Kerry Shook - Let The Sparks Fly
Maybe one of your New Year's resolutions is to pick up a new sport or a new hobby. Well, I've got one for you. Ax throwing. It's great marriage therapy as well. Ax throwing. Did you know ax throwing is now an international sport? I was watching ESPN2 the other day and they had the world ax throwing championships. And because I've watched the world ax throwing championships, that qualifies me to throw axes in church today. And so let's see. Not bad. At least I hit something. I like these little ones here. Now I get way over here and I'll make it curve around... no. Not too bad. I tell you what, it is good therapy, and I'm really good when I imagine someone I don't like on the target.
You might even print their face out and it will really help you. You know there are a lot of crazy sports that are getting really big right now? Pickleball is huge. How many of you guys have played pickleball? Yeah, one person. Yeah, it's huge. I was watching ESPN the other day and they were showing the world tag championships. Yes, tag is now a professional sport. Now, I would love for them to combine several of these really quirky sports that are getting big, like maybe combine pickleball, tag, and ax throwing all into one sport and see what happens. I would watch that. But today as we kick off a new year and a new series, our key verse is about an ax.
So would you open your Bibles to Ecclesiastes chapter 10, and would you stand in honor of God's Word and follow along with me wherever you are? If you're worshiping on the other side of the world through our online campus, you're part of our online family, or you're here at the Woodlands campus or Atascocita campus, or through our broadcast ministry, we're one church built on God's Word. So follow along with me. "If the ax is dull, and one does not sharpen its edge, then one must exert more strength; however, the advantage of wisdom is that it brings success".
You can be seated. The Bible is saying if your ax is dull and you go out to chop some firewood, you're going to have to chop a lot harder, work a lot harder, and it's going to take you a whole lot longer than if you would have just stopped for a moment to sharpen your ax before you started. And before you go into a new year expecting things to be different, you got to take some time to sharpen your ax with the wisdom of God. To be more effective, productive, and peaceful this year, you got to work smarter and not harder. You got to sharpen your ax with wisdom or you'll get worn out doing worthless things.
If you want things to be different in your life this year, this passage says you can't keep doing the same ineffective things. You've got to gain some divine wisdom to make some divine changes. It's God's wisdom that will sharpen your focus and unleash your creativity, but the way you sharpen an ax, it's kind of fun. You sharpen an ax and the sparks fly, and when you cooperate with God's creative change process in your life, the sparks fly. That's why we're calling this new series "Spark". It's all about God's creative change process in our lives because I believe God wants to spark some real and lasting change in your life this year.
I believe God wants to spark new passion, new growth, new dreams, new possibilities, new opportunities to create something new and powerful in your life this year, but you have to sharpen the ax and let the sparks fly. You can't carve something new out of the same old dull ax. You got to sharpen the ax and let the sparks fly by learning to cooperate with God's creative change process in your life. A while back I was reading the story of creation in Genesis chapter 1 in my devotional and God really impressed upon me that the same process that he used to create the universe is the same process that he wants to take me through to provide a genesis of change and growth in my life. God is the source of all creation. He created it all, the creator of the infinite universe, and he wants to create powerful change in your life this year.
Let's look at the very first verse in all of scripture, Genesis 1. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light". The first four words in all the Bible are "In the beginning God," and all new beginnings begin with God, all new growth starts with God. All of those new visions and dreams start with God. It's got to start with God. A lot of people look within and they go, "I'm going to look within and see what I feel like doing. I'm going to look within and I'm going to follow my heart".
But you got to start with God first. He's the source of all creativity. All change begins with God. But look at the next word in scripture. The fifth word in all the Bible is the word created. "In the beginning God created," so it's in the beginning God, it all starts with God. You don't need to look to self-help books, you need to look to God. You don't need self-help, you need God's help. But then it says God created, and the word created in the Hebrew is the word bara, and it's translated into the Latin ex nihilo, which means out of nothing. It means that God created out of nothing.
Now, humankind can create, but we have to have existing matter to create with. Only God creates out of nothing. God can create something out of nothing. That is, if I give my nothing to God, he can make something out of it, that's amazing. And maybe today you feel like you're at the place of nothingness, where you have no passion, no creativity. God can create passion where there is no passion. God can create creativity where there is no creativity. Maybe you feel like you're at the place of no purpose. It just feels like there's no meaning in your life. God can create purpose where there's no purpose. Maybe you feel like you have no direction today. You're getting ready to make a big decision but you just feel directionless and aimless and don't know which way to turn.
God can give you direction where there is no direction. And maybe you feel like there's no hope of things ever changing in your life. God can create hope where there is no hope because he can create ex nihilo, out of nothing. But I want us to look at his process because we have to cooperate with God's change process for the sparks to fly, for us to come alive. So it all starts with light. Light is inspiration from God. First, God creates light.
