The Lead2Serve podcast is back with a brand new season of fresh content from Pastor Ed, from Calvary Church in Aurora Colorado. In today's episode we will learn what season 3 will look like, as Pastor Ed introduces a brand new leadership development resource, the book "Sure and Steady". He'll also talk about how to respond and what to do when you feel overwhelmed. Be blessed as you grow in grace with us. Be sure to leave a positive review and share this podcast!
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This is Lee to serve with Ed Taylor, a leadership podcast,
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welcome to today's edition of the lead to serve podcast.
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This is where we talk about life and Ministry learning to be
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better equipped so we can serve Jesus in these last days.
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Even as I was looking over my own life, I just see more years
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behind me than I see. E ahead of me and I want to go
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out strong and I think you do too.
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And the best way to do that is to turn to the word and grow
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together in understanding, what it means to serve Jesus.
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Well, he came as a servant and I love Mark 10:45 where Jesus says
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that the son of man, he came to serve and not be served to give
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his life a ransom for many. And I know that the greater we
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learn how to serve the greater will be able to leave And that's
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what this podcast is all about. Now, of course, we haven't had
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an episode since March, and really the end of our season 2
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was so long ago. And that's going to be part of
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today's episode where we talked about being overwhelmed.
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But I also want to introduce to you and let you know that we're
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going to begin again regularly with this podcast covering the
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topics in a new resource. We developed here a book that we
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put together That we titled sure and steady learning and growing
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in pastoral Ministry but we're going to use it also in
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application to any type of ministry and we're going to flip
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through the pages and work through just like I would with
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the team here and that's really what I what I view the podcast
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as is I'm working with the team here and we're collaborating and
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talking through Ministry talking about important topics.
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That's what the podcast is. So I really think in my mind
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that your Across from me that we get the chance to sit together
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and talk through Ministry together.
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So my name is Ed Taylor. I'm the pastor at Calvary Church
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here in Aurora Colorado, been here.
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Now, almost the in December of 2021, will be 22 years and the
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Lord used his holy spirit in my life to draw us out to Colorado,
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and here we are. And so I want to let you know,
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sure, and steady the Next season of the lead to serve podcast.
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We're going to continue on so you can tell your friends, get
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the word out. Please leave a, you know, a
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review on how wherever you get this podcast that helps to put
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the algorithms and help it be found or whatever and that would
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be great. But just share it around.
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Email me, go to my website, Ed, Taylor, dot-org, Ed Taylor Dot,
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o--, r-- g-- and just a clarification, don't go to Ed
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Taylor. Dot-com.
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That man is a professional Santa Claus and he is like over the
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world wide Santa Claus Network. That's not me.
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I am at Ed Taylor dot-org where I write frequently and to share
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things that are on my heart. So get it, get ready and
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subscribe, re-subscribe. Whatever it is that you need to
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do as we go through, sure and steady together and learn
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principles, you know, sure and steady things like it's
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important. To develop your personal walk
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with the Lord. What is the heart of a pastor
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coming off side and serving your pastor serving people?
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You know, like that. What does it look like to serve
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people? How to use your time?
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Well, it's so important to have that personal structure or
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inviting yourself into the lives of others.
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This resource was developed through the personal
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discipleship of our church here. And then, as a team of pastors,
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we collaborated and edited it down to this book form and you
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can get at anywhere. It on Amazon you can get it on
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our church store at Calvary Co dot store in.
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It's a great resource. It's something that we use
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regularly and I know the Lord will use it in your life.
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But for today, I want to briefly talk to you about being
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overwhelmed. Are you overwhelmed?
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I think the last couple years with covid racial tensions, the
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difficulties of the political polarization which is has led to
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such deep division in the church has created this sense of being
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overwhelmed as you got all of those heavy things, right?
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And then on top of that, you have everyday life, you go to
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work. You've now you're working at
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home and your kids school, shut down.
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Then you got the kids at home, you.
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You're single wondering what the what in the world's going on?
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You have car troubles and build troubles and you name it and
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being overwhelmed. Is a constant continual
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Temptation, you know, to just jump in and do everything and be
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overwhelmed, and it's also a constant continual reality and
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it's okay. If you're overwhelmed.
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I mean, it's not okay to stay there, but like, if you have
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been feeling overwhelmed and all, you know, just feeling all
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condemned about it, don't it's a normal response to all the
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things that we've endured. Just even in the last couple
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years that, you know, I looked up the definition of On the
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type, the words, like buried. You know, you think of a buried
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beneath everything, buried beneath all the pressure, buried
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beneath all the work, all the paperwork, all the projects,
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another definition was used drowned beneath a huge mass so
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words like buried and drowned aren't very encouraging.
