced a severe anxiety attack.8:56 Anxiety. You know, anxiety can sometimes look similar to fear, but often fear is an attribute of kind of what's in the unknown. What you9:08 haven't seen or what you haven't experienced before. Anxiety can be a little bit different because anxiety comes from kind of an unmet expectation or something that's happened before that you9:19 continually find and relive. You're always looking for something to be a shortcoming, something to fail you, something to come to a place that comes to a wall where you can't move forward. And anxiety is9:31 that voice that if left unchecked, it just grows and grows and grows. It's like if you ever been to the dentist before and they share with you about a cavity and they say, hey, if you don't take care of this cavity, this9:43 cavity can grow and we might have to do a root canal. In other words, if you don't deal with this right now and overcome this anxiety, it can become a deeper and deeper well.9:55 You think of so many great movies, especially 1 that's out right now, Inside Out 2, where really the main character of the movie is anxiety. And as a young girl is raising up in her teenage years, anxiety10:06 begins to creep in and start to control all of the emotions. Anxiety can start to do that because as your emotions start to be left unchecked and anxiety can be undealt with, then what can happen10:18 is is anything that can find a foothold will pull those emotions out of you. So when you have anxiety, some days you're happy, some days you're sad, some days you're angry, some days you're scared because you don't know10:29 how to keep your emotions in check. There's other movies like Finding Nemo where phrases help people in their anxiety. For little Nemo, he's encouraged to just keep swimming. Every day that he goes,10:41 everywhere that he goes, as he tries to find his father and tries to find his family, he's told just keep swimming, just keep swimming.10:48 You got a Bruno in your head. A Bruno? Yeah. I get 1 too sometimes. Alberto, you can't. Alberto, you're gonna die. Alberto, don't put that in your mouth. Luca, it's simple. Don't listen to stupid Bruno.11:01 Why is his name Bruno? I don't care. It doesn't matter. Cover whatever you want. Shut him up. Say, Silencio Bruno. Silencio Bruno. Silencio11:14 Bruno. Silencio Bruno. Silencio Bruno.11:17 Can you still hear him?11:18 Nope. Just you. Good.11:20 Or maybe you think of another movie called Luca where a young boy is just has a lot of anxiety, a lot of fears about moving forward. And 1 of his best friends teaches him a phrase that says, silencio,11:32 Bruno. Silence that voice, that Bruno that's making you anxious. Wherever you're at in anxiety, you could see through film. And as we watch films, as people begin to face their anxiety, they11:43 see that it no longer has control over them, but on the other side is true health and true control of our emotions.12:09 So let's talk a little bit about what that emotion in the bible looks like when, we talk about anxiety. Yeah. We got a great team who who writes all that stuff, themselves.12:22 New movie, Inside Out, too, if you've seen the first 1, the first one's all about a young girl and her basic emotions that start to come and develop, as she becomes a toddler, or a little older. So you have joy,12:34 sadness, anger, basic things that basically help someone develop. Very healthy emotions to process it. And then she goes through puberty, becomes a teenager, and then all these complex emotions start12:46 to come in Inside Out too. The main complex emotion that we're kind of shared with and showed within the movie is the 1 anxiety. The orange 1 in the middle, and anxiety is kind of the ringleader. Kicks out more12:58 of the basic emotions, the healthy ones that are good, and anxiety brings in some friends that are kind of like inhibitors from progress. So she brings in, embarrassment, she brings in envy, who's13:09 looking at people's hair, and eye color, and stature, and why don't I have that, or why don't I look at that, or why don't I look like that. And then this other 1 called en we, which is kind of like a lethargic nature.13:21 This like this like I don't care attitude. If you've ever met a teenager, you've met this person before. Right? Yeah. Whatever. You know, oh, yeah. Okay. And these these characters come, and anxiety is13:33 the ringleader. The reason why they kick out the basic emotions is because they're able to operate in all emotions, but in unhealthy ways. And so they can exhibit happiness, but happiness for the wrong13:45 reasons, joy, but joy for the wrong reasons, and then sadness, sadness for the wrong reasons. And so these emotions come in, and they kind of take control of a person's attitude. And when you think about the Bible,13:56 believe it or not, there are individuals in the Bible who struggled with many of these things, anxiety in particular. And guess what? God still of14:09 these people's lives, God didn't tell them, hey, go figure out your issues first, and then come to me when you got things figured out, or when you're a hundred percent. No. God used them even in their14:21 struggles. 