348. The Difference Between Belief & Faith

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That's impossible. Let me tell you what I believe. That
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your weakness is not your technique. Yes!
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Yes!
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Don't think you are.
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Know you are.
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The Impossible Life Podcast.
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You're sitting on a winning lottery ticket.
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An idea that is fully formed, fully understood.
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That sticks. This is the Impossible Life Podcast. because Nick
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and I are attempting to live impossible lives. What we
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know is that nothing is impossible. So instead of using
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impossible as an excuse to not try, we'll use the
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pursuit of impossible as an accelerant for greatness. If something's
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never been done before, that just means it's unexplored. If
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they tell you it's too hard, it's just waiting to
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be simplified. Impossible is a default label, used by uncourageous people,
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unwilling to take a risk. The real truth is this.
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The solution to any impossible task starts with this question.
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If I had to, what would it take?
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Welcome to another episode of the Impossible Life Podcast. I'm
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your co-host, Nick Surface, and I'm looking across at a
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man whose faith is so great, he doesn't just move
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the mountain, he makes it do burpees first. That's right, friends,
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the former Navy SEAL, Garrett Unkelbach, a man who makes
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mustard seeds feel insecure. Burpees.
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Burpees isn't good enough. We're doing eight counts.
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Oh, man. What's an eight count?
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Eight counts. So you go down and then there's also
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a leg movement and a push up. Then you stand
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back up. All right. Okay.
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Well, I've never seen a mountain move, let alone do that.
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But I'd see that you're working it.
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Burpees, especially people who do crossfit burpees, you just throw
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your body to the ground.
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Yeah, sprawl burpees.
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Yeah, and then stand back up. Eight counts, you have
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to keep it like the way they would make us
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do them. You have to keep your feet together, like
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go down to the ground. Hands down, kick your feet back,
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push up. And then from the push up, you split
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your feet apart, bring your feet back together. And then
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feet come up underneath you together and then stand up.
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And that's one. And there's eight different movements in there.
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So that's why I would call them eight counts. Because
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you could count through. You could go one, two, three, four, five, six, seven,
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and then count the rep on eight.
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One.
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An eight count. Man. I like that you guys take
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simple things that already suck and say, hey, how can
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we make this even worse? That's great.
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Yeah.
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That's a good question.
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All right.
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Well, dude, today, G, we are diving deep on faith
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and what it is to truly live by faith and
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apply faith. I'm excited to get into this one because
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we all know that we're called to live lives of faith.
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But I think that to quote the great philosophizer, Darth
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Vader says, I find your lack of faith disturbing. And
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I think that that's probably the case for a lot
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of people as they walk out their faith, truthfully, because
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I think it's, you know, we have armchair quarterback faith.
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When we sit there and we can like, when nothing's
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going on, we can talk about it. But whenever you
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actually get in the fire, that's when you actually find
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out what you believe. As you guys always say, and
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I quote this all the time, I say you guys,
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you military people, you don't rise to the occasion, you
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fall to your level of training. And so what you've
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practiced mentally, what you've practiced in your heart and in
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your spirit on a daily basis of, oh man, what
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if this happens? And where does your mind go? Where
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does your heart go? That's what gets revealed whenever it
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actually comes out. And it's a real challenge.
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You're going to have a better life with faith if
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you understand the life that we're called to or if
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you read any scripture. If you spend your whole life
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trying to maintain or create certainty, you're going to spend
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your entire life upset, afraid, and anxious. As I've said before,
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peace doesn't come from knowing what will happen. It comes
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from knowing what you'll do. And I would say that
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in different ways that relates to faith is that peace
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comes from knowing who God is. Yeah, exactly right. And
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we're going to dive deeper into that. We're going to
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give very practical examples of places where people feel a
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lack of faith. We're going to talk about what faith is,
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what it's not. We're also going to just like talk
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about why God gave us faith. So with all that
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being said, let's dive in.
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One of the most recent times where I feel like
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I got to experience what I think a lot of
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people would like to know when they get in the
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fire was with Rian, which we told the story of
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when we did the 50 miler. And she had hyponatremia,
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which is where your sodium levels get dangerously low. And
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I had no idea. She's drinking water because she's barfing.
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She's going into shock, which means she's mumbling. And parts
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of her brain that use language are shutting down. So
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over the course of six hours, my wife went from like,
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you know, shivering and definitely feeling out of it too.
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She can't even formulate a sentence and she's mumbling what
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a lot of people would say sounds like speaking in tongues.
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And so we get to the hospital and by the
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time we get to the hospital, she gets taken back
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and then she goes into seizures. And I watched my
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wife turn blue foam with the mouth. And then I
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have to, I'm sitting there with the doctors while they're
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telling me about the permanent brain damage she could have,
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that seizures might be a part of our future and
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all the different things that they're doing their job. but there, there, um, there, there,
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there's so a lot of seeds of doubt. And what
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I had in that moment was absolute confidence and certainty that,
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and I felt like I was being carried along by
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something that was way beyond me. And it was, I
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think it's what a lot of people would hope that
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they would find because I had, when we were driving
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to the, to the hospital and I was praying and I,
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I heard the Holy spirit just say to me, it's
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not her time. And once I had that, When she
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went into seizures, did not expect that. That wasn't on
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the bingo card. That definitely threw me for, I was like, oh, okay.
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I thought this was just going to be like, she'll
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have an overnight in the hospital or whatever and we'll
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be out. But whenever the doctor came and said like, hey,
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we had to save her life. Now you're kind of
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put in a situation where you didn't expect it. You
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weren't planning for it. And I found out what my
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reliance was. And I spoke scripture on the way to
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the hospital. And I told every single person that we
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spoke to what was going to happen. And it was
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not something that was, I felt like was within me.
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Like you have that level of, like, I think if
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people said like Garrett told everybody in the hospital, what
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was going to happen, people would be like, well, yeah,
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of course. Cause that's very much you. I'm not like
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that naturally, but in, in that entire time, And even
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since then, I just felt like this. I felt like
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I've unlocked what it truly is to trust in God
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in the fire. And there's lots of things I could
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go in into this. But if you've ever had intuition
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where you're like, man, I just know something's going to happen.
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That is what I experienced. That was the actual feeling
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was I was just like, no, there was like never
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any time where I was like, well, maybe or what
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if like I never played out the scenario of what
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I would do if my wife died. I just never did.
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And so I think when people, when I share that
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with people, like I always wanted to share that with
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them because it's like, that was a situation where I
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was facing the fire, but to actually like walk that
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way all the time, to have that in every single
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way is really God's desire for all of us. And
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so we're going to dive into that because we want,
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we want people to, to truly walk with the Lord,
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to know what faith is. And so. You have this,
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we're going to get deeper into it, but you have
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this great analogy you use where you ask people, because
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you talk about what it is to really use your faith.
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And so you ask people, what's your favorite sports team?
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And then you say, and then they answer and you go,
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would you bet on them? Like you, you want them
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to win?
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Yeah.
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Okay. Do you, would you bet your, would you bet
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on them to win?
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And for me, would you bet everything you have that
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they would, you know, win the world series or the
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super bowl or whatever that the big match is for
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your sport? Would you bet that they would win all
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of it? And nearly everyone responds to that with a
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lack of certainty or maybe a lack of faith or a, well,
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hold on a second. I'm not willing to put everything
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on that situation.
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Well, and in my case with Manchester United and the
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Padres and even the Yankees, that's just wisdom because they
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just do nothing but disappoint me. But put it like this,
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because I think if you're a baseball fan, By and large,
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before the season began, and especially even as it went on,
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you're going, the Dodgers are going to win the World
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Series again. They've got by far the best roster. Then
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they went out and signed the biggest free agent for
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a stupid contract in Kyle Tucker. And then as if
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that wasn't good enough, they got the best free agent
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pitcher on the market, who's an absolute stud and current
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AL Cy Young winner, Tarek Skubal. So they are overwhelming
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favorites to win the World Series. Now, here's the question.
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Would you bet your house that the Dodgers would win
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the World Series? Because everybody's going to go like, well, yeah,
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they're the odds-on favorite. But we all know that that's
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why we like sports is because the odds don't always
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go that way. And that's when it's like, oh, my house?
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Because what does your mind go to? What if I'm wrong?
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And that's immediately where you go is you start to
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go like, well, there's other teams. I mean, we're further
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along in the playoffs now. But if this was at
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the beginning of the season, you start going like, well,
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what if this guy gets hurt and I can't predict
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the future? And all these different things would start to
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play with your mind. And that's why people don't place
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their bets, wouldn't bet their house on the Dodgers.
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And really the takeaway or the point of that example
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is the difference between belief and faith, right? I could
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tell you, I believe the Dodgers will win the World Series.
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I wouldn't tell you I'm willing to bet on it.
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And when it comes to faith, faith is different than
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just like, oh, I believe, I think it's likely, or
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that sounds good. When it comes to faith, like scripture says,
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faith without works is dead. And what you've got to
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do is be able to make decisions in accordance with
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your faith. That's where I challenge people sometimes when they
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say like, why? You know, I believe in God. It's like, well,
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do you? Do you make all your decisions in accordance
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with that? Because really what it means to believe in
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God is you believe he's going to win the Super
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Bowl and you're betting everything you got on him winning
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the Super Bowl. Not you like the story, not you've
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been to church, not you understand. what the teachings mean.
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It's I make all of my decisions in accordance with
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this belief. That's really what it means to believe. And
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I can tell you when you begin to walk in
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faith like that and you get all of your decisions
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in your life lined up, there's some massive fruit that
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gets produced by that. The fruit of faith in your
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life is amazing. And that's what we're going to talk
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about Before we go into that, I want to just
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start with why. Why do we even have faith? Why
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does faith exist? We believe in Christ because then we're
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saved by that, saved by grace, but faith is us
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receiving that gift. But why did God even make us
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in a way that we need faith? If God made
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it all and he could make it however he wanted
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to make it, why did he make it such that
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we need faith? Well, it's a very simple answer. Let
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me just start with first, why did God make us
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in the first place? Well, it's an outpouring of his glory.
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Think about if you had so much power, so much wonder, glory,
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creative ability, and all these things on the earth, and
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you just decided to make things. You decided to paint pictures.
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That's what God did. Or you can oversimplify that into
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God wanted children. And if you want children, you want
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to have a relationship with them. And what would not
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be a relationship is if God forced certainty onto us.
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where he's like, you already, you know, and the angels
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are made in that way. Angels were created with full knowledge,
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full understanding of who God was. We're created in a
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way that we can have relationship with him, where you
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can learn about him and you can choose to follow him.
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He's not going to make you do something, but he
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does want you to want to do those things. And
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so the setup of faith is understanding that this is
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the beginning. Faith is a part of our relationship with God.
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Through faith, we know him, and as we know him,
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it develops our faith. Whereas on the flip side, if
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God gave everything to us, all the knowledge, it would
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just be a forced certainty on us. It's like, oh,
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I already know how the end of the earth is
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going to be. I know who God is. I have
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this full understanding of all of time. There's no faith there,
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and there's really not any relationship there. You would just
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immediately bow at the reverence of God because of his greatness,
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but it wouldn't be the same type of relationship.
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Yeah. And that's where free will becomes such a, you know,
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which is, there's people that argue about it and Calvinists
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and all that sort of stuff. That's where it becomes
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such a big concept. But when you understand, you know,
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what it is to have relationship. And I always put
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it to people when I talk about why God created us.
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I'm like, you know, why did you have kids? Like
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no one has kids because they're like, Hey, maybe 10
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years from now, they'll unload the dishwasher for me and
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do a few chores around the house. Wouldn't that be great?
