When You’re Stuck | Ron + Hope: Unfiltered

Well, my name is Ron Carpenter and I want to welcome you to Ron and Hope Unfiltered. I tell you what, we're always Christian based in everything we do, because that's not what I do. That's who I am. I can't help but be that. All my mindsets, all my stories, all my whole life has been given to my faith and the study and the preaching of God's word. So it consumes me in the way I live. So everything, even my jokes are going to probably come from that perspective. But I do want you, if you would, just to whisper a prayer for my wife. The reason you've been seeing Hope absent a lot in the past is because, number one, she's been on her book tour and praise the Lord for that, because of many folk like you, she's doing very well. But right now she's probably going to be out another two or three weeks because her mother has had open heart surgery and she's in her 80s. She's advanced in life, so making some really, really hard decisions there, assisted living and other things, not a pretty time. It's weighing heavy on her. So I know you love Hope. I know she's the life of the party. Always got a smile on her face, always feels good to be around her. But she's human, too, and it's been weighing pretty heavy on her that her parents have come to this season in their life and she's having to make these decisions. So whisper a word of prayer for her. And in the mean time, you're going to have to put up with me just doing these podcasts solo. And whenever I do them solo, I'm probably less funny, less animated and probably a little more content oriented. Whereas when she's here, we just cut up and go back and forth. It's so much fun. I love being able to do that kind of life with my wife. But I got something I wanted to talk to you about that I just felt like a topic that was in my heart and I want to tell you two principles to get out of a Ruth. Pardon me. Two principles to get out of a rut. I've had one time in my life, one season where I felt like literally I was stuck. Some of you say, man, you don't ever look like you've ever been built like that. I'm not built like that. That's why that season in my life was just driving me nuts because it felt like there wasn't really any sector or dimension of my life that had real any forward progression. I Know, they say if you're not going forward, you're going backward. But I felt like I had one season. I really wasn't going anywhere. I wasn't digressing, so to speak, but I wasn't progressing. And it seemed like I was in a place where I just could not get things moving again. I dare to venture to say that I'm probably talking to people who are either there now or you felt that way. I don't think it's a certain season of life. I don't think it's a certain age. I think when you are stuck, it is directly proportionate to something else that is going on in your life. And you are probably going to be surprised at where I'm going to go because it's a theme of a lot of my teaching and my preaching, and even when I counsel other people. And the long and short of it is you can feel like marriage is just stuck. It's just. It's just not going anywhere. You know, you just sit down and y' all don't have anything to say. And you feel like you don't have anything in common anymore. And you're wondering why we're stuck. I know people all the time, they feel like their career is stuck. They're getting bored, and their economy's not changing. Their economy is stuck. Relationships, you know, are stuck. The ones they have are aging, and they don't feel like there's any fresh relationships coming into their life. And a lot of people start immediately wanting to go around and search for all these things around them to change. I want to submit to you when you feel stuck. The changes you need to make are not necessarily around you. I think most of the time they are in you. They're changes on the inside of you that need to be made. Because he is the God who is able to do. Catch this now. Exceedingly, abundantly, above and beyond what you could ask or imagine. That is a bold statement. He can exceed what you can ask for, and I can ask for some stuff. And what you can wildly imagine, he can go way beyond that. When you think you have given God your wildest dream, you haven't even scratched the surface of his ability. So he's able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above and beyond that which you could ask or think or ask or imagine, comma, not period, comma, according to, in proportion with. In conjunction with, parallel to the power that worketh within you. So in other words, what I see going on around me is proportionate to what is going on in me. So if there's nothing going on inside of you, sometimes there tends to be nothing going on around you. Now let me stop right here. When there's nothing going on around us, we tend to want to get our hands on the stuff around us and change it and get it moving. When if you start making changes within you, everything around you starts moving automatically. Because what's in you affects what's around you. Okay, you get somebody who let the storms of life get in them. And anywhere you put them, they become a storm. They create a storm. You let anybody who drama is in them. You put them in any environment, they will create drama. In other words, what's in you becomes your environment. It becomes an environment you create. You may not even be privy or have be knowledgeable of the fact that that's what happened, that's what's happening. But everybody else sees that when no matter where you go, this seems to follow you. Why? Because if it's in you, it'll end up being what's around you. So God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above and beyond what I can ask or think. According to the power that worketh within me. The greatest thing I can do is go to my power source and let God renew me on a daily basis. Have times of revival and refreshing in the presence of the Lord. Do the daily disciplines necessary to keep my walk with God fresh and always be in