Oh, Crossing Nation, what a weekend.
I am so glad that you guys are here from all of our locations.
I want to welcome you, those of you watching online and inside.
I've been trying to loosen up this knuckle.
I got my bubble. Wub a shoe.
Yep, this is who I am. Now if you you should go to a
rodeo soon because there's not going to be a lot of wild
animals left now that I'm a cowboy, I'm going to be breaking
them for the that's my purpose. Now to those of you who are new
to the crossing, those of you watching online, we're just so
glad that you're here. And if you are new here, whether
it's your first time or your first time in a long time, would
you do me a huge favor and ultimately, I believe do
yourself a huge favor before you leave today, Would you swing out
into the lobby next to the new here booth and get connected?
We'd love a chance to get to know you a little bit better and
help you on your spiritual journey.
Today we are going to participate in what I believe
will be one of the most memorable services of your
entire life. We're all big fans of Jesus
here. And Jesus, when he taught
people, he taught them using parables.
He used a powerful story to convey a powerful truth.
And that is exactly what is going to happen right in front
of your eyes in just a few moments.
A story is going to get told. We're going to use the horse,
and the horse is going to represent you, and Todd is going
to represent God. And you're going to see over
time what happens when a horse begins to trust the cowboy.
And what I'm hoping you'll see is what is possible when you,
though you are wild and full of potential and purpose, will not
fully experience it or realize it until your life begins to
trust God. Would you guys please welcome to
the stage, our cowboy for the weekend.
Mr. Todd Pierce, I need you to know I officially have a cowboy
crush on you, but I'm not, you know, I'm saying it because, you
know, we don't get to share the stage again for a while.
You have been a tremendous, tremendous blessing to our
church and people that many people all across this region
have been praying for are here because of what you do and how
you leverage your life and your abilities.
And I just need you to know we are so deeply grateful for you.
Thank you. And what I want to do is I'm
going to have our whole church, we're going to pray for you, and
then I'm going to let you get after it.
How's that sound? Yes, Sir.
So if you're here at 48th St. would you extend your hands
towards Mr. Todd at your one of our locations?
Would you just extend your hand towards the screen?
Heavenly Father, I'm asking that you would do a mighty work right
now, that you would keep Todd safe, That you would give him
the words that He is supposed to speak to us and over us, about
us and about you and the God. That because of the interactions
He's about to have, that every single person would draw closer
to you in their intimate personal relationship.
And you're in my prey. Amen.
Get it, buddy.
Thank you. So it's I hope this never gets
old to me. We're in church with a horse,
and I grew up not liking church at all.
And actually I didn't like people, but I loved animals.
And it was because of this miracle we talked about
transformation, that an insecure, scared little boy that
only found safety in animals learned how to be consumed by
the love of God and made it to her.
I love people and I've fallen in love with this family.
They've treated us so well. And I'm so impressed that we
were sitting at dinner the other night and this ginormous man
that just said he had a crush on me, his alarm goes off and it's
like twice a day. There's been hundreds of y'all
praying for this and I feel like I get to step into all of this
sewing into the lives of others and the the privilege of getting
to do it with something that I love and I've loved my whole
life and surrounded by a whole bunch of y'all that I get to
express that love to. So last service was a little bit
of a surprise to me. It was a cute little little dude
that ran for the entire hour and wore me smooth out.
But is she 3 so I haven't met her.
She's 3 year old Palomina which my wife's a Palomino.
I love Palominos cute little blonde girl and so I don't know
much about her. Well, actually I don't know
anything about her other Now I know that she's 3 and it looks
like she's really well groomed. So she's been at the beauty
parlor a lot and I'm hoping that they didn't put this solution on
their hair that makes it to where they're slick.
Did they, they call it SHO Sheen or some form of that?
And when I get on them, it's like sitting on a greased pig.
It makes it really difficult. But I'm going to ask her to
start moving for a second because I think Clayton did a
great job of, of just laying out this invitation.
That's for all of us. And to me, it's, it's a little
bit shocking that we've we've missed.
We have the amount of Christianity that we have in our
country and churches everywhere, and somehow people have missed
the beauty and the simplicity and the significance of what a
life transformed by Jesus really looks like.
And so today, while I work with her, you can see that there's
this beautiful, magnificent, like majestic almost creation
that is 100% clueless about what her life's supposed to be.
And there's only one way to unlock it.
A lot of distractions for her right now.
First time in a church. Have we got any other first time
church goers here? Do we?
Yeah. Well, then you can relate.
