The Secret Killer of Growth - Saddleback Weekend Service

Welcome to church tonight. So glad that you guys are here. You picked a great day to be in church. We've got a great service ahead of us and really believe that God wants to move in your heart as we're gathered here. We want to invite you just to celebrate today. We got the team here, but I also want to introduce — Chris, if you'll come up here. This is Chris McClarney all the way from Nashville leading us in worship tonight, so glad to have you with us. This is a really special weekend for church history. This is Pentecost weekend, and so nearly 2,000 years ago, this was the weekend that the Holy — that the Father sent the Holy Spirit. And so as we start off our service, we wanted to read just a little bit of Scripture that talks about this moment when the Spirit was sent and the church was born. So if you don't mind standing with me as I read just a little bit of Scripture from the book of Acts, starting in chapter one, verse four. On one occasion, while Jesus was eating with His disciples, He gave them this command. Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. And then over in chapter two, when the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly, a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Holy Spirit enabled them.

And then Peter preached this amazing sermon to everyone who was there in Jerusalem, and he ended it by saying this, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, for all whom the Lord our God will call. Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about 3,000 were added to their number that day. This is the word of the Lord, and it's trustworthy. Yes. And 2,000 years ago, on that day when the Holy Spirit came, the church was born, and the same spirit of the living God is in the room today. Aren't you thankful for the gift of the Spirit of God? So let's invite this Holy Spirit to come and to move in our hearts. So we welcome you, Spirit of the living God. Have your way in us. We fix our attention on you, King Jesus. Our desire is to magnify you, to lift high your name. Pray, Holy Spirit, that you would move, that hearts would be transformed, eyes would be opened, that people would encounter you today as we're gathered. In the mighty name of Jesus we pray, amen. Evening, Saddleback. In honor of this being Pentecost Sunday, I thought we could start out with this. And Holy Spirit, you are welcome here. Come flood this place and fill the atmosphere. Your glory, God, is what hearts long for, to be overcome by your presence, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. Your presence, Lord. Let's sing it together. There's nothing worth it.

There's nothing worth more that could ever come close. Nothing can compare. You're our living hope. Your presence, Lord. I've tasted. I've tasted and seen of the sweetest of loves, where my heart belongs free and my shame is undone. Your presence, Lord. Your presence, Lord. Holy Spirit, oh. Holy Spirit, you are welcome. Come fill this place and fill the atmosphere. Your glory, God, is what our hearts long for. To be overcome by your presence. Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, you are welcome. Come flood this place and fill the atmosphere. Your glory, God, is what our hearts long for. To be overcome by your presence, Lord. Oh, your presence, oh. Oh, your presence, Lord. You're the reason why we're here tonight, Jesus. You're the reason why we're here. Oh, let us become, let us become more aware of your presence. Let us experience the glory of your goodness. Let us become, let us become more aware of your presence. Let us experience the glory of your goodness. Oh, let's sing it again. Let us become, let us become more aware of your presence. Let us experience the glory of your goodness. Let us experience the glory of your goodness. Let us experience the glory of your presence. Let's experience the glory of your goodness. Let us experience the glory of your goodness. Let us experience the glory of your goodness. Oh, let us experience the glory of your presence. Your glory, God, is what our hearts long to be overcome Oh, let us experience the glory of your presence. Your glory, God, is what our hearts long to be overcome. Oh, let us experience

the glory of your presence. Your glory, God, is what our hearts long to be overcome. Oh, let us experience the glory of your presence. Oh, let us experience the glory of your presence. Oh, let us experience the glory of your presence. Oh, let us experience the glory of your presence. Oh, let us experience the glory of your presence. Oh, let us experience the glory of your presence. Oh, let us experience the glory of your presence. Oh, let us experience the glory of your Thank you Jesus, I was a prisoner, now I'm not Cause with your blood, you bought my freedom Hallelujah, Lord we cry Oh thank you Jesus, oh we thank you for the cross Oh Lord, all my shame All my shame and worth and with mercy Now your mercy will be my song And all the glory, all the power of the cross Oh hallelujah, thank you Jesus I was a prisoner, now I'm not Oh with your blood, you bought my freedom Hallelujah, oh And by your stripes I'm healed, by your death I live The power of sin is overcome, it is finished, it is done By your stripes I'm healed, by your death I live The power of sin is overcome, it is finished, it is done By your stripes I'm healed, by your death I live The power of sin is overcome, it is finished, it is done By your stripes I'm healed, by your death I live The power of sin is overcome, it is finished, it is done Oh hallelujah, thank you Jesus I was a prisoner, now I'm not

Cause with your blood, you bought my freedom Hallelujah, oh Hallelujah, thank you Jesus I was a prisoner, now I'm not Cause with your blood, you bought my freedom Hallelujah, oh Thank you Jesus, I was a prisoner, now I'm not Cause with your blood, you bought my freedom Hallelujah, for the cross And why would I worry, when giants come calling my name Oh, cause my God is so much bigger, than troubles I face And why would I hunger, for power, riches or fame Oh, my God is so much better, than all of these things I won't be shaken, I won't be moved My God is faithful, and his promise is true So I speak to the mountains Oh, it's time to move because my God is bigger, better, stronger, greater than me. My enemies scatter because they know the battle is done. My God is stronger, the victory's already won. He died for my ransom and rose up on the third day. Oh, because my God is greater than death, hell, and the grave. So I won't be shaken, no, I won't be moved. Because my God is faithful and His promise is true. So I'll see to the mountain, I tell Him it's time to move. Because my God is bigger, better, stronger, greater than me. There's no mountain too high, no valley too low. There's no fear that I have because it already knows. There's no problem too big, there's no weapon too strong. There is nothing for now that's impossible. There's no mountain too high, no valley too low.

