The Unknown Believer

Amen. If you have your Bibles, you can turn to

the book of Acts chapter 9, verse 10 -12. If

Acts 9:10–12

you don't have your Bibles, you can see the scripture

up there on the projector there. And I'm going

to be reading out of the New Living Translation.

Amen. If you got it, say amen. Amen. Now there

was a believer in Damascus. Named Ananias. The

Lord spoke to him in a vision. Calling. Ananias.

Yes Lord. He replied. Someone say yes Lord. The

Lord said go over to straight street. To the

house of Judas. When you get there ask for a

man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying to

me right now. I have shown him a vision of a

man named Ananias coming in and laying hands

on him so he can see again. Amen. Very quickly,

let's bow our heads and go before the Lord. Heavenly

Father, we come before you today. We give you

honor. We give you glory. Lord, we ask you, Lord,

to prepare our hearts, prepare our minds, Father

Lord, to receive your word today, Father Lord,

that it would edify. Our lives, Father, Lord,

that it would increase our faith, Lord, that

it would give us the instruction and the direction

that we need today, God. Lord, we need to hear

from you today, God. I ask you, Lord, to anoint

my lips of clay, God. Anoint our ears, God. Lord,

to receive your word today. Hallelujah. In the

mighty name of Jesus, we pray. Someone say amen.

Amen. You may be seated. Amen. Blessed be the

name of the Lord. You know, sometimes the greatest

moves of God don't begin with the famous, the

well -known, or the recognized. They begin with

an unknown believer. And for a few moments, I'd

want to speak on the subject, the unknown believer.

In Acts 9. Scripture introduces us to a man named

Ananias. He's not an apostle, wasn't a missionary,

not a New Testament superstar. Just a believer

in Damascus. On the surface, he is ordinary.

His name doesn't ring through history. Amen.

Like Peter, James, John. Amen. He isn't known

for preaching. to the crowds, walking on water,

or writing letters that shaped the church. Yet

God knew his name. God knew his address. God

knew his assignment. In a vision, the Lord speaks,

Ananias. There's an explanation point after that,

so I have to raise my tone a bit. And with no

hesitation, he responds, yes, Lord. That response

alone reveals the posture of his heart. And before

he knows the details of why God was calling him

that day, before he understood the mission, before

he hears of the difficulty that would come with

his answer, he immediately answers, yes. And

God sends him on a task that would change the

world forever. To go to a man named Saul, a man

known for violence and direct persecution of

the church, a man everyone feared. But at Saul's

most vulnerable moment, God orchestrates a divine

collision between a fierce unbeliever, the enemy

of the church, and an unknown believer who is

the church. Someone says, I am the church. Ananias

will not write a book in the Bible. Ananias will

not pastor a mega church. He will not be remembered

by the masses, but because he believed, he listened,

he responded, and he showed up. Saul would receive

his sight, be filled with the spirit, and step

into his purpose as Paul, the greatest missionary

the world has ever known. You see, because you

don't have to be recognized to be used. Someone

say amen. You don't have to be celebrated to

be called. You don't have to be known by people

to be known. By God. Thank God for that. Amen.

Today God is still looking for an Ananias. Someone

who hears his voice and answers, yes, Lord. But

before we get to Ananias, the unknown believer,

I want to briefly speak on Saul, the unbeliever.

Now here we have the story of Saul and his conversion

experience. You all know the story on his way

to persecute the church, on the road to Damascus.

He meets up with the Lord, amen. The Lord shines

his light on him, blinds him, amen. And he continues

on with his conversion to Paul. But before I

get ahead of myself, amen, we also, amen, come

to a point where we... experience this conversion

with Saul, amen, as the Bible describes in detail

and what it took, amen, for him to then be changed

to from Saul to Paul. We have known him as the

Apostle Paul, the one who writes two -thirds

of the New Testament. He gives us theology and

tells us about justification, propitiation, redemption,

and the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He is an incredible theologian. But before he

was any of those things, he was the early church's

most hideous villains. An enemy of the believer.

Saul persecuted the believer, then became the

believer. Before Ananias ever mentioned in Acts,

before he was mentioned in Acts 9. The spotlight,

amen, was on Saul. The man who wanted nothing

to do with Jesus. Saul didn't believe. He didn't

believe in the gospel. He didn't believe in the

resurrection. He didn't believe in the church.

