Sermon Transcript

Let's pray.

God, we love you.

We thank you.

Thank you that you sent your son.

We just invite your presence in.

We need you.

We just need a word from you.

God, nobody came to hear me.

They came to hear your voice.

I just pray that you would speak today.

I know you will.

Because I know you say it in your word.

It never returns void.

I just pray there's a seed sown today that will change eternity for somebody.

That will change a marriage.

That will turn a friendship around.

That will heal a broken or offended heart.

Lord, we honor you.

We beg you right now to just speak.

God, I know in this room there's people that are hurting.

They're alone.

And they're just seeking comfort.

Something just feels off right now.

They can't put a word to it.

They can't figure out what it is.

Lord, I just pray that you give them revelation today.

If there's a place where they're missing it with you and they haven't been with you, they haven't listened to you, they haven't heard your voice and obeyed what you've said, I pray that you would draw them back in this moment into a place of blessing and obedience.

There's blessing and obedience.

There's blessing and obedience.

Lord, if we missed it with you, please draw our minds back to that place and let us get right with you again.

That's all repentance is.

We just repent and come back to you.

Your ways are better than ours.

We just seek you here.

Holy Spirit, just please move and speak.

Bring comfort, bring teaching, bring counsel, bring encouragement, an exhortation, a command, a challenge, whatever it is for whoever it is today, Lord.

Let's pray your word would go forth, that we would honor and obey you.

In Jesus' name, amen.

You can have a seat.

Deuteronomy 4, verse 11.

If you don't have a Bible, we'll get you a Bible.

We got them out there in the lobby.

We always want people to have God's word.

We want to get it into as many people's hands as we can.

Deuteronomy 4, verse 11.

It says this, and if you want the notes, you can text RevNotes to the number 94000.

All one word, R-E-V, notes.

Verse 11, then you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the midst of heaven with darkness, cloud and thick darkness.

And the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire.

You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form.

You only heard a voice.

Faith comes by hearing, hearing the word of the Lord.

You heard a voice.

Don't doubt what you heard that day.

Just because you didn't see him, you're here today because at one point or another, you heard him.

Don't doubt that you've heard the voice of the Lord in your life.

You're here today in this moment because you're seeking him.

And at one point or another, you did.

You heard something.

You heard him.

Don't doubt that.

Hold on to that today.

You heard him.

The devil wants you to doubt.

He'll be like, no, that was just, that was a voice in your head.

That was somebody else.

You didn't see him.

You didn't feel, you didn't touch him.

And like that little bit of doubt comes in.

No, no, no.

Just tell doubt to leave and hold on to what you know.

You heard his voice.

Don't doubt that.

He declared to you his covenant.

He's a God of covenant.

He's a God of covenant.

We don't take marriage lightly here.

We don't take the body of Christ lightly here.

When we step into it, we step into covenant.

Don't take this lightly.

You understand?

When you come together, when a husband and wife come together in covenant, in marriage, two souls come together.

Covenant is not taken lightly in God's word.

We take what was meant for covenant and we use it outside of the covenant.

When you do that, when you do that, you're walking in disobedience.

You're walking in sin.

You're walking in something that you weren't meant to walk in.

Don't take what you're in being a part of the body lightly.

You're in covenant.

You are connected with the body of Christ.

God, all throughout history, old and new, he wants his people to understand covenant, honor, loyalty, who you walk with.

It matters how you walk.

It matters.

We take too often the church lightly.

The church is the body.

It's the body of Jesus.

It's the body of Christ, and we take it lightly.

And we hop from one church to another, and we just, what are we doing?

We're just, and we think, oh, it's not a big deal.

I can get what I want over here, and I can get what I want over here, and we just, no, no, no.

Get into the body of Christ somewhere, wherever he's calling you, and understand it's covenant, and you're there unless he releases you.

If God doesn't release you, don't move.

Like, if you're just jumping from place to place just looking for the next best thing, the next best LED wall or sound wall or performance or whatever it is, the next best Christmas Eve service, if you're jumping from place to place and you're basing every decision you're making off of shallow decisions, that's not covenant.

You don't understand covenant.

You need to understand covenant.

If you take that same mindset into your marriage, your marriage won't last long.

Because it won't be long before your eyes begin to drift and you're looking over there or you're looking over there and you're like, well, oh, that looks a lot better than where I'm at right now.

I don't know.

If God called you here and if you're in covenant, you're in covenant in marriage, guess what?

He called you there.

You didn't make a mistake.

God didn't make a mistake.

Sometimes the devil tries to get into your head and be like, oh, she's not the one.

There's the one.

If you're married, she's the one.

All right?

Johnny or Jim or whoever that's for today, I don't know who that's for.

If you're married, she's the one.

Don't believe the lie of the devil.

Like, oh, no, no, no.

The Lord told me it's her.

No, no, no.

You got up in front of a bunch of people and said it's her before the Lord and before witnesses.

You already know who the one is.

The devil just tries to deceive and get people believing, oh, no, no, there's the one.

Like you're watching all these, you know, romantic comedies and, you know, you're just like, oh, she married the wrong guy.

No, she didn't.

No, she didn't.

That's stupid.

Trust the Bible.

Don't trust Matthew McConaughey and whatever romantic comedy he's been in.

