Your Big Yes

So do me a favor.

For some of us, this is going to take a little more energy than for others, is think for a moment about your first job.

Your first job.

Some of you, it's easy because you're in your first job.

Some of us, a little more distance in life.

First job maybe a little bit, you know, in the past, but think about your first job and not just where was it, like, how did it feel working there?

What was it like the day you got hired?

Like who is your boss or your bosses?

What was your favorite thing about that job?

What did you hate about that job?

You've got your first job sort of locked in.

Now, out of curiosity, how many of you, your first job is still around?

You could go there, you could, you could, it's a store you can still shop in, you can visit it, it's a restaurant you can still eat at.

Okay, some of you, how many of you, your first job no longer exists?

That place is a it's gone.

Yeah, a lot of us, right?

I'm with you.

And here's the thing, I I turned 39 a few days ago, so I've got one year left in my 30s.

I'm excited about being 40.

I really can't wait to be 40.

I don't know why, okay.

We should clap when people do cool things.

Getting older, all of us do that.

That's there's nothing, I'm just, you know.

But but I feel like I'm I'm too young to have a first job that not only is a business that is no longer open, but it's actually like an entire business that represents a bygone era that does not exist anymore.

Like I'm I'm too young to have to tell my kids things, like, oh, I worked here when I got my first job, and they're like, what is that?

And I have to explain some dynamic of life that to them is completely foreign, and I might as well have been like a blacksmith who made horseshoes when there weren't cars.

Like that's the way it is.

Because, like, honestly, my first job was at Blockbuster Video.

And uh let me ask you guys a question.

I've talked about this before, but but you know, a little different today.

How many of you miss Blockbuster Video?

Like, there's part of you.

Can I challenge those of you with your hands raised that perhaps nostalgia is clouding your memory just a bit?

Because Blockbuster is one of those things that when you see that sign, and for some of you who are young are like, what is that?

You know, get your phones out, do it now, figure it out, it's fine.

Um you think about it and you're like, oh, those were the days, but were they?

Because I don't think they were.

I think Blockbuster was like a necessary evil that existed in a world without streaming.

You know, like it just it's it's the truth.

Because I don't think any of us would be like, man, you know what?

I I would trade all the streaming services I have for like just driving to a place and going, I hope they have the movie we want.

You know?

Maybe they do, maybe they they probably don't.

And and like when you think about Blockbuster, like the service, like I worked there, it wasn't that great.

You know?

Our theme, our motto when I worked at Blockbuster in the late 90s was go home happy.

And no one ever did.

Like that was, it just wasn't, at the very least, they weren't happy with me because my job as an employee at the time was basically, you know, stock the shelves and all that kind of stuff, keep the store in good shape, and that was a lot.

But it was also just tell people no, as much as you can.

It was deliver bad news, like, ma'am, did you know that you have a$7 late fee from your last rental?

And then you go immediately from being in a cordial like conversation to you are the enemy.

And you're this, you're that like the least favorite person.

Like, no one you want late fees again?

Those of you that raise your hands, like, I miss late fees.

No one misses late fees, okay?

So it was it was either deliver bad news or just tell people no.

It was like, do you have this movie?

You know, that it's it's not on the shelf, maybe it's in that little bin that people drop stuff in, and you just have to be like, no.

Do you know when this is gonna be back in stock?

No, I don't.

Could you please reserve a copy of this for me?

No, I can't.

Could you please take that$5 late fee off?

I really don't think it was late.

I think that was your fault, and probably was, but still no.

Like that was it was just tell people no.

And nobody likes to hear no.

Like when I tell my children no, they don't like it.

And guess what?

When they tell me no, I don't like it either.

No one likes the word no.

And and working at Blockbuster, my first job, 16 years old, I did get fired.

That's a different story.

It's hard to get fired from a Blockbuster, but I did it.

And so I just told people no.

My second job was at a department store that is still around.

It was Kohl's.

