WEBVTT 00:00:03.968 --> 00:00:08.080 Okay, are you ready for Ecclesiastes Great? 00:00:08.080 --> 00:00:13.712 Okay, we're going to start in chapter 11, versus one through six. 00:00:13.712 --> 00:00:21.373 And here's what it says cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days. 00:00:21.373 --> 00:00:27.899 Give a portion to seven, or even to eight, for you know not what disaster may happen upon earth. 00:00:27.899 --> 00:00:32.594 If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth. 00:00:32.594 --> 00:00:38.951 And if a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie. 00:00:38.951 --> 00:00:53.146 He who observes the wind will not sow and he who regards the clouds will not reap, as you do not know the way the spirit comes into the bones in the womb of a woman with child. 00:00:53.146 --> 00:01:02.426 So you do not know the work of God who makes everything In the morning, sow your seed at the evening. 00:01:02.426 --> 00:01:09.811 Withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good. 00:01:09.811 --> 00:01:18.081 Father, we thank you for your word, just as we spoke and we sung about it this earlier in the service. 00:01:18.081 --> 00:01:27.427 God, your word is eternal, it's settled in heavens, it's alive, it's a powerful, it works inside of us, it reveals our thoughts, our intentions. 00:01:27.427 --> 00:01:32.944 It always does what you say it's going to do what you send it for it accomplishes. 00:01:32.944 --> 00:01:36.552 So, lord, accomplish what you want this morning. 00:01:36.552 --> 00:01:38.061 Speak to us. 00:01:38.061 --> 00:01:38.462 This morning. 00:01:38.462 --> 00:01:40.326 We pray in Jesus' name, amen. 00:01:41.790 --> 00:01:51.439 Okay, so I'm thinking about this scripture this morning and I began to think about some of the things that we go over in our fit class. 00:01:51.439 --> 00:01:55.876 By the way, the next fit class is just in two weeks, so it's the 7th of October. 00:01:55.876 --> 00:02:03.433 The fit initiative is what helps you to understand more of who God's made you to be and who God's made you for. 00:02:03.433 --> 00:02:06.168 So how many of you have taken the fit class so far? 00:02:06.168 --> 00:02:07.435 That's great. 00:02:07.435 --> 00:02:08.539 That's about maybe half of you. 00:02:08.539 --> 00:02:10.623 So the other half, you're welcome to come. 00:02:10.623 --> 00:02:15.372 Free breakfast, free lunch it's awesome you got to come. 00:02:15.372 --> 00:02:16.375 It's good. 00:02:16.375 --> 00:02:25.151 It's really a blessing because it helps you be able to understand where God might, maybe to clarify where God might want to use you in the body of Christ. 00:02:25.151 --> 00:02:31.513 But there's one of the things we do is we do Strengths Finder, which is a tool for helping you understand your talents. 00:02:31.513 --> 00:02:40.842 So there's two strengths that I think really kind of come out here in this, in this passage, and one is the strength of deliberative. 00:02:41.163 --> 00:02:47.074 Okay, deliberative is someone who's really talented in seeing potential risks. 00:02:47.074 --> 00:02:57.413 In other words, okay, I see your plan, I know what needs to happen, I see the road you want to go on, we're here, we need to be there, here's the way we want to go. 00:02:57.413 --> 00:02:58.818 But you know what I also see. 00:02:58.818 --> 00:03:06.735 I also see all of the potential risks I'll also see in that road. 00:03:06.735 --> 00:03:11.825 There are potholes in that road, there are mudslides, there are who knows landmines. 00:03:11.825 --> 00:03:16.783 I don't know what dangers are in this road, but we need to think this through Before we go. 00:03:16.783 --> 00:03:18.508 Think it through right. 00:03:18.508 --> 00:03:19.691 So that's in a deliberative. 00:03:19.691 --> 00:03:21.635 It's foresight. 00:03:21.635 --> 00:03:23.099 That helps us avoid catastrophes. 00:03:23.099 --> 00:03:29.094 Or Jesus told a story about a man who who that? 00:03:29.094 --> 00:03:30.998 He said you don't build without counting the costs. 00:03:30.998 --> 00:03:37.199 Right, if you build a building without counting the costs first, sometimes you get started and you have to stop because you didn't think it through first. 00:03:37.199 --> 00:03:43.412 So a deliberative is a person who thinks it through, which is a strength. 00:03:43.412 --> 00:03:55.156 The only problem with that is also it could help you really become almost paralyzed, almost like paralysis by analysis. 00:03:55.156 --> 00:03:57.820 I'm thinking, I'm thinking, I'm thinking of doing so. 00:03:57.820 --> 00:04:09.956 It's like ready, aim, aim, aim, aim and you never pull a trigger. 00:04:09.956 --> 00:04:12.199 That's possibly what could happen with a deliberative. 