It's a little bit weird and there's a lot of distractions
and people do things that you're not used to.
But stick with it for a minute. Who in the world I'm going to
fall on this thing and break my neck?
Did you dig this hole? She's wrote to a litter box I
guess. So with all of her story and all
of the things that have got her attention and everything that's
LED up to this day, all sorts of thoughts going through her mind,
and each one of you are having your own thoughts and you have
your own reactions to the things that are going on around you.
She's purposely ignoring me, not a girl.
So if you watch her ears and you watch where her attention is
being drawn to as we go here, she's going to have to, at least
for a moment, give her attention to me.
Not because I'm just another person, but because of the
significance of this day. It's going to require her to
reconsider. Get this if you will.
She's going to have to reconsider everything that she's
ever believed about herself. And I don't know if you can be
humble enough to just sit here for a minute.
Come on, sweetheart. There's a really important part
because she's been handled enough that she just, she's
learned how to tolerate things. And it's amazing what we can
learn to tolerate in our life and what it is that we've come
accustomed to and we've taken it for granted.
I don't want her to feel as though it's just another day,
another guy so special to me like this right here would be
like, you had me at hello. That was really bad timing.
But because all the questions that I saw her asking in that
look right there. Was it OK?
Maybe this is not just another version of the same old story.
And if this is not just another version of the same old story
that you've told yourself or that you've been told, then
today represents the first day of the rest of your life.
Because you're going to get a glimpse into what is possible
and what it is that the invitation of heaven really was
and why it mattered that Jesus did what he did.
It wasn't so that the people could start a new religion and
start following the rules that were always going to be the
rules that make it to where humans prosper in.
It was going to be that my people need power and they're
going to get power that comes from becoming one with me.
And I know in a lot of Bible teaching we have, I'm going to
unpack this all, but we kind of mix those of you that can have
the ears to hear on this. We mix the old covenant with the
new covenant and we watch the lifestyle of Jesus and the
interaction that his disciples had with the world around him
before the resurrection of Jesus and the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit. And we combine the two.
And sometimes it gets confusing, especially for a guy like me.
Like it's got to be super practical for me to get it.
And so I thought because Jesus would say to his disciples, hey,
come follow me. And they did.
Those that chose to follow him, they literally followed him
around. And OK, I was tired of following
people around. I was tired of being told what
to do. I'd I'd had a scarred life of
being bullied and dominated. I didn't need another boss in my
life and I didn't want to follow Jesus because I didn't need
another boss in my life telling me what to do.
I was just broken in a bad way. And but I had this encounter
with Jesus. It was so undeniable that it's
as though I had a conversation with a God that I can't see, but
it was more real than any human conversation I'd ever had.
And it was him telling me that he loved me and that he had a
plan for my life and that I can trust him.
And I believed him. This God I couldn't see.
And so because I said yes to him, his yes back to me was such
a huge yes that it was. It was like everything in my
life stayed the same, but nothing was the same.
And I didn't, like I told you, I didn't trust people.
So I sure as heck wasn't going to go to church.
And I didn't know how to read well enough that I could read
the Bible. So I was kind of stuck in this
spot on, how am I? What am I supposed to do?
Like maybe I'm supposed to quit cussing and drinking and chasing
girls and chewing tobacco. Like, is it?
What am I supposed to do? Jesus.
And it was really surprising to me.
It was nothing. But I started working a horse in
a round pan. And don't disqualify me over
this. Just stick with me long enough
to get through this part. I was talking to the horse and I
hadn't talked to horses before and it was though it was an echo
and God was speaking to me. And it was a plea because this
horse that I was working with at that moment wouldn't stop.
And this language and this thing that I am doing even right now,
there's a plea in my heart that makes it to where I don't want
you to settle for this. I've got so much more for you.
The life that we can do together, I promise you is going
to be a whole lot more than me just leading you around.
I'm not asking you to follow me. I'm asking you to become one
with me. And it's very different.
And so as I was being mentored or discipled by horses,
literally, Holy Spirit is teaching me through what it is
that I was doing, just as I'm doing right now.
I didn't make this up. This is my story.
But if we use the language that says that come, follow me, I get
the right side. Now, Britain, it looks kind of
like this. And I can teach her a lot from
here and I can get her from point A to point B.
