Testing The Structures: How to Determine if What's Being Built in Your Life is Godly

The first one says, testing the structures at

the top, and it has today's date on it. Okay,

so we start from the top down. All right, so

what we're going to do is we're going to learn

how to know when something is being built in

our life, either are we doing it and God's not

doing it, or something else, someone else or

something else is doing it and God's not doing

it. How to know when that is true, and then...

how to know what to do about it. So I say if

something's happening in your life and you're

like, hey, this seems to be like I'm going in

a certain direction here. Is that a direction

God wants me to go in or is it not? And then

if it isn't, what do I do about it? So that's

what we're trying to do. So first thing is you're

going to have to discern or think about what

is being built in your life. So not every new

thing in our lives is automatically from God.

I used to have a friend of mine, a mentor of

mine used to say, well, if God didn't want me

to do it, he wouldn't open the door. not true

right so god literally put the forbidden fruit

in the center of the garden of eden but told

adam and eve not to eat it so there was nothing

blocking them from going to get it and but they

weren't supposed to go and get it right so there

are things that are in our lives that just because

something's happening it's moving in a certain

direction it does not mean that's of god sometimes

you have to fight you have to resist you have

to decide is this of god or not okay so examples

are plans relationships you have to watch that

watch the blank because i don't know i don't

have the blank one now because i gave them all

to Kishan. So watch for the blanks as you hit

the blanks. If you miss a blank, we'll go back

and get it. Not every new thing in our lives

is automatically from God. Plans, relationships,

opportunities, suffering, success, conflict,

even quote, good ideas, which I think is a blank.

Yes. There's a bucket of pens in the back. Oh,

here's a pencil. I have a pen. I gave him mine

for now. Alright, so the middle, that blank in

the middle is a G. That way also I can ask you

the blanks as we go so it'll be more fun like

a puzzle. Okay? Alright. So scripture teaches

us to test what is being built, who is building

it, and whether the final result creates unity

under Christ or a house divided. Okay, so we're

going to read Luke 11, 17. Is everyone going

to read scripture? If you want to read, you've

got to have a Bible and start flipping through

the pages because we've got quite a few verses

here. Volunteers, going once. Okay, I've got

Luke 17, 1. I'll read this one. You can look

ahead to the next one. Somebody can get Isaiah

43, 19. I have a little summary of them here

in front of you, but they may not be exactly

what the verse says. So Luke 17 .1 says, And

he said to the disciples, It's impossible that

no offenses should come, but woe to them. I just

read the wrong verse. It's 11, 17, not 17, 1.

Okay, 11, 17. Here we go. Try again. Okay, or

in divided against itself, a house falls. So

here's the point. Jesus is establishing a warning

principle here. This is a watch out for this.

If you're divided, you're in trouble. So it says

division eventually what? What's the D? What

do you think? Division eventually destroys what

appears stable. So in other words, you can go

down a road that you're not actually supposed

to be going down for a while. And if you don't

understand that what you're building is unstable

or creating a division in your life, then eventually

you're going to crash. You're going to be like,

oh, I'm making these decisions. It seems like

it's working. I'm getting ahead. It seems like

it's working. Or, man, life is rough, but it's

rough for everybody, so how is this any different

than it is for anybody else? You're plugging

away at it, but you're building two things. The

God thing, I'm faithful, I love the Lord, etc.,

and the world thing, whatever that other thing

is, and eventually there's going to come a conflict

between the two. So division eventually destroys

what appears stable. We're going to read Isaiah

43, 19. Got it? Chris, go ahead. Okay, so not

every new development is dangerous. So you've

got something brand new coming to your life,

and you go, okay, I don't know, this is scary.

And we do that a lot. Like with change, people

are afraid of change. In fact, there was this

whole era, about 10 years, where a whole bunch

of books were written. People made a lot of money

on books about change, like who moved my church,

who moved my house, who moved my job. It was

all about this little mouse in a maze and how

they were freaked out by change. So people are

very nervous about change, but not every development.

is dangerous. God genuinely does initiate new

seasons in our life. So there's a new time to

not do what we were doing before, new times now.

New burdens, right? So sometimes life should

be hard. Sometimes it is going to be tough. New

assignments. I was doing this. I knew what I

was supposed to do with my life. Now I realize

God's doing something new. That does happen.

New growth. I've been getting by for a long time

doing it my way. And it's worked. My way works.

And then now something comes up where your way

doesn't work anymore. So now you have to learn

a new way, right? So those are all things. And

then that verse ends with the idea of God saying,

will you not recognize that I'm doing a new thing?

Won't you see that it's me doing? this thing

and join me in it. So this is the choice that

we have to make between is it God or is it not

God? Okay, 1 Corinthians 3, 9 to 13. That's kind

of a long one. There's 1 Corinthians 3. I can't

get it. Which one? Okay, not, yeah, yep, dangerous.

Not every new development is dangerous, okay?

All right, 1 Corinthians 3, 9 to 13. For some

of us, this will seem a little familiar. For

we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field.

You are God's building. Sorry. Now, if anyone

builds on this foundation with gold, silver,

precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, each one's

work will become clear. For the day will declare

it, because it will be revealed by fire. and

the fire will test each one's work of what sort

it is. So we have the foundation, which is Jesus

Christ. If you got saved, you have it. If you're

a follower of Jesus, you have that. Now, what

you build on that, that matters, right? And someday

that's going to be tested. That's what Paul is

saying. Someday it's going to be tested. So Paul

is teaching that every life is under construction.

Does that sound familiar, Josh? Yep. Every life

is under construction and that the materials

and the motives and the foundations will eventually

be tested by fire. So the C is construction.

Every life is under construction. So what you're

making it with, why you're doing it the way you're

doing it, and the foundation. Foundations, right?

