The Power of Stillness

Welcome to Gateway Churches Podcast.

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

Well, if you have your Bibles with you, you can turn to Exodus 14.

And the title of today's message is The Power of Stillness.

The Power of Stillness.

I've kind of been going through a season of stillness myself.

For those that don't know, about six weeks ago, I was put on vocal rest because I had a hemorrhagic polyp, meaning my left vocal cord was bleeding.

And so they told me not to talk for about six days, which is actually a little bit harder than you may think.

So I didn't talk, and I'm grateful that the bleeding has stopped.

But I still have a little polyp on my vocal cord, so you may hear a little bit of raspiness.

But while I was on vocal rest, I actually learned a few things.

The first thing I learned about my family, and that's my family is terrible at charades.

We would not beat anyone, okay?

Anytime I would motion for something or try to do anything, I just end up getting frustrated and doing it myself.

Second thing, during vocal rest, I realized that as I went out in public that people were very confused about what vocal arrest is, because I'd have to type it out on my phone and I'd say, hey, I'm on vocal rest, I can't talk.

So I'd show the person in public, and here's what they would do.

They immediately get out their phone and start typing in it.

And I couldn't say anything, but in my head, I'm like, No, I can hear you, I just can't say anything to you.

So we were able to clear up that confusion.

And then the last thing I learned is that my wife and I went out on a date, and she says it was the best date ever.

Because she got the talk, and I just simply had to listen.

So, fellas, just tossing that out to you.

Listen to your wives, all right?

But during this season of stillness, it really got kind of birthed a message out of it.

And here's why.

Because maybe you're like me and I struggle with this sense of stillness.

Stillness can be sometimes equated with the idea of laziness.

But I actually want to submit to you today that stillness is actually a matter of obedience.

In Psalm 23, a very familiar passage, the shepherd takes the sheep and it says he makes them lie down in green pastures.

It also says he leads them besides still waters.

And this is important for protection and peace, because here's what you need to know about sheep.

Sheep do not lay down easily, and here's why.

Because they have no defense mechanism except to run.

So the fact that a sheep is actually laying down means they feel protected, and they don't drink from moving water because if they were to fall in, they would drown because their wool would become too heavy.

So they only drink water that's still.

But there's another part in here as I was thinking about Psalm 23 that I felt like God highlighted to me, and He just simply said this.

It also says, My cup overflows.

But here's the thing: it's hard to fill a cup to overflowing that won't remain still.

A person who's always moving, a person who's always busy, and a person who's always distracted.

Busyness is really a badge in today's culture.

It's normal for us to be busy.

You go up to someone and say, How are you doing?

First, they'll say they're doing well or they're doing good, and then they'll say, you know, I'm just busy.

We got our kids, we got work, our business, all the things that are happening around us, and there's a busyness that is happening around us.

But stillness is the opposite of restlessness.

And I can tell whether you're a person who enjoys stillness by looking at your calendar.

See, the calendar that you have is not just an indication of the things that you're doing, it's actually a picture of who you're becoming.

It's a picture of where you're giving your time, your energy, and your effort.

But you may think today, well, Ethan, if if I could just remove all the responsibilities that I had, then I could experience rest.

But here's the problem: if you actually removed all your responsibilities, then you'd also lose your purpose.

See, the scriptures never say the way to experience rest is to remove responsibilities.

See, rest doesn't come from the removal of your responsibilities, it comes from removing anything that would hinder you from the person who said, Come to me, all you are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

So no matter where you are, no matter what you're dealing with, we can experience rest and we can experience stillness because of who God is.

And I'm gonna look at three different passages today that talk about being still.

And the first point is this you need to stand still and see.

Stand still and see.

In Exodus 14, uh, giving gonna give some context.

God has just delivered the children of Israel through Moses, and they are now on their path to the promised land.

But in the same vein as they're leaving, we see Pharaoh coming behind them.

Because as soon as they're freed, he wanted to take them back into bondage, and it's really a picture of the life of every single believer.

Then when we come to God, we're set free, we're made whole, but you still have an enemy that would love to bring you back into bondage.

But God began taking them on a path, but it's a little confusing because he took them along a path that would confuse their enemy, so that he would actually chase after them.

We'll pick this up in verse 3.

It says, Then Pharaoh will think the Israelites are confused.

They are trapped in the wilderness.

And once again, I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will chase after you.