And when I worked there, I don't know if this has changed, but when I I remember the training, because they said, here's our motto.

Yes, we can.

And I was like, what do you mean?

I've never told someone yes before.

I've only been I've been trained on how to say no in as nice a way as possible.

And their their, again, I don't know if this has changed, but their policy was that if someone comes to check out and it rings up as$20, but they thought it was on the clearance rack for 10, and they say, oh, this was supposed to be 10, you just go, sure.

Yeah, we can do that.

And I was like, this is gonna be amazing.

This is gonna be amazing, because I get to tell people, yes, see, yes, it's a great word.

I love hearing yes.

We all do.

Yes, it's a fun word to say, it's it's even more fun to hear.

Yes is actually a very, very powerful word, provided your yes means something.

Like if you say yes but you don't mean it and you don't follow through with it, then yes is a really empty and painful word over time.

But if if you say yes and you mean it, this one word has the capacity to instantly change the dynamic of almost any situation, any conversation, any relationship, your entire life, provided you say yes to the right things and you mean it.

There's teachings of Jesus that are not his most popular, they're not the ones that get talked about the most.

But oftentimes some of the more obscure teachings of Jesus are the ones that replay in my head the most.

Like I'll just weekly, daily, sometimes, these these statements they just play in my head.

One of them, for example, is be innocent as a dove and shrewd as a snake.

I love that.

Jesus said that.

You may have never heard that.

Be innocent as a dove and shrewd as a snake.

In other words, Jesus is saying, have pure motives.

Don't try to manipulate people, be innocent, but then also be smart about it.

Like do things in a way that's that's shrewd, that's smart.

I have been the person who is innocent but not shrewd.

I've also been the person who's not innocent and shrewd, and to be honest, I've been neither of those things sometimes.

But I'll have situations in life where I'm like, I need to be innocent as a dove, and I check myself.

Are my motives pure?

And I need to be shrewd as a snake.

Am I going about this in a wise way?

And I'm grateful to Jesus for saying that because it just guides me in very difficult situations all the time.

Another of my favorite teachings of Jesus, this is kind of the one we're focused on today, Matthew chapter 5, verses 33 through 37.

Matthew 5:33–37

Jesus said, You have also heard that our ancestors were told, you must not break your vows.

You must carry out the vows you make to the Lord.

But I say, Do not make any vows.

Do not say by heaven, because heaven is God's throne, and do not say by the earth, because the earth is his footstool.

Don't say by Jerusalem, for Jerusalem is the city of the great king.

Don't even say by my head, for you can't turn one hair white or black.

Just say a simple yes, I will, or no, I won't.

Anything beyond this is from the evil one.

Jesus says, Let your yes be yes, and let your no be no.

Say yes to the right things and mean it.

If we did that, if that was a focus of ours, it would give our lives such tremendous direction and focus on a daily basis.

If we simply could discern what are the things that I need to say yes to, and I'm gonna say yes to them, and I'm gonna give it my full yes, I'm gonna really mean it.

And what are those things that I shouldn't?

About 10 years ago, I was reading a book, and it's by an author that I've I've just grown up reading from time to time, really interesting guy.

And and he he had this random section, and it was, it was kind of disconnected from the whole purpose of the book.

It wasn't like a main idea, but it's the thing that stood out to me the most, to the point where when I look at that book, all I remember is this one section, this one little paragraph, and the title of the book doesn't even make sense to me because it isn't related to that at all.

But but here's what he said his name's Irwin McManus.

He said, if you're gonna discover the life God created you to live, you have to learn how to say no to all the other options.

The tough choices aren't between good and evil, but between all the equally good options out there that are simply not the right paths for you.

If you do not develop the ability to say no to the many important things, you're going to lose the big yes of your life.

That phrase, big yes, jumped out to me.

The big yes in my life.

At the time, I was a person, the time I read this, who was saying yes to like everything.

I was wired, and kind of still am wired, to say yes to every good opportunity that comes along for myself, and then when I started having kids, I'll say yes on their behalf.

