Sermon

Lean in to TRUSTING God // Lean In Series (part 2) // Pastor Morgan

Collective Church Omaha

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  1. All right. How are we doing during our

  2. fast?

  3. >> Is anybody hungry?

  4. >> Hallelujah. [laughter]

  5. >> Anybody bored without your screens?

  6. [gasps]

  7. >> Yeah. I uh the other day, this is going

  8. to slide. The other day uh after prayer

  9. service, we got home and I'm like I

  10. turned to my husband. And I said, "I

  11. just want chocolate so bad." And when

  12. you live in a pastor's house, he'll look

  13. at you and say, "But you want the Lord

  14. more."

  15. And I'm like, "Yeah, but I want

  16. chocolate, too." [laughter]

  17. [gasps]

  18. But seriously, everybody that's taking

  19. part in the fast, we are fasting as a

  20. church for two weeks. And um it's hard.

  21. It's hard to do, but I just know that

  22. God reveals so much. It's not just about

  23. stopping eating or stopping looking at

  24. screens. It's about spending time with

  25. the Lord. And he really blesses that and

  26. honors it. So, thank you for doing that.

  27. If you haven't joined in on the fast,

  28. you still we're we're only halfway

  29. through. So, we've got another seven

  30. days. Please join in with us. We're

  31. doing media and a food fast. So, pick a

  32. food that you love and we're we're

  33. stopping it. And then pick something of

  34. media that you love and we're not going

  35. to do that the next seven days. Um, we

  36. also have a reading plan that you can

  37. join in if you could pull that slide up.

  38. You can scan this code and every morning

  39. at 6:00 a.m. you're going to get a video

  40. message from Pastor Drew. It's about 2

  41. to three minutes long. They are so good.

  42. and you're gonna get a scripture along

  43. with that sent to your phone um for you

  44. to read for that day. So, please join in

  45. with us. Well, today we're in a series

  46. called Lean In. And last week we talked

  47. about leaning in closer to the Lord. And

  48. today we are talking about leaning into

  49. trusting God.

  50. I think that now it is harder than ever

  51. to trust God. Not because he's less

  52. trustworthy,

  53. but because our world is so

  54. untrustworthy.

  55. And I think that oftent times the way

  56. that we trust people is the same way

  57. that we trust God. If we have high trust

  58. in people, we tend to have an easy time

  59. trusting God. And if we have a low trust

  60. in people, then we have a hard time

  61. trusting God. And we typically start our

  62. relationships wanting people to prove

  63. that they're trustworthy. I want you to

  64. think about your closest relationships.

  65. You probably didn't trust them right

  66. away. It grew with time. It grew with

  67. intentionally investing in the

  68. relationship. It doesn't just happen. My

  69. husband, when I first met him, I was

  70. like, "This guy is too nice."

  71. Like, no one is actually this nice and

  72. this excited all the time. You all know

  73. he's got to be putting on a front. I

  74. don't trust his intentions are good, but

  75. I'm going to give him a shot because

  76. he's cute and he loves Jesus.

  77. >> [laughter and gasps]

  78. >> And over time as I got to know him, I

  79. realized that that is actually just who

  80. he is. I grew to trust that he is a

  81. really nice guy and he's really joyful

  82. and excited all the time. And so now

  83. when people say, "Is he always like

  84. that?" Because I do get that question. I

  85. can be like, "Yes, trust me. I have

  86. relationship with him. It's actually who

  87. he is." but they don't know because they

  88. don't have the history that I do and the

  89. trust that's been built. [snorts] So,

  90. our personal relationships, a lot of

  91. them are moments and interactions of

  92. just building trust. It's one of the

  93. most important parts of a healthy

  94. relationship. And when it's broken, it's

  95. really hard to restore. It can take

  96. years to build and a dumb moment to

  97. break trust.

  98. How many of you have ever been there

  99. where you've spent what seems like a

  100. lifetime building trust with somebody, a

  101. boss, a friend, a spouse, and in a

  102. moment the trust is broken and you are

  103. just left devastated.

  104. It's not a fun place.

  105. We all, everybody in this room, we have

  106. some sort of trust trauma.

