Audacious Faith- Shaken and Awakened

Do not hold back that scripture from Isaiah. I was actually reminded of it in a big way recently by of all things cleaning our garage. Have you guys ever lived in a place at least a few years and you're like this place I can't even move in here. We are going to clean it out. You take a weekend. Have you done that? And you just cannot believe all the stuff that is in there. You're just like, when did we get this? When did we get that? You see great. Pictures, maybe you haven't seen in a long time. We were doing that, taking us a little while, and I mean we were finding weird stuff. Like there were elmo slippers, but they were like a man-size elmo slippers If you can believe that. Not just any VHS, how to dance the Macarena in 17 Easy Steps And you find these, you find pictures, you know, and some of them are like old school, maybe you were in college when you worked out a little bit more, you're like, was I ever really that skinny? And when did I buy parachute pants? Why did I buy parachute pants? So but Anna uh and I have been have been working on this project a bit Now if you know Anna, you know have you all met Anna? I'm gonna embarrass her. Honey, would you stand up just for a second? There she is As you can see, I were I married the world's most gorgeous Navajo. You guys can go look it up. I'll wait in the Guinness Book of World Records The most gorgeous now. Um, she is honestly she's the strongest, most courageous person I know. She grew up in some not great circumstances and stood up under it Live for Jesus under it. She's the strongest woman I know. So it freaked me out a little bit when I was uh uh I went in in for a second inside and and all of a sudden I hear her screaming Doug Doug get out of here please help help oh my goodness what's going on and I And I ran out there and she said, Doug, please, you must get out here. Come, please come. So I finally get out there. Doug, hurry! And I get there. And I'm like, honey, what's wrong? And she said, it's, it's a, it's a Spider! Said yes, honey, it's a spider, and it's about an inch long spider. And by the looks of it, it's been dead for a long time. Um and she said, I don't care, kill it, make sure. I figured this was a pretty good time to like, it was an easy time to be Mr. Hero to my wife, so I'm like, you got it, baby. Took care of business. We found all this cool stuff. Um, you know, and I gotta I'm gonna ask someone to bring it up for me. That's it's my blue notebook back there because it's got a cool letter. I found this Letter from my dad actually that was dated February first, 1995. And I honestly don't I don't remember getting it. My dad doesn't remember Sending it, but it absolutely blew me away. I'm gonna get to it in just a second here. Um, where is it? It's right here. Sent me this letter When I was living in Winslow, Arizona. So we found that uh and and it really brought me back. The things he was saying though brought me back to a Time in my life where I was holding back. I just didn't know it. So tonight we're parachuting into the life of Joshua. Caleb a little bit, mostly Joshua. If you've read the book of Joshua, you know, here's the situation. So the Israelites, it's been 40 years, they're at the end of that time where they have to wait. For the promised land. That's over. Moses has died. The only leader they've ever known has died. And it's Joshua in charge now. God says it's time to possess the land, get into the promised land. The only problem is they have to get across the Jordan River, which is huge, and it's also flooded at this point. They are to get across that to go and take on this city, Jericho, that from all we know was one of the most fortified cities ever with the enormous walls And uh oh by the way, they're supposed to get past it just by blowing trumpets. So no wonder God keeps saying, when you read Joshua, especially the first chapter, God keeps saying, do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged. Do not be dis uh afraid. Don't be discouraged. So these are and these are people with an uncertain future and definitely We could say things to be really worried about. So it's into that environment that we're going to drop into Joshua's life. And I'm going to ask y'all, I'm going to pray in a second, but if you would, as God speaks to them in the scripture that we'll read, we're just going to ask him if he would speak to us. tonight and maybe we could see ourself in that story. So let's pray for a minute. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this beautiful day, the cool weather. And we just want to invite you to speak to us here. We don't want to hold back, Lord. If you have something that you have for us, especially if we aren't quite hearing it or aren't quite there, help us To hear you and trust you in that. In Jesus' name, amen. So I went to Wheaton College. That's where my daughter is right now. No one She's almost 20, if you can believe that. And while I was there, it's a long story, but I'll give you the bottom line. When I was there, I knew that the Lord was calling me to do of all things. I thought I was gonna go be a professional musician. I thought I was gonna go to Nashville and do all that. But of all things, he was asking me, telling me to go to a reservation in northern Arizona. And It was known