Hidden in Plain Sight - Joey Salazar

We are excited to be here as you can tell the fog of daylight savings has come off of us in Jesus name. We are ready. We're feeling better. The caffeine has hit. We all drink coffee this morning? I had a coffee. Energy drink. It's early for real. Not a coffee drinker. Not a coffee drinker. We don't judge. We're glad you're in church though. We're gonna pray for that. Caffeine's caffeine right? But let us know in the comments how you're feeling. If your time doesn't change where you're at just say you're God's favorite like just say that. Like Arizona. But if you did and you were suffering with us we're glad that you're here. We're glad that you made it to church. But in case I haven't had the honor to meet you yet my name is Jaylene and I get to serve here as the online director. That's right and my name is Alex and I have the joy to be a Journey College student. Yes. And as well to be an online host with you guys today. Awesome. And I'm JD. I have the honor and privilege of serving right here besides these awesome people. Thank you for tuning in y'all. And I'm Melanie and I get the honor to serve as one of your hosts today. We're so excited because today is a child dedication. So babies are here. They're tired. They have to be tired. I'm tired. They have to be tired. I feel bad for them. Sometimes the mornings are better for babies though. Oh even with the hour difference? Yeah. Wow. Babies be up at the crack of dawn. They're better than me. The more you know. But listen go ahead and put in the chat the name of maybe the child dedication that you're waiting to see. Maybe it's your grandson, your granddaughter, your niece, your nephew. Let us know because we would love to celebrate and pray over this dedication together. Yes. But we had an incredible word last week from Pastor Andrew Gard. He preaches once a year but like every year he makes it a banger. Like he's letting us know I'm here. I'm here to stay. I'm gonna come back next year. He's so good. He mic drops and leaves. Yeah. What did you get from it Alex? Yeah no I love when he comes to preach and I definitely had a little bit of conviction. I had some guys next to me and he had a moment where he touched on in his church he has young guys in the lobby and he'll approach them sometimes like hey you know you got this going on you got that going on you know how about uh you know a nice young lady and they'll give the response of like oh you know I'm just working on myself right now pastor. I couldn't help but chuckle. The guys around me also started to chuckle a little bit. It's like all right all right and his point was that you know if your thing is you're working on yourself right now that never changes. You're never gonna not be working on yourself. You're gonna work on yourself for the

rest of your life. So I was like all right pastor. I hear you. Like all right let me relax. Go ahead and make the conversation happen. I love that. That's so great. Melanie I think you got something as well. Yes for sure. It was such an on-time word for me and my husband. We're in a season right now where we're starting something new and we don't see what is coming in the future. We just know that this is something that we have to step into and we are just you know trusting God in these moments and so his word was just perfect when he was like the name of his sermon was you gotta just go. Yeah. Not exactly like that but along those lines and I took what he said in his message as far as like having faith and taking those steps and trusting in God into my week and on Wednesday I'm in my normal morning prayer live stream that I watch and it's from my cousin's church in New York. She's a pastor there and she challenged her daughter to do it that morning and she was scared and she was nervous because it was her first time doing it so she too was practicing what pastor guard was preaching on that on Sunday. Linked together. Yeah yeah and so she talked about the scripture in Psalms how the word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path yeah and I love that scripture and so she talked about how the lamp is you know God uses the word lamp. He didn't use spotlight. He didn't use you know studio lights. He didn't use you know a stadium light. He used a lamp and the lamp only gives us enough light to see our next step. Yeah so good and how we have to um you know trust not trust in what we can see but trust in the one who sees everything. That's right. That's so good. Yeah so it's just really tied in Sunday's message. Yeah. And you know it just really encouraged me throughout the week. Yeah. That's awesome. So I love when you have those moments of like okay God I hear you like I got it on Sunday but there's something else you want me to get even more and so I love that he doesn't let us miss it and that he's always like hey I want to make this abundantly clear so go ahead and comment next step in the chat just to remind ourselves that for us not to be attached to the bigger picture for us not to be attached to the finish line but just the next step it thank goodness we don't know the big picture how are we gonna get there that's true it might seem too daunting like God's plan there's so much better than ours so much bigger than ours yeah and if we see the full scope of what he has like I'm not worthy to get there or like I don't know how I'm gonna get there how am I gonna bring my family and it's good to not know because then you put your reliance on God because there's no way if you know

what's gonna happen next you know I got this then you have to put your trust in God that's the main purpose yeah no I love the passage where you know Jacob was like wrestling with God in the in the like wilderness yes don't know go read your Bible it's so good and Genesis y'all after wrestling with him he has a thorn in his side and he's like grateful for the thorn because like this is proof that I wrestled with God like I encountered God and so sometimes the things that we go through are painful and sometimes we're limping afterwards sometimes we're crawling afterwards sometimes we're in pain afterwards but then it reminds me oh but I've encountered the Lord I've encountered healing I've encountered breakthrough and all good things worth experiencing it's gonna take some part of me but if it means I'm closer to Jesus by the end of it then amen so maybe that's you today maybe like yeah I have like five thorns in my side well you came to the right place the right place to find just healing to find relief and so I just want to pray over us to prepare our hearts for service and to surrender to his feet God we thank you so much for allowing us to see the smaller picture because we know that the bigger picture lays in your hands and we can't wait to receive all that you have for us in today's service and we already thank you in advance for you're gonna do we love you and your whole name we pray amen Oh the more and more I see you of joy Faithful now I can't help but praise you, praise you Lord For the blood you spilled to save my life, a debt I cannot repay For the cross you bore with open arms, salvation that called my name From where I was to where I'm now, it's overwhelming The more and more I see you move all around me And I can't help but praise you, praise you Lord And I can't help but lift up, shout so strong

