Speaker 1: As we dive into today's topic, I want to talk to you about how to avoid crippling the progress in your life.
Speaker 1: How to avoid crippling the progress in your life.
Speaker 1: A few studies were done in 2022 about the results of complaining in our lives.
Speaker 1: Here are some things they found out.
Speaker 1: In many conversations most conversations folks complain once every minute.
Speaker 1: Can you believe that we also have something called negativity bias?
Speaker 1: That means we tend to prioritize negative information.
Speaker 1: Anytime we're thinking through stuff, we're prioritizing the negative stuff, the stuff that could go bad, the worst possible scenarios.
Speaker 1: We're putting all that together in our head in terms of the hierarchy of important things.
Speaker 1: Finally, all of this has an impact on the brain, so this tends to rewrite the.
Speaker 1: If we're very negative people, we're around very negative people our brains become organically more negative.
Speaker 1: The pathways the neural pathways to get thoughts from here to there the negative pathways just become more grooved, more ingrained.
Speaker 1: We just become if we are negative, we just become more and more negative.
Speaker 1: What does it feel like when your complaints, when the things you have a lot of negative thoughts about, you've got some opinions about, are about God, about what God's done or not done or allowed in your life?
Speaker 1: What do you do when your primary complaints are about what's going on with God?
Speaker 1: What's going on with God and you?
Speaker 1: We've all got this thing called sin on the inside.
Speaker 1: It is permanent.
Speaker 1: It is a disease that is with us our entire lives.
Speaker 1: It's the hell disease.
Speaker 1: It's the stuff in us that resists and opposes the ways of God.
Speaker 1: Just naturally.
Speaker 1: It's in some ways.
Speaker 1: It's not your fault.
Speaker 1: It's just the way that you were born.
Speaker 1: But we've all got it in us and it will cause us to find things that are wrong with God and how he's messed up this planet and how we would do things a whole lot better.
Speaker 1: And sometimes God allows stuff into our lives or he opens up opportunities into our lives and we just wish it were better, we wish it were easier, we wish that.
Speaker 1: Man, why do I have to do all this?
Speaker 1: Why does this have to be so hard all the time?
Speaker 1: Why hasn't this broken through?
Speaker 1: And the truth is, sometimes we just don't want to work hard because it's easier to complain.
Speaker 1: We don't want to do the hard work of expressing or demonstrating faith because it's easier just to walk in unbelief.
Speaker 1: We don't want to fight for stuff, we just want stuff to be given to us.
Speaker 1: We just want to just have it.
Speaker 1: Hey, if I'm just going to trust God and just believe God, I just want it to happen.
Speaker 1: I see these things that happen.
Speaker 1: I hear the old stories.
Speaker 1: I hear stories in the Bible when Jesus just did stuff and stuff just happened.
Speaker 1: And that's true.
Speaker 1: That really was true.
Speaker 1: The problem is that's not the only way God operated in the Bible.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of times where he operated by I've got this thing open for you, Okay.
Speaker 1: Sometimes my answer to prayer, God would say is yes, yes, you can have that thing, Pray for it, I'll give it to you.
Speaker 1: Sometimes the answer is soon, Keep praying for it, it's not time now.
Speaker 1: In fact, I've got some things to change about you and things to change about the situation, and once I do that, then the answer will be yes.
Speaker 1: Sometimes the answer is just no, because you don't know this.
Speaker 1: But that's a dumb prayer.
Speaker 1: That's not going to get what you really want.
Speaker 1: I can see all ends.
Speaker 1: I know that you think that leads to a good place, but it doesn't lead to a good place.
Speaker 1: So, because I love you, I'm going to say no.
Speaker 1: I don't want you to hurt yourself.
Speaker 1: But sometimes what God says, instead of just yes, or instead of yes, soon or no, God says hustle, Hustle.
Speaker 1: He says okay, well, that's an option.
Speaker 1: Get after it, Do something about it, Fight for it.
Speaker 1: Don't just sit there.
Speaker 1: The land is before you.
Speaker 1: What you gonna do.
Speaker 1: He says I love you, so trust me.
Speaker 1: Trust me that there's gonna be times where you could have that.
Speaker 1: You're just gonna have to press in.
Speaker 1: You're just be times where you could have that.
Speaker 1: You're just going to have to press in.
Speaker 1: You're just going to have to work a little harder.
Speaker 1: You're going to have to not be afraid of hard work.
Speaker 1: You're going to have to push and push and keep pushing and keep pushing and look fear right in the eye and say I'm going to go right past you because I'm tenacious, Because I'm going to see it happen, because God's answer is hustle.
Speaker 1: So I'm tenacious because I'm going to see it happen, because God's answer is hustle, so I'm going to hustle.
Speaker 1: This is what Joshua knew when he was trying to teach one specific family of the Israelites Okay, so we're going to go back in time to the time where the lands are being apportioned to the families of Israel.
Speaker 1: They've made it out of Egypt.
Speaker 1: They've made it for 40 years wandering in the wilderness.
Speaker 1: And now they're with a new leader, Joshua, and they're doling out all the allotments of land that everyone's been waiting for and believing for and the Josephites.
Speaker 1: They get a certain plot of land and they look at this thing, they look it over and like, wow, Joshua, there's not enough here.
Speaker 1: There's not enough for us.
Speaker 1: We're a big people, we got a lot of needs here, man.
Speaker 1: Also I don't know if you noticed there is land around it, but there's enemies right there.
Speaker 1: They're in the land.
Speaker 1: There could be a lot of danger there.
