Latest / The Extra Mile Podcast / #16 - Are You Choosing Comfort Over God's Calling? (with Pastor Ty Beckman)

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#16 - Are You Choosing Comfort Over God's Calling? (with Pastor Ty Beckman) · The Extra Mile Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: We want Christ, we want him to be willing to give us everything and us give him nothing.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_01: We want him to make the big sacrifice that he laid down his life, and we don't want to lay down ours.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I think just as much as we need Christ to die for us, he wants us to die for him.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, welcome everybody back to the extra mile.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: This is uh this is week four of a series.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: We've been in Gatbo got out of the box office, and so out of the gate, we invited Pastor Ty back four weeks, and here he is for week number four.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: Week number three.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: Week number three.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: We had to rego, maybe.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: Sorry.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: Do I have to give you another one?
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: I don't have to.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: It's been it's been a joke.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: That sounded so bad.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: I would I would it would be my highest honor to have you one more.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: One more.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: But uh, we had a conversation that was really interesting this past Sunday.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it's really an entirely biblical conversation.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_01: You see it from beginning to end, and it is this idea of comfort um that we are called away from comfort and we're called into um crucifying our flesh.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's that's a biblical term, but basically it's it's our calling and to do what God created us to do, to do what God's called us to do, it's gonna cost us something, and really what it's gonna cost us at the end of the day is our comfort.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I love to start this way.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: I this always fascinates me when I think about history.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: You know, if you go back um, you know, 150 years ago, think about the day of an average person 150 years ago, what they would have to do to a kid going to school, you know, uphill both ways for I've heard.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that was that way when I was in high school, and that wasn't 200 years, you know.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: But they would have to walk miles to school.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: Before they did that, they had to get up in the morning and milk cows.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, typically the man of the house was out, you know, to keep their house warm.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: They had to cut enough firewood for that day to eat, they had to go hunt their food that day.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, typically a wife was out farming that day and sewing their clothes.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: And you think about all of the things that the average person did 200 years ago to make a home and a family function.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: And now we have the convenience of if we want to go somewhere, we don't have to walk, we can ride, we can drive a car.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: You want to get a meal, you don't have to go hunt your meal, you don't have to, you know, you don't have to skin it in the woods, you can go drive through a drive-through McDonald's, run by publics and get something out of the hot case.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: Life has become so convenient.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like, here's the question is what are we doing with all this time that we've gained where we're not walking, hunting, preparing, and we've replaced it with just so much convenience.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's convenience and it's you know, entertaining ourselves.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's really a lot of wasted time.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: I think uh majority of our time that we we spend um by ourselves or within our home.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like there's some, you know, it's get we go from screen to screen, like from the you know, we're you know, I don't know if it is like this at your house.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I've been there, but I all I do is read the Bible at my house.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: That's all I do.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, you got the screen, you know, uh you got the screen in the T uh in the living room, you got the screen in the bedroom.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, now people, you know, I remember the first time I ever saw a TV, like in the kitchen, like there's one at the dining room table, but now there's one while, you know, you got to watch the cooking show while you're actually preparing dinner.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's like we're just entertaining ourselves.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, I think convenience and entertaining ourselves, like we're not we we don't really know that cost of actually going out and grinding.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: So you add on that, just as humanity, as culture has evolved into making things more convenient, which is a win.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: I'm glad I don't have to go hunt for my food.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: Here's where it breaks down, and here's where we need to engage in the extra mile is when you become a Christ follower, um, God calls us not to just continually make our life more convenient, but there is a call to sacrifice, there's a call to crucify our flesh, there's a call to lay things down.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what we talked about.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: And we used the uh the life of Abraham.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I just want to recap, you know, when God calls Abraham into this amazing role to be this man that God says, Hey, I'm gonna bless you, I'm gonna bring a nation out of you.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: And we know this ultimately, I'm gonna bring the Messiah out of you.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that cost him something.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody say, Hey, hey, I want to be an Abraham.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: God used me like that.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we want the uh we want the win without the sacrifice.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we want the win without the discipline.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: Well, this is what it took, Abraham says in Genesis chapter 12, verse 1, and and the Lord said to Abram, leave your native country, your relatives, and your father's family.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_01: And Sunday I said that's that was his place, like your identity, what makes you who you are is where you're from.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: And there's a lot of comfort in that, a lot of convenience.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, leave your leave your family, that's your people.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: For us, that's our friends, our family, our our close-knit circle, and then leave your father's house.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: That was his provision, like his inheritance, his all of that.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: And at the end of the day, what made Abraham so great was the next verse, and and and Abraham, and Abraham left.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: And there's just so few of us anymore, I think, that are willing to leave stuff behind to go walk into something really incredible and something really great.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: The cost is costly, but it's worth it.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: And so I'm just curious, what was maybe something that resonated out of the gate from you?
