From Cautious To Courageous - Week 5 - Get Ready: Part 2 - Damon Moore & Ti'eshia Moore - March 15, 2026

This is the City Place Church Podcast.

Here at City Place, we build dreams, ignite faith, and establish leaders that win the lost for God's kingdom.

From wherever you're listening, we hope that you are empowered by the message.

Come and see.

Did y'all see that? Hollywood, Hollywood look I gave at the end there.

That was 10 years ago.

It was me and Denzel.

That was straight out of, remember the Titans? Come and see.

Look at the person beside you.

Say come and see.

Welcome to City Place Church, where the Lord is still working on the pastoral leadership team every single day.

Uh, just, just so you know, for those of you who may be here for the first time, and this is your first time or maybe first time in a long time, city Place turned 10 years old at the end of February.

And so what, what we've been doing is taking the journey back.

Over the last few years and, and, and then going all the way back to the early years, that video was one of our first social media videos.

We didn't know what we were doing.

So thank the lord for Josiah and the crew that has taken the social media to a whole nother level.

And over the last few weeks as well, we've been introducing you.

If you don't know to some of the pastors that have spoken life into us.

And so one of the gentlemen that you saw up there, his name is Richard Per in chief.

Pastor Richard was a part of a network from the church where we came from called Wave Collective.

And uh, when he heard that we were planting a church, he walked over to us at a conference and said, our church is gonna be in your life forever.

And I was like, sir, like, no lie.

'cause I was like, you came really fast sir.

Man, I'm from DC that alarms people.

You're moving that fast, sir.

And so, and so what, what he did was he said, our church is not only gonna walk alongside you.

But our church is gonna so financially into your church.

And ever since then, he has been one of the spiritual oversights for our church, which means that our church is accountable spiritually.

Um, should I go crazy, Ty go crazy.

There are people to cover us.

And so, uh, he's been speaking life into our church for the last decade.

And then, um, pastor Todd and Deirdre Grant, um, they are the parents of one of our leaders in our church, Deandre And, uh, her, their daughter started coming to our church and we just built up a connection and a relationship.

In fact, they became the senior pastors of St.

Mary's Missionary Baptist Church last year.

And, uh, as part of our Impact week, our church actually served their church and helped paint and did some other things on their property.

And they just wanted to speak life into City Place church.

And so we have committed over the last decade to be the Church of Jesus.

We're not in competition.

We are playing our part for the Kingdom of God.

And so over the next few days and weeks and months, we gonna continue to celebrate all year long because this is a milestone in our church.

How many of y'all were aware that 4,000 churches close every year? Wow.

Anybody? A few.

So when you are a part of a church that is standing and God is doing amazing things, it, it, it really is the grace of God.

Like we, we, we, we had the benefit of God's grace to be able to be a part of the church of Jesus Christ in this time.

And I don't know if you could tell that there's some things happening across the world.

Um, if we were to go through scripture, and this is not the message today, but it says that you'll know that Jesus is coming back because there will be wars and rumors of wars.

And so as a body of believers, we have to make sure, and we talked about this, that we don't be comfortable just trying to get ours.

Eternity is a real thing.

And, uh, today I'd love for you to help me celebrate and welcome at the same time a group of college students all the way from South Dakota that, that are giving of their spring break week to share the gospel of Jesus Christ in your state.

So while we may sometimes say that there is not a generation, come on, there is a generation that will move whether we move or not.

And so I'm glad that they're here today.

Would you help me welcome the campus ministry from Crew all the way from South Dakota? Will y'all stand? Come on, let's go.

Let's go.

Keep standing, keep standing.

Keep standing.

Don't sit.

Don't sit.

Don't sit.

Don't sit.

So this is what's amazing City Place Church is last year a group came and you all were set.

And I don't know how you got here, if it was an invite.

If you look this up as one of the coolest churches, I'm just playing.

I'm just playing.

I'm just playing.

That's pride.

Don't walk in Pride students.

No, listen.

But, but here's the thing is that, um, your, your leaders, um, blessed us with the opportunity to be able to host you again.

And we do not take this lightly.

And we've got stories of some of you that were here last year, walking campuses and praying for people and believing God.

I wanna declare something over you as a group of leaders.

I am a product of crew.

It was the one ministry on the UCF campus that I trusted because I knew the Bible would be taught.

I knew, I knew I wouldn't end up in some room somewhere looking at a statue.

I knew that Jesus would be preached.

And so as someone who is older, I want you to know that your sacrifice pays off.

If God could give you a glimpse into what harvest looks like, I'm a product, but there's a church that was birthed out of a student ministry over years ago.

You know what I'm saying? I can't age myself like that.

I can't do it.

I just told y'all I was with Denzel, right? I can't do it, but I wanna pray for you because sometimes in the hard moments when you may not see the conversion in the moment or when you're giving of your time, and people may look at you like you're crazy because you could be partying during your spring break.

Yeah.

I want you to know that there's a divine hand of God that's on your life, and so I wanna pray for you.

I wanna pray that the power of God's spirit rest on you.

And that you fall in love with Jesus all over again, even though you love him.

And that as you minister, you almost minister and you watch at the same time that you minister with full excitement and bold.

It's gonna take faith.

But that also, as you're ministering to people, it's almost like you get to watch what God is doing through you.

God's not gonna do it just because you're you.

