Thank you for listening to this message from
Lifehouse Church. up front. It's just incredible
hearing the voices come up, and it's amazing.
And it's awesome to be in this new space. But
listen, we're here to meet the Lord, right? As
much as we love the building, some of you are
getting used to it already. Some of you got your
pew. Just raise your hand if you got your pew
now. You got it all figured out, and we've got
that all situated. We're here to come and meet
Jesus. And I hope you're doing that every time
you walk in the doors, every time you come into
the house of the Lord. You're just feeling God's
presence. You're connecting with him because
that's what you're here for. Amen? Amen. It's
true. Well, listen, for about a month now, other
than one gathering, for about a month, I've been
preaching about change. And we've been really
digging into God's word and taking a look at
some of the coping mechanisms that God gives
us for change. And hopefully I've been answering
some questions. This is going to be the last
message in this series. You know, how do we biblically
navigate change? Because I'm going to know you
cannot do it biblically, right? You can do it
in our own flesh, in our own way. And, you know,
we've tried to answer some questions. And really,
hopefully, we've given you some tools along the
way if you've been in some of these messages.
You know, one of the things that we learned is
that we lament the loss, but we look to Jesus
in the change. You can't deny that there's loss
and change. Anytime you change something, you're
going to lose something. It's just a fact of
life. It's a fact of change. But the key is to
keep your eyes on Jesus. That's what we learned
in the first week. Secondly, we want to make
sure that our minds are on the right thing during
the change. Because what your mind is thinking
on is what you'll become on the other side of
the change. And last week we learned that it's
very important for you to Sabbath with Jesus.
Say Sabbath. You need to Sabbath with Jesus.
It's a must in the middle of the change. It's
why God commanded us to do it. Because it's God
who provides us, when we Sabbath with him, the
joy, right, and our strength. That's what the
scriptures tell us. So today I want to give you
the last one in change in this series. Now listen,
we could go a lot longer. We could spend probably
a couple months, really, at least talking about
change. But I want to give you the last one that
I'm going to give you today. And it's this. It's
prepare for temptation. into change. Prepare
for temptation. Turn to somebody right now and
tell them you're going to be tempted. Just go
ahead. Tell them you're going to be tempted.
You're going to be tempted, all right? You're
going to be tempted. There's something about
being in the shift. There's something about getting
into change. There's something about things that
are unsettling underneath of us that leads us
to be tempted more and to give us the higher
possibility of stepping into sin. It's that unsettling,
it's that movement, right? It's that unfamiliarity
that seems to move us towards. And Satan knows
this. He comes in and attacks with schemes and
plans when you're in the middle of change because
he knows it's the unfamiliarity, right? It's
the time that we're unsettled that we can move
towards or slide towards or get tempted to sin.
How many of you ever had a change take place
in your life and you got angry about it? How
many happened that today on the way to church,
right? You got angry. How many of you can have
righteous anger and you can have unrighteous
anger, right? You can have a righteous anger
where you don't sin, and then I've heard people
who have unrighteous anger, right? Sounds completely
different. You can have it. There's this temptation
when change takes place. Sometimes people get
depressed in the middle of change, and they start
coping in all kind of unhealthy manners, right?
We can engage in this desperate activity in the
change because we don't don't want to change.
We want everything to stay the same. So we'll
engage in things that we would never engage before.
And Satan will turn up the heat. He'll raise
the temperature. And he'll do this right in front
of you while you're in the middle of change.
Because he knows this. It's in the middle of
the change that we're emotionally a little weaker.
We might be mentally a little weaker because
of all the change. We might even be physically
weaker in the change. And this is when he comes
at us to tempt us to sin. It's the unfamiliar
environment that can get us. off of our game
that can move us in a different place. It's where
our heads and our hearts and actions can begin
to drift. I want you to think about it this way.
