Gathering the Family || Pastor Sean Fenner

Welcome to the LESSE podcast. Here at LSE we seek the loss, teach

the found, and send the disciples. We truly hope you're encouraged by this

week's message. Would you do me a favor and please welcome Pastor Sean all

the way from Light and Light and you already know Bunney Living. As we

engage in the word, we shout the word. But I'm excited for the

message tonight. So come on in, Pastor Sean, Thank you man.

Now they know why that Bay version of Pastor Adams up here preaching to night.

Come on, man, somebody like he got a good triple a fake

of Pastor Adam right here and right now. Family. Well, I'm just

so grateful to be with you this evening. I just send my love from

the beautiful city by the sea, Long Beach, California. If you ain't

heard about it, you need to come visit, all right. We got

the best tacos in the world, the best rappers in the world, and

we got some of the greatest churches in the world except for a Bundy Living,

of course. I'm just putting that out there right now. Now.

Um, I want to do I want to get into the word of God.

But before I do that, I just I've been so steeped in prayer

and asking the Holy Spirit what he wants me to share with you tonight,

and God kept bringing up this word faithfulness. And so here's what I'm gonna

do. I'm gonna be faithful first to my family before I preach the word

of God. And I want to show a picture of my family real quick,

if we could throw it up on the screen. I actually have a

picture of my beautiful family that I put in there. Hopefully they have that

picture. I swear I have a family and they're amazing. But but I

have an incredible wife. We've been married for fourteen years, and we adopted

my wife's younger sister when she was sixteen. We also kind of adopted a

young guy that I discipled in my church, Alberto. He's been a part

of our family forever. So that's the two older ones on the side.

I know you're looking at me thinking like, how could this man possibly have

kids that old? Thank you? Thank you. I'm twenty three, um,

but these are these are my two youngest, Caspian and as Land.

That's right, I'm not that holy. I just wanted names that nobody could

say, and then somebody else's kid turns around. I'm like, I want

my kids to turn around when I say their names. Caspian is seven,

as Land's about to be three at the end of July, and he is

almost forty pounds and three feet three inches. Pray for me. This child

is too much. Let me tell you, I'm taking him to Pauli next

week so they could recruit him into the football team. All right, But

here's here's what I want to talk about tonight, and we'll go back to

this in a minute. I'm gonna share a little bit about my family and

how God has been faithful to us. But but here's what I want to

do. I want tonight to help you understand a definition of faithful, because

I believe often as Christians we are faith filled, but faith filled doesn't always

translate to faith full. And to be faithful is to be reliable or steadfast

or or unwavering. And the Bible speaks of this type of faithfulness in four

different ways. It talks about attributes of God. We sang tonight about the

faithfulness of the God that we serve. Can I get an amen tonight or

a Hallelujah, or a or a thank you Jesus. I mean, maybe

it's just me that has the testimony in the house, But I know that

if it wasn't for the faithfulness of the God that I serve, that I

would not be standing up here in front of you today with my heart beating

and my lungs filled with the breath of the Living God. It is by

God's faithfulness alone that I'm even here and alive and well. But it also

talks about this idea of the characteristic of people of God that can take on

the faithfulness of God, this idea that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit comes

so that you can now bear the root of who God is in and through

your life. You find this idea throughout Ephesians and Colossians. And when I

was preparing this message and the Spirit of God was speaking to me, I

ask God, God, bring to mind what you want to share about faithfulness.

God, do you want me to go to the Hall of faith?

Lord? Do you want me to talk about people that were faithful over a

long time? And the Lord led me directly to King David in his youth,

and the Lord specifically brought to mind how David's anointing came about in the

first place. Now you know the story. If you've been studying your Bible

for a little while, you know that there's this king that people are grumbling

for because you know, most of us we love God, but sometimes we're

not okay with God being our Lord. So we want somebody to stand in

front of us, and we make them an idol, and we make them

lord. And they wanted a king because everybody else had the king. And

so God picks this guy's Saul. But then Saul grows weary of seeking to

make God's name famous, and he begins to move from a place so submission

to God and faithfulness, and now he desires the fame that is due our

faithful God. Now here's what I can tell you is you can always count

on the fact that when a generation that is anointed by God grows tired and

complacent with their mission and thinks that now their needs and desires have become more

important than serving the faithful God that created them, sustains them, loves them,

and has redeemed them through Jesus, the Lord is already beginning to search

for the seat of the next generation that will be looking to be faithful for

him. So what does God do? God sends a prophet, and isn't

it always a prophet that God sends. Let me tell you, man,

I love prophets, but prophets are weird. You ever read about some of

the things the prophets do, like naked doing, some craziness like whoa God?

