The Danger of Dullness

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.

Alright. Good morning. Good morning. Good to see y'all. So glad that you're here.

It's nice little reprieve from the summer heat to get a little bit of rain cool things off. I'm so glad that you guys are here this morning. We have we have a great conversation in store this morning but I want to go in order and let's start off by if you're if you are not familiar with what's going on in the news I mean not only is our The United States hosting an incredible World Cup this year people are falling in love with America from all over the countries you can't believe you can't believe everything that you read in the media because we really have as imperfect as it is, we have a pretty amazing country. Wow. I didn't yeah.

Guys, easy. Fourth of July is next weekend. Easy. It's easy easy easy. We are very blessed to be to live in this country and our neighbors to the south are currently experience and a few other countries around the world are experiencing like insane tragedy with the earthquakes that are going on and so I just want us to take a moment and to consider all of the blessings that we have here in The United States and pray for victims and families, the country of Venezuela, they have had quite a year and a verse that came to my mind is Psalms 18.

In Psalms 18 in my own personal you don't need to turn there, but in my own personal notes, I wrote in my bible. This is the song of Jesus in the grave. And in Psalms 18 verse six, the psalmist says this, but in my distress I cried out to the Lord. Yes. I prayed to my God for help and he heard me from his sanctuary.

My cry to him reached his ears and while there are rescue teams flooding in from across Venezuela around the world including The United States, that are looking for survivors, we want to stand with them and ask the Lord that he would hear the cry of those who are trapped and need to get out. We pray that the Lord would hear the cries of those who are grieving the loss. We pray that the Lord would hear the cry of those who have friends and family members unaccounted for. And so let's let's join our faith together as we pray for them this morning and I'm gonna be still for just a moment. Lord we pray Psalms 18 verse six over the country of Venezuela and other countries around the world that have an experienced in this weird earthquake event around the world.

Lord, hear their cries. Hear the cries of the survivors trapped under rubble. Hear the cries of mothers and fathers grieving for their children. Hear the cries of husbands and wives that are are looking for their children, for children that don't know where their parents are, friend and family and loved ones, Lord. We respectfully and humbly hold you to your word.

Hear their cries. Have mercy. Stretch out your hand with signs and wonders and incredible miracles. Spare the lives of those Give wisdom and great favor to rescuers humans and canines alike And Lord, you did not inflict or cause this tragedy because you're a good God. But God, we ask that these tragic events in Venezuela and around the world would be used as a catalyst for a national turning to you.

In Jesus' name, said Amen. There's a connect card in your seat if you're new or visiting and or you would like to be added to our tribe text blast, you can fill that out. Either leave it in the seat or back behind Shay there, there's a wooden box and you can put it in that little wooden box as you leave and each week that we have been in a series of conversations that we are in, I tried to condense the review to bring you up to speed. And so this is week seven and so we could spend the entire conversation this morning on the review. And so if it feels like for the next few minutes that you're drinking water out of a fire hose, probably the best thing to do would either be take a picture as we move along or to go back and listen to the other weeks that we've been in this conversation.

And so we have been in a conversation called work smarter, not harder. And we have been looking at some really important words that I believe tend to get mixed and matched and used interchangeably. And while they sound great in the moment by the by the speaker, I think that oftentimes we step away from the great podcast or the great sermon that we've heard, and we tend to think about, okay, well, they they they had they shined light on this aspect, but I thought that this meant this so what we've done is we've slowed down and we've taken some time to untangle some really important words that define who we are as a a a person. And to give a really quick lightning fast review we first started by talking about our identity and our identity answers the question who am I and then the next week we talked about our calling. Our calling answers the question what was I born to do and to accomplish our calling we then talked about our gifts and talents and a talent is what I can do.

Something that you have a knack for. Something that comes easier to you than it may does to others. But what about a gift? Well, a gift is what God can do through me. Using that talent or that knack when he puts his super on our natural, now we've got a gift.

And then the week that Lissa spoke, Lissa talked about how one small step of obedience can unlock God's big purpose for our lives. And then last week we talked about our occupation. Our occupation is how I make a living and that has changed probably numerous times over the years perhaps in the same field sometimes in completely different fields but our occupation is how I make a living. Our ministry is how I make a difference. And sometimes with the person that's sitting in this chair or standing on the stage, sometimes you get to see those things that overlap.