So you could be seven steps in. You could be

putting the roof on. If the foundation is bad,

somewhere along the line, you went wrong. And

you look at that at the end product, and you're

like, I did something wrong here. I'm not where

I thought I was going to be. This is not what

God was trying to do, okay? So we're going to

read next 1 John 4 .1. Go ahead. Okay. So John

is saying like super clearly, okay, not everything

that you get going on in you, not every spirit,

not every idea, not every anything, right, is

of God. But we are to test these influences rather

than to just receive them. Like people, like

whatever comes along to me, you know, my friends

all say I should do this. So then they do it.

Or I saw it on TV. I could check that out. But

you have to first test, he says, every spirit,

whether they are of God or not. Okay. All right.

That brings us to stunt number one. I'll tell

you what it has to do with. And then you can

decide, oh my gosh, that's tough. Okay, you can

decide whether or not you want to try it or not.

It uses a ball and a chopstick. So if you want

to try it, you can get up. I have about, I think

it's seven or eight chopsticks. One, two, three,

four. Yes, a ball and a chopstick. Okay, so what

you have to do is you have to bounce the ball

Four times in a row off the top stick. If you

drop it, you have to start over again. So you

have to take your ball. I don't know if I can

do it. And it has to drop it onto the top stick.

You have to do it one time and go up in the air.

You have to hit it again, again, and again. Four

times. If you hit it four times in a row, you

can't touch it in between. You have to hit it.

That was three. All right. Anyway, so when I

say you only get 60 seconds, so don't start yet.

Don't name your balls for the team. Okay. Back

on task. So every season builds. The Bible says

that life has seasons. To every season there

is a purpose. And so every season builds. Every

season builds something. Some seasons will build

faith. Bad things are happening. I trust God.

God brings me out of it. That brings faith, right?

Some seasons build wisdom. I didn't know what

to do. I prayed. God gave me wisdom. Or I tried

a few things, and the third thing seemed really

godly, and it worked. So that's wisdom. Patience.

Some seasons, you've just got to wait. You're

waiting on God to act. You're waiting on things

to work out right. So it could be patience. Some

is humility. You are not as big or as powerful

or as important in your story as you thought

you were. And you start to learn, it really is

a story about God and the kingdom and God's people.

So you get humble. Some seasons build dependence

on God. So I really have to trust God to do what

it was that God wanted to do. Some seasons build

pride. See, I did that. That was me. I did that.

Get a trophy and feel good about yourself. Some

seasons build double -mindedness. God wants me

to do this, and I'm doing that. So I guess I'm

left over time. I'm going to do this too. God

doesn't want me to do that, but it's not sin.

He's not telling me to do it. He's not telling

me not to do it. I'm going to do that. So now

I'm double -minded because I've got what God

wants me to do, but I've also got what I'm doing

over here that isn't what God wants me to do.

So some seasons build double -mindedness. Some

seasons build secret. Anybody want to take a

stab at it? That's not bad. I had put compromise.

In other words, externally, I stay faithful to

God, but internally, I'm making little adjustments.

So now instead of going to worship because I

want to learn and grow and worship the Lord and

all that kind of thing, we're in the back of

the first page. Then now I'm like just going

just because I go. It's because it seems like

the right thing to do or whatever. Or compromise,

secret compromise. Compromise is C -O -M -P -R

-O -M -I -S -E. Okay. Some seasons build bitterness.

Start thinking, man, it's not going the way I

want, and it's not ever going to go the way I

want, and I'm upset about it. And you start saying

kind of negative things and being a negative

person. Some seasons build false identity. You

think you're something or someone that you're

not. Some seasons build divided loyalties. So

loyal to my friends, loyal to my family, loyal

to God, loyal to my sin, loyal to this guy that

moved into the neighborhood next to me that says

things I like to hear and does things I like

to see. Or loyal to my paycheck, loyal to God.

but also loyal to my paycheck, right? So some

seasons build divided loyalties. The danger is

not just destruction. In fact, if you're saved,

you're not actually in danger of destruction

yourself because you're going to heaven when

you die if you're saved. You're not in danger

of destruction, right? But your life could still

crash down around you, but that isn't even the

danger. So that could happen, and if you build

a divided life, it will happen. The danger is

actually becoming structurally divided while

still appearing spiritually. intact. I want you

to think about this. If you think you're living

for the Lord and you're actually living for the

Lord, that's a great place to be, isn't it? If

you think you're living for the Lord, but you're

not actually living for the Lord, you're just

kind of living sort of like the way the Lord

would want you to live, that's not a very good

place to be. And if you think you're living for

the Lord, but you're not actually living for

the Lord, but you still think you're living for

the Lord, that's a bad place to be. You're never

going to solve it. You're never going to figure

it out. You're always going to think, well, I'm

still okay. It's one thing to be not living for

the Lord and get it. Like, I get it. I'm struggling.

I'm trying to find a way to get this right. That's

one thing. I knew a lady that she got saved,

and after she got saved, I knew her for almost

20 years. And she fought lying for 20 years.

But she was transparent about it. She was struggling

with it. She would say things that were not true.

She'd come back and repent of it. She would accept

it. She would admit it, right? And you can't

fault her for that. Could she, should she maybe

have stopped? That's another problem, right?

Probably she could have at different points stopped.

But at least she was in the fight. At least she

was recognizing, yeah, I shouldn't have said

that. It was a lie or whatever. Then I know a

lady who was basically like a pathological liar.

She lied up until she was saved. She got saved.

She lied for another 15 years after she was saved.

And she never owned one of them. She never admitted

that she was lying. She didn't say that she was

struggling with it. Nothing. Which one of them

was better off? The one who was constantly having

to say, I'm sorry I screwed up because she was

admitting that she had a problem? Or the one

who was always going, oh, yeah, I'm good. I don't

ever tell a lie. Well, it was the one who was

always admitting that she had a problem. potentially

she beat the problem, right? She actually would

overcome. You have to own that you have a problem

and then overcome it. But if you keep pretending

that your house is solid, when it's not, you're

in real trouble. So here's where we're at then.