He's gonna do it because you make yourself available and this is gonna be one of the most impactful weeks of your life.

And so thank you I I didn't get a chance to thank Brent, who is our campus leader.

So I'll thank you.

Thank you for all you're doing.

City police, can we pray? If you're around him, can you just stretch forth your hands? We believe in the power of agreement here.

So Father, I thank you that you have sent these students to our state to upset the normal.

And God, I pray that for their sacrifice that you will restore everything back to them.

I pray as young emerging leaders, God, that your hand will rest on them.

God, we've read scriptures where you've used the generation of young leaders to upset nations and call them back to Christ and call them back to you.

And so God, I pray that as they are here this week, that not only will you provide for them, but you will use them in a mighty way.

I pray that your hand will be on them in a fresh way, and that they will see visibly the things that they prayed for.

Bless their leaders, who've given up their time, who are walking in their calling.

Keep them safe, keep them healthy, keep them strong.

All of this is for your glory.

In the mighty name of Jesus, we pray.

Can you say amen? Come on.

Can we celebrate them again? You may be seated.

You may be seated.

If you have your Bibles, go with me to Joshua chapter one, Joshua chapter one.

We've been in a series, a courageous series.

Moving from cautious to courageous is our focus, and we've been sharing vision over the last few weeks last week.

We teed it up and said, we're gonna go even deeper over the next few weeks.

And so, uh, if we can move with great rhythm at the end.

I was able to twist Aisha's arm to preach with me later.

Yesterday, we celebrated 23 years of marriage, and from what I hear, it's been the best 23 years of her life.

Joshua chapter one, Joshua Chapter one.

Sorry, girls.

Again, that pride thing is just rising.

Pray for me as I pray, as I pray for you.

We said this, we said this, that if we're gonna move from cautious to courageous, God's gonna close one season and he's gonna begin a new season.

God's gonna close the season and he's gonna begin a new season.

And in Joshua chapter one, God has closed the season.

That was Moses' season, and it was Joshua's turn to lead, a generation to grab hold of the promise of God.

City Place Church.

Let me declare to you that this is a season where we are moving towards proclaiming and possessing the promises of God.

So we're gonna move from a place where we've been, I don't know if he will, to a place that yes, he's going to, and I'm not gonna sit still any longer.

And so in Joshua chapter one, God's having this conversation with Joshua and he tells him, go from where you are.

It's time.

Tell the people this is your territory.

It's time to move.

And in Joshua chapter one, verse nine, he says this, have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage.

Do not be afraid or dismayed for the Lord.

Your God is with you wherever you go.

Somebody say wherever.

Wherever the Lord your God is with you, city, place, wherever you go.

Crew, the Lord is with you.

As you go out this week, wherever you go, be ready in the restaurant, just in case.

The Lord says, minister to them here, not just on a campus.

The Lord will be with you wherever you go.

Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, verse 10 saying, pass throughout the camp and command the people saying, prepare provisions for for yourselves, for within three days, you will cross over this Jordan to go into possess the land, which the Lord your God is giving to you.

Verse 12, and to the reubenites, the gadites and the half tribe of Manasses, Joshua spoke saying, remember the word of the Lord, which Moses heard that the Lord commanded to you, saying the Lord your God is giving you rest and is giving you this land.

Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock shall remain in this land which Moses gave you on this side of the Jordan, but you shall pass before your brethren armed.

All your mighty men of valor and help them until the Lord has given your brothers rest as he gave you, and they have taken possession of the land which the Lord your God has given them.

Then you shall return to the land of your possession and enjoy it, which Moses the Lord's servant, gave you on this side of the Jordan towards the sunrise.

Everybody look up at me real fast.

We can do two things at one time.

We can go after what God has for us and we can help somebody else go after what God has for them.

Amen.

This is not a, it's about me.

When God delivers the promise, God will always position us that we will pursue what he's calling us to do, while we're also pushing others to pursue what God has for them.

And we have to be okay with the fact that God can juggle both things and God will use us at the same time.

So I don't need you to stay stuck while I'm rising.

We can both rise at the same time.

If I know what my assignment is.

Y'all good? Let's keep going.

Verse 16.

So this is what the people responded after they heard.

Okay, God's gonna give us ours and we're gonna help them get theirs.

So they answer Joshua saying, all that you command us, we will do.

And whatever you will send us and wherever you will send us, we will go.

Just as we heed Moses in all things, we will heed you.

Our, the our the only thing, only the Lord your God be with you as he was with Moses.

Whoever rebels against your command and does not heed your words in all that you command, you should be, they should be put to death only be strong and courageous.

One more verse one Chronicles chapter 28.

And David said to his son, Solomon, be strong and of good courage and do it.

Do not fear nor be dismayed for the Lord your God.

My God will be with you.

He will not leave you nor forsake you until you have finished all the work of the service of the house of the Lord.

He are here are the divisions of the priests and the Levites for all the service of the house of God.

And every willing craftsman will be with you for all manner of workmanship and every kind of service.

Also, the leaders and all the people will be completely at your command.

Last week we talked about get ready, get ready, get ready.

This week it's get ready on your mark.

Get ready on your mark.

In Joshua chapter one, I read you several verses at the end, starting at verse nine.

Joshua tells the people, get ready.

God is going to move within three days.

And then he looks at another group of people that says, you get ready, but also help them get ready.

