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May 4, 2025 · 46 min · Patria Sermons
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492K followers
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
0:01 Well, praise God. It's good to see everybody on this day in service. Can we first give it up? This is a weekend that we got all of our campuses joining us. So Pomona, Alameda, here in Rancho, can we show them some0:12 love wherever our family is at? Every once in a while across our campuses, we switch between live preaching and also video teaching so that we stay united as a0:24 campus. We're always preaching the same content. We have a preaching team where we all study the word of God together every Tuesday, and we build our sermon with 1 another. Each person comes with something that they've0:34 been studying on that text, and we compile the sermon together. And then there are times where I get to share it with all of our campuses, and there's other times where our teaching team rotates between our campuses and0:45 shares lives. So, this is just 1 of those weekends that we're all joined together because we're launching a series that we're calling red letters. How many of guys have ever gotten a bible before and you opened up your0:55 bible and every all the text was black except for Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John was red. Have you ever noticed that before in your physical Bible? I know many of you, maybe seasoned saints, may know what that is, but1:06 there may be some newer people to faith who go, why are certain letters in my bible red when others are black? Well, those are what we call the words of Jesus. Most modern day bibles, when they're printed,1:18 anytime Jesus speaks recorded in the gospels, they make it read. Just so you know right away, this is something that Jesus has said. And so throughout this series, we're gonna be looking at some of1:30 the specific red letter moments in the bible for the next 4 weeks. And what we're gonna do to aid us in just a few moments is, I don't if you ever seen that incredible series called Chosen that depicts the life of Jesus.1:42 Well, what we're gonna do is we're gonna allow the Bible for a moment to also jump out of its pages, read the passage of scripture, and watch a short portion of chosen so that we see the bible come to1:53 life, and then we're gonna dig into the message. And so that not only are we reading about the words of Jesus, we're seeing it come to life, but also we're allowing God to apply it in our hearts. But before we do that, I2:04 just wanna share a couple testimonies. Just today, I've been in Huntington Beach all day because Baptized California has been going on. And so over 10000 people have already showed up in Huntington Beach, and thousands2:16 of people, over 5000 people already baptized. It goes till 9 PM tonight, but it's been a move of God. There's been worship stirring all day. I got to be there. A bunch of our campus2:28 pastors showed up and was baptizing alongside of all other churches in the Southern California. Literally, almost almost over, I think, 50 to 60 church pastors showed up2:39 just together to be united and baptized together all those that would hear the gospel and come. And so, if you haven't been baptized yet, we as a church, we're joining all the2:51 churches in America called Baptize America on June eighth to be baptized. So if you haven't done that yet, make sure you go to our website, patriot dot faith, and you could go to any of the campuses there and lock which3:03 1. But I also wanna encourage you, share your faith with somebody. Our last baptisms that we baptized over 750 people, there were a lot of people that said, I've actually never been to a patriot before. My3:15 coworkers shared their faith with me. They led me to Jesus, and then they invited me to be baptized. That was actually the first step ever in our church, was a friend that said, oh, other people, they come to faith3:26 through Instagram and YouTube, but they don't have a local church to grow. So, it's a great opportunity for you to share the love of Jesus with a friend. Guess what? A pastor doesn't have to lead someone to the Lord.3:37 That may totally blow your mind, but you can actually lead someone to the Lord as well. So, there is an anointing and calling on your life. God could speak through you and to you just like he can3:49 any person on a stage. And so, be bold over the next 30 days to invite a friend, not just to church, but you share the love of Jesus with them. Lead them to Christ, and then say, hey, I'll I'll4:01 celebrate with you. Come come be baptized on June eighth across all of our campuses. And so that's something really exciting that we have going on as well. I'll say the second thing this, and this is more of a regional4:12 family statement, but I'm gonna do it at all services over this weekend. I know we have campuses from all over. You know, we have Alameda in Northern