The Palomino | Todd Pierce and Riding High Ministries

Oh, Crossing Nation, what a weekend.

I am so glad that you guys are here from all of our locations.

I want to welcome you, those of you watching online and inside.

I've been trying to loosen up this knuckle.

I got my bubble. Wub a shoe.

Yep, this is who I am. Now if you you should go to a

rodeo soon because there's not going to be a lot of wild

animals left now that I'm a cowboy, I'm going to be breaking

them for the that's my purpose. Now to those of you who are new

to the crossing, those of you watching online, we're just so

glad that you're here. And if you are new here, whether

it's your first time or your first time in a long time, would

you do me a huge favor and ultimately, I believe do

yourself a huge favor before you leave today, Would you swing out

into the lobby next to the new here booth and get connected?

We'd love a chance to get to know you a little bit better and

help you on your spiritual journey.

Today we are going to participate in what I believe

will be one of the most memorable services of your

entire life. We're all big fans of Jesus

here. And Jesus, when he taught

people, he taught them using parables.

He used a powerful story to convey a powerful truth.

And that is exactly what is going to happen right in front

of your eyes in just a few moments.

A story is going to get told. We're going to use the horse,

and the horse is going to represent you, and Todd is going

to represent God. And you're going to see over

time what happens when a horse begins to trust the cowboy.

And what I'm hoping you'll see is what is possible when you,

though you are wild and full of potential and purpose, will not

fully experience it or realize it until your life begins to

trust God. Would you guys please welcome to

the stage, our cowboy for the weekend.

Mr. Todd Pierce, I need you to know I officially have a cowboy

crush on you, but I'm not, you know, I'm saying it because, you

know, we don't get to share the stage again for a while.

You have been a tremendous, tremendous blessing to our

church and people that many people all across this region

have been praying for are here because of what you do and how

you leverage your life and your abilities.

And I just need you to know we are so deeply grateful for you.

Thank you. And what I want to do is I'm

going to have our whole church, we're going to pray for you, and

then I'm going to let you get after it.

How's that sound? Yes, Sir.

So if you're here at 48th St. would you extend your hands

towards Mr. Todd at your one of our locations?

Would you just extend your hand towards the screen?

Heavenly Father, I'm asking that you would do a mighty work right

now, that you would keep Todd safe, That you would give him

the words that He is supposed to speak to us and over us, about

us and about you and the God. That because of the interactions

He's about to have, that every single person would draw closer

to you in their intimate personal relationship.

And you're in my prey. Amen.

Amen. Get it, buddy.

Thank you. So it's I hope this never gets

old to me. We're in church with a horse,

and I grew up not liking church at all.

And actually I didn't like people, but I loved animals.

And it was because of this miracle we talked about

transformation, that an insecure, scared little boy that

only found safety in animals learned how to be consumed by

the love of God and made it to her.

I love people and I've fallen in love with this family.

They've treated us so well. And I'm so impressed that we

were sitting at dinner the other night and this ginormous man

that just said he had a crush on me, his alarm goes off and it's

like twice a day. There's been hundreds of y'all

praying for this and I feel like I get to step into all of this

sewing into the lives of others and the the privilege of getting

to do it with something that I love and I've loved my whole

life and surrounded by a whole bunch of y'all that I get to

express that love to. So last service was a little bit

of a surprise to me. It was a cute little little dude

that ran for the entire hour and wore me smooth out.

But is she 3 so I haven't met her.

She's 3 year old Palomina which my wife's a Palomino.

I love Palominos cute little blonde girl and so I don't know

much about her. Well, actually I don't know

anything about her other Now I know that she's 3 and it looks

like she's really well groomed. So she's been at the beauty

parlor a lot and I'm hoping that they didn't put this solution on

their hair that makes it to where they're slick.

Did they, they call it SHO Sheen or some form of that?

And when I get on them, it's like sitting on a greased pig.

It makes it really difficult. But I'm going to ask her to

start moving for a second because I think Clayton did a

great job of, of just laying out this invitation.

