The Roundabout

Welcome to Gateway Churches Podcast.

Wherever you're tuning in from, we hope you're encouraged by today's message.

Proceed to root.

Hey, want to take a moment and welcome all the campuses, those of you that are joining us online, those of you that are part of our gateway gatherings and our prison campuses, and those of you that are here at Gateway Church for the first time, or maybe for the first time in a very long time.

Church, can we put our hands together right now and just welcome at every campus those of you that are new, so excited you chose to be here with us this weekend for Father's Day weekend.

And speaking of Father's Day, I know that uh the Oversight pastors have already prayed over all of the Fathers there, but I just want to say again, happy Father's Day to all of you.

I want to let you know that you matter, uh, you make a difference, and my prayer for you today is that you would feel both the peace of God and the pleasure of God.

We're grateful for our fathers.

One more time, can we just put our hands together, honor all the fathers?

If I haven't had the privilege of meeting you, my name is Jelani Lewis, and uh I get to serve as the campus pastor here at the South Lake campus, but uh also uh get to oversee all of our other campuses.

And uh honestly, about two weeks ago, maybe two and a half weeks ago, on June 1st, I celebrated my 20th year on the team here at Gateway Church.

And uh so, so first of all, that just means I'm old.

Um but secondly, I am so excited about the future of Gateway Church.

Come on, aren't you excited today about all that God is doing at each of our campuses here?

So excited about that.

And today I'm gonna continue the series that we started a couple weeks ago uh with Pastor Daniel.

It's a series called Road Trip.

And we're talking about really how our journeys with God, our spiritual journeys, are like a road trip that there are mile markers and stops that we want to make along the way.

And uh the first weekend we talked about the Holy Spirit and how the Holy Spirit wants to be our guide.

And then last weekend uh we talked about a step of obedience.

We talked about water baptism, and it was such an incredible message from Pastor Daniel.

Wasn't that a great message, by the way?

Can we just take a moment and thank God for Pastor Daniel, Pastor Tammy?

So excited for the gift that they are that God sent us.

But church, we had 533 people get water baptized last weekend.

Come on, you can do better than that.

Praise Jesus.

People took the next step.

Identify with the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

Literally, we had people that were watching online, and as they watched, they just decided we're jumping in the car and we're gonna go get baptized today.

We had people that drove over an hour and a half to be here just so they could get water baptized.

And so, really proud of how our church uh responded to the message this past weekend.

And I'm gonna continue and I'm gonna talk to you today.

When the title of this particular message is called The Roundabout.

The Roundabout.

Uh, why don't you turn to your neighbor right now at every single campus and just look him in the eye and say, Are you in a roundabout?

Are you in a roundabout?

Why don't you turn to your other neighbor and say, okay, that explains why you're late.

You were in a roundabout.

You you were stuck in the roundabout.

Uh let's pray and then we'll continue.

Father, thank you so much for your word.

I pray that you would speak to our hearts today.

Change us.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Towards uh the end of last year, uh, we decided to take a road trip as a family.

And um, I am originally from Shreeport, Louisiana.

At the time we were living uh just north of Dallas, and we decided we're gonna take a road trip with all the family and go back to Shreeport, Louisiana, which is about three, three and a half hours away.

And we jumped in the car in our minivan with all four kids, and I knew church, it was going to be a rough trip when we hadn't even left Dallas yet, and one of the kids yells out from the back, How much longer do we have?

How much longer do we have?

Now, before we judge this impatient but beloved soul, uh, I have to say that occasionally I ask the same question.

Sometimes it is in reference to a road trip, but more often than not, it is in reference to the vicissitudes of life.

I don't know if you can relate, but maybe you've asked questions like this.

How much longer do I have before the new position?

How much longer do I have before the business takes off?

How much longer do I have before I finally make the team?

How much longer do I have before I find a relationship that will last?

How much longer do I have before I have kids?

