1 00:00:11,080 --> 00:00:13,240 Thank you, John and worship team. 2 00:00:13,240 --> 00:00:17,160 Well, good morning. My name is Drew and for those of 3 00:00:17,160 --> 00:00:20,400 you that don't know me and many of you in here that I do not 4 00:00:20,400 --> 00:00:23,120 know, but it's an honor and privilege to be here with you 5 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:25,960 today. As Pastor Kyle said, I'm 6 00:00:25,960 --> 00:00:28,920 currently the discipleship pastor at a church in Kennesaw 7 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:33,040 North Star Church. And but right here at CFBC is 8 00:00:33,040 --> 00:00:36,040 where my ministry roots began right here. 9 00:00:36,440 --> 00:00:40,720 And it started in 2007 as my wife Lauren and I were praying 10 00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:44,800 that would give us friends in our stage of life. 11 00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:49,160 We were much younger then, only had one Gray hair, and we'd only 12 00:00:49,160 --> 00:00:51,400 been married for three years at that time. 13 00:00:51,520 --> 00:00:56,880 But I remember our first Sunday at CFBC, we visited Shep Hilton 14 00:00:56,880 --> 00:01:00,640 Study School class and through that class God provided us with 15 00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:04,840 some of our best friends, some who and many of of whom are 16 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:08,480 still at CFBC today. But at that time in my life, I 17 00:01:08,480 --> 00:01:11,520 was teaching math, I was coaching baseball, and I was 18 00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:13,760 helping with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes at 19 00:01:13,760 --> 00:01:18,160 Cartersville High School. But that was my mission field 20 00:01:18,520 --> 00:01:21,520 and God was doing some pretty amazing things with those 21 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:26,880 students spiritually. But it was it in that time that 22 00:01:26,880 --> 00:01:31,320 the plans that Lauren and I had made for ourselves but kind of 23 00:01:31,320 --> 00:01:35,080 began to unravel in a sense, or should I say, go in a different 24 00:01:35,080 --> 00:01:37,160 direction than what we had planned. 25 00:01:37,760 --> 00:01:42,640 You see, our friends began having kids and we were trying 26 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:45,680 but unsuccessful. And then our friends began to 27 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:49,160 have more kids and yet we still had none. 28 00:01:50,040 --> 00:01:55,000 So Lauren and I wondered why us? We've been obedient up to that 29 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:56,760 point at what God had asked us to do. 30 00:01:56,760 --> 00:02:00,520 So why was he withholding something that Lauren and I 31 00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:05,520 desire to be so deeply, which was to be parents? 32 00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:09,680 So raise your hand if you've ever asked God the question why 33 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:11,640 before anybody? OK, good. 34 00:02:11,640 --> 00:02:12,560 I'm not alone. OK, good. 35 00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:14,640 Just making sure. But we all have, right? 36 00:02:14,840 --> 00:02:19,720 It's a natural question to ask. But here's something we all need 37 00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:24,280 to know today is that God has a plan. 38 00:02:25,040 --> 00:02:28,800 And it just might not be the plan that you have for your 39 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:31,160 life. But something that I've learned 40 00:02:31,160 --> 00:02:38,240 in my 44 years of living is that God's plan is always better than 41 00:02:38,240 --> 00:02:43,920 I could have imagined, even if it means going through difficult 42 00:02:44,440 --> 00:02:47,720 times. You see, God always works it out 43 00:02:47,920 --> 00:02:51,560 ultimately for our good, whether on this side of heaven or that 44 00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:55,160 side of heaven, and for His glory, even if we don't 45 00:02:55,160 --> 00:02:59,800 understand the why. So today I want to answer this 46 00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:06,600 question for you. How can you know God's plan for 47 00:03:06,600 --> 00:03:08,200 your life? How many of you, by show of 48 00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:10,400 hands, would like to know God's plan for your life? 49 00:03:10,400 --> 00:03:12,040 Anybody. Oh, good. 50 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:13,520 OK, all right, great. That is good. 51 00:03:13,640 --> 00:03:16,080 If not, then I'll just shut my Bible and we would just move on 52 00:03:16,080 --> 00:03:17,120 with our day. But that's good. 53 00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:20,640 So here's what I want you to do is if you will go ahead and grab 54 00:03:20,880 --> 00:03:22,160 your Bible. And we're going to be in 55 00:03:22,160 --> 00:03:25,560 Proverbs chapter 3 today. And what we're going to do is 56 00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:29,440 I'm going to take two very familiar verses, and we're going 57 00:03:29,440 --> 00:03:33,440 to use those two verses to simply answer the question, how 58 00:03:33,440 --> 00:03:35,360 can you know God's plan for your life? 59 00:03:35,600 --> 00:03:38,080 So if you're able to do so, will you please stand in honor of 60 00:03:38,080 --> 00:03:41,560 reading God's Word? And we're going to be looking at 61 00:03:41,880 --> 00:03:45,080 Proverbs chapter 3, verses 5 and 6. 62 00:03:45,080 --> 00:03:48,360 And I'm going to be using the New Living Translation only 63 00:03:48,360 --> 00:03:51,280 because I'm not that smart and I understand it better. 64 00:03:52,480 --> 00:03:56,600 Here's what it says. Trust in the Lord with all your 65 00:03:56,600 --> 00:04:00,200 heart. Do not depend on your own 66 00:04:00,200 --> 00:04:05,600 understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and 67 00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:08,840 He will show you which path to take. 68 00:04:08,840 --> 00:04:13,440 Will you pray with me? Heavenly Father, thank you for 69 00:04:13,440 --> 00:04:17,480 your word and Holy Spirit, we ask that you would speak clearly 70 00:04:17,480 --> 00:04:19,120 to us this morning through your word. 71 00:04:19,680 --> 00:04:23,040 And Lord, may your word be a lamp to our feet and a light to 72 00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:28,120 our path as we discover what Your plan is for our life in 73 00:04:28,280 --> 00:04:30,240 Jesus name, Amen. Thank you. 74 00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:34,800 You may be seated. As I look around today I see 75 00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:37,640 several kids have joined us. So adults, teenagers, would 76 00:04:37,640 --> 00:04:39,440 y'all give it up for the kids that are in the room this 77 00:04:39,440 --> 00:04:41,560 morning? Thank them for being here with 78 00:04:41,560 --> 00:04:43,360 us. So here's what I want us to do 79 00:04:43,360 --> 00:04:46,760 OK, I know some of you are are note takers, but today I want to 80 00:04:46,760 --> 00:04:49,880 encourage the kids to draw. OK, I'm not a good artist. 