S1E4: Getting Unstuck

Hey guys, I'm excited to be able to jump into this first kind of session together. ⁓ as a group, I think it's important as we think about the summer, ⁓ where we're going and where God really more importantly is taking us. This is a great opportunity, I think, for us to kind of springboard into the summer. And so I'm excited to be able to jump in and share this first kind of lesson that we're all going to be learning from together. And so the idea of today in session one is this whole idea about getting stuck. And really, sometimes we get stuck, we want to get unstuck. And I think no doubt in ministry it happens. And so when you kind of think through your own life, you think about the eternal side. So let's think about like salvation, right? And we as pastors and ministry leaders. Would be quick to tell people that you are really, you know, one decision away from major life change. Like put your faith, hope, and trust in Christ, and then just simply follow Jesus, right? So you kind of have like a second decision you can make there to kind of simply follow Jesus each and every day. And I think as ministry leaders, we kind of lose perspective of that sometimes, where God has called us out whether to plant a church or to revitalize a church or to be a part of a ministry of some sort. And then along the way, you know, trouble happens, we get stuck, and we kind of lose. lose focus and we're kind of spinning our wheels. And so we want to take the next couple of ⁓ weeks here through our summer to really pour in to each other and really allow God to do a work in our hearts because I believe that summertimes can be a time where we can see incredible personal spiritual growth, but also see God do amazing things in the ministry. And so the question I have kind of jumping right in and and we're going to spend about 10 to 15 minutes here and then jump into our small groups, kind of have some great discussion. But the question that I have that I want you to kind of have in the back of your mind is when you start thinking about the fall. So when you think about that time of year where everyone's coming back to church, everyone's getting kind of back into the normal rhythm and routines, what are some changes that might need to happen in the ministry? Maybe the ministry that you oversee, that you steward, what are some changes that maybe need to happen in you personally? What are some of these things that you're you're you're dreaming for? ⁓ because I think many times ⁓ no matter where you're at in leadership, no matter where you're at in ministry, we can feel stuck, right? Like we we don't know the right decision to make and and maybe sometimes we we We get to the point where we even begin to even perhaps even question our calling. Like we knew there was a time where God called us to do something, but now for whatever reason we feel stuck, we're spinning our wheels, we don't see what we think is forward momentum. And so we're looking around and thinking, ⁓ my goodness, I'm stuck. I don't know what to do. And perhaps, again, many of us feel that and the pressure of that, especially during the summer. And so I believe God wants to do something. And I think ⁓ as a group of pastors, we all believe that God wants to do something pretty special in in the local church. And I think that he wants to use his time to be able to help prepare us for what he wants to do coming up in the fall. And when you think of, you know, again, the burdens that ministry leaders have, again, whether you're a lead pastor or helping in some other capacity or you're about to plant or maybe you're revitalizing a church, you know, we can get stuck and spin our wheels around things like, you know, the finances. We can get, you know, we can start spinning our wheels and get stuck around people issues. And again, when we think about Being in a holding pattern and not really knowing what decision to make and what are the best decisions to make, I believe that's a time we can begin to lean in to a practical principle that we're going to see from the Word of God today to really help us get unstuck. Because again, I'm a firm believer that summer times aren't a time where we take our foot off the accelerator and we kind of just coast around. I think summertime is a great time for us to use the next couple of weeks, the next two months as a springboard. I think God will use this as a springboard in your ministry, in your life. As I was kind of doing some research for this topic for today in our time together, I quickly looked at, you know, well, what are some of the major hurdles that ministry leaders, pastors, and you know, as you and I have to deal with? ⁓ Lifeway Research had had some interesting statistics I'm gonna share with you, but they look They listed several mental challenges that pastors, ministry leaders face day to day. Number one was stress. And I think most of us can probably say, yeah, you know, there's certainly some stress in our life. Number two, which I think kind of caught my attention, was discouragement and even distractions. That there's pastors saying, like, man, I'm discouraged. I've got distractions. Number three in there was loneliness or even like a lack of friends. And I'm telling you, man, being a pastor doesn't have to be wrapped up in the coding of you just being alone and doing it life by yourself. In fact, we shouldn't be doing it that way. But yet there are pastors that feel lonely and feel like they have just a lack of friends. And then the other two kind of to wrap up their study was, you know, around