How Long Will You Wait? | Joshua 18: 1-28 | Pastor Diego Mesa

In that wonderful that we could feed families and help people.

And it's just a tremendous event. If you've ever volunteered

and help, it always is overwhelming to see how many

volunteers just show up. They show up with their kids,

want their kids to participate and hold the little bags

or the turkeys and put them in the trunks of

the car. And then just to see how many cars

line up, it's unbelievable. It's just a great way to

let our light shine and the Minister Jesus. And then

you hear all the volunteers. They're like making noise. They're

like cheerleaders out there and they they play music and

they're dancing and they're cheering, and it's just a lively

thing that takes place as you're feeding ballets and ministering

to people. And then I thought about that worship night

when when we had the Beyond boards here, and I

didn't when I heard it on Sunday, it didn't I

didn't think about it. But I wrote something on that

night and I ought to myself, wow, it's really come

to fluition. So on my board or the board that

I was next to on the big Camp Beyond and

we were praying for salvations or things of that nature.

I put Rancho Kukum, I put RCPD. That's what I

put Rancho PD because every Thursday Tomorrow at seven o'clock

I'll be there for briefing and then I'll do my

ride along and I don't know what will happen, but

I pray for them. It's amazing how many conversations I

have had since I put their name on the board.

I go into their office called the squad car, and

amazingly how inevitably we get into not all the time,

conversations about faith. And I've had the opportunity to pray.

I've had the opportunity to share my phone number. There's

one particular deputy when he's on duty. I don't know.

I probably shouldn't say that. I don't know if it's

legal or unlegally. You get in trouble, randomly text is

me and just lets me know he's on duty, and

things of that nature. So wonderful friendships have taken place,

and I look forward to the years of being able

to share my faith more and lead them to the Lord.

And so I just wanted to say that little testimony

of how I wrote their names down on the board

and God's answering it, and that's pretty amazing. And then

Pastor Kinney and his team of professionals do so many

masterful things about helping people navigate through hurts and hang

ups as we said, or have bad habits. And they

have a class. That's a couple of classes that are

still available. And I just wrote a book and it

will be released or it's already out on grieving. And

he has a class on grief sharing. And how many

of you remember this little character growing up cartoon called

Charlie Brown, And one of Charlie Brown's favorite lines with

good grief. And I've noticed that there is good grief

and there is bad grief. And in that class they'll

take you through and navigate you through what does good

grief look like? And possibly what bad grief looks like?

And when I find it biblically through the Bible, is

the Bible exemplifies and really celebrates times of grieving. He

would tell the whole nation over the loss of a

king that they should grieve now, but he told them

how long they should grieve, and then how they should

begin to get back to their lives in what they

were doing before, and I think you ought to take

advantage of that if that fits a niche in your

life where you recently lost a loved one, or maybe

it's been a while and you just can't shake it off.

So we appreciate all the life giving programs that we have. Father,

thank you for the next few moments that we could

stand behind this pulpit. People have not come to hear

the lectures. The philosophies are the opinion of man. Man

can help us. God, We've come to hear you through

your holy scriptures, the Bible that's unchanging and unceasing. Father,

long beyond when we die, Oh God, your word will

still be here, and their truth found in your word

will live through generations and generations. O God, we thank

you today that we lean in to hear what you

have to say to us. Give us the application and

the wisdom to live it out every day. In Jesus' name, Amen,

I want you to stand to your feet. We are

in the Book of Joshua, and I'm just going to

read a few verses, even though I am going to

navigate through the twenty eight verses in all of Joshua eighteen,

but I won't read them all. I'm just going to

start us off on the front end of chapter eighteen

and verse number one. If you look at your screen,

it will read this way. The whole assembly of the

Israelites gathered at Shiloh. Say Shiloh with me. Shiloh means peace. Okay.

It became the capital of Israel, and then it eventually

go over to Jerusalem. But it says here and set

up a tent meeting. They set up a meeting at

this place called peace. It says the country was brought

under their control, but there was still seven Israelite tribes

who had not yet received their inheritance. So basically they

conquered the land. But seven seven tribes had not got

their allotment of land. There weren't boundaries set, they didn't

take full ownership of it. So Joshua said this, let's

just say this together. Wats this? Say this with me?

How long will you wait before you begin to take

possession of the land? Put your name there? What do

you think that means to you? How long are you

gonna wait to take possession? The God of your ancestors

has given you appoint three men from each tribe. Now

come strategy. I will send them out to survey the land.

