The Journey of Faith Part 5 - Trust and Obey

Joshua Boyd

Today is Palm Sunday, the start of what is called passion week.  Does anyone know why we call it passion week?  I too had to look it up.  The English word passion comes from the Latin word passio which means “to endure suffering”. So this is celebration of Christ’s week of enduring suffering for us. He, like us had His journey of faith that took Him down a very specific pathway.  It wasn’t easy.  It was very narrow.  So narrow that no other person has ever walk that exact path.  He did it because He fully trusted His Father. And He did it for us.  

When you plan a trip with your family, which vehicle do you take?  For most of us, probably the biggest one to pack in the stuff, but also the most reliable one. Right?  We’ve gotten to the point with two cars over 10 years old to rent a vehicle for longer trips so we can save the wear on our cars and have a vehicle we can fully trust.  

God is looking for those who He can put His trust in, those who won’t slip when times get rough, those He can depend on to finish the task.  We teach on faith regularly here at Faith Alive Church and here is a key element of our faith: for God to have faith is us, we have to have faith in Him.  

Let’s dissect that statement to fully understand it.  when we have faith in God, we are saying that we trust Him.  I trust that what He has said will happen.  I trust that He is true to His Word.  Here is the real key though: when we trust, we obey.  When you fully trust, you fully obey.  When you don’t trust, you don’t obey.  So the truest indicator of faith isn’t your answered prayer record, it is how much you obey.  

