WEBVTT 00:00:10.880 --> 00:00:11.360 Right on. 00:00:11.440 --> 00:00:14.000 Let's give them another round of applause. 00:00:18.160 --> 00:00:21.759 And I love hearing about the church serving. 00:00:22.079 --> 00:00:23.600 I love it when the church serves. 00:00:23.679 --> 00:00:27.520 And there were some areas that weren't made didn't make it to the video there. 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:31.679 Areas where they uh helped uh take down trees. 00:00:32.079 --> 00:00:35.039 And uh that that part we couldn't really post. 00:00:36.320 --> 00:00:45.920 Where trees were fallen and uh helped uh support families that uh rely on firewood, so provide the firewood for the the home. 00:00:46.159 --> 00:00:51.920 Um wow, great to be in church today! Good to be in church today. 00:00:52.159 --> 00:01:08.400 Uh I love to celebrate what God is doing, and uh this this uh last um message here and last video really celebrates uh what the church is able to do in the community, and we're just expecting to do more and more uh every opportunity we get. 00:01:08.640 --> 00:01:15.599 Today I'd like to share on this series that we're uh focusing on called Spiritual Disciplines. 00:01:16.239 --> 00:01:21.439 And uh today the title of it is entitled Building Strength That Lasts. 00:01:21.840 --> 00:01:24.000 Building Strength That Lasts. 00:01:24.319 --> 00:01:36.799 We all have uh choices that we make in our life and that we can make in our life, and some of those choices can lead us to temporary, temporary moments, and some of them can lead to eternal moments. 00:01:37.039 --> 00:01:41.599 And we want to make sure that we're making the choices that lead us towards life. 00:01:41.840 --> 00:01:42.480 Amen. 00:01:42.959 --> 00:01:43.439 Life. 00:01:43.599 --> 00:01:45.760 We want to chase and pursue life. 00:01:45.840 --> 00:01:46.480 So let's pray. 00:01:46.640 --> 00:01:48.480 Father, we thank you for this morning. 00:01:48.719 --> 00:01:51.359 Thank you for your presence in this place. 00:01:51.840 --> 00:02:00.480 Father, I ask that you just settle our heart and Lord, just move us from the place of information to the point of transformation. 00:02:00.959 --> 00:02:14.719 That's your purpose and your call, Lord, for us in your house is that we would be transformed, our hearts would be renewed, our mind would be renewed, and we'd be made new like you've intended us. 00:02:14.879 --> 00:02:16.640 In Jesus' name, amen. 00:02:17.920 --> 00:02:25.919 Today I'd like to talk about that that building uh choices, building a life that matters. 00:02:26.240 --> 00:02:28.719 I want to focus on the area of commitment. 00:02:28.879 --> 00:02:30.879 Would you all just say commitment with me? 00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:32.800 It's not a dirty word. 00:02:33.280 --> 00:02:34.240 Commitment. 00:02:34.400 --> 00:02:38.319 And a lot of people struggle with that word commitment. 00:02:38.479 --> 00:02:42.400 And it's a promise that you make to yourself that you stick to. 00:02:43.280 --> 00:02:45.840 How many of you have committed to your New Year's plans? 00:02:45.919 --> 00:02:47.439 We're about eight years in. 00:02:47.680 --> 00:02:49.120 We got a few, that's right. 00:02:49.280 --> 00:02:51.599 We got a few who are committed to them. 00:02:51.680 --> 00:03:00.319 But a lot of people, as soon as they think of commitment, they think of the failure that they experienced because they recall these commitments that they made. 00:03:00.560 --> 00:03:02.719 I'm gonna go to bed at 10 o'clock. 00:03:02.960 --> 00:03:10.719 I'm gonna spend less time online, I'm gonna spend less time on my social, I'm gonna get up early and walk or breathe. 00:03:10.879 --> 00:03:18.400 I don't know what it is for you to commit to, but those commitments automatically recall some kind of failure. 00:03:18.560 --> 00:03:23.039 And the reality is that we live in what we call the maybe generation. 00:03:24.879 --> 00:03:47.359 We RSVP with uh, I'll try to get there, I'll show up if nothing else happens, if there's nothing better that comes to the mind, you know, or someone doesn't invite me to something better, and we've got these opportunities where people request of us some kind of commitment, and instead we ghost them at the last minute. 00:03:47.520 --> 00:04:01.520 And what ends up is this trajectory in our life where we we start choosing this habit of lack of commitment, this habit of ghosting, and then we end up ghosting God's call on our life. 00:04:02.800 --> 00:04:09.919 Because the habit moves from what's natural to the things in the requests and the commitments that are supernatural. 00:04:10.800 --> 00:04:19.840 So we make these soft commitments, soft vows, soft schedules, and it leads us to these soft lives. 00:04:22.879 --> 00:04:35.200 And the result is we become unanchored, we become anxious, we fear making the big promises because we don't want to experience the big loss. 00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:41.680 So we hold back and we don't take those big moves of boldness in our life. 00:04:42.320 --> 00:04:46.960 And I love it when you're young, your parents are like, you can be anything you want to be. 00:04:47.120 --> 00:04:49.600 It's like, yes, the world is open to me. 00:04:49.760 --> 00:04:52.560 You get older, it's like, yeah, you're not gonna be able to make it. 00:04:52.640 --> 00:04:54.720 And I want to be an NHL hockey player. 