Why Is It So Hard To Make Healthy Decisions

TRANSCRIPT 

How do you connect the dots of everything with life? And, and last week I did something which I wasn't planning to do. It was in the final preparations that I threw this thing up and threw it together, which the team were awfully grateful for me to do that for them. The last minute things, I love it. But then, Then coming into this series, I realized, man, God is preparing the way to help us really understand this whole thing of everything's connected.

Now, I'm pretty sure that you would understand that if you've lived long enough, that you can reap some benefits from some good decisions and some good habits. And you can also reap some consequences of some bad decisions and bad habits. I, I can remember going right down, I've just seen Kirsten up there in the back, and I remember going right down to when I led young adults, and I remember teaching this, this for the first time, and I said to them, there's two pains that you must learn to deal with in life.

One is the pain of discipline. Which you will put yourself under in order to move forward to accomplish something. For example, if you decide, Hey, I want to be a carpenter, but then you're going to have to go through the discipline of being apprenticed to be a carpenter so you can learn how to build well, you discipline yourself to do that.

You know, if you want to be in good shape, you've got to discipline yourself, not to keep eating stuff that you probably shouldn't eat and you may, you need to at least get off the couch now. And then if you want to get a bit of exercise, stay healthy. If you want to grow in your relationship with God, if you want to have a strong intimate relationship with God, you're going to have to discipline yourself to sit with him, to listen to him, to listen to what he says.

So that's a discipline that you've got to choose. You're going to say, that is the pain that I will choose in life. Now, if like most people, you choose not to use discipline, well, then the world has another thing it'll put on you. And it's called regret. And the pain of regret is amazing. Every year it gets worse.

It gets worse and it gets worse. As you realize you've made poor decisions and things are just not the way that you felt It was devastating for us only a few months ago when we had a young man that we were helping and this young man had pretty much accomplished everything in the world that he wanted The high fly life and had pretty much as I was watching at his funeral I'm thinking, man, I've not done anything like that And then But if you knew his story in the background, one of his greatest regrets is he was approaching his forties and he didn't have a wife and he didn't have a family and that was the thing, that was the deep regret within him and he saw no way back out of it and sadly he opted out.

When it comes to bad decisions, they're everywhere. I just, last week, I, I love watching the tornado things on the tv. It always seems to be the same footage. I don't know, but, but I just watching these tornadoes, they're massive. They're huge and they destroy everything. And so I got on Chatt PT 'cause I know that is the most accurate thing in the world.

Just to say to chatt, T what's going on with all these tornadoes? Are they getting worse? Is it getting bad? You know, what's going on? Is it all about climate change? What's going on? And this is what chat GPT said to me. Tornado frequency and damage in Oklahoma can be influenced by various factors, including climate patterns and human development.

Ooh, it's interesting. While it's difficult to directly compare tornado activity over the centuries, urbanization in tornado prone areas like Oklahoma have likely increased the visibility of damage due to more structures being in harm's way. And then it goes back to climate change again. What's, what's that teaching us?

What it's saying is, you know what? Tornadoes in Tornado Alley have always gone on, they always go in the same place, but somebody made a really bad decision and decided, let's start building urbanised places and all these kind of little different postcodes and suburbs, let's build them in Tornado Alley and just maybe the tornadoes won't come.

Wow, serious? That's like the guy I heard about years ago, he went swimming up at Kakadu, went swimming there, he walked past seven signs that says don't swim there, there's a croc, and then he gets bitten by a croc and wants to sue the government. Mate, you're in his terrain. When you put something in his terrain, he doesn't see anything, he doesn't see you as human, you're just lunch.

That's all you are. So it's like, Why do we do these things? And then we're all going, oh, the floods, the floods are going, the floods again, the flooding always happens. But then suddenly someone goes, look at all that land sitting there and it's really cheap to buy and we could put a whole estate in there.

And the next thing there's floods coming down. Oh, the weather is terrible. It's all climate change. I think it's got about that much to do with climate change and this much to do with stupid decisions. People just making poor decisions. And that's what happens to us. I'm so frustrated about this. I'm thinking again about starting my own political party, the CSL party.

