Begin Again With Me

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Thanks for tuning in to the Met Church podcast. Here at the Met, we are all about connecting people to God and one another. If you have any questions or want more information about what's happening here at the church, then head to our [email protected] we would love to stay connected with you throughout the week through social media, so be sure to connect with us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Now. Enjoy the message. [00:00:25] Speaker B: Hello, everybody. Happy New Year. We are beginning a brand new series entitled Begin Again. And we're gonna be looking at Nehemiah and how God sent him back to reconstruct some walls that have been broken down. And the beautiful story, there are many in that that we're gonna be looking at is how do I relaunch, how do I begin again, how do I reset my life and see God do something very unusual in the coming year, more so than I have seen him do in the previous year. I do believe God has a plan and a purpose for everyone in this room. And I really hope that through this series we'll get some principles and we'll find some things that will help us be able to navigate and discover what God would want us to do. I read some studies this last week. It was kind of interesting. It was kind of influencing my thinking toward the message this week. And it was talking about the greatest hindrances that people have to their personal growth. What are the things that keep us from achieving our goals and achieving our dreams. And the first thing, it was kind of interesting, cause it's not a religious survey, but it said it was due to fear. That was the number one reason people said that they were not achieving or reaching their full potential is fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear of trying something that you've never tried before. And fear was keeping those folks back and holding them back. The second thing was doubtless doubt. And these are things that the Bible addresses. It addresses fear. It addresses doubt. Doubting in themselves, doubting in their ability, afraid to reach out, try something new. Doubt and fear. Then the third one was lack of self discipline. And I get that right? I mean, I had a couple of friends that owned health clubs in Fort Worth a few years ago, and they were telling me, now's the time to sell memberships right now. They. And they said the second best time to sell club memberships will be in the summertime when people are trying to get in their swimming suits. And then the third time will be in the fall because they're wanting to go skiing, you know. And so he said people tend to all of the health clubs are full because people have those New Year resolutions. You know, I'm gonna get in there, I'm gonna work out. Said, you cannot get on a machine. You cannot get on an elliptical. But he told me, he said, bill, give it about four weeks is what we see. And after about four weeks, this place will. You'll see a tumbleweed rolling across the floor in here, Right? So I'm saying lack of self discipline really does impact our ability to achieve our goals. I think we all understand, we all struggle with that. So let's put it together. We have fear, we have doubt, we have lack of self discipline. And here was the first thing that was most astounding in the studies, and it was complacency. Complacency. You know, the Bible talks about contentment, and contentment is important, but it's very different from complacent. The Bible says godliness with contentment is great gain. We all should be content, content with where we are, content with who we're with, content with what we have, but we should never be complacent. Contentment means I am happy where I am, at peace where I am. I'm not where I'm going to be. I'm not where I used to be. I'm a work in progress, but I'm content. I have joy, I have peace in my life. Complacency is just kind of mellowed in. It's kind of that, meh, I don't really care. And those are four things that these studies say keep most people from achieving their goals and from growing. It is fear and it is doubt. It is lack of self discipline and it is complacency. So those are things I just want to put in your mind that we need to think about in terms of how that affects us and the goals that we want to achieve and in this coming year. Dwight L. Moody once said that it is yet to be seen. It is yet to be seen what God could do with a person who is totally and completely committed to him. That's a pretty powerful statement. It is yet to be seen what God could do with a person that is totally committed to him. Realizing that God has created you with purpose and for purpose and on purpose. And if I commit to my Creator and I press into him, it is yet to be seen what God could do in and through my life. Here's a verse that really supports what Moody said. Ephesians 3:20. To him who is able. Listen to this phrase. This is a great New Year's phrase. To God, who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we ask or think. That's a pretty powerful statement. God, who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we ask or think. And then here's the caveat. He says, according to what is this exceedingly, abundantly, above all we could ask or think, what is