How much longer before the kids leave the house?

I mean, how much longer?

And you can fill in the blank.

We we often at some point in our lives will ask the question, how much longer?

Now, if I'm really honest, I've even asked that question in reference to my journey of faith.

I don't know about you, but there are some times I grapple with the timing of God.

In fact, I love this quote by A.

W.

Tozer, who once said, God never hurries.

God never hurries.

And so the question becomes today, what do you do when you feel like God is not in a hurry?

What do you do when it feels like there's a pause on your promise?

What do you do when the movement of life isn't happening as fast as you would like for it to?

Today we're gonna look at a group of people that went on a road trip of sorts and they found themselves in that exact situation.

And we're gonna learn from their journey.

In fact, their story is found in the book of Exodus, chapter 13.

Exodus 13 · chapter mention

We're gonna read verse 17.

This is about the children of Israel as they are leaving Egypt.

And here's what the scripture says in verse 17.

It says, When Pharaoh finally let the people go, God did not lead them along the main road that runs through Philistine territory, even though that was the shortest route to the promised land.

God said, if the people are faced with a battle, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.

So God led them in a roundabout way.

Everybody say roundabout.

God led them in a roundabout way through the wilderness toward the Red Sea.

Thus the Israelites left Egypt like an army ready for battle.

In the book of Exodus, we are introduced to the God of exits.

Because it's a book all about exiting, and here's what's so great.

Because we're introduced to God as the God of exits, that's comforting for us because that means we can never be stuck.

If God is the God of exits, then we cannot be stuck in a particular position.

We can't be stuck in a predicament, we can't be stuck in an unchanging process.

If God is the God of exits, then there is always a way out with God.

If God is the God of exits, then that means that he can make a way where there seems to be no way.

If God is the God of exits, that means he can open a door that no man can shut.

If God is the God of exits, he can send an earthquake to shake off the shackles of Paul and Silas so they can walk out of the prison free because he is the God of exits.

And that means you and I can never be stuck.

Come on.

That's a great place to say thank you, God, because you are the God of exits.

And so the God of exits is now leading the children of Israel out of Egypt.

And as he leads them out of Egypt, they have two options.

One, they can go the shortest route, which would take them through Philistine territory, or they can go the long way, which would take them through the wilderness.

And this leads us to what we're going to talk about today.

If you're taking notes, I want to give you three things that you need to remember when you're in a roundabout.

Three things to remember when you're in a roundabout, when it seems like you're going the long way.

When you're in between where you want to be and where you were, you're experiencing transition.

Three things to remember.

Here's number one.

God's love will lead you the long way.

God's love will lead you the long way.

I I proposed to my wife at the Bass Hall in downtown Fort Worth.

And the reason why I proposed to my wife at the Bass Hall in downtown Fort Worth, which is a performing arts center, I did that because I found out that she said when she was younger, I am going to marry the first man that takes me to the bass hall.

So I figured I had a really good shot if I just proposed at the bass hall.

But I decided here's how I wanted to do it, okay?

I said, All right, I'm gonna take her to the bass hall.

And at the bass hall, if you've ever been there, there are there's a balcony and it has two angels on the balcony there holding trumpets, and I thought, I'm going to propose to her on the balcony of the bass hall.

And so I called the bass hall, and the manager answered, and I told her what I want to do.

I said, listen, here's what I want to propose.

And she was great.

She said, Okay, here's how we'll do it.

You can tell her that you have set up a private tour at the Bass Hall.

And I will take you throughout the building, and we can talk about the acoustics and the aesthetics, and we can talk about the architecture.

And then once we get to the place next to the balcony, I will pretend that I'm receiving a phone call.

When I pretend I'm receiving a phone call, say I need to walk away, that will give you guys a private moment, and now you can pop the question.

I said, I like it.

I like it.

So we set this up, right?

And I did it right, you guys.

