Free Man - Ps Shane Willard

[Applause] thanks everybody you could be seated oh what a great what a great morning when I come to these I drove in from Dolby last night if you know what if you don't know where that is it's like that anyway it was out there it was hot I come in s'mores like somebody turned the air conditioner on I was like yes we're back in Toowoomba this is fantastic I love these meetings I love I love the what do you do and I think I think we need to show one quick appreciation to the people who put all this together and cooked for us and all of this I think we should give everybody a round of applause for that that so and so I want to talk to you I want to talk to you this morning about freedom because I want to talk to you about the heart of New Hope if you're if you're a guest and somebody brought you to have fun and eat and watch silly things and and have a blast III celebrate that and you you might be wondering you know what I wonder what these guys actually if you cut through all of this I wonder what's underneath all what what is what is that and so if you're a guest and you're just seeking the things of god out and this thing you're you're just you're just looking for a group of people to belong to you know there's an interesting study that was just put out by the University of Stanford on long-life and what what this huge study showed was that the number one predictor the number one predictor of long life is a reported inner deep-seated belief that you belong to a group of people bigger than yourself and that was by the University of Stanford she said that the presenter said even if you do nothing but join a poker club just the fact that you are belonging to something else so what we're doing here is important it's actually the biggest predictive variable that we're going to live longer than we think is that is that we belong to a group of people that are mates that bet that are friends and if you if you're wondering even if you come to new how you become do it for ten years I want to try to realign the heart and in the vision of what Pastor Chris and the team here would want to put out and I would I would say if I was walking through Grand Central and I would and somebody said hey you've heard of this place down there I'm thinking about trying out what did what what are they all about well there's ways I can answer that question the first way would be to tell them what they would experience so okay you'd get here and you'd have some fun and there's would be good food you're gonna be shoulder to shoulder with friendly people and they're gonna play games and you're gonna laugh and that that's that's a description of what we do but but if the question underneath that question is is what are they about if I had to summarize what makes New Hope great I would say this is is that New Hope is committed to journeying with you in the process however long that might take for you not to simply embrace your forgiveness but for you to also embrace what it means to live a free life to be free on the inside like it's one thing it's it's one thing to be forgiven and we and I would I would I'm positive I'm speaking for the leaders here we would want every person to say yes to Jesus and embrace the forgiveness but here's the thing about forgiveness forgiveness is almost entirely God's deal right like that's we really have nothing to do with that except for to not utterly reject his offer right so wait like as long as we're not utterly rejecting his offer all the work of forgiveness is God's deal that's the theological word for it if you needed is redemption or forgiveness or justification but the idea is that you've been made okay with God there's nothing between you and God and we would hope that everybody embraces that but we would also really hope we would think it would be tragic if that's all we did is embrace that and then sit on our butt and wait to go to heaven when we die in jesus's day the average age of death was 32 right so waiting to go to heaven when you died wasn't that big of a deal it was like okay it's kind of like like till death do us part meant something totally different right till death do us part was like put over there crap for another 15 years you'll die it'll get better right right right now now we live to 84 it's a so if if we're embracing whatever it means to be forgiven and okayness with God and then our entire life is lived Amanat and let me let me be clear especially if you're new if you're new and you're learning I wonder what I wonder what all this is about I guess we're laughing and I'm enjoying this but I wonder what the story underneath this story is I would I would simply say this that but you're sitting in a place and you're sitting amongst a group of people that aren't just committed to being forgiven that's actually almost none of our business that's almost entirely between you and God but what we are committed to is helping you journey to say yes to the infinite possibilities God has for your life and live free live free there's a difference between redemption and reputation your redemption is entirely by grace through faith in Jesus Christ entirely like that is God's work but your reputation is determined by what you do and you never ever want to be a person who confuses redemption with reputation right or you'll run the risk of being a forgiving person whose name means nothing whose word means nothing