Let's go ahead and give him one more praise in this house this morning.
I love that.
You know what I'm thinking as we're singing that chorus.
Throw that chorus back up there for me, Hunter.
Don't you want that to be the proclamation of your student going back to school?
Here I am to worship, here I am to bow down, here I am to say that you're my God.
That you're altogether lovely.
That you're altogether worthy.
and that you're all together wonderful to me.
I know we're about to go back to school, aren't we?
Kids are getting ready, I think next week they start.
But wouldn't that be a great proclamation
for them to walk into that school,
to be a living light and a testimony
to every other person around them,
to show them that I am separate,
that I am owned and I belong to Jesus Christ,
to know that you're lovely, you're worthy,
that he's wonderful and that he is my God.
Amen.
Guys, I love you.
Outstanding job.
Can we give these guys a hand clap of praise
for leading us into the presence of the Lord this morning?
Thank you so much.
They just get better and better every time I hear them.
And the beauty of that is I get to hear them
every Wednesday night.
So thank you guys so very much.
Awesome job, outstanding job.
I do have to make a correction to an announcement I made
about the missions, the mission services next Sunday.
Right after service, we will be having a spaghetti dinner
as our fundraiser, not a special offering.
I messed that up.
Anybody ever messed up before, happens to me.
Happens to me all the time.
Usually I'll get this look from Sister Erica.
She'll look at me and I'll be like, I did something.
I can't quite figure out what it is, but I did something.
So I just wanna make that correction.
Please come out, make plans to fellowship with us
after service next week.
Of course, we'll be taking the donations
for the spaghetti dinner.
But Sister Stella has so graciously asked
and those that are helping her, so thank you.
But we're gonna be having that right after church.
So please make plans to be a part of that.
Amen.
I have not been known so far to be a long-winded preacher.
But after Sister Ann shook my hand,
I can't promise you what's about to happen today.
All I can tell you that I do believe
I have a word for us today.
I do believe that I've heard from the Lord
that he's confirmed in my spirit
what I'm to preach to you today.
And of course, it's hard for me to peel back
the layers of youth pastor.
It's hard for me to get away from that.
But today is a service specifically about the youth
and about the kids and about going back to school.
There's gonna be a time in altar later
for a special time of prayer that I'll call us into.
But I really believe I have a word
for not just the youth of today,
not just the generation of the day or the next generation,
but the current generation.
For every single person, I believe there's a word
from the Lord today, amen?
I'm gonna be reading to you today.
And if I had to title this,
I think Hunter threw something together for me.
If I had to title this, I would just say led by the Lord.
Led by the Lord.
I'm gonna be in Luke chapter five
and I'm gonna read verses one through 11.
But I believe in the day and time we're living in today,
it is more important now than ever
that we are led by the Lord, amen.
With all the turmoil going on in the world
and the things that I hear week in and week out
from the high schoolers and from kids
and what they're facing in schools and with friends
and just things going on around this world,
we as adults watch the news
and we lost the political issues
that are happening all over the world
and the trauma and the disaster, the devastation
that's happening all around the world.
And we look at it from that lens,
but the youth and the kids have a whole different lens
that they're looking at things through.
So I think now more than ever,
it's important for all of us to understand what that is,
to be led by the Lord,
but also to understand that God wants to lead you
and the Lord wants to lead you.
He's looking for a people.
Pastor's been talking about the harvest.
Last week he talked about planting seeds
and being a witness and letting your testimony shine through.
But in all that, what do we need?
We need men and women who are available
and who are surrendered themselves to be led by the Lord,
amen.
And my prayer is that these high schoolers, these kids,
and even you, when you go back to your job
or when they go back to school,
that they allow the Lord to lead them, amen.
And they walk in his steps,
the steps that the purpose that he has ordained
for their lives.
Luke chapter five, verse one.
And it came to pass that as the people pressed upon him
to hear the word of God,
he stood by the Lake Geneserat
and saw two ships standing by the lake.
