Who's setting the pace of your soul? /// Red Letters: Part 3

Welcome to the Plum Creek Church Podcast.

We're so thankful that you're listening along with us in this way.

Now, if you're a returning listener, welcome back.

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So be sure to subscribe and follow to be notified when new episodes are available.

Now, before we get into the message, we want to remind you of one thing.

Plum Creek Church, we are all about changed lives, changing lives.

We really believe that if Jesus is right about God, about life, about the soul, then it only makes sense to rearrange our lives around what he says is true.

Because when you choose to follow Jesus like that, it really does change everything, including the lives around you.

Okay.

Let's posture our hearts for what God has in store, this message.

Well, good morning, Plum Creek.

My name is Steve Carter, and it's such an honor to be with you all.

If we've not met, um, it's always a blessing for me to be able to come here.

I'm a pastor in Chicago, um, but I get to partner with Eric on that follow podcast.

And also, I'm just really, really grateful for this church uh for many, many reasons.

Uh, you have an incredible pastor, uh, Pastor Doug, who's a Bears fan, so you know he's right with the Lord.

R.I.P.

Mike Dicka, R.I.P.

Now, what I have to tell you though is why I'm so grateful for your church is because of these guides.

Um your last follow guide, our church went through.

And the fact that this church is so generous to create content not just for itself, but for the entire kingdom, is incredible.

And so I was so excited to come to the series, go into Eric's office, steal a bunch of these, um, bring them back to our church, plan the next sermon series because what you all are doing is just such an absolute gift.

Well, I am I'm excited to be here.

Chicago right now.

This is a big week, obviously, with Mike Dickas passing.

Uh, we play the Packers, Father forgive them, they know not what they do.

And it's also marathon weekend.

It's marathon weekend.

Any of you, AAM, ever run a marathon?

Okay, well done.

Well done.

Well, um, in Chicago, we have 78 neighborhoods.

And during the marathon, you actually run through 29 of those marathons.

And a number of years ago, I decided to run.

I didn't really train.

And so um I just went out there, and in the first few miles, you you wear your last name or your name on your bib, and people are like, go, Carter, go! And I'm like, yeah.

And it was like, it was so inspiring and moving.

But by miles seven, I was I was running at a pace that was unsustainable.

And by mile 10, I hit a wall, and I literally just hated my life.

I I was like, why am I doing this?

I I I cannot do this at all.

I ended up finishing the race.

Um, but then last year I decided to do it again.

But this time I wanted to try and see if I could run a marathon in three hours and 45 minutes.

And that's basically running at a sustained pace of eight minutes and 35 seconds.

And what's incredible is the first time I ran it, I just ran it on my own.

Um, but this time I was like, I had learned that there are these people that are called rabbits, and these rabbits run with signs, and they're literally just pace setters.

And and they'll just say three hours, 45 minutes, and you just have to follow them.

I didn't have to think about a thing, I didn't have to look at my watch.

All I had to do was follow this woman who was the pace setter.

And I think this is fascinating because this entire series is actually helping us learn how to follow after Jesus.

How to follow whose pace is actually good for our life, a pace that is actually good for our soul, a pace that is actually good for our well-being mentally, and our health.

And here's what I need you to understand today is that your soul needs a pace setter.

I think for many of us, we are living at a frantic pace.

Many of us are exhausted, we're overwhelmed, we're overtired, we are just stressed, our whole bodies are making cortisol on the max.

It's actually just robbing our mental well-being, our spiritual well-being, our emotional well-being.

And for many of us, it's because we don't have a pace setter.

And that's the beauty of the scriptures, and that is the beauty of Jesus because this book isn't just stories, this book is actually a way of life, an invitation to something that is far greater for your soul.

And the truth of how many of us read our Bible is we read over the Bible, we read over it, and we try to like read into it and try to apply this to what we already are doing with our life, or to what we want this book to say.