that tied to? He said, here it is, Ephesians 3:20. It's according to the power that works in us. In other words, God's saying, it is possible for you to do exceedingly, abundantly above the things that you could even think or ask in this season of life, but it is tied to. To the power that is at work in us. In other words, yielding to the power of God that is at work in our life, overcoming the fear and overcoming the doubt, and developing some disciplines that will help us achieve in the coming year and never becoming complacent. Somebody said the status quo is just Latin for the mess we're in. And some people just settle for the status quo. We should never settle for that. Mediocrity. The word mediocrity comes from these two Latin ideas. Mediocre, which is the idea of being half up. It's the idea of ascending a mountain and halfway up stopping you. You didn't fulfill, you didn't achieve. It is mediocre, mediocre. And that is not, folks. That is not God's will for our lives, for your family, for your business, for our church. It is never to settle. And you and I will. We will, we will level off on whatever level we settle on. And so I'm just wanting to challenge you. I pray in the message this morning to begin again and to say this new year, this beginning again, has to begin within me. I have to determine by the grace of God and this Sunday morning, as I said in this service, that this year is going to be the best year that I've ever achieved. I'm not gonna waste time. I'm gonna do the thing God has called me to do. I'm gonna do it to the best of my ability. And I want God to do something unique and powerful within my life. One of the great verses that I share with you often here is that Ecclesiastes 3:1, to everything there's a season, right? There's a purpose to every time under heaven. As long as you have a purpose, God will give you time. And the fact that you are here, the fact that I am here, is proof positive that God is not finished with us yet. I'll Go so far as to say, I think people are immortal until God is finished with them. I got the call last night from a friend that I've known all of my lifetime. We served on staff together in my dad's church. Gene Wilson pastored churches and did great work. And he went to heaven last night. I'll be doing his service this week. And I was thinking about the impact of his life and the difference that his life has made in my life and the lives of many who know him. And I was just thinking that that is so indicative of all of our lives. We all influence someone, someone knows us. We're impacting and influencing someone's life. And we are going to be here for as long as God has purpose for us being here. And when our purpose is over, God will simply call us home. That's why I would tell you, man, the great thing to do in your life is to recognize that you lead someone, you influence someone. It may be the children that are within your home that may be your greatest sphere of influence. It may be the people that you're working with. You influence someone. And I've shared this with you before. The idea of influence really comes through this, this idea of these little tributaries that are running together to create a stream. And in the stream there is a current that is created and it's the inflow, the influence, the inflow of the little streams into the larger current that creates a river. And so your life is creating a current. There are things that your influence is bringing about. There are people, let me put it this way. There are people who are caught in the current of your life. There is someone you are influencing, there's someone you are moving in a direction. Never think, even if you're a student, you have influence over someone's life. So never minimize the impact that your life can make in the lives of other people. That's why sometimes when you recognize that you're depleted and you recognize you're empty, you need to rest and you need to reset. One of the things I caution people about is making a big decision on a life altering decision when you're tired, when you're tired. I mean, Jesus, the Bible said often he sat down by a well and he rested because he was tired. There were times when Jesus withdrew from ministry to people because ministry to people can be exhausting. Business when you're working with people can be exhausting. And so you're putting yourself out there for your customers and your clients and you're putting yourself out there for your family and your Friends. And after a while, man, if you're not watching the gauges, you'll get exhausted. And sometimes the best thing you can do for you is rest. So you need to pull away and not make a big decision when you're tired, because you're going to influence someone. I remember when Simon Peter got discouraged. In John 21. He was just done. I mean, here, Simon Peter was that great apostle of Jesus, the follower of Christ. But in John 21, he had had it. He was done. And I told you, there's nothing worse than when the upright get uptight. And he absolutely was finished. He was done with ministry. He was done following Jesus. And here's what he said. John 21:1, he said, I'm going fishing. I'm going fishing. Now, that sounds great to a lot of people that love fishing, but it was more than that. Simon Peter was a