And I think it skews our perspective of those who have a ministry versus those who have an occupation. And Jesus, the early disciples and the writers of the New Testament, Paul never ever ever intended for there to be a perception in our mind that some of us have a ministry and the rest of us all have an occupation. We all have an occupation or at least you better have that J O B and we all have an invitation to ministry. Well wait a minute I'm so busy working I can't ask the Lord to open your eyes. He probably has uniquely strategically placed you in the job that you currently loathe and talk trash about for a incredible ministry assignment.

And so quit grumbling and complaining about your boss. Quit grumbling and complaining about your job and the unsafe work conditions and the unfair hour. Whatever it is, I mean, cry out to the Lord. Psalms 18, we just read it. But what if he has you in that job that you're in with that coworker that just drives you up the wall for a specific ministry assignment.

You know there's no test. Great. I'm still on the review that I said I was gonna go through lightning fast, but you know that there are no tests that the Lord gives you that you can fail. Say that again. There are no tests that the Lord gives you that you can fail.

Somebody say, but where's the catch, Brian? Where's the catch, Brian? You may have to take the test again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again. But then when you finally surrender to the lord, wake up, submit to him, and you pass the test, the lord goes, hey. Hey.

Look at that. You did it. He doesn't care. He he cares enough about you and the development of your character that he will allow you to take the same test over and over and over until you learn what it is that he wants you to learn. You know that that incredibly deep saying wherever you go, there you are.

And what I have seen, especially in my life, is that if I am in a difficult, awkward, stretchy, growy situation and I'm like la la la la la la and I run. I love to run like physically and like away from it. The Lord will just be like, okay, man. And then he'll take almost the exact same similar circumstances and he'll just place them right at the spot where I stop running and get tired and be like, alright, I think I've gone far enough now I'm in a new situate and there it is again. Just like Israel leads them to the promised land.

They're right on the border and they they failed that test of trusting the Lord crossing into the promised land. We looked like grasshoppers in their eyes and God's like alright well let's just go take a couple of laps. And so maybe in that job that you're in there is a ministry moment waiting to happen and here's what's really cool. I have found that when you identify that ministry moment or when you submit, you surrender, when you learn from what the Lord has for you in that position, let's just say it's difficulty with a person and you learn what it is that the Lord has for you to learn, I have seen that person just poof out of the equation after you've learned the lesson. Maybe maybe they're fired, maybe they were transferred, maybe they got a promotion up and out and or I have literally seen in my life and in others you just get promoted up and around them.

But you get to take those lessons with you. I don't know why we're on that rabbit trail for so long was that for anybody? Don't you don't need to raise your hand just answer yes in your heart. Okay? So I said this I don't know if this is in here but I said this last week don't let your means did I say is this slide in there?

Don't okay. Don't don't let the mundane cloud your ministry. Yeah? Okay. This morning, if you have your bible with you, let's turn to Judges chapter eight.

Since we've been in this series of conversations, we have we started in the book of Judges with the story of Gideon and I thought that the story of Gideon, in all honestly, was only going to last about one week, and then we would move on. But the Lord's just like, hey. Look at this part of Gideon's life. Look at this part. Look what he's been through here.

And so let's just land the plane with some consistency in this series by going back to Judges one more time, and we're going to read one passage in Judges chapter eight verse 28. So this is where we're starting today. One last verse, Judges chapter eight verse 28. It's one verse and I'll go ahead and read it this morning. And this is a story of how the people of Israel defeated Midian which never recovered Throughout the rest of Gideon's lifetime, about forty years, there was peace in the land.

And so of all that we've read about Gideon over the last couple of weeks, I figure this verse right here is the best place to scripturally tie a bow on the series. Now we need to be honest with ourselves and the text That if you were to read the entire story of Gideon, especially what he what unfolds, what plays out after verse 28, I'll give you a little teaser. He's actually quite human and imperfect just like the rest of us. And I invite you to go and read all of the story of Gideon and see if the Lord doesn't highlight aspects of that story to see yourself in there. But for the purpose of our journey, this verse is going to bring us back to the trailhead.

I'll read it one more time. Judges eight verse 28. And that is a story of how the people of Israel defeated Midian, which never recovered. Throughout the rest of Gideon's lifetime, about forty years, there was peace in the land. And so Gideon understood his identity.

