Don't Rely on Flesh

Well, this month we are exploring a topic called whatever you do, don't.

Whatever you do, don't.

And I know it sounds a little negative.

I said this last week, but it's it's not.

It's not negative at all.

We have a tendency to think of God's will like a tightrope.

Like if you want to follow God and you want God's will in your life, you want to do things God's way, it's a tightrope.

You better tow the line.

And there's probably like one good choice you can make in any given situation, and if you do that one thing right, you're good, but one misstep to the left or to the right, you are out.

We think of God's will like that.

Many of us were conditioned, maybe brought up to see God's will like that, but that's not the truth.

That's not how God is at all.

In fact, we know that because we can see moments in Scripture where we see God's will at its fullest.

Look at the Garden of Eden.

The Garden of Eden might be the clearest picture we have of God's will on this earth because it's the way God made it originally, and it hasn't been tainted by sin, it hasn't been messed with yet.

It's just the way God wanted it to be.

And in the garden, we know that there wasn't one good choice, and everything else was bad.

It was, in fact, the opposite of that.

We see this in Genesis chapter 2.

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

The Lord God placed the man in the garden of Eden to tend and watch over it, but the Lord God warned him, You may eat freely the fruit of every tree in the garden.

God says, Eat whatever.

Just go have at it.

Except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, if you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.

So God says, Whatever you do, eat over there, eat there, eat there.

Just don't eat from that one tree.

When I read this, I was thinking about it this weekend, I was picturing the Marietta Diner.

Um, show of hands, how many of you have not eaten at the Marietta Diner?

Like, like let yourself be known.

It's okay, you're not getting no one's in trouble.

All right, well, you gotta change that.

Okay?

It's not hard to do.

This is not a, I'm not asking for like a major commitment.

Go to a restaurant, eat food.

We all do this.

Um, it's in Marietta, it's not hard to find, okay?

But if you have been to the Marietta Diner, you've seen the menu.

If you've not been, guys, uh it doesn't make any sense.

It does not make any sense.

Let me show you.

I got on my phone this morning and just sort of like scrolled through the menu at the Marietta Diner because I was like, I remember the menu being so big.

Watch this.

This is me scrolling through the menu.

All right, we're gonna keep going.

This is one restaurant's menu.

We're still going.

We're still going.

We're just now on Greek food.

We've gotten to a whole nother category.

That's that's the menu.

Like, we'll go back down really fast.

That is that is the menu at the Marietta Diner.

It's insane.

Imagine if you went there and they gave you that menu.

And you open it up, and it's like page after page.

It's like a book.

You have to commit to reading it.

And and then they said, oh, by the way, there's just this one item, it's off the menu today.

If you would hear that and be offended and upset, something's wrong with you.

Like, hey, you order anything, oh, by the way, that we're out of that.

You're like, are you serious?

Like, that'd be crazy, right?

That would actually be crazy.

That's like what God is saying to Adam and to Eve here.

He's like, hey, eat freely, eat whatever you want.

And the choices are near endless.

There's so much freedom in that.

Oh, but there is that one thing that will not go well for you.

But you know the story.

We don't avoid the pitfall, even though we're warned by God.

We all do that all the time in our own lives, right?

We're good at stepping in it, and things go really poorly.

Here's the point we are at the outset of a new year, and we all have hopes for this year.

At the beginning of a year, we want the year to go as well as it can go.

We want to experience all the good things God has in store for us.

We also want to be ready for all the curveballs life might throw at us.

We want to handle all of that really well, and what we find is that success in life, and success for this year, it's way less about walking the tightrope.

It's not about the pressure of having to do everything perfectly.

That is not how God is.

There is freedom.

There are so many ways to go about your year, there are so many choices you can make, so many things you can choose to prioritize, and so many of them are good.

It's it's really not about walking a tightrope, it's just about avoiding obvious pitfalls.

So there's no pressure.

It's not like, oh, I have to do it all right.

It's it's no, it's like just don't do that one thing.

And so we're exploring a few of those.

Last week we actually looked at the story of the garden and we said, whatever you do, don't eat from the wrong tree.

And we taught about the tree of life.

And if you weren't here last week, listen to that.

Uh, really exciting, very foundational for our church.

Steve, who uh Steve Craig, one of one of our founders, we had a little video of him teaching on that from the early days of our church.

It's really powerful.

So I really encourage you to listen to that if you weren't here.

Today, we're gonna talk about something else very simple.

Like this, guys, this is so simple.

But simple and easy are not the same thing.

