WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.040 Music. 00:00:05.032 --> 00:00:18.322 Welcome to the Rooted Life Change Podcast. My name is Luke and I believe that you can experience lasting life change for your good and for God's glory. 00:00:18.322 --> 00:00:24.262 We've been talking about making lasting life change and we've been in the early 00:00:24.262 --> 00:00:31.742 parts of that. Really we've been just wrestling with coming out of out of 00:00:31.742 --> 00:00:40.982 denial. In the last couple weeks we've been talking about dealing with and identifying our insanity. The fact that we keep doing the same thing, expecting 00:00:40.982 --> 00:00:45.622 different results, that the way that we're behaving is leading us to a place 00:00:45.622 --> 00:00:50.782 where we don't want to go and we keep doing that for some reason even though 00:00:50.782 --> 00:00:57.902 all the signs say warning, danger, turn back. Have you, speaking of driving and 00:00:57.902 --> 00:01:03.051 signs. Have you ever ridden in a car with somebody who was not a good driver, right? 00:01:03.502 --> 00:01:09.262 If you've ridden in the car with someone who's not a good driver, you might be pumping those 00:01:09.262 --> 00:01:15.102 imaginary brakes that are on your side, on the passenger side, or you might be gripping the 00:01:15.102 --> 00:01:22.542 handles and holding on for dear life as people make turns. Well, it's like, you know, we've all 00:01:22.542 --> 00:01:26.542 kind of been there. We've all got someone in our life who we love dearly, but we just would never 00:01:26.542 --> 00:01:31.942 ride with them. The fact of the matter is is that the last several weeks the 00:01:31.942 --> 00:01:35.658 things we've been talking about is the fact that we need to come to terms with. 00:01:36.182 --> 00:01:42.382 The fact that we're the bad driver. That when we have control of our life we make 00:01:42.382 --> 00:01:47.730 bad decisions and they're ultimately leading us down dead ends and down into, 00:01:48.622 --> 00:01:50.592 a place where we don't want to go. 00:01:51.943 --> 00:01:57.308 We need to come to a place where we're willing to say, I'm not making the right decisions, 00:01:57.470 --> 00:02:03.772 things are not going the way they ought to be, and I've been in control, no one is responsible except for me. 00:02:04.888 --> 00:02:13.108 And we need to say, we need to give control over, not just let go of the wheel and let the wheel spin wildly, 00:02:13.404 --> 00:02:19.319 but to say, no, I need to get out of the driver's seat and I need to let someone else drive for a while. 00:02:19.445 --> 00:02:25.611 I know you're probably all thinking of the country song, Jesus Take the Wheel, maybe. 00:02:25.908 --> 00:02:30.950 And as cheesy as that might sound, that is what we're talking about, is saying, what 00:02:31.268 --> 00:02:39.259 do we need to do to turn our life over? Because we've been driving it, and we've not been driving very well. 00:02:39.468 --> 00:02:47.268 It's time somebody else gave us the directions. It's time somebody else made the decisions, because the decisions we've made have continued 00:02:47.268 --> 00:02:51.061 to lead us to a place we don't want to go. 00:02:51.160 --> 00:02:59.788 Jesus makes this invitation often to his disciples. He makes this invitation that sounds absolutely radical, 00:02:59.788 --> 00:03:04.780 but when you think about all the things we've been discussing here, it makes so much sense. 00:03:04.852 --> 00:03:10.608 Mark chapter 8, verses 34 through 37 say this. This is Jesus' words. 