As For Me And My House - EJ Young (Full Experience)

worship this morning. Come on, he's been faithful. He will always be faithful in whatever season we're going through. So today we're going to lift him up all our praise. Give it to him. Here we go. You're constant in all you do. Yours is the way, the truth, the life that I will choose. Every voice, here we go. God, I know that I know. You're faithful all the time. You're faithful all the time. And I will look to the left or right. And I will keep heaven near to my side. And no, I will not be shaken. Nothing is moving me. I've got a faith to show you things I cannot say. And oh, I know that I know. You won't ever let me go. Every no and every I. You are faithful all the time. I've tasted and I've seen. You've been so, so good to me. God, I know that I know. You're faithful all the time. You're faithful all the time. I won't stand on words of man. God, I'll stand on yours instead. In all of my hope, all of my faith, all of it's in your name. And the world cannot deny all that you've done in my life. All of my days, all of my praise, all of it in Jesus' name. I won't stand on words of man. God, I'll stand on yours instead. In all of my hope, all of my faith, all of it's in your name.

And the world cannot deny all that you've done in my life. All of my days, all of my praise, all of it in Jesus' name. All of my days, all of my praise, all of it in Jesus' name. Oh, I know that I know. You won't ever let me go. Every no and every I. You are faithful all the time. Oh, I know that I know. You won't ever let me go. Every no and every I. You are faithful all the time. I taste it and I see. You've been so, so good to me. God, I know that I know. You're faithful all the time. Oh, faithful all the time. Oh, yeah. Church, how we doing this morning? I need y'all to do me a favor. High five the person next to you. Say it's gonna be a great time at church. Before we continue worshiping, you can remain standing. That's right, welcome to church. We know God has amazing plans for our lives this morning, so let's go to Him in prayer this morning. Heavenly Father, we come into your house today. We just come as we are because you give us that invitation. Thank you that you invite us into your presence just as we are. but you love us too much to leave us just as we are. So we lift our eyes to the heavens and we seek you.

May we not simply go through the motions this morning, but may we have an encounter with the living God. And may we experience your transformation power at work in our lives. Come on, let's lift this up together. You give life. ♪ To the darkness you give hope and you restore ♪ ♪ Every heart that is broken we sing ♪ ♪ Great are you Lord ♪ It's His breath in our lungs. ♪ It's your breath in our lungs so we pour out our praise ♪ ♪ We pour out our praise it's your breath in our lungs ♪ ♪ So we pour out our praise to you only ♪ It's all for you God. We sing great are you Lord. Come on, let's lift it up. You give. ♪ You give life, you give love, you bring life to me ♪ ♪ To the darkness you give hope, you restore ♪ ♪ Every heart that is broken we declare ♪ ♪ We sing great are you Lord, you're worthy, worthy, worthy ♪ ♪ You're worthy, worthy, worthy God, we sing great are you Lord ♪ It's His breath. ♪ It's your breath in our lungs so we pour out our praise ♪ ♪ We pour out our praise it's your breath in our lungs ♪ ♪ In our lungs so we pour out our praise to you only ♪ Sing it's your breath. ♪ It's your breath in our lungs so we pour out our praise ♪ ♪ We pour out our praise it's your breath in our lungs ♪ ♪ So we pour out our praise to you only, oh ♪

♪ We pour out our praise to you God, with gratitude and adoration ♪ ♪ We give you praise, cause you deserve it all ♪ Come on let's lift this up. ♪ And all the earth will shout your praise ♪ ♪ Our hearts will cry, these bones will sing, great are you Lord ♪ ♪ Are you Lord ♪ ♪ And all the earth will shout your praise ♪ ♪ Our hearts will cry, these bones will sing, great are you Lord ♪ ♪ Great are you Lord ♪ ♪ And all the earth will shout your praise ♪ ♪ Our hearts will cry, these bones will sing, great are you Lord ♪ One more time we sing. ♪ And all the earth will shout your praise ♪ ♪ Sing great are you Lord, great are you Lord ♪ It's your breath, it's your breath. ♪ It's your breath in our hearts, so we pour it out to you God ♪ It's your breath in our hearts, so we pour it out our praise. One more time, it's your breath. ♪ It's your breath in our hearts, so we poor out our praise ♪ It's your breath in our hearts, so we pour out our praise, ♪ Great are You Lord ♪ ♪ Great are You Lord ♪ ♪ You're worthy, You're worthy God ♪ ♪ Great are You Lord ♪ Come on, give Him praise today for who He is. You're worthy Lord of all our praise. Working our lives, working this time today, we're here for you. Amen. Church, you may be seated.

