Faith or Trust

Well, on that note, now that I woke you up. All right. I'm happy that we're back here. Uh we had a great time last week at um uh Boulder Coffee uh holding a great service over there.

And if you missed that service, whether you were online or or here and you missed it, I I encourage you to go back and listen to it because um if you want to know my heart towards the people in this room, um that that's my heart that that I shared last week. So, I encourage you to go um listen to that. But uh today we're going to talk about faith versus trust. Okay, lots of things online.

There's lots of good preachers online. There's lots of good um stuff. You just have to be careful and make sure that what they're preaching sticks to this word, right? Well, one of those guys named Neil Bore, I think I'm pronouncing his name right, told a story and I'm gonna I'm gonna retell it here.

um because it it perfectly portrays what I'm about to talk about. In the summer of 1859 in Niagara Falls, Charles Blondon, a French acrobat, walked across the thousand foot gorge on a 2 inch thick piece of broke. Okay? But he didn't just do it once.

He did it again and again. He did it blindfolded. He did it on stilts. He even took a stove, went halfway down, made an omelette, came back on two inch.

Yeah. Crazy, right? Then the moment came. He brought out a wheelbarrow and he's like, "All right, who thinks I can walk someone across this gorge on this wheelbarrow?"

And everyone's like, "Yeah, you can do anything. You're amazing." And then he goes, "Who wants to be the first one in the wheelbarrow?" Crickets.

Crickets. Okay. You see, they had faith that he could do it. They just didn't trust him enough to put their lives out there for that.

Okay. We have faith in God. We believe in him. But when it comes to letting go of our control to get in that wheelbarrow, it's not our faith that's getting tested.

It's our trust. Okay? Proverbs 3:5 says, "Faith in the Lord with all your heart." Wait, doesn't say that.

Believe in the Lord with all your heart. It doesn't say that. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.

Okay. Faith is a starting point of our walk with God. Faith believes without proof. You believe God even though you haven't physically seen him.

That's a beautiful thing. Okay. And that's good and that's smart to do. A lot of Christians have faith.

Faith is easy almost compared to trust. Okay? Trust costs you control. To truly let go and let God to get in that wheelbarrow and trust God and trust that he won't let you fall.

He won't. Okay? But you never know unless you trust. You got to step out.

You got to step out in faith. You say God is in control, but then you panic as soon as things don't go your way. Right? That's that's not trust.

Trust is the next step. It's following God no matter where he leads with no backup plan. Alexander the Great, the story is told of uh going against a a much larger army and when he when they their ships landed, he had them all burn the ships and he said to the guys, "When we go back, we're going back in their ships." And now they had no option.

They were either going to win or they never saw their families again. Okay? And they won because they burned their ships. Sometimes you have to burn your ships.

Faith gets you into the boat, okay? But trust will get you out walking on the water like Peter. All right. Trust is where you follow hard and you don't hedge your bets.

And we often do that. You know, we're uh we're at a church service and we feel convicted to maybe give and rather than give the tithe, we we hold back a little and just give a little bit. And the and you know, just in case just in case of what? Just in case God's not going to come through.

just in case it's going to be hard for things to go that way. Like in case something does happens or maybe you're looking out and you're saying, "Well, you know, I've got plans for this. I've got to do this and this." And you know, if I do that, then I'll be able to spend more time with my family.

And God wants that, right? He wants us to obey him no matter what and trust that he knows what's best for us. Shout out here to Mr. Leroy Thompson, another guy I came across.

It's crazy. an old dude. He sits on the porch and he just shoots out maxims and uh and they're solid. And he had this next quote.

I just thought it was great. Most people don't want God's will. They want God's approval of their will. They want to do what they want to do and ask God, "Bless me.

Lord, bless me. I'm doing this." Okay, let me repeat that. Most people don't want God's will.

They want God's approval of their will. God does not exist to oberve your plans. He just doesn't. Okay?

