Rethinking Runways :: Wild Blue Yonder | Pastor Levi Lusko

while blue yonder part 4 who's excited [Music] all right grab your Bibles every location Church online bring that faith with me into a Bible study we're gonna do on the life of John the Baptist two places I need you to turn turn to Malachi 3 where we find an Old Testament prophecy about John the Baptist I like to call him Jacob II when you see Malachi speaking he's writing just so you know 400 years before John showed up but we're gonna look at that and then also if you grab a second location you could put your thumb there then then turn your way to mark chapter 1 where we find John the Baptist actually showing up thank you worship team the title of my message is rethinking Runway's so if you'd like to take notes in church which i think is so helpful jot that down rethinking Runway's provocative title right and we're gonna look at John the Baptist before we do that we're in a series as you know those of you have been with us called wild blue yonder and if you're just jumping in now it's all about risk it's all about us challenging the status quo and saying let's boldly go where no one's gone before let's see something new let's step out in faith let's let's risk again and we're challenging everything and we're saying what what we've seen has been amazing the vistas and the horizons and the beauty what we've experienced what we've explored thus far is fantastic or praising God for all of that but we're just not we're not we're not giving up yet we're not hanging up our Spurs we're not gonna rest on our laurels we're not just gonna talk about the good old days we're living in the glory days these are them right now and we're saying let's let's see a new chapter on ful let's see something brand new let's let's let's pick a new fight let's take some new ground that's why blue yonder and since we've employed such a bombastic metaphor as space because I was what drove the campaign a wild blue yonder and and the the beauty of space has been kind of what we've been using to inspire us and the launch pad kind of metaphor 10987 that kind of that kind of language has been all throughout and since we've done that I figured it would be helpful for us to talk to someone who does that not metaphorically but like literally every day and it just so happens that I happen to be an astronaut recently I was in College Station Texas and an event and astronaut was friends with Louie Giglio who I was speaking with at this event he came up from Houston where he works for NASA and met him in the back room and he was so sweet he gave mission patches to my girls from his mission he was on and and I as we were going through this I was like I got a million questions for he gave me his number he made a huge mistake and give me his number and didn't anything I'm like I'm preaching about space I need everything I give me book recommendations tell me what documentaries to watch is this real I'm checking my stuff you know on it's pretty good bila fact checked it with an astronaut right and and so I figured it would be helpful you know to talk to him a little bit so I actually invited him to come and speak to us and and he said well I got a simulation I got to do in the pool and there's you know it's I can't I can't do that I say okay well fine would you get on a Skype call with me and just talk to our church a little bit about space so we could just hear what what that is actually like and he was kind enough to do that so earlier this week I had the chance to just sit down and ask him some questions on behalf of all of us so what you're gonna hear in just a minute is a conversation I have with with Colonel Shane Kimbrough so let me a little bit about him before we jump in he was a colonel in the Army where he flew Apache helicopters during Desert Storm and was a jump master and he retired from the Army he also went to West Point something no big deal and and and he after all of that ended in 2004 was was recruited by NASA where he flew on the space shuttle Endeavour on STS 126 in 2008 and he was a mission specialist and he performed two spacewalks and he also was able to go to the ISS the International Space Station in 2016 as commander on expedition 49 and 50 where he took command of the space station and was there for a period of time he during that time performed four different spacewalks we threw some of the footage we found because NASA it's open rights to all the footage and so during the conversation we threw on some of the footage it's all him that you're gonna see during this time and of course those he was up there with I'm pretty grateful anybody with me that he would take the time to talk to us so check out this conversation we just wanted to talk a little bit about what what you do I mean it's it's incredible your life they're just what I laid out in that few moments but just what what you do every day and you guys and everybody at NASA one of my favorite quotes just on the subject is from John Glenn who said I went to the moon but 400,000 people supported at NASA and so we all went to the moon and so maybe I guess we gonna start off with you know what has been being a part of space exploration and okay so all all things said and done you've flown currently it's now to space twice you spent all together upwards of six months in space right it was a 189 day 173 days the second time in 15 days the first time let me ask you this your family wasn't with you but they they were a part of the mission in the sense that they sent you and I think for so many of us in life you know there's areas where we don't get to be hands on a part of something necessarily but we still can support behind the scenes what did your family do that best supported you from Earth oh my god that's amazing and you were there Thanksgiving you were there Christmas and so I mean just thank you so much for that sacrifice that you and your family made but you're on your team - you know two minute countdown and they've told you to snap your visors down and they've told you to turn on your flow of oxygen and you're on the Cape Canaveral launch pad and you're you know that within two minutes you're about to be shot on top of a rocket what's going through your mind how does that feel what does I mean we're talking about risk and the series in our church but what is that's that's risk right there what does that feel like I got complete peace and calm and that was exactly where I was supposed to be in life at that time obviously years of training and preparation lands of getting to that moment or those moments you know I'm just knew I was in the right right place at that time I knew I had plenty of people praying for me and my family that there are tons of risk obviously that you brought up involved in those moments but I didn't think about those