This week we are starting a brand new series called Adjustments. This series is all about little changes that bring about big results.

Just about everybody here wants to improve, get better, to change some things that they are doing so they can be more effective as a spouse, parent, business owner, employee, Kingdom builder, whatever it is. However, most people get paralyzed into inaction because they feel like they have such a massive distance to make up in order to see big results that they're looking for.

Truth is, in the same way that you never trip over boulders, but little rocks,
you don't typically see big results because of big changes. Big results, most often, come from little changes.

Little, consistent changes are what net you the big results. We too often try to take big steps and we fail in them because they are often too overwhelming to complete. Some of the best advice I was ever given was this: No one is expecting you to be perfect today. Just be one step better than you were yesterday.

So let me ask you:
Is your growth been inhibited because you are trying to take too big of a step? Are you getting discouraged because you aren’t seeing massive changes happen? Are you expecting instant results? Do you get annoyed with the pace of the process? Do you even know what step to take?

By the way…what is with us here at Freedom constantly wanting people to take steps? We have a heavy focus at our church on developing people. We want you to grow, address your issues, find freedom, be developed, be discipled, go deeper with Jesus, move the Kingdom, make an impact, etc.

We do these through variety of means like Sunday mornings, but that revolve around the notion of relationship. This is why we want you plugging into men's and women's groups, meetups, and DGroups. This is why we encourage you to find your squad, a group of people that you connect with regularly and deeply at our church. This is why we say go to lunch with people, have coffee, go play golf, hang out with each other. Why? Because in these relationships with godly people, there are gonna be moments where an opportunity arises where the Holy Spirit is going to use that person to speak a little word that brings big change in your heart.

The truth is, we are not content with you staying the same. Why won't we just let you show up week after week, month after month and just attend and that's it? First, because Jesus loves us so much he refuses to leave us where he found us. But second, because being stagnant is not what God called us to. He called us to a life of miraculous, Kingdom building power.

Whereas Satan's plan for your life has been to destroy you, to tear you down, to fill you full of anger and frustration and hopelessness, God’s plan is for you to live the in calling he has for you, starting with you being a son or a daughter.

This is the why behind all of the energy we put into you being discipled, developed, taking next steps down the path God has you on.

Did you know you are on path right now? Look at what the Word says:

Psalm 119:105
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Psalm 16:11
You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Proverbs 4:26
Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure.

Proverbs 3:6
In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Psalm 25:4
Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths.

Whether you know it or not, you are on a path. And the only way you get down a path is through steps. While we can easily get bogged down for a variety of reason, often, we just need to make some little adjustments to net big changes.

Let me share 3 things with about this path and suggest some adjustments that can be made.

1. It’s a process.
In 2023, my family took a camping trip to Palo Dura Canyon. There is a trail there called the Lighthouse Trail. It is one of the most popular trails there, but it is long and super tough. The Lighthouse Trail is 5.75 miles long with 940 feet elevation gain, leading to the popular Lighthouse rock formation.
The 940 feet gain happens within the last 1/2 mile of the 2.8 mile one way mark, so it is nearly straight up in some sections.

From Texas Parks and Wildlife:
Please take plenty of water, as most heat-related injuries and deaths for people and pets occur on this trail.

In 2023, Audrey was 5. Let that sink in for a moment. How many times do you think we heard, “Are we there yet?”

I distinctly remember that both on the way there, and on the way back, many times, she complained, just wanted to get to the top or just be back at the truck, and she constantly asked us to carry her, both there and back. And for added fun, Vivi started going low and we had to keep stopping to feed her cereal bars!

Sometimes the path is nice and flat, cool and crisp. The first part was pretty awesome, and even though it was early August, we happened to be hiking on a day where it was overcast with sprinkles and only 85 degrees. But sometimes it is rocky and rough, scorching hot and unforgiving. It's easy to enjoy ourselves when the path is easy, but when the path challenges us, it can be difficult to have that happy heart.

We can often resort to complaining like my five year old on the Lighthouse Trail, longing for it to be over, longing to already be there, dreading every single step. The path is great when it is flat and easy, but not when it gets uncomfortable.

Are you aware that the path God has for you is going to include sections of extreme discomfort?
It's Abraham facing the unknown, Joseph enduring slavery and prison, Moses facing his past. It's Esther under threat. It's Daniel in the lion’s den. It's Mary starting to show in the second trimester. It's Peter in the courtyard.

Those sections of extreme discomfort are designed to accomplish two things: First, to force you to deal with things that are going to derail you from that path. And second, to get you to what is on the other side of them.

