The First Step | Carl Kuhl

Well, hello, everybody, and welcome to the Pando app. Welcome to Southeast Christian Church inside the Pando app. We are thrilled that you are here. My name's Steven. I'm on staff here at Southeast Christian Church. We are located in Louisville, Kentucky, but we got campuses in and around the Kentucky area, even one in Indiana, one in Central Tennessee. And as a matter of fact, we just love getting to join the over 32,000 folks that have hit the subscribe button inside of the Pando app. We love getting to worship with each and every one of you every single week. And as a matter of fact, we love it so much. We love hearing from you. We love being able to let you know how to connect and pray for you. We have a group of volunteers that read and pray over the letters. Some of our staff joined in on the mix. And a lot of times we try to write you back as we're able. So if you want to reach out and share your story, let us know how we can be praying for you. Let us know what encourages you through the Pando app. We love hearing from you. So make sure you connect with us. The address is located in the description. And while you're there, hit the subscribe button if you have not done that already. This weekend, we get to hear from our executive pastor,

Carl Kuhl, as we continue on in the series called Journey of Faith Inside the Book of Genesis. We're kind of camped out in the middle of Genesis right now as we go from the beginning to the end of the first book of the Bible. And this one is all about one of the most famous people in the Bible that regardless of where you are in your faith journey, you've probably heard of Abraham. And we're going to hear how God spoke to Abraham, how he called him, and better yet, how Abraham was faithful. And what you're going to learn and what I'm going to learn in this message is no matter our circumstances, no matter what's going on in our lives, if God calls us, we step through that even when we don't know exactly how that story's going to end. And so I just want to invite you in. If you catch yourself in a season going, I know where God is right now, but I'm not sure where he's sending me next. I'm not sure even what he wants to do with me, but I know I want to trust God. If you find yourself there, you are in good hands this Sunday. So join in right now. We're going to worship. We're going to pray. We're going to hear from God's Word and then stick around to the very end. I'll have some next steps just for our Pando audience.

♪ God has been faithful to all generations we've all ♪ ♪ Got a story to tell ♪ ♪ The stories of rescue, rebirth and redemption we've all ♪ ♪ Got a story to tell ♪ All right, let's testify. Come on, you sing. ♪ If he's been faithful and if he's been good ♪ ♪ Then sing hallelujah, sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ If he's been able when no one else could ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah, sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ Oh hallelujah ♪ ♪ Let the redeemed on the floor with their voices remember ♪ ♪ All the things he has done ♪ ♪ My Father will return our children to wonderful things he has done ♪ ♪ If he's been faithful and if he's been good ♪ ♪ Then sing hallelujah, sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ If he's been able when no one else could ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah, sing hallelujah ♪ Yeah, sing hallelujah. Come on, he's good. ♪ Oh he is good, his love endures now and forever ♪ ♪ Now and forever, eternity, oh he is good ♪ ♪ His love endures our history and our legacy is ♪ ♪ He is good, his love endures right now and forever ♪ ♪ Eternity, oh he is good ♪ ♪ His love endures our history and our legacy is ♪ ♪ He has been faithful, he has been good ♪ ♪ We sing hallelujah, sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ He has been able when no one else could ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah, oh sing hallelujah ♪

♪ If He's been faithful, if He's been good ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah, sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ If He's been able when no one else could ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah, oh sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ Yeah. ♪♪ ♪ I pray, I pray into the atmosphere ♪ ♪ Spirit of God, You are here, You have all authority ♪ ♪ So 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 ♪ ♪ That every weapon formed against me must fray ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray ♪ ♪ I drive a permanent boundary line ♪ ♪ The enemy has no right to come near my family, oh ♪ ♪ No one's feet could ever undo God's hand ♪ ♪ No matter the circumstance, the cost, the seal of our destiny ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray ♪ ♪ Calling on the power of heaven, I proclaim ♪ ♪ That every weapon formed against me must fray ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus, I know ♪ ♪ All the power of fear and darkness can't must go ♪ ♪ Is every key to every victory, oh, I know ♪ ♪ Oh, in the mighty name of Jesus, oh ♪ ♪ I will not fear, I will not fear when the enemy comes near ♪ ♪ I'm the doorframe of my life, the blood of Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ So I will not fear, I will not fear ♪

♪ There's an army of angels here, protected on all sides ♪ ♪ By the blood of Jesus Christ, oh, I will not fear ♪ ♪ I will not fear when the enemy comes near ♪ ♪ I'm the doorframe of my life, it's the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ See, I will not, I will not fear, I will not fear ♪ ♪ There's an army of angels here, protected on all sides ♪ ♪ By the blood of Jesus Christ, in the mighty name of Jesus, oh ♪ ♪ I pray for you and the power of heaven, I'm broken ♪ ♪ I'm broken, everywhere this wound against me, it must break ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus, in the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ I know, for the power of fear has caught me, it must go ♪ ♪ There's every key to every victory, oh, in the mighty name of Jesus, oh ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪ ♪ In the mighty name of Jesus ♪ Thank you Lord. You can stay standing as we continue to worship. I wish more people would speak honestly about how scary it is to fall in love again after heartbreak, to try again after loss, to show up after failure found you for the fifth time, to admit that maybe you actually do need to get some help. It feels too risky to try, too risky to take a step. But if we were really honest, beneath our fear is the obstacle that keeps us stuck in shame. Ourselves, our logic, our ability to see. Two plus two must always equal four, that is until life's circumstances throw our whole equation out the window. And when life doesn't add up,