Speaker 1: There could be a lot of hard work.
Speaker 1: Joshua, we need another apportionment of land.
Speaker 1: That's what they're going to come tell Joshua.
Speaker 1: And Joshua man, he's a seasoned leader now.
Speaker 1: He knows what goes on in people's hearts.
Speaker 1: He knows when people are afraid, he knows when people are shrinking back because maybe they just don't want to work quite that hard.
Speaker 1: And so, as they come and they bring Joshua this request, Joshua was going to clue them in.
Speaker 1: Hey guys, you don't actually have a land problem, you have a faith-filled action problem.
Speaker 1: Hey guys, can you open yourself up Before we look at the scriptures?
Speaker 1: Can you open yourself up to the idea that possibly there's some stuff that you and I we'd be tempted to complain about.
Speaker 1: We'd be tempted to say I wish it was this way.
Speaker 1: I wish it was that way, and God, in his love and kindness, might say to us I know you think you have that problem, but you don't actually have that problem.
Speaker 1: You have a faith-filled action problem.
Speaker 1: The problem is the thing you want takes faith-filled action to get it.
Speaker 1: And in order for you to get it, I'm going to have to have you fight for it.
Speaker 1: I don't want you to just have opportunity, I want you to work for it.
Speaker 1: I don't want you to just be given something, I want you to fight for it.
Speaker 1: So Joshua 17, verse 14, the descendants of Joseph said to Joshua why have you given us only one part of the land to possess as our own?
Speaker 1: There are very many of us because the Lord has blessed us.
Speaker 1: They're like.
Speaker 1: It must be God that we get more land than this.
Speaker 1: Joshua answered if there's so many of you and the hill country of Ephraim is too small for you, then go into the forests, clear the ground for yourselves in the land of the Perizzites and the Rephaim.
Speaker 1: These are Canaanite tribes.
Speaker 1: Okay, and God's mission for the Israelites was go in and where you find these guys kick them out.
Speaker 1: In fact, it's time for them to get out.
Speaker 1: God's given them a long time to get their act together, to repent, to turn away from their things like child sacrifice and bestiality and all kinds of stuff like that.
Speaker 1: He's given them 400 years to do it.
Speaker 1: And God says I'm done, I'm ready to remove them.
Speaker 1: And, by the way, just so you Israelites know, if you ever do what they do, I'm going to remove you too, which is exactly what happens hundreds of years later.
Speaker 1: So God's not being unfair.
Speaker 1: He's just saying okay, if you want it, go in and get it.
Speaker 1: The hill country is not big enough, though.
Speaker 1: They reply.
Speaker 1: The Canaanites in the plains have iron chariots.
Speaker 1: We don't have that tech.
Speaker 1: Both those who live in Beth-shan and its surrounding towns and those who live in the valley of Jezreel, Joshua said to the tribes of Ephraim and West Manasseh these are the families of Joseph.
Speaker 1: There are indeed many of you and you are very powerful.
Speaker 1: You shall have more than one share.
Speaker 1: The hill country will be yours, Even though it is a forest.
Speaker 1: You shall have more than one share.
Speaker 1: The hill country will be yours, Even though it is a forest, you will clear it and take possession of it from one end to the other.
Speaker 1: As for the Canaanites, you'll drive them out, Even though they have iron chariots and are a strong people.
Speaker 1: That's true.
Speaker 1: But see, Joshua, he remembers.
Speaker 1: He remembers 40 years ago.
Speaker 1: He remembers when he and Caleb went, with 10 other spies, into the promised land to spy it out and to see hey, do you think this really is a good land?
Speaker 1: Is this the land that God is bringing us into?
Speaker 1: And 10 of them came back out of the 12 and said you know, it's good in there, but we can't do this.
Speaker 1: Those are huge people.
Speaker 1: They've got all kinds of war stuff that we don't.
Speaker 1: We're just nomads, we're just slaves.
Speaker 1: We just came out of Egypt, man, we don't know what we're doing.
Speaker 1: And God was very angry with those 10 spies because they spread word around the camp and they said hey, God is not going to be able to deliver us because these two are too.
Speaker 1: These people are too powerful.
Speaker 1: And the two, Caleb and Joshua, said what are you guys, nuts?
Speaker 1: Are People are too powerful.
Speaker 1: And the two, Caleb and Joshua, said what are you guys, nuts?
Speaker 1: Are you mental?
Speaker 1: Didn't God just bring us out of Egypt, with all these signs and wonders, you think these people are any match for him.
Speaker 1: And so Joshua and Caleb are the only ones that get to survive the next 40 years and come into this new land.
Speaker 1: And so Joshua's looking at these people who are now I don't know.
Speaker 1: They're a little bit afraid, a little bit intimidated, and Joshua's like guys, I know what's in your hearts, but here's the deal You're going to have to go in and get it.
Speaker 1: You're going to have to believe your God, You're going to have to work for it.
Speaker 1: You're going to have to have courage, You're going to have to have tenacity, You're going to have to have endurance and you're going to have it and you're going to take it by faith.
Speaker 1: Somebody say take it by faith.
Speaker 1: You're going to take it by faith and like them sometimes.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's normal, right, we want the blessings of obedience without having to wait on the obedience part.
Speaker 1: We just want it now.
Speaker 1: God's kind of like a genie to us.
Speaker 1: Just let's have it then.
Speaker 1: But that's not always what his purpose is.
Speaker 1: We often like them.
Speaker 1: Maybe, maybe this is true for you.