But the fishermen were gone out of them
and were washing their nets.
And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's,
and prayed him that he would thrust out a little
from the land.
And he sat down and taught the people out of the ship.
Now, when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon,
launch out into the deep
and let down your nets for a catch.
And Simon answered and said unto him,
Master, we have toiled all the night
and have taken nothing.
Nevertheless, at thy word, I will let down the net.
And when they had done this,
they enclosed a great multitude of fishes
and their net break.
And they beckoned unto their partners,
which was in the other ship that should come and help them.
And they came and filled both ships
so that they began to sink.
And when Simon Peter saw it,
he fell down at Jesus's knees saying,
depart from me for I am a sinful man, oh Lord.
For he was astonished at all that were with him
in the drought of the fishes which they had taken.
And so also James and John and the sons of Zebedee,
which were partners with Simon.
And Jesus said unto Simon,
fear not from henceforth, thou shalt catch men.
And when they had brought their ships to land,
they forsook all and followed him.
Father, I love you this morning.
I thank you for your word.
God, as it has been broken today,
I pray and I know that it will not return void.
Lord, I pray that you would let my mouth be a condor
to which your words would flow.
And God, I pray that you'd let our hearts
and our spirits hear what your spirit says to us today.
In Jesus' name.
And everybody said, amen.
I love saying and everybody said, amen.
Because I love hearing you say amen.
One of the biggest blessings that I get on Wednesday nights
is when, because I stand in the front row,
much like here on Wednesday nights
when we're doing worship and I hear the singers singing.
But one of the biggest blessings
when I hear the voices coming from behind me.
That's one of the last, a couple of Wednesdays ago,
Daniel, actually, they cut everything
and didn't use mics and just sung.
And just the audible sound that comes in that chapel,
it just reverberated around the room
and man, it blessed me to tears.
And I think that's what happened a lot of times.
You know, they were having those church revivals
kind of pop up everywhere in different places.
I don't know if y'all remember what I'm talking about
at different places.
And I went down to Lee University Chapel
where that was happening and I decided to go down there.
You know, you hear all these revivals
and you hear all these people getting saved
and sometimes the, you wanna go see for yourself.
You wanna go see what it's about.
So I walked in that chapel
and kind of set towards the back row
and it amazed me because there was nothing really going on,
a lot of prayer.
It was packed.
The chapel was packed full of college kids and professors.
There were some professors in there too.
But it amazed me how a young lady
just kind of got up and started singing.
There was no band, no great choir procession,
no lights, no, all the things
that we wrap around worship today, right?
But she just got up and started singing
and then the whole place just started singing with her.
And man, the glory of the Lord fell in that place.
And I began to think that it's as simple as that.
It's as simple as a body of Christ gathering together
and lifting up the name of Jesus.
It doesn't take fancy musicians.
It doesn't take fancy song or fancy vocals.
I tell my host, I do not care how you sound.
I want you to worship the Lord.
They have freedom in the chapel
because it doesn't distract me when somebody's off pitch.
It doesn't distract me when somebody misses a note.
If anything, I'm just worshiping with them.
It doesn't matter to me all those things.
Worship is always been an important part of my life.
It will always be.
But today we're gonna talk about
letting the Lord lead and guide us.
Amen.
And in this story in Luke chapter five,
we see the story of Peter
and he gives us a powerful example
of how Jesus wants to invite us to be a part of his story.
Here in Luke five, we see that Peter
and some others were washing their nets
and they were going about their usual business.
And the first disciples that Jesus calls
was Peter, Andrew, James, and John.
They're all fishermen.
Fishing was hard work,
but a common trade around the Sea of Galilee
because of this, there was a lot of competition.
And each day was kind of a do or die situation.
For the most part,
they were just ordinary guys doing regular work.
This was their livelihood,
their source of income, and their security.
Now keep in mind that they weren't the most influential men.
They weren't the most influential people.