You exist to fulfill his. And once you make that shift, you go from being a worldly Christian to a disciple. Okay? You go from being mediocre to being allin.

You go beyond faith to trust. Trust is the difference between believing anything is possible. Actually doing the impossible. Okay?

Means no hedging. Just obey. in our relationships, in our everyday, maybe you feel God telling you to witness to someone and you hesitate to go up there. Maybe you make like small talk, but you never talk and you're hoping that they'll say something about God.

No, he told you to go and talk about God, right? But we hedge ourselves, okay? Out of fear. Maybe God's telling you to dress something in your relationship with someone, but you dance around it and don't do it.

That's not trust. Okay? Maybe God has shared with you a plan, a purpose, a mission for your life, and you're going into it some, but you're still hedging your bets just in case it doesn't work out. What do you mean just in case?

If God's telling you to do it, what is the just in case? What are we worried about? Okay, burn your ships. Trust God, not your own understanding.

Okay, we often know what God wants us to do, but we dabble. We hedge just in case. Are you are you starting to get what I'm saying? You don't want to be that way.

It's it's fear really. And we'll talk about fear next week. It's not trust. Trust burns the ships behind you.

Trust steps out of the boat and obeys Jesus. Trust steps out of that boat and obeys Jesus. Okay. John 14:15 says this.

If you love me, keep my commandments. It means obey. If you love me, obey me. Okay?

People want the blessings of God without obedience. We've got a whole culture like that. Okay? They want God's God's purpose in a lot of Christians lives is to make sure they're blessed.

And that's just not God's purpose. Okay? Trust is choosing obedience when it costs you something. Forgiving when your pride wants revenge.

Okay? Walking away with your when your flesh wants attention. Waiting when your impatience wants control. Another shout out to Leroy Thompson on those quotes as you pray.

John 14:15. Again, if you love me, keep my commandments. Trust bows the knee to Jesus. Okay, this is the power position for a Christian.

This is the power position. All right. This is where we need to be if we truly want to to submit to the Savior. It's a submission issue.

Okay. This is the power position. This is where everything can happen. Okay?

You need to be spending time after playing tennis with you guys yesterday. I'm glad I was able to do that. Um, obey God and don't worry about the outcome. Okay?

Obey him and don't worry about the outcome. He's got this. He's bigger than you. He really is.

and he's got this. If he tells you to do it, it's going to work out okay. Not maybe not the way you think, but it's going to work out okay. No hedging, no doubting, no control.

Just obey. That is trust. That is faith in action. That is proof of disciplehip.

You may say, you may be thinking, well, how do I know what God's telling me to do? Okay, that's a question you could be debating. You know, is God really telling me to do this or is is he not? Okay, it starts with this word right here.

starts with this word right here. All right? This is his word to you specifically. It's great to listen to a podcast here and now here and then, but that's somebody else's version of what they read.

Okay? And it may apply sometimes to you, but when you're reading this sucker, it's God talking to you and you're processing it through your mind, your experiences, and he's giving you guidance and wisdom. Okay? John 8:31 says, "If you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed and you'll know the truth and the truth will set you free."

It starts with this word just a little each day. Okay? This book tells you how to be a good husband. Tells you how to be a good uh wife, good father, good mother.

Okay? This is a great guideline. You don't have to ask God when you're in a marriage if he wants you to leave that marriage or not. He's not going to violate his word.

Okay? There's some He's not going to do if you're hungry and you need food, he's not going to tell you to steal it from someone. That goes against his word. He's just not going to do that.

Okay? So, there's some things you don't have to, but some situations there's a good and a best, you know, and those are the ones that are the trickiest for us. Start right here in your Bible and then pray. That's where you're going to get the real wisdom of what you want to do.

And then what he's going to do is he'll affirm it in things out there. Okay? So he tells you to forgive someone in the morning and then you get in your car and you turn on the radio and the first song is a song on forgiveness and then you you you get to work and someone tells about how they just forgave somebody else and all of a sudden you're getting forgiveness everywhere you go. That's God telling you, "Dude, do what I told you to do this morning, okay?