00:04:55.040 --> 00:04:58.480 No, NBA, you're only five foot eight. 00:04:58.640 --> 00:05:00.320 Like, it's not gonna happen. 00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:15.760 There are things that stop us in our life, and we pull back, pull back, pull back, pull back until until we pull back to a place where those big promises and those big bold moves are something that we don't achieve or pursue any longer. 00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:23.120 And it matters because the promises that we make are the currency of our purpose. 00:05:24.080 --> 00:05:32.320 If you can say yes, if you can't say yes to the deep things of God, you'll end up drifting into the shallow end. 00:05:33.520 --> 00:05:43.360 So saying yes to the deep things, the the big things of God will secure you for going into that deep place. 00:05:43.520 --> 00:05:48.800 But if you resist that big yes, you'll end up in that shallow space. 00:05:49.280 --> 00:05:51.280 And the data doesn't lie. 00:05:52.080 --> 00:05:56.560 It's not just a spiritual feeling, it's a generational crisis. 00:05:56.720 --> 00:06:06.400 The average right now in our culture, the average job tenor for a 25 to 34 year old is up to two and a half years. 00:06:06.560 --> 00:06:07.840 They stick at a job. 00:06:08.080 --> 00:06:16.320 By the time someone's reached 34 years of age, most individuals have already changed jobs about six times. 00:06:17.840 --> 00:06:40.720 And this statistic is trying, like the you got sociologists trying to figure out why people aren't making commitments that are deep, why they're not making promises for them to themselves, for their future, to others, and sticking to those promises, remaining spiritually disciplined. 00:06:41.120 --> 00:06:48.400 And the fact is we're not incapable of commitment, we're just hesitant to commit. 00:06:50.560 --> 00:06:58.880 Because somewhere along the way, we started to believe the lie that options equals freedom. 00:06:59.600 --> 00:07:07.360 And the reality is that when you have unlimited options, it doesn't provide freedom, it actually traps you in a place of anxiety. 00:07:08.080 --> 00:07:14.400 Because the more options you have, the less freedom you have, the more anxiety you have. 00:07:14.560 --> 00:07:19.120 When you have one option, when I was in uh Guatemala, what do you want to drink? 00:07:19.360 --> 00:07:20.960 Coke or Coke? 00:07:21.440 --> 00:07:26.080 It needed to be bottled, you couldn't drink the water, the only bottled things they had were coke. 00:07:26.240 --> 00:07:28.400 It made my life very simple. 00:07:28.640 --> 00:07:29.440 Coke. 00:07:30.240 --> 00:07:36.480 When now when you go to the store, if you go to a restaurant and the kids are like, Oh, I have a burger, they're like, Okay, what kind of burger? 00:07:36.560 --> 00:07:39.040 And of course they've got a slew of different burgers. 00:07:39.200 --> 00:07:40.240 What kind of fries? 00:07:40.400 --> 00:07:41.760 And you think this would be easy? 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:42.640 French fries. 00:07:42.800 --> 00:07:44.960 How many of you grew up with French fries? 00:07:45.440 --> 00:07:51.920 Now you have curly fries, waffle fries, yam fries, who made fries out of yams? 00:07:52.400 --> 00:07:57.840 Yam fries, steak fries, straight fries, wedge fries. 00:07:58.240 --> 00:08:00.960 Like what I didn't even know what a steak fry was. 00:08:01.120 --> 00:08:03.120 I thought it was a steak made into a fry. 00:08:03.200 --> 00:08:05.840 I was like, that's amazing of those. 00:08:05.920 --> 00:08:11.920 And then I was hugely disappointed when it just came out a big piece of potato came out. 00:08:12.960 --> 00:08:17.440 All these different fries are available, and then it's like, what kind of sauces do you want? 00:08:17.520 --> 00:08:19.680 It's like over and over and over again. 00:08:19.920 --> 00:08:22.160 Do you remember when you had a telephone? 00:08:22.480 --> 00:08:24.000 How am I gonna reach you? 00:08:24.240 --> 00:08:25.760 The telephone. 00:08:26.320 --> 00:08:39.200 Today you've got people trying to reach you, not just on the phone, over text, over DM, over Instagram, WhatsApp, Zoom, chat through uh what do you guys use? 00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:42.159 It's like Messenger and all these different items. 00:08:42.320 --> 00:08:54.320 It's just like all these things are out there, these options that are out there out there that you need to actually hire someone to watch how people are contacting you, to make sure you don't miss out on them. 00:08:56.000 --> 00:08:57.200 I missed your message. 00:08:57.360 --> 00:08:59.279 Well, I'm I sent you an ICQ. 00:08:59.360 --> 00:09:01.040 How many of you remember ICQ? 00:09:01.200 --> 00:09:03.200 Yeah, that's that a boy. 00:09:04.160 --> 00:09:10.240 The freedom in our life isn't all the options, and yet we consider options. 00:09:10.399 --> 00:09:13.440 They don't want, we don't want to commit to one platform. 