Everyday Ananias | Steve Carter

Welcome to Gateway Churches Podcast.

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

So this morning I spoke in Houston and then was gonna fly here, but there was a torrential rainstorm and lightning, and so I went to the rental car place, rented a car, and drove as fast as I could.

I didn't get a ticket, didn't get a ticket, but I feel like just being here for the worship is just so meaningful for me.

Last time I was here, being in here and experiencing this house and the way you worship, the dependency that you have, it just did something for me.

And so when this opportunity came, I was like, I have to come back.

Well, a few months ago, somebody asked me, Steve, besides Jesus, who is your favorite person in scripture?

I thought that was a great question.

And then I said, Ananias.

Not the one who stole money from the church, bad guy.

But a guy who is mentioned less than a dozen times in scripture.

But somehow this guy has a powerful impact.

And what I want to do tonight to kind of kick off this first conference is I want to teach you how you can be an everyday Ananias.

Every single one of you has the potential, has the power, has the ability to be used by God if you want to.

And what we see in Acts chapter 9 is the story of this man named Ananias.

Acts 9 · chapter mention

If you have a Bible, you can turn with me there.

Acts 9, we'll begin in verse 10.

It says this in Damascus, which is 150 miles from J Town, Jerusalem, there was a disciple.

Now, the word disciple in Hebrew is the word Talmudim.

Let me hear you say Talmudim.

It literally means a student or an apprentice of a rabbi.

And to be a Talmudim, you had high desire and high devotion to be like your rabbi.

So 150 miles from Jerusalem, there is a Talmudim.

There is this disciple of a rabbi.

And then it says this so powerfully, this man's name was Ananias.

And the Lord called to him in a vision, Ananias.

And I love his answer.

Yes, Lord.

Yes, Lord.

See, I believe that every single day God is whispering to each and every one of us.

I believe that every single day God is inviting each and every one of us to be a part of his redemptive story.

For some of us, we're too distracted, we miss it.

Sometimes we hear it and we're like, ah, but I love that Ananias just says, Yes, Lord.

Yes, Lord.

What do you have for me?

What do you want from me?

What do you need from me?

I'm in this with you.

And look what God says.

The Lord told him, verse 11, go to the house of Judas on Strait Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying.

In a vision, he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.

I love this.

Ananias says, Yes, Lord, and then God gets really specific.

Have you ever had that happen?

You almost hear this prompting from God and you're like, Yes, God.

And then God's like, forgive that person, and you're like, no, God.

Like, go talk to that person.

You're like, uh, no?

But this is like go down Straight Street in downtown Damascus, knock on the door three times of Judas' house.

You're gonna meet a guy named Saul who's blind.

I remember a number of years ago, I went to Bujambora Burundi, it's a real place.

And we had raised a million plus dollars, and we were starting this bank.

And it was gonna be a microfinance lending bank that we were gonna lend money to women in Bujambora to start businesses to bless their church and their family and their community.

But the problem was that there were three political leaders who had not given us clearance to move the funds and loan the funds to these women.

So a bunch of us got on a plane and we flew to Bujambora.

I got there super late, never had been there before.

I wake up the next morning, I'm jet lagged, I'm groggy, I grab my backpack, I walk into this meeting, and it's being led by like a CEO type.

And he's like, What's your idea?

He's going around the room.

What is your idea for how we get these three political leaders to sign off on this?

What is your idea?

And then he realizes none of us have an idea.

And he just looks at us and goes, You came all this way with no idea?

What are you thinking?

You're wasting my time.

Here's what I'm gonna do.

And this is at 10 in the morning.

He goes, I'm dismissing you, and I want you to come back at dinner with one good idea.

You're dismissed.

I was like, man, this is intense.

Grab my backpack, I start walking, I look at my friend, I'm like, what are you gonna do?

He's like, I'm going to the hotel to take a nap.

And I was like, that is biblical.

God does speak through dreams.

But all of a sudden, I start walking into my hotel room and I have this sense that God's telling me to go for a run.

And I don't like to run.

And I've never been to Bujambora before, but I put on some basketball shorts and I began to run.

Some would call it walk, but I I broke a sweat and I find myself passing UN vehicles and I'm like getting kind of connected to this beautiful city.

