Lean In CLOSER // Lean In Series (part 1) // Pastor Drew

It is 2026. Happy new year. Who's ready

for what God has for this year?

Come on.

I don't know exactly what 2025 was like

for you. I don't know if it was your

best year ever. I don't know if it might

have been your worst year ever. But I'm

telling you right now, what I want to do

is I want everybody, everybody, can you

put your hand about this high? everybody

real quick and then I want you to just

wave it back and forth and say goodbye

2025.

I'm looking I'm I'm not looking back.

I'm not hanging on to that because God's

got a new thing, a new growth. I just I

just believe that he's having us step

into this season. I've got so much faith

and expectation for what he has for me

for 2026, for collective for 2026, and

for every single person in this room. I

believe we can step into 2026 with more

faith than what we yet have. Uh in fact,

this is a season of new year

resolutions. Anybody a resolution type

of person like I want to build a little

bit of a vision? I think it's so helpful

to do that because uh Proverbs 29:18

Proverbs 29:18

says this says where there is no

prophetic vision the people cast off

restraint the but blessed is he who

keeps the law. Now we can dive into what

this this whole verse but the whole idea

is that that vision gives us direction

gives us appropriate restraint gives us

this ability to be able to focus and be

able to give us like what am I doing? Am

I existing or am I moving towards

something and go a god-given now here

here is where it specifies where there

is no prophetic

vision.

This means that this comes from the

Lord. And I'll tell you what, if I look

to 2026

and I look at December 31st to 2026 and

I do my best to look ahead and then I

think about this from the from the

perspective

of what when I meet Jesus,

what is going to be the thing that he

the things that he is worried about in

2026

that I need to be focusing on right now

when he looks when when we review I I

think I think we're going to review

every moment of our life. The scripture

says that every idle word that we will

walk through with Christ and and so I I

just think if he says what is what do

you think my plan was for 2026 and how

well can we build it? because I I

guarantee you that his plan for your

2026 has very little to do with your

income.

Has very little to do with your number

of followers on social media. Has very

little to do with your job title. has

very little to do with your uh with with

your position of power or influence or

whatever it may be around you. And it

has a lot more to do with who you are.

Who is God calling you to be in 2026?

That's what I want us to look at. And as

I build my resolutions, as I build my my

2026, as I build my vision for this,

what is he calling me to do is less

important than who he's calling me to

become?

Who is he asking you to become? And so I

want to what I want to do is I just want

to uh take a time to pray into this to

pray individually for each of us. So,

could we take one more one more time

before we step into the message fully

today? Can we take a second just to pray

into that? If you want to close your

eyes and just hold your hands out to the

Lord open like you're about to receive

something. And what we're going to do is

I just want you to receive this prayer

in your own words. If you want to pray

your own prayer, if you want to amen,

however you want to do it, go ahead. But

I want to pray over us. Lord, we declare

your plan and your blessing and your

favor and your grace over each person

for 2026. Lord, we surrender with open

hands our plans. We surrender with open

hands our dreams and we instead we

submit them to you and we ask, Lord,

WOULD YOU GIVE US A HIGHER A GREATER

VISION? Would you give us a higher and a

deeper purpose? Lord, would we not just

do what we want to do? Would we not just

do what we are called to do? Would we

not just act in obedience, but we would

act in submission and humility? And

would you change our very hearts?

Lord, I pray for the hearts of stone in

this room that you would turn it into a

heart of flesh. Lord, I pray for the

stubbornness in this room. God, would

you give us a stubbornness for your

word, not against your word, Lord? I

pray that you would God give the leaders

in this room vision and guidance. Lord,

we want to submit and we want to lead

according to your plan, not ours. Your

prophetic vision, not ours. Lord, we

receive

we receive your blessing.

We receive your favor. We declare it. We

ask for it. and we receive your plan,

your good, perfect plan over each of us

for 2026. In the mighty name of Jesus,

we pray.

