Tres decisiones que cambiarán tu vida | Mantente en el camino | Jeremy DeWeerdt

Hello, a big round of applause to all the parents in all the localities. We want to give that honor to the parents. We love you and you are really very important, more than you can imagine. And we want to say thank you for being a father and we honor you today and every day. And before I start my message, I want to share with you something that is exciting. A couple of weeks ago, we shared this vision to help children provide food in the name of Jesus. And we partnered with the organization, Convoy of Hope, where we offered a special offering called One Day to Feed the World. And we were able to purchase food that was nutritious for the children. And I'm excited to tell you today that our offering is $194,165. $194,165 to this cause of Convoy of Hope to feed children. And it feeds 970,825 meals. It's almost a million meals. It's almost a million meals you get. I want to say thank you to everyone who participated in all the localities, including even our people in God Behind Bars, in God Behind Bars, also gave the hearty correction center in Dickson. Well, thank you so much for participating. And well, I want to thank you. Thank you so much. There's no movement on the face of earth that even can compare to the global church. The global church is an amazing, eternal movement where we are collectively focused on the mission God does in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Can we do that? Yeah, I mean, that's awesome. Awesome. Well, if you haven't seen the last two messages, please go back and watch them.

There's three decisions. Well, there's many more decisions, but in this series we can only focus on three. So today we're talking about staying on the path, saying, well, success goes in the distance, right? Success is staying on the path. A one-time decision. At the age of four, success is not peeing your pants, right? At 16, success is having your driver's license. In your 30s, success is having relationships when you're married. At 35, success is having money. At 50, success is having money. At 60, success is having sex when you're married. At 70, success is having a driver's license. At the age of 70, success is having a driver's license. At the age of 80, success is not peeing your pants. So please, let's talk about this. It goes in the distance, right? Well, imagine, that's how we are. Success goes in the distance. You know what I'm saying? Well, I'll tell you what, one of the attributes that Jen and I have, just do it, just do it. You can do it, you can do it. Well, I'll tell you something, one of the attributes that Jen and I have, and we realized, is just that it changed our journey,

and our journey together. Don't tap, don't throw in the towel. This is going to be such a fun process. To keep us focused here, to not give up, to not throw in the towel. It's going to be a really important message for Father's Day. Well, and I will tell you, I'm not a 35th birthday, working here at CityFresh, so thank you. And well, I want to tell you, I'm not an expert on a lot of things, but one of the things that I did, that I can say, I can talk about longevity, right? And I've lived this. And what I'm trying to say in this message today is I'm trying to say that the success for you is staying in the same job for 35 years. No, that's not what I'm trying to say. But what I'm trying to say to you is that you need to hold on a little bit. Learn not to give up, not to leave your marriage, of your conviction, of your dreams, and a little like to follow this life that God gave you. And look, maybe I'm going to sound a little silly or like a car sticker. A lot of people quit.

That sounds silly, right? Or boring. But in the years that I've lived, I've seen that a lot of people give up. And sometimes I've also wanted to do it. But I say, well, I don't want to give up. And there are people who prefer to jump to an opportunity than to stay with their task. They rationalize that it's better to choose the easy than to choose the right thing. They're still chasing what's glamorous instead of staying with what's important. People in church and people in my life, I've seen people raise the white flag and they go, well, I've seen friends and people in my church and people in my life, is they just quit it and they get their white flag and they give up. Like other times, it's simple. Sometimes winning is just not giving up. If you have a desire to throw in the towel and you don't do it, you're winning. But not winning is not how you stay through that hardship. And sometimes it's not that it's easy in there for a long time and it has to be. And I will tell you when you do something you haven't done that you can say, I've seen it. And you say, someday, you're going to see it in that situation. You're being in a world where sometimes you have problems

but you have focused on not giving up before God opens up. And sometimes you know there's a time and maybe there's a focus, but until then, you try to live in the opposition, right? The last 30 years I've been married, the last 35 years of ministry, I don't even mean physically, I mean I look at other people like my wife and Jen and I say, you can, you can. And I don't just say it physically, although sometimes it is. But I say, well, you choose not to give up, right? And you say, no, no, no. The enemy sometimes gets frustrated and they don't see results. However, God holds you when you take the option to give up. Most people get out because they don't see results. And God calls us to be faithful before the fruit is visible. And I want to talk about this real quick. We're talking about this, right? I want to talk about a little study this week. I want to talk about a little study this week. And you say, oh, well, I did a study this week, let me tell you, about strawberries and apples and these fruits. And I think it's interesting that there's a difference between a strawberry plant and an apple plant,

