When God Calls Excuses End & Obedience Begins | Wil Moore

Well, good morning. How's 930 feeling? All right, you look great, thank you so much. Hey, if you're joining us in Gallatin or maybe you're watching online or maybe you're in a jail cell or prison cell, we're thankful that you're worshiping with us this morning. We do not take that lightly, nor do we take it for granted of all the churches that you could go to you choose to worship with us today. Well, this morning, as I was thinking through our message, I kept thinking about how often do you get a phone call and the phone call comes in, you hear it ringing, but you look down and you see the name on it. You're like, whew. Yeah, I'm not sure I got the time for that one. Anybody with me on that one? Come on, tell me y'all are the ones calling. Let's be honest about that. Oh man, I shouldn't have said that. But we have a decision to make, right? And the whole time you're looking at the name, you're thinking about what that conversation may require of you. Are y'all with me on this? Because if anything, you didn't hear it. It's not that you didn't see it ringing. You see it very well, it's just, you know, it's gonna require some time, maybe a conversation that you're not ready for,

or maybe you're just busy in the moment and you're like, I don't know that I have time to answer that call. And so you make the decision to either ignore it or send it to voicemail. Anybody with me? But isn't that how we treat God sometimes? It's not that we don't hear God. It's not that we don't see him active around us and around us and through us even sometimes. It's just simply when God calls us, sometimes we just wanna ignore it. And it's because it's gonna require something. It's the same thing. It's typically gonna require some type of surrender, laying ourselves down, and then with surrender always comes, obedience. And so today what we're going to see is this, when God calls, excuses often follow, but obedience begins when those excuses end. And we believe that our calling matters here at Long Hollow. Our mission statement is this, is we want you to live out your God-given calling as you follow Jesus and make disciples every day. But why? It's because your call is the most important. Your call matters. It does. It matters to the life and everybody around you. It matters to the economy of God.

It matters because we all have a call on our life. But let me be very clear. I think a lot of times when a pastor uses words like calling, we feel like the calling means that's for somebody on stage. That means somebody that's going to go overseas and do mission work. But I'm here to tell you this morning that as a follower of Jesus, the moment we step into salvation, and we all as believers have a universal call on our lives, and that is to follow Jesus with all of our heart, with all of our soul, with all of our mind, and all of our strength. And we are to fall in love with the scriptures so much that when the word gets into us, the word what? Gets into you. And what happens is we understand that the more we live our lives in such a way, where we are obedient to the call on our lives to share the gospel, to make disciples, and to serve others, the more we fall in love with this, the more God will use us. So yes, some of us may have a call to missions or ministry vocationally, but a lot of times, it's just God is calling you to be obedient, right? Where you live, where you work, and where you play. And today we're gonna see a man who wrestled with a call. If you've been reading with us in our Old Testament reading plan,

you read Exodus chapter three last week, and we met Moses, and he encounters God in a very unique and a powerful way. But when God calls Moses, Moses resists God's call. And so today we're gonna pick up in Exodus chapter four. You can take your Bibles and turn to Exodus chapter four. But as you're turning there, I wanna remind us of what happens in chapter three. Because as I said, Moses encounters God in a very unique way. How does Moses encounter God? Through what? A burning bush, right? And we learned last week that that burning bush is actually what type of bush? A thorn bush. And what we see in Exodus chapter three is that God is calling Moses into something, and is to go back to Egypt. He had fled Egypt for 40 years at this point. And God's asking him to go back to Egypt, to approach Pharaoh, and to ask Pharaoh to let God's people go out of slavery. Not just to ask him to let his people go, but to display God's power, as we will see in just a moment. And then we will see what God will do in and through the life of Moses. But Moses isn't leading people right now. What is Moses doing?

