THRIVING IN BABYLON: WEEK 7

Hey, we are continuing today with our series, "Triving in Babylon," but we're going to kind of take a tilt. We've been looking through the book of Daniel and we'll re-continue or that we'll continue in the book of Daniel next week. But I wanted to pause today because I do think many times you can be hearing and hearing and hearing and not reflecting and doing. And so I'm going to kind of pause from Daniel, share a brief word and then we're going to spend significant time reflecting. I don't want you to assume that the reflection time is separate from us really worshiping and hearing from God. God really thinks as we continue to speak about work, there's some things in your life that you're not going to hear from the pulpit. But you might hear from somebody else who's navigating something similar next to you. So I'm going to look at the life of David briefly today and I want to kickstart that off by reading, "Dudoronomi chapter 8 verse 2." If you have your Bibles, we'll start there today. "Dudoronomi chapter 8 verse 2." And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these 40 years in the wilderness that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart whether you would keep his commandments or not. Read again. And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these 40 years in the wilderness that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart and whether you would keep his commandments or not. This is the Word of the Lord. If I had the opportunity to come into your office, maybe even home or whatever, and place a plaque on your table or on your whatever, the wall, it will probably be this scripture which slowly but surely is not becoming. I don't want to say a life verse for me, but becoming a profound anchvers for me. The people of Israel are crossing over into the new and they reflecting on what it's been like to be with the Lord. And in their reflection, here's what they come to, is that you have always been leading us. We might have been complaining most of the way. We might have been arguing with you most of the way, but when we actually reflect on what this time was all about, it was about you leading us for 40 years, every day, every moment through the wilderness. And we see that what you were trying to do and accomplish in us was to humble us. I know we love to think that prideful people need humbling, but people in pain need humbling. In a world where once again, our pain can become our hero. The thing that all of our identity is wrapped around even that needs God's healing power that humbles even the most painful parts of our lives and say, Lord, only you can heal this. Not only in this wilderness and God leading them, did he humble them? Here's my favorite is that he was testing you, that you would know what is in your heart. Do you know what's in your heart? Well, supposedly the Bible believes that tests allow you to know, not God to know. He knows. But he's also aware that you think you know, but you don't know. And so a test allows you the privilege of coming into alignment with God's perspective about your heart, that you can repent and realign your thoughts with the thoughts of heaven, the thoughts of the heart of God, testing you so that you would know your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. Today, I want to briefly kind of pin parts of David's story. I want us to look at three places in David's story, in Ingeti at Zicklag and Lossley in Jerusalem. But for the sake of this message, I want to show you the three places where you will be tested. Number one is the place of pressure. Number two is the place of pain. And number three is the place of power. Ingeti, Zicklag, and Jerusalem. We're going to start it off here with one Samuel chapter 24, verse 1 to 6. I want to read the text and I want to give you the context. When Saul returned from following the Philistines, he was told, "Behold, David is in the wilderness of Ingeti. Then Saul took 3,000 chosen men out of all Israel and went to seek David and his men in front of the wild goats rocks." Sounds like a place in Ks. It ends. And he came to their sheepfolds, by the way, where there was a cave and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the innermost parts of the cave and the men of David said to him, "Here is the day of which the Lord said to you, 'Behold, I will give you your enemy into your hand and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.'" And David arose in stealthily cut off a corner of Saul's robe. And after it, David's heart struck him. By the way, if you want to know what conviction feels like, David's heart struck him because he had cut off a corner of Saul's robe. He said to his men, "The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my Lord, the Lord's anointed, to put out my hand against him seeing his the Lord's anointed." Bit of backdrop here. Saul is a king that the people wanted. In fact, let me put it differently. God wanted to be Israel's king, but Israel