The Posture of Our Call

Welcome to Gateway Churches Podcast.

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

All right.

Well, let me ask you this question before we jump into the Word of God.

Do you feel like God has something big for you, but there is maybe just something in your life right now, a season that you're in that just doesn't seem to align with what you feel God has called you to.

There's just something that is just not quite there yet.

The truth is that we all can go through this, but what I want to tell you is that there's intentionality with where you are today.

There's a man in the Bible, his name is David, and I feel like he could understand what it was like to feel called to something great, and yet find himself in a lot of seasons that didn't feel like the great season he thought he was called to.

And so he sees himself in these seasons of life.

And I want to tell you that we all go through seasons in life.

You have a call and a purpose from God.

It is a big call, it is a good call, and he wants you to fulfill it.

But there is some seasons that you're gonna go through in life.

Here's what the Bible actually says about David in Acts 13, verse 36.

Acts 13:36

It says, For when David had served God's purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep.

See, it says David had served God's purpose in his own generation.

First, I want you to see if you don't know this yet, a generation in the Bible is one in which you live.

Culturally, we have all these different terms, millennials and baby boomers, and just all these different terms that we like to give.

But theologically, a generation means that the oldest person alive today to the youngest person to alive today is a generation.

So this room is a generation.

We are a generation.

And so what I want you to hear in this is that when David served the purpose in his generation, it also says he served the purpose.

He didn't accomplish it.

It wasn't something that he was striving, and when he finally got the trophy for it, he died.

No, it was something that he did intentionally throughout his life.

He served his purpose all the way until the end.

But what I think is, somewhere along the lines, as a generation, we have confused a calling with a position or a title.

We have confused this thing that God has placed in our hearts as something that we are called to accomplish, not a posture we are called to carry.

And I want to encourage you today that we are actually called to carry a posture despite the season that you find yourself in.

Despite where life has thrown you, the curveballs it's thrown you, or where you find yourself, we are called to walk through the seasons of life with the same posture.

And David carried this posture.

If you go up just a couple verses in Acts 13 and verse 22, it says, But when God removed Saul and replaced him with David, a man about whom God said, I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, for he will do everything I want him to do.

And here's, I don't know about you, but I would love at the end of my life to be defined as a woman after God's own heart.

To be defined as somebody that would do anything that God asked me to do.

I'm not there yet because some of the things he asked me to do, I'm like, mm, that can't be God.

But you know, I don't know about you.

I'm just like, oh, you want me to talk to her at the grocery store?

No, thanks.

But that's just, I'm growing.

But at the end of my life, I would love it if I heard the words.

This is someone who I have found to be a woman or a man after my own heart, that they have completed everything I asked them to do.

So then the question would be, okay, well, then what's God's heart?

Well, I'm glad you asked.

Here's what it says in Mark 10.

For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve others and give his life as a ransom for many.

See, the bottom line is that God's heart was to serve.

He came, he sent Jesus to serve his people, to bring them back into relationship with him.

So if you and I are called to carry a heart after God's own heart, then we are called to carry a heart that is to serve.

The only way that we are going to fulfill God's given, God-given destiny over our lives is through a posture that is one to serve.

To say, God, I will serve whatever you place me in.

I will do exactly what you tell me to do, and that is the posture that Jesus carried.

And yet in David's life, he went through some seasons.

He went through some hardships, he went through some seasons.

And I want to talk about the four seasons of David's life that he went through that I think we can all relate to.

Now, when I talk about seasons, I've heard that around the world, um, and some of our gateway gatherings may be able to relate to this, that around the world they get four seasons a year.

In Houston, where I live, we get one and we get to taste a couple others for a couple hours.

If we're lucky, we get a couple days, you know?

I mean, that's just how it is.

And so, but I hear there are four seasons.

The reason why there are seasons is because he's actually preparing the soil to produce the potential or its fullest potential of crop.