And then I come to this downtown city center that's this massive park, and there's about six to seven hundred people surrounded around a basketball game.

And so I'm the only white dude there.

And so I walk up and I'm watching, and I'm there like 60 seconds, and a guy pokes me in my shoulder and goes, You good?

And I'm like, Yeah, I'm I'm all right.

He goes, No, you good in basketball.

And I'm like, Yeah, I'm pretty good.

He goes, If I choose you, do we win?

And I was like, I think so.

Now, here's the truth.

I played Division I basketball, play's not the right word.

I sat at the bench, but I got free shoes, all right?

So I know how to whoop a little bit.

And so all of a sudden, this guy goes, All right, time out.

You, you're out, you're in.

And I'm like, what in the world is going on?

I haven't even stretched, I haven't warmed up.

But for the next 90 minutes, we go 6-0.

At the end of it, this woman comes with like a basket filled with Burundian dollars.

I didn't know I joined the BBA, but it is on my LinkedIn account.

The guy walks up to me and he goes, Tomorrow, same time, championship game, I need you.

And I'm like, oh man, I I this is just a one-time thing.

I can't, I got meetings.

He's like, with who?

And I was like, Well, we raised all this money, and uh we we've come here because we want to start a bank to help the women in Bujambora, but these three political leaders, uh, they won't help us.

He goes, What are their names?

And I rattle off the three names, and he goes, I'm the second guy.

I'm like, check your email, bro.

He goes, I have a deal for you.

We win game, I take meeting.

So now I get to return back to dinner with a little bit of swagger, little bit of confidence.

So I sit down, I listen to the ideas.

Here's what we're gonna do.

We're gonna wake up super early, we're gonna stand outside the offices, and maybe we'll see one of the political leaders.

Bad idea.

Then it gets to me.

They're like, What do you have, Carter?

I said, Well, I know without a shadow of the doubt, our Lord loves the game of basketball.

I tell him what happens, and the CEO guy looks at me and goes, You eat whatever you want.

If you need a massage, you go get it.

Here's what I need you to do is win that game.

We win that game the next day, they take the meeting, a bank begins.

Why do I tell you that story?

Because it's so weird.

But this is the truth that God wants to give every single one of you and only God's story.

But it begins when you say yes to his whispers and his promptings.

I love this because Ananias is just so human.

He's like us.

And God whispers, yeah, Lord, use me.

And then God tells him what to do.

And then look what he says, verse 13, Lord, Ananias answered, I've heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem.

And he's come here with authority from the chief priest to arrest all who call on your name.

He's it's up to Ananias saying, God, I know you have like a thousand cattle on the hills.

I just don't think you've been watching the news lately.

Saul's a bad dude.

He he's come here in his air Birkenstocks, 150 miles from Jerusalem, to like actually maybe beat or in prison.

He murdered a guy named Steve.

Who?

Why would you kill a guy named Steve?

I don't know what you're thinking, Lord.

You want me to go talk to him?

And do you ever have those moments where God whispers to you something?

And then all of a sudden you start getting in this little bit of debate with him.

I had this happen a number of years ago when I was doing some peace work in with Israel and Palestine.

And I was in Palestinian territory in Bethlehem, and I was at the Intercontinental Hotel in Bethlehem and the Wi-Fi went out.

But I saw that right across the street was a hookah lounge that had free Wi-Fi.

So my thought was just to walk across the street and get free Wi-Fi and call my wife.

But as I'm walking across the street, I see out of the corner of my eye four Palestinian soldiers.

And I feel the Lord say, Go talk to them.

And I look at the sky and say, just give me free Wi-Fi, please.

And I feel the Lord say, Go talk to them.

And there's four Palestinian soldiers in fatigues with guns, maybe a three-iron away, is a massive security barrier with an Israeli soldier with a gun on those four.

It's one, two in the morning, and I find myself walking up to them, and I don't know how to start the conversation, but I'm like, it's a beautiful night here in Bethlehem.

What's your name?

And they share their names and they go, What's your name?

And I say, Oh, my name's Steve.

And one of them goes, Steve, like my favorite U.S.

actors.

I was like, Who's that?

Stephen Sagal.

And my answer out of my mouth literally was, God can use all things for good.