That's for all of us. And to me, it's, it's a little

bit shocking that we've we've missed.

We have the amount of Christianity that we have in our

country and churches everywhere, and somehow people have missed

the beauty and the simplicity and the significance of what a

life transformed by Jesus really looks like.

And so today, while I work with her, you can see that there's

this beautiful, magnificent, like majestic almost creation

that is 100% clueless about what her life's supposed to be.

And there's only one way to unlock it.

A lot of distractions for her right now.

First time in a church. Have we got any other first time

church goers here? Do we?

Yeah. Well, then you can relate.

It's a little bit weird and there's a lot of distractions

and people do things that you're not used to.

But stick with it for a minute. Who in the world I'm going to

fall on this thing and break my neck?

Did you dig this hole? She's wrote to a litter box I

guess. So with all of her story and all

of the things that have got her attention and everything that's

LED up to this day, all sorts of thoughts going through her mind,

and each one of you are having your own thoughts and you have

your own reactions to the things that are going on around you.

She's purposely ignoring me, not a girl.

So if you watch her ears and you watch where her attention is

being drawn to as we go here, she's going to have to, at least

for a moment, give her attention to me.

Not because I'm just another person, but because of the

significance of this day. It's going to require her to

reconsider. Get this if you will.

She's going to have to reconsider everything that she's

ever believed about herself. And I don't know if you can be

humble enough to just sit here for a minute.

Come on, sweetheart. There's a really important part

because she's been handled enough that she just, she's

learned how to tolerate things. And it's amazing what we can

learn to tolerate in our life and what it is that we've come

accustomed to and we've taken it for granted.

I don't want her to feel as though it's just another day,

another guy so special to me like this right here would be

like, you had me at hello. That was really bad timing.

But because all the questions that I saw her asking in that

look right there. Was it OK?

Maybe this is not just another version of the same old story.

And if this is not just another version of the same old story

that you've told yourself or that you've been told, then

today represents the first day of the rest of your life.

Because you're going to get a glimpse into what is possible

and what it is that the invitation of heaven really was

and why it mattered that Jesus did what he did.

It wasn't so that the people could start a new religion and

start following the rules that were always going to be the

rules that make it to where humans prosper in.

It was going to be that my people need power and they're

going to get power that comes from becoming one with me.

And I know in a lot of Bible teaching we have, I'm going to

unpack this all, but we kind of mix those of you that can have

the ears to hear on this. We mix the old covenant with the

new covenant and we watch the lifestyle of Jesus and the

interaction that his disciples had with the world around him

before the resurrection of Jesus and the outpouring of the Holy

Spirit. And we combine the two.

And sometimes it gets confusing, especially for a guy like me.

Like it's got to be super practical for me to get it.

And so I thought because Jesus would say to his disciples, hey,

come follow me. And they did.

Those that chose to follow him, they literally followed him

around. And OK, I was tired of following

people around. I was tired of being told what

to do. I'd I'd had a scarred life of

being bullied and dominated. I didn't need another boss in my

life and I didn't want to follow Jesus because I didn't need

another boss in my life telling me what to do.

I was just broken in a bad way. And but I had this encounter

with Jesus. It was so undeniable that it's

as though I had a conversation with a God that I can't see, but

it was more real than any human conversation I'd ever had.

And it was him telling me that he loved me and that he had a

plan for my life and that I can trust him.

And I believed him. This God I couldn't see.

And so because I said yes to him, his yes back to me was such

a huge yes that it was. It was like everything in my

life stayed the same, but nothing was the same.

And I didn't, like I told you, I didn't trust people.

So I sure as heck wasn't going to go to church.

And I didn't know how to read well enough that I could read

the Bible. So I was kind of stuck in this

spot on, how am I? What am I supposed to do?

Like maybe I'm supposed to quit cussing and drinking and chasing

girls and chewing tobacco. Like, is it?

What am I supposed to do? Jesus.

And it was really surprising to me.

It was nothing. But I started working a horse in

a round pan. And don't disqualify me over

this. Just stick with me long enough

to get through this part. I was talking to the horse and I

hadn't talked to horses before and it was though it was an echo

and God was speaking to me. And it was a plea because this

horse that I was working with at that moment wouldn't stop.

