You Are Called

Well, what's up, you guys? I'm so glad to be here with you, but I'm even more happy that my wife is actually with me. Man, Deb Cooper, she is incredible. I love her so much. She's leaving Way Church, no longer worshiping with us.

She's coming here because she heard about Dave's Barbecue. And so she said, honey, I'm sorry, I'm leaving the church. And my son, Isaac over here, who is a teenager this week, you guys. He's 13, September 1st, and it has been awesome watching him grow up. I brought about 16 of his most embarrassing baby pictures.

We're about to put them up here. No, I'm just kidding, Isaac. I'm joking, buddy. I wouldn't do that to you. He's always afraid because we tell him we're going to show up at his school.

You know, he went into junior high this year, and we said, you know, we're going to show up at your school, and your parents, we've prepared a rap. And so we're going to kick a rhyme right there in your class. And he's, oh gosh, no, please, Dad. He's worried I'm going to start rapping right now. That's what's up.

Well, you guys, let's pray, and let's hear from God because today's message is about calling. You're getting into a series about calling, and I want to share with you about calling. And so I want to pray and ask that the Lord will speak to you in a powerful way about what he's calling you to do over the next three months of your life. Some of you guys are like, well, I thought you were going to talk to me about, like, am I called to be a missionary or something like that? Actually, what is God calling you to do for the next three months of your life?

And this is why it's important that we get this right in prayer because I've been, Leon and I, we've known each other for almost 25 years now. And I can tell you, man, over 25 years of ministry and over 25 years of serving, I've never seen anything like the last year was like. Nothing, even close. And I've never seen a more critical time of a need for a church plant than right now. Yeah.

So it's imperative that you get the next three months right. Like you are called of God. You're brought into this place for such a time as this to serve the Lord, to see this place packed out with people for a couple of services, to see this place impacting this community and changing the world. And I believe you're right where you're supposed to be right when you're supposed to be here. So let's pray and let's ask God to speak very clearly into our hearts.

Father, we thank you so much for who you are and for how much you love us. We thank you that you have a perfect plan, that nothing is impossible with you, and that we can turn to you this morning and know that you will show up powerfully and wonderfully in our hearts and in our minds and in our lives. I ask that, Lord, you would speak this message. I'm just your vessel to be used. And I ask that, Lord God, you would speak to us this morning about what you're calling us to do in this critical moment of our lives and the life of the church around the world, that right now, right here in this place, we would see a powerful move of God touching lives and awakening people in the mighty name of Jesus through us in Jesus' name.

Amen. Amen. All right. Praise God. So I got a question asked to me about calling, you know, and when we were in school, Leon and I met at Emanuel College and had a great time together.

And I had some great classes, great professors. I mean, these guys just rocked our world with some good stuff. And one question that I got, well, it's sitting in a class. I remember sitting in this class and they asked this question. They said, what is the most important thing that you've ever done in ministry?

Now, when I went to Bible college, I had only been saved for like a year and a half, you know, so I hadn't been very far in ministry. I did not grow up in a Christian home. I did grow up as a PK. Some of you guys are like, how did that work? Well, I'm a psychologist kid.

My stepfather's a clinical psychiatrist and my mother's a psychologist. So yeah, you know, and my biological father owns a painting company. So I'm a PK, all right? You know, you're with it. But I grew up around that.

We didn't grow up going to church or doing anything like that. So I'm sitting in that class and they're asking that question, what is the most important thing that you've ever done in ministry? And they turned to this one guy and they were like, what is the most important thing that you've ever done? And forgive me, there's a little bit of hyperbole here. But he said, man, I was able to leap a large church in a single bound and preach faster than a speeding bullet.

They were like, man, that's awesome. That is awesome. They went to the next guy. They said, what about you? He said, man, I gave an altar call and a million people gave their life to Christ.

That's how I felt, you guys. I felt like everybody was doing these huge things. And I was like, what about me? What have I done? What's going on in my life?

And they came to me. They said, what is the most important thing you've done in ministry? I looked at him and I said, parking lot ministry. And they said, parking lot ministry. I said, yeah.

And by the way, after 25 years of ministry, it's still parking lot ministry, it's still parking lot ministry. I want you to know that. It really is. And you might say, well, why is that? Because if I hadn't have gotten those few months of my life right, I wouldn't have been used of God to do other things.

There's no way. I mean, like, I needed to be in that place. It was during the time that I was serving in parking lot ministry that I quit drinking. It was during the time that I was serving. Praise God.