00:04:13.302 --> 00:04:17.074 The other strength I'm thinking about is an activator, and some of you are activators. 00:04:17.074 --> 00:04:19.199 Now, an activator she wants to move. 00:04:19.199 --> 00:04:21.204 She's a momentum person. 00:04:21.204 --> 00:04:22.125 She wants to. 00:04:22.125 --> 00:04:24.831 She's wondering why are we sitting around talking about things? 00:04:24.831 --> 00:04:26.985 Why don't we just keep? 00:04:26.985 --> 00:04:28.110 Why don't we just get going? 00:04:28.110 --> 00:04:33.326 Because doing something is better than doing nothing, right, why are we standing around? 00:04:33.326 --> 00:04:38.884 You can go and you can make adjustments as you go, but let's just move. 00:04:38.884 --> 00:04:46.180 You know, sometimes she's got this inner compass that knows what needs to happen and she's just she's moving forward. 00:04:46.180 --> 00:04:53.160 So she's a person who's making decisions quickly, but sometimes she doesn't think things through all the way because she's moving. 00:04:53.160 --> 00:05:05.326 So she's like ready fire, aim, okay, so, so. 00:05:06.528 --> 00:05:10.975 So there are strengths and potential weaknesses in both of these ways of looking at life, right? 00:05:10.975 --> 00:05:13.125 So what is your approach to life? 00:05:13.125 --> 00:05:14.891 I don't know how, how. 00:05:14.891 --> 00:05:18.502 Yeah, if there's wisdom in both, right, but we need each other. 00:05:18.502 --> 00:05:23.752 If you're an activator, you might need a deliberative in your life to say hey, did you think about this? 00:05:23.752 --> 00:05:28.666 If you're a deliberative, you definitely need an activator in your life to go. 00:05:28.666 --> 00:05:31.271 Let's move, right. 00:05:32.701 --> 00:05:38.168 But I think what this passage is talking to us about today is really really practical. 00:05:38.168 --> 00:05:46.711 It's really about decision making, and decision making is tough in our day for a lot of different reasons. 00:05:46.711 --> 00:05:50.786 I mean, if you there, there's such thing as decision fatigue. 00:05:50.786 --> 00:06:00.672 I have so many options, I'm not sure what to do, right, like when you walk into Baskin Robbins and there's 31. 00:06:00.672 --> 00:06:03.237 I don't know why there's 31. 00:06:03.237 --> 00:06:04.199 Why is there not 30? 00:06:04.199 --> 00:06:05.884 I don't understand that at all. 00:06:05.884 --> 00:06:09.031 But 31 ice creams to choose from. 00:06:09.031 --> 00:06:12.199 It's like I don't know, I'm getting stressed just walking in. 00:06:12.600 --> 00:06:17.331 I came to get ice cream, which is supposed to relieve stress, right, but I'm getting stressed. 00:06:17.331 --> 00:06:23.750 It's easier for me because I know I'm getting chocolate, but there's seven kinds of chocolate. 00:06:23.750 --> 00:06:28.225 I don't know if I like this or that, you know. 00:06:28.225 --> 00:06:33.326 So give me a taste of all of them, and I've already got a lot of calories before I even get my scoop. 00:06:33.326 --> 00:06:35.130 Because I've got this taste, I'm going right. 00:06:35.130 --> 00:06:43.894 So I was just in Africa, where that there is no ice cream stress at all because there's not ice cream. 00:06:43.894 --> 00:06:47.949 It's like if there was, there would be one kind and it probably would be, you know. 00:06:47.949 --> 00:06:55.369 So there's not decision stress, but there's other kinds of stresses which were just as stressful, right. 00:06:56.721 --> 00:07:22.305 But the problem with decision making for us, like in the Western world, or like in first world circumstances as opposed to third world circumstances is that there's a lot of variables in this game of life, and so it feels like the rules are changing sometimes, because circumstances are changing and outcomes are Unpredictable, and it's like things are broken and we need wisdom. 00:07:22.305 --> 00:07:26.218 I Don't know what to do, how to step forward. 00:07:26.218 --> 00:07:35.440 So the teacher here is addressing two different kinds of mindsets, right, and so one one mindset is defeatist. 00:07:35.440 --> 00:07:45.915 Like you know, everything is just I mean, whatever's gonna happen is gonna happen, just, whatever you know, forget about, you can't do anything about it, you know, paralyzed by life, basically. 00:07:45.915 --> 00:07:52.973 But the other kind of mindset is, yeah, in the face of all this uncertainty, we're still gonna act. 00:07:52.973 --> 00:07:55.319 And that's really what he's saying here. 00:07:55.319 --> 00:07:57.043 Yeah, sure, things are uncertain. 00:07:58.252 --> 00:08:04.278 If you've noticed this, the way this book is laid out, wisdom is almost like a character in the book. 00:08:04.278 --> 00:08:13.622 It's like a, it's like a one of the main characters in this book, and so we're trying to find wisdom, we're looking at the best way to live, but we got a problem. 