Guest William Deagle

So what's going on? OK.

Great. Well, I feel like I should pay

passage on Michael for what he said.

I didn't realize all that. Anybody else want to hook me up?

OK, Good. Yeah.

So it's great to be with you all this morning.

Thank you. We have known them for a long

time. Actually, Natalie's parents

taught me in school, so Mr. Schuber was like my band teacher

and known them for a long time. So it's good to be with you all

this morning. I'm going to try to keep y'all

in under three hours, you know, because we used to preaching in

Africa where it doesn't stop, or Guatemala where it doesn't stop.

I'm just kidding. Y'all know that half of that is

dancing. Yeah.

Yeah. Their service is going forever.

So I'm just going to try to briefly share what have we been

doing for the last nine years because we left out a

cornerstone 9 years ago almost to the day.

We were trying to figure it out it it's very close to this time

and just packed up everything. But to back up a little bit on

that, that was in 2015. In 2014, after we had been on,

I'd been on staff for 12 years at that point, the Lord began to

deal with me. You need to tie things up here

and go. And so, you know, when you hear

something like that, you're like, how crazy is that, right?

I grew up in Matthews. We had built a home on family

land. Nice church working at they

there. You know, everything was like,

hey, this is great. And then the Lord's like, all

right, you're done. Go.

And you're like, what? And so when I first heard that,

Jessica and I, you know, started praying and we're like, how

crazy. That doesn't even make sense,

right? But thank God for great parents.

They, you know, they supported us.

Both sides supported us along the way.

And a lot of other people did as well.

And we began actually, Pastor Chris and I began praying a year

and a half prior to me actually leaving because he's like, you

need to know what you're going to be doing to some extent.

And we're going to make this, you know, I'll help you along

the way. So it before anyone even knew

anything, we were praying and I would meet with him.

He's like, you got anything? I'm like, no, I don't know what

I'm doing. I'm just supposed to go.

And so finally the Lord's like, OK, get up and go to a place

that I'm going to show you. And what does that sound like to

you? Does that sound like someone in

the Old Testament? Yeah.

And so I'm like, well, Lord, that's all great.

That's wonderful. But I have three children.

You know, one at that point was a teenager.

John just had hit that and, you know, too closely behind that.

And I'm like, how? I mean, like what?

And so I will never forget the words of my very wise daughter.

She came to me and she said, Daddy, don't you supposed to

have a job before you leave a job?

And I'm like, yes, dear, for you.

That is absolutely the case. And so a lot of things naturally

did not make sense. You know, people were like, I

have people that, you know, supporters like, yeah, we

believe, you know, you're supposed to go do this or do

this and someone like what, you know, trying to be nice, like

what are you doing leaving, all that type of thing.

But we knew we had to go. And So what we did was sold our

house at the last minute. The last minute, I'm telling

you, I can't even get into that. But like my last day at

Cornerstone on staff that afternoon, someone actually

called to to see our house. It had been on the market for

what, at that point a year? Yeah, a year or more.

And no one even was interested. And I'm just like, Lord, you do

understand that when I stop at Cornerstone, I still have a

mortgage unless this house sells.

And I was, I don't know how that's going to work.

So at the that afternoon she called me and she said, Hey,

there's some man that wants to see our house.

Long story short, he bought our house within a year.

He, he, we met with him because we were home at mom and dad's

for Christmas, went over there to talk to him and he sat us in

the living room. He's like, I have no idea why I

bought your house. He was in West Virginia or

somewhere and a lot of things had gone on in his life.

His wife had just passed away and stuff.

And anyway, and I'm Jessica was like, I know why you bought our

house because the Lord was taking care of us.

And anyway, so we began to just, we left and we ended up in

Georgia where Jessica's family is from.

And we wanted to kind of be near the Atlanta airport because

everything, every flight in the world goes to Atlanta.

So why not just start there, right?

So he thought that's a good place to to end up because we

really felt like the Lord was saying go back and do missions.

So Jessica and I met on the mission field in 1999 in

Honduras. We got married.

We lived in Honduras. John's first two years were in

Honduras. And so, you know, we're like,

OK, I guess we're going back there.

We didn't know what it looked like.

We did not go back there. We actually did a lot of

traveling between Guatemala with missionaries that we knew and

Africa. And if y'all are from me, you

probably remember him from Cornerstone, Pastor Andrew

Lucasa. Yeah.

So he had asked us when we first met him back at Cornerstone.

He's like, y'all need to come to Africa.

They don't need you here. We need you in Africa.

And I'm like, yeah, right, whatever.

You know, that's not going to work.

But our first trip that we took when we left Cornerstone was in

2016 in January. So we left in the fall of 2015.

We sold timber off of land that we had in Matthews to get the

money to go to Africa on our first trip.

Because you know, if you don't believe in what you're doing, no

one else is, right? So I invested in myself.

We did. We took, and it was the exact

amount of money we needed the kids.

