WEBVTT 00:00:04.799 --> 00:00:07.200 Welcome to the MetaCurch Podcast. 00:00:07.360 --> 00:00:08.320 My name's Clayton. 00:00:08.400 --> 00:00:10.480 I'm the pastor here at MetaCurch. 00:00:10.640 --> 00:00:18.160 And my hope is that today's podcast finds you at the perfect time in your life that God uses it to inspire and enlighten you. 00:00:18.320 --> 00:00:20.800 I hope that you enjoy today's message. 00:00:24.399 --> 00:00:26.640 All right, MetaCurch, how you guys doing? 00:00:26.960 --> 00:00:27.600 Yeah. 00:00:28.559 --> 00:00:33.039 I want to welcome you at our Holotus venue online at the 151 Saloon. 00:00:33.119 --> 00:00:34.719 If you are new with us, my name's Clayton. 00:00:34.799 --> 00:00:36.799 I'm the lead pastor here at Meta. 00:00:37.039 --> 00:00:39.759 I want to wish everyone a very happy 4th of July. 00:00:39.840 --> 00:00:41.119 I don't know exactly how this works. 00:00:41.280 --> 00:00:46.240 I assume you get some kind of spiritual extra credit for coming to service on July the 4th. 00:00:46.320 --> 00:00:50.880 So uh, you know, you can try to use that voucher upon entrance into heaven one of these days. 00:00:51.039 --> 00:00:52.240 Um we're very excited. 00:00:52.320 --> 00:00:59.679 We're wrapping up our prioritize series, and uh, we're also very excited about the missions game on the 6th. 00:00:59.920 --> 00:01:07.200 Now, between producing the video that you guys just watched in this very moment, we did sell out of tickets. 00:01:07.280 --> 00:01:10.959 And so if you were planning on buying them from us, it is too late for that. 00:01:11.040 --> 00:01:14.319 However, uh, you can still buy tickets from the missions themselves. 00:01:14.480 --> 00:01:18.640 We are in section 201 if you want to try and get close. 00:01:18.799 --> 00:01:23.359 We're in this series and we're talking about how to properly prioritize your life. 00:01:23.519 --> 00:01:27.920 And what we've seen is that if we can get this right, three things will happen. 00:01:28.079 --> 00:01:32.079 Number one, we will maximize our God-given purpose. 00:01:32.239 --> 00:01:39.439 We start with a key assumption at MetaCurch that you were created on purpose, and you were created with purpose. 00:01:39.680 --> 00:01:42.879 That it is no accident that you are here on planet Earth. 00:01:43.040 --> 00:01:59.519 You were put here on purpose, you have work to do, and you were created with purpose, that God desires to take all that you are and all that you have, your personality, your mind, your circle of influence, where you've been, how you were raised, everything that you have, all of your skill sets. 00:01:59.680 --> 00:02:08.080 He wants to take all of it and use it to push forward a unique purpose, a unique purpose that ultimately builds his kingdom. 00:02:08.319 --> 00:02:11.759 When we get our priorities right, we will maximize our purpose. 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:26.159 We will minimize our distractions, the things that hold us back, that derail our destiny, that sabotage our significance, will maximize purpose, minimize distractions, and we will multiply our impact during our time on the earth. 00:02:26.400 --> 00:02:30.240 We've seen that this is what scripture calls a fruitful life. 00:02:30.479 --> 00:02:43.840 That's a life that brings more life, more life to your relationships, more life to your coworkers and your career, more life to the children that you are raising, more life to your mental health and well-being. 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:49.759 A fruitful life is a life that produces what it was purposed to produce. 00:02:49.919 --> 00:02:56.240 It is the life that we all, at the deepest longing of ourselves, want to live. 00:02:56.479 --> 00:02:59.680 Today, what we're going to do is we're going to try to put it all together. 00:02:59.840 --> 00:03:04.479 We're going to do a review of the first four weeks that we spent together in this series. 00:03:04.560 --> 00:03:12.560 We're going to run through that pretty quickly so we can get to the main point of the message today, a message that's called the power of purpose. 00:03:12.719 --> 00:03:14.080 The power of purpose. 00:03:14.240 --> 00:03:15.599 Would you pray with me? 00:03:16.639 --> 00:03:19.840 Father, we love you, we thank you for who you are. 00:03:21.039 --> 00:03:26.159 God of it all, God above it all, God with us right here in this moment. 00:03:26.560 --> 00:03:34.560 We've come here, all different people from different backgrounds, at different places in our faith journey, but we're all here to hear from you, God. 00:03:34.639 --> 00:03:48.240 And so I ask that we would lay down whatever ideas or worldviews that we're bringing in today, that we would humble ourselves and allow you to speak to us, to convict us, to encourage us, to challenge us, to have your way. 00:03:48.560 --> 00:03:51.680 We thank you for Jesus, and we pray all of this in his name. 00:03:51.840 --> 00:03:54.240 And everyone said, Amen. 00:03:54.639 --> 00:04:02.319 Katie and I are like 25 years late to the game, but we're finally watching Survivor, any Survivor fans. 00:04:03.520 --> 00:04:05.280 Anybody know what survivor is? 00:04:05.439 --> 00:04:06.960 Yeah, just to make sure we're all. 00:04:07.039 --> 00:04:07.360 Yeah. 00:04:07.439 --> 00:04:15.280 Yeah, you take normal people, you like strand them on an island, they don't have any food, they have to make their own shelter, they win rewards, and then they vote each other out, and the last person gets a million dollars. 00:04:15.360 --> 00:04:19.120 It's it's really exciting, and so we're working our way back through the seasons. 00:04:19.279 --> 00:04:20.319 It's it's been a lot of fun. 00:04:20.399 --> 00:04:24.319 It's the only show we're watching right now, so we're just kind of moving our way through Survivor. 