And this language and this thing that I am doing even right now,

there's a plea in my heart that makes it to where I don't want

you to settle for this. I've got so much more for you.

The life that we can do together, I promise you is going

to be a whole lot more than me just leading you around.

I'm not asking you to follow me. I'm asking you to become one

with me. And it's very different.

And so as I was being mentored or discipled by horses,

literally, Holy Spirit is teaching me through what it is

that I was doing, just as I'm doing right now.

I didn't make this up. This is my story.

But if we use the language that says that come, follow me, I get

the right side. Now, Britain, it looks kind of

like this. And I can teach her a lot from

here and I can get her from point A to point B.

But Jesus went way beyond that. And that's why they let him kill

him, because when he defeated death and sin and made it to

where all the things that you have stacked against you, the

guilty conscience, the unseen things, the shame, the fear, all

the insecurities, all those things that have been stacked up

in your life. There was a reason why there was

a sacrifice that made it to where that no longer has to

stick on you. And that because of that, Jesus

said, it's my desire that you become one with me the way I'm

one with the Father. I know

she's gentle and she's really trusting, but because no one's

ever been on her, she's never had a saddle on her.

She's doing this for a different reason than obedience.

She's doing it because at whatever level she's got, she

trusts me. First steps of doozy.

Had a girl. Had a girl.

So sweet, so sweet. Could we get caught up in the

words of Jesus for a second and say, why did he say follow him?

And then he say that, hey guys, it's better if I go away.

You're suspicious. When Jesus taught us to pray, he

told his disciples. He said when you pray, pray like

this, our Father who is in heaven.

You realize that when he uttered those words that the religious

people had to kill him. Now he was, he was making

himself like God. He was saying that we could

actually address God as a father rather than back in the day, you

couldn't even use the name of God.

It was so reverent, you couldn't even whisper it.

And he's inviting humanity to engage with God as a father.

It changed everything because not only did he model what it

was like to be a son, but then he empowered us to do it.

Because there's a beauty in having the word of God that

gives us like a the solid foundation that makes it to

where we can understand the attributes and the personality

of Jesus in the context of like, I need it to happen in my home.

I need it to happen so deeply in my heart that my insecurities my

my bad ways that I learned to lead that it's going to change

those things because I was a man fully devoted to Jesus and

loving other people and tearing my family apart at the same time

because the only way I knew how to father and how to be a

husband was what was shown to me.

And I could pull up a scripture that says, Hey Todd, love your

wife as Christ loved the church and laid his life down for like

heck yeah. I would love to die for her.

I don't know why she's so mad though.

I'd take a bullet for that girl, but I the things that I wouldn't

do and the things that I didn't know how to do was take care of

myself in a way that I know how to walk into my home filled with

love and peace and joy and hope and enthusiasm and provision and

protection and be able to inspire my family.

Rather than give all of that I have away to the world around me

and then come to my home as though I've got nothing left to

give. I didn't know what was wrong

with me. I needed more than a scripture

to pull up in that moment. I needed a power to do something

that I couldn't do. I needed new wisdom on what does

it look like to guard my heart with all diligence?

This is the Bible verse either way.

Guard my heart with all diligence knowing that all these

issues in my life, they're flowing out of it.

This encounter that she's having, this lifestyle that

she's being invited into when it matters, when things start

falling apart and she gets scared and wants to do something

that's going to hurt herself or someone around her, I'm going to

be able to be there with her and say we don't need to do it that

way. There's a different way.

Look, you're still scared. It's OK, but we're not going to

stay this way. That's why when Jesus said that

when I go away, that the counselor is going to come, the

Holy Spirit's going to come, and when the Holy Spirit comes, he's

going to convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of

judgment. It's going to be such a powerful

encounter that. I'm going to convict the world

of sin. There are people here today that

you've not given your life to Jesus.

You're you're not a son or a daughter of God.

