Crossroads at Default Drive - Six Crossroads for the Journey Ahead

Any of you, how many of you are ex-military? How many of you are veterans? Do we have some veterans here? Okay, for those of you in the room, this will be uh bring back memories But uh I want you to listen, because I was thinking that most of us in this room, maybe, are in one of these four groups. But they will be identified in this way. Let's do the first one Yeah, it's reveling. For some of us, we're kind of in a wake-up period spiritually. We're waking up to we're it's just a it's a good time and You come here and uh you're waking up to some new things God wants to do in your life. But then then there's a well then there's this. You know what that is? That's less familiar. That's retreat. And There are some who kind of where we come in, and maybe not in this room, but certainly within among God's people Because there's a lot of chaos and a lot of pressure and a lot of darkness have kind of been retreating spiritually. But then we also have Say goodnight. Don't play anymore. I can't risk it. No. Well you know what that is. That's taps. And there are those who Jesus even said the love of most will grow cold before he comes back, so they're kind of dozing off. But there's one more Yes! Woo! Charge! And that's the bugle call here. That's what you're gonna be hearing here. A little reveling and a lot of charge, okay? And um Because I would say there is, if there is a word, we're different backgrounds, many different states, come out come from different seasons of our life here, but I think there is one One word that might describe, I'd say a high percentage of us. I can't see inside your heart, but if we could do a spiritual EKG, it might just be the word restless. That there's a stirring and we can't identify it. We're not quite sure what it's for. There's a lot of good going on. We've got a lot of Christian stuff. Believe all the right beliefs, give all the right causes, go to all the meetings, serve in the right cause. But there's a restlessness. And in a way there ought to be. Listen, the darkness is moving evangelistically throughout our world today. You never heard the word darkness and evangelism together, but it's moving evangelistically. We are, you know this, our times are chaotic, they're confusing, they're conflicted, and a business as usual faith Ain't gonna cut it. Not now. I guess you might say that what we're gonna talk about these couple of days is a 4. 0 Christianity. It's not a freshman course. It's for people who've been with Jesus, are doing fine. But have this sense that there is more. And there is. I will say it say Transparently, this is a very personal series of messages for me because it reflects my own a very transformational time that I feel like I am in with my Savior. Been following him a long time. Been serving him. Been very active for him. But we're not done, Jesus and me, and I'm glad. So you'll be hearing a lot that has passed through my heart first. What I think is true is that how many of you would say you are in a changing season? in some part of your life. Some part of your life is a, and that's just about all of us. And I I'll bet you are, I would venture to say we all are in or entering into a changing season. Maybe because maybe it's medical, maybe it's family, empty nest, nest we thought was empty, refilled. Uh um uh maybe it's uh maybe it's uh job related, career related, retirement Could be financial. It could be a loss in your life, something that has been lost. We're either in a changing season or we're about to be. Did you know the changing seasons, and this is in your notes, changing seasons are God's wake-up calls And he puts us, because the Bible says the God changes, Daniel said this, God changes the seasons. And so if you're in a changing season right now, the reason is that when we're in a changing season, we are more likely to hear his voice, and probably he wants to make changes in you, so he's changing your season. And then the next thing is part and part of that is that our quote disruptions, when our life gets disturbed, they say, why is this happening? Those disruptions are actually his dawnings in our life. He is disrupting things to do something new. It's all through the Bible He disrupts Abraham's life. He's comfortable in Ur of the Chaldees. He's part of a rich family, a large family there, and God says, leave. That's disruptive. Why leave? To become the father of many nations. I mean to become the the man of faith that we s you know talk about all the time. And And um then he uh he says to Moses, Moses is all set. He's got Zipporah, his wife, and he's got his son, and he's there out on the backside of Midian, and he's got little sh flock of sheep and that's what he's going to be doing the rest of his life and God shows up in a burning bush and disrupts his life so he can become the deliverer of a nation. At the time of disruption it's no fun until you see what he's going to do with it. So there are examples all through scripture. So the disruption, so what's going on is a divine dynamic Now our future is a journey. Look at Psalm 84. I hunkered down in this this chapter for a few days recently. Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on what's the next word? Pilgrimage. We are not meant to stand still. If you are standing still, you're probably missing God's will. Because it's a journey. It's a pilgrimage. Look, as they pass through the valley of Baca, this is not Bakhlava. This is Baca. And Baca means Weeping. So the journey takes us all through the valley of weeping at some point. But they make it a place of springs. All of a sudden, where there was sadness, now there's new life. The autumn rains also cover it with pools. They go from strength to strength. The journey is changing you. till each appears before God in Zion. And the point of the journey is you're going to see God like you never saw him before. So our future is a journey. But notice this, his plan is not more of the same. If you thought, well, it's I I'll just kind of coast from here, not a chance. His plan is never more of the same. It's a new thing. If we have a theme verse, I guess it would be Isaiah 43, 18 and 19. Forget the former things Do not dwell on the past. See? I am doing a new thing. Now it springs up. Don't you perceive it We memorize this with our on Eagles Wings team, and when we do that part, we go, do you not perceive it? That's part we act them out. We act out versus. Do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness. His new thing is going to lead you into supernatural things. There was no way in the wilderness. Suddenly there is. Streams in the wasteland. There was no source of water. Suddenly there are streams in the wasteland. So uh this now the problem with with if you if you're dwelling on the past you're like a baby in a car seat that is looking where they've been Right? They look backwards and tell you what 18, 20 pounds. I don't know what the rule is these days. But whenever you you only see where you've been and you don't see where you're going. You can't look both ways You got to turn that seat around, baby. If you're going to see where God is doing the new thing, stop with this. Turn your seat around. So God is doing a new thing. Following Jesus is not a parking lot. It's a racetrack. It's a racetrack. You cannot just park there. Paul got it. Look at Acts 20, verse 24. I consider my life worth nothing to me. My only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me. The task of testifying to the good news of God's grace. He said, I'm finishing the race. So As you look ahead at the rest of the journey, and I don't know if the rest of your journey is six months, six years, 26 years, I have no idea. I don't know about mine, you don't know about yours. But as you look at the rest of the journey, you have three choices. The brake, you can just put your foot on the brake and say, just gonna take it slow. Or it could be cruise control. You know what? It's going pretty good. I'll just set it on cruise and travel with speed until I see Jesus. Or the accelerator. And you say, I'm I'm stepping on the gas for the rest of the journey. Now the impact and the passion of the rest of your life hinges on choices that are made at six crossroads. And I've tried to capture what God's been saying to me over this past year especially. And I've been able to boil it down to these crossroads And each one of them is a choice. They're not for brand new babies in Christ. They're for us veterans. And they'll decide. Really, whether we get the more that God put us here for. You know what? If you think about your life right now, it is the product of choices you made at past crossroads, isn't it? You've had crossroads moments already. And literally the person you are, for better or for worse, your family, your life, position It's already, you've already been to crossroads, you know. Choices made at those crossroads, you may not have known it at the time, shaped when this was your future, shaped this part of your life. Except maybe there was nobody to talk about, make the choices and making it more of a upfront thing. That's what we're gonna do. So let's talk about crossroads number one. Status quo. Or a love that grows. That's the choice. There are two roads in some of the most iconic verses in the Bible And I, when my wife, it was my wife's favorite verses, life verse. Most of you, many of you can quote it But this past year, I had a fairly shocking revelation about this verse. To me, but you're like, well, Ron, I already knew that. Maybe. It just took me, I'm slow. Look, look at this. You know. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Many of you don't have to look at the screen. You can say it. Do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight or direct your paths. Great. We all believe in it. Amen. Do you know what I realized? Let's go back to verse 5. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding, are polar opposites. You can't be doing both. You can't be trusted in the Lord with all your heart. Because if you're leaning on your own understanding, some of your heart's there. So here is a choice. What will be my default position? My default setting When there's a choice, when there's a crisis, when there's a problem, when there's a conflict, when there's a need, where will I go instinctively? Here's where it boils down to. Lean on me and don't sing the song. I know it's not. I can lean on me. Or I can trust the Lord. Trust in Him. Years ago, I read this story about a uh uh the uh the Pope was visiting uh a South American country. And the man who wrote the article came on a man with a produce stand, two blocks from where the Pope was making an appearance. This is like a once-in-a-lifetime deal for the Roman Catholic folks. And so the city is just, they're all, you know, running to see him, emptying out the city. But this guy's still there by his stand And the the this writer said to him, don't