Latest / Rick Manis Ministries Podcast / Navigating the Current Crisis

Transcript

Navigating the Current Crisis · Rick Manis Ministries Podcast

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Hey guys, I wanted to come on and give you a quick word of encouragement and uh edification.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's obvious now that we're we're in a time that uh none of us certainly had uh planned uh at the beginning of this year, and we've had to make some changes and and uh uh or we've certainly seen changes.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh some people have uh lost jobs, some people don't know if they've lost their business.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh uh there's health questions, there's there there are all kinds of questions.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: There's government questions, economy questions, um, you know, all kinds.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: It goes on school for for for people.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: There's you know, it messed up graduations, it messed up uh job opportunities for me.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: There's so many things that um have gone awry because of this uh this big monkey wrench that got thrown into everybody's plans.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: Certainly we know that we're we're dealing with something like that we have never really dealt with before in our lifetimes.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: We're always going to remember this.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: And we found that, you know, um nobody planned for this.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: So our plans have changed, or maybe we don't even know what our plans are.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe we have no plans now, and and that could be right because we don't even really know what's going on that much from day to day, do we?
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: But I've got good news is that we are uh about another kingdom, and uh uh God has taken care of of all of this for us.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: You know, a lot of the times the uh the discomfort and even the worry sometimes that can come in a time like this was is because of the uncertainty of things, because um this is a kind of situation where it's hard for us to be in control, right?
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's hard for us to make any plans because it seems like the situation around us is changing from day to day and week to week, and we're we're not even sure how it's how it's changing.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: But um but um God has given us a life that makes us takes us into such a bigger place than us uh being in control of our situation or in control of our plans.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: He takes us into a place of free living, he takes us into a place where there's where there's not worry, where there's not uh fear of things.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: You know, um Jesus talked a lot about this when he would say things like, Don't worry about what you're gonna say in a certain situation, because the Holy Spirit will be there and he'll he'll he'll he'll tell you what to stay, he'll lead you, he'll guide you, he'll be there with you.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um He uh, you know, He when He when he was about to be betrayed and go to the cross, he said, You're all gonna lead me, but I will not be alone.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody will be with me the whole time.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: When I'm with Caiaphas, when I'm with Pilate, I won't have to worry now about what I'm gonna say.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody will be with me.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: And uh when I go to the cross, when I'm beaten, all these things that go on, he said, I will not be alone.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: And neither are you, neither am I.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the good thing about this is that somebody who's bigger than us knows everything.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um that that old that old that desire, that feeling of a need to be in control of things, it comes because, you know, we have a way that we we want our life to go.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll make plans and we'll set in some things a lot of times that that are going to give us that security and that uh a sense of peace about that, that we feel like we know where we're going, we've got a plan, we're working it.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: Well, now it's almost like everybody's plans have gone out the window.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but not God.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: And not who God is and not what God can do.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, Job was uh, well, let me say this.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: First of all, when mankind in the beginning, when we went that way of the knowledge of good and evil, that was our way of taking control of things.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: That was our way of embarking on our own plans and our own destiny.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: And God says, hey, I'm your life, choose me.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: I can do a much better job than your little control uh things can do.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: But uh, you know, we didn't know that at the time, and a lot of people still don't know that.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: But it's a it's a uh it's a real it's it's a real liberty when you can uh be taken out of that narrow place into the big place of God.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: You know, uh Job is a classic example of a controller.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: He was a good man.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: He was a good man, but he was afraid.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: And he was afraid of things that could go wrong.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: He was a wealthy man, a blessed man, had a beautiful family, but he was afraid of losing, afraid of losing his money, afraid of losing his health, afraid of losing his children.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so he was always trying to micromanage.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: He was he was always offering these preemptive sacrifices just in case any of them had done anything wrong and would let something bad into their lives and something horrible happened.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: So he was doing all these things to cover all of his bases to make sure that these things that he feared would never happen to him.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: Well, man can't can't control their life.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: They feel like they're like like they're in control, but in reality, we all have to we all have to be uh flexible, don't we?