I have planned this in order to display my glory through Pharaoh and his whole army.

After this, the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.

So the Israelites camped there as they were told.

And then the story continues, and we pick this up in verse 13.

It says, as Pharaoh approached, the people of Israel looked up, and that's relevant, and panicked when they saw the Egyptians overtaking them.

They cried out to the Lord, and they said to Moses, Why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness?

Weren't there enough grades for us in Egypt?

What have you done to us?

Why did you make us leave Egypt?

Didn't we tell you this would happen while we were still in Egypt?

We said, Leave us alone.

Look at these words.

Let us be slaves to the Egyptians.

It is better to be a slave in Egypt than a corpse in the wilderness.

Clearly, they did not trust God.

But Moses told the people, Don't be afraid, just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today.

The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again.

The Lord himself will fight for you.

Just stay calm.

See, here's what's interesting about this passage is the children of Israel are going along this journey to confuse Pharaoh, but when Pharaoh actually starts attacking, they're the ones who become confused.

I don't know if you've ever been at a place where God's told you something and you're stepping out and you're walking out his plan, but then you begin to panic when you see that you have an enemy.

This is what's happening in their life.

They're panicking even though they knew the plan.

And it's very easy to look at it from a distance and say, Well, that would never be me.

I would never panic.

But we all have a panic meter.

And it can go from zero to a hundred real fast.

We can all face anxiety, we can all face stress.

Maybe it's about kids, maybe it's about work, maybe it's about our health, but we can all panic.

But it got them to the place where they began to glamorize the past instead of continuing to glorify God.

See, we can also fall into this trap, but here's the truth: they were saying we're stuck, and they weren't stuck, they just needed to be still.

See, there's so many people today that feel like, hey, I just feel like I'm stuck.

Actually, if you would be still, and it looks the same from the outside, but there's an inward posture that you have confidence in God and trusting in him that he'll bring you to the place that he called for you to be.

See, many times we actually don't need more faith.

What we need is more patience.

And when we are patients, we'll actually gain the perspective that we need.

In verse 19, I want you to look at this for a second.

He says this.

Then the angel of God, who had been leading the people of Israel, moved to the rear of the camp.

The pillar of cloud also moved from the front and stood behind them.

I want you to get this picture.

As they're moving forward into the future, they see the pillar and they see the angel of God leading them.

They have confidence and they're able to be still.

They begin looking at the past and they experience fear and they experience panic.

But God chooses to move from the front to the back because he's not just a God who can lead you forward into the future, he's also a God who can come behind you and cover your past so that you're able to move forward in confidence.

And it's important for us to understand this.

And their perspective began to change.

But it all came down to what they were looking at.

What were they looking to?

When they looked at their enemies, they had panic.

But if they would have looked at their God, they would have had confidence.

See, you can go through what God has called you to, you can get to the other side, but many times the greatest enemy to our faith is this idea of perfection.

That if the circumstances are perfect, if my family is perfect, then I'm able to step out.

But here's the truth many times where God speaks to us is in less ideal conditions, and we're still called to obey him.

Here's what I've learned in my own life, and maybe you've learned it too.

That if things go exactly according to how I have planned it, the odds are high that I've actually missed out on what God had planned.

See, God's ways are higher than our ways, his thoughts are higher than our thoughts.

So if we haven't gone and talked to him and heard his voice on the matter, the odds are high that we've actually missed out on what he would love for us to do.

So I have on my uh board in my office, I have what can God do in this place?

Because I just don't want what I can do.

I want what God can do.

And we should all be asking the question: what can God do in my marriage?

What can God do in my family?

What can God do in my business?

What can God do with my life if I'm willing to give it to him?

Because we can walk in the promise, and the situation doesn't have to be perfect.

We can simply trust in the one who perfects our faith.

Hebrews 12, 2 says it this way: fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.

See, a pioneer is someone who goes into uncharted territory and calls you to that place.

They're the ones that go ahead of you and chart out the path.

But I want to encourage you today as we end 2023 to go into this next year without saying no to God for him.

God wants you to step out and courage and be bold and be still before him, and we serve a God who specializes in the impossible.

A couple of summers ago, with the whole entire family, cousins and all, uh, we went to the lake, and the lake where we were at had uh a two uh layered dock.

So you can go up and jump off, or you can go below.