We took the kids, Jessica and I, sight unseen.

We knew past Andrew, but we had never been.

I've never been to Africa and I've been practically all over

the world, but never there. So we just like, OK, we're

taking the kids past. Andrew said come, we're just

going to believe he's at the airport when we arrive.

And I mean, so the kids were eight.

What was your 8810 and 13 going to Africa long trip around the

other side of the world? And so that's how it began with

those like traveling. And so Pastor Andrew and I today

have a have an actual brother relationship.

It is the most amazing thing. We've gone through some major

medical issues with him, brought him to the state.

He's doing well. But that relationship just began

to grow. And we're actually going the end

of September again. We go every year, we do pastors

conferences. So the Lord, I'm trying to try

to put it in a nutshell, and I'm going to get the Scripture in a

minute, but when we left here in this area, the only thing I knew

was this. The Lord said, go and strengthen

and encourage the body of Christ internationally, nationally and

across denominational lines. That's the that's the sentence

he gave me. So everything we do revolves

around that. So if it's strengthening and

encouraging the body of Christ, whether it's here around the

world, wherever it is, that's what we're doing.

And and it looks like it looks differently in different areas

of the world. So in Africa, what we do, we do

the pastors conferences, we do everything through Pastor

Andrew, the pastors that he's over, that the that are under

him, that churches that he started, we help them, we raise

funds to build their churches. A new thing that we're doing is

we start small businesses for them so that they have an income

because these guys are out in the villages, they don't have an

income whatsoever. So we help them start a

business, turn it over to them, whether it's selling watermelons

or chickens that I mean, there's varied levels of what that looks

like, but that's strengthening and encouraging them because

we're keeping them in the ministry because I can't go

there and do what they're doing. These guys are out.

Some of them are Maasai. You all heard of the Maasai?

When you think of a safari or Africa, usually the poster you

see are the Maasai. He's got a rod, a wooden rod and

like this blanket different, you know, like a Plaid blanket

around them. That's the Maasai and those

dudes are fierce. Lions are scared of them.

They can kill a lion with the rod that they have.

They're amazing, these guys. Anyway, so some of that I can't

go out and live in a Masai village like they do.

They're drinking cow blood and mixed with with, I mean with the

cow milk and it's not even doable for me.

Like not even physically at all. I want to be dead.

But we can strengthen and encourage them because I know

that if I can strengthen and encourage the pastor, then I've

affected their whole congregation.

And so that's very important because the amount of ministers

that leave the ministry monthly is ridiculous.

So I feel like really our part in the body of Christ around the

world is just strengthening them so that you stay the ministry.

And we did that with missionary couple that had been in

Guatemala for 30 years. They built a hospital.

I mean, they were very, very well known and they were like,

talk to Jessica and I, they're like, we're done.

We can't, we can't do it anymore.

The hospital's going under. Just take it over and come move

here. And that was in our transition.

And so we were praying like, Lord, do we go to Guatemala?

I mean, we're both, well, she's more fluent than I way more

fluent than I am in Spanish. But we like, you know, we know

Spanish. So maybe that's that's where

we'll like land. But the Lord's like, no, you

cannot do what these have done for 30 years and the repute you

strengthen him and her, keep them on the mission field and

you'll be more, more in my will than anything.

And so that's what we did. And to this day, the their board

hired me to under contract to turn the hospital around in one

year. Can you imagine in one year.

And so by the grace of God, I did.

And they're the hospitals flourishing.

We have groups coming in from Samaritan's first.

They're going at it stronger than ever.

And so see, the, the, the big thing of that is, you know, if

you're not looking to create a name, God will, God will blow

your socks off. And so for me, I, I'll support

somebody, I'll get in there and strengthen them.

I don't have to be the head guy. That's what I did at

Cornerstone. I, I don't, I don't necessarily

even want to be the head guy, but I'll take a vision and carry

it out for you. So, but now I'm, I'm doing that

with our ministry. And so it's, it's been

interesting. But The thing is this, there is

a gentleman Blackowy and he has a book written several books,

but one thing that he is strong on saying is this, find out what

God is doing and join him. I'm going to say it again, find

out what God is doing and join him.

And I, I mean, I've been in ministry full time ministry 30

years. So I have seen so many ministers

create a ministry and ask God to bless it.

And a lot of times that's the way we think.

Lord, I'm going to do this and I just pray your blessing over it.

But how different is it to find out what God is doing and then

you join him in that? It's a, it's a big difference,

you know, because a lot of times we will run into issues when we

do things on our own, right. But when you find out what God's

doing, so God's wanting to minister in this area, God's

wanting to do this, then jump in the middle of that and say,

Lord, what's my part in that? Instead of saying this is my

part, you bless it. You're asking them, what is my

part? And then you'll be blessed in

doing it. Y'all know what I'm talking

about? You'll you'll be blessed in

doing it. So we had to find out what God

was doing and what part he wanted us to play, which was a

totally different role than what we were doing.