He understood his calling. He utilized gifts and talents, and we saw that his occupation was that of a lowly humble baker. Reasonably, we can conclude that from the text. And his ministry was not to his ministry was not to be a leader of Israel. His ministry was not to to be the the commander of the army.

He had a ministry to developing men into leaders. And at each step along the way, we can see how Gideon wrestled with fear and doubt, how he had great success, and how he messed up and biffed it and blew it at times. But I love how the Lord used Gideon's life as an example for us so that we can get some things right and we can avoid confusion in other areas. And that's really what I wanna talk about. If you're taking notes this morning, you can write at the top of your notes the title of our conversation which we'll put up here.

This is work smarter, not harder, week seven wrap up. The danger of dullness. The danger of dullness. And to remind you, remember we said that in first in first Kings, it talks about how the Sidonians had a reputation of being master woodcutters. Well, you can't have a reputation of being an expert lumberjack if you don't have a sharp axe.

And we talked about how God has given us tools. When those tools are used in the spirit surrendered to the Lord at his leadership, it is like using a sharp axe. When we use those same gifts and talents and and when we try to approach ministry, when we do it from the flesh, from our own self effort, with our own motivation, it's like the same axe, but it's really dull. Now this is a rhetorical question, but I would like everyone to participate. How many of you would like to live your life as a dull axe?

How many of you would like to live your life as a sharp axe being really effective? Yes. That's all of us. Chop. Chop.

Chop. So today, as we land the plane, what I wanna do is to talk about some common confusion that happens around these words and the the approach that we take to life. Okay? And so I first want to address identity confusion. People suffer from identity confusion when they begin to think that any one ideology is their identity.

People have identity confusion when they begin to confuse their sexuality with their identity. Your sexuality is a part of who you are, but it is a small part of who you are and was never intended by God's design to be the dominant front facing feature of your personhood. There's the danger of confusing your identity with your nationality. As long as it's in its right place. Right?

As long as your sexuality is in its right place. Great. Celebrate your sexuality. But it's not your identity. Nor is it fair for you to demand from others that your sexuality, which makes up a small part of your total personhood, be the dominant feature of your personality or even your identity.

What about confusing your identity with politics? Is your identity wrapped up in a party or a particular issue. Oftentimes, confusing our identity when it gets confused with other things it can result in a victimhood mentality. What about confusing your identity with failure? I am what I did.

In Jesus name that does not define you. Could anybody else say amen? Amen. I am not defined by my failures. I may try to at times define myself by my failures.

I may allow the world to define me by my failures, and that old dirty devil would certainly try to define us by our failures because he knows.

And that goes right along with our past.

And that goes right along with our past. Your past is not your identity. Thoughts or questions about that? Clay? Slow.

Why are you so slow?

I don't know if this goes along with what you're preaching today, but I know in Genesis forty six ten, I believe it is, it's like be still and know that I am God. My problem is that I jump in the fire quickly, sit there for a minute and go, it's hot. I need to get out. And I don't wait on God. And I I think I'm definitely guilty of this, but I think a lot of people are that it's one thing to, you know, follow God's lead, but it's another thing to make the mistake first and then choose later to follow?

Sure. Well, one of the remarkable things about humans regardless of our age is our remarkable ability for our brains to continue learning and adapting. And so we'll pray that you continue to learn and adapt and that and that you would and apparently for Nancy too. I have no comeback. So And for me too.

And for me too.

And I wanna share too that in our identity for so many years, I felt less because I didn't go to college. I went straight to work. And I would let that belittle me in my mind that I was not as good as somebody else.

Sure, sure.

That my identity should have been a college graduate and gone on to be a doctor, lawyer, Indian chief or something. But I know that God has me right where he wants me, that my journeys have he's been right beside me through all of it. And I'm at a place now, you know, there's so many educated idiots walking around in this world that I feel pretty good about myself, you know?

Amazing.

But I did allow that to identify who I thought I was, and I I think it held me back, believe it or not.

For for many years, me as well. I didn't go to college until I was 35, but I knew what I was going to college for when I did. But for all of those years, there was this lie of the enemy that would try to tell me that my identity is tied to my education. And when our identity gets wrapped up in any of those things that we just mentioned, not only is victimhood tend to be our default response, it's somebody else's fault. The the the government, the the Democrats, the Republicans, The United States, the world, this whatever, whoever, my parents, whoever you wanna blame, This victimhood mentality tends to come stem from a false sense, a misplaced sense of identity that results in victimhood.