When I think about the new faith, faithful now till the end I can't help but praise you, praise you Lord I can't help but dance cause I'm free, got no chains on me, I'm healed and redeemed I can't help but call on the name that buried my shame, who opened my gate I can't help but dance cause I'm free, got no chains on me, I'm healed and redeemed I can't help but call on the name ♪ I bury my shame, open my grave ♪ ♪ I can't help but praise You, praise You Lord ♪ ♪ And I can't help but lift up, shout of joy ♪ ♪ When I say, when I think of how good You've been ♪ ♪ Faithful now till the end, oh I can't help but praise You ♪ ♪ Praise You Lord, I can't help but praise You, praise You Lord ♪ ♪ Oh I can't help but praise You, praise You Lord ♪ Come on, lift your voice. Come on, try to sing that one more time. ♪ Praise You, praise You Lord, oh I can't help but lift up, shout of joy ♪ ♪ Cause when I think, when I think of how good You've been ♪ ♪ Faithful now till the end, oh I can't help but praise You ♪ ♪ Praise You, praise You Lord, oh I can't help but praise You, praise You Lord ♪ We thank You Jesus. We can't help because You're so good Lord. We lift You up Lord. We thank You Lord. We lift You up in this place Lord, that Your Spirit dwells in us. Come on church, let's sing this out together. ♪ Oh You've been so good God ♪ ♪ You've been faithful through it all Lord ♪ ♪ You've been faithful through it all Lord ♪ We thank You Lord.

Come on. ♪ Maybe we've made this complicated ♪ ♪ More than it was ever meant to be ♪ ♪ Hasn't it always been about the same things? ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, bring us back to simple things ♪ ♪ You be the center of it all, my heart belongs to You ♪ ♪ My Savior all in all, You're the one I hold on to ♪ ♪ For the beauty of Your name, my soul lives to sing ♪ ♪ Jesus, I love You ♪ ♪ Teach us to deserve the moment ♪ ♪ When to serve and when to sit here at Your feet ♪ ♪ Keep us awake to what's important ♪ ♪ Just like Mary chose the better things ♪ ♪ Can You be the center of it all, my heart belongs to You ♪ ♪ My Savior all in all, You're the one I hold on to ♪ ♪ For the beauty of Your name, my soul lives to sing ♪ ♪ Jesus, I love You and You be the center of it all, my heart belongs to You ♪ ♪ My Savior all in all, You're the one I hold on to ♪ ♪ For the beauty of Your name, my soul lives to sing ♪ ♪ Jesus, I love You, You know how I love You ♪ ♪ You know how I love You, Jesus, I love You, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh I love you, oh I love you, Jesus I love you ♪ ♪ And my whole life, for your glory my whole world ♪ ♪ For you own everything, for the honor of your name ♪ ♪ And if my days tell a story, let it be Lord of you only ♪ ♪ Everything for the honor of your name ♪ ♪ And my whole life, for your glory my whole world ♪ ♪ For you own everything, for the honor of your name ♪ ♪ And if my days tell a story, let it be Lord of you only ♪ ♪ Everything for the honor of your name ♪

♪ And my whole life, for your glory my whole world ♪ ♪ For you own everything, for the honor of your name ♪ ♪ And if my days tell a story, let it be Lord of you only ♪ ♪ Everything for the honor of your name ♪ ♪ Oh I love you, oh I love you, oh I love you, oh I love you ♪ ♪ Oh I love you, oh I love you, Jesus I love you, oh I love you ♪ ♪ And we will live for honor, we will walk on, everything we have in you ♪ ♪ Cause my whole life, for your glory my whole world ♪ ♪ For you own me everything, for the honor of your name ♪ ♪ And if my days tell a story, let it be Lord of you only ♪ ♪ Everything for the honor of your name ♪ ♪ And my whole life, for your glory my whole world ♪ ♪ For you own me everything, for the honor of your name ♪ ♪ And if my days tell a story, let it be Lord of you only ♪ ♪ Everything for the honor of your name ♪ ♪ Oh I, oh I love you, oh I love you, oh I love you, oh I love you ♪ ♪ Oh I, oh I love you, Jesus I love you, oh I love you, oh I love you, Jesus I love you, oh I love you ♪ ♪ Jesus I love you, and you be the center of it all, my heart belongs to you ♪ ♪ My Savior of them all, you're the one I hold on to, for the beauty of your name, my soul will live to sing, Jesus I love you Oh my soul will live to sing, Jesus I love you Oh my soul will live to sing, Jesus I love you Oh my soul will live to sing, Jesus I love you Oh my soul will live to sing, Jesus I love you Oh my soul will live to sing, Jesus I love you Oh my soul will live to sing, Jesus I love you Oh my soul will live to sing, Jesus I love you Oh my soul will live to sing, Jesus I love you Oh my soul will live to sing, Jesus I love you Oh my soul will live to sing, Jesus I love you Oh my soul will live to sing, Jesus I love you Oh my soul will live to sing, Jesus I love you Oh my soul will live to sing, Jesus I love you Oh my soul will live to sing, Jesus I love you Oh my soul will live to sing, Jesus I love you Jesus I love you Amen. I absolutely love that song because it reminds us that Jesus really is the center of it all. I know that I'm reminded of that every time I go to him in prayer. In fact, we actually have one of your prayer requests in my hand right now that I would love to read to you. It says, praying God gives me strength, guidance, and discipline to pay off debt and be financially free. Lord, please use me and my income to better serve you and help your children. Lord God, please guide me to financial freedom. In Jesus name. Amen. comfortable, I would love to pray over this request together, just to let this gentleman know he is not alone, right? That he has his church family with him, praying alongside him. So go ahead and stretch your hand to the screen as we can cover these needs together.

