How To Hang Your Hat

Welcome to Tribe's podcast. Hey, we just wanna say thank you for making this message a part of your week. Our prayer is that these messages will inspire you to make the name of Jesus famous in your life and to the uttermost bounds of the earth. If you're ever in Jackson Hole, we'd love for you to visit our Tribe fam in person. To learn more about us, you can find us online or at Facebook by searching tribejh.com.

Welcome to Tribe's podcast. Hey, we just wanna say thank you for making this message a part of your week. Our prayer is that these messages will inspire you to make the name of Jesus famous in your life and to the uttermost bounds of the earth. If you're ever in Jackson Hole, we'd love for you to visit our tribe fam in person. To learn more about us, you can find us online or at Facebook by searching tribejh.com.

My mom, when I was growing up, used to always say that, I learned to run before I learned to walk, and that was just to keep up with my older brother. So if you're new here to tribe, we're running today if you can't tell by Brian just coming up here and having a word. So and, yeah, if you're new to Tribe, hi. My name is Jay. I help lead the young adults here.

And this week, I was trying to give Brian a break from speaking all the time, but he still found a way. Oh, you're sending me. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

But yeah. It's so cool what Brian and Alyssa are doing here and how they're focused on raising up leaders and making disciples. And so thank you for the opportunity to speak today. Really, really appreciate it, Brian. Okay.

So some of you guys may be familiar with the format I tried, but if you're new, again, this is not meant to be a monologue. It's not just meant to be someone up on stage just talking at you guys, it's more meant to be a conversation, a dialogue. So if you have a word, just like Brian just did, feel free to raise your hand. Lanisha is in the back there. She'll be running around the mic.

And please, please, please, I'll I'll open it up a couple different times. Make sure would love to hear from you guys. But we're in the middle of a series called did you name the series?

Hanging your hat on God's truth.

Hanging your hat on God's truth. And so Brian comes up here every week with his hat and keeps just putting them on, making it look really easy. And so when I was just asking the Lord what he'd have me speak on this week, he was like, he's like, I don't think it's quite as easy as Brian makes it look when he's just moving his hats around like so. So this week, we're gonna talk about how to hang your hat. It's not quite as easy as it seems.

So let's get into it. First things first, we all are given free will. That was that was made evident to us. In the beginning of this book in Genesis, you see Adam and Eve in the garden, and you hear God say, you are free to eat from any tree in the garden. So what this hat symbolizes is your beliefs.

So this could be my beliefs on Bigfoot as Brian puts out there. This could be my beliefs on, what team is gonna win the the Euro or cup Copa America today. And when you put it on the hook, that is saying like you are you are submitting that belief. You're like, yep. That's what I truly believe, and you're putting your trust in that belief.

That's for everybody to see. So if your hat's off there, it's maybe not decided. When you put it on there, you're like, alright. That is in fact what I believe. So God has always given us the ability to choose.

So I I have my beliefs, whatever it is about Bigfoot, and I can hang it here. I can hang it here. I could be like, oh, I I do believe in Bigfoot. I don't believe in Bigfoot. This is the reason why.

But he allows us choose and make up our minds about what we believe, whether that's to love him or to disobey him. So one of the main beliefs that you see in the garden. And so I would love to start by getting into the word. So if you have your paper bibles with you, I would love if you turn with me to Numbers 14. And Brian, I know, as well as myself, is very passionate about having a paper bible.

And so he he sometimes could be very nice and patient, but I won't hold as many punches back, and I'll let him come up and pick up the pieces. But, yeah, there is something so special about having the written word of God. Really, really encourage you guys to just feel and touch a paper Bible. Right? I I know about me.

If I was given shot a text, it could be a really sweet text. It's awesome, but if someone wrote it down in a letter and I can just feel it, seeing the time and intentionality in that, that is so so special. And that's exactly how I feel with the written word of God. Having it in a book, carrying this around with me, not as convenient, it's not as easy, the print's really small, but And

it's your sword to carry you.

There you go, Nancy. Yeah. It's your sword to carry with you. So if somebody wouldn't mind reading Numbers chapter 14 verses one through 12. If you want a popcorn, you're more than welcome to but let's get into it.

Raise your hand.

And if you don't raise your hand, Lanisha will anoint you with the mic.

Then the whole community began weeping aloud. They cried all night. Their voices rose in a great chorus of protest against Moses and Aaron. If only we had died in Egypt or even here in the wilderness, they complained. Why is the Lord taking us to this country only to have us die in battle?

Our wives and our little ones will be carried off as plunder. Wouldn't it be better for us to return to Egypt? Then they plotted against among themselves. Let's choose a new leader and go back to Egypt. Then Moses and Aaron fell face down on the ground before the whole community of Israel.