Trying to get people to join me. It's called the Common Sense Leadership Party. Because as far as I can see, that's the only thing that's missing in this world today. If you could just get a little bit of common sense, we might actually not build in Tornado Alley. And we might not build on floodplains and then go, Oh, it's climate change.

Really? Poor decisions. We want to flip the script so that you'll be glad that you did. And you don't have these horrible things where it's like, Oh man, I wish I didn't do that because it's all connected. All of life is connected. Today's decision become tomorrow's realities. Your decisions today become your realities of tomorrow.

This is a lesson. Parents desperately want their kids to learn. You will not go forward. Sitting on the couch, playing video games, eating chips and ice cream. If that's your lot, or you're going to watch endless amount of videos, that's not going to serve you well in the next phase. All you'll do is become a social recluse.

You'll have no communication skills. Nobody can employ you because no one knows exactly what you do. And then, you wake up ten years later going, Jeez, I'm really fat. What's going on here? I must have done something wrong. Yeah, you made some poor decisions. Everything counts. All of life. For instance, your academic decisions now determine your academic options later.

Isn't that true? Depending on how well that you do with your academics determines the kind of people that you meet in the future. And the type of people that you meet in the future determines the kind of people that you bring home. That's important. And the kind of people that you bring home determines the kind of people that you marry.

And the people that you marry bring in laws. So if you want good in laws, do some study. I'm just saying, they're like, it's all connected. It's all connected. This connectedness of life is everywhere. And we will never be happier if our relationships are healthy. We're really happier than our relationships are healthy.

I cannot tell you the amount of people that I know that are very wealthy. And the only problem is that kids hate them. Apart from that, it's honky dory. And the wife's not so flash on them either. But the business is going phenomenal. Yeah, but the relationships are falling apart. They can't be happy. You can't be happy with all the stuff in the world if the relationships around you aren't healthy.

And our decisions don't just affect us, they affect the people around us. Why? Because it's all connected. And in each season of your life, the decisions you make now, determine the next season, what the next season looks like. So this, this series here on You'll Be Glad You Did is, it's about advice. It's not necessarily just all about, you know, well, right and wrong or immoral or moral.

It's just kind of about advice and learning how to process the advice that's given and the things that you see or hear, as Pauline was saying. Process it so that you actually do something about it. Because the reality is there are some rules. God doesn't start with rules. God starts with relationship.

Pauline shared that with us. Even in the beginning, he started with relationship. Gives Adam and Eve the whole world. And there's only one rule. Stay away from one tree. Imagine everything you can see on the Grand Canyon and all that. And you just want, just don't go to that one tree. And so what do they do?

I'll take that tree because that's how we're wired. There's something in us that thinks that we know better, but rules came out of relationship to protect Adam and Eve. He did the same thing with Israel, Israel, and Jesus does the same thing now. He says, you love one another the way I love you. He busted it all down to one rule.

Just that one rule, love one another the way that I have loved you. But there are some rules that if you break them, that they can break you. They can break your heart, they can break the heart of the people around you. So we need to be careful. There are some rules that if you break them, you'll go broke.

So you, you gotta get the advice. And as I said, this is not in the area of legal or illegal or right or wrong or immoral or ethical. It's in the area of wisdom. We're talking about wisdom. And that's where I want to go back to what I shared last week, which is the last thing that came in is everything's connected.

I threw up a jigsaw puzzle to show that everything in our life is connected. Your family, your sport, your education, it's all connected, but it works really well inside the framework and the parameters and the foundation of what God asks of us is God, love God, love me, follow Jesus, love your neighbor and go make disciples, which means go and help some people that are confused about who God is because of some wrong religious stuff and help them discover a relationship with Jesus.

Everything works wonderful in that context. And what we have to do about is make sure that none of these things make their way to the outside because that's what an idol is. And we always say to people, don't trade what you want most for what you desire in the heat of the moment. Don't trade what you want most.