We all know that, right?

Like if you want to lose weight this year, that's simple.

Eat less, move more.

Easy.

It's not hard, it's not a difficult equation.

It's easy to say, it is so hard to do.

And I just told you to go to the Mary at a diner, so I'm already sabotaging that goal, okay?

Because if you've been there before, they have a section that says lighter fare, it is a lie.

It is a lie.

Their portions are insane, right?

Insane.

So it's simple, but it's not easy, okay?

What I'm gonna say right now is simple, but it is not easy.

Whatever you do, don't rely on your flesh.

Whatever you do this year, don't rely on your flesh.

Let me explain.

Jeremiah chapter 17.

Jeremiah 17 · chapter mention

This is what the Lord says.

Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart turns away from the Lord, for he will be like a bush in the desert, and will not see when prosperity comes, but will live in stony wastes in the wilderness, a land of salt that is not inhabited.

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose trust is the Lord.

For he will be like a tree planted by water, that extends its roots by a stream, and does not fear when the heat comes.

But its leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in a year of drought, nor cease to yield fruit.

Jeremiah was a prophet in ancient Israel at a time when things were not going well, and the prophets were usually giving warnings, and this is a pretty strong warning.

He doesn't say unwise is the person who relies on human strength, who trusts in human strength, who makes flesh his strength.

That's not what he says.

He doesn't say that person is foolish, he doesn't say that person is ignorant, he says that person is cursed.

That is extremely strong language.

He says, if if you make flesh your strength.

Now, when we typically hear the word flesh, uh, if you've grown up in church, we think about the New Testament.

New Testament often talks about flesh versus spirit.

It's like light versus dark, flesh versus spirit.

And flesh is bad.

Like flesh is bad.

Usually in the New Testament, when it's talking about flesh, it's talking about um like the obvious stuff, the stuff that you would see and be like, well, that's wrong, and that's clearly wrong, like obvious sin, the darkest parts of human nature.

But that's not exactly what Jeremiah is talking about here when he says flesh.

He's not talking about uh putting your trust in sin.

I'm gonna use this phrase that the other founder of his hands, a woman named Susan Craig, used to use all the time.

She's the only person I've ever heard use this.

And I don't know if she got it from somewhere, but it's always stuck in my mind.

If you've been here for a long time, you might remember Susan.

She passed away about eight years ago.

Miss her so much, but I'm so grateful for the impact that she had in my life.

And one of the biggest things she ever did to impact me was to teach me this concept.

She talked about something called good flesh.

Good flesh.

In fact, she used to tell me, Justin, your biggest problem is you rely on your good flesh.

And I'd never heard that before.

Susan was a unique person.

Um, she had this unique ability to drive you insane, but then you like didn't mind, you weren't mad at her.

Like she could come up and like the first time I ever spoke on this stage, I'll give you an example.

Uh, I was 23 years old, it was 17 years ago.

They asked me to speak on stage, and I got done talking, I was pretty confident in it because I studied communication, I majored in communication in college, um, I had a lot of experience speaking, I wasn't nervous, you know.

I don't get nervous, by the way.

You could put 10,000 people in front of me, I'd be like, woo.

Um, but like the newcomer gathering that we're gonna have afterwards, I'll just let you know if you come to that.

I'm super nervous about that.

You put me in a room with like seven people, ten people, I'm like, they're judging me, they're judging me, I know they are.

What I just said was stupid, you know.

It's like that's how I feel.

So big crowd, no pressure.

But I got done teaching, and I felt like it went really well.

And and I walk up, and Susan, you know, she's like my boss at the time, and uh, she I'll never forget this.

She went, You are an amazing speaker.

And I'm like, thank you.

And then she said, and one day you'll be a good communicator too.

And I was like, is that a I don't feel like that was a compliment.

You know what I mean?

Like, but she would do it in this way with a smile, and you'd watch like she was like that.

She would drive me crazy.

The biggest thing she would drive me crazy about was I would report to her and talk to her about all the things that I was planning for the youth.

I used to work with the youth here.

And I would always have plans and ideas, I've always been a doer.

And so I'd always be presenting, hey, I'm gonna do this thing, and we're gonna go here, we're gonna do this, and this is what we're gonna teach on.

And she would be like, wow, that sounds awesome.

But you know, when Susan gave you a compliment, like something else was coming.

She's like, it sounds amazing.

Is that what God wants you to do?

Which is like the most frustrating question that someone can ask you.

Like, I like she would ask that all the time.

That's that sounds awesome.

