Stay The Course | Josh Thomas

Well, good morning, United City, and happy New Year's Eve.

I tell you, I about lost my voice singing with them.

I don't know how we're gonna get through this.

Man, happy New Year's.

I plan on calling my grandmother uh after this.

And we're just gonna catch it up, but I know it's gonna come up.

She's gonna say, Joshua, have you stopped today and thanked the Lord for bringing you through another year?

Now it may not look like what you wanted it to, may not have happened how you wanted it to, and for better or for worse, the Lord was with you in it, so you can give him some praise.

And so I don't know about you, but if God has been good to you, can we just for a second thank the Lord for what he has done in 2023?

Amen.

If I've not had the pleasure of meeting you, my name is Josh.

I'm the younger pastor here.

Uh, if I have met you, what's up?

I'm so glad to be leading us today through the Lord's word.

If you want to go ahead and get to your Bibles in 1 Chronicles 28, that's where we'll be this morning.

I'd also like to welcome all of our men and women at all of our correctional facilities, as well as those joining the Pando app and online.

Thank you guys so much for being with us today.

You ever doubted directions?

I remember when I was a freshman in college during Welcome Week, uh, the upperclassmen on campus decided they wanted to throw us a uh an off-campus party.

Now, this was school sponsored, so it was legit.

Um, but I was also like, I don't really know if I want to go.

But they were like, no, it's gonna be fine.

And I was looking for instructions, and they were like, well, we'll send them to you about 15 minutes before uh the party.

And so they encouraged us to hop in a car with strangers that would be our best friends, right, by the end of the night.

Uh and so I was like, you know what, that's fine.

And so we met up at the quad and uh they gave us instructions.

We put it in uh Apple Maps, which is superior to Google Maps, and off down the interstate, we went.

And here's the deal: for a while, I was chilling, right?

I was with some friends, I was having a good time and everything was good.

We were staying the course, but then I got a little bit more skeptical when we got to a two-lane highway and it was getting dark.

And then I started full-on panicking when I found myself on a dirt road, no street lights, and no sales service.

And there's some of y'all in this room that already want to talk about the fact that I'm from Mississippi, and I'm aware that that doesn't help my case, but right now that's not the point.

The point was I'm lost.

Ain't no sales service, and the only thing that's keeping me moving is Siri.

And she's telling me to follow this little blue line in the middle of nowhere.

And I was like, do I trust Siri and do I stay the course or do I turn around?

And I said, you know what?

I'm gonna trust Siri, I'm gonna stay the course.

And I stayed the course for about another 15 seconds.

Because that woman told me, that woman told me, she said, in about 25 feet, be prepared to park your car and walk to your destination.

I'm sorry, absolutely not.

You're supposed to tell me where to go when I'm in the car, not when I'm out.

That's not how this works.

So I'm sitting in this car and I'm thinking to myself, should I stay?

Should I go?

Should I stay the course?

Should I turn around?

And here's the deal: could you blame me?

See, this was a new environment, it was unfamiliar to me.

And at the same time, I mean, how can I even be sure that the directions that I'm following are actually gonna get me to my desired outcome?

And to be church, and to be honest, church, that's where a lot of you are in the room today with your faith.

Yeah, maybe you're not a college student doubting some directions to a party and fear of being lost, but you might be doubting instructions to biblical parenting.

Maybe you're doubting the instructions to leading a biblical life in a corporate and a worldly workplace.

Maybe you're tempted to stray away from the course out of fear of being seen weird or religious or weirdly religious because of your faith.

Maybe over the course of this year you've just found it hard to stay the course because the course has just been hard.

Unexpected loss, increased financial pressure, decisions that seem to be life or death if you chose wrong, and here's the deal: everything in you was not telling you to stay the course, it was telling you to step away from the course, do something different in 2024, a radical resolution maybe that may lead you to an outcome that you want.

And the question on your mind this morning is this how do you do it?

How do you stay the course?

I believe the Bible has an answer for you this morning.