Now I got a lot more toes to step on, so let's keep going. What happens when you have a calling confusion? People get drawn into causes that are out of balance with God's kingdom. Out of balance and identity oh, thank you. Kai's got my back today.

That was really good. Can I I wanna say that for the people that listen on the livestream? Identity confusion produces culture wars. That's where a lot of culture wars come from. Okay.

Calling confusion if I haven't just confused you. People get drawn into causes that are out of balance with God's kingdom. I'm not saying that these things are bad, but our calling gets tangled up and confused when we make a disproportionate deal out of these things. Environmentalism. I just put as the second example, ice protesting.

Immigration, not the cold frozen water stuff. I'm not saying that protesting ice is bad. I'm not saying that environmental environmentalism is bad. I'm not saying it's bad at all. But when it gets out of balance and you believe that that is your calling, you are and you may not even know it wrestling with your calling confusion resulting in a dull tool.

Let me say this about your calling. If you don't know what your calling is, here's a hint, a big clue if I could if you've been spun around, round and around and around and your shoulders stop, you say go in this direction, let me stop your shoulders and at least send you off in one big cardinal direction. Your calling will always involve caring for and tending God's most precious possession, which is what? People. If you have a passion for protecting the environment, fantastic.

How does the environment relate to people and the needs of people. How does it impact people? People. People. People.

If you feel like you have a calling for protesting ICE, fantastic. How does that relate to helping people? And I think you could probably connect a couple of dots about how that potentially could be very helpful to people, potentially. Calling confusion produce it's hello. Brian calling.

What's crazy is I've like, I have all these great statements, but they're not in my notes, so I put alright. Here we go. Calling confusion produces ideological extremism. If your calling is not rooted in a relationship with the Lord, your heartstrings get pulled by these things that if they're not in their proper place are really just a distraction. And you end up doing and saying some really out of balance cuckoo things because you're because you're you're using a dull axe, and so you're swinging harder and harder and harder and more fervently and this I do have in my notes.

Calling confusion can lead to idolatry. You know anybody that worships the environment or environmentalism? You know anybody that worship just fill in the blank. Calling confusion can result in idolatry. Calling confusion produces ideological extremism.

Wanna keep going? You got you got at least eight more toes for me to step on. How about talent confusion? Your worth in God's eye is not tied to your talent. Your talent can become your identity.

But what happens when that rug gets pulled out from under you? What if your surgeon hands after an incredible career as a surgeon, hands just don't have the same ability to articulate like they used to. Just your earth suit's wearing out. What if you're if you have talent confusion and that talent for whatever reason maybe an injury, maybe I don't whatever. For whatever reason.

Now talent doesn't operate like my knees used to. Now am I worth less? And if I try to continue to just force it that way, my not swinging a dull axe, let's see what I had to say about talent confusion. You may answer it. There we go.

Talent confusion produces anxiety and depression. Your worth is not tied to your talent, your ability to produce. Oh boy, wouldn't the wouldn't the workforce, wouldn't the world try to tell you otherwise? Is a that is a very loud voice to resist. And if you fall for it, it's okay.

You're here today, and the Holy Spirit will is preaching his own sermon to you right now in your spirit. To say, yes, Lord. The Bible says the righteous man, meaning you're on the right track, falls down seven times. But what's the difference? He gets back up.

Lord, show me that my worth is not tied to my talent. That's a tough one, especially if you are really talented like let's say like in the area of good looks like cash money here. What if he fell headlong into a wood chipper? Whoops. What happens to the talent of his incredibly good looks den?

I'm just kidding. Hypothetical scenario. Never would it befall you in Jesus' name. But what happens when that talent like, when when we are excelling in that talent, people in the world give us all kind of accolades and build us up. Like, you're so amazing.

You're so incredible. They build statues for us like Messi in Argentina right now. He's incredible and amazing. But what happens when he ain't got the soccer talent that he used to? Although, which I don't know if that will ever happen because he's 39, and, like, he just keeps getting better and better.

So your talent is not your worth is not tied to your talent. Hear that in Jesus' name. Gift confusion. Oh. Gift confusion results in you thinking, can result in you thinking that you are better than others.