environments and around people and around leaders that expand my horizon and where their thoughts challenge me. Because when you do that, you're constantly resetting the parameters of your mind. And if you reset the parameters of your mind long enough, you will reset the parameters of your life. Okay, so the first thing that I want to tell you is God expects fruitfulness by this John 15. It glorifies my Father that you bear much fruit. For those of you that don't like prospering and those of you that don't think God wants increase and those of you that think God is so spiritual that he don't care about those things, God cares about all things. Because if he said, if you seek first the kingdom, then all these things will be added unto you. God knows that you need things. There's nothing wrong with having things. You just don't let things have you. That does not become your pursuit. The kingdom of God is your pursuit. And while you pursue the right thing, God will give you the things that don't really matter. And I have noticed the less I care about stuff, the more of it God gives me. I'll just drop that Bomb right there. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. God expects fruitfulness. The Bible says that the parable of the vineyard. The vineyard owner came back to see how much fruit he had. He came to inspect. Glorifies your father that you bear much fruit. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, or sitting in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in that law doth he meditate both day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by water, has a continual source. His leaf shall not wither. What he does will last. And whatsoever he does, he shall prosper. That man, you can stick him anywhere. And he's going to be fruit and he's going to multiply. The first command given to Adam and Eve, be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue it and have dominion. So all these people that like to make a living getting on YouTube and calling out preachers who believe this stuff, I would like to hear their take on a whole Bible. That number one God is taking people who are slaves Israel and turning them into people who live in a land that flows with milk and honey. And God takes us who are slaves to sin and causes us to be royalty and says, if you keep your heart right, clean hands, pursue the right things, God, I'll take all these things and add them unto you. I'll open up the windows of heaven and pour you out blessing. I'll give you harvests that are 30, 60 and 100 fold. I don't know how you just ignore all that in the Bible. Yes, it is a life of sacrifice. Yes, there will be times where obeying God will be very hard. There was a thing that I just went through and I had a breakthrough this last week. But the fact is the patience that I had to employ to be able to get that breakthrough tested me probably like I have not been tested in some time. So what God does to bless you will sometimes take you to the edge. And sacrifice is hard. And there are times to do the right thing. It is taking up your cross, it is bearing your cross and taking it up and following him. So they think that you preach God wants to prosper you without all these other things. Sometimes it is in doing these things where God prospers. It's the testing of your faith, it's the fiery furnaces of life. But then God follows it with blessing. Because God is a God that rewards all. Life is choice driven and God is an if, then God. If you. Then I'll. God responds when we do his will, hard or easy. So, number one, God expects fruitfulness, and he inspects your life for fruitfulness. Jump back to John 15. The branch in me that bears no fruit, he removes. And the branch in me that does bear fruit, he prunes so that it bear more fruit. I love Joyce Meyer. 20, 30 years ago, I heard her say, basically, you're pruned if you do, you're pruned if you don't. If you're not bearing anything, he'll cut you. And if you are bearing something, bearing something, he'll cut you so that you can bear more. So it is a theme that runs all throughout the Bible. So God is not about you being stuck, okay? I don't think me being stuck was the will of God. I had a season of stuckness. We can spiritualize anything, you know. You know, one time I had someone, you know, split my church one time. They didn't split it down the middle, but it cost me a lot of people the trouble they caused. And, you know, people say, well, God's weeding and God's pulling out the tares from the weed and God's sifting. And God. And I said, no, we're losing people. I'm just, you know, I don't over spiritualize it. We're losing people. And sometimes we have all these biblical answers to try to cover up from looking at the reality of what's going on and making the necessary changes to turn our situation around. I want to read something to you out of Luke in chapter 19, okay? The parable, the 10 mina. Listen to me, okay? Jesus had just given a blind man his sight. Receive your sight. Your faith has made you well. Immediately he received his sight, and the people followed, glorifying God. And all the people that saw it gave praise to God. So you got a poor, pitiful blind man who got his miracle. And everybody's singing, dancing, glorifying God, praising God and become immediate followers. Then Jesus gets invited to Zacchaeus house. Zacchaeus is crooked as a snake, and he's a businessman, a tax collector. And by basically being a dirty tax collector, he has acquired much wealth. That's why they called tax collectors sinners. And most people hated them. Because tax collectors were authorized by the Roman government to collect taxes from Jewish people for Caesar. And they would go in there, authorized by Caesar, and any amount they threw, the people had to pay. And they would overcharge and they would give the that Caesar required to Caesar to the Government and they would keep the rest to them. But when they went in, they were authorized by Caesar to take whatever amount. So the people detested the tax collectors. And