Initiative

Good word.

Here'd you go, Nathan?

Well, good morning.

Buenos días.

And thank you, Ben.

There's Ben today.

Diaz.

Ben Diaz.

I'm so glad you're here this morning.

It is a joy to get to be here.

And uh I just want to jump off with the idea that this is one of the coolest parts we get.

God says don't forget, don't neglect gathering together.

And there's just something about coming together with other believers and those who are seeking, and it just thrills my heart.

And I want to jump off with reality because today is about reality.

How do I become really fulfilled, significant, meaningful?

And how do we do that?

And the best example is Jesus Himself.

And I love this past week.

At my boys' school, it was homecoming.

Now, homecoming is different now than it was when I was in school.

They have an entire week of themes.

There was Neon Day, and there was Princess Day, and there was some other day.

And then they had the day at the end of the week, and I love this one.

They had Villains and Heroes Day.

And my oldest son, he put on an NBA jersey of a player who plays against the Hawks, and he's a big sports fan.

He's like, I'm like, so that's a villain?

And he goes, Yeah, it's a villain.

I'm like, that's awesome.

Then my other son, my second son came downstairs, and I just started laughing.

He decided to go as a hero.

So he went in a robe and a rope and a beard and hair.

He was Jesus.

He went as Jesus.

That I've got a picture if you want to see it afterwards.

It was hilarious.

And I'm like, dude, this is this is awesome.

He's got the full hair.

I said, you look a little more like John the Baptist, but we'll go with Jesus.

That's awesome.

And uh so I text him halfway through the day.

He said, How's it going being Jesus?

And he's like, dude, he's awesome.

He said, I just walk around forgiving everybody.

It's just, I'm like, how cool is that?

And he got home and I said, dude, what was it like?

I mean, really, the whole day you're in Jesus, what was it like?

What was the best part?

And he says, Dad, it was really, he said, it was amazing.

He said, I said, I know everybody at my school, but people would come up to me and almost sheepishly he'd just go, Can I get my picture with you?

And and he said, sure.

And he says, I spent the whole day like this, just getting pictures.

And he said, it was just, it was, it was just amazing.

He the words wouldn't describe it, but I could tell from the way he was talking about that people were just going, I want to be with Jesus.

I want a picture with Jesus.

I want to be with Jesus.

And there's something in our hearts that just rings true with the fact that I want to, I just want to be with Jesus.

And I've talked to Justin before, and there's security cameras around the building just to kind of keep an eye on things and uh to keep people from vandalizing or whatever.

But he said it's amazing.

They've got some clips put together from years ago.

And the statues, as you walk up the sidewalk there, the different people, and there's Jesus with his hands open.

He said, Ken, it's amazing.

He said it's it's very regular that people come up and park and they'll just come and they'll just sit at the feet of Jesus.

And he says, There's there's many, he says that many where people have come and they'll literally crawl up into Jesus' lap and just sit there.

And I thought, they're not doing that for show, they're not doing that for recognition.

They just want to be with Jesus.

Now, the incredible cool part to me today, but every Sunday, is that we have that opportunity, not just with a statue and a representation of Jesus, but with God Himself to literally stop and pause and crawl in his arms.

That's amazing.

But what we're gonna look at today is the reality that the God of the universe, the one who literally raised from the dead, lives within us and wants to live with us to experience who he is.

And he in this whole deal is as Justin and I were talking over lunch, and he was telling me about the kind of the concept and the direction he was going.

The verse came up, Ephesians 5.1.

It says, Therefore, imitate God like dearly loved children.

In other words, Daddy, I want to be like you.

How do I do that?

And then I would say to us as we're moving forward, now this is really for those who are believers, those who have said, I not only believed who Jesus was, I believe he did die on a cross for my sins.

I did invite him into my life, and I want to experience God.

I want to experience that I can literally get to the end of my life and go, I will, I did it.

It's finished.

I became what God made me to be.

