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Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Father, we thank you for your word. Would you help us understand your word? Today we pray in Jesus name, and everyone said amen at every location. You may take a seat. Well, if we haven't met, my name is Ryan Weckman. I've gotten to be a part of Red Rocks for a long time. Was there in.

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In Denver for a while, and then.

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Seven years ago this week, actually, my brother Doug and my best friend Ethan, alongside a whole bunch of amazing volunteers, got to start Red Rocks Austin. And these last seven years have just been so much fun. Before that, I worked at an awesome church in Southern California for a couple of years, and I had a friend.

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Of mine start a ministry in Skid Row.

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If you've never been to skid Row, it's 54 blocks right in the middle.

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Of downtown Los Angeles, depending on which.

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Study you read and which year. Lots of studies call it the densest.

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Population of people experiencing homelessness in the United States. So it's just tents lined up every single block.

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And my friend started this. This ministry where they would on Saturday.

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Mornings, have brunch for people and start Bible studies out of it.

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And so I thought, I'll get a group together and we'll come down and we'll.

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We'll help you.

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And so we went down there one Saturday, and we decided, let's spend the first hour walking around, inviting people to.

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The brunch, and then we'll come back and set everything up.

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And so I'm about to. To take this team of about 30 out into skid Row, and there's this. This warehouse is where we were meeting.

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And there was a couple of shared.

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Office spaces there, and there was this guy who was just there working. It wasn't a part of what we were doing. He just uses that as an office space. And he was looking around going, hey, this seems really cool. Like, can I come with you guys? So I said, yeah, of course. Come with us. And so we're walking around, inviting people.

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To the brunch, and he.

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He starts talking.

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We start having small talk, and he goes, where are you from? And I Tell him Colorado. And he says, oh, really? I'm from Colorado.

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Which part? And Denver based locations.

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You'll understand this.

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What do you say when somebody says that? You don't say Littleton because no one.

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Knows where Littleton is.

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So I said, Denver. And he goes, yeah, which part? Which is code for oh, he really knows what he's talking about right now. And so I told him and he said, oh, actually that's where I'm from. And then he goes, where'd you go to high school? And I told him, and he said.

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That'S where I went to high school.

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And then he said, what year did you graduate?

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And I told him, and he looks at me and he goes, ryan, is that you?

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I realized, like, we didn't even. We went to school together for four years. We didn't even recognize each other. Cause seven years had passed. And we say hi and we hug. And he's like, hey, what have you been up to, man? Like, what's going on? And I told him, I said, oh, I'm actually like kind of in charge of this whole thing. I'm a pastor now. Without skipping a beat, he just goes, really? I started laughing. And then he backs up. He's like, I didn't mean it like that. And I said, no, it's okay. You did mean it like that. And it makes sense because he hadn't seen me since I was 18, and when I was 18, my life was not heading in that direction. Like, if you could hit the pause button at the last party we were at together, and everybody stops and somebody said, hey, so that guy's gonna be a pastor soon. Everybody at the party, including me, would have had a good long laugh at that notion. But what my friend didn't know was my freshman year of college, God got ahold of my life. My friend didn't know is that I then got into a group that would go on to change my life. My friend didn't know about the mission trips and the worship nights and the answered prayers and all the things that God had done in my life. And then fast forward seven years later, he didn't even recognize me. And so we're walking through skid row together. And in the back of my mind, I'm just thinking, it worked, you know, like, this really does work. Like, I'm not where I want to be. And it's still true about me today. I'm nowhere near where I want to be.

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But I'm also not where I used to be.

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And what I'm trying to say is church. This year it really does work.

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Like when you put God first in.

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Your life, transformation actually is possible. By Christmas time in 2026, your friends can see you for the first time.

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In a year and go. I didn't even recognize, recognize the amount of peace that you carried into this room.

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I didn't even recognize the amount of joy that, that you have, that your capacity to love.

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I didn't even recognize you. That's what I want for you this year. So this sermon is going to. To serve as our prerequisite for miracle mindset. Remember in college when there was like an advanced class you wanted to take but there was a class before the class? This is the class before the class.

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You gotta get this one.