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Also, another definition for overwhelm.
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This to feel defeated completely defeated Completely, and I just
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know that pastors leaders servants men and women that are
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wanting to serve Jesus, wholeheartedly have felt
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overwhelmed. It's easy to feel overwhelmed.
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I think of a Biblical example of a man that felt overwhelmed and
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That Was Elijah. Elijah.
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You look at his life and how God used him up on Mount Carmel, and
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that was spiritually and physically.
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Thing for him even though we see the Victory and we, we are
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encouraged by the victory. That Elijah had he was
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encouraged by it, but when his life was threatened, he had this
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overwhelming sense of I can't go on.
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I can't continue to do this. He runs away hides in a cave and
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the Lord met him there. And I want to just give a few
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things against speaking to this sense of being overwhelmed.
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I want to talk about a few things because They're fresh on
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my mind. I just returned back from a
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glorious time serving churches in Florida.
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I was in Vero Beach or Pastor Jim Gallagher and Christy and it
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was such an amazing time. And then I drove up with my wife
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to Jacksonville, Florida serving it, reached Church there with
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Pastor Eric Souza and his wife Betsy and his kiddos Isabel
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Lily. And Dane, we had such a
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wonderful time there and And we had some time with their
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leadership. And this question was asked,
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which I think is what why this is fresh on my mind when it
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comes to this podcast. Because this question was, was
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asked, it was a very legitimate, a good question.
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I think it's on the hearts and minds of many people and that is
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how do I find balance? How do I find balance?
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I'm working full-time. I'm serving in the capacity of a
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growing Ministry. Full time.
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I have Responsibilities as a husband, I have responsibilities
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as a dad, or for some of you have responsibilities as a wife,
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as a mom, what and how. And, where is balanced now?
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My answer might surprise you and you may not even agree with me,
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but I am grateful that you would consider seeing my point of view
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on balance and here it is. You ready?
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It's it might be a little shocking because this is such a
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popular topic. Today.
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And here's my answer. I don't believe there's such a
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thing as balance When it comes to serving the lord, and what I
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mean by that is that there's always some cost involved in
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serving, Jesus, Jesus even himself teaching us taught us
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about counting the cost. So if there's a cost involved in
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serving the lord, then we need to consider that cost and
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realized that that will never be that time will never be returned
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to. Me and I believe if I'm doing
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one thing I can't do. Another thing at the same time
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which also leads to another shocking thought that I have and
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that is I'm not a believer in multitasking.
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As a matter of fact, I would go even so far to say that.
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I don't believe people can multitask effectively.
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I know when you're asking for a job and you're in the interview
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process I can multitask and that's a valued.
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That's something that's It's valued in our culture today but
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I don't think that we can effectively multitask we can do
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one thing. Well, at a time and we might be
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able again to just to clarify. We might be able to do two or
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three things at the same time. I'm not, I'm not saying you
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can't do that, but what I am suggesting is that when we try
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in the service of Our Lord to do through two or three things at
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the same time, we're not going to do them.
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Well, we can do one thing at a time.
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And we want to do what's in front of us and we want to do it
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well and because of some of the principles that have just
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overtaken us you know multitasking and balance.
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What I believe we've done is we've added another burden Upon
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Our shoulders that we just can't shake because we'll never find
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balance. I mean think about it, could you
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ask yourself the question in your own life?
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Have you effectively found balance?
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And I would say that if you even possibly answered, yes to that
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then I would say well what don't you want more time with your
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family? Yeah I love more time with my
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family. Wouldn't you like to serve the
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Lord more and maybe teach more or or Council more and you go.
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Of course, I'd like more and just in that thought of more,
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you realize there's always more and if I counseled, and I'm not
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going to get the time of my family.
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If I get the time my family, I'm not going to be able to sit down
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in that counseling. So I can only do one thing at a
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time, I want to do things well and I realized that if I'm doing
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something something else is going to suffer and that sense
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of balance is like man. I can never fight so
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frustrating. I just want to acknowledge the
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frustration, you're feeling right?
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It is so frustrating because something's always pulling out
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us, something is always tugging at us and, you know, Jesus, I
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have learned this, I haven't always practice it.
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Let me tell you. I haven't always practiced it
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but I am learning it more and more and I want to go through a
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few things, just a few things. I jotted down that I think are
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important if you're feeling overwhelmed right now, if you
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are, you know, looking at how can I be more effective?
