WEBVTT 00:00:07.839 --> 00:00:11.439 You're listening to this vision of the road. 00:00:11.759 --> 00:00:13.279 Sometimes we need to leave. 00:00:13.839 --> 00:00:17.679 Sometimes you have to come up to the ledge, and at that moment, you have to act quickly. 00:00:17.760 --> 00:00:20.480 It's a sermon of wisdom, but it requires a quick decision. 00:00:20.800 --> 00:00:22.480 You've got to just move forward. 00:00:22.640 --> 00:00:26.559 Uh, Joseph, Olipher's wife, quick decision. 00:00:26.879 --> 00:00:28.160 Moment of truth. 00:00:28.719 --> 00:00:31.039 Option two with Olipher's wife. 00:00:31.280 --> 00:00:43.679 He in that moment decides to jump, literally, or leave out of his clothes and run through the halls naked because that was the best choice for him, for God's calling, for his integrity, for his character. 00:00:43.759 --> 00:00:48.320 And I think we can take encouragement that sometimes life calls us to do that when we know it's right and wrong, right? 00:00:49.280 --> 00:00:54.640 At The Road, our vision is to raise up wholehearted disciples of Jesus Christ. 00:00:54.880 --> 00:00:59.039 For more information on the road, visit theroad.org. 00:00:59.280 --> 00:01:02.320 We hope you are encouraged by today's message. 00:01:04.719 --> 00:01:07.599 We've been in the study of Revelations the last few weeks. 00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:11.280 Pastor Steve's been taking us through the last few months, I apologize. 00:01:11.680 --> 00:01:12.400 The last few months. 00:01:12.480 --> 00:01:13.920 We're going to take a brief pause from that. 00:01:14.079 --> 00:01:20.000 Pastor Steve asked if I would uh speak today, and I said yes, slightly reluctantly. 00:01:20.159 --> 00:01:20.879 No, I'm kidding. 00:01:20.959 --> 00:01:27.840 Um I was very excited about it because I felt like God had been putting a message on my heart for a larger body. 00:01:28.079 --> 00:01:33.280 And um middle school might not have been the most appropriate venue for that. 00:01:33.439 --> 00:01:36.079 So he's given me adult years, so thank you. 00:01:36.319 --> 00:01:37.519 Um in that. 00:01:37.760 --> 00:01:39.519 I would say uh bear with me. 00:01:39.599 --> 00:01:42.959 As you guys know, last week I I'm still battling this voice thing. 00:01:43.040 --> 00:01:49.040 So um prayed uh for healing and that God will at least allow me to have the vocal capacity to get through. 00:01:49.359 --> 00:02:02.640 But I'm gonna take a pause from Revelations this weekend, and we're gonna talk about something that I think, within light of the recent events that we've been going through and looking at these last couple weeks in our city, in our lives, I hope is a practical application. 00:02:02.719 --> 00:02:06.079 So let me open in prayer and then we'll go to it. 00:02:06.799 --> 00:02:16.319 Heavenly Father, in Jesus' name we pray that we just give you this time, God, that you would use it as uh you see fit, that we would seek you in your heart, God, in your word. 00:02:16.639 --> 00:02:20.960 And I pray for a fresh revelation of old truths, Father God. 00:02:21.840 --> 00:02:26.080 Because if it's a new truth, it's not truth, but an old truth with fresh eyes, God. 00:02:26.159 --> 00:02:34.960 So I just pray for the hearts and minds would be open and that we would be able, that I, Father God, would be able to communicate your message today to these believers in this church. 00:02:35.120 --> 00:02:36.000 In your name we pray. 00:02:36.240 --> 00:02:36.719 Amen. 00:02:37.680 --> 00:02:38.400 Thank you. 00:02:39.520 --> 00:02:41.039 I used to be cool. 00:02:42.719 --> 00:02:44.319 I laughed too. 00:02:44.879 --> 00:02:53.680 I was sitting at a stoplight on the way to take my kids to school, and in front of me was this really nice vehicle. 00:02:53.919 --> 00:02:58.080 At first I didn't really pay attention to what kind it was, and I just noticed this, it was like a red vehicle. 00:02:58.240 --> 00:03:00.719 I don't get to what kind of vehicle because that's important in a minute. 00:03:00.879 --> 00:03:02.800 Uh, was this black and white bumper sticker. 00:03:02.960 --> 00:03:07.759 And you know you've seen the guys and gals that decorate their cars, they actually paint job their car with bumper stickers. 00:03:07.840 --> 00:03:08.479 This thing was clean. 00:03:08.560 --> 00:03:13.520 It had one black and white bumper sticker in the front of it, and it was right centered in the back of the tailgate. 00:03:13.680 --> 00:03:15.439 It said, I used to be cool. 00:03:15.680 --> 00:03:20.639 And uh so I looked at it and my son and I noticed it, and we started laughing. 00:03:20.719 --> 00:03:21.360 I mean, pretty hard. 00:03:21.439 --> 00:03:23.280 I was like, this was a great bumper sticker. 00:03:23.520 --> 00:03:27.360 We kind of have this thing where we um try and read bumper stickers. 00:03:27.520 --> 00:03:33.840 Sometimes, as I'm learning, bumper stickers aren't created equal, and they're not all PG 13 or even PG 10. 00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:40.879 So if I see one before he does, I'm like, oh look, eagle or something, you know, deer, um, squirrel? 00:03:41.199 --> 00:03:41.520 No. 00:03:41.759 --> 00:03:50.240 But yeah, so we see this one, and it's we see it at the same time, and we just he starts to belly laugh, and it kind of takes me by surprise, and I start to find it hilarious. 00:03:50.319 --> 00:03:54.800 I'm going, man, there's a guy comfortable or gal comfortable in their skin, because I don't know at this point. 00:03:54.879 --> 00:03:55.759 They're in front of me. 00:03:56.000 --> 00:03:58.479 And so I'm getting curious. 00:03:58.560 --> 00:04:01.919 I start thinking, and we just we have this moment of just hilarity. 