What Does the Future Hold for Me? | Pastor Morgan Butcher | Venture Church

We're excited to partner with FCA and everything that they're doing.

I know Pastor Johnny, our youth pastors really excited to

begin getting on high school campuses administering the teenagers there

in those places and spaces. But I want to thank

you for being here with us at Venture Church. Everybody

doing good in a good weekend. It's hot outside. Hope

you're ready.

I am not.

I am already sweating right now. So that's kind of

where I'm at in life. If I've met you, my

name is Morgan Butcher, blessed to be one of the

pastors here at our Mill Creek campus, and it's just

great to see you here this morning. Got some old

faces back in town visiting, always good to see and

always good to see new faces here at Venture as well.

You are joining us right at the tail end of

our series titled God Problems. And in this series we've

been covering all sorts of just difficult questions that are

asked when it comes to faith and who Jesus is.

And this morning we're going to tackle another one. I'm

looking forward to diving in with you today.

Why don't we do this?

Can we just pray really quick? And then well we'll

dive in this morning. Let's let's let's pray.

Father.

We love you, God, We thank you for today. I

thank you for your word that guides and directs our

life in and through every season. God, we thank you

that you're here with us, God, that you want to

speak to us. And so Father, I pray that we

would hear your voice and we would respond to your voice.

We pray that in Jesus Mighty name. And everyone said, amen.

I don't know if you've ever had one of those

days where everything is planned, You've got a great day

lined up, and then none of it goes as planned.

Anybody ever been there in life? Some of you are like, yes,

that was yesterday, right, I had one of these days

years ago. Now, myself and pastor Die, Pastor Tony of

our Seattle campus, and Brandon and Die's son Elijah, we

have had for years, this this text group because we

all have in common that we are die hard Seattle

sports fans. Any Seattle sports fans here this morning, come

on now. Okay, yeah, we all know it's a hard life. Okay,

we get it. Okay, there's some it's not super exciting.

We love Seattle sports so we oftentimes text about the

highs and mostly the lows of Seattle sports, but you know,

every once in a while we get a good thing going.

And we planned out what was going to be just

like an epic Seattle sports day. We were had it

all lined up. We bought our tickets. This day was planned. Uh,

it was gonna start. Nicole and I decided, I'm gonna

be gone most of the day. We're gonna wake up,

We're gonna take our newborn daughter, Brindley, who was three

months old at the time.

We're gonna take her.

We're gonna go get coffee at a coffee shop, and

then I'm gonna go and I'm gonna be diying Tony

and Elijah. We're gonna go down to the Sounders game

to start the day. I'm gonna go watch some soccer,

cheer on the Saunders to victory. And then we're gonna

take a break. We're gonna go grab lunch in Seattle.

We'll just walk down, uh you know, right down somewhere

in there and grab some delicious food and then we'll

literally how awesome is this that you can literally go

to a sports game at Lomenfield and then you can

walk across the street and watch the Mariners. So we

had tickets for both games purchased. We're gonna watch the

Mariners battle it out. Those were some dark years for

the Mariners, so battle it out as kind of like

just what you say to convince yourself to go to

a game. But it was going to be amazing. We

had it all planned out. Unfortunately, what I did not

plan working into the midst of that day was for

Nicole and I to get up in that morning and

go to a coffee shop and leave a pot of

boiling water on.

The stove as we left the house.

We're disinfecting some of Brindley's baby bottles and left the

pot of boiling water on the stove.

Totally forgot. Came back home.