professional fisherman by trade before he accepted Christ and became a Christ follower. He left the nets and the fishing boats. He sold his company to follow after Jesus. So Simon Peter was a fisherman by trade. So really what he was saying is, I'm not gonna. He wasn't just saying, I'm gonna take a break and go out to Eagle Mountain Lake and fish for a little while. It was more than that. What Simon Peter was saying is, I'm going to go back to do what I did before I ever met Jesus. I'm gonna go back and restart my business. I'm done. I'm tired of this world. I'm tired of following after Christ. I'm tired of the pressure and the problems that it brings. And stick a fork in me. He said, loosely translated, I'm done. I'm just done. And what I wanted to point out in that scenario is in John 21 is when you read that, here's what it says. I go fishing. And then following that, they said. They said, who are they? His close companions, his friends that were with him when he quit. He said, we will go with you. We're done, too. I mean, you don't make decisions in a vacuum. That's why I'm telling you as a leader, as a person who wants to achieve, you're going to become tired. And when you're tired, you need to rest. And when you're tired, you don't need to make a permanent decision when you are depleted because your influence will affect someone. It's going to affect your children, it's gonna affect your friends, it's gonna affect your family. So what you need to do before you make a big decision is take a breath and rest. I mean, the Bible says it teaches us great principle of sabbatical. I mean, God set aside a day for rest. And sometimes, guys, the best thing you could do is nothing. Just unplug from your electronic devices. I mean, unplug from the world for a little while and go somewhere and rest. And here's what the rest is for. It's so you can reset. You rest so you can reset. And you bring a new energy back to the table. You bring a new you back to the table. And so as a leader, we have to watch the gauges. I can't see those gauges for you. I can't see the gauges for my co workers. They can't see my gauges. I mean, we all know how to play hurt. We know how to fake it till you make it. I mean, we all understand those principles and those ideas. So you and I are the only one that can see the gauges that we have now. What are those gauges? You have an emotional gauge. You have a physical gauge, you have a spiritual gauge. The Bible says in 1st Thessalonians 5, I pray that your spirit and soul and body we preserve blameless unto the coming of the Lord. Trichotomy. You've got a physical gauge, you have an emotional gauge, you have a spiritual gauge. You gotta watch those gauges. I have a friend of mine, Dan Hooper, you guys have heard him. He's been here. My best friend. And Dan was talking about when his daughter Mindy was first learning how to drive, Pastor Corey was talking about Ezra getting a new truck. Not a new truck, but new to him, but he's getting his truck and how excited he is about that first vehicle. You remember your first vehicle? Mine was a 59 Ford truck. My grandpa kind of inherited it. Man, I wish I still had that truck. But when I was 16, I didn't think it was the coolest thing I'd ever driven. You know what I'm saying? It smoked a little bit. It was three on the tree. You guys know what three on the tree is, right? And, man, the problem was I wasn't a mechanic. I had a mechanical bypass when I was very young. And so I didn't know how to fix it all up. I got a point. Help me remember where I'm going. I'm going to chase this rabbit for a second. But what I would do when you put it in, you know, first was down. When you put it in second gear, up at the top, there was a bearing that was out in it. And it would fall out of gear. So you'd be going. You'd fall out of gear. So I'd have to push it back up into gear. And all the guys, the cool kids, were getting glass packs back in the day, remember those things, guys? I had cragar mags on that truck. It actually looked pretty cool. It ran terrible, but it looked awesome. It smoked a little bit. You know, when you pull up to the light. So that kind of took cool points away. Had a hole in the floorboard that took a few more cool points away. But I pulled up to the light, and these guys pulled up beside me. They had this great little GTO muscle car. And that thing was sweet, and it was fast. And they kind of. They didn't know me. They didn't know my truck. They didn't know, you know. And so they pull up to the light and, you know, and they push the clutch in. They're kind of revving their motor, you know, we're gonna race, you know. So I push my clutch in and I rev my motor. I knocked holes in the muffler so it would sound like glass packs. So it kind of sounded cool. Had a deep, throaty kind of sound on that thing. So when that light turned green, I can tell you the intersection we were at in Fort Worth. We were seminary and Mansfield highway. When that light close to od Wyatt high school, when that light turned green, these guys smoked it. I mean, they were. I'd never seen anything get off the line faster than that car got out. I mean, it was gone. And I went. One of my great memories. Never took Cindy out in that truck, though. I borrowed my mom's car. I wasn't. Here's why. It's