Sandra Bretz - Are We Living It?

Sunday, March 22, 2026 - Sandra shares about her solo retreat to spend time with God. That following Jesus looks like ACTION. Are we living in the reality of who Jesus is and what His story means for now?

Psalm 23 

Transcript

unknown 0:00

So good.

SPEAKER_01 0:02

That's all. We're gonna welcome Cassandra now. To share. We should just be done. Well, good morning. Oh my gosh, I feel like I haven't been here in forever. I missed you guys. Before we start, let's just pray. Blessed are you, Elohim, creator of the universe. Who are we, oh God? Who is man that you would consider us? We are your creation, your beloved, your workmanship, your masterpiece, cell by cell, thought by thought, feeling by feeling. Nothing gets past our Abba Father. You are precious, dearly loved, and dearly paid for. Holy Spirit, go before me and be my words. Prepare for fertile ground. I know there's something on this message today because there's been resistance. So God just bless our time together. Your children and my brothers and sisters in Jesus' name. Amen. Ooh, that got me. Sorry, one moment. So uh let's go back to January 1. R.C. presented a message as for me in my house, we will serve the Lord. And he gave us a set of questions that we all wrestled with. And one of the questions was, What does God want to do with you this year? And when I asked him that, he said, go into deeper intimacy. Okay. But what does that look like? I need an actionable step. So tell me what you want to do. And so he called me away to a five-day solitude retreat. Does that sound exciting to anybody? How many of you that feels like death? Well, I've done them before. Um they've been much shorter and they had a purpose. This one had like zero purpose and zero focus. Um, but uh I wanted to prepare my heart for God. Narcy asked me to share a little bit. That's why I wasn't here last week as I was gone for five days to be with God, and it was five full days. So I drove up, had five full days, and then I drove back. So it was it was a journey. After day two, I'm like, well, now I'm out of my realm what this is gonna look like or feel like, but um I want to bring it to you because I think it ties into what um God placed on my heart to share with you guys today. So um I did some preparation before I went, and since I've never done a real solitude retreat that I knew of, I wanted to hear from people who had done it. And what I gleaned from them was this was a regular practice of Jesus. Jesus begins his public ministry having just come out of 40 days of being in the wilderness. And wilderness in the Hebrew, the term really is the secret place or the private place or the alone place. Like when we think wilderness, we're thinking the wilderness, and I mean maybe he did actually go out to the wilderness. But if you see that in his ministry, he goes away to be in solitude many times. It is a regular practice of his, so I knew it wasn't going to be unto death. I felt good about that. I also was not gonna fast for 40 days. I felt good about that too. I don't like fasting, I'll just be honest. So this was a regular practice of Jesus. Not only did he embrace it, but it was an important part of him getting away and stepping out of the world so that he could come back and be who he needed to be. It was actually critical to his ministry. I also discovered that I was going to encounter three persons. I was going to encounter myself, which they didn't make it sound like that was gonna be great. I was gonna encounter God, and I was gonna encounter the enemy. As a practice, it's a time of abstinence. So a solitude retreat is pushing out the world, it's being in quiet. It's also called silence and stillness. And we don't live in a world that's still silent, peaceful, calm. We actually live in a world that we weren't designed for. We were designed to walk in the garden with God. Gardens are not loud, per se. They aren't chaotic, per se. They actually are a place of peace. And for me, a garden actually brings peace, right? So we are walking currently in a world that we are not designed for. If we are anxious, if we are worried, if we are sad, if we are drawn, if we are harried, if we are out of peace, it makes sense. We weren't designed for this. So this is what I wrote before I left. Encountering myself. I expected I was going to encounter my humanity. It actually is selfishness. I loved what Rachel was sharing today about the fickleness of her heart because I wrote, my selfishness is going to look like my frailty to my convictions, my infidelity to God, my flesh-driven desires, my fear of rejection because of my brokenness, my disloyalness to my deepest desires, and my temptation to pursue my strongest desires. And I did not disappoint myself, just so you know. Now you all know me. Encountering God. I expected times of communication and times of silence. Times of comfort, times of holding the space for me to process what I thought and felt about something. But I knew my father would be present because he wanted to do something. He wasn't gonna leave me alone for five days. And encountering the enemy, I expected what I always expect from him: lies, deception. It's his usual stuff, right? So once I settled in, I unpacked, I got all my stuff where I wanted it to be, and I could just be quiet before God, I sat down with my journal. And by the way, it was me, God, my journal. And maybe my Bible. There was no music, there was no TV, there was no anything else that you could think to distract you. There's no cards. We don't play cards together. Would have been nice at some point. But once I settled in, I asked God, what do you want? What are you looking for in this? I prepared, but I'm here for you. You called this meeting. Here I am. I want to know what you want to do. And he said, basically, I just want to spend time with you. Without distraction. I want to hold you and I want to heal you. No clue what the last one meant. It's like, okay. I mean, we all need healing. Wasn't anything on my mind in particular? But he had something in mind, and he always does. But I knew what I wanted to do was just to sit with him, listen to him, meditate on the words that he brought to mind. And on the first day, it was great. We had a great time doing that. I took a nap. I was also told taking a nap was okay. I don't take naps, so when I took a three-hour nap, that was insane for me. I woke up totally refreshed. And that's actually part of the healing process because when we are in this world, we don't rest. Even when we're resting, our brain is going. How many people wake up in the middle of the night thinking about something? And then you can't go back to sleep. Or you can't fall asleep. I don't know about that. I fall asleep very easily, but some people can't fall asleep, or they can't stay asleep. Some of that is really about the world that we're living in. So to be quiet and to take a nap