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choice. You can choose to take this test which is very hard or you can take this test that is easy. And they knew beforehand what they would be and it's fascinating the decision they made. All right. of the choice. You can choose an easy task, safe, familiar, low risk of failure, a task designed to confirm what they already knew they could do, a harder challenge, difficult, uncertain, high potential for growth, and high potential for mistakes. A task that required courage. They propped it up. They said, "This is going to be very difficult. You're going to make mistakes. You're going to make blunders. This is out of your league. Very hard. The other one, it's easier. A lot of stuff you covered before." And it's fascinating. These fifth graders, what choices they made? The guys that were told, "You're geniuses. You're Mensa. IQ off the charts." Guess what choice they made?

They chose the easier one. The guys that were told good effort chose the harder one. And they were fascinated by this outcome. and they teased it out because the the students that were told you're geniuses. It became a part of their identity and they did not want to do anything like failing that would diminish that that shine that that label that they had been given that you guys are brilliant because the assumption was if they made a mistake they are less brilliant. And the uh this was interesting also. Students praised for being smart, chose easier task, avoided challenge, feared failure, protected their reputation. In fact, they were asked afterwards, "How do you think you did on this test?" They would lie.

They would inflate their scores. They would say that they've done better than they actually did because their identity was tied to the label of being brilliant. and failing would knock them lower. Versus the effort praise, students praised for their hard work, chose harder tasks, embraced difficulty, enjoyed the learning process, stayed honest about their scores when problems became difficult. Now, this has been developed even more about praise for being praised for identity. Students protected their image. They avoided anything that might reveal a limitation, expose weakness, or contradict the label of being smart that they had been given. Those that were praised for effort, developed their ability, they leaned into difficulty as a path to growth, understanding the struggle was part of the process, not evidence of failure.

And Carol Dwek would go on to Stanford University, very prestigious position there in the psychology department. And she wrote this classic that has been revised and updated multiple times about mindset. And from this initial study, she's developed these two dynamics of mindsets. She says one is the fixed mindset. Ability is static and predetermined. Talent alone determines success. Effort signals weakness. Failure defines who you are. And your goal is to protect your reputation. The other is the growth mindset. Ability can develop and expand. Effort builds mastery over time. Struggle produces learning. Failure teaches and redirects. The goal is to pursue development. And she says that this mindset is not only prevalent in fifth graders that are told that you're smart or the other category you're told that you're trying hard. She says this develops also into adulthood as well. It has to do with your understanding of human nature and it's linked to whether you believe that your brain is plastic or not.

Neuroplasticity, the idea that we can develop, that we can change, that we can grow, that we can transcend. But this self-belief that I'm static, that I'm either genius or not, actually becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. And this is uh she gives some evidences about how or situations of how these different voices manifest themselves. When a when a fixed mindset person faces a difficulty, they say, "I'm just not good at this." When a growth mindset voice faces difficulty, they say, "I'm not good at this yet." A fixed mindset person, when they make a mistake, they say, "I need to do I need to avoid this next time." The growth mindset voice says, "What can I learn from this?" The fixed mindset, when they see someone better, they say, "I'll never be that good."

The growth mindset voice says, "Hey, what are they doing right?" Fixed mindset voice when they receive feedback, it feels like criticism. The growth mindset voice, "This helps me to improve." When things get hard, the fixed mindset says, "I'm not cut out for this." When things get hard, the growth mindset says, "Difficulty is part of the training." Now the the idea of what human nature is capable of and the potential that it has is in this beautiful book education page 15. Listen to this. When Adam came from the creator's hand, he bore in his physical, mental, and spiritual nature a likeness to his maker. God created man in his own image and it was his purpose that the longer man lived the more fully he should reveal this image and the more fully reflect the glory of the creator.

Listen to this part. All his faculties were capable of what? Development. And their capacity and vigor were continually to increase. Adam was created perfect, but I use the analogy he was a perfect one, but he had the potential of infinite growth and development. Now, right now, because of sin, we're in the negative. God is going to get us back to that one. But this is the potential that Adam was created in. Now, uh, I use the analogy, how bad can a bad cow be? Okay, you don't see cows that are serial killers on the America's Most Wanted. Bad cow, oh, I don't know, doesn't make good milk. Break break breaks out of the fence. A good cow makes good milk.

