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Risky Business
17 Plays7 months ago
Vernon and Kyle talk about the idea of risk and faith. What is risk and what is actually "at risk"? If your sights are on what you want to happen, there is a risk of "failure." If you're stepping out in faith, trusting the outcome to your loving heavenly Father, there is no risk at all. There is no a risk of Him leaving you or forsaking you. There is no risk of Him taking a break from directing you. That is 100% risk free. The outcome can vary, but His love never fails. So do your homework and take a step of faith, whatever that may be. The Lord is a sure thing!
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Walking Free'
00:00:01
Speaker
This is your host Vernon Terrell with Grace Ministries International and it's time for Walking Free. And welcome back. This is Vernon Terrell and today I have with me an old favorite, although not that old,
00:00:29
Speaker
Kyle Jenkins. Kyle, welcome.
Upcoming Episodes & Workshop Announcement
00:00:33
Speaker
Hey, Vernon. In fact, we've got a couple episodes coming up that I'm going to have my wife, Michelle, on. So this is just a quick promo for that. Michelle's going to talk about co-dependency. That's going to lead on up to our co-dependency workshop, which will be June 1st.
00:00:59
Speaker
We've got that ready to rock and roll. So that's going to be fun. That's actually going to be more in-depth than what Michelle did at our Network 220 conference, which was kind of a high level. It was just one hour. This is going to be like half a day. But this was at the Network 220 convention. She did a one hour and just
00:01:29
Speaker
went over some basics, but this one's gonna be more in depth. It's gonna have breakout rooms. It's gonna have counselors facilitating in each breakout room. And you can find out more at gment.org forward slash codependency. And you can sign up there. We even have three price points. The standard rate.
00:01:56
Speaker
That just pays all the bills. It's $99 to sign up. But depending on where a person is financially, you can pay $75 or $49. Those are the discounted and hardship rates and wherever the Lord has you. So that is the commercial. We normally don't really have commercials on this podcast anyways.
00:02:22
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We thought folks would like to know about that. So we'll have some more with Michelle coming up in a week and leading up to that workshop.
Walking by Faith vs. Risk Aversion
00:02:33
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So today, Kyle and I are going to talk about risk taking. And this is the idea of really godly faith walk
00:02:51
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risk-taking. We're not talking about, you know, oh, where the Scripture says in Proverbs that the prudent see the danger and they turn away and the foolish move forward. We're not talking about that. We're talking about risk-taking from a perspective of walking by faith.
00:03:21
Speaker
And that's what the podcast is all about, to stop talking and start walking, walking free. So Kyle, what's your take on risk taking? I was thinking that was coming up because over this past, really the past several weeks for me was having to leave a job that I met and it was just a very toxic,
00:03:47
Speaker
work environment, just, you know, yeah, toxic work environment was not a good fit for me. But, you know, I was like, you know, testing the Lord with it. It's like, Lord, you know, Jesus or, you know, you just show me the leading Lord. I'm, I'm looking to you and, and, you know, and as I grow in this learning, it's a, well, his desires are already our desires because we got a new heart, new spirit.
00:04:14
Speaker
And then even with our unique likes, like I like the color blue. It's not a bad thing. It's just the way I am. I like playing worship music a certain way. I play and write music on the guitar, you know, as the Lord leads me to do it. And the enjoyable, enjoying knowing that he's enjoying me in the unique way. And he's not made me to be a conformed robot.
00:04:43
Speaker
of some kind, some kind of conformity of what maybe some church circles call acceptable or unacceptable. Right? Yeah. And so as, as I grow in this, and learning to trust his character and his, the unique way he's made me, this job was bought, you know, a lot of problems with the job that I was at. And I was just like, All right, well, Lord, I'm just looking to you, I'm seeing the
00:05:12
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the negatives or the kind of the negative drawbacks repercussions from having to go to this job was up at night, you know, into odd hours of the night, just stressed over the work. And, and as I just started praying through it, and as God was just revealing, it's like, it's, it's time to start looking for something else. And then we had the big 220 conference, and had a lot of
00:05:39
Speaker
Just encouragement there, one of our friends, Mike Q. Daniels, like he said, it's like, you're okay. Either way, you're okay. And the Lord just kind of brought to my mind, I'm okay if I leave, I'm okay if I stay at the job. And it was just, the Lord just kept bringing messages and impressing upon in the spirit of just, I'm okay if I leave and I can let.
