Full Throttle Part 10 - No Limits Part 2

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We're staying in Fifth Gear and pushing deeper into the No Limits life! Today we're looking at three more keys to living with no boundaries, no ceilings, and no retreat.

3. Vision is ignited through prayer and God's Word.

How do you get a vision? You get in the Word! Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17). As you feed on Scripture, it fills your heart with faith to take action. But prayer is where you see it before it happens. In prayer, God births the vision in your heart. Jonathan had to see himself climbing that cliff and defeating the Philistines before he ever took one step. He saw it in his spirit, and that vision gave him the courage to act.

If you can see it in faith, you can take hold of it in reality.

4. We take bold, daring steps of faith.

Once God births the vision, you have to move. Jonathan heard the Philistines say, "Come up to us!" and he climbed. David stood before Goliath and declared, "This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands... and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel" (1 Samuel 17:46). He was bold! He spoke to the giant.

Some of you need to start speaking to the giants in your life! Declare God's Word over your situation: "I will live and not die. I am an overcomer. I will not be defeated. I will win!"

God's will is not an insurance plan—it's a daring plan. I would rather fall on my face trying to do something big for God than sit on my butt doing nothing. The path of least resistance makes rivers and people crooked. Goals are dreams with targets on them. Put a bullseye on your dreams and go after them!

Stop looking for excuses. Start looking for opportunities. Why not give God a chance? Why not go up and take the land?

5. We charge at what we fear the most!

1 Samuel 17:48 says, "As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him." He ran at his giant! Peter got out of the boat. Jonathan climbed the cliff. David ran at Goliath.

What's the thing you fear most? Run at it!

If you take this path, it's going to be lonely. Most people are content to sit in the shade with King Saul. When you decide to live a No Limits lifestyle, people will call you crazy. I'd rather they call me crazy than call me normal! If you fear man, you'll offend God. If you fear God, you'll offend man. Choose this day whom you will serve!

What do you need to yell "CHARGE!" at?

• Your marriage? Attack your marriage and say, "I'm going to make this better!"
• Your job? Go above and beyond.
• Your future? Run at it!
• Your fear? Charge at it!

We serve a God with NO LIMITS. Let's live like we are His offspring!

Key Scriptures: 1 Samuel 17:45-48; Romans 10:17; 1 Samuel 14:6-15; Matthew 14:29

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Hi everyone, Hassel Don Smith here. Welcome to the Talk About It Podcast, where we take relevant topics with a biblical point of view and we talk about it. You know you want to, so do I. Let's talk about it.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

