August 28, 2025 • 40 mins
The Burn of Consecration is a powerful call to maturity and surrender as God’s refining fire removes hindrances and transforms your life.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for tuning in to Hungry Jenten Audio podcast. It
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and leaving a review on this podcast. We are believing
to see thousands saved locally and millions globally. Thanks and
enjoy this week's message.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
I have something in my life that I'm excited for
that I'm wanna share with you.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Guys.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
I'm getting married soon. Some of you are like I
was wondering if it's ever gonna happen, but.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Eventually so.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
My fiance is right here on the front row. She
is amazing and I'm grateful for her. She improves the
live of everybody she meets. So when I proposed to her,
we started the wedding planning process right because I was
(01:01):
preparing for marriage.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
I had some money that I had.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Saved up for a venue, and I didn't think she'd
fall for this, but I said, hey, we could either
give this money away to somebody else for a venue
and rent, or we could invest it into my property
and get married down by the river. Because I have
some nice property that God has blessed me with, and
(01:24):
so She's like, okay.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Well let's check it out now.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
She had seen it before, but now this time she
brings a friend with her that's helping her plan, you know,
the wedding.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
So we're down there along the river and.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
They're looking at it and they're like, you know what,
I can see it, but I want you to do this, this,
and this. I'm like done, so I get some excavation going.
The land was a little undulated, get it leveled out,
get it graded down to the river bank, maybe install
a boat launch along the way. She's probably like that
(02:00):
what all that expensive rock was for. So it looks
way better. Part of it was removing a bunch of
the brush along the river. So now it's a nice
clean bank. And then there's this tree line. There should
be a picture of it, so you can see that
tree line. It's there's the river off to the right,
(02:20):
and then there's all those trees right there. So the
trees there, there's a lot of clutter in there, right
there's a lot that needs to be trimmed up. And
you might have a hard time seeing the picture, but
there's some fallen trees in there, some dead trees, a
bunch of clutter and undergrowth that just needs to be removed.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
So the next picture is once that work was done. Okay,
so trees were prune, all the clutter was cleaned out,
and all that undergrowth was removed. So I I didn't
do that, by the way, I was supposed to say
that before. But I hired a guy to do this.
(03:03):
So this guy, he came in with all this equipment
and he went to town cleaned it up, and I'm
really impressed. I'm like, hey, I also had these three
massive trees that are right around my house that I
really like, and one's a really big mulberry tree, and
two are identical walnut trees right beside my house. And
(03:26):
I tell him, I say, hey, I really like these trees.
I'd like to have them just trimmed up as well,
because these things haven't been trimmed in who knows how
long they were like leaning on my house. So right
here is those are the two walnut trees. And they
look the same right beside each other. They're both green,
(03:47):
they both produce a ton of fruit or a ton
of walnuts, and right beside each other, me, I can't
really tell the difference.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
So as we're looking at him. The guy.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
He says, this tree, that closest one in the picture
he points out. He says, this tree is actually dying.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Now.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Me, not having met this guy before, I'm trying to
figure out, okay, what's your angle here. You're trying to
hustle me and trying to discern, like what's going on.
I think he catches in on that, and he's like, no, look,
and he points out these little holes up higher in
the tree. He knew exactly what to look for. I
(04:27):
had never seen these holes before. And he tells me
about this particular worm bug. I forgot what it's called,
but he said, that tree is infested with it and
it's eating it from the inside out. We need to
remove it before it eats into the other tree. I'm like, okay, sure,
it looks the same as the other one. He's like,
(04:48):
the watch he goes into there's a crack on this
side of the tree. It's hard to see from where
you're at, but he puts his fingers in it and
he pops off a big chunk of the bark and
he's like, look, and it's black and decaying on the
inside right there. And now I'm realizing Okay, this is legit.
(05:11):
You see the trees down along the river. Pruning would
fix those trees. But the problem is with this tree.
Pruning wasn't going to fix this tree. This tree, it
needed to be completely removed from my property. Because as
I look at this tree, I step back once he
(05:31):
shows me that it's dead and it's leaning towards my house.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
You see that.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
So this tree that I thought was flourishing, the appears
from the outside so healthy. So producing fruit right from
the outside looks great, just like the tree right beside it.
And I grew comfort from these trees. These trees, they
provide shade. You see my houses in the shade right now.
They produce fruit, you know. And I like to hang
(05:57):
a hammock between those two trees and draw comfort from them.
So this tree brings comfort to me. But that process
of removing this had pain associated to it. In this case,
it was painful for me financially. The title of this
message is the Burn of Consecration.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Go there, excuse me. I haven't talked this much in
the last month.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
This message, it's a call to spiritual maturity, and I
want you to take this opportunity to have a shift
in your perspective. Have an open mind, because just like
this tree, it took somebody coming in from the outside.
Sometimes some things in our lives that are harmful to
us can be difficult for us to identify for ourselves.
(06:54):
There was a time in twenty twenty two I was
here during morning prayer on the twenty one day fast.
I'm sitting right around here, and one of the things
that I had been fasting and praying for is an
annual word to stand on. It's something that I haven't
done every year, but every time that I do it,
(07:15):
there's a big impact on my life that year. And
it's day twenty. I don't have anything. I'm getting frustrated,
and I'm praying, like you know, I'm just pouring my
heart out to God. And shortly after I come across
this verse Ezekiel, Chapter twenty, halfway through verse forty seven, Behold,
(07:38):
I am going to kindle a fire in you. It
will consume every green tree in you, as well as
every dry tree. The blazing flame will not go out
in the entire surface from south to north will be
scorched by it, and all mankind will see that I
the Lord have kindled it.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
It will not go out.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Anytime God calls this to holiness, there's gonna be growing pains.
So as I'm reading this verse, I'm thinking of the
dry trees. I'm thinking of conservation burning, right where you
get a drip torch and you go through and you
intentionally place fire. There's strategy to every bit of it,
(08:25):
how the terrain is, how the wind's going, wind flows
like water. You know, you there's intentionality and strategy behind it.
And another name for a conservation burn is a controlled burn.
They're done with intentionality, and the purpose of them is
they improve the soil, remove debris, and they allow for rejuvenation.
(08:50):
So my mind goes to this rejuvenation. I'm like, oh, yeah, God,
you know, I'm gonna suffer some this year.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Suffering. I like that topic.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
It's kind of weird, but I like to study suffering
in the Bible. And so I'm like, yeah, I'm down
to suffer some, But there's gonna be so much blessing, right,
you know, like, let's be real, what's in it for me?
I'm thinking of what am I gonna get out of
this year? So I started to chew on the verse
(09:22):
a little bit more because I'm like, Yeah, I can
take this for this year and run with it. And
then the Holy Spirit reveals to me the rest of
the verse, and I start to wonder what did the
green trees represent? And I felt like in that moment,
the Holy Spirit really put me in check, and I
felt the Holy Spirit said, the green trees represent the
(09:43):
things in your life that you feel like are flourishing
this year, We're going to burn him to the ground.