It sounds like numbers eleven. The same similar thing when

they went into the land of Canaan and to spy

it out, mainly Jericho. And it says, and write a

description of it according to the inheritance, the inheritance of

each they will return to me. Joshua said, you are

to divide the land into seven parts. Remember there were

seven tribes Judahs remain in its territory on the south,

and the tribes of Joseph in the territory of the north.

After you have written a description, write the description, write

the vision of the seven parts of the land. Bring

them here to me. I will cast lot. That's a

spiritual way of finding God's will. And he says, in

the presence of the Lord, our God. The levis, however,

do not get a portion among you, because the priestly

service of the Lord is their inheritance. And God rumen

and have the tribe of Manassa had already received their

inheritance on the east side of the Jordan, Moses, the

servant of the Lord, gave to them. We'll stop there.

You may be seated. Let's talk a little bit about

what we just read and navigate through a few thoughts today.

You know there's an actress. Her name is You may

have seen her Michelle Joy, and she's married now to

Sean Todd. You can see them taught. But the amazing

thing is is that they were engaged for nineteen years.

Let me ask you, ladies, how long would you stay

engaged to a man that had not eventually taken you

down the altar? Or vice versa, vice versa. Let me

ask you something. How long are you willing to wait

for something? How long you willing to wait for someone?

How long have you ever waited for something? The question

I want to challenge you with is how long does

God have to wait for you? You've probably been very

patient with others to wait for them, and some of

you will go places where you're willing to wait in

a long line an amusement park or an athletic venture,

or an emergency room or even your favorite restaurant. But

the reality is is that God would we do the

same thing for God? Is he waiting on you? And

we'll talk a little bit more about that as we

navigate through the message today. But notice the allegations because

verse eight through twenty eight is now going to break

down those seven tribes and show you the territory, and

basically he'll say, to the east went this tribe to

the north, went this tribe to the south, went this

tribe to the west, went this tribe. He's laying out

the map, the geographical location of all these things. Here's

the important question as I open up that I want

to deal with today. It'll go on the screen. But

the important is this to know where you're at? I

think the north, south, East, and the west answers these

questions to me when he alligated let's bring application. What

is this saying to me into you? It's important for

you to know where you're at. It's important for you

to know where you're supposed to be. It's important for

you to know where you're not supposed to be. It's

important for you to know who I'm supposed to be

with and who I'm not to be with. He brought allocations.

You go over here to the south, you go over

here to north, you go to the way. Do you

know where you're supposed to be in life? Do you

know who you're supposed to be around in life? Because

it's all about positioning if you're going to be in

the blessings of God. And sometimes it's not God withholding blessings.

It's just that I'm out of place, I'm out of position.

I'm not in the north, I'm in the I'm not

in the East, I'm in the west. Thank you for

your enthusiasms awfully quiet on a Wednesday night. It challenges us.

So here's my quote. When I think about that, the

quote is on the screen and it says, this being

out of place, out of position, out of season will

cause you to have frustration and a lack of peace.

You know, I'm seventy years old. I'm eighty years old,

and I still have to work a full time job,

and I didn't pay off my mortgage. I refinanced it

over and over, and we could go on and on.

And I'm not saying that emergencies don't happen, and maybe

crisis is happen and we're put in that predicament. But

all things being equal, if I was irresponsible in my twenties,

my thirties, in my forties, then I am frustrated at

eighty and having a lack of peace because I didn't

do what I was supposed to do in the season

that I was in. I'm in a season now of

being married forty two years and if I'm still fighting

with my wife over the same things I fought about

when I was twenty four years old, there's something wrong

with me in the season. I should have matured. I

should have grown up. I should have went in for counseling,

I should have done something. I'm not in the right season.

So I'm frustrated and I'm not at peace. I got

one that's good. I'm not sure about the rest. So

what am I trying to say? Instead of having contentment

in my life? Sometimes I have disappointment and sometimes lack

of joy. I have anger because I'm not in the

right position where God's called me. I'll never forget. In

nineteen eighty one, I went to the La Sheriffs in

Los Angeles to become a sheriff. In nineteen eighty one,

I was twenty years old, and I would start the process.