It's good for you. Go do it. It'll be okay." We have to obey God.

God will give you clarity. He'll affirm it all around you. But it starts in his word. You can get con confirmation podcasts, music.

Okay? But this word is where you get clarity about your specific purpose, what you're supposed to do. You get an idea. And you got to be careful because if you get an idea of something you want to do.

Okay. See if things are sticking together. Rain. There we go.

Um, you ever buy a car? Okay, once you buy that car, what do you notice? All the other cars like that car on the road. You never noticed them before, but all of a sudden, every car's a Toyota Tundra, right?

If you just bought a Tundra, if you focus on something you want to do, you can find things out there that'll affirm it. Okay? You got to take it back to this word or else you might get deceived. You might be off course.

You may be doing what your heart wants to do, but not really what God has told you to do. Okay? There's a big difference. If you spend time in this word in prayer, God will make it very clear to you.

He'll tell you the people to reach out to. He'll tell you who to call. He'll tell you who to forgive. He'll tell you what to do.

Jot that stuff down and then do it because you don't know. There have been people that have sat there and said, "If just one person would call me today, I won't kill myself." You don't know if God's not having you be that one person. You know, so you got to obey God when he tells you to do things.

Stay in the word. All right? So once you got saved, assuming everyone's saved here. If you're not, let's take care of that today.

But if you're if you are, as soon as you got saved, you're engaged in a war. Whether you know it or not, it's a spiritual war. Okay? There are demons.

There are things. And in there, Paul tells us to put on the full armor of God. And of all the armor that's in there, the helmet, the helmet, breastplate, only one of them is a weapon. And that's the sword of the spirit.

And what's the sword of the spirit? The word of God. Okay? So, if you don't spend some time in this word of God, it is like you're going out into the battlefield without a weapon.

And we've got some serious times coming up upon us in America, if you haven't noticed. Okay? There's some stuff going down. And we need warriors.

And and if you're a warrior, got to have a weapon. You can't you can't go without your weapon. And don't send me into I'm going to go into that battle. I'll be there with you.

I'll I'll be in the battle. But don't go show up next to me with no weapon. All right? Then I got to carry you plus the people behind me.

You know, come on. Help me out here. Spend some time in the word. Joshua 1 verses 8 and N kind of really brings it together beautifully.

Okay. It says, "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night." Spend some time in this sucker. Okay?

That you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage.

Some say be strong and courageous. Some some I like that better. Do not be afraid nor be dismayed. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

This again it's the unarant word of God man. Got to spend some time in this thing every day. All right. And pray every day.

Joshua at that time was being told to go into the promised land. So he was being told by God what to do. Okay? Go into the promised land.

But he was scared. And God told him be bold and courageous. And he three or four times in Joshua 1, okay, for him to be bold and courageous. As long as he obeyed, he was going to be fine.

But we got to be careful. We got to make sure we obey him. Okay? There's a story in Joshua a few chapters later, like Joshua 7, where they had just had success conquering one place, and they were going up against I, a little tiny city, okay?

And they went up there. They didn't even send the full contingent because they knew it was so easy to to beat I, okay? They're supposed to be taken over the promised land. God told them he'd be with them.

He took down the walls of Jericho with them just blowing trumpets, right? So, so they know God's with them and they just send a small contingent up and they get waxed. And when they come back, Joshua tears his clothes. He's crying, "Why is this?

Why is this?" Someone had stolen something from the place they had just defeated that God told him not to steal. He allowed the whole army get wiped out. Okay?

Because that one person disobeyed. So, you got to be serious about this. All right? I know the world paints Jesus as just a lovey lamb and he is but he's also a warrior king.

Okay. And we have to be ready for battle. And a good parent prepares their family for battle. Okay?