But there's a difference when we actually live under the text, and this was a rabbinic way of thinking, is that our job is to live under the authority of scripture because we actually believe that this book leads to Jesus, who is the way, the best way to the truth, the best truth to life, the best life.

And the more that we actually open this book and live according to this book, we actually find this profound pace setter.

If you have a Bible, turn with me to Matthew chapter 11.

Matthew 11 · chapter mention

We're gonna look at this beautiful story about Jesus.

And Jesus is our pace setter, and Jesus is preaching and speaking and traveling and healing.

And what's amazing is when he chooses his disciples, he says this Hebraic phrase, Le Akrai, which literally means like follow me.

Come, follow me.

And I'm sure the disciples are like, hey, where are we going?

No, no, it doesn't matter.

Leakharai, come follow me.

Follow in the way that I'm doing this one and only life.

Follow me, because in following me, you will understand the access that you have to the Father.

Look what it says in Matthew chapter 11, verse 29.

Matthew 11:29

Come to me.

These are Jesus' words.

All you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Come to me.

All you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

What's amazing is what I believe Jesus is really trying to teach us right now, is how every one of us, including myself, has to rearrange our proximity.

You have to be able to recognize my soul needs a pace setter, and Jesus is saying, at any moment of any day, you can come to me.

Think about this.

When Jesus dies on the cross and takes his last breath and says, it is finished, there was a curtain in the temple that tears, and it's symbolic because the presence of God was in the most holy place in the temple, and now all of a sudden, this presence of God, because of Jesus' death and then burial and then resurrection, this access to the Father became accessible to every single one of us.

So at every moment of any day, you can stop and actually come to your pace setter named Jesus.

But how often do we actually lean into that?

So this whole concept had these Old Testament roots.

You look in Exodus chapter 33, verse 14.

Exodus 33:14

God promises the people that my presence will go with you and I will give you rest.

The greatest gift that we can have is that we actually can step into the presence of the Almighty.

It's truly an unfair advantage that every single one of us has.

That we have access to our Heavenly Father, that we have access to our pace setter named Jesus, that we have access to the Holy Spirit, we have access to the Trinity, and at any moment of any day, we can actually come to Him.

And what's amazing is that the weary and the burden, the heavy laden, all of these that are just dealing with so much that when we come to Him, what does this paysetter named Jesus give us?

Rest.

But I think for us, many of us think that rest is what we get when we finish a project.

Friends, rest isn't the reward for getting everything done.

No.

Rest is the gift of being with the one who holds everything together.

When you can actually exhale, I can I can actually be close to Jesus.

I can actually come to him and bring my full self.

And you do this when you understand, this is a mathematical formula, that Jesus is safe, he's consistent, again and again, over and over on repeat, makes him worthy of trust.

That's who Jesus is.

He's safe.

He's consistent.

And because he's been consistent, he's always been there.

When we come to him, he's worthy of our trust.

Which allows us not to just rearrange your proximity.

When we recognize this, it allows us to rearrange our and your priorities.

Look what it says in verse 29.

Jesus not only says, Come to me, then he says, Take my yoke upon you and learn from me.

For I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Jesus says that he's gentle and humble of heart.

Gentle and lowly.

But often those yokes were commands, obligations, rules, certain kinds of jobs that must be done to earn their standing within the community.

And Jesus is saying, No, no, no, you don't understand.

My yoke, take it upon you.

And I want you to learn from me.

I want you to learn how I do this life.

I want you to learn because I'm telling you, I'm not someone who's overbearing.

I'm not someone who's yelling and angry or anxious or frustrated.

I'm not someone who's looking at you and go, you can come to me when you have your life together.

I'm someone who's gentle and humble at heart.

And what I need you to know, Plum Creek, is the pace of your life is shaping the condition of your soul.

The pace of your life is currently now shaping the condition of your soul, and who you are becoming tomorrow is truly dependent on the priorities that you are choosing to this day.