I mean, like I found out from some other ladies, they were like, hey, listen, Jelani, it's a great idea to pop the question at the bass hall.

But here's the thing you got to remember.

Um, you need to make sure you get her nails done.

Because you guys are gonna take a picture.

And I can tell you, if those nails aren't right and she looks like the nutty professor, it is not gonna go well.

So you better make sure you get the nails done.

So I made sure I had a friend get the nails done, okay?

So we got the nails done.

And then I had people hiding in bushes ready to take pictures, like I had that go, and I had invited her parents and my parents, they're all hiding out in the bath hall.

It was great.

And so I take her and we pull up and we start going through these this tour, and we go up and down and right and left, and sure enough, we get to the balcony, and the lady pretends there's a phone call, and we step outside and I hop on her knee and I ask her to marry me, and she says, Yes, yes, so good.

It's like it was like the best day ever until three days later.

Um, because then after a couple of days, she started looking through the pictures.

And as she starts looking through the pictures, she's like, hold on, hold on, something's not right.

I said, excuse me?

She's like, um, um, come here, come here, look at this picture.

Um, the ring is beautiful, and it's a picture of her hand.

The ring's beautiful.

Um, my nails look great.

I'm like, okay, yeah, yeah.

She said, but do you see my watch?

Jelani.

This watch is awful.

It looks terrible.

And I'm thinking, excuse me?

A watch?

Like, I didn't know to think about the wrist, too.

I was just taking care of the fingers.

And and and and and here's what I'm thinking.

I'm like, wait a minute.

I just took you on a tour to tell you how much I love you.

I I just drove you to Fort Worth to walk you up and down so that I could display how much I care about you.

Now, here's why I tell you that.

I want to submit to you today that the reason why God will take us on a roundabout is because it's an opportunity for God to tell us how much he loves us.

He will take us on a tour, or better yet, a detour, because he wants to communicate how much he cares.

Now, why do you say that, Jelani?

Well, because God in Exodus 13 says this in verse 17, the latter part of verse 17, because he begins to tell us why he took them the long way.

It says, God said, if the people are faced with a battle, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.

So God led them in a roundabout way.

Now think about this.

He said, All right, I'm gonna take them a longer way, and here's why.

If they go through the Philistine territory, they may have to fight, and they're not ready to fight.

The reality is that the Philistines were an ancient Phoenician people.

They were a warlike people, they were strong and powerful, and they were ready to fight.

And the Israelites just coming out of Egypt, they weren't ready to fight.

And so God says, Listen, I am going to take you the long way, not for punishment, but for protection.

I'm gonna take you the long way because I love you.

And here's what's perplexing about this passage.

Because right after it says they weren't ready to fight, the next verse says, and they left like an army ready for battle.

I'm confused, Jesus.

You're saying they're not ready, but they look like they're ready.

Now, have you ever been there where somebody says, Oh, you're you're ready for it, but it didn't happen?

Or maybe you feel like you're ready.

God, I know I'm ready for the relationship.

I know I'm ready for the promotion.

God, I know I'm ready for the opportunity.

And and and for whatever reason it doesn't seem like it happens, I want to encourage you today that maybe the delay is not denial, maybe it's God giving you a chance to develop.

That he does his best development sometimes in the detours of life, and he cares so much about you that he is less concerned at which the speed at which you move and more concerned about your spiritual maturity to handle the next step.

And so in his love, he will lead us the long way.

Now, I have to just say this because sometimes we do find ourselves in a roundabout or maybe even a detour because of disobedience.

Like when you think about the story of Jonah, God told Jonah to go to Nineveh, Jonah goes completely the opposite way, and of course, that means there's a delay.

So there are times in our lives where we have to pause for a moment and go, God, is this roundabout because of sin?

And if that's the case, you just repent.

But I will say to you that I believe often the roundabouts are not a result of disobedience, it is simply a result of God wanting to prepare and protect us because he so loves us.