He believed in his mission of destruction. And

just to highlight just how cold hearted and stone

wall Saul was. Amen. Right after Stephen was

stoned. To death for prophesying that he saw

heaven open up and the son of man standing at

the right hand of God. While they buried Stephen

and they mourned him, amen, for preaching the

word of God. And they laid him and they buried

him, amen. The Bible says that Saul began to

destroy the church. Going from house to house,

he dragged off both men and women and put them

in prison. While everybody was mourning Stephen's

death and everyone was at the burial site crying

amen and feeling remorseful and compassion for

a man that just died for doing the will of God.

Saul continued on with his mission. His mission

of destruction. And Saul had no remorse. He had

no compassion. This is how cold his heart was.

Stonewalled towards any believer. Saul was convinced

that he was right. Even while he was violently

wrong. And yet God was already working in his

life. I just want to stop here for a moment.

And I want to thank God for saving a wretch like

me. I want to thank God that while I was on my

way, amen, with my own plans and my own ideas

of how my life should be and where I think or

I thought I would become or where I would become

or who I would become, amen, that one day God

met me head to head. And the Lord stopped me

in his tracks and said, I have a different plan

for you, David. Because some of you might know,

many of you might not know, but a little over

20 -something years ago, there was nine of us

that were held up in our Sunday school room overnight.

There was a deranged, possessed man, a man that

stood at the window while we were praying. Myself,

a few young people, my brother, the pastor's

son. And as we opened up our eyes because we

were going to continue through the night and

we looked up, we saw this man peeking through

the window. With a grim, ugly look on his face,

red eyes, long, looked like dirty hair. The guy

is just standing there with a smirk on his face.

We asked him if he wanted prayer. We asked him

his name. We asked him what he needed. And all

he did was reach down in his waist and pull out

a gun. He waved the gun back and forth. And obviously

we were shook and we were stuck out of fear because

we had no idea what was going on. But I want

to tell you today, amen, that I stand here by

the grace of God. Because no matter how many

times he pulled the trigger, that gun never went

off. Amen. You see, because the devil sought

out, amen, to destroy and to kill nine lives

that belong to God. And God stepped in and said,

no, I have a plan for them. I thank God that

he is not interested in just the nice and the

honest. I thank God. interested for the rich

and the mighty. But God is interested in saving

every single soul. The liar, the cheater, amen,

the abuser, the manipulator. God is seeking after

everyone. While Saul was in pursuit of the believer,

God was in pursuit of Saul. God pursuits, he

pursued Saul on the road to Damascus. And as

we read in Acts chapter 9. It says that Saul

Acts 9 · chapter mention

journeyed, amen, near Damascus. And suddenly

a light shone around him from heaven. Then he

fell to the ground and he heard a voice saying

to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

And Acts 9, amen, 10 -12 teaches us something

very profound. God began to work in a person

long before the church believed in him. God began

to work in the heart of someone's life, amen,

long before anyone believed in him. But God,

God believed in him. He was shaping Saul's heart

before Saul ever surrendered. Grace was moving

while Saul was resisting. Someone say, thank

God for his grace. Come on, thank God for his

grace. How many times have you resisted? How

many times have you told God no? How many times

have you told God, I'm not ready yet, God. I'm

not ready to go. I'm not ready to listen. I'm

not ready to answer yet, God. Amen. And God is

still there patiently waiting for you. Patiently

waiting for you. Mistake after mistake. Day after

day. Time after time. God is saying, I am waiting

for you. That's grace, my friend. Destiny was

forming while Saul was still doubting. So don't

count someone out because of where they are at

now. The person who seems the farthest from faith

might be the next Paul. The one that the church

fears God may be forming and shaping to save

everyone. The unbeliever today is the unstoppable

believer tomorrow. Come on, someone say amen.

Amen. Come on, let's give the Lord a round of

applause for that. Hallelujah. I just want to

point something out before we move on to Ananias.

I want to point out that God went to great lengths

to reach Saul. Because if you just read, Saul's

heart was cold. This was not an easy conversion.

Amen. His heart was stonewalled. He hated the

church. He persecuted the church. He would go

and take every man and woman and hold them captive

and take them up and even if he was able to participate

in the judging of the church, he would be standing

there saying, crucify them. It wasn't good enough

for Saul just to capture and captivate and hold

the men and women and the believers captive.

