The Invitation To Better

John chapter 10, verse 7. If you have it, this is Jesus. He says, This. Therefore, Jesus said again, Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out and find pasture. And listen to this, John 10 10. Many of you know this.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.

Somebody say amen. We’re starting a series today called The Invitation. And if you’re taking notes, what I’d like you to write down for the morning is this the invitation to better. The invitation to better. Pray with me. Heavenly Father, we’re so grateful for you. Thank you for being here with us. Thank you for a new year. Just like Jordan said, a year full of empty pages. New opportunities for us to embrace you, to embrace the life that you have called us to live. And we’re grateful that every step of the way, your grace and your help is with us, including this morning. It’s in your sons. Let me pray. Everybody said. Amen.

Living in the land of fine

Well, last week I was at the car dealership and I was getting an oil change. And so I was sitting there and there was another guy there, and this guy, he clearly wanted to, he was waiting for his car too. He clearly wanted to talk. I clearly did not. I wanted to work on my computer, to be honest. You know, and I had my AirPods in, which seems to be a pretty universal, I don’t want to talk type of signal to the world, but he didn’t care. He was just talking and he was saying something like, Oh, brother, can’t we? I don’t know how long this is gonna take. Oh boy, here we go. You know, all that kind of stuff. And so, like, I could tell he wanted to talk, so it’s fine. So I take out my air pods and I talk, I introduce myself. He introduces himself, and I said, I said, So how are you, man? And he said he said, he said, Well, I’m fine, and that’s really about the best you can hope for, right? And I said, like, yeah, but really I was thinking, like, no, like, fine is not even close to the best you can hope for.

And I think it’s so sad though that if you go out in the world that there’s so many people that believe that, and they’ve done all the things they’re supposed to do. They’ve gone to school, they’ve got a job, they are married, maybe they have kids, they have a 401k, they’ve got a house, and now they’re just like living in the land of fine, not in crisis, not falling apart, just fine, and fine for them becomes a ceiling. Where fine fine is just as good as it gets, and unfortunately, that’s not just a secular phenomenon, that also permeates in Christian culture as well.

You know, I’ve spent a fair amount of my ministerial life ministering to young people, so middle schoolers, high schoolers, college age, young adult. And I remember it was probably a couple years ago, a parent came up to me. He was the parent of a teenage boy, and he said, Pastor David, can I ask you a question? I said, sure. And he he said, What do you think is wrong with young people these days? And I laughed and I was like, like our young people, or like young people in general, and he said, just in general, what do you think is wrong with them? And I said, I said, Well, I think they’re directionless. I said, not bad people, but just not entirely sure where they’re going. And like, I think that’s pretty much fine, like when you’re 12. Not super, you know what I mean? What do you want to be when I grow up? I don’t know. Like, that’s fine. 12, 13, 14, 15, that’s fine. But like if you’re 28, if you’re 30 and you’re still mostly into like Instagram and playing video games, something has gone wrong.

And I stand by that statement, but you know what, as I’ve thought about it more, I think it’s not just young people that struggle with having no direction. I meet people of every age, young people, middle-aged people, old people, that are just they’re just depressed and sad and lonely, and they have no idea why they’re here. Like I’m I’m alive, but I’m just not super sure why. And they have no sense of being a part of something that really matters. And I just think for me, I just think, why would anyone choose that? When the Christian faith gives us such clear and concrete purpose. It’s super clear on why you’re here. And I think it’s just an incredible gift to mankind as a whole for God to come and say to us, like, this is your job. Here’s your job. You see, you never have to wake up and wonder like what your job is.

Put Christ on display in the world

And so you might be thinking, like, okay, Pastor David, what’s our job? Listen, it’s to put Christ on display in the world. That’s your job. That’s your job. And everything else, like that’s your mission. Everything else that you do, everything else that you’re called to in this life is just an expression and a method of doing that. To put Christ on display in the world. And you might be thinking, like, well, I’m just like a stay-at-home parent. No, you’re not. No, no, no. Your mission is to put Christ on display in the world. To put Christ on display to your children and to hopefully create children that put Christ on display in the world. Maybe you’re thinking, like, well, I’m just a construction worker. No, you’re not. Your mission is to put Christ on display in the world. And so when you’re at work, when you’re at home, when you’re at the grocery store, when you’re in your car, your job is to put Christ on display in the world. I’m just a student. No, you’re not. Your job is to put Christ on display in the world.