Watch out for the prophets. But the prophets always have something to say

to draw us back to the truth of God or rebuke us from the way

that we've moved away from the faithfulness of God. And I found over and

over and over again in my life the prophetic gift come to me and pour

out God's anointing over me when I needed to hear God's truth. And so

that's exactly what God does. God sends Samuel to this little tidy town and

he says, go with the oil, for I'm about to pour my anointing

out on the next generation that is willing to remember and serve me as their

faithful God. So here's where we pick up the story. We find Samuel

led to the house of a man named Jesse of the least tribe of Israel.

And in first Samuel chapter sixteen. We're gonna get into the Word.

You can open up your Bible or turn it on like all of us do

nowadays. First, Samuel sixteen, We're gonna read thirteen verses. And then

what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna walk you through what it looks like to

live faith full for our faithful God. The Lord said to Samuel, how

long will you mourn for Saul since I have rejected him as king over Israel.

Fill your horn with oil and be on your way. I am sending

you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be

king. But Samuel said, how can I go if Saul? Here's about

it, he will kill me. The Lord said, take a heifer with

you and say, I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Now,

even the prophet knows that a good barbecue will calm any wrath. In the

name of Jesus, invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you

what to do. You are anointed for me, the one I indicate.

Samuel did what the Lord said, and when he arrived in Bethlehem, the

elders of the town trembled when they met him. Yes, do you come

in peace? Samuel replied, yes, in peace, I have come to

sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.

Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. And

when they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, surely, Shirley, Shirley,

I mean, this dude must have been ball in seven foot dark complexion.

Surely the Lord's anointing stands here. But the Lord said to Samuel,

listen to this, do not or do not consider his appearance nor his heights,

for I have rejected him. Do not look at the things that people

look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at

what the hearts. Then Jesse called a ben Adab. Now I know somebody

feels called to name their child a ben Adab. Please don't, in the

name of Jesus. He had him passed. Of course, it was not

a Benadab with a name like that in front of Samuel. But Samuel said,

the Lord is not chosen this one either. Then Jesse had Sama passed

by, but Samuel said, nor the Lord has chosen this one. Jesse

had seven of his sons passed before Samuel, but Samuel said to them,

the Lord has not chosen these. So he asked, Jesse, are these

all the sons you have? Like imagine asking somebody with seven boys, these

all the boys you got? You got a whole football team waiting for me

somewhere. And then Jesse says, hmmm, they're still the youngest. He's

tending to the sheep. And Samuel said, sent for him. We will

not sit down until he arrives. So he sent for him and brought him

in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features,

and the Lord said, rise and annoints him. This is the one.

Immediately by what he was doing, he knew he was the one.

So Samuel took the horn of oil annointed him in the presence of his brothers,

and from that day on, listen, the spirit of the Lord came

powerfully upon David. Samuel went to Rama, So let me give you some

points here out of this that I think will help us be faithful, faith

filled, faithfulness to the God that is faithful to us. Here's what it

is. Family. Being faithful is believing that God is who he says he

is. Faithfulness is believing that God is who he says he is. So

I want to give you five things that I think will help prove that tonight

and will help prove your heart for the faithfulness that God has for you.

Number one is this. If you cannot be faithful to serve, you cannot

be trusted to lead. See, we have to understand why God chose David.

It was because he was being faithful with the sheep that his father had

given him care over. Imagine a prophet coming to your town to anoint somebody

from your family and you ain't even invited to the party. Could you?

I would have been like, who missed me? Where was I when these

invitations went out? But David's attitude is I'm gonna do what God has called

me to do. I'm not gonna worry about what other people are doing.

I'm gonna do what God has called me to do. And can I say

that some of us want to lead before we serve. Some of us want

to lead in the church, but we don't want to lead our family.

Some of us want to lead a ministry, but we don't lead our workplace.