Anybody know what Moses is doing right now? He's shepherding, he's leading sheep, he's not leading people. So Moses is. thinking about this call and how it feels like it's outside of his ability. It's outside of his gifting. It's outside of where God currently has him in the moment. So when God calls, he responds with resistance. So we pick up in chapter four, we're gonna see what Moses' response to this call is. If you got your Bibles and you're at Exodus chapter four and you're there, I will not ask you to say word because it's copyrighted. What? Yeah. But if you're there, you can say, yeah, how about that? Oh, that felt good. 930 is on it. All right, here we go. Exodus chapter four, starting at verse one, it says this. It says, Moses answered, "'What if they won't believe me and will not obey me? "'But say, the Lord did not appear to you.' "'The Lord asked him, what is that in your hand?' "'A staff,' he replied. "'Throw it on the ground.' So Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake and he ran from it. Smart man.

The Lord told Moses, stretch out your hand and grab it by the tail. So he stretched out his hand and he caught it and it became a staff in his hand. "'This will take place,' he continued, "'so that they will believe that the Lord, "'the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, "'the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, "'has appeared to you.'" Verse six. "'In addition, the Lord said to him, "'put your hand inside your cloak.' "'So he put his hand inside his cloak "'and when he took it out, it was disease resembling snow. "'Put your hand back inside your cloak.' So he put his hand back inside and when he took it out, it again had become like the rest of his skin. "'If they will not believe you "'and will not respond to the evidence of the first sign, "'then maybe they'll believe the evidence "'of the second sign. "'And if they don't believe the evidence "'of these two signs, listen to, "'that maybe they will listen to what you say. "'And when you take water from the Nile, "'pour it on the ground, "'the water you take from the Nile "'will become blood on the ground.' But Moses replied,

"'Please, Lord, I've never been eloquent, "'either in the past or recently "'or since you've been speaking to me. "'Even in this moment, I don't speak well "'because my mouth and my tongue are sluggish.' "'The Lord said to him, "'Who placed mouths on humans? "'Who makes a person mute or deaf, seeing or blind? "'Is it not I, the,' what's it say? "'Now go, I will help you speak "'and I will teach you what to say.'" The first thing we're gonna see this morning is this, when God calls, drop the excuses. When God calls you or me, we have to drop the excuses. Why? Because when God calls, excuses often follows, but we will learn today that obedience begins when those excuses end, when we drop them. Look at verse one. Moses responds to God's call on his life, and he says, what if they don't believe me? Then by verse 10, he says, I'm not eloquent, I don't speak well, God. And then eventually we'll see by verse 13, he'll say, please, Lord, just send somebody else, not me, don't send me. And do you see the progression here? The progression is this, it starts with what if, it becomes I can't. I love my grandfather used to say this, can't never could do nothing.

Little Arkansas for you this morning. You're welcome, now you know why I spell my name with one L instead of two. I was born with it. And then he ends with what? Send someone else. But isn't that, it's interesting on this side of history that we can read this and go, what's he thinking? Like God's talking to you as a bush. I mean, what in the world? He just proved to you in 12 verses that all that he's going to do to help you and to teach you and your response is, I'm not sure that I can do that. But we do the same thing, right? When God calls us, we start looking at ourselves and we begin to list all the things that we are not. Anybody been there before? And it's interesting to me that we begin to give God excuses as if he didn't create us in the beginning. He knows our limitations, people. But maybe you've been where I've been. God makes a call and it's very clear. And then my response is, I'm just not good enough. Maybe your response is, I'm not ready right now. Or the one that I hear a lot and was my story was I'm not worthy. Had a man come down and he said, I just wrestle with this worthy.