00:08:13.622 --> 00:08:16.776 The problem is there's brokenness here. 00:08:16.776 --> 00:08:19.076 All right, there's a plot twist. 00:08:19.076 --> 00:08:22.971 Everything is Hevel. 00:08:22.971 --> 00:08:25.237 That's the word, that's the Hebrew word, hevel. 00:08:25.237 --> 00:08:26.261 You say that? 00:08:26.261 --> 00:08:28.576 No, no, that's hevel. 00:08:28.576 --> 00:08:30.535 You guys are awesome. 00:08:30.535 --> 00:08:33.128 Okay, wipe your lips now. 00:08:33.208 --> 00:08:36.357 This Hevel, everything is hevel. 00:08:36.357 --> 00:08:42.934 And it doesn't really mean it's worthless, it really means it's enigma, it's, it's uncertain. 00:08:42.934 --> 00:08:49.782 There's no real way to wrap your Yourself around it, and trying to figure it out is like shepherding the wind. 00:08:49.782 --> 00:08:54.663 He says shepherding the winds like, okay, grabbing, grabbing the wind. 00:08:54.663 --> 00:09:03.783 Yeah, so everything is hevel, it's temporary, it's shifting, we're trying to figure it out, but it's hard to figure out. 00:09:03.783 --> 00:09:07.937 And he says One way to live life is as a hedonist. 00:09:08.017 --> 00:09:16.523 A hedonist is someone who believes Pleasure, the, the pursuit of pleasure, is really the only is the only thing that that is important in life. 00:09:16.523 --> 00:09:23.043 Pursuing pleasure, basically, it's just it's it's fulfilling your appetites. 00:09:23.043 --> 00:09:23.828 That's what it is. 00:09:23.828 --> 00:09:26.014 It's fulfilling your desires. 00:09:26.014 --> 00:09:43.932 But the teacher tells us even that is hevel, because Even though things are a blessing like your job, your family, your relationships, your money, all these things are blessings still they don't fill you up, they don't scratch that itch that you have inside. 00:09:43.932 --> 00:09:51.095 There's still something, because you were made for something greater than just the Satiation of your appetites. 00:09:51.095 --> 00:09:59.556 You were made up for heaven, you were made for For God, you were made for relationship with him. 00:09:59.556 --> 00:10:03.663 So these things are blessings, but you can't expect them to fulfill you. 00:10:03.663 --> 00:10:08.221 If you try to look for fulfillment in them, it's hevel. 00:10:09.791 --> 00:10:23.384 But I think today's passage is really very practical because it's talking about how do we make decisions, how do we Live the best kind of life in the midst of brokenness and how do you manage uncertainties. 00:10:23.384 --> 00:10:35.134 Okay, and I think the big thing that he's saying here is Even though things are unsure, whatever you do, don't do nothing. 00:10:35.134 --> 00:10:38.735 Don't do nothing. 00:10:38.735 --> 00:10:44.370 You got to take a step Because the weirdness of life can paralyze you. 00:10:44.370 --> 00:10:48.690 Sometimes the things we've gone through, what we've experienced, can paralyze us briefly. 00:10:48.690 --> 00:10:51.600 But he says don't do nothing. 00:10:52.474 --> 00:11:04.096 So I would listen to this podcast periodically by a woman named Emily P Freeman, and she has this podcast called the next right thing podcast. 00:11:04.096 --> 00:11:07.409 Okay, and it's about decision-making and her whole point is decision-making. 00:11:07.409 --> 00:11:15.850 You know, making decisions is one thing, but really that what's important is how we make those decisions is important because the decisions we make are making our life. 00:11:15.850 --> 00:11:21.895 So it's not just making decisions, it's really how you're making your life Out of those decisions that you're making. 00:11:21.895 --> 00:11:36.261 So she did this poll On her social media and she polled people and she had this question Do you consider yourself a decisive person or do you consider yourself an indecisive person? 00:11:36.461 --> 00:11:41.158 Okay, and then she asked the question why so decisive, indecisive, so decisive, indecisive? 00:11:41.158 --> 00:11:51.298 Well, 70% of the people said I'm indecisive, 30% said I'm a decisive person. 00:11:51.298 --> 00:11:56.941 So she asked okay, but why would you say, if you think you're indecisive, why are you indecisive? 00:11:56.941 --> 00:11:58.323 So here are the reasons. 00:11:58.323 --> 00:12:01.378 Over 3,000 people responded, by the way. 00:12:02.431 --> 00:12:05.240 So here are the reasons why you indecisive. 00:12:05.240 --> 00:12:07.496 One answer was I overthink. 00:12:07.496 --> 00:12:13.078 I Feel like I need to have all the possible outcomes before me before acting. 00:12:13.078 --> 00:12:18.099 It's classic deliberative Thank you through so much that you're paralyzed, right? 