Limited capacity, so limited for the negative, limited for the positive. How bad can a bad dog be? A little more capacity. There's some good dogs out there. Incredible. Obey commands just like this. How bad can a bad dog be? Let me tell you, I've had some of them drive me crazy. Potty training. I just So, more capacity. How bad can a bad human be? More capacity. So in the kernel of what Adam was created with, it was growth mindset. It wasn't static. It was dynamic. And this is, look at this. She goes on throughout eternal ages. What? What? This eternal eternal ages. He would have continued to gain new treasures of knowledge, to discover fresh springs of happiness, and to obtain clearer and yet clear conceptions of wisdom, the power, and the love of God.

Eternal potential for growth. Now, there's a fascinating statement from Victor Franco in his book, Man's Search for Meaning. I consider it a dangerous misconception of mental hygiene to assume what man needs in the first place is equilibrium. What man needs is not the tensionless state, but rather the striving and struggling for a worthwhile goal, a freely chosen task. What he needs is not the discharge of tension at any cost, but the call of a potential meaning waiting to be fulfilled by him. He's saying that this idea that one day I'll get to a place of tensionless state. Oh, if I could just be in the Bahamas right now on vacation, just no stress.

That's only good for a little bit. You ever be on vacation? Been on vacation? You're like, "Ah, it's about time to go back." Vacation's only vacation if you have a goal and purpose outside of it. But none of us in our right minds would want to be on an island sipping a pinina colada with no purpose, no tension for the rest of our lives. We wouldn't. We wouldn't. Just ask Michael Jordan. After he wins his sixth ring, he goes out and retires. being a billionaire in attentionless state. It only lasts so long. So he comes back to the Washington Wizards to play in his 40s. Why he wants that tension, that tension. So it's this sweet spot.

It's this sweet spot. I'm going to go around here. Hopefully I don't break my neck going around. So So this I know this is Sabbath school. So, so th this is what Victor Frankle is bringing that that real happiness. Real happiness is that sweet spot that tension between what we are and what we ought to be. There's always got to be this a striving a voluntary striving this sweet spot. Now, if there's too much tension, we snap stress. If there's too little, boredom. And you know what makes heaven heaven? Heaven is a perfect tension where you never get bored because you're always in the perfect tension between what you are and what you're striving to be, which is godlike.

But you never arrive. So every day, wow, tension. Trillion years in, you never arrive. And that's what makes it fun. That's what makes it exciting. That's what makes it invigorating. Heaven is the farthest thing from boredom because it's that perfect tension. It's growth mindset. Imagine having that last name in elementary school. Poor kid. This is a book on flow. And he brings out this same principle. Contrary to what we usually believe, moments like these, the best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times. The best moments usually occur when a person's body or mind is stretched to its limit in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile. Optimal experience is thus something we make happen. Happiness linked to that tension.

purpose linked to that tension right there. That's what he's bringing out. This is not only true for our existential experience of fulfillment and happiness, but it's also in the frame of salvation. Salvation is not static. It's dynamic. It's growth mindset. Look at this. Not that I have already grasped it all or become perfect. This is Paul. But I press on, if I may, also take hold of that which I've also taken hold of by Christ Jesus. I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Look at that. Paul is bringing out that in the Christian experience, it's not a tensionless state. Paul is an apostle. He's walking with God. He says, "Look, I haven't arrived."

He's in that tension between what God is calling him to be and what he is that sweet spot. Now this is uh another statement Christ object lessons. The germination of the seed represents the beginning of the spiritual life and the development of the plant is a beautiful figure of Christian growth as in nature. So in grace there can be no life without growth. The plant must either grow or die as in grow as its growth is silent and imperceptible but continuous. So is the development of the Christian life. Our at every stage of development our life may be perfect but if God's purpose for us is fulfilled there will be continual advancement. Sanctification is the work of a what? Of a lifetime. Of a lifetime. So there you have it. One way of looking at it, justification, instantaneous Christian growth, otherwise known as sanctification, is the work of a lifetime.

Now, one of the ways that we can look at this paradigm is through the experience of Mary Magdalene. When you look at her story, the book Desire of Ages fills in some of the background and details. This woman had some ties to powerful religious figures. Simon the Pharisee. And when you read between the lines of what the spirit of prophecy says in the book Desire of Ages, it says that Simon led Mary into sin. She was a prostitute red light district. And I don't think it'd be a far stretch to say that she was likely abused by a powerful person in authority, maybe at an early age that led her down this path.

