Ray Johnston: Habits - Getting From Here To There

[Music] we are beginning a series today and it's going to be a three week series on the subject of habits and this is a massive deal because pretty much where you end up in life is because of your habits and and so for example watch this and you got to be honest here okay this church can't live God's watching yeah if there is a habit where you're going you know what I've had this habit for a while I would love to break it it may be attitudes and maybe actions maybe anything well what if you're going there's just least one habit I would love to finally break that habit raise your hand okay if you're going numb in pretty good shape but the person next to me is got like no or if they're going there's another habit whether it's financial health spiritual health emotional health relational health family relationships getting in shape whatever if you're going there's a habit I'd like to start razor in this series we actually believe this God is Pro developing great habits and we this series is going to be about next week is habits break them week after that is habits make them and this week we're going to talk about the power but I want to say this habit shape our lives in fact there is a really fun book called the first really important survey of American habits and they surveyed Americans about all kinds of dumb stuff and then they said here's the percentage on everything so I'm going to test you all to see if placer county and you conform to the national averages you already here so for example I'm not making this up there's notice look when preparing a peanut butter and jelly sandwich which goes on top peanut butter or jelly okay well how many of you say well peanut butter goes on top let me hear it good four percent how many jelly you in 96 percent okay now ii have it do you store your socks rolled up or folded flat how many roll-ups 51% folded flat 41% how many of you are still those suckers on the draw right wait here okay raise your hand if you've ever bitten your fingernails raise your hand if you're bitten your fingernails okay 96% of Americans watch this it can be about a quarter of you raise your and if you've ever bitten a toenail raise your hand if you're a business owner come on it's that is 25% of Americans some of you are lying okay watch this raise your raise your hand if you'd like raise your hand if you'd like to be flexible enough to bite your toenails okay now about automobiles okay when do you fill up your gas tank how many of you are going oh when it just gets like down a quarter still three-quarters full then I fill it up anybody okay how many of you when it's about half how many of you when it's about three quarters that's when you stop in and fill it up how many of you when it's almost dead empty and how many of you are going actually I fill it up what it's not moving is there anybody married to anybody that always leaves the gas tank empty for you okay we have counseling available okay next next question is this who habits who is usually late in your household how many of you Oh how many of you going he is watch this how many are you going she is how many of you go we both are okay next one is this um when you replace a roll of toilet paper do you hook it up or do you leave it for the next person hook it up how many of you leave it and watch this when you hook it up do you prefer the roll over or under well how many of you are roll overs 68% how many of you roll unders 32% how many of you overs married and under okay here's another one who this is pretty easy who uses the most space in your closet ha wait wait wait how many of you would say he does how many of you would say she does applause breaking out how many of you how many of you guys in here would say what closet alright get in it sucker okay see um and here's the deal the fact is okay the fact is this habits habits shape our lives they really do and all you got to do is ask one question okay why is it some people they just seem like they got better lives than other people why is it some people they soar and a vast large people should never get off the ground why is some people that got better friendships why some people have more friendships why is it some people um they their relationship with their kids just feels like it's healthier okay not perfect kids it's just the families closer friend why is this some marriages seem like they're closer while others they're fighting bickering separate rooms all of this comes tough nobody gets along why is it some people emotionally do better why is it some em fight and the same things through like spiritually why is it some christians let's admit it men they're just more effective than other christians some christians their faith is alive and it's warm and it's vibrant and they mean it same thing with high school student some croissants on campus you're going there a christian they mean that they love god they love people you can feel it while other christians you going to Friday or Saturday that they throw the whole thing out the window why is it some Christians they just have a little more alive dynamic and God is working in their life great things are happening you feel like this god stuff's going on inside them and other Christians they go to church but they're stone-cold dead why is that I want to give you the entire life-changing thought in one sentence and here it is effective people effective marriages effective teenagers effective people are effective for one reason this is good news it's not your background effective people are effective for one reason a effective people develop habits that ineffective people are unwilling to develop would you agree effective marriages develop habits ineffective effective parents