  107. And some people will choose to rebuild

  108. and repair and some don't. But every

  109. relationship we have had over the course

  110. of our life, it directly affects us and

  111. it affects how we view and pursue our

  112. trust in God.

  113. Because of these human relationships,

  114. our minds have a really hard time

  115. fathoming a God that's perfect and a God

  116. that's trustworthy. [snorts] Our brains

  117. can only fathom so much. And every day,

  118. all the time, we are experiencing people

  119. breaking

  120. that trust. And because of that, then we

  121. have a hard time building a relationship

  122. that we can't experience in the natural.

  123. And trusting a God that's supernatural

  124. and perfect is very hard. It takes

  125. supernatural strength and faith that's

  126. not of ourselves to trust that he is

  127. trustworthy, that he has a perfect plan

  128. for my life, to trust that he doesn't do

  129. any wrong. And to live from that place

  130. every day, every moment, every hour,

  131. it's extraordinarily hard. But we don't

  132. serve and love a natural God. We serve

  133. and love a supernatural God. And by his

  134. power, I believe that we can learn to

  135. trust him in a supernatural way.

  136. I believe that if you love Jesus and if

  137. you're called according to his purpose,

  138. then you are called to live beyond what

  139. you can think and comprehend and even

  140. dream. You are called to live with

  141. supernatural trust.

  142. Jeremiah 1 or Jeremiah 17 says what a

  143. person of trust in God looks like in

  144. verse seven and 8. It says, "Blessed is

  145. the one who trusts in the Lord whose

  146. confidence is in him. You will be like a

  147. tree planted by the water that sends out

  148. its roots by the stream. It does not

  149. fear when heat comes. Its leaves are

  150. always green and it has no worries in a

  151. year of drought and it never fails to

  152. bear fruit.

  153. Those who trust in the Lord, no matter

  154. the season they're in, will never fail

  155. to see the greatness of God.

  156. Today we are going to talk about a man

  157. who had every right to turn from God by

  158. human standards and yet he trusted

  159. anyway. And I hope that by the end of

  160. today that we can learn how to lean in

  161. to trusting God more. So if you would

  162. why don't you turn to Habach chapter 3.

  163. It's in the Old Testament near the end

  164. of the Old Testament. Habach 3. Somebody

  165. tell me that you're there when you're

  166. there.

  167. Are we there?

  168. Okay. I need more than one.

  169. >> All right. Habach chapter 3. Habach was

  170. a prophet and he is writing a prayerful

  171. psalm. A prophet is somebody that speaks

  172. on behalf of God. And so he begins the

  173. prayer in verse two by saying,"Lord,

  174. I have heard of your fame and I stand in

  175. awe of your deeds." We're going to stop

  176. there.

  177. Have you ever been in a place where you

  178. are in awe of God? Something that he did

  179. maybe for you, maybe for somebody else.

  180. That's what Habach's doing. He's

  181. praising God for things that he's

  182. previously done.

  183. It is so important that when you go to

  184. God in prayer that you start with

  185. gratitude because gratitude will shift

  186. the posture of your heart. Your prayers

  187. will begin to sound different when you

  188. start them in praise. So Habach, he's in

  189. this place of gratitude. We're going to

  190. keep reading. Then he says, God, repeat

  191. those same things in our day.

  192. He's telling God, "If you've done it

  193. before, if you've done it for them, will

  194. you do it for me?" Man, how many of us

  195. are praying that prayer? Would you do

  196. this in this season, in this hour?

  197. Verse 3 through 15 is Habach recalling

  198. things that the Lord has done. I want

  199. you to read through that while I just I

  200. preface or I share kind of in summary

  201. what he's saying. He's talking about

  202. things that happened in the book of

  203. Exodus. He's talking about when God came

  204. on Mount Si. He's talking about God

  205. delivering the people when the plagues

  206. came. He's recalling miracles on water.

  207. God did not just do one or two miracles

  208. on water. There's more. When he says

  209. that the sun and moon stood still, he's

  210. referring to Joshua 10 where God

  211. actually extends the day during a

  212. battle.