Two of the men who had explored the land, Joshua, son of Nun, and Caleb, son of Jephunah Jephunah. Okay. That was hard. Tore their clothing. They said to all the people of Israel, the land we traveled through and explored is a wonderful land.

And if the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us safely into that land and give it to us. It is a rich land flowing with milk and honey. Do not rebel against the Lord, and do not be afraid of the peep and don't be afraid of the people of the land. They're only helpless prey to us. They have no protection, but the Lord is with us.

Don't be afraid of them. But the whole community began to talk about stoning Joshua and Caleb. Then the glorious presence of the Lord appeared to all the Israelites at the tabernacle. And the Lord said to Moses, how long will these people treat me with content? Will they never believe me even after all the miraculous signs I have done among them?

I will disown them and destroy them with a plague. Then I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they are.

The word of the Lord. Thank you, Carla. So a bit of context on this passage. The Israelites have left Egypt not too long ago, and now they are kind of wandering around in the wilderness being led by Moses and Aris I mean, and Aaron, and they sent a bunch of spies out to check out the promised land, right, to go ahead and and make sure that this is in fact what God is is is promised and was telling them all about all the way before the Exodus. And two of the spies came back, Caleb and Joshua, and they said, let us go up at once and take possession for we're able to overcome it.

And then 10 out of the 12 of the spies came back and said, what God has promised about the land is true. Nevertheless, the natives of the land are too mighty, and we cannot overcome them despite what God has promised. I just think that is so interesting. And, like, I I I can understand why they feel this way. If you read just right up a couple verses in chapter 13, they're talking about the Nephilim.

So Nephilim are essentially giants. It's Goliath, if you know about Goliath. It's like a whole country of Goliath. So they were like, I don't know that this is what the the Lord really gave to us. I don't know if we can do this, essentially.

It's a little bit of the context and so I'd love just to ask you guys, what do you notice from that passage? What stands out to you? Because the lord is speaking to you guys just as much as he's speaking to me.

Well, even before she read it, what stands out to me about this whole thing is they had seen with their own eyes the miracles that god had already performed. So, how could you not trust him? Seeing what he had already done.

Right.

So, I'm going to follow-up. Verse four, and they said to one another, let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt. The it's always baffled me why they want a leader and not just to follow god. I mean, how much faith do you have if you want a man to lead you versus god to lead you and that's that's kind of troubling to me.

Right. Yeah, both both both Clay and Nancy are touching on the fact that people are in this passage presented with a lot of options, right? So, they're they're the spies are coming back. They're just informing the rest of the tribes about what's going on in the land. They're like, okay.

What are we gonna do about this? This is what I think. I don't think we can do it. I think we can do it. Some people are like, hey.

I wanna go back to Egypt. And all that all those choices that are presented, they're they're picking what to put their trust in. What Nancy was saying. Some people are like, oh, like Caleb and Joshua, they've seen all the miracles that the Lord has done already. So they're like, I'm gonna put my trust in the Lord.

He said he's gonna give us this promised land, and I believe him. Other people are reconsidering because they want a leader. They're like, I'm I'm just like you, Clay. I'm like, ugh. Like, if I was if I saw a pillar of fire and and I was following that, I I think that's pretty cool.

And I I don't think I'd have a hard time following that, but apparently, a lot of people do have a hard time following that. So we got something over here too.

And the other thing is why they want to go back

to Egypt.

Go ahead and say it right into the mic for me, Janet. Perfect.

Why would they want to go back to Egypt? They were slaves. They were oppressed.

Mhmm.

So there's nothing good about returning to Egypt. It was familiar, but they were still enslaved.

Absolutely. Right? And so that's a little bit of what we're gonna be touching on here today is is how are we deciding where to put our hat? How do we hang our hat on that truth? Whether we're looking at our circumstances of like, oh, man, like, in this wilderness, I'm I'm hungry, and I don't wanna go fight some giants.

So I'd rather go back and be a slave in Egypt where I at least knew I had some food on my plate or I had a place to to lay my head at night. So that's a little bit of the conversation that we're gonna go ahead and get into. And so when we're thinking about who or what we put our trust in, there are three main hooks that I see. There's three main options. So we we there's so many hooks on this rack about all the beliefs that we can talk about here today, but I like to boil it down to three main ones that kind of encompass all the different hooks.

Number one being your circumstances. Right? Depending on your circumstances changes maybe what you put your trust in. Number two, you can put your trust in man. So instead of being kind of a, I guess, a victim to your circumstances, you're just you're just waiting there.

You're waiting for things to happen, and you're just kind of like, alright. Well, I guess it's just destiny or it's fate. You are putting your trust in man. You're kinda taking it in your own hands. You're like, okay.

I I have a little bit of say in this. I can choose what I wanna do, or maybe I have a leader that I'm following, and I'm putting my trust in him to go ahead and follow him. And then the last one I would say, if you wanna go ahead and put some of the slides up there, Ryan, is you can trust in God. Those are the three main hooks that you can put your trust in here today as you hang up. It could be circumstances.