In fact, Hosea says it very explicitly here in Hosea chapter 11, verse 1.

Hosea 11:1

He says, When Israel was a child, now he's not just talking about Jacob or Israel, a person, because we'll see this in a moment.

He's talking about the people.

He says, When Israel was a child, I loved him.

And out of Egypt I called my son.

So what's he saying?

He said, I loved him.

This is my heart.

As I'm bringing them out of Egypt, I love them.

But then he goes on in verse 4 and he says, This, I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love.

To them I was like one who lifts a little child to the cheek, and I bent down to feed them.

God says, You want to know how I led the children of Israel out of Egypt?

I led them with love.

Because his love will lead us the long way.

We even see this in the New Testament.

We see it with Jesus.

Jesus has a friend named Lazarus, and the Bible says that Jesus is given information that Lazarus is sick.

And then it says something very peculiar about how Jesus responds to Lazarus' sickness.

This is John chapter 11, verse 5.

John 11:5

It says, Now Jesus loved Martha.

Now let's pause for a moment.

How does Jesus feel about Martha?

He loves, it's not rhetorical.

Every campus, how does Jesus feel about Martha?

He loved, he loved Martha.

Not only did he love Martha, it says he loved her sister, who is Mary, and he loved Lazarus.

So it's very clear Jesus loves them.

So listen to this.

So when he heard that he was sick, he left immediately.

No?

That's not that's not what it says?

That's what it should say.

Like if you love somebody, you leave right then, correct?

That's not what it says.

It says, so he stayed two more days in the place where he was.

How could it be, Jesus, that you loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus, and when you heard about him being sick, instead of coming immediately, you stayed two more days.

That doesn't sound like love.

However, upon further review, if if we were to consider this, if if Jesus had left as soon as he found out about Lazarus being sick, there's a chance he could have gotten there and he would have healed Lazarus.

And that would have been a great, great testimony.

The people would have celebrated, God would have gotten glory.

However, because he stayed two more days, when he got there, Lazarus had been dead for four days, which means he could no longer heal Lazarus, he could only resurrect Lazarus, which was a greater miracle.

And so therefore, when he got there, he displayed his love by resurrecting Lazarus, and he did something greater.

Here's why I tell you that today.

Maybe your delay is not denial, but maybe what it is is God is actually setting the circumstance to actually do a greater miracle than you ever imagined, because he can do exceedingly abundantly above all that you can ask.

God's faithfulness in the past fuels trust for the future.

God's faithfulness in the past fuels trust for the future.

As we continue the story, we move to verse 19 now, and it says that Moses took the bones of Joseph with him.

For Joseph had made the sons of Israel swear to do this.

He said, God will certainly come to help you.

When he does, you must take my bones with you from this place.

Okay, so now imagine the children of Israel are leaving Egypt.

And Moses says, All right, we've got to get Joseph's bones.

Now, now we're gonna step into my holy imagination for a moment because here's how I imagine this going.

Moses is grabbing things, everybody's grabbing stuff.

Okay, we're headed out.

And then Moses says, Stop! Wait a second.

We need to get Joseph's bones.

And I think he looks around at the people and he's like, I need somebody young.

Let me get a millennial.

I need a Gen Z, or like, okay, and he points out two boys.

He says, All right, guys, here's what I need you to do.

I need you to go get Joseph's bones.

And these two young guys are like, okay, we'll go get Joseph's bones.

But on their way to get the bones, they start thinking, man, wait a minute.

These bones are over 400 years old.

Like, why would we need to bring some bones that were over 400 years old?

And so one of them says, okay, you know what, we're gonna go back and we're gonna ask Moses.

We just need to know Moses why.

And so they walk over to Moses and they go, Moses, um, Mr.

Moses, uh, Pastor Moses, Bishop Moses, uh, we're gonna bring the bones, but we just had a question.

Just a question, a question.

Um why are we bringing bones that are over 400 years old?