And God is saying this, serve in what I have already given you,

and I will find you faithful. You know, it's interesting because we

know that David becomes king and he becomes the ruler of a nation. But

David becomes the ruler of a nation because he didn't want to be the ruler

of a nation. He wanted to serve his father. And for many of

us, we desire the gift that God gives us, and we miss the

blessing of the gift giver. We honor and celebrate and idolize the very gift

that the God of all creation gave us, and we missed the one that

gave it to us in the first place. If you want to lead,

serve now Now I'm a little concerned, Pastor Adam. Can I just say,

because I listened to a lot of podcasts, not this the podcast here

is a dope. Let me tell you need to listen to that podcast.

I was like, looking at one of like five million views, I was

like, man, this this is good. I could listen to this podcast.

But I've been listening to a lot of podcasts and one of the biggest

things people want to talk about as leadership, and I think most people define

leadership as influence. Now I'm not saying if you're a leader that you don't

have influence. But here's what I am saying. The Bible doesn't define leadership

that way. The way the Bible defines leadership is service. See, the

greatest leader, the God of this universe, was born as a man,

came to this earth, sacrificed himself as the suffering servant, died on across

that you deserved, and he said, be a servant, because I've been

a servant to everyone but family. We want to lead without serving. And

then we wonder why we got a bunch of leaders that don't look like Jesus.

Okay, it was just this side of the room. Let me get

back to the side of the room. All right, right, all right,

right, we got a bunch of leaders that don't look like Jesus because

we want a following. We don't want to serve people. We want selfishness,

not selflessness. Now let me tell you self care is a good thing.

I know some of y'all, even the men in the room, y'all

been getting pedicures. I've ben't seeing you in Long Beach. I know you

go all the way to Long Beach to make sure nobody finds out what you'd

be doing. All right, but let me let me tell you, let

me tell you, let me tell you that that you could take care of

yourself all day, but unless you serve, the spirit will not stir inside

of you. But some of us need to be reminded that we have kids

at home when we want to serve. Some of the men and women in

this room need to be reminded that you got a husband or wife to serve

if you want to serve. Some of us need to remember that not everybody

can be a pastor. Because if everybody was a pastor, who's going to

go into the workplace and serve people and show them the love of Jesus.

See Pastor Adams called to gather you here to show you what a leader really

looks like. And let me tell you your leaders served Because the three times

that I was around Pastor Adam in the last few months, all he did

was served me. He bought me dinner, he bought me lunch, he

drove me around in his car, he met with me at a nice Let

me tell you, Pastor, that dude serves people, because you imagine past

out. I'm like, well, Sean, what can you do for my

follow wing. But that's how many of us think we're called to serve God.

See, leadership is defined as service, and some of us need to

get back to serving. Number two is this the faithful weight on the Lord's

timing. The faithful weight on the Lord's timing. Listen to the scripture First

Samuel sixteen thirteen. From that day, the spirit of the Lord came powerfully

upon David. The first thing Scripture says that David does after he's anointed the

new king of Israel is he goes and he serves Saul. Think about that

for a second, Like, imagine, imagine you being like, all right,

look, my manager is wilding out, and God needs me to manage

this place. Let me tell you, because where the spirit of the Lord

is, there is freedom, and I need to free this place from all

the shackles and oppression of the management that I'm under. Somebody just said,