It could be man. It could be God. Those are the three main categories. And so touching a little bit more on your circumstances, I find that this is more of a a passive stance. Right?

You're letting things kind of happen to you. You see in this passage, they're talking about how Moses and Aaron fell on their feet in front of all the congregation. All the people were mourning. All it's kinda this, like, infectious mindset of, like, everyone just kinda goes along with each other because of what they're seeing happening around themselves. It's kind of this they're basically going off of feelings.

Right? Our feelings fluctuate. They change. They go in and out. And then number two, in man, couple of different people we can put our trust in are you might put your trust in your parents.

Right? I I love my parents. I I was blessed with an awesome family growing up. I trust my parents a lot. I I trust that they they raised me well with good values.

They they taught me how to do things. I put my trust in them or you might put your trust in your friends to be there when you're down. It could be it could be a leader. It could be your pastor at church. But at the end of the day, no one's perfect.

Right? And so it's pretty devastating to see, especially church leaders that that may fall. Right? And someone that we we love, we trust, we listen to, someone like me. And if I were to stumble, if your trust was in me, you might quickly find that your faith wasn't actually in Jesus, and those are the people that end up falling away from the church.

It's because they were putting their trust in man rather than in God, which leads me to my next one, which is what I personally think is the best hook. May not be the biggest hook, but putting your trust in God. He's all knowing. He's perfect. Romans eight thirty one says, if God is for us, who can be against us?

And so as we continue on in this conversation, I'm going to give you a real world story that happened to me in middle school to help illustrate kind of an a scenario of the choices that we are given whether we put our trust in our circumstances in man or in God. And so this story comes from when I was in middle school, and you can throw go ahead and throw the picture up there. Alright? This is me. And I know.

I know. Had to go dig in for that one. That was the first picture I ever took on an iPhone. I just got my first iPhone, and of course, what do I do? I look right at me and I take a selfie.

Right? Super cool technology. I'm probably 13 years old. And so when I was 13 year years old, I was a really big hat guy, which I thought was kinda interesting about this series. I loved hats.

And so every year on my birthday, my mom would take me to Tilly's, which was a cool store at at the time. I don't know if it's still cool. They don't even have Tilly's out here. But and for my birthday, she would let me pick out any hat that I wanted. So I take my time, and I'd find the perfect size, and I'd find this cool hat.

And whatever hat I chose, I would wear every single day for the next year until my next birthday when I got a new hat. So I was a big hat guy. I really was. I didn't have a bunch. I just had that one hat, and I always wore it.

And so when I got to middle school, so right here when I turned 13 years old, went into sixth grade, I noticed a lot of my peers were hitting puberty. They were they were growing up. They were getting bigger. They were taller. They were stronger.

And I was not among those people that hit puberty in middle school. So I stayed very short. I was like five two, well into high school, and I had this great Justin Bieber hair, which was cool at the time. You can even say I got some goofy braces on there, which, believe it or not, were actually cool at the time. Like, everybody had braces, right, so it was pretty cool.

And that was me. And so I noticed kind of as all these people were growing up and getting bigger, a lot of the other kids in my third period PE class noticed that I really cared about my hat. They're like, you wear that hat. Every day, you love that hat. And so their favorite thing to do was to take my hat and make a game out of it.

Right? So if monkey in the middle hadn't already been invented, we definitely would have pioneered it. Literally, Nina, if you wanna come up here, and Erica, you can take this hat, and it would look just like this. Erica, if wanna stand up. I would try and get after my hat, but it didn't matter what I did.

They were doing or sometimes, if you don't mind, I'm gonna try and grab the hat. It turned into a tug of war. What do you think happened when we started tugging over

the hat? Right? Yeah. You think it stays in

good shape? No good. No no good. Right? You're gonna ruin the hat.

So that was a little bit of what my third period PE class looked like for an entire year. And that was tough, each and every day going to bat over my hat. So what I'll ask you guys is how would you deal with this situation? I'm not no agenda. I'm just curious.

What how would you guys deal with this situation? You really care about this hat. Right?

Yeah. I'd take it home.

Leave it home. Right? Right? So, like, just give up. Just be, oh, I'm so sick of these kids taking my hat.

I'm gonna change something about me, which is loving hats and wearing a hat every day because I don't like my circumstances. So I'm gonna leave my hat at home. Right? What else?

What are

some other options I had?

Find a bigger friend.

Find a bigger friend to stand up for me. Yeah. There you go. There you go. And he would either guard me from them or would just hold on to my hat for me, and I I trust that it wouldn't get thrown in the dirt and stretch it out.

