1/1/12 Do Hard Things video 2
January 1, 2012 SESSION 2: Do Hard Things Brett Harris 1. “My first shower”-What difficult situation(s) are you faced with right now? The big challenges we face now are no different than earlier in our life. Being proportionally and equally challenged. What did Alex mean when he said, “The complexities of our challenges has increased but the difficulty has not.”? Our challenges have grown with us but we have also grown in our response to challenges. We will always face challenges if we want an exciting life. What is the difference with the way you responded to challenges as a child vs. the way you respond now as a teenager? 2. “Not a Math Person” label Do we stop pushing ourselves past meager requirements? Do we have low expectations for ourselves? The culture expects basics, nothing more. Lamentations 3:27 “It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth.” What do you think of Alex’ statement that “God is not glorified when His people are not willing to do hard things.”? Some people limit themselves to just what comes easily. We are capable of so much more. Contribute to society now, despite low cultural expectations. Have you reached your limits? Avoid Moses’ excuse…God got angry with him and gave the responsibility of speaking to Aaron instead. Avoid Jeremiah’s response. 3. How we grow “God doesn’t call us to do everything, but He also hasn’t called us to be afraid of doing hard things just because they are hard.” Do you believe that you have to constantly challenge and stretch yourself in order to grow, the rest of your life? What do you think of his friend’s statement: “You’ll never know what and who you are and what and who God is unless you do something hard. Easy things don’t test the boundaries of God’s limitless grace, power, and strength, and they don’t test the boundaries of what He’s made us into either.” How do we discover more of God? By doing hard things that God has called you to do. James 1:3-4 “knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” What does a “do hard things” mentality look like? 1. Getting serious about trampling sin in your life. Fighting what is natural and sinful for us. Wrong and easy (temper, laziness, pride, etc.) vs. right and hard. 2. Battling discouragement and complacency. a. Discouragement-Being demoralized by who you are and what you think you can accomplish. “I was born into the wrong family, with the wrong IQ, wrong body, …” b. Complacency-a smug satisfaction about who you are and what you have done. “If things come easily for you, why push yourself?” Brett: “God’s standard is not for you to be the godliest young person in your youth group. His standard is to be holy as He is holy (1 Peter 1:16). His standard is not for you to be your teacher’s best helper. His standard is to be a servant of all (Mark 9:35).” 3. Doing more than is required. a. The Vikings took full responsibility for rowing their boat instead of using galley slaves like the Romans. b. Go the extra mile: Jesus says in Matthew 5:41, “And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.” Take on the responsibilities that others delegate or neglect, and you will gain the benefits of that exertion. c. “Row” yourself to battle to prepare for life and in your relationship with God, instead of expecting your school, your parents, your youth pastor to do that for you. Otherwise you may find in the end that you don’t have the strength yourself on the battle-field when the stakes are high. Rebel against low expectations for the glory of God. 4. Getting over our fear of failure. “It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly…who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who have never known neither victory nor defeat.”-Teddy Roosevelt Proverbs 24:16 “For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity.” Failure is never wasted if we learn to turn to God, become more reliant on Him, learn from our mistakes, get back up and try again. God sets His standards so high so we never arrive and stop growing. Are you ok with the statement, “It’s ok to fail at hard things?” Why? I got stronger even though I failed. I learned from the experience. All effort makes muscle. I have to lift what’s hard for me, not what’s hard for somebody else. Do Hard Things fights our pride and not look back. Have you ever failed at anything once and never tried again? What was it? 5. Looks different for each person. Looks different as a man vs. a woman. What would it look like for you? Brett Harris: “The reality is I can’t do everything I want to do. I don’t have the time and I don’t have the talent. I have to choose to do the things that God has specifically called me and equipped me to do.” Differences in giftedness doesn’t give us the excuse to be discouraged or complacent. Though we’re all called to fight sin in our lives, we won’t all struggle with the same exact sin. Though we’re all called to apply ourselves in our work and in our studies, we’re not all called to work in the same field, or study the same subjects. 6. Most often means doing small things. Sometimes the hardest things to do are the smallest things. Embracing small battles (e.g. serving your family cheerfully, having self-control and walking in integrity, being faithful in your devotions, in reading your Bible and in prayer). Doing the ordinary things extraordinarily well. The Vikings grew strong over hundreds of small strokes at the oar. Don’t despise the small things. Jesus shared in Luke 19:17, “And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in very little, have authority over ten cities.’” 7. Do Hard Things is your best life. Call to the sold-out Christian life. Not your easiest life. Avoid wasting your life. “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried.”-G.K. Chesterton Let’s be a generation that finds it difficult, and yet still tries! FIVE KINDS OF HARD
Surviving faith vs. thriving faith.