first one of the year, so I'll have to wander a little bit. But the reason was. I told you about the hole in the floorboard. Well, if you kept my. Keep on trucking mats over the floor. And you'll get that one. Some of you guys. If you keep on trucking mats over the hole in the floorboard, you're good to go. But a friend of mine, we were going to a party, and so I picked him up, and, man, he was in his disco best man. He had this satiny silvery shirt. I mean, he was looking good. And it had been raining, and so it was raining. Well, what I didn't think to tell him is when I turn the wheel a certain way, that tire will kick that water up through that hole, and it will spray. You'll spritz you. And of course, that's why you keep the mat over the hole. And so I didn't think the idiot would think not peep the mat over the hole. Like it was my fault. So we're rolling along and we're driving, and every now and I'm hearing him do this, he's going. And I'm driving along, going, dude, what is wrong with you? And he goes, man, I don't know, man. I'm getting sprayed or water or something. I said, when he checked the windows, you know, it had those little side vents, you know, windows thing, man, make sure that's closed tight. He did. We get to the party. This is awesome. I mean, I got out of the truck, and up the side of his cool disco outfit was this streak of mud, muddy water, and it goes across his shirt, and it caught across his face. Honestly, I got out of the truck, and I just looked at him, went, ha, ha ha. You know, just laughing. He goes, what? What? Dude, check the mirror. He pulls that mirror around, man, you gotta take me home. Oh, my goodness. I don't even know where I was going with that. I told y' all to tell me where I jumped off the track on this thing. It has a point, I promise you. Oh, gauges. I remember. See there? I don't have dementia yet. So the point is, my buddy Dan, that's it. Dan and Anna helped Mindy get her first car. And so one day she calls Dan and Anna. She goes, I'm on the side of the road. I don't know what happened. The car broke down, and Dan said I'd try to help her maintain it, but I'm trying to teach her responsibility. You're gonna have to maintain this kind of thing. Get the car to the mechanic. Well, the thing that had any oil in it, no oil in it. Just burned the motor up. And so what had happened is Mindy had placed a picture of her boyfriend on the dash where the red light indicator comes on to tell you that you're low on oil. So while she's looking at her sweet boyfriend, her car's burning up. It was covering the gauges of the car, which he said was an expensive mistake. So what's my point? My point is sometimes you can get sidetracked. You can look at other things, you can look at other people, and you don't watch your gauges. And before you know it, you're running on empty emotionally. And now you're gonna make a decision because you're emotionally depleted that if you just rested a little bit, maybe you don't make the same decision. Maybe you're tired physically and so now all of a sudden you're gonna quit a job or you're gonna quit a relationship. It's cause you're tired physically and you're tired emotionally. Or maybe you're tired spiritually and there's a distance between you and God. He's been speaking, but you haven't been close enough to hear him when he's talking. So you're making decisions that are totally away from his plan and purpose for your life. So the best thing you can do for you is to rest and to reset to make sure you make good calls. Let me give you four good words for leadership in 2026. The first word I'd give you is the word initiate. Initiate. Someone as well said, if it is to be, it's up to me. It's a partnership we have with God. There are certain things that he will not do without me. He can, but he won't because he's looking for me to cooperate with him. The relationship we have with God is that of interdependence. I'm depending on him. I can do nothing without Him. With Christ, I can do all things. So he's looking to me, he's waiting on me. And so I have to take initiative and I have to initiate. I have to determine, I have to decide what does God want for my life? What is God's plan and purpose, even in this season? I'm 67 now, and so I know God's got a plan for me. He's got a purpose for my life. He's got. It's different than what it was when I was 27. I get that there's things I can't do, like I did at one point in time, but I'm still here. I still have energy, I still have life. I know God has a plan. So there's certain things that I have to do for me. I have to initiate. Second word I would give you is the word delegate. Delegate. Now, I told you there's a difference between delegating and dumping. When you're dumping on somebody, that means you're giving them a task to do that you wouldn't be willing to do. And everybody resents that. When you delegate, you're saying to someone, I would do this. I don't have the time to do this. Can you do this for me? Because, guys, you cannot do everything. The things that need to get done in your world and your business. It's not possible for you to do everything. Probably most of you are in a job, you're in a work that's probably outgrown you. And you've gotten to that point as you go into a new year, they feel like