It was during the time that I was, and by the way, I came from a family of alcoholics. You know what I'm saying? I mean, I'm talking about I quit drinking. I had a drinking problem, you guys. I was really struggling.

And God set me free during the time that I was serving in parking lot ministry. God touched my life and changed me forever during that time. Not only did He do that, but I quit some wacky tobacco. Some of you guys don't know what that is, but yeah. I stopped smoking wacky tobacco, man.

And I came off of all that kind of stuff. God changed my life serving in the parking lot ministry, showing people where they're supposed to park, you know? Doing that. That's what He did. And He did it in a powerful way.

And I'm here to tell you that God will use the little things that you do to make a big impact. It's not that, listen, people make a decision whether they're going to return to a church or not in the first 12 minutes of coming. So it's not the praise and worship. It's not the preaching. It's not any of that stuff.

It's the connection that they make when they walk onto the campus. From the moment that the car pulls onto the campus, they're making a decision already whether they're going to come back to church or not. Saved, unsaved, whatever, man. They are making up their mind. And if people are friendly, then they're like, man, this is where I want to be.

And if people are rude, they're like, man, I don't care how good this guy preaches. I'm out of here. I'm not coming back. I don't care how good that worship was. It really doesn't matter.

I'm never coming back if that didn't connect with me. There is a massive need in the church today for incredibly excited children's workers. Yeah. I'm serious, man. We did years of children's ministry, and I can tell you right now, it's needed.

It's needed. It used to blow my mind. I would preach to kids, and I'd be down there and working with these kids who were screaming and running all over the place. I had one kid die behind my puppet stage one time and was yelling stuff at me and all of this, you know. And then the service ran long, you know what I'm saying?

And I'm back there in the children's ministry, and somebody came to pick up their kid, and they looked at me. They were like, you should have been in service today. I was like, I wasn't serving today? What are you talking about? Come on.

How many of you know we need children's workers? We need greeters. We need connections taking place. We need worship. This worship experience doesn't happen from nothing.

Things need to be set up and broken down and done all that. And I believe that God is calling some of you to be a part of doing that to make sure that for two services, this place is exploding with growth and that the world is being changed. So what's the most important thing you could be doing? Rolling up some cords? Yeah, because through those cords is going to come the Word of God.

What's the most important thing that you can be doing? Holding a baby? Because that child could change the world. That's what we need to be a part of. That's how we need to do this.

And I believe that it's in the short term that Jesus teaches you some of the greatest lessons that you can possibly learn. And you find that, if you will, with me, in the Gospel of Mark, in chapter 4, verse 35. And through the rest of that chapter, Mark, chapter 4, verse 35, and through the rest of that chapter, that's where you find it. That's where you discover it. That's where you come to understand it.

Look at what he says. It says that day when evening came, he said to his disciples, let us go over to the other side. Let us go over to the other side. I'm just going to park there for a second. I want you to see that for a second.

Now, for them going over to the other side, it's very important that you get this. These guys live in Galilee, and they're sitting on the shores of Capernaum. They're sitting in the place that they're used to being around people that they know, being around the people that they're comfortable with. And he's telling them to go over to the other side where the Decapolis is. Come on, where the sinners are.

Where it's tough, and it's tough to deal with, and all that. And he says, come on, guys, let's go over to the other side. That's like he's saying, come on, we're going to go over where the devil lives. You know, we're going to go over where Satan is, because we're going to go in there, and we're going to change the world. That's what we need to be able to understand.

I want to take you on a journey on what took place and come to understand that. That's what he said to them. Come, let us cross over to the other side. And through the rest of that chapter, you know what happened, man? They got in the water, and they just paddled the boat gently across.

There were no problems, no issue, because Jesus is on the boat, right? No. Jesus is asleep, and the disciples are in a storm. How many of you have ever done what God told you to do, and it feels like God's asleep, and you're in the middle of a storm? Yeah.

I've been there so many times. I mean, that's how it feels. And that's what's going on. And by the way, don't you waste that storm. There's a reason for that storm.

It's important. Come on, Pastor Leon surfs, and he understands surfing. I don't believe that Pastor Leon's sitting around praying to God, God, would you please, please send me nine-inch waves, because I like little waves. I like calm waters. Please put that in my...

No, he's like, I want an eight-foot swell in Jesus' name. I want that thing pounding on me when I'm on the way out, and I want to ride it and have it kicking me all over the place. Come on, man. We love it in life. We need to grasp behold of it into our own lives.