And Moses goes, All right, that's a great question.

Let me tell you.

So, first of all, years ago, our ancestors told Joseph that we would get his bones.

And therefore, what we're going to do is we're going to keep our word.

Because we keep our word.

However, that's not the only reason, sir.

The other reason is because God spoke to Joseph and told him, One day, I'm going to take the children of Israel out of here.

And when I do, I'm going to help them.

And so the bones of Joseph weren't just so that the Israelites would keep their word, but it was actually a reminder.

That God keeps his word.

That the the bones of the forefathers were actually a reminder of the faithfulness of God.

And this was crucial.

You have to think about this because they were going to wander around Israel for four, or wander around the wilderness for 40 years.

So every time they got up to move, two months, somebody get Joseph's bones.

Two years, somebody get Joseph's bones.

20 years, somebody gets Joseph's bones.

25 years, somebody gets Joseph's bones.

And here's the thing: every time they move, there had to be a moment where it's like, I'm discouraged, God, I just don't know.

And then all of a sudden, here comes those two millennials walking with Joseph's bones.

Guys, I don't know when we're gonna get there, but these bones, they remind me God has a plan, God is faithful, God's gonna help me, and we're gonna get there.

They become fuel to trust God.

This is how Charles Spurgeon talks about the faithfulness of God.

I love this quote.

He was a great English preacher in the 1800s.

He says, God writes with a pen that never blots, he speaks with a tongue that never slips, he acts with a hand that never fails.

In other words, God is faithful and remembering his faithful fuels our trust.

In fact, the psalmist says it this way in Psalm 37, verse 3 Trust in the Lord and do good.

Psalms 37:3

When we're in a roundabout, it's about trust.

It says, Trust in the Lord and do good, dwell in the land and feed on his faithfulness.

His faithfulness is actually fuel for us.

You see, this is why the enemy fights you so hard to even read your word.

You know why?

Because what happens is when you open the word of God, all of a sudden you start reading the stories of the faithfulness of God, and the next thing you know, your faith begins to build and you trust God for the future.

This is why the enemy fights you so hard not to get in community here.

He doesn't want you on a serve team, he doesn't want you in a small group, and here's why?

Because you start getting around other believers, and all of a sudden you start hearing testimonies, and those testimonies encourage your faith.

Here's why the enemy doesn't even want you to come to church.

Because all of a sudden, when you come to church and you start worshiping and you sense the presence of God and we sing of God's faithfulness and his greatness and his awesomeness, and then you hear a word, all of a sudden, you remember God's faithfulness in the past, and it fuels trust for the future.

This is why some of us we need to open up that old journal and we need to go back and read what we wrote five weeks ago, five years ago, so that we can be reminded of how far God has brought us.

This is why some of us need to take an object, a picture, a quote, and it's time to put it up in your bedroom or put it up in your office so that every time when you look at it, it's a reminder.

You know what?

God's faithful.

He's faithful.

Uh my wife did it this way.

In our home, we have what we call the thankfulness jar.

And the reason why she created a thankfulness jar, and we're gonna show a picture of that.

Well, first of all, because she said, You guys aren't thankful enough.

Y'all need to be thankful.

So we're gonna create a jar.

But then, but then secondly, here's what happens.

With that thankfulness jar, you see all the slits of paper in there?

That's from our family taking a moment and writing notes.

To say thank you, God, for all that you've done for us.

And every now and again we'll dig into that jar and we'll pull out some of those notes and we'll start reading, God did this, and God did that, and God did this.

And you know what that does for our family?

Guess what?

We trust our God because He's been faithful, He's been so good, He's come through time after time after time.

St.

Jeremiah understood this.

Jeremiah is also known as the weeping prophet, and that's for good reason.

Most theologians think he wrote the book of Lamentations, which is a book about lamenting, it's about weeping, it's about grieving.

