"Just" God - The Call, The Cost, The Crown with Pastor Chase Glisson

One great thing about youth camp is it gets them like out of

their environment and then places them in a new one.

And sometimes, obviously, as we all know, you know, new things

kind of breathe new life. Sometimes just switching

something up can can make you feel like a completely different

person, whether it's, you know, shaving your beard down to a

mustache or whether it's, you know, trying out some new

outfits, like whatever it is, sometimes you just need

something a little new in your life to kind of breathe some

energy. And a lot of times that's what

camp can do to teens is they get out of this environment.

And for our kids, it's, you know, a little different because

it's still our worship team. They still have some of our

speakers and still have some of that stuff.

So even though they're in a new location, they still have a

little bit of familiarity. But, you know, it's always

exciting to do that. And as I was kind of chewing on

that, you know, it kind of brought me to this realization

of how easy it is that we can sometimes make the things of God

common to us. That if we're not careful, we

can make the call of God common, right?

If we're not careful, we can become.

So we can get so used to our structure, our seat in the

sanctuary, our our Sunday routine, our Wednesday night

routine, that it just becomes familiar.

And so I was looking at this passage of scripture in Luke

1416 through 24 and it says, but he said to him, a man was giving

a big dinner and he invited many.

And at the dinner hour he set, he sent his slave to say to

those who had been invited, come for everything is now ready.

But they all alike began to make excuses.

The first one said to him, I have bought a piece of land,

then I need to go out and look at it.

Please consider me excused. Another one said I have bought 5

yoke of oxen and I am going to try them out.

Please consider me excused. Another one said, I have married

a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.

And the slave came back and reported this to his master.

Then the head of the household became angry, and said to his

slave, Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city,

and bring in here the poor, and crippled, and blind and lame.

And the slave said, Master, what you commanded has been done, and

still there is room. And the master said to the

slave, go out into the highways and along the hedges and compel

them to come, so that my house may be filled.

For I tell you, none of these men who were invited shall taste

of my dinner. So here we have Jesus telling a

story of a great banquet, of feast that's being prepared,

ready, and invitations are sent out.

But then the invite, the people who were invited respond with

excuses. Reasonable excuses.

Right. They respond with awe.

I just, you know, I just bought some land.

I got to go take care of it. Oh, I just got some new animals.

You know, I got to get them broken and I got to figure this

out when I was like, I just got married, right?

And so, by all accounts, every single.

Excuse that was given is reasonable, but the master in

this story says the invitation was taken lightly, right?

There was a call to be invited to the banquet, but because they

didn't have a reverence for the invitation, they let something

good become godless distractions.

They let something that seemed harmless devour them from

fulfilling the invitation. Then we see that he goes out and

he says, fine, if they're not going to come, go out and invite

all these people in, right? Get them, get them to come, get

them to running, get them to get here, right?

And if we're not careful, we'll treat optional what someone else

is desperate to receive. If we're not careful, we can

make optional what someone else needs so badly.

There was a time in each and every one of our lives before we

accepted Christ that we needed Him so.

Badly. And it was each and every person

in this room fulfilling their part on a Sunday morning or a

Sunday night that maybe changed someone's life forever.

But the minute we start to then become common to the move of

God, right, we start to make the things of God common, then we

will lose the reverence for His presence.

If we're not careful, we can treat a Sunday morning service

like just something we're doing, and then worship moves and the

spirits here and everyone's on their knees and we're in the

back not receiving anything. I tell my youth this all the

time. I said, some of you will come to

the current and you will be here for 4 to 8 years and you'll

leave and you'll say I never felt God.

It won't be because his presence wasn't there.

It'll be because you chose not to enter into it.

And if we aren't careful, we can do the same thing in this room

where we can come and let the worries of the world choke out

the word that's being spoken. And this just becomes something

we've done that we've checked off church, and the call becomes

unimportant. Never forget the call on our

life. We we got to remember that just

because something's good doesn't mean God's in it.

And often times it's the good things that pull us out from

where we're supposed to be. A lot of us think it's the

storms that can knock us out, and storms can, and storms come,

and we know that, but often times it's the thing that seems.

