A Strategy for Struggle | Pastor Daniel Floyd

All right, well, welcome to Gateway. We're so glad that you're here. Come on, let's just fill this room with our worship in this place today. God, we honor you. Oh, we glorify your name. Yeah. ♪ This is the day you made ♪ ♪ So I rejoice and be glad, rejoice and be glad in me ♪ ♪ This is where I believe ♪ ♪ That you are more than enough ♪ ♪ You're more than enough for me ♪ Sing you're faithful. ♪ You are faithful to your promise ♪ ♪ You are strong when I am weak ♪ ♪ When I'm standing in your presence ♪ ♪ I have everything I need, we sing ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ Oh, my soul. ♪ Oh, my soul, bless his name ♪ ♪ All that is within me sing ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ Oh! ♪ Jesus, come what may ♪ ♪ You are worthy of all, you're worthy of all our praise ♪ ♪ You are faithful to your promise ♪ ♪ You are strong when I am weak ♪ ♪ When I'm standing in your presence ♪ ♪ I have everything I need, yeah ♪

♪ The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ Oh, my soul. ♪ Bless his name, all that is within me sing ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ Thank you, Lord. Thank you for your joy. Thank you. ♪ So let it rise up like a river ♪ ♪ Overflowing Holy Spirit ♪ ♪ And let it pour out with no limit ♪ ♪ Overflowing Holy Spirit ♪ Let it rise up. ♪ Let it rise up like a river ♪ ♪ Like a river overflowing Holy Spirit ♪ ♪ Let it pour out, let it pour out with no limit ♪ ♪ Overflowing Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord ♪ ♪ We've got the joy of the Lord ♪ Thank you, Jesus. Come on, we sing the joy. ♪ The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ ♪ Oh my soul, oh my soul, bless His name ♪ ♪ All that is within me sing ♪ ♪ Oh my soul, bless His name ♪ ♪ All that is within me sing ♪ ♪ Oh my soul, bless His name ♪ ♪ All that is within me sing ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength ♪

Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Oh, oh賀 Come on, do we believe that in this place today? Thank you, Jesus. Oh, Jesus, I'm so thankful, yeah I was bound in sin, but now I'm free Yeah My Savior broke those chains right off of me And my new life can't fit in my old grave Oh, oh Ever since the day that I got saved Set free and delivered Washed clean, my sin forgiven Glory to His holy name When I call on Jesus I got saved I got saved I was bought with blood on Calvary Yes I know this story ends in victory Buried with Him, with Him I am raised Oh, ever since the day that I got saved Set free and delivered Washed clean, my sin forgiven Glory to His holy name When I call on Jesus I got saved I got saved Hallelujah, since that day

When I call on Jesus I got saved I got saved Not who I used to be I got holy spirit down inside of me My God calls me by a brand new name That's how I know that I am chosen Spoken for and won again My, my, my, my, but because of Him He said it's done, every day is gained That's how I know that I am Not who I used to be I got the holy spirit down inside of me My God calls me by a brand new name That's how I know that I am chosen Spoken for and won again My, my, my, my, but because of Him He said it's done, every day is gained That's how I know that I am Set, set, free as a liver Washed clean, my sin forgiven Glory to His holy name When I call on Jesus Set, set, free as a liver Set, set, free as a liver Glory to His holy name When I call on Jesus I'm not saved I'm not saved Hell will rock when heaven came

When I call on Jesus I'm not saved I'm not saved Hallelujah Thank God, thank God ♪ I say, yeah ♪ ♪ Your Word is alive, it's alive in me, Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, yeah, Jesus ♪ ♪ So I throw up my hands and praise You again ♪ Come on, can we sing it? ♪ Cause all that I have is a hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, and I know it's not much ♪ ♪ I'm nothing else but a failure ♪ ♪ Except for a heart singing hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ Come on, can we sing that again? Let's lift it up, we sing. ♪ So I throw up my hands and praise You again ♪ ♪ And again, cause all that I have is a hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, and I know it's not much ♪ ♪ I'm nothing else but for a king ♪ ♪ Except for a heart singing hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ Amen. Yes, God. Yes, Lord, we glorify you, Jesus. We glorify your name, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. ♪♪♪

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ The hill I could not climb ♪ ♪ Though the cross to bear was mine ♪ ♪ A sinner's death you chose ♪ ♪ And with love and grace atone ♪ Come on, sing it out. ♪ I'm covered by the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ It's all under the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ All sin and shame is washed away ♪ ♪ My debt is paid, I'm covered by your blood ♪ ♪ Oh, what a mystery ♪ ♪ The cross has ransomed me ♪ ♪ Then I would find new life ♪ ♪ Crucified with Christ ♪ ♪ Oh, I'm alive in Christ, oh ♪ ♪ I'm covered by the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ It's all under the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ All sin and shame is washed away ♪ ♪ My debt is paid, I'm covered by your blood ♪ Thank you, Lord, thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord, thank you, Lord. ♪ Let all the saints proclaim his glory ♪ ♪ Seen worthy is the man, seen worthy ♪ ♪ The empty grave a testimony ♪ ♪ Seen worthy is the man, seen worthy ♪ ♪ Let all the saints proclaim his glory ♪ ♪ Sing worthy is the Lamb, sing worthy ♪ ♪ The empty grave our testimony ♪ ♪ Sing worthy is the Lamb, sing worthy ♪

