The Weight No One Sees with Pastor Chase Glisson

Music Today I'm going to talk to you about the weight.

No one sees the weight no one sees, right.

We, we talk a lot about David and we love David the

worshipper. We love David the giant Slayer.

We love David the king, but we often ignore David the servant,

right? We often overlook David the

servant. It's not one of his most like

well known features. I feel like when it comes to

serving and when it comes to like someone who was just

faithful, we tend to find potentially other people to kind

of pull from. But when I was going over my

notes, I realized, man, there's one thing I, I, I really noticed

that stuck out to me about David.

And that was his servanthood. That was the way he served in

every position, right? Because everybody wants, you

know, everybody loves a song. Everybody wants the victory,

right? Everybody wants authority.

But few want to look at the assignment that David had to get

there, right? A lot of times we like to think,

man, I'm a worshiper like David or I'm, I'm dislike David.

I want to be this like David, but we overlook what got David

to those positions. We overlook the the one

character thing that really can't.

We celebrate the crowns, right? We celebrate the victories, we

celebrate all that does, but God measures the faithfulness,

right? God's looking at the

faithfulness. So today what I want to do is I

want to talk about David a little bit and, and just to help

it flow, I'm going to kind of break it down into three key

sections, right? I want to talk about three key

portions of David's life that I believe as we get into really

breakdown the way he served because before he ever ruled a

Kingdom, he served in a Kingdom, right?

Before David ever ruled the Kingdom, he served in the

Kingdom, right? And so the four first session or

moment of his life I want to look at.

I'm going to call the staff season, right?

Is the staff, right? This is David's moments in the

field. This was David, the shepherd.

This was David that we all know and love, the one who killed the

lion and the bear, right? This is David's staff season.

We're going to start in first Samuel 1611, First Samuel 1611

and says, and Samuel said to the to Jesse, are these all the

children? And he said there remains yet

the youngest. And behold, he is tending the

sheep. Then Samuel said to Jesse, send

and bring him, for we will not sit down until he comes.

So he sent and brought him in. Now he was Ruddy with beautiful

eyes and handsome in appearance. Side note, a lot of people kind

of think that maybe that Ruddy means he was a redhead.

And so that's one of the reasons that I think David speaks to me

so much. It's pretty easy for me to put

my, my, myself in those shoes and we're just going to keep

rolling with that. So for the rest of the sermon,

just imagine David with red hair.

He had beautiful eyes and was handsome in appearance.

And the Lord said, arise, anoint him for this.

Is he right? One great thing that we see

right here, right out the gate in David's life is David is

anointed to be king, but was not in the room to be chosen.

David was anointed to be king, but where was he serving out in

the field? David's first moment of God

moving on his life came while he was out serving somewhere else.

Then he becomes anointed and sent right back out into the

field. God crowned him privately.

God took him with Samuel and his family and anointed him as king.

No one else knows this. A private anointing of private

crowning then sent him back out into the field publicly and said

continue to do what you were doing privately.

He was crowned. So the staff season, right it

represents and what we're going to continue to break down as it

represents unseen obedience. It represents repetitive

faithfulness. It represents serving without

applause. See, David learned God's voice

while no one was watching. Revelation was formed in his

isolation in the field. David learned the still small

voice of God while he was serving alone privately in a

field. Because in these moments, right

of isolation, in these moments of when we're alone and we, we

take time in our serving, that we're just by ourselves where no

one knows, no one's seen everything we're doing, but

we're just alone serving and loving God.

And then God can speak so much into our lives.

It was in David's quiet service that God called him, anointed

him, but then said you're still not ready for anything else yet.

Go back to your quiet service. How many times in our own life

do we feel God call us to something and then think that

something has to manifest? Now David, anointed king, goes

back to shepherd. That doesn't feel like much of a

promotion, right? That feels like that feels like

more responsibility, but yet you still get everything you already

had. David didn't relinquish his

field duties. David didn't see Dave, didn't

look at his brother and go, hey man, I can't deal with sheep

poop anymore. I'm king, bro.