They weren't very clean.
They probably had a smell about them.
How many's been fishing all day?
You come home and your wife's like,
you stink, go take a shower.
I know I do.
At least me and my wife are just that close.
She just tells me, right?
No holds barred at the Steward House,
if they're right.
But they probably had an odor about them.
There were things and characteristics about them
that made that the fishermen were very rough and rugged
and they were not regarded at all
as having a very high social status.
They would have probably been seen as the last people
that God would choose to share the gospel.
But Jesus invites them to be a part of something
much bigger than their fishing career.
He could have used anyone,
but he starts his kingdom work with four fishermen.
Not much different than shepherds in those times.
You see shepherds in the family order of things
were designed to shepherd the sheep.
And sheep represented food.
It represented the wool.
It represented the sheep's skin.
It was very valuable thing.
Usually having lots of sheep meant wealth in some aspects.
But it's interesting as I began to study
that the typical family order of things
was the youngest male in the family was the sheep watcher.
He was the one that was the shepherd.
Because when they got older to do the harder task,
they left being a shepherd and went to do harder things.
But isn't that funny that shepherds were chosen
as the youngest of the family,
but yet they were in charge of guarding
such a specific important piece of their day-to-day life.
And that's funny how God chose these fishermen
the same way that the family would choose a shepherd.
And it reminds me of David and how when Samuel came
looking for King David and he was off shepherding the sheep.
And he asked, Jesse, do you have any other sons?
And here they go get him from the field
and he anointed him to be king.
And he's a man after God's own heart.
We read all these wonderful things about David,
but it started as a shepherd.
He was a young boy and a shepherd, but what did God do?
God used him to slay a giant.
God used him to walk down in a battlefield in a valley
to face a giant that the entire army of Israel
was scared of.
And he stood before him and told that giant,
you come to me with sword and a shield,
but I come to you in the name of the Lord.
And that's all you need to do, be led of the Lord.
These fishermen as well as the shepherds
were led of the Lord, amen.
And did Jesus need Peter's boat
to go out and preach to the crowd?
No, he didn't.
He didn't need the boat to hear him.
Did he need Peter to row him out there
in the Sea of Galilee so he could address the crowd
on the beach?
Of course not.
Jesus, if he wanted to, he could have walked on that water
from the beach out onto the water and address the crowd.
Furthermore, did Jesus need them to haul all those fish
to the boat?
Did he need their hard work and effort and straining
to bring up the nets that were full of fish?
No, Jesus could have simply commanded and pointed
in the boat and commanded the fish to jump into the boat.
But God doesn't need us, but by his grace,
he allows us to partner with him.
He invites us into what he wants to use us for,
but it starts with surrender.
It starts with us giving up the things that we think
will bring us fulfillment,
and it starts with surrendering our will for his.
He wants us, he's chosen us, he's chosen you.
He has a purpose and a call in your life.
He has a purpose and a plan for each and every one of you.
And God wants to use us and lead us to change the world
and to preach his kingdom and to preach Jesus
that he was buried, crucified, raised from the dead.
He wants us to preach the gospel to all the world.
Notice that the disciples were exhausted
from trying to make things work in their own strength.
They had worked tirelessly, had come up empty handed.
However, when the disciples responded to Jesus' command
with obedience, they caught such a large number of fish
that their nets broke, and obedience being the key here.
You see, they were at a place of turmoil.
They were at a place of, I don't know what I'm gonna do.
Things aren't going right.
I've toiled all night.
This is all I know, I'm a fisherman.
I've toiled all night, and it makes me think
that somehow that's how we are in life sometimes.
We've toiled, we've worked, we've tried our very best,
but it doesn't seem to be enough.
Why is all these things happening around us?
When I look at my own life, when I look at my family,
when I look around my own situations,
I wonder sometimes, how in the world, Lord,
could it get this bad?
How could things keep happening?
It just seems like we cross one obstacle,
and there's another one.