Speaker 1: Maybe there's some place where you're so focused on the obstacle, you're so focused on the iron chariot, that you're forgetting how big your God is, You're forgetting how powerful he is, how easy it is for him to lay the smack down on iron chariots and anything else in the universe.
Speaker 1: But we're so like but this is scary, but this is a big deal, but this is better than I've got.
Speaker 1: How am I ever going to get past this?
Speaker 1: Oh God, it's too big.
Speaker 1: Look God, this is insurmountable.
Speaker 1: I'm never going to be able to do that.
Speaker 1: I'm never going to be able to afford this.
Speaker 1: I'll never know anybody that's able to open any doors like this or that I'll never be reconciled with so-and-so.
Speaker 1: It's just too big Iron chariots and, my friends, we got to be careful because it's natural to humans, it's how it goes on earth.
Speaker 1: But there's something inside of our believe muscle in our heart that breaks and breaks and breaks, and pretty soon we just say you know what it's easier just to not believe at all.
Speaker 1: It's easier just to look at all the iron chariots and say that's what you get on planet earth, Iron chariots everywhere.
Speaker 1: What are you going to do Instead of saying I also experience the disappointments of life, but I'm going to keep my eyes on my God, because he's the same God yesterday, today and forever.
Speaker 1: And this is where we've got to ask.
Speaker 1: I've had to do this.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you've ever had to do this.
Speaker 1: I've had to ask God.
Speaker 1: Something's wrong with my believer, Something's wrong with it, Like it's malfunctioning, it's broken down.
Speaker 1: I don't know what happened over the years, I just know I just don't believe you that you want this good for me or for my family, Like I know you do conceptually, but I'm not believing it in my heart and I think something went wrong.
Speaker 1: I think I got hurt, I think I got damaged and I need you to just fix it.
Speaker 1: I don't know how to fix it, Just fix it, Just bring it back to life.
Speaker 1: Jesus, breathe on the thing, Smear some mud on it.
Speaker 1: Whatever you got to do God, make it better.
Speaker 1: And you're not found out.
Speaker 1: He will, and often he doesn't need you to figure anything out.
Speaker 1: He doesn't need to go that route.
Speaker 1: He can just be like okay, done, Don't ask any questions, Get up and go, Just believe, Go ahead and go ahead.
Speaker 1: Are you seeing your current opportunity, so your current iron chariots?
Speaker 1: Are you seeing these as something in the way, a roadblock, a dead end, or are you seeing it as an opportunity to demonstrate faith in the God.
Speaker 1: You say is so great.
Speaker 1: Are you seeing it as a dead end?
Speaker 1: Hey, that's it, Just get over it.
Speaker 1: Or?
Speaker 1: Oh, great, awesome.
Speaker 1: This is the perfect opportunity.
Speaker 1: I was looking for something big for my God to do, to take me in and lay the beat down on all these Canaanites and have this land, even though there's a lot of trees to cut down, even though there's iron chariots.
Speaker 1: We're dealing with this a little bit, I'll say right now, in our church.
Speaker 1: So last weekend we had what we call a big day.
Speaker 1: We had this Easter egg drop find thing over in the gym.
Speaker 1: Many of you were there.
Speaker 1: It was after church and guys, I got to be honest with you, it was a bit wild.
Speaker 1: Like I was pretty much blown away.
Speaker 1: I was walking around, I was like who are all these people and where do they come from?
Speaker 1: And we was, and we've had many of these.
Speaker 1: But I was like what is going on right now?
Speaker 1: Like it was overwhelming.
Speaker 1: And then overwhelming again to me and on one level I was like, oh, hallelujah, Lord, look at you.
Speaker 1: But then, as the day went on, I'm like, uh-oh, we got to have people keep showing up like this what are we going to do?
Speaker 1: Because we can't handle all this.
Speaker 1: Like this is a lot.
Speaker 1: And I don't want to say I was looking at the Iron Chariots but I was just like I don't know, God, what the plan is here.
Speaker 1: But I know today we're not ready for this.
Speaker 1: Now, on one level, I got to give everybody props because you guys crushed it, man, Like well done.
Speaker 1: That's what a big day is supposed to be Like.
Speaker 1: You guys put it together, you had hospitality toward everybody.
Speaker 1: What a big day is for us.
Speaker 1: For those who don't know, a big day is a day that we set aside.
Speaker 1: It's a special event after church usually it could be Christmas or Easter, but it could be something leading up to that where we're inviting the community to come hang out with us and there's going to be food and there's going to be fun.
Speaker 1: It's going to be low pressure, it's going to be super easy and barely an inconvenience, and we're going to do it to give people some kind of sense of like oh, this is what church people are like.
Speaker 1: This is what it's like here at Fierce.
Speaker 1: So if I'm ever in trouble, if I'm ever in tension or my life's ever blown up, I'm like those people are dope and fun and cool and they got goats over there sometimes and I'm going to go there.
Speaker 1: That's why we do big days.
Speaker 1: You guys, you tore it up Like you were so kind, You're so gracious, You're great hosts and hopefully one of the things that you noticed was I think sometimes maybe some of our folks used to think those kinds of things are church potlucks.
Speaker 1: Really they're just big, extra fun church potlucks.
Speaker 1: That's not what they are at all.
Speaker 1: Those are a message to Grayslake and the surrounding communities we are here to serve you Like.
Speaker 1: We're here to be an advantage to you so you can have fun, so you can take your kids places, so you can have a real hoot.
Speaker 1: That's why we do it and that's what you guys did.
Speaker 1: Now I'm not going to go into too much.
Speaker 1: We can't handle all that many people again and again.