I can't be doing this no more. Like God chose me, not you guys.

So I got to start studying up on king stuff, right?

I got to start getting ready for the Kingdom.

So you're going to need to go tend all these.

No, he went back out and continue to serve exactly where

he was. Psalm 7870.

Psalm 7870 says he also chose David his servant, and took him

from the sheepfolds, from the care of the ooze and the

suckling lamb. He brought him to shepherd Jacob

his people, and Israel his inheritance.

So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart,

and guided them with skillful hands.

Before David LED people, he led sheep, and before he sang

publicly, he learned obedience privately.

Before we ever hear the songs of David, he is serving and obeying

privately. Some of the greatest psalms we

get in the season of the staff are from his lessons of

obedience and service. When he's by himself.

What what it's kind of crazy. We, we do this with artists a

lot. I believe it was like Van Gogh,

who was an artist that ultimately had all these kind of

paintings and no one thought he was a good painter.

Everyone thought he was crazy. Then he died and all of a sudden

his paintings became something which means he never saw the

success of his work during his lifetime.

But he didn't give up. He continued to paint, continue

to do it during his private this.

So by all accounts, you would have to assume he painted for

himself because nobody wanted it.

But he believed in his own art and did this for himself

privately. David went back into the field

privately and just said, I just want to love, serve and obey

God. And then he shows up anointing.

He goes, that's great. I just want to love, serve, and

obey God, which means I don't need anything to change.

I just need to continue to love, serve, and obey God.

So God forms worshippers in obscurity before he trusts them

with influence. God forms worshippers in

obscurity before he trusts them with influence.

In your moments where no one knows how much you're giving,

how much you're pouring out, how much you're invested in, those

are the moments God is forming you and He's building you for

what's to come. Because if God can't trust you

unseen, he won't elevate you seen.

If God can't trust you unseen, then he won't elevate you.

Seen, we have to live a life that says it doesn't matter

what's going on because I love God.

I will obey his word and I will continue to serve him right.

Because like I said, we love the stories of David's victories.

We love the stories of David becoming king.

We love the stories of all that David did, all the great stuff

he did. And his influence was loud, but

his formation was quiet. And God moves in the quiet.

He starts with the crock quiet. Why?

Because it lets us know so much about the Bible.

God speaks in a still small voice.

It's a gentle nudging. It is all small little.

Why? Because he says, if you break

away and get with me, I can lead you.

The only times in the Bible we get those crazy like those

sayeth the Lord moments are when people are so far gone.

That guy's like I got to get their attention, which is why

I'm like, I don't brag about I heard God's voice when it's like

I hear God still small leadings. I don't need big booming voice,

right? All I need to know is if I get

quiet, God can work on my heart. If I get quiet, God can move in

my life. Elevation reveals what obscurity

already formed. When God elevates you in your

life, all it does is show all of the formation in the quiet time

it is pulled out from from. This guy has loved me and obeyed

me and served me. Because of that, now I can place

him somewhere. Now I can put him where he needs

to be because I've seen his faithfulness.

Luke 1610. Luke 1610 says he who is

faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much, and he

who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also

in much. God is looking for your

faithfulness in the quiet season because God doesn't promote

potential, He looks for proven faithfulness.

He's saying no. I've seen his faithful in

little. Now I can give him faithful and

much not man. Maybe if I just give him this

big thing, he'll run hard. Maybe if I just go ahead and

give him this title, then he'll he'll form it together.

No, God isn't giving out things hoping that you'll finally live

to the potential He knows you have.

He's looking for your faithfulness in every season so

that you can say no. I've seen it here.

I've seen the quiet alone time. I've seen Him separate.

I've seen him deal with these situations.

I've seen Him lean on me. I've seen Him put me first.

I've seen what happens when pressure comes to His life.