It just looks like, God, you bless us in one way,
and here comes another problem.
These fishermen toiled all night,
but had nothing to show for it.
There was no fish in the boat, no food, no security,
no income, and then here comes Jesus.
Cast your net, put down your net,
and in their obedience, the Bible says, nevertheless,
He told them, we've toiled all night and caught nothing,
but nevertheless, at your word, I will do as you say.
You see, when you're led by the Lord,
sometimes God's gonna ask you to be obedient.
When you're led by the Lord, sometimes He's gonna ask you
to do something that you're gonna say,
I've already done that, Lord.
When you're led by the Lord, sometimes He's gonna ask you
to do something that doesn't make sense.
He's gonna ask you to take a step out of faith.
He's gonna ask you to walk where you don't wanna walk.
He's gonna ask you to be uncomfortable,
but if you are obedient to Him,
God will pour out His blessings.
He will deliver, He will transform,
He will bring you out, He will save, He will sanctify,
He will do what you're asking Him to do.
There was a time in my life
that I had questions for the Lord.
Eric and I, it was early on and I felt called of God.
I didn't know what that meant,
but I knew, Lord, I'm feeling like
You're calling me this direction,
and all I knew to do was stay on that path.
But the problem was my wife didn't think
that path was the right one.
It's not a wife joke, some of y'all laugh, but I get it.
We're a family, we're married, we're one.
Why do we not agree on the direction
that I think God is calling us to?
We know confusion doesn't come from God, so why is that?
What is the case?
We struggled for months, we struggle with it,
sometimes going separate places
because we're trying to figure this thing out,
not that one of us was right or wrong.
But I remember sitting in the church service
and I remember the preacher looking at me,
and it was as if the Lord used him to speak right to me.
Matter of fact, He pointed His finger at me,
and He said, Brian, if you'll do what God is calling you
and asking you to do, He will do a 360
in what you've been praying about.
He will guide the situation
that you've been seeking for answers.
He will look to it, and what I begin to find
is the longer time goes on.
Not only did He lead me to Hopewell Church of God,
where I found Pastor Waters and I found a mentor
and I found another direction and avenue,
and God answered all my prayers
and brought my family back together.
It's not just that.
God has continued to move in that situation.
It wasn't just that He brought my family back together.
It wasn't just that I'm still walking in my car,
and it wasn't that we have answers finally
to the confusion that we had.
It's that God is still moving in my family
and still performing the 360,
and I believe that the 360's not done yet, amen.
I believe that God has greater things.
I believe that God has a direction for my life.
I believe that God has a path that He has set me on,
and I'm not going to stop, amen.
Go ahead and give Him praise in this house
because He deserves it this morning.
And I didn't say all that to Pat Bryan on the back.
It just came to my mind.
It wasn't in here to share.
I just felt like I needed to share it
because sometimes we get so desolate in our situation,
we don't know where to turn,
but God will ask us to be obedient in those moments,
and as long as we're obedient to Him,
He will take care of you, amen.
And then we read a little further
and we look after they filled the boat full of fish,
we look at Peter's response.
He was sorrowful and asked Jesus to leave him.
Why?
In the light of the presence of Christ,
He saw all of His sinfulness.
However, Jesus doesn't turn Peter away.
Not only does Jesus demonstrate His power in Luke 5,
but His grace.
He turns their focus from the thing they thought
could bring them fulfillment,
and directs it to the purpose He has for their life.
The disciples leave everything and follow Him,
the Bible says.
They realize in that moment,
in that moment that God delivered them
from the desperation,
delivered them from poverty,
delivered them from being hungry,
delivered them from their insecurities,
that He is all they need,
that Jesus is all they need.
Peter, along with the others,
realized through this significant event
that Jesus was enough in their situation.
Too often our focus becomes everything else around us.
We focus on our financial situation,
on our career, our own social status,
or sometimes how many likes we get on a picture on Facebook,
or follows on Instagram,
or views on TikTok.
