Uncomplicate God's Will | Jud Wilhite

in our partnership with Gabahine Bars in the Pando app. Let's give it up. thankful that you are part of our church. Well, if you want to follow along with the teaching notes, you can find all of that in our central church app. But guys, let's welcome everybody. Welcome everybody. Welcome. Welcome. Good to have you guys with us today. Big shout out to Central Summerland and Aleante, Central Kingman, Central Sunrise Mountain. Good to have you guys with us as well. So I had a moment this past couple of weeks ago where I was pulling out of a parking garage. You ever had a moment like this? I'm pulling out of the parking garage and my phone is like not connecting because of the parking garage. You know, it's just a signal. I've already put in my destination in my maps app, but it's like not telling me which way to go, right? So I'm like, come on, come on, come on, come on. Anybody relate to this? Or you're just like, come on, man. Like, I pulled up to a stop sign and I literally don't know do I go left? Do I go right? And as you would know it, a car pulls right up behind me and I'm like, oh man, because I'm waiting on my phone. And in those moments when I don't know what to do, I just like have to make a choice, right? Like, I'm going to go left. I'm winging it. And I can just tell you that, like, I did a lot of drugs a long time ago when I was in high school. And, you know, I broke my compass. My, like, compass is broken. Anytime, like, directionally, I'm so challenged. If I go left, I should have gone right. Anybody feel that? You know what I'm saying? Like, that's just how it is in my life. Jesus has healed me, forgiven me, restored me, but he did not fix that. Okay. Anyway, so, so I turn left and as soon as I turn left, my phone, like, locks in and immediately I'm like, of course. And then you know what? Your phone says to you in that moment, proceed to the root. Proceed to the root. I'm like, bro, I am trying to proceed to the root, but you were not available when I needed you. You know, proceed to the root. And it kind of drives me crazy. Now, I have made things better because I've changed the voice on my maps app. I, um, my voice, the voice is now a older British woman. I just feel like, you know, an older British woman can tell me to do anything. And I'm like, yes, ma'am, I'll do it, you know? But I don't want some American dude telling me what to do. You know what I mean? I'm not doing it. Um, but this older British voice comes on. I'm like, okay, yeah, I got it. Now, a friend of mine, this is no lie. I don't know how he did this. Um, but he was able to, I should ask him how he did this. He downloaded, uh, the voice of Morgan Freeman

for his GPS maps program. There is a way to do this. And, um, I rode with him once and I was just so blown away because, you know, Morgan Freeman's like the voice of God in all the movies, right? You know, and, and now that voice is like, stay in the left two lanes. And you're just like, you're like, yes, I will. I will gladly do that. I will gladly do that. Don't you wish like God's will for our lives could be as clear as the maps program when it's functioning? Well, don't you wish sometimes that God would just tell you like, stay away from that guy. That's going to hurt bad. You know, or like, don't take that job or you don't want to go down that career path or you don't want to make that move or, or, or, you know, God would just give you like clear direction because I think a lot of our lives, we're just struggling to know in the specifics, like God, what is it you want me to do? What is your will for my life? You know, should I date this guy? Should I date this girl? Should we move towards marriage? Should I have kids? Should I take this job? Should we stay where we're at? Should we break out and move? Should we go to a different part of the country? You know, like God, what do you want me to do? In fact, I bet there are more than a few people who came to church this weekend or are watching at one of our watching online or, you know, or at one of our different central locations and you're here because you are crying out to God to give you a sign, to give you something so that you know what to do. I mean, somebody got in the car and said, "Come on, God. I'm going to church, baby. Give it to me. You know, like, give me clarity on my life." Now, we're in this teaching series called Uncomplicated, and so I think you're going to find this weekend very encouraging because we're going to try to uncomplicate a little bit of the mystery around God's will. And I don't want to over-promise and under-deliver, so let me say this. Following God always has some mystery involved in it. And even though you can understand a lot of God's will, we will always face crossroads where we need insight and wisdom on specific decisions we're making. Sometimes we get that, and sometimes, to be honest, we kind of don't. But here's what I would say, God doesn't always give a certainty in some of those decisions, but he And the spiritual journey isn't one of knowing everything laid out in front of you.

