God's Purpose for Our Lives

Good morning Revolution Church! Let's all stand. What a beautiful, beautiful day to come to the Lord's house. Lift up our voices, worship Him. Come on, let's sing this together. I pray over my heart and mind. I am healed by Your stripes. Your blood declares that I am free. In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray. Calling on the power of heaven, I proclaim. Every weapon formed against me must break. In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray. I draw a permanent boundary line. The enemy has no right to come near my family. No schemes could ever undo God's will, no matter the circumstance. The cross has sealed my destiny. In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray. Calling on the power of heaven, I proclaim. Every weapon formed against me must break. In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray. I know all the power of fear and darkness. My soul is every key to every victory that I hold. In the mighty name of Jesus. So I will not fear, I will not fear when the enemy comes near. On the doorframe of my life is the blood of Jesus Christ. I will not fear, I will not fear. There's an army of angels here. I'm protected on all sides by the blood of Jesus Christ. I will not fear, I will not fear when the enemy comes near. On the doorframe of my life is the blood of Jesus Christ. I will not fear, I will not fear. There's an army of angels here. I'm protected on all sides by the blood of Jesus Christ. In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray. Calling on the power of heaven, I proclaim. Every weapon formed against me must break. In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray. In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray. In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray. I know all the power of fear and darkness. My soul is every key to every victory that I hold. In the mighty name of Jesus. In the mighty name of Jesus. In the mighty name of Jesus. Oh Jesus, how great is your love. How great is your love. You know church, the Bible says that the perfect love of Christ casts away all fear. It also says that all eye has seen, no ear has heard, nor has it entered the mouth. mind of human beings the great things that God has prepared for us so whenever you feel like the battle is closing in or the enemy starts to speak lies into your mind don't give in to fear sing this out say i will not fear i will not fear when the enemy comes near on the doorframe of my life is the blood of Jesus Christ i will not fear i will not fear there's an army of angels here i'm protected on all sides by the blood of Jesus Christ say i will not fear i will not fear declare it out loud on the doorframe of my life is the blood of Jesus Christ come on you can do a better job lift it up say it with confidence like you know it you have no reason to fear you have no reason to give in to fear come on lift up your voice and say it's the blood of Jesus Christ so i will not fear i will not fear there's an army of angels here i'm protected on all sides i proclaim my name

the mighty name must go there'll never be another name he's the name of so against every weapon that's formed the thief and his plans will pass over when he sees the red on the door i plead the blood of jesus i plead the blood of jesus so this home belongs to the lord so i'm not afraid to remind him that he has no claim in this war i plead the blood of jesus i plead the blood of jesus thank you for the blood thank you for the blood My future is glory to glory. My freedom's been purchased in full. All of the weight of His suffering, there will receive His reward. I plead the blood. I plead the blood of Jesus. It's more than enough. I plead the blood of Jesus. My shield and my shelter, it's my defense. I claim it over and over again. I plead the blood. I plead the blood of Jesus. It's more than enough. I plead the blood of Jesus. Thank you. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood. Nothing but the blood. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood. Nothing but the blood. Nothing can force in its own. Nothing but the blood. Nothing but the blood. Nothing good that I have done. Nothing but the blood. Nothing but the blood. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood. Nothing but the blood. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood. Nothing but the blood. Nothing can force in its own. Nothing but the blood. Nothing but the blood.

Nothing good that I have done. Nothing but the blood. Nothing but the blood. This is all my hope and peace. Nothing but the blood. Nothing but the blood. For my future is my plea. Nothing but the blood. I plead the blood. I plead the blood of Jesus. It's more than enough. I plead the blood of Jesus. My shield and my shelter. It's my defense. I claim it over and over again. My shield and my shelter. It's my defense. I claim it over and over again. My shield and my shelter. It's my defense. I claim it over and over again. I plead the blood. I plead the blood of Jesus. It's more than enough. I plead the blood of Jesus. Thank you for the blood. Thank you for the blood. Thank you Jesus. Jesus is something that never gets old to me. I think about the fact that our freedom and our life was bought with blood. That's the Jesus that we serve. And he didn't have to do any of it, but he came to this earth, humbled himself, took on our cross, our beating, our punishment, our shame, our regret. Come on, somebody. And he made a way for us. And I think this morning that Jesus Christ of Nazareth, think about that name, holy on the highest of highs. He is the name above every name. And today, Lord Jesus, I know you're in the room. Thank you for being here. Thank you for showing up. And every week you show up at Rio Revolution Church, and man, I am just so grateful for your presence, God.