And I kind of got a pit in my stomach
and I'm like, oh, man, like, where are we going
with this year? And I'll tell you that year was
a year of closed doors for John closed door, closed
(10:05):
door rejection, rejection, rejection primarily in the area of my career.
I've been blessed with a great career my entire adult life.
I've been blessed to do a lot of really fortunate things. However,
because of that, I wasn't really used to not making
the cut. And at the time in that year, I
(10:27):
was working on doing a shift in my career to
law enforcement, and so I kept getting denied that year,
all those closed doors from different agencies in the background
check for things that I had never even done. I'd
get the letter and say, denied for whatever, and I'm like,
I have what in the world, Like I've never even
done this, and so to me, it was a massive
(10:52):
check to my pride, my ego, my identity. And that
year God brought me through this process of breaking down
my identity, and that was a year that I had
massive breakthrough in understanding where I stand as.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
A child of God.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Those who were here last week and heard Austin's message,
that's what it was, going from that orphan spirit to
the child of God. And God was bringing that growth
in me that year. But in order to do so,
he had to expose certain things in my life, and
it was a painful process for me. There's a difference
(11:33):
between a controlled burn and a forest fire. When we
neglect fire, it grows out of hand and out of order.
Neglecting fire it's dangerous one Corinthians fourteen forty. But all
things must be done properly and in an orderly manner.
Neglecting fire is reckless. Did you know that reckless behavior
(11:56):
can actually be a crime. I'm going to read to
you state law of reckless driving. Any person who drives
any vehicle and wilful or want in disregard for the
safety of persons or property is guilty of reckless driving.
Some of your like that was me on the way
(12:18):
to church, don't tell Julian. So that's reckless driving. What
I want to present to you is there's also a
crime called reckless burning. This is what I'm more concerned about.
So I am now a police officer in our community.
(12:39):
So I did eventually make it. So there's my test money.
But in those closed doors, we're protection because I'm in
a place that I love. Now, I get treated great there,
and so I'm on an extra patrol. This is earlier
this summer down in one of our parks. Now, we
got a lot of problems in the parks. People like
(13:02):
to hide out there with felony warrants, and I like
to go sneak around and find them. So as I'm
going through one of the parks, I smell some smoke
and I follow it and I come up on this
guy and he's way down in this brush down by
the river and he has a fire going. Now it's
not like the fire was contained. You know, when you
(13:24):
go down to the Columbia and there's all these big
rocks and a river bank, and if there's a fire
that you just kick some water on it, be like, hey,
sup being dumb and move on. That's not the case.
This fire was in a massive thing, a brush. The
brush was dry. There's roots everywhere, dry brush everywhere, dead
trees hanging over it. Because he's in there hiding. So
(13:49):
me and some friends we detained him and we begin
an investigation for eggless burning.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
So he has some.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Weapons on h We put him in cuffs and he's like,
I don't really know what's the big deal is man, Like,
I'm just trying to cook a steak.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
It's like I didn't.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
I didn't mean to like burn everything down. And I'm like, dude,
like I get it. You want to need a steak.
That's cool, there's nothing wrong with that. However, his intent
did not match the elements of the crime, just because
his intentions were good. Like I told the guy, I'm like, dude,
(14:25):
I believe your intentions weren't arson. I don't think you
were here to burn the whole place down and leave
like he had camp set up.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
Okay, So.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
He went to jail all right for reckless burning. So
the thing is, regardless of our intentions, we can still
be guilty of reckless behavior. This guy, you know, the
fire that he made, the fire department had to come
(14:56):
out and rip up the ground and saturate it.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
We me and my.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Other coworkers, we tried to put the fire up, but
you know, we put the flames out, but what was
happening under the surface was still going. This fire had
eaten into the roots and was affecting what was around it.
If we would have left, it would have came back up.
I know that from experience because I was a kid.
Fireworks been there, right, So that wasn't my notes. However,
(15:27):
the fire department had to come in to rip out
the earth and really saturate it and use these tools
and take care of it. We take this seriously because
how many fires do.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
We have around here? Too many?
Speaker 1 (15:39):
Right?
Speaker 2 (15:39):
We have people doing nonsense like that, and then we
have people going out in the parks doing fatanol, passing
out with the torch on, and then they burn alive
and then the park burns down all bad. So this
isn't picking on somebody that's hungry. If he wanted to
do this in order, fifty yards from him, there is
grills in the park where you can orderly manner make
(16:02):
a fire and cook your steak. If that is genuinely
what you want to do, there is a way to
do that. The closer we are to fire, the hotter
it is. And when we don't take responsibility for our lives,
we become reckless, and we disregard the safety of those
around us, especially those closest to us. Fire it affects
(16:24):
what's closest.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
To it the most.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
What are our intentions? Proverbs four twenty five and twenty six.
Let your eyes look directly ahead and let your gaze
be straight Excuse me, Let your gaze be fixed straight
in front of you. Watch the path of your feet
in all your ways will be established. It says, look
(16:49):
straight ahead of you, stay focused. This one's for the men,
as men were called to be what protectors, providers, provisionaries.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Part of being a provisionary having proactive vision. So I
look ahead, identify a danger, identify a problem, and then
I take the necessary courses of action to protect my
family or those around me from that.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
We must be proactive in our approach to serving God
and as people. There's a difference between the fire of
God and our avoidance of his warnings. Either way, There's
going to be trials that we encounter, but how we
respond to it is what's gonna matter.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
So now I want to go into the green.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Trees, because, like the Holy Spirit revealed to me the
things that I thought were flourishing, sometimes there needs to
be a stripping away of things in our lives that
we feel like are flourishing and that we've gone comfortable
with in order to bring room for true growth. Like
(18:04):
that tree by my house, I said I would hang
my hammock there. I drew comfort from this tree. From
the outside, this tree looked exactly the same this one
as this tree right beside it. I could tell no difference.
It was producing fruit, it was green, But it wasn't
until someone came in from the outside and put a
finger on the issue and revealed it to me and
(18:25):
made me aware of it. At that moment, I have
a decision to make. The opportunity has now been presented
to me. Am I going to make the decision that
was painful, like I said, financially, or am I going
to just come home one day and that tree is
now crashed down on a lot of things that I love,
(18:47):
like peoplerect I'm not saying because something's a good thing
doesn't mean it's from God, because just like Pastor Martin
was praying earlier, like God is good, the goodness of
God is realized. It is part of his character of
who he is. He is a good gift giver Matthew
seven to eleven. If you, then, being evil, know how
(19:10):
to give good gifts to your children, how much more
will your Father, who is in heaven give good things
to those who ask him. He wants you to have
good things. But being burned by the fire of God.
