Change - Pastor Kipp Penrod

Thank you for listening to this message from

Lifehouse Church. up front. It's just incredible

hearing the voices come up, and it's amazing.

And it's awesome to be in this new space. But

listen, we're here to meet the Lord, right? As

much as we love the building, some of you are

getting used to it already. Some of you got your

pew. Just raise your hand if you got your pew

now. You got it all figured out, and we've got

that all situated. We're here to come and meet

Jesus. And I hope you're doing that every time

you walk in the doors, every time you come into

the house of the Lord. You're just feeling God's

presence. You're connecting with him because

that's what you're here for. Amen? Amen. It's

true. Well, listen, for about a month now, other

than one gathering, for about a month, I've been

preaching about change. And we've been really

digging into God's word and taking a look at

some of the coping mechanisms that God gives

us for change. And hopefully I've been answering

some questions. This is going to be the last

message in this series. You know, how do we biblically

navigate change? Because I'm going to know you

cannot do it biblically, right? You can do it

in our own flesh, in our own way. And, you know,

we've tried to answer some questions. And really,

hopefully, we've given you some tools along the

way if you've been in some of these messages.

You know, one of the things that we learned is

that we lament the loss, but we look to Jesus

in the change. You can't deny that there's loss

and change. Anytime you change something, you're

going to lose something. It's just a fact of

life. It's a fact of change. But the key is to

keep your eyes on Jesus. That's what we learned

in the first week. Secondly, we want to make

sure that our minds are on the right thing during

the change. Because what your mind is thinking

on is what you'll become on the other side of

the change. And last week we learned that it's

very important for you to Sabbath with Jesus.

Say Sabbath. You need to Sabbath with Jesus.

It's a must in the middle of the change. It's

why God commanded us to do it. Because it's God

who provides us, when we Sabbath with him, the

joy, right, and our strength. That's what the

scriptures tell us. So today I want to give you

the last one in change in this series. Now listen,

we could go a lot longer. We could spend probably

a couple months, really, at least talking about

change. But I want to give you the last one that

I'm going to give you today. And it's this. It's

prepare for temptation. into change. Prepare

for temptation. Turn to somebody right now and

tell them you're going to be tempted. Just go

ahead. Tell them you're going to be tempted.

You're going to be tempted, all right? You're

going to be tempted. There's something about

being in the shift. There's something about getting

into change. There's something about things that

are unsettling underneath of us that leads us

to be tempted more and to give us the higher

possibility of stepping into sin. It's that unsettling,

it's that movement, right? It's that unfamiliarity

that seems to move us towards. And Satan knows

this. He comes in and attacks with schemes and

plans when you're in the middle of change because

he knows it's the unfamiliarity, right? It's

the time that we're unsettled that we can move

towards or slide towards or get tempted to sin.

How many of you ever had a change take place

in your life and you got angry about it? How

many happened that today on the way to church,

right? You got angry. How many of you can have

righteous anger and you can have unrighteous

anger, right? You can have a righteous anger

where you don't sin, and then I've heard people

who have unrighteous anger, right? Sounds completely

different. You can have it. There's this temptation

when change takes place. Sometimes people get

depressed in the middle of change, and they start

coping in all kind of unhealthy manners, right?

We can engage in this desperate activity in the

change because we don't don't want to change.

We want everything to stay the same. So we'll

engage in things that we would never engage before.

And Satan will turn up the heat. He'll raise

the temperature. And he'll do this right in front

of you while you're in the middle of change.

Because he knows this. It's in the middle of

the change that we're emotionally a little weaker.

We might be mentally a little weaker because

of all the change. We might even be physically

weaker in the change. And this is when he comes

at us to tempt us to sin. It's the unfamiliar

environment that can get us. off of our game

that can move us in a different place. It's where

our heads and our hearts and actions can begin

to drift. I want you to think about it this way.