So every season that it goes through produces something and prepares the soil so it can reach its full potential.

The reason I tell you that is because we're about to talk through some seasons.

And I need you to understand, these seasons are not a stair step.

They're not for you to try to get to the next level.

These aren't seasons that once you accomplish, you never have to go back through.

These are seasons you're gonna find yourself in over and over again.

And I need you to understand, God is so intentional and he loves you enough to send you through these seasons so that the soil of your heart will be able to produce the crop at its fullest.

What is inside of you can only be produced by your obedience to keep walking through the seasons that he's placed ahead of you.

So there's these seasons in David's life.

I want to start by the first season of David's life.

I'm gonna call it the field.

The field.

Now here's what I mean by the field.

This could feel be a season that feels unseen.

It's the season maybe you feel forgotten in.

You feel left out.

It's the season that maybe could feel insignificant, or maybe a season that feels like it's lacking potential.

But let me tell you what this season truly is.

This season is actually one of development.

This is the season that actually gives you the tools you need for the next season.

Here's what it says about David's life.

Um, actually, before I get to that, let me tell you this.

I read a book, um, it's called Anonymous, and this book talks about Jesus' life, and it really focuses on the part of Jesus' life that we did not get to see.

And the heart behind this, she illustrates it with an iceberg.

And she explains that 90% of an iceberg is unseen, while 10% of an iceberg is seen.

But the 90% that is unseen is the part that actually gives it the strength to withstand in the tin that is seen.

That is where the strength comes from.

And the reason I tell you this is because the season that feels unseen is actually the very season that will give you the strength to stand when times of trouble come ahead.

And this is the season that God's gonna develop something in you that's actually gonna make you sustainable and built strong for the next season.

James 1, verse 3 says, For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.

James 1:3

So let it grow.

Can I encourage you to not waste this season by not having growth in it?

Don't let this season go to waste because you're not willing to grow.

See, David, he didn't just develop a skillful hand in the field.

While that is true, and he learned how to fight and he learned how to kill off animals and protect a sheepfold.

What he actually learned in this season that was more important than a skillful hand was a skillful heart.

See, in this season, he actually developed a posture within him that was one of worship.

It was in this season that he developed the skill of worship and ultimately he made the decision that I will live a life that is pleasing to the one and not the crowd.

This was the season that he developed it.

The question you're gonna have to answer when you come into this season is will you serve when you think no one is looking?

Here's what it was in David's life.

In this moment, all someone has come and they're gonna anoint somebody for to be the next king.

And here's what it says in 1 Samuel 16, verse 11.

1 Samuel 16:11

Then Samuel asked, Are these all your sons you have?

These there is still the youngest, Jesse replied, but he's out in the fields watching the sheep.

We'll send for him at once, Samuel said.

We will not sit down to eat until he arrives.

So Jesse sat for him.

He was rooty and handsome with pleasant eyes.

And the Lord said, This is the one anoint him.

So as David stood there among his brothers, Samuel took the olive oil he had bought and poured it on David's head.

And the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him from that day on.

Listen, I don't want to negate feelings that you may feel in this season.

It would have been fair for David to feel forgotten in this season.

He wasn't even invited to the ceremony.

Like it would have been totally fair for him to feel left out, trapped in a bad situation, feel unseen, feel unwanted.

It would have absolutely been fair.

But he understood something.

See, he understood that the same God that would call him out is the same God that would set him forth into motion.

And he had this understanding that God was with him.

Listen, in this season, the enemy wants you to believe the lie that no one is watching, but you have to understand that someone is always watching.

And God does not need the world to see you for him to do a mighty work through you.

He can use you in a mighty way without anybody else knowing your name.

And that's what is being developed in this season in you.

But you have to understand.

See, David didn't get the anointing and run off and say, Hey guys, I have the anointing.

Let me prove a way, let me make something happen.

No striving actually happened in this moment.

It says he went back to the field because he understanded that the same God that called him out to anoint him would call him into the next season.