00:09:15.279 --> 00:09:25.360 We don't want to commit to one way, we want to choose all the ways, and it keeps us from remaining focused and committed to the thing that actually matters. 00:09:25.600 --> 00:09:34.560 And here's the contrast: the contrast is that the kingdom of God was built on big promises. 00:09:35.920 --> 00:09:41.680 God built his kingdom on big promises, not on big maybes. 00:09:43.040 --> 00:09:45.200 God built it on big promises. 00:09:45.360 --> 00:09:50.960 He said to Abraham, He said, I will make you a great nation. 00:09:51.920 --> 00:09:54.000 And Abraham said, Yes. 00:09:54.240 --> 00:10:02.080 And then God said, How am I going to con how God's like, how am I going to affirm this promise that I made? 00:10:02.160 --> 00:10:11.920 And in Hebrews it says, God made this promise to Abraham, and since there was no one greater than himself to swear by, he swore by himself. 00:10:12.480 --> 00:10:20.720 So God actually swore by himself the promise of the promise he made to Abraham. 00:10:21.680 --> 00:10:24.480 He said, I keep my promises, Abraham. 00:10:24.879 --> 00:10:28.240 And on you I'm going to make you into a great nation. 00:10:28.480 --> 00:10:31.600 God told Mary, You're going to carry the Son of God. 00:10:32.240 --> 00:10:33.279 The promise. 00:10:51.120 --> 00:10:53.279 Not my cup, but your cup, Lord. 00:10:53.360 --> 00:10:56.000 Like this is your way, not my way. 00:10:56.160 --> 00:11:00.879 And he went all the way to the cross, keeping that commitment for us. 00:11:01.519 --> 00:11:05.360 God's kingdom is built on commitments. 00:11:05.680 --> 00:11:12.399 It's on the back of covenant-level commitments where we stick to each other. 00:11:13.840 --> 00:11:16.080 We stick to one another. 00:11:17.840 --> 00:11:18.480 Amen. 00:11:18.879 --> 00:11:19.759 Good word, bro. 00:11:22.560 --> 00:11:24.480 We stick to it, people. 00:11:25.600 --> 00:11:31.279 Like I'm gonna live and probably die here in Kelowna. 00:11:33.040 --> 00:11:34.720 That's my commitment. 00:11:34.879 --> 00:11:36.960 Unless the Lord changes it. 00:11:37.519 --> 00:11:38.800 I'm committed. 00:11:39.040 --> 00:11:45.360 It's not because I don't have other options, other avenues, other pursuits, other interests. 00:11:45.600 --> 00:11:48.560 But the Lord's called me to a place. 00:11:49.519 --> 00:11:54.160 And that place is important because that commitment isn't optional. 00:11:55.120 --> 00:11:58.960 If you make it optional, your future becomes unclear. 00:11:59.279 --> 00:12:01.360 And so what you're called to do. 00:12:01.840 --> 00:12:03.920 This is how God sees commitment. 00:12:04.080 --> 00:12:13.759 Second Chronicles 16, 9 says that God's eyes, the eyes of the Lord, look throughout the earth, the whole earth. 00:12:13.840 --> 00:12:20.399 His eyes are looking throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are what? 00:12:20.960 --> 00:12:23.440 Fully committed to him. 00:12:24.639 --> 00:12:31.360 And then he warns them, he says, You'll have done a fool, you have done a foolish thing, and from now on you'll be at war. 00:12:31.600 --> 00:12:33.920 What was the issue that they had done that was foolish? 00:12:34.080 --> 00:12:37.759 They left their commitment to him. 00:12:38.399 --> 00:12:44.879 He said, but his eyes look back and forth across the whole earth, looking for people who are fully committed to him. 00:12:45.360 --> 00:12:49.680 God looks for a committed heart, a fully committed heart. 00:12:49.759 --> 00:12:58.399 And when we're reviewing our life and we're auditing our life, I want us as a church to look at our lives and say, Do I walk with commitment? 00:12:59.600 --> 00:13:02.480 Or am I here because of convenience? 00:13:03.519 --> 00:13:05.360 Am I here because of comfort? 00:13:05.519 --> 00:13:07.600 I just like their music better. 00:13:07.920 --> 00:13:10.960 I like it when Brody gives me a handshake and a hug. 00:13:12.080 --> 00:13:14.720 Their coffee is the best coffee in Kelowna. 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:20.399 It's not about comfort. 00:13:20.960 --> 00:13:22.480 It's about commitment. 00:13:22.879 --> 00:13:26.720 And that commitment matters for each and every one of us. 00:13:26.800 --> 00:13:28.160 So the scripture is clear. 00:13:28.399 --> 00:13:32.639 God honors those weighty promises, not just their intentions. 00:13:33.840 --> 00:13:41.200 I I look at when I grew up, I grew up reading a lot of uh stories of former missionaries. 00:13:41.360 --> 00:13:45.200 One of the ones that stood out the most was Jim and Elizabeth Elliott. 00:13:45.279 --> 00:13:50.320 And in 1956, Jim Elliott made a radical commitment. 00:13:50.399 --> 00:13:56.560 He went to Ecuador and he went to an unreached tribe in Ecuador and he knew the risk. 00:13:57.040 --> 00:14:05.279 He once wrote, He is not, he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. 00:14:05.920 --> 00:14:11.120 He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. 00:14:11.279 --> 00:14:12.720 And he was killed. 00:14:12.960 --> 00:14:17.360 He was speared by the very people he went to reach. 00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:23.440 And he was committed to the people, but that's uh that's not the full story. 