I said, if you are not worthy to answer the call, then what you're saying is you weren't worthy for your creator to create you. It's not true. It's not that you're not worthy. It's not that we're being obedient. And I think it's because the question is this. The question is not, am I able? The question is, who is God? And I'll go a step further. Who is God to you this morning? So the question isn't if God is able. Listen to what scripture says in 2 Timothy chapter one, verse nine. It says, he has saved us. and called us with a holy what? Somebody say calling this morning. Say it like you mean it. Thank you so much. Not according to your works, but according to his own what? Purpose. There's a purpose for every single person in this room watching online this morning. God has created you uniquely and wonderfully you to fulfill a purpose that only you can fulfill. I feel like that's a little encouraging for some of us this morning, right? When we navigate life, when we feel like our life is worthless or useless,

but God is telling us right here, no, no, no, no, no. I created you with a purpose in mind. And not just purpose, I'm gonna have grace to sustain you through it. Because God's call is not based on your ability. It's based on his purpose. And guess what? His purpose is not random. It's not by happenstance. It is very intentional. I think Moses is a great example of that, right? How more intentional can God get than a burning bush? Anybody with me on that? God said, of all the people in the world, Moses, I'm gonna choose you. And not only am I going to choose you, I'm going to call to you in a way that we will read about for the rest of humanity. I'm gonna reveal myself to you in such an intentional way that it will come through a burning bush. Yo, that's intentional, isn't it? And I believe that God has an intentional call for you. For Moses, it was to lead God's people out of slavery and to display God's power through all the signs and the evidences that we read about. God's gonna do all these crazy things and gonna use Moses to display that power and to fulfill God's promise for his people and for us. And for us, what does this mean for us today?

As believers, God has a call on our lives, listen to me, to be a beacon of light to the world and to make disciples at all costs, to share the gospel unapologetically everywhere we go. We are to share the love in the name of Jesus. So yes, there are calls that some may have that's a very unique call, like missions or ministry, or maybe God's calling you to something right now and it's simply to step out of your job, to step out of your friend group, to surrender to that thing that's always been on your mind or in your heart, but you've never wanted to step into it. And I don't know what that is for you, but we all have a unique call. But we can't step into our unique call if we're running from the call that God has placed on our lives at the moment of salvation. It starts there and it starts with obedience. God wants to use you to show his power and to display that through how we live, how we talk, what we watch, and what we engage in. And I think it's interesting that our churches are filled with people that have said and confessed that I have surrendered to the one true King and his name is Jesus. But when we look at our lives or we think about our lives, we're not living a life that resembles power, resembling a life that is self-sustained. But God wants to unleash a power in you and through you, but you have to answer that call.

How many of y'all, do not raise your hands. Sometimes we say stuff, how many of y'all, and you're like, no, I didn't mean that, I panicked. But how many of y'all would say God is powerless? Now you know why I said that. How many of y'all would say God's power is limited? Maybe if you're a skeptic in the room, maybe if you're an unbeliever or an atheist or an agnostic, you would say, I don't think that God is powerful, but no believer in this room that believes in the one true God would say he's powerless. But how often do we actually say that and not realize it? What do I mean? When you disqualify yourself based upon what you lack, you're making your limitations bigger than God's power. Let me say that again. When you disqualify yourself based upon what you lack, your inability, the excuses that you want to give, you're actually making those limitations bigger than God's power. And we all agree that God is all powerful, yes or no? So none of us would say that, but if we believe that God is powerful, that his power is not limited, then we also believe that that same God, Long Hollow, supplies the power that we need, which means that even in our insufficiency, when we're lacking, God provides what we're lacking because he is all sufficient. Therefore, he is all we need.

You know, I think about this story and I think about the life of Moses and I think about just the call that God has on our lives. And I immediately go back to 17 years ago when God was calling me into ministry. And full transparency, I didn't see it as very exciting. I was like, I don't know if I want to do that. Um, I was like, honestly, I was like, this is impossible. I'm like, how would you use me? And the reason is I knew what I was good at. Like we know what we're good at, right? We know what we're not good at because if you're like me, you live in between. and it's scary sometimes because I live in my inabilities, I live in my insufficiencies a lot of times, but I was good at sports and I was good in business, okay? And I was comfortable in that world and I had my whole life mapped out. I was going to college, I was gonna get a business degree and the goal was I was gonna step into the family business that my grandfather started from the ground up. And I was excited about this. This is something I've wanted to do since I was eight years old. So I go to college, I get my degree, I step into that opportunity and I was like, man, I get to follow in my grandfather's footsteps. I get to follow in my dad and my uncle's footsteps.