He understood that God was in control of his life.

My dad always tells me, if I could just get you to understand one thing that God is in control.

And I have come to learn that time and time again.

But in this season, you are developing a posture and a heart that has to answer the question: who and why are you serving?

In this season, you will set forth decisions that will make your life easier in the future.

And can I tell you you are not too young or too old to start serving?

See, when Gateway first started, uh, I was nine years old.

Uh I say we started Gateway Church because I feel like I did a lot in that.

Obviously, I was nine, of course.

So, um, anyways, it started in our home, and my parents said, Hey, all the kids are gonna come upstairs to your room.

There's two rules don't come out unless someone's bleeding or there's a fire.

So I was the kids' pastor.

Yes, I gave myself that title, but I mean, define a kid's pastor.

I had to set an atmosphere and keep kids entertained until y'all were done learning, okay?

So I was the kids' pastor.

I went to school telling everybody I was the kids' pastor.

I started young when I was a little girl.

I was about two or three years old.

I would line up my baby dolls and I would hand them a piece of paper and a pen because I knew even at three, I was gonna say something you were gonna want to write down.

So go ahead, you had that down, sister.

And I would begin to preach to these babies.

They didn't know God, they needed Jesus just as much as we do.

Okay, I was going to town at 11 years old.

I was serving in the two and three-year-old rooms, here at Gateway, helping write curriculum and just loving on kids.

Can I tell you it's not too young to just start?

If God's put a gift inside of you, the word of God says, stir that up within you.

Start to develop that gift within you and see God move.

I promise you, don't believe the lie of the enemy.

This is not an unseen season, this is a development season.

Let God develop you in this season.

The second season David's life he found himself in was the palace.

See, I see this season kind of like a stepping stone.

This is the season you know what you're called to.

Maybe some opportunities have started to arise, but you're just not all the way into it.

You see yourself kind of going back and forth between these two moments.

This is what it looked like in David's life.

As you know, you may know this story, but the spirit had left Saul.

He was being tormented by this evil spirit, and he calls a servant and he's like, I need something to help me with this evil spirit.

They go, You need a worshiper.

They're like, he goes, Okay, find me one.

So here's where we catch the story in 1 Samuel 16.

It says, All right, Saul said, find me someone who plays well and bring him here.

One of the servants said to Saul, Well, the son of Jesse is a talented heart player.

Not only that, he is brave and strong and he has good judgment, he is also a fine-looking young man.

And the Lord is with him.

Just curious, really quick.

How in the world did they know all of this if he was in an unseen season?

Just curious.

Sometimes I wonder if David went back and edited these things about him.

I know that's not theologically correct, but I just think, you know, how did we find out he was so good looking?

Anywho, Saul sent messengers to Jesse to say, Send me your son David the shepherd.

Jesse responded by sending David to Saul along with a young goat and a donkey loaded down with food and wine.

So when David went to Saul and served him, Saul liked David very much, and David became one of Saul's armor bearers.

See, I need you to catch.

It says, when David went in, what did he do?

He didn't go in and tell Saul, hey, by the way, I've already gotten the anointing and you about to be gone.

You about to be gone, bro.

Like I'm next.

I'm ready.

No, no, no, no, no.

He totally understood the environment he had just gotten invited into.

He knew he was there to serve.

And so he came in.

Can I tell you, if the first season is gonna develop your identity, the second season is gonna develop your attitude.

It's gonna test everything within you to see how are you going to trust the leaders in your life?

How are you going to serve when you are in situations where you don't yet have the authority?

Here's what it says in Luke 16, 10.

Unless you are faithful in small matters, you won't be faithful in large ones.

If you cheat even a little, you won't be honest with greater responsibilities.

Can I just tell you?

Smallness is a test.

I know oftentimes we think, well, when I'm big, I know I'll be tested.

When I have lots of money, I'll be tested on my stewardship.

