8/7/2024 - Charles Zimmerman - Family Week 1

e Harvey Cedars so Harvey Cedars not just with students but has been influential in the life of the church well as John mentioned uh I'm leaving tonight that's not because I'm irritated with you all yet um but I've got a number of things I got to do I have a funeral on Saturday uh you'll enjoy Carlos he'll be here in the morning with his wife and a couple kids and he'll speak at the next couple of days and I'll be back on Sunday um I've got a couple of things and so let let me give you a little background because um um I'm going to tell you what you helped me do for tomorrow morning um when I left the Seminary a couple of years ago and I was thinking what what can I kind of fill that time energy of my life with I'm kind of full-time at the church but you know I was at Seminary for 30 years and what's going to and so I didn't know and so I was kind of open to things I had known and worked with a number of business businesses in the area I was on a couple of boards and I had known a bunch of the guys well I was approached soon after I left um the Seminary God just kind of does this stuff right and they said hey would you be interested in kind of leading um a CEO group you know business owners and some Business Leaders in the area and so we got together and did that I now lead two of those groups because we wanted to keep it under 12 and so I have one of them tomorrow morning um they're not all Christians uh but we get together and kind of as iron sharpens iron and they get to bring issues and they discuss them the other guys get to kind of weigh in we have you know kind of a Content section of that and here's where you all fit in so I have one of those tomorrow morning um and so I thought you know what I'm going to start tomorrow uh with some reminders and so just to show you all I didn't Slough off completely this these few days I was here with you uh I wrote down a few things that I'm going to remind them of tomorrow but while I was jotting these down I was reminding myself you know I've heard of these things I know these things but I have a tendency to forget I know some of you many of you in different capacities are leaders in one area of another and these guys lead some of them really big businesses so here are my reminders list for tomorrow morning if none of this applies you can doze off for a minute um number one there are unlimited good things avoid distractions and stay focused uh that's kind of a principle that I need to be reminded of lots of opportunities but not all opportunities are good strategies right how do you separate opportunities and strategy Etc priority number one build the team fit and chemistry are key right Jim Collins's idea get the right people on the bus then get them in the right seat and here's one that we talked about a little bit life is hard be resilient Not Fragile encouragement and accountability work best together I need to remember that and some of you are on the encouragement side of the scale you're really good at encouragement right and you don't like the accountability stuff others of you like the hammer you don't any feathers right um well you need both encourage in fact I've often said um if you read through the gospels discipleship is nothing more than encouragement accountability Jesus catches them doing things right and he encourages them and he holds them accountable when they're kind of running off their rails right encouragement accountability that's what disciples that's what these guys need to hear now here's one uh you may not believe me but if you have risen to a leadership position you know this is true the higher you rise in an organization the less people will tell you the truth they don't want to disappoint you they want to cover their butt right whatever and so the higher you rise you're getting less truth so you need to find other sources to get it you will make mistakes own them people will trust you more um truth is developed in Seas but I I've done this numer truth has developed in Seas character competence communication and in care if we would do those three things trust would increase uh sometimes it decreases because we're not doing those things credibility is fragile guard it like your bank account you have blind spots solicit feedback don't become defensive uh here's one uh I know most of you know if you want everyone to like you don't be a leader the more successful you become the more you need wise counsel and kind of contrary to what we often think right well there's some things that I need to remind myself of and those guys are going to be reminded of it tomorrow and they'll probably doze off too well we've been looking at some reminders from the book of Philippians some of those kind of overlap with what I said so a little bit of review since I won't be back till Sunday a little bit of a review how do we start uh put it up there so I remember servants and Saints what do they do they share Grace and peace conduits not end users um next one uh our first evening together we said God completes everything that he starts so he who began a good work in you will complete it all right next morning value others above yourselves not looking to your own interest but to the interest of others all right next one for me to live Christ to die gain next one but whatever were gains to me I consider loss for the sake of Christ we did that this morning all right so what reminder are we going to look at tonight well if you have your Bibles um or your phone whatever you use or just listen uh I'm going to read chapter 4 verse 8 and this is a reminder that I need to be um reminded of repeatedly here's what Paul writes finally brothers and sisters whatever