Will you meet me in 1 Chronicles 28, beginning in verse 5?

The words of King David read this way All of my sons, for the Lord has given me many sons.

He has chosen Solomon, my son, to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel.

He said to me, It is Solomon your son who shall build my house and my courts.

For I've chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father.

I will establish his kingdom forever, if he continues strong in keeping my commandments and my rules, as he is today.

Now therefore, in the sight of all of Israel, the assembly of the Lord, and in the hearing of our God, observe and seek all the commandments of the Lord your God, that you may possess this good land and leave it for an inheritance to your children after you forever.

You join me in a word of prayer.

Jesus, thank you for today.

Thank you for the opportunity to do this.

Jesus, thank you for that we get the opportunity to gather here on the last day of 2023 as we step in in 2024.

Jesus, I pray that you speak boldly through me.

If there is something that I should say, I pray that I do that boldly.

If there's something that I should refrain from saying, I pray I do that the same way.

Jesus, may you get all the glory in this place in your name we pray.

Amen.

How do you stay the course?

See, in our story, King David is giving Solomon a charge to build a temple for the presence of the Lord.

And what you would know is that if you went back and read verses one through four, it's actually King David that wanted to build this temple for the name of the Lord.

But the Lord comes to David and says, Actually, David, I appreciate your genuine desire to do this, but you shed far too much blood.

So it will not be you to build this temple, but it will be your son, Solomon.

And watch this.

And so long as Solomon stays the course, follows my instruction, commits to doing the necessary work, and allows me to lead him, then I will not leave him, nor will I forsake him.

Now, church, while God's instructions says in 2023 may not be as meticulous and or conditional as they are to Solomon here in our text, there is a principle that still holds true for us today, and it's this God is faithful, stay the Course.

God is faithful, stay the Course.

David proceeds to speak in the sight of all of Israel the instructions he's recorded that were to be passed on to Solomon to do the work.

David even tells Solomon that he won't be alone in this work, that he'll have the assistance of every able-bodied man in Israel that's available to work on this project for the Lord.

David even says, Hey, the community's gonna be strong.

The Lord's presence is gonna be strong, and finally the workers will be plentiful.

Green flags all around.

Solomon takes these words to heart and he builds the first temple for the presence of the Lord.

But don't you think at some point it got hard for Solomon to continue the course and trust the promise and plan that God had for his life?

I mean, surely at some point Solomon thought to himself, God, those are some big promises.

Establish my kingdom forever?

Give my kids an inheritance forever.

I I mean, I've seen how you move powerfully in my father's life.

He will not shut up about killing a giant with five smooth stones at every dinner party him and his friends throw.

I know that God was powerful in my dad's life, but God, could you be this powerful?

Could you move this powerfully in my life?

On the flip side, Solomon was probably thinking, God, these are some tall orders.

Build a temple for your name?

Follow your commandments that have been known to be in stark contrast to the culture and to the nations of the people that live around us?

I mean, God, what if I fail miserably and I fail big simply trying to follow the course that you set for me?

And who's to say that the people that are supposed to be on my side can even be trusted?

God, just as many green flags as there are to stay the course and follow after you, there are also several red flags that would hinder me from doing the exact same thing.

And at some point, church, you've probably said the same thing that things for a while were good, your faith was strong, you saw God moving actively and powerfully in your life, but now you find yourself up against something bigger, something more powerful, something more painful, or something more confusing than you've ever been up against.

And you feel like it'd be easier for you now to deal with this in your own way instead of the way that God has called you to, to do what He's instructed you to do according to His design, according to His course for your life.

You know, in reality, for myself, there are a few things that hinder my ability to follow the course of God's design for my own life.

For me, I found that it's often pain, pride, and purplessness that are the chief reasons that cause me to drift from what God may have for me.

You know, as time goes on and I've walked with him longer, those things get really, really hard to detect, but I found myself saying stuff like this.

God, I just feel like you should have better for me right now.