And you get to this place in life where you're just scrambling, running around like crazy, trying to fulfill and follow through on all of the yeses you have made.

Or you're someone who just has to not fulfill those yeses and let a lot of people down.

But when I read this, this idea of there's got to be a big yes, there's got to be something, or maybe a small number of things, definitely less than five, I would say, that have our full yes.

And we say yes to it so completely, so fully, that when anything else comes along, even something good that would require us to say yes to it would be saying no to those those big things, we we know what to do.

It's easy.

The decision has already been made.

I can't say no to that, I can't say yes to that rather, because I've said yes to the big yes in my life.

And so, do you know what your big yes is?

Or at the very least, do you do you have a really strong inclination to what that or maybe those few big yeses are?

And and have you given them, recently maybe even reaffirmed it, have you given it your full yes?

Jesus is he's everything to us.

At least he should be, right?

Like he's he's our savior, he's our king, he's our teacher, he's our leader, he's the one we follow, and Jesus knew his big yes.

You really see it, I think this is one of the best places to sum it up in Matthew chapter 20, verses 25 through 28, Jesus called them together, his disciples.

Matthew 20:25–28

At this point, they've just been having an argument about which one of them is the best, the greatest.

That was a theme in their dynamic.

And Jesus says, You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people.

They like to flaunt their authority, their wealth.

I mean, that's gone now.

You know, Jesus wouldn't be able to relate to our world today, because no one does that anymore.

Um, they didn't even have Instagram, and they still struggle with that.

He said, officials flaunt their authority over those under them, but among you it will be different.

Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave.

For even the Son of Man, talking about Jesus himself, he says, even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve others, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Jesus knew what the big yes of his life was.

It was service and sacrifice.

He said, My life is devoted and hyper-focused on serving people, oftentimes the lowest of the low, people who are broken, who are hurting, who are messed up.

I came here to serve them, and I came here to be a sacrifice for them.

And because Jesus understood with clarity what his big yes was, and because he gave it his his full yes, he was fully committed to it, all kinds of moments happened in his life that to the average person probably would have been incredibly tempting, and maybe they even were for him.

But he was able to say no to those things because to say yes to it would have would have meant betraying his big yes.

So for example, right after he was baptized, Jesus was tempted.

Tempted by Satan himself.

And there's a few temptations.

The final temptation Satan lays out in front of him, gives him this visual somehow of all the kingdoms of the earth, and he says, Hey, bow down and worship me, and this is all yours.

And, you know, I think it's easy to pretend in those moments, like that must have been easy for Jesus to say no to.

Like, come on.

But like all the kingdoms of the earth, all the power, all the whatever that this world can offer you, that would be tempting for anyone.

And Jesus said no.

And he wasn't just saying no to the temptation, he he understood that saying no to that was a must.

Because there would be no way for Jesus to say yes to that, and also yes to service and sacrifice.

Because he knew that the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and give his life.

In John chapter 6, Jesus performs this amazing miracle, blows people away.

John 6 · chapter mention

And it says in verses 14 and 15, when the people saw him do this miraculous sign, they exclaim, Surely he is the prophet we've been expecting.

And when Jesus saw that they were ready to force him to be their king, he slipped away into the hills by himself.

Jesus does this incredible thing, and everyone's blown away by it.

He performs a miracle, and everyone's like, Wow, you're the one.

And they were right, he he is the one.

They're like, surely, this is the one we've been expecting.

And it's like kind of, he's he is the one.

He's probably not the one you've been expecting because your expectations are all off, but but yes, he's the one.

And they were ready, it says, to like make him their king.

And he's got so he's got thousands of people ready to crown him king and follow him wherever he's gonna go, and he slips away by himself.

Why?

Well, because that was the opposite of his big yes.

He came for service and sacrifice.

And so that that conflicted with it.

He walked away.