And if you will with me, as we go through, I'm going to take you through a journey on what took place in this scripture. They got into the storm. They went through the storm, and in the midst of the storm, they had to wake Jesus up, didn't they? They had to wake him up. They said, Daniel, look at these words.

Have you ever said these words to God? Do you not care that we are perishing? Do you not care about what's going on over here? Do you not see all this going on? You're up here sleeping while we're trying to paddle through.

You know, I believe that God uses us. Come on, Moses stood at the Red Sea, and he held up his staff and parted the Red Sea. Jesus is using his staff to get across the sea, isn't he? Pastor Leon, God has given a staff here to be able to see miracles take place. You're the staff, and you're supposed to cross the water.

We're supposed to cross over what God's called us to do. When they get to the other side, this is the part that really gets to me. When they get to the other side, you'd expect a celebration. Wow, you guys made it through the night. How did you make it through that storm?

And all of a sudden, how did that calm take place? But that's not what happens. They get greeted by a demon-possessed guy who's filled with a legion of demons. And all of a sudden, when you think everything's right, it's all going to chaos again. But can I tell you something?

Just because you're in chaos does not mean that you are outside of God's will. As a matter of fact, as a matter of fact, when you learn to have peace in the middle of the storm, that's when you're in chaos. We're really following God. So today I want to talk to you about five questions that need to be answered when we're called of God, to the short term, to the simple, to the small things that He calls us to do. Five things that need to take place.

Five questions that we need to answer. Question number one is, why you? That's question number one. Why you? Out of all the people in the world that God could use to go into the nursery and help babies, out of all the people God could use to go into children's ministry and make sure they have the greatest experience of hearing about Jesus that they've ever had, why you?

Why you to be out there in the parking lot greeting people and letting them know how glad you are to see them at Salt Church? Why you to be over here after service rolling up cords? I know that the people who are running that are going, yes, amen. Keep preaching, preacher. You're on it, man.

This guy can preach. You can come back next week. But can I tell you something? Why you? Why would God use you to do that?

Why would God use you to do that? Why you? I think that's the question that you have to ask within your heart and within your life. Why me? And in anything that God's called you to do, you have to answer the why question.

Why you? And here's, it's simple. Because Jesus said, come, let us cross over to the other side. That's why you. That's the reason you're supposed to be used.

That's the reason that you need to be used of God to do that thing that you're supposed to be doing. That's it. That's it right there. That's why you, because you're called. You know something?

This is what I do, man. Pastor Leon mentioned that I'm a part of a covering and we ordain ministers and we work with people who are going to plant churches and we work with people who are going to, who are going to go into rough assignment churches where people have been angry. I'm going to tell you what, I've been to some of the meetings. I've been to some really tough churches before. I can understand why when some people go to church, they never want to come back.

You know, I've been to some of these places where these folks are angry and they're going through that and we're figuring out what pastor is going to go in here and help this situation. And I always ask one question to the pastor that's going to take that church. I always ask the same question to the pastor who's going to plant a church. I always ask the same question to the person who wants to be ordained. That's one question.

And it's really just one word question. And here it is. Why? Why? Why?

I want to know the answer to that question. And if they look at me because, and I've had this answer before, because this is what my dad wants me to do. Like my natural father on earth wants me to do this. And I go, please don't do it. Let me try and talk you out of this because I'm telling you, you are asking for trouble.

You're about to get into some heavyweight shots. Let's don't do it if your reason's wrong. But when they look at me and go, because this is what I'm called to do and I really have no other choice. I've got to do it. Then you'll stick with it when it gets rough.

You'll stick with it when everything's falling apart. You know, God calls you to do things in business. My family and I, we own a business. My wife and I, we sit around and watch, you know, flip it shows and stuff like that. Praise God.

God just blessed us yesterday. We were able to sell a property. God is good. Amen. Yeah.

We bought a really bad place full of like hoarder house. You know, it was worse than a hoarder house. And we, and we were pulling stuff out of there. And I mean, the place smelled and it was all that kind of stuff. And we were able, and I took somebody through it.

We really only cleared it out, knocked out some wall stuff. A guy came walking through there. He said, I want to buy that place. He walked through there. I said, make me an offer.

He gave me an offer. And I said, yep, let's do it. Can I tell you something? We're called to do that. And we understand the why of that.

Why are you doing what you're doing? Why are you doing what you're doing in business? Why are you doing what you're doing in church? Why are you doing what you're doing in life? The answer needs to be because this is what Jesus has called me to do.