And so you don’t need a different life to have purpose. You need to see your life differently to have purpose. And that’s what the series is all about. It’s a it’s called the invitation. And the reason that it’s called the invitation is this, because I believe that God has invited you into a life that’s bigger than you, better than you thought, and too good for you to keep it to yourself. And so, and so when so when God comes, when Jesus comes and he says, like, I have come that you may have life and have life to the fullest. That’s I want you to know that’s not just something he’s talking about in heaven someday. That’s something that’s available to you, abundant life is available to you right now, today, this year, 2026. It’s available. He’s not just offering you a ticket to heaven when you die, it’s not just a get out of hell free card. It’s it’s also he gives you something to live for while you’re here.

But that invitation, and here’s what I need you to get this morning that invitation requires a response from you. Look at what look at what Jesus says, or excuse me, Deuteronomy chapter 30, verse 19.

This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now, listen to this. Now choose life so that you and your children may live.

Choose life. Can somebody say that with me? Choose life. That’s God’s word to you this morning. Choose life. God’s plan for your life doesn’t happen by chance, it happens by choice. You don’t you don’t fall butt backwards into God’s plan for your life. It requires you to choose life. It’s not enough that God wants you to have life. You have to choose life. And you don’t just choose it one time, you choose it over and over and over. And so that’s we’re gonna spend the next few weeks on talking about how to RSVP, yes. You know what I’m saying? To the invitation of God to have a big life, life to the fullest. What does that mean? What does it mean to live a big life and how do I get it? And I’ve got three points for you this morning.

God offers better, not just more

If you’re taking notes, I’d like you to write down. Number one is this God offers better, not just more. God offers better, not just more. So when Jesus says, I come to give you life to the fullest, he doesn’t necessarily mean what a lot of people think he means when he says that. People think abundant life means abundant stuff. You know what I mean? Like God is just offering you more, more money, more success, more comfort, more security. And so we can spend our entire lives, even Christian people chasing more. Right? I call it the lie of more. Like if I could just get a little bit more, I’d be happy. You know what I mean? Some people in here are making 10 bucks and they’re thinking if I could make 15 bucks an hour, then I’d be happy. Some people in here making 150,000 and they think, man, if I could make 300,000, then I’d be happy. It’s the biggest lie on the planet. It’s it’s like if I if my house was just bigger, then I would be happy. If my car was faster, if my paycheck had more zeros, then I would be satisfied. It’s like what we live in the land of er. That’s why I like to say er, E R R R, Er. Like if my house could be big, er, if my car could be fast, er, if I could be more popular, er. You know what I mean? Like if I could, if I could just have that, then I would be happy. It’s the biggest lie on the planet.

And God’s not against you having nice things. God wants to bless you. I’m not preaching poverty, but I have noticed this is that when people end up getting the thing that they spend their whole life trying to chase, they’re almost always disappointed. Almost always. That’s where depression is. That’s where suicide starts to happen. Middle class people, middle aged people, people that have the money, have the house, have the 401k, have the stuff, right? They’ve they’ve fulfilled the American dream. And I’m not against the American dream. But I am telling you that long-term satisfaction ain’t found in a house. That’s not where you find it.

There’s this lady, Cynthia Heimel. She’s she’s a very interesting lady, but she she’s an author. She writes for Cosmopolitan and like the village voice, a few of these magazines. Some of y’all don’t know back in the day, they used to print articles on paper and deliver it to your house. It’s pretty weird. I don’t know, they’d get in their car and bring it to you. It was so strange. But so she would write these articles, and she just to be clear, she’s not a Christian, okay? Not a Christian. But she would like work, she was like a coach for celebrities and people who were like struggling artists, and so she knew a lot of famous celebrities, and she knew them kind of before and after they were famous. And she has this quote that I love, I love to use it every couple years. Cynthia Heimel says this. I pity celebrities. I love that. I pity celebrities. No, I really do. The majority of the most famous people in the world were once perfectly pleasant human beings, but now their wrath is awful. You see, what they wanted most was fame. They worked, they pushed, and the morning after each of them became famous, they wanted to take an overdose. Because that giant thing they were striving for, that fame thing that was gonna make everything okay, that was gonna make their lives bearable, that was gonna provide them with personal fulfillment and happiness, had happened, and they were still them. The disillusionment turned them howling and insufferable.