♪ And let all the saints proclaim His glory ♪ ♪ Sing worthy is the Lamb, sing worthy ♪ ♪ The empty grave our testimony ♪ ♪ Sing worthy is the Lamb, sing worthy ♪ ♪ Sing worthy, He's worthy, yeah ♪ ♪ Sing worthy is the Lamb, sing worthy, yeah ♪ ♪ He's worthy, sing worthy is the Lamb ♪ ♪ I'm called by the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ It's all unto the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ All sin and shame is washed away ♪ ♪ My debt is paid, I'm covered by the blood ♪ ♪ I'm covered by the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ It's all unto the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ All sin and shame is washed away ♪ ♪ My debt is paid, I'm covered by the blood ♪ ♪ Nothing like you Jesus, nothing like the name Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Let all the saints proclaim His glory ♪ ♪ Sing worthy is the Lamb, sing worthy, yeah ♪ ♪ The empty grave, our testimony, sing worthy ♪ ♪ Sing worthy is the Lamb, sing worthy, yeah ♪ ♪ Sing worthy is the Lamb, sing worthy, yeah ♪ ♪ Sing worthy is the Lamb, sing worthy, yeah ♪ ♪ He's worthy, sing worthy is the Lamb ♪ ♪ He's worthy, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ God, you're worthy, you are holy, you are holy, Lord ♪ ♪ No one like you, none beside you, Lord ♪ ♪ I'm covered by the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ It's all under the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ All sin and shame is washed away ♪

♪ My debt is paid, I'm covered by the blood ♪ Thank you, Jesus, thank you, Jesus. Come on, aren't you grateful for the blood of Jesus in this place today? Yeah, can we just fill this room with gratitude, with worship towards God for what he did for us? Lord, we thank you that in you, God, we have life, Lord, in you we have peace, we have healing, we have hope. Lord, every good and perfect gift, it comes from you, Jesus. God, we praise you in this place. We praise your holy name. Praise your holy name. So worthy is your name, Jesus. You deserve the praise. Worthy is your name. Worthy is your name, Jesus. Jesus. ♪ You deserve the praise, worthy is your name ♪ Come on, let's lift our voices. ♪ Worthy is your name, Jesus ♪ ♪ You deserve the praise, worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name, Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, you deserve the praise, all the praise ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name, Jesus ♪ ♪ You deserve the praise, worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name, Jesus ♪ ♪ You deserve the praise, worthy is your name ♪ Be exalted. ♪ So be exalted now in the heavens ♪ ♪ As your glory fills this place ♪

♪ You alone deserve our praise ♪ ♪ You're the name above all names ♪ ♪ So be exalted now in the heavens ♪ ♪ As your glory fills this place ♪ ♪ You alone deserve our praise ♪ ♪ You're the name above all names ♪ ♪ So be exalted now in the heavens ♪ ♪ As your glory fills this place ♪ ♪ You alone deserve our praise ♪ ♪ You're the name above all names ♪ ♪ So be exalted now in the heavens ♪ ♪ As your glory fills this place ♪ ♪ You alone deserve our praise ♪ ♪ You're the name above all names ♪ ♪ So worthy is your name, Jesus ♪ ♪ You deserve the praise, worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name, Jesus ♪ ♪ You deserve the praise, you deserve the praise, oh ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name, Jesus ♪ ♪ You deserve the praise, worthy is your name, we sing ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name, Jesus ♪ ♪ You deserve all the praise, worthy is your name ♪ ♪ So worthy, so worthy, Lord, so worthy, Jesus ♪ Thank you so much. Hey everybody, welcome to church this morning. I'm so glad you're here. My name's Abram. I'm on the team here at Gateway. And this week, I was preparing for this moment and this service.

I don't usually like, maybe bring a funny story or something, try to make you laugh. And this week, as I was preparing, I felt like the Lord stopped me and he just told me to read the Bible. So we're just gonna take two minutes in the house this morning. We're gonna read some scripture together, all right? If you came to church today looking for a word, I've got a word. Psalm 139, verse seven. Where shall I go from your spirit or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. Romans 8, 38 says this, for I am sure that neither life nor death, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Psalm 23, it says this. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Deuteronomy, we're in Deuteronomy this morning. Deuteronomy. 31, verse six, it says this. Be strong and courageous.