We start talking and shopping, and all of a sudden I'm like, hey, where do you guys live in Bethlehem?

And they're like, no, we live in Ballata.

And I'm like, what?

You live in Ballata?

Ballata is a UN refugee camp where over 35,000 people live in 1.3 square miles.

And I have brought a group of people from California to kind of show them and hear the stories of the Holy Land, to take them to the sites and experience the places where Jesus walked.

Many people say that there are five Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and the land.

And once you've actually tasted and seen the land, the other four books make sense.

And so what I did was begin to say to these four soldiers, hey, would you want to come and actually give us the tour at Ballata?

And they're like, Yeah.

I was like, great, just don't bring your guns.

They're like, cool.

So then all of a sudden, two days later, they show up and they give us this tour.

We walk around for about 90 minutes.

We come to the city gate, and I said, Hey guys, have you ever been to that building over there?

They're like, What is it?

It's a church.

Like, no, he's never been there.

I'm like, you want to go in?

Now these are non-practicing Muslim Palestinian Arabs, and they have never been inside of the church that's right outside their refugee camp.

And I was like, Well, come with me.

I walk into this church, and when you walk into the church, there's like the sanctuary, but then there's these steps that lead down to the basement, and in the basement is a well.

And if you remember in John chapter 4, it said Jesus had to go to Samaria, but no rabbi went to Samaria, but Jesus did.

John 4 · chapter mention

And he finds himself at a well where he talks to a Samaritan woman, and this is that well.

And so I bring these soldiers, my friends from California, and you can still bring up some of the best water you will ever taste from this well.

And I start to talk about in John chapter 4.

John 4 · chapter mention

I'm like, do you know we all have this inner desire, don't we?

For some of us, it's peace.

Or in Hebrew, shalom, heaven invading the present, or in Arabic, it's Salaam.

And I'm looking at that and I'm trying to capture the imagination of these soldiers.

And I just said, Jesus says that the only way you can find true inner peace is by experiencing the living water that is only found in him.

And so I start talking about the gospel, and I bring up this water and I start to pour it.

And does anybody want this living water?

Does anybody want to taste?

Does anybody want this inner peace?

Is anybody the first three people to come forward were the Palestinian soldiers?

And in this moment, they say yes to Christ.

One of them gives me like their senior picture out of their wallet.

Another one gives me like their like a bracelet.

And the only redemptive feature of Facebook, in my opinion, is that I'm able to stay connected to these three guys.

As I'm saying goodbye to them at the balada and I'm getting back on the bus, I'm thinking to myself, I was crossing the street looking for free Wi-Fi, and God was looking to expand heaven.

And I'm telling you, friends, only God's stories can be your stories.

You just gotta be able to hear the whispers and the promptings, and when God actually speaks, you gotta fight that resistance to make excuses, but rather make a move towards what God is inviting you to.

I love how God speaks to Ananias.

He says to him, But the Lord said to Ananias, Go.

This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.

I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.

See, in our culture, we're really good at recognizing, oh, that person's from that city or that school, they wear those clothes, they're in that zip code, they make that much money, they have that addiction, they have that past.

We're really good at creating the labels to almost separate us from them.

And this is what Ananias is doing.

And he's a leader in the church in Damascus, and it's almost as if he is zoomed in on why this is not a good idea to talk to Saul.

But God is like Google Earth.

He zooms out and says, Ananias, do you understand what this man's life could be if my son and my spirit were inside him?

Go.

This man will be my chosen instrument.

And I love what the scriptures say.

Then Ananias went to the house and entered it.

Placing his hands on Saul, he said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here, has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Immediately something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see again.

He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

I love this story because there's one question that has haunted me.

One question that has haunted me when it comes to this story, and it's this.

What if Ananias said no?

When God whispered to him, what if he said no?

If God actually went to him and said, Hey, I need you to go, this is my chosen instrument.

What if he said no?

You ever thought about that?

Because we know Saul becomes Paul.

And Paul writes the majority of the New Testament.

If Ananias doesn't go, we might not have the theology of Romans.

We might not have finding our true identity that we read about in Ephesians, the fruit of the Spirit and Galatians, the supremacy of Christ in Colossians, how to have joy in the midst of suffering in Philippians.