But we're wondering the whole time
why our lives are in turmoil.
Why we can't seem to get over,
or through our situation,
or why there is discouragement,
doubt, anxiety, and fear in our minds.
We get so overwhelmed with suicidal and destructive thoughts
that the enemy just keeps coming and coming.
But I've come to tell somebody today
that Jesus is enough.
And you may ask me today,
who is this Jesus?
Well, He is my Savior.
He is my Redeemer.
He is my provider.
He is my bread of life.
He is the very present help that I need in times of trouble.
He is the Son of the living God.
He is the King of kings and the Lord of Lord.
He is the only way, truth, and the life.
Amen.
The Bible says in Matthew 11, 28,
"'Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.'"
But we take our eyes off Jesus too many times.
We get focused on the distractions all around us.
And that's exactly where the enemy wants you to be.
Matter of fact, that was a story told one time
of a great yard sale that Satan had.
And everything had a price on it for sale.
Fear, anxiety, doubt, suicidal thoughts.
Everything had for sale on it.
There was one thing over in the corner
that had a sign that said, not to sale, not for sale.
And it was discouragement.
And somebody asked him,
Satan, why is discouragement not for sale?
And he said, "'Cause with discouragement,
I can get to the heart.
And when I can get to the heart,
I can do anything I wanna do."
And see, those unforeseen circumstances
brings discouragement in our life.
How many have we prayed and yet wondered,
why God have you not answered my prayer?
I've been praying hard, I've been seeking you.
Why hadn't you performed that miracle?
Why hadn't you done what I asked you to do?
How many have wondered that?
Just me?
I'm the only one that wondered.
But God's will for our life
is what we need more than anything.
And when we take our eyes off Jesus,
we lose sight of that his will is more important
than what we want.
Amen.
Too often we get so focused on doing the things
that we should do as a church
that we forget who we are as the church.
And what God has established the church to be and to do.
As the church, we have forgotten that Christ is enough.
In Matthew 16, chapter 16, verse 13 through 18,
we see the picture of what the foundation
of the church should be.
It reads, when Jesus came into the coast
of Caesarea Philippi,
he asked his disciples saying,
whom do men say that I, the son of man, am?
And they said, some say thou art John the Baptist
and some Elias and others Jeremiah,
or one of the prophets.
And he said to them, but whom say ye that I am?
Who do you say that I am?
And Simon Peter answered and said,
thou art the Christ, the son of the living God.
And Jesus answered and said to him,
blessed art thou, Simon Barjona,
for flesh and blood hath not revealed unto thee,
but my Father which is in heaven.
And I say unto thee that thou art Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my church
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
In this scripture, we see Peter confessing Jesus
as the son of God.
And this is important, why?
Because how you see Jesus matters,
how you see Jesus determines how you come to him.
If you see him as good, faithful, and true,
he will be your source, your identity.
You identify him as one who you can turn to.
There are very few important things
that we can point to from this story.
Firstly, that Peter recognizes Jesus as the Messiah.
Peter is saying, I gotta weigh this down,
it's about to blow off the pulpit here.
Peter is saying that Jesus is the promised deliverer.
He is saying that you're not just any man or any person,
you are my savior and my Lord.
Jesus is making a, Peter is making a powerful statement here.
It's one thing to recognize Jesus as savior,
but do you recognize him as Lord?
There was a story one time of a family
who went on a great vacation.
They decided to go to the beach
and spend time together as a family.
They arrived to the beach, was out in the ocean playing
and having a great time, and a riptide came
and sucked one of them out into the deep.
And no matter how hard the young man struggled to swim,
he struggled and fight and struggled and fight
and was getting exhausted.
No matter how hard he worked,
he couldn't ever reach the bottom.
It seems like every time he'd get closer,
he kept getting pulled further
and further away from the shore.
Every time he'd make a little ground,
he'd get further and further away from the shore.