Welcome to Fellowship Church, one family in many locations. On behalf of pastors Ed and Lisa, we wanna warmly welcome you to a place where strangers become family, hope is restored, people meet Jesus, discover their purpose, and make a difference. Whether it's through Bible study classes, connect groups, support and recovery groups, our brand new veterans Bible study and breakfast, Valor, our serving teams, or in FC sports, there's a place for you. And this month, you can join us for Love Your Neighbour as we serve communities across the Metroplex and put the love of Jesus into action. Because church isn't just somewhere we go, it's who we are. So if you're ready for your next step, simply tap your seat or reach out in front of you for our Connect card and take a moment to fill it out. We'd love to meet you, help you find community, and if there's something on your heart that you'd like prayer for, we believe in the power of prayer and we'd be honored to pray for you. We can't wait to witness the incredible story God wants to write through your life because the best is yet to come. Good morning, Fellowship Church. Are you glad to be in God's house today?

Oh, come on, you can do better than that. Are you glad to be in God's house today? That's what I thought you said. My name is Dave Clark. I serve as one of the pastors here at Fellowship Church. And on behalf of our pastors, Ed and Lisa Young, and our entire team, we wanna welcome you and thank you so much for joining us this morning. If you're a guest, you're visiting with us for the first time, kinda taking everything in and checking things out, wanna say a special welcome to you. Can we make all of our first-time guests feel welcome this morning? And if you're joining us online, thank you so much for tuning in. We can't wait to have you in person with us very, very soon. You know, we believe that the Bible tells us that everyone was created to do life in community. No one was created to do life alone. And we wanna help you at Fellowship Church find that community and get plugged in. One of the ways you just heard in the video to do that is to fill out a Connect Card. You can find it in the seat back in front of you. If you flip it over on the back, there's an area there just for some brief information. You fill that out. And a little later on in the experience, the offering is gonna pass by and drop that in there.

It just lets our team know how we can get in touch with you. We can answer some questions that you might have and help you get plugged into the community that exists here at Fellowship Church. And you know, I'm so thankful for the community here. And one of the communities that I love that has just started recently over the past couple of weeks is our Bible study, Valor, that has happened for veterans. And this is happening on Wednesday mornings at 8 a.m. How many are thankful for the veterans who have served our great country? Yeah. So many brave men and women have stepped up and served our country. And they're meeting on Wednesday mornings for a Bible study. If you know a veteran, invite them to come. But we have breakfast and just a time together. And it's awesome to hear their stories and their gratitude for our great country. So much so that they stepped up and they responded and they gave of their time and their talent and their energy. And I'm so inspired by that. And I got to think about that. That gratitude should always lead to investment. Our gratitude should always lead to investment. What a picture of the church. I'm so thankful to be an American and I'm thankful that we're born in this great country.

But I'm even more thankful for my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And I'm thankful for what he's done for me and the price that he paid for me. Yeah, you can clap for that. And that gratitude of what he's done for me in my life and what he's done for me in this great church, man, that moves me to generosity. And so I want others to experience what I've experienced. And so I'm so thankful for a church-like fellowship that invests so heavily into the next generation and so heavily into more and more people learning about the good news of Jesus. And so right now, we're gonna move into a time where we have an opportunity to worship by bringing our tithes and our offerings and by practicing generosity. So I would invite you to begin to prepare right now. And as we think about the investments fellowship is making, I think about our Camp and Retreat Center in East Texas, Elaso Ranch. I think about so many kids and so many students over the years. These weeks of this summer have walked through the gates of Olasso, and they're carrying heartache, they're carrying addiction, they're carrying depression, they're carrying anxiety. I'm telling you, the stories we hear

from these kids would shock you. And it's amazing what Jesus does in their hearts and in their lives. As kids surrender their lives to Jesus and they begin to open up to the truth of God's word, we see kids baptized, and their lives are literally turned around in a week of what Jesus does. So thank you, church, for your investment in helping make Olasso Ranch possible. I think about the Anchor Center, I think about this building project that we're in right now, as we're about to break ground in just a few weeks, and we're investing in the next generation so that they would know the love and the hope of Jesus and God's plan and purpose for their lives. It's a space that's gonna be dedicated to students and families and the next gen, and so we're so excited for it. Thank you to those of you who have stepped up and committed beyond your tithes and offerings to make the Anchor Center possible. I wanna encourage you to be faithful in those commitments, and I know God is going to use it to be a beacon of light to so, so many people. So thank you, church, for your generosity. Thank you for your faithfulness. It is making a difference outside of these walls and in our communities,

