Ready To Follow

Open your Bibles to Romans chapter 8 and meet me at verse 14,

Romans 8 · chapter mention

Romans chapter 8 and verse 14, the Apostle Paul declares to us,

Romans 8 · chapter mention

for as many as are led by the Spirit of God,

these are the sons of God.

And so the sons of God are led by the Spirit of God.

One is, I want you to know this. If you did not listen to last week's message

called Follow the Cloud, I encourage you to go to truelifefc.org.

Check out last week's message because this is a continuation of last week's

message that was called Follow the Cloud.

I also want to tell you before we dive into today's message that I believe I

have some clear direction on a series that we're going to start next week.

And I think you're going to like it.

We're going to talk about the truth about tongue. Thank you.

The truth about tongues. I want to answer some questions. I want to bring some clarity.

I sent a text out to some people that go to other churches that I know,

and I said, do you pray in tongues, and do you have any clarity on it?

And most of them wrote back and said, I have no clarity on it,

and I don't know anything or much about it. And I thought, man, that's it right there.

We are going to talk about that starting next week. Are you excited about that.

We're going to talk about the benefit and the truth about tongues.

But today, my assignment is to share with you about what the Lord has placed on my heart today.

We see here in Romans 8, 14, that the sons of God are led by the Spirit of God.

Now, notice it didn't say the children of God, because children can be known

to be immature, but sons and daughters are mature, And maturity will cause you to be led.

Guided, and directed directly by the Spirit of God.

We see here in the Passion Translation, Romans 8, 14, the mature children of

God, mature is the key word, children of God, are those who are moved by the

impulses of the Holy Spirit.

And so the Holy Spirit has the ability to move mature believers by his impulses.

There's a voice at times. There is a hunch at times in your spirit.

There is a knowing in your spirit. And if you're mature enough,

you'll recognize him and you'll be moved by his spirit.

And in order to be moved by his spirit, we must be flexible,

adaptable, and adjustable.

Say this after me. Flexible, adaptable, adjustable.

Flexibility will keep your faith fresh.

When you are sensitive to the Holy Spirit, you must be flexible,

adjustable, and adaptable to follow His leading.

We said last week when we followed the cloud, you remember, the cloud was the

presence of God by day and a fire by night found in Numbers chapter 9.

Numbers 9 · chapter mention

And every time the Holy Spirit or His presence in the form of the cloud and

the fire moved, the people moved with the presence.

And they would wake up one morning and the cloud was moving and they had to

pick up their tent and move with the presence of the Lord.

Maybe the presence of the Lord will stay for a while. They would stay.

Maybe it'll stay a year. They would stay. But when the presence of the Lord

moved, they would move with his presence.

You and I have to be flexible, adaptable, and adjustable in every area of our lives.

Nothing that you have planned works out the way you planned it.

Let me say it one more time. I can't think of not one situation in my life that

it worked out the way that I planned for it to work out.

So that tells me I'm going to have to be flexible, adjustable, and adaptable.

Man plans his way, but God directs the steps.

And so that causes us to be a person that has to know how to move without getting your feelings hurt.

Move without being super emotional about it.

Move with God without feeling like God doesn't love you anymore,

without feeling like you're forsaken and forgotten.

You're going to have to just move with him because when we know that as he moves

at the pace that he wants to move,

when he wants to move, we're going to have to move with him.

And that's so key and that's so important to understand and to know because

there are only two constants in the earth.

Jesus is constant. He's the same, Hebrews 13.8 says, yesterday, today, and forever.

Whatever you see Jesus doing in the New Testament, he's still doing today.

If he's healing people in the New Testament, he's the same.

He's still healing today. If he's providing for people in the New Testament,

he's still providing for people today. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.

We can put our trust in him because he's unchanging.

He's changeless, and he is the same. Somebody say amen to that.

The other constant is change.

Change is the other constant. Things are going to change. Things are going to rearrange.

People are going to come, and people are going to go. People are going to say

they like you, and then they're not going to like you anymore.

Things are going to change, and that is the other constant.