There's no fear that I have because it already knows. There's no problem too big, there's no weapon too strong. There is nothing for now that's impossible. So I won't be shaken, no, I won't be moved. Because my God is faithful and His promise is true. So I'll see to the mountain, I tell Him it's time to move. Because my God is bigger, better, stronger, greater, bigger, better. Oh, can you believe it tonight? He's bigger, better, stronger, greater, bigger, better, stronger, greater than you. Welcome to Saddleback Church. My name is Nicholas and I'm so happy that you're joining us for church today. Now, we want to make sure you feel right at home and that you have everything you need. So you can go ahead, hit the link in the description down below, or you can download our Saddleback app. Both of these are going to give you access to our digital program for the service today. If you're on the app, be sure to set your campus to online community. And if you're new here, you can hit the new here button so that someone from our team can personally reach out to you and welcome you to our church. Well, this weekend in the US, it is Memorial Day weekend. We are honoring our veterans and those who've sacrificed their lives for our country. So whether you've served here for the US or maybe you've served for another country, we want to take a moment right now to pause, to thank you and honor you and to pray for you. So would you join me in praying? God, we thank you for this moment to pause, to reflect and to honor and remember those who have sacrificed their lives for their countries. The Bible says that there is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends. And so, God, we honor and we thank you for those people who have laid down their own lives for their countries. God, we ask that you would give comfort and peace to those families and the families of those who are still serving today. And above all, God, we thank you for Jesus, the perfect example, the perfect sacrifice of what love looks like. God, we love you and we thank you and we pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Well, friends, there are so many great things happening. happening here at Saddleback. Let's go ahead and take this moment

and check out what's happening in the life of our church. Hey Saddleback. If you're new around here or looking to explore next steps in your faith, Activate is a great place to start. Activate is designed to help you get connected, learn more about who we are as a church, and discover what God might have next for you. Rose recently went through Activate and she had this to say, Activate was a great experience. It became a starting point that fueled my desire to reach people who are hungry for God's word and still exploring their faith. Through Activate, I joined a small group and then attended a leadership training. Currently, I'm leading a small group for young people. Praise God for this opportunity to serve Him. We love hearing stories like Rose's because that's exactly what we hope for each person at Saddleback, that you would continue growing in your faith and discovering how God wants to use your life. You can sign up for the next Activate at your campus in the Saddleback app. Now, as we honor Memorial Day this weekend, we also wanna take a moment to thank and support the men and women who serve our country. At Saddleback, we often say that we're a church that steps up when others step back. And this month, our military ministry did exactly that.

For the past 16 years, our volunteer team has faithfully prepared and sent thousands of care packages each year to deployed troops serving far from home. Through one of our chaplain partners, we recently learned that troops serving on the front lines are facing low supplies and even lower morale. So our team gathered in the Love Local tent to pack and ship care packages filled with practical supplies, handwritten notes, encouragement, and resources to help remind every service member that they are loved, prayed for, and not forgotten. These packages may seem simple, but they become tangible reminders of hope for people serving far from home. Thank you, Saddleback, for continuing to be the hands and feet of Jesus to people both here at home and all around the world. Moments like these are possible because of your faithfulness and generosity. And if you'd like to worship today through your tithes and offerings, you can give using the Saddleback app or one of the giving envelopes. Today, we're continuing with week two of our current message series called Get Growing, where we're learning how to build habits that help us stay rooted and continue growing with Jesus. So let's hear now from Pastor Andy. Well, I wonder if there's anybody who's glad to be in church this weekend.

Let's try it one more time. You can do better than that. All of our campuses, anybody glad to be in church this weekend? You picked a great day to come to church. God is doing some amazing things in our church. We are one church, I don't know if you know this, in 18 locations in Southern California, and five international campuses. Welcome all of our campuses. Every week, there's so much that God is doing through our big church family all over the world. And I love to share some stories of God's faithfulness of how he's blessing our church through you, because there are people whose lives that are being radically transformed on the other side of the world that you'll never get a chance to meet. And there's two things I wanna share with you. One, earlier this year, God opened up an incredible door for our South Bay campus to move into a new building. This is through an adoption with a church in Lomita. God opened that door. They launched into that building earlier this March. They have grown by 25% in just 12 weeks, which is incredible. So praise God for that. That's connected to your giving, your prayers, through the Dream Now initiative that happened. Also, you may have heard that we launched a new campus

last year in DeVal. I love this story because a couple of years ago, a guy by the name of Ian, he was in DeVal. He had been a part of our Santa Rosa campus, moved there, and was praying for God to move in such a way that there would be a campus in DeVal, which is the southern part of the Philippines. So as he continued, he started this gathering in his home, and it grew, and then over the course of time, he's like, when are you gonna let us start a campus here? So we started it. It's been growing like crazy. We see them actually moving and growing over the course of time. Their largest weekend, aside from a holiday, was last weekend, so God's doing great things. But one thing I love is that Ian, the same guy, started a prison ministry, and 500-plus men started going through Saddleback's discipleship material called Discover Your Purpose. And this last weekend, they graduated. I want you to see this picture. 512 inmates being discipled, set free, learning to love and to serve Jesus, all because of your prayers and the faithfulness of our God. Thank you as you serve, as you give. God is using your life in a powerful way. And today, we're in the second week of a message series called Get Growing. Last week, we started off with this one big conviction.