Okay?

I like Matthew.

He's funny.

But those movies are stupid.

They're garbage.

Don't believe that.

If you step into covenant and then one day you're like, oh, I think I married the wrong one.

No, that's a lie from the devil.

Don't believe that.

If you're married in here today, you married the right one.

She's not following with me.

She's not walking with me or he's not walking with me.

We're not in unity.

I can't even get them to come to church with me.

Trust the Lord because I've seen miracles in this place.

I've seen miracles in this place.

You don't know what God's going to do.

All you can do is steward your life the way he's called you to steward it.

And what's he called you to be?

A person of covenant.

What is a person of covenant?

A person of honor and loyalty.

Not a person that jumps from the next best place to the next best place.

Because guess what?

There is no next best place.

Eventually, you keep jumping and jumping and jumping.

You jump your way right into hell.

That's what you do is you become so dissatisfied and bitter with the life that God gave you, and he's looking at you and being like, no, no, that's not the life I gave you.

That's not the life I called you to.

I called you to covenant.

I didn't call you to quit.

You keep quitting on where I called you.

but I've called you to steward what I've given you.

Some of you are here today and you're feeling a little convicted because you've come out of that season in the past.

That's all right.

Let conviction change you and transform you.

All you can do is repent for the past season because you didn't know any better.

Nobody ever told you.

Nobody ever told you, oh, you're in covenant.

It matters.

They just told you, follow your heart, do whatever you want, do whatever you feel.

That was really bad advice from Aunt Susan, all right?

It was.

It was.

It was.

But now you know more.

The Lord has given you revelation.

He's showing you covenant matters.

Commitment matters.

So commit today to say, Lord, I'm yours.

I want to do life your way.

I don't want to quit anymore and jump from place to place and person to person looking for the next best thing.

I'm going to trust you, and I'm going to steward it right now.

You might be looking at what he's given you and being like, I wish he'd give me more.

And he's saying, I wish you'd take care of what I've given you.

That's what he's saying.

That's what he's saying.

Take care of what he's given you.

And then guess what?

You want more?

When he sees he can trust you with what he's given you, he'll give you more.

He's the God of stewardship.

He loves stewardship.

Are you taking care of what he's given you?

Are you taking care of the people in your life?

Are you taking care of the kids in your life?

Are you taking care of your spouse?

Are you loving your wife?

Are you loving your husband the best you can today and every day going forward?

And when you mess up, when you sin, when you fall, whatever it might be, are you living a life of repentance and saying, Lord, I failed today, but I'm going to do better tomorrow?

When you look back, go to Psalm 139.

Go to Psalm 139.

Psalm 139 verse 23.

Let this be your prayer today.

Search me, God, and know my heart.

Test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.

Let this become your prayer in this season.

Write this one down.

You're taking notes today.

Write this one down.

Star this.

Highlight it.

Make this your prayer.

Put it in your journal.

Put it somewhere where you're going to see it.

You're going to remember it.

Every time you go to the Lord, just, I don't know what to say to God.

I don't know what to say to God.

Follow David.

David gives us some great examples right here.

Just begin to pray scripture.

If you don't know what to pray, that's okay.

You're in the same boat as most of the world.

We come to the Lord and we don't even know what to say.

The best we can come up with is, could you please give me a new car or a new house?

Here, be like David.

Be like David.

Search me, God, and know my heart.

Test me and know my anxious thoughts.

What are you worried about?

What are you worried about in this season?

Some of you, you're worried.

You're in here today.

You're worried.

You're anxious.

What is it?

What's causing you that anxiety, that worry?

He wants to reveal it to you.

He wants to show you the source of

And who is he?

He's the God of healing.

He's Jehovah Jireh.

What does he want to do?

He wants to bring you into healing and wholeness.

He doesn't want you to stay in this place.

Some of you, you've just embraced this lie from the world that just says, oh, you're just an anxious person.

That's just who you are.

You just struggle with anxiety.

No, you just don't know where to take your anxiety.

You keep holding on to it, and you keep trying to possess it.

In fact, some of you, you've made it your identity.

Oh, it's just who I am.

It doesn't have to be.

It doesn't have to be.

Take it to him.

Hand it to him.

Say, test me, Lord.

Show me.

Show me the source of it all.

And sometimes we're just looking at the surface level, and he's going to actually help reveal to you what the source is.

It might look like, oh, it's just this thing over here.

It's finances or whatever it is.

He might show you it's actually connected to this memory from when you were five and you saw your mom and dad fighting over finances.

And ever since then, you've been anxious and worried every day of your life of, do I have enough?

Do I have enough?

Do I have enough?

He's more than enough.

He's bringing you into healing right now.

You're getting healed.

In his presence, he brings healing.

He's doing that today.

Come on.

See if there's any offensive way in me.

How could that be?

I'm perfect.

I mean, that's how most of us act, right?

Like when we go and pray, we're like, God, please help them.

They got a bad attitude.

Help her.

She's mean and she's rude.

Lord, show me where I've been offensive.

Oof.

I didn't realize I did that.

Oof.

I didn't realize I yelled at my kids like that.

Oh, I didn't realize I was so impatient.

Where have I been offensive this past week?

A couple of my kids, they've had these moments.

I call them spatial awareness learning moments.