>> Amen. Let's go. I'm ready for it. I'm

ready. We had this last week. I am so

glad to be back together because last

week we had Sabbath Sunday. It was

online. It was a great time to get to

rest and there was a lot of people out

of town anyway. And and man, I just I

miss y'all. I missed you guys. Uh, and

so I'm so glad to be back in here. But

during our Sabbath Sunday, uh, video

online service we did, we revealed the

word that God has for collective for

2025. And it comes from Proverbs

3:es 5-6.

And it says, "Trust in the Lord with all

your heart.

Do not lean on your own understandings,

but in all your ways acknowledge him and

he will make your paths straight. I

believe that what through prayer,

through personal prayer, through prayers

of our leaders, through prophetic words

and what God is doing, what God is

calling collective church into in 2026

is to lean in.

to lean in. In these first couple weeks

of 2026, we're going to continue to hit

on this throughout the year, but the

first couple weeks, I want this to be an

opportunity for us to lean in and to

figure out what this looks like in terms

of leaning in intimacy

and leaning in with trust. Pastor

Morgan's going to be talking about what

it looks like to lean in in trust next

week, but today I want to talk about

lean in closer.

lean in closer. Talking about that

intimacy piece. See, as I look at what

makes it hard, what makes resolutions

hard and why less and less people are

doing them is because I continue to

build a uh goal for me and I find that

it's really unattainable

because I can't determine what the end

of 2026 is going to look like. You're

right. And after doing that enough

times, it's like, man, I think I stink

at this or there's enough curveballs

being thrown that I'm not expecting that

I don't really know what's going to

happen. And so, let's just figure it

out. I cannot guarantee for you what the

end of 2026 is going to look like. I

have no clue. Things are changing way

too quick. Things are changing way too

much. I have no clue what this world

what the state of our being. I have no

clue if we're going to be live if we're

going to be thriving, if our economy is

going to be in the best position ever or

if or if we're going to be in this

terrible tense place and politically and

socially and economically like there's

something I don't know.

And so it does make it hard to give

goals.

But I'll tell you what, I can't control

what the end of 2026 is going to look

like. But I can control the posture that

I take in the midst of all of it. Right?

I can I can determine right now the

posture that I will keep all year long.

And it's your posture is so important.

And your posture changes the way that

your body is perceiving the world around

you based off of if I'm walking around

like this all day long. I don't care if

I started the day off gray, I'm going to

end up having a pretty rough day because

all I'm doing is I'm just sitting here

and I'm telling my body it's not a great

day. I'm telling my body it's it's I

don't have the energy to stand up

straight. It's I'm a t it's a tired day.

I got my eyes down here. It's a

visionless day. I don't know what's

coming up in front of me. I got if I've

got if my posture literally can change

the way I interact when I'm feeling

sleepy or tired and I'm leaning back and

I'm and I and I'm sitting if I choose to

change my posture it'll change my energy

level in the same way a lot of us are

approaching

life looking trying to hang on to the

old things and we're kind of we got a

posture spiritually a heart posture of

like this this leaning

back and I'm like I'm still looking for

the things of old. Oh man, I wish it was

like that or what about that person?

What they did to me and how it what they

deserve or man what I deserve and I wish

I should have had that position or like

this good thing is it going to fade away

and I look at all these things behind me

and and it's this this leaning back and

actually the more I focus the more I

overfocus on the past the more that

actually is one of the number one

leading causes of depression.

when I when I'm so like these are all

the the bad things or the sad things

that did or that didn't happen to me.

And if I refuse to let those things go,

I'm stuck in this posture of leaning

back. And then there's another posture

that we can have of of just no lean.

I'm just standing straight up. I got

nothing. And guess what happens? What

happens here is that you get all the

winds of every teaching of every person.

I've got no real great steady solid

ground. And as soon as someone says,

"Did you hear about the the Argentinian

president? Did you hear about what

happened there? THIS IS A TERRIBLE THING

TO HAPPEN." OH, that's a terrible thing.

