Making Decisions

Alright, uh, we're in a series right now called Well Done.

And we're looking at what what does it look like?

What does it mean to live a life well done?

We've been dealing with a lot of different topics.

Today I'm going to um I'm going to uh finish the series and I'm going to talk about decision making, uh, making better decisions.

And uh I'm sure there are some of you today who are here or watching online, or maybe you're getting this sometime later, and you're facing a crucial, critical decision.

And uh how do I how do we get better at this?

That's what we're gonna tackle today.

Uh I'm gonna start in Mark chapter 1.

Mark 1 · chapter mention

If you don't have your Bible, don't sweat it.

We'll have it up on the screen.

Mark chapter 1, verse 16 through 18.

Mark 1:16–18

It says, one day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living.

Jesus called out to them, Come and follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people.

And they left their nets at once and followed him.

That's Mark 1.

Uh Mark 10, there's a similar situation.

Verse 21, it says, Jesus started out on his way to Jerusalem, and a man came running up to him, knelt down, and asked, Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

Why do you call me good teacher?

Jesus asked.

Only God is truly good.

But to answer your question, you know the commandments.

You must not murder, you must not commit adultery, you must not steal, you must not testify falsely, you must not cheat anyone, honor your father and mother.

Teacher, the man replied, I've obeyed all these commandments since I was young.

Now look at this.

Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him.

There's still one thing you haven't done, he told him.

Go and sell all your possessions, give the money to the poor, and you'll have treasure in heaven, and then come and follow me.

At this the man's face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

And then I'm going to read one more verse and we're going to kind of tie them all together.

Ephesians 3.20.

I'm going to read this one in the King James, because just every once in a while you got to go a little King James.

You know what I mean?

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh.

That just feels good to say.

Come on.

Turn to your neighbor and say, worketh.

If you worketh it, it'll work.

Come on.

That's a different message.

The power that worketh in us.

Lord, we come to you in Jesus' name, humble, submissive, obedient, receptive.

We open up our hearts to you.

Speak, speak, speak to your sons and daughters.

We're confident in your love today.

We want to make good decisions today.

Help us.

In Jesus' name.

All God's people said, Amen.

If you want to make good decisions, you want to make better decisions, you need to go through a bit of a process of revelation and response.

Revelation, response.

Revelation is it means a divine disclosure.

Something that's currently unseen or unknown.

And God's ability to bring that into our sight, into our mind.

You know, the Bible talks about the word of God as living and active and sharp.

And that it works in real time.

There's a relationship between the power of the Holy Spirit and the power of God's word.

And the word revelation actually comes from the Greek word apocalypsis, which basically is the idea that God reveals or discloses something I can't see on my own.

And we see throughout the scripture that there are times that God would reveal Himself in a few different ways.

One of the ways God would reveal Himself was through mighty acts.

In the Old Testament, we see the nation of Israel, they're leaving Egypt, and God does a miracle.

He parts the Red Sea.

And they walk on dry land.

That was a divine revelation.

That was God showing them I'm in this.

And for whatever it's worth, if you come to a body of water and it just parts miraculously, go ahead and walk, okay?

God's revealing himself.

Alright, you're gonna want to go ahead and be a part of that.

Um, but God did it in other ways.

At one point there was a pillar of fire.

Another time he did divine uh providential um he provided a food called manna from heaven.

And so we see God would reveal himself through mighty acts.

We see Jesus, part of his revelation of himself as God, the evidence was he did miracles.

And so we see that.

We also see that God revealed himself through Jesus.

It says in Colossians 1, Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God.

So he's a revelation.

It says in Colossians 2, all the mysteries of God are revealed through Jesus, in whom all knowledge and wisdom is found.

So just by looking at Jesus, just by studying Jesus, we see a revelation of God.

And then we see a revelation of God through his word.

It says in 2 Peter 1, 20, 21, above all, you must realize no prophecy in Scripture ever came from a prophet's own understanding.

Human beings weren't working unilaterally, they were working in collaboration with God.