Think about it like this. Where are you more
likely to get off track? On a familiar path that
you walk all the time or in an unfamiliar path,
right? If you're walking the same trail, you're
out on the Appalachian Trail, you walk the same
piece of Appalachian Trail every single day,
you know all the turns, you know where you're
going to trip, you know where you could twist
your ankle, you know all those kind of things.
But it's when you get in the unfamiliar is where
you can start to get tripped up, right? It's
where the path can get weird. Willie Robertson,
how many know who Willie Robertson is? Come on,
if you're a Duck Dynasty fan, here we go. All
right, in the TV series Duck Dynasty, Willie
Robertson, he wrote a book called Godspeller.
In the book Godspeller, he tells this story about
the river that's close to their home. And there's
a bend in the river close to where he grew up.
And he said him and his brothers, they used to
just sit and wait by that riverbank. for people
who were new coming up to fish in that river.
And the reason they would stay by that bend in
the river is because most people who were fishing
came up through there in these deep bottom boats,
and they didn't realize that there was all kind
of snags, right? I mean, what a snag is. There's
wood and rocks, and it was all cluttered up right
underneath the surface of the water around this
corner. So him and his brothers would wait, and
he said, inevitably, these guys would come up
in their new bass boats. They'd come around the
bend, and they'd take that. corner and cut it
in close and they will get caught on the rocks
and on the snags and they of course will come
by and say hey do you need some help for a small
fee we will pull you out come on that's brilliant
all right it's in the unfamiliar waters right
in the bends that we don't know about that we
can get caught up We can snag. There's potholes.
There's snags. There's pits that we can fall
into. And Satan capitalizes on this in the middle
of change. He loves to capitalize on it. And
you've got to understand, he'll come after you
to do this. As a matter of fact, know that he
will because he was bold enough to do this with
Jesus himself. God's son. When Jesus was just
about to make a major change in his life at age
30, slide into his public ministry, right? Satan
came running with temptations and laid them right
before Jesus. And if Satan is bold enough to
bring temptation to Jesus, God's son, he'll do
it to you. He'll do it to me. And listen, I'm
not trying to get you shook up this morning,
but I will tell you, I'm here to warn you that
this is going to take place. This is one of Satan's
tactics. So this morning, if you've got your
Bibles, I want you to slide into the book of
Matthew. We're just going to start there. We're
going to jump around a little bit. You can go
to Matthew chapter 13. If you got your notebooks,
how many brought your notebooks? Raise your hand.
Come on. I love it. All right. Bring your notebooks
because, listen, your memory is not near as good
as you think it is. All right. God might speak
to you. Turn your Bible to Matthew chapter 13.
And things are about to change in Jesus' life.
As we're coming up to this portion of Scripture,
Jesus is on the cusp of launching his public
ministry. And he'll go about teaching and preaching
publicly. He'll have disciples with him. He'll
heal others. He'll start preaching about the
kingdom. of God. But before he does this in his
public ministry, he does something interesting.
He doesn't just launch into ministry. He actually
goes to see somebody named John. It has to be
John the Baptist, who is in the wilderness preaching
and teaching the kingdom of God. And actually
he's teaching and preaching about a Messiah coming.
And Jesus, who is the Messiah, goes out to see
John, not just to hear his message, but to be
baptized himself. Baptized by water, right? Now,
how many of you know Jesus never calls us to
do what he's not already done? Amen? Jesus goes
and gets baptized in water. We're getting ready
just by the way. In a few weeks, we're going
to have baptism here at LifeHouse. And if you've
not been baptized, if you've been saved, you're
following Jesus and you're interested in getting
baptized, water baptized, we would love to get
you engaged in that, talk with you about that.