Over these next few weeks, over these next few months, okay, I'm going to be focusing on preparing you guys for battle because battle is coming. Okay? It's already here, but it's coming. If God tells you to do something, just obey him and his hand will be with you.

It's the easiest place to be. Where do you get clarity? His word. Then you trust it and obey.

Okay, I've got three questions for you to take. And so when you come here, man, I would love for you guys. I I gave everyone a journal. There's more back there if you didn't get one.

Love for you guys to actually take notes. For years, I mean, as long as I can remember, if I went to church, I brought a notepad so I can take notes. Sometimes I'd know more than the preacher, but I could still learn from it. I can learn from a janitor.

I'm not better than anybody else, right? There's stuff that you can jot down and take with you. And I've got three questions for you to think about, contemplate this week. Okay?

Where in your life are you cheering God on from the sidelines, playing it safe, hedging your bets, not getting out there on the field? Okay. God gave me a vision to start this church and uh I was living man. And I had the life.

It was a great life. Okay. And um I made one call as I got motivated. I made one call to Glenn.

He said, "Yeah, man. You can use our place on Sunday." And I'm like, "All right, now I got a free place to to open a church." Didn't have a single person.

My first recruit was Gabriel and I had to pay him. That was my first recruit. Okay. So, I started this thing with nothing.

And then God was clear I needed to be where the church is because the church is supposed to be pouring into the local community. So I moved to Lawrenville. Lawrenville is a nice town, but it's not Lake Lane here, man. It's just not like Lir.

We were there yesterday up in Buford and I'm like, it's so pretty up here. Wow. Um, but how beautiful is this place right now? My kids are here helping me grow at church.

You guys are coming not because of my preaching, because you're getting loved on when you come in. you're getting hugged on. You know, people people are talking to you and dialoguing with you. That's the beauty of this place.

If you'd have told me 20 years ago you'd be doing church and your kids would choose to show up there, that's amazing. You know, um as a father, your job is to get these kids up, get them out, and get them on their own and get them into their own relationship with God. Right? I'm supposed to pass the baton to God.

God gave them to me at the beginning and I've got to pass them to him at the end. And the goal is for them to be now under God's authority, not mine. Right? You look at Caitlyn's Bible or Kerian's Bible, they they've got highlights all throughout it.

There's there's things they're actually they're actually got their own walk with the Lord now. Okay? It's not on me anymore. I'm still here for money, take my trips, and uh advice sometimes when they want it.

Okay? But God's God's got this, okay? I don't have to obsess over it anymore. Okay?

God's got this. Somehow he made it all work out. And it's just a beautiful thing. Why?

Obedience, man. So, where are you cheering God on from the sidelines, not playing and playing it safe instead of getting in the field? Two, something God's is there something God's telling you to do that you're holding back on? You know, he wants you to do this thing, but you're scared.

Next week, we're going to talk about fear. It's gonna be a really good message because I'm going to share something about the future, too, but but a good thing about the future, not something to scare Gabriel's kids. Um, but if God's telling you to do something, the smartest thing you can do is just obey it. Just obey it, man.

Don't try to find signs on whether you should obey it or not. If you're if you know, if his word is telling you to do it, you do it. You just do it. It's the smartest play.

It's the safest place in this whole crazy universe. Smack in the center of God's will is the smartest place for you to be. So, just do it. Um, obey God's the perfect place.

Third, is there some area of your life where you're still trying to control it? You're still clinging to something you want to do instead of letting go and letting God. Okay? whether it's relationship, money, something like that.

I've had to let go of a relationship because God's got a very specific plan for me. He's been preparing me 30 years for it. And now the time has come. Okay?

So, I had to let go of something that was precious. And um it's just sometimes you have to be willing to just do whatever God says even if even if it it's not what you really want. Okay? It's still better to do what God says because that's where the blessings flow.

That's where the victory flows. Doesn't flow from me doing my work, okay? It flows from me doing his. And the reason we stop those things is fear a lot of times.

