complacency and
you're good Wayne?
and if you can turn up the volume a little on the tape
I ask that every time and I know you don't know
what to do about it but I'll ask anyways
guys complacency is the same as
let me give you some words
another word for complacency mediocrity
mediocrity
here's another thing that we don't normally think of
neutrality
just being neutral about everything
or maintaining status quo
or another word that I really like because it kinda
makes sense to me
is averageness
averageness everything is average
or another word that we might use
which again is great to describe it
is indifferent
all these words
basically
point towards this one simple word we're talking about today called complacency
complacency or mediocrity
neutrality or being neutral
maintaining status quo or being averageness
indifference
and I want to start off by saying that when you are spiritually complacent
you instantly begin to degenerate
when you're spiritually complacent
you instantly begin to degenerate
Proverbs 132
says that the complacency of fools will destroy them
the complacency of fools
will destroy them
I mean there's nothing that is
passive about complacency
it is a degenerative disease
and there is nobody sitting here
that does not spend time
in this condition
I definitely have
chunks of complacency in my life
I'm beginning to catch them faster
but there's nobody here who isn't suffering from this ailment
and the moment
you are spiritually complacent
you instantly begin to degenerate
I was listening to someone talk about this on TV
that sharks
if they stop moving forward they die
if a shark stops moving forward
they die
because they have to have motion that allows water
to go past their gills so they can breathe
so if a shark stops still it dies
we don't think so when it comes to complacency
and sometimes
not sometimes
often complacency is learned
it is learned
and it is learned
in environments that we have grown up in
it's learned in church environments
it is learned in family environments
it's learned from our dads and our mums
often from our dads because our mums
don't have a choice sometimes but to be
industrious
but our dads can be that way
and our children learn it
it's an environmental thing that catches on
and it spreads into different parts of our life
problem is guys complacency is rarely viewed as sin
complacency
is rarely viewed as sin
it is seen as a condition that's common to man
and therefore because it's rarely viewed as sin
one of the things that happens with the sin of complacency
one of the penalties of the sin of complacency
is that you get used to it
you get used to it
and it leads eventually to a hardening of the heart
because as I get complacent I get used to it
I don't see it as sin
I see it as something that's common to man
when did I ever repent?
it's fascinating
I have never repented of complacency
I've never said father this morning I just want to repent of complacency
because I think to myself
but I'm human
these things happen
thank God sharks don't think so
otherwise we'd have no sharks left
I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing
over time complacency leads to lukewarmness
over time
complacency leads
to lukewarmness
and it results in being vomited out of the kingdom
Revelation chapter 3 verse 16 talks about that
I wish
this is Jesus Christ
saying it to the churches
and not mincing words
I wish you were hot or you were cold
but because you are lukewarm
I will spit you out of my mouth
that somehow doesn't harbor well
for everyone
but I wish you were hot or you were cold
it doesn't harbor well for anybody who it's being spoken to
be it a church or an individual
any questions before we go on?
any questions?
I want you to look at a verse
in Zephaniah
there's only one verse that most Christians know of Zephaniah
which is Zephaniah 3.17
but there are other chapters too Zephaniah 1
Zephaniah 1
Zephaniah is towards the end of the Old Testament
Zephaniah 1 verse 12
and here's what it says
at that time I will serve Jerusalem
with lamps
and punish
those who are complacent
and then he compares those who are complacent to this
who are like wine left on its dregs
who think
the Lord will do nothing
either good or bad
doesn't that aptly describe
the condition of the church
he says on that day I'll go around Jerusalem
in a sense the church is New Jerusalem
I'll go around Jerusalem with what? with a lamp with my word
at the end of the day it's a word that begins to sift and show you
whether you're complacent or whether you're not
it's not the standards of man
it's not the standards of baptism
baptism
Pentecostalism that shows it
it's a word that shows it
and it says there
on that day
hi guys
on that day
at that time
I will serve Jerusalem with lamps
and I'll punish
those who are complacent
as in I'll discipline those who are complacent
nothing about this verse is pleasant here
and it ain't going to get any pleasanter either
who are like wine left on
the dregs
who are like wine left on
its dregs
who think and this is what really got me
this is why one of the definitions of
complacency
is being neutral
it says who think
the Lord will do nothing