Or, God, how can this much pain be good for me or be good for anybody?

Maybe you're saying, God, I just don't know if you're doing anything in my life.

I don't know if you have a plan for me.

And so instead of me doing the heavy lifting of waiting, how about I just do my own thing?

And if it checks out the you, great.

If it doesn't, I'll pay that price when I get there.

You've done that.

We've done that.

And the truth is that it's worked for a time, but there's still more than likely a feeling or a thought or an emotion, still dying to know how am I doing?

How do I know if I'm on the right track?

How am I staying the course?

What's the value in me doing this versus doing my own thing?

And I would just point you to Psalm 25, which simply says, Who then are those who fear the Lord?

He will instruct them in the ways that they should choose.

They will spend their days in prosperity, and their descendants will inherit the land.

It's interesting when you look at that.

And so this morning, I want to give you two things that I believe David emphasizes in this passage that I believe helped Solomon to stay the course that I believe will help you just as much today.

The first thing is this be led.

Be led.

This story documents that David gives Solomon blueprints for several rooms to be built within the temple of the Lord's presence.

And if we hop down to verse 12, it says that not only did he give him the blueprint, but the plan of all that he had in mind for the courts of the house of the Lord.

See, if we were to do a little bit more study on the footnote next to that phrase of the plans he had in mind, it actually translates to the plans of the spirit that was with him.

If you continue reading in verse 19 after David has given Solomon all the plans, he says, All this he made clear to me in writing, all the work to be done according to the plan.

What we should gauge and what we should see from this is that David wasn't just dreaming up inspiration for the courts of the house of the Lord.

No, he was led by somebody, but he wasn't just led by somebody, he was led by the right body.

Growing up in Mississippi, there weren't a lot of things that we could get into, uh, but the the nature scene was pretty solid.

And so uh me and my best friend uh were hanging out one day, and uh he was like, hey bro, you want to go to a nature trail out at Percy Quentin State Park?

I said, Man, I'd love to.

And so he told me what time to show up.

I showed up, I had my little hiking bag, I had my shoes, and you know, I was ready to go.

We get out and off through the trees we go.

And we ran into a few hiccups.

It was a fallen tree here, there, and the whole deal, but he was leading.

And at a few points I was a little skeptical.

I was like, I don't really know if he's done this before.

But I I kept walking with him and it was fine.

And we kept walking and we kept walking, and 10 miles later, and 20 blisters later, we finished his nature trail.

Yay! Not so much.

It wasn't anything I'd hoped, because I'm I'm in an empty parking lot.

I'm looking at Mike, Mike looking at me.

I said, Mike, where we at?

He said, I don't know.

Then I look at a sign that says Nature Trail Parking 10 miles that way.

I said, Mike, where we at?

He said, I guess we 10 miles from the parking lot.

I'm trying to figure out what we went wrong.

And then I thought about it.

Here's what I knew.

I ain't never done this before.

Here's what I thought.

Mike has done this before, so this is gonna be great.

Here's what I found out.

Mike didn't know what he was doing.

Y'all, we had to walk all the way back through them trees.

And let me tell you something.

It ain't nothing pretty about a tree if after you done seen it one time before, okay?

I didn't trust Mike to lead me to the nearest gas station after that.

I'm still a little mad about that one if I'm being honest.

Now, I want y'all to contrast that though, with a scenic tour that we took recently while visiting Colorado.

Uh, me and some friends took a trip this past week and we visited uh the Garden of the Guides.

Uh, and if you have never been to the Garden of the Gods, I would highly recommend you go.

It was an incredible time with some amazing, amazing friends, uh, some amazing people.

And here's the deal: to make this trip even better, we had a guide, and his name was Mike.

You see how the Lord works in mysterious ways?

It was amazing.

And Mike was education specialist for uh Mike was education specialist for uh the park, and it was an incredible time, and it was the best experiences that I've had all year.

See, it's cool what you experience when you led by the right Mike.

Right?

Right?

But I got one better for you.