I see how He handles the little. So now I can trust Him to handle

so much more, right. We we look at David's time in

the field and all the times we talk about, oh, we have the

lion, we got the bear and then we build to Goliath and we

always try to tackle this from just like, well, he was faithful

with little the lion and the bear.

And so then he saw God move and now he can handle Goliath.

But what's interesting about Goliath story is why was he

there? The only reason David was even

around Goliath is because he went to serve his brothers,

which means David's greatest moment of victory with Goliath

came from a moment of serving. How many moments in victories

are we missing out of because we're not serving where we're

supposed to be? We passed on serving, therefore

we lost an opportunity to win. We say God use me, God use me.

Then we decline the opportunities to be used.

God's looking for your service. David had no intention of

fighting Goliath. David had no intention of being

in a battle. David had no intention of doing

any of anything but serving his family and serving his brother.

Then how dare you insult my God? How many of us have missed out

on something God has wanted from us because we weren't willing to

serve somewhere? Come on.

Because we didn't step out? Because David could have been

like, man, that's a long walk, dad.

Like, you know how long it's going to take to get there.

This food's like, not even going to be good by the time I get

there, right? He ain't calling an Uber, but

he's not like he ain't jumping on the sheep and riding him down

there. Maybe he lassoed a bear or

something, like, I don't know. But at the end of the day, like

he had to work that he could have had so many other reasons.

Like Dad, the army feeds them. What are we talk?

Like, why? They're already fed.

Who's going to watch the sheep while I'm gone?

It's easy to come up with excuses to not be somewhere.

But are we letting excuses keep us from the victory?

God wants us. And so here's the thing.

You don't graduate from the staff season.

You're shaped by it. David never left the staff

season. It shaped him and then it

started to look different in the rest of his life.

Because after we have the staff season, we have the sword

season, David kills Goliath, who got First Samuel 18 to 23 is

like the chapters. I'm obviously not going to read

them. I'm going to kind of paraphrase.

But after Goliath, this major victory, we have David, who's

already been anointed to be king, kills Goliath.

Everyone now knows this. Everyone's seen this.

He doesn't. He still does not step into the

throne. David's next step after this big

glorious battle is not the throne.

It's just a deeper level of service.

The closer, the closer David got to the throne, the more David

served. The closer he got to his

ultimate calling, the more he served.

He's placed in this Kingdom long before he takes it over serving

First Samuel 18 five, it says. So David went out wherever Saul

sent him, wherever Saul sent him, and prospered.

And Saul set him over the men of war.

And it was pleasing in the sight of all the people, and also in

the sight of Saul's servants. David did not choose his

assignment, he honored it. It says he went out wherever

Saul sent him. David, the one anointed king who

knows one day it will be king serving in the Kingdom.

David knows, man, I'm going to. One day I will get this Kingdom,

but now it's not mine. And I will honor this service.

I will honor every step during this season.

He led Israel's armies, and with wisdom he protected the borders

of a nation he did not yet rule. He strengthened a Kingdom he

would one day inherit. He carried authority without

entitlement. He fought battles for a throne

he would not yet sit on. See, this is where most people

quit. You get you born again.

We love God. Or maybe we we get rededicated,

we're back on fire. And then we we attack our Bible

reading plan, we attack our personal worship.

We start making shifts. We're like, I'm not listening to

this junk anymore. Now I'm putting on worship in

the car, man, I'm waking up an extra 10 minutes earlier and I'm

praying, man, I'm praying in the shower.

We start getting this hunger and thirst like we should have for

this personal devotion. And we start growing and God's

like, yes, that's it. You've got it.

So he starts to pull us out and says, man, I'm getting ready to

put you to something else. I'm going to put your hand to

work. Then they start working for

someone else. They start serving even deeper.

And see, by all rights, David could have said, I'm anointed,

like I'm anointed. Why am I still serving?

Like I'm supposed to be king? Why am I doing whatever he says?

I killed Goliath. I've won these battles.

I fought these things. I'm gifted.

It's my sword that's slaying your enemies.

I'm the one that's called. Why am I still waiting?