This was Aaron's issue. He traded what he really wanted most, which was a wife and a family and a simple life for a whole bunch of other stuff. and the other stuff didn't meet the expectations. It's really, really important. You're going to have to have some, if you've got financial dreams, then be careful the decisions you make.

Same thing with your academic. And this is not right or wrong advice. This is not legal or illegal. This is just wisdom. Here's one thing. If you don't get anything out of this today, listen to this thing, because I think this has hurt so many people. Fear being wrong more than you fear admitting that you're wrong.

Fear being wrong more than admitting that you're wrong. Because here's the wonderful thing about this, and I know this sounds, I know this is going to be hard for you to believe, but sometimes I can just get a little bit out of sorts. And sometimes I just have to say to my wife, Ann, you know, I was really kind of, yeah, yeah, I wasn't nice.

I was unkind. I'm really sorry. Now, why the heck is that so hard for me to say? Well, I, I, sometimes I feel like I'm the Fonz out of Happy Days years ago. If you remember the Fonz, that's an old show, but the thing with the Fonz is he couldn't, he could not say he was wrong. He was, he couldn't say he was wrong.

But here is the beautiful thing about this. If you can acknowledge that you're wrong and just say, honey, you know, I didn't, that was very unkind what I said. I really didn't mean it. Please. I am sorry. Please forgive me. Guess what? I'm no longer wrong. I was wrong. But now as soon as I address it, I am no longer wrong.

This is a wisdom issue that we're trying to get about it. When you acknowledge that you're wrong, you're no longer wrong. How good is that? You just got to acknowledge that you're wrong. That's the tricky part. So we're talking about wisdom and when it comes to wisdom there's a couple of things that we need to know about wisdom.

It's kind of there to guide us. You know Your decisions are kind of like driving the car and the, and the steering wheel, you know, where you want to go to, that's kind of your decisions and where you want to go. But wisdom lies between the decisions. It's in the middle there. And it's like, Oh, okay, well, that's my next step.

That's my next step, which is the best way to get there. What should I do? So it's a wisdom thing. So you need to understand you and you need to ask yourself questions. What is the wise things for you to do? Not right or wrong. What's the wise thing? But the wise thing is tied to who you are and the whole collective, it's all connected together.

In the light of your past experiences, in the light of your current circumstances, in the light of your future hopes and dreams, what is the wise thing to do? Like for example, if my dad was an alcoholic, my granddad was an alcoholic, and I had trouble with alcohol, But I want to have a birthday party, and I think, let's do it at the pub.

That's not really the wise thing to do. That's not the wise thing to do. Like, you'd be better off going, let's go somewhere where I can have a milkshake. Put your party there. So, but this, this, there's no rule on this, because it all depends on how you are. You've got to know how you're wired up. Everybody is different because of your life growing up, your family of origins, all connected.

But the way that you think and the way you approach things and the way you find things now is determined by what transpired then. So if you take the advice and you start to look for wisdom, wisdom will give you some guardrails. Guardrails are great. They're really great because they stop you from going off the cliff.

However, if you hit a guardrail at high speed, it can still really mess you up real bad. So I love the fact that they came up with a new invention. Now just, just dream with me for a minute. Let's just, you're driving, you're just cruising along. Ah, sun's going down. And you're enjoying things, you're just driving along, yeah.

Man, oh, you can't slip into a yeah. Oh, it's just, it's just wonderful. So nice. It's serene. And you snap back in. They're called rumble strips and they are so good. They're so good because they speak to you before you hit the guardrail. Man, I can't, I'll tell you the number of times I've been drifting off.

Oh, right. Okay. Slap yourself around. So rumble strips are great. Put some of them in financially, morally, put those little rumble strips in there because our greatest regrets are preceded by a series of unwise decisions, series of unwise decisions. I love it. When people tell me that they've had a relational breakdown, you know, I just, I just fell into another relationship.

Was it really, you just fell into it. You didn't fall into it. You walked into it. No, it just happened. Really? It doesn't work that way. There's a series of these things. Paul wrote something very interesting in 1 Corinthians, to the church in Corinth, about this kind of thing. Because there is so much freedom in Christ.