It's one of walking in faith day by day. I think God would often rather us trust him every day and have him reveal each step in front of us than just show us the whole plan. And so let's go to Ephesians. Few of you have clapped for that. Some of you are still like, I don't know, let's think about that. I kind of want that Morgan Freeman voice telling me proceed to the root, you know. Ephesians chapter five, I'm going to read this and we get to verse 17, you'll just say this with me. It says, so be careful how you live. Don't live like fools, hello. But like those who are wise, make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don't act thoughtlessly, but what? Understand what the Lord wants you to do. So there's an assumption that the apostle Paul's making here. Don't miss it. He's assuming that it is possible for you and I to clearly understand what God wants us to do, right? You can grow in your understanding of what God wants you to do. You can mature in your understanding of what God wants you to do. And I want to share with you three simple ways today that we can lean in to understand more clearly and uncomplicate kind of what God wants us to do. The first thing I would share with you is simply this.

You got to listen to the Word and the Spirit. Listen to the Word and the Spirit. By the Word, I mean the Bible and by the Spirit, I mean the Holy Spirit. You got to lean into the Word and the Spirit because this is how God has revealed Himself ultimately. Like I've got up here with me today, a thing that we used to play with when I was a kid. It's called the Magic 8-Ball. Anybody remember the Magic 8-Ball? Like these things are awesome. You know, you shake these things up and then you sort of wait for like the message, the answer to come back on the Magic 8-Ball. So, you know, I asked the Magic 8-Ball before service. I said, "Hey, should I eat a massive plate of nachos today?" And look at what the Magic 8-Ball said. It said, "Science point to yes." And I am like, "Yeah, that's amazing." Now, my doctor would say, "No, all the signs say you should not eat a giant plate of nachos. You should lose some weight and exercise, Will height, but I'm going by the Magic 8-Ball." Okay, then I asked the Magic 8-Ball, like, "Will the Dallas Cowboy football team win the Super Bowl this year? 'Cause why not?" And this is what it said. Don't count on it. And I'm like, "Well, don't worry,

after 30 years, I'm not counting on anything." You know what I mean? So I asked it again, will the Cowboys win the Super Bowl? And I shook it up and this is what it said. My reply is, "No." Oh, man. Oh, you know, we used to go to the Magic 8-Ball. You know what people do now instead of the Magic 8-Ball? They try to get insight by going to AI, right? There are a lot more people every day getting in a relationship with this thing called, whatever, Chad G. D.P. or Claude or Grock or whatever name you want to put on it, right? Like, whichever program it is. And, you know, I mean, bro, I heard about a guy that literally like, I mean, he was a follower of Jesus, but he kind of would pray and then ask Chad G.P.T. certain things and just started to believe that God, through the Holy Spirit was communicating to him through AI, telling him what to do. Wow. I read an amazing article. You can Google this after 'cause some of you won't believe me, but there was a lady in Greece, and this is apparently a thing. I don't understand it, but it's a thing. She was concerned that her husband was cheating on her, and so she took a picture of the coffee grounds.

I think it was left in the cup 'cause they had like great coffee and there's still coffee grounds in the cup. She took a picture of the coffee grounds, uploaded it to Chad G.P.T. and asked the question, you know, read these coffee grounds, like read the tea leaves. Hello. And like, is my husband cheating on me? And Chad G.P.T. came back and said, you know, the signs point to yes. And not only that, he's cheating on you or thinking about cheating on you with somebody whose name starts with an E. What? And the reason this made the news is because she believed it and she drew up divorce papers and packed her husband up, and when he got home, she was like, you're cheating on me, we're done. Hey, I told me so, Google it yourself. You're like, this is crazy, right? This is crazy. But we're always looking to get some, and what kind of decisions we should make. And so maybe it's AI, maybe it's reading the coffee grinds, maybe it's crystals, maybe it's psychics, maybe it's readings, right? We're always trying to get our hands around what the future holds and how are we supposed to act and what decisions are we supposed to make? And I would just encourage you today,