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How can I find balance if that's really a question in your, how
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can I find balance and you're overwhelmed because you can't
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let me list a few things. Number one, rest.
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Number one, rest. In the rhythm of your life, make
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sure that you are well rested. I think you should learn to be
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well-rested physically and I also think you should be
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well-rested emotionally and I also think you should be
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well-rested spiritually and I think of John 15 in verse 1 as
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Jesus is talking about being the True Vine.
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He says, my father is the vinedresser every branch in me
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that does not bear fruit. He takes away and every branch
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that bears fruit, he prunes that he might bear more fruit.
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You are already clean because of the word, which I have spoken to
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you and then he says abide in me.
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Isn't that beautiful abide in me?
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And I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself,
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unless it abides in the vine. So neither can you unless you
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abide in me? Simple stuff, isn't it?
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But all of ministry and all of life comes from abiding.
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As we're has, we take from and receive from all the power and
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resources that we need from Christ and the pressure that we
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we're feeling is something that is taking care of by the
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vinedresser the father. As we abide in the true real
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authentic Vine. We are well taken care of, you
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know, the New Living Translation says, the father is the gardener
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or in the message it says he's the farmer and suck.
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My dad is the one that takes care of me.
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My dad's, the one that tends me and cultivates me, but we're out
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running around taking care of this rush rush rush think.
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Think think multitask multitask? And we are not doing that from a
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place of Abiding and because we're not doing that from a
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place of abiding were overwhelmed.
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We're overwhelmed. Even if you know, if we think of
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this task oriented lie and you have 10 tasks, you will always
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have Tim test. They will be done one at a time.
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They'll be knocked off the list one at a time.
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But wouldn't you rather face the ten tasks abiding in the vine
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being taken care of, by the father, being led by the spirit
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being empowered by the spirit being reminded of how good he
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breast friend. Rest rest.
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Rest in the Lord, let the pressure be taken off of you
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today. Rest in the Lord, do what's in
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front of you. Know that the Lord is the Our
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father is with you. You know, Jesus, he says, right
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here in John 15, that we can't do anything without him.
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Who, although, we do a lot of things without him.
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He says abide in me and I in you because the branch cannot bear
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fruit of itself. There's a lot of activities and
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a lot of things coming from our life, but true fruit comes from
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the Lord. Just hearing it right now as I'm
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talking it through is so encouraging to me knowing
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everything that I face even today, you know, when I'm done
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with this broadcast, I still got so many things to take care of
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today and so do you. But I know I need to do it from
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a place of rest and abiding. The fruit, you know, the things
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that God wants to produce from your life anyway.
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Remember it isn't something is not something you can ever
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produce on your own and this is where frustrations come, this is
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where being upset comes, this is where you feel buried in drowned
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underneath the pressures. In the mass of all the heaviness
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of life and situations is where you at the end of the day, you
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might feel defeated completely, but even from a place of defeat
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your in the Lord, your abiding, your You're resting in him, and
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because of that, that rest, even in the feeling defeated, you
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cast your cares upon the Lord and the frustrations can be
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carried to him, you know? Because you you you want to
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serve God. So you have this obligation
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right? You feel like this obligation
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but it's not an obligation. If you view it like an
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obligation. Then you're like, oh, here are
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my Works Lord. So I'm going to take care of
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everything for you because everybody wants to and one of
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the reasons I'm talking about this is that I've gotten a lot
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of Email, a lot of people talking to me a lot of people
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texting me. Ed, why aren't you doing your
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podcast? Why haven't you done your
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podcast? And my answer is I can't it
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isn't something I can do right now.
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I've got these decisions in this situation and and I can't, it's
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it's actually suffered. I haven't been able to produce
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it because of other things, taking priority.
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And if I viewed the podcast as an obligation to God, then I'd
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make it would be so So pressure-packed, I would be
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overwhelmed but because I was able to set it aside which
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brings me to number to prioritize rest and then,
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secondly, prioritize and it is good to know that you're going
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to take care of the things that need to be taken care of first.
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And then to the priority list, you're just not going to be able
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to get to everything right away and it's important that you
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prioritize. Jesus was a master at Sizing and
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the way that he described it, you know, we might talk about
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priorities today but the way he described it as I always do
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that, which pleases my father, and everybody wanted Jesus to do
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this and that he would everybody had something for him to do but
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he was focused with the right priorities, which brings us to
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number three and that is focus. So rest prioritize Focus, if you
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Except that you can only do one thing at a time.