I wanna come back to it. It's this, growth is. God's will for you. And I believe that with all my heart, that God wants you, God wants me, over the course of time, to be transformed. That our lives would be different, that we would change spiritually, that we would grow deeper in our understanding of Him. And the reality of this is there are some people that grow more than others. So we're looking at what are some of those core habits that make a massive difference in our life, from the Bible, that if we apply them, lead to a lifetime of spiritual growth. So last week, we focused in on the Bible, getting the Bible into our heart, our minds, and what happens when we understand the Word of God. Now, today, I wanna continue that journey, and I have a little picture here I wanna show you. This is a piece of broccoli. Maybe you like broccoli. Anybody like broccoli, out of curiosity? More people than I thought would. And if you look underneath the surface, there's a root system that's fueling what's on top. This is true with any form of vegetation. Now, if you take this same piece of broccoli, there is a silent killer I just found out about this week.

I wanna tell you a little bit about it. There's a little bug, I wonder if anybody's heard of it. It's called the root knot nematoid. Anybody heard of that before? No, no, no, no, nobody has. I hadn't before this week. But what I discovered about this little bug, it's so microscopic that you can't see it with the naked eye. But what happens is it goes into the root system of vegetation, and you cannot see the difference on the surface, but this little bug is underneath the surface, destroying the root system, and over the course of time, it looks fine, it looks fine, and then all of a sudden, it's dead. I want you to see this little image here that kind of gives a picture. It's like it looks normal, and then all of a sudden, what's beneath has now killed what's on top. It's a silent killer of growth. And the truth is, there's a silent killer of growth in your life and my life, that if we're not aware of it, has the potential to destroy God's work, to destroy what God wants to accomplish in and through our lives. And that's what we're gonna focus in on today, the silent killer of growth. And you could do all the right things. You could read the Bible, you could be connected in church, you could be giving and serving,

but if this silent killer is present, it has the power to destroy your faith journey. So that's what we're gonna look at. We're gonna journey through 1 Kings chapter 12, and I wanna read this story, and then I'm gonna unpack it as we look at this concept. 1 Kings chapter 12, beginning in verse one, it says this, Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone there to make him king. I wanna stop and pause for a moment. This is about 1,000 years before Jesus comes. Rehoboam is the son of Solomon. So Solomon, wise king, it's noted that he's been the wisest person to ever live aside from Jesus, and Solomon's son is now going to take the baton of leadership after Solomon's death. It says, when Jeroboam, son of Nebat, heard this, he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon, he returned from Egypt. So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and the whole assembly of Israel went to Rehoboam and said this to him. Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the load of harsh labor, and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you. Rehoboam answered, go away for three days and then come back to me, so the people went away. Now, here in this story, you've got Rehoboam and Jeroboam, two very similar names. And Rehoboam, who is Solomon's son, is the new king. But this guy by the name of Jeroboam

had had a conflict with Solomon, and he had left and fleed to Egypt. So Solomon didn't like Jeroboam, Jeroboam didn't like Solomon. But when he hears Rehoboam's leading, he comes back. And so this question comes to Rehoboam, hey, will you lighten the load that your father put on us as a people? So he says to them, go away three days, come back, I'm gonna give you an answer. And then in verse six, it says, then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. What would you advise me to answer to these people? He asked, and they replied. If today you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants. If you will lighten the load, if you'll love them, if you'll serve them, they will follow you, Rehoboam. But Rehoboam rejected the advice of the elders and consulted with the young men who had grown up with him and were serving with him. He asked them this question, what is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to me, lighten the yoke your father put on us? Now the young men who had grown up with him replied, these people have said to you, your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter.

Now tell them, my little finger is thicker than my father. Father's waist. My father laid on you a heavy yoke. I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips. I will scourge you with scorpions. Now that's a threat right there, scorpions. If you've ever been bitten by one, it doesn't feel too nice. So then it says three days later, Jeroboam, and all the people returned to Rehoboam as the king had said, come back to me in three days. And the king answered the people harshly, rejecting the advice given to him by the elders. He followed the advice of the young men and said, my father made your yoke heavy. I will make it heavier. My father scourged you with whips. I will scourge you with scorpions. So the king did not listen to the people for this turn of events was from the Lord to fulfill the word the Lord had spoken to Jeroboam, son of Nebat through Ahijah, the Shiloh knight. Now this is a very significant moment in the history of Israel because what happens from this point forward is that Israel is never a unified nation again. The 12 tribes of Israel, they are separate from one another after this and the kingdom is torn in two through one decision made by one king,