It said it didn't come from human initiative.

God initiated something, God put something in their mind.

If you read the book of Revelation, you see John on the Isle of Patmos is writing, and he's writing what he sees in his mind.

He didn't make this up.

It wasn't a crazy dream or hallucination.

It was something God put in his mind.

It says, So God was the initiator, but he said those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit and they spoke from God.

So they responded to the revelation.

God spoke something to him, showed them something, and then they responded in obedience to that.

So if you want to make good decisions, better decisions, there's a process of revelation and response.

And that often happens in this setting.

I hear testimonies all the time.

So grateful, so grateful.

I people will send me messages and emails and direct messages and I'll catch them around town and they'll go, oh, you don't understand.

I was at this, I was at this crucible moment in my life.

I was at this intersection, and God spoke this thing, you know, through you and this here, this person.

And so God brought his word together to give a revelation.

But then you got to respond.

You know, we we just saw, we just read two verses, uh, two texts, Mark 1 and Mark 10.

Two different situations where Jesus reveals himself to somebody and they responded differently.

In Mark 1, Jesus goes to fishermen, says, follow me, follow me, and I'll make you fishers of men.

And they had a revelation of Jesus, and they responded by putting their nets down.

Putting their nets down.

That would they weren't fishermen as a hobby, that was their job, their attitude toward their job and their career.

They put it, they put that down and they followed Jesus.

In in Mark 10, it's a similar thing.

You've got the rich young ruler who comes to Jesus with sincerity.

And the text says Jesus loved him genuinely, felt genuine love in his heart.

And he said to him, Okay, listen, if you're going to follow me, he's like essentially he tells him, put down your net.

He wasn't a fisherman, but he was telling him the same thing.

And you see that these two different people responded differently to the revelation based on their mentality and their attitude about their work or their career.

That was, for one, was something they were willing to put down and respond in obedience, and the other, it was an impediment they couldn't get over.

So one put down their net, the other put down their head, put down their face, and walked away.

One followed, one walked away.

Both had a revelation.

How will you respond?

Living a well-done life is you receiving revelation from God and responding.

Don't do this now because we got to keep talking here.

And if you start thinking about this, I'm gonna lose you, and I can't lose you, okay?

I only got 24 minutes and 22 seconds, so I need you like, all right, but later, write down, write this down.

What are the two or three most important decisions you've made thus far in your life?

And I want you to think about those decisions.

Those decisions.

Two come to mind for me right away.

The first was when I was in college after my freshman year, I didn't know, I thought maybe I was wanted to coach, or maybe I wanted to go into business, or maybe I wanted to, I didn't know what I wanted to do exactly, but I was I was going a certain direction.

I was going to Mount Union College here in Ohio, and I was at a service, and in a service, something like this, I felt God calling me to change my direction and go into ministry.

I will just tell you, I didn't envision this.

I did not envision earth, wind, and fire kicking off worship.

I didn't see it.

I didn't see it, okay.

I didn't I I didn't see I didn't see it, I didn't see it, I didn't see any of that.

I did not see any of that.

So to me, it was you're gonna wear a suit and tie and you're gonna stand on a pulpit, okay?

Shaven, okay.

It was like I I didn't know, I didn't know there was any other way, and yet I I just felt like I was at this crossroad and I was supposed to do so.

I had a decision.

In some way, it was like my Mark I, Mark 10 big macro decision, which is where we tend to put, we think about our big decisions, you think stuff like who you're gonna marry and what major you're gonna pick, and man, am I gonna overhaul my career?

Am I gonna make a huge career change?

I've been doing this all my life.

This over here is kind of related, but not really.

Am I gonna do that?

Are we gonna pack the whole family up, move to another state?

Big decisions, and and and I look back at that decision, I can't help but think, like, wow, what if I hadn't done that?

It would have been so easy for me to get up.

It was just me and God to just get up and go, you know what, I'll uh no, I'm not gonna do it.

But I made a decision, no, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do this.

