Faithful God - Week 4: His Faithfulness for Mine

You know the word faithful means true to one's word, true to one's character, true to one's nature.

And what better word to describe the most high God?

Our God is a faithful God.

And we want to take some time in this series to remind you that whatever you're going through, whether it's difficulty from your past, difficult seasons, or even a storm that you may be facing, our God is a faithful God.

So I want you to buckle up, get your notebook out, be ready to take some good notes to be reminded of the fact that no matter what the situation calls for, your God is ready and equipped just for that.

And also don't forget, it is school time.

It is time for kids to get back in school.

And if you have not yet figured out the right place for your child or your grandchild, we'd love to have you take a look at Impact Christian Academy, our pre-K through 12th grade school that really is designed to help nurture kids in the academic subjects, but also develop Christian character in their hearts as well.

Go to ICAjacks.com for more information.

And now let's get ready for the faithful God.

All right, we're gonna wrap up this series that I've been in for the last few weeks.

And we've been talking teaching a series entitled The Faithful God.

And talking about the fact that the God we serve is faithful.

And we've literally been spending three weeks talking about his faithfulness.

We talked about the fact that God is faithful in every season.

We talked about the fact that God is faithful in every season.

We talked about the fact that God is faithful in every season.

Amen.

We also talked about the fact that He's faithful in the middle of the storm.

And then last week we talked about the fact that God is faithful to every one of his promises.

If he said it, you can take it to the bank, God will do what he said.

But I want to wrap this up and take a little bit different turn.

As I was praying through how to wrap this up, I think the question needs to shift from can we count on God's faithfulness?

to now can God count on our faithfulness?

I think he's got a resume that proves that he's faithful.

He's got a resume that proves he'll open up a red sea when you need it, he'll he'll rain down manna from heaven when you need it.

He's got a resume that proves that he'll pay rent when you need to pay it, he'll heal your body when healing is needed.

The question now turns, we look in the mirror, look the other way around.

Can he count on us to be faithful as well?

See, this is what I need you to know.

God's faithfulness isn't just something that we receive, it's literally a character trait we are called to reflect.

So as we've been shouting and reflecting on 30 years of God's faithfulness, it's not just something we receive and we thank God for what he's done for us.

It's really a trait that God expects us to turn around and reflect it to everybody else.

See, the reality is this if I'm really God's child, then there should increasingly be a family resemblance.

If I'm really his child, then I should resemble him.

That means if he's faithful, then I should be faithful.

I mean, we look around, you know, children tend to inherit characteristics from their parents.

If you look at your kid and they don't look nothing like you, you start having questions.

It ought to be an eyebrow or something that looks like me.

Well, kids ought to resemble their parents in some way.

Sometimes the resemblance is physical, got the same eye color, the same smile, or the same hair.

Sometimes the resemblance is mannerisms.

Sometimes the resemblance is personality.

As much as we can't hate to admit it, sometimes your kid is acting just like you did.

And some of us as we get older, we we hate it, we we fight it hard, but you're starting to act just like your mama.

Why?

It's in the DNA that the kids are gonna look like, sometimes even act like their parents.

Many of you know that uh I met my biological dad for the first time 12 years ago.

Long story, I won't try to go into all of that.

I did a video if you want to go out there to social media and watch it, but it was an amazing story of meeting my dad, and and we become the closest of friends.

We talk, you know, at least two or three times a week, and and uh we're really connected.

When I first met my dad, I found out that I knew I had I had three siblings on my mom's side that I was close to.

Then I found out on my dad's side I had four siblings on my dad's side.

And what blew me away is when I met my dad, there was something about finding my dad and kind of finding my identity.

That was a part of my identity.

So I met my dad and found out I had at the time a 22-year-old brother who looked exactly like I did when I was 22 years old.

Then I had another brother that was actually four years younger than me, and he's the first person I actually connected with.

I found him on Facebook.

He's got the same name as my dad.

So when I found the name, I clicked the picture and I the picture popped up, and right there in the bed, I looked at him, he had freckles, and literally April and I sat there in the bed, and we both just wept because I'm like, man, I know this has got to be a relative of mine because we look just alike.

Well, now when I met my dad and I had known him for about a week, we were up there in Detroit, we spent about a week up there, and it wasn't just that we looked alike, it wasn't just that we that I had some features like him.

We went out to dinner with my sister and her husband, and halfway through the dinner, her husband dropped his head and just started shaking his head.

I was like, What's wrong?

He said, This is unreal.

He said, You got the same mannerisms that your dad has.

He said, You're laughing.

The way you hold your mouth are the same way as your dad.

Now, granted, I had only known him for a few days.

I didn't have enough time to study him and mimic him.

Which means I was demonstrating mannerisms like my dad that had to have come through the gene pool of DNA.

