well, good Morning Mission Girl family, how are you guys doing today? You guys doing good, good, we're doing good. Glad our country is unified and not divided. You guys don't believe me when I say that's okay, we will actually use this as an opportunity as the church to pray for unity and whether you're a candidate won or lost this past week or maybe there's lots of legal battles still to happen. What we do know is that whoever's in the White house come january is that God is still on his throne and that we are still called to be light and to be loved to our world. And so we want to continue to pray for our leaders to pray for our nation to pray for our country. Well, if you're joining us online, welcome and here in person, we are in our series entitled whisper. And I want to start off this morning talking about creativity. When I think about those who are creative, I actually think about kids, kids are unlimited in their imagination and they love to express their creativity. And I think of most recently my son carter, I shared with you last week how I had issues trying to teach him what was on a map and if you want to go check out that last week's message on the podcast or on our Youtube channel, but today I want to share with you kind of a fun project. He got to complete with grandma who's here in the room and this service and so together with his grandmother to do a book report on a book, but make something out of a pumpkin and so there with his grandma, uh son carter got to make a ladybug, the grouchy ladybug pumpkin and bring it into his class. And so they painted it and put a little styrofoam on it and it was a lot of fun and he was so proud of the completed project there with his grandma that they did together and that then he was gonna get to present to the class and while the ladybug has a frown, carter had a huge smile and it's like oh I did this and when asked in class did your grandma help you? And he said just a little bit and so they had fun doing that. But kids are creative aren't they? There's a story about a young girl who was in school and she decided to draw a picture of God and a well meaning teacher looked over to her and said you can't draw a picture of God, no one knows what he looks like. And without skipping a beat, the little girl looked up at her and said well if you give me a few minutes you will, you know we are born with this idea to, to make, to build, to create, to connect, you know it's not only in stereotypes but oftentimes and guys you see this desire to to conquer and to or build something great and then have people tell you about it right husbands in the room is true. Anytime we do any chores around the house, we want to have somebody acknowledge what it is that we did. Even if it's the smallest deed, we tend to do that, right? Why? Because we want that respect. We want that acknowledgement, We want that trophy, we want that metal, we want to win. I think of the cartoon wreck it ralph. The whole motive behind that fun cartoon is that he wanted to be a hero. He wanted to be, he wanted to get a medal and ladies you guys, you are so good at connecting and and building relationships and to know that you want people cared for it. And it goes across both ways. I'm not saying it's it's isolated to one gender or not. But really all of us, both men and women have been created in the very image of God. What that means is that we have a creative creator and being made in his image means that we too have been made in his image, which means that we are creators also. Over the past several weeks, we've been diving into how is it that God speaks to us? How can you hear the voice of God? There's a lot of noise out there. There's a lot of noise in the world and on social media and and things that you read and in your workplace and in your school and in your relationship. So in the middle of all the chaos in the middle of all the noise, how can you hear the voice of God? Last week we talked about how the main way that God speaks to us is through his word, That the bible is not only how God has spoken, but also how God is still speaking. And we compared life to a map. And if life is a map, then the bible is our map key. And without the map key, it's really hard to make sense of anything. Well, God speaks primarily through his word. That's also not the only way that he speaks when you think of relationships with your kiddos or with friends or coworkers. You know that there are all kinds of personalities. They're Myers Briggs or you have the disc test or the angiogram or strength finders, we know that we have been created differently. And so it's in our uniqueness that God has called us to something. And so if you're taking notes, I want to encourage you to write this down. Is that God wants to speak to you. But also God wants to speak through you? Yes, God has something for you to hear. But I believe also that God has given you something to say and what we're talking about today is how does God speak through our desires? How do we know if a desire in our heart is a good idea. How do we know if God has placed a desire in her heart? If that's really a God idea. I believe that God has given you a message and the means through which to say it. Don't just take my word for it because everything is filtered through scripture. And so let's dive into the word and see what does God have to say about fulfilling or living out of our desires. 