was amazing. That was a gift. Day two got hard. It was cold. I couldn't go outside. I mean, I could go outside. It was too cold to go outside. I was up in Oregon and it was cold. And I was feeling like I was locked in the house, that I had nowhere to go. And for me, that's really uncomfortable. And so I started to get a little antsy. And antsy then started to look like pacing. Pacing began to look like I'm starting to feel anxious. And then I started to get really uncomfortable with anxiety. I'm not prone to anxiety, but it comes up. And I was starting to get nervous. This was day two. This is not gonna be good if this is how this was gonna go. I also didn't have any of my regular coping mechanisms. Obviously, didn't go outside, didn't go for a run, didn't go for a ride, didn't go for a drive. I was just there without distractions. What do you guys normally reach for? Maybe you reach for your phone, maybe you reach for your book, maybe you, I don't know. Most of us just reach for our phone these days when we're not feeling right on the inside. Yeah? My phone was off, no watch. It was all away, right? And I realized in a moment that I was encountering myself. And that I'd been doing this a long time without God. Because I have some well-grained coping mechanisms. I can tell you all things that I do so that when I start feeling antsy, it doesn't actually get there because I know how to head it off with the past. But I have never taken it to God. True statement. I have all these other things that I do. So this time, without having anything, I turn to God. And in his goodness and his graciousness, and when I am unfaithful, he is faithful. And what he brought to mind was Psalm 23 for me. And if you know me, I don't memorize scripture. I don't know if it's because I have too many versions in my head and I can't figure out which one is which, but I certainly didn't have all the words. So he let me open my Bible. I thought that was really sweet of him. He was super gracious. He's compassionate, I tell you. But I'm gonna read it for you. The Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing. Yeah. You guys just sit with this one, close your eyes for a minute. I think there's something on this. Breathe and just let the words wash over you. The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes us lie down in green pastures. He leads us beside quiet waters. He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil. For you, my God, are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, and my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. And he and I just sat with that and worked at it and meditated on it and processed what does it really mean for the Lord to be my shepherd and that I lack nothing. And we sat with that for the greater part of the afternoon. That's taken time. I don't think I've ever sat with scripture that long. True statement. And then at some point, he and I both just sighed. And I knew that we were done. The anxiousness had melted away. Peace had come. And he had done exactly what he said he was gonna do, was he was gonna heal me. Was it a perfect healing? Yes and no. A couple nights later, I woke up in the middle of the night processing something, and I was anxious again. But instead of doing what I normally do, flipped my pillow, straightened the covers, laid down, took a few deep breaths, and Psalm 23 came to mind. And that is what scripture is for. That is when we have digested scripture. There was a lot to the five-day journey. We did actually end up going for a hike. He was like, it's cool, you can go move. Because he knows I need to move. And we went and did a beautiful hike together. Went for some walks. But you know, when you give God your yes, this is the most important thing that I really wanted to share out of it. God called me to do something. I gave him my yes right away. But there were hurdles. There were financial hurdles, there was time hurdles, there was resistance hurdles, there was all kinds of hurdles, but he had my yes. And here's the other thing that's really sweet. Because we shared them with each other. I had people coming up to me going, How's that going? When are you gonna go on that thing? When are you gonna go do it? It was the sweetest piece of accountability I've ever had. Because somebody cared about something that God wanted to do with me and said, How's that going? How can I help you? Oh, let me think about a place that you can go. People were trying to help me overcome the hurdles. And God blessed me because he had my yes. And when you have, when he has your yes and he has your swift and thorough obedience, things go much better. I've tried resistance. I don't know if you guys have tried resistance. Resistance is futile, just so you know. I'd rather get in the stream and go with him than you're like, I'd like to swim over here instead. But it was good. And I just want to encourage you guys that whatever yes you gave to God about what He wants to do with you this year, I'm here. I'm gonna encourage you, go do it, get it done. Because it looks like doing something, it looks like stepping out. It looks like doing what you need to do in order to make it happen. So Jesus went into the wilderness and he encountered himself. Sure, he was hungry. He encountered Satan, he was tempted, and he encountered God. He was, it's it's very quick at the end, and the angels came and tended to him. Like I just read over that, like it's nothing. And the angels, I'm telling you, nobody, no angels came and tended to me, but I also didn't fast, so it's cool. But I did get to encounter God, and when we give him our yes, it's gonna be so sweet when we encounter him. So Romans 12, 2. I'm gonna do my best to memorize it, to have to do this for memory. To it tells us to no longer conform to the systems of this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. My phone was off. When I turned it off, the world was on fire. There was chaos, there was brokenness, there were a lot of things that I couldn't fix, but I was wrapped around the axle. As much as I don't get involved, I still feel it. Because we live in this world and we get conformed to the systems of this world. So believe it or not, when I turned my phone back on, I was flooded with the spirit of immediacy, with demand, with this world, with the systems of this world. The messages started coming in, the text started coming in, the emails started coming in, Facebook was so sad I was gone because there were so many things that I missed. Seriously didn't miss any of them. There was still consumerism demanding that I act right now or the opportunity was going to be lost, the poise to harvest my intention, the inflammatory and provoking headlines, there was drought, war, flood, scarcity, devastation, slander, anger, fighting, death, destruction, humans perpetrating atrocities, and on and on it goes. And when we focus on that, we lose our peace.

