Throwback Thursday | September 1st, 2013 | Like and subscribe!

Main message: The pastor urges listeners to get off the life-treadmill of unchecked busyness and compromise, become intentionally available to God, and pursue faithful service to hear “Well done, good and faithful servant.” His own sabbatical, a dramatic spiritual cleansing experience, a brain scan/ADD diagnosis, and his father’s death illustrate how God refined him and redirected his priorities.

Key points:

• Opens with Matthew 12 healing account to note that not every illness indicates demon-possession and to introduce spiritual discernment.
• Primary life goal: be a faithful servant of Jesus (aiming for God’s “well done”), not merely build a bigger ministry.
• Took a 90-day sabbatical to step off a destructive treadmill of ministry busyness; experienced a startling spiritual cleansing beforehand as a sign of God’s work.
• Received a brain scan diagnosis of ADD, prompting dietary, exercise, and mental-discipline changes; warns that our brains and thoughts can deceive us and must be taken captive.
• The death of his father during sabbatical reinforced the urgency to change, simplify, and say no more often so life is lived on God’s terms.
• Challenge to the congregation: identify the treadmill you’re on (job, relationships, habits, or faith) and commit to stepping off into God’s direction even if the next steps aren’t yet clear.

Scriptures mentioned: Matthew 12:22-28, Matthew 25:21 (Well done, good and faithful servant), 2 Corinthians 10:5 (take every thought captive)