We might not have that.

Because if Ananias says no, then God's got to go to somebody else.

But what if they say no?

Then God's got to go to somebody else.

What if they say no?

God's got to go to somebody else.

What if they say no?

And I think in the Western church today, God is whispering and trying to get the attention of his people, but they're either too distracted or they're making excuses or they're saying no, and we're missing out on these only God stories.

And when the church misses out on only God's stories, it affects the home, which affects the school, which affects the city, what affects the county, the state, the country, the continent, the world.

And it doesn't allow heaven to be as filled as God desires it to be.

But what if we said yes?

What if when God whispered every time he whispered or he invited or he prompted?

What if your response was, yes, Lord?

Yes, Lord.

Now, what's amazing, what's incredible to me is often I hear people say this to me, we need more Pauls in the church.

The truth is you don't get pauls unless an Ananias shows up.

You don't get more Pauls unless an Ananias shows up.

And I don't care if you are old and wise or young, every single one of us, if we desire to put God first, to seek first, and that word first in Greek is the word zateo.

And I love zateo because zateo, this idea of seek, is this beautiful concept.

It's a first person present active and perfect.

The present active means it it's a continuous action.

And that that that first person means that there's this understanding that it hasn't been fully completed yet.

So you could translate seek first the kingdom of God, continuously seek first the kingdom with an understanding that hasn't been fully completed yet.

This is why when you lean in and you believe that God is here, all of a sudden, you can begin to hear his voice, his whispers, his promptings, and you can actually join in what he's longing to do in this world.

So how do we do it?

How do we be an everyday Ananias?

First and foremost, it starts with the word live.

You live deep with Jesus.

Mean, preach Jesus, which makes sense.

But if you read John 15, Jesus, ten times in ten verses, uses the word remain.

Some translations it's the word abide.

And abide comes from the word abode, which literally means to make your home in.

Ten times in ten verses, Jesus says, I need you to remain or abide or make your home in me.

Apart from me, you can do nothing.

But when you remain, abide, make your home in me, you will bear much fruit.

When we preach, we should keep the main thing, the main thing.

But what Jesus taught every single one of us is that we need to keep the remain thing, the main thing.

When you live deep with Jesus, you know his voice.

And maybe for some of you, the first step that you can take in this year is to actually say, I'm gonna read a gospel.

I'm just gonna sit and soak up Luke or John, I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna read.

I'm gonna, I'm gonna go through the devotional that that was written for Gateway.

I'm gonna go through this, and I'm just gonna just learn to hear the voice of God.

But the second way, and you become an everyday Ananias, is you show up.

You show up with expectancy.

I believe that God is everywhere.

God is in Starbucks, God is with the cowboys, God is even in traffic, God is at DFW, God is everywhere.

Now think about this.

If God is everywhere, that means that every moment is brimming with redemptive potential.

That means that when you walk into a Starbucks, if God's there, then God is there for a reason.

And God's actually inviting you to participate with Him.

And so every time I open a door, I actually begin to imagine myself.

It's like there's this tell for me that I'm walking into the presence of God.

It could be a door walking into a sanctuary, it could be a door walking into my home, it could be a door walking into what my office, it could be a door walking into Starbucks.

But every time I do that, it allows me and it reminds me to show up with.

Expectancy because God's already here.

Here, keep your head on a swivel.

Maybe God wants you to talk to someone.

Maybe God wants you to hear their story.

But when you live deep with Jesus, you show up with expectancy.

Number three, the third way that you become an everyday Ananias is you relate.

You look to relate with everyone always.

The two greatest commandments love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your body, with all your soul, and love your neighbor as yourself.

And if you ever meet someone on this planet who is not your neighbor, then you're off the hook.

But biblically speaking, every human being is considered our neighbor, even our enemy.

And our job is to relate with people, to hear their story, to get to know them, to bear witness to who Christ truly is.

And when you live deep with Jesus, you show up with expectancy, you build relationships with anyone.

And here's the truth: I find ways to do this.

You can do this yourself.

But anytime I see someone wearing like something that deals with sports, I'm usually gonna chop it up with him.

Like I see a guy right here wearing an Adam Thielen jersey, number 19 for the Vikings, and I want to chop it up with him about this.

