Hello. Good morning. My name is Sandi Asker. I'm one of the pastors here. And recently, our family took a trip and I had the most miserable flight home from China. It was a long flight. Yes. Yes. It's a long flight to get home from China. I thought to myself at one point, if I ever have to suffer for the gospel, I'm going to be in trouble because I'm a hot mess right now. I had what I am sure is probably a sinus infection.

I did not have a lot of leg room because of the wonderful little larger person next to me. Uh, I was in the center aisle and you know how they have four seats and then instead of you having like places for your feet, you have the like metal aisle runner but it's in between your feet. It was just terrible. I was a hot mess. I started thinking about our first kid who left for college on Wednesday. You can talk to me about that later so I don't cry now.

And as I was thinking about her leaving and a friend of hers who had just been to Iceland, I looked out the window and we were flying over Iceland and I just started to cry. I mean sobbing. I had also watched a movie that was sad. Kind of opened up the whole waterworks. I spent the good part of an hour on my feet in the back of the plane drinking hot tea, sinus infection, crying, sobbing, blowing my nose, going to the bathroom, and then finally finding my family, someone who is awake and getting a hug.

How do you cope with discomfort? To what lengths will you avoid it? Do you watch movies, drink, clean your pantry, bury yourself in work, or maybe just put on some comfy clothes?

Um, soft sweatshirts, leggings, and flip flops used to be back when I was younger just for Saturdays or the gym or the beach.

But our fashion choices point to something that we as westerners love.

Comfort. No, I am not getting any financial kickbacks for wearing comfort. It's literally the brand that I'm wearing.

It's not just us. It's really any first world nation. We're in a series. You just saw the video. I believe help my unbelief. And it's based on a narrative about Jesus asking a man who's in need, do you believe? And the man says, I believe.

Help my unbelief.

We started with the basics in this series. I believe, but do I really know God? I struggle to share my faith. Anxiety gets in the way. And then last week, Brian nailed us with the wonderful reminder to forgive. Oh man, that was convicting.

Belief, the kind that we talk about here, is not just an intellectual ascent. Yeah. Yeah, I believe.

But we hope that it becomes something that we bel we embody that we practice.

So today's topic I believe but I want to pursue comfort at all costs.

So this week I was prepping and I was at the library and I ran across a book how to live longer and healthier.

Joel Austin wrote this. It was in the religious section and Austin and others like him have a tendency to lean towards the prosperity gospel.

Okay, name it, claim it. And if I'm not getting what I'm hoping for, there's probably something wrong with my faith, my personal life, and I need to work on that.

In other words, if you don't get what you want, it's probably on you because God clearly wants to give you everything good. Well, a comfortable life for them might look like God in the driver's seat of a very posh vehicle, and everyone has their own individual temperature settings.

We've spent time this summer in 2 Corinthians. If you haven't caught this series or if you're just new to us, I would encourage you, you can go to our website. We have all of the previous services. We also have a podcast if you just want to listen to the message.

Second Corinthians and really all of scripture calls us to a crucififor. Christianity is about following a savior who died on a cross after suffering great pain. As we read the scriptures, I'm studying Acts right now. We watch the early church that's built in the midst of oppression, poverty, prison.

Those were the things that were on the resume of one of the best church planters of all time, Paul.

Historically, my friends, followers of Jesus are uncomfortable.

Now, we decided it was worth visiting this series again, this theme again in this series, this comfort, this temptation we have because I think that when we follow Jesus, oftentimes we say, "Ah, but I don't want to be uncomfortable. Jesus,

well, I have bad news for you today and good news." But I think everyone would agree we like to start with the bad, don't we? Okay, good. Let's start with the bad. Jesus preached a very famous sermon called the sermon on the mount. It's a time when a whole crowd had gathered and many would say it's the best sermon of all time. Jesus started by telling those who were already in uncomfortable situations that actually they were blessed. For instance, chapter 5 verse three, Jesus says,

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted."

So those who are poor in spirit, what does that mean? We're not going to do a whole deep dive on a lot of these verses, but briefly, the poor in spirit are likely those who are struggling with their faith. Those who might be saying, "I believe. help my unbelief.

And then those who grieve, those who are mourning, probably uncomfortable, right? And Jesus says,

"You actually are blessed."

Well, in verse four, did anyone catch this? And maybe going

Jesus says, "Blessed are those who mourn because you will be comforted." What, Sandi?

Jesus promises comfort in 2 Corinthians actually chapter 1. Paul talks about we get to pursue and have the God of all comfort help us because we're suffering. And as we struggle, we are able to comfort others.

So, we talked about this. The word comforter, I'm telling you, every time I say comforter, I'm just like a m. If you've never had one of these soft sweatshirts, y'all, it is butter. All right, it is like so comforting. I don't know how they do this. It's so great.