Are you guys grateful for his presence? Come on, tell him right now. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. Lord, we pray to you right now, we put you up on the highest shelf in this house. At Revolution Church, Lord, we're grateful that you would stop in and that you would pour into us today. God, we ask for rivers of living water to be poured out in this sanctuary today. Talk to each individual in a different way, God, because that's what your spirit does. So right now, would you begin to almost hug all of us, Lord, with your presence? God, we wanna hear you, we wanna know you, we wanna be close to you. And as we draw near to you, draw near to us. In Jesus' name, amen. Come on, give him praise this morning. Thank you, God. You guys can be seated. I've got a few things that I wanna run by you guys. How many of you guys are excited that worship night is coming up this Wednesday? Come on. Thank you, Lord. If you have never been to one of our worship nights, make sure you stop in this Wednesday at 7 p.m. Man, God is going to move mightily.

He always does. Also, last week, we mentioned these side doors right here. It's got exit signs above them. These side doors are gonna be locked in the coming weeks. And so we just wanted to just prepare the congregation. We're doing this for the safety of our kids. Is everybody okay with that? We're gonna lock the doors and make sure that our kids are safe. And so we're excited for that. Also, Connect is today. So if you signed up for that, make sure to get down to the pavilion. Here's the kicker, it's like full. We have 100 people coming to the pavilion. Amen. Amen. So if you wanted to sign up and didn't get the chance, what I wanna encourage you to do is step one or Connect one will be September the 6th next month. Make sure you sign up for that. You'll get to meet Pastor Pacer and Connie and the team. And I think you will be blessed for doing that. So make sure you do it. And then lastly, we have our grand opening of our four-year happening, okay? This is what I'm excited about, Pastor, is we're gonna have ice cream out front. That is next Sunday. So make sure that you're here.

There's gonna be ice cream out front. There's gonna be balloons and all kinds of cool stuff, backdrops, make sure you bring the family. We just wanna celebrate, come on, all that God is doing because he's doing a lot, okay? And then real quick, this is my favorite part of the service, honestly, because it's so foreign to so many people and it's giving our offering to the Lord. Here's the cool thing. Did you guys know that this is actually a time of worship to God? So many people don't see it like that. And obviously, the enemy doesn't want you to see it like that. But there's a lot of ways to worship God. I was a worship pastor for a long, long time, okay? And I worship God through music. But what God taught me through my obedience to him and through the years is that there are so many ways to worship God. worship him, and one of those ways, biblically, is sacrifice. Do you guys realize that the Bible is full of sacrifice and that was their form of worship? That's so weird, man, to us today, because we don't do that, right, in a lot of ways. But here's the thing. Sacrifice is something that God will ask you to do all the time. Why?

Because when we get outside of our own control and we give him control, something happens in the spiritual and in the natural. And so what I wanna ask you to do today is trust God with your money. Don't give because of me. Don't give because of the church. Don't give because of Pastor Pastor and how awesome he is, right? Don't do that. Do you like that? So don't give because of those reasons, but give unto the Lord. The enemy comes in and he tries to tell us all the reasons why we shouldn't do something for God. And I know that you've been there. And I wanna tell you today, some of y'all's finances are messed up because you keep listening to the Lord and not tithing and giving your offerings to God. God isn't allowed to touch the financial part of your life because you are not allowing him to do that. So I encourage you today, if you have never given, do it today, right? We're not gonna be weird about it because this is a form of worship. Do you guys like worshiping the Lord? Well, we gotta worship him in all the ways that he is to be worshiped. And so this is one of them.

