🔥"Burning Ploughs and Grilling Cows" 🥩

Hi, this is John O'Zanting, lead pastor of Evolved Church, and this is the Evolved Church Podcast.

Thanks so much for tuning in.

We hope that you find today's message encouraging and full of hope for wherever you're at.

Well, it's great to be with you.

Honestly, I just want to pause for a minute and look through this camera.

First of all, say, how are you doing?

How how are you holding up right now?

We've we've come into September.

The summer is over.

I I love September's.

It feels like a fresh beginning, a new start.

September's always kind of bring about a lot of change, especially if you live in a home where there's children and you're back to school and new routines.

How many parents are maybe struggling with bedtime and wake up time and pack and lunch time and all the times right now, all the change that this season is thrusting upon us as we head into September.

I just want to say thank you.

Thank you for showing up strong every week.

Thank you for uh just hitting share on this link right now, whether you're watching on Facebook or YouTube or church online platform, just um sharing enough with those around you of what God's doing in your life.

It could be as simple as sending somebody a link to this week's message if you feel like it's gonna bring hope to their hearts or encourage them.

Um but thank you.

Thank you for being in this room, being in this space, and leaning into what God has for us today.

Change is hard.

Uh, whether it's um, you know, a routine change, whether it's health goals and the change that's required, whether it's just like physical fitness, the change that's required to get healthy physically, relationship status and changes that come with that.

Maybe a marriage or a romantic relationship that's changed, and maybe it's bringing some pain, or maybe it's bringing some new hope and some new life in this season, fulfillment at work.

How are things going?

Are you going through change with your job right now?

Change at work, change with your mental health, change with your routine and your schedule.

Change isn't always easy.

Most of the population, most of the human population is actually pretty adverse when it comes to change.

We don't love change.

What about the changes that are sort of rapidly thrust on us as a society?

What about in the city of Edmonton where we live, um, a citywide mandate on Friday on this this past Friday, a uh change thrust upon all of us to wear masks again in indoor spaces.

How are you handling that?

How's your how's your heart when it comes to just submitting and surrendering to a new city bylaw that's in place?

Changes to our norm, right?

Changes to what we've loved and appreciated about the summer, uh and now changes to our privileges, changes to our way of life, changes that have been just sort of thrust upon us.

How's that impacting you?

A lot of times, even when it's change we desire, change that we're we're um intentionally seeking after, that's hard enough, but change that feels like we have to do this, um it just sort of messes with um our whole like spiritual equilibrium and how our hearts feel settled or not.

How's your peace right now connected to a season of change?

Change is hard.

Humans are hardwired to resist change.

It's in us to resist change.

It's part of the brain, the amygdala, interprets change, any kind of change, as a threat and then releases hormones for fear or fight or flight.

Your body's actually trying to protect you from change.

And whether that's positive change for the good or change that's been thrust upon us that feels really, really hard, you're hardwired to resist change.

But change is important.

Growth, the ability to steward our lives, the ability to grow in our faith, the ability to see our marriages thrive, the ability to find that sweet spot as a dad or as a mom and connect with our kids.

All of these things require change, require growth.

Why do we resist change?

Because we believe that we're gonna lose something of value.

If this change happens, maybe I'm gonna lose something that I love.

If this change happens, I fear maybe I won't be able to adapt to what's new and what the season requires.

And yet, we all need to change.

Today's a big question.

Can you embrace the difficult truth that resisting change is countercultural to the way of following Jesus?

To be resistant of change is actually antithetical to following Jesus.

To be resisting change all the time, pushing back against change is countercultural to our way of following Jesus.

And wherever you're at right now in your journey of surrendering every part of your life to the leadership of Christ, if you're brand new to faith and this has become home for you, something you look forward to every week, if you've been following Jesus for years or decades, I want you to remember today that to resist change goes against the way of Jesus.

The way of Jesus invites us to be a people who are moving forward, growing, and inviting change to shape us.

Second Corinthians 3 in the Bible says this whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

What veil?

The Spirit of the Lord, wherever the Lord is, there is freedom.

So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of God.

And the Lord, who is the Spirit, makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image.

The Bible talks here in 2 Corinthians that when we make the decision to trust and follow Jesus, it's like our eyes are open, a veil gets lifted, and then God's Spirit moves in.