and I know we won't hear the effects of everything that we're a part of till we get to heaven, and we hear what Jesus has done in so many lives. So thank you for being a part of that. But our hosts are gonna come, and they're gonna receive our offering right now as they begin to pass, and this is a time of celebration. This is a time of just bringing a portion of what God has blessed us with in our lives back to him. If you're a guest, sit back, relax. There's no pressure. You don't have to participate. This is for those of us who call Fellowship Church home. This is our time, and so thank you for being the church. Thank you for being the hands and feet of Jesus. You know, every time we open God's word, he speaks to us. The Bible tells us so, is that every time we open his word and we hear his truth for our lives, he speaks to us individually right where we're at. No matter what you're going through, no matter what you were dragging behind you as you came to church today, no matter what's happening in your home, in your relationships, at your workplace, man, when we crack open God's word, and we lean in, God speaks to us, and he meets us right where we're at.

Today, we're gonna hear a powerful message from Pastor E.J. Young. He's our pastor at our Dallas campus, and he's the son of Pastor Ed and Lisa Young. He leads our support and care ministry here, and he's got a powerful word. So I wanna encourage you to lean in and listen today and ask God, God, what do you wanna say to me? What do you wanna speak to me today? What do you want me to learn? So open your hearts and let's be ready for what God wants to do. I also wanna highlight for you, our newcomer's luncheon is happening immediately following this service. If you wanna join Fellowship Church, you wanna get involved, it's one thing to come and sit in the seats. It's a whole nother to get involved. You will meet your best friendships, your best relationships, some of the greatest people in your life are just waiting for you to get involved here at Fellowship Church. So come, be a part of newcomers, get involved, join the church, we're serving a meal. If you got kids, we'll take care of your kids, but immediately following this service, come and join us and be a part of our newcomer's luncheon. Would you stand with me just for a moment?

We're gonna continue in worship in just a moment, but I wanna read from the word of God this morning. I'm gonna read from Psalms 86. It says, teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness. Give me an undivided heart that I may fear your name. I will praise you, Lord, my God, with all my heart. I will glorify your name forever, for great is your love toward me. Heavenly Father, we come to you right now. God, we thank you for the gift of your son, Jesus, first and foremost and above all. God, we can never thank you enough, never repay you enough. We don't deserve it, we didn't earn it, but God, we thank you for the gift of Jesus, for his blood that was shed, that we might receive that forgiveness and that grace. God, we pray that we would open our hearts this morning to what you wanna say and what you wanna do in and through us. God, may we be better representation of you on this earth, craft us and mold us and shape us into the men and women that you desire us to be. We love you, we praise you, in Jesus' name, amen. ♪ You're worthy, worthy, worthy, I lift you up ♪ ♪ I lift you up ♪ ♪ Worthy of every song we could ever sing ♪ ♪ Worthy of all the praise we could ever bring ♪ ♪ Worthy of every breath we could ever take ♪ we could ever bring. We live for you. We live for you. Sing Jesus. Jesus, the name above

♪ Worthy of all the praise we could ever sing ♪ every other name. Jesus, the only one who could ever save. Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe. We live for you. We live for you. Holy, there is no one like you. There is none beside you. Open up my eyes in wonder. Show me who you are and fill me with your heart and lead me in your love to those around me. Oh, you're so worthy. Worthy of every song we could ever sing. Worthy of all the praise we could ever bring. Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe. We live for you. Oh, Jesus. Jesus, the name above every other name. Jesus, the only one who could ever save. Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe. We live for you. Oh, we live for you. Sing holy. Holy, there is no one like you. There is none beside you. Open up my eyes in wonder. Show me who you are and fill me with your heart and lead me in your love to those around me. Holy, there is no one like you. There is none beside you. Open up my eyes in wonder. Show me who you are and fill me with your heart and lead me in your love to those around me. Oh, will you lead us, Lord? Oh, we set our eyes on you, Jesus. We'll build our lives. Oh, I will build my life upon your love. It is a firm foundation. I will put my trust in you. Oh, and I will not be shaken. I will build my life upon your love. It is a firm foundation. I will put my trust in you. Oh, and I will not be shaken. I will put my trust in you. Oh, and I will not be shaken. Holy, there is no one like you. There is none beside you. Open up my eyes in wonder. Show me who you are and fill me with your heart and lead me in your love to those around me. We sing holy. Holy, there is no one like you. There is none beside you. Open up my eyes in wonder. Show me who you are and fill me with your heart and lead me in your love to those around me. ♪ In your love there's also light ♪ ♪ I will build my life upon your love ♪ ♪ It is a firm foundation ♪ ♪ I will put my trust in you alone ♪ ♪ And I will not be shaken ♪ Jesus, we put our trust in you, our hope in you. We set our lives on you and your foundation. In Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. Amen. I love to fish. I don't know if you understand how much I love to fish. Fishing is one of my greatest hobbies,