if you're a follower of Jesus, you don't need any of those things. You have God's word. And you have God's spirit. In fact, I would encourage you to make it a point to avoid those things. Trust God's word by faith and trust God's spirit within you, guiding you and prompting you as you study his word and grow. I think sometimes what we want is we want God to tell us specifically, you know, what to do in a very micro situation. But we, before we get to the micro, we need to step back a little bit and say, well, what's the macro? What's the big will of God for my life? 'Cause the Bible's actually very clear about this. And there's a lot that is very clear. We want to focus on what's not clear, right? But there's so much that is clear. And first you look at what is clear, then you get insight into how you look at your specific thing that may not be clear. And I think sometimes we want God to like give us the whole plan. We're like, all right, God, should I do this? You know, first I need you to tell me, how's it gonna go, like 10 years from now, 20 years from now, 30 years from now, write it all in the clouds,

give it to me in the voice of Morgan Freeman, like lay it out for me, right? And we want God to give us the four fives and sixes of his plan, but all along God's saying, I'm not gonna give you that until you obey the one twos and threes. First, you do what I've commanded you to do in my word. You follow me in faith. And as you do, I'll reveal more things as you move along. So often we want God to give us guidance in one area when we're not being obedient in all these other areas anyway. And I would just suggest this. Like Jesus says, you gotta be faithful with little, then you'll be faithful with much. If you wanna really lean into what God has for you in your life, start with what he's already revealed and try to live it out in your life. 'Cause I think there will be no guidance in the unrevealed area until there is obedience in the revealed area. Right? (congregation applauding) And we do know big picture what God's will is. Jesus even says this, John chapter six, verse 40. Check it out, help me out on the red word. He says, for Jesus is speaking. He says, "For it is my father's will." Hello, here it is. This is God's will.

That all who see his son and what? Believe in him should have eternal life. And I will raise them up the last day. So what is God's will? Well, first and foremost, according to Jesus, God's will is that you would believe in him and trust him and follow him in your life and surrender to him in your life. John 3 16, God so loved the world. He gave his one and only son. That whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Verse 17, "For God did not send his son "into the world to condemn the world, "but to save the world through him," right? That's God's will for your life. And so some of you are here right now and you're like, "I'm so confused, God. "I don't know what you want me to do. "I'm so confused. "I feel so lost, but let me just encourage you. "If you believe in Jesus, "you're already doing the will of God. "You're in his will." You can all just take a deep breath. Oh, okay, that's good, right? That's good, that's where we start. And everything flows out from that. And then you lean into God's word because this is where God has revealed himself, right?

In the word, it's the revelation of God. It's called the word of God. And so God's word tells us that, hey, we're all God's will is that we trust him, even when it's hard. It's God's will that we don't go through life alone or hopeless or joyless. It's God's will that you receive his spirit, that you use your gifts, that you share your faith. It's God's will that once you believe you're baptized into him and you're connected to a community of faith. It's God's will that you turn from your past and you walk in your new life with him. It's God's will that you confess your sin and you turn from your sin and you lean on God's power. Look, it's God's will that you trust him, follow him, seek him the rest of your life. And when you're there right now, you're already in the middle of God's will, right? You're in the middle of God's will. Now I know you're like, yeah, but okay, great. Do I date this girl? (congregation laughing) That's really what I wanna know. Is she toxic? Is she not toxic? How's this gonna go down? Is she gonna break my heart, right? I get it, right?

