The Cage of Responsibility

It's so good to see each and every one of you. South campus, north campus. We have people all over the world, part of our online family. Welcome.

As we seek to do one thing, everything we do, we do to help each other and encourage each other to take our next step. Say next step. Big words for us. Next step into the abundance that Jesus has for us. We want to encourage each other today to live the life of adventure, the life of purpose. And that happens as we follow the spirit.

But can we be honest? Sometimes where the spirit leads isn't what we expect. Sometimes he leads in ways that go to the unknown and they feel risky and they feel unsafe. They even feel unwise. But that's not always the case. And the question is, how do we navigate it?

I remember a journey early on in my faith that helped me with this. I was in my 20s. My wife and I were part of a great church in Lach. I was on the pastoral staff and we are a part of a group of young 20some year olds that did community and did life together. Um, but we had one outsider. We had an old man. He had to be 30, 31 years old, something like that. Um, but he had like cradle robbed and married somebody younger and so he was a part of our group. I'm just kidding on that. Nobody sent me an email. Um, and he was part of our group.

I remember talking to him one time because he was a he was a young businessman and doing great in his company and he said he had been offered a promotion at his job and I said, "Praise God." He said, "No." He said, "My wife and I have prayed about it and we just don't feel like God wants us to do it. That's not where the spirit is directing us." So, I turned it down.

Now you got to realize in my mind I I couldn't even begin to grasp that. It baffled me even though I had two advanced degrees in biblical study. I was on a pastoral staff. I had bought hookline and sinker. This societal idea that anytime you could go up what society considers upping your career, a promotion, anything like that. You had to take it. That had to be God's will if you're going to get a better title, a better job, or better pay. You know what I'm saying? And all of a sudden, this guy that I respect has said no. and he explained to me the process he and his wife went through to get to this point. And I was still kind of baffled. And I looked at him and he said, "Dude, what happens if they never offer you another promotion because you turn this one down?" He looked at me like he had never considered that before. And he thought for a second. He said, "Well, I guess that's just a risk I'll have to take, but I'm confident of this. God's got us."

And that phrase, God's got us stuck inside of me. It may be the reason that I made it here. See, you you got to realize that even though I was on a pastoral staff of a church, I desperately wanted to be a lead pastor. Man, I had pursued role after role after role. You can't even begin to understand the number of rejection letters that I got in my life um when it came to that. And I thought God just wanted me to get good at handling rejection. It wasn't that at all. It was God protecting me from me. You see, at that point in my life, I was like, in the words of my granddaddy, I was like a blind dog in a meat locker. I was snapping at anything that was nearby. And I think because of this unhealthy obsession I had with what I wrongfully thought was promotion to the role of lead pastor, I would have taken any role that was offered me. And God in his grace kept that from me. I ended up serving on that pastoral staff for several more years. And I did end up turning down a role. Not just any role. was a role that would have put me in very close proximity and in a working relationship with a spiritual father that I adore, Donfinto, but it wasn't God. And then not long after we said no to that role, I got a phone call, Beltway Park Baptist Church in Abalene, Texas. And I said, "God, help me no." And and God said, "I'll help you." Yes. And all the things have got to be a part of all these years because of that reality and because of what happened and probably not happened if not for the example.

You see what I've discovered is that this journey on we can't live a life of chasing the wild goose without risk. We can't spend a life of staying in step with the spirit without some sense of that doesn't feel quite right. I just don't get what's going to happen. Sometimes, let's be honest, I know this is not what the the Celtics meant when they said chase the wild goose. Sometimes we feel like we're on a wild goose chase. It's like I have no idea where he's going and it feels aimless and it feels purposes purposelessness. Ah, purposeless. It feels without purpose in life. Dad gum, that's gonna make the internet. Um, and sometimes, listen to me, we use some really good words that are actually biblical words. Caution, safety, responsibility, wisdom. And those words can keep us from being in the center of what God has for us. We have to learn to navigate attention. We actually see it in the Bible. It's all through it. But I'm going to show you one spot in Matthew the 10th chapter. You can get out your set of notes. I've got one verse listed for you. We're only going to look at one verse, but I'm going to challenge you. You need to read all of Matthew 10 this week. So, you need to check me. You need to make sure I'm in context. I'm saying what's in line there.