So there's this season of this journey with Joshua where they are focused on themselves, but then they are focused on others.

Y'all trend in, okay.

Yeah.

So God wants to do something for me.

God wants to do something for you.

And my assignment is to let God do in me what He's gonna do in me, but I'm also gonna pay attention to what God wants to do in you.

In one Chronicles chapter 28, we see that there is an intense focus on everyone paying attention to also building God's house.

So there is a, God will build me, I will help God build others.

And then as a group of people, we will help build God's house.

So as we are moving from cautious to courageous, there is an emphasis on what God wants to do for you.

There's an emphasis on what we can do to help others, uh, fulfill what God has for them.

And then there's gonna be an emphasis on what God wants to do in his own house.

Can we pray? Father, in Jesus' name, thank you for your word.

Speak through us and to us.

In Jesus' name, amen.

We said this, we said the city place.

We're on a camping trip.

This is a portable location.

We will be here for a set season.

We don't know when the Lord will say it's go time.

But what we do need to do is make sure that we're prepared in our personal lives.

Some of us have been stuck too long.

You've been stuck in a place where God had you in a pass through season.

It was a moment, but whatever the situations of life may have been, it may have caused you to get stuck.

And I wanna tell you this morning that it's time for you to get ready to go get your stuff ready to go.

And in fact, mark your territory as this is the last time I will be here.

It's time to go.

And we said this, we said that God never calls us to live in a place that he is only using as a place of preparation.

God never calls us to pitch and plant roots in a place that is a pass through route.

Wouldn't it be crazy if you and I, for those of us who live in Florida, we're riding on I four.

You started seeing signs of coming soon, a new community, and then you start seeing builders starting to build houses on a route that's meant to get us from one part of town to the other part of town.

It is a passthrough road.

It is not meant for houses to be there.

And so often in life, God has us going through moment situations, trials that are passed through roads, but we start pitching tents.

It's I four, it's 4 0 8.

It is a toll road that may cost you something.

We don't stop there.

And so God uses situations, whether it's a high season or a low season to prepare us.

Joshua looks at the people and says, it's time to go for you, but also for others.

In one Chronicles 28.

David tells the people, it's time for all of us to get ready to build God's house, get everything ready in order, be strong and courageous.

This is a season where God's going to do it for you.

We said this, we said that in order to move from cautious to courageous, everybody has to take a next step.

Preparation in our relationship with God is going to be a faith step.

We have to trust that God knows best.

We have to trust that the creator of the universe knows best.

I love the look, the, the, the thing that Sean had us saying at the end, after she gave us what surrender looks like.

Total surrender is, I can do nothing here.

God, I trust that you are preparing me for the season.

We said this, we said that vision from God brings clarity of pursuit.

God was very clear in Joshua chapter one.

He's literally saying, Joshua, everything that I spoke to Abraham that you've heard in generation after generation that you all got stuck in the wilderness for, I haven't changed my promise.

It's just a journey is now like God is so amazing that if there was a vision that he gave you in your life in one season that's been shelved, he will dust it off and refine it for you in the new season.

Same vision, just God's going.

This is a different season, and so we have to trust him that he'll have it.

And so vision from God brings clarity.

Here's the thing, is that you and I are gonna have to spend time and days and, and weeks and months and years seeking God throughout the whole process of fulfilling his vision for our life.

God's gonna give you this.

Then over time he goes, and this is what I want you to do.

Read Joshua chapter one.

This is the territory that I have for you.

From the left to the right, from this river to that river.

No one will be able to stand before you read it.

In one Chronicles 28, literally David says this, God gave me the plans by his spirit in order to build the house of God.

Like God will give you the fine details of his plan if you and I will spend more and more time with him.

Vision becomes clearer.

The more and more pursuit that we have of God, he will make it clear.

We won't always be like God, what are you trying to do? What if we got in close enough and say, God, give me clarity of what you're trying to do.

Y'all good? We're going somewhere.

We said this.

We said that what vision doesn't reveal is the process of spiritual growth and maturity.

Man, I wish the Lord would, would tell us the middle part of the story.

Anybody else wouldn't, you, wouldn't you wanna know, like, not just the trailer, but the parts that are hard as well.

Like we, I, I love, I love Marvel movies.

I know at the end that they gonna win.

It's the middle part that be jerking me around anybody else.

It's like, oh no, I Iron Man, what's going on, bro? Put the thing back in your chest.

Put the thing back in your chest, right? Am I the only one when you're like, come on man, you're taking me through an emotional rollercoaster here.

When is he gonna fly in? And we go like, Hey, I know it's three hours long, but somebody showed me the middle.

Right? It's like, if God would only show us the middle part, but again, if he shows us everything, how many of us would really pursue with passion to seek him? And so what happens is, is God's saying, come close to me.

Come close to me.

It's not about fulfilling the thing, it's about how close will I be to him when I fulfill it.

I don't want just the trophy on the wall.

If you've ever won an award, it starts to collect dust and then you go to the next thing.

But man, if I push towards his purpose, I'm finding out more and more of who he is.

I fall in love with him all over again.

I'm more in love with him at my current age than I was when I was younger.

It's almost like he's revealing fresh up that I thought I knew, and he continues to reveal himself.

But man, he doesn't really reveal the process of growth.

Joshua was developed in the wilderness.

Joshua becomes a leader in the wilderness.