I'm in the throne room, but yet I have none of the power of the

king. If we're not careful, we find

ourselves who get called into deeper service then lose sight.

Of why we are here in the first place.

But calling doesn't cancel serving, it deepens it.

Your calling does not cancel serving.

It should only deepen it. It should only set you in more.

It should only have you looking for even more that you can do.

It should only have you looking for more opportunities.

Why? Because if we know from David's

life we see his serving led to his victories, then man, I'm

going to serve even more. How do I have chances to win?

Maybe like man, I want to be used by God.

Then get serving somewhere to be used by God.

I love our youth, man. I'm, I'm the, I speak to youth

every Wednesday night, right? And I've had a couple moments

now where some of them have come and be like, Hey, my friend

wants you to pray for him. And I always ask this question

for I love praying for youth. I have no problem.

But I always ask this question. Do you want to pray with them?

Because I want to give my youth an opportunity to step in to

something more. Not that if they don't, it's

wrong, but if they want to, if they're ready, then it's there.

Why? Because I want to train and show

you that you being here, you invited them, you got them here.

God used you to set this thing. I can finish it or you can.

It's up to you. Your serving got you here.

How many of you are missing out of opportunities to lead people

to Christ because you think, Oh well a pastor has to no get

serving and look for the opportunity.

Calling doesn't cancel serving, it deepens it.

See all of First Samuel 18 to 23 is not about waiting.

It's not David waiting to be king.

It's not David waiting to get the crown.

It's not David waiting for something to take place.

It's David working all of this journey.

He goes through serving underneath Saul, fighting all

these battles, hiding in caves. All of this stuff deepened his

service. And in no place did he lose

honor for what he was serving because he realized, I'm not

serving Saul, I'm serving God. And my service goes far beyond

this one moment. So he wasn't being passive in

waiting. He was faithfully participating.

He wasn't passively waiting for something that happened to Saul

so that he could step in. He was actively participating

and showing faithfulness and serving and putting himself in a

position that knows when I'm fully ready to step into all

God's place, me will I will be ready.

It was the dedication to the service the sword season

represents, serving under authority without demanding

recognition. It's fighting for God's purpose

before receiving God's promise. It's obedience that cost energy,

time, and personal advancement. It's obedience that cost your

energy, your time, and your personal advancement.

Dave is served under Saul and said, man, I'm serving the

Kingdom, I'm serving God. I'm going to bleed this Kingdom.

I'm going to bleed this vision. I'm going to bleed everything

God's told me. I'm going to give it everything

I have. Every moment I'm consumed with

God's plan and purpose for my life.

Every moment I will feel serving this Kingdom.

Kingdom I will serve. He learned how to yield, how to

wield authority by first submitting to it.

See, David didn't wait for the crown to act like king.

He served like a king long before he had the crown.

If you're waiting for a position to act like what the position is

required, the position will never come.

This isn't this is even into your worldly jobs.

If you're waiting for a position, man, I should have

that promotion. Am I acting like that promotion

is going to require, am I doing all that's required so that when

it comes, my faithfulness will show?

Because see, here's the thing. I I tell my kids this all the

time, right? They study for spelling words.

They study for all this kind of stuff.

And they're like, you know, they want to pray.

We pray over my spelling. I'm like, yeah, did you study

like, well, I didn't get to study?

Well, here's the thing. God can only bring back to your

remembrance what you put in your memory, which means God cannot

show your boss your faithfulness with no faithfulness to show.

So we're like, God work for me by making something up.

No, God needs you to do some work so that he can then be

like, look at the work that was done.

He's waiting for you to show yourself faithful so that then

he can remind everyone of your faithfulness.

I'm not passively waiting. I'm being a faithful

participant. So serving isn't punishment,

it's preparation. Like I said, David anointed

king, then sent out to the to the back out to the field.

And I'm like, oh, poor David, like no, David continued to

build and grow kills Goliath and you're like, oh, he's still just

around Saul. Now he's got to play harp for

the king all the time. That's sitting in his throne.

