Jesus' Secrets of Resilience · Part 2

0:31 If you're to look up the word drive in the dictionary, it means to guide or to control or to direct. When you drive a car, you guide, control, direct it down the street. When you drive a nail with a hammer, you guide, control, direct the nail into the wood. When you drive a golf ball, hopefully, you guide, control, direct it down the fairway. Every life is driven by something. Some people are driven by guilt. Some people are driven by fear. Some people are driven by the pressure of others. You're going to be guided through life by either pressure or purpose. Let me say that again. You will be guided through life by either pressures or purpose. And that's why this is know your calling, know your purpose. We have a whole series of classes on this at Saddleback Church. And when you know your purpose, then you determine what's important, the purpose or some people's idea for your life. What am I saying to you this weekend? That the direction of your life is your choice. Okay. And by clarifying your calling and go, you know what? God shaped me in a certain way. That means I, whatever you're shaped to do is what you should be doing. When you know your shape and you know what God's called you, then you can avoid the tyranny of the urgent. And until you clarify your calling, you're going to be controlled by others. How many times have you already learned that God loves you and everybody else has a plan for your life? James chapter one, verse eight says this, a person who has doubts is thinking about two different things at the same time. They can't make up their mind about anything.

2:18 The Bible says you're wishy-washy when your purpose isn't clear, when your calling isn't clear. That's why Paul says in Ephesians 4.1, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Everybody has a calling, not just missionaries or pastors or church leaders. Everybody has a calling. Some are called to be pharmacists. Some are called to be accountants. Some are called to be school teachers. Some are called to be cab drivers. Each day you need to ask, am I moving toward my purpose. And that leads me to the fifth principle of resilience that we learn from looking to Jesus as our model. And here's what Jesus did. Number five, focus on what matters most. Focus on what matters most. Now, this is the principle of concentration. We've talked about, you know, motivation and we've talked about the compassion of God. This is the principle of of concentration. And what I mean by this is when you know where you're headed and you focus, then you're, you're not distracted by less important things. It's a matter of priorities.

3:31 You know what matters most in life and you focus on those things. As I said, everybody has a plan for your life. You know what I've discovered that is Satan can't get you to do wrong. he'll just wear you out with too many good things. Yeah. Yeah. Good things. There are a lot of good things you shouldn't do. Did you know that? Jesus was a master of concentration. He was a master of focusing his life. He focused his life like a laser and he refused to be distracted. Let me show you some verses. Luke 9, 51. Here's an example of this principle. As the time drew near for his return to heaven, Jesus moved steadily onward toward Jerusalem with an iron will. That's the living Bible. What does that mean? He had a goal. He knew what his goal was. He knew he was going to die in Jerusalem. He's persistent. He's determined. He's focused. He focuses. He's clarified his priorities. Paul's the same way. Paul says, this one thing I do. Paul didn't say, these 40 things I dabble in. That's what we do. We dabble in 40 things. This one thing I do.

4:51 If you want your life to count, if you want your life to have impact, focus is the name of the game. You know, you have incredible spiritual potential, but the barrier is often you haven't really settled what's most important. I don't really have time to serve God. I would rethink that one. Okay. I would rethink that knowing that one day you're going to stand before God and he's going to say, what did you do with what you were given? You know, some guys gave that same excuse to Jesus. Uh, Lord, let me first go do something else before I follow you. And that phrase, let me first, that's always the problem, me first. You can't say, Lord, let me first. Lord and me first are contradictory. Jesus said in Luke 9, 62, anyone who lets himself be distracted from the work that I plan for him, God has planned a work for you to do. Anyone who lets him be distracted from the work I plan for him is not fit for the kingdom of God. The older I get, the more I realize selection is the name of the game. Lots of opportunities, lots of options, but the key to effectiveness is selection.