1. Things that are outside your comfort zone.
This could include public speaking, learning a new skill or expanding an old one, traveling to new places, or meeting new people—anything that takes you outside the rut of your normal day-to-day, week-to-week activities. These actions challenge us because they are unfamiliar or even scary, but they usually become some of our greatest memories, and they always end up growing our comfort zones for the future. (1 Chronicles 4:10)
A. God works through our weaknesses to accomplish his big plans (2 Cor. 12:10)
B. True courage is not the absence of fear. It is refusing to allow fear to control your actions. (1 John 4:18) “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”-Corrie ten Boom
C. You can’t get to success without risking failure. (Proverbs 24:16)
2. Things that go beyond what is expected or required.
For example, say you only need a C to pass a class, but you aim for an A+. You aren’t content to “do no harm”-you purpose to do good. You might volunteer to clean up after church breakfast, stay late at work without pay to help a friend finish a job, or perform household chores you aren’t even assigned. These actions are hard because they rest entirely on our own initiative. No one else will make us do them. Because of this, they are almost always the accomplishments we feel best about. (Proverbs 1:32b)
Three strategies for stepping higher:
A. Do what’s hard for you.
B. Be known for what you do (more than for what you don’t)
“Perhaps some of you can claim a sort of negative purity, because you do not walk in the way of the ungodly; but let me ask you—Is your delight in the law of God? Do you study God’s Word? Do you make it the man of your right hand—your best companion and hourly guide? If not, the blessing of Psalm 1 does not belong to you.”-Charles Spurgeon
C. Pursue excellence, not excuses.
3. Things that are too big to accomplish alone.
These are usually big projects like organizing a rally, making a film, forming a teen ministry to the homeless, changing your school’s policy on a key issue, campaigning to get a shock jock off the air, or starting a band. They could also include really big causes like fighting modern-day slavery, abortion, or poverty and AIDS in Africa. We’re passionate about these causes because God has placed them in our hearts. In order to be effective in these kinds of projects, we must be able to share our passion with others and recruit them to work alongside us. (Proverbs 18:1)
4. Things that don’t earn an immediate payoff.
These tasks like fighting sin, working out, doing your schoolwork, obeying your parents. They’re hard because you won’t see much progress from one day to the next and because, especially at the time, it can seem like you’d be happier if you didn’t do them. Also, these are often tasks that no one else sees and that don’t win you recognition or praise—things like being faithful in spiritual disciplines, expending energy on good study habits, or driving the speed limit (even when you’re late). We do them because they’re right, not because they have an immediate payoff. In every case we’ll be better off long-term, even though the things are “hard” or distasteful in the short-term.
5. Things that challenge the cultural norm.
These choices go against the flow—dressing modestly, saying no to premarital sex, holding unpopular positions on issues like homosexuality and abortion, refusing to watch R-rated movies, sharing the gospel with others, or living as an obvious Christian. These choices are hard because they can cost you popularity and friendships. In some countries they can even cost you your life. In order to accomplish things in this category, we have to care more about pleasing God than we do about pleasing people around us (Acts 5:29). But the payoff is huge: if we do them, we can change the course of history.