for example, a strawberry plant physically, of course, produces fruit in a matter of months. But how does it produce the fruit? For example, a strawberry plant produces fruit in a matter of months. But an apple tree can take years before it produces the apples they want. Most people want trees like strawberries, they want them to water and grow fast. It is influence, it is success. And sometimes in our life and through our life, it's a slow growth, it's a transformation, it's a deep, sometimes it's a long growth. And actually, growing slowly in my research is good. A strawberry plant can produce fruit in a matter of months from two to three years, optimally. And a strawberry plant can produce fruit in a matter of months from two to three years, optimally. And a lot of times, when they have strawberry plantations, they plant every two or three years or four because it produces a lot of fruit fast. But then the plant starts to decay. And listen, the apple tree takes two to five years to bring fruit, but you take care of the apple tree, it can be in production for 30 to 50 years. So there's a difference between rapid and significant fruit. So there's a difference between rapid and significant fruit. So there's a difference between rapid and significant fruit. The challenge is, I want to talk about the significant fruit. And nothing seems to be happening.

The story that is found in first Kings chapter 18, we're going to focus on faith. And this story is in First Kings, some of you have it in, which is in First Kings, by the name of Jezebel. And we're going to wind up by Jezebel. I'm sure you've heard of her. She's a bad boy, she has a wife named Jezebel, Jezebel, she is one of the baddest kings in Israel's history. Jezebel, she is an idolater, she worships pagan gods. And fertility gods, and people in Israel used to worship a god who was the host of fertility, the host of the rain. But the people of Israel, their leaders are corrupt and they know that they have to follow God, but their heart is divided. And they begin to follow this god, Baal, because their leader is following them. So their hearts are divided. And God confronts the name of the prophet of Elijah. And it's a convenient, and I see when it's beneficial, your hearts are divided, right? Sometimes when we've taken God's side, you need to check the path, you're following your heart, but you're following this pagan god. Listen, you need to stop following this pagan god. And so you have to follow and listen. And people didn't want to follow him. And so the next few years, except bad weather, in other words, no rain, no drought, and a lot of them told them to repeat,

so all of a sudden, rain stops. There's going to be a drought in the next few weeks, more than rain, in my word. And well, due to the rain, not for months, not for weeks, not for years, there was no rain, no drought in the morning, no rain, no water. And well, what happens, right? The economy began to stumble. The crops began to wither. And well, this happens because they idolized, right? And well, he begins to show them mercy, mercy. And well, if this king of king of rain says, well, because he thinks that Bell is the king of the queen, I'm going to pay the kingdom of God, so to speak, the shower up there, and I'm not going to give them rain. And people quickly realized that Bell wasn't raining. He wasn't bringing the rain. So after three and a half years, God has mercy. Elijah tells them, there's a sound of rain. And Elijah says the following, well, in chapter 18, he says the following, right? We're going to read 1, 18, 42, 43. He says what it says here, right? In 1 Kings, he says, so Acab went to eat and drink. Elijah, on the other hand, climbed to the top of Mount Carmel,

and he knelt on the ground, and he cried with his face between his knees. He said to his servant, go and look at the sea. His servant went to look. He went back to where Elijah was. He didn't see anything. Seven times he told Elijah to go look. Imagine, he's there next to the sea, there in the Mediterranean Sea. And he says to his servant, go look at the clouds. Look for rain. Go look again. Go back. And he says to Elijah, no, there's nothing there. And he says to him, go back and check again. And go back again. Nothing. Go back again with Elijah. He says, no, there's no clouds. There's no rain. And he says, go back again. Go back again. Nothing. Go back again. Nothing. Six times he tells him,