it has a ripple effect across generations to come. And I want you for a moment just to imagine these conversations. So Rehoboam, he has to make a very significant decision in the first few moments of his leadership. How is he going to approach caring for the people? Will he lighten the load or will he increase the load? And these two voices are in the back of his head. So undoubtedly there was a moment where Rehoboam went and sat at some table with the elders. They're all around the table. These wise guys who've consulted with Solomon, the wisest man who's ever lived. And now they give consult to Rehoboam. He would have heard that wisdom and then got up from that table and went to another table where his buddies were gathered. And as he sat around that table, they gave him counsel. And now he follows through and it's destructive as a result. Now, you and I sit at all different types of tables. You know, if you could just imagine, there are tables that you sit at with your family, maybe for mealtime. There are tables that you sit at at work, maybe during lunch at work or during meetings. There are tables that you sit at perhaps in your neighborhood. But there are different tables that we find ourselves placed at. And most of the tables that we sit at,

they are tables that we don't get to choose who's around the table. Like, you know, you don't really get to choose your siblings for good or for bad. You don't get to choose who your parents are. You don't get to choose who are all the people that your boss puts around you at work unless you are the boss. See, there are so many tables that we find ourselves that we don't get to choose, but there's one table that we do get to choose. And that's what I wanna talk to you about today. It's called the wisdom table. You and I have a wisdom table that is influencing our lives. And this is a definition. Your wisdom table is the combination of voices that you are currently letting speak into your life. These voices are around the table. Some of them are more prominent than others. They could be friends. They could be mentors. They could be podcasts. They could be TikTok videos. They could be all different types of things that we listen to, but they're the voices that shape our lives, that shape how we think, that impact our hearts and the course of our life. So here's the secret killer of growth that oftentimes is underneath the surface

and we don't see it until it's too late. The secret killer of growth is when you have the wrong people at your wisdom table. It's when you have the wrong voices speaking into the trajectory of your life. And you know, I think back when I was in high school and I don't know if anybody else did anything dumb in high school. I did quite a few dumb things, but there were always two or three friends involved. It's never like a teenager loses his brain and he does it alone. Well, maybe sometimes, but very rarely. Usually they look and they say, somebody was with me. Somebody told me one time, one teenage boy, one brain, two teenage boys, half a brain, three teenage boys, no brain. And so there's always a group of friends that are involved. And this wisdom table, a good friend of mine actually wrote a book called, Bring It Out. His name's Ben Pilgrim. Encourage you to read the book. He introduced this concept. And I love this concept because it's helped me on a personal level really to think through the decisions of who are the people that are shaping my life. So there are relationships that we have that are casual work relationships. There are people in our neighborhood that we interact with, or maybe when you drop your kids off at school,

but there is another level of influence when you let somebody pull up and take a seat. in your life, and now you're listening to their voice as a dominant voice of direction for your life. So I wanna set some principles around why this is so important, and how perhaps this thing under the surface could be destroying the work of God in your life, and what we can do about it today. So I have three ideas around the wisdom table. First of all, your wisdom table is framing your perspective. It's changing the way that you see the world. And Solomon, actually in the Old Testament, who was Rehoboam's dad, even the wisest man who ever lived could turn to folly at the end of his life. And I want you to see how all of this is playing out, because the wrong voices started to shape him, and then eventually started to shape King Rehoboam. And if you'll notice in verse six and seven, King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served Solomon, his father, during his lifetime, how would you advise me to answer these people? And they replied, today, if you will be a servant leader, if you will serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants. So this wisdom, actually prior to the end of Solomon's life, had shaped the way that Solomon lived and led. And that leadership or that wisdom is framing even this servant leadership concept

that would lead to life if Rehoboam had responded to it. So you have a perspective, and I have a perspective on the world, and there are voices that are coming into that perspective that we're making a choice to listen to. And there's no innocent scrolling on your phone. You might think that you're just simply watching a video on your phone with 30 seconds on TikTok or Instagram, and that video that you're watching is getting into your mind and shaping the way that you think. The same is true with the music that we listen to. Parents, this is so crucial and important that our children's brains are being shaped by the lyrics that are getting into their minds. And I'll give you just an example of this. We've had times where our kids will be listening to a song, and I'll just stop, and I'll say, I would never let those words be spoken in our house, but I'm letting them right into my children's brains with what they're listening to through their headphones. And the encouragement is to say, wait, pause. That's framing the way that you see the world. So every song you listen to, every podcast that we play when we're driving down the road, every book that we read, that we're infusing into our souls, into our minds a perspective that is shaping the way that we live.

And it's so important for us to come back and say, we want a different perspective. We want God's perspective. Proverbs 15, 22 says, plans fail for a lack of counsel, but with many advisors, they will succeed. Plans fail with the wrong counsel. So there's a worldview that is shaping our thoughts and our minds, and the word is contrary to what the world teaches. And these two worldviews are colliding. So I want the worldview of the word to be in my mind more than the world's worldview is in my mind. And this happens by putting the right people and the right voices around the table. The second thing that happens is it shapes our hearts. So your wisdom table is shaping your heart. And you'll see Solomon in 1 Kings 11, verse four, the moment where Solomon starts to get off, it says, as Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods. He had 700 wives, friends. That sounds miserable right there. One wife is enough, baby. One knife, that's all, that's all. And so Solomon had these 700 wives that over time his heart drifted to false gods. And his heart became in a different place, different condition. It was not fully devoted to the Lord as the heart of David, his father, had been.