Do not fear or be in dread of them for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you. Romans 8, verse 31. If God is for us, then who can be against us? Hebrews 13, verse five through six. I will never leave you nor forsake you so we can confidently say. Let's say it together. The Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me? We're not done. Isaiah 43, verse one through two. Fear not, for I have redeemed you. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. The flames shall not consume you. If you need a word this morning, we've got a word this morning. We've got a word this morning. We've got a word this morning. We've got a word this morning. Would you open your hands like this to receive? God, we say this today, whether it's our 100th time in this room or our first time in this room, God, we acknowledge your presence in your word. God, I acknowledge my humanity. Just a man, you are God, King of kings, Lord of lords. If there's anybody in here who came in down and depressed,

God, I thank you that your word says that we're more than conquerors through Christ Jesus. God, if there's anybody in here who's feeling alone or feel like they've done too much or they don't deserve to be here, I thank you that there's no height, no depth, no angel, no demon that could separate us from your presence. God, I'm thankful today that you are God and I'm not. God, we are thankful today that your word is true. And we, as a community, as a church this morning, we accept your word is truth. We accept you for who you are. And we say this weekend, on this Sunday, God, for your glory alone, Lord, would you speak to us? Would you move through us for your glory in Jesus' name? And everybody said, amen, amen, amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Well, hey, we're so glad you're here this weekend. Pastor Daniel is finishing our series between Sundays today. But do me a favor, before we transition, why don't you turn to your right and your left, and greet somebody, meet someone you haven't met before. We're so glad you're here. Welcome to Gateway.

Thank you. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Welcome to church, everybody. How are we today? You good? You good? I want to say good morning to all of our campuses, everyone joining us online or on demand later in the week. Of course, our gateway gatherings and our prison campuses. If you're here for the first time, let's put our hands together and welcome everyone that is at church. Maybe first time or first time in a long time. We're really glad that you're here. And as you saw, there's so much happening in the life of the church. You don't want to miss out on that from live recordings coming up over the next few weeks to Summer Bash and then of course, YouthCon in July. We're not taking church off in the summer, everybody. The devil doesn't take off, we don't take off. Come on, can I get a better amen? And I know my kids will be involved in all those things. We'll have them registered because I have a big gap

and they will be in Summer Bash and they will be at YouthCon and because you have a first grader at 49, it's just what you do these days and you live forever. So, but it's a good day to be in church and I'm concluding this series called Between Sundays. We've been talking about how to have a faith that doesn't fade. And we've been working from this scripture in Ephesians four, kind of been the foundational verse for us. Ephesians chapter four, and here's the idea. We don't wanna be immature. And because when you're immature, you're tossed and you're blown about. You're just everything, your life is unstable. And so what do we do? The Bible teaches us, we've got to keep growing. And what we're gonna keep growing in is this, becoming more and more like Christ. That's the whole goal. We wanna look more like Jesus. And he's the head of the church. He's in control of the whole thing. And as we do this, as every part does its part, we grow and we become healthy and we're growing what? And full of love. And that's ultimately what we want at the end of the day is that we are growing. If you don't wanna just be inspired on Sunday, but you wanna have a faith that on Monday, Tuesday

and Wednesday, no matter what life is throwing at you, continues to thrive, then you've got to keep growing. If you missed any of them, of course you can go online or on the app and you can catch those. I wanna bring a message today around this idea, a strategy for struggle. You gotta have a strategy for struggle. Let's pray together. Father, our hearts and minds are open. So Holy Spirit speak to us. We believe your word has the power to change us and we'll never be the same because of it. We pray this in your great name. Everyone said a big amen. Amen. Amen. So my oldest, Owen, when he was about, I think 11 or 12, we had this ping pong table in our basement. And so, I know we don't have basements in Texas, I'm learning this, but we had basements in Virginia. And the basement, when we built the house, Tammy and I's agreement was all the kids' stuff will go in the basement and it won't stress us out because it won't be cluttered on the main floor. We just won't go down there very often. You know what I mean? You ever, you got that room, it's just like, close that door, I don't wanna see it because Tammy very much likes everything put together. And I was like, we just won't go down those steps.

So we got this ping pong table and Owen and I would play ping pong. And I'm not one of those dads that lets you win. I think it doesn't prepare you for life. Not everyone gets a trophy. Thought I'd get a better amen in Texas. And so I would mercilessly like beat him. Like I was like hitting a hard over, it would bounce off, hit him in the face and things of this nature and I would win. Well, I didn't play him for a little while and his friends would come over and they would play. And then if a sitter came over, he would get the sitter to play. And so then I played him again after several weeks, maybe even a month or so of this happening, of not playing him. And then I played him and all of a sudden he's leading. And in my mind, I've thought I've talked a lot of trash. I've made a lot of comments about his ping pong skills. And in that moment, I thought I've always had a strategy for winning. It was trash talking. I haven't had a strategy for losing. And how many of you know that in life, that's often how we approach it. We're good when life is winning, right? When everything's going our way, whenever the career's moving in the direction, we got into the college we wanted to get into,