I love it, and of course, she’s right, right? She’s probably wrong about a lot of things, but she’s right about this. How for so many people that they spend their entire life pursuing the thing that they think they want, and it ends up being the thing that kills them. I don’t know if anyone remembers, you gotta be a little old to even remember this, but anyone remember the singer Amy Winehouse. She was like huge, she was like the thing. She was about 20 years ago, something like that. Well, there was a documentary that came out a while back, but she was like the top, she was the Taylor Swift of 2005. Top. She was the top, top of the charts, incredible talent, amazing singer, like once in a lifetime. But she was also a very unhappy person. And in fact, she ended up dying at 27 because of alcohol poisoning. And you can watch this documentary, and this documentary starts from like when she’s a kid, and she was always a singer. She was always like this amazing singer, and she would like sing at these parties and sing at these little clubs, and you know, in front of 10 people, and then she and she was just so happy. And she was just singing and she was just laughing and she was loving, and then they fast forward to when she’s like one of the most famous people on the planet, and she’s miserable. And you just watch it and you think, like, man, this poor girl was a thousand times happier when she was just a regular person. And something that you unfortunately see a lot is her demons didn’t show up until she got what she wanted the most.

I want to say this. I think that all of us have some sense of longing on the inside of us. That’s not just true here in church, that’s not just Christian people. Everyone has this sense of wanting something. Like there’s like a there’s like a hole that you’re trying to fill. Everybody fills that. The problem is when people try to fill that with the wrong thing. Right? And they spend their entire life assuming that this one thing is gonna be the thing that fills that for them. And then when it doesn’t, it’s just devastating for people. And it’s not because God doesn’t want to bless you. He does, but he’s wise enough to know that cheap fulfillment doesn’t sustain you. Look at what he says, Luke chapter 12, verse 15. He says this, watch out. I love that. Watch out.

Be on your guard against what? All kinds of greed. Life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.

Isn’t that amazing? Is that you can have an abundance of possessions and still have a shortage of life. And people who have been there, Solomon, for example, it’s his entire book. He’s here to tell you, I’ve been to the top of the mountain. I have achieved the ultimate. And I’m just here to tell you that satisfaction is not found here. Jim Carrey, who I love, you probably think I’m talking about some pastor. No, V Jim Carrey, Ace Ventura. He has this quote, so good. Jim Carrey says this. I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it’s not the answer. I love that.

And there’s there’s something very human about having a longing on the inside of you. And I would say that that that’s nothing, there’s nothing wrong with that. Actually, God put that there. The problem is that people try to fill it. They try to fill the void in their heart with a car. They try to fill that void in their heart with a thousand extra Instagram followers. And they think that’s gonna be the thing for them. And and it never is. And I so what I’m wanting to say is this is that Jesus doesn’t come to just offer you more of what you already have. He comes to offer you something different. And I believe that everyone has on the inside of them a desire, even if they can’t put a finger on it, a desire to contribute to something that matters. That’s what I think. I think to build something that lasts, right? That when you’re gone, this place is at least a tiny bit better because you’re here. And so God offers you something, not just more of the same generic stuff, but He offers you something different. Not not just success, significance. Not just possessions, purpose. Not just accumulating more for yourself, but being a part of something that’s bigger than yourself.

Happy and comfortable aren’t the same thing

Number one, God offers better, not just more. Number two is this happy and comfortable aren’t the same thing. You hear me? Happy and comfortable aren’t the same thing. This is what I’ve learned. I’ve learned that the flesh, this fleshly part of me craves comfort, but my spirit craves adventure. That’s what I think. And I think there’s like a tension on the inside of all of us because there’s a part of you that wants to just like sit on the couch and watch Netflix. Some of us that part is stronger than others. It’s strong in me. I love Netflix. We’re movie buffs. We love to sit there, we love to chill. But but I’m not lying to myself, thinking that that’s where real satisfaction comes from. That that’s what I do to take a break from the stuff that really matters. Right? And so, so you so you have to understand this that your purpose is always outside of your comfort zone. Here’s where you feel comfortable. Here’s where your purpose is. It’s always that purpose, the thing that you were made for, that will make your life matter. It’s not inside your comfort, it’s outside. And that’s why so many people never find their purpose. Because they’re unwilling to get out of the zone. They can’t ever leave the zone, the comfort zone.