got tired of having a king they couldn't see. So they wanted a God they could see. Let's say I asked for a king and so he gave them Sir Roman Paul, say, "And now here he is, all our hopes are wrapped in him. It doesn't matter what race you are, it doesn't matter what agenda you are, you are thinking this man will do it because he has so much money he has to hide some of it." No, we're not recording this service. It's fine. It's fine. Allegedly. We don't know. Allegedly, we're not sure. So, King Saul comes and like most King starts off well, does what God calls him to do? Note, kings who do well are kings who do what God calls them to do. He does badly because he begins to do out of pressure what he wants to do for himself. This is true for all of you. And so few chapters before this, God rejects Saul because of Saul's blatant rebellion disobedient before God. He rejects Saul, but Saul remains the king. So here's the thing. You might not lose your position when you are morally wrong. You keeping your position doesn't mean acceptance or grace. You can be rejected by God and still stay in power. Still stay seemingly favored by all the people around you. Still stay in the kind of position that makes the rest of us go, wow, rejected though. He knows it, Samuel knows it, God knows it, but the whole kingdom still goes, that's my King. Imagine living like that. No wonder Saul begins to lose his mind. He loses his mind. He's in this position of power and there's no grace anymore. And he's trying to navigate in his old strength how to be King so much so that he actually needs a musician to soothe the demons of his own soul. Intro David. Now the way David rocks up to actually begin to sing all these songs to the King is quite interesting is that David is in this family of Jesse and and God speaks to Samuel, says to Samuel, I've rejected Saul. I need to go and anoint a new person for me. So Samuel is so heartbroken by what has happened to Saul. He's just struggling to figure it out until God says get up and go an anoint the new King. So he goes to this house of Jesse. and he finds the first son in the first son. Looks like my brother married just stand up. Let the people see. Rejected him. Look at him, looked apart, rejected him. Watch, Samuel had never missed a word from the Lord. And in this case, it's not that Samuel missed a word from the Lord. No, no, no, no. In fact, by the end of his ministry, we are told that all of Samuel's words were right. And none of them felt to the ground. But what is happening here is that here's somebody who's in their grief and in their pain are struggling to discern. Listen, I'm not coming and engaging you about your pain because your pain is somehow small or irrelevant. I just know that like wealth, pain blurs stuff. I just begged you for a moment, just for a moment to understand that as much as you are still angry, you are also still blurry. All of us are. So here, he's trying to figure out they have so many sons because way back in those days, they would make a lot of children. But they had so many sons. And eventually he says, listen, you must have another child. This is too much. None of these boys are making it. He says, no, no, no, we actually got another kid. He's a little shepherd boy who sings to trees. And so they go get him. He's out in the forest somewhere and they bring him in. And he sees this ready little kid. And he says, this is the one and he anoints him. Now, David is anointed king, but not given a position. I beg you to consider that maybe your time's your complaint is because you're chosen, but not appointed yet. He chose you and you feel that the only way I can prove my being chosen is power, is position, is wealth, is comfort. He chose you. And he's a problem with your life. The reason why something's happening to you, the way that they're happening to you, is not because you're the king. It's just because you've been chosen. That's your problem. You've been anointed by God and there's something about God choosing that begins to invite uninvited guests called tests. Watch what happens to David. David seemingly comes into this moment of favor and the way he gets into the palace, in his mind he's thinking, OK, cool, the career path to be a king is working out. Well, I'm going to come in through-- I'm going to be a sawman, still I'm going to sing. Whenever I sing, the king's will sing. It seems like the career path is panning out the way he had thought it would be. And so the king loves him whenever he sings, he loves him so much. So he says, I want David to live in the palace with me. Then David goes out and he defeats Goliath. And then when he defeats Goliath, the problem is, women begin to like him more than they like so. Now catch this. Go read your text. It didn't say the brothers were going, ah, so killed the palace there. It said the ladies, oh, so was I. Look, the ladies, if the brothers would have sang, that's one thing. Not ladies. So moves from, I love him. Turn when I kill him. There is something