like I trusted my training at the time trusted my equipments and dressing like it's and it took a while to get to that point it just didn't happen overnight it's over the years of training my crewmates and with the equipment that we were using this case all Russian equipment the most recent flight so I got very comfortable with all the bags and once you give it at once very comfortable ready got accomplished the mission that's amazing I love that all the hard work all the preparation a big team effort but then once it once it's there it's good time that calm that kicks in that's that's so inspiring the the close quarters of the space station I mean you've only been home eight months so it's still fresh in your mind you lived in outer space listen you lived in outer space for six months that's crazy and amazing and you're flying around 17,500 miles an hour or as I read five miles per second that's how fast the space station cruises around 16 sunrises and sunsets a day but close quarters with five other people you got a you got a French colleague I think with you I think I have a photo of one of your guys there with you from France you had two from Russia you had another American as well what what is that like on just the ability to dynamics of dealing with people around you in intense situations where literally life and death is on the line complex they arise in these survival school situations and the mission first with our personal things we personally wanna do would be done outside the normal working day but it was just really interesting and very cool to be a part of all these different cultures like you mentioned and to learn to celebrate Russian Christmas versus the u.s. Christmas to celebrate European alright eight months back home what do you miss the most about the space station what do you think of the most well I can't thank you enough for taking the time to talk to us a little bit about your world I think we are all at fresh life so grateful and what you guys do is amazing I thought maybe before before we said goodbye maybe one last question you know there's there's a lot of young people in our church and a lot of older people are churches with dreams in their heart and I'm sure for you as I know as a young boy you began dreaming about becoming an astronaut is that right you know just I'm sure at certain points along the way that dream seemed pretty unlikely impossible maybe even you know and there's dreams that we have in our heart we believe God's put in our heart as a church and as individuals you know maybe maybe there's a fresh life for this meant to be an astronaut or whatever it is what advice would you speak into someone who is at a point where maybe the dream that they've been given just seems impossible and and how would you speak to that person [Music] so that's amazing okay I said what I said that was the last question but something you said they're just prompting me to ask one more landing in this you come down and you land on I think Edwards you guys landed at Edwards Air Force Base okay so landing I mean I saw the footage I mean it's boom shoot up the back and then it's just nice you pull up to the gate you get off you get a massage you have a cup of coffee your second time around landing in the Soyuz capsule here that is quite a bit different of a landing I heard one astronaut said landing in the Soyuz is like 15 explosions followed by a car crash there's probably a reasonably good chance that you're speaking to someone who in their life has just had a not so soft landing it was not a like this it was a you know 15 explosions followed by a car crash so that person who may be so tricks this week trying to make their life a little bit hoping to find God and what would you say to them just speaking of you know advice on getting back up after a hard landing probably person ever inside that situation guarantee is not true church on Sunday people are all going through things and struggling sits isn't always the same seek out friends he got come on let's thank God for Shan and let's think NASA for facilitating that conversation things you never thought you'd say in church I guess hey we got a message from Malachi 3 and number and jump into March after one Malachi 3 verse one he says this this is the Italian prophet Malaki he says he says that's a joke people look everyone say look I'm sending my messenger on ahead to clear the way for me someone say clear the way suddenly out of the that's convenient the leader you've been looking for will enter his temple yes the messenger of the Covenant the one you've been waiting for look he's on his way a message from the mouth of God of the Angel armies this is a prophecy from Old Testament looking forward to Jesus coming but before he would get there what Malachi is saying is that there's going to be someone who's gonna come to get things ready first an opening band I guess you could say someone to do the the hosting segment and to get the people's attention ready so that when the the main act comes out on stage that everything is primed and ready to go and this is all gonna happen after 400 years although he didn't say that this is gonna just gonna be a waiting there's gonna be a time of preparation and then all of a sudden out of the blue someone's gonna come so that's pretty cool now we see the fulfillment of it in mark chapter 1 if you turn over just a few pages to mark chapter one we could have picked Matthew we could have picked Luke we could have picked John because all of them talked about J the B which is pretty epic but I liked marks account because look what he says he says the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God then he says like it was written in the prophets which prophet do you think he's talking about well he's about to quote from Malachi which is awesome show you these two are connected here behold now this is the New King James Version so a little different translation but same same same idea I send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way before you out of the blue he's coming to get things ready now he quotes Isaiah so it's prophets plural because Isaiah talked about Malachi also awesome the voice of one crying that started the Malak Isaiah talked about John the Baptist also the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord make his paths straight John came baptizing in the wilderness so that's interesting he came out of the wilderness out of the blue out of the blue he came out of the wilderness guess what you can't just be used by God out of the blue you have to be willing to go in the wilderness John the Baptist the Bible says as a young man made the decision to live a life in the wild and because he made the decision to live a life in the wild then he was able to be used by God out of the blue I think we have got