I mean, just like my daughter, she's 12.

She's not up here so I can talk about her.

It's okay.

She's serving in kids right now.

She's like, she's all about like, I don't know, all of her friends.

They, I don't know.

They've shown her at like sports practices, these different like, I don't know what they are, TikTok videos of like people baking stuff or doing things.

And so she doesn't have a TikTok.

She doesn't have a YouTube.

But she'll just ask if she can borrow my phone and make a video of her like baking muffins.

She's not going to post it anywhere.

It's just on my phone.

It's just kind of fun for her.

It's like her new thing right now.

She's into that.

I'm like, all right, yeah, that's fine.

And so she's baking muffins in the kitchen, and then I haven't heard her in a while, and she comes to me about 20 minutes later, and she's like, Dad, you're going to be mad.

You're going to be so mad.

She's like, I was baking muffins, and I knocked your phone back behind the oven.

I'm like, ugh, okay, okay.

I'm not that mad.

So I just, you know, I go over there.

We get it out.

We get it back and all that.

We do all the things.

And, you know, and I just, you know, I have the classic dad talk to her.

I'm like, okay, like you got to be more aware and you got to think about your surroundings.

And I literally, I had one of those moments with Maverick.

I had one of those moments with Jet, like all the kids.

And each time I'm just, I mean, every time like there's a new one that pops up, I'm just getting a little more impatient.

I'm like,

Just look.

Just pay attention.

Just come on.

Do that.

Pay attention.

I never had these moments.

You guys already know where I'm going.

This morning, this morning, I go, we're like, Pastor Stone texts me.

He's like, we're out of creamer.

I'm like, oh, I'll just run to Hy-Vee on my way to church.

I'll get some creamer.

I get all these bags of creamer.

I go out to my car and I'm like, there's a Starbucks in the Hy-Vee.

And I'm like, I might just get a little, you know, coffee for myself today.

I get a coffee and I, you know, I take everything out to the car and I open it up and I'm like, oh, there's some boxes I'm bringing to church.

There's all these kinds of things we need for Christmas Eve.

And I set my coffee down right there.

right there on the car, and I'm like, oh, I got to move some stuff to get the creamers in here.

This is the dumbest thing.

I pulled this box out right into my coffee, and my coffee goes down, and it's everywhere, and I'm like, that's pretty stupid.

I'm like, I guess I should probably give myself the same talk I gave my kids this week.

Spatial awareness.

Is there any offensive thing in you that you keep seeing in everyone else right now in this season?

You're like, they do this, they do this, they say this, they talk like this, they treat me like this.

Stop looking outward and ask the Lord, reveal inward to me what I need to know today, what I need to see.

Where have I been holding people to a higher standard than I hold myself?

The Lord wants to reveal that to you today.

He wants to show it to you.

There's places that you're giving yourself grace and you're not giving anyone else that same level of grace.

We're doing it.

It's offensive.

We keep holding people to this standard.

Oh, they did this and they did that and they're just always wrong and they're evil and they're wicked and all this.

And it's like, we keep holding people to this standard and

And we don't want to forgive them.

We're like, oh, they might hurt us again.

So I can't forgive them.

I'm not ready to forgive them.

It's so easy to forgive ourselves, to show ourselves grace.

I'm good.

I'm perfect.

I never knock my coffee down and do anything dumb.

I've never done anything dumb in my life.

We do some dumb stuff.

Lord, reveal to us anything offensive in me.

Lead me in the way everlasting.

Are you willing to be led?

We can say it.

We say it.

Oh yeah, Lord, Lord, take my life.

It's yours.

But really, what are we doing most of the time in our prayer life?

God, I want this and I want this and I want my life to look like this and it should look like this at this time and it should be this way and this thing.

And God, I sowed this seed, God, so you should give me this right now.

You think that's how seed time and harvest works?

No.

No.

No.

Now, seed time and harvest, it's a biblical principle, but there are people that believe, like, oh, I sowed this seed, so now God has to do this for me.

He's going to do it for me.

And then we even start to make compromises.

And we're like, well, I sowed that seed, and so that means God should do this for me, and he should do it in my timeline, and I'm ready right now to receive my harvest, but

And so what do we do?

We start to make compromises for growth.

Don't compromise.

Don't compromise seed time and harvest.

Trust the Lord to bring the growth, and in due season, you'll reap a harvest.

That means waiting.

That means patience.

Like, I've sown some good seed.

I haven't seen it yet.

Be patient.

Wait.

In due season, you'll reap a harvest.

He's the God of seed time and harvest.

Trust him with it.

Go back to Deuteronomy now.

Deuteronomy 13, chapter 4.

This is where we were before.

I'm just getting back to it.

So he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, the Ten Commandments.

And he wrote them on two tablets of stone.

And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments that you might observe them in the land which you cross over to possess.

This is before the cross over.

Some of you right now, I think it might just be for one person, it might be for more than that.

Some of you right now, you are in a crossover season.

You're in a crossover season.

You're moving from that old place into the new land.

You're moving from that old place into promises.

The land of promise.

In a crossover season, there's things you need to be aware of.

Things are changing.

Things are shifting.

It feels a little awkward and a little weird and a little strange for some of you right now.

You're like, I don't really know what to do.

