Good morning, Springhouse. Oh, you can do better than that. Good morning.

It's good to see you. And it is good to be in. The house of

the Lord this morning. Are you grateful for heat today?

Amen. Amen. It looks like winter has peeked its

nose out. We'll see what happens. But we do live in Tennessee.

Tennessee is about as fickle as people are in the kingdom of God.

Okay, so let's welcome this

morning you awake? We are

continuing our series Abide. And you guys came

back this week. Thank you for coming back this week. I've got

some more offensive things to say today, and so I pray that you

will continue to lean in and to be here in

the presence of the Lord. If you weren't here last week, we started our new

series, and I encourage. You to go back and catch that.

Because we are going to be this. Year nudging along moment by moment,

taking. Each step together, not forgetting where we were. We're going

to join our steps together. Because that's what happens when you're headed. Toward a

destination, right? You remember the steps you've taken and. You look forward to the

steps that you will take. And so we're going to do that together. And I

pray that you are ready. To go this morning in the word

of God. So today we are

still going to. Be. In

the area of like, a prologue or an introduction.

And so this year's series, Abide, we're. Looking at John

15, and we're not. Today gonna go and unpackage all of

John 15 specifically. That's coming. Don't worry. That's coming.

But what the Lord has given me. And where

I believe he's taking us as a body is before we can actually

get into the of abide and what

is being conveyed in John 15, there

is some work that we need. To do, some exposure and some

illuminating and some laying a foundation that we need to do.

Not necessarily laying foundation of the word as much as

it is, as laying. Foundation in understanding the context

of the. World we live in and how we're approaching the word that

we're receiving. So I want to start today by asking you the same question I

asked last week, and most likely I'm going to ask it again next week.

Why are you here today?

Crickets. Why are you here today?

That's not a critique to say that you shouldn't be here today,

but the. Question is, did you wake up this morning because the

calendar said Sunday and you rolled out of bed? And this is just what we

do on Sunday mornings. And so we're here. And what you really are thinking about.

Right now is the fried chicken or the hamburger you're gonna have for L. By

the way, is it the second Sunday today? Open tables is today. Hope

you signed up for that fellowship time. Don't be thinking about lunch, though, right now,

though. I planted that seed. But why are you here today?

Let me ask it a different way. Do you believe the God of the universe

can meet you today? Do you believe that the God of the

universe cares about what you brought into this place today? Do you believe

about the hearts in this room, lost or otherwise? Do you believe

that the God of the universe, the God who breathes stars, knows your name,

knows the number, and cares about your life? This God

can change and transform your life today if you don't allow today just

to be ancillary or a throwaway. If you lean in and you look

for him, he'll meet you where you are. He will meet you where you are.

And so my question is really something of an

urgency because I believe that we're living in a time and a place where

God wants to do something among his people, but he's wanting his face

to be seen. He's wanting to shake the

heavens and do some things within his people because of the lost and dying world

out there. And let me tell you something. I believe his coming is imminent. I

believe he's coming back for his bride. I believe he's gonna split the sky soon.

But there are people, probably even some in the midst of my. Under the

sound of my voice, who still do not know this God that I'm talking

about. And so I believe that the God of the universe wants to shake

some things up and to say, hey, guys, listen up. Wake up.

You, although you're in this world, you are not of the world. You belong to

my kingdom. And he says, I am a king. I am a king and I

am sovereign. You don't elect me. You don't put me into the place of my

position. I am king and I am sovereign, and I want to rule and reign

over your life? Are you going to let me. Are you going to let me

rule and reign over your decisions, even when

it hurts? Are you going to allow me to be sovereign

in situations in your life where you want to

abandon ship, where you want to jump ship, Are you going to allow me,

says God, are you going to allow me to meet you where you are and

actually mature you in your faith, Mature you in your

faith in the season of pain, in the season of hurt, in the season

of devastation, in the season of opportunity. Are you going to

allow me to be God and sovereign in your life? I believe that God Almighty

would have that question for us this morning. Are you glad you came today?

So why are you here?

We're standing in the doorway of what. Jesus means when he says, remain

in me. And so we're going to read from. John chapter 15 today, the first

five verses. If you'll stand with me and man, I

just. If we could just bolster this

word and really just with gusto. Here we go.

I am the true vine, and my father is the

gardener. He cuts every branch in me that bears

no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit,

fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

You are already clean because of the word I have

spoken to you. Remain in me as I also

remain in you. No branch can bear

fruit by itself. It must remain in the vine.

Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in

me. I am the vine, you are the

branches. If you remain in me and I in you,

you will bear much fruit apart from me. You

can do nothing. Father, I am so grateful for your

word today. I'm grateful for its transformative power.

I'm also grateful for the gift and the reality of

the person of the Holy Spirit that resides in this place. And I'm

asking God that your Holy. Spirit would convict our hearts

and that as we leave and depart this place, this concrete place today,

that there would be spiritual things, Lord, going on on the inside of us

that would transform us and that we would look more like the image of Christ

today more than we have before. We love you today. Let everything

that's frivolous and of me fall to the ground, but let your words

stick and stand and change us. In Jesus name. And everybody said.