God, we thank you so much for being such a good father. We thank you, Lord, for being our Jehovah Jireh, for being our provider, for being the only one we need, the only one who sustains us, and the only one who takes care of us. Right now we are declaring financial freedom for everyone under the sound of my voice, God, that they will be able to be people who will not be bound to their debt, but instead be free to be generous, to grow your kingdom, and to encourage your people. We love you, God. We honor you and praise you. In your holy name, we pray. Amen. What a good prayer. And guys, we just truly, truly believe there is so much power in prayer. If you have any prayer requests, genuinely, we want to know about it. Put it in the chat so we can walk alongside you, walk with you in that, lift that up with you. And as a church here, we believe that prayer is a first response, not a last resort. So we just want to come alongside you with that, guys. Awesome. And thank you for tuning in. It's so great to have you. There's no better place for you to be. You are destined to be here today, God, with this day that's going to come. So thank you for tuning in. Yes. And if we haven't met already, or you're just joining, I'm Melanie, and I get the privilege and honor of serving as your online host today. And my name is Jaylene, and I have the honor and privilege of serving as the online director. Amen. And my name is Alex, and I have the joy to be a Journey College student, but as well, and as well, to be an online host with you guys. Awesome. And I'm JD. If we haven't had the pleasure of meeting, I serve here on the online team as well. Thank you for tuning in, y'all. And I want to honor some amazing people. Who we got? You. You all at home, our online community. We love you all. Big shout out to you all. You could be anywhere right now. There's a lot of live streams going on, but you're here. We want to know where you're watching from, what you're doing right now. Put it in the chat. Let us know what you're looking forward to getting from God today. That's right. Shout out to our Pando app. Pando. Yes. I received a beautiful letter. Such kind words from Robert. Robert, thank you so much. Your words encouraged me. And I just want to say, we get your letters. We receive them. We want to hear from you. So keep them coming. That's right. And we also have a special group of people, and that's our first time guest. First time guest, which means that you are VIP here with us. And we do not want it to be the last Sunday that you join us. I want to keep getting to know you. So I'm going to ask you to do is scan that QR code below. I personally would love to call you and help you find your place here with us. That's right. And talking about your place here, guys,

today is next steps to come on. It's how you get plugged in, how you get connected, find your purpose here at Journey Church. I'm a product of Next Steps 2. And guys, it's going to be at 1.30 on Google Meet. And guys, even if you're not in Florida, if you're in New York, you're in a different state, our online team, we promise we have a place for you. Yeah. So to get plugged in, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you haven't yet, hit that notification bell. Yes. And we want to be intentional with you and stay connected with y'all. Thank you. Yes. And don't be greedy with the word. Share it with somebody. Share this message with your family, your friends, someone that you've been thinking about all week. Come on, let's welcome all of our campuses and our online campus joining us for worship today. Come on, if you feel comfortable, just lift your hands where you are. His presence is already with us. We thank you, Jesus. We thank you for the cross. Come on, if you forgot, I'm here to remind you today that his name is above all other names, that in his name, we carry authority, that in his name, we are healed and we are saved. And in his name, depression has to flee, fear has to go. Come on, if you believe that, just ask him for that today. And if you don't know what to say, just say his name, Jesus. Oh, Jesus, it's your name, Jesus. It's the name of Jesus. Thank you for your name, Jesus. It's all about the name of Jesus. For all my life, and still find more to love each time. Jesus be the name ever on my lips. Sweeter every time that I call on it. There's just something about your name. There's just something about your name. ♪ There's a name, there's a something about your name ♪ ♪ That makes me cry holy ♪ ♪ There is no other name, there is no other name ♪ ♪ There is no other name, Jesus you're worthy ♪ Come on, sing it out. ♪ You have been the friend who never left ♪ ♪ I won't forget your faithful ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name ever on my lips ♪ ♪ Sweeter every time that I call on it ♪

♪ Sweeter every time that I call on it ♪ ♪ There's a something about your name ♪ ♪ There's a something about your name ♪ ♪ There's a something about your name ♪ ♪ That makes me cry holy ♪ ♪ There is no other name, I know ♪ ♪ There is no other name, there is no other name ♪ ♪ Jesus you're worthy, there's a something about your name ♪ ♪ There's a something about your name ♪ ♪ There's a something about your name ♪ ♪ That makes me cry holy, there is no other name ♪ ♪ There is no other name, there is no other name ♪ ♪ Jesus you're worthy, you're worthy, you're worthy, you're worthy ♪ ♪ His name is a humble name ♪ Come on if you believe that he can heal and he can save Just say Jesus, Jesus ♪ Jesus ♪ Come on we lift your name, we lift the name of Jesus Come on if you know it sing ♪ And Jesus your name is like a morning light ♪ ♪ The one the darkness can't deny ♪ ♪ The resurrection and the life ♪ ♪ Jesus and Jesus your name can save, your name can heal ♪ ♪ Your name can make a storm be still ♪ ♪ You never fail, you never will ♪ ♪ Jesus and Jesus the bread of life and broken for us ♪ ♪ The wounded and the worthy one ♪ ♪ The first, the last, the soon to come, Jesus the King ♪ ♪ Jesus the King of all the world to praise ♪ ♪ The Lord who will forever reign ♪

♪ The name above all other names, Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh Jesus be the name, and Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ Oh Jesus be the name that gets all the glory ♪ ♪ Oh Jesus, oh Jesus, oh Jesus, raise your name ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name that gets all the glory ♪ Come on, let's move to the song. ♪ Jesus be the name in my life, in my marriage ♪ ♪ In my family, in my sickness, oh ♪ ♪ That gets all the glory, oh Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name and Jesus be the name ♪ ♪ And Jesus be the name that gets all the glory ♪ Come on, can you cry it out? ♪ Oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh ♪ Come on, he's moving, he's moving. He's moving in your life. ♪ Jesus, oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh ♪ ♪ Jesus, oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh ♪ Is anybody thankful for the name of Jesus? There's power in that name. In the book of Philippians, chapter 2, verse 9, the Bible says that God exalted him, him being Jesus, the highest place, and gave him the name that is above every name. I don't know what kind of week you might have had this week. I don't know what kind of names you might have been exposed to. I don't know what the enemy or the world has tried to label you as. But there is a name that is above every name. Maybe a name you were exposed to this week was out of sickness. Maybe you're here and you're physically not well. Maybe this week your marriage went through a really difficult patch. And you're contemplating separation and divorce. Maybe you heard some news at your job that, hey, it's not working out, we're going to have to let some people go. And a lot of names, a lot of labels being thrown around.