Because he said, come, let us cross over to the other side. You ought to wake up in the morning and say, Why? Why am I doing the things that I'm doing? Sometimes you might, by the way, let me help somebody out in here. You might find out that you get to be released from some stuff because you may be doing some stuff you're not even supposed to be doing to begin with.

And it's okay for you to go to somebody and say, hey, listen, I am so sorry. I prayed. I didn't pray when I took this on. And now I have prayed and I've realized I'm doing something that I shouldn't be doing. Now I've prayed and I've realized I need to be doing the right thing.

And so please forgive me. I had somebody tell me that one time. I thought it was powerful. I was so glad that he did. It's a good friend of mine.

He was going to come out. I was planting a church in Denver, Colorado. And he said, man, I'm going to come out there. I'm going to be a part of that church plant and I'm going to work with you and I'm excited and all of this. And then he called me and he said, you know, I'm sorry, man.

I didn't pray about it. He said, and I prayed and I realized this isn't what I'm supposed to be doing. I said, man, thanks for telling me that. I'm so good. And he went on to do something really awesome.

He's still doing awesome stuff. You know why? Because he prayed. So you ought to pray today and say, God, what are you calling me to do for the next three months of my life? Because it's critical how we end 2021.

What are you calling me to do October, November, December? As you get into fall kickoff, what is God calling you to do? What are you connecting with today? Right now? Why you?

Because this is what I'm called to do. Because Jesus said, come, let us cross over to the other side. Question number two. Here we go. Question number two.

Are you? That's the second question. Are you? Why you? Are you?

Are you? Are you going to continue when this thing gets rough? When the weather starts getting rough and the tiny ship is tossed? Are you going to continue when everything? Some of you guys are singing Gilligan's Island in your head.

Like some of you around in the 80s. You're like, yeah, I know that song. I watched those reruns. That's awesome. You know, but are you?

Are you going to continue when it gets rough? Are you going to continue? Are you going to get up? Listen, man, we're sitting in a movie theater right now. I want to ask a question because I wanted this.

Are you? Are you going to continue when your storm arises and everything's going rough? Are you going to give up? Are you going to say this isn't going to work? I'm leaving the theater.

I'm not walking. I'm not going through this. Are you going to stick with it? I wonder if somebody would be bold in here right now. I'm going to tell you mine.

I wonder if somebody else would be bold in here. Tell me your favorite movie. Hang on a second. I'm going to get somebody to raise their hand. Somebody's going to be really bold.

You're going to tell me your favorite movie because I just want to do a little experiment here at Salt Church this morning. My favorite movie, just so that you guys know, is Gladiator. You guys ever seen Gladiator? You know, Maximus, baby. Yeah.

What we do in life echoes in eternity. That is what is going on, man. And that's what we need to be able to have that in our life. I'm dying, Maximus. And when a man seizes in, he wants to know that his life had some purpose.

I mean, that's some good stuff. You know, I love I love that movie. But you know what? That movie is full of conflict. It's full of problems.

It's about a guy who is a general who ends up sold into slavery, who ends up becoming a gladiator, who ends up having all kinds of problems. And I watch it and I just dream about being Maximus with a sword. Whatever comes through these gates, we can handle it. If we work together, that'll preach right there, man. But how many of you have a movie that you really like?

Come on, raise your hand in here. Tell me, what's your favorite movie? Oh, brother, where art thou? Oh, wow. Yeah, yeah.

Is there any conflict in that movie? Absolutely. That movie's got loads of conflict in it, loads of problems, loads of issues. You wouldn't get out up in the middle of it and leave because of the problems, right? No, you continue to watch them get to the place where they're supposed to be.

I think that movie is even like based on a Greek myth and stuff like that, right, man? It's really awesome. But you don't stop watching it because of the problems. I didn't stop watching it because of problems came up. I wanted to see them hitting that bluegrass band.

And going through things. Come on, man. They continued. That's what you do. Somebody else, what's your favorite movie?

Raise your hand. Somebody tell me. Yeah. The Sound of Music. Wow.

No conflict in the Sound of Music, right? Oh, yeah. It's full of conflict. You know something? Every movie you watch, I walked through and I looked at the movie theater.

Posters as I was walking in here. Listen, I saw that there's a new James Bond movie. No conflict in James Bond, right? No problem is going to take place with James Bond. As a matter of fact, all of them are full of conflict.