Those were all kind of like the whereases, how

important it is that we do what we're doing.

Now we're going to ask ourselves, how do I identify

new things in my life that are building structures?

So if something has come into my life and things

are building, if you have built a structure in

your life, that means it's not going to go away.

And if it's a bad structure, that means it's

going to stay and it's going to continue to be

a problem. Whereas if you build a structure in

your life and it's good, then it's going to stay

and continue to be a good thing. So let's say,

for example, God convicts you. You start a habit

of going to bed at a decent time every night.

And you start doing that. And after a couple

of years, you've built that as a habit. So now

you're going to bed at a decent time every night.

Well, that's a structure. And it's a structure

that will serve you well because you're doing

it because God told you to do it and made it

possible for you to do that. Let's say, on the

other hand, you build a structure to stay up

until 1, 2 o 'clock in the morning watching TV

every morning, even when you've got to get up

at 7 or 8 a .m. And so you've built a structure

to stay up late. Now it's time to get up at 7

a .m. And now you're only getting five and a

half hours sleep. you stayed up late that's a

bad structure okay so structures in our lives

are things that are built and then they push

us in a certain direction right so anything repeatedly

shaping your thoughts desires Priorities, let

me break those down. So your thoughts are just

what's in your head, right? Whatever you happen

to be thinking. Your desires are what you want.

Your priorities are what you think is important,

one thing over another. Your habits, like what

you'll repeat. Like I'll do this again and again

and again. You kind of get used to it. Your fears,

what you're afraid of. Your identity, right?

In other words, who you think you are. All of

those things are there. If they're repeatedly

shaping those things, then they're building something

in you. And if you start thinking like, if you

start thinking I'm too dumb. do math let's say

and people tell you and your grades aren't great

or some pretty senior thing you will literally

it's possible for you to live your whole life

believing you're too dumb to do math and it happens

to people and it isn't true right no one's too

dumb to do math unless they're literally like

maybe autistic or you know really struggle with

that kind of thing but people can do it and even

a person like that might they could do math and

just take them more work they're gonna have to

really work at it to get where they gotta get

right so we don't want the we're talking about

identifying them right now okay so We're going

to read Isaiah 43, 19. Anybody got it? I'll race

you. I'll bet I'll be there. 43. Ta -da. Oh,

it's over there. Nobody beat me. Okay. Isaiah

43, 19 says, Behold, I will do a new thing. Now

it shall spring forth. Shall you not know it?

I will even make a road in the wilderness and

rivers in the desert. Okay, so here we go. These

are the signs in your life that something is

structurally formative, right? In other words,

it's making a structure in your life, forming

a structure that's going to stick. It's going

to stay if it changes your priorities. In other

words, if I start thinking, man, I want to make

sure I do this. So I'm going to have to let that

go because this is important to me, right? Positive

way, like I'm going to have to let things go

between 1130 and 130 on Sunday because I know

where I'm going to. be right so that changes

your priorities i'm not going to be mowing lawn

i'm not going to be working i'm not going to

be cooking i'm not going to be cleaning i'm not

going to be shopping my priority at that time

is being that would be a good example of a priority

right but a bad example of priority might be

you know i'm going to make sure i always get

to eat dessert with every meal Or I've got to

make sure that people think good of me. I always

want everybody to think good of me, even when

I'm making a mistake, right? Those are bad priorities

because then they would change the outcome. What

suddenly receives your energy? All of a sudden,

you're putting a lot of energy into it, right?

What occupies your imagination? When you're sitting

alone just daydreaming, what are you thinking

about? Young people a lot of times think about,

like, what are they going to be when they grow

up, right? Well, that's a structure. When I was

a kid, I was going to be Zorro or the Lone Ranger.

That's what I was going to be when I was, from

the time I was in probably kindergarten to the

time I was like in fifth grade, I was going to

be Zorro or the Lone Ranger. You can't be Zorro

or the Lone Ranger. Those are individuals, right?

So I couldn't be that. So then when I got to

be, by third grade, I started to be the Lone

Ranger, but it'd be good enough if I could just

be a cowboy, right? And I would daydream about

being a cowboy, but that's not beneficial. It's

also not really hurtful, but it's not beneficial.

So what occupies your imagination? Are you dreaming

about being wealthy? If you're dreaming about

being wealthy, then you've got a structure building

in your life. So the next thing is it changes

your emotional reactions. When you experience

that, do you have more peace, more anger, more

fear, more envy because of those things? So if

something that's in your life gives you more

peace, more anger, more fear, or more envy, envy

is when you want what somebody else has or want

to be like they are or have as much money as

they do or be wealthy like they are, that kind

of thing. That's envy. So if it gives you more

peace, anger, fear, or envy, then it's building

a structure. It changes your spiritual. consistency.

Does overnight, does it begin to affect how much

you pray? So if something happens in your life,

let's say you get a job, and all of a sudden

you're on the job and you're working a lot more,

so you're praying a lot less. I know somebody

that's actually happened to, a good friend of

mine, in fact. He got a job working 40, 50 hours

a week, and he was praying 5, 10 times a day,

actively getting away with the Lord, praying.

He was only listening to Christian radio. He

was reading the Bible all the time like that.

He got this job, started 50 hours a week, and

now he's praying once or twice a day. He's hardly

reading his Bible. And he says it's the worst

decision he ever made. It made him financially

successful, but it was impacting his prayer life

in a negative way. And, of course, if it's impacting

in a positive way, then it's formulative in a

good way. Church involvement. Does it impact

your church involvement? Are you more involved

with the church or are you less involved with

the church? If it's either one of those, then

it's creating a structure. Scripture hunger.

Does it cause you to not want to read the Bible?