either good or bad
that really got me
that is the present state
for many Christians
regardless of the denomination we come from
k sirah sirah
whatever will be will be
if the Lord does it so be it
if he doesn't do it so be it
he will sometimes do good
sometimes do bad
he will sometimes not do good
nor will he do bad
God is some neutral person out there
and the Bible calls that complacency
and rightly so
between spouses
if the spouse did not know whether
something good is going to come
or something bad is going to come
that's not called the unpredictability
of being married
that's called not having a relationship
just being mindful of that verse
because it really brought home something
guys let me read that again
at that time I will serve Jerusalem
with lamps and I'll punish those
who are complacent
who are like wine left on its dregs
who think the Lord will do nothing
either good or bad
it kind of reveals a unique definition
of complacency with its neutrality
which is prevalent a lot in the church
so let me put it this way
guys complacency is violent
complacency is violent
we think complacency is passive
as in it's just we just go into a place of passivity
and yet the Bible indicates that complacency is violent
complacency destroys
if I am complacent
Acts 29 will be destroyed bit by bit by bit
and you won't even see it happening
or know that it's happening
because it's violence that's under the surface
because on the outside it's plain passivity
there's a violence to complacency
and here's what it does say
it brings to your life the spirit of poverty
I'm not talking about blessed are the poor in spirit
I'm talking about the demonic spirit of poverty
it brings into your life the demonic spirit of poverty
and we'll talk about it next week
we'll talk about the spirit of poverty
and the spirit of poverty is not limited to money
a spirit of poverty is something that depletes
or Diem power issues everything
from the quality of your marriage
to the money to the ministry that you do
the spirit of poverty is something that impoverishes
or depletes everything from the quality of your marriage
to money to ministry
and complacency has the ability
to bring into your life a spirit of poverty
read Zephaniah 1.13 immediately after 1.12
we read about it and now see what 1.13 says
they will lose everything they have
money and house and land
they'll build a house and never move in
they'll plant vineyards and never taste it
so I would just define the spirit of poverty for you
as a teaser for next week
the spirit of poverty
the spirit of poverty uses your culture
uses your culture
and doesn't matter what culture you come from
doesn't matter what culture you come from
this is prevalent in society in general
uses your culture but some of us have inherited this
from the church cultures we've grown up in
some of us have inherited it from the national cultures
we've grown up in
some of us have inherited from the familial cultures
we've grown up in
it just depends on which culture
but all of us have this
all of us have this
some�� of us inherit it from our parents
from our friends
some of us inherited it from our parents.
The spirit of poverty uses your culture
to afflict you
with a mentality
of scarcity.
By dulling your spiritual eyes
to the goodness
of the Father.
The spirit of poverty
is the spirit of poverty.
That is kind of a teaser for next week.
So looking forward to teaching it next week.
The spirit of poverty
uses your culture
to afflict you with a mentality of scarcity.
With a mentality of scarcity.
By dulling your spiritual eyes
to the goodness of the Father.
What would happen if
while I'm preaching someone comes running in and says
hey guys
they're jacking up the price of gas
and there's hardly any gas in Vancouver.
Some of us will have reason to leave this
teaching early to go fill up.
Scarcity begins to do something to our head.
You don't know how drastic
next week when we talk about it
you'll be surprised at how the spirit of poverty
operates so lavishly in our lives
in different areas.
In different areas.
I mean just think of this
I'm just giving you a simple example.
A poor man who does not have money
goes to a restaurant and he looks for the quantity of food.
A middle income man goes to a restaurant
and he looks for the quality of food.
A rich man goes to a restaurant
and he doesn't care about the quantity or quality
he just likes the presentation.
It has to have a few things standing out like this
and the end of a lobster and a claw of a crab
and it doesn't matter.
You've got three different reactions
to a plate of food.
What are we going to talk about that next week?
The spirit of... yeah.
Guys, so here's my question
what's the opposite of complacency?
What's the opposite of complacency?
Sorry?
Industriousness.
Zeal.
Zeal, zealous.
I can't hear you.
Enthusiasm.
I can't hear you.
Expectations, passion.
All of you are right.
May I sum it up in one word that makes all of this happen?
The opposite of complacency is first love.
When you begin to go back into loving something
the way that you need it to
your expectations increase, the passion comes in
the industriousness comes in, everything changes.