I'm getting ready to go to the Sounders game, and

as I approached the door, you hear that faint beep

beep beep beep beep beep, and I wish it was

a better sound than what it was, but it was

on the fire alarm. I opened the door, smoke poores

out of the house. I run inside. There's the pot

on the stove, like flames are like flying up. There's

soot flying everywhere, smoke has filled the house. I didn't

know what to do, so I grabbed the pot off

the stove. I ran out to the slider, I opened

up and I just chucked the pot outside. That was

probably not the smartest thing to do. That's just what

I thought was the right thing to do. We air

out the house. We open every door, every window, and

it didn't take very long for me to realize that

I was not going to make it to the Sounders

game that morning. Nicole and I then pulled out the

paper towels the four oh nine and we did our

best impression of wipe down scenario. We did the wax

on wax off on literally every item in the house

and friends, it's amazing what you can do with some

paper towels on four oh nine. Okay, the place looked great,

but unfortunately for us, it smelled horrible. The smoke was

just so bad. So Nicole and Brinley go to my

pairarent's house. I'm like, I'm gonna go catch the Mariners

game at least, so I drive down to watch the

Mariners get absolutely destroyed. Okay, worst game ever, I remember

it being Di doesn't remember this, but I remember just

being so cold that night up on the left field bleachers,

the wind and the rain are coming in. I go

and I pick up Nicole and Brindley from my parents' house.

We drive back up the house and I'm hoping, I'm

praying that when we get into the house, we've left

the doors and the windows open, it's going to be

aired out. It's gonna be fine. We quickly realize it

is not fine, it is not good. And by the

time that I woke up the next morning with a

throbbing headache from the smell of smoke, and as I'm

on the phone with the insurance company, I vividly remember thinking, well,

that didn't go quite as I planned. It was not

the day that I had in mind. And friends, that's

just kind of life sometimes, isn't it. We plan, we execute,

and then things don't go as plan. We forecast the

next five years, but the future doesn't always follow the

script that we have in our mind right, And this

leads us to a big question that haunts many people,

that walks with people through different seasons, And the question

that we're asking this morning is what does the future

hold for me? It's a question that people ask in

the middle of transition, in the middle of things changing

and seasons going from one to the other. It's a

question that people ask when they graduate college and their

career hasn't quite taken off. It's a question that people

ask when the job disappears or the marriage feels like

it's breaking down. It's a question that you ask when

you feel stuck in a season that looks nothing like

what you imagined that it would look like. And it

reminded me immediately as I started thinking of it, of

Genesis chapter twelve, when we find somebody by the name

of Abram who's established. He's successful, he's stable until God

shows up and he speaks something to Abram and it

disrupts his life, and it's a call that leads him

into an uncertain future. Now, my goal for you friends

this morning is is not to try to attempt to

answer the question for each and every one of you,

what does your future hold? Because quite frankly, I have

no idea. I have no idea. I don't even know

what necessarily my own future holds.

I don't know.

Necessarily where my life is leading me at all times,

and I have no idea where God might be leading

your life. But what I hope to do this morning

is share with you some things that you and I

should know about the future that God is calling us

to step into. And the first thing that I think

that we need to understand about walking into our future

is the truth and the reality that there will be

times in our life and more often than not, God

will invite us to walk into spaces that are unknown.

God often calls us into the unknown. We look at

the life of Abram in chapter twelve. You can open

your bibles if you have them this morning. In chapter

twelve of the Book of Genesis, verse one, the Lord

is speaking to Abram, and God gets his attention, and

he says to Abram, go from your country, your people,

your father's household, to the land that I will show you.

I don't know about you, friends, But if I'm Abram,

I'm like, is there anything else? Can you tell me

about this place?

I'm going? Right?

If you're like me and you're very food motivated, I'm like,

is there good food there? How's the education system?

Right?

Like? Is it by a lake? Can I look forward

to some nice scenery? However, the neighbors, you know, like,

I don't know anything about this place. Let's not breeze

past the fact that Abram is seventy five years old

when God speaks this to him. He's not some adventurous

teenager who's in a gap year in life, right like,

excited for what the future has in store for him.

He has wealth, he has status, he is a family,

he has comfort built into his life. And God says,

leave everything familiar to you and go to a place

that I'll reveal to you later. No, gps, No, here's

what the next ten years look like. Just the simple words,

go and trust me. I don't know how you operate, friends,

but I think it's pretty safe to say that most

of us want some clarity before we take steps into

the unknown future. But let me tell you what I've

learned that God wants from us. God desires in us

obedience that's rooted in.

Trust for who he is, for our life.

He wants obedience that's rooted in trust for our life.