the invitation to follow the steps of the Savior can seem, well, silly. But silly led Noah to build an ark and silly led Abraham to leave everything he had ever known. Silly led Moses and the people of Israel to the Red Sea. Silly led Mary Magdalene to the tomb. Silly led Peter to walk on water. Silly leads to stepping. Even when you can't see and it doesn't make sense and your hands are a little sweaty because the one who invites you to move has always been in motion. So yeah, stepping can be pretty scary sometimes, but the beauty of going with God is that you never go alone. So let us pray. Thank you Lord for this impossible activity. Thank you Lord for this impossible activity. Thank you Lord for this impossible activity. Thank you Lord for this impossible activity. Thank you Lord for this impossible activity. Thank you Lord for this impossible activity. Thank you Lord for this impossible activity. Thank you Lord for this impossible activity. Thank you Lord for this impossible activity. Thank you Lord for this impossible activity. Thank you Lord for this impossible activity. Thank you Lord for this impossible activity. Thank you Lord for this impossible activity. Thank you Lord for this impossible activity. Thank you Lord for this impossible activity.

Thank you Lord for this impossible activity. Thank you Lord for this impossible activity. Thank you Lord for this impossible activity. Thank you Lord for this impossible activity. Thank you Lord for this impossible activity. Thank you Lord for this impossible activity. Thank you Lord for this impossible activity. Thank you Lord for this impossible activity. Thank you Lord for this impossible activity. Thank you Lord for this impossible activity. Thank you Lord for this impossible activity. Thank you Lord in Who Am I? Jesus You are in Who Am I? Spirit in Who Am I? Trusting with no borders Let me walk upon the waters Wherever You would call me Take me Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander And my faith will be made stronger In the presence of my Savior Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders Let me walk upon the waters Wherever you would call me Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander And my faith will be made stronger In the presence of my Savior Oh we trust you Jesus Oh we trust your leadership shepherds

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders Let me walk upon the waters Wherever you would call me Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander And my faith will be made stronger In the presence of my Savior Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders Let me walk upon the waters Wherever you would call me Oh take me deeper than my feet could ever wander And my faith will be made stronger In the presence of my Savior I will call upon your name Oh my Jesus keep my eyes above the waves We'll just write my story in your words Raise my hand in praise Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders Let me walk upon the waters Wherever you would call me Oh take me deeper than my feet could ever wander And my faith will be made stronger In the presence of my Savior Oh how I trust you Savior Oh how I trust you Jesus With my whole life This morning That we would put our full trust Our full confidence in you We recognize God that you're really the only one Who can hold the weight up

That we carry And I know there are people walking in here today Who are struggling to find that peace A lot of uncertainty in their life They're unsure about the future They're struggling with stuff from the past I pray God that this Would be a place where they could lay that weight down At your presence And they would walk out of here different Than when they came in Would you let them know that this is a place Where they are loved and cared for Would you let them discover here God Your truth, your grace in their life That would change everything Lord if there's anything That just has struck me in the last few weeks After Easter and hearing hundreds of stories It's just this simple idea That this is all real It's real And I pray God that you would lift our eyes up That you would remind us that what we believe is true And it can be an anchor for us No matter what It's in Jesus name we pray Everybody said amen You may be seated In a moment Carl

Is going to come and Preach to us as we continue In our series through Genesis But before he comes up I want us to just step into the family room For a moment and have a family Moment as a church For almost four years My brother Carl Kuhl And his wife Lindsey And really their whole family Have in so many ways been gifts to our church And let me just say to me personally His preaching and his leadership have impacted this church and this community in ways that I know many of you see, but I can also tell you in ways that you don't see. About six months ago, Carl and I were driving, and we were just having a conversation in the car about the future, and I said, hey, can I ask you a question? Are you feeling led to return to a more senior pastor type of role? There was a few moments of silence, and he nodded his head yes, and I can't say I was surprised by that at all, and chances are if you know him and you see his gifts and his personality and you know his vision and you see his gift of preaching and his love for preaching, that doesn't surprise you either, especially when you consider the fact that when he came on staff, he was coming from being the senior pastor of a church that he planted in Baltimore where he was the senior pastor for 15 years, and in some ways I think it's fair to say that that calling never really went away and that we both knew that this day might come. I want you to know that I love this man, and I love his family. I could not be more grateful for the way they have faithfully served our church and our community. In a minute, I'm going to give you a chance to express your gratitude as well, but I get

to go first. For the past number of months, he has been praying and seeking God's direction, exploring potential senior pastor opportunities, and honestly, just that journey can be a bit of a full-time job. It can be pretty demanding. We don't yet know exactly where God is taking him next, but God knows, and we are confident in the work he is doing. But I want you to know as a church family that we're committed to walking with him and his family throughout this transition. They have our blessing, our prayers, our support every step of the way. One of the sweet—I'm going to give you a chance—one of the sweet God moments in all of this is when we were looking at this weekend to potentially be his last weekend, the sermon for this weekend had been chosen last year, and it's the story of God calling Abraham, and Abraham being obedient even though God doesn't tell Abraham where he's going. And so, Carl and his family are walking in obedience. This will be his last official weekend as he winds down his ministry here. That doesn't mean you won't still see him, and I hope his family around here often. It doesn't mean that we won't have him back to preach here in the future. I look forward to that. I just want you to know how much, whether you see it or not, I want you to know how much he and his whole family has blessed this church. His kids have served faithfully as part of our parking team and production team. They've served in kids' ministry. They might not want me to mention this, but I happen to know that all four of his kids turned in Move Commitment cards. My wife has loved serving with Lindsay and caring for our staff wives, and they have just consistently poured into marriage and equipped parents and developed future leaders. The verse that comes to my mind when I think of Carl is 1 Corinthians 15, verse 58. Stand firm. Let nothing move you.

