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0:20 All right, day four of the Daily Blade. 0:21 Again, leadership lessons that I have learned as the pastor of 1122 over the last 12 years. 0:27 The fourth one I want to talk about is this be faithful with what he has entrusted to you instead of living for the myth of there. 0:36 You see, the reality is you are here. 0:39 That's right. 0:41 You are here, right here, right now. 0:44 And that um I learned this from Pastor Britt, that nobody can give you what God has not, but nobody can keep you from what God has for you. 0:54 And so the key is not to get so enamored with what might be next. 0:59 It's not to get so enamored with what God may do in your life one day, but to be faithful with what He has entrusted you with right now. 1:09 You see, when I said yes to God to teach the Bible for a living, I had no idea what was in store. 1:15 And yet, what I was pumped about is whatever season of ministry God had me in in that time of my life. 1:23 I mean, my first time that I had uh any responsibility on a church staff, I mean I was an intern at a really great church, and I kind of cut my teeth there, and they let me teach the Bible on Wednesday nights, and that was awesome. 1:34 And then another church called me to come and be the youth pastor, a part-time youth pastor. 1:39 And what that means is you work full-time, you get paid part-time. 1:42 And so I started out with three students. 1:44 And I was, first of all, I thought, why would you hire a whole person to just teach three kids? 1:48 But whatever, they did. 1:49 And I was into it. 1:50 It was a faithful church. 1:52 And so I was pumped. 1:53 And so over the next few weeks, those three students turned into 12 students. 1:58 And I remember thinking, well, I have hit the lottery. 2:00 This is, I've hit the Super Bowl because you could change the world with 12 disciples. 2:05 And I never tried to graduate from that ministry. 2:08 I never saw that ministry as a stepping stone to what was next. 2:12 I did my best to just be hyper-focused on what God had called me to right then and right now. 2:17 And what began to happen as I was faithful with just a little bit, God began to expand my influence and expand my opportunities. 2:27 And one step led to another. 2:29 And then I found myself here taking a job at Beach Church in Jacksonville. 2:34 And even when Pastor Jerry asked me to start a service called 1122 that turned into a bunch of services that one day turned into the church of 1122. 2:42 Never did I imagine that any of the things I had been asked to do were a stepping stone to the next thing. 2:48 I was just trying to be faithful with what he and had entrusted to me. 2:52 And when we started 1122 and we had one campus, I was just trying to be faithful to steward what God had allowed me to shepherd, which was one campus. 3:01 Now it's 18 campuses. 3:02 Now it's all over the place. 3:04 And the key is that you've got to be faithful with what God has given you right now. 3:10 Not even so that God owes you more, but just to be faithful with what he's given you. 3:15 A great place to look is the life of King David, because before he was ever king, he was just a little kid that nobody liked, and he was put out in the pasture to shepherd the flock. 3:26 And here's the key David did not treat the pasture like punishment, but he treated it like preparation. 3:34 He just became the best shepherd he could possibly be. 3:38 Again, it was a really, really low job. 3:41 We'll see this tomorrow because when he shows up on the battlefield to check on his brothers in 1 Samuel 17, his brothers are like, What are you doing here, shepherd boy? 3:49 You're not you're not worthy to be here. 3:51 Go back to the pasture. 3:52 But David was just faithful with what God put right in front of him. 3:56 And again, he saw the pasture not as punishment, but as preparation. 4:00 And here's what happened. 4:01 He became a really good shepherd. 4:04 That would serve him well one day. 4:05 He got really good with a sling. 4:08 That would serve him well one day. 4:09 He got really good playing the harp. 4:12 That would serve him well one day. 4:13 It would put him right beside King Saul. 4:15 And he got really good at writing songs. 4:18 Then he would spend time with the Lord and jot these ideas down. 4:22 And this became what we know as the Psalms. 4:26 So, let me ask you, in your season of life right now, God is not wasting it because God is not a wasteful God. 4:34 He is at work in all things for the good of those that love him and are called according to his purpose. 4:38 So maybe you're even in an internship or in school or in a career or in a job, and you don't think that is your forever future, but God has you there on purpose. 4:48 So what is God teaching you now? 4:51 And are you being faithful now? 4:53 Why in the world would you ever expect God to give you more if you were not faithful with what you have right now? 4:59 One of the ways I see this play out all the time. 5:01 The two primary areas are guys coming to me and they say, I think God has called me to plant and grow the biggest church in the world. 5:10 I'm like, okay, maybe. 5:11 I hope so. 5:12 But are you making disciples right now? 5:15 Because why in the world would God trust you with dozens or hundreds or even thousands of people to shepherd if you are not making disciples right where you are? 5:24 The other place I see this all the time is finances. 5:27 Like people all the time, they say, Well, if if one day God would give me a bunch of money, then I would be generous to the kingdom. 5:34 Well, based on the way you're spending money right now, if you were God, would you give you more money? 5:38 You see, the key is what we need to do is be faithful with what he has entrusted to you today instead of living for the myth of there.