But right as he was about to fall under,
right as he was about to meet his doom,
a lifeguard shows up and saves his life,
reaches him out and drags him back to shore.
He recovers, the family go on about their day,
and he makes sure to say thank you to the lifeguard
for saving his life.
Too many times people will treat Jesus
like they do that lifeguard.
We greatly appreciate Jesus for saving us
because we asked him to at vacation Bible school
or a youth camp or a conference or a service
where the Lord fell, and we asked him to save us,
and he does that, and we appreciate him for that.
But the problem is, we simply say thank you
and move on with our lives.
Jesus is more than a lifeguard, he is your life Lord.
When Jesus becomes the Lord of your life,
we no longer live in who we once were.
It is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us.
It is in him that we live and move and have our very being.
He deserves more than a thank you, he deserves a surrender.
He deserves our hands lifted up to say,
Lord use me more so than you ever have.
That's my prayer every single time I preach,
every single time I sing.
God use me greater now than you ever have before.
I want new transformation, I want new gifts,
I want new everything, not for me, not for Brian,
but that God would be edified and glorified
and hopefully my life would point people back to the cross
and point people back to Jesus, amen.
The second thing we gotta identify or we see in this story
is that Jesus identifies Peter for who he is,
not who he was.
Notice that Jesus says in verse 17,
blessed are you Simon, son of Jonah,
for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood,
but by my father in heaven.
And I tell you that you are Peter.
What happened?
Jesus just changed his name.
Before this, we see that Peter was referred to as Simon.
Even the disciples couldn't get on board with this
and would often refer to him as Simon Peter,
but Jesus changed his name.
Well, why is this significant?
Because Peter's name in the Greek literally means rock.
Before Jesus, Simon was impulsive, emotional,
and quick to react.
We're talking about a guy who cut the ear off of a soldier
when they tried to arrest Jesus,
but why did Jesus call an unstable person a rock?
Because he's the only one who can identify you
for who you truly are, not who you were.
You see, sometimes it's hard for us to shed
the look of who we used to be.
Sometimes it's hard to shed the persona
of who we used to be.
What I love about it though is when you kneel down
at Jesus' feet and say, God, I need you to end of my life.
Forgive me of my sins, come into my life
and be the Lord and savior of my life.
When you do that, God changes who you are.
It no longer matters what you used to be.
It no longer matters the habits you used to have.
It no longer matters who you used to be associated with.
The only thing that matters is that Jesus Christ
changed and transformed your life
and you are now living and walking and breathing
and following and being led by the Lord, amen.
He identifies you for who you are.
And in a world where we're facing identity crisis
all around us,
in this generation, we don't know who we are.
Men think they're women.
Women think they're men.
Some people believe they're supposed to be cats or dogs.
I even saw this thing and I think Pastor
was the one that showed it to me.
There was a grown man dressed like an infant
because he believed he was supposed to be a child
and hired a nanny to come watch him.
We live in a world and a society that we don't know
who we are.
So then the question becomes,
do we as followers of Christ know who we are?
Have we not found out who we are?
You can find out who you are.
You could even go as far as to say
that the church itself has lost his identity.
How can we be a witness or testify or minister
to the world around us when we don't know who we are?
We have to get back to that foundation
upon what the church was built.
That Jesus, you are the Christ, the son of the living God.
It is Jesus who is the rock,
the first and great foundation of the church.
1 Corinthians 3, 11 says,
for other foundation can no man lay that was laid,
which is Christ Jesus.
Because he is the only one who can identify you
for who you truly are, not who you were,
and then turn around and use you for his purpose.
God has a plan and a purpose for each and every one of us.
It's pre-designed, it's ready for us to go,
but we have to be willing.
God's not gonna force his purpose on our life,
but he has a purpose and a plan.
Isn't that awesome?
Isn't that great to know that my life
and the success of what Brian's meant to be on this earth for
doesn't have to rely just on Brian?
Isn't that wonderful?