Anyway, sorry. So, the Holy Spirit is called the comforter in the Bible. The word in Greek is paracleo. Don't kick me on my Greek. I'm doing the best I can. Okay. Pericleo literally means to call alongside.

I need help.

Pericleo, God coming alongside of us. So comforting one another is good. Okay. God comforting us is good. Seeking God for comfort is good. But the kind of comfort, if I can be so bold today to suggest, the kind of comfort I think that we're pursuing is different.

It's the kind that hears the word of the Lord and runs away from it, determining it to be too too hard, too much, or too unsettling.

Words like this following the sermon on the mount, chapter 5, 20, Jesus says, "For I tell you that your righteousness s must unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, really, really religious people, you certainly will not enter the kingdom of heaven." Verse 29, Jesus says, "If your right eye causes you to stumble," talking about lust, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body be thrown in hell. Verse 39, Jesus says, "You've heard it say an eye for the an eye. But I tell you, don't resist an evil person. If someone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other."

If anyone wants to sue you, verse 40, and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone asks you to a go one mile, go with them, too. Give to the one who asks you. Do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. And maybe the hardest commandment of all time, verse 48, Jesus says, "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly father is perfect."

If you can't tell online, we just heard the kids go, "Yay!"

Wouldn't that be great if that's how we felt?

Yay! Be perfect. Yay! I'm going to get slapped on my cheek.

Instead, don't we instead feel the opposite of that? Oh my word, that is uncomfortable.

Not just uncomfortable in the way that I was on the plane ride.

That was temporary. I knew the end was coming. It was a long ways away. It was a very long flight. But I knew comfort was coming. I knew I wasn't going to be sick forever.

Uncomfortable like forgiving those who don't deserve it.

Humility even though you're crushing it at work or in your sport.

doing what Christ is calling you to do even though no one is ever going to know that you did it.

Now for the good news in the same sermon Jesus says

but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things and Jesus has just been talking about food and clothing things that we need. Jesus says all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Jesus says in chapter 7, "Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many will enter through it, but small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life and few find it."

Jesus also says, "Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

Whoever finds their life will lose it. But whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.

Now, we need to be careful with this because on the opposite of the prosperity gospel might be those who say, "I'm suffering for the Lord." And they run face first into a fire.

Jesus doesn't call us to blindly quit our jobs and move to somewhere new, unwisely cross a busy highway or build a business without any equity or brains or fling oursel off a mountain and see what happens. The enemy tried to tempt Jesus with that and Jesus said no way.

Jesus does however ask us to follow him and sometimes that means hard places.

Let's say your car broke down and it's time for a new one. Anybody ever had that happen? Okay, this happened to us a year ago. We talked to so many people. We asked advice on Sunday morning. I talked to my friends who don't follow Jesus. I told them how much the cars were that we were looking at. And finally, we found the one that we were looking for. Sometimes when you're making a decision, back in the day, boy, I just hate when I make references to how old I am, cuz I'm not that old, but to some of you, I am. Back in my day, and sometimes still, there were these bracelets, WJ WJD. Okay, I'm looking at the college students for affirmation. What would Jesus do? Okay, so when you're going to make a decision, you would think first, wait, what would Jesus do in this situation? That's what seeking him first looks like.

Going to the Bible for reference to getting answers for your questions.

Maybe instead of chat GPT, y'all make a phone call before you go to chat GPT for some of these things or ask your pastor.

seeking the good of others, choosing that narrow gate, taking up our cross. I think they basically say the same thing,

follow Jesus.

Jesus's commands can be broken down into love God and love people.

So, as I think about my decisions, am I loving God and loving other people with this, or am I just making myself comfy?

Am I getting credit in the situation or is God getting some glory?

Am I giving other people the credit and empowering other people with whatever it is that I've been blessed with? Taking up a cross, giving up our lives. Jesus's promise is that you will find life.

You might not find comfort, but he promises life. And elsewhere in scripture, he says life to the full.

Our very lives might be discovered on the other side of hard things.

Jesus's promise says that if we lay down our lives, we will find it. If we follow him, there's this other crazy promise. Jesus says, "If you take my yoke upon you," do you know what he says, it's easy.

Not lazy easy, but there's some easiness to that. He promises that it's light.

Now, I don't know if you've ever had this thought, but Jesus doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

There is contradiction, but it also just doesn't make sense.

How is Jesus's way easy? It isn't easy though, Jesus.

But have you ever done a hard thing? Done the right thing and afterwards you were like, "Yes,

yes, it was uncomfortable. Yeah, that was hard. Yeah, it was costly. Yeah, it made we meant some really hard decisions.

But on the other side of it, there's a lightness. There is a freedom. There is a joy. There's a testimony.

anyone.

