The Guardrails of Faith

that uh that song, what if I stumble? What if I fall? What if I lose my steps and I make fools of us all? Is um by a band called DC Talk.

Okay. And back in the 90s, you like them, huh? Back in the 90s, they were um a a really a gamechanging band. Back back when I got saved, it wasn't the music wasn't like today.

You know, Christian music wasn't evolved like it is today. And um their album Jesus Freak was a mindblowing awesome album and it uh I just uh loved that album and it was three guys mostly. Okay. Um Toby Mack who's still around still still singing good songs.

Okay. Um Kevin Max who um kind of has fallen away from the faith gotten newagy. Um, and then Michael Tate, who was with the News Boys, and you know, the News Boys became really big, too, right? And they had God is not dead, a couple things.

He fell away because um he was accused of of things that aren't aren't good, and he admitted to them and and uh they uh he he fell. And so two of the three members of Toby Mack fell. And um I just care about you guys. I really do.

And I don't want you to fall. Okay? And and when you ask why did they fall? Probably because they didn't they stopped doing the things that got them there in the first place.

They didn't have the guard rails on. What I'm going to talk today about is the guardrails of faith. Imagine you've been bowling where they have a little kid there, right? and they put up the gutter guards and the kid, you know, both hands barely with the ball and it's going so slow you don't even think it's going to hit the the pin, right?

You're like, "Come on, it's got to hit the pin, you know, please." Because you don't want her to be embarrassed. And uh but those balls can't go in the gutters because we got guard rails on. And that's what I'm going to talk about.

Imagine that your life, God's got a plan for your life. Your life is the lane, okay? And you want to stay in your lane. Um, and those these gutter guards that I'm about to talk about will keep you in um on the lane.

So, John 8 uh 31-32, Jesus says this, if you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed. Okay? And you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. Yeah.

If you abide in my word. So the first question to ask is how often are we reading the word? Okay, this word, all right, is life. And I've heard people say, well, you know, I don't have time for that.

I I listen to good music and Christian music and that that keeps me on on track. Who was the minister of music in heaven before he got thrown out? Anyone know? Lucifer.

Yeah. Satan. Okay. So if all of your depth of your knowledge of Jesus is from songs and not study, you've got a surface root.

You're just you're right where the devil wants you. And when the winds blow and the and and America gets shaved, you're going to fall. Okay? I don't want you guys to fall.

This word will keep you on track. Podcasts, they're great. People say, "Well, I I get my my thing from podcast." Listen, it's better to listen to a good preacher on a podcast than this to listen to, I don't know, whatever.

But again, you have to you want to have your own walk with the Lord. Okay? Joyce Meyer, Joel Ostein, any of these people, they go in the morning hopefully and get a word and then they preach it later. Okay?

But you're still living vicariously through somebody else. When you read this word and it's red letters and it's Jesus and he's talking to you and you're thinking it through in your mind, you're actually having God talk to you, you know, through the scriptures and and that's so much more powerful than I don't care who the preacher is. They're not as good as Jesus. Okay.

Second Timothy uh 31 16-1 17 says this. All scripture, you guys laugh. Um, all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction and righteousness that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. Reading Jesus's words, okay, is like he's talking to you, okay?

He can he can speak to you through podcasts and music and nature and but he's typically gonna affirm what he's already shown you. So I'll be sitting there I'll have just read something and I'll be contemplating it and then maybe I'm thinking a thought and then a cardinal comes. That's that's that's an affirmation. But I can't watch a cardinal and get God's message for my life specific from the cardinal.

He can just affirm. You see what I mean? The cardinal is not talking to me. This word can talk to you.

Okay. Um Psalm 119 N says, "How can a young man keep his way pure or cleanse his way? By taking heed according to your word." 119 16-1 17.

I will delight myself in your statutes. I will not forget your word. Deal bountifully with your servant that I may live and keep your word. 1197 through 100 is so cool.

How? Oh, how I love your law. It is my meditation all the day. Don't just read it, but like think on it.

Meditate on it. Right? It is my meditation all the day. You through your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me.

I have more understanding than all my teachers. For your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients because of your precepts. I understand more than other people.

So in a world where stuff is coming at us, you've got the far right, the far left. Even if whichever way you go, it's being Okay, there's a media. You can't trust what the media says, right? We know that.