as one the tribe known as incredibly friendly people. They were very loving, but they were known as one of the hardest tribes to reach as far as Jesus goes one of the most resistant and even proud of it. So I'm like, oh that sounds good. I think I'll go there. All sorts of obstacles when I decided to go. I was right out of college And I just knew that there were young people there that from what I had heard, get this. I didn't believe it until I saw it. I was told by, there were very few older Christians, but I was told by them that we don't know of one young person. That is following Jesus here in a tribe of about 10,000. So I decided to go right after college And going didn't make a whole lot of sense, especially on paper. I didn't have a whole lot of money. I didn't have a lot of experience. Sure, I grew up in a family. that love the Lord, but not a lot of experience. Um from what I had heard, nothing had had worked there. There had never been a real movement. Of God. I'm white and I was pretty sure they would figure that out about me pretty quickly. And I was from a suburb. I didn't have a five-year plan. I was just kind of this I don't even know if I had a five-week plan. I was just this young, I think it was 22 guy That knew about these the obstacles and knew that there were issues, but the only thing I knew is that God was saying to go there And he was saying to go right after college. Um I remember when I got there, one of the first things that I was told by um another Christian an older lady, she said, I hear you're here to help with the young people here. And she said, I just want to tell you something. If I were you, I would just give up. It's like thank you. That's encouragement. So great. I'll see you later then. No. Because she said we've tried it. We've we've invited them to our churches. We've asked the young people to come and they just don't want to be there. And I said, Well, have you done anything besides invite them to your churches? No, okay. Okay. Might be part of the issue there. Um and Then my friend brought me to this gymnasium, and there was this guy speaking with a lot of authority and a lot of passion from the stage. And I will never forget what he said. It still rings in my ears because I couldn't believe that I heard this. He said, I am proud of my people for resisting the white man's Jesus Christ. For 500 years. Oh my goodness, what have I got myself into And still I knew all that was true, but I knew God was saying to go to the reservation and to live on the reservation. And just try to be a friend to the young people. If you you guys know all the awful statistics and it's not it's it's the same deal for young people, suicide and abuse and alcoholism He told me to go then, and so I did, not because I was especially brave. Or especially faithful. I wasn't. But I did happen to grow up in a family that modeled Matthew 6, 33. Put um When you put God first, seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. And I and I saw them live that. Maybe that's why I went So I actually I went there and I uh found a temporary place to live on the reservation. It's very hard to find a place to live there. Well I did, I found kind of I was able to to uh have uh uh this little uh trailer next to a friend briefly and and i st I was living there and I actually had some really amazing, miraculous breakthroughs. I just got out my guitar and um I invited some some guys over that I saw in a village. and uh played basketball with them. Um if you've seen me play, I don't know if you could call it playing basketball. Let's just say it was holding a basketball and throwing it in their their direction. But um I said, I said, why don't you guys come and let's start playing the guitar. together. So we did they st they they started to learn a little bit and um so I was like man maybe this is going to work and I was told by by one of the church people there They're like, we've we've got some news. Can you come meet with us? And um so I thought they were gonna say this is amazing. And they said, we have never seen it it was about 20 or 25 kids. They said, boy, we've never seen that happen before. And um here's the thing though, you can't use our facility anymore. Because one of the uh the kids left a mark on one of the rugs. And I just was, I was young and it and it just hit me so hard. I was like, I can't believe that. And then some more friendly fire things happened. And so what I ended up doing was I moved to Winslow, Arizona, about 90 miles away. I said I'll work on my music there. Maybe open uh some kind of a youth center there or something and um and man it was this was a lot easier for me okay because no Walmarts that's okay no theaters that's okay no taco bells that was harder And I was like, you know what? Maybe this will be easier than I think So I found a place to live there. And it was just, I'm like, this is maybe this is a pretty good plan. But here is the problem. It wasn't what the Lord had told me to do. So I was doing that, and that's when I got this letter. From my dad. Um, and uh it it kind of woke me up a little bit because I was like, I I still remember The Lord kind of working on my heart and saying this, you know this isn't where you're supposed to be And I was like, but Lord, you know, haven't I done a lot already compared to some