Sermon Transcript

Thank you.

Church, it's a good day.

Those were great announcements.

That was fun.

It's just fun.

It's okay to have fun.

It's okay to laugh.

There's joy in the house.

Sometimes I think, depending on what season you're in,

I even did this today, I realized it.

I was thinking, oh man, this leak over here, I was thinking this is a bad thing, this must be the devil.

But I just got convicted of this, right?

Sitting up here during communion, I just really felt like in that moment,

I just felt like the Lord's saying, like, sometimes we just, we think something's the devil, but it's actually the Lord.

And he just, he's redirecting your steps.

He doesn't want it to become routine.

Like we, sometimes we make this whole plan and we're like, it's got to look like this.

Like when you come to church, you like, you come with an expectation.

It needs to look like this because that's how it always looked when I was growing up.

That's how it looked in my family.

That's how it looked at my church.

And so any church that looks a little different, they're wrong.

They're the devil.

Like some of you, like you're here today and you're like, this music's not what I like.

They got women pastors.

I don't know about that.

You probably need to go back and read the word a little bit.

You need to read about Priscilla or Junia or the prophetesses or that what God spoke in Joel, he said, all my sons and daughters will prophesy.

Who was the first evangelist?

Who was that first woman at the tomb?

God, this isn't rhetorical.

Who was it?

It wasn't Mike.

It wasn't Mike.

Yeah.

You feel that?

I feel the Holy Spirit right there.

That just dropped on somebody.

Somebody just came in here today with a little bit of religion, the religious spirit, and all of a sudden it's breaking.

That's what Jesus does.

And so sometimes we start doing things out of religion, out of routine.

and we want it to look a certain way, and we have this expectation, and when it doesn't meet our expectation, we think, oh, it's all wrong, throw it all out.

But sometimes he's just trying to stir things up and get you out of religion and back into the flow of his Holy Spirit.

And so I even, I felt that today.

I was like, oh, this is the worst, this is terrible.

We're trying to tape this stupid thing from leaking, you know, we're like, let's move the baptisms up.

Don't let it become religious.

Be ready when the Lord redirects your steps.

And say yes.

Just say yes.

He wants to redirect your steps so he can redirect your heart.

In the physical, what's going on is you're going a certain way and all of a sudden there's something that comes up and you're mad.

You think it's this terrible obstacle and you're like, God, why are you doing this to me?

Or devil, why is the devil trying to do this to me?

Whoever you want to blame in that moment.

But can you just trust that the Lord, when he's redirecting your steps in the natural, he's doing something to shift your heart, to shift your spirit.

And get you back onto the path that he wants you on.

Let's go to his word.

Let's just ask him to redirect our hearts today.

Jeremiah 17, verse 5.

Even when you can't feel him.

Even when you're not sure he's there.

And you're dealing with doubt.

Maybe some of you are in here today and you're in a season of doubt.

You're in a season of fear.

And you're even kind of wondering, is he real?

Does he really move?

Does he really speak?

Even in those seasons, what do we do?

We turn to worship and we turn to the word.

Thus says the Lord.

If your heart departs from the Lord, what are you?

You're cursed.

You're a shrub in the desert.

You don't even see when good comes.

But she'll inhabit the parched places in the wilderness in a salt land which is not inhabited.

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose hope is in the Lord.

What's Jeremiah saying here?

You can choose to be cursed or you can choose to be blessed.

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose hope is in the Lord.

For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters.

which spreads out its roots by the river and will not fear when heat comes.

Heat will come.

Heat comes to everyone.

Heat comes to the shrub in the desert, and it comes to the tree planted by the waters.

But only one won't fear when the heat comes.

That's for the son.

That's for the daughter.

That's for the blessed, not the cursed.

Don't you want that?

I want that.

But its leaf will be green and will not be anxious in the year of drought.

Even in a year of drought, you won't worry.

You won't be anxious because you know who your provider is.

Even when you feel like, man, should there be a harvest right now?

Shouldn't there be food?

Shouldn't there be water?

It looks like we're in a drought.

I don't see much, but I won't live in worry.

I won't live in fear.

Why?

Because I'm the Lord's.

will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.