the dating relationship is going the way that we want. But I wanna talk this week about what do you do when you struggle? Do you have a strategy for when the deal doesn't close this? When do you have a strategy for when the relationship doesn't go the way that you thought it was? Do you have a strategy? Because the Bible says this, not to discourage you, we will get encouraging. Jesus said, in this world, you're gonna have trouble. Welcome to church. Aren't you glad you came? All right, let's be dismissed, leave you there. In this world, you have to have trouble. Jesus said, but take heart, I've overcome the world. But the reality is we will have trouble. And if we're gonna have a faith that doesn't fade between Sundays, then we have got to learn how to build this muscle of faith, not just on Sunday, but every day, because we're gonna face some things. And you've gotta have faith has gotta answer that door whenever it comes in your life. And I want you to think about faith in really kind of two different ways. There's many ways to think about it, but for the purposes of today, there's this general idea of faith that if someone were to say, are you a person of faith? You would say, yeah, there's that idea.

Or I have a strong faith, or I'm of the Christian faith that we would speak out of it in general terms. But there's also this idea of a specific faith, meaning there is this faith that is what carries us through the challenging times in life. It's our trust in God. It's our belief in God. It's God, I got faith that you're gonna get me out of this situation, or God, I've got faith that you're gonna see me through this challenging. That is the faith I wanna talk about today. And you've all been given a measure of faith. According to the Apostle Paul in Romans, everybody's been given a measure of faith if you have a relationship with Jesus. Some of you may be thinking, Well, I got a teaspoon, that's all God gave me. But we've all been given a measure of faith, and so here's our job, is to grow our faith. The challenge is, faith often grows best in the gym of pain, or in the gym of challenge, or in the moments of struggle. Can I get a better amen? And so how do we grow that faith, that muscle of faith? Because God's expectation, I think of us, is that we would grow our faith, that we would learn to trust him more and more and more every day. And so I want us to look at the life of a character in the Old Testament named Abraham.

If you're not familiar with Abraham, pretty big main character vibes, like pretty important guy in the scriptures. And you can go and read it in the Old Testament. I want us to look at a little summary of his life in the New Testament, in Hebrews 11, verse eight through 10. If you're with me, say amen. All right, verse eight says this. It says, by faith, there's the word, faith, Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went. I think God wants more obeyed and went kind of people, not negotiate and see. Even though he did not know where he was going, by faith, he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country. He lived in tents as did Isaac and Jacob who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations whose architect and builder is God. Four thoughts for you today. If you're the note-taking type, write it down. If not, go ahead and write it down anyways. Good job. Number one is faith begins with a word. Faith begins with word. Now, to understand a little bit of the context of Abraham's story is this. Abraham is completely fine living his life and God comes to him and gives him this word.

And the word is this, we call it the Abrahamic covenant that I'm going to make you a great nation and I'm gonna bless all the peoples of the earth through you, which God did fulfill his promise because through Abraham came Jesus and Jesus is the blessing to everybody on the earth. Are you with me? Say amen. Okay, you got that? But when Abraham got the instructions, he didn't get the whole picture. Abraham got, I'm gonna bless you. I'm gonna make it a great nation out of you. And the instruction that God gave him was, I want you to leave your home country and go to a place I will show you. Not I am showing you. Some of us like to walk by faith when God gives us 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4. That's not faith, that's a plan. But he says, just go to a place I'm gonna show you. This was literally what it would be like if you packed up your car and you got on 35 East, which really none's North and South. That was weird when I got here. And you just started driving, it was like, all right, Lord, no GPS, no address to put in. He had nothing, all he had was a word from God. All he had was that God has spoken and he anchored his faith in that. And we know that he anchored his faith in it

because he packed up his whole family and started moving. Because faith is an active response to a word from God. And so he started moving. That's how we know he anchored his faith in a word. Now, I wanna say on the flip side of that, God's not obligated to bless what you come up with. God's not obligated to bless your plan. Some of you are frustrated at God because you took off on something. And God was like, I never instructed you to do that. I'm not, I never told you to date him. I never told you to start that business. I didn't tell you to buy that hat or y'all try. I didn't tell you to go to that school. And some of you are all like twisting, like, well, I'm not walking by faith. And you know, I'll come to church and I'll wanna check the box. I wanna go to heaven one day. I want some fire insurance. I don't wanna go to hell, you know, but I'm not gonna really lean into this thing of faith because I tried it and it didn't work out. And God's like, I'm not, here, let me say this. God's not obligated to do a God thing in a me way. Write that down. Numbers chapter 20, what happened to Moses whenever God said, speak to the rock and Moses got so frustrated that he struck the rock. He lost the promised land.