Amen, in the back, I hurt you. I heard you. Listen,

We'll pray for you after service. Don't worry. But here's what often

happens. We forget that God has called us to serve the people that come

before us. See. One of the dangers of my generation I say my

generation, this younger generation, is that we want something from someone, but

we don't want to honor the people that gave it to us. I can

I just take a moment to talk to some of the young people in the

room. Listen, let me tell you somebody sweated and gave and served and

loved and did things that you weren't willing to do to get you where you

are right now, and you stand on their shoulders. And your job is

to serve them no matter what God says you're called to do. See,

some of you missed it. That's a word for you right now. You're

called to serve the person that you're meant to succeed. But God still has

things he needs to do in you, through them before you enter that season,

because you can't serve unless you're submitted, and by submission, God brings

you into your calling. See we forget that even the right thing at the

wrong time could ruin God's plan for our life. God's timing. Family,

If you walk away from this when nothing else is, God's timing is everything,

and sometimes God will call you to submit so that you can learn how

to follow. David Waited fifteen years I know some of you guys were like,

well he played the heart for like three weeks. I could do that,

past sign me up for the nursery. I could do four weeks solid,

four weeks. If I got duct tape in rope, I could do

four weeks. In the name of Jesus, this man served the person he

was called to succeed for fifteen years and you can't even wait five minutes for

a cheeseburger. See, we live in a habit right now when I want

it generation and that robs the anointing of God because we don't want to be

faithful. We want it fast. And how many of us know that fast

food is good? Going down we weren't gonna talk about it, but coming

out it ain't the same. Let me tell you anybody ever got to make

tummy rumble about three minutes after you ate that big mac? And somebody got

it right now? Pastor Adam like, where's the restroom at Ussher? Ussher?

Okay? But can I go even further? Let me take you to

the point three it Can I go even further? Sometimes it's not even an

issue of God's timing. Sometimes it's an issue of your attitude. So I'm

gonna I'm gonna talk about it real quick. But here's what I want to

do. I want to talk to you about a time that I adjusted my

attitude, because sometimes when somebody gets up here and says, hey, well

adjust your attitude, you're like, you don't know me. And I never

been to Long Beach before, so you better chill in Jesus name. My

wife and I tried to have a child for four years. My wife was

baron. We went of the doctors and we thought something was off and wrong.

And after going to the doctor, the doctor told us, ain't nothing

wrong. You just need to practice. And I'm like, we've been practicing

and we're doing our part and God needs to show up right now. Four

years and then one day I was out of baptism and four of the young

men that I was discipling, we're getting baptized. And this is what the

Lord said to me, Sean, if you want children, father, these

children, he said, loved them like their fathers, cannot. One of

them their father had died, He was shot and killed, just like my

father. One of them their fathers was a life sentence in prison. One

of them their father had ran off and now had a new family in another

country. One of them his father had abandoned him when he was seven years

old, and his mom wouldn't even tell him his father's name. And he

said this, Sean, if you want sons, be faithful with the ones

I've already given you, and let me tell you something about our God.

He will show up at the right time to make you feel real convicted.

In the middle of that baptism, I'm like dunking people, God is moving,

I'm crying. There's MoCo's flying. That's not for the people that don't

speak Spanish in the room. Uh, they're SnO flying everywhere. I'm like,

Lord, this is beautiful, but the pictures ain't gonna be And I

see this concerned look on my wife's face, and I'm like, God,

what could you be possibly be doing in the midst of such a beautiful moment?

And my wife began to cry on the phone and she said, my

sister who lives in Las Vegas, she's feeling abandoned and left alone, and

she's not sure that she can live in her house anymore. And so soaking

wet with our baptism clothes on. We got into my two thousand and five

Toyota Corolla that our worship leader now drives. Easie. Shout out to Easie.

I got that car when I graduated high school. Take care of it,

young man. And literally soaking wet, we drove all the way to

law Vegas. We picked her up. We shoved stuff in and on top

and under and in the back of the car. I mean we were sitting

there with stuff. We picked her up, we brought her into our house,

and from that day for we treated her like she was our very own

daughter. Listen, family, some of you already have what you're asking for.

Your attitude is wrong, so would in God. Two weeks later,

we go to a prayer night. And it's always at a prayer knight that

the prophets come out and droves, don't they And there's some good prophets and

there's some questionable prophets. And I remember being at this night and this woman,

a prophetess of God, walked up to me and she said, for

four years you've been praying that God would give you children, and because you

father children that were not your own, your wife is pregnant right now.

I was like, don't you be telling me something like that? And that's

not true, because I know Pastor Adam and I will get him and we

will get you. Don't you be playing with God like that? I was

like, all up in the Acts five, I'm like, don't don't be

don't be lying to God, because let me tell you something gonna happen to

you. And she was like, no, I'm telling your wife's pregnant right

now. Three weeks later we went to the doctor she was throwing up every

morning, found out she was pregnant. And then I go back to this

woman and she tells me that, ain't it. God's gonna give you two

sons, and I see two lion cubs, and you've been thinking of two

lion names. And my first son is Caspian Judah, the Lyon of God

and Asland if you know Narnia, asland in Turkish means lyon asland host sway.