It's ultimately a good thing, but it requires maturity and
(19:32):
obedience because it demands faith. See a lot of times
we associate the fire of God was suffering, But a
lot of times it's simply because our lives are out
of order, and redirection can be a painful process serving God.
It doesn't mean that we won't encounter trials, but there's
things that are green and flourishing. But if our lives
(19:55):
are not laid down to in surrender to God, the
process will be painful or nothing. We might as well
suffer honoring God rather than the consequences of our disobedience.
Proverbs sixteen two and three. All the ways of a
person are clean in his own sight, but the Lord
(20:16):
examines the motives. Commit your works to the Lord and
your plans will be established. You're like John Coole. You
point out some problems to what is solution? Glad you asked,
how do we identify these green trees? For me, it
took this guy coming from the outside and putting his
(20:37):
finger on the problem and clear as they pointed it
out to me. This right here, it tells me the
importance of community of life groups, of having a mentor
to speak into your life and to come and be like, hey, dude, this.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
Area needs addressed.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
You know at that moment we have decisions to make,
So I want to cover a couple examples of some
of these green trees. But just because something's a good
thing doesn't always mean that it's a god thing. Matthew
twenty three, twenty seven, and twenty eight. Woe to you
(21:16):
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are like whitewashed tombs,
which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of
dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Even so, you also
outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full
of hypocrisy and lawlessness. The religious figures of the day
(21:40):
look so good, so polished, but inside their hearts were rotten.
Jesus always expressed the importance of the heart. A couple
examples of green trees. I'm gonna give you examples from
my life. Perhaps you can relate to some of them,
because the last thing I want to do is point
(22:00):
problems at any of you. But what I would ask
is that while I expose myself, you look at your
own heart. Okay, one the gym, fitness, health, insert whatever
into this category appearance, fashion. That's when I never really
(22:21):
struggled with my fiance. Last night she told me, yet.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
I don't know so got a line, you know what
I mean?
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Standards, But being healthy, being fit, these are all great
and honorable things, honoring to God. I personally believe that
the people of God should be the fittest people there
are leading the charge in our health, right, we should
be the example for others to emulate across the board.
Because I'm if I have such a miserable life, what
(22:55):
testimony am I walking to the world Like man is miserable.
He's always talking about healing, but he's like he can't.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
Even catch his breath. Okay.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
But in spite of all that, like I want to,
I want to be able to when I have kids
go with him up in the mountains on backcountry hunts.
I want to be able to experience things with my family,
the things that I enjoy. I believe God honors that.
And but the thing is, where is the line from
there to now?
Speaker 3 (23:29):
Vanity? Whatever it may be? Seduction?
Speaker 2 (23:35):
You know some people, there's only one reason you're wearing that.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
At the gym. Let's be real, all right, So what
is the heart?
Speaker 2 (23:45):
What is the what is what is the motive of
the heart? Because it can be easy to deceive something
of This is a good thing, it's a good thing outwardly,
but where is our heart. Career being a workaholic again,
having a God honoring career, making money a great thing.
(24:07):
I believe, like I said, providers men right, good honorable things. However,
I have also lived the side of like I told
you in twenty twenty two, I was having that kind
of shift in my heart. And before law enforcement, I
was in the Marine Corps for ten years. One thing
that I did when I was in the Marine Corps
(24:27):
is I was in special operations and something called marsok Now,
the rest of the Marine Corps calls this component of
special operations the divorce Force. And the reason is like
everyone gets divorced. And the thing is, I'm not saying
just because God calls you to something because God called
me there, that just because God calls you somewhere that
(24:50):
there's not blessing attached, but there's order in place, because
what that job, with that career path demands of a
man is everything. If you're gonna thrive in the organization
of legitimate war fighting, there is you are giving your
all to this to be successful, and the ones that don't,
(25:14):
you're not successful. And when you're around other men, you
want to do well right, you want to have your
buddy's back, good things. However, when you are giving everything
over here, what's the balance when it comes to your family?
So think of these things when it you know, when
it comes to career. Now, I'm not saying to not
(25:37):
work hard, to not be diligent, that is something that
we should do as believers, But there is a balance.
What is the intention of the heart? This one's gonna
sting for some alcohol. First, I want to say, I'm
not here to argue the theological stance of alcohol. And
(25:59):
I'm I'm definitely not here to say we're hungry. Jen
stands on alcohol. But as I talk about this, I
want you to reflect on your own heart because so
for me, I've been free from alcohol for over four years,
not even a siber and.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
Praise God.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
And what happened when I made that decision is I
made a choice. And this choice was instead of God,
what can I get away with and still be a Christian?
Speaker 3 (26:36):
To now? God?
Speaker 2 (26:38):
What can I give up to be closer to You?
Whatever it is I want, I legitimately I want you.
I want to draw near to you, right, I want
those daily encounters. I want to be more like Jesus.
And so because I get it. I was part of
the Marine Corps for ten years, gun club, drinking club,
right like, been there, I get it. However, the freedom
(27:01):
that God has brought into my life cannot be argued
with me. And some people you might be like, well, dude,
it's you know, I'm not out there getting hammered, you know,
with the boys on the weekends. I'm just having a
beer or a glass of wine with dinner. It's just
a small thing, just a little thing. I'm not getting drunk.
(27:22):
That might be a little thing now, but so is
the worm that killed my tree? Really green trees? Insert
whatever you want here. It's the playbook of the enemy.
(27:45):
It's the playbook of deceit of This is a this
is a this is a good this is good for you,
this is comfortable for you. How about this one. I'm
not looking at pornography, but you know, I'm you know, checking,
you know these people out that are working out or
(28:05):
you know, swimsuits whatever, like you know, I'm walking.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
The edge right what this is?
Speaker 2 (28:12):
This is exhausting, always looking over your shoulder, trying to
walk a tight rope, you know, making sure you don't
fall off. Why don't you just get away from that,
take take a step back, invite some leaders if you're
struggling with that.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
Anytime I've ever.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
Had a struggle like this and I've gone to Pastor
Vlad or Pastor Casey or a leader, I have every
time been received with grace.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
Every time.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
There's protection in that, there's protection and community. The green trees,
like I said, strategy of the enemy. Look at ticktat
TikTok all the New age and witchcraft things out there
for kids, so accessible, This is so good for you,
and there is power in it, right, there is some
power of it. But the enemy is a copycat. He's
(29:05):
gonna distort and pervert what God has done in the
power of God. So what is the solution? Okay, these
are some examples of green trees? But how do how
do we address them?
Speaker 3 (29:21):
Pursuing God.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
The closer we are to God, the more we hear
his warnings, the clearer we hear his voice, our closeness
to God, it's gonna determine our consecration. Some people there,
you know you you ever been to this point where
you're like, how did I get here? Anybody relate to that?