who lives you don't want to be forgiven and in bondage to darkness and bondage to things like lust and bondage the things like I can't control my temper we don't want to do that we want to not just be forgiving we want to be free and so so when I come in this is this is the way I come in on the same week and have every year for the last seven years right and and this time of year is where is where the decisions we made January first change our life this year it starts to wear off this is this is where Jim start to empty out and look at yourself in the mirror we need the gym right right and so and so it's not it's it's not like well that worked and so here we know it's just these these things starting to wear off the commitments we made to spend money a little better or to invest a little better that starts to wane the commitments we made inside I'm gonna I'm gonna treat my wife a bit differently like like to the better or I'm gonna you know I'm gonna treat my wife worse don't make that decision right but do we we make these decisions around January 1st that we think oh you know what if I stick to this I'm gonna it will change my life and you're right the problem is is that most don't and this is about the time where life throws you a little bit of a curveball you get a little bit discouraged and then and then we throw it out and when we and we start to waver the car term for this would be we go out of alignment right and so and so when our car goes out of alignment it can create havoc on certain things so I wanna I want to read a couple of scriptures to you this is from the wisdom literature so this is the section in the Bible that that wise people were throwing out sayings and in observations and in general this is how life works the best this is from this is from the book of Proverbs if you could bring that first lay says the integrity of the upright guides them but the unfaithful are destroyed by duplicity in in the Proverbs it's not overt sin that necessarily destroys you it's not knowing where you're going it's being double-minded it's it's not knowing more - say yes - or what - say no - it's I could go here or there - the writer of Proverbs this is what destroys somebody is something that's don't - when we start rationalizing things outside of where we're meant to be going once again the goal of this is not to be forgiven this has nothing to do with forgiveness this has everything to do with being free the probably if you it may be maybe you've maybe you've been resistant to come back to church because you went to church fifteen years ago and you heard somebody read a passage like that and even if he meant it or not what you heard was boy you better make all the right decisions or God's gonna get you and you're thinking I'm never gonna make all the right decisions I'm never I'm never gonna do this if my forgiveness is wrapped up and getting this thing all right I I quit I am not doing it and I want to be very clear about this that is not the message of the gospel the message of the gospel is is that you there is nothing between you and God that God treats people how they're worth and never as they deserve you might deserve ill treatment but God treats you as you're worth and never as you deserve this is not what we're talking we're not talking about their forgiveness part we're talking about do you actually want to live free let me show you another this is another observation next slide from from the wisdom literature here it comes a prudent man sees danger and takes refuge but the simple keep going and suffer for it I love that a wise person sees danger ahead and changes roads but a prudent but a foolish man keeps going and in the end he'll he'll suffer for it in other words it's always easier to just keep going but a wise person makes small adjustments along the way and it's a whole lot easier to make small micro adjustments a lot than to wait - you make one big adjustment it's a whole lot easier to lose five kilos when you - then - wait T need to lose 50 it's a whole lot easier to pay off 1500 in credit card debt than to wait - there's 15,000 man that is a whole lot easier freedom comes from being wise and wisdom says make small micro adjustments along the way instead when you see danger on the road ahead change roads let me show you one more front from the wisdom literature this is proverbs 14 8 the wisdom of the prudent is to give thought to their ways but the folly of fools is deception if I could summarize my talk this morning in one sentence it would be that when's the last time you sat down and gave thought not to your forgiveness not to your faith not to not to what you believe but when's the last time we sat down and we gave true intentional thought to our ways to wit the way I'm behaving today where does that road take me in a year's time in five years time in 10 years time and does that road get me to where I intend if your intention and your ways are going the same place even if its destructive well at least you'll get what you want right but if you if you say you want this but your ways are doing something else you're gonna be very frustrated life and that is that is that is bondage it is not freedom so I want to put some once again I'm not saying anything that's not obvious this is this is obvious even if some of that you were like wow that's profound it's still it's obvious it's not arguable no one no one would say Shane I