Even in drought, you will still be fruitful.

The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.

Who can know it?

I, the Lord, search the heart.

I test the mind.

He searches the heart.

He tests the mind.

even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.

It doesn't matter what I do, I'm saved by grace.

You're right, you're saved by grace.

But in this life, you'll either live under the blessing or the curse.

To give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.

It doesn't matter what I do, I can do whatever I want.

If you love me, obey my commandments.

Who said that?

Jesus.

Obedience matters.

The fruit of your doings, what you do matters.

You're not saved by your works, but you walk in the blessing or the curse because of them.

As a partridge that broods but does not hatch, so is he who gets riches but not by right.

It will leave him in the midst of his days, and at the end he will be a fool.

A glorious high thrown from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.

O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be ashamed.

Those who depart from me shall be written in the earth because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters.

Let's pray.

Father, we just pray in the name of your son, Jesus.

Lord, we repent right now for trying to go fast, trying to go our own way, trying to trust in our own strength.

Lord, we just repent right now.

We just want to slow down in this moment.

Lord, we just want to hear your voice.

Lord, please speak.

Nobody came to hear me.

They just came to hear you.

Lord, I just want to honor you through your word today.

Lord, I pray that your word would just, it would draw people in, that it would break religion off people's lives, that it would reveal something to somebody in here about your nature, about your spirit, about your goodness, about your glory, about what's coming.

Lord, that we would begin to discern the seasons, that we'd begin to discern the times and realize we should be in a little bit more of a hurry.

Lord, where we've been complacent, we repent, and we just want to go fast and go quick and go at the pace you've called us to go.

So, Lord, I pray that we would go slow where you call us to go slow, and that we would run fast and run hard after the things you've called us to run fast and hard after, to make your name known, to make the light known, that people would be healed, set free, and delivered in your name, Jesus.

Holy Spirit, please, just have your way in us.

Lord, have your way in my heart today.

Lord, let there just be a breaking.

Let it be fresh.

Lord, anything, any area that's become hard or complacent, that's become obstinate to what you've called us to, Lord, I pray for a softening in your presence today.

Lord, please teach us how to direct our hearts.

Holy Spirit, we just ask that you just be moving and preparing and working.

Father, hallowed be your name.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Cursed and blessed.

The temptation is to just call it luck.

I've talked about this before.

I'll talk about it again.

This won't be the last time I'll say it.

The temptation is to just say, I'm just lucky.

Or to just say, I'm just unlucky.

It's just bad luck.

You can't find luck and bad luck in Scripture.

But you can find cursing and blessing.

And you can find sowing and reaping.

What does the devil do?

The devil just tries to counterfeit the Lord.

Everything he does is a counterfeit.

And so where the Lord uses language, the devil tries to come up with an alternative and say, no, no, no, it's just this.

You're not blessed.

You're not cursed.

You're just unlucky.

Or you're just lucky.

You're just really lucky.

No, no, no.

Don't give luck or bad luck credit

for what's going on in your life right now.

Don't just say, oh, it's just the universe.

That's just the universe.

No.

There is a God of this universe who desires relationship with you

and invites you into relationship with him through his son, Jesus Christ, through the cross on which he was crucified.

That's the gospel.

You feel the fire of the gospel in your heart right there?

I feel the fire falling on somebody right there.

That's the fire of the gospel.

And he invites you into relationship with him where you can be filled with his Holy Spirit.

You just saw people today step into relationship with God the Father through the Son, Jesus, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit.

Why?

So he can direct their steps.

Start to learn to listen to his voice and ask him to direct your steps.

Because why?

Because he'll lead you in the way of the blessing and not the curse.

Don't you desire that for your life?

Don't you desire that for your family's life, for your spouse's life?

Wouldn't it be better to be blessed than cursed?

Wouldn't it be better to have the favor of the Lord...

than to try to walk in your own way out of your own power, out of your own strength.

Aren't you just tired?

Aren't you just weary of trying to walk your own way and build your own life?

And it just keeps tumbling down because you keep building on the sand and the waters keep coming, they keep rising, and that foundation is weak and it will crumble every time.

Wouldn't you rather be blessed than cursed?

Wouldn't you rather build on the rock than on the sand?