What am I saying?

If God the Father is really your dad, then there ought to be some characteristics where we look like, act like, talk like, treat other people the way God intends for us to treat them.

Give me a good shout of praise, somebody in this place.

This is not in your notes, but the Bible says this in Galatians 5 22.

It says, But the fruit of the Spirit.

Now I hate that they use that phrase fruit of the Spirit, because when we hear fruit, we think bananas and apples and oranges.

A better way of saying that would have been this the result of the Holy Spirit coming to live in your heart when you get saved is that you now have from the inside love.

Now that we're born again, come on, you have the ability to love people.

You may choose not to, but you do have the ability to love people.

You have the ability to forgive people.

Your forgiver is not broken.

The fruit of the spirit, the result of the Holy Spirit in our hearts is that love is there.

Joy is how many of you got joy on the inside?

Joy is not the same as happiness.

Happiness is dependent upon circumstance.

Joy is a fruit that comes up from the inside.

Come on, you can smile when there's nothing to smile about.

I said you can smile when there's nothing to smile about.

Let me see what your joy face looks like.

Come on, let me see.

That'll look like joy, like you've been eating pickles.

Let me see what your joy.

Come on, let me see your joy face.

Turn around, let the person next to you see what your joy face looks like.

Come on, show them your 32 teeth, or your 28 teeth, or your brand new veneers that you just got.

Show them whatever.

The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, watch this, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness.

Here's another one.

The fruit of the spirit, the Holy Spirit living on the inside of you should produce faithfulness.

Which means if I'm indeed born again, if I surrender my heart to Jesus, one of the things that should rise up on the inside as I mature and develop is I should become known by all the people around me as being faithful.

My dad is faithful.

My spiritual gene pool dictates that I'm going to be faithful as well.

In fact, the Bible says this in Ephesians 5 1.

It says, Imitate God, therefore.

Watch this in everything you do.

Why?

Because you are his dear children.

That means if God is loving, his children should become loving.

Come on, that means if God is gracious, that means his children ought to be gracious.

If God is merciful, his children should be merciful.

Watch this.

If our Father is faithful, then we as his children should be known as people who are faithful as well.

Now let me make sure we're along on the same page because when we say faithful, what we're talking about is this faithfulness means you're dependable, trustworthy, committed, consistent, loyal, true to your word, somebody that other people can rely upon, and somebody who finishes what they start.

Come on, can we agree that God is that?

God is dependable, trustworthy, committed, consistent, loyal, true to his word, somebody we can rely on, somebody who finishes what he starts.

If God is faithful, we are his children, we have his DNA.

We should be known by people around us as being faithful.

People shouldn't look at us and say, Who told you they'll do that?

Oh, Jackie told you that, girl.

You better go ahead and find you another solution.

Who told you that?

Who?

Oh, Ralph told you that.

Well, what was his eye twitching when he said it?

If we're his kids, he's faithful, our spiritual DNA is that people should know us as people who are faithful.

Give me a good amen.

Proverbs 20 and 6 says this most men, most people will proclaim each his own goodness, which means people will tell you their highlights, they'll post them on the social media.

We all do it, man.

You do realize that social media is people's highlights, it's not the whole story.

Each person will proclaim their own goodness, their highlights, what amazing things they've accomplished.

But the Bible asks this question but who can find a faithful man or woman?

He didn't just say who can find a talented person or charismatic person, a gifted person, a talented person, an educated person.

He said, Who can find a faithful person?

Why is he asking who can find a faithful person?

Let me tell you why.

Because faithfulness is countercultural today.

If you were to just jump into the tide of society and let the flow of what everybody is doing around you become what you do, you would not be known as somebody who's faithful.

That's not what happens in our society.

People don't honor their word.

That's why you need a billion contracts.

You got to get everything notarized and make sure you got the signature and get some blood on it as well, so DNA to make sure they don't come back.

Why?

Because there was a time when people would give you a handshake and say, if I give you my word, you can take it to the bank, I would do it.

Today people are willing to change their word, lie, change their mind, go the opposite direction, make a commitment and get mad at you because you actually expect them to fulfill their commitment.

Can we break it down to the local level?

We even live in a time today where people will treat their church membership like it's their gym membership.

Elbow your neighbor and tell them this is a real awkward time for you to get quiet.

Oh, yeah.

I mean, it should be that we treat our church membership like a marriage commitment.

Where it's got to be something serious, something biblical to make me just jump up and leave.

But we live in a time today, and it's not not pointing a finger at anybody, but we live in a time today people don't want to commit.

We want options.

I want you to hold me to what I said.

I want up, I want to wait till I decide that day what I want to do.

Even when it comes to serving, and and and we give our word that I'm gonna be there.