Think about it like this. Where are you more

likely to get off track? On a familiar path that

you walk all the time or in an unfamiliar path,

right? If you're walking the same trail, you're

out on the Appalachian Trail, you walk the same

piece of Appalachian Trail every single day,

you know all the turns, you know where you're

going to trip, you know where you could twist

your ankle, you know all those kind of things.

But it's when you get in the unfamiliar is where

you can start to get tripped up, right? It's

where the path can get weird. Willie Robertson,

how many know who Willie Robertson is? Come on,

if you're a Duck Dynasty fan, here we go. All

right, in the TV series Duck Dynasty, Willie

Robertson, he wrote a book called Godspeller.

In the book Godspeller, he tells this story about

the river that's close to their home. And there's

a bend in the river close to where he grew up.

And he said him and his brothers, they used to

just sit and wait by that riverbank. for people

who were new coming up to fish in that river.

And the reason they would stay by that bend in

the river is because most people who were fishing

came up through there in these deep bottom boats,

and they didn't realize that there was all kind

of snags, right? I mean, what a snag is. There's

wood and rocks, and it was all cluttered up right

underneath the surface of the water around this

corner. So him and his brothers would wait, and

he said, inevitably, these guys would come up

in their new bass boats. They'd come around the

bend, and they'd take that. corner and cut it

in close and they will get caught on the rocks

and on the snags and they of course will come

by and say hey do you need some help for a small

fee we will pull you out come on that's brilliant

all right it's in the unfamiliar waters right

in the bends that we don't know about that we

can get caught up We can snag. There's potholes.

There's snags. There's pits that we can fall

into. And Satan capitalizes on this in the middle

of change. He loves to capitalize on it. And

you've got to understand, he'll come after you

to do this. As a matter of fact, know that he

will because he was bold enough to do this with

Jesus himself. God's son. When Jesus was just

about to make a major change in his life at age

30, slide into his public ministry, right? Satan

came running with temptations and laid them right

before Jesus. And if Satan is bold enough to

bring temptation to Jesus, God's son, he'll do

it to you. He'll do it to me. And listen, I'm

not trying to get you shook up this morning,

but I will tell you, I'm here to warn you that

this is going to take place. This is one of Satan's

tactics. So this morning, if you've got your

Bibles, I want you to slide into the book of

Matthew. We're just going to start there. We're

going to jump around a little bit. You can go

to Matthew chapter 13. If you got your notebooks,

Matthew 13 · chapter mention

how many brought your notebooks? Raise your hand.

Come on. I love it. All right. Bring your notebooks

because, listen, your memory is not near as good

as you think it is. All right. God might speak

to you. Turn your Bible to Matthew chapter 13.

Matthew 13 · chapter mention

And things are about to change in Jesus' life.

As we're coming up to this portion of Scripture,

Jesus is on the cusp of launching his public

ministry. And he'll go about teaching and preaching

publicly. He'll have disciples with him. He'll

heal others. He'll start preaching about the

kingdom. of God. But before he does this in his

public ministry, he does something interesting.

He doesn't just launch into ministry. He actually

goes to see somebody named John. It has to be

John the Baptist, who is in the wilderness preaching

and teaching the kingdom of God. And actually

he's teaching and preaching about a Messiah coming.

And Jesus, who is the Messiah, goes out to see

John, not just to hear his message, but to be

baptized himself. Baptized by water, right? Now,

how many of you know Jesus never calls us to

do what he's not already done? Amen? Jesus goes

and gets baptized in water. We're getting ready

just by the way. In a few weeks, we're going

to have baptism here at LifeHouse. And if you've

not been baptized, if you've been saved, you're

following Jesus and you're interested in getting

baptized, water baptized, we would love to get

you engaged in that, talk with you about that.