But Jesus was pretty clear. Look at this, Matthew chapter 10, verse 39.

Whoever finds their life will lose it. And whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.

Jesus didn’t come to make your life comfortable, he came to mean your make your life mean something. And you know, like a couple years ago, I wonder if any of y’all remember this, I did a series called The Stretch. And this the whole idea of the stretch is that I noticed that you’ll never find anyone that’s worthy of respect that didn’t stretch. That’s just true. Anyone you admire, if you could think about, maybe think about someone you admire. Think about someone you would you would like your life to emulate. I guarantee you they stretched. I guarantee you. I guarantee you they did hard things, they did uncomfortable things. So let’s say you have a billionaire. Let’s say we have a billionaire in there, in here, I’d be fine with that. Let’s say you have a billionaire in here. Well, should you admire them? It depends. Right? If they came from nothing, if they’ve built something amazing that helps people, yeah, that’s super admirable. But if they’re just a billionaire because their dad was a billionaire and they just sit there eating Cheetos and tweeting, like you know what I mean? Like, like people don’t admire that, people pity that. You could you could be a billionaire and still pitiable if you never stretch. The stretch, the doing something, like getting out of your comfort zone, that’s the thing that makes it admirable.

The best things in life always come with discomfort. I was thinking about an example of this would be like me preaching. You know, I’ve been preaching, if you can believe this, about 25 years now, which is pretty shocking. And some some people will come up to me sometimes, and they’ll be like, Oh, it’s you’re just so lucky that this just comes so natural to you. It just always comes so easy to you. And like they’re like, I could never I could never speak up to I can never but but you, it just comes so natural. Listen, none of this has come natural to me. I’m the most like unlikely person in the entire room to be doing this. Like there’s there’s these young preachers, I think of Jensen and Noah, and they’re they’re naturally gifted. It came natural to them. They’ve been preaching for like one year and they’re already better than me. It’s really makes me sick. Like they’re but not none of this came naturally to me. Some of the first times that I was on this stage, I was so I was like hyperventilating. Like this case, this came. God helped me, but I’ll tell you, like, I white knuckled my way up here. I’ll tell you. Like every step of the way. My wife Jordan, amazing. One of the first times she had to lead a meeting for the volunteers of the youth group for one of our storm conferences, and she started hyperventilating. Someone literally brought her a bag to breathe into. And someone else had to do the meeting. Like none of none of this came naturally to me. Right? All of this is out of my comfort zone. Always has been. And and now, you know, my mom, my mom will come up to me and she says, like, are you okay, honey? I just I just hope you don’t feel too much pressure. That’s what she tells me. She says, I hope you don’t feel too much pressure. And it’s like, look, for me, I’ll say this that there’s pressure, but I have gotten comfortable being uncomfortable. I’ve got I’ve got I’ve gotten comfortable living out of my comfort zone. It’s not about comfort, it’s about living on purpose, with purpose, for a purpose, and that will always require this. All I’m trying to tell you, it will always require you to get out of your comfort zone.

Mel, but I you know, I could never, I could never, I could never invite someone to church. I just don’t feel comfortable with that. What a great reason to do it. Do it. Like, do it the first the first time, oh you know, like I there was a lady in in the young adult group one time, and she she said, like, you know, no one in no one at my work knows that I’m a Christian. Is that a problem? And I was like, Yes. Of course, that’s a flipping problem. You know what I mean? Like, why are you so scared? She’s like, I just people don’t like Christians. I was like, I know. Like, that’s not new, that’s not news, of course. You know what I mean? Like, but but you have it’s not about feeling comfortable in everything you do, it’s about doing the right thing. Because you have a purpose. You know what I mean? Like, 2026 is not about you just feeling better. I’m just here to 2026 is a year I work on myself. You work on yourself. But also do something. Do something that matters to other people. And I’ll tell you, it’s it’s it’s not it’s better for the world and it’s better for you too.