But Jesus went way beyond that. And that's why they let him kill
him, because when he defeated death and sin and made it to
where all the things that you have stacked against you, the
guilty conscience, the unseen things, the shame, the fear, all
the insecurities, all those things that have been stacked up
in your life. There was a reason why there was
a sacrifice that made it to where that no longer has to
stick on you. And that because of that, Jesus
said, it's my desire that you become one with me the way I'm
one with the Father. I know
she's gentle and she's really trusting, but because no one's
ever been on her, she's never had a saddle on her.
She's doing this for a different reason than obedience.
She's doing it because at whatever level she's got, she
trusts me. First steps of doozy.
Had a girl. Had a girl.
So sweet, so sweet. Could we get caught up in the
words of Jesus for a second and say, why did he say follow him?
And then he say that, hey guys, it's better if I go away.
You're suspicious. When Jesus taught us to pray, he
told his disciples. He said when you pray, pray like
this, our Father who is in heaven.
You realize that when he uttered those words that the religious
people had to kill him. Now he was, he was making
himself like God. He was saying that we could
actually address God as a father rather than back in the day, you
couldn't even use the name of God.
It was so reverent, you couldn't even whisper it.
And he's inviting humanity to engage with God as a father.
It changed everything because not only did he model what it
was like to be a son, but then he empowered us to do it.
Because there's a beauty in having the word of God that
gives us like a the solid foundation that makes it to
where we can understand the attributes and the personality
of Jesus in the context of like, I need it to happen in my home.
I need it to happen so deeply in my heart that my insecurities my
my bad ways that I learned to lead that it's going to change
those things because I was a man fully devoted to Jesus and
loving other people and tearing my family apart at the same time
because the only way I knew how to father and how to be a
husband was what was shown to me.
And I could pull up a scripture that says, Hey Todd, love your
wife as Christ loved the church and laid his life down for like
heck yeah. I would love to die for her.
I don't know why she's so mad though.
I'd take a bullet for that girl, but I the things that I wouldn't
do and the things that I didn't know how to do was take care of
myself in a way that I know how to walk into my home filled with
love and peace and joy and hope and enthusiasm and provision and
protection and be able to inspire my family.
Rather than give all of that I have away to the world around me
and then come to my home as though I've got nothing left to
give. I didn't know what was wrong
with me. I needed more than a scripture
to pull up in that moment. I needed a power to do something
that I couldn't do. I needed new wisdom on what does
it look like to guard my heart with all diligence?
This is the Bible verse either way.
Guard my heart with all diligence knowing that all these
issues in my life, they're flowing out of it.
This encounter that she's having, this lifestyle that
she's being invited into when it matters, when things start
falling apart and she gets scared and wants to do something
that's going to hurt herself or someone around her, I'm going to
be able to be there with her and say we don't need to do it that
way. There's a different way.
Look, you're still scared. It's OK, but we're not going to
stay this way. That's why when Jesus said that
when I go away, that the counselor is going to come, the
Holy Spirit's going to come, and when the Holy Spirit comes, he's
going to convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of
judgment. It's going to be such a powerful
encounter that. I'm going to convict the world
of sin. There are people here today that
you've not given your life to Jesus.
You're you're not a son or a daughter of God.
And it's OK. But I hope, I hope that you're
receptive enough, humble enough in this moment to say I actually
need to see what it is that's in the way.
Why am I still living my life separated from God?
Why do I not feel as though I'm actually one with God?
It might just be because you're not.
He said that he's given every one of us the right to become
children of God. It's not just something that
you're born into. Every man is born.
But then every man gets to make the decision on what it is that
they're going to do with this. Jesus Christ is ready to help my
freely gifts. I will ever love and trust Him
in His presence. Daily I surrender.
I surrender on TV. My blessed say you're right.
Surrender. I surrender.
I surrender all to thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender.
There's some of you that just realized that that was actually
you. I'm so happy for you.
It's almost like we we can't even go anywhere if we don't
first of all realize that we need saved from something.
It's a circular conversation. This is not just about trying to
figure out how to make life better.
This is about getting rescued from hell.
And I've heard your pastor say that there's an explicit goal of
this church, and that is to make it as hard as possible for
anybody to ever live separated from God.
It's almost like you can't get there from here.
And we want to make it as clear as possible that you don't have
to leave here with any shame, any doubt, any condemnation
whatsoever. Completely clean.
So much so that if you can understand the language that God
would call you his righteousness, that you're as
pure as he is simply because you said yes to Jesus.
And you get an infusion of holiness that makes it to where
you are righteous because the rest of the verse that I said
that it came to convict the world of sin.
Sometimes we get stuck in that, that he's Holy Spirit's trying
to show you everything that's wrong with you.