I'm the only grandson, niece, nephew that wants to do this. I am set for life, people, okay? I was ready. Lord willing, I was gonna take over that one day, but then I got in it and then something shifted into me that I was not expecting. That passion that I had since I was eight years old began to take a turn and what I once was passionate about, now it became like just a job to me and I kind of lost the fuel and I lost the passion and I knew what it was. I knew what it was. I knew God was calling me to ministry, but I was like, you've gotta be kidding me, ministry? And then I did what Moses did. I did what many of us do. I started going down the list. I was like, God, I struggled academically. Clearly my mom knew that. That's why I spelled my name with one L. Shout out to mom for setting me up for success. But I struggled. I was like, I'm not smart enough to do this. I didn't know scripture like a lot of people around me, so I didn't feel prepared enough. And then the one thing that would be my kryptonite, my entire career in ministry would be what I've already said and I just didn't feel worthy. I'm like, God, you can't use somebody like me.

And maybe that's where you are this morning. You know what that something is. You know God has called you to something and it may just be as simple as I don't feel comfortable or confident in sharing my faith. That's why we have what we call owning your faith. That's why we have these opportunities for you. I didn't have that back then. I didn't have a church that was prepared and to equip me to walk through this calling and to navigate just my salvation calling, but we are ready for that. We wanna help you and support you, but maybe you're wrestling with this call. You know what it is, but all you can see is what you lack. But God isn't asking us to be enough, Long Hollow. God's just asking that we trust that he is enough. And God wants to use you in that. So if it's true that God's power shows up in our weakness, then we must trust that he will provide what we need to fulfill the call that he's placed on our lives. The second thing I want you to take a look at is this, is when God calls, he provides what you need. Is that encouraging this morning? And here's what I love about this passage. God doesn't just walk away from Moses when he resists. And this is amazing to me because we know even in the end of Moses's story, it comes a moment where he chooses to be disobedient to God and then God doesn't let him walk

into the promised land, right? And we read all throughout scripture that there's moments where people are disobedient and God just like, sometimes just wipes them off and you're like, whoa, that was a little intense. But in this moment, burning bush, hello, God's calling. He's like, no, I'm not real sure about that. But did you notice God doesn't walk away in Moses's resistance, what's he do? He meets him in it. Look at how God responds to Moses's resistance in verses 11 and 12. The Lord said to him, who placed the mouths on humans? I love this, it's like a punk card. Bro, who placed the mouths on humans? Me. It says, who makes a person mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go, I will help you speak and I will teach you what to say. Moses says, I can't speak. God says, I put your mouth on your face. I'll give you the words. And then he goes a little bit further. God says in verses 14 and 15, isn't Aaron the Levite your brother? And I know that he can speak well. I will help both you and him to speak and I will teach you both what to say. I will help you and I will teach you.

And the most amazing part of this, if you remember the end of the story, does God ever actually use Aaron to speak, yes or no? The dude never talks. It's amazing. Why? Because God meets Moses where he is. God is powerful. God removes Moses's weakness. He meets him in. He doesn't remove his weakness, but he meets him in it. And God provides his power. He provides his words. And sometimes he provides us people. But let me say this. God's answer to your insecurity is not self-confidence this morning. God's answer to your insufficiency or your insecurity is not self-confidence. It's simply his presence. The presence and the power of the Holy Spirit is where our confidence comes from. Because if it's self-confidence, then it means that you and I have the ability to. do enough, to work enough, to talk enough to build ourselves up. But what God is showing us through the life of Moses is that your self-confidence is only about you. But if you lean into the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit,