He loves you.

That's the invitation today.

He invites you to build on the rock and not the sand.

That's who Jesus is.

Who is Jesus?

He's the word become flesh.

How do I get to know Jesus?

Open up the word.

I've never felt him.

I've never heard him.

He's speaking right now.

And every time you open up the word from the front to the back...

It says it's living and active, sharper than any two-edged blade, and it cuts through spirit and soul, through bone and marrow.

Let him speak to you today.

He wants to bless you, not curse you.

Some of you, you're in here.

You're in here today, and there's just a little bit of skepticism, a little bit of doubt, and it's like, I mean, I saw you already.

I saw you.

You're like, he's not talking about me.

I'm talking about you.

I just saw you.

I saw your face.

He's for you, not against you.

He loves you.

Change your language.

How many times do you just say, I'm just lucky.

Oh, it's just bad luck.

We're playing this game last night.

It's our favorite card game as a family.

Play nine.

If you haven't played it, you should get that one.

It's fun.

Play nine.

We're playing it.

And my son Jet, I mean, he's winning.

We've been playing this game for months now.

And he and I are like, we're in the top two right now.

And we're coming down to the last round.

I'm the only one in our family who has not won.

I'm serious.

I've never won.

We've played a lot of this game over the past four or five months.

I'm the only one in this family who hasn't won.

Jet's probably won the most.

And we're sitting there, and we're flipping the cards, and I'm just like, oh, no, it's not looking good.

I'm going to lose again.

And all of a sudden, I flip just the right card at the end, and for the very first time ever, I won play nine last night.

Wow, thank you.

You didn't have to clap for that, but thank you.

And, I mean, Jet has won so many times, so many times, more than any other kid in the family.

And everybody's kind of like, whoa, dad won, dad won.

And all of a sudden we look over at Jet, and there's crocodile tears.

It was the saddest thing.

It's like I've never felt worse winning in my life.

And it's just like, and the temptation in that moment is to say, oh, it was just bad luck.

One of you just had good luck, one of you had bad luck.

But then I was thinking, I was like, I don't know.

I don't know if he's cursed in that moment and I'm blessed.

I wouldn't say that either.

You can be blessed, you can be cursed, but sometimes God corrects.

You can say amen to that.

That's pretty good.

That's fire.

If you're taking notes, write that down.

You've got to discern the seasons.

You have to discern.

Man, this is good.

Wow, I didn't even write this.

This is just the Holy Spirit.

He wants to speak to you today.

He wants you to know this and understand this and get this rooted down in you.

When I get up here and speak and preach, I'm not looking to build up myself.

I'm asking the Lord, please, Lord, give me a word that when I speak that it would be your voice, that it would be your word.

And so I just want you to know that today.

This is for you.

You can be blessed.

You can be cursed.

But sometimes you're in a correction season.

Discern the seasons.

Discern the times.

What is he trying to show you right now?

Every curse is broken in the name of Jesus.

So when you give your life to Jesus, what are you?

You're blessed.

You want to break off every curse in the name of Jesus.

There's power in the name of Jesus.

And then some of you, you're kind of like, I gave my life to Jesus.

What's going on?

I don't understand.

How are you walking right now?

How are you walking right now?

Because how you walk matters.

You can be walking with Jesus, united with him in spirit.

Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.

That's from the passage that Pastor Steph was reading tonight.

You can be united with him in spirit, but you're still walking with the world in the flesh.

And all of a sudden, some things start to kind of happen, and you're like, well, maybe it's just bad luck.

The devil wants you to believe it's bad luck, because then you'll just keep doing it.

Well, I went to the casinos.

That was just a bad night.

I'll go back the next night.

That was just another bad night.

That was just bad luck.

I'm bound to win tonight.

Third night in a row, I was just unlucky those nights.

No, no, no, no.

He's trying to protect you.

He's trying to give you a warning sign.

It's not about luck or bad luck here.

He's trying to correct your path.

You keep losing money.

He's saying, son, this isn't the path I've called you to.

You're in this relationship with somebody that doesn't love Jesus, but you gave your life to Jesus.

And just things are always kind of difficult and tough.

And it's just like you're always fighting.