There's all kinds of times where the disciples, when Jesus would talk to them and hint, like, I'm gonna be crucified, I'm gonna give my life up, and they would say to him, No, no, Jesus, stop saying that, don't say that.

He would sometimes get frustrated, visibly frustrated with them and say, Stop telling me what to do.

And it wasn't just because he was prideful and didn't like it when people corrected him, it's because they were they were trying to convince Jesus to say no to his big yes, and he wouldn't stand for it.

Jesus understood his purpose, and he gave it everything.

What would happen for us in our lives if we focused all of our energy, if we channeled all of our talent, all of our intelligence, all of our resources into the big yeses of our lives.

What would happen?

Because man, it's hard to do.

Because there's just so many good options.

There's so many things to say yes to, and we all like saying yes.

But we've got to know the big yes, we've got to understand what those things are.

And sometimes I need to be reminded of them.

For example, some are pretty obvious.

For those of us who are married, your spouse is part of your big yes.

Because here's a great way you know this.

You already said yes.

You did, you said it.

And you may have glossed over those vows, but like, you know, for better or worse, richer or poorer, good times and bad.

But you said yes, I do.

That's a big yes.

Sometimes the easiest person in the world to say no to is the person you're married to.

Because, you know, you're at work or you're out there in the world doing the things you do, and sometimes you feel like you can't say no to your boss, you can't say no to other people around you, and you get home and you're just you're tired, and your spouse has something that they really want to do with you, or something that would mean a lot to them, and it's just really easy to say no.

And so over time, you can actually get really used to no being the automatic answer with your spouse.

Or your spouse makes you mad.

Because when you said yes on the altar, you didn't know what you were saying yes to.

There was still mystery there.

And you didn't do your due diligence.

There was no, there's no, like, you buy a house, there's an inspector.

There's no inspectors for marriage.

Maybe there should be.

Maybe that's a new business model someone can start.

Like, well, pending inspection, we're gonna go forward with this marriage.

Okay?

I'm glad no one inspected me.

Because Megan would have been given a lot of caution.

That's all I'm gonna say.

Like, before you do this, ma'am, do you know?

Oh, I didn't know that.

Sometimes the people we're married to hurt us, let us down, disappoint us, fail us, and we get angry, and our heart stops moving toward yes for them.

And our heart, because of that bitterness and anger and disappointment, just develops this callousness where we almost want to say no automatically.

And that can't be.

Because when we marry someone, scripture says it's this beautiful mystery, and the two become one, and it's in God's eyes, it's one flesh.

And we we have to say yes to our spouses.

Does that mean, ladies, that if your husband's in a midlife crisis and wants to buy a Ferrari and you can't afford that, you're like, I gotta say yes.

He I said yes on the you didn't say yes to stupidity, okay?

That's not what you said yes to.

But I'm saying, like, use common sense, but but point is really simple.

Barring something that's way outside the realm of wisdom, with your spouse, your heart has to be inclined to say yes.

Yes.

Does your spouse know that you have, that they rather have your yes?

That preemptively, without even asking, that if your spouse would say, you know what I could really use right now, and your heart is so inclined that before you even hear what it is, you're like, yes.

You have my yes.

That for many would change the entire course of our relationships.

If our heart flipped from no to yes, it would change that dynamic.

And so I want to just encourage you, those of you who are married, not all of us are, but if you are, that's that's part of your big yes for sure.

So say yes.

Serve them, love them, give them your yes, even if it's hard, and watch what happens.

Just watch what happens.

Watch the joy and the gratitude and the togetherness that develop from that.

Give it your full yes.

That will mean, by the way, watching things you don't want to watch on TV.

I'll just say I've learned that.

But maybe not.

Maybe you're maybe you're married to someone that likes the same types of shows you like.

I'm just saying that's part of mine.

And part of hers.

This also applies to our families.

You know, not all of us are married, almost all of us have family of some kind.

And those are people that are part of our yes.

And if you're a child, for example, and you live under the authority of your parents still, like you're not an adult.