This is a great thing to happen. Oh,

that's a great thing. RIGHT. LIKE WHAT

HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO RECEIVE THE things

that are going on in this world? This is

a LOOK AT LOOK AT our look AT OUR

PRESIDENT. HE IS HE IS TERRIBLE

CHARACTER. YES. YEAH, HE'S DOING GOOD

THINGS. YES, HE'S DOING GOOD THINGS. AND

THEN I'LL SUDDENLY START TO I DON'T KNOW

WHERE I'M STANDING. I don't know what's

going on because I've got no lean. The

only lean that I have is what is given

toward me. And I submit to whatever

weird teachings end up coming up and I'm

like that's I don't know that I could

kind of see that happening. I think

maybe birds are just drones.

IT'S A SLIPPERY SLOPE TO GET DOWN THAT

PATH, GUYS. And like this is I'm not

there, but some of y'all may be some of

y'all I've talked to and you're like

you're there, right? And we got to we

got to like what your posture is just

whatever I hear I'm receiving and I'm

letting it push me around and I'm

letting it shape me. And then I have

another posture. If I lean too far

forward, if I'm focused too far on the

future, if I'm trying to control what

the end of 2026 looks like, that doesn't

bring about depression. and that brings

about anxiety.

And so instead of leaning forward, I'm

going to lean in.

And it's a posture of readiness. Like

I'm getting ready to start a race. I got

my weight mostly on my front foot. I'm

leaning in. I've got expectation. I'm

not afraid of what the next step is

going to look like. I'm not afraid of

what's coming up in front of me. I'm

going to choose to lean in closer.

lean in closer. And here's the big idea.

The closer we get to Christ, the clearer

he becomes. This is why I want to I want

to focus on leaning in closer today

because I don't know if you feel like

you don't have your vision. I don't feel

like if you feel like you've got it all

figured out, it but but I can guarantee

you that the closer if you're like, I

don't know what he's doing in me. I

don't know what he's doing in the world

around me. I don't know how I'm supposed

to respond to what's happening here. But

I promise you, the closer you get to

Christ, the clearer he will become. See,

it's kind of like if you guys did any

driving, anybody do any driving on

Christmas Eve or Christmas Day? Anybody

do any travel? Was it not the that then

one foggy Christmas Eve? This was like a

Rudolph Christmas. It was built for a

bright shiny red nose and it was We were

driving around in the fog actually. And

my daughter says, "When are we going to

get into the fog?"

Because I look, it's there. It's there.

It's there. And it's there, but it's not

here. Because I look at the road, right?

I look at the trees beside me. I see the

trees perfectly clear. I see the signs

on the road. I'm waiting for us to get

When are we going to get into the fog?

When are we actually going to see it?

Fog is one of those interesting things

that from far away, this is a picture.

This is where my kids are at right now

up in the mountains in California. That

is Fresno, California down there.

This is a picture from literally just

the other day uh when they were looking

and fog has set in on Fresno,

but they are up above it and it is this

thick. But from far away, it's like you

you won't you can't see squat in there.

But as you start to get closer, it's

like when have I entered the fog? When

have I stepped in? It's it becomes

harder to like it it becomes hard to see

exactly when I'm in it. How? Because I

can still see 50 feet. I can still see a

quarter mile. I can still see a little

ways around me, but I see that I am in

fog. I just the reality is is if I look

at this, I can't see what's happening.

And we we approach our life this same

way. I don't see what Jesus is doing. I

don't see what's happening down there

over there. I don't see what's happening

in my city, what he's doing. I see what

the enemy is doing. I see how hard and

scary and I see that that there's a lot

of unknown out there. But how do I

discover what Jesus is doing? I got to

lean in closer. And when I walk in and I

step in and I actually start entering

the fog now, I can start to see what's

around me. But it's not until then that

I can see what's going on inside.