In Genesis 1:3 it says, "And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light". New growth and creative change always starts with light from God, illumination and inspiration from God. You get an idea from God, you get a vision from God, you get a promise from God's Word and the light comes on and you see the truth. In Psalm 119:105 it says, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path". It's God's Word that can light up our path. You see, we get light from heaven. We get inspiration from heaven. We get an idea from God and it comes from God's Word. God's Word is that light to our path. And so when I connect to God's Word and I spend time with God's Word and then he brings light to me.
So many of the ideas and the visions that God has given Chris and I for Woodlands Church have come from our daily devotional. As we spend time with God, we read from his Word, we write down some of the things he's showing us, God gives us creativity and ideas and they come from God. Inspiration from God. Our God will give us a promise. God will give me a promise when I...that's for me. That's for Woodlands Church. That's for my family. God will just impress on me and it'll just come out of the pages. Sometimes I read God's Word and I don't get a whole lot out of it. Other times I read God's Word and creativity just flows. But it's that consistent daily habit that's so important. I've got a promise for somebody this year that God put on my heart. Maybe it's for you.
In Isaiah 42:16 God says, "I will guide them along path they have not known. I will make the darkness become light for them, and the rough ground smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not leave my people". God says, "I want to guide you along some new paths. I want to give you some new opportunities this year, some, and you need me to light the path for you. Spend time in my Word so you'll know what direction to go, so that you'll feel my guidance, so that I'll give you my light each step of the way".
So you need that light from heaven. It comes from God first. And then secondly, there's land. That's the opportunities on earth. See, light is the inspiration from heaven, and land is the possibilities on earth. In Genesis 1:9 it says, "And God said, 'Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.' And it was so. God called the dry ground 'land.'" So light is the inspiration from God's Word, and the land is the opportunities here on earth that God gives us. God created land for humankind to explore and to cultivate, and God creates new land for you to explore and cultivate and pursue this year.
You see new opportunities, new realities, new possibilities. Whenever God gives you light from heaven he also has opportunities on earth, and that light from heaven collides with the opportunity on earth and something divine happens. It's light from heaven and it's the possibility on earth, and it comes together. That's the way God creates, and that's the way he wants to create change in your life. Whenever God gives you a vision, an inspiration he also gives you new opportunities that connect with that vision, but you have to look for them. So it's my prayer this year that God will open all of our spiritual eyes to see those opportunities, those possibilities, those new paths that he has for us, and we have to get light from him, and then he'll open our eyes to see the possibilities on earth.
Light from heaven, possibilities on earth, and it makes all the difference. But sometimes the possibilities are disguised as problems. When God created land he created mountains and valleys, and he created deserts and rainforests and rocky terrain. And it could be this year that you'll face a mountain, that you will face a mountain that you feel like you can't get over. It may be this year that you'll find yourself in a deep valley of despair that you wonder if you'll ever make it through, or you may find yourself this year in a desert and the heat is on and the pressure feels overwhelming. You see, new possibilities bring new problems. God created all kinds of land, and new possibilities bring new problems.
You see, we have these new beginnings, and we start with new beginnings that God has for us and they lead over here to new blessings. The new beginnings always lead to new blessings. The problem is we usually can't see the new blessings when we're at the place of new beginnings because there are barriers in the way. There's always a huge barrier between the new beginnings and the new blessings that are over here. And so God wants to open your eyes to see that that barrier is really the opportunity, that that obstacle is the opportunity that he wants to use. But sometimes we can't see the new possibilities because we're distracted by all these things that aren't very important.
You can't seize new opportunities on land when your schedule is filled up with empty activities. You have to narrow your target. You know, we think success is multi-tasking and doing all these different things, but really success comes from narrowing your focus. When you narrow your focus, you broaden your life. You got to know what target you're aiming at. Can you imagine ax throwing where there's no target? You just make up your own target. You just fling that ax. My hand is kind of sweaty right now. You just fling that ax. There's no target. That's the way a lot of people live their lives. They just throwing the ax all over the place and they wonder why they're not really effective and productive.
You got to narrow the target down to what is most important. We got to know what the target is. You got to be able to know, "That's my target". And then you narrow that target down and you know, "That's the target right there". That's not terrible, but not great. It's all from the mercy of God that it's even stuck. But you've got to narrow that target down to know what you're aiming at. A lot of times we just throw the ax and wherever it hits we draw a target around and go, "Okay, that's it". Doesn't work that way. We're going to learn how to narrow our focus and broaden our lives. Basically, this year if you're going to be effective and productive, then you got to take the ax and cut out a lot of things that you're doing right now.
You can't keep doing the same ineffective things. You're worn out. You're tired out. You're overwhelmed. Your schedule is overcrowded. Why? God never intended for you live that way. You got to cut out some good things you're doing right now so you can do God things. I have a lot of good opportunities that come my way, but there are very few God opportunities. And so you got to cut out some of the things that you're doing so that you can do the things that matter most. You got to ax some of the good things so you don't miss God's best. I've got a few things I'm going to give you to cut out right now. We'll talk more about this in the series, but I can tell you right now cut out worrying about things you can't control.