And that doesn't mean you're not, don't say, but I'm 18.

I mean, are you an adult?

It's different.

Not a technical adult, like a functional adult.

Meaning, like, I could walk away and I'm not gonna call you three days from now going, like, can you pay this thing for me?

That's a functional adult.

Okay, so if you're not a functional adult, your parents should have your yes.

They really should.

Because that that's that's The person God puts you underneath, then maybe you're like, He made a mistake.

Take it up with him.

But like, that's your father, that's your mother.

And as long as you're you're under their authority, they should have your yes.

And you would find, I'll just tell you this, I've I've spent so much time with students and those of you who are younger and you have that dynamic counseling them, and I'm like, just say yes to your parents.

Just say yes.

Like, stop pushing back on every little thing.

Just say yes and watch what happens.

It'll change everything.

That's so much of the tension, so much of the fighting.

You know, it's like I have sometimes I've had to tell my kids that I feel like conversations are like a tennis match.

I don't want to play tennis with you.

If I say something, I don't want you to hit it back to me.

Right?

It's actually like, let's play football.

I'm gonna throw something to you.

I want you to catch it and then run with it.

That's the dynamic that I want.

Right?

And it's just more fun that way.

Because the truth is, when I when I tell something to my kids, I want them to succeed.

Now, maybe some of you have parents who are like maniacal, evil villains that want you to fail and have a horrible life.

I doubt it though.

So catch it and run with it.

Just say yes, watch what happens.

Let's talk about our jobs.

That's a tough one.

Because maybe you feel like your job is your big yes, and maybe you're like it's not.

And if it's not, that's okay.

It's a stepping stone toward your big yes.

Sometimes you gotta sort of feel it up.

Blockbuster was not my big yes.

Okay, neither was Kohl's, neither was chilies.

But chilies.

I heard someone go, chilies.

I'm like, I know.

I like, I went to chains.

I don't know why, I just was like, big chains, that's where I'm gonna go.

So there's an interesting scripture, Colossians chapter 3, verse 23 says, Whatever you do, do it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.

Colossians 3:23

Okay.

What this means is that effectively, wherever you work for the time being, that you work for God.

That's hard to think about that, right?

Like, I know your boss isn't God.

Your boss might not, he might not even be, she might not even be godly.

But it says that whatever you do, do it as if you're doing it for the Lord, not for human masters.

And if you look through scripture, you see countless examples of this of people in the Bible who worked for horrible people and did an amazing job.

Because they recognize that this is where the, this is where God has placed me right now.

This is where I am, and I'm gonna give it my full yes, and I'm gonna succeed, even if my success doesn't mean something great for me, it means something great for someone that I don't agree with, don't think is a good person.

But I'm gonna give it my full yes, I'm gonna work for them just the same as if I was working for God Himself.

Which essentially means that like our bosses should all feel like Jesus works for them.

That's the level of like dedication and focus and effort and attitude.

That's why we need the Holy Spirit.

But but I'm telling you, it works.

It works.

And so if you want to see your life move forward, wherever you are right now, are you giving it your full yes?

Now, if you're like, I know that where I'm at isn't where I need to be, well then move, make a change.

And if you're like, oh, there are the jobs and all that, yeah, it's hard, but I'm saying either make a change or where you're at, give it your all.

Give it your full yes, as if you're working for God Himself.

And do it with so much passion and vigor and joy that the people around you notice.

One of my favorite people in the Bible is a man named Nehemiah.

He was a servant to the king.

And Nehemiah, I can't imagine being a servant to the king would have been like a fun job.

And Nehemiah had this thing happen with his people, and it says that the king noticed that Nehemiah was sad, and it caught the king's attention.

So the king says, Nehemiah, what's going on?

And it occurred to me, listening to someone teach on that actually years ago, that the king must have almost never seen Nehemiah sad.

What would it be like if the people we worked for were caught off guard if we weren't full of joy?

Right?

