Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] What's going on, everyone? We're gonna get right into this. Let me say a quick prayer.
[00:00:05] Heavenly Father, I thank you for just the opportunity of being up here this evening. I thank you for every single person that made it tonight. I know it was a thousand degrees outside.
[00:00:15] I pray that everyone can stay safe and healthy and cool.
[00:00:20] And I just pray that this message would stir up the hearts of at least someone in here. Father, I thank you for your will. And I pray that we can do your will instead of the will of what the world tries to throw at us. And I pray that we can just be thankful and honor you and love the way that you taught us to love. I thank you for everyone here. In your son's name I pray. Amen.
[00:00:45] So since I was just talking about the heat in my prayer, I thought it would be a good idea to talk about cold plunge the beginning of the sermon. Maybe I can kind of persuade some of you guys to buy one, if you haven't already.
[00:01:00] But a couple weeks ago, Sarah preached this awesome sermon. And in the sermon she talked about, like, when we all started getting into the cold plunge, and we were doing like these 10 minute cold plunges and stuff. And she mentioned that I was like a big cold plunge guy, which I wasn't at first. Now I definitely do love doing it.
[00:01:20] There's a lot of benefits that I get from the cold plunge, but some of, like the main ones that a lot of people can get is muscle recovery, metabolism boost. It can help your immune system, it can help your mood, and it can increase your focus.
[00:01:34] There's also some reasons why you shouldn't cold plunge. If you're pregnant or have heart conditions.
[00:01:42] I would stay away from it, but we're not going to get into why we shouldn't do it. We're just going to talk about why we should do it. All right?
[00:01:48] So when we first started getting into the cold plunge, I wanted nothing to do with it. I wanted no part of it. I saw people doing it. I'm like, there's no, like, I have a rare condition where my fingers and my toes get really cold. I'm pretty sure it's a condition, but I. I don't like the cold. I don't like the cold. And I remember one morning, this was like early winter, like maybe end of November, early December.
[00:02:14] It was like a Saturday morning. We're all at the Burger's house and they're all getting up and they're gonna cold plunge. And I'm like, there's.
[00:02:20] Why are you guys Doing this right now. And I remember Tay was getting ready to go outside and go in the cold plunge. So I was like, all right, I'm gonna go out. I'm just gonna inspect this cold plunge, see what. See what's going on here. There's, like, this thin layer of ice on top, and I stuck my hand in there. I'm like, there's no way. This is gonna be the biggest mistake of my life getting in here.
[00:02:40] And for some reason, I decided to go in, join the crew, joined the bandwagon, and I got in, and it was, like, 30 seconds, and it was. I was right. It was the worst decision. It was the most horrible thing that I have ever done.
[00:02:55] But when I got out, I felt, like, accomplished. I felt like something.
[00:03:01] After doing this cold plunge, there was a part of me that, like, almost craved that feeling. Like, I know there's, like, really high dopamine that you get from it. There was something that I craved, and I wanted to do it again, right? So I started doing this for longer periods of time. I started going in for 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes. I started going in when it was basically a block of ice. I have a picture of the cold plunge in my backyard. I just sat there with an ax until I got through the water, and I would go in there for 10 minutes. Probably not super healthy, but it felt good to me, and for some reason, I just wanted to continue to do this. And I remember talking to my family because I had, like. My knees were hurting from doing flooring jobs, and my back was hurting, and I would get in there and I'd come out and I'd feel great. And I remember, like, family members of mine would be saying they have back problems. I'm like, dude, you gotta try the cold punch.
[00:03:54] Like, I got it. It's already ready. The hole's ready to go. It's a block of ice. Hop in there.
[00:04:00] And I'm trying to convince them, and they're looking at me like, why?
[00:04:05] Absolutely not.
[00:04:06] Why would you get in there? Why would you think that I would want to go in that and endure that horrible sight?
[00:04:15] And there's something about the cold plunge for me, that it does something to my brain.