He served faithfully. I guarantee you David isn't in

there thinking, man, I can't. We know it.

We know it from Scripture. David isn't in there playing

that harp, being like this guy. You know what?

He doesn't even like this song. You think he, he doesn't even

he, he doesn't. He's not even a musician.

Wrong note. Like he, he can't.

Dave is serving him and he's sitting there pouring his heart

into everything he does because it's not about this moment.

It's about all of his faithfulness, all of his

faithfulness. Philippians 2, five through 9

says have this attitude in yourselves, which also in Christ

Jesus, who, although he existed in the form of God, did not

regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied

himself, taking the form of a bondservant and being made in

the likeness of men, being found in appearance as a man, He

humbled himself by becoming what obedient to the point of death,

even death on the cross. For this reason, God highly

exalted him. He humbled himself, becoming

obedient even to the point of death.

And it says for this reason, God is looking for your obedience.

And we saw this in David because David playing that heart don't

even know what sound a heart makes, but like dodge and

Spears, obedient to the point of death.

At no point was he wavered by what was going on around him.

He was just serving God, loving God, obeying God.

And obedience always comes before exaltation.

God is not crowning your ambition, He's honoring your

obedience. David wasn't worried about

getting to the throne because he knew if I'm faithful and I

serve, God will place me where I'm supposed to be.

Which means when it comes, it'll come and I'll be ready.

So David didn't chase the throne.

He carried the sword faithfully until God moved him.

And what's crazy is in all this we see even through all these

moments, David's worship stayed alive and active.

We have so many Psalms written during his season in the field

and during his season serving Saul.

He kept serving, he kept showing up, He kept advancing the

Kingdom. And his worship was alive and

strong and active in his writing was strong.

And he continued to serve and fight someone else's battle.

And that's why the sword always comes.

Before the third season. I want to get into which is the

scepter. And this is when David becomes

king, David's king. The crown is real, the authority

is heavy. And David has a lot of great

moments as king. He's got a lot of great moments

as king. But I'm, I'm going to focus on

this other moment that I saw when I was studying for the

second Samuel 11/1, it said. Then it happened in the spring,

at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and

his servants with them and all of Israel, and they destroyed

the sons of Ammon. And then it says, but David

stayed at Jerusalem. This is the season when kings go

out to battle, but David stayed at Jerusalem.

The weight of the crown replaced the posture of the servant.

This is one of the first moments we see David step out of his

servanthood in the comfort of the Kingdom when he finally

attained the calling. This is one of the first moments

we see David has now not done what's required of him in

service. And this is important.

This is the moment David stayed back from serving.

This was also the moment his fall began.

Now listen. David didn't stop loving God,

but his serving narrowed. This wasn't a question of David

no longer loving God, but his service of the Kingdom narrowed.

And this is when David sees Bathsheba.

When he abandoned his assignment, he drifted into

spaces he was never meant to occupy.

When he abandoned his assignment, he drifted into

spaces he was never meant to occupy.

He stepped away from his responsibility and stepped into

vulnerability. This is a very important

correlation because we see as his service of the Kingdom

stopped, he opened himself up to see, be around and do things he

was never meant to handle. He was never meant to see he was

never meant to be with. Disengaging from his calling

positioned him where compromise became possible.

His moment of not serving put him in such a vulnerable state.

So see, David is traditionally credited for around writing

around 73 Psalms. Most of them rise from seasons

of like pursuit, obedience, compromise or not compromise,

dependence. They come from the fields that

he was in the caves, battles, his exile from the Kingdom when

Saul kicked him out, and then obviously his service of the

Kingdom. But what I find interesting is

like his early Psalms, they overflow with trust,

faithfulness, wander, and this intimacy with God.