I'll I'll I'll sign up for something.

We get to the place today where because we don't have a culture that keeps his word, that we've raised up a whole generation, even of young people, that don't want to make a commitment to anything.

I'm preaching way better than you are saying, Amen.

I said I'm preaching way better than you are saying amen.

See, we live in a culture that doesn't value commitment, we value options.

The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 4 2, moreover, it is required in stewards that one be found what?

I can't hear you, one be found what?

Faithful.

See, heaven doesn't measure success the way culture does.

Culture celebrates how visible you are, God rewards how faithful you are.

This is why I want to drive this point home right here.

I said all this to get us right here.

The ultimate act of faithfulness, watch this, is being faithful to God's original design for your life.

The ultimate act of faithfulness is that I figure out what God put me on this planet to do, and I commit the rest of my days to doing that thing.

See, I need you to understand this before before I go any further, you are not an accident, you didn't just happen to show up.

I don't know the details of your conception.

It might have been God's will the way it happened, it might not have been God's will, it might not have been God's timing.

But regardless of how you were conceived, regardless of whether or not it was the way it should have been, or whether it's an adulterous situation or something else, human beings come together to make bodies, but it's only God who can put life in that body.

And I'll show it to you a little bit later, but every time, hear me, every time God puts a life into that body, he puts a life into that body with a purpose attached to it.

And the greatest act of faithfulness is for me to figure out what did you put me on this planet to do and live the rest of my life committed to fulfilling the thing you designed me to do.

And it's not only the greatest act of faithfulness, watch this, it's the greatest act of fulfillment.

I'll tell you something that'll blow your mind.

The reason why we have so many depressed people today and so many folks walking around that are so mad and folks fighting over nothing, all these doggone cruise ship fightsmen, folks on there fighting over chicken in the buffet line, and folks ready to knock you out over parking spot.

I mean, I'm watching videos of people shooting people over a parking spot.

You know why, you know why our society is so on edge today, so upset today, so depressed today?

Because we don't have anything to live for.

I mean every one of us, I'm just saying those who haven't figured out their purpose.

If if if all you have to live for is to get up and go to a job, get a paycheck, pay some bills, and hopefully take a three-day vacation, that's not anything, that's not enough.

Watch this to overcome all the negativity that's going on around us.

You know the thing that drives us to the place where we can get up energized, full of life every day?

You have to have something bigger than your problems to live for.

Money is never money is not enough to be bigger than your problems.

I know you think if I just got enough money, there's too many multimillionaires who are committing suicide and destroying their whole life.

You know why?

Money is not enough.

The thing that gets you up every day is you gotta find a purpose to live for.

And I'll tell you something the the the richest place on planet earth is not the Federal Reserve, not the Taj Mahal, it's not someplace in the United Arab Emirates.

The richest place on planet earth is a graveyard.

Because you know what's what's in the graveyard right now is books that were never written, songs that were never sang, businesses that were never launched, ministries that never happen, because somebody didn't slow down long enough to ask the question, Lord, what'd you put me here for?

Amen.

I said, Amen.

See, the greatest tragedy is not dying without accomplishing everything you wanted to do.

The greatest tragedy is dying without accomplishing everything God created you to do.

So how do we get how do we get to the place where we shift?

Watch this.

How do we get to the place where we shift from living our life by default and start living it by design?

I'm not even gonna ask you to raise your hand, but I I would say there's probably 60, 70% or more people sitting in here right now.

I'm talking about born-again, spirit-filled Christians who are living their life by default.

What does that mean?

I stumbled into a career, I stumbled into a job, I did something to make some money.

Somebody told me you be good at this, somebody gave me an opportunity, and I found myself 25, 30 years later, doing something that I cannot honestly say is God's purpose for my life.

I'll give you the test right here.

How do I know if I'm doing the thing that God has purposed me to do?

If you had 700 million dollars and never had to work another day in your life, would you get up every day and do the thing that you're doing right now?

Somebody almost cussed in this church.

Mother.

If you cannot say that I still get up and do the thing that I get up and do every day, then all that means, I'm not trying to condemn you, all that means we need to back up and realize no matter what your age, I need to slow down and say, Lord, help get me on this path so I can live my life by design and not by default.

Amen.

So three things we got to do if we're gonna get to that place.

Number one, we got to seek his will.

I can never fulfill his will until I first discover his will.

In Jeremiah 1:4, God was talking to Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 1:4

It says, the word of the Lord came to me, and God said, Watch this, before I formed you in the womb, I what?

Come on, I what?

I want you to get that.

God says, See, it's not like once you came out of the womb, now God has a purpose.

He said, Before the seed and the egg came together, I already had a purpose for your life.

I knew you.