Is that what God told you?

I was like, I don't know.

Like, I no, I did not hear a voice from the sky.

It wasn't like a burning bush moment with Moses.

There's no bushes on fire in the parking lot.

Like, I did.

How do I, how do I, how would I know that?

And here's the truth: I grew up in a in a church culture that very much valued scripture, very much valued the word, and I'm so grateful for that because we do, we have to base our lives on truth.

Right?

But I also grew up in a church culture that was pretty skeptical of like God directly leading you somewhere.

Like if someone said, God is leading me to do this, we only actually use that in negative ways, like let's say you're 16, and this is just the church culture I grew up in, and uh you just you wanted to break up with your girlfriend because you didn't like her and you liked someone else more, you would just say, I think God wants me to be single right now, right?

That's what you would do.

That was like the only situation I would ever use.

You know, I would lie.

Um so the only time I would ever say God is leading me somewhere is when I was lying to get out of an awkward conversation.

But I actually didn't have experience.

It wasn't part of my church culture to go like, oh, God is leading me this way.

Now, I had friends that were part of church cultures that were all about that.

And it was like God said this and this and this and this, it was like God told me what to order at McDonald's yesterday.

It was like everything God told me.

And some of that was cool, some of it was weird, and some of it I was like, I don't think that was God, it doesn't sound like God, it doesn't seem to line up with scripture.

It sounds like you're making a dumb decision and you're just convincing yourself that it's God, and it's easy to do that.

But Susan was just all about like, is that what God wants?

And it frustrated me because I didn't know, and I didn't even know how to how to pursue that.

Like, of course I would love to hear God tell me what to do.

And as time went on, I realized what Susan was doing, especially in hindsight now, is she was teaching me not to settle for a good idea.

When I could go to the Lord.

And if I was patient, and if I had a heart to seek God, and I was listening, I might hear something from Him that was so much greater than anything I could ever think about, anything I could ever imagine in my flesh.

See, your good flesh, that's your imagination, that's your creativity, your intelligence, your ambition, your drive, your work ethic, those are all good things, but they're still flesh.

And even good flesh, even good flesh, those things about you that are the most celebrated things, the Lord loves, and even good flesh doesn't hold a candle to spirit, to what it's like when God tells you to do something.

Because the moments I've seen God do something, that's it's clearly a God thing, there are things that I could never have thought of.

I've had moments where I'm like, I would never have even imagined that.

The Lord just knows more than we do.

And it's not like, look, it's not like uh since that day when that clicked for me, I'm like, now I just go, oh, I hear it from you, Lord.

Okay, here we go.

But but here's the difference is I'm like, Lord, I'm doing my best.

I'm doing my best, I'm using every tool that I feel like you've given me to do the best job I can do, but at any moment in time, God, you have permission to interrupt my thoughts.

I'm listening, I want to hear from you, I'm seeking what you want.

I'd much rather have spirit than flesh, even if it's good flesh.

That's what Jeremiah is saying when he says that we're cursed if we make flesh our strength, even our good flesh, because all of those things have a limit.

It's just human things.

Your creativity, your intelligence, those are great things, but if that's what you put your hope in, ooh, if that's the thing that we're banking on to sustain us, when life gets hard, we're gonna find ourselves in a lot of trouble.

There are so many human things that we can put our faith in.

Like money, for example.

Proverbs chapter 23, verses 4 and 5 says, Don't wear yourself out trying to get rich.

Proverbs 23:4

Be wise enough to know when to quit.

In the blink of an eye, wealth disappears, for it will sprout wings and fly away like an eagle.

Now, I would ask for a show of hands to those of us who can relate to that, but that's just too painful, right?

But we've many of us have had that, where like, you know, things are going well financially, you've you've worked so hard to save up so much, and then boom, in one second, gone.

It was gone.

I I had a tire uh give out a couple days ago, it's last week, and I took it to the shop, and I don't know if you guys have noticed, but prices have come up lately.

And uh it's the first time I've had to get new tires on this vehicle, and it's a great vehicle, I'm super thankful for it.

But it's like I what I was driving a few months ago is just way less.

I'd had that car for like 15 years, and so the guy calls me, he says, Hey, uh, we got a special, and uh it's a$260.

And I was like, that's a steal for four tires.

He was like, I'm like, sign me up, sir, you know, that's awesome.

I was thinking it'd be like 500 bucks.

He's like, oh no, that's per tire.

And I was like, oh, that's different.

Um but I guess I need tires, right?