00:04:24.399 --> 00:04:28.560 And we finally got to Survivor China, and when we got there, we saw the craziest thing. 00:04:28.720 --> 00:04:35.600 One of the rewards that they won was to have these two local expert fishermen come in and teach them the way that they fish. 00:04:35.759 --> 00:04:37.040 Now it's very unusual. 00:04:37.120 --> 00:04:45.680 They did not bring nets, they did not bring hook and line, they did not bring spears, they brought a boat full of birds. 00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:49.279 These birds, more specifically, are called cormorants. 00:04:49.680 --> 00:04:52.160 And these birds are aquatic birds. 00:04:52.319 --> 00:04:56.720 The way that they live is they dive into the water, they catch fish, and they eat them. 00:04:56.959 --> 00:05:06.480 Now, what these Chinese fishermen have done is over the centuries they have trained the birds to stay on their boat, they throw them out, and then the birds come back. 00:05:06.720 --> 00:05:07.759 But there's a problem. 00:05:07.920 --> 00:05:10.319 The birds love to eat fish. 00:05:10.480 --> 00:05:12.560 That's their whole purpose in life. 00:05:12.720 --> 00:05:15.680 And of course, if they eat the fish, then it doesn't benefit the fishermen. 00:05:15.839 --> 00:05:30.000 So what the fishermen do is they take a small string and they tie it around the bird's neck, not tight enough to suffocate it where it will die, just tight enough to where a fish cannot get down its throat into its stomach. 00:05:30.160 --> 00:05:39.680 The birds go out, they catch the fish, they're trained to come back in, and then the fishermen literally yank the fish out of the bird's mouths. 00:05:40.079 --> 00:05:41.360 It's pretty crazy. 00:05:41.680 --> 00:05:43.199 It's a little bit disgusting. 00:05:43.439 --> 00:05:45.600 It's definitely unusual. 00:05:45.920 --> 00:05:51.839 And if you're wondering, the birds are not in on this game, you know? 00:05:52.319 --> 00:06:01.519 Like the birds are just doing what they were purposed to do, but they've literally had the purpose choked right out of them. 00:06:02.240 --> 00:06:03.680 And so here was my thought. 00:06:03.759 --> 00:06:08.240 I we watched this episode, and the next morning I woke up to write this message. 00:06:08.959 --> 00:06:10.639 And it was like God laid on my heart. 00:06:10.879 --> 00:06:14.160 So often, we are those birds. 00:06:14.399 --> 00:06:18.560 We're going through life and we have the illusion of purpose. 00:06:18.800 --> 00:06:26.160 We're making moves, we're trying, we're getting out of bed, we're driving to work, we're we're kind of trying to get the promotion, we'd like to make more money. 00:06:26.319 --> 00:06:28.959 We're in a marriage, I guess it's fine, you know. 00:06:29.120 --> 00:06:31.759 It's like on Valentine's Day, you buy something, right? 00:06:31.920 --> 00:06:34.240 You go on a date once a year, you're trying. 00:06:34.319 --> 00:06:36.319 You were supposed to get married, so you got married. 00:06:36.560 --> 00:06:39.199 You had kids, you know, you thought it'd be like free labor. 00:06:39.279 --> 00:06:46.879 You had no idea it was gonna be the hardest thing you ever did in life to try and raise these kids and keep them alive and not kill them when they're disrespectful to you. 00:06:46.959 --> 00:06:51.920 And it's like, I brought you into this world, you know, and now you're your parents, just yelling at them like they yelled at you. 00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:59.040 And we're going through life and we're doing the things like we're supposed to do, you know, we're making grades, maybe going to college or a trade school. 00:06:59.199 --> 00:07:03.759 You're trying, you have a social circle around you, you don't know if you really trust any of your friends. 00:07:03.920 --> 00:07:07.600 You've got some bad habits, but like who doesn't, you know? 00:07:08.639 --> 00:07:24.000 We have the illusion of purpose, we have the facade of moving towards something significant in our life, but we haven't prioritized pursuing that purpose intentionally in our life. 00:07:24.319 --> 00:07:29.759 The way that we're navigating through life is really just being swept along by the current of culture. 00:07:29.920 --> 00:07:34.319 And if you think about the fish, it's like they're doing everything they are supposed to do. 00:07:35.199 --> 00:07:41.199 But the purpose has been choked out of them and they're only being used for someone else's gain. 00:07:41.360 --> 00:07:48.959 The truth is, anyone less than God cannot truly unleash the purpose inside of you. 00:07:49.600 --> 00:07:58.879 The world will entice you with all of the paths that they promise will fulfill the deep longing for significance and purpose that you have at the core of your being. 00:07:58.959 --> 00:08:08.480 But if you live long enough and you go down enough of the world's paths, what you will realize is at the end you are only more empty than when you began. 00:08:10.319 --> 00:08:18.639 It's almost like the illusion of purpose has kept you going, but the world is simply using you for what you can do for it. 00:08:19.519 --> 00:08:29.759 We allow who we were created to be to be leveraged by people who don't actually care about us and who aren't moving us toward the life we were created to live. 00:08:31.680 --> 00:08:33.600 We need to live a life of purpose. 00:08:33.840 --> 00:08:35.679 It is the most powerful life we can live. 00:08:35.840 --> 00:08:38.480 And the message of today's title is the power of purpose. 00:08:38.559 --> 00:08:40.159 And I was only thinking of that in one direction. 00:08:40.240 --> 00:08:44.159 Like, if you live your purpose, you will unleash power like you've never experienced before. 