See, church, it's amazing the experiences you could have when you're led by the right God.

It's amazing.

Sure, why not?

Give him praise.

He's worthy.

See, the writer of Chronicles details that everything David wrote was inspired by the Spirit that was with him.

This phrase pops up a couple times through the book of Chronicles, and each time it's David talking to Solomon, which tells me that David was trying to communicate to his son, son, if you truly desire to stay the course, if you want assurance that you're going in the right way, then you will allow yourself to be led by the spirit.

In church, if you make yourself available to hear the spirit, the spirit guides.

Because God still speaks to his people.

For me, I found that God speaks to me in primarily in three ways.

He speaks through his word.

I remember when I was thinking about coming to United City, I'd never heard of this place before, I'd never heard of umble, I'd heard of Houston, but never heard of umble.

But I remember I was in the book of Genesis and I was reading through the story of Abraham and Isaac, and in Genesis 22, 14, it says, So Abraham called that place, the Lord will provide, and to this day it is said, on the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.

I remember reading that over and over and over again, and what I found is that as I got more into God's word, God's word actually got more into me.

So much so that I believed him to guide my life.

And well, here we are today.

His spirit.

It's the second way, his spirit.

I don't have all the articulation that I want for this one, but I know at a uh at times without a shadow of a doubt that I am doing exactly what God has called me to do, and I'm standing in his authority, and I credit that to the Holy Spirit that's with me.

In the same way, I also know God would not be very pleased with me if he just heard what I thought, what I said, or what I did.

And I credit that to the Holy Spirit as well because John 14, 26 says that he is the helper that does what?

He helps us along this path.

He helps us to follow and to stay the course that God has set for us.

The last way that God typically speaks to me is through his people.

You know, I can't tell you how blessed I am to be at a church like United City.

God's got some incredible people here.

And because of that, I'm thankful for people like Shannon Richards, who sees me on a Sunday morning, and she just always makes it her business to give me a word of encouragement because she knows that sometimes Sundays are just hard for pastors.

I'm thankful for people like Todd Stewart, who will literally pray with you unprompted in Starbucks, and you don't realize how much you need it until it's done.

I'm thankful for people like Pat Weichel, who just love you and refine you and truly do care about you.

It just feels like you're getting hit with a velvet glove in the stomach.

In the most loving and kind way, though.

In the most loving and kind way.

See, the spirit still speaks, which means it's up to us to make space to listen and be led.

So if you're allowing the spirit to lead you, then have assurance that you're staying the course, even if it don't make logical sense the whole time.

Because the truth is that God wants to guide you the first time, but he's not above letting you do your own thing, being led by other things, even if it means eventually you'll have to go several miles backward uh back just to move forward.

Be led.

The second thing is this do the work.

Do the work, be willing to do the work.

See, in the book Spiritual Disciplines by Donna Whitney, he talks about Englishman Samuel Taylor Coleridge, an incredible poet and theologian who was full of potential, but who never got outside of just that potential.

In the book, Whitney says, he lost himself in visions of work to be done that for some way, for some reason always remained to be done.

Coleridge had every poetic gift but one, the gift of sustained and concentrated effort.

See, in his head and in his mind, he had all kinds of books, as he said himself, completed and saved for transcription.

I am on the eve, he says, of sending to the press not one, but two octavo volumes, but the books were never composed outside of Coleridge's mind.

Because he would not face the discipline of sitting down to write them out.

No one reached any eminence, and no one having reached it ever maintained it without discipline.

First Chronicles 28:10 says, Be careful now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary.

1 Chronicles 28:10

Be strong and do it.

And another translation that actually translates to do the work.

See, David goes on to tell Solomon that everyone will be at his command and that God himself will not leave him until the work is done.

But y'all check this out.

Even with the instructions, even with all the help in the world, there would be no temple if Solomon didn't take the knowledge he knew and put it into practice.

Y'all catch this.

See, James, the half-brother of Jesus, emphasizes this point perfectly.