Good, that pulls us away. And familiarity makes that scene

more important. Well, I've been coming for a

long time. I've been doing this for a long

time. It doesn't matter if I miss

this, and don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you got to be at

every single thing, but what I am saying is make sure when an

invitation is sent that we weigh the response.

What I'm saying is don't just default to I've been here, I've

been busy, I've done this, it's Sunday morning, it'll be OK,

right? We do.

Every Sunday morning, I also kind of double as like our

service producer, our coordinator.

So I help make sure. And what I mean by that is like

we kind of have like a, you know, it's more like guidelines

of like what the service is going to look like.

And then from there, when the spirit moves, we kind of go.

And one of the reasons we do a welcome song isn't just because

we like, oh, let's get them ready.

It's because we know that it's going to take you guys like 5 to

10 minutes after the countdown to actually get in here.

And so like the size of the room from the welcome song to like

actual worship. Is a big shift difference,

right? But one thing we got at camp,

which is so exciting, is like these kids sitting at the door

of the sanctuary waiting hours to get in.

I'm walking through a group of kids to try to get to a sound

check because they're so hungry. This generation isn't lost.

They're hungry for something. They're hungry for something

real and they're looking to you as their example.

And what you treat as optional they will eventually negate all

together. Parents, what you treat is

optional. Your kids will leave all alone.

Going up church was not optional for me and I did not hate my

parents for it. There might have been times

where I wanted to do something. There might have been times

where I had other things that I've thought in my mind, but the

words spoken each and every week ultimately sits in.

There's times where I've told pastor, listen, I'm like, man, I

just feel like this message just so like just.

Flopped. It just hit like it's like no

one. It's like none of the kids were

engaged. I was like, it just felt like I

was trudging through trying to finish this thing.

Like did I miss it? Did I hear it?

Like did was this the right word?

And the next thing you know, a couple weeks later a kid reaches

out to her or me and they're like, man, I remember this from

the message. Like man, it doesn't matter how

it feels in the moment, they stick and there's words imparted

in you and your kids every week that when the time comes you

need it, the Holy Spirit will bring it back. 123123123 So the

more common we. Make God the less sacred.

We will treat his presence. Never forget the call.

Like I said, there was once a call on your life as well.

There was a. Time that you needed to take

that invitation seriously and then how we treat the

invitation, how we continue to live in the invitation will

help. Others enter in.

But. Whether you want it or not, the

way you enter in worship, people who are coming for the first

time see and they say, oh, worship is this way because of

this group or worship isn't this way because of this group.

How we respond to the invitation is so important, Psalms 11960

says. I hastened and did not delay to.

Keep your commandments. I hastened and did not delay to

keep your commandments. When an invitation is sent, we

have to treat it with priority. We have to treat it with the

priority it deserves, right? Because when we want something

from God, we want something from God now.

But when God wants something for us, oftentimes we need like 3

confirmations, a bird in the sky.

The tide has to be at a certain depth like.

Well God, if I wake up and my left shoes rolled 3 feet then

I've got it. Right.

But then when we need something, we're like, where were you, God?

Where were you? No, we have to treat the

invitation just as we expect God to respond to us.

We hasten and did not delay. I think it's interesting that

this whole passage in Luke was Jesus obviously speaking and

giving this parable. And the very next thing he

transitions to, he goes from this call where he says, hey,

I'm giving you an invitation. Don't take it lightly.

Take it serious, be there, answer this call, and then the

very next thing he transitions to is the cost of answering the

call. Because if you jump to Luke

1426. He says if anyone comes to me

and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children

and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot

be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own

cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not

first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to

complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a

foundation and is not able to finish all who observe it will

begin to ridicule him, saying the this man began to build and

was not able to finish. Or what king, when he sets out

to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and

consider whether he is strong enough with 10,000 men to

encounter the other one coming against him with 20,000, or

else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation

and ask for terms of peace. So then none of you can be my

disciples who do not give up all of their own possessions.

Therefore salt is good. But if even salt has become

tasteless, with what will it become seasoned?