Doing that all the way all the while, honestly, not thinking I would be any good at this, not seeing myself as a public speaker, my worst grade in high school was in speech.

Facts.

Facts.

I got a D in speech.

Okay, I remember I I did a speech on schizophrenia.

It scarred me.

Never made eye contact.

I didn't want to be a preacher, I didn't want to be a speaker, I didn't want it didn't seem like it was for me, yet I felt God calling me in a direction.

Put down your net, follow me.

A revelation.

I chose to respond in obedience, and throughout my life I've predetermined, Lord, when I sense you calling me, I'm gonna do it.

And if it doesn't pan out, I can live with that.

I'm gonna follow what I sense you leading me to.

So I think about that one.

That was I had a choice to make.

Another decision, though, happened a few years later.

I was at this camp, this youth camp, and I was doing my job, and my buddy Tony was was leaving the camp, and and we were kind of you know friends.

I mean, we weren't super tight, we were friends, and he's driving and he's leaving.

He's leaving and he's leaving.

When he leaves, he calls me, Greg, hey, and I was over here doing something, I see him, okay.

Now, if I if I had just gone like, hey, and he would have driven off, but in the passenger seat was Shaylin Tours, my future wife.

Okay, I didn't see her, I only saw him.

Now, my parents raise me, you see a friend, you go, you you shake their hand, you speak to them.

He was way over here.

I could have very easily, and thank you for teaching me that, I would have never met her.

She was over here, okay.

I could have just said, hey, what's that?

And he drives off.

I said, Hey, wait, wait, wait, wait.

Nice to make your acquaintance.

The crazy thing about that decision, I had no clue I was going over to shake hands with till death do us part.

I had no clue.

None.

I just thought I was going, I thought it was incidental.

I thought I was just gonna go over and say what's up.

No clue, no clue on that jog over.

I'm walking into my destiny.

I'm walking it, and it's crazy.

She lived two hours away.

We were in the same proximity for a minute.

I zig when I should have zag, she's gone.

And I would have had lived the rest of my life single.

We we think of decisions, we we we think of big decisions.

Some of them are you're at this crucible moment, you're making a call, you're making a decision, but there are a lot of decisions.

I think you'll look back when you get your time to look at your decisions, you'll go, man, I didn't even know I was making, I didn't realize how significant that was.

And so often the things we think of as big decisions, I think if we could see really, really clearly from the end of our lives, so we would look back, we would see that there were different sorts of decisions that didn't seem that big a deal, but they were huge.

Yeah, yeah, massive.

And and not just sort of these serendipitous type of, you know, we happen to have our paths crossed.

I'm actually talking about probably the biggest decisions are mindset decisions.

How you think.

Because we tend to think it's what we do, like this.

Who am I gonna marry?

Well, you know what's probably a as big, if not a bigger, decision is who's she gonna marry.

All right, so am I gonna be?

I mean, uh, we're we're so worried.

Am I gonna pick the right person?

Is she gonna pick the right person?

Who am I?

What kind of guy am I gonna be?

How much am I gonna grow?

Am I gonna evolve?

Am I gonna develop?

Am I gonna am I gonna learn how to do conflict better?

Am I gonna learn how to forgive better?

Am I gonna learn what love really is?

Am I gonna learn the difference between uh uh selfishness and selflessness?

Am I gonna learn this stuff?

Am I gonna learn how to sacrifice?

Am I gonna learn how to lay down uh my life and take up my cross?

Am I gonna learn?

Am I gonna learn this stuff?

Am I gonna learn?

Am I gonna learn how to be resilient and tenacious?

Am I gonna learn that stuff?

You know, we tend to think of these big things.

I think sometimes it's a it's a paradigm shift.

Think about Romans 12, Romans 12.2.

Romans 12.2 says, don't copy the behavior custom of the world, but but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.

I think it's often in the transformational experience of thinking differently that God brings revelation to us.

And then it says, uh, look, look, not just change the way you think, revelation, but response.

Then you'll learn to know God's will for you.

You'll learn to know God's will for you.

What should I do?