California and Pomona. And so you may not be familiar with this4:24 church. But in our local region, we have a legendary church that's like Patria named Water of Life. And I know everyone here, you know who Water of Life is. Well, this weekend, they're announcing the succession4:36 between pastor Danny Carroll to his son, Shane Carroll, who will be leading the church effective this weekend to pastor the church at Water of Life. And so, not only do we celebrate that, I want4:47 for just a moment, we as a church to pray for water of life. Because here's the reality. I'm sharing it with all of our campuses even this weekend because there is no church in competition with 1 another. There is4:59 no church that needs to compare ourselves with 1 another. We don't need to compare our worships. We don't need to compare our preaching. We don't need to compare our children's ministries, youth ministries, because this5:10 is a kingdom endeavor. And so, our family has already been playing praying for pastor Shane. I text him just this afternoon. I said, I know this is a big weekend for you. Patria is5:22 on your side, and we believe that the best days ahead are for water of life. And I think it's important that we as believers, we never get gossipy or we never get comparative. We get, hey, every5:33 church that's doing the Lord's work, we are same team. Same jersey, different last name on the back of the jersey. But we same team on the front. That's it. And so we as a5:45 community, we lift up our church over here, Water of Life, who we love so much, and we've done so much ministry with over the years. And me and Shane were just talking this afternoon, and we said between Patreon and5:56 Water of Life, our best days as a family are ahead of us, not behind us. And so we're just so excited about what God is doing. And this goes for Pomona, Alameda, and any other campus we do in the6:07 future. We are a united family. This is a kingdom work, and there's only 1 name that matters. It is not a church name. His name is Jesus. And it's only by the power of the Holy Spirit that we can6:19 do that. So would you join me for just a moment as we uplift our family water of life over in Fontana? God, we thank you so much, Lord, as thousands of churches this year will go through a transition. I just thank you,6:30 Lord, that the spirit of God is in the midst, Lord. I pray for pastor Shane. I pray for his wife, Amanda, Father God. I pray for their family, Lord. May you cover them, Lord. May you continue to anoint them and call6:42 them, father God. We pray for the church at Water of Life, Lord. We pray that it thrives. We pray the spirit of God dwells there more than ever, Lord. We pray that miracles, signs, and wonders continue to happen. God, we6:53 pray that you call people continually to repentance and love in Jesus at water of life, God. And I pray more than anything, God, that you continually manifest and use that church, Lord, to make an impact for the kingdom7:05 of God. Lord, we thank you for all the churches in all of our cities and all of our regions who are reaching people for the love of Jesus Christ, Lord. May their harvest be plentiful, and may their workers be many. In7:16 Jesus' name, amen and amen. Praise God. Well, hey, Let's go to Matthew chapter 5 verse 38 to 41. I'm about to play this clip7:28 concerning Jesus, but here's what's gonna happen. I'm a play the clip first, then we're gonna stand for the reading. This is a unique clip that we're gonna share with you because when we understand the life and ministry7:38 of Jesus, here's something that you'll begin to see. Jesus often used physical things that were in front of him to illustrate spiritual truths. So, there's a moment in the Bible where Jesus says that if you7:50 ever cause a child or a little 1 to stumble, it's almost equivalent to putting a millstone around your neck and throwing yourself into a sea. Well, what Jesus was doing was where he was standing in this8:02 moment was next to an olive press. And an olive press had a millstone and he was standing next to the Sea of Galilee. So, used something that was right next to him to create an illustration8:14 of the value that God finds about protecting children. And so, there's a passage that we're gonna read in the Bible. It's probably the most widely known non Christian passage in the Bible8:25 because it's where we get terms like when someone hits you, turn the other cheek. Or if someone asks you to go a mile, go an extra mile. If you were to go out to the mall and ask people how many people know that8:36 statement, you probably would find 8 in 10 people know that statement. And then if you ask them, did you know that Jesus is the 1 who said those things? Probably majority would say, no. I just thought that was an8:46 American saying that we created. But reality is, it's a saying that Jesus created. And what Jesus did was he used something, a yoke or a bondage that the Romans had on the Israelites