So I'm going to tell you it was not easy.

It's not easy. I'm telling you where I am now,

but there's a long story behind how we got to where we are now.

I mean, we look actually sane right now.

There were a lot of times that I didn't feel sane at all.

I felt like I had completely destroyed my kids, my family.

What in the world I would literally, we were living with

her parents upstairs. What?

How was I at that time? I don't even know.

Late 40s, fifty 5 now. So I mean, we're living with her

parents, with the kids upstairs. I would be in the closet crying

my eyes out. God, what in the world did I do?

I mean, it was chaos to me, seemingly chaos.

What did I do? I have left everything, leaving

the house I built. I sold it and I'm where living

in my in laws upstairs. Are you kidding me?

I have great in laws. But I'm telling you, you know, I

mean, it does come to an end at some point.

So I'm like, Oh my goodness. I mean, just days of actual

torment with the devil's like you have actually ruined your

life, your kids life and your wife's life.

You just you dropped everything. You're you're a mess.

And finally I'd get myself back together.

Thankfully, I have a great wife. And so when I was down like

that, she was up. She's like, get yourself

together. We're going to pray.

And in times that she was down, I'm like, oh, we've got faith.

We're going to do this. I mean, you know, thankfully I

don't think that there were any times that we were both like at

the bottom at the same time. I'm sure they were about, I

don't remember them. I have actually erased them and

they're gone. But that it is hard.

I'm not when you're going to follow, when you're going to get

in and follow what God is doing and get in there.

The devil's going to challenge that at every single step.

Mentally, you're nuts. What did you do?

You gave up this. You did this.

What, what, what you know? And then we began to see like

relationships that we had, things that we had done in the

past come full circle. Because that missionary I'm

talking about in Guatemala that we connected with, get this, the

first ever mission trip that I went on was to Guatemala while I

was at Raymond between the years on spring break.

When I was telling that story to him, when we met him, he's like,

you came to the ministry I was working for.

I was the guy driving the bus. And I'm like, you've got to be

kidding me. God will bring things full

circle. And so then we had that

relationship and I was able to to, you know, work with them,

strengthen them. But that was the first ever

mission trip that I took in my life years ago.

And we began to see God just bring things full circle.

This person you met, this one that you met, you know,

relationships are important. When you meet someone you you

need to ask God, why am I meeting this person?

What am I supposed to speak into their life?

What are they supposed to speak into my life?

Why do I know them? What what are we supposed to do

together for your Kingdom. So God began began to just to do

tie things together like that. Although we would there's a park

near our house. Now we do have a house.

We're not still living with their with their parents.

Congratulations. God began to do amazing things.

We were homeschooling, That's why we were able to take the

kids with us when we did, you know, trips, trying to start a

ministry. If you've ever done that, you

know, my to do a ministry, it takes finances, right?

The last time I went to the airlines, they're not like, oh,

you're doing a mission trip, it's free for you.

No, that it doesn't work that way.

So building, building the finances, building the ministry,

doing all that. And then John comes that he's

going into his sophomore year. He comes to, to Jessica and he

says, I want to go to real school.

I don't have any friends. And Jessica's like, you know,

because her whole life was the homeschooling thing.

And, you know, so then we're like, oh, great.

You know, what are we going to do?

He wants to go to school. We live in Gwinnett County in

Georgia, which is north of Atlanta.

It's the largest county, a million people in Georgia.

It, it, it is just, it's huge, extremely diverse, extremely

wealthy, just a diverse amount of people there, right?

So he's, and so we're praying about, Oh my goodness, our kids

want to go to school. What do we do?

These schools are like huge our kids.

I mean, it would be a culture shock to send them to these

schools. So we pray and God showed us a

private school 5 minutes from the house.

Well, you know, private schools, it costs to go to private

schools. All right?

And three, we were putting 3 into the school.

I'm just giving you glimpses of our life, you know?

So we're like, oh great, how is that going to work?

I don't even have a job, you know, What's that going to look

like? We met with it.

We met by faith with the headmaster.

Just like we're just going to go see the school.

OK, great. So we're sitting in his office,

you know, just like, And I'm thinking, you have no idea that

I don't have any money. Let's keep it that way as long

as we can. And so he's like, yeah, well,

you know, we can sign your kids up and get everything.

I'm like, yeah, you have no idea that I don't have the money to

send my kids here. But he looked at us and finally,

you know, we told him what we were doing and, you know,

starting a ministry and all that stuff.

And he said, if you believe your kids are supposed to be here, we

will make it happen. And so he did.

He did. Jessica actually started

teaching there, which helps as well.

But I mean, we paid hardly nothing.

We had to pay, but we paid hardly nothing for them to go to

that school. John graduated from it.

They shut the high school down because there wasn't enough kids

there to finish up the high school.

So we're like, OK, here we are again.

What are we going to do with Josiah and Shea?

She was going into good grade at that time.

Sophomore JoJo was going in 8th grade.

