In the Middle of a Move of God | The Wild Work of God

All right, who's ready for God to do some wild work in your life?

Anybody?

Okay, I hope so.

I really hope so.

I'm asking the question sincerely because I think your answer to that question is really important.

If you feel like you believe God could do wild work in your life, we're gonna kind of define it today, what even that that means.

But um what I hope is that you not only believe he could, but that he wants to and that you are ready for that.

We're gonna talk a little bit about how you even make room in your life for God to work in really special ways.

If you came today and you've been facing a battle, if you came and you've got a lot of questions, if you came and you're not really sure about your relationship with God or how you fit into God's family, I think it's all good news today.

So I hope you lean in.

If you'll grab your notes, that would be great.

We'd love to have you follow along today.

And as I get started, I'm actually gonna start with an update.

I promised you guys that we would give you a full update this week on what's been happening with our church and with our move to our new property and all of those things.

So um we started doing some things about I'll kind of back up, right?

You'll you're all right with a little bit of a history lesson.

We're just gonna back up a few years to 2024.

And something started kind of shifting.

I would be honest with you, and say we we noticed that God's activity in our church, in our community, in our city kind of started to having an uptick.

And so we're seeing more people ask spiritual questions, we were seeing our church grow, we were seeing a lot more activity with people coming to faith in Jesus.

And that was very, very exciting.

In fact, in 2025, we saw 199 people say yes to Jesus right here at West Side, which was absolutely fantastic.

Yeah, you can give God a hand for that.

That was a God thing.

You know, for us, we're looking around going, is this real?

That's that's a significant jolt of of people just wanting to know more about Jesus and then becoming followers of Jesus.

And uh in 2026, that actually doubled to 400.

We saw 400 people.

I'm sorry, in 2025 that doubled.

It was 2024 was 200, 2025 was 400.

This year it's kept up pace like that.

It's just been crazy.

We've just been seeing people really, really move into relationship with Jesus.

I just got to talk to another person right after the service last uh just a few minutes ago who was here, was his first time here, and he came up to me and said, Hey, how about that Bible you talked about?

And so we got to put a Bible in his hand.

He's a brand new believer.

I got to talk to him about his experience, and we're just seeing all of this happen.

Along the way, one of the things that was happening was our church was growing and we were literally facing some space concerns.

Um, in fact, if you just look around right now, I don't know if you know this, it's August the 30th right now.

And in churches, a lot of times in the summertime, it just kind of empties out.

And we've not seen that.

We've not seen that this summer, and we're just really thankful.

You know, we're really thankful.

Uh in fact, I was reading recently the book of Nehemiah from the Old Testament, the Bible.

Nehemiah was this leader that that really answered God's call to do some special work, some wild work.

And he kept on saying, as he was rebuilding the city of Jerusalem, he kept on saying, the gracious hand of our God was upon us.

And we really feel that right now with West Side, that the gracious hand of God has been upon our church.

It's you know, we we've just shown up and he's done all the amazing miracle stuff.

And I want that so much for us, but I want it for you individually too.

So you're kind of in a time when we're seeing a lot of growth, we're seeing a lot of movement and action.

That God is active.

I hope you can feel it.

I hope you, I hope you know, I hope you know somebody that's received a miracle.

I hope you know somebody that's prayed and got an answer to their prayer.

I hope that's you.

As our church was growing, we had some questions.

And one was, how do we keep fitting everybody?

What are we supposed to do?

You know, so I went to a taco truck and I got some tacos one time, and they gave me three tacos but one lime wedge, which felt like I got cheated, right?

I should have had more lime wedges, but I got one.

So I had to squeeze the lime and make room, you know, get enough juice on each one of the tacos.

And that became like a metaphor for our church.

We started talking about squeezing the lime, meaning that we were gonna make the most of our space.

We we added a service, we added a Saturday night service, and we just wanted to be faithful because Jesus said, if you're faithful with a little bit, I'm gonna make you faithful over more.

So then God opened a door.