It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile.

It is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him

hear. So Jesus says, you can't just

follow me casually. He's saying, look, I've sent out

a call and then I want you to respond to this call with haste.

I want you to respond to this call with reverence.

I want you to respond to this call with importance, with the

importance that it is because what is more important than the

call of God on your life? But then he says, now once you

respond, there is a cost associated with this response.

And this cost is that you cannot take it casually.

The invitation is free, but discipleship will cost you

something. The invitation is free, but

discipleship will cost you something.

To carry the cross is to choose him over your comfort.

When he says you have to pick up your cross and follow me, He's

saying look, you've got to leave your comfort behind and choose

to follow me daily. You want to be my disciple.

It's going to cost you choosing me over you.

Every time. Man, I'm so honored to be a

youth pastor here. I'm so honored to have the

great, amazing team we have who took a week of their vacation

and chose to honor a call at the cost of their own time, at the

cost of sleep, at the cost of decent food, at the cost of

attitudes, at the cost of so many things this week.

They said this call to respond is more important than what it's

going to cost me to give. May we not forget that the coal

is worth the cost. Carrying the cross is not in

burden, but in. Reverence to the King.

When you carry your cross, it's not in burden, but it's in

reverence. To the King.

Right. We always say it's, it's, it's

always easy to to help someone when it doesn't really cost you

anything. But the strength of friendship

is tested. At inconvenience, right?

It's one thing to pick someone up on the way, it's another to

drive 45 minutes out of the way, right?

It's one thing to be there for someone when you can.

It's another to say. This is extremely inconvenient

for me, but you're worth it. And God's saying, look, put down

yourself. Put down your own time.

Put down this. Pick up this cross and say,

follow me. I'm worth the cost of

discipleship. Your call is worth the cost of

discipleship. There is nothing more pressing

that can come up than the calling God's place in your

life. There will be nothing more

pressing than that call. But we have to choose to answer

that daily. We have to choose to walk in

that daily. You have to choose to walk in

that at moments of inconvenience.

I'm so thankful for all the people who had inconvenient

times. To to to pour into my life.

I'm so thankful for the people that had awkward conversations

to pour into my life. I'm so thankful for the people

that could have been doing something else but chose to

invest in me. I would not be here today

without people who chose to invest over doing their own

thing. And we're always, the thing

about excuses is we'll always have them.

There's always something that can draw on our attention.

There's always going to be something that could be more

pressing or more important than what we think we need to do

right now. But often times the greatest

points in your calling will come at the most inconvenient time

for you, right? You're going to gain the most in

your calling through the most inconvenient moment.

You're going to go to something, you know?

And I was joking because we were dealing with some situations

that can't because we like managing everything.

And I was speaking on Tuesday night and we had something come

up and I was like talking. And I was dealing with Pastor

listen, I was talking with Pastor Dennis and I was talking

with Pastor Daryl. And it was like one hour before

I was supposed to go speak. And so Pastor Alissa was talking

to me and pastor and she was like, hey, man, you know, we can

maybe take care of this. Like, Nah, I need to be here.

I'm going to be involved. I'm going to handle this.

I'm going to take care of it. I got done maybe like 20 minutes

before it was time for me to be in there.

And I remember I looked at Pastor Alissa and she's like,

you're right. And I was like, I'm great.

Can't be anything else. I said this word has got to be

amazing tonight. Otherwise there would not have

been so much distraction before, right?

If God, if, if something is trying so hard to pull me out of

this zone, then what's going to be tonight's got to be

important. And so I'm not going to let

something distract me from the place I've been placed right

now, right? So in this moment, I'm going to

know that, hey, I'm called to be here.

I'm called to handle and I'm. This is inconvenient, but this

is. Important to handle, so I will

handle it and then I'm going to step into.

A grace and we're going to run because this is where we're

supposed to be. Right we.

Can't let inconvenience keep us from our call, Philippians 37

says. But whatever things were gained

to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of

the Kingdom. More than that, I count all

things to be lost because of the surpassing value of Christ, of

knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the

loss of all things, and count them but rubbish, so that I may

gain Christ and be found in Him not.