Things will simply be changed in your life,

and you're going to have to recognize that that's part of being alive in the

earth today, that Jesus will remain the same, and everything else will probably change.

How many of you know what I'm talking about today? And so we see here in Psalms

Psalms 38:2

chapter 38 verse 2, Psalms 38 verse 2 in the New Living Translation,

Psalms 38:2

it says, the Lord says, I will guide you along the best pathway for your life.

I will advise you and watch over you.

And so notice the Lord is telling us that he's going to give us his personal attention.

He's going to lead us along the best pathway, not the quickest pathway,

not the shortest pathway, not the pathway we think is the right pathway,

but the best pathway for our life.

And the best pathway is not always the easiest route. The best pathway,

you might get hurt going down this pathway.

You might be hindered going down this pathway.

The best pathway is not the pathway filled with cotton candy and Doritos and Coca-Cola.

No, the best pathway is you might have to get some Gatorade and fast and drink

some water and get some endurance and pick yourself up and rejoice in the Lord

and find truth in what his word says.

And despite what everybody else says or what you see in your life,

that could be the best pathway for your life.

And the best pathway for your life is the way that you will learn more about

God that you didn't know.

And you'll learn more about yourself that you didn't know.

When we first started True Life Fellowship Church, we started pretty abruptly.

I won't get into all of the details, but we just literally got started.

And when we got started, we had nothing. We had a handful of folks that said, we're with you, Pastor.

And we had no equipment. We didn't have anointed Kirk up here.

We didn't have no speakers.

We had no cameras. everything you see today in here, we did not have. We had nothing.

And one of the things to know that we definitely didn't have was money.

We had no money. We just got started.

And I remember there was one particular time that I was complaining.

Yeah, pastor was complaining. And we're about a year in, and I was really complaining

about, well, Pookie and Ray Ray, man, they had a team when they got started.

And Jimmy, man, he had a $100,000 donation given to him when he got started.

And Paul, I mean, Paul had, he's famous, you know, his dad's famous.

So he got started and he, and I was complaining and whining,

Wayne, and frustrated, like, well, I gotta get started like this. And I made a statement.

I said, I would fold this hand if you play poker, you know what I'm talking

about. I would fold this hand if it was given to me because it's a rough hand.

It's a tough hand. And all these other people got better hands,

and I got the roughest, toughest hand, and I would fold it. I was whining and

complaining to a gentleman about this.

And he just listened to me, and he said, but you're still going.

I said, he said, churches are

closing left and right, more closing than opening, but you're still going.

I said, okay. He said, there are people that would love to be in the situation

that you're in, and you're still going.

And that told me something because I learned some things about God when we started

True life that I would have never learned if I started with 10,000 people.

I'd have never learned that he's faithful. He's reliable.

He's consistent. He can get anything to me from anyone, anywhere, at any time.

I had to learn these things by going through tough times, going through times

where I felt like people were just leaving me.

There was one particular time this guy said that he's with me,

and we just got going, and I'm with you, pastor.

I'm with you to the end. I'm there, and then he sent me a text message and said, I'm out.

I'm out. I was like, man, just six days ago, you was with me to the end.

He said, I'm out. I'm out, and I'm like, what? He didn't even call me.

He sent me a text. I'm out. I'm out.

I said, man, can we get together? That was back in the day I used to get with

people that said they were leaving. If you're leaving now, we ain't getting

together, praise God. Just go. Amen.

I'm going to keep going forward, and you do what you got to do. Amen.

And back in the day, let me get with you, man. What's going on?

And he wouldn't even get with me, right? I was like, oh, okay. He said he was out.

And I was sitting on the couch, shaking, and he had a fever all of a sudden,

and got the chills. I think I had COVID before COVID came out.

And I was all up. They said, what's wrong with you? I said, he said he was with me. He's gone.

And the Lord said, I'm still here. I said, amen. I had to get out the house.

So I went out the house that day, and I went and checked the church mailbox.

I don't know why I did that.

I just went just to do something.

I checked the church mailbox, and there was a check in there for $2,500.