When we least expected it, we weren't even necessarily looking for it, we were just waiting on God.

And he opened a door, brought us a building opportunity to acquire a building.

And uh we looked into it, we our board looked into it, our team looked into it, and it felt like this is a yes, this is a yes, yes, yes, yes.

It feels right because it's just down the street.

It is in between Mountain View Middle School and the Loa High School.

It is about double the capacity of what we are currently in right now, and there's so many upsides to it.

And God just opened the door for us in a in a very miraculous way to be able to do something like that.

And so I promised you I'd give you a little bit of an update.

Here's what we did.

We started something called the time is now, because this was like all of a sudden we're here.

And so we said, the time is now.

If we're gonna say yes to this, we we need to do it now.

And we brought this need before the church.

We didn't have a lot of time to plan for it.

We just said it's gonna cost about$750,000 for us to secure the building, make it ready, and move in.

And so the church came forward.

And here's what happened pretty quickly, you guys committed$540,000.

Um, just like almost like that.

Okay, I think you guys didn't hear me say that.

You guys all just almost instantly committed$540,000.

Like, wow, what that was so crazy.

And just so you know, uh the pace has been amazing because you've already given$305,000 of that, which is why we're able to say yes to this opportunity.

And I just want to pause and let you know how grateful I am.

And I would say to all of us, the gracious hand of our God is upon us.

He's he has blessed this thing from every angle.

And from the work that's happening in the building to the community that's responding so well to this and even the financial provision.

We're praying, we're trusting the Lord with the gap.

We were we're we realize it's probably gonna cost us about$750,000.

We've received 540 in commitments.

We're just trusting the Lord with the gap.

He knows all the stuff, right?

And so we're totally trusting him in that.

But I want to show you some pictures.

Are you are you down for that?

Um, so here's this one is not a you've probably seen this one online and stuff, and maybe we've even shown it in church.

But this is the day we got to hang the banner up, and I was so excited, the future home of Westside Community Church.

Now, if you drive by there, that sign is also on the street.

So we got one on the street that says the same thing.

I'm gonna show you some more pictures, but I gotta give you a disclaimer, okay?

So don't put them up yet.

I gotta give the disclaimer.

I'm about to show you some concept drawings.

And what that means is these are concepts.

Um, that means that some of this is gonna be for now and some of this is is probably for later.

So I just don't want you to hold me hostage to everything you're about to see in case, like, because we're, you know, we're doing the best we can.

But I uh but I we're very excited about the direction of this space.

So I'm gonna show you a picture and you're gonna like wildly respond and you're gonna go, ooh, and clap and cheer and stuff like that.

Are you ready for that?

Ready?

On the count of three.

One, two, three.

Here's the first picture.

Woo!

Okay.

All right.

This is uh this this will be our new lobby.

This is a small part of it.

That's a really big space.

It's again, it's about twice the size of what we're in right now.

And um, we want it to feel like the living room of our community.

We really do.

We want to open this up, we want it to feel like a living room, we want you to hang out there.

We want people in there during the week.

We really want this to be like the living room of our community.

Here's one more picture.

Ooh.

Oh.

Anybody notice some mountains on that thing?

Yes.

All right.

Um, our kids check-in area is gonna lead into a really awesome kids space.

And we take security for kids very seriously, we take kids' ministry very seriously.

Our kids and our students are gonna have a lot of space to really grow in and to find and follow Jesus in, and that's a really important thing for us.

And here's one more picture.

That's the outside.

Isn't that beautiful?

Yeah.

I'll tell you, the only thing that's not currently there is that giant awning, and that might be a phase two thing.

So don't get mad at me.

If you walk up to the church and it doesn't have that on there yet, it's coming, okay?

Right now, there is a small one, and it's gonna be a miniature version of that on the front of the building.

But the building itself is that shape, we're painting it, um, it is that size, all those windows really are there, and it's just gonna be an absolute joy to be able to get into that space.

Somebody was asking me, well, actually, I get asked probably 10 times a day, when are we moving into the new building?

