Trust and Obey | Roots | Pastor Tyler McNeely

Let's pray, Jesus, we just declare that you have no rival, you have no equal, yours is the name above all names. We love you today, we just thank you for who you are today and every day, and God, we just lay at your feet right now all of the things, Lord, that we have wrestled with this week. God, the things we've wrestled with this morning and the things, God, that have rivaled you, the things that we have rivaled you with this week, that have no place on your throne, we take them off of your throne, God, they can never be there, we lay them at your feet and we thank you for who you are and we pray all this in the name of Jesus, amen, good morning! Let's go, turn to somebody right now, give them a big high-five, a fist bump, you could even do a little E.T. if you want, E.T., phone home, man, alright, Pensacola, make some noise if you're excited to be in the house today, let's go! Let's go, can we honor and celebrate Navar today, let's go, Navar, and then how about our favorite guys over at the Blackwater campus, can we just honor them, man, I'm so grateful, I'm grateful for today, I'm grateful for all God is doing, I'm grateful to be with you and God's doing some really, really big things and we kind of get to be a part of it and to be His hands and His feet of Jesus, you know, two weeks ago we baptized like 114 people in the gulf, and then, yeah, absolutely, get to your feet, get to your feet, you're in the back row, get to your feet, come on, man, because I'll be honest, if 114 people getting baptized in the gulf is not enough to get you excited and onto your feet, I'm kind of scared of what will be, you know what I'm saying, and then Pastor Steve told me there was a family that they got to baptize out at the beach, 14 other people in this family gave life to Jesus and got baptized like the day later, and so God's doing some big stuff and we're right in the middle of our series called Roots and we're talking about how to honor His house and one of the ways we honor His house is by bringing to Him like the things that He's given to us and Pastor Stephanie, I just got to tell you, that message last week was absolutely incredible, and I'll be, if, raise your hand if you were here last week. All right, a lot of you, not all of you though, but a lot of you. Last week we had some AC issues in here, and so like I was sitting on the front row dying, and so like how you preached that incredible message last week, and I mean, honestly, like

it's hard enough to like preach a good message and get people to move and do kind of like what God's leading them to do, but to do it in those circumstances was absolutely incredible. Goat status, I mean, just incredible, legend, and she led us last week and she talked about how God has gifted us. If you missed last week, do your future self a solid and go back and watch last week's message because in that message, she teaches us how God has, in His word, given us these gifts, they're called spiritual gifts, and in fact, if you missed last week, I mean, go ahead and put this QR code up here, and like hundreds of you filled this spiritual gift test out, and so if you missed last week or maybe you weren't fast enough to get the phone up, it's going to be up here for a minute, and take a screenshot of that QR code. See those phones? I see you, and what you're going to do is going to populate a text message to us, and then you're going to hit send, and you're going to get a text message back, and in that text message is a link to take your spiritual gifts, and like I said, hundreds of you filled that test out, and many of you are posting online like what your spiritual gifts were, and I saw one person's post, and they were like, man, I'm a prophet now. What do I do with this? And I related to that because like when I first took this spiritual gifts test, my number one gift was prophecy, and I walked away, and I was like, I don't know what to do with that. Like I'm a prophet now. Like you're a prophet, Tyler, and I didn't know, and so like when my kids like at home, like when we're at home, and my kids are like acting a fool, like now what I do is I make them stand in front of me, and I'm like, listen, I know you don't get this, and it's hard to explain, but I'm a prophet now, and so I'm going to prophesy over you. Lucille, if you don't like stop losing your mind right now, like surely sayeth the prophet, because we say things like that because we're prophets, and we say like surely I say to you like doom and destruction are certainly in your future, and she's like, daddy, what's doom? And I'm like, that's perfect.

prophet daddy to you. And man, it was, you needed to take your spiritual gifts and find out how God has gifted you because he's gifted you like in a really unique way and he's gifted you in a unique way that you can turn around and use that to honor his ass, to add value to his house. And so you should do that. And today I want to talk to you for just a couple of minutes, but before we kind of really get into it, I have to ask a question and I'll just tell you, it's a really vulnerable question, like it's hard to ask. And it's a question many of you have been asked in your life and for some, like it's been really challenging moments that kind of draws this question out. And many others, maybe you weren't the one like asking the question, you were the one being asked the question and it's a really tough question. And I'm gonna ask you this question, so just have grace for me because I need it. And it's a really vulnerable question. And the question is this, the question is, do you trust me? Do you trust me? And for many people, I would ask that question and like a few of you would respond, yes, like I trust you. But many of you would not, many of you would say like, no, I don't know you