00:04:02.159 --> 00:04:05.280 I start to think about what kind of person puts that on their car. 00:04:05.439 --> 00:04:11.520 Somebody who's probably was cool at one time and is now at least settled into their skin in the fact that they're no longer cool. 00:04:11.759 --> 00:04:18.000 So we get on the freeway, I drive by, and then it dawns on me, I'm like, oh my gosh, it's a Chrysler town and country. 00:04:18.079 --> 00:04:18.959 It's a minivan. 00:04:19.199 --> 00:04:20.079 Light bulb. 00:04:20.240 --> 00:04:30.800 This guy, and it turns out to be a guy who doesn't look unlike myself, is in the car doing his thing, probably on the same path to school that I'm taking with his kids. 00:04:30.959 --> 00:04:41.199 And um I look over and I almost want to give him kind of a salute or a thumbs up because I appreciate in that moment some of his shame. 00:04:42.319 --> 00:04:55.600 The fact that I knew where Christ or Town and Countries rank on top selling minivans and what they have to offer at this stage in the game for me, and even the thought process and the decision that my wife and I had to come to to join that club. 00:04:56.000 --> 00:04:57.759 And we did join the club. 00:04:58.000 --> 00:05:00.480 And so it was almost like, I feel you, bro. 00:05:00.560 --> 00:05:01.519 I'm in the club. 00:05:01.759 --> 00:05:05.360 If I ever was cool, it is past, and I'm no longer there. 00:05:05.600 --> 00:05:17.199 So, anyways, um, it was a fun time uh with him, but a sobering reality of um the coolness of my past that is now uh behind me. 00:05:17.439 --> 00:05:21.920 But we have a minivan, I'm half proud to say it's a Toyota Siena, number one last year. 00:05:22.480 --> 00:05:23.600 Yeah, awesome. 00:05:23.759 --> 00:05:26.639 It battles kind of neck and neck with the Honda Odyssey. 00:05:27.040 --> 00:05:29.120 The fact that I know that makes me uncool. 00:05:29.360 --> 00:05:41.199 Um talk about decisions today and the idea of the little decisions in our lives that bring us to what I want to call today ledges. 00:05:41.920 --> 00:05:46.959 Before I get there, I'm gonna give you um some intel here. 00:05:47.199 --> 00:06:02.240 Research done at Cornell University shows we in this time and date and age, with the impinent uh with the tremendous amount of information that we have available to us, we make and approximately in the waking hours cognitive or conscious decisions every day. 00:06:02.319 --> 00:06:04.399 We make 35,000 of them. 00:06:04.720 --> 00:06:05.680 That's a lot. 00:06:05.920 --> 00:06:12.480 That breaks down to approximately 2,333 per hour of waking hours. 00:06:12.639 --> 00:06:16.800 And I gave you guys the benefit of the doubt getting your eight hours of sleep every night. 00:06:16.959 --> 00:06:24.000 So that means every hour, in the hour that we've been together, you will have processed 2,333 decisions. 00:06:24.240 --> 00:06:28.399 Children, by comparison, only make 3,000 decisions a day. 00:06:28.639 --> 00:06:36.720 My philosophy and my research shows that half of those decisions are typically based on whether they will or will not obey mom and dad. 00:06:36.800 --> 00:06:39.600 It's pretty much just a quick, eh no, no. 00:06:39.839 --> 00:06:41.199 Yes, probably should. 00:06:41.439 --> 00:06:54.399 Um now, what else I found interesting, Cornell also showed that of those 35,000 decisions we process, 227 of those on a daily basis are based on food. 00:06:54.639 --> 00:06:57.680 Now, this resonated with me. 00:06:57.920 --> 00:07:03.120 I kind of like food, I'm a foodie, and some of us might bend the averages or skew them. 00:07:03.199 --> 00:07:06.000 I probably think about food more than that average. 00:07:06.319 --> 00:07:11.519 Um, I don't know what that says about me, other than I appreciate the palate. 00:07:11.839 --> 00:07:17.040 Thank God for my ability to appreciate his gifts and food that way. 00:07:17.199 --> 00:07:25.759 So, um, a decision, I'm just, I mean, a lot of us know this, but I'm just gonna kind of go with what Webster says as we talk about what this means as we move forward. 00:07:25.920 --> 00:07:36.240 A decision is a noun, a conclusion, or resolution reached after consideration, the action or process of deciding something or uh or of resolving a question. 00:07:36.480 --> 00:07:40.240 In some cases, a formal judgment if you're in kind of the the courthouse. 00:07:40.399 --> 00:07:44.720 Um, that said, we come to decisions. 00:07:45.519 --> 00:07:51.120 Many little decisions culminate to bring us to the ledges of life, right? 00:07:51.199 --> 00:07:55.680 So these would be things that I don't want to get ahead of myself there. 00:07:55.759 --> 00:07:56.879 Let me illustrate something real quick. 00:07:56.959 --> 00:08:01.759 So we have this stage, it's cool, it's kind of got some different ledges, but little decisions like this. 00:08:01.920 --> 00:08:09.360 I was actually originally gonna jump off the stage at one point here, but then I thought getting older, I'm not as youthful, knees might not take it. 00:08:09.439 --> 00:08:10.879 But so, okay, little decisions. 00:08:10.959 --> 00:08:15.519 I wake up, I brush my teeth, I comb my hair, I take a shower, I use soap. 00:08:16.240 --> 00:08:18.480 Have to be reminded if I'm the boy. 00:08:18.720 --> 00:08:20.319 The girls seem to get that. 00:08:20.399 --> 00:08:21.519 I'm talking about my kids. 00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:32.799 And then you find yourself little decisions, you drive to work, you answer some phone calls, you check some emails, and then before you know it, you're at something that's not gonna be easily navigated or negotiated. 00:08:32.879 --> 00:08:39.039 And you have a lot larger drop, but it was a series of smaller decisions, and I'm sorry I should have given you guys a warning. 