WEBVTT 00:00:02.040 --> 00:00:10.349 So we're not third lesson of the lookup series and we're, we're, we're talking about God's calling in our life to look up it consistently throughout the scripture. 00:00:10.589 --> 00:00:14.970 God calls us, look up, look up, look up our first big idea in week. 00:00:14.971 --> 00:00:19.710 Number one was to look up for what down can't offer, what down can't offer. 00:00:20.579 --> 00:00:28.289 Uh, the, uh, Albert Einstein said this, he said the, the, the, the same mentality, the same mind, the same mindset that created a problem. 00:00:28.530 --> 00:00:30.510 Isn't the best one to fix it. 00:00:30.780 --> 00:00:33.689 And humanity we've created our problems. 00:00:33.691 --> 00:00:38.460 We've co we create our problems over and over and over, and we struggle. 00:00:38.490 --> 00:00:44.579 It's easy for us to create them, but it's, it's a really difficult thing for us to begin fixing them. 00:00:44.581 --> 00:00:48.960 And so we do things where we're actually better at distracting from them. 00:00:48.960 --> 00:00:53.280 And so humanity can often shift the focus, but we have a hard time. 00:00:53.280 --> 00:01:02.670 In fact, we're often incapable of redeeming the situation and God, God can redeem it's by looking up that things are redeemed. 00:01:02.670 --> 00:01:21.329 And so the enemy of our soul, however, and we've talked about that a little bit last week, that our, our own carnal nature, the demonic forces in the world around us, as well as the world systems at large, not everyone in the world, but the world systems at large, do their best to pull us down. 00:01:21.331 --> 00:01:27.719 So God's calling us to look up, they're doing everything they can to pull our minds, our eyes down. 00:01:28.379 --> 00:01:37.260 And usually it's most easily done in the mundane moments, the moments where nothing specific, particularly spectacular are going on. 00:01:37.349 --> 00:01:40.920 And so a good day will be destroyed by the mundane. 00:01:41.189 --> 00:01:47.129 And so we said last week, our big idea was that looking up elevates your attention from the mundane. 00:01:47.131 --> 00:01:49.500 It brings revelation into your life. 00:01:49.650 --> 00:01:51.329 And I praise the Lord for revelation. 00:01:51.331 --> 00:01:58.890 It, it produces worship from our lives and, and that is the, the offering from our life to our heavenly father. 00:01:58.891 --> 00:02:02.549 And then it also results in peace in our lives. 00:02:02.551 --> 00:02:05.370 And these are, these are great things, are all things that we want. 00:02:05.370 --> 00:02:12.750 All of us desire, revelation, all of us want to produce worship and all of us want to have peace in our world. 00:02:12.751 --> 00:02:14.240 And, and, and that's good. 00:02:14.241 --> 00:02:21.860 As long as we keep focused, as long as we keep balanced, as long as we know, Oh, where we're at in the process. 00:02:21.860 --> 00:02:25.490 And, and that's a difficult thing is kind of what we're talking about today. 00:02:25.491 --> 00:02:40.159 Because if you take a map, a map, uh, it, whether it be on a mobile device or, or an actual paper physical map that you unfold 7,000 times and can never actually refold it in the same way again. 00:02:40.280 --> 00:02:49.789 But, but if either, either one of those things, if you open up that map and, and you don't know where you're at on the map, the map does you virtually no good. 00:02:50.120 --> 00:03:00.969 If you open up Google maps and there is no blue dot, you're just as lost now as when you started it, it doesn't do any good at all. 00:03:01.000 --> 00:03:10.719 So staying balanced, staying focused, knowing where you're at in the world becomes vitally important as you're trying to move forward in life. 00:03:10.750 --> 00:03:12.759 But you and I both know how it goes. 00:03:12.760 --> 00:03:14.319 We, we start something. 00:03:14.320 --> 00:03:16.240 Well, we start something strong. 00:03:16.270 --> 00:03:19.539 The intention behind it is, is great work. 00:03:19.569 --> 00:03:20.560 We're ready to go. 00:03:20.780 --> 00:03:22.180 We're we're saying good things. 00:03:22.419 --> 00:03:24.520 We know that good stuff's going to happen. 00:03:24.520 --> 00:03:26.830 But then, then life picks up 00:03:27.810 --> 00:03:29.789 Or life slows down. 00:03:31.169 --> 00:03:34.020 And you'll notice a pattern here. 00:03:34.439 --> 00:03:35.069 Either 00:03:35.159 --> 00:03:39.330 Things are going too fast, or they're going too slow. 00:03:40.020 --> 00:03:49.080 If you talk to somebody that's an addict of almost anything that you will hear them repeatedly say, well, things got going so fast. 00:03:49.080 --> 00:03:52.740 And, and because everything was moving so fast, I needed this thing. 00:03:52.741 --> 00:03:58.530 Whatever the focus of their addiction is, I needed this thing to help me cope with how fast everything was going. 