The next part is he's convicting the world of sin and
righteousness and judgment. So what if this whole time you
thought that it was Holy Spirit pointing out everything that's
wrong with you and you just feel like you can never measure up,
never be good enough. I'll just throw it out there.
What if, what if that's actually not Holy Spirit?
That's actually a demonic torment that is the accuser of
the brethren. That makes it to where we can
sit here in a house fully whole, filled with the power of God,
the righteousness of God in Christ, that we're seated in
heavenly places with Him and still look at ourselves as
though we're just sinners saved by grace.
No wonder we're too scared to do anything.
It's too hard. I just said a bunch, and I'm
going to trust that Clayton's going to clean up any of that
that you misunderstood. This is not my quote, but I
think it's probably the most profound thing I could say in
this moment, that Jesus didn't come to make bad people into
good people. He did what he did so that he
could take dead people and bring them back to life.
It's a big difference to me because I was dead.
I was so stuck in a pattern that I inherited from my parents and
from the culture that raised me that I was never going to
change. That would be a middle-aged.
I'm old now. Maybe even I'd be a 54 year old,
angry, bitter, a lone man. I couldn't get myself out of the
hole that I was in. You can't get yourself out of
the hole that you're in. We can't make things that are
wrong, right? That's what the forgiveness is
about. It didn't come from me, but I
get to possess it. It's the forgiveness of God.
It's the power of God. Man, I just said a lot.
I don't want this to overwhelm you to the point where you just
shut down. I'm going to let Austin just
worship over you. close your eyes if you need to.
Take some deep breaths. Nobody's put in a corner.
This isn't about a conversion. This is an introduction to a
king and a creator of heaven and earth that you don't maybe know.
And the fact that he wants to become one with you should like
it is to me, feel like why? I don't know why he would want
me, but he does enough to reveal himself to me and he's revealing
himself to you right now. And I don't know why.
I guess it's just that's what perfect love does.
I love you Lord, for your mercy never fails me.
All my days I've been held in your head.
From the moment that I wake up till I lay my head, I will sing
of the goodness of God. And all my life you have been
faithful. All my life you have been so so
good. With every breath that I am
able, I will say of the goodness.
I love your voice. You have led me through the
fire. In darkest night you were close
like no other. I've known you as a father.
I've known you as a friend that I have lived in the goodness of
God all my life. You have been faithful all my
life. You have been so, so good.
With every breath that I enable, I will sing of your goodness
with God. Your goodness is running after
it's running after me. Your goodness is running after.
It's running after me. With my life laid down,
surrendered, now I give you everything.
Your goodness is running after you.
It's running after me. Your goodness is running after
me. It's running after me.
Your goodness is running after. It's running after me.
With my life laid down. I'm surrendered now.
I give you everything. Your goodness is running after
me. It's running after me.
All my life you have been faithful, all my life you have
been so so bad. With every breath that I enable,
I will of forget me God. Oh man, she's so tender, and the
thing about her tenderness is be easy to take advantage of her
because she's so kind and she wants to please.
She's a little bit sore, so we're not going to push her, but
I want her to know that the gifts and the callings of God
that are irrevocable, that there's gifts that I'm going to
give her that metaphorically will never be taken away.
And the gift isn't the saddle, the gift is me.
But with me comes all sorts of resources, tools to do things
better. What's been wild for me is to
realize that. So many of the things that our
Father wants to give us comes embodied in somebody else.
I can makes it to where we're going to have to learn to love
and partner with each other without any shame so that we can
come to each other with all of our brokenness and all of our
questions and truly start taking care of each other.
Because of the type of encounter I had with Jesus, trusting Him
has been so easy for me. And I know that's not the case
with so many people. Like they actually have a hard
time trusting God, and I'm just so amazed that it doesn't bother
him. He's not insecure about your
uncertainty and the real questions that you have and you
can even be angry at God and he'll, he'll just wait.
He's like, I know all that was super painful.
Holy Spirit, we embrace you in this place, knowing that you're
the author and the finisher, that nothing good that we know
of comes from any other source but you.
Thank you for a room full of people that are hungry to become
more than what they are right now.
They're hungry for you. Can we pray, Buck, at the same
time? Thank you.
We can sit here just amongst each other and enjoy your
presence knowing that you're the one that began this good and
work in US and you're going to complete it.
And we present ourselves to you as our as your family.
I love the stories of Jesus and the ways the people around him
would freak out and he'd just wait till they're done freaking
out and then he'd say peace be still.
