Trusting in God's Sovereignty

Learn to recognize whether our actions and endeavors are of man or of God.
 Garrett reads from Acts 5, where Peter is confronted by the Pharisees for preaching the gospel. A Pharisee named Gamaliel advises the Pharisees to leave the apostles alone, stating that if their work is of man, it will fail, but if it is of God, it cannot be stopped. Garrett applies this lesson to real estate agents facing challenges in their business, reminding them that if their work is aligned with God's purpose, it will succeed.

Takeaways

If our actions and endeavors are aligned with God's purpose, they cannot fail.
Seek to be excellent in what you are doing, whether it is of man or of God.
Trust in God's sovereignty over the outcome of your work.
If something fails, it may be a sign that it was not aligned with God's purpose, and He may have another path for you.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Conference Announcement
02:22 Reading from Acts 5
08:16 The Difference Between Man's Work and God's Work
12:27 Seeking Excellence in All Endeavors
15:17 Trusting in God's Sovereignty
17:47 Failure as a Sign of Misalignment

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Transcript

0:01

What's up faithful agents welcome back to another episode of the faithful agent podcast Thank you once again for joining me today a couple quick housekeeping notes The conference is coming up soon faithful agent .com backslash conference go check it out It's going to be an incredible time in greenville, South Carolina October 3rd and 4th. hope you will join us ticket cost. I think it's like 149 we try to keep it as low and cheap as possible because we want people to be able to come. We're a nonprofit organization. We want you to be able to come to fellowship with other Christian agents who are in the space because we know how much of a blessing it has been for us. We want it to bless you too. So I hope that you will come. I hope that you will join others. I hope that you will bring friends with you. It is unlike anything you've ever experienced. So I hope you can make it. And if the cost is too much, please reach out to us, garrett at faithfulagent .com. please reach out to me we'd love to figure out a way to get you there for free because it's our joy together with you so excited for y 'all to be with me today i'm gonna tie into acts five been reading through acts if you all been listening to the to the show been reading through acts and you know there's been so many things that suck out to me that i want to share but i'm gonna read an excerpt from acts five before i do as i tried last week and let me know is this fun is it not i don't know instead of doing Christian jokes, especially chat GPT jokes, which just turn out to be not funny, which you might be thinking, Garrett, all your other jokes weren't funny either. And I would say you're wrong because I think they're hilarious. But I looked up what are the funniest church signs? You know what I'm talking about. There's church signs when you're driving past the church. It's got a sign and it says, you know, whatever. Some of them are really funny. So this one says honk if you love Jesus. Text and drive if you want to meet him. That's awesome. I really like that. If you are more fortunate than others, build a longer table, not a taller fence. That's really good. And finally, let's see, looking for the perfect gift, find him here. I like that. That's really, really good. Actually, those weren't funny except the first one. Here's the point, right? There's just truth. and reminders that we all need as we go throughout our daily lives. And I hope that today's podcast is going to be one of those reminders. So if you have your phone or maybe your Bible or if you're in the car, just listen to me read Acts 5, an excerpt from Acts 5. So the background of this is, as a reminder, Acts is the story of how the church got its beginning. The Christian church gets its beginning. with the apostles that were specifically raised up and equipped by Christ before He ascended into heaven. And now they are taking the gospel, they are taking the church out into the nations. And it's the beginning of the church, of course, acts as the story too of when Paul is converted, well, Saul is converted and later known as Paul. who writes half of the New Testament. so, just an incredible story to see and hear how the beginning of the church happened. So I'm going to read to you a passage from Acts 5. So the quick background of this is, excuse me, Peter is out there teaching and preaching and telling the good news and the truth of what Scripture actually is and the truth about Jesus. And the Pharisees, right, the religious leaders of the day were angry because they were losing power. They had power because the people of that day just listened to what they had to say. And they believed that these are the only righteous men and they have all the wisdom and the knowledge. And so we must trust and do what they say. And so really was a power grab, right? Honestly, very much like the political climate of today. And they were getting upset when Peter in particular in this story is coming around and telling a different story. than what the Pharisees are telling, happens to be the right one, right? The story of Jesus. And people are starting to believe him and follow Jesus as opposed to following them. So