We can't trust politicians. All right, this is what we can trust. This is truth. And and and in a world that's so crazy, this is where you can go to get clarity, wisdom for what?

For your way, for your path, for your life. Because God has a purpose and a plan for each one of you. Okay? He's got a plan for your life.

Um and you want to listen to other things. Just make sure you take it back to scripture. Acts 17 verse 11, Paul is talking about the Berean church and and he and he says of them, "These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica and that they received the word with all readiness and searched the scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so." So if you're listening to music, if you're listening podcast, make sure you you check it against scripture.

These pastors that fall, these mega church pastors that fall after a while, it's always for things that have been going on for years. You can't read this word and think that it's okay to harm children and things like that. You just can't. It's not in here.

Okay? So if someone's doing that and they're teaching the word, they're not in the right mind and you don't know. How do you know? You take it back to scripture and see and test it against scripture.

That's how you know. Um because someone who's really talented can spin the word and it sounds good. Most cults are started by very charismatic leaders who take a couple verses of scripture and spin the whole thing in and they're able to do it because they sound so good. All right.

When I first started um when I got saved, I uh I ended up at some we moved up here to Georgia and uh I started going to Summit Baptist Church and I was in a Sunday school class of Bill Prince. Last week I talked about him. Um and one time he was talking about mentoring and I I I went up afterwards. God touched my heart to ask him to be a mentor to me.

He goes 7 o'clock at such and such cafe and social circle. You're one minute late. I don't want to even talk I don't want to even talk to you again. right?

Just laid it out there and of course I was on time and um he shared with me something and so I'm sharing this with you because I want you to have guard rails and success. He said Brian say he had that that kind of voice. He says every saint that I've known everyone who's had a strong walk and never faltered spent time every morning in the world. Okay.

Every single one. You might say, "I'm not a morning person. It's just a few minutes." So, so when he told me that, this was not probably 20,000.

You weren't even born yet, Kate. And all all I had was uh Zachary. Okay. And so I by six o'clock in the morning, Zach's up in my bed crawling all over my head, a little two-year-old.

Okay. And uh so when he told me that, I'm like, "How am I going to fit morning quiet? I can't do quiet time when I got kid crawling all, you know, dribbling, drooling in my ears and stuff. And so I started getting up a little earlier, okay?

15 minutes earlier. And I went to bed 15 minutes earlier just to spend that time. And soon it wasn't enough. And it kept growing and growing until now it's it's 4 in the morning that I get up, you know, now there's no kids around.

I could get up later, but I'm so into habit that I just I get up early. Okay? And so two tools for study that I want you to have. And and I've got a gift here for everyone who's here.

And I want you to come up and grab one. It's these these journals here. What you want to do is not just read the word, but think through the word for your life, okay? And write down your thoughts and write down your questions.

Ask God questions. He'll answer them through the scripture and jot these things down, okay? And you'll get wisdom for your path. Okay?

God has a plan for your path. You may and and maybe you've been studying a lot but you've you've you've not really dug into the word in a while. I want to encourage you to get back into it. Okay?

If you haven't had time to do it, just give it a little bit. But Brian, I don't I don't like to read. Jesus probably didn't like to bleed. Okay?

But but but it's just 15 minutes, man. And I promise you, it'll change your life. You'll get clarity. You'll get wisdom.

And the guard rails will stay on. So you don't falter and you don't fall. Read the Bible a little bit. Ponder it.

What is God saying to you? Think through yesterday, your life. Ask questions. Seek answers.

This is about you. It's about knowing yourself and knowing God. It's a wonderful place to be where you're in the center of God's will. Okay?

You're in the center of that lane and you got the guard rails up. So 2 Timothy 2:15 says this, "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." That word diligent means you're you're putting an effort into it. Okay?

You're putting an effort into a morning quiet time. Um, start small, 15 minutes. Okay? Study the Bible.

Grab grab a um a journal. There's also Bibles here if you don't have a Bible of your own. They've given it to us by the Gideonss are free. Come up and grab them.

Okay. Um, so study the Bible yourself, your surroundings. It's like a dance. God will give you things in the morning.

This book is amazing. Okay. I've read things in the morning and then experienced them later that day. And it's like, how 2,000 years ago when it was written did they know on this day I was going to face that thing?

It's like amazing, right? There's over 60,000 cross references on this thing. It's unbelievable what's here. And so I I I I finish John 8 one more time.