It's just, it's uncomfortable.

I don't quite get it.

I don't really even know how to prepare for this next season.

I've never been in this place before.

Think about that.

The Israelites, all they had known was slavery.

All they had known was slavery.

And then God frees them.

He sets them free and they start out on this journey to the promised land.

And what do they start doing?

They start complaining and start wishing they could go back to slavery because they don't actually fully understand what it is they're crossing over into and what is God doing.

God is leading them.

Now, if they could just do it themselves, they'd already be there and everything would be established and it'd be ready-made for them.

But there's a journey and there's a crossing over.

And sometimes when you're moving from that old place into the new place, there's a little bit of discomfort and just awkwardness

And so there's just, I feel like there's some awkwardness for some people in here right now in that season that you're in, that you're leaving and moving into.

Don't start to complain and ask, oh, I wish I could go back.

Don't forget, in that old season, you were a slave.

You were in chains.

Don't ask to go back to bondage.

Trust him as he leads you.

Trust him in what he's teaching you in this season.

He's teaching you something.

He's teaching you something.

What's he doing?

He's getting Egypt out of you.

He had to get Egypt out of them so they could step in to all that he had for them.

Let him do it.

Let him do a good work in this season.

Let's go Joshua 1.

As we move into a crossover season, let's look at this together.

Moses did not get to lead the people into the promised land.

That was passed on to Joshua.

Joshua 1, verse 1.

Moses got right up to the edge of the promised land.

He could see the promised land.

But then God just told him, hey, prepare Joshua.

Get him ready to lead the people into the promised land.

Joshua 1, verse 1.

After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, saying...

Moses, my servant, is dead.

Now, therefore, arise.

Go over this Jordan, the river, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, the children of Israel.

Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon, I have given you, as I said to Moses, from the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the great sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory.

This is God speaking.

This is a promise.

But God is telling him to go into land that is not theirs, that is inhabited by other people.

So he can hear it, but he can't see it yet.

Sometimes you just have to go by what you've heard and trust.

Even though it doesn't make sense to what you're seeing, trust what you've heard.

If it comes from him, trust it.

No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life.

As I was with Moses, so I will be with you.

I will not leave you nor forsake you.

Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.

Only be strong and very courageous that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded you.

Do not turn from it to the right hand or the left that you may prosper wherever you go.

Some of you right now in your life, you feel like you are not prospering.

You feel like you are failing, like you are struggling.

You feel like God's hand is against you.

Get into God's word in this season.

Ask him to reveal any offensive way inside of you because more than likely, there's probably something where you've gotten out of line

where you've missed it.

He spoke something to you.

He said something.

What did you do?

You compromised.

You turned a little to the left or a little to the right.

You made a compromise with the world.

You made a compromise with family.

You made a compromise with friends.

And you said, well, I don't have to live my life.

I don't have to live my life the way God says.

I can kind of do this.

I kind of feel like doing this.

I kind of want to do this.

This feels good.

This feels right.

Everybody else is doing it.

Everybody else lives this way.

I talk about that with marriage in this house all the time.

Everybody else lives together before marriage.

Everybody else does that.

We don't do that in this house.

We don't do that.

I tell you, save sex for when you get married because God wants to bless and prosper you, and he will.

I've seen it.

I've seen it.

He wants to bless and prosper your marriage, your home, your family.

Everyone else is doing this.

So what do I do when couples come to me and ask, will you do our wedding?

I would love to.

Here's what I need you to know.

I need you guys, if you've been sleeping together, just stop sleeping together, repent, turn to the Lord, say, Lord, we want to do this your way.

We want to get into covenant before we share a bed together, okay?

That's what sex is made for.

It's made for covenant.

I say, do that.

Then I say, we're going to walk you through freedom together.

We want all couples to take freedom together in our house.

And then we'll see you.

We'll see you at your wedding day.

We'll bless that marriage.

We'll pray for you.

We'll have a great time.

We'll celebrate because you did it God's way and not the world's way.

That's how we do it.

We don't compromise.

We don't just go a little to the left or a little to the right because everybody else is.

It doesn't matter.

We stand on God's word.

His word is a light to our path.

Like, why am I not prospering?

You're not doing it his way.

This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth.

Verse 8, keep the word in your mouth.

So that means you're reading it, but then you also need to be speaking it, declaring it.

Speak God's word over your life.

Keep it in your mouth.

Chew on it.

Meditate on it.

Speak it over your life.

You shall meditate in it day and night that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it.

For then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success.

Have I not commanded you?

Be strong and of good courage.

Do not be afraid nor be dismayed for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

As you get ready to cross over in this season, learn to listen to the Lord.

Number one, if you're taking notes today, listen to the Lord.

Embrace wisdom.

Love God's law, his statutes, his words.

Get into it.

That's what we learn about a crossover season.

You need to get in to his presence and listen to him.

Why?

Because his ways are better than your ways.

His ways are better than your parents' ways.

His ways are better than your aunt's ways, your uncle's ways, your friend's ways, your school's ways, your teacher's ways.

His ways are better.

They are.

They might not look popular.

They might not look like what everyone else is doing.

It doesn't matter.

And you're like, oh, it looks like things are going well for them.

It looks like things are going great for them.

The grass fades.

Weeds sprout up quick.