and so I don't trust you. And I promise that I'm not offended by that, I'm not like upset, but like it's this thing that all of us at some point in our lives kind of wrestle with. And it's a question that looks different asking it in 2025 than it did asking it 30 years ago. Raise your hand if you remember watching the news. Okay, for many of you have no idea what I'm talking about. And so let me just kind of like go in the way back machine and I kind of catch up a little bit. So there was this thing called the news. And what it was, was like you would like go home in the evening times and you would turn your TV on and you would just like watch people. And they would sit at a desk and they would like tell you what was happening like in the country and in the world and even like in your neighborhoods. And like, it was crazy. You just like live, like they're just talking and I'm listening and like, it's just, that's the new, we're watching the news. And like something kind of happened at some point along the way. And I don't know like exactly when it happened or I can't really point to exactly what the moment was, but then you begin to hear things like, well, you can't trust the news. And I hear things like, you can't trust the media.

And even like further than that, it even kind of evolved to like, you can't trust the church. You can't trust a pastor. You can't trust, you know. And for a lot of people that translated to like, can I even trust God? And this kind of thing kind of bubbled up in our culture and in our times of living of like this idea of trust and how that kind of affects it. And like, for me, I'll be honest, I had a moment like that where it was really hard just like for trust was really kind of shaken. For me, it was 2020. And for many of you, you remember 2020, you remember 2020, it feels like forever ago, but it wasn't, like it was just a couple of years ago. And that's how like all traumatized we are, I think from that experience. But what was wild about it was like, it was a hard, 2020 was a hard time for everybody. And likewise, it was a hard time in church world. So like in the church, it was a hard moment too. Like some of you remember those seasons and it was hard because like one of my roles at the time was I was over all of our campuses. And so like, I was really like in it. Like I was looking at the data, like studying everything and I was watching the news. And it was a hard season because like in church world,

no matter what decisions we made, it was the wrong one. It was just, it was the wrong one. So when we decided to like close the gathering and like shift everyone to watch online, like all of a sudden there was this kind of like voice that came out of the darkness that was like, man, you guys just don't have enough faith. And I was like, what? I've got faith. Like, I don't know, I'm trying to do the right thing here. I've never been through a COVID before, okay? And then we would go and we'd open the gatherings back up. Excuse me. And then all of a sudden, now it wasn't like we had enough faith. Now it was, you guys just don't love people enough. And it was like, no matter what we did, whatever decision we made, good news, it was the wrong one. Like I was just be confident of that. So we were trying to navigate all of that. And like I said, I was over all the campuses. So I was like in the data. Like I was, you know, I was in it. And so in every day, my day started the same way. I would log on to my computer, you know, and I would pull up like the COVID numbers and I would study the trends and I would see like what the numbers were looking like in our county and in our state and in our country and even all over the world.

Like I was just like, I felt like I needed to know all that stuff. And so by doing that, I'm watching the news. And this is where it kind of like really kind of shook me because I'm watching this guy get up on a podium and he's got a microphone and I'm like, well, he's an expert, you know, he's gotta be, okay, cool. And he's gonna tell us what to do. And so he gets up there and he says, man, hey, you need to wear masks that way we can reduce the spread of COVID. And I was like, cool, we're wearing masks. I was like, I'm not a scientist, I'm just gonna pay attention, you know, and do this guy says. And then literally like, it was like the next day, the same guy, the same microphone gets up there and he goes, actually, mask aren't that effective. Like, you don't worry about going out and buying all masks. Like just kind of, we're gonna stay home or reduce the spread that way. And probably two weeks go by, maybe longer. And the same guy gets back up again and he goes, actually mask really are effective. And we just didn't want you to go out and buy up all the masks. So we said they weren't effective so that you would not go and buy all the masks that way the medical field could have the mask for them. And like, and I get like, that makes sense,

but also you what? Like, it was like a moment for me. And it really kind of like shook this thing called what? Trust. It really affected my trust. And in church world around the same time, you saw these podcasts like coming out of nowhere and these documentaries coming out of nowhere, like criticizing the church. And even some cases like pastors that made mistakes and really kind of let people down. And in some cases really hurt people. And all of a sudden that same voice began to kind of rise up. And now you heard this voice of, well, we can't trust the media. We can't trust the church. Can I trust a pastor? Can I trust the church? And for many people, the question then shifted to can God be trusted? And for some of you, maybe it wasn't a podcast or it wasn't a documentary, but for some of you, maybe it was that your actual church experience. Maybe you grew up in church and somebody along the way that stood in the place of God and spoke on behalf of God hurt you or let you down or disappointed you. And it kind of left with this kind of feeling of like,