Amen. You belong to a kingdom

and you have a king. And what this means is that my

life is not primarily about my comfort.

It's not about my timeline and it's not about my

advancement. It's about his reign. It's about

his rule and his reign in my life.

When Jesus speaks In John chapter 15, he does not

come at it as a consultant hoping that you will take his advice.

He's not a God who's coming to give you just some slight suggestions and hope.

Maybe you might think this would be. A good suggestion for you to pull on.

No, he's not coming. He speaks like a king explaining how. Life works under

his rule. And we have the choice whether or. Not to obey

or to disobey and. He is constantly calling us

back to center. I don't know about you, but I find myself from time to

time drifting off to the left or drifting off to the right. And

the Lord brings me back to center. And when he brings me back to center,

what I'm looking at is when I come back to center, I see a throne.

And the question that's before me is, Kevin, do you want to sit in this

throne or do you want the. King of the universe to sit in the throne?

And guys, I'm telling you, there is nobody else to be

better to be on the throne of your life than the God who breathe stars.

This great glorious God who knows you. Better

than you know yourself. He's always calling us back to

center. He calls us to a place where. It'S all about him. And

last week we talked about Babylon. We went back to the Old

Testament. Do you know that God can use. All of scripture to minister

to us? Do you know that? Do you know that the Word is alive and

active today? It's like a double edged sword. It pierces in

our lives if we allow it to. If we allow it. By the way, we

have a Bible reading plan. I believe that the most important thing you can do

as a believer is to get to know the Lord through the word of. Through

the Word of God. And so if you don't have a. Bible reading plan, I

encourage you on our app you can download the Bible reading plan. And if you

have been following us, guess what? You're going to find some parallels to. What I'm

going to be talking about today. Go figure how that works. Okay, so listen,

the Holy Spirit wants to minister to you every day. Get in the

word of God. Build a hunger and

relationship with the Word of God. Get in the word. So last week we talked

about the exile of Israel, the exile of Israel in

Babylon. And we talked about Jeremiah arriving on the scene. And

the Israelites were just, man, they just were. They were worshiping

false gods. They were engrossed in sin. And so God exiled

them. And I say God exiled. And God was with them in the exile.

And what he says to them. The word from Jeremiah says, I want you to

build houses, I want you to plant gardens, I want you to get married and

I want you to increase there. And what this

tells me is that God does not automatically

uproot us from situations that we do not like or

find favorable. He doesn't just automatically come in when you

start to experience areas of discomfort, hurt,

pain, all of those things. He doesn't just come in and say, oh, this is

not me. Let me just rip you out of this. No. He will sometimes allow

us to sit in that situation because he's wanting to. Be sovereign

in that moment. He's wanting to be recognized. In other words, do you

really believe this God you say you believe in? It

gets tested when the rubber hits the road, it gets

tested when things really take off, it gets tested. In

other words, God is saying to the Israelites, I want you to live like people

who still believe I'm sovereign. God doesn't say, just

endure Babylon. He says, I want you to plant in

it. And so what it was about, it was about learning how to live

as God's people inside a culture that did not share their faith.

Are you living in a culture that. Does not share your faith? Absolutely,

you are. And so can we learn how to live as God's people inside this

culture? And that's what this entire year is about, is about

us learning how to live in this culture that wants nothing

to do with God, but entices us with the vices and its symptoms and

all these things that it wants to dangle in front of us, to woo us

away, to dilute the power of. The word of the

living God. But we belong to a kingdom and have a king. And he's

not going anywhere. He's not going anywhere.

He is as powerful today as he was back then.

And so God exposed them to how. Full their lives have become

of everything else except for him. And when everything is

full, Listen to me. When everything in your life is full,

nothing has room to grow.

Have you ever lived with someone who's always right,

That wasn't a loud laugh because you're probably sitting next to them?

I've been in situations and guys, if I'm honest with myself, I've been one of

those people. I've been one of those people where a situation. Guys,

we rarely believe that we are the issue.

A situation comes up a circuit. We are never the. We never go first

place to. Is there something I'm not seeing right? Is there something that I need

to shift and change? It's always them. It's always on them.

It's always something else. But it's rarely us, right? It's rarely

us being the issue or the situation.

So God often starts by addressing our. Pace in

life so that we can slow down and realize, hey,

Kevin, you don't look like Jesus yet.

And there's some layers. There's some things you need to chip off

of your life so that you can become more like me in

that relationship, in that friendship, in that job situation, in that

circumstance. There's some things I'm trying, some layers I'm trying to pull off of

you. Because every time something pops up, Kevin, it's not about

them or what they've done wrong or what they said, or. It'S sometimes it's you,

sometimes it's you. And if I can get you,

Kevin, to a place to realize that you need to look more like Jesus,

just maybe, maybe, just maybe when you approach that situation,

you'll bring a certain level of grace to it that transforms their life as

well.

And so they. And we are faced with the same question. And the question

was this. Will we be formed by the world we

live in? Or will we remain rooted in the. Kingdom to which we

belong? Which are we going to do?

Are you being formed by the world we live in?