81 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:52,920 I draw stick people. My kids are very good artist. 82 00:04:53,360 --> 00:04:55,800 But adults, if instead of taking notes, if you just want to draw 83 00:04:55,800 --> 00:04:59,080 today, that's cool too. But I'm going to be giving some 84 00:04:59,080 --> 00:05:02,000 things for the kids to draw to help them understand what we're 85 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:04,480 talking about. But here's the first thing that 86 00:05:04,480 --> 00:05:08,360 I want everybody to write down. God has a plan. 87 00:05:08,360 --> 00:05:11,720 Write that down. God has a plan. 88 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:18,000 You see, when God created the heavens and the earth, God had a 89 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:21,320 plan. When God sent Moses to rescue 90 00:05:21,320 --> 00:05:26,080 the Israelites out of slavery from the Egyptians, God had a 91 00:05:26,080 --> 00:05:29,360 plan. When God sent his Son Jesus to 92 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:35,520 earth to save us from our sins, God had a plan. 93 00:05:36,320 --> 00:05:39,880 And when Jesus returns to defeat Satan and bring an end to this 94 00:05:40,040 --> 00:05:43,840 world, God has a plan. God has a what? 95 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:46,760 He's got a plan. And here's what I need you to 96 00:05:46,760 --> 00:05:49,880 know today. God has a plan specifically 97 00:05:49,880 --> 00:05:56,520 designed for each one of you. So how can you know God's plan 98 00:05:56,680 --> 00:05:59,440 for your life? So on this map, kids or adults, 99 00:05:59,440 --> 00:06:01,320 we're going to have four different points. 100 00:06:01,320 --> 00:06:04,560 And on that first point, I want you to write these words, Trust 101 00:06:04,760 --> 00:06:06,400 God. We're going to keep it simple 102 00:06:06,400 --> 00:06:08,760 today. OK, keep it simple. 103 00:06:09,280 --> 00:06:12,680 Trust God. Verse 5 says this. 104 00:06:12,760 --> 00:06:16,040 Trust in the Lord with all your heart. 105 00:06:16,640 --> 00:06:20,200 And this word trust means to rely on someone or something 106 00:06:20,200 --> 00:06:24,520 with complete confidence. I remember back in my teenage 107 00:06:24,520 --> 00:06:27,840 years when I would go to church, youth camp, we would sometimes 108 00:06:27,840 --> 00:06:29,560 do these things called trust falls. 109 00:06:29,600 --> 00:06:31,760 OK Anybody do trust falls before youth camp? 110 00:06:31,760 --> 00:06:32,280 Yeah. OK. 111 00:06:32,520 --> 00:06:34,440 And you live to tell about it. That's amazing. 112 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:37,360 So the first step that you do, there's about four different 113 00:06:37,360 --> 00:06:38,920 levels that you do. The first one is you would 114 00:06:38,920 --> 00:06:40,720 interlock your fingers in a really weird way, and you put 115 00:06:40,720 --> 00:06:43,080 them against your chest. And there'd be a person behind 116 00:06:43,080 --> 00:06:45,360 you who's kind of leaned back with their hands up and there'd 117 00:06:45,360 --> 00:06:48,000 be called the spotter. And so you would be the person 118 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:51,400 you'd go spotter ready and they would go redder and you say 119 00:06:51,400 --> 00:06:52,960 falling and they would say fall on. 120 00:06:52,960 --> 00:06:55,720 They kind of gently put, you know, catch you and push you 121 00:06:55,720 --> 00:06:58,000 back off step one. Then you go to the next one and 122 00:06:58,200 --> 00:07:01,360 and you get in a circle and they pass you around, which is really 123 00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:03,120 weird, OK? Because like you're rolling 124 00:07:03,120 --> 00:07:04,960 around and you got your eyes goes like, who is that? 125 00:07:04,960 --> 00:07:06,600 Did somebody just stick their finger in my ear? 126 00:07:06,680 --> 00:07:08,400 So you're getting passed around. That was level 2. 127 00:07:08,800 --> 00:07:11,960 Level 3 was you would graduate to a chair, right? 128 00:07:12,160 --> 00:07:15,280 And then your youth group would kind of interlock arms and they 129 00:07:15,280 --> 00:07:19,000 would you would fall onto them. But then only the bravest, only 130 00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:22,360 the bravest of souls would get up on the platform, right, the 131 00:07:22,360 --> 00:07:25,920 four foot tall platform and fall off into the arms of your youth 132 00:07:25,920 --> 00:07:27,160 group. But there was always that one 133 00:07:27,160 --> 00:07:31,640 person that I knew would probably have the just the, I 134 00:07:31,640 --> 00:07:33,680 don't know, we'll probably remove their arms. 135 00:07:33,800 --> 00:07:36,040 Tyler Heath, I think you would be one that one of those people 136 00:07:36,040 --> 00:07:38,760 would remove their arms and just let that person maybe fall 137 00:07:38,760 --> 00:07:39,640 through. It never happened. 138 00:07:39,800 --> 00:07:43,040 But if you were that person's shame on you. 139 00:07:44,720 --> 00:07:49,440 But in order to do any of the trust falls, you had to rely on 140 00:07:49,440 --> 00:07:52,680 that person who is spotting you or that group of people. 141 00:07:52,680 --> 00:07:55,560 You had to have complete confidence that they would catch 142 00:07:55,560 --> 00:07:58,280 you. And this is the picture the 143 00:07:58,280 --> 00:08:01,160 author is trying to paint for you about trusting God. 144 00:08:01,720 --> 00:08:02,960 So I want you to write this down. 145 00:08:02,960 --> 00:08:06,000 OK, here's what trust in God means for a Christian. 146 00:08:06,760 --> 00:08:12,240 It means to have confidence that God is in complete control in 147 00:08:12,240 --> 00:08:16,640 every situation. To have confidence that God is 148 00:08:16,640 --> 00:08:19,400 in complete control in every situation. 149 00:08:19,400 --> 00:08:22,160 So kids, if you're drawing or adults, what should you draw? 150 00:08:22,400 --> 00:08:25,160 A person with some muscles. OK, all right, we can do that 151 00:08:25,160 --> 00:08:27,400 muscle arm emoji. One day I'll have one of those 152 00:08:27,400 --> 00:08:29,600 when I get to heaven, but not today. 