I can how did I get here? Like I don't
(29:45):
even know? And you start to look back on these
series of decisions and you're like, God, where are you?
I can't hear you? Like God, You're so distant. So
let me just remind you in love, God never went
anywhere we did. God has been there the whole time
with you. Read the Prodigal Son. He is always waiting
for us to return. There's a story of Jay who
(30:08):
one of my favorite stories in the Bible, And dudes,
you want to go read the story Jay Who. Then
go to the gym, You're gonna get prs. Like this
guy was legit. He was anointed by God for physical warfare.
He took out Jezebel. He did awesome feats of unconventional
warfare of tricking the prophets of bail and then taking
(30:29):
all of them out. So many awesome things that he did.
But one time at tribe, pastor Vlad was talking about
Jay Who, and I'm all so excited because I love
the war stories. But he points out how at the
end Jay Who's in the Book of Kings. How at
the end Jay Who, he failed to give up his
(30:51):
idols and walking with God. In the end he did
he was not walking with God. How sad is that?
Because as you go and you're like, wow, look at
this guy, so polish on the outside, so doing all
these things. The enemy defined him as a guy that
was writing a chariot with furious drive. Like I get that,
(31:11):
dude is furious like on the battlefield, so cool. But
in the end he wasn't walking with God. That's so sad.
And you know, I think of when I'm walking with someone,
when I'm on a walk with my fiance, you know,
I am go, go go. I am like, I need
to get to where I'm going. Even if I'm relaxing,
(31:34):
I'm still trying to learn what resting looks like. She
is the opposite. She just wants to look at everything.
She enjoyed the experience. And we were in a premarital
counseling with Chris and Michelle highly recommend.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
They were great. If you're in here, thank you.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
And one thing that Chris brought up is kind of
a your mission her type of thing. So like, if
we're at Costco, that's John's mission. We are in and
we are out right okay, But if we're on a walk,
what's the point of going on a walk with someone?
Speaker 3 (32:13):
All Right?
Speaker 2 (32:13):
For me, I'm thinking like, oh, I'm going on, I'm
hunting in the woods like I got somewhere to go.
But no, if I'm with her, I'm communing with her, right,
I'm supposed to be there step and step, stride and
stride with her and hearing her heart, understanding where she's
coming from, and communicating with her. Our closeness to God
(32:39):
is so important, right, That's why I hear a hungry
Jen and we keep saying that our vision is to
lead people to encounter God daily, to have a clear mission,
a clear line that says this is the way forward.
If you take one thing take away, it's on us
(32:59):
to pursue him. There's a got a picture of Uh.
This is Camp Pendleton. It is a Marine Corps base
down between La and San Diego. And how many people
know they got a lot, a lot of fires to
put out down there of all kinds. And this base
(33:21):
it is massive and it has one hundred and sixty
some miles worth of these fire breaks behind me installed
all throughout the base.
Speaker 3 (33:30):
Now, these these things are massive.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
The pictures a little deceptive, but this hill right here,
this is recon Ridge it h I mean think of
ridle Snake Mountain right like bigger than Badger, all right.
And so to the effort that it takes to install
these is huge. It's a massive effort to maintain these things.
But the reason that that preparation has done is because
(33:57):
the fire is coming. The fire is inevitable on Camp
Penalton alone, there's over one hundred fires a year. So
without being known, if they didn't put these in, the
whole place is gonna burn down where we're gonna train, right,
So we know that the fire is coming, but the
fire break acts as a line in the sand that
(34:19):
says you will only come this far, and that you
will not you will not go any further. It's like
the addiction may have run in the family until it
runs into me. I will not allow this to seep
into my marriage, to seep into my children's lives. When
(34:41):
the issue is pointed out, it must be addressed. If
it's not, it's gonna continue to eat, continue to spread
like that fire down by the river. The process it
might be painful, but it's for your good. I want
(35:01):
to be consumed by the fire of God Hebrews twelve,
twenty eight and twenty nine. Therefore, since we receive a
kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude by
which we may offer to God an acceptable service with
reverence and awe. For our God is a consuming fire.
You see fire When it's exposed to something, it changes
(35:24):
what it comes in contact with. And if our God's
a consuming fire, the closer that we draw near to him,
the more the fire of his presence should be refining
and burning off the clutter of our lives. James four seven.
Submit therefore to God, Resist the devil and he will
flee from you. Daily encounters draw near to God, and
(35:49):
he will draw nearer to you. One last picture, all right,
So we got one pretty tree, right, and a lot
of firewood. So I want to point out to you.
You see that window upstairs. So that window is to
(36:14):
a very special room in my house that I call
the Upper Room. The Upper Room, it's my secret place.
That's where I read. I've set up a bunch of
military memorability up there, things that as I pray, I
look back on the things that God has brought me
through this room. Is it is like to me, It's
like an like when the Israelites crossed the Jordan and
(36:36):
they set up an altar for future generations to remember
what God has brought them.
Speaker 3 (36:41):
That's what that room represents to me.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
I go up there, I just drink a cup of
coffee and I remember the goodness of God in my
life when I'm experiencing something hard, and I look back
on what God has done in his faithfulness. That tree
was leaning towards that window. So not only was that
tree the thing that was flourishing dying from the inside,
(37:04):
it was endangering my house. It was in Who knows,
maybe I could come home from work one day and
that tree is now you know, maybe it could take
out my future wife or future family inside of the home.
But also it was endangering my secret place, my relationship
with the Lord. Let's go ahead and stand to our feet, please,
(37:39):
if everyone could close their eyes. I want us to
take this opportunity to reflect on our own lives. What
are the dry trees? You know, those are the easier
things that we know our issues. Like Jessica and her friend,
(38:03):
they pointed out those dry trees when they first saw
them at the river, like, I don't know what that is,
but it looks bad.
Speaker 3 (38:10):
Right.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
Sometimes there's things that we know are out of place
and out of order, and I want to present to
you an opportunity to address it. But what are the
things that we have drawn comfortable with, the things that
are hurting our lives and really are endangering our lives
in those around us? Is it reckless behavior? So right now,
(38:41):
let's go into a quick time of prayer. Father, we
surrender to you any of the things in our lives,
Father that we have idolized over you, the things in
our lives that we think are flourishing that maybe they
were never of you in the first place, or maybe
our hearts have gone rotten or grown hard. Lord, we
(39:07):
want to be strong in you, in living fully and
freely in your goodness. So Lord, I pray a blessing
over your people, Lord, that you would soften their hearts
till up the hard ground of our hearts. Lord, Lord,
that we would not care what we look like on
(39:27):
the outside in relation to where we stand with you.
Speaker 3 (39:32):
What is the posture of our hearts right now?
Speaker 2 (39:39):
Just surrender whatever it is to the Lord that might
be hindering this. Take advantage of this opportunity to hear
heed the warning.