a whole generation just wanting to be used by God out of the blue so I want the instant career I want the instant everything to be right I want depth of character without having to work for it I want savings but I don't want to say I want to weigh less but I don't want to eat less I well I want to I want to be used by God out of the blue but unwilling to live a life in the while let me just tell you something if you want to be used by God out of the blue one day you got to make a decision to live a life in the wilderness the middle seat ain't fun but it's necessary alright so it says he came in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins then all the land of Judea and those from Jerusalem went out to him and we're all baptized by him in the Jordan River confessing their sins this is beautiful this is revival this is he gets up and he preaches out of the blue one day because he spent his life in the wilderness with God alone with the Lord and God blessed as his ministry people are coming from all over the Isle of he didn't go to Jerusalem didn't go to Rome he's preaching nowhere he's preaching out in the sticks he's free but people are flocking to him right this is this is this is a field of dreams right here man people I don't even know why they're pulling off the interstate to James Earl Jones would say there they're gonna come to you they're gonna have come to you with dreams in their heart they're gonna come to you fly if you don't get it it's on Netflix at the moment feel the dreams if you build it he continued in verse six were given some details about him now John was clothed with camel's hair and with a leather belt because why not really you know you could wear anything and he's on a strict Portland Island diet look he ate locusts and wild honey this is and single origin coffee connecting the dots for all of our locations right and he brunch hardcore on Sunday right verse seven and he preached saying there comes one after me who is mightier than I whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose I indeed baptize you with water but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit come on it's pretty good pretty good opening act John the Baptist's job in life could be summarized in one word runway you heard at the end of the interview that Shane talked about their first shuttle mission having originally been planned as is the custom to land at Kennedy Space Center but instead they were redirected because of weather NASA you could say had to rethink the runway they were gonna land somewhere they had to choose to land somewhere else well John the Baptist job was to to be about the runway he was to build a runway so the Messiah come he showed up and he wasn't the plane but he was the one to prepare things so the planes landing could come in safely that's really the heartbeat of wobbley Aundre what's this series all about well we just happen to believe that God has some great and mighty things that he wants to in the coming days and this series isn't that but we're getting ready for it we're preparing we're making straight the way of the look we believe that God wants to go before us we believe in 2018 and beyond God's gonna do great things in new places and new horizons and new vistas and more people and more miracles and more salvation and more stories and more power and more glory and more strength and more honor and more outreach and more and we're we're trying to get things ready well this this series is our expression of faith saying we believe God's not yet done working of fresh Life Church and yeah it's great he worked 11 last 11 years but we're thirsty for more we're ready for more we're gonna position ourselves for more and so we could do no better than to look to John the Baptist as an example because his life was a runway he's a living John the Baptist was a runway model not just because of his curious fashion choices although you ever watch a runway model you know you're like what in the world is it's not practical hey you can't even fit under a door with that hat on right yet eclectic choices in clothes I'll give him that but I'll tell you what it's not just that it was the life in the wild it's being used by God out of the blue it's been willing to get along with God and get a depth of character so that he could be used miraculously I'm telling you something it's the secret things that no one sees it's responsible for the public things that everybody pays attention to it's what you're willing to do in secret that allows God to bless you openly it's it's being alone with God on your knees that allows you to rise up out of being seemingly blessed as an overnight success right but I like what biz stone the founder of Twitter said he goes he goes he goes you know passion perseverance hard work blood sweat and tears in you too after a decade can be an overnight success I I think that's John the Baptist oh wow look at the man that just shows up one day and preaches and man God's blessing him like crazy and he'd be like yeah there was a decade alone in the wilderness eating bugs but yeah sure it's easy yeah great everyone everyone should be blessed like me all right and must be nice and fine they hate you because they ain't you guys okay so so listen so so so John the Baptist was a living runway and since we're trying to build runway I thought it would be helpful for us to look a little bit at him here's kind of the big idea of this message you in your life will yield only to the extent that you're willing to clear the field you see planes can't land where there's no runway a plane needs a runway to land every plane needs some sort of runway even if it's just one of those planes that can land it needs to clear space it needs to have obstruction free even a drone needs a clear space to land don't talk to me about it right now I'm still sad cuz I broke my drone in the Bob Marshall wilderness I crashed it into a tree first hour I was in the Bob first time ever being in the Bob I don't got proof that I was in the Bob I couldn't text you there's no service in the Bob I went to the Bob I broke my drone on a tree because I tried to land it where there wasn't a runway for it there wasn't enough space to get it down planes can't come down if they don't have room and check it God's power is kind of like a plane and that's why second chronicles 16:9 says the eyes of the Lord go to and fro on the earth what is he doing he's scouring where can I land my power where can I land is there some runway give me some runway clear the field make some room give some space build your faith show me you got some obedience take me at my word see if I'm not good I want to show my power look at it to those whose heart is loyal to me or up right towards me or straight toward me why did John need to get people's heart straight because