Before you were born, watch this, I sanctified you.

He didn't say once you finally had a birth date, I sanctified you.

He said, Before you ever came out of the womb, watch this, I set you apart.

And in Jeremiah's case, he said, I ordained you to be a prophet to the nations.

Now you may or may not be called to be a prophet or a pastor or an evangelist, but you're called to do something.

We can fill your name in right there.

Before you were ever formed in the womb, God knew you.

Before you ever came out of the womb, he set you apart for something special.

And he ordained you to be a blank to the nations around you.

Now, what is in your blank?

I can't fill in your blank.

I wish I could just pray a prayer.

Everybody come up and I tell you what.

I can't.

You got to go back and discover that purpose.

And one of the ways you go back and discover that purpose, I'm getting ahead of myself, is that you go back and figure out what is it that God has placed on the inside of me that I'm passionate about.

In fact, the Bible says this in Ephesians 2.10.

It says, For we are God's masterpiece.

Everybody say I'm God's masterpiece.

Say it with conviction.

Say I'm God's masterpiece.

In fact, look at your neighbor and say, hello, neighbor.

Say you're in the right seat today.

I need you to know you are seated next to God's masterpiece.

Come on, somebody.

Now I'm not done with you yet.

Turn to your second choice on the other side.

Say hello, other neighbor.

I need you to know you are seated next to God's masterpiece.

Now, if you really believe that, you give God a shout of praise in this way.

For we are God's masterpiece, He created us new in Christ Jesus.

Why?

So we could do the good things that He planned for us a long time ago.

He created us so we could do the good things, not that we want to do, not that makes us a lot of money, makes us famous, so we could do the good things that He planned for us a long time ago.

See, your assignment did not begin with your idea, it began with God's intention.

I said, So I said, this blow your mind.

And everything about you was designed with your purpose in mind.

What do you mean by that?

That means your personality, your temperament, your baseline, likes and dislikes, your gifts, your abilities, your passions, even your experiences, the relationships that have come in and out of your life, opportunities that have shown up.

None of those things, hear me out, are accidental.

Which is why many times when you're confused trying to figure out your purpose, I don't know what I'm here to do.

Sometimes you start with, what do I love?

What are my passions?

Again, what would I get up and do every day for the rest of my life?

I know you go to the beach.

You can't do it to the beach forever.

What would I do to serve humanity for the rest of my life if money wasn't a factor?

That's why, you know, your personality, God built you that way.

If you're quiet, don't let somebody make you feel like you gotta be loud because they talk too much.

Or if you're loud, just be loud.

Just don't be too loud.

But the way God wired you is all built into the purpose He has for your life.

I I was sharing this with somebody.

I have literally been pastoring my whole life.

Now I I found out I was called to be a pastor when I was 20, 21 years old when I went to Bible school.

But long before that, I was still pastoring, leading people.

I played baseball, basketball, football, was a captain of every team I've ever been on, voted by my teammates to be the captain.

I sang in a Christian singing group, secular singing group.

I was the lead of both groups because my the people in the group asked me to step and be the leader.

Pledge the fraternity in college as a freshman.

And when I came back in the fall, the rest of the fraternity voted me to be the president of the fraternity.

I was a break dancer.

You better believe I can break dance.

You want me to spin on my head?

Like, no.

We can't pray that kind of healing on you, Pastor.

I don't mean kind of break dancing.

I mean, I had a couple commercials.

My mother, she'd tell you, I had a commercial on NBC, commercial with McDonald's.

I was a leader of the breakdancing group.

When I was five years old, hear me out, five years old, they stood me up.

I directed the adult choir at my Baptist church.

They stood me on a little box, had a little white cape on me, and I directed the choir.

I'm trying to say to you is that the abilities, the leadership, the willingness to be in charge, the gifts that God puts in you.

He doesn't put them in there for them to just lie dormant on a job that could never use them.

That's where your frustration is coming from.

You're trying to force a degree, a career, according to what you think, or what you feel like doing, what somebody else told you you would be good at.

But we got to back it up and ask God, Lord, what did you put me on this planet to do?

Can I get a good amen, somebody?

See, only when something is used according to its intended purpose does it realize its greatest value.

If I can say it another way, just because a thing can be used for something doesn't mean it's supposed to be used for something.

Except here, I have a pair of pantyholes.

These are not my pantyholes.

But the person who designed these pantyholes designed for them to go on a woman's body.

Designed for the woman to put one leg in, put the other leg in, then you know how y'all do.

You pull them up and bounce until you get them up there.

Well, now that's the intended purpose of the pantyholes.

They work like they work the best when they're used for that purpose.

But years ago, back in the 70s, back when we had brush waves, and every night before I went to bed, we'd we brush your hair one direction a hundred times and back a hundred times, and then you get one of your mama's old stockings and you can cut it off.