00:03:58.770 --> 00:04:06.150 And if everything goes too slow, then I needed the thing that I'm addicted to because everything was just so slow and so boring. 00:04:06.330 --> 00:04:17.850 I needed something to help Ella elevate the moment in my life, Bo, either extreme, uh, I needed this additional thing, but it also, isn't just life faster. 00:04:17.850 --> 00:04:18.269 Slow. 00:04:18.271 --> 00:04:21.029 How about your friends or your kids or your spouses? 00:04:21.990 --> 00:04:29.009 And one minute they're talking to you, not at all, they're distant and removed, and that's your frustration with them. 00:04:29.189 --> 00:04:33.420 And then the next minute they're talking to you every day and, and constantly wanting your attention. 00:04:33.420 --> 00:04:36.000 And now they're clingy and can't do without you. 00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:45.490 I see moms on Facebook often, or social media in general, often talk about having, trying to use the restroom and, and their kid be outside, banging on the door, wanting their attention. 00:04:45.660 --> 00:04:48.209 And, and they're like, Hey, I'm only in here for three minutes. 00:04:48.449 --> 00:04:51.839 I think you can handle life for three minutes without me. 00:04:52.019 --> 00:05:01.889 But on one hand, if, if your kid was never banging on the door and never wanted to talk to, or only wanted to have give you time of day, once a week, you'd be saying they're distant and removed. 00:05:01.891 --> 00:05:06.209 And so, and so the that's not a complaint or a judgment against moms. 00:05:06.389 --> 00:05:08.220 That's a reality that we all 00:05:08.279 --> 00:05:10.379 Live with that, that 00:05:10.410 --> 00:05:13.800 When things are going crazy, then, then that's too much. 00:05:13.800 --> 00:05:18.509 And when things are not going crazy at all, in fact, very calm, then that's to calm. 00:05:18.540 --> 00:05:23.430 Even in our relationship with Christ, it can be where we say, well, I'm really growing and developing. 00:05:23.519 --> 00:05:24.839 And man everything's changing. 00:05:24.841 --> 00:05:26.759 My whole life is never going to be the same again. 00:05:26.910 --> 00:05:28.379 I mean, just everything is awesome. 00:05:28.589 --> 00:05:32.910 And then on the other hand, we can get to the place where we say, I don't feel like I'm growing at all. 00:05:32.911 --> 00:05:35.310 I feel like I'm becoming stagnant and stale. 00:05:35.310 --> 00:05:52.769 And I, I feel like nothing's really happening both sides of, so what we discover is that we end up having a very narrow set of parameters in which if things around us, if our world is operating within these systems, these parameters, then we're happy and fulfilled. 00:05:53.189 --> 00:05:55.560 But if it's on either side of those things, 00:05:55.860 --> 00:05:56.610 We're struggling. 00:05:57.589 --> 00:05:58.370 And 00:05:58.399 --> 00:06:02.000 Sometimes I hear people say, you know what? 00:06:02.930 --> 00:06:04.790 I feel like I'm just running in circles. 00:06:05.480 --> 00:06:07.399 I don't really know who I am anymore. 00:06:08.329 --> 00:06:10.699 I feel like I've lost myself. 00:06:11.720 --> 00:06:12.589 Here's the reality. 00:06:12.591 --> 00:06:13.910 You haven't lost yourself. 00:06:13.911 --> 00:06:15.379 You standing right there. 00:06:15.920 --> 00:06:18.230 It's physically impossible to lose yourself. 00:06:19.040 --> 00:06:24.259 But what you're actually saying is I've lost the bearings in my life. 00:06:25.009 --> 00:06:26.899 I don't know where I'm standing anymore. 00:06:27.589 --> 00:06:29.750 I don't know where I'm at on the map anymore. 00:06:30.620 --> 00:06:33.439 I feel like things are too fast or too slow. 00:06:33.440 --> 00:06:40.730 And suddenly I've, I've kind of lost scope of where I am and where I fit in 00:06:40.730 --> 00:06:41.329 The hole. 00:06:42.529 --> 00:06:42.889 And we can 00:06:42.889 --> 00:06:48.079 Learn something for some guys who understood the value of keeping their bearings. 00:06:49.029 --> 00:06:49.629 Right? 00:06:50.829 --> 00:06:52.660 The story is in Matthew chapter two, 00:06:53.649 --> 00:07:03.910 The scripture says now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the King, behold wise, men from the East came to Jerusalem saying, where is he? 00:07:03.911 --> 00:07:11.019 Who has been born King of the Jews for, we saw his star when it Rose and have come to worship him. 00:07:12.339 --> 00:07:13.509 These are Wiseman. 00:07:14.500 --> 00:07:16.300 They are astrologers. 00:07:16.930 --> 00:07:21.399 They are pagan in their belief system. 00:07:21.430 --> 00:07:23.589 The stars were, were aware. 00:07:23.591 --> 00:07:30.100 God gods, depending on their belief system, uh, would display their will to the world. 