It's not until then that I can actually

step in faith and go, "Oh, there's

actually there's still a functioning

city inside of this fog that you can't

see.

THERE'S SO MUCH GOING ON. GOD IS DOING

SO MUCH AND IT'S NOT UNTIL that I jump

in and I lean in and I get closer to him

that I see that he is moving.

See, leaning into Jesus in 2026 means

getting closer to him.

And the closer we get to Christ, the

clearer he becomes. Scripture talks

about this in a lot of different ways.

It it says we see in part, we know in

part, though we see uh like in a mirror

dimly. That's first Corinthians. And

then later the Apostle Paul who wrote 1

Corinthians then writes in 2

Corinthians, now we see with unveiled

face. And he reveals this whole idea of

like, man, I can't see clearly. But then

later he's like, we can see it really

clearly because the closer we get to

Christ, the clearer he becomes. The more

I press in, the more I look for him in

these foggy, hard, dark situations that

I'm not sure exactly what is he doing?

Is he absent here? Did he lose this

battle? Is am I here because I just I've

I'm so bad I messed up his plan for me

and there's nothing he can do anymore.

Or did they do something so bad that

it's now messed up for me because of

their actions? The reality is is if I

lean into him, I'm going to see it.

I'm going to see him working. I'm going

to see what he does because there's

there's I I found that there's three

different ways, three primary ways that

God speaks.

If you want to hear God lead you, if you

want to hear the voice of God, there are

a couple different ways that God speaks.

God shouts,

RIGHT? THERE'S SOME times when God is

shouting. There's time when Morgan and I

I needed when we were thinking about

planting collective church. I didn't I

needed God to shout at me. God is

starting to lead us and he's starting to

uh reveal to us and and so I say, "God,

if this is you, would you tell us really

really clearly?" And the next day, a

lady walks up to Morgan and says, "God

is asking you to go plant a church."

She calls me and she SAYS, "THIS IS WHAT

A LADY just told me." She had no clue

that we were praying about it. We had no

She had no clue that we had talked to

some of our mentors about this idea. She

had we barely knew this person and just

was this divine interaction. And so I

was like, "Cool, cool, cool, cool."

But he didn't say when.

So God, we're going to do this in like

three years when we build up our

savings. That's what we're going to do.

We need three months living expenses. We

got how much in our savings account?

175. So we are we going to need to save

up. So let's do the math. Let's

rebudget. Let's figure this thing out.

Okay. Okay, it's going to be about 2

years before we ever have a conversation

with anyone else about actually doing

something about this. What's the number?

We figured out our budget. We wrote the

number down. This is what we need to see

in our savings account before we talk to

anybody. Get a phone call the next day,

almost exactly 24 hours later. Hey, you

got a check coming in the mail from your

deceased grandpa. Here's the number

that's going to be on the check.

to the dollar, not a round number,

exactly the number we had written the

night before.

God was shouting.

The other times that God's shouting, we

see the shouting of the Lord, the really

really clear leading is like the the 10

plagues and the splitting of the Red

Sea. We see things like the uh Saul when

he becomes the Apostle Paul when he is

knocked off his donkey AND THE BRIGHT

LIGHT SHINES AND A VOICE FROM HEAVEN

COMES OUT. YOU CANNOT DENY THIS. THIS IS

GOD SHOUTING AT YOU. There's sometimes,

but not very often when God will shout,

he will make it so clear. But more often

than that, you'll sense a a nudge, a

little little bump. What this happens is

is the Apostle Paul later, he says, "I

can't wait. We're going to Asia with the

gospel." And God says, "I'm shutting

those doors."

And it wasn't this powerful. There was

no light from heaven. There was no

anything. It just was a shut door. So,

okay. So, I guess we're going to

Macedonia.

There's little nudges that God gives

that begins to lead you in the right

direction. That begins to lead you away

from the things that you don't need, the

things that you need to stay away from.

these little nudges and you follow that.

But here's the thing. I find

the nudges happen fairly fairly often.