then all you can say is God did it. But it's interesting that God sends us people in our lives sometimes. And I thank God for interactions like Moses giving, or God giving Moses Aaron. And maybe you've experienced this. God's put somebody in your life to help you navigate one of the most difficult seasons or just confusing seasons of your life. And for me, over the last 17 years, God's given me somebody, and I'm thankful and I cherish this, but God gave me somebody 17 years ago that you guys know very well, Andy Williams, who was leading worship right over here this morning. Andy and I grew up in the small, the same small town of Wynne, Arkansas. He's five years younger than me, but God crossed our paths at a moment where we were both wrestling with what God was calling us to. And it's interesting how he was being called to ministry. I was being called to ministry and God brought us together, but here's where I was at and where he wasn't. At least I don't remember him. He may say otherwise. But when Andy met me, God used Andy because I was running from my call. I was ignoring the call. Honestly, I had it on do not disturb. I didn't wanna hear from God.

But God would use Andy to play a huge role in my call because here's what Andy did. Andy was the brother that would walk alongside me when I felt stuck and I felt like I was wrestling. He was the one that spoke truth into my life. He was the one that would redirect me. He would guide me. He'd tell me what I needed to hear, not what I wanna hear. Some of us need some of those people. A lot of us got a lot of yes people in our lives and God removed them. Not literally remove them, but you know what I'm saying. The emails are crazy these days, I'm just saying. But you know what I'm saying. We're surrounded by yes people. Andy was not a yes man. He built me up when I needed to be built up. He encouraged me when I needed to be encouraged and he called out sin when I needed sin to be called out. And I'll never forget a moment in 2009. God had literally removed all the excuses I had up to this point. I was running so hard. I was running so hard in 2009 on a mission trip in Birmingham, Alabama. And for whatever reason, not sure why they asked us to be chaperoned for this trip, but we were, okay. But God used it. I remember the camp or the speaker for the week,

he comes out and there's just these moments where like, the dude was late, first of all. I'm like, where is this guy at? There's a thousand people in the room and this guy comes out and he just looks like a disheveled mess. And I'm like, this is gonna be interesting. But he begins to talk. And what he began to share was, I've been wrestling with the Lord for the last four hours. And now being on this side of things from a communicator, I can only imagine how terrified he was. But he comes out and he says, I'm not real sure what I'm gonna say. But God has put something on my heart. And I feel like there's someone in here that needs to hear what God has to say. You don't need to hear from me tonight. You need to hear from him. And in that moment, do you ever had that moment? Maybe it's right now. You'd be surrounded by a sea of people, but you feel like it's just you and whoever is in that room. And this dude opens up his Bible and he said, all I got is a verse. He says, Jeremiah 33, three says this, call to me and I will answer you. And I will teach you and I will show you great and incomprehensible things that you do not know.

If some say, I will show you great and unsearchable things that you do not know. And then he goes on to say this. If you've been calling out to God, begging God for answers, maybe you've been asking him to write it in the sky. I believe he's already answered and he's already spoken to you, but it's time to stop running and surrender. And y'all in that moment, I literally was like, what is going on? I felt it, I knew. The call came in, I looked down, I saw it and I knew exactly what was required of me. But in that moment, all I knew to do is I had to get up and I had to get out of there. And I was just like in the middle of a thousand people, I just kind of get up and I escort my way out and I only made it as far as the foyer and I hit my knees and I just broke. I was just weeping hysterically because I knew the call that God had made and I had avoided him. I had ran from him. I had hit the shady button all the time and I get to this moment, I'm on my knees weeping and then all of a sudden I feel a hand on my shoulder. And that's my friend. It's my guy, it's the guy that God put in my life and he puts his hand on my shoulder and he says this, it's time to stop running.