And I very quickly learned that all of my kids have different personalities, they have a different risk uh quotient or factor and how they assess things.

I have two daughters and then two sons, for those that don't know.

Uh my youngest son, Jack, he does not actually weigh or count the cost at all.

He just goes and he just jumps off.

And I'm like, I actually need you to be a little bit more careful because the edge is right there.

So just calm down a little bit.

But my oldest daughter is sometimes a little bit more risk averse.

And she would get up there and she wouldn't jump off.

So I tried to go up there and encourage her and say, hey, it's gonna be fun, you can do it.

All the encouraging words that you want to come alongside uh your children and do as a father, hey, you can do this.

Uh I'm with you.

And she still wasn't gonna go.

I was like, you can go.

Look, your brother Jack is jumping for the 15th time.

I believe me, you can go.

And she still wouldn't go, so I'm like, you know what?

I will go and I will do this with you.

We'll do it together, which was really a step for me because I did not want to get in the water.

The water was too cold, one, and I didn't want to mess up my hair, too.

So that was the second thing.

You understand how that is.

But she still said, Hey, I don't want to do it even if we do it together.

So I did in that moment what any loving father would do, and I pushed her off the dock.

I'm kidding, I'm kidding.

Don't judge me.

I did not do that to my daughters, but I 100% will do it with my sons any day of the week.

But I have a question for you.

As a father, do you think I wanted her to jump off the dock to hurt her and harm her, or do you think I wanted her to experience the thrill that every other person was having by jumping off the dock?

In the same way, we all have a heavenly father that when he calls you to something, he's not doing it to harm you, he's doing it because he wants you to experience the thrill of a life of faith when you're willing to walk in him and be still in your relationship.

Because we have a God who loves us, so we can stand still and see.

The second thing is this we can be still and know.

Be still and know.

Psalm 46, verse 10 and 11 says, Be still and know that I am God.

Psalms 46:10

I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.

The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge, Salah.

And we're gonna come back to that phrase here in one second.

But I have a question for us today.

Is it possible we don't know or have a greater revelation of who God is because we won't take the time to be still?

See, there's power in stillness.

It said, be still and know.

See, stillness is when we get in his word, is when we take the time to pray, it's when we take the time to worship and just be in his presence.

But I want you to know this.

This is why stillness is powerful, because stillness is actually the pathway to knowing God.

It says, once you're still, then you're able to know.

This is why the enemy fights it so much.

This is why the enemy comes against you because he knows when there's a potential for a greater revelation of who God is, then that's when you're actually going to face the greatest resistance.

Every time there is a revelation that someone had or who God was all throughout the scriptures, Satan came on the other side of it.

David was anointed to be king, and Goliath showed up.

Elijah called down fire from heaven, and then the next thing you know, he was on the run.

Even Peter in the New Testament had a revelation of who Jesus was, saying, You're the Messiah, to which Jesus was actually shocked by it.

But then just a few verses later, you actually see him being rebuked by Jesus saying, Get behind me, Satan, you're not mindful of the things of God, but the things of man.

Wherever there's revelation in your life, you should expect resistance.

You should expect, excuse me, expect the enemy to come against you.

But in Psalm 46, it's very interesting.

There's only 11 verses, but this word selah, or depending on your translation interlude, is there three times.

And here's what it means: it means to pause and reflect.

Don't just read past this, because there's something here that if you would meditate on it, you would actually get a revelation of who I am.

Don't just hurry, don't just move on.

You will miss it if you don't reflect.

If you're not still long enough to receive what I have for you.

Whenever I was younger, about seven or eight years old, uh, I lived in the Philippines, my parents are the military, so I was walking and hanging out with some friends, and we were gonna play a game, and we're walking, he's walking on this side of me, and all of a sudden, as we're walking, we see uh our neighbor's dog.

I didn't know the owner, and I didn't know this dog.

But the dog all of a sudden starts making a beeline full speed for us, and a lot of things start going through my eight-year-old mind.

Apparently, I thought I was really fast, and I could outrun this dog.

But here's what my friend said because he knew the owner and he knew the dog.

He said, Ethan, be still, don't run.

And the dog came this way, ran around us, and apparently the only thing I heard was run, run as fast as you can.

And I take off as fast as I can, trying to run towards a tree.

The dog, obviously, I wasn't able to outrun the dog.

The dog actually jumped on top of me, bit me.