even in your workplaces when you find that God in his grace and mercy allows you to touch a level of excellence that's hard to explain that those who are ahead of you, those who are your leaders, look at it more as a threat to they well being. And they, what they loved you for in the beginning, they begin to hate you for now, because that same favor that suits them becomes the same favor that seems to be threatening them. They begin to turn their agenda against you. But watch what David does. David doesn't retaliate or anything. Well, he runs, but I'm not saying you should run, because you need to get paid, I guess. But watch David heads where he's heading. You can go back to the other slide, or he heads to where he's heading and he's being chased by Saul, Saul wants to kill him. Watch, God chooses one man, Saul chooses 3,000 men. To fulfill his purpose and means, God chooses one man, annoins one man. Saul needs to choose 3,000 men who are well equipped, well endowed to do this battle, and they chase after David, and his few mighty men, and they can't find them. They're trying to kill them, but one day after a long pursuit, they're tired, King Saul walks into the cave to go relieve himself, not knowing in the innermost parts of the cave. Lies David and his mighty men. And he'll watch, he's mighty men. Tell David, David, this is your time. This is your time. Be careful what your friends say in moments of pressure. Be careful what the people who love you are willing to compromise in the name of loving you in moments of pressure. David, kill him. You kill him. We'll be safe. We'll be safe. Make sense. God's for you. Not for him. Kill him. So David said, OK, I can't just jump into the king part. Let me just try something. He takes a knife. He goes there and he cuts a piece of Saul's robe, which in and of itself is signifying royal authority. Cuts a little bit of it. He feels bad. He's cut to the heart. Now bear in mind, when is the last time you did something that could save you, that convicted you because you did it? When is the last time you did something that you knew? This can save me now. And when you've done it, you go, amen. I don't know if that was the Lord. I know it was me. I just don't know if it was the Lord. I know that I was trying to do something. But I just don't know if this was the Lord. David has a kind of relationship that he can do something for himself and still be convicted. He can do something that serves him. And still he goes, you know what? I need to repent. So he cuts it off. And he's sitting with his boys. And he says, guys, I can't touch the Lord the Lord. I'm sorry. I just can't. The robe is as far as I can go. I'm willing to go. What stopped this guy? First thing I want to share about here is this. Is that many of us, when we are in pressure, tend to run without being sent. Some of us, when we are in pressure, tend to run without being sent. So here's what I mean. I'm not talking about some supernatural experience. When ordered to be sent, I need to hear a divine voice. And I need to hear or see writings on the wall. I wish I could tell you that I hear God in sentences. I don't. I really don't. When I look at my life, the history of my life, I hear God in chapters. I know what chapter I'm in now. It is the only reason I am here in this moment. If I lose my job tomorrow, I have everything I need to fulfill my calling. You are not my calling. But you are my responsibility. And in you, through you, all the efforts and time is so that I might fulfill my calling through and in my responsibility. But if I don't do this, if I don't get the privilege of holding this mic and I get the privilege of sitting where you are, I can still fulfill what God has called me to do. I am in the chapter you told me to be in. And I am making mistakes in this chapter knowing what the headline is. I don't hear him in sentences like you do. Chapters. I tend to hear him in sentences when I've messed up with my kids or wives. Things I need to repent about. But when it comes to work and dreams and visions, I tend to hear him in chapters. And sometimes I find myself running without being sent. I find myself pushing beyond what I should push. Going to places I shouldn't go yet, because I am not sent there. It's not in my chapter, but I see it. I want to, I want to grab it, I want to go for it. But watch, I wanna kind of demystify for a moment. What we talk about when we say, walk in the spirit, not in the flesh. You see, that David's friends wanted David to walk in the flesh, whilst David chose to walk in the spirit. I wanna demystify what we mean by, we don't live by sight, but we live by faith. His friends want him to live by sight, but he chose to live by faith. What do we mean? In essence, if I break it down in its simplistic form and please, it's more than this, but for the sake of what we talk about today, here I'm talking about, it's your values. Let me tell you that everything you do in your life is because of the values you believe. We are all