Joshua Boyd: Well, today, of course, is Palm Sunday, the start of what we call Passion Week.
Joshua Boyd: And, you know, I'd heard it called Passion Week all my life, but never really understood why it was called Passion Week.
Joshua Boyd: And, you know, there's a whole movie called The Passion of the Christ.
Joshua Boyd: So I had to look it up.
Joshua Boyd: It's a Latin word that comes from the Latin word passio, which means to endure suffering.
Joshua Boyd: So it's not just about his passion for us, which is true, but it's about the suffering that began on this day for the week.
Joshua Boyd: Because once, again, once he openly declared that he was king, that's when the Jews were like, this guy's got to go.
Joshua Boyd: And you kind of saw it on that video, that clip at the very end, that the religious people were like, there's something, you know, now that people are openly praising him and openly saying this, we have to do something different.
Joshua Boyd: So the path that Jesus took, the path that Christ took, um, was a journey of faith.
Joshua Boyd: So this is our continuation of our journey of faith discussion.
Joshua Boyd: This is part five.
Joshua Boyd: Of course, Christ had a very, very specific path.
Joshua Boyd: No other person has ever taken or ever will take that path again.
Joshua Boyd: So when you talk about a narrow path, he had a singular path that he had to take.
Joshua Boyd: It wasn't easy.
Joshua Boyd: It was super narrow.
Joshua Boyd: Um, but he did it because he fully trusted the Father.
Joshua Boyd: And he did it for us.
Joshua Boyd: This is gonna sound disconnected, but I'm gonna connect them here in a little bit.
Joshua Boyd: Um I had a pair of shoes one time that told you, there's no there's no segue.
Joshua Boyd: I had a pair of shoes one time that I really liked.
Joshua Boyd: I loved the way they looked, they were super comfortable, especially the older they got.
Joshua Boyd: They went with a lot.
Joshua Boyd: They were, you know, I can kind of dress casual or or be um you know even a little more dressy.
Joshua Boyd: But over time, they lost their the tread on the bottom, so they were extremely slippery when it rained.
Joshua Boyd: And especially on tile floor like this, if I walk into place, I was literally having to kind of flat foot it because I knew that if I hit my heel on it, I had gone down twice in those shoes.
Joshua Boyd: But I still wore them, I still liked them because I thought they were just comfortable and all, but I completely lost my trust in them.
Joshua Boyd: Because the shoes themselves completely lost their grip.
Joshua Boyd: The friction was gone, you know, and you can say that I couldn't commit my step because I couldn't trust in what I was putting my step in.
Joshua Boyd: I couldn't commit to that.
Joshua Boyd: I had to commit to, I had to I had to take much more ginger steps when I got onto tile floor, again, especially when it rained.
Joshua Boyd: Um our topic today is going to talk about commitment.
Joshua Boyd: And it goes along a lot like that.
Joshua Boyd: And tying it back to Jesus, Jesus was fully committed.
Joshua Boyd: We know that.
Joshua Boyd: And again, I keep relating it to Palm Sunday because really that was the by the time he openly declared he was Christ, he was fully committed to go to the cross because he knew that clock started right then.
Joshua Boyd: Yes, he knew he four told it to his disciples before that, but once that once he rode triumphantly as a king into Jerusalem, he knew that was that was it.
Joshua Boyd: I mean, there was a few days hence and and there was a cross.
Joshua Boyd: Um the path of faith that we take, the journey of faith, for us, the farther we need to go, the more commitment it takes.
Joshua Boyd: And the more commitment it takes, the more we have to fully trust in God.
Joshua Boyd: But really, what it's coming down to is can God fully trust in us?
Joshua Boyd: And obviously, God trusted Jesus, and Jesus trusted in his Father.
Joshua Boyd: I won't get into next week's message for Jordan, but I don't know what he's going to talk about yet.
Joshua Boyd: But you know, in the garden, that was really truly when he had to go against his flesh to say, I am fully committed to your will, Father.
Joshua Boyd: Because his flesh did not want to do it.
Joshua Boyd: And he was resisting so his resisting his will, his own flesh, so badly that it he sweated drops of blood because he knew what was coming.
Joshua Boyd: But he said, Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done.
Joshua Boyd: You know, when you plan a trip with your family, you take the vehicle that you're most trusting in.
Joshua Boyd: Usually for most of us, it's also the biggest one we have to then we have to pack into the biggest vehicle anymore.
Joshua Boyd: But you also take the one that you can trust in.
Joshua Boyd: I know for Catherine and I, we're at the point now where our cars are over 10 years old, so when we travel long distance, we just rent anymore because one, I don't want to put the mileage on it, but two, I'm I fully trust in a newer vehicle a lot more.