[00:04:24] It does something when I. When I get out. And for some reason, I wanted to just get my family on it, and they were not willing to do that. But sometimes when I would be sitting in this cold plunge, after I talked to my family, I'm sitting there thinking the exact same thing.
[00:04:40] Like, why would I get into this cold Plunge. Why am I sitting in here right now? It's 32 degrees. I can't feel my toes.
[00:04:50] And I'm sitting there saying the Lord's Prayer, I'm listening to worship, I'm trying to do everything I can possibly do so I'm not thinking about the cold. And then I get out and I warm up and I start to feel like this burst of energy, even though normally I do it at like 9 o' clock at night. I'm like, all right, I'm ready for the day. Let's get going. Let's start cleaning the house, whatever it is.
[00:05:11] I start feeling these benefits. And for me, the benefits are amazing. And it was extremely cold and extremely uncomfortable and I never want to get in it, but then I do and I. And I feel and I receive the reward of it. And sometimes we need to do something that may be uncomfortable to receive the reward, right? There's some things in life that we may have to do that put us in uncomfortable spots or feel uncomfortable for us to receive the benefit.
[00:05:44] And tonight I wanted to ask you guys a question.
[00:05:48] Do you want a cold plunge tonight out back? No, I'm just kidding.
[00:05:55] I wanted to ask a more serious question.
[00:05:59] Why?
[00:06:00] What are you doing here?
[00:06:02] Why do we come to CC midweek?
[00:06:05] Why did you decide to follow God?
[00:06:10] Why do you come to church? Why do you want this community?
[00:06:16] Maybe for you. Your parents or your family or your friends invited you and it was just like something that just got brought upon you.
[00:06:25] Maybe you were forced to do it. Like I was with the cold plunge, with my in laws. They forced me into it. No, I'm just kidding.
[00:06:32] Maybe it was just something you weren't sure about and you got invited to it.
[00:06:36] Maybe you saw a post or you watched online and you were interested and you wanted to come see and check it out and see what was going on, what all the hype was about.
[00:06:46] Or maybe you've been coming like some of my family over here since you were born and God has been a part of your life since before you can remember. It's a part of who you are.
[00:07:01] Maybe you showed up and it was your first time here. You showed up, you listened to the worship and you fell in love with the worship. You fell in love with the teaching. You fell in love with the community, the people, the atmosphere, everything that embodies the body of Christ.
[00:07:20] Maybe you've had this feeling in your heart that something was telling you there's got to be more to life than how much money you make.
[00:07:33] There's Got to be more to life than every detail in your schedule.
[00:07:40] There's got to be more to life than focusing on these worldly things that we get so caught up in.
[00:07:46] Maybe there's more to life than going out every night that you can possibly go out, and you stay out late, and sometimes you end up doing something that you regret the next morning.
[00:07:59] Maybe something was tugging at your heart to know the one who gave his life for us, to know the one that gave up everything for me and for you.
[00:08:11] Sometimes we come to church because there's something in our hearts that we can't deal with on our own anymore.
[00:08:20] There's something in our lives that we can't deal with anymore. Maybe there's something going on at home that you're struggling with and you can't do it on your own.
[00:08:32] So you come here and you get together with the community of people and you work on these problems together.
[00:08:42] Maybe you come here because you feel guilt or shame and you wonder if just by being in this building, being around these people is gonna help you heal.
[00:08:55] Or maybe you're struggling with something in your head. Just negative thoughts that just keep rerunning and rerunning.
[00:09:02] And when you're at home or you're driving and you're alone and you keep hearing this stuff running in your head, you come to church and you feel free of those thoughts.
[00:09:13] Your mind feels free.
[00:09:16] But coming to church is just part of it, right?
[00:09:20] We come to church.
[00:09:22] It's actually the easy part.
[00:09:25] And it's easy to do things that are easy, right?
[00:09:29] Like, I can drive to church. I can listen to the message.
[00:09:34] I could drive home.
[00:09:36] And for the most part, that's pretty easy. Unless it's 1000 degrees outside or maybe 10 degrees outside. Then it's a little bit harder. But most of the time, that's easy.
