JUN 25 2017 | The Giant Series S1E8

Sea Change Church · The Giant Series S1E8 · Bryce Maurer · June 25, 2017
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

One of the wonderful things in life is that God calls us to be his people. That's reflected as Bryce will be ministering today. It's reflected also in the text that he's chosen for this morning, 1 Samuel chapter 10, verses 9 and following. As Saul turned to leave Samuel, God changed Saul's heart, and all these signs were fulfilled that day. When they arrived at Gibeah, a procession of prophets met him, and the Spirit of God came upon him in power, and he joined in their prophesying.

When all those who had formerly known him saw him prophesying with the prophets, they asked each other, What is this that's happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets? A man who lived there answered, And who is their father? And so became a saying, Is Saul among the prophets? And after Saul stopped prophesying, he went up to the high place.

Now Saul's uncle asked him and his servant, Where have you been? Looking for donkeys. But when they saw they were not to be found, we went to Samuel. Saul's uncle said, Tell me what Samuel said to you. Saul replied, He assured us the donkeys had been found, but he did not tell his uncle what Samuel had said about the kingship. A word of history and the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God. Lord, bless your words that are shared here. And as Pastor Adam comes to introduce Bryce in a special way, Lord, may your anointing rest on him and all of us in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. I just came up with another book title, Looking for Donkeys, right? What a great, how much of my life did I spend looking for donkeys? You know what I mean?

God's like, Hey, I got this other thing for you. But if you want to look for donkeys, you go ahead. God, I just want to preach. I'm ready. 10, 15 years ago, whatever it was, I came back from Australia. It was my first day on the job at North Coast Calvary Chapel. And I went to the courtyard that was there in a parking lot at a Ralph's at the time.

Didn't know anybody. And they said, You're going to start a ministry. Had no people. And they said, Just get in there, kid. So I went and walked straight. They said, There's a new couple here. One, his name is Bryce and Candace. They just got married. Go meet them. And so I walked over. And he likes to tell the story. He was standing in the shadows with his wife.

And they had been looking for donkeys for a long time. And I regularly call Bryce a donkey. And he calls me a donkey. But nonetheless, we started talking. And I said, Hey, how about you guys come into a little bit of a leadership team meeting and see if you want to start? They were the first people that we met. And at that time, they had a whole bunch of things going on.

But they really wanted to change their life. And over a period of 10 years, we became friends. And then we invited them deeper into ministry. And we started a men's project called the Joshua Project. And a lot of the guys who have been through that are here today. And I was supporting that. And Bryce was in my first group of men that I took through that project.

And about five years in, after that, he said, You know, I've been laying floors my whole life and doing construction. I want to be a pastor. And I just don't want to do this anymore. And that was a long time ago. And it's been a long journey. Well, eventually, he took over the Joshua Project from me. Has led multiple men through the project. It is now a national project.

It is on both sides and both coasts. And over the last couple years, they were one of the first families to come here as we were getting new families in the church. Perhaps you remember Bryce. We're working with the men's ministry. They finally moved up to Redding, California. And in the midst of that, there's been this call upon Bryce's heart. And we've talked about it so long.

And just waiting. Have you ever waited 10 years for something? Maybe even longer than that. And kind of felt like we were just looking for donkeys, you know. And eventually, I had an idea. How about I introduce Bryce to the district superintendent of the American Baptist of the Northwest, who we are underneath their covering. They told me that if you know any good pastoral candidates, let us know.

We have a bunch of churches in Idaho, Montana, Washington, and in the Northwest that need pastors. We have about 10 or 15 churches. And we would look for somebody. And immediately, Bryce's name came out of mine. So I put them in contact with him. And it has been an incredible journey, adventure, and dance. He has now cleared every stage. He's begun to talk to churches.

And they have him as a candidate for one church. Right now, they're in conversations with. And then there's other ones he's going to be introduced with as well. So that is a super exciting story. Part of what he needs is a preaching tape of just giving the word of God so he can send it to him. He hasn't been in the pulpit for about a year and a half now.