153 00:08:30,560 --> 00:08:31,840 So muscle is what I want you to draw. 154 00:08:31,840 --> 00:08:34,640 But King Solomon, the author of these verses, says that we must 155 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:39,720 trust God with our whole heart, which it means it's full trust, 156 00:08:39,720 --> 00:08:43,159 not trusting God in some situations but not in others. 157 00:08:43,159 --> 00:08:46,840 It's all or nothing in this situation, in this trust. 158 00:08:48,200 --> 00:08:51,080 So after a couple of years of trying to have kids with no 159 00:08:51,080 --> 00:08:55,960 success, I will never forget the night that our hearts took a 160 00:08:55,960 --> 00:08:58,800 turn. I was sitting next to Lauren on 161 00:08:58,800 --> 00:09:02,560 our couch in our starter home on Country Meadow Way and we were 162 00:09:02,560 --> 00:09:04,840 watching something called live TV. 163 00:09:05,800 --> 00:09:08,400 It's before the days when you choose when and what you watch. 164 00:09:08,400 --> 00:09:10,160 Kids. That's these things called 165 00:09:10,160 --> 00:09:13,880 commercials, not ads. And then all of a sudden I heard 166 00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:18,840 my wife start to cry and I think we were watching the Braves 167 00:09:18,840 --> 00:09:20,840 maybe, which can make you cry sometimes. 168 00:09:23,360 --> 00:09:27,960 But after a waiting a minute I asked her what was wrong and she 169 00:09:27,960 --> 00:09:31,920 told me that one of our friends had just text her to let her 170 00:09:31,920 --> 00:09:34,040 know that they were having their second child. 171 00:09:34,760 --> 00:09:39,280 So she got up, went into our bedroom while I sat there and 172 00:09:39,280 --> 00:09:42,400 stood an anger at God. It was the first time in a 173 00:09:42,400 --> 00:09:45,880 couple of years that I've been mad at God about this situation 174 00:09:45,880 --> 00:09:48,920 because I tend to be a glass half full type of guy. 175 00:09:49,480 --> 00:09:53,560 So I went into the bedroom ready to be on Lauren's side to be mad 176 00:09:53,560 --> 00:09:55,400 at God. But before I could say a word, 177 00:09:55,400 --> 00:10:00,080 she said this. She said I have to be OK. 178 00:10:00,920 --> 00:10:04,520 It was great confusion. I replied, you have to be OK 179 00:10:04,520 --> 00:10:09,200 with what? And she said these words that I 180 00:10:09,200 --> 00:10:13,360 will never forget because she said them with confidence. 181 00:10:14,400 --> 00:10:18,920 She said I have to be OK with whether God wants me to be a mom 182 00:10:18,920 --> 00:10:22,040 or not. And I was speechless. 183 00:10:23,240 --> 00:10:26,720 But then all of the sudden, God brought to my mind the prayer 184 00:10:26,720 --> 00:10:28,920 that I've been praying for Lauren for a couple of years. 185 00:10:28,920 --> 00:10:30,560 And I would pray this almost daily. 186 00:10:30,560 --> 00:10:35,800 I would say, God help Lauren to be OK with the situation of, of 187 00:10:35,800 --> 00:10:39,400 us not being able to have kids, help her to be OK, help her to 188 00:10:39,400 --> 00:10:42,640 be at peace. And God had answered my prayer 189 00:10:43,240 --> 00:10:46,600 two years later in his time and in his way. 190 00:10:47,240 --> 00:10:51,640 And instantly in that moment, we both felt a peace that God was 191 00:10:51,640 --> 00:10:54,320 in control of our situation and we knew in our hearts that He 192 00:10:54,320 --> 00:10:58,640 had a plan for us. We had seen Him work many times 193 00:10:58,640 --> 00:11:02,200 in our lives up to that point and we had complete confidence 194 00:11:02,200 --> 00:11:06,520 that God was in control and He was at work in this situation as 195 00:11:06,520 --> 00:11:09,920 well. He had brought us to this point 196 00:11:11,080 --> 00:11:13,760 where we trusted Him and His plan for us. 197 00:11:14,840 --> 00:11:21,600 Isaiah 26 verse 3 says this. You talking about the Lord will 198 00:11:21,600 --> 00:11:28,800 keep at will, keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all 199 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:35,640 whose thoughts are fixed on you. So my question for you is this, 200 00:11:37,400 --> 00:11:40,520 do you trust God with your current situation, whatever it 201 00:11:40,520 --> 00:11:43,120 might be? It might be you have a kid going 202 00:11:43,120 --> 00:11:46,560 off to college, you might have some marriage issues right now, 203 00:11:46,600 --> 00:11:48,160 you may have some health problems. 204 00:11:48,400 --> 00:11:50,800 But do you trust God with your current situation? 205 00:11:51,600 --> 00:11:55,880 Do you have perfect peace that He is in control? 206 00:11:56,800 --> 00:12:00,400 So step one to knowing God's plan for your life is to trust 207 00:12:00,400 --> 00:12:01,280 God. As to what? 208 00:12:02,760 --> 00:12:05,080 I can't hear you as to what? Trust God. 209 00:12:05,080 --> 00:12:07,520 That's exactly right. And here's step #2 OK, here's 210 00:12:07,520 --> 00:12:11,040 point #2 on your map. And it's this surrender control, 211 00:12:11,760 --> 00:12:13,360 Surrender control. I told you, I said keep it 212 00:12:13,360 --> 00:12:16,520 simple today. Surrender control. 213 00:12:17,440 --> 00:12:19,040 The second part of verse 5 says this. 214 00:12:19,480 --> 00:12:22,760 Do not depend on your own understanding. 215 00:12:23,760 --> 00:12:27,520 I've watched my fair share of cop shows, usually comedies 216 00:12:27,520 --> 00:12:29,920 where the police always catch the bad guy or bad girl when 217 00:12:29,920 --> 00:12:32,360 they when they finally get to him and there's no way out, they 218 00:12:32,360 --> 00:12:34,960 always go freeze. Put your hands what? 219 00:12:35,720 --> 00:12:37,400 Put your hands up. That's exactly right. 220 00:12:37,400 --> 00:12:39,960 And then the bad guy or bad girl, there's two options they 221 00:12:39,960 --> 00:12:41,120 have. They can either try to run, 222 00:12:41,120 --> 00:12:42,600 which never turns out well, right? 223 00:12:42,760 --> 00:12:45,320 They always get caught and something bad happens, or they 224 00:12:45,320 --> 00:12:47,840 can put their hands up. So we're going to focus on that 225 00:12:47,840 --> 00:12:50,080 part for the sake of this next illustration. 226 00:12:50,080 --> 00:12:55,040 OK, so why do why does the bad guy or bad girl put their hands 227 00:12:55,040 --> 00:12:55,480 up? Why? 228 00:12:56,960 --> 00:13:00,360 That's exactly right. Because they are giving up or 229 00:13:00,360 --> 00:13:02,840 surrendering control of the situation. 