If you abide in my word, you're my disciples. A disciple is deeper than just a casual Christian. A disciple is going deep. Okay?

And you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. Truth is freedom. Okay? So that's the first guardrail.

Second guardrail is prayer. Okay? Prayer. Prayer in its in its purest form is just communication with God.

Okay. William Kerry said, "Prayer, secret, fervent believing prayer lies at the root of all personal godliness." Prayer is communion with the father first and foremost. The Lord's prayer says, "Your kingdom come, my will be done."

Right? We want we want his will to be done in our hand. He's got a plan for your life. Okay?

And you're going to discover it through study and prayer. They work together. James 4:3 says, "You ask and do not receive because you ask a miss that you may spend it on your pleasures." To ask rightly, then means for us to know his will.

How are you going to know the will of God if you don't spend any time with God? Okay? And studying in in in scripture and prayer is your way of spending time with God. Uh John 15:7, this is a powerful verse.

If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it will be done for you. Okay? Prayer, if you're doing it right, should be answered. It just should be answered.

Jesus never assumed that prayer wasn't going to get answered. It should get answered. You don't come home, turn on your TV, and it and if you come home, you turn on your TV and it doesn't turn on. What do you do?

You not believe that TVs exist anymore. No, you go and find where the the holdup is, right? Maybe you don't have batteries in your remote or a storm surge knocked out the circuit break or the or it's not plugged in. Okay?

You find what is holding it back from being answered. And that's the same thing with prayer. Okay? If if you're praying within God's will, he's likely going to answer it.

Okay? The universe is not static. God can change his mind based on the prayers of a saint. I want to show you something.

Exodus 32 is really a wild passage of scripture. Okay. Exodus 32. This is the golden calf incident.

Okay. So God brings the Israelites through the sea out of Egypt and they're free. Okay. He brings them to the thing.

Moses goes up on the mountain to talk to God. And in just a couple days, they they create a mo a calf out of gold and start worshiping the calf and saying, "Oh great calf who brought us out of Egypt." Like they just made this calf and they're praying to it. Oh great calf who brought us out of Egypt.

So blasphemous. I can't even. I mean, God just took you through it and now you're it's like a slap in his face. Well, God wasn't happy about that.

And so, we pick it up here in 32:9. It says, "I have seen this people and indeed it is a stiff necked people. Now, therefore, let me alone that my wrath may burn hot against them, and I may consume them, and I will make of you a great nation." He's talking about getting rid of all of them, starting all over again with Moses.

Okay? He did that once before with Noah, remember? So he did that once before. Then Moses pleaded with the Lord his God and said,"Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?

Why should the Egyptians speak and say he brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from your fierce wrath and relent from this harm to your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven. And all of this land that I have spoken of, I give to you and your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.

So the Lord relented from the harm which he said he would do to his people. Okay? Moses prayed, brought God's own words up. So he was in his will.

He was in God's will because he was talking his own God's will. And God relented from what he was going to do. Okay, God will answer the prayers of his children. He does.

Okay, there's scripture after scripture. I mean, Lazarus was dead. Jesus calls him alive. Um Elijah, the widow's son dies and he and he stretches out over him and prays and prays and asked God to bring him back to life and came back to life.

Okay, God will answer the prayers of his children. Why? Because he loves his children. Okay, you might say, "Wait, Brian, if God's sovereign, how could he how could he change his mind?"

All right, say you're a dad, which I am, and you set a a curfew of nine o'clock for your kids, okay? As soon as you set that curfew by 8:55, five more minutes, Dad. Five more minutes. That they're always asking for more time, right?

And uh most of the time, you say no. But every once in a while, you might say, "You know what? Stay up a half hour later." Okay.

Why do I do that? because it's going good because whatever, because I love my kids, because every once in a while you just do. Okay? And so we God listens to his children the same way.

James 5:16 says, "The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." God will even change the heavens and and the earth sometimes around his kids. Elijah prayed that it wouldn't rain and it didn't rain for three and a half years. Okay.

Joshua was attacking um people that God told him to attack and it was getting dark and they were going to escape in the woods and God asked and uh Joshua asked God to stop the sun so so that he could have daylight long enough and God stopped the he really stopped the earth rotation, right? We know that now. But God knew what he was talking about and and he stopped the sun. It stayed daylight for 24 extra hours so we could have victory.