When I'm really desperate, I'll I'll get

some of those.

But he also whispers

just like Elijah when he was running

away as people were seeking his life

after Mount Carmel and a a shout moment

from God happened and fire came down

from heaven and burned up the altar and

and then he's running away and he hides

in a cave and then suddenly an

earthquake and a fire and a wind come

through and then

a small low whisper

and he comes out from the cave.

And God wasn't in the fire. He wasn't in

the earthquake. He wasn't in the wind.

He was in the whisper.

And it wasn't until Elijah

stepped out of his own fears and out of

the craziness and the storms around him

and he stepped into the whisper. Here's

the thing. The longer I've followed

Christ,

the more I realize

he's always whispering.

He is always speaking. It doesn't just

happen. Shouts are very few and far

between. Nudges are helpful time to

time. And whispers are all the time. The

problem is that I'm not always

listening.

So learning, I lean into him to hear the

whispers of what he is doing. Matthew

Matthew 10:27

10:27, Jesus says this, "What I tell you

in the dark, say it in the light. What

you hear whispered,

proclaim on the housetops."

This is the reality that as as I look at

as I look at getting close to Jesus,

it's just like any other relationship.

It's supposed to be a relationship. If

you're if you say you're close with

someone, who would say you got someone

in the room, point to the person in the

room that you say, "I'm really close to

this person." Go ahead. If you got right

beside you, there you go. I see a couple

I see a couple one-way points. I don't

see it going the other. Uh, we're going

to have to have conversations after the

If you're close with someone, how do you

become close? I got my bride over here.

I'm really close with her. This is not

because I just I met her and I looked at

her from afar and the first time I saw

her I didn't fall in love with her but I

was like man she's easy to look at and I

and I thought to myself I really like

this girl and and this is and but it

wasn't until time and investment and

getting to know each other that we

actually became close. It takes time to

develop intimacy.

Intimacy and closeness is not something

that just happens in a snap. It's just

like transformation. If you want to see

God change you as you get closer to him,

I guarantee you, you will be changed.

John 15:4-5

John 15:4–5

Jesus says this, "Remain in me and I

will remain in you. Abide in me. Stay in

me and I will stay with you. For a

branch cannot bear fruit, produce fruit

if it's severed from the vine. And you

too cannot be fruitful unless you remain

in me. And then he continues on. But the

here here's the here's the idea. If I

want to become more like Christ, if I

want my who to begin to change and be

less full of flesh and sin and mess and

more like who he is and who he's leading

me to become, then I have to spend time

with the person I am trying to become

like.

I have to take time for getting close

and for intimacy and hearing his

whispers and getting to know him and

leaning in and looking for him in the

foggy seasons. I have to do that. And

then guess what? Love is going to start

to grow. Guess what? The closeness is

going to start to grow. I'm going to

start seeing that the things I didn't

even I didn't even try, but these things

just are falling off. my short temper,

my my my necessity, my need for alcohol

or my need for validation or my need for

feeling loved by someone else or

whatever it may be. It's suddenly

starting to dissipate and just disappear

because I'm not because I'm doing all

these things, but because I'm getting

nearer to Christ.

Would you lean in in 2026?

And I want us to lean in one of two ways

because transformation, intimacy, it

doesn't just happen. It happens. If you

look at this, if you want to see, you

can change the way you think. You can

change the way your heart responds to

situations. You can change the way that

you act. You can change the things that

you do right when you wake up and the

things that your mind is thinking about

right when you wake up and when you're

going to bed. you all that can change

but it doesn't happen because of I came

to church on Sunday morning and had a

powerful worship encounter.

It happens transformation happens with

habits. If I want to lean in I've got to

first lean in with habits. I got to lean

in with things that I start to do every

single day. and I start to build habits

that lead me to lean in.

