Touré Roberts - The "Can't Lose" Zone

I want to talk today about the «Can’t Lose Zone,» the Can’t Lose Zone. Does anybody want to live in the Can’t Lose Zone? That’s what I want to discuss today. There are three verses, and those verses can be broken down into three ideas, right? What we must work through in verse one is what we must work out in verse two, and excuse me, verse three is what we will walk in as a result of it all. All right, can we go somewhere? We’re going to take notes today; we are going to get this right. Amen? All right, let’s go!

So, let’s return to verse one: what we must work through. It says, «Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly.» That word «ungodly» is interesting, with two points I want to highlight. The first point is that it doesn’t say, «Blessed is the man who walks not with ungodly people.» No, it says, «Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel, in the wisdom, in the advice, in the knowledge of the ungodly.» Now, what is the ungodly? Again, I am a language person, so I looked at that word, and there’s a powerful translation of the word that means «to be wrong.» Have you ever met someone who could only be described as just wrong? You can’t quite put your finger on it, and if you tried to describe them, you would just say they’re kind of like, you know, «Man, they’re just wrong.» Have you ever met somebody who felt altogether wrong? It’s not that you didn’t love or like them; sometimes they’re like that uncle or aunt who’s part of the family. You love them, but every time they open their mouth, it’s just all wrong. Some of you are like, «I don’t know what you’re talking about, 'cause you’re the one.» No, I’m kidding, I’m kidding.

So, it says, «Blessed is the man,» meaning happy, aligned properly, straight so that he can move forward, is the man who walks not in the wisdom of the wrong. The word «walk» in the Bible refers to your life; it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re taking a stroll, right? It’s about your life; your life is seen as a walk or a journey. We just talked about how we’re on a journey. This hour and a half we spend together today is a journey, right? So, your walk is your life, and the quality of your life is the byproduct of the wisdom you’re using to walk out your life. Therefore, blessed is the man who doesn’t walk in the wisdom or advice of the wrong.

Now, where does this advice come from? I’ll point out three areas. First, sometimes the advice comes from self. Yes, sometimes you are your own worst counselor. Have you ever discouraged yourself in the Lord? We know about encouraging ourselves in the Lord; we all know that you came up in church, and David encouraged himself in the Lord. But have you ever discouraged yourself in the Lord? «I’m not the right one; I’m not good enough; I’m not smart enough; God is not merciful enough to overlook where I’ve been.» Hello, somebody! Sometimes we can talk ourselves out of what God is trying to talk us into. He makes a promise, and we think, «That’s not for me.» So, an argument takes place: God is saying, «Yes, it is for you; yes, I’ve got plans for you; yes, my hand is on your life; yes, I’m going to do great things; yes, yes, yes.» And we’re like, «No, you can’t do it.»

So, this bad counsel, this bad wisdom, comes from three places. Sometimes it comes from self; sometimes it comes from others—people just speaking into your life. And the third place is environment. I want to touch on environment very quickly. We have a lot of ground to cover today, but sometimes you can just be in a subculture that is simply wrong. The problem when the whole subculture is wrong is that it feels right. Can I let you into my world a little bit for a second? I was born in East Oakland and got here when I was nine and a half; I was raised here in Watts from age nine to sixteen. There are a lot of things that I love and appreciate about being raised in Watts—too many to mention. But for the sake of the point I’m making about wrong, here’s the truth: in Watts, going to college was considered weak. Can I just let you into my world for a moment? My friends would be out in front of the house, smoking and talking, and I’d see them while coming back from school with my backpack on. I would look at them and think, «Uh-oh, you don’t want to be the guy with the…»