Growing Pains : Overcoming Laziness and Fears

I want to talk about laziness. and fear as two

key drivers that prevent you and I from becoming

everything God created us to be. So let's buckle

up, see what the Bible has to say, close the

doors. Thank you. You'd be surprised how versatile

the Bible is to speak on topics that you might

think are, oh, really, the Bible talks about

that? Yeah. Because God wants us to maximize

our potential. And so today we're going to tackle

some things from a biblical standpoint that will

hopefully free us up to become everything God

wants us to be. Whether you're in your teens

or 20s or up to your 80s, it doesn't matter.

We can all still grow. Amen. We can all still

improve. This is not just a message for young

people. This is a message for all of us in whatever

stage of life we're in. Because part of the challenge

here is to not fix your mindset that it is what

it is and it always continue to be this way.

No, things can't change. With God all things

are possible. Amen. So let's pray that God would

speak to our hearts this morning. Heavenly Father

we thank you for this time together. Thank you

for our children. Thank you God for the beautiful

kids program we have here at Lighthouse. Thank

you for all the leaders and all the volunteers

and everyone that makes it happen. We pray for

them because we want them to grow. We want them

to expand their knowledge base. We want them

to maximize their potential. And so likewise

for us here this morning, God, I pray that you

would speak to our hearts. I pray that you would

speak deep into our hearts. You would help us,

God, to maybe pause for a few minutes and just

hear. Hear your counsel. Hear your wisdom. Hear

your advice. Hear your challenge so that we can

move on. with life not at the same pace but maybe

at a better pace. For some of us a change of

direction is needed. For some of us a change

of attitude is needed. For some of us a change

of mindset is needed. For some of us a change

in effort is required. So whatever it is, God

let us hear this morning and then help us to

do the things you're calling us to do. that we

may see your greatness and your goodness in every

area of our lives and for all the wonderful things

you want to do with and through us by faith in

advance we give you praise as we pray all of

this in the precious name of Jesus and everybody

say in Jesus name amen give God praise one more

time this morning so glad you're here this morning

amen you may be seated we've shared with you

a bit of our mission statement that as a church

we exist so that people that are far from God

can fulfill their potential everybody say potential

So we can fulfill our potential in Christ. It's

not just personal potential. It's not just a

professional potential It's a potential that

is done in partnership with Christ as we learn

more about God as we learn more about the Bible

as we go deeper and deeper in our relationship

with God as we mature in our relationship with

God all of that should drive us to maximize and

fulfill our potential in partnership with Christ

and so I want to just begin this morning by maybe

providing a bit of a challenge to all of us that

personal growth in all areas, spiritual, emotional,

financial, professional, you name it, personal

growth in every area should be a life goal for

each of us. If I ask you what your life goals

are, you might not have any. I would encourage

you to begin to think about what do I want to

accomplish for whatever days God has given me.

Now how many of you know that we're in line?

We're in line to check out. We're all in line.

You might think older people are closer to check

out, but sometimes younger people. You don't

know where in the line you are. Amen. And so

for as long as we're here, we ought to have a

mindset that says I wanna have some goals. When

you stop having goals, you stop living. When

you stop striving, you stop trying. So there's

something that's gotta be inside all of us as

human beings, as children of God. that every

day I aspire for something better, something

greater, whatever that is in our lives. How many

would want a better marriage? I'm sorry, that's

a rough question. You were too quick. Bring it

down, take it back. How many of you would want

your marriage to be even better? All right, sorry.

I just trick questioned. By the way, Careful

on those Coldplay concerts. Careful what you

hugging. Why should all of us have some sort

of personal growth goal? The reason why is because

it's not automatic. It will not just happen.

None of us will just wake up and be better because

of osmosis or passage of time or gravity. It

doesn't happen automatically. And so it takes

effort. It takes drive. It takes discipline.

It takes desire. And there's two big obstacles.

There's many, but I want to focus on two this

morning, two key obstacles, I would call them,

to personal growth. And as I said, those two

things are laziness. Everybody say laziness.

And the second one is fear. Everybody say fear.