And that's why I love the first couple weeks that uh Justin did on waiting for God, being able to say that I've got the right focus and I am where God wanted me to be, and it is finished.

The last words of Jesus, it is finished.

I did what I came to do.

I want that.

And then as we were talking about it, he was sharing with me the part in Luke where Jesus is growing up, and this is this is what I want to imitate.

I want what he had in Luke 2.52.

Jesus kept increasing.

I want to increase in wisdom, in stature, in favor with God and man.

That's my heart.

I I maybe it's my age, but I want to be there in the sense that I want to be increasing in wisdom.

I want to know that I'm not struggling for no reason, that I'm gaining something from it, that I'm wiser than I was a year ago.

I now the in stature, that's more of a physical thing.

I'm not gonna grow any bigger, I'm growing wider now, but that's the stature in an emotional, in a relational, in a vocational sense.

I want to be growing and I want especially, I want to be growing in favor.

I want to know that my day is moving in such a way that God is saying, Man, I am with you in this, and you are growing and you are doing it.

You're becoming what I created you to become.

You're doing what I created you to do.

Now I'm gonna say this the word I'm gonna share today, if you take it with what Justin shared the first week of wait, how Jesus was incredible at waiting properly.

Is this the right time?

Is this the perfect time?

And he was incredible at that.

And last week he shared about focus, and Jesus had an amazing focus to know what was important, what was not, when it was important.

And as I listened to Justin share that last week, I thought, man, that is that is something God has woven into my life, and I always want to be reminded of that because Jesus was a master at focusing on what was really important.

I I've even taken that, I'll give you one quick example as Justin was sharing it, validated that several years ago, I that's one of the greatest ways I connect with God in reality, tangibly, knowing He's with me.

I used to get overwhelmed.

I don't know how you don't have to raise your hands, but I don't know how many of you go through the week and you got your to-do list for the week, and there's no way I'm gonna get everything done that I need to get done.

And I would say, I literally finally just like, Lord, I I can't do all this, and I know some other stuff is gonna come in during the week.

I just can't get it all done.

And then I stopped and went, okay, Lord, if if you know me and you love me and you care about me, then you know that this list is here.

And Lord, what do you want me to do?

And literally, in that moment that I made a choice and said, God help, I started to see this list and started prioritizing and just prayed over it and started to think, okay, what's the wise place to focus?

Where do I need to do this?

And every week since then, for years now, over a decade, I sit here every week, here's everything that I got to get done.

What's important?

What are the three to five most important pieces?

Where do I need to focus?

And I know that something's gonna happen the week that's gonna pop up, and I go back, I'm like, okay, Lord, this messes up my priority.

Where does it fit?

And I'm constantly engaging God because I want to imitate what He wants to do in my life during this time.

And as I go through that, I realize, man, this word today, if you don't know God personally, it's gonna seem like a contradiction to wait and focus.

Because it's it's it's beyond focus and it's not in a waiting sense.

But knowing Christ and engaging Christ, it's gonna start to go, oh, oh, it's only through the lens of Jesus that we're gonna understand how this word fits with the others.

So having said that, this one word, this one word to experience God, to experience his favor, to experience him in the reality of everyday life, I've got to go back.

I've got to go back because the word, I learned this word during one of the most tragic times of my life.

Now, if you've been here for several years, you know the story I have of that time.

If you haven't, I'll give you the quick synopsis.

My daughter, who's now 12 and doing fantastic, uh at three and a half, coming up on four years old, was diagnosed with cancer.

And it turned our world upside down.

You can imagine what a just living hell that was.

And for two years and two months and two weeks, we lived through this process.

But as we went through that, I learned this word in retrospect, and it changed me forever.

Before I share the word, I have, and I've shared it here before, so it's not some amazing uh magical word, but I have to share with you my heart before this.

I'm a nice guy, and I really do like to help people, and I really do like people, and I'm I would say I'm probably even a little bit above average with where God's formed my heart.

And if you were going through something, here's how I would respond.

I'd be like, oh man, I'm so sorry.