And he said, you do.

And so I go, all right, here we go.

Uh it's it's like money can just it's gone.

So if you put your hope in money or your career, it's just be careful about that.

Like we, it's just that's a human thing, that's flesh.

You can put your hope in your plans, like your dreams.

And some of us, we've got awesome plans and awesome dreams, and good for you.

You should have plans.

You should have dreams.

Like it's good to have plans.

When I used to work with students, one of the things I would challenge them and I'd always ask them, hey, what's your plan if the zombie apocalypse happens?

Because you know, there's like zombie movies and stuff, and they'd all have very specific plans.

Oh, I've thought about this.

You know, if there's zombies, here's what I'm gonna do this, this, and this.

And I was like, what's your plan for college?

Like, I don't know.

Um and I'd be like, hey, one of those two is more likely to occur in the next five years, so maybe put your focus on the one.

Like you've thought about one of them really in depth.

Think about the other one.

You know, like we all should have plans.

But listen to what James says about our plans.

James chapter four.

Look here, you who say, today or tomorrow, we're gonna go to a certain town, we'll stay there for a year, we'll do business there, we'll make a profit.

How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow?

Your life is like the morning fog.

James is a real downer, by the way.

Um, it's here a little while, then it's gone.

What you ought to say is if the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.

Otherwise, you're boasting about your own pretentious plans and all such boasting as evil.

I joke about James being a downer.

He's not.

It's just that sometimes in life you need a really encouraging, gentle correction, and other times you just need someone to kick you.

And James, James is a kicker.

He's he's there, the book of James is there to kick us a little bit, and sometimes we need that, but he's he's direct.

Hey, when we say, oh, I'm gonna do this and this and this and that, and I've got this plan, that's awesome, but that's flesh.

That's human stuff, that's human thinking, human planning, and it has a tendency to go awry.

So don't make that your hope.

Anything that's that's human, anything that's of this earth, like let's let's just acknowledge this.

It is 2024.

Do you know what 2024 is?

An election year.

Oh, buddy.

We are heading for Trump-Biden rematch 2024.

I'm sure it's gonna be civil.

I'm sure it's gonna be calm.

I have no doubt that, you know, people, this is what America's gonna be like in the next nine or ten months.

Hey, if that's your opinion, I have a different opinion, but we can respect each other, all right?

Let's just agree.

Yeah, okay.

It's gonna get nuts, it's it's gonna get crazy.

And maybe at the front end of our year, we should decide, you know what, I'm not putting my hope and trust in the systems of this world because that's human stuff.

That's just flesh.

We can't make that our hope, because here's what happens if you do.

Let's go back to Jeremiah.

Right?

It says that verse 7.

Actually, let's go back to Jeremiah 5 and 6 again.

Okay, cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart turns away from the Lord.

Because by the way, to make flesh your strength is to turn your heart away from the Lord.

It's to put your hope in something other than him.

Okay?

It says that they will, that person will be like a bush in the desert.

I don't know if you've ever been to a desert.

I have not.

I've seen them, and the bushes don't look like they're doing great.

They don't seem vibrant in the desert.

He will not see when prosperity comes, but will live in stony wastes in the wilderness, a land of salt that is not inhabited.

When we make flesh our strength, when we rely on ourselves or on the systems of this world, the human stuff, we we just end up getting burned out.

We end up getting burdened.

We run out of steam.

I've always said that if you run on flesh, you will run on fumes.

Because the flesh, it just gives out.

But Jesus gives us another way.

Let's go back to Jeremiah verses 7 and 8.

Blessed.

That's the opposite of cursed.

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose trust is the Lord.

For he will be like a tree planted by the water that extends its roots by a stream.

And it does not fear when the heat comes, but its leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in a year of drought, or cease to yield fruit.

If we put our trust in God, and we say, you know what, the flesh, it has its place, but that's not what I'm banking on, Lord.

I want to follow you.

I want to know you.

I want to hear what you have to say.

I want to live according to what you have already said.

Well, that person prospers.

Right?

Like a tree planted by a stream, just full of life.

If you're looking for a parallel scripture, I would say that Jesus is calling us into that very experience in Matthew chapter 11 when he says, Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.

Matthew 11 · chapter mention

Take my yoke upon you.

Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.

Sounds a lot like a tree planted by a stream, just sort of naturally soaking up the water and doing really well.

Jesus is inviting us into a partnership with him.

That's the same thing Jeremiah was talking about.

Blessed is the person whose hope is in the Lord, who lives in dependence on God, who lives in an active partnership with the Lord.