It's uncomfortable, but that's often how God works. I've seen

it play out time and time again. He will give

us a direction, but not a map. He will give

us a promise, but not a timeline. He will give

us his presence, but not step by step instruction. And

what stands out to me about Abram here is that

Abram obeys God, God and this wild instruction with no

guarantee of what the future hold. And let's just be honest,

a lot of people have a hard time with that.

A lot of people have a hard time obeying and

trusting without guarantees of what comes next. How could Abram

obey with no guarantee of what the future had in

store for him? Can I share with you why I

think that he trusted God to move forward into an

unknown future. I think it was probably because Abram could

obey because his trust was not just in what God gives,

but it's in who God is. His trust wasn't just

in the thing that God wanted to give him. His

trust was in who God was for his life. Let

me try to explain it to you like this. Imagine

that I am standing in a room with you, Aaron.

I am standing in a room with Aaron, and I

am standing with Aaron, and also next to me is

a very wealthy, generous person. I was having a hard

time trying to figure out who I thought would be

willing to do this, But I thought of mister Beast.

Anybody know who mister Beast is? Okay, if you don't

know mister Beast. He is a guy who's become really

famous on social media. He's become one of the most extravagant,

generous givers of financial gifts in history, and he's become

an overnight sensation the last couple of years.

And so, Aaron, imagine me.

And mister Beast are standing in front of you in

a room and I say to you, Aaron, Aaron, I

want to give you five hundred thousand dollars.

Yes, take the deal, right, And.

Then mister Beast looks there and then says, Aaron, I

want to give you five hundred thousand dollars. Now, Aaron, hopefully,

because he's like I like Morgan, I think I can.

He's probably given me the benefit of doubt. But he

might look at me and say, well, Morgan would probably

like to give me five hundred thousand dollars. But how

many of you know he could say that? And also, no,

fo well, I don't have no five thousand dollars. That's

an empty promise right there, right, I don't have five

hundred thousand dollars to give you. I don't have five

hundred thousand dollars in my name. However, of mister Beasts,

one of the most generous people who gives away money

all the time to just random strangers, would look at

Aaron and say, I want to give you five hundred

thousand dollars. Aaron, knowing the credibility of mister Beast and

who he is and what he's done, would probably stand

there and Aaron would probably get a little excited at

the offer that mister Beast is making him. Friends hear

me say this again, Abram obeys with no guarantees, because

Abram's trust was in who God was for his life,

not just what God had to give him, but who

the credibility of the name was that this offer was

coming from. It wasn't necessarily about what he was going

to be given. It was about who he was talking

to in this moment. He trusted that if God says

that he will provide for me, if God instructs me

to go, that God is the one who has been trustworthy.

He's been faithful, he's been true, he's been steadfast, He's

been my firm foundation. And that is a person that

I can trust in. That is more than enough for

my life, and when we look to the future, we

need to recognize that God is oftentimes going to call

us into unknown places and spaces in our life, and

that can cause a lot of uncertainty. But friends, hear me,

if your trust is in who God is for your life,

that can be enough to sustain the steps that are

ahead of you. He is faithful, He is trustworthy. We

also need to know that living in the unknown requires

us to hold onto the reality that not only does

God call us into the unknown often, but as we

walk into the unknown, we have to remind ourselves that

God has given purpose to us in every present step

that we walk into. Can I tell you sometime one

of the most fearful things in life is to take

a step into a next season that you don't see

how it pans out, trusting that you will have step

that you take has been ordained by God. Every step

that you take, God walks with us.

Into those steps. God gives us a purpose even in

the present.

Genesis twelve two through three, God goes on and he

says to Abram, I.

Will make you into it a great nation. I will

bless you.

I will make your name great, and you will be

a blessing. And listen to this, and all people on

earth will be blessed through your name. Friends, God doesn't

just tell Abram to leave. He gives him a reason

to leave. He says, I will bless you, and not

just so that you can have a better life. I

will bless you so that you have purpose with your life.