They're full of problems. Every James Bond, that's what you go and see. You go and see all the way. What a new Marvel movie that's come out. My son loves the Marvel movies, man.

He loves to watch all of those. Isaac, there's loads of conflict in the Marvel movies, aren't there? How many of you like the Marvel movies? How many of you like, you know, yeah, Captain America is the greatest. You Iron Man people can just go.

No, I'm just kidding. But let me tell you something. They're full of conflict. And we watch them. And listen, we will pay top dollar to be able to come in here and watch conflict and watch problems.

We will pay $855 for a bucket of popcorn to sit here and watch on this screen. Some problems. Why will we do that? Why will we do that? Because we understand that the ending is going to work out.

Can I tell you something? When you're called of God, the ending works out. And so just don't leave the theater just because there's some problems. Listen, man, the disciples, they were ready to leave the boat. They were ready to say, you know what?

Forget this. There's a storm coming. Let's dive in and just get out of here. This is terrible. We're falling apart.

What do we do? Let's don't do that when the problems come. And you know what? We do that when we get to the place that I'm tired. I stayed up.

I watched my favorite team. They didn't win the football game. They didn't win the football game. It didn't go so well. And I'm over here rolling a cord.

And I don't want to do this anymore. I just want to stop. Or, you ready for this, Salt Church? When I came here, you guys were at MoCA. You were meeting at MoCA.

Here you are six locations later. Somebody's probably going, you know something, man, here we are on the beach today. And we're over at this other place this other day. And, you know, we're at the hotel this week. And I don't even know where this church is going to meet.

This is like church in the wilderness. What's up, man? But can I tell you something? You keep going, don't you? You don't stop.

You don't give up because that's where the adventure is. Are you going to continue when everything gets rough? And by the way, that applies to life. Are you going to continue when everything gets rough? Here's the next question.

And it's one word, one word to this question. You ready? True? True? That's number three.

True? Is it true? True? You know, how many of you took true or false question? How many of you had that when you were coming up in school?

True or false? Is this true or is it false? I don't know. Let me see. True or false?

Well, guess what? They were dealing with true or false. You know, is this real or is it something else? Does God really care true or does he not false? I mean, which way are we going here?

What works out? And here they are in the midst of the boat and they're waking Jesus up and they're saying, do you not care that we are perishing? Come on. How many of you have ever been at the place that you said, do you not care that my marriage is on the rocks? Lord, where are you?

This thing's getting rough. Why are you not showing up? Why are you not helping? What's going on? By the way, the first place you need to turn is to the Lord.

My mother's a marriage and family therapist. She's always been in that world and worked with loads of couples and all that and she tells me one of the biggest tragedies about being a marriage therapist is most people when they get to you to have counseling they've already decided that they're ready to get a divorce and they're just trying to meet with a counselor so that they can say they did everything. We tried everything we could try but they've really already decided. You know they've really already made up their mind. You know she always describes it as the pizza man comes she says I had a friend and her friend doesn't mind this story being shared she said I had a friend who she kept telling her husband you don't listen to me you don't listen to me I need you to listen to me I don't know why you don't listen to me and she kept telling him I don't want anchovies on my pizza I don't like anchovies on my pizza pizza man shows up at the door one day and she takes the pizza and she gets it at the door and she opens it up and guess what they enter the anchovies all over the pizza and she closed the box and she said that's the last anchovies on my pizza that you're ever going to order for me.

Now she didn't leave that night but she left in her heart. Can I tell you something a lot of us leave too quickly from situations. Please do not hear something that I'm not saying I'm not. My mother always points this out she says you better be real careful with that. There are reasons in the Bible that you can leave a marriage.

So I don't want if some of you have been through a divorce please understand that if you're in an abusive situation with somebody who's not trusting in God please do not hear something I'm not saying I'm not saying that you're stuck in that. I'm not saying that there's not a release but I am saying that we leave situations too soon in life when God's calling us to stay and stick it out. And this is a time in the church that we need to stick it out. We need to stop saying do you not care that we are perishing Lord? What's going on?

True or false? True or false? I love the way that this one preacher puts it. Man he's probably one of the biggest reasons that my family and I are in Virginia today. I literally wanted to hear this guy.

I literally felt in my heart that I needed to hear something that this guy had to say. I got in my car in Denver, Colorado and I drove just north of Dallas, Texas in a town called Denton where this guy was and I went to hear him for one service one night. We drove all night. We drove all night long to go hear it and it was worth every bit of it and it was the key reason why we moved here to Virginia. Literally was the reason.