man, I can't trust the church. I can't trust God. And that led you to maybe stay out of church for a long time. Many of you stiff arm God, you stiff arm the church and you kind of just like did your own thing for a while. And you wrestled with this really big idea that I wanna talk about today for just a few minutes of can the church be trusted? Can a pastor be trusted? And even bigger than that, can God be trusted? But I wanna give you some encouragement. Like you and I, we're not the first people to kind of wrestle with that idea. In fact, when you look at scriptures, there's so many stories in the Bible of people just like you and I that wrestled with that question of can God be trusted? And even like people that did extraordinary things for God still wrestled with that question of can Jesus himself actually be trusted? You know, I love that. I love reading scripture because I'm reminded sometimes because sometimes like life just feels like really personal, right? Like sometimes I get in moments and you guys probably never do this, but I get in moments where I feel like this is the first time any human has gone through this ever. And it's like me and no one knows my details

and my circumstances, but I'm often reminded and encouraged that we're not the only people to kind of wrestle with that. And there's scriptures are filled with stories and they're really encouraging to me, if I'm honest, because there's moments that maybe I don't feel, like I feel like sometimes I'm missing it as a dad or I'm missing it as a husband. Maybe you feel that way sometimes too, where you're like, man, how do I do this? And I feel like I'm just not getting this right. And so even there's this story that really encourages me. It's probably kind of, you know, maybe exclusive to me, but like I see stories and there's this guy named David and you guys know King David and King David did extraordinary things for God. But even David like got some stuff wrong and didn't really get it right all the time. And so there's this moment in David's life, King David's life, where he wants to sleep with someone else's wife so bad that he actually like sends her husband to go fight at the front lines of this battle in war so that he would die just so that David could actually sleep with his wife. And I read stories like that and I'm like, you know what? Maybe like I'm not all that bad of a husband, like after all. You know, maybe I'm not missing it after all sometimes and I read that, but no,

like scriptures are full of these stories and these moments and these examples where you and I can relate and look in and go, man, even though I have these questions of doubt and trust and can the church and pastors and can even God himself be trusted in this story, I think we're gonna look at today is one of my favorite stories. And if you've been in church any amount of time, you've probably heard this story like a thousand times. And especially if you grew up in church like I did, not only have you heard the story a thousand times, but you've like seen the flannel graphs of the story. Raise your hand if you know what flannel graphs are. Okay, you're the real ones. Like we made it, we survived. If you don't know what flannel graphs are, get ready for the best animation of your life. You go ahead and do a Google search later, like flannel graphs, Peter walking on water, it'll change your life. And in fact, it's one of the things I think of like, societally, like we've messed up. We took flannel graphs out of everything. And I feel like if we just would have kept flannel graphs in like the world wouldn't have fall. falling apart the way it has. We should have kept him in there a little bit. But this story is a story of Peter. And what I love about this story of Peter

was Peter was one of those men that did life with Jesus. That walked with Jesus, talked with Jesus, ate with Jesus, just did life with Jesus the same way you have people in your life that you do life with. That was Peter and Jesus, they did life together. And so there's this story where the disciples are out on this boat in the middle of the water in the middle of this really big lake. And then all of a sudden a giant storm comes. Also, it's three o'clock in the morning which is also terrifying. And so in this moment, they're all on the boat, they're freaking out, like understandably so. And then they see this guy walking on the water towards them and they all think, oh, this is a ghost and we're gonna die. And it makes sense, because that's how I'd probably feel. I'd be like, well, it was nice knowing you guys. But then as this person gets closer, Peter recognizes him as Jesus. And that's where the story picks up and it's incredible. This is in Matthew's gospel. And so when you hear the words like Matthew's gospel, all that is is Matthew's kind of like eyewitness account of the life of Jesus. And so it's basically like Matthew wrote a biography about Jesus and his life and took a lot of notes and a lot of details to tell a lot of stories. So this comes from that book.