He's no longer with the Vikings, but I love the fact that he's wearing the jersey.

And I can and I can do that.

I'll see people who wear Alabama crimson tide shirts.

Roll aside.

Wow.

You know what my favorite Bible verse is?

Get behind me, Saban.

Um yeah, yeah.

See, I'll walk up to I'll walk up to someone.

I'll walk up to someone, I'll be like, hey, help me understand.

I see so much integrity and character right here, but over your chest.

What help me understand?

But I do that at the airport, and it just like the person's like, what?

And then I drop it up and I'm like, well, you guys just always win and da-da-da-da.

Except to Michigan, because we started 2024 by beating you and we ended 2024 by beating you.

I like you, Kenneth.

Now, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Now, see, all you do, all you do is have moments.

If you like gardening, if you like hobbies, if you like music, all of the things that you love to do, you can use that as a tool to talk to people.

And I know some of you are sitting here going, well, Steve, you probably have the gift of evangelism.

But can I be really honest?

Every spiritual gift points people to Jesus.

If you have the gift of hospitality, that means you create safe and secure environments so that people can experience who?

Jesus.

If you have the gift of mercy, that means you are the hands and feet of who?

Jesus.

If you have the gift of leadership, that means you're taking the values of heaven down to your home, your marketplace, your team, your school, so people can experience who?

Jesus.

Every spiritual gift ought to point people to Jesus so we're all evangelists.

Now, I know some of you are sitting here and you're like, well, whoa, whoa, but you're probably an extrovert.

You probably like people.

Can I be honest?

Like, extroverts skim the surface.

We're really good.

We could chop about a number of different things.

My wife is an introvert.

And what I love about introverts is they can go deep, they can make people feel seen, unlike any other.

And all I'm asking, I'm not asking you as an introvert to be an extrovert, or you as an extrovert to be an introvert, but if you are an introvert, what would it look like just to open up a little bit more of your life for one more person?

One more person that you can see, that you can pray for, that you can actually hold space for so that they can taste and see the grace and peace that our Lord longs to show that person.

We live, we show up, we relate, and lastly, we risk.

And we risk it all for what matters most to God.

And then here's the thing: I love shoes.

But the day that I die, I'm not bringing any shoes with me to heaven.

All the stuff that I have is great, but there's only one thing that we can actually bring into the next reality, and that's people.

The greatest gift you can give another human being is an introduction to the God that loves them.

And for many of us, we're just holding on to it.

And what I want you to understand is that word risk, that word risk for my family is an acronym.

And the R is simple.

It's just rescued people, rescue people.

If you've been rescued by the grace of God, it's not supposed to stay within you.

You're supposed to give it away.

Like the way I think about it is Dallas Willard, one of the greatest theologians ever, said this one time.

He said, Saints ought to burn through grace faster than sinners ever could.

Because they're just giving it away.

You need some grace, you need some grace, you need some grace, and they just know that actually God will constantly remind them of the grace that they need, and it never runs out.

When I was in college, I was given a car.

It was a 1983 Ford Country Squire Limited Edition station wagon with the woody paneling.

It looked like this.

If you ever want to see, yeah.

Her name was Berta.

Um, it's probably why I didn't have a date in college, but that's another story.

But I remember driving that car to church three miles per gallon, and I felt as if the Lord whispered to me and said, I gave you this car.

Why are you driving by yourself to church?

I started to think about this.

Wow.

So every seat in this station wagon, I named, from co-workers at Pottery Barn or the bar that I was working at, or on my basketball team at Cal State Fullerton, the most I ever got in that car to take to church was six.

When I was a junior high pastor, I was reminded of that story.

And so I went to this junkyard and I got all of these old seats from different cars, and I wanted these junior high students to know, because we were two weeks out from a massive, massive event, that if your mom has a corolla, you got three extra seats to be praying for.

If your dad drives a minivan, you got extra seats.

And what if you name them and prayed over them?

And what I love about middle school students is if you challenge them, they'll do it.

And so I challenged them.

And two weeks later, I stood outside and I watched all of these cars just come up.

And about 96% of the seats were all filled.

And one of the last cars that shows up is an old station wagon.

And this dad gets out, goes to the very back, and all of a sudden, these kids start coming out of it.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.