And you can go ahead and sign up for that. That

was a shameless plug right there. All right,

for baptism. But Jesus goes to John the Baptist

to be baptized. And John the Baptist almost doesn't

know what to do with this. Because Jesus is the

Messiah. And he's almost beside himself. And

that's where we're at in Matthew 3, 13. It says

this. Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at

the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried

to prevent him, saying, I need to be baptized

by you, and you're coming to me. But Jesus answered

and said to him, Permit it to be so now, for

thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all the

righteousness. And he allowed him, and then he

was baptized. When he was being baptized, Jesus

came up immediately from the water, and behold,

the heavens were opened to him. And he saw the

Spirit of God descending like a dove, alighting

upon him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven,

saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am

well pleased. Jesus is about to launch into a

major shift in his ministry. A change comes into

his life, right? A three -year journey is about

to ensue where he would travel and he would preach

and he would teach and he would heal. A three

-year journey where he would be opposed by religious

leaders who would be after him literally to take

his life. A journey that would lead to the cross,

right? And the grave and the resurrection. A

journey where 12 men would train with him among

others. In particular, who would carry the message

once Jesus was gone and would raise from the

grave and go to his father. A journey that would

open the veil, literally chair the veil in the

temple and make access for us to go in and meet

with God. And before this... At Jesus' water

baptism, all this is about to shift, and you

can see at his baptism, the Holy Spirit descends

on him like a dove. This is a place where you

see the Trinity in Scripture, right? The Holy

Spirit descends upon him like a dove, and the

Father speaks audibly. Probably nobody in this

house has ever heard God speak audibly. He speaks

audibly and says, this is my son in whom I am

well pleased. The father, the son, and his spirit,

a home, home place. And it is immediately after

this incredible revelation, after the launch

of Jesus into his ministry, right? That Jesus

is led into the desert, into the wilderness to

meet the father. But scripture says that he would

be led there by the Holy Spirit to be. Say tempted.

Matthew 4 .1 says this. When Jesus was led up

by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted

by the devil. Listen, I said it earlier. If the

devil will tempt Jesus, he will tempt you, right?

I'm not sure if we realize this or not, but a

lot of times the devil will come to us when we're

in the wilderness of life. When we're in a dry

place, when we're in a desert place in life,

he will come and he will come to tempt us to

sin. It's in the wilderness where we get weak.

It's where we get weary. It's where we get tired,

right? It's where he can lure us away from God

the easiest. And we will be tempted to sin. And

I'm not saying you will sin. Temptation is the

opportunity to sin. I'm simply saying that temptation

will come in the change. But it is also in the

wilderness of change that you will have the potential

to meet and hear God the clearest. Exodus chapter

Exodus 3 · chapter mention

3, before I go any further with the story of

Jesus and the temptation, in Exodus chapter 3,

Exodus 3 · chapter mention

it tells us a story about Moses in the midst

of the desert. He's on the backside of the desert,

and he comes across this bush that's burning,

but it's not being consumed. And he pulls aside

to go see this bush that's burning. And the Word

of God tells us that God begins to speak to him

in this desert place, in this wilderness, out

of the burning bush. How many of you know that

would get your attention in a big hurry? It would

get my attention. Listen, if you had a bush burning

in your backyard this afternoon, and you walked

out there, and it wasn't getting consumed, and

all of a sudden God spoke to you, how many of

you know that would be something? Amen? That

would be something, right? So Moses, he's on

the backside. And Moses doesn't know it yet,

but he's about to have a colossal change in his

life. Because God speaks to him in this burning

bush and says, I know you've been out herding

sheep. You've been hiding out in the backside

of the desert for 40 years. I want you to go

back to Egypt where he came from, and I want

you to bring a nation of people out. And I want

you to bring them out of slavery, and I want

you to lead them. And Moses is there, and he's

listening to God, and he gets tempted right while

God's speaking to him to ignore God or to reject

God. That's what sin is, right? It's rejecting

what God says, and he starts making excuses up.

How many of you know we make excuses when we

don't want to do something? He's like, God, I

don't speak very well. I can't go do this. God's

speaking to him in a burning bush. And God gets

upset with him. He gets angry with him. He chastises

him. It's in the wilderness that you're going

to be tempted to reject what God's saying. It

really is. It's in that place where you're going

to start making an excuse. But it is also in

that place where you're going to hear God. He's

going to speak to you, and it may be very clear,

right? You're going to get tempted there. You're

going to get tempted to go another direction.