Zacchaeus was a wealthy tax collector. The blind, poor, pitiful man has received his sight, okay? Now he's at Zacchaeus house. And Jesus says this. And Jesus said to him, today salvation has come to this house because he also is a son of Abraham. For the son of man has come to seek and save that which was lost. The people liked the poor man getting a miracle. They didn't like Jesus being around the rich man. And Jesus is saying, wait, this man's lost too. The rich man is just as lost as the poor man. And you are singing, dancing, glorifying, and praising God when I help the poor man. But when I come over here and help the wealthy man, you got an attitude. What you don't understand is salvation came to his house, but God wants to bring salvation to Zacchaeus house as well. Then he told this parable, all right? A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive himself a kingdom. So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten mina, and said, occupy or do business till I come. And so it was when he returned, gathered his servants, gave them 10 mina, okay, do business till I come. And returned to inspect. What did he want to inspect? Multiplication. Okay? And so it was when he returned, having received his kingdom, he commanded these servants to come to see how much every man had gained by trading. The first saying, Jeremiah has earned 10 more. He said, well done, thou good and faithful servant, because you are faithful and little, take authority over 10. One said, Yours has earned five. He said, likewise, you take authority over five. Then one saying, Master, here's your mine. I kept it put away, ok? Jesus said, why did you not put my money knowing that I would come back and collect it with interest? And he said to those who stood by, take the mina, give it to him who has 10. And they said to him, but, master, he already has 10. For I say to you, everyone who has will be given, and to him does not have, even what he has will be taken away. Whoa, whoa. Oh, my goodness. No, don't read that one. Pastor, let me tell you God's style of management. You say, what does this have to do with being stuck? Hold on. I'm halfway through. My first premise is that God expects multiplication and prosperity and comes back to inspect fruitfulness. And like a good supervisor and manager and owner, will take action if the fruitfulness is not there. So it's not the will of God, we be stuck. It's not spiritualize it as a season of stuck. I've heard all this stuff. I've been around a long time. Now, understand, God wants movement and multiplication all the way back to. The first commandment ever given by man was a commandment of multiplication. All right? So your life is to be productive on every level. Not just economy. On every level. All right? So he came back. One had doubled it. One had earned five with the 10, one didn't do a thing. Okay? Now, we live in a culture where give from the one who has everything and give to the one who don't have anything. There are commandments in the Bible where God has commanded us to take care of those less fortunate. That is our duty, Christian duty, as men and women of God and as a people of God. So don't misunderstand what I'm saying. But when it comes to you as an individual, God always puts something in your hand to work with. And he will come back and inspect to see what you have done with it. And then he said this. You have been faithful over a very little. Take charge over 10 cities. Everybody wants their own. But before God gives you your own, he will see what you do with that which pertains to another man. I can honestly tell you, anybody I've ever served, I tried to serve to the best of my ability. I came early, I left late, and I tried to outwork everybody there. I remember times working on the farm. I would have the owners of the farm come and tell me to slow down hay bales if they're dry, £90 if they're wet, they're £110. And I'm a teenager carrying one in each arm, throwing them on a trailer from sunup till sundown. And they would come tell me, you got to slow down, son. But I wanted to outwork everybody there. I would have them pay me more because they saw the level at which I worked. That was instilled in me by my father. That was instilled in me as a family culture. And that was instilled in me as I learned the laws of Christ. You were faithful in a very little matter. Take charge of 10 cities. You were faithful in what was mine. Now I'm going to give you your own, boy. I wish I had time to unpack that. Okay? The second thing we've got to learn from this is the chief characteristic for promotion is not skill set, is not personality profile, not education or achievement. It is faithfulness. There are people who are very Loud. But they're not faithful, and I can't promote them. There are people who never say anything. And they're the most diligent people I've ever seen. And I always try to find a way to bless Bonus and find a way to make sure these people know how much I value their faithfulness. And faithfulness in a little matter allows God to entrust you with the larger things in another place. Basically, he said, if you're going to be unfaithful in a little thing, you'll be unfaithful in a big thing. If I can't trust you in little stuff, how can I trust you in big stuff? You know, if you won't tithe off $1,000, why should God give you a million? You see what I'm talking about? If you don't have your little staff of four or five people and treat them right, why should he give you a Fortune 500 company? You ain't going to treat them right if you won't treat these right. You want a new car? What do you do when you have that rental car? You say, God ain't looking at. God's looking at all that stuff. That is the defining characteristic and the chief thing for which he inspects to see if you have the right of passage to promotion. So the key serving faithfully to ownership is being faithful with what is being put in your hands. And we've got to learn how to be faithful and little so God can move us and prosper us and