Like where are we going to send them?

There's another Christian School, a lot bigger, a lot more

expensive. And we're like, that's really

our only option because we're not sending them to the public

schools there particularly and so.

Amazing. They were needing a teacher, but

they were needing a specific teacher, one who could teach

biology and could teach Spanish. What are the chances of meeting

a teacher that's biology and Spanish?

Well, Jessica's a nurse, so she's got her degree in biology

and Spanish and so she was hired there, which gives you a 50%

discount right there on your kids going and thanks for going

back. You know, so God just, he was

always when there was a need, he would always like step right in

and say here, this is what you need to be doing.

So when you find help, what God's doing and you get in it,

then the provision is always there.

So there's story upon story upon story of how God just did things

for us that I feel like we must be so special, you know, do you

feel that way? Like when God does something for

you, you're like, does he do this for other people?

I'm scared he can say anything because I feel bad sometimes,

but he's done just amazing thing for us, even the house that we

live in, the house that we own, the the different things that

that he's done for us. So I want you to turn to Matthew

Matthew 14 · chapter mention

chapter 14 and take you on this walk of faith.

So I've shared all those things. You're you're looking at me now,

OK. And you're like, the dude's got

on clothes. That's a good thing, right?

At some point, I felt like I didn't even have money to, you

know, I just had to work, wear whatever we had leftover from

what we were wearing, right. So you you see us now.

I know you're like, hey, get it together.

You see us now. But I'm I want to take you like

what it took to get where we are now, OK?

And the one word is faith is is faith.

Find out what God is doing and join him.

OK, So here in this in Matthew chapter 14, the first few verses

Matthew 14 · chapter mention

of chapter 14 is when John the Baptist was beheaded.

OK, that's Jesus. That was his cousin.

So Jesus hears that and what does he do?

He wants to go off to a quiet, secluded place, right?

So he goes, hey, disciples, we're going off to this secluded

place. I mean, you know, you find out a

family member has been beheaded. I'm sure it's going to affect

you at some point, but you're just, I need to pull back for a

minute. But what happened?

The multitude followed him. Why were they following him?

Because he was always doing miracles, right?

Always feeding people, always doing miracles.

Why would you follow him, right? So they're following him to this

place he's been, you know, just pouring out to people, pouring

out to people, giving to people. He finds his news out, he tries

to go be alone. Everyone follows him.

And now we're going to pick up where that is, verse 13.

When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat

privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds

followed him on foot to the from the towns.

When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he kept he had

compassion on them and he healed their sick.

Compassion will always cause you to move.

All right. Do you want to know if you have

compassion or you move to do something for people?

Jesus had compassion so it it moved him regardless of all the

other things going on, it moved him to heal them.

That's what compassion is, All right.

He's not feeling bad. He wasn't feeling bad for them.

He had compassion which moved him to do that.

But listen to this part as evening approach to the cycles

came to him and said this is a remote place and it's already

getting late. So they're in a remote place, a

barren place. Remote.

I've been there a lot of remote places, OK, And some of them it

was late. But I'm setting the stage for

you. Remote and late.

Remote meaning there's nothing around late, meaning it's too

late to do anything at that point to even go get something

right. So he says this is a remote

place and it's already getting late, Send the crowds away so

they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.

So the disciples are saying, Jesus, do you see the situation

right here? This is what it looks like.

In case you're not aware of what's going on.

The place that we're in is remote, meaning there's not a

little store around the corner where they can go get something

to eat. OK.

And it's late on top of that, so it's going to be hard for them

to even get back to a village. So send them away so they can

eat. That was their plan.

Remember what I said earlier? Find out what God is doing and

join Him in it. Don't create your own story and

expect Him to get in on it. All right, so the disciples were

creating their own story and wanting Him to get in on it.

It's remote, it's late, send them away.

We got to take care of them. Send them away.

And Jesus is like, don't you like Jesus?

I mean, just when you think you got it figured out, Jesus

replied, replied, they don't need to go away.

What's the next thing he says you give them something to eat.

What the disciples just said, it's remote, it's late, we don't

have any food, there's no resources.

Send them away. Jesus is like don't need to go

away. Give them something to eat.

I'm sure the disciples constantly, but Jesus were like,

what? They're looking at each other

going did he? Is he having like a grief attack

because his cousin was beheaded? Is he even in the does he even

know what's going on? We just told him remote late,

send them away to eat. And then he looked at us and

said, no, they don't need to go away.

You feed them. Think about that.

I'm in a good I'm in a good place here at Cornerstone and

Matthews at my my wife, my kids, that I've got it all.

This is great. Get up and go, what are you

kidding me? What?

Like where? What do you want me to do?

Well, I'll show you as you go. I'll show you not like all in a

year. It's going to be over time, but

you're going to have to trust me.

This is what I'm doing. Get in on it.

And I was like, well, this is what I'm doing.

You get in on it. And he's like, no, that's not

going to happen. So the disciples are right here.