Joshua Boyd: I don't want to be stranded.
Joshua Boyd: I've done that many too many times and don't want to live that life with a car full of stuff.
Joshua Boyd: But it's all about trust.
Joshua Boyd: It's about do I trust to be able to get there confidently and you know, on time, intact, everything else.
Joshua Boyd: God is looking for those he can put his trust in.
Joshua Boyd: When we talk about faith, we talk a lot about us putting our trust in God.
Joshua Boyd: But let's let's turn that around for just a second.
Joshua Boyd: God's looking for those who, when he says, take a step, they won't slip.
Joshua Boyd: Because they've lost their faith or they're afraid or they're they're uncommitted themselves.
Joshua Boyd: God's looking, God needs to, God needs us in this earth to get his gospel out.
Joshua Boyd: God needs us in this earth to get his will done.
Joshua Boyd: That's the kingdom of God.
Joshua Boyd: And if he uses someone that, when he says, okay, go take a step of faith and do this, and then we we continue to slip and then we don't do it anymore, well then, like my pair of shoes, I got, I can't use those shoes anymore.
Joshua Boyd: I had to get another pair of shoes.
Joshua Boyd: So when God says his will, you know, when we say God is sovereign and his will is going to be done, it will.
Joshua Boyd: But whether or not he uses me, it's fully up to me.
Joshua Boyd: Because God has a path for my life, God has a path for your life, and your life, and your life.
Joshua Boyd: It's up to us whether we follow that path.
Joshua Boyd: It's up to us whether we're competent and committed enough to take the steps that God has offered us to take.
Joshua Boyd: And the more we start doing that, yes, our faith grows, but God's trust in us grows, and he'll start to trust us with more.
Joshua Boyd: I can't give my daughter the keys to my car and say, here, hey, go bring the car up for me.
Joshua Boyd: I don't trust her at all to even turn the car on or even sit in a car with a running car because she wants to start touching things and who knows what's going to happen.
Joshua Boyd: When I was a kid, my sister, my mom, you know, back in the day, my mom would always leave us in the car when she went to the store.
Joshua Boyd: We don't do that now.
Joshua Boyd: But we had a V we had a VW, a manual.
Joshua Boyd: So I'm sitting in the front seat, I'm eight or eight or so years old.
Joshua Boyd: I'm sitting in the front seat and I I'm just playing.
Joshua Boyd: Car's not on, but I pull the, I pull it out of, I pull it out of gear, and the parking brake's not on.
Joshua Boyd: So the cars, you know, and we're in a we're in a store, the car starts rolling back.
Joshua Boyd: So strangers, stranger saw it, helped us, or something, I forgot.
Joshua Boyd: My mom, of course, freaked out when she came out of the store, saw her car.
Joshua Boyd: Not in the same spot that she left it, um, with those two kids in it.
Joshua Boyd: But in that sense, you know, she couldn't trust us in the car anymore or had to do something different because something happened that she was not expecting.
Joshua Boyd: So when we're looking at walking the pathway of faith, it comes down to trust.
Joshua Boyd: Can God trust us and can we trust God enough to take that next step?
Joshua Boyd: God is looking for those who He can put His trust in, those who won't slip when times get rough, those who He can depend on to finish the task.
Joshua Boyd: For God to have faith in us, we have to have faith in Him.
Joshua Boyd: So let's dissect that statement for a second.
Joshua Boyd: When we have faith in God, we are saying that we trust in Him.
Joshua Boyd: I trust that what He said will happen will happen.
Joshua Boyd: I trust that His word is true, yes, but I also trust that God has told me to do something.
Joshua Boyd: I don't even know why.
Joshua Boyd: I just know that He's told me to do something.
Joshua Boyd: So I have to trust that it's the right thing, that I've either one heard correctly, that that even though it sounds kind of outrageous and not really what I would want to do, that's what God is telling me to do.
Joshua Boyd: I've got to trust that, not even knowing the full outcome yet.
Joshua Boyd: We've all been there.
Joshua Boyd: We've all been in that spot where it's, guys, it's kind of like asking your wife to marry you.
Joshua Boyd: You're at you're at that step of, I think I trust her enough to say yes, so I'm gonna step out and and do that.
Joshua Boyd: I'm gonna step out and and ask her to say, you know, will you marry me?
Joshua Boyd: God is constantly asking us for that commitment.
Joshua Boyd: He's asking us, not just for a one-time commitment.
Joshua Boyd: He's asking us, are you committed to doing my next word?