And I'm telling you, it is so easy to say, I want to live under the authority and I want to live out the way, the truth, and life of Jesus.

But then culture and the world and pressure and life just does what it so often does.

I remember a number of years ago, I was in Chile, I had taken a team down to Chile, and um we had a day off, and so we went surfing, and there was eight of us, four chilenos, they all knew how to surf, and then three gringos, and I was the only one who knew how to surf.

And so we had four boards, four wetsuits, and so we kind of broke up into two groups.

My buddy Corey's from Grand Rapids had never surfed before, and so I told Corey, I said, Corey, here's what you're gonna do.

Put the wetsuit on, you're gonna paddle out.

Wherever the chilenos go, you go.

Stay close to the chileno surfers.

They know what they're doing.

This is their home break.

They know what to do.

So I go into the van, I pull out a book, I start reading.

Probably 10, 15 minutes in, another chileno runs to the van, bangs on the door, opens it up, and goes, Mr.

Steve, your friend Corey, he's about to die.

And I'm like, What?

What are you talking about, man?

So I like a run out there and I'm looking at all of the surfers.

I can't see Corey.

And then the the guy, the chileno, pokes me and goes, he's not over there, he's over there.

And I'm like, oh my gosh.

And what had happened?

The current, the tide had just pushed him over and farther away, and he's just floundering.

He's just floundering.

Waves are just crashing on top of him.

He is in a bad spot.

I go out there and I can hear him screaming something.

And he's screaming something in Spanish and I can't fully understand it.

And so I get waist high in the water.

I'm listening.

I'm trying to whistle at my friends, the children's up like paddle out and rescue him.

And as I get out there, I hear him, and he's just screaming as his arms are flailing.

Por favor, por favor.

And I'm like, is that dude just yelling please in Spanish?

And so I whistle, my friend gets him, we bring him in.

I don't have the gift of mercy in this moment.

He's like a beached whale, out of breath.

And I'm like, dude, I told you to stay with the Chilenos, but that's not the real deal.

The real deal is, what were you yelling?

He goes, Porphavor.

I only know three words in Spanish.

C, Bano, and porphyvor.

And I think about this because oftentimes for many of us, none of us are gonna just drift towards holiness.

None of us are gonna wake up one day and it's like crazy.

I have found the pace for my soul.

It doesn't just happen.

When we go into this kind of culture, the current, the tide is gonna push us farther and farther away into a more frantic pace, into more of a hustle and hurry pace.

And every choice that we're making, it's shaping and forming our soul.

We are all being formed into someone and into something.

And probably for some of us, if we're really, really honest, there's moments of just absolute exhaustion, where in our own way we are looking up into the heavens, just going, Parfavor, please, please help me learn to live under this book.

Because the pace of your life is shaping the condition of your soul.

My mentor John Orberg says it like this that you and I must arrange your life where you are experiencing the deepest levels of confidence, joy, and contentment in your everyday walk with the Lord.

This is this is not just rearranging your proximity to Jesus, it's rearranging your practices and your schedule where you are actually experiencing the confidence.

The confidence that I can trust in the Lord, the confidence that my faith will hold no matter what, the joy of the Lord, not the control, not the fear, not the anger, not the hatred, but the joy of the Lord because I'm walking in the presence of God and the contentment.

I don't need everything that the world needs because I have the presence of Christ, the Holy Spirit, I have the way, the truth, and the life.

And when you begin to recognize that Jesus actually says, when you put that yoke on, it's actually, I'm gonna teach you how to do this.

You don't have to go and just figure it out, I'm gonna teach you how to live your one and only life.

And it's actually gonna be so good for your soul that your soul is gonna be able to exhale and find rest.

And then Jesus just ends that section when he simply says, For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Friends, I I we only understand this is when we rearrange our proximity and we rearrange our priorities.

And thirdly, we rearrange our practices.

I go back to last year's Chicago Marathon, and um I was running and I was doing great.

I had the pace setter, I felt really, really good.