It's OK promise. It seemed like the whole sky was
falling there for a second, but it really wasn't.
I got you. I'm I'm glad to inform you all.
You can't kill me. I'm never going to die.
I'm not afraid of dying and I'm not afraid of living because
this body is just something that I get to steward for a lifetime.
But it ain't me. What happens to a group of
people that aren't afraid of anything?
You can't stop them. And the only way we're ever
going to get there is to be fathered by God.
We're not going to find it in a religion.
The next great book isn't going to bring the healing.
This message is not going to heal you.
You deciding to partner with God the rest of your life and
allowing him to father you in a way that only a perfect father
can. And I know that that even that
word can be a trigger for some people.
Like your dad just wasn't. Please don't let God be like my
dad. That might be your story, but we
get to see in the life of Jesus, and if you can just stick with
the Bible long enough to get through the Gospels, Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John, and look at Jesus.
Look at how he conducted himself.
Look at how it is that he viewed the world.
And then we're going to live a lifestyle of learning to see the
things that he saw. This is what the becoming looks
like. I think it would be tragic for
her to spend her life apart because at best she'd have been
pretty. I got nothing against pretty.
Like I told you, I got a really pretty Palomino at home.
But the tragedy would be that our lives just become what it is
that we can do superficially. And that song that they sang at
the beginning, that you were made for more.
I don't know if that's a familiar song around this house.
Do you guys sing that much? OK.
It should just be an anthem, and it doesn't breed discontentment
inside of you. I asked the last service and I
guess I'm going to ask you all too.
If I'm not, I'm going to stick with men.
I'm just safer there. But men, if you want to be a
better man than you currently are, would you raise your hand?
That's not a self condemning thing to do.
This is what we do as sons and daughters of God.
We spend a lifetime of repentance.
Meaning that I want to see more clearly.
I want to love more purely. I want to know what it's like to
see what it is that God sees when he looks at me.
And as long as that image is distorted, I'm not there yet.
You still see what it is that you see based on a whole bunch
of circumstances that we're out of your control.
What if what God says about you is more true than what it is
that you believe about you? What an invitation that is.
I know as a dad, I've got one of my sons sitting right here who's
now a man. But I remember when he was a
boy, he came to me after someone had told him that he was
annoying and he came and said, dad, am I annoying?
I'm so grateful for Holy Spirit for moments like this because
had I just responded, he was so hyper that you could use that
word. But Holy Spirit caught me in
that moment and realized your son is asking you an identity
issue that's going to track with him the rest of his life.
So get your wits about you before you open your mouth and
make sure that you know how to answer this question correctly.
There's things that you can do better, son, but with all my
heart, you are not annoying and don't have her let anybody else
tell you who you are or what you are.
I get to do that until you learn to hear from God himself.
And if we live a lifestyle of not asking what the world around
us believes about us, what our spouse believes about us, what
our friends believe about us, we actually ask God, what do you
believe about me? He's not going to hide the fact
that, yeah, there's a lot of things, Todd, that you can
continue to grow in. But I see you as so much.
I I see what you can become. I already know it.
I know what she's going to be able to do.
She doesn't know. But I would spend a lifetime
helping her see what she can do. And it gets better and better
and better, even though she may only get a certain level of
physical aptitudes and training. The better is in the faith, hope
and love, the the joy, the peace.
She's yawning. You don't do that your first day
of training like normally. It's way different than this, I
promise. But she's not trained, she's not
broke, she's being healed. She's being involved, invited
into a covenant. The way Jesus puts it, that
makes it to where this is pretty one sided.
Sweetheart, I came after you. I'm revealing my love to you.
Yes, you get to respond to it. But I started this and I promise
you that I'm not going to leave you up to your own resources to
finish it. I'm with you in this, and I know
that that may not sound like the version of God that you've
heard, but I swear with my life it's true.
And if you don't believe the words that I say, please believe
the the evidence. This is the kindness of God that
leads to repentance. This is what it's like to be
caught up in something that you don't even have to understand.
Because she didn't have a ton more information.
Nothing really changed other than everything and she never
really heard my voice, but somehow I was able to get her
here. It's a mystery.
It's a good girl. All my words were short.
I've got nothing used. How can I spread all my gravity?
I could sing these songs as I often do.
Every song must stay and you never do.
So I throw up my hands and praise you again and again.
All that I have is the Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
And I know it's not much, but I'm nothing else fit for you
except for a heart singing high. How sweet it is to be loved by
the creator of heaven on earth. Don't miss it, please.