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You do it because you love them. Right. And you,
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and you, you know, that's, that's the father's heart. But,
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If there was no free will, now it's servanthood, right?
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Now it's servitude and it's slavery. And that's not an
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actual relationship. And if we're to inherit and Jesus is
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the firstborn among many brothers, guess what? We're growing up.
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We're being developed. We're being trained. We're being matured. We're
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being the same way that you're going to raise your
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kid to hopefully take over an inheritance that you leave
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for them. That's what we're doing. We're going to be
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reigning with Christ. And so like, we have to remember
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that big picture. And if there's no free will in that,
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would you give a nepo baby something that you would,
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you know, that would you give them an inheritance?
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Maybe.
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They probably wouldn't do very well with it, though.
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So that's why faith, in the context of asking God, why?
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Asking the character of God, why does faith exist? But Nick,
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what is faith?
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Man, so faith, this to me has been such a revelation.
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And we're going to get into what is faith and
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what faith is not. So a little note for you guys.
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If you go to BibleHub.com when you're studying your Bible,
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you can go to the INT part, which is the interlinear.
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And what it does is it lays the Greek and
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the Hebrew, depending on what part of the Bible you're reading.
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And it also puts the word, what it is, and
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you can click on it and get the actual definition
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because so many words, I think there's three or four
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different words in Greek for love, and we just have one.
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And that's just one example. There's so many different times
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where we either don't have a word or there's multiple
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words that give different meanings.
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Some of my deepest understandings of reading the Bible have
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come out of pulling the lexicon out and saying, you know,
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what did the, What does the Hebrew say here? What
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does the Greek say here?
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Yeah, if you want to get fancy, your exegesis means
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that you need to dive into what the words actually mean.
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And you have a love of, you often like to
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break a mental sweat. You like our man, White Goodman,
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and read the dictionary. So you appreciate people who like language.
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So the word is pistis. And this is, so I'm
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going to read you the definition from the lexicon. So
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it says, pistis is always a gift from God and
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never something that can be produced by people. Capture that.
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In short, histis for the believer is God's divine persuasion
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and therefore distinct from human belief, confidence, yet involving it.
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The Lord continuously births faith in the yielded believer so
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that they can know what he prefers. I love that
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so much. Uh, that, that definition of, of like that
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part about yielding your heart and understanding that, like, like
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knowing what God prefers when you realize that it's God's
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divine persuasion in you and that he's literally, I mean,
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think about what a gracious God to actually divinely persuade
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you to believe. Uh, I just, I love that definition
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so much. And there was a commentary from, uh, M
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Lloyd Jones that I want to share real quick, because
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I think that this captures it even more. He says,
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faith always has the element of assurance, certainty, and confidence.
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and evidential value substantiating the thing we hope for. With faith,
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there is no strain or tension. Rather, it has the
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element of assurance and confidence in it. If there is
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strain or tension, trying to persuade yourself to keep from doubting,
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you can be quite sure that it is not faith.
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That's a big word. That's a big thing to say.
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Faith is not the law of mathematical probability. It's back
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to our example with the Dodgers. Faith is a spiritual
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is spiritual. It's the gift of God. It's not natural.
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You cannot command faith at will. It's always something that
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is given in rot by God. Therefore, if you want
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to be a man of faith, it will always be
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the result of becoming a certain type of person. Man,
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I love that.
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Right there at the end. We're going to come back
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to that later. But he says that if you want
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to be a man of faith, it is always the
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result of becoming a certain type of person. But faith
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starts with God. And what does scripture say about faith?
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Romans chapter 10, verse 17. So faith comes by hearing
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and hearing by the words of Christ. Christ's gift is
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when he's speaking to us, he's telling us who he is.
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When you receive that word, in your heart and you
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understand who God is, that helps you understand, okay, if
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I know the character of God, I know how this
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situation is going to work out. That's really how we're
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able to believe. God, if I know who you are,
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then I know how everything you made works and I
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know who you are and what you're going to do
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in the future.
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Yeah, that's so good. And one other quick scripture I
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want to throw in there because that M. Lloyd Jones
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commentary was on Romans 4, 18 through 25. In Romans 4, 20,
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when he's talking about Abraham, It said, no unbelief made
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him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew
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strong in his faith as he gave glory to God.
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And I just love that because when you look into it,
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once again, I dove into that. When it says he
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gave glory to God, it's praise, honor, worship. Like you
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want to grow strong in your faith, man, get in
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the presence of God. Spend time worshiping him. Spend time
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acknowledging what he's done for you already. We all have
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so much to be grateful for. And your mind, if
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you don't control it, if you don't allow it and
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you're unaware, will just go to all the things that
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you lack or all the things that you think would
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be different. And you will miss God working so actively
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in your life. So if you want to grow in
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your faith, man, give glory to God. Start thanking him.
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And so to the point that we made about what
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faith is, let's be the impossible life like we always
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are and say what faith is not. And this is
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where I'm very grateful because I thought this was a
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great example. Faith is not straining it out. If you
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noticed in what we read there, both in the actual
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definition from the lexicon, as well as the commentary from
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Emily Jones, if you, if it's like, if there's strain
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or tension, trying to persuade yourself to keep from doubting,
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that's not faith, right? It's not like getting the belief
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meter high enough. Like you always say, he's not Santa Claus.
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God doesn't need to like, Oh, you passed level 70.
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Now I'll move. It's not like that. It's also not
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bludgeoning yourself with scripture. I have had some experiences growing
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up as a kid where it was like, you know,
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if we said the wrong thing, it was like, speak faith,
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speak faith. And like, you're getting like beat by the scripture.
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That's not faith. And it's also not a magic power
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to determine outcomes and control God. Like, Oh, if I
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just have, like, if you have faith, you can move mountains.
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Sounds like it's just you wielding like the power of
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a genie. That's absolutely not what faith is at all.
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And some of those things it's, it's, what does God
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care about most? It says the Lord weighs the heart.
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God shows us his character and God cares a lot
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about our character. And when we try to use faith
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in the wrong way, it dissipates from us when we're
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trying to get faith. What do I got to say?
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What do I got to do? What's the magic buttons
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I got to press? Oh, I guess I just got
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to go to this. Some people first come to church
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because they're like, well, I got to go to church
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so that God will bless my business. Or if I
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just believe, if I spin around three times and I
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hold my breath while I read the first half of
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the book of Romans, then God's going to show up
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in my life and it does not work that way.
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God cares about your heart. And what scripture also says
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is that God gives willingly and righteous qualities to those
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who ask for it. Like the man who comes to
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Jesus and says, Lord, I believe, help me in my unbelief.
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And anything that you would ask for God, if you
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want more faith in your life, you can ask and
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God will give you more faith. But it does matter
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in the heart why you want that faith. If you
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want to know the character of God better, God will
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reveal that to you. And what that turns into is
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your ability to walk through testing and your ability to
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walk through trials. But when you're looking to God to say, hey, God,
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what do I got to say or do to get
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you to do what I want you to do? That's
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just not the way that faith works. But really what
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we're trying to lean into now, and then we're going
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to get into some of the fruits of living a
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life of faith, which is the great part here, But
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if I could just give you one last analogy of
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how faith works, it's, you know, starting with the sports
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analogy at the beginning, you got to bet on it.
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You got to take action on it. And there is
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an example that I've heard, you know, since I was,
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I think this one's been around in church for hundreds
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of years, if not longer, and talking about how faith
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is similar to a chair. Okay. You can see a
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chair or believe that there's a chair, maybe even watch
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other people sit in that chair. But many people in their,
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in their, walk with God and their Christianity, they're at
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the place where like, no, I've seen the chair. I
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know about the chair. I've heard of it. I've seen it.
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I could describe it to you. I could tell you
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about it. I could tell you where the chair is.
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But the question is, have you sat in the chair?
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Did you put your own weight in the chair such
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that if the chair wasn't real, if you were wrong
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about the chair, that you would have fallen down, right?
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That's what faith is. Faith is us not just seeing
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the chair, but it's making decisions in accordance with it.
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And what we're going to talk about here in just
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a second is some of the fruit that comes from that.
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But that fruit comes from you taking action on your faith.
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It comes from you passing some of these tests. Here's
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what you've got to do in the face of doubt.
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Here's what you've got to do in the face of uncertainty.
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And when you do these things, you get great fruit
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in your life. Yeah.
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And just keep in mind, because you mentioned this, Gene,
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I think it's such a key point. I don't want
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people to miss this because if we're talking about it's
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not straining, but it's from becoming a certain type of person.
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You know how you're going to become that certain type
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of person? I said about worshiping God and getting his presence.
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It's coming from knowing the Lord. Like if you think
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about what the apostles did so often when they like
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you see Peter whenever he's performing miracles and he puts
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everybody out of the room and raises a little girl
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from the dead. Where did he see that? He saw
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Jesus do the exact same thing. When you see Paul
477
00:21:55.240 --> 00:21:57.279
goes around because he had a revelation of the revealed
478
00:21:57.319 --> 00:21:59.299
Christ and spent time with God. Like what I love
479
00:21:59.319 --> 00:22:01.619
about Paul is you could say that I don't think
480
00:22:01.640 --> 00:22:03.119
you could really even argue it. He did more than
481
00:22:03.240 --> 00:22:06.049
anybody else. And he never actually walked with the Lord
482
00:22:06.069 --> 00:22:07.809
the way the other apostles did, which is a great
483
00:22:07.849 --> 00:22:10.309
encouragement to us. But what do we see? We see
484
00:22:10.349 --> 00:22:12.910
that we see people seeing Paul do miracles. And there's
485
00:22:12.950 --> 00:22:14.730
a guy who goes in the name of Jesus, who
486
00:22:14.769 --> 00:22:17.170
Paul preaches, and he tries to cast out a demon.
487
00:22:17.259 --> 00:22:19.539
And what happens? The demons beat the living tar out
488
00:22:19.579 --> 00:22:21.900
of him. because he had no actual knowledge of God.
489
00:22:21.920 --> 00:22:23.809
And so what he was saying was like us rubbing
490
00:22:23.829 --> 00:22:26.009
the magic genie going like, I think I've got my
491
00:22:26.069 --> 00:22:28.609
faith meter high enough because there was no actually knowledge
492
00:22:28.650 --> 00:22:31.130
of God in relationship with the Lord. So like you
493
00:22:31.210 --> 00:22:34.119
growing in faith and walking in this certainty and walking
494
00:22:34.130 --> 00:22:35.700
in this place where you're like, no, I know this
495
00:22:35.720 --> 00:22:38.119
is going to happen. It comes from your confidence in
496
00:22:38.140 --> 00:22:40.119
the character of who God is because you know him,
497
00:22:40.440 --> 00:22:42.619
you've walked with him, you spend time in his presence,
498
00:22:42.660 --> 00:22:44.960
you know his word. That's what we're saying. That's where
499
00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:47.910
it becomes inwrought. And it's not something you're straining out.
500
00:22:48.190 --> 00:22:52.029
It's a natural outpouring because of the level of relationship
501
00:22:52.069 --> 00:22:54.589
that you walk with with the Lord. It's like with Garrett.
502
00:22:54.609 --> 00:22:56.730
Garrett's one of my best friends. I know Garrett about
503
00:22:56.769 --> 00:22:58.710
as well as anybody does, I would say, outside of
504
00:22:59.059 --> 00:23:01.660
his family members and obviously his wife. There's some things
505
00:23:01.700 --> 00:23:03.420
I'm like, I know exactly what Garrett's going to do here.
506
00:23:03.579 --> 00:23:05.660
And whether it's what I want him to do or not,
507
00:23:05.799 --> 00:23:07.400
I know what he's going to do. Now, he will
508
00:23:07.420 --> 00:23:09.759
quickly say he doesn't ever want to be predictable, so
509
00:23:09.819 --> 00:23:10.720
he'll keep me on my toes.