And in that moment, I finally surrendered. I stepped into obedience and that was the moment I knew God was calling me, but the excuses had to end. And I knew then that obedience was when my excuses ended. And here's what I learned. God didn't remove my insecurities in that moment. Just full transparency, I still had doubt, I still had excuses. There were moments where I didn't know if I needed to do this, but God met me in it. He met me in my insecurity and he gave me my buddy to walk through it with me. And that's exactly what God did with Moses. It's an unbelievable story. God did not change Moses overnight. We know that the rest of his story, he has these moments, but through his obedience, God displayed his power through Moses. You think Moses could have ever imagined what was coming next, y'all? I will show you great and unsearchable things that you do not know. This brother went and he stood in front of Pharaoh, the most powerful ruler known to man. And he says, I demand through the name of the almighty God, I demand you Pharaoh to let his people, what? I'm not eloquent, I'll give you the words, let my people go. And then what happens as a response to that, this dude gets to walk to the body of a massive sea and he looks at the sea and he's like,

what are we gonna do now? God says, hold out your staff and then those waters part, y'all. And this dude gets to look back and he gets to see millions of people following him in the power of God to set his people on a course that would lead them to the promised promised land. You think you could have ever imagined that? Not in his inability, not in his insecurity, but when he turned his eyes to God and he said, through your power, I can do all things. Moses didn't become great because of his ability, he became part of God's story because he answered the call. So the question for us this morning is this, what are you gonna do with your call? Are you still letting it go to voicemail or are you terrified to answer? Are you finally ready to pick up the phone and hear what he wants to tell you this morning? Because every person in this room, everybody watching online we fall into one of two places this morning, either you follow Jesus or you don't. That's it, that's the only two options we have. And for some of you, God's been calling, but here's what God's called to you, it's the unbeliever in the room, it's the person that's the skeptic in the room, the atheist in the room, the agnostic watching online, the person that's like, I don't believe in God, I don't think any of this is true,

but for whatever reason in this moment, or even last week when Robbie was given, Pastor was given the invitation, you felt the call, but you didn't answer it. We don't always get second chances, but maybe just maybe right now God's calling you again. But what happens is we go through that same progression as Moses, we go through the what ifs, the I can'ts, and if you're not careful this morning, you're gonna say, call someone else. So this morning maybe He's calling you, but you have to answer that. So this morning I'm gonna ask everybody bow their heads and close your eyes, and here's why I do that. I think it's important for us to help eliminate the distractions in the room, and I think sometimes God wants to speak just to us, and just closing your eyes just kind of helps you kind of center yourself and focus on God, but I'm gonna go back to this. If you're a non-believer in the room, I want you to understand something very, very important that the God we're talking about, that God would one day send His Son Jesus on a rescue mission, and that rescue mission would be to send His one and only Son to come from heaven to earth and to walk on this earth to die on a cross for you, to pay for your sins. And when we talk about the power of our God,

that God went to the cross to die for you, but as we saw last week and we celebrated last week, He did not stay there. He loved you so much that He would go into the grave, but He would raise Himself from the dead, and He would walk on this earth, and He would send to sit at the right hand of the Father. Why? So that in this moment you can call on the name of the Lord and you shall be saved this morning. That you can confidently answer the call to put your faith, to put your hope, and to put your trust in Jesus. And the word says that there is by no other name in which you are saved. There's nothing that you can do. There's nothing you can say. You cannot be good. You cannot have enough self-confidence this morning. But through God. Through His power and through His Holy Spirit, you can confidently answer the call of salvation. And so I'm gonna do exactly what Pastor did last week. I'm gonna count down from three to one, and here's what you're going to do. When I get to one, if you're in this room or you're watching online, when I get to one, you're simply going to stand. And when you stand, you're just signifying that I'm answering the call this morning.

I'm not leaving here ignoring it. I'm standing and I'm surrendering my life to Jesus. So I'm gonna count from three to one, and when I get to one, I want you to simply stand if you want a personal relationship with Jesus. Three, no more what ifs. Two, no more I can'ts. One, I'm saying yes to Jesus this morning. If that's you, I want you to stand right where you are. I wanna surrender my life to Jesus. I wanna lay down my life for Jesus this morning. Thank you. See a couple in the back. You can stay standing. Anybody in the balcony? Amen. Anybody else? You may not get another chance. If God's calling you, I want you to stand. If God's calling right now, I want you to stand right where you are. Thank you, brother. Thank you, brother. Anybody else? Believers, be praying in the room. Come on. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else? I'm not sending it to voicemail.