00:08:44.320 --> 00:08:46.559 The power of God inside of you. 00:08:48.000 --> 00:09:01.840 But as I was looking at these birds, I was reminded the power of purpose moves in two directions because when we fail to pursue our purpose, there is power that comes against us that can be debilitating. 00:09:02.000 --> 00:09:11.279 We find ourselves stuck, spinning our wills, unsatisfied with life, and not able to diagnose exactly what it is that's going wrong. 00:09:11.519 --> 00:09:15.600 What we end up doing is living out what Paul calls the works of the flesh. 00:09:15.759 --> 00:09:34.960 In Galatians 5, 19, it says, Now the works of the flesh are obvious sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and all the other similar things. 00:09:35.120 --> 00:09:45.679 What Paul has given us here at the beginning of this passage in Galatians chapter 5 is like a filter for how life is when life is not going well. 00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:57.679 And what we're not saying is that when you're not following Jesus, when you're not pursuing your purpose, that you're going to be doing all of these things all of the time as bad as you could be doing them. 00:09:57.840 --> 00:10:11.440 However, what we are saying is that when you fail to properly prioritize your life, when you move through this life on your own perceptions and your own understanding, that life will be a struggle. 00:10:11.840 --> 00:10:17.919 And so as we review our weeks, in weeks one and two, we started with the problem of priorities. 00:10:18.080 --> 00:10:19.600 Why it is so difficult. 00:10:19.679 --> 00:10:21.679 And we learned a foundational truth. 00:10:21.840 --> 00:10:25.759 You don't get to choose whether or not you prioritize in life. 00:10:26.080 --> 00:10:29.360 We are setting priorities every moment of every day. 00:10:29.600 --> 00:10:34.559 Without priorities, you would never be able to make one single decision in life. 00:10:34.799 --> 00:10:41.120 Whether or not you're actively listening to this message or dreaming about the barbecue later, that's a decision you've made based on a priority. 00:10:41.279 --> 00:10:52.080 Where you sat today, based on where all the other seats you did not sit in, somewhere at some level, you set a priority in your mind of where you wanted to be and why you wanted to be there. 00:10:52.159 --> 00:10:59.679 We don't get to choose whether or not we prioritize, we only get to choose whether or not we are intentional about it. 00:11:00.399 --> 00:11:08.639 And no one ever lives an extraordinary life without an extraordinary amount of intentionality behind it. 00:11:09.519 --> 00:11:11.200 And so we're always gonna try to keep it real. 00:11:11.279 --> 00:11:12.879 It's like, are we doing this? 00:11:13.039 --> 00:11:18.799 How many people are really being intentional, intentional about the priorities in their life? 00:11:18.879 --> 00:11:20.240 And the answer is very few. 00:11:20.639 --> 00:11:26.720 Most people are simply navigating through life unaware of what is setting their priorities for them. 00:11:27.279 --> 00:11:32.480 In week one, we learned that we prioritize our prior ties. 00:11:33.120 --> 00:11:41.440 If you are not intentional about setting the priorities for your future, then your past pain will set the agenda for you. 00:11:41.600 --> 00:11:44.639 There are people, places, and things in our life. 00:11:44.960 --> 00:11:52.960 And when we are not aware of them, we live, instead of prioritizing for purpose, we prioritize for the alleviation of pain. 00:11:53.120 --> 00:11:55.919 And so why do you spend the money the way that you spend it? 00:11:56.159 --> 00:11:57.600 Why do you handle resources? 00:11:57.759 --> 00:12:01.600 Why do you allow yourself to go into debt, or why do you stay out of it? 00:12:02.240 --> 00:12:09.679 Is it to actually push you towards your purpose to fuel what God has put inside of you if you're not being intentional about it? 00:12:09.840 --> 00:12:13.440 Chances are the way that you manage your money is based on a prior tie. 00:12:13.600 --> 00:12:22.799 Maybe you grew up and you didn't quite have enough, or maybe you've been through financial ruin, or maybe you never felt good enough and you finally make some money, and so you can finally show everyone that you're actually worth something. 00:12:23.759 --> 00:12:28.080 You see, what happens is we end up tying ourselves to things in our past. 00:12:28.240 --> 00:12:32.000 They're like anchors that keep us from the future that God has for us. 00:12:32.080 --> 00:12:34.080 How do you navigate your relationships? 00:12:34.159 --> 00:12:42.240 If you're not intentional about how you prioritize your relationships, the chances are that you are moving to alleviate pain from broken relationships in your past. 00:12:43.600 --> 00:12:45.759 How are you operating in your marriage? 00:12:46.799 --> 00:12:50.879 Is it because you have a vision of what your marriage could be and what y'all could accomplish together? 00:12:51.919 --> 00:13:04.960 Or are you so tied to the way that you saw your own parents in their own toxic relationship that now you're repeating patterns you never thought you would repeat because a lack of intentionality has tied you to something in your past that is keeping you from moving forward in your life? 00:13:05.440 --> 00:13:14.399 Your life is far too important to allow the pain from your past to set the agenda for the future that God has for you. 00:13:14.639 --> 00:13:17.120 We prioritize these prior ties. 00:13:17.519 --> 00:13:23.600 It takes great intentionality to set ourselves free and to focus on what God has for us in the future. 00:13:23.759 --> 00:13:31.679 It's painful to take a look back at these moments, these places, spaces, these people, and these things that have hurt us and wounded us. 00:13:31.840 --> 00:13:36.639 But if we do not, it will stay tied to our life. 00:13:37.919 --> 00:13:40.080 It will cause constant struggle. 