I knew by the time I was twenty one years old,

when I could be accepted, that I would, and I

was invited by a HAGH ranking individual to come and

do that. When I sat at that Alay Sheriff academy,

I guess you would say it or the place I

was at. I took that test, and I knew everything

within me as a twenty year old, I was out

of place. I was out of position. I should not

be there. I knew the call of God was on

my life. When I was a senior in high school,

I was interviewed because I was an athlete, and they said,

what are you going to do when you graduate or

when you grow up? Sort of speak? And I said

one day. I said this as a senior. I said,

one day, I'm going to be a pastor, and I'm

going to be a man of God, and I'm going

to serve God in full time ministry. Well that was

as a senior in high school. Now two years have

passed and I'm still running from the call, and I'm

getting out of place because I'm hanging around stuff, and

I'm around places where I know are the opposite of

what God has called me to. I should be in

the north sort of speak, but I'm in the south

right now. I should be on the east side, but

I'm on the west side, and I find no peace there.

And I'm frustrated. I failed that test and the instructor

said you could come back in three months and take

the test again, And I said, ma'am, thank you. I

was very respectful. I said it. I won't be back.

I knew I was out of place. It's important for

us to find that place that God has called us,

with the people that God has called us, doing the

things that God has called us to do. If not,

you will not live out your purpose, and you and

I are going to be frustrated. So wherever God has

alloted on me, wherever God has designated me the place,

the location, that's where I want to be. I think

about this. It's amazing that God uses somebody, or that

God can use somebody without titles. What do I mean

by that? Because there are two scriptures that we open

up with, and Joshua won one. The very first scripture

that we enter into the book, it describes in Joshua

after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord.

It came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua,

the son of none. Now what does it call him?

Moses's assistant, Moses's helper, Moses's aid. Joshua never had a title.

He was not called a king, he was not called

a prophet. He was not called a priest, he was

not called a judge. He was called an assistant. And

we got all this thing messed up in our identity.

We're driven by our titles. And here's a man that

did great things for God. And you can do great

things for God. But you don't need a title to

do great things for God. All you need to have

is the heart of God and help wherever you need

to help, and make a difference wherever you need to

make a difference. But so many people are waiting for

titles before they step out in faith or allow God

to use them. And I'm blown away by the fact

that Joshua, even though he was a great military leader,

he never really had an official title that the Bible

gives him of recognition the way we see other individuals.

He's just labeled a servant. All he's labeled as an assistant.

I'm reminded of Romans one to one where it talks

about the apostle and it says this Paul a bond servant.

If you look that up in the rigial Greek, it

means slave. That's what he was. He called himself a

slave on a bond servant and slave of Jesus Christ,

called to be an apostle separated from the God. But

notice this what comes first, the title apostle or bond servant.

He didn't come out and says I Paul, the apostle

separated from the Gospel, a bond servant of Jesus Christ. No,

he has the right order in place, he says. No

matter what title the world gives you, put the word

servant of the Lord in front of that title. Whatever

man labels you, make sure that you put servant of

the Lord. Whatever you accomplish, whatever you acquire, whatever that

you think you are, make sure that first you're a

servant of the Lord. Then whatever comes after that, not

whatever comes before or servant of the Lord. Your head

will get messed up and your heart will be wrong.

So listen to this thought. Approval and acceptance doesn't come

from your title. You're never going to get approval and

acceptance from a title. Approval and acceptance comes from God,

and that comes when you say, Lord, I'm a servant

of you. Here's another great quote that I want to

give you today about ministry. The thought is this, No,

there it is. You can have titles of ministry, but

not have the heart of ministry. I want to be

a deacon. I want you to call me an elder.

I want you to call me bishop. I want you

to call me pastor. I want you to call me director. Okay,

I'll call you that. But do you have the heart

of ministry? The servant of the Lord. That may not

apply to you, but you you put your title there.

You want to you want to be lawyer, you want

to be boss, you want to be doctor. Well, you

can have that if you want, but are you a

servant of the Lord with that title. I remember many

years ago a group of an affiliation came to me

and they said, we want to we want to honor you,

and we want to give you the title of a bishop,

and we have a whole ceremony we're going to take

you through and uh, we're gonna we like to ordain

you as a bishop. And I said, you know what,

thank you, but no, thank you. I don't need the

title of a bishop to do what God's called me

to do. And I appreciate and out of respect, and

I have nothing against anyone who's called to be a bishop.

But I knew what I knew that I was in

the North and shouldn't be in the south. Yeah, I

lost you are I say, you don't know what I'm

talking about. So I don't want the east when God's

called me to the west. Stay in your calling, Stay

where God has you to do, and stay faithful to it.

You don't need a tie. I'm not needed to tie

that title to do anything more than I've already done.