00:03:10.608 --> 00:03:15.788 He says, when he called a crowd to him along with his disciples, he says, whoever 00:03:15.788 --> 00:03:21.713 wants to be my disciple, whoever wants to follow after me, must deny themselves and 00:03:21.908 --> 00:03:29.986 take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it. But. 00:03:30.908 --> 00:03:37.748 Whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone 00:03:37.748 --> 00:03:43.988 to gain the whole world yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul. 00:03:45.020 --> 00:03:52.790 Jesus is saying, look, you try and save your life, you try and maintain control, say, I'm 00:03:52.790 --> 00:03:57.510 going to live life to the fullest the way I want to live it, you at the end of your 00:03:57.510 --> 00:03:59.091 life are going to lose it. 00:03:59.950 --> 00:04:06.833 But if you now say, I'm willing to turn my life over, I'm willing to metaphorically or, 00:04:07.346 --> 00:04:13.550 spiritually die to myself, I'm willing to follow after Christ and live life not for 00:04:13.550 --> 00:04:21.866 myself, but for something else, for someone else, namely Jesus, then you will find your life. 00:04:22.730 --> 00:04:25.908 Put it this way in some of the terms that we've been talking about. 00:04:26.990 --> 00:04:33.510 What good does it do us to be in control of our lives if that just ultimately leads us 00:04:33.510 --> 00:04:39.110 into a head-on collision because of our own insanity? 00:04:39.110 --> 00:04:46.630 What good does it do you or me if I have control or you have control over your life if you're 00:04:46.630 --> 00:04:49.990 just going to end up in a place you don't want to go? 00:04:50.470 --> 00:04:54.428 You're going to end up in a destination that you don't desire to be. 00:04:55.190 --> 00:05:00.189 That's not worth it. That's not worth maintaining control. That's not worth it. 00:05:00.486 --> 00:05:03.376 The end does not justify the means. 00:05:04.770 --> 00:05:09.890 And so Christ is inviting us here in that passage to say, let go of your life. 00:05:09.890 --> 00:05:14.548 Stop trying to maintain control. Stop white-knuckling onto that wheel. 00:05:14.850 --> 00:05:15.394 Let go. 00:05:16.050 --> 00:05:25.530 Let me take over, because it'll be better. What good is it if you maintain control and stay in the driver's seat of your life, if 00:05:25.530 --> 00:05:29.130 you're just driving off of a cliff, right? 00:05:29.582 --> 00:05:35.050 Let Jesus take over, and let's see if that takes you to a place you would rather go. 00:05:36.630 --> 00:05:44.795 But, that's not an easy thing to say, or do. It's easier to say than it is to do, for sure. 00:05:45.483 --> 00:05:54.403 But how do we actually start to do that? Are we willing to live life the way that Jesus calls us to live life? 00:05:54.403 --> 00:06:00.504 That's no easy thing. But if we already know what it looks like living the way that we want to. 00:06:00.621 --> 00:06:07.040 Jesus tells this parable in Matthew chapter 7 verses 24 through 27. He says this, he says, 00:06:07.103 --> 00:06:11.403 Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like 00:06:11.403 --> 00:06:18.843 a wise man who has built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, 00:06:18.843 --> 00:06:24.666 and the winds blew and beat against that house, yet it did not fall because it had its foundation 00:06:24.900 --> 00:06:30.503 on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice 00:06:30.671 --> 00:06:38.303 is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down and the streams 00:06:38.303 --> 00:06:46.363 rose and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell with a great crash." Jesus 00:06:46.363 --> 00:06:51.983 is saying it's not just enough to hear the teachings of mine, it's not just enough to 00:06:51.983 --> 00:06:59.136 know what the right thing is, you need to actually begin to put them into practice. 00:06:59.303 --> 00:07:05.923 We need to say, no, I'm going to build my life on a sure and sturdy foundation, rather 00:07:05.923 --> 00:07:07.382 than just doing it myself. 00:07:07.663 --> 00:07:12.563 What I seems right to me in this moment, when we do that, we're building ourselves a foundation 00:07:12.563 --> 00:07:17.690 of sand that will be so easily washed away with the tide. 00:07:18.503 --> 00:07:24.663 Jesus in this passage is calling people to follow His teachings, but not just lip service. 