Always give yourself fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord has not been in vain. My brother, you are one who stands firm. You have courage. You have conviction. You are one of the most consistent leaders and preachers that I've ever been around. What I want to make sure that you know is none of it's in vain, none of it. Every ounce of work that you've put into loving this church and this community, the late nights, the early mornings, the hard conversations, the long meetings, all the hours that you spend and study for sermons, every message that you've preached, every invitation that you've offered here, none of it is in vain. So Carl's going to come and preach. I want to invite a couple of our elders to join me on stage if you guys want to come out. I'm going to invite our congregation and all of our campuses, if you'd stand and if you just express your appreciation to them, we're going to pray and then open God's Word. Tim, you want to pray for us? Would you all pray with us? Father, we stand here in this moment in a spirit of gratitude. Thank you for Carl Kuhl. Father, I'm reminded that Paul the Apostle said of the church of Philippi, I thank my God every time I remember you. And the reason that he was thankful was because of their partnership in the gospel. Father, that's why we're thankful for Carl Kuhl. We're thankful for his partnership in the gospel. God, I thank you for every single gift that you have put inside of this man, and there are many. And I thank you for his obedience to use those gifts while he's been here at Southeast Christian Church.

Father, we are a better church because of that, and we thank you for that. And Father, we thank you for how he has led his family out loud right in front of us. Thank you for the way that he loves Lindsay, the way that he has led and loves his children, Reagan and Quint and London and Declan. And Father, we pray for them as they continue to pursue their giftings and their callings, and you grow them into even better kingdom workers than they are. And Father, we thank you that Carl is leading the way for all of us by boldly stepping into a future so that he can have an even greater kingdom impact. And Father, as he steps into one of his primary gifts this morning, the gift of preaching, I know we all look forward to that with great anticipation. I pray, Father, that as you usually do through him, that the words that he's prayed over, the words that he's chosen would be words that are coming straight from your heart through his, and they will have transforming power into our hearts as we receive them this morning. Father, would you bless our brother, Carl Kuhl. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, Brad.

Thank you. Appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. The scripture we come to today is Genesis chapter 12, which starts, the Lord had said to Abram, and he's called Abram in this passage. Later in the scripture, we're gonna see in a few weeks, he gets renamed Abraham. We're just gonna call him Abraham to keep it simple. He said to Abraham, leave your native country, your relatives, your father's family, go to the land. I will show you. And this verse is where I find myself right now. And interestingly, it's where my wife and I found ourselves multiple times since we've been married. Our first year of marriage, we moved to Virginia Beach, Virginia, to a small church plant that was portable. We didn't know anyone there. We were there a few years as creative arts pastor. Then in 2008, we moved to a suburb of Baltimore

to plant a church. In church planning world, we call it a parachute plant, meaning you just kind of parachute in. We didn't know anybody in the entire state. It wasn't like we were launching out of a church there or something. Then we moved here in 2022, put our kids in new schools with a completely different culture in a place where we did not have close friends. And now we're gonna do it again. We just don't know where yet. I believe God brought you to church today because he providentially brought together my story with this scripture to teach us together. Here's my sermon title. When obedience is clear, but the journey is not. When obedience is clear, but the journey is not. This is what Abraham found himself in. He knew how to obey, leave, but the journey was unclear. I'll show you where you're going later. Obedience is easier when you see a direct tie to the why. If you are on a sports team and the coach has you do a certain drill that's exhausting and hard, if you can see exactly how it's gonna impact your play on the field, you'll dedicate yourself to that drill. But if it's kind of a weird drill that you don't really understand how it's gonna make you better at the sport,

it's a little more difficult to throw yourself into it. Same thing's true with busy work at school or a random assignment at work. And in our walks with God, we all face times where obedience is clear, but the journey is not clear. So maybe you're growing in conviction and walking with God and you're realizing, and if you're gonna dedicate yourself to purity, that you need to move out of the apartment you share with your girlfriend to be pure. But the whole reason you did it is to save money and you actually don't know how you can afford two different apartments. Obedience is clear, the journey is not. It's when you have a secret sin that's growing because evil things grow in the dark and you know you need to drag that thing, kicking and screaming into the light, but you don't know how people respond. Maybe there's shame. Maybe you'll fall to that thing again. It's when you have to suffer well, but you don't know when the pain's gonna end. It's when you know you need to stop bossing others around, but who will keep them in line? It's when you need to grow in the spiritual discipline, but you wonder, will this ever feel fun? Obedience is clear, but the journey is not. It is difficult to obey.

It makes you question your calling. You feel insecure. You wonder if God is good. You wonder if he sees you. So I want you to think right now of the thing in your life where you know you need to obey, but you're just unsure how it would turn out if you did. Think of that right now. We're gonna learn today from the story of Abraham what we do in that situation. Now I'm gonna disappoint some of you because we had to change up the sermon calendar in doing all this. And therefore, those of you who are real excited to fill in the blanks, and conveniently fill in the blanks today, we changed the sermon. But I still want you to take some good notes today because we're gonna learn four things from Abraham on what to do when obedience is clear, but the journey is not. Look back at verse one. The Lord had said to Abraham, leave your native country, your relatives, and your father's family. Go to the land I'll show you. Verse two, I'll make you into a great nation. I'll bless you. I'll make you famous. You'll be a blessing to others.