Right? I've got to I've got I've got to

start leaning in with habits. Romans

Romans 12:2

12:2 says, "Do not conform to the

pattern of this world, but be

transformed by the renewing of your

mind." This is the same thing. Do not

conform. Do not just be blown by every

wind of teaching. Be transformed. Lean

in. Look to who he is. Let him begin to

change your heart, change your life. Be

transformed by the renewing of your

mind. Then you'll be able to test and to

prove what God's will is. I don't know

what it is. It looks pretty foggy. The

more I lean in, the more I will get to

understand what he's doing.

Approve what God's will is. His good,

his pleasing, and his perfect will. See,

this is this is where we got to start to

build habits. This is the time right now

to start building your habits for 2026.

And this is why like I I want every

single day ha building a habit of

connection with him is the most

important thing you can do. It is so

vital to every other aspect of life. So

build a habit of I'm just going to get

in his word every single day. Even if

it's just one verse, even if it's just

for one minute, I'm going to get in his

word. I'm going to pray every day. Even

if it's a really hollow like, man, I I

don't feel like I got much to give and

like I just I'm empty today, God, and

that's all I can say. I just got nothing

left. I'm going to get a prayer in every

single day. I'm going to come to our

monthly prayer services, right? First

Tuesday of every month, you want to know

how to start 2026 off right. This

Tuesday, 6:30 p.m., just down the street

at Kingsway Christian Church, we have

our prayer service. Start it off right.

If you want, if you go, I'm really

uncomfortable in prayer. I'll tell you

what, prayer is more caught than it is

taught.

I catch it. I catch the idea in how to

pray way more than I just understand. I

learn a lesson. I read a book about it.

I want to catch the prayer. If you want

to learn how to pray, come to our

prayer. Begin to build habits. Come to

prayer service. Come to church saying,

"I'm coming every week." The purpose of

church is not just to come and receive.

The purpose of church is to come and be

a part of a family and to take part and

to join and be a part of the mission and

be part of the goal. But sometimes, even

if you got nothing else and you're like,

"All I can do is SHOW UP. ALL I'VE GOT

IS JUST ENOUGH TO GET IN my car and walk

inside and sit in a seat and that's all

I got." That's all it is. Even if that's

all you got, just come get yourself

around the body of Christ. Let the fire

that other people are carrying warm your

soul and build up and stoke up your own

spiritual fire as well.

And this is why if you want to start

habits, it takes it demands

intentionality. So this is why every

single year and the same as right now,

we are starting a fast. We are starting

the year with fasting and with prayer.

And what we're going to be doing is

we're going to be building in habits.

Some of these habits may be

unsustainable.

Some of these habits like as we fast and

cut things out. I want us to fast two

ways. I want us to fast something with

food. Every single time that you see

fasting in the Bible, 100% of the time

it has to do with cutting food out.

Usually it is all food and liquids in

and water only. Usually that's what

fasting mean. So I want us to have

something where we are saying I'm

cutting a meal. Morgan and I were

cutting all sweets. We're only doing

like whole natural healthy foods and

then and I'm going to be cutting a meal

or two as the usually as the fast goes

on things get a little bit more intense

for me. I feel like God calls me into a

little bit more aggressive fasting. But

I but I what we're doing is we're

cutting some food out so that we hunger.

So that we're getting into this this

state of like I'm uncomfortable and

allows for my flesh to get stirred up

when I'm wanting these I have these

cravings and I go no I crave you more

Lord. When I'm desiring some something

else and when I'm hungering and I go no

I hunger for you most. And then every

single time that I crave, every single

time that I hunger, I'm actually drawing

it into a prayer. And then the second

thing I want us to fast is some form of

food and some form of entertainment.

Some of us are are are so surrounding

ourselves with junk in the content that

we are consuming, whether it's bad,

we're like, "Man, I don't know why I'm

depressed." And I look at your playlist

and 90% of it's Billy Eyish. And it's

like, well,

Right? Can we get real? YOU'RE LIKE, I'M

ALWAYS SCARED. I'M LIKE, WELL, LET'S

LOOK AT YOUR RECENTLY view watched

things on Netflix. Okay. Right. Like,

what what are we watching? The Haunting

of Whatever. Like, stop it.