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, I I think uh as I stepped into being an actual Christ follower, church was totally different.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I was going to church for a different reason.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but whenever I I quit just going to church to see what church could do kind of for me, because I I came in, I I love the worship.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: Whenever I first got saved, like I finally was worshiping God as spirit and truth.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: So I was like, man, I love getting to church.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: But if you really tune your ear to what pastors and I whenever I got saved, I wasn't attending Faith Church.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it was uh another church blonde code that um we got friends at.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: And whenever I was attending there, it moved.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: And if you, you know, all the people that's listened to Extra Mile Podcasts, hopefully they have heard this.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: They've been around Faith Church enough.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: If you open your ears on a Sunday morning, you're gonna hear that Christianity is not about you sitting in that seat.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: Your your wall call as a Christ follower is to be a servant within the walls, be a servant without the walls.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Like you are, you're you're fighting, you are uh you're wrestling towards being someone that is a kingdom builder.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: You're be you're building God's kingdom, you're you know, you're getting the word out, spreading the gospel.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: That is kind of um one of the things that you're aiming for.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so uh this past Sunday, as you're talking about getting outside the reef, I remember that one of those central Sunday morning moments whenever I was like, wait, me worshiping God is not the end-all be-all.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: It is me being mobilized as a Christ follower, and that's gonna cost me some things.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember even going to the church I was at, uh, and especially whenever you start serving in any capacity and volunteering, um, like there's gonna be people who's like raising an eyebrow, like, are you are you serious?
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you're gonna give up your Sunday to serve.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: This is just counter to the convenience we've inoculated ourselves with Monday through Saturday because it's convenience, like whenever we get home, how you know, convenient food, um, convenience in terms of like not even sometimes engaging with your spouse.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's easier just to throw on the television.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so whenever you walk into a Sunday morning at faith church or any church, you listen to the pastor, and they're calling you to this uncomfortable Christianity where you might actually feel compelled to share your faith at a at a store.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: It might be at a convenient store, but you don't have to live in a convenient way.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: You can get uncomfortable in those moments.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: You can actually see where God can start to use you, where you're not just using God for what he can bless you with.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, you mentioned a Sunday morning and I think of um consumer Christianity.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we want people when the first time they come in faith church, we want it to be comfortable.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_01: We do want it to be convenient, we want them to have a great experience, but at some point, these are sayings we have here, we want you to get off the bench and get in the game.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: At some point, it can't about it can't be about you just being a consumer.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's got to be about you being a contributor.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: And so anybody listening to this podcast, they need to know that God created them for his glory.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: And his glory is honored as we walk in our gifts, as we fulfill the desires, not of our heart, but of the heart that God's given us.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so all the the mission and passion and destiny and purpose and all these cool words, but it's on the inside of all of us that God's given us.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: But here's what we find out is to really do that, you're gonna have to sacrifice some things, you're gonna have to pay some price.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_01: And that's where I think a lot of Christians struggle.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_01: I I know Christians, there are some Christians that are struggling with sin, but I don't think there's, I don't think every Christian is struggling with this big hidden sin.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: I think the sin that most Christians are struggling with is comfort.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: It's just, I want to do that, but we're just not willing to pay the price.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's too easy to sit in a chair than to get out of my chair and go serve kids or go serve in youth ministry or go help.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: And you mention it, not even the four walls of this church, but to get outside and live the gospel 247-365, maybe even God calling you, we're gonna talk about this in a few minutes.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe God even calling you to sacrifice your family, your country, and maybe God calling you to the mission field to fulfill the purpose and the call of God on your life, you got to get past your comfort zone.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's so good.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: If you think really break it down, you know, if you don't just look at the Bible for, man, that's a cool story, but you start saying, okay, where do I find myself in this story?
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, how does this challenge my day-to-day living?