Speaker 3 (39:47):
Of the Lord.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed this week's message.
Speaker 3 (39:51):
If you like what you've.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
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enjoy this week's message.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
I have something in my life that I'm excited for
that I'm wanna share with you.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Guys.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
I'm getting married soon. Some of you are like I
was wondering if it's ever gonna happen, but.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Eventually so.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
My fiance is right here on the front row. She
is amazing and I'm grateful for her. She improves the
live of everybody she meets. So when I proposed to her,
we started the wedding planning process right because I was
(01:01):
preparing for marriage.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
I had some money that I had.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Saved up for a venue, and I didn't think she'd
fall for this, but I said, hey, we could either
give this money away to somebody else for a venue
and rent, or we could invest it into my property
and get married down by the river. Because I have
some nice property that God has blessed me with, and
(01:24):
so She's like, okay.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Well let's check it out now.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
She had seen it before, but now this time she
brings a friend with her that's helping her plan, you know,
the wedding.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
So we're down there along the river and.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
They're looking at it and they're like, you know what,
I can see it, but I want you to do this, this,
and this. I'm like done, so I get some excavation going.
The land was a little undulated, get it leveled out,
get it graded down to the river bank, maybe install
a boat launch along the way. She's probably like that
(02:00):
what all that expensive rock was for. So it looks
way better. Part of it was removing a bunch of
the brush along the river. So now it's a nice
clean bank. And then there's this tree line. There should
be a picture of it, so you can see that
tree line. It's there's the river off to the right,
(02:20):
and then there's all those trees right there. So the
trees there, there's a lot of clutter in there, right
there's a lot that needs to be trimmed up. And
you might have a hard time seeing the picture, but
there's some fallen trees in there, some dead trees, a
bunch of clutter and undergrowth that just needs to be removed.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
So the next picture is once that work was done. Okay,
so trees were prune, all the clutter was cleaned out,
and all that undergrowth was removed. So I I didn't
do that, by the way, I was supposed to say
that before. But I hired a guy to do this.
(03:03):
So this guy, he came in with all this equipment
and he went to town cleaned it up, and I'm
really impressed. I'm like, hey, I also had these three
massive trees that are right around my house that I
really like, and one's a really big mulberry tree, and
two are identical walnut trees right beside my house. And
(03:26):
I tell him, I say, hey, I really like these trees.
I'd like to have them just trimmed up as well,
because these things haven't been trimmed in who knows how
long they were like leaning on my house. So right
here is those are the two walnut trees. And they
look the same right beside each other. They're both green,
(03:47):
they both produce a ton of fruit or a ton
of walnuts, and right beside each other, me, I can't
really tell the difference.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
So as we're looking at him. The guy.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
He says, this tree, that closest one in the picture
he points out. He says, this tree is actually dying.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Now.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Me, not having met this guy before, I'm trying to
figure out, okay, what's your angle here. You're trying to
hustle me and trying to discern, like what's going on.
I think he catches in on that, and he's like, no, look,
and he points out these little holes up higher in
the tree. He knew exactly what to look for. I
(04:27):
had never seen these holes before. And he tells me
about this particular worm bug. I forgot what it's called,
but he said, that tree is infested with it and
it's eating it from the inside out. We need to
remove it before it eats into the other tree. I'm like, okay, sure,
it looks the same as the other one. He's like,
(04:48):
the watch he goes into there's a crack on this
side of the tree. It's hard to see from where
you're at, but he puts his fingers in it and
he pops off a big chunk of the bark and
he's like, look, and it's black and decaying on the
inside right there. And now I'm realizing Okay, this is legit.
(05:11):
You see the trees down along the river. Pruning would
fix those trees. But the problem is with this tree.
Pruning wasn't going to fix this tree. This tree, it
needed to be completely removed from my property. Because as
I look at this tree, I step back once he
(05:31):
shows me that it's dead and it's leaning towards my house.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
You see that.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
So this tree that I thought was flourishing, the appears
from the outside so healthy. So producing fruit right from
the outside looks great, just like the tree right beside it.
And I grew comfort from these trees. These trees, they
provide shade. You see my houses in the shade right now.
They produce fruit, you know. And I like to hang
(05:57):
a hammock between those two trees and draw comfort from them.
So this tree brings comfort to me. But that process
of removing this had pain associated to it. In this case,
it was painful for me financially. The title of this
message is the Burn of Consecration.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Go there, excuse me. I haven't talked this much in
the last month.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
This message, it's a call to spiritual maturity, and I
want you to take this opportunity to have a shift
in your perspective. Have an open mind, because just like
this tree, it took somebody coming in from the outside.
Sometimes some things in our lives that are harmful to
us can be difficult for us to identify for ourselves.
(06:54):
There was a time in twenty twenty two I was
here during morning prayer on the twenty one day fast.
I'm sitting right around here, and one of the things
that I had been fasting and praying for is an
annual word to stand on. It's something that I haven't
done every year, but every time that I do it,
(07:15):
there's a big impact on my life that year. And
it's day twenty. I don't have anything. I'm getting frustrated,
and I'm praying, like you know, I'm just pouring my
heart out to God. And shortly after I come across
this verse Ezekiel, Chapter twenty, halfway through verse forty seven, Behold,
(07:38):
I am going to kindle a fire in you. It
will consume every green tree in you, as well as
every dry tree. The blazing flame will not go out
in the entire surface from south to north will be
scorched by it, and all mankind will see that I
the Lord have kindled it.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
It will not go out.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Anytime God calls this to holiness, there's gonna be growing pains.
So as I'm reading this verse, I'm thinking of the
dry trees. I'm thinking of conservation burning, right where you
get a drip torch and you go through and you
intentionally place fire. There's strategy to every bit of it,
(08:25):
how the terrain is, how the wind's going, wind flows
like water. You know, you there's intentionality and strategy behind it.
And another name for a conservation burn is a controlled burn.
They're done with intentionality, and the purpose of them is
they improve the soil, remove debris, and they allow for rejuvenation.
(08:50):
So my mind goes to this rejuvenation. I'm like, oh, yeah, God,
you know, I'm gonna suffer some this year.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Suffering. I like that topic.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
It's kind of weird, but I like to study suffering
in the Bible. And so I'm like, yeah, I'm down
to suffer some, But there's gonna be so much blessing, right,
you know, like, let's be real, what's in it for me?
I'm thinking of what am I gonna get out of
this year? So I started to chew on the verse
(09:22):
a little bit more because I'm like, Yeah, I can
take this for this year and run with it. And
then the Holy Spirit reveals to me the rest of
the verse, and I start to wonder what did the
green trees represent? And I felt like in that moment,
the Holy Spirit really put me in check, and I
felt the Holy Spirit said, the green trees represent the
(09:43):
things in your life that you feel like are flourishing
this year, We're going to burn him to the ground.