No matter how you walked into this place, no matter what you're going through right now as you're logged in. Let me just remind you, there is a name that is above every name, and that name is Jesus. Can somebody say Jesus? Come on, can somebody say Jesus? Hey, we're going to go back into this song, but if you feel comfortable, can you lift up your hands? And can you declare that? Declare the name of Jesus over your situation. Over your body. Over your marriage. Over your children. Over your job. Over your future. Over your mind. Over your mental health. Jesus! Yeah! Let Jesus be the name. Jesus be the name. Let Jesus be the name. Let Jesus be the name against all the glory. Father, we thank you for what you're doing in this place and what you're doing in each and every one of our lives. Thank you for the reminder through scripture, through one another, through your presence alone, that you have the final word in absolutely every situation. Thank you, God, because your name is above all names. And we just thank you, God, because we can find hope, we can find peace, we can find rest in that name. And so, God, we love you. Thank you for allowing us to gather. Thank you for your presence that has met us. Prepare our hearts for what you have for us in this moment. In the mighty name of Jesus we pray. Amen and amen. Oh, come on, we can do a little bit better than that.

Let's give some praise to God in this place. Hallelujah. Jesus. Well, hey, on your way to your seat, why don't you high five two or three people right there and just tell them Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. I love that song. That's a powerful song right there. Come on. Well, hey, before we get into the word, which it is an honor, it is a privilege to be able to share God's word with you today. I do want to recognize a very special group of people who are with us right now, and that is all of our first-time guests. Journey Church, can you put your hands together as we welcome all of our first-time guests? It really is a big deal that you would be here with us and spend some of your Sunday, so thank you for being here. And we also want to recognize all of our campuses as well. Can you help me welcome East Orlando in the house? Let's keep it going for Kissimmee. Let's keep it going for everybody watching online. And also those who are incarcerated but watching through the Pando app as well. Welcome. We're so glad that you are with us. We believe the spirit and presence of God can meet you right there where you are at. And if we haven't had an opportunity to meet, my name is Joey Salazar, and alongside my wife, Zelly, we have the opportunity to serve. I have the opportunity to serve here on staff, and it really is a privilege to be able to do what we do with who we get to do this with. And, you know, when I think about our staff, our team here, they're not just coworkers, they really are friends, dear friends of mine. I wanna take a moment to honor Pastor J.J. and Liz for being just amazing leaders and friends. We've gone back for many, many years and I was thinking about this, just this week alone, we were on a flight, we were traveling to different cities

and he was ministering at different events and I don't know if you're like me, like I'm okay flying but the plane shouldn't shake too much. You know what I'm talking about? Like I'm okay flying but let's find the smoothest route possible, please. Well it just so happened that we were on a flight and the plane started to shake a little bit and I started to think inside my mind, I was like, do I need to recommit to the Lord right now? Should I make a prayer just in case anything happens? And I may or may not have prayed in my mind but I look over to Pastor J.J. and Pastor J.J. is just chilling and he's just all going over his nose and that's when it clicked. I'm like, Joey, why are you worried? Pastor J.J. is on the same flight. There is no way this plane is going down. God loves Pastor J.J. so much, you're good and that's when I asked for extra pretzels somebody, come on, I'm with Pastor J.J., I got extra pretzels. So no, but truly they are a gift to our lives and I'm just so thankful for the years of friendship and leadership. And so can you give it up one more time for Pastor J.J. and Liz? Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. If you don't know who you're following, then how do you know where to go? I'm reminded of John chapter 10 verse 27, it's on page 304 in my Bible. And it says the following, my sheep recognize my voice, I know them and they follow me. Somebody say follow me. Follow me. Come on, say it like you didn't lose

an hour of sleep last night. Say follow me. Follow me. That's how I know you really love Jesus too because you showed up today and you're here. But anyways, they recognize my voice, I know them and they follow me. Following him starts with being able to recognize him. And I want you to, I was thinking about this verse and I was like, another part of this verse that stood out to me was the phrase my sheep. And I was thinking, if I'm God, I'm not, but if I was God, if I was the author of this passage and if it was my responsibility to pick an animal that was going to describe believers, followers of Jesus, I don't know if I would have picked sheep. I probably would have gone with something more majestic, like an eagle. I thought maybe I would have picked a lion, something just that instills fear, like authority. You know, like just something powerful or an elephant for its size and just the presence that it just carries. But I'm not God and I will not be author and so we're going with sheep. A sheep kind of like the picture behind me. Sheep by themselves aren't all that impressive. They're not the fastest animals. They're not the strongest animals.

They can't really survive on their own. They've got to stay with the rest of the herd. But the only reason why they're able to survive, again, it's not because they can outrun danger, but rather because they stay near the shepherd. And what they lack in speed, they actually make up in hearing. I asked my research assistant, chat GPT, for some help. And we were talking back and forth. Don't act like you don't talk to chat either. So we were talking back and forth. Free counseling sometimes. And so we were talking back and forth and chat taught me something that sheep have an amazing ability to hear. So much so that imagine with me three football fields back to back to back a distance. They can hear, they can pick up sounds that far. And I believe that the reason why they're able to survive is because they're able to pick up on the shepherd's voice and the same applies to us. If we're going to survive this thing called life, I really believe it's not necessarily because of our strength. but rather it's because of our proximity to the one who is guiding our lives. But we've gotta stay close, but we've also got to be able to recognize when he's speaking to us.

