Unstoppable God // Pastor Drew Milliken

come on who's grateful that it's Easter

Sunday let's

go welcome to the Mustang Center we got

a totally different setup today thank

you guys for coming here i I am a firm

believer that God doesn't make accidents

he doesn't He doesn't do thing on do

anything on accident and so I gotta be

honest i am coming and I'm approaching

this service right now as a service that

you were thought of by the divine

creator since the formation of the earth

to be sitting in the very seat that

you're sitting

in dealing with the very things that

you're dealing with contemplating the

same things that you're contemplating he

knows exactly where you are he knows

exactly what you're going through and

he's got exactly the right thing that

he's probably already started giving

into your heart and so I want us to open

up a little bit of expectation in this

place can we get a little bit of that i

want us Come on come on i got faith for

it i know God's got it so one of the

things I got to do because I can

guarantee you I guarantee you God's

going to speak i guarantee you God's got

something to to invest and to plant into

your heart but I can't guarantee you

that you'll receive it

if you're coming with a hard heart if

you're coming with a scowl on your heart

if you're coming with a oh I've already

got this whole thing figured out i'm

just kind of showing up here because I

was drugged here because I like I I I'm

not really even this isn't really my

thing it's my family's thing it's my my

spouse's thing it's my grandma's thing

and she drugged me here right like Like

I don't know what but I will tell you

what I don't want you to miss it so I

want to take a second if we can all just

close our eyes in the room right now and

I want to take a

second and I encourage you to take a

deep

breath and just let the Lord know say

"God I'm

here." And then I want to pray a prayer

over you heavenly Father I thank you

that you have us to be right here not

focusing on yesterday not focusing on

tomorrow but right where we're at right

now

that you have something that you want to

give to us right now right here so Lord

I pray you would open up our minds to be

ready to receive and to think through

the thoughts that you're leading us in

god I pray that you would open our

hearts to be ready to to be vulnerable

and open to whatever you want to invest

into our hearts and then Lord I pray

that you would prepare

us so that when we step out of this

service we will

walk accordingly to the next step that

you're calling us to whatever that may

be leave

changed in the mighty name of Jesus

god's people said

"Amen." Amen man I'm so honored to have

you here i mean it i think it's

understated sometimes how crazy and

intimidating it can be to step into a

church for the first time uh especially

if this is your first time here like mad

props i'm so grateful can we give a hand

for our first- time visitors i mean it i

mean it because you don't know if you're

walking to a crazy church right like

you're never quite sure i got to be

honest and there are some wacky ones out

there there really are man yeah watch

out JP well just hang out in the corner

right over there JP

actually there's I there's there's

honestly there's nothing like coming

together as a body of Christ and so I'm

so grateful that you guys are here uh

one of the things that defines

collective the most is not a building we

don't have a building and so we don't

get confused with what the church is

when people when you think where is my

church a lot of people get to point to a

building we are the church is a group

church literally means just assembly it

means a gathering a group of people and

so we are the church and we don't have

to be confused by that and so what that

means is that one of our greatest

strengths in a season that we're not

going to be in forever we're not going

to be portable forever we're not going

to be meeting in school forever we're

going to have a building someday so I

but I want to make sure that we know who

we got here i want to make sure that

we're ministering on relevant topics

that matter to you guys i want to make

sure that we're looking for a our next

building in an area that collective

actually lives around and that's going

to be close to us and so we've got a QR

code that leads to a survey here i want

every single person in the room go ahead

take out your phones it is not only uh

not unholy to take out your phones right

now it is literally the holy thing to do

jesus loves you more just kidding just

kidding that's that's blasphemous okay

uh but take take the survey uh and what

it is is like five mandatory questions

it's just really minimal and it's just

going to be asking a little bit about

who you are where you live so we can

kind of figure out where we should be

looking i don't care if this is your

first time here for if you plan on never

coming back i want we I I want you to

fill this survey out i want to know what

Omaha's looking for in sermon topics

that's one of the questions on there

what topics are you interested in when

we move to two services we're just doing

two services for this one week but we're

going to need to move to two services

eventually is 9 and 11 right i don't

know i want you guys to answer on the

survey so we got all these questions on

there if you guys can fill out the

survey uh answer those questions it

should be super quick but we can keep

that up while I tell a little story if

that's all right is that all right

okay so when I was in high school I uh I

I did sports and I was learning freshman

year I was learning locker room talk and

I was experiencing high school locker

room talk which is upgraded from junior

high locker room talk and neither one

are good and uh I was experiencing it

for the first time i was just I was

disgusted i had kind of like "Hey bro

you don't need to chill stop right like

that's not stop it." Right like and and

there was a guy who's just kind of

running his mouth at one point and uh

and it was bugging me and I'm just keep

my keep my nose toward my locker that's

just what I'm going to do i'm just going

to focus here and

then then he said something about my

sister that I cannot

repeat and I walked over to

him i pushed him up against his locker i

said "Don't you ever talk about my

sister like

that." And I I'm telling you guys he

looked at me with fear in his

eyes now for a little

context I was a freshman he was like a

junior or

senior i was a

stout 120

pounds i was this little

guy and he was probably 160 170 lbs he

was way bigger than me and he wasn't

like like chubby big he was like

linebacker big right and so he was he

was bigger than me he was stronger than

me and yet I he was frightened i could

see it in his eyes and I'm like I better

hurry up and close this deal before he