Okay. Um, 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, "Pray without ceasing." It speaks of a constant dialogue with God. I'll wake up in the morning and I do my quiet time.

I'm studying. I'm I'm writing in my journal. Okay? Every one of these journals here, by the way, at the be at the beginning, there's a there's a thing to and from.

Put your name put my name down there because it's a gift for me. And um and start using it because I I want you to have long-term success, okay? as as a as a Christian and not falter. But after I'm done in my morning time, I'm studying, then I get down on my knees and I pray and I could be there for 30, 45 minutes and then I get in my car and I'm driving to work and I'm still contemplating.

I'm still dialoguing with God. It speaks to a time where, you know, now if I'm at work and I'm making phone calls and I'm focused on that call, I may not be thinking about God, but as soon as you stop for a moment, it your mind starts going back there. And then I end my days typically sitting out looking up at the stars and wrapping it up with God. You can attest to that.

I'm out there most nights. Um that's my next door neighbor. So um study and prayer are disciplines. The more time you spend talking with God, the more you know him.

It's just like my kids. I love all my kids the same. Some spend more time with them. You're crazy.

some spend more time with them and uh and so I have a a relationship with them and you know it's just it it's just the way it is. It doesn't mean my love's any different. God loves everyone here just as much. Some spend more time with him.

Be that person that's spending more time with God. It's it's a great place to be. Um if you're spending more time talking to Jesus than you spend shouting at the world, you're going to be in good shape. God has a plan for your life and you're going to know it by study and pray.

Okay, those are daily things you can do to stay on track. Now, there's a couple other guard rails and uh because we're running along, I'm gonna I'm gonna go through them quickly, but um these two, studying prayer, okay, reading that Bible and prayer are core daily disciplines. You just need to be doing them every day, man. Brian, whether you like to or not, man, put forth the effort.

It's worth it. Even 15 minutes is worth it. God can change your life in just a few moments by what you're reading here. He can.

He can. I've seen him do it. Okay? It's the best place to be.

Other guard rails that are really good, other gutter guards would be fasting. Okay? Prayer and fasting is powerful. It's powerful.

In Matthew 17, there was a demon-possessed man. Jesus gave his disciples the power to cast out demons. Okay. Oh, I just thought of something.

One thing on prayer, okay? You got to know God's will, right? You got to be asking things that are in his will. If he asks things that aren't in his will, all right, he may say no.

My son Joshua, ever since he was like seven, would ask for a dirt bike. All right? It's just a stupid request. I'm not going to grant that request.

It is um the money spent when you have six other kids means you gota you got to even it all up which is way too much or I go broke um we don't have a yard where you can play it in. So I'd have to buy a truck too and then bring it all there and then someone watch them. It was just a ridiculous request. Every year the kid would ask for it and every year the word was no.

Couple months ago I'm sitting there and I told Josh I had a big day. I made a lot of money. He goes I still can't have a dirt bike. And I'm like I'm like, "You've got money in your account now.

You got 2,000 bucks. Go buy a dirt bike pipe." He goes, "I'm not gonna waste my money on that, right? I mean, come on."

So, so we got to make sure what we're praying is in the will of God. And that's going to come from watching and reading this book. Okay? So, in Matthew 17, talking about fasting, now prayer and fasting.

Jesus gave his disciples power to cast out demons, but they weren't able to cast out this particular demon. And when Jesus shows up on the scene, he rebukes the people for being so hard-hearted. And then he he casts the demon out of the guy. And a little bit later, his disciples go, "Why couldn't we cast him out?"

And Jesus said in Matthew 17:21, "This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting." Prayer and fasting is a powerful combination. Every once in a while, you should get away. This isn't an everyday thing, but every once in a while, you should get away for a couple days and prayer and fast and and and seek God's will specifically for the next especially at key seasons.

You know, you retire or new jobs or new careers or new relationships. Really good to get away. Um I do it at least three or four times a year. It's just critical.

um start some some churches will start the year with a 21 day like fast. Um you know that's a good good idea too. Um but a fast is a time when you're just you're you're getting rid of food or something that's in your mind and you're just spending time in with the Lord. Everything I know about the end times came from those fasting prayer times when I'd take a week wouldn't wouldn't fast and would study and just study and wait for God to tell me what was going on with the prayers.