And

then get it ripped off my head. Say that one more time, Nancy? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Again, just like kinda like give up. Just be like, alright. Like, you guys have my hat. Better that you have my hat than me. The only issue with that one was they would love to like get it all gross and they'd throw it around and yeah.

They just wouldn't take good care of it. So I wasn't a big fan of that option because I did try. I did try it. Try not caring. What else?

Any other ideas? Take it off I go to PE, maybe leave it in my locker or something like that. That's that's actually a pretty good option. I don't know why I didn't think of that one. It's a pretty good option.

But, yeah, I was I was if I were to hang my hat on my circumstances, the reality is I was smaller. I wasn't strong enough to win my hat. I literally was too small to catch my hat as they would throw it over my head. And with that, the kind of options would be to to give up. Right?

I could either just not wear my hat, I could let them have it. I could just try and not care about my hat. I could try and change something about myself, not wear my hat. Yeah. Just let them kinda mock me.

They'd love to put my hat on and do whatever and make fun of me. But, so that was one option. It's just kinda, like, let it go and and go along with the circumstances, or I could trust in man. Right? I could trust in myself.

I could try and fight. I could do my best to try and keep my hat, and they might surprise me and still take it from me or or maybe, oh, this might be a good one. I could try and get an adult. Right? An adult will come in.

Adult will will give them a good finger wag and and make them give my give them give me my hat back. Couple different people I could trust in. Or what just dawned on me as I was writing this, I could have put my trust in God, which at the time didn't seem like an option. But I could have asked, Lord, what do you want me to see in this situation? What do you want me to do or get out of this situation?

How do I what does it look like for me to trust in the Lord and hang my hat on my beliefs of like, you know what, Lord? I want what you want. I'm gonna put my trust in you even though I know what I want, whether it's to have the hat or not have the hat. I'm gonna trust in you, Lord, rather than this. That never dawned on me.

And so we're gonna get into it now. We're gonna go over three steps to hang your hat. Alright? So how to do it? Number one, you gotta get your hat back.

Right? If you don't have a hat, there's nothing for you to hang. So number one, you gotta get your hat back. Number two, find where to hang it. Right?

There's all these different hooks. So many choices to choose from. So once I have my hat, I gotta figure out where am I actually gonna put it. And then number three, you gotta hang your hat. You actually need to do the work of putting it up and hanging it up just like so.

So we're gonna walk through that really quick. Number one, get your hat back. So in middle school at the time, I probably when I would say, how do you get your hat back? I probably would have given you the typical middle schooler, maybe even high schooler response of anybody know it? I don't know.

Right? I don't know. Like, how was your day? I don't know. Did you do anything cool today?

I don't know. Yeah. Right? And it's like our favorite response. And so that's probably what I would have told you at the time.

What are some other ideas about how I would get my hat back? Erica? Lenny, she's running the mic. Up to you.

I'd probably be sneaky and take something of theirs. Oh. And then I'm like, well, if you want it back, you gotta give me my hat back.

Oh, yeah. Two two can play this game. Right? Yeah. There you go.

That's a great idea. And so what I'd love for us to start to do is to connect the dots from my from my middle school story to this sermon of thinking about, k. All of the beliefs in my life, what am I think about those three hooks that I presented. Your circumstances, man, and God. What are you putting your trust in?

What does that look like getting your hat back with your life of okay. What what are you trusting in to get your hat back? Any other ideas? Authority. Authority.

Right? Yeah. I talked about getting a teacher or something like that. Some some with authority helped me get my hat back. B, did you have something?

Your mom. Yeah. Mom.

If you're, like, thinking of, like, the transition between coming from, like, a worldly point of view to, like, god's point of view starting somewhere new which would be like the Bible getting to know your word because I feel like you wouldn't know if your beliefs are necessarily misplaced. If you're not look looking to a new source because if you're just living the same old life, you're like, you know, I don't know. If you are starting somewhere new and, like, I wanna find where this belief should be hung, you know, in the Bible, so starting somewhere new.

And so maybe to paint it in a little bit of a different picture or to connect some of the dots for you guys. Thinking about those kids taking my hat and throwing it back and forth, that hat represents my beliefs. Right? I'm fighting for my beliefs. People are trying to dictate my beliefs for me by taking it, by putting in places that I don't want it to be.

They're doing other things with my hat that I don't want. So thinking about fighting to get my hat back, I want you guys to introspectively look at yourselves and look at your life and say, where is my hat? Because I can't hang my hat on anything if I don't even know where it is. So that's the action of getting our beliefs back. So to do that, I want you guys to focus.

So get your mind right. When the Israelites are out in the wilderness and they are they're tired, they're hungry, they're cold, or like us with this heat wave, we're hot, and so we're we're angry. We're not really necessarily thinking about our beliefs. We might not be thinking as critically as we can. I know last night when I'm super tired, I'm trying to get a bunch of work done, I'm not thinking straight.