00:14:23.519 --> 00:14:45.920 And here's what people often forget his wife Elizabeth, who had committed likewise along with him, she went back to the same group of people who speared her husband, killed her husband, she took her toddler daughter with her, and she went and she lived with those people, and she loved those people, and she led those people to Christ. 00:14:46.800 --> 00:14:52.639 That commitment was in her heart to do what she had been called to do. 00:14:53.600 --> 00:15:04.960 So here's the big idea today the people of discipline, people of spiritual discipline, they count the cost and they still say yes. 00:15:06.080 --> 00:15:09.840 Jesus, when he approached his disciples, he said, Come follow me. 00:15:10.639 --> 00:15:12.639 He said, I'll make you fishers of men. 00:15:12.800 --> 00:15:14.720 And they were like, Well, I'm attached to things. 00:15:14.800 --> 00:15:19.120 He says, Leave your nets, leave your life, like leave it all behind. 00:15:19.440 --> 00:15:24.000 Deny those other things and come follow me, count the cost. 00:15:24.879 --> 00:15:26.639 And they followed him. 00:15:28.960 --> 00:15:42.720 And it's not because we're confident in ourselves, but because we're confident that we know that God knows us best, and because he knows us best, we can trust God's plan for our life that it will be the best plan. 00:15:43.519 --> 00:15:53.440 The reason why I don't leave, the reason why I don't check out is because I believe that God's blessed me in my place that He's called me. 00:15:54.080 --> 00:16:00.879 And it's in that place that I'll grow the richest and grow the most fruitful in my life. 00:16:01.360 --> 00:16:04.160 So let me share with you a few of these principles here. 00:16:04.320 --> 00:16:08.560 Number one, clarity is a spiritual discipline. 00:16:08.960 --> 00:16:11.040 Clarity is a spiritual discipline. 00:16:11.200 --> 00:16:16.639 And if you're really real about it, nobody drifts into a marathon. 00:16:16.960 --> 00:16:18.560 I like to think so. 00:16:18.960 --> 00:16:23.040 But nobody can just hop onto a marathon and drift into a marathon. 00:16:23.120 --> 00:16:26.240 No one stumbles into financial health. 00:16:27.120 --> 00:16:30.879 No one wakes up accidentally, spiritually mature. 00:16:32.240 --> 00:16:38.240 Drifting is easy, but it often doesn't end up in your destiny, towards your destiny. 00:16:38.320 --> 00:16:41.519 It won't lead you to your destination. 00:16:41.920 --> 00:16:44.480 James chapter four says this. 00:16:51.360 --> 00:16:58.800 James is saying, people say today or tomorrow, we're gonna go, we're gonna make this happen, but they're not committed. 00:16:59.120 --> 00:17:03.759 He said, instead say, if the Lord wills. 00:17:04.240 --> 00:17:05.279 If the Lord wills. 00:17:05.440 --> 00:17:13.279 In other words, get God's eyes, get God's intention on your life, get God's intention on your commitments. 00:17:13.599 --> 00:17:16.400 Lord, what are you willing me to do? 00:17:16.559 --> 00:17:19.039 What are you calling me to do? 00:17:19.600 --> 00:17:21.200 And then go all in. 00:17:23.039 --> 00:17:24.960 That's the heart of the matter. 00:17:25.279 --> 00:17:28.640 God wants people to be in that all-in space. 00:17:29.039 --> 00:17:33.200 The goal isn't just hustle, it's alignment. 00:17:33.360 --> 00:17:36.319 It's being in that place where God wants you to be. 00:17:36.480 --> 00:17:47.519 Uh I was asked this week, and every Tuesday I go on this hike with uh some entrepreneurs in the city, and uh it's a grueling hike on the way up. 00:17:47.680 --> 00:17:51.680 I don't talk on the way up, I'm so good company on the way down, though. 00:17:51.839 --> 00:17:53.039 I'm like the best. 00:17:53.680 --> 00:17:59.600 But on the way up, um, there's this fellow who's talking to me, and I'm like catching my breath. 00:18:00.079 --> 00:18:06.480 And he says to me, Brody, like, do you lean on some kind of higher power? 00:18:06.640 --> 00:18:30.880 And I'm thinking, oh God, you provide this moment of clarity for this individual that I can share this momentous truth of all time for all people, and I can't breathe because I'm walking so fast, and like just I don't know, I think I'm in great, I'm a pretty good athlete, like I am athletic. 00:18:32.720 --> 00:18:34.079 Right, Natalie? 00:18:36.480 --> 00:18:46.319 And I say to him out of like whisper of a breath, I'm like, hundred percent, I lean on a higher power. 00:18:50.559 --> 00:18:52.160 They know the formation to fly. 00:18:52.240 --> 00:18:55.039 The fish, have you ever seen like clouds of fish in the water? 00:18:55.200 --> 00:18:58.240 They're swarming together, like they're schooling together. 00:18:58.400 --> 00:19:02.880 The salmon go to the same tributary their egg the egg was laid in. 00:19:03.039 --> 00:19:06.480 They go into the ocean and they come back to that same tributary. 00:19:06.640 --> 00:19:08.960 They know their purpose, they know their call. 00:19:09.279 --> 00:19:16.079 How can I exist unless I lean on the one who actually created me? 00:19:17.039 --> 00:19:22.079 Unless I know my creator, unless I know my purpose for being. 00:19:22.240 --> 00:19:25.200 Who else do I go to to answer those questions? 00:19:26.160 --> 00:19:26.880 Who am I? 00:19:27.039 --> 00:19:27.839 Why do I exist? 