Biblically the opposite of complacency is first love.
He says it to the churches in Revelation.
To one of them he says, hey, you think you are this
but you are poor, wretched and naked.
Come and get new stuff from me again.
To others he says, hey, I want you to know
that you are doing well but your industriousness
does not mean that you have connected again.
There is a complacency that settled into you
because you have lost your first love.
To another church he says, you are neither hot nor cold.
This is a problem that has been tracking churches
for more than 2000 years.
The opposite of complacency is first love.
Whenever I walk away from first love
which happens a few times a day
indifference and averageness begins to settle in
as in any marriage.
Newlyweds surprisingly don't.
Whenever I walk away from first love
complacency and averageness enters my life.
Whenever I walk away from first love
complacency and averageness begins to enter my life
like in any other married couple that have fallen out of love.
What is the first thing you see
when a married couple have been married for a few years
and they aren't in love anymore?
What's the first thing that happens?
There is a settledness, there is a complacency
that is so blah that it doesn't inspire young guys like me to get married.
While it doesn't happen with newlyweds
it doesn't happen with them
because first love is still alive.
Complacency comes in when first love is absent.
Any questions on that?
Anything you want to add to that?
Or do you disagree or agree?
It happened to me a few times a day
and I was very happy to see that.
It happened to me a few times a day, man.
But thank God I'm aware that it happens to me a few times a day.
Yep.
It means averageness, it means indifference,
it means becoming neutral,
it means becoming blazee.
Blazee?
Taking for granted.
Where it doesn't matter, you don't have to work at it anymore.
It is there, you are married, you are saved,
heaven is guaranteed, what's the big deal?
If that was God's intent, I always say to myself
He would have saved us and killed us the very next day.
Because we'd be in heaven.
Guys, the trick is to jump back into first love.
The trick is to jump back into first love.
Oh shucks, father, I'm really sorry, nuts, I'm really sorry.
Let me get back to connecting with you again.
It's the only way you can chip away at complacency.
Only thing.
Guys, you know one of the things that really swallows up
our relationship with God? Other things.
We'll talk about how to not be complacent, but other things.
Other things, where you get so occupied with them,
and these are good things, these are not bad things.
These are advantageous things, these are profitable things.
But you get caught up in them, and suddenly you find
in the one primary relationship, like Martha,
you've gone completely complacent.
Does complacency conflict with being?
No. No.
Complacency conflicts with contentment.
We'll talk about that.
Complacency does not necessarily conflict with comfortable.
Because you can be in love with somebody
being highly comfortable.
But complacency is not necessarily a conflict with being comfortable.
It's a conflict with being content.
Because you can be in love with somebody being highly comfortable.
But complacency conflicts with contentment.
We sometimes think that a person whose content is,
that a person whose complacent is actually content.
No.
Contentment without thirst and passion isn't contentment.
It is complacency.
Let me say that again.
People may look content, oh, I've got no needs in my life.
Whatever the Lord gives.
No, no, no, that's not contentment.
That is blooming complacency in its full blown state.
Because contentment has in it a continuous thirst.
Contentment is never devoid of thirst.
Never devoid of thirst.
It drinks, and then it wants to drink more.
Never devoid of thirst, guys.
Never devoid of thirst.
Complacency compromises his presence and replaces it with dullness.
Complacency compromises his presence.
Guys, let's assume I become complacent in my marriage.
You know what happens suddenly?
I'm no longer aware of her.
Let me pick on Matt and Rachel.
Matt is highly aware of Rachel.
So he's constantly aware of where she is, how she's feeling,
whether she needs to lean her head on her shoulder or not, and all this stuff.
My marriage.
Let's assume that I've become complacent in my marriage.
Now what happens is I'm not even aware of her, man.
Complacency compromises his presence.
In a marriage, her presence.
And it dulls you.
It dulls you to her.
In this case, to God.
It dulls you.
This is a serious, serious sin that is eating away at the church
and is present in all our lives.
I've got to jump back into first love three, four, five times a day
when I find these large chunks of my time taken up in things
without an awareness of her.
Matt, I'm just picking on him because I've seen this occasionally.
This is not a commentary on his marriage.
Matt can be trying to create a 3D printer, and he's still aware of Rachel.