But people don’t have per purpose, like it’s it’s a horrible feeling. There’s these sled dogs. I don’t know if you know these sled dogs, there’s like these incredible animals and they’re bred just to do one thing, and that’s to pull this sled. And when these sled dogs don’t have a sled, they’ll sit there and they’ll start chewing their own legs out of boredom. They’ll actually they’ll hurt themselves. They can eat meat off of their own legs because they’re so miserable. Because they have no purpose, right? They’re supposed to pull this sled and there’s no sled for them to pull. And like, so I’ll meet people, you know, and it’s like, it’s like, oh, you know, I’m just yeah, Pastor David, I’m just so depressed, and I’m just so sad and I’m lonely, and I just don’t even know what I’m here to do. And I’m like, well, first off, don’t eat your own leg. You know, like. But they’re like, yeah, I’m just so, I just don’t even know what I’m here for. I’m just at home and I’m just bored. And I’m like, well, why don’t you volunteer the church? And they’re like, I don’t know, I’m kind of busy.

People without purpose don’t just stall, they self-destruct. If you want you want to look at like we’ve got an opioid epidemic here, and I’m not saying that’s only about a lack of purpose, but it has a part to play. People who have struggled and overcome addiction, they can tell you that when you they they let’s say they lose their family, they lose their job, they lose their sense of purpose, and they have nothing to do, nothing to contribute. And they think, oh, no responsibility, that’s great. It’s not great. You self-destruct. And I think there’s just there’s just no need for that. I talk to old people, if I can be perfectly frank with you. I talk to old people, and that’s one of the struggles of getting older is that when you start looking at your life and you start feeling like a lot of your life is in the rear view mirror, and you’re just like, I just don’t even know why I’m here. It could be super destructive. And all of a sudden you have never struggled with depression in your entire life. And now here you are as a 70-year-old, 80-year-old man, and all of a sudden you’re depressed. Why? Because you have no purpose. There’s no sense of you having something to do, and there’s just no need for that. Because with the kingdom of God, there’s always something to do. Always. There’s always someone to help. Jesus says, like the poor will always be with you. Some people are like, dang it. No, it’s good. It’s good. You always have people to help. But I’ll tell you, a lot of people don’t do it because it requires them to stretch. So I just don’t do it. I just don’t feel comfortable. Cool. Do it anyway. Feel the discomfort and do it anyway.

Stretching is good for you. I um this is something I’ve learned now that I’m a little bit older. I’m in my 40s now. When I was young, me and Gold, we would go to the gym, and um, I would never stretch. Waste of time. He would want to stretch. I’m like, stretching is for losers. I’m just like, I just gotta just like, put weight on the bar. More. No, no more, no more. I’ve never stretched. I’d never warm up next day, feel fantastic. You know what I mean? Now, if I did that, I’d be like the hunched back of Notre Dame the next day. Like I couldn’t come to work. And this is something that I’ve learned. You know what I’ve learned now as an older person? It feels good to stretch. I love to stretch. Stretching feels good. Like I stretch all the time. I wake up, you know, the first thing I do in the morning? I stretch. I stretch while I’m still in bed. Yeah, I even stretch with my voice. I love to stretch. And the same is true for you spiritually. It feels good to stretch your faith. You might think that’s gonna hurt. It feels good. It feels good to take on a new challenge. To get out of your comfort zone, to do something scary that may or may not work. Oh, I don’t know, it’s gonna be too painful. It feels good to do something new, to try something new.

I know a lot of people, we’ve got like a lot of new Christians in the church in this season, and for a lot of you the way that it works is like you come into this service and you see the worship, and it’s like big and loud, and people are yelling, and Preston’s yelling, and like people are like raising their hands, and it’s like you it’s like people are singing and shouting, and you’re like, I can never do that. That I don’t feel comfortable with that. Yeah, but you keep coming, and you know what? You do it. So you’re just like this. So you’re like, you’re like you know what I mean? Like it’s cool. You give it a little time, and then you love it. You know what I mean? And then it’s amazing to be free to express gratitude to God with your body, with your voice. It feels good, but it required you to get out of your comfort zone. To push through the discomfort to do something that actually matters.

