Full Throttle Part 8 - Maximum Potential Part 2

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We're staying in Fourth Gear and continuing our pursuit of maximum potential in Christ. Today we're looking at two more keys to reaching everything God has for you.

TWO: We learn to draft behind Jesus.

In NASCAR, cars align themselves bumper‑to‑bumper to reduce wind resistance. The lead car punches through the air, and the cars behind experience almost no drag. They can go faster with less effort.

Spiritually, we need to align our lives with Christ. When we position ourselves behind Him, the resistance of the world, the flesh, and the enemy is drastically reduced. The more I put myself in alignment with God's Word, the greater potential I reach in my life.

The problem is, too many people take the opposite approach. They want to see how far they can get from God's Word and still maintain salvation. That's not Christianity—that's playing games. Christianity is about aligning ourselves with God's Word and living our lives in Christ.

So what does that look like practically?

We Face‑the‑Book. Not Facebook. If we spent as much time facing the Bible as we do on social media, we'd be spiritual giants! God's Word is a mirror for our souls. We check our natural reflection every morning—we need to check our spiritual reflection too. Psalm 1 says the person who delights in God's law and meditates on it day and night is like a tree planted by streams of water—whatever they do prospers. How do you prosper? You face the book.

We need to die and hide. Colossians 3:3 says, "You died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God." Most people live their lives in a mud hole of sin—going "cannonball!" into the mess, then wondering why they're miserable. Jesus washes us, cleanses us, forgives us, and sets us free. But what do we do? We get cleaned up, then we wander back to the edge of the mud hole, tempted to jump back in.

Why are you hanging out at the cesspool of sin when Jesus set you free? Cling to the Word. Cling to the Life of God.

Can I be blunt? Too many people are just fans of Jesus, not followers of Jesus. A fan watches from a distance. A follower aligns their life with His—through thick and thin, through trials and tribulations. When I can't feel His presence, I walk by faith. I hold fast. I hide myself in Christ so that when people see me, they see Jesus.

THREE: We never quit or give up.

Winners never quit, and quitters never win. Paul said we are hard pressed but not crushed, perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed (2 Corinthians 4:8-9). Why? Because greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4).

Paul finished his race. He kept the faith. And he declared, "Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness" (2 Timothy 4:7-8). That same crown is waiting for everyone who longs for His appearing.

So here's my challenge: Double up on your time in the Word. If you spend five minutes, go ten. If you spend thirty, go sixty. Go big or go home with Jesus. Align your life so close behind His that people can't tell the difference between you and Jesus.

This year, I told God: "I want to go all out for Jesus. I don't want there to be a drop, a hint, a piece of glitter on me that isn't for Your glory." Let's go all out together!

Key Scriptures: Colossians 3:1-3; Psalm 1:1-3; John 15:4; Hebrews 12:3 (MSG); 1 John 4:4; 2 Corinthians 4:8-9; 2 Timothy 4:7-8