disagree with you we need to give less thought to our ways nobody you know but so some nobody would say you know what we need to be less intentional and more just let life come no no no no nobody would say that but the problem with obvious things is if we lack the language to put around it it could be very frustrating into how we apply it so I want to put some language around this and as always what I'll do is I'll put some language around it and then I want to purposely formulate some questions that can be conversation starters for you and your friends to help realign us so let's look at it this way next slide so some observation about this one if our lives get out of alignment it takes more energy to move less distance right so if we're not moving if all the systems aren't moving in tandem it takes more energy to go less distance and if our lives get out of alignment it adds more wear and tear now to fix this this is an assumption Jesus made about his followers Jesus assumes that people who follow him will be willing to have courageous conversations with each other it's an assumption Jesus made Jesus assumed that when we live together in community that we would be open we would see all people as our teacher there are people that are smarter than you and they should be your teacher there are also people who aren't as educated as you but you have a we have a lot to learn from them as well Jesus made an assumption that was strengths and weaknesses and metrans and and in circles of influence that every person in your life has something to teach you and Jesus assumed that his followers would live open to the feedback from other people and that part of our redemptive story part of our living free is other people seeing our blind spots and being courageous enough to have a courageous conversation not an anonymous faceless coward on Facebook complaining about something mindlessly that is boring and awful I'm talking about true authentic relationships at Park House Cafe with a journal in front of you hey how can we get better challenge Mike's curtain challenge my current god concept challenge my current way of thinking challenge the way you see me spending but when use lately we're talk about people in relationship that have considered if that person responds positively to what I say and by willing to walk them through every step of that process and the answer is yes if you're not willing listen if you haven't even considered whether what you will do if they respond positively to your observation then keep your mouth shut this could be quite an open door to quite a big journey and are we willing to do that we pay enormous amounts of money for this in every area of our life I love golf if I was to tell you the amount of money I've spent on lessons trying to get better at golf it would be embarrassing to me and to you and you would watch me play golf and go does the guy struggle walking from the car you can't believe it but my golf car you can't believe how bad I'd be without it right but my golf my golf coach doesn't watch me and go well if that's what makes you feel better just swing it like that that's what you need to do oh you know if you feel right in that position I know the ball didn't get off the ground but just keep going just keep going no no no no a golf coach goes you know what I know what you're feeling there but we got to change that feeling because that feeling is wrong look at the ball the one thing in golf that tells the truth is the ball now club make club makers will convince you that it's the club they spend millions of dollars convincing you if you just bought this club you're horrendous swing with some help produce a straight ball flight not true absolutely a lie though there's two things in golf to tell the truth the ball and the ground right so the ball tells the truth and if you look at the ground you might feel like you're swinging straight down the line but when the divot is really deep and going left that club is coming the wrong direction and so feedback tells us we spend businesses spend millions of dollars every year on business coaches helping them realign their organizations and if they're really good at it it's very effective we spend so much money getting feedback paying for feedback from outside sources why on earth when we live in community would we would we on or living individually it's not the best way to go does it have anything to do with forgiveness no it has everything to do with freedom with freedom that part of being free is that there's somebody regularly speaking into your life and somebody you're speaking everybody is your teacher but let's think this way next time to be a person of influence we have to make great decisions for a very long time great decision influence is fragile you could loot you'll never lose your forgiveness but you can lose your influence pretty quickly it's very very fragile you can lose your influence with your family very quickly it's very very fragile you can lose your influence at your business very very quickly you could lose confidence with people very very quickly so to be a person of influence is really simple in one sense it's it's simple to explain but very hard to pull off and that is this being a person of influence is making very very good decisions over a very very long period of time and that is impossible to do being a Lone Ranger and having no feedback from any body else