1 person in particular that we'll look at today is the man named Moses. You know, Moses is seen predominantly by our culture as a very strong prominent leader.14:33 Whether you know the stories of Moses or not, most of us would know the 1 famous story of Moses, which is him standing at the front of a sea, needing to cross the sea with the children of Israel. And he takes14:45 his staff, he puts it in the sea, and by the power of God in that staff, he splits the sea. Well, when most of us think of an individual who would do something like that, you would think, that14:57 guy's got to be confident. That guy's got to be a strong leader. I I bet you that guy don't have no insecurities. I bet you that guy doesn't have any anxiety at all. A guy who can take a staff, put it in15:09 the ocean on God's behalf, and split the sea, and that's like, I would love to get to that point that I could be that confident of a leader. But believe it or not, you study the life and ministry of Moses,15:25 doubt. He struggled with his own personal inabilities. We'll look at that today if you have your Bible or you want to follow along on, on15:48 has met God by a burning bush. And God is speaking to Moses through this bush. Moses can audibly hear God's voice. God tells Moses,16:00 Moses, I'm going to send you back to Egypt as a Hebrew man, and you're going to tell Pharaoh to let my people go. And through a course of events that I'm going to use you for, Pharaoh16:12 will release your people, and then you will lead them into the promised land. Okay? God says this to Moses, and then Moses goes, who do I say sent me? He gives Moses16:24 a new identified name that we had never known up until this point, which is Yahweh, I am. Things, and I am the very breath in your lungs. That's the16:36 name he gives Moses. Like, oh, wow. God's coming onto the mat to Moses very hot and very heavy. Here's Moses's response after a great compassionate sending16:47 from God. It says this, but Moses said to the Lord after all that that I just shared, Moses said to the Lord, I am not eloquent. So immediately,16:59 he shares about the things that he is incapable to do. So he says, I am not eloquent either in my past or since you have spoken.17:12 God shares all the stuff he wants to do with Moses's life. And Moses's response is, God, I don't know how to talk. God, I never choose the right words. My17:23 words always get get me in trouble. Have you ever been that way before? It's just like, you're trying. You're trying to communicate. You're trying to go to work. You're like, I'm just gonna do my job, or I'm gonna come17:34 home and I'm gonna finally say the right thing to my spouse. And then 3 minutes later, it's World War 3, and you're going, how did how did I get myself? Yeah. And my words in my past and in my17:45 present keep getting me in trouble. And then he says this. And on top of that, not only do my words get me in trouble, he says, I'm slow of speech. I don't even know what to17:57 say. I'm not even smart in that way, God. I'm not like these other people who always use the right words, have all the big words to say, who are eloquent, who have18:09 all these letters after their name, the PhD, the EDD, the this, the this. He said, Moe's like, that's not me. And he immediately tells God, I'm not good with my speech and18:21 I'm not good with my tongue. It's not good. And anxiety will immediately start to bubble up first. Anxiety will start to bubble up and remind you of your past, just like18:33 Moses, and it'll also remind you of your present. Past, and then you're reminded of your present, guess what? It has control18:45 of your future. And that's what's about to happen for Moses. He's gonna he wants to walk away from his future that God wants to use him for because he is living18:56 in his past and his present. In Moses's past, he was in a palace and then he murdered someone, got him into trouble. He's reminded of all his failed attempts of trying to communicate, trying to19:08 leave, trying to do good, and he just goes, I can't do it. But then what happens is God responds, and then this is what God says. God says to Moses, then the Lord said to him, who then the Lord said19:20 to him, who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute or deaf or sing or blind? Is it I not the Lord? He goes,19:32 now therefore, Moses is encouraged, therefore go. Okay. He's encouraged. Go Moses. Go. Ready, set, go. And then19:44 he says, and I will