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:08

Hi everyone, Hassel Don Smith here. Welcome to the Talk About It Podcast, where we take relevant topics with a biblical point of view and we talk about it. You know you want to, so do I. Let's talk about it. Once again, welcome back, everyone, to the Talk About It Podcast. I'm Don Smith, your host, and I'm so glad that we are all on the same page today. Here we are. If you are here, you know why you're here, because you are wanting to live wide open, full throttle for Jesus. That's what we've been talking about on this season, and it's epic, okay? It's been an epic conversation, and I'm so glad that you've enjoyed it. I know you enjoyed it because you've been sending me some messages, and um I we got some new supporters on the podcast, too. It's it's just uh been a great journey so far. I never thought that uh a conversation about how do we live wide open for Jesus would be so popular. Uh, but you know what? Uh it's been good, and I appreciate the feedback. It's been well. If you're a first-time listener, where you been? We've been waiting for you, and now you're here, and we are glad about it. Do us a favor, though. Push pause right now, go back to the beginning of season 10, episode one, and start there. Catch back up with us. We promise we'll be here waiting for you when you get here. This is going to be an epic day because I just want to continue our conversation about, you know, just living our maximum potential for Jesus, right? And uh last week, man, we just really we we didn't quite finish what we were talking about, at least in my opinion. And I want to continue that conversation today. You know how we do. We're just taking this relevant topic. And uh that topic is how do we live out loud for Jesus? How do we live wide open for Jesus without being like fanatics? See, most people think that when you when you live out loud, when you live wide open for Jesus, you got to be some kind of, you know, crazy fanatic. But I have found that just living my life daily out loud for Jesus doesn't mean I'm a fanatic. It does mean I'm committed, amen. And and it does mean that my faith um determines how I live my life, how I think, how I process, uh spiritually, physically, financially, emotionally, everything. That my faith is the dictator of how I live my life. And I want to live full throttle for Jesus. Amen. And uh we're doing that today. I want to talk about uh some things that we learn. Uh we've been talking about uh the idea of uh, you know, we talked about things like distraction and detours and the ditch last week and those things. We we really mentioned that like creation can never outdo the creator. Come on. And uh that's really good. I I really want to focus on this next thing today, though. Um, you know, it's it's learning to draft behind Jesus. Now, if you'll remember last week, I really started off this conversation with saying, you know, as a race car driver. Now, if you're listening outside the United States, you you might not know this, but we have this sport called NASCAR, which is racing. And uh race cars learn that they can draft behind a car in front of them and actually save fuel and run faster than the car in front of them does. And uh that's how they learn to get around each other. That's how they learn to pass. Uh, it's an incredible aspect of it. And what that means is these drivers, these race car drivers, have learned how to align their car with the car in front of them so that the restrictions in front of the lead car aren't on them. Now, let's talk about that for just a minute because as believers in Jesus Christ, I want to, I want to learn to draft behind Jesus. Oh, come on. We we need to learn to align our lives with His. Okay. And what does it really mean when someone says, I'm following Jesus? Come on, now you're getting the picture. Jesus said, follow me. What does it mean? He what he's literally inviting us to draft him. He's literally inviting us to align our lives with him because he wants to take the brunt of the restriction. Listen, we need to align our life with Christ. We need to position ourselves in a posture that says, I am step by step following Jesus. And you're saying, okay, Pastor Don, what are you talking about? All right, are you really talking about comparing our walk with Jesus to NASCAR? Well, okay, yeah, a little bit about car racing, that kind of thing. Some of you are thinking, well, uh, I totally get that, what that means, because you're you're a fan. You understand what racing means and how uh how drivers uh do their best to position themselves. You see, you got one car in front of another, and they're going on a racetrack at 200 miles an hour, and they're bumper to bumper, right? And the front car is the car that cuts the wind uh and and it gets the most resistance. But then the wind goes over the front car and it creates turbulent air on the back side that literally slows down the front car. It begins to drag it and it's working in opposition to its forward momentum, okay? That's what draft, that's that's what happens. But when another car comes up behind it and puts its bumper on the tail of the lead car, right? Now all of a sudden they're punching through the resistance, right? Because the second car has aligned itself with the first car. And now the second car doesn't have any resistance in front of it because the red, the, the, the car that is ready and going down the track in the lead spot, okay, it is taking the resistance. And all of a sudden, the second car now is removing the turbulence that flows behind the first car. And now neither car is really experiencing resistance. And the two cars together can run faster than one car by itself can. Now, let me tell you why I say this, because I think it's very, very important. Because let's just say there's the word of God. And let's just say that I begin to stand behind the word of God. I need to align myself with God's word, with the life of Jesus Christ. And the more I put myself in alignment with God's word, the greater potential I have to reach where God wants me to be in my life. The maximum potential I can reach is to the maximum point that I align myself with Jesus Christ. Wow. Think about that. Now here's the problem. Some people take this approach, okay? And uh what they want to do is they want to see how far they can go from God's word while still maintaining salvation. I want to go as far away as I can, but still know that I'm going to heaven. And that's not, my friends, what Christianity is all about. See, Christianity is about aligning ourselves with