We learn about that in Exodus 17.

Exodus 24, Exodus 33, numbers 13, numbers 14.

Deuteronomy chapter one, Deuteronomy chapter three, Deuteronomy chapter three, verse 28.

We find this whole journey of him being a warrior to an assistant, to knowing God's presence, to seeing God personally, to being chosen, the next leader, to be getting instruction, to having his hand laid on him to Joshua chapter one, where we would read the story and go, oh my goodness, he's a superhero.

No, before he was a superhero.

He was just a regular dude.

The process, if we would just embrace the process and be drawn closer and closer to God, Joshua was qualified in the private seasons of life.

We celebrate him now because we get the, the value of scripture, but no man, Joshua was before the Lord, and he thought he was just one thing.

Then before you know it, he goes, Hey Moses, my servant is dead.

It's your season to lead people in the promise it's gonna be done for you, but you're gonna help them.

The same thing happened with David.

Same thing happened with David.

So think about this.

Some of our greatest moments with God come during a wilderness season.

And I said this last week, the wilderness is not the desert place that we may think it is.

It has trees and bodies of water.

It's just the terrain is tricky and we have to navigate the terrain in the wilderness.

So never discount those moments, never discount the process.

The process gets us ready so that when the moment where God says it's go time, we've already been in his present.

We don't want to have to get in his presence.

When the moment comes, we wanna already know who he is so that we can be sensitive to the moment when the moment comes.

Can you imagine if God would be like, Hey Joshua, guess what? Your moment's coming soon.

It's a lot different when he goes, you got three days.

Do you know what Joshua doesn't do? Joshua doesn't keep it to himself.

He goes, Hey everybody, you got three days.

Like, how many of y'all would have a little bit more urgency if God looked at you and said, your promise is coming in three days? How many of y'all would do how? How many of y'all would be like, you know what? Praise the Lord.

I'm getting ready right now.

Well, what if we lived in that posture as we pursue his presence, that anything could happen at any time, at any moment? It's not about me, but what if I had that same posture because I knew it was gonna happen for Patty.

I knew it was gonna happen for Jim and I knew it was gonna happen for you.

What if I sat on the edge of my seat because I knew I was gonna push you into purpose and destiny because I know that God's already called me.

What if we sat on the edge of our seat for what God was gonna do for his house? Total different perspective.

See, everything that God thinks about is kingdom minded, driven by eternity.

But you and I get the benefit of it, so never discount the process.

We said this last week, we said that if there is no voice from God, there is no vision, like we need God to speak in every season of our life.

Students, before you go out this week, you may go out on X day, be prayed up as you're approaching that person before you get to them and even say, Hey, my name is, pray underneath your breath, Lord.

Say what you need to say through me.

Include him through every single thing.

Don't do anything city place in our own strength.

Like literally, God is big enough to be able to have a conversation in a moment of time and give us an answer in a moment of time.

That's right.

Like if we just make space.

Why? Because I'm trying to know him.

I'm not just trying to get the outcome of my purpose.

God, I need to know what you see.

And I need the clarity of the pursuit because if I don't have your voice, I don't have vision.

And I never want to assume that just because I'm running in one motion that God might not be asking me to take a left turn after I've been running straight the whole time.

So I need God's voice and I need God's vision in everything that we do.

So write this down, if it's in your notes, I'm not sure, but God's gonna move us from cautious to courageous in his process.

It's his process, it's his process.

God moves us from cautious to courageous, courageous, being bold, strong assured that what he said he's going to do, he's going to do, and I'm not backing down.

So God moves us from cautious to courageous in his process, which then goes back to the beginning.

I have to know what he sees and I have to pursue him like never before.

Y'all think about this and y'all tell me if y'all think this is true, most of us will overestimate what we can get done in the short term and we underestimate what we could do in the long term if we just stuck with it.

Like there have been seasons and city places, journey where I've said this.

Maybe you, you, you, you can relate.

I thought we'd be further by now.

Have you ever said that? Mm-hmm.

I thought I'd be further by now.

I would've thought that I would be married.

I thought I would have a family.

I thought I would've bought a house.

I thought I would've thought that I would've already done X, Y, Z by now.

Can I, can I just say that, that, that that can be a trap that gets you stuck? Because what happens is, is I step in front of God's vision, making it my vision, which then means that I've got to craft a plan for the vision that God gave me, that I just totally just sat him aside on and said, you know what? I can handle it from here, but man, if I'm constantly pursuing God's timing, then I could be like Joshua, because I hope I, I don't know if you guys know Joshua is not a spring chicken when he's taking this over.

Joshua's in his eighties.

Everybody's looking at me funny.

Joshua is not just coming off of his basketball tour.

Joshua literally waited 40 years in the wilderness, like this has taken some time, and his and his teammate Caleb, was 85 when he was able to finally go and get his land because he'd been helping everybody else get theirs.

Like sometimes we overestimate what can be done in the short term and underestimate what God really can do in the process as he's moving us from cautious to courageous.

Here's a little thing that we gave y'all last week because we said this.

God meets us in our comfort, and then he invites us to take a next step and a new step.

So God meets us in our comfort.

Hey, Joshua, Moses is dead.

My man.

Let's go.

Joshua could have been like, but you don't know the pain.

God.

Moses was in my life for such a long time, and I'm not ready to go yet.