And you can go ahead and sign up for that. That
was a shameless plug right there. All right,
for baptism. But Jesus goes to John the Baptist
to be baptized. And John the Baptist almost doesn't
know what to do with this. Because Jesus is the
Messiah. And he's almost beside himself. And
that's where we're at in Matthew 3, 13. It says
this. Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at
the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried
to prevent him, saying, I need to be baptized
by you, and you're coming to me. But Jesus answered
and said to him, Permit it to be so now, for
thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all the
righteousness. And he allowed him, and then he
was baptized. When he was being baptized, Jesus
came up immediately from the water, and behold,
the heavens were opened to him. And he saw the
Spirit of God descending like a dove, alighting
upon him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven,
saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am
well pleased. Jesus is about to launch into a
major shift in his ministry. A change comes into
his life, right? A three -year journey is about
to ensue where he would travel and he would preach
and he would teach and he would heal. A three
-year journey where he would be opposed by religious
leaders who would be after him literally to take
his life. A journey that would lead to the cross,
right? And the grave and the resurrection. A
journey where 12 men would train with him among
others. In particular, who would carry the message
once Jesus was gone and would raise from the
grave and go to his father. A journey that would
open the veil, literally chair the veil in the
temple and make access for us to go in and meet
with God. And before this... At Jesus' water
baptism, all this is about to shift, and you
can see at his baptism, the Holy Spirit descends
on him like a dove. This is a place where you
see the Trinity in Scripture, right? The Holy
Spirit descends upon him like a dove, and the
Father speaks audibly. Probably nobody in this
house has ever heard God speak audibly. He speaks
audibly and says, this is my son in whom I am
well pleased. The father, the son, and his spirit,
a home, home place. And it is immediately after
this incredible revelation, after the launch
of Jesus into his ministry, right? That Jesus
is led into the desert, into the wilderness to
meet the father. But scripture says that he would
be led there by the Holy Spirit to be. Say tempted.
Matthew 4 .1 says this. When Jesus was led up
by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted
by the devil. Listen, I said it earlier. If the
devil will tempt Jesus, he will tempt you, right?
I'm not sure if we realize this or not, but a
lot of times the devil will come to us when we're
in the wilderness of life. When we're in a dry
place, when we're in a desert place in life,
he will come and he will come to tempt us to
sin. It's in the wilderness where we get weak.
It's where we get weary. It's where we get tired,
right? It's where he can lure us away from God
the easiest. And we will be tempted to sin. And
I'm not saying you will sin. Temptation is the
opportunity to sin. I'm simply saying that temptation
will come in the change. But it is also in the
wilderness of change that you will have the potential
to meet and hear God the clearest. Exodus chapter
3, before I go any further with the story of
Jesus and the temptation, in Exodus chapter 3,
it tells us a story about Moses in the midst
of the desert. He's on the backside of the desert,
and he comes across this bush that's burning,
but it's not being consumed. And he pulls aside
to go see this bush that's burning. And the Word
of God tells us that God begins to speak to him
in this desert place, in this wilderness, out
of the burning bush. How many of you know that
would get your attention in a big hurry? It would
get my attention. Listen, if you had a bush burning
in your backyard this afternoon, and you walked
out there, and it wasn't getting consumed, and
all of a sudden God spoke to you, how many of
you know that would be something? Amen? That
would be something, right? So Moses, he's on
the backside. And Moses doesn't know it yet,
but he's about to have a colossal change in his
life. Because God speaks to him in this burning
bush and says, I know you've been out herding
sheep. You've been hiding out in the backside
of the desert for 40 years. I want you to go
back to Egypt where he came from, and I want
you to bring a nation of people out. And I want
you to bring them out of slavery, and I want
you to lead them. And Moses is there, and he's
listening to God, and he gets tempted right while
God's speaking to him to ignore God or to reject
God. That's what sin is, right? It's rejecting
what God says, and he starts making excuses up.
How many of you know we make excuses when we
don't want to do something? He's like, God, I
don't speak very well. I can't go do this. God's
speaking to him in a burning bush. And God gets
upset with him. He gets angry with him. He chastises
him. It's in the wilderness that you're going
to be tempted to reject what God's saying. It
really is. It's in that place where you're going
to start making an excuse. But it is also in
that place where you're going to hear God. He's
going to speak to you, and it may be very clear,
right? You're going to get tempted there. You're
going to get tempted to go another direction.