I'm answering it right now. Anybody else? Amen. Amen. If you're standing, I want you to do something for me. Look up here at me real quick. Just like last week, I'm gonna ask you to do something that we do, and it's important because I wanna make sure that you understand the decision that you're making in the call that you were answering this morning. So if you're standing, do me a quick favor and just come down right up here. I wanna talk to you just for a second. So make your way out. Nobody looking around. Believers are praying. This is the moment where it gets hard for those that stood. They wanna sit back down, but I'm gonna ask that you'll be obedient to the call, that you would step into that call and you would make your way down front. If you're in the balcony, we'll give you time. Believers still praying. Just kinda come right here in the front right here. Anybody else? Amen. Amen. Timmy, you mind cutting this for me, please? Amen. You guys can look up.

Can we celebrate this this morning? Amen. Maybe you're wondering, why would you cut your mic off? For me, it's a big deal to make sure that people understand the decision that you're making. We're not into the emotional manipulation of the gospel. We're into knowing wholeheartedly that if you surrender your life to Jesus, that you know that and you understand it. And so just having a conversation, making sure that they stepped into that relationship and now they're just going to have a conversation with somebody about that decision and we wanna walk with them. And maybe that's you. Maybe you didn't stand, but maybe you know you need to surrender your life to Jesus. when we start to sing, you can make your way to our Next Steps area. But for everybody else in the room, I'm just gonna assume that everybody else is following Jesus pretty good right now. Because none of y'all came down front. Uh-huh, I know better. So what do we do then? As believers, what do we do? We have a mission. We all have a call, and we've talked about that, and the universal call that God placed upon our lives at the moment of salvation as we step in

to the promised Holy Spirit, that he empowers us in such a way that everywhere we walk is holy ground. So for the believers in the room, I was gonna give you a simple charge this morning, and it's this. If you have surrendered your life to Jesus, but you are not living a life that points people to Jesus, and you're not serving Jesus, you're not discipling other people, and you're not vocalizing your faith in Jesus, then today is the day where that ends. And today is the day where you answer the call, the excuses end, and obedience begins. And it's just simply living a life where Jesus means more to you than anything else. Maybe it's you know that you need to text NEXT to 98173 to learn more about owning your faith. Or maybe, just maybe, some of you need to stand in a moment and make your way to Next Steps and learn more about your next step. But I don't know what it is for you. Maybe you need to lay down your job, or your friend group, or whatever it is, and maybe that's what your response is going to be. I don't know how God is calling you. What I'm gonna do for you, the very same thing I did for them, I'm gonna count down from three to one, and I'm gonna ask that the believers stand.

And when you stand, you're signifying, you're answering a call this morning. Whatever that call is for you, I'm gonna ask that you stand and you respond. You can come down front, you can go grab somebody, you can go talk to somebody. But what I'm gonna ask that you not do is exit to go get to your car, where you worship in response to what God is calling you to do. So I'm gonna count down from three to one. Three, no more what ifs. These are for believers in the room. We are empowered by the Holy Spirit. So I get to two, there's no I can'ts, because we know that we are walking in the presence of God. So when I get to one, we're all gonna stand. One, y'all stand as God leads you. And you're saying this, I'm gonna answer the call no matter what it is. So I'm gonna ask that you respond, I'm gonna pray, and then you move how you need to move. Anybody wanna see God do something this morning? And will you pray for me? Holy Spirit, we ask right now that you would have your way. God, I'm gonna ask in the name of the Holy Spirit, in the name of Jesus, God, that you would work in the lives, I ask that God, that you would move people, even in this moment, that they would start moving,

that they're gonna answer the call that you replaced upon their lives. So God, we give you all the praise, all the honor, and all the glory for what you are doing in your people's lives this morning. God, we thank you. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. And all God's people said.