They're saying what and it so we have here only 5 loaves of bread

and two fish. They answered and it's you know,

I can see a little sarcasm in that.

You know, the disciples like look, we've told you it's late

and remote. Now you looked at us and you

said they don't need to go away and give them something to eat.

So the little sarcasm goes then. OK, great.

Here these here, here's these little loaves of fish.

Jesus, you see that I told you we didn't have enough to give

them. When whatever God is doing and

you find out what he's doing, there's always provision in

that. And I keep pointing like this

because I'm just, I'm very visual.

So like this is the river. This is what God is doing.

So in my mind, and that's why I'm pointing like that.

OK, so when I point over here, that's what that's what I'm

doing. It's the river.

Get in on what God's doing. So we only have 5 loaves and two

fish. So what does Jesus say?

He didn't be like what? I was wrong.

I was. That's right.

You had it figured out. You were right.

It is remote and late. And you.

Yeah. I'm sorry I told you to feed

them, but I was wrong. Did Jesus say that?

No. He says bring them here to me.

Sorry. Bet they're like, hey Tom, let's

go bring those fish and the loaves over there to him.

I mean, we, I mean like what? OK, so they bring them to him.

He said and he said, and he directed the the people to sit

down on the grass, taking the five loaves and the two fish and

looking up to heaven. He gave thanks and broke the

broke the loaves. What's one of the first things

Jesus does? He takes what they have and

blesses it before the Father. No matter how insignificant you

feel like something is in your life that you have to offer,

it's not insignificant when you give it to Jesus and let Him

bless it. See, that's the whole

difference. He's got a blessed to begin

with, yeah. If he doesn't, it'll remain

small and useless. But when you give it to Him and

let him bless it, things begin to change.

Things begin to change. So he blesses it, tells him to

sit down, blesses it. Then he gave to the disciples,

and the disciples gave to the people.

Now I've preached this in Africa before this, then this.

Well, as I'm preaching it, I get this revelation.

OK, five loaves, 2 fish. Jesus blesses it, turns to the

disciples. He gives them five loaves and

two fish. There's not all of a sudden

baskets full of fish and loaves. You see what I'm saying?

Put yourself in this story. Put put yourself in there.

It's not like boom, there's a mound on him and he's like, hey

guys, go get him. How easy would that be, right?

But he gives the five loaves and two fish blessed to them and he

says, now give it to them to eat.

I don't know about you, but if that were me in that situation,

I would still be like, Peter, you do it, dude.

I'm going to stand back over here.

You and Thomas get up in there and start giving them, giving

them out because after those five loaves are gone, are gone,

if there's going to be a riot, because they're going to,

they're going to know at that point there is no more in that.

I don't care if he. I mean, look, this is you got

the basket, right? You see what's in the basket and

now you're going to feed all these people.

So they had to by faith, keep trusting Jesus what he said they

had to keep doing it. So now it's not like at that

point after he blessed it that all of a sudden it's all great.

So it's not like when we left here this area and started going

and the first thing that we began to do, like it was all

like booth there it is. It's a daily trusting the Lord

and what he's doing and you're getting in on it daily.

We still haven't arrived. We still have we we're still

having to believe God for major stuff.

But The thing is, the more you believe God, the more you want

to believe God because there's only only he can do it.

We look at our lives and we say without God doing what he's done

and going to do, there is no humanly possible.

I just stood on just sorry Chris actually went to the side.

There is no humanly possible way that that can be done.

Y'all don't regret sitting on the front?

I guess. Let me swallow.

There we go. All right, so, so they're

looking at it going, OK, now we have to hand these five loaves

and two fish out to all these people.

What? What's that going to look like?

But here's where the miracle began to take place.

As they began to join him and what he was doing, that's when

they saw the miracle. Think about it.

First line of people sticking their hand in the basket, just

the basket they have, they're handing them out, right?

That's three. There you go, 4 loaves.

We're already done with the fish, you know, five.

And Can you imagine was going through their mind like when I

have to stick my hand back in this basket to hand out more

that's not in there. But obviously they did stick

their hand back in there. And what do you think?

What do you think was going through their mind when they

stuck their hand back in there and there was more and that

every time they did that, it was always something in there.

I mean, think about that. Sometimes we, we just lay this

stuff off like they're just stories or that's the Bible.

These people were living it. They're they're sticking their

hand in this basket and every time they're sticking their hand

in, there's something to give and they're going around, right.

5000 people got fed and they took up have any baskets. 12

they had take home take out, taking on doggy bags, all that

stuff. I mean they had more than

enough. That's the Lord.

He's more than enough. When you when you find out what

he's doing, get in on it, you'll be blessed.

You get blessed and other people get blessed.

Here's the thing, if we don't obey God, it you have to look

beyond yourself. It doesn't just affect you.

It affects a ton of other people.

I've been there, been like, Lord, I don't want to do that.