When I have lots of influence, I'll be tested.

I know that when I have a lot, God's gonna test me.

Can I just tell you something?

The test for the big is actually found in the small.

How you handle this season right here is what matters the most.

And David did not assume to this to be his new normal.

He understood that he was in between two seasons and he stewarded every invitation that was given to him.

Maybe in your workplace you get invited into a meeting.

Steward the invitation.

You know that maybe yet you don't have the title to hold you in that meeting every week, but you just had an invitation to sit on a wall.

Steward that moment.

This is an opportunity for God because he wants to move in your life.

He wants to equip you with something.

Don't let this in-between season go to waste.

And if you read it about David's life in 1 Samuel 17, it says, But when David went back and forth between working for Saul and helping his father with the sheep, see this season, he was totally content going back from being a worshiper in the palace to a shepherd boy in the field.

He let no pride tell him, but I deserve to be in the palace all the time.

This season is testing your pride.

Will your small opportunity, so to say, go to your head?

When I first started speaking, uh my very first time to actually ever speak was here at Pink Impact.

There was a moment that we had, it was I was offered the opportunity to do an oversight moment.

It's a three-minute moment in the middle of worship, and so I was so nervous.

I stayed up all night long.

I wrote it out word for word, memorized it.

I tried my very best.

I stood up here shaking the mic.

I'm sure they thought it was gonna fall at any moment.

I mean, I was just nervous.

I sat down on the front row after it, and by the end of that year, I received 30 speaking engagements.

And I was like, oh wow, okay, maybe God, you're doing something.

Then the next year I was invited to be a keynote at Pink Impact.

Wait till the rest of the story.

Don't believe in me too much, okay?

So, anywho, I was invited to be a keynote at Pink Impact, and I remember thinking, I, y'all, please forgive me for my pride, but I remember telling Ethan, hey, if three minutes got me 30 speak engagements, can you imagine what 45 minutes of me is gonna do?

I would love to tell you my calendar blew up.

I told him I said, I'm gonna need an admin, a website, the whole shebang, friends.

We're launching a ministry, folks.

I thought I was the next big thing on campus, you know?

After I did my keynote message, I would love to tell you something happened.

I can't tell you how many speaking engagements I got, but I promise you it wasn't very many.

And most of them I called myself and said, Hi, um, do you need someone?

I mean, I just looked for any door at that point.

Can I tell you pride went to my heart?

Because in a moment I thought that the platform became about me, and I forgot that it was just an opportunity to tell people about Jesus.

And if you don't understand that, then in this moment, when you do actually get to a big moment, it will crush you because your identity was not yet found in Jesus.

So go back to that moment and say, God, I want to be found in Jesus.

I want to be the person that pride doesn't overtake the opportunity you have given me.

I will do the same for one as I will do for thousands.

God, just let me steward this moment.

Because the truth is, if you can't steward it when you're under authority, then you won't steward it when you're in authority.

And you have to understand that the person you are called to serve right now, they don't have to be good leaders.

They really don't.

I know we would love that.

That would make our lives a lot easier.

But David didn't have the world's best boss.

See, I don't know how much you know about Saul, but I just want to read you a little clip about a bad day at work.

Okay, this is a this is what I would call a bad day in the office.

1 Samuel 18, verse 11.

1 Samuel 18:11

And Saul cast the spear, for he said, I will pin David to the wall, and David escaped his presence twice.

That's two bad days in the office.

Like that's a bad day when your boss is trying to kill you.

And yet David had an opportunity to talk badly about him.

He even had an opportunity to kill him.

Can I just let you know that a life of honor will always be honored in the end?

If you will choose honor, despite what you think they deserve honor, if you will choose to live a life of honor, I promise you he is faithful enough to bring honor to you in the end.

He walked with David throughout the entire thing.

And you have to remember that your calling is not a destination to achieve.

Every step along the way is a time for you to carry a posture of Jesus to every single person you meet.