00:08:39.120 --> 00:08:41.679 I'm gonna be moving a lot today, and these guys got the camera on me. 00:08:41.840 --> 00:08:45.440 So, um, anyways, it's a bit of an aerobic exercise. 00:08:45.840 --> 00:08:56.639 The um the deal there is obviously the thesis is that little decisions bring us to the ledges of life that cause us to pause, and that's where in those moments we need to seek God's counsel. 00:08:58.080 --> 00:09:00.799 What do we do when we face the ledges of our lives? 00:09:01.440 --> 00:09:06.000 Familiar quote from Albert Einstein: In the midst of difficulty lies opportunity. 00:09:06.559 --> 00:09:16.720 I like to think of it this way: the opportunities afforded to us in life come by the way of faithfulness to God in our times of difficulty. 00:09:17.279 --> 00:09:21.440 Hebrews 4, 14 through 16 says this. 00:09:21.919 --> 00:09:29.519 Seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 00:09:29.759 --> 00:09:37.120 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weakness, but was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin. 00:09:38.799 --> 00:09:46.960 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of our need. 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:54.159 As a boy, I grew up in Illinois, and we didn't have many ledges. 00:09:54.320 --> 00:09:56.240 We had to kind of seek them, and we did. 00:09:56.480 --> 00:09:57.759 We had a lot of cornfields. 00:09:57.919 --> 00:10:00.960 I didn't have the benefit of growing up in Colorado. 00:10:01.200 --> 00:10:04.399 We'd visit here as often as possible, but there was plenty of ledges here, as we know. 00:10:04.559 --> 00:10:07.440 We have to look out our window and see Pike's Peak, and it's filled with ledges. 00:10:07.919 --> 00:10:13.279 But despite the cornfields, uh, there actually were some fairly good ledges. 00:10:13.440 --> 00:10:24.799 And in my neighborhood where I grew up, amongst the cornfields, there was one particularly large ledge or cliff, as it were, big to us at the time, especially even being a little critter. 00:10:24.960 --> 00:10:27.840 Um it was about 80 feet from top to bottom. 00:10:27.919 --> 00:10:34.879 And you would travel, excuse me, you'd travel through the woods, and uh before you knew it, you'd be at the edge. 00:10:35.039 --> 00:10:40.879 And I'm there with my buddies, and we're looking over, we're looking at each other, and we're thinking, this looks really cool, man. 00:10:40.960 --> 00:10:44.240 There's gotta be a way to get over this thing without killing ourselves. 00:10:44.480 --> 00:10:46.720 I don't even know that the second part even came to mind. 00:10:46.799 --> 00:10:48.720 I think we just thought, man, this looks really cool. 00:10:48.799 --> 00:10:53.360 There's gotta be a way to get over this thing or down it, and who was gonna be the first to try it? 00:10:53.600 --> 00:10:57.279 Well, adolescence came and passed, and so did puberty. 00:10:58.080 --> 00:11:04.960 None of us during that time really had safe measures to uh cross that obstacle on the ledge. 00:11:05.200 --> 00:11:13.679 I went to college up in northern Illinois, outside of Chicago, and um that was completely flat from where I grew up in the Quad Cities. 00:11:13.759 --> 00:11:25.279 I grew up on the Mississippi River, but I traveled two hours west, east, sorry, east, to Chicago, and um in DeCalb, Illinois, DeCalb corn, you guys seen that? 00:11:25.759 --> 00:11:30.480 You can look and probably see Iowa and other places from DeCalb's uh cornfields. 00:11:30.559 --> 00:11:31.440 It's so flat. 00:11:31.600 --> 00:11:53.440 But I was in our ROTC and we had some brothers, and um we got to go to some schools while we were there and in our training Northern Warfare School in Alaska that does a lot of orienteering mountaineering and come back with repelling um and and mountaineering concepts and stuff that we wanted to deploy with this recently found knowledge, and we looked around and we had nothing to scale. 00:11:53.600 --> 00:12:01.759 And so we would pursue, we'd go off the uh, we'd get permission from the cadre, and we'd actually do clinics off of the uh stadium, the football stadium. 00:12:01.919 --> 00:12:04.240 Well, that kind of wore itself out, and you can only do that so many times. 00:12:04.320 --> 00:12:14.559 So we took a weekend trip, me and a couple guys, and we went around and we decided to visit where we thought we could find some some serious you know cliffs in Illinois, which brought us back to my hometown. 00:12:14.639 --> 00:12:18.720 I said, hey guys, I got a place that has burdened me since childhood that I want to scale this. 00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:21.279 At least I can send a note out to my brothers growing up. 00:12:21.440 --> 00:12:22.639 I conquered it, man. 00:12:22.799 --> 00:12:23.600 And so we did. 00:12:23.759 --> 00:12:29.039 We went up, we found some trees, we found some um stable points of access, and we we did. 00:12:29.120 --> 00:12:32.000 We negotiated the cliff, we propelled down, it was great. 00:12:32.240 --> 00:12:36.000 And um, we actually pulled up, and my buddies that were with me were like, seriously? 00:12:36.080 --> 00:12:37.440 Uh it's like 80 feet, dude. 00:12:37.600 --> 00:12:39.519 I'm like, hey, listen, it's important to me. 00:12:39.679 --> 00:12:42.000 Please at least uh you know satisfy this for me. 00:12:42.159 --> 00:12:45.360 I got I gotta send this email, I gotta tell the guys I did this finally. 00:12:45.600 --> 00:12:47.039 So, and they said, Okay, cool, man. 00:12:47.120 --> 00:12:48.639 So, anyways, we had a good time. 00:12:49.120 --> 00:12:53.840 That's kind of the physical ledge that we find ourselves and when we seek out those things. 