And that's why some people want to, want to overlay the Old Covenant rules to us. Because it sounds like, it's just like, wow, there's way too much freedom in here, and there's way too much, and you can see it, and that kind of thing. But that's not true. He's guiding this freedom and he says this, he said, everything is permissible for me.

Now, just so you know, I'm reading this out of the amplified version. So this is the girl's version. It's got more flowery, got more words, that kind of stuff. Everything's permissible, allowable and lawful for me. Well, how much? Everything. That's the kind of freedom that's in Christ. But not all things are helpful.

Good for me to do expedient and profitable when considered with the other things. Keep going. Everything is lawful for me, but I will not become the slave of anything and be brought under its power. Paul's highlighting this again. This is a wisdom issue. All things are lawful, but then they're not good for everybody.

What's good for me? Won't be good for you. Because you will have experienced some things in life and you'll have some things in your family of origin that you just won't You have to be self aware. Like, my dad had a had a wild temper when it came to things that didn't work. And I could always tell when he was working in the garage, because you'd hear spanners flying, and then you'd just, stuff getting smashed, and I'd say, oh, okay, you know what?

I kind of have this thing. If technology doesn't work, I just like, I arc up and go, and I just want to take it out and smash it into pieces. So I know that that's there. So I have to be very careful and I have to be able to work out when someone says, can you help me with this? I have to quickly go, I'm going to lose my salvation out of this.

No, I can't help. You're going to have to find someone else that's got some skills in that area. You've just got to know that. So I know, I picked that up from my dad. I know my mum's probably watching, so hopefully she forgives me for this. But my mum grew up in a chaotic home. I mean seriously, when I took my dad away and had talked to him and I found out how chaotic and violent that home was that she grew up in, what it caused in her was a desperate need to control all environments and everything in it.

Because that's how she grew up as a little girl. And she, by her own admission, would say, she struggled with that. To make sure everybody is in the right place, at the right place, doing the right thing. It's what happens to us when you grow up in environments. So she's had to work hard in that area. And I had to deal with that too.

It's like, I like all my little ducks in a row. And if that duck doesn't get back there, I'll shoot at it until it gets back there. You stand there. That's just how it was. So I know there's those weaknesses there, but you'll have things as well. You'll have things, but you just need to understand everything is connected and everything happens, you know all together.

It's all, it's not all separate. Our life is not all just separated. It's all in that connected space. And there's always a series of poor mistakes. Like I mentioned about the fact that people that say, Oh, I just fell into a relationship. No, that's not what happens. First and foremost, things aren't going well at home.

That relationship's not going well, so we're not talking. That's right, we just ignore each other and that kind of thing. And then, suddenly you go into work and then you get in there and hey, you walk past the receptionist for the last ten years, not even noticed her. Suddenly you walk in, man, she looks good.

But then you do the right thing, you keep going. But then tomorrow, you Hey, you look nice today. See if she banded up, banders in. Okay. Right. We'll stop and stay for a while. So then you stay for a while and then you go back. But then after that, then you, Oh, a little gift. Would you like a cup of coffee? Now no one's going to take a coffee from me anymore now.

Would you like a cup of coffee? How about a chocolate? And you do all this. And can you see what I mean? There's a whole bunch of little small decisions that, and then it goes like, oh man, that's terrible. What's happened to you? Is that going on for you? Oh, We should get together and have a little chat sometime, a little bit more private, so we can just share our hearts.

Oh boy, you're in trouble now! There's a series of decisions here that is leading, like, into a really, really dangerous part, because you're ignoring the vise, you're ignoring the rumble strips. Man, the guardrail's there, but you can't even see it, you're speeding away. And this is when, what Kenny Loggins referred to as the highway.

To the danger zone. All the way to the danger zone. Wish I had long hair now and I'm like Yeah, do the Top Gun. Nah, that's not gonna work either. The danger zone. You ignore everything and then suddenly you're in the danger zone. You've missed the rumble strips, you've missed the advice, you've hit the guardrail.