I I don't, I don't. I mean, I'm already like Finn on

believing for stuff and he's like, I need you to do this and

you're like that there. I don't think I can do that.

You know, you're, but you're putting your faith back out

there again and you're watching him perform a miracle all the

time. What's that?

Step by step, step by step. And so that's what they're doing

step by step. A lot of times we want to see

like the end over here, but that that requires no faith.

But every step does require faith when you're following God

every step, because there's going to be things that you're

asked to do or even the world that you live in that you're

going to be around, that you're going to, your reasoning can

kick in and be like, that's not possible.

There's just, there's no way because ABCD, there's no way

that this can happen. Well, with God, he's the God of

the impossible. So do you think he's looking at

what can't be done? No, he's like, he's looking at

what needs to be done and he's like, who's going to, who is

going to believe me and get in on what I'm doing?

So let's see, they all ate. Yeah. 5000.

And then, you know, Jesus goes and walks on the water.

Just a small thing there, like, hey, hey, guys, if it is, if

that wasn't enough, I'm going to walk on the water to you.

But I want you to see that this morning, and I'm not sharing

these stories about us to be like, oh, look what they did

because there's nothing we did. I'm telling you, it's absolutely

nothing that Jessica and I did on our own at all, at all.

Do you hear me at all? We walked.

We have this park that's near our house.

That was our marriage counseling place.

That was our ministry counseling place.

We would walk at this park and just vent, cry, yell.

I mean, be like, Lord, what are you this?

I mean, what? Just what?

And he's like, take the next step.

Just take the next step. I'll shut get up and go to a

place that I'll show you and you know, in the beginning and still

still at these times, it's like, Lord, just give me a break, Give

me a week. Just tell me like what's this

week? Don't tell me to take a step.

Let me jump like really far can see how I can see.

You know, that's where that's what it's going to be like.

He's like that's that's not faith.

Either we trust him or we don't. And I, you know, I always, I'm

very real with the Lord. So I'm like, Lord, what, why did

you like, why we're, why are we having to believe?

It's to me seemingly so hard, like, why were these things like

so far out there? And then I realized what we do

in Africa and all these other places, our faith had to be

built on the on seeing God move for those people as well.

You see what I'm saying? So we're like, look, guys, when

we go and share this testimony to the pastors in Africa, it's

like it blows their mind because they're like, what you sold from

your home village, You, you, you left your home village.

You did what? Because their view of Americans

is everybody's rich and happy. I mean, seriously, that that's

what it is. Like you have plenty of money.

You don't have any worries. You don't have any concerns.

You don't. And comparatively speaking to

them, we don't. But it's all relative, right?

So when I share that story with them, they're, they're like, I

don't even, I came in, why did you, what did you do?

Why did you do that? And so it encourages them that

no matter what they're facing and what God's asking them to

do, they can do it by faith, by faith, because it it it boils

down to do we trust him or don't we trust him?

Think about it. That's what faith is.

Faith is either do you trust him or don't you trust him?

It's very simple for me. So when God says do this, this

is what I'm doing, get in on this, then I have the

opportunity to say, great, yeah, I'm going to do that and watch

God move. Or sit back in my comfy place

and be like, no, I choose not to get in on what you're doing.

And it's amazing. I'm telling you, it's absolutely

amazing when you do that, that God does exceedingly, abundantly

above which you could ever think or imagine.

So we've seen him do stuff for us and all these people we

minister to that. I'm just like, I, I, I couldn't

even imagine that. And guys like, I can imagine

more than that, more than that. So I'm going to go back to

something I was saying earlier. Our obedience to get in on what

God's doing does not just affect us.

It affects all the people that you'll ever minister to or speak

to. So if I would have chosen not to

follow God, then I know of hundreds of pastors that we've

ministered to in Africa that we're fixing to walk away from

the ministry that would have never heard those words of, of

encouragement. Because when we go, we go to

remote places where where no white man wants to go.

All right, all the white men want to go to the big cities,

have a lot of the big pictures taken, filled stadiums and that,

but you have village pastors that are giving up every day

that are struggling that nobody wants to go to.

And so we go to them. We had one one that we did.

It was way up there, way remote, no electricity, nothing.

You know, they're bringing it in and we're getting ready to start

the conference and here come all these Masai women.

I mean, they were decked out in like the like the church attire

stuff. And they came and I turned past

Andrew and I'm like, what? And he's like, you're in a Masai

area. And so the Masai women would

come and stay till about two in the afternoon and then they

would leave to go back to the men were bringing the cows in

from the the fields. And then they were responsible

for them then. And I think about those Messiah

people that would have never been encouraged because no one

would have gone see them. We've been in churches and the,

the, the, the pastors are like, there has never been a white man

in this area, you know, And so not that that has a big bearing

on things, but I'm letting you know there are people that are

going to be affected either in a positive way or a negative way

because of your obedience to what Jesus says.

Do think about that. We have to think beyond

ourselves to those that you will minister to, you're like, well,

I'm not the pastor. I don't yet every day you have

the opportunity to minister to people.