you believe in the Pope? And he said, oh, he said, I believe in the Pope. But I trust in rice and beans. Uh we laugh. Yeah, I believe in trusting in the Lord, but really, let's talk about that the signs of what we are like when we are leaning on me and what we are like when we're trusting in the Lord. That's how you, these are like vital signs, how you take your temperature. Forget your theology here for a minute. This is about your myology. Because our lifetime default response is to lean on me. Because we're sinners. We have a sin nature. My first response is to think, I need to do something. I need to fix something. I need to talk to somebody. I need, I, I need to do something. My first response is to go to me. It's built into my flesh. And that flesh has had a lot of practice. Here's what it looks like. Do we have that little diagram of me? Here's the equation. If my first response is for what I'm going to do. Me is the first two letters of mess. This is my story, this is my song. Yes. Me equals mess. So hopefully we get to the point where we say, where we do this. This is a bad first response. How about this? I like Messiah. better than me. That's that's what I want my default position to be. Now look here's the definition of default. You already know It is an option that is selected automatically, right? You have it on your phone. Listen, you could be paying for Netflix for 20 years after you die. Because it'll automatically default, right, to resubscribe you, right? So this is this is an option that is selected automatically. So when there's a crisis, a situation, a conflict, something to solve, something to a challenge, I'm going to immediately go what's practical, what's probable. What's possible? It's just my human nature. Now here are some of the symptoms of self-reliance. When my response is me mode, here's some ways you'll know it. It will result in Worry. Because if I'm trusting in the Lord with all my heart, there's nothing to worry about. So worry, it will say, yeah, yeah, that's that's I'm in me mode. I'm stressed. I'm impatient. I'm exhausted. I'm frustrated. I'm irritable. I'm controlling. I tend to be discouraged Is that good enough? Do you need some Valium right now? Um look. You trust in God, this is not the signs of the trust. This is the signs of me controlling it or attempting to. If these sound familiar, then you know me mode, and I know you do. Because it's just the way we are wired. Let's take a let's talk about when you trust in the Lord with all your heart. Here's the Hebrew word. The most common Hebrew word in the Old Testament for trust is the word Batak, B-A-T-A-C-H, Batak. It means to adhere, that's the basic meaning of it. To stick to. Its original origins, the word that is used hundreds and hundreds of times in the Old Testament, trust in the Lord, trust in the Lord, trust, you're told that constantly originally came from welding. Believe it or not. When things are welded together. And today that word in modern Hebrew Means glue. Glued to God. When you're trusting, it's like you're glued to God. Isn't that fascinating? That's what trust means. And so when you're trusting in the Lord with all your heart, here are how you'll be able to tell. In spite of your workload, in spite of the deadlines, in spite of the dangers, in spite of the disappointments, you will be strangely light-hearted. You will be tender-hearted. You will bring a joyful presence with you You'll be creative because you're freed up. You're not carrying all that burden. You'll be an uplifting person. And there will be peace. I think trust could be summarized in three words. I might cheat and make it six. But here's the three. God's got this. If there are six, if you'll allow me three more, God's got me. God's got this. It's not mine to fix. It's not mine to solve. It's not mine to figure out. Now does this mean you just lie on the couch and wait for something to happen? I'll get to that. No, it does not mean that. I can tell you my own experience on that. Not lying on the couch. I can't remember when I done that. Let me give you exhibit A of the contrast between trust in the Lord and what happens in me mode. His name is Elijah. Go to 1 Kings chapter 18. You know the stories of Mount Carmel and he's facing down 450, we say a native country we say 450 medicine men but 450 uh priests of bail and uh at the time of s you know uh Elijah says won't you and they're yelling and screaming and dancing and somehow Baal is on vacation and so And he's uh sarcastically pointing that out to them and then holy sarcasm. And then uh Elijah says, make everything wet and you know we'll get the here we go. Time of sacrifice of profit, Elijah stepped forward and prayed, Lord. the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. Let it be known today that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, Lord, answer me. So these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again. I counted the words, I might be wrong, but I counted 59 words in Elijah's prayer about Carmel. 