Okay? First John 4:18, um, Gabriel quoted it during the thing. Perfect love casts out fear. Okay?

God is perfect love. There's nothing to fear. Okay? God won't tell you to do something that's not good for you.

He just won't. It may seem like it doesn't make sense. Hey Joshua, walk around the walls of Jericho seven times and blow your horn and you'll have kind of battle plan is that put the priests up front and the musicians and all the warriors in the back. What?

So God may may tell you to do something that may not make sense to your logical mind, but what does it say? Trust in the Lord. Lean not on your own understanding, right? Because you don't know.

You don't know what God sees. God sees it all. Okay? That fear of moving forward shows a lack of trust.

You're trying to control an outcome because of fear. Got to stop that, man. Stop that. Stop trying to control everything.

The best thing to do is just do it. Step out of the boat. Do what God tells you to do. Release control.

When a kid is scared to sleep at night in the dark, okay, you got a little nightlight in there. And then their day comes when you want to turn that night light off and get them to sleep through the night. Some parents never even go there. They'll just leave the night light on.

Then the kids going to be sleeping with lights the whole time. And what they're learning is fear is real. Don't overcome that fear. Ground it.

Okay. But the parent who says, "All right, you're going to sleep through the night. Turn off the nightlight." For the first hour or two, little Sally's scared, not sleeping.

But eventually, because they're so hyper during the day, that kid will fall asleep. They just will, okay? And when they wake up in the next morning and they weren't eaten busters under the bed, okay, they learn, "Wow, I don't have to be afraid of the dark. I'm a big girl now."

And Sally's off. Okay? You're not gonna talk Sally into it. You can't negotiate with, "Honey, there's no monsters on the bed."

She's still going to want that light on. You're gonna have to at some point just turn it off. and just make her sleep through the night. She won't like it, but she'll love it afterwards when she knows how to face fear and she begins to learn that fear doesn't have to win.

Okay? The best thing you can do is just do it. Step out. Go all in.

I'm all in. And I encourage you to be all in. Okay? Be bold and courageous.

Make sure you're doing what God's telling you to do. And then just be bold and courageous. Just simple obedience, simple trust. Don't negotiate with yourself.

Step out and do it. That's where we get we start negotiating, right? Because we don't really want to do it. So, we start talking ourselves, we can talk ourselves into stuff, into sin.

We can talk ourselves into obedience. Um, but generally that's all the flesh fighting with the the spirit. Trust the Lord instead. Trust in the Lord with all your heart.

Right? Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Amen. as my music guys come up for response time.

You're so cute. Um, I want you guys as we're sitting here singing this last song, if you don't know Jesus, if you haven't, you know, come on up, please come on up. I'll be right there. We'll go to the side.

We'll pray. We'll take care of that right now. Nail that down today. It's the best place to be.

But over this next week, I want you to guys think about or even over this song, I want you to think, is there an area God's just pricking that you're not letting go of? Is there an area that God's just letting you know clearly that you're holding back on? Um that you're not moving forward, that you're not trusting God? I want to I want you to to take that in your mind and commit today to just lay that area down.

Just do it. Just go do it. I promise you, you're going to be okay. Whatever it is, just do it.

You're gonna be fine. Okay. Um so, let me pray over you. God, heavenly father, I love you.

I'm so thankful that I get to do this with beautiful people here, Lord. I'm I'm thankful for your love. I'm thankful for your grace. I I pray now that um wherever a person was pricricked today that they actually step out in faith.

I pray that your hand of power of might, pray for strength. It's okay. You can pray for strength to do the thing you're scared to do, but do but do it anyway. Okay?

Don't back out on God. God's got this. He'll take care of you. And I just pray your hand, your power, your might, your wisdom on these people and that your Holy Spirit breaks out so that they can feel the fullness of living free.

Free to just obey you and simple trust. It's in Jesus name I pray. Too much.