And I wanna say lastly, if you're a new guest with us, thank you for choosing Revolution Church as your stopping place today. You just found the best church in the whole planet, the whole world, right? I'm not biased, it's the truth. I'm just kidding. But we are so grateful that you're here. Make sure you get a gift, stop and get a gift with us. And make sure you connect with us too. Pastor, I don't like it when new people come in and then they don't get connected because you don't even get to see half of what's going on here. And so make sure that you get connected. We wanna connect with you. We wanna walk with you. And we're grateful for your presence here today. All right, we're gonna pray and we're gonna get on with the service. Heavenly Father God, we love you. We thank you, Jesus, for your presence here. We thank you that right now we get to take the time and worship you through giving, our offering, our tithes, Lord. We get to worship you and say you can have it all. God, we love you and we hold nothing back from you, no area of our life. God, I pray that you bless this service. Lord, as we go on, Lord, allow Pastor David,

just give him the words, the perfect words to say to every individual in this room today. God, we trust you, we love you, we give you all the credit for everything that you're doing right now in Jesus' name. And everybody said, amen. Good morning, Revolution Church. We are so glad you're here with us today. I'm Amy, and I just want to personally thank you for being the hands and feet of Jesus during this helping hand season, serving the community so well. We are so thankful for each volunteer that showed up to help us out. Absolutely, and thank you so much, church. You guys are wonderful. We had so much fun with the volunteer appreciation party. You guys were fabulous and we really do appreciate you. I want to bring up the Connect 2. It is next Sunday in the third service at 1130. We invite you to come to that, register online on the website, and we will talk about who we are, our beliefs, and you can do your spiritual gifts. It's really wonderful to see where you connect. That's awesome. And the Grief Life is going to be kicking off their season on August 17th at six o'clock in the pavilion. You can visit our website for more information on that. Yes, and we also have Grief Share Support Group. It's a 13-week group.

It starts this Thursday from 6.30 to 8.30, and we want you to sign up on the website. Enjoy that. Church, we are so glad you're here with us today. If you need prayer, our prayer team would love to pray with you at the end of the service. Enjoy the service. Well, good morning, Revolution. It is great to be in God's house. Can you say amen to that? Turn to your neighbor and say, I am so glad that you are here today. I am so glad that you are here today. It is a wonderful day to come together and worship God, to be in His presence. Because I happen to believe God is doing a fresh work of the Spirit in the church today. I believe that with all of my heart. Today it is my privilege and my honor to share a word with you. The title of the message today is God's Purpose for Our Lives. God's Purpose for Our Lives. How many of you want to know what God's purpose for your life is? I believe with all of my heart that God has a plan and a purpose for your life. That you're not here by accident, that you're not just randomly here. But God has a very specific purpose and plan for your life. And I believe that God wants to let us know what that purpose is. Next Sunday we're going to launch a brand new series entitled No Empty Seats. But today I get to share just a stand-alone message with us. And I'm praying right now that the Holy Spirit will speak to every person here. I'm praying that God will minister to those in almost 900 correctional facilities that are joining us right now. We love y'all. God bless you. We pray for you every day. And we want God to do something incredible in your life.

We're so thankful that we have the privilege of ministering into correctional facilities every Sunday. And also every Tuesday night during Celebrate Recovery. What a blessing that is. We just thank God for that and appreciate that so very, very much. You know, in 1 Chronicles chapter 12, verse number 32. In 1 Chronicles chapter 12, David is calling an army together to overthrow Saul. And David calls for soldiers to come from all over the region. And in 1 Chronicles chapter 12, it gives us a list of those who responded to David's call. And when you get down to verse number 32, it says, And from Ishakar, men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do. What is the Scripture saying there? It's saying that the men of Ishakar had a divine ability, a spiritual ability, to know what God's plan was and what the nation of Israel should do. I happen to believe that we need some people today who know what the will of God is, what the purpose of God is, and what the church needs to be doing. We need to be doing the work of the kingdom of God. And God wants to speak to us about doing that. I believe that God has always, you look back through history, God has always had men and women who had ears to hear what the Spirit was saying. You know, you can just go along, you can show up at church on Sunday, you can be a good person, you can live a good life, but you can fall so far short of God's purpose for your life. God has so much more for us than most of the time we're aware of. And God used the children of Ishakar, the sons of Ishakar, to help David understand how they should attack and how they should fight. I look back through history and I see men like Martin Luther. Martin Luther was a German priest, a monk, a German priest. He was part of the Catholic Church. And one of the main avenues that Martin Luther had an issue with within the Catholic Church was indulgence. What was indulgence?