230 00:13:03,360 --> 00:13:07,800 So I want you to write this down for a Christian to surrender 231 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:13,080 control means this giving up control and trusting God. 232 00:13:14,120 --> 00:13:17,600 Giving up control and trusting God. 233 00:13:17,600 --> 00:13:20,280 So kids or adults, if you're drawing, I want you to draw a 234 00:13:20,280 --> 00:13:21,920 picture of somebody with their hands up. 235 00:13:21,960 --> 00:13:24,000 OK, somebody with their hands up right there. 236 00:13:26,280 --> 00:13:31,840 But surrender also requires this word called humility. 237 00:13:32,480 --> 00:13:36,720 And here's what humility says. Humility says this, I don't know 238 00:13:36,720 --> 00:13:42,600 everything, but surrender says this, I will trust God anyway. 239 00:13:43,560 --> 00:13:49,760 Humility says I don't know everything, but surrender says I 240 00:13:49,760 --> 00:13:56,480 will trust God anyway. As most people do, Lauren and I 241 00:13:56,480 --> 00:13:59,960 tried to figure out what God was doing in our situation, but we 242 00:13:59,960 --> 00:14:03,680 were unsuccessful. But as we surrendered control of 243 00:14:03,680 --> 00:14:08,120 our situation of not being have being able to have children, we 244 00:14:08,120 --> 00:14:12,560 began to see God use us to work in the lives of impacting 245 00:14:12,560 --> 00:14:15,840 teenagers. At Cartersville High School, I 246 00:14:15,840 --> 00:14:18,160 began discipling some of my baseball guys. 247 00:14:18,840 --> 00:14:22,080 My wife Lauren was substituting there at the time and some of 248 00:14:22,080 --> 00:14:24,280 their girlfriends came to her and said, hey, would you mind 249 00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:26,800 discipling us? And then in the summertime, 250 00:14:26,800 --> 00:14:30,440 Lauren and I would take a group of FCA leaders to FCA camp. 251 00:14:31,200 --> 00:14:36,520 But Lauren and I got this front row seat to watch God bring 252 00:14:36,520 --> 00:14:41,120 teenagers to Christ and watch them grow spiritually right 253 00:14:41,120 --> 00:14:43,720 before our very eyes. And it was something that we had 254 00:14:43,720 --> 00:14:46,680 never imagined. But of course, we hadn't 255 00:14:46,680 --> 00:14:48,680 imagined it. It wasn't our plan. 256 00:14:49,080 --> 00:14:53,960 It was God's plan. See, we had tried to depend on 257 00:14:53,960 --> 00:14:56,160 our own understanding for so long. 258 00:14:56,160 --> 00:14:59,320 And when we finally gave up trying to figure out God's plan, 259 00:15:00,640 --> 00:15:04,240 he began to do some pretty crazy stuff that brought glory to 260 00:15:04,280 --> 00:15:08,720 Himself, which is the purpose we were created for, to bring glory 261 00:15:08,720 --> 00:15:13,720 to God. Proverbs 28 verse 26 says this. 262 00:15:14,440 --> 00:15:19,560 Those who trust their own insight are foolish, but anyone 263 00:15:19,560 --> 00:15:22,600 who walks in God's wisdom is safe. 264 00:15:23,240 --> 00:15:27,080 Anyone who trusts what they think is foolish, but anybody 265 00:15:27,080 --> 00:15:30,200 who walks in God's wisdom, the Bible says it's safe. 266 00:15:30,480 --> 00:15:35,120 So here's a question for you. Is there a situation in your 267 00:15:35,120 --> 00:15:41,040 life right now, right now, that you are hesitant to fully 268 00:15:41,040 --> 00:15:45,600 surrender control to God? I want you to think about that 269 00:15:45,600 --> 00:15:47,280 situation. We all have got something right. 270 00:15:47,480 --> 00:15:50,520 We all got our fingers most of the way open, our hands most of 271 00:15:50,520 --> 00:15:52,240 the way open, but it's still holding on to something. 272 00:15:53,040 --> 00:15:54,800 But here's what I want you to. If you got something in your 273 00:15:54,800 --> 00:15:56,200 hands, I want you to put it down just for a second. 274 00:15:56,200 --> 00:15:59,080 And I want you to hold out both fists in front of you. close 275 00:15:59,080 --> 00:16:01,400 your fists if you can hold them out in front of you. 276 00:16:01,400 --> 00:16:02,760 And I want you to do this with me, OK? 277 00:16:02,760 --> 00:16:05,000 This is something that I do every morning during my prayer 278 00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:09,120 time. And I want you to imagine that 279 00:16:09,120 --> 00:16:12,800 inside your fists is that situation that you are 280 00:16:12,800 --> 00:16:17,800 struggling to surrender to God. And on the count of three, 281 00:16:17,800 --> 00:16:20,320 here's what I want you to do. On the count of three, I want 282 00:16:20,320 --> 00:16:24,680 you to slowly open your hands and say this, Lord, I surrender 283 00:16:24,680 --> 00:16:26,080 this to you. So on the count of three, we're 284 00:16:26,080 --> 00:16:27,520 going to go. We're going to open our hands 285 00:16:27,520 --> 00:16:29,480 and say, Lord, I surrender this to you. 286 00:16:29,480 --> 00:16:34,040 Say it out loud with me. OK, All right, Ready. 123 Lord, 287 00:16:34,160 --> 00:16:38,720 I surrender this to you. And I'm telling you every 288 00:16:38,720 --> 00:16:41,120 morning that I do this, you can put your hands down. 289 00:16:42,120 --> 00:16:47,400 Every morning that I do this, God gives me this peace that I 290 00:16:47,400 --> 00:16:50,720 can't explain because what I know is that I when I put those 291 00:16:50,720 --> 00:16:55,360 situations in God's hands, they're in the best hands they 292 00:16:55,360 --> 00:16:59,280 can be in order to have control of that situation. 293 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:04,079 So Step 2 in knowing God's plan for your life is to surrender. 294 00:17:04,520 --> 00:17:08,200 Control is to surrender what? That's exactly right. 295 00:17:08,200 --> 00:17:13,440 And here's Step 3 on your map. Step 3 on the map is this Pursue 296 00:17:13,480 --> 00:17:16,319 God's best. Pursue God's best. 297 00:17:17,720 --> 00:17:23,200 Verse 6 says this. Seek His will in all that you 298 00:17:23,200 --> 00:17:25,960 do. Seek His will in all that you 299 00:17:25,960 --> 00:17:28,600 do. Back in the day, I went to 300 00:17:29,440 --> 00:17:32,560 Shorter College and I remember seeing this pretty blind girl in 301 00:17:32,560 --> 00:17:36,160 several of my classes and I didn't know who she was, but I 302 00:17:36,160 --> 00:17:40,240 was determined to find out. I remember before fall break my 303 00:17:40,240 --> 00:17:44,360 freshman year asking this girl if I could help her with her 304 00:17:44,360 --> 00:17:47,600 computer assignments. You see, I'd kept an eye on her 305 00:17:47,600 --> 00:17:50,920 in computer class and I noticed that she never did her work 306 00:17:50,920 --> 00:17:54,200 because she was too busy messaging people on AOL Instant 307 00:17:54,200 --> 00:18:00,640 Messenger. So to my surprise, she agreed to 308 00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:03,640 meet me. So when we got back on campus 309 00:18:03,640 --> 00:18:07,360 after fall break, I met her in the computer lab to help her 310 00:18:07,360 --> 00:18:09,800 with her work. And for the next 4 hours, I see 311 00:18:09,800 --> 00:18:11,880 a lot of students over here for the next 4 hours. 