Broken woman, all the wrong places. And if you can imagine, put yourself in her in her position. One of the things that I try to teach our students to do is uh we're told that one of the ways that you make the Bible come alive is go into the thoughts and feelings of the character. So Mary is when a man that she just met maybe intimate moment house right bedroom in the middle of this moment. Whole bunch of people come into the house unannounced. They grab her say, "Get your clothes on. you're coming with us. Fear, terror, anxiety. What in the world's going on? They grab her by the wrist, drag her through the streets of Jerusalem. She's sobbing. She's crying.

She's hysterical. They throw her before Jesus. And they say, "Cighting the law of Moses, this woman deserves execution." What do you say, Jesus? That's the scene. That's the scene. Terrified. And you you know the story. Jesus doesn't say a word. Writes in the dust. And the Bible says, beginning with the oldest, the most senior member, they go, and it was like their sins were blazing in the sand. Their conscience, they walked away one by one, and it's just Jesus and the woman. You can just imagine what's going through her mind during this time. Oh, I'm going to get it now. She's maybe heard about Jesus. sinless, pure, just him and the woman.

Now, the the the phrase that comes out of Jesus's mouth is so powerful. So powerful. He looks at her and says, "Neither do I condemn you." Now, did this woman legally deserve condemnation? Absolutely. Was what she was doing wrong? Absolutely. I always had the question, where's the man? But but this is this is the scenario. So So let's let's pick this apart here because you'll see this. It's been a long time since I used a chalkboard. Oh man. Long time. Lots of memory. So, so look at the first part here. Neither do I condemn you. The order of his statement very important, very important. I don't condemn you. Praise God.

And one way of looking at this is first John 1:9. If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And I can't tell you how many times I've messed up and I've knelt beside my bed and I open my Bible to First John 1:9 and I'm like, "Praise God, it's still there." Hallelujah. And the Bible tells us that we it's instant. That's a yes prayer. Even if you don't feel it, it's a yes prayer. You say, "Lord, forgive me." It's not like, "Oh, I don't know." No. Neither do I condemn you. Beautiful. Beautiful. The next part. All right. There we go. Can you see?

because of this speaker. Some of you not really. Can you see over here better? Huh? Is that better? Okay. So, let me try and do this. Erase this. Huh? Oh, slide it up. You can tell it's been a long time. Oh, never mind. We'll erase. So Jesus's statement, neither do I condemn you. Let's go. Now, now if I write over here, you can't see behind this. Never mind. We'll just do this. All right. Neither. Just you can see. All right. I I'll do it far enough so you can see. Go and sin no more. That That's pretty daunting. He didn't say a little more. No mas. No more. I'd be like, uh, yeah.

Whole life of adultery, sin, red light district, neuropathways. I don't condemn you. Go and sin no more. Now, the beauty of this thing is it's more a promise than a command. Okay. And this is this is the other passage. Jude 24 now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. No more. Remember what Victor Frankle said, the key to mental health, it's not a tensionless state. It's that striving between what we are and what we ought to be. Okay. So, so here's that tension. Jesus is calling out idealism. Go and sin no more. But the space, the foundation from which this call is, it's love. No condemnation.

You following me? No condemnation. Go in sin no more. And and the beauty of this is you can go to a heroin addict that is all shot up on the streets of San Francisco and tell him, "I got good news. Jesus doesn't condemn you." Amen. Forgiveness. And you can say, "I have good news." In addition to that, you don't have to be a heroin addict for the rest of your life. Isn't that beautiful? You don't have to be like this. There's power. There's power. So, so to the woman caught in adultery who's living a life of sin, promiscuity, Jesus says, "I don't condemn you. And look, I'm going to give you power so you don't have to go back to the red light district.

I'm going to give you power so you don't have to go back to your life of sin." But it's coming from a standpoint of love and not condemnation. This is this is pardon. This is power. Now I have been in different communities of faith. I've been all over the place in Adventism. And let me tell you, if we don't get the tension between these two right, it's difficult. I've been in communities where people are really amazing like this. Have you? I don't condemn you. No condemnation. They'd give me the shirt off their back. Anything. Just amazing. Amazing. They accept you. They love you. They they embrace you. They bring you in. It's like you feel the love of God.