We finally set a target that we are aiming for, and Lord willing, we'll be meeting in there for Christmas Eve as a church, okay?

Christmas Eve, all right.

Somebody was asking me, what are we still gonna have a Saturday night service?

And yes, we are.

We're gonna go in that building with the Saturday night.

The same schedule that we have right now is the schedule we're gonna have when we move into the building.

And and we just trust the Lord that that's I mean, we are one thing, we have a great team.

Our team is so awesome, and we're so grateful for them.

And so we're gonna be able to do that.

Go into the building with those three services.

Very, very excited about it.

One thing that you should know, and Pat mentioned it in the video, is that we have work teams going right now, and we would love for you to join them.

So if you want to be a part of that, here's what you do.

You take this card out right now and you and you flip it over to the back and you check the box that says New Property Work Teams.

And we'll get you involved at your schedule, your pace, with what you can do, and and and you can be a part of this amazing, miraculous thing because God is already working in really cool ways.

And I think, you know, the way I look at it, in 10 years or 20 years, if you were a part of this project in any way, you're gonna look back and you're gonna realize that there was a there was a turning point in our community.

There was a turning point where more people could say yes to Jesus, more people could find and follow Jesus, where we could serve the community even stronger, where kids coming across a parking lot from school with nothing to do, suddenly there was something for them to do.

There was there was hope.

You know, families get turned around.

We're all gonna know that we were a part of that.

And that's a really special thing.

And that's the wild work of God.

We're talking about it in this series.

So grab your notes if you didn't already do that.

Today we're gonna talk about being in the middle of a move of God.

Being in the middle of a move of God.

And that's exactly what we're in as a church, but we're talking about the wild work of God because in Acts, in the book of Acts in the New Testament, it's the beginning of the church.

And when the church began, it began in power with a move of God, and they knew they were in the middle of a move of God, and they wanted to be stewards of that moment.

Same thing for us.

We want to recognize what's happening, we want to thank God for it, and we want to fully embrace this moment and this move that God is creating.

So I'm gonna read to you some verses from Acts chapter two.

That's our focus today.

If you missed last week, go back and listen.

We were in Acts chapter one, but it goes like this it says, On the day of Pentecost, all the believers were meeting together in one place.

Suddenly there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting.

I just want to explain a little bit here.

Let's back up, okay?

Because Acts chapter one, we learned something.

We learned that Jesus had died and had risen from the grave, right?

He was in the tomb, he rose from the grave on the third day, he appeared to the disciples.

He was actually with the disciples for a span of 40 days.

And so from the Passover, which was the event, the day that Jesus was crucified, was on the Passover.

From that day, uh, 40 days later, he's still with the disciples, but then he ascends into heaven and they watch him ascend into heaven.

He says, basically, I'm coming back.

But he says, But don't leave the city, don't leave Jerusalem until I send you my spirit.

We we went through that last week.

So he said, I'm sending my spirit.

In Acts chapter 2, we see that it happened.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Now it had been 10 more days because the the amount of time from the Passover when Jesus was crucified to the day of Pentecost, which was another festival of the Jews, was 50 days.

So they had been waiting for 10 days.

Anybody ever been on a road trip before?

With kids?

Okay, and they ask a question what is it?

Are we there yet?

I mean, you know the disciples were in that room going, like, oh my gosh, you said that the Holy Spirit was coming.

We've been in here for 24 hours, cooped up.

Like, I mean, it's starting to smell in here, Lord.

When is the Holy Spirit coming?

You know, then more time and more in this.

So 10 days they're waiting.

And then it says, and suddenly there was a sound from heaven, like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting.

I'm sure they were glad they waited.

But the thing is that it says they suddenly, I think it's funny, it says suddenly.

It wasn't for them, it probably didn't feel like it was suddenly.

I mean, they had been waiting all this time.

But when when you are ready, God will come through.

And I think that's what we see here is that God's able to come in at the right time into your life and to do a miraculous work.

Now, the good news for us, sitting on this side of this story, is that the Holy Spirit has already come.

