Howdy? Welcome to the Breakway podcast. Thanks for listening. We have just launched this year's Shalom project. And if you'd like to learn more, visit Breakway Ministries.org slash shalom. We hope you enjoy the message.

We hope you enjoy the message. Howdy! I love it, I love it, I love it.

So pumped to be with you guys this evening.

Let me just say a few things up front, okay?

I love this place.

This ministry has blessed my life so much.

You have no idea.

Sixteen years ago, I got plugged into a small group with three couples who God used to change my life

radically. It just so happens that they had just graduated from Texas A&M, that they were involved in

breakway ministries, and I still run with them now 16 years later. In fact, one of those couples

is moving with us to Waco.

And so just a privilege and an honor to be here. I love TA so much. I sit under his teaching often. When he said, hey, do you want to come to break away? I said, yeah, I'd love to. Are you teaching? I'll be there, you know. And so, so great to be with you guys and worshiping with you guys this evening I love what you're doing I love the way that God is using you

and just the way that we're taking the Bible around to be with you guys and worshiping with you guys this evening. I love what you're doing.

I love the way that God is using you and just the way that we're taking the Bible around the world. Let me ask you a question. Have you ever had to like set out chairs, like folding chairs for something? You ever had to do that? Like we always have it. I speak different places. I've been to different places. Sometimes the room is like a flat floor or something, and there's not fixed chairs like this. We'll have to set out chairs. Okay? And so that's something, and even for this retreat that we did for a while, where we'd have to set out chairs and put them up. And I noticed something every single year. I did the same retreat for 10 years.

And every year I would notice the same thing would happen is different people could carry different number of chairs. Okay, right? You know, like you've got some people, right? They got one chair under each arm. Some people are doing one chair just in front of them. You're like, what's up? Get in the weight room. And then you got the big football player, you know, bear hugging the chairs, like showing off, peacocking around. Hey, ladies.

And what I noticed is every year we do this, at some point, there's this big, loud commotion,

and I turn around, and somebody has dropped all the chairs. And there's only one reason that they dropped the chairs.

Because no matter if they are big or small, weak or strong,

no matter how many chairs they can carry, they carry too many.

They carried more than they could actually carry. And they came crashing down.

And this has become a metaphor for me. Because there are seasons in my life where I've carried too many chairs.

And they've come crashing down and made a huge commotion.

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