it's assuming we have no blind spots i-i-i-i get fascinated by by leaders that are fret I travel I travel the whole world I slept in my own bed 25 days all year that's it that's it and everything every every other night I was somewhere doing this and and and this is the easy part the harder parts are the private meetings where people are telling you specific situations and hey speak in speak into this and your brain really has to go off the cuff in in in in provide feedback and it tickles me sometimes with leaders that are frustrated in leadership and I just simply ask him one question tell me the last three book she read and they look blank like to not be a reader and expect to have anything to say duh right like we need outside observations let's stay this way you cannot gauge how you're doing from comparisons or plotted points the worst in terms of freedom the worst way to gauge how am i doing is to look right and left because you never know like like this is uh this is something I've talked about here before about being stuck in the land of a bigger bed or rich or fast or fitter right the problem with that is is for every richer there's a poor for every smarter there's a dumber and so and so if you look right you're gonna feel inferior if you look left you're gonna feel superior looking right and left is not a great gauge as to where you are neither is a plotted point you cannot freeze the present and expect not to be discouraged or disillusioned or delusional about where you are you might have a very good day you go well I'm good from now on you cannot freeze the present you jut you do not judge where you are based on a plotted point but on a trajectory line you do you you got out you got to ask how am i doing compared to yesterday a week ago health is my marriage better or worse than six months ago a year ago are we closer together or is there more distance how is that business going compared to a year ago where's the trajectory of my life only we have to discipline ourselves to gauge where we are based on trajectory and never applauded point let's take this way the goal is not simply to be forgiven but to be free thought I'd come back to that again that the goal is not and I'm positive if you're wondering what are these people at New Hope about listen the the the leadership of New Hope would hope with everything they are that you would say yes to Jesus and embrace the okayness with God that he offers but that that would just be the starting point that the leaders of New Hope would hope then that you would engage and plug in and and begin a journey of not just being forgiven but being the freest best peace person that you could possibly be that you would fulfill all the infinite potentials for your life let's say if you're if you're new to Jesus and you're like I wonder what this is what I think I heard Jesus was and listen let me make one statement about Jesus that that I think is so important if you're new to him and as this Nick next slide Jesus never says fix your life and come to me Jesus says bring your failure your confusion your darkness and your shame to me it's all part of your story that Jesus never says learn how to behave and then come hang out Jesus never says that Jesus says oh you got doubts good good you got questions good good oh you've got some darkness good good as long as your shoulders are facing in the right direction it doesn't matter if you're moving in micro steps what Jesus doesn't want to see is you turn your back and completely reject the infinite possibilities God has for you but if you're willing to journey Jesus says oh that failure bring it oh that shame bring it oh don't don't hide it don't eat you know look look around they all got it - ain't none of us worth a crap like look look we're all in this together we're all in this together this is a bay everybody everybody here's got some failure that they hope nobody knows about everybody everybody's got some shame they don't know everybody did something last week that they hope nobody finds out about everybody everybody's got these secret now everybody's got some questions that they're a little bit embarrassed to answer to ask you know everybody's got it hey don't fix that and then come bring all of that to the table all of that is welcome at my table hey here's here's the thing right when it comes to freedom not forgiveness when it comes to freedom freedom comes down to making regular micro adjustments to your life regular regular regular regular feedback that says hey let's let's get this it let's do this I don't more wear and tear on my car on my life than is necessary let's do this I want to I've devised some questions that last year we talked about a life tune-up so I rewrote it in a different way and I want to talk about how to make these adjustments I want to talk about some questions that we should be asking to realign ourselves let's look at some of these so so first decisions how are we doing with decisions it to be a person of influence requires making really good decisions over a really long period of time so here's a couple of questions that I want to challenge the way we make decisions are we consumed with scrutinising right versus wrong if you don't hear anything else I say this morning from here on out listen to me now whether it's right or whether it's wrong is a horrendous filter for making decisions if it's your only if your only filter for