Or the apple pie she might be burning in the oven.
He's still aware of it.
Or a spider in the house.
And he'll say it very gently.
I think there's a spider over your head and the pie is burning.
He'll say it calmly.
Any questions, Matt?
No.
Guys, the other thing that happens is that when spiritual inactivity is normal to my life,
that she buzzes into the scene.
Spiritual activity is normal in my life, as in,
when spiritual inactivity, as in, I'm not doing much, Sunday to Sunday,
or occasionally throw in a Tuesday.
Spiritual inactivity, when it's common in my life,
will always allow Bath Sheebas to start roaming the neighbor's balcony.
Taking a bath, because that's her name.
Always happens.
What do you think David was doing?
It says, when it was time for war, in the time of war,
David was walking up and down his balcony,
and he sees a beautiful woman taking a bath on the other balcony.
That's where it all begins.
Spiritual inactivity always gives rise to Bath Sheebas.
Bath Sheebas are distractions that the world says is normal.
We get caught up in it.
Complacency sets perfect ground for these things to happen.
What's that famous phrase, something is the devil's workshop?
Idleness is the devil's workshop.
Idle minds, idle whatever.
Idle hands, idle mind, idle whatever is the devil's workshop.
Kind of true, man.
Let me draw this for you.
Complacency leads to dullness,
dullness to his presence,
which leads to striving in the flesh.
Because now when you're dull to his presence,
you have to do everything in the flesh because you don't have a choice.
Because God ain't the one who's behind what you're doing, striving in the flesh.
What does striving in the flesh lead to?
It always leads to decay.
For the flesh profits nothing but the spirit gives life.
Meanwhile Bath Sheebas start trying to get your attention.
Bath Sheebas are basically distractions or conditions of the world.
While this is happening, there's only one way out guys,
and that one way is first love.
And if you get that right, then you can start a new cycle
where you are first loved to capture first love.
After that you go into an awareness of his presence.
Once you're aware of his presence, then you go into contentment.
Because what else do you need than knowing what he wants?
Once you go into contentment, everything you do usually comes from the spirit
who gives life. For the flesh profits nothing but the spirit gives life.
Once that happens, you start thirsting more
because you know man there is nothing as good as this.
And as you thirst more, you come back to being first loved.
And it just goes on and on and on.
Complacency leads to dullness of his presence.
Dullness of his presence leads to striving in the flesh.
Striving in the flesh always leads to decay.
So what do we then have to do? We have to come up for prayer.
And we pray and God in his mercy takes care of it.
But if we don't deal with the complacency in my life,
it will always lead to a dullness of his presence.
The dullness of his presence will lead to striving in the flesh.
Striving in the flesh will always produce decay.
What is the way out? First love.
How does first love begin? By first recognizing that I am loved.
You are a good good father and I am loved by you.
First love always begins by first being loved.
What does that lead to? An awareness of his presence.
What does the awareness of his presence bring to me?
An odd kind of contentment as in though the mountains be removed,
though the earth shake, I know. Be still.
Be still is not... Be still is...
Contentment leads to the spirit who gives life carrying me through everything.
This is such a virtuous cycle that yes you are content,
but it is a contentment full of thirst as in I want more, I want more, I want more
because you are an infinite God and there is no end to you.
And this is the only thing that satisfies my soul.
In your presence is fullness of joy.
And that then leads back to being first loved again.
What a way to live man. And instead this is where most of us spend hours.
In fact I would suggest to you that successful lives breed complacency.
When life is successful it breeds complacency.
Things are going well.
Successful ministries breed complacency.
Successful mega churches or mini churches breed complacency.
I am so glad that every three years we have to move.
Keeps you on your toes man not knowing what's going to happen next.
Any questions?
Guys, so here's a question I was asking myself.
Every day are you thirsty for more of God?
The answer, I wish all of us could say yes.
Every day are you more thirsty for God?
Every day are you thirsty for more of God?
Do you need persuasion to make it happen?
A hungry person does not need to be persuaded.
When someone is hungry or someone is thirsty,
my God when I am thirsty,
you know I am saying Jacob please drink some water.
No Jacob come on. It's really tasty.
It doesn't look, it has no color in it but it's really tasty.
Have a swig of water.
No, never. When I am thirsty it's hard to hold me back man.