Mile three, mile five, mile nine, mile 11, mile 12, mile 13.

I'm I'm feeling really, really good.

I'm like, I got this.

I'm gonna finish 345, 45 minutes before Oprah.

I'm gonna I'm gonna feel good about myself.

And so I'm like, I'm just running.

And here's the thing about marathon, some of you know this, is that fans just run across.

Um, so it's kind of like annoying.

Um, and so just fans will just run across from one side to another, they'll high-five people.

It's just really weird.

Sometimes they'll hand you this random Chicago drink that's called a Malort.

Don't ever take it, it's gross.

But like people just run across.

And so one guy's running across and he's looking at the runners, and I'm at the very end because I see a Gatorade stand, and so I'm like running on this, looking at the Gatorade stand, this guy's looking at the runners, but he's not looking straight ahead, and he runs into like a 75-year-old man who's pushing a wheelchair with nobody in it.

He's a volunteer who's helping, and he's like actually going to where someone had gotten hurt, and this guy runs into him, the guy falls, pushes the wheelchair, and it runs right into my knee.

And I just fall to the ground.

And I'm like, Are you kidding me?

I I prepared mentally for the wall.

I prepared mentally for dehydration, I prepared mentally for a number of things.

I did not prepare for a random dude to run into random dude pushing random wheelchair into my knee.

And here's what I want you to understand: you can have the right pace setter named Jesus.

You can be doing the right actual prioritization of your life, and you can have all the right practices and still suffering and life will do what life often does, which is surprise you and punch you in the face.

But I'll tell you what, when you have the spiritual musculature and the formation, all of a sudden, you can handle those punches.

You can handle what life throws at you.

And this is what spiritual formation or spiritual disciplines or spiritual exercises or just actually doing this is actually preparing you.

It's not just preparing you to actually follow Jesus in the here and now, it's preparing you for when life does what life will do.

You actually have the muscle, memory, you have the practices, you have the trust and the faith that Jesus can hold you even in this.

Friends, I want you to rearrange your proximity, that you know you can come to Jesus, that you have access to Him.

I want you to rearrange your priorities, looking at your 168 hours.

How often are you coming and returning to Jesus and arranging your one and only life?

So you're experiencing confidence, joy, and contentment with the Lord.

And you do that by rearranging your practices.

I remember when I got up, I had this um this feeling in my leg after being hit by this wheelchair.

And and and runners know this.

Runners know this that you have to know the difference between running in pain and running hurt.

There's a difference.

Running, you are gonna experience pain, but running hurt is gonna do more damage to your body.

The problem was, I didn't know.

Was my knee just sore, or did like I tear my MCL?

I had no idea, and I was a little bit in my head, and so I said to myself, I'm just gonna walk for a few miles.

And so I was just gonna stretch it out, and I'm just gonna walk because I can't tell the difference.

And here's the truth some of you and your soul is exhausted, it's tired, and for many of us, because we're not so close to Jesus in the everyday, we can't tell.

Is this just the right kind of tired, or is this spiritual exhaustion actually doing something to my soul and my well-being that isn't good for me?

And as I was walking, I reflected back on an old practice I used to do.

It came from Philippians chapter 4.

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

And this is like really Paul's ways of like unpacking what we see in Matthew 11.

Paul says, Rejoice in the Lord always.

Paul says, I'll say it again rejoice.

And then he says, Let your gentleness be evident to all.

Remember what Jesus says?

I am gentle and humble at heart.

And then he reminds us, for the Lord is.

Near.

Many of us are really, really good at rejoicing when things are really, really great.

New grandchild, yes, we want to show everyone.

New job.

Fantastic.

But when we get pulled over, do we go, yes, Lord?

Thanks be to God.

When we lose our job, I trust you, God.

When that relationship breaks down, Lord, I want you to know I'm gonna sing of your goodness and mercy.

For many of us, we don't.