6:07 First Corinthians 10, 23 says this, we're free to do anything, but not all things are helpful. Not all things are profitable. Not all things are wholesome or constructive to your character and your spiritual life. I love that the way it's brought out in the Amplified Translation. What is he saying? Some things aren't necessarily wrong. They're just not necessary. That's one of the keys to resilience. It's one of the keys to stress resistance. And here's the sixth secret of resilience that we learn from looking to Jesus as our model. This is a big one. Number six, spend time alone with God. Now, this secret of resilience and this secret of stress resistance may be the secret that you do the least, spending enough time alone with God. And yet it is absolutely essential to building a resilient spirit and managing chronic stress.

7:04 It is the principle of meditation. You know, prayer is a great stress reliever. It's a decompression chamber. It's cathartic. It's one of the ways to unload your burdens. The Bible says in Luke 22, 39, it was Jesus' habit. Notice this on your outline. It was Jesus' habit to go to the Mount of Olives to pray, and his disciples followed him. Circle the word habit. How do you develop a habit? Well, a habit is something you develop through practice and through repetition. It's not a habit unless you do it over and over and over. It was his habit to go to the Mount of Olives. He would leave the city of Jerusalem, go across the valley to the Mount of Olives and pray there. Now, this next verse says, in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place where he prayed. Do you have any time like that in your life? You need quiet times to renew, to reflect, to recharge. I want to challenge you on this principle of resilience. Study that Jesus was convinced of the fact that no matter how busy he was, he took time to get alone with God and pray. In Luke chapter five, verse 15 and 16, we have a good example of it. It says, news about Jesus spread even more and crowds came to hear him to be healed. But Jesus often slipped away to be alone so he could pray. Now circle the word often, often means frequently. If Jesus felt the need to frequently leave the crowd and get alone with God, how much do we need that? You know, I'd say as a pastor, the larger Saddleback gets, the more I find myself personally seeking solitude. It was the famous philosopher Pascal who said, most of our problems, man's problems come from our inability to sit still.

9:00 Psalm 46 says, be still and know that I'm God. Sit down and shut up. Would you agree that noise is a stress? Well, let me give you a suggestion. Start your morning with God instead of your phone, instead of TV, instead of radio. Set your mood with the good news. Colossians 2, 7 says, plant your roots in Christ. Do that every morning. Plant your roots in Christ and let him be the foundation for your life. Now, there's one more secret of resilience that we learn from looking to Jesus as our model, and it's this. Number seven, get a small group for support. Get a small group for support. Do you know the first thing Jesus did when he started his ministry? He formed a small group. You see, you were never intended to handle stress by yourself. If I were to ask you to complete this sentence. If you want a job done right, you typically say, do it yourself.

9:59 That's the motto of a perfectionist headed for burnout. If you want a job done right, do it yourself. You can't do every job by yourself. Now, if anybody had a right to say, if you want a job, do it right, do it done right, do it yourself. If anybody had a right to say that, it was Jesus. Yet even Jesus knew the power of having small group for support. And in Mark chapter three, verse 14, it says he chose 12. That was his small group, designated apostles that they might be with him. That's the point of a small group. He gathered a small group before starting his ministry. You know, so much of our stress, friends, is self-imposed. We get uptight when we think it all depends on us. It doesn't. God hasn't called you to be the general manager of the universe. Here at Saddleback Church, this church outgrew me decades ago, decades ago. I could never do it all by myself. From the very start, my goal was to give the ministry away, even preaching. And that's why I have other guest preachers, because I think you need to hear God's word from more than just one voice. God never meant for the church to be a one-man superstar show. Even Jesus needed a small group for support. You remember that when he he went to the garden of Gethsemane before the cross in Matthew 26, verse 38, Jesus said to his disciples, my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. That's severe stress.

11:31 And here's his antidote. Stay here and keep watch with me. Even Jesus needed people to pray with him. Even Jesus needed the support of a small group when he was in a crisis. Why don't we accept help from other people? Well, there's a couple of reasons, insecurity and pride. And it is insecurity, it's our own insecurity and our own pride that we don't accept help from others. So we stay stressed out. Here's the secret. Join a small group. If Jesus needed one, you need one. And the fact is, stress is increasing in our culture. So you have to take these seven intentional steps to counteract it. It's not going to go away. Your life isn't going to get less stressful by accident. It only is going to get less stressful, more manageable, and you're going to have greater resilience if you choose to do these seven things that Jesus modeled. Now, I want to close by reading again the passage that we started with in Hebrews 12, one to three. Listen to it again in light of the seven things that I gave you as a model from Jesus.