the challenges facing pastors were the fact that some were saying that, man, they're going through some form of depression and maybe even had a lack of contentment. And I believe that contentment is is around kind of where they think they should be. versus where God has them. There's that kind of delta. That's that there's a difference that sometimes we begin to get stuck on and held up on. And so no doubt if you've ever experienced one of these areas like me, probably many of you have felt just stuck in ministry. And so if you think about kind of the first nugget we're gonna kind of jump into today, the bottom line, I want you to remember this is simply this. The first step in getting unstuck in ministry and kind of personally in your life is to not do ministry alone. You just can't do ministry alone. And I think sometimes the enemy Is real crafty at putting us in a place where we feel isolated and even alone. Well, this is the thing that we're gonna see that God didn't design us to do life alone. He didn't design us to be kind of, you know, warriors that are just kind of fighting by ourselves, that we have the Holy Spirit of God living in us. We have a calling on our lives, and we have others that we can share in this adventurous. And many of us are on this call together, and you might know some other people. So the practical side of what we're doing here today is kind of doing some introductory stuff. really the goal throughout the summer is that I pray that you get to know other people in this group. I pray that you get to know other people in this ministry so we can start eliminating some of the challenges that we see facing pastors and ministry leaders today. And so our lesson in our time in the scripture is going to come from Isaiah chapter. 43 and and we're reminded of a couple things here. And and most importantly, I think we're reminded of God's comforting assurance, really, as God calls Israel to to to not fear anything. And you see, Israel in this, in this, in this circumstance, they were kind of stuck. They were kind of spinning their wills because they had they had been in captivity, and now they, you know, and they've been in exile. But God wanted to use this time. He wanted to focus their attention on something new that he was going to do. But as like you and I can agree, sometimes when we are caught up in the moment of being stuck, we don't often see what God would want us to see. We feel like, you know, I need to be focused on what's happening and maybe some of the things that got wrapped around the act. So to speak, and I think God wants to show us something. I think God wants to put a vision in your heart, maybe a fresh vision, or maybe to reinforce the vision that He's already given you. But I believe that these are some of the things that He wants to do. But in Isaiah chapter 43, specifically verses 18 and 19, that we're gonna read here in a minute and kind of dig into, we're gonna see something or we're gonna see an incredible promise. And and the promise that we're gonna see is gonna be a reminder to the readers, those who had been part of the Exodus from E. Egypt and it's almost a reminder that God saved their forefathers. God guided them through the wilderness, right? So they have been through difficult times before, but now we're gonna see a new promise. And this new promise is gonna be pretty amazing. I'm not gonna say it's better or worse, but I think it's a pretty amazing promise. And now it's gonna focus in on restoring the Jews to their homeland. So let me read these verses to you, Isaiah 43:18. He says, Do not remember the former things. Nor consider the things of old. And so verse eighteen. We see here from the Bible, God calls Israel not to dwell on the former things. He says, Don't remember the former things. Let me kind of break that down to you, kind of like very simplicity, simplistically. Basically, forget the former things. Don't, don't, don't remember them. Let them get out of your mind, the things that you're thinking about, the things that you're dwelling upon. He says, nor consider the things of old. So not only should we, and they kind of forget the former things, but they should also not consider the things of old. So it's kind of a reiteration of that point. They're not even too considerate. And so if you think from the perspective of Israel, you gotta have this perspective, I think from the scripture, you gotta understand and from their context, they were stuck in failure. There was sin. There was discouragement of the past, all these different things that had gone on in their kind of life, so to speak. And if they could not get their minds off of this, they were never going to go forward with the new thing that God had for them. So they were discouraged. Maybe they made some some poor choices. But God was saying, listen, don't remember those things. You know, forget those things. There's gonna be something new. D.L. Moody has this to say, and I love this quote. He says, rather than looking to the past at what the Lord has done, Israel is called to see what God is doing now and will do in the future. Let me ask you something, pastor or ministry leader. How often are you kind of stuck in the past, looking at maybe the result or consequence of maybe not the best decision, that it prevents you from looking to what God has called you to do? From what he is calling you to do now and even in the future. And I think sometimes we can get wrapped up and we can get stuck and we can get hung up and we get anchored to some of these things. But God has a future for