I will bless you so that you can be a blessing,

so that your name can be a blessing from generation

to generation to generation to generation. Can I tell you, friends,

there is divine strategy in God's call for Abram steps

into the unknown. God isn't just calling Abram to step

into some unknown future for the for the for the

for the sheer joy of watching somebody step in the

unknown future. He's calling you into the unknown future because

he has a purpose in the present steps that you

are taking. He wants to use your life, and he

calls us into the unknown and oftentimes we think, well, God,

I'm stepping into something that I don't know. What.

Can I tell you?

You have a God who is faithful and true, who

knows the beginning, he knows the end, He knows all

the steps he plans for you. And listen to this, friends.

Scripture says that he desires good things for his children.

God's plan wasn't just to give Abram a better life.

It was to give him maybe the most amazing gift

that one could ever receive. It wasn't just about getting

a better life. It was to be given a meaningful life.

I don't know who you are in this room, but

I just felt, I just felt the urge to remind

somebody in this room this morning that your life is

not just about having a better life. Your life has meaning,

Your life has purpose. You have value in every step,

in every moment that you take. And God wants to

use you, and he wants to begin to build this

obedient trust in your steps when he speaks to you.

And the same pattern is true in Abram's life as

it is true for our life. Friends, Can I tell

you are blessed so that you can be a blessing

to others. There's people in our church, there's people in

this room right now. God has blessed you in some

of the most amazing radical ways that I could ever imagine.

You have been provided a job and the ability to

make resources unlike Let's just be honest, if we were

to all look in the mirror and.

We'd say, I don't deserve that.

And we can either view that gift that God has

given us as this opportunity to have a better life,

or we can believe that God has a divine strategy

to use your life in a way that not only

is a blessing to your life, but that my life

might have meaning and purpose, that you might be a

blessing to those around you, that you might be a

blessing to the Kingdom of God. That God might be

positioning you strategically to be used in ways that you

can't even imagine. You are blessed that you can bless others,

but friends, can I also say that you are called

not just for your comfort, but for the Kingdom of God.

God is going to speak into your life. He's going

to speak direction into your life, not just with things

and directions in ways that are meant to.

Make you comfortable.

He's gonna stretch you and He's going to call you

into an unknown not that's just that you might have

a better and more comfortable life, but so that you

might have meaning in the Kingdom of God, so that

you might have purpose in sharing the Gospel and sharing

the testimony of who God's been in your life. He's

going to use your life strategically to move the Kingdom

of God forward. Friends, Listen to me, your life has

divine purpose here and now, even when the picture isn't clear,

even when the future feels foggy, you can live on

mission right now. There's a powerful lesson that God is

teaching us through Abram that I felt in my life

as well. It's the reality that faith walks in purpose

even without clarity. That our faith in God moves us

to walk in purpose even when we don't know what

the next step has for us. God says, if you

trust me, you don't even need to have clarity. If

your faith really is in who I am for your life,

then then the next step and what it looks like

doesn't really matter. As long as you trust that I'm

going to use you, Our faith in Him is all

we need to walk in purpose. Imagine, friends, if every

time we told our kids to do something, or we

instructed our kids to do something that we knew was

good for them, that we knew was meant to protect

them or bless them, that our kids then had to

go on like a four to six month sabbatical and

a spiritual journey to get clarity on if what mom

or dad said could be trusted. Be exhausting Some of

you are like, that's what my kid does. I just

wish they would respond right, just wish that they would

trust me. But friends, how many times do you think

God is looking us with the same lens? Like do

you really need to pray and fast to see if

God really wants you to serve in the kids ministry?

Do you really need to you pray and ask God

if he really wants you to extend and be obedient

in laying down a tithe to move his kingdom forward?

Does you really need to pray and fast about thinking

of if I should or if I should not talk

to my friend about who Jesus is in my life? No, no, friends,

God has purpose in your present. He wants to use

you right here, right now, and hear me out my

conviction from the Holy Spirit as this week is. As

I was thinking about this message, God just really slapped

me in the face and he was like, Morgan, what

are you waiting for? Like, like, what sign could you

possibly be waiting for to recognize that My desire for

your life is that every step would have purpose, even

walking into unknown situations and unknown futures, that every step

has a purpose. Do you know what I felt from

the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit was like, Morgan, start

giving more now. You don't need to pray about it.