And it's OK. But I hope, I hope that you're

receptive enough, humble enough in this moment to say I actually

need to see what it is that's in the way.

Why am I still living my life separated from God?

Why do I not feel as though I'm actually one with God?

It might just be because you're not.

He said that he's given every one of us the right to become

children of God. It's not just something that

you're born into. Every man is born.

But then every man gets to make the decision on what it is that

they're going to do with this. Jesus Christ is ready to help my

freely gifts. I will ever love and trust Him

in His presence. Daily I surrender.

I surrender on TV. My blessed say you're right.

Surrender. I surrender.

I surrender all to thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender.

There's some of you that just realized that that was actually

you. I'm so happy for you.

It's almost like we we can't even go anywhere if we don't

first of all realize that we need saved from something.

It's a circular conversation. This is not just about trying to

figure out how to make life better.

This is about getting rescued from hell.

And I've heard your pastor say that there's an explicit goal of

this church, and that is to make it as hard as possible for

anybody to ever live separated from God.

It's almost like you can't get there from here.

And we want to make it as clear as possible that you don't have

to leave here with any shame, any doubt, any condemnation

whatsoever. Completely clean.

So much so that if you can understand the language that God

would call you his righteousness, that you're as

pure as he is simply because you said yes to Jesus.

And you get an infusion of holiness that makes it to where

you are righteous because the rest of the verse that I said

that it came to convict the world of sin.

Sometimes we get stuck in that, that he's Holy Spirit's trying

to show you everything that's wrong with you.

The next part is he's convicting the world of sin and

righteousness and judgment. So what if this whole time you

thought that it was Holy Spirit pointing out everything that's

wrong with you and you just feel like you can never measure up,

never be good enough. I'll just throw it out there.

What if, what if that's actually not Holy Spirit?

That's actually a demonic torment that is the accuser of

the brethren. That makes it to where we can

sit here in a house fully whole, filled with the power of God,

the righteousness of God in Christ, that we're seated in

heavenly places with Him and still look at ourselves as

though we're just sinners saved by grace.

No wonder we're too scared to do anything.

It's too hard. I just said a bunch, and I'm

going to trust that Clayton's going to clean up any of that

that you misunderstood. This is not my quote, but I

think it's probably the most profound thing I could say in

this moment, that Jesus didn't come to make bad people into

good people. He did what he did so that he

could take dead people and bring them back to life.

It's a big difference to me because I was dead.

I was so stuck in a pattern that I inherited from my parents and

from the culture that raised me that I was never going to

change. That would be a middle-aged.

I'm old now. Maybe even I'd be a 54 year old,

angry, bitter, a lone man. I couldn't get myself out of the

hole that I was in. You can't get yourself out of

the hole that you're in. We can't make things that are

wrong, right? That's what the forgiveness is

about. It didn't come from me, but I

get to possess it. It's the forgiveness of God.

It's the power of God. Man, I just said a lot.

I don't want this to overwhelm you to the point where you just

shut down. I'm going to let Austin just

worship over you. close your eyes if you need to.

Take some deep breaths. Nobody's put in a corner.

This isn't about a conversion. This is an introduction to a

king and a creator of heaven and earth that you don't maybe know.

And the fact that he wants to become one with you should like

it is to me, feel like why? I don't know why he would want

me, but he does enough to reveal himself to me and he's revealing

himself to you right now. And I don't know why.

I guess it's just that's what perfect love does.

I love you Lord, for your mercy never fails me.

All my days I've been held in your head.

From the moment that I wake up till I lay my head, I will sing

of the goodness of God. And all my life you have been

faithful. All my life you have been so so

good. With every breath that I am

able, I will say of the goodness.

I love your voice. You have led me through the

fire. In darkest night you were close

like no other. I've known you as a father.

I've known you as a friend that I have lived in the goodness of

God all my life. You have been faithful all my

life. You have been so, so good.

With every breath that I enable, I will sing of your goodness

with God. Your goodness is running after

it's running after me. Your goodness is running after.

It's running after me. With my life laid down,

surrendered, now I give you everything.

Your goodness is running after you.