I'll bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you. Now here's a couple of fascinating things about this. You know what Abraham had done up until this point? He had said, you know what Abraham had done up until this in the story? Like if you flip back a page in the Bible, you know what he had done? Nothing. Like nothing. There wasn't something Abraham did before this to earn this. God chooses Abraham, here he's still called Abraham, unrelated to anything Abraham had done. And here's the point. God gives undeserved blessings. Our world likes to use the word privilege. And if they perceive you as having privilege for any reason, they wanna knock you down for it. And honestly, if you think about it critically, if there is no God, then that way of thinking and acting kind of makes sense. But the scriptures are clear. God makes men what they are. Every gift you have is an undeserved blessing from God. You have the ability to work. You woke up to good weather.

You live in an age where you can go in buildings where you expect air conditioning. You're not worried where your next meal is gonna come from. You were born in a free country where you're able to join Christians and worship, unlike many other countries in the world. You don't deserve any of those things, but God has blessed you. Now the scripture is ultimately all about Jesus. Why is he gonna make him into a great nation? Because that nation will produce Jesus. How will he make Abraham famous? Because Abraham is the ancestor of Jesus. What does it mean when he says, I'll bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt? Well, according to Galatians 3, Romans 4, Acts 3, it's simply this verse means it's all about accepting and receiving Jesus. That if you accept Jesus, you're good with God forever through no doing of your own. What does it mean when he says, all the families on earth will be blessed through you? It simply means Jesus is going to come and Jesus is going to give grace. And grace means endless second chances. Grace means he makes all things new. Grace means it's all gonna be okay. Grace means all the sad things will come untrue.

So if these verses are about grace, verses two and three, then when obedience is clear, but the journey is not, let's make it practical. How do I remind myself of grace? I'll give you a quick application. Practice daily confession and gratitude. Write that down. Practice daily confession and gratitude. We need to practice daily confession of specific darkness we've seen inside us from the previous 24 hours, so we can be reminded of the beautiful light of grace that shines on that darkness. So confession may sound like, God, I screamed at my kids in a rage for something real simple. God, I imagined having sex with somebody I'm not married to. God, I lied to my support group. God, I upsized that meal because I was in my feelings and I wanted to turn to food, not you. God, I wasted an hour and a half scrolling social media. We also practice daily gratitude of specific things from the previous 24 hours to be reminded of the undeserved gifts he constantly gives us. So gratitude may sound like, God, thank you for that baby's laugh I heard. That just reminds me of life and innocence. God, thank you for that goal my kids scored in the game. I know it doesn't matter, I was just so fun.

God, thank you for good weather where we could sit outside. God, thank you for the real important blessings of life, like white castles with extra onions and big red soda with a side of fries covered in ketchup. But when you pray those two prayers, it constantly reminds you, God gives you undeserved blessings. Verse four says, so Abraham departed as the Lord instructed and Lot went with him. Abraham doesn't waste time. God tells him what to do. Pam does it. At the camp that I went to when I was in middle school, they had this thing called the faith pole that every cabin was supposed to do as an activity one day. I don't know if you've heard of the faith pole before, but the way it works is they have a 30 foot high, might as well be 500 foot high, telephone pole. You put on a harness that has two ropes that go over some pulleys, and then your camp counselors are holding them down below. And the idea is you climb up the top of faith pole, you jump off with joy, and then they hold the ropes. The guys you ticked off the night before, by the way, and made them not be able to sleep, and then you have a fun and they lower you to the ground slowly. Now, here's the thing. I don't have an irrational fear of heights.

I have a rational fear of heights. Meaning, if I'm at the top of a skyscraper near a window, I'm not scared about that because engineers design this, the math isn't going to suddenly stop working and break. I'm good. But if I'm at a national park and there is a 500 foot ledge a few feet away, I am terrified because God made me with that fear to keep me alive. But when you're in middle school, the power of peer pressure is greater than the power of the fear of heights. So I put on this stupid harness. I start climbing the top of this telephone pole. It's way more wobbly than it looks on the ground. And they have this trapeze bar out in front of you that you can't reach, but you're supposed to jump and then they catch you. And I have this moment where my palms are, my palms are literally sweating thinking about this, where my palms are sweating. I have a pit in my stomach, my throat gets dry and I have to decide, am I gonna jump? So Abram departed. And what Abraham demonstrates is faith. Our culture so often gets faith wrong. Even it kind of seeps in Christian culture sometimes where we think faith is like this ethereal thing in the clouds, as if faith is just a thought or faith is a feeling I get

during my favorite worship song. But faith in the scriptures is action. In the Bible, faith that is not seen is not faith. Think of Jesus. He says, go wash in the pool of Siloam, then you will see. Pick up your mat, then you will walk. Go show yourself the priests and on the way they were healed. Think of the woman who had that issue of bleeding and she thought, if I can just touch Jesus' clothes, I'll be healed. It wasn't when she had the thought that she was healed. It was when she did the action that showed she had faith that she was healed. It's why the scriptures say, repent and be baptized. It's your actions showing your faith. Faith that is not seen is not faith. Therefore, following Abram's example, the second thing we do when obedience is clear, but the journey is not, write this down, is take a leap of faith. In my life over the last seven months, I've kind of had to eat my words that I shared with a bunch of people during the move journey because as we were ramping up for the move journey, I was able to meet with a bunch of kind of small groups of people and cast vision about faith. And I would go to the book of Hebrews in the Bible and remind them that faith is what pleases God. But what I would say to challenge them was,

notice this isn't past tense because what I want the scriptures to say is to have had faith is what pleases God. To be able to tell a story of having had faith past tense is what pleases God. Because if so, then I'm good. Because I've been a Christian a while and I can tell the story of when I baptized that person. And when I took a risk to invite that other person to church and when I brought my secret into the light and when I went on that mission trip, when I gave more money than I thought I could to that thing. Like I have the stories. If the scriptures said what pleases God is to have had faith, I'm good. That's not what it says. It says what pleases God is a present tense faith. A risk-taking, fear-inducing, sweaty palms causing, pit in your stomach bringing kind of faith where you don't know if he's gonna catch you but you know you have to take the leap anyway. See, I just don't think I'm the only person here who's supposed to move. I believe there's somebody here who's got been telling you to move towards forgiveness. I know they don't deserve it. It's a leap. There are people here who are supposed to move towards having another kid. I know you're overwhelmed.