give us much. And I know a lot of people that they wait for their big ship to come in. And while they're waiting for their ship to come in, they won't row that little boat that God has given them. And I'm telling you, whatever your hands have been given to do, do it with all your might. The Bible says when you serve somebody, serve them as though you are serving the Lord Christ. In other words, they're Christ, but you serve them as if you were serving him here in the flesh. You know why? Because your reward doesn't come from them. Your reward comes from heaven. What you make happen for others, Ephesians 6, 8, God makes happen for you. So when I make something happen for your life, I've not obligated you to turn around and help me. I've obligated God because whatever I'm. The greatest thing I could do is help your dream come true, help you prosper, help you move forward. Because then I'm obligating God to cause those same movements in my Life. So that is the chief characteristic of movement. You say, but I'm not moving. Okay, I got something for you. There's something practical and something spiritual. Take this with you. I know a lot of people teach leadership, you know, like corporate principles. I do some of that. But most of my leadership is really Bible based. And so I see two major things in the word of God where God will move me when I'm stuck. One of them is up to me. One of them is up to God. One of them is natural. One of them is spiritual. Okay, the Bible says the natural first and then the spiritual. 1 Corinthians 15. Let's start with the natural number one. You're not stuck in life, you're stuck in your mind. I'm not at a loss for words. I'm letting that just sit. There's no such thing as your life being stuck. Remember, according to the power at work within you. That time in my life where I wasn't moving anywhere, it was a time where I quit learning. It was a time when I quit challenging my mind. Let me tell you the danger. Those of you who are entering this season, beware. God showed me things that were revelatory at a very young age of life, and I used them. And God used those things that he showed me to build a very mighty church at honestly a relatively young age. Well, when you do that, people want you to get on the comfort circuit and come teaching what you come teach what you know, that's kind of normal. Nothing wrong with that. I enjoy doing it. But while I went around teaching everybody how God does it, I quit studying, you know, because I had learned what to say. And now I'm spending all my time saying it, but I'm not spending all my time learning. And then one day you've come to the end of what you can say and you realize your tank and your own well is empty. And you go back and there's no forward movement in your life. And what you did to get here, you did not keep doing, to take you there. And I had to pour myself again into the Word. I had to pour myself again at the feet of other mentors and other teachers and other leaders to begin to challenge my mind. Because you're not stuck in your life. You're stuck with the power that's not going on within you. God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly around you. But there's got to be something happening on the inside of you. And there was nothing fresh happening on the inside of me. And I was running on the smoke from yesterday's fire. Okay. That's where the Bible talks about clouds with no water. A form of godliness with no power. Okay. That's where I kind of felt like I was. I was used to something happening. Then I went around excited and said, let me tell you what all God's using and teach you how to employ these things yourself and why I did. When that well was empty, I had not built and cultivated myself another well. So I had to learn how to be a student again. Okay. Your mind is the factory for change. What happens in your mind happens in time. Your mind is like a drill bit. If you can get it to focus on one thing long enough, you will produce it. Jesus put it this way. He said, if your eye be single, meaning focus, focus. Your mind is what gives you to the ability, the ability to focus. You choose what you focus on. You do not choose every thought that randomly runs through your head, but you choose what you focus on. That's your choice. I can't stop all the thoughts that I have in a day, no more than I can stop all the birds that fly over my head. But I can stop the birds that want to make a nest in my head. And some of you don't stop the thoughts that don't need to be making a nest in your head. You choose to sit there and dwell on things that cause your life to be absolutely paralyzed. And I'm telling you this with passion, not because I've mastered it, but because I've experienced it and I had to shake myself loose and coming out of it. What happens in your mind happens in time. So the only way I can change my life is to change my mind. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is the man that your reality is defined out of your thought life. And so if I want to change my reality, I have to change my thought life. Because my thought life is the thing that directly affects my reality. So what are you thinking? And when's the last time you've challenged your thinking? And when's the last time you've put anything in your mind that has been different from what you already know? And are you open to ideas and are you open to listen to different people? These are all things that I had to cultivate to get my life moving again. I'm seeing my life now move at a place probably that I've never seen it. And I'm so grateful because I'm going to be honest with you. At 56, I just turned 56, I'm as hungry as I've ever been. I want to move of God as much as I've ever wanted to move of God. I want to learn. I want to see revelatory things. When I open my Bible more than I ever have. In fact, I get disappointed if I open my Bible and don't feel like some big curtain has been pulled back. That may be a little bit unrealistic, but that's kind of the way I approach things, because