making decisions is what was it right or wrong you will destroy your life to organize your life around the tree of knowledge of good and evil has not worked since Genesis chapter 3 and it won't work for you you are not the exception to the rule and here's why a right versus wrong filter can lead us to rationalizing things that although they're not wrong eventually they will destroy us is there anything wrong with having lunch with that really pretty co-worker like anything wrong with having lunch with a friend no it's not wrong is it wise no but is it wrong not really if you only consider right or wrong it can lead us to rationalize is there anything wrong with buying an $80,000 car is anything inherently sinful about it not really will it destroy your financial life yes because you just spent 80 thousand dollars on something that's gonna lose 50 percent of its value in three years you just lost 40 grand over the next three years and you expect to win it's not wrong but it's not wise if it's only right or wrong we can destroy our life is there a better mechanism of decision-making and I think there are at least two one is is this temporary or is this permanent is this something am I am i meeting something am i meeting a temporary urge in such a way that could have permanent consequences am i doing something to temporarily make myself feel better but in the end it's gonna have permanent consequences buying the $80,000 car will help you feel better in that moment but boy by six months into that payment there's 7 years worth of them you're regretting that the entire book the entire book of ecclesiastes which is another wisdom book can be summed up in this statement successful people navigate the tension between depression and melancholy let me explain what I mean depression is wanting something you don't have melancholy is getting what you think you want and it didn't do what you thought it would do if you want proof of this go look at your wife's closet right right they think they want it it's gonna make em feel better but how many things in your closets still have the price tag on them right right we think it'll do something we think that house will make us feel better about ourselves and then we get it and then we realize I'm paying how much for this how I'm paying every month for rooms I never actually walk in so that people I don't actually care about will think I'm richer than I actually am and this sounded like a good idea I don't know what I'm paying how much for this car and it's going downhill fast in value I thought I wanted it but it didn't do what it would it actually did actually real life is found in the tension between those things real life is is embracing the struggle of it not acting in a way that gives us temporary pleasure in a way that gives us permanent pain or seven-year pain or thirty-year pain it's that is it temporary permanently and maybe the better question is is this wise not is this right or wrong but is this the wisest course of action for my life is this the wisest way is this the wisest thing for me to say is this the wisest way for me to spend my money is this the wisest thing to do so so the first little checkup I want us to do is decisions and there's four questions here that I'm hoping you you take some note of them or something because when you when you meet with your groups and you have your journaling III think it would do our life good if we talk through this if somebody asked us a did we get caught in in the in the trap of is this right or wrong have we not considered as this wise or is this term permanent or temporary no net next slide so another area that we should is relationships I think a couple questions we should ask to make sure that we stay in alignment and not it's not forgiveness it's freedom am I am I being loving to the permanent people in my life the people who are permanent in my life are they getting my best effort or am I making the permanent people in my life pay for the sins of the temporary people in my life am I am I making my wife wear the stress that I'm wearing over that client that's a jerk so I come home don't think about this a client's a jerk he's temporary clients come clients go wives stay right children stay and you come home and you yell at your kids and you make your wife feel bad and when you're really confronted on it you're like you understand I was just stressed that client today hold on bro you just made permanent people in your life pay for the sins of temporary people that's that's dumb that's not wise it's not even a matter of right or wrong that's just stupid that is that the wisdom literally SH like am i living to be right or free it in your marriage or with your children you got two choices you could be right or you could be peaceful you could you can you can demand your right to be right I'm the man of this house by God we're going to listen to me okay listen if you have to tell people you're in charge you're not in charge right I'm the head of this house okay you're the head she's the neck she's turning you any way she wants right right right you could either you could either exercise your right or you could have peace in your home let's let's say this way am I open to feedback in coaching from those God has put around me when's the last time I truly took on some constructive feedback that someone who loved me and was willing to journey with me gave me was like when