Joshua Boyd: Are you committed to doing my next command that I'm asking you to do?
Joshua Boyd: And the more we do that, the further up we go, because the further God can trust us more and more.
Joshua Boyd: Here's the real key though, to what we're what comes down to trust.
Joshua Boyd: When we trust, when we trust God, we obey.
Joshua Boyd: Obedience comes down to trust.
Joshua Boyd: You know, we sing that little song, trust and obey, for there's no other way.
Joshua Boyd: There isn't.
Joshua Boyd: When we're saying we have faith, that means we're saying we trust God.
Joshua Boyd: But to show that we have to be obeying something.
Joshua Boyd: We can't just have faith.
Joshua Boyd: Like James said, you say you have faith, show me your works.
Joshua Boyd: Show me by what you're doing that you have faith.
Joshua Boyd: This is how you do that.
Joshua Boyd: So our journey of faith today is called trust and obey.
Joshua Boyd: Because when you fully trust, you fully obey.
Joshua Boyd: When you don't trust, you don't obey.
Joshua Boyd: Or we can reverse it.
Joshua Boyd: When you don't obey, that means you're not trusting.
Joshua Boyd: And it's true with our kids.
Joshua Boyd: How many times have we said with our kids, honey, listen to me, don't do that because we we know, even if I don't tell her all the consequences of what will happen, you know, don't throw that little sticky hand you have on the lamp because as soon as you do, you're gonna pull that lamp off.
Joshua Boyd: I just say don't throw the sticky hand.
Joshua Boyd: Why not?
Joshua Boyd: Just don't throw the sticky hand on the on the lamp.
Joshua Boyd: You know, and it's like, I told you, you didn't trust me.
Joshua Boyd: You know, that's so even with kids, the disobedience comes from them not trusting you.
Joshua Boyd: They want to do their own thing because they don't fully yet trust.
Joshua Boyd: That's really what we're when we're teaching our kids to obey, we are also teaching our kids to trust us.
Joshua Boyd: That's why it's so important to do, because when we when they start trusting us, they'll start trusting in a God they can't see.
Joshua Boyd: And they'll start obeying a God they can't see.
Joshua Boyd: I really have not seen it like this until I was studying for this yesterday.
Joshua Boyd: So I really believe this is the word for right now, the word for today.
Joshua Boyd: So the truest measure of faith, not that we go around telling people or have a meter that shows up on our body or our phone, but the true measure of how much faith we have is how much we're obeying.
Joshua Boyd: It's not how many prayers we got answered or how big a house we have or car we drive.
Joshua Boyd: It is truly how much are we obeying?
Joshua Boyd: And really only God knows that.
Joshua Boyd: Because God, you and God are the only two who know what are what He's told you to do.
Joshua Boyd: Because it may be something as simple, yeah, go go witness to that person.
Joshua Boyd: Tell your waiter about the Lord.
Joshua Boyd: Do I obey or do I do I struggle with my flesh to go, what are they gonna think about me?
Joshua Boyd: What if they go spitting my food because I said something about God?
Joshua Boyd: You know, all the thoughts that go through your head when God tells you to do something, we don't trust God enough to solve all that for us, so we don't obey.
Joshua Boyd: We're too worried about our own self.
Joshua Boyd: And we've all been there.
Joshua Boyd: You remember when Jesus said that he'd never seen this much faith in all of Israel?
Joshua Boyd: Who did he see it in?
Joshua Boyd: Was it a disciple?
Joshua Boyd: Was it a child?
Joshua Boyd: No, it was a soldier who understood obedience.
Joshua Boyd: He understood when I say the word, my guys obey.
Joshua Boyd: And when my commander says the word, I obey.
Joshua Boyd: Because I trust them.
Joshua Boyd: And Jesus said, that's the greatest faith I've seen ever.
Joshua Boyd: Because he's seeing the greatest obedience.
Joshua Boyd: Because the per the guy said, just say the word, and I know it will happen.
Joshua Boyd: I know whatever that sickness is will have to obey you.
Joshua Boyd: He trusted the fact that the word would bring obedience.
Joshua Boyd: Amen.
Joshua Boyd: 2 Timothy 2.
Joshua Boyd: Let's look at a verse.
Joshua Boyd: I have a lot of introduction without a verse.
Joshua Boyd: Um this is Paul talking to Timothy.
Joshua Boyd: Timothy, my dear son, be strong through the grace that God gives you in Christ Jesus.
Joshua Boyd: You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses.
Joshua Boyd: Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others.
Joshua Boyd: Endure suffering along with me as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
Joshua Boyd: Soldiers don't get tied up in the affairs of civilian life.