Indulgence was that you could go to the church and you could pay to have your sins forgiven. You could pay to have your sins forgiven. And Martin Luther recognized that that is not a biblical teaching, and he began to take a stand against that. And in 1517, he wrote 1995 Theses and he nailed them to the walls of the church in Wittenberg, declaring, you don't pay to get your sins forgiven, Jesus Christ paid to forgive your sins. He paid the once and for all price for your sins to be forgiven. And do you know what happened? The Protestant Reformation began to happen. The Protestant church began to rise up saying, we don't go through these ceremonies, we go directly to God. We don't have to have a human intermediator, we have access to the Father through Jesus Christ the Lord. Somebody say amen for that. God used this man to understand what God was wanting to do. And then there's John Wesley. How many of you have heard of John Wesley? John Wesley was part of the Church of England. But that time of John Wesley in the 1700s... There wasn't much morality in the church. You could basically live any way that you wanted to live and just declare yourself to be a Christian. As a matter of fact, let me pause for a second. Maybe we need some John Wesleys today. How many of you know it is not the will of God that you come to church and act like a Christian on Sunday and act like a sinner the rest of the week? I'm going to jump up on my soapbox here for a second. One of the things that really drives me crazy is for people to say, I'm just an old sinner saved by grace, bully-walkie. I'm not going to interpret that or translate that for you.

I didn't mean to say that. What that really meant is not true. You're not an old sinner saved by grace. If you've repented of your sins and accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you're a saint of God. You're a new creation. You're a new believer in Jesus Christ. John Wesley began to preach a message like this, if you have accepted Jesus, you need to live a different way than you lived before. You need to be different than who you used to be. You used to live one way, God's calling you to live another way. What used to be good for you, you know is bad for you. What you used to think is right, you now know is wrong. We need to hear that message today. John Wesley began to preach a message of holiness, of sanctification. What is sanctification? It's that process of God changing you. It's that process of you becoming more and more like God wants you to be. John Wesley began preaching that message and the Church of England said, you're not preaching that in our churches. Can you imagine? So what did John Wesley do? He climbed on his horse and he began to ride all over Europe. It's documented that John Wesley traveled 250,000 miles on a horse preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's a quarter of a million miles on a horse preaching about Jesus Christ. It's documented that he preached over 40,000 sermons, that he led people to faith in Jesus Christ and to a life of holiness and morality and pure living. Because he knew what the will of God was, he understood what the purposes of God was. In the early 1900s, there was a man by the name of William Seymour.

He was an African American pastor in Los Angeles, California. He grew up in the Baptist church and this isn't anything against the Baptist church, it's just where he was. He began praying for more. He said, God, I want more of you. I want more of your presence in my life. I want more of your power in my life. And for almost three years, he prayed hours a day that God would do something more in his life. And one day, the Holy Ghost fell upon him and he began to speak in tongues and he began to worship God. And other people around him received the baptism in the Holy Spirit. And the next thing you know, people were coming from all over the country and the Azusa Street Revival of 1906 was birthed. And out of the Azusa Street Revival, the Assemblies of God were birthed. The Church of God was birthed. The United Pentecostal Church of God was birthed. The Charismatic Movement was birthed. Out of that movement, this church was birthed. Because a man understood what God was wanting to do. So my question is, what is God wanting to do today? I'll tell you what I'm hearing. God is wanting to grow up his church. God is wanting to mature his church. I want to tell you this. It's time for believers to get off the bottle. It's time for believers to stop wearing diapers. Can I just speak plainly? It's time for us to grow up to become men and women of God. How does that happen?

That happens when we fully surrender to the Holy Spirit. I believe the Holy Spirit is wanting to do a fresh work in the church today. But Joel said in Joel 2, and in those days, and in those days I will pour my spirit out on all flesh. Let me tell you something, God wants to pour the Holy Holy Spirit out on you. Oh, I thank God for salvation. How many of you are thankful you're saved today? I'm thankful that my sins are forgiven, never to be remembered against me anymore. Woo! Somebody give praise to God today. Amen. Oh, he sought me. And he bought me. He paid the price for my redemption. And I'm thankful for that today. But I want you to know that's not the end. It's not are you ready for heaven, it's are you ready for earth. It's not are you ready to die, are you ready to live. How are we gonna do that? By the power of the Holy Spirit. God wants to mature his bride. God wants to grow up the church. You see, Jesus Christ is not coming back for an immature church. He's coming back for a grown up church. He's coming back for a mature church.