And then in other communities, they're strong on this high standards. idealism, but some of them are very difficult to live with. You following me? I'm going through the potluck line. They're like, I remember one time I was sitting down. I was about to eat something. And you go through potluck, you do the best you could. I was about to eat something and uh it turned into a health discourse. He was like, "You about to get mad chicken disease." And I was like, "Are you serious right now?" I was like, I mean, it was like really big over here. His name was Frank Rebuke. That that was his nickname. But a lot of condemnation.

Lot of condemnation. And it's that tension that tension between these two realities, you know, you fall in one pit or the other. And when when when you look at this, this is where Jesus meets this woman where she's at and is like, "Hey, justification. I have a vision for you of sanctification." Now, when you read the account, I believe Mary didn't go back to the red light district again, but it was a process. She ends up among the believers, but uh in the process of getting there, it was kind of messy. How do we know that? Look at this. Among them were Mary Magdalene from whom whom he had cast out seven demons.

Okay, seven demons. Now the the the account in Luke here is a little bit ambiguous because does this mean that Mary had seven demons in her that he had to cast out because evidently you can have more than one demon in you or was this seven different times? Now I went to uh Desire of Ages and she clarifies look at this. Seven times she had heard his rebuke of the demons that controlled her heart and mind. Do you see that? Seven times. How many? Seven. Now, let's let's just illustrate this. So, the woman who's caught in adultery is told, "Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more." But in her path to never going back to the red light district h seven times she relapsed.

Okay. Seven. Now this is not just a little relapse. This is a serious fall. Serious. Imagine Peter goes to Jesus and says, "Hey, m uh Jesus, you remember that woman that was caught in the act of adultery that you said go and sin no more." Uh she she's back on prostitution lane. Matter of fact, she's passed out on the street corner. She she relapsed. And by the way, she's demonpossessed. So disciples all go back. She's disheveled, passed out on the street corner. They clean her up. Jesus prays. Demons out. You're like, "Okay, she's good now." Second time, third time, fourth time, by around the fifth time, you're thinking, "This woman is hopeless."

Hopeless. You're starting to have doubts whether this is worth it because you're like, "Oh, she's just going to go right back." You ever dealt with people like this? You try to help him and it's like th this is hopeless. Sixth time you're like, "Oh, really?" I mean, it's very hard to be compassionate in this situation. I mean, haven't you learned? But look at this. Jesus goes back every single time. Now, let's let's take a look at what this looks like. All right. Yeah. Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no mas no more. All right. But look at the trajectory of how this works. Look at this. Okay. So, let's let's chart it out. She's doing okay.

Boom. Relapse. This is one. Doing okay. Boom. Relapse. Cast out the demon again. Doing okay. Boom. Relapse. I'm running out of space here. Four. Five. I need to shrink it. Six. Seven. Seven. Seven. Now, does she eventually get out of her path previous life? There's strong evidence that she did. On resurrection day, out of all the people that Jesus could have shown himself to, it's Mary. It's Mary. It's not Peter. It's not James. It's not John. It's Mary. It shows you that God has a special place in his heart for people that are broken like this have been abused by people in authority and they're going to self-medication. Jesus is like out of all the people on planet Earth, it's Mary. He's got a special place in his heart for this woman. And every time he's going out to cast out this demon because Mary is going back to her old life.

No condemnation at all. Proverbs 24:16 says, "For a righteous man falls seven times and rises again." Wait a minute. I thought a righteous person didn't fall. are righteous. After this, it says a wicked person false ones. The key is keep on getting up. Keep on getting up. So look in Mary's experience, 1 John 1:9, Jude 24, 1 John 1:9, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Jude 24, now unto him that is able to keep you from falling. That tension between what we are and what we ought to be. But in between that tension is this part of Proverbs 24:16.

which is exactly Mary's experience. Boom, get up. Boom, get up. Boom, get up. Keep on getting up. I was selling canvasing books in Vermont. I was on this dairy farm and great family. They just so loving and the the transmission in my station wagon, this was in the '9s, Pontiac station wagon, it went out. So this farmer was like, "Hey, I can fix that. I can swap out transmissions. It's going to take me couple weeks, but I'll do it for you." I said, "Thank you so much." much. And he said, "In addition to that, I'm going to lend you my my Subaru." I was like, "Thank you." So, I sit in there and I'm like, "Oh, no, it's stick manual." I hadn't driven sticks since driver's ed. So, I remember vividly going around the farmland trying to learn how to shift the clutch. It was so confusing. It was awful. And then that weekend after I got this loaner car,