Just it's for my kingdom. It's to move my mission

and forward. Start serving more now, Morgan, start encouraging, start sharing,

start loving, and stop waiting for the right opportunity. Just

start moving. You have purpose right here and right now.

We should all be inspired by Abram's response to God's

call in Genesis chapter twelve, because because God says to Abram,

leave everything and go, I'm gonna use you. I'm gonna

use you as a blessing. You will be blessed, you

will bless others. And what is verse four say that

Abram's response was, It says this, So Abram went. There's

no like. Abram wrestled with God. Abram fasted and went

away for months Abram Abram sat and in the church

pews and sat and tried to decide if what God

was speaking for him to do was actually God or

if it was the stake that he ate last night.

Right, it was like.

Abram heard, and because his obedience was rooted in trust

for who God was for his life, his response was simply, God,

I will go. I will I will walk with you,

I will go into the unknown. I will take the steps.

There was no blueprint, there was no promise that the

next step would be easy. It was just a God

that said, Abram, trust me. Some of us are waiting

to step into purpose because we're waiting for certainty. But friends,

what if God is saying, take the next step and

I'll meet you there. Test me, see if I'm faithful,

see if I'm trustworthy. It's okay to have these thoughts

of fear or worry about an unknown future. I think

that's a normal human response. But friends, God is certain true,

He's trustworthy. Some of us have been praying for peace

in our heart before we take the leap that God

is inviting us to take or instructing us to take.

And years ago, Nicole and I were praying through some

really big questions about our future. We were really wrestling

with God. And I remember our prayer. Our prayer was like, God,

give us peace in this decision. God, we just want

to make the right decision. God, I just want to

know that like, you're with me in this decision, that

you see me in this wrestle and this tension. What

you're asking me to do sounds crazy and I just

don't know.

So if you could just.

Give me a sign of peace that everything's gonna be okay,

that would really help us make this decision. And friends,

here's what we came away from that season realizing. It's

that sometimes the peace that we're searching for doesn't come

until after we've chosen to obey God.

And then all of a sudden, God is.

Like, see, you can trust me, faithful, I call you

into something that I have planned for you. Your calling

may not come with a big announcement. It may not

come with a spotlight. It might just come through a

whisper from God's voice saying love your neighbor. Now, serve faithfully,

Now speak life. Now, stay where you're planted for now.

It may not look impressive, but friends, let me tell

you it's impactful. Why Because it's obedience. It's obedience.

Church.

Hear me say this. God has given you a purpose.

Your life has meaning and purpose. Now stop waiting. Trust

in God even when you don't get it. I think

that it's important for us to recognize that God often

calls us into the unknown. I think it's also really

important to have this reminder in our heads as we

walk into the unknown, that God gives purpose in every

step of our present. But I also think that we

have to move forward as believers with the reminder that

faith lives with eternal perspective. Faith lives with eternal perspective

in mind. You know, it's over two thousand years from

the moments that Abram is living this out with God

to Hebrews chapter eleven, where the apostle Paul reflects on

the life of Abram over two thousand years and the

apostle Paul is reflecting on the life of Abram. Genesis

tells the story of Abram walking by faith, but Hebrews

eleven reflects back on the faith that Abram lived with

and provides this unique look into what I think is

eternal perspective being played out.

In Abram's life.

Hebrews Chapter eleven, verses eight through ten that says this,

it's the apostle Paul writes. He says, by faith, Abraham, Abraham, Abram,

same guy. Okay, we don't have time to get into

the details of evit his name changes, same guy, trust

him says by faith. Abraham obeyed and he went, even

though he did not know where he was going. But

this is what This is the part that really stood

out to me.

Listen to this.

It says, for he was looking forward to the city

with foundations whose architect and builder is God.

I've read that.

Scripture so many times, and for whatever reason, every time

I've read it, I've always thought, well, yeah, of course

Abram is looking forward to this new city, this new foundation,

this new place that God is asking him to step into.