He said, be fruitful and multiply. Having kids is the number one way to evangelize and disciple. It's a leap. There are people here who need to move towards telling your friend about Jesus and move towards authenticity instead of seeking to impress and move towards gentleness in your marriage and move towards serving instead of being a consumer. Abraham left even though he didn't know where he was going. And we need to follow his example and take a leap. Go back to verse four. So it says, Abraham was 75 years old when he left Haran. Here's what's wild about Abraham's story that we're gonna talk about for several weeks here, is he was on social security for all of it. I mean, I think Abraham at this point in his life felt like he'd done enough in life to just kind of settle down, like play some golf in the morning, nap in the afternoon, maybe do a little fishing, go on a walk, hold your wife's hand in the evening, watch the sunset and just coast. But his story's just getting started. Whether you're a planner or not, all of us face the temptation to tell God, hey, here's how I want you to plan my life. In fact, I like this meme that said, my brain at 2 a.m. says,

let's rehearse every possible worst case scenario for the next 47 years. Here's a lesson. When obedience is clear, but the journey is not, don't script God's plan. Don't script God's plan. Sometimes we're tempted to say, and it comes mostly from a pure place, we wanna say, this happened in my life, so God must want me to use it this way. Or God, I have a dream for this, so obviously you want me to do that. Or God, it seems logical that you would do this, so I'll wait for that. But three times the scriptures say, who has known the mind of the Lord? Think about it. If you are planning the entry of the savior of the universe, would you have him be born in a feeding trough around barn animals? There's so many times I wanna tell God how to rule the universe, aka how to run my life, but Jesus costumes us against this. There's a whole section, his most famous sermon on worry, and in that he says, hey, even the birds, look at them, they don't worry about where the next field's coming from. Don't you worry either, just worry about today. And this means when you catch yourself laying in bed at night, going over hypothetical conversations,

you catch it and instead think of the people you know who have more pain than you and pray for them. It means when the worst possible outcome enters your mind, that you never get married, you never make enough money, they never come back. You remember that in the garden before he was arrested and tortured, Jesus felt overwhelmed too. It means when you're tempted to choose to be a victim, you remember Galatians 6, 5, we're all responsible for our own conduct. I read a story in the news just a few days ago, this week, of a woman who sued Carnival Cruise Lines for neglect and she won. And I've been on a cruise before, I may go on a cruise one day again, I don't know. So I kinda wanna see, well, how are cruise lines neglecting people? And what I found is that she took 14 shots of tequila and surprise, fell down some stairs and got injured. Then she sued Carnival saying she was the victim for her drinking too much. The most pathetic part of the story is she won and was awarded $300,000. Now I read that story and I roll my eyes and think how pathetic can you be? But then I realize I'm just like her. Because if life doesn't go how I want, I wanna be a victim if I can't script God's plan. I think God's plan is like those anamorphic trash sculptures.

Have you seen these on TikTok? An artist takes trash and sets it up in a certain way so that from most angles, it looks like trash. But then when you get to the perspective of the creator, it forms something beautiful. That's your life. My favorite scripture of wanting to know God's plan is in the book of Exodus chapter three, when God in a burning bush appears to Moses and says, hey, you're my guy, go to Pharaoh and tell him to free all the slaves because they're my people, I'm gonna take them to a new land. And Moses is pushing back in every possible way he can. And he finally says, like, how can I know God that this is you, excuse me. How can I know God that this is you calling me and that I'm not hallucinating this whole thing? And here's God's answer to him. Here's how you know Moses. When you've brought the people out of Egypt, you'll worship God at this very mountain. Huh? Like, from a human perspective, that's a pretty crappy answer. Because obviously Moses will know then that God called him, but Moses wants confirmation now. And God's whole point and the lesson for us is this. When God has told you to do something and you don't know how it's going to end,

the sign that it was God who told you to do it is only going to be in his faithfulness as seen when you decide to take the risk. In other words, the sign that he'll catch you when you jump off the faith pole is that he caught you. It's not easy, that's the Christian life. Verse five, Abraham said, took his wife Sarai, who's later called Sarah, his nephew Lot and all his wealth, his livestock and all the people he had taken into his household at Haran, and headed for the land of Canaan. When they arrived in Canaan, Abram traveled through the land as far as Shechem. There he set up camp beside the Oak of Morah. At that time, the area was inhabited by Canaanites, and Abraham built an altar there and dedicated it to the Lord who had appeared to him. Now, he's in the land that will become the promised land. It's where 500 years later, his descendants will enter and take it over. But right now, it's inhabited by Canaanites. Canaanites are godless people. They do not worship the one true God. Everything they do and worship and live for is opposite of God's plan for humanity. So catch this, Abraham is in the middle of evil, and he chooses to worship. Now, an altar is simply a physical representation of God met me here, of thus far has the Lord brought us.