  213. So, he's recalling through history the

  214. things that God has done. It's similar

  215. to us saying, "God, remember when you

  216. healed this person? Remember when you

  217. provided for me before? Remember when

  218. you spoke to my heart that one time?"

  219. And then asking, "Would you do it

  220. again?"

  221. And the next verse is what I want you to

  222. hear. Verse 16, he says, "I heard and my

  223. heart pounded."

  224. And so now after he recalled what God

  225. has done, these great things, he gets

  226. vulnerable with God and shows that he is

  227. feeling fearful.

  228. Feeling fearful is not sin.

  229. Staying in a sinful or in a fearful

  230. place is sin. That's what brings on

  231. anxiety. So he's like, "God, I heard

  232. what you're going to do and I'm feeling

  233. fear."

  234. Does anybody in the room look at their

  235. circumstance today and feel fear?

  236. Anybody?

  237. It could be a good thing and you still

  238. feel fear. Could be hardship. The next

  239. sentence, he quickly moves on and he

  240. says, "Yet

  241. I will wait patiently for I know what is

  242. coming." So he is acknowledging what he

  243. feels and in the same breath he's

  244. declaring what's to come. He doesn't

  245. pray what is coming away.

  246. He says, "I will wait patiently for it."

  247. And what you find out soon is that what

  248. is coming is not a good thing. And he

  249. knows that a lot of us pray for God to

  250. deliver us from our pain or our

  251. hardship.

  252. And if he doesn't, we either sulk in the

  253. hardship or we start doing what we feel

  254. we need to do because of a lack of trust

  255. and being scared of what might happen.

  256. scared of being alone, scared of not

  257. being healed or not being able to

  258. provide, not being able to have

  259. something that you wanted.

  260. Most people usually make two plans in

  261. their mind, if we're being honest. One

  262. is if God comes through, and the other

  263. is if he doesn't.

  264. An example of this would be if God comes

  265. through for me in the prayer that I'm

  266. praying that I'm going to have a godly

  267. man or woman. If he doesn't, I'll choose

  268. the next best thing and I'm going to get

  269. him to love God. We don't say this, but

  270. our actions often times live this out.

  271. I'm going to choose the guy that kind of

  272. loves Jesus, but not really because I

  273. feel like I need or I want someone that

  274. bad.

  275. Well, the reality is that you have two

  276. plans and one person that you trust. And

  277. that person is you.

  278. And instead of waiting and trusting, we

  279. take matters into our own hands and we

  280. make what we believe to be the best

  281. decision for us.

  282. In this, your prayers sound good, but

  283. your actions show a lack of trust in

  284. God. Your plan was to always do what you

  285. thought was the best thing. And we're

  286. always trying to tell God what we think

  287. is best.

  288. And I'm not saying to never do anything

  289. and to just wait, wait, wait, wait,

  290. wait. There's wisdom. Don't stay in a

  291. bad situation.

  292. But I'm saying that I think that we

  293. rarely ever take the time before we do

  294. anything to open up our Bibles and pray,

  295. God, what does your word say? What do

  296. you want me to do with this?

  297. We rarely wait for God to open the door

  298. and then move. More often than not, we

  299. pray, we open the door ourselves, and

  300. then we move.

  301. And most of the time we look back and we

  302. go, "Man, I wish I would have waited for

  303. God to do the moving instead of me."

  304. It would benefit us to be more like

  305. Habach and to acknowledge the hard

  306. season and yet choose to trust, to wait

  307. patiently that if God did not provide

  308. the job that maybe he wants you to stay

  309. where you are in the hard place. that if

  310. he doesn't bring you a godly woman or

  311. man that maybe it wasn't his plan or his

  312. timing

  313. and we would find that God had something

  314. better on the way. It is not always that

  315. if we don't wait that we don't find a

  316. good thing. I hear that a lot. Oh, but

  317. it's a good thing. It's more that when

  318. we don't wait, we don't find the best

  319. thing. And more often than not, God is

  320. calling us to sit in the wrestle and the

  321. wait because he knows on the other side

  322. of that thing is the best thing

  323. here. Habach knows that they are about

  324. to be invaded on. So Babylon is coming

  325. to invade Judah and Habach is troubled

  326. by this because Babylon is bad. Judah's

  327. bad, but Babylon is worse.