So you pick up and start reading a fiction series,

and it's good. It's a good book, and there's

no sin in it. There's nothing really wrong in

it, right? But now there's six books in this

chain, and for the four months you're reading

those six books, you're not reading your Bible

at all. That's bad. Right. So it's formulative

in a bad way. Integrity. So integrity is when

we're whole. Right. So it has the same root word

as integer. And an integer is a whole number.

It doesn't have decimals. It doesn't have fractions.

And so if I'm a whole person and that whole thing

is settled around something. So I have a center

and all my stuff is in line with my center. But

if I start, say I start dating a girl, I'm a

teenager, 20 something, I start dating again.

I'm dating. I took a little break after a breakup

because it wasn't good. Now I'm dating again.

And this person starts to throw me off center.

So I'm learning about jazz. I really like jazz.

And because I really like jazz, I'm spending

time with her doing jazz. Now I'm not reading

my Bible so much. I'm not praying so much. I'm

not worried about going to church so much. That's

throwing me off center. That's not good. Whereas

the other way, if it's building integrity in

me, like I'm living for Jesus, say I'm dating

a Christian girl, and she starts encouraging

me to do it right, do it right, be serious. Take

yourself seriously. Be serious. and I start doing

that, then that's a positive, right? Right now

we're just looking at identifying when they exist.

It creates repeated patterns. If it's something

you would do and you would do it again. So for

example, I have to take the garbage out of my

house. I take the garbage out about five times

a week and on Sunday nights I take it out for

Monday in the morning. So that's what I'm doing

every night, every Sunday night late. I'm taking

the garbage can to the curb so it can be picked

up. That's a pattern, right? Which means it's

a structure in my life. Which means at some point

in time I could have to make a decision between

taking the garbage garbage to the curb and doing

something else that I'm supposed to be doing,

right? So be aware of structures that are forming

in your life. So I'm the one that washes the

dishes. I always have to wash the dishes. That's

a structure in your life. Anything that creates

repeated patterns. One moment rarely builds a

structure. If you do something, that doesn't

just do it. That's why habits are so hard to

create. You have to do something 40 times for

it to really become a solid habit. They say 40

days in a row. So one moment rarely builds a

structure, but repetition builds structure. If

you do something over and over, if you tie your

shoes this Same way, every time you tie your

shoes, then eventually that's the way you're

going to tie your shoes. And to tie your shoes

some other way would be challenging to you, right?

I tie my tie the same way every time. And every

time somebody asks me to tie a tie for them,

I'm always trying to tie it the way I tie my

tie, right? Because it's a structure in my life.

And it's kind of a good structure, but it could

be bad if I'm not careful, okay? So what new

things then have entered your life recently?

Think about it for a second. We're not going

to talk about it out loud. But have you personally

experienced... New opportunity, relationship,

new pressure, new hurt. Somebody did something

that made you feel bad, whatever. Those are all

things that then could become formative. How

about ambition? Do you have something that you're,

I want to do this. I'm excited about this. I'm

looking forward to this, right? Or disappointment.

I didn't go the way I wanted to. Something happened

like that to you recently? What are those things

building? So when you have a thing that can build,

you then have to decide, is it building something

good? Is it building something bad, right? So

now this is where we're getting into. the actual

sermons, and in a second we're going to ask the

question, how do I determine who is building

the new structures? But before we do that, stunt

number two. So we're on stunt number two. What

you have to do is you have to toss the ball in

the air in front of you, and then you have to

spin completely around and catch it in front

of you. So you're going to throw it up in the

air. Okay? And go ahead. Did you do it already?

All right, let's see. I still believe you did

it, but I just want to see it. You're supposed

to catch it in front of you. So on that top part

where other seasons build, there were several

blanks. The first one was secret compromise.

Both of the next two blanks are danger. The danger

is not merely destruction. The danger is becoming

structurally divided while still appearing spiritually

intact. Danger, danger. Danger, danger! Okay.

And then shaping your thoughts. And then that

was it on that page. Okay. We finished stunt

number two. How do you determine who is building

the new structures? Not every builder has the

same agenda. Just because something is being

crafted in your life, it can be a good thing.

Like your mom or dad are pretty likely to try

to build good things. in your life. God, obviously,

has been trying to build good things. Demons,

evil spirits, not good things. Friends, sometimes

good things, sometimes not. We read 1 John 4

.1. That's where it says test the spirits. Sean,

can you give Mr. Tim a set of papers? That's

where it says test the spirits. So we already

know that we are commanded to test influences

in our life. So here are the possible builders.

And I submit to you that these are pretty much...

Pretty much it, right? And I'll show you why

in a second, right? So the first thing is God.

So God builds, and when he builds, he builds.

holiness, faith, endurance, obedience, unity,

truth, right? All of those things and a variety

of other scriptural things. That's the results

of God building. So even hardship that comes

from God ultimately produces stability. It's

not going to be like this up and down all over

the place, right? So for example, I used to do

youth ministry back in the day, and one of the,

we talked about as leaders, a phenomenon that

we would have would be people would go to a concert,

a youth concert, and they would have this moment

where like, yes! awesome. And we're all up and

I'm screaming and stop our lungs. And then the

invitation comes and whole bunches and thousands

of teenagers are getting saved. And then they

all get counseled. They go back to their seats

and then they go home and they live like nothing

ever happened because it went like this. And

up here, oh, maybe Jesus, maybe Jesus. Yes, Jesus.

Yes, yes. Oh, back home. nothing different, right?

And that's not how God builds. The things that

God builds build holiness, faith, endurance,

obedience, unity, truth, not excitement, joy,

yay, you know, hurt. beats really fast, down

sorrow, depression, overcoming, struggling, back

to normal, right? So God builds things that are

biblical, and that's so right away you can see

already that we can kind of tell that if it's

not one of those things, it's not God, right?

The flesh. The flesh is like your body, and it

can be partly your mind, right? So it's the thing

that's not your soul, necessarily, but it's the

thing that you ride around in, okay? And that

tends to build self -centeredness, comfort, worship.