Now, I preach regularly and oftentimes the message nails me right here way before I get to sit up here and then I have to pick some of the examples throughout the week that the Lord preaches to me before I get up here.

Okay,

I'm at the pool. My hands are full of my work because I'm going to work on my sermon at the pool. I do spend a good amount of time at the pool, y'all. But I am working. I have witnesses. I had a lot of bags and I had washed my hands. I opened the door with the paper towel and then I held the door and I threw the paper towel and guess what happened? I missed.

And you know what goes through my head because I overthink everything and I am trying to listen to the Holy Spirit. Would any of you judge me if I had just walked out the door?

And is it really Jesus is going to say to me when I arrive at the pearly gates, whatever that looks like, is he really going to be like, "You know that one time, Sandi, that you left that paper towel in that pool bathroom?" But my son works at the pool and I know who the janitors are, and I know the staff there. And for whatever reason, in that moment, I knew I had to, darn it, put all my bags down and pick up that paper towel. Not so that right now I could boast to you that I did it, but that as I walked away, I just even was like, even just that simple thing, the Lord, in doing that, there was something about I was with the Lord. I was in step with the Lord. I was coming alongside the Lord. Because does that janitor need to have to pick up one more piece of paper towel at the pool where there's a lot of gross stuff probably in the bathrooms?

Maybe that's a dumb example. And I really don't mean to be like saying yay me. That's not what that's about.

That word paricleo calling alongside.

I also want to be walking alongside what the Lord is doing.

Can you imagine?

You are making a decision about buying your vehicle and you're on your way to write the check or whatever it is, but you have ignored the unhoused on the way.

and you ask the Lord for blessings with your new car. Can you imagine the Lord coming alongside of you in that thought?

Imagine coming asking the Lord to come alongside of you while you walk into the bar even though you know you've been drinking too much lately.

Imagine asking for Jesus to help to come alongside of you. You are calling for the Lord to come alongside of you as you gossip about that person who hurt you 19 years ago.

Are you are you following me?

The comfort we seek, my friends, sometimes I think is leading us in the opposite direction from what the Lord is calling us to.

Yes, it might be the harder way. Yes, I promise you it's probably going to cost you something. It might be so sad, so unnerving, so frankly the exact thing from what you want to do,

but Jesus might be calling you to it.

So, just this morning, my friend Christy and I were texting our oldest girls. We just had to drop off at college. And if you've never done this, I apologize for going on about it, but I'm going to use it as an example.

It's really hard, but for my friend Christy, it's terrible because they at 99 days lost their infant and it was one of the worst days of my life. We lived in Duth at the time I got the phone call. I mean, for two weeks, I almost couldn't think about anything else.

Same woman Christy and I are texting about Isaac this morning.

She said, 'It's been 3,770 days

since they lost Isaac. It was the worst day of my life. And I remember Christy looking at me saying, "How are we going to do this?"

And I said, "I don't know, Christie, but we're going to do it together."

And we have. And Chris and Christie have been so faithful to ask the Lord for comfort and going in the direction God called them to. They are still married even though it's very hard. They talk to their kids about it. They've talked to other people who have lost children even though it brings up terrible things for them and their children. And 377 days later, they're still doing it. And that is the kind of comfort that Chris and Christie sought in a very difficult time for other people.

Is there something that you're facing right now that's really hard?

Have you asked the Lord to come alongside of you in it?

Have you asked one of us to come alongside of you in it? A small group. Facing hard things is way easier with other people than doing it on your own.

Watch a Survivor episode.

Literally, one of their strategies was to put people alone on an island to try to make it harder.

Is there an area of pain or challenge that you've frankly been avoiding? And God's saying, "It's time. You need to face this."

Is there a call on your life that God has that is uncomfortable and you are avoiding? Well, what happens if we find ourselves just putting on our comfy clothes again, numbing and scrolling on our phones? You know what? It's going to happen. All right, it's going to happen.

You choose the snooze alarm instead of waking up to spend time with the Lord. You avoid that conflict. You buy the thing.

You repent.

Those of us who are in relationship with the Lord, you just talk about it. For those of you who are not in relationship with Jesus, I have good news for you today. You get 999,000 chances.

And Jesus understands. He's gone through the discomfort so that he is always available to come alongside of us. We believe.

Help our unbelief.

And I don't know how we're going to do all the things right now. I'm going to ask the music team to come back up. I don't know how we're going to do the hard things. What the hard things are in your life. The choices that God is asking you to make. The repentance that he's calling for you. The habits that you have in secret. the forgiveness that needs to pursue, the anxiety that's maybe overwhelming you, the lack of sharing your faith that you're scared to death about. I don't know what all you're facing, but I know that when we call, God comes along and gives us the kind of comfort that actually we need and that we can offer one another. I believe. Lord, help our unbelief.