You're going to get tempted to sin. But it is

that place where you have the potential to hear

God declares. If you're in the wilderness this

morning, if you're in the middle of some kind

of change in your life, something's shifting,

and you're maybe in a place of isolation, maybe

you're in a place of desolation, maybe you can't

see a green thing in front of you. Everything

looks dusty. Everything looks kind of dried up,

right? I'm here to tell you, get ready. Get ready,

because one of two things can happen, or actually

two things can happen. One, the enemy's going

to come. He's going to tempt you to go the other

direction from God. Just count on it, right?

He's going to tempt you to sin. But the other

thing to get ready for is that it is the place

of the desert many times that we hear God. the

clearest. It's many times in the desert we hear

Him the loudest. It's in that quiet place. So

if you're in the middle of change, get ready,

because breakthrough might be on the other side,

right? Amen? How many of you know when God shows

up and speaks, breakthrough's on the other side

of something, right? Well, Jesus is in the desert,

led by the Holy Spirit. And the Word of God says

that He's going to be tempted by God. And as

soon as he finishes a season of fasting and prayer,

the Word of God says for 40 days and for 40 nights

he prays. And he seeks God because he's going

to launch into this ministry. No food, no water.

He's tempted. Matthew 4 .2 says this, And when

he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights afterward,

he was hungry. Now when the tempter came to him,

he said, If you are the Son of God, command these

stones to become bread. But he answered and said,

It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone,

but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth

of God. And the devil took him into the holy

city, set him on a pinnacle of the temple. And

he said to him, If you're the son of God, throw

yourself down. For it is written, He shall give

his angels charge over you, and in their hands

they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot

against the stone. Jesus said to him, It is written

again, You shall not tempt the Lord your God.

Again, the devil took him up into an exceedingly

high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms

of the world and their glory. And he said to

him, all these things I will give you if you

will fall down and worship me. And Jesus said

to him, away with you, Satan, for it is written,

you shall worship the Lord your God and him only

shall you serve. Then the devil left him and

behold, angels came and ministered to him. Jesus

is in the wilderness of change. He's doing a

very spiritual thing. 40 days of fasting. 40

days. How many of you know some of you think

you're fasting if you don't have food for four

hours? Come on. I don't know what it is. If you're

not fasting, you can go without food for four

hours. It's no problem. You say you're going

to fast for spiritual reasons. Four hours is

like 400 years, right? All you can think about

is food, right? But Jesus, he's fasting for 40

days. And the enemy comes, and you can see how

Satan slides in to place a temptation. Jesus

is physically weak. He needs food. He's on the

verge of starvation at this point. And Satan

comes with a physical need or want. Food, because

he's fast. Place a craving, a desire in front

of him. I've done complete fasts for a few days.

I've done extended fasts, which are partial fasts,

for long periods of time. And I can tell you

temptation is a very real thing, right? I remember

being on a partial fast for an extended period

of time, and I remember somebody coming in with

a big juicy burger with fries. Can you smell

it? There was temptation. There was desire there,

right? And I could smell it in my nostrils. Some

of you are already at lunch mode right now, okay?

I could smell it. And that's what the enemy does.

It's in the wilderness of change that Satan will

play on your desires. He will lay it in front

of you, right? Whatever you desire. It could

be a juicy burger or a fast. But it might be

that you need security, right? You need to feel

stability. You'll do anything to get some comfort

in your life. You'll do anything to escape the

present circumstance that you're in. It could

be that he'll lay a lust in front of you that

you battle with, or something even that you need

in your life. He'll use whatever you desire to

lure you away from God's plan. He did it with

Jesus. Bet you're hungry, Jesus. You know, if

you are who you really say you are, I bet you

could turn these stones right into bread, right?