It's running after me. Your goodness is running after

me. It's running after me.

Your goodness is running after. It's running after me.

With my life laid down. I'm surrendered now.

I give you everything. Your goodness is running after

me. It's running after me.

All my life you have been faithful, all my life you have

been so so bad. With every breath that I enable,

I will of forget me God. Oh man, she's so tender, and the

thing about her tenderness is be easy to take advantage of her

because she's so kind and she wants to please.

She's a little bit sore, so we're not going to push her, but

I want her to know that the gifts and the callings of God

that are irrevocable, that there's gifts that I'm going to

give her that metaphorically will never be taken away.

And the gift isn't the saddle, the gift is me.

But with me comes all sorts of resources, tools to do things

better. What's been wild for me is to

realize that. So many of the things that our

Father wants to give us comes embodied in somebody else.

I can makes it to where we're going to have to learn to love

and partner with each other without any shame so that we can

come to each other with all of our brokenness and all of our

questions and truly start taking care of each other.

Because of the type of encounter I had with Jesus, trusting Him

has been so easy for me. And I know that's not the case

with so many people. Like they actually have a hard

time trusting God, and I'm just so amazed that it doesn't bother

him. He's not insecure about your

uncertainty and the real questions that you have and you

can even be angry at God and he'll, he'll just wait.

He's like, I know all that was super painful.

Holy Spirit, we embrace you in this place, knowing that you're

the author and the finisher, that nothing good that we know

of comes from any other source but you.

Thank you for a room full of people that are hungry to become

more than what they are right now.

They're hungry for you. Can we pray, Buck, at the same

time? Thank you.

We can sit here just amongst each other and enjoy your

presence knowing that you're the one that began this good and

work in US and you're going to complete it.

And we present ourselves to you as our as your family.

I love the stories of Jesus and the ways the people around him

would freak out and he'd just wait till they're done freaking

out and then he'd say peace be still.

It's OK promise. It seemed like the whole sky was

falling there for a second, but it really wasn't.

I got you. I'm I'm glad to inform you all.

You can't kill me. I'm never going to die.

I'm not afraid of dying and I'm not afraid of living because

this body is just something that I get to steward for a lifetime.

But it ain't me. What happens to a group of

people that aren't afraid of anything?

You can't stop them. And the only way we're ever

going to get there is to be fathered by God.

We're not going to find it in a religion.

The next great book isn't going to bring the healing.

This message is not going to heal you.

You deciding to partner with God the rest of your life and

allowing him to father you in a way that only a perfect father

can. And I know that that even that

word can be a trigger for some people.

Like your dad just wasn't. Please don't let God be like my

dad. That might be your story, but we

get to see in the life of Jesus, and if you can just stick with

the Bible long enough to get through the Gospels, Matthew,

Mark, Luke, and John, and look at Jesus.

Look at how he conducted himself.

Look at how it is that he viewed the world.

And then we're going to live a lifestyle of learning to see the

things that he saw. This is what the becoming looks

like. I think it would be tragic for

her to spend her life apart because at best she'd have been

pretty. I got nothing against pretty.

Like I told you, I got a really pretty Palomino at home.

But the tragedy would be that our lives just become what it is

that we can do superficially. And that song that they sang at

the beginning, that you were made for more.

I don't know if that's a familiar song around this house.

Do you guys sing that much? OK.

It should just be an anthem, and it doesn't breed discontentment

inside of you. I asked the last service and I

guess I'm going to ask you all too.

If I'm not, I'm going to stick with men.

I'm just safer there. But men, if you want to be a

better man than you currently are, would you raise your hand?

That's not a self condemning thing to do.

This is what we do as sons and daughters of God.

We spend a lifetime of repentance.

Meaning that I want to see more clearly.

I want to love more purely. I want to know what it's like to

see what it is that God sees when he looks at me.

And as long as that image is distorted, I'm not there yet.

You still see what it is that you see based on a whole bunch

of circumstances that we're out of your control.

What if what God says about you is more true than what it is

that you believe about you? What an invitation that is.