He is here, he's been promised to everybody who believes.

If you if you are a person here today and you've trusted in the grace of Jesus Christ, you've received his life into your life, you've invited him to be your savior, you have already received the Holy Spirit as much as they received it.

So this is the exciting thing is that you are already a part of the wild work of God.

There's already a move happening, and he's asking us to join him in it.

As we look through the verses, and I couldn't put them all in your notes, but I want to just kind of call out some things from like verse 5, it says, it says this as when they heard the loud noise, everything, everyone came running.

There was a loud noise.

The Holy Spirit showed up with a loud noise.

Isn't that interesting?

Because if you don't know the Holy Spirit very well, you might think that he's like this this kind of like timid, you know, like hard to explain.

What is the Holy Spirit?

Well, we're taught that there's the Father, there's the Son, there's the Holy Spirit.

So what's interesting is we know God the Father is God.

We know Jesus is God, and we know the Holy Spirit is God.

And so God is one but three parts, so three and one.

It's called the Trinity.

And the Holy Spirit is as much God as Jesus the Son is, and as the Father is.

And so He came and is this loud noise.

And then it says they were completely amazed.

How can this be?

They exclaimed, they're like, whoa! There was this visible, audible, tangible work of God happening when the Holy Spirit came.

And I think it's really important for us to recognize that that's how God works.

That if you if you think about God working in your life, you'll know.

You'll know.

And we should expect that.

We should pray for that.

We should be ready for that.

Like, what would it look like if God did something loud in your life that people would look at and go, like, how can this be?

I mean, isn't that something that you want?

Don't don't we all want that to be the object of the wild work of God?

To go, God, I want you to be tangible and visible in my life.

I think everyone I know, everyone I've ever known, has craved the very same thing that we would know that God is with us.

And they could tell.

It was no secret.

It says in verse 14, then Peter stepped forward with the other 11 disciples.

They stepped forward because God had emboldened them when they received the Holy Spirit.

They were emboldened and they knew they had a mission.

And so they were stepping forward because there were thousands of people that were gathering to check this out, which is awesome.

I mean, we want it, we want God to be worshiped like that, right?

For people to go, how can this be?

To look at regular people like you and me and to see God at work through them, and then people line up and they're like, How can this be?

And that's what was happening there.

So that so Peter and they they stepped forward because they were stepping into their mission.

Peter preaches this message.

And that very day, 3,000 people believed in Jesus and were baptized.

Melissa and I got to stand on the actual steps in the city of Jerusalem where the where the ground still has the tanks, the baptism tanks in them.

Where 3,000 new believers were baptized that day and added to the church.

And we know this.

We are hungry for the tangible evidence that God is among us.

The whole world is hungry for that right now.

The city of Portland is hungry for that right now.

It's so amazing to me.

I love it.

Last night, uh, I I got, or I guess it was last Sunday, uh Amy, one of our volunteers, came bouncing up to me after the service.

And she came and she said, Um, you're never gonna believe what just happened.

And I was like, What?

And she said, I I got to be used by God to help someone else say yes to Jesus.

And I was like, What do you mean?

And she goes, just now.

She goes, I was at church and we were praying.

It was the end of the service, and we were praying, and she said, I just felt led to put my hand on on the on the shoulder of this woman who was clearly seeking the Lord.

And she said, This woman decided that she could step out and go up front and pray.

And in that prayer, she received Jesus as her savior and she went and got a Bible.

And Amy was like standing outside, just like, I can't believe this is amazing.

She was she was saying, How can this be that God would use me as a vessel, that somebody else, and I got to be a part of that.

I got to encourage this woman.

And and she came and she told me, She got a Bible.

How cool is that?

And so that's the stuff, right?

All of us want that sort of experience in our life.

And you just need to know that He wants that for you.

That every single one of us can be used like that.

Every single day.

He just is looking for people that are going, I'm willing and I want to be a part of it.

In Genesis chapter one, the very, very first part of the Bible, it describes the creation of the world.