Come on. That's what Satan did to them. And here's

the thing. Jesus could have turned those stones

into bread. In the Word of God, he took bread,

he broke it and multiplied it and fed thousands

of people just a little bit of bread. And honestly,

it wouldn't even have been a sin for him in normal

circumstances just to turn those stones into

bread. But because Satan tried to play on his

pride, he tried to stir up pride in Jesus. If

you are who you say you are, right? And desire.

And Jesus knew that if he did this, he would

do it for the wrong purposes and the wrong reason,

and it would be sin. It would be against God's

plan. And he refuses. He answered him, right?

He said, man shall not live by bread alone, but

by every word that proceeds out of the mouth

of God. He did not let desire and the change

drag him towards the sin. And that's how it works

in the wilderness. The enemy's going to bring

that to you, right? And if you don't succumb

the first time to the temptation, he'll change

his tactics. That's what Satan does. He'll come

at you a different way. He'll come at you a different

angle. The Word of God says that Satan comes

like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

He'll come just barking out something else, roaring

something else in your ear, right? And that's

exactly what he did with Jesus. All right, well,

let's just see if there is any pride in Jesus'

heart. Maybe there's something down deep. And

he comes again. He says, he takes him to the

holy city, sets him on a pinnacle of the temple,

and says to him, again, if you're a son of God,

right, throw yourself down. You know the angels

are going to come. You know your heavenly father

is going to rescue you, right? And the word of

God tells us that. And the devil says, come on,

Jesus. Show me what you got. Use your authority.

Come on, give us a show. Just do it. You know

you'll want to. The Father's going to catch you.

Pride in me. Look at me, right? That kind of

thing. And Jesus said to him, it's written again,

you shall not tempt the Lord your God. He comes

with the word of God. It is in the wilderness

of change that the devil is going to tempt you.

It is. Satan strikes out two times and comes

a third time. And this time he shows them. He

takes them up to an exceedingly high mountain.

And he sets them up. And he's looking across

the kingdoms of the world and all the glory.

And he says, all these things I'll give to you,

Jesus, if you just bow down and worship me. Do

you know the most bizarre thing about this temptation?

It's that Satan was trying to give Jesus something

that wasn't his to give. Satan was trying to

tempt Jesus with something that's not his to

give in the first place. Right? Just come on,

Jesus, bow down, and you can have it all. Psalm

Psalms 24:1

24, verse 1 says, The earth is the Lord's, and

all its fullness, the world and those who dwell

therein, for he has founded it upon the seas

and established it upon the waters. The Father

God already owns it all, right? And Satan comes,

and this is what Satan will do. He'll lie to

you. He will tell you a lie to pull you in. He'll

pull you in and try to tell you a lie in the

middle of the change, change that's going on

in your life. And Jesus, when all these temptations

come, he doesn't beat his chest and say, do you

know who I am? Do you know the authority that

I have? He doesn't do any of that, right? And

the wilderness has changed. He doesn't rely on

conventional wisdom. He doesn't get focused on

his circumstance. He doesn't do any of those

things. He starts applying God's word to every

single thing that is thrown at him. Can I tell

you this? When you get in the middle of the temptation,

when you're in the middle of the change, when

the enemy's coming at you, don't beat your chest.

Don't try to go on just your willpower and your

knowledge and your experience. Don't try to rely

on all those things. When the enemy's coming

at you, you stand on the word of God. You fight

back with the word of God, right? Because anything

else you use, it's like bringing a knife to a

gunfight. It really is. Look, the Word of God

is your sword. It is your offensive weapon. You

need to pull out the Word of God. You need to

beat Satan half to death with the Word of God.

Amen? I'll never tell you to beat anybody else

half to death other than Satan. You can go ahead

and beat him half to death with the Word of God.

You just keep throwing the Word of God at him.