And what was supposed to be used to be pantyholes for a woman got transformed to become a stocking cap.

This is before do-rag.

We squeeze it on your head because you're trying to keep your waves down overnight.

The problem is the head was too big for the stocking cap.

And by morning time, that stocking cap would be sitting next to you on a pillow.

Why?

It could be used for that, but that's not what it was made for.

I have another device here that you have at home right now.

It's called a butter knife.

The manufacturer designed it to slice a little butter, spread it on your bread.

But for those of you that are old enough to know when you didn't have a screwdriver.

Come on.

Come on, you're dating yourself.

Go give me a butter knife.

Or if you need us to pry something off, you take that butter knife and jab it in there.

And you try, and then we watch, then we get mad when it breaks.

Why?

It could be used for that, but it wasn't designed for that.

Then we have this little thing called aluminum foil.

Made to be placed over your food and get ready to put it in the refrigerator, or maybe to wrap it up so you can put it on the stove.

But back in the day, this long before you kids were alive.

When we had an antenna on our television.

The conjunction junction, what's your function?

Wasn't showing up like you want.

You get up and you move that antenna to the side.

If that didn't work, you go in there and get your little fall and wrap it around the antenna.

And you whoever was a youngest, you tell them, hold this right there.

Come on.

It could be used for that, but that's not what it was made for.

What I'm saying is, there's some things you're doing on your job every day.

You could do that for the rest of your life, but it might not be what you was made for.

You gotta go back to the manufacturer and ask him the question, what did you put me on this planet to do?

So you can fulfill his plan.

We spend too much time asking this question right here.

God, will you bless what I'm doing?

How much frustration exists because we ask God, Lord, would you bless my job, bless my business?

Bless this relationship, bless this friendship instead of going back to God to pray, pray this prayer right here.

This is what I want you to pray.

God, show me what you're doing, and then let me adjust my life to you.

If I can put it in eastern, Lord, show me the yellow brick road, show me the yellow brick road, and let me adjust my life, not to follow my own path, but to finally get on your path.

Here's the second thing we gotta do.

After we find his will, seek his will, we gotta agree with his will.

It's one thing to know it, but eventually we have to decide do I agree with God concerning me?

So I grew up playing sports and I played, played baseball, and I played every position on the field, man, in baseball, except the catcher.

I cannot play catcher.

I mean, I could play catcher like in warm-ups.

No matter how hard he was doing, I can catch the ball, but if somebody stood there swinging a bat, but I didn't play pitcher.

And what most people don't realize is the person when every great pitcher becomes a great pitcher because they have a great catcher.

Because it's the catcher behind the plate that has to study each batter.

Know their tendencies, and they're calling, they're calling a pitch based on what they think will work against his battery.

So the pit, the catcher will be back then, he's calling for a fastball inside.

But here's the thing the pitcher has the ability to say yes or no.

The catcher calls for a fastball inside, and the pitcher doesn't want to throw a fastball inside, is what he does.

He calls that he goes okay, let me get another, let me call for a curveball outside.

All right, let me call for a slider right across the plane.

Eventually, the catcher calls a pitch that the pitcher wants to throw.

And then he winds up and he throws a pitch.

Some of you trying to treat God like He's your catcher.

He's told you three years in a row, it's time for you to go to impact college, and here you go.

Time for you to serve in that music department.

Nope, I got hurt in my last church.

Nope, I'm just gonna sit here.

Nope.

Time for you to call your cousin and apologize, even though you don't think you did anything wrong.

Could it be that the pitch God is calling for is the one that finally gets you on the course to do what he's actually trying to get you to do?

See, we all think I would obey God if He gave me this big booming voice.

It's obeying God in the small things that sets us up to get in position to obey him in the bigger things.

Give me an amen.

Isaiah 55, this is what God says, my thoughts are not your thoughts, your ways are not my ways.

As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts are higher on a better plane than yours.

Here's a dangerous prayer to pray right here.

God, you know me better than I know myself.

You created me on purpose for a purpose.

So please reveal your design to me.

Watch this, and I will follow where you lead.

I dare you to pray that man.

I dare you.

I know you say you love God, you sing all these amazing songs, you sound great out there in the audience, but I dare you to pray that prayer.

I dare you to challenge God to actually reveal his purpose and tell him before you find out, I will do what you tell me to do.

See, the reason why I'm standing on this stage today preaching you after 30 years is because I prayed a prayer like that in college.

I got to a place where I was tired of just living a raggedy Christian life.

The reason why people call me authentic today, and I'm far from perfect, but I am authentic.

I am what you see is what you get.

I don't believe in playing around and playing church.

If I get off track and start missing my heart, I'm repenting before God.