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: And you look at stories like Moses, you look at stories like Abraham, like Moses is this guy that's riddled with insecurity.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: And whenever an opportunity comes his way to get outside the reef, hey, to get outside your father-in-law's field, you know, he he was bringing up the whole list of reasons why he's disqualified, why he he doesn't measure up to let my people go.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: Me, I got a you know, a stuttering problem.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, God is looking at all of us.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: We all have insufficiencies.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's really that Christ's strength is is shown in our weakness.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so I think it's so funny.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: All these people that were like, man, those people were in the hall of fame uh of the faith.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you got David, you've got, you know, in the New Testament, Matthew and Peter, these people that l legitimately got up from their occupation, leaving the tax collector's booth, leaving the nets behind.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: They leave it behind in a moment.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: Because of who called them.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: And the opportunity of a lifetime.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: So it seems radical.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that was the word that's used on Sunday morning.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: So many people are thrown off by this radical Christianity, like it may make beads of sweat start piling up on your forehead.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: You're like, ooh, that that is like that's ludicrous.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that's ridiculous that they they would call me that.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: But then if we look at the life of Christ, it was radical.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: He went against the grain.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: And if we're really gonna be followers of Jesus, we got to follow him in the difficult, not just in the comfort.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: So you mentioned some of the names that I talked about Sunday, you know, Elisha and many of the uh the apostles, they left their lives behind.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: And um, so they got outside of their comfort zone.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: They they stepped on the other side of their safe space, and but they made a kingdom difference.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: And here we are talking about these guys.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: We know them by name.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: If they stayed fishermen, we wouldn't know them.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: If Elisha stayed a plowboy in the field, we wouldn't know them.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: If Matthew stayed a collects tax collector, we wouldn't know them.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: But it's because they got uncomfortable and did the call that God had on their life that here we are talking about them.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, um, to leave your family behind.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: Again, that seems so radical.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: But again, it's said of it's said of Abraham that his, that his family, they were idolaters.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: And um, if your family's not serving Christ, it doesn't mean you walk away from them necessarily, it doesn't mean you give up on them, but it does mean significant relationships.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we have to put distance between us and them.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: That's our comfort zone.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: Those are the people we know.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: But if we're going to be the person God's called us to be, sometimes we got to create a gap.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, I said this even about Jesus.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: He got one of the reasons he left Nazareth was all they could see is, hey, that's the carpenter son.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_01: And while he was a carpenter son, he was first and forever and eternally God's son.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: And people just knew him, and it was that again, that familiarity that was fatal.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_01: People put you in a box.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_01: There's people you grew up in in Middle Tennessee, and they always know the Ty Beckman that that was athletic.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_01: They knew the Ty Beckman that was the partier.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: And to hear you're in ministry, they can't see that.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_01: And they're gonna they're gonna challenge that and speak against that and discourage you from that.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: So again, creating space is getting out of your comfort zone.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: But man, sometimes that's the greatest thing you can do.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: Not to even, not even to walk in your call, just to start getting near it has to bring some separation.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: And so I would just encourage those who are being challenged by relationships and friendships of people that are pulling you down.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_01: I would even say if they're not pushing you forward, you might want to create some space.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's it's crazy because you know, this term family, you know, and I'm gonna tread lightly here because again, like we are we want to make sure this is clear.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like family's not the enemy.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: We have an enemy, is he's the devil, it's Satan, like so family's not the enemy, but sometimes, you know, you have to really clarify like who is the one that is is whenever I wake up in the morning, who am I trying to honor and please?