And with the authority of the Holy Spirit at work and the power of Scripture, the power of the Bible at work in our lives, we become a people committed to being more and more like Jesus as we change into his glorious image.

To become more and more like Jesus, to surrender our lives to this process of becoming more and more like Jesus requires change.

Growth and change, as hard as they are, they're the goal.

Spiritual growth, maturation, the ability for us to mature as followers of Jesus actually requires and looks like a lot of steady, ongoing change as we become more and more like Jesus.

So today's big question: can you embrace the difficult truth that resisting change is countercultural to the way of following Jesus?

Holy Spirit, as we take some time today to go to your word, we want to invite you to just like be present and real in our homes, in our workplaces, in our vehicles, wherever we're listening from today.

Would you just move into the spaces of our life where we've been resisting change?

Would you move into our homes, move into our marriages, move into our family dynamic, move into our physical health, move into our mental health, move into the relationships of friendships that we're building, move into our workplace and our job security and our financial state.

Would you move in today?

Would you open up our hearts to your voice, to your leadership as we step into today's message and talk about what it costs us to change, to grow.

In your name we pray.

Amen.

This past week a friend of mine sent me a post on social media from a great faith leader, a Christian woman by the name of Christine Kane, beautiful pastor.

And the post said this, I know it's hard to keep going when you can't see where you're going.

This is a season where we have to trust God despite what we see and cannot see.

She says, I've heard, I've never had so many conversations with people who are exhausted, overwhelmed, confused, disillusioned, scared, or on the verge of giving up.

Make no mistake, we have an enemy.

He wants to steal, kill, and destroy your life.

He wants you to feel hopeless, helpless, and worthless.

Don't listen to his lies or accusations.

You do matter.

Your purpose matters.

God is for you, God is with you, and God loves you.

And what a beautiful paragraph as we address sort of this current moment in our culture, this season that we're in.

Where are you resisting change in your life right now?

Where does it feel challenging or hard?

And where are you pushing back against change in your home, in your life, in your family?

Is it with your habits?

Is it with your parenting?

Is it with your marriage?

Is it with your budgeting and financial stewardship?

Perhaps with your physical health or your fitness, your mental health, your Sabbath, your rest, your spiritual disciplines and practices?

Are you resisting change?

Maybe you've been putting off the obedience step of getting baptized and you've just been putting it off, waiting for the right time, believing the lie that you're not good enough or spiritual enough.

Where are you resisting change in your life right now?

Remember, the enemy wants us to feel hopeless and helpless and worthless.

That's his MO.

And if you were to think through strategically every sphere of your world right now, every part of your life, where have you been left feeling?

Worthless or hopeless or helpless?

That's the work of the enemy.

And God says, rise up with courage, rise up with faith, rise up with the authority of my son Jesus and change, grow, move forward.

Because God is for you, God is with you, God loves you.

And your purpose, your purpose, your unique story, the purpose that your life is playing out today and will continue to play out for decades to come, your purpose matters to God.

And your purpose is greatly impacted by your willing surrender to the ongoing work of Scripture and the Holy Spirit to lead you into bit by bit steady change.

Your purpose, your fulfillment, your sense of vitality and coming alive is connected to your ongoing and willing surrender to God's Word and God's Spirit helping you bit by bit, growth by growth, being changed into the image of Jesus.

So I want to go to a story.

If you have a Bible in front of you, maybe a Bible on your smartphone, I want you to turn to the book of 1 Kings, chapter 19.

1 Kings 19 · chapter mention

And there's a story there about a prophet named Elijah and him beginning to raise up a new prophet named Elisha.

And in verse 19, here's what it says.

So Elijah went and found Elisha, son of Shaphat, plowing in a field.

If you're maybe expecting a new child in your home today, you could add that to the list of possible names for your next child, Shaphat.

That's a good one.

Those good, strong biblical names.

Elijah went and found Elisha, son of Shaphat, plowing a field.

There were twelve teams of oxen in the field, the Bible reports.

And Elisha was plowing with the twelfth team.

Elijah went over to him and threw his cloak across his shoulders and then walked away.

Elisha left the oxen standing there, ran after Elijah, and said to him, First, let me go and kiss my father and mother goodbye, and then I will go with you.

Elisha replied, Go on back, but think about what I have done to you.

So Elisha returned to his oxen and slaughtered them.

He used the wood from the plough to build a fire to roast their flesh.