00:07:30.370 --> 00:07:32.920 And so they watched the stars very, very carefully. 00:07:33.699 --> 00:07:38.079 They understood what star was, where and when it was supposed to be here versus there. 00:07:38.081 --> 00:07:41.800 And they, they knew when there was an anomaly, somewhere in the heavens. 00:07:41.800 --> 00:07:47.680 And when that happened, they, they worked hard to try to figure out what was supposed to go on or what was happening. 00:07:47.680 --> 00:07:51.100 What were the gods or what was God trying to say? 00:07:53.019 --> 00:07:53.379 So when 00:07:53.379 --> 00:07:59.769 They saw this particular star rise, its appearance caused them to take notes. 00:07:59.800 --> 00:08:07.480 In fact, it became so noteworthy that they packed up everything that they had, and they began a long journey. 00:08:08.110 --> 00:08:19.480 Most scholars believe that, that this star appeared when Jesus was born and that they did not arrive to where the child was until he was approximately two years old. 00:08:20.170 --> 00:08:22.120 So this is two years. 00:08:23.470 --> 00:08:30.519 Uh, one, one note that pastor Benton told me, he said, I don't know how many people are going to be happy to know that the Y has been in their nativity scene. 00:08:30.521 --> 00:08:36.580 It's probably an accurate, I'm sorry, y'all keep them there. 00:08:36.789 --> 00:08:39.070 You're not hurting Jesus's feelings with, with them. 00:08:39.250 --> 00:08:40.360 They're you're, you're good. 00:08:41.259 --> 00:08:43.419 But that's two years of focus. 00:08:43.840 --> 00:08:45.700 That's two years of investment. 00:08:46.210 --> 00:08:49.509 That's two years of hope and an expectation. 00:08:49.960 --> 00:08:52.059 That's two years of travel. 00:08:52.750 --> 00:08:54.129 It's one thing to start. 00:08:54.129 --> 00:08:57.450 Well, it's another thing to, to sustain that thing. 00:08:58.019 --> 00:09:02.070 When I hear people that have been married, you know, for two weeks, I think. 00:09:02.159 --> 00:09:02.759 Awesome. 00:09:02.940 --> 00:09:07.259 And when they say marriage is the best thing ever, I think, great. 00:09:07.320 --> 00:09:08.460 I'm glad you feel that way. 00:09:08.461 --> 00:09:09.360 That's wonderful. 00:09:09.870 --> 00:09:20.460 It's when I, but, but I'm not nearly as impressed as when I talk to somebody who's been married for 50 years or 60 years, and they say marriage is awesome, or this friendship is beautiful. 00:09:20.610 --> 00:09:28.169 I taught, met somebody the other day, who was having coffee with a friend of theirs that they've had for almost 45 years. 00:09:28.409 --> 00:09:33.330 And, and I just, I love the fact that there are, that you can have old friends. 00:09:33.331 --> 00:09:37.710 My pastor Brett Jones often says you can't make new old friends. 00:09:40.470 --> 00:09:41.370 It's a beautiful thing. 00:09:42.090 --> 00:09:45.029 And it's an easy thing to start something strong. 00:09:45.570 --> 00:09:49.259 It's like kids, kids can have a new best friend every day of the week. 00:09:50.549 --> 00:09:54.090 Teenagers fall in love with a new person every day of the week. 00:09:54.539 --> 00:09:57.029 You ask them, Hey, how's Johnny doing? 00:09:57.030 --> 00:09:57.720 Who's Johnny. 00:09:58.580 --> 00:09:59.610 How's Bob Dunn. 00:09:59.610 --> 00:10:00.480 Who's Bob. 00:10:01.279 --> 00:10:03.360 The, the guy that you were in love with last week. 00:10:03.639 --> 00:10:05.720 Oh, Oh, Oh news. 00:10:10.159 --> 00:10:11.690 I don't even know his name anymore. 00:10:12.620 --> 00:10:20.720 That's old news because, because to start a thing, that's easy to maintain a thing that's much more difficult than no doubt. 00:10:21.200 --> 00:10:23.330 These wise men had an opportunity. 00:10:23.840 --> 00:10:36.620 In two years of travel, they had an opportunity to be, to, to lose their bearing and their direction and their purpose and their devotion as they make their progress toward this newborn King. 00:10:36.620 --> 00:10:39.110 So, so how did they maintain their bearings? 00:10:39.110 --> 00:10:49.610 How can you and I maintain our bearings today, they maintain their bearings by constantly looking up and you, and I must do the same. 00:10:49.730 --> 00:10:51.169 Here's our big idea today. 00:10:51.289 --> 00:10:53.450 Look up to keep your 00:10:54.049 --> 00:10:54.049 Bearing. 00:10:55.279 --> 00:11:02.240 If you want to know where you're at on the plane of life, keep your eyes focused up. 00:11:02.690 --> 00:11:11.210 Jim Harris is a great part of this church and, and has been here and just follows us online quite a bit right now. 00:11:11.389 --> 00:11:17.960 And, and, uh, he, after hearing the first lesson of this, uh, series, he sent me an email, a very kind email. 00:11:17.961 --> 00:11:19.759 And in it was the story. 