So by comfort worship, I mean it's worship where

we're worshiping God, but we're keeping a distance

from God. So worshiping at a distance, right?

So I don't sing the lyrics that make me feel

funny in my gut. I don't sing the songs that

I have to divorce myself of my own opinions or

I have to like say, oh, I feel bad about I lied

or I stole or I cheated or I transgressed and

I did whatever I shouldn't have done or I feel

bad about that. So I'm not going to sing God

made me new or I'm not going to – when everybody

– Standing to give God glory, I'm not going to

stand because that's too much. I'm not going

to raise my hand in worship. That's too much.

That's all comfort worship. You're avoiding any

discomfort to yourself. I'll tell you a story

about that in a second. Impulsiveness. To be

impulsive is you make a quick decision. And the

flesh does that. It's like, you've got to grab

this now. You only have one chance. You might

not make it. You might not get there if you don't

do it right now. And flashy, quick actions that

don't get the results. of what it does when God

builds. Divided desires. I want this, but I also

want this too. Sometimes I want them both at

the same time, right? That's divided desires.

And the flesh often disguises itself as, quote,

what I deserve, entitlement, rights, how I feel,

right? Those are all from the flesh. All of those

things are fleshly. I feel like he did that.

I feel like she did that. I feel bad about this.

I feel bad about that. I feel I want to be this.

I want to be that. I want that. Those are all

fleshly things. I went to a pastor's conference

in Atlanta, Georgia. I'm checking myself. I'm

sorry. It was Fort Lauderdale, Florida. While

I was there, there was a preacher who was up

and speaking. He had about 20 minutes left on

the clock. I was praying. I'm talking to God.

God and I are having a conversation. The next

thing I know, it was over. We started worshiping.

I stood up and started worshiping. I said to

God, I said, you know what? I really want to

honor you. I put my arms up. As soon as I put

my arms up, I felt like God was saying to me,

Do not put your arms down until you're done worshiping.

I'm an ordinary guy, right? I've got muscle,

but it's not like Mike. Right, Mike? Paying attention?

Pay more attention to this than her. Okay. All

right. So I've got muscles, but I'm not super

strong. But also my arms aren't super heavy,

right? So everybody, put your arms up like that.

After about a minute, you start to feel it, right?

And I'm thinking, that's okay. It's only going

to be a song or two. So I put my arms up, and

I'm praising God. I'm singing out to the top

of my lungs. I'm praising God. And I stayed in

a song. And the song ended, and my eyes were

closed. I'm like, is there going to be another

song? Yeah, there's another song. Another three

minutes. I'm like, oh, man. It's been like six

minutes. My arms have been up in the air. They

worshiped for almost 20 minutes. And my hands

were quivering. And my heart stopped. so bad

in my shoulders and my arms. I'm like, I'm not

doing it. I'm not putting my arms down. I'm not

putting my arms down. And then the song ended

and I'm like, oh, I'm not putting my arms down.

It was so hard. It hurt so bad. And the next

day I was sore. And like all the way into the

next night, I took ibuprofen. It hurt so bad.

Worship is not about you. And it is not about

your comfort. It is about God. And when God says,

we do, that's it. You lead. God says, lead, you

lead, you know. And you might be able to, maybe

you can lead three inches. And God's going to

make you lead three miles, you know, because

he knows if you just be faithful. And you see

that all over scripture. God says, we do. And

so if you're like, well, certain music or certain,

that is easier for me to worship when there's

no distraction. Most of that is a load of crap.

That's comfort worship. You just got to go, no,

my focus is on God. It's all about God. And then

let God have it. And the flesh builds the alternative.

I had a friend of mine who said, well, most of

the people in my church are over 60 and they

can't stand contemporary music. They will not

let the guitar play in church. It grates on their

nerves. They hate it and whatever. He said, I

can't get a young person to come into my church.

And he had a whole congregation of 60 people,

over 60, that were all comfort worship. They

all wanted what was for them. for what was forgot.

The world. The world builds comparison, image

management, which means, again, you're worried

about how you're seen, divided identity, you

have confusion in who you are. The world would

love to get you back on your heels so you don't

know who you are. That way when they screw you

over, you won't say anything, you won't do anything

because you're still struggling with who you

are. Men in the room especially understand you

have a responsibility to stand up. When something

happens in your presence, you have to know who

you are. you are and when it's an injustice,

you stand up. You step up, say something, do

what you got to do. I'm not saying be a jerk.

I'm not saying use foul language. I'm not saying

throw a punch, right? You say, I'm standing here.

You can't do that right in front of me. I'm not

going to allow it. What do you mean? What are

you going to do? You want to fight? You want

to fight? No, I'm not here to fight you. I'm

just telling you, you can't do that here now.

I'm not going to allow you to do that. What are

you going to do? You're going to hurt me? I don't

have to hurt you. I'm telling you, you cannot

do that. And then when they started to do it,

if you have to, you stop them if it's an injustice,

right? Or you call the police or whatever has

to be done. All right. Back on task. So the world

is very concerned about how they appear. They

have a divided identity, and they want you to

have a divided identity. They want you to not

know for sure who you are, and they want you

to compromise. And compromise, not without getting

off on that rabbit trail, will kill you over

time, slowly, a little bit, a little bit, a little

bit, and you will die from compromise. All right.

Then the enemy. The enemy is a sort of generic

thing, but in this case, it's talking about the

enemy. So Satan, the devil, right? The enemy

builds hidden fracture lines. wants nothing more

than for you to have a crack in your life. If

he can just get you to have a crack, then a year

from now, 10 years from now, 20 years from now,

he can use that crack to destroy somebody. You

might even survive it, but in the process, you

destroy the person that you're dealing with because

you had a little crack that you let go for 20

years, and it was still just a little crack.