He passed around the meat to the townspeople, and they all ate.

And then he went with Elijah as his new assistant, as his assistant.

Crazy story in the Bible.

And I want to share three thoughts from it today in a message that I'm simply calling burning plows and grillin' cows.

Burning plows and grilling cows.

First Kings chapter 19, verses 19 through 21.

1 Kings 19:19–21

So Elijah is invited by God to go anoint Elisha as the next prophet for the nation of Israel.

So he finds him, you know, behind a team of oxen in a field.

He throws his mantle on him.

And this is a piece of fabric, a lot like a Jewish priest Ephat.

He throws it right on Elisha and then just walks away.

And this is like a powerful symbol.

Elisha feels this mantle come on him and knows he's being invited to follow Elijah and become, be trained and apprentice as the next prophet for the nation.

And this is kind of a big deal.

And so he turns and he follows, chases after him, asks if he can go say goodbye to his family, goes say goodbye to his family, and then he like, he takes apart the plow, burns it, and then kills the cows, grills them on the fire, serves it to the townspeople, and then he goes and he follows Elijah.

What does God have to say?

Even as we talk about soaping in scripture, and as we head into 21 days of prayer, we read, we read something from the Bible, and then we ask the Holy Spirit, what can we observe from these verses?

What can we observe?

What are you speaking to us?

And then how can we apply it to our lives?

And then how can we prayerfully move forward in faith?

And so I've got three observations that I hope we can apply to our lives today from 1 Kings 19.

The first thought is this: what people do you need to disappoint?

What people do you need to disappoint and distance from to step into what God has prepared for you?

Some of us are resisting change right now because we're scared of disappointing people.

We're scared of walking away from a relationship.

We're scared of ending a season with this person or these people.

We're afraid.

We've counted the cost and we're not sure we can handle it.

But I want to ask you when it comes to resisting change, what people do you need to disappoint and distance from to step into what God's prepared for you?

The life that God has given you, the purpose, the ministry, the vitality, the fullness.

First Kings 19 says that Elisha left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, First, let me go and kiss my father and mother goodbye, and then I'll go with you.

And Elijah says, Go back, but think about what I've done to you.

This thing I've done to you.

I've placed my mantle on you.

Okay, take a hot minute and say goodbye to your family, but you're stepping into something that's even more important than what you're leaving behind.

It would have been traditional and expected for Elisha to stay and manage the family business.

It would have been on him already, as a son of that house, to take over the family business.

And this expectation would have been placed on him.

Other people's expectations are weighty.

Are there spoken expectations or maybe even unspoken expectations that you're feeling the weight of in this season?

Expectation from a workplace or a family member, an old friend or relationship?

Are there expectations that feel like weight that you're sitting under right now?

What change are you resisting in your life right now because you don't want to disappoint someone or let somebody down?

Let's sit there for a minute.

If the change that's required to step forward in faith in the season that's ahead of you, change to like grow a relationship, change to level up in your parenting, change to be a better steward in your workplace.

Are there people you're gonna have to let down or disappoint to move forward in faith and grow and change in a way that moves us in our fulfillment and the purpose that God has for us?

Elisha was measuring the success of a sure thing against the whisper of the unknown.

The success of staying put and managing the family business and taking over the inheritance and doing what he'd already done versus the whisper of God saying, Son, I've got something new for you.

I've got something different for you.

Go back, but think about what I've done to you.

Go back, but think about what I've done to you.

And that whisper of God is for us in the room today.

Think about what I'm leading you into, think about what I've prepared ahead of for you, think about the new opportunities that I have for you, think about the change that's coming.

Come on, sure, go back.

But it might mean you have to disappoint or distance yourself from some relationships.

On the Enneagram, I'm a two, I'm a helper.

And that means my greatest fear always is am I gonna let people down?

Am I gonna disappoint somebody?

When I want to be there, when I want to show up, when I want to help, when I want to serve.

If I have to disappoint people or have to distance myself from certain environments, what are people gonna think about me?

And in this journey of planting a church and being in Edmonton for three years, it required us to count the cost of leaving a city that we loved, leaving a faith community of thousands that we loved deeply and that we'd served for two decades.

And the weight of that was heavy for me.

The unspoken whispers and expectations of thinking about leaving behind a season of great ministry that we love, to step into the unknown, to step into a new city, to start from scratch.