There was a saying I heard one time
and it was that the definition of success,
and I tell my high schoolers this,
y'all are gonna hear this again, so,
I tell them that the definition of success
is that my feet land on streets of gold one day.
That's the definition of success.
We get wrapped up in our,
what do you wanna do when you graduate high school?
You're gonna go to college?
What career path are you gonna follow?
And all that's good, that's important,
but where's your heart at?
Where's your focus at?
Is your focus on Jesus?
Are you looking to be led by the Lord
throughout that entire walk, throughout your career,
throughout your, I used to tell people,
I'm retiring at FedEx, I'll be at FedEx.
I'm gonna keep promoting,
I'm gonna keep climbing the corporate ladder,
and that's what I'm going to do.
But then the Lord stepped in front of me and said,
I don't think so, because I've got other plans.
I took that opportunity to obey the Lord.
Now I tell people, my time's here numbered, fellas.
It's only a matter of time before the Lord says,
hey, I got something full time for you.
And then I'm out of there,
because all my heart wants to do now is ministry.
All my heart wants to do now is be led by the Lord,
to walk the path that He has laid out before me,
because that is the most fulfilling thing
that I could ever do.
And God has that same plan and purpose
for each and every one of us.
Each and every one of us.
You may not know what it is, you may know what it is,
but God can lead the way, God can lead you.
Jesus not only wants to, thirdly,
Jesus not only wants to change you, He wants to use you.
We see that Jesus identifies Peter,
but goes a step further.
He says in verse 18, I tell you that you are Peter.
And on this rock, I will build my church
and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
Jesus is saying, I will build my church on that confession.
When we confess Jesus as the Son of God,
we are not just going to heaven when we die,
but Jesus invites us to help build His church.
What does this mean for us today?
That when we realize that we are a part
of something so much greater than our own,
something so much greater than ourselves,
it can feel exciting, it can also be terrifying.
It's awesome to know that God wants to use us,
but here's sometimes our dilemma.
We know the real us, don't we?
We start listening to our shortcomings,
we start listening to our flaws,
we start questioning our purpose
or His purpose on our life.
I've been there myself.
There are times I've thought, you're inadequate for this.
There's no way, you don't have the ability to do it.
Can I tell you, discouragement that I talked about earlier
that was not for sale is a struggle
that Pastor Brian has sometimes.
I struggle with that.
The enemy knows that's something I struggle with,
and he battles with me.
But I fight right back, amen.
I've got the authority and power, right?
But discouragement is a real thing.
Imagine putting yourself back in high school.
I don't want to do that, by the way.
But if you had to go back to high school,
imagine the discouragement
that's all around them.
I went to high school orientation with Landon,
she's gonna be a sixth grader,
or not high school, middle school.
Middle school orientation, gonna be a sixth grader.
Well, I saw my sister-in-law and my niece there.
And as I was standing there just talking to my niece,
and she was telling me about all these girls
that she sees that she was in school with last year.
And it seemed like everything out of her mouth
was negative about what those girls,
how they talk about her.
Well, this girl said this about me,
and that's the one over there that doesn't like me.
And it was all negative.
There was not one thing she told me,
that girl's my friend.
That one over there's my best friend, we're buddies.
Not one thing she said was negative,
and that stuck out to me, or was positive,
that stuck out to me.
If there's that much discouragement in their lives,
if there's that much just negativity in their lives,
there's that much evil in their life,
they need to know Jesus Christ.
Because He is their provider, He is their healer,
He is everything they need in their life.
So it's important that we as parents and grandparents
and men and women of God help usher in those children
into the church.
Get them into the church that they can hear
the gospel of Jesus Christ,
and know that they don't have to walk
that discouraging line.
They don't have to walk that path,
they don't have to walk the worldly path,
that there's a path that Jesus Christ has for them,
and they have help, they're not alone, amen?
The prevailing truth is that the results
of what Jesus said is fixed.
Jesus said He will build His church.
What does that mean?