I'm not necessarily introspectively thinking about what I do and don't believe. And it's so important for us to to realize that the world that we live in today is constantly vying and fighting for our attention, fighting for our beliefs. They are trying to whether you're scrolling on social media and what they're feeding you or if you're staring at the news, whatever they're just telling you and and and not forcing you to believe, but the more we watch that, the more it shapes what we do believe. Where we do put our hat is shaped by all of our external kinda stimuli. And so I want you guys to be sober minded as we get our hat back.

Think about, okay. Like, if I'm only staring at the news, if I'm only getting one perspective, am I really forming my own opinion, or am I just listening to what I'm being told? If I'm getting intoxicated all the time, I literally cannot think straight. It is so important to be sober minded as we think and focus. Colossians three two says, set your mind on the things above, not on the things of this earth.

So rather than, like, chasing after my guys and and and playing their game and and and trying to play monkey in the middle, I set my mind on things above. So the question I wish I would've asked in middle school would've been, Lord, what do you want me to do about my hat? Where do you want me to put my hat? You don't have to play their game. You do not have to play their game.

I was so busy and focused on chasing down my hat that I forgot that I got to decide what to do about my hat. I felt like I was such a victim to my circumstances. These guys just kept taking my hat and throwing it and doing whatever they wanted with it that I forgot that I got I had a decision. I did not have to chase after them. I did not have to wear my hat to school.

I could have left it in my locker. I could've gotten a a bigger, badder friend to stand up for me, or I could've gotten an adult and authority someone in authority to stand up for me. I forgot that I was in control of my own thoughts and beliefs. So I wanna invite you guys today, as we think about what to do with our beliefs, realize that you are in control, that God has given us the opportunity to choose what we believe for ourselves. So stop just listening to whatever is being put out there, whether it's your it's a popular opinion from your friends at school, or it's what we see on TV, or what the influencers are doing on Instagram.

Right? Form your own opinion. Matthew six thirty three says, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. I like to think that if I would have surrendered to God in that third in third period, that he would have added all things unto me. Maybe my mom would have got me a new hat.

Maybe I I have no idea what he would have done. If I just would have had a heart posture of surrendering to him rather than chasing after my hat and trying to fight my circumstances, I'm I'm just so curious what he would have done. So that moves me into number two. Where do I hang my hat? So we've gotten our our hat back.

We're we're focused. I'm setting my mind on the things above. I'm looking at my beliefs. Now I need to figure out, k. What am I actually gonna gonna believe in?

You can go ahead to the next slide. Where am I gonna hang my hat? Right? Okay. So number one, let's evaluate our hooks.

I got all these different options here. K? So many different options. Brian always says, eat the meat and spit out the bones. So as we are going through here, I may hang my hat on my soccer team from middle school, and I had a great coach.

He was awesome. He was a great mentor figure, and he taught me a lot of things. But he also lived a pretty wicked lifestyle. Does that mean that I should put all my trust in him? Maybe not.

Does that mean that everything he taught me was bad? Also, no. So is that necessarily the hook that I want to put my hat on? It was on there when I was in middle school. And so what I'm inviting us to do now that we have our hat is I want you to look at each and every one of these hooks in your lives.

Okay. I had my hats on all these different hooks. I'm not saying you should throw away your coat rack and take everything off all at once, but I'm inviting you to really evaluate and inspect each hook for what it is. Eat the meat, spit out the bones. Take what was good and leave behind what was bad.

And so wanna invite you guys to look at the Jesus hook. Right? This is my favorite hook. There are so many hooks that we're talking about in this series, and Brian already spoke on it a little bit, but one of these hooks is the Jesus hook. And it's no surprise, but it's it's my personal favorite.

And so as I look at what's going on with our country and the candidates that are running and whether they're getting shot at or not, I decide, Lord, I surrender my my beliefs about politics, about this country, and I and I choose to trust you, Lord. So I place my beliefs on the Jesus hook in regards to the country, and I I look at the my job and the things that I own and whether I'm able to put food on the table or make rent this month or I have a car and it needs maintenance that I can't afford, Lord. And I I could hang my hat anywhere. I could I could ask my parents for for help with finances, or I could I could just allow my car to be running to the ground or but instead, I still really love that Jesus hook. So I'm gonna say, Lord, I surrender my finances to you.

I trust you with everything that I have. And notice I'm I'm doubling up. I'm I'm putting two hats on that Jesus hook. Right? Look at my church.

I asked the Lord, alright, Lord. I came to Jackson for you, and you gave me a good church home. And I miss my family, and it's expensive to live here. So Neenah and I lived in a van for a number of years, and it was brutal. But the Lord said he said, I want you to try.

And so I surrendered my my thoughts and beliefs and my wants and desires to the lord with my spiritual life and where I go to church. And then where to live. Right? So many places we could live. This one might be one of the easiest ones to to hang on the hook, but I could I could hang it on.