be with you in your mouth, and I'm going to teach you what you shall speak. So God's like, Moses, I19:56 get your past, I get your presence, but don't worry.20:09 Mouth to speak. I can give you the wisdom of what to know when to say. Now imagine, imagine God comes to you 1 day and you're a checkout clerk somewhere and God says, stay, stay, stay, stay, stay,20:21 stay. I'm gonna make you the president of the United States. Now granted,20:34 I'm working here right now at this checkout. Maybe 1 day, maybe if I accomplish some things, maybe if I and you would rationalize to God at first your inabilities. Probably we all would do that.20:46 But then what happens is, what then if God responded to you and said, hey, don't worry. You're going to be a figure piece for me. Because I'm going to give you all the words to say. I'm going to give you all the favor20:58 during your campaign. I'm going to give you all the privilege that you need to be able to walk in the rooms. Would you not then go, hey. I think most of us, even in a little bit of fear, we'd be like, okay,21:11 I'm talking to a bush right now. So if the bush is reassuring me, then I'm gonna be okay, then I'm gonna be okay. But Moses doesn't do that.21:24 Moses then responds to God, and Moses says this, but he said, Lord, say someone else. I get it. You're gonna21:36 give me the words. You're gonna give me the speech. You're going to give me the things to say. You're going to give me the favor in the room. You're going to give me all that. Can you pick someone else?21:48 Not because Moses didn't want to, it's because he didn't think, possible. Even when God told him and reassured him, he didn't believe.22:00 So he tells God, God, give this opportunity to someone else. Because22:12 now God's saying, you don't have to do anything. I'm gonna do it for you. And and you're still passing on the opportunity.22:24 Go wrong. And so he wants to pass. So then God says this, and it says and his anger was kindled against Moses. And he said, is there not Aaron? So now God's trying to help problem solve for Moses' own insecurity.22:38 So he says, isn't your brother good? Your brother Aaron the Levi? I know he can see And so, so, God says, he is coming out to meet you. And when he sees you,22:50 he will be glad in his heart. And then God tells Moses, you shall speak to him, to his brother Aaron, and you will put the words in his mouth. And I will be your mouth, and with his mouth, I23:02 will teach you both what to say. He shall speak for you to the people, and he shall be your mouth, and you shall be as God to him. Reason why God says as God to him, God says, in the same way that God is23:14 going to speak to Moses, and Moses is to only reiterate everything God said, He's saying, then Aaron is only to ever reiterate what you tell him. So he's talking about the chain of progression of communication,23:26 the chain of command. And he says, and take in your hand this step with which you will do the signs.23:37 Things I love about God, is because God can simply go, okay Moses, you don't you don't want it? You're too weak for the job? You're too anxious for the job? I will go find someone else.23:54 You have told me where you are anxious. You have told me where you're unskilled. Even when I tell you that I got you, you're still afraid. So then he says, so then guess what? I'm gonna give you a24:06 community that's gonna help you out in the process. And so in this whole process of conversation, if you're taking notes, we see some key things of what anxiety will do and what trust in God will do.24:18 Here's the first thing. Anxiety will magnify your insecurities. That's what happened with Moses. The moment God began to speak to Moses about what he could do in Moses's24:30 life, and the impact Moses could make in the people of Israel, Moses immediately magnified his past and his present. How can I become president of Israel if I don't even knowMoses: A Lesson in Overcoming Doubt 24:42 how to talk? Immediately magnifies his insecurity. The second thing is, is he it attempts to silence opportunity. Anxiety will immediately say, give this to someone else.24:53 Let someone else do this. Let someone else have this. Let someone else walk in this. I don't I know I've messed so many things up before in the past. It'll immediately25:05 silence opportunity. But what will happen is, and we'll see this in the life of Moses just a few minutes, is what will happen if you trust God that he's equipping you. If you trust God that he's with you every step of25:17 the way, through the hard times and through the good times, what will happen is your doubt will be straightened. God will strengthen your doubt. As you grow your relationship with God, that doubt, that25:29 little Bruno voice that Luca talks about, it'll start to be silenced