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus one day, whenever people were pushing in, they're like, Hey, your your mom's outside, your brother's outside.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: He said, My family are is those who do the will of the Lord.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like, and he reminded us like there is a greater family than the blood tie.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: And uh again, it's not that you don't you it's not that you uh push back against them, but it is realizing like sometimes you gotta say, I'm gonna honor the the family that I was I was adopted into, yeah, not just the one I was born into.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you don't have to you don't have to choose one or the other, but you've got to prioritize one overall.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: And the so I've I read this uh read this study, I thought this was interesting and applies to this again as as we get into our call and out of our comfort zone, and sometimes that's friends and family getting away from them.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: It was called the 25 uh foot rule.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I've I've heard of the idea, but hearing it laid out this way, and this was a study.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: They went into workspaces, primarily people that were working in cubicles, and they inserted inside a cubicle, basically they measured the efficiency of the workers, and then they inserted a high capacity worker in there, like someone that meant that was hustling, had a great attitude, someone that worked hard, and then kind of measured the results of those within the 25-foot circumference of the person who was a who was a high performer.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: And then they did the same study and they put kind of a negative, uh, you know, a woe is me, someone who goofed around, um, put a low performer inside of that same circle and then measured the efficiency of the team.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: Crazy what they found, they found this consistently, is when you put a low performer, a discourager, someone who's, you know, talking down the people in the company, you insert them in a group of workers, um, their efficiency dropped by 15%.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: So actually that negativity got on them and they they started slowing down.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: But what they found on the other side was if they put a high performer, the efficiency and the effectiveness of that team went up 30%.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that principle is true.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: You know, Paul says it this way um, he says, man, that that good that bad company corrupts good morals.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: So why it's important for you to pick the right people, while it's important for you to get away from those, you're comfortable, you've grew up with them, you've been friends for years, and you can't imagine life without them.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe the reason you need to get beyond that relationship, get out of that comfort zone is because they're keeping you from your call.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: You can only find the effectiveness and the anointing of God on your life by maybe creating some separation of the people who are actually holding you back.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_01: You can still love them, you can still have a connection with them.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: You just can't continue to spend the amount of time and proximity with them if you're gonna be who God's called you to be.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: So good.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I remember, Pastor Steve, I don't know if you remember this, but whenever I was stepping into ministry here at Faith Church, I mean, it's just an hour drive, but it was across the state line from Lawrenceburg, Tennessee to coming down here.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I was spending, you know, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday serving on the youth team.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, I remember the the sacrifice I had to make is I was essentially I went from full-time working to to part-time on the weekends, and uh, you know, because I knew that God had a call on my life.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like I wouldn't have probably did it if I wasn't called to it.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but the seas in my life, I feel like that God, like for real, he he put me in the fast track lane of growing in my relationship with God, growing in my anointing and my effectiveness as a minister, was the moments that I was sleeping on a couch Sunday through Wednesday.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: And like I I took a pay decrease, and yet all these uncomfortable moments, they they bled into who I like.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: I for real, I don't think I'd be sitting in front of this microphone today if I didn't make that that jump and that leap.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: And God accelerated that.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel like for anybody that's listening to this podcast, I mean, they need to be reminded that if you position yourself in the right way, God in in those moments of of maybe physical lack or relational lack or whatever it might be, and you might say, like, hey, I'm I'm pouring everything out.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: God is faithful and just.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: You'll be so surprised by what God could do with it.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I would just say if you're totally comfortable in your life, you're probably outside of your call.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's um there is some discomfort, you know, if that's getting up extra early and spending time with the Lord.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, really pursuing the Lord.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: It costs you something.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: So you have your story of sacrifices you made that that brought you in the ministry, and um, you know, sacrifice I made that I share often in my testimony.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: Man, I walked away from almost the completion of my electrical engineering degree and went into Bible college, and my parents didn't support it, and my friends didn't support it, but I knew it was a calling that God had on my life, and I had to get away from what I thought was going to be a successful, financially wealthy lifestyle.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_01: I was willing to make the call, and I'm glad I did.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: And so anybody that wants to pursue Christ, it's it's it is going to cost you something.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_01: And if you're not willing to sacrifice your comfort, you'll never just know your call.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, I shared an example of Lenny LeBlanc, and I don't want to reshare share that here, but he was a great musician that compromised or didn't compromise, but walked away from a successful um career out in secular ministry, which he was well known.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: And now this guy's known around the world, and he's sung some of the greatest Christian songs, worshiping our Lord and Savior.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: No doubt.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: But one of the things I wanted to talk about Sunday, and I just didn't have the time to is for several hundred years, America was the number one mission sending force in the world.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: We've sent so many missionaries around the world, and that is really one of the things we celebrate about this country is it may not be anymore, but it was very, very much a Christian nation.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_01: And uh man, just people felt the call of God.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_01: And imagine what it was like a hundred years ago, two hundred years ago, I mean, even 10 years ago, but really uh in light of the conveniences they didn't have then, to walk away from your family, your career, everything you knew as comfort living in this nation, to get on a steamboat for 40 days and go live in another nation for the rest of your life and learn a culture, learn a language.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: But missionaries, people felt the call of God to go be a missionary, to go preach the gospel to every nation, and they sacrificed everything to do it.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: And many nations now are Christian uh because people got out of their comfort zone.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I there was one I just want to share just part of his story.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: I bumped into it.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: His name, and I love it, is C.T.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: Stud.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: Ooh, come on, stud.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: What a great name.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, man, he he earned it.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: He didn't have it, he earned it.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_01: C.T.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: C.T.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: Stud doesn't make a lot of sense, his sport to us, but he was kind of world renowned uh in 1860.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_01: This guy's name was global, but especially in England, for being a cricket player, which was kind of their sport.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: He was he was top of the game, top of the chart.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, everybody loved him.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: And at that time, he was making what at that time was big money.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_01: So he had celebrity status, he had wealth, he had familiarity, he was at the top of his game, and he got saved.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_01: And he felt like Christ called him to walk away from the game of cricket, the career of cricket, the the finances and wealth and success of cricket to go be a missionary.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_01: And he did that.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_01: He decided to abandon it all.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: And anybody, I'm sure, who was in his ear said, Are you crazy?