there's nothing. I want you to think for a moment. If you're a servant, you're following this man of God, who's gonna start waiting to listen to God. And the man says it's gonna start raining. And as a servant, you go check, and there's nothing. And every time you go, every report, there's no clouds. There's no rain. And he says, go back again. And every time you go, every report, there's no rain. And as a servant, rain, no clouds, no clouds, no, no clouds, again, no clouds. you go back and check again. And there's nothing. Oof, I feel like it's a waste of time. But look, Elias keeps praying and seeing, this is important, it's a key, it's a key. Those who are trying to believe in a promise from God, who are seeing that there's movement in God's life, success, who are trying to achieve a dream, and look, you're seeing this, and Elias keeps praying and seeking,

praying and seeking. It's important because that's what you do in the season of waiting, you pray and you see. You pray and you seek, you pray. And look, maybe we're in a season of waiting, we're not seeing that God is moving. God promised us progress, restoration, reconciliation, growth, abundance, or something like that. There's no rain, we don't see anything. I want to tell you, Striefer's Church, if you're at this point of waiting in your life, don't confuse the not yet with nothing happening. This is very important. Just because you don't see anything at this moment, it doesn't mean that something isn't happening behind the scenes. And yet Elijah never changed his attitude to the sea, and there's not a single cloud, and Elias never changed his attitude to the sea. He prayed and he sought, he prayed and he sought. And many of us are there, you've been praying, you've been showing up, you've been seeking, you've been serving, you've been giving, you've been teaching, you've been seeking, you've been doing the right things, doesn't mean God's not working on the root. Just because you don't see the fruit, it doesn't mean that God isn't working on the root. It is growing, you just can't see it yet. The dream is growing, the promise is getting there.

You don't see it yet, but it's already here. The root grows before the fruit appears. Faith doesn't live by what it sees. Faith lives by what God says. Faith doesn't live by what God said, it lives by what God said, not by what it sees. And look, any situation that you encounter, any drought in your life that you encounter, that promise that you need, any prayer that you need answered, whatever it is, my question for you is, what did God say about that? What did he say in his word about your situation? What did he say about your situation? What promise is there for your situation? What did he say? And even when you don't see the fruit, even when you don't see the fruit, there are times in my life that our life together as a family, where the call to be a leader of this church, sometimes it feels like we always do the right things and yet sometimes we don't see quick results. Sometimes it has taken years of me, years of seeing the correct results, and years of obedience, years of prayer, and faith comes before the fruit comes. One has to be faithful to God before the fruit. And we see back to this, he says, seven times, the servant reports back to Elias seven times.

The servant said to him, I saw a small as a man's hand, like the size of a man's hand, as he sees a big cloud as he sees this big cloud. This was the seventh time. He saw a big cloud as he sees this big cloud moving in. No, he saw a big cloud that was coming in the storm. No, he saw a little cloud the size of a man's hand. But after that, the Bible says that that cloud began to grow and grow and grow. But the Bible says that that little cloud began to grow and grow and grow. And the skies opened up and the rain began to fall on a dry earth. And look, sometimes we feel that we think that a little effort is a great result. But usually, the pattern of God, what we've learned is the pattern of God is to be faithful, big, small signs at the beginning, but then the harvest comes, big. See, you have faith and fidelity to God. And what do you see? You're constantly there, you don't give up, and what do you see? Kind of a little thing. You see the size of a man's hand. And when it comes to tradition, you've been through a lot of effort, you've worked, but you don't see the fruits.

And over time, you start to see something that has a large impact. And it has influence on whatever circumstances that you are praying for. It takes something that you're going to do. And it's rare. I want to say something to people who are high achievers, especially leaders who are kind of like, you know, I'm a top leader, I'm a life leader, I'm less than fruitful. Life is more about fidelity than fruits. Let's see, they didn't give me amen. Why? We want the fruit. But notice, God, you have to keep this in your heart and in your spirit. You leaders who are leaders of corporations, God wants more of your fidelity than the fruit. Because being faithful produces fruit. You don't have fruit or fruits without being faithful first. You come to your business, you enter your business, your marriage, as a father, in the church, every week, when the pastor puts you to sleep, right? Also, you're there, you're praying, you're coming to the fruit. And then the fruit comes. Fruitfulness is by fidelity. You hear that? But look, the responsibility of the fruit, of the fruits is God's,