In verse number one, in verse number eight, we begin

to see them gather at Shiloh. We begin to see

them gather at Shiloh. Assembling is done at Shiloh. If

you need to assemble your life, if something is disassembled

in your life, then find your Shiloh. Shiloh is a

place where everything that is out of order, chaotic in

your life disassembled in your See, they're all over the place.

They still have not inherited the promises of God, So

they're gonna have to gather at Shiloh. When you are

not where you should be, when you are not doing

what you should be doing, where you are frustrated, find

your place of peace, find your Shiloh and let God

leads you. Let God speak to you, Let God answer

your questions, Let God solve and when they get to Shiloh.

The plan comes into place when they find Shiloh. Joshua

knows what to do when they come to Shiloh. Now

there's a strategy. Send out the spies, send out three

from me, twenty one men, and let's go start this allocation.

Let's get this thing going that hasn't been going. This

thing you've not been accomplished. Let's get it accomplished. But

you've got to get to Shiloh. You got to get

to Shiloh. There's a lot of families that are divided,

a lot of families with disunity, and families have to

find their Shiloh, a place to come together to resolve things.

I could see that I hit a nerve right there

on that one. With my beautiful family. I remember early

in ministry when they were starting ministry, and my lovely

daughter in laws and nas will bear witness of this

is we went to Palm Springs because I had the

six of them involved in ministry, with with the pace

of ministry, with the opinions that we all had, we

came together to talk through everything concerning ministry, but also

concerning parenting and areas that maybe we were frustrated or

areas of disagreement. We had to find a place of

Shiloh to come together to find some level of resolution

or some level of peace. I'm not telling you what

to do, but I'm telling you there ought to be

a place that you say, you know what, enough's enough.

We've got to come to a place, a meeting place,

and you bring everyone together and you share your disputes,

you share your differences, and you try to come up

with some resolution along that line. We found that and

we started our path. That was the early days of

them all carving their paths. A minute, what do you

want to do? Adam? What do you want to do? Caleb?

What do you want to do? Nathan? What do you

want to do? Ashley? Ashley? So now what do you

want to do? But you have to come to that

place of Shiloh where you come together and you begin

to find resolution. Well that's my introduction, and now I'm

going to preach. The children of Israel were living in

a place of neglect. They were living in a place

of hesitation, procrastination, and slack. There was halfway living, halfway

done in their lives, halfway completed. Something was still unfinished

in their lives. They had conquered the land, but they

had not yet inherited their territory allotted to them. They

had not taken possession of it. So they owned the car,

but they've never driven it. They owned the land, but

they never built the house on the land. They bought

the wedding ring, they've just never placed it on each

other's finger. So wat's the way. This message translation says

this scripture that we just read in I think New

King Jame, but watch us. Joshua addressed the people of Israel,

how long are you going to sit around on your hands?

Put it off, take a possession of the land. And

that God, the God of your ancestors, has given you.

Man that's strong. That's almost a rebuke to that, What

the heck are you doing? God did a miracle. Now

he saved you, He delivered you. Now live out this life.

Now you're living beneath your privileges. You're not being your best.

God died on the cross so that you could have victory.

Why are you struggling? He's saying, or application to bring

into our lives. So he recognize that they were at

a place where they had unfinished business in their lives,

and they had not fully taken possession. So the question

that warrens is this, what are you waiting on and

what are you waiting for? In your life? What are

you waiting to change? What are you waiting to stop?

What are you waiting to start? Why are you waiting change?

If you need to change, start if you need to start,

stop if you need to start? But why are you

what are you waiting for? He's basically saying, what are

you delayed to do? Are you delayed to lose weight,

delaying to exercise, eat better, financial stewardship and handling your money?

Why are you delaying in your life? Then? Ultimately, what

are you putting off that needs to be done? Are

you putting off an apology? Are you putting off a responsibility?

Are you putting off a meeting of coming together, a

phone call, a text? What are you putting off? And

last of all, what are you holding back to accomplish?

What are you holding back serving? Giving, loving, forgiving? Why

are you holding back on? That is the challenge of

what God would say to us. I remember, we have

been doing such wonderful, wonderful days in the early part

of the ministry. We had started in nineteen ninety four,

and it grew from twelve people in a house, and

then it grew in this little business park called Utica.