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_01: You can do it later, or do you know what you're giving up?
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_01: And he knew what he was giving up.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_01: And he, a couple quotes that he made.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_01: He said, He said this, he said, if Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for him.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_01: And uh yeah, I made a similar comment Sunday that you know, we we want Christ, we want him to be willing to give us everything and us give him nothing.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_01: We want him to make the big sacrifice that he laid down his life, and we don't want to lay down ours.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I think just as much as we need Christ to die for us, he wants us to die for him.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: And uh so TT, and one more line, he said this he said.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Only one life will soon be passed.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: Only what's done for Christ will last.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: So again, staying in the comfort zone looks successful.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: Friends will, friends will co-sign it now, but what we probably get in our comfort zone is going to last as long as we're alive.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe if we're lucky.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: But if we get out of the comfort zone into our call, anything we produce there for the glory of God, that's what's going to last for eternity.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, the way I ended Sunday was hey, it's not just about you.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: Abraham got out of his comfort zone.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_01: He was blessed for sure.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: He made the big sacrifice.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_01: Again, he got away from his place, got away from his people, got away from his provision.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: But he said this, God said this, he said, but through you, all the nations of the world be blessed.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_01: And you may not be able to see the long, the long-range vision, but what God's called us to do is for his glory and for people's eternity.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, with um, you know, a lot of the teenagers, even and and especially like that transition from high school, if they they stay around, you know, some people some kids get keys and you know they're straight straight back to the world, and uh I rebuke that spirit.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I'm saying.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: We want to turn the tide on that.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: We need a generation of kids who are willing to get out of the comfort zone.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: No, no question about it.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: And there's a uh a weird transitional period where you you're not working a job yet.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're coming around to church and it's kind of now more of your idea.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we see a lot of this in the young adult crowd, and uh with you know, there being a lot of young adult influences, Bryce Crawford and Sadie Robertson, and you know, you look at all these these bigger names um that pop up on your social feed that have a mass great following, all in the name of Christ.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I think they're doing great, great jobs in ministry.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the next thing you know is that there is this wave of people dressing a certain way, you know, like, you know, they got the cool Christian gear on, like they got the, you know, the graphic tees with the with the cross on it now, and where it used to be something else, you know, something secular.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: Now it's like they got this aesthetic and they're drinking the coffee and they're raising one hand at at church.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: They got the Jesus piece on.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: And it's almost like sometimes the lines get so blurred between being authentic and having the aesthetic.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: And people just want to kind of look the part without actually taking part.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: And um the, you know, what this sounds almost like a redundant conversation.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, are you a fan?
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: Are you a follower?
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: You know, like do you do you wear the merch or do you live out the life?
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and um the challenge I think is always being a pastor in people's lives and trying to extract the most out of them, you know, not being gold diggers, but you know, digging for gold, trying to, man, man, calling people higher, getting people to have a mindset, mindset shift uh from it just being about how they look and about where they're at and how how it feels, and like, man, I love that worship, you know, music, but are you actually worshiping?