of my other friends? I've I've done a lot. I I uh I left home I traveled here without anybody. I was actually engaged at Wheaton until the last day before I graduated. And we broke that off, not to Anna. She knows the whole story, don't worry. And uh and and I was like Lord I've I've already kind of paid a price here and he said that might be true Doug, but this isn't what I've told you to do. So I'm glad he wasn't the only one that saw that. So my dad wrote me this He said, Doug, I won't read you the whole thing, but my dad is the most supportive person you will ever meet. He's he is the r he is um he says you guys are the wind beneath our wings and that's true. He's the wind beneath mine in so many ways. He said Doug what you need more than anything he knew that I I wasn't quite Doing what the Lord told me. What you need more than anything is the full blessing of God. I believe God may be looking at the open doors He has already given you to see what you have done with them. I know that in each case there was a significant obstacle thrown in your path, but an obstacle should not necessarily turn you back from a God-given opportunity. Opportunity. Your first week, God gave you ministry to 20 kids out of nowhere. You told them you would be back. Have they seen you since? I don't know all the answers. But a day should not go by that you aren't actively serving Jesus' purpose for opening the doors on that reservation. He has given you opportunities unheard of so soon for for many others it takes years. That's the Lord in the prayers of many. Don't let anyone talk you out of God's open doors, whether it's the voice of jealousy or discouragement or well-meaning people, be courageous. God wonderfully gave you a relationship with many kids. They love you and are considering your Jesus. I'm excited about the victories. He wants to win through you. From my heart, with a lot of love and a lot of prayer, your loving dad. And brother in the battle. All I know is a few months later, I was back up. On the reservation. And I was actually going up three times a week and doing prayer walks and saying, Lord, you say you want me to live here. Wh where's the place to live? I I mean there's there's nowhere. I've looked, I've asked. So I was just walking around and there was this area that was kind of a big trailer park. There was a few there, couple houses, and I just kept walking around there and praying and praying. About the third time I was there, kind of appeared out of nowhere, this older gentleman, and he said, you don't happen to be looking for a house, do you? Well, fun you should ask, yes. He said, well, my my daughter actually is going to school now, and I can only promise it to you for four years. Okay. And you are gonna have to pay rent. I don't know if you're gonna be able to do that. I was like, oh my goodness, how much? It's gonna be $200 a month. $200 a month. Let me think about it. Yes, please. So he the Lord miraculously gave me a place to live there. The fruit from the path, the organization that we started there. And this is not because of me. I'm going to tell you this. A lot of faithful people. Brad, my wife, Sarah, Wes, so many. Wes and um some of our other Native friends and leaders were actually have been leading the path there for almost 30 years now. It's 30 years later. It's still going. And the fruit there has many young people professing. Jesus Christ, baptized on missions teams, being missionaries, on OEW teams, going to Bible schools and leadership training. And like I said, still 30 years later. And it's simply evidence of God's faithfulness and promise keeping. But might not have happened if Dad And challenge me there. We did read. We read Isaiah 54, 2 through 4. I'm not going to read it again right now, but this is all God's saying. Prepare To do something big. I've got something big for you. I'm not going to tell you exactly what it is right now, but I am asking you to prepare. And I'm wondering, I'm praying that if he has something like that for someone here tonight. That you might do the same thing. He said, do not hold back. And that's of course exactly what I was doing. Because Uh do not hold back is is actually the exact opposite of um what actually ends up keeping us from accomplishing God's big goals for us. It goes against our first instinct to not hold back, and that is comfort. Comfort is is powerful, it is seductive, it's insidious, and it's a direct enemy of doing a big work for God. The Greek word, get this, the Greek word for comfort is coziness. And isn't that true? We can get lulled into falling asleep and not realizing how comfortable we are. And then it gets hard to hear God. That's why, as Ron's been talking about, as we've all been talking about, why God sends earthquakes in our lives, in our spiritual lives, in our emotional lives to wake us up. One of my life verses says that God looks to and fro across the earth. Seeking whom he might strengthen, whose hearts are fully committed to him. And The longer it gets, the more we get closer to Jesus' return, the more people land on that cold list instead of the bold list. And remember, that's talking about believers. The more I think God is asking, who will be my Joshua's? Every one of us in this room, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and the same God. raises