00:12:54.000 --> 00:12:57.919 But what about the ledges that come to us that are unexpected that cause us to pause in life? 00:12:58.000 --> 00:13:03.200 And I'm talking about right now who do we marry? 00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:16.639 The choice to marry the right person, um, the career that we're gonna pursue, or job path, even changing midway through what you thought your calling was after schooling and being in a job, and you changed industries entirely. 00:13:16.799 --> 00:13:24.720 I've got a good brother here I've talked to and prayed with here, who's contemplating and actively pursuing leaving the family business to go pursue law enforcement. 00:13:24.879 --> 00:13:32.559 And the big challenge, and just really um the decision that that means for the family and what that's going to look like for their personal life. 00:13:33.600 --> 00:13:35.279 Um having children. 00:13:35.440 --> 00:13:38.399 Some people get married, decide one spouse wants one, one doesn't. 00:13:38.480 --> 00:13:49.759 Sometimes you uh think you're both calibrated in that direction and you want a family, and then you decide that maybe that's not the calling, and then you change your mind, and now you have to reconcile with each other and seek each other's hearts about those things. 00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:58.240 Um, you get the news of a family member who gets suddenly ill or sick and you have to grapple with that. 00:13:58.399 --> 00:14:03.360 Or somebody who, even further than that, passes away suddenly and goes to the next step. 00:14:03.519 --> 00:14:04.720 How do you process that? 00:14:04.799 --> 00:14:10.399 You get lab results back that aren't favorable, they're negative, they're unexpected, and what do you do with those moments? 00:14:10.480 --> 00:14:25.440 Those are ledges, guys, that we're brought to that in the moment that we get that news, we're brought to the very edge and we're looking over, and we don't know sometimes in our own mind, in our own wisdom, how we're gonna process, how we're gonna proceed, how we're gonna navigate that. 00:14:25.679 --> 00:14:26.879 We currently face that. 00:14:26.960 --> 00:14:39.679 It's not that we can't navigate it because we've navigated it three times, but if you've seen my wife, it should be obvious that we're expecting number four here pretty much any day, and we're excited about that. 00:14:41.759 --> 00:14:43.039 Minivan, boom. 00:14:43.200 --> 00:14:46.080 Hey, that decision just seems to get better and better every day. 00:14:46.320 --> 00:14:48.080 So we're prepared now for number four. 00:14:48.159 --> 00:14:51.279 In hindsight, God had to bring me to that ledge to be prepared for number four. 00:14:51.440 --> 00:14:52.240 Here we are. 00:14:52.559 --> 00:15:00.320 Um so the fears, and my wife and I we've been talking about this, and um, I'm gonna get a little bit more into detail about that later. 00:15:00.480 --> 00:15:03.440 But how do we navigate labor, the birth? 00:15:03.679 --> 00:15:22.879 Um, she's a warrior, she wants to do it without drugs, she wants a supernatural experience with God, and she's done it with two of the three already, and so she's pursuing that with her heart, and the agreements, the lies, the things that the enemy wants to put on us in those moments to take away our courage and how we go. 00:15:24.159 --> 00:15:26.720 James 2, 2 through 4. 00:15:26.960 --> 00:15:43.039 At those moments of the ledge, count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness, and let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. 00:15:43.360 --> 00:15:47.279 I want to share with you the three actions I think that we face at the ledge. 00:15:47.600 --> 00:15:52.559 We can linger on it, we can leave it altogether, and we can leap off. 00:15:53.039 --> 00:16:01.279 All three of those actions require four things courage, faith, trust in the Lord, and obedience. 00:16:01.840 --> 00:16:06.320 Courage to face the challenges and obstacles before us, Deuteronomy 31, 6. 00:16:06.720 --> 00:16:08.159 Be strong and of good courage. 00:16:08.320 --> 00:16:10.480 Do not fear nor be afraid of them. 00:16:10.720 --> 00:16:13.600 For the Lord your God, he is the one who gives. 00:16:14.320 --> 00:16:16.240 Sorry, he is the one who goes with you. 00:16:16.399 --> 00:16:18.480 He will not leave you nor forsake you. 00:16:18.799 --> 00:16:19.519 Faith. 00:16:19.759 --> 00:16:23.840 We need faith that God will provide the needed resources for the tools and tasks ahead. 00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:29.679 He owns a cattle on a thousand hills, so he certainly has the ability to provide those resources for us. 00:16:30.639 --> 00:16:31.279 Trust. 00:16:31.679 --> 00:16:33.919 Trust that he will never leave us or forsake us. 00:16:34.080 --> 00:16:35.519 We saw that in Deuteronomy. 00:16:35.679 --> 00:16:40.639 That he knows our heart's desires and he promises to give them to us if we delight in him. 00:16:41.360 --> 00:16:42.399 37 4. 00:16:42.559 --> 00:16:43.600 Psalms 37.4. 00:16:43.919 --> 00:16:50.799 The key there is we have to delight in the Lord at the ledge because he knows the desires of our heart and he's going to help us through those times. 00:16:52.720 --> 00:16:53.840 Obedience. 00:16:53.919 --> 00:16:57.039 Uh, that we would follow the Lord's leading in this process. 00:16:57.360 --> 00:17:01.200 His timing and his outcomes are perfect. 00:17:01.440 --> 00:17:04.559 He knows our lives and how they're supposed to look better than we do. 00:17:04.640 --> 00:17:09.519 And when we take the wheel, we take control over that, we change our course, we change our direct our trajectory. 