So let's take them one at a time. Laziness is

something we need to overcome. I've read some

really interesting studies the last couple of

weeks. And the conclusion that I saw from many

of these studies looking at human behavior is

that humans, all of us, are generally inclined

towards laziness. Our natural preference is rather

to rest than to work. Now that doesn't sound

crazy, right? Like if we're all honest with ourselves,

come on. If you have to work really hard or just

sit back on the couch, most of us would take

the couch. So humans, humans, all the humans

say amen. We're generally naturally inclined

towards laziness. So if that's something that

way it's kind of like sin, we're all sort of

inclined towards sin We're born with a sinful

nature doing the wrong thing. Oftentimes is easier

than doing the right thing Equally being lazy

is more default than working hard And so this

is something we have to choose something we have

to decide now some of you Already kind of have

a head start in that you're just active All of

you who are just naturally active, raise your

hand. You're naturally active. Look how quick

they raise their hand. See that? They're quick.

They're naturally active. The rest of us need

a little prodding. The rest of us need a little

push in order to get things done. I want you

to understand. So that's human nature. Now, if

you look in the Bible, consistently, overwhelmingly,

Old Testament, New Testament throughout, God's

Word instructs us to work hard and to always

try to put our best effort forward, regardless

of what you're doing. Not only in the important

things, even in the little things. That's the

concept from the Word of God. And so if you read

the Bible, if you study the Bible, you will find

in the Bible, again, this is not psychology,

this is not Pastor Sam, this is the Bible. If

you study the Bible, You will find in the Bible

that there's a very clear cause and effect relationship

between hard work and rewards as well as laziness

and ruin. That correlation is throughout scripture.

And so, I would finish this piece by saying if

you read the Bible, if you really read the Bible

in its entirety, you would be able to conclude

that laziness should have no place in the life

and character of a follower of Jesus. You don't

believe me, do you? All right, let me give you

four verses. Just four all from Proverbs. I'm

just gonna stick to Proverbs. There's plenty

I mean you can Google this laziness comma Bible

verses and you'll get a plethora long list. So

let me give you a few To support the fact that

laziness should have no place in the life and

character of us as believers Proverbs 10 4 says

this lazy hands bring poverty But hard -working

hands lead to wealth That's just one verse You

know what? The words get progressively stronger

The slacker all the slacker say amen Just my

check to see me that you're not asleep the slacker

craves Yet has nothing But the soul of the diligent

is fully satisfied. I mean, that's a good verse

When you don't feel like getting up in the morning

go to work remember Proverbs 13 for And I love

I love the The concept that introduces the slacker

craves it's not the slacker doesn't crave It's

like the slacker doesn't want it's not like the

slacker doesn't desire Actually, the slacker

craves, wants things, desires things, but yet

they have nothing because of their laziness.

But the soul of the diligent, mind you that.

So notice the first verse is very financially

driven. Look at the second verse. The soul of

the diligent. This is way bigger than just money.

This is way bigger than just financial stuff.

The soul, who you are, your identity at your

core. The soul, your deepest place, the soul

of the diligent is fully satisfied. We exist

so that people far from God can fulfill their

potential in Christ. The soul of the diligent

will be fully satisfied. So pause here and ask

yourself, is my soul fully satisfied? On the

inside, am I content? with where I'm at in life?

Am I happy with what I've reached, achieved,

or accomplished? Or is there something in me

that's not yet satisfied? If it's not yet satisfied,

then be diligent to go after it. Amen? Proverbs

24. The lazy man will not plow because of winter.

He will beg during harvest and have nothing.

The lazy man will not plow because of winter.

In other words, sometimes hard work comes at

a difficult time. During winter, it's cold. During

winter, it's raining or snowing. But there's

certain things you have to do in winter time.

so that in springtime, you can actually harvest

something. How many of you already figured this

out? If you don't plant anything, you can't reap

anything. And sometimes the planting happens

in winter. Sometimes the season of your life

where you have to work hard are difficult seasons.

I think life is backwards. I think once you finish

high school, you should be able to retire for

30 years. And once you've done all the fun stuff,

then you can work when you're old. Wouldn't that

be nice? How many would like to retire at 18?