And then the next thing, we bought the property. And

it started with a sanctuary of about one hundred and

fifty and when we were done, it was a sanctuary

of about eight hundred and forty and eight hundred and

forty seats wasn't enough. So virtually we had a Saturday

night service and four Sunday mornings and one Sunday night

just to accommodate all the people. We had a midweek service,

but that was kind of a second time people could

come to Jus. But really it was all those services

the Saturday and the fourth Sunday and Sunday night that

could accommodate all those people coming. We were blessed. We

owned a business park. We were living on the east side,

so to speak. We were players. Now we own some property.

Now we occupied sixty percent of that eighty thousand, so

about sixty thousand square feet ran the ministry at that

particular time. I mean we had bought it as a church.

We bought it for five point five five point five

million dollars. You don't want to know what it's worth today.

You're supposed to say, I do want to know? Come on,

so it's it's I don't. I don't own it. I

don't we own it. I'd go be thrown into jail

if I owned it and sold it off for personal gain.

We owned it. We owned it as a church. But

I felt the Lord challenged me and said this place

isn't big enough, and there are more that want to come.

And so I remember thinking, Okay, now I'm gonna raise

the money and we're gonna have a debt free church,

and we're gonna buy the land and we're gonna build

the building. And I felt like God said, I can't

wait for that to happen. What you do, do it quickly,

so to speak. And it was a movie at the time,

and I remember the phrase jumping out, build it and

they will come building, and they will come building, and

they will come. And there we went as rapidly as

we could. I serve. I brought a little team out

and I said, go search the land of Rancho. Go

find me about forty acres of land. That's what we're

looking for at the time. Go find forty acres of land.

And we went and we went and we we found

this property and we built it in about eighteen months.

This property is forty seven million dollars. Now that may

not sound like a lot of money to you, but

from a Mexican from Montebello who never went to UCA

Business School or Stanford University, who didn't have a family

that talked about investments growing up, or the stock market

or real estate. Forty seven million and then I'm the

one who has to sign that contract as a guarantee.

What does that mean? And then they're taking out a

life insurance policy on me? What does that mean? All

new territory. We built this church and God began to

bring more people. But six months into this acquisition came

this fledgling little school that had been kicked off of

their property, and we're looking for a home, and that

would become our school now that we own and oversee

now called UCA. And it never dawned on me until

I sat with them that that's what God was talking about,

not only just the members that would come and the

salvations and the visitors. We built it for them because

if we had waited, if we had delayed, if we

had hesitated, that school would be nonexistent, pess Kinney, Your

beautiful granddaughter goes to that school, and seven of my

grandchildren go to that school, and maybe some of yours.

But that would have never happened if we had waited

and waited and waited and delayed and delayed and delayed.

You can't do it. We'll talk a little bit more

about that in a few moments of the consequences. But

ken waiting, Ken waiting to do something that you know

you need to do, be a sign of three things.

Why do I wait? Why do I delay? Why do

I put God on hold? Why don't I just do it?

Let's address three things. Number one, it's a sign of immaturity.

When we delay and wait to do what God's told

us to do, it's a sign of immaturity. There's some selfishness,

there's some ignorance that we can't prioritize our lives and

we don't keep the promise. So there's some immaturity that

takes place. I remember when I was raising my three

sons in the house, there were signs of immaturity. They

would not pick up their clothes, they wouldn't take their

showers or their baths all the time. When we asked them.

They wouldn't brush their hair, and they wouldn't brush their

teeth when they should. They wouldn't get dressed when we

asked them to get dressed. Oh, that was a sign

of immaturity. But one thing that was always so difficult

was getting them up for school. They always wanted to

sleep in and as much as Again, like Pastor Adam

did a great analogy about his sons and now if

they were forty years old, so it is, it's acceptable

when they're five and seven and twelve or whatever there is.

But if I'm a forty year old man, I still

can't get up to go to work. What's wrong? And

so oftentimes we don't step out and do what God's

told us to do and have delayed to do something

because of immaturity. The second thing is because they're just

simply being stubborn. There's a level of pride, a level

of pride in our lives, a level of stupidity sometimes

or narrow mindedness in our lives. Stubbornness is we're just

irrational that we can't make a good conscious choice and

decision that this needs to be done. And so there's

a level of stubbornness. Pharaoh is a great example of stubbornness.

Let God's people go and Egypt doesn't have to suffer

all this devastation. But he's stubborn. And the third thing

that I think is huge is just simply feared. People

never step out to continue to put God on postponement

delays and cause God to wait because of fear, the terror,

the paralyzation, the scared, scariness of it. Isaiah, I'm going

to give you a few translations. You may know this scripture,

but I love the various translations of Isaiah forty one.