I went to a group canvas, which means all the canvasers in the area get together. And that weekend the union publishing director was there and he was assigned to me. This guy, I won't mention his name. He uh big guy, Vietnam vet, no nonsense, doesn't mess around, and he wants excellence, rightfully so. So, he's sitting there evaluating me and I'm I'm sweating bullets. I'm like, this this is the worst case scenario. I'd be nervous with my automatic, much less a stick shift car. So I'm like, "So we're going up this hill in in fifth gear and and and uh and the car is convulsing. It's like and this guy, he's a little bit heavy set. I still remember him in my mind.

This was an emotional experience. He's he's seat belted and he's there and and you can see his face is getting red. He's getting livid. He is so mad. I mean, he's like this idiot and like and then I go to make a left-hand turn and I stall like this and there's oncoming traffic and he's like this is very dangerous and I say and I say I know, I know, I know. We go out there that that was my whole day and to make it would have been okay if we made a sale but in addition to that we didn't sell anything. Zero. We didn't sell anything. And so I come back and the next day during training he does a skit and it's all about my driving, my stalling, my messing up. I was mortified. I just wanted the ground to swallow me up. He told my supervisor, he said, "I I thought I was going to lose my life with David."

And I could have let that define me. Fixed mindset because I'm not going to do this again. But praise God, growth mindset. And there were some embarrassing moments. Even after that, I was still I remember I was a traffic light in Vermont and I'm like, "Okay, I can do this." All right. First gear. I'm like, and then the light I'm like, "No, no, no, no, no, no, no. It switches. Long line of cars behind me." and and and they're like they're they're getting irate and I'm like and then I pop the clutch peel out of there. Clutch is burning but I kept at it. And now, I don't mean to brag, but I can be on a hill in San Francisco at a traffic light and I don't need no emergency brake.

I pull put that clutch to friction point. Smooth like butter. I can be on Highway 80 eating a banana on the phone. What has happened? It's neuroplasticity. It's growth mindset. Ironically, the way that you learn to drive a stick shift car involves stalling. Stalling is a part of the process of learning how to drive stick. And here's the thing. This woman, she's got all these old neuropathways, a whole life of sin. It's like highway 80. Now she has power to build new ones. But there's grace in the process. She falls back. She gets up. She falls back. She gets up. Jesus is like, "Get back in the car. Get back in the car. You got this. It's okay." The moment we hang up the keys and we say, "Forget it." It's over. You get back in. And you say, "I'm going to keep doing this until it kills me. I don't care if I have a neck brace, whatever it is. I'm going to keep

going." There's a lot of science that's been developed about this idea of neuroplasticity. On the end of these dendrites, there's these synaptic terminals. There's a gap. And and what they found is that when that neuron fires over and over and over again, there's physical changes that take place. Bhutons grow that enable that that neuron to fire. That's how we get habits. And this is from Dr. Chalmer. He's a neuroscientist. Brain scientists have discovered that any thought or action that is often repeated is actually building these little bhutons on the ends of certain nerve citers citers fibers so that it becomes easier to repeat the same thought or action each time. This is what happens. She's building a whole lifestyle of sin depravity. It's all there. Now many times we think that when we accept Christ, God comes down and erases all these old neuropathways. That's not how it works. He does it. He gives you power to build new ones. But those old ones,

it's like a freeway. It's easy. The new ones, it's tough. Lot of effort. God gives you the power to do that. But it's like driving a stick shift car. You've never done this before. You're not doing it in your own strength. God gives you resurrection power to build new ones. But there's grace in the process. Now look at this. Established habits make literal pathways. Frequent repetition of the same thought, feeling, or action wear a deeper groove, just as repeatedly walking over a lawn will wear a deep path in the sod. Look at Look at this. So when you So when you fall, the thing to do is get up and start working on the new pathway again. You never lose ground on that new pathway. Those bhutons are not erased by the occasional fall.