I'm talking fully funded pension. Wouldn't that

be awesome? But that's not how life works. The

way life works is you have to plant during difficult

seasons. You have to hustle when it's cold. You

have to work hard when it's not convenient. You

have to get out of bed when it's cold. The lazy

person will not plow. Notice plow in the old

words when they used to dig the trenches where

the seed goes. That's work. That's effort. But

how many of you know on a cold day if you're

digging ditches the cold goes away fast? Lazy

men will not plow. Because it's winter. I will

say it differently or expand to that. The lazy

person will always have a convenient excuse why

they're not doing what they're supposed to do.

They'll always have an excuse. There will always

be a reason. There will always be some justification

as to why or Proverbs 6, 6. Take a lesson from

the ants, you lazy bones. I love the Bible. learn

from their ways and become wise. If you keep

reading verse seven, eight, nine, 10, it says,

look, the ants, they have no boss, they have

no supervisor, right? They don't have a whole

corporate structure. But guess what? The ants

in summer, they look for food, they gather and

they store it because they know in winter they

can't go out and get it. So if you don't work

in the summer to get the food into your little

colony, Then in winter time, there'll be nothing

to eat and you can't go out because you'll die

in the cold. So an ant, how big is the brain

of an ant? Yet that ant knows, this is my season

to work. This is my time to gather. This is when,

and I can't eat it all, I gotta save some. Ooh,

come on, all you who struggle with saving. The

ant knows, if I eat it all, During winter when

I can't go out I'll die So I gotta eat some and

save some eat some save some and save enough

because winter's long So for those three four

months of cold where the ants can't come out

and do their thing They have to store enough

during summer so that in winter they can have

something to eat so the Bible says Take a lesson

from the ant I have 34 scriptures on laziness.

These are just four. There's a whole bunch of

them. But you get the point. Amen? So I wanted

to point out here, this. Laziness is a choice.

We all choose that. And I'm not talking about

lazy moments here and there. How many of you

enjoy a little lazy morning? A little more lazy

morning on a Saturday or a lazy afternoon like

when your work is done. I love that. I love that.

I enjoy that. But you know what? You appreciate

it more when you have less of them. And so listen.

So I like these sermons. to not be forgotten

when you leave. So as you go home over the next

week, I'm sure as you walk around the house or

your backyard or as you're walking to Walmart

somewhere or Vons, you might see a little ant

walking by. When you see that ant, remember this.

That's how we keep the message going all week.

I don't want you to be infested with ants, but

when you see one, remember. So laziness is a

choice. Guess what else is a choice? Hard work

is a choice choose between Now from the beginning

of time literally from the beginning of time

when God created us notice in Genesis chapter

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

2 What the Bible says? The Lord God took the

man put him in the Garden of Eden to what? To

work it and take care of it So from the beginning

the very first human Adam God says I'm gonna

put you in a good place But when you get up in

the morning, I expect you to work it. I Expect

you to take care of it. I Expect you to not let

it get overrun by weeds. I expect you to keep

it clean I expect you to keep it tight. I expect

you to work. I'm not just putting you here in

a hammock I'm putting you in a garden, but I'm

expecting you to work. That's the very first

human. And you can go on through the scriptures

and find countless examples of the choice of

hard work. Now, I won't ask you to raise your

hand, but some of us here might not like your

job. Or some of you don't like your boss. Or

some of you don't like your job and you're the

boss. Maybe a different careers in order So It's

easy to say you know what when I get the perfect

job in the perfect company working for the perfect

boss with the perfect co -workers Then I'm gonna

give it my all That utopia rarely happens Between

now and then here's the advice from the Word

of God whatever you do Whether you like it or

not whether it's complicated or easy, whether

you enjoy it, whatever you do, whatever your

job is, work at it, how? I'm gonna encourage

all of us here, when you go back to work tomorrow,

you give me a favor, work harder than normal.