Don't be afraid because I'm with you. Don't be intimidated.

So you need to tell yourself. Don't be intimidated to

apply for that job. Don't be intimidated to try to

get that promotion. Don't be intimidated to buy that house.

Don't be intimidated to ask that girl on a date.

Don't be intimidated. I'm going on and on. I can't

get nothing from you tonight. I am with you. I

am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you.

I will support you with my victorious right hand. Here's

another great don't be afraid I'm with you. I am

your God. Let nothing terrify you. Nothing that means absolutely

to talk to people. I'm afraid. I'm afraid. What's gonna happen?

He says nothing. I will make you. I will make

you something. I'll make you strong, and I will help you,

and I will protect you, and I will save you.

Last one, don't be afraid, for I am with you.

Don't be discouraged. Tell yourself that, don't be discouraged. Say

it again like you mean it. Don't be just what

is discouraging you tonight from stepping out and doing what

God called you to do. Don't be discouraged, he says,

For I am your God. I will strengthen you, I

will help you, and I will hold you with my victorious,

victorious right hand. Many people never step out and put

God on hold and delay because of just simply fear,

the fear of the outcome, the fear of disappointment, the

fear of failure, the fear of rejection. But I'd rather

swing for the fences and strike out than never have

the courage to get to the plate and swing and

get the bat off my arm. I've known so many people,

and you got to trust me. Over the years, who

I thought would have been done wonderful in the ministry,

whether they were full time volunteers or full time employees.

But when I approach them with opportunities or approach them within,

would you do this? No? No, no, no, I can't.

I can't. And even few of them left the church

just because I asked them. They allow fear to get

the best of them. They didn't want to be known,

They didn't want to be an example, they didn't want

to be a model. They didn't want people to have

to depend upon them. Those stop them. Here's the reality.

It's found in Esther four fourteen. If you wait too long.

If you wait too long, you'll be replaced, or you

possibly can be replaced. If you wait too long, you'll

miss out on opportunities. And if you wait too long,

something will go unmet. If you wait too long. Ecclesiastes

eleven four says this, if you wait for perfect conditions,

you'll get nothing done. Man, if I was going to

get a tattoo, i'd get that tattooed on my arm.

What the heck are you waiting for? Well? When I retire,

When I retire, when I get out of debt. When

I get out of debt, when when the children get raised,

you're shut up. You're never It's a lie, it's absolute lie.

You'll never do it if you if you wait for

perfect conditions, you'll get nothing done. Youah nothing done. So

Esther says this, and this is what Esther four fourteen

says about her calling and how she potentially delayed or

postponed that. In Esther, it says this, if you remain

silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews

will rise from another place. Girl. If you don't do

what God's telling you to do, he gonna find someone

else to do it, because you ain't all that in

a bag of chips. You cause God to delay long

enough and he'll say, that's okay, I gave you an opportunity.

Now I'm gonna use someone else. Or now I got

to cause someone else to replace you since you won't

do it, or you will miss out on the reward

and blessing that I had for you because you wouldn't

do it. This is all taken from this story, and

my last point with two minutes left is this. The

reality is this. As we close this out, Now we

meet at Shiloh before and after we do something, But

in the in between, in the middle is just as important.

There's a spiritual side of decisions, and then there's a

natural side in decisions. So they meet at Shiloh, they

come with the plan, then they come back to Shiloh.

Shiloh is the spiritual We're gonna pray about this. First,

we're gonna ask God to show us our will the will.

Then we're gonna come back and we're gonna pray and

ask God to bless it and watch over it. Here's

where a lot of saints mess up. They mess up

in the in between. They don't do anything natural, or

they do too much natural and not enough spiritual. Wow. Okay,

So the reality is is the land is never gonna

be theirs unless they go out there. And that's why

you see all these terminologies. He says, go out and

survey it, go out and scout it. I want you

to write down to everything. Here is succession, planning, everything

here is strategies. Everything is Okay, you have a goal,

you have a dream, Now tell me what you're gonna

do to reach that. Because Luke fourteen says this, how

can we go and build a tower unless we first

count the cost. The Bible says faith without works is dead.