I'll be praying for you.

If there's anything I can do, please let me know.

And I meant it.

I meant it with all my heart.

But then I learned this word.

Because as I went through this process with my daughter, and every week we would have to go to clinic.

The first 10 months we averaged going to the emergency room twice a week, three to four visits a week to the hospital, twice the emergency room, and it was just this chaos.

But I learned this word.

Every Monday we went to clinic, and for two years, two years, every Monday, when we got home that night, dinner appeared.

It was just there.

It wasn't like manna where it's falling out of the ceiling, and we're like, okay, here it is.

It was believers, it was the body of Christ.

It was from school, it's from the neighborhood, it's from friends that just said, we're gonna get this organized, and you don't need to worry about that.

We're gonna take care of that.

And it's this word.

It was it was my friend, and I'll call him Royce because that's his name.

And Royce, Royce stopped buying his work truck about two and a half weeks when we first got the diagnosis.

And I was going to get the mail, and he goes, Hey, I didn't realize I was gonna bump into you, I was gonna leave you a note.

I just want you to know, I've got crews in this area.

He owns a landscaping company.

He said, I just want you to know we're gonna do your yard this year.

And I remember interacting, I remember, man, you know what?

It's so fresh and new.

I know my yard looks terrible, but man, if you could do it once, that'd be such a huge help.

And he's like, Yeah, we're gonna do it, we're gonna do it like all year.

And I said, You know what?

That's so gracious of you.

Um, I'm trying to figure this all out.

If you could do it for like a month, that's gonna let me get my feet under me and figure it out.

And he's like, Yeah, you're really not getting this.

Um, we're doing your yard all year, and I did not know at that time, but what he gave me was not only a great yard, but he gave me two hours a week that I wouldn't have had otherwise.

And the most precious commodity at that time in my life was time, and it was amazing.

And those are just some of the examples that I can tell you about.

There were thousands of details that just got done.

I mean, homework projects that the kids, the boys would come home, and we dude, that was amazing.

And they're like, oh yeah, so-and-so helped me with this, and I needed this, and they got it for me.

And I'm like, who told them that?

Nobody.

And I'm just like, wow, literally, over half the needs that we had that were above the norm just got met, and to this day, I don't know who met them.

And I don't know what they did, they just did it.

And the word is simply this initiative.

People took initiative, they saw a need and they just met it.

They just did it, and it changed me forever.

I'm no longer the person who says, Hey, if there's anything I can do, let me know.

I'm now the one that says, God, you know their situation.

Do you want to show me a need?

Because I want to meet it.

I want to do something.

But I'm not smart and I'm not focused and I'm not wise.

Will you show me?

Will you give me what's I want to do something?

And that initiative changes everything.

If you look through scripture, you see Jesus live this over and over.

If we want to imitate one aspect of Jesus, I would say initiative would be one of the greatest ones.

He literally went through his day, never rushing.

He was waiting on God to show him one piece at a time, but he was focused, focused on looking at, and here's the first revelation if I want to take initiative.

Look for needs.

Look for needs.

It can be a simple prayer of God, will you show me the needs around me?

Will you show me where the needs are in my everyday?

I guarantee you, we live in America, we have thousands of people with millions of needs all around us.

God, will you give me the focus to see the need that you want me to be a part of?

And I don't need credit, I don't need permission.

I'm just gonna do it.

It can be big, it can be small.

Jesus walked around and he literally, I believe this was in his mind.

And he walked around just looking for that which was out of the ordinary.

A need that was just out of the ordinary.

And he didn't judge, and he didn't need credit, he didn't even identify himself most of the time.

He just met the need.

He's walking through the streets one day, and he's I I think he's just praying, Father, you know, what's the need today?

And he's walking, he's like, Okay, could it be the short guy up in the tree?

Would that be it?

Okay, that's about as obvious as Zacchaeus.

Come here, come down.

He's like, Yeah, and he's like, I want to eat at your house.

See, because his need was validation.