I still have the scars from that traumatic experience.

I'm just sharing this with everyone here for the very first time, all of my friends.

But they took me to the hospital, got me stitched up, and I was good to go.

They probably gave me a popsicle of some sort, and then I came back and then played a game.

But here's the thing: why didn't my friend run when he saw the danger coming?

Why was he able to be still?

It's because he knew the owner and was able to just simply relax, knowing the dog would not come and attack.

See, we can still have confidence in who God is because he is the owner, he is in control of everything, and we can put our trust in him so that we don't have to succumb to the enemy whenever he attacks.

Ephesians 6, 10 through 11 says this a final word, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

Put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm.

There's that word against stand firm against all strategies of the devil.

See, here's what we need to understand that if you're a follower of Christ, the Christian life is not a playground, but a battleground.

That you have an enemy that will love to come against you, they will love for you to dwell on the past.

As I mentioned before, the past is not a great place to dwell.

The past is a simply a point of reference, but it's a terrible place to live.

He's calling us to move forward.

But you will always lose the battles that you don't know you're in, and you can't fight a spiritual battle with natural means.

We have to understand this on in our own strength, we're no match for Satan.

That's the bad news.

The good news is that Satan is no match for God, and that when we have his strength, we're already in a place of victory.

So the question for every single one of us is who or where is our strength?

Ephesians actually tells us be strong in the Lord.

This is where it begins.

Psalm 46, just a little bit early in the chapter, verse 1, it says, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble.

Psalm 18, 1.

I love you, Lord, you are my strength.

That's David writing that.

David, the one who killed Goliath.

David, the one who was a man of war, he knew how to win fights.

The one who killed lions and tigers and bears, oh my.

Minus the tiger.

It would kill them with his bare hands.

I doubt that's happened for any one of us here at the campuses, gatherings, or anywhere else.

And here's what he's saying.

And you can look at his life, and even in the worst moments, here's the phrase that you hear.

And David strengthened himself in the Lord.

He knew not to rely on his own strength.

See, there was a prayer that I prayed for a very long time, and I want to say it's a good prayer to pray.

I'm not saying stop it, but I actually believe there's a better prayer.

A good prayer is this.

Hey, God, will you give me strength?

Give me strength to face the things that I'm going against.

Give me strength to make it through the other side, and that's a very good prayer.

But the prayer that I'm praying today, and the prayer that I'm teaching my children to pray, is God be my strength.

Because if you are my strength, I know that I will have victory and make it through to the other side.

See, I realize that I am at my strongest whenever I'm submitted.

The place of our greatest strength is actually at the place of our greatest submission.

It says, submit to God, then resist the devil, and he will flee.

So when we are able to get underneath him, we actually get the power needed to continue to move forward, to do all that God has called us to do.

So be still and know.

And here's the third and final point peace be still.

Peace be still.

Mark 4, verse 35.

Mark 4:35

We're picking this up.

Jesus is having a conversation with his disciples, and he tells them to go to the other side.

And it says, On the same day when evening had come, he said to them, Let us cross over to the other.

Side.

Now, when they had left the multitude, they took him along in the boat as he was.

The other little boats were also with him.

Remember that.

They weren't by themselves.

And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling.

But he was in the stern, that's Jesus, asleep on a pillow.

That's the essence of rest and stillness in the way that Jesus lived his life.

And they awoke to him and said to him, Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?

How many of you have ever asked God that question when you're going through something hard?

God, do you care?

Because someone's got to care about this.

And if you don't care, then I'm going to care.

So I'd love it if you care.

But if you don't care, I will.

Then he arose and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, Peace be still.

And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

But he said to them, Why are you so fearful?

How is it that you have no faith?

And they feared exceedingly and said to one another, Who can this be that even the wind and the sea obey him?

See, this to me was a salah moment for them.

This was a moment not just to see if God cares, but how he cares.

Because so many people, we hear God loves us, we hear God cares for us, and we apply that to other people, but many times it's hard for us to apply that to our own life.

See, we have to make this personal.

But he says, let's go over to the other side.

Once again, God actually placed them in the place where the storm was going to be.

See, many times we think if there's a storm or hardship or whatever it is, that we're actually out of the will of God.

But the truth is, when you're actually facing opposition from the enemy, it could actually be a sign that you're exactly where God wants you to be.

Here's why.

Because when you're a threat to the enemy, you also become a target.