But then when that person comes to that... that

point directly and they hit that little crack

in your character, they trigger it, then you

could destroy that person. You might even kill

somebody. I've never. I'll tell you right now,

for example, if a female in my family was raped,

I would have a hard time not killing the person

that did that. If a child was abused, one of

my children, grandchildren, anybody in our church,

I would have a hard time not being physically

violent with the person who did that. Now, I

believe that God would help me not be physically

violent, but there's a chance I might do it before

I even think about it. And they're going, yeah,

I feel that. And so what I'm saying is the enemy

wants to build hidden fractures on you. That's

what he's out to do. He wants a little break

that you're going to leave alone. You're not

going to worry about it so that later he can

use it. Isolation. He wants to get you alone

so you don't have somebody to lift you up, somebody

to pull you into the fold, somebody to get you

to do what's right. He wants you to be on your

own and think that you don't have anybody that

you can talk to. A famous quote I read, I don't

know who said it. It was a pastor, I'm pretty

sure. But anyway, he said, when you see somebody

who's operating alone, you realize. that somebody's

setting them up for failure, and it's probably

them. And I thought about that with myself. I

do a lot alone, too much. I take on too much

on myself, and I don't let anybody help me with

it. And so I always try. Truthfully, even now,

I'm failing pretty bad. And so we do not want

to isolate. You don't want to lock yourself away.

You don't want to walk away from being with people.

When you least want to be with people, that's

when you most need to be with people. Isolation,

that's what the enemy wants. Confusion, he wants

your mind to be like, oh, I can't figure it out.

Why is it not working? Why does A not equal B,

you know? Why are apples brighter than oranges?

I mean, why does gravity work the way, and I'm

talking about funny things, but the reality is

like, why does she say that? Why does he do that?

Why is our relationship like that? Why do they

drive that way? Why do they, anything that can

get your mind focused on something other than

what it should be focused on. Accusation, so

he wants to tell you you're bad so that you'll

start to believe that you're bad. Feel bad about

you. You're not bad, right? So you were fallen,

a sinner, bound for hell, met Jesus, made perfect,

essentially, right? Not perfect in that you do

everything exactly right, but given the righteousness

of Jesus. So you're not bad. And so if someone

accuses you and says that you're bad, it's one

thing to say, if they say that you lied and you

did, you're like, oh, I did. I'm sorry. I repent.

I will try not to do that again, right? On the

other hand, if they say that you are a liar,

you say, well, that's not true. But I know you

lied. Did I? Tell me when I lied. If it's true,

I'll... confess it and I'll repent and I'll never

do it again if I possibly can, right? You can't

be a liar after you're saved because you have

Jesus's righteousness. You can't be a thief anymore.

And if you can adapt the idea, if in confusion

or accusation or any of these things, hidden

fracture lines, whatever, if in those things

you can be a liar now after being saved, the

truth is you're probably not saved. That doesn't

mean you can never lie, but if you did lie, you'd

want to put it to bed. You want to be done with

it. Kick it out. Fix it. Apologize. Own it. Overcome

it. That's accusation. He accuses. That's what

he does. It's also why we don't accuse because

that's what he does. Spiritual exhaustion. I'm

just whipped. The Bible says do not become weary

in doing good. I'm just tired. This is a hard

road. I've gone a long way. I've been serving

God for a long time. As a pastor, I've been serving

God in this church since we constituted 10 years.

As a mission pastor, 22 years. I see in a lot

of the people's lives who are coming up right

now, coming in, some of the same things I've

seen over and over and over again. If you want

to go like, well, what happened when somebody

else did what I'm doing 10 years ago? I can tell

you. I can go around the room right now. You

ask me, tell me what's going on in your life,

and I'll tell you how somebody else did it, and

I'll tell you whether it worked for them or not.

But the problem is life is not that simple. There's

no easy pattern. You don't get to go, well, 10

years ago, somebody had the same exact problem,

and they did this, and it worked for them. Now,

if you do it, it may or may not work for you.

It might not be the right solution. Everybody

has to find their way through. Everybody has

to work. You've got to do the job, and they get

tired doing the job. Then you rest and do the

job some more satan rarely starts by destroying

the whole house Do you understand the devil is

he comes to kill steal and destroy, right? That's

what jesus said he comes to kill steal and destroy.

Do you understand that if you're safe? He does

not want to kill you. I don't know if the devil

kills you what happens next? Go straight to heaven.

Does the devil want you to go to heaven? No.

He wants you to stay here until he tries to build

into you a fracture line or something so he can't

get you unsaved. He can't steal your salvation.

That's not possible, right? It's in the palm

of the hands. It's settled. Can't take it away.

But he could get a fracture line in you so that

you can screw up somebody else so that they won't

get saved. See, he can use you as his agent even

though you're working for God. And that's what

he wants to try to do. So he's not trying to

send anybody. No. If you become so powerful in

the Lord and you're a servant of the Lord and

you're winning people to Christ, there is a moment

in time at which he might go, I think I just

better kill this person, right? Because if I

kill them, then they will not win all these other

people to Christ, right? But guess what? God's

also in the equation. So then if he tries to

do that, God says, no, this person's winning

all these people. I'm not going to let that happen,

possibly, okay? So he starts by weakening supporting

walls. We're on the back page. So the diagnostic

questions, the questions are this. Yes. The what

word? Enemy. Confusion? No. Under the world?

It's under the world. Compromise. Diagnostic

questions. Yep, this is bringing us right to

the end pretty much. Okay, diagnostic questions.

Ask, does this move me toward obedience or rationalization?

Rationalization means reasons or excuses. In

other words, the thing that's being built in

my life, does it move me toward obedience to

God or am I making excuses? And if you're making

excuses, then it's got to go, right? So if you

say, I'm making excuses, that's got to go. Obedience

is the road that I want. Does this strengthen

truth or blur it? So this lesson strengthens

truth because we understand now. We say, oh,

see, there is effort that is happening to build

things in our lives that we don't necessarily

want. So we want to choose the things that strengthen

truth. Does this thing, this new thing in our

lives, increase unity in Christ or does it divide

loyalties? So is this going to cause problems

between me and other believers, cause problems

between me and myself, between me and God? Or

is this going to build up our relationships?