And what's interesting is all of this takes place, it said, in the city of Shechem. And if you do a word search in the Bible on Shechem, you'll see it pop up every, really several hundred years in Bible history, even into the New Testament. And Moses is there and Joshua is there and Jesus is there. And I just wonder, I don't know, but I just wonder if each time one of those greats of the faith was there, that they see that pile of stones that Abraham arranged and thinks, oh yeah, God's been with us here before. Because if you remember the story of the Bible, when people remember how God is faithful in the past, they are faithful in the present. But when they forget how God was faithful in the past, they are unfaithful to him in the present. So Abraham, in the midst of evil, builds an altar. If we look back at verse five, it says he had his wife, Sarah, his nephew, Lot, and all the people he'd taken into his household. Notice he's building an altar with people. Like Abraham's the spiritual leader and he can't do this alone. Application, when the fulfillment of your calling is unclear, lean on your crew. Lean on your crew. We talk a lot here about finding your crew. You hear it every time we promote any type of groups, it's in these moments, you need your crew.

Listen, this is why you get in a group. I know you're busy on Tuesday nights and don't need something else in your calendar. It's so that when things are unclear, you already have them in place to lean on. This is why you join a serving team. It's not just so you can look at a baptism and say, I didn't cause that, but I was a part of that. It's also so when you show up early to church, earlier than everybody else, that person who prayed for you last week meets you first and says, hey, I've been praying for that thing every day this week, how did that turn out? This is why you're authentic and vulnerable because when life is hard, it's too late to begin working that muscle. I've always thought it was weird in Romans and several other books in the New Testament, how the apostle Paul, when he's ending a letter that ends up in our Bible, lists a bunch of random people. I mean, he'll give shout outs to people, challenge some people, thank some people. And to be honest, when I read it, I get kind of bored. But this week, I kind of got it. And so I just wanna give a shout out to a couple of people before we're done. Because what makes any big church feel like home is the relationships you build, is the crew you lean on. So at the risk of maybe boring you and definitely at the risk of leaving people out,

I wanna say thanks, Steve, for having me over to your basement so often for lots of good conversations. Thanks, small group, for faithfully coming to our house every Wednesday and being real. Thank you, Troy and Alexis, for doing life with us. Thank you, campus pastors, for your loyalty and your sarcasm. Heath, thanks for being a good friend. Thank you, Kyle, for trusting me with influence, for being gentle with me and for letting me preach on your platform. Isaac and Joe, keep pouring into young men like you have our boys. Nathan, keep leading the way and being real. Tessa and Steve, keep bringing joyful diligence to work. Thanks, Eugene, for believing in me first. Thanks, Jamie, for believing in me still. Olga, Dave, Will, Bob, if you encourage others like you do me, they'll feel like a million bucks. Eric, your generosity is only outdone by your character. Southeast family, you have changed my prayer life. Thank you to my parents, siblings, in-laws, for supporting us no matter where we live. Thank you, Declan, London, Quinn. and Reagan, I know your calling is attached to mine and I don't ignore the weight of that. Thank you, Lindsay, for loving the people of this church

so well and for influencing me with your kindness. Southeast family, I pray that you find your crew because when obedience is clear but the journey is not, having those people to lean on just makes life good. I wanna end by addressing the non-believers and then the Christians. Two years ago, I had the honor of performing just a fun wedding. It was a young couple, Jerry and Mackenzie, and Jerry is smart and logical, super intelligent, finishing up his training for a doctor, and Mackenzie is just the kindest person you've ever met. Just smile, lights up a room. She never doesn't have a smile. She loves animals and people alike. She's type of person who treats you the same no matter who you are or if you have anything to offer her. She just loves well. And so the wedding ceremony was so fun. There was laughter, it was a huge crowd because they love people so well and just everything you want a wedding to be, holy fun person is great. That was two years ago. This past fall, Mackenzie was in a car at 9 a.m. on a Sunday morning, driving to meet some college girlfriends for a weekend catch-up, and another car, 9 a.m., ran a stop sign at 60 miles an hour, T-boned her, and killed her instantly.

So this fall, I stood in the same chapel where just 18 months prior I had performed her wedding, and this time I oversaw her funeral. And Jerry, who was bouncing on his heels with excitement two years ago in the fall, was on the front row next to his in-laws who were all just numb. And it was the beautiful tragedy of a Christian funeral because there was deep grief, because Mackenzie was great, they were so young, they had so much life. And yet, there was so much hope because friend after friend of hers stood up at the microphone and recanted stories of their personal interaction of how she had loved well, how her faith had bled out onto them, and how their lives were different forever because of Mackenzie. And we talked about the true hope of heaven. My uncle's a pastor, and he told me one time, when you do a funeral, just ask to see the person's Bible. It'll tell you all you need to know. And Jerry invited me over to see Mackenzie's Bible. I did something I hadn't done in a funeral before. I just showed them screenshots of her Bible and talked about it, and I actually thought it was appropriate today. Jesus says, come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I'll give you rest. That's grace. And the resurrection and the life, he who believes in me will live even though he dies.