was the last time I did that was last time I did that some at a meeting this was not too long ago actually with a pastor with a pastor who loved me and he wasn't he wasn't challenging the content of the message he did challenge my tone of voice when I said it you know I looked at that back and I realized I was just I've been speaking speak speaking I was just and somebody had irritated me in the foyer and that came out and he he's a friend of mine that noticed it in over coffee he said he said can we bring that to the foot of the cross because I know you well enough to know that it's not what you said it was the tone of voice that's not you that's not you and I thank him for that I think him for being courageous enough to have coffee with me and say that and in and I'm grateful that in that moment I was open to it it's not that I would always be open to it I should always be open to it and I would endeavor to always be able to of it in that moment and you look at when you look back at those moments in your life where you were open to it you realize everybody is in your life to be your teacher everybody everybody now I put last year I put this question in there and it's so worth asking again because if you don't ask this question but once a year is probably not enough so let's ask this question next slide if my daughter married a man like me would I be excited for her if my daughter married a man just like me would I cheer and if not why not because let me know Channel something she's gonna and here's the thing here's why she thinks your normal heard the fault button as to what normal is how a man should treat a woman comes from her watching you you don't want to create multi-generational problems just because of an unwillingness to ask the question if your daughter married someone just like you would you celebrate or would you mourn and if you would mourn what does that mean that you need to change I see can my marriage sustain its current level of stress let's go to the next one so decisions relation up finances finances am i living to be right or be free like it's my right I should I should drive really nice cars yeah but you're not what you drive if you want a great read on this The Millionaire Next Door was a PhD who did a study of real millionaires and he compared the behaviors of actual millionaires with the perceptions that non millionaires have about millionaire and he compared the two and the biggest chapter in the book was titled this you are not what you drive and what he found was is that real millionaires on average by three year old Toyota Camrys and they sell them by six year old before they start breaking real millionaires do that right non millionaire stop Mainers buy brand new Mercedes Benzes they do not real millionaires people trying to look rich do that people who are actually rich are not putting their money in depreciating assets and is it is it your right to drive what you want yeah drive whatever you want is it sinful not particularly is it wise that's the question is it wise do I have financial peace am i engaged in undue stress on my marriage and myself because of trying to keep up with things am i paying money every month to impress people I really don't like let's say it this way have I bought something I can't afford with money I don't have to impress people I don't like and then I'm gonna blame Satan for my problems no it's you as the great theologian pink said I'm a hazard to myself don't let me get me I'm my own worst enemy are my spending habits sustainable who can i name that I've consulted with for wealth-building who is where you want to be financially and you should you should pay them and have a cup of coffee with them and say can you help me with my first step these these are questions we should be asking all the time let's go the next one so we've done decisions relationship finances how about sex everybody perked up sex he said sex I say am i forgiven yet in bondage to lust let's say this way am i living to exercise my right in this area or to be free in it once again right or wrong can you can get us in a lot of trouble when it comes to sexuality because it's e it's easy to rational is it is it necessarily wrong to have coffee with a friend who happens to be a babe no is it wise oh you play that out it could cost you everything that's important to you is it are we living to exercise our right have I been guilty of objectifying a woman this week if you're not picking up what I'm putting down I'm talking about pornography and and I'm and I want you to hear me I'm not trying to put guilt on any person I'm sitting I am acknowledging and affirming your worth before God I'm acknowledging and affirming that God has completely forgiven you and there's nothing between you and him I'm simply talking about freedom there there is something that is imprisoning because here's the problem with objectifying people the problem with objectifying a woman is that objectification of a human being tends to be ubiquitous it doesn't stay on the computer screen if you objectify somebody there you tend to objectify them here and here and here and here and here and before you know it everybody around you including yourself has become less human and and that is a jail that is that is that is bad let's say let's say this way am i meeting legitimate needs and illegitimate ways am i meeting legitimate needs legitimate needs that that was