And does this deepen humility or inflate self?

So is this thing that I'm doing, does this help

me remember I'm just me, I'm just an ordinary

guy, Jesus, all that? Or does it build me up

so that I feel good about myself and not worry

about Jesus? So how do we determine then whether

the result will be a house divided? And the answer,

so we read Luke 11. And that's where Jesus says

the house divided against itself will fall. So

A. Public devotion, but private compromise. So

if you publicly are letting people think you're

living for God, you're telling everybody I'm

living for God, you talk about God, you walk

with God publicly when everybody was looking,

but then privately you're not really living for

God, that's a house divided. That's obvious,

right? It's two houses, okay? The structure looks

strong outwardly, but contains internal fracture.

Next one, two competing identities, Christian

and worldly ambition. I really want to do well

in the church. I want to teach. I want to love.

I want to serve. to give. I really want to do

that. But then over here, I really got to do

well on my job. I really got to work hard. I

got to make money. I got to pay bills. I got

to do all these things, right? And that's competing

worldly identities. Worship and bitterness, faith

and secret rebellion. Those are examples of competing

identities. Constant internal instability. If

you're always wondering, if you can't figure

it out, should I? I know the Bible says I should

just read my Bible, but I think I just want to

watch TV. I think I'll just watch TV today and

read my Bible tomorrow. Then tomorrow comes like,

I don't know, should I read my Bible? I should

pray about this before I do anything. Oh, no,

I think I know what to do. I'll just do that.

If you're constantly back and forth between which

one you're going to go, that's double -mindedness.

Divided structure cannot... consistently stand

under pressure. So even if you have two structures

in your life, then even if you get it right some

of the time, it's not going to be consistent.

There are going to be times where you're like,

I just don't know what to do, and you're stymied,

you're stuck in a place, what stymied means,

or you're baffled as to what to do next, instead

of just being able to go, this is what God wants

me to do, I'm just going to do it. So then it

goes to the inability to fully obey God. So if

you find you know what it is that God wants you

to do, and you just can't seem to do it, than

structures that you have two houses. Your houses

are divided, right? When every act of obedience

feels like tearing down another kingdom, division

already exists. If you're already at the place

where like, God wants me to do this, but I don't

want to do that. But I'm going to do it. You

have to push really hard to bring yourself to

do what God wants you to do. Then you have somehow

divided inside yourself. We already read the

scripture from 1 Corinthians 3. That's the one

where it says building on the foundation. It

teaches that fire reveals construction quality.

Does anybody know what in the Bible fire represents?

Fire represents... judgment right so when you

take a metal and you burn it what happens to

it nothing but if you get really really hot fire

it melts and as soon as the fire is gone what

happens goes back to being metal cools down at

room temperature it's solid again right so that

fire judges right now let's say inside that metal

is some dirt Maybe some fluff, like from a stuffed

animal or something. And you burn it so that

the metal gets so hot it melts. What happens

to the stuff that's inside the metal? Say it

again. Explodes, burns away. It ceases to exist,

basically. And then when the metal solidifies

again, now it's more pure, right? So the idea

of fire in Scripture is judgment. So God's saying

that judgment will reveal the construction quality

of what's been built in your life, all right?

So here's how you figure this out. You ask yourself,

would this thing that I am doing serve? Survive

spiritual pressure. So let's say you have a habit.

Let's say you like to play video games. Anybody

like to play video games? Who's my video gamers?

All right, got a bunch of us. So would playing

video games three hours a day survive spiritual

pressure? In other words, you're under pressure

in your spirit and you're struggling to know

what to do or you're in a really difficult time.

Somebody just died and you're whatever. Would

playing video games three hours a day survive

that situation? The answer is no because when

you're setting up funeral arrangements and you're

taking care of your loved ones and you're hugging

your... crying girlfriend, your wife, your mother,

your son, whatever, those things are more important.

So then video games would just go away. So that

means that you can't let video games build a

structure in your life that is going to accomplish

certain things because it won't survive spiritual

pressure. If you run to video games, the next

time you need to know what you're supposed to

do with your life, you're in trouble. So the

question was, would whatever, and I just use

video games as an illustration. You may even

disagree with me on that. But I play video games,

and the way I play them, I'm talking to God all

the time, and it's completely different than

the way most people do. You figure that out for

yourself. Would this survive spiritual pressure?

Would this survive suffering? If I were suffering,

could I still do this? If I got hit by a car,

and I was in a wheelchair, and I'm trying so

hard to learn to walk again, would I still be

playing video games for three hours a day? I'm

just going to stick with the same illustration,

but I'm not picking on video gamers. I could,

I don't, but I could play video games just the

same as anybody else. I'm not good at it, so

maybe I don't do it. Would this survive suffering?

If I was really suffering and I was in pain,

would I keep doing this thing? What would you

do? What are the things that you would do if

you were really suffering and in pain? Those

are the things that you want to keep to, right?

Or at least put the most emphasis on. Would this

survive exposure? So in other words, let's say

you're doing something like you're watching something

you shouldn't be watching. You're doom scrolling

on your phone. Or you're playing a video game

that's kind of raunchy. It's not like pornography,

but it's got a lot of violence in it. Maybe some

violent crimes toward other people. And there's

a lot of foul language. You're like, if God was

in the room with me while I was playing this

video game, would I still be playing this video

game? And you say, well, no. If it was exposed

to the truth, if everybody knew this about me,

I would stop. See, if you don't think that way,

then that creates a... fracture in your life.