to8:58 create a powerful moment that is meant to break the wall of retribution in someone's life. I don't know if someone has ever had an unrealistic expectation towards you, or maybe they've asked you to carry a weight or9:09 burden, or maybe they've tried to control you in a certain area. Well, Jesus does something radical. He says that when something like that is happening, you don't lash out. You actually lean into it, which is quite9:21 absurd in the age that we live in today. And so, in the chosen series, what they did was they took a word of Jesus about the truth of Rome, and then they made kind of a creative expression of a of an9:33 encounter that Jesus could have had with Roman guards. And so, we're gonna see this moment. We're gonna read the passage, and then we're gonna see how God applies it to our life. Let's check it out.9:44 Jewish citizens. Disarm yourselves and leave your bags. You're carrying ours now.9:56 Under Roman law, a soldier can force the Jew to carry his queens. At random. There is a legal limit, a maximum of 1 mile and no further. Fire. This. Master, this is10:08 humiliating. We will comply with dignity.10:27 What must it be like walking around all day with no metal weighing your head down? Ever have helmet hair?10:44 You too. I'm rolling to 3. That's right. You.10:48 I think that. I'm not made10:51 of straw, Matthew. I can carry it. Ready? Please. Hurry up, Master, let me take that. You should know. Have to know.11:04 It is no more unsuitable on my head than any of yours. We both know that is not true. Thank you for your concern, Truthless. I never11:16 could have imagined a moment like this. We said to submit. So we submit. The painful irony of some of his teaching.11:33 Iconus, the sign is the mile marker.11:37 In your entire lives, I bet you've never been so grateful for the enshrined Roman law. We know this has been11:44 an honor for all of you.11:45 Stop here.11:55 I said stop. The destination is that outpost a mile ahead. Yes?12:05 It is, but we're only permitted 1 mile.12:09 By coercion. There's no law against citizens assisting you the rest of the way of their own volition. Come, my friends.12:19 But If12:19 anyone says anything, say that we offered. What's up? Rabbi, what are we12:31 doing? Why, we we just have promise. Do this. Where did we meet? At the sermon on the Curacin Plain. Good.12:44 Whenever you are troubled, think back on my message.12:57 Maybe, let us take back the helmets13:01 so there's no confusion at the Autoste. If you like.13:23 Alright. Hand me13:25 the I'll take it. I've got it. Hey. If anyone forces you to go 1 mile,13:35 go with him too. Well,13:41 let's see what the bible has to say about that moment. Honestly, just watching that clip to me convicts me, you know, deeply. And then when we see just how deep that this moment is part of13:53 Jesus' sermon on the mount. So you may say, where's that exact interaction in the Bible? Well, that's a creative expression to what Jesus would have taught regularly to the Israelites. It was really common that there was14:05 a law in Rome, any occupied place that they held, they would do have a law what they were called impressment. And impressment is a law that says a government established system can14:16 impose to any of its citizens or anyone under its control to do whatever it wants. And so, when Rome came into Israel to control it and to occupy it, it established14:28 impressment, which was when we tell you to do something or we ask you to do something. But because they didn't want it to particularly be abused and create riots, the the law was limited14:40 to only 1000 Roman paces, which to us would be a little under a mile. And so, Jesus makes this statement that we're gonna see which would have absolutely blown14:52 the children of Israel away because they're hoping that Rome just gets out of here. They they want their problems gone. And what Jesus does, he leans15:04 into their issues and says, the way that you break someone's hard heart is not through necessary a liberated place or a fighting stance. The way that you break someone's heart15:16 is through love and service. It's it's through an extreme love that shows people, if you have hate in your heart, I have love in my heart. I don't fight hate for hate. I15:28 fight darkness with light. And that's what Jesus challenges us to do as followers of Jesus. And to be honest, there are times in our life where that is a hard pill to swallow.15:40 Because who Jesus is talking about is not your favorite people or even your favorite moments. He's talking about difficult moments. He's talking about people that you and I can't stand.15:51 Or in moments we may love them, but sure, do they annoy us. That's what Jesus is talking about. I want you to see it. Matthew chapter 5 verse 38. We're gonna watch read a few verses. If you like to stand16:03 with me, you're more than welcome to. We'll show God the honor honor by just standing for just a moment across