  328. They're more wicked. And so, Habach is

  329. like confused. Like, why God would you

  330. allow this? Why is he allowing a wicked

  331. people to invade Judah? You ever asked

  332. that question, God, why are you allowing

  333. this?

  334. Why are you allowing me to suffer?

  335. Why are you allowing that bad person to

  336. see their dreams come true? Why aren't

  337. you giving me the wife or the child? Why

  338. aren't you healing me yet? Why do those

  339. bad people look like the favor of God is

  340. all over them? And here I am praying and

  341. serving you and loving you and I feel

  342. like I get nothing because of it.

  343. Why am I called higher but no one else

  344. is?

  345. And then in verse 17, he goes through

  346. this list of all that he sees that it's

  347. going to be bad. Showing that God's

  348. provision isn't with him, that he's not

  349. bringing blessing. He says here, the fig

  350. tree isn't budding. There are no grapes

  351. on the vine. The olive crops are

  352. failing. The fields are producing no

  353. food. There's no sheep in the pen and no

  354. cattle in the stalls.

  355. And he's painting a picture of how dry

  356. and dark and bad things look. He's being

  357. honest about the look of things.

  358. But how many of us know that just

  359. because it looks bad or looks hard

  360. doesn't supposed doesn't mean that we're

  361. not supposed to be right there.

  362. He says in verse 18 once again he uses

  363. that word yet

  364. I will rejoice.

  365. What he's saying is I will be pray I

  366. will praise and be filled with joy and

  367. hope and trust despite what I see. It

  368. might look like winter outside but I

  369. trust that summer is coming right. I

  370. will be joyful. He says in God my

  371. savior. I want you to see something here

  372. that this is not just a line that fits

  373. well. This is a statement. It's an

  374. acknowledgment of the miracle of

  375. salvation. So, Habach is recalling again

  376. what God has done. I rejoice in the God

  377. of my salvation

  378. because salvation is a miracle that it's

  379. available to us and it shows God's

  380. faithfulness and trustworthiness.

  381. So he's reminding himself of this again.

  382. Nowhere in this does Habach ask God to

  383. change course or to do differently.

  384. And many of us we don't pray like this.

  385. If you don't live with this kind of

  386. understanding, there are so many

  387. unbelieving believers in our world where

  388. we are panicking instead of turning to

  389. this kind of prayer.

  390. We are leaning on our own understanding,

  391. our own capabilities, our own solutions,

  392. even our own ideas and creativity.

  393. And then because we are trying to figure

  394. it out on our own, we find ourselves

  395. turning back towards sin, turning to

  396. dark places because we trust that place

  397. more than we trust the waiting season.

  398. We trust that alcohol will alleviate the

  399. feelings inside my heart.

  400. We trust the relationship will heal my

  401. past trauma. It's going to fulfill my

  402. longing for love. And we don't believe

  403. that God will give us something good

  404. because we've never been good enough for

  405. anyone.

  406. And so because we aren't good enough, we

  407. loathe in self-pity.

  408. We don't trust him with our finances.

  409. And so we hoard them. We don't trust

  410. it'll save our kids. And so we tend to

  411. shove religion down their throats in

  412. hopes that we can save them. And we

  413. repeat cycles from our childhood. and

  414. past trauma because we don't believe

  415. that we can actually be set free.

  416. And what happens with this type of

  417. thinking is that we are found praying

  418. with a lack of faith and trust that God

  419. is faithful and good and kind and that

  420. he has our best interest always.

  421. We have Christians, I want you to hear

  422. me when I say this. We have Christians

  423. who are constantly declaring and

  424. proclaiming their pain and what they've

  425. been through way more than what God has

  426. done for them.

  427. And as I read Habach, I want this kind

  428. of trust that you and I would grab hold

  429. of the bigger story that he's writing. I

  430. think that if we truly believed in the

  431. depths of our soul that God has the best

  432. plan, then we could ever imagine that we

  433. would live so different.

  434. For some, you look at the world and you

  435. see the pain and you question God.