He's searching for this new place that God says that

he will live in and he will dwell in. But man,

God really spoke something to me that went beyond that,

that that it might be possible that Paul was reflecting

on Abram's life and pointing to something way bigger than

just a new place to set up camp. You see, Abram,

he wasn't just looking for new real estate. He was

looking for new revelation. He wasn't just searching for a

piece of land. He was longing for eternal belonging. Genesis

tells us what happened, but Hebrews tells us why it mattered.

And even though Abram had success, even though he had land,

even though he had legacy, he didn't see this life

as his home.

Do you know who?

He saw himself as a pilgrim, someone living faithfully in

the now, someone living with purpose in the present while

walking towards the not yet. It's this eternal perspective that

Abram had as he heard this call of God in

his life, and he took the first step of obedience

to say, God, I'm willing to leave everything to follow

you because I trust and friends, here's what I want

you to catch this morning. It say, eternal perspective doesn't

minimize this life.

Do you know what it does? It should maximize this life.

It should change the way that we live in this life.

It should fuel every decision, every moment, every opportunity that

God puts in front of us. Let me give you

a better picture. Imagine a world class Olympic athlete. They

train every day intensely, rigorously, purposefully. He watches his diet,

he structures his time, He sacrifices daily.

It sounds just horrible, right, It sounds like so much work.

But why does he do this?

He does this because he's focused on something beyond the

present moment. He's focused on a future event. He's focused

on the Olympics now. Does that mean that his training

isn't real life? Does that mean that his training now

doesn't matter?

Of course not.

It means that his training matters more because of what

he's aiming for. He gives everything in the now, because

he's living for something bigger than the now. That's how

eternity works for us. That's how eternal perspective works for us.

We're not just passing time here on earth waiting for

Heaven to show up. We're training, we're learning, we're building

the Kingdom of God. We're serving the people of God.

We're loving the people of God. The weight of eternity

gives meaning to today. The reality of our future in

eternity should shape the way that we live in the now.

It should move us to not living half hearted, this

one foot in, one foot out kind of lukewarm lifestyle

and our relationship with God. It should move us into

a life of passion, into a life of mission, into

a life of serving and loving and giving. Because this

life echoes into eternity, friends, it doesn't minimize this life.

It maximizes everything. So much so that Genesis twelve four

it says it plainly God spoke us to Abram, and

Abram heard it, And what does Abram do? It says,

so Abram went as the Lord had told me, because

his obedience was rooted in this deep trust of who

God was in his life. He didn't have the full story.

He didn't know what the future had in mind from

He just had a God that he knew was faithful.

And friends, hear me saying, that's enough. That's enough, even

when you don't know what the future looks like, even

when you don't know what tomorrow holds, even when the

worries of today feel bigger than what you have to

live with, it's enough. So let's return to the question,

what does the future hold for me? That's a huge question.

I don't have the ability to tell you and map

that out for you. I can't give you all the details.

I can give you a picture of what God intends

for us, but I can't answer the details of that

question for you. But let me invite you into the

tension that I feel like the Holy Spirit brought me

into this week Monday, as I was writing this message,

I sat there and and I asked the same question

that we're being asked today, what does.

The future hold for me?

And I sat there and I prayed, and I prayed

this question out loud to God. And don't you love

it when you ask a question to God and then

he asks the question in return?

I love that.

But almost immediately as I started praying, I felt God

asked me this question that brought tension in my life

that I want to invite you into as well. The

question that I felt like he asked me back was, Morgan,

what does your obedience hold for your future? What does

your obedience hold for your future? What does the way

you respond to my voice say about.

What you desire for your future?

What does your life hold for eternity? And I actually

want to do something a little different this morning. I

want to invite you into that. This morning, I want

to ask you about your head and close your eyes

all over this room, and I want to just give

us a moment of stillness and quiet because I'm believing

that God is going to speak something to you this morning.

I believe He's going to speak maybe a hard truth

to you, something that's been redirecting where God desires to

take your future maybe the question we need to ask

God as we wrestle with this is God, where are

you asking.

