Live Free with Josh Howerton - How to Experience the Peace of God | Ep. 429 | Thursday, September 26, 2024

Episode Date: September 26, 2024

Today, Pastor Carlos explores the concept of deepening our trust in God's provision. Reflect on what aspects of your life you need to entrust to God during this season: Wisdom– Read James 1:5 Comfort– Read 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 Encouragement– Read Jeremiah 29:11 Freedom from guilt and shame– Read Romans 8:1 For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.combe. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Welcome to our Daily Drive. If we haven't met, my name is Carlos, and I get to be part of the pastoral team here at Lake Pointe. And we get to hang out this week for a few minutes every day as we dive into the Word of God.

And this week, the name of this series is deeper because we're going deeper every day on one particular aspect of our lives and our relationship with Jesus. And Monday, if you were here, we spoke about going deeper in intimacy. Tuesday, we spoke about going deeper in holiness. Wednesday, we spoke about going deeper in courage. And today, we're exploring how we can go deeper in trust. And I'm excited because today we're reading one of my favorite parts of the Bible. This is Psalm 23, but we're just going to read the first verse. And this is what the King James Version says in this way.

It says, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. And the new living translation says it like this, The Lord is my shepherd. I have all that I need. Hey, I recently read an article about one of the richest people in the world today, and that's Elon Musk. And I'm sure you're aware he's the creator of Tesla and also owns the company Space X.

And according to Forbes 2024, Real Time Billioners List, he is the richest person in the world with a net worth of around 239 billion. billion dollars as the time of this recording. So if today you're wondering, what do you do when you are the richest billionaire in the world? Well, if you're Elon, the answer is many things, obviously, but one of the goals Elon has shared in the past is that he'd like to create rockets to take people to the planet Mars. You know, most of us have goals like getting more sleep or getting in shape. Elon wants to get people to space, which is awesome. Now, if you're Elon Musk and you're, you're you want to take people to Mars, then you need to create, obviously, rockets, and you got to test them.

They don't just come out. And the test actually take place on his space centers located here in Texas. And one of them specifically is in South Padre Island. And my wife and I have been to this area and seen some of these rockets from afar. And apparently, this is a thing. If you're into testing rockets, you're not allowed to test rockets after 9 p.m. And so every time Elon's company tests a rocket. after 9 p.m., he allegedly gets a fine for $25,000.

Now, if you're driving and maybe you're going too fast and a cop stops you and gives you a ticket for $25,000, that would be a very bad day for you, but not for Elon. Apparently, it is reported that between 2017 and 2019, Elon Musk and his company had to pay over half a million dollars in fines because apparently a good majority. majority of the rocket testing took place after 9 p.m. Now, if you're thinking, why would someone do that? Why would Elon not care if, you know, it's after 9 p.m. or if it's before and why would he not care if he gets a $25,000 fine every time he tests one of his rockets after 9 p.m.? And I have a theory as to why. Elon Musk's fortune is of, like we said around today, like $200 billion, which, by

way, that's 200 with 9 zeros after it. So when they find him $500,000, that's 0.000, 2439% of what he has. This is like if you had $50,000 right now and you got a ticket and your ticket would be $12. So Elon is going, oh no, I'm going to get a ticket. If I test it, if I test, my rocket after 9 p.m. I think we're going to be okay. Anybody today would say, you know what, because of who he is and all his wealth, it's almost as if Elon has everything he needs and there's nothing that he couldn't have, nothing out of his reach, no fine would be too big, no problem would be too large. And you know what? That is simply not true. Even the richest billionaire in the world does not have an unlimited provision, but do you know who does your Heavenly Father? And this is exactly

what David is saying in this first verse of Psalm 23. He says, listen, the Lord is my shepherd. And because he literally is the only one who has an unlimited provision and my life belongs to him, then I have all that I need. So let me ask you, something, do you believe this is true in your life today? If you're a Christian and Jesus said, I am your good shepherd, do you believe today that you have all that you need? Actually, let me ask you this. What do you need in this season? If you're listening to this and you say, man, maybe I need wisdom. James 1-5 says, if any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God who, who gives you, gives generously to all without finding fault and it will be given to you.

Do you need comforting? 2 Corinthians 1, 3 to 4 says, Praise be to the Lord, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all trouble so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort that we ourselves receive from God. Listen, do you need encouragement? Jeremiah 29, 11 says,

I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. Do you need acceptance and freedom from guilt, shame, and condemnation? Romans 8-1 says, There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. And listen, we could go on and on and on. And this is the point.

God is your good shepherd and provide. What you need, which means that if he's with you today, you have all that you need. Dallas Willard said about this verse that if the Lord is your shepherd, your life is under the care of somebody else. Charles Spurgeon said about this verse, we have all things and abound not because I have a good store of money in the bank, not because I have skill and wit with which to win my bread, but because the Lord is. my shepherd. Hey, today I want to invite you to meditate on this simple truth over and over and over again as we go deeper in our trust of our Heavenly Father, our good shepherd. And once you let this truth soak up in your mind and in your heart as well, you will experience a peace

that comes from God to your soul that surpasses all understanding. You know, it's funny. I actually heard somebody say this once and thought it was very true. They said, it's crazy how we can relax on a plane even when we don't know the pilot. It's crazy how we can relax on a ship, even when we don't know the captain. And it's crazy how we can relax on a bus and not necessarily know the driver. And yet, you and I know God, the Lord, the creator of all things, all knowing, all powerful, all generous, who because of Jesus has adopted us as his children whom he treasures, he is our shepherd and we can trust in him. We'll see you tomorrow. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship,

join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays and Sundays. For more information about all the digital ministries of Lake Point, visit lake point.church slash daily drive. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out.