commit to habits in effective effective Christians develop habits in effective vision and you know what I love about this well if you've got a Bible turn turning your bibles whatever form you got it in to Joshua chapter 1 okay and in Joshua chapter 1 the entire nation of Israel has got to develop a brand new set of habits because they've been stuck for 40 long years now what's going on here so I'm going to read this passage to you and this is such great stuff if this gets too good just grab a purse next here we go okay Joshua chapter 1 verse 1 through 9 the first five words are startling words Moses my servant is that be like standing up here and saying folks the entire government was blown up there I was trying to think of an example when they heard this Moses my servant is dead the emotional wallop they felt we got nobody I could think of that if this person died our country would feel they heard that in other words if you're taking I was just write down tragedy tragedy hits and what happens he says Moses my servant is dead now then you and all these people get ready to cross the Jordan River in other words the minute tragedy hits God gives them fresh vision for their future and he says now you and all these people get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I'm about to give you and you can picture these guys going okay it's about time because I mean they came tearing out of Egypt ran right up to the border we're ready to go and they've been stuck for 40 years ready wait that's 40 years and he goes now get ready to cross these guys going awesome now that's followed by promises and which is followed by instructions and here's a brother God says and I will give you every place where you set your foot as I promised Moses your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon from Granite Bay all the way to Loomis to the hip tight country to the Great Sea on the west no one will be able I love this so for those of you that need a little confidence memory no one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life as I was with Moses I will be with you I will never leave you God says and I will never forsake you've got my promise now here's Rob that's God's promises that's followed by God's what God's instructions a lot of people only want promises they don't want to have to do anything other people do you know anybody they're just so harsh all they want is instructions but they got no promise that makes sense and the net effect a guy told me one time he said my father was a disciplinarian the problem was he gave me a rudder but no sail the promises are the sail and the rudder are the instructions and you need both to get somewhere so he started and he says that's B's and here's the instructions be strong and courageous because you will circle the word leaf he goes you're going to need strength and courage because you're going to be impact to be strong and courageous because you'll leave these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them and then he says it again be strong and very courageous be careful to circle the word obey I love this he says you're going to need strength and courage to live well and to lead well and then he goes on to say this and don't turn from it for the right or left so that you may be successful wherever you go and then he says just do not let this book of a log depart for your mouth meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do everything written in it what's the next word then circle the word then then you will be prosperous and successful now look up here look up here would you okay we're going to put a thing on the screen every single person in here all of life for people to do well is about one thing it's getting from here to there you don't fight it's almost like dr. Seuss speak I love John you turn to Joshua chapter one and and God looks at these people and says I know you've been stuck for 40 years I know you've been like ready wait and then it comes along and goes Joshua here's the thing which actually went oh the places you will go if you are willing to take the promises of God and the instructions of God and put them together because the entire thing is about getting from here to there all of life is about getting from here to there it's from getting here where I am now to there where I want to be it might be here and kind of lowly and I really don't have any friends or the friends I do have are lame because they tear me down there is having better friends how do I get from here to there am I being marriage we're not doing that well that's here there is a better marriage how are we get from here to there okay yeah matter of fact if some of you got some of you got mere married but you have kids here is we're not have kids as there is hey we have kids in the house awesome how do we afraid of their or some of your going we got kids in the house and how do we get there no kids in the house okay and it might be here and here is discouragement there is hope here is doubt there is faith how do we mirror there here is insecurity there is confidence here is bondage there is freedom and the best chapter in the entire Bible on how to get from - there is Josh one and God comes along and says you have been stuck here for 40 years it's time to go there and that only happens if you do three things right a min not if I can view fill out the outline now number one is this and one of the ingredients the first one is this future vision the first one is future vision now go down to number two and the second one is spiritual vitality spiritual vitality future vision second one is spiritual vitality and spiritual vitality to take an out-of-town just write the word fuel okay if you're freed but not fuelled you're not going anywhere then