Oh, I wanna live in Jackson because the climbing is rad. Right? Or I wanna live in Jackson because that's what all the cool skiers are doing. Wanna ski and start at one of the most epic mountains in the world. Right?

I could put my trust in in so many different things, my job, whatever. But instead, even with where I live and what I'm doing in this valley, I say, Lord, I surrender that to you. I trust you. Oops. And then the the hook notice the hook didn't fall off.

My hats fell off. It's a good, and dependable hook, that Jesus hook. It can hold everything. Everything. So find that Jesus hook for you and your life.

He says in John fourteen six, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Right? There's so much good on some of these other hooks, and there's lot of bad hooks. Don't get me wrong. There's lot of bad hooks hooks where I can hang my hat.

But Jesus says, I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. In John eight verses 31 through 32, he says, if you abide in my word and you are truly my disciples, you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. So instead of looking at all these hooks and being intimidated by all the different options that you have, whether or not you feel like you have a lot of options, I think there's only one option that you should really consider.

Find where that Jesus hook is, and whatever it is, align your mind and your heart with that Jesus hook. That is where you should put your trust in today. Number three, hang your hat. Right? So I can I can have all my hats, all these different beliefs?

Right? It's kinda looks like Chris Baxter. No. Shiloh Buff. And you might know the meme that that's from, but it's from he's like, just do it.

Oh, I love that meme. It's so good. But it doesn't matter all these different beliefs you might have or hold if they're number one, if you don't have your hat because they're not your own beliefs. Number two, if you're holding on to your beliefs, if you don't actually put any weight on them, do they really have any impact? Do they really do anything to your life if you're just like, well, rather than having my own opinion, I'm just gonna say, I don't know about everything.

Right? How are you ever gonna make any decisions about your life, about your job, about your friends? Right? If you don't have any beliefs that you actually commit to. I love living an active lifestyle.

So I wanna I wanna make friends with people that are gonna encourage me to to run my first marathon. So you might wanna oh, where where do I put that? Still, I'm gonna put it back on the Jesus hook. But I'm going to need to hang that hat there if I'm gonna walk out my beliefs. So don't be afraid to hang your hat.

I find that when there's so many everything seems controversial today. Nina loves to look over my notes or anything when I'm ever speaking because she is so good at picking out all the politically incorrect things that I I had written or whatever. She's like, oh, don't say this. Oh, don't say that. Make sure this because she's she's so dialed on that, and I love her for it.

But I'm like, man, like, I feel like I can't say anything without offending or hurting someone's feelings. Right? I can't express my own beliefs. I can't actually commit to something because it would hurt somebody's feelings. And so it's real like like, don't get me wrong.

I understand that it could be scary to hang your hat on something, but I'd invite you to look at Proverbs three, five, and six. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him, and he will make your path straight. So rather than me being paralyzed like, oh my gosh, Lord.

I I'm I'm not an expert in this field and I and I I haven't read the whole Bible for myself and I didn't go to seminary so I don't know what to do or I feel insecure in my job like, oh, like, trust the lord with your beliefs and your opinions. He will make your path straight. In second Corinthians chapter 13 verse five, examine yourselves to see whether you are living in faith. Test yourselves. Do not realize do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you unless indeed you fail the test?

When when we got saved, you invited the Holy Spirit to live inside you. That's what's going on when Brian's coming up here and speaking, as God is speaking to him, and he is just being a vessel, letting that out here. Instead of being paralyzed, thinking that that it's all up to you and that this is the most important decision of your life, trust that God is with you. He will not leave. He will not forsake you.

If you are truly seeking after him, he will make your paths straight. So current in that second Corinthians verse says, examine yourself. See whether or not you're living in your faith. Because I might be trying to go over this Jesus hook, but when I'm presented with the Lord's given Nina and I a lot of favor in one of our side hustles, we've been given an opportunity to do something that maybe compromised our beliefs. And so even though it's maybe even a lucrative opportunity and I see how the Lord's providing for our family, I end up trusting and following the money rather than following the Lord and what he wants for our lives.

So I'd compromise on our beliefs to take a lucrative kind of business opportunity. And so it's so important to examine all of your ways. Look at your life. Really understand. Okay, Lord.

Is this am I actually seeking after you and trusting in you, or am I trusting or am I trying and am I missing the hook just by a little bit? Really examine yourselves as you do that and trust that the Holy Spirit is going to make your path straight. If you know where the Jesus hook is, what's stopping you from putting all your hats on the same one? Right? Rather than spreading out all your hats all over, it's really really scary to manage, and it's really stressful.

Right? Because they're they're moving around. They're flying around. You've seen me doing it this whole time. Why not hang all of your hats there?