You keep believing in the Word of God, and you

will crush his head. He will flee. The Word of

God says if you resist the enemy, right, if you

resist the devil, he must flee. This is how you

resist him. It doesn't matter what he brings

up from your past. It doesn't matter what you

came from. It doesn't matter what your circumstance

is. Listen, this applies to you. If you are following

Jesus, use the Word of God. And you can stop

the enemy, right? It's true. Worship team, if

you'd come and make your way up to the front.

Jesus fasted 40 days and 40 nights and was tempted.

40 days and 40 nights. Huge change on the horizon.

But I can tell you this. It does not have to

be a big, intense change in your life for the

enemy to come in and try to rob you. You can

go to the book of Genesis chapter 25, and you

Genesis 25 · chapter mention

can read a story about two brothers, Esau and

Jacob. And Esau, Esau's the older, Jacob's the

younger. They're twins, but Esau was born first.

And Esau has a wilderness moment, not a journey.

He's not in a desert. He's not in a hard place

in life, right? He has a wilderness moment, and

he barely qualifies as that. And temptation gets

in front of him, and he caves. He fails. He sins

in this. See, God's covenant started off with

Abraham, who was their grandfather. And that

covenant slides down to Isaac, Abraham's son.

And Isaac marries this woman named Rebekah. And

Rebekah and Isaac have these twin boys named

Esau and Jacob. And Esau is the firstborn of

these two. And you've got to understand something.

In Jewish time, the firstborn had a birthright.

There was something special about being the firstborn

boy in the family. And here were some of the

things that were beneficial about that. One,

they got a double portion of the inheritance.

And that was a big deal because Isaac was wealthy.

He would get a double inheritance. But it was

also his job, the one who received the birthright,

to care for the family. It was his job to make

sure that the family line would continue. It

was the responsibility of the one who had the

birthright to carry on the family name and to

make sure that all of the family were well. And

this was entrusted to Esau. And in a moment of

weakness and temptation, he sells his birthright

for a bowl of soup. Soup. Say soup. It sounds

ridiculous, right? But he does. In a moment,

wilderness moment. And I'm going to read this

portion of scripture real quickly for you. It's

in Genesis 25, 27. It starts, so the boys grew.

And Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the

field, but Jacob was a mob man dwelling in tents.

And Isaac, right, dad, loved Esau because he

ate of his game, of the food that he hunted.

But Rebekah loved Jacob, and now Jacob cooked

his stew. I think Jacob just spent a lot of time

in the kitchen, right, with mom, right? And they

kind of had this family, I don't want to call

it a sibling rivalry thing going on. And Esau

came in from the field and was weary. How many

of you got weary this week? How many got tired

before bed? Raise your hand. That's all of you,

by the way. Okay. All right. You got weary. How

many of you know that's not a desert, that's

not a wilderness, that's life? Right? That's

a moment of wilderness for you. I'm really tired.

I need to go to sleep. All right. He came in

from the hunt and he was weary. And Esau said

to Jacob, please feed me with the same red stew

for I am weary. Therefore, his name is called

Edom. But Jacob said, sell me your birthright

as of this day. His brother takes advantage.

He's like, yeah, I'll give you some stew. Give

me your birthright. Now, this is an idiotic idea.

Esau, this is his brother. How many know he should

have punched him, put him in a headlock and he'll

eat him. So he gave him some soup, right? He

should have. That's not what happens. Esau, the

drama queen, all right, says, look, I'm about

to die. No, he was just tired. He was hungry.

So what is my birthright to me? Then Jacob said,

Swear to me as of this day. So he swore to him

and sold his birthright to Jacob. And Jacob gave

Esau bread and stew of lentils. And he ate and

drank a rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised

his birthright. A perceived moment of wilderness.

I'm super hungry. I'm going to die. Anybody ever

say that? I'm going to die. Right there, I appreciate

the honesty. He's like, yeah, I said it. Desire

for food, and he sells out. And he sins. He gives

away everything that God would have placed in

his hands for a bowl of soup. How many of us

have the potential to do stupid things in the

wilderness of change? We really do. All of us,

right? I'm going to ask you to stand. It's in

the wilderness of change that we're tempted to

sin. And it's also in the wilderness of change

where I will hear God the loudest and the clearest.