Glory to God. And the Lord said, I'm still here. Amen.

Hallelujah. See, I wouldn't have learned that if I didn't go through the process.

Sometimes the best pathway is the hardest way.

I'm not saying every time it is, but sometimes, because you're going to have

to learn some things about God that you would never have learned unless you went through it.

Some people know God better because they went through some stuff.

They do. They know him better. Some people know themselves better because I

learned some things about myself.

I wouldn't trade it in the world. Now,

the hand I was dealt when we started True Life, I would want that hand again

because I learned some things about God, and I learned some things about myself,

and I learned some things about Stacy and I, that we are strong, and we are together,

and we're relentless, and we're going to keep going despite when everything else happened.

We wouldn't have learned that if you gave me 10,000 people on day one.

I probably would have committed suicide if 5,000 of them would have left.

Right? I had to learn, like, where the people come, where the people go,

whether we got stuff, whether we don't got stuff.

God is with us. And I had to learn that through the process of tough times.

Sometimes God will lead you through the valley of the shadow of death.

But he tells you in that valley, you'll fear no evil. Glory to God.

So if you're going through a tough time, say, I'm built for this.

So you're built for this tough time. God would have never even allowed you to

go through it if you couldn't get through it.

See, Corinthians tells us where God is faithful.

He will not even allow you to go through it if he didn't make the way of escape

so that you may be able to bear it. He has surveyed you.

He knows your capability. He knows what your stamina is and your endurance is.

And he has said, you are ready to go through this.

And when you get through it, you'll be like silver and gold.

You'll be a vessel of honor, fit and ready for the master's use. Say amen to them.

Hallelujah. He knows it, and he will lead, and he will guide you sometimes through the hardest way,

but I declare to you, it's the best way, and he's going to watch over you.

Thank God he's watching over you.

He's got his eye on you. He's got your name written in the palm of his hand.

He said he'll never leave you nor forsake you.

Whether you feel alone or not, he is there. whether you realize it or not,

but he loves you, and you are on his mind. Say amen to that.

Now, in the Passion Translation, it says it this way.

I hear the Lord saying, I will stay close to you, instructing and guiding you

along the pathway for your life.

I will advise you along the way and lead you forth with my eyes as your guide.

So don't make it difficult.

Don't be stubborn when I take you, watch this, where you've not been before.

Don't make me tug you and pull you along. Just come with me.

Just come with me. The secret to success, you want to know the secret to success?

It's flexibility, adaptability, and adjustability.

That's the secret to success in following the Holy Spirit is being flexible,

adaptable, and adjustable.

Pray this prayer after me. Say, Lord, help me follow you.

Lord, help me follow you. And not my plans.

And not my plans. One more time. Lord, help me follow you. Lord,

help me follow you. And not my plans. Not my plans.

In Luke chapter 9, verse 57 through 62, we'll read that together.

Luke 9:57–62

Heather, I want to spend some time here today, and I'll get you out.

57 says, Now it happened as they journeyed on the road that someone said to

Jesus, Lord, I will follow you wherever you go.

58, he says to them, Foxes have holes and birds in the air have nests,

but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.

Then he said to another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, let me first go and bury my father.

Then Jesus said to him, let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.

And another, he said, Lord, I will follow you, but let me first go and bid them

farewell who are at my house. Look at verse 62.

But Jesus said to him, no one, having put his hand to the plow and looking back

is fit for the kingdom of God.

Follow. Somebody shout follow. Follow. Follow means to move behind in the same direction.

To move behind in the same direction. To follow.

To follow. We don't do it much today because GPS is on our phone,

but do you remember back in the day that we used to follow people in the car?

We didn't know where they were going, and so we had to get behind them and follow

them, and depending on who you were following, you may or may not have gotten to the destination.

If you're following someone that's running the red lights, the yellow lights,

I'm sorry, or getting in and out of lanes, it's going to be real difficult to

keep up with a person like that because it was unpredictable.

We didn't know where the place was. And so we were following them.

And I used to forget sometimes that someone's following me.

I can't run this yellow light, right? Someone's following me.