00:12:18.099 --> 00:12:22.019 Another reason I'm indecisive is that I don't trust myself. 00:12:22.019 --> 00:12:24.732 That's a real thing. 00:12:24.732 --> 00:12:27.761 Another reason is there are too many options. 00:12:27.761 --> 00:12:32.383 Fear of better options is a real thing. 00:12:32.383 --> 00:12:35.282 I what if I make this choice? 00:12:35.282 --> 00:12:40.138 But then I find out I would rather have done that later and so I don't do anything. 00:12:40.138 --> 00:12:41.802 Well, that's not a good way to live your life. 00:12:41.802 --> 00:12:44.298 It's not really living life at all. 00:12:45.793 --> 00:12:48.923 One reason people are indecisive is I'm a people pleaser. 00:12:48.923 --> 00:12:54.409 I just don't want to disappoint other people, so I'm afraid to do him things that might disappoint people. 00:12:54.409 --> 00:13:02.202 But the number one reason people gave for being indecisive is Fear of failure. 00:13:02.202 --> 00:13:10.421 I'm just afraid of choosing the wrong thing, so I'd do nothing. 00:13:10.421 --> 00:13:18.684 So she asked the question to those decisive people why do you feel like you're decisive? 00:13:18.684 --> 00:13:19.929 One reason I can see the bigger picture. 00:13:19.929 --> 00:13:24.649 I can imagine the big picture, so I know what I need to do now based on the big picture. 00:13:25.736 --> 00:13:31.570 Another thing is Quote momentum is better than stuckness. 00:13:31.570 --> 00:13:33.850 Stuckness is a word, apparently. 00:13:33.850 --> 00:13:38.759 Stuckness is not good. 00:13:38.759 --> 00:13:39.783 You know, we got. 00:13:39.783 --> 00:13:40.826 You can't just sit around. 00:13:40.826 --> 00:13:41.668 You got to do something. 00:13:41.668 --> 00:13:42.529 It's a classic activator answer right, move. 00:13:42.529 --> 00:13:48.764 Another answer is because I can change my mind. 00:13:48.764 --> 00:13:49.486 I can pivot. 00:13:49.486 --> 00:13:50.529 If I need to, let's move and we can adjust later. 00:13:50.529 --> 00:13:51.856 Another reason is I can't move. 00:13:51.856 --> 00:13:57.460 Another reason is I know my values and my values guide me. 00:13:57.460 --> 00:14:03.315 I know what to do based on the truth that I know Truth leads me, so I'm decisive because of that. 00:14:03.956 --> 00:14:09.957 Okay, yeah, so what we're really kind of talking about here is Is moving or not moving. 00:14:09.957 --> 00:14:14.892 You see how this is really practical, isn't it Day to day? 00:14:14.892 --> 00:14:17.702 What is my present season in life? 00:14:17.702 --> 00:14:19.470 Do I wait on God or do I move? 00:14:19.470 --> 00:14:31.474 And this last week one of our support team that was it's on my, the publishing company who's publishing my book Chrissy Nelson's her name and she wrote this On her social media. 00:14:31.975 --> 00:14:37.136 She said sometimes we wait for God to move, but other times he's waiting for us to move. 00:14:37.136 --> 00:14:43.923 If you're in a season of waiting, I encourage you to seek the Lord on who is supposed to make the first move. 00:14:43.923 --> 00:14:51.037 Good advice, faith, is action in the direction of God's call. 00:14:51.037 --> 00:14:55.590 If you sense he's wanting to open a certain door, why not take the first step and see what happens. 00:14:55.590 --> 00:14:58.312 You move and then watch God move. 00:14:58.312 --> 00:15:02.417 If he already said he'd do it, why not take a step of faith toward it? 00:15:02.417 --> 00:15:05.480 If not now, when? 00:15:05.480 --> 00:15:17.448 And I've found that there are times when you need to stop and God is saying stay. 00:15:17.448 --> 00:15:19.460 And there's times when he is saying go. 00:15:20.121 --> 00:15:31.547 And I've learned that there's some things you only learn about God by being still, like when Jesus called his disciples away to a quiet place to be with him. 00:15:31.547 --> 00:15:34.240 Stillness with him is how he revealed himself to him. 00:15:34.240 --> 00:15:42.466 Or when Mary sat in Jesus' feet and she was there listening and Martha was the activator. 00:15:42.466 --> 00:15:45.200 She was moving, that Mary was sitting listening. 00:15:45.200 --> 00:15:56.313 Sometimes you can only learn about God by being still, but sometimes you can only learn about God by moving, like when the disciples climbed the mountain of transfiguration. 00:15:56.313 --> 00:15:56.960 Jesus said come on up. 00:15:56.960 --> 00:15:58.875 And so they're climbing. 00:15:58.875 --> 00:15:59.460 And this was a mountain. 00:15:59.460 --> 00:16:04.248 These are real mountains up there over there and it's like this is a big hike. 00:16:04.248 --> 00:16:12.629 They had to move their bodies, they have to make an effort to be able to see something that God wanted to show about Jesus. 