Our biggest issue is that the discomfort puts us in a place where we are willing to forgo the beauty of the view and sense of accomplishment at the end of the Lighthouse Trail for the discomfort of the path we had to take to get there.

Too many of us stop in a wilderness, in Potiphar’s house, on the road back to Egypt, in those situations of fear and pain, and we use those moments as the deciding factor on whether or not we continue down the path. And in that moment, because the pain of the process is so strong, we take our eyes off the glory that will be had once we get there.

We have to realize that whatever we might be enduring in this moment, whether the season is incredible or insanely uncomfortable, that this is just a part of the path that God has us on. We've got to make an adjustment in our vision so we can understand that where we are right now is just a stop along the road that's taking us to the vision God put inside of us, to the thing he's called us too.

Are you expending more energy focusing on the problem you are currently facing on the path, or the destination God’s trying to get you to?
If we get bogged down in the pain of the process, we will miss the glory God has set before us. And we are not the only ones that had to face the temptation. Consider Jesus: Hebrews 12:2b-3
2b Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. 3 Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up.

Remember, it's a process.
I know you might be excited to start down the path God has you on, everyone always is, but it's going to take endurance to make it to the end.
Endurance is not one giant leap, but a series of consistent steps.

So what adjustments can we make to help us embrace the process?
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:26
I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing.

To embrace the process, especially when it gets tough, you have to understand that every step has a purpose.

How did Joseph get to second in command? The cupbearer told Pharaoh about Joseph. The cupbearer met Joseph in prison. Joseph was in prison because he was attacked and falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife when he was a slave in their household. He was a slave because his brothers sold him. His brothers sold him because they thought that a better plan than murdering him. They wanted to murder him because he had dreams that made them subject to him. At which point would you have lost hope and given up?

With God, there is purpose in every step of the process.
Are you purposefully stepping or incessantly complaining? Are you embracing the process or on the verge of giving up?

If you want to better embrace the process, make the adjustment of seeing purpose in every step.

Family, listen: the path...it is a process.

2. It takes endurance.
Endurance is not just persistence, but painful persistence. And this could be a big problem for us because we don't like pain.

In a world of instant gratification, God calls us to delayed gratification. All of us can start well. We kill it that first week into our resolution in January, or the second week of meetups, but it's when the path takes a turn into the uncomfortable that we start to complain.

We want to finish two steps after we start. We want to be developed in one week of meetups. We want to see complete and total life change in just five days of Bible engagement. But lasting change is the result, not of starting it, but of enduring it.

Hebrews 12:1b
let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

Endurance is hypomonē, “remaining under.” “Hypomonē conveys steadfast endurance that clings to God in the face of pressure. More than passive waiting, it is active, faith-filled perseverance that refuses to abandon obedience or hope. While English versions alternately render the term ‘endurance,’ ‘perseverance,’ or ‘patience,’ its essence is a Spirit-empowered tenacity that remains under trial until God’s purpose is fulfilled.”

I know that you know you need to run with endurance, and I know you want to run with endurance, but how do we run with endurance? Sometimes we have to look at what we already have in our hand to help us get this.

Last week with Gideon I made a comment about one phrase that I said I can preach a whole series on and it is found in Judges 6:14, “Go with the strength you have.” For me, this forces me to look at two different things:
What I have that will help, and what I have that will hurt.

What do we have that will help:
- We have God, who never leaves us and never forsakes us.
- We have the power of the Holy Spirit inside of us.
- We have his precious promises to stand on.
- We have his Word with which we fight against the enemy.
- We have godly people around us, the Church, to encourage us and build us up.

What do we have that will hurt, though? We don't typically like talking about this one.
Hebrews 12:1
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up.

Maybe your endurance is weak because you're carrying too much weight.
- Weight from sin.
- Weight from disobedience.
- Weight from a bad attitude or arrogant heart.
- Weight from your past.
- Weight from the pain that you've endured or are currently enduring.
- Weight of anxiety and depression and hopelessness.
- Weight of your doubt and fear.

I ain’t trying to hate, but we all have weight. And that weight ain’t so great if we are trying to run a race.

What weight needs to be stripped off you today so you can have the endurance you’ll need tomorrow?

How do we do this?
Hebrews 12:2
We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross.

Endurance is not achieved when our focus is on the path or the problems or the persistence or on our own person. Endurance is not achieved when our expectation is on how easy is the path or how smooth is the stepping.

Endurance is achieved when our focus is on Jesus and our expectation is on the joy awaiting us. THESE are where the fuel for endurance actually come from.