00:07:24.663 --> 00:07:29.343 He's calling them to truly follow after Him. 00:07:29.343 --> 00:07:35.820 People thrive when their lives are oriented around and towards greater things than themselves 00:07:35.955 --> 00:07:39.241 or their own wisdom. This is so true. 00:07:39.503 --> 00:07:46.227 If you want to find someone who's miserable, just find someone who's trying to live life all for themselves. 00:07:47.623 --> 00:07:52.183 They're going to be miserable because they're never going to be truly happy. 00:07:52.183 --> 00:07:57.282 There will always be something to be upset about that is not going well. 00:07:57.703 --> 00:08:03.303 But when we live our lives for something more than ourselves, namely for Christ and for 00:08:03.303 --> 00:08:04.835 for the kingdom of God. 00:08:04.943 --> 00:08:05.825 We're gonna find that. 00:08:06.959 --> 00:08:15.844 We experience way more joy. Not more peace, or maybe, not should I say, not more lack of suffering, 00:08:16.349 --> 00:08:21.165 but we would experience more peace and more serenity in the midst of our circumstances. 00:08:21.615 --> 00:08:28.249 The thing is, is that in that parable, both houses experienced a massive storm. It wasn't that the 00:08:28.249 --> 00:08:33.609 one that was putting Jesus' teachings into practice didn't have a storm. It's that they 00:08:33.609 --> 00:08:40.489 weathered the storm differently. And that's what we're coming to find, is that if we follow after 00:08:40.489 --> 00:08:44.649 Jesus, we're going to weather storms differently. There's going to be something different. 00:08:45.849 --> 00:08:51.609 And turning things over to Jesus is, I like to put it this way, it's a one-time commitment 00:08:51.727 --> 00:08:58.809 and a lifelong endeavor. It's not just something I say or do once, it's something I do once and 00:08:58.809 --> 00:09:02.729 and I continue to do each and every single day. 00:09:02.729 --> 00:09:08.661 I often need to turn my life over to Jesus over and over again. 00:09:09.969 --> 00:09:14.665 One of my favorite Bible passages is Psalm 84, verse five. 00:09:16.569 --> 00:09:24.856 And it says this, "'Blessed are those whose strength is in you "'and whose hearts are the roads to Zion.'", 00:09:25.585 --> 00:09:32.049 Or another way, another translation is, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. Let me break this down for you. 00:09:33.930 --> 00:09:37.569 Well, I'll break it down for you first by giving you an analogy. 00:09:39.836 --> 00:09:47.489 I used to, I've worked a number of different jobs and there, I used to work one job. I worked as a, 00:09:48.209 --> 00:09:54.369 grocery clerk. I worked at a grocery store. And I got used to going to work. Every time I went 00:09:54.369 --> 00:10:00.145 from work, I would get in my car, I would pull out of my driveway, and I would take a right. 00:10:00.604 --> 00:10:05.569 I'd go, this is the way to work. I'd drive and I'd make my way to work. Well, I stopped working 00:10:05.569 --> 00:10:11.089 at the grocery clerk and I did some work, some other jobs, and I started working for a general 00:10:11.089 --> 00:10:17.329 contractor for a while. And when I needed to go to work the next day, I was no longer working at 00:10:17.329 --> 00:10:22.449 the grocery store, I was working for a general contractor. I needed to drive out of my driveway, 00:10:22.449 --> 00:10:27.649 I needed to make a left. But wouldn't you know, when I turned out of my driveway, I didn't make 00:10:27.649 --> 00:10:32.849 a left, I made a right because in my head I was going to work. I got partway to work and I was 00:10:32.849 --> 00:10:40.289 like, wait, I'm driving to the wrong place. I was in my place of habit, my place of familiarity. 00:10:40.289 --> 00:10:44.049 I had just gone on autopilot and did the thing I had always done. 00:10:44.994 --> 00:10:52.304 This passage talks about, Blessed are those whose strength is in you, and in whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. 