00:16:12.629 --> 00:16:16.863 So sometimes we only understand things about him because we're moving. 00:16:16.863 --> 00:16:17.947 And sometimes, so what do you do? 00:16:17.947 --> 00:16:19.245 Do you move or do you not move? 00:16:19.245 --> 00:16:20.244 That's the question, right? 00:16:20.244 --> 00:16:25.649 I think there are seasons of waiting and during those seasons we have to obey, we have to wait. 00:16:25.649 --> 00:16:38.586 But I think there are seasons of moving and I think our text today is talking about the tendency to be paralyzed by the confusion and the brokenness of the world. 00:16:39.559 --> 00:16:43.086 So I think what he's saying is don't do nothing. 00:16:43.086 --> 00:16:45.431 Don't do nothing. 00:16:45.431 --> 00:16:47.293 What does he say? 00:16:47.293 --> 00:16:50.428 He said whoever watches the wind will not plant. 00:16:50.428 --> 00:16:55.264 I mean, if the wind's blowing and I sow my seeds, it's gonna blow the seeds away. 00:16:55.264 --> 00:16:56.124 I'm just gonna have to wait. 00:16:56.124 --> 00:16:57.344 I'm watching the wind. 00:16:57.344 --> 00:16:59.826 Whoever looks at the clouds will not reap. 00:16:59.826 --> 00:17:10.704 If you're just looking around and seeing what's going on, if you just watch the news, if all you're doing is watching the news, you will be paralyzed by fear. 00:17:10.704 --> 00:17:19.787 I'm just telling you, sometimes that's the, sometimes the greatest thing you can do is just that's awesome. 00:17:22.240 --> 00:17:25.743 There's a great proverb that says there's the fool or the slow-fo man. 00:17:25.743 --> 00:17:30.724 He says there's a lion in the streets, so he's gonna lay in his bed because there's a lion out there. 00:17:30.724 --> 00:17:32.686 You know, there's too much danger out there. 00:17:32.686 --> 00:17:33.763 I'm just gonna lay in bed. 00:17:33.763 --> 00:17:36.488 That's not an optimal way to live your life. 00:17:36.488 --> 00:17:39.565 Let me just tell you that it's not the best advice. 00:17:41.759 --> 00:17:46.010 Hevel doesn't mean we should surrender and do nothing. 00:17:46.010 --> 00:17:56.470 If you look at this passage there, all these verbs cast your bread on the water plant, give sow reap. 00:17:56.470 --> 00:18:02.611 And he literally says do not let your hands be idle, don't do nothing. 00:18:02.611 --> 00:18:05.063 Don't do nothing. 00:18:05.063 --> 00:18:08.106 And he says you don't know the path of the wind. 00:18:08.106 --> 00:18:13.384 We can't predict the weather right, especially in East Tennessee. 00:18:13.384 --> 00:18:18.770 They try, bless their darling hearts, they don't get it right. 00:18:18.770 --> 00:18:21.906 Most of the time it's the hard place to predict the weather. 00:18:21.906 --> 00:18:22.642 You know that. 00:18:22.642 --> 00:18:25.404 We know the wind blows, but we don't know where it's blowing. 00:18:25.404 --> 00:18:29.165 Jesus says and we can't control it. 00:18:29.165 --> 00:18:31.605 We can harness it a little bit, but we can't control it. 00:18:31.605 --> 00:18:34.092 And I love this. 00:18:34.240 --> 00:18:39.390 He says you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones and the womb of a woman with a child. 00:18:39.390 --> 00:18:49.329 Beautiful picture I was thinking about when Katie was born, my firstborn, and I was just sitting, I was holding her and I was thinking. 00:18:49.329 --> 00:18:58.946 I was just thinking I'm so small, I'm so small, I can't understand how this happens. 00:18:58.946 --> 00:19:01.425 I'm just thinking how did this happen? 00:19:01.425 --> 00:19:07.089 I don't mean biologically, I mean how does the spirit and the body come together? 00:19:07.089 --> 00:19:08.113 When does it happen? 00:19:08.113 --> 00:19:09.084 How does it happen? 00:19:09.084 --> 00:19:15.104 I don't know, this is a wonder, this is a way beyond me. 00:19:15.104 --> 00:19:20.346 We know that babies happen, but we don't know how the spirit and the body fuse together. 00:19:20.346 --> 00:19:23.963 So we can't understand the work of God, the maker of all things. 00:19:24.440 --> 00:19:36.391 So he says we can't predict some things, but he says one thing is for sure If you watch the clouds and you don't plant, you won't reap. 00:19:36.391 --> 00:19:42.763 Don't do nothing, don't do nothing. 00:19:42.763 --> 00:19:48.651 So here's what you should do Sow your seed, do not withhold your hand. 00:19:48.651 --> 00:19:53.845 This is generosity, this is opening your arms up and opening your hands and living like this. 00:19:53.845 --> 00:19:57.188 This is the way a son and a daughter lives. 00:19:57.188 --> 00:20:18.220 You know how an orphan lives Like this, because they're scared, they're afraid and they want to be in control and they can't control everything, but they try, and it's very tiring and they live with their hands, their fists, closed up because they want to keep what they have. 00:20:18.220 --> 00:20:23.240 They're afraid, but that's not the way a son or a daughter lives. 