God I want to do this thing right, man.

And I was in college.

I did the thing where you're just living a raggedy life.

I did that already.

And what got me frustrated in college, I was tired of smoking, drinking, cussing, and fornicating and chasing women, and then getting up on Sunday just coming into church.

And because I was at church, all they were doing was yelling at me, it wasn't affecting me.

So I remember being in the study lounge at Michigan State University and I'm crying out to God because I'm trying to read the Bible.

I know that's I gotta read the Bible, I'm gonna change my life.

And Tim, I'm falling asleep when I'm trying to read the Bible.

I got up and opened the window so some cold air could come in.

I'm trying to, and I'm still falling asleep.

And I literally remember with tears in my eyes, I'm bawling.

Nobody's in there but me.

I'm crying, saying, God, would you please help me?

I can't promise I'm gonna read three chapters a day because I'm falling asleep trying to read one.

I said, but this is what I will promise you for the rest of my life.

Whatever you tell me to do, I will do it.

It was that one prayer that gave him permission to take me off of my train and get on his train.

Off of my course and get on his course.

After I prayed that prayer is when April we went home for the summer, she took me to her church, word of faith, and I finally heard a man teach the word of God, and I discovered the purpose that God had for my life.

I realized I was called to ministry.

And I wish I could tell you, I fell down on my knees and said, Thank you, Lord.

I fell down on my knees and cried.

I was like, You gotta be kidding me, God.

And it's not because I didn't want to do what God said to do.

It's like I don't have the temperament to be a pastor.

You know, pastors like turn the other cheek.

I don't turn the other cheek, I still don't turn the other cheek.

I ain't lying, you run up on me, I'm swinging back.

I seen them videos, people run up and hit the pastor and they put their hand on oh my brother.

I ain't doing that.

If I see you coming, I'm I didn't think I was built to be a pastor, so I cried, but I had prayed that one prayer, Lord, whatever you tell me to do, I'll do it.

See, I thought that I wouldn't enjoy it.

I was a 3.5 plus GPA student at Michigan State University, mechanical engineering student.

I had secured a job with General Motors as an intern.

I'm building cars while I'm going to school.

I got status, I got money.

I'm f I finally see myself getting out of the poverty I grew up in.

And then God comes and says, I want you to leave all of that, go home to Detroit, and go to an unaccredited Bible college so I can train you.

My friends laughed at me.

Fraternity brothers thought I was crazy.

Family thought I was off my rocker.

Only two people that said, Let's do it is my girlfriend at the time, April, and my mother.

My mother said, if that's what God is saying, son, let's do it.

And God didn't tell me that I'd one day be passing a mega church and 10,000 plus people that call this their church home and have other churches in other cities and across of the waters.

See, God didn't tell you the whole story.

He tells you enough to see if you'll obey the first thing he said to do.

Nothing in our lives finds its fullest meaning until it comes into alignment with God's design.

See, when we surrender wholeheartedly to God, watch this.

He'll take even the broken places of our lives and make it a part of your ministry.

Nona's sitting here on this front row, man.

If you read, go get go get her books, man.

Read her books.

You'll find out the brokenness she went through, the hardship she went through, the pain she went through, just like Joyce Meyer, man.

Joyce Meyer has been used by God in a major ministry all over the world, like Nona's being used.

But you listen to her ministry, a lot of it comes from the brokenness, what the devil meant for evil.

God has turned it around and made it good.

But you don't get to that until you start with a yes.

You don't get to that and see, I mean, of course, if I'm gonna get to preach on big stages and go, no, no, no, no.

It starts with we do the thing he's saying to do right now.

Gotta discover his will, got to accept his will, agree with it.

And the third thing is this you gotta surrender to his will.

So when we seek his will, we discover it.

When we agree with it, we accept it.

But when we surrender to it, that's when we start to live it.

This is where the faithfulness really shows up.

Watch this.

Because surrender isn't a one-time decision.

You can't say, Oh, I did surrender.

No, no, no, no, no.

Every morning when you get up, it's a daily decision.

I surrender to his purpose instead of quitting.

I surrender to his call instead of letting myself be offended.

I surrender to his purpose instead of running off to do something that will make me more famous and make me more money.

Luke 9 3, whoever wants to be my disciple, Jesus said, has got to deny themselves and take up their cross.

How often?

I say, how often?

Daily daily, and follow me.

See, once we know his will for our lives, we have to surrender our all to the call.

There's a story over in John chapter 4.

John 4 · chapter mention

I'm almost done here.

Jesus' disciples have gone out and they're taking care of business, and he's there by himself.

He ends up having this conversation with this Samaritan woman.

That's a big deal because the Jews and Samaritans, you know, there was a racial war, basically, religious racial war.