Weeds don't last.

Weeds don't produce fruit.

Like, oh, man, look at that growth.

Look, something's happening.

It's happening quick for them.

It's a weed.

It's a weed.

It's not fruit.

God wants to bear good fruit in your life.

I just want people to see me.

I want people to notice me.

I want people to know God will bring the fruit in the right season.

Just trust that what he's doing under the surface in the dirt is better than what's happening to the weed who's up above the surface right now.

That weed's not going to last.

He's growing a cedar of Lebanon.

He's growing a palm tree.

You're going to be fresh and flourishing all the days of your lives, producing good fruit.

You're not a weed.

You're a cedar.

Stop looking at the weeds and coveting their life.

Oh, they're sprouting up quick.

They're getting up out of the dirt.

I want to get up out of the dirt.

You're a cedar.

Give it time.

God's bringing the growth.

Be patient.

Be patient.

You need to understand seed time and harvest.

Genesis, Genesis 8.

While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.

Does the earth still remain?

Yeah, we're here.

We're here right now.

Seed time and harvest.

So good seed.

What's good seed?

Seed.

I'll show you.

Go back here.

Isaiah 55.

Verse 10, for as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven and do not return there, but water the earth and make it bring forth and bud that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater.

Don't forget this one.

I bring this one up a lot.

You can be a sower or you can be an eater.

You can be a sower or you can be an eater.

If you're taking notes, there you go.

Say, God, I want to be a sower.

Write that down today.

I want to be a sower.

Some of you are like, you're just hungry now.

You just want, just give me the bread.

He'll give you your daily bread.

But then you eat the bread and then you're like, I want more, I want more, I want more.

Oh, you should have taken the seed.

Bread is good for a day.

Seed is good for a lifetime.

Bread is good for a day.

Seed is good for a lifetime.

Hold on to that.

Hold on to that.

You can have one loaf of bread or you can have a whole field of wheat.

What's better?

What's better?

Do you want to be the borrower or do you want to be the lender?

Trust me, you want to be the lender.

Do you want to be the head or do you want to be the tail?

You want to be the head, not the tail.

If he's given you seed, sow it.

And then guess what?

You'll eat for a lifetime.

And guess what?

Those around you are going to eat for a lifetime.

People in close proximity to you are going to be blessed because you're a sower and not an eater.

Trust him.

So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth.

It shall not return to me void.

What is his word being compared to?

It's a seed.

It's a seed.

What did he tell Joshua?

Keep the word in his mouth.

Keep speaking it.

Keep declaring it.

Even when you don't see it.

Even when you don't see it.

Just keep saying it and keep speaking his promises over your life.

If my God is for me, who can be against me?

You might not feel that today.

You might feel a little discouraged.

You might be like, God, you don't understand.

Nobody understands.

Nobody gets it.

Nobody understands what I'm going through, what my marriage is going through, what my kids are going through.

They don't get it.

Hold on to the promises of God.

Keep speaking it even though you can't see it.

A month and a half ago or so, one of our cars broke down.

And we, I mean, you know, we just, we've just been one car in it, just one car life.

And me and Pastor Steph, we've kind of been, you know, talking about, you know, what should we do, what should we do, what kind of, you know.

And I just kept telling her, I was like, let's just be patient.

Like, let's just make it work with one car right now.

God is good.

God is faithful.

We can make it work with one car for right now.

We're fine.

We had that car for a long time.

So instead of being kind of mad and angry, sometimes something bad happens and you feel like something gets stolen from you.

Here's what I want to challenge you to do.

Start praising God for what's been taken from you.

Start praising him.

Oh, that old relationship.

Start praising him.

Like, you keep holding on to it.

Like, oh, I wish we were still together.

Oh, I wish we could get back together.

I wish, oh, life would be so much better.

She was the one.

He was the one.

No.

Start praising God.

God, thank you for that season.

God, thank you for that old place.

Thank you for that old job.

Thank you for that season.

God, thank you that it's over.

Thank you that they fired me.

Thank you that they let me go.

Thank you that you released me into a new season and a better season.

He's releasing you right now.

He's releasing you.

Start praising him.

So we just started praising.

I started telling her, you know, let's just praise him.

That car got us from point A to point B for most of our daughter's life, 11 years.

We ran that car to 250,000 miles.

Instead of being like, man, I wish we could have got to 300, let's praise him for the 250.

Do you understand that?

Get that into your mind today.

Just start praising him.

Stop looking at what you didn't get or what you didn't receive, what you were hoping for, what your expectation was, and just start praising him.

Thank you for what I did get out of that.

Thank you for what you taught me from that old relationship, that bad friendship.

Thank you for what you taught me about betrayal and hurt.

Thank you that you've made me better and not bitter.

Thank you, God, that you made me better and not bitter.

Don't get bitter in this season.

What do we say around here?

Too blessed to be bitter.

Too blessed to be bitter.

Some of you got the shirt today.

Yeah, I see you.

That's a good shirt.

I like that shirt.

Too blessed to be bitter.

Don't grow bitter in this season.

You're blessed.

You're a son of the Most High.

You're a daughter of the Most High.

So we just started praising him.

And then I started just saying something crazy to her.

I was like...

God can get us a new car.

God can bring us a new car any day now.