00:11:19.909 --> 00:11:22.940 And I asked his permission to share this with you today. 00:11:22.941 --> 00:11:29.750 And he gave it, he, he served years ago at the RAF Lakenheath, uh, base in England. 00:11:30.740 --> 00:11:34.519 Uh, he was part of air force projects and, and he writes us. 00:11:34.520 --> 00:11:37.100 He said, I ran on the bass track team. 00:11:37.850 --> 00:11:42.110 And we, they do this early in the morning, they'd go out and that exercise and run on the track. 00:11:42.110 --> 00:11:44.269 And he said in foggy conditions, 00:11:44.659 --> 00:11:48.169 Which England fogging 00:11:48.679 --> 00:11:53.799 Often foggy in the morning, he said, we'd start groups of runners in timed intervals. 00:11:54.549 --> 00:11:59.200 The object of the game was to catch the runners that were in ahead of you. 00:12:00.070 --> 00:12:10.360 And I found that the way the light bounced off the fog of the track meant that I, if I look down while running, I would lose my balance and I'd fall down, 00:12:11.639 --> 00:12:15.779 Had to look up to keep my sense of presence. 00:12:16.889 --> 00:12:17.580 So when he was 00:12:18.240 --> 00:12:22.320 Look down, he would actually lose his balance and fall. 00:12:22.980 --> 00:12:29.009 But if he kept his eyes up, if he looked up then his, he kept his bearings, right? 00:12:29.460 --> 00:12:32.429 And he was able to keep a sense of presence. 00:12:33.240 --> 00:12:33.240 Nowhere. 00:12:33.240 --> 00:12:37.799 He was know what he was doing, and he could be effective. 00:12:38.399 --> 00:12:40.740 That's how the equilibrium in your body works. 00:12:40.740 --> 00:12:54.929 If you're, if, if it takes in the information from the world around you and lets, you know, am I standing this way, this way, this way, this way, this way, this way, this way, where, where am I in relationship to what's going on around me? 00:12:54.960 --> 00:13:00.210 And, and it adjusts according to the information that it has received. 00:13:00.450 --> 00:13:13.409 And, and he said, if I looked down suddenly I couldn't figure out where I was and I would literally fall over how many of us have fallen over simply because we were not looking up and I have three thoughts for us today. 00:13:13.409 --> 00:13:26.039 And thought, number one is this, look up to stabilize your direction, look up to stabilize your direction, develop consistency and where you're going in life. 00:13:26.041 --> 00:13:29.940 And you will arrive there, develop consistency. 00:13:30.480 --> 00:13:34.799 It's so easy to say, I'm going here and I'm going here and I'm going here and I'm going here. 00:13:34.980 --> 00:13:36.659 And there's no sense of consistency. 00:13:36.660 --> 00:13:39.750 And ultimately you realize that you've gone nowhere at all. 00:13:40.529 --> 00:13:45.659 If you keep a sense of consistency and where you're going, you'll ultimately arrive. 00:13:45.870 --> 00:13:48.330 But there is a, there's an enemy. 00:13:48.360 --> 00:13:49.799 There's an enemy of arrival. 00:13:49.980 --> 00:13:53.100 And here it is, distance is the enemy of direction. 00:13:54.779 --> 00:13:56.909 The longer it takes to get somewhere 00:13:58.409 --> 00:14:04.230 More time between beginning and ending, the greater, the chance that it will get off 00:14:05.100 --> 00:14:08.190 Course that it will find another direction. 00:14:10.230 --> 00:14:13.289 These Majaila, they were from the East, they had 00:14:13.379 --> 00:14:16.350 The travel along long way. 00:14:16.379 --> 00:14:25.710 They had looked up, they had received revelation enough revelation that caused them to travel for two solid years in a direction away from their Homeland. 00:14:25.980 --> 00:14:32.460 In order to see this new born King and countless times they could have, they could have turned around. 00:14:32.580 --> 00:14:34.139 They could have lost their way. 00:14:34.320 --> 00:14:39.809 How many storms do you think that they walked through and, and rode through during that time? 00:14:40.080 --> 00:14:49.830 How many times did they have an overcast night where they couldn't see the stars clearly and, and that one star wasn't there so bright and so prominent. 00:14:50.320 --> 00:15:02.299 How, how many times do you think that somebody in the group and I don't know how big the group was specifically, but how many maybe, maybe, you know, with it, six months in that the first person said, Hey guys, is this really worth? 00:15:02.360 --> 00:15:02.360 It 00:15:04.419 --> 00:15:06.789 Was that a year before 00:15:06.879 --> 00:15:10.570 Somebody said, riding this camel's getting really old right now. 00:15:12.309 --> 00:15:13.960 I don't know how many times they heard. 00:15:13.961 --> 00:15:15.100 Are we there yet? 00:15:15.370 --> 00:15:15.370 Yeah. 00:15:18.879 --> 00:15:21.669 I mean, good night, you're riding a camel for two years. 