That is an opportunity every single one of us has.

Every day we can live in partnership with God.

Sometimes we're not good partners.

Like I say all the time, I love Jesus.

I'm not always good at loving him.

I'm not always a good lover, but I love Jesus.

Every day, through Jesus, coming to this earth and teaching us and revealing God to us and dying for us and forgiving us of all of our sins, he has opened up a way for each of us to live in partnership with God.

And it's not some distant partnership, it's not just some intellectual idea that he loves us.

It is an actual living partnership with the God of this universe because this is the promise, and it's powerful.

God promises that when we put our faith in Jesus, he puts his spirit inside of us.

And now we don't have to live just by flesh.

Now we can live by the very Spirit of God.

Romans chapter 8 says that Christ lives within you.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

So even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God.

The Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you.

And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.

You get the idea that the author here, Paul, is trying to like emphasize that the Spirit of God lives inside of us.

You're gonna see that a lot.

Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do.

In other words, he's saying you don't have to follow your flesh.

Your flesh is still there.

You're still gonna desire to rely on it, you're still gonna have some of the worst aspects of your flesh tempt you at times, it's still there, but you don't have to.

You're not obligated to, you have another choice now.

For if you live by its dictates, you will die.

You will experience all kinds of death in life.

But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live.

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.

You have not received a spirit that makes you fearful.

Slaves, instead, you received God's Spirit when He adopted you as His own children.

Now we call him Abba Father.

For His Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children.

The Holy Spirit at work inside of us.

Now, let's just be honest.

Some of us, we hear talk like this and we're like, awesome.

I get it.

I track the spirit.

I've experienced it.

I've felt it.

And others of us are like, I have no idea what that is.

That seems strange.

That seems odd.

How could that be?

Like maybe you don't feel the spirit inside of you.

You know, and you might want to.

But like, let me just say this there's all kinds of things inside of you that you cannot feel.

Like you have a pancreas, I hope.

Um how does it feel right now?

How's your pancreas doing today?

Right?

Like, there's all kinds of things inside of us that we we cannot feel.

We have to be very careful not to equate the spirit with a feeling.

That is that is a trap, it is very easy to do.

It's something that people fall into where spirit always equals like emotional ecstasy.

And there's times where if the spirit moves and something stirs and you're like, whoa, like you get you might get tears in your eyes, you might just have this out outpouring of emotion.

That that happens.

But that's that's not like that's not the purpose.

The Holy Spirit doesn't just show up to make you feel weird.

I always love when I hear Jesus teach on the Holy Spirit.

The book of John is where you hear him do this the most.

Jesus teaching on the Holy Spirit sounds a lot like when when Apple first unveiled the iPhone.

Like if any of us are old enough to remember when the iPhone was a new thing and Steve Jobs was was on stage and he's like, it'll do this and this and this and this and this and this and this, it has this feature.

That's how Jesus talks about the Holy Spirit.

He's like, the Holy Spirit will teach you, the Holy Spirit will remind you of all the things that I've said, the Holy Spirit will guide you, the Holy Spirit will comfort you.

It's like it's this presence of God inside of us.

And it's there.

If you've put your faith in Jesus, it's there.

God's presence, it's there because that's what prompted you to give your heart to Jesus in the first place.

People, uh this is a I didn't plan to say this, but like that's the story of my life, by the way.

I shouldn't have said that.

Um it's funny because it's just the nature of this role.

When you stand on a stage and you talk to a lot of people every Sunday and people watch from home and all that, it's cool, but people will often come to me and say, Justin, you have this way of speaking exactly to what I'm going through.

And I'm like, that is not me.

That is God who loves you so much that he's speaking to you.

It's not me.

I don't live at home with me for a day.

I just say the wrong stuff.

Like constantly.

I'm I'm actually in my home.

I am the worst person to speak to my children to help like pull them out of something.

I will often start talking to my kids when they're like in a bad way, and I'll just say, hey, listen, and Megan will be like, Well, no, don't say that.

Like, no, no, no, no.

She'll literally go, uh-uh.

Because I don't I don't have a knack for saying the right thing.

If you have lived my life, you would know most of my life has been an absolute cautionary tale of shut up.

Like, just stop talking.

Okay?

That's not me.

That if that ever happens, by the way, that that's not me.

It's it's the Lord.

He uses his word.

And the Holy Spirit loves you.

The Holy Spirit loves you enough.