It's not legal right now.

11, 12, and then the 13th kid pops out, and he has a beehive going due east, and he looks at me and he goes, It's the miracle of the station wagon.

And he rolls in.

And what's wild is within six months, seven of those 13 kids gave their life to Christ and got baptized.

It even gets better than that.

It gets better than that.

Those seven go to their middle school and like, we're gonna start an uprising.

And they end up gathering over a hundred students who come to faith.

Then those hundred plus students go to the one of the most difficult high schools and they're like, let's do it again, another uprising.

And 200 plus students give their life to Christ.

Why?

Because one kid with a beehive going due east said, I'm gonna name and pray over every seat, and he did.

I'm telling you, friends, rescued people, rescue people.

Now, here's the truth, though.

Just because you have the desire to reach people doesn't mean that they're gonna say yes.

And I think some of us, we love to serve in soup kitchen or handout clothes or blankets to those that are struggling due to the elements of weather.

Because anytime we offer someone something that they don't have, they don't ever say no.

So we leave the soup kitchen feeling good about ourselves.

We fed someone or we gave someone a blanket or we gave someone a place to stay.

But when you actually share and make an invitation, sometimes people are like, no, no.

So the I for us in that acronym of risk was something when I planted a church in California a number of years ago, something we called invitational fails.

And this is what we would do.

We wanted our people to understand you don't control whether someone says yes or no.

You only control whether you will be obedient to what God is asking you to do.

And so what we wanted to do was to celebrate and normalize rejection.

Because the truth is, I get rejected all the time.

I I showed up in Houston last night, walk in to the to the hotel, I meet the person, and I'm like, hey, what are you doing tomorrow?

She's like, probably sleeping.

I'm like, well, it's cool.

Um, I came to your job.

You want to come to my job?

I'm teaching at a church down the road.

And she's like, no.

I'm like, okay, cool.

But like, I don't mind.

And the way that I think about it is the story of my son and I.

My son had before my dad passed, my dad built him a birdhouse.

And when he was a kid, he he was just he looked like a little Gene Hackman.

I don't know how it happened, but like he was cute and adorable, curly hair.

And I was like, hey, bud, let's put the birdhouse up.

And so we put the birdhouse up, and I nail it into this big oak tree, and then I'm like, hey, bud, what we're gonna do is we're gonna take some birdseed and we're just gonna put it right up, right up there, and then the birds are gonna come, they're gonna eat the bird seed, they're gonna pay us rent for living in this birdhouse, and life is gonna be good.

And I and I'm like on a ladder explaining this to my son.

And my son's like, I don't like that, dad.

And he's walking in the backyard just going, here, birds, you're welcome here.

You're welcome here.

This is your house too.

This is your house too.

And some of you are like, Are you gonna clean this up?

I will clean it up, okay?

Don't worry, don't worry.

But here's the deal.

I started to think about this.

Man, what if we lived our life like this?

And we were scattering seeds everywhere we went.

We were just living our life, just saying, hey, I want you to know.

But some of us, and some of you people will remember this, some of you, some of you are like Andy Griffiths show fans, and we like, we see grace as like Barney Fife's bullet, and we have it in like our just our pocket, and we're like, I just gotta wait for the perfect moment at the perfect time when he's actually ready to receive the gospel, and I know every answer, and I know everything about the dinosaurs and creation, I know all of the Arabic and and Hebrew and Greek, and then once they're ready, I'm just gonna take my bullet and throw it at them.

Why?

Wow, what if we just found ourselves just you're at Starbucks?

Hey, what's up?

How's it going?

I'm part of Gateway Church.

You want to come check it out sometime?

No?

Okay, cool.

How about you?

You want to come?

Okay, cool.

You want to?

Great, awesome.

And there's a softball league, there's a there's a group that you can join.

There's a young adult opportunity, but if you find yourself scattering seeds constantly, people will say yes.

People will say yes.

My son and I were just on vacation with my wife and daughter, and my daughter, my son, and I, we found this little inner tube and a basketball, and we walked around the pool and we literally said, free shot, free drink if you make it.

And we and random people, and every person shot.

It was zero for 50 when all of a sudden, 83-year-old woman lefty hits it, and the whole pool goes bonkers.