But his later psalms shift to repentance, defense, and

survival. He goes from overflow to

maintenance. His psalms shift from songs to

survival and they can. Obviously all the psalms are not

put in chronological order and not all of them can be placed

exactly where they go, But the only two that they really know

for sure that most theologians agree are accredited during

David's season of non serving and during his sin of Bathsheba

are Psalms 51 and Psalms 32. And Psalms 51 is all about

repentance, and Psalms 32 is his reflection after forgiveness.

So we have 73 psalms written, but only two during David's time

of not serving his Kingdom properly.

So worship dries up where obedience dries up, not because

God withdraws, but because our heart closes.

David's writing shifted in this season.

A tone went from all these victories, this intimacy, this

love. They were no longer triumphant.

They were survival related. They were based on I need to get

somewhere. And then during his season of

sin, during his season of lack of service, he only even wrote 2

out of 73. Most of them come before.

And then he repents. He gets right.

This is why we know this is the David was a man after God's own

heart. He sets his life.

And of course, the tone shifts, but the writing comes back,

which lets us know our worship is connected to our service and

obedience. Amos 521 says I hate, I reject

your festivals, nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies.

Even though you OfferUp to me burnt offerings in your grain

offerings, I will not accept them and I will not even look at

the peace offering of your fatlings.

Take away from me the noise of your songs, I will not even

listen to the sound of your harps.

But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an

ever flowing stream. God rejects the worship

disconnected from obedience. They are giving and doing

exactly what they should be doing, but they weren't being

obedient in their offering. And God said I don't want your

worship. He rejected it.

He said it's like noise worship served from disobedience or

worship severed from obedience becomes an empty sound.

When we step out of our alignment, we step out of our

serving, we step out of our obedience, our worship becomes

empty to God. This is the prophets warning.

See, it's not that David stopped worshipping, but the source of

it changed. The source of it changed because

here's the thing, we never leave the staff.

We never leave the sword just because we have the scepter.

The staff season comes with you. The sword season comes with you.

These seasons stay with you. Because if you don't keep your

private worship, your quiet moments, if you don't keep your

passionate service, then the weight of the crown will crush

you. If I don't stay in the field, If

I don't have my field moments, even though I'm no longer in the

field, I find a new field to quietly be with him.

When I've got my sword, I'm serving passionately so that

when my calling comes, it doesn't crush me.

See, David stepped out of a season because he had attained a

new one and thought I could just let it go.

I can set my sword down. They won that battle, by the

way, David's team still won. But God didn't ask for just a

victory. He asked for David's service.

He asked for David's heart. He asked for David's obedience.

We cannot set down what we're going.

We don't ever graduate from the staff, and we don't ever outgrow

the sword, the scepter season, doesn't it?

It doesn't take away, it doesn't replace them.

It rests on them. When serving becomes optional,

obedience becomes selective and worship becomes hollow.

When service becomes optional, obedience becomes selective and

your worship becomes hollow. This is the weight no one sees.

The greatest weight in. Leadership isn't authority, it's

faithfulness. It's not about having authority,

it's about staying faithful. God never asked David to stop

serving. He asked Him to lead from His

service at no position where you ever gain.

That doesn't just require you serving even more.

God never elevates you out of serving.

He elevates you to deeper, deeper levels of it.

He puts you in places that require even more intense

serving. See, some of us in this moment,

we haven't lost our worship, but maybe you've released your

obedience. Maybe in this season of life,

you've put away your staff and you've lost your quiet times.

Maybe some of you have never had quiet times, those daily

devotions, those moments that were with him.

And see what I love about David's season in the field is

it was his filled season, was always quiet in service.

Quiet time wasn't I cannot do anything, I must get away from

everyone and be alone. No, while David served, he was

mindful because God honors your service.

Maybe we've set the sword down. Maybe we have kept our devotion,

but we've let go of the service intensity that we should have.

We've gotten like David will. I've become comfortable in what

I'm doing, and I'm no longer looking up to pick up my sword

and fight a battle. That's not my fight, that's not

my area, that's not my job, that's not my calling.

That's not what I should be doing.

