The Power of Letting Go... | John Giftah | Inspirational Christian Sermon

0:01 Do you ever look around and think, Wow, the world is a crazy

0:06 place and it just seems to get crazier and crazier. Ease your mind and

0:12 take a break. This is Fuel for the Soul with John Gifta. We're

0:17 a hub for inspirational Christian sermons, practical keys for Christian living, and Christian

0:24 discussions and interviews. You'll be inspired to live the life that you were created

0:29 for. Your host is a top ranking podcaster, best selling author, world

0:34 record holder, aerospace engineer, life coach, evangelist and founder of John Gifta

0:40 International. Welcome to Fuel for the Soul with John Gifta. Hello everybody,

0:55 It is wonderful for me to be here back on this episode of the Fuel

0:58 for the Soul with John Giftup podcast. You know I was sharing with you

1:03 a little earlier that I actually took a break after hitting thousand episodes of the

1:07 podcast because there were a lot of things that were on stake, Like I

1:11 wanted to check the condition of my heart, whether the podcast was my idol

1:15 ord whereas I letting God be the center of my life? Where was I

1:19 letting God know that you know what, God, I can live without the

1:23 podcast, but I cannot live without you. I need you, I need

1:26 your presence. I need you more than I need anything else. I need

1:29 your presence more than the platform. I need you know, your approval more

1:34 than you know the podcast achievements and approvals and rankings and all of those things.

1:38 And it was a really good time for me to check my heart,

1:42 the condition of my heart, to see, you know, how much I'm

1:45 willing to let go and trust in the Lord. And you know, sometimes

1:48 I want you to understand that it's as easy to say, you know,

1:51 let go into God's hands, trust that God has a plan for you,

1:53 but it's another thing to come to the reality and say, you know what,

1:59 God, I'm willing to let go. And I actually saw the podcast,

2:01 you know, it was it was really hurting a lot, Okay,

2:06 especially when I started seeing the ranking go down and sometimes it went off the

2:09 charts. But there were moments when I think people started coming back and listening

2:14 to some of the podcasts episodes from the back, and you know, it

2:16 started going up again and down, and you know, it was like,

2:21 oh my gosh, John, like what is going on? You know what

2:24 I mean? I was like, God, I said, you know what,

2:28 God, you are beyond this. I need you more than I need

2:30 the ranking. I need you more than I need where the position of the

2:34 podcast is, and all of these things. And you know, I want

2:37 to talk to you today about the power of letting go into God's sense.

2:39 You know, sometimes you think that you're the one keeping your life. It's

2:43 your hard work that's keeping you in your job, or it's you who is

2:46 you know, running your life. Can I tell you something, You're not

2:49 the one running your life. God is. Now. I'm not asking you

2:52 to be complacent and lazy. I'm not asking you to you know, just

2:54 be a place in a place of compromise and all of those things. I'm

2:59 not saying that. But what I'm saying is, be a person of integrity,

3:00 Be a person goes thee extra mile. Be a person who's doing what

3:05 you're supposed to do, you know, working hard and doing what you're supposed

3:07 to do with a sense of responsibility and all of those things. I fully

3:12 agree with all of that stuff, but I want you to understand that by

3:15 the end of the day, it is not your hard work that keeps you

3:17 where going. It is the grace of God. You need to understand that

3:21 if not for God's grace, you could be, you know, in a

3:23 very bad shape. And you have to understand that God knows what he's doing

3:28 with their life, and sometimes you need to be willing to let go when

3:31 God says, you know what, I want you to show me that you'd

3:34 really trust me in this area. And that's one of the reasons I had

3:38 to say, you know what, I'm going to take a break and show

3:39 God. God, you know what. I can live without the podcast.

3:43 I can live without seeing the podcast ranking at number one or any other ranking,

3:46 you know, because I would need you more than I need anything else.

3:52 Today, I want to ask you this question. Is there any area

3:53 in your life where you need to let go into God's hands? When I

3:58 see let go, you have to take drastic steps. Are you willing to

4:00 take drastic steps? I don't want to preach from a place where I'm just

4:04 preaching thiory. I want to share this from a place where I'm said I've

4:08 done it, and are you willing to do this? That's what I want

4:11 to challenge each one of us. You know, one of the scriptures I

4:15 want to talk to you today is found in Mark chapter one, one of

4:17 the famous passages that I really loved to speaking about. When if you look

4:23 at verse sixteen onwards, Okay, Jesus is calling out his first disciples.

4:28 As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother

4:31 Andrew casting a netting to the lake. For they were fishermen. This was

4:34 their livelihood. This is all they had. And Jesus said, come follow

4:39 me, and I will send you out to fish for people. And verse

4:43 eighteen. At once they left their nets, and they followed Jesus. And

4:48 look at verse nineteen. When he had gone a little further, he saw

4:53 James, son of Zebedee, and his brother John in a boat preparing their

4:56 nets. Without delay, he called them, and they left their father's everybody

5:00 in the boat with the hired men, and they followed Jesus. Look at

5:03 this, This was their livelihood. This was what they was, you know,

5:08 like what they're always doing. This is where they were, you know,

5:11 this is their life. You know, fishermen. They knew all about

5:14 the fish, they knew all about fishing and all, you know, all

5:17 of those things. And here's the thing. When Jesus calls them, the

5:21 Bible says that at once they left everything and they followed Jesus. They at

5:27 once, they left everything and they left the people. They followed Jesus.

5:31 Today, I want to ask you, are you in a position where when

5:33 God is asking you to do something, are you willing to let go?

5:39 About two years ago, I was having a vacation in a place called Kerala

5:45 in India. Okay, it's one of the southern states in India, and

5:48 there is a lot of these areas which is explicitly covered with water. Okay,

5:54 it's in the region of Alpe where there's water everywhere and a lot of

5:58 people, you know, where where we have vehicles going around. Right,

6:02 A lot of these people the only way to commute to their home is by

6:05 a boat. Their boat is their livelihood, you know. The boat is

6:10 everything for them. It's their mode of transportation. Right. If they need

6:14 to go anywhere, they need a boat. You know, that's what it

6:17 is. Now, think about this. These men were willing to let go

6:20 of the boat, which was the only thing that they had to follow Jesus.

6:26 Today, I want to ask you, how much do you trust God

6:28 to say, God, you call me, I'm going to follow you because

6:32 I believe that you have what is best for me. I'm going to choose

6:35 to show you that, you know what, nothing takes your place in my

6:40 life. When you get to that place, God is going to honor you,

6:44 you know, in ways I never expected. Recently, I was featured

6:47 in a I put the link to that in the description, A list of

6:53 best Christian podcasts in the country of India. You know I was featured on

6:58 this. I want you to check it in description. But you know what,

7:00 I never expected that a moment when I took the break is when this

7:04 actually happened. Sometimes, you know, when you take a break, when

7:08 you are just you know, getting from a distance, you get a clearer

7:12 picture, you understand things differently, and that is when God honors you in

7:16 ways that you never even imagined. And I want to tell you that when

7:20 you take time to show God that you know what, you trust him with

7:24 your life and you are are willing to put everything in the ballot for him,

7:28 I'm telling you God will honor you. God is a faithful God and

7:31 He's going to show up in a way that you never even imagine. Amen,

7:34 God bless you. You've been listening to Fuel for the Soul with John

7:43 GIFTA we hope you were blessed and inspired to live the life that God has

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8:33 on the next episode of The Fuel for the Soul with John Gifta. God bless you