but fidelity is your responsibility. When you are faithful to God, the fruit will come. Please, please don't think that small means insignificant. We are in a day where everything has to be big. Everything has to be huge. We are experiencing either personally what people are going through. We talk to that personally, we see it on social media, or you compare your life with someone else's life. Less than half, and they feel bigger than you. In fact, I love what Craig Rochelle says. He says, comparison, he says, insecurity, you are going to produce insecurity. Like, it's really true. You're going to produce pride. You either feel insecure, when you compare yourself, you feel insecure, less than, or you feel, I don't know, you feel selfish, right? None of these glorify God, right? Especially young adults, right? I tell them, don't be a saint. Don't compare your beginning with my middle. Don't compare your beginning with my middle. And he says, don't compare it, because many times, people grow up, because there are people that are living in homes, and they're in their early teens,

or they're living in a house, or they're starting to make a lot of money. And then when the kids go out, they all start to make more money. And at the same time, they live in the same age as their family, that is the realistic. You know what you get to do when you leave the house? Start at the beginning. My way to start. All right. That's how you start. You're like, well, yeah, but my parents bought me that $1,200 iPhone that I'm using right now. Well, now you're going to have a Yankee by the hour thing. All right, so that's what's going to happen. Because you're going to have a phone that you have to pay for now, because you can't do it with that phone anymore. Like we couldn't do it back then, when we were at your age. Don't compare. Where are you? Where are the people that are years ahead of you? Because they see the blessings, but they don't see the decades of sacrifice. They see the blessings, but they don't see the decades of sacrifice. They see the platform,

but they don't see the preparation. They see the fruits of the people, but they don't understand that the roots had to grow for a long time to be in the waiting. I tell people, pastors who come out of town, to be in the waiting, pastors who come from different places, and we talk about life, and I say, don't look at this, this is the front, downtown. This building did not start like this, it started in a little store in downtown Rockford, in the center of Rockford, decades before me. A little room. You see the building here, but you don't see the years of perseverance, of sacrifice, of majority, of many people. They think we have to put in a little effort, and you pour like magic water, and boom, it becomes big. No, it's not about that. The culture now wants the blessing without the process. They want the harvest without sowing, the watering, and the weeding. They want the harvest without sowing. If you don't sustain the process of growth, you won't be able to make or grow the promise. Right now, you're in preparation for what God is going to give you. If you don't learn in the process, you'll never be able to grow the promise. So, what looks like to you is just a small cloud, the size of a little cloud, and it looks demotivating. God opens with something small. Acts of obedience, right? Small prayers that he begins to answer. I still remember back in the early 1990s,

I began a program here at the City First Leadership College. It's now called Kansas City First. It's called the City First Leadership College. It was called the City First Leadership College for the Master's Commission. It's a year where I began to train young adults for the ministry, and we only started in 1993. When we started, imagine, we had nothing. Many of you have heard that story, and things like, now I have to raise my own salary. As part of this leadership, we wanted to train young adults here in Rockford, but we also had to go from holidays to camps, to school assemblies, and we couldn't evangelize in public schools, but we could talk about value. Back then, we talked about saying no to gangs and drugs, and in public schools, we wanted to do that, but we had nothing. We had no resources. One day, the finance director called me, and he said, and he said, Hey, I'm talking, and there's a van with a dad and a mom. Well, there was a van of 15 people that was in a nearby dealer, and I said, I think the church has enough money to buy this car,

a van. It was horrible. It was a Dodge of 15 people, coffee. It was safe. It was safe, more or less, but it was ugly. $8,000 was what it cost, and we ended up buying this van, or this little truck, and as a leadership team, we thought it was a Lamborghini. We were so excited, and well, then we started traveling. We started going to youth camps, doing church services for youth, and we started doing assemblies. We started doing a ministry called RYI, and more churches and more schools would call us and help us, and one day, well, the van went to heaven, but before it went to heaven, we had thousands and thousands of miles in that van because we were traveling all over the place, and soon we started to get a little bit of resources. We were able to buy better vehicles. We were able to buy better soundsystems.