In James 1, he says, but be doers of the word and not hearers only.

Deceiving yourselves.

For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, then he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.

For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.

But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets, but a doer who acts.

He will be blessed in his doing.

Church, God desires for you to move beyond the eve of your good intentions and on to the day where you actually do them.

Because good intentions alone don't produce godly results.

No, our intentions must be coupled with execution, which means you gotta do the work.

Think with me for a moment.

Could you imagine what Northeast Houston would look like if we did half the things we said we believe?

How many of your family members that you've been praying for would actually be here?

How many communities would be different?

How many college campuses will be different?

How many high schools will be different?

How many elementary schools will be different if only we would put into practice what we know?

What I'm finding in my life is that I don't have a knowledge issue, I have an application issue.

I can tell you all day long that what a doorknob does, it turns.

But until I go up and turn it, it ain't moving.

We don't have a knowledge issue, we have an application issue.

And so here's the deal if you want to stay the course in 2024, you be led by the Spirit and you be committed to doing the work, and you'll watch God uh show up in your life.

And at that point, Houston, we got lift off.

For some of you.

This may mean doing some personal internal work.

And I don't mean getting in the gym more like a New Year's resolution or tightening up your budget or mastering your calendar.

No.

What I'm talking about is some deep soul work.

Where you allow the Holy Spirit to refine you like only He can.

Some very practical outlets that you can do for this, maybe making your life group or your home group not just a priority for your schedule, but a priority for your spiritual health.

For some of you, it may mean committing to United City youth on Wednesday nights.

For some of you, it may mean committing to United City young adults.

What's up?

On Tuesday nights.

I mean at 7:30, by the way.

But here's the deal: you're gonna find biblical community.

You're gonna find encouragement, you're gonna feel empowerment to actually showcase Jesus, not only when you're in this space, but in every space or room that you step into.

And church, let me tell you something.

This type of transformation, that type of empowerment, it does not come without work.

Think about it.

Instruction minus application is only knowledge.

But instruction plus application is growth.

And if you want to grow in 2024, you be led by the Spirit and you be committed to doing the work.

You know, I can only imagine what Solomon must have been thinking when he was given his charge in the sight of all of Israel.

A clear pathway to success, the keys to the kingdom and the service of everybody that was found in it.

God's gonna be with me.

I got everybody on my side.

My father's giving me the instructions.

All I gotta do is go do it.

This seems to be a piece of cake, to follow the course that God set for my life, and he's even told me the promises that are gonna come with it.

This should be easy.

And what we know is that Solomon took advantage of this golden egg that he was sitting on for a while.

But eventually, if we were to keep reading in the biblical narrative, what we would actually see is that in the book of 1 Kings 11, verse 4, Solomon's heart actually turns away from the Lord.

1 Kings 11:4

And in doing so, he subjects the nation of Israel to years of suffering and chaos and discord.

You know what this should tell us?

Is that even when the odds are in our favor and favor is in our corner, and we ask God to make us the most wisest person in the world, our humanness, our broken condition, still will find a way to veer us off.

And maybe that's your story.

That this year, over the last twelve months, you had everything at your finger.

It was right there.

All you had to do was step into it, but for some reason you still managed to drop the ball.

And you're not walking into 2024 confidently.

You're walking into 2024 afraid, scared, fearful, doubtful, hopeless.

That is you, I got some good news for you.

God knows the condition of your human heart and its propensity to drift.

He knew that no matter how hard you tried to stay the course, you would always seem to fall short, it says in Romans 3.23.

That's why he sent his son Jesus to stay the course in your place, so that if only you would believe that Jesus Christ came to live the life you could not.

Watch this.

That Jesus will allow himself to be led by the Spirit, that Jesus was obedient to doing the work that was necessary, even to the point of death, and believe that God raised him from the dead.

If you would believe that, friend, then you would not face punishment for your sin.

But instead, you would receive grace and life and love and pardon from it.