I know like, okay, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, great. Should I move? I don't know, do I move? Do we stay? What do we do? But what positions you? to the Word and the Spirit in the bigger areas and align your life there first, right? So let's go a little more, let's go a little more granular. What does the Bible say going a little more about what God's will is? 1 Thessalonians 5, 16. Look at this. Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. Okay. So what's God's will for your life? I don't know if you should date that girl or not, or not, but here's what I do know. First of all, he says, always be joyful. Always be joyful, right? And so like, I mean, easier said than done. And I think of joyful as this sort of state of mind, not that everything's perfect in my life. And it's not like I'm like a kuna matata, you know, like, don't worry, be happy. It's that I choose to rejoice even in the challenges of my life and my day. I refuse to just give into complaining because the truth is like, like everything you complain about is something you could rejoice over. Like, like if you can complain about how messy your kids are, you can rejoice that they're still close enough that you can hug them. Hello. You know, if you can complain about how nasty the weather is, you can rejoice for the roof over your head and the thermostat on the wall. If you can complain about the cost of gas going up, you can rejoice that you have a car to put gas in. Or you can rejoice that you have an electric vehicle and be snobby about it. Either way, right? If you complain about how bad that one body part hurts, like your bad knee or your bad foot or your bad shoulder, then you can rejoice that the other knee still works and your other foot still works and your other shoulder still works because listen, it's on borrowed time. It's on borrowed time, right? If you can complain about the new diet and how restrictive it is, then you can rejoice in the fact that there is food to eat and some of it only tastes half bad. You can either complain about the few things that go wrong every day or you can choose to rejoice. You know, we all tend to see what we're looking for. I want you to remember this. We all tend to see what we're looking for. So the more you look for the good and the more you look for God in your life, the more you're going to see the good

and the more you're going to see God moving in your life, always be joyful. That's God's will for you. You're like, okay, great. But should I move out of my parents' house? Well, first, are you being joyful every day? Second, what did the Bible say? This is God's will for us in Christ Jesus. Second, never stop praying. Never stop praying. Now, I think like I've been through seasons in my life where prayer felt like work or felt like a burden or, you know, like I'm like, you know, I have a hard time sometimes slowing down. So sometimes prayer could feel a little bit boring, you know, like, I don't know, like the whole pray. But here's what I've come to learn over the years. Prayer is an opportunity. Prayer is a gift. You can bring your problems and your concerns and your troubles, your cares to God. And the Bible saying never stop. Look, don't stop praying when the relationship is dry. Don't stop praying when things are going sideways. Don't stop praying when you aren't sure where the money's going to come from. Don't stop praying when you aren't sure what the next step is to take. Don't stop praying. And because you're praying and you're rejoicing, what happens? Now you're much more positioned to sense and hear God moving in your circumstances in your life, right? Always be joyful. What's God's will? Always be joyful, right? Somebody brought their Bible in just like God speak to me. He's speaking to you. Always be joyful. Right? Never stop praying. And then give thanks in all circumstances. That's what it said. This is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Give thanks in all circumstances. Doesn't mean that everything that happens to you is good. It just means that God can use it for good. Even the things that He allows, the things that you go through that are hard and difficult. God can use it for good. And we'll get more out of it if we're thankful, if we give thanks. I think we all realize intuitively deep down, you don't blame your way to a better life. But you can give thanks to a better life. You can give thanks to a better life. You can start small. God, thank you that I'm alive. I think sort of what's left of me. I'm here. God, thank you that the sun came up even though it's incredibly bright and hot and destroys everything it hits if it hits it for a very long time. Come on, somebody. Flush that toilet. I thank you for coffee. I thank you for food. I thank you for my current level of health. Notice I said my current level of health.

I thank you for your patience and your goodness, for your power, for your plans. I thank you for the church that we get to be a part of. I thank you for my second cup of coffee. I thank you for my friendships. I thank you for music. I thank you for your presence. I thank you for your protection. Thank you for a summer that doesn't last forever. Thank you for dogs. Come on, my dog, people. And some of you can even thank God for cats, but that's on you. That's your thing. God bless you. Listen, thank you, God, for nature and on and on. Look, it's not just like about adjusting your attitude or positive thinking. It's really about understanding God's will. Listen to the word and to the spirit and realize. God is not gonna ask you to do something that contradicts his word, right? He's not gonna ask you to lie. He's not gonna ask you to destroy other people's lives. He's not gonna ask you to do something that contradicts what he's already revealed. So lean into what he's already revealed. A lot of times if you'll just do that, you'll get the answer to the thing that you're praying about. But if you don't, then just by being joyful,