realizes that one if he pushes me back

I'm screwed so and so I was

like done i don't know what I said i

don't know but like I finished it and he

goes "Okay okay." And I turn around and

when I turned

around I realized why he was so

scared cuz behind me are about four or

five other juniors and seniors that are

about 160 to 180 lbs arms cross staring

him in the eyes like

this so he wasn't worried about me i'm

I'm I'm up there going like "Listen here

bucko." Right like and he is he's he's

not intimidated by me but I'll tell you

what I didn't realize there was a higher

power a greater stronger power standing

behind me that had my back amen you guys

know what I'm saying that's this

confidence that we get to have as

believers and it's a it's a ridiculous

confidence that the Apostle Paul comes

with in Romans chapter 8 verse starting

Romans 8 · chapter mention

in verse 31 so if you guys want to open

up your Bibles Romans chapter 8 it's

Romans 8 · chapter mention

kind of towards the back of your Bible

it's big number eight you'll see uh

title of the book is called Romans big

number eight little number 31 and you

can also see it on your screen uh but in

your Bibles you can underline it please

don't underline on the screen please

don't do that we instead I want to

encourage you guys grab your Bible you

can make notes if you got a digital

Bible but we're going to read through

this we're going to read through the

word of God and this is what Paul's

talking about he says "What are we then

to say about these

things if God is for

us who's against us

he did not even spare his own son but

gave him up for us all how will he not

also with him grant us

everything who can bring an accusation

against God's

elect god's the one who justifies so who

is the one who

condemns christ Jesus is the one who

died but even more has been raised he is

also seated at the right hand of God and

intercedes for us so who can separate us

from the love of Christ can affliction

or distress or persecution or famine or

nakedness or danger or sword as it's

written because of you we are being put

to death all day long we are counted as

sheep to be slaughtered so know in all

these things we are more than conquerors

come on say conquerors

let's go through him who loved us for I

am

persuaded if you're reading in your own

Bible it may say I am convinced i'm

convinced that neither death nor life

angels nor demons nor powers nor height

nor depth nor anything created that will

ever be able to separate us from the

love of God that is in Christ Jesus our

Lord amen come on is that good word

let's go we can just shut it down right

now man I think I think Paul was just on

fire can you imagine as he's writing

this what's inspired inside of him here

and so what is what is this isn't a

crazy confidence he's like I ain't

afraid i afraid of death i ain't afraid

of life i ain't afraid of what you're

going to say i I'm I'm not afraid of

nothing all of this I've got this He's

got this insane

lifechanging

reality

confidence where does it come

from where does he get this because the

Apostle Paul never met

Jesus there's no record of him ever

having seen Jesus or meeting

Jesus so where does he get this insane

confidence if you see if we go back to

the beginning of the

verses verse 32 it says he did not spare

his own son god did not spare his own

but gave him up for us all verse 35 says

or verse 34 says Christ Jesus is the one

who died but even more has been raised

he is also at the right hand of God and

intercedes for us what gives him this

confidence the Easter

story isn't that crazy the Easter story

we've heard it so many times i don't

know how many times you've heard this

the the story about Jesus died for you

maybe this is your first time ever but I

want you to know that the Easter story

is absolutely the most lifechanging

reality story you will ever hear and it

is impossible to appropriately

understand it and walk away without

being faced with a decision of

acceptance or rejection it's the only

option and so this this Easter story is

what he's saying has built in this this

crazy confidence the story that began

way before Jesus was born way before he

was born in it actually began at the

beginning of creation when God created

the whole universe beautifully perfectly

amazingly

mankind comes in and introduces

sin

deception lies deceit darkness evil and

what happens when a perfect God and sin

is enter is is is is

introduced you're separated god is

perfect i am not i have sinned and so

therefore if I'm separated from God I'm

separated from life i'm separated from

goodness so that means I get death i get

evil and I'd say that's a pretty decent

description of the world that we live

in it's a pretty decent description yet

here's the thing this world's so full of

this evil rampant and everywhere and

it's got darkness and it's got traumas

and it's got terrible things going on

and yet God sees us and he saw us and

this is the Easter story is that he then

sent his son in the flesh god in the

flesh to reveal himself because how can

I relate to a God that breathes

galaxies but I can relate to a God

that's got skin on i can relate to a God

that gets his feet dirty when he's

walking around in the dirt i can relate

to a God that gets that that that bleeds

i can relate to a God that gets hurt

that gets offended that his heart breaks

i can relate to a God that I can see a

God that that has been here that has

lived this life that has been in the

worst has been

rejected and has taken the worst and has

been convicted of something he never

did and then sent onto a cross to die

for sins that he never

committed to lose his life to surrender

it to be buried in a grave but then 3

days later come back out of that grave

and bring reveal that the end of the

story is not death

amen and that same invitation is

available to you that's the Easter

story it's this crazy it's it's

absolutely something that we can never

get used

to that

God the creator of galaxies upon

galaxies looks into the Milky Way looks

into our solar system looks onto our

planet picks out of 8.1 billion people

and sees you sitting here right

now i don't get it doesn't make

sense i don't even know if I agree with

his decision i'd say we're pretty crappy

at following him i say we've done a

pretty poor job at trying to represent

him for those of you who have been hurt

by the church those you been who have

been hurt by Christians I'd say there

going to be some nods along with that of

going "Man I don't know how well we've

represented a perfect God."

But I'll tell you

what his story of freedom from any

situation is the greatest story that'll

change your life

forever it's the Easter

story and this is what he says in verse

38 i love it can we pull up verse

38 he says "For I am

persuaded or I am convinced."