We spend a lot of time worrying about things we can't control. You need to cut out trying to please everyone because that's impossible. You need to cut out wasting time on negative people. I don't hang around negative people. Chris and I don't hang around negative people. That's because we want to hang around encouragers. Encourage means to in courage, to put courage into someone. Discourage is the opposite. It's someone taking away courage. And so I don't have a lot of courage, so I hang around people who encourage so I can have more courage. You're just wasting your time hanging around negative people. Now some of you are going, "Well, I'm married to one. What do I do"?
That's a whole different message. We're not going to deal with that one today. Hang in there. But don't waste your time hanging around people that bring you down. You got to hang around people that build you up. You got to be a people builder. And then cut out complaining and grumbling. You spend a lot of time complaining and grumbling instead of praying, instead of solving problems. And then cut out trying to do everything perfectly because if you try to do everything perfectly, you'll never do anything. And then you've got to cut out talking more than listening. Boy, I need this one. Cut out talking more than listening, and then cut out putting off a decision that needs to be made and then putting off avoiding that person I need to have a tough conversation with.
Those are some things I know you need to cut out. There's probably a whole lot more, but you got to cut those things out. Jesus said let your yes be yes and your no be no. You've got to have a never-do list, a don't-do list, some things that you never do that are never effective and productive. And so it starts with light from heaven and it collides with possibilities on earth and it produces life. That's the passion of your heart. In Genesis 1:11 it says, "Then God said, 'Let the land produce vegetation; seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.' And it was so. The land produced vegetation, plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good".
So next God creates life, and he wants to breathe life into you and reignite the passion in your heart. If you don't live from the passion that God has placed in your heart, you will live by the pressures everyone else puts on you. You see, it starts with light from heaven and then it hits the opportunities on earth, and then it collides with your passion and brings you to life because God placed that passion and you just, some of you don't know what your passion is because it's been so covered up by all these things that aren't important. God wants to bring your passion alive and reignite your passion this year so you can discover the passion of your heart.
Passion outlasts profits over the long haul. God wants you to live from the passion that he's placed there. And then he moves to likeness, and this is so important. The most important is developing Christ-like character. In Genesis 1:26 and 27, "Then God said, 'Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness.' So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them". And so God creates humans in his likeness. That means we have the capacity for spiritual things. We're different from all the other animals. We have the capacity for relationship with God because we're not just body and emotions, we're also a spirit. We have a spirit, we're capable of spiritual things.
And that's why if you just focus on your body this year, if you just focus on your emotions this year, you're going to miss out on your spirit and you're going to feel empty, and you're going to be living at burnout because you got to refuel your spirit, nourish your spirit. And so spiritual growth is the most important resolution you could ever have, to grow spiritually this year because everything else starts falling into place. When you grow spiritually, God gives you desires in other areas. You begin to grow in Christ and you become strong spiritually. Your character gets built. That's the most important resolution. And growing spiritually just means becoming more like Jesus, becoming more like Christ.
It's likeness, becoming more like Jesus Christ. You were made in his image, but he wants you to become more and more like him. And so how does God grow us spiritually? I wish I could say that just reading God's Word you'll grow spiritually. That's a huge one. There are two ways that God will grow you spiritually this year, and the first one is getting into God's Word like we said, following the light, walking in the light, in the truth, getting into God's Word. But the second one is problems. I like the first one better. The second one is problems, and it's like the sharpening of the ax. It's the friction of the pressure and the problems that shape us into the image of Christ that chip away the rough edges of our character that don't look like Jesus.
And so God will take you through some problems, and some difficulties, and some rocky roads because he's more interested in your character than your comfort, and the comfort zone is the passionless zone and God wants to make you more like Christ this year. But then there's the last thing that we have to see, and that's limits. That's the power of God's care and control. Because in Genesis 2:2 it says, "By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work".
Limitless God who doesn't need any rest, who never loses any energy, he's all-powerful, unlimited God puts a limit on himself to be an example to us because we are limited. We're not God. We're not the general manager of the universe, and we have to rest in his power. And I have to tell you that this year as you start with new beginnings, the greatest pitfall that you will face and that I will face is thinking that, "I can get control of my life, that I can get with willpower over the barriers to the new blessings, that I can do it different this year, that I can get my act together, that I can get all my goals done, that I'm going to do it this year. I'm just going to work harder. I'm going to try harder".
I'm going to tell you what will happen. Happens to me every day. I fall. You're going to fall flat on your face. God has a great call on your life, but when you hit the barrier it's going to be a barrier too big for you to overcome in your own strength and you're going to fall. But when you fall on your face, get to your knees as quick as you can and say, "God, I need you. I need your power. I need your strength. Not willpower, but real power. I can't get over this mountain without you".
You see, the mountain is a good thing, the barrier is a good thing, that deep valley is a good thing, why? Because it shows us that we need God. And then we experience his power and he raises us up off our knees, and he does something powerful and new and lasting and beautiful in and through us that we could never do on our own.