giving thanks, never stop praying, you'll position yourself to hear as God begins to move and direct you in your life. Here's another thought. And that is not only listen to the word in the spirit, but listen to wise counsel. Listen to wise counsel. I saw this Reddit thread that was all about the worst advice people had ever received in their lives. And I couldn't believe how people would say like, so often this advice came from like their parents. I was shocked. Like one guy, his dad told him this. Don't go to the doctor's office if you only have one problem. Wait until you have four or five. That's how you get the most bang for your buck. I mean, what? One person said her stepdad told her this when she was 20, max out your credit cards and then file for bankruptcy. Like I'm sure that's not gonna have consequences for the rest of your life. There's some really bad advice out there. But when it comes to discerning God's will, you gotta be around some wise counsel, some wise people. And this is where the church really shines. Hebrews chapter 10, beginning in verse 24, talks about the church, here's what it says. Let us think of ways to motivate one another,

to acts of love and good works. Let us not neglect our what, our meeting together. That's what we're doing now. As some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. Listen, one of the reasons you should be in church every week is not only because God commands us to not forsake gathering together, but it's because we need each other. The church is most beautiful, in my opinion, when it's both multicultural and multi-generational. (audience applauding) We need to learn from each other. We need to be challenged by each other. We need to grow together. We need lots of ages represented. May we need the younger people to keep us fresh and bring the passion and the heart and the soul. We need the older people to give wise counsel and give insight. Can I say something? If you're 20 years old and you only seek advice from 20-year-olds, you're probably not getting advice. You're probably just getting affirmation. (audience applauding) You gotta have people around you that have seen some mountains, but also seen some valleys, right? Have walked through the fire. No, like, I wouldn't make that decision

'cause this got consequences. And let me show you my scars 'cause I've done it. And that's why we need each other. Like to be in community together, to grow together. Wise counsel is powerful, but you gotta get around wise people for that to happen and the church is where that happens. And so can I tell you, it's one of the reasons I've been so excited all year about this initiative that we're launching September 16th on a Wednesday night. It's called Rooted. It's a 10-week group experience at the church. We're gonna meet up at the church across our locations and or in homes and different environments. We're gonna get in circles together, learn not only about God, we're gonna get to know some other people. You're gonna make some friends with somebody who can give you some wise counsel in your life. You're gonna make friends with somebody who can encourage you and pray for you and help walk with you. Everybody needs to be needed and known. And my prayer for you is that every single person who calls central home will feel needed and will feel known. And Rooted is my best way of rolling something out church-wide to give all of us the opportunity. and help each other grow. So make sure to scan that QR code or go to our website or go to the app, whatever.

It starts September 16th, Wednesday night at 6.30. We're also gonna have groups meeting throughout the week and online as well. So make sure to check out Rooted, but it's a way that we can get into some wise counsel in our lives. If you're seeking wisdom right now in your life, don't just go to your friends, your age, who you know will agree with you. 'Cause sometimes your friends give the worst advice ever. You know what I mean? Sometimes you circle up with your friends and they're like, "Oh, tell me all about it, okay, I can't catch ya, huh?" And they just get right down in there, right? Here we go. We're gonna root, you need people. And sometimes family can even do that. Sometimes family can be the worst place you can run to for advice. Especially if you're married and then you're like, "I'm gonna go talk, I'm gonna dump on my mom, "all the stuff, right? "I'm gonna dump on my dad, all the stuff going on in our marriage." Let me tell you something, that makes things giving hard. (audience laughs) 'Cause you may forgive and forget, but they're not forgiving and forgetting, you know, like even if they forgive, they're like, "Yeah, I still remember what you did in my daughter back then." (audience laughs)