You are a minister. That's right.

If you're a believer, you're a minister, you're a minister of

reconciliation, You're bringing people to Christ all the time.

You have the ability to speak words of comfort and

encouragement or words of damnation to people.

You're always ministering to somebody or you have the

capability to. So you're either going to be a

positive or a negative with that.

So I really think about those times and I thought about them,

you know, when I'm in the closet in her mom and dad's house,

living upstairs, ready to give up and say that that is it.

Lord, you have driven me to my last nerve.

I'm going to get a secular job and just settle in and be like

everybody else and be able to pay for groceries and all that

other stuff and send my kids where they want to go.

And but you know, I'm saying that because I just wanted to

vent. But on the inside, I'm like,

there's no way. It's like when he, when he spoke

to the disciples and these, you know, all these people around

him were leaving and he turned to the disciples that you want

to go to. Then what did one of them say?

Where would we go? You have the words of life.

So that always came back to me. You know, I wanted to be like,

Lord, no, I'm not going to do this.

I'm going to do what I want to do.

And I'm like, but where else would I go?

It's like Pastor Joe Michael was saying, Jesus, is this the only

thing stopping you from going off the Cliff?

If you don't do that, let him stop you.

You're going off the Cliff. So I'm like, what?

What else would I do? Like, who else am I going to

trust? Who else am I going to rely on

if I don't rely on him? But I'm going to get myself

together, wipe my tears, get out of the closet and go do

something, you know? But think about that.

Your your obedience or disobedience does not just

affect you. It doesn't just affect you.

You're giving. I do a lot of offering messages.

You're giving does not stop at the basket.

It goes beyond you when you see that, when you see your giving

changing people that walk through this door, allowing this

place to be here but around the world, then you're like, my

giving is not just, you know, there it is.

You see an eternal weight to your giving.

You see lives being changed because of your giving.

We have to get out of the mentality that it's all about us

because that America, that's what it is.

I mean, you know, everything revolves around you.

You're not happy. You know, the the new parenting

styles and all this. Oh, sweetie, what do you want?

What do you prefer? No.

Get up in that chair. Sit down.

You know, you know everything sways toward what makes you feel

comfortable. Are you not comfortable?

We'll make you comfortable. You're hungry.

We'll make sure you get what you want to eat.

You. You don't like that car, Get

another car. Get something comfortable.

Get make yourself comfortable. It's all about us and we don't

want that to creep into the church when it's not about you,

it's not about me. It's finding out what God is

doing and getting in the middle of it so that other people have

an opportunity to come to the faith.

Other people have the opportunity to see God move in

someone's life and they can trust God when you when we see

that way, it changes everything. So I just want to encourage you

all with that this morning there's there's a you would be

here hours if I told you every everything that God has done.

John, our oldest, just graduated from Berry College in Rome, GA

$56,000 a year to go there. He has no debt.

We have no debt. He's graduated that only the

Lord, I'm telling you, only the Lord can do that.

And so find out what he's doing, find out what God is doing, find

out what he's what he's doing in your area where you are and get

right in the middle of it and you'll see a, a huge change.

Is it, is it easy? No, let me just go ahead and

dispel that for you. No, following God is not easy.

It's not always comfortable. It's not always, oh, goosebumps,

and I feel so good. But the rewards of it, there are

great times of that when you see what your obedience has done for

other people. But faith is one of the hardest.

I mean, I want to be careful how I say that faith is really easy

because it comes down to just a rely, a trust in the Lord, trust

in his character, a trust in who he is.

But I'm the hard part comes on our side.

You hear me? On our side when we let

situations and circumstances around us cover the faithfulness

of God. And so just like the disciples,

are we saying Jesus, wait a minute, this can't be done

because it's a remote place and not only is it remote, it's late

like the hours late, it's too late.

Nothing can happen here. Are we looking at are we letting

that cloud what God is doing and wanting us to do instead of just

trusting him? That's what I'm talking about,

being faith hard. There you am I being clear on

that. When we let this get in the way

of this, that's when it can be hard and there's a lot of times

you got to you, you have to shake yourself.

So we have this saying, it's not my saying, it's actually Mark

Hankins saying you need 4 crazy friends and we're in Africa

after Andrew and Esther. We're four crazy friends in

Africa because the things that we are up against, you need 4

crazy friends, meaning the four people that lowered the

paralytic down, tore the roof off, lowered them down in front

of Jesus. That's the type of people you

want to be around. They're like, whatever it takes,

I'm going to get you to Jesus. If I have to tear the roof off,

we're going to do that. You know, we're going to get

that's that's who you need to surround yourself with so that

when those situations come like, oh, you're really going to

believe God for that. That person will tell you

absolutely believe him for that if he said it.

And that's what he's doing absolutely without fail,

absolutely because he's not going to fail you just do it.

So be encouraged this morning. I'm strengthening and

encouraging you. Be encouraged in your faith.