00:20:23.240 --> 00:20:28.259 We live like this because we understand the heart of our father. 00:20:28.259 --> 00:20:35.940 We can cast our bread on the water, we can sow some seeds right, we can walk in a way that life doesn't paralyze us. 00:20:37.189 --> 00:20:38.700 Let me tell you a story about my friend, dr Cherry. 00:20:38.700 --> 00:20:43.732 And so Dr Cherry is a pastor in India. 00:20:43.732 --> 00:20:54.767 He's the founder and the president of South India Baptist Bible College, and I have to tell you a story because it started over 30 years ago. 00:20:54.767 --> 00:20:58.067 It started in this little plot of field. 00:20:58.067 --> 00:20:59.984 Dr Cherry came to Jesus. 00:20:59.984 --> 00:21:03.865 He was just a Christian and then he became a pastor. 00:21:03.865 --> 00:21:12.548 And then he became a person who felt like he needed to train other pastors and he was looking for a place to train other pastors. 00:21:12.548 --> 00:21:14.306 And there was this plot of land. 00:21:14.306 --> 00:21:33.406 Nobody would buy it because they felt everybody thought it was like infested with evil spirits, because it was literally infested with cobras and all it had on it was a chicken coop One little chicken coop and a lot of cobras. 00:21:33.406 --> 00:21:35.486 So it was very cheap. 00:21:35.486 --> 00:21:44.261 There's your real estate opportunity right there by that. 00:21:44.261 --> 00:21:54.310 So he bought the land and what you do in India is you pay people to come and they get the cobras and take the cobras away. 00:21:54.310 --> 00:21:56.528 This is not the job I want. 00:21:56.528 --> 00:21:59.587 I don't know about you, but this is not the job I want. 00:21:59.587 --> 00:22:00.369 But they did. 00:22:00.369 --> 00:22:03.167 They got the cobras out of there. 00:22:03.167 --> 00:22:04.444 They took that chicken coop. 00:22:04.444 --> 00:22:05.763 They've split it into. 00:22:05.763 --> 00:22:07.088 One part was in office. 00:22:07.088 --> 00:22:12.425 The other part was the first room of the school where they started training pastors. 00:22:12.425 --> 00:22:18.046 That was 30 years ago, okay, and now you can show that video. 00:22:18.046 --> 00:22:23.528 Now there's a training center. 00:22:23.528 --> 00:22:28.652 There's a library Is that video gonna work? 00:22:28.652 --> 00:22:35.744 There's a large meeting hall. 00:22:35.744 --> 00:22:37.647 There are dorms for 600 students. 00:22:37.647 --> 00:22:43.384 They train students from India, nepal, burma, sri Lanka, all of that part of Asia. 00:22:43.384 --> 00:22:46.169 He trains thousands of students. 00:22:46.169 --> 00:22:48.362 Now, okay, incredible. 00:22:48.362 --> 00:22:50.808 You can show the picture of that training center. 00:22:50.808 --> 00:22:55.782 This is the auditorium where we were training pastors there. 00:22:55.782 --> 00:22:56.904 It's incredible. 00:22:56.904 --> 00:22:57.948 It's incredible. 00:22:58.368 --> 00:22:59.531 How do you even do this? 00:22:59.531 --> 00:23:05.547 And what I want you to know about this man is that he's never had money. 00:23:05.547 --> 00:23:09.155 He still doesn't have any money. 00:23:09.155 --> 00:23:13.542 How do you? 00:23:13.542 --> 00:23:14.423 What happens? 00:23:14.423 --> 00:23:15.286 How do you do this? 00:23:15.286 --> 00:23:17.710 How do you get that when you have nothing. 00:23:17.710 --> 00:23:19.701 So I wanted to get a little closer. 00:23:19.701 --> 00:23:21.969 It's a gift of faith, is what it is. 00:23:21.969 --> 00:23:31.184 But I wanted to get closer to him because I thought if I just rubbed up against him, maybe that faith would rub off on me a little bit and I could rub it all over, because I need I need faith like that. 00:23:31.184 --> 00:23:33.417 I need to be challenged and have faith like that. 00:23:33.417 --> 00:23:35.804 So he told me something very important. 00:23:35.804 --> 00:23:38.737 I asked him tell me your story, how do you do this? 00:23:40.839 --> 00:23:53.086 He said Psalm 78 and it was written to young generation by the older generation so that the young generation wouldn't repeat the mistakes of the older generation. 00:23:53.086 --> 00:23:56.117 So it's a history Psalm. 00:23:56.117 --> 00:23:58.787 It goes back all over the history of Israel. 00:23:58.787 --> 00:24:06.976 But it says in verse 10, it says that the people of God, because it's about the faithfulness of God and the faithlessness of God's people. 