the dead can be. Joshua 1, 10 and 11, Joshua said, Joshua then commanded the officers of Israel. He says, go through the camp. And tell the people, get your provisions ready. Three days from now you'll cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land. The Lord is God, the Lord your God is giving you. For your own. A big plan for God's people. God is always up to something bigger than we might ask or imagine. And one way to know that is maybe tonight, maybe this weekend, even before this weekend, you've been feeling restless. In your heart. And and you've been doing like the Christian things you're supposed to do, but but it's they're not fulfilling for some reason. So if God is saying to you this weekend to do something big for Him, I'm praying that our answer will be What Joshua's men's answers was. When he said, We're going to cross the Jordan, we're going to go to the promised land, they answered Joshua, We will do whatever you command us, and we will go. Wherever you send us. This is that whatever you ask 100% Peter, Lord, because you say to put down the nets, I'll do it. It doesn't make sense, but I'll do it, even though the circumstances look scary. That's why the one thing that God wants Joshua and his men and all of us to do is this. Now I'm going to read this. If we have maybe some seminary students in here, I'm going to ask you to help me find the theme of this scripture, okay? Moses, my servant, is dead. Now then you and all these people get ready to cross the Jordan River and into the land I'm about to give to the Israelites. I'll give you every place where you set your foot. Be strong and courageous, hint, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant gave you. Have I not commanded you? Wait, be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you. wherever you go. And they answered him, only be strong and courageous. Okay, what is the theme? Can someone help me? Oh my goodness. You got it. First time. That's great. Be strong and courageous. But I mean how how do I do that? That's it's a wonderful command, but how do I do that? I just grit my teeth And say, I'm going to now be strong and courageous. But like God always does, he doesn't give us a command without telling us how to do it. Joshua 1 7 and 8, he says, in the middle of these big be strong and courageous, he says, be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you. Don't turn from it to the right or to the left that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this book of the law always on your lips. Meditate on it day and night. So that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Stay in the Word of God, especially. Let's just look at this word real quick here. Meditate. We're not think that that's not a word thinking of the weird, you know, someone on a cloud going, mmm, finding their chi or whatever. This is Spending time with God and not just praying, but also listening. Spending time to listen. The Bible says that Jesus went to lonely places every morning just so he could hear from his father. Sometimes he was gone so long they were wondering where where anyone seeing Jesus where is he? He was meditating on God's word. He was spending time with his father. And it it can be hard for busy, successful people to do that because it takes up um really our our most precious resource and that time, but no amazing work of God will happen without you, without me meditating on God's word. And really listening to what he has to say. So a renewed commitment to God's word is going to lead us to new boldness and surrender. It'll bring us to next level faith Big bold prayer, which always goes along with meditating, being in God's word. I don't know if you guys, I'm sure everybody in here has had a moment in their life where you are just driven to desperate prayer. Anna and I have had a few. One especially was our son Taylor, God had done a miracle in his heart. He was born, he was alive. And and that was a miracle in and of itself. But then a couple years later, they said there's a problem, there's nothing we can do surgically, but um the left ventricle uh in his heart is not big enough. It's uh but blood's not getting to his heart, it's not getting to his body, and we don't have a good option. We're we're I mean when the surgeon's telling you we're really concerned We got really concerned. He said the smallest balloon we have to do the job to stretch it out has burst. other kids' ventricles before. We just want to let you know that because the smallest one we have, his ventricle is so tiny And it's dangerous, but it's actually more dangerous to not have it done. So I'll never forget the kind of prayer Anna and I immediately this is this is uh face on the floor uh crying out to God Lord it it what was Taylor being healed at birth with was was that for nothing Lord. What are we going to do? If you know what that what that is, a Pulse Ox blood oxygen level, the the Uh the ideal is like 98, 99, 100. His was down to like 76. And they said, so we're gonna have to do this, we're sorry. So um we prayed desperately, cried out to God. We went there to have the procedure done, still a little nervous, trusting God. And they took his um Pulse ox level and the lady said hold on I need to call in somebody else here because I'm uh there I'm gonna bring in our expert. I'm