510
00:23:10.859 --> 00:23:12.130
And I know that about him.
511
00:23:12.740 --> 00:23:15.119
But that's a picture of how it is to walk
512
00:23:15.160 --> 00:23:17.819
with God. When you know somebody, you start to understand
513
00:23:17.839 --> 00:23:20.079
their actions. You start to be able to go like, yeah,
514
00:23:20.099 --> 00:23:21.799
I know what's going to happen here. And you're not
515
00:23:21.819 --> 00:23:23.740
sitting there going like, oh, I don't know. I'm not sure.
516
00:23:23.779 --> 00:23:26.420
It's like, no, I know what's going to happen. And
517
00:23:26.460 --> 00:23:28.519
that's what it feels like to have the in-wrought faith.
518
00:23:28.859 --> 00:23:30.180
And so I just wanted to highlight that because it's
519
00:23:30.240 --> 00:23:32.490
such a key point of where it comes from. So, G,
520
00:23:33.309 --> 00:23:35.789
let's dive into what some of the choices we have
521
00:23:35.829 --> 00:23:38.130
to make when we're actually applying this faith.
522
00:23:38.589 --> 00:23:40.289
So, yeah, so we're going to talk about three choices
523
00:23:40.329 --> 00:23:41.730
that we got to make and some of the fruit
524
00:23:41.769 --> 00:23:44.680
that it produces in our life. But I want to
525
00:23:44.720 --> 00:23:47.119
just start us off with this scripture, right? We've already
526
00:23:47.140 --> 00:23:48.779
covered plenty of great scripture, but I want to give
527
00:23:48.799 --> 00:23:51.059
this one more scripture that makes the point that I
528
00:23:51.079 --> 00:23:53.559
was just making of, look, you've got to take action
529
00:23:53.599 --> 00:23:56.220
with your faith. Until you do, you're not going to
530
00:23:56.240 --> 00:23:59.990
see these fruits. And this is James chapter two, verse 17.
531
00:23:59.990 --> 00:24:02.710
In the same way, faith by itself, if it is
532
00:24:02.769 --> 00:24:07.650
not accompanied by action, is dead, right? Faith without action dies.
533
00:24:08.079 --> 00:24:10.319
is dead. We've got to put some action to our faith.
534
00:24:10.359 --> 00:24:13.539
So what does living by faith do? What is it
535
00:24:13.720 --> 00:24:16.880
unlocking us? Okay, here we go. Three choices that we
536
00:24:16.900 --> 00:24:19.359
got to make, right? And I'll say this again. I
537
00:24:19.420 --> 00:24:22.819
say it often. This is my entire theology in a statement.
538
00:24:23.279 --> 00:24:27.400
God is sovereign. Man's responsible, which means God's in control
539
00:24:27.420 --> 00:24:29.319
of it all. He owns it all. He made it all.
540
00:24:29.759 --> 00:24:33.019
But there's a few things that God's made us responsible for, okay?
541
00:24:33.079 --> 00:24:36.460
And so we do have a responsibility to take action
542
00:24:36.859 --> 00:24:40.480
on our faith. Here's three choices. Number one is you've
543
00:24:40.500 --> 00:24:46.259
got to choose obedience. Choose obedience over control. And here's
544
00:24:46.299 --> 00:24:48.099
the great fruit that this is going to produce in
545
00:24:48.119 --> 00:24:50.200
your life. We'll talk about it. Here's the great fruit
546
00:24:50.220 --> 00:24:52.930
that's going to produce in your life. It'll produce peace.
547
00:24:53.410 --> 00:24:56.069
It'll produce freedom. And these are some of the things
548
00:24:56.089 --> 00:24:58.190
that all of us want so much. We want freedom
549
00:24:58.609 --> 00:25:02.890
and peace in our life. I think this entire country
550
00:25:02.930 --> 00:25:05.289
was founded on the desire to just have a couple
551
00:25:05.309 --> 00:25:07.730
of these qualities. This is probably where we're going to
552
00:25:07.750 --> 00:25:10.890
start here is Proverbs 3, verse 5 and 6. Trust
553
00:25:10.950 --> 00:25:15.039
in the Lord with all your heart and lean not
554
00:25:15.559 --> 00:25:19.380
on your own understanding. Most of the anxiety in our life,
555
00:25:19.559 --> 00:25:22.779
it comes from us trying to control the things that
556
00:25:22.839 --> 00:25:26.059
are outside of our authority. It says trust in the
557
00:25:26.099 --> 00:25:28.579
Lord with all your heart. It doesn't say trust in
558
00:25:28.599 --> 00:25:30.400
the Lord with some of your heart. It doesn't say
559
00:25:30.440 --> 00:25:32.920
trust in the Lord with your knowledge. It doesn't say
560
00:25:33.019 --> 00:25:36.279
depend on the Lord on Sunday. It says, trust in
561
00:25:36.299 --> 00:25:39.589
the Lord with all your heart. And your heart is
562
00:25:39.609 --> 00:25:42.009
your desire center. It's what you care about most. It's
563
00:25:42.049 --> 00:25:45.089
what you believe most deeply. And what it's saying is
564
00:25:45.150 --> 00:25:47.369
where that should be built out of, what it should
565
00:25:47.410 --> 00:25:51.029
be based upon is your trust in God. When the
566
00:25:51.069 --> 00:25:53.650
very center of who you are is based upon that,
567
00:25:53.670 --> 00:25:56.410
then you're going to quit trying to control these other situations.
568
00:25:56.910 --> 00:25:59.259
You'll look at some things and maybe say, yeah, certainty
569
00:25:59.299 --> 00:26:02.720
would be nice here. But even certainty for me is
570
00:26:03.119 --> 00:26:06.210
pale in comparison to to the power of God and
571
00:26:06.250 --> 00:26:08.269
more so trust in what I could do or wish
572
00:26:08.289 --> 00:26:10.950
that I was another foot taller or had a little
573
00:26:10.970 --> 00:26:12.950
bit more money or had a little bit more control
574
00:26:13.390 --> 00:26:16.539
in this situation. What I'm going to lean on is
575
00:26:16.579 --> 00:26:19.099
the quality and the character of who God is. And
576
00:26:19.140 --> 00:26:23.700
that's the greatest source of peace and freedom in my life. Yeah.
577
00:26:23.839 --> 00:26:26.339
I think that that's such a man. How many times
578
00:26:26.400 --> 00:26:28.700
do we want to control things? And I'm like, that's
579
00:26:28.740 --> 00:26:29.960
one of the things we say all the time on
580
00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:31.500
here is like, if you want to walk with God,
581
00:26:31.859 --> 00:26:35.369
you have to get okay with uncertainty, right? Because it's just,
582
00:26:35.450 --> 00:26:37.509
it's always the way, I mean, you talk about why
583
00:26:37.569 --> 00:26:39.799
faith in the beginning. I think it's so interesting how
584
00:26:39.819 --> 00:26:42.759
many times God tells people to go do things without
585
00:26:42.779 --> 00:26:45.420
giving them any explanation. I mean, look at Job. Job
586
00:26:45.460 --> 00:26:47.259
never got the explanation. Like you get to the book
587
00:26:47.279 --> 00:26:49.740
at the end of the book of Job. There's no like, hey, Job,
588
00:26:49.900 --> 00:26:51.359
let me tell you about what happened. It was kind
589
00:26:51.380 --> 00:26:53.559
of like, and God restored him and the book ends.
590
00:26:54.000 --> 00:26:57.220
John the Baptist, go baptize. Okay. And the guy that
591
00:26:57.240 --> 00:26:59.180
you see, like, it wasn't like, Hey, here's who the
592
00:26:59.220 --> 00:27:02.000
Messiah is. This is exactly your role. It's go baptize.
593
00:27:02.319 --> 00:27:04.259
Whoever you see the spirit descending on. That's the, that's
594
00:27:04.279 --> 00:27:04.720
the Messiah.
595
00:27:05.200 --> 00:27:05.539
Okay.
596
00:27:05.880 --> 00:27:08.700
Like Moses go. You know what I mean? Like it's always,
597
00:27:08.779 --> 00:27:12.160
it's always obedience first. And he does not explain everything afterwards.
598
00:27:12.480 --> 00:27:14.089
And that's why we always say like, you won't see
599
00:27:14.119 --> 00:27:16.450
God's purpose until afterwards when you're looking back and you
600
00:27:16.470 --> 00:27:18.509
connect the dots. But like, I look at where we
601
00:27:18.549 --> 00:27:20.410
want to have certainty, like G and marriage.
602
00:27:20.970 --> 00:27:21.130
Man.
603
00:27:21.190 --> 00:27:23.319
And in relationships, how much do we want to be
604
00:27:23.359 --> 00:27:26.440
able to like, no, if like, Hey, things are tough
605
00:27:26.480 --> 00:27:28.140
right now. If I do this, is it going to
606
00:27:28.200 --> 00:27:30.500
work out? And that you're asking the wrong question because
607
00:27:30.519 --> 00:27:32.440
what you're really saying is like, give me the three-step
608
00:27:32.460 --> 00:27:35.509
process to have control. And we find tricky ways to
609
00:27:35.529 --> 00:27:39.730
try and get control. But like, so like marriage is
610
00:27:39.809 --> 00:27:41.609
a big one. I would say finances. If you look
611
00:27:41.630 --> 00:27:44.869
at where people have the most anxiety, like that's actually
612
00:27:44.890 --> 00:27:47.599
probably a massive one is, is in finances. For me,
613
00:27:47.640 --> 00:27:49.400
I know that that was my favorite. That's like my
614
00:27:49.849 --> 00:27:51.279
flavor of choice or anxiety?
615
00:27:51.319 --> 00:27:56.859
I think because finances is, marriage can be less tangible.
616
00:27:57.299 --> 00:28:01.119
It's people. And there's more so much of the interaction
617
00:28:01.160 --> 00:28:04.829
and transaction in marriage is person to person. And maybe
618
00:28:04.849 --> 00:28:06.250
it's easier for you to lean on the Bible and
619
00:28:06.289 --> 00:28:08.609
that quality. But when it comes to money, people are like, hey, look,
620
00:28:08.910 --> 00:28:12.490
there's money, there's banks, the economy, math, like, hey, this
621
00:28:12.549 --> 00:28:15.720
isn't necessarily God's world. That's where a lot of people
622
00:28:16.119 --> 00:28:19.599
might think. And so, They would look at a situation like, look,
623
00:28:19.640 --> 00:28:22.460
it's just not practical for me to believe in God
624
00:28:22.500 --> 00:28:25.880
in this situation. Like, I need money, so I need
625
00:28:25.920 --> 00:28:28.619
to go do this. That's the way the world works.
626
00:28:28.779 --> 00:28:30.680
And if you live that way, if you live by,
627
00:28:31.059 --> 00:28:33.609
that's the way the world works based upon your understanding
628
00:28:33.630 --> 00:28:37.230
of the world that's not first and with a foundation
629
00:28:37.829 --> 00:28:39.930
and who God is in the world that he made,
630
00:28:40.329 --> 00:28:43.130
you will constantly be living in struggle and in anxiety.
631
00:28:44.000 --> 00:28:46.000
Even in this, even in these things where it's like, man,
632
00:28:46.019 --> 00:28:48.079
this would make so much sense. Like you want to
633
00:28:48.119 --> 00:28:50.579
know that God cares about math. You can see this
634
00:28:50.619 --> 00:28:53.720
in many of the battles in the Old Testament. This
635
00:28:53.880 --> 00:28:56.549
is God with Saul and God gets mad at Saul.