my greatest passions. And my father has taught me everything I know. How to cast, where to cast, what bait to use, what rods and reels to use, how to handle fish when they're outside the water. Everything can be credited to my father. One summer when my sisters and I were in elementary school, my dad took my sister and I Landra fishing. It was a beautiful day of fishing. Some amazing fishing took place. And Landra lands the most beautiful fish we'd ever seen. A fish that was not really native to this body of water. So my dad quickly grabs a bucket, fills it with ocean water, gently places his fish in the bucket and says, Landra, we're gonna show your mom, we're gonna show your other sisters when they get back from running errands. Then he turns to me and says, EJ, do not mess with this fish. You understand me? I was like, yes, yes, sir, I understand you. We go back to fishing. But something in the back of my mind was like nagging at me. It's like, EJ, just go check this fish out. It's okay. So I go over to the bucket, reach my hands down. And as soon as my hands hit this water, the fish got spooked. It jumped out of the bucket, hit the dock,

fell into the ocean, never to be seen again. I didn't lose that fish because I didn't know what I was doing. I lost that fish because I did not listen to my father, the one who's taught me everything I know about fishing. Isn't that what you and I do with God? God hands us his word, his way of living. Hey, I have a perfect plan for you. Just obey my word. And then what do we do? We say, my way's better. In the long run, God, my way is better. I know what's best for our lives. And we convince ourselves that our way will work out just fine. This is exactly what a man named Joshua is dealing with. Joshua is in the Old Testament. He's part of the nation of Israel. Think about the nation of Israel, what they experienced, what they went through. God led them out of slavery, led them out of bondage. They witnessed the Red Sea part. They saw God's faithfulness even through their journey in the wilderness. They saw the walls of Jericho crumble and fall to the ground. After all this, after all these miracles, after all the faithfulness of God, Joshua witnessed one by one by one, them turn and follow other gods. If you have your Bibles,

turn with me to the book of Joshua, Joshua chapter 24, verse 15. It says this. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. No Christian wakes up one morning and says, hey, guess what, God, you're not the center of my life. Hey, guess what, God, I'm no longer going to serve you. But this is exactly what the Israelites were doing. And if we're not careful, we can fall into the same trap. Today I wanna show us some ways that we can identify areas in our lives where we can fall into that trap and how we can prevent it. So if you're taking notes, First thing I want you to write down is that every house serves something. Every house serves something. Imagine a beautiful neighborhood. It could be in Dallas, Fort Worth, Frisco, or right here in Grapevine. Now imagine you've been given the keys to these homes in these neighborhoods. You come in through the front door of the first home, man, it's all about the children's activities. It's about sports, recitals, the next practice, the next great coach, driving all over the Metroplex. Summer, spring, winter, and fall

is jam-packed with activities. Dinner conversations are had more in the car than they are at home, and you're hoping and praying, maybe my child will be part of the club that gets a scholarship opportunity. It's the sports, it's the activities. You come into the next home, and man, it's all about the career. Mom and dad chasing the next job promotion, the next pay raise, flying to the next conference. Mom and dad's career is the most important thing in the home. Then you come to another home. It looks like the first two. It has its flaws, has its mess-ups and foul-ups, but this one's different. Why? Because Christ is the center of this home. It's rightly ordered. Every one of these homes is worshiping something. Every home is worshiping something. Notice that Joshua does not ask the nation of Israel, hey, will you serve? He already knows the answer to that question. He's saying, hey, choose for this day whom you will serve. Why does this matter to you and to me? How is this applicable thousands of years later in our lives? Because little by little, just like the Israelites do, we turn and serve other gods.