Well, once again, welcome back, everyone, to the Talk About It Podcast. I'm Don Smith, your host for the next few minutes, and I'm so glad that you are here. Thank you so much for tuning in one more time on this podcast. Here we are, season 10, episode 10. How about that? That was season 10, episode 10. How about how about that? Number one, I can't believe we made it to 10 seasons. That's all because of you and all your faithful listeners, and I'm so thankful for you for doing that. And here we are in this season where we're talking about living wide open, full throttle for Jesus. Okay. And uh now we're in the 10th episode of this season. We're gonna begin a new season soon. So uh as a matter of fact, next week, if I say next week, next week, it's gonna be our last episode in this season. We're gonna start season 11. And I want you to be ready for that, okay? Because uh someone asked me a very simple question, and it really spurred my mind. And I thought, okay, this is this is what we're doing. This is the next thought on because uh uh on talk about it. Because what we do is we take a you know relevant topic with a biblical perspective and we talk about it. And so someone asked me, Pastor Don, what is faith? This super question, super simple question. And I just thought, okay, here we go. And so we're gonna spend some time talking about it. You're not gonna want to miss it uh for sure. It's gonna be a very interesting season as we lay it out and we talk about uh what is faith. We try to answer that question both in a very practical way and in a very spiritual way. So I'm excited about that for you. First time listeners, thanks for being here today. Listen, what we want you to do is just push pause on this if you're a first-time listener and go back to the beginning of season 10 and just catch back up with us. Even though this is our second to last episode in this season, we will be here waiting for you. I promise you that. Just ask any talk about it fan. We're always here for you. And uh, I'm glad that you're here. It's such an amazing uh conversation that we had uh about how to live wide open for Jesus. Now we ain't done. We got today and next week yet, and I am thrilled with how I think this is going to end for us. I hope you are as well. We're gonna continue uh right here uh where we left off last week. So if you listen to No Limits part one, this is no limits part two. So whether you're been listening the whole time or you're just here today, you really should at least pick up on part one uh because we we I told you I was gonna give you five uh particular areas about what it means uh to live with no limits, okay, uh, for the Lord and a couple of things that we needed to do uh for sure, okay? And so we're gonna pick right up here from where we left off last week. Now, we've been in we've been in fifth gear here, man. We've been moving on, we're wide open now, and I've been comparing this whole journey with like uh a NASCAR race car uh and what it means to just run wide open for the Lord, to live out loud for Jesus. Okay, and so today I want you to just pick back up and uh let's continue to talk a little bit about Joshua because it's really interesting. It just won't leave me alone, to be honest with you, uh, because I love the story that we're using, uh, you know, uh and and how you know Joshua was there to take over Moses. But, you know, we've been um we've been talking about Jonathan. It won't leave me alone inside of that as well, and and all the things that uh took place in his life, as uh, you know, he was the son of King Saul and then you know a very good friend to King David. And it's it's just an interesting concept to watch these biblical characters live and live wide open. I mean, no holds barred. They were pedal to the metal for Jesus. And in the world that we live in today, let's just be honest, okay? Um, man, people are wanting you to literally uh you know put a mute, a mute sign on that thing. They, they, you know, don't talk about your faith. Don't you can't talk about it here, you can't talk about it there, you know what? Faith is a private matter. Listen, my relationship with Jesus is deeply personal, but I promise you it's not private. Hello, somebody. Come on, talk about it. Y'all gotta help me out. Do you get what I'm saying? It's listen, it it can be deep, it should be deeply personal, but it can never be private, okay? We're never called in the scripture to live in camouflage or incognito for Jesus. That's not what we're called to do. So, one of the things that we're gonna have to do is keep learning to live wide open and out loud. Now, I get it, there's a particular way to do that, and there's a way not to do that, okay? You can do it with honor, you can do it with dishonor, and you're gonna get two different results. Now, I want to do it with honor, okay? And I think that's what we've been encouraging everyone to do here. The third thing that I want us to look at today is that vision is ignited through prayer and the word of God. Okay, now if you know anything about me, you know that I'm I'm a big proponent of uh the word of God. I I love, I love to teach the word of God, I love preaching the word of God, I love to teach people how to read the word of God. It's an incredible thing. But vision ignited through prayer in