1st. in Ephesians chapter two verse 10, it says that we are his workmanship created in christ jesus for good works, which God has prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So God has created you for good works. It's not that you're work save you because right before that in Ephesians chapter 2: verse eight, it says that you are saved by grace through faith. So God doesn't just save you to sit there, but he saves you to go out and live out the life to which he has called you to. It's not simply behaving better but becoming the man or woman of God and living with purpose. That you have been driven by your purpose which is found in christ and you're not, you're not always gonna be sure what you're called to do. But you can live with purpose and everything you do that phone conversation that email you send out the stand up work meeting in the morning that you don't want to go to your kids sporting event when you approach that with a kingdom mindset and you are attentive for those that were with us a few weeks ago with Pastor King talked about how being dialed in that frequency and the hearing the voice of God when you do that, God is going to speak through your desires Here in Psalm chapter 37 verse four it says delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Now this is important because a lot of people focus in, well God just wants me to be happy. He does. But your happiness is actually connected to your holiness and he wants you to be right and he wants you to know what's right and he wants you to do what's right in relationship with him. I've heard people in counseling sessions who have made horrible relationship decisions. He said, well doesn't God just want me to be happy? He does. But true happiness is found in him. That first part of the verse says delight yourself not in sin but in the Lord. That if you are delighted in God, he will give you the desires of your heart which has given you the desires which is to give you himself. We're coming on to christmas time, the name immanuel God with us. That is the greatest gift this christmas that he can give his presence with you and with me. But God has dramatically created people in a diverse fashion, different height, different gift ing's different callings and I love the diversity found in God's creation. My daughter Gloria, when we go on a hike loves bugs and uh it's kind of weird, but she just does it. And so we'll be walking and all of a sudden you go, oh and so zone in on something. Do you have one of those? Does anyone have one of those kids loves bugs or spouses for that matter? But I love that God created my daughter that way that she can zone in and in the middle of a field so you can see a flower right in the middle of a tree. She hears the bird and she points out the individual thing in the same way that we have been given different inklings and inclinations and desires in our hearts, that we notice things differently than other people. So what do we do with that? Well, Solomon, who was seen as the wisest person in the world, He was the king, son of David, The wealthiest person in the world, the wisest person in the world. He wrote this in Proverbs chapter 16 verses one through 3 And then also actually we'll also read verse nine. It says that the plans of the heart belong to man. But the answer of the tongue is from the Lord, all the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes. But the Lord ways his spirit. So commit your work to the Lord and your plans will be established. And then in verse nine it says that the heart of man plans his way. But the Lord establishes his steps. I love this because in this passage you see attention and if there's tension in scripture and they leave that tension, I'm of the type that I tend to leave that tension as well. Here's what I mean by that. The question is how much of work is on God and how much of it is on you and the answer is both or yes and I wish it was, I wish you could break down a percentage. But it actually makes more sense if it's both. And pastor tim Keller put it this way he said if it was only God's sovereignty and only God's election which it is, it is there it's it's his will and that's where we can rest in. That would be very easy for the christian to live passive. Why would we be evangelistic if God's gonna have us? Well anyway, why should I get up in the morning and and do this God's will is going to be done anyway. Well he hasn't called us to nothing. It'd be like setting a prisoner free. You you break down the walls, you fling wide the gate and then The pressure to six backs and goes no I'm good. I like these walls. No God has called you to go out to break the chains, to go out and to live free and to live a full life a life of abundance. And when I understand or pray and think through what does it mean to have a life of abundance. I do not think of a life that is passive but on the other side, you know, if you live, if it's only God, then we are passive on the other side. If it's only us, then I'm petrified. Then I'm petrified between playing box drum this morning and then grabbing my bible. I almost fell down the steps right by. I'm glad we had a video and so you couldn't hear it. But it was like and I almost tripped over my own shoelace And I'm just reminded constantly that I make so many mistakes, right? And I'm so glad that God's will and God's purpose for Mission Grove is not all on me that it's his will and his work. And so that allows you to rest at night. I read another story about a little a little kid who was struggling to go to sleep. They were scared of the dark. And the parent leaned in and said, honey, you don't have to be scared because God doesn't go to sleep. You know, we sleep, but God doesn't have to. And the little kid said, well there's no need in both of us staying up. They laid down, you know when all this unrest came in this past week about around our country and our election, it is stressful and there is a civil responsibility, but there's