It's shown in our schedules, it's shown in our priorities. And like that fish, I thought I knew better. I thought I knew better than my dad, and we think that we know better than God. We say, for me and my house, we serve the Lord, but our actions tell another story, and that leads to destruction. That leads to higher stress levels, bad habits, bad relationships. Little by little is how it happens. I want us to walk through your home. Maybe you have an apartment, condo, townhome, single family home, whatever your living situation may be, we all have a place we call home. Let's go to the living room. Where life happens, where relationships are had, conversations happen. Is your home centered around sports, dance, cheer practice, work, another vacation, another round of golf? Those things are great, those things are fine. Enjoy them and do them. But I have a question. Does Christ shape your schedule, or does your schedule determine where Christ fits in it? Is church another checked box, another part of your to-do list? Oh, maybe this Sunday I can make it and I can check that box off. Yeah, I'm good with God.

Our house serves God. You, the average Christian, only attends church once every six weeks. Some say it's up to once every 10 weeks. Marrieds, can you imagine only seeing your spouse once every 10 weeks? That marriage would not last. It would not last. We say, as for me and my house, we serve the Lord, but our schedules are saying a completely different thing. Pastor Cliff Keneckley, an amazing apologist, amazing theologian, was once asked this question. He said, he was asked, can you be a Christian and not be a part of a local church? He simply responded by saying, sure you can. Not a good one, not a good one. You and I cannot be the people that God wants us to be if we're not plugged in to a local church. And here's the thing. This is not me and old EJ hating on hobbies, hating on activities. I love to golf, play tennis. I love to fish. I love all these things. God's given us these great gifts, but good gifts, man, they make some terrible gods. Idolatry rarely begins with bad things. It begins when good things become the most ultimate thing. We say yes to a golf trip. We say no to being here on Sundays.

We say, oh, my child has this practice that he needs to be involved in. He needs this extra training. I'm sorry, I can't be at church. And then we say no to church, and then we say no to having our students here at the mix. We say no. no, no, and no, and then we're making compromises that we never intended to make. Again, what does your schedule show you and I are serving? So we've been through the living room. Let's go to the kitchen, where bread is broken, where great conversations take place at the dinner table. What do your relationships look like? Do you have the right they in your life? They is, the right they are trustworthy friends. They're H, honest. You need to have honest people in your corner telling you the real deal. You should have E, encouraging friends. You shouldn't have friends that tear you down. You need to have friends that build you up. You need to have Y, yielded to God friends, the right they. And the wrong they will take you to places you never intended to go. Singles, we have so many singles people here at Fellowship Church. Are you dating God's way? Are you dating someone or pursuing someone that has a relationship with Jesus

and can say without a shadow of a doubt that their house serves the Lord? Or are you missionary dating? Dating someone, pursuing someone far away from Christ and you're hoping and praying that eventually they'll come around, eventually they'll bow the knee to Jesus? And we have many people here who are playing house. You're shacking up, hooking up, not wanting to get married and you have the audacity to carry this Bible in acting like it's not a big deal. Hey, this little area, God does not really care that I'm living with my boyfriend or girlfriend. He does. He absolutely cares and it's a sin. We're living in sin if we're doing that. Marrieds, does your marriage point others to Jesus? The people that are looking at your marriage, can they say, oh my goodness, so and so, their life, their marriage revolves around Jesus. Are you helping your spouses grow in their relationship with Christ? Are you helping them pursue Christ? And when your kids look at their parents' marriage, are they seeing the same thing? Oh my goodness, mom and dad, they love God and they love his church. Now let's go to a room that no one really sees, the bedroom, because I doubt you let many guests, when they come to your house, visit your home,

go into your bedroom. What does your relationship with God look like when no one's watching? Has that slowly faded beneath the surface? Are you spending time with God in your quiet time? Are you praying to God about what you're going through, what you're requesting him to do in your life? Are you feeding your mind with the things of God, or are you feeding your flesh? Are you feeding a quiet time or doom scrolling on Instagram? Because often the private decisions that reveal what we truly worship. Joshua, again, isn't asking you and I, hey, will you worship? Again, he knows the answer to this question. He's asking you and I who we're going to worship, because we only have two options in this case. Hundreds of years later, a man named Jesus comes on the scene in the New Testament, and he asks us this question. He asks, hey, what are you building on? What are you building your house on? See, Joshua says, hey, who are you gonna serve? Jesus asks, what are you building on? These are not two different questions. They're the same question from two different angles. So the first thing is every house serves something. Number two, every house is built on something. Matthew chapter seven, verses 24 through 27, says this. Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine

puts them into practice, is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, the winds blew, and beat against that house, yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, the winds blew, and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash. Last week, if you were not here at church, Pastor Sam Kelly did an amazing message on Matthew seven. If you're not here, I encourage you, when you go home today, go watch that message. This verse, this parable that Jesus said is so powerful and so relevant to you and me. So I have a question. Are you a wise or a foolish builder? Let's see, what are the words of Jesus? What has Jesus told us to do? Jesus says, hey, be generous, forgive others, tell the truth, take temptation seriously, choose prayer over worry, treat others the way you want to be treated. Then in the Gospel of John, it says, Jesus answered this in John 14, six, I'm the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Then John 3, 16, a verse that many of us know, it says, for God so loved the world

that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. I'm talking about the Gospel, the good news of Jesus. But before we can hear the good news, we have to get to some bad news. The bad news is that we've all fallen short of the glory of God, we've all sinned. I'm a sinner and you're a sinner and we're in need of a savior. And the worst news is that we can do nothing to bridge the gap for our mistakes we've made. But the great news is that Jesus did the work for you and for me. He came down from heaven to earth to pay the penalty for our mistakes. He rose again and he is living victoriously in heaven. And that gift, that free gift is offered to you and to me, that free gift of salvation. We can either choose to accept it or we can choose to reject it. It's by grace through faith. Friends, if we're just hearing these words of Jesus and not doing anything with them, if they're in one ear and out the other and we're not putting them into practice, we are like that foolish man, the foolish builder. From the streets, I bet both houses could've looked similar. They could've used a similar building plan. Yes, one was obviously on the sand,

one was obviously on the rock, but they could've looked the same. What happened? When the storms came, the storms revealed what curb appeal couldn't. The storms revealed what curb appeal couldn't. Following Christ does not exempt you and I from the storms. The Bible never tells you and I that as Christians we will be exempt from life's troubles, life's turmoils. It says, though, if we have built our foundation on the rock that we will be able to withstand it when the storms do come. I've seen this played out beautifully in my life. My parents modeled what it is to have a foundation built on the rock. Way before they preached it on the platform, they were demonstrating it to my sisters and I at home. And they weathered some serious storms that, as a young person, we didn't realize it. We didn't realize it until we were much older, knowing they went through so many storms, and they were able to withstand it, protect my sisters and I. And not only that, they taught us how to build our own foundation. Because they knew that my siblings and I could not rely on their foundation when we got older. We had to have our own foundation and start building it early so when the storms do come,

because, again, the storms will come, our foundation was strong as a rock. When my wife and I were pregnant with our son, Tripp, we went in for a routine appointment, and they did the sonogram, sonogram ended. They brought us back to the office, they sat us down, they said, Mr. and Mrs. Young, I'm so sorry to tell you this, but your son has a VSD. He has a hole in his heart. He's gonna require open-heart surgery as soon as he's born. It was like a category five hurricane just came out of nowhere and just rocked Jess and I's foundation, unexpected. We were looking so forward to having a healthy child, everything that was gonna come with it. Then this news, this bomb that was just dropped on us, and they said, hey, we need to see you back in eight weeks for a follow-up. Eight weeks of torrential downpour, eight weeks of waves just crashing and crashing against our foundation. Our prayer was, hey, God, please, God, heal our son while he's still in the womb. But Lord, we'll trust you no matter what the outcome. If he's born with this and he has to get open-heart surgery, we'll be praying for the surgeon, we'll be praying for the doctors, the nurses, because we're gonna trust you no matter what the outcome may be. We get to the end of the eight weeks,

come back for the follow-up appointment. They do the sonogram. They come back to the office after the sonogram ends. They said, Mr. and Mrs. Young, I can't believe I'm telling you this, but the hole in the heart's not there anymore. VSD is gone. We were like, thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus, for that miracle. And I know that's not everyone's story. So many of us have prayed for miracles, prayed for storms to cease, and the miracles didn't happen. We prayed for my sister to be healed. That did not come. We prayed for my grandmother to be healed. That did not come. But don't wait for the storms to start building your foundation. Foundations are poured long before the storms come. And if you're in the middle of a storm, it's not too late. Yeah, we can give it up for the head. And if you're in the middle of a storm, it's not too late. It's not too late to start building your foundation on the rock. The rock is Jesus. Rock is Jesus. Again, Joshua said, choose this day in whom you will serve. Today, I want to ask you to identify three areas in your life where you need to start choosing this. The first is choosing your foundation. Many people here today do not have a relationship with Jesus. You've been kicked in the tires of coming to church. You've never given the Lord tax, title, license, your life. You've never given the reins. Today needs to be that day. And I know as I'm speaking, the Holy Spirit is stirring in your heart, stirring in your soul, that today is the day to make it. Do not put off this decision. You need to make today the day where you bow the knee to Jesus. Others here have been leashed up, chained up to unforgiveness. There's people that have betrayed you, people that have hurt you, and you're still holding on to that, holding on to that resentment, holding on to that pain. You need to release it, release it to God and seek forgiveness. Maybe there's unrepentant sin in your life. There's something that you've done in your past and you've never confessed it to God, never confessed it to a loved one. You need to confess that today. So you need to choose your foundation. You also need to choose to build on top of that foundation. A foundation is nothing without a structure. I was 11 years old. I was sitting in my dad's office, been to church multiple times already, like a good PK. I was like polishing my halo and patting myself on the back. Yeah,