00:17:09.680 --> 00:17:14.880 And I'll show you what that means sometimes when we leave the ledge too soon or we're not supposed to. 00:17:16.240 --> 00:17:22.559 At some point, all three of these actions have their appropriate place or use at the ledge of decision. 00:17:22.720 --> 00:17:26.559 So how do we discern which action is appropriate for that moment in time? 00:17:27.519 --> 00:17:35.359 At some point on this timeline, we will exhaust our own ideas, efforts, and resources trying to navigate the ledge in our own strength. 00:17:37.200 --> 00:17:46.720 My nephew has invited me, who is in full fit and vigor in his early 20s, to join him on a super Spartan race this uh May. 00:17:46.880 --> 00:17:50.559 And I'm thinking, okay, Johnny, what does that look like, man? 00:17:50.640 --> 00:17:53.920 How many hours, what's the duration, what's the endurance I need to get through this thing? 00:17:54.160 --> 00:17:58.480 Because um I'm not once what I was was, and if I ever was cool, I'm certainly not now. 00:17:58.559 --> 00:18:00.640 So what do I need to know to get through this thing? 00:18:00.720 --> 00:18:07.440 And he goes, Well, it's about three hours of obstacles, eight miles, and I'm going, in my mind, I'm going, I can do that. 00:18:07.519 --> 00:18:08.559 Yeah, all right, ready. 00:18:08.640 --> 00:18:09.920 I could probably do that tomorrow, actually. 00:18:10.240 --> 00:18:13.279 You gotta climb some ropes and jump some walls, fire mud pits. 00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:14.480 Sounds awesome, let's do it. 00:18:14.720 --> 00:18:27.519 But in reality, I know all too well because when I jump on the battlefield of Turkey Bowl, the price I pay for the next three or four days, then I am nowhere near the physical condition to face the Spartan super brother mother race. 00:18:27.759 --> 00:18:32.160 And so there's gonna be training involved, and so I'm gonna have to come back to that ledge. 00:18:32.240 --> 00:18:33.440 I haven't even committed to him yet. 00:18:33.519 --> 00:18:34.720 I'm still kind of dodging it. 00:18:34.799 --> 00:18:37.440 He's like, the coupon expires for discount this week, bro. 00:18:37.519 --> 00:18:38.240 You got eight days. 00:18:38.319 --> 00:18:39.839 So in my mind, eight days. 00:18:40.079 --> 00:18:42.319 Eight days, and I'm back here. 00:18:42.480 --> 00:18:46.720 And then I know my destiny is in May on that gridiron, so we'll see what happens. 00:18:46.880 --> 00:18:48.160 Be praying for me. 00:18:48.480 --> 00:18:55.519 Um he's flying in from Phoenix, so what I did tell him is I said, fine, show up, dude, but I'll have one thing on you, and that's elevation. 00:18:55.680 --> 00:19:03.039 You may be 20, but you're at sea level or below, and so I'm gonna call it the Colorado Equalizer, brother. 00:19:03.359 --> 00:19:04.079 Come on. 00:19:04.319 --> 00:19:08.720 I hope to look over to it and be like, hey, hey, mount up with wings of eagles, right, bro? 00:19:08.880 --> 00:19:09.759 Let's go. 00:19:11.200 --> 00:19:12.400 He's a good kid. 00:19:12.640 --> 00:19:18.240 Um, we seek God's wisdom through prayer and reading his word. 00:19:18.799 --> 00:19:22.160 We seek to gain the mind of Christ through the Holy Spirit. 00:19:22.400 --> 00:19:25.039 And through this, we learn how to move forward, guys. 00:19:25.279 --> 00:19:30.720 Our knowledge of life's lessons and experience will only take us so far, and those resources will be easily depleted. 00:19:30.880 --> 00:19:32.559 Then we require a different kind of wisdom. 00:19:32.640 --> 00:19:35.519 We require a spiritual, godly wisdom. 00:19:36.799 --> 00:19:41.200 And wisdom, we had an interesting conversation about this at our staff retreat we had last week. 00:19:41.279 --> 00:19:48.079 We sat around, we talked about wisdom versus knowledge, and the insight on some of the little guys around that table was fascinating. 00:19:48.160 --> 00:19:50.000 They actually had better answers than all the adults. 00:19:50.160 --> 00:19:51.759 Uh the Sanders kids were there. 00:19:51.839 --> 00:19:53.920 And and little Samuel was like, What? 00:19:54.160 --> 00:19:54.799 Serious? 00:19:54.960 --> 00:20:00.640 I was like, you know, he came up with this awesome, and then Sam, too, was defining cornerstone and what that means in our faith. 00:20:00.720 --> 00:20:04.240 And I was just impressed with where our young people are. 00:20:04.400 --> 00:20:11.759 No, no, no, doing on my own, I'm sure I probably have a counseling jar that I'm gonna send him to see Kent when he's about my age. 00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:13.440 Um, but it's good. 00:20:13.839 --> 00:20:17.680 Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers. 00:20:18.640 --> 00:20:32.240 It may not be difficult to store up in the mind a vast quantity of facts within a comparatively short time, but the ability to form judgments requires the severe discipline of hard work and the tempering heat of experience and maturity. 00:20:32.319 --> 00:20:34.079 This is from Calvin Coolidge. 00:20:34.559 --> 00:20:38.640 So, knowledge is having the facts, and wisdom is knowing what to do with them. 00:20:39.599 --> 00:20:48.400 Paul gives us the intel we need in 1 Corinthians 2, 6 through 16, and this is kind of where I'm gonna hang the hat of the message as we discern knowledge and spiritual wisdom. 00:20:48.559 --> 00:20:56.160 And this would be something that we're not gonna have time to go into in depth that I wanted to today, um, but it would be a verse or some passages that you guys should chew on. 00:20:56.240 --> 00:21:03.279 We've talked about Steve, uh Steve's talked about the last couple weeks, how we chew on the words of God and get discernment through the scriptures and meditate there. 