11 of the 59 words are about God. There's some it's God you your it's all about God on Mount Carmel Turn the page in your Bible and you go what's this just another guy named Elijah? This same guy? You know what happened He he takes off because uh uh the lady in the in the palace uh has ordered a hit on him, and so he's hiding under a broom tree. Have you ever looked up a broom tree and seen a picture of it It literally hangs down like an overgrown willow tree. He is trying to disappear. He literally is you can't see him under a broom tree While he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, he came to a broom bush, sat down under it, and prayed that he might die. I have had enough, Lord, he said. Take my life. I am no better than my ancestors. He replied, I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left. There was nothing about him. In the prayer on Mount Carmel, all of a sudden it's all about Elijah and he is done. He's toast. That's in Hebrew. Toasteth. So you've got faith? And you've got flesh. Side by side there. From all about God to all about me. So he goes from the summit to the swamp This is a battle we all know. Galatians 5. So I say walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh, here we go, the opposites. Lean on your own understanding, trust in the Lord. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the spirit. Enemies, and the spirit was contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other. So you're not to do whatever you want. So there's the battle that we know so well between flesh and faith. You got, I believe, a book uh when you arrived called They Found the Secret. Was this in your stuff? Yes? This is my request that you get, you see mine has uh had some attention. The story, it's a brief story written by the former president of Wheaton College, who was part a founder of part one of the founders of many Christian ministries you know today. He's been with the Lord for some years. But he took people like Hudson Taylor, the great missionary to China, D. L. Moody, people like that. And if you don't know the names, it's because they were Christian heroes of another generation. And they all have something in common. Well into their life in Christ Thriving in ministry. This is not early in in their lives. Something happened to change them. They found the secret. It's not one secret, but in a way we're going to get out of here in just a minute. There was something pretty much in common. These are great Christian leaders who testified to the fact that well into their experience with Christ, They were taken into depths they had never experienced before. And a new freedom. Even as many of them will attest, their lives actually got busier and harder. That's why I wanted you to have this book. I'll quote from a couple of them before we're done. Deo Moody is one of them He said, I was all the time. This is he's having crusades, people coming to Christ. I was all the time tugging and carrying water, but now I have a river that carries me. Something liberating happened to him. That's we're about this weekend. So the only way To change our default setting, which is to trust me first is a deliberate reset. This is later in your notes, but I'm going to get to it now. When you read about and you know this is our experience, it is a it is a uh an automatic Place we go unless an alternative is specified. That's right out of the dictionary definition of default. Unless an alternative, you have to Consciously, deliberately, stubbornly reset to move into this New thing God wants to do. So here are the two steps. Number one, dethroning self-reliance. This is a big job Dethroning self-reliance. By the way, the longer you follow Christ The more gifted you are, the more experienced you are, the smarter you are The harder this is. Because you got so much stuff you could depend on So, to dethrone self-reliance, and as a fellow journeyer with you Proverbs 3. 6, first of all, says, in all your ways, submit to him or acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. I'm going to go with acknowledge, which is the first, usually if you look up the Hebrew, that's what will come up first. This means that I live a day of God sightings all the time Acknowledge. If you're if um if somebody came up to you tonight and welcomed you, you will you felt acknowledged. They noticed somebody knew you were here, somebody cared you were here. That's acknowledging you. So uh in all your ways, all the stuff you're doing, keep noticing him Keep acknowledging him. This is frequent and intentional checking with God We have uh one of our board members here who uh works for the FAA and and he would he would know this and and we all know this. Aren't you glad that the pilot of the plane you're on is in constant contact with the tower. He then go, I'll be back in a half hour. Well I mean what could happen in that we already know a lot of things could happen. No, it's constant connection. It's constant communication. So the stories of these veteran Christian leaders Testify to a mid-course personal revival. And many of them tend to land in a particular passage of scripture. They don't all, but if you read it, you'll see a particular passage keeps coming up. The alternative, the new thing reset. Unless an alternative is specified. Let's go to that passage. It is the 15th chapter of the book of John. Let's get the context. It is a matter of hours at most before Jesus will be arrested They will be scattered. He will be tortured. He will be crucified. And the entire weight of everything he has started. Be on them. They are about to have the most grievous grief they could ever experience. Jesus is preparing them for that. For the weight of what is about to hit them. And he says, and I suspect that they were walking by one of the many grapevines, and Jesus was pointing You know I'm the true vine, guys. My father is the gardener. Now he cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, he