And I said, hey, we want to send you out. We want to love on you and send you out. He knows the word of God. He's a solid man of God and a great preacher. And I just want to invite Bryce up. Can you welcome him this morning? So I won't take much more of your time. You know, watching people walk into their inheritance is the verse that God has given me.

And this is an amazing time. We've come a long way, bro. Yes. So I love it. You look like you belong in Montana, bro. So I like that. With a little thing here. Working on it. He asked for the Madonna mic, too, which I thought was awesome. So it's a nice blend. I changed it to Justin Bieber. Oh, Justin, right on. So, okay. We'll just pray for him. Lord God, we pray for Bryce as he just talks about this change of heart that Saul has had.

Just open up the word of scripture. We just want to welcome him. We're so excited to have one of our family members moving on to the next stage in their life. And we bless him in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Siri, you set a timer for 90 minutes. He said to come preach, man. I'm going to preach. We got nowhere else to go today, right? All right. I'll give you 30 minutes.

We got donuts and coffee next door. How did I get here? You might be asking yourself that question right now. Maybe your spouse drug you to church. Maybe you were here to appease a relationship so you can get a coffee date. How did I get here? You might be asking yourself that question in regards to the status of your marriage right now. Or perhaps that reflects your bank account.

How did I get here? We can answer that question quite simply. We're in this series of defeating giants in our lives. And we can answer that question, how did I get here? By identifying who is the king of our life. Or is it Jesus Christ? We can answer that question, how did I get here? By who is the God of our life. Sometimes we want to make sports our God or our children our God or our careers.

How did I get here? We see Saul today asking himself that question. Saul is being invited into relationship with God in 1 Samuel chapter 10 today. Saul is trying to figure out his purpose. And when he figures out his purpose, he will see himself walking into his true identity. This is a part of my calling. This is a part of my purpose. And I get to invite you guys into this journey with me today.

And I'm excited to be here with you guys. You know, San Diego is not the greatest allergy for us because we're really not a good sports town. But I do find it interesting that we can go to a Padre game and my nine-year-old daughter Naomi will know how to clap along with Mr. Organ Man. We quickly participate in the ball game. And we can go to San Diego Char...

Oh, is that too soon? Brandon? Love you, bud. When we went to San Diego Charger games, we would paint our faces blue and yellow. We would go crazy for a first down. And we would high-five complete strangers when we scored a touchdown and won. So let's have fun today. Let's bring that to church. Carol's not here. I can always count on Carol for a good chuckle or an amen.

So I've commissioned some of my Joshua Project men throughout here for some hallelujahs. If they reach a certain... There's one. If they reach a certain quote, I got to buy them tacos. So help them out a little bit. Let's have fun because this is the best party we're going to all week. You might have went to Unity for Orphans fundraiser and played a poker tournament to raise money for a worthy cause.

But this is the best party. So let's have fun while we're at work... While we're at work... While we're at work today. While we're at church today. And you guys will encourage me as we participate together. And... Let's pray. Abba Father... How great and worthy is your name. May we find ourselves delighting in this day. It is an honor to be in your house.

And so we pray now, Holy Spirit, come. Let the words that I speak not be my own, but you speaking through me. To your people, to your congregation. God, may we find our story in 1 Samuel chapter 10 today. So to you be the glory, God. May we leave here, not as the person that we walked in, but as transformed sons and daughters of your kingdom. In Jesus' name, everybody said...

Amen. For 44 years, I lived in Southern California. Never did I think that I would leave this beautiful place. In fact, it was almost an unspoken prenuptial in my marriage to Candace that I'm a beach boy. I'm not going anywhere. Well, three years later, we moved up. Three years later, we came here and started attending this church. And can I say this?

That should I go on to pastor a church, I really want my church to look like this church. What you guys are doing here is amazing. And you can feel the spirit of the Lord here. You can feel it transforming the atmosphere and the community around here. But three years ago, we never thought that we would leave here. We really loved the people here.