And it says in Ephesians chapter five in verse 27, 25 through 27, husband, love your wives just as Christ loved the church. How many of you know that's a high bar right there? How many husbands do we have in the house? Some of you are pretty slow getting that hand up right there, I'm telling you. How many are husbands and glad to be? Amen. Husbands, love your wife just like Christ loved the church. Somebody said to me, is that wives plural? They said, you know, in the Old Testament there's many. God gave me one wonderful one. That's all I can handle. I'm just gonna tell you right now. It is so good, I couldn't take any more. No, you husband, love your wife. Come on, are you with me? You husband, you love your wife as Christ loved the church. How does Christ love the church? Sacrificially. He gave everything he had for the church. He laid down his life for the church. You know one of the, and this isn't in my notes, I didn't even think about saying this till this second. I believe the Holy Spirit's bringing this to me. One of the major problems in marriage relationships is self-centered husbands. Now I'm a husband and I'm proud to be. I'm a man and I'm proud to be,

but I wanna tell you, real men don't put their self first in everything in their life. Everything in your life is not about you. As a matter of fact, if you wanna have a thriving marriage, you better be putting her first. You better be seeking her desires and her needs. I better get back to my sermon here right now. Just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, everybody say holy. Cleansing her by the washing with water through the word to present her to himself as a radiant church without stain or wrinkle or any blemish, but holy and blameless. What is God doing? God is building a glorious church. God is building a beautiful church. You know, people often criticize the church, not just our church, but they criticize the church in general. You know, one of the, Pastor Chris was talking about receiving an offering. You know, one of the things that people complain about the most, they say, well, all they want is your money. All they want is your money. Well, where do you go that they don't want your money? We're gonna go to Culver's in a little while. You know what? They want my money.

Well, there may be a few things wrong with the church, but I want to tell you, there's a whole lot right with the church. The church is built on the foundation of the Lord Jesus Christ. The church has the greatest message in all the world. And the church has a glorious future. Amen, glory be to God. He's coming back for a glorious church. Peter described it as a holy habitation in 1 Peter 2, verse number five. He says, you also like living stones are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood. That's what God is doing. He's building us. into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood. He's building us as believers, as living stones, into a spiritual house, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. There's two things in that verse there I want to point out to you. First of all, it says living stones. We're not a pile of dead rocks. We're living stones. Sometimes we get criticized for being emotional. I love being emotional. I get emotional at ball games. I told you one time, my son playing high school football, he caught a pass in the end zone.

I mean, laid out parallel to the ground. Caught a pass for a touchdown in the end zone. It was on the front page of the sports section the next day in the paper. When he caught that ball, I was up in the stands. I yelled so much, I hyperventilated and passed out. Bam, next thing I know. We get emotional about all kinds of things. I know some of you counting it down, it's 32 days until it's football time in. Yeah. I know we get emotional, but can't get emotional at church. Let me tell you something, yes, you can. And you can do it without shame. David danced until his clothes fell off. We ain't going that far. We're going to draw the line somewhere. Can I tell you, it is a whole lot easier to put out a little wildfire than it is to raise the dead. I think we can get excited about the things of God. We are living stones being built together. I love that phrase, being built together. You know what that says to me? That says discipleship. That says life group. And when I was a kid growing up, there was a song that they sang in church from time to time. Me and Jesus, we got a good thing going. Me and Jesus, we got it all worked out. I hate that song.

Let me tell you why. It's not about you and Jesus. It's about us and Jesus. God has called us to live this life in community. Oh, you can do it on your own. You can do it on your own. I shared with you about a year ago, I discovered something last year, that a flock of birds use 40% less energy when they fly in formation. You can get there eventually on your own. It's going to take a whole lot more energy and a whole lot more time. God has called us to be built together. That's one of the things I love about Celebrate Recovery. It's about being built together. It's about community. That's one of the things I love about True Purpose. It's about being built together. It's about community. That's one of the things I love about Life.Group. It's being built together. You know, I was thinking about Peter saying, we're living stones. Well, what else does the Bible have to say about stones? And over the last couple of weeks, I've been seeking the Lord and thinking about that. And I went to 1 Samuel chapter 17 and verse number 40. It's the story of David when he went out to fight Goliath. You know, David wasn't even really old enough