what do you need future vision spiritual vitality and now you're ready to go go to the very back page number three is this idiot here it is get started number three is future vision spiritual vitality and then number three is this get started now go back to future vision and unpack each one of these three fast number what is this future vision what does he mean by that he starts and he says now and every single thing he says in these verses is about the future he says get ready I will ine God just starts talking about their future and not one time does he bring up their past the problem is this take a look at per second the problem is that these people have been stuck at the border for how long 40 years if you want to know how long that is take your age right now and add 40 that's a long time and what what that so here's what's going on here two things have wrecked their lives destroyed their future and kept them stuck they'll do the same thing to you and the first one is this why do they get stuck in the first place why do their life go downhill in the first place here it is they listened to the wrong voices they listened to the wrong voices right then teenagers star this sucker they listened to the wrong voices now here's what happens it's like in numbers chapter 13 and 14 Pharaoh font God says Moses goes to Pharaoh and says let my people Pharaoh says no God says oh and ten plagues later he says hey thanks for coming you can split they split they're going to and here's what happens they race down to the border the promised land here weak it's happy time and they race down they go they slam on the brakes and then they go wait a second hold man there's like we better send some spies in to check it out let's do some advanced planning anybody know how many spies they sent 12 spies they come back there is a Minority Report and there is a majority report and the majority report 10 of the spies come back and they whip out and here's a hit metric you want how bad it was here's the report it's right there heinous but the people there like guys while we were gone so people moved into the neighborhood and they're huge and they're really bad and we can't beat him he says this the people who live there are powerful and this whole thing is whining and their cities are fortified and their cities are very large we can't do this and then they're like we saw the Nephilim is that there's a descendants of Amos and by the way these people were so huge so fierce their DNA evidently was corrupted are you were by the way the descendants of a knack are still on the planet today you wear this matter of fact some live in Oakland Oakland believe Oakland California we have a picture of some of these folks they're called Raider pants the and okay back to the back he goes and the descendants of a neck come from the Nephilim and now look what it does to their self-confidence their faith level on their self-image we seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes and we look the same to them we can't do it to guys Joshua and Caleb come back and go hey the land is awesome yeah those guys are bigger gods bigger but you know what this thing is all 12 look at the same evidence 10 of them come back and go we see Giants Joshua and Caleb come back and go we see a giant upside let's get at it would you agree it's always about 10 2 to 10 negative voices speaking into your life for every two positive voices was your great 10 positive news story I mean 10 negative news stories for every 2 that you see that's any good the prot here's the deal two things kill them number one is they listened to the wrong voices and got stuck for 40 years just because they listened to the wrong voices and watch this you Bible scholars you history majors I'm gonna put names on a screen check this out who are these guys shamea shabbat Hegel who or who are those guys you know if they are the first names of the 10 spies that brought the whiny negative report you know what this thing is do you know any Christians that are whiny negative and critical yeah you will never hear of them ever again they never get anything done they're never I mean you're like Josh was awesome Caleb's on we preach them all the time all these other guys nobody's ever heard of them again how and here's what's going on look up here the problem with this is these by the way are these people free yeah they are they have been freed from 40 years of an asset again are these people free yes okay they have been freed but their whole future is wrecked because they're freed but they listened to the wrong voices and that happens in church all the time people are coming I'm at Christ I'm freed from my sin freed from my past Colorado I'm freed but I still listen to the wrong voices and so it makes no difference that makes sense and so number thank you number one is us they are listening to the wrong voices okay and it keeps them stuck second is this they got discouraged and they gave up they got discouraged and they gave up now watch this I'm going to little show of hands here because this can be you Nance raise your hands if you've gotten discouraged in the last two months at least once raised your hands if you guys careers the last two weeks raise your hands if their main source of that discouragement is sitting know um the now you and I are going it's why I wrote a book on hope called the Hope cushion you and I are going to get discouraged every week for the but it's just going to happen when you get discouraged and give up that's when your life crashes and you get stuck so make sense and to route things if you're if you want to go with this psychologically to route things kept them stuck and they're going to go on the screen number one here's the big mistakes they made they let their