That means that the the Apostle Paul had

a pretty insane transformation

story but it was not a a lot of people

think that religion and faith and

Christianity is this hyper emotional

thing and like let's put this emotional

band-aid on your emotional sadness and

like let go to church and it makes you

feel good and then you can survive

another like this is it's it's a

persuasion it's a convincing it's a

let's me study this thing let me

understand this thing yes God heals my

heart but he also reveals to my mind and

he's created me as an intellectual and

an emotional and a relational person and

the reality is is he's going to minister

to every single part of that and this is

this is crazy he is convinced he has

been persuaded by the story of Jesus as

to who God

is i don't know about you guys if you've

come in here and you go I have

not or maybe you go I think I have but

I'm not sure why

maybe I just grew up in this thing it's

just kind of the thing that we do you go

to church on Easter or you go to church

on Sundays it's it's what you

do he was persuaded by the life of

Jesus and I am too i don't know about

you guys i study the life of Jesus and I

cannot

help but

believe by the way he lives by the

things he does by that every even the

people who opposed him couldn't find

anything against

him the and how selflessly it's not a

it's not a I I study the life of other

religious leaders of other uh of I

studied the life of Muhammad I studied

the life of Joseph Smith in the stud and

as I studied their lives i question and

I and I don't believe as I study their

life i go "Man it looks like you

benefited a lot looks like there's some

things that are twisted and contorted in

order to gain for you." I look at the

life of Jesus it's radically different a

God who comes to give not to receive a

God who comes to love not just to say

"Love me

this is an insane incredible

story and as I look at the life of Jesus

I can't help but believe and I look at

the name of Jesus today and I see the

lives in this room that the name of

Jesus has changed that the word of God

has changed and I see in my own life

that I can work I can go to all the

counseling I can do all that stuff and

guess what it hasn't saved

me the only thing that's ever saved me

has been

Jesus i'm convinced i am persuaded but

not just by the life of Jesus then then

you look to his disciples look to the

people who followed him and knew him

best and I see more evidence of who he

is because the running the running

theory the running idea was that Jesus

was crucified

this is out even outside of the Bible

you see evidence of you see you see this

Ywah that who was crucified and and he

was and and what happened is he was uh

he died buried in a grave and guess what

okay so then we're going to say the

disciples went over and the disciples

now picture picture the disciples doing

this them gathering together and them

going okay we're going to overpower this

this group of soldiers over there how

many swords we got two swords okay great

all right we're going to overpower these

soldiers that are guarding this tomb

we're going to roll away this rock

that's bigger than what we can roll away

and then we're we're going to break the

seal Caesar's seal on it and then we're

going to steal Jesus's body out of there

and then we're going to tell everybody

that he rose again okay why because we

got to keep this thing going we had a

really good thing going we had it it was

great we were just about to come over

and take over Rome we were just about to

conquer this and we're we're just about

to get raised up to the right hand of

Jesus and it was going to be great it

was going to be so amazing and so we got

to keep this thing going let's tell

people he he came back to

life yet it wasn't just the disciples

that saw him it was 500 other people

that saw him eyewitnesses and then if

that's the case let's look at the lives

of the disciples what actually did they

endure you see you have 12 disciples

judas after after betraying Jesus

commits suicide they bring Matias in to

replace him and guess what this is this

is the story of each disciple james was

beheaded peter was crucified upside down

andrew crucified on an X-shaped cross

bartholomew skinned alive while

preaching the gospel philip crucified

upside down and continued preaching as

he was dying jude beaten to death with

clubs simon sawed in half thomas speared

to death matias beheaded matthew cut

apart with swords and spears james the

less thrown from the top of a temple

john thrown into a cauldron of boiling

oil miraculously survives kicked out

onto a deserted island called

Patmas it seems to me that they gained

nothing and lost absolutely

everything just to give this Easter

story

it changed their lives

radically and I asked the

question does my life accurately

reflect the the the reality altering

story of

Jesus i have to come to a broken humble

no not even close

see the disciples saw us the story of

Jesus revealed something profound that

our God is

unstoppable amen our God is so

unstoppable even death could not stop

him and so they no longer feared it they

weren't afraid that's why the Apostle

Paul goes "Hey nothing can separate me

from God so go ahead and bring death

life angels demons powers above powers

below nothing can separate me i am not

phased by any of

it this is what they realize god's so

unstoppable he saves from the very

darkest

places even after it appears to be too

late because the the the life and the

resurrection of Jesus that did you know

that's not the only story of

resurrection in the Bible there's

actually there's multiple stories and

there's there's three in particular the

when

Jesus raised someone from the dead

there's the story of him raising a

widow's son there's another story uh

that I I want to focus on Lazarus and

Gyrus and Lazarus is probably the most

famous of these stories if you've heard

of of Lazarus what's going on is Lazarus

lives in this town called Bethany and

Jesus is far away he's doing ministries

far away and a and a messenger comes

over to Jesus and says "Hey your friend

Lazarus you go way back you guys are

like tight he is sick." And I'm not just

saying sick like I'm running here

because he's going to die i hope we can

make it back in time they need you

because he's going to die jesus says

"Okay I'm coming."

And then he

waits for two days he doesn't move i

don't know what he was doing there i

don't know what ministry he was going

through i don't know what was happening

but he doesn't move and then it takes

him I don't know how long at least two

days to walk there it's a day maybe a

day and a half journey to get to Bethany

from where he was it's not that long and

he kind of mosies his way

there by the time he gets

there they

say Lazarus is is

dead we buried him four days

ago and this is where we get Martha in

John 11 lazarus's sister walks up to

Jesus and said

"Lord if you had been

there my brother wouldn't have

died." It's this heavy moment

of I

believed until it became too

late and you're too late

gyrus had the same thing gyrus finds out

that Jesus he's a he's a church leader

basically and that he leads this

synagogue in town and and and Jesus is

in town and so he runs over and he finds

Jesus and says "Jesus come to me my

little

girl she's dying on the on her death

just on the brink of death please come

heal her and begging to Jesus." And

Jesus says "Okay." Okay and what does he

do starts mossying his way i don't know

how slowly he walked but it was slow

enough that a woman could fight her way

through the crowds and come up and touch

his robe and she was healed and then he

stops stops moving to this dying

daughter and he says "Who touched me?"