00:10:52.367 --> 00:10:57.786 Or the translation I like is, whose hearts contain the roads to Zion. 00:10:58.479 --> 00:11:10.344 I like to think of that idea of roads being in our hearts. Of us having roads that we travel down on a routine, continual, we get kind of habitual way. 00:11:10.668 --> 00:11:17.504 We have our routes, our routines, the ways we always drive when things happen. 00:11:17.762 --> 00:11:23.533 And God is saying, blessed are those whose hearts have roads in them that lead to me, 00:11:24.104 --> 00:11:26.584 that lead to where I am. 00:11:26.999 --> 00:11:32.688 And following after Jesus is inviting some major road construction in our heart. 00:11:32.864 --> 00:11:37.639 It's saying, Lord, pave over some roads that I need to no longer drive down. 00:11:37.864 --> 00:11:43.164 Help me build some new roads that lead to new places, that lead towards you, that lead 00:11:43.164 --> 00:11:48.235 towards life and not towards dead ends, not to places I don't want to go. 00:11:49.144 --> 00:11:53.244 Right? And that's the invitation of saying, Jesus, I want to follow after you. 00:11:53.244 --> 00:11:59.164 I want to begin to pave new roads in my heart that chase after you, after what you've called 00:11:59.164 --> 00:12:05.294 me towards, and not chasing after my own self, my own comfort, or avoiding the things I want 00:12:05.681 --> 00:12:05.933 to avoid. 00:12:06.924 --> 00:12:13.644 So how do we do this? How do we begin to invite Jesus in and say, Jesus, take over the wheel. 00:12:13.644 --> 00:12:19.023 Jesus, I want to have new roads paved in my heart. How do we begin to do this? 00:12:19.671 --> 00:12:23.965 Well, the very first thing we need to do is we begin to trust. 00:12:24.404 --> 00:12:30.884 We begin to turn things over to Jesus by trusting Jesus, trusting that God cares for you and 00:12:30.884 --> 00:12:33.579 that He wants an ongoing relationship with you. 00:12:33.724 --> 00:12:40.259 You do this by believing that God cares for you and that He wants to be involved in your daily life. 00:12:40.364 --> 00:12:46.964 Matthew 11, verses 28-29 say this invitation from Jesus. He says, 00:12:46.964 --> 00:12:51.458 Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened. 00:12:52.223 --> 00:12:54.843 I will give you rest. 00:12:57.111 --> 00:13:06.081 Take my yoke up and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find 00:13:06.081 --> 00:13:08.281 rest for your souls." 00:13:08.391 --> 00:13:14.041 I don't know about you, but that's a verse I need to hear every once in a while. 00:13:14.041 --> 00:13:16.736 Come to Jesus. He will give you rest. 00:13:17.361 --> 00:13:25.321 Take up His burden. His burden is way lighter than the burden you've been carrying. It's way better. 00:13:25.321 --> 00:13:32.201 Find Jesus to be gentle and humble in heart, that He will give you rest for your souls. 00:13:32.201 --> 00:13:40.196 Trust that when Jesus said those words, He meant them for you, that He truly wants to. 00:13:40.321 --> 00:13:45.721 You need to understand and encounter the grace of the gospel. 00:13:45.721 --> 00:13:51.341 The following passages that I'm going to share here from the Bible are just so simple and 00:13:51.681 --> 00:13:53.015 so deep at the same time. 00:13:53.141 --> 00:13:59.632 They communicate the depth of the gospel, the fact that Jesus has borne our sins away, 00:14:00.298 --> 00:14:07.601 that all of the mistakes you and I have made, the insanity we have turned our life into, Christ has redeemed. 00:14:07.601 --> 00:14:10.795 He took to the cross and He died for. 00:14:11.981 --> 00:14:14.513 This is from 1 Peter 2. 00:14:15.827 --> 00:14:21.192 He, talking about Jesus, committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth. 00:14:21.361 --> 00:14:24.271 When they hurled insults at Him, He did not retaliate. 