This comes from that eyewitness account. It's chapter 14, verse 22 through 36. The verses are gonna be here on the screen. If you have the YouVersion app, you can actually go to events and you can find the church and all the notes will be right there loaded for you today. You can do that if you want a shortcut. But right here, this is chapter 14, verse 22 through 36. Let's read this together. Verse 22, immediately after this, now I should explain that, okay. So immediately after this, what it's referring to right there is right before this story is the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 plus people. And maybe you've heard that story before. And if you haven't, there's this big gathering of people where Jesus is speaking. And all of a sudden, the crowds get huge and people get hungry and Jesus is like, and they're bringing, like the disciples are bringing Jesus this problem. Like, hey, Jesus, people are hungry, might wanna land the plane. But what Jesus does is he goes, well, just feed them. Just feed them, what do you got? And then Jesus shows like his miraculous power and like his calling as the son of God. And he takes like a few loaves and a few fishes and he like, he blesses them, he prays over them.

And he like physically, supernaturally reproduces all of this food to feed over 5,000 people. It's a crazy miracle. People just go nuts, understandably so. And people are excited, like they just keep reaching the basket and food keeps coming out and it's kind of crazy. And so right after that story is where we pick up today. It says immediately after this, Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and cross to the other side of the lake while he sent the people home. After sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone, verse 24. Meanwhile, the disciples were in trouble far away from land for a strong wind had risen and they were fighting heavy waves. 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 my notes, I wrote, I'll bet they were. And 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'm 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. But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. Save me, Lord, he shouted. Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. You have so little faith, Jesus said. Why did you doubt me? When they climbed back in the boat, the wind stopped, the disciples then worshiped him. You really are the son of God, they exclaimed. After they had crossed the lake, they landed at Genesaret, verse 35. When the people recognized Jesus, the news of his arrival spread quickly throughout the whole area. And soon, people were bringing all their sick to be healed. They begged him to let the sick touch at least the fringe of his robe. And all who touched him were healed. And so here in this moment, you see this, and you see this story. And so many people tell this story, and you've heard this story before. And most people focus on this moment of the story that where Peter, if he would've just had enough faith, he would've stayed walking, he wouldn't have drowned. And we hyper-focus on this moment in this story where Peter does oftentimes what you and I do in our life. And we have Jesus, but then we have everything in our life around us that is distracting,

that is absolutely taking our focus off. And when we do that. we actually begin to kind of drown in our life sometimes. And so we give Peter a lot of flack because of Peter's decision in this moment, but it's actually bigger than that, right? Like if Peter had just kept his eyes on Jesus, if Peter would have just kept focused on Jesus, then Peter wouldn't have drowned, Peter would have kept walking, it would have been this glorious moment. But there's other things in the story that really stand out to me, and I wanna read this verse 29 to you again. It says this, so Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. Save me, Lord, he shouted. Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. Because here's the thing, like most times in Christian life and following Jesus, like the moments in our life in which we begin to sink, like Jesus is close and we can trust God in those moments. There's moments in your life where the bottom drops out and many of your faith journeys have started in moments like that. Somebody got in a car accident, somebody got sick, somebody lost a job, and it just kind of like crashed everything.

And so it leads us in these moments to understand that God can be trusted with these big, big moments and these big things, and it's no clear with the idea of like salvation and eternity. We know that God can be trusted in these moments when it's like, I'm gonna take my last breath here on this earth, and like, I don't know, right? Like I don't know what that dying feels like, but I know dying is coming. I know death is coming, and so I can trust God in these big moments, but it's hard to trust God in the moments of like day-to-day, everyday choices and decisions and things that you and I actually walk with and struggle with. But like here on this earth, it's just different. It's such a hard thing if we're honest and gut-level honest with each other to like not only like trust a pastor or trust a church, but it's hard sometimes like to trust God with these moments of everyday living that you and I go through and we live and we're quick to give our life to Jesus, but we're reluctant. And for sometimes really good, understandable moments, justified moments, but we're hesitant and reluctant to give Jesus the day-to-day life. And in the same way like Peter takes his eyes off of Jesus and he puts his eyes on the waves,