And all of a sudden, I realized something.

We all want to be included.

We all want to celebrate people winning.

So we had this thing called invitational fails.

And what would happen is we would just stop the service and say, Does anybody have a story?

An invitational fail?

Never forget one guy over here named Tony stood up and said, I got one.

And Tony was very cognitive, insurance in his head all the time.

And he comes over and he goes, Um, I've been praying for my boss.

That's been my one.

But my boss never comes to see me.

I don't really ever get a chance to talk to him.

But this week he just came into my office and I felt like the Lord said, Go for it.

And so I said, Hey boss, he's like, Yeah, what do you like to do on Sundays?

And the boss said, I like to watch football.

And he's like, Cool, you want to come to church with me?

And then he's like, No, and he left my office.

But all of a sudden, the whole church was like, Way to go, Tony, you went for it.

And I I want you to understand this.

You don't control if that person says yes or no.

You only control will you do what God asks you to do?

And the more that you do what God asks you to do, the more your faith will grow.

And the more faith that you have, the more that you will experience the thrill of God using you.

Rescue people, rescue people.

I, invitational fails, but S, this is the big one.

This is the one I want to challenge you on.

Every single one of you.

The S is seven days.

I want you to ask God to give you an only God story every seven days.

Oftentimes I'll meet people at different churches that I speak at.

I'm like, hey, tell me a time when God was like alive.

You felt Him.

God was working in your life, and they'll be like, 1997, 2004, man.

Our small group was so good, and we were serving, and we were doing all of this like evangelism, people were coming to faith, 2011, and I find myself wondering: did they retire or did God retire?

And I think I think some of us we tell our best stories from decades ago.

And I think God's like, hey, I got more in store for you.

I got more stories if you want them, but you just have to say a simple yes.

I'll tell you a story.

There's a guy named Jose, he worked at the Nissan dealership in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, and it was the last day of the month, and the general manager calls the meeting and says, Hey guys, if we sell eight cars, we sell eight cars.

We will break the all-time record for Nissan vehicles sold in one calendar month.

And my buddy Jose hears God whisper and tell him that you'll make a deal with the general manager.

And so he's like, Okay, what's the deal, Lord?

That you'll sell four cars if he comes to a Christmas Eve service.

So Jose says, Hey boss, I'll make you a deal.

We need eight, I'll get four.

But if I get four and we break the record, you gotta come to a Christmas Eve service with us.

And he's like, if you sell four and we break this record, I'll do whatever you want me to do.

So the first couple of hours, Jose gets on the horn, they sell two cars.

Then he goes in a five-hour slump.

5 15, he sells another car.

They're 10 minutes from closing, they are tied with the record when all of a sudden someone shows up on the lot and Jose gets up thinking he's gonna get to this person, and another salesman jumps in.

And Jose puts his head down, sits down at the desk, and the salesperson walks up to this person and says, Hey, can I help you?

And the person says, Is there a guy named Jose here?

Because he sold a vehicle to my friend four years ago, and my car broke down.

I just need a new Nissan Sentra.

Jose ends up selling this guy this car and they break the record.

The next day, Jose walks into his boss's office and says, We have 10 Christmas Eve services.

Which one do you want to go to?

And then the boss pulls out a checkbook and says, I want to give you a bonus.

And now Jose has to decide conviction or straight cash.

And he says, No, no, I don't want your money.

I don't want to check.

I sort of do, but I don't.

I want you to come and keep your end of the bargain.

I want you to come with me to church.

And the boss clenches his fist and slams it on the desk and goes, I'm not going to your stupid church.

And then he walks out of his own office and Jose says, I'm gonna wait him out.

He stays in the boss's office for 40 plus minutes.

Then finally the boss walks in and says, Fine, I surrender, I'll go.

But if I have to go, then all of these jokers have to go too.

And I kid you not, one Christmas Eve, a few years ago, 272 Nissan employees and their families showed up to the church that I served at in Chicago.

And when you walk in their lobby, they have a picture of all of them in the foyer of our church because one dude said yes to the whispers and promptings of God.

And friends, if every week of 2025 you said and had an only God story, you'd have 52.

If you did that for five years, you'd have 260.

If you did that for 10 years, you'd have 520 only God stories.