Let's just wait on him.

Let's just wait on him.

Have we ever seen a new car appear in our driveway before?

Like, do I have anything to base that off of and be like, God could do that for us?

No, we've never seen a new car just pop up in our driveway.

We've never had somebody just offer us, hey, I got a car for you.

I got a car for you.

Nobody's ever done that.

I've never seen it.

But I've heard testimonies of it happening.

Just because you've never seen it happen in your life doesn't mean it can't happen.

What have you heard?

What have you heard about God?

What have you heard about him?

He is no respecter of persons.

If he can do it for them, he can do it for you.

If he can bring the prodigal son home for that father, he can do it for you.

If he can bring it home for them, he can do it for you.

And so we just kept saying it.

We kept saying it.

Let's just keep waiting on the Lord.

Now, did I really think like a new car was going to show up in our driveway?

I mean, I got on Facebook Marketplace every day for a month.

And I just was looking, are there any decent cars that would work for our family?

Are there any decent cars that would look for our family?

But I kept saying it.

I kept saying it.

I kept saying it.

And then finally one morning last week, I woke up.

I woke up and I was driving and I was kind of thinking like, okay, it's getting, like we've been making it, but it's getting close to time that we could probably use that next car because there's going to be things coming up in our lives that we got to be two places at once.

And we can't do that with one car, Lord.

And so I was driving early in the morning.

I was going to get a coffee that I didn't spill and knock on the ground.

And on my way, I was just asking and praying.

When you pray, remember to listen more than you speak.

Like it's good, speak to the Lord, but just stop and pause and sit in the silence and just see if you start to hear anything from him.

Like a word might just like kind of pop up within you.

Like something just might come to you, a phrase, maybe a Bible verse.

And so I'm just sitting there and I'm talking to him about it.

That's what prayer is.

It's just talking to him and listening.

Listen more than you speak.

I just listen to him, sit in his presence.

Sit with him for, just start with two minutes in silence, and don't say a thing.

Just spend time with him.

So there I am driving, and I'm just listening, and I'm like, God, what are we going to do about this?

I mean, what should we do?

All I heard, it just came to me, stop looking.

Okay.

I've been on Facebook Marketplace every day for a month.

I've been in my new social media habit.

I was becoming addicted.

I was like, ooh, that's nice, that's nice.

I'm scrolling, scrolling, scrolling.

That morning, I don't get on.

I didn't get on once.

That afternoon, I didn't get on once.

I'm sitting on the couch, and my wife comes in.

She's on a call with Pastor Kerry from Mercy City in Lincoln, and she says, you've got to come into the room.

And I come in, and I'm sitting in the room, and she's on a voice, like a video call with Pastor Kerry.

And their worship leader comes on, and Pastor Matt all of a sudden comes into the screen, and I'm like, this is weird.

And their worship leader was like, a couple weeks ago in church, I just felt like the Lord was saying, we need to give our car to somebody.

And what in the world?

What in the world?

Why?

Why?

If he can do it for me, he can do it for you.

That's what I need you to know today.

If he can do it for me, he can do it for you.

He's no respecter of persons.

He loves you.

He loves you.

He wants to do it for you.

Oh, he'll do it for them, but he won't do it for me.

He'll do it for that person.

He'll do it for that marriage.

He'll do it for those kids.

He won't do it for me.

He'll do it for you.

It's a lie from the devil.

Keep the word of God in your mouth and just keep declaring it even though you don't see it.

We got a new car in our garage today.

What in the world?

We...

We still drove to church together because we've really started to like, like if we don't have, we don't have to drive separate.

One of the things, like while we were praising God, we started to realize one of the things he was teaching us in this season is the car is just a metaphor.

I need you to get into the same vehicle in ministry and keep learning how to drive into this next season of calling your church into.

That's what he's been teaching us.

You got to learn to lead together in this next season so you can lead this church into the crossover, into the promised land.

That's where we're going.

I didn't even know what kind of car it was.

She just said it was a Volkswagen, and that was all I heard.

She didn't even tell me what kind of car it was off that voicemail.

I just was like, I was gone.

I was like, that's amazing.

And so I go, and later that night, I'm just sitting with the Lord, and I'm praying, and I'm reading, and I open up that Deuteronomy passage that we read at the very beginning, Deuteronomy 4.

Deuteronomy 4, and I'm sitting there, and the Lord just, sometimes when you open up Scripture, sometimes the Lord will just pop something out to you, and it'll just be like, it might be a word, a phrase.

It'll just jump off the page to you.

Hold on to those.

Highlight those.

Underline those.

Star those.

Figure out something that works for you.

But I just, I saw this.

I saw that verse 14, and just two words popped out to me.

Crossover.

In the land which you cross over to possess.

And I didn't know what kind of car it was, but I was like, I bet it's a crossover.

I bet it's one of those crossover SUVs.

I just kind of knew.

And so I texted Pastor Steph because I was at a coffee shop just sitting with the Lord, and I was like, did she say what kind of car it was?

And I looked up Volkswagen crossover SUVs.

I said, it's a Tiguan, isn't it?

And she said, yeah, it is.

How did you know?

I was like, the Lord told me.

He showed me something for this next season.

It's a crossover season.

You're crossing over.

You're going to make it.

You're going to make it.