But see, God had us on this journey of faith. We had opportunities to stay in San Diego. We even had some possible contracts in San Francisco. But ultimately, God was speaking to us and he said, Just trust me. He had us on this journey of faith. And what we learned in that journey of faith, and this is a key component to defeating giants in our life.

Faith overcomes fear. Would you say that with me? Faith overcomes fear. Faith overcomes fear. Faith overcomes fear. So 10 months ago, I found myself unloading a moving van, 600 miles north in Redding, California. It was 112 degrees. And I asked myself, how did I get here? So nice to be here today. In 2011, my son Shane was born. The Stattmiller's brought us over a mill, like all good Christians do.

I think that's 3 Corinthians chapter 10. And I remember asking Adam, hey, whatever happened to the Joshua Project? And he said, funny you should ask. I was thinking that you should run it. And I said, no, no, no, no, not me. My false humility was coming forth. Because deep down inside, I really wanted to. And so through the years, it became a 501c3 nonprofit.

As Adam said, it's East Coast, it's West Coast. Pastors and elders are going through the project. It's transforming lives, churches, and neighborhoods. We even have a women's project now on both coasts. How did it get there? It was by an invitation. It was by a response and an act of obedience. And we see that in chapter 10 of Samuel today. In verse 1, it starts off, then Samuel.

So we have to go back. We have to go back to chapter 9. And there we see Samuel telling Saul to tell his servant to go ahead of him. So they are now in this private moment. And Samuel takes out his flask. Maybe not a flask that you carry, but a flask of oil. A couple chuckles. It was worth a couple chuckles. Anoints Samuel. Anoints Saul. We see in the previous chapter where he was appointed.

And now he's being anointed. And then Samuel gives him a kiss. You see, what was happening here was that he was being confirmed by God. This was an outward expression of what was happening physically. And on the inside of Saul spiritually. Much like us as Christians today when we get baptized. We publicly declare our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.

And then we go down into the water and we come up. And it's no longer us who lives, but he inside of us. 1 John 2 verse 20 says that, But you, as a Christian today under the new covenant, you have an anointing from the Holy One. Can I encourage us today that that is the power and the authority that we need to be walking in? As Christians, we have the good news.

As Christians, we have the Holy Spirit inside of us. And that should be transforming the environments that we find ourselves in. Our neighborhoods, our homes, in our office cubicles, our construction sites. We have the power and authority to shift the atmosphere of the rooms that we find ourselves in. You see, at 30 years old, Saul was asking himself, How did I get here?

I'm being anointed as the first king and deliverer of the nation of Israel. He was quite content to be a donkey herger. He was just about to take over his father's inheritance. But you see, he was God's choice. And that's encouraging to me. There's no reason why I should be up here, but I'm God's choice. I didn't choose God. God chose me. And the same is true for your life.

You did not choose God. God chose you. Now, I do have to question this a little bit, Adam, because I do feel like for 12 or 14 years that we've been doing ministry that I've had your anointing of sorts, but I still haven't got a kiss. Let's seal the deal, man. That's exactly how I envisioned it in my mind. Awkward. Awkward. Now, here comes the amazing part of the Scripture.

Verses 2 through 8, we see this prophetic being fulfilled. And I'll be honest, we like to just glance over this in Scripture real quick because we're not really sure what to do with the prophetic. It makes us a little uncomfortable. All I want to say in regards to this is God is the same today, tomorrow, and forevermore. That's worth an amen. Amen.

So what we see happening here is important because what's happening in this prophecy being fulfilled is that God was proving to Saul that this was from him, and the fact that all these things were fulfilled. He's to meet three people. If he meets two, the prophecy is not fulfilled. You see? So he has to run into three people, and he does that. And then they give him two loaves of bread, which I find interesting because he might be going, man, I was just anointed as king and deliverer of the nation of Israel.