So the wisest man to ever live died a fool because of who was around his wisdom table. Now think about that for just a moment. No matter how much intelligence you have, no matter how long you've walked with God, if you get the wrong people shaping your heart, it will cause you to erode and shipwreck your life. So the invitation is to have a different table and to have a kind of voice that leads to life. So shaping our heart. I also want us to come back to these young men and the way that they're calling Rehoboam to this hard attitude of arrogance. My father scourged you with whips. I will scourge you with scorpions. And what I've seen from my own journey is that sometimes it doesn't have to be. The old or young, it's not an age thing, it's a wisdom thing. I wanna say that again. There are young people who are 27 years old and they live with wisdom. And there are 68-year-old people who live like fools. And there are 80-year-old men who are wise and 30, 35-year-old, you guys get the point of what I'm saying. It's everything in between. And what I have noticed is that there's been moments in my life where I've gotten around some friends maybe that are frustrated, bitter, entitled.

And then I started to notice that the more I hung out with this certain group of friends, the more frustrated, entitled, and bitter I started to feel myself. And if you'll notice, hard attitudes have a way of catching their contagions. So entitlement in somebody else's heart that you let in, it leads to entitlement in your heart. And when you find yourself getting bitter, you may find yourself next to a bitter person. The same is true on the flip side. When you get around one person who has bold faith and believes there's nothing that God cannot do, then that kind of faith influences your heart as well. So your wisdom table is shaping your heart. If you wanna have a different heart, you need different people around the table influencing the trajectory of your life. I know a man ultimately that was deeply impacted by the people around his table. And what happened to him was not only was his heart shifted, but as his heart changed, the third thing that happened to him was that his destiny got off track. And your table is determining your destiny at the same time. I wanna say this very clearly. The people around your table, as they influence your heart, they're changing the destiny of your life. Now let me tell you the story of this guy. So earlier in ministry, I met this guy.

He wasn't a follower of Jesus when I started spending time with him. He made a decision to follow Jesus. After he made a decision to follow Jesus, we started reading the Bible together. He started growing. He got involved in the church where we were at the time. He started serving there. As he was serving there, he started sensing a call to ministry. He met a girl, he married her. Stacy and I got to be a part of their wedding. It was a beautiful day. And then over time, as this couple moved along, they made a decision to move to another state. We kind of lost track with them. And then a few years later, the wife of the family calls Stacy and I and says, hey, he's in a really bad spot right now. And I'm wondering if there's anything that you could do just to talk to him and see if you can get him back. So he'd made a decision to move out. He wanted nothing to do with his wife or his son. So I called this guy on the phone and I was like, bro, you're about to train wreck your life. You're walking away from your marriage. You're walking away from your son. Is this the legacy that you want to have for your life? And then as he unpacked where he had gotten himself into, I asked him, tell me about how you got to this place.

Because I know you were in love with her. I know you were committed. I did your wedding ceremony and heard your vows. And he shared with me how there was one person from his past that he started talking to. This one person was on his third marriage and was giving him counsel for his marriage. That should be a clue right there. Third marriage, ruined three of them, and now he's gonna give counsel and advice to this young man. And his heart over time, his perspective over time shifted to now he destroyed the destiny of his whole lineage because there was a voice that was impacting him deep at a soul level. So one voice has the power to destroy your life or help build your life. On the contrary, I can think of so many mentors along the way that have had deposits and wisdom and my life has been shifted because those deposits and the wisdom. So the question we've gotta wrestle through is what trajectory are the voices in our life pointing us towards? So your feet are pointed in a direction based upon the voices that are behind you and seated at your table. And what can happen is if we're not careful, we find ourselves drifting and Proverbs 13, 20 describes how we get out of that.

It says, walk with the wise and become wise for a companion of fools suffers harm. So when I have fools around my table of wisdom, I find myself suffering harm. So how do I change that? That's what I wanna talk about because maybe you're like, yeah, bro, I know. I gotta fire somebody from my table. Gotta kick him off. I gotta figure out what to do. So I wanna give you a couple really practical things that have helped me on a personal level. First of all, I wanna ask the right questions when it comes to who gets in these seats. I ask questions that open my eyes to the right kinds of people, and the first question is, what is the source of their wisdom? So where did they get their wisdom? And James chapter 3, verse 14 speaks of it, it says, if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such wisdom does not come from heaven, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic, for where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every kind of evil practice. Now notice that you see that selfish ambition is tucked within a form of wisdom that is coming from a demonic force at its core. So if you think about a lot of the wisdom in this world, you can read books that have biblical wisdom from people that are not followers of Jesus, but there's a kind of wisdom that you can get in your heart that derails your life. And I've heard many of these conversations before about setting your goals, and you're like, you listen to a conference or some kind of resource, and it's like, I'm gonna help you learn how to cash flow $20,000 a day so that you can buy all the things you've ever