So an adjustment you can make to increase your endurance is to shift your focus from yourself and your struggles and you shift your focus to Jesus and the joy awaiting you.

What does this look like in practice?
Your first reaction to a problem reveals what you trust most. It is the quickest way to identify what god a person serves. Example, you can make the small adjustment that you are going to pray before you respond. Whether it is money or relationships, work or family related, rather than respond immediately, you pray. Give yourself 5 minutes with Jesus. Just a little talk with Jesus makes it right.

What about in your expectation?
If you think this path is going to be easy, change your expectation.

Earlier, I read from Hebrews 12:1 that starts with “therefore.”
A professor told me, “Anytime you see, ‘therefore,’ you need to see what it is there for.”

As a reminder, here is that verse: Hebrews 12:1
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

So the context is running the race before us with endurance. So how does this relate to this notion of adjusting your expectations? Let’s see what the therefore is there for. Hebrews 11:32-40
32 How much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets. 33 By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight. 35 Women received their loved ones back again from death.
But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. 36 Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. 37 Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half,[d] and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated. 38 They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.
39 All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. 40 For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us.

That perfection is Jesus crucified and raised to life. It is the salvation his work on the Cross provided us by his blood. Even Jesus’ path was painful, but you are the joy that awaited him.

I don’t know what your expectations are for the path God has you walking, but you have to decide whether or not the pain of the path or the joy awaiting you is more important.

It is a process. It takes endurance.

3. It is worth it.
Do you believe that?

Do you really believe that those early morning prayer times are beneficial?
Do you really believe that those Bible verses are making a difference?
Do you really believe that God is working on your behalf and that obedience, even when it hurts, matters?
Do you really believe that your current afflictions are nothing compared to the glory God is revealing to us?
Your actions tell the story!

Let me ask you this: Are you surprised by the trials you are facing? When you said yes to Jesus did you expect a smooth path?

1 Peter 4:12-13, 19
12 Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. 13 Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world. 19 So if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for he will never fail you.

Suffering that pleases God? What?!?
Psalm 23:6
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Where’s that at?

Proverbs 4:18
The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.

1 Corinthians 15:1-2
Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the Gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are being saved, if you hold to what I preached to you.

1 Peter 2:2
Like newborn infants, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up into salvation.

Your status as a child of God or an enemy of God is taken care of in an instant with your confession of Jesus as Lord, saving your soul, but working destruction out of you, which the word salvation actually means, is the process.

Goodness and mercy can follow you even in the darkest moments. The same God that led David through the darkest valley led him by the still waters, too.

God doesn’t use trials to hurt you, but to help you. How?
Theologian John Owen
“Temptations and occasions put nothing into a man, but only draw out what was in him before.”

Romans 5:3-5
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame

TikTok Creator, Emuna HaShem
"When God wanted to make David King he did not give him a crown, he gave him Goliath. When God wanted to raise Joseph to the palace, he did not give him a shortcut, he gave him a prison. When God wanted to make Esther a queen, he did not give her comfort, he gave her a crisis. When God wanted to make Moses a leader, he did not give him a platform, he gave him a wilderness. Many times when we feel like God is breaking us, he’s really just building us. God does not give us what we expect in this life. Rather he gives us what we need so that we can become everything he created us to be."

Could it be that the trial you are facing is not tied to God’s unfaithfulness, but rather, to something in you God is trying to change in you?

James 1:2-4
2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

So an adjustment we can make here is to not blame God when the path gets tough, but to let him use whatever it takes to get us where he wants us, knowing that no matter what we face, the path, with all its ups and downs, is worth it.

You aren’t as far away as you think you are. You just need tom little adjustments to bring about big changes.

I want to ask you whether or not you’ve been enjoying the journey.
Have you enjoyed the path or have you just been complaining about it?
Have you embraced God’s plan, or just questioned it constantly?
Have you gotten annoyed with the process rather than embracing it?
Have you endured in faith, or do you just want to give up?
Are you getting a clear enough picture of God and his plan to understand it is all worth it, or have you allowed your focus to rest on frustration and fear?

If you are struggling embracing the path God has for you, you need to make some adjustments.
- See the purpose in every step.
- Shift your focus to Jesus and the joy awaiting you.
- Stop blaming God and start embracing whatever he has for you.

Some of us need to repent for judging God. Some need to get courage for the path. Some need to stop being led by feeling and start being led by faith. Some of us need to be reminded that he who began a good work will see it through, if we are willing to take the steps.

Whatever it is, this is your chance to make those adjustments.

Let’s pray.

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you through this message?

How does he want you to respond?