or mature enough to be considered a soldier. His older brothers were in the battle. So David went to actually take them food. And when he got there, he saw Goliath. Josephus, one of the great biblical historians, said that Goliath was somewhere between 9 and 11 feet tall. Can you imagine? To me, that's very offensive. I am vertically challenged. As a matter of fact, last year when I went to get my physical done, I saw her write down 5'7". I said to her, I spoke up. I couldn't help myself. I spoke up. I said to her, I'm 5'8". She said, you're 5'7". I just measured you. I said, I'm 5'8". I've been 5'8 my whole adult life. She said to me, she got aggravated. She said, maybe you used to be 5'8". I stood there, and I started thinking, five years, I won't be able to ride the rides at Dollywood. And I'm going to be honest with you, I don't even like standing near Pastor Chris. It hurts my neck. I told him, next time you hand me the microphone, squat down. David shows up, there's Goliath, nine, ten, eleven feet tall, crying out to challenges to Israel. What does David say? David says, I'll fight him.

Now I love this story. I want us to just take a few moments and dive into this story. Let me read this, 1 Samuel 17, verse number 40. Speaking of David, then he took his staff in his hand, and he chose five smooth stones from the stream, and he put them in the pouch of his shepherd's bag, and with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine. I want to connect this back to what Peter said. We are living stones, being built together. I want us to look at these stones here in this passage of Scripture. I want you to see where the stones were when David selected them, because often David is a type of Christ. He's a foreshadow of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the stones were in the stream. Everybody say, in the stream. Let me tell you something. If you're going to become the man or woman of God that God wants you to be, you've got to get in the stream. What is the stream? The stream is the flow of God. The stream is where the Holy Spirit is moving. The stream is the flow of God's Word. And you don't need to just dabble your toe in the stream. You need to get in the stream. There's a beautiful passage in Ezekiel chapter 47, where Ezekiel has a vision about the river of God flowing out from beneath the temple. And it says that he went out a thousand cubits and it was ankle deep. And he went another thousand cubits and it was knee deep. And he went another thousand cubits and it was waist deep. And he went another thousand cubits and it was water so deep you had to swim. Do you know where I want to be?

I want to be where you've got to swim. I want to be in the flow of God. I want to be in the deep water of God. It is time for you to get off of your blanket on the shore with your sunglasses on, with your toe hanging in the water. Did you hear all that? It's time for you to jump in. Some of you have been sitting on the bank for a long, long time. Some of you every now and then you'll go, whoo, whoo. God wants to do far more than that. He wants you to get in the flow. He wants you to be open to all the Holy Spirit wants to do in your life. He wants to move in you. And then it says they were smooth stones. Not just any old stones, smooth stones. For the past five years or so, our grandchildren from Pittsburgh come down and spend a week with Sherry and I in the summer. And one of the very first things they want to do when they get here, they want to go up to Townsend and play in the little river. You know, we bought these little nets. They want to try to catch tadpoles and other kind of things. And inevitably, they're going to come home with two or three rocks that they got out of the river. And my youngest said to me a couple years ago, Papa, how do these rocks get so smooth? And I said, well, let me tell you how they get so smooth. Every day, the water is washing over them. Every day, the water is washing over them. Do you know how God smooths us out? It's when we daily expose ourselves to the water of the Word of God. It's the water of God's Word that changes you, that transforms you, that makes a difference

in your life. And you know how else they get so smooth? Because every now and then, one of those rocks will bump up against another rock. I went to Cheel Highview Elementary School, which in a straight line is probably about four or five miles from here. And Cheel Highview Elementary is now a senior citizen's home, a community center. I've gone full circle. When I was in third grade, I snuck out the class, climbed out a window. I couldn't get out that window right now. I don't believe I could. But I think it was the third grade, we had a rock hound come to the school. I'd never heard of a rock hound, had no idea what it was. But we walked in the little gymnasium there, across from the classrooms, and there were all these tables set up and displays of rocks. Hundreds of rocks being displayed, all shapes, sizes, colors. And I remember somebody raising their hand and asking the question to the presenter, saying, how do these, this rock, how did it get so smooth? And his answer was this, that was a long time ago, and I've never forgotten it. He said, I have this instrument called a tumbler, and I put the rocks in there, with other rocks, and there's water in there. And the machine stirs them up, and stirs them up, and stirs them up. And the water flows over them, and one stone bumps up against the other stone. And it begins to knock all the imperfections off, it begins to knock all the flaws off, it begins to smooth out all the areas. Am I speaking to you right now? Sometimes God will bring people in our lives, not so that we can fix them, but so they can fix us. How many of you, I know you have, how many of you have prayed, oh God, do something with them? Some of you are looking at them right now. Oh God, do something with them.