wanted to buy and drive in any car you ever wanted to drive in and have everything you've ever wanted. You deserve better. You deserve the best. You ever heard these before? It's really quiet in here. I don't know if it's like, yes. And maybe there's a part of you that's like, yeah, I deserve better. I should have more. And then all of a sudden there's this root that starts to grow at its core. It's not of the ways of God. At the core, it's about the flesh. It's appealing to my fleshly core of deception that really is trying to build away from the ways of God. So God's way is a death to self, but it's a life that comes throughout the course, a harvest of righteousness as I follow the ways of God's wisdom. So James chapter 3, 17 says the difference. The wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all, pure and peace loving and considerate and submissive and full of mercy, good fruit, impartial and sincere. So I want to look for these character traits. Now what has happened in our world, I believe is so important to recognize, is that many of the values that are expressed and taught from God's word, that in the ways of the world in our day have been labeled as evil. And in Isaiah chapter 5, verse 20, listen to this verse, it says, woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. So if you make a decision that you are going to go with the ways of God, you're going to fly in the current of the ways of this world. And there will be people in culture that will mock the ways of God. God's designed for the home, for family, for sexuality, for sexual identity.

And what is happening is so much of that is promoted in our culture as a good thing. In fact, we have an entire month that is dedicated to promoting a value system that is contrary to the ways of God. And I heard a story about somebody that they had to promote that month, but they couldn't put a Bible verse up at their place of work. And that value system is calling what is evil good and calling what is good evil. And I want to have my mind on that to make sure that the influences into my mind, are you tracking with me, are not from the enemy, but they're from the ways of God. Because this book right here, the more that I live according to the eternal word of God, whether or not you are a follower of Jesus, your life is blessed when you live according to the ways of God. And God wants to bless your life. But if we're not careful, we'll absorb a value system that is not of the ways of the Lord. So I want to ask the question, what is ultimately the source of their wisdom? Secondly, what is the fruit of their lives? Now this is where consulting with somebody who's ruined three marriages for marriage is not a good idea. And I got to ask the question, what is the fruit of their life? Jesus said, by their fruit, you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, bad trees bear bad fruit. Thus, by their fruit, you will recognize them. So I want to look at the train of the fruit that follows a life. And before I would put them at a seat at the table, I want to know, if I'm going to ask them for marriage advice, I want to know what their marriage is like. If I'm going to ask them for parenting advice, I'm going to ask them what they do with their kids. If I want to ask, the question is, are their kids doing all right? And are they turning out according to the ways of God? If I'm going to ask them for financial advice, I'm not going to ask the guy.

I who's gone bankrupt four times, how to handle my finances. And so I want to look at this table and say, what is the fruit of their lives? So there are countless people in our church that have lived according to the ways of God and can bless our lives with wisdom. I want to speak to those of you who are in our church and you're in your 60s, 70s, 80s. We need your wisdom around the table. We need you to invest in the younger generation. There is a purpose for you being a part of this church in this season. And as God is helping our church reach a younger generation, we still need you around the table. We still need your wisdom spoken. And there's something for a young adult to go find that person that's two or three decades ahead of you and to learn from them if the fruit of their life. I have men in my small group that are 20, 30 years down the road from me. And a lot of times in our small group, we'll just sit in a circle and there'll be a guy in his 60s who has godly kids and has led a business and done such a fantastic job with the ways of the Lord, investing in the kingdom of God, and he'll just talk.

And there's wisdom upon wisdom upon wisdom. Don't you want more people like that in your life? That they would speak in. So some of you who have that wisdom, we want to encourage you to invest that wisdom. You could start a small group for young adults. If you're in your 60s and 70s, you could lead a table to pour into the next generation and you can find those people. They're here in our church. I want to encourage you at all of our campuses, not just to zip out and maybe after service today to find somebody you've never met and go up to them. Somebody who maybe they look wise. Just, you know, you look wise. And I just got a couple questions for you. But taking that step. Third question is this. What's the intent of their advice? What's the intent behind the wisdom and the counsel that they give you? So there are people in your life that maybe they don't have your best interest at mind. Always a competition under the surface. But then there are those people that love you like a brother or a sister. And Proverbs 17, 17 says, a friend loves at all times and a brother is born for adversity. So I need some people at my table

that love me at all times, but they're willing to say the hard thing. They're willing to acknowledge it. I have a buddy who so many times has called me on things I've said to Stacey and we're in a gathering together. And he's like, bro, you were rude to your wife. You need to go back and apologize. I'm like, thank you for that again. And those kinds of people that maybe they check you on your attitudes, but they care about you and they love you and they're willing to call it to the surface for your good. So we need people like that around the table. So we look at their intent. We look at the source of their wisdom and the fruit of their lives. The second thing we wanna do is pick the right areas. So I wanna find around my wisdom table, people who have different areas of growth and expertise that I need. So one I will start with is spiritual life. So there's somebody that maybe is a few steps ahead of you. Again, this is why small groups are so important because getting in a small group, you'll find some people that are spiritually maybe a couple steps ahead of you. I love to get around people who are on fire for God. They may not have the same personality type, be from the same denominational background,