I know as a dad, I've got one of my sons sitting right here who's

now a man. But I remember when he was a

boy, he came to me after someone had told him that he was

annoying and he came and said, dad, am I annoying?

I'm so grateful for Holy Spirit for moments like this because

had I just responded, he was so hyper that you could use that

word. But Holy Spirit caught me in

that moment and realized your son is asking you an identity

issue that's going to track with him the rest of his life.

So get your wits about you before you open your mouth and

make sure that you know how to answer this question correctly.

There's things that you can do better, son, but with all my

heart, you are not annoying and don't have her let anybody else

tell you who you are or what you are.

I get to do that until you learn to hear from God himself.

And if we live a lifestyle of not asking what the world around

us believes about us, what our spouse believes about us, what

our friends believe about us, we actually ask God, what do you

believe about me? He's not going to hide the fact

that, yeah, there's a lot of things, Todd, that you can

continue to grow in. But I see you as so much.

I I see what you can become. I already know it.

I know what she's going to be able to do.

She doesn't know. But I would spend a lifetime

helping her see what she can do. And it gets better and better

and better, even though she may only get a certain level of

physical aptitudes and training. The better is in the faith, hope

and love, the the joy, the peace.

She's yawning. You don't do that your first day

of training like normally. It's way different than this, I

promise. But she's not trained, she's not

broke, she's being healed. She's being involved, invited

into a covenant. The way Jesus puts it, that

makes it to where this is pretty one sided.

Sweetheart, I came after you. I'm revealing my love to you.

Yes, you get to respond to it. But I started this and I promise

you that I'm not going to leave you up to your own resources to

finish it. I'm with you in this, and I know

that that may not sound like the version of God that you've

heard, but I swear with my life it's true.

And if you don't believe the words that I say, please believe

the the evidence. This is the kindness of God that

leads to repentance. This is what it's like to be

caught up in something that you don't even have to understand.

Because she didn't have a ton more information.

Nothing really changed other than everything and she never

really heard my voice, but somehow I was able to get her

here. It's a mystery.

It's a good girl. All my words were short.

I've got nothing used. How can I spread all my gravity?

I could sing these songs as I often do.

Every song must stay and you never do.

So I throw up my hands and praise you again and again.

All that I have is the Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

And I know it's not much, but I'm nothing else fit for you

except for a heart singing high. How sweet it is to be loved by

the creator of heaven on earth. Don't miss it, please.

I'm going to get on an airplane tomorrow and I'm going to fly

home to that Palomino field I was talking about.

And it's kind of a, it's a bittersweet thing for me because

I want to stay here and watch you guys like what you as, what

you're going to do as a family. What is you're going to do as a

community with a band of sisters and brothers that just refuse to

give up on each other, that have just decided that there's only a

few things worth dying for and there's only a few things worth

living for, and we're going to prioritize that.

We're not building a congregation.

We're not trying to build a church.

There is one church, and the gates of hell will never prevail

against that one church. And there's only really one

government, and that government's resting on the

shoulders of Jesus. So I promise you there's a

Kingdom that's being established that's going to last forever,

and we get to decide whether we want to be a part of that or

not. And I don't know why this life

happens to be so significant, but it is because I think of my

life in the context of eternity. And I just don't know how to do

that other than to just say it's true.

Jesus lived one life. It changed everything and the

only reason that I've got the privilege to stand in front of

you, not a converted man to Christianity, but a man that's

been caught up into a 3rd heaven that makes it to where there is

a reality that you can't see that's more real than what you

can see. And there's a voice that's more

true than anything that you're ever going to be able to look up

on Google. It's the Word of God and it gets

made flesh and it dwells among us.

And everybody in this room that's been rescued by the

reckless, relentless, powerful love of God, those people,

they're going to tell you the same thing.

And it's with that that I can leave knowing that you guys are

going to to win. I don't think Kansas City's

going to win. But I didn't know how that was

going to go. I'm sorry, I'm a Dallas Cowboy

fan because my wife told me to be Yeah, we don't have football

in Idaho, but this is our life. This is our game.