But when we actually can recognize, oh, I can rest because I actually believe that God is in control and God is holding this, and I can rest and allow my gentleness, not my anxiety, not my worry, not my stress, not my control issues, not my hatred, not my fear take over, but by gentleness, because I'm actually walking closely to my pace setter named Jesus, my rabbi, and I'm saying something profound with this, is that the Lord is near.

And for many of us, we forget that the Lord is near, that we have access to the presence at any moment of any day.

We have access to the presence of God, that the Lord is near.

And if the Lord is near, what should we fear?

If the Lord, the creator of heaven and earth, what should we fear?

And so I found myself just coming back to this verse.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

The Lord is near.

Those are four of the most powerful words in all of Scripture.

The Lord is near, and I'm gonna rejoice.

Even though I don't know what's happening with my knee, I'm gonna rejoice in this.

I'm not gonna let my frustration with like rando fan and rando wheelchair pusher.

I'm not gonna, I'm just gonna be gentle with myself, gentle with others, because the Lord is near.

And then hear what Paul says next in Philippians chapter four.

He says, Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer, by petition, with gratitude and thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

And you all know what anxiety is, right?

Anxiety turns our peace into pieces.

And all of a sudden, this peace that we felt now is all of these pieces, and I can't hold it together.

I had peace with my future, I had peace with my kids, I had peace in the marketplace, I had peace with security, I had peace with my finances, and then all of a sudden it turns into pieces, and I can't seem to hold all of it.

And what the invitation that Paul is saying is when you know that the Lord is near, you can actually bring this anxiety through prayer because the Lord is near, through petition, God rescue me, God help me with thanksgiving, God, I trust you.

And what's incredible, what's incredible is that when we do this, we're not just handing over something to Christ.

He actually gives us something.

Look what the verse ends with is that when we do this, it says, in the peace of God, the shalom, heaven invading the present, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

And so what's incredible is when you recognize that you are heavy laden, you are weary, you are burdened, you are anxious, you are stressed, whatever you are feeling, that your rabbi, your paceetter, your Lord, your savior, your Jesus is so near that you can actually bring that to him.

And what's he gonna give us?

A peace that transcends all understanding.

And that peace that transcends all understanding.

Oh my goodness.

It's not just a peace, it's this recognition that God and Christ will then begin to guard our minds and our hearts.

I remember when I was in college, I had this incredible uh Greek professor named Nolfil Staten.

That was his real name, Nolfil.

And Nolfil was awesome.

And Nolfil used to be the air traffic controller at O'Hare AirPit, O'Hare Airport.

He used to always say, You want to know what real power is?

Real power is grounding Delta Airlines.

Real power is rerouting United to Milwaukee.

That's real power.

And then he he starts talking to me and he's like, Steve, I can tell that your mind is like all over the place.

I can tell you wrestle with anxiety and worry and stress about tomorrow and the future.

I can tell that.

He goes, you need to give yourself an airport code.

I'm like, what?

He's like, oh, here is O R D.

What's your initials?

I was like, uh SRC.

He's like, great, that's your airport code.

He goes, when any time, any moment of negativity wants to come and land, reroute it.

He goes, he goes, where are you gonna reroute it?

And I said, Columbus, Ohio.

He's like, what?

I was like, I can't stand Ohio State football, so I'm gonna re reroute it there.

He goes, no, no, no, we reroute it to the cross.

I was like, oh yeah, that makes sense too.

But can you imagine this?

When you think about the anxiety, when you actually reroute that to Jesus, then what does Jesus do?

Jesus actually guards.

And I I I love basketball.

I played college basketball.

Actually, that's not true.

I sit at the bench, but I got free shoes.

But I love basketball.

And the beauty of basketball is the only reason I had no jump shot, I had a quick first step, I had good eyes, but the thing that I knew how to do was slap the floor and play defense.

And I think about Jesus as just being like Patrick Beverly, if any of you know that guy, a Chicago legend defender.

But like being so intense of guarding our mind and our heart.