Why? Because he did a God thing, providing water for the people. That's a God thing, but he did it in a Moses way. You've got to anchor. or faith in what God has to say, in a word from the Lord. And so how do I know that it's a word from the Lord? How do I know it's not bad pizza from the night before? How do I know that God is speaking to me, right? And what is a word? And maybe you're new to church and you're like, I've heard people use this church language. I got a word from the Lord. And you're like, is it an adjective? Like, are we talking about parts of speech? Like, you know, an article and now like, okay, what are we talking about here? And how do I get it? Well, I wanna give you, let me give you a few questions to help you discern, do I have a word from God? Because that's where you anchor your faith. And can I tell you something, that when the storms come, if you're not anchored to what God said, you'll be tossed all around. You've gotta know that you're anchored in that. Let me give you a few questions. Well, let me show you. Here we go.

Number one, what does the God's word say? Write this down. Question number one, what does God's word say? The B-I-B-L-E, yes, that's the book for me. I stand alone on the word of God, right? So what does the word of God say? I've gotta open the word of God. This is why all the time I'm like, you've gotta spend time daily in the word of God. Do you give out devotionals with different series? Why? Trying to get you in the habit of getting into the word of God. Because through the word of God, the voice of God's gonna speak to you. And so as I open the word of God, God's gonna speak to me, and then I'll know something to anchor my faith to. Now, not everything and every decision we make in life is found in the word of God, right? Like, you can't go to 1 Corinthians and find out if you're supposed to go out with Bubba. I mean, it's not in there. But what is in there is some precepts and principles. There's some things like don't be unequally yoked together, and so there you go, okay, that's a principle. I need to look for a godly man. If a man doesn't work, he shouldn't eat. Okay, I need one that's out of his mom's basement. Come on, all the dads said again.

Okay, right? All right, y'all follow me? There's some precepts and principles in there. And then as you read the word of God, the spirit of God will begin to speak to your heart and begin to challenge you. Are you following me? But I've gotta get into the word of God to be able to hear it. And if what I'm sensing and feeling isn't lining up with God's word, then it's not from God. Because God's not obligated to bless your feeling. Are y'all tracking with me? Even if someone else comes up into the good heart and they share something, I believe God told me to tell you this, you need to test it against the word of God. You need to test it against the principles. Are y'all with me today? God is still speaking. We believe we serve a speaking God. But you need to test this against the word of God and you can't create like new truth. That's called Gnosticism, everybody. We don't do that. We're Christians. And so I've got to test it through the word of God. Number two question I would ask is have I prayed about it? So have I read the word of God

and allowed the word of God, the spirit of God to speak to me? And have I had a conversation with God about it? Here's another good question. Will it make me more like Jesus? If the word I have from God that I'm gonna anchor my life in makes me more bitter, that's not of God. If it makes me more selfish, that's not of God. Does it make me more like Jesus? Here's another good one. What does godly counsel say? Not your broke friend, not your mom, are you okay? Your mom and dad. I'm talking about what is godly people. This is why you need multi-generational mentorship around you. You need some people that have done this for a while and can go, if you head down that path, I've seen this story before. If you make this decision, I've watched this play out before. You need some godly people around you that'll be, hey, you need to stop right, hey, timeout right there. You need to take a pause on that, let that breathe a minute before you take that another step. Are y'all tracking with me? You need some godly people around you, some multi-generational people around you that'll love you enough to say, hey, that may not be the best idea.

That may not be of the Lord for you right now. Let me give you the last one. And I would say in this order too, is do I have the peace of God? Don't start with the peace of God, start with the word of God. I've been doing this long enough that I've had people come up to me and be like, Pastor, I'm doing this thing and I just got the peace of God. And in my head I'm going, that's not in the Bible. Or I'm thinking, it's really just stupid. But I don't say it like that because I'm a pastor. You got to say it kinder, more palatable. But I really want to say is how they say it in Tennessee where I grew up, that's just stupid. I don't know how you spell that, but that's how you pronounce it. Are you with me? How do you put faith in the word of God? Begins with a word. I need to go through those questions. He goes on to say that to a place, so he left, he got called out to a place that he would later receive as his inheritance. Number two, know this about faith. Faith is developed through a process. Rarely, rarely, rarely, maybe sometimes, but rarely do we see with God promise made, promise fulfilled in a moment.

God's the God of glimpses. He's the God of yes, but not yet. He's the God of let me pull the curtain back just a little bit. Let me, maybe I'll even show you the final scene. Joseph, I'm gonna let you see everybody bowing down to you. Then I'm gonna shut the curtain. I'm not gonna let you see the pit. I'm not gonna let you see Potiphar's house. I'm not gonna let you see falsely accused. I'm not gonna let you see falsely accused. Hello, somebody with me? I'm not gonna let you see the prison. I'm not gonna let you see the cupbearer forget about you before the king and it'd be another two years before you ever get, why? Because some of us, if God showed us the whole picture, we'd never take the step of faith. He's like, I'll give you a glimpse here and I'll give you a glimpse there. Abraham was 75 years old whenever he got the word that I'm gonna make a great nation through you and I want you to pack up everything and leave. But he was 99 before God ever mentioned Isaac. 24 years. Some of us, God doesn't move in 24 hours. We're just like, I'm forsaken by the Lord. He's forgotten me. 24 years. It wasn't promise fulfilled when he was 76, 85, 95,