This is our chance. Like this is our family and our

legacy and our destiny. And after I'm gone, my kids,

kids, kids, kids are going to have kids that are going to talk

about the fact that there was one man and one woman that stood

in their lineage that went against all the odds of their

prior generations to say that we're not going to follow that

we're not going to continue to be like we were taught to be.

And I'm not dishonouring my parents.

They, I, they made huge ground for us.

And I don't want my kids to be like I am other than saved.

They're going to be better than me.

But there's a change in the trajectory of your family that

gets to start with you. What a huge privilege.

And we're not victims to the culture and the sky is not

following and and AI has not taken over.

Did you guys know that AI stands for artificial insemination?

They're not stealing our word, man.

I went years of hearing about AI taking over the world, thinking

that they were talking about artificial insemination.

And then I realized what they were talking about and I'm like,

oh that Dang, I love my gift. Was I saying anything important?

I don't want to go. That's I'm I'm -4 minutes on the

time clock. And it would break my heart for

any of you to leave here without knowing where it is that you

stand. And if you've got any questions

on what it is on whether you truly are one with God, I'm,

I'll stay here as long as they let me.

And I know that there's a ton of other people that will stay here

and make sure that your questions are answered.

Amen. And I'll be right up front at

the end of this deal. If, if anybody needs anything

other than don't just chat with me.

This is a pretty sacred moment. Let's if you want prayer, if you

have a legitimate question, let's talk about it because I

know there's a lot of back story that's coming into this

conversation for you. Mr. Clayton, I love you all.

Thank you. You did such a good job.

It was. I have a unique privilege of

getting to see all three of these.

And Thursday night all that horse did was buck.

It just would not quit kicking. And then first service, that

horse would not stop running. And then I was watching this

one. I was like, what a completely

different experience. There was a little bit of

kicking him, but there was a desire to lean in.

It's while he's talking. I'm just starting thinking

through like, man, Thursday night was me.

All I did was kick against God. That's all I did.

I just kept kicking him and kicking him and kicking him and

kicking him. And then during first service,

my wife is sitting next to me. I, I probably wore a hole in the

back of her shirt because I just kept scratching her back going.

That was my wife. She just kept running from him,

running from him because she put a lot of her past and a lot of

her family on God. And so she was having a hard

time trusting God. And so she just spent a whole

lot of time running. And then I was watching this

service and I was like, oh, that's my voice.

They're not going to have to hit absolute rock bottom before they

turn to Jesus. They're not going to have to

write the worst testimony you can put pen to paper.

They're going to have a different story.

They're going to have a desire early on to lean in.

And then I was going, if I could have any prayer this week,

answered in this region. It would be that your kids and

your grandkids find him early and lean in soon.

There's a little bit of kick in all of our kids, but they don't

have to kick for long. I mean, when you're a horse,

that's kind of what you do. You can bite at the other

horses, you can kick at your enemies, or you can run and get

out as fast as you can. Those are like your three

options. Bite, kick, run, bite, kick,

run. And I'm willing to wager that if

you were to kind of look at the different areas of your life,

that's kind of been your three options.

Marriage isn't going the way you want.

You get a little bitey. Things aren't going right in

your marriage. Some of you, you kick and you

kick hard and some of you things got rough in your marriage and

what did you do? You ran.

Things get rough in your parenting, you get a little

bitey. Some of you kick a little too

much, others of you you ran. All of your instincts say bite,

kick, run. And so when God comes into the

picture, you bite, you kick, you run.

I just got an honest question. How is that working for you?

What if instead you trusted the Bible says in Second Corinthians

2 Corinthians 3:17

chapter 3 verse 17, the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit

is there is freedom. Hear me, there is no way for you

to experience true freedom outside of an intimate personal

relationship with Jesus Christ because when you begin an

intimate personal relationship with Jesus Christ, the Bible

communicates to us that that is when the Spirit takes up

residence in your life. And so if you're here today and

you're going, I'm ready to have freedom.