So fasting and prayer um is good mentors and accountability partners. Another guardrail. Choose wisely who you're going to be around because bad company corrupts good character and you become who you hang around, right? So you want to choose good people, but choose people that that can help hold you accountable.

Choose people that are wiser. You know, someone that and and ask them if they'll be a mentor to you. That's what I did with Bill and and it was gamechanging for me. Um and and meet with those people.

Accountability partners are a great place to learn and grow. Proverbs 27:17 says, "As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his breath." Okay, that means we've got a Bible study on Thursday nights. We're going through a book and as we talk amongst ourselves and we're dialoguing around the book um Zach's it's his book actually that he wrote and we're using that as the study and um and it's really good and we're we're growing.

We're learning it gets accountability and it's really good. You guys have started coming to it and and um it it's really good. Get around get in a small group. We're going to increase the small groups that we're doing going going forward.

I got a plan for that. Um so small is another one. And then church. Okay.

I had I had to bring up the church, right? Um church kind of brings it all together. If you think about it, we pray here, right? We're hugging on each other.

We're holding each other accountable. We're loving on each other. Um if the pastor is reading out of the word, you're getting a good word in from the from the from the Lord. Okay?

It's got all these other guard rails all wrapped into one. Hebrews 10:24 and25 said this. And let us consider one another in order to stir up loving good works. We should be encouraging each other.

Okay, is what he's saying. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another and so much more as you see the day approaching. Okay. Um it brings it all together.

You can listen online and if you can't get to a church because of that, that's great. But there's something about coming here getting hugged and getting loved on and and it's just it's just a different vibe. So I strongly encourage you whether it's this church or some other church and get into a Bible believing church, okay? And go there.

Just show up. And when you show up, show up with the thing you had a you had a something to write with. Okay? Show up expecting to learn.

I used to go to the cross where where Tim used to go and or Tim preaches still there. And uh I mean I probably have every one of his sermons written down because every day I would go my kids can attest I'd have something and I'd be writing it down. I'm going expecting to learn something. Okay?

Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. But but because of my heart was ready and my mind was ready. So come when you grab these books each week. Come and and you can jot down these notes in these in these books in these journals.

Okay? Why? Because then you can sit there and ponder on it and meditate on it and and and get your act together because God does have a plan for your life. He does and he wants you in the center of it and he doesn't want you to fall to the left or the right and these are the things he's put in place so that you can do it.

Okay. The Bible warns to not forsake it says here do not forsake the assembling of the saints. We need to get together. Okay.

Um so to wrap it up man these are this is the inherent word of God. This you can put your faith in. This you can build your life around. Okay?

In a world where everything is crazy, you can trust this book. Okay? I've tested it for what am I for 40 years. I've tested this.

Okay? It's true. When I didn't know it, my life was offkilter. But because of these guardrails, I've been able to stay on an even keel and just keep growing.

And so that's where you want to get to. You just keep growing. Bible study, prayer every morning, some time in the word and and journal and pray, okay? And then these other guard rails, fasting, you know, church, show up here and and expect your life to be radically changed.

Okay? You want to get into the center of God's will. When you're in the center of God's will, no matter what happens around you, you can stay centered and focused. You can stay even.

And that's a beautiful place to be. You're not all over the place. And it's so easy. The devil wants to take you down.

He wants to these guard rails will keep you there. And I know I'm hammering it hard, but but I really care about you guys. And I really know that this stuff is solid and it's going to work. Um, and so as as beautiful musicians come up here, these guardrails will keep you on the right track.

Okay. I want to pray. um over us. Heavenly Father, I just pray now that um everyone here as we go into a song of reflection that everyone here look at themselves, take a category of themselves and ask if they can spend a little bit more time in the word, a little bit more time journaling, a little bit more time um with you, Lord.

pray and in small groups and and and maybe you're you're reading the Bible some. I encourage you to read a little more. Maybe you're not doing the journaling. I encourage you to journal.

Maybe um you used to read the Bible, but you stopped. I'm telling you to get back into it. Um maybe you haven't been going to study to church. Start doing that.

whatever one of these guard rails you're not doing, I just pray, Lord, now that they will make a commitment to that guard rail and and and uh really move forward, Lord. Lord, you have a plan for each one of these people. You're beautiful and um and I know your heart, Lord, and you want them to stay on track, Lord. I just pray now that you'll help them.

You'll give them strength and you'll help them stay on track to start rounds in Jesus name I pray. Amen.