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: We all have, what there's many of us, no matter how well our plans are, they they have changed, not just by the situation that we're in now, but in different things in life.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: And we've had to alter course, we've had to change things at times.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: So we're we're we we live a lot more elastically, we live a lot more, we do a lot more thinking on our feet than we than maybe we we think we would like to, but that's really the way to do it in the way that God has ordained for us, and it's not so so hard.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, it's pretty wonderful when we're living in the Spirit and have that confidence and that uh peace with God.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: But Job couldn't control his life, no matter how he tried.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why he said, the thing that I greatly feared has come upon me.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: It showed that he was afraid of his life, getting out of this plan that he had laid out for him.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: But in the end, God blesses him.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: And he begins to bless him by telling him, you know, Job, where were you?
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: Can you create the universe?
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: Can you do this?
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: Can you hold back the tides?
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Can you set the moon?
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: You know, where were you when I set the universe and I measured it in the span of my hand?
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: And what he was doing, he wasn't trying to intimidate Job.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: He was trying to show him, look how big I am, how I can take care of you.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'm enough for you.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'm more than enough.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: You're too small, Job, to be able to control the path of your life.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: Let me be your life, let me be your blessing.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: And in the end, when when Job saw that, he says, Oh wow, I didn't know what I was talking about.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: I had only heard of you by the hearing of my ears, but now I see you and I'm changed.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: And his latter end was blessed.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: Then he was blessed without the control, without the fear.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: He was blessed much more than he ever was when he was working his plan.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: But outside of ours, God's got his purposes for us.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: We know the well-known verse from Jeremiah that says, I know the thoughts that I have about you, thoughts of good and not of evil, to bring you to an expected end, to give you a hope and a future.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: You know, when Jesus in Luke 12 was talking about, don't worry about uh what you're gonna say here and there on earth, he's talking about being able to be flexible.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: We can do that knowing that we have the Spirit to help us, knowing that the Spirit's there to help us, and knowing that God cares.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 6, didn't he?
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: Don't worry.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: Don't worry about what you're gonna eat, what you're gonna wear, and so on.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: He says, for all these are the kinds of things that those who don't know God are, they're all about that.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: They're all seeking that.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: And when your life is all about that, then the uncertainty of certain times, um, that's when it gets when life can be hard internally.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: That's when there's worry and stress and fear that can come in.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: So Jesus kept directing us.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's why he said, So seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: Your father knows that you need these things.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: Just like with Job, God is saying, Look how big I am.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: Consider the birds of the air.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: They don't work, they don't sow, they don't reap.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: They don't have to work for this.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: God will take care of them.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: God loves them, and how much more does he love you?
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: Consider the flowers of the field.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: Look how beautiful they are.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: Don't worry about how you're going to be dressed or how you're gonna look good.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: God's got all of that for you, and so much more.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: You know, David said something that I really love one time.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: He says, You have set me in a large place.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: You know, our own path, our own control.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: One reason it gets so uncomfortable is because it's a very narrow, restrictive kind of a path that we lay out.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: We think it's got to go this way, and if it deviates from that, then everything's all messed up.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: But David said, You've put me in a large place.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, God's got a big place for me.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: So everything's not blown up just because it changes from this one particular path.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: God can bless here, God is good there.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: There is so much, there are so many options.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: There's a myriad of ways of God being good and blessing us.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why the word says that God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above anything that we could ask, think, or imagine.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: So we're just, you know, this is why it's hard.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: We make it hard because we're trusting in what we do to make our life go well.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: When God says, I've got so much bigger and better than anything you can imagine, anything you can plan, and certainly anything that you can control.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus also, uh, when he taught in Matthew chapter 6, he says, he says, So uh steep your life in God reality.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: This is from the from the message Bible.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: Don't be so preoccupied with what you need, what you're going to get.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: Don't be preoccupied with getting.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: Respond simply to God's giving.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: People who don't know God and the way he works, they're fussing over these things of life.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: But you know God and you know how he works.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: So steep your life in God reality, God initiative and God provision.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: Don't worry about missing out.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: You'll find that all of your everyday human concerns will be met.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: You know, when when this whole thing first started, you know, we should we haven't done any traveling in a couple of weeks.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: Most of our income has just disappeared when you look at it that way.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: But even there at the beginning, we just said, we'll be all right, you know.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: God, we're in a we're in a large place.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: God has all kinds of ways to do it.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: And uh so far here I am, and here are you, you know.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, what's tomorrow gonna bring?