sent by our values. The question is, are the values that are sending us, the values that on a guard, or are they the values that self protect? Values, values. Okay, I'm trying to think, I should tell you. - Should I? Is that evening service? You know I'm gonna tell you. Okay, please no conversations with me about this. Are you ready? All right, we got a dog yesterday. I know it is not happy news at all. (audience laughs) Okay, I don't wanna dog. I love going to your house when you have a dog. Cute, I don't wanna dog, I don't wanna own a dog. Now I own a dog. This dog came yesterday. It was pooing and peeing the whole night through. I've hardly slept. It's partly why I look so stressed out. This dog was, are you? Oh my word. Dude, I knew this girl when she was a babe. No wonder you're not looking at me. My eyes are all dark. Dude, who are you? (audience laughs) Hi five men. Why are you a tall? Are you married? Do you have kids? Man, guys, I knew this girl. Since she was yay high. (audience laughs) Wow. Don't worry, I'm not the boss of this church. Someone else, you can come back. (audience laughs) I got a dog, these kids go, now listen. One of my problems with this dog, it doesn't even have a black name. Like defense. At least have a dog with a black defense or sporty. No, danger. Ow. All of those are relevant names. If you're gonna impose a dog on me that I don't wanna have. No, no, no, no. This dog is called Hazel. (audience laughs) Yeah. This whole dog has been preceded by my daughter two months ago telling me, "Dad, I think I'm gonna marry a white guy. "There's so much happening in my home." (audience laughs) It's a stressful time right now. I would love to be home right now, but to be honest, even if there wasn't a church service, I would be here because it's crazy. Now, I don't want the dog, but what sent me is because I value these kids. What sent me to realize that there is a vet shop here in Brian Pop that I'd never seen, even though I've been here for five years and I went there two thousand ran later. (audience laughs) Yesterday, what keeps sending me are my values. My values. In your life right now, there are dogs, pooing and peeing all over your life. Are they there because of your values? Or are they there because of wrong values? You evaluate your life and the chaos that is your life. What does it show about the values you believe? Don't worry. Forget about the values you want. Forget about the values you wish you had. Forget about the values you think Christians should have. You live the values you actually believe. Something keeps sending you for David. What restrained him was a value that his mighty man couldn't see or recognize. He had built the value in the forest, singing to trees, worshipping the Lord, he had built the internal value in worship. That would allow him to recognize that this man, although rejected, was still anointed by God. I don't know if I would have done the same thing. Because I think I value to self-protect more than I value to glorify him, even in my suffering. If I had the choice to suffer less, I think I would choose that. Bear in mind, Saul still chases him after this. And David gets another chance to kill Saul and he chooses again not to do it. Values. Values are the things that matter to you. I want to help you for a moment know how you can identify your values. And here's four things you can do. For the time being, all right, five plus four things you can do. Number one, if you want to identify your values, lean into your pain. Sometimes your pain tells you what you value because in your pain, you realize something was either violated or touched in my studio that actually made me feel that particular way. Maybe deep down behind that pain is a value that I haven't discovered yet. Contentment is another one, right? When's the last time you felt a sense of satisfaction that it mattered little what you got for it, but the fact that you were there, the fact that you could do it and express it. When was the last time you felt a sense of contentment? Maybe therein you'll find a value of values you hold. Joy, when's the last time you experienced the kind of joy that made you think about why am I this happy or joyful? Maybe there's a value there and then lastly, meaning. Meaning doesn't always mean you do something and you're paid for it. It means you do something and you know it's significance and its significance inspires you. So sometimes when we are under pressure, we tend to run without being sent. The truth is we're all being sent by something but the question is are we being sent by values that are shaped in relationship with God or values that are shaped in our anxiety or shaped in gross ambition, which I am not against but even that must be submitted to the King of Kings. One Samuel, chapter 30, we'll move on to the next one. Number a while later, David who has now been running around and with these mighty men, he ends up trying to join the Philistine Army and the Philistine Army rejected. Reminds me of