The Way Forward | JR Aquino | City Light Church

Hey, what's up, everybody? Javin here, and we are about to jump into God's Word, and I am believing that it is going to be a blessing to you, a blessing to your world, a blessing to your life. The Bible says that at the entrance of God's Word, it brings light, it brings revelation and understanding, and I believe that's going to happen for you today in Jesus' name. Just before we go to the Word, our team is asking all the time for you to like and subscribe and hit the notification bell, all the things. I guess it helps with the algorithm. I don't know what the algorithm is, but I guess it's real, and that would help us, and it would help us get the Word of God to you. I also want to thank all of you for your financial support. Thank you for helping us bring the beautiful message of the gospel of the Lord Jesus right here to Las Vegas, the most unchurched city and the most unchurched state in America. We are doing everything we can to win souls and make disciples, raising up the next generation right here in Vegas, and if you are looking for good ground to sow into, this is it. If you want to help us reach more and more people for the Lord, this is a great place to do it. For you who are already giving, thank you. It means the world to us. I love you so much. Come on, let's jump into God's Word. Proverbs 3, 5-6. This is a pretty well-known passage. If you're new to reading the Bible, Proverbs is 31 chapters, so it's an easy way to get started. Proverbs a day keeps the foolishness away, as they say. Proverbs 3, 5-6. Y'all ready? All right. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, submit to him, and he will make your path straight. Let's pray. Jesus, we just thank you, Lord. We thank you for your Word. We thank you for your presence right now. I pray for open hearts to receive what you have for us today. Do what only you can do. In Jesus' mighty name, amen, amen, and amen. Thank you, brother. That's weird, doing that. Today, I want to talk about the way forward. I don't know about you guys, but I love me a plan. I love me a plan. Any type As in the building? Any? You can say proud. Go ahead. Come on. I love me a schedule. I love when dinner reservations are secured. It brings me joy. Man, I love when I have a day-to-day itinerary. Oh, you are speaking my language. I don't know if Gary Chapman has a love language for that, but that's mine right there. I love that so much. Man, I love me a plan so much. You know when people talk about going with the flow and being spontaneous? If you could tell me when the flow starts and when the flow ends, I'd really appreciate that. It would just bless my soul. I love me a plan. But then on the opposite side,

if I could be honest, my not-so-best side, I could be a micromanager. Thank God my wife's not here because she'd be shouting me down too, so she'll do that later. But I could be a micromanager. I could get really particular and overly obsessed with the details…actually, pretty insignificant details too…of the process. I could get really obsessed with wanting to know every step of the way before I even start walking. This is where Proverbs 3 challenges us. It challenges people like me. It challenges humans really. See, in a world where we're so obsessed with doing things ourselves, holding our own experience over truth, and trying to get ahead of everyone else, you see Solomon the writer is saying to do the exact opposite. That's hard because us as humans, we crave control. We really want clarity. Submit. The definition of submit is to accept or yield to a superior force, authority, or another person's will. You know, it's interesting that God checks off all of those boxes, right? He is the superior force. He is the ultimate authority. It is your kingdom come. Your will be done. See, we know these things, but for some weird reason, it's hard for us to submit. Why? Why is that? I feel like sometimes when we think of submission… like submitting to God, and it's kind of a taboo word, but when we submit to God, we think we're like, we scrunch our faces when we pray. I don't know why we do it, but we do it. Lord, you're gonna tell me what to do, and I'm gonna do it. I believe in it. Or on the other side, you're like, well, God, you're God, so I guess I have to do it, right? Now, I truly believe that obedience is very important to God. But what he's not looking for is a blind or empty obedience. What God is looking for is an obedience rooted in surrender and trust in him. It's rooted in relationship with him. Amen?

Amen. So I actually think it's hard for us to submit to him because some of us don't know how to submit to him. So here are three things that'll help us put us on the way forward. Number one is be mindful of God. Be mindful of God. So to be mindful of God is to consider him, to acknowledge his presence in everything that we do. And I would actually say a lot of us don't necessarily reject God, but I would say that a lot of us go through life without even considering him. That, you know, like, have you ever, like, gone in your car and, you know, you've gone to work, go back. It's a very familiar drive, right? Right? You've made all the stops, hopefully. You did all the turns and you arrived at your destination. And if you had to recall the drive, you probably wouldn't be able to, right? You're on autopilot. So a lot of us are doing that spiritually. We're going through our everyday lives. We're going to work. We're making those big decisions. We're raising our kids. We're picking someone who we want to marry. We're making these big decisions without even considering God's input.