God's word, it's about living our life in Christ. It's not how far I can go and still be a Christian, it's me coming alongside Jesus Christ. And so here's here's what we have to do, okay? First, what we've got to do, if this is going to be our model, we're aligning ourselves with Christ. All right, is we've got to face the book. Not Facebook, okay, but we need to face the book. Watch this. I want you to I want you to hear me. Maybe you want to write this down. If if we would spend as much time facing the book, I'm talking about the Bible, okay, as we spend on social media, Facebook, we'd probably be spiritual giants as men and women. Somebody say amen or oh me. You see, God's word is a mirror for our lives. We get up in the morning, we look in the natural mirror and we check everything out. Okay. And I got a shirt on today. You can't see it because obviously my podcast is just audio, but I got this shirt on that I'm wearing. And I come out of the closet and I ask my wife, do my pants match this shirt? You see, I looked in the mirror to make sure naturally I had everything together. Spiritually, what I need to do is look in the mirror of God's word and make sure we have everything together. So I'm asking, do you see what I see? Have I aligned myself properly, right? Does what I'm seeing match what I think I'm seeing? Watch Psalms chapter 1, verses 1 through 3. Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way of sinners, take, uh, sinners take, or sit in the company of mockers. But whose delight is in the law of the Lord and who meditates on his law day and night? That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit and season, whose leaf does not wither. Whatever they they do prospers. Whatever you do prospers. How do you prosper, Pastor Don? Well, I'm glad you asked. Align yourself with the book. Face the book. That's what we need to do. We need to face the book. And so what we're trying to do is make sure that we are in proper alignment with Christ. And the way we do that is by making sure that our lives are in alignment with the Word of God. I continue to be shocked, okay, at how little Christians, how little time Christians actually spend in the Bible. I I literally continue to be shocked. We we need to align our lives with the book. We only know that if we're in the book. You know what else we need to do? We need to die and hide. Colossians chapter 3, uh verse 1. Since then you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not earthy things. For you died and your life is now hidden with Christ and God. Watch this. You died and your life is now hidden in Christ with God. What are we saying? Well, it's interesting to think about this, okay? When you die, you gotta have a burial. Okay. Most people live their lives, their whole lives. I'm just gonna say this. This is my this is my podcast, and I'm just I just want to be raw, okay? Now we're just taking relevant topics with a biblical perspective and we're talking about it. And we're we're just saying, Pastor Don, how do I live wide open for Jesus? I I can't seem to run or live for the Lord at my maximum potential. Something, somewhere, somehow, is keeping me stuck. Okay. I I I always seem to be slow, I always seem to be struggling, I always seem to not be, you know, running properly. Well, most people live their lives in a mud hole. They're going all in for sin. And then when I say, hey, you got willful sin in your life, now all of a sudden I'm a bad preacher, I'm a bad person. Hey, you know what? You're living in the mud, and therefore you can't run as fast as you can't, you're supposed to, because you're stuck in the mud. Someone comes along and they ask, All right, uh, how's how's your life? And they're like, Well, you know, the mud's all in my eyes, it's in my nose. It's not that much fun. I thought it would be fun. It was fun for a little while, but it's not fun anymore. And people are throwing mud balls at me. It just goes on and on and on. Okay, every Sunday after I preach a sermon, we have three Sunday morning services. Uh, and there's 30-minute changeover in between services. Every Sunday without fail, right after the sermon, I will get caught by someone because they want to talk about the struggles in their life, which is fine. I'm a pastor. I like to talk to people, and and really uh I don't I don't mind it at all. But they begin to mind it when I say, I ask them four things. All right, let's talk about four things in your life. Number one, okay, how's your how's your reading? How much time are you spending in the Bible? I'm so busy. How much time, number two, how much time are you spending in prayer? Oh, I don't I don't, you know, prayer is I don't I don't know what to pray about. All right. How much time are you spending in fellowship? Okay, because the last time uh I saw you was, you know, a month ago when you came to church. That was the last time I saw you, right? Or how's your giving? Are you living outside of yourself? Or are you just consuming everything that comes in your life? Those are four areas, okay, that I promise you I can do a spiritual inventory on anybody's life. How's your church attendance? How's your Bible reading? How's your prayer life? And how's your giving? And if one of those four areas are out of line in your life, I guarantee you there's going to be struggles, okay? But you say, well, I I want to I want to live wide open for Jesus, but I feel like I'm living in a mud hole. Right? Well, hey, how about this? There's a better way. Would you like to come out of that mud hole? What do you mean, Pastor Don? There's a better way. Come on. How about if I told you there's a way to totally get rid of all this mud? Man, if you would come to God, if you would align your life with Jesus, do you understand that he'll forgive all your mistakes? That he'll deal with all your mud? And you're like, no, he won't. Yes, he will. He'll cleanse you, he'll forgive you, he'll wash you. Really? You're saying, really, Pastor? Yes. Why don't you just come out? Why don't you just align your life with Jesus? See, he comes to wash us, he comes to cleanse us, he comes to forgive us, he comes to redeem us, he comes to set us free from the bondage of all sin and sickness and despair. He washes us in his blood. Come on, somebody. Somebody say amen. He sets us free from being stuck. And you're like, whoa, that's awesome. This is great. I want to live for Christ. Great. I want you in the Word. I want you serving God because that's a good thing. Because why? You've died to the old man, and now you're living with God. You're aligning your life with God.