I'm ready to trust, We're going to give you an opportunity to do

that. And I just want to give you some

incentive. Here's a little bit of my story,

and it's not just my story, it's the story of a lot of people.

I would tell you that the greatest decision I ever made

was starting an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus

Christ. And my biggest regret is I

didn't do it sooner. And I know there's many of you

all across this region, even watching online, you'd go, yeah,

that's just your story. But I want you to know I'm

surrounded by people that would tell you that that is their

story, too. Let me prove it to you.

Can we get a wide shot for a second crossing family?

If you would say that the single greatest decision you ever made

was starting an intimate personal relationship with Jesus

Christ, would you put your hand up?

Would you also agree with me? If you, if you, if you don't

agree with me, you don't have to raise your hand.

But if you do, we'll say that your biggest regret is that you

didn't start that relationship with him sooner.

Would you raise your hand? Check this.

It's not just me. It's people who work where you

work, live where you live in your neighborhood.

And some of them are even in your family and they're in your

row. Some of them they brought you.

When a horse is on its own, all it's trying to do is stay away

from the predators, get some water, and get something to eat.

And when a horse begins to trust the cowboy and lets the cowboy

take up residence in its life, guess what happens?

Guess who's responsible for feeding the horse?

It's not the horse anymore. It's the cowboy who's

responsible for making sure that the horse has water.

It's not the horse's responsibility anymore.

It's the Cowboys. Guess whose job it is to take

care of the predators. It's not the horses anymore,

it's the Cowboys. Jesus says come to me and I will

give you living water and you will never be thirsty again.

Jesus comes to you and he says I am the bread of life, Eat of me

and you will never be hungry again.

And when you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I

will be with you. I will anoint your head with oil

in the presence of your predators.

That is what He is inviting you to.

And if you are listening to my voice right now and you've never

started an intimate personal relationship with Jesus Christ,

I just want to tell you, don't put it off.

In just a few moments, people around the room at your

different location are going to stand and sing some.

They're going to come to the steps and pray.

And what I want to encourage you to do is walk right over by the

baptistry, wherever you're watching from, and there's going

to be people there that would love to talk with you and pray

with you. If you're here at our 48th St.

location, there's going to be people over the baptistry.

He'd be willing to talk to you as well as Todd and his team

right over here on the opposite side.

And if you have a question about salvation, if you're going, I

want to start a relationship with Jesus Christ.

We would love an opportunity to step into that moment with you.

To those of you who are already Christians, the Bible says trust

in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own

understanding in all your ways. Acknowledge or trust in Him and

He will make your path straight. And so I don't want this moment

to just be lost on those of us who already have a relationship

with Jesus. I want us to capture to the best

of our ability. So if you already have a

relationship with Jesus, can I poke you in the chest for just a

second? Where is an area in your life

where you are not trusting God? And maybe today you'd come to

the steps and get down on your knees and say, God, I am ready

for you to make this part of my life straight.

I'm ready to trust you, and there's others of you.

You couldn't watch this and not think of people that you care

about, people that are close to you that are far from God, that

you can't wait to see come to a relationship with Jesus Christ.

And it would be horrible for us to have a moment like this and

not spend some of our time praying that they'd be brought

back into a right relationship with Him.

Would you guys stand with me? Heavenly Father, I ask that

you'd help us as a church step into this holy moment.

God, you know right now all the different people that need to

start a relationship with you. You know every person that needs

to turn something in their life over to you.

And you know every person that's on our hearts, that's far from

you and God. We have nothing to offer.

We have nothing to give but ourselves.

This is God. If you would, if you would help

us turn who we are over to you, the areas of our lives where

it's hard to trust you, would you give us more capacity?

Yeah, your disciples said, help us in our unbelief.

And so, God, in all the areas where we have shortcomings and

we don't measure up, God, would you fill us to the point where

we need to be? Would you allow us to empty out

ourselves and everything that is not supposed to be in us so that

way we can be holy and completely filled by you?

God? Did you stir something in our

spirit and in our heart so that this moment will not be

forgotten and that we'll live the rest of our lives in

response to it? In your name I pray.

Amen.