You're always at odds.

And just things are never going right.

He's on fire for the Lord.

He's got zeal for the Lord.

He's just running.

He's running to the altar right now.

Like, just understand.

Sometimes you're in a correction season.

You're like, why is everything always going wrong?

He's just trying to correct you to protect you.

Right?

Like a father running after a son, like if that little boy is running for the street, would he be a good father to just say, well, that's what he wants to do.

I'm just going to let him.

Or should he step in and correct and save him and pull him out from that?

And is there discipline?

Is there correction to change behavior?

Sometimes you're like, why are these things always going wrong?

The Lord is a good father.

It says that in Hebrews 12, that he corrects and disciplines those whom he loves.

So stop saying you're lucky or you're unlucky, because then you're just going to continue living in your flesh.

Start to realize you can live in the blessing or the curse, or maybe he's correcting you.

And he wants to redirect your steps.

1 Thessalonians 3, go there.

1 Thessalonians 3.

Look at this.

What was it?

2 Thessalonians 3.

That's the one.

That's the one.

Ah, that was the one.

2 Thessalonians 3.

I didn't have this one in the notes, but I just was reading this this morning.

Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ.

That's what he's saying.

That's what he's saying to the church.

May the Lord direct your hearts.

Who's directing your heart today?

You're here today.

He directed your heart to get to the house today.

Some of you just came for a baptism.

You just came to support your brother or your sister or your nephew, your niece, whoever it was.

But right now the Lord is inviting you into something.

You've been away from him for a long time, but he's saying, no, no, no.

Son, daughter, let me start to direct your steps because everything you keep doing keeps walking you into the curse.

It's walking you away.

It's walking you outside of my word, outside of obedience.

It's walking you outside of the place of blessing where I'm inviting you into.

You're invited in.

You're invited into the house today.

We're glad you're here.

Just say yes to him.

Let him start to direct your steps.

Some of you, you're tired.

You're weary.

Why?

Because you keep trying to direct your own steps.

You keep letting your heart lead the way.

I preached on this a few years ago.

It's just hitting me again.

I think it's from, yeah, from the Sandlot.

What do they say in the Sandlot?

Follow your heart, kid.

You'll never go wrong.

That's a terrible quote.

That's terrible advice.

If you follow your heart, you'll always go wrong.

But if you let the Lord direct your heart.

My goodness, you can live in confidence in every season.

You can live in confidence in the plenty and in the drought.

Do you understand that?

That's what Jeremiah was saying.

Even in a drought season, you'll still be fruitful.

Why?

Because you're the Lord's.

Because he directs your heart.

People will look at you in a drought.

People will look at you in a recession and say, why is everything going right for them?

They're just lucky.

No, you correct them.

You say, I'm blessed.

I'm not lucky.

I'm not giving the universe credit for what the Lord has done in my life.

The fire of God is falling on some people today.

Thank you, Jesus.

Praise him, even when you don't feel like it, even when you don't want to.

Why?

Because he's worthy.

Worship isn't built on a feeling.

It's built on a man, Jesus Christ.

We worship because he's worthy.

We worship because the Father was so kind and sent him.

It's his kindness that leads us into repentance, it says in Romans.

Don't you want a father that's kind?

Don't you want a father that cares enough to correct you and direct your steps and change your path when you're running away from him, when you're walking down a path that is dangerous, that leads far from him?

Don't you want a father like that?

Don't you want to be a father like that?

If you have kids...

and you see your kids running toward the street, or you see your kids doing something that you know is going to cause them harm, it'd be foolish to just say, well, just let them follow their heart.

No, the heart is deceitful above all things.

But I, the Lord, search the heart.

I test the mind.

Some of you are in a testing season for the mind.

You've felt the Lord before.

You've experienced the Holy Spirit.

But I just want to tell you right now, you're in a moment right here, right now.

And you've come in today and you're just feeling like he's far from me.

I haven't heard his voice in a while.

I'm not sure.

I just, I want to feel that fire again.

I want to feel that zeal for the Lord.

Lord, just please light me up again like that first time.

I want to hear you so loud and so clear.

And you're just wondering, why can't I hear his voice?

Sometimes you're in a testing season.