When you turn on the TV and you turn on Fox or CNN and

you listen to political debates, is your whole life rocked

upside down by an instable, an unstable

political system? A world that's going to be destroyed? Is that the world

that's forming your thoughts and forming your direction and forming where you

go? Or are you going to be formed as you are being,

remaining and being rooted into a kingdom, Kingdom that has

a king that is faithful and strong and sure. Which one are you going to

do? Which one are you going to be rooted in?

Because the world's got a whole lot of lies to offer us

and it only takes us buying into one little lie to get off kilter.

Jesus says, I am the way, the. Truth and the life.

He's got the answer. It's in His Word. Please

get a relationship with, with the world. So he tells

them to stay. They're living in captivity. Captivity is like prison.

And God will allow us, he will. Sanction hard places in our lives

while. We are screaming, God, get me out of here.

And God is saying, no, stay right where you are and trust that I am

still the God that you say you believe in. And then along the way, as

we're. In that hard place, he will show up with some incredible

promises. See, this is the wonderful thing about this great glorious God,

Barbie. He cares about us, Mary Sue. He cares about you.

He cares about you, April. He see in the midst. I'm talking about when

you're, when everything inside is

screaming because you don't understand why

you're having to walk through the situation you're in right now

when everything is breaking down. This same great glorious

God cares about you and sees you and knows your name. And he

gives promises just like he did to the Israelites. Like this. He says, for I

know the plans. I have for you. Plans to prosper you and not to

harm you and give you a hope and a future. Let me ask you this

question. Do you believe that God Almighty has plans for your life? Yes or no?

Do you believe he has the ability to prosper you? Does he have the

ability to not harm you and to give you a hope in the future? Here's

the problem. We take this scripture here and we apply it under the

banner of 2026. And what that tells me is I to define

what prosper means. I try to define what not to harm you

means. I try to define what hope and future looks like for my life. And

he's saying, no, it's not your definition. It's my definition. Says the

Lord. He's got plans and he knows what those

plans are. He doesn't need you to tell him. What his plans are supposed to

be. And so we live in this world.

We live in this disgusting. Guys, I'm telling you, it's a disgusting

world out there. It's a horrible, sin

saturated world that wants nothing to do with the living God.

That's the world you live in? That's the world I live in. It is

horrible. And guys, as much as it might try to promise you life, I promise

you all it's offering you is death. All it's offering you

is death. But we belong to this kingdom and here we are. You had no

choice to be born in the timeframe that you were born. Here you are. Here

we are. God knew. God knew exactly the time and

place where he was putting you.

So your circumstances may change, but God's promises

do not. His character, his love, his grace,

his sovereignty are never compromised because our situation and

our circumstances. We sing a song here sometimes that says

his goodness is running after me. Has anybody seen that, sang that song? I

love that song, Fred. His goodness is running after me. I wondered one

time when I was singing that song. Song. If his goodness is

running after me. It must mean that I am running from his goodness.

So what does it look like if I stop running from his goodness, maybe his

goodness would catch up with me and I would recognize that if I would just

stay rooted and planted, I'll. Know this sovereign God better than I've

ever known Him.

We spend our lives running away from this God.

Stop and be planted, be rooted, stop running, be

still and know that he. Is

God in the midst of the. Exile was a guy by

the name of Daniel. Everybody know the story of Daniel in the lion's den?

I've got a story. I don't have time. About a lion in Africa.

It'd make you laugh. Because I fell down. Because

he sneezed.

Lions are scary animals, okay? They're scary animals.

Daniel's in the middle of this exile, and there are

some people who are. Jealous of Daniel's

supernatural ability to do what he does. Have you ever had

anybody jealous of you and your ability to do

things? Let me flip the coin. Have you ever been jealous of somebody else's

ability to do things? So in their

jealousy, they go to. The king and they say, hey, listen, King Darius,

they know Daniel prays to the true living God. And they say,

hey, listen, you need to issue a decree that says no one is to

worship or bow down or pray to any other God. They're

supposed to only do that to you. And the king signs this decree.

So here's Daniel. What is Daniel supposed to do? Daniel has been

faithfully, three times a day, going before the Lord, praying, offering. Incense to the

Lord, praying to the. Lord every single day, faithful. And so this

proclamation comes out, and let's look at what Daniel's response is.

Now, when Daniel learned that the decree had been published,

this is what he did. He went home

to his upstairs room where the windows

opened toward Jerusalem. And three

times that day, he got down on his knees and he

prayed, giving thanks to his God,

just as he had done before.

If that's not a slap in the. King'S face, I don't know what

is. If that's not a slap into the. Law'S face, I don't know

what it is. But here's the point. Daniel

decided that what God Almighty said. Was

superior to what the king said. And I'm

telling you, we are given a bunch of things right in here

that are all superior to anything that this world is telling you

to do. Now here's where the rubber hits the

road. There was a consequence for that action. Action.

There was a consequence for that action. See, here's the thing. Please

understand this. We are at war.

I'm going to be talking about this war a little bit next week, but. We

are at war. There is a spiritual war out there.

A war for souls, a spiritual war that's happening, and you're

involved with it. But what the world does is numb. You and blind you to

around you. So you get so distracted that you have no idea what's going on.