00:21:03.440 --> 00:21:11.359 And I think if you guys are facing ledges of your life, um, if you're not today, you will be uh very shortly, because they're just seasons of where we come to in them. 00:21:11.519 --> 00:21:36.319 And so, 1 Corinthians says this However we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing, but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom of God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew, for had they known, they would have not have crucified the Lord of glory. 00:21:37.279 --> 00:21:45.680 But it is written, I has not seen nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him. 00:21:46.480 --> 00:21:51.759 But God has revealed to them, has revealed them to us through his spirit. 00:21:52.000 --> 00:21:55.759 For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 00:21:55.920 --> 00:21:59.359 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man? 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:00.720 Which is in him. 00:22:01.039 --> 00:22:04.559 Even so, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 00:22:05.200 --> 00:22:13.759 Now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. 00:22:14.880 --> 00:22:23.359 These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 00:22:24.720 --> 00:22:33.519 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 00:22:34.400 --> 00:22:40.000 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. 00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:43.759 For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him? 00:22:44.319 --> 00:22:46.640 But we have the mind of Christ, church. 00:22:46.799 --> 00:22:47.039 Okay? 00:22:47.359 --> 00:22:54.160 That's what we get from God through salvation, through entering in with him, for accepting and having Jesus as a relationship in our lives. 00:22:54.319 --> 00:22:58.160 We can obtain the mind of Christ at these ledges in our lives. 00:22:58.960 --> 00:23:01.519 Two things, and I would encourage you to go back and look at that passage. 00:23:01.599 --> 00:23:02.720 Again, it was 1 Corinthians. 00:23:02.799 --> 00:23:06.720 And I apologize, there's no notes on the app today, so I'll give this to you if you didn't get it. 00:23:06.880 --> 00:23:09.680 1 Corinthians 2, 6 through 16. 00:23:09.839 --> 00:23:15.759 Go back through those passages and highlight or mark how many times Paul's talking about the Spirit. 00:23:16.160 --> 00:23:17.680 And there's the key right there. 00:23:17.839 --> 00:23:26.400 That's what we have available to us is the Spirit of the Lord, the Holy Spirit that can give us discernment, that gives us the mind of Christ at these moments. 00:23:27.759 --> 00:23:33.680 I think the other thing we get is that God is a fatherly figure to us. 00:23:33.839 --> 00:23:41.039 And Jesus instructs his disciples in how to pray when they ask him in Luke 11, and he says, our Father. 00:23:41.200 --> 00:23:43.359 And so a lot of us talk like that. 00:23:43.519 --> 00:23:46.240 That's when we pray, we do, we use Jesus' instruction about praying. 00:23:46.400 --> 00:23:48.160 Oh, we go to him, our Father. 00:23:48.480 --> 00:23:56.640 And God has a way of fathering us with brothers, our blood-stained allies, and people that are sages that have gone before and discerned wisdom. 00:23:57.119 --> 00:24:01.119 I had the privilege this week to spend time with a gentleman who is a sage. 00:24:01.200 --> 00:24:05.920 And what I mean by sage is he's experienced life in full effect. 00:24:06.079 --> 00:24:08.480 He's a sage in every way and every aspect of the word. 00:24:08.640 --> 00:24:10.160 He's a best-selling author. 00:24:10.319 --> 00:24:16.960 And this week he was able to share with a group of us guys the cliff notes of what an 80-year life looked like for him. 00:24:17.279 --> 00:24:18.240 And it was awesome. 00:24:18.400 --> 00:24:23.440 I mean, I just was kind of, he orated and just talked from his experience, his life. 00:24:23.599 --> 00:24:25.200 And I was just sitting on the edge of my seat. 00:24:25.279 --> 00:24:28.400 I mean, I wasn't, I was, it was fantastic, and I loved it. 00:24:28.720 --> 00:24:34.240 He talked about what it looked like to face the cliffs and ledges of his life and the lessons learned. 00:24:34.559 --> 00:24:37.200 It was encouraging to glean insight on this life. 00:24:37.440 --> 00:24:38.880 And he was joyful about it. 00:24:39.039 --> 00:24:39.759 He was thankful. 00:24:39.839 --> 00:24:45.759 I mean, at the end, it's like there was no bitterness about what hadn't happened yet or what hadn't, uh, what he hadn't accomplished. 00:24:45.920 --> 00:24:55.920 He was generally overcome by emotion about the joy and thankfulness to God for not only the struggles, but for the victories and the things that he's walked through and come through on the other side. 00:24:56.079 --> 00:24:57.920 And it was just a pleasure to be with him. 00:24:58.319 --> 00:25:03.680 It's such a rich experience when God fathers us that way for me, and I know others of us too. 00:25:03.839 --> 00:25:20.240 I have brothers that are um that I've spoken to here at the church where dad is either unavailable or no longer on the earth, and we talk about even how we get fathered by each other, and God uses those moments in our hearts to bring us along, this masculine journey. 00:25:20.400 --> 00:25:27.200 And I know that's true of the women too, because my wife's had similar experiences as mentors in her life here at this church. 00:25:27.359 --> 00:25:41.279 Um, you know, Phil Stanley's been a very dear mentor to my wife, and what a joy that's been to see my wife's heart come alive with the times that she shared with her, and just the motherhood and the femininity that they've uh experienced in that union. 