And nowhere in that story does Jesus say, Okay, well, here's what you need to do.

When you get this all right, then I'm gonna bless you.

Just his presence, even going, I know it, it fixed everything.

He's thirsty, and and weird of all weirds, he goes to a well of water because he's thirsty.

And in the middle of the day, when nobody goes to the well because it's so hot, there's a woman at the well, and he was like, Could it be her today?

Really?

And he goes, I want to drink.

And she's okay, religious rules, you can't talk to me, I can't talk to you.

Your people hate my people.

He's like, I just want a drink of water.

And she's like, Okay, um, okay, and uh he said, uh, and and they get in this conversation.

He never reveals himself, he just says, Hey, I if you knew who you're talking to, you'd never be thirsty again.

I see your need.

I see your circumstances, I see the need.

He goes by the pool of Bethesda, which is this body of water, that the rumor was that if the water stirred, it meant an angel swam by or went by, and if you got your hand in first, you were healed.

And there's a guy literally laying by the pool, and he goes, Do you want to be healed?

Going on a limb here.

Everybody else is saying, Do you want to be healed?

And the guy, the guy comes up with those excuses.

Well, see, what happens is it stirs, but I know I don't have anybody to take me to the water and I can't get healed.

And Jesus is like, Okay, you want to be healed?

It's it's the obvious.

He just looked for needs around him.

And here's how practical and real it is is that if we'll stop and go, what are the needs around me?

What are the needs around me?

And in the first service, I love this.

I had two ladies, one was the person, one was saw it.

She said, You know what?

Before you got to that point, before you said the word, I'm sitting, they were sitting right over here, and she said, There was a lady in front of me, and she was coughing.

She's just and she had a dry throat, and she goes, Oh my goodness, I wish I had my water with me.

I forgot my bottle of water, I'd give it to her.

And she said, I sat there.

A few seconds later, a guy across the aisle walked out.

She said, I didn't think anything.

He said, just going to the bathroom.

Like literally two minutes later, he walked by, he said, walked by me to this lady and said, Hey, here's some water.

And she sat there and went, I could have done that.

I could have done that.

She says, Then you start talking about initiative, and she goes, That's me.

That's me.

And and she even says, I was the one who said, Oh, I wish, is there anything I can do to help?

Let me know.

Just let me know.

And she goes, My heart was right, and then this, and then I saw this guy do it, and she's like, Wow.

I love Ben who plays the keyboard.

She he was standing there when she was sharing this, and he was like, Yeah, we need to stop overthinking this.

She's thirsty, water, bam, there it is.

But there's something within us that has this massive idea that it's only the okay, show me I'm going down to Lake Altoona, I'm splitting the water.

That's the only thing, that's what I gotta do.

It's not that.

What are the real needs around us?

Now I'll share with you one of my uh hesitations and one of the greatest joys that I found out about a couple weeks ago, and I'm gonna share it with you this second, but I know that at churches it it seems inverted.

There's it doesn't make sense that those who have the most needs uh need the ministry that we have a lot of times.

And and yet a lot of times we don't have the structure to take care of that.

And we got people like Nathan who are incredible, they're just like, yeah, I'm not gifted that way, but I'll do what I can.

And and this idea of needs come at us, but oh, how do we know they're legitimate?

And how do we know that that is needs and what resources and what if we don't have enough?

And there's all these questions.

And that's us in the flesh going, okay, what can I do?

Where if we're truly going to experience initiative where God is involved, we stop and we go, God, what do you want to do?

What do you want to do here?

I I love this.

Justin shared with me over lunch about three weeks ago.

He said, Ken, we've just partnered with this group.

Now, if you're new to his hands, let me just tell you, you'll notice we don't pass a plate.

There's these columns at the back, and we give that way.

And we take everything that God gives us and we're good stewards with it.

We pay for the facilities, we have a very small staff.

And part of that, though, 10% of everything that we give, we give to the community in some way, which I just love.

And one of those is this young believer.