you. Unless He's called you out of ministry, you are where you need to be. Unless He's called you to do something new, you're exactly where you need to be. And it might be difficult. It might feel like you are stuck, but God has a future for you. He has a future for the ministry that you are stewarding. And so the question I have, again, just to kind of reiterate the first one we we we ask early on, is what has you stuck? What's got you stuck? What has you spending your wills? What's preventing you from dreaming? What's preventing you from seeing what God has for you next? I mean, I I believe that God's put a dream in your heart. You know, I believe God's called you to do what he's called you to do. And in addition to that, he's given you a dream that's his dream, that's his heart. And he's been imparting that to you through the Holy Spirit for you to steward and for you to kind of carry out the vision of what he once done. But sometimes, you know, we we kind of get hung up, right? But we have to ask yourself, what are those things that God has put in your heart? And I think sometimes we let the discouragement of the present, we let the discouragement of the past drag us down. And I think we're called to here from the scripture, the point that I want to make is that we need to let those things go. We need to let go of the expectations that we put on ourselves to just simply follow God and to follow his leading on our life. Moving on to verse 19, in Isaiah 43 says, Behold, I will do a new thing. He's gonna do a new thing. He says, And now it shall spring forth, shall you not know it? I even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the deserts. I want you to see this is a pretty amazing statement here. From God's word. He says, Behold, I will do a new thing. You know, you've been kind of focused in on this old thing, and maybe you've been focused in on maybe past success, and now maybe you're kind of in a plateau, so to speak. But the Lord says He's going to do a new thing. So when from the perspective of Israel here, you know, Exodus was huge. It was an amazing event in the life of Israel. But now there was gonna be something new. The Lord is saying, like, hey, there's gonna be a new thing. And so maybe you planted a church. Maybe you kind of parachuted in. Maybe you planted many churches. Maybe you're revitalizing. Whatever it is, you had to take a gigantic step of faith. But in any case, in any event, you as we begin to look back. We can see that, man, God's hand was in that. And you saw a mighty hand of God move in your life and in the ministry. And maybe that's for several years, but now you're like year five, year six, year seven, year fifty, whatever it is that you're in. And you feel like, man, things are kind of slowing up. But I want to pose this question to you because if God has not called you away, you and I have to ask ourselves this question if we're gonna be honest. What if God wanted to do something fresh? What if God said, I want to do something fresh? I'm going to use this summer as a springboard to be able to do that in your life and in the ministry that you oversee. I think it'd blow our minds, right? We we maybe wouldn't believe it. Maybe we'd feel unworthy, but Our Heavenly Father wants to work in and through us to accomplish his goal. Notice what it says in the scripture. It says, I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. So it's pretty miraculous, right? During the Exodus, if you remember, God caused the sea to turn to dry land. Now God says right here, He's gonna make paths and streams in the deserts. It sounds pretty miraculous to me. And maybe for you and I, we can begin to internalize. You know what areas in your life, what areas in our lives? For like a desert. What areas of our life need the stream of life from the living God? And so again, we think about the seasonality and perhaps where you're at in ministry. And I believe God wants to do something. I believe God wants to bring a stream of life, and perhaps He wants to use this summer to be able to bring that to your life personally, but also to the ministry again that you oversee. Again, if you haven't been called away, then you're currently stewarding that. God hasn't released you from that. And so We have to start thinking through, you know, the seasons of difficulty. We need to start thinking through difficulties of what we're going through. Because I think sometimes when we think about being stuck, we don't like it. But let me tell you, there's there's some good things about being stuck. You see, when you and I get stuck, and instead of feeling like, ⁓ whoa's me, I'm stuck, and I feel like, man, I just need to go complain to somebody. I believe we need to look at these seasons as an opportunity. You see, being stuck means that we're going to be stretched. God is going to cause us to rely on him even more. That's a stress. Stretching in our lives. It's what we often ask, maybe our congregation just to trust God, but maybe you pastors, maybe you leaders, need to remember that God even wants to stretch us. Number two, we think sometimes being stuck is a good thing because I think it's an opportunity to grow the ministry. Maybe God is saying, hey, this aspect of the ministry isn't great anymore. And I want you to lean into me to perhaps revitalize it or change it. Or maybe God is birthing something new in your heart that He wants you to carry out. And finally, I think being stuck also helps us deepen our walk with God. You know, sometimes we might take gigantic steps of faith to trust God in an