SPEAKER_00 15:08

Okay? And then you're gonna come up to me and go, Well, but what about the mud? What about the mud? Look at this mud, it's still there.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

And now I just feel like, you know what? I'm stuck again. I'm back in my old ways. What am I doing back here in sin? What am I doing back here in this cesspool?

SPEAKER_00 15:33

Well, and I'll say, Well, why aren't you standing in line with the word of God?

SPEAKER_01 15:39

You see, I can save you a bunch of counseling. Hello, somebody. And by asking you, where in your life are you struggling? And if you tell me where that at where that is, then I can begin to ask you, how do you believe that that particular area is not lining up with the word of God? You see what I'm saying? Why are you hanging out in a mud hole that Jesus wants to deliver you from? Talk about it. Watch this. Cling to the word, cling to the life of God, live for God and serve Him. Can I just be blunt with us today? Talk about it. Can I I'm not gonna go postal on you, I wanna go pastoral on you. Let's oh let's do that. Too many people are just fans of Jesus and not followers of Jesus. Oh, I said it out loud. Too many people are just fans of Jesus and not followers of Jesus. In other words, they're not lining their life up with Jesus, and they wonder why they can't live their life wide open for him.

SPEAKER_00 16:51

No, you gotta follow Jesus through thick and thin. Come on. You're gonna go through trials and tribulations and difficulties, right?

SPEAKER_01 17:02

And you're gonna say, Well, I don't feel his presence, I don't see him, I don't experience him. But talk about it, that's when we walk by faith. See, we can't be moved by what we see. We gotta be moved by the word of God. You may tell you how to deal with it when you say, Well, I don't feel his presence, or I don't see him, or I don't think I'm experiencing him, right? I want you to hold fast. I want you to put your face in his book, okay? And I want you to streamline your life behind him, right? I want you to say, I'm gonna die to myself and hide myself in Christ. And when people see me, you know what they're gonna see? They're gonna see Jesus. When people see me, they're gonna be like, man, he's like Jesus. He's full of the word of God, right? Like Jesus just oozes from me. The word of God just oozes from him, right? He forgives people, he loves people. When people see me, they I want I want them to see me being a giver, like Jesus was a giver. See, I want us to be filled with the word, and I want the word to fill us. Come on, talk about it. Hebrews chapter 12, verse 3 says, Consider him who endured such opposite opposition from sinners, so that you'll not grow weary and lose heart. Let me let me read it to you in the message paraphrase. Now, the message is not a translation. I know that, uh, you know that, because I told you that. It's a paraphrase. I don't recommend that it is your uh you know, daily driver in your Bible, but uh I do like to look at it every once in a while. There are some things in it that I totally, totally go like negative. But there are things like Hebrews chapter 12, verse 3, when it says, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he pout prout plowed through. That'll shoot adrenaline into your souls. All right, let me let me read it again. I don't like the NIV. Consider him who endured such oppositions from sinners, so that you'll not grow weary and lose heart. Now I'm gonna read it to you again out of the message paraphrase. Go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls. I like that. Here we go. Right? Someone's gonna come up to me, well, but I just got this feeling it's not working. No, what I want you to do is go read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, go to the end of those books and read where they put the thorns on his head, the nails through his hands, the nails through his feet. And I'm gonna look at you and say, you look pretty good. Because I don't think anyone who's listening to this podcast has had a sword or a spear poked into their side. I don't think anyone who's listening to this podcast ever had a crown of thorns pressed on their head. I don't think anyone who's ever who's listening to this podcast, right, been beaten by a whip. Let's remember what Jesus did. Talk about it. Let's let his life encourage us. Let's let his word live big in us. John chapter 15, verse 4, remain in me as I remain in you. Wow. No branch can bear fruit by itself. It must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. Wow. All right, Vince Lombardi. Now, famous football coach for those of you who don't live in the United States. Uh, but those of you who do live in the United States, you you you don't have to be a football fan to know who Vince Lombardi is. He said it first, and it's so true. He said this winners never quit and quitters never win.