How many people know here that God continues to speak? God continues to speak. Maybe you've prayed a prayer like me. I said a couple years ago, God, I just wanna hear you more. God, would you just speak to me more? God, can you just reveal more? And I was kind of surprised by his response when he says, the question isn't, am I speaking? The real question is, are you listening? Because one thing is to ask God to speak, it's a whole nother thing for us to make space and be intentional in hearing his voice. And so today for the next few moments, I wanna speak to you over the title of Listening for God. Because in this very busy world, there's a lot of things that come our way. There's a lot of noises that are coming our way. We've gotta be intentional to be able to listen and distinguish the voice of God. And if you write down nothing else today, if you leave, if you're about to fall asleep on me right now, okay, this is the one thing that I really want you to leave with today. And that is that God doesn't just speak in the dramatic, he speaks in the daily. By dramatic, I'm talking about big moments, burning bush with Moses type moments, parting of the Red Sea moments,

like these creation of the world moments, like the loss falling down in Jericho, like moments, these crazy big moments. Yes, God did that. And yes, God can speak through that, but God can also whisper. God can also nudge. God can also meet you, not just on a Sunday, but how many people know he can meet you on a Monday, on a Tuesday, on a Wednesday, on a Thursday, on a Friday, and on a Saturday. Sometimes just, you know, it's our availability. It's our awareness to him that will create a moment. But if we're not careful, we'll miss it. And I've been guilty of missing moments because of different reasons. I think some of the reasons why sometimes I've missed moments is one, because we live such a hurried life. Everybody just seems like they're hurried. Like you just gotta get to the next thing. You have notifications after notifications going off on your phones, and reminders, and appointments you gotta go to. And even when you schedule your meetings, it's back to back to back to back, right? And it's like, I just gotta get to the next thing, and I gotta be productive, right? And I gotta remain busy. But when all that's doing, it's creating so much noise.

All that's doing is creating such a loud life that it makes whispers easy to miss. I think another reason at times why we miss out on what God is wanting to deposit into our hearts is because of hindrances. By hindrances, I mean distractions. Distractions dull awareness. When everything is pulling for your attention, it's hard to just focus on one thing. Even that's why multitasking, it can be difficult at times. You think you're being productive, but you're not giving yourself fully to one thing. You're dividing yourself amongst many things. And we're dividing ourselves with our kids, and our phones, and our job, and stress. And there's so much, there's so many distractions at times that again, we're missing out on what God is, when God is wanting to meet with us. But Romans 1, verse 20, the Bible says, for since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. In other words, there's no excuse, my friends, for us not to experience and see God in the ordinary moments of life. God has filled the world with reminders of his presence. The Bible said that the clouds speak to the glory of God,

that the mountains, that nature, God is in the ordinary moments of life. I think a third and final thing, why sometimes we miss out though on what God is wanting to deposit is because of our high expectations. Sometimes we're expecting God to show up in a certain way, or at a certain time, and when he doesn't, we think he forgot about us. We think, you know, he doesn't want us. He doesn't, he didn't, you know, he broke the promise, where again, his ways, Bible says, are higher than our ways. His thoughts are. like our thoughts as well. And so, sometimes our expectations are just, they're blocking us from seeing and receiving everything God has for us. There's a passage of scripture, this happens right after the resurrection. Two disciples are walking down the path, down a street, and Jesus, after he resurrects, he shows up with them, and he starts walking with them. And the Bible says that they're walking, and they're talking, yet they don't recognize that that's even Jesus. Until later in the day, when they get to someone's house, they break bread, and they start to eat, it was in that moment, it was at dinner, when they realized that Jesus had been with them the entire time.

And my friends, I fear that the story would repeat itself in our lives if we're not careful, that we would miss out on the ordinary moments recognizing that Jesus has been with us every single moment of our lives. He's not limited to a Sunday, he's not limited to a Communicator, he's not limited to your favorite worship song, but God wants to speak to you in the ordinary moments of life. I wrote it like this, if you're waiting for the spectacular, you might just miss the Savior. Because you're waiting for this big billboard, you're waiting for this big sign, and God's like, I'm oftentimes found in the ordinary moments of life. God speaks to me in the ordinary moments of life. I began to see a pattern in my life. This happened even before we got to journeying. My family and I, we were living in Miami, Florida, and at that time, I was a website and graphic designer, and so I worked from home, and I took care of both of our kids while my wife was out of our house working. And I remember that during that period of our lives, man, my kids ministered to me a lot more than they even realized, even in their young age, but they were speaking to me. There would be moments when something would happen and I'd take my phone out

because I didn't have a journal nearby, and so I'd take a picture of the moment to remember either the object or to remember what was said because I knew that if I went back to my photo, I was gonna remember the lesson. And I began to develop this pattern of just taking pictures or snapshots. And one day, I was on my couch, and I was flipping through my phone gallery, and I started to notice that I had a lot of pictures, a lot of snapshots where God had spoke to me, and that's when I felt and I heard God tell me, okay, it's time to share them with everyone you can. And so I began the process of working on my very first book and I'm glad to say that last year, I was able to publish it, and it's a 40-day devotional. Thank you. It's a 40-day devotional that will help you see God in the ordinary moments of life. And honestly, it's 40 pictures from my phone gallery that of moments where God spoke to me. And this book, I think, will help you see God in the ordinary moments of life, and that really is my goal. My goal is that you will not finish this book and say, oh, cool, God speaks to Joey. That's not what I want you to say. I want you to be able to say, oh, wait, cool, God can speak to me through anything.

And you'll see random photos, some of our, even my kids, even some of just moments we were just having family time and just random objects. And let me, just for example, just two stories. In Miami at that time, we lived on the eighth floor of this tower, which made a beautiful, gave us beautiful views of either the airport or sunrises, sunsets, and it was great until storms would also show up. And being kind of high there in the tower, it just felt like everything was more amplified. It just felt like everything was louder. It felt like everything just shook. And I began to notice this pattern that my daughter, Joely, actually did. And again, she was very young. Nobody instructed her to do this, but whenever a storm would start outside, she'd go to our living room, and we had this white little stereo, and she would turn it on. And it was already set to oftentimes the Christian radio station. And again, it took a couple of times for me to finally notice this thing, this pattern that she was doing completely on her own. And finally, one day I asked her, I was like, hey, Joely, like, what are you doing? Like, why do you do that? And again, it wasn't a Sunday.