And whatever the enemy wants to do, God is like guarding our heart and our mind, not letting those thoughts, and as we just keep rerouting it to Jesus, whoo, we can then begin to walk in the confidence, in the joy, and the contentment that we have access to our rabbi, our Lord, our savior, for he is near.

And he's not just near going, follow me.

He's near going, what do you have?

You know you can talk to me, you know that you can bring whatever is going on in your life to me.

And then I'm gonna give you a piece that transcends all understanding so that you can walk this out.

I wanted to end a little bit different today.

Because I think it's one thing to say, hey, rearrange your proximity, rearrange your practices and rearrange your priorities, but I want us to actually try this on.

I do this often with my church, where I'll talk about just the importance of playing it out.

I have this guy who would often sit in the front row, and usually at the 28-minute mark, he stands up and he just goes, make it plain, Doc, make it plain.

What he's saying is, help me bring this to the streets.

Help me bring this to my actual life.

And so I'm gonna teach you four words.

Four words based on this teach that at any moment of any day you can actually do.

These four words are simply come, name, release, and receive.

Come, name, release, receive.

So what I want you to do is if you feel comfortable, there's no pressure, you have all agency to give consent or not, is to put both feet on the ground.

To kind of have a posture.

For some of you, it might just be open-handed.

Sometimes I do it that way.

Sometimes I put both hands over my heart.

There's just a way of it just grounding me.

I want you just to actually just listen to what's happening within your soul.

What have you brought in this morning?

What level of anxiety or worry or stress, fear, exhaustion, hurry, uncertainty.

And with your eyes closed, I just want you to imagine your pace setter, Jesus, just running just right in front of you, and he's looking back, and he's just simply saying, Come.

To me.

I'm near to you.

At any moment of any day, we have this invitation.

But he doesn't just want us to follow him.

He actually says, I want you to name your weariness.

I want you to name the burden you're carrying.

I want you to name the anxiety, whether by prayer, petition, however you want to name it.

I simply often will just simply say, I'm feeling afraid because of the blank.

I'm feeling scared because of my freshman's son is studying overseas right now, and I'm so out of control.

I can't fix it if something goes wrong.

I just gotta name that regularly throughout my day.

You come and you name.

And then almost like that air traffic controller, you release it to the one whose shoulders can carry it.

And simply say, by prayer, by petition, with thanksgiving, Lord, I present my anxiety, my weariness, my burden, my fear to you.

Just in your own way, right now.

Don't just come, don't just name, but release it to him.

And now, if your hands are opened, just open up your hands.

And I want you to imagine Jesus doing what Paul says Jesus would do, that he's giving you a peace that transcends all understanding in the present.

That Jesus is actually going to be running around your mind and your heart, taking up more real estate than the fear or the worry or the anxiety or the weariness or the stress, and just receive that shalom, receive that peace.

And at any moment this week, out of a meeting, on a walk, on the train, in your car, you can name because you have been invited to come.

You can release what you name because the Lord is near, and you can release and name and come, knowing that the promised benefit of doing that is a peace that transcends all understanding.

It's his presence that he gives us, and it's his presence that actually brings rest for our souls.

God, I love what you are doing in this church.

I pray that we don't just know more about you, we actually know how to walk with you.

I pray that my friends will know that they can always come to you, they can name what is happening in their bodies and in their minds and in their hearts, that they can always release it to you, that your burden is light, your yoke is easy, you want to bring rest to our souls.

And so, God, I pray as we respond right now, have a worship of hallelujah, that we would worship from a place of that peace that transcends all understanding and all God's people say.

Amen.

Grace and peace.

Thanks again for listening.

Our prayer is that this message encouraged and challenged you in your journey to follow Jesus.

If you'd like to learn more about our church, please check us out online at plumcreek.church or if you find yourself within driving distance of Castle Rock, Colorado, we would be honored to see you in person on a weekend.

So until next time, grace and peace in the name of Jesus.