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so I had some thoughts about the difficulties of making large changes in your life as a as a man as a husband and as a father as you go through life hopefully there will be an increasing number of people that rely on you and uh that's a net blessing for sure it carries with it many consequences and costs one of the difficulties that arise is learning how to handle the need that you you will have to continue to grow as these people rely upon you and I I hope that I can share some spur the- moment thoughts on this that you find helpful but let's start with the end from the beginning the Lord Jesus Christ is the only sure Foundation he's the rock he's known as The Rock in the scriptures and it's the only foundation we can build on that is assured now the Lord's Assurance it works in it's like they say the Lord works in mysterious ways the the confidence and security that comes from building your house on the rock it's interesting because it doesn't tend to look like the world's security the world's security is freedom from challenge that's how the world defines security they say well I I want all challenges to be forever taken away from me but the Lord's security is found in overcoming and so foundationally pun intended the Lord as The Rock what the security he offers in in being the rock is a process it's a process of growth now that process coupled with the fact that we live in a world that at present is not governed through Justice his Justice those those two properties in conjunction can make it seem at times powerfully so in fact that maybe his path is not so secure but what we have to understand is that the Lord is optimized over all time scales and all situations and maybe that sounds like wordy mumbo jumbo so let me try to break it down if you want to do the best thing there are two things that you have to Define really three um I'm breaking into Old Testament verse uh for optimization there are two things yay three um so the the three things are you need to Define your time frame you have to Define what best means and you have to set the constraints now if you read the scriptures carefully you'll find that the answer to these questions what is good what is the time frame over which good must be evaluated and what are the constraints those are answered abundantly over and over again and I I won't do that in this video I won't share those answers with you um mostly because sometimes sometimes it glorifies God or helps us to see more of his goodness by making things abundantly simple in a non-lossy way making things clear and easy to understand without taking away their value but at other times it can be detrimental because it encourages people to see things for less valuable than they are and this is a a big puzzle it's a challenge when people ask you questions that you know the answer to and you have to choose between answering them across three 500 page books containing information no one has ever known or uh break it down to one sentence and tuck it into a video that uh where there's not even a real strong association between that sentence and the title of the video say and so as you as the Lord teaches you more and more you'll have to navigate that anyway so what seems to be a shaky Foundation sometimes because you say wow my whole life you know I just got swallowed by a whale now Jonah wasn't doing the right thing but you get the point sometimes you can feel like you're in the belly of a whale even when you're doing the exact right thing I mean Peter asked the Lord to walk on water he steps out of the boat he starts sinking um shortly thereafter now those neither of those are great examples so let's go with job because he was in fact doing what the Lord wanted him to do and then all of a sudden he found himself in immense pain under complete betrayal by the countless scores of people he had helped um unfailingly throughout his life and the death of many people he loved very much as well as the loss of all his material wealth which he had righteously ACR so how do you know when the waves come if you're on the sure Foundation because the waves will come that's actually oddly enough so in the world's view we take it as evidence that you're not on the Sur Foundation uh not that the world has a definition for that but let's call it secure enough they would say well if things are bumpy bumpy is what my kids always used to say uh if things are bumpy then maybe that's evidence that you've got something wrong but actually while bumpiness does not imply that you're on the right path if your life isn't bumpy you're not on the right path that's a funny thing but it's true true there are scriptures affirming this um that we will face afflictions if we live a life of discipleship to the extent that we emulate Christ in our own lives we will face trials like the ones he faced and like the ones that all righteous people have faced throughout history including job so how can you know when you're in the waves that your feet are still on the rock this question becomes even more important as you whether you're you're a man or a woman uh as you grow into the potential that God has given you more and more people will rely on you even if they don't know it they will depend on many things that you are and do and don't do those become very important as well people can derive great strength from knowing that there are things that you will not do so as you as people become more and more dependent on you um they are going to have a harder and harder time when you shift around and what do I mean by this well if you're standing in the surf and those waves are blasting you it's really hard to stand still in fact I remember one surf that I was standing in once where the waves were so strong that I I was laughing uh I could not stay on my feet it would just knock me on my butt every time and it didn't matter how hard I tried that it was not possible to stand and and endure that so um as you shift around and and this might be changing it it it I just gave an example to make it sound like the only shifts come from you shifting under the weight of the load that was a bad example to use what what I mean is you growing under the load not groaning but growing under the load what's that about well we read in Hebrews that Jesus learned obedience