00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:29.279 What am I to do? 00:19:29.440 --> 00:19:37.120 What how am I supposed to live my life out well to provide success for my life? 00:19:38.079 --> 00:19:40.720 I gotta go to God 100%. 00:19:43.039 --> 00:19:44.880 I need to know God that way. 00:19:44.960 --> 00:19:54.000 And that's why we have the church, that's why we do the next steps programs, that's why we help lead you into that next step to help you answer those questions. 00:19:54.240 --> 00:19:55.920 What is your spiritual gifting? 00:19:56.079 --> 00:19:57.759 Where's your leadership style? 00:19:57.920 --> 00:19:59.039 How do you function? 00:19:59.200 --> 00:20:00.880 How did God create you? 00:20:01.200 --> 00:20:07.440 Because God's design and creation for my wife is different than God's design and creation for me. 00:20:07.920 --> 00:20:17.039 And we need to celebrate one another, not compete or compare with each other, but raise each other up and propel people into their future. 00:20:17.200 --> 00:20:18.559 That's what we want. 00:20:18.799 --> 00:20:21.440 I like the illustration of the pilot. 00:20:21.759 --> 00:20:37.759 Um, we were in Vancouver yesterday, and uh we saw these planes flying over, and they're just like they're bombing over the airport where we were down in Richmond, and and uh and I'm thinking those those planes can go quite quick, like they're fast. 00:20:38.160 --> 00:20:54.160 And if you get in a plane and it's going 500 miles per hour, but east, and it's going fast, but it never recalibrates, never the pilot never checks the compass to ensure he's going like east, but he's going fast. 00:20:55.519 --> 00:20:57.200 What's more critical? 00:20:57.519 --> 00:21:00.559 Him going fast or him going in the right direction. 00:21:01.200 --> 00:21:05.759 You gotta keep correcting to God's design for your life. 00:21:05.920 --> 00:21:06.559 That's why. 00:21:06.640 --> 00:21:08.559 Why do you go to church every Sunday? 00:21:08.720 --> 00:21:17.600 I'm realigning, I'm coming back into line, I'm coming into alignment with what God's plan and purpose for my life. 00:21:17.839 --> 00:21:27.600 I need people around me, I need teachers around me, I need people loving and checking on me just to make sure I'm connected to that North Star. 00:21:28.079 --> 00:21:36.960 Proverbs 19 says that many are the plans in a man's heart, but it's the Lord's purpose that actually will prevail. 00:21:37.600 --> 00:21:39.920 It's his purposes that matter. 00:21:40.960 --> 00:22:09.600 David, King David, had this situation, and it was a critical situation, and you can read about it in the in Samuel, where David was out with his uh group of guys, and they were out having to defend certain territory, and they left their wife, their wife, and their kids, their wives and kids all at home with uh all their bags and all their stuff, all their belongings. 00:22:09.759 --> 00:22:10.480 And when they came. 00:22:10.960 --> 00:22:15.279 Back to this place called Zikleg, all their stuff had been stolen. 00:22:16.079 --> 00:22:22.880 All their wives and kids had been taken as uh as and kidnapped and taken as slaves. 00:22:23.680 --> 00:22:26.319 And all the men came back tired. 00:22:26.640 --> 00:22:33.519 And they go to David and they say, David, and they're gonna kill David because they're just seething because they're so angry. 00:22:33.680 --> 00:22:36.799 And they come to David and say, What are you going to do for us? 00:22:37.039 --> 00:22:42.799 And David, without flinching, he doesn't do what's like in his own heart. 00:22:43.039 --> 00:22:50.000 He pauses and he goes to God, and the scripture says he inquires of God what he should do. 00:22:51.839 --> 00:22:55.759 My first response would be to run and to get them back. 00:22:56.000 --> 00:23:02.960 But instead, he stops, he pauses, and he recalibrates to ensure that he's going the right direction. 00:23:03.920 --> 00:23:07.200 He's not the pilot who's just going 500 miles an hour. 00:23:07.519 --> 00:23:11.519 He always corrects and goes back to that spiritual discipline. 00:23:11.839 --> 00:23:13.120 Lord, what do you want me to do? 00:23:13.200 --> 00:23:20.000 And of course the Lord says, go get them, bring everything back, and they brought back everything, not one person was lost. 00:23:20.720 --> 00:23:23.519 They required all their stuff back and more. 00:23:25.680 --> 00:23:34.640 Sometimes you may think things are simple and you may think things are very straightforward, but until you go to God, you won't see the variation. 00:23:35.039 --> 00:23:42.559 Um a friend of mine was down in the States last week, and uh he came back and he knew I liked Chick-fil-A. 00:23:42.720 --> 00:23:43.920 How many of you like Chick-fil-A? 00:23:44.000 --> 00:23:45.200 Yeah, Chick-fil-A. 00:23:46.240 --> 00:23:48.319 We don't have too many Chick-fil-A's in Canada. 00:23:48.400 --> 00:23:49.839 I don't even know if we have one. 00:23:50.160 --> 00:23:56.000 And uh and so they came back and he was like, I'm bringing you back some Chick-fil-A sauce. 00:23:56.079 --> 00:23:58.400 And I'm like, sweet, I love it. 00:23:58.559 --> 00:24:03.440 Don't start bringing me Chick-fil-A sauce now because he brought back Costco packs. 00:24:03.519 --> 00:24:08.240 And if anyone knows Costco packs, it's like three gallons of Chick-fil-A sauce. 