What are we watching? I'm I'm Let's

Let's look at I'm I'm just afraid of

what's going on in this world. Well,

what conspiracy theories are you

listening to? Who are you constantly

WATCHING? WHAT ARE YOU WHAT PODCASTS ARE

YOU LISTENING TO? WHAT THINGS? Maybe I

just need to take a step back in some

form of entertainment. Reclaim your

consumerism. Clean it up. Maybe it's

just emptiness. Man, when I'm tired,

what do I do? Do I go to prayer? No, I

go to Candy Crush.

Maybe it's Maybe it's cleaning out and

saying, "God, for right now, what I'm

going to do is I'm going to cut out

Netflix. I'm going to cut out games. I'm

going to cut out social media. I'm going

to What is it going to be? Fast

something with food. Fast something with

entertainment for 14 days. Cut it out.

The purpose of the fast is not just to

stop it, but to replace it with the

Lord. And I'm going to take that empty

time. I'm going to take that emptiness

in my stomach. I'm going to take that

empty time on my screen time and I'm

going to turn it towards him. And what

we're doing is we've actually got a

reading plan associated with this. You

can scan the QR code. Go ahead. If

you're not a part of it, if you want to

jump in on this fast, and you can do it

however you want. You can say, "I'm

going to cut out one candy bar a day.

That's it. I'm still going to have it."

Like, I don't know what what the Lord's

asking you to do, but I want you to join

in in some capacity. The more you put

in, the more you will get out. And then

you can join this. And we're going to

have a verse sent out, a little passage

sent out to read every single day, and a

little thought to be able to go with it

for us to be able to fast and pray

together

as we look at what does it mean to lean

in,

to lean in in 2026. What does it mean

for us as a church? Then what does it

mean for me as a child of God? So, I

want to lean in with habits. But here's

the thing.

God says, "I don't want your sacrifices.

I don't want your burnt offerings if it

doesn't come with you." The only reason

he asks us to build our habits is

because he wants us.

He doesn't want your emptyhearted,

eyes closed, earsplugged attendance at

church. He wants you to lean in with

habits and you lean in with heart. Now,

what does this mean?

This means vulnerability with God.

This means honesty and transparency

maybe with him and maybe with someone

else as well

where you go and you confess and you

walk through and you say, "This is the

vision that I feel like God's given me

and this is I and if you build your

accountability around vision as opposed

to regret, I I got to stop doing these

things." No, build it around a vision.

this is who God's calling me to be and

so I must cut out these other things and

then your accountability gets to focus

on the forward direction. Okay. So this

is this is where I want for us to learn

how to lean into Christ in our heart.

Why? Because it's it's just like the fog

when I go and I decide to press in

through the vulnerability. I'm going to

find I've got sinfulness. I've got mess.

I've got regrets. I've got I've made

some serious mistakes. You don't

understand how I've fallen back. I don't

think God wants me. I don't think he

loves me. You don't understand. I've got

imper I I I have sinned and other people

know it. And guess what? Now I'm getting

imperfect love from imperfect people and

I'm receiving it imperfectly. And

they're not I I feel like I'm getting

judgment. I feel like I'm getting

whatever it may be. And so I just I

guess what? If you go to God, if you

press in through that vulnerability,

you will find that there is grace found

in his presence.

Why lean in? Because grace is found in

his presence.

You will find that he is ready to redeem

your story of sin and turn it back

towards him.

You will find when you lean in, if I do

it with vulnerability and I do and I I I

will give my heart and my hurts, if I

hang on to them and I don't share them

and I don't give them to them, I don't

surrender them and I'm more comfortable

keeping them here, I'm not going to see

any healing. But you will find as you

lean in that healing is found in his

wings.