the word of God is an incredible thing, okay? You got to get a vision. Listen to me, talk about it. You have to have a vision. How do you get vision? Well, I'm glad you asked because that's incredible. You get it in the word of God. Watch this. The Bible says faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. I heard you say it. There you go. And as you feed on God's word, what does it do? It fills your heart with faith to be able to take action steps. And I think that's the biggest thing with Christians right now. I really want Christians to learn to take action steps. It's one thing to say, well, I have faith. It's another thing to prove that we have faith by taking action steps. Watch this, watch this. See, because here's what happens in prayer prayer gives you the ability to see something before it actually happens. It's in prayer where God reveals his heart to us about certain things. And so if you can see it with faith, right? Then there's something that's imparted into you that you can begin to think about how do I live out loud and on purpose with intentionality with my faith? How do I take some action steps? Vision number three is ignited by prayer and the word of God. It's all birthed in prayer, which leads us to number four. You got to take some bold and daring steps of faith. All right. Now, I got stories. I got stories. Trust me, I got stories about this particular issue. And they aren't fake stories. I can tell you stories in my own life. I can tell you stories of people's lives that I've been walking with for 30 years. I can tell you stories. Okay. But here, here's what I want to do. I'm going to give you more than a story. Okay. We got to take bold, daring steps of faith. How do we do that, PD? Well, I'm glad you asked again. Man, you got you're full of great questions today. We we saw in the spirit. Okay. We saw in our prayer time. God birthed vision in our heart. You know you have. You've seen it. Okay. I know you have. I want to encourage you right now. I know that you've seen in your spirit. I know you've seen in your prayer time, okay, the things that God has placed in your heart. Now, listen, to Jonathan, God says what? If you climb up there, remember he's climbing this cliff, okay? And he's like, let's go pick a fight with the Philistines. If you climb up there, if you go out to the Philistines outpost, if you're willing to climb that cliff, I'm willing to do something in you and through you. And listen. And what happens? He went. Now, when God does the same thing to me, maybe he does the same thing to you. Are you willing to climb this cliff? Are you willing to go out there and live out loud and on purpose? Are you willing to do that? Because if you're willing, listen, give God a chance. That's what we've been talking about, right? If you're willing to give God a chance, he's willing to do something in you and through you. I can see it. Can you see it? Here's what Jonathan said. Men, if we can go, why not see if the Lord, by the hand of few or by the hand of many, will be with us? We're few, one or two, but let's go give it a shot. Think about this. I totally believe what Jonathan saw in his heart as he closed his eyes and he saw himself climb and struggle, maybe almost fall, almost die, climb, climb, and get to the top of this particular place because they got to climb this cliff to meet the Philistines. They're all standing there with their swords. And I believe Jonathan saw a vision of him and his arm and armor bearer go, and they're like, they're like going and they're screaming, charge. You ever seen an army, right, that just charges into battle? What are they waiting for? They're waiting for their general to say charge. And they go headlong running down into the valley to meet the enemy. And what happens is he begins to sling, he begins to slay. We know that the Bible says that in that area is about a two-acre spot, uh, that uh him and his armor bearer, right? There's just the two of them kill over 20 men, right? I'm talking about heads, falling arms, falling innards coming out. Listen, you don't see it the way maybe you don't read your Bible the way I see it. But he had to see it in his spirit, or it would have never been done. We have to be able to see it and to take those action steps of faith. So, what did Jonathan do when they said, Hey, the Philistines, we dare you to come up here. I double dog dare you. Well, he's like, Here's my sign. I believe it. Now I gotta do it. I gotta go take bold, daring steps in faith in my life. One step, one decision could change your life forever. Talk about it. Talk about it. Come on. Listen to what I'm saying here. One step, one decision could change your life forever. What did Jesus say? If you believe in your heart, speak to this mountain and do not doubt. Isn't that what he said? All right, let's let's go to David and the Philistine. There he is. Goliath is there. Now, I love the words of David because David believed in his heart. You know, you know it. It's 1 Samuel chapter 17. You know, you know the story. David said to the Philistine, You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom I whom you have defiled. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. Wow. Listen to me talk about it. That's a bold statement. He's talking down to a giant. I said, he's talking down to a giant. I'm gonna tie you up, I'm gonna feed you to the birds. And look how he finishes. It's verse 47 in uh 1 Samuel chapter 17. All those gathered here will know that this is not by sword nor spear that the Lord says, for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give all of you into our hands. Listen, listen, are you ready? Talk about it. See, some of you need to be speaking out. Some of you need to start speaking to the giants in your life. Some of you need to start declaring God's word and God's promises in your life. I'm talking about learning how to live out loud and wide open for Jesus. And one of the lids that you have to take off of your life is that you've got to learn to start speaking the word of the Lord. You've got to learn to start speaking the promise of God. I'll live and I will not die. I'm an overcomer. I'm not defeated. I'm going to win. I know that it looks like I'm behind now, but I'm going to win. See, I boldly declare that we're going to see more people come to God, fall in love with Jesus again than we've ever seen before. I declare that all the time in my prayer life over our church. Last year we won over 300 people to Christ, not counting the kids who came to faith during our VBS season. So I'm still praying. I'm still praying. I'm still believing. I'm boldly declaring that we're going to see more people come to God, more people fall in love with Jesus than we've ever seen before. God will not, come on, be an insurance plan. But He is a God who walks with people who will declare something. Let me say it. See, sometimes we just look at, well, if I'm in the will of God, then that's my insurance plan. Everything's going to be perfect. That's not a daring plan. Okay? What I'm saying is, by faith, I'm going to step out in obedience to what the Lord has spoken to me, and the will of God will be revealed because I have been obedient. Some people say, ah, what what if the Lord doesn't show up? In Jonathan's case, what if I climb this cliff and I start to fight and the Philistines and I get punched in the face or I get wounded? Well, here, talk about it. Here's my belief. I would rather fall on my face than sit on my butt. Oh my. I said it. It's my talk. It's my podcast, so maybe that's a little blunt. I'd rather fall trying to do something big for God than just sitting down pretending like I'm in time out. I'm just gonna sit here on the throne and spend some time with the Lord. No, I'd rather get up and do something. I'd rather do something big for the kingdom of heaven. Listen to me talk about it. I'm gonna say this, and I want you to really listen to what I'm about to say. The path of least resistance is what makes rivers and people crooked. Oh my. Come on, talk about it. That should be on a t-shirt. We should all wear it. The path of least resistance is what makes rivers and people crooked. I'm just gonna take it easy. I'm gonna do it the easy way. And we start doing things and believing things, and we don't know if we could or if we should. I I love this statement by Mark Patterson. It says, goals are dreams with targets on them. Hello, somebody. Now I'm a hunter. Uh I I enjoy shooting, not just hunting. I I enjoy long-range shooting. Listen, goals are dreams with a bullseye on them. The bullseye is what matters. That's what we've got to, that's what we've got to do. That's what we've got to say. God, is this possible? God, this you said it so it's possible. There's no limits because you're on my side. Remember, we serve the God of the impossible. He's the God of no limits. Why do we as people look for excuses? Why not be people who look for opportunities? Why not give God a chance? Why are we people who are afraid of making mistakes? Someone once told me, because I got a bunch of young leaders that we're raising up and we're releasing and we're letting them do some things. And, you know, someone came up to me and said, Well, Pastor Don, what are you going to do if they make a mistake? I'm going to clean it up on Tuesday. Hello, somebody. Who among us hasn't made a mistake? The only people who don't make mistakes are people who aren't trying. Why not give God a chance? Why not go up and take the land? Why are people afraid of missing God by doing things? Uh oh. Well, what if I do something and I miss God? No, no, no. What if you do nothing and miss God? Why is that not the question? Oh, that's really good. That's that's the fourth thing we've got to do. We've got to learn to take some bold, daring steps, okay, in our life. If you in your marriage, in your finances, in your parenting, at work, uh, whatever it is, why why not give God a chance? Well, what if I do something and I miss God? No, what if you do nothing and miss God? Hello, somebody. See, the fifth thing that I want us to do here, okay? And and I really need to bring this portion of our season to a close because la next week I really wanna I wanna tie a bow in the whole season. Here's the fifth thing that I I I want to give you to take the lid off, okay? To be to be able to live wide open, out loud for Jesus, no limit to take the lid off. We gotta charge at what we fear most. We gotta charge at what we fear most. If we wanna talk about it, if we wanna live with no limits, that no limit life for Jesus, we need to charge at what we fear