You're going to get tempted to sin. But it is
that place where you have the potential to hear
God declares. If you're in the wilderness this
morning, if you're in the middle of some kind
of change in your life, something's shifting,
and you're maybe in a place of isolation, maybe
you're in a place of desolation, maybe you can't
see a green thing in front of you. Everything
looks dusty. Everything looks kind of dried up,
right? I'm here to tell you, get ready. Get ready,
because one of two things can happen, or actually
two things can happen. One, the enemy's going
to come. He's going to tempt you to go the other
direction from God. Just count on it, right?
He's going to tempt you to sin. But the other
thing to get ready for is that it is the place
of the desert many times that we hear God. the
clearest. It's many times in the desert we hear
Him the loudest. It's in that quiet place. So
if you're in the middle of change, get ready,
because breakthrough might be on the other side,
right? Amen? How many of you know when God shows
up and speaks, breakthrough's on the other side
of something, right? Well, Jesus is in the desert,
led by the Holy Spirit. And the Word of God says
that He's going to be tempted by God. And as
soon as he finishes a season of fasting and prayer,
the Word of God says for 40 days and for 40 nights
he prays. And he seeks God because he's going
to launch into this ministry. No food, no water.
He's tempted. Matthew 4 .2 says this, And when
he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights afterward,
he was hungry. Now when the tempter came to him,
he said, If you are the Son of God, command these
stones to become bread. But he answered and said,
It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth
of God. And the devil took him into the holy
city, set him on a pinnacle of the temple. And
he said to him, If you're the son of God, throw
yourself down. For it is written, He shall give
his angels charge over you, and in their hands
they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot
against the stone. Jesus said to him, It is written
again, You shall not tempt the Lord your God.
Again, the devil took him up into an exceedingly
high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms
of the world and their glory. And he said to
him, all these things I will give you if you
will fall down and worship me. And Jesus said
to him, away with you, Satan, for it is written,
you shall worship the Lord your God and him only
shall you serve. Then the devil left him and
behold, angels came and ministered to him. Jesus
is in the wilderness of change. He's doing a
very spiritual thing. 40 days of fasting. 40
days. How many of you know some of you think
you're fasting if you don't have food for four
hours? Come on. I don't know what it is. If you're
not fasting, you can go without food for four
hours. It's no problem. You say you're going
to fast for spiritual reasons. Four hours is
like 400 years, right? All you can think about
is food, right? But Jesus, he's fasting for 40
days. And the enemy comes, and you can see how
Satan slides in to place a temptation. Jesus
is physically weak. He needs food. He's on the
verge of starvation at this point. And Satan
comes with a physical need or want. Food, because
he's fast. Place a craving, a desire in front
of him. I've done complete fasts for a few days.
I've done extended fasts, which are partial fasts,
for long periods of time. And I can tell you
temptation is a very real thing, right? I remember
being on a partial fast for an extended period
of time, and I remember somebody coming in with
a big juicy burger with fries. Can you smell
it? There was temptation. There was desire there,
right? And I could smell it in my nostrils. Some
of you are already at lunch mode right now, okay?
I could smell it. And that's what the enemy does.
It's in the wilderness of change that Satan will
play on your desires. He will lay it in front
of you, right? Whatever you desire. It could
be a juicy burger or a fast. But it might be
that you need security, right? You need to feel
stability. You'll do anything to get some comfort
in your life. You'll do anything to escape the
present circumstance that you're in. It could
be that he'll lay a lust in front of you that
you battle with, or something even that you need
in your life. He'll use whatever you desire to
lure you away from God's plan. He did it with
Jesus. Bet you're hungry, Jesus. You know, if
you are who you really say you are, I bet you
could turn these stones right into bread, right?