is true whatever is Noble whatever is right whatever is pure whatever is lovely whatever is admirable if anything is excellent or praiseworthy think about such things how is your thinking measuring up to that so we're going to talk about some good thinking tonight and um I remember years ago I read a commentary I had this prophet in class and he had written a commentary on Philippians and um he said uh Philippians 48 is the leash law for your mind you ever hear that and so you got to kind of use your leash to keep it out of places it shouldn't go I was thinking about that a couple of weeks ago and I thought you know what have you ever been to a dog you ever been to a dog park you've been a dog perfect um I I we never took my dog there because we we had a bass at H she was lazy I had to drag her around um but I I can imagine and I walked past dog parks I can imagine there are three kinds of dogs in a dog park all right so let me describe these dogs for you you may own one of these dogs by the way and the first one will call Brutus right Brutus is not on a leash and Brutus is a brute he runs around barking biting chasing he's dangerous he's causing chaos at the dog park right he's chasing squirrels biting little kids chasing he's a mess Brutus is a brute he's a mess um any of you have a Brutus yeah we got a couple Brutus yeah okay and the next one's a little different than Brutus we'll call him Rufus um Rufus has all of the same passions and desires that Brutus does he wants to chase the squirrels he wants to bite the kids he wants to fight with the other dogs but he doesn't do any of that do you know why Rufus is on a leash and so the owner is get getting a broken arm trying to hold him in place Rufus wants to do everything Brutus does but he's on a leash and because the leash is strong and the owner's strong BR rud Rufus is allowed to do all of that then there's a third dog at the dog park uh let's let's call this one Caris um Caris at the dog park isn't barking isn't biting isn't chasing Caris like sits right next to her master and she's kind of happy there every once in a while she'll get the she'll get up and she'll say but that squirrel over there smells pretty good I could um um but Caris stays with car looks up and says you know what I don't think my master really would want me to do that so I'm going to stay here now here's how those three dogs at the dog park relate to um people every one of us start out like brutas right making chaos we're barking and dangerous biting and chasing and you look at the news and said lots of Brutus is out there right then there are some Rufus is out there right but they're restrained because of rules and regulations Maybe these rofes are really religious rofes right and the rules and regulations keep them like they're scared to death right they get out of line God will SWAT them or something right or they go to hell for all their misbehavior but then there's the Caris there are carouses at the dog park and there are Caris kind of people Caris people are those that um look at their master and savior and say you know what I've got a higher desire than my than my desire to Chase and bite and bark that desire is to please my master Master because all the master has done for me it's that dog that represents what Jesus calls us to not to be manipulated controlled by rules and regulations certainly not to be running and causing chaos at the dog park but to look at what Christ has done and to say you know what he lived his life for me I need to live my life for him that's kind of the leash law of our minds that I always think of when I read uh Philippians 48 all right so here's what we're going to do we're going to think about thinking and then we're going to practice some principles because before you get to the principles yeah before you get to the practice you need some principles principles always precede practice not always in our actions but you need principle before you get the practice just like you need theology before you get to therapy so you need principle before you get to practice so before we get to print to the practices we need to think about thinking I know it's the middle of the week you're TI already sorry we have to think tonight and we're going to start by thinking about thinking um now I don't I don't mean that real philosophically but we have to think about thinking and Paul actually shows us and tells us how to do that here here's the first thing you have to know about thinking about thinking we need big truth big truth now here's the problem when it comes to Big truth we live in a world and even our churches say everything should be in moderation right you don't need you don't need big heavy duty equipment for a little job right everything in moderation is the problem is you don't see that in the Bible when it comes to thinking about you need big truth forget moderation big truth now here's why why why we think moderation we say things like this would you use a 500 horsepower John Deere to weed your flower bed would you use a 12b sledgehammer to put the tack in the wall to hang a picture would you use a 12 gauge shotgun to kill the housefly the one that was bugging me last we if I had my shotgun he would have had it right um would you use a giant SUV in the suburbs to drive your daughters and sons to Bas to soccer practice I mean wait a minute we need moderation right not an excess moderation um but when it comes to the Bible we need big truth now let me tell you why we need big truth big truth functions like stabilizers so in the midst of turbulence you need stabilizers and so I'm not sure I I checked this out I I think I'm right if there are pilots here and I'm wrong I'm leaving don't tell me