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You gotta get, get this concept down right now to get ready to. For miracle mindset.

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And so let's go back to our two verses. Now before we do that, it's Proverbs.

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3 verses, 5 and 6.

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If you're new to the Bible.

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Proverbs right in the middle of your Bible. So it's in the old Testament. It's 31 chapters.

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It's wisdom literature.

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It's a collection of sayings. Proverbs 1:1 attributes them to Solomon, who, who was David's son. So we're talking like 950 B.C. about 3,000 years ago. There's always debate with scholars. Did he write all of them? Do you just write? Right, Some of them. You can go down that rabbit trail if you want. But we attribute them to Solomon and here's why. Solomon. We learn a lot about Solomon. In First Kings, chapter 4, God gave Solomon wisdom. His dad was like the warrior who always had to fight during Solomon's time as king. It was relative peace. And so he just read books. Right? My kind of guy. God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight. A breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. Solomon's wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the people of the east. Greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. Then we got to read verse 31 as well. Verse 31 says this.

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He was wiser than anyone else, including Ethan. Just felt important. I don't. Don't get mad at me. This is God's word. Ethan Johnson, you're pretty smart. Solomon's got you beat. Ethan. Matat, you're here too. You know, we love, we love all the Ethan's. Solomon's smarter. I just felt important to point out. You guys stay focused. Here we go. Proverbs 3, 5 and 6 are two of the most famous things that Solomon ever wrote. Let's read it again. Trust in the Lord with all your.

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Heart and underline this word lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways, submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. That word lean is the verb that I want to focus on today.

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I wish I had, like, an illustration.

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To see if I can illustrate this.

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Guys, do we have something back there we can bring out? I want to try to help make this as simple as possible this year, because here's the thing you will make, according to whatever study you read, 35,000.

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Decisions every day is what some studies say, the unconscious decisions. When it comes to conscious decisions, like, what should I eat for breakfast? Should I go to the gym when I wake up? Should I eat some healthy breakfast, or.

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Should I make pancakes? They usually say somewhere around, like, 2,000.

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Decisions every single day.

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So think about that for a second. If you go, well, I'm just not good at making decisions. You actually are. You're better than you think. You make thousands of them every single day. And by the way, if you're tired by the end of the day and you're like, why am I so tired? Maybe it's because you have to make so many decisions all the time.

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Like, life is really just a series of one decision after the next, after the next, after the next.

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Well, Solomon gives us a very simple.

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Framework to think about when it comes to making decisions.

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He really boils every decision down to two different options. Either you can trust God's way, or you can try to lean on your own understanding. So Solomon's basically going like, hey, listen, every decision that you make, you don't have to try to be a human on your own. God has given us answers and principles to live by. So, like, forgiveness. Forgiveness can be really difficult, especially when.

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We'Re leaning on our own understanding, because our own understanding is pretty much just.

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Like, don't do it God's way.

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What Jesus said was, hey, love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you.

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And you go, ryan, that doesn't make any sense.

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I know.

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That's why I don't lean on my own understanding. It doesn't make any sense to me either. But God gives us a way that we can live. Or you talk about when it comes to relationships, when it comes to marriage.

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When it comes to finances, when it.

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Comes to how we steward our time. All throughout God's Word, he's giving us principles to live by. And when we lean on those principles, everything starts to change. The temptation is that our own understanding starts to look, like, really alluring sometimes, right? Like, we know. Yeah, I'm supposed to follow God's way. But then there's this, like, my understanding. And as humans, we just start to think, like, I think I feel like I know quite a bit of stuff, though. And so I, like.

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I don't know.

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I've been alive for a few decades. I've read a couple books. Maybe I should start leaning on my own understanding. And our own understanding, like, makes us feel like we're gonna be okay, makes us feel like we're stable. But it's all an illusion. And humans have been falling for this trap ever since the Garden of Eden. The third page of your Bible talks about how Adam and Eve were leaning on God's way and trusting God's way, until the serpent says, yeah, but did.

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God really say that? And then they go, oh, I wonder. Maybe we should lean on our own understanding. And then everything falls apart.