And so, because we don't know what's going on. What happens is we get. In

situations, we do what Daniel did. But here's the thing. Understand, when

he violated that rule, it was actually a cause for him to say, I'm

willing to die for this king. Are

you willing to die for this king?

Aren't you glad you came this morning?

Are you willing to die for this God you say you believe in.

Man? I'm willing to travail at night for the window of heaven to open and

pour out its blessing. I'm willing to go before the Lord to ask for that

house mortgage and that new car and all of this new. Are you willing to

lay your life down for this king?

Because we are called daily to pick. Up our cross and follow him.

We are called daily to pick up. Our cross and follow him.

Faithfulness is often proven not by where you go,

but where you stay. By where

you stay. Faithfulness is often proved

not by where you go, where you stay. But here's the thing. You see this

plant I've got right here? This is a green plant. It's a real

plant. It's a green plant. We picked this up yesterday. Now, I don't know about

you. How. Raise your hand. Have you ever gone to the store to pick out

a flower or a plant or anything like that? Raise your hand. Anybody? Okay, some

of you in this room. Now, when I go and buy a plant,

I'm not looking to pay my money for something that's wilty.

Something that's dying, right? I want something that's thriving and

alive. Anybody with me? I want something that's thriving and alive. In fact, I tell

I will go. We will have a whole agenda for a meeting. And I'll go

up to Pastor Barbie and say, hey, Barbie, we got some plants out here in

the foyer that are dying. It's the first thing I say. I'm like, we have

got to get those revived, right? We don't want dead things come to

Springhouse. We want you to live. We want

you to live right? And so Barbie will work real hard. I just so

appreciate. Who appreciates our executive Pastor Barbie, man.

She's like, let me finish this last. Shenanigan you gave me. And then I'll go

and help get. The plants replaced so that we can listen. I want something that's

living, living. And so this is living. But here's the thing.

There's something that's happening that we do not see in order to

see this living thing. There's something that's happening

underneath the Surface. That does not look as pretty

as this looks. In order for this to look the way

it looks. Are you with me? So if we were to pull this.

Up and out, we would see that. The bottom

of this does not look. As pretty as the top of this.

Right?

The bottom of this looks so messy. And dirty and

nasty. But might I suggest that this is.

Where the life happens. This is

where the life happens. And there are roots coming out of this

tree that if I don't. If I don't replant this into some. Soil,

what's going to happen? It's not going to keep looking like this, I can tell

you that much. It does not matter. Listen to

me. It does not matter how much you filter your life on Instagram. If

you don't have real life happening at the surface. Everything else is

fake. Everything else is fake.

God does his best work in the. Midst of

messy, dirty, dark situations.

He does his best work underneath the surface.

He does his best work in the places where there are no.

There's no applause. It doesn't feel good. It

doesn't look good. You know how bad right now? I want to go wash my

hands. This is

messy, but it yields something so

beautiful. And what I'm trying to convey to you today

is that so many of us find ourselves

uprooting.

We will replant that and let it live.

We find ourselves uprooting ourselves

just like this. I'd use this again. I didn't intend to do this.

What happens if I continue to do this? I believe that this truly will be.

This can be salvaged. But imagine for a moment, Imagine for a moment

if every Sunday I got up here and did the same thing. What's going to

happen? This is going to die. This is

going to die. And so many of us,

so many of us, the moment something gets hard or something rocks our

world, we want to uproot. Uproot and go somewhere else.

Want to uproot and go somewhere else. Remember last week I talked about, we

are not. God does not want our lives to be filled to capacity. And

he also doesn't want the version of your life that you think you're. All put

together, that you're saying, hey, I fit everything in. No, what he wants is an

empty. Vessel to use every single day. But here's the

thing. We wake up in the morning and I put these on red balls, because

these are red ball things. Some of us will

uproot because an. Opportunity has presented

itself. Some of us will uproot

from everything we've Known because we're frustrated.

Some of us will uproot from a lifetime of

people and things because we. Were offended by something.

Some of us will uproot because. Because of being impatient.

I thought I would be advanced. I thought I would get a promotion by now.

I thought I'd be making this by now. I thought I'd see my life like,

we're impatient. Some of us will uproot because

of fatigue. Anybody tired today? Raise your hand if you're tired.

Some of us will uproot our lives because we're tired. We've

got fatigue. Raise your hand

if you've dealt with pain. Some of us will uproot

a relationship in three seconds flat the minute we experience any pain. Why

do I have you raise your hand on these? Because there's somebody in this

room that walked into this place and said, I am the only one.

And when you raise your hand, when I ask these questions, it

obliterates the. Lie that I am the only one dealing with

this. And it allows a pathway for the. Holy Spirit of God to work.

So if you were dealing with any of these at some point in your. Life,

would you raise your hand? Everybody look around the room. Now, I did these

on red balls because nobody goes into

a work situation. I don't interview for a work situation hoping

that I land upon frustration. Nobody says, I want to

be in relationship with you. I'm hoping that you'll cause me pain and

hurt. These things come out of the blue.

They come out of the blue. But if we've got our life all filled

up and there's no margin to deal with these things when they come in, then

all we do is in our own strength try to handle them. And what we

find ourselves doing is uprooting when we were supposed to stay.