00:24:08.400 --> 00:24:12.000 You guys are welcome to come over to our house and have some Chick-fil-A. 00:24:12.240 --> 00:24:15.519 Just talk to Natalie about it, she'll make it happen. 00:24:16.640 --> 00:24:27.680 And uh, so the person who created Chick-fil-A, uh Truett Kathy, had a decision to make, and she uh he made a really bold decision. 00:24:27.839 --> 00:24:31.839 He said he's gonna close all Chick-fil-A's when they were founded. 00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:39.839 He closed them all on Sundays to align with his values of having a day to celebrate your faith and to celebrate your family. 00:24:40.079 --> 00:24:53.360 And it went against everything that was uh ordinary in the hustle culture where it started, where you gotta be hustling six, seven days a week and making sure things are open 24-7. 00:24:53.680 --> 00:24:56.079 He says, No, we're taking Sunday off. 00:24:57.920 --> 00:25:18.880 And it didn't look good on paper, it didn't look good for the supporters and the um the uh providers, but it did make sense in heaven, and the result was that despite being closed one day a week, Chick-fil-A has achieved the most remarkable financial success. 00:25:19.200 --> 00:25:38.319 The company generates higher than average returns and sales per restaurant than all of their competitors who operate seven days a week, and so he wasn't asking what's productive, he was asking, What's what does obedience to your plan look like for my life? 00:25:39.759 --> 00:25:56.240 Because if it's your plan, I could work seven days a week and make the same as I'm working six days a week, but God had a different plan for him and has established that that place, and so it's really uh a good company to support. 00:25:56.319 --> 00:25:59.920 And I encourage someone to franchise a Chick-fil-A in Kelowna. 00:26:00.079 --> 00:26:02.079 It would be a really good idea. 00:26:02.319 --> 00:26:07.360 Take it from Brody and provide lifetime memberships to your peach smoothies. 00:26:07.519 --> 00:26:08.640 I'd love that. 00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:23.200 The greatest flex isn't doing everything, it's being obedient to do the thing that God has called you to do, and staying committed to that call, despite all the other distractions. 00:26:23.680 --> 00:26:30.799 We live in a world full of distractions, but to say yes to the thing God has called you to is the most important thing you can do. 00:26:32.000 --> 00:26:37.839 Number two, saying yes to yes is risky, but it's the point. 00:26:39.279 --> 00:26:44.319 We don't what we don't hear is people making bold promises today. 00:26:44.400 --> 00:26:50.319 And the reason why we don't hear of people making bold promises is because they live in a state of fear. 00:26:50.559 --> 00:27:10.240 Fear that other people will see them and reject them, fear that they might try and fail, fear fear that they're going to be another one of the statistics of those who made a choice and like I'm gonna run that marathon and then quit halfway through or not be able to complete. 00:27:10.960 --> 00:27:14.799 There's people who are afraid to do those things. 00:27:15.120 --> 00:27:20.799 But instead of so instead of being obedient, instead of obedience, they choose avoidance. 00:27:22.559 --> 00:27:25.200 And it doesn't work for us. 00:27:25.440 --> 00:27:43.680 Risk doesn't mean that it's not God, God calls us to risk, God calls us to risk, and we have to presence like it's in God's will for us to push ourselves to that point of risk. 00:27:43.920 --> 00:27:48.079 The presence of risk is not the absence of God's will. 00:27:48.480 --> 00:27:54.480 Ecclesiastes says when you make a commitment to God, go and do it right now. 00:27:54.720 --> 00:27:57.279 Like get out and do it. 00:27:57.839 --> 00:28:00.319 Make a commitment and do it. 00:28:00.480 --> 00:28:02.960 Don't think about it, don't analyze it. 00:28:03.120 --> 00:28:06.000 How many of you know there's the paralysis of analysis? 00:28:06.240 --> 00:28:23.680 I gotta think about it for a week, I gotta talk to four different people, I gotta see it from every angle, I gotta run it through chat GPT, chat, ask it, act as my advisor to this situation and provide me uh whether or not scale one to ten, whether or not I should do it or not. 00:28:23.920 --> 00:28:29.519 And it's like people will analyze things until they're it's dead. 00:28:31.360 --> 00:28:37.839 Ecclesiastes says, get up and do it, just start putting things in place. 00:28:38.400 --> 00:28:44.079 Spiritual discipline chooses obedience over avoidance, obey. 00:28:44.720 --> 00:28:48.160 God calls you to serve at a serve week, sign up. 00:28:48.400 --> 00:28:50.640 Don't think about it, just do it. 00:28:51.759 --> 00:29:02.880 I guarantee your comfort will say want you to say no, will want will pursue you to say to find a reason why you can't do it instead of why you can. 00:29:03.120 --> 00:29:03.600 How many? 00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:06.000 I know that I'm so grateful. 00:29:06.240 --> 00:29:12.720 Most of the people that we have doing hosting, they were the people who said no one time. 00:29:13.759 --> 00:29:19.600 And the second time they said no, and the third time they said no, until they finally said yes. 00:29:19.920 --> 00:29:25.120 And how many of you know that like sometimes I'm like, man, I can just I don't even have to say anything. 