And it says that the earth was formless and void, and that the Holy Spirit was hovering over the surface of the earth.

I was thinking about this moment when he suddenly appeared, right?

He suddenly came in, and there was this wind and this noise and this activity and this miracle moment.

But he's always been looking for that open space.

He was looking for it in the very beginning when the earth was not even formed yet, and he's looking for it in your heart and my heart.

And I think that our our win is coming to the Lord ready, open.

Almost like a blank canvas to show up to God and be like, you could do whatever you want to in my life.

If you will take that posture with God, he will fill you and he will use you, and and people will be lined up going, How can this be?

That's what God wants to do through us.

As we talk today, one of the things Heather mentioned this earlier is that we're talking about family.

We're talking about how when God formed the church, it was a miracle.

And it was a move that had ripple effects that have never stopped.

I mean the truth is our church exists because the Holy Spirit showed up in Acts chapter two.

That's why our church exists.

That's why anyone can say, you know, they know Jesus or they know of Jesus or they're a part of a church, is because the Holy Spirit showed up in Acts chapter two.

And he and he and he's creating this family.

And I was thinking a lot about this recently, our son and daughter-in-law, they're expecting a little baby.

And so Caleb and Maria are expecting a baby, and the due date's October 12th, and we're really excited, and the little baby's name is gonna be Wesley.

And everybody's just like eagerly anticipating this.

But I was thinking about them.

I was like, hey guys, what is it that you think about when you um when you think about bringing a new baby into your home?

In fact, here's some pregnancy pictures.

I gotta show you the pregnancy pictures of Caleb and Maria.

There they are right there.

They're just our pride and joy.

We love these guys so much.

Here's my favorite pregnancy picture right there.

That's uh so Maria's due on the 12th of October.

Caleb's somewhere around there.

Um anyways.

I asked them um about this, and I said, so so how are you preparing?

And they said, most of what we're doing right now is prep, getting his room ready, getting his stuff, getting him set up health-wise, making sure everything's ready so he has the best situation possible when he shows up.

And all of it is for Wesley specifically, not just any other baby.

It's his room, his things, catered to him.

The prep is part of the joy, too.

Every time we work on the nursery, we get more excited for the day he's actually in it.

There's so much care and time and resources going in before we've even held him or seen his face.

He hasn't done a single thing yet, and yet he's already loved so much.

The baby shower was one of our favorite parts so far, seeing how many people already care about our baby and the village that's going to be waiting for him when he gets here.

Caleb said, That's the church.

Before someone ever walks in the door.

God has already prepared the right church and the right people to surround them.

He's preparing a place specific to each person, and he's excitedly awaiting them to walk into it, just like we are with little Leslie.

That's the church, that's for you.

God has already prepared a family for you, and there's the the wildest work in the world that is that he's made a space for us.

The wildest work is that he's forgiven us and he's redeemed us and he's called us.

And he's empowered us and he's blessed us and he's now commissioned us and he's brought us into his family and we belong.

Isn't that a wonderful thing?

We belong.

That no matter who you are, where you come from, you belong in God's family.

That's the wildest, wildest work of God.

I want to show you what is it like, what are the markers?

What's the what are the marks of a move of God?

Like, how do you how could you tell if God was at work in a really special way in your life?

And we see this in Acts chapter 2, because again, this is the explosive beginning of the church.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

So it says there in verse 42 all the believers devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship and to sharing in meals, including the Lord's Supper and to prayer.

A deep sense of awe came over them all.

And the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders.

And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had.

They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need.

They worshiped together at the temple each day, met in homes for the Lord's Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity.

All the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people.

And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.

And that beginning of thousands of people all of a sudden coming to faith in Christ.

There were individuals in that crowd, and they're suddenly like taking part in new activities, like selling their stuff and giving the money away.

And you know there was family members of those people going, like, what she sold something and gave the money away?

Like they would ask that question, how can this be?

That's the wild work of God, right?

He changes our life, he brings us into a family, and it's absolutely amazing.