He also wanted to Kill them. Who does that remind

you of? Who seeks out to kill, to steal, and

to destroy? None other than our enemy. That's

why the Bible refers to Saul as the enemy of

the church. Saul had to be stopped. But how do

you stop someone who would not stop at nothing

to fulfill his own mission? To fulfill his own

destiny. So determined to finish what he started

and what he was set out to do. You see, for the

first time in Saul's life, Saul became physically

what he had always been spiritually. Blind. The

Lord took his sight for three days and he did

not eat or drink. The Lord could have killed

Saul. The Lord could have taken Saul's life at

the blink of an eye, at the snap of a finger.

But what did God do? God made Saul vulnerable.

So vulnerable that Saul had nowhere else to go

and no one else to run to. God stopped Saul dead

in his tracks. God didn't kill Saul. God didn't

take Saul out. You know what God did? God humbled

Saul. Before Saul became the Apostle Paul, he

first had to become Saul the humbled. God brought

him down so low that the Bible said that Saul

fell to the ground. When that light shone. Amen.

When God flashed his light upon Saul, now I know

where they get that phrase or that saying, get

off your high horse. Because that's exactly what

happened to Saul. God humbled Saul so bad that

Saul went from riding on his high horse. On his

way, amen, with his mission and his destiny in

mind. His heart set on persecuting to church.

Amen. Isn't it funny that one day we can be so

high and the next day so low. God did not do

this to hurt Saul. God does not humble you to

hurt you. God humbles you to save you. You see,

because pride. Humility heals. Saul's heart was

so hardened that before God can continue him

on his mission, amen, and on the road to Damascus,

that God first had to heal Saul's heart. How

then can Saul believe if his heart was hardened?

The Bible says in 2 Chronicles 7 .14, it says

if my people who are called by my name will humble

themselves and pray and seek my face and turn

from their wicked ways, then I will hear them

from heaven. I will forgive their sin and I will

heal their land. God. doesn't have to blind us

physically sometimes. Because we are already

blind by our own understanding. We are blinded

by our own ways. Our own thoughts. Our own beliefs.

This is why the Bible says that if we pray and

we seek his face and we turn from our own thoughts.

From our own ideas, from our own concepts. You

know, what happens here is that instead of walking

by faith, this is now where we step back into

walking by sight. We then take a reverse, amen,

approach. To what the scripture says, that we

walk by faith and not by sight. Because then

what happens is, when we begin to walk by our

sight, then we start to act on our feelings.

On our emotions. I know that that's what pastor

said, but I don't believe that way. I don't believe

that way. I know I have to go to the altar, but

I don't have to go all the time. I'm perfectly

fine here. I'm okay here. I know I need to pray

every day, but you know what? Everything's fine.

Everything's okay. The birds are chirping. Right?

We start walking, amen, by sight. Our emotions

start to get a hold of us. We then start to perceive

that our thoughts are right. Our ideas are correct

because nothing is happening. Everything is okay.

Until it's not okay. In Proverbs 16 .2, the amplified

version. It says, all the ways of man are clean

and innocent in his own eyes. And he may see

nothing wrong with his actions. But the Lord

weighs and examines the motives and the intent

of the heart and knows the truth. You see, this

is why it's important to meet God at the altar.

You know why? Because it takes faith to take

a step forward. And faith without works is dead.

being commanded to do something that you don't

feel to do. You are not being asked to do something

that is going to hurt you. You are being instructed

and given the direction. Amen. That the word

of God, amen, proclaims and professes that when

we abide in him, he abides in us. Amen. That

if we have enough faith just to take a step forward

that God will meet us in the middle. But we to

take the first step, walking by sight and not

by faith. God pursues us even when we are blind

to him. And at this moment in Saul's life, this

was evident. As we will read shortly, because

while Ananias was praying in Damascus, Saul was

now praying in blindness. While Ananias was hearing

a vision, amen, from the Lord, Saul was seeing

a vision from the Lord. The church didn't trust

Saul. The disciples didn't believe Saul. But

God saw what no one else could see. He saw Saul,

the unbeliever. God Saul, the apostle Saul, the

missionary, the church planter, the writer of

scripture, the world changer in the making. Saul

converted to Paul, the apostle, to believer.

You know that it took great lengths whether you

believe it or not. To get you here today. Oh,

come on, somebody. We weren't perfect. Uh -uh.

We were liars. We were cheaters. Amen. We tried

to get away with what we could get away with.

Amen. We weren't good church attenders. Amen.