I say young believer, he's been a Christian for about eight years, and he said, I became a Christian, I went to the church, I started reading my Bible, and I started seeing my Bible, and I started seeing differences of what shouldn't the church be doing this?

And then he said, God just really convicted me.

He's like, I'm gonna show you a need, and I want you to meet, I'm showing it uniquely to you so you can meet it.

I'll call him Rodney because that's his name.

And Rodney started reading, and he says, I understand that the people who come with needs, they're not gonna be able to support the church, and I understand that, but I think God wants to do something.

So when they're coming, what if what if there was a system in place where we could engage them and not just throw a policy at them or say, well, we only have this much and we can only do this much?

And what if there was a way to vet every one of those?

And a real person just said, Hey, I'm your friend.

Tell me your issue, and let's get you help, whatever that looks like.

He said he began to pray and he noticed that they fall in three categories there's addiction, there's counseling, and there's actual tangible financial needs.

And he said, This year, and I I told Justin, I want his name.

We sat down at lunch and and he said, There's this, and he just spelled it all out.

He said, So here's what we're doing.

He says, I don't want one penny of the money that needs to go to the need to go to this, so we have churches subscribe.

It's this little fee, and he says, What we do, and it was so funny because when Justin and I pulled up, parked right out the side here, a gentleman pulled up in the truck, he says, Hey, my name's so-and-so.

I come here, my son doesn't, and he's in need and all this.

And I'm like, You've set this up.

And he goes, No, I really didn't.

And he said, You know what?

It's a great process.

Do you have access to a computer?

If they say yes, then go to our website.

There's a link that says one need.

Just fill out the information.

Within 48 hours, someone will call you and they will take care of you.

If you don't, you can come in with me.

The guy says, I don't.

He says, Come in with me right now, I'll fill it out for you.

He comes in within 48 hours, it goes to Roddy Roddy, calls them, he goes, Hey, I am not a pastor, I'm your friend.

And I'm just telling you right now, tell me about your situation.

He takes notes and he vets the need.

He says, Ken, out of the 730 this year, only about 75 of them are financial.

He says, but we get people the help they need.

And he says, but here's the incredible part.

And I love these terms.

He says, we call them needers and deeders.

And he says, Ken, all we've done is said, hey, you know what?

The churches is paying the administrative part and a subscription.

He says, but the deeders, those are people like you and me.

And I did it this morning.

I signed up this morning.

This is a card you can do, but you can go to the word onenead.org and you can sign up until.

Minutes.

He says, Here's what we do.

We vet the need.

We make sure that it's legitimate.

Once it's legitimate, we go to our deaters.

And he says, You'll never get more than two emails a month.

Those are the opportunities.

And you don't have to do anything.

If you get it, and all you want to do is, oh Lord, I've tapped this month, but I'm praying for Beth.

She's a single mom and she has a car that's broken down and he's vetted it's legit.

He says, or you can do something.

And here's the part I love.

This phrase came to me years ago.

Everybody cannot do everything.

But everybody can do something.

And I can pray and go, God, is this one of the ones you want me to be a part of?

And he said, Ken, every financial need, I love this, every financial need has been met within 36 hours.

Because people go, Oh, Lord, I want five bucks.

There it is.

I want to be a part of this.

And he says there's a little thermometer that shows when the needs are met.

And he says, we don't ask people to serve for free.

If it's in a mechanic, we pay for the mechanic.

I love this.

He says we have a small church and their subscription is like this amount every year.

And he says, they've already spent double that in needs that we've met because of the deaters.

I'm like, that's biblical.

That's like, okay, God, we're gonna let you move and do this.

It's blowing my mind.

I'm like, this is the coolest thing ever.

If you want to know where to take initiative, and you're like, I don't even know where to start, I would say, go grab one of these cards on your way out and just pray and say, God, what what do you want me to do here?

What part do you want me to play?

Because here's the other phrase that I absolutely love.

Uh, one is the reality.