a story of a lady in this church. I was a heartbreaking story, powerful story. She came to me after a service and she said, I went to go see a sanguom. And like why? That well, I lost my son a number of years ago and I just wanted to make sure that my son was okay. And Christianity couldn't give me the opportunity to interact with him, speak to him and know if he's okay. So I went to a sanguoma because I wanted the opportunity to make sure. And she says, when I got in the room, as I got in, the lady looked at me and said, you don't belong here. Go to church. You don't belong here, go to church. David is trying to figure out what you do being chased by those who said they love him. And he says, I'm going to join the Philistine Army and they go, no, you don't belong here. Get away. And so now he's going home with these mighty men. He's going from loss to loss, disappointment to disappointment. Yes, a few wins there and here, but most of his wins are nothing more than escapes. Now when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had made a raid against Niggab and against Ziklag. And that overcomes the Glegg and burnt it with fire and taken captive the woman and all who were in it both small and great They killed no one but carried them off and went their way And when David and his man came to the city they found it burnt with fire and they wives and sons and daughters Taken captive then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep David's two wives also had been taken captive Hino am of just real and Abigail the widow of Nebel of calm down and David was greatly distressed for the people spoke of stoning him because all of Because all the people were bitter and so each for his sons and daughters, but David strengthened himself in the Lord In the cave his friends gave him bad advice In the name of love this time his friends want to kill him In the name of their own pain and suffering They need someone to blame when's the last time you needed someone to blame We're told in this moment that David strengthen himself in the Lord in all this chaos and all this craziness David chooses to strengthen himself in the Lord Here's what I want to talk about here is this is that when we are faced With failure we tend to retreat We tend to retreat after we feel like we have failed guys can one of the reasons It's not the only reason okay one of the reasons I think sometimes in our workplaces the people we work with Ten to at times go further is not because you're a Christian and you being a Christian Limits or makes things worse for you. No, no, no Sometimes the people we work with Don't have a theology of condemnation like you do They're able to get up after the seven time Whilst we feel like we need to punish ourselves for our ever long a period of time until we can finally come back to the Lord in the name of all that We call religion so that we might feel good whilst we are doing that they have kept running It's not because a woman's not because they're black. It's not because they're white It's not because they they keep running because they are not barred down by a theology of condemnation and you have a god of grace Yes, does he judge he judges thoroughly like a comb you've ever seen those comb thrown at a fro There is no not that will be left in your life when he's done judging every single part of your If you've never felt that experience speak to your boy after this is why this is the only haircut I go for I don't play I don't play I don't play right but We have we need an understanding of grace that empowers That empowers us to go back into the places where we failed and get better We need it God's God's discipline is not rejection because he only disciplines those he loves That's the only thing he's not disciplining you so that you wouldn't keep on going he's disciplining you So that the way you go would be different you have to go you have to keep moving I'm not I'm not advocating some weird licentiousness and a grace that's not bounded up in truth That's not calling the reality of a judgment that actually Israel that actually exists That's not what I'm talking about I'm talking about the profound excuses we make in the name of a God that we end up saying has disappointed me get up and go It doesn't matter how many times you failed and it actually doesn't help your status It doesn't help your movement to live in the God has disappointed me box Because if it had You wouldn't be feeling the way you feel in it now Are there moments where we feel that God has disappointed us? Yes? Oh my so many The point of those moments is for us to access Grace not to live there The point of those moments is for us to access grace grace through what honest Repented transparency Lord, I feel disappointed, but I need you Yeah We need an understanding of grace that sends us back and and what grace fundamentally is if values are Knowing what matters to you grace is knowing what is available for you See here's a difference now between you and your friend at work