Having a righteous. Business of my own, which is

from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the

righteousness which is from God upon faith, that I may know him

in the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship

of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, in order

that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

There is nothing we can try to pile ourselves that will ever

amount to what God's call can give us, right?

There is nothing you can try to build on your own that the call

of God won't give you better of. There is nothing you will

collect in this life by yourself that God's wouldn't have been

better had you followed. Right.

And when we take the call and we weigh the cost.

Of it, we can then pursue into the crown and into the reward

that God has for us. We can push into further steps.

We can push into more of our relationships.

See, the cost of discipleship is obviously laying down our own

self to pursue Him, but God is never going.

To let you lay down. Your own self in pursuit of him

just to only be miserable because it does let us know that

hey, in this life you'll have trials and tributaries.

But don't worry, for I have overcome the word.

I like to tell our kids that, you know, God never promised us

easy, but he did promise us victory, right?

And so although the path of Christ is not the easy path,

it's the victorious path. And as a competitor, as a

competitive person, I'm never looking for easy anyways, but I

always like to win. And I know.

If I'm walking in my calling and I'm pursuing after the thing God

placed in my life, then victory has to follow.

You know, I started running a while ago because I was playing

a game with my oldest daughter who's, you know, athletic and

getting into athletes. And, you know, honestly, I was

kind of running around with her. And by the time I got done, I

was exhausted. And I was like, man.

I can't be having her outrun me. I'm going to have to figure this

out. You got to put a little more

cardio in that Pastor Mike has been harping on me up for years.

So I started running. I set a goal, I set out, I got

this app that, you know, helped is like from couch to 10K.

And I was like, that's me because I can't, I've been on

the couch. So I'm like, click that thing.

The first run was like, you know, 5-1 minute intervals, like

run for a minute, walk for a minute.

And it was miserable. Like I started, I got the first

three no problem. But like, by the time that

fourth round came, I was breathing so hard, I was

sweating, I was drenched. I was just like, this is

ridiculous. Like I had never felt more out

of shape than I did in that moment, but I was like, man, I'm

going to stick with this thing. I'm going to keep pursuing this

thing. It tells me to run three times a

week. I'm going to run three times a

week. My goal is to get this 10K.

So I'm getting there, I'm building, I'm trying.

We finally get to like a milestone about halfway through

where it's like time for me to run a 5K.

So because I'm a competitive person, I grabbed my phone and I

Google what is a great 5K time and it says the world record is

like 14 minutes and something seconds.

And I was like, never mind, what is the average 5K time?

And they were like, oh, if you're, you know, a male in your

30s, it's like 28 to 32 minutes, something like that.

I said I can beat that. I will not be average.

I will not be world record, but I will.

I refuse to be average. So I was like, it came time to

run. I took off.

It took me 32 minutes, but I ran an extra mile because I was just

feeling it that day and then I felt it the next day.

But I gave it everything I had cuz I'm like man, I refuse to

just be average. I've been working for this

thing, I've been training for this thing.

I've been in it. I'm texting people who are

running and trying to get their times and they're sending me

their times and it's just insultingly fast.

He's like, let's go run. I was like, I don't think you

understand that when you say run, it's a completely different

speed. I felt like I was running, but

now I feel like I'm maybe just quickly jogging, right?

And then I meet, you know, we have some friends at camp and

their daughter runs and she's like, yo, she was talking to me.

I was like, yeah, how'd you do? She goes, I ran a mile in 558

and I was like, wow, that's awesome.

I have not ran a mile that fast ever in my life.

And you are 12, you know. So then I got to resort to like,

I'm, you know, 100 lbs heavier than you.

So, you know, kind of thing, right?

But like, you don't start something until you count the

cost. So when I got into this, I knew

it's going to cost me time. And when I wanted to stay in it,

there was multiple days that the running was extremely

inconvenient. It was, it's Florida.