Or if we come in and we're kind of sunken and just if our bosses were like, here we go again, or instead they were like, that's not normal.

Hey, what's going on?

How can I help you?

What needs to change?

This is not, this is this is unusual.

That's what that's what it should be like.

Because again, maybe you're at your your your career, your calling even, or maybe you're just in a stepping stone.

But wherever you're at, that's where God has put you.

Work there is as if you're working for the Lord.

Give it your full yes and see what happens.

You might be blown away by the results.

Let's talk ultimately about God.

One of my favorite definitions ever of what a real disciple is comes from a man named Dallas Willard.

He was an author, he passed away a few years ago, wrote some incredible books.

And here's what he said: Dallas Willard said, a disciple is a person who has decided that the most important thing in their life is to learn how to do what Jesus said to do.

A disciple is not a person who has things under control, thank God.

I wouldn't be one.

A disciple is not someone who knows a lot of things.

Disciples simply are people who are constantly revising their affairs to carry through on their decision to follow Jesus.

That's all a disciple is.

It's just someone who has said yes to Jesus, and I'm gonna keep saying yes to Jesus.

And if I find out that something in my life is not congruent with me saying yes to Jesus, then I'm gonna figure out how to revise it, how to change it, how to adapt so that I can say yes to Jesus in that part of my life.

That's what a disciple is.

And so ultimately, if I say yes to him, and this is like the I'm not a big believer in life hacks.

I hate that stuff.

Like, if I ever see a book, especially if it's, I'm just gonna be honest, especially if it's like a Christian book, and it's like the seven golden steps to your full, I was like, take that, throw it in the garbage, all right?

Just this stuff, it's not that's not what scripture is.

It's not about life hacks, it's not about instant fixes, okay?

It's about deep transformation and change.

But I will tell you that at the same time, that deep stuff, it does play out, it does work.

I love it when life gets simplified.

I love it when when things are like clear, you know, because sometimes it's so muddy, it's so complicated, and I just want some clarity, some light shining in the darkness.

And what I have found that brings more clarity, more focus to every part of my life is just the simple giving Jesus my full yes.

Because so many other decisions are already made when I do that.

So, like when I'm a jerk, which you know, it probably doesn't really ever happen, but let's say hypothetically, I'm not my best at home one day.

Hypothetically.

Like, hypothetically, let's say that it's a Saturday and one of your kids is making the last two waffles.

And your other kid, again, hypothetical, your other kid is like, I want those waffles.

And the kid who has the waffles is like they're mine.

And then you hypothetically look at that kid holding the waffles and say, How many waffles have you had today?

Because I've seen you with waffles today.

And they say, nothing, which means seven.

Okay?

And so then you say to them, Why don't you make those waffles for your brother?

And they say, I'm not their servant.

Just hypothetically, let's say that happens.

Okay?

And let's say, as a as a human being, in that moment, you really don't like the way this conversation is going.

And so you maybe escalate things a little bit, and now you're having a fight about waffles.

Which shouldn't ever happen.

Can we just acknowledge as a group of people that waffles should never rise to the level of broken relationships?

What?

You know, I don't want my kids sitting in a counselor's office one day and be like, where did this division between your father and you start?

Well, let's talk about waffles for a second.

Like, I just don't want that, it's gotta be more than waffles.

But let's say that happens, and you're not at your best, and it kind of sets you off.

Well, should you, in whatever happens in the aftermath of that, and maybe it kind of comes out sideways at your spouse hypothetically?

You know, it's not even should you apologize?

Or should you just act like it didn't happen and move on?

Well, I said yes to Jesus.

So I've already made that decision.

You swallow your pride and you apologize.

Let's say, hypothetically, you yell at a referee during a basketball game, and like you really make sure he knows he did a bad job.

And then the next time your son plays, you got that same referee.

Right?

Do you stand in the corner and hope you're not noticed?

Or do you walk up to him and shake the person's hand and say, hey, I'm sorry, I was a jerk the last game.