So here's a question.
Do you need to be persuaded to have more of God?
If you need to be persuaded, if conditions have to be right,
may I suggest to you and I that we are in a place called complacency?
Because it's very hard for any of us to admit that we are complacent,
that we don't want more of God.
But if we really need more of God, then do you need persuasion?
Some of the external measures, external, very clearly I am saying,
some of the external measures of complacency are,
when it comes to the word, when it comes to worship,
when it comes to prayer, when it comes to church,
do you have to be persuaded?
When it comes to worship, when it comes to the word,
when it comes to conversations with God
and when it comes to being part of the corporate gathering,
the body, the church, do you have to be persuaded?
These are external measures.
This is why we have a job description called worship leader.
Because the worship leader is supposed to persuade you into the worship of God.
Are you thirsty for God?
Does it show in greater obedience and godliness?
Are you thirsty for God?
Does it show in greater obedience and godliness?
Are you thirsty for God?
Does it show in greater obedience and godliness?
The reason I'm laughing was, I remember a man,
this is not a laughing matter, it's a terribly tragic matter.
Remember a man who was having an affair, being confronted by a pastor I knew,
and he is saying to his wife,
no, I really love you, this is just something on the side,
you don't have to worry about it, I really love you.
I'm thinking to myself, really?
Now when I think of it I'm laughing because it is the most absurd thing you can say.
And yet, are you thirsty for more of God?
And does it show in godliness and obedience?
Those are the internal measures.
The other ones I gave you are the external measures.
Do I have to persuade you?
Do you have to persuade me to have more of God?
Then, I guess what we are driving at is,
let's at least admit that we are complacent so that we can move from there.
And plus, when I say are you thirsty for God, it has to go beyond feelings,
because one of the things that happens, especially among young Christians,
and by young I mean anyone younger than me,
is, you know, if you give Christians this sense of adventure,
or let's do an event or let's produce something or let's do something heroic,
that appeals to Christians a lot.
But if you tell Christians, let's spend the next two years learning obedience and godliness,
suddenly passion is not there.
Passion is therefore, let's go on a mission trip, let's go on an adventure,
let's do something heroic, let's create an event that will draw people.
Those things everybody can get passionate about.
And I would suggest to you that most youth events are full of stuff like that.
But try doing it the other way.
Are you hungry for God or thirsty for God?
Let's train ourselves in obedience and godliness for the next two or three years.
Whole different ball game, man.
Remember the word contentment has to go with thirsty.
Thirsty contentment.
Contentment that is not thirsty is not contentment.
It's complacency.
With godly contentment you never burp, because you're never full.
Godly contentment is devoid of burps.
So if a Christian burps after spending time with God, you know that this is just hot air.
If you ask me a question about burping, I won't be able to help you.
Go ahead.
Striving and?
Striving and.
I'm not sure if you can hear me.
What's the difference between striving and thirst?
Striving and?
Striving and thirst.
Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah, good question.
How do you differentiate between striving and thirst?
If you guys want to answer.
Whenever I do that it's because I don't have the answer and I have to start thinking, so if you can help me.
What's the difference between striving and thirst?
Or is there a difference?
It's a fine line, but how do you distinguish them?
Striving is words based?
Very good.
Thirst is the need.
Striving is the action.
Okay.
Great.
Striving is the labor.
Labor.
Any more?
Yeah.
So guys, if we just took those answers, what was yours?
Words.
Yeah, words.
Striving is word based.
Thirst is...
Desire.
Yeah, there's a desire inside.
The intent is not to produce something.
The intent is to satisfy something.
That's you, Jake.
It's Mary and Martha.
Martha wanted to produce something that would fulfill her desire for Jesus.
Mary had a thirst for the very presence of Jesus.
She had no desire but to be fulfilled by Him.
Martha was to produce something that would fulfill Him.
Hers was not to produce anything but to desire something that would fulfill her.
It's almost selfish, but it's beautiful selfishness.
So it's a fine line, but I know when I'm striving...
You know, I remember once when Eddie came the first time.
First or second time, I wanted to impress Eddie.
So I'm really leading worship and trying to do a good job.
And for whatever reason, the church wasn't responding the way I expected them to.
So I'm really putting more into it.
And so the next day, I receive an email from Bernice.