It means that no matter what,
that the kingdom of heaven is going to go forth.
We must surrender all, and we must make Jesus Lord
of our life, and we must be led by the Lord.
2 Timothy 2, 21 says,
as if a man therefore purged himself from these,
he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified,
and useful for the master's use.
And prepared unto every good work.
And I'm gonna go ahead and come to a close,
so you can come to the instruments.
The reality is this, Jesus will build His church
with or without us.
There was a saying I heard from an ex-pastor friend of ours
who said that the will of God will be performed
even through the carnality of man.
We get so hung up on who's gonna be the next president.
Who's gonna be the next leader?
Even in Church of God recently, we had new appointments
and people were shifting, going to this state overseer,
and we have a new general overseer.
But when you really stop to think about it,
God's will is going to be performed
even if He has to use a carnal man to do it.
But wouldn't it be great if He had a body,
a bride that was ready and willing and able
to perform the work that God has for us to do
while we're still here?
Because I don't know about you, you guys can stand,
I'm gonna come to a close.
I don't know about you, but I still believe
the Lord's gonna come.
I still believe that His coming is very soon.
And I know some of you say I'm gray headed now,
I've heard that all my life,
but the Lord is coming soon, amen.
And I believe that while we're here in these last days,
there's a work and a job for us to do.
One thing I can tell you with 100% certainty
is that the group of young men and women
that I get to have the privilege to mentor
and pastor every Wednesday night are a group
that will be fighting for what God has called them to do.
I get to see it every Wednesday night,
I get to see their hearts poured out.
I get to see them cry out to God.
I get to see them come and fall face down in the altar
when they have a need.
And I've always told the Lord, I said,
if you send them here, the only thing I'm gonna do
is preach the word to them.
That's all I know to do.
That's my heart.
It's funny, because I think they bless me sometimes
more than I bless them.
But God's going to do what he's going to do in our lives
if we let him, if we invite him in,
if we make him Lord of our life,
not just say that he's Lord, but make him Lord of our life.
He will lead a guide and direct us on a path
of something so greater than we could ever imagine
or think, amen?
So this altar call this morning is just a simple call
of if you don't know Jesus, don't be afraid.
You may be sitting in your seat right now,
heart's about to beat out of your chest.
I know I've been there.
You're not sure what to do, don't be afraid.
Fear is the one thing that everyone struggles with.
What are so and so gonna think about me being in the altar?
What are they gonna say about me?
Are they gonna question it?
Are they gonna wonder why I'm here?
Are they gonna know what my problems are?
Your problems are between you and me.
Your problems are between you and Jesus.
And all you have to do is kneel down at this altar
and cry out to the Lord.
And he can take that wonder away
because you can leave here transformed today.
So I just wanna invite anyone that doesn't know Jesus
to make your way down.
Or maybe you knew Jesus, maybe you know him,
but you've just fallen away.
Maybe some things have happened,
life has gotten out of control
and you're trying to find a way to grab hold of it
and rein it back in.
You're trying to do so much on your own
and you realize this morning that Jesus is enough.
That God can deliver you from every situation,
every circumstance.
If you need prayer for anything, these altars are open.
But I wanted to say a special prayer today
over the kids and the high schoolers.
So if you could just high schoolers guys come over this way,
my youth, kids, I wanna pray over the kids
and the high schoolers this morning
because they are going back to school.
So if there's kids in the room,
if there's high schoolers in the room,
please make your way down to this altar.
I wanna pray with them.
If there's teachers in the room,
if there's church leaders, if there's faculty members,
I want you to make your way.
If you're a leader in this church,
I want you to make your way down to this altar
and I want you to stand behind these kids
and stand behind these young men and women
because we're gonna pray
and we're gonna ask God to lead them.
We're gonna ask God to protect them.
We're gonna ask God to put a hedge of protection
over their lives.
And we're gonna pray that God will do extraordinary things
in every single one of their lives, amen.