Come on. That's what Satan did to them. And here's
the thing. Jesus could have turned those stones
into bread. In the Word of God, he took bread,
he broke it and multiplied it and fed thousands
of people just a little bit of bread. And honestly,
it wouldn't even have been a sin for him in normal
circumstances just to turn those stones into
bread. But because Satan tried to play on his
pride, he tried to stir up pride in Jesus. If
you are who you say you are, right? And desire.
And Jesus knew that if he did this, he would
do it for the wrong purposes and the wrong reason,
and it would be sin. It would be against God's
plan. And he refuses. He answered him, right?
He said, man shall not live by bread alone, but
by every word that proceeds out of the mouth
of God. He did not let desire and the change
drag him towards the sin. And that's how it works
in the wilderness. The enemy's going to bring
that to you, right? And if you don't succumb
the first time to the temptation, he'll change
his tactics. That's what Satan does. He'll come
at you a different way. He'll come at you a different
angle. The Word of God says that Satan comes
like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
He'll come just barking out something else, roaring
something else in your ear, right? And that's
exactly what he did with Jesus. All right, well,
let's just see if there is any pride in Jesus'
heart. Maybe there's something down deep. And
he comes again. He says, he takes him to the
holy city, sets him on a pinnacle of the temple,
and says to him, again, if you're a son of God,
right, throw yourself down. You know the angels
are going to come. You know your heavenly father
is going to rescue you, right? And the word of
God tells us that. And the devil says, come on,
Jesus. Show me what you got. Use your authority.
Come on, give us a show. Just do it. You know
you'll want to. The Father's going to catch you.
Pride in me. Look at me, right? That kind of
thing. And Jesus said to him, it's written again,
you shall not tempt the Lord your God. He comes
with the word of God. It is in the wilderness
of change that the devil is going to tempt you.
It is. Satan strikes out two times and comes
a third time. And this time he shows them. He
takes them up to an exceedingly high mountain.
And he sets them up. And he's looking across
the kingdoms of the world and all the glory.
And he says, all these things I'll give to you,
Jesus, if you just bow down and worship me. Do
you know the most bizarre thing about this temptation?
It's that Satan was trying to give Jesus something
that wasn't his to give. Satan was trying to
tempt Jesus with something that's not his to
give in the first place. Right? Just come on,
Jesus, bow down, and you can have it all. Psalm
24, verse 1 says, The earth is the Lord's, and
all its fullness, the world and those who dwell
therein, for he has founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the waters. The Father
God already owns it all, right? And Satan comes,
and this is what Satan will do. He'll lie to
you. He will tell you a lie to pull you in. He'll
pull you in and try to tell you a lie in the
middle of the change, change that's going on
in your life. And Jesus, when all these temptations
come, he doesn't beat his chest and say, do you
know who I am? Do you know the authority that
I have? He doesn't do any of that, right? And
the wilderness has changed. He doesn't rely on
conventional wisdom. He doesn't get focused on
his circumstance. He doesn't do any of those
things. He starts applying God's word to every
single thing that is thrown at him. Can I tell
you this? When you get in the middle of the temptation,
when you're in the middle of the change, when
the enemy's coming at you, don't beat your chest.
Don't try to go on just your willpower and your
knowledge and your experience. Don't try to rely
on all those things. When the enemy's coming
at you, you stand on the word of God. You fight
back with the word of God, right? Because anything
else you use, it's like bringing a knife to a
gunfight. It really is. Look, the Word of God
is your sword. It is your offensive weapon. You
need to pull out the Word of God. You need to
beat Satan half to death with the Word of God.
Amen? I'll never tell you to beat anybody else
half to death other than Satan. You can go ahead
and beat him half to death with the Word of God.
You just keep throwing the Word of God at him.
You keep believing in the Word of God, and you
will crush his head. He will flee. The Word of
God says if you resist the enemy, right, if you
resist the devil, he must flee. This is how you
resist him. It doesn't matter what he brings
up from your past. It doesn't matter what you
came from. It doesn't matter what your circumstance
is. Listen, this applies to you. If you are following
Jesus, use the Word of God. And you can stop
the enemy, right? It's true. Worship team, if
you'd come and make your way up to the front.