And then we wonder, we're wondering why we feel so anxious, so drained, so overwhelmed. Solomon tells us to trust with all our heart. See, your heart is not the thing that that's pumping in your chest. When the Bible refers to the heart, it's talking about your mind, will, and emotions. In other words, your heart is your entire being. So the Lord is asking us to trust Him with all of us. Then the writer says, lean not on your own understanding because we don't build our lives on our opinions, our experiences, or our emotions. No, we allow God's wisdom and truth to govern, to govern the way that we think. In Romans 8, 6, it says, the mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. So maybe you've come in here struggling with something. I would probably say to you, you need to submit that to God because maybe that area is actually something that the flesh is leading when you actually need to surrender that to the Spirit. Okay? Because maybe it's pride, maybe it's lust, maybe it's greed or fear, maybe it's bitterness, maybe it's anger. I'm here to tell you, church,

and encourage you today that whatever that is, life and peace is available to you through the Holy Spirit. Amen? Yeah, we can praise God for that. Come on. Amen. And then later in Romans, Paul says, don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into the new person by changing the way you think. Can everyone say, let God? Let God. Let God. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Anyone want that? Anyone want that? Good, pleasing, and perfect will for your life? Amen. See, now the question begs is how do we walk in God's will? And Paul says it right there. Let God. Let God transform you. He's not gonna force himself into your mind. He's not gonna force himself into your heart. He's a gentleman. You know, he's not gonna do that. You gotta let him into your thought life. You gotta invite him into your thought life. You gotta acknowledge him in your decisions.

God, how do you want me to raise my children? How do you want me to steward my finances? How do you want me to handle my business? Lord, I wanna come to you. before I make any decisions, amen? Amen, we're talking about the way forward. First, we're mindful of God. And secondly, be faithful to God. See, faithfulness to God looks like a daily yes. It's a daily yes. It looks like prayer when we don't feel like it. It looks like worship when we're tired. It's opening the word when life is busy, okay? It's doing things God's way when the world, when culture says to do it another. So Proverbs 20, verse six says, many claim, many claim to have unfailing love, but a faithful person, who could find? Basically, a lot of people talk the talk, but do they walk the walk? You see, we say we love God, but are we actually spending time with him? Or does this guy get more of your attention? Or I would say, does that get more of your devotion over this one? And I'm not here to beat anyone up, because hear my heart, I'm guilty of it too. I get it, the stresses of life, it gets busy and all those things, but we have to make this a priority.

We gotta make time with the Lord a priority. Come on, and hear my heart, because there are points in my life where I'm walking with the Lord and I'm on fire, shouting, you know, speaking in tongues 24-7, declaring the promises of God left and right over people, and then the next day I'm like, God, why have you forsaken me? We can't get lost on feeling alone, guys, we can't. This is very easy for us, especially for those that attend City Light. You know, the presence of the room falls just week after week into this place. And we can fall in love with that feeling. And I'm all for it. I love it when God's people gather and worship together and his presence just fills this room. But we can create a routine where we only meet with God in a room like this. In a room like this. Now, you guys saw my son earlier, Everett, and ever since he was born, all the staff members, all the staff members can attest to this. Right when it hits 12 o'clock, I am out the door. It's not that I don't love work. I'm heading home, and as soon as I get home, my boys right there waiting to crawl to me. I don't know any parents in the house, just love going home and you see your kid. Come on.

And his smile is just the best thing. I don't care what kind of day I'm having, if he smiles at me, everything is okay. Can I tell you how much more does the heavenly Father look at you? How much more does the heavenly Father want his kids to come to him and seek him and yearn for him and want a relationship with him? How much more? See, we have to remember that God doesn't just want to meet us here on a Sunday. No, he wants to spend quality time with his children. He wants you on your Sunday best and your Wednesday worst. Faithfulness isn't proven in the big nights, in the worship nights, in the small groups or church on the weekends, which is all good, okay? But faithfulness is proven in the daily decisions, in the secret place with him, through the reading of the word and through prayer and through worship. See, a Sunday encounter cannot replace your daily walk with God. See, what happens in this room should be overflow of what is taking place in the secret place with him. See, this is the way forward. We're mindful of God, faithful to God. And lastly, as the team comes back up, we're obedient to God, obedient to God. Is this helpful for y'all? Yeah.