but I just love being around people who are hungry for God and on fire for Him because it nourishes my soul and I want them at my wisdom table. In addition to that, we just have relationships like somebody that can give us counsel and wisdom on marriage and parenting. And perhaps if you're dating, finding somebody that's gone through that journey, but they can pour into you around relationships. This is also with work and vocation. So whatever vocation you're in, there are people that are a few steps ahead of you. You can grab a coffee or a lunch with them and ask them a few questions and just kind of pick their brain for what wisdom is on the inside of them. Calling is another one. So when God puts a call on our lives, we have a lot of people that God's raising up for a call to ministry, to go into the mission field or to be a part of a church team. But that calling, there are other people that you can find that will disciple and pour into you. In addition is finances. Don't you want somebody in your life with the wisdom that has the kind of understanding of stewardship and investment? In addition to that would be a vision project. So maybe you're writing a book or you're doing something at the house that you're building. But those kinds of people around the table

and from season to season it shifts. So you might need parenting advice now and then you need empty nester advice a few years later. You might need grandparenting advice because somebody, one of your kids just had kids and now you're in a new season. But this wisdom table, it will shift over the course of time. But I wanna guard who's at this table. And I want with vigilance to say. God, give me the right people around the table so that I can live the life that you've created me to live. Your life will be the sum total of the five closest relationships influencing you. This is so important. I could preach about this a little bit more intently, and it is so significant that the power of this could not be overstated, that there are some of you that are listening to my voice right now, and you're trying to do all the right things, but the thing that is wrong is you have a person at your table that keeps pulling you back away from God's best for your life. And I wanna encourage you, God's vision for your life is too important. God's vision for your life is too important to keep hanging out with her on Friday night. God has something bigger and better and stronger

and greater for your life than what you're in right now. And with that vision, he's inviting you to put people, I wanna encourage you, God wants to give you a vision that is so big that you have to go beyond your current circle to get into places where people have that wisdom that they can deposit into you. So I might encourage you to ask God, lift the lid on the vision of my life a bit. Like help me see something bigger for my life. Husbands, I wanna speak to you. God wants to give you a bigger vision for the kind of man of God that you become, that you would serve and love your wife and have generational impact on your sons and daughters. And when you get that kind of vision, drinking with your buddies on Thursday night doesn't have the same appeal. Being at home with your wife and your kids and depositing in them has all of a sudden a new meaning because that vision is driving you forward. So you go after godly men to pursue them that they might deposit into you that you might deposit it into your family. So the encouragement is vigilantly guard your table and find the right people. This is within your domain. There's nobody else that you can delegate this to. You can walk out of service. I'm sorry, I'm preaching now, I'm gonna keep going.

You could walk out of church right now and you could text one or two people and change the course of your life. Like there's one relationship, you are one or two relationships away from an entirely different future. And God wants to put his finger on that today to call you up into a new vision. Friends, Solomon, he ruined his life at the end with all the wisdom God had given to him. Rehoboam ruined his life. An entire nation was ruined because one man had the wrong people around his table and Israel was never the same again. Families have been ruined. Businesses have been ruined. Lives have been ruined. Not so with you. Your life is gonna be different. My life is gonna be different. So the good news is the spirit of the living God wants to give you help today to say you can do it differently. You don't have to do it the way your dad did it or your sister did it. You can do it differently. And so I wanna give you two questions to wrap up. The first one is this. Who's sitting at your table right now? Who's sitting at your wisdom table?

And that question is so crucial. Just asking it can help you gain some perspective. Now, one of the best ways to assess who's at your table when you do, you start to see you might need some new people. You might need some people that come around you that you don't have access to yet. And I think one of the best ways that you can take that step is to be a part of a small group here in our church family. And I wanna invite you to see a story of someone whose life was radically transformed through community with small groups here at Saddleback. Let's watch together. Hi, my name's Sean Jung. I attend the Saddleback Lake Forest Campus and I developed financial professionals and I started a small group at work. A few years back, I was at a very difficult point in my life. I was living for myself, doing whatever I want to, doing whatever I think would help me succeed. And so that led me to Colorado where I had no one to lean on and just God stripped everything out. A friend since I've known since middle school, Steven Moon, he's the campus pastor at South Bay. And he said, well, just last year, we had this thing called One Life and I wrote your name on it.

And I've been praying for you. A middle school friend that would pray for me and have that relationship with him, bring me back to God. Everything I did led to ultimately my downfall. And then when I listened to God or did what he wanted, he just connected the dots. I think that's ultimately how I kind of came back to California. I was looking at the Saddleback app and I found some resources, but I found out that I had to be a small group leader to use those resources. So then I said, I'll be a small group leader so I can do my daily devotionals. And I had a co-worker who shared about Jesus to another co-worker, her name's Issa. I kept wondering, you know, she accepted Jesus, but what's next? How is she doing? And that curiosity is what ultimately got me to start a small group. We meet every Wednesday at 8.30 a.m. at the office. It's before, you know, everyone else comes in. It's a little bit of quiet time. And we use that time to really share, talk about each other's lives, get to know co-workers on a personal level, and to really learn more about God to see what He has in store for us. We started a new video series, and after the video, Issa had gotten emotional. She said she's been a Christian her whole life, but not once did she feel a connection. And as she was talking, that's when I realized why God started me on this path to starting a small group. Starting a small group has had a lot more impact on me than I had realized, and I thought I was doing it for someone else. And, you know, I totally invite other people, if they have a calling, if they have some small desire to start one, then take the first step because you have no idea where God's going to take you. I love those links in the chain.