So this is what's happening. We focus on this the bottom. I messed up. But according to Dr. Chmer's latest research neuroplasticity is look at this and this and this and this and this and this and this. In other words, if you were to compound this, that's actually what's happening. Every time you get in, I'm going to do this. You're building that neur neuropathway. And Jesus is saying, don't focus on the stall. Focus on the groove that you're building. Because when you fall, it's not erased. That's why you learned to master things. Oh man. Remember when your child was learning how to walk? My first born, I videotaped everything. You know how it is. So many photos.

I feel bad for my second born. But first one, I got it on video. First steps, you know. you know, and just go and I'm like, "Hey, you got it. You you got this. You got this." No loving parent is like, "Yeah, you know, like what's wrong with you? Just born. I We think God is worse than us." This woman, brand new baby Christian, figuring stuff out. You'll get there. It's okay. And I wish someone told me this in my Christian experience. I wish someone did cuz I got baptized. I was expecting go and sin no more. And when I messed up, I was like, "Oh, man." I was like, "Oh, delegitimatizes my whole Christian experience. What am I doing? I wish someone told me about this.

It's okay. It's okay. Imagine that you're on Lake Tahoe, pristine morning. It's like glass. It's like and in the distance you see somebody. You're like, get it. You're all right. Would you rather see that or pristine emerald lake and it's like your paddle hit something? It's a corpse. Which would you rather see? Someone that's struggling or someone that's given up? Struggling. And there's a difference between struggling with sin and cherishing sin. Fundamental difference. Cherishing is saying, "Lord, you can go this far and no further." That's a different spirit. Of the disciples, probably Judas had the least amount of issues. Look at all the other guys. Anger management, volatile. One of them is quite violent. He's about to cut someone's head off. Peter still after three and a half years, he hasn't cleaned up his language on the night of the betrayal. Four-letter words coming out of these guys had issues.

They were struggling. What made Judas Judas? He cherished. He said, "Lord, fundamental difference. It's a change." And look, the beauty of it is if you're even cherishing sin, you just need to go to God and say, "Lord, I'm cherishing this. Help me." That's beautiful. That's beautiful. I love this. Help me to hate it. Judas didn't do that. So, it's a fundamental difference. So, keep on getting back up. There's grace. And look, the Lord will get you there. He'll take care of that. We're always going to feel unworthy. No one is ever going to get to the place this side of heaven where we say, "I'm sinless." Quite the contrary. None of the apostles ever claimed that.

We will never have any self-awareness of that reality. It's all about faith in how God views me. But I'm a work in progress. And that's what Paul said. I haven't arrived, but I'm in that tension between what I am and what I ought to be. There's a book, positive discipline, and she develops this idea of growth mindset when it comes to our kids. She says, "A father once asked me, how do I get my son to stop making the same mistake over and over?" Sound familiar? I smiled and asked him a question. How many times have you made the same mistake? He He laughed. Then he paused. more than I'd like to admit.

Exactly. Children make mistakes because they are children. Adult make mistakes because they are human. None of us learns everything the first time. And she goes on, that doesn't mean children should never feel disappointed. Disappointment is often the natural result of making a mistake. But disappointment is very different from discouragement. Encouragement helps children believe I made a mistake and I can learn from it. Discouragement tells them I am the mistake. Identity. The difference between fixed mindset and growth mindset in parenting. Children who think I am the mistake becomes identity. Growth mindset says I made a mistake. I'm going to learn from it. If your fixed mindset in this transition from neither do I condemn you to go and sin no more. First mistake I am a mistake. Growth mindset says what can I learn? Get up.

Applies to parenting. The distinction can shape the way children think about themselves for years to come. Beautiful quote from one of my favorite books, steps to Christ. We shall often have to bow down and weep at the feet of Jesus because of our shortcomings and mistakes. But we are not to be discouraged. Even if we are overcome by the enemy, we are not cast off, not forsaken, and rejected by God. Isn't that beautiful? Low point. You're not forsaken. I uh in high school, I had a few speaking assignments that I had to do for class. And I remember my mentor who I looked up to told me, "David, you're never going to be a public speaker."

And at the time it really kind of jarred me. I was like, "Oh, wow." And I just gave my heart to God and I was like, "All right, well, maybe the Lord will lead me somewhere else." And I had to make a decision whether I was going to let that label define me. And for whatever reason, I kept getting speaking appointments. And I ended up at a church where I was third string to the pulpit in a large church, two services. And third string looks like two times a year when everyone else is on vacation. It's a senior pastor, associate pastor, then me. So one to two times a year in a large church in a community that will go unnamed.