David was anointed king. He should have only been doing

what kings do, but yet he served wholeheartedly wherever Saul

sent him. The missing component component

in your life might just be serving like you've never served

before. David's victories were burst

from the servant's heart. Every moment that we love to

talk about, every Psalm we love to sing, every victory that he's

had that we love to chant, every story, every kid story we tell

was David's serving. If I need victory in my life,

maybe I need a little more service in my life.

Maybe my disconnection from my serving has called me to be

disconnected from my worship. And this, like I said, this

isn't a matter of, oh, you've stopped loving God.

David never stopped loving God. He just stopped serving like he

was supposed to. He just stopped serving at the

capacity he was meant to serve with.

And, and what I'm wanting to get across to you guys today is

we're moving into a new year and I know everyone looks at New

Year's revolutions, everyone's resolutions, everyone's looking

into what am I going to do? What, how am I going to diet?

What am I going to, what's my fitness goals?

What's this goal? And it's easy for us to get in.

You know, I go to the gym at like 6:00 every day and I get

there and January's the worse because it's going to be just

the most full of people for like a solid month that, you know,

aren't going to be here in February, right?

Like, you know, they're not going to make it.

Maybe one out of the 100 sign ups, which I'm sure is great for

the fitness industry as a whole. But for those of us who want to

continue to work out, we're like moving our stuff around, trying

to find a machine. And since there's only like one

leg extension in there, you're kind of stuck on leg day just

waiting for people to get off, right?

And we, we start to assess all of these natural things.

We want to adjust. This is one thing I love about

Anchor Faith Church. They challenge us not just to

set goals physically, but to set goals spiritually.

Our spirit, soul, body goals, right?

We set goals not only for our body, but where do I want to be

spiritually this year? What are some spiritual

aspirations you have to accomplish this year?

Maybe some of you have never made it through the full Bible

reading plan without missing months at a time.

Make that your goal. Maybe some of you do the Bible

reading plan every single year, but you've never gone deeper

into study outside of that. Add some time going into 2026,

what I want to challenge us to do is to pick the staff back up,

pick the sword back up. Start serving again like we've

never served before. Start showing up again like

we've never showed up before. Start submitting again.

Start obeying again. Not for a title, not for

recognition, but because faithfulness is what matters to

God. Faithfulness is what he's

looking for. My 2026 resolution is to be more

faithful than I've ever been in all those little things.

I've always said this. I've told my wife all the time,

she's like, what do you want? And I'm like, I want to be

someone that when Apostle Earl calls on, he says, I know I can

give this to Chase because Chase will do it like I did it and

he'll make sure that it gets done.

There would be no greater compliment in my life than to

know I can be called upon because they know I will see it

through. Our goal should be, man.

I want to be someone that God says I'm ready to give them

their next step. Because they've shown their

faithfulness all year. They've shown they're ready to

step out. They've shown that they can

stick through thick or thin. They've shown that it doesn't

matter what season they're in, they're going to be faithful.

They've shown that they won't put down their staff, that they

won't put down their sword, that the scepter won't crush them.

That in any season I finally call them up to, they're going

to rise up to. And they're going to rise up to

something they've never done before.

Because 2026 doesn't have to just be a year where that I'm

looking forward to is the year of faithfulness that I continue

to press on in and I continue to press forward to.

So that I look back one day and say, look where God got me.

Look where I was then and look where I've gotten now.

Because of faithfulness, because of one small step every single

day to continue to serve like I've never served.

I'm not looking for my time. I'm looking for time that I can

sow into the Kingdom. I don't need anything more than

to look back and say God was with me.

If God needs it, I'm ready. If God's there, I'm there.

When someone needs someone to show up, I'm going to be in the

room. I'm going to be ready with

expectation that the Kingdom of God will advance, and it will

advance through my faithfulness. The crown never replaces the

calling. It reveals whether you are

faithful before it. This is the weight no one sees.

It's the weight that keeps your worship alive.

Because the Kingdom is built by people carrying the weight no

one sees. Carrying the weight no one sees.