Jesus fasted 40 days and 40 nights and was tempted.
40 days and 40 nights. Huge change on the horizon.
But I can tell you this. It does not have to
be a big, intense change in your life for the
enemy to come in and try to rob you. You can
go to the book of Genesis chapter 25, and you
can read a story about two brothers, Esau and
Jacob. And Esau, Esau's the older, Jacob's the
younger. They're twins, but Esau was born first.
And Esau has a wilderness moment, not a journey.
He's not in a desert. He's not in a hard place
in life, right? He has a wilderness moment, and
he barely qualifies as that. And temptation gets
in front of him, and he caves. He fails. He sins
in this. See, God's covenant started off with
Abraham, who was their grandfather. And that
covenant slides down to Isaac, Abraham's son.
And Isaac marries this woman named Rebekah. And
Rebekah and Isaac have these twin boys named
Esau and Jacob. And Esau is the firstborn of
these two. And you've got to understand something.
In Jewish time, the firstborn had a birthright.
There was something special about being the firstborn
boy in the family. And here were some of the
things that were beneficial about that. One,
they got a double portion of the inheritance.
And that was a big deal because Isaac was wealthy.
He would get a double inheritance. But it was
also his job, the one who received the birthright,
to care for the family. It was his job to make
sure that the family line would continue. It
was the responsibility of the one who had the
birthright to carry on the family name and to
make sure that all of the family were well. And
this was entrusted to Esau. And in a moment of
weakness and temptation, he sells his birthright
for a bowl of soup. Soup. Say soup. It sounds
ridiculous, right? But he does. In a moment,
wilderness moment. And I'm going to read this
portion of scripture real quickly for you. It's
in Genesis 25, 27. It starts, so the boys grew.
And Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the
field, but Jacob was a mob man dwelling in tents.
And Isaac, right, dad, loved Esau because he
ate of his game, of the food that he hunted.
But Rebekah loved Jacob, and now Jacob cooked
his stew. I think Jacob just spent a lot of time
in the kitchen, right, with mom, right? And they
kind of had this family, I don't want to call
it a sibling rivalry thing going on. And Esau
came in from the field and was weary. How many
of you got weary this week? How many got tired
before bed? Raise your hand. That's all of you,
by the way. Okay. All right. You got weary. How
many of you know that's not a desert, that's
not a wilderness, that's life? Right? That's
a moment of wilderness for you. I'm really tired.
I need to go to sleep. All right. He came in
from the hunt and he was weary. And Esau said
to Jacob, please feed me with the same red stew
for I am weary. Therefore, his name is called
Edom. But Jacob said, sell me your birthright
as of this day. His brother takes advantage.
He's like, yeah, I'll give you some stew. Give
me your birthright. Now, this is an idiotic idea.
Esau, this is his brother. How many know he should
have punched him, put him in a headlock and he'll
eat him. So he gave him some soup, right? He
should have. That's not what happens. Esau, the
drama queen, all right, says, look, I'm about
to die. No, he was just tired. He was hungry.
So what is my birthright to me? Then Jacob said,
Swear to me as of this day. So he swore to him
and sold his birthright to Jacob. And Jacob gave
Esau bread and stew of lentils. And he ate and
drank a rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised
his birthright. A perceived moment of wilderness.
I'm super hungry. I'm going to die. Anybody ever
say that? I'm going to die. Right there, I appreciate
the honesty. He's like, yeah, I said it. Desire
for food, and he sells out. And he sins. He gives
away everything that God would have placed in
his hands for a bowl of soup. How many of us
have the potential to do stupid things in the
wilderness of change? We really do. All of us,
right? I'm going to ask you to stand. It's in
the wilderness of change that we're tempted to
sin. And it's also in the wilderness of change
where I will hear God the loudest and the clearest.