  436. One of the greatest questions that we

  437. are asked on a weekly basis is why does

  438. God allow bad things to happen?

  439. My first response is because of sin and

  440. because if everything was only good,

  441. we'd have no reason to trust and no

  442. reason for God.

  443. And my second response is that I don't

  444. know.

  445. I don't know why he allows abuse.

  446. I don't know why children have cancer.

  447. I don't know why people have to suffer.

  448. And I think that one of the biggest

  449. mistakes a pastor can make is to claim

  450. to know everything.

  451. Because I think that we're all going to

  452. get to heaven one day

  453. and Jesus is going to look at me and you

  454. and he's going to be like, "You thought

  455. that you knew a lot.

  456. Your Moody Bible Institute degree."

  457. Yes.

  458. No. You thought that you knew a lot, but

  459. there was so much that you didn't. And

  460. it's a good thing because we never were

  461. created to. [snorts]

  462. But what I do know,

  463. and what I believe that I'm supposed to

  464. know

  465. is that he wants us to know

  466. that beyond a shadow of a doubt that he

  467. is good. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, he

  468. is faithful and he is trustworthy.

  469. And the only way that I can know that is

  470. by knowing him, by building relationship

  471. with him.

  472. Because only someone in relationship can

  473. say to somebody who's in pain or

  474. somebody who's in a waiting season, "No,

  475. no,

  476. you believe that." But I want to tell

  477. you, I know God to be good. I know him

  478. to be faithful. I know him to be kind.

  479. And he's going to see you through.

  480. The more that you know him through his

  481. word and through prayer, the more we can

  482. be like Job. In the book of Job, he

  483. says, "Though he slay me,

  484. yet I will trust him."

  485. And if we want to mature this year, we

  486. have to lean in to trusting him. I

  487. remember when our kids were little,

  488. they would they would be learning to

  489. swim and we'd be at the pool and I'd go

  490. further out in the deep end and they'd

  491. be like, "Mom, they're holding on to the

  492. ledge. Mom,

  493. come back." And me wanting them to

  494. overcome their fear and swim to me, I

  495. would be like, "No, come. You can do

  496. it." And as they're holding on to the

  497. edge of the pool, at some point they'd

  498. lean forward.

  499. And then at another point, they'd let

  500. go. And once they did that, there wasn't

  501. really any going back. They're coming

  502. for me. Right? At some point, we have to

  503. let go of the ledge. And we have to lean

  504. into it knowing that on the other side

  505. that God is going to be there. Just like

  506. Peter when he was about to step out of

  507. the boat,

  508. he's like, "Jesus, if that's you, I'll

  509. come."

  510. And he went. He went all in.

  511. We have to be people that lean in all

  512. the way. We can't just go far enough in

  513. that if he doesn't come through that

  514. I've got my backup plan. I've still I

  515. can still take over. We have to go all

  516. in. And that means being willing to be

  517. disappointed.

  518. You see, the people that inspire me the

  519. most in their walk with God are not

  520. those that get what they want and are

  521. walking with God. It's those who don't

  522. get what they want and they're still

  523. walking.

  524. They're still serving. They're still

  525. trusting. They're still faithful.

  526. The end of this scripture in verse 19,

  527. it says, "The sovereign Lord is my

  528. strength.

  529. He makes my feet like the feet of a

  530. deer. He enables me

  531. to tread on the heights."

  532. Satie, if you could come. There have

  533. been seasons of my life [snorts]

  534. where God has come through.

  535. many seasons that he hasn't. I feel like

  536. he hasn't.

  537. There are seasons that I've trusted him,

  538. seasons that I haven't. And yet, through

  539. every season, he has enabled me to tread

  540. through.

  541. Many of you know this story. Nine years

  542. ago, last month, our daughter was born

  543. prematurely. She was born as a 28-week

  544. baby, three pounds. um had complications

  545. and uh it was a learning season for us,

  546. a growth season. We didn't know if God

  547. was going to heal her

  548. and we would sit in the hospital and

  549. just plead with the Lord, God, would you

  550. heal her? Um her sugars were dropping to

  551. the teens all the time. And I remember

  552. one day about two weeks in, we were at

  553. home cuz we had two other little kids.