00:13:41.360 --> 00:13:45.440 And your past pain will trump your future purpose. 00:13:45.759 --> 00:13:49.120 How we are setting priorities in life, it comes from somewhere. 00:13:49.279 --> 00:13:58.240 And if it isn't coming from your God-given authority to be intentional about how you're living, then chances are it is coming from pain in your past. 00:13:58.320 --> 00:14:02.159 And week two, we saw that we have prior ties, but what do we actually do about them? 00:14:02.320 --> 00:14:04.720 How do we begin to navigate life differently? 00:14:04.799 --> 00:14:16.720 How do we set ourselves free from the habits, from the hangups, from the ideas, the worldviews, the false narratives that have been created in us from years and years and decades and a lifetime of misplaced priorities? 00:14:16.799 --> 00:14:19.679 We learned about something that scripture calls pruning. 00:14:20.080 --> 00:14:31.440 And pruning is a painful process, but it is essential if you're going to live a fruitful life, a life that maximizes purpose and minimizes distractions and multiplies your impact in the world. 00:14:31.600 --> 00:14:35.600 In John 15, Jesus said, I am the true vine, and my father is the gardener. 00:14:35.759 --> 00:14:44.399 And every branch in me that does not produce fruit, he lifts up, and he prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more. 00:14:44.639 --> 00:14:46.960 We learned a little bit about agriculture and gardening. 00:14:47.039 --> 00:14:52.399 We talked about how on plants there are these little branches, they're called laterals or suckers. 00:14:52.480 --> 00:14:57.919 And what they do is they attach themselves to the very base of the plant, and they're doing that because they're greedy. 00:14:58.240 --> 00:15:07.679 That's the closest source to the water, and what they're doing is they're stealing from the plant the proper prioritization of the water that needs to go up and out. 00:15:07.840 --> 00:15:12.320 It needs to go up and out because that is where the fruit grows. 00:15:12.480 --> 00:15:18.320 And you must prune what is stealing your proper priorities. 00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:21.039 And so if you don't do that, your plant will never reach its potential. 00:15:21.120 --> 00:15:26.320 And just like those plants, we all have things that attach ourselves to our life, attach themselves to our lives. 00:15:26.559 --> 00:15:28.879 And they are sucking the life right out of us. 00:15:29.120 --> 00:15:33.200 And maybe they've been there for so long that you're not even aware of them. 00:15:33.919 --> 00:15:37.360 They're created most likely by prior ties, by pain from your past. 00:15:37.440 --> 00:15:41.519 These are the coping mechanisms that we use to try and forget about the pain. 00:15:41.600 --> 00:15:49.919 These are the habits and addictions that we have formed to self-medicate and try to escape from the reality of what has happened to us in our lives. 00:15:50.080 --> 00:15:58.399 They must be pruned, and pruning is painful, but we all know that even without pruning, life is incredibly painful. 00:15:58.480 --> 00:16:03.440 And the only thing more painful than pruning is a life that is wasted. 00:16:04.399 --> 00:16:11.279 A life that allows things of this world to unnecessarily steal the power that God has placed inside of us. 00:16:12.559 --> 00:16:18.240 When we begin to see our life through the lens of priorities, and you have an incredible purpose, it's inside of you, God put it there. 00:16:18.399 --> 00:16:21.279 But that purpose is on the other side of a lot of broken priorities. 00:16:21.360 --> 00:16:40.799 And when we begin to see that, and we begin to see it clearly, we begin to realize that when God says that He can use all things for the good of those who love Him, that He can use all things for good for those who are called according to His purpose, we begin to realize that sometimes pain is the greatest gift that God gives us. 00:16:40.960 --> 00:16:48.399 And the reason we learned this in week two is because your pain is pointing at exactly what needs pruning. 00:16:48.799 --> 00:17:01.679 We must assess our suffering because if we dig and we dig and we dig and we can find the core of our suffering, suffering that is caused as a consequence of our own action, and suffering that comes upon us by no means of our own. 00:17:01.840 --> 00:17:04.799 At the bottom of it, there is a priority. 00:17:05.039 --> 00:17:10.240 And if it is misplaced, it is derailing you, it is sucking the life right out of you. 00:17:10.319 --> 00:17:12.240 It must be pruned, it must be corrected. 00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:18.720 One of the hardest things about priorities is just discovering what we should actually be prioritizing. 00:17:18.880 --> 00:17:21.599 It's discovering what priorities we have wrong. 00:17:21.759 --> 00:17:23.119 Life is complicated. 00:17:23.279 --> 00:17:25.839 These are multifaceted issues. 00:17:26.319 --> 00:17:27.599 It's hard to discover. 00:17:28.160 --> 00:17:30.880 But your pain, your suffering is a clue. 00:17:31.839 --> 00:17:39.440 It's pointing at something in your life that if you can give it to God and if it can get corrected, will improve your life exponentially. 00:17:40.160 --> 00:17:46.960 All of a sudden, pain becomes a gift, and we can say, like James, the half-brother of Jesus, I count it all as joy when I suffer. 00:17:47.119 --> 00:17:56.880 I count it as joy when I encounter trials because it produces in me the endurance that I need to navigate this life correctly. 