but he just stayed faithful to the word because he knew he had a word from God and when his faith is anchored in the word, you can step through the process. Come on, if you're gonna clap, let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Because there's a promise to possess, but there's also a process to the promise. And some of us eject out of what God wants to do in our lives because we're unwilling to lean or we're unwilling to lean into the process. We get the word and when it gets hard, instead of leaning into the hard, we question the word. Why would that be what we revert to? Shouldn't we anchor our faith in the word and go, God, you've spoken and because you've spoken, I'm gonna keep walking. I wanna speak to somebody that maybe today that it's been a while since you obeyed and went. Remember the text said he obeyed and went, obeyed and went. Some of us are like contemplate and procrastinate. God speaks and we're like, well, let me think about that. And here's what we call it, maturity. Could it be complacency? Well, I'm mature in the faith now. When I was younger, I used to just like,

when God would speak, I'd step out in faith, but now I need to exegete the text and see the theological implications of the original language in the text. And I'm not sure that's exactly what God wanted us to do. I mean, really, what happened to God spoke, we obeyed. That's maturity. The more I walk with him, the more I hear his voice and the more I hear his voice, the more I hear his voice and the more I hear his voice, the quicker I am to respond. What about some that got stuck because you took a step of faith and it didn't turn out immediately the way that you thought you didn't know there was a process to this thing. And so you decided to kind of be in, but not all in. Can I just say to you, there's a process to the promise. There's a journey to this thing. There's a walking this out day by day, moment by moment. Abraham, I'm gonna show you. And for 24 years, you're gonna hang on to that word. The problem in our generation is we want an Amazon God. We want promises on prime. Can a drone get it to the house by 3 p.m. this afternoon? Come on. Am I telling the truth? Truth or not, we want two day shipment God. God's not a God of Amazon, God is a God of generations. God is thinking about your next decade, your next 30 years, your next 50 years.

He's zooming out seeing it a little bit bigger than just the moment that you're in. He is working something in you because here's the deal, the promise isn't the point, the journey's the point. Because while there is a promise to possess and there are wonderful promises of God, the promises of God are yes and amen in Christ Jesus, the scripture says. In other words, you can count on it, you can take it to the bank, but on the journey to the promise, God is doing something in you and that's the point all along. The promise is great, but the development he does in you on the way to it is the point. And so what do I do? How do I hang on in those moments if I'm in this process? Two thoughts real quick. Number one, you remember the promise, but maybe even more important, number two, you remembered God's pattern. This is why the Bible talks so much about remembering, remembering, because we have short-term memory and long-term memory loss. But when you are in the middle of the process and waiting to see God do the thing that you've been praying for and believing for, you have to go back and look back and remember how faithful he has been before and the same God that was faithful before

will be faithful now. Can I work this out a little deeper? Can we go a little further on this thought? Paul talked about this, he said, this one thing, I taught this to the young adults a couple of weeks ago, he said, this one thing I do, pressing toward what is ahead and forgetting what is behind me, I press towards the upward calling of God in Christ Jesus. So he says, I forget what is behind me. That idea of forgetting is a fascinating thought because it's, to understand forgetting in that thought, you have to understand what remembering is. And one scholar said it this way, that remembering the faithfulness of God is where you pull from your history into your present reality, something that God did for you in the past, so much so that it has potency in your current reality. Meaning, you may face something in life, a phone call, a wall, a disappointment, a betrayal, a tragedy, a struggle, whatever it may be. And the Bible idea of remembering is this, that in that moment I go, I may not have been at this exact crossroads before, but I've been at a similar crossroads before. And I remember what God did for me before and you bring it so much into your present that it affects your attitude, your heart posture, your spirit, where you may have been like,

oh Lord, what are we gonna do? How are we gonna get through this? Your remembering causes you to go, nope, same God that was faithful yesterday, same God that is faithful today, same God that is faithful tomorrow. Let's keep moving forward in Jesus' name. So I remember the faithfulness of God in the process. And if he did it before, he'll do it again. This is why the Bible says, you come by the blood of the lamb. Why? Because that cleanses all of our sin. And the word of our testimony. Word of our testimony, why? Because it's powerful to remember the faithfulness of God. Is this helping anybody? Number three is this thought, is faith is seen through actions. So faith is, begins in the word, it's developed through a process, but it's seen through actions. Scripture said this in Hebrews, by faith he made his home. So he moved in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country. He lived in tents as did Isaac and Jacob who were heirs with him of the same promise. You can know a lot about the Bible, but it doesn't mean you have faith in the Bible.

