Breakthrough: Moves Part 2

Well, it is a joy to be back with you.

And today I gotta tell you, I'm I'm excited on a number of levels because let me set the kind of the background for you.

His hands for me.

Um I I travel all over the country.

I do a lot of different communication and comedy and that, and I love doing that.

But uh I just got back from Colorado and Wyoming this weekend, which was great.

But his hands is kind of like the unplugged place for me.

This is kind of my therapy, kind of my where I just let down and just go, this is cool.

Like one of my favorite bands is U2, and every now and then they will just show up in a pub in Ireland for like 60 people and play.

And it's just where they just just they're raw, uncut.

This is just who they are, what's coming, and they get to hear what's gonna happen years from now.

That's kind of what his hands is to me.

And if you're here for like one of the first times and you're thinking, man, you know, these people look different, they're not all dressed like me.

They're they're just this is a real place.

If you're looking for like perfect people, getting more perfect, and uh, and this is not it, okay?

We're we're messed up and we know it.

All right, so yeah.

And our our real only hope is is who God is.

And I today is very unique in the sense that I I was praying this morning and even last night and on the flight yesterday, and I'm thinking, Lord, this is something that I've never had before.

And what I'm gonna share this morning in this area of breakthrough is something that's personally been happening to me.

And I've been sharing um from the I guess a couple months ago when I shared about my heart issue and and going through all that, that these last nine or ten months, God has spoken and I've heard him more clearly, and I've seen him in my daily life more vividly than I ever have in my whole 50 years of living.

It's like this is amazing.

And then, so how do we see that?

How do we get to that point?

Because I've walked with the Lord for decades and never experienced him like I'm experiencing now.

So, how how does that look?

What does that look like?

And let me just tell you also that I I don't know how you are, I I hope this isn't true of your life, but life happens.

And how many of you have had this experience?

Again, don't raise your hands if you don't want to, but how many of you have ever had the experience where you're here on Sunday going, man, that was amazing.

That was for me.

And you can sit in with hundreds of people but think just like, God, that that was for me.

I I got that.

Now follow me on this, and then like on Monday, you're halfway through the day and and you're in traffic or you're at work or you're somewhere in a relationship, and life is just slapping you around, and you're having thoughts and experiences, and even words are coming out of your mouth, and actions are happening where if you're thinking, like, I don't think Jesus would do this, and uh I know he wouldn't be thinking the thoughts I'm having.

Does anybody else have hypothetical thoughts where somebody does something wrong, and then you hypothetically just chase down the road and you've got a bazooka and you're shooting people by the end?

It's just, does anybody else do that?

Okay, I've never done that, but you guys need some help.

And uh, no, I've done that, and it's it's frustrating, and I'm just like, you know what?

There's this verse in James that says that the the human anger does not produce the righteousness of God's desire.

And I'm like, Lord, I I know that there's times where I'm like, Lord, I know that this is not producing what you want in my life.

Now, I I say this also that today.

Today is a shift, it's it's a change of approach to that which is not you, it's not something mind-blowing revelation, uh, but it's it's taking what is and it's approaching it in a completely different way, to the point where it changes everything.

And and the best way I can illustrate it is this.

Did anybody ever see the movie The Express about Ernie Davis?

A few people, um he was this great football player back in the 50s, uh, like the best running back in the country, and it was a transition of segregation, and he was just this incredible athlete.

Drafted in the first round of the NFL draft, and then he contracted leukemia.

And literally at that time, it was a death sentence.

And within a year and a half, he was gone.

Now, for those of you who don't know my story, my daughter is a cancer survivor.

She had acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

But here's what happened because from the 50s to into the 70s and 80s, and even into the 90s, they made progression with some of the drugs.

They were able to get leukemia and remission, but many of the people that went in remission, they had a reoccurrence.

And when it would reoccur, that was the death sentence.

So if you got leukemia during that time, you had about a coin toss, about a 50-50 chance of survival or not.

But then fast forward, my daughter was diagnosed, uh, she's 14 now, she was just turning four years old then, so 10 years ago.

Well, 25 years before that, they started to have some breakthroughs.

And it wasn't in drugs and it wasn't in uh the circumstances, but it was in the process.