um here's what I think it works though the stabilizers on an airplane are actually on the tail the vertical stabilizer on the tail of a plane stabilizes the plane so it doesn't go left to right uncontrollably right and so when there's turbulence the plane would kind of rock back and forth the horizontal stabilizer and keeps the plane from bouncing up and down and so both of the stabilizers together keep the plane kind of headed in the right direction without being thrown by all the turbulence also large ships particularly cruise ships that carry passengers they have stabilizers too and so after the ship and you can see if you ever been on a cruise ship you can actually look in the water and see it once the ship leaves dock leaves port and goes out they have giant stabilizers that come out under the water and they're like Wings there's usually a set up front and a set further back and that cruise ship actually flies through the water and what those stabilizers do is they keep the crew members from cleaning up vomit all week because if the wind and the current caused the ship to go back and forth everybody would be getting sick right we need stabilizers because of turbulence well we live in a very turbulent culture a turbulent World in fact I was trying to think of an illustration for turbulence and again I don't I I can't tell you the last time I think I was in a Home Depot once um but I but I think this is true right I think in the back of a Home Depot there's a paint department is that right and um and if and if your wife or or or you or anything like my wife the color she picks is never one on the Shelf it's one that has to be mixed with 49 different colors in the can so if you go to the back of a Home Depot here's what they they open the can and then he's got this big turntable thing and he puts all these other 49 colors him puts the lid back on and then what's he do he hands it to you to take home no no what's he do yeah he puts it in the Shaker and the thing kind of bounces all over the floor right it's got these springs on the bottom yeah that's kind of what our culture feels like sometimes right we're in the paint Shaker what does that mean we need stabilizers or we're going to be thrown a loop we're going to be bouncing around we're going to be hurting other people we're going to be injured ourselves mentally emotionally relationally we need stabilizers what are stabilizers big truth now Paul shows us I love this otherwise it wouldn't have anything to talk about um Paul shows us how he does that now I want you to think in your mind um moderation right how we often approach Moder don't use a bigger Hammer than you need right don't kill the don't kill the house slide with a shotgun take it easy um look at um verse a couple verses from verse two so here's the example right after he said think think these thoughts eight things right whatever's true love joy here's what he says um we'll look at verse two first I plead with uoda and I plead with ctii be of the same mind in the Lord another two reasons to not name your kids biblical names a little girl came up to me last night and she said um Pastor Z my name's aitis no she she was joking but I hope there are no Yodas or cnes here right um but why does Paul say I plead with uoda I plead with C because they're fighting here are two ladies in the church arguing with each other and my guess is since it's made its way the since the debate the dispute the disruption has made its way all the way to Paul in prison this was not a little argument over who made the best caserole uh they're fighting over something and the fighting has come to the attention of the church and made its way all the way back to Paul the one that started the church now if you think about we talk absolutes convictions and preference here's my guess they're not fighting about an absolute it's not like all of a sudden ciny denied the Trinity Paul would have called her out right it's not some gross sin if one of them's caught in sin he would have Paul's not shy he would have called him out it's probably a preference don't you think something's probably going on in their relationship something was said hard feelings right something was said back you told this person your business and there's a debate there's a dispute There's A disruption in the body and so these two ladies Paul says I plead get along with each other right stop it now if we're going to use modern moderation here's maybe how a counselor with moderation would approach uod and syn just take a deep breath ladies all right just exhale strong deep breathing exercise take do have you both eaten well today did you have too much coffee how are you and maybe you need some R I got count to 10 each of you go to your own Corners count to 10 come back and give each other a hug right um Paul doesn't do that in fact fact look at verse one and he's going to show us he's tipping his hand here's how he's doing it therefore my brothers and sisters whom I love and long for my joy and Crown here's what he says stand firm in the Lord in this way dear friends now what way like where the heck is this way then he says yodan cyi get your act together stop it um do it this well where's the this way oh it's in chapter 3 so if you go back one okay here is the this way now you tell me is Paul using moderation here's the way that here's the way uod and cndi are going to end the dispute ladies our citizenship is in heaven we are members of the kingdom of God ladies uh that that's not the tack hammer and we eagerly await a savior from there okay keep it up Jesus coming soon you want to be in the middle of a knockdown drag out brawl when he shows up Jesus coming back we're citizens of Heaven are you living