like you and I do the same thing, and we have Jesus and we put our eyes, though, on our circumstances, we put our eyes on the things that are so like distracting in real life and finances and all that stuff, and we put our eyes on these things, and what happens is we miss out because I read this story and it's so obvious to me that Jesus just wanted more for Peter. So he's watching Peter, and this is an incredible moment. So Peter is literally walking on the water, and there's this moment that's kinda like as I read this story, and I give Peter a lot of credit, but I also, like there's this moment when I read the story and I kinda see that Jesus just wanted more for Peter. And so here's Peter, like he's walking on the water, and then he begins to sink, and Jesus knows it all, he's watching it all the same way Jesus knows your life, and he's watching it all, and the things that are exclusive to you and feel like private, no one knows, like Jesus is in those details in your life. And so we watch this moment, we watch this moment where Jesus is calling Peter out and Peter's walking, and then all of a sudden Peter begins to sink, and there's probably this sadness in Jesus because Jesus knew what actually Peter could have done. There's this moment where Peter actually misses out on more, like there was more water for Peter to walk on, and the same way that there was more water

for Peter to walk on, like Jesus has more for you to do in your life, and there's more for you in your life. And there's a level of sadness with that, there's a level of like moments of like, man, if they would just understand that this is not what I'm trying to get from Peter, I actually have something so much more for Peter. And there's also, and then to give Peter even more credit, there's this other thing as I read the story that really jumps out, and we're gonna read verse 29 again because Peter shows us in this moment, and he answers that question pretty definitively. And if the church is the bride of Christ, and our church is perfect, no, and our pastor's perfect, no, are you perfect? Okay, that was not as loud as it should have been, because I got a feeling some of you weren't honest, which in return makes you not perfect, so it's just a circular reasoning right now. But Peter answers this question for us, and this question that you've wrestled with, and this question that maybe you still walk in here today, or you're watching online, you wrestle with, and we're gonna read this verse again, verse 29. Hey, look at you guys, you're reading the same scripture three times. Like, that's pretty, like, that's pretty good. Like, you should give yourself a little credit for that. Verse 29, you didn't have a choice, it was in my notes, so we're going with it, but you know, it's still pretty cool.

Let's read verse 29 again, because there's something that jumps. and Peter in this moment kind of definitively answers this question for us. So verse 29 again, so Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus, but when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. Save me, Lord, he shouted, and Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. Jesus immediately reaches out and grabbed him. In the same way that Peter's demonstrating that Jesus immediately is in that moment, the same Jesus is immediately there for you. So can God be trusted? I would say that immediately he can. Immediately is his nature. Immediately is his reputation. Immediately is his character, because this is God. So can God be trusted? We see this moment where I would say immediately God can be trusted, but trusted with what? And this is where I want to really kind of land today, and I really want to dig in today. Like can God be trusted? Can the church be trusted? Yeah, yeah, but like trusted with what exactly, right? Because we're talking about salvation,

but like when we're talking about the day-to-day, God can be trusted with salvation. We know that, right? Like we don't have a wrestle problem with that. Like you give your life to Jesus, and I'm a Christian. It's why people have a hard time answering that question, like do you believe in Jesus? You're like, yeah, I'm a Christian, but the challenge is the same that Peter had. Like walking on the water is a wonderful representation of our life and our human existence, and that same question he wrestles with, he answers like, yeah, God can be trusted, right? But trusted with our life, but like can God be trusted with my money? King, and that is tension. You feel that, right? Like we were having fun a second ago, and all of a sudden, man, someone brought the word money, and people got weird. So it's interesting. And then can Jesus be trusted with my money? Can Jesus be trusted with my time? Can Jesus be trusted with my peace? Can Jesus be trusted with these things that if you and I were gut-level honest with each other, it's the thing that's kept many of you away from God the most. It's what kept you stiff-arming Jesus, and you used to have a deep relationship,

and when you were younger, man, I was all in, and then something happened, and I can't point to it. I don't know when it happened, but for many of you, you can. You can point to the moment. You can point to the exact thing where it used to be this, and now it was like this. And now we walk into His presence, and we're raising our hands in worship, and absolutely, praise God. You know, God's so good, but we have such a clenched fist in our hands while we worship, because we wouldn't dare open that up. Right? Like if I knew what you went through, if I knew your story, and I knew all the things that happened to you, I wouldn't dare open it up, but the problem is, you and I have this moment of skepticism oftentimes. We hear something, we see something, or even you experience something, and we sit in this seat of skepticism. We sit in this seat of distrust, and we sit in this seat of, you just show me. I'll sit here, you show me. I know what God's Word says. Let's not talk about that. Man, just like, I just don't think,