And then he starts having this

conversation then she gets healed and

then this is where we find him in Luke

Luke 8:49

8:49 it says "While Jesus was still

speaking to her a messenger arrived from

the home of

Gyrus and

said "Your daughter's

dead it's no use bugging the teacher

now it's it's too late."

Can you imagine the disciples following

Jesus for

years living no homes going through all

this rejection seeing crowds come and

crowds

leave seeing him

live seeing him his ministry seeing

miracles and they're like "This is it

this is the Messiah we're his we're his

disciples this is so cool." And then he

gets arrested okay it's all right it's

all right we're gonna be just fine i've

seen him walk through crowds i've seen

him walk on water he could He'll be

He'll be just fine this is okay he goes

up and he goes to trial it's okay

they're not going to find anything

against him what has he done he's

literally perfect what is he going to

They're They're They're going to kill

him for no reason but it's okay it's

okay he'll He can still get out of it

he's He's carrying the cross he's

hanging on the cross

come on this is

it where are you come on Jesus i'm

asking you to show up god I'm asking you

have you been there when it's right at

the end of the finish line and you're

like come on this is the end i need you

to show

up then they watch him say "Father into

your hands I commit my

spirit." And he breathes his last and

they watch the life exit out of his

body they see his corpse have to take it

down and grab his cold dead body wrap it

up put it in a tomb and

go i guess it's too

late i don't know if you've ever been

there in a moment when you go

I was I thought for sure I had the faith

i was going to church i was serving i

was doing all of it and he's too

late and now I got this grudge against

him where were you God you were too late

if you had showed up my brother would

still be alive if you had showed up if

you had hurried my daughter would still

be alive if you would if you would just

come off the cross this thing would

still be we'd still be together but it's

too

late but the story of Jesus speaks

directly into this because Lazarus Jesus

walks over to the grave he weeps with

those who are weeping and then he says

"Roll away the stone

lazarus come out."