you've out punted my coverage. And maybe you have, but God still has placed you there for a reason. You can do it, but you have to learn the power of delegating. So you initiate, you delegate. The third word is regulate. You have to regulate. Someone has said people don't do what you expect. They do what you inspect. And that doesn't mean micromanage and get in everybody's business and run them nuts. It just means you have to make sure things get done. One of the roles of a pastor and one of the way the words in the Greek New Testament that describe the role of a pastor is episcopos. Episcopos EPI is to over. It means overlook. Epi, overlook. Scopos is like a scope on a rifle to see. So episcopos means to oversee. It's the idea. We get the idea of a bishop from that, an overseer. Now how does that work in your business? It just simply means this. It means you don't have to do everything, but you have to make sure everything gets done right. You may not be responsible to get the job done, but you have to be responsible. The job gets done because the buck stops with you. So you have to regulate. So put it together, initiate. I have to delegate. I have to regulate. And number four, don't forget this one. Celebrate, celebrate, celebrate the victories, man. The little wins every day. Celebrate, celebrate. I had a friend that said that she and her husband did this thing one year that they started a blessing jar. Have you ever heard of this? A blessing jar? It may have been around for a while and maybe I'm late to the game, but a blessing jar. And what they would do is they tried to discipline themselves, to write down blessings that happen daily. Cause if you don't, you forget. So they would write down things that God did or something great happened in their family, and they would just fold it up and put it in the jar. And at the end of the year, they would take that jar out, dump it out on the table or on the coffee table, and they would just go back and recount the blessings of the previous year. That's a pretty cute idea. That's a pretty great idea. And they were learning the value of celebrating the good things that God has done in your life. And again, let me go back to where I started and Say, man, the fact that you're here this morning, the fact that you have life, is proof that God isn't finished with you. And what is amazing about this, and we're gonna be looking at as we do this study, is that God uses ordinary people. He uses people like me and you to do extraordinary things. He's in the business of doing that. I remember Moses in the Old Testament. Remember when God called Moses and said, this is the thing you're gonna do? And what's interesting is the name Moses, by definition means drawn out. Drawn out. That's what his name means. And you think about the fact that he was drawn out of water when Pharaoh's daughter saw him. And then God used Moses to draw his people out of Egypt and into the land of Canaan. So his name was significant. He was in the business of drawing things out. And then, and I would say even beyond that, God was doing something in Moses life. He was drawing a leader out of Moses. So God may be drawing something out of your life. This morning. When God went to Moses and said, this is what I want you to do, Moses said, man, I can't do that. And God said, yes, you can. Moses said, no, seriously, I don't think I can do this. And God said, no, no, no. I'm going to be with you and I'm going to help you and I'm going to empower you. You can do this. So Moses said, okay. So he overcame fear, he overcame doubt, he overcame that lack of self discipline, and he overcame his own complacency. And he said, okay, God, you and me, here we go. And God used Moses to do extraordinary things. The guy we're gonna be looking at, Nehemiah, ordinary man, he did extraordinary things. Here's the thing someone as well said, and I included it in your notes, he said, we can't change the beginning, but we can change the ending. Nothing you can do to change your past. You can't change the beginning. But there's everything you can do this morning to change how it ends. I've told you before, you and I are writing our funerals. While we live, we determine our legacy. You and I will determine how we will be remembered. So as we go into a new year again, let's remember that when we begin again, it has to begin within me. Let me give you this text. And I'm gonna move quickly because I've shot my clock here. I'll get you out. You'll beat the Presbyterians to the cafeteria, I promise you. Hebrews 11. Look at verse 32. And this is a recounting of God using ordinary people to do extraordinary things. What more shall I say? I don't have time to tell you about Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah and David and Samuel and all the prophets who note now, through faith, what does faith do? Faith overcomes fear. What does faith do? Faith overcomes doubt. Faith knocks down two of those four things that we said in the onset that keep you from achieving through faith. What did they do? Conquered kingdoms, administered justice, gained what was promised. Shut the mouths of lions. Remember Daniel, Quenched the fury of the flames. Remember those three Hebrew children in Daniel three escaped the edge of the sword, whose weaknesses were