Joshua Boyd: For then they cannot please the officer who enlisted them.
Joshua Boyd: And athletes cannot win the prize unless they follow the rules.
Joshua Boyd: And hardworking farmers should be the first to enjoy the fruit of their labor.
Joshua Boyd: Think about what I'm saying.
Joshua Boyd: The Lord will help you understand all these things.
Joshua Boyd: So Paul actually takes three different quick examples to tell Timothy, basically, okay, I have trusted you with this word.
Joshua Boyd: So they, and these are reliable words I'm teaching you.
Joshua Boyd: Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people.
Joshua Boyd: In other words, make sure that you're teaching them to people you can trust.
Joshua Boyd: And then they will teach them.
Joshua Boyd: We can't just teach them to the broad population.
Joshua Boyd: Make sure that the people that you are teaching this to to pass the and to spread the gospel are people you can trust.
Joshua Boyd: And he gave the examples of the soldier, the athlete, and the farmer.
Joshua Boyd: I'm not going to dive into each of these because I've heard sermons on each one.
Joshua Boyd: But a soldier, of course, we just said, fully has to be trustworthy to be a good soldier.
Joshua Boyd: They have to know, the commander has to know, when I tell you to do something, are you going to do it?
Joshua Boyd: Do you trust me enough that even when you don't know the reason why I'm telling you to go dig that ditch, that there's a reason why I'm teaching you to do it.
Joshua Boyd: Or I'm telling you to do it.
Joshua Boyd: The athlete has to listen to a coach.
Joshua Boyd: Why am I running these sprint wind sprints so much, coach?
Joshua Boyd: Why are you having me do that?
Joshua Boyd: I don't understand.
Joshua Boyd: You just have to trust them that they're preparing you for the type of exertion that will happen in a real, in a game or in a match, or whatever it might be.
Joshua Boyd: And the farmer has to trust the process.
Joshua Boyd: They have to trust that when I put these seeds in the ground, something's going to happen.
Joshua Boyd: I've got to follow my plan, even though I can't see what's happening quite yet, until the harvest is here.
Joshua Boyd: I have to trust the process itself.
Joshua Boyd: So the Apostle Paul was trying to get this exact same point that I am today, that God's ability to trust you to get his will done depends on you trusting him.
Joshua Boyd: Letting go of your own comfort, desire, pride to listen to him.
Joshua Boyd: Like my old Jew, God has to be ready that when he's ready to take a step, he knows it's not going to slip.
Joshua Boyd: He has to be fully confident in it.
Joshua Boyd: And that to me is the, I liken that to the commitment.
Joshua Boyd: Can I, you know, like a never played football, but I know like a football player or any athlete that has to make moves, they have to trust that when they make that cut in the grass and the gravel, that their shoe, the turf, everything's going to hold for them.
Joshua Boyd: Because if they can't trust that and they keep making cuts and slipping, they're going to change something.
Joshua Boyd: They're going to change how they're doing it or change their equipment or change something because they have to commit to that move to be able to make the the end product of what they're doing.
Joshua Boyd: You know, I think about when I watch these downhill skiers that are doing 70, 80 miles an hour.
Joshua Boyd: I mean, they they are committed to that turn once they get in, once they go into it.
Joshua Boyd: They're committed to trusting their skis are going to dig into the snow just exactly right without slipping at whatever miles an hour they're going down.
Joshua Boyd: So, yeah, let them do it.
Joshua Boyd: That's not but you know, I think about that because you know, when you know, I'll you know, the few times I've been ice skating, I have yet to do the hockey slide yet, because I'm not committed enough to trust that that move.
Joshua Boyd: It's like, I've I've seen it, I've tried, I know the, I just like I've studied it enough to go, I think I can do it, but all I picture of me is going, you know, for halfway down the ice.
Joshua Boyd: So I'm not committed enough because I don't trust my my skates.
Joshua Boyd: I don't trust the ice.
Joshua Boyd: Um even though it's the same skates and ice that the person next to me could be doing it in.
Joshua Boyd: I just I haven't trusted it yet.
Joshua Boyd: But so therefore I'm not committing to it yet.
Joshua Boyd: God has to be able to trust in us, so we have to be able to be fully committed to him in every step of the way.
Joshua Boyd: That's one of the things that God said about David in Acts 13, 22.
Joshua Boyd: This is Paul talking about David.
Joshua Boyd: He said, and when he had removed him, Saul, he raised up for them David as king, to whom also he gave testimony and said, I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart.
Joshua Boyd: Why?