And people know how. Worldly people, the devil,

enemies, they know how to use those things. If

you're intimidated by, let's say you don't like

loud voices and you're intimidated by loud voices,

then the devil knows that. And the next time

God wants you to do something and make a difference

for him, the devil could use your intimidated

by loud voices trait against you to stop you

from doing what God wants you to do. You understand?

So we can't allow things that will not survive

exposure to build in us. Would this survive a

So, in other words, Jesus comes again, the horn

blows, the next day will you still be doing it?

Because if you, now I'm not saying that we have

to cut it out, right? Because dressing is an

example. We wouldn't be dressing the next day,

for example. Or we wouldn't be washing dishes

maybe or working on our cars, right? Because

there probably won't be any cars in heaven. So

there are things like that. So I'm not saying

you can't do it, but it can't become a structure.

It can't become so important to you that it changes

your identity, changes who you are, that kind

of thing. So if you wouldn't do it in heaven,

then it can't. become a thing that changes your

priorities, affects your mind, you get disappointed

if it doesn't happen, all those things that we

talked about before. So what action steps should

I take? We're going to skip the Bible verse,

guess the book game, because we're out of time.

So we'll start with the Bible guess the book

game in two weeks when we get together. We're

going to finish this last little bit. So if I

discover structures that are contrary to God's

will, what should I do? This is huge. You with

me, Mike? This is it. Look at your life and you

see things are building in your life that are

contrary to God's will, these are the steps that

you take to deal with them. Number one, deny

it the materials that it needs. So sinful structures

survive because we continually feed them, okay?

So we lie, and then we don't want anybody to

know that we lied, so we lie some more to cover

it up, we lie some more, we're deceptive, we

don't talk to some of the people that can figure

it out, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, right?

So don't provide it the materials that it needs,

okay? Some examples of those things that could

be used against you, and they're probably a a

bunch of them. One of them is unchecked entertainment.

So sometimes we feel like we want to be alone

or somebody hurt our feelings or whatever. And

so we just go watch a bunch of TV or read a bunch

of books or play a bunch of video games or those

kinds of things. Well, that's fuel to build stuff

in your life. So you have to be careful. If you

run to video games or run to a book, even run

to the Bible. Be careful, right? Even run to

the Bible. Every time something happens that

you don't feel comfortable about, and you say,

well, I'll just read my Bible. I'll be good.

I'll just read my Bible. That'll be fine. And

you feel comfort in reading your Bible, be careful.

While the Bible is good and it builds in our

lives, the Bible is about God. It's God that

we need to be running to, not just the Bible.

That's why we have to be not just hearers, but

also doers of the word, right? So we have to

be walking with Jesus, not just reading about

Jesus like he's this fantastic guy that everybody

should worship, all right? So unchecked entertainment,

bitterness, pride, and that list could go on.

You're going to ask in your own life, what are

the things that if I keep supplying them to the

enemy, he's going to use them against me. Secrecy,

toxic relationships, ungodly ambition. So instead,

this is what you do. Confess honestly. You can't

repair what you refuse to acknowledge is a problem.

Tear down agreement with false builders. Sometimes

repentance is not just being sad that you did

something wrong, right? Actually go, look, I

really don't want to do that anymore. So you

did something. Somebody comes to you and says,

hey, you did that. I don't agree with that. You're

like, you know what? You're right. I just don't

want to do that anymore. So basically you're

revoking permission for that enemy to build something

in your life. Rebuild on the right foundation.

Let's go back to where we were. Remember that

text? Build on the right foundation. For other

foundation can no man lay than that which is

laid, which is Jesus Christ. In other words,

build on Jesus. Hard to build this on Jesus?

Don't build it. Invite accountability. Talk to

somebody about what you're doing. Say, look,

sometimes I do this and I don't want to do that.

I remember Josh and I, for a while, Josh and

I and a couple other people, we had an 11 p .m.

accountability. It didn't last too long, but

we didn't really need to because most of us adhered

to it. We all said we're going to go to bed by

11 p .m. We all said if we're not in bed by 11,

we're going to correct that. So we start checking

in with each other and making sure that we're

going to bed by 11 o 'clock. Part B, if I determine

God is doing a new thing. So this is the flip

side. Yay! God's doing something good. I figured

this out. Number one. Cooperate instead of resisting,

even if it doesn't seem like something you want

to do. Sometimes it's uncomfortable. God's taking

you outside your box. When I started preaching,

when I started teaching, they were discomforting,

right? But I cooperated because I was scared

not to, frankly. Submit to the construction process.

God frequently tears down before he rebuilds,

okay? Or go into the cafeteria for snacks with

them in a minute. Hang tough, hang tough. Stay

unified around Christ. New callings should deepen

your devotion, not divide your devotion. Expect

testing. Anything God builds will eventually

endure testing. So if something's going to happen

and you're going to trust in it, you're going

to do what God wants you to do because you see

God's building a new thing, and then sometimes

it's going to get hard, but it's going to stand.

It's going to be all right, okay? We'll skip

the verse for a second. You can read it later.

Faith proven through fire becomes stronger. Every

season is construction. The question is not,

is something being built? So in other words,

listen to me. If you think, is the debate, is

anything being built in my life right now? The

answer is a resounding yes. Every season builds

something. If you think, I don't see anything

being built in my life right now, you're wrong.

You really need to look at what is being built

in your life. The truth is, if you can't see

anything being built, then probably what's being

built is not good. You should try to find it

and figure it out. The questions are, who is

building? What materials are being used? What

kingdom is the structure serving? Will this thing

stand united under Christ? Because eventually,

every structure reveals its foundation. 20 years

with that problem in you, eventually it's going

to blow up in your face or it's going to hurt

somebody, and then it's going to be revealed

as a bad foundation. You've got to start over

after 20 years. A house divided doesn't usually,

I put never, but doesn't usually collapse suddenly

at first. It collapses internally long before

it falls publicly. In other words, someday it'll

all come out. Maybe just when we get in front

of Jesus, someday it'll all come out.