Right? Sometimes we just need outside voice, a wise voice counsel that can really help us in our lives. Third thing I would encourage you with is listen to your experiences, your life experiences. I think sometimes when we're trying to figure out, "God, what does it you want me to do with my life?" We don't start at the place of realizing that he's actually been writing our story our entire lives. Sometimes the way you get guidance about the future is by looking to the past, right? Sometimes the way you figure out what God is calling you to do in your life is by actually going back and looking at what God's already been doing in your life. Your passions, the things you love, the things you care about. Some people think God's will is going to be different from everything you already care about. Or God's will is going to be different from everything you're already passionate about. But have you ever thought of this? God put those desires in you. God put that heart in you, those talents in you. Maybe God wants to use your music. Maybe God wants to use your athleticism. Maybe God wants to use your work ethic. Maybe God wants to use your leadership sense, your business sense. Maybe he wants to leverage all the stuff you've already been through,

but just do it for him now and do it for his glory. Even in the same context, just in your own heart and mind, do it for him and his glory. (congregation applauding) Second Corinthians chapter one, beginning in verse three. Apostle Paul says this, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, "the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort "who comforts us in all our troubles so that we can what? "Comfort those in any trouble with the comfort "we ourselves have received from God." Have you ever been through a season that was hard and difficult and you just, God just comforted you and kind of walked with you in that season? You ever been through that? Something in your life difficult. You sense God saw you through it. That wasn't just so you'd come through it. That was so that you could now bring comfort to others. And I think sometimes we over complicate the will of God 'cause you also have this thing called free will that God's given you. The ability to make decisions on your own. And if you know God's ultimate will and you're praying and rejoicing and giving thanks every day and you're following him 'cause the Bible says this is God's will for our lives. Your position now, you're listening to his word,

you're growing in who he is. Look, the passions, the gifts, the talents, the abilities, he's already put that in your heart and in your life. Let's use it for him. Use it for him. Oz Guinness wrote an amazing book years ago called The Call. And one of the things he said in this book is he said, when you look through like especially the Old Testament into the New Testament of the Bible, he's like, you know, there's like three different callings people have in their life. He says there's what he would call like a general call on all of our lives to believe in God and glorify him with our lives. He says, there's a secondary kind of call which is general still to use our time, our talents and our money for the purposes of God and to advance God's kingdom. But we always wanna know about the specific call. Specifically God, am I supposed to be a carpenter? Am I supposed to be a plumber? Am I supposed to be a lawyer? Like what am I supposed to do? And the interesting thing is he says, you know, when you look through the Bible almost exclusively, he didn't go that far, but he's like most of the time. When God gives a specific call to the prophets and to the people in the Old Testament about what they're supposed to do, it was to go back to the nation of Israel and tell them

that they need to honor God with their lives and use their time, talent and resources to glorify him. And so he's like, usually when you see a specific call show up in the Bible, it's just to tell people to go back to God's people and tell them, hey, do the general call that you already received in your life. Honor God, love God, and then use your time, talents Does that make sense? So sometimes we make this so complicated and we get paralyzed when I think God may be looking at us saying, "Bro, go for it." I gave you talent, I gave you abilities, I gave you skill, I gave you passion, you love me, you follow me, go. Stay in the lane, but go and serve me. If you still need specific guidance over a specific thing, here's three questions that might be helpful. Throwing a lot at you today. Question one is simply this, will this decision, whatever it is, will it help me love God and love people more? Jesus said the most important thing is that we love God with all our heart, mind, strength, and soul and love our neighbor as ourself. So if you're looking at a decision and you're like, "Should I do this? "Should I take this job? "Should I make this move, whatever?" This is just a helpful question, right?