Some of God's best lessons are found in these places.

The exile of Israel was allowed by God. God's going to

allow pain and frustration and suffering and all these things

to come your way. He wants to utilize them. Why? Because he doesn't like

you? Because he enjoys seeing you walk through that? No, because he

wants you to lean on Him. He wants you to understand

that when you stay rooted and planted, hurricane force

winds can come at your life. But if you are rooted and planted. In

him, nothing can destroy you. Nothing can can destroy

you. And so we come to him

in this way with these obstacles

that come because we're human and they happen. I went

home yesterday after we had a seminar here. In the morning, I went home and

ate a sandwich. And on The TV was the movie the Notebook. Somebody seen the

Notebook? There's a scene in the Notebook where Noah and Allie

are there at the car, and he says to her, I'm. Not

afraid to hurt your feelings. I'm

not afraid to hurt your feelings. This is going to be hard.

This is going to be tough, but I want to be together and I'm not

going anywhere. What, Allie, do you want to. Which she

responds, but somebody is going to get hurt no matter which

way I go, and it's not fair. And, guys, if there's ever a parallel

of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God is saying, listen, I know this

is going to be messy sometimes, I know this is going to be hard sometimes,

but I'm not going anywhere because, April, I want you.

Jamie, I want you. Wade, I want you, says the

Holy Spirit. And then he says, what do you want to do? And so many

times we will make our decisions based on what he said or

she said or how he feels or she feels, instead of walking in obedience and

giving our lives to this holy God. He's not

going anywhere. If someone leaves this relationship,

it's you. Oh,

thank you. That is so kind of you. Thank you. You are such a kind

give. Isn't Ken a kind person?

I now feel clean. Praise the Lord.

Hallelujah. I just hope I don't get be afraid to get

messy again.

Sometimes uprooting happens because things are hard. And sometimes

uprooting happens because something shiny is dangling out in front of

us. I want to tell you this this morning. God

is not nearly as. He is not nearly as concerned

about your advancement and your promotion as you are.

He is not nearly as concerned about your bank account as you are.

He's not nearly as concerned about you. Climbing the ladder of success

as you are. God is not trying to better the world's

economic system with you and your talent.

He's trying to build a kingdom. And in the same way, he'd like to

use you to do it, he'd like to use you to do it. There's a

story about the rich young ruler in the Old Testament. You know that story?

He comes and he's got everything, and he's come to Jesus and he's like,

listen, I've obeyed all the rules. I've done all this. And Jesus says, yes, you

have. He says, so what do I need to have eternal life? And

Jesus says to him, go and sell all your possessions. Give everything away, and then

follow me. And the Word tells us that he turns away and

he's Sad. You know what that tells me it

means that it means this. When we are

asking God to move in our lives, it doesn't always come in the

form of advancement, promotion and increase

in the least in the way that we think it does.

Sometimes we must decrease. The Word tells us in John says

I must decrease. So why? He can, he can

increase. I don't believe that scripture ever treats movement

casually. If you look throughout scripture when, when. There'S a

movement of God, it's not a casual thing. It's not, oh yeah, by the way,

let's just, let's just do this. There's significance if God

moves you. If God has you uproot, there's significance

in that move that impacts the kingdom.

But if you uproot and move too early when you're not supposed to,

outside of God's grace and outside of God's will, if you do that too early

and you do that without them, then you are headed toward destruction. And you're probably

going to take some. People down with you. You're probably going to take some people

down with you. And so

because of this very important. Truth and where we are with abiding.

And because in a room this size, I believe that there are people who.

Are tempted to uproot emotionally,

relationally, vocationally and spiritually.

I want to shift from preaching at. You this morning

and I want to put my shepherd hat on. And I'm going to invite you,

if you have an ink pen, these. I don't ever do this, but this would

be a good idea to write some of these things down. Because here's the deal.

If you're not walking through a season. Right now where you come across a

temptation to uproot, you will. You inevitably

will because everybody succumbs to. Some type of frustration, opportunity,

pain, hurt, all those things. So I'm gonna give us seven questions that we need

to ask. And these are the questions. I forgot

this point. That which is messy may be what's maturing you. Okay,

so what does God ask us to consider before

we move? And this is what I invite you to write down. This

is a. Let's filter this decision, okay? With

some biblical wisdom, some God given wisdom here. Okay, so

what does God ask us to consider? Everybody say the word before,

not after. It doesn't help us

after right now. It might

illuminate the mistake we made, but it doesn't help us after before we

move. Number one, am I moving from emotion or from

discernment? Am I moving out of emotion or

discernment? One of the clearest patterns I see. In Scripture is this.

God does not give major direction in. Moments of emotional

escalation. God does not give

major direction when. You are emotionally heightened.

There was a situation a while back. Where a person who had worked

for me for a while came to the table to ask if they could meet

with me. And I walked in there and I sat down. I thought we were

going to meet. With something about something else. And they said to me, hey, Mr.