So here in this story you got not just the

spiritual part of Shiloh and casting lots for the will

of God. You got all this terminology where he just

sends them out. He says, go, survey, write down, scout

it out, describe it to me, and document it. All

of that speaks of strategies for success. You have a dream,

you have a goal. Now tell me your strategy. Yes

you're gonna pray, Yes, I'm gonna believe God again. People

came to me and I said, forty seven million dollars. Man,

we got to raise forty said why are we gonna do? Brother,

diego trust the Lord with all your heart. Lean not

on your own understanding, but just believe. Listen, your name

was not written on that contract, That life insurance policy

was not written on you. So I appreciate what you're saying.

How much money are you gonna give me so that

we can pay off the forty sevens? We gotta go

hire a contract we gotta hire We've got to hire

an architect. We've gotta hire a project manager. We gotta

do all these things. We gotta go look for the land.

We gotta survey, we gotta negotiate a price. So that's

what it looks like. You want to get married. Okay, great,

that's a great dream. Go now, let me tell you

what's your strategy to get married. Well, I want to

get out of debt. Tell me your strategy of getting

out of debt. I want to start a business. Tell

me your strategy of how to start a business. Want

to lose twenty pounds? Tell me your strategy about how

to lose twenty pound. Well, I'm gonna pray and I'm

just gonna believe God that the calories are gonna go

out as I put the food in my mouth, and

they'll just not show up on my body. Oh that's wonderful.

You see the practicality of what God says here when

it comes to succession planning, Here, when it comes to

practical leadership, when it comes to preparation and intentional direction,

all of this. He's saying, if we do this, guys, listen,

we are going to eliminate surprises from our lives.

Surprise, surprise, surprise. Everything in your life should not be

a surprise. I don't know how mad that happened. I don't

know what did you.

Five years ago? Someone told you not to marry that person.

Someone has said don't date that person. Someone said don't

buy that now, someone said don't go live over there.

But you just had to do it now. Surprise, surprise, surprise.

When you and I have strategies for success, we eliminate success,

We reduce failure. We out smart drama and stress. Why

you got so much drama in your life? Drama for

your mama? What's going on there? Man? So much stress?

Because you have no succession planning. You have no strategy,

You have no plans, you have no preparation in your life,

and you make something complex simplified when you have strategies

on how to do it. So I end with this

the skills that are needed for strategies for success. You

need education. You have to acquire knowledge. You better be

pretty smart on what you're about ready to do. Number two,

You better have character. You better have the patience, the honesty,

faithfulness in your life or you won't accomplish it. You

better have help in your life. You better have a

team of experts and advisors and mentors to help you

on that journey. You better be able to think very well.

You better be able to think objectively and be able

to think critically, and be able to think thoroughly will

help you think think, think, think, And then you need

to finish complete what you started. Complete it. All these

to me are the skills that are needed. If you

and I then want to be successful in money, then

I got to know how to manage money. I got

to know how to invest money. I know how to

budget money. If I don't want things to be an

emergency in my life, then I've got to have insurance.

I've got to have a retirement plan in my life.

I've got to have made my paid for my funeral cost.

That's all strategic planning in our lives. If I want

my family to have an inheritance and I want a

wealth transfer, then how much money am I putting away?

That starts today? If I'm want to live as long

as I can and in my eighties and my nineties

or one hundreds in good health, then what does that

look like in planning for that? And then if I

want to be a great parent and be able to

parent my adult children, what does that look like. If

I want to be a great influence on my grandchildren.

What does that plan look like to be able to

do that. We do that, guys, and it's going to

bring a level of peace into our lives and our families,

a level of security, a level of provision, and level

of unity when we begin to do that. I end

with this, I love what God is doing in our ministry.

I'm very, very grateful to God. But to get where

we're at today took a plan that took place when

I was fifty five years old. I sat in Pastor

Charles's living room and you were there, Garfield, Pastor Kinney

was there, and I said, guys, I think one day

I'm going to turn this church over to one of

my sons. And I want to start the conversation now,

because I will be begin to mentor, and I will

begin to him shadow, and I will begin to him follow.

And I just want to be ahead of the curve

because I'm going to get wrinkly real quick, and I'm

going to get gray haired real quick, and my stories

are going to become irrelevant. And there's a generation that's

coming up and I will not be able to reach them.

And so we've got to be a church that's a

generational church, and so were we going to pray. Absolutely,

But now it's time to strategize how we're going to

do this. So when people look at how seamless the

transition is, it's because you put the work in, you

put the time in. You did what you're supposed to do. Now,

God blesses it. Now there's not a crisis. There's not

chaos going on here. There's not division going on here,

there's not frustration going on here. There's peace. There's not

emergencies or surprise, surprise, surprise, Father, thank you for the

message today. I pray that administers to all of us.