You also are among those who are called to belong to Christ. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. I've stood on this stage 37 times over the past four years, and every single time, I have challenged you to repent and be baptized. And a whole bunch of you have. It's been awesome. But there's a couple of you who are holding out. And I wanna warn you in two ways. One is, a couple of years ago, I read a study where they had wanted to see what is the correlation between how long someone is in church and the likelihood that they will give their life to Christ. And it started very low, as you can imagine. Like, when someone first comes to church and is exposed to Jesus, they're not gonna give their life to him the first day. They're like, what's the Bible? You want me to give my money? Why are people getting wet in the pool tub? Like, what is all this about? But as time increases in church and exposure to grace and truth, the likelihood that someone becomes a Christian greatly increases, obviously. But here's what the study found. There's a certain point that it starts to decrease, and it becomes a bell curve where it almost becomes, if you don't accept Christ,

eventually the chance of you doing so will become zero, because think about it. You put yourself in environments where there's true worship and the opening of God's word and grace, truth, hope, and freedom, and you actively choose to resist the Spirit of God speaking to you. It's almost as if you're choosing to harden your heart, and by doing so, inoculating yourself to the gospel. Mackenzie, as a reminder that you do not know what will happen to you on the way home from church today. You don't know when your last day is, but you can have hope. So what are you waiting for? Get up and be baptized. Have your sins washed away by calling on the name of the Lord. Lord. I found myself this week resonating with Paul's final words when he leaves the church in Ephesus in Acts 20. I never shrank back from telling you what you needed to hear. Now I'm bound by the spirit to go. I don't know what awaits me, but my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord, the work of telling others the good news about the wonderful grace of God. I have a flag hanging in the study where I write sermons that says these three phrases,

preach the gospel, die, be forgotten. This is a quote from 300 years ago from a man named Count Zinzendorf. Now you haven't heard that name before, but I told you the effects of his ministry last year. If you remember the story I told about the Moravian movement in Eastern Europe that sent missionaries to Greenland, and then the two women said, well, if they need wives, even though we don't know them, we'll go marry them for the sake of the gospel. That was started by Count Zinzendorf. He was nobility in Eastern Europe in the 1700s. He walked away from every blessing in this life that he had to focus on sending missionaries around the world. The tentacles of his movement still reach around the world today. But when he would raise up a missionary and send them out, they would be prepared to go, and his final words to them were very simply, preach the gospel, die, be forgotten. Let everything you do in word and action, let people know grace and truth is theirs for free because of Jesus. Do it until your final breath, and may you make so much of Jesus that when you're gone, he is the one they remember. My final ask to you is this very message, that you would give your life

to sharing grace and truth with others without shame and with great passion, that you would do it until the day that Jesus calls you home or Jesus returns, and that you would be so effective at communicating Jesus that they don't even remember the name of Southeast or you, they remember the name of Jesus. Jesus said, "'I came to seek and save those who are lost.'" It's been said the church can do, the world can do anything as good or better than the church except one thing, grace. So Southeast Christian Church, preach the gospel, die, be forgotten. Let's pray. Jesus, help. Jesus, help us in our pain. A church like this has so much intense pain, fresh every single week, death of loved ones, unexpected sickness, marriage that started with so much hope, but now is a grind, a child that's just trouble, chronic pain that makes death seem appealing, mental struggles that make us feel almost possessed. Jesus, help, help us in our pain. Help us in our pain. Jesus, help us be faithful. The world has so much temptation. We wanna get drunk and high. We crave sexual pleasure outside your boundaries.

We're arrogant and we just want to be right. We covet what others have. Jesus, help us resist temptation. Jesus, help our calling be clear. So many of us wanna make a big impact for you. We wanna love well. We wanna use our intellect and skills to bring grace and truth in your kingdom, but sometimes there's this fog of confusion around our next step. We long to be like Abraham and told, go here, because we will. Jesus, help our calling be clear. Jesus, help us be wise according to your word. Jesus, help us love well with fun and gentleness. Jesus, help us be bold warriors who fight with honor. Jesus, help us lead with humble authority. Jesus, help, amen. You can be seated. We're going to continue worshiping together as we take communion. We're going to remember the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. We're going to remember the sacrifice of Christ, but my prayer is, is that you would remember this man's message. The message that he's living with his life that we would live by faith that we would live boldly for whatever Jesus calls us to. But as we take communion I pray as you consider the bold step of faith that God has for you that you would quickly look to Jesus. You would remember he didn't ask you to go first but he did. That he stepped out of heaven. He descended to this earth and he lived a sinless life and he died a sinner's death. A death on the cross. But what we know is that he rose again. He rose to the right hand of the Father which means

that because he rose we can rise too. And so whatever step of faith is ahead of us whatever opportunity for obedience we can step boldly into that because Jesus stepped first. So over the next few moments we're gonna remember his sacrifice. We're gonna take this little cracker that represents Christ's body that was broken for you and for me and we're gonna remember as we drink this juice as it represents Christ's blood that was poured out for us it may it push us forward as we continue to lift high the name of Jesus. At this moment I want to invite our prayer team to come on down. Over the past few services we have had so many people who have come forward for prayer and they've shared really heavy things really challenging things that the Lord is asking them to step into. I just want to encourage you as you look ahead towards the journey that God has in front of you would you come down would you receive prayer we'd love to do that but maybe just maybe there's someone in here and the greatest step of obedience that you could take is yielding to the Lord Jesus Christ is by placing your faith in his hands and dropping a knee saying God I'm done leading my own life would you lead it for me. We'd love to have that conversation if you want to head over to the next step room on my right your left we've got some amazing folks who would love to talk with you love to help you discover what it means to put your faith in Jesus's hands. We're gonna continue in worship we're gonna lift high the name of Jesus let's take communion whenever you're ready. To the beginning Can't control what tomorrow will bring But I know here in the middle Is the place where you promised to be Not enough Unless you come Will you meet me here again? Cause all I want Is all you are Will you meet me here again?