It's not them God's working on. It's you that God's working on. You know, every now and then God will bring a hard rock. You know, I would say a hard head, but that might be speaking to myself. Every now and then God will bring a really tough rock up beside you. And you're going, oh God, what's going on here? And if you just listen, God says that's how much I love you. God says that's how much I want you to be everything that you can be. Do you know how we become those smooth stones? It's by allowing the water of God's Word to continually flow over us. That's not a Sunday morning experience, that's an everyday experience. It's by allowing God to bring the right people in our lives to help us become more and more who God wants us to be. The third thing we see is not only were they in the stream and they were smooth stones, but the shepherd, when he reached down and took them from the stream, he put them in the shepherd's pouch. And I can't imagine he took the flap down. What happened now? I've been in the stream. You do all this smoothing in my life, and now I'm just here in the dark. I don't know what's going on. This makes no sense to me. Do you know there will be dark times? Ecclesiastes said there will be day and there will be night. There will be seed time and there will be harvest. You might be going through a time in your life right now where you say, God, I've submitted myself to you, I've submitted myself to your Word, and it just seems like I can't see my hand in front of my face. I have no clue what's going on in my life. Well, I want to tell you this day, just hold on and trust him.

The stones were in the shepherd's pouch, but the shepherd's pouch had a strap that ran right across his chest, across his shoulder. And when the shepherd was moving toward the giant, his heart rate went up. And I can almost imagine his heart rate begin to vibrate down the strap of that pouch and make a sound in there saying, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. Make a sound like all things work together for the good of those who are called to those who trust me. I want to tell you something, in your darkest hours, you can trust him. In your darkest hours, he will not fail you. In your darkest hours, he will not disappoint. And then the shepherd reaches in the pouch, and he takes a stone out, and he puts it in a sling, and he begins to wind it up. I was so very, very fortunate when I was first starting in the ministry to have some wonderful mentors, some people that poured into my life, some people that encouraged me, some people that corrected me, some people that taught me. Sherry and I attended a small Christian college in San Antonio, Texas. At the end of my freshman year, I had a note in my locker that the president of the college wanted to see me in his office. I'd had a couple notes like that in high school and it was never a good thing. And I go to his office and he says, David, what are your plans for the summer? And I said, well, I talked to a guy back in Marietta, Georgia, he's a home builder and he says I can work construction this summer and make a little money to try to pay for school next year. Now never forget, he looked across his desk at me and he said, that's not God's will for your life. I mean, no hesitation, he said, that is not God's will for your life. I said, what is God's will? I thought going back home and making some money was God's will.

He said, no, it's not God's will. I said, what is God's will? He said, it's God's will for you to travel this summer and preach. Come back to my office tomorrow. I went back to his office the next day and he slid a paper across his desk. It had a name of a pastor, a name of a church and a phone number and a date. He had a name of a pastor, a name of a church, a phone number and a date. They were the same date. One was Sunday morning, one was Sunday night and it was next weekend. I was in Texas, this was in Louisiana. I said, well, that's great. What about the rest of the summer? He kind of leaned forward and he said, you're just going to trust God for the rest of the summer. I loaded my stuff up that week and I drove to Louisiana. I preached that Sunday morning in that church. I preached that Sunday night in that church. That pastor had a friend that recommended me at his church. That pastor had a friend that recommended me at his church. I preached over a hundred times that summer. I preached in camp meetings and tent meetings and revival services. You know, I started out, I only had two sermons. I thought, I can't be anymore wanting more than two services anywhere. I was preaching in this church in Ohio. I'd been there Sunday morning, Sunday night. I thought, we're wrapping up Sunday night. The pastor stands up and he says, folks, God just spoke to me. We're going to go all week long with Brother David. I thought, oh God, help me Lord. There was a whole lot of on your knees time that week.