636
00:28:56.910 --> 00:28:59.769
He's like, look, I know that there's way more enemy
637
00:28:59.809 --> 00:29:02.430
soldiers than how many you got. Don't go count how
638
00:29:02.470 --> 00:29:05.109
many enemy soldiers there are. I can do math way
639
00:29:05.130 --> 00:29:07.329
better than you. That's not the point that I'm trying
640
00:29:07.349 --> 00:29:09.410
to make here. What I'm trying to show you is
641
00:29:09.450 --> 00:29:12.049
you got to trust me. And I think that example
642
00:29:12.269 --> 00:29:15.430
of God with Saul and counting the enemy is a
643
00:29:15.470 --> 00:29:18.160
perfect example of how money is in our life. People say, look,
644
00:29:18.480 --> 00:29:21.759
hey man, it's just numbers. There's a few hundred of us.
645
00:29:22.059 --> 00:29:25.279
There's thousands of them. There's no way this could work.
646
00:29:25.599 --> 00:29:28.339
The math doesn't math. And we do that with our
647
00:29:28.400 --> 00:29:31.259
finances sometimes. Like God, like, hey, look, you just don't understand.
648
00:29:31.309 --> 00:29:33.410
You forgot how to count. No, God's saying, I didn't
649
00:29:33.450 --> 00:29:36.329
forget how to count. I'm greater than math. I created math.
650
00:29:36.490 --> 00:29:38.269
And in the same way, we've got to come back
651
00:29:38.309 --> 00:29:40.609
to God with every area of our life. and decide
652
00:29:40.630 --> 00:29:42.710
that we're going to put our trust in him instead
653
00:29:42.750 --> 00:29:45.990
of what we think we can understand or control. Yeah.
654
00:29:46.009 --> 00:29:47.730
And let's just be, let me just be straight with
655
00:29:47.769 --> 00:29:50.589
what that looks like. The obvious example for in finance
656
00:29:50.630 --> 00:29:53.400
is like, man, we're not doing very well. So like
657
00:29:53.680 --> 00:29:55.519
I either need to take on an additional job. That
658
00:29:55.539 --> 00:29:57.440
means I'm going to start missing church or we're going
659
00:29:57.460 --> 00:30:00.539
to stop tithing because you know, Right now, that 10%,
660
00:30:00.539 --> 00:30:01.960
we need it for insert whatever.
661
00:30:01.980 --> 00:30:02.829
I get it.
662
00:30:03.160 --> 00:30:06.630
I've been there 100%. That's the downside of it is
663
00:30:06.650 --> 00:30:08.650
where you're like, well, we can't afford to do this anymore.
664
00:30:09.069 --> 00:30:11.670
That's whenever you're beginning to take control instead of obedience.
665
00:30:12.049 --> 00:30:14.509
On the good side, and praise the Lord, I will
666
00:30:14.529 --> 00:30:16.809
tell you from experience, my tithe does not hurt my
667
00:30:16.890 --> 00:30:18.990
finances at this point that I'm living in analogy. When
668
00:30:19.130 --> 00:30:21.450
I give my tithe to God, it's not like, oh man,
669
00:30:21.490 --> 00:30:24.559
we could really use that. We're very blessed. Now, here's
670
00:30:24.579 --> 00:30:26.650
where that becomes a problem. and you see this with
671
00:30:26.690 --> 00:30:29.750
David in, I believe it's in 2 Samuel, when he
672
00:30:29.789 --> 00:30:32.509
takes the census. If I start feeling good and feeling
673
00:30:32.549 --> 00:30:35.099
relaxed and feeling a sense of peace and confidence because
674
00:30:35.130 --> 00:30:37.140
I can flip open my bank balance or whatever my
675
00:30:37.180 --> 00:30:38.240
investment portfolio is.
676
00:30:38.200 --> 00:30:39.160
And go like, you know what?
677
00:30:39.519 --> 00:30:40.039
Things are good.
678
00:30:40.599 --> 00:30:42.920
I'm not living by faith that way either. And so
679
00:30:42.960 --> 00:30:45.759
it's always, like you said, God cares about our heart.
680
00:30:46.059 --> 00:30:48.079
It's always a sense of like, where is our confidence
681
00:30:48.140 --> 00:30:50.420
coming from? Where's our source of strength? And where are
682
00:30:50.460 --> 00:30:53.980
we actually putting our trust? And so, I mean, in finances,
683
00:30:54.099 --> 00:30:55.809
like you said, we have a very tangible one. in
684
00:30:55.829 --> 00:30:58.609
your marriage, it's the same thing, man. It's like, you know,
685
00:30:58.630 --> 00:31:00.869
when things are not, are not going good, do you
686
00:31:00.910 --> 00:31:02.769
stop sewing in what you're supposed to do? Do you
687
00:31:02.809 --> 00:31:05.130
stop loving? Do you stop leading? Do you stop serving?
688
00:31:05.170 --> 00:31:07.900
Because it's like, well, you know what? Like I, she,
689
00:31:07.940 --> 00:31:09.819
my wife, you don't understand. Like she I'm doing all
690
00:31:09.839 --> 00:31:12.599
this stuff and she's not reciprocating. And once again, it's,
691
00:31:12.759 --> 00:31:15.700
it's what does the word of God say? It's Ephesians five, right?
692
00:31:15.720 --> 00:31:17.180
That you would love your wife the way that Christ
693
00:31:17.200 --> 00:31:20.579
loved the church, that, that level of sacrificial love and
694
00:31:20.619 --> 00:31:24.029
the understanding of what's required of you, man, it's, it
695
00:31:24.109 --> 00:31:26.390
is a high, high standard. And I almost feel like
696
00:31:26.450 --> 00:31:29.750
it's harsh to put that. I genuinely, as I say this,
697
00:31:30.109 --> 00:31:33.569
I go, man, that is such a high requirement of men.
698
00:31:33.809 --> 00:31:37.059
But when you actually understand what's required of you, it
699
00:31:37.119 --> 00:31:38.839
is very humbling because you would never try and do
700
00:31:38.859 --> 00:31:40.900
it on your own. But these are the areas when
701
00:31:40.940 --> 00:31:42.740
it comes into the rubber meet in the road and
702
00:31:42.759 --> 00:31:45.240
you find out, you find out in the bad times
703
00:31:45.299 --> 00:31:47.599
and also in the good times where your trust is
704
00:31:47.640 --> 00:31:48.940
and where your faith is actually placed.
705
00:31:49.660 --> 00:31:51.779
So when you trust in the Lord with all your heart,
706
00:31:51.839 --> 00:31:54.710
the fruit of this is that You become a man
707
00:31:54.789 --> 00:31:58.930
who can work hard, face all sorts of difficulty and uncertainty,
708
00:31:59.380 --> 00:32:02.440
and you still have peace in your life. That what
709
00:32:02.480 --> 00:32:05.660
a great gift because your peace doesn't come from, hey,
710
00:32:05.720 --> 00:32:07.900
I feel like I can control the situation. My peace
711
00:32:07.960 --> 00:32:10.279
comes from, I know who God is. And you're no
712
00:32:10.339 --> 00:32:13.029
longer an emotional slave to all the things that are
713
00:32:13.069 --> 00:32:15.089
going on around you and what happens in your life.
714
00:32:15.589 --> 00:32:18.269
And this is Philippians chapter four, verse six through seven.
715
00:32:18.789 --> 00:32:22.789
God's peace guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
716
00:32:23.119 --> 00:32:25.099
When we're in Christ, that's what happens in our life.
717
00:32:25.500 --> 00:32:26.880
So what you want to do is you want to
718
00:32:27.000 --> 00:32:29.559
become the type of man that you can have complete
719
00:32:29.599 --> 00:32:33.349
commitment without needing complete control in your life. I'll be
720
00:32:33.369 --> 00:32:34.700
honest with you. There's a lot of times where I
721
00:32:34.740 --> 00:32:36.390
wish I had a little bit more power, a little
722
00:32:36.410 --> 00:32:39.890
bit more control of my situation. But I understand God's
723
00:32:39.910 --> 00:32:42.490
given me what he's given me. And with everything else,
724
00:32:43.089 --> 00:32:45.250
I'm going to trust in God. And the fruit of
725
00:32:45.309 --> 00:32:48.630
that is peace and freedom. Let's go on to the
726
00:32:48.670 --> 00:32:49.089
second one.
727
00:32:51.109 --> 00:32:53.079
Yeah, before we do, I was just going to say,
728
00:32:53.150 --> 00:32:55.740
everybody wants to live that way. And you've said one
729
00:32:55.759 --> 00:32:57.559
of your great quotes is, peace comes not from knowing
730
00:32:57.579 --> 00:32:59.160
what will happen, but from knowing what you'll do no
731
00:32:59.200 --> 00:33:02.500
matter what. And I'll just say, with that situation with Rian,
732
00:33:02.519 --> 00:33:04.619
like I said, I never ran the tape on what
733
00:33:04.660 --> 00:33:06.599
would happen if she died. But I already knew. I
734
00:33:06.599 --> 00:33:10.400
was like, if that happens, then God still loves me.
735
00:33:10.519 --> 00:33:12.920
His plans are still good. And he's still faithful. And
736
00:33:12.960 --> 00:33:15.910
I've had, because your mind wants to run scenarios. And
737
00:33:15.930 --> 00:33:17.630
then if you know what you would do, that's where
738
00:33:17.650 --> 00:33:20.599
your peace comes from. Whether it's been when my kids
739
00:33:20.619 --> 00:33:22.559
have been in danger or when my finances have been
740
00:33:22.599 --> 00:33:24.819
low or my wife's life was on the line, what
741
00:33:24.839 --> 00:33:26.299
I always came back to is I was like, my
742
00:33:26.380 --> 00:33:29.640
trust would not change no matter what. That was why
743
00:33:29.720 --> 00:33:33.460
I had peace in all the situations that I walked through.
744
00:33:33.769 --> 00:33:35.200
I know you said it that way and I don't
745
00:33:35.240 --> 00:33:37.440
want to belabor the point, but I want to emphasize
746
00:33:37.480 --> 00:33:40.009
for people because I think it's so important that when
747
00:33:40.029 --> 00:33:42.650
you're like, no matter what, God is good. It's Job.
748
00:33:42.849 --> 00:33:45.450
Though he slay me, yet will I praise him. Man,
749
00:33:45.470 --> 00:33:48.690
when you have that, What can life do to you?
750
00:33:48.789 --> 00:33:51.210
You are in complete freedom because what can come your way?
751
00:33:51.250 --> 00:33:52.950
If you die, you go get to be with Christ.
752
00:33:53.210 --> 00:33:55.539
If you live, you're going to keep fulfilling the plans
753
00:33:55.559 --> 00:33:58.079
and purposes he has for you. You can't lose. It's
754
00:33:58.140 --> 00:34:00.380
the best proposition ever. Anyways. All right.
755
00:34:00.440 --> 00:34:03.579
What's number two? So three choices here. Number one, choose
756
00:34:03.660 --> 00:34:09.840
obedience over control. Number two, choose principles over feelings. Choose
757
00:34:09.920 --> 00:34:13.539
principles over feelings. Principles, something we talk about here all
758
00:34:13.559 --> 00:34:16.050
the time, the impossible life and the fruit of this.
759
00:34:16.739 --> 00:34:22.460
is stability and wisdom in your life. What are principles, right?
760
00:34:22.760 --> 00:34:25.659
Principles govern outcomes. We've talked about this a ton in
761
00:34:25.679 --> 00:34:29.119
The Impossible Life. Principles govern outcomes. And when you know
762
00:34:29.179 --> 00:34:32.750
who God is, you also understand the world that he made.