And this is what he used to say. He used to say this. He said you need to face the facts in your life and you need to embrace the truth. You need to face the truth. You need to face the truth.

See true or false you need to say it is true. And I accept the truth. I embrace your truth Lord. Fact is this is really hard. The fact is everything seems to be falling apart.

The fact is what I'm trying to do is not working right now. And I trust in you Lord though that you're going to bring me through this situation and that you wouldn't have called me to do it if there wasn't a purpose. The fact is sometimes being in with kids is really hard. I don't want to paint this rosy picture and be like wow if you go help the kids out in children's ministry they're all just angels and they just sit there and go oh this is great. No it's not always like that.

It's just really tough sometimes. By the way that kid who dove behind the puppet stage he was screaming and cussing at me. Now let me let me give you something. When you dug a little deeper into his heart you find out why he's screaming and cussing. And you realize what he's going through in his family.

And you get a chance to pray with him. And later on when he grows up he comes to you and says thank you so much that you didn't give up on me when I screamed and cussed you out behind that puppet stage. That's what we need to be able to do is have a heart for kids and have a heart for people and trust the Lord to bring bring us through because it's true. Because what we believe is the truth. So is it true?

Yes it's true. It's true. And that's what we need to have in our life. So why you? Why you?

Are you? True. True. The disciples, they woke Jesus up wondering whether this was true or not. And you know, do you not care that we are perishing?

Now, when Jesus got up, what did he do? He said, yeah, actually, I don't care, guys. I'm going to fall back. No, he didn't do that. He stood up and he spoke to the storm and he said, peace, be still.

Now, how do you know that that wasn't just like his plan, what he wanted to do? He wanted to be woke up and he wanted to do that. The reason I know that is because what he said next, he looked at his disciples and he wanted to know, where's your faith? Where's your faith? You know, that's the next point is enough.

Enough. That's number four. Question number four is enough. Do you have enough faith in your heart and in your life? Do I have enough?

Can I tell you how much enough is? Because some of you guys are like, I got to have some super faith to be able to see God do something. I've got to have like Superman faith. No, that's not what you need. You need faith the size of a mustard seed.

Now, if I had a mustard seed with me right now in my hand, I could hold it up. You don't even know whether I have a mustard seed or not because they're so small, you wouldn't be able to see it. And when you plant it, it becomes a huge, gigantic tree. He said, if you have faith of a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, be removed and cast into the sea and it will obey you. Now, is he actually talking about physical mountains and having massive earthquakes and knocking over people's houses?

No, no. What is he talking about? He's talking about the mountainous issues you face in your life, that you can speak to that mountain and you can see that mountain cast into the sea. You can see God do something that's incredible. And he's looking at his disciples and he's saying, where is your faith?

He's giving them a message. He's bringing them to a greater level of maturity. By the way, God loves you so much that even when you fail, he'll teach you a beautiful lesson. Because some of you guys are like, man, I've been failing at a lot of stuff for you. Yeah, God still loves you.

He still cares about you. He's still going to be there for you. It's still going to take place and you can trust him and he cares. Was he upset with the disciples? Absolutely.

I'm not too happy when somebody wakes me up. You know, Jesus is, he's 100% God. He's also 100% man. And come on, man, he got woke up and he was supposed to be sleeping. Now, you got to be sleeping pretty good if you're going through a storm and you're getting rocked back and forth.

But guess what? They woke him up and they said, where is, and he asked, where is your faith? After he calmed the storm. And that's the thing. Do you have enough faith today?

My question to you today is, can you give God the little bit you got? Can you say, Lord, I don't know how, but I trust you. I'm making a choice today to trust you in my situation. Some of you got situations in here today. Some of you got some things that just don't seem like they're going to work out.

I literally, when this house, this guy called me on Friday and he said, Hey, I want to buy that house you've got. I'm sitting here thinking, man, we bought this house. I was, I was getting, I'm getting ready to flip it. And this is Lord, where are you? Because building supplies have gone through the roof.

And I'm not sure how this is going to work out. I got a guy who's about to come put the roof on and I don't know if building supplies are going to triple again. And I'm not sure how this is all going to work out. And I'm not going to end up underwater. Is the market going to shift here real quickly?

And then all of a sudden I got a, I got a rundown house in a bad neighborhood. Is this going to happen? And all of a sudden the phone rings and I get offered three times what I bought the house for. And I said, yeah, let's do it without doing anything. Can I tell you something in your business?