She didn't have a Bible in her hand, but just with the simple phrase of, I don't like the storm, but I like the music, God began to move in my heart. Because how many people know we all go through storms in life. Storms aren't scheduled, storms will just show up randomly. But Joely, even in her young age, was already teaching me that just because there's a storm outside, it doesn't mean I have to pay attention to that, but rather I can choose my soundtrack. I can choose what I listen to, even in the middle of a storm. And I wanna just encourage somebody here today who maybe finds himself in the middle of a storm right now. I know the storm is loud, but God is louder. The word of God is truer. The word of God is the foundation that's gonna help you and I be able to get through whatever we're going through. Even though she turned on the stereo, it didn't eliminate the storm, but it just made it more possible for us to go through. And so even in that moment, what we choose to listen to absolutely matters. I wrote this too, fear may knock, but trust can answer. Storms will come, things can make us afraid, but I don't gotta respond with that same attitude. I can respond with trust in God. Psalms 56 verse three, the Bible says,

when I am afraid, I put my trust in you. There was another moment too that made it here into the book. I was with our son, we were at the grocery store. Again, this was years ago. He was much smaller physically. And Josiah, something about him, he's a helper. He loves to help, one of the most generous helpers I know. He wants to say, hey, can I help you with that? Can I do this for you? And that started even when he was young. We're at the grocery store and I remember he said, dad, can I help you push the cart? Again, but he was really little. But I was like, sure, I guess. Because it was easy when it was empty. He could see through the cart, it was lighter. And I ended up taking a picture of this moment because God began to speak to me. Because we started adding items to the basket. And the moment you start adding items, it starts getting a little bit heavier and heavier. And again, because I've been to the grocery store before, I know where things are at. So he's not really set up to help lead in the moment because he doesn't know where the milk is. He doesn't know where the chips are. And I found myself, again, he's there trying to push with all his little might. And I'm like there kind of like guiding the cart a little bit.

And I find myself saying things like, sorry, I didn't mean to hit you. And I will pay for that and stuff like that. And finally, I was like, hey, man, I don't think this is working out, bro. Like, I love your heart to help, but you're actually hurting more than helping. And so I said, hey, look, your job, and I picked them up and I put them in the cart. I said, hey, your job is to simply stay in the cart and enjoy the ride and just leave it up to dad. He'll take care of you. He's gonna put everything you need in your cart and we're gonna pay for it and we're gonna go home and life is gonna be great. And I took a picture of this moment because I think it's a perfect image of how a lot of times what we do with God, the cart representing our life and us wanting to help God. And we're over here trying to push this cart and we can't see where we're going. We're not strong enough and we're trying to make things happen for ourselves. And I think God sent me here today just to remind somebody, hey, I love you, son, I love you, daughter, but hey, your job isn't to push this cart. Your job is to get into the cart and let me do the pushing. I'll get you to where you need to go. I'll help you get to the very end and provide everything you need along the way.

And these are moments, ordinary moments. This wasn't a service, ordinary moment and in the middle of a moment, I'm breaking down crying. I make fun of my own book though because this book is for anybody who also doesn't like to read, all right? Because half of it is legit pictures, all right? And so if you can read a picture, you're halfway through. But I really do feel a burden to help people see God as many as possible. And so last year we launched snapshots. A week ago, we launched snapshots for leaders. That's specifically for leaders. And before you turn me off, leaders is not just a title or position, but it's influence. And I believe God's doing something beautiful with snapshots, but this issue of missing God in the ordinary moments of life is not just something that just started recently. It's been since Bible time where people have had to be intentional to hear God, to see God in special moments. Let me point your attention to the book of 1 Kings chapter 19. I think one of the clearest examples is Elijah. And let me just give you a little bit of backstory on him. Elijah had just experienced one of the greatest spiritual victories in the Bible. He was a prophet, which a prophet is a messenger on behalf of God, and he is confronted by false prophets.

There is a challenge happening at the top of a mountain. They built two altars, and they said, whoever's God shows up with fire, that's how we'll know who is the one true God. Long story short, our God answers with fire, and it's an incredible victory. It's an incredible moment. He just had this literally mountaintop experience with God, but in the passage we're about to read, though, which happened just right after this moment, now he's running, now he's hiding, now he's in the middle of a cave, exhausted, and his life's being threatened, and this is what God tells him. First Kings chapter 19, verse 11 through 13, the Bible says, then he was told, go stand on the mountain at attention before God. God will pass by. Again, God is speaking to Elijah. He's in the cave, and he's telling him, go outside. A hurricane wind ripped through the mountains and shattered the rocks before God, but God wasn't to be found in the wind. After the wind, an earthquake, but God wasn't in the earthquake, and after the earthquake, fire, but God wasn't in the fire, and after a fire, a gentle and quiet whisper. When Elijah heard the quiet voice, he muffled his face. That means he covered his face with a great cloak,

and he went to the mouth of the cave, and he stood there to meet with God. The earthquake came, the fire came, and the Bible says God was not in that, these dramatic moments, but yet God spoke up through a gentle whisper, and so today, my remaining time, I wanna teach you, I wanna share with you three simple practical steps that we can apply to our lives to be able to see God in the ordinary moments of life. By the end of this, you might be thinking, wow, that was really simple. That was really easy, and I wanna make it as easy as possible because I want this to be able to stick with you. I want this to be able to apply to your life. I want you to be able to adopt this into your life, and the first thing we've gotta do is pause. If we're gonna see God in the ordinary moments of life, we've gotta be able to pause. It's been said before that hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life. Moving on to the next thing, not taking time to celebrate, not taking time to rest, just running over whoever we have, right? It's just, we gotta go, our ambition's high, and we've gotta just continue to push, and we just gotta get it to the end, but we've gotta be intentional to be able to pause throughout our life and throughout our day.

Elijah had to slow down to be able to hear God, and that's why God brought him to a cave because that's where he was going to whisper. Psalms 46 10, the Bible says, be still and know that I am God. But when there's so much happening in our schedules, there's so much happening in our lives, it can be really difficult to focus on one thing. Now, I'm gonna date myself a little bit, but does anybody remember the book, Where's Waldo? It shocked me, actually, that there is a generation who is unfamiliar with Waldo. My next book might be something about bringing Waldo back. I don't know. I was preparing for the message, and Josiah, my son, was like, what's a Waldo? And I'm like, son, I've done a horrible job at raising you. I need to teach you about this. Waldo, if you're unfamiliar, is this character, this male figure, and he's known for dressing in red and white, but yet, when you open up this book, there's a very busy scene. There's a lot of activity happening, but your goal is to try to find him, kind of like this. I'm gonna give you a couple of moments. Can you find Waldo on the screen? When you find him, just kind of wave at me or something. Don't throw anything at me, but just wave at me. Somebody just said, wait.