00:06:08
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him provide me with something else. Wow. And just let it, it's like, all right, Lord, well, I'm your kid, you've called me to relax and rest and not worry, but just take the next step of faith as you're leading and directing. And, and I remember I had one day just the overwhelming peace of God. And me making the decision as I'm pondering all these things, as I was pondering the job and
00:06:34
Speaker
talking with him and, you know, been talking with him about it. And then just that peace of God that comes over me and it doesn't make any sense because, you know, I got family members in the world that would be like, no, you better make sure you have another job set up. Or that might not be a wise idea, you know, are you sure that's going to work out? It's like, well, I'm a branch on the vine here. I'm a sheep of his pasture and I'm just trusting the good shepherds leading.
00:07:01
Speaker
Um, sometimes the worst thing we can do is get stalled out with this, uh, paralysis of analysis and trying to get everything lined up and looking at every contingency. And then we sit there and we're frozen and we don't do anything. We don't take a step forward and, and we're stuck and we're not going anywhere and that's not good.
00:07:29
Speaker
I think the Lord wants, and there are times where we need to sit with the Lord and just pray and receive from Him. And there are times when the Lord just kind of moves in our spirit and says, yeah, stop, just wait. And we listen and, you know, folks might say, well, hey, wait a second. You're getting on mystical. You're saying like, is God like really talking to you and
00:07:58
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think we would agree the Lord does speak to us.
Understanding God's Will through Faith
00:08:03
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He's always speaking now. I'm not out hearing voices, but the Lord's in us, and He's commuting in us, and He's speaking to our spirit and encouraging us all the time. And
00:08:19
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I think, as you said wisely, the Lord does work through our desires. And we think, oh, well, I can't take a step because I don't know if I'm going to be in God's will. Let's just put that to bed for a moment. God's will is Christ in you, the hope of glory. God's will, when you're walking by the Spirit, by definition, you're in His will. You can't be otherwise.
00:08:46
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When you're trusting Him and walking by His Spirit, you are in His will. So just stop all the worrying and the fretting and whatever, and start walking, trusting Him, because man plans his way, but the Lord directs each step. Let the Lord do His job. What He loves doing, and let Him direct.
00:09:12
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and I love it how you're just taking a step. You're asking him, you're moving forward, and you say, yeah, I'm okay, whichever way. What seems really, what's good for me right now? I'm gonna just get away from this environment, and I'm gonna trust the Lord and go forward. What else is the Lord? What else does that look like for you when it comes to risk? Yeah, as you were bringing up the getting stuck in the paralysis of analysis,
00:09:42
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been there done that and I still struggle and at times is what do I do? What do I do? And I mean, I always just need as I've learned to just always go back. It's like this is not based on my performance. This is not based on my intellect or my my degree, which I don't have one. It's like it's not dependent on any of that. It's like in my if I got into a place where
00:10:09
Speaker
where I even hate to say the word willing, but just being in a place where I've been through the brokenness of pain of having to finally see I can't trust on my own strengths or resources or abilities. I'm at a place, I have to trust on God. I have to trust Christ in me, the hope of glory, like you were saying, that verse.
00:10:36
Speaker
And so getting, I remember for years, decades of how I was stuck. And, because I didn't know exactly, you know, God, give me the blueprint. You know, I'm a big thinker, so it's like fear of the unknown. Oh yeah, the Lord uses that, or the enemy uses that against me all the time. You know, it's like, but I don't know how it's gonna turn out. And yet we know Hebrews 11 tells us, now faith is the assurance of things hoped for.