And I kind of got a pit in my stomach
and I'm like, oh, man, like, where are we going
with this year? And I'll tell you that year was
a year of closed doors for John closed door, closed
(10:05):
door rejection, rejection, rejection primarily in the area of my career.
I've been blessed with a great career my entire adult life.
I've been blessed to do a lot of really fortunate things. However,
because of that, I wasn't really used to not making
the cut. And at the time in that year, I
(10:27):
was working on doing a shift in my career to
law enforcement, and so I kept getting denied that year,
all those closed doors from different agencies in the background
check for things that I had never even done. I'd
get the letter and say, denied for whatever, and I'm like,
I have what in the world, Like I've never even
done this, and so to me, it was a massive
(10:52):
check to my pride, my ego, my identity. And that
year God brought me through this process of breaking down
my identity, and that was a year that I had
massive breakthrough in understanding where I stand as.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
A child of God.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Those who were here last week and heard Austin's message,
that's what it was, going from that orphan spirit to
the child of God. And God was bringing that growth
in me that year. But in order to do so,
he had to expose certain things in my life, and
it was a painful process for me. There's a difference
(11:33):
between a controlled burn and a forest fire. When we
neglect fire, it grows out of hand and out of order.
Neglecting fire it's dangerous one Corinthians fourteen forty. But all
things must be done properly and in an orderly manner.
Neglecting fire is reckless. Did you know that reckless behavior
(11:56):
can actually be a crime. I'm going to read to
you state law of reckless driving. Any person who drives
any vehicle and wilful or want in disregard for the
safety of persons or property is guilty of reckless driving.
Some of your like that was me on the way
(12:18):
to church, don't tell Julian. So that's reckless driving. What
I want to present to you is there's also a
crime called reckless burning. This is what I'm more concerned about.
So I am now a police officer in our community.
(12:39):
So I did eventually make it. So there's my test money.
But in those closed doors, we're protection because I'm in
a place that I love. Now, I get treated great there,
and so I'm on an extra patrol. This is earlier
this summer down in one of our parks. Now, we
got a lot of problems in the parks. People like
(13:02):
to hide out there with felony warrants, and I like
to go sneak around and find them. So as I'm
going through one of the parks, I smell some smoke
and I follow it and I come up on this
guy and he's way down in this brush down by
the river and he has a fire going. Now it's
not like the fire was contained. You know, when you
(13:24):
go down to the Columbia and there's all these big
rocks and a river bank, and if there's a fire
that you just kick some water on it, be like, hey,
sup being dumb and move on. That's not the case.
This fire was in a massive thing, a brush. The
brush was dry. There's roots everywhere, dry brush everywhere, dead
trees hanging over it. Because he's in there hiding. So
(13:49):
me and some friends we detained him and we begin
an investigation for eggless burning.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
So he has some.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Weapons on h We put him in cuffs and he's like,
I don't really know what's the big deal is man, Like,
I'm just trying to cook a steak.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
It's like I didn't.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
I didn't mean to like burn everything down. And I'm like, dude,
like I get it. You want to need a steak.
That's cool, there's nothing wrong with that. However, his intent
did not match the elements of the crime, just because
his intentions were good. Like I told the guy, I'm like, dude,
(14:25):
I believe your intentions weren't arson. I don't think you
were here to burn the whole place down and leave
like he had camp set up.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
Okay, So.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
He went to jail all right for reckless burning. So
the thing is, regardless of our intentions, we can still
be guilty of reckless behavior. This guy, you know, the
fire that he made, the fire department had to come
(14:56):
out and rip up the ground and saturate it.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
We me and my.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Other coworkers, we tried to put the fire up, but
you know, we put the flames out, but what was
happening under the surface was still going. This fire had
eaten into the roots and was affecting what was around it.
If we would have left, it would have came back up.
I know that from experience because I was a kid.
Fireworks been there, right, So that wasn't my notes. However,
(15:27):
the fire department had to come in to rip out
the earth and really saturate it and use these tools
and take care of it. We take this seriously because
how many fires do.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
We have around here? Too many?
Speaker 1 (15:39):
Right?
Speaker 2 (15:39):
We have people doing nonsense like that, and then we
have people going out in the parks doing fatanol, passing
out with the torch on, and then they burn alive
and then the park burns down all bad. So this
isn't picking on somebody that's hungry. If he wanted to
do this in order, fifty yards from him, there is
grills in the park where you can orderly manner make
(16:02):
a fire and cook your steak. If that is genuinely
what you want to do, there is a way to
do that. The closer we are to fire, the hotter
it is. And when we don't take responsibility for our lives,
we become reckless, and we disregard the safety of those
around us, especially those closest to us. Fire it affects
(16:24):
what's closest.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
To it the most.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
What are our intentions? Proverbs four twenty five and twenty six.
Let your eyes look directly ahead and let your gaze
be straight Excuse me, Let your gaze be fixed straight
in front of you. Watch the path of your feet
in all your ways will be established. It says, look
(16:49):
straight ahead of you, stay focused. This one's for the men,
as men were called to be what protectors, providers, provisionaries.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Part of being a provisionary having proactive vision. So I
look ahead, identify a danger, identify a problem, and then
I take the necessary courses of action to protect my
family or those around me from that.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
We must be proactive in our approach to serving God
and as people. There's a difference between the fire of
God and our avoidance of his warnings. Either way, There's
going to be trials that we encounter, but how we
respond to it is what's gonna matter.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
So now I want to go into the green.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Trees, because, like the Holy Spirit revealed to me the
things that I thought were flourishing, sometimes there needs to
be a stripping away of things in our lives that
we feel like are flourishing and that we've gone comfortable
with in order to bring room for true growth. Like
(18:04):
that tree by my house, I said I would hang
my hammock there. I drew comfort from this tree. From
the outside, this tree looked exactly the same this one
as this tree right beside it. I could tell no difference.
It was producing fruit, it was green, But it wasn't
until someone came in from the outside and put a
finger on the issue and revealed it to me and
(18:25):
made me aware of it. At that moment, I have
a decision to make. The opportunity has now been presented
to me. Am I going to make the decision that
was painful, like I said, financially, or am I going
to just come home one day and that tree is
now crashed down on a lot of things that I love,
(18:47):
like peoplerect I'm not saying because something's a good thing
doesn't mean it's from God, because just like Pastor Martin
was praying earlier, like God is good, the goodness of
God is realized. It is part of his character of
who he is. He is a good gift giver Matthew
seven to eleven. If you, then, being evil, know how
(19:10):
to give good gifts to your children, how much more
will your Father, who is in heaven give good things
to those who ask him. He wants you to have
good things. But being burned by the fire of God.
It's ultimately a good thing, but it requires maturity and
(19:32):
obedience because it demands faith. See a lot of times
we associate the fire of God was suffering, But a
lot of times it's simply because our lives are out
of order, and redirection can be a painful process serving God.