Joshua Boyd: Because he will do all that all my will.
Joshua Boyd: He's a man after my heart, not just because he sings songs and plays music and loves the Lord.
Joshua Boyd: He's a man after his heart because he will get God's heart done.
Joshua Boyd: He will get God's will done.
Joshua Boyd: Because that's exactly what Saul didn't do.
Joshua Boyd: And that's why Saul was removed.
Joshua Boyd: Saul was like, you know, we won't go into that story again, but Saul was asked to do something.
Joshua Boyd: He didn't do it.
Joshua Boyd: He said he did.
Joshua Boyd: He still was committed to the fact that he did, even when he didn't.
Joshua Boyd: And Samuel's like, I hear sheep.
Joshua Boyd: There shouldn't have been any sheep because we told you to get rid of all the sheep.
Joshua Boyd: So what's going on here?
Joshua Boyd: And there's also a king standing here from that nation that I just told you to kill everybody in.
Joshua Boyd: Why is he standing here?
Joshua Boyd: So Saul's like, but I still did everything you asked to, or the Lord said to.
Joshua Boyd: And Samuel's like, no, the Lord has now said, we're bringing somebody else in who will do God's will.
Joshua Boyd: Not who is better, not who is more talented, not who is more skilled, someone who would do God's will, someone who is more committed, someone who God could trust in.
Joshua Boyd: And then all throughout the books of the kings and chronicles, so many times they were likened to David.
Joshua Boyd: This is Hezekiah, and he did what was right in the sight of the Lord according to all that his father David had done.
Joshua Boyd: This is 2 Kings 18, 3, verse 4.
Joshua Boyd: He removed the high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down the wooden image, and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made.
Joshua Boyd: For until these days the children of Israel burned incense to it and called it Nehushton.
Joshua Boyd: In other words, they had taken something that Moses did obey God in, put a staff up, put a brass serpent on to stop a plague that was happening, and the people started worshiping it.
Joshua Boyd: Basically, oh, that's our Savior because it did something good back then.
Joshua Boyd: No, it was a symbol of what God was doing.
Joshua Boyd: But this is Hezekiah still.
Joshua Boyd: He trusted in the God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor were before him.
Joshua Boyd: He held fast to the Lord.
Joshua Boyd: He did not depart from following him, but he kept his commandments, which the Lord had commanded Moses.
Joshua Boyd: The Lord was with him, he prospered wherever he went, and he rebelled against the king of Syria and did not serve him.
Joshua Boyd: So here was a king, and I just I just read through Kings not too long ago, and I don't remember seeing this phrase that um was it?
Joshua Boyd: Yeah, that God called Hezekiah a king that there was none like among him, either before or after him.
Joshua Boyd: And that's pretty high.
Joshua Boyd: I mean, David was pretty high, but he's actually saying he's pretty pretty high up there.
Joshua Boyd: Um but why?
Joshua Boyd: Because he trusted God and he obeyed.
Joshua Boyd: He did all the things that he was supposed to do.
Joshua Boyd: He did all the things that God told him to do.
Joshua Boyd: Not because he was good to his people, not because he was a generous person, not because he did anything else other than did what God.
Joshua Boyd: He trusted God and obeyed God.
Joshua Boyd: Trust and obey.
Joshua Boyd: Jesus showed his trust in his father by his obedience.
Joshua Boyd: When he entered Jerusalem on this day and heard the shouts and praises of the people, he wasn't obedient for the praise.
Joshua Boyd: He wasn't looking for, he wasn't looking for that moment to go, okay, I'm finally recognized as the king that I am.
Joshua Boyd: No, he did it in obedience, knowing what was about to come.
Joshua Boyd: Because, as we said, that same crowd just a few days later was like, no, this guy needs to go crucify him.
Joshua Boyd: But he was obedient because he trusted.
Joshua Boyd: And of course, the father fully trusted Jesus because of his obedience.
Joshua Boyd: In fact, this is a verse that most people haven't meditated on very long.
Joshua Boyd: This is talking about Jesus.
Joshua Boyd: Even though Jesus was God's son, he learned obedience through the things he suffered.
Joshua Boyd: Hebrews 5.8.
Joshua Boyd: In other words, Jesus had to learn obedience.
Joshua Boyd: Because he had to learn to trust.
Joshua Boyd: As a human, he was fully God, but he grew up as a child and had to learn to trust his mom's voice, his dad's voice.
Joshua Boyd: He had to learn obedience through the things that he suffered.
Joshua Boyd: And to the point that he had to be obedient to give his life, he had to get to that point.