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King David was known as man after God's own heart. He was doing everything right. And then he saw Bathsheba one day, and he's like, yeah, but maybe I.

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Could lean on my own understanding for, like, a little bit.

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And everything falls apart. Peter. There's a story of Peter getting out of a boat in the middle of a lake because Jesus goes, hey, if you want to walk on water, you can. And Peter gets out of the boat and he starts walking on water toward Jesus until he looks to his left and he looks to his right, and he sees the wind and he sees the rain. And his own understanding kicks in and he goes, wait a second. I shouldn't be able to do this right now. And he starts to sink. Notice it's leaning on your own understanding that gets in the way of the miracle.

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But more on that next week because we gotta talk about having the right mindset for a miracle this week. What I'm trying to help us, and.

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I'm just gonna say over and over and over again, is as alluring as my understanding sounds, it just doesn't work. And so what starts to happen is we go, no, okay, I know that they said at church, like, I should trust God's way, but you're like, maybe I'll do forgiveness my way.

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You know?

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Like, maybe I'll just do finances my way. Maybe I'll just do relationships my way. And we started leaning, and then all of a sudden we're like, wait, what happened? It looks so stable, you know, like, it looked like that was going to hold me up. And then before you know it, you felt you Fall down. And you're like, this is usually for me, where I start to make the.

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Excuses, you know, where it's like, somebody in your career didn't work out.

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And then you're just like, well, it's.

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Just the job market, you know, the.

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Relationship didn't work out. And you're like, well, dating. It's just hard right now, you know? And all of that stuff is true. I'll give you that.

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We live in a broken, fallen world.

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All the more reason why we shouldn't.

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Trust our own understanding and lean on our own understanding, but put our trust back in God's way.

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Every single decision you make this year, you have the opportunity to go, you know what?

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I'm not going to lean on my own understanding. I'm going to trust God's way. Now it's 2026, and it's never been more important for us to talk about this than it is currently, because we.

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Have so many resources out there that'll.

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Try to convince us that our own understanding is pretty great.

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Like, Solomon wrote that passage 3,000 years ago, long before the Internet.

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Do you remember?

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Some of you are old enough to remember this. Remember when you had, like, a question.

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And you didn't know the answer to.

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It, and you're like, what was that movie? Like, Adam Sandler? And he was golfing, you know, and everybody would just be like, I don't know. And if nobody knew, then you'd go, I guess we'll never know. That never happens anymore. Cause someone goes, happy Gilmore, you know, like, we have every single answer in our pocket right now. And so it's never been easier or more tempting for us to lean on our own understanding.

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I love Steve Jobs. I love, love studying him. I think he's just a fascinating case study because, obviously, brilliant, but the more you read his biographies, the more you start to realize, like, oh, he had stuff going on. Like, when you read his biographies, you realize, like, he wouldn't put license plates on his cars because he'd go, ah, that law doesn't pertain to me. I'll be fine. I don't need to do that. That's going to take too much time. I don't need to do that right now.

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He would park in parking spots that he wasn't supposed to park in.

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Because he'd just be like, I don't have time for that. I'm just going to. I'm going to live my way. When doctors told him that he had cancer and they needed to operate, he said, no, I'll be Fine. That's going to take too much time. I'll just figure this out on my own. Steve Jobs was constantly leaning on his own understanding, and unfortunately, it stole many years of his life from him, leaving us to speculate that when he released the iPhone into The Wild in 2007, was he giving us a product that mirrored what he believed about himself? Was he giving us a product and a way to go? Here, here's how you can just know that you can lean on your own understanding and always be fine. And for the last almost 20 years, 19 years now, we've had this device in our pocket that just screams to us, just lean on your own understanding.

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It's gotten worse because now we have ChatGPT. So, okay. Last year, a friend of mine was going through something and we were trying to get together to talk about it, and we were busy and we kept missing each other.

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So I told him. I was like, hey, sorry, I miss you. Do you want to talk about it? He told me.

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He goes, well, actually, I typed in the problem into ChatGPT, and then I said, if I was in a pastoral.

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Meeting with Ryan Wekerman, what would he say?