And yet, it's a book of only five chapters, but one theologian talks about these five chapters, and he says, specifically in chapter three, he says, that in a sea of despair there is an island of hope.

And it's found in chapter three, verse 20, and these are verses that you've probably heard before, but here's what it says.

It says Jeremiah talking, he says, I will never forget this awful time as I grieve over my loss.

Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this.

The faithful love of the Lord never ends, his mercies never cease, and great is his faithfulness.

Now let me tell you what's so profound about this.

Is that tradition tells us that Jeremiah pinned these words when he was in a cave just out the city of Jerusalem, and he was watching Jerusalem be destroyed because of their sin.

And so in the middle of watching this city be destroyed, he starts to write, and he gets to a point where he says, you know what?

I still have hope though, because God is faithful.

Now, here's what Jeremiah didn't know: that if you actually go to Israel now, there's there's a cave there that's just outside the city.

They believe Jeremiah wrote those notes there, and it's called Jeremiah's Grotto.

Jeremiah's Grotto, and it's located on a hill.

What's fascinating is on that same hill is the place that we know as Golgotha.

It's where Jesus was crucified.

So on the very same hill where Jeremiah pinned that God is faithful, 600 years later, Jesus shows up and is crucified on the cross to display God's real faithfulness.

Like God is so good that he would take the very same place that was destruction and brokenness and weeping and says, Listen, I'm gonna show you how faithful I am.

And when we when we remember God's faithfulness in the past, it fuels trust for the future.

Here's number three.

Third thing we have to remember when we're in a roundabout is God is present and actively working in your life.

God is present and actively working in your life.

The first day of school for me in elementary school was usually pretty difficult.

And the reason why it was pretty difficult is because uh the first day of school, my my teachers would call roll, and most of them had never seen the name Jelani before, so they would butcher it.

So unless there is the phonetic spelling right next to my name, they would just like butcher my name, and and and so here's how it would typically work.

They would get to my name, and the reason why I knew they were close is because it would go alphabetical order, and they would go, they would talk about the J's and the Ks, and then when they get to the L, which my last name is Lewis, I would hear them pause.

And the pause let me know, oh, it's coming, it's coming.

They don't know how to say it.

You know, I'm starting to pray right to Jesus help them, Jesus help, Jesus.

And and then, and then they would say, they would give it their best shot, but they would go, gelaney, or they would go, Jelliny, and if they were mean, they would go, gelato.

That's not true, they never said that.

They just said, they just said, gelaney, gelani, and then here's what they would do to make matters worse.

They would go, where is she?

Straight disrespect, right?

So, so as an elementary kid, my response was to make my voice really deep.

And I would raise my hand up and I would wave it in the air, and I'd go, My name is Jelani.

And then I would say, and I'm here.

Or if I felt fancy, I would say, I'm present.

Or if I felt feisty, I would go, I'm president.

Anybody else do the president?

Oh, just me, pray for me.

I'm from Louisiana.

So but but my whole point was first of all, I need you to know I'm a boy.

But then secondly, I wanted you to know I'm here.

I'm in this room.

Now, here's why I tell you that.

Because when you're in a roundabout, the temptation is actually to live in the past or fantasize about the future, and unfortunately, that means we miss God in the present.

And so it's as if God is in the proverbial classroom of our lives with his hand up, waving it, saying, I hey, hey, hey, over here, I'm here.

I'm active, I'm present, I am actually working now.

You see this in the passage.

We go back to the story, Exodus 13, verse 20.

Exodus 13:20

It says, The Israelites left Sukkoth and camped at Etham on the edge of the wilderness.

Then it says, the Lord went ahead of them.

So God is active, he's doing something.

Then it says, He guided them, he's active, he's present during the day with the pillar of cloud, and he provided light at night with a pillar of fire.

This allowed them to travel by day or by night, and the Lord did not remove the pillar of cloud or the pillar of fire from its place in front of the people.