It's not as easy because they do it on purpose, right? They match patterns. They might not show the full body of this person, but it's so busy, but Waldo's in there. All right, now, before I show you the next one, before I show you the next one, before I show you the next one, tell me if you can, I believe in you, okay, church? I really do believe in you. There's some people still. People looking for it, it's okay. Just, you can buy this on Amazon, all right? Buy mine too, but then buy this one and then you can take time. Let me show you, praise the Lord. Somebody just got saved. Does anybody see Waldo now? Yeah. Yeah, okay, cool. The difference between these two images, one was very busy. One had a lot of activity. One, there was things that looked like him and you didn't know if that was him or not. We're here, this is just Waldo. It's easy to identify him. Why? Because we took a moment to pause, to put pause on all the other distractions and I think that is the same thing

that we've gotta do when it comes to the Lord. I believe sometimes we're asking God, where's God? And God's reply is like, I'm here, but your life is so busy, things are covering me up. And it's important that we would be able to remove all those things and be able to really identify where God is. And so what does this look like in our real life and our everyday life? Maybe it means turning off the radio for a few moments on your way to work and you talking to God. Maybe it's you scheduling in your weekly schedule. I practice something called a weekly preview. Every Sunday, I'm gonna look ahead of my week and I'm gonna schedule all the big rocks, all the things that are important to me. When am I resting, when's date night, when am I spending time with God, when do I work, when do I do all these things, kids' practices, et cetera, et cetera. But something that never fails to be put on the schedule is when am I gonna spend time with God? Because if it doesn't exist on your calendar, it's not gonna exist in your life. And so it's this practice that God, I'm gonna make time to pause and to really create intentional space to be with you. I'm gonna go divine before I go digital. That's another way of saying, hey, before I grab my phone, I'm gonna spend time in the presence of God.

So the first thing we gotta do is pause. The second thing we gotta do is plan. God told Elijah in verse 11, go stand on the mountain. Again, encounters with God rarely happen by accident. Mark chapter one, verse 35, the Bible says, while it was still night way before dawn, he, he being Jesus, got up and went out to a scheduled spot and prayed. Even Jesus planned time with the Father. And so maybe your best next step, your spiritual next step would be is tonight, again, you're looking at your calendar and being like, when am I gonna spend time with God? And I'm not gonna schedule anything at the same time. I'm not gonna pick up my phone at the same time. But maybe it's separating five minutes right before you go into work. Maybe it's downloading the YouVersion Bible app so that you can get the word of God sent to you every day. And so it's on your mind. It's in the forefront of your mind. And maybe, or maybe it's even starting to journal. And here's a question that I would encourage slash challenge you to answer every night. God, where did I see you today? God, where did I see you today? And you'll, I really believe that when you start looking for him, the Bible says, you'll begin to find him. I don't know if it's ever happened to you.

Like it's happened to me a couple years ago. We purchased another vehicle for my wife, a Kia vehicle. And I never had a Kia before, but the moment that we got a Kia, all of a sudden, now I start seeing all these Kias in the road. We're driving to church or something, or we're just, even on a midweek day, we're driving somewhere, I see a Kia, what do I do? I start waving at the person. My wife's like, oh, you know them? I'm like, I have no idea who they are, but they drive a Kia. They're good people, you know, like. Why, I never noticed it before, but all of a sudden I start recognizing it because it's now present in my life as well. And so we need to make sure that we create intentional time to be able to answer, God, where did I see you today? And let me just give you some examples. It might not always be through a sermon on YouTube. Yes, God can speak through that, but maybe God wants to speak to you through your kids, through your spouse, through your parents, through a movie, through a song, through nature. It can be through a grocery store, shopping cart. I mean, it can be so many things if we're open and if our eyes are available to hear what he has to say. Why, because you don't hear God accidentally, you position yourself intentionally. When you position yourself intentionally, he promises to always show up.

The third and final thing that we can do to be able to see God in the ordinary. Moments of life is pray. Elijah heard the whisper in verse 13, but only because he was listening. I think a lot of us, we were taught that prayer is communication with God, and yes, that's true, but communication isn't just speaking, it's also listening. Are we making space in time with God to listen to what he might have for us? Sometimes if you're like me, maybe we just show up to God, to our prayer closet, to our office chair, and we have a list of things that we need him to do, and we're like, God, need this, I need the bills paid, I don't feel well, God, I'm going through this, I worry, God, and we have this list, almost as he was like Santa Claus or something, and God, here's my wish list, but are we making time to just sit in his presence, sit in that moment, and just see what he would say back to you? Now, I'm gonna lower the expectation here a little bit, because what's not gonna happen probably is you're not gonna hear a voice audibly from the sky saying, do not take that job. You're not gonna hear an audible voice, but you know what, he'll speak to you through his word. He'll speak to you in your heart, your spirit, you'll feel a nudge, maybe God brings up somebody

to your mind, and I don't know if you've thought about them before, but there might be a connection there that you need to either pray for them, or you need to reach out to them, and again, God wants to speak to us in the ordinary moments of life, because prayer isn't only talking to God, it's learning to hear him. I love Jeremiah 33, verse three. I say it often when I'm praying. The Bible says, call to me, and I will answer you. I will tell you marvelous and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own. I love that first part of the verse. Call to me, and I will answer. And that is the confidence that you and I can have that when we go before the Lord, we're not gonna have to guess, is he gonna pick up the phone or not? Is he busy right now or not? But it's Scripture, it's a promise, that it has your name and my name all over it that says, hey, call out to me, and I will answer you. You remember when you had to wait? This was back in the day, but you had to save your minutes for after a certain time to use them? Hey, I'll call you right back. I'll call you back at 9 p.m., right? Like, there's a generation