who keeps Standing and going standing and going the reason why they ultimately end up being burnt out is because they don't know The grace in repentance because according to the Bible when we repent our souls are refreshed And so for us the the powerful and beautiful invitation of failure is refreshing Let me The invitation in your failure is that if you repent on the other side of repenting there's refreshing for your soul In other words, I don't need to keep going based on my own strength. I can actually keep going because even in my failure I have found something That is available to me Here's the truth about your life if your Christian is that there will never be a desert where there won't be a stream Never Never it doesn't matter how depressed It doesn't matter how broken it doesn't matter how far you feel you are they cannot be a desert without a stream Every desert has a stream. It might seem blurry in the you know, I went in the mirage You're my Raj It might feel blurry in the mirage. You know when you you're looking like ah, you know, it's easy No, no, it might feel blurry, but if you keep walking you'll find there's a stream There's a spring in your worst desert I can say this a little bit because I've had the privilege of living a little bit Not more than most who are here more than somewhere here. Maybe more than most who are here of Living a little bit Longer to have experienced deserts that felt like the stream was very far away, but it still was there Here's the thing about God's tests. They are they are deep At times But sometimes they breath is so long that for some of us they some deserts will have to live in for a very long time Very long time. I can assure you this You will never be saved from a desert. There's some deserts that the width the breath of them For some of you might be your whole life But there will always be a spring Don't worry about the nervous laugh behind me. I Wish someone would have told me this because somehow I thought that having faith means shorter deserts smaller deserts quicker springs But oh my sometimes The only spring you find is Perseverance not an answer not a solution The only spring you find is enough water to keep moving. I'm telling you today Grace is there. Grace is there next slide. Grace is there in your devastation. It is there in your despair It is there in your dependence. It is there in your need for direction Grace is there in your deliverance grace is not just appearing when you are Successful Grace is there when you're failing grace is there when you are feeling the worst the dark night of the soul Grace is present Let me end with this 2 Samuel chapter 11 Okay, so 2 Samuel chapter 11 we've we move from pressure to pain and now we've Going to the place of power David is in Jerusalem. We know the scripture some of us quite well Here's what he says in the spring of the year the time when kings go out to battle David sent Joab and he servants with him and all Israel and they ravaged the Ammonites and besiege rabbi but David remains at Jerusalem. Okay, David is a king. Kings are meant to go to war during the spring time. David chooses to stay home. Is that fair? I had never seen what I'm about to show you until this week. I've read this chapter so many times. And it's one word that keeps recurring. Seven times as it pertains to David that I think is quite telling and interpreting what this chapter is partly saying. We see the word here in the first verse. It says, David sent Joab. Okay, now watch the next one verse three. And David sent an inquired about the woman. And one and one said is not this but she but the daughter of Ilyam, the wife of Euryah, the head type. Okay, my boy knows. He knows the genealogy of this lady. She knows the husband of this lady. He has stepped out in the balcony, seen her. Now he wants to find out about her. He sends. Okay, verse four. So David sent messages and took her and she came to him and he lay with her. Then she returned to her house. Next one verse six I believe. So David now sent word to Joab sent me Euryah, the head type. And Joab sent Euryah to David. Euryah is an out and battle. He's one of David's boys who's been with David from when David was trying to be killed rather by saw, right? Do you remember? He's been with him. He's one of those guys. Okay, so David calls for him to come home because David wants to find a way to hide this thing. So here's the next one. Next slide. 