So it starts with Stephen, our campus pastor in South Bay, who said yes to God to invest in one life. Sean's life has changed. Then Sean says yes to God, and he says, you know what, I'm going to build my own table at my place of work, and I'm going to invest in others, and lives are being changed as a result of that. So today you can do that. You can actually start a small group with very little experience. You don't have to have led a small group before. You can be new to faith. You can just be on the journey. You just need to be one step ahead, and one very simple step that you can take today is to say, I'm interested in being a part of small groups. You can say today, I want to lead or host a small group this summer. They're kicking off in June. We've got some training coming up. All of that you'll find at the app, and if you'll take about 30 seconds, sometime today, just to go there and say, yeah, I'm interested in either being in a small group or saying I want to lead or host a small group to build my own table as we launch them in June, God can use that in a very powerful way. I know that my small group has radically changed and impacted my life and the others around the table, and I believe it's so important. It's one of the most important decisions that you can make on your journey of faith. But I want to finish with one last question, and this question is for all of us. The question is, who has this one seat that is reserved at the head of your table? Who's at the head of your table right now? And perhaps if you're honest with yourself, maybe you're like, you know, my boss is at the head of my table right now. Or maybe it feels like your kids often are running your life and at the head of your table. But this spot right here is reserved for one person. The only person that this spot is reserved for is King Jesus. He's the one to be at the head of our table who has all the wisdom, who has all the authority, who is the one that is capable of leading our lives.

And there is a conscious decision whereby we say back to God, God, I want you to lead my life. I want you to be in charge. And there's some of you today that maybe in your heart you believe in God, but you've never made that conscious choice to turn over the authority of your life to say, Jesus, I'm signing my life over to you. I want to give you the keys and I want to put you at the head of the table. In Ephesians chapter one, verse 22 and 23, it says, God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be the head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. And what that means is Jesus is in charge. He's already the authority. He's already ruling and reigning as the high king of heaven. And the decision is for you and I to let him be in charge of our life and to say, it's yours. I'm putting you at the head of the table. And if you've never done that today, right now in this moment, I want to lead you in a prayer of response back to God to say, Jesus, I want you to lead my life. The Bible calls this lordship. And what the Bible says in Romans 10, 9 and 10 about that decision is if you declare with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Let me read it one more time. If you declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, the dead, you will be saved. That's good news. That you can have a relationship with the living God based on what Jesus, God in human flesh, did on a cross for your sin. He's conquering the grave. He's made a way so that we can be forgiven.

And it says this, for it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it's with your mouth that you profess your faith and you are saved. That you are saved from the power of sin and death, saved to relationship with the living God. Aren't you grateful today that there's a way that you and I can be saved, that we no longer have to live as the consequence of our own folly. God steps in and says, I wanna be at the head of the table and change the trajectory of your life. So I wanna invite you right now if you've never made that decision to do so, if you'll close your eyes and bow your heads with me at all of our campuses. And today, if you wanna turn over your life to Jesus, you can pray a very simple prayer that goes like this. Say, dear Jesus, I believe you died on a cross for my sin. I believe that you rose again from the dead, and I wanna turn my life over to you today. I ask that you forgive me of my sin, and I put you at the head of the table in my life. And as you're doing that, he's stepping in, he's taking over. I wanna invite you right now, if that's you, if you're making that decision at all of our campuses, if you're making that decision to put your trust in Jesus

right now in this moment, I'm gonna count to three, and I'm gonna invite you on a count of three to raise your hand as an act of saying, today I surrender my heart to Jesus at all of our campuses. On a count of three, today, if you're praying that prayer, I wanna invite you to lift it up. One, two, three. Today, if you're saying I surrender to the heart of God, just keep them up all across this room, dozens of people, campuses as well. God, we thank you today for people who are making that decision to put their trust in you. We celebrate and we thank you for salvation and new life. In Jesus' name we pray, amen, amen, amen. Hey, if you made that decision, we wanna celebrate with you. If you'll text decision to 83000 so that we can go along that journey with you. We're gonna seal our moment together with worship and invite you to stand as we just acknowledge our desire to build our life with Jesus at the head of the table. Will you sing with me as the band leads? Here we go. I will put my trust in you alone and I will not leave, I will build my life, I will build my life upon your love. It is a firm foundation. I will put my trust in you alone and I will not leave, I will build my life upon your love. It is a firm foundation. I will put my trust in you alone and I will not leave. Holy, there is no one like you. There is none beside you. Open up my eyes in awe of you and show me who you are and fill me with your heart and lead me in love to God.

I will build my life upon your love. It is a firm foundation. I will put my trust in you alone and I will not leave, I will build my life upon your love. When You are calm And I am not insane And I will build my life upon Your love And I will put my trust in You alone And I will not be afraid What an amazing message from Pastor Andy. I love the question that he posed to us at the end. Who is sitting at the head of your table? Maybe you listened to the message today and you felt the call to take a next step in your faith. Maybe you want to join a small group like we talked about, or maybe you made the decision to put Jesus at the head of your wisdom table today. Whatever that next step may be, we would love to know about it so that we can walk with you and help you to take that next step. You can go to the Saddleback app and let us know about your next step there. In addition, if you want prayer for anything, you can also go to the app and fill out a prayer request. Our prayer team would love to pray for you this week. Well, church family, thank you so much again for joining us for church today. I hope you guys have a great week and we can't wait to see you back here again next week. Bye.