Speaker 1: It's not like that every weekend.
Speaker 1: But I look at the trends of our church over the past year and, guys, it keeps going up.
Speaker 1: And what I'm a little bit nervous about is splitting up this into two different services.
Speaker 1: And I'm nervous for a few reasons.
Speaker 1: The first and foremost is because, honestly, we're not ready, Like we don't have the volunteer roles ready over in Fierce Kids to take that many kids.
Speaker 1: We don't have enough teachers installed.
Speaker 1: We don't have enough people, we don't have enough greeters out in the hallways.
Speaker 1: We don't have enough online hosts that can help us with everything that we want to do for that.
Speaker 1: I'll be super honest about my own selfishness as well.
Speaker 1: This is hard.
Speaker 1: It's hard once.
Speaker 1: It's hard once and Precious.
Speaker 1: You know, doggone it.
Speaker 1: I'm 47.
Speaker 1: I ain't 27.
Speaker 1: Like this is harder than it used to be.
Speaker 1: So adding a whole other one is not necessarily something my flesh wants to do.
Speaker 1: But that's not really the question, is it?
Speaker 1: The question is what does God want?
Speaker 1: It's not that necessarily.
Speaker 1: We just want a bigger church.
Speaker 1: It's God, what are you doing here?
Speaker 1: Because we didn't even expect that last weekend.
Speaker 1: And so if you're doing something here, we don't want to say, no, Jesus, sorry, pick another church, Right.
Speaker 1: We want to say, all right, let's do something, let's believe.
Speaker 1: Maybe we got to be like these Josephites and take a look at the land and say, God, but what are you calling us to do?
Speaker 1: And if we're going to do that, we got to remember that God's provision often requires our participation.
Speaker 1: That works as a church and it works in our individual lives.
Speaker 1: So let's look at what do we need?
Speaker 1: What do you need if we're going to be people that go into the land and take it?
Speaker 1: Here's what the Josephites needed.
Speaker 1: Number one holy audacity.
Speaker 1: They needed holy audacity.
Speaker 1: You know what audacity is right?
Speaker 1: It's willingness to take a big, bold risk.
Speaker 1: If it's holy, that means it's for God and with God.
Speaker 1: It's holy audacity.
Speaker 1: It's saying I've got God, said to courage.
Speaker 1: It doesn't necessarily mean I've got courage in myself, it just means I've got some.
Speaker 1: Let's call it kingdom moxie.
Speaker 1: Everybody say kingdom moxie and it's not.
Speaker 1: There is risk involved.
Speaker 1: It's not like it's a sure thing, it's just like well, what do we got to lose?
Speaker 1: Let's go see if we can't get after it.
Speaker 1: And the josephites needed some stirring up by joshua.
Speaker 1: See, joshua knew as a good leader knows sometimes you, you can't just let your people off the hook, you can't just say, well, I know it, know it's hard there, there.
Speaker 1: There he said, hey, Josephites, rise up, grab your saws and whatever you got and head into those woods and cut down those trees.
Speaker 1: And we've got to know.
Speaker 1: They had to know because when God blesses us, We've got to know.
Speaker 1: They had to know, Because when God blesses us, we're not entitled to it.
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 1: It's not that they weren't entitled to that land.
Speaker 1: They were chosen by God completely.
Speaker 1: He's very clear about this in the book of Deuteronomy.
Speaker 1: You did nothing for me to choose you, he tells them you weren't more numerous than other people, you weren't more righteous than other people.
Speaker 1: I just, out of loving kindness, I chose you, I picked you and I saved you.
Speaker 1: And that's what he says to each one of us.
Speaker 1: And so, every time there's more potential, anytime there's new land that you're trying to take, anytime there's oh God, I'm not satisfied with this, I want more of this.
Speaker 1: God says well, let's just be clear.
Speaker 1: You're not entitled to anything, but I want to give it to you.
Speaker 1: I want you because of my loving kindness, because it highlights my generosity, it highlights what an awesome God I am and hopefully it highlights to you just how much I love you.
Speaker 1: But we've got to know we're not entitled to anything, and isn't that just like the cross of Jesus Christ?
Speaker 1: We're not entitled for Jesus to save us Like it's not because you're good that Jesus died on the cross for you, it's not because you're an upstanding person.
Speaker 1: He's like well, if I die for them, they'll be especially good.
Speaker 1: No, no, no, there's no value we added to the deal.
Speaker 1: Just so everyone's clear on that.
Speaker 1: God just loved you and he says what's in the way?
Speaker 1: Their sin?
Speaker 1: How do I solve it?
Speaker 1: I send my son to die in their place and take the penalty, and then I give them all of heaven and everything that belongs to Jesus 100%, not because they deserve it, but just because I want to be with them.
Speaker 1: My friend, are you looking at the thing that you're longing for, that you're wishing was yours right now, Like why can't I have this, why can't I have that?
Speaker 1: And are you just owning and recognizing brah brah?
Speaker 1: You're not entitled to that, though.
Speaker 1: It's not like you deserve this.
Speaker 1: It's not like you're like God's late for something.
Speaker 1: He's not In his mercy.
Speaker 1: He wants to help us take that land, but he's not late.
Speaker 1: And yeah, there's iron chairs and for some of us that might be fear.
Speaker 1: For some of us, it might be what if I get rejected?
Speaker 1: It might be what if I do all this work and then it's nothing and it doesn't pay off?
Speaker 1: What if I like invest in these courses and I try to get ahead and all this and then it's like I'm not even good at it or that's not even like what I'm supposed to do with my life.