00:11:05
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in the conviction of things not seen. And so as I just sit there and it's like, well, Lord, where are you leading me? You know, like a shepherd, Jesus, you're leading me. And then realizing in that as I'm taking the risk, it's like, you know, you better believe the enemy is ready to, you know, come do his nasty tricks and the doubting and the fears. Oh no, nothing's happened yet. Lord, I thought I was waiting on you. Oh, haven't you moved yet? What's going on here? Having to go into that?
00:11:35
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that whole cycle and yet the Lord's loving, His loving-kindness bringing us, us experiencing Him as our peace and our joy and our endurance as we're walking through those waiting seasons.
00:11:52
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And yet, we see that all throughout the Bible. God's going to meet you in the valleys, not on the hilltops. Even though He's in the hilltops, He's up there too. We experience Christ and the Father in the hilltops. But for me, it was learning. I really came to know Christ as my hope and my comforter, my encouragement, my peace in the dark.
00:12:20
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in the dark rooms, in the dark valleys where everything seemed hopeless and I had nothing but Christ. That's so well said. When we think about this idea of risk, risk refers to a degree of uncertainty.
00:12:49
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and or say in the finance world potential financial loss that might be inherent in an investment strategy. We think of investment risk you know with that and there's this degree of uncertainty and it's kind of sort of paradoxical with when we talk about the Lord because it does faith feels risky
00:13:16
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but it's often the most sure thing that we could do.
00:13:24
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The risk—we need to define what the risk is. If we're thinking about the actual outcome to be the way we want it, well, yeah, there's risk, no guarantees. If it's the idea, is God with me in this, always with me, never leaving me? Man, that's a sure thing. That's a sure bet.
00:13:46
Speaker
I mean, put it all, let it all ride on that one, because that is a sure thing. God will never leave you. He's always with you. He's with you in that failure when it doesn't turn out the way you wished it would have, and He's with you in the success and celebrating and jumping with you when it does.
00:14:13
Speaker
So when we think about that idea of risk and faith, faith isn't I'm gonna faith what I want to happen into existence. Faith is I'm trusting God as I step forward and I'm trusting his direction for him to guide me, whatever comes. Absolutely, yep, yep.
00:14:40
Speaker
And you brought up Hebrews 11. I mean, man, you look at all the heroes of the faith, and Abraham and Sarah, and by faith the walls of Jericho fell down in verse 30. I mean, all this
00:14:56
Speaker
You can see how everything is going. I've talked about this before, but the writer of Hebrews says, if I told you about Gideon and Brock and Samson and Jephthah and David and Samuel and the prophets conquered kingdoms and all of this and shut the mouths of lions.
00:15:19
Speaker
And then you hear the next verse that said, and others. The others, verse 38 there. Yeah. It's even before that in verse 35 it said, and others were tortured.
00:15:36
Speaker
not accepting their release so that they might obtain a better resurrection. Others experience mockings and scourgings, chains and imprisonment, stone, salt in two. I mean, so guess what? You know,
00:15:57
Speaker
there's risk in life. And the Bible in Proverbs is great because it gives us wisdom on not taking unnecessary risks. But I would encourage you
Finding Peace amidst Uncertainty
00:16:09
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as we're, encourage those who are listening to say, you know, seek the Lord as Kyle was saying, ask the Lord, what is my next step? Ask the Lord to be with you in your plans, to give you wisdom about your plans, do some research,
00:16:28
Speaker
And then stop and say, Lord, I'm taking a step. I'm gonna trust you. And then take that step. It feels risky, but the God of the universe is with you in every step. And that's amazing. And I know you've taken a lot of steps of faith in your journey, Kyle.
00:16:58
Speaker
Yeah, it's the excitement in the not knowing, but learning to trust God's good. No matter the outcome, no matter how it turns out, and then it's like you get on the other side and there are all kinds of getting to experience the physical blessings, whether it's a new relationship, friends, jobs,
00:17:26
Speaker
God holds nothing back that's good towards us. Not saying you're going to get everything that you possibly might conjure up in your mind, but also we're going to learn how good and faithful God is unless it's in the place of not knowing of how it's going to turn out.