all it is, is they're losing power. So they've come to Peter and they say, we don't want you to talk about this anymore. So we get to this point, excuse me, where they brought Peter in. I'm going to start reading Acts 5 verses 33. They brought Peter in and they say, stop talking about the gospel, right? In summation. stop talking about the gospel and he's like no i'm not going to right so here's where we're to pick up acts chapter five verses thirty three and we're going to read when they heard this they were enraged and wanted to kill them peter and and another who's with them but a Pharisee in the council named gamma leo a teacher of the law held in honor by all the people stood up and gave others to put the men outside for a little while and he said to them speaking to the Pharisees the other the other leaders Men of Israel, take care of what you're about to do with these men. For before these days, Thutis rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. After him, Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him. He, too, perished, and all who followed him were scattered. So in the present case, I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone. For if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail. But if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God." So they took his advice, and it continues. That's the beginning of, the end of verse 39. So you've got this Pharisee, right? Gamaliel, and I don't know how to pronounce their names. and the he steps up again this is a guy who's a Pharisee he's not a follower of Jesus at the time we don't know where his life ended up right but he is among the Pharisees those who did not believe in Jesus and and taught a different truth than what Jesus had just come to earth to explain and and be a witness to he believes something different but he's talking to the other Pharisees and he says in this wisdom don't be so concerned with Peter and everybody else that's out here preaching the truth because remember these other two men that tried to do it they came along they got some followers and they died and it went away but i love what he specifically says so he says in the present case keep away from these men leave him alone because if this plan or undertaking is of man it will fail but if it is of god you will not be able to overthrow them and that's really where i want to land today because i i love that truth. You know, you all been with me for a long time. We're 200 episodes in. Many of you have been here a long time and you've seen and heard a lot of my journey and the challenges and the good things I've done, the things I shouldn't have done that I did anyways, right? All the ups and downs that I've had. I started, you know, seven, I believe seven new businesses in 2023, which was a mistake. Most of them were terrible. I came into this year. I've got my, my real estate team. Of course, we've got the faithful agent. I've got this organization called the two 10 collective. and all of these things that i'm starting it is important that i have wisdom behind what i'm about to do but as i go into these i can read acts five in the lord even putting the words in the mouth of i think a non -believer at the time i just a leader of the Pharisees and he can have the wisdom to say if this is of man it's gonna fail anyways but if it's of the lord you can't And I love that as a reminder because so many of the things I'm doing at Faithful Agent is an example. It's Lord, I hope and I believe this is of you. And if it is, here's the beauty of it. Nothing can stop it. It will continue. There is nothing that can stand in the way of whatever it is that the Lord has put out in front of us. But if it is of man, it will fade away. And praise God for that truth. So here's what I want you to understand and take away. As you're thinking about, that's awesome, that's a great truth. How does that apply at all to my real estate business? How does that apply at all? Well, here's what I want you to think about. We're going through a challenging season. The market is down. I've heard people report that it could be the worst market since they started tracking in terms of how many overall deals happen nationwide. That's, based on how many people live here and all this stuff, the math that I don't understand, but that it could be the worst year in real estate history in terms of sales. We're going through that plus in our settlement, plus all the changes and there's a lot happening, right? There's a lot of things that are being thrown at us and a lot of us falling prey to, well, the anxiety, the fear, all of those things. But here's the truth that we get to hold onto. Hey, if what you're doing is of man, it's going to fail. But if what you're doing is of The Lord, if this is what the Lord wants you to do, nothing can stop it. Even if you said, let's look at Jonah, right? Jonah is called to go to Nineveh and he's like, Lord, I don't want to go. I'm scared. And he tries to run away, right? He gets swallowed by a fish. It's not a whale, it's a fish. And he gets swallowed by a fish. He's in the belly of the fish. Then he gets spit out and then he ends up in Nineveh, right? And it's, hey, you're going to end up there anyways, right? You could either have just walked there and gone there in obedience or in your disobedience you could try to run away but you're in and up there