O', Day, I need to give you my resignation. This person had been with us

for a very, very, very long time, more than a decade. And I

looked at this person, I was like, okay. Wow. They're like, yeah, I feel like

the. Lord's telling me to transition out and X, Y, and Z. And

I was like, okay. And, you know, anyone that says to me, the Lord has

said, you know, it gives me pause before I respond. Because if the Lord said,

who am I? Right. Okay. The Lord said, but I didn't have a piece about

it. And so I'm driving, I get in my car and I drive in and.

And I felt like the Lord said, this is not from me. And

so, upon further investigation, after talking to this.

Talking to this young man, he had been carrying anger

towards someone. He'd been carrying anger towards someone.

And whenever the anger was addressed, when the anger was addressed

with the person that they were carrying the anger with, we

found out something that is all too common amongst people.

There was a misunderstanding, and this young

man was willing. To uproot

everything they. Had known off of an assumption that

caused anger in their life. Am I moving

out of emotion or out of discernment? Am

I making this move out of emotion or. Emotion is real,

but emotion is not a reliable compass.

I invite you to ask this question before you uproot. If

nothing changes about my situation in. Six months, is it still

God?

Because our emotions will have us taking flight in three seconds flat.

It is not the time to make earth chattering decisions and uproot

when you are an emotional mess. Many times we call

God is leading me. What we're actually saying is, I

need this discomfort to end. Colossians

3:15 says this. Let the peace of Christ rule your hearts. The operative rule.

The word there is rule. Let the peace rule your hearts.

In situations where there's movement, you ought. To have peace, not

emotional turmoil. You ought to have peace. You ought

to have peace. God leads with peace, not panic.

Next question. Have I slowed down enough

to actually hear from God? This is why

our evaluation of capacity is super important.

We are a hot pocket generation. Anybody ever had a hot

pocket before? 2 minutes flat. That thing's piping hot.

Put it in your mouth right away, you'll burn yourself.

You cannot put the filter of a hot pocket generation on

a great glorious God who knows what he's doing.

He does not move like that. The fastest move in

scripture that I see God do is he makes Saul a king.

And we all know how that turned out. It wasn't that God made a mistake.

God anointed Saul. He appointed, he chose him because the people said, we want a

king. But Saul himself was more concerned about his

promotion than he was obeying the. Word of the Lord.

God does not move at the pace that we move that the world. He does

not. He does not succumb to the world's timeline.

And unfortunately, because we live in a world that's inconvenient sometimes to us.

But God's not about making it convenient for us. He's

about his will and his plan.

Am I honoring a commitment I have already made?

Am I honoring a commitment I've already made? One of the most

overlooked spiritual disciplines. In modern

Christianity is faithfulness.

Scripture places enormous weight on honoring our. Commitments,

even when they become inconvenient. Ecclesiastes says this. When you make a

vow to God. Do not delay to fulfill it. He has no pleasure.

Fulfill your vow. It is better not to make a vow than to make one

and not fulfill it over. In Matthew, chapter five, it says, let your

yes be yes and your no be no.

Margaret Meek used to be our children's pastor here

before her passing and going to be with Jesus. And one of the things

that I learned under her discipleship was

running kids ministry. You should try it sometimes.

I have a wife who's doing it right now with a wonderful group of ladies

out there. And children's ministry is one of the hardest

ministries to staff to find volunteers for.

But Margaret, every single year, she would go to

every volunteer, no matter how dire the situation

was with volunteers. And she would look them eyeball to eyeball and say, will

you pray about committing to this ministry for another

year? Because Margaret did not want people there. Because

they felt bad for Margaret. She didn't want people there because

they felt a need or even the fact. That they loved kids. She wanted people

who were walking obedience to a call God placed on their life.

Because if you're working for the Lord under something he's asked you to do, he

will give you the grace you need to do it. He'll give you the

grace. And so here. And I beseech all of our leaders, all of our. If

it's youth or kids or young adults or men's whoever, whatever ministries

we. Have here, I'm always saying, guys, make.

A commitment term for a year for. Some

predetermined amount of time where a. Person can go before the Lord and say, lord,

do you want me to. Commit from here to here? And then when they get

here, you can go before Lord, Lord, is my season up? Or do you want

me to commit from here to here? Do you want me to commit from here

to here? And guys, in the middle of that commitment, we commit

and serve with faithfulness and excellence. Even if it's hard.

Even if it's hard, we continue to serve.

And so let's address for a moment the issue here. I

misheard God. I told you.

Yes, but I misheard God. Has anybody ever done that or

heard that? I've told them yes, but I misheard God.

Let me tell you what to do in that situation. If you've told somebody yes,

and you've. Given them your word and you misheard God,

serve anyway. Because here's the thing.

The first thing we want to do. When we feel like we misheard God is

to do something. But might I suggest that it was your doing that got

you in the place in the first place, in the situation in the first

place? I believe that if you will acknowledge. To the

Lord, lord, I made a mistake. I missed your voice. I wasn't supposed to

serve for that time that I said that I was going to serve. I think

the Lord will meet you right where you are and give you a grace covering

for that season. Now, will it be hard? Probably. But

you're learning something. You're learning something as you work through

committing to your word and allowing the Lord to allow

you the opportunity and the ability to be faithful. There

will be blessing at the end of it. Next question. Is

this. Is this just a season or am I just

uncomfortable? Is this the season or am I just.