And God has given me two lions. Listen to me. When God

promises you something, it's your attitude that's in the way, not the promise

of God. Because he's not a man that he should lie. He's not

gonna change his mind, but maybe you change your mind part of the way

of the process of what God is calling you too. So you're standing in

the promise of what God has for you, and you're halfway there and you

turn around because you got a bad attitude, or maybe you don't resonate with

that. Eli. I don't want children. I ain't talking about no children.

Y'a up into Disneyland in July. You know what I'm talking about.

You could be at the happiest place on earth and be the most miserable person

that ever lived. I remember in twenty twenty we went to Disneyland. It

was July. It was ninety nine degrees that day. I was not happy.

I thought I was at the DMV in Long Beach and my kids were

having him blast and God was moving and we even saw people at our church

and they were buying us free food. And there I was when my stake

attitude, not receiving the blessing of what God had given me. And let

me tell you, for some of us, it's simply an attitude change.

God is faithful. You be faithful with a smile on your face, because

let me tell you, we don't. We don't trust in happiness. We

have the joy of the Lord, which is our strength. We have a

peace that surpasses understanding. That's why I'm in the DMV like I love Jesus.

I know y'all don't love Jesus. But somebody's getting saved today because somebody

hates their job and needs to go to church. So what do you do

when you have an attitude that's faithful? You have a posture of anticipation,

not expectation. Can I talk to you for a minute, help you understand

this. You anticipate what God wants to do. You don't expect that God's

gonna do what you want him to do. Let me read some scripture for

you real quick. Verse twenty three. As he was walking with them,

Goliath, the Philistine champion from Goad, stepped out from his lines and shouted

his usual defiance, and David hurt it. Whenever the Israelites saw the man,

they all fled from him in great fear. Now the Israelites have been

saying, do you see this man that keeps coming out? He comes out

to defy Israel. The King will give great wealth to the man who kills

him. He will also give him his daughter in marriage, and will dang,

all right, let's get that blessing, and will exempt his family from

taxes and Israel. David asked the men standing near him, what will be

done for the man who kills the philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel?

Who is this? Now? This like a cuss word back in that day?

Who's this uncircumcised philistine? Like, you don't know, my God,

that should defy the armies of the living God. They repeated to him what

had been said and told him, this is what will be done for the

man that kills him. And when eliab man, ain't it always a brother

or sister that gets in the way of God's will. David's oldest brother heard

him speaking with the men. He burned with anger at him and asked,

why'd you come down here? And in David's mind, he's probably like uber

eats because my dad told you me to make you some sandwiches. I mean,

hey, guys, before there was uber eats, there was David rolling

defeed his brothers. So if you if you're doing uber eats right now,

God got you. Let me tell you he got a plan for your life.

Why'd you come down here? And who'd you leave those sheep within the

wilderness? I know how conceited you are, and how wicked your heart is?

You came down to watch the battle. Now, what have I done?

Said David? You ever felt like that? What did I do?

Can I even speak? Then he turned away to somebody else and brought up

the same matter, and the men answered him as before, listen to what

David said. What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul

sent for him. David said to Saul, let no one lose heart on

account of the Philistine. Your servant will go and fight him. Saul replied,

you're not able to go out against the Philistine and fight him. You're

only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.

Let me tell you something. When you are in anticipation of what the spirit

of the Living God can do in and through a broken vessel, nothing is

impossible for your God. I don't care what giant is standing in front of

you, but I'll tell you this. David was crazy. He was like,

I'm about to go get me some stones right now, and he went

and he got five stones. You know why because Goliath had four brothers,

and he was like, I'm taking you out, and your brother out,

and your other brother out. And that brother out. Let me tell you,

nobody comes against the God that I serve. And so many of us

tell God, God, I need you to God, you need to do

this for me. God send me here, and you miss the very thing

God is actually calling you to. And your attitude keeps you from stepping in

to anticipation, and you never get to the place where you get to fight

your giant. And you're wondering why you're being bullied by the enemy because you

expect from God, you don't anticipate. Speak Lord, for your servant is

listening. Send me, I will go. You're trying to tell God what

to do. This ain't Aladdin and God ain't no Genie. Let me tell

you that right now. You don't get no three wishes. And whoever's preaching

like that, just please stop it right now in Jesus name. See,

here's what we find in David is that the faithful or not afraid of familiarity.