You're in a testing of the mind.

Scripture, guys, I'm scrolling way down.

2 Chronicles, go to that 2 Chronicles passage, 32, verse 31.

However, regarding the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, whom they sent to him to inquire about the wonder that was done in the land, this is talking about King Hezekiah.

King Hezekiah did so many great things during his time as king.

But it says here in this moment that when the ambassadors were sent to inquire about the wonder that was done in the land, it says God withdrew from him in order to what?

To test him.

There will be seasons where it will feel like God has left you, like he's far from you.

And you'd be like, what happened?

It was so easy when I could feel him and I just knew his presence was with me.

Everywhere I went, I could just, you felt that tangible presence of the Lord.

You've been in here.

You've felt that before.

You've walked with him.

You've talked with him.

You've heard his voice.

But right now you feel like, I don't know where he is.

It seems like he's far from me.

I'm not hearing him.

I just, I don't know what to do, Lord.

Sometimes he'll withdraw to test the mind.

even though you don't feel him, will you still choose by faith to do what you know is right, to walk in his ways?

Even when you don't feel like opening up the word, will you still choose to open it up and let the word begin to speak and get deep down buried within you?

When you come in for worship and you're in this season where it feels like he's far from you, will you sit there with your arms crossed?

Will you sit there with your arms folded?

I don't feel you.

I don't know if you're here.

I don't know if you're real right now.

I don't know if you care for me.

Or will you come in and will you still choose to worship because he's worthy?

Not based on a feeling, but based on faith.

Even when it feels like he's withdrawn from you.

Sometimes you're in a testing season.

That's because he looks at you and he knows there's more inside of you and he wants to draw it out of you.

Why do we get tested?

So we can graduate and move on to the next place, the next calling.

He's calling you higher in this season.

You're kind of mad and you're kind of wondering, you're asking him, God, did I do something wrong?

Am I in sin?

And you're just, you're kind of going through the list.

I don't think I'm in sin.

I don't think I've gotten off, but Lord, why does it feel like you're so far from me?

Sometimes there's a testing that takes place so he can raise you up.

There's more.

There's more for you.

There's more for you to experience.

Religion says you got God all figured out.

The spirit of religion, it puts God in a box and you just, you believe.

I know all the answers.

I know what it should look like.

I got it all.

I know all the theology.

And some of you are sitting here and you're listening to this pastor with whatever, dingy shoes.

These shoes were expensive.

No, I'm just joking.

You're just like, who's this young kid?

Maybe some of you think I'm young.

I don't know.

Who is this kid?

I'm just his.

I'm his kid.

He called me.

He said, you were made for this.

He said, you said yes.

I told Pastor Stone today, we're running around, we're taping up leaks, and we're trying to figure out this thing, and we're trying to get a hose set up to get this drain so we don't flood this whole room today, and we get the baptisms done on time.

And we're out here in a moment after the baptisms are all done, and we're standing on the steps out here, and we're just smiling, and we're laughing, and we're just full of joy.

And some people would be like, man, that was stressful.

That was crazy.

Like, there was leaks.

And we thought, you know, the whole room was going to get flooded or whatever.

Some people would be hating it and be like, what are you doing?

This is insane.

This is stupid.

There's better jobs you can do.

You can go work at Costco and make more money than that and not deal with these kind of issues.

We were made for this.

You were made for this.

He's called you into something.

He's called you into something.

You were made for it.

He loves you, and he called you right here, right now, in this place, in this season, even though you don't want to be in this season.

It's not what you thought it would be.

It's not what you envisioned.

It's not what you pictured.

It's not what you desired.

You're like, I thought the Lord was going to give me the desires of my heart.

No, no, he wants to change the desires of your heart to match his desires.

It's coming.

You're in a transformation season.

He's changing you.

He's transforming you right now.

It doesn't look how you thought it was going to look, but you were made for this.

You can endure it.

Keep walking with his spirit.

Ask him, Lord, please direct my steps.

And when you don't hear his voice right away, and you get a little discouraged, a little worried, what should we do?

Worship.

Go to worship and go to the word.

When you don't feel him, when you feel like he's far from you, go to worship in the word.