Can you imagine the enemy trying to tempt you and you're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, but my God.

You have all of these moments of adversity, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, but my God.

Because you had seen and experienced the thrill of God using you.

Rescued people, rescue people.

And yes, you will have invitational fails, but what if every day of 25 you woke up and said, God, give me an only God story today?

Okay, every movement, every revival, every moment where God did something magnificent began with people on their knees in prayer.

Praying, praying for people, praying over the places that we frequent, praying over the faces that we see, asking God, begging God that we would have some sense of authority and opportunity to share a story with this person or make an invitation.

I'll never forget on my 10-year anniversary.

We um we went to Hawaii.

I'd never been to Hawaii before.

I'd saved up all this money, and we stayed on this cliff in a condo.

And it was pretty cool that you could like go down the cliff through three condo associations and get into this cove and in the water.

And when it was low tide, you could just stand and put on goggles and look under the water, and it was totally finding Nemo.

But a couple times a day there'd be a sea change, and to go from low tide to high tide.

And in that, it was a little bit different.

And I loved it because there'd be waves to come in and I would paddle out and surf, and it was great.

And I remember one day at like 5 p.m., I'm just grilling out when all of a sudden I hear someone scream out, HEL! And I could look out and I could see the waves coming in, and I realized there was a sea change.

And it dawned on me, oh no, this woman can't swim.

And I don't know what came over me.

Maybe it was the spirit of David Hasselhoff, but I just took off running.

I jumped one condo association fence, another condo association fence.

I'm thinking about my friends who were lifeguards, and when they would take their posts in California, they'd say, Not on my watch, no one's drowning on my watch.

I run as fast as I can, take off my shirt, I get in the water, I just start pushing, pushing, pushing, pushing.

I get to this woman, I bring her back, she's not really breathing.

We have to resuscitate her.

She starts coughing, she gives me a hug.

There's a dude with a corona as I'm putting my shirt on, and he goes, Bro, that was awesome.

And then I look up to the cliff that I had ran, and I feel as if the Lord just begins to whisper in your actual life, who are you more like?

Because on that cliff, there were 40 to 50 people standing who had come out of their condo and heard the Commotion and just stood on a cliff and watched.

And God was saying, Who are you more like?

You don't even know this woman's name.

And you ran after her.

And there are people in your actual life who you do know their name, who are drowning in depression, drowning in addiction, drowning in doubt, drowning in their marriage, drowning in matters of faith.

And who are you actually more like?

Running after people who are drowning and bringing them and rescuing them and bringing to the altar, bringing them into the word, bringing them into grace, bringing them into the story of God, or are you up there going, somebody else is gonna do it?

And the truth is, I was one of those people.

Somebody else is gonna do it.

Somebody else will do it.

The truth is we do not get more pause if Ananias don't show up.

And every one of you can be an everyday Ananias.

It begins, it begins with a commitment to live, to show up, to relate, and to risk.

Because rescue people, rescue people.

And not everyone's gonna say yes to your invitation, but you have the chance to say yes and be obedient to God's invitation every single time.

And what if God gave you in 2025 an only God's story every week of this year?

What would that do for your faith?

And what would that do for your life in prayer?

I want to close just and just pray over us and for all of the campuses and people watching online.

But I just want to pray that maybe there might be a name that comes to mind.

Maybe a place that you frequent comes to mind.

And so, God, I just pray right now that you might just start putting faces into the minds and the hearts.

People that we know who need your grace and need your peace.

I pray that you would give my friends here at Gateway Church the courage to seek you first, the courage to share their story, the courage just to scatter seeds, the courage to be obedient to your whispers.

Put people, put names, put places on their mind.

And God, I pray and I believe it that they will be faithful.

As I was driving in, Lord, I had this verse come to mind.

Harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.

But as I was praying over Gateway Church, God, you reminded me the harvest is plentiful and the workers at Gateway are plentiful too.

And I pray that you will rise up within my friends.

May there be an uprising that reaches hundreds and thousands of people because this church decided not to keep grace to themselves, but started to give it away.

God, work and work and move and stir and do what you do, which is draw men and women back home to you.

I promise you, this church will give you all the glory.

So, God, give my friends an only God story.

We pray all is your name, and everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

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.