And Lazarus walks

out and then he walks over when he's

with Gyrus they say "It's too late." He

says "Don't

worry have

faith let me see your daughter." He

speaks to her he says "Daughter rise

up." And she comes

alive and in the same way in the

tomb three days later an angel appears

rolls the stone away and say "Why are

you looking for the living amongst the

dead he has

risen even after it's too late." See

everybody's story everything we see ends

with the period of death

everybody around us should the Lord tar

we're all going to die the building we

are in is going to crumble someday the

world we are on is going to die the

whole universe has a very end and yet

it's been the period to every sentence

that we've seen and God says "Guess what

i'm giving hope after the period that

there is still hope there is still life

after the death i have overcome it

see this is and this can be seen in your

testimony in your story in so many ways

if we can have Sierra come on up we got

a testimony here that I want to have

shared with us and if we can give our

full attention it's a it's a raw honest

testimony and I want I want for us I

want for us to give honor here because

this is this is a testimony of too late

someone whose

story doesn't set you up for

success would you share a little bit

well for those of you that don't know me

uh my name is Sierra and I'm one of the

servant leaders here at Collective um

I've been at Collective for a little

over a year now uh this testimony is

really important to me um I really hope

that it reaches you and touches you and

you know helps you understand hope in a

different way uh for over 20 years uh

nobody was there for me from the age as

early as four that I could remember um

I've suffered horrid

abuse the hands of my father um not

having anybody there to stop it to save

me from the nights that he would crawl

into my bed the concussions the wrist

fractures um not really understanding

what I did to deserve this or any of it

um I thought it was normal i thought

that's what love is i thought that's how

it was supposed to be um I found safety

in my grandparents so far away back in

Canada um but that safety died with them

when they died and I was here in the US

without any of my family

um this created a teenage life of sin

um I really struggled with sexual

immorality drug use

um and a complete misunderstanding of

what the word worth

means um I attempted to go to youth

group just to get away from the abuse at

home um but my parents my mother and my

stepfather they were atheists and they

put a stop to that very very quickly um

I suffered further sexual assault when I

was an active duty Marine

uh back in 2015 in the Marine Corps and

then I ended up marrying a man that did

the same things

um and just kept making me think it was

what I deserved not understanding the

manipulation the sin uh the evil that

was present there was no safety there

was no hope in anybody else i felt

broken i felt hopeless continually used

and continuously

sinful i uh in 2019 I became a single

mom to my three beautiful blessings

um and little did I know then that that

really started my journey of strength in

understanding his purpose and what his

purpose truly means in uh

2023 I met Pastor Morgan as I was

pulling her out of her total vehicle in

front of our kids' schools

uh five months later and after many

invitations

um in 2024 February of 2024 I attended

collective for the first time and then

on Pentecost Sunday I was baptized and

my kids were dedicated

um I found that Jesus was always after

my heart um he was an unstoppable God

that never stopped pursuing

me he's the definition of hope of love

of

strength and it started with a divinely

assigned car accident and multiple

invites to a church that I I was scared

to come to and now Jesus has changed my

life my heart my soul and my story truly

is a testament that it's it's never too

late for Jesus

come on come on

i don't know your

story i don't know what you've

experienced i don't know if it reflects

anything like Sierra

i don't know what it's too

late times that you've had that you have

experienced or maybe that you're living

in right

now where you've gone I was

hoping I was hoping he'd be

[Music]

there and I want I want for the story of

Jesus and I want for the story of