00:17:58.079 --> 00:18:03.119 We prioritize our prior ties to discover those prior ties and prune them. 00:18:03.200 --> 00:18:06.000 We must pay attention to our pain. 00:18:06.240 --> 00:18:17.359 And when we're allowing our past to set the agenda for our future, our pain comes and we try to ignore it, we try to escape it, we try to medicate it, we swipe a card to feel better about it, we swipe right and hook up to feel better about it. 00:18:17.759 --> 00:18:27.200 We put someone else down so that we can feel big for a few minutes, we gossip about it, we go to our worst ways because we're not prioritizing intentionally. 00:18:27.839 --> 00:18:30.240 The past is prioritizing for us. 00:18:31.759 --> 00:18:33.680 Your pain is pointing at something. 00:18:34.799 --> 00:18:42.000 It might be pointing to a very difficult place, it might be pointing to a place that you don't necessarily want to go. 00:18:42.240 --> 00:18:44.400 But a significant life was never promised to be easy. 00:18:44.480 --> 00:18:49.200 As a matter of fact, a significant life never happens without suffering. 00:18:49.519 --> 00:18:58.240 In our first two weeks, we really focused in on the problems of priorities, how we prioritize our prior ties and how we must prune our problems. 00:18:58.640 --> 00:19:05.680 And over the last two weeks, we began to turn a corner and set a positive framework for proper prioritization. 00:19:05.920 --> 00:19:12.960 In the first week, we talked about the first step, which is understanding the word of God, the word of God. 00:19:13.200 --> 00:19:17.039 And a lot of times we hear the word of God and we think the Bible. 00:19:17.440 --> 00:19:19.599 And that's a colloquial usage of it. 00:19:19.759 --> 00:19:20.480 But there's more. 00:19:20.640 --> 00:19:24.960 What we learn is there are two aspects to the word of God, and they both make the whole. 00:19:25.119 --> 00:19:41.759 There is the written word of God, the scriptures, and there is the living word of God, which is the Spirit, and where the Spirit and the Scriptures come together, the written word and the living word, when they come together in your life, they create an incredibly powerful force and the blueprint for proper priorities. 00:19:41.920 --> 00:19:44.880 We also saw it's not enough to have one and not the other. 00:19:45.039 --> 00:19:47.119 Maybe you remember the story of King Josiah. 00:19:47.279 --> 00:19:50.880 He became king of all of Israel when he was eight years old. 00:19:51.200 --> 00:19:52.240 He had the right spirit. 00:19:52.400 --> 00:19:53.200 He was killing it. 00:19:53.359 --> 00:19:54.480 He was trying to be just like David. 00:19:54.640 --> 00:19:56.319 King David, a man after God's own heart. 00:19:56.400 --> 00:20:03.279 He loved the Lord, he loved his mama, he wanted to do all of the right things, and yet Israel was in chaos. 00:20:03.680 --> 00:20:09.920 They were still worshiping idols, they were still bowing down to false gods, they were still practicing cultic temple prostitution. 00:20:10.319 --> 00:20:11.440 He had the right spirit. 00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:16.640 But what we learn is that for 18 years of his reign, he didn't have the scriptures. 00:20:16.799 --> 00:20:26.640 They were lost, relegated to the back corner of the temple, hidden behind all kinds of false idols that were in the temple of the one true God. 00:20:27.119 --> 00:20:32.640 And when he found the scriptures, the spirit and the scriptures came together. 00:20:33.359 --> 00:20:38.720 And all of a sudden, Israel didn't just have a good man, King Josiah, they now had a good plan. 00:20:38.799 --> 00:20:40.240 It took both of them. 00:20:40.640 --> 00:20:43.519 He had the right spirit, but the country was in chaos. 00:20:44.160 --> 00:20:52.480 You see, on the other side of this, when Jesus comes to earth, the Pharisees and religious leaders, they know the scriptures backwards and forwards, memorized. 00:20:52.880 --> 00:20:56.319 And yet they don't handle them with the proper spirit. 00:20:56.400 --> 00:21:05.680 And so the scriptures, instead of giving life and leading to love and lifting up those who are oppressed and marginalized, the scriptures were wielded as a weapon. 00:21:05.920 --> 00:21:15.440 It is how they hoarded power, it's how they silenced their opposition, it's how they marginalized those who they didn't see fit to be a part of the gatherings. 00:21:16.960 --> 00:21:18.400 And so we still see this today. 00:21:18.480 --> 00:21:24.640 We have some people who have this very kind of almost new age version of Christianity where it's like, man, I, you know, I don't need a holy book. 00:21:24.720 --> 00:21:25.920 I've got God, I'll just talk to him. 00:21:26.160 --> 00:21:29.440 I can go out, I can do that, I can do it all by myself, just me and God. 00:21:29.599 --> 00:21:30.880 And it's like, that's great, man. 00:21:31.039 --> 00:21:39.279 You'll be Josiah, you'll be a good guy, but you won't have a plan, you won't have a blueprint that the scriptures speak to the spirit, and the spirit speaks to the scripture. 00:21:39.359 --> 00:21:58.160 And on the other side, maybe a lot of us have grown up in church, and maybe you even ran away from the church where it was full of people, and they could memorize all of the verses and they could sing all of the songs, and they were in the church seven days a week, and they knew everybody's name and they gave the most money, but they could not be bothered to be kind to one single stranger that walked through those doors. 00:21:58.880 --> 00:21:59.599 They were the first to. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:04.160 Person to judge you if you had any sin in your life and they were completely blind to the sin in their own. 00:22:05.119 --> 00:22:06.640 I mean they had the scriptures. 00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:11.039 But they weren't navigating them with the correct spirit. 