If you've ever had that experience, whether it's this church or another church, or just like you're you're in the car and there's a song on the radio, or you hear someone say something to you, and you're like, and you're tempted to go, wow, that person.

No, no, no, no, stop.

God just spoke to you.

He's just nice enough to use us to speak.

But it's God love, He loves you, He's speaking to you.

It's your spirit that's hearing that, it's your spirit that's receiving that.

So, so maybe you're like, I don't know if I I have the Spirit or if I felt the Spirit.

If you've ever had like a thought about God that you can't escape and it's led you, it's led you to the Lord, or it's led you to a deeper place or to make some change, you that's the Holy Spirit.

There it is.

That's the Holy Spirit.

And as time goes on and as you grow in your faith, you can learn how to just be a little bit more attentive to it.

It's like you recognize it.

And that's something God will help you grow in and get better at.

But I just want to encourage everybody here.

Some of you are very comfortable with this idea of the Holy Spirit.

Many of us, we feel like we're lacking.

Maybe you look at other believers, you're like, man, I wish I had what they have.

You do.

I'm telling you, you do.

If you've ever been, I wish I had what they had, you do.

Now, if you need a fuller experience of the Holy Spirit, if you need more, if you need a moment that's like, ooh, this helps me solidify this, those moments do happen.

God will do that.

He does it in scripture many times.

And you know, if you're like, what do I do?

Let me just give you an example.

Um, go to the prayer room on a Sunday morning.

If you're struggling with doubt there, and ask someone there to lay hands on you and pray for you to receive the Holy Spirit in the fullest way possible.

Ask for that.

You see that happen a lot in scripture, where people show up and like someone who's who's a very mature believer, like puts their hands on something.

It's not like a by putting your hands on you, I'm transferring something to you.

No, it's like an intimacy.

And it's just like, hey, let's let's pray.

And you just share and you pray, and the spirit moves.

It happens all the time.

It's not that complicated.

It's just mysterious.

There's a difference.

Right?

It's not complicated, it's just it's just mysterious.

Be okay with mysterious stuff.

All right?

Alright, I'm gonna keep going.

So we're living by the spirit.

That was a huge tangent.

I'm paying attention to the clock.

All right, here we go.

Let's look at some more scripture.

It's always a good thing to do.

Ephesians 3.20.

All glory to God who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, right, by the Spirit, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.

Galatians 5, the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives.

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

There's no law against these things.

Ezekiel 36, this is a promise God made way back in the Old Testament.

I'll give you a new heart.

I'll put a new spirit in you.

I will take out your stony, stubborn heart, and I'll give you a tender, responsive heart, and I will put my spirit in you, so that you will be able to follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.

God is spirit.

Jesus actually said in John chapter 3, you must be born again.

John 3 · chapter mention

You want to see God?

You want to know God?

You want to experience God?

You must be born again.

Meaning you must put your faith in Jesus, surrender to Him.

And then He said that whatever is born of flesh is flesh.

Right?

Flesh can only produce flesh, but spirit produces spirit.

And when you put your faith in God, he puts his spirit in you, and it begins to produce something new in you.

Now, again, some of us that's a new concept, some of us are figuring that out, and many of us, it's like an old hat.

Alright?

But here's what I'm going to say.

At the outset of a year, whatever you do, don't rely on flesh.

Don't rely on flesh.

Listen.

Be patient.

Seek.

Be open to the spirit.

Because the spirit is always better than the flesh.

Even the good flesh.

Corinthians says, I don't have this in my notes, but it's so it's good.

I'm gonna get this wrong.

Um, forgive me.

But basically it says that God's foolishness is wiser than man's wisdom.

And it's an interesting thing because God doesn't have any foolishness.

So his foolishness, which doesn't exist, is wiser than our wisdom.

It's like, well, then we do we really have wisdom?

It's like maybe that's what it's trying to say.

But the point is, like, the spirit is so much greater than the flesh.

Even what we would consider wise is foolishness to God.

So listen, be hungry for it.

And don't be surprised when He He shows you something.

I wasn't gonna mention this as my last little thing, but I'm gonna anyway.

Um I guess that's the theme of today.

And so, worship team, you guys can come out because at some point I'm gonna need to stop talking.

Um I had a really interesting experience on Friday night, and it was one of those moments where God just, I think, at first I thought it was for me, and it I think it was, but I really think it was for my older son.

You may not know this, I have a son who plays basketball.

Um someone actually said, What if uh what if I had like a tagline?

What would it be?

And it was that.

Someone's like, Oh, it would just be like, Did you know I have a son who plays basketball?