It is hot. I could not get a run in the

morning. Now I'm running in the afternoon

in the dead of the heat just trying to get, I went to like a

baseball game and I came back and I was like I got to get my

running. Like I've got to do it today

because I can't tomorrow. And if I skip today then I'm

just going to be off. So I'm like I'm just I'm going

to go do it. And so I get off and I'm

running. I'm just like sweat.

It's hot. Slowest mile ever because it's

just 1000°. But I'm like I'm dedicated to

this. I'm counting the cost of the

extra 3 workouts I'm doing every week because the reward of being

a healthy person that can continue to play with my kids is

it was worth it to me, right? It was worth it.

So I'm like, I'm gonna pursue this thing at the cost of a lot

of discomfort and a lot of inconvenience and a lot of time

and a lot of different things. And when you're doing those,

it's amazing how God begins to then just reveal things to you.

And I've told my students, it's like I was running, then I

pushed for this 5K. And then I'm like reading some

books at home and I'm reading this, you know, a book just

trying to grow spiritually, studying up on some stuff.

And I just like, I'm tired. So I read a chapter, I close it

and God like kind of corrects me.

He's like, amazing, you pushed an extra mile today, but you

can't read an extra chapter. I was just like, it's amazing

how often we can like physically push for our own personal goals,

but then the spiritual goals hit and we're like, we can negate

them. So it's like, all right, I won't

read 1 chapter again. I'm a 2 chapter guy, right?

I'm like, I'm just going to pursue this thing.

I'm going to continue to grow. I'm going to continue to go.

But the, the, the reward, the crown that comes after the cost

is so worth it. It's so worth it.

First Samuel 2 three or 2:30. I'm kind of read like a little

section of it says for those who honor me, I will honor and those

who despise me will be lightly esteemed.

So God honors those who honor him, which means when you take

time to honor him, God honors that honor brings honor, right?

And when we count the cost of what we're giving up to pursue

the call, God honors that. And He will never leave you out

because of that, right? He will always understand that

man. They're putting themselves down

to be here. Like we said earlier, it's

always easy to help people when it's convenient, but it also

means more to someone when they know it's inconvenient.

But a lot of times when they know that that you went out of

their way to help them, it, it shows them how much more.

And God's like, I see all that you're putting down to continue

to pursue me. And I will honor that because

honor brings honor. And when we bring that, that

means we're bringing our supply each and every time we walk into

this room, all right? Each and every time we walk into

this room, we're bringing our supply to service this see

church isn't just about worship team and speaker.

The Bible lets us know. When two or more gather, he is

here. It doesn't say.

When two or more gather on the platform, he is here.

It doesn't say when your pastor spent extra time in prayer,

he'll show up. It says when two or more gather,

which means you bring your supply, right?

You bring your supply. If you are a joy person, then

bring some joy and let that joy seep through the sanctuary.

You've, if you've been here at Anchor Faith Church for any

amount of time, then you've seen gifts get used on on the

platform all the time. People who have words during

worship, There's flow to it, there's an order to it, but

ultimately gifts can be used and you bring your supply.

The supply you bring God honors. So we don't have to wait for a

moment. To honor God, we get to create a

moment to honor God. I don't have to wait for the

team to get to All Hail Kings. Just be like, oh, I love this

song. I can worship here.

I don't need the perfect atmosphere before I can step in.

No, I create an atmosphere for myself.

I come to service with expectation.

I listen to the songs I love the most before I get in here.

I prime myself up for the rest of the set, right?

I bring my supply, and when I bring my supply, God honors the

supply. I bring in what you honor you

protect, what you esteem you prioritize, and what you value

you will respond. To with urgency.

What you honor, you protect, what you esteem you prioritize,

and what you value, you respond to with urgency.

When you truly. Honor something You will make

sure to keep this sanctuary sacred.

When I honor the presence of God, I will keep this sanctuary

sacred, meaning I will not let the worries of the world and the

different trials I'm going through and the different

situations I've seen and what's happened to affect my.

Time at this altar, because these moments are sacred.

My worship is important and I'm not letting anything distract me

out of that. Right, I esteem it too much, so

I prioritize it. Meaning this is so valuable to

me that on Sunday mornings, I prioritize making sure I'm

getting myself ready. I'm not rolling out last second.