Lazarus and the story of Gyus Iris's

daughter and for the stories of the

disciples and for the story of Sierra

and for the story of those around you

here i want to live accordingly to the

lifechanging reality art altering story

of

Jesus and I want you to have hope i want

you to know that God saves us no matter

how dark it is no matter where you're at

no matter how hard this season has

been you got people around you in this

room that have seen God show

up even after it was too

late who here real quick who here has

gone I've seen God do that i've seen the

too late come on look around look around

look at this you're not alone

you're not

alone so what I want to do the the story

of Jesus there's one thing it there's

there's one thing it absolutely cannot

do if I understand it appropriately I

cannot walk away the

same i cannot just say

cool like I just watched a great movie

like I just read a a great book i was

like wow that was

inspiring and everything's the same

after that know the story of Jesus he

says "Now I want you to model after me

and to lay down your life and to say

"It's no longer me chasing my things

going my way doing my own thing and now

I must make a decision i'm either going

to reject the story of Jesus and say

"Yeah I really like these things i I'm

I'm going to I'm going to keep going my

own

way or the other responds to go "Okay

I'm turning i'm not going to have it all

figured out i'm going to make a ton of

mistakes i'm going to I'm I'm an

absolute mess i'm not even sure if I

belong here i don't even know if I

should be in this building right now but

but I'm going to give him a shot i'm

going to I'm just going to go allin i'm

going to go allin with Jesus and I'm

laying my life down and instead I'm

following after him

that's what he says he says "Come after

me lay down your life and follow

me." It's the only appropriate response

to someone who has already laid down

their

life for

you it's the only way that I can

appropriately

return anything of

value to the God that created the

universe and gave his son and died and

rose again for

us now here's here's what I found i

found we're talking all about in this

series we're starting it's it's all

about God being

unstoppable absolutely unstoppable and

he

is so unstoppable even if you say "I'm

I'm going to do this my own

way." This Jesus thing I understand

y'all are convinced y'all have drank the

Kool-Aid y'all are there okay what like

I'm I'm going to keep doing my own

thing i'll tell you what God's

unstoppable romans chapter 14 talks

Romans 14 · chapter mention

about this it says "For we will all

stand at the judgment seat of

God for it's

written as I live says the Lord every

knee will bow and every tongue will give

praise to God will confess him." So then

every single one of us will give an

account of himself to God

so it's not about if I confess him as

Lord it's about when I'm going to do it

am I going to do it when I still got the

choice

here am I going to do it in and actually

live a life in response to it that looks

like the life of Jesus has transformed

me or am I going to say "Yeah I know

that fairy

tale i've heard that story yeah it's a

good one."

and leave

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unchanged i'll tell you what I I promise

you he offers a great bargain give your

life and he gives his he's already given

his for you to give it if we can stand

up in here I want to I want for us to

take a moment right now after the story

of Jesus the I we have to give a

response we have to respond in some way

what is your response going to be is the

only question how are you going to

respond to the greatest story of all

creation what are you going to do about

it there's a couple different responses

I want to ask us to number one if you

want to say "Hey I'm I'm in a season

well I just need to figure out if I can

trust God because I'm in a too late

season or I've been there i have this

moment where I go it he felt like he's

too late i'm telling you he he wants to

redeem it but you'll never be able to

see his goodness you'll never be able to

see his his redemption and his

restoration of that if I'm running away

from him if my back's turned to him I

can't see his

goodness and so this is your moment to

say "Okay God I'm going to trust you."