So you start Matthew chapter 10, you're going to see Jesus pulled away. He prayed and among his followers, he chose 12. They were going to be his closest disciples. We know them as the apostles today in the church. And then Jesus said to the 12, but he really said to the to everyone through the 12, he said, "Behold, I'm sending you out." Now, really take a look at this. This phrase right here, I'm sending you out, is part of the Christian journey. The Christian life is about being sent. It is about being on mission with Jesus. I mean, come on. Every one of us at the end of our lives, we want to know that our life on planet Earth mattered. Nobody wants to be on their deathbed and think, "Well, I existed. I took up space. I breathed. I ate. Made some money. Spent some money." No. We want to know that we love deeply. We made a difference in them. We want our life to matter. Listen to me. That is not arrogance. It's not selfishness. It is the design of the almighty on you and I. That the enemy came to rob that he came to steal from you and I in life. God made us to partner with him in what he is doing in the earth. And that kind of life happens. A life of significance occurs as we are being sent. Behold, I am sending you. But no, you're a sheep in the midst of wolf. Which means that a life on mission with Jesus, though not always, sometimes will be uncomfortable. Sometimes it will be risky. Sometimes it will even feel a little bit unsafe.

So how do we handle that reality? Well, Jesus goes on and says, "Well, I'm sending you out. Yeah, you're sheep among the wolves. So I need you to do this. going to need you to be wise as serpents and innocent as dove." Now, don't get overwhelmed by the image. We in West Texas, we understand snakes, we understand dove, right? We get snakes. Some of you are getting really nervous right now because you don't like snakes. Like it all. Let's be honest. How many of you believe the only good snake is a dead snake? Hands up right now. See, that's a lot of you. And not all of you raised your hand. But you got a problem. Jesus told you to be like a snake. And you're like, "What do I do with that?" You don't have a problem. You just got to understand the image that's going on here.

One of the things I love to do um that I got to do a lot of is to hunt, especially bird hunting. So, over the past quarter of a century, I've been in like a lot of fields, like more than probably most human beings should be in. I know this reality. I know there's snake in the field. You know how many snakes I've seen in over a quarter of century of being in fields? probably half the year. Three. That's all I've ever seen is three snakes. Now, it doesn't mean that snakes aren't in the field. I know they're in the field. Like, every time I go in the field, I'm aware of the reality that there is likely a snake in that field. I look where I put my foot. If I'm going to be on the kind of hunting where I'm walking a lot, like quail hunting, I am going to wear snake boots or I'm going to wear shin guards, something like that to protect myself from this. But I also know another reality. They don't want me to see them. They're going to do everything they can to stay out of sight. They hear noise, they are going to move away. The only snake that you discover is one that you startled. The one that you surprised. If they have any knowledge of you being around, boo, they're out of there. If I may, snakes in general play life safe. They stay hidden. They live cautious. They are in the words of scripture wise. And if Jesus has said that the way you're supposed to live life is only wise as the serpent, then we should be as safe. We should be as cautious. We should be as wise as possible.

But that's not all he said. He said be wise as the serpent and say and >> and innocent as the dove. We also know about dove, right? You're thinking, yeah, we got lots of dove around here. Yeah, less than August 31. But we have them all around. Why? How do we know there's lots of dove? Cuz they're everywhere. They don't try to be unseen, do they? They're flying around as if nothing could ever happen to them. Living life as if no arm could ever do come at them. We're just going to do our thing and not worry about anything in life. It represents a life of faith. And notice Jesus says to us, "As my follower, you're supposed to live by both faith and wisdom, risk and safety, danger and care, threat and caution." And I know most of you right now because you are from the Western world, your brain is shouting, "Pick one." It's got to be one or the other. We can't be both because they are opposite of one another. Yet the text is clear. Be wise as a serpent and innocent as the dove.

So here's what I need you to do. I need you to put on your thinking cap for a minute. Need you to be big be big boys and girls because this is huge for our faith. I think one of the greatest mistakes we make in the Christian life is when we put an ore where God puts an and or we put an and where God puts an or. Got it? Let that process for a second. Write it down. One of the biggest mistakes we make in the Christian life is we put an or where God puts an and or we put an end where God puts an or.

Let me explain this to you. I'm going to put a couple phrases on here. There will be a line in between and I need to know, do we put an or on that line? Do we put an end on that line? Like worship God, worship idols or it's not a trick question. Okay, you're like, "Yeah, that's like on the big 10, the first one of the big 10 to have no other gods before me." We know the idea, but do you understand that throughout Christian history, functionally, people have put and through biblical history, people have put an and in there? Do you know Israel of old, if you read about Israel in the Old Testament, their struggle with God, it's not because they worshiped idols instead of God. They worship God and they worship idols. It happened to believers in the New Testament. I will challenge it even happens to believers today. We functionally end up putting an and where God puts an ore and it puts all sorts of struggles in our life.