You were really trying hard yesterday, weren't you?
And I didn't like the email at all, but what can I do?
It's Bernice.
So I admitted that, yes, I was striving.
But the point was I was so caught up in wanting to produce a result
that I forgot the one I was worshipping.
And my intent was I got to make this church respond the way I wanted to
because Eddie has to see that one, I lead well and that the church is good.
And neither was happening.
So the only person who got left out of it was Jesus, who was the center of our worship.
Maybe you did, I didn't.
So how do I prevent complacency?
Second Timothy 3-6.
How do I prevent complacency?
Second Timothy 3-6.
It talks about the soldier, the athlete, the farmer, and someone else.
Second Timothy 2-6.
Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
No one serves, no one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs.
He wants to please his commanding officer.
Similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor's crown
unless he competes according to the rules.
The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops.
Reflect on what I'm saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this.
So how do I prevent complacency?
Disciplined life.
A disciplined life.
The only way to stay true is to have disciplined times of staying true to Jesus Christ.
Not to Christian work, not even to Christian behavior.
But a disciplined life that stays true to Jesus Christ.
A disciplined life.
We've been talking about this for the last three weeks.
What we need to do when we get up.
How we need to approach God.
How we need to see how God sees us.
We've been going over it again and again for almost two years.
And may I say, even after that, I'm not doing it as disciplinately as I should,
even though I'm the one teaching it.
But I'm improving like crazy.
A disciplined life.
Don't raise your hands, but may I ask a question that I don't want an answer for?
Do you have a disciplined Christian life?
In terms of not Bible reading or daily bread reading,
but in terms of actual quality time spent with the Father,
that is not a token, but sizable because you have a relationship.
Don't answer.
You know, about a week or ten days ago, I suddenly felt that I should start exercising.
So what do I do when I want stuff like that?
I want to find company that would help me do.
So I went down to the 10th floor.
And I knocked on Derek and Dawn's door and I said, I want to start exercising.
So let's go buy an elliptical.
And Dawn looked at me and said, to do what? To hang your clothes on it.
And so I told him he'd be on probation for another three months.
So we haven't bought it yet.
I went for one long walk and thought, if this is the cost I have to pay, it's very high.
The point being, guys, that Dawn has started going for exercise because he needs to lose some weight.
And so he started doing it. He's even changed his diet.
He doesn't eat as much as he used to.
He's trying to cajole Derek to do it.
And Derek just about makes it grudgingly every week.
But those guys have put in the work.
Not much is showing right now, but that's another sad thing.
But they've put in the work.
I have all these grandiose plans.
I even went to Walmart on Wednesday.
And I thought, this is so boring just to keep doing this on a machine.
So I've decided the next best thing is to buy a bicycle and just bike all over, which I'm going to do tomorrow, of course.
We'll find out next Sunday.
The point being, it's impossible, guys, without this.
Impossible.
So don't answer, but do you really have disciplined times of conversation, discoveries, reading with the father?
If not, it is impossible to cultivate infertile ground for complacency.
Second, a disciplined life, a disentangled life.
If you're a soldier, do not get involved in civilian affairs.
A disentangled life.
Disentangled life is when you prioritize.
Disentangled life is a life that prioritizes.
That prioritizes and puts first things first.
And in the process, what you do is you set aside those things that are profitable, those things that are advantages, those things that are good.
You set them aside for one thing alone.
The best.
A disentangled life.
When Don started taking this exercising seriously, I started bringing home food for him.
Because I thought, this is not good.
He's really taking this seriously.
So one evening I bought him a Baconator, which I know he loves.
And he's saying, no, I shouldn't eat this Baconator.
I just lost 600 calories.
I'll put on 800.
And I said, no, this is a nonfat Baconator habit.
And so I'm trying to tempt him, and he's resisting.
Disentanglement.
How disentangled is your life?
Disentanglement is not the lack of Goliaths and storms in your life.
Disentanglement is prioritizing.
How much of that is happening?
Any questions, any comments on this, guys?
A disentangled life.
To keep life clear by prioritizing.
I remember a couple coming to AXE 29 long ago.
And they said they would love to join, but they're not planning to join because there's no Sunday school program.
And I said to them, right now it's not your child that needs help with God.
It's you both.