And that is a steep, slippery slope to pride. Like, this just came to me, like hearing all of the cheering and seeing people lay their cloaks out on the road for you and waving palm fronds for you and saying, Hosanna, Hosanna, and you're just the donkey. That ain't for you. That was for Jesus. Well, what if there were pride in that donkey's heart?

I'm a noble steed, Shrek. Did you hear that? Noble steed. Now here's what's interesting. The gifts of God remember what does the Bible say about the gifts and calling of God?

They're without recompense, meaning he doesn't take it back. Let's see what I said here. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Leave that up.

Leave that up. Leave that up. The gifts of God, he doesn't take back. And if you utilize the gifts that God has given you for your own fame, glory, and fortune, you will still give an account before a righteous and holy god someday for the use of those gifts. How did you use what I gave you?

This is what I had for you to do with that amazing gift. Here's what you did, and let's see how we reconcile those two. Remember Paul talks about how every man and woman will pass through the fire and their works will be tested with fire. That which was built with a sharp axe in the spirit will survive and be refined, and you will receive reward according to that. That which was done in the flesh, adult acts, will be consumed by the flames of fire.

Think about Joe Rogan and the influence that he has. Is he using that for the glory of God and to make the name of Jesus famous? Not yet. Maybe. Accident I was just gonna say accidentally, maybe.

He will answer for that. Mister Beast, how many followers, subscribers does he have on YouTube? Half a billion subscribers? Yes. Subscribers on YouTube.

And if you don't even know who mister beast is, well, you're in a minority because half a billion other people do. He makes YouTube videos. What are you doing with that gift of being able to influence people? Imagine now when when you when you hear the word, like, I know if you're, like, a good conservative, like, Christian and you hear mister beast, like, beast, you know, alarm bells are ringing in your head like, oh, he naughty. It's just his YouTube username, mister Beast.

Get over that part. But imagine when he stands before a righteous and holy god someday, if he doesn't change or turn is is not over yet. And he tries to tell the lord, but lord, I gave away hundreds of millions of dollars to people. I bought homes for people. I bought new cars.

I paid off entire college tuitions of like a graduating class. I'm making that part up but like I mean he does these insane things with money. Good things. I lifted people out of poverty. I I sparked creativity.

Yeah. Paying for people to fix their vision like Elon Musk. And God's like, well, let's turn into the book of life. Mister Beast. I don't have mister Beast in here.

And then he says his name. Jimmy. Oh, Jimmy. Here you are. Jimmy.

Jimmy. Now now tell me tell me tell me tell me again what you did. Half a billion follower down down all this dumb a little bit of words out of that, and and God's like, in my notes, I had you down as a youth pastor leading a a global youth movement that sparked a revival that sent this generation to the uttermost bounds of the earth to proclaim the good news of the gospel that ushered in the return of my son. Right. Okay.

Now I've used my notes as an example, and I'm here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Gift gift confusion. In the church, we often make a false association with gifts.

Now I'm gonna step on some religious toes. Wow. They have such a strong preaching gift. They must be really close to the Lord. Look at the success of their ministry.

Wow. God must really approve of them. Their teaching gift is so strong. The rest of their life must be really dialed in and in order. Be careful.

See, when you suffer from or come under gift confusion, people that that that are operating in gift confusion, They end up thinking that they're better than others and that is pride. The the church ones, I I call that I just lump it onto under together as the platform myth. Wow, look at the platform that they have. Wow, look at how their ministry impacted my life personally. Wow.

And then we draw what you would think would be a reasonable conclusion but may not necessarily be true at all. Jesus said, how do you judge a tree? By its fruit, not its success in ministry. Now can we gotta say this. Can success in ministry be an evident be evidence of the Lord's approval and their life being dialed in?

Absolutely. Absolutely. But you cannot confuse somebody with a strong ministry gifting and assume that everything in their life is dialed in. Is that sinking in? Does that connect with anybody?

You must realize they're still humans. They can be incredibly gifted on the stage and their life be in shambles off the stage. How does that work? Why would God do that? He's God and we're not.

Did I say anything about gift confusion? Gift confusion produces pride, celebrity culture, and idolatry that you would worship that minister because of an incredible gifting in one area and then make the mistake of blank of blindly assuming that everything else in their life is dialed in, that is not always the case. And when it is revealed, and sometimes it's revealed publicly on this side of eternity, If you've fallen for celebrity ministry culture or or you have idolized them, and then all of a sudden their true colors are so it can be very devastating to a Christian and to their faith. Shipwrecking their faith, causing them to

Walk away.