I need to stay in this lane and slow down.

I need to put my blinker on early because they're following me.

And when I used to follow people, man, I was right up on them,

right? Right behind them, just as close as I can. They went left,

I went left. They went right, I went right.

I was following them because I didn't know where they were going,

and I needed to get to the destination, and they knew, and I had to trust that they knew.

I had to move behind them in the same direction, and there are three examples

in this passage of scripture that I want to discuss with you today.

We are called, first of all, to be followers of Christ.

We're called to have a deeper relationship with Him.

I want to share this with you just momentarily, but I want you to begin to make

your relationship with the Lord a priority in your life.

Not secondary, but a priority that you don't go a day without praying,

without spending time with Him in His Word, without acknowledging His presence,

without sitting there in silence, without thanksgiving, without worshiping him,

and without thanking him in advance for what he's about to do in your life.

Make it a priority every single day to go deeper in your relationship with him.

We are in a war, a battle, and the battle is for your soul.

The enemy is trying to distract you and manipulate you, and the enemy is trying

his best to detour you, But we are in a battle, and if we are in a battle,

we need to make it a priority to follow him.

And in order to do that, we're going to have to know him.

We have to know him. And how do we know him? By listening, by spending time

in his word and in prayer so that we can be with him.

And in this first example, a man shouts out to Jesus, I will follow you wherever you go.

Jesus responds to him and says, foxes have holes and birds have nests,

but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.

Now, tradition tells us that what Jesus said here was that he was homeless.

So the man says, I'll follow you wherever you go. And then Jesus said,

I'm homeless. That don't make sense.

Wherever you go, Jesus, I'll follow you. Well, I don't have a home.

That's not what Jesus was saying.

Matter of fact, I'm going to prove it to you with seven quick verses.

I got more, but I'm only going to read seven to you that that is not what Jesus was saying.

Homeless means to be without a home. And most theologians say Jesus didn't have

a home. that he didn't have consistent housing.

But listen to this, Matthew 13, 1.

On the same day, Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea.

That tells me Jesus was in the beach house, all right? Matthew 13, 36.

Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house.

This homeless man went into the house. Mark 3, 19, they went into a house.

Mark 7, 24. He didn't want anyone to know which house he was staying in,

but he couldn't keep it a secret.

Mark 9, 28, afterward, when Jesus was alone in the house with his disciples,

they asked him, why couldn't we cast that evil spirit out?

Mark 9, 33, and they arrived at Capernaum and settled in a house.

Jesus asked his disciples, what were you discussing on the road?

Mark 10 10 later when he was alone with the disciples in the house.

Mark 9, 27, 28, after Jesus left the girl's home, two blind men followed along

behind him, shouting, son of David, have mercy on us.

They went right into the house where he was staying.

Now, these are just seven verses, and I've got more, that Jesus had a house.

I don't know why theologians try to tell us that he was homeless.

I don't know where they come up with that he didn't have a place to lay his

hand. I don't know where that came from.

And to be honest with you, it really bothers me that they say that he was homeless,

like the Son of God was living on the street.

Homeless, stinky, dirty, nasty. That's not Jesus.

Jesus had a house. He wasn't telling this man, hey, you come follow me. I don't have a house.

That's not what he was saying. He was saying, you come follow me. I am on the go.

I'm on the move. We will be coming and we will be going.

I may be here. I may be there. I may be everywhere. I don't have a 30-year mortgage.

I'm not tied down to this place. I am on the go.

And we may not stay in the best hotels. And we may not go to the best places.

And we may not be in the best restaurants.

I'm on the go and I am going to do God's work.

And if you follow me, stay close behind me and do what I do,

then you'll see that we're going to be moving and we're going to be shaking

and we're going to be going.

I believe this man turned down the invitation when Jesus said it to him.

Why did he do that? Because he was too fast in his statement that I will follow you.

When we are being flexible, adaptable, and adjustable, we need to make sure

that we are not moving too fast.

Listen to me now, because it is possible to get ahead of God.

It's possible to be thinking you're following him, but you're actually leading him.