They took what was already there, and these amazing doctors, and when we were diagnosed 10 years ago, they told us 15 years before that, it started to morph because they could get into remission very quickly, but then it would reoccur about half the time.

And when it reoccurred, that was it.

They would try everything and they would blast it and do three, four times the amount of chemo, and some affect, some not.

But then there was this group of German doctors, and this is what our doctor told us.

He says, You're you're at a great time, because here's the deal.

They discovered if they took the same process to get it in remission, and then put a low dose of maintenance for about a month and a half, two months, but then at the end of the two months, if they would act like it's back, even if it was not, and instead of just staying on maintenance, they would blast it.

And they would treat three, four, five times the amount of chemo as if it had come back, even though it had not.

If they did that, taking the same protocol, but just changing what they did when, the survival rate went up to 85, 90 percent.

And so that's what we were benefited by.

But they took what was there and they just approached it differently.

What we're gonna look at today is taking what is there, and that this is really for those of us who know Christ and and have walked with him, and we just like, you know what, there's times where I just get frustrated with me, I get frustrated with struggle or this temptation or whatever, and I wish I could get past it.

I wish there was something more, but I know God's enough, and I've God is God, and I'm not.

But this simple approach, this one change, changes everything.

And in the past 10 months, I've been experiencing this change.

And I just want to share it to you, and it's kind of a barrage, and I would just encourage you in this write down the verses.

Because one of these verses is gonna hit you, and you're gonna go, that was it for me.

Because I firmly believe, as I was praying through this, that today, and I've never in my life, I've known that this would happen, but I've never had it more clearly than today that God laid on my heart, there's gonna be some, and I don't know how many, it could be a handful, it could be a hundred.

But God made it very clear today is literally going to change the rest of your life.

For a few, maybe some, I don't know.

But just this simple approach change.

So diving in, the first approach is simply this it's a change in the way I relate to God.

The approach and how I approach God.

Now I'm in a relationship, it's not a religion, and for years I've been walking with the Lord, and for years I would talk to God, I would listen to his word, and I would go through this, but I realized my relationship, unconsciously or subconsciously, was me trying to be faithful and wanting to relate to God and asking him, hoping that I would figure out what it is he wanted to do and that would be best, and it would it would be frustrating.

And if I was honest, it would be kind of a building up points and and trying to be faithful and obedient, expecting God to respond in a way and and give me what I thought I needed or wanted, or what I thought he would want me to need or want, and it just gets frustrating.

But here's the approach change it's not building up credits and then going to God with faithfulness and pulling a lever hoping to get what we want or think that he wants us to have.

It's and here's the approach difference it's God as the author of my life, the story writer.

And my life is not a series of merchant exchanges of faithfulness and hopefulness.

It's a it's a story, and there's ebbs and flows, and God is the author of that story.

He puts it this way in Hebrews chapter 12.

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

Let us look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

God is the author, and my life is the story.

He puts it this way in Philippians chapter 2.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless, and I want you to remember this word, pure.

Blameless and pure.

Children of God without faults in a warped and crooked generation.

Then you will shine among them like the stars in the sky.

Remember that verse.

Go back and look at it again.

The pure and we could spend the next hour on the warped and crooked generation.

How many of you think, no, that's not our world?

It's not warped and crooked.

I could spend an hour explaining that.

Isn't it amazing that 2,000 years ago it was warped and crooked?

I'm pretty convinced it's always going to be warped and crooked.

But God is in the midst of the warped and crooked, and He's like, I've got a story and I've got a plan and I've got a purpose, and I'm writing that story.

If I could put it this way, I I I was at the Y this past week, and I'm doing my workout.

I'm doing my long day on the machine where I do six miles and I do that, try to do that at least once a week, and it was my long day.

And um I've got a knee problem, so I got to do it on a machine, and so I'm doing that.

And that fortunately, the plus side of that is there's a TV and I'm watching Sports Center or something.

And there was a 30 for 30, and it was about Deshaun Watson.

Now, if you're not a college football fan, Deshaun Watson was the quarterback for Clemson that won the national championship last year, and he's just a great guy.