So I would suggest that you join AXE 29 and don't worry about your child.
The priorities were wrong.
They needed God more than their child.
And so they joined.
What is your priority at present based on what you think God has placed on you?
Disentangled life.
Third one.
A detached life.
Disentanglement is different from detachment.
Detached life.
Detachment is when my life is detached to God.
And so anywhere in any surrounding, I'm ready for use.
Because I present a life to God that is pure and intimate.
A detached life.
A life that runs by the rules of God.
Detached to God.
And the moment I detach from God, like Jesus said, apart from him I can do nothing.
A detached life is a life that lives by holy rules.
And the last one is a discerning life.
A discerning life.
Where you have this eagerness to stand up and watch and wait for God.
Like it says in Habakkuk chapter 2.1.
I've made my complaint known to God.
Now I'm going to stand up on the roof and watch for how God will answer and address what I've said.
Discernment at the end of the day is right judgment.
To judge things rightly.
Discernment is never gooey love and kindness.
Discernment is not truth without grace.
Discernment is right judgment.
To rightly judge.
And as it says in Hebrews 5.14,
Discernment only comes through the practice of distinguishing between good and evil in the presence of others.
One of the things that happens in churches is we discern what we discerned in our own cloistered situation.
Hey, anything that is discerned must be discerned in the company of others
so that others can weigh and see if what you've discerned is right or wrong.
What if I started building a 3D printer?
Spend three months on it and then find out that I did it all wrong.
Why not do it, discern what is right and wrong in the presence of someone who knows it?
Any questions?
Guys, four solid ways to make sure that we don't get complacent.
If you want to say anything, add anything, take away from it, please feel free to do it right now.
The first one is super important.
Complacency requires a disciplined life to destroy.
Because the very nature of complacency is averageness.
Second, a disentangled life, as in prioritize.
Third, a detached life, holy rules.
Fourth, a discerning life, the ability to watch, wait and figure out what God wants.
It happens through constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
It happens through practice. What videos should I watch?
What games can I play?
What world views can I adopt?
What remedies can I subscribe to?
Because the world is normalizing things.
Everything evil is good and everything good is evil.
I've got to figure this out because complacency is always mixed.
It mixes the world and God together. Everything is ah!
Questions, comments?
Hey, are you being quiet because you want this to get over or are you being quiet because it's helping?
I hope it's because it's helping, guys.
Complacency is everybody's situation.
I mean, ever since I started working on this, I'm more and more aware of it.
I go shucks, father, there I go again.
When I become complacent, it takes me three hours to finish something,
which I could do in 20 minutes if I had this.
20 minutes I could have finished it.
I would have been aware, I would know how to do it.
But in my complacency, if God is out and I take three hours to finish something,
at the end of the three hours I think to myself, really Jacob, how dull are you?
When will you learn?
Yeah, last one guys, the last point.
That's not part of this. It's simply this.
Live with the passionate. Live with the passionate.
Live with the passionate.
Because complacency is not exposed till it is confronted by passion.
Complacency is not exposed till it is confronted by passion.
I thought I was a great guitarist till I started playing with some other guitarists.
My defect was not exposed till I met somebody who was better than me.
Passion will always expose mediocrity.
Passion will always expose complacency.
Hang out with the passionate.
Romans 1 verse 11 and 12, Paul says to the Romans,
Hey guys, I long to see you so that I might impart to you
some spiritual gift to make you strong.
That you and I may be mutually encouraged with each other's faith.
I love that.
Part of the reason during the week,
the only thing I do during the week other than meetings outside of Acts 29 is meet with people.
Part of the reason I meet with people is just because I think to myself,
there are certain areas where I am doing better than you.
And if you hang out with me, by association, you will be upgraded.
And I'll try once, I'll try twice, I'll try three times, four times.
And then I'll wait to see if you respond.
And if you don't respond, I won't push.
Because the pursuit is yours, the invitation is mine.
Jesus said, Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for they shall be satisfied of filth.
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for they shall be filled.
Any questions?
Oh, and when I see even the slightest desire to move out of complacency,
I'll do everything in my power, man.
You can take a horse to the water.
You can even put salt in the oats, but you can't make a horse drink.
That is left to the horse.
You can switch the tape off, Wayne, but I just want to read out the first five lines.