amazing way through a church plan or revitalization or whatever it is that you've been called to do in the ministry. And maybe over time you felt like, man, that that there's been a growing distance between you and the Lord. And I know that's hard to believe, right? We're pastors, we're we're always supposed to be buddy, buddy, and everything's supposed to be perfect, right? Well, no, you and I go through the seasonalities of life and we go through difficulty. But maybe you In a season where God is just calling you through difficulty to deepen your walk, to strengthen your walk. And so I want to leave with four things, and then we're gonna kind of have some group time after this video ends. But I want to leave you with four thoughts before we go into our group time, four things that you can do to kind of help change to challenge your perspective on feeling stuck. Number one, realize that difficult times harden us, they harden us, okay? They make us rely on God, and that doesn't mean they make our hearts hard. We don't want the Hearts hard, but that means they harden us. They help us prepare for the difficulty, difficulty, and adversity that we're going to ⁓ fall find in our walk and in our day-to-day lives as we trust God. So again, realize the difficult times harden us. Number two, we must win the war in the spiritual. Again, we we got to believe there's a spiritual battle going on. If you don't believe me, the enemy's at work trying to disrupt, discourage, and make you feel like you you can't accomplish anything for God, but God wants to call you to do something. He's calling you to lead people. He's calling you to invest in people. He's calling you to the Great Commission to help fulfill that. That's a pretty amazing thing. But we have an enemy that is working overtime, spiritually speaking. So we got to win the war against the spiritual. And it's a reminder that, you know, this isn't just a do-it life on your own. In this group that you're a part of, you have the opportunity to have other people come alongside you to pray with you. Other people that you can share some of the burdens that you're carrying, because chances are. You're not alone. So number one, realize that difficult times harden us. Number two, we must win the war on the spiritual. And then number three, I love this one because summer's a great time to do this. Stop. Rest. And celebrate what God has accomplished and what He's even doing in your life. Bring it all the way back to the moment that you gave your life to the Lord. So you have an eternal significance. You made an eternal decision. You have eternal life. Now think maybe through your family and your spiritual family that you're part of. Now think through now your calling. You can stop, rest, and celebrate all that God has done. And I would encourage you that if you don't have some sort of culture of celebration within your time. Lord, there's so many things I can be thankful for, and I don't need an audience to do that with. I can just have an it could just be me and the Lord and my prayer time with him, thanking him for all that he's done and celebrating just the fact that I'm saved and I'm born again. Think, praise the Lord that that we're saved, praise the Lord that we have families, praise the Lord that we have a spiritual opportunity to help steward people into the presence and usher them into the presence of Christ. So Create that culture of celebration. And finally, finally, and this is the big one. This is one that's going to take us a little bit of time this summer. And I want to I can't wait to you guys and all of us kind of talk through the perspective on this, but get perspective on why you may be stuck. Is there something that can be done, something that can be changed in the near term? Or maybe there's some longer term things. These are again things that are going to be applicable to you, things that are going to be probably just meant for you. But I've encouraged you within our group time, we're going to start identifying some of these things that maybe have us stuck. Because seasons of difficulty and uncertainty are always going to exist. So if you can learn this principle now, I believe that your summers can become springboards. I believe that, you know, times where we're supposed to take it easy can be times where God is lifting us up to bigger and better things as He's called us to lead them. I'm going to leave you with this quote here. It's one of my favorite quotes from Crawford Laritz. He says, Don't ever forget that it's God who is working through you. Your accomplishments are not a statement of your glory. But the grace, power, and glory of God Almighty. God has done amazing things through many of you, and He's going to continue to do it. But let us not for one moment think it's because of anything we've done. And let us take this time to kind of turn the mirror on ourselves and begin to reflect this summer. What are the things that I need to work on as a leader? What are the things I need to work on in the ministry that maybe God's calling me to do? Because it's ultimately his glory. It's ultimately for him. So better better for us to kind of dig into this now than postpone it and think about it later, because I think God wants to. use this summer to grow us, to grow the churches that we are leading and a part of, and more importantly, to bring many more into salvation through Christ Jesus. And I believe he's going to use each and every one of you for this. And so use this summer and I pray that God uses it to do amazing things in you and through you.