312 00:18:12,240 --> 00:18:13,640 Do you know how much work we did? 313 00:18:14,520 --> 00:18:17,120 None. But it was the best 4 hours I'd 314 00:18:17,120 --> 00:18:19,880 spent a long, long time. It really, really was because I 315 00:18:19,880 --> 00:18:25,280 learned so much about this girl. She was good looking, which I 316 00:18:25,280 --> 00:18:29,480 already knew, OK, but she came from a strong Christian family. 317 00:18:29,480 --> 00:18:32,480 She was a strong believer. And she liked baseball, which is 318 00:18:32,480 --> 00:18:36,760 what I played at Shorter. So for the next four years, I 319 00:18:36,760 --> 00:18:41,440 continue to pursue her, which led us to getting married in 320 00:18:41,440 --> 00:18:44,440 2004. And 21 years later, I'm still 321 00:18:44,440 --> 00:18:48,200 pursuing her. But there were some other pretty 322 00:18:48,200 --> 00:18:52,640 girls out there. But Lauren was God's best for 323 00:18:52,640 --> 00:18:55,320 me. So I want to take just a time 324 00:18:55,320 --> 00:18:57,640 out, just real quick and just a quick commercial for people that 325 00:18:57,640 --> 00:19:00,280 are in the dating scene. OK, can I, can I give some of 326 00:19:00,280 --> 00:19:03,920 you teenagers and young people some dating advice? 327 00:19:05,760 --> 00:19:06,680 Good. You're going to have to listen 328 00:19:06,680 --> 00:19:12,520 anyways. Don't just settle for anyone. 329 00:19:13,680 --> 00:19:18,520 Don't just settle for anyone. Pursue God's best for you. 330 00:19:18,520 --> 00:19:23,720 And it might take time, but I promise you this, the waiting 331 00:19:23,960 --> 00:19:27,320 for God's best is worth it. It's worth it. 332 00:19:28,520 --> 00:19:33,400 Commercial over. But the word pursue means this. 333 00:19:33,960 --> 00:19:36,880 It means to actively and intentionally go after something 334 00:19:36,880 --> 00:19:40,240 with focus and effort. And for me, oh man, I was 335 00:19:40,280 --> 00:19:43,560 actively and intentionally finding ways to go after Lauren 336 00:19:43,560 --> 00:19:46,440 with extreme focus and effort. Probably more than my studies, 337 00:19:46,680 --> 00:19:48,520 sometimes even more than baseball. 338 00:19:48,920 --> 00:19:52,160 But this is what King Solomon means when he tells us to seek 339 00:19:52,160 --> 00:19:56,000 God's will for your life. You see, when you were a kid and 340 00:19:56,000 --> 00:19:58,440 you played hide and seek, or maybe some adults played it 341 00:19:58,720 --> 00:20:01,440 during Christmas, I don't know. But when you played hide and 342 00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:03,800 seek? You didn't just stand there 343 00:20:03,800 --> 00:20:06,840 waiting for the people that you were looking for to come to you, 344 00:20:06,960 --> 00:20:08,320 right? What did you do? 345 00:20:08,840 --> 00:20:12,680 You actively and intentionally went out to find those people, 346 00:20:12,680 --> 00:20:15,680 right? So I want you to write this down 347 00:20:16,920 --> 00:20:19,720 for a Christian. Here's what it means to pursue 348 00:20:19,720 --> 00:20:23,800 God's best. It means to actively and 349 00:20:23,800 --> 00:20:29,720 intentionally seek God's plan for your life, to actively and 350 00:20:29,720 --> 00:20:33,400 intentionally seek God's plan for your life. 351 00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:35,760 And if you're drawing, I want you to draw. 352 00:20:35,760 --> 00:20:38,240 A running person, OK? Person running OK, because 353 00:20:38,240 --> 00:20:46,080 you're being active. So in 2011, I was approached by 354 00:20:46,080 --> 00:20:49,760 a friend after an FCA event, and my friend asked me this. 355 00:20:50,160 --> 00:20:53,360 He said, Drew, have you ever thought about doing something 356 00:20:53,360 --> 00:20:57,880 besides teaching and coaching? And I literally lol like I 357 00:20:57,880 --> 00:21:00,480 laughed out loud. I laughed in his face as I 358 00:21:00,480 --> 00:21:03,640 confidently told him heck no man, I got all my education and 359 00:21:03,640 --> 00:21:07,160 teaching and Cartersville High School, that's my mission field. 360 00:21:07,440 --> 00:21:12,680 So no. But then he said these words 361 00:21:12,680 --> 00:21:16,440 that sent me on a journey that I never saw coming. 362 00:21:17,240 --> 00:21:21,560 And he said this. He said, Drew, I want to 363 00:21:21,560 --> 00:21:28,000 encourage you to ask God to open and close doors as he sees fit. 364 00:21:29,240 --> 00:21:32,200 So I went home and told Laura what my friend had said. 365 00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:37,000 And we began praying that simple prayer for God to open and close 366 00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:42,880 doors as he saw fit, not knowing what God was getting ready to 367 00:21:42,880 --> 00:21:45,280 do. And within a period of eight 368 00:21:45,320 --> 00:21:49,000 months from that conversation with my friend, God had called 369 00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:52,400 me out of teaching and coaching, which I thought I would do my 370 00:21:52,400 --> 00:21:56,840 whole career, and he redirected my path to full time church 371 00:21:56,840 --> 00:22:00,080 ministry, which I've been doing for the last 13 years. 372 00:22:00,080 --> 00:22:05,400 I didn't have a seminary degree. I had no experience working at a 373 00:22:05,400 --> 00:22:08,400 church. But I clearly remember the peace 374 00:22:08,400 --> 00:22:12,800 that I felt when I said yes to God's best for me. 375 00:22:13,560 --> 00:22:16,880 Did I see it coming? No, I didn't see it coming, but 376 00:22:16,880 --> 00:22:19,880 God taught me through all those years and all those 377 00:22:19,880 --> 00:22:22,000 circumstances that I could trust Him. 378 00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:27,760 But I must surrender control, and I must pursue His best for 379 00:22:27,760 --> 00:22:31,680 my life. See Isaiah 55, verses 8 and 9 380 00:22:31,680 --> 00:22:33,760 says this, and you may be very familiar with it. 381 00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:37,480 It says my thoughts are nothing like your thoughts, says the 382 00:22:37,480 --> 00:22:42,640 Lord, and my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. 383 00:22:43,560 --> 00:22:47,640 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my 384 00:22:47,640 --> 00:22:51,880 ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your 385 00:22:51,880 --> 00:22:55,560 thoughts. So Step 3 to knowing God's plan 386 00:22:55,560 --> 00:23:01,640 for your life is to pursue God's best is to pursue God's what his 387 00:23:01,640 --> 00:23:04,160 best for you. And then here's the result. 