Easter, Christmas, now Halloween, right. We attended

church. We showed up to baptisms. We did all

those things. Amen. We thought that what we were

doing was good enough. We thought that what we

thought was what we were supposed to think. How

we were supposed to think. Amen. But lo and behold,

amen, one day. Amen. One day God reached down

and God began to tug at your heart. Amen. And

God began to speak into your life. Amen. And

one day for some of us God had to shine that

bright light upon us. Amen. Where it humbled

us and brought us down to our knees and God began

to minister and God began to speak and God began

to give you and expose you to his grace and his

mercy. And that is why we sit here today no longer

an unbeliever, but a believer of the one and

true God, Jesus Christ. Amen. Come on, somebody

give the Lord a round of applause for that. Amen.

And Ananias, the unknown believer. Amen. And

as we read in our opening scripture, the Bible

says that now there was a believer in Damascus.

Named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision.

Calling him by his name. Ananias. And right from

the get -go. The Bible states two things about

Ananias. Number one. That he was a believer.

And number two. Gives us his name. We don't hear

about Ananias before this. And we don't hear

about him after this. Ananias' God -given purpose.

Was to confirm Saul's calling. Restore Saul's

sight. Connect him to the body of believers so

that Saul can step into God's ordained destiny.

And as believers, God knows exactly who we are

and where we are at. You see, because it's not

on our time, and it's not in our moment, and

it's not in our season, amen. We can be sitting

down somewhere just like Ananias was, minding

our own business, and then one day the angel

of the Lord or God himself would come. David,

it's time for you to get up. I have a calling

for you. It's time for you to step out. I have

a ministry for you. Brother, it's time for you

to awaken. Because I have something great in

store for you. This is exactly what happened.

With Ananias. And I am so glad, amen, that God

not only, amen, referred to Ananias as a believer,

but he called him by his name, amen. Because

wouldn't it be a shame for you to live your whole

life through and then we get to heaven and we

say, hey, Lord, I'm here. And the Lord says,

depart from me, you worker of iniquity. I know

you not. To live my entire life proclaiming the

name of Jesus and God never knew my name. Professing,

amen, that he is one God, one Lord and there

is only one faith, amen. But I never hear God

calling my name. Oh, it shakes me to my core,

brother. Shakes me to my core. That every time

I get down on my knees, brother Ben, and I pray,

amen. I pray that God hears every single cry.

I pray that God hears every single word that

comes out of my mouth. Amen. That wherever God

at in heaven, that God will stop and say, hold

on. David's praying. I need to pay attention

to him. My child is calling me. We should think

about these things. Does God know my name? That's

probably a preaching for another time. But does

he? Ananias, amen, wasn't an apostle or a priest

or a public figure. He was an ordinary man in

an ordinary place. Yet fully known of an extraordinary

God. Extraordinary God. Even when we feel unseen,

God sees you. Do you know that? I'm talking to

someone today, even though you feel unseen, God

sees you. Even though you feel like he don't

hear you, he hears you. Even though you don't

feel like he's there, he's there. Hallelujah.

He will never leave you, no forsake you. Hallelujah.

He will never leave you alone. The psalmist David

wrote, he writes in Psalms 139, amen, one through

three. He says, you have searched me, Lord. And

you have known and you know me, God. You know

when I sit and when I rise and you perceive my

thoughts from afar. You discern my going out

and my lying down. You are familiar with all

my ways. God sees and knows you. Hallelujah.

God speaks to those who believe him. The Lord

spoke to him in a vision. Ananias was not chosen

because of his status. Amen. Nor did God speak

to him because of his position, his intellect

or his influence. Ananias, amen, was available.

Ananias was sensitive to hear the voice of God.

Amen. And God speaks to the believer who is willing,

who is listening and positioned in prayer. Because

revelation doesn't come, brother, hallelujah,

until you are ready to respond. 1 Peter 1 -13,

it reads, therefore gird up the loins of your

mind. Be sober and rest your hopeful upon the

grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation

of Jesus Christ. Ananias immediately replied,

yes, Lord. This was a call and response. Just

as the psalmist David wrote, and he knows me.

He knows you and I today. Affirming that God

knows who we are. And Ananias immediately responds

with affirmation because he knows who God is.

John 10, 27, it reads that the sheep that are

my own hear my voice and listen to me. I know

them and they follow me. God refers to those

who believe as his own. We are not simply brought

into the family of faith because God died for

our sins and paid the ultimate price. You see,

amen, so we can receive salvation, be saved and

just sit there and do nothing for the rest of

our lives. God, amen, reached down and paid the

price so that one day he would speak to us and

we would go out and reach, amen, a dying world.