00:22:11.119 --> 00:22:16.319 To begin our framework, we must seek the spirit and we must search the scriptures. 00:22:16.480 --> 00:22:20.400 And we must search the scriptures and we must seek the spirit. 00:22:20.640 --> 00:22:32.559 And when the written word of God in front of you combines with the living word of God inside of you, the living word of God illuminates the written word of God and helps you to apply it to your life. 00:22:33.759 --> 00:22:39.920 And it's a challenge, and King Josiah had to decide whether he was gonna bow to the higher authority of Scripture, and we have to decide that every day. 00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:43.839 So we have a lot of ways that we want to live and we want to think and we want to navigate life. 00:22:43.920 --> 00:22:52.160 But will we bow and bend our priorities to the Word of God, both living and written, alive and active inside of us? 00:22:53.200 --> 00:22:56.160 We started with Scripture, and last week we moved on to prayer. 00:22:57.119 --> 00:23:03.440 And I know these seem like maybe elementary things, like Sunday school things, like read your Bible and pray, and you know, then God will be happy or whatever. 00:23:03.920 --> 00:23:08.240 But we're always gonna keep it real, like most Christians aren't doing either of those things. 00:23:08.480 --> 00:23:16.319 Most people following Jesus aren't cracking open a Bible or opening it up and letting it read to you on your commute on the way to work. 00:23:16.480 --> 00:23:18.319 Like it's on your phone, it'll read to you. 00:23:18.400 --> 00:23:20.480 We're not spending time with it, with the word of God. 00:23:20.559 --> 00:23:22.480 We're not actively in prayer. 00:23:22.880 --> 00:23:26.559 We pray when there's emergencies, and an emergency will let him set the priority. 00:23:26.640 --> 00:23:28.799 But all the other times, we're gonna do it on our own. 00:23:28.880 --> 00:23:33.920 And last week we admitted a lot of times we don't pray because we don't really feel good at it or we don't really know how. 00:23:34.640 --> 00:23:40.079 And that puts us in good company because if you remember the disciples, they came to Jesus, and what did they say? 00:23:40.400 --> 00:23:42.319 Teach us how to pray. 00:23:42.480 --> 00:23:47.359 The men who changed the world, the men who started the church, the men who moved the gospel to the four corners of the globe. 00:23:47.519 --> 00:23:50.079 These men teach us how to pray. 00:23:50.319 --> 00:23:52.240 And he gave them a template, and we call it the model prayer. 00:23:52.400 --> 00:23:56.400 Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 00:23:56.480 --> 00:24:00.000 Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. 00:24:00.160 --> 00:24:06.880 Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. 00:24:07.119 --> 00:24:07.519 Amen. 00:24:07.680 --> 00:24:09.039 And we broke this down. 00:24:09.759 --> 00:24:13.680 And at the highest level, it breaks down like this number one, perspective. 00:24:14.960 --> 00:24:18.079 Who God is, where God is, what God is. 00:24:18.400 --> 00:24:23.359 Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 00:24:23.519 --> 00:24:24.079 Perspective. 00:24:24.240 --> 00:24:27.200 Brought in your perspective, and this is what prayer does for us. 00:24:27.440 --> 00:24:36.000 Instead of just seeing the one problematic tree that we can't seem to get around, it rises us up, it gives us a grander vision of life where we can actually see the forest. 00:24:36.240 --> 00:24:45.440 Instead of just dealing with the pain that's in your marriage right now, it gives you a higher perspective, a grander vision to see your marriage through God's eyes. 00:24:45.759 --> 00:24:47.279 It lifts us up. 00:24:47.920 --> 00:24:50.960 And it's so critical because when we come to God, it's usually in an emergency. 00:24:51.039 --> 00:24:54.799 And so we skip right past the perspective and we're like, okay, God, here's what I need you to do. 00:24:54.960 --> 00:24:55.759 I hope you're ready. 00:24:55.839 --> 00:24:58.000 We haven't talked in six months, but I hope you're ready. 00:24:58.160 --> 00:24:59.920 I hope you have a pen and paper, you know. 00:25:00.160 --> 00:25:00.880 Take notes. 00:25:01.039 --> 00:25:02.400 I need you to get on my agenda. 00:25:02.480 --> 00:25:03.680 I need you to get on my schedule. 00:25:03.839 --> 00:25:05.839 I need you to do it my way, on my timeline. 00:25:05.920 --> 00:25:08.559 And if you can get all that done by Monday, we'll be good. 00:25:08.720 --> 00:25:10.480 Talk to you again next time there's an emergency. 00:25:10.640 --> 00:25:12.960 We go right to our priorities. 00:25:13.279 --> 00:25:15.440 And Jesus says, This is how you pray. 00:25:15.599 --> 00:25:18.480 Our Father in heaven, perspective, perspective. 00:25:18.640 --> 00:25:20.799 Realize who you are talking to. 00:25:22.160 --> 00:25:35.200 Realize how enormous, bigger than big he is, and just how small you are, and then realize that as big as he is, and as small as you are, that there's nothing he wants to do more than to hear from you. 00:25:35.920 --> 00:25:38.480 It starts with perspective and then it goes to priorities. 00:25:38.640 --> 00:25:41.359 Give us this day our daily bread, our things. 00:25:41.680 --> 00:25:44.000 Forgive us as we forgive others, people. 00:25:44.400 --> 00:25:47.440 Lead us not into temptation, places and spaces. 00:25:47.599 --> 00:25:51.359 It goes into our priority, into our priorities, and then it comes back to perspective. 00:25:51.599 --> 00:25:58.640 Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, not just today, but forever. 00:25:59.039 --> 00:26:02.640 It is so critical because prayer increases our perspective. 00:26:02.799 --> 00:26:15.039 And the truth is, we all have an incredible purpose, and it's it's hiding behind some broken priorities, and prayer is imperative because until you have proper perspective, you will never have proper priorities. 