Be strengthened in your faith. Nothing is impossible to him who

believes God said God of the impossible.

When you believe him for the impossible, it becomes possible.

All right, find out what he's doing.

Find out what he's doing. How do you do that?

By prayer, by coming together. Find out what he's doing and get

in there and do it with him. So I'm going to pray with you

all if you stand to your feet this morning.

Thank you for being patient with me.

I that was like a shotgun message, right?

When you have so much built pent up in you and built up, it's

like, Hey, I want to share this. I want to share this Lord saying

just, you know, keep it kind of right here.

I have a hard time doing that. Like I said, in Africa, we can

preach for we hold conferences for days so we can get it all

out. So thank you for being patient.

My, my biggest thing this morning for you is this.

Don't fear to trust Him. Don't fear to trust Him.

Find out what He's doing and join Him in that.

When you join Him in what he's doing, you will see miracles,

you'll see provision, you'll see God do things that you know

there is no way humanly possible that you could have done.

That's a great way to live. You know, I don't want to live

to my standard or my ability because it's limited, but when I

live to his standard and his ability, my mind is blown away

like every day, every other day. So I'm like, wow, hey, wow,

there's no way. I mean, this guy just boom,

there. He did it.

So I encourage you with that this morning, I'm going to pray

with you. If you just close your eyes and

you know, if you're going to receive something from the, from

somebody, it takes your hands being held out to receive it,

right. So hold your hands out this

morning because I want you to receive from the Lord this

morning. It has nothing to do with me at

all other than just giving the words of encouragement.

But he's your, he's your source, God's your source.

So I pray this morning, Father God, that you see every

individual that's in here. You know each person exactly

where they are in their walk with you.

You know what season they're in. You know what their needs are.

You know what their highs are, what their valleys are.

You see each of us individually. Lord, what I'm asking is this,

that by Your Spirit You would show them as they asked You the

things that You were doing around them, and that they would

be obedient to step into those things that You're doing.

Step in to the flow of the things that You are doing.

So Father, as their hands are held out this morning and open

to You, I ask You to pour into them everything that they need,

because You are always speaking to us.

You are always moving, You are always doing something always.

But it is up to us to join You in that and to receive from You.

So I pray that every person in here this morning be a good

receiver, that they receive all that You have for them and all

that You're doing in and around them.

I ask you to bless them mightily.

Bless what you're doing here at Salt Church.

Lord bless Pastor John, Michael and Natalie and their family as

they too have stepped out to do what you have called them to do.

I pray that you continue to lead and guide them, Lord, that they

would see your hand move in their lives in a mighty way that

they've already seen, but that they continue to see even more.

Thank you for their obedience and their love for you, their

love for this congregation. And Lord, we just, we love you

this morning. Thank you for ministering to our

hearts, for your encouragement. We just can't say enough Father

how much how much we love you and trust you.

We give you all the honor and all the glory in Jesus name

Amen. Amen.

Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for for y'all

allowing us to speak into your lives.

I didn't even introduce my wife and kids because y'all know

them, right? Yeah, but some do.

But this is my lovely wife, Jessica.

We've been married for 23 years, going on 24.

We actually, here's another thing, we actually work with

marriages that wind shaped marriage.

Y'all ever heard of wind shape Chick-fil-A?

True it, Kathy. Wind shape marriages.

Yeah, we're up there one week out of the month.

We we work up there with them. That's John Rich and John 22.

Done with college, got a job. Woo Hoo, then our Shay right

there going into her sophomore year in college and JoJo, the

short one going into his senior year in high school.

We're almost like I cannot believe it.

Like I'm not going to say done, you're never done.

But I mean like everybody's kind of like out the house.

New season, great season. So thank you.

Thank. You.

It's kind of hard to disconnect, but thank you all again We.

Love. You.

Thank you. Good.

All right. Can't have my red bottle.

Take it. I'm going to bless you and we're

going to dismiss. Father, we thank you so much for

your anointing, just as the Word was ministered and as the

encouragement came to the Saints.

But would you just continue to help that word marinate in US

and may we meditate on it, God, may our, may our faith be

inspired and encouraged that we would continue to look around,

open the eyes of our hearts sword.

So we would see the river that's flowing in each of our lives.

The stream over here, the river over there, the ocean over

there, wherever the move of the Spirit is, however your wind is

blowing, God help us to see it and then give ourselves over to

it. It's such a relief too, that we

don't have to make it happen. We don't have to create a river.

There's already one in motion. You're already at work in our

lives. You're already providing

opportunities and ministry. So just help us to see it.

And then give us a boldness, put a fire in us from from the

Spirit of God that causes us to act in wisdom and boldness so

that you get glory, that your name is glorified, that people

are blessed and that the Kingdom comes and your will is done.

We thank you in Jesus name and now the Lord bless you and keep

you. The Lord make his face Shinedown

upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance

upon you and give you great peace in Jesus name, Amen.