Shouldn't I be bringing gold and rubies? But God is keeping him humble, and he says, bring two loaves of bread with you. You see, Saul needed to be equipped. Where God appoints, he equips. He had no prior experience. He was content in being a donkey herder. I had to keep it in the NIV version because as I was studying this through the King James Version, I couldn't handle it.

I was finding myself giggling reading about his father's donkeys. We'll just leave it there. But he had no prior experience in the sacred exercises he would soon find himself involved in. But what I like is in verse 7, Samuel tells him that once these things are fulfilled, once these prophecies are fulfilled in front of you, do whatever your hand finds to do, for God is with you.

Are we trusting in the Holy Spirit? You know, oftentimes at the end of a job, as Adam had mentioned, I'm a flooring contractor, as I like to call my tent making business. And at the end of the job, I just want to load up my tools and get out of there. Oftentimes, Holy Spirit has said, I want you to pray for that person. And I'm like, oh, no, no, no, no.

I just want to go home. I'm tired. I just want to see my family. And I can almost see Holy Spirit just standing there with his arms crossed going, really? And so ultimately, from the invitation, there's a response and an act of obedience. And I pray for the people. What a blessing it is for them. What a blessing it is for me. And out of that, what an encouragement it is for the people I'm working with.

And for me as well. I go home, it's the first thing that I tell my family. I got to pray for my customer today. You see, what was happening here is that Saul was giving birth in relationship to God and his will and his plan for his life. I think that this is a word for the church this morning. And I'll be honest with you, I actually tried to get away from this.

Every time I rehearsed this, it kept coming up. I took it out of my notes. It kept coming up. I like in chapter 1, Adam talked about this with Hannah being barren and Samuel being born out of her prayers. I think that this is a word for somebody here today that God has given you a dream or a desire. And it hasn't been birthed yet. And it hasn't been birthed yet because you're not in relationship with him.

God is inviting you into relationship with him to fulfill this dream or this desire that he's placed upon your heart. It could be something simple. I believe that Holy Spirit is speaking to you right now. It might just be about your marriage, about stepping up and being the man of the house. It might be about a job that you're going after, but you're trusting in yourself and your own resume.

It could be helping Miss Kim next door. But would you guys enter into relationship with your father as he is calling to you to give birth to this dream or this desire that he's given you? Because you see, I have a purpose. And you have a purpose too. You're not just here as a warm seat on a Sunday morning. Saul has a purpose. And I find this very intriguing that God grants the nation of Israel something which he knows is going to be destructive to them.

Saul coming from the tribe of Benjamin. I'm not going to rewind that far. But Adam shared with you Judges 19 on what happens when there is no king. And this is the tribe that God chooses the first king and deliverer of the nation of Israel. I really don't like to identify with Saul, but I see a lot of myself in Saul. I'd rather be associated with Joshua or Caleb being strong and courageous, defeating giants at 80 years of age.

And so verse 11, we see Saul's character immediately being put into question. The spirit of the Lord comes upon him. He does whatever his hands find to do. And he is prophesying and worshiping and dancing with the prophets. And they quickly question him. Who is Saul? Who is his father? For years, my brother and I would go down to Punta San Jose with Christian surfers and go surf.

Man, we had so many good times down there. I was in the water one morning. And this young Grom paddles up to me. That's a young surfer. And he says, hey, man, I know you. And I was like, oh, cool. You know me from Christian surfers or church or something? He goes, no, I remember you. You paddled up to that guy at Tyson and punched him right in the face in the water.

My character preceded me there. And so he was now questioning, what are you doing with Christian surfers? You're like this gnarly guy from Oceanside. And it was a great opportunity to share with this young man the love of Jesus and how he can transform our hearts. And that's what we see happening with Saul here is the spirit of the Lord came upon him in a powerful way.

And those around him didn't recognize him. Have you experienced that in your life? Maybe in the office cubicle where they're like, man, I remember this guy just being gnarly, always yelling at people, and he's always in a bad mood. And now all of a sudden you've been transformed by the love of God. And they're like, there's something different about you.