Now, hey, I wanna make sure that you don't be stuck in this season where you're, where you're just thinking about the past or you're feeling unqualified.

Nope.

Let's go.

I'm meeting you right here in your comfort because I'm gonna push you to where now you're taking one step and here's our normal response.

God pushes us and he begins to push us from our comfort, and we move cautiously.

We, we, we start moving with baby steps.

There's a story of a guy named Gideon in the Bible where God started telling him stuff and he's like, God, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold up.

How can you use me? I am the weakest in my tribe, like you don't want to use me.

In fact, uh, similar story.

Moses had an excuse for God as well.

God, you don't want to use me.

I stutter.

Every time God had a response, Moses, use your brother Gideon.

You are actually a mighty warrior in your clan.

Like God has always had vision for us that we may not have had for ourselves.

So God will push us from our comfort.

And normally our first step is to move cautiously.

But if we're gonna move from cautious to courageous and ultimately get there, we have to have a connection and that connection will cause us to become consistent.

Here's the thing, Joshua, I mean, uh, John chapter 15 says that if you abide in me and my word abides in you, you'll bear much fruit by this.

John 15 · chapter mention

The father is glorified and so our initial connection has to be with Jesus.

Like if we're gonna move from being cautious to all that God has for us, we have to be connected with Jesus.

With, goes back to the first point.

Clarity of vision comes in our pursuit of God.

So we have to remain connected.

To Jesus, which then we go from that connection to him to being consistent.

I take a step, I'm doing my Bible, I'm reading my Bible every day.

I may not know everything, but I'm going to be consistent.

I wake up in the morning, I'm just doing what I can to grow in my relationship with God.

Well, what's the next step that God wants to do after we become consistent? Consistent requires a connection.

Like we will never be able to disconnect on the journey from moving cautious to courageous.

It's not gonna be one major step at every step of our growth and our relationship with the Lord for fulfilling our purpose and destiny that he has for us.

We are gonna take a step and it's gonna require a connection to Christ, and then we become more consistent.

And the further that I choose to go, it's gonna require more of a connection.

So if I'm continually going after God, because I need the clarity of his voice, I need to hear him as I'm taking this journey.

I don't know the process.

It's not revealed to me, but I know he will reveal to me.

I have to remain connected.

Jesus said this in John 15, without me, you can do nothing.

So what does that mean? If I am not connected with him, I'm doing absolutely nothing.

But if I'm connecting with him, I'm continually growing.

So we move from consistent with my connection to being committed.

I move from being consistent to being committed.

Committed is I'm rooted and nothing is bringing me from my relationship with God.

Nothing is pulling me.

It's like Paul said in Ephesians.

I pray that you.

Know the depth of his love and that you are rooted in it, not coming out of it.

And then once we are committed, we go back to that connection because this is where we become courageous.

This is the moment that we see in Joshua chapter one.

This is the moment that we'll hear even more about in one Chronicles chapter 28.

It's like God pushes us from comfort.

I might move cautiously at the beginning, but I'm moving cautiously towards him.

I'm becoming more and more consistent, but I don't let go of my connection because I know that my just consistency isn't the final destination.

No, God's moving me further and further into his presence.

So I get committed, stay connected, and then ultimately I become courageous.

Y'all, if I had a little bit of time, I would tell you that once you and I become courageous, it also becomes contagious.

First, uh, Joshua chapter one, it says, all the people were like, let's go wherever you show us.

We're going, show us the hill.

We'll go there.

Give us the man, we'll go.

And if nobody obeys you, take them out.

Can you imagine like that fervency of if God told us that it's time to go, we won't let anybody tell us that it's not time.

It becomes contagious.

First Chronicles, when it comes time to build God's house, and just so you know Solomon, all you need to do is ask the craftsmen, ask the people, and they will be ready to go at your command.

It becomes contagious when you and I become courageous, like we are the product of 12 dudes walking with a Jesus.

And in Matthew chapter 28.

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

Him saying, go ye therefore into all the world, preach the gospel, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

And he says this, and Lord, I'm with you.

Always like, go the product of a few and then in upper room experience in Acts chapter two, and then 3000 are baptized.

They don't run away.

They remain connected.

Can I give you three connections that are vital to kingdom work? One first connection.

Jesus.

Two God's people.

Three God's house online church is amazing.

But you need God's people.

You need to be a part of God's house.

You and I are called to help build God's house, the local church we, you cannot get away from it.

It is not an option to be connected to God's people.

It is not an option to lose our connection to Christ Jesus.

Why? Because God's meeting me in my comfort, and he is trying to get me to courageous so that the movement of the gospel can become contagious.

Y'all good? Or am I just hyped for no reason? I'm like this all the time.

If you've never been here before, no, but listen, y'all, can we, can we, can we in this season as a church, like go, God, take me through the process to be connected to you.

Take me through the process to be connected to your people and take me through the process to being courageous about your house.

I'm willing to take the discipleship journey wherever I am.

This is what I love about Jesus.

It's like he allows me to take a simple next step.

He allows me to be met in my comfort knowing, okay, Lord, I'm coming, but I don't know.

Everything keep coming.

But, but what about keep coming? But you remember that at my last church.

Keep coming.

You know that those, that the church has some, some, just some, some trifling people, they all hypocrites.

No, no, no, no, no.

Keep coming.

