Life has a way of becoming a cycle of routines. Wake up, work, errands, responsibilities, repeat. We tell ourselves that someday we'll have more time, more purpose, or a bigger opportunity to do something meaningful for God. Until then, we're just trying to keep up.
But what if following Jesus isn't waiting for some big moment? What if it happens in the middle of ordinary life? What if the conversations, routines, workdays, and people around you are where faith actually grows? In this message, Robb Hollifield explores what following Jesus looks like in real life and why the small moments we often overlook may be shaping us more than we realize.
You don't need a different life to follow Jesus. You may just need a different perspective.
Message Notes:
As you’re leading into the bold prayer “Search Me,” David starts with a prayer of recognition in Psalm 139:
POINT 1 — GOD, YOU FULLY SEE ME
PSALM 139:1–4, 7, 12-14
1 O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. 2 You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. 3 You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. 4 You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord.
…
7 I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence!
…
12 but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you. 13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
Before David ever says “search me”…
He acknowledges:
God already knows everything
God is always present
God intentionally formed him
Mind blowing thought: You are already fully known by God.
Not just what you do, but why you do it, what you think, what you feel …what you hide
God knows the full state and shape of our hearts
Here’s what God says about the human heart through the profit Jeremiah:
JEREMIAH 17:9-10a (NLT)
9 “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? 10 But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives…
God already sees everything. So the prayer “Search me” is getting you to the place to see some important things, too.”
:::Bold honesty::: We spend a lot of time managing perceptions. We curate our image and try really hard to present a certain version of ourselves.
——The age of social media and the filtered life
But God sees:
the real motives
the real thoughts
the actual condition
Transition:
So when David says ‘search me,’ he’s not asking God to discover something new… he’s asking God to reveal something true.
Which then can lead to this prayer:
POINT 2 — GOD, REVEAL WHAT’S BROKEN
PSALM 139:23–24a (NLT)
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 Point out anything in me that offends you…”
This is where it gets dangerous.
Because now you’re asking God to expose you. You’re asking Him to confront your thoughts and identify your specific sin
With hearts that are “deceitfully wicked” because of the disease of sin, it means we don’t JUST sin… We justify our sinning. We rationalize it. And we excuse it.
James 1:14–15 (NLT)
14 Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. 15 These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.
The most dangerous lies aren’t usually the ones we tell others … they’re the ones we believe about ourselves.”
——When you wear a mask, only the mask gets loved
——Our sinful behaviors are birthed from lies.
David prays:
“Test me and know my anxious thoughts…”
QUOTE: What we fear the most reveals where we have the potential to trust God the least.
——My fear of failure (birthed out of the lie I am in control)
((ENCOURAGING PASSAGE to combat fear))
PHILIPPIANS 4:6–7 (NLT)
6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
Praying for God to test your anxious thoughts gets you to a place for God to show you what’s driving those thoughts.
David continues in praying:
“Point Out Anything Offensive”
——Think about how bold that prayer is. Standing before the CREATOR of the UNIVERSE… “Hey God, what do I do that offends you?”
Without this prayer, we legit defend sin. We minimize it or grow numb to it.
JOHN 3:20 (NLT)
All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed.
Aren’t we sometimes just avoiding being exposed??
You can’t be healed from what you refuse to call sin.
And you can’t surrender what you won’t acknowledge.
“I dare you to stop explaining away your sin… and I dare you to let God expose what’s really there.”