Transcript

Joshua Boyd: 0:00

Well, today, of course, is Palm Sunday, the start of what we call Passion Week. And, you know, I'd heard it called Passion Week all my life, but never really understood why it was called Passion Week. And, you know, there's a whole movie called The Passion of the Christ. So I had to look it up. It's a Latin word that comes from the Latin word passio, which means to endure suffering. 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. Because once, again, once he openly declared that he was king, that's when the Jews were like, this guy's got to go. 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. So the path that Jesus took, the path that Christ took, um, was a journey of faith. So this is our continuation of our journey of faith discussion. This is part five. Of course, Christ had a very, very specific path. No other person has ever taken or ever will take that path again. So when you talk about a narrow path, he had a singular path that he had to take. It wasn't easy. It was super narrow. Um, but he did it because he fully trusted the Father. And he did it for us. This is gonna sound disconnected, but I'm gonna connect them here in a little bit. Um I had a pair of shoes one time that told you, there's no there's no segue. I had a pair of shoes one time that I really liked. I loved the way they looked, they were super comfortable, especially the older they got. They went with a lot. They were, you know, I can kind of dress casual or or be um you know even a little more dressy. But over time, they lost their the tread on the bottom, so they were extremely slippery when it rained. 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. 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. Because the shoes themselves completely lost their grip. 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. I couldn't commit to that. 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. Um our topic today is going to talk about commitment. And it goes along a lot like that. And tying it back to Jesus, Jesus was fully committed. We know that. 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. 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. I mean, there was a few days hence and and there was a cross. 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. And the more commitment it takes, the more we have to fully trust in God. But really, what it's coming down to is can God fully trust in us? And obviously, God trusted Jesus, and Jesus trusted in his Father. I won't get into next week's message for Jordan, but I don't know what he's going to talk about yet. 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. Because his flesh did not want to do it. 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. But he said, Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. You know, when you plan a trip with your family, you take the vehicle that you're most trusting in. Usually for most of us, it's also the biggest one we have to then we have to pack into the biggest vehicle anymore. But you also take the one that you can trust in. 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. I don't want to be stranded. I've done that many too many times and don't want to live that life with a car full of stuff. But it's all about trust. It's about do I trust to be able to get there confidently and you know, on time, intact, everything else. God is looking for those he can put his trust in. When we talk about faith, we talk a lot about us putting our trust in God. But let's let's turn that around for just a second. God's looking for those who, when he says, take a step, they won't slip. Because they've lost their faith or they're afraid or they're they're uncommitted themselves. God's looking, God needs to, God needs us in this earth to get his gospel out. God needs us in this earth to get his will done. That's the kingdom of God. 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. I had to get another pair of shoes. So when God says his will, you know, when we say God is sovereign and his will is going to be done, it will. But whether or not he uses me, it's fully up to me. Because God has a path for my life, God has a path for your life, and your life, and your life. It's up to us whether we follow that path. It's up to us whether we're competent and committed enough to take the steps that God has offered us to take. 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. I can't give my daughter the keys to my car and say, here, hey, go bring the car up for me. 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. 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. We don't do that now. But we had a V we had a VW, a manual. So I'm sitting in the front seat, I'm eight or eight or so years old. I'm sitting in the front seat and I I'm just playing. 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. So the cars, you know, and we're in a we're in a store, the car starts rolling back. So strangers, stranger saw it, helped us, or something, I forgot. My mom, of course, freaked out when she came out of the store, saw her car. Not in the same spot that she left it, um, with those two kids in it. 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. So when we're looking at walking the pathway of faith, it comes down to trust. Can God trust us and can we trust God enough to take that next step? 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. For God to have faith in us, we have to have faith in Him. So let's dissect that statement for a second. When we have faith in God, we are saying that we trust in Him. I trust that what He said will happen will happen. I trust that His word is true, yes, but I also trust that God has told me to do something. I don't even know why. I just know that He's told me to do something. 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. I've got to trust that, not even knowing the full outcome yet. We've all been there. We've all been in that spot where it's, guys, it's kind of like asking your wife to marry you. 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. I'm gonna step out and and ask her to say, you know, will you marry me? God is constantly asking us for that commitment. He's asking us, not just for a one-time commitment. He's asking us, are you committed to doing my next word? Are you committed to doing my next command that I'm asking you to do? And the more we do that, the further up we go, because the further God can trust us more and more. Here's the real key though, to what we're what comes down to trust. When we trust, when we trust God, we obey. Obedience comes down to trust. You know, we sing that little song, trust and obey, for there's no other way. There isn't. When we're saying we have faith, that means we're saying we trust God. But to show that we have to be obeying something. We can't just have faith. Like James said, you say you have faith, show me your works. Show me by what you're doing that you have faith. This is how you do that. So our journey of faith today is called trust and obey. Because when you fully trust, you fully obey. When you don't trust, you don't obey. Or we can reverse it. When you don't obey, that means you're not trusting. And it's true with our kids. 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. I just say don't throw the sticky hand. Why not? Just don't throw the sticky hand on the on the lamp. You know, and it's like, I told you, you didn't trust me. You know, that's so even with kids, the disobedience comes from them not trusting you. They want to do their own thing because they don't fully yet trust. That's really what we're when we're teaching our kids to obey, we are also teaching our kids to trust us. 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. And they'll start obeying a God they can't see. I really have not seen it like this until I was studying for this yesterday. So I really believe this is the word for right now, the word for today. 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. It's not how many prayers we got answered or how big a house we have or car we drive. It is truly how much are we obeying? And really only God knows that. Because God, you and God are the only two who know what are what He's told you to do. Because it may be something as simple, yeah, go go witness to that person. Tell your waiter about the Lord. Do I obey or do I do I struggle with my flesh to go, what are they gonna think about me? What if they go spitting my food because I said something about God? 