That even in the moments that you didn't stay the course, you would find rest and comfort in the knowledge that Jesus has made it possible for you not only to stay the course, but to find life as you continue on it.

If only you would believe that Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice and the ultimate redeemer.

This New Year's Eve, we can celebrate victoriously by grace that Jesus is the perfect sacrifice, our perfect sacrifice.

The anointed one who died in our place, who stayed the course when we could not, so that we could one day share in his victory over sin and death.

Today, we celebrate this by taking the Lord's Supper together.

So right now I want to invite our deacons to make their way forward as we prepare to do this together.

But before we do this, I just want us to take a moment to reflect on the goodness of God over the past 12 months.

Think about the moments where we feel like we crushed it.

Also think about the moments we feel like we missed it.

And then as we take this supper together, find comfort in the fact that one day it'll be done.

That one day Jesus will come back and he will make this alright.

That he will hug us and tell us that we did our best to stay the course.

But now that we're welcoming to his heavenly gate, so here's how this moment's gonna work.

I'm gonna pray for us, and then we'll be serving the supper, and then I'll come back and give us some instructions.

Will you pray with me?

Jesus, thank you for today.

Jesus, thank you for the opportunity that we get to gather here on this, the last day of 2023, in your house so publicly.

Jesus, I ask you now to be with us.

As we do this in instruction according to what you've asked us to do, Jesus, I pray that we look to you as the author and the perfecter of our faith.

Jesus, I pray that you give us the ability now to celebrate this well with you.

To know that in the moments where we missed it, where we did not stay the course, but in the moments where we stayed the course, it doesn't matter because you are the perfect sacrifice.

And so long as we believe that, Jesus, we're good.

And so, Jesus, be with us now as we prepare to take the Lord's Supper.

So in your name we pray.

Amen.

You have proven you do just like you say those stories make you know, how can you speak up to France?

To me.

God remains the age, the earth may pass away, word remains the same, here's the rig and true, nothing you can do, faithful and true, all this cause may come and make the world pay past, and then my heart will speak a word.

My anchor to the love and foundation in the way is on the night that Jesus was betrayed, he took his disciples into the upper room and he said, For often as you eat of this bread and drink of this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

Jesus took the bread and after he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body which is broken for you.

Do this in remembrance of me.

In the same way, he took the cup and said, This cup is the new covenant of my blood.

As often as you drink of it, do this in remembrance of me.

Church family, at this point, I'm aware that there are a lot of things happening in the room in your personal life, maybe in your professional life, maybe in your family life.

And for some of you, you've heard what I said today, and you're like, Josh, I don't feel like I've been led by the right things because for some reason I want to go this way, but because of what's leading me, I always find myself here.

And today, maybe what you need to do is a course correct.

Maybe today the decision you need to make before 2023 ends is that you finally need to make the commitment to follow Jesus for the rest of your days, trusting that his design for your life is the best design that's out there.

And if that is you, then I'm gonna allow you to pray a prayer here in just a second.

For some of you, you are walking the course, you're staying the course.

But we believe that everybody's got a next step, and so maybe for you that's baptism.

Maybe for you, in order to continue on the course that God has set for you, maybe this is the next thing that He's got in store for you.

For some of you, maybe joining United City.

But I'm also aware that this is the last day of 2023.

And for some of you, you might just want to come with your family right here, but you've got space for that.

And you just want to pray a prayer of protection and provision as we go into 2024.

Maybe you just want to pray for direction and guidance for your family.

I can think of a better way to end one year and begin another than on your knees praying and asking God to be your shepherd and your God.

And so here's how this moment's gonna go.

I'm gonna pray.

And after I pray, we're gonna have our team up here ready to receive you.

And if you just need to pray with somebody, we can do that for you.

If you need to tell somebody that you just prayed the prayer of salvation to receive and accept Jesus Christ as the Savior of your life, we can do that as well.

And if you just want to come forward and pray down here with your family, there's space for you to do that too.

Don't let this moment pass, it's for you.