And they're doing an interview with him in high school, and he went to Gainesville High School in Georgia, and he actually talked about how he was just convinced and worked towards winning a state title, and he did, but then he talked about being recruited.

Now, Dabo Sweeney is the head coach at Clemson.

And I love I've actually been around some coaches and a couple coaches from Clemson are friends, and they told me he's the real deal.

He is the real deal.

When he says he coaches his son's baseball team, it's true.

He actually coaches a 13-year-old baseball team, along with coaching the most prolific college football team in the country right now.

And it's like, wow.

And these and they said he's real.

He has all the coaches and their families over for a cookout every week.

And he just hangs out with them because he wants to be real.

And Deshaun Jackson talked about being recruited, and I love this because Dabbo Sweeney is very high energy and like, man, this is awesome.

And imagine this, okay?

This is a parallel.

Imagine being recruited as one of the top quarterbacks in the country, and Dabo Sweeney's like, man, we're doing amazing.

It is happening at Clemson.

We've gone from pretty much irrelevant to now we are back on the national stage, and we are going to win a national title.

And we would love for you to be a part.

You would be a great critical component to this.

You're a talented guy.

We can teach you to reach a potential you don't even know you have.

And we can develop you into that.

If it's to play in the NFL, we will make sure that you are prepared to do that.

And now he is in the NFL.

But this was in high school.

But I love this.

He says, you know what?

It would be incredible.

It's a great program.

Here's what we're doing, not only for the athlete, for after sports, and all that is great, but here's the deal: we're gonna win a national title, whether you come or not.

We'd love for you to be a part.

And you are a great athlete.

But we're gonna do it whether you do it or not.

And see, as much as he could promise that, and sure enough, he delivered it, but the uncertainty of that, there is no uncertainty with the fact that God Himself is the author of a story, and we're part of it.

And you're literally in your living room, and God is going, here's the cool part.

At the end, I win.

And there's it's mind-blowing, you can't even imagine how much that is, but there's a purpose and there's a process in it, and and I want you to be part of that story.

Have you ever heard of Moses?

He was awesome, he had some ups and downs, but man, he he won.

Have you heard of have you heard of Paul?

And yeah, you know what?

Have they heard of you?

Because they're going to.

In eternity, they're gonna hear of you because you're talented and you're gifted.

And I love last last uh service.

Somebody said, Have you looked at 139 and Psalm?

I'm like, yeah, it says that he has written the days for us even when there's not one.

He's the author.

And he's written your days and mine.

If I approach him as an author, it changes everything.

I see it completely differently at that point.

I'm seeing the ups and downs, not as finishes or punishments, but the fact that God is writing this.

I'm reading a book right now.

It's a it's a just called A Praying Life, and somebody recommended it, and it has been incredible.

But there's one part in it that was a breakthrough for me.

Paul Miller writes, he says, if we're approaching God as kind of the relationship to give and get, he says, here's what's gonna underline in it.

He says, if if it's that, we're gonna experience bitterness at times because it's not working the way we want it.

A low level of anger.

We're gonna have times and moments of aimlessness.

We'll be cynical at times, thinking, well, God must not want that for me.

I don't know if he's real in this area, I don't understand it.

There will be times that we start to try to control and lean towards legalism.

Look at all I'm doing for God, he owes me this.

There will be hopelessness, there will be thanklessness, there will be a time where we start blaming others in the circumstances what we don't have, and we'll start trying to make excuses and there will be anxiousness.

But when we take that approach that God is the author of my life.

Instead of bitterness, there will be waiting.

There will be a watching.

What is God doing here?

Because he's the author and he's writing the story, and I'm in the middle of it right now.

There will be a wonder that replaces a cynicism.

Instead of controlling, there will be submission to the truth.

Instead of hopelessness, there is hope and thankfulness.

Instead of blaming others, we have the freedom to face ourselves and repent of what we know isn't right.

Because he's writing the story, and then ultimately there is a calm in our very soul because we know that the author is not done yet, and we know that the ending will be great, and that we get to be a part of that ending.

That is if he is the author.

There's another approach, and that is not only the approach of him as author, but I've changed the approach to the truth, to his truth.

It's kind of like the chemo that they were giving, and then they changed the dosage, and then they changed the dosage, and that's what made the difference.