00:15:21.671 --> 00:15:23.769 That seems like a pretty big deal. 00:15:23.950 --> 00:15:25.210 And maybe it was walking. 00:15:25.211 --> 00:15:26.830 Maybe it was Campbell's maybe it was donkey. 00:15:27.159 --> 00:15:37.240 The reality is they have two years of hard travel, but ultimately they arrive at their destination because they consistently look up. 00:15:37.330 --> 00:15:44.110 And how many plans in your life and in mine have been lost because we were looking down. 00:15:44.440 --> 00:15:47.590 So we lost our direction or we just simply 00:15:47.590 --> 00:15:49.990 Quit because that 00:15:49.990 --> 00:15:53.799 Thing wasn't, didn't seem quite as important as it used to. 00:15:54.340 --> 00:16:00.220 Maybe you started your relationship with Christ and you started strong and, and you were on fire and you were a man. 00:16:00.221 --> 00:16:03.250 It was going to happen and wow, what God was doing in your life. 00:16:03.279 --> 00:16:06.039 But somewhere along the way, you just kind of got lost. 00:16:06.669 --> 00:16:08.320 Just kinda like, Hmm 00:16:10.269 --> 00:16:10.750 Don't you love it. 00:16:10.750 --> 00:16:17.289 When an explanation is maybe you were going to start a business, 00:16:18.129 --> 00:16:21.730 But time has passed and you haven't quite arrived yet. 00:16:21.730 --> 00:16:22.570 And so, 00:16:24.070 --> 00:16:30.279 You know, maybe you're building a relationship with somebody, but things happen. 00:16:31.570 --> 00:16:31.990 You know, 00:16:32.409 --> 00:16:35.169 Here's a, just, uh, this is free of charge right here. 00:16:35.679 --> 00:16:37.210 Things always happen. 00:16:38.590 --> 00:16:40.450 Things are constantly happening. 00:16:41.350 --> 00:16:43.570 So it doesn't matter what you're going to do in life. 00:16:44.500 --> 00:16:48.549 Things are going to happen and you're going to have to overcome some stuff. 00:16:49.450 --> 00:17:00.789 There are amazing amounts of stories that begin with we were gunna, and then there's a whole middle section that explains what they were going to do and how they going to do it. 00:17:00.820 --> 00:17:09.039 But the things that Rose and the problem that existed and the issue that happened and, and then it ends with, so we didn't 00:17:09.490 --> 00:17:09.819 Do it. 00:17:11.380 --> 00:17:12.039 In fact, that's one of the, 00:17:13.180 --> 00:17:14.440 The self-aggrandizing statement. 00:17:14.441 --> 00:17:15.250 It's just one. 00:17:15.309 --> 00:17:18.910 It was the catalyst for the book, Noel that I released a couple of years ago. 00:17:18.911 --> 00:17:26.589 And it was, it was because I saw so many, so much information out there on, on, you know, how to figure out what you were supposed to do. 00:17:26.740 --> 00:17:30.700 And then so many things on, you know, how to live in the blessing of it. 00:17:30.849 --> 00:17:37.210 But there's a whole lot of space between starting a thing and ending up in the blessing of a thing. 00:17:37.359 --> 00:17:40.839 And that's a process that you go through in life. 00:17:41.079 --> 00:17:46.630 And, and how do you go through that process in a healthy way, in a way that's productive and helping you move forward. 00:17:46.631 --> 00:17:50.640 And that's ultimately why I ended up writing that particular book. 00:17:50.880 --> 00:18:09.029 The bottom line is that we have to stay the course, but staying the course is hard because when we look down and we go, we automatically start seeing the limitations that are there and the obstacles that are there and the, the hindrances that are there and the issues that are arising and, and all of that becomes our focus. 00:18:09.119 --> 00:18:10.200 And here's the reality. 00:18:10.201 --> 00:18:13.079 We have to navigate every single one of those. 00:18:13.230 --> 00:18:15.299 We can't act like they don't exist. 00:18:15.420 --> 00:18:20.339 We have to navigate every single one of them deal with every single one of them. 00:18:20.340 --> 00:18:22.259 But here's something you might want to write down. 00:18:22.470 --> 00:18:26.910 Your destination must remain brighter than your difficulty. 00:18:27.630 --> 00:18:30.569 It must remain brighter than your difficulty. 00:18:30.930 --> 00:18:35.460 If it doesn't, your difficulty will overwhelm your destination and you will stop. 00:18:35.461 --> 00:18:37.680 You will give up, you'll give up on the relationship. 00:18:37.769 --> 00:18:38.970 You'll give up on the marriage. 00:18:39.089 --> 00:18:40.170 You'll give up on the business. 00:18:40.289 --> 00:18:41.849 You'll give up on the walk with Christ. 00:18:41.851 --> 00:18:47.339 You'll give up on whatever it may be that you are pressing toward in this particular moment. 00:18:47.670 --> 00:18:55.650 Yes, every difficulty must be navigated, but they cannot become our focus in life. 00:18:55.829 --> 00:18:59.609 And when your difficulty becomes your focus, then your energy is wasted. 