I'll give you another I could give you lots of examples like this. Jesus was fully God. Jesus was fully human and it's a big and Jesus was both at the same time. One of the huge struggles in Christian history has been and it happens today is people want to pick between the two that Jesus was either God or he was human and not the other. But Jesus had to be both to do all that he did. Jesus told us to be a people of grace. Jesus told us to be a people of truth. Which is it? and grace and truth. You get what I'm saying, right? So, you go back where scripture calls you and I to an or we must make a choice. And God in his grace tells us what that choice should be. Worship me, don't worship here. But where God puts an and, we are called to do both.

Now, look at the verse on your notes. Behold, I am sending you out as sheep among the wolves. So be wise as a serpent and innocent as a dove. This is called a paradox. Listen to me. Many truths of scripture are paradoxical. When we try to undo the tension, we get in trouble. A theological paradox, I think this is your blank here. I think I missed that. is a statement or idea that seems logically contradictory or impossible at first glance. Yet, it reveals a deeper truth about God and faith when examined more closely. If I may, it reflects part of God's grandness and the limit of our human understanding in life. It is a paradox.

We We kind of get this. So, right here, I have a what? A guitar. You guys got this. You're big. Even if you're not musical, you understand the basics of how a guitar string works. For a guitar string to work, it must be attached at two points. It must be attached at the bridge, which is this bottom point, and it must be attached at the string post. If you don't have it attached at both points, guess what? Won't work. Won't make music. Not only that, it must be stretched to a perfect place of tension. That tension is called being in tune. And so what a musician does and what the worship team did after I played with their guitar in the first service is they restretched the string to the right thing. Make sure it was in tune because when it's stretched to the right tension, the musician has the best opportunity to make beautiful music with it.

God in your life wants to send you, but you must be attached to two things at the same time. You must be attached to wisdom and you must be attached to faith. And there is a reality that we have to learn. Don't drop the guy's guitars. Reality is sometimes when we walk in faith, it doesn't seem to be very wise. And certain wise things don't seem to be full of faith. And you find yourself wrestling.

Let me give you an example you can all relate to because we all handle it every day. Ready? Money. I'm not going to take an offering or anything like that. You don't have to worry about it. Proverbs says, "In the house of the wise are store, savings of choice, food, and oil, but the fool devours all he has." Most of us would agree having savings in our finances is wise. But think about it. Doesn't that seem to lack faith? I mean, can't we trust God with the days ahead? Why have a retirement account? God will take care of us. Why have a savings account when the raining day happens? God will take care of us in that day. A rainy day fund works against faith in God. Yet savings, what the scripture calls us to have are wise in life and stuff.

But it's not just that we're called to be wise in our money. The scripture also implores us to faith. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house. Test me in bringing the tithe, says the Lord Almighty. And see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing, you will not have enough room for it. We all want this, but it goes to bringing the whole tithe. Tithe is a word, believe it or not, means 10%. I know some of you thinking, whoa, whoa, whoa. You're saying the first the 10% like the first 10% of our income goes to the work of God. And what the scripture teaches us is that if we do that, the first 10% goes to the work of God. That we will live better off 90% than we would off 100% when the first 10% goes to God. Some of you starting to feel it be a little bit risky, right? It's like, how does the math work? Math doesn't work, but it works in the kingdom. And God said, this is where you'll get to know me. This is where you will grow.

So, the scripture when it comes to money says that we need to be wise, savings, full of faith, generosity. I'm even going to challenge you just to make you more nervous. I don't think you quit with the tithe because I think there's times that God will leave you above the tithe and sometimes you're going to have your savings account. He's going to tell you to give away part of your savings account and it's going to feel risky, but he leads you to do just that. See, the Christian life is one where we live with both faith and wisdom. And it's not just in the realm of money.

Since life is found by the spirit, let us notice the phrase keep in step. Some of you are going, that's where you get the phrase next step. Bingo. A whole life is can I stay in step with the spirit of the almighty. And sometimes, listen to me, not always, but sometimes the spirit leads us in ways that are very uncertain and they seem very risky in life. He leads us in ways that we're going to have to radically trust him. And we don't know where we're going. It's like we're on a wild goose chase. And what I've discovered in my life, in the life of many that in the name of words like safety, comfort, even wisdom, we will so lock into wisdom that we will miss a life of faith. When you read chapter one this week, it is an incredible chapter in the book. He'll talk about the cage of responsibility. It's not an excuse to be irresponsible, but as our author says, sometimes the will of God feels downright irresponsible. But not always. Jesus followers live by both faith and wisdom.