In Ephesians 2.10, it says that those of us who are in Christ, we are God's handiwork created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Do I believe that?

Do I believe it?

Then I'm gonna take initiative.

God, what if I do it wrong?

What if I miss it?

That's okay.

I'm gonna work it for your good.

You're my handiwork, and I'm gonna get this done with or without you.

But I want you to be a part of it because I'm showing you this need.

I'm showing you this.

First revelation was look for the needs.

The second one is that it is a process.

It's a process.

And I got to be part of that process.

If I could paint the picture this way, um, I love to learn from people that are smarter and further down the road than I am, and that's not hard to do.

And I was playing golf with a guy one time, his name was Bill, very successful man, Ivy League educated.

Uh, he was an officer in the Air Force for a while, runs a major national organization, and we're playing golf.

And I love in those situations, I love to just ask a question.

And we're playing golf.

I said, Bill, can I ask you a question?

He goes, sure.

I said, What is one truth or principle that you've learned that's made the difference between mediocrity and success?

And Bill just went, hmm.

He didn't say anything.

Now I think I shared this here a couple years ago, and I love it, and it's one of my favorites, because we played about five more holes of golf.

We get back in the cart, we're headed to a shot, and he goes, I think I have your answer.

Now I'm a little bit ADD, and I was like, What was my question?

And he said, That truth or principle thing about success.

I'm like, Yes.

What would you say?

And I love his answer.

He said, Ken, I made a realization years ago, and he said, I don't know where it came from, but I can't remember who told me, but it's really true.

He said, in every situation, at work, at home, relationships, money, no matter what it is, I have a fundamental decision.

Am I gonna be a thermostat or am I gonna be a thermometer?

And I said, What do you mean by that?

He said, A thermometer has a death grip on the obvious, it can tell you exactly what the conditions are.

He says, But a thermostat.

Thermostat also has a thermometer, but it also has a gauge to decide what is optimal.

And it will set to optimal, and then it will use everything within its resources until optimal is reality.

And I have to decide which am I gonna be?

Am I gonna sit back and just describe the obvious?

Or am I gonna be a thermostat and say, okay, here's what's optimal, let's do it.

And I don't stop until optimal is reality.

And I was just like, wow.

And he says, Ken, it's not easy, but it's right.

He says, I come home from work where I run it and we work on that, and then I come home and I've got two little girls running around, and a wife that's got this tragedy and circumstances and life is going on, I gotta make a decision again.

Am I gonna be a thermostat or thermometer?

And let me tell you, it's easier to just sit back and be a thermometer.

He says, But I'm making that decision.

And he told me also, he says, Ken, you gotta realize it's a process.

I love this verse in Jesus in Matthew chapter 7, and it's the amplified version because it takes the original words that were written in the in the original language, the Greek, and it just multiplies it because this is it.

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

Ask and keep on asking, and it'll be given to you.

Seek and keep on seeking, and you will find.

Knock and keep on knocking, and the door will be opened.

For everyone who keeps on asking receives.

And he who keeps on seeking finds.

And him who keeps on knocking, it will be opened.

How does that look?

I love that God is not disappointed with us.

Every time we come and say, God, will you show me?

Give me wisdom.

Because I don't know what I'm doing.

Give me wisdom.

And God, I need help.

Will you show me the needs around me?

I don't even know how to discern those.

I'll give you an example that last week I was driving, and it was one of my favorite Sundays this year, because I got to speak at two Iglesias Hispana, which is a Spanish church, and I had an interpreter, and so I'm thinking through, okay, I'm gonna go do my briefing early, go through my notes to make sure I got all the words right.

As I'm driving there, I top a hill on the road.

I'm I've got 45 minutes or so before I have to be to the next stop.

And I top this hill, and there's an accident that has just happened.

I mean, there's nobody else there, the two cars are crunched together.

I see an airbag's been deployed.

And as I come over, in that instant, I mean, it's an obvious need, but in my mind, I don't know how your mind works, but I'm thinking, okay, what's going on here?