I mean, he's like, he's so good.

I'm just like, sometimes I'm just amazed.

Like, he loves you.

I keep feeling this for new parents in the room.

New parents, you got, there's some of you, you got a newborn for the first time.

You were made for this.

You were.

You were made for this.

You guys steward those children's lives so well.

You were made for this.

You're going to have days like what Josh and Lydia and Justin and Reagan got to have today and Kevin and Michelle.

You're going to see your kids give their lives to Jesus.

Every time somebody gets into this pool, I tell them, this is the most important decision you'll ever make in your life.

And then young people, I always tell them this.

I say, the second most important decision is who you'll marry.

Find somebody that loves Jesus as much as you.

that will chase after him with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength, just like you.

I told every kid that got in the pool today, little Sawyer, who's probably four, looked at me like, I don't want to get married.

I just want to hang out and play dragons.

I don't know.

Do kids play dragons?

I don't know.

I just made that up.

God's good.

There's something special.

There's an impartation happening in here right now.

The Holy Spirit is moving and working.

And there's some of you, if you want what he's got for you today, you can have it.

But if you want to keep going and what you've been in, and you just want to be like, nope, you're either lucky or unlucky, you can live in bitterness your whole life.

I don't care.

Actually, I mean, I care about you.

I don't care about you as much as the Lord cares about you.

He wants to free you from bitterness today.

He wants to free you from the burden.

You don't have to live like this anymore.

You don't have to live under religion.

You don't have to believe you got it all figured out.

You can just begin to walk with him every day and ask him, Lord, please direct my steps again.

Freshen my heart.

Break my heart.

Break my heart for what breaks yours, Lord.

Lord, show me afresh in your word again everything I thought I knew and I thought I understood about you.

Let me read the word with eyes like a babe.

Eyes like a child.

What did he say?

Be like children.

That's what he said.

Jesus told them, be like children.

Don't think you got it all figured out.

Don't come in here thinking, no, no, I know I got all the answers.

I know it all.

I get it.

No, no, no.

Wake up every day and say, Lord, please just teach me.

Please direct my steps.

I just want to be like you.

I want to be near you.

Just change your prayer to something simple.

Speak, Lord.

Your servant's listening.

It's one of the most simple prayers from the prophet Samuel when he was young.

A child.

It was a prayer of a child.

Speak, Lord, your servant's listening.

What was happening?

Samuel served under the priest Eli.

What had happened to the priest Eli?

He got religious.

He got old and he got religious.

Just because you get old, you don't have to get religious.

He'd let religion set in.

He had turned his back on sin.

He had stopped calling and preaching repentance.

He began to tolerate what the Lord hates.

Complacency in the heart begins with tolerance.

When you begin to tolerate what the Lord says is evil, what the Lord hates in his word,

Hate what is evil, cling to what is good.

When you begin to tolerate it, complacency sets into the heart.

Complacency leads to religion.

And I just feel like there's some people in here, you've been struggling with some complacency in this season.

You've come in here today and you're just, I'm good.

We're doing good.

Everything's good.

Let's not rock the boat right now.

He wants to stir you up again.

Fan the flame that is in you from the laying on of hands.

That's what Paul told Timothy.

There is a gift within you.

Fan the flame of the Holy Spirit.

Get stirred up today.

Get stirred up today in the name of Jesus.

When we come back up here to worship in a moment, I'm going to invite our worship team up right now.

When you come back up to lead us in worship, my goodness, let's be a little rowdy.

Let's be a little crazy.

Let's dance a little like David.

Let the Michaels stare.

If you don't know the story, David came back dancing and praising and clapping, and his wife, Michael, said, what are you?

That's not very distinguished for a king.

Don't let the fear of man settle in your heart.

No, no, no.

Fan the flames of revival.

Revival begins with repentance.

acknowledge that your heart's grown hard in this season, that it's grown religious, and just say, Lord, I repent.

I turn back from that.

Lord, please soften and break my heart today in your name, Jesus Christ.

Let him break you today.

When he breaks you, he'll remake you, and he'll remake you better than the way you tried to make yourself.

You tried to make yourself a certain way.

You tried to make your image a certain way because you want people to look at you and believe you got it all together.