00:29:25.279 --> 00:29:30.559 They've done so well, just leading in hosting and leading in ministry. 00:29:30.799 --> 00:29:34.400 That's God doing the work because they said yes. 00:29:34.640 --> 00:29:37.519 So don't be afraid of saying yes. 00:29:37.759 --> 00:29:47.120 There's a spirit of faith, the spirit of faith is trusting God and giving up that control and saying yes. 00:29:47.360 --> 00:29:50.799 So here's one of the biblical patterns of this risk. 00:29:50.960 --> 00:29:51.920 It was Esther. 00:29:52.960 --> 00:30:09.519 Esther, she said she said this when she was approaching the king to petition the king on behalf of her people because there was this plot out to kill all the Jews in the city, and she, as a Jew, felt like she was in a place of influence to speak to the king. 00:30:09.759 --> 00:30:19.680 So she went to the king at risk of her own peril, and she said, I'm committing to do this, I'm going to do it, even if it means my death. 00:30:19.839 --> 00:30:21.759 And she said this in scripture. 00:30:21.839 --> 00:30:24.640 She says, If I perish, I perish. 00:30:24.799 --> 00:30:26.240 And that was her motto. 00:30:26.559 --> 00:30:28.160 If I die, I die. 00:30:28.319 --> 00:30:31.200 I didn't make for a great women's conference. 00:30:31.440 --> 00:30:37.279 If I perish, I perish project or purpose or conference. 00:30:37.519 --> 00:30:38.640 I'm done. 00:30:38.880 --> 00:30:41.680 If I die, I die, but I'm committed. 00:30:42.559 --> 00:30:48.799 And she went to the king and she petitioned on behalf of her people, and she saved her, all the people. 00:30:48.960 --> 00:30:50.640 She saved the Jewish people. 00:30:52.240 --> 00:30:55.519 Obedience always costs you something. 00:30:57.440 --> 00:30:59.600 Always costs you something. 00:30:59.839 --> 00:31:02.640 So we want to make sure that we're carrying that cost. 00:31:03.039 --> 00:31:06.160 Lastly, I'm going to invite the team to come up. 00:31:06.799 --> 00:31:09.440 Your word is a weight that you carry. 00:31:10.400 --> 00:31:12.000 Would you just say a weight? 00:31:12.720 --> 00:31:13.360 Weight. 00:31:13.680 --> 00:31:15.440 Your words are weights. 00:31:16.160 --> 00:31:21.680 They're weights that your yes should mean something, and your no should mean something. 00:31:21.920 --> 00:31:24.160 It's important for you to say yes. 00:31:24.480 --> 00:31:32.640 Some of you say yes way too often because it's taking you from your big YES, what you say yes to. 00:31:32.880 --> 00:31:38.880 And you just gotta say no and be comfortable to say no to those things that God hasn't called you to. 00:31:39.120 --> 00:31:43.519 And Jesus said, let your yes be yes and your no be no. 00:31:43.920 --> 00:31:46.960 Commit to what your where your commitment's at. 00:31:47.279 --> 00:31:50.319 So God takes your word seriously. 00:31:51.279 --> 00:31:57.519 And so that that serious matter, that serious, uh, that serious word matters. 00:31:57.839 --> 00:32:02.319 So when we pray, when we say, I'm gonna get up and pray, get up and pray. 00:32:03.120 --> 00:32:06.880 When you when you I'm gonna get to church, get to church. 00:32:07.279 --> 00:32:08.960 But there are a lot of things going on. 00:32:09.120 --> 00:32:10.160 Get to church. 00:32:10.559 --> 00:32:14.400 I'm gonna make a phone call and text a friend and encourage someone this week. 00:32:14.640 --> 00:32:18.319 Get up, make the phone call, text a friend, encourage someone this week. 00:32:18.480 --> 00:32:19.600 Like, do it. 00:32:20.240 --> 00:32:21.759 Step into that place. 00:32:22.160 --> 00:32:25.440 These are invitations for us to actually do that. 00:32:26.720 --> 00:32:33.279 In heaven, words aren't cheap, words have power, words are sacred. 00:32:35.200 --> 00:32:40.480 Our English language root refers to them as spells. 00:32:40.960 --> 00:32:43.279 It's where we get the word spelling from. 00:32:44.319 --> 00:32:53.279 How you form the word, and they people realize this spell, this word has the power, like the scripture says, of life and death. 00:32:53.440 --> 00:32:55.120 It's in the power of the tongue. 00:32:55.440 --> 00:32:57.279 Your words have power. 00:32:57.519 --> 00:33:02.000 So however you speak, you choose to walk each day. 00:33:03.360 --> 00:33:15.279 Speaking life, encouragement, lifting up, building up, supporting one another, carrying out your yes and saying, I'm gonna continue to do what God you've called me to do. 00:33:15.360 --> 00:33:22.799 I'm gonna stick to that discipline, stick to that word that you put in my heart that I'm to follow. 00:33:23.120 --> 00:33:44.160 The great thing about the church is that you've got a different purpose than I have, you've got a different mission than I have, and together we can do something that's incredible, and we are doing things that are incredible out of this tiny church in Rutland. 00:33:45.519 --> 00:33:56.000 Yesterday I was at a in Richmond, like I said, I was on the coast, and we celebrated 90 93 grads from our school. 00:33:56.319 --> 00:33:58.400 We've got another grad in two weeks. 