I was thinking, like, we have a we have a journey we talk about a lot here, and it's called the mountain range, right?

So it's how we grow in our faith.

On the back of your notes, would you flip them over right now?

Because there's something I want you to write down.

Because we have three mountains.

The first one, anybody know what they are?

Jesus, right?

Jesus is the first mountain because he said, I'm the way, I'm the truth, I'm the life.

No one comes to the Father but by me.

He's basically saying the way you start a relationship with God is through me.

And so the Jesus Mountain is the first one.

It's where we connect with God through Jesus.

The second mountain is called community because that's where we we find out we're not alone.

We have a family.

That we get support and we get a place to share our gifts and receive help.

And it's beautiful.

And the third mountain is called mission.

It's where you realize you have something important to do in the world with your life, that God has a mission for your life, and that you can make a huge difference, and that you're here for a reason.

So I was writing down these activities that we see in Acts chapter 2 in those categories, and I wanted to show it with you, share it with you.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

I noticed this.

I know that they did some things that were in the Jesus category.

They were worshiping and they were praising God.

It's that beginning of the journey.

They opened up their space to welcome new people in through worship and through praise.

And that's so important.

It's what we do on the weekend here.

This is this is what we're doing.

This is a worship and a praise time.

And then in community, they were teaching.

They were learning together.

It was called fellowship.

That was a word that was used here, it was called koinonia.

And it describes the kind of relationship that happens when you realize you have something in common.

So fellowship.

And then they they shared meals and they met together.

And they shared.

And they met and they shared.

I mean, it's it's repeating things for emphasis because this is this was the character of the wild work of God in a in a group of people that were so unlikely to be together in the city of Jerusalem because the Holy Spirit came and started a community called the church.

And then the mission stuff said there were signs and wonders, meaning miracles were happening.

It says they sold things and they shared the money, and they and that activity created goodwill with the city, and they were enjoying the favor of all the people.

And it said, then the Lord added every single day to their fellowship.

What was interesting about that, I thought, well, what does that mean?

He added every day.

Well, it means the same thing it meant when in verse 41 it said 3,000 people were added to the church that day because they were baptized.

That means every day in this church, people were saying yes to Jesus and being baptized.

It was explosive.

And it's no different than what God wants to do right now.

He wants to do that same redeeming, amazing, belonging work in the world.

And we all get to be a part of it.

We're all invited.

So let me show you this.

Write this down in your notes.

The Holy Spirit forms us into a family where we can all be known and grown.

The Holy Spirit, He forms us into a family where we can all be known and grown.

And some of you, I mean, I talk to people every week who are struggling with loneliness, a feeling of brokenness.

The kind of hopelessness that comes when you've messed something up and you don't think you'll be accepted again.

I talk to people every week who are in that situation.

And the greatest news of all is that Jesus has paid for our mistakes and he's invited us into his family.

And that you have a seat at the table because of him.

And you know what's cool is there's no levels of goodness here.

We're all we're all at the very bottom.

We're all at the very bottom of goodness.

The only goodness that any of us have is the goodness that Jesus gives us.

And so we're all on equal playing ground.

Isn't that great news?

That here we are together as a family of people.

You know what we have in common?

That we're all dirty, rotten scoundrels.

That's what we have in common, right?

But that he's redeemed us by his grace.

And so we can look at each other and be like, you belong, and I belong, and we belong, and that's so beautiful.

And there's a couple in our church that I think has demonstrated what it's like to step into the community of Jesus so, so well.

It's Travis and Trish.

I want you to see their story.

Community was missing, and actually, I was doing a lot of self-discovery, and I actually had written in my little prayer thing for Christian friends with something that I was really heavy on my heart that I knew that I needed.

Elijah was young.

Um, so the kids' church was awesome and we really enjoyed it, and we loved um Gabe's sermons, um, but we were flies on the walls for a long time.

When Saturday service started, we were attending online, but attending online, it there's so much missing.

Um, you know, we were getting our our daily bread, our weekly bread, um, but really no other fuel throughout the week.

Um, so we just weren't connected.