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Which. A couple of things here. First off, if that's an option on the table, I'll make you a list of, like, 58 other names that you should type in instead of me. Like, what's chatgpt Ryan going to say? Like, well, actually, singleness is a sacred subject, you know, and you're like, we get it, dude. Literally, talk about anything else at some point. But number two, and this is important, just because ChatGPT says something doesn't mean that it's true. Like, we gotta be really careful how much authority we're giving to AI because chat's just telling you what it thinks you want to hear. So. So Chat, maybe it's a great way to. To do some research, but I worry sometimes that it's just a glorified way.

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To continue leaning on our own understanding. There's this verse in Hebrews 12, Hebrews 12, verse 1 that says, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, and I don't quite understand how heaven works, I'm speculating a little bit, but it seems like maybe the heroes of our faith are, like, watching. And if that's true, I just feel like they are screaming at us in 2026, just get back to God's word.

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Stop leaning on your own understanding. I know you live in a world that gives you so many different ways to do it, but it's not going to help. Get back to leaning on God's way. Get back into Scripture. Get back into God's truth and trust.

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That he will make your paths straight. It's a very simple sermon. It's also got so many layers to it that I'm just gonna keep going. Cause I want you to. I want you to take this home with you this week. Like when things start to happen this.

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Week and you start to make decisions.

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I want you to stop and remember.

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What happens when you try to lean.

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On your own understanding.

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So let's get back to our passage one more time.

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Proverbs 3, verses 5 and 6.

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Trust in the Lord with all your.

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Heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, submit to him and he will make your paths straight. Now, at every campus, somebody tell me what is the shortest distance between two points? Straight line.

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Which means if you are here at the beginning of 2026 and you want to get there, the easiest, most efficient way to do that is to let God make your path straight. And then you will get there way faster, way easier, and you'll sleep way better along the way. And that sounds so simple, but somebody asked the Israelites when they were wandering in the wilderness about that it took them 40 years to leave Egypt and get to Israel. Is that a 40 year journey?

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No.

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Deuteronomy 1, verse 2 tells us this. It takes 11 days to go from Horeb, which is Mount Sinai, close to where they began, to Kadesh Barnea, which is like the south side of the Promised land by the Mount Seir road. 11 day journey. Give them a couple days off. Let's give them 13 days. It took them 40 years. Why? Because they started out on the journey and then they started leaning on their own understanding and they just took this crazy scenic route to try to get to where they're going. And I just feel like this year.

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God's going, hey, you don't have to take the scenic route like you.

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Trust me, I'll make the path straight for you. So really practical in your career. Here's where you're at. There's where you want to be at.

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The end of 2026. Maybe it's a position or it's a salary or whatever.

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You could lean on your own understanding and go, well, if I want a promotion, that must mean I need to demo everybody else, which means I need to take credit for everything that's good and I need to blame others for everything that's bad and I need to push everybody else down and hope that I can get to where I need to be. Or in 2026, you could trust God's way.

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Let's read first Peter 5, 6 together. Humble yourselves therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up and do time. Peter goes, or you can just humble yourself. And by the way, this is really important. Humble doesn't mean that we stop hustling. Like the hustle is actually part of it. Humbling ourselves is just us realizing, hey, God gave me the very oxygen in my lungs so that I can wake up today. God gave me another day. And just like he told Adam all those years ago, to take this place somewhere. It's my job and my responsibility to work hard and take this world somewhere, whether that's in my job to. Or raising kids or whatever it is. But we start from a place of humility. And we trust that when we do that, he makes our path straight. Does that make sense? Maybe it's a relationship.

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Maybe you're here and you're going, okay, by the end of 2026, I want to be married. Maybe you're going, I want to be engaged. Maybe you're going, by the end of 2026, I want to be in a relationship. I want to have had. Gone on a date. I want to have had. Talk to a girl Once in 2020, wherever you're at, no judgment here, no judgment here. But there's where you're at and then there's where you want to be.

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And the easiest way to get there is to trust God's way and trust that he will make your path straight. Super simple. Second Timothy 2, verses 22. It's a powerful verse. Flee the evil desires of youth. Paul uses that verb, flee all the time. Like in First Corinthians 6, where he goes, flee from sexual immorality.