00:24:06.976 --> 00:24:12.487 It says in verse 10 that they turned back and they forgot what God had done. 00:24:12.487 --> 00:24:17.445 In verse 17, it says they rebelled against God and they put him to the test. 00:24:17.445 --> 00:24:20.916 In verse 19, it says they spoke against God. 00:24:20.916 --> 00:24:24.406 In verse 22, it says they did not believe God. 00:24:24.406 --> 00:24:27.576 And in verse 41, it just gets to the point of it. 00:24:27.576 --> 00:24:32.569 The point is they limited the Holy One of Israel, they limited him. 00:24:32.569 --> 00:24:36.480 They said you've done this for us, but you can't do more. 00:24:36.480 --> 00:24:40.548 Can God spread a table in the wilderness? 00:24:40.548 --> 00:24:43.714 Well, he did. 00:24:46.019 --> 00:24:48.044 How did Dr Cherry and get where he is? 00:24:48.044 --> 00:24:50.990 He didn't limit God and he just took a step. 00:24:50.990 --> 00:24:53.494 He took a step. 00:24:53.494 --> 00:24:57.883 He called the people who removed cobras. 00:24:57.883 --> 00:24:58.584 That's what he did. 00:24:58.584 --> 00:25:04.401 And he built a wall in the chicken coop and he got a desk and he got some chairs. 00:25:04.401 --> 00:25:08.256 He didn't hold back, he sewed, he cast his bread on the water. 00:25:08.256 --> 00:25:14.328 Don't do nothing, because you don't know what God can do with the little thing that you do. 00:25:14.328 --> 00:25:27.396 So I walked away from this man with a desire to remove the limits that I had put on God, and so I put this little thing, this little saying, this little prayer, on top of right above my desk in my house. 00:25:27.396 --> 00:25:35.313 This is my prayer God make my heart soft, take from me an evil heart of unbelief. 00:25:35.313 --> 00:25:39.362 Don't let help me to not limit you. 00:25:39.362 --> 00:25:42.950 Show me your ways and increase my faith. 00:25:42.950 --> 00:25:53.376 Set my eyes on your trust worthiness and put courage in my heart to believe you all the way to the promise, all the way to your full destiny in me. 00:25:53.376 --> 00:25:57.122 That's my prayer. 00:25:57.122 --> 00:26:01.949 How do you overcome paralysis? 00:26:01.949 --> 00:26:05.795 By analysis, you take a step. 00:26:09.180 --> 00:26:18.277 Greatest hockey player that ever lived, wayne Gretzky, famously said you miss a hundred percent of the shots you don't take. 00:26:18.277 --> 00:26:23.189 Just a little hockey wisdom there. 00:26:23.189 --> 00:26:28.561 Sometimes hockey players I don't know, they get the daylights beat out of them, but sometimes they got a little wisdom. 00:26:28.561 --> 00:26:32.339 You miss a hundred percent of the shots you don't take. 00:26:32.339 --> 00:26:33.982 If you don't shoot, you don't score. 00:26:33.982 --> 00:26:45.949 And one of the greatest baseball players of all time, henry Aaron, hit 755 home runs in his long career. 00:26:45.949 --> 00:26:48.159 He's an absolute legend. 00:26:48.159 --> 00:26:51.691 But you know what his batting average was? 00:26:51.691 --> 00:26:55.798 Anybody know his batting average what? 00:26:55.798 --> 00:26:59.786 Oh man, that's awesome, that's really close. 00:26:59.786 --> 00:27:00.707 305. 00:27:00.707 --> 00:27:02.710 305. 00:27:02.710 --> 00:27:03.892 Okay, what does that mean? 00:27:03.892 --> 00:27:16.938 It means 70% of the time he failed Seven times out of 10, he went to the plate, he struck out, he flyed out, he grounded out, he was out. 00:27:16.938 --> 00:27:24.609 But he hit 755 home runs and he's a legend. 00:27:25.171 --> 00:27:27.454 How do you become a legend? 00:27:27.454 --> 00:27:34.103 You keep swinging, you keep swinging. 00:27:34.103 --> 00:27:38.647 You take a risk and you keep swinging. 00:27:38.647 --> 00:27:41.050 And I think this is. 00:27:41.050 --> 00:27:42.560 I think God wants to put courage. 00:27:42.560 --> 00:27:52.515 What I felt this week as I was praying for this service is that I felt God was plowing ground and there was a big furrow there and he was pouring courage into hearts. 00:27:52.515 --> 00:28:01.441 Some of this, I think, are just at a place where we're not sure, maybe we're paralyzed by analysis, by we just can't, we don't understand. 00:28:01.441 --> 00:28:08.021 Something's happened, we're dismayed, but God wants to put courage in your heart to take a step. 00:28:08.021 --> 00:28:10.651 Just take a shot. 00:28:10.651 --> 00:28:11.894 You can't score if you don't take a shot. 00:28:11.894 --> 00:28:13.358 Just take a shot. 00:28:13.358 --> 00:28:19.959 So maybe, maybe for the younger people, it's this part of take a shot, take a risk, step out, do it. 00:28:19.959 --> 00:28:36.736 Maybe for those of us who are older, it's we've taken shots and maybe we're tired, or maybe something's happened that has discouraged us, and maybe for us it's the message just keep swinging. 00:28:36.736 --> 00:28:39.662 It's how you become a legend. 