turned into strength. Did you see that? Their weaknesses were turned into strength. It didn't say their weaknesses was done away with. He said God used the things that were weak about them to make them strong and became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received their dead, raised to life again and then notice the pivot. And yet there were others who were tortured and refused to be released so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, and while still others were chained and put in prison, they were stoned and sawed in two they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destituted, persecuted and mistreated. The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains and in caves and holes in the ground. These were all what no. Now, these were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. They didn't get the coming of the Messiah at that point, because verse 40, God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they then be made perfect or be made complete. And man, when you read Hebrews 11, it is the story of common people who overcame fear and doubt, who overcame complacency, who overcame lack of self discipline and did uncommon things. Let me give you four things and we'll go home. We'll go. We'll go quick. All right? Number one. God uses common people. God uses common people. Never say God cannot use me. That's just not true. God uses common people. You cannot read through this listing of these people and study a little bit about their history without realizing they were they were homemakers, they were farmers, they were craftsmen, they were millers, they were builders, they were shepherds. God used these people because they made themselves available. They just said, God, I'm going to show up, I want to do something and I want my Life to matter. And God uses common people. Listen to 1 Corinthians 1:26. Not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God uses ordinary people. Now, he didn't say there weren't any wise and there weren't any noble and there weren't any gifted people. He said there aren't many. He said God is using ordinary people. So number one, he uses common people. Here's the second thought. God uses courageous people. God uses courageous people. Man, you cannot help but read through Hebrews 11. You get down to verses 33 and 34. They conquered kingdoms, administered justice, gained what was promised, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fire of the flame, escaped the edge of the sword. Their weakness turned to strength. They were powerful in battle, they routed foreign. Every one of those words are power words. There are words to describe someone who is courageous. Now, being courageous doesn't mean the absence of fear. It is in fact. Have you thought about it? There has to be the element of fear before there can be courage. You have to be afraid of something before you can have courage to overcome that something. In fact, In Isaiah, chapter 54, verse 17, he said, look, no weapon formed against you will prosper. And we've quoted that verse a lot. Listen. It did not say there won't be weapons formed against you. That's where the fear factor comes in. It didn't say there won't be people who oppose you. It did not say there won't be difficulties that you face in life. He said the difference is they will not prosper. Meaning that if you just don't give up and you don't give in and you don't give out, there's nothing. There is nothing that you will face in this coming year that with the help of God, you can overcome it. So God uses courageous people. One of the things fear will do is fear will fit you for failure. Because fear is infectious. That's hard to say. All those words fast. Fear is infectious. Others will fear when you fear. Listen to this. Deuteronomy 20, verse 8. They were preparing to go into battle. And here's what Moses said. I'm sorry. Joshua said, what man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? Before we go to war, I need to know who is fearful and who is faint hearted means you're probably gonna quit on us in the middle of the battle. Let's just be honest before we go do this. Are you all in? Are you not? I need to know right up front. He said, let that person Go and return to his house or his brother's heart will faint as well. What was he saying? He was saying, I'm smart enough to know that when I go to battle, when I go to war, when I start this business, when I take on this job, I need everybody with me, totally committed. Because if you are half hearted and, and your commitment to this job, you're probably gonna quit and you're gonna leave me in a mess in the middle of this thing before it's done. And so just tell me up front, are you all in or not? Because what we're doing is far too important for you to just simply be half hearted at. My dad used to say, I'd rather have a whole hearted half wit than a half hearted whole wit. And he always said that to me. And I thought, what, what? Are you trying to tell me something? But I get his point. His point was it's not the degrees, it is not all the. It's the heart of a person. It's the courage that a person. I had a guy tell me one time, he said, I would rather take and hire somebody to work in my business that doesn't know anything about my business, but