Walk away from their faith. And some of that they need to own to realize that they were making an idol out of that minister and her ministry, his ministry. Alright. Let's see what other toes can we step on here. Occupation confusion.

If you think your occupation is just your job and not your ministry, that can result in things like boredom, depression. On the other side of the spectrum, being a workaholic. Gotta work. Gotta work. Gotta work.

Especially if you're getting props there and you're you're getting accolades there. Gotta work harder. Gotta work more. Gotta work more. You're it's being financially lucrative.

If you think your occupation is who you are, it could result in false sense of approval from God. Surely, God is happy with me. Look at all of this success I'm experiencing, but it ultimate ultimately results in emptiness. Do you feel empty at the end of grinding and grinding? Maybe it's because you have some occupation confusion.

Oh, let's step on some more church toes with this last one. Ministry confusion. Now if you're if you're from the West, you probably might not have seen this. Church culture in the West is not as a big of a deal as it is, let's say, in the South. Church culture is really big in the South, and and people can make entire careers out of being in the church, whether it's a parachurch organization or most of the time in a local church.

They can make an entire career out of working in the local church as an occupation, never ever having been called to it as a ministry. And if we hadn't lived in Oklahoma for seven years, we never would have seen it. I'm not saying that Oklahoma is is bad. I'm not saying that where we served in Oklahoma was was bad or it was rampant, but we saw it. And it and and no church is immune from it.

Ministry confusion. If you are if your occupation and your ministry overlap and you're doing it and you're doing it and you're like, ugh, and you feel like you've run out of gas, burn out, maybe you are have some ministry confusion. Ministry confusion can revolt can result from false positives like you actually are being really successful but never called to it. Ministry confusion can happen when you gain a title.

Oh, that's bad.

Yeah. You have a Titles ruin people. Titles ruin people. Except for when you have labeled me world's greatest father every year for twenty two years consecutively. I promise I won't let that go to my head.

Ministry confusion, a symptom can be jealousy that that they are experiencing more success in ministry. It can be bitterness. Well, why did they get the bus? Why did they get the building? Why are they moving to three services?

Okay. We're gonna land the land the plane here. Ministry confusion, a symptom can be trying to grind harder in ministry. Religious fervor, maybe hype could be another way, or emotionalism could be another way to say if you don't have a real encounter in life transformation and change, you make up for it with fog and hazers and upping and upping and upping the production value. Please hear me.

There's nothing wrong with high production value in big churches. Ain't nothing wrong with that. It has its place for now. But when you're trying to make up for lack of one with the other, beware. It also produces a consumer churchgoer.

So in summary, I think I have these on the screen. Identity confusion produces culture wars. Calling confusion produces ideological extremism. Talent confusion produces anxiety and depression. Gift confusion produces workaholism and emptiness.

Ministry confusion produces burnout and vapid religion. Which means boring. Boring, tasteless, non nutritious, entertaining but non nutritious and substantive. So considering these things, would would we not see these in outside of the church, but just in America in general? For anyone who experiences what I'm about to to touch on, I'm not singling you out, and I'm not saying that you that it's a result of these things.

What I'm seeing is not an indictment against you. But approximately, just one in eight Americans, that's thirteen percent of Americans, age 12 or older have had a significant depressive symptoms during a two week period over the last year. Eight point which is an eight point two percent increase in the last ten years alone. Before COVID, the average incident in this country was about three percent of the population. Today, it's over eighteen percent, And more than ten percent of Americans today are on some type of antidepressant medication, which is one of the highest rates in the world.

Why? Is it because people don't know their identity, their calling, their ministry, confuse it with their occupation, and their gifts and the talents? What if these things were just all in alignment? What a wonderful world it would be. Last verse, Ecclesiastes ten ten.

Told you I had a Ecclesiastes verse. Using a dull axe requires great strength. So sharpen the blade. That's the value of wisdom. It helps you succeed.

My heart for you as a pastor is I want you to live your life with the sharpest acts possible. And if I have to step on your toes a little bit in love to offend your mind in order for your heart to be revealed that perhaps in some area of your life, you have been swinging a dull axe. I love you too much than to just sit back, watch you sweating to death, getting blisters on your hand, swinging at this tree, and swinging and swinging and swinging and not making any progress, and sit back and say to you, oh, I love you. Bless your heart. You got this.