So, so what do you have happening here?

God is leading them, God is providing for them, God is guiding them.

What's so powerful is that up until that point, church, what you hear primarily is God speaking to Moses and giving Moses direction.

But when when this particular passage happens, there's a shift, and it seems like God begins to lead them directly.

He's active, he's moving, he's engaged.

What I love is that God is even present and active in our trouble.

The psalmist said it this way: God is our refuge and strength in Psalm 46, verse 1.

Psalms 46:1

A very present help in trouble.

One commentary said this about this particular verse.

God never withdraws himself from his afflicted, he is more present than a friend or a relative can be, even more nearly present than the trouble itself.

He says, God is even closer than the trouble we're in.

He's he's present.

We see this in the story about Jacob when Jacob has a dream in Genesis 28.

The Bible says that Jacob has this dream.

I won't give all the details for it, but I want to read you the last couple of verses of this particular dream.

This is Genesis 28.

I'm actually going to read out of the message paraphrase.

It says, This is God talking to Jacob while he's dreaming.

He says, Yes, I'll stay with you.

I'll protect you wherever you go.

I'll bring you back to this very ground.

I'll stick with you until I've done everything I promised you.

And then it says this Jacob woke up from his sleep and said, God is in this place truly, and I didn't even know it.

Jacob says, I was sleeping.

I wasn't even aware that God was here.

But now I'm aware.

And it's a picture, unfortunately, of my life sometimes.

And a picture of your life sometimes that we are sleepwalking through life, and God's going, Hey, I'm here.

I'm active.

I'm working right now.

In fact, I love how one of my favorite authors puts it.

She says that following Jesus is less about the scenery and more about the company.

Following Jesus is less about the scenery and more about the company.

It's not about where we're going solely, it's actually about who we're going with.

Now I'm I'm one for planning, I believe in it.

I think it's a good thing.

I'm one for strategizing, I believe in it, and it's a good thing.

I'm one for focusing on the destination, I believe it's a good thing.

But if we get so focused on the destination, we end up distracted by the scenery and we miss the company.

We miss Jesus in the moment.

Recently I was challenged on this just about a year and a half ago.

I was challenged by the Lord and convicted by the Holy Spirit because I felt like I'd been living my life essentially like it was Tex-Mex.

I don't know how many of you guys like Tex-Mex out there.

Anybody?

Okay, okay.

Okay, somebody shouted, Bless the Lord, bless the Lord on my soul.

But but I love Tex-Mex, and here's one of the things.

My family, we actually love to go to Chewy's uh after church, and the reason why we love going there is because they have the creamy jalapeno ranch.

That uh I just, yeah, no, praise the Lord for that.

Praise the Lord.

Um that changed my life, y'all.

That that I wanted to be a better person after I but here's what we do we go to Chewy's and we get the creamy jalapeno ranch sauce and and we eat a bunch of chips, and and here's what we know we know that's just an appetizer.

We know, in fact, that the chef never touched that appetizer.

The only thing that the chef put his or her hands on was when they brought out the entree.

It was just an appetizer.

Now contrast that experience that I had with when I went to Shanghai.

I go to Shanghai and they eat differently there.

In fact, there were about eight of us, and we sit down at this big round table that rotated.

And they bring out about 10 entrees, and they sit them down in front of you, and you just rotate through and you scoop and you rotate through and you scoop.

And here was the difference.

In Shanghai, I knew that the chef had his or her hands on every single meal.

One was an appetizer and filler, the other was the chef's hands on the entree.

Now, here's what I found in my life.

When I go through seasons of transition, there feels like there's a shifting.

I'm I'm I'm not where I used to be, but I'm not where I want to be.

I can view that season as an appetizer to God.

I can view it, view it as a filler.

Hey, this is just the thing to get to the next thing, but the problem is when you look at the biblical text and when you look at how how God moves with people, there seems to be no appetizers with God.