a plane can't land on a zigzag runway a plane needs a straight way you got to clear the way come on someone stay clear the field come on shove your navel tell him clear the field in your marriage in your life in your heart we got to clear the field for God to land his power we got to make some room we got to give God some space if we build it he will hole mow down your crops you know I'm saying like you got to get Kevin Costner on if there's a dream and you believe in it and you're really connecting this Levi oh I'm gonna connect it all day long because I just watched it to my spirit so and I like how Darth Vader's in the movie it's just can't Lee Minyoung every movie James Earl Jones is my co darth vader's in this one too and he's in the Bible the Jesus of Nazareth he's one of the wise men it's the funniest thing ever James Earl Jones as a wise man I I love it alright so I'm getting distracted so we're trying to make some make some runway because the bigger the plane the bigger the say so not all runways are created equal remember when we were talking about how the Space Shuttle Endeavor was gonna try and land at Kennedy that's can wait that's Kennedy runway I mean it's very small in the picture so it has an inch long that runway is a football field long wide several miles long and that's where Kennedy normally lands there at Cape Canaveral and yet Shane said their space shuttle could not land there because of inclement weather so they went to Edwards and this is the landing at Edwards which is the longest runway in the world it's seven and a half miles long it's in a dry riverbed our lake bed that they made this runway it's partially paved and it's it's incredible now now you go okay they were gonna line at Kennedy and instead they landed at Edwards Kennedy Edwards Kennedy Edwards Kennedy Edwards they were gonna go to Kennedy they undocked from the space station the calculations involved to make that change by the way just think about that for a second because we're coming down inserting into a spinning world we were going to insert in the atmosphere and not burn up hopefully and land at Kennedy and instead we do the tabulations hidden fit your style on the chalkboard and we land at Edwards all right now you think oh that's no big deal they just saw it's like going from Salt Lake City to Phoenix okay let's get our bearings here look at this map Kennedy is in Florida Edwards is in California here's my question how many runways did they fly over on the way it's not like there's no other options I mean your city's got a runway my cities got a runway every city's got a runway some cities got multiple runways but why'd they fly all over all those different runways on the way from Kennedy to Florida from Florida to California here's why because not every runway works and is suitable for what they needed to land his space shuttles got unique needs guys right after it lands it's not like you can just be refueled and sent out it doesn't have an engine it's got to get back to the launch pad and be put vertical and be attached to all the things that get attached to it it needs an enormous building it needs a crawler that can crawl it out in the vertical position out to the launch pad so they need an airforce base where they can load it up onto the back of a 747 so here here's the thing Edwards Air Force Base has a machine that can pick the Space Shuttle up lift it up and-and-and-and a 747 can be driven under it so the runway there is suitable and at Kennedy they don't need to do that because they got the launch pad there so as they as their eyes scan to and fro they didn't see any of the other runways in the middle as viable options and what we're trying to do in the series in the season in our church is we know that as God scans the 2000 18 and 19 and 20 horizons he sees things that he's capable of doing when God doesn't do something's never because he wasn't powerful enough oftentimes it's because we weren't willing to be a part of what he wanted to do so he does it through someone else what we're trying to do is posture ourselves with length of runway with a cleared field with the right things in place for God to do through us what he's capable of doing what he has said that he will do we don't want to miss out on a thing what I want to close our eyes because we miss you babe and we don't want someone said what space movies have you been watching is we've been going through the series I said Armageddon Shane about all the different space when I say ET realistic unrealistic he's like I'm gonna end the call if you ask me anything more about it I did ask him about the Martian though and he did say he grew lettuce in space so I was like that is realistic I said did you use your own feces though yeah that's that's what I really need to know he said I don't want to talk about it so here's the thing I want to give you three quick things that I think God wants to drop into your life if you'll just put the runway in place number one significance these are often John the Baptist number one significance when you're when you clear the field God can land and and and then you're a part of all that he does because you did that just like you on the Baptist now he's out of the story he wasn't there for the lepers he wasn't there for the raising of Lazarus John the Baptist wasn't there for the feeding of the 5,000 he didn't get to be a part of any of the subsequent things because he was dead his life ends he's in the story baptizes Jesus and he is out of there all right all he all he was given the task of doing is preparing the Roma but guess what he was a part of everything that God did because he was a part of anything that Jesus did because he set things up for Jesus to do this didn't his life take on a whole new significance just like anything you or I eat if we eat that that energy becomes a part of us it then is a part of us doing everything we do John the Baptist had the good sense to do that what we are supposed to do be digested into the body of Christ and then we get significance because we're a part of something that will outlast everything talk about transcendence talk about immortality when we lose our lives we find it when we lay it down we receive it I'm telling you something Jesus said no one has given up houses or lands or fields or anything will not receive back more than a hundredfold and eternal life there's a significance to being a part of what and let me tell you something as we all give is every one of our families and individuals and even children in our church come next weekend to do what we do at the end of every year and that's to give an offering for expansion regardless of the size of your gift there's a significance to your gesture there's a significance to it so long as it's done in faith so long as it represents an honest sacrifice