You are going to make it.

Your marriage is going to make it.

Your family is going to make it.

And everybody is coming with you.

Bring them with you into the promised land.

Bring them with you.

Christmas Eve, bring somebody.

Why?

Because we're going to preach the word and the word never returns void.

Somebody's life and eternity will be changed.

Bring them.

We're crossing over.

It's a crossover season.

All right.

I got some points.

Here we go.

Joshua 2.1.

When they were crossing over, when they were crossing over, look at this.

Joshua 2 verse 1, now Joshua, the son of Nun, sent out two men from Acacia Grove to spy secretly saying, go view the land, especially Jericho.

Now, some of you, you might be familiar with these Bible stories.

And you might remember when Moses sent some spies into the promised land.

Does anybody remember?

How many spies did Moses send into the promised land?

Twelve.

Twelve.

Twelve.

That's all right.

We can, you know.

Twelve.

Close your circle as you get ready to cross over.

Some of you have too many voices in your life, and you're watching this YouTuber, and you're watching this preacher, and you're watching this and this.

You got 30 different sermons going on right now in the background while you work and all this.

And I love the Word of God.

That's great.

But some of you are a little confused, and you're like, well, I feel like this prophet told me this, and this preacher told me this.

Ask the Lord, Lord, who do you want me to listen to in this crossover season?

How do I cut the voices?

Because what happened the first time?

They sent 12, and 10 came back with a bad report.

10 came back with a negative report, and they're like, oh, it's terrible.

It's awful.

They're going to kill us.

They're going to crush us.

And what happened?

They missed the promised land.

So Moses invested time with Joshua before Joshua took over as leader.

And I bet somewhere along the way they had a conversation, and Moses said, the next time when you send spies over, just send two.

If I could go back and I could just send two.

Cut the voices.

Cut the chatter.

Some of you got 12 different voices.

And I don't know where it might be coming from.

It might be a leadership book.

And it might be, man, I got John Maxwell told me this.

And Isaiah told me this.

And whoever, whoever the prophet or the preacher or the pastor is, you might have too many voices right now in this season.

It's causing more confusion than clarity.

And so what you need to do is actually close your circle in this season.

Are you planted here?

Are you planted here?

Find some people that you can lean into in this season.

Find some people that have been walking with the Lord for a while, and just tell them.

I was talking to a young guy from our church recently, and he told me, yeah, I found this guy in the church, and I just asked him, can we just meet for just some coffee?

I'm looking for a mentor.

I said, praise God.

Like, I love that.

I love that.

Find some people.

There's people in this house right now that if you go to them and you ask, let me tell you something.

They're not going to be like, oh, I don't have time for that.

If they do, you come tell me.

You rat them out to me.

All right?

They're not going to do that to you.

They're going to be like, yes.

They want to see people.

They want to see people what?

Prosper.

They want to see people advance and move forward in their faith.

They want to see people's souls prosper and every area of their life prosper.

They want to see families and marriages prosper and advance to become more like Jesus.

That's what they want to see.

There's some men and women in this house that you can go to and you can pull aside and be like, hey, would you just be a voice in my life?

I just need somebody that I can bounce some ideas off of.

I got some major decisions.

I got some things I'm kind of struggling with in my marriage or my family.

And I just need somebody.

There's some wisdom in this house.

Seek it out.

Jen Carlson right there.

I see you.

Ladies, if you need somebody wise right there.

Jen, raise your hand, please.

I know you don't want to.

I know you don't want to.

And that's why there's some women that need you because you're humble.

You're humble, you're hungry, and you're honest, and you love the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.

Yeah.

Sorry, I just felt the Lord highlight you right there.

I had to say it.

I had to be obedient.

All right.

Close the circle.

12 to 2 in this season.

Okay?

Number three, mark the miracles.

Mark the miracles.

When they crossed over, when they crossed over the Jordan, it was a miracle.

The Lord stopped the river from running.

It was a miracle.

And then the Lord told them, take 12 stones out of the river.

And what did they do?

They made an altar.

They made a memorial to the Lord, and they marked that place where God did a miracle and stopped the water from running so they could cross over on dry ground.

This isn't just like a little ankle-deep river.

This is during flood season.

I mean, this thing is rushing.

It's over the banks, and the Lord stopped it.

And they walked over on dry ground.

And he told them, take these 12 big stones, big, heavy.

Do something in this season to mark the miracles.

Don't forget your miracle in this past season.

Don't forget where God brought you out of something and into something better.

Where God ended something and you thought it was the worst thing and you actually saw his provision and you saw him bring about something better.

Don't forget the miracles in this season where he moved.

Mark your miracles.

Otherwise, what happens?

We take God for granted, we forget about him, and we move on, and we begin to think everything that's happening in our life is because of our own strength, our own intellect, our own wisdom.

No.

All good things come from him.

Mark your miracles in this season.

Some of you got babies in this season.

Mark that miracle.

Mark that miracle.

That's a miracle.

Yeah.

Mark your miracles.

Some of you have been praying for that miracle.

Look back on the miracles he's done before.

And even though you haven't seen it and it's hard to imagine, he's the God that is greater than anything you could ever ask, seek, or imagine.

And I've heard stories of what he's done.

I've heard stories in this house of what he's done.