[00:09:46] But what if there's a cost?
[00:09:49] What if there's a cost that comes with it?
[00:09:53] Because there is a cost to following Christ.
[00:09:57] There is a cost.
[00:09:59] And the scripture I want to read is in Matthew. If you guys got your Bibles, you want to pull them out. It's Matthew 16, verses 24 and 25.
[00:10:09] And says this. Then Jesus told his disciples, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life would lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
[00:10:33] This is almost a word for word copy. If you go back in your Bible, like maybe 10 pages, this is almost a word for word copy of Matthew 10 verses 38 and 39, if you want to throw that up there too, just so we could see it.
[00:10:47] Whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. It's almost the exact same thing, right?
[00:10:57] Six chapters later. Except the context of what's going on around Christ and the disciples is what's different in this.
[00:11:07] You see, the first time Christ says this, he's saying this to his disciples and giving them instructions as they're about to go out and heal and save people and do some miracles. He's giving them instructions on what to do, and he's also giving them instructions on. On how to be worthy of Him.
[00:11:27] And so he's telling this to the. The disciples. And of course, they're probably like, dude, I will do whatever you need me to do. I will do whatever you ask. We literally just witnessed you. Heal the sick, heal the blind. A couple of the disciples saw him raise a young girl from the dead.
[00:11:45] They watched him control the wind and the waves.
[00:11:53] They saw so much stuff that he was doing, and they're probably thinking, I know what my past looks like. I know where I was, and now I'm here. Like, I will do whatever you need me to do, whatever you ask. I'm with you till the end.
[00:12:07] Yet when he says this again in chapter 16, I think this hits a little bit different.
[00:12:16] Yes, they saw him do more miracles. They saw him walk on water.
[00:12:21] They saw him feed thousands of people multiple times.
[00:12:25] They saw him stand up to the Pharisees and say the things that were true to him and to us and to God.
[00:12:34] But then, right before Christ says this passage, he tells them that he is going to go to Jerusalem where he's going to be killed.
[00:12:47] And then he tells them to pick up their cross and follow Him.
[00:12:51] And he's asking us to do the same thing.
[00:12:56] He's asking us to pick up our cross and follow him.
[00:13:00] And the disciples, this time they're thinking, okay, this is a little bit deeper.
[00:13:07] I know my past, where I was.
[00:13:11] I know how life has been right now. But is Christ really asking us to die with Him?
[00:13:20] Is he serious?
[00:13:22] Because I want to say I will do it, but I'm not really sure.
[00:13:29] I feel like most of us in here can learn from our past, right?
[00:13:36] Most of us in here have probably already learned something from our past.
[00:13:40] And I bet a lot of us would say that because of our past, whether it was something good or something bad. We are exactly where we're meant to be right now because of something that happened in our past. We're right where we're supposed to be. The lives we have, where we're sitting right now is a direct outcome of something good or something bad that happened in our past. Right?
[00:14:05] God works for all things, through all things, for good.
[00:14:10] And for me, I know we're not here by accident.
[00:14:16] I'm married to my best friend, and I have the most precious little girl in the world, and we have another one on the way, and.
[00:14:32] But when I was struggling with my addiction, I could not have dreamed of this life.
[00:14:40] I could not have dreamed of this. When I was 10 years old and Doc was preaching in Strongsville High School, and I'm, like, running in and out of the auditorium, not paying attention.
[00:14:49] When I was 16 and they opened this building, and I remember coming in here for a couple weeks every few months or whatever.
[00:14:57] I could not have imagined that I would be up on stage right now preaching.
[00:15:02] When I was in my 20s and I was hardly living paycheck to paycheck and trying to find ways to scheme and do everything that was unhealthy for me, I couldn't imagine the life I have right now.
[00:15:14] And then when I was about 30, maybe a little before that, before I got sober, I started hearing this whisper, this whisper in my heart. And I know we all know what I'm talking about, but for me, it was a whisper that was telling me, dude, quit doing this stuff, put the drugs down, go into rehab.