we're not talking about equal giving here we're talking about equal sacrifice because for some of us we've been blessed with more we've been entrusted with more if if I gave at the level of some of you even though it takes faith for me it might be a very much smaller gift than your gift because you have more you've been entrusted with and for others of you you might feel like well I'm not going to give anything because it's such a small amount what difference would it make you might have the attitude of of the disciples when they found the five loaves and two fishes we found this food but what difference will it even make it's such a little amount in light of such a great need you might look at such a great need and what does it cost to build a campus and how many millions would it take to to resource the church like it needs to be to do all the things that were called to do and you might make the mistake of not giving anything because you don't believe your gift can do everything but that's not how the space shuttle gets to space it's a million different parts a million different pieces what did John Glenn say it was the four hundred thousand at NASA and what if any one of them said well my parts so dinky I push one button here or I just installed this here or I just checked that safety I'm not the one in the shuttle cockpit I'm not the one glorious of washing off well when one part of the whole fails to do its job what happens disaster Columbia and challenge or anyone the two deadly disasters in the space shuttle program were caused by two small pieces not doing their job one wasn't just a piece of foam and one was a faulty ring and a cold day and I'm telling you something when when we don't all do what were called to do regardless of the size of what we've been entrusted with when we see a significance to it because we're gonna give a sacrifice if you've been entrusted with millions give out of that millions we've been entrusted with thousands give another thousand you've been trusted with hundreds give out of the hundreds well I'm challenging the youngest child in our church if you have $20 give out of that $20 let it be a sacrifice to you but don't use the word faith and don't use the word sacrifice if it isn't but don't give to God that which cost you nothing otherwise let's call the series wild baby pool yonder right let's go call it P in our diapers yonder let's call it shallow end of life but if we're gonna call it the wild blue yonder let's give a gutsy gift let's take a step of faith let's I don't want to be challenged I want us all at it I want us all to see God do something great now y'all are clapping but mostly you don't give and and I only say that because it's true we look at our cities that we have Church in and here's the percentage of people who give at our church based on attendance we drill down on individual gifts we give verses attendance and here's the cold hard numbers the newer campuses of course we expect to see some time before people get the revelation and get the idea of giving and receive and get get sick of just consuming and want to contribute that's maturity by the way where you get sick of just consuming and receiving and you want to actually leave you a contributor so we understand there's there's always been a journey in the 11 years we've seen that but we see the even most successful in terms of those who come versus give anything and I'm not even talking about biblical tell you I'm just saying give anything gifts at all we see being very low the majority of people are content to come and receive but not contribute anything and that you know what you don't ever have to give anything ever in the history or you never have to give a single thing you'll always be welcome here you this is always be a place where people can hear about Jesus and you're gonna you never have to give anything but what breaks my heart about this list is the 89 percent of people in Billings and the 92 percent of people in Great Falls and the 97 percent of people in Portland and even at the most successful oh great look how great white fish is doing 60 - math is not my strong suit 73 percent of people are not giving in white fish at the most and so all across our church thirteen percent of people are doing the heavy lifting so that 87 7 percent of people can receive that and that's just tragic that so many of you are missing out on the blessing of what God wants to do and if NASA worked that way if 87 percent of the equipment there was malfunctioning in that way would we have gotten to the moon will we get to the Mars as Shane tells us we will in our lifetime and so that's not to slam down that's to encourage you take a step up and say okay you know what I'm not gonna stay here at the kids table I'm gonna be a contributor I've been blessed by this church my family is better because of this church I sure as heck I'm not gonna let other people only give I'm gonna do something but I've heard the reasons Willis trip seems to be doing fine without my money this church needs money less than I do yeah I'm telling you so it's not about ask the church needing your money it's about you needing God's blessing and you need the faith step it takes and it's not about what we're doing has been paid for it is but it's about what we could be doing if we all stepped up and that way significance will be what you find as you make runway a second thing endurance endurance yeah it was awesome John the Baptist man he preached and people got saved and revival right but here's the thing I found the moment God makes your platform bigger instantly your life gets harder sometimes people ask me what's been the biggest surprise in ministry and I always tell them it's the fact that you can be experiencing the best of times and the worst of times at the exact same time miss Jenna and I talked back with our team about 11 years of church here every significant period of expansion has been matched equally and oppositely with a period of great antagonism and a great conflict and if you look at the scripture it's the exact same for everybody Paul said a great door of opportunities been opened but now there are many adversaries it's Nehemiah saying let's build a wall and instantly he's got people saying he's the worst he sucks if someone jumps on a wall even a fox it's gonna knock down let's kill him right and John the Baptist no different the moment he begins to be used in instantly Ferris sheep first he starts showing up talking crap on him and and all this and you don't have the right and what are you doing here and and he was just like y'all are snakes right I don't want to write those emails too I want to write them I don't let that get into my Twitter feed because I want it to be holier than John the Baptist but the guy was like you brood of vipers who invited