That won't happen again.

Please forgive me.

It's like, I already made that decision because I said yes to Jesus.

Are you generous in life?

Do you do you have a desire to give what God's given you back to help other people?

Whether that's obedience and giving and giving to your church, or whether that's you seeing someone who's hurting and they need help, do you do you say yes to that?

You've already said yes to that.

You said yes to Jesus.

Right?

Like there's so many decisions that God has made for me, and it's amazing how much He's simplified my life.

Because when I look at everything from my calendar to my budget to my relationship dynamics, I actually don't have that many decisions left.

It's beautiful.

Because saying yes to Jesus and fully saying yes to Jesus has actually made a lot of my life's decisions for me.

It's wonderful.

But we've got to give him our full yes.

Fred spoke a few, uh, I always point at Fred.

Fred, I'm sorry.

I point at you.

Hello.

You always sit in the same spot.

It's your fault.

Um Fred spoke a few weeks back, and he mentioned this word that shows up 17 times in the Bible.

It's a Hebrew word that's Hanaini.

I love this word.

I've talked about this before.

It's like, it's awesome.

And it's a word that means, it usually gets translated, here I am, for example, Genesis 22, 1.

Abraham God called.

Yes, he replied, here I am.

That here I am is the word Hanay in Hebrew.

We see it again in Exodus when God speaks to Moses from the burning bush.

Moses, Moses, here I am.

Moses replied, That's Hanaini.

That word doesn't just mean like, yeah, I'm here.

It's not like when you yell out, again, hypothetically, to like your kids in their room and you yell their name, and they're like, What?

You know, and you're like, well, that's not.

I was wanting you to come to me.

Okay, whatever.

Like, hypothetical.

Sometimes you get to vent with a microphone.

It's wonderful.

Um, I'm just teasing.

I love my family so much, and just actually just want to say this.

I had the most amazing week with my family this week.

It was so cool.

I got to spend so much time with them, so I just sometimes in trying to be funny, it might seem like I'm frustrated, and I'm actually not.

I love my family very, very much.

So that Hanay word, it's not that though.

It's like God says your name, and you're like, yes.

Yes?

What do you what do you need?

Arty, ahead of time, yes.

What do you want me to do?

I'll do it.

I'm here.

You have my yes.

The people who do that, they they get to live, and I want to use that language, they get to live very special lives.

Not that many people give God their full yes.

They're full yes.

They're 100%.

Not yes unless.

Not yes up to a certain point.

But just yes, God, yes.

I said I had an amazing week with my family, and I and I really did.

Um, my wife surprised me for my birthday, and we went up to a cabin in Clarksville, Georgia, which I don't even know if it's like a real town or not.

Like it's it's on a map, but I didn't see anything that would define a town, but it was great.

And we found she found this cabin, and it was like awesome because you didn't have any cell phone service, and it had Wi-Fi, like they said they had Wi-Fi, but they did not have Wi-Fi.

That was not, whatever that was, was not Wi-Fi.

Which was great because our kids couldn't bring devices, and it was on a creek, uh, but a kind of big creek, and so my kids just they played in the water, we played out in a field, we got bit by bugs, we saw a snake, it was awesome.

And there was this one moment that I will never forget.

Early on like our second or third day there, all of the kids and me walked really far up this creek, and it had like little mini waterfalls we had to climb over, and um, it was very like snaky, and you know, like if they were older and maybe more aware, if they may have not gone where they did, but I loved it, it was great.

And the next day, I'm sitting with my youngest Eli, who's four.

He's gonna be such an interesting person.

And we're kind of at the edge of this creek, and he kind of pulls at me, and I say, Hey, what is it, bud?

And he he just looks down the creek where we had gone the day before, and we've gone a long way down.

And he said, Dad, I want to have an adventure.

In an adventure, which is, you know, an adventure.

And I'm like, I don't think I called it that.

I don't think I don't know how that connected in his head, but he's like, I want to have an adventure, and I want to go with you.