Because what I know is this from the rising sun to the setting same, God is faithful, so you stay the Course.

God is faithful, you stay the Course.

Let's pray.

Jesus, thank you so much for an incredible time of worship.

Jesus, thank you for the ability that we get to come and we get to serve a holy God that's holy and perfect and true.

That even though you were God, you did not consider equality with God at the time a thing to be grasped, but instead you emptied yourself, you humbled yourself before us, obedient, obedient until the point of death.

But we know the story doesn't stop there, Jesus.

We know that you were resurrected from the grave with all power and authority in your hands, and if only we would believe that you were the perfect sacrifice for us, then our future would not be death, alienation, and separation, but it would be life, it would be hope, it would be joy, it would be a life lived to the fullest, a life of abundance, Jesus, as you've promised us.

And so if you're in the room, you have not given your life to Jesus, just repeat after me.

God, I'm aware that I have strayed the course that you set for my life.

I'm aware that I have sinned against myself, against people, and against you.

But God, I believe that you sent your son Jesus to die in my place, to stay the course when I could not.

So that if only I would believe that he was the perfect sacrifice and the perfect example, then my future would not be death, but my future would be life and life eternal.

Jesus, I give my life to you in this moment.

I trust you with every part of myself.

I know it's gonna be hard, but Jesus, you are so worth it.

Jesus, I choose to allow you to lead me and nothing else.

Come into my life, be my risen Lord and Savior.

Jesus, for the people in the room that just need to come forward in a moment of repentance and confession, that just need to be honest here on the last day of 2023 and just admit that they have not stayed the course how they wished to.

I pray right now by your powerful spirit that you would begin moving them even now to the front to just have a moment of honesty with another brother or sister in Christ and just a moment with you.

And Jesus, for every family in this room, every family represented, I pray that as we step into 2024, that we would stay the course and not by our own power, not by our own might, but by the Spirit of the living God that lives inside of us, that we will allow ourselves to be led by you and that we'll be committed to doing the work.

Jesus, right now as we enter into this moment of response, I pray that you be over it and I pray that you be in it.

To you get all the glory in this place because we believe the truth of Romans 8.28.

That says that no matter how many detours we've taken in this life, that no matter how many U-turns we've had to take, no matter how many exit roads or dirt roads we've been down, we believe the truth of Romans 8.28 that says that you are working all things for good for those that live according to your word.

And so, Jesus, right now in this moment, I pray that it's you and only you that gets the glory.

Only you get the praise in this place, Jesus, to you be glorified, all glory, all majesty.

And it's in your name that we pray.

Amen.

Respond.

Amen.

How do you stay the course?

You be led and you be committed to doing the work.

I'd love to pray for us really quickly and then I'll transition to close.

Would you just continue to keep your heads bowed and your eyes closed if you would?

I just want to ask in the quietness of this moment.

We've got people all up front that are praying.

We want to continue to our season of prayer.

If you're here today and you would just say, man, I'm closing out a rough year.

This is a this is a turning of the uh of the calendar that honestly, man, I am grateful for.

I'm grateful because it's been hard, I'm grateful because of loss, I'm grateful because of whatever that I can just put this aside.

Can you just lift your hands up?

I want to pray for you today.

I want to pray for you today, all over the place.

Father in heaven, I come before you and I pray for these, Lord, who have their hands lifted.

God, I pray that you would be sufficient for them in their weakness.

I pray, God, that you would meet them at their point of need.

We thank you that you are a faithful God.

That you are a God who promises to us that you will go before us.

Lord, you knew this was going to be a rough year.

But Father, we also know that you know things we don't.

Father, we know that you own a cattle on a thousand hills.

You are the great provider.

And so, Father, I pray that your provision would be abundant for everyone that's got their hands up.

Father, you would give them grace where they need grace.

I pray, God, that you would give them a confession where they need confession.

I pray, Father, that you would lead them to repentance if that's what they need.

I pray, God, that you would help them to see, Lord, the error of their ways.