And some of you right now are going, "Great, how do I do it?" We do it by living the way Jesus lived. Listen to what Jesus said. To the shepherd, the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When the shepherd has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him. Why? They know his voice. A stranger they will not follow. But they'll flee from a stranger, for they do not know the voice of strangers. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I Jesus the good shepherd came that you may have life and have it what? Abundance.

This is honest time. How many of you want abundant life? Put your hand up. How many of you not going to raise your hand no matter how obvious a question I ask? Right? Come on. We all want abundant life. That is Jesus heart for you. Never, never, never, never miss that reality. The heart of Jesus is not just for your good. It's not just for an okay life. He wants you to have abundant life. And he said that is tied to the reality of standing against the thief and listening to my voice. Knowing my voice is key to abundant life. From what I can see in scripture, there is nothing more important than learning to know and to follow the voice of God. That is what Jesus did. God's voice directs us when we are to be a bit more cautious leaning into wisdom. Sometimes the tension leans a little bit wise and it's his voice that sometimes takes us into a place of risk, leaning into the side of faith.

You say, "David, how how do I know his voice?" Well, you're going to have to come for another sermon series sometimes or just write on your notes. I need to do some learning on the voice of God. But I'm going to tell you this, the voice of God always starts with the Bible. That's the foundation. It is why it's of utmost importance you learn the scripture. Don't ever try to discern the voice of God without first knowing scripture. You will be deceived by the enemy. Just as God speaks, the enemy speaks. You don't believe the enemy speaks. What do you call a temptation? The voice of the enemy. The foundation of God speaks. It's not the Bible. The Bible's not a book. The Bible is the voice of God for all people at all times. We get to know the voice of God. We exist as a church so that we can know the scripture. We get together in groups so we can understand the scripture in life. But the Bible itself says the scripture is not the only way God speaks. I don't think any other way God speaks will contradict the Bible. But he speaks in other ways. Like he speaks through impressions. This idea that God lays something on my heart, a leading. The book of Nehemiah, you'll read it in chapter one of the book. I set out during the night with a few men circling the fallen walls of Jerusalem. Nehemiah says, "I had not told anyone what God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem." That's good language for an impression. God put something in my heart. Nehemiah risked everything for something God placed on his heart. He was sad in the presence of the most powerful man on planet Earth, which could have led to his death. He asked for a leave of absence from his job serving the most powerful man on planet earth. All because of an impression in life. God had called him to lead into lean into faith. God speaks in other way. I wish I could listen more. He speaks to us through other people. He does speak to us through things like dreams and visions. Not every dream is from God. Hear me? Sometimes it's bad pizza. You get what I'm saying? Um but God does speak through it. We got to learn to pay attention. We got to learn to discern it in life.

Guys, I don't have time to unpack it all for you today. What I will tell you is this. Jesus lived by hearing and following the voice of the father. He said it. I tell you the truth, the son can do nothing by himself. He can only do what he sees the father doing because whatever the father does, the son does. And when you read the gospels, you will see Jesus at times being very much like the serpent and being wise, cautious. That there are times where we learn that Jesus knew that there were people out to get him, so he just went away and hid. Doesn't seem to be very courageous, does it? Pretty smart in the moment. There's other times that he knew people were out to get him and he said, "Yeah, God wants me to go there. time. The spirit led him when to be wise. The spirit led him when to be more full of faith. Jesus made decisions between faith and wisdom by doing what the father told him to do. Listen. That's what we are called to do. Jesus followers live by both faith and wisdom. And you've got to draw near to God and get closer and closer so you can hear him. See, we we we talk about the Christian faith not being so much a religion as it is a relationship. The reason that relationship is so important, we will not live the life God has called us to live if we don't learn to get close to him, stay close to him, and hear his voice and just follow. And sometimes it won't seem as full of faith as we think and sometimes it'll feel really risky.

I'll be honest with you. I am not by nature a risk taker. I like words like responsibility. I like wisdom. I like caution. There's things I do naturally. I had a savings account when I was like 11 years old. I had a budget. We've lived on a budget for 40 years. These are things that we naturally do financially. We do. I like to plan stuff. I like to do this. I get it. But the stories I love to tell. The places I get to know God the best were when he gave us grace to lean into faith.