because you have seen God faithful over the years. And so when you see God victorious over the years, you will see25:41 that your trust in God will be strengthened. The next thing is you will see that God will come to your defense. You don't have to defend yourself. If you allow God to be your spokesperson,25:53 then what will happen is you don't have to speak for yourself. Your character, your trust in God, your time with God will speak for itself. And we'll see with Moses' life,26:05 God does that very thing in Moses' life. Here, here's the first thing, if you wanna take some notes about it, is we'll see anxiety will magnify your in And, well, just26:16 like Moses, it's normally your past. Well, to draw up a reason on why you should be anxious.26:29 Present, if it's in working the way that you have wanted to work or thought it should work, it will become a stakeholder for you on why it can't happen. And then you'll just start to magnify26:41 the mistakes. You know, there's a famous author by the name of Maya Angelou, and many of you may have grown up, read her in school, and things like that. Great poet, great writer, great person of26:53 our century. Raisis. And a lot of what she wrote about was those 2 things. And27:04 whether it be the inequality and the racism around her, or it was also about her child trauma. Well, in the sixties, she famously wrote a book called, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. And it's all27:16 about how she was able to take her anxiety and her trauma, and use it as an advantage to find her voice. Makes a quote where she says this,27:28 I had no voice when I was on stage for the first time. I was to play a mute. I figured out I would have to speak, but I was suddenly overcome with fear, and it felt like my tongue had been removed. I27:40 was in a world that did not understand me. A child trapped inside a woman's body, held captive by my own silence. You know, what happened to Moses when he was27:52 younger, now as an adult, it was affecting his ability to move forward. And as Maya shares in that, she begins to eloquently share also how then she began to find her voice, that act, that28:03 moment where anxiety meets you, it often feels like you're a grown person, but you're feeling like a child. Like, there's been times in my life that I have to remind28:15 myself, Adam, you're a husband, you're a father, what but all I want to do is go on a swing set28:27 cream man, have an ice cream, and go sit on a playground. And so you you get so hit by anxiety that you feel like a child again.28:39 And I've met people who have had insecurities even in their own trauma of their family where I've counseled men who are in their sixties, but with their 70, late 70, 80 year old father, they said, I28:51 just feel like a little boy in front of my dad because I'm still trying to prove something. That's what anxiety does. It immediately belittles and puts you in your past. And so that's29:03 exactly what Moses does. He immediately allows it to amplify his own insecurities, amplify his own faith. But God reassures him, well, hey, I'm with you Moses.29:15 I'm with you in the pro I'm going to strengthen you. I'm going to enable you. And what happens is eventually Moses accepts and sees God. But first, the second point is, first Moses proposes though,29:27 that he silence opportunity.29:39 That anxiety moment, we say, Hey, just give it to someone else. God reassures Moses. And 1 of the greatest things that God gives Moses, even though it becomes a hurdle sometimes, is 1 of the greatest29:51 things Moses receives is God tells Moses, Moses, here he is. He's talking to God. And God says, Moses, I'm gonna give you I'm30:03 gonna give you a community where you're not gonna do this by yourself. And a few chapters later, who comes into the picture also is Moses's sister.30:16 So you got your sister and your brother, Aaron and Miriam. Aaron is going to be your mouthpiece. Miriam is going to be your validator. She's going to go out there and do some heavy ministry. She's going to speak to30:27 Israel too on your behalf. And so he goes, I'm going to give you a community so that you're not doing it on your own. You know, as I was studying for this message, I came across an article. And basically the30:39 premise of the article was talking about anxiety amongst high capacity leaders, like like national leaders, the the the the Abraham Lincolns, and all that kind of stuff like that. The JFK's, and30:51 how they have seen war torn areas, Winston Churchill. And they've had to make really big decisions for their and basically what this article shared was. Most of these world leaders31:03 were capable of making such big judgment calls because they had an incredible circle that they could trust. And this article traced all these big