It doesn't mean that we won't encounter trials, but there's
things that are green and flourishing. But if our lives
(19:55):
are not laid down to in surrender to God, the
process will be painful or nothing. We might as well
suffer honoring God rather than the consequences of our disobedience.
Proverbs sixteen two and three. All the ways of a
person are clean in his own sight, but the Lord
(20:16):
examines the motives. Commit your works to the Lord and
your plans will be established. You're like John Coole. You
point out some problems to what is solution? Glad you asked,
how do we identify these green trees? For me, it
took this guy coming from the outside and putting his
(20:37):
finger on the problem and clear as they pointed it
out to me. This right here, it tells me the
importance of community of life groups, of having a mentor
to speak into your life and to come and be like, hey, dude, this.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
Area needs addressed.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
You know at that moment we have decisions to make,
So I want to cover a couple examples of some
of these green trees. But just because something's a good
thing doesn't always mean that it's a god thing. Matthew
twenty three, twenty seven, and twenty eight. Woe to you
(21:16):
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are like whitewashed tombs,
which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of
dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Even so, you also
outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full
of hypocrisy and lawlessness. The religious figures of the day
(21:40):
look so good, so polished, but inside their hearts were rotten.
Jesus always expressed the importance of the heart. A couple
examples of green trees. I'm gonna give you examples from
my life. Perhaps you can relate to some of them,
because the last thing I want to do is point
(22:00):
problems at any of you. But what I would ask
is that while I expose myself, you look at your
own heart. Okay, one the gym, fitness, health, insert whatever
into this category appearance, fashion. That's when I never really
(22:21):
struggled with my fiance. Last night she told me, yet.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
I don't know so got a line, you know what
I mean?
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Standards, But being healthy, being fit, these are all great
and honorable things, honoring to God. I personally believe that
the people of God should be the fittest people there
are leading the charge in our health, right, we should
be the example for others to emulate across the board.
Because I'm if I have such a miserable life, what
(22:55):
testimony am I walking to the world Like man is miserable.
He's always talking about healing, but he's like he can't.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
Even catch his breath. Okay.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
But in spite of all that, like I want to,
I want to be able to when I have kids
go with him up in the mountains on backcountry hunts.
I want to be able to experience things with my family,
the things that I enjoy. I believe God honors that.
And but the thing is, where is the line from
there to now?
Speaker 3 (23:29):
Vanity? Whatever it may be? Seduction?
Speaker 2 (23:35):
You know some people, there's only one reason you're wearing that.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
At the gym. Let's be real, all right, So what
is the heart?
Speaker 2 (23:45):
What is the what is what is the motive of
the heart? Because it can be easy to deceive something
of This is a good thing, it's a good thing outwardly,
but where is our heart. Career being a workaholic again,
having a God honoring career, making money a great thing.
(24:07):
I believe, like I said, providers men right, good honorable things. However,
I have also lived the side of like I told
you in twenty twenty two, I was having that kind
of shift in my heart. And before law enforcement, I
was in the Marine Corps for ten years. One thing
that I did when I was in the Marine Corps
(24:27):
is I was in special operations and something called marsok Now,
the rest of the Marine Corps calls this component of
special operations the divorce Force. And the reason is like
everyone gets divorced. And the thing is, I'm not saying
just because God calls you to something because God called
me there, that just because God calls you somewhere that
(24:50):
there's not blessing attached, but there's order in place, because
what that job, with that career path demands of a
man is everything. If you're gonna thrive in the organization
of legitimate war fighting, there is you are giving your
all to this to be successful, and the ones that don't,
(25:14):
you're not successful. And when you're around other men, you
want to do well right, you want to have your
buddy's back, good things. However, when you are giving everything
over here, what's the balance when it comes to your family?
So think of these things when it you know, when
it comes to career. Now, I'm not saying to not
(25:37):
work hard, to not be diligent, that is something that
we should do as believers, But there is a balance.
What is the intention of the heart? This one's gonna
sting for some alcohol. First, I want to say, I'm
not here to argue the theological stance of alcohol. And
(25:59):
I'm I'm definitely not here to say we're hungry. Jen
stands on alcohol. But as I talk about this, I
want you to reflect on your own heart because so
for me, I've been free from alcohol for over four years,
not even a siber and.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
Praise God.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
And what happened when I made that decision is I
made a choice. And this choice was instead of God,
what can I get away with and still be a Christian?
Speaker 3 (26:36):
To now? God?
Speaker 2 (26:38):
What can I give up to be closer to You?
Whatever it is I want, I legitimately I want you.
I want to draw near to you, right, I want
those daily encounters. I want to be more like Jesus.
And so because I get it. I was part of
the Marine Corps for ten years, gun club, drinking club,
right like, been there, I get it. However, the freedom
(27:01):
that God has brought into my life cannot be argued
with me. And some people you might be like, well, dude,
it's you know, I'm not out there getting hammered, you know,
with the boys on the weekends. I'm just having a
beer or a glass of wine with dinner. It's just
a small thing, just a little thing. I'm not getting drunk.
(27:22):
That might be a little thing now, but so is
the worm that killed my tree? Really green trees? Insert
whatever you want here. It's the playbook of the enemy.
(27:45):
It's the playbook of deceit of This is a this
is a this is a good this is good for you,
this is comfortable for you. How about this one. I'm
not looking at pornography, but you know, I'm you know, checking,
you know these people out that are working out or
(28:05):
you know, swimsuits whatever, like you know, I'm walking.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
The edge right what this is?
Speaker 2 (28:12):
This is exhausting, always looking over your shoulder, trying to
walk a tight rope, you know, making sure you don't
fall off. Why don't you just get away from that,
take take a step back, invite some leaders if you're
struggling with that.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
Anytime I've ever.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
Had a struggle like this and I've gone to Pastor
Vlad or Pastor Casey or a leader, I have every
time been received with grace.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
Every time.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
There's protection in that, there's protection and community. The green trees,
like I said, strategy of the enemy. Look at ticktat
TikTok all the New age and witchcraft things out there
for kids, so accessible, This is so good for you,
and there is power in it, right, there is some
power of it. But the enemy is a copycat. He's
(29:05):
gonna distort and pervert what God has done in the
power of God. So what is the solution? Okay, these
are some examples of green trees? But how do how
do we address them?
Speaker 3 (29:21):
Pursuing God.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
The closer we are to God, the more we hear
his warnings, the clearer we hear his voice, our closeness
to God, it's gonna determine our consecration. Some people there,
you know you you ever been to this point where
you're like, how did I get here? Anybody relate to that?
I can how did I get here? Like I don't
(29:45):
even know? And you start to look back on these
series of decisions and you're like, God, where are you?