most. Verse 48 in 1 Samuel chapter 17. Watch this. As the Philistine moved closer to attack, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. What did you ever read this? You should really read this book sometime. He ran at it. Talk about it. What's the thing you fear most right now? Watch this. Peter gets out of the boat and he walks on water. Jonathan said, Let's climb the cliff and we'll meet the Philistines head on. David ran at Goliath. But if you go this route, if you take this journey, there's not gonna be many people on the road. I can warn you that right now. Did you notice that it was just Jonathan and his armor bearer climbing the cliff? Did you notice that it was just David standing by himself in front of Goliath? All the other guys were just content. Like all of all the guys there with Jonathan in that moment and his armor bearer, they're hanging out with King Saul underneath the pomegranate tree. Hello, somebody. They're just like in the shade. It's hot out there. Let's hang out here with the king. Listen, when you decide to live a no-limits lifestyle for Jesus, it's going to be a lonely path because people are going to call you crazy. Trust me, ask me how I know. Talk about it. Ask me how I know. I'd rather them call me crazy than call me normal. I don't want to fit into this world's mold. I don't want to fit into religion's mold. I don't want to fit into the church's mold. I don't want to fit into what Christians think it should look like. I want to be righteous, but I don't want to fit into a mold. Hello, somebody. I don't want to fit into the leadership mold. I teach on leadership all the time. I travel and teach on leadership, not only in churches, but in the secular world. And you know why I can travel and teach on leadership in the secular world? Because I don't want to fit the mold. You're going to go crazy trying to please everybody. No, the Bible says, choose this day whom you will serve. If you fear man, you're going to offend God. If you fear God, you're going to offend man. You're not going to please everybody. So choose this day whom you're going to serve. Do you want to be a man pleaser or a God pleaser? See, I don't, I just decided a long time ago. I don't, I say I don't care what they think about me. And I really don't. I'm not saying it doesn't hurt my feelings. But I don't live by feelings. I live by faith. I leave in the assurance of the calling and the purpose of God, the mission in my life. I'm not saying it doesn't hurt my feelings. Sure, my feelings I'm human. People say things that hurt my feelings just like I hurt your feelings. People have said things about this podcast. Can you believe that? I've gotten some. Hello, I'm not even going there. And I'm not going to say it didn't hurt my feelings. Absolutely hurt my feelings. Sure it did. But I I can't be bothered to care about it. Hello, somebody. I care about what he thinks about me. I want to please Father God. I want my Father to say, Yeah, son, you go get him. That's my boy. Just like Jesus. You be just like him. You're cut out of the same mold as he is. You go get him, Tiger. That's what I want to hear from my Heavenly Father. That's what I want to do. That's what I want to be in every facet and every area of my life. Come on, talk about it. Here we are today. At the end of this episode, we got one more episode left in season 10. Let me ask you this question. Talk about it. What's going on in your life right now that you need to yell charge at? Come on. Talk about it. What's going on in your life right now that you need to yell charge at? See, some of you, it's your marriage, and you need to yell charge at it. You need to stop attacking your spouse and start attacking the enemy that's attacking your marriage. Charge. Some of you, some of you need to, you need to, you need to yell charge at bad spending habits. Hello, somebody, some of my Dave Ramsey listeners. Y'all wouldn't like that. Come on. You need to yell charge at hobbies and habits that affect your life in a negative way. Some of you need to yell charge at this job that you got that isn't going anywhere. It's not leading you closer to God. It's not helping you fulfill your mission. As a matter of fact, it's killing and destroying and getting in the way of what God's called you to. You need to yell charge at that thing. Some of you need to yell charge about your future. You think, man, there's no hope, there's no way. You need to yell charge about that. What is this thing you fear most? Run at it. Yell charge and say, God, I believe. And I'm going with you. Listen, talk about it. We serve a God with no limits. Let's live like we are his offspring. Oh my goodness, what a great, great way to set up the last episode in this season. So I'm excited. Okay, I want you to be right back here next week. I need you to do me a favor: share, like, subscribe. Most of all, go to the platform that you're listening on, give the podcast a rating, and tell people about Talk About It. Share this episode with someone. Get them subscribed and listening. Think about being a monthly sponsor. We love it all, we use it all, we do it for the glory of God. Why? Because we love Jesus. And we love you. I'm excited. And you know what? As much as I love you, Jesus loves you more. I'll see you next week for the last episode.