12:41 Here's what Hebrews 12 says. Since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress and let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us. We do this, he's going to give us the answer, we do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus from start to finish. Jesus was willing to die a shameful death on the cross because of the joy he knew he would would be his afterwards. Now he's seated at the place of highest honor besides God's throne in heaven. Then it says this, think about all he endured. When you think you're going through a tough time, think about all what Jesus endured when sinful people did such terrible things to him so that you don't become weary and give up. You know, I remember many years ago, this is going to date me when the long-awaited fourth installment of Schwarzenegger's Terminator movie series came out. The fourth of the Terminator movies was called Terminator Salvation. And I remember reading an online review of this many years ago, and the review said this, quote, in Terminator Salvation, most of humanity has been wiped out by a nuclear holocaust. A grown-up John Connors is fighting with the resistance. His adult life is certainly purpose-driven. Now that caught my attention.

14:21 This is a movie review. His adult life is certainly purpose-driven. And this rebel with a cause has the weight of the world on his shoulders. You've heard that phrase, I'm sure, many times. We hear that phrase used when people are under intense stress. They had the weight of the world on their shoulders. But you know, friends, the truth is only one person in all of history has ever carried the full weight of the world on his shoulders. It's Jesus. So in closing, I need to mention one more stress reliever that Jesus didn't need because he was the son of God. What's the seventh or the eighth stress reliever. You need a savior. You need far more than the model of Jesus. You need that, but you need Jesus himself in your life. You need his presence in your life. You need his power in your life. You need his pardon for your sins. You need his peace in your life.

15:25 You need his salvation. We've looked at this verse before in this series, Matthew 11, 28, 29, Jesus said, come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I'll give you rest. Take my yoke on you and let me teach you because I'm humble and gentle and you will find rest for your souls. You know what that verse is? It's salvation. This is salvation. Are you stressed out? Don't give up. Look up because Jesus' offer still stands. Come to me. The single greatest source of stress in your life is this, trying to live your life apart from a daily connection to Christ. God is God and you're not. And when I'm disconnected from Christ or when you're disconnected from Christ, it causes all kinds of problems, fear, guilt, worry, loneliness. Come back to Christ today. Give him your stress. He's aware of the load you're carrying. And he says, I'll carry it with you. Let's bow our heads. Heavenly Father, thank you for not only being a model for stress relief, a mentor for stress relief, but for being the answer to our stress.

16:40 We need a savior. If you've never opened your life to Christ, say, Jesus Christ, come into my life right now. I need a savior. I need your power. Just say that. I need your power. I need your presence. I need your pardon for all the things I've done wrong. And I need your peace in my heart and in my mind. I open my life to your love. I need to not just practice your model, but I need to have a relationship with you. Please save me in Jesus name. Amen.

17:39 Here's a note that I got from a woman named Becky. She said, Pastor Rick, the Daily Hope ministry has truly helped me in many ways. I attend church on a regular basis. However, the Daily Hope broadcast has taught me so much, and I can honestly say that I never miss one of those Monday through Friday morning quiet times listening to Pastor Rick's teaching, growing closer to the Lord, and applying what he's taught me through his messages. I am blessed beyond measure, and I absolutely love the way the Lord is using Pastor Rick to reach out and teach Christians and non-Christians as well. One day, I believe I'm going to be able to increase my monthly contribution. I also believe that in the not-too-distant future, that will happen. Woo-hoo! Faithfully fit, Becky. I love your heart, and I love your faith, and I love this phrase, faithfully fit, Becky. That's great. I want everybody to please pray with me that the Daily Hope radio broadcast and all of our online resources will continue to transform lives with the simple truth of hope through Jesus Christ. And thanks for listening today.