all campuses. Here's what Jesus says. This is a powerful moment that has been recorded through thousands of16:15 years during the sermon on the mount. Jesus takes a step and he says this, you have heard it that it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, do not16:27 risk the 1 who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him to the other. Also, give him your left cheek. And if anyone would sue you16:39 and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If anyone forces you to go 1 mile, go with him 2 miles. I mean, you would have heard an16:50 audible gasp at that moment if Jesus said that. Because they know it is only connected to the Romans. And he says, give to the 1 who begs from you and do not17:02 refuse the 1 who would borrow from you. You see, you may be seated. Jesus makes a powerful statement that says that this is during a sermon, and we17:14 think that sermons and messages are very head driven, and it's about knowledge and intellect. But what happens is when you read about the sermon on the mount, Jesus is sharing knowledge to create action from17:25 people. And Jesus makes it clear that following Jesus is not about what you know, it's about how far you're willing to go. Amen. That's what following Jesus is about. D L17:37 Moody, the great preacher said this, the bible was not given for our information, but for our transformation. So what does Jesus encourage us to do in the moments that17:49 we just saw depicted in just a short clip and also through his own words? I just wanna break it down with 3 very simple thoughts that I think can transform our walk with Jesus and honestly18:01 transform people's lives. Because we think that sharing the message of Jesus and the gospel is a matter of saying the right things that will convince them that Jesus is Lord. But oftentimes,18:13 it is through our actions on how we love when times are hard, and when people are hard, and when things are difficult, people go, man, Jesus has to be real because anyone else in that18:24 circumstance would have reacted any other way. But because that person has the light of Jesus, there may be something to this man. You see, if you're taking notes, I wanna share with you.18:36 Jesus encourages us in this moment that we are called to carry what others drop. God has called you and I to carry what18:48 other people are unwilling to carry and do what other people would think is crazy. Jesus said, if anyone slaps you on the right tree cheek, turn and give19:00 them the other. God calls us through a standard that bears love when someone may bear hate in your life.19:12 He calls you to carry a person's burden, even a soldier's burden, when you feel like it's not right. This is wrong. This is abuse. This is taking advantage19:24 of me. This is annoying me right now. And Jesus says, give them the other cheek. Carry their things and go if they ask you to go a mile with them, give them 2 miles.19:35 No. We want Jesus to say that you're a child of God, and you're better than work walking with that person. That person's a a sinner. That person has hate in their19:47 heart. That you you shouldn't walk with them at all. Jesus says, no. Give them another cheek. Walk with them another mile. Amen.19:59 Go with them another moment. Have another conversation because you see, love carries burdens that don't belong to you because Jesus carried our burdens. I wanna be20:11 a burden bearer. If Jesus would carry my pain, if Jesus would carry my brokenness, if Jesus would carry my embarrassing things, then maybe God has called me to carry20:23 for others. Just this just this past week, I I met a a a Christian man at a conference. And he told me 1 of the things that he enjoys to do.20:35 He loves golf, but he also loves to talk about Jesus. And so, what he does from time to time is when he plays golf, if he has time kinda throughout the day after he doesn't have to rush20:47 to anything or anything like that, what he'll do is when he's done golfing, he'll go to the clubhouse and he'll have lunch. And while he'll have lunch, he'll look for men that are drinking too much.20:59 If you didn't know that oftentimes, not always, but oftentimes, cigar smoking and drinking goes hand in hand with golf. It's a business thing that people do, and they drink a lot. They smoke a lot of cigars, and21:11 they a lot of them don't even pay attention to their golf game. They're just there to have a good time. So, what he likes to do is he goes to the restaurant, he looks for men that are drinking too much, and then he21:21 approaches them and says, are you driving home after this? If they say yes, he offers them and says, now, I don't mean to judge. I haven't been watching how much you've been drinking, but how many of you guys21:33 know when someone's drunk, you can tell? You don't think we can tell, but we can tell. You know? You get a little topsy. You get a little stumbly. We can see it. So, what he does is he says, I would