It's like getting bad. But you know what? If you're down there, you're still, we're okay, we're just having conversations. No big deal, nothing's happening. And you just keep ignoring, and you keep ignoring, and then you push on. And then, things hit the proverbial fan. I don't need to say anymore, you all know what that means.

Things hit the fan. And then what happens is, you've hit the disaster zone. This is terrible. When you hit that place, you've gone plowed through the guardrail and you are sailing off the cliff. Now, the thing you need to understand is that, is that God loves you a lot, but there's someone that doesn't like you very much.

And he's referred to a number of names in the Bible, devil, Satan, whatever. He don't like you. And, and the only way he can get to God and to hurt God is to actually look at destroying our relationship. So what he will do is he'll bite you and he'll use the things of what he'll bite you. Then you'll hit over the, you'll just go through the guardrail and you'll see.

And you can see yourself plummeting down to death. And you can just see him down there smiling, holding a body bag, singing, It's the end of the world as you know it. And it is because then suddenly you hit the ground and smash. And what you thought was no longer a problem because it was only just you.

I'm not hurting anybody. It's just me having a bit of fun by myself. Then suddenly you realize the whole thing is affected. That whole jigsaw puzzle, because if you lose it, if you lose it in business, your family's going to pay the price. If you lose it in sport, your family's going to pay, you lose it in education, it doesn't matter where you lose it, wherever you lose it, where you've been unwise, go down, then that is a really, really bad thing because everything is affected and everything is connected.

We're not, it's not siloed. What started with you as a little tacker has come up when you're in the primary school is building on the next season and the next season and the things that you're struggling with here started right back here and a series of unwise decisions. So Jesus invites us to do something different.

He invites us to follow him so that we don't trade what we most want for For the immediate desires in the now. And that is really, really important. Now, if you happen to be here and you're still trying to figure out Christianity and you're figuring out following Jesus, then you're kind of a little bit off the hook today because the stuff I'm going to share now is, Is kind of optional for you.

I still think it's wise. I think you could learn a whole bunch of stuff and there's wise and you could protect yourself, but it's optional. But for those of us that follow Christ, the profess to follow Christ we don't really have an option on this because our job is to live well. So that we can model, we can model for people around us, what a relationship with God looks like and how life works in that jigsaw puzzle so perfectly together.

So Jesus is talking is talking and Matthew wrote it down. It's in Matthew chapter seven. This is what he says. Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man. Everyone who won't hears it, who hears the words. So you've got to hear it and then put it into practice.

Doesn't that sound a lot like sub devotions? Sit down, listen to what I have to say to you, now go and do it. He said, that's a wise man. Oh, so you're telling me if I want to be wise and I want everything in my life to work out well, there's some things that I have to do. Yeah, there are some things that you've got to do.

There is some discipline that you have to have. And the reason. This is so good. It's because you built your house upon the rock. What rock? The rock of Christ. Exactly. The eternal rock, the foundation that no one can touch. The framework that makes life work so well, but everybody was listening to Jesus, take this, teach this new, this is no social kind of thing.

This is not a, well, I'll feel like if I do it, they know that if I'm going to do this, this is going to affect my whole life. This is going to change everything. I am going to have to discipline my life if I'm going to do this. If I'm going to build my house upon the rock, this is, this is going to be not easy.

There's going to have some discipline and there's going to have some requirements. There's going to be some rules that'll be in there somewhere and wisdom that's required. But you either want to do, what is it? You're going to have the pain of discipline that you put yourself under or the, well. Nearly had the wrong finger there.

Pain of regret. Regret. If you say regret, you don't have to do anything. Just do nothing. It'll find you. That's how it works. That's how regret works. But then it goes on, it says, Then the rain came down, the streams rose, the winds blew, beat against that house, yet it did not fall. Because, why? Because it was built upon the rock.

Someone has taken the time to build their life well. And say, this is not, this is not a right wrong. This is not a legal or legal. This is a wisdom issue. This is wisdom. Then he goes on, but doesn't finish there. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is a foolish man.

Do you know what that means? If God talks to you out of your sub devotional and journal time and tells you what to do and you don't do it.