he prunes. Because he he doesn't like it? No. Because he wants to make it better than it ever could be. He prunes it. I'm not sure the branch feels that way. Like, well this is nice Prams goes, you're killing me. No, no, I'm making you more fruitful than ever. You're already clean because of the word I've spoken to you. Now remain. Now what's the word that's usually used there? You know? Starts with an A. Abide. Abide. Means remain. It means stay. Don't go anywhere. Always be there. Always be in me. Not just positionally, not just theologically, consciously, remain in me as I also remain in you. No branch, now remember, this has been a turning point for great leaders. No branch can bear fruit by itself. It must abide or remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you abide or remain in me. I am the vine. Now get this straight guys. I am the vine. You are the branches. So from now on, guys, when you walk by a grapevine a grape vineyard, you can take a look there and go, okay, me branch, him vine, me branch, him vine, me branch, him vine. Not me vine. If you remain in me, abide in me, and I in you, you will bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, if you do not abide in me, you are Like a branch that is thrown away and withers. Such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you remain in me, and my words remain in you Well, ask whatever you will, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father's glory that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples, as the Father has loved me. Well that's how I live you. Now stay in my love. Abide in my love. Keep my commands. You will remain in my love, just as I've kept my father's commands and remain in his love. I've told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. Obviously Christ's call is to abide The Greek word is meno, me-n-o. It appears 112 times in the New Testament. 66 of those are in the writings of John. It's an important word. It literally means to make yourself at home. Settle down. Make camp Make to make yourself at home in him. It means that you trade pushing, which I've reverted to too many times This good thing needs to happen. And I need to push. This is to trade pushing. For releasing. The reset is releasing. To trade wrestling, which is default. I gotta figure this out to resting. Because branches don't produce fruit, they display it. I don't produce anything. I'm a branch You can tell that when you take the branch away from the vine, it dies. So it's all, all the life, all the production, all the fruit making is in the vine. So suddenly we move from my instinct to make it happen, from that, to let it happen, Ron. We're talking about abandoning performance faith for embracing grace. More of us are living performance faith than we realize Michelle Kwan and Tara Lipinski, if it rings a bell, they were very uh tremendous American ice skaters uh some years ago. They were the two stars of of the uh uh competitive ice skating in um the uh Olympics. They were in Japan And Michelle Kwan skated an almost perfect uh flawless program. Uh it was 19, yeah, 1988. She got the silver medal because Tara Lipinski skated a program that was just almost historic. Silver medal. Wonderful achievement. But Michelle Kwan showed her heart and her disappointment with what she wrote to her family. I love you, mom and dad and Karen and Jimmy. I hope you still love me. A lot of us don't realize how much we're driven to perform, to be loved, to be noticed, to be appreciated. And to abide is to abandon performance faith for embracing grace. Look at Galatians 1. 6. Boy do I love this phrase. I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ. Look at those words. Called you to live in the grace. Live in the grace. Live in the grace. Undeserved. Unmerited. In no way connected to how you perform. Live in the grace. Embracing grace. Now let me read to you what this kind of realization meant to Hudson Taylor, one of the most iconic missionary heroes in all of the mission's history of the church. In his book, The Exchange Life, he said, abiding, not striving nor struggling, looking off to him, this was a discovery for this seasoned missionary Trusting him for present power, trusting him to subdue all inner corruption, resting in the love of an Almighty Savior. in the conscious joy of a complete salvation, a salvation from all sin, I feel as though the first dawning of a glorious day, I am doing a new thing. has risen upon me. Christ literally all seems to me now the power, the only power for service, the only ground for unchanging joy. May he lead us into the realization of his unfathomable fullness. A. J. Gordon, another great spiritual leader of another time, said Here was the impact on him about this turning point. Before it was hard for us to do the easiest things. Now is it easy for us to do the hardest? You see, there's a liberating thing here that is pretty powerful. I think one of the uh the look look at your notes. It's not me working for Jesus, it's Jesus working through me. You knew that, you've probably used, you've probably said that But owning it, choosing it, believing it, breathing it. That's the key. Psalm 20 is a classic passage on this. May we shout for joy over your victory and lift up our banners in the name of our God May the Lord grant all your requests. Now this I know. The Lord gives victory to his anointed. He answers him from his heavenly sanctuary with the victorious power of his right