They didn't have dealings with each other.

But Jesus having this conversation with this woman.

When the disciples walk up, they're like, Whoa, what is he?

Why is he talking to her?

Then they ask themselves a question.

Maybe he's hungry and he needs some food.

So they come up and ask Jesus, Do you need some food?

Can we get you something?

I want you to notice his answer, John 4 34.

He said, My food.

Can I paraphrase this?

The thing that sustains me is doing the will of my father who sent me and finishing his work.

He said, The thing, he said, I don't need pork chops or falafel.

The thing that gets me fired up in the morning, the thing that keeps me going after 30 years is doing the will of the one that caught me, man.

I don't want to let him down, man.

The reason why we've pressed on during hard times.

The reason why we've kept going when our daughter was going through bone marrow transplant.

We could have given up and said, God, if you caught us, you should have healed her fully.

The reason why we've kept going when people have walked away that we thought would be with us is because faithfulness means I don't quit when the assignment gets hard.

All it takes is a little pressure, and I'm taking a leave of absence.

Little pressure, and I'm giving up.

Little inconvenience, and I'm not gonna do this anymore.

God is looking for some people who have this as their declaration.

Come hell, high water, or both.

I want to be found doing what God has assigned me to do.

Can I tell you this?

So many things I could be doing that are easier than this.

I love what I do.

There's so many things I could do that are easier.

So many things where I wouldn't have to constantly walk in love and look the other way and not respond and type a Facebook post and then delete it.

Ooh, I want to respond sometimes to some stuff people say.

There's some so many things I could do.

Can I tell you that could make more money than what I do right now?

And I'm cared for very well.

But I don't say this to be boastful.

I'm not a dumb guy.

To run a volunteer organization demonstrates one of the highest levels of leadership there is.

If you can run an organization where people are motivated just because the vision is what carries them, then you can run an organization where you got money to dangle in front of them.

I do what I do.

We do what we do because I want to be found with the last breath in my body.

Being said, he found his purpose, he accepted his purpose, and he committed his life to his purpose for the rest of his days.

There's some of you in here right now that have been around this church for a long time.

And I thank you for still being here, but there's some of you who have been around so long you've stopped serving.

You've kind of developed this mind.

So I did, yeah, I did all that back when I was younger.

We leave it to the young folks.

Now, God didn't give you a right to unplug, to unemploy yourself.

Some of you are absent without leave.

The military would arrest you.

We don't have a right to decide I'm done doing my assignment.

Until God releases us, even when you're hurt, you're offended, get over your feelings.

Get some counseling.

Do what you gotta do.

Let God heal your feelings so you can get back on your post.

There's others of you that are serving faithfully.

Thank you for that.

There's some of you that are serving, but you only serve when it's convenient.

You don't get to wake up on a Sunday morning and don't feel like it and just decide I'm not gonna show up.

What if God served us with the same faithfulness we serve Him with?

I don't say this to brag, man, but in 30 years, my wife will tell you there might be two times that I haven't been on the stage because of physical illness.

One of them I had COVID and I was still trying to come in here and preach.

She called me stupid.

I was, I was just gonna stay in the back, not be around anybody until it was time to come out.

I was gonna come on the stage, stay way back here, preach, and then slip right out.

She said, That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my life.

What am I trying to say though?

You don't just give up on your assignment.

You don't have to do your assignment.

You do it with all of your heart.

Now I'll end with this.

There's some of you in here today.

God has been speaking to you for the last several years that it's time for you to go to Impact College.

You just decided, I'll get to it.

And you keep pushing it off, kicking the can, shaking God off.

And I'm trying to say, I'm not trying to press you to go, because if you're not supposed to go, you don't need to be there.

But if God has told you it's your season to be there, your obedience is the key to somebody else's life fulfillment.

All the things you've heard and everybody thanking us for our yes, what if we kicked the can down the road and waited until it was a better time?

We wouldn't have been here when it was time for God to launch this church.

If you're that person that God's been speaking to about Impact College and you know in your heart, I've just been shaking him off.

I told my team, set a table up out there in the lobby.

I want folks today.

School has been going for two weeks.

I said, I don't care if it's been going for two weeks.

If it's time to obey God, stop out there at that table, talk to them.

They will figure out how to get you caught up with these first couple weeks and let you get started obeying God.

When is the right time to obey God?

When you know He's speaking to you.

And if that's what you know God has said to you, it's time to obey.

If you are celebrating the goodness of God, come on, give him a shout and a praise in here today.

Woo! I apologize, we're a little bit over our time today.

We don't normally go this long, all the anniversary stuff, and I wasn't about to cut the message off and shortchange you, man.

But I want to do this last thing.

If you're here today and you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I want to pray for you.