763
00:34:33.449 --> 00:34:34.929
And if you understand the world that he made, then
764
00:34:34.949 --> 00:34:37.050
you have a good understanding of this is the way
765
00:34:37.130 --> 00:34:39.690
things work, right? I know that if I plant a
766
00:34:39.730 --> 00:34:41.210
seed in the ground in the right time of year
767
00:34:41.530 --> 00:34:43.949
and I water it correctly, that it's going to grow.
768
00:34:44.519 --> 00:34:46.659
I don't have to do anything else. It says God
769
00:34:46.739 --> 00:34:49.280
made a world of order. And when I learn how
770
00:34:49.320 --> 00:34:52.940
to choose in principles over feelings, because sometimes emotions are
771
00:34:52.960 --> 00:34:56.880
really loud. Logic is not high volume, but emotions is
772
00:34:56.940 --> 00:34:59.860
very high volume. And when we listen to those emotions,
773
00:35:00.320 --> 00:35:02.980
it takes us towards anger. It takes us towards frustration.
774
00:35:03.699 --> 00:35:06.659
And it really ends up blowing up a lot of
775
00:35:06.719 --> 00:35:09.489
the greatness that God has planted in our life because
776
00:35:09.530 --> 00:35:11.269
we can't just trust in him and the way that
777
00:35:11.329 --> 00:35:15.760
he made things. And this is Matthew 6, verse 33.
778
00:35:15.760 --> 00:35:20.659
Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these
779
00:35:20.719 --> 00:35:22.639
things will be given to you as well. What are
780
00:35:22.659 --> 00:35:25.360
all these things in that scripture? He's talking right before this.
781
00:35:25.380 --> 00:35:27.539
Jesus is saying like, hey, why do you keep asking
782
00:35:27.559 --> 00:35:29.199
me for bread? Why are you so worried about where
783
00:35:29.219 --> 00:35:30.840
you're going to sleep at night? Why are you so
784
00:35:30.880 --> 00:35:33.500
worried about what you're going to wear? He's saying, seek
785
00:35:33.599 --> 00:35:36.969
first his kingdom and his righteousness. Focus on what is right.
786
00:35:37.329 --> 00:35:40.949
Focus on principles. Focus on the way things work. then
787
00:35:41.010 --> 00:35:43.409
don't worry about all the other things and let me
788
00:35:43.489 --> 00:35:46.380
take care of that. Because what the people were coming
789
00:35:46.400 --> 00:35:50.300
to Jesus with was anxiety, was uncertainty. And he said,
790
00:35:50.380 --> 00:35:52.599
what did he say? He didn't say, hey, don't worry.
791
00:35:52.619 --> 00:35:54.550
I got you. I'll take care of you. He said, no,
792
00:35:54.969 --> 00:35:59.650
seek first the kingdom, principles first. Then all these things
793
00:35:59.670 --> 00:36:01.650
that you're so worried about, those will be taken care
794
00:36:01.670 --> 00:36:02.090
of as well.
795
00:36:03.449 --> 00:36:06.130
Yeah, I think this is where certainty, I think, almost
796
00:36:06.150 --> 00:36:08.480
is a feeling. I think this is very closely tied
797
00:36:08.500 --> 00:36:11.929
to number one. Because that's really like, but that's what
798
00:36:11.969 --> 00:36:13.869
you want when you want certainties. You just want to
799
00:36:13.949 --> 00:36:16.219
know because then you can relax. And so you're being
800
00:36:16.260 --> 00:36:19.000
driven by anxiety. You're being driven by feelings. Let me
801
00:36:19.039 --> 00:36:23.300
ask you this, G. With having this kind of application
802
00:36:23.320 --> 00:36:26.679
of faith, do you think it just removes all doubt? Like,
803
00:36:26.699 --> 00:36:29.059
would you say that it removes all doubt and that
804
00:36:29.099 --> 00:36:30.840
that goes away? Or do you still have to like,
805
00:36:30.860 --> 00:36:34.539
you know? battle those things down. Because I think what
806
00:36:34.559 --> 00:36:36.719
I described in the beginning of just being like having this,
807
00:36:37.090 --> 00:36:39.199
cause I genuinely felt like I was carried along. I
808
00:36:39.219 --> 00:36:41.369
will not say it's always been that way, but like
809
00:36:41.389 --> 00:36:43.769
in that moment, it 100% was, is that, is that
810
00:36:43.849 --> 00:36:46.409
always the case or will doubts keep trying to, you know,
811
00:36:46.449 --> 00:36:47.059
poke their heads in?
812
00:36:48.090 --> 00:36:49.889
I think the more, the more you walk in it,
813
00:36:50.530 --> 00:36:52.530
the more you've done these things, the more you've lived
814
00:36:52.570 --> 00:36:55.269
this way, the easier it is to trust. But I
815
00:36:55.309 --> 00:36:58.510
say easier. I wouldn't say it's ever easier. It's ever
816
00:36:58.590 --> 00:37:02.659
just like, it's, you know, I absolutely, Because even in
817
00:37:02.699 --> 00:37:05.440
the context of sowing a seed, you know what? Storm
818
00:37:05.480 --> 00:37:09.239
can come and destroy your crop. But the principles is
819
00:37:09.300 --> 00:37:12.420
that's okay. It doesn't hail here every day of the year.
820
00:37:12.440 --> 00:37:15.440
It doesn't hail here every year. Sometimes storms come and
821
00:37:15.460 --> 00:37:17.739
they wipe you out. And maybe there's a lesson to
822
00:37:17.780 --> 00:37:20.789
be learned from that. Or maybe that's just a difficulty
823
00:37:20.829 --> 00:37:23.289
that you've got to walk through. But if you'll stick
824
00:37:23.329 --> 00:37:26.570
to the principles, right? And this is the principles of endurance.
825
00:37:26.630 --> 00:37:29.960
This is the principles of stewardship. hey, even though one
826
00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:32.380
bad thing happened, I'm going to keep living by principles
827
00:37:32.440 --> 00:37:34.539
and doing the right thing. And I know that I
828
00:37:34.599 --> 00:37:37.590
will produce a great fruit. The longer you've done it,
829
00:37:38.219 --> 00:37:40.679
the easier it is to walk in it. But when
830
00:37:40.699 --> 00:37:42.780
you're brand new to it, it's so easy to get
831
00:37:43.119 --> 00:37:46.219
brought back into an emotional control. So to answer your question,
832
00:37:46.639 --> 00:37:49.449
I would say it's never just like easy or automatic,
833
00:37:49.510 --> 00:37:51.329
but it certainly gets easier over time.
834
00:37:52.489 --> 00:37:52.710
Okay.
835
00:37:52.849 --> 00:37:53.030
Yeah.
836
00:37:53.409 --> 00:37:54.909
And I think one of the things we're assuming here,
837
00:37:54.929 --> 00:37:57.030
and I want to always point out the assumptions, the
838
00:37:57.050 --> 00:37:59.409
prespositions in what we're saying, one of the things we're
839
00:37:59.429 --> 00:38:01.670
assuming here is that, you know, what God's word says,
840
00:38:02.190 --> 00:38:04.789
if you don't understand principles, just, just know these are
841
00:38:04.849 --> 00:38:08.019
truths that govern what happens. The Bible is truth. So
842
00:38:08.039 --> 00:38:10.380
you can always say the word. So like my question
843
00:38:10.400 --> 00:38:11.940
would be, do you know what the word of God
844
00:38:11.980 --> 00:38:14.239
says about how you, you know, your role in your family,
845
00:38:14.539 --> 00:38:16.980
about how you should do finances, about what you should
846
00:38:17.000 --> 00:38:19.119
do with friendships, what you should do with your health,
847
00:38:19.489 --> 00:38:21.949
you know, how you relate to God, because the more
848
00:38:22.010 --> 00:38:23.969
you dive in, I'll just tell you, man, like one
849
00:38:23.989 --> 00:38:26.050
of my favorite things that pastor Keith said is that, um,
850
00:38:26.840 --> 00:38:28.860
success is hidden in templates. And he talks about the
851
00:38:28.909 --> 00:38:32.010
Bible is the greatest book of templates ever. That was
852
00:38:32.070 --> 00:38:33.869
one of the most profound things I think I've ever
853
00:38:33.929 --> 00:38:36.550
grasped onto that he said, because the more I go through,
854
00:38:36.590 --> 00:38:38.269
the more I start going like, Oh, this is how
855
00:38:38.329 --> 00:38:40.860
God operates. And when I understand how God operates, now
856
00:38:40.929 --> 00:38:43.039
I know what truth is. And then I just operate
857
00:38:43.079 --> 00:38:44.719
the same way. And you're telling me that like, now
858
00:38:44.820 --> 00:38:46.559
I know how to, like, I'm not just playing the
859
00:38:46.579 --> 00:38:49.239
video game. I'm writing the code. That is literally what
860
00:38:49.559 --> 00:38:51.929
we're saying. But you, if you don't know the truth,
861
00:38:52.510 --> 00:38:54.090
You're not going to choose principles. You're not going to
862
00:38:54.110 --> 00:38:56.050
choose principle truth. You're going to choose your feelings because
863
00:38:56.070 --> 00:38:57.260
they're going to be screaming at you.
864
00:38:58.219 --> 00:39:02.059
Principles is like math and templates are like formulas. Like
865
00:39:02.099 --> 00:39:04.860
if you do these things, you get these same solutions.
866
00:39:05.320 --> 00:39:09.320
But here's what happens is when people get so emotionally led,
867
00:39:09.780 --> 00:39:13.309
they don't use the formulas. When fear takes over, we
868
00:39:13.409 --> 00:39:16.969
abandon principles that are meant to lead us through difficulty.
869
00:39:17.440 --> 00:39:20.000
And this is where I'm saying, when you've got the faith,
870
00:39:20.039 --> 00:39:22.659
you'll also have a faith in the world that God made.
871
00:39:23.860 --> 00:39:26.469
Not a fear of all these other things that could happen,
872
00:39:26.769 --> 00:39:28.110
but hey, I'm going to trust in God and I'm
873
00:39:28.130 --> 00:39:30.659
going to trust in His order. Because what happens is
874
00:39:30.699 --> 00:39:33.519
we get afraid and we throw out all the principles
875
00:39:33.559 --> 00:39:35.539
that were supposed to save us in the middle of
876
00:39:35.579 --> 00:39:38.079
the storm. We go through money gets tight and we
877
00:39:38.119 --> 00:39:42.159
stop being generous. Marriage gets painful. Marriage gets hard. And
878
00:39:42.179 --> 00:39:44.659
then we stop being people of love. We stop loving
879
00:39:44.699 --> 00:39:47.260
our spouse because we're going through such a hard time.
880
00:39:47.659 --> 00:39:51.969
life becomes uncertain and we abandon patience and start trying
881
00:39:51.989 --> 00:39:55.130
to force all these outcomes and we make our situations worse.
882
00:39:56.469 --> 00:39:58.590
Now, yeah, and the big thing that we want you
883
00:39:58.610 --> 00:40:00.530
guys to take, I think about what you went through, G,
884
00:40:00.650 --> 00:40:02.349
and I'm trying, because I don't really have a better
885
00:40:02.389 --> 00:40:05.110
analogy than this, but like on your very first mission
886
00:40:05.150 --> 00:40:07.170
as a Navy SEAL, I asked you this recently for
887
00:40:07.190 --> 00:40:09.050
the first time. I said, did you have to use
888
00:40:09.090 --> 00:40:11.409
your combat medicine training that you had? And you said, yeah.