388 00:23:05,160 --> 00:23:11,600 The result is this, when you draw, draw close to God, He will 389 00:23:11,600 --> 00:23:17,560 show you the next step. When you draw close to God, he 390 00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:22,240 will show you the next step. So kids, draw an arrow or maybe 391 00:23:22,240 --> 00:23:26,120 on that last dot, maybe a couple different arrows just signifying 392 00:23:26,120 --> 00:23:28,320 the next step that you need to take. 393 00:23:28,320 --> 00:23:30,360 But the end of verse 6 simply says this. 394 00:23:30,960 --> 00:23:33,800 He talking about God will show you which path to take. 395 00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:38,520 Not your Mama, not your grandpa, not your auntie or your uncle, 396 00:23:38,520 --> 00:23:41,320 but God will show you which path to take. 397 00:23:41,920 --> 00:23:43,440 But here's what we've got to understand. 398 00:23:44,080 --> 00:23:46,920 When we read in the Bible and story after story, we see that 399 00:23:46,920 --> 00:23:51,280 God never reveals His whole plan for anybody, Not at one time. 400 00:23:51,880 --> 00:23:55,960 He only lets you see one piece at a time. 401 00:23:57,000 --> 00:23:58,880 Why? Why does He do that? 402 00:24:00,600 --> 00:24:02,400 Because He wants you to keep pursuing Him. 403 00:24:02,560 --> 00:24:06,360 That's why He wants a relationship with you. 404 00:24:06,360 --> 00:24:10,080 He doesn't want a transaction. It kind of reminds me of the 405 00:24:10,080 --> 00:24:12,760 Waze app. OK, if you're looking on your 406 00:24:12,760 --> 00:24:14,960 Waze app while you're driving in the car, at the very top, the 407 00:24:14,960 --> 00:24:18,960 banner simply gives you the next instruction, right and 1.5 408 00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:22,280 miles, turn left, blah, blah, blah, road right. 409 00:24:22,360 --> 00:24:25,280 OK, it's probably, you probably have a much better person saying 410 00:24:25,280 --> 00:24:27,560 that than I do, probably the British person or whatever it 411 00:24:27,560 --> 00:24:30,600 might be, But it only gives you the next step. 412 00:24:30,600 --> 00:24:35,080 It never gives you all the steps, but you never see the 413 00:24:35,080 --> 00:24:40,320 final destination until you have completed each next step that 414 00:24:40,320 --> 00:24:45,680 you're supposed to take. God doesn't promise to show you 415 00:24:45,680 --> 00:24:50,640 the entire map of your life, but He does promise to show you 416 00:24:50,640 --> 00:24:55,400 which path to take as you trust Him, as you surrender control, 417 00:24:56,280 --> 00:24:58,640 and as you pursue His best for your life. 418 00:24:58,880 --> 00:25:03,280 And sometimes God's best will surprise you as it did me. 419 00:25:04,840 --> 00:25:09,360 So James 48 says this. It says draw close to God and he 420 00:25:09,360 --> 00:25:11,560 will draw close to you. If you heard that one before, 421 00:25:11,560 --> 00:25:14,400 draw close to God and he will draw close to you. 422 00:25:14,600 --> 00:25:17,880 So can I give you 3 quick practical ways that you can draw 423 00:25:17,880 --> 00:25:20,600 close to God so you can know what the next step is for you? 424 00:25:20,600 --> 00:25:21,760 All good with that. Just real quick. 425 00:25:21,760 --> 00:25:22,840 OK? They're very simple. 426 00:25:23,160 --> 00:25:26,800 Not hard, very simple. But here's #1 read the Bible. 427 00:25:27,320 --> 00:25:28,840 So if you're drawing, draw a book. 428 00:25:28,920 --> 00:25:32,120 OK Draw a book right there. Read the Bible. 429 00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:36,640 The best way to get to know God is to read the letter that He 430 00:25:36,640 --> 00:25:39,640 wrote to you that tells you all about Himself and His plan for 431 00:25:39,640 --> 00:25:41,760 you. It's the best way for me. 432 00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:44,920 Here's what I do. I get up early in the morning, a 433 00:25:44,920 --> 00:25:46,360 little bit earlier than I would really like. 434 00:25:46,840 --> 00:25:49,400 I get a cup of coffee. I sit down in my chair with my 435 00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:53,240 Bible and my journal, and I read and I take notes. 436 00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:56,400 That's what I do. And there are more people that 437 00:25:56,400 --> 00:25:58,840 are, that are probably far along in their relationship with God 438 00:25:58,840 --> 00:26:00,880 that still struggle with this and they just, I get asked this 439 00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:02,080 question all the time. Hey, what do you do? 440 00:26:02,240 --> 00:26:05,520 How do, where do I start? Well, here's what I would say a 441 00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:07,560 simple place to start is by reading the proverb a day. 442 00:26:07,560 --> 00:26:10,880 There's 31 chapters in Proverbs. So just read 1 proverb a day. 443 00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:13,720 Or maybe you can pick two or three Psalms and read some of 444 00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:16,200 those and write down some notes that you that you learned. 445 00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:18,560 Or maybe you can start in the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, 446 00:26:18,560 --> 00:26:21,120 and John and learn about the story of Jesus, but, but find 447 00:26:21,120 --> 00:26:22,720 some of those simple places to start. 448 00:26:23,640 --> 00:26:26,920 But can I tell you this? The best way that you can learn 449 00:26:26,920 --> 00:26:31,320 to dive deeper into scripture is by being a part of a Sunday 450 00:26:31,320 --> 00:26:34,640 school class. It's the best way because here's 451 00:26:34,640 --> 00:26:39,120 what Lauren and I found is that as we were in that stage of 452 00:26:39,120 --> 00:26:43,800 life, we were looking for people to do life with and in Shep 453 00:26:43,800 --> 00:26:46,640 Hilton Sunday School class and then eventually, eventually Adam 454 00:26:46,640 --> 00:26:50,440 Baker's Sunday school class and and so on, we found friends to 455 00:26:50,440 --> 00:26:52,960 do life with. Friends that would challenge us, 456 00:26:53,280 --> 00:26:55,960 friends that would help us know God better, friends that would 457 00:26:55,960 --> 00:26:58,400 pray for us, friends that would help us in difficult times and 458 00:26:58,400 --> 00:26:59,720 friends that held us accountable. 