unknown 18:12

Come on.

SPEAKER_01 18:14

We lose our center.

unknown 18:17

Come on.

SPEAKER_01 18:19

And we think that we live in this exceptional time, which we do. But you know, first century Jerusalem, they had stuff. They had Pharisees and Sadducees, and they had zealots, and they had Torah, and they had the Talmud, and they had 16, 613 laws, and they had numerous traditions. They had Rome, they had taxation, they had oppression, they had occupation. Thank you. That was brutal. They were oppressed on all sides. Do we feel pressed?

unknown 18:52

Not like that.

SPEAKER_01 18:55

Even the spiritual leaders that were supposed to be taking care of them were putting so much on them. They were creating a system of this world.

unknown 19:05

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 19:06

They were not helping their people. And we think that we're up against something unique that God has no plan for. Maybe you didn't consciously think that. But when we're turning to other things besides God to take care of what's happening inside of us, we think God doesn't have a plan.

unknown 19:28

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 19:28

That is actually what our actions are saying. I'm just speaking to me, really, because I just told you I did that. Just so you know. It's all about my brokenness right now.

unknown 19:46

You're the only one.

SPEAKER_01 19:47

Thank you. Thank you. I want to just put that out there. Yes. When we turn ourselves to worry and to fret, are we really trusting in the one who created the universe, everything in it, every hair on our head?

unknown 20:04

No.