Well, you can work that out for yourself. He says that is foolish. That's foolish. And the foolishness is that the person that doesn't apply is forgetting that everything is connected. All the seasons of your life are connected. All the pieces of your life are connected and they work well, best within the framework of Jesus call upon your life, making disciples and loving God.

That's the framework. Inside there,

The fool does not recognize that tomorrow is connected to today. That's what Jesus is trying to say to us. And he goes on and says, but the fool builds his house on the sand. And then of course, everything comes crashing down. Now some people, and this still fascinates me, and I hear it quite often through the cafe and that, feel like God is against them.

Like God's out to get them or something like that. But I said, this teaching here is Jesus teaching for you. It's for your benefit. It's not for his benefit. It's for your benefit, not your detriment. Jesus is trying to say, let me show you how this thing works well. And have you, as you learn to step in and as you learn to trust Jesus, and as you learn to recognize this is all connected.

So what I do in here in my business is going to have effect on my family. It is going to have an effect on education. It's going to have an effect on every, excuse me, every part of your life. But following Jesus will make your life better and also make you better at life. It'll make it better, but it'll make you better at life.

Not necessarily straight away. But certainly eventually, and Jesus invites us away from this whole living according to the cravings of the now to say, learn to be wise. Don't sacrifice what you want in the longterm. If you want to spend eternity with Christ, don't sacrifice that for something short term, the short term pleasures of sin.

The scripture say, don't throw that away. If that's the longterm goal. And just realise that all these pieces are together. This whole series is just about walking wisely. It's going to be about walking wisely. It's about knowing and doing. Did you know that knowing and doing are two completely different experiences?

With two completely different outcomes? Often times knowing is used as the excuse to avoid the doing. For example, if you happen to be a parent, and you have children, or young adults, or you happen to have been a young adult at some stage, you'll realize that every so often, sometimes mum would say, oh, honey, dad just wants you to make sure that you no, no, no, I know, I know, I know, I know, no, so good, I got it, I know it, I know it.

And it's like, you're not listening, you know, I know, I know what you're going to say, I know it. And we forget that we think that by knowing it means they'll do it. It doesn't mean that at all. It's just one of those things to fob you off. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, I know, I know. But here's the deal. Knowing and not doing has the same outcome as not knowing.

The same consequence to it. And to know and not do just makes a fool of you.

And then that's a decision, an unwise decision, a small one that's leading somewhere. And if you get compound decisions and error, you can get yourself into a real mess. So this, this whole series is about applied wisdom. So I guess I would say, bringing this to a close, what do you need to do, but just aren't doing it?

What is it that you need to do, but you just aren't doing it? Maybe you've resisted finding community. Maybe you resisted having, being involved with the village. So, cause I don't want to get too close to people because then they'll know I'm not perfect. Spoiler alert. They know you're not perfect already.

No one is. There are no perfect people. Except for Ann, Ann will say she's, she's close, but you know, not perfect. Maybe it's, what do you need to do? Maybe it's disciplining yourself to say, you know what, I'm going to meet with God every day and let him, his words, hear his words and apply them into my life.

Maybe it's picking up a towel and serving, serving someone with your gifts and talents. I don't know. I, I just, I look at Jodie down the back and the difference that your gift coming in on the Friday to the people in, not just our community, but the wider community, just through smashed Avvo and, What's that other one I don't like?

Halloumi Grill. It's not that I don't like it, it's just that it doesn't like me. But, and I think it's to do with the hummus. That's a whole different message. We'll talk about the evils of hummus another day. But just your gif. Like, Jodie comes in and does that. And the people. They experience God's love for the way that she creates and she cooks and she uses forgive.

It's just amazing But maybe yours is you've got to forgive someone from your past. Stop allowing them to control you or to simplify your life Maybe it's recognizing again. Hey, listen, the jigsaw puzzle is correct The last minute throw in from God last week has got more significance than we realize.

It's about loving God. It's about following Jesus, letting Him show you how to love other people, and then be able to make a disciple, which is not a big thing. It means share your love for them, teach them to learn how to believe in Jesus again, because they've probably experienced a bunch of things that are quite not very Jesus like.