00:14:25.941 --> 00:14:31.563 When He suffered, He made no threats. Instead, He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly. 00:14:31.741 --> 00:14:40.151 He bore our sins in His body on the cross so that we might die to sins and live to righteousness. 00:14:40.341 --> 00:14:47.381 By His wounds, you have been healed, for you were like sheep going astray, but now you 00:14:47.381 --> 00:14:52.861 you have returned to the Shepherd, the overseer of your souls." We've all gone astray. 00:14:52.861 --> 00:14:58.498 We've all gone down paths that lead to insanity, that lead to places we don't want to go. 00:14:59.301 --> 00:15:03.188 But now we're being invited to know the shepherd who keeps watch over our soul. 00:15:04.457 --> 00:15:10.687 Ephesians chapter 2 says this, as for you, you were once dead in your transgressions and sins. 00:15:10.732 --> 00:15:13.627 The things that we had done wrong, the wrong things done to us, 00:15:13.627 --> 00:15:16.754 we were once dead in them. There was nothing we could do about them. 00:15:16.862 --> 00:15:20.947 In which we used to live in them, and when you followed the ways of this world 00:15:20.947 --> 00:15:25.187 and the ruler of the kingdom of air and the spirit who is now at work and those disobedient. 00:15:25.187 --> 00:15:31.827 When we were following, after Satan, when we were continuing to choose from the eat, 00:15:31.827 --> 00:15:37.505 from the tree of knowledge and good and evil, we were continuing to make a choice to be disobedient, 00:15:38.468 --> 00:15:41.106 we were living dead in our transgressions. 00:15:41.538 --> 00:15:46.787 And all of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of the flesh 00:15:47.002 --> 00:15:48.478 and following its desires and thoughts. 00:15:49.586 --> 00:15:54.771 Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath, but because of His great love for us, 00:15:55.227 --> 00:16:01.802 God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive to Christ even when we were dead in transgressions. 00:16:02.288 --> 00:16:06.147 It is by grace you have been saved, and God raised us up with Christ 00:16:06.147 --> 00:16:08.747 and seated us with him in the heavenly realms 00:16:08.747 --> 00:16:15.787 in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages we might, he might show the incomparable riches 00:16:15.787 --> 00:16:20.040 of his graces expressed in kindness in Christ Jesus. 00:16:20.184 --> 00:16:22.975 For it is by grace you have been saved through faith. 00:16:23.547 --> 00:16:29.754 And this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast, 00:16:29.827 --> 00:16:36.244 For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus do good works God prepared in advance for us to do. 00:16:37.433 --> 00:16:44.123 Christ redeemed you and I out of sin, out of the circumstances we found ourselves in. 00:16:44.123 --> 00:16:54.843 We didn't claw ourselves up or get ourselves put together well enough for Jesus to accept us. No, while we were still messed up, Jesus died for our sins, 00:16:54.843 --> 00:17:01.109 and he loved us while we were still in our sins. That's the thing, is that you, 00:17:01.683 --> 00:17:06.803 don't need to earn the love of God, you just need to accept it. You just need to 00:17:06.803 --> 00:17:12.397 say, I'm willing to accept the grace that Christ has for me and follow after Him. 00:17:12.603 --> 00:17:16.800 And so we come to a place of needing to confess and turn to God. 00:17:17.343 --> 00:17:22.552 That's what that fancy word you may have heard in churches called repentance. 00:17:22.984 --> 00:17:25.280 That fancy word simply means turning. 00:17:25.643 --> 00:17:31.123 It's to make an about face, to say, you know what? The way I'm going is not where I want to go. 00:17:31.123 --> 00:17:33.121 I need to turn around. 00:17:33.443 --> 00:17:34.417 Let me turn around. 00:17:34.823 --> 00:17:44.265 Let me turn over the wheel to Jesus. Let me let Him be the director of my soul and my life.". 00:17:45.183 --> 00:17:49.183 It's simply saying, yeah, I agree with God's assessment of myself. 