  554. We both had full-time jobs and we

  555. couldn't just sit at the hospital all

  556. the time. And the doctor calls

  557. uh and just crazy things happened. The

  558. in the in the room when she was born, we

  559. had to do an emergency C-section. I had

  560. my sister there. [music] I had my

  561. husband there. I had the doctor that I

  562. loved there. my our uh NICU surge

  563. [music] tech was one of my best friends.

  564. Our NICU nurse was my other good friend

  565. and the NICU doctor [music] was in my

  566. choir at the time. Just crazy how God

  567. provided. And [music] the these are

  568. pictures. I wanted you to just see how

  569. little she was.

  570. And [music]

  571. uh we

  572. were sitting he my husband's sitting on

  573. the couch. I'm holding the phone on

  574. speaker phone [music]

  575. and the doctor says, the NICU doctor

  576. calls and she says, you know, we are

  577. pumping so much medicine into her that

  578. we [music] just can't do it anymore cuz

  579. she's too little. Her body literally

  580. can't handle it. and [music] we're going

  581. to call in a Piku doctor from a

  582. different state. Going to have to travel

  583. in to try and [music] get a pick line in

  584. her head so that we could try and get

  585. the medicine that way because we just we

  586. can't keep doing it. She's too little 3

  587. and 12 lb. [music]

  588. And

  589. I remember being like,

  590. "Oh no, you know, what do we do?" And

  591. before the NICU doctor got [music] off

  592. the phone,

  593. she read the scripture to us. She said,

  594. "I've been young and I've been old, but

  595. I've never seen the righteous forsaken."

  596. And that scripture gave me so much hope

  597. and not in the outcome, but that God

  598. [music] would be faithful.

  599. And so, we came to this place of just

  600. supernatural trust. [music]

  601. I don't know how to explain it to you,

  602. but we had trust that even if God didn't

  603. heal her, even if he took her, that

  604. [music] he was still good because we had

  605. history with God to know that he was

  606. going to be faithful no matter [music]

  607. what. And I remember

  608. sitting in a [music] rocking chair,

  609. holding her in the palm of my hand,

  610. singing, "It is well with my soul."

  611. Saying, "God, whatever you want to do,"

  612. as tears streamed down my face. And just

  613. because I trusted him, it didn't mean

  614. that it was pain-free. And for whatever

  615. reason,

  616. God decided [music] to miraculously heal

  617. her seven months later. And we celebrate

  618. that. Yes, we are so grateful.

  619. Praise him [music] every day for that

  620. miracle. And that miracle story is for

  621. another time. But my reason [music] for

  622. saying this is cuz what I've learned

  623. is that just because he graciously

  624. answered the prayer of my heart in that

  625. season, it doesn't mean he will always

  626. answer [music] the way that I desire.

  627. And I have to trust that even when he

  628. doesn't, he is still good. What I know

  629. today [music] is that there are people

  630. in this room that you hear that miracle

  631. and it a little bit makes you mad

  632. because you haven't seen yours yet.

  633. And I want to tell you that there are

  634. other things today, [music]

  635. illnesses in my family that God still

  636. hasn't healed. There are dreams inside

  637. my [music] heart that God still hasn't

  638. allowed to come to pass. There are

  639. promises that he gave me 20 years ago

  640. that I'm wondering when he's going to do

  641. it. And if I'm being honest, at times I

  642. lack the faith that he will.

  643. There are days that I'm sitting at his

  644. feet and I'm crying [music] and I'm

  645. wondering if he hears me.

  646. There are things that I know that he's

  647. capable of doing and he hasn't done it

  648. yet.

  649. And I've learned that my life and your

  650. life is an [music] ongoing series of

  651. opportunities to daily trust. And just

  652. when the trust starts building, another

  653. opportunity [music] comes.

  654. And what he does in one person's life or

  655. in one person's [music]

  656. season, he may not do in yours.

  657. And we have to choose to trust not based

  658. on what he has done. [music]

  659. I recall because it spurs me on, but my

  660. trust has to be based on who I know him

  661. to be. And as much as I want to get good

  662. at fervently praying and fervently

  663. [music]

  664. believing for those good things to come,

  665. I don't ever want to stop believing for

  666. that. I feel like God has given me the

  667. gift of faith and I pray that that never

  668. stops. But even more than that, what I

  669. want to become good at is trusting him.