459 00:27:00,080 --> 00:27:01,960 But if you're not in a Sunday school class, I'm just telling 460 00:27:01,960 --> 00:27:04,920 you this, you're missing out. And I would encourage you today 461 00:27:05,080 --> 00:27:07,160 to find someone as you get into the new year. 462 00:27:07,160 --> 00:27:09,920 Make it your goal to go. I'm just going to try to find a 463 00:27:09,920 --> 00:27:13,560 class that fits us. But listen, life was not meant 464 00:27:13,560 --> 00:27:15,240 to do alone. Read the Bible. 465 00:27:16,640 --> 00:27:18,520 Jesus wasn't alone. He was with people. 466 00:27:19,160 --> 00:27:22,640 The disciples were alone. They were with with others, life 467 00:27:22,640 --> 00:27:24,000 was meant to be done in community. 468 00:27:25,040 --> 00:27:27,640 But join us study school class and get that's the best way to 469 00:27:27,640 --> 00:27:29,360 get started and diving deep into the Bible. 470 00:27:29,360 --> 00:27:33,080 And then through that, you can help yourself on your own. 471 00:27:33,080 --> 00:27:35,840 So that's number one, Number two, Number two is talk to God. 472 00:27:35,920 --> 00:27:37,640 OK, talk to God. So if you're drawing, draw a 473 00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:40,920 picture of a phone, OK, draw a picture of a phone, talk to God. 474 00:27:41,480 --> 00:27:44,840 So after I read my Bible, I always take a few minutes to 475 00:27:44,840 --> 00:27:46,680 talk to God. And the cool thing is, is that 476 00:27:46,680 --> 00:27:50,040 you can talk to God about anything, anything. 477 00:27:50,640 --> 00:27:54,000 And here's what prayer is. Prayer is simply having a 478 00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:57,680 reverent and real conversation with God. 479 00:27:58,920 --> 00:28:01,520 You have to understand who your authority is and he's the 480 00:28:01,520 --> 00:28:04,480 authority of you, right? So therefore, it's having a real 481 00:28:04,480 --> 00:28:06,120 and reverent conversation with God. 482 00:28:06,360 --> 00:28:08,960 So if you go, man, is there a way that you can kind of help me 483 00:28:08,960 --> 00:28:11,280 learn how to pray? Well, I am so glad you asked 484 00:28:11,320 --> 00:28:14,040 because I asked ChatGPT and it gave me a couple of great, a 485 00:28:14,040 --> 00:28:17,840 great answers for you. OK, I did ask, but I didn't know 486 00:28:17,840 --> 00:28:19,520 these. By the way, here's an acronym 487 00:28:19,520 --> 00:28:24,520 for you Ready, Pray, pray, PRAY. Here's what the P stands for. 488 00:28:24,880 --> 00:28:29,960 The P stands for praise, praise. And what you want to do is just 489 00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:33,480 take time to thank God for who he is and what he's done for 490 00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:34,920 you. Write down some some things that 491 00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:37,960 God's done for you and make sure you go back and you tell him 492 00:28:37,960 --> 00:28:40,720 thank you for those things, but praise him for his character, 493 00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:43,040 for loving you, for not treating you as your sins deserve. 494 00:28:43,360 --> 00:28:45,960 Praise God for who he is and what he's done. 495 00:28:46,280 --> 00:28:50,680 The R stands for repent and repent is just a fancy word that 496 00:28:50,680 --> 00:28:55,000 means to to ask God to forgive you where you've messed up and 497 00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:58,040 to help you do what's right to ask God to forgive you where you 498 00:28:58,040 --> 00:29:00,680 messed up and help you do what's right. 499 00:29:01,520 --> 00:29:05,840 The A means ask and this is where you get to bring your 500 00:29:05,840 --> 00:29:10,160 request to God for yourself, for your family and for your others. 501 00:29:10,160 --> 00:29:12,080 So you get to talk to him about God. 502 00:29:12,160 --> 00:29:13,840 This is I just want to pray for this friend. 503 00:29:13,840 --> 00:29:15,080 I want to pray for this family member. 504 00:29:15,120 --> 00:29:18,760 God, this is something I need to ask you to help me with, but 505 00:29:18,760 --> 00:29:21,080 ask. And then the why means yield. 506 00:29:21,080 --> 00:29:22,800 This is what we kind of been talking about a little bit this 507 00:29:22,800 --> 00:29:25,440 morning with surrender, right? And this is where you surrender 508 00:29:25,440 --> 00:29:28,920 all of your plans, all of your worries, and all of your 509 00:29:28,920 --> 00:29:31,000 situations to God. You yield. 510 00:29:31,640 --> 00:29:35,840 So pray, praise, repent, ask and yield. 511 00:29:36,120 --> 00:29:39,880 And then the last one is this. Listen and obey. 512 00:29:40,760 --> 00:29:43,880 Listen and obey. So if you're drawing, draw a 513 00:29:43,880 --> 00:29:47,600 picture of a person with some really big ears, OK, Listen and 514 00:29:47,600 --> 00:29:51,160 obey. So as you spend time reading the 515 00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:54,240 Bible and talking to God, He will begin to speak to your 516 00:29:54,240 --> 00:29:55,600 heart. I had somebody in between 517 00:29:55,600 --> 00:30:00,520 service ask a great question. How do you know when He's 518 00:30:00,520 --> 00:30:02,920 speaking? Well, here's what I've 519 00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:06,080 experienced. The more time I spend with God, 520 00:30:06,560 --> 00:30:09,080 the easier it is for me to recognize His voice. 521 00:30:09,360 --> 00:30:12,560 I'll give you an example. When I was in preschool, OK, all 522 00:30:12,560 --> 00:30:14,240 the parents at the end of the day would come and get their 523 00:30:14,240 --> 00:30:17,160 kids, and I couldn't wait for my mom to show up at the door. 524 00:30:17,160 --> 00:30:19,680 But there was a crowd of parents, and so sometimes I'd 525 00:30:19,680 --> 00:30:21,520 get nervous and scared my mom coming for me. 526 00:30:21,720 --> 00:30:25,960 But every single day I could hear my mom whistling a song 527 00:30:25,960 --> 00:30:29,400 coming down the hallway, and I knew that it was her coming to 528 00:30:29,400 --> 00:30:37,040 get me. That's what she'd whistle every 529 00:30:37,040 --> 00:30:40,360 day. And I knew that was my mom. 530 00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:44,560 But how did I know? I heard it every day. 531 00:30:45,640 --> 00:30:49,200 And the more time you spend with God, the more you'll be able to 532 00:30:49,200 --> 00:30:51,120 recognize His voice when He speaks to you. 533 00:30:51,120 --> 00:30:54,680 It may not be an audible voice, but you will know it when you 534 00:30:54,680 --> 00:30:56,520 hear it. And God speaks to us in 535 00:30:56,520 --> 00:30:59,160 different ways. He speaks to us through His 536 00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:02,360 Word, right through the Bible. He speaks to us through prayer. 