Touré Roberts - Watch What You Want

I want to talk to you today about this idea, this theme: watch what you want. And I don’t mean «is it still going?» This is like a score—somebody fix this, thank you. Watch what you want. Now, I don’t mean to say you should simply be careful about what you want; it’s deeper than that. I mean I want you to understand what you want and why you want it. And let me tell you one of the awesome things I love about Jesus. One of the awesome things I love about Jesus—more than anything, a million things I love about Jesus—but one of the incredible things I love about Jesus is that He always confronts our tendencies. Is it just me, or does He? He’s affirming; He’s very affirming. He affirms us in His love and all that kind of stuff, but He is always challenging us in areas. He challenges us in our tendencies that we won’t challenge ourselves in. Come on, somebody! That’s why if you want to grow, just get with Jesus. Don’t necessarily get with the church. You didn’t like that? Get with Jesus. And it’s so funny; it’s impossible for you to be self-righteous and have a relationship with Jesus simultaneously. Because the moment you want to point the finger at somebody else, the Lord is saying, «Well, what about that?» Hello, somebody! It is impossible to have a relationship with Jesus and be self-righteous, critical, and judgmental at the same time, because when you connect with Jesus, you are so busy trying to get yourself together. You are so busy taking the beam out of your own eye that you have no time at all to try to pull a speck out of somebody else’s eye. I can tell somebody knows Jesus by how quickly they judge someone else. And so the awesome thing about Jesus is He challenges us in the area of our tendencies. Our tendencies are our patterns, and our patterns produce the life we have. So the reality is maybe God doesn’t need to change a situation; maybe He just needs to change my tendencies, and that’s what He’s after. So I want to take a look at this. You know, we’re just going to flow today, but I want to examine this passage of Scripture; there’s something I really want to deal with. This is a two-part message; I’ll tell you right now, but it’s going to be good. Let’s go! Okay, so Jesus says, «Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?» What Jesus is doing right now, straight out of the gate in this particular text, is He is confronting our human tendency to be overly obsessed with things that are too low. And what I love about Jesus is that He can call us out, and it’s not like He’s wrong. Some people can call you out and they can be flat-out wrong, but when Jesus calls you out, He’s telling the truth. And right here in the text, He’s saying that the average person, and He’s going somewhere throughout this whole thing, is saying that the average person actually lives life with a consciousness that is too low. He says, «Don’t worry about your life.» That sounds kind of crazy, doesn’t it? Who in here is not concerned about their life? Yet Jesus says, «Don’t worry about the parts of your life that you are not in control over.» I have to take my time with this one. Don’t—don’t—don’t. That means there are certain parts—how about this? —the sustaining of your life is none of your business. And He deals with it right away, because here’s the thing: as humans, we only have a certain amount of creative energy and cognitive cerebral energy—the ability to think and to give according to that thought. We only have a limited amount. And guess what? It’s not to be used for the things that God is responsible for. And that’s what happens when we worry. When we worry, we literally give creative and cognitive energy to something that has nothing to do with us, instead of being in this place of peace, being in this place of shalom, so that we can begin to produce instead of practicing being God. Are you hearing me? So, so, so what you focus on, what you seek after, what you give your thought life to, and what you give your energy to matters because you only have a certain amount. And you weren’t given all that energy to be worried about something that’s outside of your control; you were given that to produce under the banner of, «God’s got me.» Yes, sir! Yes, sir! Are you hearing me? Yes, sir! So He says, «Don’t worry about what? Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is life not more than food and your body more than clothing?» In other words, your consciousness is too low. And then He says—I’m going to keep flowing here—He says, «Look at the birds of the air.» Now, this is powerful. He says, «Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns.» In other words, they’re not stressed out and they’re not hustling. Birds are not out there trying to get it. It says, «Look at…