That's called faith, church.

And some of you are so scared of what people are gonna think, or that people will be disappointed in you, or what they're gonna say about you behind your back, that you're not willing to move forward in faith, move forward in the change that God has for you.

But I want you to know from this story in Elisha, 1 Kings 19, that sometimes what people we're gonna have to disappoint and distance from is actually what moves us forward into God's purpose for us.

Can you embrace the difficult truth that resisting change is countercultural to the way of following Jesus?

Luke 9, Jesus puts it this way, as they're walking along, someone said to Jesus, I will follow you wherever you go.

Put yourself in this story.

Jesus, I'll do whatever you want.

I will follow you wherever you go.

But Jesus replied, Foxes have dens to live in, birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay his head.

In other words, you want to follow me?

There's some uncertainty ahead.

I might not even know where I'm sleeping tonight.

You want to follow me?

It's gonna cost you something.

You want to follow me?

You might have to leave family behind.

He said to another person, Come follow me.

And that man agreed that he said, Lord, first let me return home and bury my father.

And Jesus said, Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead.

Your duties to go and preach about the kingdom of God.

In other words, sometimes our priorities and our values that we think are important have us moving forward in the way of following Jesus that disappoint the people we leave behind.

What does that mean?

What is that going to cost us?

I'm not talking about being foolish.

I'm not talking about being mean-spirited or vindictive.

I'm talking about counting the cost of trusting and following Jesus versus the approval of other people that we've been living under the weight of.

Another person said, Yes, Lord, I will follow you, but first let me say goodbye to my family.

And Jesus told him, anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back isn't fit for the kingdom of heaven.

In other words, if Jesus is inviting us into a season of change, a new season of opportunity, a new friendship, a new job, a new project where we serve in our church community, a new season of stewardship where we pour out and give like we've never given before.

If Jesus is inviting us into a new season, who are we gonna have to disappoint or distance from as we move forward?

It might require some disappointments, it might require some distance being generated between you and the toxic, unhealthy relationships for you to fully work the call of God on your life.

And that's okay.

Because what he thinks and pleasing the Father matters more than any person.

Come on, let's let's move forward.

Number two, what new relationships do you need to fully embrace to step into what God has prepared for you?

What new relationships do you need to fully embrace to move forward into what God's calling you?

1 Kings 19, um, Elijah went to Elisha, threw his cloak on his shoulders, walked away, and then verse 21 then Elisha went with Elijah as his assistant.

So there's this invitation come with me.

What's not obvious in this narrative, what's not like written in the pages of this story, is the demotion and the apparent step backwards for Elisha.

He's a son in a wealthy home.

Going to inherit the family business, and then he sidesteps and begins to follow Elijah as his assistant.

Keeping in mind, Elijah, as the prophet, was not a very popular guy.

This wasn't an incredibly fun opportunity.

This wasn't like celebrity status.

I get to be a prophet.

This wasn't a big deal.

To the culture, it would have seemed like Elisha was walking away from a sure thing to embrace a relationship with an outcast who people hated.

That's the gig.

Elisha left his secure place in family, hierarchy, and inheritance to submit to another man's calling to follow Elijah.

Can you embrace the difficult truth that resisting change is countercultural to the way of following Jesus?

Society and culture have us always thinking about our place, always thinking about our place in this world.

Are we advancing?

Are we promoted?

Are we climbing the ladder?

Are we increasing our status?

Are we gaining more followers?

Society has us under the weight and the pressure and the expectation of grow, grow, climb the ladder, climb the ladder, more status, more opportunity.

We look at status and posture and success as the factors that motivate our influences and our friendships and our relationships.

But Elijah was not a popular dude.

As a matter of fact, in the same chapter, just verses before this story, Elijah is in the desert contemplating suicide.

The great prophet Elijah.

He's running for fear of his life.

King Ahab and his wife Jezebel, they've set out like a kill order on Elijah.

He's scared for his life.

He's hiding in a cave.

How long, O Lord, is it enough?

Lord, take away my life.

This is just verses before in 1 Kings 19, verses 1 through 4.

1 Kings 19:1–4

Elijah's like, he's got a death wish.

The king and queen want to kill him.

He's not a popular dude.

He's just like taking on all the prophets of Baal, which is another really incredible story.

But he's destitute and he's down and he's out.