fears not their faith shape their future when they got discouraged they let their fears not their faith shape their future and when they got discouraged they let their hurts not their hopes shape their future and so if you're going I want to go from here to there I want a better future what do I do in life get stuff almost kind of stuff you flip these things okay here's God's prescription for future vision instead of living the way you how do you get from here to there you go I'm going to let my faith not my fears shape my future you can have the same circumstances whole different attitude and a brand new future okay you let your faith not your fears and your hopes not your hurts shape your future and if you do that then you actually have a future so make sense and you can go from here that it all starts with future vision okay number by the way that second one there I don't put many sayings on my wall you know I always always you know those sayings winners never quit quitters never win but those who never quit never win or idiot I don't put any of that stuff on my walls okay I put that last line on my wall and left it up for about three years one time let your hopes not your hurts shape your future and I actually because you do that you will have a future number one is future vision now the problem is us gods God says the here's your future now you're going to need fuel to get there and that happens with spiritual vitality and I want you to go to the last verse on that in your outline right there says this do not let this book of the law depart from your mouth meditate on it day and night so that you won't be be careful to do everything written in it what's the next word then you will get from here to there then you will have energy then you will be prosperous successful because you want energy to get from here to there now what in the world is all now I'm going to unpack just like a beer presenter I want to unpack Jesus is teaching on what kills off spiritual vitality now to do that I take a quick story of Carol and I were living in Southern California long long long long time ago and at a good buddy down there is Mary just a really great guy and he his his wife they went to the church and his wife got some skin disease on her arms and on her hands and it would for like a year and a half two years it just all Rashed up it would get better all racked up again it would get better he was always coming and going home and pray for my wife we'd pray for I it was like a two-year deal and nothing was working doctors met prayer nothing helped until one day he came in and I said hey man I'm praying for your wife how's it going he says well you could stop praying like she died what'd he see he goes he goes you could stop praying go and this is a smart fun guy a guy he goes you can stop praying I go what he goes we figured out what was wrong I go what's wrong and he goes well you know how we have a ton of houseplants and it is my wife's like house plant I mean she's like the world's greatest house plant person plants in every room all his kind of stuff she's so maniac she would clean them like every leaf all this kind of stuff you know what turns out she had transplanted in about six areas without realized that she had just uprooted and potted poison ivy and was growing poison ivy in her house and cleaning the poison ivy with her hands and stuff and he goes you can stop praying we figured out what was wrong and sure enough they got rid of the poison ivy and in a few weeks he was better and never had any problem again Jesus is going to say there is spiritual poison ivy and he does it with a soil and plant example so here he's going to he tells a story disciples he goes there's this kind of seed this kind of to discuss seed and then disciples go what and so he explains everyone so here we go okay Jesus on spiritual vitality now he gives four kinds of soil now I'm going to give you the three of them the first soil right this down is its rock-hard soil it's hard soil and Jesus is going to ask this question if I want ever grave on his shirtsleeve vital am i receptive to God or not am i open or closed to God working in my life now what survey watch this he says as a farmer went out to sow his seed as he was scattering the seed some along the way the path now server the word path pads have two things in common they are hard and they are narrow okay and he says this it was trampled on and the birds of the air a sir goes hey farmer trips received through it on a path birds can't bump gone nothing grew right now then the disciples go what the heck's that supposed to mean Jesus and he says well here's a remains those along the path they're the one to certain Lord here you know Thomas look around this place is packed wall-to-wall up there you know what y'all have in common you're all hearing this he says those are the ones who hear and then the devil comes takes the word away from their hearts so they might not believe and be safe you know the problem write this down there the hard soil equals aberrant life the hard soil equals a bare life they're so hard and they're so narrow I'll bet I've had 15 people talk to me in the last couple years saying you know what my dad my my friend my whatever they're not a Christian they don't even believe in God and I go hey neither did I invite him some time they wouldn't even listen do you know anybody like this Jesus is saying some people are so rock hard God can't work in their life because they're so rock hard they can't even they're so hard and narrow that they can't and you know what the problem is this here's the deal if this is you if you're going you know what I kind of come in here and I'm like this I'm not you know I don't pray cuz I don't really believe it I don't give