Um, I actually have two now, so there you go.

But but Liam and I were driving in the car, and it was a great experience because we were out in like John's Creek, he had a game out there, he had tons of games this last week, crushing it, by the way, just gonna say that.

Um and uh, like seriously though, he's he's he's good.

And I have video I can show you guys, like it's so much.

Just go to my Facebook page, it's it's real, it's a real thing.

Um and we have this interesting experience where um we have to we had to go from his game, and I'm I was coaching my younger son Judah's game.

We only had a short window to make it, it was about an hour drive, and it was we were cutting it close, and I uh my GPS is not working on my phone because I dropped it really hard the other day.

Um that's a joke.

I I threw my phone.

Okay.

I didn't throw it at someone, I just I threw it at the ground, flesh.

Okay?

So my GPS isn't working because of that.

I I threw it really good.

And he has an Apple watch, and that was our navigation.

So we're driving in a place that I don't know where we are, my phone's not working, uh, and and he's on his Apple watch being like, turn left now, you know?

And then his watch died.

And we're like, what do we do?

Okay?

I I thought I knew where I was, and it's one of those good moments as a dad.

We're like, don't worry, son, I've been here before.

And then five minutes later, I actually have no idea where we are.

So it was cool, we kind of went old school.

We called Megan, because my phone still works, and she pulled up like directions, like back in the day when you would print off directions to go somewhere, and then she she sent me a snapshot of those, and then he was holding my phone, like looking at that, telling me, All right, you're gonna be turn left in 1.2 miles.

It was it was awesome.

And as we were driving, we finally got to where we we knew where we were, we started talking about our plans for the spring.

And for him, the spring and summer is about travel basketball.

That is his world, and he's he's played on some amazing teams, but he's kind of at a crossroads this year where he's not sure which team he's gonna play for.

The team he's been playing for for the last few years, they they're three hours away.

It's it's kind of a unique situation.

He has some opportunities with some.

I've actually been working, he doesn't know this, I've been working for like months trying to figure it out.

With good flesh, doing the best I can.

Thinking, calling coaches that I know, uh, you know, sending video to some guys that I know saying, hey, do you do you do you know where this would be a good fit?

Um and it it's it's nothing's really come from any of that.

Like I've kind of been at a loss.

I've talked to lots of coaches and and lots of people, and it's like every option that I get is like, I just thought that doesn't seem like the right fit.

And so we were talking, and I told him, well, well, why don't we just do this?

And uh, and it was very clear from his face that it's like, that's not what I want to do.

Like, I I that's not the right fit.

And we got to this point where we were in our neighborhood, it was time to get ready to like go home, change, and get to the next game.

And I said, you know what, dude, let's just pray about it and think about it.

Clearly, we don't know what to do at this point.

Clearly, we we don't know what to do.

Okay?

I pull in the garage.

This is three minutes later.

I get out, my phone dings, and it's a it's a coach that I've never met before.

And apparently he had shown up to a gym that he thought we were gonna be at that night, and he showed up there to see Liam, but he didn't know who Liam was, he just knew he's this kid who wears green shoes.

He had seen him in a game, and he showed up at our gym and he's asking around, hey, is there a kid here?

You know a kid that wears green shoes?

Which is kind of a weird thing to ask people, you know?

Um, and finally someone's like, Well, you're talking about Liam.

And he's like, Yes, that's yes.

Is he here?

And the guy's like, No, but my dad knows his dad really well, and so I get this text message, okay?

And it goes, Hey, my name's so-and-so.

I've got this team, I've seen Liam play.

We would love to have him on our team.

I'd love to meet you tomorrow to talk about it.

And and then he I keep reading, it's a long text.

So he was probably such a long text that he was he had to have been typing that text when Liam and I were actually talking about it, like that crazy.

And he says that my main priority is to teach young men to be a light in this world.

And you know when someone says something and they're like, like you're like, oh, you that was a Jesus thing.

Like you're, and we'll see how it goes.

You know, we we got we're doing something this afternoon, we'll see.

But it was like this exact concept that I'm talking about.

The good flesh in me was thinking, planning, pulling strings, doing all the things you're supposed to do, and there's nothing wrong with that.

I should have been being proactive.

It was good for me to do that, but then out of nowhere, out of nowhere comes the spirit.

And it's something I'm not aware of, something I'm not in control of while I'm sitting there trying to convince my son to do the thing I've thought to do, the best thing I can think of in my good flesh.

And he's like, I don't know, dad.