Joshua Boyd: If Jesus did it, we have to learn obedience through the things that we suffer.
Joshua Boyd: That's the point of this scripture.
Joshua Boyd: In other words, obedience is going to require suffering.
Joshua Boyd: And suffering doesn't mean we're going to get beaten and whipped and have, you know, all these things come upon us.
Joshua Boyd: It means that we're going to have to put down our flesh.
Joshua Boyd: When we learn to obey God more and more, we're going to have to learn to give up our own way.
Joshua Boyd: Doing with less.
Joshua Boyd: Giving the best away instead of keeping it for ourselves.
Joshua Boyd: In other words, suffering our flesh.
Joshua Boyd: The more we obey, the more God can trust us, the more He will ask of us, the more we can obey.
Joshua Boyd: It's a cycle.
Joshua Boyd: It's a step.
Joshua Boyd: We grow and grow and grow.
Joshua Boyd: This is the cycle of faith and why faith pleases God, because those who have more faith can do more obedience and do more for his kingdom and get more done.
Joshua Boyd: When you look at the people of God and the people that are listed in the Hebrews 11, at the end of Hebrews 11, it talks about all these people who, it doesn't name everybody, but said there are people who are martyred, killed, you know, pierced with the sword, burned.
Joshua Boyd: These were people who were fully committed because they gave their life, literally, to God and for God.
Joshua Boyd: Now, not God's not calling all of us to be martyrs, but God is calling all of us to give up our own desire and way.
Joshua Boyd: And that's the thing that that it became, this is why the kingdom of God is so different from the kingdom of this world.
Joshua Boyd: We talked about in our Bible study on Wednesday night, we talked about Babylon, because Babylon is kind of that world system, the world's way of doing things.
Joshua Boyd: The kingdom of God is so different.
Joshua Boyd: The last will be first and the first last.
Joshua Boyd: You want to be at the top?
Joshua Boyd: You start at the bottom.
Joshua Boyd: You want the best seat in the house?
Joshua Boyd: Don't take the best seat in the house, Jesus told him.
Joshua Boyd: He said, go sit in the back and let the host come and say, Hey, why don't you come up and come up front?
Joshua Boyd: He said, That's a whole lot better than you going, Jordan, you know, this I have this seat saved for somebody else.
Joshua Boyd: I need you to go sit way back there, please.
Joshua Boyd: That.
Joshua Boyd: Yeah, I need you.
Joshua Boyd: There's a spot on the floor in the back.
Joshua Boyd: Our flesh wants to be up front, up high, out doing everything, the best.
Joshua Boyd: And God wants the best for us, but the way we get there is not by seeking the best, not by pursuing it.
Joshua Boyd: That's the difference.
Joshua Boyd: The world, all they want to do is seek the best.
Joshua Boyd: We want the top.
Joshua Boyd: We want to showcase the top.
Joshua Boyd: We want to put the best on Facebook, on Instagram.
Joshua Boyd: That's all we want, you know, that's all you see, that's all you want.
Joshua Boyd: God's saying, no, you seek the lowest.
Joshua Boyd: You seek the bottom, and I'll bring you up.
Joshua Boyd: Philemon 1.21, having this is Paul talking to Philemon, having confidence in your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.
Joshua Boyd: So Paul trusted in Philemon, saying, you know, I won't go into the story of Philemon, but there was a runaway slave who Paul had come to Paul, become Paul's kind of son in the faith again, Anesimus, and he was going to send him back to Philemon, but he had a whole book of instruction for Philemon on how to how to treat him.
Joshua Boyd: And he said to start off with, I trust you're going to obey this and do even more than I say.
Joshua Boyd: So Paul had full confidence in Philemon to be able to do what he said.
Joshua Boyd: 2 Corinthians 10, this is a chapter that we quote a lot, especially in the light of what we call label spiritual warfare in the church.
Joshua Boyd: 2 Corinthians 10, 3, but we are human, we don't wage war as humans do.
Joshua Boyd: We use God's mighty weapons to knock to, or excuse me, we use God's mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and destroy false arguments.
Joshua Boyd: We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God.
Joshua Boyd: We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.
Joshua Boyd: After you have become fully obedient, we will punish everyone who remains disobedient.
Joshua Boyd: We talk about spiritual warfare because there's a, you know, this is weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they're mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.
Joshua Boyd: That's King James version of this verse.
Joshua Boyd: But really what it is is putting those thoughts down of you wanting to do your own way.
Joshua Boyd: Putting those thoughts down of not doing the will of the Lord.
Joshua Boyd: And when we have become fully obedient to the will of the Lord, then we can, you know, it's we're we're not the ones punishing, but God can then use us to punish, you know, judge others who are not being obedient.