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know, but God will be there, right?
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: God will be there with us.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: And finally, in Matthew chapter 11, um he describes beautifully in this translation um this life of elasticity, this life of letting God be God, this life of having our attention on God initiative, God provision, God's goodness, rather than on the things.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: And what that does is it gives us peace and joy within.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what it's really all about, right?
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: That way you can have heaven in any situation.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: Paul the Apostle learned this.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: This is why he would say, you know what?
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: Now, he says, he says, I've had a lot and I've had a little.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I've I've learned, he said, I have learned in all those situations to be happy in all of it.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's not tied into how can I make myself blessed here.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's all about the the the more excellent thing, he said, of knowing Jesus, my Lord.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: He's so good, isn't he?
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: And he loves you and he's with you.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I found that in in there have been certain times in my life where everything got blown up.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: And it was in that time when I found God's goodness the most.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: When I found God's blessing, God's protection, God's provision the most.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: He's truly been faithful every single time, and I can testify to that.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: God is just good.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: And the first goodness you'll experience is the goodness that that he brings to your heart, the peace that he brings, the joy.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: You know, if we as as long as we have to control the situation and the situation has to go the way that we want it to go, um, you're gonna come out of peace a whole lot because our peace is then tied to temporary things.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: That's why Jesus said, I'm gonna give you a peace, not like the world gives, because the world and takes it away, according to the variance of the situations.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: But Jesus said, I'm giving you a peace that goes beyond that natural understanding.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'm giving you a peace that you'll have every single day.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: In the world, there's trouble, there's tribulation.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: See, he doesn't take that away.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: He didn't take away the storm in the Sea of Galilee, except for the people when they when they demanded it because they were so afraid.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: So he he helped them, but he didn't need it for himself.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: He was going to the other side and he had peace, whether it was uh sunny or whether it was rainy.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: He had heaven within him.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: And he says in Matthew 11, he says, Come to me and get away with me, and you'll recover your life.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: Are you tired, worn out?
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: You'll recover your life.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: I'll show you how to take a real rest.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: Walk with me and work with me and watch how I do it.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: This is Jesus talking in Matthew 11, 28 through 30.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: Watch how I do it and learn the unforced rhythms of grace.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: This is the life that He came to give us.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: You know what?
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's futile.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: I cannot control all the situations anymore in my life.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: At this point in my life, I don't even want to.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: I like God initiative.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: I like God's life.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: And uh that way when whatever plans you do make, when they when they go awry, you can still feel good.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: You can still feel good because you know that you have abundance of life.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: Watch how I do it.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: Keep company with me, and you'll learn to live freely and lightly.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: Isn't that great?
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: Learn to live freely and lightly.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: When things are going well, business is booming, you're healthy, everybody's happy around you, you can learn to live freely and lightly.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: When things are the total opposite of that, as many times they are for many people, not just in this time that we're all going through something, but in life, you take this away that people here and there are going through something all the time.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: But in all those situations, you can learn to live freely and lightly.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: That's why Paul said, in all these things, whether it's nakedness, whether it's danger, whether it's the war, the sword, whatever, he says, nothing separates us from the love of God.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: And in all of these things, we are big.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: We're more than conquerors through him who loved us.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: The one who measured the universe with the span of his hand, the one who set the universe in motion and created all things.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: He says, I'm big enough.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: You can't control your situation.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: I'm big enough.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: Come to me and let me give you life.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: The good news is that you've got it.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm here to remind you of it and tell you, you know what?
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: There's a peace that's inside of you.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: There's a joy.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm praying for you right now, and I'm praying that the eyes of your understanding be opened in a way that's greater than it ever has before.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: That in this time you learn the joy of that peace with God, making you very big inside, very flexible.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: And you know what?
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: You've got opportunities, you've got all kinds of options.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: You're not on just this one little path of blessing.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: You've got all kinds of ways to enjoy life and to be blessed.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: Take advantage of this time and this situation and enjoy it.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I don't know how to stop any all the bad things in life from happening to you or to me, but I can tell you how to have heaven and earth in great times or in trying times.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: I can tell you that it's in him and we have him.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: I sure love you, I sure believe in you.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: Enjoy.