I'd actually be more concerned if I'm walking out a life of faith and the enemy is never coming against me.

Because the odds are I'm walking in the wrong way.

But I just want to say this.

Because it doesn't say Jesus rebuked the disciples.

It said Jesus rebuked the wind and he spoke to the disciples.

I actually don't feel like he was mad or angry.

This was more a sign of a Savior who is caring for the people that he was called to lead and saying, Hey, you can be still.

You can be at peace.

See, so many times as a pastor, I talk to people, and it's when they go through hardships, this is sometimes what they say to me.

They say, I feel like during this time of hardship I can hear God clearer than I ever have before.

And I believe that during hardship, God definitely speaks, absolutely.

But the question should never be, is God speaking?

The question should be, are we listening?

Because whether you're on the mountaintop or things are going well, and whether you're in the valley and things aren't going well, God is still speaking.

The hard part is, does it take a hardship or pain or a problem for you to finally be still long enough to listen to what he says?

And we have to get to the place where stillness becomes a part of our everyday habit.

That we're willing to listen to him, that we're willing to trust him, that we are at peace with what he's called us to be at peace with.

See, here's what we need to understand.

Peace should actually be the default position of every believer.

Here's why.

Because true peace comes from making peace with God.

Let me say it this way.

Probably heard it before, Pastor Robert.

True peace comes from making peace with the Prince of Peace.

That's where true peace comes from.

So it should be our default position.

But there's times where we're going through things and we begin to drift away from what God had us.

As a matter of fact, Hebrews 2:1 tells us it.

Hebrews 2:1

So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it.

It's very easy to drift, it's very natural.

This past summer, uh once again the whole family got together and we actually went to Florida and we went to the beach.

Uh, something you should know about me, the beach for me is one of my favorite places to go sit in the shade.

It's one of my favorite places to go do that.

The rest of the family, they're of a little lighter complexion than I am.

And they go to lay out, get a tan, and I'm like, I came with one already, so you're gonna see me in the shade.

While y'all go and enjoy the sun.

And yes, you it's okay to laugh at that if you're struggling with it, you should laugh.

But here's what I realized: we we set up camp, we kind of had our home base, and then we'd go out into the water, and then very easily, as the waves would come, uh the kids, as they were out there having a lot of fun, next thing you know, they would drift and be 20 yards down, and one of the adults would call them back, they'd come back to home base, go back in the water, and once again begin to drift.

Here's why.

Because it's very easy to drift whenever you aren't paying attention.

But here's the one thing I love they always knew where to come back to.

And here's the truth: no matter where you are, where you find yourself today, even if you drift far away, there's always a path back to come home because of what Jesus did on the cross.

He says, draw near to me and I will draw near to you.

But there can be this gap that happens whenever what we're believing for isn't what we're actually experiencing.

And what we choose to fill that gap with will actually determine the course of our life.

Whenever we're in that place of frustration, whenever things are tough, whenever we're facing hardship, what do we put in the gap?

Do we put fear?

Do we put bitterness?

Do we put anger?

Do we put offense?

Because we have a choice also to put faith there.

We also have a choice to put hope there.

And here's why.

See, we can be still because God is faithful.

We can be still because he's still a God who saves us.

We can be still because he's still a God who loves us, and nothing can remove us from his love.

We can be still because he's a God who is in charge today.

He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.

So no matter who you are, no matter what you're facing today, you can be still in his presence and experience the peace that passes all understanding.

1 Thessalonians 3.10, Paul writes this, he says, night and day, we pray earnestly for you, asking God to let us see you again to fill the gaps in your faith.

See, that's one of the things that I love when I sit down with people and talk with them.

I want to fill the gap of their faith.

This is why there are groups for you to be a part of and get involved in.

Because there's people around you that can fill the gaps in your faith.

This is why we serve, this is why we're a part of the body of Christ.

We come and we hear messages that encourage and edify us to continue walking down the path so the gaps of our faith are filled.

But here's what you need to understand that faith is a muscle.

It either declines or develops.

And this may be a stretching year for you, and that's a great thing because here's what you need to know and be confident in that God doesn't stretch us to break us, he actually stretches us to build us.

He wants us to become the people that he's called and destined for us to be, but it will come with trust.

So Jesus spoke, peace be still to the sea, but I actually believe he was speaking it to his disciples as well.