'Cause we already know that God's will is that we love God and we love people and we do that more and more. So if you do this thing, is it gonna help you love God and love people more or less? Just a question, right, to lay over it. Here's another question. Is this action, whatever it is, affirmed or contradicted by Scripture? Sometimes it's neither, but like, is it directly or not directly? Like, does the Bible say anything about this? Is it affirmed or contradicted by Scripture? And then the third question would simply be this, "Can I trust the outcome of this decision fully to God?" Whatever happens, for good or bad, can I trust the outcome? 'Cause I've found in my own life, when I'm making a decision, it starts to become all about me, hello, and all about my ego, my needs and my wants and all that. I mean, a failure is not an option. You know, I tend to hold it all like super close, make it all about me and I think one of the ways we sort of know that we're letting things go and trusting God is when you realize, I can live with the outcome no matter what it is. 'Cause I feel like I'm doing the thing God is calling me to do as I follow Him. Now this week, we all lost really an icon

in our culture when Dolly Parton passed away. And very rarely is anybody sort of universally loved, you know, even by the end of their life. But Dolly Parton was, you know, she was a person of faith. Her dad was a pastor, a preacher. She had had faith in her life. And she actually said this in an interview. I thought it was interesting. She said, "Every day I pray for God to lead me "and take out all the wrong things, "take out all the wrong people in my life "and bring the right things, bring the right people in, "and let me glorify Him and let me uplift Him." She said, "Let me just be a light, a vessel to be used." And that was like her heart every day to do that. And it looked different in different seasons, right? Sometimes it was singing, sometimes it was entertaining, sometimes it was giving. We've all heard about her amazing generosity to people, often in secret when no one was watching, helping people, supporting people. If you ask me, that's calling, right? That's gifting. That's somebody praying that God would use them every day and finding themselves used in that moment. And friends, you can grow to understand God's will in your life. Listen to His word as spirit. Listen to why His counsel. Listen to your life experiences.

And sometimes just be willing to not assume that the light is red and you can't do anything, but to assume that the light is green. You know what I've often prayed in my life is I've said, "Look God, after running all the stuff "through all the things I've just said, "God, I'm just gonna believe that the light's green. "Stop me." I mean, 23 years ago, I got my pregnant wife in a car and drove across the desert to Las Vegas. And I can't tell you in the car originally that I knew I'm gonna be here forever. But you know what I knew? All the lights were green. God, I'm gonna take a step. And you know, the first year, Laurie was like, there were all these boxes in our garage. She's like, can we unpack the garage? I'm like, I don't know, I'm not sure I'm gonna survive. (audience laughs) Hey, anybody who's been around church long enough and church leadership transitions and all that, I'm like, I don't know if we're gonna make it. The first year I told Laurie, leave the boxes. In case we gotta go. But you know what we did now? We knew enough to take a step and to trust and then to take another step and to trust and then to take another step and to trust. And there've been times over all those years

where I wanted to leave. Hello? But all those lights were red. I'm so thankful, actually. But all those lights in those seasons were red 'cause God was like, nope. You shut all the doors, you stay right where you are, we'll hide. You keep your hand to the plow. You serve me. And friends, when you walk with God, He can guide your life. It's not clarity forever. It's better than clarity. He gives himself. And we walk by faith each day. So friends, if you're here today and you've never crossed that line of faith, I wanna give you an opportunity. (audience applauding) I wanna give you a chance just to reach out to God and to trust Him and to ask Him to move and work in your life. Would all of you bow your heads and close your eyes. If you'd like to become a follower of Jesus today, you can begin that journey. Just say, "Dear God, I thank you for loving me." Thank you for sending Jesus into the world. I believe you died on the cross for my sins. I believe you rose again.

Forgive me for my sins. Give me the gift of eternal life and help me face the challenges that I'm up against. God, I surrender my life to you in Christ's name. Friends, with every head bowed and every eye closed, if that's your prayer today, I wanna ask you to just slip your hand in the air. Just reach out to God and acknowledge. You're gonna trust Him. You're gonna follow Him today. Slip your hand in the air. God, I thank you for each person just trusting you, reaching out to you. I pray you'll move powerfully in their life as they follow you. God, we give you praise in Christ's name. Amen. (audience applauding) Amen, amen. Congratulations to those of you who made spiritual commitments. I wanna encourage you to please go to our next step area across our locations or if you're watching online, make sure to click the button that you've decided to follow Jesus. We wanna follow up with you and give you some great tools and resources. Well, let's stand together now. Let's give it up for all of our location pastors as they come out and close out their experience.