Have the potential to. Jesus heard from the Father
when he was in the wilderness, right? Right before
he went into the wilderness and when he was in
the wilderness. Moses heard from the Lord in
the wilderness at the burning bush. He heard.
And I can tell you about a man named Elijah.
who was running from a king, King Ahab and his
wife Jezebel, who were out to kill him. And Elijah,
the prophet, an amazing prophet, ends up in wilderness.
And he's actually sulking underneath a tree.
And he wants to die. He is so distraught by being
chased by this king and his wife that he wants
to die. He asks God to kill him. He asks God
to kill him. That's how distraught he is. Tempted
to quit, right? Call it God. And God comes to
Elijah and he speaks so clearly to him. It says
this in 1 Kings 19, 12. Then he said, go out
and stand on the mountain before the Lord. He's
talking to Elijah. And behold, the Lord passed
by. And a great and strong wind tore into the
mountains and broke the rocks into pieces before
the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind. And
after the wind, an earthquake. But the Lord was
not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake,
a fire. But the Lord was not in the fire. And
after a fire, a still, small voice. So it was
when Elijah heard it, he's in the wilderness,
that he wrapped his face in his mantle and he
went out and stood in the entrance of the cave.
And suddenly a voice came to him and said, What
are you doing here, Elijah? What are you doing
here? God sends Elijah back. Elijah goes and
does what a prophet does. He goes and anoints
several after this. It is in the wilderness that
you will be tempted to sin, but it is in the
wilderness where you will hear God the clearest
if you're looking for him, if you're listening
for him. And it may be in the earthquake, it
might be in the wind, it might be in the fire,
but many, many times it's in a still, small voice
that God speaks. in that quiet place. So here's
what we're going to do this morning. I have no
doubt whatsoever. Holy Spirit's been prompting
me the whole time I was prepping this message
that there are people here that are facing change
right now. And it could be small, it could be
medium, it could be large, but you got change
happening right now. And here's what I want us
to do. If that's you, and as I'm speaking this,
the Holy Spirit's tapping on your heart right
now. If He's tapping, don't ignore Him. Okay?
You're about to step into change. It's right
before you. Or you're in the middle of change.
I want everybody to slide out of the pews, out
into the aisleways. And if you're the one, all
right, or the 10 or the 15, and I think there's
going to be many that are facing this, I want
you to come to the front because I need to tell
you something. God gave me something to speak
to you. All right? And I'm going to pray over
you. So if that's you, just make your way out
right now. Everybody, I want everybody to slide
out because it's too hard to get out of the queues
without everybody getting out. Slide out, get
into the aisle. But if that's you, if there's
change coming, make your way to the front. The
others are going to come up and pray behind you,
but I need you to move first. If you've got change
going on, slide up to the front. Just come up,
make your way up through. Come on, I knew it.
Come on. I actually didn't know what the Holy
Spirit knew. Make your way up. Make your way
up. Just stretch out across. Move up close. If
you would, move up close and stretch out. So
all those who are coming up. If you got change
going on, look. Come on, look at the response.
Slide up a little. Move up just a little bit
so they can get in behind you. Just go ahead
and stretch out the whole way across here. Stretch
out this way too, if you would. Make your way
down this way. Because I want people to come
in behind and pray. Make your way. There's a
room over here. Get up to the front. You got
change going on. All right, the rest of you that
want to pray, I want you to slide up. You can
pray where you're at if you want. You can make
your way up, slide in behind, pray with some
people if you're comfortable. All right, guys,
keep music down just a little bit if we could,
because I want you to hear this. God took me
to the scripture for you, and here's what we're
going to do. We're going to do something very
specific. You're going to ask for wisdom and
to change. James 1 .5 says this, If any of you
lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to
all liberally, without reproach, and it will
be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with
no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave
of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For
let not that man suppose that he will receive
anything from the Lord. He is double -minded
and unstable in all his ways. So here's the thing
that we have to do when we're going to come and
ask God for something. First, we've got to establish
that we've got faith that He's going to answer.