It's possible to think that you know what to do, but you've not stopped to check

in to see what is the Holy Spirit saying in this moment right now.

We cannot get ahead of God. We cannot move too fast, and we cannot be too emotional

in our responses when we're being led by the Spirit of God.

There was a guy by the name of Brother Kenneth Hagen who said this, and I love it.

He said, I would rather be too slow than too fast.

I would rather be too slow than too fast. And many times, we,

whether intentionally or unintentionally, we are moving too fast.

You're getting red lights when you're dating that person. And all the red flags

are popping, but you just want to get married.

And so you're going to just move faster than you should without checking in

with your pastor or with the Holy Spirit and finding out, man,

should I be moving in this direction?

Stacey and I have a good friend right now that we kept telling her, this man is not it.

Don't marry her. But, you know, she grown, right? She want to do what she want

to do. Well, she married her, and now they're divorced.

Why is it? You're moving too fast.

Don't move too fast. Say this up to me. I will not move too fast.

It's not to your advantage to move too fast. I know we want to get there quicker.

I know the microwave moves too slow.

I know you want to get that iron pretty quick instead. You don't even iron the

one. and now you got a steamer because the iron just took too long.

I ain't making fun of you. I got a steamer myself. Praise God.

But when we move too fast, we get ahead of God.

And God is not moving as fast as you're moving.

You got to slow down. And you got to say, I'm not going to move too fast.

I'm going to be patient. I'm going to have some endurance and some stamina.

And I'm going to wait on the Lord.

But what does that mean? That means I'm going to continue to do what he's told me to do.

Wait on the Lord doesn't just simply mean kick your legs up and eat a funnel cake.

No, wait on the Lord means I'm going to keep doing what he tells me to do until

he tells me to do something else.

There was a particular time that I thought that I was being led to have a youth

pastor full-time job at a pretty nice-sized church.

And I felt like this is it.

This is it. This is what I'm supposed to be doing.

And I was praying, Lord, this is it. This is it. Lord, notice what I was praying.

Lord, this is it. I wasn't asking him, is this it? I was praying, this is it.

This is it. This is it. Lord, this is it. I'm going for it. and I went and I

applied for it, and they did not hire me, and I was heartbroken.

I was sad. I felt like I was used and abused because they had had me come in and be the interim.

I was the interim, but they didn't hire me as the full-time guy,

and I was upset, and I look at it now, and I'm so glad I didn't get hired for

it because it's what led me to Charlotte.

I decided, well, Lord, what do you want me to do? And that's when I felt like,

well, I don't want you to stay here. I want you to move. Amen.

But if you go too fast, you'll get into a place that God never intended for

you to be, in a position he never wanted you to be.

And then you're wondering why you're frustrated, broke, busted,

and disgusted. It's because you move too fast.

It's okay to check in with him daily.

Amen. To check in with him. Full disclosure, I check in with the Lord once a

quarter. Lord, do you still want me to pastor?

And he says, yes, I do. And I keep going forward. Amen.

I check in with him because I want to be where he wants me to be.

Now, I don't check in with him, do you still want me to stay married?

I don't check in with him on that because the answer is yes. Amen.

I didn't get a lot of amens when I said that, But you don't have to check in

on that. Praise the Lord.

So the first guy's moving too fast. The second guy, Jesus says to him, follow me.

What does follow mean again? Move behind me in the same direction. Follow me.

And the man says, hey, you know, first I need to go bury my dad.

And Jesus says to him, put it on the screen, guys, there. Luke 9, I believe it's 59.

Jesus said to him, let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.

Notice here, it sounds like Jesus is being very rude and mean this man's dad has died.

And it sounds like Jesus is really just rude in this statement,

let the dead bury the dead. No, what Jesus is saying to him is the kingdom comes first.

The kingdom is a priority and it comes first.

Let the dead bury the dead. The kingdom is first. And so this man was actually too slow.

Jesus said, follow me. He's like, listen, I must first, notice the key word, first go bury my dad.

When what should come first?

Seek what? First, the kingdom. The kingdom always comes first,

but this individual placed the burial of his dad first.