And I saw a guy on a cell phone, I'm like, well, it looks like somebody's taking care of it.

And I'm starting to drive by, I'm like, Lord, do I need to stop?

And in that instant, I'm just like, well, yeah, what do I do?

And well, I'm just gonna pray for them.

It looks like they got it taken care of.

Well, in that instant, let me let me describe the way our minds work.

Our minds work like at warp speed.

And if we're in this mode of taking initiative and we pray that simple prayer, God, will you give me wisdom here?

This mind, our minds happen this way.

I'll give you an example of how fast our minds work.

This past week I had my quarterly meeting with the two ladies that work for me, and one of them was telling me a story about her and her husband are driving.

She's worked for me for like 21 years, and she says, We're driving, and this is how fast our minds work.

She goes, We're driving, and she says, as we're driving, my husband says to me, I'm in the passenger seat, half paying attention.

He goes, I need to get over Elaine.

And she said, We've been married for 30 years, and all of a sudden my mind goes, Oh my goodness, who is Elaine?

And what why does he have to get over her?

And is he just now gonna confess this to me?

And and why why would he need to do it now?

And and she goes, My mind is this is like in 15 seconds.

All these thoughts are gone.

And she goes, Finally, I gave him my composure.

And I thought, okay, we've been married this long, he's an honest guy, I really love him.

She said, I just asked him, she said, Okay, who is Elaine?

And why do you need to get over her?

And he goes, What?

She goes, Who is Elaine?

And he goes, The exit's coming up.

I need to get over Elaine.

And she goes, Oh, okay.

But ladies, you understand, gentlemen, you understand, our minds work that fast, don't they?

They just spin.

And when we're in this mode of going, God, is this a need I need to meet?

I literally, I've come to start praying, James chapter 1, verse 5.

James 1:5

It says, if you lack to anyone who lacks wisdom, you should ask God who gives generously to all without finding faults and it be given to you.

I started praying this.

Lord, is there a need?

And when I come up with one, Lord, do you want me to do something?

Give me wisdom, please.

As I'm driving by this accident and praying, I look back in the rearview mirror.

As I look back, I see a young lady, and this thought shoots through my brain of a friend of mine who was in an accident.

And as he described him being in the accident, he says, I don't remember anything.

The EMTs got there and they said, I was wandering around on my cell phone.

He said, I have no recollection of that.

That thought shoots through my mind as I look instantaneously in the rearview mirror.

I see the young lady who had gotten out of one of the cars wandering around in the middle of the street, holding a cell phone, just wandering, and I thought, she's in a fog.

I looked back another instant of a second and I saw the gentleman who was on the phone.

He had not pulled up, he was out of the other car, and I saw blood coming off of his face.

And I thought, Lord, I do I need to turn around?

And it was almost like, okay, I can't make it more obvious than this.

And so I turned around.

As I'm turning around and going back, I literally thought, you know what?

What if I do it all wrong?

What's it gonna hurt?

And I walk up and I realize the gentleman's hurt.

And he had just called his wife and he was by his car.

I said, you know what?

I said, let me see.

He got something out of it, he's holding his head, got a towel or something.

I said, dude, won't we go ahead and sit back down?

Let's get you just stable.

And uh, I said, let me see it real quick.

He showed me, I'm like, okay, you move your hand here, put direct pressure right there.

Put it right there, just hold it.

I'm gonna make sure that we that she's okay.

And I go over and help this girl.

She's literally still walking the middle of the street.

Cars are driving around her.

And I walk over and she's in this, she's in shock.

She's holding her phone, and I'm like, I said, Are you okay?

And she's just and she starts backing off like a scared animal.

And I'm like, what's your name?

And she's um uh uh Lauren.

I said, Lauren, why don't we come over here?

Are you okay?

And I just started talking very low and quiet.

Just that time, a car pulls up.

It was her friends that I guess were supposed to be following her, and they come over and they said, What's wrong?

She said, She's my friend.