That because because God's hand is on every season of your life.

There is no text mix to God, because God's hand is on every season of your life.

There is no filler to God, because God's hand is on every season of your life.

He is actively working in every moment.

So, so hear me.

My middle school friends, my high school friends, my young adults, college students.

You can look at the season that you're in as a filler, and God says, it's not a filler, it's actually a season where I want to fill you with my power and presence.

And I want to develop your character.

Dads, moms, you're raising kids right now, and you can look at this season and go, man, it's a it's a tough season.

It's a great responsibility, an awesome opportunity, but it can be heavy sometimes.

And you can look at this season as an appetizer, and God goes, No, no, no, it's not an appetizer.

You have an assignment.

Maybe for some of my older saints, you look at your life and you go, I've got more years behind me than in front of me, and the temptation is just to coast.

And God says, No, I don't need you coasting.

I need greater commitment from you right now because I am active and moving and I am doing things in your life, and I am not done with you yet.

You're gonna serve the purposes of God in your generation just like David did, and he's calling us to recognize that this life is not tex-mex.

This life is filled with seasons that God has his hand on every single one of them.

And so I want to encourage you today.

Some of us are in a roundabout, and you just need to remember God's not mad at you, He's motivated by love.

He his love will actually lead you the long way.

Some of us today we need to look back and we need to remember the faithfulness of God because it's gonna fuel our trust for him in the future.

And some of us today, we need to recognize that God is active and moving.

And maybe you need to pray a very simple prayer for the next several days.

God, make me aware of your presence today.

And we're gonna pray.

But before I do, I want to give some people an opportunity today.

Because earlier I mentioned about the faithfulness of God and what Jesus did for us, how he died for our sins.

And what's so great about that is that the Bible says that we were all sinners.

And because of our sin, we were separated from God, but God refused to leave it that way, and so he sent Jesus Christ to die for us, to pay for our sins, and he raised them on the third day, and he did that so that we could be forgiven, so that we could have a relationship with him, and so that we could spend forever with him in eternity.

And he made it very simple.

He said, the Bible actually calls it receiving salvation or being born again, that when we place our trust in what Jesus did, we can receive salvation, we can get a fresh start, we can be made new.

And there are some of us here today.

The truth is you've never received salvation, you've never been born again, you've never admitted that you're a sinner and chosen to surrender your life to Jesus.

Today is your day.

I want to lead you in a prayer here in a moment, or maybe you're here and you've been here for a long time, but you've never made a decision, or maybe you made that decision a long time ago, but today's your day to give your life to Jesus.

I want to give you a chance to do that.

I'm not asking today if you go to church, I'm not asking, are you a good person?

I'm asking you today, have you been born again?

Have you received salvation?

Have you placed your trust in Jesus?

In a moment, I'm gonna pray.

And I just want to include you in this prayer if you haven't ever made that decision or you need to make that decision again.

And so if you say, Jelani, that's me.

Today, include me in that prayer.

I want to be born again.

Would you just raise your hand right now?

I want to start new.

I want a fresh start.

It's time to surrender.

I just want you to raise it high right now.

Every campus, you don't need to be embarrassed.

I see even online.

Don't be embarrassed.

This is what church is about.

Today, you want to make a decision.

I'm giving my life to Jesus today.

I'm recommitting my life to Christ.

It's awesome.

I see hands that are up all over the place.

I want everyone to pray this prayer out loud for the benefit of those that raise their hand.

But those of you that raise their hand specifically for you, this is just a prayer of surrender.

Would you pray it with me?

Just say, God, thank you for sending Jesus to die for my sin.

I admit I'm a sinner, but I believe in what you did.

Forgive me, be my Lord, change me.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Church, can we put our hands together?

We have people all over that gave their lives to Christ.

Thanks for joining us today.

If you'd like to connect with us, text Connect to 71010 or visit gatewaypeople.com.

We hope you have a great week.