Do you want to have an adventure with your father?

Do you want your life to be an adventure that you get to walk on alongside your father God?

Because I'll tell you what my answer to that was.

No, go in the house and turn on.

No.

No, it was yes, yes, I want to have an adventure with you.

Yes.

See, what we've got to realize, family, is that we have God's yes.

In fact, there's a couple of times in scripture, and I'll wrap up with this, Isaiah chapter 58, 9.

Isaiah 58 · chapter mention

God says, Then you will call, and the Lord will answer, you will cry for help, and he will say, Here am I.

That's that same word, Hanaini.

He says it to us.

You have my yes.

Do you want your life to be more?

Do you want it to be an adventure with your father?

Because if you crave that, and if you want that, and if you're willing to go with him, I promise you have his yes.

So here's here's the big takeaway today.

Say yes.

Discern what your big yeses in life are.

Sometimes it's easy, right?

Sometimes it's it's our spouse, it's our kids, it's our parents, it's our family members.

It's a calling, it's a talent that God's given us that we have to say yes to to grow it because clearly He's given it to us for a purpose.

Sometimes it's it's harder, especially related to careers and jobs and callings, that stuff frankly can be confusing.

And is this my calling?

I don't know, but wherever you're at, God's put you there, so do it with all your heart.

But the one yes that is so clearly impossible to miss, at least it should be, is our yes to Him, our Creator, our God, our King, our Savior, our Lord, our Master, Jesus Himself, God our Father.

Have you given your whole yes to God?

And maybe have you remembered that?

Have you reaffirmed that?

Because sometimes you give him your yes and then life comes along and it distracts you, and that's okay, that happens.

But today is an opportunity for us to go on an adventure with our with our father, with God.

And I I just believe that everyone in this room, everyone watching from home, I believe that it's so much more simple than we often make it out to be.

That when we're frustrated, when we feel like it's just not going the way it should go, our life isn't moving, maybe we just need to be like a four-year-old kid sitting at the edge of a creek, tug on your father, and say, Can we have an adventure?

Because I knew when I said yes to him that we were saying yes together, and man, that next hour, it's an hour that I'll never forget.

And I actually, like, I had this moment where I looked at him and I'm like, he's gonna remember this.

He's four.

I think this will be a fuzzy memory, but maybe one of his first.

It was great.

We also might have trespassed on someone else's property pretty deeply.

But we were undetected, so it's fine.

Does that make sense?

Ah, it's a good word, isn't it?

You said it.

Yes.

Okay.

So here's what we're gonna do.

I'm just gonna pray.

We're gonna wrap up and close.

You've got the whole rest of your day.

You've got the this next season of life.

August is is like tomorrow?

Is it?

I think it's tomorrow.

So we're stepping into a new season.

The summer's ending, fall's approaching.

Let's be people who say yes.

Give it your whole yes, your full yes, and watch what happens.

Let's pray.

Father, I thank you so much for giving us your yes.

Thank you, Jesus, for saying yes to us.

Thank you, Lord, for saying yes to serving and sacrificing.

Because you forsook so much, so much power, so much glory.

You left it in heaven.

And when people on earth tried to give you the earthly version of it, you left that as well so you could say yes to dying on a cross for us.

Lord, help every single one of us discern or maybe just remember what our big yes in life is.

And help us be people that have the courage to say no to all the other distractions so we can give the big yeses in our life our full yes, Lord.

Help us.

Lord, I pray that you stir up within all of us, myself included, a desire to go on an adventure with you.

And that adventure might be something crazy, it might mean moving somewhere and changing jobs, and that that adventure may be like a nine-to-five job that we just do really, really well for a really long time.

But if we do it with you, it's always an adventure.

And it's always beautiful.

So, Father, stir within us that that passion, that desire to go somewhere with you.

And help us say yes to you, God, with our whole heart.

We love you, we need you, thank you for all you've done for us.

We pray all this in your name, Jesus.

Amen.