All I want Is all you are As I walk now through the valley Let your love rise above everything Like the sun shaping the shadows In our weakness your glory appears ♪ I'm not enough unless You come ♪ ♪ Will You meet me here again? ♪ ♪ Cause all I want is all You are ♪ ♪ Will You meet me here again? ♪ ♪ I'm not enough, I'm not enough unless You come ♪ ♪ Will You meet me here again? ♪ ♪ Cause all I want is all You are ♪ ♪ Will You meet me here again? ♪ ♪ Hey, oh we need His love ♪ ♪ We're here for You, Jesus ♪ ♪ Yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Not for a minute was I forsaken ♪ ♪ The Lord is in this place, the Lord is in this place ♪ ♪ I call this spirit to drive home to awaken ♪ ♪ The Lord is in this place, the Lord is in this place ♪ ♪ Not for a minute was I forsaken ♪ ♪ The Lord is in this place, the Lord is in this place ♪ ♪ I call this spirit to drive home to awaken ♪ ♪ To drive home to awaken ♪ ♪ The Lord is in this place, the Lord is in this place ♪ ♪ The Lord is in this place, the Lord is in this place ♪ ♪ You've made us where we are, Lord ♪ ♪ You'll never fail, never fail, never fail, never fail ♪

♪ You're in this place, the Lord is in this place ♪ ♪ To drive home to awaken to awaken, awaken, awaken to awaken ♪ ♪ To drive home to awaken, awaken, awaken to awaken to awaken ♪ ♪♪ -♪ Cause all I want is all you are ♪ ♪ Will you meet me here again? ♪ ♪ I'm not enough, I'm not enough unless you come ♪ ♪ Will you meet me here again? It's all you are, all I want ♪ ♪ It's all you are, will you meet me here again? ♪ Thank you. -♪ It's all you are all I want ♪ ♪ You are all I want, all I want, all I want, all I want ♪ -♪ It's all you are, will you meet me here again? It's all you are, all I want ♪ -♪ It will take all eternity, I can never sing loud enough to tell you how much you mean to me ♪ -♪ You have been so, so good, you have been way too kind, I still can't believe you saved my life, you saved me ♪ -♪ What a privilege to follow Jesus, what an honor to worship Him ♪ -♪ This joy is mine, now and forever ♪ ♪ What a privilege to walk with You ♪ ♪ And even when the road feels long ♪ ♪ I'll fix my eyes on eternity ♪ ♪ Even when the trials they come ♪ ♪ I know Your goodness will follow me ♪ ♪ Cause You have been so, so good ♪ ♪ You have been way too kind ♪ ♪ Jesus just to know You is better than life ♪ ♪ Oh Jesus just to know You is better than life ♪ ♪ What a privilege to follow Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus one in all to worship Him ♪ ♪ His joy is mine now and forever ♪ ♪ What a privilege to walk with You ♪

♪ What a privilege to walk with You, what an honor ♪ ♪ Your arms stretch wide on that cross for me ♪ ♪ You gave Your life as an offering ♪ ♪ My hands held high, all I have to bring ♪ ♪ I give my life, You're worth everything ♪ ♪ Your arms stretch wide on that cross for me ♪ ♪ You gave Your life as an offering ♪ ♪ My hands held high, all I have to bring ♪ ♪ I give my life, You're worth everything ♪ ♪ You're worth everything ♪ ♪ Yes You are Lord, You're ours, You're ours, You're ours ♪ ♪ Your arms stretch wide on that cross for me ♪ ♪ You gave Your life as an offering ♪ ♪ My hands held high, all I have to bring ♪ ♪ I give my life, You're worth everything ♪ ♪ What a privilege to follow Jesus ♪ ♪ What an honor to worship Him ♪ ♪ This joy is mine now and forever ♪ ♪ What a privilege to walk with Him ♪ ♪ What a privilege to walk with Him ♪ ♪ Yeah, what a privilege to walk with Him ♪ Well, we loved being able to share our worship service with all of you from Southeast and Louisville, Kentucky to wherever you're located through the Pando app. Love being able to be a part of that. And what a special, unique moment to hear from Carl. At this moment in his life, we don't always get to hear from a pastor in that way and in this season. And I hope that encourages you because his story

that he's living out is a story that all of us, we will all have a moment in life where we're not sure exactly how God's going to finish the chapter in our life, but we have to start it. And so we have to take the first step. And so just like Abraham didn't know exactly where God was gonna send him, but he had a trust in the blessing of God. So you and I can find ourselves in the midst of that. You know, one of the things I love being able to do is to hear biblical teaching, apply it to my life, and especially in community with other people. And we wanna be able to support that every single Thursday. We have a Pando podcast that we love putting out. It's just a conversation. We talk about the message. We take a look back at the weekend and the message that we just heard, and we just discuss it. We think about how is this gonna apply to my life? And it's a way of hearing the message and then kind of seeing how a couple of people can apply it to their lives and hopefully your life as well. So check that out on Thursdays. Y'all, thanks for being a part today. It's a big deal. You know, it's not lost on me. You could have watched a lot of things. You could have done a lot of things with your time, but you chose to set aside over an hour to worship

and to connect with God. And we hope that you heard from him today through his word and through the worship and through the prayers. We wanna close out with a time of prayer from an old prayer from a saint, and I hope it blesses you and encourages you as we pray this over you. Dear Lord Jesus Christ, by your radiant and magnificent resurrection, you broke the bonds of death and rose from the grave as a conqueror. You reconciled heaven and earth. Our life had no hope of eternal happiness before you redeemed us. Your resurrection has washed away our sins, restored our innocence, and brought us joy. How inestimable is the tenderness of your love? Amen. Pray that that blesses you. You all join us again, and thanks for being a part of Southeast Christian Church.