anyways because that's the lord's purpose we can't actually walk outside of the purpose of the lord that's not possible the lord had ordained that juda or to who would i say now i confuse myself whoever got swallowed by the whale that that that he was going to end up in at jona i don't know i said you know that joseph and up in the above regardless And so no matter what he did, if it was a man, he had this plan to say, I'm going to go to Nineveh and I'm going to preach the gospel to these people, and it wasn't what the Lord desired, it was going to fall apart. Right? If he had gone and said, you know what, never mind, I don't want to go. And he turned around and he started walking the other direction, nothing would happen. He would have been able to walk the other direction and it would have been fine because it was a plan of man that would have just failed. but because it was a purpose and plan of the Lord when he said I'm gonna turn around and walk the other way I'm gonna get out of here I'm scared of going to speak the gospel to these Ninevites then the Lord said no you're not and he swallows them up in the belly of a fish and then he spits them out and he goes to Ninevite and he preaches the gospel right the reality is is we try to understand in this moment in history for us as real estate agents and whenever you're listening to this but as we try to understand in this moment in time So much of us are concerned that maybe this is the time everything's falling apart or this is happening or that's happening or how am I going to be sustained? And then we just come back to truth after truth after truth. That's my job. That's our job. That's collectively what I want you to do to me. That's what I want to do to you is just remind you of truth. If what you're doing is of man, it is going to fail. But if what you're doing is of the Lord, nothing can stop it. If the Lord has called you brother or sister who's listening, to be in the industry of real estate, whatever it you're doing, mortgage or real estate sales or property management or insurance or whatever, whatever you're doing. If the Lord has called you to it, then His purpose will prevail and there's nothing you can do to stop it. If what you're doing is out of pride or ego or whatever it is, which you all know, I confess all the time, that's so much of what I do. If it's just about me and what I want and building my own kingdom, Not only is it hard news, but it's good news. It will fall apart if it's of man. So my brothers and sisters, whatever you're going through right now, wherever your business is, whatever you're wrestling through, whether it's business or home or spiritual or, you know, familial or relational, whatever it is that you have going on, if you continue to focus on the purpose of the Lord, the purposes of the Lord, they cannot fail. If you continue to pursue the work of your own hands, the desires of your own heart and not seeking to understand truly what it is the Lord wants for you, which I struggle with all the time, then guess what? It is going to fail. There is great comfort in knowing that if we seek, and we're never going to know fully the will of the Lord. Don't hear me say that. But there's great comfort in knowing that when we seek to understand, Lord, is this Your will? I believe that it is. Therefore, I'm going to work towards that as the end. And I trust you because if this is of you, no matter what I do, no matter how much I screw up, no matter how many times I make mistakes, no matter what happens, I'm going to work and try to be excellent. But no matter what I do, Lord, it will not fail because you alone are sustaining this. Right. I felt that so many ways with the faithful agent. I mean, when Tyler and I started this in January of 2023, we didn't know what we were doing. we still don't know what we're doing i mean just being honest right and we had this conference in in march of twenty twenty three and and now our friends have been all the events since you know lovingly call it that was in the conference care that was a meeting because i don't know business planning at in a conference an event you know the the audio visual guy showed up the night before at this hotel in his there is getting everything ready and then he's trying to work on the mike's and he can't get him to work and he can't figure it out in it sounds terrible and eventually and tyler and i was there we don't know we're doing and eventually just says well this is not gonna work and he leaves and we paid him anyways like what he didn't even fix the a v but we paid the a v guy that doesn't make any sense right you know all these things that were going on and if you've been listening you've heard me tell the story but after the it the first conference which really was amazing people came up and like hey what's next for the people agent and the answer was nothing i we didn't know this was gonna work right like we honestly thought this was gonna bomb but it was that moment honestly for me where i felt acts five that this wasn't just of me and tyler by any means right if it was it would have failed by now this is of the lord and therefore it will continue and we started to see other people come along and say hey i have the same vision to and i want to support or someone comes in and says i want to start a local group or i want to be part of a local group or how do i help you