That's what religion does.

He's breaking religion off his sons and daughters.

You've adapted this title.

You believe something about yourself.

You've built this reputation, and you said, I'm this, I'm this.

I got this prestige and all these things I've built up, and this is who I am.

Humble yourself today and remember you're a son and you're a daughter.

And he's the father.

Just say, speak, Lord.

Teach me, please.

Your ways are better than mine.

It says in Zephaniah, some of you are like, Zephaniah, is that an actual book?

Yeah, it's a real book.

Zephaniah 1.

I don't know why.

Like sometimes you come to church and you're like, oh, man, I just want to hear the Gospels.

I want to hear Matthew.

I want to hear Mark.

Some people come to church and they're like, they're in the Old Testament?

That's weird.

Well, at least it's Genesis.

At least it's Exodus.

I've heard of that before.

Zephaniah, I don't need Zephaniah.

You need it all.

You need it all.

It's medicine for the soul.

His word, it says in Proverbs, is medicine for the soul.

From the front to the back.

Every book, every line, every word.

I felt the Lord calling me to Zephaniah recently.

It was a couple weeks ago.

And I was reading through chapter 1.

It says this, chapter 1, verse 12.

And it shall come to pass at that time that I will search Jerusalem with lamps and punish the men who settled in complacency, who say in their heart, the Lord will not do good, nor will he do evil.

He's not going to do anything.

We can just go our own way.

And they just settled in complacency.

Don't settle in this place anymore.

Don't live in this land of complacency.

He's called you higher.

What's he say in Revelation?

Some of you, you want the New Testament?

Here you go.

Here's some New Testament.

Don't be hot.

Either be hot or cold.

Don't be lukewarm.

What's lukewarm?

It's complacency.

It's right in the middle.

And some of you, that verse never made sense to me.

Like, wouldn't it be better to at least be lukewarm?

Because then you're at least closer to hot.

That's got to be better than cold, right?

No, no, because when you're lukewarm, you don't realize anything's wrong, at least when you're cold.

At least when you're out in the cold, away from his house, away from the Father's fire, at least then you know, my goodness, I want to get warm.

I keep living in the cold, but my goodness, I want to live in the fire of God.

There's a day that comes when it gets so cold outside of his house that you come running back to the Father's house because you want to be near the fire of God.

You want to be near the Father's fire.

Don't you want that in the name of Jesus today?

Would you stand up and worship?

Would you stand up and worship?

Don't settle in the land of complacency today.

We got men and women up here on our ministry team.

If you want somebody to pray with, come forward today and just say, I want to repent from complacency.

I've been going my own way.

I've been trying to live my own life.

I want him to direct my steps today.

You can invite him in.

If you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord, he will save you.

He wants to save you.

He wants to rescue you today.

Come out of the cold and into the heat.

And if you've been living in the lukewarm and you just now realized it, you didn't realize you were living in the lukewarm.

You were living in religion.

If you want to break that off your life in the name of Jesus today, my goodness, let it be broken right now.

In fact, here, everybody, bow your head.

Close your eyes.

I just want to pray for you, church.

Holy Spirit, we love you.

We pray that you would just be moving and working right now.

If there's anybody you feel like you've been in a season of complacency, would you just take a bold step right now?

Everybody's got their eyes closed, their heads down.

They don't see you, but the Father sees you right now.

If you feel like you've been living in a season of complacency, would you just raise your hand?

It's a step of boldness.

It's a step of boldness to raise your hand and say, Jesus, I want more of you.

I want the fire to fall on me.

I want to live in your presence.

And even when I don't feel you,

Even when I'm in a testing season, when you feel like you've withdrawn from me, I'm going to walk with you.

I'm going to run with you.

I'm going to chase after you with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength.

Father, you see every man and every woman in here that want you more.

Lord, I just pray the zeal would be stirred up in them, that fire would be fanned today, that you would fan the flame that's in them, that they would return, that they'd come running home to you, that they would worship with no abandon in this moment, and that they'd dive into the word today, and that your word

We know, Lord, it never returns void, that there will be seeds planted that will change them and that will change their generations to come.

In Jesus' name we pray and all God's people said, amen.