love to take21:45 you home so that you don't drive if you're okay with that. Oftentimes, people say, yes. I would love you to do that. And what he does is he takes them home and, obviously, in the moment, they're not coherent. And so21:57 what he does is he put he says, give me your cell phone number. And then while they're in the seat drunk and under the under the influence, the next day he texts them and he says, I just wanna make sure that22:09 you're safe. The person says, yeah. I'm good. And then what he does is he says, I'd love to take you out to coffee if you're ever interested. And he talks to them about Jesus. Amen. More times than not, he shared with me22:19 how many people he's led to Christ. Not because he expected them to be fixed before they met Jesus, but this man is willing to carry someone's burden that you and I would actually look at as a22:31 nuisance, quite annoying. I don't wanna be around a drunk person. I don't wanna be around someone that that that I don't know what they're gonna do. And also, you say, I don't want a stranger in my car. Maybe that's not22:41 for everyone, but this man feels called to carry someone's burden. I just think I thought to myself in that moment, like, how are we missing opportunities to not carry what people22:53 are going through? To go an extra mile. This man has gone an extra 10, 15, 20 miles for strangers just so he'll have 1 opportunity to talk to them about23:05 Jesus. Augustine, the great church father says, what does love look like? It has a hand to help others. It's this. You must be the 1 who bears the burden.23:16 That's what Jesus called us to do. That's what Jesus called us in our life. Because commonly what happens, it was common for the Roman soldier, I have all of this armor, and what they were able23:28 to do, this was anywhere between 45 to 60 pounds of armor. And any Roman soldier could pass off whatever weight they had and would say, you need23:40 to come. It is your duty or you will go to prison if you don't walk this mile with me. And the average Jewish person would say, Jesus, if you are king of kings and you are lord of23:52 lords, tell them that they can kick rocks. Tell them that your God is bigger than whatever armor they have. Jesus, you could kill them with just 1 word. But24:04 Jesus says, if they tell you to go 1 mile, go 2. Because what's gonna happen on the second mile? Their heart is gonna begin to be broken because they're gonna24:15 notice how they've taken advantage of you. You get asked to stay 1 hour maybe at work, maybe you give 2. They tell you to come in early24:27 at work, 30 minutes early, maybe you come an hour early at work. Or maybe your spouse has been talking to you and asking you to do something, and maybe they've been hurting about something or going through something, and24:38 maybe they're just asking you for a mile, and you know you think it's a burden, or you think it's a nuisance, but you're saying, you know what? I have a decision to make. I can either lash out, or I can go24:50 a second mile. This isn't fun. This isn't joyful. Jesus' words weren't something that had a promise at the end of it. It had. If you are a disciple of mine,25:02 this is what I want you to do. If you want to show love like I am showing love to the world, he says, this is how you do it. You turn the other cheek. You25:14 walk the extra mile. They sue you. You give them what they want. Jesus, just stop, man. This is too much. I don't wanna play this game anymore. I25:26 had this conviction just just last week. My wife's here. She doesn't even know. I don't always tell her the things that I'm gonna share. But just this last week, my wife was going through some25:38 things that were stressing her out. Had nothing to do with me. Thank God. But it's stressing her out. So she sits down. We're at lunch with our boys, and and she just starts sharing25:50 what was stressing her out. And I looked up and I said, please, babe, stop. I have so much going on right now. I don't wanna hear that right now. And I'd oh, you guys, you married men,26:02 you know when your wife just locks up. Like, see It was was almost as if I took gorilla glue and I put it on her lips and I held them there for 2 minutes. That thing was not26:14 gonna open up. And, literally, the the moment the moment it came out of my mouth, I just I wanted I wanted to I wanted to I wanted to grab it, and I wanted to pull it back because I knew what the I knew what the end26:26 result was. And and so then I I took like a 10 second breath. I realized how dumb it was that I did. And then I looked up and I said, I'm just so sorry. I26:37 I don't I lashed out. I don't don't even know why I did. I'm sorry. I just You know, I'm stressed and that stuff, it makes me more stressed. And you think it doesn't have anything to do with me, but I then I wanna I26:48 wanna help you, and I wanna fix your problems too. And it just but it shouldn't have said it. And how many of you guys know