Latest / THIS IS THE LIFE PODCAST / TIME FOR A NEW SEASON

Transcript

TIME FOR A NEW SEASON · THIS IS THE LIFE PODCAST

• 0:18
  Speaker 1: As we gathered this morning. I spent a little time
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: yesterday outside and just begin to watch how the seasons
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: are already beginning to change. I know that the summer
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: heat is still with us, but you can already see
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: the leaves giving us signs that fall is on its way.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: And it reminded me of Ecclesiastes, chapter three and verse
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: number one. As I sat there and I watched some
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: leaves begin to fall off the trees, and we were
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: kind of sitting on the porch and just enjoying the
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: breeze and watching these leaves just gently fall to the ground.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: It reminded me of Ecclesiastes when it says to everything,
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: there is a season and a time to every purpose
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: under heaven. And I don't know about you. Everybody has
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: their own season that they love, or you know, like
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: more than others. But I love the fall season. There's
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: just something beautiful about watching the leaves as they begin
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: to fall, and the same leaves that once covered the
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: trees with green, they eventually turn all these beautiful different
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: colors of red and orange and gold. And then the
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: miraculous thing is, one by one, the same leaves that
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: we watched bud turn green, be vibrant all summer. They
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: begin to let go. And what I noticed that if
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: you notice the tree spiritually speaking as I look at
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: this analogy, the tree doesn't fight to keep them, doesn't
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: fight to hold on to them. It doesn't reach out
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: and try to pull them back when they begin to
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: fall to the ground. That might see a little simple
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: to you this morning, but I want you to get
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: the analogy this morning. They simply release what belonged to
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: one season and prepare for what's coming next. I think
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: there is something in that for us this morning. Sometimes
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: we spend so much energy trying to hold on the
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: things that God is asking us to release. Maybe it's
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: a season in your life, a relationship that has changed dramatically,
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Maybe a disappointment that keeps replaying over and over in
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: your mind and you just won't let it go. Maybe
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: it's a plan that didn't work out the way you
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: thought it would, but you keep trying and keep trying
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: to make it work the way you want it to.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: Maybe even an old version of yourself that God is
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: trying to grow you beyond that, but you just maybe
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: have hit a barrier of comfort zone and you don't
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: want to go any further. I hope this is speaking
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: to you this morning because the the Lord really is
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: placed it up on my heart as I've watched this,
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: that somebody really needs to move on to the next
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: season in your life. See we hold on because sometimes
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: letting gold feels like we're losing something, and really we are.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: But the Lord promises us that what we gain in
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: this next season is going to be better. But it's
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: really determined on how you let go of last season.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: See what if letting go isn't always about losing something,
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: get this this morning, if sometimes it is about making
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: room for what God is wanting to do next. Ecclesiastes
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: here reminds us that to everything there is a season.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: That means seasons are supposed to change. We cannot live
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: forever in spring. We cannot expect everything that was meant
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: for yesterday to follow us into tomorrow, last year, into
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: next year. I want you to look at the tree
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: Watch them today, if you're able to get outside or
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: be outside, maybe you're driving to and from work. Look
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: at the trees right now. Look at them begin to
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: change colors. Eventually all of those leaves will begin to
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: fall to the ground. And when those leaves fall for
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: a while, the branches will look empty. They'll look bare,
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: they'll look almost lifeless. If we didn't know any better,
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: we might think that something's wrong. Maybe that tree is
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: not alive anymore. But it's very much alive. The tree
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: knows something that's trying to teach us this morning. God
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: is trying to teach us through nature that spring is coming.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: So this sea, this is a season of rest and
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: preparation for what's coming next. See, there are times when
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: our lives may feel a little like those bare branches.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: Something we loved is gone, something familiar has changed. Maybe
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: something we thought would always be there it suddenly falling away.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: Whatever it is, empty doesn't always mean abandoned. Sometimes God
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: allows our branches to become bar because He is preparing
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: us to carry something new. And we ought to shout
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: this morning that God constantly wants to grow us, renew us,
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: and give us new seasons and new things in our lives.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: And maybe today there is something you've been trying desperately
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: to hold on to. Perhaps God is lovingly saying to
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: you this morning, you can let go of that now,
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: trust him with what falls. Trust him through the seasons
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: when the branches seem empty. And remember this this morning.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: The god who designed the falling leaves is also the
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: god who promised that spring is coming. And sometimes faith
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: is simply opening our hands and saying this, Lord, I
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: trust you with what was, I trust you with what is,
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: and I will trust you with whatever comes next. Today
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: you be safe and be strong, and you be blessed,
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: and you be ready for what's coming. And that means
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: letting go of what the Lord has told you. It's
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: time to move on to the next season. Lord's will.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: We'll see you back here again tomorrow, and until then,
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: have a great day.