I'm not gonna embarrass you.

We're not gonna ask you to stand up and come to the front of the church.

We don't even do that here, man.

We literally, I we used to do it, but we stopped because you don't have to get on display publicly in front of men to make a full commitment to Jesus.

But you do have to make a full commitment.

And here's a kicker salvation is not based on if you get to heaven one day and your good works weigh more than your bad works.

Salvation is a free gift that was paid for by the blood of Jesus, but it does require a decision.

And it's not just a flippant decision, it is a decision.

I am ready to fully commit my life to Jesus, turn control over to him and let him take me by the hand and teach me how to live this life out.

If that's you and you're ready to surrender to him today, I want to pray for you.

It's a simple prayer, but it is powerful enough to change your entire life from the inside out.

So, in just a moment, I'm gonna ask everybody everybody to bow their heads when we do.

There's a little card like this in the C pocket that says say yes to Jesus.

If you're ready to say yes to Jesus, when everybody bows their head, reach out and grab that card and hang on to it.

Because I'm gonna count to three in a moment.

When I get to three, I'm gonna ask you to shoot that card up in the air as high as you can.

Not gonna ask you to stand up, not gonna ask you to come forward, but I'm gonna ask you to raise that card as quickly as you can so the devil won't have time to talk you out of it.

This is your moment, and God is speaking to your heart right now.

Go ahead and bow your head all over the room.

In this room and in the overflow rooms online.

If you're ready to say yes to Jesus, will you reach out and grab that card and hang on to it?

If you're on the front row, then just lift your hand up when I get to the to tell everybody to lift a card and the usher to put a card in your hand.

But if you're ready to lift that hand, I'm getting ready to count to three.

When I get to three, do it quickly so the devil won't have time to talk you out.

This is your moment right here.

Here we go.

One, two, three.

Lift that card up.

Come on, all over the room.

I see those cards going up.

Thank you.

Thank you.

See that card right there, thank you, another card, thank you, see that card.

Beautiful.

I think I see that card, another one right there, thank you, see that card, thank you, another card against the wall.

Thank you, I see that one, thank you, right there on the second row.

Another one, thank you, young person with a card in the air.

Come on, anybody else?

If you're old enough to understand what I'm saying, you're old enough to say yes to Jesus.

Anybody else want to get in on this?

Before we pray.

I still sense that three people that the Lord is tugging at your heart, and you've been so embarrassed at another place that you are afraid to obey.

Go ahead and lift it up.

I promise you, this is as bad as it gets.

Not gonna ask you to stand up, not gonna make you say anything, not gonna embarrass you.

But you will walk out of here hating that you did not obey God.

Anybody else?

Thank you.

All right, everyone of you that lifted that card, I want you to repeat this prayer.

Whisper this prayer right there at your seat.

Say, Dear God in heaven, thank you for Jesus.

Thank you for sending him to die in my place.

Thank you for raising him from the dead.

I know he's alive right now, and I'm asking you, Jesus, come into my heart, save me, forgive me, make me brand new.

I surrender my life to you for the rest of my days, and according to the Bible, I am right now born again.

Amen.

Come on, put your hands together and back.

Did you just make a decision for Jesus?

Welcome to the family.

We're so excited.

Trust me, we're clapping for you, and we believe that you've made an important decision today.

We'd like to help you on your journey.

So if you'll follow the directions that are on screen, there is a free book you can download.

It's gonna take you five to ten minutes of your day for the next seven days.

But our pastors have put together some amazing resources that we believe will help you on the journey ahead.

If you don't want it, nobody's going to email you, text you, bother you, anything like that.

We just want to make sure you are successful in your walk with Jesus.

Now, let me tell you, one of the things you should consider is baptism.

And if you're in the Jacksonville area, we do baptism after our first weekend service every month, and you can just scan the QR code that's on the screen, sign up for that.

I'd love to be a part of that journey with you, um, or any of our ministers would.

If you don't live in town, we do believe you should find a Bible teaching church and at least go get baptized, even if you're still gonna watch our service.

But download that book, it's free.

We're excited for your journey ahead, and we can't wait to be a part of that.

Now, this is a part of the service where we also demonstrate our generosity.

If you're just checking this out today, you don't feel any pressure to give.

But for those of you, this is your church, you know that we are generous is one of our core values.

And so you can give online or you can give through our app, which I really like.

You have the Apple Pay option right on our app.

Just go to your Google store or your Apple store, download the We Are Impact app.

It's also a great way to study notes that um come from the sermons that you watch on here.

And there's a lot of events on there as well.

But you can give through that app.

It's super easy, and we're just grateful that you partner with us week after week.

Well, we're so excited you joined us today.

Hope you have an amazing weekend, and we'll see you next time.