We had like a box of sounds, a truck with good sounds, we were able to travel with a better truck. What was interesting was that in those decades, after comparing all the services, the camps, the conventions, the school assemblies, the thousands that we did, in those decades, we were able to minister to more than a million people. We were able to do the ministry with a million people, right here at this church. This was right here at this church, right? But it all started with a janky, ugly van. Seriously, this van that if you look at it, it's ugly, it's very ugly. If you saw it, you'd say, it's kind of scary, right? It's like that van that you find in the river, sunken, like that. In fact, I thought to myself, many times, the churches would show up in that van, and they would say,

oh no, don't call it in the church. Don't call it insignificant. If you say God, it's a beginning. What you're seeing right now is not impressive. It's not cool. It's not dramatic. It's not Instagram. It's a cloud, the size of a hand. But Elijah recognized this as evidence that God was beginning to fill the promise. And I will tell you, you cloud in your life, whatever it is you're praying for, the dream you have in your heart, what God has put there may seem small to begin with. It may be an encouraging conversation. It may be a step in the right direction. It may be a simple prayer that God is giving you. It's not the entirety of what you're believing. Don't try to make it small, because the cloud was small, but the rain wasn't small, it was going to be saturated. Seven trips, seven trips, months, months, years, months, and the sky begins to darken, and the rain begins to fall, and the promise comes. Often comes after a season where we want to give up, and it just makes sense for me to quit. That's when the advance comes. Don't give up. I want, imagine, three decades of experience,

what I learned is that when it makes most sense to quit, because you don't break the rules just around the corner. I wonder how many people quit on this trip to the sixth trip to the sea, and if they go one more time to the sixth trip to the sea, they would walk away from this right before their dreams before it becomes a reality. How many people, one more season, to really hug that apple tree before the fruit comes, and take care of it before the fruit comes? The message is simple, and it's a dad moment right now. Keep praying, keep serving, keep showing up, keep sowing, keep believing, and believe that God is going to give you the breakthrough that you need. If he said it, he's going to do it. His timing is always perfect. It's not when we want it, but it's always perfect. Hebrews 10, 36, I'm going to end with this. Bible says, you need to persevere. Let's say this word, persevere. That's not a fun word to pronounce. We like money, we like joy, breakthrough. Persevere, you need to persevere so that when you have done God's will, you receive what he has promised you. Perseverance brings the promise. Perseverance reveals the promise. So today, I don't know who this is for, all different ages in the room,

whether you're 18 or 88, stay the path. Stay in the path, why? Because the rain's coming. It's coming. Oh, I know you don't see the little cloud. I know this is the fifth time to look at the sea, and you'll go again, and you won't see anything, and you'll go again, and you'll look, and you'll see, and then all of a sudden, one day, you're going to look, and you're going to see a small cloud, and you're going to see a man's hand. And it's going to seem insignificant, and you're going to say, oh, maybe it wasn't really an answer to a prayer. Maybe you don't realize it, and then all of a sudden, that little cloud is going to grow, and it's going to be a big cloud, and then the rain is going to come, and the rain is going to come. Stay in the path, City First. The rain is coming. Stay in the path, because the rain is coming. It's coming. It's coming. Let's pray. God Almighty, keep us here on this path. Help us. Sometimes we want to take out the white flag and give up.

We want to do something bright and glamorous. We want to continue for an opportunity instead of the task that you assigned us. We want to give up, whatever it is, that dream that we have. We want to leave it. We want to bail on that one-time commitment. Lord, life happens. And sometimes it discourages us. And it's ugly to go to the sea one day after another, one day after another, looking for our dreams and not seeing them come true. God, I pray that today you motivate us and give us strength. And God, I pray that we spiritually walk with our heads held high, because the promise of the rain of abundance is coming into our lives, and we have to be faithful. And faithfulness is going to produce fruits. Thank you, Jesus. You are the one who brings the fruits. We love you. With all eyes closed, head bowed, before we go, if you say, I've never given my life to God, but today I want to do it. My leader, my king, to ask for forgiveness for my sins. You're not entering the church. You're joining him. Maybe that video you saw earlier, you said, that's me, I have to make that decision. And you want to make that decision that God is your leader and savior. Raise your hand wherever you are. There are hands up everywhere. There are hands behind the bars in all our locations, in the halls, in line.

With all eyes closed, if you raise your hand, I want you to know that God is listening to you. He's listening to your voice. Your voice is listening to him. And it's important because today is the day that God is the leader of your life, and Jesus is your savior. Let's go ahead. Let's pray this prayer all of us after me. Ready? Jesus, I need you. Thank you for dying for me. I repent of all my sins. Enter my heart. Lead my life. Thank you for loving me with unconditional love. I want to live for you. In the name of Jesus, Amen. Give me a big round of applause.