I've been to church multiple times, better than anyone else. And then my dad turns the corner to go on stage to preach and he turns and looks at me. He says, EJ, what are you doing? I was like, nothing. I was just playing on my phone. He point blank asked me, EJ, why are you not serving? I was like, I didn't have an answer. I was choking on my own words. I couldn't even get anything out. And he's like, EJ, pick a ministry. So I picked a ministry. He said, go there now. I walked to that ministry. My dad walked onto stage to preach. I remember that Sunday like it was yesterday. Looking back, my dad was not trying to fill a quota, feel a volunteer role. He's like, oh, we're really light in students or really light in greeting. EJ needs to go there and fill a spot. No, he was not doing that. He knew that I loved the church. He knew I loved being here, but he was giving me greater ownership. He knew that once I started investing my own time, my own money, my own research, my own energy into this place, that I would grow to love it 10 times over. And that's exactly what Jesus is saying in Matthew 6. Matthew 6 says, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. We often think that our heart leads our investment, but Jesus says the opposite. Our heart follows what you and I invest in. That's the greatest gift my parents gave me, a love for this church, because I was in here no matter what rain sleet or shine, I was here. I was here in the mix. The church was not even an option. And I know that's a lot of kids here, students here, that's you. Church is not an option. Grow to love this place. That's what my parents did for me. They unlocked the keys in my life to now I'm investing into this place. So we gotta choose your foundation. We gotta build on the foundation. And once that house is built, we gotta open our house to so many people. My parents, growing up, countless dinners, we had people who were far away from God at our dinner table. People who had never been to church in their life were at our dinner table, dinner conversations with them. My parents sharing Jesus with them, inviting them to church, modeling to my siblings and I what it means to be the hands, the feet of Jesus, living out the great. commission, which is to go there, go forth, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. My parents lived that out, demonstrated that to my siblings.

So when we built our own house, hey, it's now our turn to start inviting people to church, sharing our faith with people. Have you done the same? Have you opened your house, opened your life to people who are far away from Jesus? God's placed you in a specific area for a reason. You've been placed in a vast sea of humanity to be the light of God to someone. You need to invite someone to church today. You need to share your faith with someone today. When I read Joshua 24, verse 15, again, I think about my son, Trip, whom I love so much. I love him to death. When I read that verse, my hope and my prayer is not that he'll remember a perfect father. He does not have one. My prayer is that he remembers a house that grace was quick, forgiveness was quick, that we had a house centered around serving Jesus, and Jesus was at the center of his mom's and mine's marriage. That's my prayer. My prayer is for you, parents, grandparents, singles, whatever age and stage of life you're in, what type of inheritance are you leaving? Are you leaving an inheritance of earthly treasures, things that'll eventually turn to ash? Or are you helping build, invest in, to your kids, your neighbors, your grandkids,

a house that they could build in heaven with heavenly treasures, showing them what it means to have a relationship with Jesus because today, you can make that decision because my hope and prayer is for everyone here today to be able to say, for me and my house, we serve the Lord. Would you bow your head with me? Dearly Father God, thank you so much for this message, God. Right now, I know in a room this size, there's so many people here who have never bowed the knee to you, Jesus. If that's you here today, and you're ready to give your life to Christ, I wanna lead you in a simple prayer. Just say this prayer after me. Just say, dear Jesus, I admit to you I'm a sinner. I believe you came from heaven to earth to pay the penalty for my mistakes. Right now, Jesus, I commit my life to you. I repent of my sin and I turn towards you. Jesus, thank you for rescuing me. Thank you for saving me. We pray this in your most mighty and precious name, amen. What foundation will you build your life on? What a powerful message, powerful reminder to all of us. If you're here and you prayed that prayer with EJ for the very first time to ask Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, that is the single greatest decision that you will ever make.