The approach to the truth, if I can put it in this way, I stopped looking at it as principles and precepts.

They are that.

But I started looking at it as Hebrews puts it in 4.12, for the word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double-edged sword.

It penetrates even to the divide of soul and spirit, joined and marrow, it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

It becomes real.

The author lets me see that this is the outline to my story.

And if I will get the outline down, then I start seeing a transition happen.

And I've never seen this before.

In Psalm 23, I want to read this because I bet I've read this Psalm hundreds of times in various situations.

And I wish I would have marked it so I didn't have to flip through this.

But they're going to put it on the screen, but I want you to notice a transition that happens and when it happens.

Psalm 23.

The Lord is my shepherd.

I shall not be in want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me by quiet waters.

He restores my soul.

He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake, for his story.

But then look what happens in the darkest time.

It's not a punishment, it's part of the story in verse 4.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, and look what happens to the pronouns.

For you are with me.

Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

It moves from a relationship about him to you.

It gets real personal real fast.

And see, the truth, the truth is what God longs for us to experience in reality.

And I just want to say that this approach to the truth has changed everything.

I want to give you an example of the flow of the truth in a real life situation.

I was part of an organization for about 13 years.

This happened pretty much during and right after my heart surgery.

There was a transition and it was in turmoil.

And the leadership had, they didn't even ask me, they just assumed and they placed me in a position of leadership to go through this murky time.

And after being there for 13 years and knowing these people and serving on leadership, I said, yes, I'd be glad to do that.

And we did, and God did amazingly through that.

Stabilized, grew, it was God-sized.

And in the process of that, they made a decision to go a different direction with leadership.

And they said, We've decided to go this way.

And I said, Okay.

Tell me how I can help transition that.

And instead of going that route, it just got weird.

And after 13 years, and after successfully leading through months of this, they came back, they said, Hey, um, here's the deal, we've decided to go this way, and it's just awkward you being here.

So we're going to immediately relieve you of this position, and we're going to ask you not to be here next week.

Now, normally, I don't know how you are when you're confronted or somebody is offensive towards you or something negative is happening, but I kind of dig my heels in normally and just kind of get in a defensive posture, and I'm just like, come a little closer so I can punch you.

Okay?

And just, and especially when you care.

And when you care about people, and I can tell you in this situation, 98% or more of the people there were like, what's going to happen?

What's next?

We trust you, because I've built decades worth of trust.

But I didn't.

I said, God, I want to approach your truth in a way that you want to approach me that is living and active.

So, Lord, show me this.

God, and I'm literally sitting there, I want to show you this flow, and I'm sitting there going, Lord, how do I deal with this?

I need wisdom.

And I'm like, God, where's wisdom?

Where's wisdom?

And I literally, I'm thinking it's uh James.

I think I remember James somewhere.

So I looked in James where it says, let who lacks wisdom ask, and I'll give it generously to those who ask without finding fault.

I'm like, Lord, okay.

So I flip over to James, I'm reading through it, I'm like, Lord, I need wisdom, and I'm asking.

Because this is bad, and it's gonna, this is not a good direction.

How do I deal with this?

And I read down, I came across this in James chapter 3.

James 3 · chapter mention

It says, But wisdom that comes from heaven, I literally went, that's what I need.

That's what I went, wisdom heaven, yes, that's what I want.

And I kept reading, and it says, Is first of all, and here's our word again, pure.

I'm like, okay.

Then peace loving, okay?

Consider it.

Okay, Lord, what could they be thinking?

Because this doesn't Seem right.

Let me consider their thoughts.

And then this next word, I struggled, and I don't know how long I was there, but it was a long tie.

Submissive.

But Lord, see, here's the deal.

This isn't the time to be submissive.

This is the time to step up.

And then I just kept reading.

Full of mercy and good fruit.

Impartial and sincere.

Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.

I'm like, Lord, I want to do what's right.

And as I looked at that verse, the words that just kind of jumped off was full of mercy and good fruit.

Lord, I want to be full of mercy and good fruit.

That's the way I need to approach this.

Good fruit, Lord, where was that one?

Was it Galatians or Colossians or Ephesians?

The good fruit part.

And so I go back to the concordance.