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, and that's what it's got to come back to.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I think what's gotta be crucified right now, and we've got to be so careful about it, is that Christianity cannot be a vibe.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's it's the virtues that Christ has instilled.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: He set the example, they laid down his life.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: He, he, he said, Hey, I've come to seek and to save the lost.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like, that's why I've been purposed to be here.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: We should have that urgency, like, and it shouldn't just be whenever the next conference rolls under around in the town.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: We shouldn't wait for Invictus, we shouldn't just wait for emotion and passion and forward and and all the and I I love it.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: I love conferences.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: Conferences are great.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: But if your Christianity is is hinging on a conference and it's not hinging on on the cross, the the cost of a cross, you know, it's it's just it's kind of like I I think about it like this.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: If people were walking up and it the call was Galgotha for them, would you say, you know, show me my cross.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: Show me, show me the place where I I can lay down my life.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: But the good news is you don't have to make that that one-time decision.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's actually every single day, whenever you wake up, it's like, show me, show me my cross today.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: Show me how I can crucify this flesh so that the fruit of the spirit can be evidenced in my life, so that other people can pointed to the goodness and the nature of Christ.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_01: I made a statement and it was uh as I was preparing my message, and when I felt like the Lord speaked this to me, I was like, oh, this is this is, you know, and I said it wrong, and thankfully Pastor Matt caught me and um was able to able to redirect and still didn't nail it.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_01: And so I want to say it here.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's because if you're hearing, wait a minute, you I I have to walk away from friends and family, and I might have to change career paths.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I might have to change my identity.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_01: And yes, you're you're hearing this right.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_01: This is the biblical model.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_01: Abraham did it, Elisha did it, again, the apostles did it.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_01: And comfort is the greatest enemy to your call.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_01: And so if you're gonna walk and I'm gonna walk in my destiny mission and call, it's I gotta get out of my comfort zone.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_01: And so I said this that you know, cultural Christianity calls radical or calls biblical Christianity radical Christianity.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like, yeah.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_01: That when I say cultural Christianity, I mean the average Christian sitting in the average church, like just playing the comfort game.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_01: They show up, they drink their coffee, they sit in a comfortable, comfortable seat, and then they don't make no sacrifice.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_01: Cultural Christianity, like everyday modern day Christians, they look at they look at this conversation like, man, that's radical.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_01: And uh man, is that really what God's calling us to?
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_01: And when you when you read the Bible, what they're calling radical Christianity, it's just biblical Christianity.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_01: So cultural Christianity calls biblical Christianity radical.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_01: Man, that's radical.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_01: There's no way God calls us to it, but that's the call, man.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_01: Pick up your cross, get out of your comfort zone, um, lay down some things that are holding you back.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_01: And so uh I am where I am because I've I've gotten out of my comfort zone.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_01: But I can honestly say I wonder where I'd be if I got out of my comfort zone on the level of probably I need to.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I stayed comfortable too long, stayed in sin too long, stayed in compromise too long in different stages of my life that I think I would be further along if I was willing to get out of my safe space.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I I think what you're trying to essentially tell everybody that's listening, at least what I'm hearing, is like this doesn't end.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like you don't just make a one-time decision.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's not a one-time, like, yeah, like I'm I want to be a biblical Christian.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: I I need to do that tomorrow.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's it's quite literally, yeah, it's every single day.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: And there, there are always things that are gonna be attachments that we're having in our own lives, things we're gonna cling to, things we're gonna go to as a vice, but it's really we're laying all that down, saying, Christ, you're enough.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: What are you calling me to?
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm looking for my strength from you, I'm looking for my guidance from you.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not looking to what pleases my central nervous system.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not looking to what's gonna make it real cushy, that's right, and soft.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like it is it's so difficult.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and that's why, you know, I I think about like the the crown of thorns is placed on on Christ's head.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like it is a is a permanent picture of pain, like right there on the on the front of his head.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like it is like for each of us, I believe, just a reminder that our king wears a crown of thorns.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's what he was crowned with.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, that is a picture of pain every single day.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so we shouldn't be running towards the the lazy boy.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_00: We should be running to to the lost.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: We should be running to those no matter what the cost is for each of us.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's just uh an everyday decision we got to make.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_01: I just would close with this if you are a Faith Church family, maybe your comfort zone is again sitting instead of serving.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_01: So maybe your next step is get on a serve team.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's gonna cost you something, it'll be worth it.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's to take the step of baptism, and maybe you're uncomfortable emotionally to do that in front of people, but that's your next step.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, maybe it's lead a connect group.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, maybe it's to step into a ministry.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_01: Those are all uncomfortable.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_01: But for every Christian watching this, maybe your comfort zone is just living your life and not being confronted with something that makes you uneasy.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe instead, the next time you're in the grocery store or next time you're getting gas, maybe God's gonna get you out of your comfort zone into a conversation with the person next to you where you can share Christ and that person's eternity can be changed.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_01: But for all of us, we got comfort zones.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_01: And we got to crucify our flesh, we got to get out of the comfort zone and be the person God's called us to be.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_01: So good.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, Pastor Sai, thanks for joining us for the extra mile.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_01: It's good to have you at the table one more time, three more times in a row.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_01: Let's do it.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_01: We'll see you guys back next week.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for joining us.