that doesn't know about that either, and so we're gonna have a special prayer or call for Waldo and phones, but we don't have to worry, God, you have minutes. God, you know, I know I just finished talking to you, but I just remembered something. I need to tell you something else. No, he says, hey, call to me, and I will answer you. That's why when I oftentimes am praying for somebody or even for myself, I'll say something like, God, you're the God who not only listens, but you're the God who responds. And what I'm doing by saying that is I'm reminding my spirit and my soul, hey, be ready because God's gonna speak to you. Be ready because God's gonna answer that thing which you are praying for. And so a simple prayer can be, God, what do you wanna show me today? Next time you're driving in the car, next time you're reading the word of God, next time you're at work, next time you're at the park with your kids or with your dog even. God will speak through dogs too sometimes. Hello, somebody. Ask him, God, what are you trying to show me? And it's this intentional act of, continue to ask yourself this question that will shift your mind, train your perspective

to be able to see God in the ordinary moments of life. I close with this, John 1, verse 14. The Bible says, the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. When Jesus came to earth, he didn't come as this incredibly majestic human being. The Bible lets us know that he came as a baby, as something ordinary. And you know what's crazy? A lot of people missed him because they were expecting something else. But there were some people who received in a special encounter with God because although he was ordinary, they knew who he really was. And so my challenge for you this week, church, is that you and I would be able to continue to see God in the ordinary moments of life. I'd love to pray for you right now. I wanna make two specific prayers with every head bowed down and eye closed. The first prayer is for every believer, every Christ follower who maybe has put God in a box because you think he has to speak a certain way. to a certain timeline on a certain day of the week after a special worship song, but God sent me here to remind you today, hey, God wants to show up even in the ordinary moments of life. And so Father, in the name of Jesus,

I pray for everybody who has been following you, but maybe just maybe has been putting you in a box of how you need to speak and how you need to show up. And God, would you just open up their eyes to be able to see you? Would you open up their ears to be able to hear you in a new way like never before? In Jesus' name we pray, amen. The second prayer I wanna make is for anyone and everyone who maybe doesn't have a relationship with the Lord today, this challenge of following God begins by recognizing His voice. And to be able to do that, you be in relationship with Him, gotta spend time with Him. And I really believe that maybe although you haven't seen it, but God's been after you. God's been trying to capture your attention. Well, the Bible says that today is the day of salvation. And I believe He sent me and allowed me to be here today to say, hey, today is the day that you go, you start your relationship with the Lord. And so on the count of three, I'm gonna invite you, if that's you, if you wanna begin a relationship with Jesus, to lift up your hand high as a sign saying, God, here's my life. I wanna begin to hear you and see you even in the ordinary moments of life. One, two, and three. Lift it up high right there, wherever you're at.

Praise the Lord. I see multiple hands going up, praise God. You can put your hands down. Journey Church, everybody, I'm gonna invite you to repeat after me. Say, Heavenly Father, we come before you right now. I invite you to my life. I know that I'm not perfect, but that you are. And from this day forward, I wanna follow you. I wanna see you in the ordinary moments. And I really believe that I'll never be the same again. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen and amen. Come on, Journey Church. Can you give it up for everybody who made that decision? Hey, well, before you leave, we're about to go into another song. That message was fire, y'all. So good, so good. Could you agree? Oh, absolutely. Yeah, what'd you get from it? What did you get for it online? Type it in the chat. Let us know what you got from that message. Joey was on fire. Pastor Joey was on fire. I loved how he talked about finding God in those ordinary moments. Yes, yes.

I think he said it like, if you're waiting on seeing God in the spectacular, you're gonna miss your savior. Or something like that in the ordinary. And I just love that because you can see God in the simple, ordinary moments. The moments, that's right. And I love how he used his son as an illustration. And the whole shopping cart thing, that was super cute. Nah, yeah. What about you? No, we definitely, we don't need these grand spectacles, this great miracle or just wide image or something crazy happening for us to see him. But it can be in our natural day to day. So, and of course, it's always a pleasure and a joy to hear from Pastor Joey. Yes, and if you decided to give your life to Christ, we celebrate with you. The Bible says, all of heaven is rejoicing. Scan the QR code below and you can go to journeyorl.com forward slash decisions and let us know you decided to take that walk. We wanna walk with you. Our online director, Jaylene, wants to reach out to you. Is that right, Jaylene? Yeah, that's right. I would love to talk with you, get to know more about what God is doing in your life. I would love to pray with you

and hear that moment was like for you. But listen, it does not have to end today. We have something special happening at 1.30 that I would also like to do with you. Alex, do you wanna let them know a little bit more about what that is and how they can get connected? Yeah, absolutely. So that is Next Steps 2. That is today at 1.30 on Google Meet. It's just a way for you to get plugged in, help find your purpose here at Journey. I am personally a product of Next Steps 2, and that doesn't mean that you have to be here in person. Either. You can be in New York, in Texas, different state, different country. We promise you there is room for you here at Journey Church in the online community. We would love to get you plugged in and see how we can help you out. Speaking of plugging in, YouTube, if you haven't subscribed yet, if you haven't hit that notification button, hit it. We want you to stay connected throughout the week, throughout the months coming ahead. We have Encounter Night coming up in about another two months. We have prayer services that we do not want you to miss. Any archived messages that you missed because you were on vacation or just slept in,

we forgive you. But you can turn to YouTube and watch it. So definitely subscribe if you haven't. We love to be connected with our online family. Yes, yes, yes. And if you can't serve or you're not in a position to be in the building or you can't serve online, you don't have the time because we all have commitments, you can partner with us by giving. You can scan the QR code. Without your generosity, none of this would be possible. This online studio would not be here. Next steps wouldn't be a thing. So we definitely would love to see you partner with us. you know scan the qr code if you're interested yes yes well thank you again for tuning in family we cannot express how grateful you are for tuning in with us check us out next week we'll miss you if you're not here thank you again for tuning have a blessed week absolutely we love you guys love y'all take care so do you