I look at the fruit and I found it.

It's in Galatians.

It says, but the fruit of the Spirit, evidence of the Spirit, evidence that God is in it, is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Against such things there is no law.

So instead of reacting, I'm like, okay, Lord, what does this look like?

I went back to these leaders and I said, not with anger, not with emotion.

I said, guys, I gotta tell you, I'm gonna respect your decision, no matter what it is.

But I want you to reconsider how, not what decision, but how you're making it, I think is a tremendous mistake.

And I just think what our folks need, what these people I've built trust, they need me to stand up and go, hey, here's the decision.

I completely support it, put my arm around what's next and say, this is where we're going.

They need to hear me say that because I've got the trust.

And they're like, well, we've been unanimous, um, we're not gonna do that.

You're relieved, don't come Sunday.

We might have you back in a few months to have a reception for you or something.

I'm like, okay, guys, this will be the last thing I say.

It's a mistake.

They need to hear this, but here's the deal I can't unring a bell.

You make this decision this way, it is not gonna end well, and there's nothing I can do.

So don't ask me to fix it.

They're like, well, we're unanimous, and uh we're just gonna ask you you're you're relieved, and don't come.

Okay.

Can I tell you I had a total peace?

I'm like, Lord, I you you know what's going on, I don't.

And here's the cool part the moment that we or they or anybody else comes to the point where we're like, man, that was dumb.

I messed up.

God instantly begins to restore, instantly shows up and begins to help.

Because he's not for us or for them.

He is truth.

Truth is truth.

It doesn't have a side.

We choose to follow the truth or not, period.

It's not a side.

And I'm like, Lord, I I've never seen and experienced God more clearly, peace more completely, and seeing God's sovereignty through that than going through that.

It's because I approached the truth, not trying to find what would justify me, but here's the deal as I read the truth now, and here's the breakthrough for me.

I used to have a list when God was the relationship, and I would have a list.

I need to have a time, I need to look at his truth, I need to memorize some truth.

It was check, check, check, got it.

I got through it.

I find myself reading it a lot differently.

And I start reading it a lot slowly, and I start reading it like it is alive and active because I don't want to get through it.

I want it to get through me.

And I want to start walking in that truth.

That's what's changed in me.

Not only the flow, but where do we find it then?

So, how do we find this?

And I want to break it down to very, very real terms.

Finding the truth.

Some of it's here right now.

Anytime you hear a verse and you're out and about, make a note of it and read that chapter.

Because sometimes it's just God's way of directing you to what he really wants to share with you personally.

There's been verses, and some of you'll see today, where you're like, oh, that was it.

And you'll go and you'll read the chapter and you'll find another verse in that chapter and go, Oh, that's really for me.

That's the one I really need.

It's asking friends.

When I was going through the heart issue, I had friends, I said, guys, I'm about to face life-threatening surgery.

Send me any verses that apply.

I had over 50 verses sent to me, and all of them were good.

Some of them applied, some of them didn't, but the ones that really applied, I'm like, Lord, thank you.

Ask friends, hey, have you ever gone through this?

What verses did God use to teach you through that?

And take them and go back and read the chapters and let this word become alive and active.

And when we start doing that, I'm telling you, God starts showing up in a way that I have not experienced before.

I start seeing it more clearly.

Because, and I shared this verse last week, Ephesians 3.19.

To know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to all the fullness of God.

I want to know what I don't even know that I don't know.

That's what I want to know.

And that's what God wants to show us.

If we'll stop and say, okay, I got that, then here's the deal.

As I ask those, it says this in Colossians 3.16, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom.

And I move from knowing the truth to letting it dwell in me.

Taking that verse every day, writing it down a card, reading it multiple times during the day, just going, God, I want this to dwell until it gets through me.

Not only that, it says, accept, humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

Planted.

And I love that word planted.

We just want to throw some seeds and see it grow.

My wife a couple years ago said, I want a garden, I want a garden, I want a garden.

We have no flat spot in our yard.

So I built with these concrete blocks and everything, this little garden.

I mean, it's it's not very big, but it cost me over$300.

And she and Kennedy spent two hours out there with the door planting little flowers and some tomatoes and all that.