Speaker 1: Maybe I'll just sit back and just complain here in this little portion of land and say I wish it were different.
Speaker 1: Well, so do a lot of people.
Speaker 1: But let's avoid passivity, let's avoid just playing the victim or being a victim.
Speaker 1: And, my friends, if you think about yourself as poor, old, little old me, I'll give you some pastoral encouragement here.
Speaker 1: If you have a hard time getting past all that's gone wrong for you, I have compassion for you, I really do.
Speaker 1: But I would encourage you, ask some other people their stories and hear how they've got it, Because it might be because I meet people all the time that I'm like dadgum, you got it way worse than me.
Speaker 1: You'll meet some people If you ask them their stories.
Speaker 1: Hey, tell me the hard stuff, Tell me the deeper stuff, Tell me the stuff that you wouldn't just bring out.
Speaker 1: You'll hear some folks tell you stuff and you're like, wow, God, I thought I had problems, but that's hard and that'll grow your compassion but also, hopefully, get your eyes off yourself.
Speaker 1: You're not a victim, You're a conqueror.
Speaker 1: In Christ, You're more than enough.
Speaker 1: You're well able to do this.
Speaker 1: But we can't fear failure.
Speaker 1: We can't fear what if I make three plans and they all fail?
Speaker 1: Great question.
Speaker 1: Here's part of the answer what if it works?
Speaker 1: What if it works?
Speaker 1: I mean, that's what I want to tell the Josephites right now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but guys, what if it works?
Speaker 1: What if you get 80% of it?
Speaker 1: Wouldn't it still be worth it?
Speaker 1: What if you get 10%?
Speaker 1: It's still 10% better than here.
Speaker 1: What if it works?
Speaker 1: And because we're so negative and we have a negativity bias and we're going to prioritize the negative stuff, let's just all resist it right now, in the power of Jesus, and say let's just all resist it right now, in the power of Jesus, and say, listen, I'm not listening to you negative thoughts.
Speaker 1: I'm going to start saying hey man, what if it goes better than I think?
Speaker 1: Do you ever notice you don't worry about all the positive stuff that could happen.
Speaker 1: You're never like doggone.
Speaker 1: I hope I don't make too much money, man.
Speaker 1: I hope if I go to that event they don't like me too much, Like no one's thinking that.
Speaker 1: But why not?
Speaker 1: You're thinking about all the negatives.
Speaker 1: But what if it all goes?
Speaker 1: Fantastic?
Speaker 1: We just need to practice.
Speaker 1: But what if it's amazing?
Speaker 1: But what if it goes way better than I thought?
Speaker 1: Oh sure, there'll be challenges, but what if I get all the advantages that come with it?
Speaker 1: Maybe I just need to See.
Speaker 1: This is where it starts.
Speaker 1: When we say that we're going to have audacity, that means I'm saying I'm going to have courage.
Speaker 1: I see the iron Dude.
Speaker 1: I see them.
Speaker 1: I'm going to step toward them, though I'm going to keep going.
Speaker 1: I'm going to take faith-filled action.
Speaker 1: I'm just going to decide you are not going to stop me.
Speaker 1: I know it's hard, I know it's bloody, I know it's not fun, but I got to do it.
Speaker 1: I got to go Tell somebody, I got to go Holy audacity.
Speaker 1: And then number two grind, Grind.
Speaker 1: We're not talking about like grinding coffee beans.
Speaker 1: This is get your grind on.
Speaker 1: This is work it baby.
Speaker 1: This is get in there and get it done again and again and again, Get your grind on.
Speaker 1: Man, You're grinding man.
Speaker 1: You're doing your thing.
Speaker 1: Everyone else goes home and you're still doing the thing because you're getting on your grind.
Speaker 1: You are not afraid of hard work, You're doing it.
Speaker 1: And you're doing it not just for you, because there's a certain self-satisfaction, there's a certain like, and it feels good.
Speaker 1: It feels good to do good hard work and it feels good to know that you're the kind of person that will do good hard work.
Speaker 1: But it's beyond just that, because that's not necessarily why the Josephites were going to do it.
Speaker 1: See, the Josephites were going into the land and they knew they probably thought about land a little bit differently than us.
Speaker 1: For them, this is going to be their land for hundreds and hundreds of years.
Speaker 1: They didn't just see land, they saw.
Speaker 1: These are the places where my kids and grandkids and their grandkids are going to do stuff and live life and have holidays and play and work and become and glorify God.
Speaker 1: They're looking at the land and saying this is related to all kinds of other people and I'm going to get my grind on when I'm going up those hills to cut down those trees, when I'm going in to take on those iron chariots of those Canaanites.
Speaker 1: I'm not doing it so I can feel good about getting my grind on.
Speaker 1: I'm doing it for the people I love, because their future matters to me.
Speaker 1: You hear what I'm talking about, so it's not only for you.
Speaker 1: In my early years of marriage, we had one daughter and we were living in a place where there wasn't a lot of great work, and so one of my jobs was pizza delivery boy.
Speaker 1: And I got to tell you, man, I didn't like it, delivery boy.
Speaker 1: And I got to tell you, man, I didn't like it.
Speaker 1: I would drive around all night, okay, and it's cold, and I'm running up to people's doors carrying pizza and it's you know, you can't see anything, you might slip on the ice and just a little part of me would whisper this is for your girls.
Speaker 1: This is for your girls.
Speaker 1: Like, they need to eat, they need to have a place to stay.
Speaker 1: You're not doing this because you like pizza.
Speaker 1: You're doing this because your girls are worth it and they deserve a good life and this is the best you got.