No, I'm waking up, coming hungry and prepared for something.

Because we all believe God's word is alive and active, right?

And it's sharper than any truth. And it pierces between.

Joint marriage means every word spoken, even if you've heard it

has a way to affect. You a new way.

This is why we do the Bible reading plan in Anchor Faith

Church because it's amazing how every year you read God can

speak something different. That year I personally started

highlighting my years on my app in different colors.

So I go through an all year I'll use one color, then the next

year I'll use a different color just because I like how I can

kind of see last year this spoke to me, but this year 2 verses

down spoke more. Right, because I have a hunger

and I have an honor for the word.

God sits there and he looks at it and he says, look, I'm going

to continue to invest here. There's always something more to

learn. You will never attain

everything. You'll never know it all.

So that means when we show up, we say, God, what do you have

for me today? What do you have for me right

now? God does not overlook your

honor, He. Responds to it.

He's not going to overlook the time you spend prepping for

service, the time you spend serving, the time you spend, you

know, investing. God honors those times.

You know, camp is kind of a weird thing because you pour out

so much, but yet you leave so full.

Like as a worker, you can sometimes be so tired, but yet

so full and ready at the same time.

You know, I'm sure everyone of the workers responded a little

differently. We had a group chat going and

they're all kind of telling you either what they ate when they

got back or how much they slept. Some people slept more than

others, some people slept less. You know, I'm kind of a routine

person. So I just got up and went like I

was ready to get back, get my stuff clean and get back on what

I'm doing. But like, I personally, this

year probably did the most I've ever done yet feel the best

after camp I've ever felt. Right?

Because God honors the investment.

And God says, look, I'm not going to leave you stranded when

you're pursuing me, Romans 828 says.

And we know that for those who love God, all things work

together for good. For those who are what called

according to. Who's his purpose?

This is one of those scriptures that we love to quote halfway,

right? Well, God's going to work all

things for the better. But there is a second-half

that's pretty important here, which is.

For those who are called according to his purpose.

So God is obligated to work things for your good when you

are called and working according to his purpose.

God is not called to make your own personal side mess.

Good y'all wanting. Some of you are wanting him to

bless these message you. Created outside of his purpose

and will. Well, God said he'll work it

out. No, God said he'll work out

anything you're doing called according to his purpose, He's

going to work it for good. Meaning when situations happen,

God will work him for good. When you're standing righteous,

when you're living right, when you're pursuing God, when you're

doing these things, he's going to work those out.

So when you answer the call and you count the cost, then God's

obligated to say, no, I'm going to work this out.

Good for you. I'm going to see you through

this situation. I'm going to turn it into a

place that you're going to get there, man.

What I love about camp is not only do we get to invest, but

our leaders get to invest. And some of our leaders got to

see this time that their stories and their testimonies and what

they've gone through and their experiences started to started

to impact the kids around them as well.

And God said, look, I know you did this stuff and I know it was

bad and you've got your life right and you're walking on

track. And now I'm going to use that to

help keep these kids from ever experiencing what you've

experienced. And now I'm going to work good.

What mess you had right? And so we get to see these

things that come together when we count the cost, God honors

it. Second Timothy, 47 through Aces

I have. Fought the good fight.

I have finished the course, I have kept the faith in the

future. There is laid up for me the

crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge,

will award to me on the on that day, and not only to me, but

also to all who have loved His. Appearing right as we continue

to fight this life of faith, as we continue to walk in this life

of purpose. And we understand that, look,

there's a cost, but there's a crown.

There might be a cost, but there's a crown.

But this life with Christ will be worth everything I go

through, and God will reward all that I do when I'm doing it for

him. God is never going to leave you

hanging when you're pursuing him.

God's never going to leave you abandoned when you're pursuing

him. God's never going to leave you

alone when you're pursuing Him. God says, look, I've seen your

struggles, I've seen what you're going through.

I've seen your pursuit. And I will honor that there's a

crown at the end of the cost there's.

This life is. Worth living?