The life you were made for is on the other side of yes

Number one, God offers better, not just more. Number two, happy and comfortable aren’t the same thing. And number three is my last point. The life you were made for is on the other side of yes. The life you were made for is on the other side of yes. Years ago, my parents had a dog named Jack. Jack, how old was Jack when he finally went to be with the Lord? 18. He’s an 18-year-old wiener dog, incredible. He was giant, biggest wiener dog you’ve ever seen your whole life. But years ago, my grandparents they had a cabin in Colorado, and it was like in this secluded canyon, gorgeous, you know, lakes, and it’s just an amazing place. And we took Jack to to this place. It’s called Hermit Lakes. We took him to Hermit Lakes, and we thought this dog is gonna have the time of his life. He’s gonna love it, he’s gonna go wild, he’s gonna jump in the river, he’s gonna chase the deer, he’s gonna live it up, and you know, it’s like this amazing place. None of that happened. You know why? He was afraid what we were gonna leave him. So remember what he did? He’s he sat by the door the entire time. And so we would go on these adventures, and Jack, he just sat, sat by the door. Most amazing like life we have were offering him here. Like, go and have an amazing time. He he sat there, and and fear kept him on the porch.

I just think that for a lot of people, a lot of Christians, I know. Fear keeps him on the porch. And so you see like these people singing, and you see people doing cool stuff, and you see, and you’re just like, ugh, I don’t know, I don’t know, I just don’t feel comfortable. Like, and all it requires is you saying yes. Fear keeps so many people from living a good life and a big life. And people say, like, oh, well, well, this is safe. No, it’s not, it’s not safe, it’s small. But you can do something that matters, and that doesn’t mean you’re you’re popular. I hope I’ve proved that. I’m not talking about like being famous. I’m talking about doing something that matters.

Genesis chapter 12, there’s this really cool interaction where there’s this man, God speaks to a man named Abram. Y’all come to know him as Abraham, and God says something really interesting to this man. You know what he says? He says, This go. Go, right? Like, like go from your country, go from your people, go from your father’s household. And he says this, to a land I will show you. Isn’t that interesting? Just go. No GPS, right? No, no turn by turn, no map, no turn left at the dairy queen, like none of that. He didn’t even know where he was going. Just start going, and I’ll tell you. It’s amazing. Like, like, just go. And Abraham’s response to this big, vague, open-ended, mysterious direction was this. You know what he said? Yes. That’s what he said. He said, he said yes, and to a modern audience, that seems unwise, of course, right? Like, hey, I y’all, I gotta go. Oh, cool, where are you going? I don’t know. All I know is that I’m going, right? Like, if you if you came to me after service and said, like, hey, God’s calling me to somewhere else, and I’d say, like, where, and you’d say, I don’t know. Well, I I would, I would like, I I’d pretend to support you. Oh, yeah. I’d really think you’re crazy. I said, Oh, go for it. It’s just amazing, though, that it was it was a call to go, but he didn’t even know where.

And I personally have found that the Bible is filled with those exact kinds of steps of faith where you don’t have all the answers, where you don’t have everything figured out, you wouldn’t even know if you arrived. You know what I mean? It’s just it’s just go. And they go. And I think that real faith, my opinion, real faith usually looks like the faith of Abraham, where you’re moving even when you don’t have all the answers. You don’t know exactly how things are going, you know what I mean? You wouldn’t even know if you arrived, but but all you know is that you can’t stay because God has called you to go. And I’m talking about leaving the church, I’m not talking about leaving the city, I’m talking about doing something, right? There’s just this desire, even if you’re like, I and maybe that’s you this morning, you’re feeling like I don’t I don’t know what it is, but I do feel like God has something for me, but I don’t know what it is yet. That’s the perfect first step. We’ll talk about it in the coming weeks, but but just this desire, and I think I want to encourage you that that’s that’s real faith, right? Like, if if there’s not risk, if there’s not a little bit of danger, it’s not faith. Think about that, right? Because if it’s a sure thing, you don’t need faith. What do you need faith for if it’s a sure thing, you know what I mean? Like you put on your shoe, you don’t need faith that the shoe’s gonna go on your foot, like it’s a sure thing. Faith only comes into practice when it’s not the sure when it’s not like a sure thing. It’s not faith until there’s risk.