And too many of us get uncomfortable with familiarity. We live in an

experienced culture. We gotta feel it. You ever heard I'm just not feeling

it right. I love the worship, but that worship song I'm just not

feeling it when Pastor Adam preach. Let me tell you, but this bootleg

version from Long Beach, I'm just not feeling it. Let me tell you

what the Bible says about your feelings. The heart is deceitful and wicked.

Who could know it? And too many of us are looking for a feeling

where there is a promise, and God is saying, be familiar with what

I ask you to do. You don't need to go put on somebody else's

armor. You don't need to carry a sword when I gave you a sling.

And this is what David comes back with. I love David. David's

like the lion came at me, I killed it. The bear came at

me, I killed it. Who is this uncircumcised philistine that comes against my

God? But you look at the familiar things and you think, oh,

God, consistency couldn't build my capacity. Oh you don't know the God that

you serve. Let me tell you. When you move chairs, you're building

consistency when you speak a word of love, even though you've never stepped on

a pulpit. You are building consistency when you serve your family, your workplace,

when you recognize that you are called to do with what you've heard tonight,

not just be a hearer of the word, but a doer of the

word when you live in that. Let me tell you, familiarity is the

very place where God breeds heroes. Because you have this little shepherd boy that

was familiar with the sling and he went out there. And now thousands of

years later, we are talking about David and Goliath. Every time a sports

team is an underdog. People that don't even know the God that we serve

are like this a David and Goliath story, and I'm like, you need

to read. David and Goliath is what you need. Don't be afraid of

familiarity. God is bringing something in and moving through when you read the word

every day, when you pray every day, when you begin to build a

rhythm of fasting in your life, when you develop sole friendships, when you

decide, you know what, I'm not gonna give when I feel like giving,

but I'm gonna give every time God gives to me, because God says,

test me in this and this is the one thing that He will give

me more than I ever gave. And when you build consistency, family,

let me tell you you start being faithful. But let me let me end

this way, and then I'm going to ask the worship team to come up.

After this, the faithful only were titles ages of service. See,

David was anointed king because he was more concerned with living faithfully than being remembered

forever. Family, there will be people, there will be people that only

hear the name of Jesus and that's all they need to hear. The thief

on the cross man, My theology is hard for that moment. Like,

he didn't go to no discipleship one on one, he didn't serve in anything.

I'm like, what was he an usher? Was he doing in the

church? He was a thief on the cross, and by way of forgiveness,

redemption and reconciliation, God says, you will enter into my kingdom.

We are so concerned earned with our name that we miss the name above every

name. Family, let me tell you, if you are living for yourself,

it will fade. If you are living for following, it will fade.

If you are living for your bank account or the new car that you

have, let me tell you, in ten years, it's gonna stank,

and it's gonna be on a used car lot, and ain't nobody gonna want

that beautiful fresh scent car smell that ain't there and ain't been there because your

kids feet stank. That all fades, But you know what doesn't fade when

you weigh your life in souls, Because for me, faithfulness means recognizing that

the people in front of me need to be brought to the feet of Jesus,

that I can't save them, but God can save them. That even

if I take out my goliath, I am not the God or the host

of the army of heaven. But God has empowered me to show them where

to find their power. So you've got to be faithful, family, and

some of you can. I just say you've given up on being faithful because

you've not yet seen the promise. And God is saying, if you would

just hold on a little longer, I would take you to slay your giant.

If you would hold on a little longer, I would get rid of

all that debt that you have when I do that great thing through you.

If you would hold on a little longer, I would show you the purpose

and the plan that I have for your life. So don't give up on

your kids. Don't give up on your marriage. Don't give up on that

job if God has not called you to leave that job. Don't be misquoting

in scripture like, well, there's a season for everything, so there's a

season for me to quit. I'll be doing that. If God called you

to it, family, God will call you through it. I'm gonna end

with this one. One of my favorite scriptures is Peter walking on Water because

it reminds me like, as bold and crazy as I am for Jesus,

I'm also kind of not so smart sometimes. And man, I've stepped out

in faith and God has done some great things in and through my life.