00:25:41.440 --> 00:25:51.279 And I've and I've been able to see, you know, with George, been a faithful counselor to us at times, and certainly Kent, brother, I appreciate our times together too. 00:25:51.440 --> 00:25:58.640 So um gleaning from wisdom from these guys while we have it is a resource that should be exhausted whenever possible. 00:25:58.799 --> 00:26:09.440 So I encourage you guys, if you don't have a mentor in your lives, get one, because it makes all the difference when you're at the ledge, because God will speak through them at that time into your lives and show you how you're gonna navigate. 00:26:10.960 --> 00:26:14.799 First action we face, I'm gonna move through these quickly, guys, because I know we're getting long here. 00:26:15.039 --> 00:26:16.000 I apologize. 00:26:16.160 --> 00:26:18.240 Um we can leave the ledge. 00:26:18.400 --> 00:26:20.559 Not every ledge is meant to be crossed. 00:26:20.720 --> 00:26:32.160 Satan will bring us to plenty of ledges for his own purposes in our lives that requires us to know and have a sober mind, as Paul writes, a vigilance in God's word and seeking wise counsel. 00:26:32.240 --> 00:26:36.000 This goes back to bloodstained allies and in his word and seeking his wisdom. 00:26:36.240 --> 00:26:46.160 I had a time in my life where I was at a ledge in my banking career before I came to work full-time in the ministry, and be a professional Christian, I think, as Steve has said before. 00:26:46.319 --> 00:26:49.039 Um I appreciate that um term. 00:26:49.599 --> 00:26:52.640 I was at a at a meeting real quick, and some of you guys have heard this. 00:26:52.720 --> 00:26:56.480 I gave a longer version of this testimony at the Wholeheart Advance two years ago. 00:26:56.720 --> 00:27:07.440 But I was working in the bank, uh, trust officer, VP over uh wealth management at a bank here in town, and we were up in Denver at an event where there was a center of influences we're coming in. 00:27:07.599 --> 00:27:12.640 We had our attorneys that we worked with for estate planning, and our CPAs who helped us uh with our tax work. 00:27:12.720 --> 00:27:19.519 And so we brought them in, and during that time, one of my colleagues comes up to me and says, Hey, what are you doing after this? 00:27:19.599 --> 00:27:20.640 Do you got time to go out? 00:27:20.799 --> 00:27:27.680 I've got a um I've got one of the most prominent litigating attorneys in town for um accident and injury. 00:27:27.759 --> 00:27:37.759 So PI attorney, personal injury attorneys, and I'm and I'm one more trip to uh the gentleman's, you know, club to being his primary referral source. 00:27:37.920 --> 00:27:41.200 You want to go with me, get some drinks, treat him right, all this. 00:27:41.359 --> 00:27:45.599 Um and I looked at him and I said, you know, that's it's not how I do business, man. 00:27:45.680 --> 00:27:47.519 Um it's not how I get my business. 00:27:47.839 --> 00:27:55.119 And it was it was a moment of truth because something happened there that I wouldn't even be aware of for six months later. 00:27:55.440 --> 00:28:12.640 But I think because of how I was able to handle that situation with God's wisdom, my own personal convictions and my life with my family and with where I want to live, um, the payout would be to get a ton of sales, you know, meet the annual goal, solidify a referral relationship that who knows. 00:28:13.119 --> 00:28:15.440 Um that would have been the payout, potentially. 00:28:16.160 --> 00:28:27.519 But I'm thinking to myself, if that's how business is won in this guy, then it's probably just the next invite by another bank to another gentleman's club in the future, and then his allegiances are quickly won and lost. 00:28:27.680 --> 00:28:34.720 Um, the trade or the cost, guys, would have been my personal integrity, my character, and it was weighed in the balance of that decision. 00:28:34.799 --> 00:28:39.599 But I declined, and I told him why I didn't do it and why I didn't believe in it, and that's not how I was going to get business. 00:28:40.319 --> 00:28:55.599 I had a chance to meet with Paul Stanley, uh, one of the road overseers, in this season of my life, as I was being, I was coming to a ledge in my life about a decision about my own uh personal career, being having 13 years in the banking and finance world and what God was starting to do. 00:28:55.759 --> 00:29:00.720 And what I'd realized was that during that time leading up to that, I started to pray a very simple prayer on the way to work. 00:29:00.799 --> 00:29:06.640 My wife had noticed that you have skill sets, you have talents that your heart doesn't seem to be alive. 00:29:13.359 --> 00:29:14.640 And I was seeking God in this. 00:29:14.799 --> 00:29:18.240 And so on the way to work, every every day, I'd say, God, father me today. 00:29:18.400 --> 00:29:20.480 I need you to father me in this aspect. 00:29:20.720 --> 00:29:33.200 My earthly father had passed away when I was 21, and so I was seeking counsel where I could find it with godly men and Christian mentors, but I was seeking God the Father in this moment to give me wisdom and discernment and how to face this ledge in my life. 00:29:33.519 --> 00:29:38.720 And meanwhile, things continue to go awry at the bank job, and things start to not make sense. 00:29:38.799 --> 00:29:42.400 And two plus two equals seven and two-quarters or something. 00:29:42.480 --> 00:29:44.559 And you're going, how are we getting here, guys? 00:29:44.880 --> 00:29:47.039 And a lot of things start adding up. 00:29:47.119 --> 00:29:51.599 And so my prayer, God, father me today and reveal your purpose for my life. 00:29:51.759 --> 00:29:52.559 I want to serve you. 00:29:52.720 --> 00:29:54.079 There's work to be done with my hands. 00:29:54.240 --> 00:29:55.359 Please reveal that to me. 00:29:55.519 --> 00:29:56.400 I want to know what that is. 00:29:56.480 --> 00:30:00.720 I want you to use the days of my life, the energy of my life I want to give to your kingdom. 