Me to trust you with my future? Am I living

with purpose in the present and with perspective for eternity?

Just take a second. Maybe you're here today and.

You're hearing this message and taking a moment to just

think and reflect on your life. And maybe you're here

today and you've never had a relationship with Jesus. You

feel like maybe you have, but you've distanced yourself from him.

You've walked into direction that you know is far from

where He's called you to be.

If that's you, can I just encourage you this morning.

You can start living with purpose and meaning right now.

And it starts by saying, Jesus, I want to know you.

I want a relationship with you. And while I can't

tell you everything the future holds, I can tell you

the decision to follow Jesus in.

The here and now has eternal impact. Friends.

So, if that's you here today and you want to

begin a relationship with him, or maybe you recognize that

you've been distant from him and you want to walk

out of these doors, or knowing that you are in

that you right relationship with him. I want to give

you an opportunity to respond with everything about every eye close.

If that's you here this morning, you just say, Morgan,

that's me, and you want to step back into that

relationship with him or step in for the first time.

Would you just slip your hand up right now wherever

you are in this room. I want to pray over you.

Thank you, thank you.

Yeah, I see that.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. I see that,

thank you, thank you, thank you.

You put your hands down.

Maybe as you've been wrestling with that question and God's

speaking back to you, and he's saying, man, you know

that there's some things in your life that have been

moving you in a direction opposite of where I've asked

you to go. That's what I felt God was putting

on my life, some things that I just needed to

lay down right in the here and now so that

I can be on the right steps with where He

wants to take me. If that's you here this morning,

and you know, there's some things that you need to

lay down this morning so that.

You can walk.

Obey and you can trust that God is guiding and

leading you.

Even into the unknown. If that's you here this morning.

You just want to walk out knowing that you've laid

those things down and you're walking out with the courage

to walk forward this morning. If that's you, would just

slip your hand up because I want to pray over

you as well. Yeah, it hands up all over this room.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you,

thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Let's pray

together this morning, Father, God, I thank you so much.

Thank you God, Thank you Lord. For those who have

chosen to put their trust and their faith in you

this morning, God, for those who have said, maybe for

the first time or the first time in a long time, God,

I trust you with my life. I want a relationship

with you. I want to know what life is like

with you leading and guiding and giving me purpose for

my future. God, I pray that you would speak life

over them this morning. I pray that you would remind

them that they are loved and seen and known by you,

and I pray that you would echo into their life

that there is a future in store for them that

goes beyond anything that they could ever imagine. And Father,

I also pray for those in this room God that

that are recognizing in their life as they put on

these lenses of eternal perspective, God, that there's things in

their life that they need to lay down today so

that they can make sure that the next time you

speak to them, God, that their faith and trust is

fully in who you are for their life.

God.

I pray for courage in the hearts of our people. God,

courage in my heart. God, that when you speak, God,

that my obedience would be founded and rooted in a

trust in who you are for my life. And I

pray that as we walk that out God, even into

the unknown, God, that you would lead us and guide

us in Jesus' miny name.

And everyone said, Amen. Amen.

I don't know about you, but I was really struck

in the first service again that if we are following

the Lord, there can be so much uncertainty in the

life that we're living. But eternity is what brings all

the focus and all the understanding to the life that

we're living. But it's such a tension that we live

in to have to trust that God has today and

tomorrow in this life taken care of, knowing that we'll

spend eternity with Him if we know him. I just

want to say a prayer over you, which is found

in Psalm twenty seven, which says, this almost is praying

that we would know the goodness of the Lord in

the land of the living like in this life. That

we would know is goodness. So as you go, I'm

going to pray that you go with the goodness of God,

and the goodness of God shows up in your life

and your circumstances. We have a What's Next page on

our app that you can refer to for more growth,

a Bible plan. However, you want to wrestle and we're

here to help you, but stand up. May the Goodness

of God go on you, before you and with you.

Have an awesome week.

We love you.

Thank you again for joining us. If you enjoyed today's service,

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link that's in our bio. Does We hope to see

you again.