[00:15:39] We all have this whisper that we hear in our hearts. And sometimes it's a challenge.
[00:15:44] Sometimes it's something extremely difficult that we do not want to do.
[00:15:49] But a lot of times that whisper is the Holy Spirit telling us the path that we need to go on.
[00:15:54] It's just whether or not we're willing to do it.
[00:15:57] And I heard this whisper for years, and then I finally took that step.
[00:16:04] And it wasn't easy, but I struggled for still, like, six years before I actually got sober. But then my life was perfect after that, right?
[00:16:14] That I'm. I'm sober, I'm 30, I got a job, I bought a house, I'm going to church.
[00:16:22] That was not the case.
[00:16:25] I still had a lot to learn. I still have a lot to learn. But at the time, what was I missing?
[00:16:33] Why don't I feel any different after I changed so much, after I went through so much? Why do I not feel different?
[00:16:45] Like I said, there is a cost to following Christ.
[00:16:50] Just because I changed some things in my life just because I got rid of some extremely unhealthy habits. And I added some things that were amazing.
[00:17:01] There were still some things that I was not willing to let go of.
[00:17:04] There were still some things in my heart and in my head that I was not willing to surrender.
[00:17:10] I wanted to tell God, I surrender everything to you.
[00:17:13] But then at the same time, in the back of my mind, I'm thinking, just not right now, just not today.
[00:17:22] We want to be free of all these things, but we're secretly hoping that God's going to say, you don't have to do that yet, though.
[00:17:31] We want to be free of these things, but we're not always ready to let them go.
[00:17:38] When Christ says, take up your cross, he's asking us to walk in his steps.
[00:17:44] When he says to take up his cross, he's asking us to embrace his life, embrace who he is.
[00:17:51] He's asking us to take up our cross and embrace the things about us that we might think are weak, the things about us that we think are weak. And a lot of times we hang on to the things that we think are powerful and strong.
[00:18:08] But Christ is telling us to embrace it all.
[00:18:12] He's asking us to be humble when we want to just let our ego take over, to be humble in a conversation when I just want to be like, I know I'm right and I want to prove it to you that I'm right.
[00:18:30] He wants us to have grace in those situations.
[00:18:33] Even if I know I'm right, I can show grace.
[00:18:38] He's asking us to let go of the things of this world, the things that we are so easily bound to and hold onto.
[00:18:48] And some things might be so simple, just like gossip.
[00:18:53] And I struggle with this. I know most of us probably struggle with this all the time. You walk in to a room and there's people gathered around, and you're like, oh, what are they talking about? You walk over and then they start throwing a couple things like, oh, we're just talking about this. And then you're like, oh, man, I want to talk about it too. Next thing you know, you're like, stuck in this conversation.
[00:19:12] And Christ is calling us to be better than that.
[00:19:17] He's calling us to maybe, depending on what the situation is, put an end to that conversation and say, why don't we just go talk to that person instead of talking behind their back.
[00:19:29] It may be going to places on your phone that are triggering the way you think, and you start scrolling, and next thing you know, an hour goes by. And your thought process is like, shot. And you start thinking all these negative things about yourself. The way you look or you start going to places that you shouldn't on your phone. And then you just continue to get stuck in this thing. And then afterwards you just have this pit in your stomach.
[00:19:55] It may just be a grudge or resentment that you're just not ready to let go of.
[00:20:01] Because what that person did to you or what they said to you does not deserve your forgiveness.
[00:20:10] You don't want to forgive them in your heart.
[00:20:14] And you're definitely not going to go face to face and tell them, I forgive you, dude, it's fine.
[00:20:19] They don't deserve it.
[00:20:23] When I thought I was on the right path five years ago, I actually had no clue.
[00:20:29] I was nowhere near where I know I can be.
[00:20:35] I know what I'm supposed to do.
[00:20:38] I know what I'm supposed to say. I know the person that God is calling me to be.