SPEAKER_01 20:06

The Lord is my shepherd. And as soon as I turned my phone on and all that stuff started hitting me, you know what came to mind? The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. There is nothing that I need that He doesn't provide for me. So back to first century. Jesus shows up. We have all this going on in the first century, and Jesus shows up. Scripture tells us that he was unremarkable. That's in Isaiah 53, too. Scripture tells us that he was from poverty. He was from Nazareth. Daniel says, What good comes from Nazareth? He didn't follow a rabbi. He wasn't from the systems of the day. He had no credentials. But he came to influence a world that was on fire. So what does that mean for us? Quick shift. Lint. Did you guys know it was Lint right now? I'm not as good at Lint as I am at Advent. I told you guys that. But I decided I was gonna watch The Chosen again because I watched it many times. It's phenomenal. If you guys have not watched it, I highly recommend it. If you only watched it once, watch it again. Oh my god. So good. There's not a word in that script that is lost or meaningless. Like revelation. But I was watching the episode where he calls Matthew. So if you guys have seen it, I'm gonna try and act it out. So he walks past, he's cruising through the square, and he looks, and he keeps going, and then he stops. And he turns back around and he says, son, he says, Matthew, son of Alphaeus. Bodhi, son of Mark. Follow me. Good job. And that's exactly what Matthew did, right? He's dropped everything and he followed him. But what do you think of? Thank you so much for being my. You're well, well rounded for that. Good job. So the thing that hit me, I've watched that scene so many times, but all of a sudden, when Jesus said follow me, I felt that. I was like, whoa, what is that, God? What am I feeling? And that phrase, follow me, echoed for a couple weeks. So part of going away is I sat with God, I'm like, what are you trying to say to me with that? Like, I'm a follower. What do you want? What do you, what are you bringing to the surface? What's the cream of this? Because I've never felt that when I've watched that scene. And it was good. What we witnessed in that scene is that Matthew, who had gotten all his identity, all his power, all his security, all his well, insecure if you if you really follow Matthew, but it's it's his security, it's his protection, it's his system. And he dropped everything for the unknown. Because one man who he had seen, scripture doesn't support this. I'm gonna assume they did some research, but I'm gonna go with it. He had seen Jesus do some things. But I also think it's deep calling to deep. It is deep calling to deep. We don't necessarily need to see miracles like the Pharisees wanted to see Jesus do, but spirit calls to spirit every time. So I sat for a little while and I thought about when Jesus called me. And I want to do that with you guys. I want you each to have your own individual moment instead of my testimony. So I'm gonna ask you to close your eyes and take some breaths. And you're gonna go back in time, a few decades, a few years, a few weeks, to that time when Jesus called you. Get that memory fixed in your mind. And now I want you to look for the power that called you. The compelling call to follow me. When you have that, open your eyes. You guys can laugh.

SPEAKER_00 25:18

I've been following Jesus for a long time. This is not who I was.

SPEAKER_01 25:32

That's how powerful I was. Because I didn't want to go. I wanted them to say it was okay just to receive it right there in your seat. Because I don't want anybody looking at me. And I certainly didn't want them to see how much I was crying. Because I was weeping. Because he calls us up out of something. And he calls us for a reason. And before he called us, he chose us. And some of you might be going, yeah, I know that. But I think we all need a reminder how precious we are, how much he desires us, and that we were chosen. Sometimes our lives don't feel like we were chosen. Stuff happens. In one year, I got married, I lost my grandfather, I lost my mother, and I lost my father, or my father, in twelve months. Stuff happens. What do we do with it?

SPEAKER_00 26:48

I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 26:48

I was a really young Christian. All I knew was I needed him because I didn't understand what was happening. It made no sense to me. First year of marriage is a little difficult. That's why I threw that in there. I don't know if anybody else experienced that. It's an adjustment because we're selfish individuals, learning how to live together with another selfish individual. Anyway, I digress. We were chosen. Psalm 139, verses 13 through 16. For you were created, for you created my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. All the days. Before one of them came to be. They don't know what he's saying. They cannot wrap their brain around that this man that they have put their faith in that they know is the Christ is going to die, is going away. They can't go where he's going. He had they have no idea what he's talking about. But he is doing his best to pour everything he's got into them. He is passionate about this. And then he says, You did not choose me. I chose you. And I appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit. Fruit that will last. As it is, you do not belong to this world. But I have chosen you out of the world. He chose them. He chose you. He chose me. We forget that. He chose us and he called us. So I have to ask myself, do I have the right posture orientation to that? Seriously, do I walk in the world knowing that I am chosen and called? Not from an arrogance standpoint, but the power that was given to us in the Holy Spirit when we came to say yes to Jesus, we were given the gift of the Holy Spirit. That power lives in us to give us strength to do things we don't want to do. That's a high calling, you guys. That's not something to take lightly. And I'm speaking to myself, just so you know, I'm like, this is not something I should be taking lightly. He called us to be his disciples. Now we're going to take a minute to figure out what that really means. Because in this process of becoming a disciple, becoming an apprentice of Jesus, there is a transference and a calling. A disciple simply means a follower, one who accepts and assists in spreading the doctrines of another, spreading the teaching while modeling and guiding others toward living righteously as followers of Jesus Christ. So let's talk really quickly about what it means to be an apprentice in first century Jerusalem, right? First, you need a rabbi. Anyone who was teaching was called a rabbi, but there were some serious rabbis. There were rabbis that had authority, they had chutzbah, they had what it took, they had authority to speak into the Torah and to give their opinion about what it means. They were the ones that wanted, the people wanted to follow. They were magnetic, right? This wasn't just the teacher that was in the elementary school for the five to twelve year olds that taught them scripture. These were the guys. They were the Whigs, the big Whigs. And then you needed a student. So boys and girls went to Bible school, learned the Torah, memorized it, and they went from five to twelve years old. 12 to 13 years old, girls stopped going. Boys were then encouraged, not encouraged, they were required to go learn a trade, either their family trade or they went elsewhere and learned another trade. Good students were then invited to also go to the next level, which is to search the meaning of the scriptures. And that school was called the Bet Midrash. So they would go until 18 and study the meaning behind the scriptures. At 18, they were encouraged to start a family, but those who showed promise, see how we're like filtering out fewer and fewer, ending up being even valid to become a student of a rabbi. Those who were good students and showed promise could then go ask a rabbi if they could follow them. The rabbi would then determine if they had what it took. If you were accepted because you had what it took, and what it took, will you learn from my way of teaching, or will you struggle against it? They wanted people who were like-minded. They didn't want anybody to challenge them. Right? And then the life of a disciple. What did the disciple do? Everything their rabbi did. Whatever the rabbi ate, wherever the rabbi slept, what the rabbi sang, how they talked, they would mimic their actions, their facial expressions, their hand gestures, their intonation of everything. They would go where the rabbi went, they would walk where he walked and how he walked. And if you were a good disciple, you were said to wear the dust of your rabbi on you because you walked close enough to your rabbi to wear his dust. That was a compliment. But Jesus. But Jesus. Jesus flipped the script. He broke that. And he broke that for you and for you and for you and for you and for you. He broke it.