The people around you today are not there to help you get to the next level.

They are there because they need the Jesus that is within you and you have to give it to them.

So don't misuse these seasons.

The third season David's life found, he found in his life was the one of the battle.

This is the season of the battle.

I know you all know what a battle's like.

Life isn't easy, and we all have trials and hardships that we come upon.

And these are those moments where you have found yourself hitting up against a wall.

We know that David faced Goliath and he came up against us, but I want you to understand, I'm gonna jump down.

I want you to understand this thing about the battle.

I want to pull out just a couple truths.

So let me show you this about his armor, okay?

In 1 Samuel 17, 38, it says, Then Saul gave David his own armor, a bronze helmet and a coat of mail.

David put it on, strapped the sword over it, and took a step or two to see what it was like.

For he had never worn such things before.

I can't go in these, he protested.

I'm not used to them.

Now, this is where most of us would stop reading, but I need you to read these last few words.

So he took them off again.

I don't know who I came to tell today, but some of you need to take something off again.

See, some of us have come into battle and culture has handed us what to wear.

And they have said the thing that will equip you for this battle that you're dealing with your boss is you go talk bad about them.

That thing at school that you're dealing with, here's something to wear that will protect you.

And here's what I need you to know if it is not.

What you have developed in the unseen season, then it is not for you to wear in this season.

What you have developed is what God wants to use to bring breakthrough.

So let's take it off.

I don't know what culture has put on you.

I know anxiety and depression, something.

I know that there's weight that we've put on ourselves, and I need us to catch this scripture that said, so he took it off again.

You have to take it off.

You will not win the battle wearing someone else's armor.

The only way you win the battle is being who God called you to be and who he has developed within you in the field.

So stand strong in that.

I want to show you one more thing about this battle, and he talks about the stones.

It's in 1 Samuel verse 40, 17, verse 40.

It says, He picked up five smooth stones from a stream and he put them in his shepherd's bag.

Have you ever thought about where he got a shepherd's bag?

Well, it was in the development season, of course.

But think about this for a second.

One of my favorite scripture verses is in Proverbs 16, it's 3.

It says, Commit your actions to the Lord and your plans will succeed.

See that word commit, it actually means to kneel down.

It came from this word gala, and what they would do is they would pack down a camel to get them from one destination to another destination.

And whenever life became too heavy or the burden became too heavy for that camel, that camel would actually kneel down.

And as that camel kneeled down, everything that it was carrying would roll off of its back.

So just for a second, keep that image in your mind.

Now, David, he walks up to a stream.

Psalms 23 says that he leads me beside still waters so that I can renew my soul.

I know this was in the natural, but what happened in the spiritual in this moment?

It says that he came upon a stream in the presence of God, and it says he had to pick up five smooth stones.

Now, he could have been a soccer player and kicked it up to him.

That's fair.

But I think he knelt down.

And I think in him kneeling down, he had a great exchange with God.

I think every burden that his brothers are bystanders, I have to prove to them that I can win this battle.

Everything that he's thinking, oh man, what if I mess up?

Every worldly care that was on him had to roll off in that moment.

And when it did, his hands became open so he could pick up the very weapon that he needed for the battle he was about to face.

Some of us today are in a battle, and some of us just need to kneel down.

See, you're carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders, and you were actually never meant to carry it.

You were only meant to commit your actions to the Lord so that he can make a way where there seems to be no way.

Some of us actually need to lay it down at his feet so that we can pick up the very things that we need.

Can I ask you a question?

Who will you serve when trouble comes?

The Bible says that you will obey what you will serve what you obey.

So let me ask you this: in times of trouble, who are you listening to?

Is it your fear?

Is it your worries?

Is it your anxiety?

Is it your friends?

Who are you listening to?

Because who you listen to will ultimately hold the victory for you, or they will actually hold you back from it.

Because the only one that stands victorious is the God who's never lost a battle.