00:19:00.380 --> 00:19:01.369 It's wasted. 00:19:01.970 --> 00:19:03.769 It's like a person in the woods. 00:19:04.190 --> 00:19:22.190 It is, it was known that if you were in the woods by yourself and you are trying to navigate your way out of the woods without a compass, or what have you, the natural tendency is to walk in a circle, to walk in a circle where you end up back in the same place as you started from at the beginning. 00:19:22.430 --> 00:19:23.779 And the reason is simple. 00:19:24.049 --> 00:19:30.559 If I'm in the middle of this forest right here, I can't see past this tree or past this tree. 00:19:30.740 --> 00:19:34.190 I can't see beyond the present the now. 00:19:34.309 --> 00:19:41.210 And so because of that, my natural tendency is to, is to go and in log a very large circle, big. 00:19:41.269 --> 00:19:57.019 And in the, in the woods, it's a little bit easier because I can, maybe I can climb a tree or maybe I can find a tall place of the ground where maybe there's a Hill or a mountain or an outcropping, something that I can climb up on and get a little bit of a vantage point. 00:19:57.349 --> 00:20:00.109 But the reality is in life, there isn't a Hill. 00:20:00.111 --> 00:20:05.359 I can't, I can't go climb the Hill of Thursday or the Hill of Wednesday. 00:20:05.509 --> 00:20:07.160 I, I, there, there isn't one there. 00:20:07.161 --> 00:20:10.160 In fact, there are no Hills at all in Northwest Ohio. 00:20:10.250 --> 00:20:13.220 So I don't have that ability. 00:20:13.221 --> 00:20:18.349 So what I have to do is I have to not take my bearings from what is on this earth. 00:20:18.500 --> 00:20:22.099 I have to take my bearings from what comes down from heaven. 00:20:23.930 --> 00:20:29.089 And I began looking up, that's the power of the scripture. 00:20:29.480 --> 00:20:30.380 It keeps us looking. 00:20:30.650 --> 00:20:33.349 No, it's the, it's the inerrant word of God. 00:20:33.559 --> 00:20:39.349 But even if it wasn't the inerrant word of God, it would still benefit your life. 00:20:39.680 --> 00:20:44.599 As it offers the guiding star that does not change. 00:20:45.980 --> 00:20:48.670 It continues to be directional point for you. 00:20:49.390 --> 00:20:55.359 These magic, they knew where they were going and looking up, stabilize their direction. 00:20:55.809 --> 00:20:59.920 And that brings us the thought number two, look up to ground. 00:20:59.950 --> 00:21:00.609 Your decision 00:21:02.160 --> 00:21:04.440 To ground your decision. 00:21:05.940 --> 00:21:11.099 It may seem a little odd to say, look up to ground or something. 00:21:12.839 --> 00:21:12.839 Yeah. 00:21:13.440 --> 00:21:14.819 Why would I look up? 00:21:15.359 --> 00:21:21.750 If I'm trying to stabilize something down here, I'm trying to, trying to build a foundation for something down here. 00:21:21.839 --> 00:21:24.359 Why am I looking up? 00:21:25.349 --> 00:21:27.839 Well, let's look at the life of the magic here. 00:21:28.319 --> 00:21:30.150 So they've traveled 00:21:30.150 --> 00:21:31.289 For this whole time. 00:21:31.290 --> 00:21:34.319 And now they've now they've arrived in a place 00:21:35.910 --> 00:21:41.789 That they don't know they're following the star, but like 00:21:41.880 --> 00:21:49.890 Anybody they would, they would think, well, if there's a, a King to be born, then wouldn't the King be born somewhere near royalty. 00:21:49.920 --> 00:21:54.089 Wouldn't he be born somewhere near the capital of the country? 00:21:54.119 --> 00:21:57.420 W you know, let's, let's look there first for this King. 00:21:57.421 --> 00:21:59.309 And so they arrive in there. 00:21:59.400 --> 00:22:04.230 You can tell their level of importance because they're ushered in to see Herod the King. 00:22:04.500 --> 00:22:08.730 And they start talking about what's going on and Harriet here's what's happening. 00:22:08.730 --> 00:22:17.460 And he says, he says, well, then Herod told them, Matthew, two eight, go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. 00:22:18.210 --> 00:22:25.829 And when you find him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him too, skipping down to verse 12. 00:22:25.830 --> 00:22:31.799 It says, now that they've gone to see Jesus, and now they've worshiped at Jesus's feet. 00:22:31.800 --> 00:22:38.009 And now here's their decision in verse 12, Herod's trying to change their chorus. 00:22:38.609 --> 00:22:40.440 Verse 12 tells us what their course 00:22:40.440 --> 00:22:42.750 Actually was, how their 00:22:42.750 --> 00:22:43.680 Course was maintained. 00:22:43.681 --> 00:22:48.539 It says when it was time to leave the nation, go back home. 00:22:48.839 --> 00:22:56.519 They returned to their own country by another route for God had warned them in a dream not to return. 