like faithful citizens of Heaven Jesus is coming back is this the way you want Christ returned to is this what you want to be doing when he comes back oh here's another one who by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control he will transform our lowly bodies where are you in the whole sanctification process ladies you must not be cooperating remember we talked about our responsibility to cooperate and cultivate now you can work against that because there's some mean nasty critical Christians out there Yodi and Cy are fitting the bill and what's he say God is at work in us he planted the seed of the spirit you're not producing love joy peace patience kindness the fruit of you're producing ing something else you're producing chaos you're producing debate you're producing argument and fighting you're not allowing the work of the spirit to go on he wants to transform our lowly bodies you must be resisting that oh yeah and by the way he's our father if God's our father Jesus your older brother that means you two are sisters doesn't sound like moderation doesn't it I mean Paul brings out the big hammers right and so Paul says that okay ladies here's how you fix your squabble we're citizens of heaven and members of the kingdom of God the second coming is imminent Christ and the spirit are at work to transform our bodies are you cooperating are you resisting we are brothers and sisters because God is our father and Christ has brought us into his family and given us his inheritance it kind of sounds like big truth to me right I mean he doesn't bring out the little breathing exercise SI and may maybe you do need a rest maybe you do need meal cup back on coffee but they're not those things don't get to the root of the issue underneath the squabble between uod and cyi something's going on that is not very Godly right and so Paul says okay let's let's bring out the big truth because underneath there's probably some big issues going on here so let's bring them out we need big truth and sometimes we don't deploy big truth we settle for moderation and what happens with moderation issues never really get resolved they get swept under the rug right we pretend it's not there we had a good breathing exercise we move we all took yoga so we feel better we walk and then we keep tripping over what we swept under the rug for the next five years um all right now here's another one so we talked about big truth here here's another weird one and I put this in there so I can teach you a word we need Parallax truth how many even know what Parallax is oh look at this yeah wow a couple people they must be Hunters um okay here's what par I I'll describe paralax this way do you realize you and I see in 3d you really do we have depth perception right you see in dep so I look at here and I see people in the second row are closer to me than people in the back of the room if I didn't that'd be hard to tell right in a two-dimensional world everything is flat but we see in three dimensions so you see the screens are behind me unless you're blind in one eye then it all looks in two Dimensions now here's why you see in three dimensions and why I do because our eyes are slightly far apart now some of your eyes are pretty far apart right but slightly far apart so here's what happens your right eye takes in an image and sends that image to your brain your left eye takes in a slightly different image and sends that different image to your brain and your brain miraculously takes the two two-dimensional images plays with them superimposes them and the two images come together into one three-dimensional image that's Parallax Vision now if you're a photographer if you're a hunter you have a parallax scope on your gun right because that allows you to see in three dimension you can adjust the Parallax right just like on a on a camera um all right now why is that important well I wanted you to learn that word I I learned it so I figured you should learn it now here's the reason there's actually a reason for that we need Parallax Vision if we're going to live Faithfully as God calls us to and here's what I mean we need one eye on what's happening in our world and in our culture and we need one eye on the kingdom of God if you only have an eye on your culture and you cover the eye on the kingdom you will compromise you'll live for the world the world is all you know right you'll just become part you'll be absorbed right you will become immersed in it and you will become part of the culture if you don't have one eye on the culture and eye only on the kingdom you'll be irrelevant and unuseful because you're not speaking to the issues that people are actually dealing with right and so we John was actually mentioned in the books so here's how you say it with authors authors write T right we read timely books books that are for us in this time hopefully the timely books are written with Timeless principles timeliness what's going on in the culture timelessness principles of the Kingdom we need one eye on each if you only have an eye on culture you're going to compromised you're going to be absorbed by the culture if you only have eye on a kingdom and you're totally blind you don't know anything happen in your culture you'll basically be irrelevant because you don't know what's happening in the world how do the principles and values of the kingdom come to life and how do they work out in this culture that's what we need we need to be translating the kingdom into so we need paralax Vision we need both and that's what Paul calls us to all right so now that we have our big truth Parallax truth now we're ready for some practice right no we're not going to run around but we got some practice so