When God called us to Beltway Park 27 years ago, it made no sense to come. At that juncture in that church, I was preaching to a very large audience regularly, like half the time. What most guys never get to do career-wise, I was preaching. I was making a pretty good salary. And they had this radical thing called benefits, and it had insurance and things like that, which all sounds noble and great. We were young. But I came in April of 98. In October of 97, they discovered a spot on my chest that they took off and said, "It's not only precancerous, it's cancerous. It's melanoma. It was the bad boy. By grace, we caught it early. We caught it early cuz my wife kept looking at me saying, "You need to get that looked at. You need to get that looked at. You need to get that looked at." And I finally to get her off my back went and got it looked at. Now I have to say, "Hey, I'm alive because of you." Um but when I came here we had no benefits. We had no insurance. We had very little. I had to take a salary cut. I had to find another way to be insured which was very very expensive etc etc. You know but God said yes. I can't fathom God have come in here. I'm just so grateful he gave my wife and I courage to say yes when it felt it honestly felt irresponsible.

First trip to Israel, September 2001. I know we hear lots of stuff about Israel right now. Israel is really not as unsafe right now as you think it is. Um we wouldn't be taking trips there if it were. But in 2001 it was. It was during the second inifat. There were suicide bombers inside main Israel happening probably every other day and yet we felt called to join Don Finto on a trip to Israel and we were like we would pray regularly like can we go out and eat? Where would we go eat? We're trying to follow the spirit the whole way. But I mean you can just imagine thinking I I'm a young pastor with two young kids. My wife and I are going to Israel during a time like this where people saying are are you sure you're supposed to go? I was like yeah I think so. I mean I feel like we're supposed to go etc. We even had a prophetic voice. Now, let me explain the word prophecy for you. We are very confident that God gives gifts to people. One of the gifts he gives is pe some people have a heightened ability to hear him and share that with others. We call that prophetic. It doesn't mean they're absolutely accurate all the time. We still discern it based on the word of God. We had a a man who I knew had a mature gift of prophecy. We trusted him and he looked at us and he said, "Hey, I feel like God has given me a thought for you." I said, "Okay, what is it?" He says, um, when you're in Israel, um, war is going to break out while you're in Israel, but you're supposed to go anyway. How's that for a word of encouragement, right? He was absolutely right. War did break out, but it wasn't in Israel. It was in the United States of America. And I remember the spot I was in the southern desert of Israel the moment we heard that the first plane had hit the towers in New York City on September 11th. But that trip laid a foundation which has been huge for us as a church because we started sewing and investing in the salvation of Jewish people which according to Romans 12 brings salvation to the greater part of the world. As God unlocks the eyes of Jewish people to the reality of Jesus being their Messiah and he saves them. He just unlocks greater riches to the world. Read Romans 11.

When my wife and I felt called to jump into the foster world, we had a couple of families who had done some things who had helped pave the way and we felt like, man, we are called. It was 2008. It was the worst year felt possible for us to do that. If you're part of the South Campus, if I stand like right here, none of this existed. We were building a building. And we had a growing church with lots of new people um going on. We had a couple of staff issues that were really, really serious. And we felt called to find a special needs girl that God had pointed out very specifically to us that we were supposed to foster with the thought of adopting. And we had numerous people say, "Are you sure about this?" And we go, "We think so on this. We feel so." And then the Lord would confirm it. He would give it to us. It was one of the hardest things we've ever done, one of the best things we've ever done. And because we've joined a few core families, it has unlocked hundreds of kids being brought into homes for various reasons and loved on, which James says is pure and undefiled religion. Amen.

Because I I could keep going. Honestly, this legacy pastor thing we're doing right now, like if you're if you're not familiar with it, like last May, I was a lead pastor. Now I'm not. And it makes sense to a lot of people. I mean, I get it. I know our elders prayed about it for a year. I'm utterly, absolutely confident that we're right in the center of what God had. Pastor GT is supposed to be our lead pastor. He's doing an incredible job. So proud of him in that. But it doesn't make sense to a lot of people. Like one, I'm not like at that magic age of 65 yet that people think you change stuff, right? I I am younger than that. I'm old, but I'm not that old yet. And I know I'm not retiring. I've had to punch like 32 of you for saying I'm retired. I like gut punched you, man. I'm not retired. But even the thought that I I changed roles. Think about this. I was leading an organization and I took a role that in most people's mind is lesser. Now, I know according to scripture that makes perfect sense. But in our mindset, it makes no sense whatsoever. There's still times I I I I get the struggle. I get that I am 20 years older than Pastor Jeffrey, yet I am better looking and in better shape. I get it. Now listen, listen. He is going to tell all of you that we had to run through an airport and he beat me. I let him win. We were in the middle of thinking about all this and if I had beat him, which would have been obvious to him, then he probably would have like cowed down into the fetal position and never been able to step in stuff. Good dads let their kids win, right? Even spiritual dads do that, guys. You pick up what I'm laying down.