And they're like, oh, that was so fun.

And I'm like, that was$400.

And that was, duh.

And then they didn't even look at it again.

I would go out and work out, and I'm like, well, you gotta, you gotta weed it, and I'd take the weeds out of there so it could grow, and you gotta you gotta fertilize it, and you gotta water it when it's dry, and you gotta do that.

And we finally got to the end of it to where we had a stock of tomatoes.

I have a$400 tomato at my house, okay?

I mean, it's it didn't seem worth it, but I will say this, and I've experienced it on another well.

When it says take it implanted, it takes time, it takes nurturing, it takes investment, it takes continuing.

When I approach the truth in that way, it becomes exciting because I've started to taste and see what the Lord will do with his truth in me.

And I tasted at the other end.

I was in Haiti on a mission trip with some friends down there that do amazing work.

And I said, What's for breakfast?

They said, Well, we have bananas every day.

And I'm like, oh, cool.

I eat bananas, love bananas, eat them all the time, they're in my smoothies, love bananas.

They're like, oh, but you've never had a banana like this.

And I'm like, they're yellow.

And uh, yeah, I have.

Until I went.

See, because down there they have banana trees, and they've seen them and they know when they are perfectly ripe.

And they don't cut them off until they're perfectly ripe.

They don't cut them when they're green, put them on a boat, and send them for a few weeks to where they hopefully land here, and then you buy them, put them in your kitchen, they're brown within a day, and they don't do that.

They chop them when they're perfectly ripe and they bring it directly to breakfast.

And I peeled that banana and I took a bite, and I was like, wow.

There's a hint of sweetness to it.

It's it it's an explosion of flavor.

I'm like, that is amazing.

When the truth is planted in us and we bring it up over and over during a day, and we memorize it and we dive into it, and we say, God, how do I apply it?

It's an explosion of seeing Him in a way we don't see otherwise.

And when we put those two together, the final approach is kind of the, yes, he is the author.

Yes, it is the truth, but I want to approach and walk with the author in the truth.

And let me just give you a barrage of some of the amazing verses.

And I would say this to you: if you're someone who's seeking and you don't know God personally yet, let yours be this.

Find the book of John, J-O-H-N.

It's in the middle, first part of the New Testament.

Read one chapter a day and simply say, God, will you show me you're real?

And you read it, pick out one verse from each chapter as you read it that just sticks out.

Oh, I understand that.

Then ask God to make that real.

And He will.

And for those of us who are walking through this life, I would say this: pick the area of life right now that you wish you had different.

Wish you had freedom in.

Is it a relationship?

Is it finances?

Is it a job?

Whatever it is, think about that area.

And if we will walk with the author in the truth, here's what it says.

You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

I have a buddy in Phoenix that put it this way.

He says, Ken, we know it's true, but is it true of you?

Is the truth in us?

It says, the word became flesh and dwelled among us, and we saw his glory, the glory of the one and only Son of God, from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Am I letting God walk with the author, God Himself, through His Spirit?

It says, and Jesus said to them, I am the way and the truth and life.

No one comes to the Father but by me.

I will not experience this life to the fullest unless it's with him in his truth, full of grace and truth.

But the counselor, he says this, but the counselor, the Holy Spirit, God with us, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have told you.

The Father sent the Son who sent us his Spirit, God who raised Jesus from the dead, that Spirit lives in us.

But when the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.

And he will not speak on his own authority, but he will speak whatever he hears, and he will tell you things that are to come.

And I would just say this: if we're doing that part of truth, and we'll take that truth, and we'll, this is one of the coolest opportunities we have.

Take a blank sheet of paper, take a folder, whatever it is, but start writing down.

God, here's what I'm going through, here's what I'm struggling with, here's what I would wish I would have freedom in, here it is, Lord.

And then we say, God, what truth applies?

And look in the concordance.

Ask your friends, what would you do when you went through this part of life and look at those verses and start writing them down?

I promise within days, sometimes hours, maybe weeks, you will start seeing progress in those areas.

And you'll see God in reality over and over and over.

It is amazing transformation.

As I begin to walk with him, I start to see that my world plus God's truth equals the story and my part that is in his story.

It is literally a dream come true.