Where's your connection? Lie.

Keep coming.

All of us needs those three connections.

So the question is, is this, if there's territory for us to take for the kingdom of God, why not us? Why not us? God chose you and I as a church to partner for Kingdom impact, not just to consume.

God chose us.

Here's the thing, y'all, that I realize, here's God's heart and God's vision.

Lost people, found.

He wants found people free.

He wants free people equipped and equipped.

People mobilized.

It's as if, Tyler, you wanna come on up real quick.

It's as if God allows us this opportunity to carry a baton with him for kingdom impact.

It's, it's, it's almost like God's like, Hey, Joshua, run it.

I I've got purpose and destiny for my people.

Grab the baton and partner with me.

Like I, I love it that God is not selfish with the impact that we can make.

I love it.

God could be like, I'll do it all myself.

I've got angels.

I mean, what do I need y'all for? No, but God's like, Hey, the greatest impact is gonna be made through the people I created who are broken people so that your testimony will impact somebody else.

It's like God says, Hey, partner with.

Me and grab this baton.

Y'all write this down, write this down.

The Kingdom vision isn't solo vision.

The kingdom vision of God isn't solo vision.

God invites us to be courageous together.

God invites us to be courageous together.

City place.

Let, let me just kind of say this broadly, but very succinctly.

We will always be driven by eternity here.

Our eyes are gonna see some amazing things.

We, we, we, God's been really good to us, but we really haven't made the impact that the Lord's called us to.

We will always be driven by eternity.

And I introduce you to Pastor Richard Para chief.

If we ever start walking in a fleshly way, we will be corrected.

So I want you to know that the things that God asked us to do in these seasons are being led by the spirit of God, lest we get in our own way and we accomplish nothing.

'cause without me, without the connection, you're doing nothing.

The question is, is what does God see for us in this season that would cause us to be courageous? Write this down, write this down.

And I might miss, I might be missing some of your blanks.

Don't worry.

We'll bleed this in the next week as well, just so you know.

But here's one of the things that the Lord is asking us to do and to be courageous in 2026, God is asking us to be courageous in impacting the one.

There's some blanks at the end where God is calling us to be courageous.

We're gonna impact the one, the one.

We're going after people.

We're going after people, like there is within five zip codes around our church.

There's 160,000 people, 160,000 people in the nearest five zip codes.

Within 10 to 15 minutes of our church, there's 160,000 people.

I don't know if you have that next slide.

And so, uh, we, we are asking God for one.

For, for one.

We're asking God to allow us to impact one 1%.

Can y'all believe with that? Practically speaking, we're asking God to allow city place to impact 1% of the 160,000 1600 people.

Can y'all, am I alone? Can we, can we believe for that? Amen.

Like I, I know what it might seem like.

How come you won't believe for more? It's just 1%.

Just 1%.

We'll play our part, Lord, allow us to reach the one like 1,620 people.

Save baptize.

Filled with his spirit planted in God's house.

Can we, can we believe for that? We're gonna talk about that as we get closer to Easter.

'cause there's more to that.

The second thing that we're believing the Lord for, we're believing the Lord that we're gonna acquire property for City Place Church in this next season.

Can y'all believe for that? Here's the thing, one Chronicles 28, it's time to build God's house.

It's time to build him a house.

The question is, is what's our courageous step? What's our courageous step? That's the question.

If you have your Bibles, go to First Chronicles 28.

You ready? Yeah.

Will you guys, is it okay? Can, can Ty and I take a few more minutes? You, you guys Okay for vision? We'll take a, just, just a couple minutes then we'll, we'll get in even deeper next week.

But first Chronicles 28.

Here's the context of the story.

David has it in his heart to build God's house and God tells David that you will not build a house because there's blood in your hands, but your son, Solomon will.

And David is having this conversation with the congregation, the people, his leaders, the people of the nation.

And he says this in verse 20, says, and David said to Solomon his son, be strong and courageous and do it.

Do not fear or be dismayed for the Lord your God is with you.

He will not leave you nor forsake you until you have finished all of the word.

David says, Hey, there's a vision that God gave me, but actually I'm called to hand off the baton.

And so over the next few weeks, we're gonna talk about what it looks like to grab the baton and what God wants us to do as a church.

Because here's the thing, it's time for us as a church.

To build God a house or to buy God a house.

You know what I'm saying? Whatever's easy.

And so we want to dream together a little bit.

Yeah.

We are excited about, uh, this season that we're walking in.

There is that piece in the scripture.

That's your homework by the way, this week, between this week and next week.

Just to scribble it down.

First Chronicles chapter 28 and 29 is my homework.

1 Chronicles 28 · chapter mention

Pastor's gonna ask me about it next week.

Okay? So you are forewarned, uh, but in this piece of scripture, as God is asking, uh, for, well really David desires to build God a house just as we do.

Hopefully you can see yourself in this moment just like we are.

Uh, and, and, and he says to him, no.

But what I think about is so remarkable is the moment that, uh, David says, um, I am going to fully resource.

It's my desire, it's my hope.

It's my, um, earnest plea really to build God this home.

And God tells him no, but that's not where David stops.

He doesn't go and like.

I get frustrated with God about it, but, but I'm the one I I desire.

I'm the warrior.

I am David.

Uh, that's what I sort of imagine in this day and age where, you know, very ambitious people like us, we would say, but it, but God, but God.