the first temptation of Jesus first temptation of Jesus was you've got to be starving you've had 40 days of no food turn that stone into bread now is there anything wrong with turning a stone into bread no is there any would God want someone to be hungry no would God want Jesus to eat yes if Jesus's entire decision-making mechanism was is this right or wrong he turns the stone to bread but that was not the issue Satan's temptation of Jesus was to not do something inherently evil inherent evil is not tempting it's not do something incredibly evil for most basically good-hearted basically mentally healthy people inherent evil is not tempting it's not turn stones to bread that's tempting to meet legitimate needs in illegitimate ways is very tempting that is very tempting and it's so easy to rationalize but when we meet legitimate needs and illegitimate ways it's not the forgiveness that's question its reputation it's it's pain and it's bondage it's not just forgiveness it's freedom let's let's go to the next one so spiritual did you wake up this week saying yes to the infinite possibilities God has for your life like in your groups with your journals and your in your prayer times but maybe maybe that's a question that you should be brave enough that somebody Hey hey are you still saying yes maybe you should look yourself in the mirror and go hey am I still saying yes this is this is something that's helped me every Saturday I go through a ritual in my hotel room around forgiveness forgiving everyone that hurt me that week I try to let it go I try to let it go for the failures I did that week I try not to hold the failures against myself for the next week I try to let theirs go I try to let my own go i-i-i-i take a moment and I'm thankful for only what's in my right now this is a it's about a 30 minute it's about a 30 minute quiet time with God that I try to do every Saturday before sunday starts where where I forgive everyone that hurt me I I ask God to forgive me for the places that I failed and I try to let it I try to feel that thing let go I um I take a few minutes and I'm thankful for only what's in my right now I I essentially say God if you never did one more thing for me if this was my life I thank you for it I try to show gratitude for only what's in my what is in my right now this is these thing and then one question I ask I look in the mirror and I say will you still say yes this week this week will you say yes to the infinite possibilities Jesus has for your life and and I'm not saying it's right to do this ritual and I'm not saying it's wrong to do this ritual it's just a ritual is only as good as the function it's carrying for me it reminds me and it recenter z-- me on wait a minute there's a bigger thing going on this week than whatever you're trying to rationalize here it really helps are we saying yes to the infinite possibilities God has for our life - what are we excusing today that we'll regret tomorrow is there anything we're excusing now that tomorrow will look back and go yeah should have excused that once we feel the pain of it is it wrong not really but man there's a lot of pain and something that's not so wrong what are we excusing today that we will regret tomorrow let's say it this way who is reg literally speaking into my life is their sharpening dynamic to me if I ever opened my life to other people's feedback everybody is our teacher everybody everybody I was just in um I was just in a place called goondiwindi and it was 47 and man and I gotta tell you the pastors out there flippin legends men they sold twenty thousand acres to go past her church with four people in it and now they've got a hundred and something and they've got a Christian school and and and I thought to myself man and he was very very kind to me but but but I tell you any and he told me said I learned a lot from you he said that's why I wanted to have you out here I've just learned a lot from you listening to lots of your stuff and I said thank you but you know when I was when I was there I learned I learned more from him than he learned from me III tried to pick up grit that man's got grit to sell everything and go pasture for people and good into windy thinking there's infinite possibilities flip that it's grit that's a level of grit I am unfamiliar with and I thought I want some of that grit man I want some of that grit that determination that stick-to-itiveness that is just I I was very very blessed by Gooden to Whitney and I've never been there before all I could think of was please get me into an air con and he's like oh there's he's not bothered by the thing I stayed at his house and the bore something had this is all language I only know anything about that I'm a city boys as his he says my bore is clogged up and I'm like does that mean the toilet won't flush cuz that could be embarrassing right right so the next morning he's out there fixing his bore and I'm like this man is a man you know looked at his eye looked at his hands they're huge you know like like he was a normal-sized man his hands are huge you know all I could think of was man and I'm so glad you're not my proctologist that would be awful good this'll only hurt for a second but you'll remember for a lifetime by God the the freest life is is seeing how everybody has something to teach you instead of being closed off to somebody that's just a bit different let's say this way neck next