I can tell you that. At the end of that week, I had seven sermons. Long story short, I came back to college at the end of that year and I knew I was going to be an evangelist the rest of my life. I'm going to travel the world and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. That school year went by, the next summer I was invited to speak in seven youth camps from Louisiana to Indiana to Pennsylvania to Florida. At the end of that summer, I'm going to be a youth pastor, a youth minister the rest of my life. This is what I'm going to do. The next year, I was asked to be the coordinator for Latin American missions for our college. I made several trips down to Mexico and Central America. By the end of that year, I'm going to be a missionary the rest of my life. That's what I'm going to do. By the time I came to graduate, you know where I was? I was in the sling. I'm going to be an evangelist. I'm going to be a youth pastor. I'm going to be... I don't know what I'm going to be. And before I know it, the sling is released. And like those little stones, that stone opens his eyes. And what does he see? Goliath. This is too big. This is too much. I cannot handle this. You don't have to, because it wasn't about the stone. It was about the shepherd. The stone had simply been willing to be prepared.

What is our part? Our part is just be willing to be prepared. Our part is saying, God, I'm going to get in the stream. I'm going to live in the stream, in the flow of your word. I'm going to allow you to do whatever it takes to get all the rough edges off. And I want to tell you, for some of us, me included, there were a lot of rough edges. Anybody with me here? But what does God do? He loves us so much. He loves us so much. I'm over time, but I want to tell you this because I believe it's going to speak to somebody. Not only was God so good to me when I first started in the ministry, but I was prideful. And my wife would probably tell you I was arrogant. And that same man, the president of the college, he came to me one day and he said, you're going to be the coordinator in the dining hall. I said, I don't want to be the coordinator. He said, you're going to be. I said, why? He said, because you need to learn how to work with people. And I want to tell you, God did a whole lot of smoothing that year. Because there were a whole lot of rough edges in me. A whole lot of them. And only when you allow God to humble you. And when you allow God to bring you to a place where you know it's not about you. Do you know when Goliath fell, no one praised the stone. When Goliath fell, they celebrated David. When we allow God to use us the way he wants to use us, it's not about us. It's about him. So my question in closing to you today is, are you ready to grow up? Are you ready to become part of the mature bride of Christ? Are you ready to submit yourself to the stream? Are you willing to let God to knock off those rough edges?

Are you willing to allow the Holy Spirit to do everything in you and through you? That he wants you to do. Because that is God's purpose for your life. Would you stand with me please? I'm going to ask the prayer team to come. Now I want to give two invitations today. First of all if you're here and you've never accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Let today be your day. Let today be the first day you step into the stream. Let today be the day that you accept forgiveness of your sins. Through faith in Jesus Christ. The price has been paid. You just need to accept it. And the second invitation I want to give is, if you're serious about growing up. You're serious about becoming a mature believer. I want you to just take a step today. And say God I surrender to the flow. I surrender to the smoothing process. I surrender to the times of darkness. I surrender to the times of confusion. Because I believe you have a purpose in my life. Father God in the name of Jesus I thank you today. For your presence. I thank you for your word. I pray that your word would bring forth much fruit. In Jesus name. Amen. Come forward and let one of these prayer members pray with you this morning. As the worship team leads us in a song. I'm caught up in your presence.

I just want to sit here at your feet. I'm caught up in this holy moment. I never want to leave. Oh I'm not here for blessings. Jesus you don't owe me anything. More than anything that you can do. I just want you. I'm sorry. When I've just gone through the motions. I'm sorry. When I just sing another song. Take me back to where we started. I open up my heart to you. I'm sorry. When I've come with my agenda. I'm sorry. When I forgot that you're enough. Take me back to where we started. I open up my heart to you I'm caught up in your presence I just wanna sit here at your feet I'm caught up in this holy moment I never wanna leave Oh, I'm not here for blessings Jesus, you don't owe me anything More than anything that you can do I just want you I just want you Nothing else Nothing else

Nothing else will do Cause I just want you Nothing else Nothing else Nothing else will do I just want you Nothing else Nothing else Nothing else will do Cause I just want you Nothing else Nothing else Nothing else will do I just want you Nothing else Nothing else Nothing else will do Cause I just want you Nothing else Nothing else Nothing else will do We thank you, Father God. We thank you for everything you've done in our lives. We thank you that there's nothing else that could do it. Lord, we thank you for the blood that you shed for us on that cross that washed away all of our sins. Lord, I just pray so deeply. I pray that you make this a place of peace where people are able to leave, filled up with your presence, filled up with your Holy Spirit. And we're going to continue in worship today, but Lord, I just pray that you are with everyone as they leave. I pray that you bless them and their families.

And I pray that you give us more unity, that we can only be stronger together in Christ. And in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.