We read a second ago about the armor of God, and one of the pieces of the armor is the shoes of the gospel of peace.

Here's what I believe he's saying that no matter where you go, no matter where you step, because for you to go anywhere, you typically move your feet, you can experience peace.

You can have peace.

But here's what you need to understand about shoes.

I know some people here they love shoes, they have a closet full of them.

I have like ten that I wear until I wear them out.

But shoes are actually an indication of where you're going, they indicate where you're going or what you are going to do.

As a matter of fact, I have a couple of pictures with me today, and I want you to participate and tell me where I would be going.

You could show the first pair of shoes.

You could talk to me, where would I be going?

Golfing, okay.

I believe the spikes there on the bottom of that, and that's for people like me who always hit it into the forest and have to step over all the branches and all the rough parts, okay?

Golf shoes.

We have another pair of shoes, okay?

Bring them up, okay.

The official shoe of Texas.

I was in Houston, they're like this you can wear for anything.

You can make it formal, you can wear it to the rodeo, you can wear it to the ranch, you can wear it to the gym.

No matter where you are, you can always you can always wear boots.

And I have one final picture here to show everybody.

You know what?

I don't know where this person is going in life.

The only thing I know for sure is this person is going to be single.

That's just what I want to toss that out.

Just tossing it out there.

Love you.

If you're wearing them today, I just want to let you know that we love you.

You are accepted here at Gateway Church.

If you're a young adult, get married first, then go to the Crocs.

Just throwing that out there.

Just here to help you out.

But God has called us to have peace no matter where we go.

We can experience His peace in a world full of anxiety.

See, one of the things that is important, he says, that He will give you peace to God that guards your mind.

See, if you are full of the peace of God, then you won't be consumed with the pettiness of the world.

When you're full of God's peace, you aren't concerned about every single issue.

You don't have to give your opinion on every single issue.

So you can experience peace of mind.

I realize in my own life this truth.

That I can experience peace of mind as long as I don't have to give everyone a peace of my mind.

That I can simply love them, I can simply pray for them.

But we're called to be peacemakers.

And Matthew, it says, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.

And here's why.

Because whenever we are peacemakers, we reflect our Father who is in heaven because he's the ultimate peacemaker in the truth that he sent his son so that all of us can be back in relationship with God.

But it takes us believing in him.

And we are called to carry his peace throughout the world.

But I want you to think about this.

Remember, there were other little boats there.

See, peace isn't just about us.

See, once we experience peace, we're called to take peace wherever we go.

Whenever the storm, whenever Jesus spoke, peace be still, the storm was still for other people as well.

We're called to bring peace everywhere we go because we made peace with a God who loves us.

I want you to bow your heads and close your eyes with me.

Across all the campuses, all the gatherings.

Those watching online.

When I ask this question, and we ask all the time here at Gateway, what is the Holy Spirit saying to me through this message?

We have a chance to respond throughout this week.

I would encourage you to be still.

Take the time to reflect.

Take the time to get in his presence because that's where you'll receive the power that he wants every single one of us to have.

Some of us are going through something hard and we simply need to stand still and see God move because the Lord will fight the battles for you.

Others of us, we need to be still and know and have a greater revelation of who God is.

But some of us are at that place of restlessness, and we need God to say, peace, be still.

No matter who you are, no matter what you may be facing, God loves you.

And he has an answer for you.

He wants to lead you and guide you into all truth by his spirit.

In a moment here, we have a chance to respond.

On all of the campuses, all the gatherings, there'll be someone down front that would love to have the opportunity to pray for you, to pray with you.

I encourage you today, don't leave with the same burdens you came in with without taking the step to come down and pray with someone.

That may be your initial step of faith.

But there's some of us that don't have true peace because we don't know God.

We don't have a relationship with Him.

We have not come to the place where we submitted our lives to Him, and today is the day that you need to do that.

The best decision that you could ever make.

And the people in the front of the prayer line would love to pray with you.

But no matter what you're going through, know that God is with you.

So, Heavenly Father, we thank you.

We thank you that we can be still because we have a God who loves us, a God who is faithful, and a God who cares.

That you desire to know us and for us to know you.

And I pray that every single person would experience your peace and that you would continue to draw us closer to you.

It's the mighty name of Jesus, I pray.

And everyone said, Amen and amen.

Thank you for allowing me to be here today.

I love y'all.

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.