00:17:47
Speaker
And one of the people the Lord had used a bunch of my life for this was Mike Wells. And he talks about, well, if you know the perfect will of God for your life before you move, congratulations, you're an unbeliever. Because faith is moving and not knowing. And this is where I learned it's just Jesus, like a shepherd, lead me. And I'm weak, I'm weak. Thank you that you're my strength. And where are you leading me to? And sometimes he would end up
00:18:16
Speaker
in the way out back places. And I see it in my own life. It's like, how did I get here? You know, people start asking, why are you here? How did you even get here? And he's like, Oh, just, you know, I was flipping through the newspaper, saw a church, the pastor looked good. And I just said, okay, awesome. Well, Jesus, like a shepherd, lead me. And I just went. And it's like, you know, it uses the craziest things at times. Yeah. And it's like my plan this year is to not have a plan.
00:18:46
Speaker
My plan this year, my New Year's resolution, is to not have any resolutions, not to have any plans. Jesus like a shepherd, lead me. I don't know where I'm going, but you're my encouragement and my sustainer and my hope and my peace. And above all, I'd rather experience Christ as my life and my peace and my hope.
00:19:05
Speaker
than all the things that I think I want. And that's a scary prayer. I mean, God takes that serious, but it's like, I'd rather have the peace that passes all understanding, knowing that even all the apostles, a bunch of them, well, they had it real bad.
00:19:21
Speaker
You know, some of them, you know, and yeah, and the faith people in chapter 11, beheadings, scourgings, all this kind of, it's like, yeah, but you know, and I like what it says about them in verse 38, men, you know, the people of whom the world was not worthy. And yet they trusted God through all that and
00:19:43
Speaker
It's like, yeah, I'd rather had the peace of God. Well, I'll tell you, for those of us who really enjoy plans and to-do lists like myself, there are times when you do have to stop. It's like my risk
00:20:04
Speaker
for this season, say for Grace Ministries, is fundraising. Fundraising is, you don't know, you go out and you're asking people to give you money. Now my personality says, I hate, I don't want to do that.
00:20:21
Speaker
But when God flips it around and says, hey, you're just asking people, do they want to come and come alongside and ride with you on this incredible journey and be a part of it? And if they don't, that's okay. And if they do fantastic, they can, and I think the word invest is overused, but invest their finances and that's part of their journey.
00:20:49
Speaker
And so my journey is asking, their journey is giving, and when those two connect, it's a beautiful thing. But I don't have to be coming from the corporate world. I think we all, we have to be careful from that world, and I love that world, but it is a very performance-oriented world. You perform, you earn your keep,
00:21:12
Speaker
And God says, you know, you don't have to perform to earn anything from me. You have to arrest in me. You have to just receive. You have to let me wash your feet. You have to let me serve you. The disciple said, Lord, no, don't serve me. And he said, if I don't serve you, you don't have any part with me. Of course I'm gonna serve you. That's why I came.
00:21:38
Speaker
We are dependent children in the hands, in the care of a loving father. And he loves us and wants to provide for us. So let's let him. And I don't know what is stirring in the hearts of someone who might be listening, but what is your step of faith?
Faith, Risk-taking, and Relationships
00:22:05
Speaker
What is the Lord
00:22:07
Speaker
cropping you with this idea around this idea of risk. It seems risky. It might be a relationship. This is risky. It might be a repair of a relationship. Risky. He may be telling you to step back from a relationship because it's toxic. Risky.
00:22:36
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But is it? If God's in it?
00:22:40
Speaker
And God's in you, so no matter what, even if you screw up the decision, even in your worst analysis and your worst decision, God never leaves you. I mean, even your best of best friends or that best boss, when you really screw up, they're gonna step back probably, take a little breather. God doesn't take a breather from you.
00:23:09
Speaker
He just loves you. He's in you. He has made a decision to unite, connect with you. And the promise is, I'm not going anywhere. I'm here in your good moments. I'm here in the bad ones. I'm here in everything in between. I'm here for the long haul. So get used to it. I'm gonna love you always.