Speaker 1: So give it all you got, get your grind on, but get it on for them.
Speaker 1: Let me ask you a question who benefits from your grind?
Speaker 1: Think it through.
Speaker 1: That's a way better motivator than just because I want to be dope and awesome and I want to have the land.
Speaker 1: No, but who benefits from it?
Speaker 1: Who benefits from your grind A few years later?
Speaker 1: See, guys, you got to know that, since I was 18 years old, the thing that I'm doing right now that we're all participating in right now.
Speaker 1: I wanted to do this then but I couldn't just do it.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of ups and downs and zigzags.
Speaker 1: And so, after I was sick for many years, I got the opportunity.
Speaker 1: Hey man, you get to go be with four students in a utility closet Two of them are right over there and you get to.
Speaker 1: I know you got a full-time job, but on your day off you get to prep a sermon all day long, because it takes a while.
Speaker 1: And then you get to go talk about Jesus to these four people.
Speaker 1: Let's see if you want to do it, Cardi, Go and get your grind on.
Speaker 1: I guess I didn't.
Speaker 1: You gotta know my flesh didn't necessarily want to do it, but I got to know them.
Speaker 1: In some ways I fell in love with them and it became easier because I was doing it for them.
Speaker 1: But you know what else I imagined During that time?
Speaker 1: I imagined you.
Speaker 1: I said maybe if I just keep doing this, I'm getting my grind on for them.
Speaker 1: People I didn't even meet yet and as I would imagine, I would imagine I think someday people are going to get, they're going to meet because of whatever ministry we're doing, they're going to be like it's going to be a meet cute at church, and they're going to meet and they're going to get married and they're going to have babies and those babies are going to populate the planet and they're going to go and they're going to love Jesus and serve Jesus.
Speaker 1: And I don't feel like getting my grind on today, but I'm thinking about those kids that are going to go out and they're going to do stuff and they're going to invent stuff and they're going to prioritize the ways of God and they're going to do this thing called TikTok that I couldn't have imagined what that was yet, and they're going to talk about Jesus to people that I could never reach, but I'm going to do it for them.
Speaker 1: Who can you grind for?
Speaker 1: You're already grinding for people, probably.
Speaker 1: Just it'll be more meaningful if you think it through.
Speaker 1: Who benefits from what you're trying to do right now?
Speaker 1: And this is hopefully a check for some of us If we've got a really self-focused life and this is really just all about you, precious.
Speaker 1: It's awesome that you have all those gifts and you can do that grind, but you know this isn't about you, right?
Speaker 1: You know you have all that money, not for you.
Speaker 1: You have all that talent, not so you can be the next Insta TikTok, whatever person famous or whatever.
Speaker 1: The next thing is.
Speaker 1: It's to help people.
Speaker 1: It's to cut down trees and to take out iron chariots so people can flourish and have a life where they love and they know the God who loves them.
Speaker 1: Are we hearing this?
Speaker 1: And so that's part of what I think about when I think about okay, then if we added another service which my flesh doesn't want to do, would it be a repeat?
Speaker 1: Would it be the same kind of a thing where, yeah, I don't particularly feel like I'm benefiting from it at the moment, but there's people that are reached and there's people that meet, and there's people that make babies, and there's kids that grow up and they hear about Jesus in fierce and they go on and they do a whole bunch of stuff.
Speaker 1: Just because you said, yes, Is it possible that that's true, that's already happening, but what if we just exponentially increased it?
Speaker 1: So here's one of the things I want to invite you to do is I want to ask you we're going to take a few months, just like we talked about the 15-year vision we took a lot of time to talk about.
Speaker 1: We're going to take a few months and we're talking about is it time soon to add an additional service?
Speaker 1: Should we do it?
Speaker 1: One of the ways you can participate in that is first, you can pray for our church.
Speaker 1: God, it doesn't matter if we want to, even or not.
Speaker 1: It matters, Jesus, what do you want?
Speaker 1: Because we serve at your convenience?
Speaker 1: What do you want, Jesus?
Speaker 1: Would you help us do it?
Speaker 1: If we are, and if so, I need you to provide what we're going to need to go up into those hills and cut some stuff down.
Speaker 1: One other way that you can participate is there's a new survey.
Speaker 1: I like to do surveys.
Speaker 1: I like to know what you guys are thinking that you can find on the website, or we should have a slide that we can show.
Speaker 1: Hopefully it's there.
Speaker 1: If not, just go to fiercechurch and there's a little red button that says summer survey or summer service survey, something like that.
Speaker 1: Go, check that out, and it's just going to ask you hey, could you do this?
Speaker 1: What would you do?
Speaker 1: Could you help us do this?
Speaker 1: Is there a place you're not serving that you could?
Speaker 1: That would make this possible so we could help more people.
Speaker 1: So if God sends another 600 people on the next one that we're not like.
Speaker 1: Sorry, as last time we were out of places to park, so bye.
Speaker 1: I know the Lord sent you all the way over here, but no room, We'll see you maybe next time.
Speaker 1: Maybe a way you can help is just by thinking about this.
Speaker 1: Coming weekend, a week from today, is Easter Sunday.
Speaker 1: We've got two services instead of one, so it's going to be at 10 and 1130.
Speaker 1: And that's just for Easter.
Speaker 1: But are there people right now, if you ask the Spirit of God, God who would dig this?
Speaker 1: Who have I even been thinking I think they might dig fierce If you're watching online.
Speaker 1: Are there people?
Speaker 1: You've had thoughts again and again.