00:22:59.190 --> 00:23:00.660 So here they are. 00:23:01.410 --> 00:23:05.829 They're looking up to ground their decision Herod has. 00:23:05.880 --> 00:23:08.309 I said, I want you to go find him. 00:23:08.430 --> 00:23:09.720 And then let me know about him. 00:23:09.721 --> 00:23:12.809 Come back to me and tell me where he's at, so that I can go worship him. 00:23:14.009 --> 00:23:15.059 But God, 00:23:15.119 --> 00:23:19.380 In a dream, something from above says, don't do that. 00:23:20.640 --> 00:23:21.720 Don't do that. 00:23:23.309 --> 00:23:23.880 Here's something you might, 00:23:23.880 --> 00:23:24.900 I want to write down. 00:23:25.289 --> 00:23:27.990 Your intention is determined by your vision. 00:23:28.890 --> 00:23:31.200 Your intention is determined by your vision. 00:23:31.349 --> 00:23:39.299 What you see, what you understand is becomes the foundational realities of your plans and your projections in life. 00:23:40.319 --> 00:23:41.640 That's why it's so important. 00:23:42.000 --> 00:23:44.730 What we as parents reveal to our kids. 00:23:45.589 --> 00:24:08.690 When, when your child looks at your marriage, they begin to formulate a plan and a projection of what their marital relationship will be like based on what they see in your life, how they see you handle anger and disappointment becomes the foundational principles on which they begin to develop their own ways of handling anger and disappointment. 00:24:09.529 --> 00:24:12.200 If you punch a wall, when you're angry, don't be shocked. 00:24:12.201 --> 00:24:22.089 Whenever your teenager punches In this room understands what I'm talking about. 00:24:22.900 --> 00:24:42.309 If you flip out whenever you're disappointed about something, don't be shocked whenever your children flip out later on in life, whenever they're disappointed about something they're seeing and they're establishing their plans and their projections based upon what they saw, but we can see very different things. 00:24:42.339 --> 00:24:48.339 Even when we're looking at the same thing, the same object is being viewed, but we're seeing different things. 00:24:48.340 --> 00:24:49.690 For instance, the magic. 00:24:50.079 --> 00:24:55.210 They saw a star in the East and from the East, and they began to follow that star. 00:24:55.420 --> 00:25:08.079 A star rising caused a two year journey in their life to worship at the feet of a newborn King Herod on the other hand was five and a half miles from Bethlehem. 00:25:08.410 --> 00:25:13.720 He could see the same night sky, but he was understanding something entirely different. 00:25:14.740 --> 00:25:22.089 His view was entirely different and different vision results in different intentions. 00:25:22.809 --> 00:25:31.630 The match I traveled for two years to worship Herod was willing to go five and a half miles to destroy a rival. 00:25:32.829 --> 00:25:34.390 That's really what he wanted to do. 00:25:35.019 --> 00:25:37.150 He wants that had no intention of worshiping. 00:25:37.539 --> 00:25:40.690 He wanted to kill this young child. 00:25:42.490 --> 00:25:42.940 And when we 00:25:42.940 --> 00:25:52.390 Are looking down and life decisions begin to change rapidly, it would have been easy for the, for the wise men to say, you know what? 00:25:52.450 --> 00:25:55.210 I tell you what, he's the King Herod. 00:25:55.779 --> 00:25:57.190 He can send people after us. 00:25:57.191 --> 00:26:00.309 We could, we could be in real trouble for not doing what he says. 00:26:00.310 --> 00:26:06.789 So, you know, our intention was to worship this newborn King and then go back home to our families and our life. 00:26:07.299 --> 00:26:14.319 But, but you know, now we need to change our decision because we're, we're having these pressures applied to our life. 00:26:15.099 --> 00:26:18.400 And when we're looking down are the footing begins to shift. 00:26:18.401 --> 00:26:22.480 And so it changes how we operate and the situations begin to alter. 00:26:22.599 --> 00:26:30.849 So it changes the overall decision of our life and our, our limited, uh, our limited vision, uh, provides limited data. 00:26:30.940 --> 00:26:33.970 And so our decisions in life begin to change. 00:26:34.150 --> 00:26:37.329 Well, you know, if I stay with them, then this is what's going to happen. 00:26:37.330 --> 00:26:42.309 If I maintain the course and in the company in this way, then, then that could be the case. 00:26:42.310 --> 00:26:45.059 And if I doing this well, this has shifted. 00:26:45.060 --> 00:26:46.650 So, so I've got to change that. 00:26:46.651 --> 00:26:47.849 And now we've got to change this. 00:26:47.851 --> 00:26:51.089 And before you know it, you're, you're going in that circle. 