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I love that. Because flee is the opposite of leaning.

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On your own understanding.

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Our own understanding is. You know what? I think I got it figured out. I think I'll be good this year. Even though you have a decade of data telling you that you don't have it all figured out, right? Paul's going, no, you gotta. If you wanna trust God's way when it comes to relationships. Like, if there is anything in your life holding you back from having a God honoring marriage, get rid of it. Flee, run away from it. That's how we trust God's way instead of leaning on our own understanding. Really, Practically speaking, if it's a person in your phone, delete their number. If it's a person on social media, block Them. If it's a device that you can't stop turning to late at night to watch porn on, then get rid of that device. You can't do that. Put blockers on it. Like, flee from it, run away from it. It makes no sense. Right now some of you are feeling that you're like, that doesn't make any sense. I know. That's why we don't lean on our own understanding. That's why we trust God's way and we flee. Put that verse back up. Second Timothy 2. 22. Here's what I love about this verse.

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Paul doesn't just talk about playing defense. He then talks about playing offense.

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That you flee the evil desires, and.

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Then you pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. And you watch how the Lord will bless you this year. There's a chance that you may not even recognize yourself a year from now. Now, we could do this all day with so many different examples, but if you're new to this whole experience, you're like, okay, so like, what do I really do? Let's even go layer down. Give me, like, two really practical steps. So glad you asked.

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How do you not lean on your.

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Own understanding, but instead trust God's way? Two things this year. You pray and you fast. You pray and you fast. That's why we begin every single year with 21 days of prayer and fasting. Now, we're going to begin those 21 days, not this Monday, but next Monday. So January 12th, we're diving into 21 days we do this year round. By the way. We don't just pray during January, but for 21 days. Like, we're gonna get really intentional about leaning in and praying and fasting.

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A quick word on both.

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First, prayer is the opposite of leaning on your own understanding. Prayer is trusting God's way. I love how Paul says it in Philippians 4. 6, where. Where he says this, don't worry about anything.

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Instead, pray about everything. Leaning on your own understanding is worrying about everything and praying about nothing. So he goes, flip it. Instead of doing that, stop worrying about everything. How? By trusting God and praying about everything. Paul. Paul's going, there's nothing too big or too small for you to pray about. But every time you just go, here you go, God, I'm going to pray. I'm just going to pray about this. Then you can walk out of there.

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Going, I don't have to worry about it anymore.

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It's in God's hands. I'm still going to work for it, but I don't have to worry about it because I know that God's got it. The world shouts at us to run.

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After our own understanding, but God's way is just pray about it and trust him. And so here's a homework assignment this week, and I'm serious about this.

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We're getting so serious about miracles being.

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A team sport this year that we want to be praying for each other.

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And so there's a plate on your.

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Seat at every campus.

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If you tap that plate with your.

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With your phone, you can sign up.

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To submit prayer requests. And I want to ask you that. You just hit the top button, the top right corner there.

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You can submit a prayer request. I want you.

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You got a week to do this. I want to ask you to do.

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That because Doug and Sean are going.

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To be talking about this over the next few weeks, that we're not just going to be submitting prayer requests. We're actually going to be getting serious.

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About praying for one another. It's a beautiful feature on the app.

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Because it allows all of us to.

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Pray for each other. Like, I was nervous about the sermon this morning. I was at the coffee shop, and I was talking to Doug, and he was like, why don't you just stop and pray for some people for a second? And I got the app out, and I just went through. And it's cool because it tells you, like, what campus they're at. And so, like, Littleton, you can be praying for Lakewood Park Meadows, you can be praying for Austin Brussels, we can be praying for our vada. We can be praying for each other this year. And here's why I say all that. Like, I want you to have thousands of people praying for your miracle alongside with you. And so prayer, prayer, prayer, we're going to get super intentional and really serious about it, especially over these 21 days of prayer and fasting.

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But I've been doing this long enough to know that the prayer part wasn't.

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The part that intimidated everybody. When I said 21 days of prayer.

A (27:42)

And fasting, it's the second word. It's the fasting word.