Have the potential to. Jesus heard from the Father

when he was in the wilderness, right? Right before

he went into the wilderness and when he was in

the wilderness. Moses heard from the Lord in

the wilderness at the burning bush. He heard.

And I can tell you about a man named Elijah.

who was running from a king, King Ahab and his

wife Jezebel, who were out to kill him. And Elijah,

the prophet, an amazing prophet, ends up in wilderness.

And he's actually sulking underneath a tree.

And he wants to die. He is so distraught by being

chased by this king and his wife that he wants

to die. He asks God to kill him. He asks God

to kill him. That's how distraught he is. Tempted

to quit, right? Call it God. And God comes to

Elijah and he speaks so clearly to him. It says

this in 1 Kings 19, 12. Then he said, go out

and stand on the mountain before the Lord. He's

talking to Elijah. And behold, the Lord passed

by. And a great and strong wind tore into the

mountains and broke the rocks into pieces before

the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind. And

after the wind, an earthquake. But the Lord was

not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake,

a fire. But the Lord was not in the fire. And

after a fire, a still, small voice. So it was

when Elijah heard it, he's in the wilderness,

that he wrapped his face in his mantle and he

went out and stood in the entrance of the cave.

And suddenly a voice came to him and said, What

are you doing here, Elijah? What are you doing

here? God sends Elijah back. Elijah goes and

does what a prophet does. He goes and anoints

several after this. It is in the wilderness that

you will be tempted to sin, but it is in the

wilderness where you will hear God the clearest

if you're looking for him, if you're listening

for him. And it may be in the earthquake, it

might be in the wind, it might be in the fire,

but many, many times it's in a still, small voice

that God speaks. in that quiet place. So here's

what we're going to do this morning. I have no

doubt whatsoever. Holy Spirit's been prompting

me the whole time I was prepping this message

that there are people here that are facing change

right now. And it could be small, it could be

medium, it could be large, but you got change

happening right now. And here's what I want us

to do. If that's you, and as I'm speaking this,

the Holy Spirit's tapping on your heart right

now. If He's tapping, don't ignore Him. Okay?

You're about to step into change. It's right

before you. Or you're in the middle of change.

I want everybody to slide out of the pews, out

into the aisleways. And if you're the one, all

right, or the 10 or the 15, and I think there's

going to be many that are facing this, I want

you to come to the front because I need to tell

you something. God gave me something to speak

to you. All right? And I'm going to pray over

you. So if that's you, just make your way out

right now. Everybody, I want everybody to slide

out because it's too hard to get out of the queues

without everybody getting out. Slide out, get

into the aisle. But if that's you, if there's

change coming, make your way to the front. The

others are going to come up and pray behind you,

but I need you to move first. If you've got change

going on, slide up to the front. Just come up,

make your way up through. Come on, I knew it.

Come on. I actually didn't know what the Holy

Spirit knew. Make your way up. Make your way

up. Just stretch out across. Move up close. If

you would, move up close and stretch out. So

all those who are coming up. If you got change

going on, look. Come on, look at the response.

Slide up a little. Move up just a little bit

so they can get in behind you. Just go ahead

and stretch out the whole way across here. Stretch

out this way too, if you would. Make your way

down this way. Because I want people to come

in behind and pray. Make your way. There's a

room over here. Get up to the front. You got

change going on. All right, the rest of you that

want to pray, I want you to slide up. You can

pray where you're at if you want. You can make

your way up, slide in behind, pray with some

people if you're comfortable. All right, guys,

keep music down just a little bit if we could,

because I want you to hear this. God took me

to the scripture for you, and here's what we're

going to do. We're going to do something very

specific. You're going to ask for wisdom and

to change. James 1 .5 says this, If any of you

lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to

all liberally, without reproach, and it will

be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with

no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave

of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For

let not that man suppose that he will receive

anything from the Lord. He is double -minded

and unstable in all his ways. So here's the thing

that we have to do when we're going to come and

ask God for something. First, we've got to establish

that we've got faith that He's going to answer.