12. Then David said to Euryah, "Remain here today also and tomorrow I will send you back." Okay, he wants him to remain in Jerusalem so he can go and lay with his wife so that when he goes back to war, they can claim, "No, this is Euryah's child. Euryah chooses to sleep outside the door and not inside." He's not doing this purely in the name of honorableness. He's doing this as an act of civil disobedience to the president. I am not going to let you hide this thing. No, no, no, I won't. I'm going to sleep outside because I know everyone already knows. Did you see how many people David sent? Everyone already knows what you've done. And I know that I'm here. The fact I'm here. I know exactly what you're going to do. So when David politely suggests, "Go sleep at home." He knows I can cover up the king's corruption and pretend all is good but I refuse. He sleeps outside. Verse 14, I believe. It says, "In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Euryah. This time this letter is basically going to Joab to say, "Hey, take Euryah, put him in the front lines." "Yeah, he has a lip-point." They must kill him. He's causing chaos here. So you know what we must do? They must just kill him that side because he refuses to cover up my stuff. Okay. Verse 27, "And when the morning was over David sent and brought her to his house and she became his third wife. Any time it's more than one, it's trouble." Okay. And she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David did, but the thing that David had done, this is the Lord. I'd never recognized it till now. Yes, yes, yes. Sin, sin, sin is to do the wrong thing. Disobedience is to do the wrong thing. But watch what happened in this text. Disobedience is also to delegate the wrong thing. To disobey God partly involves you delegating things that you ought to do to someone else. Okay, let me explain. Have you ever been so busy, dear kings and queens? Oh, you're so, so busy that we begin to count the Sundays we've attended more than the times we've been in bread. At least this week I made it to church. I managed to delegate it to some kind of pastor who put in a few hours so they can open up the Bible for me because I was too busy, too much in power to open up the Bible for I delegated reading this word. Somebody else. It has been so busy that your life is filled with sermons you listen to and the conversations you have don't come from a revelation you have from reading the scriptures. It comes from Kreflow. I'm taking a stab in my friend. I love him. I'm not going to look at him, but I know he's here. Oh, pastor, Steve said, who cares? Who's passive? No, no, when is the last time you recognized that you are delegating obedience. Somebody else will do it. My connect leader will prepare that preacher will prepare that worship team will prepare the things that I'm called to obey on a daily. I'm too busy. I'm too powerful. I'm too kingly, too queenly, too have time to obey. Don't delegate worship. Don't delegate the word. Don't delegate community. I beg you. Because oftentimes as we even bring this to a close, we in moments of power can easily resist when we've been called. We can resist when we are so busy. We can resist the small voice that says, Hey, we haven't chatted in a bit. Yeah, Lord, but you understand like I'm doing stuff for you, right? I've got a sermon I need to preach. So as much as I didn't spend time in the word today. At the very least I get to preach your word today. Hey, how about we pray about this this week? I want to, but hold on, you understand I've got a dog now. I don't have time for this. Yeah, no straight up. I'm stressed out, man. Yeah. It's a, they say I even know dog names. It's a board of quality. And supposedly it's energetic. I energetic key. If values are about knowing what matters to you, grace is about knowing what's available to you. Or be dense is about doing the next right thing. Or for some of you, the next bold thing, you see, there's some of us here who have mastered doing bold things. But we aren't great at doing the right thing. The others who in humility always do the right thing. But don't allow themselves to enter the place of uncertainty that calls them to do the bold thing. Bold, it's going to cost me. Most likely. Or be dense is about doing both of these will tell the story sometime, but it was great to hear your text that you sent me. Of what's happening in case it and we can't share it publicly right now people are going to come and ask you for money. But I remember when you said I'm going to leave corporate and go do this weird agriculture thing and just see what happens. With kids in varsity. Your family did the bold thing. It wasn't a decision about morality. Because obedience is not just about morality. It's about responding to the voice. I did the bold thing. I could lose everything. But I did the both. I'm going to put it all in the line. Did the both thing. I can go around here, shed people's stories. People in the acting industry directors who keep putting themselves out doing the bold thing. And there's no money on the bank. So in pressure. Don't run with up in scent. Don't evaluate your values. Consider what you believe. And then run with the horses. In pain. Don't retreat. Because you failed. Enter into what's available to you. A grace unspeakable. And begin to press in even further. Back into the places where you failed. And do better. Empower. Don't resist when God is calling. You are never so powerful. You are never so busy that you can't speak to your father. You can't hear his word over you. You are never that busy.