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Fasting is, I think, the most intimidating spiritual discipline. Fasting is simply going without what you want so you can press in and rely on what you need so that you can make room for God to work and move in your life. The problem is, we think about it, I feel like, in such a black and white way that it's like, I.

A (28:06)

Guess I'm gonna fast. Like, I gotta go 40 days in.

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The wilderness, like Jesus, you know, and.

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Then you get to like hour three.

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And you're like, I can't do it.

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I guess fasting isn't for me. So let me see if I can.

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In, in three minutes. Just simplify fasting and make this easy and accessible for us.

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Like, if you were training, if you.

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Wanted to start running, you wouldn't be like, I'm gonna go run an ultra marathon tomorrow. Right? You'd be like, let's try to run around the block. So we're gonna do the same thing with fasting. First let's go to Jesus's. Jesus's explanation in Matthew chapter six, where he says this. When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fast. And Jesus goes, don't do this as a show. Don't do this to try to impress other people. But I love the first thing he said when you fast. So Jesus doesn't say, get this, every location.

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He doesn't say if you fast.

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He doesn't say if you get around to fasting. He goes, when you fast. Fasting is part of following Jesus now for 21 days.

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I'm not telling you you can't eat anything for 21 days. So let's break this down.

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I want to give you four different.

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Options that you can choose from.

B (29:14)

So your second homework assignment this week is to decide which of these four options you're going to do this week. And by the way, I'll give you the couple minute version if you want to take a deeper dive. Tap the plate. And we created videos, a whole bunch we nerded out for a while about fasting. So you can learn as much as you want.

A (29:32)

But here we go. Fast number one is called the soul fast. The soul fast. The soul fast has nothing to do with food. Real talk for a second.

B (29:42)

Food can be a very complicated subject for a lot of people. Get that if there are reasons why you shouldn't fast from food, obviously medical reasons, we get that. But other personal reasons why you shouldn't fast from food, go with the soul fast.

A (29:57)

This year, the soul fast is choosing.

B (29:59)

Something other than food to abstain from. Social media is the easiest. And if I may, can we all just decide to get off social media for 21 days?

A (30:08)

Okay, sorry. It's a good tool, all the balancing.

B (30:10)

Statements, blah, blah, blah, okay. It'll still be there when you get back. Getting off social media for 21 days, another way to do it is non essential. Screens. Notice I said non essential. Your boss comes to you and is.

A (30:22)

Like, why didn't you respond to my email? You can't be like, oh, I'm doing this soul fast. You know, you gotta do your job still. We know the difference between a non.

B (30:29)

Essential screen and an essential screen. Maybe you just put away non essential screens for 21 days and watch how God will meet you there. Second fast is called the selective food fast.

A (30:39)

The selective food fast is where you.

B (30:41)

Select certain things to fast from. The Daniel fast is the most popular one of these. You can learn all about it in Daniel chapter one. Or you, you can just decide to pick, like, coffee, alcohol, sweets.

A (30:56)

To be clear, I'm saying, like, abstain.

B (30:58)

From those things, you know, can't be.

A (30:59)

Like Ryan said, I can only eat dessert for 21 days.

B (31:02)

I don't know.

A (31:02)

I'm as mad as you are. Here's what happens, though. If you do that by like, day.

B (31:08)

Three, there'll always be something like, Frank will bring ice cream into the workplace, you know, like.

A (31:13)

And you'll look at him and you'll.

B (31:14)

Go, get behind me, Satan.

A (31:16)

I'm kidding.

B (31:17)

Be nice to Frank. He's just trying to be kind.

A (31:20)

But there will always be, like, sugar there tempting you. And then you'll get out of a.

B (31:25)

Really stressful meeting and leaning on your own understanding, will say, I should go get some ice cream right now. But what you're gonna do is you're gonna go, no, I'm gonna trust we're gonna do this fast. And so I'm gonna trust God's way here. And then you're gonna sit down and try to pray and try to invite God into the frustration that you're feeling. And if you sit long enough, start to be like, well, why am I feeling this way?

A (31:45)

Well, because nobody listened to my opinion.

B (31:47)

Why does that frustrate you so much?