Well, what I should do often is connected to how I think.

And these are huge.

Like, oh, let me give you a couple.

Like, okay, here's one.

To trust.

Or to trust again.

Or to trust again, again.

Like, like if you've trusted someone, you bought into them, turned out they weren't who you thought they were, they broke your heart, they hurt you.

That is horrible.

And then you're like, whoa man, do I want to put up walls?

And then you start putting up walls, and at some point you're like, you know what?

Hold on a second.

I don't want to live in this loneliness.

Because that's the thing.

You put up walls, you think you're making yourself safe, but you're actually isolating yourself.

It's not the okay, so you decide to knock down the walls and you trust a second person, and then two for two.

Then a third, then a fourth.

At some point, you start doing the cost-benefit analysis of loneliness versus wounding.

Would I rather be lonely or wounded?

What's the best bad option here?

And so at some point, now this is what I'm saying.

At some point, you make a decision.

I'm putting up walls.

You either do it consciously or subconsciously.

I'm isolating myself.

I'm not opening myself up to that again.

I will not do that again.

I don't want to feel this ever again.

So, and the only way I can be sure is to not take the risk.

That's a decision.

That's a decision that you live with.

Um, here's another one.

Will I fight for self-awareness to see patterns in my life?

Okay?

Talk to people, you know.

Yeah, I'm on my fifth job, you know, all five work environments were toxic.

Okay.

Five?

Yeah, all five.

I mean, they were all toxic.

Okay.

All right.

I mean, I'm not saying they're not toxic work environments, but what's the common denominator?

It'd be I'd be curious to know how much less toxic it is now that you're gone.

Well, no.

You're like, I thought this was one big party.

I thought you were gonna preach to my mother-in-law today, but uh, no.

No, no, this is this is big stuff.

It's so much easier to deflect it.

Oh, the toxic, here's what they did wrong, to see a pattern.

No, this is a huge decision to go.

I'm gonna look in the mirror.

I'm gonna look at myself and try to figure some stuff out.

Trust, tenacity.

I'm gonna bounce back, I'm gonna give it another.

These are huge decisions.

Uh, a couple weeks ago, I was out of town.

I was preaching in Texas, and I had my friend Brittany Jones come and preach.

And if you weren't here, you missed it, Brittany.

It was an unbelievable message.

She was incredibly vulnerable.

I gotta tell you, it takes a massive amount of bravery to step up in front of a bunch of strangers and to bury your soul.

And she did it four times.

So I caught a little bit of it Saturday night, but I didn't catch most of it.

Uh, I Monday morning I get up early, I'm riding the exercise bike, and I'm watching Britney's message.

And Britney's telling her story, and she goes, you know, I grew up in Chicago.

I was, when I was a kid, I was molested more times than I could count.

I ran out of fingers and toes.

I don't know how many times I was molested, it was a lot.

She said, Both my parents were addicts.

Her dad was murdered on the street when she was five.

They didn't find him for months.

Her mom was in and out of uh uh addiction facilities and all of this, and and so she grew up, and then she's you know, the Lord found her, and she decided, you know what, I'm gonna give my life now.

She makes a decision.

I'm gonna give my life to Jesus and I'm gonna let him use me for his glory, and I want to serve other people, and I'm gonna take my pain, and that's huge, that's huge.

Jesus found her and she makes a call to do that, but then she gets in this, and her and her husband are planting a church, and her emotions are all over the place, and and she goes and she finds out that she's battling both depression and bipolar, she has uh mental health uh problems, and she goes to do that, okay?

And so she's sitting here going, My goodness.

Uh I I grew up in this terrible environment.

I I grew up in uh uh you know molested with I didn't ask for that.

I grew up, my my dad was murdered, didn't ask for that.

Grew up mom was an addict, didn't ask for that, okay?

And and and then now here I am, and it's just boom, boom, boom, boom, and here's another one.

And and so she's telling this, and and then she says, you know, I I had the found out I was bipolar and found out I was depressed, and here I'm trying to serve God, and yet now I got this too, and then she says this.