Guys, nothing is forever. But not everything

ends when it gets hard.

There are seasons. But seasons are determined by using

wisdom and discernment, not dictated by our emotions and how

we feel. Nobody has

a forever assignment, but everyone has a responsibility

to finish what they've started.

Next. Have I invited wise counsel or just

those in agreement with me?

I think one of the fastest ways to deceive ourselves is to only

listen to the voices that affirm what we already want.

We know how to gravitate to those. Who will say yes. Or say no or

agree with us. And, you know, one of the things, if you're

in a place where you want to get counsel and your opening line to the

person you're talking to. Is this, can you believe that they

ellipses. You're talking to the wrong person.

You're talking to the wrong person. When the conversation becomes

more about them and the situation than what the Lord's. Doing in your life, you're

probably talking to the wrong. You need somebody who's going to slow. Slow you down,

who's going to. Who knows you, who can offer you biblical

counsel and who can point you into the direction and is not afraid to point

you in a direction that you don't want to go.

When I was 18 years old, I knew that the Lord had placed a call

of ministry in my life. Didn't know what it was for. I thought, honestly, guys,

I thought there. Was such a long time I thought I was going to be

the next children's pastor in this church. There was so long, I thought I was

going to be the next youth pastor. Like forever youth pastor of this church. Like,

when the Lord's placed me somewhere, I'm just. I'm serving like it's my forever thing

until the Lord does it. So being here in this

particular position. Was not on the radar. But when I was 18, I was.

Serving under Margaret and kids ministry, and I went to a conference with Pastor Wayne,

and it was in Atlanta. And this. And this young pastor there comes up to

me and he says, I've seen. You dancing down front. You're going to come to

my church and be my youth pastor pastor. And I said, amen, let's go.

I knew I had a call for ministry. I went to a conference and I.

Found out I'm going to be a. Youth pastor at this church. And so I

got in a car. And I drove to South Carolina. And somewhere

in the library of videos, VHS videos that I have, there

is a video of me preaching in this predominantly African American

church where everybody is shouting Amen and I am not

making one lick of Satan sense.

I watched that video a decade later and I was

mortified. The things coming out of my mouth. Were not even true, not even

biblical. And the church was saying Amen. But I was going to be their youth

pastor. I was going to be their youth pastor. They invited me to a dinner

downstairs. It was good. I drove back, so happy. And I went right up to

Pastor. Ronnie and I said, guess what? I'm moving to South

Carolina to be a youth pastor. At this church. And you know what he did?

Because he loved me so much, he laughed in my face.

He literally laughed in my face and said, no, you're not.

Now, I had a lot of options at that moment, offense being one of them,

but I knew in that moment, Ronnie loves me. I

was disappointed that he wasn't championing what I thought I was supposed to do.

But the value and wisdom and the counsel that was before me made me pause

and go, wait a second. Maybe this is not what I was supposed to do

do. My life would have been in shambles had I

gone to be the youth pastor of aren't you?

You need somebody in your life who loves you enough to say, no,

no. This doesn't sound like. Look like the Lord in your life.

You don't need somebody to manipulate you and nobody can control you. I could

have still gotten in my car and went to go do that and learned the

lesson the hard way. Thank you, Lord, for the

guardrails in my life.

Where there's no counsel, the people fall. But in the multitude of

counselors, there's safety. Go to

counselors. Find somebody that you trust that knows you, that knows

the Lord and will give you counsel. The next one is this.

Am I being sent or am I running?

Am I being sent or am I running? This question matters because

movement can look. Spiritual on the surface while it's

being fear driven on the inside. Running really

is a reactive response. It's emotionally charged.

It's motivated by escape.

Remember Jonah? Jonah's response wasn't because he

didn't hear what the Lord said. He heard loud and clear what the Lord wanted

him to do. And he ran and he disobeyed.

And we saw what happened. Smelly, stinky situation

calling sends us fear, causes us to run. And

lastly, this. Write this down. Will this produce greater

fruit or just greater relief?

Before you uproot and move, will this. Produce greater fruit or just greater

relief? Jesus does not measure our lives by comfort.

He measures our life by fruit. And relief feels good in

the moment. It feels great in the moment. But

fruit is what will last. When Jesus

talks about, remain in me, abide in me, he's not talking about

staying forever in whatever place you're in. He's saying, be faithful

until God clearly moves you to the next thing.

There are some gentlemen who really have meant

a significant amount to my life, have spoken to my life. These guys

here are really important to me.

And it's not even necessarily the words that come out of their

mouth. It's how I'VE watched them live their life. The

first one is Ronnie Meek. Ronnie served faithfully

for 33 years as this pastor. And let me tell you,

now that I'm a pastor.

Ronnie served for 33. Years as pastor

of this church faithfully. Hal

Laughlin sitting down here in front. He was the golf pro

at Smyrna golf course for 31 years.

It was an easy breeze the whole time, right, Hal? No problems, no issues. Just

sit back.

The man on the end there, some of you have seen him. That's my stepdad,

David, and that's my mom with him. David's going

to retire soon after 40 years working at Tridon here in

Smyrna. That type

of faithfulness, where is it in this generation? Not

to mention that all three of these men have been married to the. Same

spouse for three decades. Not to mention that all

three of these men have served the Lord Jesus Christ for over three

decades.