Joshua Boyd: And God will judge that.
Joshua Boyd: But notice that the line here is not about evil and good.
Joshua Boyd: It's not about the Satan and God and his angels.
Joshua Boyd: It's about obedient and disobedient.
Joshua Boyd: So I think we're starting to see just how important obedience is to God.
Joshua Boyd: Keep the best for themselves, always, always looking for the best.
Joshua Boyd: We are asked to sacrifice money, time, or excuse me, when we're asked to sacrifice money or time or possessions, it goes against our flesh.
Joshua Boyd: What?
Joshua Boyd: You want me to do what?
Joshua Boyd: Give up what?
Joshua Boyd: You want me to give 10% of my income?
Joshua Boyd: You want two hours of my time on a Sunday?
Joshua Boyd: That's my day off.
Joshua Boyd: What?
Joshua Boyd: You know, those are just the basics.
Joshua Boyd: I mean, those if you aren't doing those, then you're not trusting God, or God can't trust you to do other tasks.
Joshua Boyd: It means you don't trust him enough to believe his word on tithing, for example, or believe his word enough to know that the Sabbath is a holy day that we need to set it apart and do and honor God on the Sabbath day.
Joshua Boyd: To be a disciple means to give up yourself.
Joshua Boyd: It means to literally give something of yours to someone else to lift them up, to bring them up.
Joshua Boyd: It is more blessed to give than receive.
Joshua Boyd: The world's way is gimme, gimme, gimme.
Joshua Boyd: I'm ready to receive.
Joshua Boyd: What do you got for me?
Joshua Boyd: What's in it for me, as we say in the even the project change management world, is what's in it for me.
Joshua Boyd: That's how we, that's how we, in the in the project management world, that's how we tell people, that's how we get people to accept the change that's coming to them, is we go, here's what's in it for you.
Joshua Boyd: You have to kind of feed them something that says, here, here's your benefit.
Joshua Boyd: It's not about trusting somebody to say, this is for the good of the company, this is why we're making this decision, because there's a long-term plan, we're getting rid of a, you know, something that's been old and bad.
Joshua Boyd: I know you're comfortable with it, but it's outdated.
Joshua Boyd: Now we're going to something new.
Joshua Boyd: But here's what's in it for you.
Joshua Boyd: Um God doesn't do that.
Joshua Boyd: Now, there's always something in it for us, but God doesn't lead with that.
Joshua Boyd: God has a good plan for you.
Joshua Boyd: God has an expected end.
Joshua Boyd: He has a future and a hope for you, for our kids, for our family, for our church.
Joshua Boyd: But for us to get there, we have to step back.
Joshua Boyd: We have to say, Lord, what do you want?
Joshua Boyd: What is the step I'm having to take to be obedient to?
Joshua Boyd: This is why when John was asked about Jesus, whether or not he was the Messiah, or when John, when the apostles or the disciples of John saw Jesus baptizing on the other side of the Jordan, they're like, hey, look at John, look at he's he's doing that.
Joshua Boyd: John's like, yeah, that's what I told you guys he was the Messiah.
Joshua Boyd: Now I must decrease so that he might increase.
Joshua Boyd: That's a world's way that's a way of the kingdom that we all struggle with our flesh to do.
Joshua Boyd: You want me to what?
Joshua Boyd: You want me to step back?
Joshua Boyd: I've been pursuing this for a long time, Lord, and you're wanting me to go what looks like backwards for a moment?
Joshua Boyd: And God say, yeah.
Joshua Boyd: And then He'll turn around and give you the best.
Joshua Boyd: He'll skip ten steps and go, look, come up here, and I have this for you.
Joshua Boyd: And it's going to be so much easier, so much better, instead of us struggling and struggling to get there.
Joshua Boyd: The first will be last, and the last first.
Joshua Boyd: Those who put their own way before God's will end up last.
Joshua Boyd: But those who put God's way first, who trust him, obey him, will end up first.
Joshua Boyd: End up with the best.
Joshua Boyd: Let's look at one more passage and we'll stop.
Joshua Boyd: In Luke 14, 7, Jesus told a parable.
Joshua Boyd: He said, So Jesus noticed that all who had come to the dinner were trying to sit in the seats of honor near the head of the table.
Joshua Boyd: He gave them this advice.
Joshua Boyd: When you are heading, invited to a wedding feast, don't sit at the seat of honor.
Joshua Boyd: What if someone who is more distinguished than you has also been invited?