let me tease out some principles to practice some practice right how do we practice the principle well it's pretty simple right nothing profound at this point here's the first one um put in good stuff whatever is true whatever's pure whatever's lovely whatever is a good report whatever's praiseworthy put that stuff in um yeah how you doing with that put good stuff in um see here's the bottom line our our minds are kind of like the storage bin underneath your bed and every day you throw stuff in that bin um here's the reality if you throw stuff in there that rots and is no good eventually it's going to stink in your bedroom right what comes in will eventually manifest itself or another way to look at it what you put in will eventually overflow so here here's another picture um I I was going to do this but I figured I'd make a mess up here because I'm not real coordinated um suppose I had a big clear remember in chemistry had those big beakers we had a big Beaker here and I put all these different color pingpong balls in it and I filled it up right right to the brim right you got a couple of balls over the top and um got them in there and they're not coming out because there's the then suppose I put it up here on PO it's crooked but suppose I put up here on a flat surface and began to pour water in what's going to happen to some of the pingpong balls you come yeah what you put in is going to come out and it's going to come out when stress pressure issues in the culture come so I think we here are a couple examples I was thinking of tell I may have mentioned a couple of these before suppose your um your toddler just drew for you a beautiful piece of artwork with a black Sharpie on your freshly painted living room wall and what's going to come out of your Beaker love joy patience kindness uh uh probably not right probably not how about this one this one is uh I need I need this reminder tonight as I drive home suppose you're behind somebody on a single Lane Road like 72 and they insist on driving 15 miles an hour below the speed limit let me the speed limit is the minimum you should go right you can go 10 miles over you can't go under that that's that's part of the rule right um okay what comes out right well what's going to come out is whatever ping pong balls you put in and so if you're with me it's not love joy peace it's not whatever's true whatever's love that's not coming out or how about people uh wrongly criticize you accuse you and it's not true how do you respond love joy peace no you see whatever you put in is going to come out and it comes out when pressure and stress is then poured in so when pressure and stress gets added the stuff that you've been putting in is going to come out so the first principle that we need to practice put in the good stuff um now here's here's probably one you know what do you think the second principle is yeah cut out the bad stuff right so put in good stuff take out the bad stuff and so and don't keep adding bad so keep your mind on the leash right whatever's true whatever's lovely whatever's of good report whatever is excellent whatever is praise think on these things and so our minds tend to you know you're on a gravel road like we our minds tend to ride into the ruts you need to consciously drive your mind out of the rut and keep it on the leash now I do need to say we live in America which means you're all free we're still free right we're still yeah right uh America's free which means I just want you to know you can put anything you want in your mind right um now maybe your spouse would try to stop you but you can you can do that you can put what free country you can put in your mind whatever you want but here's the problem um once you fill your mind with it you no longer control the consequences of what's coming out and so you you can choose to dive off the skyscraper right you're free to do that once you leave the ledge you're no longer free uh you're going to make a puddle soon um right and so you are free up until a point you're not free to determine the consequences so I thought we would end I would just spin out some options for you so I have a little continue in my mind here are some options you're absolutely free if you want to reach these destinations you can fill your mind with these kinds of things you you you get you get to determine what you're becoming what you become is what you're putting in your mind and so what you put in today is what you're becoming pretty scary right and so here's a here's option number one debauchery immorality depravity kind of sounds like a law firm right hello this is debauchery immorality depravity can I and in fact it would actually be true for lots of them right yeah so if you want to reach the destination of debauchery immorality it's a free country you can do that oh yeah Can I some of you are well on your way how do you get there one thought at a time one decision at a time we make thousands of decisions every day but whatever you put in is eventually going to come out you're free to put in whatever you want but once it's in there you're not free to control what's coming out the bu your immorality the do do you want to do that um it all goes back to the leash law of your mind right when you pull up at the uh red light you look at a person's car next to you and say boy I wish I had that comparison will get you to the B your immorality depravity you see that person walking down the street or jogging you you'll linger in the look as you lust for that person God you play with those thoughts you're on you're on the road um you're late for an appointment so you you rehearse your speech I left in plenty of time but traffic was so bad truth is you left late right little