And I believe he'll do it again.

He'll do it for you.

He's no respecter of persons.

If he did it for me, if he did it for you, if he did it for them, he'll do it for you.

Trust him.

There's miracles.

Mark them.

Joshua 4.

That's just that passage right there on marking the miracles.

Hold on to it in this season.

Sometimes when you mark the miracles, Joshua 4 reminds us, it might not be for you, it might be for your kids.

They made this big pile of stones, and they said there, hmm.

Verse 21, then he spoke to the children of Israel saying, when your children ask their fathers in time to come saying, what are these stones?

Then you shall let your children know saying, Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry land.

Share your miracles with your kids.

Tell your miracles about this.

Saturday, yesterday, when we went to pick up that car, we told our kids the story.

We told our kids.

We kept telling our kids, like, they're like, we're getting a new car?

I was like, yeah.

And we told them.

We just kept believing.

He's the God that can do anything.

He is.

He can.

Mark your miracles and share your miracles with your kids.

Let your kids grow up in a house with crazy faith.

Faith where the world will say, oh, they're naive, they're foolish, that's so dumb.

Why would you believe that?

Let the world say whatever they want to say.

Let the kids in this house grow up with crazy faith.

Faith to believe for more.

Faith to believe they're going to see the deaf hear, the blind see, the lame walk.

They're going to see miracles all the days of their lives.

Greater things.

Joshua 21, verse 43.

Worship team, you can come up as we get ready to close here.

Joshua 21, verse 43.

So the Lord gave to Israel all the land of which he had sworn to give to their fathers.

They've crossed over.

He's given them the land.

And they took possession of it and dwelt in it.

The Lord gave them rest all around.

According to all that he had sworn to their fathers, and not a man of all their enemies stood against them, the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand.

Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel.

All came to pass.

If he said it, believe it.

If he said it, believe it.

Trust God's word.

Number four, trust God's word.

Trust God's word over the world, over anything you've heard, over any rumor, over whatever the world is saying.

Just trust in his word.

If it doesn't line up with the word, throw it out.

Discern everything through the word of God.

Well, God can't do that.

God doesn't move like that.

Who told you that?

Who told you that God doesn't do that?

Who told you that God doesn't do miracles?

Who told you that the miracles went out with the apostles and the prophets?

Who told you that?

He's the God of miracles.

He's the same God.

He never changes.

Yesterday, today, and tomorrow, He's the same God.

Who told you that He changed and He doesn't do miracles anymore?

Don't believe it.

Trust the Word of God.

Joshua 24, verse 13.

I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them.

The very first thing, after I got off that call with Pastor Steph and our friends from Lincoln, the very first thing I said, I said, this is the year our church gets their own building.

A house we didn't build, but a house that the Lord gives us.

Why?

Why?

Why would he do that?

Why wouldn't he?

Why wouldn't he?

There's a great fruitfulness here, and it's because of his Holy Spirit, his presence, because of him.

People's lives are being changed.

Why wouldn't he want that for the entire city of Omaha?

He does.

That's the call on this house, to let people know there's a God of abundance, a God of more, a God of life to the full.

that wants to change and transform their lives.

There's a year of stewardship coming up.

As he brings increase, our level of stewardship has to rise with it.

As God gives you more, as he trusts you with more, with more kids.

Some of you are coming into a season where God has blessed you with more kids in your home.

Your level of stewardship has to rise with it.

Steward well what he's given you.

It's a year of increase, a year of stewardship.

Now, therefore...

Fear the Lord, serve him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the river and in Egypt.

We put aside the gods of tradition, the gods of man-made religion.

We put aside those gods, and we leave them behind on the other side of the river.

We serve the Lord.

He's the living God.

Verse 15, and if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve.

There's a lie from the devil that will say, oh, that doesn't sound very loving.

Why would God say that?

That's not very loving.

If it's not true, it's not loving.

Sometimes the truth, it does hurt.

Sometimes it does, it just pierces, right?

Sometimes somebody shares with you the truth from God's word and you're like, ouch, that hurt.

That's love.

His love changes and transforms us.

His love calls us higher.

His love is calling you higher in this next season.

I'm saved by grace.

I'm fine just the way I am.

You're saved, but he wants to sanctify you.

He wants to set you apart from the world.

He doesn't want you to look like the world any longer.

Consecrate yourselves.

Set yourselves apart from the world and start living out his ways.

His ways are better.

There will be people that will say it seems evil to serve the Lord.

Joshua said to the people, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the river.

You can go back to the other side of the river.

You can go back.

You can go back to that old church.

You can go back to that old family, that old relationship.

You can go back to that old friendship.

You can go back, but they're on the other side of the river.

You're a people that's crossed over.

Don't go back.

Don't go back to Egypt.

Don't go back to the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwelled.

Hold on to this one.

Joshua says this, that as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Everyone else can go back, but for me and my house, there's no turning back.

This is where God brought us.

We're not crossing back over.

If everyone leaves you, if everyone else turns, we still hold strong.

We still stay planted on God's word and his promises.

Walk in honor this year.

Honor the Lord above all.

Honor his word.

Honor his Holy Spirit.

His presence goes before us and behind us.

He's protection.

He's provision.

He's making a way in the wilderness.

Let's stand and worship him.