through the things he suffered and I'm not going to launch into a a solid explanation of this or defense of this but the fact is that Jesus grew over the course of his life he learned more and not only did what he know knew change but what he valued changed and by how much and that's an example that we need to follow and so as you learn to Value different things and as you learn different things your beliefs are going to change your actions are going to change your desires are going to change and this could could cause the people who lean on you to feel unstable to feel like they have less security and this is going to be a big deal especially if those people that lean on you are female um men and women tend to find different value in different things and women tend to Value security very highly uh much more than men so they tend to be more sensitive to this and so um what can you do we we'll come back to the question of how do you know that you're on the Rock and then we'll also address this question of um I just want to see if that was Jared eastley flying over I don't think so um we also want to address the question of um of how you know you're on the Rock and also how do you help those who rely on you to not lose their sense of security when what you believe what you want what you do all that changes based on your growth and that is actually the answer to the first question how do you know that you're on the road rock you will grow at the end of job's trial it said that he is better off than he was in the beginning as you're measuring growth you have to be holistic um the Lord made it easy for job because he could count his camels and his gold and whatever else he had in material wealth and he in fact had more than he had when he began he also had uh accountable kids and he could assess the quality of that second set of children and it's not that he loved them more per se although I believe he did because as some of our friends who have lost children could tell us um can you really ever know what you have before you lose it what it's what it's worth and I believe that job not only loved the second set of children more but he loved his first set more uh because he had lost them because that happens and we're so quick to rob God when we're accounting the joy that he has placed in our lives or at least the seeds of Joy if we would just listen and submit to him even even even when simply discussing the need to submit to his value what how he appraises value not necessarily in what he has given us but how we see what he has given us learning to see it as he does desire it as he does it's interesting and on point that one of the main reasons for creation is to teach us more about that value um you see a few trees behind me here in my yard in a very Green Lawn and none of that was here 10 years ago when we moved here if you just bought a house that already had those things or you lived in a place where those were were common you probably wouldn't appreciate them as as much as me uh I dug those holes in very rocky soil I did all the research and experienced all the failures trying to find trees that would grow well here we have spent a lot of time hauling out hoses mending hoses planting seed prepping ground fertilizing all these other things to get a lawn established here in a place where it's not very natural and um every single time I walk out here it's like hearing a choir of angels singing praises to God because he gives us such um a gift in in what he allows us to do to beautify Our Lives even in a simple way like growing a lawn in a couple of shade trees so I try to get out here uh a few minutes every day at least and maybe for a minute or two a couple of times a day because in spite of the yellow jackets which hopefully won't sting me I'm going to move in spite of the yellow jackets um it recharges me it's like Superman flying through the clouds up to the sun anyway back to foundations so that's how we can know that our foundations are good is if we grow we grow in strength we grow in knowledge we grow grow in wisdom those are different we grow in righteousness or similitude to God we grow in familiarity with God we grow in the assistance that we are able and willing to give to others all these things and more are signs that you're on the Rock and they're the best signs because I should out of uh diligence here make sure that I include in that list our willingness to suffer for the benefit of others that is Chief among all of them because Lawns grow and Lawns fade away but our likeness to the Lord that can endure forever we talk about the longest time frames and how we want to optimize over those that is what matters most in eternity you could say it's the only thing that matters all right now we get to the the goodies how do you help other people to be more comfort able with your changes it's a tough thing because as we grow closer to God we have to learn to feel secure in change we have to learn to feel secure in uncertainty and we have to become better at making decisions under uncertainty so how you can help them is by being honest it turns out it turns out people that derive their security from unreliable sources and I should say unreliable properties in this case in you they tend to build their house not on the Rock but on a perception of of Dess of finality and it is artificial if God himself progresses and he does not under our scope but he does if God himself progresses and the security of your loved ones depends upon your unchanging unchangeability I'm not sure what the conjugation of the word there is that's a big problem there's a disconnect there's a disconnect there and so just as our Reliance upon God has to be denominated in things that are unchanging in our scope their security in you has to be denominated in things that are unchanging here and unfortunately the world picks the wrong things the world picks things like your income the world picks things like your living situation the world picks things like what religion you subscribe to what church you go to these are not good things to pick the kind of person that will always feel secure with you no matter how much you improve is a kind of person that finds Security in your character your consistency in doing the right thing your attract uh attractiveness to Yellow Jackets uh no but do you see what