SPEAKER_02 34:52

And for women too.

SPEAKER_01 34:55

For all people. We're all equal. Right? You caught girls, stopped. It was only for men. That wasn't Jesus' way.

unknown 35:05

No, that's right.

SPEAKER_01 35:07

Jesus walked along the shores where the fishermen were and saw Peter, Simon, and said, Come follow me. Come follow me. And follow me meant, come be my student. Not, hey, you want to come? We're having a party. When I read the words, they're so dissatisfying. Come follow me. Like, ah, I want to know what that really meant. It really meant. Come. Walk with me. Come be my disciple. Come learn from me. I want you to spend time with me and not because you are qualified. He chose the most disqualified. So if you're feeling disqualified, you're perfect. He found them in the middle of their traits. He didn't find them at Bet Midrash. He didn't find them at a graduation ceremony because they were great students. He found them in the dirtiest of places. And he called them anyway. They would not have been selected by another rabbi in case you've missed that. They often didn't even understand what Jesus was saying. But they knew enough because deep calls to deep. That's the qualifier. Does your spirit respond to the call, follow me? Deep calls to deep. And these guys were willing. So they left their livelihoods, they left their identities, they left their systems, they learned how to obey his commands. They put to death their own priorities. That was hard. I don't think it actually really happened until after his resurrection. I think they had lots of struggles. I don't know if you guys have any struggles, but they had struggles. They got really dusty. Jesus called them to change a world that was on fire, and he's calling you to change a world that's on fire. Jesus, they asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. It was common that your rabbi would give you a prayer that was unique to him because it was his creed. Guys, we have a creed. We have that prayer. We have time. I think we should do it. Let's say the Lord's Prayer. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

unknown 38:06

Give us this day, our daily bread. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 38:28

Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. That's our mandate. I don't know what that looks like for you. I don't think it really matters. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. You have my yes, God. You have my yes. But God, I'm not gifted at going out and doing treasure hunts. Yeah, I'm not either. But God, I'm not gifted at singing. Yeah, I'm not either. You probably don't want to stand next to me when we sing. But God, I'm not rich. I can't give a lot. Yeah, I'm not either. Neither was Jesus. All we can do is give everything we've got. And that's enough. That's enough. So following Jesus looks like something. I don't want to just leave it open like that. It looks like something. When Jesus invited them, he said, come, be with me. And then be like me. And then go do what I did. So there's a process. Be with me. Come and spend time with me. Be surrounded, immersed in my presence, my essence, and the fragrance of the kingdom. What is the fastest way to learn a language?

unknown 40:00

Immersion.

SPEAKER_01 40:01

Immersion. Yep. Fastest way to learn how to be like Jesus. And then be like Jesus. Come and watch. Learn who I am. Align your life with me. Embrace my values. Leave yours behind. Be infused with the kingdom of heaven. And then do what Jesus does. Now you're ready. Now because we've had the fusion of humanity in the kingdom of heaven, now you're ready. Will it look good? No. Will it look perfect? No. RC, you're an amazing musician. Once in a while, you miss a note. And then you laugh. And then it's hilarious. Perfection is not what God is looking for.