I can't hear you? Like God, You're so distant. So
let me just remind you in love, God never went
anywhere we did. God has been there the whole time
with you. Read the Prodigal Son. He is always waiting
for us to return. There's a story of Jay who
(30:08):
one of my favorite stories in the Bible, And dudes,
you want to go read the story Jay Who. Then
go to the gym, You're gonna get prs. Like this
guy was legit. He was anointed by God for physical warfare.
He took out Jezebel. He did awesome feats of unconventional
warfare of tricking the prophets of bail and then taking
(30:29):
all of them out. So many awesome things that he did.
But one time at tribe, pastor Vlad was talking about
Jay Who, and I'm all so excited because I love
the war stories. But he points out how at the
end Jay Who's in the Book of Kings. How at
the end Jay Who, he failed to give up his
(30:51):
idols and walking with God. In the end he did
he was not walking with God. How sad is that?
Because as you go and you're like, wow, look at
this guy, so polish on the outside, so doing all
these things. The enemy defined him as a guy that
was writing a chariot with furious drive. Like I get that,
(31:11):
dude is furious like on the battlefield, so cool. But
in the end he wasn't walking with God. That's so sad.
And you know, I think of when I'm walking with someone,
when I'm on a walk with my fiance, you know,
I am go, go go. I am like, I need
to get to where I'm going. Even if I'm relaxing,
(31:34):
I'm still trying to learn what resting looks like. She
is the opposite. She just wants to look at everything.
She enjoyed the experience. And we were in a premarital
counseling with Chris and Michelle highly recommend.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
They were great. If you're in here, thank you.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
And one thing that Chris brought up is kind of
a your mission her type of thing. So like, if
we're at Costco, that's John's mission. We are in and
we are out right okay, But if we're on a walk,
what's the point of going on a walk with someone?
Speaker 3 (32:13):
All Right?
Speaker 2 (32:13):
For me, I'm thinking like, oh, I'm going on, I'm
hunting in the woods like I got somewhere to go.
But no, if I'm with her, I'm communing with her, right,
I'm supposed to be there step and step, stride and
stride with her and hearing her heart, understanding where she's
coming from, and communicating with her. Our closeness to God
(32:39):
is so important, right, That's why I hear a hungry
Jen and we keep saying that our vision is to
lead people to encounter God daily, to have a clear mission,
a clear line that says this is the way forward.
If you take one thing take away, it's on us
(32:59):
to pursue him. There's a got a picture of Uh.
This is Camp Pendleton. It is a Marine Corps base
down between La and San Diego. And how many people
know they got a lot, a lot of fires to
put out down there of all kinds. And this base
(33:21):
it is massive and it has one hundred and sixty
some miles worth of these fire breaks behind me installed
all throughout the base.
Speaker 3 (33:30):
Now, these these things are massive.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
The pictures a little deceptive, but this hill right here,
this is recon Ridge it h I mean think of
ridle Snake Mountain right like bigger than Badger, all right.
And so to the effort that it takes to install
these is huge. It's a massive effort to maintain these things.
But the reason that that preparation has done is because
(33:57):
the fire is coming. The fire is inevitable on Camp
Penalton alone, there's over one hundred fires a year. So
without being known, if they didn't put these in, the
whole place is gonna burn down where we're gonna train, right,
So we know that the fire is coming, but the
fire break acts as a line in the sand that
(34:19):
says you will only come this far, and that you
will not you will not go any further. It's like
the addiction may have run in the family until it
runs into me. I will not allow this to seep
into my marriage, to seep into my children's lives. When
(34:41):
the issue is pointed out, it must be addressed. If
it's not, it's gonna continue to eat, continue to spread
like that fire down by the river. The process it
might be painful, but it's for your good. I want
(35:01):
to be consumed by the fire of God Hebrews twelve,
twenty eight and twenty nine. Therefore, since we receive a
kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude by
which we may offer to God an acceptable service with
reverence and awe. For our God is a consuming fire.
You see fire When it's exposed to something, it changes
(35:24):
what it comes in contact with. And if our God's
a consuming fire, the closer that we draw near to him,
the more the fire of his presence should be refining
and burning off the clutter of our lives. James four seven.
Submit therefore to God, Resist the devil and he will
flee from you. Daily encounters draw near to God, and
(35:49):
he will draw nearer to you. One last picture, all right,
So we got one pretty tree, right, and a lot
of firewood. So I want to point out to you.
You see that window upstairs. So that window is to
(36:14):
a very special room in my house that I call
the Upper Room. The Upper Room, it's my secret place.
That's where I read. I've set up a bunch of
military memorability up there, things that as I pray, I
look back on the things that God has brought me
through this room. Is it is like to me, It's
like an like when the Israelites crossed the Jordan and
(36:36):
they set up an altar for future generations to remember
what God has brought them.
Speaker 3 (36:41):
That's what that room represents to me.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
I go up there, I just drink a cup of
coffee and I remember the goodness of God in my
life when I'm experiencing something hard, and I look back
on what God has done in his faithfulness. That tree
was leaning towards that window. So not only was that
tree the thing that was flourishing dying from the inside,
(37:04):
it was endangering my house. It was in Who knows,
maybe I could come home from work one day and
that tree is now you know, maybe it could take
out my future wife or future family inside of the home.
But also it was endangering my secret place, my relationship
with the Lord. Let's go ahead and stand to our feet, please,
(37:39):
if everyone could close their eyes. I want us to
take this opportunity to reflect on our own lives. What
are the dry trees? You know, those are the easier
things that we know our issues. Like Jessica and her friend,
(38:03):
they pointed out those dry trees when they first saw
them at the river, like, I don't know what that is,
but it looks bad.
Speaker 3 (38:10):
Right.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
Sometimes there's things that we know are out of place
and out of order, and I want to present to
you an opportunity to address it. But what are the
things that we have drawn comfortable with, the things that
are hurting our lives and really are endangering our lives
in those around us? Is it reckless behavior? So right now,
(38:41):
let's go into a quick time of prayer. Father, we
surrender to you any of the things in our lives,
Father that we have idolized over you, the things in
our lives that we think are flourishing that maybe they
were never of you in the first place, or maybe
our hearts have gone rotten or grown hard. Lord, we
(39:07):
want to be strong in you, in living fully and
freely in your goodness. So Lord, I pray a blessing
over your people, Lord, that you would soften their hearts
till up the hard ground of our hearts. Lord, Lord,
that we would not care what we look like on
(39:27):
the outside in relation to where we stand with you.
Speaker 3 (39:32):
What is the posture of our hearts right now?
Speaker 2 (39:39):
Just surrender whatever it is to the Lord that might
be hindering this. Take advantage of this opportunity to hear
heed the warning.
Speaker 3 (39:47):
Of the Lord.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed this week's message.
Speaker 3 (39:51):
If you like what you've.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
Heard, you can find more of this great content on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, snapchat, TikTok,
and even Pinterest. In other words, we would love to
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