[00:20:43] I know the father that I'm supposed to be. I know the husband that I'm supposed to be, the man that God wants me to be.
[00:20:50] But I struggle all the time still.
[00:20:56] We still have so much in our hearts and in our minds that we are just not willing to let go things that shouldn't be there.
[00:21:05] I wasn't willing to lose my life.
[00:21:12] And to be honest, I feel like a lot of the times I'm not willing to take up my cross.
[00:21:19] Even now.
[00:21:22] We have days and moments where we feel like we are, without a doubt willing to do whatever the father asks us.
[00:21:32] We are willing to go the extra mile. We are willing to lay down our life. We are willing to do whatever he wants of us. Whatever his will is, we're going to do it. We have moments like that, but I think more days than not, we get caught up in the content. We get caught up in the things of this world. We get caught up in all the little things about the way we look or the way we act or what we say, what we do. We get caught up in life.
[00:22:04] And we almost feel entitled.
[00:22:09] And I know if Lex and I are getting in an argument, which never happens, but this is just hypothetical.
[00:22:17] And I'm tired and I get annoyed. I'm the type of person that's just going to shut down and I don't want to deal with this right now. So I'm like, why are we doing this? I'm just not going to say anything.
[00:22:30] I know what I'm supposed to do. I know that. How? I could just say a couple things and it would be over in five minutes. But I drag it on, and next thing you know, I'm like, not. Not picking my cross up. Obviously, I'm. I'm not touching that thing right now.
[00:22:45] I'm just going to shut down and do what I know is not right.
[00:22:52] And then I wake up the next day or maybe an hour later, I realize it. I know we've been here.
[00:23:02] You don't pick up your cross in the moment, and then maybe 10 minutes go by, an hour the next day, and you're like, I feel bad. I feel bad about that.
[00:23:16] I feel a lot of guilt now. I want to pick my cross up. I want to make things right.
[00:23:23] Maybe you're hurt, and because of who hurt you, you don't want to pick your cross up because you're holding on to that hurt.
[00:23:33] Or maybe you're angry or you're scared.
[00:23:36] And it's a lot easier for you to hold on to the problems of this world than to hold onto the cross.
[00:23:49] We have to be willing to let go of the things that are holding us back.
[00:23:54] All the junk that's in our hearts, the junk that's in our heads, the things that sometimes we are not even willing to speak about or even pray about. The stuff that we're scared to leave our lips.
[00:24:11] That's the stuff we need to let go of.
[00:24:15] That I know we have a hard time sometimes.
[00:24:20] We have a hard time even bringing it up. We don't even like when the thought comes into our mind. There's a cost to following Christ.
[00:24:29] The demand of following him is high.
[00:24:34] And sometimes it can be extremely hard.
[00:24:37] And I know we've been there where we feel like we are on the right path and things are going good, and then life throws you a curveball and you get pulled right back down.
[00:24:50] Somehow life always finds a way to pull you back down.
[00:24:56] And that is the enemy.
[00:24:58] Because when you are on the right path, when you are doing God's will, he wants to get in the middle of it.
[00:25:05] He doesn't want you to pick up your cross.
[00:25:07] He doesn't want you to have grace.
[00:25:09] He doesn't want you to live the life that God is willing you to live or wants you to live. He wants you to be stuck in sin and worry and denial.
[00:25:20] If you feel like the enemy is attacking you, that's because you're probably on the path that God wants you to be on, and the enemy doesn't like it.
[00:25:32] The enemy wants to destroy all things that are good.
[00:25:39] And if life feels too comfortable, maybe it's time to get a little uncomfortable.
[00:25:51] Maybe it's time to stretch your faith.
[00:25:55] Maybe it's time to step up at work or step up in the church.
[00:26:02] Maybe it's time to get a little uncomfortable and expand your faith, expand to someone that you don't know, help someone around you.
[00:26:13] Maybe it's time to challenge yourself to do more for Him.