He's with you in the change. All right? It may
show up like a burning bush moment. It might
be a still small voice that you hear. He might
speak in an earthquake. But I'm here to tell
you, regardless of where you come from, if you're
trusting in him, he wants to speak to you. He
wants to speak to you. He wants to come in and
tell you what's next or lead you and guide you
in the next step. That's what he wants to do.
But you got to believe on him first. And then
second, all you got to do is ask. I mean, we
don't get something sometimes because we just
don't bother asking. My grandkids get stuff from
me all the time because they come and ask. I'm
like, sure. You want the car? Take it. You know,
they ask. That's how our father is. You've got
to ask him. I know he knows, but he wants you
to ask. So you've got to believe. Listen, if
you believe and you ask, you're going to hear
from God. You will hear from God. It might not
be in this moment. It might be in this moment.
But I'm telling you, sometime in the very near
future, you're going to hear from God. He spoke
this clearly to me this morning. Clearly. You
ready? Those of you who are back there, you need
to be praying for those who are up here. Because
next time, it might be you in the middle of the
change. Amen? Let's bow our heads. Lord, you
see each person in God who responded this morning.
And God, we come here today in faith. God, we
don't come on our own. power. Lord, we don't
come with our own wisdom. We don't come, Lord,
in our own knowledge. God, we don't come, Lord,
in any kind of authority or strength outside
of you. So, Lord, we come this morning just looking
to you. We just come asking and saying in our
hearts and lives that we believe that you're
with us in the middle of this change, that you
have the next step, that you're going to keep
me from temptation. God, you're going to keep
me from straying the wrong direction or rebelling
against you and walking the wrong way. Lord,
we give this to you right now. God, I, Lord,
I'm asking you. I'm asking you. I'm speaking
this. Give me wisdom in this change. Keep me
from sin. Keep me from rebelling against you.
Keep me from making excuses. Keep me from looking
at things and desiring things that are going
to be of no benefit in my life. God, right now,
God, right now, in Jesus' name, help me in the
change. Give me godly wisdom. Wisdom that is
from above and not from below. In Jesus' name
I pray this. Amen and amen. Now here's what I
want you to do. I want you to give him a hand.
You've got to thank him ahead of time. That's
faith. You know when you thank God ahead of time,
that's faith in what God's already going to do
in your life. God always meets faith. I'm going
to say that until the day I die. You step forward
in faith, he's going to meet you right there.
Amen? All right? It's true. We're going to pray
one more prayer. I want you to bow your heads
one more time. And this is for anybody in the
house. If you don't know Jesus as Lord and Savior,
you can't today. You came to the right place.
It's no accident that you're here. If you don't
know Jesus as Lord, if you're not walking with
Him, if you're not hearing His voice, and you
want to come in relationship with a God who will
walk with you through all of eternity, Jesus
paid an enormous price. He went to a cross. He
spilled his blood. He died. He went into a grave
and he rose three days later. And that's significant
because he paid the penalty for your sin. He
paid the penalty and the price for all your unrighteousness.
And you've got to get righteous. And the only
way to do that, to get to God, is through the
blood of Jesus Christ. So all you have to do
this morning, if that's you, is to admit in your
heart, not to me, but to him in prayer. Confess
to him that he is Lord, that you want him as
Savior and Lord of your life, and you want to
be in relationship with him. All you have to
do is admit that you are a sinner, because we're
all sinners, every one of us, and that I need
a Savior. Just let him know that. I want a Savior.
Jesus, I know that's you, and I want you to come
into my life today. Forgive me of my sin. Wash
me clean, because I want to walk with you. I
want to talk with you. God, I want to be where
you're at. In this life and in the next. In Jesus'
name I pray this. Amen. and you would like to
partner with us as we love God, love people every
day,