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. We're too worried about our own self. And we've all been there. You remember when Jesus said that he'd never seen this much faith in all of Israel? Who did he see it in? Was it a disciple? Was it a child? No, it was a soldier who understood obedience. He understood when I say the word, my guys obey. And when my commander says the word, I obey. Because I trust them. And Jesus said, that's the greatest faith I've seen ever. Because he's seeing the greatest obedience. Because the per the guy said, just say the word, and I know it will happen. I know whatever that sickness is will have to obey you. He trusted the fact that the word would bring obedience. Amen. 2 Timothy 2. Let's look at a verse. I have a lot of introduction without a verse. Um this is Paul talking to Timothy. Timothy, my dear son, be strong through the grace that God gives you in Christ Jesus. You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others. Endure suffering along with me as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. Soldiers don't get tied up in the affairs of civilian life. For then they cannot please the officer who enlisted them. And athletes cannot win the prize unless they follow the rules. And hardworking farmers should be the first to enjoy the fruit of their labor. Think about what I'm saying. The Lord will help you understand all these things. So Paul actually takes three different quick examples to tell Timothy, basically, okay, I have trusted you with this word. So they, and these are reliable words I'm teaching you. Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people. In other words, make sure that you're teaching them to people you can trust. And then they will teach them. We can't just teach them to the broad population. Make sure that the people that you are teaching this to to pass the and to spread the gospel are people you can trust. And he gave the examples of the soldier, the athlete, and the farmer. I'm not going to dive into each of these because I've heard sermons on each one. But a soldier, of course, we just said, fully has to be trustworthy to be a good soldier. They have to know, the commander has to know, when I tell you to do something, are you going to do it? 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. Or I'm telling you to do it. The athlete has to listen to a coach. Why am I running these sprint wind sprints so much, coach? Why are you having me do that? I don't understand. 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. And the farmer has to trust the process. They have to trust that when I put these seeds in the ground, something's going to happen. I've got to follow my plan, even though I can't see what's happening quite yet, until the harvest is here. I have to trust the process itself. 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. Letting go of your own comfort, desire, pride to listen to him. 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. He has to be fully confident in it. And that to me is the, I liken that to the commitment. 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. Because if they can't trust that and they keep making cuts and slipping, they're going to change something. 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. You know, I think about when I watch these downhill skiers that are doing 70, 80 miles an hour. I mean, they they are committed to that turn once they get in, once they go into it. 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. So, yeah, let them do it. 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. 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. So I'm not committed enough because I don't trust my my skates. I don't trust the ice. Um even though it's the same skates and ice that the person next to me could be doing it in. I just I haven't trusted it yet. But so therefore I'm not committing to it yet. 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. That's one of the things that God said about David in Acts 13, 22. This is Paul talking about David. 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. Why? Because he will do all that all my will. He's a man after my heart, not just because he sings songs and plays music and loves the Lord. He's a man after his heart because he will get God's heart done. He will get God's will done. Because that's exactly what Saul didn't do. And that's why Saul was removed. Saul was like, you know, we won't go into that story again, but Saul was asked to do something. He didn't do it. He said he did. He still was committed to the fact that he did, even when he didn't. And Samuel's like, I hear sheep. There shouldn't have been any sheep because we told you to get rid of all the sheep. So what's going on here? And there's also a king standing here from that nation that I just told you to kill everybody in. Why is he standing here? So Saul's like, but I still did everything you asked to, or the Lord said to. And Samuel's like, no, the Lord has now said, we're bringing somebody else in who will do God's will. 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. And then all throughout the books of the kings and chronicles, so many times they were likened to David. This is Hezekiah, and he did what was right in the sight of the Lord according to all that his father David had done. This is 2 Kings 18, 3, verse 4. 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. For until these days the children of Israel burned incense to it and called it Nehushton. 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. Basically, oh, that's our Savior because it did something good back then. No, it was a symbol of what God was doing. But this is Hezekiah still. 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. He held fast to the Lord. He did not depart from following him, but he kept his commandments, which the Lord had commanded Moses. The Lord was with him, he prospered wherever he went, and he rebelled against the king of Syria and did not serve him. 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? Yeah, that God called Hezekiah a king that there was none like among him, either before or after him. And that's pretty high. I mean, David was pretty high, but he's actually saying he's pretty pretty high up there. Um but why? Because he trusted God and he obeyed. He did all the things that he was supposed to do. He did all the things that God told him to do. 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. He trusted God and obeyed God. Trust and obey. Jesus showed his trust in his father by his obedience. When he entered Jerusalem on this day and heard the shouts and praises of the people, he wasn't obedient for the praise. 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. No, he did it in obedience, knowing what was about to come. Because, as we said, that same crowd just a few days later was like, no, this guy needs to go crucify him. But he was obedient because he trusted. And of course, the father fully trusted Jesus because of his obedience. In fact, this is a verse that most people haven't meditated on very long. This is talking about Jesus. Even though Jesus was God's son, he learned obedience through the things he suffered. Hebrews 5.8. In other words, Jesus had to learn obedience. Because he had to learn to trust. 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. He had to learn obedience through the things that he suffered. And to the point that he had to be obedient to give his life, he had to get to that point. If Jesus did it, we have to learn obedience through the things that we suffer. That's the point of this scripture. In other words, obedience is going to require suffering. And suffering doesn't mean we're going to get beaten and whipped and have, you know, all these things come upon us. It means that we're going to have to put down our flesh. When we learn to obey God more and more, we're going to have to learn to give up our own way. Doing with less. Giving the best away instead of keeping it for ourselves. In other words, suffering our flesh. The more we obey, the more God can trust us, the more He will ask of us, the more we can obey. It's a cycle. It's a step. We grow and grow and grow. 