decisions those little decisions those things we we put in our mind and as you fill your mind you're loading up you're loading up the beaker with the pingpong balls and when a crisis comes the pingpong balls start falling out so choice is yours if you want the destination of the bought or immorality um depravity choice is yours U maybe said well I don't like that one Char okay good now here's your second option critique complain and criticize now since I'm with the group of Christians uh I I feel like I need to remind you of this critique complain and criticize they are not spiritual gifts I'm convinced that lots of people that go to church think they're gifts of the Spirit right because they major in critique complain and criticize um right and now they're not fruit of the spirit they're not Gifts of a spirit in fact they're probably on the other end of the continuum but just to check um we're among friends we've been a few days together so we can do this I'm I'm going to ask you to raise your hand um how many of you have ever complained about the weather raise your hand all right those without your hand you're lying all right next how many of you have ever complained about money all right put your hand how many of you have ever complained about weight how many have ever complained about your in-laws how many have ever complained about your in-laws weight yeah how many you ever complained about the government uh now um isn't it see critique complain criticize um isn't it I I knew it with a Christian group right we think they're fruit of the spirit or something right they're spiritual gifts because complaining critiquing and criticizing are laughable sins we laugh at it read the Old Testament see how seriously God takes it Israelites winding through the Wilderness what did they often do oh yeah they were critiquing complaining criticizing oh yeah they got stuck there 40 years you think God takes critique complain criticize serious I I think he does you know why because underneath our critique our complaints and our criticizing is our pride of saying God you don't know what the heck you're doing if you would have checked with me I would have told you how to do the weather today if you would have checked with me I would have made sure that driver was not in front of me right and so isn't it interesting we we have an elevated view of ourselves and our wisdom a deflated view of God's sovereignty and his wisdom and all of a sudden we want God to be the supporting actor in our story okay that all secret he doesn't play that he gives us the privilege of being supporting actors in his story and when we critique criticize and complain that's saying I'd rather write the script God I don't like how you're doing it I'll take over now you all of a sudden I'm the laughter Fades right sometimes the headache is just tension sometimes the headaches a brain tumor critique criticize complain pretty serious stuff right um well if if you want that destination you know how to play that game right you're a Christians you know how to do that all right here's option number three well suppose you want a mediocre casual passive Christian Life um well you're well on your way right um you know and here's what I always think of when when someone wants and we all kind of play right we all kind of devolve into this at times um to mediocrity being casual with our faith being passive um if you want that you're almost like a drunk trying to walk on two sides of the street at the same time you ever see somebody who's like stumbling like they they can't they're going from one side that's kind of what mediocrity feels feels like passivity and so you show up at church you know to kind of maintain a good impression with people and you say your prayers is because you want God to come through with the stuff you really want but you know you'll take care of the rest of the week you you you got the rest handled God I'll check in with you if I need you later on um it's not coincidental that two of the characteristics that we read through scripture that God wants us to recognize in ourselves are not very positive here's what God says I want you to be in touch with the fact that you're poor and needy but two things I don't want to be are poor and needy I don't want be poor and I don't want to be needy but if not poor and needy I'm not in a position to receive what God can give as long as I think I can do it God okay well let me know how it's working for you you know and so you reach the point where you realize you're poor in need that's why Paul can say it's in my weakness that I'm strong because in my weakness then I realize I need God's strength and I and then God shows up but as long as Paul thinks he's got it God okay well go let me see how it works out let me know got wants to be poor and needy but when you're mediocre casual passive underneath that is the you know I I think I've got this um and I could I I don't want to be a weirdo yeah I don't want to be a fanatic so I'm going to kind of cut Corners here and do it this way uh one last one so maybe said I don't like any of those three well there is a fourth one not sure if you want this one you want to you want to transform Christian Life you want to cooperate and cultivate so that the spirit can do his work in your life well if that's what you want you need the leash law whatever's true whatever is lovely whatever is Honorable whatever is prais whatever is excellent whatever is Noble think on these things and if our minds will run off the rails a thousand times a day while I've been speaking your minds have been in the ruts numerous times same as mine right if you know what I was thinking you never listen what do we have to well you got