decisions, these world leaders31:14 made, and it then named the circle that they31:17 talked to the day that they talked to31:17 the day that they to the day that they went and made those public announcements. The day that whether they, whether Abraham Lincoln shared about the emancipation proclamation, or when Winston Churchill called war on31:29 Germany. It said, these are the names of the people that they met with prior that gave them the unction, gave them the encouragement that you can do this. And so what happens is in Moses's weakness and31:41 security, he says, I'm gonna give you Erin. And with anxiety, start to pray to God that he gives you a circle.31:53 Because what happens is if you don't have a circle that's there to encourage you, then you are left with your own thoughts.32:08 God says, I'm gonna give you Aaron and Miriam. But what we'll see in a few moments is Aaron and Miriam, they fail Moses. And then32:20 God also gives us a perspective in the book of numbers we're gonna see right now God and so he shares and32:32 so he shares and so he shares you're in Moses's circle, but Moses has an inner circle. And his inner circle is God. And we know by the32:44 power of the Holy Spirit according to the New Testament, is that when you and I exercise our faith, our trust, our hope, our belief in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we are given the Holy Spirit. The holy spirit's the32:55 comforter. The holy spirit's the friend. The holy spirit's the activator in your life. We don't do this alone anymore. You may say, I've had a circle before. They failed me. So did Moses. But33:07 you want to know what God shows Moses in the process, even with his circle, is God never fails. God will never fail Moses.33:19 And God may have given Moses an opportunity for relationships, but even in their humanity, God is with Moses every step of the way. If you are trusting God in your life, you can33:31 trust to know that he's with you every step of the way. And if you trust in God, you'll see that as we've seen in Moses' life, God will strengthen your doubt. Moses kept giving God every33:43 reason why he didn't need to be used, and God kept strengthening that doubt, strengthening that doubt, strengthening that to the point that Moses didn't need to doubt anymore. When he put that staff in the ground, it did33:55 something.33:55 Amen.33:56 When Aaron spoke, it did something. Amen. When when he when when Moses spoke to Pharaoh, it did something. Why? Because Moses began to know that God was with him. You know, James chapter34:08 1 verse 6 to 7 speaks a little bit about doubt. Speaks mostly about doubt in the area of trial, not the area of just prayer. It says this, but let him ask in faith when you're in a trial, when you're in a tough season,34:20 when your anxiety is at the34:21 highest, he says, ask God in faith with no doubt. When you're in a tough season, when your anxiety is at the highest, he says, ask God in faith with34:21 no doubt. When you're in a tough season, when your anxiety is at the highest, he he says, ask God in faith with no doubting. For the 1 who doubts is like a wave of a sea that is driven tossed by the wind. For that person34:31 must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. You know, this passage isn't about prayer and just, hey, close your eyes today. Don't have any doubt and ask God for a number 1 from In N Out.34:43 And then when you open your eyes, it'll be there. No. This this this faith in without doubt is this idea that you're going to face trials in your life, and what's going to happen is when34:55 you face trials, when you face anxiety, 1 of the first questions that will bubble up in your head is, where's God in this? And you'll think he's absent.35:07 Not near. James tells us, don't ever doubt that God isn't here. Don't ever doubt that God isn't near. Don't ever doubt that he's not in the process with you. And what happens is he reassures Moses,35:19 whatever you think, whatever you're trying to disqualify yourself, whatever you're trying to give up, God says, I'm going to equip you every step of the way. You don't have a voice, I'm going to give you the words. You35:28 want someone else to do it, I'm going to give you Aaron, but you're still going to get35:31 the credit Moses. He just kept validating Moses35:31 time after time. He He just kept validating Moses time after time. And then the last point, what happens is you'll find that God will defend your trust. IfShow more In this video 0:00 At the Movies: Connecting Faith and Film2:00 Understanding Anxiety Through Film and Scripture24:35 Moses: A Lesson in Overcoming Doubt35:37 Trusting God to Defend and Guide47:40 Invitation to Faith and SalvationComments No comments yet. Start the conversation.
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