And I'm like, son, listen to me.

I think this is the best option.

He's like, Dad, I don't know.

I don't think that's a good fit.

And I'm like, all right, let's just agree to disagree, we'll pray about it, we'll figure it out.

In that exact moment, there's some dude in a gym looking for a kid with green shoes, who happens to connect with a parent who sends us a text.

Like, that's that's what I'm talking about.

It's not always that serendipitous, it's not always that like, duh.

You know, that's just how God is with me.

I'm dumb.

God has to be like, hey, look, like that's how it's many times.

He's like, Justin, pay attention.

I'm like, God, is this you?

I mean, I just said, Lord, we got to figure out a team.

And I got a text from a coach who's a Christian who wants my son to play.

Like, is this you, Lord?

Yes.

Of course it's me.

What is wrong with you?

Like, that's how God has to be with me.

So, if it's not always that obvious, that doesn't mean you're not as spiritual.

It might just mean you're smarter.

Okay?

The point is, it's not always like that, but I will tell you, I believe this with every fiber of my being.

God speaks.

He sees you.

And like I said, I don't actually think that was for me.

I think it was for my son.

I think my son needed an experience where he's like, I don't know what to do, and I'm frustrated at the plans my dad had.

And like it was like God was saying, Liam, I've got you.

I hear you, I see you, I'm working it out.

Like, I think it's gonna make my son's faith grow, and I'm so excited about that.

Okay?

I'm telling you, the Lord He moves, he speaks, he's active.

We just have to learn to seek it.

That's why Susan always used to ask me, is that what God said?

It's not because she expected me to hear from God 100% of the time, perfectly clear, not at all.

It's just she expected me to try.

She expected me to seek it.

Because Jesus says, if you seek, you will finish it.

Find.

That's a promise, guys.

That's a promise.

So here we are, start of 2024.

All this variety, a myriad of diners worth of choices that you can make all year long, and so many of them are great, they're good.

It's not about the tightrope, it's just about avoiding the pitfalls.

And one of the major pitfalls is relying on your flesh, letting this year be dictated by just you, your ideas, your resources, your your good flesh.

Don't stop there.

Do your best, work hard, think, be wise, consult other people that you trust, but but there's more than just that.

Don't let that be the only thing that guides you.

And maybe you've actually been really successful in life being guided by those things.

Just imagine how much more successful you'd be if the spirit led you.

Or maybe you're struggling and everything's not going great and you're trying your best, that's okay.

We all struggle.

The spirit lives inside of you.

If you've given your life to Jesus, if you've been born again, the spirit's inside of you.

Just stop and say, Lord, I need you.

Let's go back to Matthew 11 as we as we wrap up.

Take Jesus at his word.

This is an invitation he is giving to you right now.

And if at the beginning of this year you say yes to what he's saying here, you will experience what it's like to be led by the Spirit this year.

I promise you that.

Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you.

That means like he's in charge.

Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

My yoke is easy to bear, the burden I give you is light.

And if you say yes to that invitation, you will be like a tree planted by the water that extends its roots by a stream, does not fear when the heat comes, but its leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in a year of drought, nor cease to yield fruit.

Praise the Lord.

We're gonna take uh Lord's Supper.

This is something we do every Sunday.

If you're new, by the way, Jesus asked us to have this little meal every time we get together, and we've got tables in the back with bread and juice.

Uh, go grab some.

If you don't have one, you're fine to get up right now and do that.

Um everything we've talked about today, it's only possible through Him.

You cannot have, you cannot have the Spirit without the Son.

You must be born again.

Everything that we talk about, all these promises, the adoption into the family of God and being led by the Spirit, all of that is made possible by what Jesus did for us on the cross.

And so we have to thank him for that every week and reflect on that.

So let's take out the bread.

And this bread represents his body.

He said, This is my body.

And he gave his body up for us as a sacrifice to pay the price for our sin.

Let's take the bread.

And now the juice.

This represents his blood, shed for us.

Let's pray and thank him for it.

Lord, we love you.

We thank you for giving up your body, for shedding your blood.

Lord, to forgive us, to cleanse us, to rescue us, to save us, but also, Lord, to make room for the spirit in our hearts.

And as we drink this today, Lord, as we wrap up, help us, Lord, rely on you, your spirit, your word, your guidance, not our own.

Help us avoid the pitfall of self reliance, of settling for good flesh.

Instead, Lord, lead us, fill us, teach us, and guide us.

And we pray this in your name, Jesus.

Amen.

Let's take the Jews.