So, I don't know what it is, but it's all connected. And Jesus just says, Hey, listen! Whatever it is, do it today. Just do it. Decide you're going to make the phone call. Send the text. Have the conversation. Some of us need to stop doing some things. Some of us need to start doing things. Some of us need to end some relationships.

Some of us need to rekindle some relationships. But whatever it is, you've got to make the call. You've got to step in and you've got to do it. Because Jesus doesn't say just learn from me. He says follow me. He says follow me. That's what that jigsaw is all about, is learning to follow. And he says, if you'll apply these teachings, they're not right or wrong, this is a wisdom thing about life, if you'll apply them, you will build your life, your house, who you are and everything around you that's all interconnected upon the rock.

And that rock will stand against all the storms that will ever come against your way. But if you won't. If you just go, well, I went to church every day and I listened to 17, 000 sermons and I can't remember a single one. Yeah, that's doing you no good whatsoever. Have you applied it? It's in that application side of things.

And I'm going to tell you across this area, if you would just do some of the stuff, I'm hoping to get some more of you that'll come up and share some of the things you've applied across the last seasons, Matt, man, you will be so glad that you did. Not in the immediate. Because in the immediate, it's going to require some discipline.

It's going to I don't really want to do that. Yeah, there are times, this is going to sound amazing. You will not believe this either. There are times when I just don't want to do devotions. I just don't want to do it. I do not want to do that. And I just say hmm, I'm not talking to you today. And he goes, fine, I had something good to say to you.

And I say, hmm, okay. All right, you win. But it's that kind of way. It's like, don't acknowledge it if it's there. Talk to the Lord about it. He knows. There are times it's like, oh, I don't want to do it. And sometimes it's, I don't want to do it because I know what he's going to say to me.

And if he says it to me, I'm going to have to do it. So I just, I'm too busy. Very busy, Lord. A lot of going on. You've seen how busy the junction is. I really don't have time today.

You've got time. We've all got time to do the things that we value. So this is going to be a great series. And that's where we're going to leave it right now. We're going to pause it here because your hearing must turn into application and into transformation and that is what we're going to pick up next week.

Let's pray together. Father, I just thank you for the way you lead us and guide us. I just love that people are open to share their lives and share where things are working and aren't working. Because we need to learn from each other. We need to learn. We need to see how you operate. And, and I'm so glad that there are people that will share the wisdom of things that they've done.

And there were ones that will share. This is where I really smashed the guardrail and made a huge mess, but God's faithfulness is helping me to rebuild. So out of this law, would you just remind us that this is not about the rules? This is about the relationship and the love boundaries that are coming out of that and could.

You just remind us now, don't look at other people and say, well, they do that and I can do that and I can, and this has not got to do with anybody else. But Lord, help us just to sit there and go, you know what Lord, in light, in light of my past experience, is this wise? Is this wise for me to be doing this in light of my past experience?

Or is it in my current circumstances, this is probably not wise. I probably need to be more wise here. Things ain't going so well in there, I just need to guard myself. Or in light of the dreams that God's put in your heart for the future, is it wise? Is it going to take you forward or is it going to take it back?

Lord, I am just so grateful. So grateful the way You lead us. You're so gentle with us and You're so loving and You're so kind and You just keep showing us the way and Asking us to just step in, step in, you step in, I'll meet you and I'll be there with you and I'll help you and we'll build this thing and you can have a house that will stand all the tests of time.

So Father, I pray that you would help all of our communicators across this series to be able to articulate that and to be able to get that there. This is not a legalistic thing, this is a life thing and understanding it's all connected and if it's connected well. Then that's when the blessing flows. So father, I just thank you and Lord now, as we just to spend a moment, just, just singing together and, or just reflecting and allowing you to speak to us, would you just talk to each and every one of us with whatever it is that you want to do and just tell us, that's what we need to do.

That's what we need to start, or that's what we need to stop. And we will be obedient to you. We thank you in Jesus name. Amen.