And I uh so I said, "Okay, uh growth mindset. I'm going to practice all year for that one sermon." all year now. I don't care who you are. It's hard to compete with somebody that's practicing all year for one sermon. It's all It's hard. I'd be in front of the mirror with a tape recorder opening line. I'd be in the sanctuary preaching to the it all manuscripted out. Practice, practice, practice, perfected, perfected. And when I got up to speak, let me tell you, I was ready. Start word started to get out in that community. And when David Shin Shin got up to speak, he had something to say. All right. Well, you better. You better.

So, so this word started getting out. It got the ear of the conference president and he got a call from 3ABN. They were like, hey, we we want to, this was 20 years ago, 2006. Hey, we want to we want a few young guys that we can try out at 3ABN. And he said, David Shen. And I'm like, oh, I get the call from 3ABN. The bar was very low back then. Okay. Very low. I would have not been able to get in now with that. Anyway, so so so I had to do like six or seven presentations to three cameras. It's called Faith Chapel. They don't do that anymore. Three cameras.

And I got wind that the the cameras actually had a reflection of your face because it was not a teleprompter. It was a screen. You ever preach to yourself looking at it's very difficult. So I got wind of that. So I practiced in the mirror and you'd have to drain down the time 28 minutes to zero. It's hard. You 3 minutes left. You got nothing to say. You can do it's hard. You got to end at zero. So it's like you can't be like God bless you. Yeah. No, no, no, no. So So that's what we're doing. So, I'm practicing for this thing, getting it ready, and and then and then uh they aired it.

And anytime I need to remind myself of u I need some grounding. I watched this video. Let me share it with you. All right. This is Okay. Okay. This is in 2006. Let me see if I can get the volume on this. All right. I I I pro I I won't show you the whole thing. I will spare you, but I just want you to hear a little bit here. like to welcome you today to Faith Chapel. My name is David and we'll be spending the next few moments together in a study of God's word. That's enough. That's enough. That's enough. That's enough. All right. I watched that. I was like, "I'd like to welcome you to Faith Chapel.

My name is David Shen." And I was like, "I can't believe they aired that." So, I had a decision I needed to make. I was like, "Oh, man. Maybe my professor was right." You know, like this is I'm not cut out for this. But I bought this book on Amazon, how to say it with your voice. At the end, they have this nine-minute voice exercise. I do it in private because I sound like a fool, but it's like all these voice, you know, to get resonance and all this stuff and and I'm practicing in the background. I still do it to this day in the shower. I'm doing this voice exercise and look, I'm nowhere near where I need to be.

That tension between what I am and what I ought to be. But praise God, I'm certainly not that. There's growth. There's development. I can't tell you how many sermons I've walked out of and I just want the ground to swallow me up. I don't want to shake hands afterwards because I went up there and I laid an egg and everybody knows it. But I get back up. I get back up. I listen to every sermon that I can that I do cuz I listen I'm like, "Next time. Next time, next time." That's what makes it fun. Paul, not that I've already grasped it. I've already become perfect, but I press on if I may take hold of that which I have even taken hold of by Christ. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ.

One last quote. The will must be placed on the side of God's will. You are not able of yourself to bring your purpose and desire and inclination into submission to the will of God. But if you are willing to be made willing, God will accomplish the work for you. All along the way, Jesus is like, "I got all the power. I just need your consent." You don't even even have to have the desire. You can say, "Lord, give me the desire to desire. I love this. Help me to hate it." That's all he needs. That's all he needs. Consent. Consent begins with neither do I condemn you in between a whole lot of grace. while you're messing up. And he says, "I promise you I'll get you there. Just trust me. Trust me." Let us pray. Oh, our father in heaven, we thank you for your mercy, for your grace. Oh, I would have given up on me, but you give us

chance after chance, opportunity after opportunity. We thank you for how you dealt with this broken woman. Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more. Seven times casting out demons. So patient, so compassionate. We thank you that happiness is not a tensionless state, but it's that perfect sweet spot between what we are and what we ought to be. Bathed in grace, bathed in love. as our heavenly father can only do. So help us, bless and keep us to that end in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. God bless