But the kingdom's got to come first. I say this all the time, and I'll say it again.

People have this idea that, well, they'll say this, It's God first,

then family, then job, and et cetera.

How many have heard people say that before? You know, this is the order that I do things.

But in actuality, what should come first is what the Lord says what comes first in that moment.

That moment, what the Lord is saying is what should come first.

So you're always checking to him, Lord, where should I be?

There was one particular time I was going, I was single.

I was working a job, Home Depot, working at Home Depot.

And while I was there, a man of God was coming to the church that I was a part of.

And I really wanted to hear this man of God.

And I said, Lord, where do you want me to be? He said, I want you there to hear the man of God.

Our first inclination, well, I got to work. That's the first thing we say all the time.

Well, pastor say, hey, we're going to come and we're going to have a special

revival service. Well, pastor, I got to work.

Did you pause and ask the Lord? Lord, where am I supposed to be?

I said, Lord, where am I supposed to be? He said, you're supposed to be over there.

I called Home Depot. I said, guys, I won't be here.

I've got, I won't, where are you going to be? That's none of your business.

But I won't be here today.

I gave him a couple day warning. It was a Wednesday. On Wednesday, I won't be here.

Where are you going to be? Like I said, none of y'all.

Okay. I just won't be here. What am I saying?

I asked the Lord what comes from, if I'm going to follow him,

then I need to be where he tells me to be.

Say amen to that. I was going to a conference, a minister's conference I was invited to.

Don't that sound good that I should go to that? That sounds great,

right? Yeah. I prayed about it. Lord said, I don't want you to go.

I said, wait a minute. That's a minister's conference.

That's a godly thing. I'm supposed to go to that. Lord said,

no, no, you're not supposed to go.

Well, I didn't go. They asked me, you come in? I said, I'm not coming. Why not? None of y'all.

None of your business. I'm not coming. I won't be at the minister's conference there. I didn't go.

Why? Because the Lord said, that's not where you're supposed to go.

See, we've got to be in tune with him with every step, asking him,

Lord, am I supposed to go be a part of that?

We're so inclined to trust in our own understanding that we don't acknowledge

him in all of our ways so that he can direct our paths.

We're trusting in our own understanding. And the Lord told me,

don't go. I had one minister ridicule me.

I didn't care. I'm a grown man, first of all, number one. And number two, Lord told me not to go.

Oh, you ain't going to come at all, man. You being lazy. I didn't care about

that. Lord told me not to go.

So I didn't go to that one. Amen.

Why? Because I don't want to be too fast and I don't want to be too slow.

I want to put the kingdom first. And so I asked myself, Lord,

where do you want me to be?

Where am I supposed to be at this time?

What do you want me doing? I'm checking in with him because I'm a follower of him.

He's not following me. Amen?

I'm following him.

And we see here that this man, too slow.

I want to first go do some other thing before I follow you.

And then the last man here, verse 61, take a look here, Luke chapter 9, verse 61.

Luke 9:61

And another man said, Lord, I will follow you, but let me first,

somebody shall first, go and bid them farewell who are at my house.

So what came first, following the Lord or going home and bidding them farewell?

Bid them farewell came first. What should come first?

The kingdom. Following him should come first.

But what came first was going home to bid them farewell.

Now, think about this for a second. If you were to go home and tell your family,

I'm about to follow the Lord, what is your family going to say?

Don't do it. You're nuts. You're losing your mind. How dare you follow?

What are you talking about? They're going to talk you out of it.

I told one particular family member that when I was leaving the bank, you guys know my story.

I was working at a bank, making well over six figures at this bank.

My trajectory was great.

I was the number one sales rep the year before. I was doing extremely well.

I liked my job. I liked who I worked with, and I was good at it.

I told a family member, the Lord is telling me to leave that and go into full-time ministry.

Now, my mind was already fighting with me anyway.

Say amen to that because like how dare, not how dare, but are you sure that

you want to leave a thriving, money-making, you know, occupation and go into full-time ministry?

You know how the saints are, they're going to come and go as they please.