00:26:15.839 --> 00:26:21.440 We are trying to line the priorities of our life up to the priorities God has for us. 00:26:21.680 --> 00:26:27.279 And the only way to do that is to seek Him and His perspective for our life. 00:26:27.359 --> 00:26:36.960 And what an opportunity wasted to see your life and the world around you and glimpses the way that God sees it. 00:26:37.039 --> 00:26:40.240 We are so small, so finite, and so limited. 00:26:40.400 --> 00:26:45.440 And God, who is above and beyond it all, is also closer than close. 00:26:46.160 --> 00:26:50.720 He is imminent, he is with you and in you, and he is desperate to show you. 00:26:50.960 --> 00:26:56.960 And so this is the framework we seek the Spirit, we search the scriptures, and we pray. 00:26:57.279 --> 00:26:59.519 We pray for perspective. 00:26:59.839 --> 00:27:01.200 And that brings us to today. 00:27:01.359 --> 00:27:03.920 Today we're talking about the power of purpose. 00:27:04.160 --> 00:27:11.359 And unfortunately, for many, many people, our purpose is hiding behind our broken priorities. 00:27:11.680 --> 00:27:21.119 And I I try to say this every week, but please rest assured I am not preaching to you any more than I am preaching to me. 00:27:21.759 --> 00:27:26.079 And it's like every one of these dang series, I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm halfway through this. 00:27:26.160 --> 00:27:28.720 I have so many broken priorities in my life. 00:27:28.880 --> 00:27:33.599 I've got to work the framework, I've got to seek the Spirit, search the scriptures, I've got to pray for perspective. 00:27:33.680 --> 00:27:35.039 We've got to get on the same page. 00:27:35.119 --> 00:27:40.000 We're navigating through this because I don't want to get to the end and have wasted my life. 00:27:41.359 --> 00:27:45.279 You have an incredible purpose, and so often it's overshadowed by these broken priorities. 00:27:46.240 --> 00:27:47.599 And so, how do we get there? 00:27:48.799 --> 00:27:51.920 We want to live a fruitful life, a life that brings more life. 00:27:52.960 --> 00:27:57.440 And the truth is, a fruitful life is a fruit-filled life. 00:27:57.759 --> 00:28:00.799 The apostle Paul lays out the fruit of the Spirit. 00:28:00.960 --> 00:28:13.759 He says in Galatians 5 22, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. 00:28:13.920 --> 00:28:19.519 Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. 00:28:19.680 --> 00:28:23.039 Think about the last 24 or 48 hours of your life. 00:28:23.200 --> 00:28:30.160 How often did you see love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? 00:28:30.319 --> 00:28:33.279 Think about the last time you were really, really pissed off. 00:28:33.359 --> 00:28:38.799 And how evident was their love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. 00:28:38.960 --> 00:28:41.200 Think about the promotion that you got passed up for. 00:28:41.440 --> 00:28:43.759 Think about how your spouse always has to be right. 00:28:43.920 --> 00:28:45.200 They're always nagging you. 00:28:45.359 --> 00:28:47.359 Think about how your kids are always disrespectful. 00:28:47.519 --> 00:28:50.160 Think about the last season of real suffering that you went through. 00:28:50.319 --> 00:28:51.279 Where was it? 00:28:51.519 --> 00:28:52.559 Where was love? 00:28:52.960 --> 00:28:54.319 Where was joy? 00:28:54.799 --> 00:28:58.160 Where was peace when peace doesn't make any sense? 00:28:58.480 --> 00:29:01.680 A peace that passes beyond our understanding. 00:29:02.400 --> 00:29:06.960 Kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. 00:29:08.319 --> 00:29:12.000 This is the final filter for our priorities framework. 00:29:13.200 --> 00:29:19.119 This represents a life that is pursuing purpose above all else. 00:29:19.599 --> 00:29:25.519 The fruit of the Spirit are not contingent upon your place, season, or station in life. 00:29:25.759 --> 00:29:30.640 They are evident in the good times and even more evident in the dark times. 00:29:32.799 --> 00:29:34.000 Do you have patience? 00:29:34.160 --> 00:29:36.000 Are you gentle with the people around you? 00:29:36.160 --> 00:29:38.720 Do you remember the Cormorant birds? 00:29:39.039 --> 00:29:42.079 Do you just have the illusion of purpose? 00:29:43.200 --> 00:29:46.720 Is the world choking the life right out of you? 00:29:47.359 --> 00:29:58.240 Are you living your life with the opportunity to join with Jesus in the redemption of all of creation, or are you just trying to get a few more followers on Instagram? 00:29:58.640 --> 00:30:00.079 Is that what's gonna do it? 00:30:01.680 --> 00:30:03.680 Hook up with a few more people? 00:30:04.400 --> 00:30:06.319 Is that gonna fill that void? 00:30:07.279 --> 00:30:09.359 Are you gonna finally find yourself worth? 00:30:09.680 --> 00:30:12.880 Are you gonna finally prove to that person that you're worth something? 00:30:14.160 --> 00:30:16.079 What are you living your life for? 00:30:17.759 --> 00:30:28.319 If you're pursuing purpose, you're following Jesus, you're seeking the Spirit, searching the scriptures, praying for perspective, you're pruning your prior ties, you're getting your priorities in line. 00:30:28.480 --> 00:30:30.559 If you are doing that, you'll see this. 00:30:30.960 --> 00:30:37.680 A fruitful life, a life that makes the people around you go, I don't know what the deal is, but I want what she has. 00:30:38.640 --> 00:30:42.720 I've never seen someone go through so much crap and handle it like that. 00:30:42.880 --> 00:31:03.119 It's like we're not saying you can't grieve, we're not saying life doesn't suck, we're not saying you can't have a bad day, we're just saying that the fruit of the spirit will well up inside of you so significantly that you can navigate whatever life brings your way, not because of who you are, but because of who God is bigger than big, the spirit of God inside of you and a purpose placed on your life to build his kingdom. 