We must believe. Someone say, we must believe.

Ananias responded. And he responded, amen. Without

recalling who Saul was. Not without recalling

who Saul was. Because the Bible says that when

God called Ananias and he responded, yes. And

he told him, I need you to go down to Judas'

house because there's a man there. By the name

of Saul of Tarsus. And he's praying to me right

now when I need you to go pray for him. And Ananias

sits there and I can just kind of picture him

sitting there. He's like, huh? Wait, wait, what?

Saul? Lord, you do know that he's a murderer,

right? You do know that if he finds out who I

am, he's probably going to try to kill me. You

do know he don't like you, God. You know that,

right. You do know that about Saul, right. And

so you want me, little old me. I'm just a believer

from Damascus, Lord. I'm just here, you know,

the beans are on the stove. Amen. The tortillas

are warming up. Amen. I got the cafecito. Come

on, God. Are you sure? Are you sure? There's

nothing special about me, Lord. Lord, Lord, can

I remind you that I don't come from a big family.

Lord, Lord, can I remind you that my last name

doesn't ring through history. I really don't

have a legacy. I really don't have a father or

mother who anybody knows here. God, I don't have

any influence. The Lord said, Ananias, go. And

what does Ananias do? He goes. Without his phone.

Without his GPS. Because the Lord told him to

go to Judas' house. I don't know where Judas

lives. God didn't give an address. He didn't

drop a pin on my phone. He didn't do none of

that. And Ananias gets up. And because he's a

believer of the Christ. Of the one and true God.

Filled with the spirit of God. Guess what? He

allows the spirit to lead him. You see, we can

come up with so many reasons why God can't use

us and why God won't use us. We want to stay

in the shadows. We want to remain unknown. But

blessed be. The name of the Lord. That the Lord

sees past my faults. That the Lord sees past

my shortcomings. That I don't need a great name,

amen, to call on the name of Jesus, amen. That

all I have to do is make myself available and

listen and respond to the voice of the Lord.

So the Bible says that Ananias goes, knocks on

Judas' door. Judas answered the door, yes, can

I help you? And Ananias, you know, bro, you don't

know me, but someone sent me here. Is there a

man here? Man come here today? If he's not here,

it's all right, it's good. If he left already,

don't worry about it. Judas, no, no, no, no,

he's here. He's actually praying in the back.

He hasn't said a word to me. He's not eating.

He hasn't had anything to drink. And I can just

picture Ananias like if I was Ananias, I would

probably follow up with this question. Well,

okay, but is he still blind? You can't see, right?

He's still blind? Okay, yeah, he is? Okay, okay.

Okay, then, I'm okay. I'm good. The Bible says

that Ananias walks into the house. He immediately

puts his hand on Saul. And you know what Ananias

does? Ananias does three things here. The first

thing Ananias does is he fellowships. Because

the Bible says that immediately he says, brother

Saul. Didn't refer to Saul as the murderer. Didn't

refer to Saul as the enemy of the church. Didn't

refer to Saul as the enemy of God. He says, brother

Saul. The Lord has sent me. You know that as

believers, we need to embody that spirit. Amen.

That no matter who we come across and no matter

what that person has done and no matter what

they are doing and no matter their history or

their background or what they look like, when

God sends you to somebody, the Lord is saying,

have compassion for them like I have had compassion

for you. Your job is not to judge. Your job is

not to dictate. Your job is to love them and

bring them into The family. That's exactly what

Saul did. Excuse me, Ananias did. Laid his hand

on Saul. Amen. And then what Ananias does is

Ananias facilitates. Because he allows God to

use him. Because the Bible says that once he

prayed. On Saul, that he received, his eyes were

opened. The Bible says there were like scales

that fell from his eyes. And he received his

sight. You see, church, we have to understand,

amen, that God using us has nothing to do with

you and I. Has nothing to do with our status.

Has nothing to do with who we are within ourselves.

But who we are in God. Amen. If you are a believer

of Christ, amen, and you are a follower of Christ,

and you know, amen, you trust and believe the

word of God. You know that when the word of God

goes out that it is not returned void. You know

that when you speak the name of Jesus, amen,

and the demons have to flee. Demons tremble at

the sound of that name. You know, amen, that

when you pray over the sick that they are healed.