they're a hard worker and they're totally committed to the job. He said, I can teach him how to do this job, but he said, I can't take a person that is gifted and skilled, that doesn't have heart and put heart into them. Wow, man. It all begins from within. I mean, you can take somebody, you can take anybody with a heart and with a commitment and with some integrity and man, they'll help you do some amazing things. And when you look again back at this list of the people God used, he used guys and gals that were all in. They were common people, but they were courageous people. Here's the third one. God will use committed people. He will use committed people. You know what adversity will do? Adversity will test your level of commitment. Listen, you don't know how strong your faith is until it gets tested. You really don't. Now, we can sit here in this big old holy huddle and we can talk about faith because we're in a very protected space and we can share stories and encourage one another. But when we break out of this huddle and we go out into the real world and adversity hits our life and trouble hits our life, that's the real test of your faith. The strength of a person is seen in what it takes to stop them. And when you just say by the Grace of God. Whatever I face this year, I just won't quit. Think about Job, the oldest book of the Bible, and everything that guy went through, the losses he endured, the personal pain that he suffered. And there's a verse that is so poignant and is so powerful that speaks to Job. And here's what Job said. I could almost see that he just gritted his teeth. You don't get inflection when you read the Bible, but you almost sense this man was just determined, his teeth gritted, and he makes this statement. He says, even if God slays me, yet will I trust him? He said, if I go down, I'm gonna go down swinging. And even if God kills me, I will not deny him and I will trust him. Man, that's commitment. That is a level of commitment. When I was growing up, my dad was friends with a guy that trained the K9s for Fort Worth for their K9 units. And so we got one of the dogs that he had trained. He's German shepherd, Beautiful German. His name was Oso. And so Oso was incredible. And. And we were watching this trainer work with Oso, and he took a piece of hose a few feet long, and Oso was on the other end of the hose, and he's hanging on to him. So he just starts going around in a circle, going around in a circle. And before long, Oso's trying to keep up, and then his feet are off the ground, and then he's waist high, and that crazy dog is hanging on to that hose while that guy's spinning him around in a circle. Hanging on. It was awesome. And he says, that's commitment. I thought, man, that's exactly right. That dog's not gonna let go. And, you know, he brought him in for a safe landing and all that sort of thing, but he was strengthening those jaws, and he was teaching him, just don't. Just dig in and don't give up. Don't give out. Don't give in. And he was strengthening that dog. And look, one of the things that adversity will do for you and me is it will strengthen your faith. It will strengthen your faith. Man, I talk to people that have gone through stuff, and I hear their experiences and the things that could have driven them away from God instead drew them closer to him. Man, you can learn something from somebody like that. You can learn from somebody that's been there in business and has gone through the ups and downs and met a payroll and had to fire people and lay people off and try to rebuild business and dig that Thing out of the dirt. You learned something from somebody like that. You can warm your hands on their life and you learn. Cause there's a level of commitment that they've had that God has been able to use in their life. And I'm saying, man, God uses common people. He uses committed people. He uses courageous people. Here's the last thought. God uses confident people. Confident people. Hebrews 11:35, it talks about some that didn't get positive outcomes. They were tortured and they were killed for their faith. The first part of the chapter, he talked about these guys that had faith to be delivered. They had faith to escape all this adversity. The latter part of Hebrews 11, he talks about people who had faith to endure all of the adversity. So you have one group that didn't go through the same things that the other group went through, but what they all had in common was their faith. Their faith. They were common. They were courageous, they were committed, and they were confident. Listen to Hebrews 10, verses 35 and 36. This is a good one to add to your notes. Do not cast away your confidence. Do not cast away your confidence. It has great reward. And listen to what he says. What you need now is endurance. Endurance, so that after you've done the will of God, you will receive the promise. Now, let me think about that, and I'm gonna close on that one. But let's think about it. What you need is confidence, because confidence will help you have endurance. What is endurance? Endurance is the ability to stand up under the pressure that you're under. Here's what I found in my life, and I can support this Biblically. When you go through something that's heavy, and you go through something that may