This pursuit is worth it, right? Your calling is worth everything

it'll cost. It's worth everything it'll

cost. Because in the end, what does it

really cost? Because is there anything really

better than his call in the first place?

Are we really going to find anything better than the purpose

God made us for? We've all heard the saying

before. It's like, oh, when you love

what you do, you'll never work a day in your life.

And it's like as silly as it is, you know, I've come to find that

the more I step into my purpose, the easier it is to just run,

the easier it is to just do it. Like it is true.

I love what I do, and so doing it is easy.

No matter how late it goes, no matter how long it takes, no

matter how many events we've got scheduled, it's just easy

because this is me. This is why God created me.

This is what I'm here for. I've stepped into this thing.

I'm going to run with it. Some of us might be struggling

with where we're out because we're just not where God placed

us, right? And storms don't just come to

those who are doing something wrong.

They can come to you when you're in the right place.

So sometimes you're there and you just got to continue to

fight through and that's fine. But sometimes we've got to

assess, am I continuing to have I answered the call that God's

put on my life? Am I where God placed me to

continue to pursue? Or did I find myself here and

I've just kind of been here and I've just kind of wandered here

and I've and now I'm just here, right?

We want to check ourselves and say, man, am I actually where

God placed me to be so that I can pursue him wholeheartedly?

Am I where God put me in this place so that I can continue to

love every second? Every chance I get to invest the

word, every chance I get to minister to someone, every

chance I get to be a light to someone, every chance I get to

be joy for someone, right? This is part of bringing your

supply. You don't just bring it here,

but you bring it outside, You bring it into the workplace.

You should look different. You should be different.

You should act different. People should be wondering

what's different about you. Why are you always like this?

How come every, everything, everything's tough.

But yeah, you're always happy. Because I got the joy of the

Lord in my heart. Because I know in the end

there's victory. Because I know in the end

there's a king coming. Because I know in the end, no

matter how any of this unfolds, my King's going to win.

Because I know in the end, when I'm doing what God's called me

to do, the only outcome is victory.

When I'm walking his course, the only outcome is that God is with

me, Romans 818 says. For I consider that the

sufferings of this present. Time are not.

Worthy to be compared to the with the glory that is to be

revealed to us. The cost may be real, but so is

the crown. The cost may be real, but so is

the crown. And anything you go through in

this life will be so worth it with all the glory that's been

to be revealed. Anything you experience in this

life, you'll look back and be like, man, it was worth every

second. Like I said, our leaders come

back and we're exhausted, we're tired, but then we look back and

like, man, I would do it again right now.

I would do it again right now because the outcome was worth

it, because there's no suffering in this present time that will

not be worthy compared to the glory.

And what it costs doesn't compare to what He gives you.

What it costs will never compare to what He gives you.

The call from God is something we have to continually esteem,

continually Revere, continually keep in awe of that man.

God called me. God shows me.

God freely gave me this gift. How could I not continue to just

be in awe of this moment? I will never take this call

lightly. I will never take this call

lightly because I know where it placed me.

I know where the call of God got me.

I know where I would be without it.

If I had not had this invitation, I know what I would

have gone down without it. And so, yeah, when we accept

that call, we then start to lay down ourself.

We then place ourself down. Piece by piece, God starts to

pull things away from us. Why?

Because those things are things that only pull you back to who

you were before. And now we're trying to get to

this new place God wants us, this better place God has for

us. The more fullness God has for

your life, He's called you out of it, right?

The invitation was a call out of something.

Not a call for you to straddle the line, Not a call for you to

try to be halfway. Like I said, This is why

discipleship isn't casual, because it requires all of you.

It requires your full heart and devotion to it.

It requires you taking time to be in it.

It requires that X those extra moments when everyone else is

sleeping, that you're studying, when everyone else is doing

something. You're praying when everyone

else is here, right? It requires me putting myself

down at moments and saying, man, I'd rather be asleep.

I'd rather be this, I'd rather be doing this.

But in the end, this little bit of a cost is worth the crown

that comes at the end. This little bit of cost that I

have now, this little bit of suffering.

Like I said, for those who do run and have done those, we

understand that even though like at the end, your shins hurt and

all this kind of stuff, you know when you see the difference.