889
00:40:11.989 --> 00:40:14.949
And like you had been through so much training and
890
00:40:14.989 --> 00:40:17.300
for us training is you've read the word. You know
891
00:40:17.340 --> 00:40:19.739
what the word says. You've heard preaching. You've listened to
892
00:40:19.780 --> 00:40:23.010
podcasts like this and you've had it. Well, now, you know,
893
00:40:23.050 --> 00:40:25.989
that's your combat medicine. Now somebody has been shot. And
894
00:40:26.010 --> 00:40:28.130
what are you going to do? Because when someone gets shot,
895
00:40:28.250 --> 00:40:30.110
I've never seen someone get shot, but I can imagine
896
00:40:30.210 --> 00:40:32.750
it was not a peaceful experience, but you had to
897
00:40:32.889 --> 00:40:36.159
use all your training to actually apply what you got taught.
898
00:40:36.199 --> 00:40:38.599
Was there like aha moments of like, okay, that's why
899
00:40:38.619 --> 00:40:40.820
they told us to do this because until you, you know,
900
00:40:40.840 --> 00:40:42.420
cause it was theory until you actually applied it.
901
00:40:42.420 --> 00:40:46.130
Right. Well, SEAL training is, is very good training. And
902
00:40:46.150 --> 00:40:49.389
I can tell you, though, I've been through many emergency
903
00:40:49.449 --> 00:40:52.570
procedures and in any of the emergencies I've been in,
904
00:40:52.590 --> 00:40:55.409
I did. I never once had the thought, oh, my gosh,
905
00:40:55.429 --> 00:40:58.090
what am I going to do? I didn't even think
906
00:40:58.130 --> 00:41:00.780
about what I was going to do. It was an
907
00:41:00.980 --> 00:41:05.699
automatic response because we had done so much training, so
908
00:41:05.760 --> 00:41:08.199
much preparation for these moments that when the moment comes,
909
00:41:08.219 --> 00:41:10.300
it's like, oh, this is. Yeah, just do the thing.
910
00:41:11.079 --> 00:41:14.079
It's automatic. You trust in it. And that's part of
911
00:41:14.139 --> 00:41:17.260
that's a part of good training. And that's part of
912
00:41:17.280 --> 00:41:19.699
the reason why just a note there for out here
913
00:41:19.780 --> 00:41:22.900
for many of the men's leaders out there who listened
914
00:41:22.920 --> 00:41:25.300
to us. If you ever come to Mighty Men, you'll experiences.
915
00:41:25.780 --> 00:41:27.360
We do a lot of the same things over and
916
00:41:27.400 --> 00:41:30.570
over again. What we've created is a training ground where
917
00:41:30.590 --> 00:41:33.510
you're going to prepare for the testing that's coming in
918
00:41:33.530 --> 00:41:33.929
your life.
919
00:41:36.710 --> 00:41:39.570
Yeah, that's so good. And realize that your training is
920
00:41:39.750 --> 00:41:41.329
every day. It's like I said in the beginning, it
921
00:41:41.369 --> 00:41:43.889
was all the scenarios that you run through in your mind.
922
00:41:44.420 --> 00:41:46.800
you have to become very aware of what you're allowing
923
00:41:46.840 --> 00:41:50.420
your heart to drift to, to generate a feeling that
924
00:41:50.460 --> 00:41:52.860
you want, or, you know, when you're being pushed on
925
00:41:52.909 --> 00:41:56.030
by different emotions throughout the day, because exactly what you said,
926
00:41:56.050 --> 00:41:58.269
I mean, I think that this one is probably one
927
00:41:58.289 --> 00:42:00.449
of the more challenging ones is to choose principles over
928
00:42:00.510 --> 00:42:03.849
feelings because man, it's like, you know, we've been given
929
00:42:03.889 --> 00:42:06.070
feelings for a reason, but what your feelings do is
930
00:42:06.090 --> 00:42:08.550
they highlight the way that you think. And to your point,
931
00:42:08.570 --> 00:42:10.710
because like what I found is whenever I was in that,
932
00:42:10.869 --> 00:42:14.059
that situation with Rhiann, man, nothing seemed puzzling. Like there's a,
933
00:42:14.070 --> 00:42:16.760
there's a song by a very famous worship leader where
934
00:42:16.800 --> 00:42:18.820
he talked, I think the lyric is when I read
935
00:42:18.840 --> 00:42:20.719
your word, I find it so hard to believe the
936
00:42:20.739 --> 00:42:23.260
miracles so hard to believe. And when I was walking
937
00:42:23.280 --> 00:42:24.599
through and I was like, I don't find those hard
938
00:42:24.619 --> 00:42:26.940
to believe at all because like, and I'm not saying
939
00:42:26.960 --> 00:42:29.119
that to like flex, but I w it was like,
940
00:42:29.429 --> 00:42:32.789
when you're so, um, when God is, when you, when
941
00:42:32.829 --> 00:42:35.489
you experienced the power of God in your life and you,
942
00:42:35.769 --> 00:42:39.429
you are applying the truth of, of God's word, It is,
943
00:42:39.769 --> 00:42:42.650
I just, I, I, I'm getting chills as I describe it. I, I,
944
00:42:42.949 --> 00:42:46.150
the puzzle isn't puzzling. The dots connect. You understand like
945
00:42:46.210 --> 00:42:47.650
what it is that the power in the name of
946
00:42:47.730 --> 00:42:49.889
Jesus truly to be in line with his essence of
947
00:42:49.949 --> 00:42:52.210
who he is. There is so much power in the
948
00:42:52.250 --> 00:42:54.380
name of Jesus. And it's not a matter of like, oh,
949
00:42:54.409 --> 00:42:55.820
I had to strain or do this. You're like, no,
950
00:42:55.840 --> 00:42:59.099
this is exactly what we're made for. And so that's
951
00:42:59.119 --> 00:42:59.920
what I was asking.
952
00:43:00.360 --> 00:43:02.400
And what were you for your family in that moment?
953
00:43:02.599 --> 00:43:05.840
You were stability, right? And that's, that's, that's the fruit.
954
00:43:05.880 --> 00:43:08.909
That's the fruit here. The fruit is stability and wisdom.
955
00:43:08.929 --> 00:43:11.650
And where this comes from is when you're choosing principles
956
00:43:11.889 --> 00:43:14.269
over your feelings, what you're not doing is you're not
957
00:43:14.369 --> 00:43:18.190
changing your standards in the moment of circumstance. I didn't
958
00:43:18.269 --> 00:43:21.670
say in the military when things got really bad, like, oh, well,
959
00:43:21.690 --> 00:43:23.610
this is crazier than what they trained us for. So
960
00:43:23.630 --> 00:43:24.710
I'm just going to come up with a bunch of
961
00:43:24.769 --> 00:43:28.510
new ideas. No, I did exactly what I had been trained.
962
00:43:28.840 --> 00:43:31.199
And that's what created stability. That's what created wisdom, which
963
00:43:31.239 --> 00:43:33.800
is the ability to understand the ability to know how
964
00:43:33.880 --> 00:43:36.460
things are going to happen. And so the fruit here
965
00:43:36.519 --> 00:43:39.460
is when you begin to trust in principles, and the
966
00:43:39.559 --> 00:43:41.739
Bible is full of principles. Listen to some of our
967
00:43:42.099 --> 00:43:44.579
other episodes where we talk about principles. When you trust
968
00:43:44.619 --> 00:43:48.519
in God's principles, what this fruit is, is you become steady, consistent.
969
00:43:48.840 --> 00:43:52.860
You become dependable. Your wife, your business partner, your children,
970
00:43:53.019 --> 00:43:55.780
all the other men in your life, they see you
971
00:43:56.179 --> 00:43:59.260
and they see that your character is not determined by circumstances.
972
00:43:59.619 --> 00:44:03.570
Your character is determined by who God is. You become fruit.
973
00:44:03.829 --> 00:44:07.050
This is exactly what God... wants us to be. It's
974
00:44:07.070 --> 00:44:09.650
some of the great testimony in your life when you're
975
00:44:09.690 --> 00:44:13.380
going through difficulty of circumstance and it doesn't change you
976
00:44:13.400 --> 00:44:16.079
or doesn't make you fall back to an old way
977
00:44:16.139 --> 00:44:19.940
of thinking. Instead, your faith grows, your response to who
978
00:44:19.980 --> 00:44:22.849
God is, your understanding of his character, all of that grows.
979
00:44:23.250 --> 00:44:26.050
It's the best testimony that you can have. And this
980
00:44:26.110 --> 00:44:30.929
is Matthew chapter 7, Verse 24 through 25, the wise
981
00:44:31.010 --> 00:44:35.309
man builds his house on the rock. The storms still come,
982
00:44:35.969 --> 00:44:39.110
but his house stands. The man who built his house
983
00:44:39.170 --> 00:44:41.630
on the rock and goes through the storms, everybody talks
984
00:44:41.710 --> 00:44:43.670
about that guy. They're like, man, I want to be
985
00:44:43.690 --> 00:44:45.550
like him. I want to build my house on the rock.
986
00:44:46.030 --> 00:44:47.590
And the man who built his house on the sand,
987
00:44:47.969 --> 00:44:49.269
he had a lot of friends because he built his
988
00:44:49.309 --> 00:44:52.010
house so quickly in a moment. But then the storms
989
00:44:52.070 --> 00:44:53.929
came and everyone was talking about the guy who used
990
00:44:53.949 --> 00:44:57.300
to live here, but he's not here anymore. Yeah.
991
00:44:57.800 --> 00:45:00.400
And I want to just give one more caveat before
992
00:45:00.440 --> 00:45:02.480
we move on to the final one, G. This will
993
00:45:02.559 --> 00:45:04.719
seem harsh when you say a man that's governed by
994
00:45:04.800 --> 00:45:07.480
truth instead of emotion becomes someone others can depend on.
995
00:45:07.860 --> 00:45:10.000
No one disagrees with you when you say that. But
996
00:45:10.019 --> 00:45:12.300
then whenever you're going through something difficult and you say
997
00:45:12.340 --> 00:45:14.400
to a man, hey, your wife and your kids don't
998
00:45:14.420 --> 00:45:16.539
need you crying right now. They don't need you feeling
999
00:45:16.579 --> 00:45:19.320
sorry for yourself. They don't need you needing a timeout
1000
00:45:19.340 --> 00:45:21.679
to just go take care of yourself and have self-care.
1001
00:45:22.019 --> 00:45:23.300
When you say that, they're like, oh, that's a little
1002
00:45:23.320 --> 00:45:25.769
bit harsh. Well, you know what? That is what the
1003
00:45:25.809 --> 00:45:28.510
truth is. Someone's got to lead. God said, it's you.
1004
00:45:28.809 --> 00:45:30.909
And in the moment, even though, you know, even though
1005
00:45:30.929 --> 00:45:32.550
you may be having all the, all the things that
1006
00:45:32.590 --> 00:45:34.309
want to jump on you and you're seeing things fall
1007
00:45:34.369 --> 00:45:35.849
apart and it's like, oh my gosh, this is scary.
1008
00:45:35.889 --> 00:45:38.429
Or this is whatever. That's whenever it's like, that's when
1009
00:45:38.449 --> 00:45:40.940
you choose the truth. My what's required of me to
1010
00:45:40.980 --> 00:45:44.019
be the leader. What does people need? They need somebody solid, dependable.
1011
00:45:44.079 --> 00:45:46.420
That's not falling apart and crying and thinking about themselves.
1012
00:45:46.699 --> 00:45:48.639
So that means that you don't have time to shed tears.