And when you stand and you go down to his feet, because here's what it actually says about David it says that in verse 48, as Goliath moved closer to attack, David quickly ran out to meet him.

The only reason you can run quickly into battle is if you understand who's sending you.

And if you understand, he is already victorious.

You get to stand in that moment.

He had everything he needed to be successful, to be victorious.

Everything he needed, but he did not get it on the scene of the battle.

He got it in the seasons that he was faithful in before.

The season you are coming if on, you are going to have everything you need.

I can guarantee it if you'll be faithful in the seasons before this, because he is faithful to meet you through this.

The last season he finds himself in is that of the throne.

In 2 Samuel 3, verse 10, it says, Transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and set up the throne of David over Israel.

2 Samuel 3:10

See, God gave David the throne because he was faithful and he chose to serve God throughout his life instead of the crowd.

He wasn't there to please the expectations of others.

He was there to please his God.

And he was faithful to stand in the midst of that.

And the question you have to ask in this season is, will you keep serving even in a place of authority?

Will you stay with that exact same posture, even in a place of authority?

Some of you know the Bible pretty well, and you go, well, Elaine, this all makes great sense and all, but don't you remember how David had a fall?

I sure do.

I want to actually read it to you.

So why did David get off track?

When did he lose it all?

And when did something change in his life?

Well, here's what it says in 2 Samuel 11.

The following spring, the time of the year when kings go to war, David sent Joab and the Israelite army to destroy the Ammonites.

Late one afternoon, David got out of bed after taking a nap and went for a stroll on the roof of the palace.

As he looked out over the city, he noticed a woman of unusual beauty taking a bath.

So just for a second, you have to see why he got off course.

Because he wasn't where he was supposed to be.

He saw what he wasn't supposed to see.

See, the moment that he actually quit serving was the moment that he actually tripped into sin.

When he began to neglect his purpose, he fell into sin.

And the matter of it is, is he all of a sudden said, I think I might be too big to serve.

And he quickly realized if he's too big to serve, then he's too small to lead.

And everything began to change on the inside of him in this moment because all of a sudden his posture changed from being one that was submitted and serving the Lord to one that thought he could do it on his own.

But the good news is Acts 13 tells us that he was remembered for serving the purpose and his generation.

So how did he get back on track?

Well, he had a good community around him.

I pray you do too.

Because he had this man named Nathan that came up to him.

And Nathan said, I have a story to tell you.

See, there was this man and he had one sheep.

It was a family sheep, and his neighbor, he had lots and lots of sheep.

And one day, when the neighbor with lots and lots of sheep had a company over, he actually went over to his neighbor's house that only had one sheep, and he took that sheep and he slaughtered it to serve his guest.

And David looked Nathan in the eyes and he said, That man will pay back fourfold.

And Nathan, being a good friend, said, Well, then that man is you.

And all of a sudden, here's how David responded.

In 2 Samuel 12, verse 13, it says, Then David confessed to Nathan, for I have sinned against the Lord.

2 Samuel 12:13

See, David had hundreds of wives, and yet he took one to be his that was not his.

And in the moment of confrontation, he actually chose to repent.

One of the biggest tests that you and I will ever face is how will we handle feedback?

How will we handle when someone comes and corrects us?

How will we do this?

Will we keep a teachable heart even in these times?

Because David, he could have easily said, off with your head.

He could have easily tried to keep hiding this and concealing this moment.

Because if you go and read the whole story, he tries to conceal his sin over and over.

But what he understood was concealing of sin actually pushes him further and further away from relationship.

The thing that actually brings you back into relationship is a repentance and a confession of heart.

I know this to be true in my own life.

And at the end of David's life, we get to know him as the man that served his generation because he was willing to even confront the ugliest parts of his heart.

You know, some of y'all know my testimony.

Obviously, I grew up in a great church, had great parents, and but that didn't mean that I also chose to live a great life.

I really didn't.