Go ahead and play it.

Go ahead and play it.

She says this.

No, crank crank it up and start it over.

Start it over and crank it up.

Yep.

Go ahead.

Run it.

And I made a decision.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

Please run that back.

Do it again.

And I made a decision.

Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, one more time, because I think the folks missed it.

Go ahead and do it.

And I made a decision.

Stop, stop, stop, stop.

I made a decision.

I'm riding the bike, okay?

Monday morning.

Made a decision.

And she just kept talking.

I like one to come through the screen and go, did you guys hear that?

That's huge.

That's massive.

Grew up in a dysfunctional family.

One trauma after another, one tragedy after another.

A bunch of stuff I didn't ask for, but I'm asked now to deal with.

I give it to Jesus, thinking, well, now it's all gonna be up and to the right.

Find out how I got this to deal with.

And then she said, and I made a decision.

Yes, sir.

Yes, sir.

Go ahead and play the whole thing.

And I made a decision that I was not gonna do what I thought that was the responsible thing as a Christian to do, just come and say, I'm good.

I needed help.

And I needed help beyond what my pastor could help me.

So I went to a psychiatrist and I got the help that I needed.

And I continued to go to therapy, and I got the help that I needed.

Let me just tell you, I know sometimes that we're faced with opposition, and it seems like it's a major dysfunction, like a stop, but don't quit in the middle.

The middle is Where the good happens because that's where God shows up and shows you who He really is.

Massive, massive.

We think big decisions.

Who am I gonna marry?

Big decision, what am I gonna major in?

Big decision, we're gonna move.

I know those are big.

I'm not trying to downplay the big decision you make.

That is a huge decision.

She decided, I will get healthy.

I'll do whatever it takes.

Notice she said she was very kind and diplomatic, and then she goes, she goes, I need it, I needed uh to get help, and I realized it was more than what my pastor could do.

Well, how do you think she figured that out?

She probably went to the church, asked for help, and they were not equipped to help her.

Somebody probably tried and failed her.

You know how easy it is to quit right there?

Okay?

I was dealt a bad hand, feels worse than most.

Did this, did that, worship God, listened to the word, went to the pastor, got counseling, didn't help me.

But when you've decided I'll get healthy, I'm going to get healthy.

Whatever it's, I'm deciding.

So you go, Pastor, let you down.

Pastor, let me down.

Well, am I gonna lay down and die right here?

No, Pastor, let me down.

You know what?

I conclude, Pastor probably doesn't have it in his bag to do this because I got something else.

So God bless you.

I'm not gonna harden my heart, but I'm gonna go find a therapist.

What happens?

You go to you find the therapist, and then they're no good.

I'm gonna find a second therapist because I decided.

I just I made a decision.

It's not gonna talk me out of it.

I've already made the deal.

I decided whatever second therapist doesn't work.

I third, I'm gonna run until I hit every therapist on the face of the earth.

I'm gonna do what I have to do to get out.

That's a huge, massive decision.

When we think about decisions, okay, living life well done.

Well done, good and faithful servant.

Well done, son.

Well done, daughter.

Often it's these paradigm-shifting decisions where God will show you something.

He'll show you a pattern, he'll show you an attitude.

Hey, I want you to be more flexible over here.

Hey, I want you to reopen the case over here.

Hey, I want you to think differently over here.

Okay, I want I want to take you over here to renew your mind.

I want to reveal something to you.

And so often it's not God giving us a revelation of go right or go left.

Often it's a revelation of a renewing of the mind to begin thinking differently so that then he can show you what to do and how to respond.

It's up to you though.

See, you can do the Mark I and do what the disciples did and put down your net and put down your paradigm and follow and respond to the revelation with obedience, or you can do.

It is up to you to make a decision.

You can do what the rich young ruler did, which was to say, you know what, now I want to hang on to my wealth.

I want to hang on to my hey, I want to hang on to my mentality, I want to hang on to the way I see the world, I want to hang on to this instead of letting go, being teachable, letting God show you something and responding to that.