And Jesus invites you and I to not embrace the posture of the world, the success of the world, the influence of the world, but to rise up in the spirit of Christ as servant leaders with humility to take a posture that's lower.

Jesus invites us to embrace the lowly and the destitute and the social outcasts.

Can't you see sometimes resisting change?

It's countercultural to the way of Jesus.

And the new relationships that God has for you to move you forward in your calling, move you forward in your purpose, might not look like success on paper, might not look like success on a screen or on a social media profile or on a YouTube channel or on a LinkedIn page or on a resume, might not look like the status that the world has us scrambling for as we climb the ladder of success.

It might mean we lower ourselves and humble ourselves and just sit in places in new relationships, in new moments that are actually going to move us forward in our heart calling and our purpose.

There are some new relationships right here, even in this digital space, in this room, connected to this community in this season.

New relationships that God has prepared for you.

They might not look like what you've determined advancement or successful relationships to look like.

And if you're approaching relationships, what can I get out of this?

How is this going to make me look?

I think you've missed the mark.

There are some new relationships that God has for us, but they will be the, and they'll be the catalyst for us to truly rise up, truly step into the call of God that He has for us, but it might not look like what you think it looks like.

Are you willing to submit and surrender to the way of Jesus?

Are you willing to go against the cultural norm to embrace new relationships, new friendships?

That small group that you've been avoiding, even though you know it's going to be what helps you really grow in your faith in this season.

That Bible study that you've been wanting to start connected to this house might not look like the most successful or popular thing, but it's the right move for you.

That person that you see sitting alone at work that no one else is making room for.

The Spirit of Christ through hospitality is rising up, saying, Come on, son, what new relationships?

What change?

What change are you resisting right now with new relationships?

God's got something for us here.

And number three, last and final thought, what security and what comfort are you willing to sacrifice to step into what God's prepared for you?

What security and what comfort are you willing to set aside and sacrifice in order to move forward in change in what God has prepared for you?

First Kings 19, Elijah went and found Elisha plowing a field.

Twelve teams of oxen.

Elisha was plowing the twelfth.

Elijah went over through his cloak and walked away.

And Elisha left the oxen standing there, ran after Elisha and said to him, First, let me go and kiss my father and mother goodbye, and then I'll go with you.

Elijah replied, Go on back, but think about what I've done to you.

So Elisha returned to his oxen and slaughtered them.

He used the wood from the plow to build a fire, to roast their flesh.

He passed around the meat to the townspeople, and they all ate.

And then he went with Elijah as his assistant.

Twelve teams of oxen in Elisha's day equals significant wealth.

Twelve teams of oxen plowing the same field.

That's a big field and a lot of income.

It wasn't enough to say goodbye to his family.

It wasn't enough to step out of that relationship.

Elijah had to burn the plows and grill the cows in order to step forward in faith.

He had to break apart the plow he'd been working with, light it on fire, slaughter the cow, grill the cow, serve it to all the people.

In other words, saying, hey guys, I'm out.

This is the end of the road for me.

I am I'm not stepping back into this role.

I'm not stepping back into this inheritance.

I'm not stepping back into this season.

I'm not stepping back into this calling.

I'm moving forward in faith.

I'm gonna I'm gonna burn the plows and grill the cows.

I can't come back to this.

I'm moving forward in faith in Jesus' name.

Did you know that God is for your good?

Come on, church.

God's for your good.

He is, yes.

God is for your good, but that doesn't mean that he's for your ease or your comfort, your simplest like existence where it just feels easy all the time.

He's for our good, but that doesn't mean he's for our comfort.

Sometimes the change that's required requires sacrifice and laying comfort and security on the altar, stepping out of the simple, easy thing in faith into the new thing that God has for us, a season of change.

And for some of us, that might be a relationship.

Maybe you're in a dating relationship that just feels like I've been at this for a while.

I know it's not God's best for me.

I know it's it's not moving me forward in my faith, but it feels secure, it feels comfortable.

Maybe God's asking you to step outside of that dating relationship and move forward in faith to finding a real relationship that's gonna help you just uh be a part of Jesus' kingdom in a new way.

Maybe you've just been working a job for a while because it's easy and you know how to do it, but there's this dream inside of you, this sense of purpose and calling, but you're scared.

You're scared to step out of the boat, you're scared to burn the plows and grill the cows and move forward in faith to the new thing that God has for you.

