Reach Community Church

Have you ever known exactly what you should do…and still walked away from it? Not because you didn’t understand. Not because you didn’t have enough information. Not because you didn’t even believe it was right. But because doing it was going to cost you something you weren’t ready to give up. Maybe it was a relationship. Maybe it was a habit. Maybe it was control. Maybe it was something you had built your life around. And in that moment, everything became clear. You didn’t have a knowledge problem…
you had a heart problem. Because it’s one thing to know the right answer. It’s another thing to surrender what’s in the way. And that’s where following Jesus gets real. Not when it’s easy. Not when it fits your life. But when He puts His finger on the one thing you don’t want to let go of.

Think about the last time you were deciding who to invite to something. Maybe it was dinner. A party. A group text. And without even realizing it, you started making a list: “Yeah, I’ll invite them…” “Definitely not them…” “That might get awkward…” Because we all do this. We decide who belongs…and who doesn’t. Now here’s the question: Who would be on your “definitely not” list? Because in todays text. Jesus walks straight up to someone who would have been on everyone’s list……and invites him anyway.

Everyone knows what it feels like to want an invitation. An invitation to the party. An invitation onto the team. An invitation into the group. Because an invitation says something powerful: You belong here. And when we look at the ministry of Jesus, one thing becomes clear—He is constantly inviting people. Fishermen. Tax collectors. Sinners. Skeptics.
Even a criminal hanging on a cross. And the incredible thing is that the same invitation still exists today. Over the next four weeks, we’re going to see that invitation again and again in the life of Jesus. And my hope is that we won’t just see it in the text—we’ll actually hear the invitation that Jesus is still extending today: Come… follow me.

Reach Community Church

Today I want to convince you to talk to yourself. Now before you tune me out because that sounds crazy, let me remind you of something — you’re already doing it. Every single one of us is. All day, every day, there’s a voice running in the background of your life. You interpret events. You evaluate yourself. You replay conversations. You predict outcomes. You preach to yourself constantly. Paul David Tripp says, “No one is more influential in your life than you are, because no one talks to you more than you do.” That inner voice is shaping you — for good or for harm. The question isn’t whether you talk to yourself. The question is what you’re saying. Is it truth or fear? Grace or condemnation? Hope or despair? So today, I want to help you take back control of that conversation. I want to convince you to start preaching the gospel to yourself — again and again. And to show us how that’s done, we’re going to Psalm 42, where we meet a man who refuses to let his discouragement have the final word.

Reach Community Church

There’s a difference between visiting someone and moving in. You can help someone in a crisis. You can rescue someone from danger. You can provide for their needs. But when you choose to live with someone — that’s something deeper. The book of Exodus is not ultimately about escape from Egypt. It’s about something far more intimate. God didn’t just want Israel out of slavery. He wanted to dwell with them. And the question that hangs over the second half of Exodus is this: Can a holy God really live with a stubborn, sinful people? Exodus 40 answers that question.

Most of us expect that once God shows up in a big way, trusting Him should get easier. After the answer to prayer. After the breakthrough. After the victory. But Scripture is honest enough to show us something different. There are seasons when God doesn’t remove the hardship right away—not because He’s absent, but because He’s forming something deeper in us. And those seasons often come right after moments of great faith. Today’s passage reminds us that trusting God isn’t learned in the miracle itself. It’s learned on the road that follows it.

Most of us want God to change our situation. We pray for

deliverance, clarity, breakthrough, relief. But in Scripture, God often works in a different order than we expect. Before He delivers, He reveals. Before He sends Moses to Pharaoh, He introduces Moses to Himself in a deeper way. Exodus 3 is not primarily about a burning bush—it’s about a revealing God.

Over the last three weeks, we’ve talked about repentance, abiding, and prayer. And if you’re anything like me, somewhere along the way you quietly thought… This should be fixing more than it is.” We repented, We turned back to God, We committed to His Word, We prayed more intentionally. And yet— some of the same struggles are still there. Some of the same temptations still show up. Some of the same patterns still fight for control. And that leads to a dangerous, discouraging question: “Did I do this wrong…or is something wrong with me?” Some of you came today feeling: Frustrated with yourself, Tired of starting over, Quietly ashamed that you’re not further along. So before we go any further, I want to say this clearly: The problem isn’t that you’re still broken. The problem is that you expected arrival. Somewhere along the way, we absorbed the idea that spiritual growth would feel like graduation. That maturity meant struggle would fade. That obedience would eventually eliminate weakness. But the gospel never promised arrival in this life. It promised grace. Today we close Begin Again with a freeing truth: You are still broken—and God is still working. That’s not failure. That’s Christianity.