00:23:35
Speaker
And that's the exciting part. So let's just, let's be free. Let's walk free. Let's take those steps and see what the Lord does and just look to the Lord, talk to the Lord, say, Lord, show me the next step. I'm stuck here. And the Lord doesn't say, well, if you listened about two miles ago and made that right, not the left, you wouldn't be here. He doesn't shame you like that. The Lord says, ah, well, here you are.
00:24:01
Speaker
Well, let's take a little bit longer here and hang a left. I think this is a good place. This is going to get you exactly where you need to be. I just love that about the Lord, that he's always with us and he made a decision to abide in us. And that's amazing.
00:24:24
Speaker
What final thoughts do you have around faith, around risk, around anything in this topic? What was coming to mind as you're finishing up there, it's like the sovereignty of God over our lives. And it's like, I choose a way, yet can anything happen unless the Lord has ordained it?
00:24:45
Speaker
I think that was Jeremiah or David, one of those guys I had written down recently and was just kind of sitting there with it. It's like, oh yeah, like my entire life has already been seen. Oh yeah, Lamentations 3.37, who has spoken and it came to pass unless the Lord has ordained it. Even though he gives us the
00:25:06
Speaker
the choice, the freedom choice, if I can walk by His Spirit or I can walk by the flesh, I have a choice. And yet His sovereignty is completely sovereign over every single decision of not only mine, but everybody else, and has worked it into His plan, the counsel of His will, of how everything's going to turn out. So it's like I make a wrong mistake. Oh, it's not like I missed God's destiny for me.
00:25:35
Speaker
It's like, no way. I don't have, you know, we don't have that kind of power and choice to miss out on, you know, I must have messed God's plan up or his sovereignty. The Lord must have not seen that one coming or, you know, something like, you know, that's how I believe for, you know, those are the lives of the enemy.
00:25:56
Speaker
for a long time of, oh, you know, if I'd only stayed in school, if I'd stayed away from that relationship, if I would have made better choices then, it's like, no, man plans his way, but the Lord directs. And that's why Colossians 1.27 is so important, and we've quoted it a couple times today, but to whom God willed
00:26:25
Speaker
to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. God's will has been accomplished. Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Embracing God's Grace in the Present
00:26:48
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And that is, you can't get out of that.
00:26:52
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You're in Christ. You can't get out. Once you're in and once you're in, you have everything. You have forgiveness and reconciliation and redemption and holiness and forgiveness and love and grace, abundant grace, overflowing grace.
00:27:10
Speaker
And our job is learning to receive and experience in the here and now everything that is already ours right now in Christ. And God just wants us to experience. This is the training ground, not for us to work harder, but to experience more and more of Him
00:27:35
Speaker
And man, that's the exciting part. So let me just close this episode of faith and risk with the fact that wherever you are, whatever you're doing,
00:27:57
Speaker
God is with you, and He longs. He longs to show Himself powerful on your behalf. He longs to lead you and God—in fact, you know what?
00:28:12
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He's already leading you. He is leading you every moment. He's leading you in triumph. The issue often is we're not listening. We're distracted by all the things that the world throws at us and the enemy throws at us. We get distracted.
00:28:33
Speaker
but the Scripture says that He is always leading you in triumph, in victory. So let me encourage you to throw off all that old thinking about walking the tight rope of God's will and trying to figure out every contingency. Absolutely plan as the Lord allows and do some homework.
00:28:59
Speaker
But get out and take a step and trust God. And no matter what, thank God. Thank God. Give thanks in everything. For that is the will of God in Christ Jesus. Give thanks for everything that He is working in you and through you, loving you in the defeat, in the tragedy. Thank God that He's with you and that He loves you.
00:29:26
Speaker
So let me encourage you now, I don't want you just to talk about it and think about it and use about it. I want you to ask God.
00:29:36
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What are your next steps so you can start walking? You've been listening to Walking Free, a production of Grace Ministries International in Marietta, Georgia. For more information, go to our website at gment.org. That's gminc.org.