1013
00:45:49.019 --> 00:45:50.460
You have to step up and be strong. And that's
1014
00:45:50.480 --> 00:45:52.699
whenever people like, well, that's a little bit harsh. But
1015
00:45:52.719 --> 00:45:56.320
there's a harshness to the consistency of truth and principles
1016
00:45:56.880 --> 00:45:58.800
as we understand it. And I think that's because we've
1017
00:45:58.840 --> 00:45:59.420
gotten soft.
1018
00:46:00.119 --> 00:46:06.460
And if not tears, then anger. Anger is weak and
1019
00:46:06.559 --> 00:46:11.119
anger is selfish. Nick, Faith is just now getting to
1020
00:46:11.159 --> 00:46:13.880
that age where she's starting to act a little bit more.
1021
00:46:13.980 --> 00:46:18.389
My youngest, she's almost a year and a half and
1022
00:46:18.429 --> 00:46:20.289
starting to get to that age where she's not doing
1023
00:46:20.309 --> 00:46:22.829
baby stuff anymore, but doing toddler stuff. And I had
1024
00:46:22.849 --> 00:46:25.969
the first instance the other day where like she was
1025
00:46:25.989 --> 00:46:28.070
doing something. I just picked her up and carried her
1026
00:46:28.210 --> 00:46:30.090
out of the situation. That's just kind of all you
1027
00:46:30.139 --> 00:46:33.000
do with them at that age. But she like and
1028
00:46:33.039 --> 00:46:35.000
I set her down and she turned around and looked
1029
00:46:35.019 --> 00:46:38.139
at me. She made a face and like puffed at me,
1030
00:46:38.219 --> 00:46:40.119
threw her hands down and then ran at me and
1031
00:46:40.179 --> 00:46:42.280
hit me in the leg and then turn around and
1032
00:46:42.300 --> 00:46:45.429
threw herself on the ground. I was like, oh, okay, Faith,
1033
00:46:45.510 --> 00:46:48.989
now we're getting into toddler mode. Got it. But that
1034
00:46:49.030 --> 00:46:53.170
was an anger response. And men, when you get upset
1035
00:46:53.389 --> 00:46:55.349
and you get angry at people, I want you to
1036
00:46:55.429 --> 00:46:58.550
see yourself the way that I just described my little girl.
1037
00:46:59.050 --> 00:47:01.769
She's not saying like, well, what's the right thing to
1038
00:47:01.809 --> 00:47:04.289
do here? What should my response be? How could I
1039
00:47:04.429 --> 00:47:07.550
add value here? What does a leader do in this situation?
1040
00:47:07.610 --> 00:47:08.789
She says, no, I don't like the way that you
1041
00:47:08.809 --> 00:47:11.090
made me feel. I'm going to make sure you understand it.
1042
00:47:11.469 --> 00:47:14.289
That's what anger is. As a man, sometimes you're not
1043
00:47:14.309 --> 00:47:15.500
going to like the way your kids talk to you.
1044
00:47:15.510 --> 00:47:16.809
You're not going to like the way that your wife
1045
00:47:17.190 --> 00:47:19.630
talks to you. But you are not a leader when
1046
00:47:19.650 --> 00:47:22.510
you get angry and upset and you think you're huffing
1047
00:47:22.550 --> 00:47:24.550
and puffing and stomping your feet is going to get
1048
00:47:24.570 --> 00:47:27.260
the reaction that you want. That's what happens when you
1049
00:47:27.300 --> 00:47:29.579
follow your feelings. Don't follow your feelings. And so that's
1050
00:47:29.599 --> 00:47:32.420
what we say here. A man who's governed by truth
1051
00:47:32.880 --> 00:47:35.500
instead of emotion. you're going to be someone that people
1052
00:47:35.539 --> 00:47:39.260
can depend on. But if you're governed by emotion versus truth,
1053
00:47:39.659 --> 00:47:41.599
you're going to be someone that gets laughed at. You're
1054
00:47:41.619 --> 00:47:43.920
going to be someone that is untrustworthy. You're going to
1055
00:47:43.960 --> 00:47:46.920
be someone that people can't follow. Let's go on to
1056
00:47:47.079 --> 00:47:51.630
the number three here. Again, these are choices that we
1057
00:47:51.650 --> 00:47:53.510
got to make. We said in the beginning with James too,
1058
00:47:53.570 --> 00:47:56.110
like faith without works is dead. You're going to have
1059
00:47:56.150 --> 00:47:58.510
to make some choices. And here's the third choice. Number
1060
00:47:58.530 --> 00:48:04.570
three is choose faithful action over fear. right? Fear will
1061
00:48:04.670 --> 00:48:07.210
rob you of your destiny. And what's the fruit on
1062
00:48:07.250 --> 00:48:09.969
this one? The fruit is your growth. The fruit is
1063
00:48:10.050 --> 00:48:12.789
courage in your life, the ability to have the right response.
1064
00:48:13.389 --> 00:48:16.309
And the fruit is a greater capacity. Who would like
1065
00:48:16.349 --> 00:48:18.530
to grow? Who would like to be capable of more?
1066
00:48:18.909 --> 00:48:22.269
Who would like to become everything that they're called to be?
1067
00:48:22.690 --> 00:48:25.110
Who would like to have more courage in the face
1068
00:48:25.170 --> 00:48:30.780
of uncertainty? Hebrews chapter 11, verse 8, Abraham obeyed and went.
1069
00:48:31.739 --> 00:48:34.639
even though he did not know where he was going.
1070
00:48:35.800 --> 00:48:37.960
Abraham didn't need a complete plan. He didn't need to
1071
00:48:38.000 --> 00:48:40.429
know all the details. All he had to do was
1072
00:48:40.449 --> 00:48:43.389
he had to trust the one who is giving the instruction.
1073
00:48:43.869 --> 00:48:47.409
That's faithful action. God, I don't need all the details.
1074
00:48:47.730 --> 00:48:51.329
I know who you are. Think about it. Let me
1075
00:48:51.369 --> 00:48:57.119
make a more practical example. Nick's understanding of the battlefield,
1076
00:48:57.219 --> 00:49:01.050
Nick's understanding of weapons, things like that, It's very junior.
1077
00:49:01.289 --> 00:49:03.530
It may be more than someone who knows nothing just
1078
00:49:03.550 --> 00:49:05.760
from some of the time that we've spent together. But
1079
00:49:05.820 --> 00:49:10.280
in practical reality, Nick has next to no experience. However,
1080
00:49:10.880 --> 00:49:14.199
Nick knows me really well. Nick knows my experience level.
1081
00:49:14.699 --> 00:49:17.409
He knows how I handle things. We could get into
1082
00:49:17.489 --> 00:49:20.769
any situation and I could just say like, Nick, I
1083
00:49:20.809 --> 00:49:23.070
want you to grab this gun, hop over this wall,
1084
00:49:23.239 --> 00:49:25.780
run that direction, start shooting up at the hill. And
1085
00:49:25.800 --> 00:49:27.659
he would just say, okay. Right.
1086
00:49:27.739 --> 00:49:27.940
Why?
1087
00:49:27.960 --> 00:49:29.679
Because he just trusts me. He knows I know what
1088
00:49:29.699 --> 00:49:32.880
I'm talking about. This is what happens when you understand
1089
00:49:32.920 --> 00:49:35.380
the character of God. You're going to say, God, okay,
1090
00:49:35.800 --> 00:49:37.619
I'm just going to trust you in this, even though
1091
00:49:37.639 --> 00:49:40.769
I don't know how this is supposed to work out. Yeah.
1092
00:49:40.789 --> 00:49:45.150
And this situation actually happened whenever we played airsoft. We
1093
00:49:45.530 --> 00:49:47.349
used some battlefield tactics and Garrett told me what to
1094
00:49:47.409 --> 00:49:49.829
do and it was very effective. But yeah, I mean,
1095
00:49:49.849 --> 00:49:51.570
that's such a great way of, that's such a great
1096
00:49:51.610 --> 00:49:54.469
way of putting it. That analogy for me personally hits
1097
00:49:54.489 --> 00:49:57.329
home because it's a hundred percent accurate. And like, like
1098
00:49:57.369 --> 00:49:59.489
we said, if you want to grow in your faith, no,
1099
00:49:59.750 --> 00:50:02.590
no God, like, like spend time with them because what
1100
00:50:02.610 --> 00:50:04.909
the example you just gave is a hundred percent because
1101
00:50:04.949 --> 00:50:07.489
I trust you and I trust your, your knowledge of tactics.
1102
00:50:07.829 --> 00:50:10.400
The more you start to like, you get close to God,
1103
00:50:10.900 --> 00:50:13.159
you start, you stop doubting whether he's going to act
1104
00:50:13.219 --> 00:50:15.679
for your good. Because I think that's really where, when
1105
00:50:15.699 --> 00:50:18.659
we talk about, you know, choosing a faithful action over fear,
1106
00:50:18.920 --> 00:50:20.880
I think a lot of people's fear is tied to, yeah,
1107
00:50:20.900 --> 00:50:23.090
but what if God doesn't? And like, when you start
1108
00:50:23.130 --> 00:50:24.630
to know God, you go, you know what, but even
1109
00:50:24.670 --> 00:50:27.030
if he doesn't, right? And that's a very good thing
1110
00:50:27.050 --> 00:50:30.010
because you know, he's still good. But if you don't
1111
00:50:30.050 --> 00:50:32.230
know his character very well, like, well, that's when you
1112
00:50:32.250 --> 00:50:34.739
start asking questions. Well, how could a loving God do this?
1113
00:50:35.400 --> 00:50:38.079
And these are questions that people who have spent zero
1114
00:50:38.119 --> 00:50:41.579
time actually pressed into the presence of God, they just
1115
00:50:41.619 --> 00:50:43.639
hear about some Bible story in the Old Testament and
1116
00:50:43.659 --> 00:50:45.070
they go, how could a loving God, I'm going to
1117
00:50:45.090 --> 00:50:47.170
throw the whole thing out. And it's a shame because
1118
00:50:47.190 --> 00:50:49.289
it's like, man, you're not, you're like, that's like seeing
1119
00:50:49.329 --> 00:50:52.769
somebody for five seconds and judging them on the entirety
1120
00:50:52.789 --> 00:50:55.500
of their character, which unfortunately is called the internet and
1121
00:50:55.559 --> 00:50:57.059
social media. And it's what we do a lot of.
1122
00:50:57.300 --> 00:50:59.360
Don't do that with God. And don't do that with people.
1123
00:50:59.440 --> 00:51:01.380
You're going to end up with a lot of wrong conclusions.
1124
00:51:02.039 --> 00:51:02.840
What's the fruit of that?
1125
00:51:03.610 --> 00:51:05.750
So, well, faith, I'll get to the fruit in just
1126
00:51:05.769 --> 00:51:08.329
a second, but faith requires, right? This is what is it?
1127
00:51:08.429 --> 00:51:13.110
What is the choice here? Choose faithful action over fear
1128
00:51:13.409 --> 00:51:16.909
and faithful action requires, it requires us to have faith
1129
00:51:16.989 --> 00:51:19.530
before we get the certainty. The certainty may come or
1130
00:51:19.570 --> 00:51:21.960
we may see the answer later, but we're going to
1131
00:51:21.980 --> 00:51:24.659
have to have, we're going to have to have to
1132
00:51:25.099 --> 00:51:27.920
make faithful choices before we see the results that we
1133
00:51:27.940 --> 00:51:30.260
want to see what this looks like. This is having
1134
00:51:30.639 --> 00:51:35.090
difficult conversations instead of avoiding them. Men, sometimes you've got
1135
00:51:35.110 --> 00:51:36.530
to talk to your wife about stuff that you don't
1136
00:51:36.550 --> 00:51:38.110
want to talk to them about, and you're going to
1137
00:51:38.130 --> 00:51:40.409
have to deal with it. You may not get the
1138
00:51:40.449 --> 00:51:42.590
certainty of, is this going to get the response, or
1139
00:51:42.610 --> 00:51:43.869
is this going to go the way that I want
1140
00:51:43.909 --> 00:51:45.969
it to go? That isn't like, hey, I'm going to
1141
00:51:46.250 --> 00:51:48.269
really give my wife a piece of my mind. That's
1142
00:51:48.289 --> 00:51:50.750
not what I'm talking about. You need to address what's right,
1143
00:51:50.829 --> 00:51:53.150
and you need to address what's true. You need to
1144
00:51:53.210 --> 00:51:56.909
make the right decision, especially when the cost is really high.