He's with you in the change. All right? It may

show up like a burning bush moment. It might

be a still small voice that you hear. He might

speak in an earthquake. But I'm here to tell

you, regardless of where you come from, if you're

trusting in him, he wants to speak to you. He

wants to speak to you. He wants to come in and

tell you what's next or lead you and guide you

in the next step. That's what he wants to do.

But you got to believe on him first. And then

second, all you got to do is ask. I mean, we

don't get something sometimes because we just

don't bother asking. My grandkids get stuff from

me all the time because they come and ask. I'm

like, sure. You want the car? Take it. You know,

they ask. That's how our father is. You've got

to ask him. I know he knows, but he wants you

to ask. So you've got to believe. Listen, if

you believe and you ask, you're going to hear

from God. You will hear from God. It might not

be in this moment. It might be in this moment.

But I'm telling you, sometime in the very near

future, you're going to hear from God. He spoke

this clearly to me this morning. Clearly. You

ready? Those of you who are back there, you need

to be praying for those who are up here. Because

next time, it might be you in the middle of the

change. Amen? Let's bow our heads. Lord, you

see each person in God who responded this morning.

And God, we come here today in faith. God, we

don't come on our own. power. Lord, we don't

come with our own wisdom. We don't come, Lord,

in our own knowledge. God, we don't come, Lord,

in any kind of authority or strength outside

of you. So, Lord, we come this morning just looking

to you. We just come asking and saying in our

hearts and lives that we believe that you're

with us in the middle of this change, that you

have the next step, that you're going to keep

me from temptation. God, you're going to keep

me from straying the wrong direction or rebelling

against you and walking the wrong way. Lord,

we give this to you right now. God, I, Lord,

I'm asking you. I'm asking you. I'm speaking

this. Give me wisdom in this change. Keep me

from sin. Keep me from rebelling against you.

Keep me from making excuses. Keep me from looking

at things and desiring things that are going

to be of no benefit in my life. God, right now,

God, right now, in Jesus' name, help me in the

change. Give me godly wisdom. Wisdom that is

from above and not from below. In Jesus' name

I pray this. Amen and amen. Now here's what I

want you to do. I want you to give him a hand.

You've got to thank him ahead of time. That's

faith. You know when you thank God ahead of time,

that's faith in what God's already going to do

in your life. God always meets faith. I'm going

to say that until the day I die. You step forward

in faith, he's going to meet you right there.

Amen? All right? It's true. We're going to pray

one more prayer. I want you to bow your heads

one more time. And this is for anybody in the

house. If you don't know Jesus as Lord and Savior,

you can't today. You came to the right place.

It's no accident that you're here. If you don't

know Jesus as Lord, if you're not walking with

Him, if you're not hearing His voice, and you

want to come in relationship with a God who will

walk with you through all of eternity, Jesus

paid an enormous price. He went to a cross. He

spilled his blood. He died. He went into a grave

and he rose three days later. And that's significant

because he paid the penalty for your sin. He

paid the penalty and the price for all your unrighteousness.

And you've got to get righteous. And the only

way to do that, to get to God, is through the

blood of Jesus Christ. So all you have to do

this morning, if that's you, is to admit in your

heart, not to me, but to him in prayer. Confess

to him that he is Lord, that you want him as

Savior and Lord of your life, and you want to

be in relationship with him. All you have to

do is admit that you are a sinner, because we're

all sinners, every one of us, and that I need

a Savior. Just let him know that. I want a Savior.

Jesus, I know that's you, and I want you to come

into my life today. Forgive me of my sin. Wash

me clean, because I want to walk with you. I

want to talk with you. God, I want to be where

you're at. In this life and in the next. In Jesus'

name I pray this. Amen. and you would like to

partner with us as we love God, love people every

day,