SPEAKER_02 40:54

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 40:56

It's not what he's looking for. If you've been waiting, because you're gonna get perfect, quit it. I want to get dusty, you guys. Every time I think I'm dusty enough, God shows me I still have some clean spots.

SPEAKER_02 41:17

That's good. It's good work.

SPEAKER_01 41:22

I have never been transformed by listening to somebody speak to me on Sunday. So if you guys are transformed by this, it's fine. I can't remember sermons, but I will remember an encounter with God. That's really good now. In the middle of a Sunday message, have I had an encounter with God?

SPEAKER_02 41:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:40

Could it have been because of the message? Oh yeah. Could I have gone home and it had made me something, stirred something in me? Yes. But if it was all the sermons combined, I should be perfect by now. Following Jesus looks like an action. It's not sitting in a chair, I have learned. I spent a lot of years sitting in a chair thinking that knowledge was going to transform me, but nothing transforms me faster than full immersion and action. That is where transformation happens. And we should be transformed more and more every day, glory to glory, into the image of God. I should look more like Jesus today than I did a year ago. Please, I hope that is so. I don't know that that's so. Am I satisfied with the dust of sitting in the back of the crowd at the Sermon on the Mount? Am I satisfied with the dust that I get on me sitting at the front of the crowd at the Sermon on the Mount? Am I satisfied with the dust on me as I'm pushing to the front of the line so I can see a miracle or I can receive a healing? I literally have done all that. Translate that into today. I'm not satisfied with the dust on me. I want to be up against Jesus because that's where I want my focus to be. I don't want to be distracted by the systems of this world. I can't fix what's happening in the Middle East as much as it breaks my heart. But I can get into the middle of all of your lives and pray for you and be with you and hold you and walk with you and celebrate with you. That I can do. But I'm gonna tell you that it takes self-reflection, you guys. This is the hard stuff. When I read how I was gonna encounter myself, and y'all went, oh. Without real self-reflection, I haven't changed. Without me willing to just be like stripped down, naked and vulnerable in front of God. Like we think hiding from God is helpful.

unknown 44:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:20

He already knows. It's hard to say. Swift and thorough obedience gets me through things much faster.

SPEAKER_01 44:29

I prefer faster. I don't want to sit in it. But it takes asking yourself some hard questions. About six months ago, God presented me with a question. And it was basically the sum of your days. Does it represent what you want it to represent, the way you've invested your resources? So say that another way. I have had 30 years of walking with Jesus to invest my resources into becoming kingdom and building his kingdom. Does my life look like that? I didn't like the answer that I came up with. So I decided to ask other people. It was like my party question for a month. I didn't like what other people said either. I'll be honest. So it took me deciding to be vulnerable in front of God. And the first question I asked myself after that was, who do I want to be for the kingdom? And then the next question is, what do I need to do to get there? What do I need to put off? Because it can't come with me. What do I need to stop doing? Because it's a distraction and it's pointless. What do I need to do with the resources that he's given me in order to become who I want to be for him? Because he's given me so much. Has much happened to me?

unknown 46:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:06

Has he? I'm not even gonna say that. Have I lost a lot?

unknown 46:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:13

In this world we will have trouble. He came to save a world on fire, and I want to be part of that. How dusty are you? How dusty do you want to be? That's the question. And we are here to encourage each other to get dusty. I loved people asking me, have you done your solitude retreat? Because I came out of that dusty. Because I took resources that I had. Not a great way to spend five days at PTO, I'm just gonna say. Could have gone to Hawaii.

SPEAKER_02 47:01

Actually was.

SPEAKER_01 47:02

But that was priceless. Because some of you know I love Hawaii. I would probably live there if I could. But at the end of the day, seven days in Hawaii was just an expensive getaway. Seven days getting to Oregon and back, spending five of them with Jesus, was priceless.

SPEAKER_00 47:30

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 47:34

Sorry.

SPEAKER_01 47:38

So if you're not sure how to get dusty, we have a lot of people around here that I see dust on you guys. And I love the dust on you. If you don't know how to get dusty and you see dust that somebody else has, ask them how they got the dust. We have some people that have some stories, some journeys, some dust. And maybe they just have dust that you want, and you might have dust that they want. Jesus wants us to be transformed so that we can transform the world. We live in a world of influencers. It's annoying. But we have the power to influence the age. So that's all I got. You guys, thanks for listening.