00:17:49.183 --> 00:17:57.436 I've lived a life of insanity. I've been living in sin and brokenness, and my way only leads to destruction. 00:17:57.544 --> 00:18:02.909 Lord, I accept Your grace and forgiveness. I want to follow after You. 00:18:03.503 --> 00:18:09.543 And that is the beginning of a journey that's going to take you a lifetime, a one-time decision 00:18:09.634 --> 00:18:12.010 that we make over and over again. 00:18:13.046 --> 00:18:22.736 Now, none of this happens all at once. Sometimes we get so just crushed underneath the weight of my life isn't the way it's supposed 00:18:22.736 --> 00:18:23.736 to be. 00:18:23.911 --> 00:18:25.334 I'm stuck in an addiction. 00:18:25.811 --> 00:18:31.896 I've got hurt, healing, hurt or a trauma that just feels so big that I can't handle. 00:18:32.023 --> 00:18:35.245 I'm stuck in cycles that I can't seem to break. 00:18:35.380 --> 00:18:40.719 I can't seem to make change in my life where I desperately need to see change. 00:18:40.896 --> 00:18:45.296 We get so stuck in that place where we feel like, I've got to get there. 00:18:45.296 --> 00:18:47.704 I know where I'm supposed to be, and that's not where I'm at. 00:18:48.236 --> 00:18:50.342 And we feel crushed because we're not there yet. 00:18:51.216 --> 00:18:59.416 Let me tell you that you've got to take it easy. That God is not up there saying, I can't believe you haven't figured it out yet. 00:18:59.579 --> 00:19:03.630 Oh, I can't believe you just aren't putting yourself together in a day. 00:19:04.176 --> 00:19:09.211 That's not God. God knows what you're capable of. Remember that passage I read? 00:19:09.589 --> 00:19:13.172 Jesus said, come to me, I will give you rest. 00:19:14.243 --> 00:19:22.216 That's a God who knows what you're capable of. So maybe don't crush yourself underneath the expectations 00:19:22.216 --> 00:19:24.821 you feel like you need to be meeting. 00:19:24.911 --> 00:19:31.609 But just simply say, does God have enough grace for me to do the next right thing? 00:19:32.599 --> 00:19:41.340 What can I do today? What can I do tomorrow to take one small baby step in the direction of where I need to go? 00:19:42.696 --> 00:19:49.730 God will provide you the strength and the resources to do that thing. I guarantee it. 00:19:51.056 --> 00:19:57.166 God is not up there to judge and wag his finger at you. He's inviting you to come to know him 00:19:57.274 --> 00:20:01.388 and to begin to experience new life in him. 00:20:01.456 --> 00:20:03.536 I'd encourage you this week to. 00:20:05.151 --> 00:20:12.921 Wrestle with the things that I shared today to perhaps say, are there things in my life that I've not wanted to turn over to Jesus? 00:20:12.921 --> 00:20:15.401 Maybe I don't want to turn my life over to Jesus at all. 00:20:16.197 --> 00:20:23.001 Why not? What is the holdout for you? Or maybe you've turned your life over to Jesus, 00:20:23.001 --> 00:20:27.855 but there's parts of it you've not wanted to turn over. What are those things, 00:20:28.035 --> 00:20:33.161 and why don't you want to turn those over? Pray with Jesus about those things. Say, 00:20:33.161 --> 00:20:37.613 These are the things that I know I ought to turn over. I don't want to for some reason. 00:20:37.694 --> 00:20:42.853 Talk to God about it. See what shifts in your heart and mind as you wrestle with that over 00:20:43.081 --> 00:20:49.721 this coming week. Thank you for tuning in today, for listening and participating in the conversation. 00:20:49.721 --> 00:20:55.241 I hope this has been helpful for you. Always feel free to leave comments or to email me at 00:20:55.241 --> 00:21:01.532 luke at conduit ministries dot com. I'd love to engage in the conversation with you more directly. 00:21:02.693 --> 00:21:10.742 I hope that this finds you well and that you are able to take one more step closer to Jesus, 00:21:11.885 --> 00:21:13.253 after listening today. 00:21:13.680 --> 00:21:26.420 Music.