[00:26:21] The demand is high, but the rewards are unmeasurable.
[00:26:28] When we hold onto our lives, when we're so focused and we're white knuckling the things of this world, the way we look, the way we dress, the things that the world tries to throw at us and tell us that are important, when we hold onto those things, we're going to lose our life in the end.
[00:26:47] But when we let go of the things of this world, when we let go of the doubt, when we let go of the worry or the lust or the gossip or the hate, when we let go of the things that are holding our hearts back from walking like Christ wants us to walk, when we let go of all of that junk, the things of this world, our hands are free to pick up the cross.
[00:27:20] When we let go of resentment, our hands are free to show grace.
[00:27:28] When we let go, our hands are free to pick up our cross and follow him, the One who matters most, the One who gave everything for us.
[00:27:41] And following him is the greatest gift that any of us could receive, Right?
[00:27:45] It is the greatest gift. A reward beyond imagination.
[00:27:52] A person can gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul in the end.
[00:28:00] Wouldn't you wish that you gave it all to Him?
[00:28:06] Wouldn't you wish that when you get to the gates of heaven and Christ is at the door welcoming you in and you told him.
[00:28:19] I know I struggled with this, but with your help, I put it to the side and I focused on you.
[00:28:30] I let that go.
[00:28:32] I focused on you. And because of you, I'm here.
[00:28:38] Wouldn't you want that to be what Christ sees in you? That you are willing to let go of the things that are holding you back?
[00:28:49] The things of this world?
[00:28:54] Guys, I know I'm preaching, but I'm not perfect.
[00:29:00] I am nowhere near perfect. And I probably needed to hear this message just as much as any of us.
[00:29:08] But if every day we can get a little better at walking the way that Christ walked, we could get a little better at letting go of some of the things that are holding us back, then we could be that much closer to being the person that he is calling us to be.
[00:29:27] To being the man, the woman that God is calling of us, and I want that to be the most important thing in our hearts.
[00:29:36] I want him to be the most important thing.
[00:29:40] And I know we all know Christ and we all have him in our hearts and our minds, and it's something that we live for. But I know that we can make more room for Him.
[00:29:54] I know that we can let go of some of that garbage that we're holding onto and we can make more room for Him.
[00:30:02] I know that there is a part of my life and a part of our lives where every decision that we make, we can make sure that he's involved in it.
[00:30:16] Every choice that we make in our lives, I know we can make room so that he's in every single one of them.
[00:30:25] And, guys, I just. I want to pray that I know the things of this world find a way to grab you and pull you down all the time.
[00:30:36] But I promise it's because you're on the right path.
[00:30:40] And when God's will is in front of you and your path is clear and you're on it, that's when the enemy's gonna attack you.
[00:30:49] And we need to be willing to let some of this stuff go so we can pick up on cross when things feel hard.
[00:30:59] I want us to be willing to free our hands as much as we can, because sometimes, like I said, my hands aren't free.
[00:31:13] My hands are tied up. And the last thing I want to do is throw that cross on my shoulder and walk around with it.
[00:31:20] But the more and more we let go of this stuff, the more likely we're going to be able to hold onto that cross and walk with Him.
[00:31:28] Let me say a prayer.
[00:31:33] Heavenly Father, I am so grateful for you, so grateful for what you did for each and every one of us. Father, I just. I pray that we can.
[00:31:46] We can live up to what you expect of us, Father.
[00:31:49] I pray that we can let go of the things that hold us back in life. I pray that we can let go of the things that might seem so simple and not important, but they're things of this world, and we focus on them. Sometimes more than you and I know, I get caught up in it, Father. And I pray that I would never put anything before you. And no matter what is going on in my life, I pray that you are in the center of it all.
[00:32:14] I pray that I can make room for you in my heart, make room for you in my mind, and that you would just overflow your light through me and through everybody in this room.
[00:32:26] I'm thankful for everyone that's here tonight. And I just pray that we will be safe and we will love the way that you loved us. Father. It's in your son's name I pray. Amen.