And um we're stuck on the Jesus mountain.

Yeah, yeah, for sure.

I reflected on a lot of my friendships, and same thing for both of us.

Saturday service opened, um, that was our our green light, like just go.

I signed up for hospitality, he signed up for production, Elijah signed up for production, we're like, let's go and put our foot down on the puddle and just move.

I just put myself out there, signed up for a small group on a Wednesday, and started going, even though I had anxiety and didn't know anyone.

Um, I just committed to going and I actually prayed every time going, going there, that I would have something to say, um, that I wouldn't be fearful, um, and that I wouldn't, you know, struggle with anxiety on my way over or like turn around and go somewhere else.

So the small group was huge for me, and I've just continued to be so blessed by the small groups.

We joined Pat Quintana's group.

Boat's Bible Barbecue, I think he called it.

Um, and we were just looking at the group page.

I remember sitting in church, and we're like, what in the world?

I think I it was like we were singing or something, I like pointed that one out.

How are you going to read a Bible on a boat with all that wind?

And where is he putting the barbecue?

Like, this makes no sense.

How could you know what I put in boats small group?

Then we got there and it was, you know, at Pat's house.

He had a barbecue, and Evan Acey was there.

If you don't know Evan, Evan's a great guy.

He uh starts reading us the Bible in Pigeon, Hawaiian Pigeon.

And we're like, this is crazy.

But EJ came with us.

Yeah, uh, he gave the Bible to EJ, the pigeon Bible.

I mean, we were sold.

We're like, okay, if these these are the people at Westside, we like really need to get way more involved.

Like, this if this is what you're offering, we want it.

And so.

I just found it fascinating too that like another goal that I had set years ago was discerning the voice of God, moving my body and being out in nature.

And um, it was so beautiful that one of the studies that I did um on my Wednesday group was literally called Disterning the Voice of God.

Like I wrote this on a sticky note.

It's like boom, here's a whole study on discerning the voice of God.

Trish, figured this out.

It has given me so much more worth in myself, too.

Like when some of those lies do come up of your worth, um, you can battle that more easily because you're like, oh no, like I know, you know, these great things that I, you know, can accomplish because God's given me so many gifts and God's given me so much.

Um one of the days um I went to group, Lacey made soup, and it was just a cold gross day, and she made soup, and I just felt so incredibly blessed, like by that small action of her making this soup.

And I still to this day I'm like, mmm, it's just the best soup.

Um, and those are just little things where you don't, you know, you go into it maybe with the, you know, oh, I've got so much to do around my house, or I've got other things to do that I could, you know, battle or take care of.

Um, but when you really dedicate your time and set that time for community, it fuels your heart and it fills your heart, and then therefore you're able to overflow into giving to others and ultimately like it just you know spreads that happiness around and you're more apt to smile at somebody and you know, you tell me to pull a soup, and you're not just happy.

You can, you know, not be angry when someone cuts you off and like you must be in a hurry, man.

Go ahead.

Yes, let's give Trish and Travis a hand.

And Lacey for the soup.

Um, pretty amazing.

In fact, all of you have a bowl of soup under your chair right now that Lacey's made for you.

Just kidding.

Um, but no, I mean, like it's really cool to be in community when when you know that you belong somewhere.

And I I really love Travis and Trish's um approach to this because they've just jumped in with both feet.

And I wonder for you, what would that look like for you?

What would it look like for you to fully engage in the family that God has created for you?

I mean, it's gonna be different for each person because some of you might say, Well, I mean, I already feel like I am.

I'm I'm like really enjoying this.

Some of you would say that.

Some of you might say, Well, I don't know anybody yet, or you might think, well, I just don't want people to know who I really am or what I've really done.

There's a lot of sometimes barriers that we put in front of this.

And I wonder what might be stopping you from jumping in with both feet into God's family into because that's the wild work of God.

You know what that is?

That's you.

You're the wild work, you're the wildest work of God that there is.

That He could look at you and go, I love you.

I created you for this, I created you for my family.