There's a big difference in the two. Just because I know something doesn't mean I have faith for something. Just because I have knowledge of something doesn't mean I have faith for something. Faith must have a correlating action. You're blind, I'm gonna put mud on your eyes, go wash your eyes off. If that blind man had never washed his eyes off, I firmly believe he would be blind until he died. Because the faith wasn't God putting, Jesus putting mud on his eyes, it was that he believed if he would go wash the mud off and he actually did it, then his eyes would be open. Are y'all following me? It was the bringing five loaves and two fishes to Jesus, believing that that could feed a crowd. out of thousands, there was action to the faith. And we exercise faith all the time, right? Like we get in a car and I think most of us, we kind of went to turn it on and we didn't think, is this gonna turn on today? Maybe some of you, you're like. But you had faith, right? You sat down in your seat, you had faith. You didn't push on it and be like, well, I went overboard on dessert this week, just wanna check the seat, make sure it's gonna uphold me, right? No, we didn't do that, why?

Because we have faith for those things, because faith is action. Faith is action, I've gotta take an act. And so here's, I wanna explain this. Look here, look here. The Bible says to give and it'll be given back to me, pressed down, shaken together and running over. Well, if I have faith for that, then I live a generous life. If I don't live a generous life, I can know that verse, but I don't believe that verse. Why? Because faith is required, there's an activation required for faith. I can hear the word that says, I'm to forgive those who hurt me and speak well of those who speak evil of me. But if I don't do that, then I don't have faith for that verse. I have a knowledge of it, but I don't have faith in it because it requires action. If you're with me, say amen. And why is this so important? Because without faith, Hebrews 11, six, it's impossible to please God. You can't please God if you're not walking by faith. Faith is the requirement and faith is seen through my actions. Faith is seen when I love someone that's unlovely, that's faith.

Faith isn't, I know how to exegete a text. The devil knows the Bible, everybody. That's not a big deal. It's can I live the Bible? That's the big deal. Can I act on the word when the word is spoken? That's how I build the muscle of faith. That's how every day I get in the gym of faith and go, God, I'm gonna believe what your word says and I'm gonna act upon your word. You want a faith that doesn't fade, that is strong, that is thriving through the week? Go live what it says and it'll stretch you and it'll grow you and it'll make you more like Jesus. If you're with me, say amen. All right, one more thought. Faith is anchored in an eternal perspective. Faith is anchored in an eternal perspective. Listen to what it said in the last verse of that Hebrews passage. For he was looking forward to this city with foundations whose architect and builder is God. You know what this clues us in on? Said Abraham wasn't just looking for the promised land here on earth, he was looking beyond the promised land. He was looking to heaven. He was looking forward to a place whose architect and builder is God. Can I say it this way? Your faith will never really thrive at the level it can

if you're putting all your eggs in the earth basket. If everything is about the here and now. I'm not saying don't enjoy what God has blessed you with and I'm all about that. I'm just saying, don't forget this isn't home, everybody. This isn't the final destination. Matter of fact, this is the shortest part of your life. And if you're struggling today, let me encourage you. This is the shortest part of your life. Amen. Your eternity is in heaven. Come on, how many of you are thankful today that no matter what you face on this life, this is not as good as it gets? On your best day, this is not as good as it gets. On your worst day, this is not as good as it gets. As good as it gets is gonna be standing in the presence of our Lord and our Savior, looking him in the eye, standing in his glory, knowing that it was worth it all. Man, if you'll just live with a little bit of that perspective, it'll change how you live. And it'll change how you struggle. Because on your worst days, you've got better days coming. And even if you're not struggling on your best days, you've got better days coming. And so either way we win. It's like what Paul said in Philippians chapter one, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. He's like, man, I'm torn. If I live here, I get to live for God.

But if I die, I get to be in heaven. He's like, oh, that's a tough decision. Why? Because we're not living for this earth. This is not all there is. I love the way C.S. Lewis said it in his book, Mere Christianity, I'll close with this. He said, if you read history, you'll find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. The apostles themselves who set on foot the conversion of the Roman empire, the great men who built up the middle ages, the English evangelicals who abolished the slave trade, all left their mark on earth precisely because their minds were occupied with heaven. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. And I love this thought. Aim at heaven and you'll get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you'll get neither. Aim at heaven, you get earth thrown in. Because now earth has purpose, has meaning. The best days have meaning, the worst days have meaning. Why? Because I'm living for something greater. But aim only at earth and you miss both. So what do you do in this struggle? How do you grow a faith that doesn't fade? But you got to begin with a word from God.

You got to know what God is saying. So you got to spend time in his word. You got to listen to the Holy Spirit. You got to pray, you got to seek godly counsel. You got to have the peace of God. You got to know it's a process, it's developed over time. We serve a crock pot God, everybody. That's old school. My mom used to put things on the crock pot before church. You got home, the house smelled good. That's how God works, it gets better with time. So it's a process, it's seen when you act. You got to act, you got to live this out. You weren't meant to know it only, you were meant to be doers of the word, right? And you got to live with an eternal perspective. You do that and over time you will build a faith that doesn't fade. Will you pray with me? Every head bowed, every eye closed. Maybe you're here today or joining us online or at a campus. And you've never taken the most important faith step. It really is the first one. The first step of faith is to say, Jesus, I believe that you died for me and that you rose from the grave three days later so that I could have the forgiveness of sin. That is the first step of faith. The scripture tells us that if you do that, that you become a brand new creation.