It literally will change the trajectory of your life. Can we celebrate all those who made that decision today to ask Jesus to be their Lord and Savior? And we would love to point you towards a couple of resources. You know, following Jesus is not a solo sport. It's not meant to be done alone, but we would love to partner with you. We have some tables along the side of the room where our prayer team are located. And immediately following this service, if you would be so kind as to stop by those tables, we have a gift we would love to give you. We have a Bible we would love to give you. We have also a little booklet that says, what's your next step? It was written by our pastor. And it just walks through some of the foundations of what it means to begin a journey in following Jesus. It gives you a daily reading plan for the next 30 days, some great handles on how do I live this out and how do I follow Jesus. So I encourage you, stop by those tables. And if you're here and maybe you need prayer, maybe you're going through something in your life, you're dealing with a circumstance or a situation or a family situation and you wanna pray with someone, we would love the opportunity to pray with you immediately following the service today. So be sure to stop by there.

If you're here and you've never been baptized, the Bible tells us that after we receive Jesus and make him our Lord and Savior in our lives, that right after we're supposed to go public with that decision through baptism. Maybe you were spritzed or sprinkled as a child and that's great, but baptism, the Bible tells us, is a personal decision. It's a personal decision that you make for yourself once you've chosen to follow Christ. And so you say, Dave, I don't really get that. All it is is you're saying, hey, I follow Jesus and I'm going public, I wanna let the world know. It's that outward expression. You wanna get baptized today, we would love to talk with you. Stop by our tables. Talk to our team, we would love to help you get baptized. It's a great next step in what it means to follow Jesus. Also wanna remind you, we have newcomers happening. It's right after this experience, just follow the signs in the atrium. We're serving a meal, we'll take care of your kids. Join the church, get plugged in, don't sit on the sidelines. If you're looking for a great application step after that message, hey, it's jump in, get involved, see what God will do when you begin to follow him in all the areas of your life. So jump in, be a part of the church and join today. We would love to have you.

When we know that God never stops teaching us, no matter what season of life we're in, we can always learn. There's always an opportunity to grow. We can become stronger. We can discover his plan and purpose for our lives and we can discover who God is creating us to be. And that's why we're so excited. Pastor Ed is kicking off a brand new series in two weeks called Now We Go to School, Now We Go to School. And we're gonna be talking about some big topics, things like depression and anxiety. What do we do with these things? Maybe you're here today and you say, man, that's me. I'm dealing with some of that. What does the Bible say? How do we deal with that, with what the Bible tells us? How do we live that out? We're gonna be talking about bullying. We're gonna be talking about peer pressure. We're gonna be talking about technology. We're gonna be talking about priorities. These are great topics that no matter the age or stage of life you're in, we all need to learn. We all need to learn how to deal with this God's way. Lean in during this series as we go back to school. And that weekend, we're gonna be kind of celebrating and commemorating the back to school season that's upon us. We'll have Schoolpalooza down in FC Kids. So if you've got kids,

we've got tons of things going on for them. Water slides and water balloons and games and treats. And we've got giveaways for students that weekend. It's gonna be awesome. We're also collecting school supplies for families who are in need. We want to make sure every kid that goes back to school feels seen, feels valued, feels loved, and has what they need to go back to school. So if you wanna be a part of that, you can scan the QR code. You can tap the seat back in front of you, but help us collect school supplies to be a blessing to those in our community. It's gonna be a great time. But that weekend, we're gonna have a special time of prayer over teachers, over school administrators. So maybe you know some teachers, some school administrators. Invite them to be here that weekend as we kick off that series. We're gonna pray over them. We've got special VIP parking for them that weekend. So man, it's gonna be a powerful weekend. Invite someone to be back with you. But everybody say next Sunday. You can do better than that. Come on, next Sunday. That's what I thought you said. Hey, how many know that we are emotional people? How many know?

Man, God gave us some emotions. I see some wives jamming some husbands right now. See, I told you, I'm emotional. No, it's good, we all have emotions. And God can use those emotions, and he can use them to shape us into the people that he desires us to be. And we're gonna hear a special message from Landra Young-Hughes is gonna be sharing on that. So be back next weekend. Invite someone to be here. It's gonna be a powerful Sunday. Would you stand with me and let's declare this truth over our lives as we leave here today. Say, Jesus, thank you that in you I am loved, forgiven, and blessed. And for you, I will reach up in worship, reach out to share my faith, and reach in to become more like you. And because of you, I know the best is yet to come. We love you guys. We'll see you next week. God bless.