  670. In the seasons where I don't see the

  671. miracle yet,

  672. I want to be good at even if he doesn't.

  673. I'll still love you just as much as if

  674. you did do it. I'll [music] still trust

  675. you just as much. I'm still dependent on

  676. you. I'll still serve you just as

  677. faithfully.

  678. And I may feel disappointed when he

  679. doesn't answer my prayer, but I'm not

  680. going to strive for things. I'm not

  681. going to dwell on an outcome. I'm going

  682. to trust that he didn't do it for a

  683. reason or he did do it for a reason. I

  684. trust that if he hasn't answered my

  685. prayer yet, that he's still working and

  686. that he still has things for me to

  687. learn.

  688. And I believe that we can [music]

  689. testify of his goodness and faithfulness

  690. for what he's already done while we are

  691. still waiting for the things that we're

  692. believing him for.

  693. That is a life of faith.

  694. That is a life of trust.

  695. I want you to get out your notebooks if

  696. you haven't already, and I want you to

  697. write this down. I wanted to do this in

  698. service, but [music] we don't have time.

  699. I want you to take 10 minutes when you

  700. go home.

  701. Please, please do this. I want you to

  702. write down, I have seen you show up in

  703. my life. And I want you to write down

  704. five [music] ways that he has profoundly

  705. shown himself faithful. We are modeling

  706. Habach's [music] prayer. Then I want you

  707. to write, I trust that I will see you.

  708. What? What are you trusting him for this

  709. year?

  710. And then I want you to write, "And even

  711. if not,

  712. I [music] choose to trust you."

  713. And the only way to start trusting

  714. is to [music] just lean into it.

  715. Are we gonna lean in to [music] the

  716. moment and the season that we're in?

  717. Every [music] person in here, no matter

  718. who you are, you're in a season of

  719. trusting God for something.

  720. Are we going to lean into it today?

  721. Would you stand to your feet?

  722. I sat with the Lord in my car the other

  723. day. I said, "God, [music]

  724. would you speak to me

  725. what [music] the people in this room

  726. that are going to be there this Sunday,

  727. what you are believing for and areas

  728. that you are asking them [music] to

  729. trust you in?"

  730. And so, as I speak these,

  731. I'm going to ask you to do something

  732. brave and bold. [music] I'm going to ask

  733. you to step away from the ledge, the

  734. edge of the pool, and I'm going to ask

  735. [music] you to come forward. And we're

  736. just going to make this an altar of our

  737. burdens, an [music] altar of the things

  738. that we are laying down and we're

  739. leaning in to [music] trusting God on.

  740. So, if this is you, can we just close

  741. our eyes in this room? I want you to

  742. come forward as a sign of laying that

  743. thought or [music] feeling down. And

  744. then we're going to pray. The first one,

  745. and if you if you feel led to just come

  746. forward because you're needing to trust

  747. him, just [music] just do that as I

  748. speak. The first one is that you have

  749. not seen God as savior and lord, and God

  750. [music] is asking you to trust him as

  751. savior. If that's you, would you come

  752. forward?

  753. The next is you believe that what you

  754. have is not enough and you've been

  755. asking God to give you financial

  756. increase and he hasn't yet. If that's

  757. [music] you, come forward. You are

  758. believing that God won't that you won't

  759. be complete [music] or fully satisfied

  760. until you have the white picket fence,

  761. the kids, and a spouse.

  762. Your spouse [music] is not saved after

  763. years of prayer, and you are questioning

  764. why.

  765. You've been waiting years to be healed

  766. and the fact that it hasn't happened yet

  767. has you questioning his faithfulness.

  768. You are desiring to be loved and you are

  769. feeling alone because God hasn't brought

  770. the godly [music] person yet.

  771. Your job feels dark and hopeless and a

  772. new door hasn't opened yet.

  773. The dream [music] inside of your heart

  774. is not your reality yet.

  775. Your child's behavior has you at your

  776. wits end and you feel hopeless.

  777. Your marriage is in [music] a constant

  778. state of fighting and you don't feel

  779. loved or seen and you question why

  780. you're still in it.