it took a few hours? Now, if I didn't say anything, it probably would've took27:00 a few days.27:01 Oh, yeah.27:02 Or I maybe still would be experiencing that. But it did. It took a few hours to get the moment back. Because what my wife did is she said this is a 45 pound workout bag. What my wife27:13 did is she said this. She said, this is a weight I have right now. Would you just carry this with me? And what I did is I said, that has nothing to do with me. Right. This is27:25 your weight. Phone a friend. Call a prayer warrior. Do anything but give it to me. And sure27:37 enough, I I wasn't even preparing for this sermon yet. And the moment I start writing, and the moment I write that word carry the weight, God was just like, you know you didn't do that with your wife.27:49 Right? And I went, I didn't. And then I made excuses. I but I I apologized. But what's gonna happen is, do I can I show the next28:01 time she tries to give me this? What am I gonna do? And then if she says, well, you carry this with me? And then I yeah. And then I I give her 10 minutes. And she says, okay. I gave you 10 minutes. You're good. You could28:12 go back to whatever you were doing. And I say, no. No. No. No. No. Tell me more. What else is going on? What else is happening? You see, what happens is what will happen is Jesus says, you will set28:24 such a big example if you go further carrying this for people.28:29 Amen.28:30 He says, you will begin to break walls and barriers and soften hearts if someone says, hey, this is yours. And you go like this, yes. Give it to me.28:42 And then they say, you could drop it right there. And you say, no. Come on. Let's keep going. See what happens. People world it may be rocked because who does this in the world today? Right. Come28:54 on. Who loves like this in the world today? Man, you listen. You slap me, I slap back. You slap29:06 1 cheek, you'll be you you your butt gonna get kicked. It'll be another cheek. But you but if you slap And Jesus says, you've heard it. Eye for an eye. But he goes, not not in29:18 my kingdom, not in my house. Amen. You eye for eye in my house, you you break my message. Amen. You pervert my words. And so he said, if someone slaps you, go,29:30 hey, I got 1 right here. And you know if you invite someone most of the time to slap again, they start thinking, number 1, either you're crazy or 2, maybe they can't hurt you like they thought they could. Wow.29:42 And maybe they can't affect you the way that you thought that you could affect them. Here's the second thought is this, is not only not only do we find that God has called us to carry what others drop, second thing is29:53 God wants us to climb when it gets hard. Jesus' words is a statement to climb higher than what other people will climb. Love more than30:04 other people will love. Forgive deeper than other people would forgive. Hands off. He talks about lawsuits in this. He's saying this. He's saying, God, I mean, resources? Don't worry about resources.30:16 God has resources. And so he's talking us to say, man, when when you meet affliction, when you meet a hill that you just cannot climb, what he says, he says30:28 this. John Chrysostom says this, to love those who do us wrong is greater than any miracle. To love those who do us wrong is30:39 greater than any miracle. He says, climb when it gets hard. When you start feeling the burden, when you start feeling the weight, when you when you see that person and you wanna turn the other direction,30:51 or you wanna turn the other way, or when those words feel like they cut deep, they sure do. Jesus says this. He says, climb. Climb. Go.31:04 Love them. Don't show them that side. Because that side at the beginning, he says, that side is for the enemy. That side reflects the enemy. That side is a child of darkness, And God has called us31:16 to a better standard of darkness. And it's hard. And what the enemy will try to do is he will try to have us come to retaliation, so that31:27 he can inhibit your ability to get closer with God. And and he will throw whatever it is that he can. Whatever whatever he can, he will throw it at you. Whatever is happening, he will throw it. He will throw at31:39 you legal. He will throw at you weights. He will throw at you government abuse. He will throw at you boss abuse and job abuse. He will know, all these things. He he'll just throw at you. And Jesus said, all he wants you31:51 to do is break. And we know according to the book of Acts that not by our power and our spirit, it's by the power of the Holy Spirit that you can do all things like Philippians says.32:03 You can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens you through every affliction. That's God's strength. That's God's grace. And the enemy would love for you to think that this32:15 moment is about you and for you alone, and you are by yourself, and you are isolated. Because if he could isolate you, as the word of God says in Peter, if he can find