I I wish I wish I had an easy journey where I could give you like five steps. Do this, this, and this. I got one step for you. Draw near to Jesus and learn to hear his voice. Follow the leading of the spirit. Stay stepped with him. That's all you got. That's going to lead to abundant life. No matter how old I get, I want to be sent by Jesus. I want to live a life of being sent. If I do that, I know that sometimes I'm like a sheep in the midst of wolves. So, I have to be wise as a serpent, innocent as a dove. And the only way I can live that kind of life is to get so close to him that I hear in him saying, "Go this way, go that way, go that way." And I do it imperfectly. You'll do it imperfectly, but we can get better at it. But I am telling you, you want abundance. Abundance isn't going to come just from sitting in a chair on Sunday. Hopefully, this propels us to a life of Jesus saying this way, that way. Do this and you are going to have the stories of the grandness and the goodness of God. Not just a life of adventure, though it it does have a lot of adventure. A life of purpose, a life of significance, a life that matters, a life you were destined to have. Don't let words like responsibility and wisdom, great words that we're supposed to walk in, don't let them be your excuse for life of faith. I want to be wise and full of faith. Amen. So do you. Let's be that people. Let's bow our heads. Let's ask God to help us. Come on.

Maybe you know yourself well enough and you just say, "Dude, like I'm a risk taker." If you're a risk taker, then you're probably going to have to wrestle with God letting you walk in wisdom at times. If you're naturally like responsible and wise, you're probably going to have to let the spirit really help you lean into to risk. You get what I'm saying? You know yourself. But just ask God. One, the father is saying to you, listen, if you are a follower of Jesus, he is saying to you, "Behold, I am sending you out." It is a word for you. We have to embrace it and say, "Yes, I I don't know where he's sending you, but I know wherever you're going tomorrow, if you're going to work, if you're going to school, if you're where God wants you to be, he is sending you into that place." We carry what the world needs. Christ in us is the hope of glory. So, just say, "Yes, Father, I hear you. I sinned and I know it won't always be comfortable. It won't always be easy. Sometimes it will have risk, but I trust you. So give me grace, oh God, to be wise. Wise is the serpent. I'm not joking about this. I'm not making light. Make me in this way like the serpent. Not like the one in the Garden of Eden, not the tempter, but in this image, make me like the serpent. Make me wise, oh Lord, give us wisdom, but also give us grace to be full of faith. Give us grace to be full of faith. Give us grace, Father. Let us step out there. Let us risk boldly where you lead. Let us not shrink back. Let us not sherk back. It doesn't matter how young we are. It doesn't matter how old we are. We'll talk about that. But sometimes we assume because of my age. We assume because of my this, because of that, because my lack of education, we assume this or that. No assumptions. Just say, "Lord, I I say yes to it."

And I'm just telling you, I know I'm running a little over here. But this is too important. The greatest risk of faith is to say yes to follow Jesus. I can't tell you it's not it. It seems at times very unwise to give up control, but then there's something in your heart that just beckons you to draw near to him and say, "Yes, yes, yes." He wants you to have abundant life. He showed you by going to the cross and on that cross paying the penalty for sins, a penalty you could never pay. He went to the grave and he went to the depths of hell itself and overcame death, hell, and the grave and offers victory to us. But we've got to take the risk of faith and say yes to follow him. You can do it right now. You've never become his follower. You just basically say, "Jesus, yes, I'll become your follower. I'm a sinner. I can't fix myself. I give my life to you and I will follow you. Help me do it." And then you live a life of next steps and we will help you as a church. That's why we exist. The way we will know you've done that is inside the park news on the chair back or these QR codes. Go there and it's going to give you a link to just tell us, I've decided to follow Jesus. My next step is baptism. And from that baptism place, we're going to help you take a life of next steps. We encourage you to do that. But we say right now, Father, we want to be wise as a serpent and innocent as the dove. Make us men and women, young and old, full of wisdom and full of faith. And we say, Lord, we will follow you wherever and however you lead in Jesus name. Amen.