  781. You feel a lack of purpose and it's left

  782. you with no drive, no joy, and [music]

  783. you're praying for it and it is not

  784. coming

  785. because of pain and trauma in your

  786. childhood. you're having a hard time

  787. trusting [music] God.

  788. And then I want to leave it open to

  789. anybody who has any area

  790. of your life [music]

  791. that God's putting on your heart right

  792. now that you lack trust in and you know

  793. it.

  794. [music] And today in this moment, we are

  795. laying it down [music] for good. We are

  796. walking into 2026 11 days in. And we're

  797. not [music] going to start a 12th day

  798. with this thing. We are laying down

  799. every what if, every why, every bitter

  800. thought, every question that we've had.

  801. We are laying it at his feet. And we are

  802. resting upon the one thing that we know

  803. to be true. And that [music] one thing

  804. is that he is trustworthy.

  805. We are letting go of that ledge [music]

  806. and we're leaning forward today. And so

  807. I want you with your own mouth, would

  808. you begin to cry out to God? Say, "God,

  809. I'm laying this thing down today and for

  810. good and forever. I am choosing to trust

  811. you with my whole body, mind, soul,

  812. spirit, with all of the strength that I

  813. can muster up today. I'm going to choose

  814. to trust you with this battle [music]

  815. that's in front of me. With this storm

  816. that is raging around me. With the

  817. illness that never leaves my side. With

  818. the thoughts that [music] constantly are

  819. consuming me.

  820. With the loneliness, with the aches,

  821. with the pain. God, we are turning to

  822. you today. The only one who can fully

  823. satisfy.

  824. The only one who can cover my shame. the

  825. only one who can cover my sin. The only

  826. one who can set me free today.

  827. You're the God that we come to. [music]

  828. The God that asked Peter to step out on

  829. the water

  830. and the God who held him up in that

  831. [music] storm. That is the God we call

  832. upon today. That's the God we seek.

  833. That's the God we serve. And so God, I

  834. pray for every person at this altar

  835. today.

  836. I pray Lord that you would meet them,

  837. that you would minister to their heart

  838. in a way that I can't, that no pastor

  839. can, that no [music] leader can, but

  840. only that you can. God, would you

  841. minister to the depths of their [music]

  842. soul today that they would know beyond a

  843. shadow of a doubt that you are good,

  844. that you are kind, that you are loving,

  845. that you are patient, that you are after

  846. them,

  847. [music]

  848. God, would you be faithful to your

  849. people today? Would you be faithful to

  850. your church today, your [music] bride?

  851. Lord, as tears come,

  852. would you minister? As our hearts ache,

  853. God, would you minister?

  854. Would you give us faith today, God?

  855. Faith beyond the natural. Faith that is

  856. supernatural.

  857. Would you give [music] us hope for

  858. brighter days? Hope for what's to come.

  859. Hope that you are and trust that you are

  860. [music] the God that you say you are.

  861. That you are perfect in all of your

  862. ways.

  863. And God, [music] we say, "It is well

  864. with my soul." Would you just [music]

  865. say that this morning? It is well with

  866. my soul.

  867. That we are believing [music] you for

  868. things, but even if not, it is well with

  869. my soul.

  870. We trust you. We [music] love you.

  871. We bless you.

  872. Jesus name. If you are still up here

  873. praying, feel free to continue [music]

  874. to pray and pray with somebody as our

  875. service host. Come up.

  876. >> That were spoken in the message that

  877. [music] you would remember the things

  878. that God spoke to your heart.

  879. >> Yeah. And no matter what it was that God

  880. spoke to you, I know that part of your

  881. journey is other people being in a

  882. community because we are better

  883. together. So if you made a decision to

  884. follow Jesus today, [music] would you

  885. click the link below and fill out the

  886. form? This is going to help us so that

  887. we can celebrate with you and equip

  888. [music] you with some tools so that your

  889. next steps are great steps.

  890. >> Yeah. Thanks so [music] much for

  891. watching. We're praying for you. We're

  892. cheering you on. We [music] believe that

  893. the best days are ahead of you.

  894. [music]