In Matthew chapter seven verses 24 through 25, it says, everyone who hears the words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on the house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock. All of these other hooks, whether it's your circumstances, you feel financially secure in your job or whatever, or you've had a mentor that's walked you through a lot of life, taught you a lot of things, it's awesome, All of these other hooks, at one day, time, or another, as the wind is blowing and the rains are beating down, every single one of these hooks will fail. Every single one will fail you, except the Jesus hook. Psalm 34 verses eight through 10 says, taste and see that the Lord is good.

Blessed is the man who trusts in him. Fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing. The young lions lack and suffer hunger, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. I don't know about y'all, but I'm putting all of my trust in this Jesus hook. I'm putting all my eggs in this basket right here because I know I've tried I've tried the other hooks, and they fail me every single time.

Every single time I find myself falling into sin. But when I when I get my hat and I look for that Jesus hook, you've gotta find it. It's not always the biggest hook. Right? Brian's been talking to us about the the principle of the biggest hook.

Society will give us some big, shiny belief, popular yeah. Belief that every everyone's hanging their hat on there. Right? Oh, that that hook? I like, I I could hang a billion hats on that hook.

It looks so good. Right? Like, that's what all the successful people are doing. That's what all the people that are happy. That's what I see them doing.

Right? The Jesus that comes from a tiny little town in Bethlehem It's a carpenter. It's not always the biggest, the shiniest. It's not always obvious. You gotta look for that Jesus hook, and then you gotta hang your hat on that Jesus hook.

And so as I start to land the plane, as Brian would say, the story and message today you can go ahead and go to the next slide, Ryan. Was never about the hats. Never about the hats. The bullies in my middle school PE class, they wanted to terrorize me. They wanted to be entertained by me, and they got to me by taking my hat.

That's how the enemy gets to us. He plays around with our beliefs. He tugs on what we think, what our peers think. And that's what gets down to our heart. That's how they steal our heart away.

I think of the Pharisees in scripture. They were so paralyzed by their beliefs. They were so focused on the hat. They were just staring like, oh, well, like, what I know about the Torah and what I read in this law, they were blinded by their hat that they literally they couldn't see the very their very own messiah right in front of them. They were so focused on the hat that they forgot that it's really about your heart.

And I see that today in in the modern day church. I see it today between believers. We get so focused on our having the the the correct and the perfect theological position that we argue over. Oh oh, this or that or predestination or free will or or Israel or not Israel or or whatever we argue about. We get so fixated on having the correct belief that we forget that this entire gospel message that Jesus is after our heart.

Because if if the criteria for for us to be saved and us to go to heaven is having all of our hats on the perfect hooks and having all the correct and perfect theological beliefs. I'm sorry but I don't think any of us are going to make it. We are saved by grace through faith and that's what I'm talking about. Do not be paralyzed as the Pharisees were as you look where to hang your hat. Trust that the Holy Spirit and that what Jesus came and did for us on the cross.

Trust that he's going to guide us to find that Jesus hook. To find our hat wherever our hat may be. And he's going to help us to hang it on this hook. As long as we're willing. Ephesians chapter two verses eight through 10 say, for by grace you have been saved through faith.

And that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, or I like to add this part, or perfect theological beliefs, lest anyone should boast. There is nothing that I can do or talk about, no belief that I can hold that gets me into heaven, that saves me. Aside from putting your trust in Jesus. So today, as we leave, I want you guys to get your hat.

Wherever it is, if you found your hat taken away from some bully or your circumstances that might be blinding you, focus Realize it's not about the hat. It was never about the hat. Get your hat wherever it is. Pick it up out of the dirt, stretched out, whatever it is. Figure out where it's supposed to go.

And hang it there. Do you love Jesus? Do you trust him? Do you trust him with everything? Or just with some things?

Do you trust him with your future? Do you trust him with your finances? Do you trust him with the elections coming up? And with our country and our nation. Do you trust that he's in control?

Glad you have some.

Think the focus is so important When I was going through the cancer treatment, the one thing that I found that I had a lot of time and I would listen to a lot of podcast and things like that and what I realized is that so much of my life had been wanting to give a little bit to Jesus but not everything. I would look for when I would go on YouTube looking for a sermon or something. I always look for the shortest thing that they had and now, in the mornings, I find a, I don't care. I just tell god, show me what you want to show me today and when it comes up, I don't look at how much time it takes. Just get through it and most of the time, 99 times out of 100, I don't want it to end.

We are not of this world. So, stop putting all your time in things of this world. I used to look at for music, for sports, for politics. Those aren't important. We need to be seeking Jesus 100 and if you want to be your best, then be your best for Jesus.

I I forget who who says this but yeah, right, Lanisha right up up here as well But anything that isn't eternal is eternally worthless. Do we

know who said that? CS Lewis.

Any other hook that you're putting your trust in will fail.