I'm saying let me ask you a question of the people closest to you in life how many would tell someone else honestly not lying how many would say you know this person you uh let's say your name's Tom Sawyer you know Tom Sawyer is the most reliable person I know you know Tom Sawyer he never does anything without thinking about what's best for other people see that one's so rare that it sounds ridiculous to say but it is possible Jesus is like that and maybe that's a a point we should just make explicitly if your security in Jesus is based on things you think you have you're not actually secure in him you know so many Christians Millions more than a billion Christians would say I'm saved therefore I'm never going to encounter something that's more that I can handle they're all going to be bitterly disappointed the best thing that could happen to them is death because the things that are going to happen to them if they don't die first will absolutely overwhelm them how much different is that from someone who says I'm secure because I know how Jesus is there's nothing he will do except what's best for the whole world he never thinks of himself there's no limit to how much he's willing to suffer for me and for you and everyone else there's no limit the only limit is what's best for everybody it has nothing to do with his well-being he's completely selfless and he happens to know everything and we could go on and on right so as you actually become like Jesus and it's not just some dress up act where you say well I go to church every Sunday therefore I'm a good person and I I keep the list of things that my church tells me I have to do and I don't do the things that my church tells me I can't do as so everything else is free reign and I'm a good person no how similar are you to Jesus and if you're the kind of person that throws up your hands and says well nobody's perfect and yeah I'm a sinner I'm a proud Sinner and Jesus is that good that I can be a sinner and he imputes his righteousness to me you have no idea what you're talking about and you cause the Lord tremendous pain in saying such stupid things that negate what he has done for us and is doing for us now maybe you watch this and it it actually has the opposite of the intended effect because you say you know but I know I'm not a lot like the Lord and I find this discouraging because how can I help my family when I'm so far away from what I need to be Jesus said learn of me because I am meek and lowly of heart he didn't mean I am a mushy beta male that is a pushover and any little thing in the world knocks me over and I'm totally fine with sharing my feelings about that he meant by mink he meant he was fully submitted to the father fully he had erased himself out of the picture everything he did was what the father would do in his place as far as he knew and the loneliness of heart is related because your heart is your desire to be lowly of heart means that you compress anything you want down way way lower till it's non-existent compared to what you believe the Lord wants in this case the father it doesn't matter if you're a spiritual giant or you you know can attach some title to yourself it doesn't matter it doesn't matter can you get out of the way and erase yourself out of the picture and be meek and lowly can you hear the voice of the Lord and say Lord I am nothing you are everything let's do this I've brought this up before so I apologize if it's old hat for you but faith is a source of power in all things and it's as true for the evil ones as it is for the righteous ones that's the mechanism by which Satan loses in the end his faith is taken from him because the evidence of those who choose to follow Jesus no matter what as it's spoken of in the Book of Revelation they follow the lamb wherever he goes it crushes and removes from him his ability to have faith and so he becomes powerless the same is true for all of his minions and one of these made the mistake of trying to mess with me some time ago and he said what are you doing why are you spending all this time why are you pouring out your soul into these things you know that you're nothing you know that this is so far beyond you you're not good enough to do these things you see how hard this is you can't think in this way you can't write these things and he didn't get too much further I said I know you doofus what do you think this is I am nothing I figured that out a long time ago Jesus is everything and he works in me to do his will he can use me for whatever he wants and so with your family with these people you care about who lean on you you have to show them the truth of what the Lord said when he say I'll make your weakness strength why because it's our weakness that convinces us that he is good it's our weakness that convinces us that whatever he wants us to do is better than whatever we would do if we didn't know any better it's our weakness that convinces us that we can't do it by ourselves and if you want to stand on the rock you can't stand on on a church I don't mean the Lord's Church like in the figurative sense of all those who devote themselves to me or my church I mean like a church that's on the city street a building a named organized religion you're not going to find your your rock in a church you're not going to find your rock in a Creed you're not going to find your rock and here's the answer to a question or a box that has all the answers to all the questions any box with sides can't be the answer because reality doesn't have sides it keeps going in the scriptures darkness is described or suffering more accurately as a bottomless pit there is no end if you want the answer to something to a problem that doesn't end you you need a solution that doesn't end and there's only one and his name is Jesus Christ he's real he's alive and if you knew him truly you'd understand that there's nothing that is possible in this life that could overwhelm him or overturn him or overcome him there's no power greater than him because there's no love greater than him greater than what he has so help the people who rely on you to see the real strength in life you don't do that by staying in the Box you do that by getting out of it you have to get out of the boat but unlike Peter you do also have to learn to walk on water but you can't learn until you leave the boat