I know for me I've had moments where

where I'm like God I thought we made a

deal i've made these serious sacrifices

for you and I thought I thought I

thought it was going to pay off and and

I'm worse off because of

it i had ministry jobs that I turned

down i I had these opportunities that I

was all excited about and I was like

"Hey God yeah I feel like you're telling

me to stay here and be right where I'm

at." And guess what five years later I

was in the same

spot i go "God come on we made a deal he

said "No he didn't you

did." He says "My deal is follow me and

I I still got something I'm going to

restore from this i'm still got

something I got to make great from

this." He's still got something he's

going to make great and maybe yours your

response right now is "I'm going to

trust

God i will trust

God even after it's too late."

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Maybe your response is this this I'm

turning of my ways i'm turning around i

was walking i'm chasing my own thing and

now I'm turning around this is just

called repentance scripture says the

only the the way to respond to the story

of Jesus is to repent i'm going to turn

around and I'm going to face a new

direction and I'm now chasing after

Jesus and that's what I want that's who

I want nothing else no one else and

that's the only thing that can convince

me and so I want may maybe this is the

first time

ever maybe this is your first time in a

while and you need to recommmit you need

to re-urrender your life and that's your

decision if our prayer team can come up

and kind of come to the sides front

sides here just on the side of the the

screens here can our prayer team head

over

there what we're going to have is we're

going to have our our prayer team go

ahead yep our our prayer team is going

to stand on the sides because the story

of Jesus demands a response the question

is what is the response going to be what

is your response going to be and I want

to ask

you if you're in the boat of I need to

trust God after it's too late or I need

to re-surrender or I need to surrender

for the first time in my life to Jesus

and I need to figure this thing

out i'm going to say a prayer and during

the prayer I want you to come find one

of these people on the

side i want you to

because they we need to have someone

with you i want you to not be alone you

don't have to be alone in this

but first before we do that if I can

just have real quick if if you're in

either the party of I need to trust God

after it's too late

or I'm gonna I'm gonna surrender my life

to Christ for the first time ever for

the first time in a long time just could

you raise your hand high just enough so

I can see you because I want you to know

you're not alone i want to call I see

you come on i see you come on let's go

Trey come on i see

you i see you guys come on

this is

life-changing it's going to change

everything and I want to encourage you

guys find someone on the sides i'm going

to come right over here i'm going to be

right by the prayer banner and I'd love

to pray with one of you guys i just hear

what's God's doing in your heart and

what I want to do is I want to pray and

as we all close our eyes and pray you

guys can make your way to the

side and I want to take some time we're

just going to pray together can we pray

together here everybody close your eyes

if you need to respond go find someone

to pray with if you need prayer even if

it's not about one of those things go

ahead jesus I pray right now in this

place we say we are yours and we must

respond to you we must respond to your

story we must commit god I pray for

those who have been following you

faithfully for years and decades lord I

pray that we would respond accordingly

to your story we are not yet responding

rightly may we respond more with more

conviction with more

commitment father God for those who are

given for the first time surrendering

and saying "I am yours." God I

pray God I pray a death to the old self

i pray a death to the plans of the enemy

i command that the chains that he has

over them be broken in the mighty name

of Jesus and I declare that there is a

new life a new resurrection that's about

to happen in this room right now i

believe that there's a new life and

resurrection that's coming for those in

this room who are saying "I'm trusting

you God even after it felt like it was

too late God I believe that you are

going to reveal yourself as good again

that you are going to restore the

darkness and the trauma and the evil and

the sin of this world and you're going

to resurrect the stories that the enemy

has tried to bury in the

ground he's got a purpose for

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you

Jesus may we

never never leave your story unchanged

we declare these things in the mighty

name of Jesus we pray amen amen come on

if you got the faith I want to hear for

the word of the Lord can we give a hand

for the word of the Lord let's go let's

go

hey thanks so much for watching today's

message our prayer is more than the

words that were spoken in the message

that you would remember the things that

God spoke to your heart yeah and no

matter what it was that God spoke to you

I know that part of your journey is

other people being in a community

because we are better together so if you

made a decision to follow Jesus today

would you click the link below and fill

out the form this is going to help us so

that we can celebrate with you and equip

you with some tools so that your next

steps are great steps yeah thanks so

much for watching we're praying for you

we're cheering you on we believe that

the best days are ahead of you

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