We see two people really presented with the same revelation and the same opportunity.

One responded with obedience, one didn't.

I got seven minutes left.

I'm gonna share something personal.

Some of you guys know a little bit about our family, our story.

I've got two sons on the autism spectrum.

Our first son, we found out he had autism.

Uh I was just relieved to know that something have some kind of help, some kind of direction.

I knew something was wrong, I didn't know what.

When our second son was diagnosed, I went to the valley of despair.

I was emotionally depleted.

Uh I was angry, I was hurt, I was wounded, I felt like I had nothing to give.

And uh during that time, I really was counting the cost of what to do with my life and how to fulfill the responsibilities God's given me.

In order to be a good father to my sons, it takes a lot out of me.

It just takes a lot.

More than I ever thought.

And uh when we found out our second son had autism, I took my wife to dinner and I broke the news to her.

I said, you know, Shaylin, I know what it takes to lead one church well.

I know how much of an output that takes.

And I know what an output it takes to raise one son with autism, and I'm guessing two is gonna be double.

And I don't have it in me.

I don't have the emotional bandwidth, I don't have the I can't do both.

I just can't.

I know I can't.

And if I gotta pick one, I'm picking my sons.

I will.

I I I get to the end of my life and go, you know, I have these unfulfilled dreams and career ministry, whatever.

God's given me, I'm not gonna cheat the one job only I can do.

Be their dad, you know, somebody else can, somebody else will do this, you know.

There'll be, I'll be gone, somebody else will come up here, do better.

So I'm like, I can I can do that.

I will not make that trade.

And and Shaylin said, you know what?

No, we're I believe God's called you to this.

I'm here.

I know it feels overwhelming, but lean into me, lean into God.

We're gonna get through this, you know, things will will shift and change and give your best.

If there comes a point that we're like, I can't do this anymore, then we'll we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

And so I made a decision.

Made a decision.

I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna do both.

I'm gonna do my best and I'm gonna structure my life to try to manage my energy and to do this the best I can with with them as a top priority of my family.

So in doing that, in doing that, the Lord's led me through a lot of things of shifting my paradigm.

I saw a documentary not too long ago.

It was called 14 Peaks.

It's this guy, he climbs 14 8,000 meter mountains.

Make sure I got this right.

Or no, not meter, kilometer.

Okay, gotta get this right.

14, no, 8,000 meter peaks in seven months.

14 of the largest mountains in the world in seven months, guys from Nepal.

It was like they told him it was impossible and he did it.

And I'm sitting there and I'm watching this document.

I think it's on Netflix or one of the streaming platforms, and I'm I'm watching it, and my heart is just beating out of my chest because that's me at heart.

I'm a wild man.

I want to climb, you know, they're like, oh, you can't do it, it's impossible.

You couldn't do it in two years.

He does it inside of seven months.

I'm like, man, that's what I want.

I want to go 14 mountains in seven months.

I'm that kind of guy, you know.

I'm like, okay, and and and that's what's in my heart to do.

And what was challenging is like, I've got those sort of desires.

I want to do something I've never done before and go to a place and be a pioneer.

And and then, and then over here, I've got my sons, and and and to do this, you know, I've got a slow way down, you know.

And in that tension between those two desires, the Lord led me to something he wanted me to see and think, a decision.

Because I kept, I kept, I kept feeling robbed.

So I'm thinking, I I want to go 14 mountains, and I want my family with me.

I want my sons right next to me.

I want to be climbing this thing.

And and because of because of that, their autism, we we just can't do that type of thing.

You know, metaphorically.

It's just a different pace.

And um, and and and I often get caught up in feeling robbed.

That the autism's robbed some experiences from me that I wanted to have with my sons, things I imagine being able to do as a father that I can't do.

And so I so I fixate on what we can't do.

And the Lord quickened my mind.

I believe it was a revelation from him, and it was this, Greg, for the rest of your life, I want you to focus on what it is, not what it isn't.

Well done.