I said, You're a friend?

I said, Lauren.

I said, Here's your friend, and she's looking and she's still real skittish.

I said, Will you please take her over to your car and let her sit down until the police get here?

And so she sits over and then I start directing traffic.

They didn't get there for another 10 minutes or so.

I'm directing traffic, I'm going to catch a woman starts driving by.

She goes, Is everybody okay?

And I said, Well, it's it's stable.

She goes, I'm a nurse, can I help?

I'm like, Yes.

Have you got 10 minutes?

And she goes, Yes.

I said, gentleman's got a big gash, can you go check on him?

And she comes over, we got him checked, and I'm just, who am I?

And the police car finally pulls up after about 10 minutes.

And there at that time I'd gotten all the traffic flowing in the right direction.

I walked up and said, Hey, uh, my name's Ken.

It's a two-car accident.

There's two uh people that were involved.

The gentleman's in his car there, he's got a gash, he does need an ambulance.

Um, the other girl, she's in shock and she's in a backseat with a car right over there with that, and he was like, Okay.

And I was like, he's like, uh, can you just stay for a minute and direct traffic until somebody else gets here?

And I'm like, absolutely.

Because you know, I'm trained in that now, and the other policeman comes up and I make sure that everything's square, and the nurse, I said, Thanks for coming.

And I'm like, okay, I'm everything's good, I'm gonna go here.

I don't need credit.

Just when I see a need, wow, I could have easily kept going and rationalized, they're fine.

They got a phone, they're fine.

But that sensitivity going, okay, Lord, here's an obvious need.

Do you want me to be a part of that?

Do you want me to do anything?

And you know what?

I'm not sure, but I'm gonna go be a part of it anyway.

What steps am I looking for around me that that is a reality?

Because the ultimate initiative, ultimate initiative came from Jesus Himself.

It's one of my favorites ever.

And if you're here this morning and you've never made a personal connection with God, then don't miss this verse because it's the ultimate initiative in Romans 5 8.

It said, but God showed his love to us while we were still sinners that Christ died for us.

We don't come to God with it all together.

We come to God just how we are.

God, I I'm imperfect, I've made mistakes, I need you.

Will you forgive me?

Will you show me purpose?

Will you give me wisdom?

Will you show me favor?

Will you help me become what I meant to be?

And when we come to him that way, he's like, yes.

And I'm gonna I'm gonna walk with you.

See, because when he comes in, and I want to just wrap up with this concept.

If you're here this morning and you're a believer and you follow Christ and you're like me, and you're like, you know what?

I I want God's favor.

I want to experience God this week, him doing something in my life, then here's my encouragement.

Ask God to show you needs, let go of the idea that it has to be this big grandioso world-changing headline news piece, and realize it may be a glass of water for somebody who's coughing.

And I don't even need credit.

And saying, God, will you show me if the power that raised Christ from the dead lives in me and you're intimate enough with me to say that needs for you?

Give it a try.

And if you mess up, I'm gonna fix it anyway.

I'm that big.

Trust me, just take initiative.

And if you literally, if you're here today going, I don't even know how to do that, grab one of these cards and start learning.

Say, you know what, I'm gonna sign up.

They're gonna send me an email, they're not gonna demand I do anything.

If I get a need and I don't have any budget left, I can pray for them and go, God, thank you for letting me see this.

God, will you please raise this up and then watch God move and work and start watching God get intimate with us individually to do that?

If we'll do that, I promise we're gonna start experiencing God in a whole new way and the way Jesus did.

And we're gonna start imitating and experiencing what it means to be connected with God on a regular basis, daily basis, moment by moment basis.

Take that initiative.

Pray with me.

Father, thank you so much for today.

Thank you for the example you set through Jesus and that you really do long to connect with us and use us to do your will and your work.

You don't need us, but you want to.

So, Father, help us take initiative this week in some way, and just guide us through as only your Holy Spirit can, so we can truly experience you in reality.

And it is only through Christ we can pray.

Amen.