And I feel like Peter, like, yeah, I'll be the first one

to get out the boat where the other disciples at. I'm there. But

then I also look at the waves, and I also get caught up in

the storm, and I also miss the fact that God is calling me to

him because He is faithful and he can teach me to live faith filled.

But you know that's often preached out of Matthew in Mark. What I love

is it doesn't talk about Peter walking on water. You know what it says.

It says that Jesus plan to walk by them, and that's hard for

me. I read something like that, like these two were struggling in the

middle of the lake, and God had promised to meet them on the other

side. And then here comes Jesus walking on water like being this cool,

amazing God that he is. And there I am struggling with my words,

like God, I'm not even gonna make it to the other side. The

wind is up and I'm tired. The idea there was that they were fatigued

and then God planned on just walking by them. But you know what they

do. They pray, they cry out for help, and God stops his

wanting to walk by, and he looks at them and he gets in the

boat with them. Can I just tell you two things. If you want

to be faithful to God, you got to know that even when life gets

hard, the plan did not change. Jesus is going to meet you on

the other side. I don't care the storm you're going through, the things

that you're facing. I mean, I've been at death's door, literally tried

to commit suicide, was ready to give up my life. I didn't grow

up in a Christian family, and my aunt, the one believer, my

great aunt who moved all the way to Tennessee, because ain't nobody want to

live in California no more? And she moved all the way to Tennessee.

She got on an airplane and she met me on my bedside, and she

began to tell me about the love of Jesus, handcuffed to a bed,

and she said, Sean, you just gotta keep rowing, and God will

meet you. Cry out to him and he will get in your boat,

and he will change your life forever. I wasn't a father, I wasn't

a husband, I wasn't a pastor, and I sure wasn't faithful. But

my God is faithful. But for some of you, you feel like,

well, I know that God has a plan, but the plan seems overwhelming.

Start praying for help. Be faithfilled. Don't just be faithful to row,

be faithful to call out to your God. Too many of you have

been trying to figure out your problems your own way, and you've missed the

truth of scripture. His ways are higher than your ways, His understanding higher

than you're understanding, and you're not asking the God that has the solution.

Let me tell you, prayer changes things and family faithfulness is not a stepping

stone it's called a sacrifice. Some of us may be called the sacrifice fame

or money or praise, or simply selfishness, so that we might seek the

glory of Jesus alone, that he could tear down the strongholds of the enemy

in our cities, in our workplaces, in our schools, in our families.

Some of you are waiting for God to break off generational curses that will

last three or four generations, when it could stop with you right now.

See if we will be a gathering of the faithful, and we are anointed

by the indwelling promised gift of the Holy Spirit that is only found through faith

in the crucified Jesus Christ, then we will change things because God change things

and prayer changes things. But family, we don't make ourselves faithful. God

is faithful, and through his spirit he will fill us with faith. We

will submit and we will believe, like young King David, that God is

who he says he is, and we can live a faith filled life.

Here's what I want you to do. Stand to your feet with me this

evening. I feel the presence of God in this room, and I feel

God stirring some hearts as the worship team comes back and they begin to lead

us into a time of response to the truth of God's word. And then

I'm going to pass it over to Pastor Adam. I just want to do

this. If there's anyone in the house that is struggling with faithfulness, maybe

you find yourself rowing in the middle of a storm and you thought, you

know what, I might as well just go back, forget the promise,

forget the plan. I ain't fighting any giants. I delivered my uber eats

and I'm going back up to my keep. I'm done. If you are

like you know what, I feel overwhelmed and I feel like this storm in

the season, this situation is overtaking me. It could be internal or external.

I don't know what your situation. I know when my situations were,

but they are all different for all of us. The enemy is strategic.

He knows you, and he's after your soul, and he comes only to

steal, kill and destroy, to rob from you. But this God that

wants to be faithful to you and for you to be faithful to him,

says he comes to bring life and life abundant. So, family, if

that's you and you feel like you know what I'm ready to give up on

a plan or a promise that God has given me, or i feel overwhelmed

and I'm crying out to God. Right now, I want you to come

forward to the front of this altar, and I don't want you to wait

for anyone else. I just want you to come forward right now. If

that's you, don't wait for anyone else. Just come forward right now and

let God move in your heart, Let God speak to you. Let God

show you that He is here, and he is alive, and he is

well, and he come on. Keep clapping in the name of Jesus.