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. 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. These were people who were fully committed because they gave their life, literally, to God and for God. 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. 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. 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. The kingdom of God is so different. The last will be first and the first last. You want to be at the top? You start at the bottom. You want the best seat in the house? Don't take the best seat in the house, Jesus told him. 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? He said, That's a whole lot better than you going, Jordan, you know, this I have this seat saved for somebody else. I need you to go sit way back there, please. That. Yeah, I need you. There's a spot on the floor in the back. Our flesh wants to be up front, up high, out doing everything, the best. And God wants the best for us, but the way we get there is not by seeking the best, not by pursuing it. That's the difference. The world, all they want to do is seek the best. We want the top. We want to showcase the top. We want to put the best on Facebook, on Instagram. That's all we want, you know, that's all you see, that's all you want. God's saying, no, you seek the lowest. You seek the bottom, and I'll bring you up. 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. 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. And he said to start off with, I trust you're going to obey this and do even more than I say. So Paul had full confidence in Philemon to be able to do what he said. 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. 2 Corinthians 10, 3, but we are human, we don't wage war as humans do. 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. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. After you have become fully obedient, we will punish everyone who remains disobedient. 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. That's King James version of this verse. But really what it is is putting those thoughts down of you wanting to do your own way. Putting those thoughts down of not doing the will of the Lord. 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. And God will judge that. But notice that the line here is not about evil and good. It's not about the Satan and God and his angels. It's about obedient and disobedient. So I think we're starting to see just how important obedience is to God. Keep the best for themselves, always, always looking for the best. 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. What? You want me to do what? Give up what? You want me to give 10% of my income? You want two hours of my time on a Sunday? That's my day off. What? You know, those are just the basics. 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. 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. To be a disciple means to give up yourself. It means to literally give something of yours to someone else to lift them up, to bring them up. It is more blessed to give than receive. The world's way is gimme, gimme, gimme. I'm ready to receive. What do you got for me? What's in it for me, as we say in the even the project change management world, is what's in it for me. 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. You have to kind of feed them something that says, here, here's your benefit. 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. I know you're comfortable with it, but it's outdated. Now we're going to something new. But here's what's in it for you. Um God doesn't do that. Now, there's always something in it for us, but God doesn't lead with that. God has a good plan for you. God has an expected end. He has a future and a hope for you, for our kids, for our family, for our church. But for us to get there, we have to step back. We have to say, Lord, what do you want? What is the step I'm having to take to be obedient to? 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. John's like, yeah, that's what I told you guys he was the Messiah. Now I must decrease so that he might increase. That's a world's way that's a way of the kingdom that we all struggle with our flesh to do. You want me to what? You want me to step back? I've been pursuing this for a long time, Lord, and you're wanting me to go what looks like backwards for a moment? And God say, yeah. And then He'll turn around and give you the best. He'll skip ten steps and go, look, come up here, and I have this for you. And it's going to be so much easier, so much better, instead of us struggling and struggling to get there. The first will be last, and the last first. Those who put their own way before God's will end up last. But those who put God's way first, who trust him, obey him, will end up first. End up with the best. Let's look at one more passage and we'll stop. In Luke 14, 7, Jesus told a parable. 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. He gave them this advice. When you are heading, invited to a wedding feast, don't sit at the seat of honor. What if someone who is more distinguished than you has also been invited? 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. Instead, take the lowest seat at the foot of the table. Then when your host sees you, he will come and say, Friend, we have a better place for you. Then you will be honored in front of the other guests. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. Can God trust you? He wants to lift you up. He wants to give you the best. He's got so much more planned for you than you can plan for yourself. But when we are pursuing the best, we're not pursuing God. Seek first the kingdom of God, his righteousness, and all these other things will be added to you. I mean, even the disciples said, Lord, we have left everything to follow you. So they kind of asked the question, what's in it for us? And Jesus said, All those who have left houses and lands and fathers and mothers will receive now and this time a hundredfold. You'll get plenty. 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. 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. You didn't keep it for yourself. This journey of faith looks so backwards to the world. 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. They see the outcome of it. They don't understand, how'd you get that? How do you do that? And we're like, yeah, I sowed some money and the Lord gave me this. What? You did that's backward. You know, it's like, you know, I I think, you know, I think, well, uh I can give so many examples of this. I love watches. 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. It was my favorite watch. And um, but I the Lord said, give this to somebody. That's my favorite watch. I just got this. It's like, you know, I like the way it makes me feel. I look, I feel kind of, you know, I had no money. I felt rich in that watch because but the Lord's like, I want you to give that.

unknown: 36:46

Okay.

Joshua Boyd: 36:47

So I gave it. And, you know, it wasn't immediate, but today I'm watch rich. Um, I love my watches. 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. 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. I said, I want you to have that same feeling too. 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. 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. But you know, I look back and go, Lord, I'm so glad I did that. 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. And and I'm not saying, you've heard me say this before. This doesn't mean go give everything away. Listen to the Lord. Because God, you know, you don't do anything stupid. Listen to God, um, and He will lift you up. So what the world doesn't see, the world sees the outcome. What they don't see is that we're putting others first. We're giving our best away, we're doing what God wants instead of our own plan. The last are first, the humble are exalted, the givers receive, the obedient get the reward. It's so backwards, but it's so God. So, do you want God's best? Then we want to we want to give up our best. He gave us his son, we can give up we can give up what he wants for us. Amen.