00:31:04.960 --> 00:31:07.599 The kind of marriage where people go, I want that. 00:31:08.240 --> 00:31:13.440 I want that marriage, I want that peace. 00:31:14.400 --> 00:31:18.720 Like they just got passed up for the promotion that everyone knows they earned. 00:31:18.960 --> 00:31:22.000 And instead of cursing everyone, they are blessing everyone around them. 00:31:22.160 --> 00:31:23.680 How do they do it? 00:31:25.680 --> 00:31:39.200 When you're living with the fruit of the Spirit, when you're living with your God-given purpose in the forefront of your priorities, suffering becomes your greatest opportunity for the advancement of the gospel because you suffer like Jesus suffered. 00:31:39.359 --> 00:31:46.880 You suffer not unnecessarily as a consequence of actions that you are doing with the past that is setting the agenda for your future. 00:31:47.680 --> 00:31:50.079 You are suffering on behalf of other people. 00:31:50.240 --> 00:31:52.720 A life following your purpose is not an easy life. 00:31:52.880 --> 00:31:58.240 It is not a soft life, it isn't a life that avoids the storms of life or the chaos all around us. 00:31:58.400 --> 00:32:03.839 In fact, a purposeful, fruitful life is a life that wakes up every day knowing you have work to do. 00:32:04.079 --> 00:32:13.759 Knowing no matter where you are, where you work, how much money you make, how much money's in the bank, how many followers you have, how popular you feel, how gifted or talented you think you are, you have work to do. 00:32:13.839 --> 00:32:15.759 You were placed on this earth on purpose. 00:32:15.920 --> 00:32:25.279 You were created with purpose, and if you will unleash it into the world, you will live the life of significance that you're desperate to live. 00:32:25.440 --> 00:32:28.880 And we have such an incredible example of this in our meta family. 00:32:29.359 --> 00:32:32.160 Today we want you to meet Sevi Stowers. 00:32:32.480 --> 00:32:38.960 And by meeting her, you're gonna get a glimpse of the power of purpose when it is unleashed in our life. 00:32:39.119 --> 00:32:40.480 You guys check this out. 00:32:48.559 --> 00:32:50.079 I'm Sevi Stowers. 00:32:50.240 --> 00:32:51.759 And I'm Trevor Stowers. 00:32:52.319 --> 00:32:55.680 So I was born to missionary parents in East Africa. 00:32:55.920 --> 00:33:03.279 I grew up in Nairobi, Kenya, and spent the first 15 years of my life uh doing that, and so we moved back to Texas. 00:33:04.079 --> 00:33:11.440 One of the biggest ways that I was impacted by watching my parents work in East Africa is through my mom because she was a nurse there. 00:33:11.680 --> 00:33:19.279 And so I got to see my mom impact people in a very real way that they physically needed. 00:33:20.160 --> 00:33:26.559 Going into it as I was in nursing school and as I was starting out my career, I kind of lost sight of that. 00:33:26.640 --> 00:33:32.960 I think that nursing was my mission field because I was so focused on a new career and an extremely challenging one. 00:33:34.000 --> 00:33:44.880 I've been a nurse now for six years, and as I've grown into it, it's just expanded to be something that's ex very much my ministry every single day. 00:33:46.400 --> 00:33:58.960 At first, uh, for me, whenever everything started coming out with the coronavirus and it started to spread around the world, it hit me one day when I started to see how quickly the numbers were growing. 00:33:59.359 --> 00:34:10.079 As we began to see these epicenters sort of evolve, and this organization that I work with called Smartens Purse, or Disaster Relief Organization, decided to deploy to Italy. 00:34:10.239 --> 00:34:14.639 And that was the first time that I saw that my skills might be needed elsewhere. 00:34:14.800 --> 00:34:20.719 I didn't get the opportunity to go to Italy, but soon after we started to see the same thing hit New York. 00:34:22.800 --> 00:34:31.199 Before I talked to Trevor about it, I was as outside actually in our backyard watching the clouds go by and just thinking, this is so peaceful. 00:34:31.440 --> 00:34:34.159 I could just sit here and wait this storm out. 00:34:34.880 --> 00:34:40.639 And so when I said that word, wait out the storm, I realized I was never meant to wait out the storm. 00:34:41.360 --> 00:34:44.239 My purpose is to go into the middle of a storm. 00:34:44.400 --> 00:34:48.960 And right now, that's in New York, and I knew that there was no way I could stay home. 00:34:49.840 --> 00:35:06.960 There were feelings of helplessness, but also um pride, because I knew she was stepping into something that um she desires to do, that she dreams of, and that she um has a passion for and feels that it's part of purpose for her life. 00:35:07.760 --> 00:35:10.800 So when I went to New York, I was working in a field hospital. 00:35:10.960 --> 00:35:15.360 That's what we do is we have uh fully functioning hospitals that we set up. 00:35:15.599 --> 00:35:18.159 They're fully intense, everything is mobile. 00:35:18.400 --> 00:35:23.519 The hospitals began to send us patients and us began to get busier and busier. 00:35:24.400 --> 00:35:27.280 So it's very taxing, it's extremely tiring. 00:35:27.679 --> 00:35:37.280 You'd look through our ICU and it would be every bed, the patients are vented, and to know that 80% of these patients are never gonna walk out of here, they're never gonna go home. 00:35:38.079 --> 00:35:47.440 And so that was extremely challenging to have a person in front of you and to know that you're just doing the best you can for them, and it might not be enough. 00:35:55.039 --> 00:36:00.960