I don't trust the church. I don't trust a pastor, but it's bigger than that. It's I don't trust God, and we say that from the seat of skepticism, and God wants to move us from the seat of skepticism to this other seat called obedience, and what hangs in the balance of that seat? What is actually the difference between the seat of skepticism and the seat of obedience? You wanna know what it is? It's more. It's more. The same way that Peter had more water to walk on, God has more for you today, that I can't ever experience more if I just sit in the seat of skepticism. If I just sit in this seat of distrust, then I miss out on all the more that God has for me. The difference between the two is always more, because God can be trusted with more because he actually has more for us, and I sit in this seat of understanding of like, man, what is God trying to get from me now, or what is this pastor trying to get from me now, and it's this seat that immediately just dispels trust, and it's like, man, they just want something from me, and what we don't understand is it's not about what God is trying to get from me. It's actually what God has for me,

and what I miss out on in life is the same sadness that Peter misses out on of being able to walk more on the water, because there's more in this life than what we see, and I sit in this moment of obedience of like, man, if I could just trust and obey. What all God has for me, and many of you, that's where you are today. You sit in the seat of skepticism, and I just don't trust the church, I don't trust God. And many of you have incredible influence, and that's what this is about. What hangs on the other side of obedience is actually influence, and many of you have such great influence in the community. Many of you have such great influence in the business world, but you have no influence in the spiritual world. Why? You have no influence in the kingdom. If you wanna have influence in the kingdom, you wanna know how to get it, I'll just tell ya, is to obey the king. If you want influence in the kingdom, just obey the king. Do what the king says, and he'll give you influence for the kingdom of God. And you can gain everything in the business world, but not make a single drop of impact in the kingdom of God. Because you and I have these things, and these holdups, and these hiccups, and God is sitting on the other side.

Of our obedience, you wanna know the only thing God wants from you? And I'll just tell you, you want the only thing God wants from you is your obedience. That's it. Like the only thing God asks from you is your obedience, and God on the other side of obedience has more, and the only reason that, the only reason he asks for only obedience, you wanna know why that is? He can be trusted with everything else. He has proven himself a good and trustworthy father, and a trustworthy God, and he can handle your moments. He can handle my moments of distrust. He can handle my moments of I don't know, because this is where, and it blows me away every single time I get here, because I wanna read that again. The thing God wants from you the most is only your obedience. And it's also why as pastors, we don't problem talking about it. Now I know you guys, some of you got weird when we talked about money. You're like, ah, like that's not my thing, because listen, I'm not up here nervous or biting my nails talking about money, or serving, or your time, or your trust, or your peace. You inserted whatever it is that you're holding onto there. We don't have problems talking about it. Why?

Because it's not my idea. If this were my like get rich quick scheme idea, like I might be a little nervous, like are they gonna take it? Are they gonna do it? But I'm not, because this isn't my idea, this is his word. So I have no problems talking about this. Why? Because one of the number one jobs of a pastor in a church is actually this, you'll never believe this, this is crazy, is to connect you with the word of God in such a way that it changes your life. It's to connect you with the word of God so that you will live your life in such a way that it brings honor to God, that it brings glory to God, so that you get everything out of this life that God has for you to get out. Here's why, because in return you reach someone else and you connect them with the word of God and that they live their life in such a way that it honors God, that it brings glory to God, and they get everything out of this life that God has for them to give and in return they reach someone else and they connect them with the word of God so that they live their life in such a way that it brings glory to God,

that it brings honor to God, and they get everything out of this life that God has for them to get. And that is what hangs on the other side of obedience. That is what hangs on the other side because the more that I trust God with, this is the secret, you wanna know the secret? The more that I trust God with, the more he has for me. And I shift from this moment in my life of thinking what are they just trying to get from me? And I understand that it's not about what the church is trying to get from you, it's actually what God has for you. And that's what hangs on the other side of this simple but hard thing of obedience. And if you're here like, and that's something that you're just like wrestling with, and I just wanna give you an out, I just wanna give you an out right now. Like if I were to let you get up here and put a microphone in your hands, don't worry, I'm not gonna do that, you might tell your story of what happened to you. And you'd probably be surprised, most of us would probably be like, man, yeah, that really, that's not, I hate that happened. Like, yeah, that's awful. But here's where I wanna help you