I know if God can change this, my heart and my head, nothing around me is impossible. Amen. Next thing that's very short is up to God. The parable of the barren fig tree. A certain man had a fig tree planted in a vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it. Here again. I love these guys on YouTube. They want to call out guys like me. All day long, a man owned a vineyard. He came back inspecting fruitfulness. How do you get around it? Increase prosperity? I don't know how you want. Maybe you just don't like the word prosperity. Multiply productivity. But he came back to inspect it. Then he said to the keeper of the vineyard, look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down. Why does it use up the ground? Number one, he came back expecting fruitfulness. Number two, he found none. And number three, he had come to the place where he had made the conclusion, this tree is a taker. This tree is not a giver. If I'd had another tree with all this water, all this soil, all these nutrients would have been doing a whole lot more than this tree has done by now. This tree's taken up part of my vineyard. This tree's taken up my space, my dirt, my soil, taking up my resources, and it doesn't give anything back. It's a taker. Cut it down. But the keeper of the vineyard answered, sir, let it alone this year until I dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that, cut it down. He said, give me another year. I like to say that this is a kind of a conversation between justice and mercy. Justice said, you're a taker. You don't need to be here. If I gave somebody else the same privileges and resources you have, they would be doing more. Cut it down. That's justice. And mercy steps in and says, ho, I think that there's a few things that it needs that it probably haven't gotten and this thing can turn around. Notice the answer to the tree that is stuck in barrenness. Dig around it and fertilize it. Your mind is your part. This is God's part. The key to getting this tree going again was to create instability around it. When you create instability around it, you cause the roots to be unstable and digitized by Google deeper to get solid again and go to a part of the earth that it has not already drained of its nutrients. So up through the root, up through the vine, up through the branches, it can produce again. Sometimes when your life is stuck, God's next stage is to create instability. And some of you are there right now. I want you to know that is a terrible feeling. When everything around you starts moving and the footing that you used to be on isn't stable anymore. The people aren't stable anymore that you used to depend on. The things that you used to do don't seem like they're working for you anymore. And everywhere you look, God's just creating instability. I don't want you to be scared of that. If you say, man, you're talking to me. It's like me and you are in a room having a conversation right now. I don't want you to be scared of that. Because actually that instability that's going on around you is calling a deeper depth in the roots of your faith. And out of that will come a fruitfulness that your last season could never have produced. You loose your mind. God creates instability around you. I think it's funny, you know what fertilizer is? Fertilizer is animal dung. He says, I'm going to create stability and I'm going to throw dung on you. That's why Paul said, for everything I've gained, I count it all. Dung that I may gain. Christ, I count it all. Fertilizer. God will take the things of life which are unpleasant. The dung and the dung is actually fertilizing you and causing. What does fertilizer do? It increases the potential of a thing. So instability and unpleasant circumstances cause roots to grow and release a greater potential in your life so that you can bear fruit again. You're going to be unstuck from this season. I just said it wasn't a season. You're going to be unstuck from this situation. Excuse me, you're going to be loosened from it, but part of it is going to be you redefining the parameters of your mind and challenging your thought, life and being innovative to see a new day and a new focus. The next thing is when God instability creep around you. That is not a bad thing. That's a good thing because that's God. Coming back and inspecting and saying, you have way too much going for you, and I've given you way too many resources for you to be unproductive. So I'm going to dig around you and fertilize a little bit. Why? So your greater potential can be released in your next season. I hope you've enjoyed this podcast. You say, pastor, why don't you get some other preachers come on podcast? I might do that, but sometimes I just have these things I want to say that really aren't sermons for Sunday. And it's a little bit different the way that I teach my leadership. But I just wanted to present this to you because I believe there's some people in here saying, man, I feel stuck. And there may be another group saying, I'm past the stuck thing, but I'm certainly in the instability thing. Everything around me is moving. That's all right. Your roots, the roots of your faith are going deeper and your tomorrow will be greater. I hope that you've enjoyed Ron and Hope Unfiltered, even though it's been just Ron without the Hope, real raw and relevant. And today took on a different tone. I just wanted to share with you, kind of making this a leadership podcast. Today. God will get your life moving again. I need you to subscribe. I need you to tell somebody about it. I need you to, like. I need you to go hit those comments. I need you to do whatever you can to help us get the word out. Because actually, me and Hope enjoy this and we try to throw our best at it and give you our best shot. And we want everybody to know. Thank you for your support. I really do appreciate it. And help us get others on board. And until next time, I'm signing off. God bless you. It's Ron and Hope. Real raw and relevant. It's us unfiltered every time. We'll see you later.