A (31:49)

Because I've got a good idea. But they didn't like it.

B (31:51)

Well, why do you need them to like it? Well.

A (31:53)

Cause I feel like the only time I'm, like, worth anything is when I'm adding value here.

B (31:59)

Why do you feel like that? And if you sit long enough, you'll start to hear God speak identity over you. That you, your identity is not wrapped up in what you add to this world, but that you are a son, that you are a daughter of the most high. And then from that place of security.

A (32:13)

You'Ll go, yeah, you know what?

B (32:15)

That idea was like a 6 out of 10.

A (32:17)

But my next one's gonna be a.

B (32:18)

10 out of 10.

A (32:19)

And I don't have to come up with that next idea. For that acceptance and for that love.

B (32:23)

I can go from a place of I'm already loved because I already know who God is. That's what starts to happen when you start to remove some of these things that we run to on our own understanding from our lives. Does that make sense? By the way, if you're like, that was an oddly specific transcript. That is my. I've gone through that like a hundred times with God.

A (32:41)

But because I allow God into that.

B (32:43)

Place, like, I've experienced so much deep healing in regards to that selective food fast. It's powerful. The third one is this partial food fast. That's where you do a complete food.

A (32:52)

Fast for a partial part of the day.

B (32:54)

So you can decide to skip your lunch and spend that hour praying. You can decide to fast until noon or fast until 3pm or fast until the sun goes down. All throughout the Old Testament, they're always fasting until evening, which just meant the sun goes down. It's a powerful way to do it. Then the last one is a complete food fast where you just go liquids, you drink water, you drink juice, you drink protein drinks, you drink bone broth. Becomes your best friend. This one is really challenging. And don't. If you don't have a lot of experience fasting, let's not start there. Let that be something that you work your way up to. 21 days is a long time. We don't have to be heroes. We're not trying to take 20 steps. We're just trying to take one step this year. Take a step. Decide which of those four works for you again. You have a week to do it. You got a week to prepare your food. You have a week to set up whatever you need to set up to make sure that you can dive in. And then on January 12th, we're gonna get really serious about prayer and fasting, about going, hey, we're not going to lean on our own understanding. We're going to trust God's way.

A (33:58)

Does this make sense? All right, church, I know we've covered.

B (34:02)

A lot of ground, and I want to give you. As we close here, we're gonna. We're gonna sing a song called Promised Land, which is going to become an anthem for our church this year as we pray for. For miracles. And I want to teach you one Hebrew word that's going to sum up everything that I just said. Because you're here and you're like, what? Ryan's giving me so much. I gotta. I Gotta pray.

A (34:24)

I gotta.

B (34:24)

I gotta fast. I gotta lean. Not on my understanding. I gotta lean on God's. Understand? Like. Like, how do I just remember how to do all of this in one simple word? And it's a Hebrew word that comes from the story that began the Promised Land story that we're about to sing about. The Promised Land song that we're about to sing goes, my. Your presence. God is my promise land. And where it's so easy to get caught up in all the things that we're supposed to be doing for God. It's this reminder that all of this has always just been about one thing. It's been about realizing that God is here. And we're going to practice being in his presence together. Because here's the amazing thing about 20, 26, you give it to God, you won't recognize yourself a year from now, but it won't be because of your effort. It'll be because of God's power working in you. All these things I'm talking about, they're just vehicles to help you get closer to God. And so the story is in Exodus, chapter three, and Moses is wandering in the wilderness. He's 80 years old at this point, and he's just a shepherd. He's walking late one night, and he sees a tree that's on fire. And to Moses credit, he goes over to the tree and God speaks to him from it and says, moses, Moses. Now, I love that Moses walked over to the tree, because I just see him out at 80 years old. He could have easily just walked by. He could have easily just wandered another year in the wilderness. And I wonder if somebody's here at one of our locations today. And you showed up to church for the first time here at the beginning of a new year. And the temptation's going to be, yeah, I know, it's cool. I think God's doing something in my life, maybe when I'm older. What if this was the year that. That you realize that God's trying to speak to you right now? And you walked over and you said, okay, I'm here, Lord, I'm here. Do you have something to say to me? God goes, moses, Moses. And Moses says one word. This is the word I want you to take up. Take away. It's the Hebrew word. Our closest English translation we can get to is here I am. Hineni doesn't just mean I'm here physically. How many know, like, you can go to a party. That doesn't necessarily mean that you're at that party. If Your mind's a million miles away. You can show up to church.