you to preach get out of here right he's the best he's my he's goals Twitter goals is one day I'm gonna go the holders gonna let me tweet like John the Baptist preached and I already got a camel hair coat I got it in Manhattan I'm excited I'm on my way I am ready to go all right so so he you need endurance is what I'm trying to say I want to warn you if you're gonna take a step of faith and surge towards serving in the church third towards giving in the church if you're gonna make decisions that there's gonna be habits in your life that you feel like are obstructions in the runway from what God wants to land if you realize you know yeah you have the Liberty drink but you're you're you're you're addicted and you can't you can't cope without four or five beers a night and you just see yourself getting angry it's affecting your family it's affecting your work you say you know what I'm gonna clear the field we'll make some different choices I'm gonna get around me some different friends if you make some choices in your marriage you make some choices in your schedule if you start clearing the field for God to move clear that 30 minutes before you rush off to work to have some time of devotion you clear the field because you know that your life's only gonna yield to the extent that you clear the field there's only gonna be the inundation where you make accommodation right God wants to deluge glory and power and his presence into your life but you're only gonna see it to the extent that you make the space for in a move let me tell you something the moment you clear it hostility the moment you clear it something's gonna break the moment you clear it someone's gonna be mad at you the moment you clear it something that's gonna happen difficulties gonna show up trial is gonna show up why it's the enemy trying to get you back to how it was before you took the step of faith it's the enemy trying to get you to say you know what let's just go back this is crazy this is too hard it's not what I signed up for I thought if I serve God jellybeans would rain from the sky and skittles would fall from come up from the ground I didn't know that it was gonna be hard yeah it's gonna be hard and I want you to understand but God's gonna give you the endurance for the next step of faith he's gonna meet you where you are he's gonna give you the Grace and the strength to make that next step of faith that you're gonna be called to take in the midst of that one he didn't give us the strength and grace for while beyond ordering blood and thunder he didn't give us the Grace and strength of blood and thunder during multiply he didn't give us the endurance we would need during blue blue yonder during let it be but as we've taken the step of faith and we've taken that step of faith and we've drawn a line in the sand and we said we're gonna expand we're gonna go to Utah we're gonna go to Oregon we're gonna be willing to reach out and when people don't like it and this is not what I thought we say straight runway straight one runway one vision if you don't like it we're gonna focus on the mission like Shane said that's we handle personnel problems you don't like this you're like that here's the mission here's where we're going people stranded in sin finding life in Liberty Christ you don't like it cool not for everybody we're all in this is what focused on the mission the disciples want to fight about this and Jesus like focus on the mission the disciples always want to fight about this it's about more fish getting into the boat all the fights that break out on the ship not that not not going to be the story here the story here is going to be more fish in the boat and that's how we get through it but God's not going to give you the endurance for this step to you take that step of faith derrick karr quarterback for the oakland raiders he signed an incredible contract a league setting contract 25 million dollars a year 125 million at all and he was asked what are you gonna do with this this payday and the response surprised many people he didn't say I'm gonna coat my teeth and gold he didn't say anything about Disneyland here's what he said first thing I'm gonna do is I'm gonna pay my tithe like I have since I was in college back then I got $700 on a scholarship check but I tied on that so that won't change I'll do that first 10% automatically to God tithing isn't just 10% it's the first 10% if you give the last 10% no faith that's giving God leftovers we choose to live on leftovers we honor God first that's what he was saying now you're like well I'd do that too if I got a 125 million dollars no you wouldn't not if you didn't either on 700 not if you couldn't say I'll live on 630 and God gets the first and the best that's how you get the endurance to take the next step and the next step and that's how God is able to bless you with more and that leads you to my third thing that God wants to land in your life as you're willing to make runway abundance abundance God wants to land abundance in your life and check it God is able to then now what Paul told the Corinthians he said and God is able someone say God is able to make all grace say the next word out loud with me abound abundance abound abundance toward you that you always having all sufficiency in all things may have say the next word out loud with me and abundance for every good work as we make runway God is able to land provision as we make the space God is able to provide for you like he wants to and that is within the context in second Corinthians not of him telling them to show up at church every week was something set aside in proportion to what they've received that week to bring to the house to bring to the work and then a bar for offerings above and beyond that and within the context of him telling them Paul telling the Corinthians make that runway he told him God's able to bring the provision your job runway his job the plane you focus on the runway his job is to make sure the plane lands on time he's able to make all grace abound toward you but if you want to walk in God's abundance you have to be willing to clear the field in obedience you're like this is we have gotten way off the track here Levi we started off in Malachi you're talking about John the Baptist now you've twisted this thing to end up with money because you just want more money and this has nothing to do with Malachi we are not even talking about John the Baptist okay okay let's just for a second you want to go back to Malachi 3 because where we started with John the Baptist go to verse 8 of Malachi 3 right after John the Baptist well the man Rob God yet you've robbed me God says but we would say in what way have we want robbed you in tithes and offerings you are cursed with a curse for you have robbed me even this whole nation bring the tithes into the