I started doing this journey with a barely one minute able to

run and now I'm out there and I can run like 45 minutes

unbroken. You go from such like such

little to so much and God's doing the same thing in your

life. He's like, hey, you might have

started and just a little bit of prayer seemed like forever to

you. But the more you continue to

pray, the more you enter into prayer, the more you start

sacrificing your time to set here, the easier it becomes to

enter in. And now some people can testify

to praying for hours is easy. Because they get in and I'm no

different. I remember I was drugged to

morning prayer with my dad and then I spent like 5 minutes in

the opening prayer praying and then sitting there trying to

keep myself awake. It.

Took growth and development and time and there's still times

when you come to prayer and you're extra tired and you're

like, I've got to do something to stay awake.

But it's worth it. It's worth the time.

I know the outcome of me sacrificing this is worth what's

coming. The crown is worth the cost.

And I just challenge you guys today to make sure that we

aren't letting the things of God become common in our lives, that

we aren't allowing His presence. We aren't missing His presence

because we're so consumed with other things at the moment.

I tell our youth this all the time and then obviously expands

to adults, but I say, hey, I'll never discount that you guys are

going through very real things, that there are serious things

happen, but the answer is always the same.

It's the word and His presence. And that doesn't change at any

age you get to. We go through real stuff.

We have real problems, we have real needs, but the answer is

always the Word and His presence.

And if we start to treat these moments common, that's when we

start to be like, oh, well, you know, I didn't feel like the

worship was that great. Today.

Worship's always great because I bring my supply.

The words always great because I'm looking for something.

The moments are always there because I'm bringing them,

right? I can, I have no problem.

I've been, you know, I get to travel with pastor, I get to go

to a place. I've been to some churches where

worship by music standard isn't great.

You're like, some of these people could maybe use a little

more practice. We're glad that they have the

gift, but maybe practice a little more, right?

And so I've been to places where it is impossible to clap because

you're just like, I don't know where I'm clapping.

There's a couple different time signatures going on right now,

right? But it doesn't hinder me from

then getting to my own place saying, OK, I'm going to bring

it here and I'm just going to worship myself because I still

won't miss an opportunity with God because we got a lot of

joyful noise going on, right? Sometimes you got to find your

own moments in that joyful noise.

But I bring my own supply because I don't ever want.

To. Let God just become common in my

life. You know, sometimes I've had

people ask me, especially at camp, they're like, man, you

ever get nervous? I'm like, nervous isn't the

right word. I don't, I'm not nervous about

speaking because I'm going to be honest, I'm a pretty good public

speaker. Like I took classes.

I understand how to build like speeches and get that kind of

concept. And I'm pretty confident that if

I really wanted to just deliver speech, I can.

But what I do take very seriously is that I'm delivering

the word for the moment. And that way I always feel that

I don't ever want to just fall back on a word I could say when

there's a word that needs to be said.

And that moment and that way, because I won't let God become

common, I take very heavily. So it's not nervous in the sense

of like, oh, will I have a good speak?

Like, yeah, I'll have I'll say good things, but will it be the

right thing? That's what I make sure I

pursue. Will it be the word for the

moment? Will it be the word that these

kids need or that these people need in these seats will be the

word for today? Those are the way.

Because I refuse to let God become common in my life and I

refuse to let it just become like a background noise.

I refuse. To let the holy.

Things in my life become just background noise.

All right? Like I said, we can so quickly

kind of come in and have so much going on that worship just

becomes like white noise in the room because we're processing

our own thoughts. We're processing different

things that happen throughout. We're processing different

information. Next thing you know, you've

missed an entire experience with God because we just got caught

up in our own head, right? We want to set an expectation

when we come into service that we're ready to receive

something, that we're ready to hear something.

Because when I don't make it common and I count the cost and

God's victory follows behind us, right?

So we don't just want to take that invitation lightly.

We're not just taking a call lightly, but we're showing up

with our whole life. God's call will cost your whole

life, but the rewards of that cost is so worth it.

The reward of that cost is so worth it.