hand. Now some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust In the name of the Lord our God, glued to God. They who trust in horses and chariots, they're brought to their knees and fall. But we rise up and stand firm. Lord, give victory to the king. They answer us when we call. I thought, what are horses and chariots today? Well, chariots would be your vehicle for whatever you're doing It would be your organization, your ministry, your church, your what your vehicle, that's a vehicle for getting God's work done. What is horse? What are the horses? It Whatever your horsepower is, that's probably the people. Your horses are people. Your horses have two legs. And people you count on that are the you think they're gonna decide it. He says we don't trust in the horses and we don't trust in the chariots. He had plenty of them, but they are tools without power. By the way, six times in the verses I read, it says he gives victory. Realize this. Victory is not achieved. It is received. And a lot of times we get credit. People say, boy, you that was great the way you well and and and that's great that but it was it was the I I'm not I can't produce any fruit. I'm a branch. I'm a branch. So when you have a victory, you receive it. God gave it to you. Says the Lord gives victory to the king, the boss, the big guy, even the king. He doesn't win the battle, he receives the victory. And when you realize that it's it lifts the load off of you. So what does it look like to abide? Let's land the plane and I'm going to go quickly. Through what it looks like. I cannot, I am I'm a practical guy and I have I struggle with abide. No. What is that? What does that look like? Here are some things that make up abiding. First of all, it's focused on the relationship, not the responsibilities. It's not about what I have to do for God. It's about my relationship with him. Let's go to John 15, verses 5 and 9. I'm the vine, you are the branches. If you remain, your issue is to remain in me. It's not the it's not to win the victory. You remain in me. You will concentrate on where you are with me, buddy. That's what matters is where you are with me Remain in me, and I in you, you will bear much fruit. The fruit will take care of itself if the relationship is right. Apart from me, you can do nothing. Verse 9. As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Stay in my love. This is about the relationship. It's not all the things you have to do for me. It's about the relationship. And so the battle for me. Is my list, my load, or my lord? Which will become the center of gravity for my heart in any given situation. Sometimes I have to be honest with you, the Lord's biggest competition For his lordship in my life is my list, becomes my lord. And it's all stuff to do for him. It's all God's stuff. That's backwards. He said, you just focus on me. That's your job When um I've shared this with some of you and I I must just throw this in because it it it's my personal experience of this. When we were just contemplating building the Leadership Center, which you'll have a chance to be at tomorrow, was the biggest undertaking in all my years in ministry, and that's a lot of years It was a looming challenge. And on January 4th, 2021, in my journal, It was the loudest God ever spoke to me. I never heard his voice, but it was like I did. And I wrote it in big letters, because this is I was qu I was taking dictation basically. Hands off, Ron. I'm doing this. You look at my journal, it's big letters Hands off, Ron, I'm doing this. Subtext was, I'll let you know when I want you to do something Maybe he wants to put your name in a sentence like that. For what you're trying to do with your marriage or your children or your money or your plans or your future or your security or your organization or your ministry, he says, hands off. I'm doing this. That's abiding. And to the extent I stayed there, it's been quite a ride. Okay, abiding is waking up in the morning and immediately giving Jesus the keys. Immediately. Aswell Chambers says in in um uh My Upmost for his highest Unless you learn to open the door of your life completely and let God in from your first waking moment of each new day, you'll be working on the wrong level throughout the day. What you do in the waking moments Whether you acknowledge him and connect with him and love on him at the very, very most conscious moment, first conscious moments But if you will swing the door of your life fully open and pray to your father who is in a secret place, every public thing in your life will be marked with a lasting imprint of the presence of God. Just because you started with him. Thirdly, it's holy handoffs throughout the day It's holy handoffs throughout the day. Psalm 37. 