If you're a man and you're frustrated here today because you're thinking this isn't what I thought life was going to be, I'm telling you that God is writing your story and you're at the beginning of what he wants to do.

He wants us to experience the abundant life.

He puts it this way in Colossians.

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

In James 1.22, do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourself.

Do what it says.

It's not about knowing more of the truth, it's about letting more of the truth invade my world and change my life.

And it's not just doing it, we have to know the author, and it's in the context of being with him that we apply the truth that makes all the difference.

I want to give you one quick example that pulls it all together because that verse that talked about that we will become shining like the stars, for God who is at work in us, to make us blameless and pure, children without faults in this warped and crooked generation, then you will shine among them like stars.

My oldest son was coming back from school, and he told me about this situation of width and truth and just owning it and being responsible and walking.

He's driving home.

He says, Dad, there's this one place where the lanes merge, and there was a guy on my blind spot.

I didn't see him.

And I and I hear a honk and it startled me and looked, he's like, Oh my goodness, that guy was there.

And he waves the mirror, he goes, Hey, my bad, my bad.

And he says, the guy just kind of was aggressively trying to get up next to him.

And he looked, and the guy's looking in the mirror, and he's kind of pointing at him, and he's like, Hey, my bad, my bad.

He said they pulled up to a red light, and the guy pulls around, pulls right up next to him, and motions, roll your window down.

And he rolls his window down, and the guy goes, Hey man, pull over.

And he said, Why?

He says, because I'm gonna kick your donkey.

Um look it up in the Bible, it'll make sense if you read it, okay?

And my son goes, Why?

He says, because you cut me off and then you flipped me off twice.

And he says, Dude, I didn't flip you off.

I'm very sorry I cut you off.

I was going, hey, my bad.

That was my bad, I'm sorry.

I was waving and it was my bad.

I'm very sorry.

And the guy goes, Oh.

Oh, okay.

Don't worry about it.

And then he said, You want to go grab a bite or something?

What?

He said, No, man, I'm I'm good.

I'm going home, but I really am sorry.

He goes, Oh, don't worry about it, man.

We'll get together sometime.

Like, really?

I'm telling you, we live in a crooked and perverse generation, but here's the deal.

When we walk with the author and we let the truth permeate us, we have the freedom to own our mistakes, we don't have to dig in, it makes a radical impact on all the world around us.

If we'll let that, because here's what happens.

When we let the righteousness of God work in us to become who He made us to be, He purifies us.

And you can't fake purification.

I don't know if you know this about purification, but this is really cool.

When they take gold, they will literally heat it up until it becomes liquid.

And when it becomes liquid, the impurities float to the top and they take them off.

And the author of our story is writing it, and there's going to be tough times where we are under the heat and the pressure, and that's when the impurities come up.

And we can either grab them back or we can say, God, will you help?

Will you wash me by your word?

Will you write my story?

And when he does, he purifies us through each of those.

I'm experiencing that now.

I'm sensing my struggles of the past are leaving.

It's not I'm not I'm way imperfect, and there's plenty of imperfections that God's working on.

But I sense that he's purifying me over and over.

I'm letting go of that which I don't control.

I'm experiencing a fullness and I'm seeing clearly what's ahead next in a way I haven't before.

Don't miss this pure part.

He says it in those two verses, the one we read before.

He says that we would become blameless and pure.

The first of all pure and peace loving.

And I was reading one day, and this just hit me.

I was in Matthew chapter 5, and I was just reading all the Beatitudes.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

That's really cool.

And I'm in the middle of this seeing and sensing God, and I saw this.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

I'm seeing him in a way I never had.

It's because the approach to him is the storyteller of my life, the truth that is living and active.

And if you and I will take that, we will see God.

Pray with me.

God, thank you so much for your truth.

I pray that you would write it on our hearts this morning.

I pray for those who are sitting here right now that have struggled and have approached you the way I did in struggle, not understanding.

And I know we're never going to understand you fully, Lord, but I know that you are the author and you're writing this story.

Help us to take that to heart.

We love you and we thank you for that.

Help your truth get through us.

Help us walk with the author in the truth so we can see you in our day.

And it's only through Christ we can pray.

Amen.

God bless you.