like, why is there something wrong? She said, well just hold on. So She brought her in and she said, well, we're not sure how to explain this, but his his um his blood oxygen level is 99 right now It's never been that high. So that's good news, but we still we're we're gonna go and take a look and and bring them into surgery. And we did. I don't believe the surgeon was a believer just from talking with him. But I'll never forget this. He came out and he said, can I talk with you guys? And he had this strange smile on his face. And he kind of sat on the couch, he laid back and let out, he just exhaled, and he goes, says, I do not know how to explain this. But he said, I went in there to put the balloon in his ventricle. And this is a quote. He says, but it was like someone had already been in there and done it before I got there. God responds to crying out to him prayer. Um he's listening. How many of us though, I I don't know why it was at this point? Why was I not why was I not believing? I'd seen God work so many times already in Taylor's life. Why was I worried at all. I mean, how many times have we been where this guy was in Mark where um this guy is is telling Jesus that he wants his son healed and says, I do believe, but help me overcome My belief. Have you ever prayed that? Um let's look at Joshua again because he's got something to say about this. Before Joshua was a warrior, he was a worshiper. Joshua 5 here. Joshua's going out to kind of stake, to look around, to see what's going on. He's doing a little intel ahead of time, see what's up with the enemy. So he goes to look, and all of a sudden he sees a man there. He says, Joshua looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, Are you for us or for our enemies? Neither, he replied, but as commander of the army of the Lord, I have now come. Then Joshua fell face down to the ground in reverence. Some people think it it was an angel, but A lot of people believe it was a pre-Bethlehem appearance of the Son of God because he accepted worship and no angel would have. Joshua recognizes who he's praying to. And I Doug, do you realize who you're praying to? If so, why are your prayers so small so much of the time? Um and Jeremiah. Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you. This is the creator of two trillion galaxies. They used to think it was like a million. And then the Hubble telescope sent back some more pictures of like, well, actually a hundred million galaxies. By the way, we haven't gotten to the end of our galaxy, our one. There's actually a trillion galaxies. Now they're saying no, there's actually two hundred trillion galaxies. And we can't even get to the end of our one. This is the God Who governs the universe from his throne room? Are our prayers As big as he is. William Carey, if you know him, famous English missionary. He he actually started the first degree award in college in India. He had a very famous sermon, he it was in Nottingham, England, that sparked the modern missionary movement, and this is what he said. He said, Thou shalt see greater things Then these is going to sound familiar. Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch for the curtains of your habitations, lengthen your cords, strengthen thy stakes, expect great things from God, and attempt great things for God. Dare a bolder program. Dwell in an ampler world. Launch out into the deep. Woo! Anyone else ready to do that? Oh my goodness. Um again, do our prayers. Are my prayers reflecting the size of my God? There is a haunting scripture that every time I come across it, I stop and I think about it. I think about how my prayer life has been recently. You guys probably know it, but isn't this kind of a scary verse you do not have because you do not ask? You do not have because you do not ask. And then when we do ask, it's kind of this road, well, God help me have a good day and bless the missionaries. Help me be a nice guy. Um all fine stuff, but small stuff. And I'm afraid sometimes the only time I pray these big, bold, lid off my life prayers is when there's an emergency. Uh break glass in case of a in case of a bad doctor's report or a bad day on the Download. It helps knowing this. For me, it helps me in a big way knowing that when I'm praying this big blow-the-lit off prayer to my big God. It helps knowing this. You can be sure that God goes ahead of you when it's his battle that you're fighting. Remember, nowhere to live. I go Hey, do you need a place to live? Taylor's ventricle. I'm so worried about it. We get to the doctor and he's already been there. God is in even the most scary situation that you might have. So we can pray with with new Boldness and new confidence. These are some things that I hope we're praying for because God is listening. He wants to do a big, bold work in your life. And again, maybe he's been talking to you about it this these last couple days. But these are things we pray for, for unlikely breakthroughs in Joshua. 