I want no. I want you to have a sharp axe. That your axe would be as sharp as like a lightsaber. One right through the tree. So Lord, if there are areas of our life as a result of the conversation that we've been in for the last couple of weeks or maybe even something today that that stepped on our the toes of our heart, Holy Spirit, would you reveal to us why that bugged us?

Why that was upsetting? Nobody ever was able to sharpen the blade of an axe by sweet talking it. It requires being grinded against a stone. Fine, Lord. Use my life as a stone.

Use my words, hopefully inspired by you to help give people a sharper blade. I want this and holy spirit, I know that you really do. You want people to work smarter and not harder. So just let the Lord minister to you for a moment. We're almost done.

Come Holy Spirit and speak to us. Thank you, Lord. How we love you. Just before we go to worship the Lord one other way before we're done for today, I'm not asking for a receipt for this message, but I really hope that our series of conversation has been instructive and helpful to you and that you have been equipped with some things that you can draw upon, maybe that you see in yourself and after you deal with your own heart and life on these things that they would be helpful to you in guiding and leading and instructing others. And my receipt is not in, backslapping and glad handing but in terms of reward waiting for me when I stand before him.

Good job, man. Said some hard things. You could have said a little better, but You did alright. Let's worship the Lord one other way this morning by bringing an offering of our finances. We bring the Lord an offering.

Whenever you worship the Lord, you always better bring him something because he is God and he is worthy. When we come to together in song, really think that it's about the song choice and while I don't have a good voice, you bring your voice to him as an offering. Sing out loud as terrible as your voice may be. When we get into God's word, you bring an offering of your preconceived thoughts and notions, and you lay them on the altar for him to burn up and consume. You bring your will.

You conform your life to his will. And then the third offering that we bring each and every week is a portion of our finances.

In

We're gonna the

church.

Or the local church that you are a part of, always take advantage of the opportunity to surrender a portion of your finances to the Lord. So you can give with check or cash right in that wooden box or outside. You can go to tribegh.com, but many people are generous with their tithes and offerings with their smartphone in the text. The number is (833) 369-7847. Let me pray over tithes and offerings, and then we'll get out of here really soon.

Lord Jesus, thank you for how you made us. Help us, Jesus, to know the difference between our gifts and our calling, ministry, and

our

occupation. Never let our our talents go to our head or our success be a measure of our worth. Thank you that your way is best. As an expression of telling you that we love you and we trust you, we surrender a portion of our finances to you. God, I ask that you would receive these tithes and offerings and use them to make your name famous here at tribe, in Jackson Hole, the surrounding region, and to the uttermost bounds of the earth.

We pray these things in Jesus' name and everybody said, amen. Here's the main announcement that you need to know about. Tomorrow is week three of revival at the rodeo. I'll put this graphic up here. If you receive the tribe text blast, you have, seen this graphic.

Use the graphic that is sent to you from the tribe text blast as an invite to invite somebody else to the rodeo. Tribe is doing most of the worship. They supplement with other band members from other churches. The the some of the leadership from First Baptist Church in town is bringing the message. Van has spoke once.

Brad. Brad Yates has spoke another time, so I think it's back to Brad Yates tomorrow. So use this invite. Use this graphic as an invite to invite people to revival at the rodeo. Tomorrow, if the forecast holds true, bring a rain jacket.

Okay? But that's tomorrow, 7PM at the radio Rodeo Grounds. Rain or shine, we'll figure out what to do with the if it's raining, but it's still happening. So that's the main announcement. Would you stand up?

Can I pray for you? Lord Jesus, thank you for being good to us. Lord, help us to help us to conform our life to your reality. Thank you for making us the way that you have done, not just to make a living, but to make a difference in this world. I command a blessing over each and every person here this morning.

Lord, give us a great week as we get ready to celebrate the birthday of this imperfect but pretty awesome country. Lord, keep us safe and keep all the people that are coming into town this weekend for the July 4. Keep them safe, Lord. Thank you. Thank you for the privilege to live in this country.

We tell you one more time that we love you. We pray these things in Jesus' name, the strong son of God. Amen. I love you so very much. Have a great week.

And remember, you got this.