1145
00:51:57.329 --> 00:52:00.449
Everyone has integrity when it's easy, but when integrity is expensive,
1146
00:52:00.860 --> 00:52:03.630
that's really the test. And you've got to do this saying,
1147
00:52:03.650 --> 00:52:06.269
you know what? I'm about to go tell this person
1148
00:52:06.630 --> 00:52:09.150
what happened, or I'm about to go explain to these
1149
00:52:09.210 --> 00:52:11.989
people how this business deal is about to go. And
1150
00:52:12.030 --> 00:52:14.760
I'm nearly certain that it's going to be a consequence
1151
00:52:14.820 --> 00:52:16.429
for me. I'm going to be the one that has
1152
00:52:16.449 --> 00:52:18.079
to fix this, be the one that has to pay
1153
00:52:18.159 --> 00:52:20.619
for it. Even in that situation where you know that
1154
00:52:20.639 --> 00:52:24.000
you're going to get the consequence, what you're doing is, God,
1155
00:52:24.039 --> 00:52:26.980
I trust your principles. I trust your character. Instead of
1156
00:52:27.019 --> 00:52:28.940
trying to think, how could I get the most money
1157
00:52:29.000 --> 00:52:32.329
through this singular transaction? What I'm going to say is, God,
1158
00:52:32.369 --> 00:52:35.969
what honors you? What glorifies you? And that wisdom, that
1159
00:52:36.030 --> 00:52:38.789
wisdom is what's going to lead to your fruitfulness and
1160
00:52:38.829 --> 00:52:42.320
your success. This is you deciding, I'm going to step
1161
00:52:42.380 --> 00:52:45.599
into the responsibility that God has placed on my life.
1162
00:52:46.340 --> 00:52:48.139
Instead of saying, like, how do I just get to
1163
00:52:48.159 --> 00:52:50.699
the next position or the next title, the next thing
1164
00:52:50.719 --> 00:52:52.860
that I want? God, I'm just going to trust in you.
1165
00:52:52.920 --> 00:52:55.719
So you've got to continue doing what's right, even when
1166
00:52:55.760 --> 00:52:59.480
you don't see the results. The fear is, what if this?
1167
00:52:59.599 --> 00:53:00.980
What if that? What if it doesn't work out the
1168
00:53:01.000 --> 00:53:02.559
way that I want it to? This is where we're
1169
00:53:02.579 --> 00:53:05.579
going to choose faithful action, even if it looks terrible.
1170
00:53:06.019 --> 00:53:08.179
Even if Garrett's telling me I got to jump over
1171
00:53:08.219 --> 00:53:11.010
the wall and charge this hill where people are shooting
1172
00:53:11.070 --> 00:53:13.829
at me, I'm going to choose the faithful action over
1173
00:53:13.889 --> 00:53:16.949
fear because I trust in God. I trust in his character.
1174
00:53:17.360 --> 00:53:19.500
instead of just what I think the next result's going
1175
00:53:19.559 --> 00:53:23.000
to be. You've played that tape. You've done this in
1176
00:53:23.039 --> 00:53:26.429
your life already where you tried to step where, hey,
1177
00:53:26.469 --> 00:53:28.309
this is where I think I have the most control.
1178
00:53:28.349 --> 00:53:30.809
This is where I think I can force the outcome
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00:53:30.829 --> 00:53:33.309
of a situation. And how far did that get you?
1180
00:53:33.949 --> 00:53:36.090
It didn't get you where you wanted to go. So
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00:53:36.130 --> 00:53:38.679
we've got to decide to have faithful action over fear.
1182
00:53:39.119 --> 00:53:42.179
And the fruit of this is when you're taking on
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00:53:42.219 --> 00:53:46.380
this extra responsibility, when you're stepping over the wall, when
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00:53:46.400 --> 00:53:49.360
you're having a difficult conversation, when you do these things,
1185
00:53:49.739 --> 00:53:53.980
your capacity grows. Every time you make decisions, every time
1186
00:53:54.039 --> 00:53:57.889
you act in faith and you're practicing courage, you're strengthening
1187
00:53:57.909 --> 00:54:02.710
your perseverance, you're developing confidence in God's faithfulness in your life.
1188
00:54:03.150 --> 00:54:06.050
And this is James chapter one, verse three and four.
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Because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
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Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be
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00:54:16.170 --> 00:54:22.010
mature and complete, not lacking anything. God isn't just interested
1192
00:54:22.030 --> 00:54:24.489
in what you can accomplish. He's not interested in what
1193
00:54:24.530 --> 00:54:28.030
your faith accomplishes. What God cares about, what God is
1194
00:54:28.150 --> 00:54:31.489
interested in, is who your faith is transforming you into.
1195
00:54:31.940 --> 00:54:35.400
And that's why God cares about faithful action, right? God's
1196
00:54:35.480 --> 00:54:38.599
not just trying to make you be bold, but what
1197
00:54:38.639 --> 00:54:41.480
God wants to see is who you become through this
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00:54:41.579 --> 00:54:44.480
process of trusting in him. He's not just saying, well,
1199
00:54:44.519 --> 00:54:46.400
let's see how much these guys really believe in me.
1200
00:54:46.679 --> 00:54:50.119
That's not what it's about. God's developing you into someone
1201
00:54:50.360 --> 00:54:52.039
who's like, you'll trust me in the battle. And if
1202
00:54:52.079 --> 00:54:54.059
you'll trust me in the battle, I can take you
1203
00:54:54.099 --> 00:54:56.739
to the next place and to the next place. God
1204
00:54:56.780 --> 00:55:00.579
cares because we're his children. God cares greatly about our development,
1205
00:55:00.659 --> 00:55:03.019
specifically about our character development.
1206
00:55:04.119 --> 00:55:06.010
Yeah, that is so good. And when you see it
1207
00:55:06.050 --> 00:55:07.550
like that, that's why I said, like, the more you
1208
00:55:07.590 --> 00:55:09.769
know God, the more you realize he's good. And in
1209
00:55:09.809 --> 00:55:12.929
Romans 8, 28 through 30 gives us the template of
1210
00:55:12.989 --> 00:55:15.559
what he has. He says, those he foreknew, he predestined
1211
00:55:15.579 --> 00:55:17.440
to be conformed to the image of his son, that
1212
00:55:17.480 --> 00:55:20.679
he would be the firstborn among many brothers. And that's
1213
00:55:20.760 --> 00:55:24.139
when you realize that that's what God's, that's God's desire
1214
00:55:24.199 --> 00:55:27.769
for you. you'll start seeing every test as an opportunity
1215
00:55:27.809 --> 00:55:29.409
rather than as something that's like, oh, I wish it
1216
00:55:29.429 --> 00:55:32.030
would go away because you realize that what God's developing
1217
00:55:32.110 --> 00:55:35.070
is perseverance. He's conforming your character. I mean, Jesus, it
1218
00:55:35.110 --> 00:55:36.130
says when he was on the earth, he was a
1219
00:55:36.170 --> 00:55:39.869
man of many sorrows. It's like, okay, if that's how
1220
00:55:39.929 --> 00:55:41.869
he treated Jesus when he was on the earth, like
1221
00:55:41.909 --> 00:55:44.210
we should expect no different, but we should also understand
1222
00:55:44.269 --> 00:55:46.889
what's happening from that, that for the joy set before him,
1223
00:55:46.929 --> 00:55:49.150
he endured the scorn of the cross. There is a
1224
00:55:49.230 --> 00:55:52.070
joy in it, right? And that's your favorite scripture, consider
1225
00:55:52.110 --> 00:55:54.590
it all joy. That's like the development and the maturity
1226
00:55:54.630 --> 00:55:57.409
of faith. That's capacity growing is that in the fire,
1227
00:55:57.449 --> 00:55:59.510
you're going like, man, I'm made for this. Like God,
1228
00:55:59.530 --> 00:56:01.929
you're at work. So like, we want to see people be,
1229
00:56:02.150 --> 00:56:04.550
be men of faith. The world needs great men of faith.
1230
00:56:04.590 --> 00:56:07.300
We've got so many people, um, you know, I, I've
1231
00:56:07.340 --> 00:56:08.880
read this thing. I can't remember who said it, but
1232
00:56:08.920 --> 00:56:11.460
my wife posted and I reposted it for so like
1233
00:56:11.739 --> 00:56:14.699
the Bible is not for unbelievers. The Bible is for
1234
00:56:14.840 --> 00:56:17.599
us as those who fall after Christ for many people,
1235
00:56:17.860 --> 00:56:21.179
the only Bible they'll ever read is your life. So
1236
00:56:21.260 --> 00:56:23.699
is your life glorifying God or, Are you a person
1237
00:56:23.719 --> 00:56:27.300
who's giving honor and actually placing your bet? Are you
1238
00:56:27.380 --> 00:56:29.280
sitting in the chair like the analogy that we gave?
1239
00:56:29.320 --> 00:56:31.590
Are you the person that when people look at you,
1240
00:56:31.610 --> 00:56:33.630
they're like, man, there's a person of great faith. There's
1241
00:56:33.650 --> 00:56:35.550
a person that whenever times get tough, we know they're
1242
00:56:35.570 --> 00:56:38.269
going to be consistent. I hope that is true of
1243
00:56:38.289 --> 00:56:40.590
you because the world needs men of great faith. God
1244
00:56:40.869 --> 00:56:42.969
chose to work through his sons. And if things are
1245
00:56:42.989 --> 00:56:44.929
going to happen, if his kingdom is going to come,
1246
00:56:44.969 --> 00:56:46.829
it's going to be because he's working through sons like
1247
00:56:46.889 --> 00:56:49.989
you and me. So go out, be a person of faith,
1248
00:56:50.340 --> 00:56:55.179
trust in God. Faithful action over fear, choose obedience over control,
1249
00:56:55.400 --> 00:57:00.920
and choose principles over feelings. Thank you very much for listening, guys.
1250
00:57:01.219 --> 00:57:04.840
Remember to share, like, subscribe. If you think that this.
1251
00:57:04.739 --> 00:57:07.099
Would be something that someone would enjoy, please send it
1252
00:57:07.119 --> 00:57:07.360
to them.
1253
00:57:07.500 --> 00:57:08.380
We appreciate it all.
1254
00:57:08.739 --> 00:57:10.280
If you want to get in touch, you can follow
1255
00:57:10.320 --> 00:57:13.659
us on Instagram at The Impossible Life. You'll find us
1256
00:57:13.719 --> 00:57:18.420
on there. You can also email at impossiblelifepodcast at gmail.com.
1257
00:57:18.619 --> 00:57:20.159
If you have any questions, if you want to get
1258
00:57:20.179 --> 00:57:22.860
in touch and find out about Garrett's personal or business coaching,
1259
00:57:23.199 --> 00:57:23.929
that's the way to do it.
1260
00:57:24.400 --> 00:57:27.280
Thank you again for listening. Go out there, think better,
1261
00:57:27.570 --> 00:57:29.110
and live the impossible. See you again soon.
1262
00:57:29.610 --> 00:57:30.000
Thank you.