SPEAKER_00 20:39

Wow. So talk about it.

SPEAKER_01 20:43

What do we need to do? All right, I'm gonna close the podcast with this today because we got a lot to talk about, and so many more episodes to come in this conversation. Here's my last point. We never quit or we never and we never give up. I don't I don't care what you're going through. I don't care what the hard times are like. We triumph in Christ because greater is he that's within us than he that's in the world. Paul said that we are hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed. We're perplexed, but not in despair. We're persecuted, but not abandoned. We're struck down, but not destroyed. Therefore, don't lose heart. Somebody say amen. 1 John 4, and 4, you dear children, are from God and have overcome them because the one who is in you is greater than the one that's in the world. 2 Timothy chapter 4, verse 7. I have fought the good fight, I've finished the race, I've kept the faith. Now there is not, uh now there's in store for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award me on that day. And not only me, but also to all. Everybody say, All. That's you who have longed for his appearing. I want to challenge each and every person who's listening to this podcast. Cast. Double your time in the Word of God. What? Yes. I want to challenge you right now. If you usually spend five minutes, I want you to go spend ten. Well, you're like, hey, Pastor Don, come on, PD. I usually spend 30, 40, or 50 minutes a day in the Word of God. I dare you to double it. Right? Let me tell you this. Outside of the love of Jesus and the love of my wife, the Word of God has been the biggest change agent in my life. And I'm talking about a physical. I've got plenty of physical Bibles. I love, I just got a brand new one this week, and I didn't need it, but I got it anyway. And that these those Bibles are my Bibles. They've got my highlights in them, they've got my underlines in them. They've got my notes in them. They're where I go on a daily basis. I'm talking old school paper leatherback Bible. And I feed on the word of God, and he encourages my heart through his word. He lifts my spirit through his word. I want to dare you to go big or go home with Jesus. Talk about it. Talk about it. I want to dare you go home or go big with Jesus to align your life so close behind his that people can't tell the difference between you and Jesus. Come on, someone. You know what? I'm just gonna be personal with you right here in this moment, the last closing moments we have. Um, you know, at the time of this recording, uh, it's like the first week of July in 2026. We just got through the 4th of July. And at the first of this year, I'm gonna be honest with you, I came to God and I said, God, I want to go all out for you. Come on, somebody. And they're like, Well, Pastor Don, you're a pastor, you've been pastoring for over 30 years, and those listen, I I came to God and I was like, I want to go out. I wanna I want to give my heart, I'm gonna give my attitudes, I want to give my everything, my words. And the truth was I did that because I was feeling a little burned out, I was feeling a little uh tired, I was feeling a little frustrated, I was feeling a little um agitated. Hello, somebody. I was just feeling exhausted, and uh and so in spite of that, I said, Lord, I'm gonna go all out for you. Especially my attitudes, my everything, my words. I God, I don't want there to be a drop. I don't know where this will lead or how it will look, but I don't want there to be an inkling of me left at the end of this year. I don't want there to be a piece of glitter on me that isn't your glory or for your honor. I want to go all out for you, Jesus. That's what I said. And you know what? I'm ha I'm glad we're having this conversation on the podcast. Because, see, I don't care how long you've been walking with the Lord, right? We all need that boost. How many times do you think one of these race car drivers that I talk about have run a race? Thousands upon thousands of races that they've run. And each race is a new race. And they got to figure out how to get around that track, full throttle, wide open, because they want the prize. And Paul says, run the race to win the prize. Not to just finish, but to run as if you're going to win the prize. I want, I want to live wide open. I want to live wide open for Jesus. That doesn't necessarily mean doing more, it just means positioning myself, okay, in the best place so that my life is aligned with Jesus. And you know what? Here's the truth. That second car that's learning to draft, the RPMs aren't running as fast as the one in front of it. See, there's rest that is happening. And you're still running faster than you could if you weren't aligned with the car in front of you. Same way with Jesus. When you align your life with Jesus, it's not about working or running harder or faster. It's about learning. Amen. To put your life in the best position so that you don't have to burn yourself out to finish. Oh, it's so good. We got so much to talk about. I could go on and on and on and on, on and on and on and on. And we're going to, but we're going to have to do it next week. Listen, listen, listen, talk about it. I love you so much, and I'm so grateful for you, but I need you to know this. As much as I love you, Jesus loves you more.

SPEAKER_00 26:52

I'll see you next week.