Go back to work tomorrow and work harder than

normal. Watch what happens. Just work harder

than normal. Whatever you do work at it with

all your heart as though you were working for

who? How many of us would work a little bit harder

if Jesus Christ was your boss? Like he was your

direct supervisor How many would show up on time

stay a little later? Maybe less multitasking

Less wasting a time. I mean if Jesus was your

boss, you know picture Jesus in a suit Jesus

is your boss. I don't know about you, but I pay

attention to that. Here comes the boss, like

literally here comes the boss. So Jesus says,

you know what? If it helps you, pretend Jesus

is your boss. Whatever you do. I don't care what

industry, what company, what rank. It doesn't

matter. Whatever it is, whatever it is you do,

Work at it with all your heart as though you

were working for the Lord and not for people.

That's an attitude shift. That's a mindset shift.

That's a rearranging of our heart. Because all

of us can have really good excuses why I don't

work, I don't like the man. He's the man. Jesus

Christ, let's work for him. Whatever you do,

give it your all. Now this becomes important

because time goes. I always find it interesting

when David said, I once was young and now I'm

old. He says it in one sentence. And it really

feels like it happens that way, don't it? Young

people, trust me, before you know it, you'll

be old. And for some of you, let me just tell

you. You're old. Your strength diminishes. Your

stamina diminishes. Your ability, your body begins

to not do what it used to do. I'm feeling it.

So here's the advice from Ecclesiastes chapter

Ecclesiastes 9 · chapter mention

9. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with

all your might. For in the realm of the dead

Where you are going There is neither working

nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom Said differently

this is when? This is when right now I Got news

for all of you here this morning. You will never

be younger than you are right now That's it rear

-view mirror ahead of you knee pain, back aches,

arthritis. Those are words you don't know when

you're 20, but you'll become familiar. You know

all those commercials they show on TV for old

people? I used to get mad at them. Once in a

while I'm like, huh, what is that again? So folks,

these three verses combined paint a story. God

expects us to work hard. Whatever you're doing,

give it your best. And by the way, your strength

only diminishes with time. So give it the best

you can right now. Amen. Turn to the person next

to you and tell them, stop being lazy. Aren't

you glad you came to church today? All right,

let me switch gears really quick. Again, folks,

I love you. I want us to maximize our potential.

So, laziness, key obstacle that keeps us from

becoming who God created us to be. Just laziness,

lack of drive, lack of energy, lack of umph.

In sports, They often say, you can't teach hustle.

You can't teach hustle, right? That's something

you gotta self -generate. In addition to our

tendency for laziness and taking it easy, another

key obstacle for our personal growth is fear.

I wanna talk briefly about fear. Now, healthy

fear, healthy fear is a natural response. to

perceive threats, helping to protect us from

danger, right? God put fear as an emotion, an

awareness, because for example, if you're walking

down a path, all the hiking folks, if you're

hiking and you see a rattlesnake coiled in front

of you, how many of you would be scared a little

bit, a little fear? Why, that's only four of

us? The rest of you like handle snakes? What

kind of Pentecostals are you? That's healthy

fear. You see a snake? You back off. That's healthy

fear. You should. There's a real threat in front

of you. So healthy fear is good. It keeps us

from getting in trouble. It keeps us from getting

hurt. It keeps us from injuring ourselves. It

keeps us from getting into things that we know

are gonna be dangerous for us. So healthy fear

is good. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm

talking about unhealthy fear, which is a disproportionate

or persistent fear that leads to avoiding or

having anxiety even though there isn't a clear

threat. It's just being afraid of things that

are not real, things that are not as present

as you think they are. It's unreasonable. It

is disproportionate. You ever see that? Can you

imagine a NFL linebacker, six, three, 250 pounds

walking down the street and he sees a little

spider and he starts jumping on top of a car?

Be like, dude. I don't advocate that, but you

get my point. Your fear is disproportionate to

the threat. And a lot of us do not strive for

greater things. A lot of us settle for less than

God's best because there's something we're afraid

of. And so this sort of unhealthy fear, is that

exactly the type of fear we have to overcome

in order to grow and reach our gut -giving potential.