00:28:39.662 --> 00:28:42.669 You keep swinging, you keep swinging. 00:28:42.669 --> 00:28:46.798 But I'm afraid I don't know how to. 00:28:46.798 --> 00:28:49.385 I don't know what will happen if I take a step. 00:28:49.385 --> 00:28:50.147 I understand. 00:28:50.147 --> 00:28:52.535 I understand. 00:28:56.359 --> 00:29:02.487 When Melissa died two years ago, I had, I had no idea what to do. 00:29:02.487 --> 00:29:05.790 I don't know how to go forward. 00:29:05.790 --> 00:29:09.103 I don't know what I'm supposed to be without her. 00:29:09.103 --> 00:29:10.946 I don't know how to be a single parent. 00:29:10.946 --> 00:29:11.636 I don't know how to. 00:29:11.636 --> 00:29:13.945 I don't know how to take a step. 00:29:15.371 --> 00:29:20.501 And I understand when we get paralyzed or we get stuck in our grief. 00:29:20.501 --> 00:29:26.240 I get that and I will never judge anyone who's stuck in their grief, because I get it. 00:29:26.240 --> 00:29:28.031 I get it. 00:29:28.031 --> 00:29:37.540 But I also realize that it doesn't honor Melissa or God to be to stay stuck in our grief. 00:29:37.540 --> 00:29:41.492 You know what do you do? 00:29:41.492 --> 00:29:44.913 You keep swinging. 00:29:46.010 --> 00:29:46.753 You take a step. 00:29:46.753 --> 00:29:48.730 You don't limit the Lord. 00:29:48.730 --> 00:29:50.175 You don't do nothing. 00:29:50.175 --> 00:29:52.074 Don't do nothing. 00:29:52.074 --> 00:29:58.753 Cast some bread on the water and so you step into a calling. 00:29:58.753 --> 00:30:01.299 Whatever your calling is, you take a step. 00:30:01.299 --> 00:30:02.060 You take a risk. 00:30:03.329 --> 00:30:08.240 And what I found was if I can rest, I can risk. 00:30:08.240 --> 00:30:22.579 If I can rest in the Father's love and I know that I'm safe, if I know I'm His child, I know he's got me, he's covering me, if I can rest in Him, I can take a step. 00:30:22.579 --> 00:30:24.678 There's some courage right there. 00:30:24.678 --> 00:30:28.796 There's courage wrapped up, Sometimes, literally. 00:30:28.796 --> 00:30:34.372 If I can just be honest with you, I mean I'm going, I'm doing these things in the nation, it's my calling. 00:30:35.513 --> 00:30:46.519 I walk through the airport just feeling completely unable and completely broken and thinking, god, these people that I'm going to minister to should be ministering to me. 00:30:46.519 --> 00:30:58.116 I don't know if I have anything to give, but, by the grace of God, you keep swinging and you know what he is, so strong in our weakness. 00:30:58.116 --> 00:30:59.056 I can't. 00:30:59.056 --> 00:31:10.884 I can't imagine, I can't even understand the power and the anointing that comes through this, this poor, weak, broken person. 00:31:10.884 --> 00:31:13.515 It's okay, but you take a step. 00:31:15.093 --> 00:31:20.397 You keep swinging, you cast your bread on the water, work to increase what you have. 00:31:20.397 --> 00:31:24.891 You, you give a portion to seven and to eight, I mean. 00:31:24.891 --> 00:31:28.605 You diversify your portfolio, whatever we want to say. 00:31:28.605 --> 00:31:29.430 Well, however you want to call that. 00:31:29.430 --> 00:31:32.609 You sow your seed, you live open and generous. 00:31:32.609 --> 00:31:35.226 You, you open up, like Abraham, he. 00:31:35.446 --> 00:31:35.890 He went out. 00:31:35.890 --> 00:31:36.672 He didn't know where. 00:31:36.672 --> 00:31:38.538 This is a walk of faith. 00:31:38.538 --> 00:31:41.089 I don't even know where I'm going, but I'm going. 00:31:41.089 --> 00:31:43.798 God says go and he went out. 00:31:43.798 --> 00:31:45.130 That's the essence of faith. 00:31:45.130 --> 00:31:48.038 I don't see it, but I'm stepping toward it. 00:31:49.589 --> 00:31:52.619 And see, the thing about faith is not something you conjure up in yourself. 00:31:52.619 --> 00:31:57.441 You don't see it, but you step toward it and you begin to walk and step with the spirit. 00:31:57.441 --> 00:32:09.423 And it's a relationship and God is deepening his relationship with you and you're learning his heart and as you learn his heart, you learn his heart for you, so you can rest. 00:32:09.423 --> 00:32:12.476 You learn his heart for other people, for the people that you're reaching out to. 00:32:12.476 --> 00:32:18.238 It's beautiful, and the good news in all of this is that we have a guide. 00:32:18.238 --> 00:32:20.556 We have the Holy spirit inside of us. 00:32:21.369 --> 00:32:22.875 Jesus said this in John 16. 00:32:22.875 --> 00:32:27.499 I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 00:32:27.499 --> 00:32:31.656 But when the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you and all truth. 00:32:31.656 --> 00:32:37.179 For he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak. 00:32:37.179 --> 00:32:41.298