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Very well then, doesn't it make sense that you would want to
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focus on that one thing in the level of priorities that the
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Lord has given you right through prayer, that that abiding
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relationship, spiritually involves prayer, involves your
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own personal relationship, your own personal DeVos, your own
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personal Bible reading, like not for others, but just for
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yourself. So you're resting, you'll
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prioritizing, and then you're focusing.
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Remember what Paul said? He used this phrase in and it's
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a great phrase. This one thing I do, which
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circles back to this question of balance, right?
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The Jesus said, and he taught us seek ye first, the kingdom of
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God and his righteousness. And then, all these things will
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be added unto you. Seek.
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First, this one thing I do, As you make these conscious choices
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of resting prioritizing focusing.
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The final one I would add is resting and you go wait a
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minute. I didn't you was on number one.
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Yes and it is first and it is last and it's in the middle.
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All of this activity comes from abiding. from resting, from
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staying, put Even Paul the Apostle understood this in
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Philippians 4:13. Remember he said, I can do all
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things through Christ. That strengthens me, that that
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important place. Of strength and drawing upon the
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Lord strengths the word abide. Some of you already know this,
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it's the Greek word meno, and it means to remain or to dwell, or
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to stay put and it speaks of a closeness in a permanent
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attachment. I like how the paraphrase in the
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message. Translates John 1540, he says
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live in me. Make your home in me just as I
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do and you in the same way that a branch cannot bear grapes by
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itself, but only by being joined to the vine.
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You can't bear fruit unless you are joined with me.
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I love that. And so as we close down today,
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yes, we're going to be starting up the the podcast again.
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So thanks for joining us, please.
00:20:38
Tell everyone about it and you can expect it.
00:20:42
Pray for me on a regular basis. I really want to provide it in a
00:20:46
way to encourage you and create dialogue, email me talk to me
00:20:50
you can text me even 7206 0800, 12, you can text me there or you
00:20:57
can email me at Ed Ed Ed Taylor dot org or go to my website and
00:21:03
email me there at Taylor dot-org.
00:21:05
But as we wind down today, I want to acknowledge to you.
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I'm sorry that you're overwhelmed it is a very
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difficult place but remember Turn back to the Lord resting
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prioritizing focusing resting. Isn't that great?
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This is so encouraging to me, it's I want it to be so
00:21:27
encouraging to you so that wraps up our time today and so glad
00:21:31
that you joined please rate, the podcast, email me, text me.
00:21:36
If we can serve you here we're ready to do that.
00:21:39
We're ready to encourage you and serve you.
00:21:41
You're not alone. We are grateful to Ministry
00:21:45
team, here we are, grateful to serve you.
00:21:47
I am grateful to serve. You can reach out to me
00:21:50
personally and so we'll be going through this resource.
00:21:54
I have it in my hand right here. Sure.
00:21:55
And steady, we titled it learning and growing in pastoral
00:21:59
Ministry and they're just just little nuggets that you can
00:22:04
learn from. Like, for example, I just
00:22:06
flipped open the number one point number 20, you maintain an
00:22:10
atmosphere of love and grace, a pastor regularly.
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And encourages to help maintain an atmosphere of love.
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I mean, these are simple things. Someone will be reminders, some
00:22:21
will be brand new but it's it'll be encouraging will be
00:22:24
strengthened together. So thanks again.
00:22:26
Rate the podcast Reach Out, Ed Taylor dot-org.
00:22:30
What a blessing. It is to be a small part of the
00:22:32
great work that God is doing in your life.
00:22:36
Stay close to the Lord, God bless you.
00:22:38
Thank you for joining us for this episode of lead, to serve
00:22:41
with Pastor Ed, Taylor, a leadership podcast from Our
00:22:45
church in Aurora Colorado. If you have a leadership
00:22:47
question you want to hear answered on a future lead to
00:22:50
serve podcast please email it to Pastor Ed at Calvary Co dot
00:22:54
church and if you like our podcast Please Subscribe rate or
00:22:58
review us on iTunes and share us with your friends on social
00:23:01
media. Thanks again for joining us and
00:23:03
we'll see you next time right here on the lead to serve
00:23:06
podcast. Our church in Aurora Colorado.
00:22:46
If you have a leadership question you want to hear
00:22:48
answered on a future lead to serve podcast please email it to
00:22:52
Pastor Ed at Calvary Co dot church and if you like our
00:22:55
podcast Please Subscribe rate or review us on iTunes and share us
00:23:00
with your friends on social media.
00:23:02
Thanks again for joining us and we'll see you next time right
00:23:04
here on the lead to serve podcast.