I want you to be in it all the way, to enjoy your life and to know that you matter, and to and to not have those seasons where you're all by yourself.

I mean, we were we were just never created to be alone, we were created to be with his family and to know that he's here with us.

And and I would just encourage you today to whatever is in the way of you jumping in with both feet.

Look, we only have one life, right?

We got one life.

I this morning felt like God wanted me to share something because I just had this flash of somebody have a phone.

Get your phone out if you've got one, and if it's got a flashlight, get that out.

We're not gonna have a concert moment, but I'll explain.

If you've got a phone with a light, just bring it out.

Because what I noticed about my phone on my light on my phone was that I can turn it up or down, right?

You can you can make it bright, you can make it dim.

And I was thinking about how a lot of times in life we dim our own light, and we do that by maybe sometimes by violating our own conscience and sinning.

And you know when Adam and Eve did that, you know what they did?

They hid.

They hid from God, and it's something we can still experience today.

And if you're feeling lonely right now, I want you to know that you don't have to hide.

I want you to know that he wants you to brighten your light, he wants you to be all the way bright.

I mean, Jesus said, You are the light of the world like a city on a hill that cannot be hidden.

And that means joining his community, and that means bringing everything you are, bringing all of your gifts and all of your strengths.

Bring in your questions.

Because you know what it you know what's kind of cool?

Your question is somebody else's opportunity to use their gifts.

Yeah, it's symbiotic.

I mean, it's a beautiful family.

He wants your light to shine, and and here's what I want to challenge you with do not dim your light.

When you realize something's in your life and it's dimming your light, get rid of it immediately.

Just run, run away, drop it like it's hot.

Run away and and get rid of those things that are that are it's if it's a barrier, right?

To what?

To the wild work of God.

The last thing I want to do is get through my life and realize, well, he would have worked in my life if I would have let him.

He would have worked in my life if I'd have gotten rid of the things that were dimming my light.

Man, I just don't want that to happen to you or to me.

And so I want to ask you if you'd bow your head with me right now as we as we go, God, would you work in my life?

I want to be in the middle of a move of God.

I want I always want to be in the middle of a move of God.

I want you to be in the middle of a move of God.

He's moving right now.

As we're asking this series, will you join him?

Father, we thank you for your love.

We thank you for your grace.

We thank you for your wisdom and your vision for a family that will not only be a part of this earth right now, but will forever be your family.

You'll always be working in us and through us.

And Lord, I pray for today, for those who maybe they came and they they just they needed this jolt back into community.

They needed this reminder that they belong.

But Lord, I also pray for those who maybe they've been carrying some sin.

Maybe they've been engaging in some things that are violating their own conscience, and as a result, their light is getting dim.

And today, God, we want to release those things, repent of those things.

We want to turn the other way, we want to drop those things, we want to move into your family, into your calling for our life, into that wild work where we not only get a chance to experience it ourselves, but we get to share it with other people.

Lord, we pray that you'd create a line of people around us asking the question, how can this be?

That we get to explain to them the hope that we have, the answer that you are.

I pray also for those who are here today that have not yet made it clear in their own life who you are.

They've not yet made their own personal peace with you.

And maybe you're here and you you just don't know really for sure what your place is in God's family.

But he has invited you in.

He it is it is so ready for you.

He's made your room ready.

Your place is secure.

And he wants you to say yes.

He wants you to invite him into your life right now.

He wants you to accept his grace.

What do you have to do?

You got to admit that you need his grace.

You got to admit that you're a sinner, that you believe that he died on the cross for you, that you believe that he rose from the dead.

It's faith.

It's just faith.

He says, if anyone believes in me, I'm gonna give them the power to become the children of God.

That's the wild work.

And if you're ready to say yes, I want to lead you in a prayer right now, it goes like this Jesus, I give you my life.

Thank you for saving me.

I believe in you, your life, your death on the cross, and your resurrection.

Forgive me of my sins.

Fill me with your Holy Spirit, lead me and teach me to follow you in Jesus' name.