There's still people coming down, and the angels are rejoicing, Heaven is rejoicing.

There are people deciding the night not to give up on their plan,

not to give up on their purpose, not to give up on their calling,

not to give up on their marriage, not to give up on their

children, not to give up on what God has called them to. Five

more seconds. God, we praise you, we worship you, we glorify

you, we love you Lord, for you are mighty to save, Oh

Living God. Now I just want to say this. I'm gonna wait like

two more If you didn't come forward and there's something there that's between you and

God. I did my part. You got to do your part. But

if you're standing at this altar right now, here's what I want you to

hear. Here's what I want you to hear. I don't care what you've

been through. I don't care what you've done or what's been done to you.

I don't care the zip code or the family that you were born into.

God has a purpose and a plan, and he has a call over

your life, and he loves you, and he's for you, and he

is not against you. Even when the storms of life come against you,

Your God is not against you. He loves you and he wants your submission.

He is a faithful God that is asking you to be faithful back to

him. And you've taken the first step. You've come down and you've said

yes to God. So here's what I'm gonna do, Pastor Adam. Number

one is this, if you've at if you're at the front right now and

you've not given your life holy and fully to Jesus, and you need to

give your life to Jesus. Now is the night. Raise your hand.

If that's you and you haven't given your life fully and holy to Jesus.

You're like, I need to say yes to God. If that's you.

Okay, okay, I see sister God, bless you, Thank you,

Jesus. What's your name? Bless you tonight in the name of Jesus.

Let's just pray over her. Everybody. Stretch out your hands in the name

of Jesus God. Thank you that you forgive us of our sins. Thank

you that you have died for us, that you ascended to the right hand

of the Father, that you have filled us with the Holy Spirit. Your

daughter receives you, God, and not just for a moment, but for

a lifetime, for the familiarity God in all the things, that she may

follow you, Lord, all the days of her life. I pray,

Oh God, that your spirit would come and answer her right now, and

she would experience a regeneration in Christ. She would be reborn. In the

name of Jesus God, touch her, bless her, remake her. Lord.

She is a new creation, the oldest passed away, the new has

come, and God, you are starting a new plan and a new purpose

with her life. So we give you all the glory and all the honor

and all the praise in Jesus, name a man, sister, talk with

a pastor after service, find a pastor, find a leader, find an

usher, and let them pray a prayer with you and follow. Jesus saw

the days of your life. Now the rest of you are saying this,

I haven't been following God's plan. I've given up, or I feel like

it's overtaking me. Here's what I want you to do. I just want

you to stretch out your hands in a posture of reception, like you're holding

something in the name of the Father that knit you together in your mother's womb,

that loved you before time began, and had a great plan and purpose

for your life. That God that loved you and knew you, and saw

you and created you and loves you, That God that sent his son to

die on the cross for you. Because you can't do it on your own.

You're not strong enough, you don't have enough. Self help doesn't work,

so you need Jesus. And Jesus has said this is the plan,

and you're saying today, God, I received that plan. Lord, no

longer will I give up. No longer will I give in God. No

longer will I give over my life to the enemy. But I say that

I will row until I get to you God, or I will pray until

you get to me. Jesus. And today, Oh God, we ask

that you would come and you would helped us to slay giants in the name

of Jesus. That you would come and help us be faithful in the name

of our Father. That you would help us to be filled with faith by

the power and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Minister to your people tonight,

Oh Living God, your spirit is here, and it is alive,

and it is well, and it is moving. And so God, we

praise you, God, we glorify you, God, we worship you.

Oh, come on, just begin to give God some praise for his goodness.

God, we thank you, and we praise you, and we glorify

you for your goodness. For Lord, you are mighty to safe and we

bless him. All of God's people saying a man, come on, as

those make their way back to their seats, give God a handclap tonight,

Thank you, Jesus, Thank you, my friend. Than you. We

really hope you would the message. And if you said yes to Jesus,

we just want to say congratulations and give you a free devotional to help you

walk out your faith. Click the link in the description or head over to

grow dot Faith to download your devotional. Oh and be sure to subscribe and

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