if you want help with that. Because even your justified offenses can still keep you from the blessings that God has for your life. Even those moments that no one would argue with, even those stories that you would get up here and tell about how somebody let you down or disappointed you or hurt you in your life that stood in the place maybe of God. And you've got these justified. offenses, these justified moments, even those justified offenses can still keep you from the blessings that God has for you. And so we get to this point where like I just want you to know can God be trusted? Immediately he can. But trusted with what? And what do I do with this now? For many of you watching today and sitting here today, you got to make it right. Because in your heart and you know what's in your hand, in your heart you know the thing. For many of you it's money. For many people it's money. And I just don't trust God enough to give and tithe. And you sit there and just like this. For others it's like your peace. You're like I just can't have peace. I'm angry at this person. I'm sad about this thing. I just I'm always in turmoil in my head. And you're like I just can't trust God for that peace. And you sit there like this. For others it's your time. And you know like God's called you to serve and jump on a serve team and like honor his house by adding value. Like you know that. But it's still hard because you're just here. And I just don't know. But here's the problem. When we do that and we've and I've done that. We sit here and we hold on to and we grip fists and we're just like this. And when I do that there's nothing for God to pour into. I've given him nothing to pour into. It's all closed fists and it's this and it's anger. But when I begin to open my hand. When I open my hand and I just God that's yours take it. I now have something for God to pour into. I actually have now have an opportunity in a space for God to show his word true. Like in Malachi

when it talks about if you'll just bring the tithe to the house then I'll release a blessing so big you can't even contain it. And again that's not my idea. That's not my like slogan. Like that's God's word. And his word is true and trustworthy. And you you there's story after story in this room. Testimony after testimony in this room of people that were there. And for many of you think well I serve so I'm not gonna give. Right? Like I serve I give my time but I'm not gonna give my money. And then you read scripture where it says like where your treasure is is also where your heart is. And you're like what do I do with that? Because Jesus knew. He knew this tension. You think he's scared of the tension in the room of like oh man he's not. That's his word. His word is true and you can bank on it. And there's story after story and testimony after testimony of people who were like this and did this and watched God do the miraculous in their life with whatever it was that was in their hand. Maybe it was money. It was time. It was peace. It was patience. It was all these things that you and I wrestle with every single day. Because what like what hangs on the other side of where you want to be in your preferred future of where like man I just want to live the blessings of God and the life God has for me and I want to walk I'm gonna do what all that is between you in that moment is your obedience. It's for you to from go from this to this. And I want to give you an opportunity right now to make that right. So I'd love every head bowed right now. Every eye closed. I want to pray over you. If you're here today and you're like man like I'm I'm so clenched fist like with my with my with my time. And you're like I just I don't I would never say this but I just if I were honest I don't trust God with my time. I don't trust the church with my time and I'm just I gotta hang on to it. If that's you, will you just be honest? No one's looking around right now. No one's watching. Will you put your hand up in the air? We see those hands. God sees those hands. No one's watching I promise you. No one's looking around. Keep your hands up in the air. I want to pray over you right now. Jesus you see every hand represented right now. Lord you know every story behind it. God you know every moment that led to this. And so I just pray strength and courage God over every

hand that they would begin to open it up right now and to release to you and to give to you what is already yours and that is their time. That they would shift from being a consumer and just sitting and coming every week to how can I get involved? How can I help? How can I add value to the house? And how can I do it in a way that reaches other people so that their life is radically transformed and changed like mine was? Lord will you give them God's strength right now. Will you give them moments right now to get involved and give them strength and courage to take action immediately. For some of them they need to go to the blue tent afterwards. For some of them they need to go on the website. For some of them they need to have a conversation with you. I pray that you would give them strength to do it. You can put those hands down. If you're here every head still bowed, every eye still closed. If you're here and you're like man I'll be honest it's money for me. And it's not even like, it's a no-brainer. Will you put your hand up right now? Let me see those hands. God bless you for that honesty. Put those hands up. No one's watching, no one's looking around right now. If that's you, if you're like, man, I struggle with trusting God or trusting the church with my money, put your hand up right now. I wanna pray over you. Jesus, Lord, you know every story. God, you know every life experience. You know all of the whirlwind happening in these lives right now. And you know every reason why that they've not trusted you with it.