537 00:31:02,920 --> 00:31:05,880 He speaks to us through other believers, And He also speaks to 538 00:31:05,880 --> 00:31:09,960 us through our circumstances. So when God prompts your heart 539 00:31:09,960 --> 00:31:12,400 to do something, you will have a choice to make. 540 00:31:12,400 --> 00:31:13,960 And here are your two choices. Are you ready? 541 00:31:14,840 --> 00:31:16,320 It's pretty rocket sciency right here. 542 00:31:16,320 --> 00:31:21,920 OK, obey or don't obey, right? Two choices that that's all. 543 00:31:21,920 --> 00:31:25,000 That's all you got. And when we read the Bible, we 544 00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:26,640 read story after story after story. 545 00:31:26,640 --> 00:31:31,040 Here's what we find out. When you obey, that produces 546 00:31:31,040 --> 00:31:34,760 blessings. When you disobey, that produces 547 00:31:34,760 --> 00:31:40,280 consequences every single time. So the choice is yours, but I 548 00:31:40,280 --> 00:31:43,080 highly recommend that you choose to obey. 549 00:31:44,600 --> 00:31:48,960 So in closing, want to take us back to the very first thing 550 00:31:48,960 --> 00:31:52,360 that we talked about. God has a what? 551 00:31:53,320 --> 00:31:58,280 He has a plan and he has a plan specifically designed for you. 552 00:31:59,920 --> 00:32:03,520 And by the way, God eventually allowed my wife Lauren to get 553 00:32:03,520 --> 00:32:09,480 pregnant and she had Price in 2010, then followed by Henley in 554 00:32:09,480 --> 00:32:14,160 2013, and then followed by Ellenie Kate in 2015. 555 00:32:14,880 --> 00:32:18,160 And then we had one more surprise in 2017 with Beckett. 556 00:32:19,280 --> 00:32:23,840 But here's the deal. If God would have allowed us to 557 00:32:23,840 --> 00:32:29,320 have kids when we wanted to have kids, I just don't believe that 558 00:32:29,320 --> 00:32:33,080 we would have had the opportunity to have such an 559 00:32:33,080 --> 00:32:36,360 impact in the lives of the countless teenagers that he 560 00:32:36,360 --> 00:32:37,600 brought our way. I just don't. 561 00:32:38,760 --> 00:32:42,200 And what's cool is, is that right outside after the service, 562 00:32:42,320 --> 00:32:45,640 I got to see several of those, a couple of guys that I coached 563 00:32:45,680 --> 00:32:49,600 baseball in in in high school years ago come out there. 564 00:32:49,600 --> 00:32:52,280 They're dads, they're here in church, they've grown up, 565 00:32:52,280 --> 00:32:55,480 they're serving the Lord. We just hired one at North Star 566 00:32:55,480 --> 00:32:58,160 Church, helping with our college ministry, and she's doing a 567 00:32:58,160 --> 00:33:00,560 phenomenal job. But just to see the fruit of 568 00:33:00,960 --> 00:33:04,760 what God allowed us to experience by just trusting in 569 00:33:04,760 --> 00:33:09,800 his plan. But in hindsight, Lauren and I 570 00:33:09,800 --> 00:33:12,920 are beyond grateful for the waiting and even for the 571 00:33:12,920 --> 00:33:17,040 difficult circumstances because God taught us that we can trust 572 00:33:17,040 --> 00:33:18,640 Him. But here's what I want to just 573 00:33:18,800 --> 00:33:20,960 make sure you hear before I finish today, OK? 574 00:33:21,080 --> 00:33:26,040 Listen to me. God loves you and God is 575 00:33:26,040 --> 00:33:30,280 faithful, and God has a plan for your life. 576 00:33:31,080 --> 00:33:36,840 But you must trust Him. You must surrender control and 577 00:33:36,840 --> 00:33:41,120 you have to pursue His best as you draw close to Him. 578 00:33:41,720 --> 00:33:48,400 Will you bow your heads with me? I have a couple of questions for 579 00:33:48,400 --> 00:33:51,560 you as we come to this time of response. 580 00:33:52,560 --> 00:33:59,080 And question number one, is this, What action do you need to 581 00:33:59,080 --> 00:34:02,560 take today after hearing this message? 582 00:34:03,200 --> 00:34:05,480 Immediate action. What is it that you need to do? 583 00:34:06,200 --> 00:34:08,239 The Bible says that we're not just to be hearers of the Word, 584 00:34:08,239 --> 00:34:11,800 but we're to be doers. So what is God telling you to do 585 00:34:11,800 --> 00:34:15,760 after hearing his message today? Is there a situation in your 586 00:34:15,760 --> 00:34:18,960 life that you're struggling to to surrender to God? 587 00:34:19,639 --> 00:34:22,800 Man, as we sing in just a minute, take that time to sit in 588 00:34:22,800 --> 00:34:25,199 your seat or come to the altar and surrender that to God. 589 00:34:25,199 --> 00:34:27,760 Or just ask a friend, will you pray for me about this? 590 00:34:28,920 --> 00:34:31,360 Or maybe you're, you're going man, Drew, I really need to 591 00:34:31,760 --> 00:34:35,320 start reading and, and talking to reading the Bible and talking 592 00:34:35,320 --> 00:34:38,080 to God more and listening to him and so I can obey and know what 593 00:34:38,080 --> 00:34:41,320 he's saying. Oh, man, I'd encourage you to, 594 00:34:42,679 --> 00:34:44,199 to ask God to help you with that as well. 595 00:34:44,199 --> 00:34:46,560 Or come talk to a pastor, or even if you're not in a Sunday 596 00:34:46,560 --> 00:34:49,880 school class, ask them how you can get connected to, to one at 597 00:34:49,880 --> 00:34:55,719 the beginning of the year. But maybe, just maybe, God's 598 00:34:55,719 --> 00:34:59,480 speaking to your heart about surrendering your life to Jesus, 599 00:35:00,280 --> 00:35:04,040 which is where a relationship with God truly begins. 600 00:35:04,840 --> 00:35:07,280 And it's the most important decision that you'll ever make 601 00:35:07,280 --> 00:35:10,200 in your life because it will determine where you will spend 602 00:35:10,360 --> 00:35:14,080 eternity. And there are pastors down front 603 00:35:14,080 --> 00:35:18,520 that can help you know how you can start a relationship with 604 00:35:18,640 --> 00:35:20,800 Jesus. But whatever God is asking you 605 00:35:20,800 --> 00:35:25,280 to do right now, I encourage you to be obedient. 606 00:35:25,760 --> 00:35:28,000 Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your word. 607 00:35:28,680 --> 00:35:30,640 Thank you for the power that comes through it. 608 00:35:31,600 --> 00:35:37,080 And Lord, you tell us to trust in you with all of our heart. 609 00:35:37,960 --> 00:35:39,760 Don't depend on our own understanding. 610 00:35:40,680 --> 00:35:46,480 Seek your will in all that we do and you will show us which path 611 00:35:46,480 --> 00:35:48,560 to take. Thank you for not leaving us 612 00:35:48,560 --> 00:35:50,680 alone. Thank you God, that you're a 613 00:35:50,680 --> 00:35:53,120 Father who loves us and who wants what's best for us and 614 00:35:53,120 --> 00:35:55,360 who's willing to show us what our next step is. 615 00:35:55,360 --> 00:35:59,360 So as we trust you, or as we surrender to you, as we pursue 616 00:35:59,360 --> 00:36:01,880 you God, show us what that next step is in Jesus name.