Speaker 1: Maybe I should just send them the link.
Speaker 1: Maybe I should just send it to them.
Speaker 1: Why not?
Speaker 1: Why don't you do it?
Speaker 1: See what happens If they text you back and say never send me this again.
Speaker 1: You know you'd be like noted.
Speaker 1: Okay, I'll try.
Speaker 1: Somebody else.
Speaker 1: Maybe, if you're online and you want to help us, one of the things that you can do is you could be an online host, which means maybe you're far away and you don't really know how to help the church.
Speaker 1: Maybe you want to help us by being one of our hosts.
Speaker 1: That would be dope.
Speaker 1: Or maybe you're even here, but you know you could help host online.
Speaker 1: And so maybe if we did two services, you could be here and then go in one of our rooms and you could host online, and then you can come back out and still be with everybody.
Speaker 1: And you're still helping because maybe tech makes sense to you or you like that kind of thing.
Speaker 1: And you're still helping because maybe tech makes sense to you or you like that kind of thing, Because I don't know what it is, but I know that wherever you are, God's asking you to get your grind on for the glory of God.
Speaker 1: Get your grind on for others, Get your grind on for your church, family.
Speaker 1: Have a holy audacity.
Speaker 1: And here's the last one Tenacity, Tenacity.
Speaker 1: Tenacity means keep doing it until the devil lets go.
Speaker 1: Keep doing it until the devil lets go.
Speaker 1: What I mean by that is, my friends, there's some things, whether it's sin patterns, whether it is a marriage that is just rocky and hard, whether it's a relationship where you keep running into one another and it gets crappy and it's hard.
Speaker 1: Whatever it is, there's things that only come because you persevere and you say, oh devil, I'm not going to just be depressed because it didn't work once or something went wrong or didn't go the way that I expected.
Speaker 1: Four times, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 1: See, one of the big secrets that, Jesus, people don't know dear heart, you can wear out the devil.
Speaker 1: He doesn't really last that long.
Speaker 1: He's used to people just caving in quickly.
Speaker 1: He'll bring a certain amount of opposition.
Speaker 1: He's like bragging to his demon buddies.
Speaker 1: Watch this.
Speaker 1: This is going to knock him right down.
Speaker 1: And what you got to do is you got to get some kingdom moxie.
Speaker 1: You're going to say, oh, it's going to be like that.
Speaker 1: Eh, Is that how it's going to be devil?
Speaker 1: And you do it again, and you do it again, and you do it again, and you do it again, and you do it again, and you do it again, and you say devil.
Speaker 1: You ain't ever met anybody as tenacious as me, except maybe Jesus Christ, Because I'm going to keep on chopping down those trees.
Speaker 1: I'm going to keep on engaging those chariots again.
Speaker 1: And, yeah, I get my butt kicked occasionally.
Speaker 1: Sure, but I learned to see failure as not God's disappointing with me, or it's not God I learned.
Speaker 1: Oh, this is how I learned to fight Good, Because then I can do this all day.
Speaker 1: I'm ready to do it.
Speaker 1: Let's go.
Speaker 1: Let's go, devil, I'm going to do it again.
Speaker 1: So where do you need to be tenacious?
Speaker 1: It's not just that I'm not afraid to do it, it's not even just that I'll do it for other people.
Speaker 1: No, I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do it and I'm going to do it again, Because I believe this thing is the land is before you.
Speaker 1: You can have it.
Speaker 1: Go get it.
Speaker 1: Don't talk yourself out of it.
Speaker 1: It's right there.
Speaker 1: Oh, it's a little hard, is it?
Speaker 1: Yeah, get up and do it again.
Speaker 1: Grab three people and get some help.
Speaker 1: That means, Carter.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to break through as an influencer on YouTube.
Speaker 1: Okay, precious well, you better not quit after 10 videos.
Speaker 1: You better do it again when nobody's watching.
Speaker 1: Do it for the next three years and see what happens.
Speaker 1: You just keep on going, Do it again.
Speaker 1: Well, I wish God would open a door for me here.
Speaker 1: Okay, well, do the course and do the next one, and do the next one, and do the next one and go.
Speaker 1: Chase down everyone who will talk to you about it.
Speaker 1: Do everything you can.
Speaker 1: You keep knocking on that door.
Speaker 1: You keep seeking and you are going to find and that thing is going to open up.
Speaker 1: But see, God is looking for some tenacious people.
Speaker 1: Man, he doesn't need pushover people.
Speaker 1: Now, we've all been pushover people, but it's time today to say Jesus, I repent for that.
Speaker 1: Forgive me, Because you've given me a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline that lives inside of me.
Speaker 1: So I'm just going to sit here and lay on the ground.
Speaker 1: I'm going to get up in Jesus' name and we're going to take this hill again.
Speaker 1: And if you want me to stop, Lord, tell me to stop or, you know, kill me and take me to heaven.
Speaker 1: That'll be a sure sign.
Speaker 1: But in the meantime, I'm going to demonstrate tenacity.
Speaker 1: I don't really believe tenacity is the real problem behind a lot of our problems.
Speaker 1: The problem is you just stop too quick, you just stop short.
Speaker 1: You just said, oh, it'll never work, I'm going to have my negative thinking and I'm just going to talk myself out of it.
Speaker 1: No, Is it possible that tenacity plays a more significant role in your life and its results or non-results than you think it does?
Speaker 1: Is it possible that it's really been dude?
Speaker 1: It's not just that you're bad at money.
Speaker 1: It's that you got a tenacity issue here.
Speaker 1: It's not just that.