slide when is the last time we seriously and authentically sought the presence of God or has the urgent things in our life kept us from being fully present in in seeking God it's things that will change our life stay this way who is whose life is gonna be better this week because we're in it is there anyone whose life is gonna be better this week because we're in it and we're gonna intentionally make their life better now if you're the type that listens to the first five minutes of something and the last five minutes of something and you sort of phase out in the middle come back here we go let me summarize the entire teaching in a few statements here we go our best life doesn't come from forgiveness alone but also freedom our best life does not come from forgiveness alone we embrace forgiveness and the leaders of New Hope would say please we want you to embrace that but that's just one part of your journey and it's almost entirely God's responsibility our responsibility is to journey together to lead to the infinite possibilities of our life and to be free to be free freedom comes from making choices that are consumed with permanence and wisdom instead of right and wrong permanence and wisdom is this temporary or permanent and is this wise are much better questions when you're making decisions then is this right or is this wrong number three regular and intentional courageous conversations are necessary for freedom so if you're not a part of a discipleship group a life group a place where they do this the best tier of any place in the world where you sit with a group of people who are willing to journey with you relationally and you have your journal and you talk about what God's doing in your life and you challenge you challenge that if we're not having intentional regular courageous conversations there's a bit of freedom missing its forgiveness missingno is freedom missing yes it's not being maximized next line next line the goal is not exercising our rights financially sexually and spiritually rather to be free and full of peace real living is found in centering our lives around Christ and other people real freedom is my life is centered on Christ and then Christ centers my life on meeting other people's needs how can I journey with those people how can I promote them how can I make their life better real living is a life centered around Christ if you're here today and you don't know Jesus with I want you to know that when you walked in the room today there was nothing between you and God God loved you before the foundation of the world he showed you that he loved you and that while you were still wherever you are he died for you the question is and is there something between you and God the question is which you take that one step forward and embrace that okayness with God that Jesus is offering would you be reconciled would you and maybe you're here in you've you've made that decision before but you're sort of just sort of going through the motions I would encourage you to take one more step and say you know what I'm gonna I'm gonna plug in I'm gonna be a part I'm gonna be a part of community if for no other reason that lady at Stanford said I'll live longer I'm gonna do that I want to engage in courageous conversations for myself and for other people I want to be a part of the culture that new hope is created here i bless you my brothers to be people who aren't just forgiven but people who live the best life every single day not just forgiven but free full of peace saying yes to the infinite possibilities God has for your life every day I bless you to know that they're still in if you woke up drawing breath today there's still infinite possibilities for you to partner with the risen Christ ring heaven to every place we see Hill here I bless you to be people who live in that moment every single day I'm so looking forward to being with you as a part of the weekend as always all of our resources are set up out there the reason we do that is because that's the way we finance our justice projects a hundred percent of everything we make we give in at this time of year we give to orphanages in China that look after mentally handicapped kids because we don't want to just sit around waiting to go to heaven we want to make mentally handicapped children in China's life better we want to feed clothe shelter and educate them since here we've released four brand-new series I'll never be the guest speaker that only has one thing to say I can't cope i-i've always got to be writing something new and so you could come out and check those things out and know that you're being a part of making somebody else's life better over the course of the weekend I put my prayer for us and let's just actually stop and pray right now Lord over the course of this weekend we open our heart we open our stomach we open our inner being and say Lord would you transform me even if it's one degree would you move my life to a little bit more of what it looks like to live free full of peace and in the dynamic flow of God amen amen till I see you again next time grace and peace everybody god bless come on let's give it up

Channel: New Hope Church

Views: 6,498

Rating: 4.9384613 out of 5

Keywords: shane willard, pastor, new hope, church, toowoomba, preach, preaching, sermon, message

Id: 7pa6SEJvsyY

Length: 42min 55sec (2575 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 16 2018