Ashes.

I hope I can share this clearly but I got this vision. We were worshiping but I just feel like the lord gave me a word. This week was my birthday and birthdays are really hard for me and so you're talking about beliefs and it just got me thinking I mean, I just turned 48 and when I was 12, I got saved and filled with the spirit and the lord just lavished his love on me and said, though your mother and father forsake you, I, the lord, will not and so, I was not loved well and my birthdays weren't celebrated. So, this year, the lord takes me away and he he loves on me and he fills me with how he created and anyway, so I was having a beautiful time walking along the water and there was a waterfall and it was going through the rocks. So, bear with me guys.

This is. Oh, I'm talking about beliefs and last year at Tribe, Lee gave me a word. Well, he gave the body a word but it was definitely for me and he said, the lord is like putting a water hose into your brain and I love the brain. It fascinates me how the lord has designed it and heals it and Lee said, the lord is putting a water hose in your in your mind and he wants to wash away the lies of the enemy. And he wants to flush it with truth and that changed my life that day because when I got saved at 12, I also was given a thorn in the flesh that I just got delivered of this year.

And and it started when we was saying that word of god flushing my and bringing, flushing me with living water and the new pathways of my brain and he said, you're going to have to walk it out. You're going to have to stand in the truth. You're going to have to speak it over yourself. So, I've been doing that all year and he's changed my life and this year, when I saw the waterfall and it was going through all the rocks, the lord said, let me fill you up and as I do, I'm gonna wash out the debris of the lies the enemy has stuck in you because my parents, that happened when I was a kid. Even though I got saved at 12 and had my new life at 48, I'm still sad that my parents aren't celebrating me.

That's stupid, right? But but I had to remind myself like the Israelites, they saw the miracles of god. Yet, in their circumstance, a feeling unloved and forgotten, they forgot, right? And they wanted to die and that's where I would go. I just wanna die.

I can't do this anymore, Lord. It's too hard. And so it just all tied together to me that it's our beliefs and I felt like the lord said, this is for you guys too. So, he gave it to me but as you worship, Lisa, I just feel like he wants to pour his living water through our minds and refresh and and wash out the lies the enemy has lied to us about our beliefs that we've gotten since we were 13 and been bullied and made fun of. He wants to wash away the lies and he can tell us today what his truth is about us.

I don't know if you

guys have these in your seventh grade middle school science classes but they had the like or even high school like that emergency like water eye station. If you got some chemicals in your eyes or whatever and you literally just like lean over and just get blasted by these like faucets or whatever right in your eyes. And I just I just I just feel that over our beliefs today. It is not comfortable. You think about how it feels to get shampoo in your eye?

Just getting blasted straight water to the eyes. Lord, help us to see clearly. Help us to see our beliefs for what they really are. Help us to take the log out of our own eyes before pointing out the speck in others, Lord. Wash us, make us clean.

We pray the prayer of Solomon, Lord. Give us wisdom. Help us to know and help us to find you that Jesus hook, that firm foundation. Help us to walk the straight and the narrow.

How about we just invite him just with your eyes closed? Just invite him just like Julie said just to come and wash. Whatever those lies, maybe there's areas where you've hung your hat that he needs to just wash clean and we need to start with a clean slate and ask him, okay, lord. I surrender this area, this thought to you today. Just let him pour out his spirit.

Just wash your mind today.

Led the Israelites into the promised land He gave them a choice just like god gives us the choice. In chapter 24 verse 15, he says, but if serving the lord seems undesirable to you, then choose yourselves. Choose yourselves this day whom you will serve. Whether your gods, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates or the gods of the Amorites in the land that you were living, Your old life or or those other friends that you think are cooler than the ones that are at church? Choose choose who who you want to serve.

He's not going to force you. But then he says, but as for me and for my house, we will serve the Lord.

Would you please stand up? Would it be alright if I prayed over you? Don't forget, there's prayer in the back. I hope you have an amazing eye blasting Jesus hat, hook, hanging, incredible week here in Jackson whether you live here or you are just passing through. Lord Jesus, I pray for my tribe family and I command a blessing over their life, Lord.

Reveal yourself in new and astonishing and incredible ways. That you are the most worthy hook that we could hang any of our beliefs on. Yes. That you are trustworthy. And father, according to New Testament, I can't remember if it's first or second Timothy.

We are admonished to pray for all different kinds of people including those in leadership over us. Father, we pray for our government leaders and the institution of our government. Jesus, to the extent that we have turned our back on you, god, I ask that we would turn again towards you, that our nation would repent and seek your face, lord. We trust you. We trust you.

We trust you. We pray for the safety and prosperity of all of our leaders, Lord. We pray these things in Jesus' name, the strong son of god and everybody said, amen. I love you guys so very much. Have a great week and remember Ryan, you got this.