I don't I don't serve nothing nothing gets past me I'm rock-hard you know it's a hard heart leads to a barren lifestyle and if you're if you're a hard person I feel sorry nothing can grow love can't grow faith can't grow hope can't grow nothing gets in nothing can grow general and you end up leaving a lifeless loveless barren Rock hard life and Jesus goes that's soil number one and it's tragic a hard heart leads to a barren lifestyle now you go hey well there's a second kind of seed and here's this is like shallow soil number two is shallow and it's really the question am i growing deeper okay it's shallow soil and that question is this am i growing deeper and he says this other seed fell on rocky soil and as soon as it grew up it withered away because it had no what no moisture now look up everything this is not like rocks sitting around make it stuff not grow okay I've been to Israel and it's not like a bunch of rocks what it is is it's it's Israel has a layer of topsoil and underneath it it is rock-hard limestone and it is really hard to dig deep and to get stuff out okay so for example Kerala life are when we we had a home and false about 20 years ago we wanted to add a pool and so we were out of town actually two kids to Disney and they started digging the pool I get a phone call houston we have a problem what's from like we hit rock anybody know what I'm talking about we hit rock how far did you get down eight inches they had to blast out the pool jackhammer out a swimming pool the swimming pool went from this size to this size and they lead a jackhammer pool we live in an area like this don't we rock there's a reason they call it Granite Bay Rock Len as you think this name happen accidentally the ants that's exactly what he's talking about here and so he says he says man it in there was just oh and disciples like uh you the what's this mean and Jesus goes here's her remains those on the rocky soil are those who receive the word with what joy yeah I love bass I love Jesus long after tonight's receive God's words do i man Lincoln that song was awesome very so they're like I received with joy here's Rob but they have no firm root they're just shallow and they believe for a while but when temptation hits they do what they fall away write this down shallow soil equals superficial commitment and it never lasts it never left matter of fact some people come in here they go through the entire service and they still have no clue what was going on because they're hard or they're shallow can to make sense okay and until I let God's Word penetrate deep into my life so root starts again I'm going to be in a shallow chriskate now so number one you're just it's you can't get going with God because you're just too hard the second person doesn't ever develop a depth with God because they're just too shallow and the third kind of person is this it's thorny soils and this is the California soil you ready this is it it's thorny salt and here's the question am i ruthless with distractions am i ruthless with distractions and he says this other seed fell among the thorns or another word for would be weeds and the thorns grew up with it and what circle the word choked it's a big deal it choked it out and again the disciples look at these go what the heck does this mean Suze just let me explain he says as the seed which fell among the thorns these are the ones who have circle the word heart all three here the and as they go on their way they are choked by three things and does this not sound like Placer County Granite Bay hears us they are choked with what were sort of the first one worry stressed out can't sleep so I'm all stressed or choke my richest in the soundly California the certain Lord riches or took my pleasure Jesus covers the whole thing in three words worries the richest pleasure hedonism materialism and stress welcome to America and then he says this of this life and they bring no fruit to what he had promised they never grow now the thorny soil it's basically a ton of weeds here it is is an overcrowded life the thorny soil is an overcrowded life in other words you're going God's going I'm trying to get into your life but there's no room because it's crowded with all this other stuff and I actually think our culture is becoming professional at making sure your life stays more and more and more and more and more overcrowded well I'll give you example anybody here ever been to Whole Foods you've been to Whole Foods ok Whole Foods ok Whole Foods when they opened up had two kinds of lettuce now they have forty kinds of lettuce you're like how do I decide Starbucks him ago Starbucks Starbucks has 19,000 combinations I start to be fun to go to the drive-through give me all 19,000 I'll pick one the here's no one um when I was growing up now that old guy so when I was growing up TV had three channels and to change one you had to walk up and turn a knob okay now if you include the music channels on our Direct TV we have like 2346 channel so I'm like that and here's what I read the average if you're a guy region just guys we're guys okay the average guy will change channels 325 thousand times in his life and the average - what's going on is this the average guy sitting there with thousands of channels going there's nothing on hey I also read this the other day I don't know if you're with us there are 49 flavors of 9lives cat food how do those cats do it and the problem is just all these options are distractions and though and what's interesting is this the the Greek word for the Greek word for is the word Maryna bleach pulled in different directions God's going I want you to get close to me I want to develop in your life I want you to be generous I want you love God I want you to love people I want you to