But what he does do is something really remarkable.

He turns to his son and he says, here is everything that you need.

Here's every plan I've ever drawn up.

Here's every bit that I've ever saved.

Here's everything that you need to be successful.

And he essentially gives him a blueprint.

I don't know if you know the story.

Do you want me to share the story? You, I don't know if you know the story of the, the Olympic team in the sixties.

I am a kind of a big Olympic girl.

I grew up in the summers watching gymnastics, thinking I was, you know, something special.

We would all, um, get in our camper and we would, we would watch it during the summers.

And, um, one of the pieces that I always loved is to pretend that I could do that.

And then I grew up and I realized how much skill there was really involved in the Olympic sports.

Who did I think I was? But in the sixties, there was the US team and everybody around the world thought the US team was absolutely unbeatable in track and field.

They had the fastest runners, the most muscular men.

It was the men's team specifically.

And so people just sort of approached the Olympics, although they had hope in their heart.

They knew that the gold medal probably wasn't gonna be their team.

But what they did do instead was to perfect various things.

So the Jamaicans perfected their starts, the, um, Italians perfected their handoffs, various teams.

Went into the gym and said, well, maybe if I can be more strong in the legs, I can beat the Americans.

And I don't know if you, um, have ever Googled important Olympic moments, but I'm kind of a nerd like that.

And I have.

So if you look and Google Olympic, uh, tragic Olympic moments, you might see a picture of the men's runners.

In fact, something happens in the very last lap, the four by ones, I think is what they call it, one hundreds.

And they're making that last lap, the very last runner.

They're head and shoulders before the next team.

The very last runner has the baton in their hand, and they take the baton and they're getting ready to pass it to the runner.

And the other person's hand is like this.

And the picture that is widely known and snapped across the world is the runner in the back who is giving the baton, realizing that the person in the front doesn't yet have the baton.

And you see the baton falling to the ground and both of them going with this look of surprise on their face.

And it's this moment of realizing that they are in that critical space of passing the baton, yet they fumbled the moment, you know, which team did actually win the Olympics that year? The Italians, the ones who were not the strongest and they were not the most muscular, but they had perfected the baton toss.

And I don't know if you get sort of the symbolic moment of what that means.

As Pastor was talking today, we're talking about this opportunity that we have, um, as we approach this season to go for the one and to build God his house.

And it reminds me of when David was passing the baton to his son.

It's so important that both men had their hands on this vision.

Really firmly so that they could do what God had intended them to do.

And that's us in this season.

I love this scripture, so that's why it's your homework repeated after me.

What's your homework First? First Chronicles 28 and 29 and we'll discuss it.

We are so looking forward to sharing more about all that God has put in our hearts over this season.

So how many of y'all, how many of y'all, uh, would agree that it's time for City Place to have its own home? Yeah.

So, so, so here, here's what we're gonna do.

Uh, are, are you okay if, if we just give you a taste of what we're dreaming about? Just a taste can, can we just give you a taste? Just a taste? Because, because the Bible text that we're gonna read to you creates more context.

But what I don't wanna do is I can't wait one more week.

Like no lie, I, I, I love, I love things to be polished, but I'll just go with it.

Can we dream a little bit? Yes.

Huh? Let, let, let's dream about God's house as, as it relates to what we feel like God wants to do.

We, we feel like God's house is gonna be a house that's gonna be a seven day a week.

And I don't know if you can read all that.

If you can read that, the Lord bless you.

You know what I'm saying? You got 2020, but I'll read, I'll, I'll read it for you.

We, we, we, we are, we are believing that the Lord's gonna give us a seven day a week property that literally will be God's house.

That we get the benefit of impacting our community seven days a week.

What we do not want, and we know that God has not called us to be the church where people drive by it and go, uh, that's, um, city place.

No.

What we see is people driving onto the property going, I'm going to city place.

Yeah.

And so there will be classes and athletics and business meetings, community organizations, mentoring programs, worship nights, student ministry, young adults, events where the community goes.

That is a safe place.

That is also the place where God resides.

When you read one Chronicles, this is literally what David says in one Chronicles 29 verse one.

He says, Solomon can't do it alone.

Like he's never done this before, but together we can accomplish so much.

And he says this, he says, the reason why he can't do it on his own is because this is not a house for men.

This is God's house.

So what God wants to do in this season, city place, we get the benefit of, but this will be God's house that will outlast us.

And so here's the thing, that we're believing the Lord for a place where we can have about four to 500 seats, 10,000 square feet.

We want a playground for the kids.

We want some road frontage.

We want, uh, to be able to have office space and multipurpose rooms.

We want y'all, at some point, we wanna be able to have some athletic facilities on the property.

Like how come they can't use our facility? Right, right.

Like Orange County doesn't have to be the only place that has the excellence of sports.

Right.

But we also want places where people can learn.

We want a kitchen, and then y'all check this out, we want food trucks.

Yes.

I know.

Doesn't that sound sound like, oh, food trucks? No.

Here, here's the reason why we want some food trucks is because we want to be able to leverage what we do in the community feeding our homeless population by just rolling up there and allowing them to be blessed and just rolling into those communities so that ministry literally can happen seven days a week.

The question is, is this is gonna be like, how can we see all of this? If we only plan in the natural, we have to pray as well.

So I invite you to pray with us on Wednesdays.