5 says, commit your way to the Lord. Trust also, there we go. There's that verb again. Trust also in him. And he will bring it to pass. But isn't that redundant? Commit your way to him and trust also in him? I don't think so. The committing is the is that first act of saying, Lord, this is yours. The problem is we drift. And then we start through our day and we take it. I'm back to default. I'm back to me again. So that's where it says, and keep trusting in him. Calvin Coolidge was president during the 20s and somebody brought him a message about a potential assassination plot. He turned to a Secret Service agent, handed it to him, and said, I think this is for you. That should be happening all through the day. I think this is for you. For your secret service guy in heaven. It's flexible faith that goes with his flow and doesn't keep sometimes you're the victim of your own spiritual momentum, take it from me. You just you're going like this and your own momentum blows you right by him. James chapter 4 Now listen, you who say to oh the for all you planners, hello, fellow planners, to you who say tomorrow we will go to this city or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money. I got a one-year plan here, man. Why you did not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You're a mist pierced for a little while, poof. Instead, okay, we're gonna do this, we're gonna do this, we're gonna do this, we're gonna do this. We ought to say. If it is the Lord's will. We will live and do this. He's like, God has a right to preempt me at any point. I'll be fine. I'll be okay because God's got this. It's pausing to listen all day long. Pausing to listen, abiding. Be still and know that I am God. Isaiah 30, 21. You will hear a voice behind you saying, This is the way, walk in it. You have to literally consciously pause. Stop. Not for a long time. but long enough to stay in abide mode and see what he has to say to you. I tend I've tended to listen to them real well early in the morning and late at night. And in between run the race. Nope, this is all day stuff. It's waiting, not pushing. It's taking too long. Psalm 37 Commit your way to the Lord. Trust in him, and he will do this. Be still before the Lord. And what? Read those two words out loud, very loud. And Wait patiently. Yeah. How are we doing on that? Do not fret when people succeed in their ways when they carry out their wicked screams. Okay It's being led, not being driven. Galatians 5. 25 says, those as many as are led by the Spirit, live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. It's re-choosing abiding in your daily time with Jesus. Because I'm telling you, we drift. We drift back to default So you need your Jesus time. Luke 9. 23, take up your cross once a year at the retreat. Nope. Take up your cross daily and follow me. Abiding is sentences that start with God as the doer, more than I. And this isn't just trying to be sound spiritual. I mean with your heart. You're like, I'm not sure I is the subject of this sentence. The subject and and the I'm I'm in like a prepositional phrase through me Maybe through me, but the subject of the sentences in my life, the subject of my verbs, is God. Philippians 2. 13, for it is God For it is God who works. It's replacing by me with through me. Ian Thomas wrote one of the great classic books of all time, The Saving Life of Christ. And he said this after his encounter. He's in the book. The Lord seemed to make it plain to me that night through my tears of bitterness. You see, for seven years, with utmost sincerity, you've been trying Life for me on my behalf. The life that I've been waiting for seven years to live through you You've been busy trying to do for me all that only I could do through you. I got up the next morning to entirely different Christian life. See, I am doing a new thing. Finally, it's surrender as a lifestyle, not an event. Yeah, there was a time I surrendered my life to Christ. That's good. But I believe what Jim Elliott said, the missionary martyr He said a life cannot be surrendered in a moment. Can start the process. He says, one does not surrender a life in an instant. That which is lifelong can only be surrendered in a lifetime. So my friends, this is a liberating declaration of independence from me I think our final word, Hudson Taylor, summarized pretty well what happened with after his experience of choosing abiding. He said, as to work, my work was never so plentiful, so responsible, or so difficult. But the weight and the strain. are gone. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not I. But Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. So the issue at this crossroads is updating our surrender. Because to trust in the Lord with all your heart, here's the punchline. is to forfeit control. I am done. Trying to control outcomes, people, whatever. The first Bible verse I ever memorized, I'll leave with you tonight. My family didn't know Jesus initially and some of you know my story and when my baby brother died my dad dropped me off of church and In Sunday school, a little uh gray-haired lady, I can picture her right now, named Judith Anderson. It's a long time ago, I remember even who taught me the Bible verse. Come to me, all you who are weary. and heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. I want to get to the point where I hear that all during the day. How many times as I've been running and stressing and pushing, has the gentle voice of the shepherd been saying, Come to me? Stop! Come to me, you weary and heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. Not long stops, but frequent. Listen for the voice. He's saying it all through your day. Come to me. We never can prove the delights of his love until all on the altar we lay. For the favor he shows and the joy he bestows are for those who will trust and obey. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, help me live what I have taught. There is freedom, there is fruit, there is peace and new frontiers and new victories on the other side of a reset from our flesh default. Help us to at least begin the process. And so we might one day be a chapter in They Found the Secret. How simple to abide. In Jesus' name. Amen.