serve you all this kind of stuff and we get sucked and pulled by all three of these things never going and you know to promise us if you think it works write down the word neglect in your backyard in your lawn what does it take to grow weeds well not that kind of weed what does it take the kind to take over your backyard what does it take to grow weeds you know what it takes to grow weeds it takes no effort zero okay and and here's what Jesus said growing growing things is easy growing the right things is hard and what he's really saying is weeds in my backyard wherever they are they're a sign of one thing you know what it is neglect and when I neglect my lawn weeds grow when I neglect my relation with God weeds grow when I neglect my marriage weeds grow and I neglect my kids weeds grows this make sense and this is what he's saying now what testing is all three of these things I said let me ask you a question are you ruthless with distractions pulling out am i growing deeper and I'm a receptive to God because a hard shallow thorny life leads to a barren lifeless overcrowded zero god life and it's a too big of a price to pay all these things have to do with you connecting with God and evil it's all spirits like that because here's the if you have future vision but no fuel you're not getting anywhere that make sense okay that's actually why this is this whole Joshua one don't let this book of Allah depart from your mouth meditate on it it's kind of an interesting thing about week ago I was with all of our teaching pastors and we were away for a retreat mapping out the future all that kind of stuff in fact this whole listening to the wrong voices thing which i think is now an epidemic our next series after this habit series is called the voice and actually you know that you know the TV show Mark Burnett runs that thing I know him so I'm actually trying to get our pastors actually in those chairs to turn around be kind of a fun intro to that series let you know if that happens the we're doing a series called the voice but we're actually set up that and I just all of our pastors all of our teaching pastors right there and I just asked him a question I said um let me ask you guys question this whole verse don't let this book of a logical meditate on it day night I go raise your hand if it's been a while well actually said raise your hand if you've memorized a section of the Bible recently not one hand went up I'm not going to ask you in here because it's probably almost the same thing what happened and it was I started thinking when I was a brand new Christian when you were brand new Christian did you memorize verses you have people like eight John 3:16 Romans 5:1 Romans 8:28 Romans 8:28 to 38 knowledge because when as a brand new Christian I started memorizing all these verses and somehow I got sophisticated and busy and I stop memorizing sections of the Bible and so I look these guys said we should start doing this again every guy said you're absolutely right so we did this is one of them we went and we took Joshua 1 1 through 9 went to Kinko's printed it out had them laminate it so you get it really wet put a little rope on it and we're all hanging this in our showers hope on a rope baby here we go and every morning we're going to be memorizing this thing so if you see Kurt or Andrew anywhere in public and they can't quote joshual11 2:9 they'll give you five bucks not me the and by the way does this make sense yeah all of you drove here today you can have the nicest car in the lot and if it's not got gas in it it ain't going anywhere God says the same thing in Joshua you need my promises need my instructions it could get anywhere in life and then he wraps it up by saying the word they've been waiting for forever no there's future vision spiritual vitality and then here it is it and I love this he goes what notice verse what's first word now certain Lord now now you and all these people and he basics is the gun goes off what's the attitude when should you get started here it is attitude some day is today what's the action take a step of faith he goes some day is today take a step of faith and you will go from here to there and now don't don't pack your notes up look up here I'll tell you a fake I haven't told us something around here about a decade the you teenagers I actually prefer tea I was a senior pastor I quit that making a youth pastor cuz I liked working with teenagers and one of the reasons I like it is you can do nice cool retreats they pay you to go on vacation that's what youth ministry is and so so we would go up to this lake called Lake Ilmen or every year and we we did two weeks of water ski retreats and we would import teenagers three-day sent Imam on a day between my buddies nights stay up there and then another new group arrived and it was between two retreats and I'm up on a lake called Lake Allen or it's the afternoon and we got a really killer boat a ski Nautique and we are skiing and the lake gets really choppy the wind comes up at the Whitecaps so instead of getting off the lake we invented a game and so we shortened the rope so it was only like 20 25 feet behind the boat so went that far away from boat shorten the rope and I got a stopwatch on the inside the boat and we said okay look when the gun the when you're up and stable each guys going to take a turn when you're up and stable you do this and then grab back on the rope okay and the minute you do this they start to stopwatch and they tell the driver go for it's killin and so the driver litter and it's how fast can they make you fall okay and it would s turn so the Rope goes slack they would they go up on dry land if this is what it took the boat would come back trying to hit you all the stuff the game was called suicide