00:26:51.210 --> 00:26:57.480 Once again, the call is to look up, and this is why it's so important in life. 00:26:57.569 --> 00:27:16.980 If you're, if you're dating in the dating world, or maybe you're in a business sense or wherever you're at in life, if you're linking up with other people in life, then it's critical to write this down, link your life with those, seeing the same vision, link your life with those, seeing the same vision. 00:27:17.190 --> 00:27:18.960 You don't want to link your life with somebody. 00:27:18.961 --> 00:27:23.880 That's seeing a different vision because ultimately they are going to go in their direction. 00:27:23.940 --> 00:27:29.569 You couldn't be in a situation where you are going there to worship and they aren't going there to destroy. 00:27:31.490 --> 00:27:34.430 See, I'm the same thing, but completely 00:27:34.430 --> 00:27:36.440 Different vision about it. 00:27:37.910 --> 00:27:38.599 So in a marriage, 00:27:38.660 --> 00:27:44.000 Do you want to make sure that you're, you're linking your life with somebody who says, I see us growing old together. 00:27:44.630 --> 00:27:46.369 We're not going to change that. 00:27:46.430 --> 00:27:48.789 We're not going to, we're not going to break that apart. 00:27:48.940 --> 00:27:52.789 Now I know that there are some real, real reasons why people get divorced. 00:27:53.180 --> 00:27:54.500 Um, that's not my point here. 00:27:54.500 --> 00:28:02.150 My point is, if you, if you got divorced and you're going to get married again, make sure they're on the same, seeing the same vision with you. 00:28:02.990 --> 00:28:16.940 If you're dating somebody, find out what their vision is and find out if it's the same as yours, and if not, step away in business-wise the same thing over and over the situations will always shift moment to moment. 00:28:17.180 --> 00:28:18.650 That's always going to happen. 00:28:18.950 --> 00:28:20.869 The overall decision of life. 00:28:20.871 --> 00:28:23.809 However, however, doesn't have to change. 00:28:25.339 --> 00:28:25.910 Herod 00:28:26.000 --> 00:28:31.069 Asked the magic to change their decision in that moment and the match. 00:28:31.070 --> 00:28:32.720 I said, no. 00:28:33.680 --> 00:28:37.069 So look up in your life, determine what you're trying to achieve. 00:28:37.279 --> 00:28:46.490 If you don't know what you're trying to achieve, go to the word of God and spend time before him in prayer and say, God, can you give me a vision for what I'm trying to achieve in life? 00:28:47.240 --> 00:28:55.670 And maybe, maybe the only thing you're really trying to achieve is that when this life is over, I want to go to heaven and want to take a few people there with me. 00:28:56.509 --> 00:28:58.430 That's a great vision for your life, 00:28:59.750 --> 00:29:00.410 But there may be 00:29:00.410 --> 00:29:02.509 Other things in this world that you're trying to accomplish. 00:29:02.630 --> 00:29:03.890 Find out what that is. 00:29:03.891 --> 00:29:07.039 Look up and decide what constitutes a win in your life. 00:29:07.730 --> 00:29:09.230 What can you celebrate? 00:29:10.190 --> 00:29:13.789 Celebrating the fact that Christmas Eve services have been filling up. 00:29:13.819 --> 00:29:18.500 As far as the registrations are concerned, that's a, that's a huge celebration in our world. 00:29:18.890 --> 00:29:25.789 I'm grateful for our, our faith family that wants to be together and move together and worship together. 00:29:26.960 --> 00:29:28.609 Then don't settle for less. 00:29:29.779 --> 00:29:32.869 Don't don't back away from that, press into that. 00:29:36.890 --> 00:29:39.470 When things are rocking, remember 00:29:39.470 --> 00:29:47.339 That you said till death do us part, Maybe this is tough right now, but we're going to have to work through this. 00:29:47.490 --> 00:29:48.329 Cause I ain't leaving 00:29:50.250 --> 00:29:51.599 Years ago, fourth, fifth, 00:29:51.630 --> 00:29:52.319 You're married. 00:29:52.320 --> 00:29:53.160 I don't remember what it was. 00:29:53.730 --> 00:29:57.569 Christie and I were, uh, were asleep and well, let me rephrase. 00:29:57.570 --> 00:29:58.440 I was sleeping. 00:29:58.769 --> 00:30:01.170 Christie was thinking, and I'm a morning person. 00:30:01.171 --> 00:30:02.160 She's a night owl. 00:30:03.000 --> 00:30:05.130 And so about two o'clock in the morning she went, 00:30:05.670 --> 00:30:07.650 Hey, are you sleeping? 00:30:13.200 --> 00:30:15.029 Hey, are you sleeping? 00:30:16.019 --> 00:30:17.970 She doesn't actually sound that way, but you know, 00:30:19.410 --> 00:30:19.410 Perfect. 00:30:20.039 --> 00:30:24.000 And, and I went, uh, I was, she said, 00:30:24.059 --> 00:30:25.079 I've been thinking about this thing. 00:30:25.080 --> 00:30:26.250 And I, we really 00:30:26.549 --> 00:30:26.880 Talk about it. 00:30:27.720 --> 00:30:28.380 I was like, it's too hard. 00:30:28.529 --> 00:30:28.890 Good morning. 00:30:28.891 --> 00:30:30.329 I got to get up in a few hours from work. 00:30:30.330 --> 00:30:32.880