I got caught up in sin as a teenager.

And one night, the night I got saved, we actually were all hanging out.

And um, I had prayed a prayer that night that I really prayed that God would do something in my heart, that I was tired of living that way.

And after I prayed this prayer, nothing really changed in my life, but I was certain that something was going to change.

We all went over to a friend's house, and remember, I was really caught up in sin, and so we were most everybody was drinking that night, and I fell asleep on the couch.

And my friends woke me up at about three or four in the morning, and they said, Hurry, we have to clean the whole house before mom and dad come home.

Now, don't judge me, okay?

Like this back in the day, who knows when.

But anyways, so we were cleaning up the house.

Of course, it was all apple juice or something a little bit stronger, and it just got spilled.

And so I was the only sober one at this party, and I I just all of a sudden this drink gets spilled on the coffee table, and I go over to clean it up.

And about that season of our lives, my parents had the opportunity to be on the cover of a magazine.

And wouldn't you know it on that coffee table with apple juice or something stronger, poured out all over was a magazine.

And I picked up that magazine and I held it up like this, and it began to just drip.

And behind all of that was my parents.

And I have to tell you, in that moment, I felt like the prodigal son, where I was like, that's where I want to be.

It wasn't that my parents were super successful, it wasn't that I wanted to be in all of the worldly things that you may think I was thinking of when I saw them on the cover.

No, it was that when I saw them on the cover, I realized they had a peace that I did not have.

They had a joy that I did not have, they had a certainty in life that I did not have.

They had a calmness in their spirit that I didn't have.

I was fighting on the inside of me constantly.

I was exhausted and worn out, and they knew a God that I did not know.

And so when I looked at them through dripping apple juice or slightly stronger, and I saw them, I knew for a fact that my way home was simply to repent.

And for some of us today, you find yourself in all types of seasons of life, and that's okay.

I want you to know that you serve a God with intentionality and care, that he loves that you are in this season.

You don't have to rush through it, you don't have to demean it, you don't have to compare to the person next to you.

You can embrace the season he has you in because it is for your good.

But for some of you, it's time that you just go, I see a God, and whoever it is in your life, maybe a grandmother, maybe a friend, maybe someone here at church, I see a God that I don't know yet.

And some of you, it's time that you repent.

The easiest thing that can get you out of the sin you have entangled yourself in is by bringing it to the light because there is freedom in him.

So I'm gonna ask you to bow your heads and close your eyes.

And in a moment, we're gonna have an opportunity to pray.

But before that moment, you you right here, I want you to know you can hear God.

And so maybe in this moment, you just need to ask, Holy Spirit, what are you saying to me in this message?

Some of you, you just need to be reminded, you are not unseen.

This is a development season.

Some of you, you are here and you say this is an in-between season, and I need to be at peace with that.

Some of you are in a battle right now, and I need to remind you, just commit yourself to the Lord because he has never lost a battle.

Some of you are in a place of authority, and maybe you don't need to confess a lot of things, but maybe it's just something small.

But some of you here today, you need to do what I did at 19 years old and confess and bring your life to God.

And so, in just a moment, a pastor is gonna come and give direction on how you can receive prayer.

But I just want to encourage you, don't leave here with the same burdens you came in with.

It would be our great honor to pray for you.

No matter which campus you're at, no matter which gathering you're at, we want to pray for you.

And so, Holy Spirit, I thank you that you are here today.

Lord, I thank you that you are intentional, that you are kind, that you are with us in every season that we walk through.

God, I thank you that you are for us and not against us.

And I thank you that you are good and that you will never leave us or forsake us.

So, Lord, I ask that no matter whatever season we're in, that you would see us, that you would comfort us, that you would strengthen us.

And Lord, I pray for anybody that needs to bring their life to you that you would give them the courage to do so.

God, we confess that you are Lord over our lives.

So come and have your way in and through us.

In Jesus' mighty name.

Amen and 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.