You will find if you lean into Christ

that purpose is found in his plan. But

it's never going to happen unless I give

my plan and I surrender it to him. I got

a vulnerable. This is THIS IS NOT JUST A

HABIT. THIS IS a heart situation. Right?

You see the difference here? We've got

to surrender our heart. We got to build

we've got to find that strength is found

in his arms. When I am weak, I find it

in him. We got to see that when when you

lean into Christ, that love is found in

his hands. When I look at the hands of

Christ and I see the scars from his

sacrifice for me, I recognize that there

is nothing I could do that could

separate me from the love that Christ

has already given to me. And I don't

have to work for love from anyone else.

And I'll find that truth is found in his

word in an AI world where truth is

becoming more and more harder and harder

to find. Where do I go for truth? I know

where I go. I know where I'm going. I

know that I can depend on him. And I

know that I'm looking for my answers in

him,

not just in this world.

We ought to lean in with our habits. We

got to lean in with our heart. If we can

stand up real quick. What I want to do

here is I want to take some time.

If you

are ready

to lean in in 2026,

I want to challenge you to take a step

forward right now and that we can begin

to crowd the altar. Go ahead. That we

can begin if you say, "I'm going to lean

in 2026. I'm going to lean in with

habits. I'm going to start building new

habits. I'm going to lean in with my

heart. I'm going to do the very best I

can to actually be vulnerable and allow

for him to shift and change the things

going on within my very soul. Make room.

Scoot aside. Scoot aside so we can make

room as people are coming up to the

altar. And what we got, what I want to

do is I want anybody who's saying, "I'm

just going to do this to the best of my

imperfect, really terrible ability. I'm

going to fail a thousand times and a

thousand times again, but I'm going to

lean in." Come on. if you're leaning in.

And then what I want us to do is if

you're comfortable with it, could we

just put a point of contact on the

shoulder of someone next to you? If you

know them, you maybe want to hold their

hand. If it's a spouse or significant

other, like however, just a point of

contact so we can show Come on. Let We

got more people coming in. Can we make

room? Let's scoot over over here. Let's

scoot over so that we can make room. We

got a lot of people in the aisles. If we

can scoot over as well, Russ, can we

scoot over a little bit over here? There

we go. Let's scoot over, make room so we

can get people around here because we

are leaning in, but we're not doing it

alone. We're not doing it alone. Scoot

on up and grab a hand, grab a shoulder,

and what I want to do is I want to do

quick declaration prayer for every

person here. Heavenly Father, I declare

that this is going to be a new year. I

declare that this is going to be a new

time. I declare that right now, I cannot

determine what the world is going to be

doing. I cannot determine the what flesh

is going to be doing. I cannot determine

what the people around me are going to

be doing. But I can determine my posture

and I will lean in, Lord, every single

one of us that we will lean into you. We

will trust you. We will get closer with

you. We will say yes to you. We will

lean in with our habits. We will lean in

with our whole hearts. Lord, would you

change our actions? Lord, would you

change our emotions, our heart, the

issues, the problems, the things that

get us upset. May we be frustrated with

the things that frustrate you, not the

things that frustrate my flesh and my

pride and my ego. Lord, I pray would you

renew our hearts? Would you renew our

minds as we lean in together? Would we

be a church that encourages each other,

that lifts each other up, and we say, as

we're leaning in, that God, I pray that

as conversations happen beyond this

altar between people who are here at the

altar, Lord, I pray, Father God, that we

would challenge each other in hard

moments to lean in.

That we would not just empathize with

each other, but we would then move

forward and say, "Now, let's let's lean

in and figure out what Jesus is doing

here. Let's lean in and not let this

pull us away from him, but let us draw

near to him.

Father God, may we be a church that

lifts each other up as we all are

mutually leaning in to Christ, leaning

in, getting closer and closer to you

every day. Lord, we submit it. We

declare it. In the mighty name of Jesus,

we pray it. Amen. Amen. Amen. Come on,

can we give a hand for the word of the

Lord?