That's the reason why we have morning prayer is to help set the atmosphere.

There are men that pray.

15 minutes before service Men show up 15 minutes early.

Why? Because we have to have the clarity of God's pursuit in this season.

Who benefits, who benefits from such a property.

The families of City Place will benefit.

Our next generation will benefit, and our local community and global community will benefit.

Can I just read you some of the impact that you made? City Place? Y'all okay on time? Yeah.

Y'all okay? Okay.

Please don't leave because we still need you to pack 10,000 eggs.

Come on.

I see you Jacob.

I see you Jacob's.

Like, don't you forget this announcement and all that you're saying.

Let, let, let me just share some of the impact that you've made from this location, from, from just this location.

Okay? Check this out.

You have impacted Cuba, Venezuela, The Bahamas, the, The Bahamas.

You've been planting multiple churches every single year through arc.

You're ministering in Israel as we speak.

You've been there during tragedies, during fires.

Uh, we partner with Convoy of Hope that responds to national tragedies and international tragedy.

Uh, you're helping, uh, build facilities through vapor, uh, ministries in Africa.

Crew you've handed out on average, uh, hundreds of meals during Thanksgiving time.

Uh, you've given over 500 plus operation, Christmas Child Boxes, supporting families here, supporting local pastors and churches.

You've been supplying gifts to homeless students.

You support students through NI, uh, new Image Youth Center.

You support single moms through you moms.

Y'all getting all of this like, I, I got more.

What I'm saying is City Place, you haven't been sitting still.

What started off as comfort? We've moved from cautious to being connected, and the goal is, is that what we're doing becomes contagious.

Amen.

Like last year you gave away $41,000 to missions.

Ain't that good? Like $41,000 to missions in the last nine years, you've given over 200,000.

In the last three years, you've given over 119,000 in the last three years to missions.

Is it okay if we just tell you what you do? Um, here, here's what's cool.

City place.

Um, since City Place began, $2.8

million has been given through the tithe and offering of our church.

Those of you who have been faithful in your tithe and offering, thank you, thank you to those that were before, over the last few years.

Last year with our seeds offering $517,000 was given.

Isn't that awesome? Amen.

Financially safe place.

Right now you have in the bank over $700,000 in the bank with no listen, with no asking.

Like thank you.

For those of you who been faithfully tithing and giving, thank you.

For those of you who've been in the comfortable side spot and the Lord's like, come on, come on.

Take that journey.

Here's the thing.

Start your connection and become consistent.

Can you imagine what our generosity could look like this year? If everybody took their complete next step in their giving? Can you imagine the nations that would be impacted? So we want to impact global nations.

Here are the options that we've been believing the Lord for.

So we can buy a current church property.

We can build and renovate, or they can be land that we can build upon.

These are the things, this is the reason why if you've been here for a while, it's been taking a little bit of time, is because we've got a building team of seven people and we've been looking for the last few years and trying to find, and then if there's a church that comes for sale, guess what? Y'all can I be honest, we weren't ready, we were about to move in faith and we could go, God, we need a miracle.

Or you got three days to prepare, bro.

Joshua chapter one.

And that's the season we're in.

It's the season of preparation.

And so here's the thing, it's like these three things.

Alright, one more photo.

One more photo, and then next week we'll we'll share every more can I, so, so we've got someone on our building team, Jarrell, right here in the front.

And, uh, we said, Jarrell, what if, what if the Lord would have us build a building? Can you just sketch something? And this is what he came up with.

That is so awesome.

Like, I'm like, let's go today.

And then, and then the building team was like, three days, bro.

Three, three days.

Like, can, can you, can you go to the next picture? Like, Jarrell just was dreaming without limitations.

Go ahead, go to the next one.

City kids having their own entrance, right? Isn't that good? Can you dream with us in this season? Like, these are things that God wants to do here.

Here's what I can guarantee that, that, that you, no one will be able to say, well, does he? No.

We know that God wants to have a house.

That city place gets to steward in this city.

So if you love the school, the Lord bless you.

But in three days mind we're leaving.

Like go, go to the next one.

Go to the next one.

Auditorium.

Seating, food, trucks, compose body like the second building would be a, uh, the second building would be an activities building.

Like, so all those classes that we talked about.

Like we're just having fun dreaming, like we don't wanna stay still.

Like the cautious thing would just go, well, God, in your timing.

No, let's go.

Keep going.

You can show us a few more classes.

Basketball court.

Jesus is in that.

Yeah.

I was like, go ahead, Darrell.

Playground for the kids.

And then what if we could just see it from the top.

Yeah.

Are y'all ready to dream? So can I prepare you for what's ready to come next? Okay.

I am gonna prepare you.

They're gonna be a courageous moment as a church where we're gonna talk about what does it look to like to possess and to begin to dream.

Next Sunday, we're gonna talk about for the one, but we're also gonna talk about what will our courageous step be in prayer, in serving and in generosity.

Y'all with me? Here's the part.

We will cheer here, but then like Joshua said, get your provisions and stuff ready.

Here's what, here's the normal tendency.

Not in this season.

In this season, we're moving from caution to courageous.

But here's the thing that I love about the Lord.

Just one step at a time consistent to committed to courageous.

So next Sunday, we're gonna dream like nobody's business.

Can y'all handle even more than that next week? Thanks for joining us.

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I.