also a sense of peace that comes from knowing that God is ultimately in control. And there's a tension somewhere between being passive and petrified that knowing that the sovereignty of God will move people and nations and policies and leaders where they need to be at the exact time. There's two types of time in scripture is actually more than that, but there's Chronos where you see a uh calendar clock, right? You wake up on time, that's Chronos, and then there's Kairos and that is God's appointed season or God's appointed moment in time. There's so many Kairos, moments in scripture and there's so many Kairos moments in your life where you had the right conversation or you had the right decision or in the right place or one door closed and then one door opened up at exactly the moment that you needed it. That's got, it's the idea that God not only speaks through our desires, but also through open and closed doors, but through all of this, I don't want to live petrified and I don't want to live passive and it's in that tension in between where a man plans his ways, but God ordains his steps that we find that God can actually speak through our desires. We see this all over scripture. Noah was called to build an ark. Abraham was called to build a nation moses was called, the confront pharaoh Esther to save a country Nehemiah to build the wall. A teenage girl named mary to be the mother to our savior. The disciples who are uneducated fishermen for the most part to start the largest movement in all of history, paul stopped on the road to Damascus saved but not only saved but also sent, it's not on the screens, but I wanna encourage you to write that down to that God not only saves you, but he also sends you when we pray the Lord's prayer and we say God your kingdom come, we are praying not earth up, we're praying heaven down an eternity doesn't start the moment that you die, it starts the moment that you receive jesus into your life. And so you have the opportunity when you live out of desire for him and what God has called you to do and how you can walk in the works that were created for you to do that, you can actually bring heaven with you and that you can share heaven and bring heaven into your workplace, bring heaven into your relationships, bring heaven into your family with how you speak and how you treat and how you pray and how you love and how you serve. So God wants to speak through your desires. You see it all over scripture unique callings in people's lives to do something great, but also unique, calling to do something small. Your mother, Teresa was known not for doing great things but for doing small things with great love and you can live out and live from your purpose and and work through the desires that are in your heart. Speaker ken Robinson has described intelligence in this way is that intelligence is diverse, dynamic and distinct. It's diverse, dynamic and distinct. If you judge a fish for how fast it could run, it would not be seen as very intelligent or a cheetah for how fast they can swim the same way. There's all kinds of intelligence. There's physical, mental, emotional, leave spiritual as well. So while you might not get the best grades in school, maybe you're extremely handy, Maybe you are extremely relational and empathetic and have the ability to connect, you know, my wife, if she was up on stage would be terrified because public speaking is the last thing she would want to get up and do, but you get her in a one on one conversation and she has this way of just like connecting with a person's soul. Have you ever met one of those people or they can just look at you, how are you? Really? And the person just like, wow, I can't do that. I'm off stage is super awkward like hi, we're doing this thing. No. Yes, no. Okay, Alright. Maybe I don't know, I'm super awkward if in person and I don't know that's how I'm wired, you know, I'm learning to become more empathetic and not sarcastic. I've, I've learned that sarcasm is not a fruit of the spirit. I wish it was, but it's not there. But it's how God has wired me. Right? I like to think of things that 50,000 ft view. The idea of starting a church. That seems crazy to someone that gets me fired up. Alright, What breaks your heart or what gets you fired up? What is it when you see on the news or you see online you're like, oh we've got to do something. What is that little seed or that whisper like man, wouldn't it be cool if fill in the blank, It doesn't have to be starting an organization. It doesn't have to be something crazy. It could be raising a child, it can be the best janitor, the best construction worker, the best chick fil a worker I think I posted earlier this week. Can we all agree no matter the side. Can we just have the chick fil a drive thru team count the votes next year, right? It would have been done that night. Got some extra sauce. It would have the count and then my pleasure. Like afterwards, you know, like we have different callings and it's encouraging me, it's encouragement to me to know that there's different levels of intelligence in different areas because our church would not function with everyone like me, Our church would not function with everyone like you, but rather were described as the body. We need each other when we live out our desires. Okay, so now here's the question though. How do you know if your desire is from God? Well, I want to help you this morning to help your desires take flight. And by that I want you to picture something that you don't know here, our desires and connected with something that you do know and that is taking a flight. What are the steps to taking a flight? Well, step # one. If you're taking notes is