Matt Chandler - He Never Changes

If you have your Bibles, go ahead and grab them. We’re going to look at James chapter 1, just one verse there: verse 17. Before I dive in completely, I know this will probably be a little strange for the other campuses, but I believe the Grahams are in here. Grahams, where are you guys? Normally over here, but I can’t see you. Oh, there we go! Well, you guys stand up, wherever you are, so I can see you. All right, so the Graham family is back from India. They’ve been serving the Lord there for several years, and hey, welcome home! I know it always feels weird to leave this place and then come back. There’s always change going on, and we’re in the middle of that change, so it doesn’t feel stark and crazy different to us, but I know it can for you. I just want to pray a blessing over them, as they have chosen to forsake some of the comforts of life here and step into some difficult places. They have been faithfully serving the Lord there through the highs and lows of heralding the gospel in a place with a different language and value system. So, man, we want to just pray a blessing over them. We love you guys, and we’re glad you’ve gotten to spend some time back here with us.

So I’m going to pray. Join me in praying for them, so you can actively participate in this rather than just listen to me. Okay? Father, we pray a blessing over the Grahams. We ask that you would embolden them even more, granting them power from on high. We pray that as they preach the Word of God, speak the Word of God, and love the people of India, you would captivate the hearts and minds of those who will be yours. We thank you that there are men and women in that country who know nothing of you now but will worship with us forever because of the faithfulness of your servants, the Grahams. So we pray a blessing across their entire family. We pray that their financial needs would be met and that they would feel a real sense of your presence and power in their lives. We thank you for their time with us today and ask that their hearts might be encouraged as we gather in the name of Jesus this morning. Amen. It’s for your beautiful name I pray.

I love you guys! So grateful that you’re here. Are you good? You guys want to applaud for them one more time, or is that just weird for me? I know what it was like for you, but it felt weird for me.

All right, the week between Christmas and New Year, we historically have given our staff this week off. We run at a pretty crazy clip, so it’s just a way for us to bless our staff and say, «You know what? Breathe, enjoy time with your family.» There are a few weeks of the year in which the personality differences between my wife and me are more visible than this past week. And we’re cool; we haven’t fought because, over the last 20 years, we’ve learned where to just let it be and enjoy the lane God has split us into.

This is a season in which my wife is drawn to puzzles and quiet. She just wants to do a puzzle and maybe enjoy some Aomi at the dining room table, while what I want to do is either watch college football—which I don’t really get to do during Saturday services—or reflect on 2017 and think about 2018. There is something in me that needs to plan for the year to come. These are personal plans, family plans—how I want to approach the hearts of my children, how I want to build up and encourage my marriage, and professionally how I want to approach my relationship with the Lord. How do I cultivate my affections for the Lord? Where do I want to grow regarding perceived weaknesses? If I don’t do that, I kind of stress a little bit.

I’m not saying that Lauren doesn’t have dreams and plans and goals. I’m saying she’s just an artistic woman, so she’s like, «I want to write songs,» and I’m like, «Man, praise God! But when are you going to do that?» Like, is there a time frame for that? That’s not a question to ask in my house; let her do her puzzles. But I’m going to need to go, «Here’s what I’m going to work on, here’s the lane I’m going to get into.» And every year when I do this, I become hyper-aware of the billions of variables that laugh at my best-laid plans.

I can make financial plans based on what I know, but there’s a whole lot coming in 2018 that I do not know. I can look at my children—a high schooler, a middle schooler, and a third grader—and begin to plan how I want to cultivate their souls with the Word of God. I want to cultivate their relationships with Jesus Christ, but their receptivity and what comes into their life experiences will dictate whether my plans are fruitful or not. I can do all of it, but what happens is…