Or maybe at your local surf break where you were that guy that punched people in the face, and now you're praying for him on the sand. As he was walking into his purpose, as Saul was walking into his purpose, he began to walk into his identity of who God called him to be. Dave and Morgan Hanzo are some friends that I befriended back in Redding, California.

And they are the producers and directors and creators of LGH TV. Light gives heat. Some of you might remember that as an old Jars of Clay song. They are taking Christian content to mainstream media. It's awesome. They just made a deal with Hollywood, and they're going to be transforming what we watch on TV. But they have this saying that I absolutely love.

They say, be willing to look stupid or foolish in front of your friends and family instead of living with the regret of what if. You know, Candace and I are really comfortable back home. We miss you guys. We miss our family. And we miss that big blue ocean out there. But we're really comfortable in Redding, California. We really feel the Lord's favor there.

What if we just stayed there? What if we bought a house there and settled down? What if we didn't pick a church in Montana or Washington or Idaho to go pastor? Be willing to look foolish for that dream or that desire that God is trying to birth in you instead of living with the regret of what if. Carmen is in the Middle East right now. She was called to go.

She said, I'm not going to live with the regret of what if. There was an invitation, a response, and an act of obedience. For years, I worked out at Camp Pendleton running crews. I had an all-access pass to Camp Pendleton. And so I often found my tires on the sand at churches. That's not a building. It's a surf spot. One of my favorite surf spots in Southern California.

And then I would go back to work and check up on my guys. And I'd walk in with flip-flops and sand on my toes. And they would ask, where were you? They knew where I was. It was obvious. But I quickly brushed it off. Like, I'm not getting more work for you guys so you can go to work tomorrow. We see the same thing happen here in verse 16 when Saul is in front of his uncle.

His uncle says, where have you been? You see, his uncle already knows that the donkeys have been found. But he still questions him. I believe that possibly the reason why he questioned him was he noticed that his hair was slicked back a little bit. Which was a sign of anointing in those times. Now, it says that Samuel used a flask and not a horn of oil.

So I don't know how much oil he used. But I believe that his uncle saw something about him that was different. And in his response, he tells his uncle a half-truth. He wasn't walking in to his true purpose. His true identity. Because we see in verse 23 that he's still hiding in the luggage. When they eventually call this king forward so that the people can see that they have a king that God has appointed and anointed a king.

He's hiding in the Samsonite, the Louis Vuitton bags. But it says that he's a foot taller than anybody in the nation of Israel. Okay, look, I can hide. Little, short, pudgy Bryce can hide behind the podium. But if Adam was trying to hide back, he'd see his big fluffy hair. It didn't make any sense that he was hiding from his purpose that God had called him into.

You see, his number one enemy was his inner me. His number one enemy was his inner me. It is really easy for me to not get up here in front of you guys. I'm worried about what you guys think. I'm worried, did I speak eloquently enough? I said that word, that's good. But your inner me will hinder your relationship to give birth. His number two enemy was this sense of false humility that he had.

And false humility occurs when one neglects his God-given assignment due to inner fear. I think that actually as Christians today, false humility is one of the biggest killers in church. When a man and a woman get together, we don't have to really go through the story, you get it, right? There's, out of 300,000 swimmers, there's one, and that made you.

You're awesome. When you were in your mother's womb, God knew you. You are awesome. But quickly, we dismiss that like, hey, that was a great worship set. Oh, it was all Jesus. Okay, sure, yeah, it was, but that was still awesome. You're awesome. Hey, that was a great message. Oh, it was all Holy Spirit. Right, but you're awesome. And when we can walk around as overcomers, strong and courageous, as sons and daughters from a father who loves us, we carry a different atmosphere where we go.