They would be led by the Spirit.

They would have someone speak a word behind them saying, This is the way, walk in it.

May they recognize your voice and may they do it.

Father, I pray that you would bring healing where it needs to be.

I pray, God, that you would bring reconciliation where it needs to be.

I pray, God, that you would bring hope.

You can put your hands down.

If you're here today and you would say, I'm expectant.

I'm heading into a new year and I've got some some potentially big things coming up.

I've got some exciting things coming up.

Maybe you would even say, I've got some difficult things that are coming up.

And you would just say, I need God's hand of blessing on my life.

Would you raise your hands?

Just raise your hands all over the place.

Keep your hands raised.

Father, we come before you and we thank you.

We thank you, Father, that we can call upon you.

And that not only will you meet us in our time of need, but Father, you go before us.

Father, I pray your blessing today.

I pray, God, that your hand would be upon each and every one of us.

That we would experience your favor as we walk in obedience to you.

Father, may we not only hear your voice, but as Josh taught us, Lord, may we do the work.

I pray, God, that whatever work that comes before us, Lord, that we may already be nervous about, that we may be excited about, that we may be challenged by, Father, I pray that you would give us the willingness to do it.

Father, because ultimately we know that there is a joy that comes when we walk in obedience with you.

May that be the case today.

It's in the name of Jesus that I pray.

Amen.

Would you let me do one more thing?

I want to pray one more time before we leave here.

Last thing we're gonna do here in 2023 at the church.

Psalm chapter 150 says, Praise the Lord, praise God in his sanctuary, praise him in his mighty heavens, praise him for his acts of power, praise him for his surpassing greatness, praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and the lyre, praise him with timbrel and dancing, praise him with the strings and pipe, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals.

Psalms 150 · chapter mention

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord, praise the Lord.

Do me a favor, I want everybody just to lift their hands up and praise to the Lord.

Father in heaven, we come before you and we thank you for the blessings of 2023.

We thank you, Father, that we know that no matter what we went through these past 12 months, Father, you were faithful every single step of the way.

Father, we raise our hands and praise to you because you are a God who deserves every bit of praise, Lord.

The times when we experience loss, the times when we experience pain, the times when we experience hurt.

Father, we knew you are not wasting any of those in our lives.

God, you are using each and every one to remind us that this is not our home.

But Father, we have the hope of knowing that there will be a place and there will be a time where there'll be no more pain and no more crying and no more trials and no more difficulties.

Father, we thank you for the good times.

We thank you, Father, for the times, and it was so obvious that you are there.

We thank you for the times, and your presence was so overwhelming, Father.

We give you the praise because we know we got to live yet another year and see your goodness and see your faithfulness.

Now I want to ask you to do me a favor.

You can put your hands down, shake them out a little bit.

You didn't know you were gonna work out.

I want you to stick your hands out like this.

Let's pray together.

Father, we come now into a new year, asking for your hand of mercy and grace upon each and every one of us.

Father, we receive the blessing that comes with walking with you.

Father, I pray that you would unite us in love like never before.

Father, I pray that we would be able to not even comprehend the goodness of your mercy and your grace and your love that abounds more and more and more.

Father, I pray this would be a year where we give more than we've ever given before.

I pray, Father, as we head into 2024, that we would share our faith more than we've ever shared it before.

Lord, may the joy that comes with knowing you be so obvious that people look at our face and they can tell we've been with Jesus.

Father, I pray for next steps.

I pray for the work that you have convicted us even this morning that we should do, that we would not make empty promises, but Lord, may Josh's challenge be so true that God Northeast Houston would be different because the people of United City Church receive your blessing and commit themselves to be a blessing to those around us.

And so, Father, no matter what challenges, good things, tough things, great things, and just everyday things come in 2024.

Father, may you get glory in the church and in our lives.

To him and through him and for him are all things.

We pray these things in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

Amen.

We'll see you guys next week, 9 30 and 11.

Y'all have a great year.