be so heavy, it causes you to stumble, and when you take that thing to God in prayer, one of two things will happen. Number one, he will either remove that burden from you, and we've had that happen. I pray, man. One of my prayers is God. Be a shield and a buckler to me. Go in front of me, clear the way for me. Help me navigate some problems. God can help you fix some problems. They'll fix themselves. Just give it a little bit of time, right? That's one of the things. We're in the instant message stage, and everybody's expecting an immediate response. And you don't even have time to think about things and pray about them much. You just are expected to make a decision on the fly. And sometimes things need to take some time. And what I found is there are some problems that you need some time to fix. So when you bring these problems to God in prayer, here's what he'll do. Number one. He'll either take it off of you. He'll lift that burden, or. Watch this. He'll give you the strength to carry it. He'll either take it away from you or he'll give you the strength to carry it. That's why there's. Sometimes there's a burden of grief that never goes away. Trust me. There's some burdens that you're gonna carry in life that are always gonna be there. Believe me. And I just found in my life that what God is doing is he's building endurance. And you know what the first cousin of the word endurance is? Patience. Patience. They almost mean the very same thing. Patience and endurance. The ability to stand up under pressure, under some. Something God hasn't removed from you, but he's giving you the strength to carry it. I told you before, don't pray for patience. Do not pray for patience. You're saying, Bill, you're telling me. Yeah. I'm warning you. The Bible says tribulation brings about patience. Cut to the chaste. Just ask for trouble. Just say God, as I close this service this morning, right where I'm sitting in here, before we go, I want you to bring some trouble in my life. Who in the world would pray that way? Wife and I are getting along pretty good. God, could you mess that up for me right now? I'm about to go get them little boogers. Well, God, would you just let them be a holy terror in the car going home? I'm gonna see them grandkids. I hope one of them just tries to tear up the house. When I get them over the house, Lord, let it happen. One of my dad's buddies, they got it for Christmas years ago. A brand new La Z Boy chair. Big old leather recliner. Had all of his grandbabies over. And he was telling my dad, he said, after all the grandbabies left, he said, I saw where one of my grandkids had taken a ballpoint pen and poked 17 holes in the arm of my leather recliner. And he said, brand new. I mean, Christmas Day. And one of those little boogers had poked 17 holes in that thing. So he calls his daughter, the mother of them. And they kind of suspected, you know. You know, grandparents, you know, that one kid that's probably the one that did it, you line them all up and go, usual suspect, that one. That one. Well, it took him about that long to figure out which One of them did it. So he was telling my dad, he said, she put him on the phone. And he got on the phone, he said, papa. And he goes, yes, son. He goes, I saw what I did to your chair. And he goes, that's okay, son. He said, here's what I want you to do. Don't say anything to mama or your daddy. Go in that kitchen and get you a pen and see how many holes you can poke in Daddy's chair. Would you do that? He said, would you do that for Papa? And the little boy said, awhite, boy, that's some good grandparenting right there, isn't it? But God will either give you the strength to carry it or he'll take it from you. But folks, I hope this will be a great year. And remember as we leave that when we begin again, it has to begin within me. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you that you've never failed us, Lord, in the hardest moments of our life, you've been there. On the greatest moments of our life, you've been there. You are the one consistent in our life. You're the one thing we can count on. And so, Lord, I pray for my friends. I don't know what they're facing this year. I don't know what health challenges, I don't know what family difficulty, I don't know what business challenges, but we all got something. I just pray in the coming year you'll give them the courage, Father. You'll give them the conviction that, Lord, you'll just let them know that they're here because you're not finished with them, that they'll rest a while if they need to, but then they can reset and get back at the job you've called them to do. Father, I pray you'll use us to do great things in this coming year. And finally, Lord, I pray for my friends who may never have trusted you as their savior, that this might be the moment where they just right where they are. They just swallow their pride and say, lord Jesus, with everything I know about me, I now trust all that I know about you. Come into my heart. Forgive my sin, and I pray this in Jesus name. Amen. [00:41:46] Speaker A: Thank you so much for tuning in today. If you have any questions or prayer requests, please contact us by visiting metchurch.com so that we can follow up with you this week. We look forward to seeing you next week.