storehouse that there may be food in my house and try me now in this as the Lord of Hosts if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing is that not abundance such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it and I will rebuke the Devourer for your sakes so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field says the Lord of Hosts you see this whole thing a runway as he promised this would come one of the most important things for them to clear up was their lack of runway in their withholding the tithe and their failure to bring offerings why would that be so important if the runway needs to get made why is the instant connection made by Malachi to financial runway well here's how war and where's be put in he said when people start to decline spiritually one of the first places it shows up is in their giving so it's a litmus test for how on fire you are or not on fire you are with God why because Jesus put it best your money is inseparably connected to your heart investing Google tomorrow and what will happen the next morning you'll wake up and see how Google's doing because you're invested in it so it is it's true so I see elbows going not no elbows in church but whatever you're invested in you care about whatever you're invested in you track whatever you're invested in you spend time on you give thoughts to so you want to be invested in the things of God there's an easy way to do that create the financial obedience of runway so God can bring the abundance he wants to in your life he can make it rain I'm telling you we just have to be willing to do the faith work that happens first now you're saying to me why would the the church always focus on this at the end of the year is it because we need the blessing now I would say this no you you need God's blessing more than the church does because again our bills are paid right now this is about future work that we're not even doing yet this isn't to pay for ongoing ministry it's so we can ratchet it up and make it better but again at the end of the day it's not even just about what we're gonna build as a church it's about what God's gonna build inside your heart it's about what God's gonna build in your family I like how Jensen Franklin put it he said a God who paves heaven streets with gold isn't going to go broke because you don't give him a tithe of your income but you might and that's that promise from Malachi he said not only will I open the windows of heaven and pour down blessing on you but I'm also going to rebuke the Devourer I'm gonna cause the the blight that might come upon your field to be turned away I'm gonna put a force field around certain things Lauren where's be actually continued in his commentary on Malachi and he said this he said if you don't give God your tithe that's his rightfully a first of everything that the ground produces on this earth that he created he says you won't get to keep it anyway it'll end up going to the mechanic or it'll go to the doctor or it'll show up in some bill or some tax thing that you didn't know about and that's because God's not gonna rebuke the Devourer when there's not the blessing on your resources because when you give God the first the rest of its bless when you don't put God first none of its bless you're walking around with money that's not blessed from God and so it's going to end up leaving your life no matter what and so I just think it's a better way to live not out of fear of some bad thing happening but out of faith and everything that God has given to us as a gift and we're gonna put him first in the tithe and honor and beyond that with offerings that are expressions of our gratitude so some of you there's going to be the chance to enter into that journey of generosity through giving your first offering because you've been tithing for a while and through the last years and you would speak to anybody in the church and say man I've been walking in abundance as a result of my faithful tithing and someone would say was that what does that mean you're flushed with cash all the time and you would laugh because they don't understand it they don't get it and they hear blessing and all they think is financial blessing not knowing that that's not the only kind of abundance you can walk in in fact jesus said if you can't be faithful with cash how will you able ever to be trusted with true riches John the Baptist didn't get cash as a result of his runway in fact he died penniless in prison with his head cut off but he walked in abundance every day of his life abundance of confidence when crowds left him to follow Jesus and his disciples came to him said they don't follow you any more you were the man you had the biggest Church in town now it's all about Jesus what abundance of confidence was there when he said that was the plan all along he must increase and I must decrease I've played my part I made the runway I got the orange cones I got the plane in I got it pulled up safely to the gate and now I get taken out that's not failure that's success I want to spend and be spent to make Jesus famous that is a man who understands something about abundance Oh to have the faith of a John the Baptist who God was able to make all abundance abound towards him so he had everything he needed to complete his work that God had raised him up to go to accomplish you can have abundance when you don't have when you don't have resources that financially you can have strength and faith of Revelation to watch God make it abound toward you or you can be trusted with more and more and more financial things but the key thing is the true riches that God actually wants to bring by way of peace by way of joy by way of strength my wife was telling me that she thought it was beautiful that the word trail and the word trial have a connection because look at the word trail right here we want to blaze a trail well here's the the connection ready see that trail trial trail trial trail tri trail tri see you idea there Cho Cho let's payback for the shuttle fictional working try if you're gonna blaze a trail you're gonna walk through a trial so you need the open windows of heaven where you can see God clearly through the open window to have your eyes on Jesus as you walk through the difficult thing that's going to come for you in the coming year as you take God at His Word as you follow his plan as you launch out into the wild blue for others of you who are not yet tithing so you can't give an offering technically we have made an on-ramp into this series for you to have your expression of faith you'll notice on the envelope that you'll bring back next weekend and the car that's inside that you'll fill out on the second line if we Circle it there's a line that says starting now I want to honor God with the tithe and so if you're able to bring what