throw conferences whatever it is people coming along And the Lord's showing us, hey, this is not of you guys, meaning this is also not about you. This is of me. This is my purpose. And therefore it will prevail. And therefore I will bring pieces to support you. It's been a beautiful thing to watch. And now I know as I look forward to any new business or whatever it is that I'm launching or taking on, I can trust that if it's of the Lord, it will be sustained. you we started a business called business by relationships a couple years ago me my buddy keith my buddy mark and i will keep and i started we hired mark later on pretty pretty quickly to be the cio and we were confident this was gonna crush it right that was my personality that is my personality keys like all this could be amazing to make a million dollars well that didn't happen in fact we lost money and like a few years later we shut it down but i remember that very first meeting with mark is our cio we're sitting there and we're talking about you know what the future of this business could be in what it would look like in x y and z and he says in that meeting he's were were getting up to leave and he says you know what guys in a year from now people are going to look at us and say you guys were crazy to think this was gonna work or this is way better than you guys ever thought it would be right and and it's just such a true statement like if it was something the lord desired from us then it would have sustained it would still be here and clearly it wasn't cuz it's not here and that's okay right we're not gonna swing and hit a home run every time we're not we're not even gonna get up to the plate sometimes right that business didn't even really take off at all and the reality is if we understand acts five that's okay because i don't always know nor will i ever be able to always act in obedience and because i can't always act in obedience because i don't know the full heart and mind of god nor will i ever pretend to know the full heart and mind of god I'm going to start things, I'm going to be involved in things that I think are what the Lord wants me to do and it will turn out they're from man and therefore they will fail and praise God for that. But then there will be other things. that happen that i know i'm not doing a great job in or it's too big for me or something that i need to grow into or i need more people to help and if it's of the lord he will bring those people and it will succeed no matter what because if it is from the lord in acts five it cannot fail that's the beauty of knowing christ that's the beauty of knowing that the lord is sovereign over the out Whatever you've got going on, brother, sister, and Christ, if you're a real estate agent, you're wondering, is this what I'm supposed to do? Keep seeking to do it with excellence. Because if it is sustained, it will be because this is the Lord's desire from you. And if it fails, it will be because it was of you, not of the Lord, and the Lord has something else that He wants you to do that is of Him. There's no loss there as a believer. If it doesn't work, then it wasn't of Him. If it does work, then it was of Him. If it doesn't work, it moves me to another path. If it does work, it means I can stay on this path. The Lord is merciful and kind in His direction. When you doubt yourself, when you wonder what's going on, when you question whether you're supposed to be doing what you're doing, I think the right answer is just seek to be excellent in what you are doing. Whether it's right or wrong, we don't know. Seek to be excellent in it. And the Lord will reveal in His time whether it was from you or from Him. I know I like to speed things up. I don't want to wait. But it's the reality of living in a world that's not dictated by me or dictated by you. We live in the Lord's timing, not mine. So brother and sister, seek to be excellent in what you're doing and hold fast to the truth that if this, whatever this is that you're doing, work or not, family or not, relational or not, whatever it is that you're involved in, if it is from the Lord, it cannot fail. It literally cannot fail. And if it is of you, it will fail. And yet the Lord in His kindness will show you another path that is of Him, and you can walk it with confidence. I hope this is an encouragement to some of you. I know Acts 5 has been an encouragement to me. It really removes the weight of me forcing something to happen. It removes the pressure from me to feel like I have to will this business or will this success to happen because the truth is I can't anyways. But if I work to will it to happen, it'll just burn me out. Instead, if I remember and remind myself and those around me, we will work to be excellent. That's how we honor the Lord. The Lord is sovereign over the outcome. If this is His will, it will continue. If it's not, it won't. In the meantime, if this is where our feet are, let's be as good as possible in it. I pray that brings you some comfort and some encouragement. I you, faithful agents. I hope we will see you at the Faithful Agent Conference in Greenville, South Carolina, October 3rd and 4th. And if you need anything, reach out to me on Instagram, Garrett Maroon. Shoot me an email, garrett at faithfulagent .com, or reach out to a brother or sister in Christ and be encouraged this day. I love you, and I'll see you next week.