Remarkable admiration,

leverage in the kingdom, in the spiritual

being used by God. All come and derive from

a posture of faithful. I know lots of guys who

can come up to my life and say. A lot of wonderful quotes and a

lot of things. But let me follow someone who stays in the

trenches when it's hard, that I can count on, that's stable, that has

a foundation and says, it's not me, it's this God that I

serve. You see what they understand, these three men? A

faithful believer will finish what they start. A

faithful believer will finish what they start. Start. Let me tell you something. When

you come to the end of a race, that thing

that you're doing. How you finish should be better than how you

started. We work

harder, we press in. At the end of the race, when. Racers are running that

relay, they don't ease up and back off. On that last leg, what do they

do? They sprint. They give it all they got. So

even if God's moving you out of a season, you

give everything you've got. Because how you in that season is. How God's going to

let you begin that next thing. And

the God that I serve, at least how he does, Kevin, if I don't learn

the lesson on that lap, you think you're going somewhere where the grass is

greener on that other side. Guess what? That same lesson is waiting right there for

you. Just different faces, different voices.

But you get to run that lap. Again because God's not finished

maturing you. Jesus says,

remain in me. Remain in me.

Brittany Grisham sent this picture to me last night.

If you look in the middle, there's a tree there. And it's literally planted. It

looks. It's like literally on that rock, and it's

flourishing. It's green. I mean, it's literally flourishing. And it's planted on

a hard surface. It's planted in what does seem

should bring life. But if you look at a different perspective, you'll notice

that the tree's roots are connected to a source around

the way. You know what this tells me? You may be planted

in a hard place. You may be standing in somewhere that's

rough and hard and rigid and doesn't give life. But if your roots are

connected to the source, you will thrive in the middle the. Of. Of that hard

situation. In that hard place. You will thrive in the middle of that

circumstance, and God will be your source and he will sustain you if

you will just stay planted. Would you stand with me this morning?

So I'm going to bridge these two. Messages last week, capacity

and margin. That still is relevant

today. What'd you do with last week's message? I found

myself finding myself, Lord. I don't have the grace for this

particular conversation, Lord. I don't know that I'm supposed to be doing this

particular thing. God. Oh, I'm. Lord, I didn't. I was supposed to pick that up,

and I didn't pick it up. Lord, would you forgive me? Would you help me?

What are you doing with this, guys? And what are you doing with this today?

Because there's at least one person in this room. You came in here

knowing that you. Were about to jump ship. I don't necessarily mean from the church,

from whatever it is, relationally vocational, whatever it is.

And the Lord said, no, I drew. You in today just like I

sent Jeremiah did. I talk about Jeremiah 17

here? I'm going to say it again if I did Jeremiah 17. You read it.

If you're in the Bible plan, Israel. Is in

the thick of sin. And he sends Jeremiah to stand by the

gates, and they're coming in on the Sabbath, and the Israelites are pumping

out the work. And Jeremiah is saying to the Israelites as they're coming through

the gate, he's. Saying to them, keep the Sabbath holy.

Stop. Stop. Keep the Sabbath holy. And as I was reading that this

week, I went, lord, why were you not going after them

for. For worshiping another God? Why were you not going? Why is

this? Why is it the Sabbath? And, you know, he said to me, he said,

it doesn't matter what I say if you don't have the capacity. To hear my

voice. So why Is he addressing the

Sabbath? Why are we starting with capacity? Guys, it doesn't matter. I'm

just a talking head. If you don't have the margin to allow the Holy

Spirit to speak to your heart and make change, real change in your life,

so all of this is connected. So

maybe God is saying, is that relationship frustrated? Stay.

Is that job hard right now? Stay.

Are you sick of hearing Kevin's voice? Stay.

Is that opportunity looking so good that you're willing to walk out on

everything you've ever known?

Stay. So this morning we're going to do something a little different.

We're going to center our hearts. Have you ever been. Kailyn, have you ever been

in a. Situation where you're singing a song and you have no idea what you

just said you're singing it? You know, I've done that. I've read books, too. I'll

be in the Bible. My brain's going a miles an hour. So. So here's what

we're going to do. Pastor Will and Pastor Jonathan and Brittany. I would like you

to lead us in this song. And I'm going to invite you not to sing.

As beautiful as your voices are. Yes, Justin, your voice

too. So beautiful. I'm going to ask you to turn it off today.

And in the midst of the song. Being sang over us, I want you to

quiet your heart and your spirit. And connect

with this king of our. Life and allow

him to literally speak. To you about where

you are right now.

Do you have margin in your life? Are you planted? Are you rooted?

Some of you today need to make a decision to root. It's not that you're

being uprooted. It's like you haven't landed. You. You need to say, you look like

this right here. And you need to look like

this right here. Okay? So let's

worship today by literally just

getting vertical. You know, there's an old fashioned thing

about getting on your knees and making your chariot altar. That might be something you

want to do or you lay out in the floor here. You can do whatever

you. You can posture yourself, whatever. Whatever way helps you

connect with God. Do that. Let's worship.