They're going to give as they please.

You know how they are. Why don't you take something solid and stay here instead

of going into full-time ministry? And I told a family member that.

The poor shot said, I'm going to full-time ministry. I'm leaving my job.

And guess what they tried to do?

Talk me out of it. Oh, don't do that now. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no.

No, that's, no, you want to stay where you're at. You know what? Why don't you do both?

Well, I had thought about that too. Lord, I want to do both.

But the Lord specifically told me, leave.

He didn't tell me to do both. He told me to leave. Put your notice in and leave. I got you.

Footnote, disclaimer Everybody look at me and listen I'm not asking you to do that.

Pastor left his job, I'm going to leave my job. No, that's not what I'm asking you to do.

I'm going to be like pastor. No, I had a word from the Lord.

I didn't have a word from no man.

I had a word from the Lord, and Stacy was in agreement with it,

and we came together, and we obeyed God to do it. I'm not asking you to do that.

I'm just telling you what happened with me. This particular family member tried

to talk me out of it, said that I was missing it, said that it was wrong.

And I thought, no, this is right. I'm supposed to do this. Why?

Because Jesus said, seek first the kingdom.

And I began to seek the kingdom, and I look back at it now.

That company that I was working for, it was Wycovia Bank, they don't even exist anymore.

That department I was in that was doing well doesn't even exist.

So let's say I would have stayed on and hung in there. I'd have been let go anyway.

Are you listening to me? So you got to obey the Lord.

I just did it first. I stepped out first because I was in obedience to what he was saying to me.

All of that is gone now. It's all something totally different now.

But I stepped out first to obey God.

And he says in verse 62, I love it, Luke chapter 9, verse 62,

Luke 9:62

he says, Jesus said to him, no one having put his hand to the plow and looking back,

is fit for the kingdom of God.

Now notice, having put his hand to the plow. How many have ever plowed something?

And your hands up, yeah, yeah, I have too. That's some of the hardest work,

I mean, that I have ever done.

Plowing the hard ground. That thing is going and you shaking and moving.

That's hard work. He said, if you're looking back, you got to look forward when you plow.

You got to keep that thing straight. You're trying to make some lines.

If you're looking back, he says, you're not fit.

Let me say it this way. You're not useful.

In the kingdom. The kingdom has no use for you if you are always looking back.

You got to look forward. As we are navigating in the new place that God wants

us to worship him in, that's going to be a place that's going to allow us to

grow and develop and just give him praises in.

Can I be full disclosure with you?

Sometimes it's hard to continue to look forward when you're like,

well maybe we should have I said no Devon don't look back.

Well, maybe I could have, nope, we're going forward.

Well, maybe I should have, nope, we're going forward.

When you make a decision to follow the Lord, you go forward.

You don't look back. You move ahead.

You don't second guess yourself. You don't hesitate.

You go forward because if you keep looking back, you are not useful for the kingdom of God.

If you keep trying to cling to the past, you will compromise your promise in the future.

Say, I don't look back. Say, I look forward.

Say it like you mean it. I look forward.

When you look forward, you are going towards the kingdom.

This man said, listen, I need to go home first, and I need to say bye to everybody.

He's going to get home, and he was never going to follow Jesus because they

were going to keep in there, you know, cook some good old greens and come on, get this roast.

They've been sitting in the crock pot all night long. Where are you going?

You might starve following that man. He's here, he's there, and he's kind of crazy.

No, no, no, no. Hey, hey, I ain't going back home. I'm going forward.

I'm not looking back. And so in order to follow the Lord, in order to follow another leader.

You're going to have to be flexible, adaptable, and adjustable.

Even just this morning, I came in this morning, and the worship team was singing

a song, and Sierra says, we're going to switch this song.

We're going to do another song.

Well, we're going to have to be flexible, adaptable, and adjustable.

We can, oh, another song, my goodness.

Oh, and the pro-presenter guy can, I don't want to put in another song.

I don't want to sing. And Kurt can be like, I don't want to play another song. No, no, no, no, no.