you like a lion32:25 roaring, looking who he may devour, he is trying to devour you. Right. And by acting out on these things, Satan looks at someone that's on the weaker side of things,32:38 That's not strengthened by God's spirit. There was a moment that I I I somewhat fell prey to that a few years ago. It was around 20 21, 20 22. Pastor Diego32:50 went on a a 3 month sabbatical. His health wasn't doing too good, and so it was an emergency sabbatical. And so the board said, Adam, we need you to jump in. And for the next 12 weeks, you gotta preach every weekend.33:02 And I said I said, okay. Prior to that time, I had only preached about 4 times a year. And so going from 4 times a year to 12 weekends back to back, that was quite a lot for me. And33:14 so and so what happened was though is prior to that during COVID started in 20 20, we had a transition of an employee who ran all of our emails and social media. And, you know,33:25 20 20 was chaotic for all of us. And so since we couldn't hire or replace that role, I basically stepped into that role. And so, basically, from 20 20 to 20 21, I was the 1 that33:37 responded to any person's DM in the church, anyone's email in the church, anyone's question in the church, and also anyone's concern in the church. During that time, I calculated we had about 60033:49 to 700 inquiries in 12 months. Probably about half of those were not happy people because they wanted COVID to happen you know, our response to COVID to happen this way or that way or that way. And so I34:01 specifically remember 1 time, I I emailed someone who was upset at our church about something. And I emailed them back, and they and they34:07 were34:07 very nasty. You know, very nasty. And I thought to myself, maybe they maybe they just think I'm some, you know because I knew who the person was, and I thought, may maybe they just think that I'm some34:19 ambiguous person who's talking to them. So I tell them, this is pastor Adam, and we love you, and and we're so sorry that you're upset. And he goes and he and he go and he goes like this. Just so you're34:30 aware, you're a nobody and no 1 wants you in the role. I was crushed. I I also got really insecure. And so then what happened was,34:43 really from that time, this is going to 20 20, about a few months later, pastor Diego goes on sabbatical and the the board goes, you're gonna preach every weekend. And I and I thought, I'll preach on every weekend as34:55 long as I don't have to talk to anybody. Because when you're the person who's just getting the heat every single weekend, because you're the 1 tasked to email and respond to everyone, and when they find out35:06 it's you, you know, who's the son to the pastor, then it's like, now, to really tell you what how I'm feeling. And so, I got extremely insecure. And there was a moment, I remember, you may have been coming to church this35:17 long. What happened was for the first 2 weeks that I stepped in for pastor Diego, I never went outside to the courtyard. I didn't go outside. I just closed service and I went to the back. It wasn't35:29 because I was being bougie or gaudy. I was scared of anyone giving me negative feedback. I was scared. I was afraid. I was insecure. People slapped me enough.35:40 People threw weight at me enough that I was like, I don't wanna carry anyone's anything. I don't think I could handle it. And so then what happens is on the second week, Dale Piper's on audio team. He's not here today.35:52 He sent me a word from God. And he said, God told me to tell you during service today, you need not be afraid to love the people. Amen. And that and that if you continue to be afraid and let the36:03 enemy win, yes, people may say things. Yes, you may have dis but there are more people that are hungry for God. There are more people excited for God. What the enemy has done is elevated outside voices. And so what36:15 happened was, he said, I don't know if anyone's told you, but I think you need to go out and love people like your dad historically has done. So I responded to him. I said, you're right. I'm gonna do it this weekend. But36:26 when I reflected, I reflected in that moment. I said, what the enemy wanted me to do is to say, I don't wanna carry anything. I don't want anything. I I I want I want the blessing of God using me in a calling,36:38 but I don't want the burden of other people's brokenness. Or, I don't want the burden of what other people are going through or how other people are working. But, you can't have the blessing without people's burdens.36:47 Right. You can't you can't you can't go through the Red Sea without experiencing a moment where Moses is up in the mountain. It's in that moment that we start to say, am I making idols, or am I stayingShow more
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How Faith Eury Cho Discovered Why God Anoints Certain People More | S4E48 BEYOND THE LETTER Adam Mesa
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