you have to book the flight, you have to pray and decide what is the idea that you want to try? What is something that you want to start? No different ideas are just like different flights. They're going to have different costs. A flight to California. It's gonna have a very different cost than say, a flight to paris right? Same thing. Taking up a new hobby versus starting a business. Very different costs. But you want to be in praying God, what are you calling me to do? Who are you calling me to be? And you have to decide what is the area that you want to try and it's okay to let yourself try something? I don't know why we've got to this place where we have to be perfect. But what is that little nudge that you keep going back to or maybe you're driving in your car and it comes back into your head or your heart, Right, What is that? Lean into that? Okay, book your flight step number two, is that? You gotta check your bags. There are two bags that are too heavy for you to carry through the airport. Number one is your ego. And number two is your motive. When you're weighing a decision, considered asking yourself this question, Why do I want this really pause and include that really word in there? Because that because do you know who the greatest deceiver of you is in your life? You you can convince yourself of anything right? If your friend or loved one used the arguments on you that you do you would say that's crazy. But when you say it to yourself, that makes sense. Right? And so what why do you really want this really? Be honest? And the next thing is you have to check your ego at the front desk because that's an easy indicator to decide. Okay. Is this not a god idea or is this a me idea? Right. What has God called you do number one, book the flight, what do what do you want to do? What do you want to try number two? Check your bags, you have to ask yourself okay what's my motive? And what's my ego? Number three, you gotta go through security. If you're going through the airport, you have two stops, you have the person checking your ID to make sure that it's who you are. And then the X ray machine. Well first run it by Wise counsel that could be friends. But again, Wise counsel. So you probably don't want financial advice from someone who's bankrupt unless they go on the other side. I think of Michael scott in the office, who if you've watched that show and he just walks into the office and goes, I declare bankruptcy, Michael, it doesn't work that way. Um But understand this, that if you want advice, maybe don't go to the person that's had 25 relationships in the last year. Right? So is this me? Right. But what happens is if you go to someone you trust a mentor, a friend or a number of people, that's why there's importance in the community and say, hey, I'm thinking about this and they check your ideas. Like look up, it looks like you, right, that looks like you, there's a confirmation to go for it. Then you have the x ray machine. I never understood why. Hands above their head is safe and at your side not so much. Now they do that big wave through. Right. Talk about trying to extend the analogy and say you have to take off your shoes. But I didn't know what that would equate to. So we just left the x ray machine. But the x ray machine here is scripture. How does your idea line up with scripture? Because the will of God will never contradict the word of God. And so using this as an X ray and using wise counsel. Okay does this line up once you go through security? Okay step number four then you have to board the right plane. There's a lot of gates in the airport and you have to understand that by boarding one plane you are saying no to a bunch of others. And sometimes do you think you're going to go in one gate and then right before you board it says We're now in gate G 17 and now you have to run across the airport. I don't know why I kind of like that feeling. I know it's terrifying but you feel like you're in a movie it's the only time you feel like you're in a movie is when you're running through the airport sometimes one time no joke. I was really early for a flight but just to have some fun. I just started running like out of the way I got to get there and like people were encouraging me, you can do it. You know it's like you know like when you get on the walking escalator but you're like walking on the walking escalator. You know what I mean? You're like get out of the way you know and you're like going you're now it was awkward because some of the people I passed were also on the same flight as me. And so then I was sitting at the gate and they got there like 10 minutes later like what what are you doing And so then I just kind of kept my head down the rest of the time while I was waiting. But in reality when you have an idea there are the chances are that your flight might get delayed or it might switch gates and that's okay. But when time comes to make a decision you have to decide what gait you're gonna enter, what plane you're gonna get on and and recognize that decision making is a series of tradeoffs okay. The last one is take off, go for it, try it. You know if it's a hobby maybe you fail at it, that's okay. Mhm If it's a business okay that's a little scarier again you don't have to be passive, you don't have to be petrified. You know I don't want to just survive life. I don't want to just sit there and just hang on. I prayed a prayer when I was young and now I'm just waiting. Like no one likes waiting. No one says Oh I really hope I get stuck in traffic today unless you're a parent with young kids then it's like oh peace and quiet in the car, it's great anyway like no one says man, I really hope the doctor's office