Lord, will you give them eyes to see? Will you give them the faith to believe you for your word? I pray that they would act immediately on that right now, that they would move when it doesn't make sense, that when it doesn't add up on paper, they would move in the direction of obedience, and that you would show your word true to them. And Jesus, I know it doesn't always happen immediately, like the same day, but God, I pray that it would. I pray that people would see your goodness in the land of the living and that your word would be true and that you can be trusted. You put your hands down. If you're here, but there's something else, like every head's still bowed, every eye's still closed. If you're here and there's something else, like it's not money, it's not time, but maybe like it's your peace, or maybe there's something like health-wise going on in your life right now, where you just like can't seem to trust him with it, and you're trying to make it all happen for yourself and do it all on your own. Will you put your hand up right now? I wanna pray over you. We see those hands. Jesus, you see every hand. Lord, I pray that you would remind them, God, of your closeness right now, that you are closer than a brother, God,

that every detail in their journey and in their story and in their moments right now, God, every single detail, God, you know well. There's nothing that has caught you by surprise or off guard about their story. Lord, I pray that you would wrap your arms around them right now, and I pray, Lord, that they would just begin to open their hands to you, and they would give you whatever that is. God, if it's peace that they need, if it's patience, if it's kindness, if it's gentleness, if it's self-control, God, if it's joy, God, whatever that thing is that they just can't seem to really grasp because of whatever is going on and the wind and the waves and they're so big and scary and it's hard to see you and it's hard to keep our eyes on you when I've got all these details. God, I pray, Lord, that even in the middle of their details, in the middle of their storm, God, their eyes would be on you. You are the author and the finisher of our faith. And our eyes are on you, and your eyes are on us. You put your hand down. If you're here and you've never even, like, all this is like, you're like, I don't even know Jesus. Like, I don't even, I trust Jesus, trust the church. I don't even, I don't have a relationship with Jesus. I wanna talk to you for just a minute.

Jesus wants a relationship with you. And Jesus wants to do life with you. And for many of you right now, he is knocking on the door of your heart. And for a long time, you've just stiff-armed him and you've kept the door closed. I'm telling you right now, I wanna give you an opportunity to open that door and to have a relationship with Jesus. But you need to know why you need a relationship with Jesus. And so I'm gonna tell you, you and I are sinners. We've messed up. We have dishonored God. We have, if you've ever lied, if you've ever cheated, if you've ever stolen something, if you've ever put anything else on the throne of God except for him and made something else an idol, that's sin. And the Bible's really clear, all of us have sinned. So the good news is, like, we're all together on this one. All of us have messed up and all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And by sinning, we are sinners. And then scripture goes on to tell us that the penalty of that sin, the punishment of that sin, the payment of that sin is death, but it's not the death that you and I think of when we die and take our last breath. It's actually a bigger death. It's an eternal death. It's an eternal separation from God when we die.

And this is where the majesty of God's love is demonstrated so clearly because he loved you enough and he loved me enough to not leave us there. We were sinners bound for hell and that is where his love shone the brightest. brightest because in that moment like God himself sent his son Jesus, God the Son, to live 33 years a perfect life. He did not sin and by not sinning he was the only option to pay the penalty and the atonement and the punishment for your sin and for my sin. And so Jesus lays down his life, his perfect life, and died and shed his blood on a cross but three days later like he said he was gonna do he rose from the grave with your life in his hands. Scripture calls that the gift of God and all you and I have to do to receive that gift is to call on the name of Jesus, is to invite Jesus into our life and to our heart. And if that's you and you want to trust Jesus today and you want to give your life to Jesus and have a relationship with Jesus today I'm gonna give you an opportunity right now to respond to that and I'm gonna lead you in a prayer you're gonna repeat after me but I want all of us to repeat this prayer together because we're gonna support those in the room and those watching online that prayed this prayer for the very first time so all together say dear Jesus I admit I'm a sinner I've messed up and I need you and I believe that you Jesus died on the cross shed your blood and rose from the grave for my sin and for my life and I confess that you Jesus are Lord and Savior of my life come into my life come into my heart and teach me how to live in Jesus name amen everybody look right up here everybody look all of our campuses look right up here if that was you in just a second I'm gonna do two things I'm gonna count to three and I'm gonna ask you to have one second of courage to put your hand up and to let us know that you gave your life to Jesus for the very first time today and then two things are gonna happen number one our host team is gonna put a little blue bag in your hands and in that bag our resources that are gonna help you on your journey of following Jesus because that decision is the best

decision you've ever made or will ever make in your life and because it's the best decision the second thing that's gonna happen everyone in this room is gonna go nuts because it is the best decision we want to celebrate your decision we want to honor you in that decision and so when I count to three I just want you to have one second of courage and put your hand up when I count to three if you gave your life to Jesus today one two three if that's you keep those hands up let our host teams find you church can we just celebrate and honor those decisions in the room that just gave the life to Jesus so good well right now I'm gonna turn this over to our local campuses and here make some noise for