amounts to 10% of a paycheck or 10% of a month or maybe out of faith you would look back at a year where you haven't been giving God the his tithe and you would take a whole year of you what you've made and whatever that is you would bring an expression of your tithe as your wild blue yonder offering and anything above and beyond that you'd want to express you could say I'm gonna begin this new year in faith I'm gonna begin this new year asking for God's abundance on my life and on my business and on my family and all my children I'm a believe God for that kind of a prosperity and my cup overflows kind of a life and so as my expression next week I'm gonna bring God the beginning of my honoring him in that way whatever it is I'm just believing God to speak to our hearts we gather with husband and wife and families together and make some really hard and beautiful decisions this week about what we are thankful for and how we're gonna show that to God amen let me pray for you raise up your hands if you receive it Jesus I thank you for these beautiful people at our church thank you for what you're doing here would give you all the glory we say like John the Baptist we're not worthy to unlatch it your shoelace and yet you have counted us worthy to be a part of this and I prayed give us the Grace and the strength to continue to fight for people who are stranded in sin to find life in Liberty in Christ in Jesus name Amen you have time for just one last moment before we move towards the end of our service you can sit down if you want there was I'll do - is that cool the the runway length is beautiful when it comes to our blessing and everything we've been talking about thus far and our service has had a lot to do with our walking and significance are walking in endurance are walking in abundance but that might not move the needle for some of you because you go you know I knew pretty good I have a lot of blessing I have a lot of significance already I feel good about my job I feel good about my family I already feel this is I don't I don't need anything else if God never gave me anything else I would need it and I would say that's a good place to be at but what made me call this message rethinking runways was the idea that maybe just maybe the planes that are landing aren't just for us and maybe God wants to land some bigger planes not just for your family and your life and your marriage but for other people you don't even know one of the most important airports in America is the airport in Bangor Maine and you ever heard of it it's pretty pretty awesome it's a tiny little city 33,000 people I mean talk about Smallville USA right and yet it is one of the most critical airports and in the last decade 2000 airplanes in crisis have landed at Bangor Maine why they made an enormous runway it's over two miles long it's able to handle almost any international wide-body jet on the earth and and and they built this Airport just way way too big they have an international terminal that can process thousands of passengers they have standby crews on the ready 24 hours a day they've been trained in de-icing wide-body Jets even though no jets of that size are scheduled to take off or land at that Airport ever why they've done all this why do they have such an enormous Airport that's most of the time a ghost town when only 20 tiny commuter planes take off or depart out of that plant Airport every day here's why Bangor Maine is the very first piece of American soil a plane coming from Europe across 2,500 miles of ocean is going to interact with and so if a plane has had something go bad overseas which it does mechanically or whatever their best hope of not ditching into the ocean is Bangor Maine if we can just make it to Bangor we'll be okay and Bangor realized that and they saw it as a duty to be where they were and so they made an enormous runway not for themselves and not for their needs and not for their family but for people from countries that they have never been to for people whose names they don't know for places they might not ever go they said we need a long runway not just for our blessing but to bless someone else and may God help us to be the sort of people who make runways real long not just for our blessing but for the blessing of other nations amen thank you so much for watching this teaching from the wild blue yonder series if at any time during this message you made the decision to put your faith in Jesus congratulations we are so excited for you and we would love to send you a Bible as to receive that you can click the know God button at fresh life dot church and fill out the form there and we would love to get that in the mail for you now if you prefer a digital Bible you can text the word fresh life all one word with no spaces to 99,000 and we would love to send that to you along with a 21 day devotional through the Gospel of John that Pastor Levi Rho and if you would like to support what God is doing both in and through the fresh life house there are several ways that you can do that you can give by clicking the give button on our website giving via the fresh life app or you can text the word fresh two four five seven seven seven and if God has used this house to work in your life we'd love to hear from you we hear stories from people all over the world and it's so incredible to see how God is working in the lives of people all over now if you'd like to share your story with us you can click the share your story button on our website or you can email us at story at fresh Life Church and finally for this wild blue yonder series we put together wild blue yonder giving kits for everyone to have just to remember to pray for this series and pray for your year and offering and we would love to anyone they come in this wild blue yonder box and inside you'll receive a card with vision in just kind of direction about this series you'll also receive an envelope that comes with a card that you can write your your end offering on but it also comes with a way for us to pray for you so if you want to fill this out and send it back to us we would love to pray for you and finally it comes with a super-rad removed before flight key chain that says wild blue yonder on one side and risk the ocean on the other side and this is just such a cool way to remember to pray for this series pray for your year and offering and just believing alongside us what God is going to do is we launch into the wild blue yonder thank you again for watching this message [Music]

Channel: Fresh Life Church

Views: 3,270

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: fresh life, freshlife, fresh life church, levi lusko, pastor levi, church, church montana, levi lusko sermons

Id: 1a1zpdHmtgs

Length: 58min 15sec (3495 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 11 2017