Joshua Boyd: The host will come and say, Hey, give that person your seat, and you'll be embarrassed, and you'll have to take whatever seat is left at the foot of the table.
Joshua Boyd: Instead, take the lowest seat at the foot of the table.
Joshua Boyd: Then when your host sees you, he will come and say, Friend, we have a better place for you.
Joshua Boyd: Then you will be honored in front of the other guests.
Joshua Boyd: For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
Joshua Boyd: Can God trust you?
Joshua Boyd: He wants to lift you up.
Joshua Boyd: He wants to give you the best.
Joshua Boyd: He's got so much more planned for you than you can plan for yourself.
Joshua Boyd: But when we are pursuing the best, we're not pursuing God.
Joshua Boyd: Seek first the kingdom of God, his righteousness, and all these other things will be added to you.
Joshua Boyd: I mean, even the disciples said, Lord, we have left everything to follow you.
Joshua Boyd: So they kind of asked the question, what's in it for us?
Joshua Boyd: And Jesus said, All those who have left houses and lands and fathers and mothers will receive now and this time a hundredfold.
Joshua Boyd: You'll get plenty.
Joshua Boyd: You'll get doesn't mean you'll have a hundred houses and a hundred wives and a hundred everything, but it means that you'll have an increase of that, that you'll have things that don't break down on you.
Joshua Boyd: You'll have things that work that are the best that it can be because God's giving it to you because you gave up what you had.
Joshua Boyd: You didn't keep it for yourself.
Joshua Boyd: This journey of faith looks so backwards to the world.
Joshua Boyd: And all that see it, all they see is that we have the best, we have our needs provided, and we're living in hell.
Joshua Boyd: They see the outcome of it.
Joshua Boyd: They don't understand, how'd you get that?
Joshua Boyd: How do you do that?
Joshua Boyd: And we're like, yeah, I sowed some money and the Lord gave me this.
Joshua Boyd: What?
Joshua Boyd: You did that's backward.
Joshua Boyd: You know, it's like, you know, I I think, you know, I think, well, uh I can give so many examples of this.
Joshua Boyd: I love watches.
Joshua Boyd: And when I I had back when I was in Bible school, I had a I had gotten a really nice, you know, for me at the time, nice watch.
Joshua Boyd: It was my favorite watch.
Joshua Boyd: And um, but I the Lord said, give this to somebody.
Joshua Boyd: That's my favorite watch.
Joshua Boyd: I just got this.
Joshua Boyd: It's like, you know, I like the way it makes me feel.
Joshua Boyd: I look, I feel kind of, you know, I had no money.
Joshua Boyd: I felt rich in that watch because but the Lord's like, I want you to give that.
unknown: Okay.
Joshua Boyd: So I gave it.
Joshua Boyd: And, you know, it wasn't immediate, but today I'm watch rich.
Joshua Boyd: Um, I love my watches.
Joshua Boyd: But in other words, that's just an example because it's it's it's kind of a small one, but man, that that when I I was so I struggled with that one so much, but I knew it was the Lord saying, give this to this person.
Joshua Boyd: And I when I told him that, when I gave it to him, I said, this watch makes me just makes me feel, you know, riching, or you know, just kind of it it gave me it gives me a feeling.
Joshua Boyd: I said, I want you to have that same feeling too.
Joshua Boyd: Um and it was just, and at the time I didn't, you know, I think I had may have had like one other really cheap Casio.
Joshua Boyd: So I mean it was like it was one, it was this really for me, a nice metal, you know, divers type watch to get down to back my plastic um what.
Joshua Boyd: But you know, I look back and go, Lord, I'm so glad I did that.
Joshua Boyd: Not again, it's just that's just a little thing, but God wants us to do that with everything we have in our lives.
Joshua Boyd: And and I'm not saying, you've heard me say this before.
Joshua Boyd: This doesn't mean go give everything away.
Joshua Boyd: Listen to the Lord.
Joshua Boyd: Because God, you know, you don't do anything stupid.
Joshua Boyd: Listen to God, um, and He will lift you up.
Joshua Boyd: So what the world doesn't see, the world sees the outcome.
Joshua Boyd: What they don't see is that we're putting others first.
Joshua Boyd: We're giving our best away, we're doing what God wants instead of our own plan.
Joshua Boyd: The last are first, the humble are exalted, the givers receive, the obedient get the reward.
Joshua Boyd: It's so backwards, but it's so God.
Joshua Boyd: So, do you want God's best?
Joshua Boyd: Then we want to we want to give up our best.
Joshua Boyd: He gave us his son, we can give up we can give up what he wants for us.
Joshua Boyd: Amen.