3, 5, it says Joshua, he was telling his men, consecrate yourself for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you. By the way, that was the Lord opening up the Jordan. So they could walk across on dry land, just like he had done with the Red Sea. Unlikely breakthroughs. There might be a relationship you're in that is just a mess right now. Maybe your finances are a mess. Maybe you have a child away from the Lord. Maybe your marriage could use some work. Maybe it's a huge life decision. God says, bring it to me. Don't be afraid to pray big. for unlikely breakthroughs, also for hard hearts. Um in Ezekiel 3626. This is our promise giver and our promise keeper God. He says, I can give you a new heart and I'll put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. Is anyone else Thrilled that he can take a heart that just is has grown cold and can become warm and loving again. So we pray for hard hearts. We pray for wandering children. What Ron shared this morning was amazing. Does anyone else Blown away by that, how to pray for a child who may be a prodigal. So we pray for big prayers for wandering children and we pray thinking next generation Uh this is really interesting in Joshua 4, 4 through 7. This is fascinating. So Joshua called together the 12 men he had appointed. From the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone. Okay? On his shoulder according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, what do these stones mean? Tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel. Forever. There's a reason God wanted to make monuments after his miracles. He does not want us to forget. He wants the next generation to know Um and it might be the first time you've been called a monument, but we are those monuments. Um it it doesn't take long on Instagram or on TikTok. I wouldn't even suggest you spend a whole long time on there, but it doesn't take long to see how desperate young people are for the hope of Jesus. And maybe you've got a child, a grandchild that is desperate Um who's going to tell them about God's faithfulness? Who who is who is going to um be the monument? Uh to say, I uh listen, you may not have seen him yet, but I have seen him part. The Red Sea, my Red Sea. I was there when he came through in my most desperate time. I was there when he healed the person I love. Our kids are listening. I I'll tell you this from working with teenagers long this long, that they might not seem like they're listening, but I promise you they are. I didn't seem like I was listening, but I promise you You. I was. God's people need those who have experienced God's faithfulness and miracles to speak up and share the spiritual wealth like this guy. This guy cracks me. This is awesome. This is Caleb now. Remember, Caleb's the other guy. Caleb and Joshua, who God said, you are going to see the promised land after these 40 years. And this is what he says. This is the first time he just speaks up here. And he says, now then, just as the Lord promised, he has kept me alive for 45 years since the time he said this to Moses while Israel moved about in the wilderness. So here I am today, 85 years old. I'm still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out. I'm just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. The Anakites are there and their cities are large and fortified, but the Lord helping me, I will drive them out just as he said. I love this guy. You can almost hear his voice. He's like, okay, whippersnappers, now you're you're gonna hear from Caleb now. Okay? Um there's kind of a little bit of that, you know, I ever have a grandparent say it took me 18 miles to get to school both ways and and uh in 14 feet of snow and There's a little bit of that. It sounds a little bit like that, but the thing is he can back it up. It's all true. Caleb and Joshua were the oldest guys in camp. So like Ron was saying this morning, we don't slow down at the end of a race when we're getting older. I've started to call it my uh Rice Krispies body Not Rice Krispie treats, my Rice Krispies body, because for some reason, last couple years when I get up first thing in the morning I hear little snaps, crackles, and pops coming from me. Sometimes they're really loud and it's very concerning Uh I I right when I turn 50, I'm 51. The day I turn 50, I have my two sons. Come in just all giddy. They're holding they're holding an envelope and and they're like just kind of kind of giggling and laughing. I'm like, these guys are so sweet. They're coming in first thing in the morning to bring me a birthday card. I'm feeling a little old, 50 years old, but here they are to be sweethearts. It was the welcome letter from AARP. And by the way, they brought it to me every day for the next two weeks. Every morning. Age is nothing but a number, I'll tell you that. My dad's my Caleb. All the days are all the days ordained for us. You know Ephesians 2. 