is delayed and I can just sit there. Well the same is true in the christian life sometimes we wait on the Lord but even doing so we are called to be men and women of light. We are called to love. Called to live worthy of our calling? That I don't want to sit passive on the sidelines. I don't want to be a fan in the stands. I want to jump into the game. I want to play. I want my name, name and my number called. I might drop, I might drop the pass, I might fumble the ball. But I'm in the game. You know, I want to take a risk. I want to be faith filled and faith led and take risks for God. I want my kids to see the example that you can live on. Risk for God to take courageous steps of faith. That when God gives you a desire in your heart and you run it through the filters and through wise counsel and through his word. And you check your ego and your motives that you can take off and you can go for it. I want to be a church mission grove that collectively as an organization. We go for it. And I believe that God is speaking through people right now. Well let me just we're gonna be wrapping up. But let me just identify a few barriers you might come and come across. Okay. Before Before you try to take off five things that'll keep your plane grounded. Okay five things here. Now let's walk through them criticism complaining comparing competing and contending Jon Acuff has put it this way before it's called criticism math. What do you get when you take 99 compliments and one criticism. One criticism. Right. Why do we focus on that? That is interesting. You can get all kinds of encouragement your life and someone in their passing gives a negative word or passive aggressive statement and ah and you just cling to it. That'll keep your plane grounded, complaining how we don't have this, we don't have this, we don't have this. Instead of focusing on what you don't have. What if you prayed and thank God for what you do have comparing comparison will kill every great idea. So what happens is you compare your start to somebody else's finish. It doesn't work that way. Competing. There's a healthy level of competing, but there's also a negative side. You don't have to have others losing for you to win in this game of life. You can run the race that God has called you to without tripping people along the way. And then contending goes back to that motive side of things. Alright, these five come from Stephen Covey, he wrote seven habits of highly effective people. He actually came back and wrote another book called the 8th habit. Ray said at the end, you want to help you want to find your voice and help others find theirs the same idea of living out these desires to wrap up this morning. I want to encourage you to that when things don't seem to go your way. Maybe you tried something and you get stuck. Consider just doing a 45 degree turn, Libya was delta years ago when planes used to Doc at 90°, they realized they could save billions of dollars over the course of the next couple of years By parking at 45° because when you're going at 90°, you have to back up turn it is a lot more difficult. We actually have a pilot sitting here in the room, could detail us after service. You have more interest in planes but And it's a lot harder and then also to you would block the gates when you go in. But by parking the planes at 45° it's easier to get in and get out. Well if you feel stuck in your desire, you tried something, you're working on something and it didn't work just 45 degrees. Just a quarter turn, quarter twist, keep going. Don't let one obstacle or hurdle stop you from feeling God's calling in your life because God speaks to you. But I truly believe that God also wants to speak through you and that this room for those watching online right now have something stirring up in their spirit. I'm not saying, okay, go quit your job, go do this. Maybe some of you, that's the call, but maybe someone here is getting a call. You know what I need to text my neighbor. I need to go serve the homeless this saturday. I'm gonna try to start something in my school. I'm gonna reach out to those on my team and whatever that little desire that inkling that holy spirit nudge understand this, that God is not only speaking to you, but he wants to speak through you. And if we do that collectively as a church, I honestly believe that the world will be turned upside down for the gospel and for his kingdom. And then if we are faith filled, risk taking dreamers who go out and live their lives for the gospel of the kingdom that our God cannot and will not be stopped. And if you believe in the power of his word, if you believe in the power of his spirit, he will radically change and save your life. But God isn't just saving you. He is sending you. And I believe God is trying to speak through your desires today, will you pray with me? Dear Heavenly father believe you're speaking to people watching online right now and and watching here in this room. I pray that we would listen to that, that we book our flights, decide what is something we want to try God that we would check our ego and our motives at the front. That we'd run our idea through security with wise counsel and friends and family. God that we will run our idea through the X ray machine of your word that we can board the right plane and that God, we will just go for it and we'll take off. There's nothing else to hold on to this world but you. And if we have that, then we are free to be the men and women that you have called us to thank you for speaking to us. But God also thank you for speaking through us. Mhm. What are you calling us to do today? I pray that we can respond in obedience between your sons and we pray Amen.