But often faith looks like us taking the secure and comfortable things and lighting them on fire to move forward in faith for the new things that God's prepared for us.

Don't confuse the two things.

Don't confuse ease and comfort with God's call on our life.

Yes, he's for our good, but that doesn't mean it's gonna be the easy way.

God might have a new thing, a new season for you that requires change and growth, but it might need some faith.

It might mean stepping out of comfort, stepping out of security.

We regularly look back over the last three years of how we've seen God move and what he's done in this house at Evolved Church.

And I remember when we first began to communicate and articulate the dream to move to this city and plant a new church.

We had an amazing church.

Give us the opportunity to say, go plant a campus, keep your salaries and build a team and go in strength, move to this new city with two incomes and a big team of people to start.

But we knew that's not what God was asking us to do.

We had another beautiful church planning organization say, You want to do this?

We've got so much money and not enough church planters.

We want to resource you.

We'll help pay for this thing.

Go, go, and we'll help cover the costs.

And we knew that wasn't the right relationship.

God led us with his perfect peace as we moved here with our kids and our dog and began to pursue a dream and a calling to plant a new church.

Did we have the two salaries and a big team of people?

No.

Did we have all the money?

No.

Did God provide for us and lead us by his spirit with his perfect peace into what he had prepared for us?

Yes, and we're living in a miracle what we're seeing God do.

The faith to plant a new church required us to leave comfort and leave security and trust that God was for our good, even though it was going to be hard.

Even though it was going to be hard.

Can you embrace the difficult truth that resisting change is countercultural to the way of following Jesus?

To follow Jesus well requires us to invite change.

By the grace and strength of the Holy Spirit and the power and the truth of God's word, the Bible leading us into new seasons of growth, new seasons of ministry, new seasons of leadership, new seasons where our marriages are coming alive and our parenting is just vibrating with hope and strength, and our workplaces are significantly more vital because we're there stewarding our gifts.

What new seasons of change and growth is God inviting you into?

Where have you been resisting change in your mental health, in your relationship, in your marriage, in your home?

Where have you been resisting change in your physical health, in your finances, in your fitness, in your spiritual disciplines?

Where have you been resisting change?

And can you step into what God has for you?

Can you see today that you might need to disappoint or distance yourself from some people to step into God's call on your life?

Can you see today that there might be some new opportunities, new relationship that God's leading you to to move forward and grow today?

Can you see the security and the comfort that needs to be sacrificed to step into what God has prepared for you?

Are you willing to burn some plows and grill some cows?

Count the cost, light it on fire, and step forward in faith into the new thing that God's prepared for you.

I can't help but sense that when it comes to change, fear is often the motivating emotion that we feel.

We're scared.

What if what if the things that I value are taken away from me?

What if when I step out in faith it's not going to be what I thought it was going to be?

What if it's going to be hard?

What if it's going to be difficult?

What if it's going to cost too much?

If there's areas of change in your life that you know that are God breathed, if if you know that you know that it's time to move forward, time to grow, time to change, how are you resisting change right now?

And I just pray in the powerful name of Jesus that God's Holy Spirit would just light a fire inside each one of us today.

Not just to give us the courage, but to give us the tools that we need.

Whether it's disappointing somebody, distancing ourselves, stepping out in faith and beginning a new connection, a new friendship, a new relationship, or sacrificing some kind of comfort or security, whatever it's going to cost us, Father, would you boldly lead us into new seasons of growth and change in this month, in these days, in this season of our lives.

We willingly surrender our life afresh, anew, to the way of Jesus today.

And we acknowledge that to resist change is countercultural to our trust in Jesus.

Jesus invites us to be the kind of people that are open to growth, open to changing, bit by bit being transformed into his image.

Father, would you lead us by your spirit, even if it's just a next step we need to take?

A phone call we need to make to restore relationship.

An email we need to send to set something right, a coffee we need to set up to begin to pursue that dream that we've always had but have been scared to pursue.

God, whatever it takes, our relationships, the ones we need to distance from, or maybe even disappoint, the ones we need to start, the comfort and the secure things that we need to light on fire as we trust you.

Would you meet us here and lead us forward in faith?

We ask in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Thank you so much for listening to today's message.

If you're ever in the Edmonton area, pop by for a visit.

And if you need any more information, visit EvolveChurch.com.

We hope to see you soon.