I did some research and found some really good

stuff, some studies from psychology today and

other sources, good sources. Because my question

was, if fear is a reason why a lot of us don't

reach our potential, And I'm not talking about

us reaching something that's unreasonable. I'm

talking about reaching our potential Right. I'm

not comparing you with anybody else. This is

not a race This this is really a race with you

to maximize your potential. That's it. That's

the only competition that really matters Can

you maximize your potential? So this is not about

comparing contrasting. I'm talking about you

So when you think about what my thought was,

okay, what are the things what are the types

of fears? that most commonly prevent you and

me from reaching our own potential. What are

those? And so as I researched that, there was

a long list, let me give you just eight, that

kept coming up in different sources. Most common

types of fears that stop us from even trying

to reach our full potential. And let me stop

you for a second and say this. I've learned this

over time and God confirmed this in my heart

many, many times. For a lot of us, in certain

seasons of our life, we feel frustrated with

where we're at, or where we're not, or where

we should be. We're just frustrated. And often

times when we feel frustrated, our immediate

reaction is to blame the devil. and pray God

take away this frustration, God take away this

frustration, God help me with this frustration

and often times it's not the devil many times

I have found in my own life it is God's very

own Holy Spirit trying to wrestle you out of

your complacency trying to move you out of your

status quo trying to shake you out of your stuckness

And God's own Holy Spirit trying to create through

frustration the impetus to go higher. To try

that. Many of you here today, in your jobs for

example, are a level or two below where you know

you could be. Why is that? That happened in my

own career early on until I began to see people

less qualified Raise their hand when I didn't

and also now I'm working for somebody that I

knew didn't have it and that frustration Was

not to be mad at the company or mad at them.

I learned I gotta be mad at me I should have

said something I could have but because of fear

because of your own insecurities, because of

your own reasons and excuses. We don't do that.

And then you end up stuck under somebody that

should be under you. And if you're not careful,

that's gonna happen over and over and over again

in your life. And so what are these things? Let

me give you a list of the top eight I saw. Most

common types of fears. That stopped us from even

trying to reach our full potential This is obvious

right fear of failure What if I? Apply for the

promotion, and I don't get it Well you don't

get it But you know what happens to someone that

does this When someone raises their hand from

our promotion or for a new role, and we don't

give it to them You know what I say I'm glad

to know he wants this I'm glad to know she's

aspiring for leadership. It's good to know. It

wasn't your time yet. Or maybe somebody was more

qualified in this moment than you were. But the

fact that you raised your hand lets me know you

want something later on. So I'm gonna keep my

eye on you. Even when you don't get it, you still

win. So don't let fear of failure preclude you

from even trying. We'll be here till tomorrow

if I got the space. Let me go faster. Guess what

else is a thing? Fear of success. Oh my God,

if I get it, oh my God, that would be so hard.

No, you got this. If God is before me, who can

be against me? Right? Sometimes we're afraid

of our own success. Oh my God, I like that girl,

she's so cute. What if I ask her out and she

says yes? Oh my God. You'll never know until

you ask. And if she says yes, that's what you

wanted fool. Fear of rejection. We all felt that

at times. For anyone that rejects you, there's

always somebody else that will gladly take you.

Right? Fear of a challenge. Take it easy. Oh

no, I'm gonna have to work harder. Yeah. Kind

of what comes with, you know, they say higher

levels bring new devils. Yeah. As you climb higher,

it gets harder. Yeah, but you got it. You got

a whole trajectory, a whole history of experiences

to equip you for the next thing. Don't be afraid

of that. Fear of others' opinions, oh boy. Especially

in today's social media obsessed world. Oh my

God, what are they gonna think? I don't care

what they think. You do you. Fear of responsibility.