10, we're God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus so we can do the good things. He planned for us long ago. If you think that you're winding down, I promise God isn't. Feeling that. Um so when do I die? When those good works are all done. So we're praying for unlikely breakthroughs, for hard hearts, for wandering children. We're thinking next generation. And we're praying for lost ones within our reach Jude 23. Save others by snatching them. We go without fear because we know. Fear is the number one thing that keeps us from sharing our hope story. But we know that Rahab, what Rahab knew, I'm not going to read all through the scripture, but Rahab said Remember she is she's like look I'm gonna I'm gonna let you spies hang out in the house here but uh the deal is when you Israelites come you guys have to cut me a break okay we've actually all heard of what you guys do. All the the people that that you might be scared of, we're actually scared of you. Our hearts actually melt with fear when we think about you. It's interesting, man. The enemy who tries to stop you with fear, our enemy, the devil, in fact, is afraid of you. And your God. Because fear is what the enemy will do to try to trip you up when you want to unleash the power of your hope story Revelation 12, 11. This is how people give their lives to Jesus. This is how people become new creations. They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. They did not love their lives so much. as to shrink from death. Guys, here's why all this matters what we're talking about tonight, because there are eternities. At stake. It's fascinating to me that God says he actually goes before us. There's that promise again. God's word says he plants eternity in the hearts of men. Isn't that interesting? People are already thinking about their forever. And it's never the problem. The harvest is plentiful. It's never the problem that there's a lot of people ready To respond to the gospel, but the workers are few. The harvest is huge. The issue isn't that people won't respond to the gospel. The issue is that no one's telling them. In Mark 5. 19, this was if you remember, Jesus uh healed a man, demon-possessed, and he says, Jesus, can I come with you? I can I kind of join the band? I want to do what you guys are doing. Jesus didn't let him, but he said, go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you. One of the first hope stories. That's all we do. So guys, just I'm I'm talking to us right now as we start to wrap up here as followers. I believe everybody here is not on that cold list. from Matthew 24, put on this bold list. I believe I know that our great God wants to do something bigger. and bolder than ever through us, his body, his hands and feet to bring the gospel that put his love, his plan into motion. Sometimes the hardest step of faith to that big bold thing that he's asking you to do is the first one. He wants to put his plan into motion through you. So we take Joshua's lead. Joshua said. To his men. When you see the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, your God, and the Levitical priest carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. This is the beginning. of this huge big thing of going into the promised land. You are to move out from your positions and follow it. Then you will know, then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. So we move out, then you will know. First you go into this into the Jordan River that is at this flood level. with the ark and then I will tell you which way to go. But we we want to take the faith out of the equation. We we say, well can you give me some more details, God? And he says, without faith, it is impossible to please God. But take that first step towards that big bold thing and ask him what that is. And let God be God. I'm not suggesting in any way that that we somehow control how God moves. But the reality is that miracles happen that otherwise would not have when we step out in faith and we pray like we know that God will act. Stepping out spiritually, where we've decided that we're moving towards this big bold thing he's asking us to do. So we've decided in our heart and mentally, we've decided it in our mind and physically. We're taking actual actions to move towards the first step. And the next thing you know, he takes our little loaves and fish and turns them into something amazing. So together we're believing for that giant like David when all you've got is a slingshot. Believing for those walls. When all you've got is trumpets, believing for the multitude, when all you've got is one lunch. But in every case, God shows up and proves time and time again he is the kind of God that he says he is. So as we wrap up here and and we're about to pray, I just want to I just want to ask us to focus I'm able to what the Lord has been talking with us about these last couple of days, and I want to ask you as we're just completely focused on him, what is your Jericho? What is your your Jordan? See's asking us to take a first step towards the big bold thing that he wants you to do Um remember we are not following a plan. We're following a person. He may be saying something that may even feel a little frightening. Don't run from it. Run to him. Together, let us not hold back as we agree together. Right now in prayer. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we can feel, we know that you want to Do a big thing in our country, in our world. We know there's going to be a gospel explosion as there's a huge sin explosion. Lord, we know that as it gets closer to your coming back We want to be part of that gospel explosion, Lord, and we we just want to know. We want to hear from you If there's something that you're asking us to move towards, maybe even tonight, a decision Pray that, Lord, for each of my friends here, that you would make it very clear to their heart, that the Holy Spirit would make it very clear to them. What that is and what steps need to take to obey you, Lord. So help us to not hold back. And give you everything, no holds barred. Jesus' name, Amen.