And just learning to say yes. Learn to just step out there and like try something and and do something cool for God. There’s this very interesting author. This is not a recommendation, I’m just no, there’s this lady named Annie Lamotte, very interesting author, but she wrote a book years ago and she said, All prayer boils down to three words help, thanks, and wow. I love that. Help, thanks, wow. But all prayer is ultimately one of those three things, and I love that, but if I could add one more to her list, it would be this. Yes, yeah, yeah. I think so much of prayer and so much of the Christian life is learning to say yes to God, just to say yes, like it’s it’s one of the reasons I think God’s been able to do some pretty okay things in my life through me, is just simply because I have consistently said yes. I’m telling you, like you go 25 years ago, and if Marshall and Cindy were like, let’s make a list of who people who might be lead pastors someday, I would not have been on their top 10. There is no way, right? But but the reason that I have been able to be used by God in pretty okay ways is I’ve just I’ve just said yes. And when all my friends were like, I don’t know, I’m really taking the year to spend spend on myself. Like I just said yes. I just showed up. Sydney said, I’m doing yes. Hey, we’re gonna do this outreach, right? Yes. Right, right? Hey, this is an opportunity. Yes. God says, do this. Yes, yes, yes, yes.

And it’s just it’s so counterintuitive, I think, for a lot of people because yes, no is safe and yes is dangerous. That’s just that that’s just true. But I think I think what’s really counterintuitive is people think that like leaving and marching forward into something new that that’s what’s gonna kill you. The truth is for you to stay where you are, that’ll kill you. To keep doing so long as God is moving and you aren’t, dead ends are the only thing you have to look forward to. That’s it. That’s it. If the comfort of standing still is the most powerful force in your life, you’re always gonna miss what God’s doing. God’s doing the same thing in new ways all the time. And I’m not saying, look, I am about my grandparents’ faith. I’m not saying, oh, so let’s invent new ways. I’m not saying that, but I’m saying that God is gonna lead us into new places as a church. God’s gonna lead us into new places as people, God’s gonna lead you into new places, right? And and you have to be able to escape the comfort to say yes to what he would have you do.

And the good news is this is that if you have the courage to follow God into new places, God is always able to do something new. Always, always, God is always opening up new opportunities. I and this is this is this isn’t me, but when I’ve stepped out in faith, I’ve never regretted it my entire life. Not like even if it didn’t work out, I’m still I’m so glad I did it. I’m so glad I tried. You know what I mean? This is like either it worked or I learned something, but man, it just it just beats the pants off just sitting around saying, like, oh shucks must be nice for those guys, must be nice that those guys can have such a fun, exciting life. Must be no blah blah blah. It’s like just do it. Do something, right? And and God’s able to like take your natural step and do something supernatural with it. Like what natural things you can do. He’s always bringing new opportunities, he’s always bringing life into dead things. And when you’re truly following God, I just think this there’s no dead ends. Right? You’re like, well, I was following God and that didn’t work. Well, then He’s gonna redirect it. Because it’s happened a thousand times. You think I don’t ever, you know, I I helped lead a church. You think I don’t ever try things, it doesn’t work. Happens all the time. We try things and it doesn’t work, but you know, we stepped out in faith. We’ll try something new, right? But but God, God, there’s no dead ends. And I think oftentimes, even when even when you take a step and it feels like that was the wrong step or you made a mistake, it’s like God is just able to like twist it and actually use that thing that ends up getting you right to where you’re supposed to be, anyways. He’s like he’s like the master rerouter. I think like Jesus is like Houdini, it’s like nothing he can’t can’t get out of. You can chain him up and throw him in a box and lock the box and throw the box in the ocean and throw away the key, and like he just like gets out of it.

But but you have to have the courage to try something new, to follow God into something incredible, and it all starts with you saying, like, God, I feel like there’s something on the inside of me, and I don’t know exactly what it is, but I feel like, and I talk to people like this all the time at this church. They said, I just feel like God has something for me, but I don’t know what. That’s amazing. Just celebrate that. You’re you’re you’re you’re in the season where Abram was, where he said, like, I gotta go. Where are you going? I don’t know. But God shows him each step of the way. But you have to be willing to say yes. And if you think, okay, well, that’s a cool idea, Dave, but I don’t know how to do any of that. I don’t know what what am I supposed to actually do. We’re gonna talk about that in the next few weeks. How to say yes to the invitation that God gives you to a big life.

Here’s my closing statement. God isn’t calling you to find, He’s inviting you into a life that’s bigger than you, better than you imagined, and too good to keep to yourself. One, God offers better, not just more. Not abundant stuff, but significance over success, purpose over possessions, and being a part of something bigger than yourself. Two, happy and comfortable aren’t the same thing. Your flesh craves comfort, but your spirit craves adventure. Your purpose is always outside of your comfort zone. And three, the life you were made for is on the other side of yes. Real faith means moving when God says go, even without all the answers.