What do we today need to start doing that we

are delaying in doing? God, that's the walk away today.

Oh God, let's stop putting you on hold and start

doing what you ask us to do. There's too much

to risk, God, too much opportunity out there, too many

people that need to be reached, too many things that

need to be accomplished for us to be putting you

on hold. Give us the strategies for our individual dreams,

for the ministries through us, give us the ideas, give

us the spiritual downloads. In Jesus' name, Amen, we're getting

ready to leave this church in a few moments. Thank

you for coming to our midweg service. You know what

you and our one germ when virus or mishap away

from Heaven's gate or Hell's doors. You know, I just

heard that Robert Redford died. Yeah, I know, eighty nine

or something like that. And when I hear of this thing,

I mean, some of these people were people I watched

on television I grew up with, and I thought they're

pretty great actors and things of that nature. And my

immediate heart says, Lord, did they know you? What a

tragedy to live eighty nine years and be in the

height of success and not know the Lord. I hope

he does. I hope he did, and I hope it

wasn't the other way around. I'm not ready. Let me

postpone it. I don't need you, Jesus. I just simply

want you to be ready. Don't waste the precious time

that God's given you just simply building your own career,

building your own success, and putting off your salvation. God

loves you so much it's overwhelming. He proved his love

to you to die for you while you were a sinner.

You were never ever thinking about God. God was not

on your radar, but he said, they'll come a day

when the Gospel will be preached. And that's why I'm

gonna die, because when they hear the gospel, they'll give

their heart to me. And just like Pastor Heron said,

they'll put down that stony heart and that heart will

become sensitive and a fleshly heart that's receptive to the gospel.

I pray today that your heart and heart is broken

by the spirit of God, and that you turn to

a God that loves you today and stop being so

resistant and stubborn and prideful and arrogant. No matter how

cool you are or how bad you are. One day

you're gonna die and you're gonna live again. Let's guarantee

where we're gonna live in heaven. To three. If you

want to give your life to Jesus, you want to

rededicate your life to the Lord, you just raise your

hand and will pray for you. One. Two, three, raise

your hand wherever you are. God love you, God bless you.

Say this with me, Dear Lord Jesus, I love you.

I don't really know how to love you, but I

need to know how to love you. Would you come

and live in my heart. Thank you for forgiving me

of my sins. Jesus be the Lord of my life. Amen. Now,

as Pastor Heron comes up and he's going to dismiss us.

If you need prayer, I invite you to come up here.

But if you're not feel with the Holy Spirit with

the evidence of speaking in tongues, you come forward and

our prayer leaders will lead you in the infilling of

the Holy Spirit. I got filled when I was a Catholic.

I had never been to a Protestant church and heard

about money getting filled. And someone told me this, Diego,

you're a Catholic. Do you love Mother Mary? I said, oh, yes,

I love Mother Mary. They said, do you know Mother

Mary was one of the tunder and twenty and she

got filled with the Holy Ghost. Diego, as a good Catholic,

don't you want what Mother Mary wants had? And I said, yes,

give me what Mother Mary wants. And I got filled

by the Holy Spirit with a priest. A priest led

me to get filled with the Holy Spirit. If that's

not a miracle, I don't know what a miracle is.

You need the power of God in your life. You

need a deeper relationship with God. It's amazing. I'm here

to talk about everything. But here's what There's not a

day that goes by that I don't pray in the

Holy Spirit, because the Bible says build up yourself on

your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Goal in

a depressed, frustrated, angry world. I need to be built

up every day, and I get built up by praying

in my understanding, but also praying the Holy Ghost. So

you come forward for prayer or you want to get

filled with the Holy Spirit. Okay, pastor hearing? Amen? Amen? Well,

you guys blessed tonight. Ay. Amen.

If you made that decision to follow God and make

that call, could you pull your phone out, go to

your web browser, type in www dot grow dot faith

to receive seven steps to grow in your Christian walking.

So here's the challenge for you if you made that decision,

it's come to church every single Sunday, every single Wednesday

if you can and watch what God does for a

whole year.

Amen.

Let's go ahead and pray, and you guys would be dismissed.

Father God, we thank you for this word. I pray

that the word is not just information I pray that

the word leads to transformation, Father God, that we apply

the truths for the God, that we don't wait, that

we go because You are with us in Jesus thing.

We pray, and God's people say Amen, Amen, God bless

you guys.