What do you trust in God to do? Or what do you trust in him to bring you through in God's business right here at salt church? What are you trusting God to do? Are you trusting him and his strength that you're going to minister to other people's lives? Or are you trying to trust in your own?

You got to trust in God's strength. I've got to trust in God's strength. We need to trust in God's strength. We need to be able to do that to see God. God, do that.

And all it takes is a choice. That's the little bit. It's one simple choice to say, God, I don't know how, but I trust you. I trust you. You know, there's a great book in the Bible, Habakkuk, a great prophet.

And a lot of people are familiar with Habakkuk. They're familiar with the verse that says, I'll write the vision, make it plain so that they who read it can run. Like, that's what they're familiar with. A lot of people aren't as familiar with the beginning of the book where he's mad at God and he's going, I don't understand you, God. You're never there when you're supposed to be.

You don't do the things that you're supposed to do. Justice is never served. It seems like the evil people always get ahead and the people who are good never get what they're supposed to get. And I don't understand what's going on, God. And God speaks to him and he says, observe my servant Babylon.

And he's like, well, what do you mean? How can you use them? How can you use the Chaldeans? How can you use people who are even more evil than us to come in here and make things right? And he makes a choice.

He says, when he says, I will write the vision and make it plain so that they who read it can run. He's saying, I will set myself on the rampart. I will look upon your perfect answer, even though I don't understand it. I know you've got this. I'll stand under you even when I don't understand.

And he did. And he saw the breakthrough of the Lord. Lord. So that's a powerful thing for us to be able to get a hold of. I don't know how you guys pronounce it.

I pronounce it Habakkuk. I have a good friend who pronounces it. How about you, Cook? But yeah, I love that one. But do you have enough?

See, he had to have just enough faith to say, God, I trust you. Think about your situation right now. Think about the toughest things you're going through. Can you have just enough faith to say, Lord, I don't know how, but I trust you. I trust you.

I trust that my wife is going to stay at Way Church, even though Dave's barbecue is over here at Salt Church. I'm just trusting. I've got some trust going on. But can I tell you this, man? You got to have just enough.

And that's what takes place. And then here again, they get to the end. And when they get to the end, when they get to the shore, when they come to the Decapolis, you would expect that people would be excited. Like I said at the beginning, you would expect that there'd be a party, that they'd be like, man, you guys somehow made it through that storm last night. I don't know how you did it.

I don't know how it took place. Thank God you're here. We're so glad everything worked out. It did not go that way. That's why my last question here is, really?

That's the last question. Question number five. Really? I mean, have you ever had that take place? I mean, you finally get to the breakthrough and then it's like, really?

Like finally Salt gets right where you're supposed to be. And then really? I got to move again? We finally got it, man. And then really?

What's up? Well, they got met by a demon-possessed man, legion, filled with demons, filled with problems. And Jesus cast the demon out and the man was placed in his right mind. I think sometimes we could get really big and things are going right as a church. And then all of a sudden, a couple of drug addicts walk in.

Thank God that when I was struggling with drugs and alcohol, a church loved me enough to bring me in and help my life and be there for me. I think that that's how we've got to be. Every time you get to another level with God, you don't graduate to another level so that everything can be easy. Can I tell you something? You don't get healthy in your body so that you can spend the rest of your life eating junk food.

You don't do that. You don't go, I'm not, you know something? I'm going to diet and I'm going to eat right and I'm going to do all the stuff that I'm supposed to do. And finally, I got there. Now, let's kick some jelly donuts.

Let's do it. You know? You don't get healthy so that you can eat junk food. You don't start getting your mind right and start thinking in the right way so that you can start going through all the old neural pathways and all the bad thinking. No, you get there so that you can continue.

And can I tell you something, you don't get super healthy as a church and start all serving and changing the community just so that everything can go right. You do it so that all the problems and the issues that everyone has can walk in the door and they can be changed in this environment. No matter what they look like, no matter how they talk, no matter what's going on with them, God uses you and He uses you in a powerful way. And I just wonder, in your heart today, can you accept the call of what God's calling you to do for the next three months? Because these three months are critical.

How this year ends is critical. 2021, I'm telling you, this is going to mark a time. This church is about to go to two services. Praise God. There are nine o'clock people, you know, and then there are people who like a little bit later.

There are people who like to sleep till nine. You're going to reach them both. You're going to reach them both. And God's going to use you in a powerful way. Can I tell you something?