Speaker 1: Well, I just got the wrong marriage.
Speaker 1: My heart breaks for you, dear heart, but is it possible also that you just got to have some more tenacity?
Speaker 1: Like, let's get what we got to get and get after it?
Speaker 1: Is it possible?
Speaker 1: Like, let's get what we got to get and get after it?
Speaker 1: Is it possible?
Speaker 1: Is it possible that you just need to outlast everybody else?
Speaker 1: So when I was an early church planter, early preacher, here's what I found A lot of folks didn't like the way I talked.
Speaker 1: They didn't like the way that I would say yo or whatever.
Speaker 1: I would say okay, or I'd use illustrations that were kind of like, hmm, like, is that okay to say in church?
Speaker 1: And you know to be sure, there's some things that we're right about.
Speaker 1: You probably shouldn't say that in church, but nevertheless they'd tell me about it too, okay.
Speaker 1: So they'd take advantage of email.
Speaker 1: They'd say, let me just tell you, you, little pipsqueak punk, this is what I think about you and this is what I think about your church.
Speaker 1: And yada, yada, yada and guys, there's no question that it hurts, but there was also I don't know it was the spirit of God and his mercy.
Speaker 1: There was just this tenacity on the inside that said hey, I don't care if you like it or not, because you didn't call me.
Speaker 1: And the problem is, you're going to move on.
Speaker 1: Next weekend You're going to go somewhere, or you're going to go three weeks.
Speaker 1: You're going to go.
Speaker 1: Three years from now You're going to go somewhere and I'm still going to be here and I still got to do it, whether you like it or not.
Speaker 1: So maybe I'll learn to talk better, or maybe I'll say yo until I'm 77.
Speaker 1: I don't know, but I'm going to outlast you and my friends.
Speaker 1: I got to tell you a lot of your critics just go away.
Speaker 1: If you just decide I'm just going to outlast you.
Speaker 1: Think whatever you want to Think, that's fine, I'm just going to be here anyway.
Speaker 1: I'm going to keep on grinding until you've long forgotten about me.
Speaker 1: But you know what else I'm going to get?
Speaker 1: In Jesus' name, I'm going to get that land because I'm not going to be pushed over and kicked out just because some people don't like what I do.
Speaker 1: Baby, there's got to be people there's five more people than you think that don't quite like everything that you do.
Speaker 1: You can't be moved by that, Like who cares what they think?
Speaker 1: Who are they?
Speaker 1: You need to get your land.
Speaker 1: That's your land.
Speaker 1: If you're called to it, go get it and don't care what anybody says about it.
Speaker 1: This is what Joshua knew.
Speaker 1: Joshua knew hey, you Josephites, it is to your advantage for me to not just say, okay, it is yours magically.
Speaker 1: And I wonder if some of us need to hear that today.
Speaker 1: The spirit of God we've been wondering about, we've been complaining about God, why can't I have this?
Speaker 1: Or why hasn't this happened yet?
Speaker 1: And he's saying dear heart.
Speaker 1: It is to your advantage that I don't just wave a hand and you have it.
Speaker 1: It's to your advantage that you learn to have kingdom moxie and godly audacity.
Speaker 1: It's to your advantage that you learn to get your grind on, and not just for you but for the people around you whom I love and whom I have a future and a destiny for.
Speaker 1: And it's to your advantage, in Jesus' name, that you develop tenacity again and again and again.
Speaker 1: Can anybody say amen?
Speaker 1: I'm going to invite the worship team to come up while I close this in prayer, If you wanna bow your heads with me.
Speaker 1: Father, I thank you so much for the gift of your word.
Speaker 1: I thank you for the examples of people like Joshua and the Josephites.
Speaker 1: I thank you for pictures that we can have of what we're supposed to be doing here, and I pray for everybody who maybe, like me, they've had a wounded believer muscle.
Speaker 1: They want to believe but they just something went wrong and it's hard.
Speaker 1: I want to ask, in Jesus' name, you just kiss that thing, that you just whisper healing to that thing, that, whatever the next step for them is, that you bring that thing back to life.
Speaker 1: I pray for the dreams that maybe some people have given up on.
Speaker 1: Maybe there's lands that people are like, ah, that's never going to happen.
Speaker 1: Maybe some of those don't need to happen, but maybe some do.
Speaker 1: And so, Father, for those, I pray that you'd quicken those dreams back to life.
Speaker 1: I pray that you'd surround them with the sense of your presence, that you are cheering them on, telling them it is to your advantage to go through the difficulty, to fight with faith-filled action to attain everything that I have for you, Father.
Speaker 1: I pray that we'd be a church that is characterized by affection for whatever it is you want, even when it hurts our flesh, by affection for whatever it is you want, even when it hurts our flesh, and we don't necessarily want to do it.
Speaker 1: But we care about you more and I pray for people, maybe today, that have been beat down by the words of others, and some of it was pretty sharp and some of it was pretty painful.
Speaker 1: Father, in Jesus' name, I speak over every soul that has been cursed or something was said against it that was not from you at all.
Speaker 1: In Jesus' name, those are lies.
Speaker 1: God, I thank you that you are enough and when you've called somebody, you're going to take care of it.
Speaker 1: You're going to bring them everywhere they're supposed to go.
Speaker 1: Would you help them to callous up to those kinds of things and press on tenaciously?
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Father.
Speaker 1: Tiktok and Instagram Check out our podcasts and check out our blog at fiercechurchblog.
Speaker 1: If you haven't already, please consider sharing this to help people you know take their next step.
Speaker 1: We'll see you next time.