You know that there is no name above that name,

Jesus. That God can use any single one of us

at any single time. You know, I taught a couple

weeks and I'm going to conclude with this on

seeing God. And it stuck with me. It stuck with

me. It made me think. And even this morning,

it's still with me. Amen. That why don't we see

the signs, miracles and wonders that I used to

see when I was growing up in the church. When

I give these testimonies to people, they look

at me like I'm crazy. Or they look at me like

it's something that happened a long time ago

and it's never going to happen again. Amen. That

should be happening each and every day of our

lives. The Bible said that when Peter walked,

amen, that his shadow, when it cast over the

lame man, that he was healed. Where are the signs?

Where are the miracles? Where are the wonders?

You know who they follow? Those who believe.

So you know what we have to do is question our

belief system. Why isn't God working and moving

in my life? Like the word of God says, he could

be, he should be. And he can be. What has infiltrated

my heart? What has infiltrated my mind? What

kind of bad, amen, nonsense and corrupt, amen,

conversation have I allowed to come into my heart?

What about everything that I'm watching on the

news and everything that I'm hearing on the radio

and all of these things, amen, that I'm allowing

to come in and to cause fear and doubt and uncertainty?

Amen. When we should have our face in the word

of God. Seeking the word of God. Seeking. Amen.

His word. Seeking after his face. I mentioned

in that teaching that I spoke with a young man

and I asked him, he's from Africa. And he spoke

on all the miracle signs and wonders that they

do out there. And so I asked him, this happened

when I was much younger. And I asked him, why

don't we see that here? How come that doesn't

happen here? And I'm waiting for this theological

response from him. I'm waiting for him to read

off 100 scriptures and give me this heavenly

revelation. And he turns around and tells me,

brother David, it doesn't happen. Because you

don't believe. Period. That's it. You don't believe.

Ananias, amen, was used, amen, to facilitate

one of the greatest miracles the Bible has ever

recorded outside of Jesus Christ himself. Because

if Ananias did not follow. Listen, follow, amen,

fellowship and facilitate. There would be no

Paul. You may stand with me. Amen. Pianist, if

you can make your way up. There would be no Paul.

You know that the Lord is still looking for Ananias

today. The Lord, amen, is looking for someone

who is available. Amen. The Lord is looking for

someone who will respond. Amen. You know, Ananias,

before even knowing what the task was, before

even knowing what God was going to say, before

even knowing what it was that God wanted from

him, Ananias responded, yes, Lord. Yes, Lord.

Are we responding that way today? Are we adhering

to the calling that God has on our lives? The

ministry that God has for us? Are we saying,

yes, Lord. God is doing something powerful in

our church. And I'm going to say this, amen,

with a lot, amen, of respect. But also with a

lot of boldness. Whether you believe it or not,

it's happening. God is doing something great

in our church. But you know who God is waiting

for? He's not waiting, amen, to move. God is

already moving. We're already in revival. Come

on, somebody say amen. Come on, somebody say

amen. We're already in revival. You know what

God is waiting for? God is waiting for your response.

Yes, Lord. There is so much talent among us.

There is so much ability. Brother Ben, Brother

Isai, there is so much ministry that is deep

down inside of you. Kong, inside of you. Sister

Abby, inside of you. Sister Grace, inside of

you. Brother Andrew, inside of you. Brother Rico,

there is so much hidden. This is how we stay

as the unknown believer. Because we stay quiet.

And when God calls out for your name, David,

Ben. Do you know, Kong, that there's someone

out there right now that God is preparing their

heart to receive the word that he gave to you

to speak to them? There's someone that's hurting.

Asking God for an answer, Kong. And the Lord

is saying, hold on. He's on his way. I called

and he answered. That's why you're here today.

That's why you're baptized in the name of Jesus.

That's why you've been brought into the family.

Because God has a calling for you. That's why

we are all here. But we have to ask ourselves.

Are we going to stay hidden? Are we going to

stay unknown? Are we going to continue to hide

in the shadows of our home? Hide behind our excuses?

Hide behind every reason why God can't use us,

won't use us? Or are we going to answer the call?

Or are we going to say, yes, Lord. You know,

God called City Light not to be an established

church in the city of Mountain View. God did

not call Pastor Jacob, amen, to be a keeper of

an aquarium. That's not what God called him for.

God called a great man to do great things. And

you know what God gave that great man of God?

Great people. Talented people. To do what? To

have church each Sunday? Just to fill a room?

To fill a calendar? No. God called a great man,

gave him great people to save a greater, amen,

to a greater purpose. And that is to save, amen,

people in this city. People in your city.