to pull your mind back right you have to keep going back because we've created rut you got to steer out of the ruts and here's the problem the problem is the diligence doesn't last right I mean it's hard to be diligent for a long period of time right why you I don't want to do that anymore um you come to Harvey it's easy to be diligent here right get up early nothing to do go over in Cafe get a cup of coffee sit on the deck read your Bible say prayers come in here it's it's easy to do the right stuff here um yeah but this is kind of like this is like the locker room at halftime you don't play the game here you play the game out there when you go home um and so you don't some Christians are convinced I think that they play the real game in church no church is where you learn the plays right church is where you get the pep talk and then you go play the game out there um lots of lots of church members I think are trying to be all stars in practice but this is practice um The Game's out there um but diligence doesn't always last um I know that's true so we need to practice tenacity here's what I mean I'll give you this illustration many of you are parents so you'll understand this remember when your first child was born you're scared to death right you're scared you're going to breaker um so and eventually you learn the secret of the pacifier plug right and and it kind of quiets the house right wow it's wonderful but here's what happens with the pacifier you put it in and sometimes it goes whoop then they spit it out now with your first child you pick up the pacifier off the floor that was just vacuumed and what do you do you boil water you sterilize the pass fire right you don't dry it off cuz maybe germs on the towel you air dry it in front of you know an air sanitizing machine when it's dry enough you test the temperature and then you plug it up again right that's what you do right what do you do with your second child well you've been through this drill a little bit so you pick up the pacifier and you run it under the spet with the second child right and hot or cold water it doesn't matter right the the kid needs to learn to be tough right so and you PL and that work too right what do you do with the third child now I just know every maybe dads do moms all do this you pick the pacifier with the up off the floor what do you do with the pacifier you don't run under the SP it what do you do you suck it well you may have a fever right you and and you plug it up again now by the time the fourth kid comes along you hold him by his feet he picks up his own pacifier and puts it back you're not even bending down right diligence doesn't last but if we're going to reach mature transformed Christian lives you need to build some diligence into your life don't start out with such a high ladder a high bar that you're never going to to be able to keep start small it would be better to do five or 10 minutes a day and be faithful to fi and then extend it rather than say I'm going to start three hours a day so I have to tell you just one I know I'm over I tell this one story so I used to I used I used to teach spiritual formation class to all the incoming students and so I'll never forget spiritual formation the one assignment I sign signed it the first day of class sometime before the end of that first semester every student had to spend 4 hours in prayer right and four you can't do it like 10 minutes a day one 4 Hour block you got a whole semester to block out four hours right take a Friday morning take a Sunday afternoon four hours get alone you know take your Bible if you want Christian whatever you want four hour block of time so it's about the second week of class I'm saying and these two really sweet Korean girls right in here every time I go they put their heads down like this I said what what did I do you know third week they wouldn't they wouldn't lift their heads up so finally after class the third week I said um like is is something like going on with class is it me is it class and they stole their heads on I said we just can't do it we feel like absolute failures I said what are you failing well we can't do that forour prayer I said you got like the rest of the semester they thought I meant four hours a day they were trying to spend four hours in prayer every single day and they couldn't do it so they come to class they were praying more than the rest of the class put together but and so you don't want to set the bar so high you're never going to pick it small a little challenging but you need to practice tenacity because diligence doesn't last but remember whatever you put in pressure and stress is going to come out in fact we get to rub shoulders with each other in relationship we get to see what they've been putting in because we get to see what's coming out oh we better get off that topic that's going to hurt let's pray Lord thanks for your word that uh not only promises that you complete everything that you start and you remind us that we're in process but you also tell us that you want us to partner with you in this process we can't produce the fruit we can't make ourselves grow but we can cooperate with your work we can fill our minds with the right stuff and we can stay away from the bad stuff and as we do we'll be putting more fruitful balls in our beers so when stress and pressure come people will experience life from their interactions with us rather than critique judgment anger and pain Lord thanks for not giving us any of that but for giving us Grace love peace and joy through Jesus Christ Our Savior we pray in his name amen amen thank you Charles we'll be praying that there's nobody going below the speed limit at on 72 on your way home tonight