Because you are awesome. And we need to walk in that, and we need to believe that. What would have happened if Saul walked into his true identity? Fear overshadows a response to God's call. God's chief purpose is to establish his faith in us. And faith means discounting others' opinions. And when you start listening to God's word, would you say that, God's word?

God's word. Stop listening to what other people are saying about you. And start listening to what God's word says about you. Start walking in that power and authority that he's given you. Faith overcomes fears and destroys giants. As we bring this in for a landing, I couldn't help but quote Spurgeon on this one. Spurgeon said many years ago, I believe, There may be some of you here present who may be doing precisely what Saul did.

Only you are doing it more foolishly than he did. He did but hide from an earthly crown, but you hide from a heavenly one. Wow. So, I encourage you guys to respond to the invitation that God has placed upon your heart. To respond to those dreams and desires that he's given you. Because you see, in the end of this chapter, in verse 26, Even Saul's friends had a change of heart.

That is amazing. It says that he found himself surrounded by valiant men. Who are you surrounding yourself with today? If you want to do big, hairy, audacious things for God's kingdom, Then would you surround yourself with those that have decided to do that? Who were willing to say yes before they dared to say no? Are you surrounding yourselves with those that see the glass half empty?

Or those that see the glass half full? As Candace and I have entered into this season of planting a church, Or pastoring a church, We've surrounded ourselves with those that have done big, hairy things for God's kingdom. That's what we're excited to do. It was brought to my attention that there's never been a revival in the northwest of the United States of America.

And we get a part by responding to an invitation And saying yes to be a catalyst in starting that. I made, well, some would say a mistake, Two or three months ago in prayer, Where I told God, I don't ever want to be comfortable in my Christianity. So he said, Alright, Beach Boy, how about Montana? Hey, in the beginning of the school year, Me and my kids, I'm going to close with this little bit of audience participation from you guys.

In the beginning of the school year, We had these declarations that we printed. In fact, we liked them so much, We actually laminated them and hung them up on the refrigerator. It's from Steve and Wendy Becklin. They are in charge of Ignite Ministries. And they're really big on declarations. Let me tell you, I love the power of spoken words. God spoke the world into creation.

And so when we put these notes on our mirrors in the bathroom, Or the front door before we leave the house, When we say these declarations with our kids, Trust me this, That it changes the atmosphere of the day. It changes the direction of your day, Even if you just got into an argument with your spouse, Walking out the door. It actually has gotten so fun for us, That we lost that laminated piece of paper, And as we drive to school now, Me, Shane, and Naomi, We just do a round robin of declarations.

We come up with our own now. And so, I would love to leave you guys with the invitation to enter into your own declarations. That you guys would come up with five declarations this week. That you would speak out loud, Not once or twice, But numerous times throughout the day, Reminding yourself of who you are. So, Can we stand as brothers and sisters?

Can we do this together? I'm just going to, There we go. We're just going to say that together, As brothers and sisters, In unison, In unity. I am a child of God. I am loved by my father. I am an overcomer. I am strong and courageous. I am victorious. I am victorious. And right on. Let's thank Bryce. Wow. Worship team. Watch out Northwest. If you've seen Bryce preach before, You can see that God has done something supernaturally.

That was another level right there. That I've never seen in you. And you bring that. That was so solid. And so anchored to the scripture. Because you keep going back to that scripture. Authoritative, Loving, You're an awesome man of God. Hey, We're going to have our prayer team for it. We're going to close with this one song. And then I'm going to bless you like I like to do.

Can we just pray for Bryce real quick in this journey? No more kisses. But just a blessing. Lord God, We thank you. We bless Bryce now. We send him out from here in the entire family, God, To the right destination. To the right people. To the perfect fit, Lord God. God, A man who doesn't want to just herd donkeys, God, Doesn't want to be comfortable, But wants to go after you, Wants to raise up others.

We bless that little church. We bless that big church, Wherever he's going to be, God. We bless the northwest, God. And we will pray, God, And we lock our shields with him, And that work ahead. In Jesus' name. Amen. Let's sing right now.