Well done, well done.

What it is.

This was a word for somebody.

It was a word for me.

Somebody, this is for you.

I want you to focus on what it is, not what it isn't.

Every day of my life, I'm tempted to focus on what it isn't.

Ah, can't do that.

Ah, I wish we could do it.

Ugh, that guy gets to do that with his son.

I don't get to.

Focus on what it isn't.

And the Lord said, Greg, I want you to focus on what it is, not what it isn't.

It's not gonna be 14 peaks for you.

You're gonna do something else, but focus on what it is.

Don't waste your life.

Don't be a poor steward of your sons in this opportunity.

Focus on what it is.

A few months ago, I get a call from a friend in Colorado.

He says, Hey, can you come preach Father's Day at our church?

I'm like, No, I've got kids.

I'm not coming to preach to your church.

He goes, Bring them.

So we go to Colorado.

Take my kids, never been to the mountains.

So I take them to the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs.

Colorado basically does this, like it just goes up, right?

So if you go to like Brecken Ridge, you gotta be there for like three days before you can breathe.

If you're from Ohio.

We went to Colorado Springs, a little lower altitude, not quite as high.

You go there, we walk around the Garden of the Gods.

I want to climb, climb, climb, get to the top of the mountain, put my flag in it.

You know, my sons took a much different pace.

I brought some pictures.

Go ahead and bring those up.

Bring out the picture.

Yeah, so they're they're climbing, you know.

I'm walking behind them.

Another point, they take a few steps.

You know, hey, let's just uh hang out here for a minute.

I'm like, you know, the peaks up there, boys.

You guys want to go up?

No, I think we want to sit here for a while.

Okay, all right.

How many of you know sometimes you gotta slow down to catch up to God?

So they made me go a lot slower than I would have gone.

I sat there and keep going.

Then I find a rock.

My son or Miles comes over and he sits there, okay?

We're not 14 peaks, man.

We're up here.

He walks, he comes over, takes a look at me, looks in his eyes, rips my sunglasses off my face, puts them on his own face.

We sit there.

I have an opportunity with my son to sit there and focus on what it is, not what it isn't.

Focus on what it is, not what it isn't.

And I'm gonna tell you this.

That revelation for me helps me fight a temptation I have every single day.

I think that's one of the most, that might be the most important decision of my life.

If not one of the top three.

To focus on what is, not what isn't.

Not do I go right or do I go left?

Do I go big or do I go?

Do I go, do, do, do we go, do we pack up and move, do we do this?

Who do I marry?

As big as any of it was to focus on what it is.

It's a paradigm shift.

We're renewing of the mind.

Ephesians 3.20, to him who's able to do exceeding abundantly above what I would ask or think.

I wouldn't have asked or thought, didn't think of it, wouldn't have asked for it.

Do I believe it's exceeding abundantly above?

If I'll focus on what it isn't, maybe God's wanting to make something beautiful out of what it is.

And if you're focused on what it isn't, you can't see exceeding abundantly above.

I can't even imagine it that way because I'm focused on what it isn't.

What it isn't.

God wants to make it exceeding abundantly above with what it is.

What it is.

It's a paradigm shift.

I end with this verse.

James 1 and 5.

It says, if you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you, and he will not rebuke you for asking.

Some of you are facing decisions, and some of them are tactical decisions, and some of them might be highly disruptive, and some of them are packed with fear and risk and all of this.

And yet for some of you, maybe it's actually that decision that God wants to use as a catalyst to shift and renew your mind.

You think it's about where you're gonna move, but it's actually about how you're gonna think.

And when God brings a revelation into your mind, you have a decision to make around response.

What am I gonna do?

Am I gonna do Mark one, put down my net, put down my mindset, put down everything and follow him?

Or will I put down my head and walk away and hang on to what I currently have?

And so today I want to offer you an opportunity to go to your generous God, like it says in James 1.

Lord, would you show me something you want me to see?

Would you tell me something you want me to hear, and I'll be receptive to you.

Would you stand up on your feet?