and so so if I'm up there it's my turn and I am holding on for dear life the boaters go I'm just crashed on these things and I get swung way out to the side my arms are but coming out of my sockets and I'm skiing as faster than I've ever gone on water and I'm just watch and then I look in front of me and I see it about ten feet in front there's a duck and I am skiing right at this duck and and I just decide I'm going to go right over this duck so I am flying right at this duck and I get about five feet away from the stuck in this truck just like looking at me and now you animal rights activist before you write me here's the hook you can't hit a duck on a lake they go underwater when you get close that's why they're called ducks so I get I fit like five feet away from the stuck and I mean I'm repping and I'm thinking this duck isn't moving and I'm thinking duck duck nothing and so at the last second jump just before I switched my scooter and I go flying by this tuck and I'm going why didn't this dumb duck duck and I went down evidently it is a mom duck because right behind it like on it or two to three little tiny like 3-inch baby ducklings I don't do that to me and and I don't fly and buy and I look down and I see them and you know thoughts can go through your head really fast except during math classes in church via all these all these soccer player I thought it meant what a stud mom she's like a mess of my family come on I'll take you out sucker I mean yeah and then I thought it not like that God he shelters us under his wings protect us and I thought the guys in the boat got to see this I'll go check this out I'm pointing back and I am so disoriented because I'm looking back at these ducks I'm so disoriented that I forget what I'm doing I am playing a game called suicide with guys you're trying to kill me in really bad conditions and I am holding on to a speeding and and I am looking backwards I never saw it coming both the wake my ski went underwater this is not a good thing because the key the ski what stops I'm so disoriented cause I'm looking back I don't let go I get yanked out of the skis and I am now flying for about two seconds and then slam on the water I still don't let go of this stupid rope I'm being pulled underwater of 35 miles our trunks gone the head and I finally let go I come to the surface I'm checking for broken ribs I get these trunks back up I'm spitting out water I can barely breathe the guys that pull up next to me in the boat they are laughing so hard they are falling out of the boat ladies and gentlemen I learned a very important Joshua one lesson on that Lake that day and that lesson is this nobody nobody the Israelites for 40 years or you for our lunch man nobody goes forward well when they are looking back and nobody goes forward well where they are looking back and in Joshua chapter 1 God says I got new territory I got new land I got new habits I got new life you're gonna get from here to there but it will never happen if you get stuck looking back would you bow your heads right now close your eyes and shut out everybody around you every single one of us here has guilt from our past grief from our past or grudges from our past I actually wrote this phrase in my Bible one time your past will never take you where God wants you to go your past will never take you where God wants you to go and I love Joshua 1 because it says your brand-new day starts today and just hid the word now he says now it's time when's it time for you to finally connect with God now when is it time to commit your life to Christ right now when is it time to finally let go of your past now when is it time to get serious about spiritual growth and depth now when is it time to get closer to God now when's it time to get in shape now when's it time to connect in a smoker right now when is it time to let God work in your life right now you can get from here to there no longer how you been stuck let your faith not your fears shape your future and if this is what you need if you're going I need to let go of my past I'm going to get started on my future I need Christ in my life I'm going to pray a prayer of commitment and you can pray this with me silently as I pray it out loud if this is what you need when's it time to pray this prayer now pray with me would you Lord Jesus I believe you died on a cross and I believe you rose so that I could be forgiven and have life with you forever and power right now so right now I ask you to forgive me for all my past I let it go Jesus Christ come into my life be my Savior I receive you this morning and be my Lord make me the person you want me to be thank you for your life with your head still bowed your eyes closed and nobody looking around if you prayed that prayer not going to call you out not to embarrass you but I would love to pray for you that the rest of your life would end up being the best of your life just like Joshua 1 and so if you prayed that prayer right now would you just raise your hands put your hand up we have to kind of awesome way up we just see if you way to go way to go afterwards just go to the I raised my hand table lord thank you for the your love thank you for these men and women may they know the power that comes from your presence and your word may they know the joy that comes from knowing they're forgiven and the hope that comes from knowing they never walk alone because you said I'll never leave you and never forsake you we thank you for this in Jesus name God's people said amen

Channel: Bayside Church

Views: 2,439

Rating: 4.818182 out of 5

Keywords: Bayside Church, Ray Johnston, Bible, Hope, Compassion, Love, Habits, Joshua

Id: q3VsUXYqup0

Length: 46min 31sec (2791 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 14 2017