Fear of being an imposter or being found out

Impostor syndrome is a big thing at the highest

circles Fear of commitment. Oh my god, if I get

a promotion, I'm gonna have to show up on time

every day. Yeah Yeah My prayer is that you and

I don't get to our deathbed at some point in

the future. Look back at our lives and realize,

man, I coulda, shoulda, woulda. Don't, that's

like my biggest fear. That's one of the things

that drives me is that. I wanna die an old man,

tired. That I, I wanna get to heaven, anybody

else wanna get to heaven? I wanna get to heaven

and I want God to say, Sam, you did more than

I thought you could. Like I didn't give you that

many I only gave you a couple little gifts and

you did all right That's what I want to hear

I supposed to I gave you all this And you were

happy just doing that Can you imagine? standing

in front of God and Him showing you the picture

the movie of what your life could have been had

you overcome your fears and trusted him more

But because of fear because the laziness we didn't

do that. Oh, no No, no, no, not me and I pray

not any of us Amen Amen Amen So, how do we overcome

our fears who talk fast listen fast Psalms 27

one the Lord is my light and my salvation Whom

shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my

life. Of whom shall I be afraid? Beautiful verse,

but you got to live it. You got to feel it. You

got to believe it. You got to experience it.

Psalm 56, I'm saying again, I'm not saying don't

ever be afraid. No, no, we all get scared of

things. I just stepped into a new role at work.

It's a big role. Yeah, it's a little scary. I

call it skited. I'm a little scared, a little

excited. And skited fuels me. Because you got

to balance it. Yeah, it's scary. But it's also

exciting. It's also... Psalm 56. When I am afraid,

I'm going to put my trust in you. I praise God

for what he has promised. What has God promised

you? What promises has God given us? You know,

so when I get afraid, I remember those promises.

I begin to praise God for those promises. I trust

in God. So why should I be afraid? What can mere

mortals do to me? I love that. That's a great

line. I say at 41, don't be afraid for I am with

you. Don't be discouraged. For I am your God.

I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold

you up with my victorious right hand. Folks,

either you believe it or you don't. And if you

believe it, get after it. If you believe it,

step over your fears with that promise. It's

not that the fear will go away. It's not that

the fear won't be there. No, no. I've learned

in my life, in my 56 year of life, the best things

I've done, I've done, I'm afraid. If there's

no fear involved, it's probably not big enough.

Big things are gonna be scary things. Amen? Big

things are scary things. Don't you think there

was fear in a 29 year old Sam? to start Lighthouse

Church? I was afraid at 29. I didn't know this.

I had never been a pastor before. I hadn't been

responsible for people. I never preached that

much, taught that much, organized that much.

I had never done this. I was 29 when this journey

started. I was scared. I was afraid. But my faith

was greater than my fear. And let me tell you,

my fear was high. So therefore my faith had to

be higher. This church wouldn't be here. At least

in its current form and shape. If we would have

let fear, Pastor Ruben, keep us. We're sitting

at my kitchen table trying to come up. What do

we call this thing, remember that? Yeah, big

things are scary. But the bigger the fear, the

stronger the faith. That's the choice before

us. So finish with this. Just reflecting on all

this. Our drive for personal growth must be greater

than our affinity for comfort and what's easy.

Comes down to that. If you read the Bible, laziness

is cured with hard work. The medicine for laziness

is work hard. Begin to see the reward and the

benefit of hard work and the laziness goes away.

On the fear side, fear is conquered by faith.

That is the weapon. Let me tell you this one

thing. Fear And faith occupy the same place in

your heart. They fight for the same space. The

more fear you have, the less faith you'll have.

The more faith you have, the less room for fear

there'll be. They occupy, they fight for the

same space. Does that make sense to you? So I

want you to think about the proportion in that

space in your life. What is the proportion? Is

it 50 -50? Is it 70 % fear, 30 % faith? Is it

95 % fear, 5 % faith? Is it 80 % faith, 20 %

fear? What is that? You need to know that. You

need to look inside into your dashboard, into

your gauge. Find out where it's at. I'll finish

and say the journey. And I'm still on the journey

with you. The journey to maximize our potential

won't be easy. If it was easy, everybody would

do it. Won't be easy, but it will definitely

be worth it. So this morning, as we all stand

to our feet, if God has spoken to you in a very

clear way in some area of your life based on

everything we've heard, and if you're ready to,

if you're ready to take some steps in a better

direction, I want you to come to this altar.

We want to pray with you. Come on. If this message

was a blessing to your life, I encourage you

to share it with others. I invite you to visit

us online at gotolighthouse .org to stay connected

and see how you can continue supporting today's

message. God bless you and we'll see you next

week.