00:30:01.200 --> 00:30:08.880 And a version of that, I prayed every day on the way to work, um, listening to Christian worship music and entering into that prayer. 00:30:10.319 --> 00:30:13.200 And the council and the times that we were able to meet too. 00:30:13.279 --> 00:30:20.240 I just appreciated um Paul Stanley's uh encouragement, words of uh experience and wisdom in those moments. 00:30:20.480 --> 00:30:38.960 Long story short, had to play out, uh, came to a decision point where the bank job was ceasing, and by every effort of my own, I had a couple referral sources that would have probably met my sales goal for the next three years, but management was stalled at signing some paperwork that would have made that relationship possible. 00:30:39.200 --> 00:30:40.880 And I kept asking why, why, why? 00:30:40.960 --> 00:30:50.480 Because the guy who invited me to the gentleman's club, my colleague, had a similar experience, and it took two weeks for the management to sign that paperwork and move forward with that with his referral source. 00:30:50.720 --> 00:30:56.160 But it was, I was approaching uh four months at this point, and it was the same kind of deal. 00:30:56.240 --> 00:31:01.279 It shouldn't have had to be reworked, but I kept getting stalled and redirected, and things weren't adding up. 00:31:01.440 --> 00:31:03.920 I'm going, okay, God's moving here, God's doing some things here. 00:31:04.000 --> 00:31:06.880 I've been praying, and so brace myself for impact, right? 00:31:06.960 --> 00:31:08.640 I'm stepping up, bracing for impact. 00:31:08.799 --> 00:31:10.960 I'm gonna have to jump or leap at some point. 00:31:11.279 --> 00:31:17.039 And what happened next was God gave me an opportunity. 00:31:17.279 --> 00:31:19.039 Um, Steve came beside me. 00:31:19.200 --> 00:31:25.599 We had a conversation about what full-time ministry here at the church would look like with him, the needs in front of us, and how I could support the road. 00:31:25.759 --> 00:31:28.880 At the same time, I had a headhunter call me and give me an opportunity. 00:31:29.039 --> 00:31:33.839 Kind of a everything in my corporate life that I was working towards and for was about to be handed to me. 00:31:34.000 --> 00:31:50.240 It was a beach job in Florida, company car, clubhouse, or country club membership, you know, handsome, handsome six-figure salary, instant stock options in the company, and it would have been financially a game changer for our family, and it was something that I was working towards in my corporate career. 00:31:50.480 --> 00:31:57.920 I was 36 at the time, and thinking, what an opportunity to be a trust man or a manager of a trust shop down in Florida living by my sister. 00:31:58.079 --> 00:32:08.400 So there's this, the corporate golden ring, and then there's the answer to my heart's desires of seeking adventure with God and his kingdom and going after with everything that I had. 00:32:08.960 --> 00:32:11.519 And financially, if you looked at him, it wouldn't even make sense to you. 00:32:11.599 --> 00:32:14.559 You'd be like, well, of course, you know, if you're seeking that, then that's where you're gonna go. 00:32:14.799 --> 00:32:25.519 But um, my wife and I we prayed and fasted, and it didn't take us long, and it was clear the direction that I had to go because I could see myself already down the road where I would be in a couple years at that job. 00:32:25.839 --> 00:32:33.759 Financially ahead, sturdy bank account, you know, feeling good, goal accomplished, another check mark in the box, uh moving up the ladder. 00:32:33.920 --> 00:32:39.200 But my heart would be dead, I would not be alive, I wouldn't be feeling excited about life. 00:32:39.440 --> 00:32:43.359 And so we we chose the road less traveled, as it were. 00:32:45.599 --> 00:32:46.160 Fitting. 00:32:46.240 --> 00:32:46.880 So, amen. 00:32:47.119 --> 00:32:47.359 Thank you. 00:32:47.519 --> 00:32:48.559 Appreciate that. 00:32:48.960 --> 00:32:50.079 And praise God. 00:32:50.319 --> 00:32:57.839 Praise God, because in that moment I needed courage and faith and trust and obedience because he knew me better than I knew myself, guys. 00:32:58.000 --> 00:33:01.440 And that's that's what I want to leave uh with you today as we talk through here. 00:33:02.000 --> 00:33:06.640 Again, sometimes we leave the ledge that we're supposed to cross with God's will, and he brings us back to it. 00:33:06.880 --> 00:33:17.039 And um, you're familiar with the story of Jonah, and he uh decides not to go to Nineveh initially and finds himself in the belly of a fish for three days in darkness. 00:33:17.200 --> 00:33:20.559 I can't even imagine what my prayers would be like in that moment. 00:33:20.799 --> 00:33:23.759 But I would definitely be pleading, Nineveh doesn't look so bad, God. 00:33:23.839 --> 00:33:24.559 Yes, I'll go. 00:33:24.720 --> 00:33:25.279 I'll go. 00:33:25.440 --> 00:33:29.839 I don't want to die in a whale's belly, and nobody ever knows what happens to me. 00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:35.440 And so God answers his prayer and he doesn't spit him up at home, he spits him on the beach to go do the mission. 00:33:35.599 --> 00:33:36.319 Awesome, I love it. 00:33:36.400 --> 00:33:38.559 It's like, you're okay, fine, man, here you go. 00:33:38.960 --> 00:33:42.319 And then he's on Nineveh's beach shores, and he's got to go do the work and give the message. 00:33:42.559 --> 00:33:45.039 And God blesses that, and it's great. 00:33:45.359 --> 00:33:53.119 Um in the story of Daniel, we see him leave the ledge of Nebuchadnezzar for his own righteousness. 00:33:53.200 --> 00:33:56.720