It's one of the best promises in all the Bible that the old is gone and the new comes. All things pass away, all the issues, all the mistakes, all the sin, all the things you would never want anybody to know. He says, I wash all that away and I give you a brand new beginning. And that's where some of you are today. I believe many of you in the room, you're in a place where you need a fresh start in God. You need a brand new beginning. And it is your faith. It is an act of faith. It is saying, I believe you died for me. I believe God raised you from the dead and I make you the Lord and savior of my life. I surrender control. So if that's you today, if you'd say, pastor, that's me, I need that fresh start in God. In just a moment, we're gonna pray together. Before I do, I just wanna know who I'm praying with. Already today and every week people take this step of faith. When I count to three, I just want you to shoot your hand up high enough, long enough for me or a pastor at your location to see. And then we're gonna pray together. No one's gonna embarrass you or point you out. I promise you that. But I believe your hand going up is kind of your first act of faith saying,

God, that's me, I need that. So if that's you on three, you shoot your hand up, then we'll pray together. One, two, three, just shoot it up all over the room. God bless you, God bless you. Just keep it up. Incredible, I see you. God bless you and you. It's beautiful. You can put it down. Church, let's pray this out loud for the benefit of those who just slipped their hand up. Just say, Jesus, I need you. I ask you to forgive me of all my sin. I believe you died for me. I believe God raised you from the dead. Today I'm making you my Lord and savior. Thank you for a brand new beginning. In Jesus's name, everyone said a big amen. Come on, can we clap our hands for those who made that decision? Thank you, thank you. Hey, it's the greatest decision you'll ever make in your life, the most important one. And the Bible tells us all of heaven is rejoicing right now, like there's a party going on in heaven over that decision. And we want to celebrate with you as well, and we want to help you in this journey of faith. And there's a few simple ways that you can let us know you made that decision. Probably the easiest is just to text the name Jesus to 71010, and then we'll respond and

with some information. We'd love to come alongside you and help you in this journey of faith. Two other easy ways. One is Connect Central. On the way out today, you can stop by and just say, hey, I prayed that prayer, I made that decision today. Or the third one, and probably my favorite one, is that you would come and let a prayer team member know. In a few moments, we're going to give you an opportunity to receive prayer, both here on the floor and up in the balcony. And we would love for you to come forward and just say, hey, I've made that decision or I prayed that prayer today. However you want to, just let us know you made that decision. Well, I'm going to ask you to stand all over the room, ask our prayer team to come down front and in the balcony. Team's going to lead us in one quick chorus. And if you have any need at all, why don't you just slip out of your seat? We would love to pray with you. You don't have to be a member of Gateway Church. Maybe you haven't been to church in a long time and think, man, I can't go down there. Yeah, you can. We would love to join our faith together with you. We'd love to bear a burden with you and believe for God to do something great in your life. So as we worship, you make your way down. We sing. All my life All my life you have been faithful All my life you have been so, so good With every breath that I am able I will sing of the goodness of God

Come on, let's lift it up. All my life Oh, all my life you have been faithful Yes, you have, Lord All my life you have been so, so good With every breath that I am able I will sing of the goodness of God I will sing of the goodness of God Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God As we close today, if you have prayer for anything at all, even as everyone heads that direction, if you want to come this way, we're in no rush. Our team would love to pray with you over any need that you have. Hey, can we just take a second one more time and give it up for everybody who gave their life to Jesus today? The reason we're here, and if that's you and you made that decision, I know Pastor Daniel said it, but please don't leave this building today without letting our team help you get in the pathway, give you a Bible, give you a next step in your walk with Jesus. We'd love to partner with you and walk alongside of you. Before we dismiss, I got two quick announcements for you. The first one is that our live recording is coming up for Gateway Worship and Gateway Worship Español. Make some noise if you've been to a live recording before. If you don't know what this is, you just need to know that the songs coming out of this live recording won't just affect Gateway Church, they'll affect the church at large all over the world. And so we're going to record these songs. We would love for you to be a part of that. You can register, get all the information there.

Also this summer, we've got Summer Bash. Shout out to all the kids, everybody needs a day off. We got Summer Bash coming up. And we also got Youth Con if you have a teenager. We'd love for you to be a part of both. We believe in the next generation here at Gateway, and we'd love for your children to be a part of that. Let me pray for you as we dismiss today. God, thank you so much for your word. God, thank you that it doesn't return void. I pray the word we heard today would fall on fresh soil. God, give us the faith to live between Sundays. God, I pray that what we learn today will affect the rest of our week, God. But ultimately, we give you the glory, we give you the honor, and we give you the praise. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen, amen. Thanks so much for being with us. Have a great week.