For some of you, maybe it's step one to be used. It's saying, hey, Jesus, I need you in my heart and I need you in my life. You might be in here and say, I don't even have a relationship with God. How could I be used to the Lord? It's real simple.

You just say, Jesus, I need you. I'm a sinner. I've sinned. I've done things wrong. You saved me.

Set me free. Touch my heart. Touch my life. Make me new. Make me fresh today.

For some of you, maybe it's saying, I just, I'm going to recommit my life to you, Lord. I feel like I've been distant. I've been running, but I'm ready to run into your arms. For some of you, that's your step. For some of you, you're saying, you know something, I've been sitting on the bench for too long.

The season has begun and I'm ready to embrace what you're calling me to do. Some of you are there. Some of you are ready to say, you know something, for the next three months, I'm ready to be used in a powerful way. I'm ready to finish this year strong for the Lord. I'm ready to see this church go to two services and impact this city.

And some of you are already serving and you're saying, you know something, I think I even got another gear. I think I've even got another gear. There's something, I'm going to do whatever it takes, Lord, for you. Whatever it takes. I don't know where you're at, but I just want to pray with you.

If any of those places relate with you, I just want you to close your eyes in this place and just make a commitment to the Lord today. I don't know what the commitment is. I don't know if it's a commitment to say, Lord, I commit my life to you. I need to be saved. I don't know you as my Savior, Jesus.

I need you to save me. I don't know if it's, I need to recommit my life to you because I've been running. I've been running away. I don't know if it's, I love you, Lord. Things have been great, but I'm really ready to start serving you.

After this service, I'm going to go track down. I'm going to go track down Pastor Leon. I'm going to let him know I want to serve. I'm going to track down one of the people who are working. I'm going to find somebody rolling up cords and say, how do I get to be a part of this?

I'm going to go to the person in children's ministry and say, how do I get to be a part of this? I want to serve. For some of you, it may be saying, you know something, I've been serving at some level, but I'm ready. I mean, I want to give it all I got because I want to see this world changed. I don't want to be, believe that we're going to say COVID killed Christianity in America.

I want to be a part of seeing a transformation. So I want to pray with you and whatever that is, I just want you to confess it to the Lord. If that's you, just to just softly hold your hands. up and say, Lord, I surrender today. Just hold your hands up and say, Lord, I surrender.

If any of that relates to you at all, just say, I surrender. With every eye closed, praise God, all over this place, man. We're going to make a commitment. We're going to pray. We're going to pray all kinds of levels of commitment all around this room.

Lord, we love you. We thank you. That there's so much more that you have for us. That, Lord, when we face impossible situations, you can bring us through. We turn to you and we thank you.

Lord, I thank you right now for Leon and for Miranda and for this entire team. And Lord God, I thank you for their children. I thank you right now for Max. And I thank you for Savannah, Lord. And I thank you, Lord, for your perfect plan for their family.

I ask you, Lord, that you give them great strength. That, Lord, you brought them here to see the breakthrough. And I ask that, Lord God, you bring them into that breakthrough. That, Lord, you bring them into a beautiful, wonderful season. Of serving you.

Of serving you. That, Lord God, all the realistic concerns of facing the fact that two services is tough. Can flow away. As they embrace your truth of knowing that, Lord, you're going to do it. That you brought them here for such a time as this.

And that, Lord, you're going to bless this house. You're going to bless this church. Lord, I ask you for your protection and covering over them. I ask you, Lord, I ask you, Lord, for your strength over them. Lord, I ask you for every team member here to be blessed.

For all the people who are serving. That the sound team. That, Lord God, the band. That, Lord, the children's workers. That, Lord, the greeters.

All the people who are serving in every capacity, Lord God, that you bless them and you give them strength. Lord, as this church grows, as this church moves forward. In a time when churches are sinking back and closing down. That this house is going to move forward. And is going to experience blessing to others.

That, Lord, this church will be a blessing to the mission field. That this church will be a blessing to other church plants. And that, Lord God, you will bring blessing through them. Lord, I ask you over every person that's here that's raised up their hand and said, I want to serve. I desire to serve you.

I desire to commit to you, Lord, my all. I'm going to give you everything I got. That, Lord God, you give them the strength. Bring them into completion, Lord God. Touch their touch hearts today.

All over this room. Warming every heart to your perfect purpose. And your perfect design. For everything that you have. And everything that you're doing, Lord.

Do it in and through this house. In the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.