Flexible. Now, none of that happened this morning, praise God. Adaptable.

And adjustable. When you're following the Lord, you're going to have to be flexible,

adaptable, adjustable.

And when you're following a leader, there are different things that a leader,

a different vantage point that they have than maybe that you have.

And so, okay, I'm going to be flexible. God's called me to be a part of this

place, organization, church, et cetera, family, whatever the case may be,

and I'm going to be flexible. I don't have to understand everything.

I don't even have to agree.

Let me talk about that for a second. We want to walk with the Lord or with a leader if we agree.

Well, I agree. You know, how can two walk together if they don't agree, right?

I just agree. Man, I agree. I agree with what he said.

I agree. I agree. I agree but then there's going to come times where you don't

agree what do you do then do you walk out which is what a lot of people do or do you submit.

And this is the word submit says, I don't agree, but I'm going to follow your lead.

That's what submission is. And scripture says that we are to submit to one another as well.

I don't agree, but I'm going to follow your lead. During COVID,

you remember all the fiasco that was happening during COVID.

And I wish I had to, I wish I communicated this back then.

Maybe I did, but wish I deliberately communicated flexible, adaptable,

adjustable, because things were changing on the fly. Y'all remember that.

And in here, I remember I made a decision that we need to come wearing masks.

Well, I had people leave the church because I said we're going to come wearing masks.

And I made the decision we don't have to wear masks anymore.

Well, we had people leave the church because we didn't have to.

I mean, it didn't matter what I decided.

People were leaving, right? Whether you come, we're leaving.

And I remember sitting down with one particular person that ended up leaving,

and they were telling me that they were and it was because of the math.

Oh, you said we have to wear masks and, you know, I just don't think we should

have to wear masks. You think I like wearing a mask?

No, I don't like wearing no mask either, right? Well, you know,

I just don't, you know, I feel like we just, you know, shouldn't have to wear

a mask and I'm like, okay, you don't agree, right?

So here's your other option. I know that one option is you can leave but there's another option.

I could submit and just put the mask on and walk out and take it off and get

in my car but we don't want to submit.

Yeah that's too much we don't want to submit and when we're walking with people

and there's a leader all of us have leaders in our lives we're not going to

always agree there's some things the Lord tells me to do and I don't agree I

didn't do nothing wrong Lord,

He'd just look at me. Either you're going to go apologize or you're not.

And I don't go where the Lord said he'd apologize. No, I go and I say, I'm sorry.

And there are times, a handful of times, even in my relationship with Stacy,

there's a decision that has to be made.

And I'll make that. I said, babe, we talk about it and we're not in agreement with it.

And I said, but we got to decide on something. This is the decision we're going to do.

And she'll look at me. She only did this half a time. She'll look at me and

she'll say, I don't agree, but I submit.

And then it becomes our decision because she submitted to me.

And so God's called us. If we're going to be thriving and flexible,

adaptable, and adjustable, if we're going to be ready to follow,

this is the cost to follow, is we're going to have to not be too fast, not be too slow.

And the last person was too attached.

We can't be too attached if we're going to follow what the Lord says.

And we're going to have to learn to submit.

One of the areas, as we are looking for a new place to worship,

I want you, over the next few months, as we prepare to leave this place,

we're going to be moving some stuff. Be flexible.

Be adaptable. Be adjustable.

There's going to be, we're going to another place. Be flexible,

adaptable, and adjustable.

I don't like that this new place we're going to. Be flexible.

Be adaptable. Well, it's about two minutes too far. Be flexible.

Be adaptable. Be adjustable. Amen.

When we moved into this building, when we were at the high school,

somebody told me they weren't coming because it was two miles too long.

And I look, forgive me, but I look for myself and they were actually two miles closer.

But they were inflexible. They were not adaptable or adjustable.

Amen. So as we prepare to move, be flexible, adaptable, adjustable. Say that. I'm flexible.

I'm adaptable. I'm adjustable.

Say, I don't move too fast. I don't move too slow.

I'm not too attached because I'm flexible, adaptable, and adjustable. Amen.

This is how you experience true life.