00:33:58.559 --> 00:34:01.200 We're celebrating another 80 grads. 00:34:01.440 --> 00:34:13.599 We had thousands of people joining to gathering together because of the work, because at one point in time in our school, we said yes to something. 00:34:14.480 --> 00:34:16.079 Yes to something. 00:34:16.880 --> 00:34:22.239 The the we thought, you know what, what would be what would it be like to create an online school? 00:34:22.559 --> 00:34:25.519 And we thought, well, I think it can be done. 00:34:25.599 --> 00:34:33.919 And we had a student in our high school who was really good with computers, and we said, well, he should be able to maybe we'll give him the summer to try and work out how to do it. 00:34:34.079 --> 00:34:37.919 And we thought if we could start with 50 students, we'd have a success. 00:34:38.159 --> 00:34:40.239 We'd be like over the top. 00:34:40.480 --> 00:34:43.519 That year we started with 600 students. 00:34:44.079 --> 00:35:01.919 We launched our first school, we started it on a pilot program, and it wasn't just until last year that the government said, I think you're off the pilot program now that you have 8,000 students in the school, and you gotta run, you're running like the largest online school in British Columbia out of this little place. 00:35:05.039 --> 00:35:07.519 Because someone said yes. 00:35:08.879 --> 00:35:10.000 Like, could it be done? 00:35:10.319 --> 00:35:11.359 How long would it take? 00:35:11.519 --> 00:35:12.719 Years to build a school. 00:35:12.799 --> 00:35:25.359 It happened over a summer, it was a scramble, but it got off the ground, and now thousands upon thousands of people are being influenced by the message and by the work that's happening in this place. 00:35:27.679 --> 00:35:44.239 Don't ever be intimidated or or underwhelmed by the power of your yes, because sometimes a life, a movement can be shifted because you stepped out one step farther and you said yes one more time. 00:35:45.519 --> 00:35:53.439 At the end of that yes, there can be a difference, and a difference can occur that can affect the world. 00:36:00.719 --> 00:36:12.159 We got into this building and went to an architect, and the architect said, This building is you want to build on this property, it's gonna cost you a million dollars more than you have. 00:36:13.119 --> 00:36:24.480 And I wasn't at this meeting, but at this meeting in front of all these like secular builders and architects and designers, and they're trying to figure out how we could actually build this building. 00:36:24.799 --> 00:36:32.639 We said, God, we stopped, the the meeting, the meeting was stopped, and so we're just gonna pray. 00:36:32.719 --> 00:36:36.399 And some of these guys, you know, it's not familiar to them. 00:36:36.639 --> 00:36:47.519 They stopped, closed their eyes, and I think Pastor Dave said, Father, God, you're the God of the past, like you're the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. 00:36:47.599 --> 00:36:52.000 You already have been in our building before our building even existed. 00:36:52.159 --> 00:37:01.279 You know the end from the beginning, and so you know what this building needs to look like, and we paused spiritual discipline. 00:37:02.399 --> 00:37:04.000 We're committed to build. 00:37:04.480 --> 00:37:06.879 But Lord, what do you want this building to look like? 00:37:07.039 --> 00:37:15.839 And with all the engineers and all the builders around the table, all these this big table, and here's a church team sitting around the table. 00:37:17.359 --> 00:37:20.239 God spoke and he said, Build up, not out. 00:37:21.919 --> 00:37:28.959 And so we went to the engineer and said, Can you just factor in what it would take instead of doing the typical build where you build out this church out? 00:37:29.199 --> 00:37:34.000 Instead, we're just gonna build up three floors basement, main floor, top floor. 00:37:34.319 --> 00:37:45.839 And the builders came back and they said, you know, they kind of huddled together, a little geek squad, crunch numbers that'll save you one million dollars. 00:37:46.079 --> 00:37:50.319 And we said, All right, it's a go. 00:37:50.959 --> 00:37:59.279 And we built the building that launched a movement that's launching people into the world all over the world. 00:37:59.839 --> 00:38:08.000 God is doing something great, and one moment where you pause and you say yes to God can make a difference for your life. 00:38:08.239 --> 00:38:09.759 Would you stand with me? 00:38:10.399 --> 00:38:11.039 Amen. 00:38:12.639 --> 00:38:13.279 Amen. 00:38:15.359 --> 00:38:16.559 That's God. 00:38:18.079 --> 00:38:18.719 Amen. 00:38:19.039 --> 00:38:28.480 Father, for each and every one in this room, if you just bow your heads, close your eyes for a moment, just between you and God today. 00:38:29.039 --> 00:38:41.359 I just want to just take a moment and say, is there an area, Lord, would you come and send your Holy Spirit right now, shine like a spotlight into our own soul, into our own heart today? 00:38:41.519 --> 00:38:56.079 If there's an area in our life where we've been avoiding your call because of fear, and I just speak today to it, today, and I say, Lord, you have not given us a spirit of fear, but of love, power, and sound mind. 00:38:56.319 --> 00:39:11.759