A (36:50)

Doesn't necessarily mean that, that you're at.

B (36:52)

Church if your mind's a million miles away. This word is Moses going, okay, God, I'm here. I'm here. Whatever you have for me, not just physically, but emotionally, I'm making myself available to you. I'm deciding in this moment I'm not going to lean on my way. And my understanding right now, I'm going to trust that you have something for me. And I just wonder what may happen this year if you showed up with this posture every single morning of, okay, God, here I am ready. If you know the story, you know that the very next thing that God says is, take off your sandals. This is holy ground. I love that. That right from that, that invitation of Moses going, okay, I'm ready. The first thing God says is, okay, that can't come with. It's time to leave some of that stuff behind because I've got more for you. I can't help but think for our church as we step into a year of miracles, if God's not going, okay, but that can't come with, like maybe that grudge that you're still holding on to from 2025, that one can't come with the thing that happened back in April that you're still kind of, kind of holding on to. Maybe it's time to let it go. That doesn't make any sense. I know. That's why we don't lean on our own understanding. That's why we start to trust that God knows what God is doing. Maybe it's a vice for you, maybe it's fear for you. Fear. A fear that's keeping you from stepping into what you know God is calling you to do. I wonder right now at every single location if there may be some things that God's going, okay, but. But that can't come with you as you step in to this presence, as you step into going, God, I am here for you right now. But when we do that, when we're willing to take off the proverbial sandal and step into God's presence, the amazing thing is, is that we get God's presence and we start to realize that that presence is the promised land that we were after the whole time. And you do that this year, church, I'm telling you, you. You won't even recognize yourself a year from now. So at every location, would you guys stand to your feet if you are, are able? I want to ask two questions as we pray the first will be for anybody that. That needs to leave something behind as they head into to 2026. And I'll give you an invitation to respond just by raising your hand. The second will be for anyone that goes, I'm done trying to figure out this whole salvation thing on my own. I'm done leaning on my own understanding when it comes to getting saved. I need to make the best decision of my life. I need to put my faith in Jesus and stop trusting my own understanding and start trusting God's way. And if that's you at every single location, I'll give you a chance to respond as well. So, Father, we love you so much. We thank you for your presence. We thank you, Lord, for this year of miracles that you're calling us to step into. And now at every location, if there's somebody that needs to go, God, here I am. And I know that I need to, to. To get rid of some stuff from my past as I step into this new. For me, maybe it's a fear, maybe it's a vice, maybe it's a grudge. Whatever it is, if there's anybody here that needs to let go of something, would you just boldly throw your hand up in the air? And God, you see every hand and you know every single story. And Lord, I pray right now in the name of Jesus that you would remind them that you love them, that they don't have to lean on their own understanding anymore because you've got them. And now, second question. If you. If there's anybody at any location who needs to go. No, this year I need to put my faith in Jesus. I'm done trying to do this my way. I. I want to trust that Jesus paid the price for my salvation. John 3:16. God so loved the world that he sent his son so that you can go free.

A (40:30)

Whoever puts their faith in Jesus can go free. You don't have to figure out sin on your own because Jesus already paid the price for you. All you needed to do is go. Here I am. Here I am. I'm ready to make you the Lord and Savior of my life.

B (40:44)

At every location, if that's you, would.

A (40:45)

You throw your hand up in the air and just say, jesus, I love you. I want to make you the Lord of my life.

B (40:51)

Would you forgive me for my sins?

A (40:53)

I'm ready to follow you. And Lord, as we step into 2026, would you bless this year? Would you bless this church?

B (41:01)

We are ready for you to move. We are ready to experience your presence because your presence. Lord is our promised land. And so we give you all the praise and all the worship this year in Jesus name. And everybody said amen.

A (41:15)

Red Rocks, let's worship.