Man, this actually is making me more dehydrated than singing. Jeez, how does pastor do this? It's crazy. Now, be obedient to God. In Matthew 14, this is where you have the disciples on a boat and there's a storm raging. The winds are heavy. The rain is pouring. And then Jesus is walking towards them, okay? Just to paint the picture. And we'll go to 1425. It says, about three o'clock in the morning, Jesus came toward them. walking on the water. When the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. In their fear, they cried out, it's a ghost. But Jesus spoke to them at once, don't be afraid. He said, take courage, I am here. Then Peter called to him, Lord, if it's really you, tell me to come to you walking on the water. Yes, come, Jesus said. So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. See, trust in the Hebrew is batak. It means to rely on, feel secure, and be confident in someone. It's not a passive belief, no, it's a complete dependence. It's like putting your full weight on something knowing that it will hold you.

Trust is faith in action. And that's fully displayed here with Peter. Jesus said, come. And Peter had to put the full weight of his life on the word of Jesus. I don't know if that's for someone, but if God's giving you a word for your family, you can stand on that word. If God's giving you a word for your business, you can stand on that word. If God's giving you a word for your children, you can stand on that word. Come on, God's word, you can stand on it. Come on, give God praise in this place. Hallelujah. You can be seated, you can be seated. See, Peter obeyed because he trusted Jesus. And he didn't just trust, he trusted Jesus because he knew Jesus. And he knew Jesus because he sought after him. To put it another way, you won't obey who you don't trust. You won't trust who you don't know, and you won't know who you don't seek. Amen. So I've been walking with the Lord now since 2018. Got saved here at City Light. I was invited. I'm actually not gonna look at you. I was invited, I'll cry.

I was invited by an acquaintance of mine who then became my best man and one of my best friends. His name is EJ, actually Emmanuel Jr. My firstborn son, middle name was after him. But he invited me to church, and it's because of his obedience that I'm here. So I wanna tell anyone in here, if God has put someone on your heart to get into this house, you need to invite them. It may not happen on your time, but God is working, God is moving. God is making a way where there are no ways for that person. Just trust in Him, trust in Him, trust in Him. You guys wanna see it? Sorry, I'm getting riled up. This is a lot. So EJ invited me to church, and I remember going to church. We were at Fest Middle School. Cafeteria's buzzing, stale bread, all the things. But still walked in there. Pastor Jabin's lead in worship, so you know it's anointed, it don't matter. Like, it could be anywhere. And I just walked into the place and felt something there. I didn't know what it was, but realized it was the presence of God. I remember looking at the worship team, like, man, I wish I could do that.

That'd be great. But I had a lot of brokenness and shame that I was carrying. So I looked at it and it was like, oh, I can't, you know. I'll let that be. But then, yeah, I started going to church a little bit more, you know, but I gotta admit, it was kind of like six months in, I was like doing the hokey pokey. It was like one foot in and then one foot out. Yeah, I was not all in. And I was feeling that. So six months in, I made the decision. I was like, God, I'm done leaning on my own understanding. I need your wisdom. I need your guidance, Lord. I need you. So I made the decision to just go all in. Started attending every service. Low key, probably, people were probably worried, probably thought I was homeless or something because I was just there the whole time. all the time and attended all the small groups and man i loved small man i was scared out of my mind to join a small group but i still have friends from eight years ago that i found in small groups so take the step anyone wondering if they should join a small group do it it's the best decision now then it came to december around november december where someone asked me to join the worship team and that fear and anxiety just started building up again and i was i honestly i was i was i was afraid because i used to do music back in my bc days you know before christ and um and i i just remember what fame did to me i didn't like it and and it made me really look at this in a way that it wasn't meant to be looked at um but i just remember praying and god being like hey just step out on the water

keep your eyes on me i don't need perfection i just need surrender and can i tell you this the last eight years of my life has been proverbs 5 3 uh 3 5 through 6 money is tight lord i trust you i don't know how to lead people in worship lord i trust you venus has a daughter with autism and is non-verbal i've never been a parent before lord i trust you my dad has cancer lord i trust you my son everett was in the NICU for two weeks right after birth and i didn't know if he was going to make it lord i trust you i lean on you i submit to you i keep my eyes on you see this is the way forward no it's not a way that is free of hardship it's not where you always know what's coming next it's not a way where god gives you the entire map but it's a way full of grace it's a way full of freedom it's a way full of joy and it's a way full of peace because god is the one who's leading it you may not know you may not know what's ahead of you but you can trust the one who does that is the way forward