I'm going to get on an airplane tomorrow and I'm going to fly
home to that Palomino field I was talking about.
And it's kind of a, it's a bittersweet thing for me because
I want to stay here and watch you guys like what you as, what
you're going to do as a family. What is you're going to do as a
community with a band of sisters and brothers that just refuse to
give up on each other, that have just decided that there's only a
few things worth dying for and there's only a few things worth
living for, and we're going to prioritize that.
We're not building a congregation.
We're not trying to build a church.
There is one church, and the gates of hell will never prevail
against that one church. And there's only really one
government, and that government's resting on the
shoulders of Jesus. So I promise you there's a
Kingdom that's being established that's going to last forever,
and we get to decide whether we want to be a part of that or
not. And I don't know why this life
happens to be so significant, but it is because I think of my
life in the context of eternity. And I just don't know how to do
that other than to just say it's true.
Jesus lived one life. It changed everything and the
only reason that I've got the privilege to stand in front of
you, not a converted man to Christianity, but a man that's
been caught up into a 3rd heaven that makes it to where there is
a reality that you can't see that's more real than what you
can see. And there's a voice that's more
true than anything that you're ever going to be able to look up
on Google. It's the Word of God and it gets
made flesh and it dwells among us.
And everybody in this room that's been rescued by the
reckless, relentless, powerful love of God, those people,
they're going to tell you the same thing.
And it's with that that I can leave knowing that you guys are
going to to win. I don't think Kansas City's
going to win. But I didn't know how that was
going to go. I'm sorry, I'm a Dallas Cowboy
fan because my wife told me to be Yeah, we don't have football
in Idaho, but this is our life. This is our game.
This is our chance. Like this is our family and our
legacy and our destiny. And after I'm gone, my kids,
kids, kids, kids are going to have kids that are going to talk
about the fact that there was one man and one woman that stood
in their lineage that went against all the odds of their
prior generations to say that we're not going to follow that
we're not going to continue to be like we were taught to be.
And I'm not dishonouring my parents.
They, I, they made huge ground for us.
And I don't want my kids to be like I am other than saved.
They're going to be better than me.
But there's a change in the trajectory of your family that
gets to start with you. What a huge privilege.
And we're not victims to the culture and the sky is not
following and and AI has not taken over.
Did you guys know that AI stands for artificial insemination?
They're not stealing our word, man.
I went years of hearing about AI taking over the world, thinking
that they were talking about artificial insemination.
And then I realized what they were talking about and I'm like,
oh that Dang, I love my gift. Was I saying anything important?
I don't want to go. That's I'm I'm -4 minutes on the
time clock. And it would break my heart for
any of you to leave here without knowing where it is that you
stand. And if you've got any questions
on what it is on whether you truly are one with God, I'm,
I'll stay here as long as they let me.
And I know that there's a ton of other people that will stay here
and make sure that your questions are answered.
Amen. And I'll be right up front at
the end of this deal. If, if anybody needs anything
other than don't just chat with me.
This is a pretty sacred moment. Let's if you want prayer, if you
have a legitimate question, let's talk about it because I
know there's a lot of back story that's coming into this
conversation for you. Mr. Clayton, I love you all.
Thank you. You did such a good job.
It was. I have a unique privilege of
getting to see all three of these.
And Thursday night all that horse did was buck.
It just would not quit kicking. And then first service, that
horse would not stop running. And then I was watching this
one. I was like, what a completely
different experience. There was a little bit of
kicking him, but there was a desire to lean in.
It's while he's talking. I'm just starting thinking
through like, man, Thursday night was me.
All I did was kick against God. That's all I did.
I just kept kicking him and kicking him and kicking him and
kicking him. And then during first service,
my wife is sitting next to me. I, I probably wore a hole in the
back of her shirt because I just kept scratching her back going.
That was my wife. She just kept running from him,
running from him because she put a lot of her past and a lot of
her family on God. And so she was having a hard
time trusting God. And so she just spent a whole
lot of time running. And then I was watching this
service and I was like, oh, that's my voice.
They're not going to have to hit absolute rock bottom before they
turn to Jesus. They're not going to have to
write the worst testimony you can put pen to paper.
They're going to have a different story.
They're going to have a desire early on to lean in.
And then I was going, if I could have any prayer this week,
answered in this region. It would be that your kids and
your grandkids find him early and lean in soon.
There's a little bit of kick in all of our kids, but they don't
have to kick for long. I mean, when you're a horse,
that's kind of what you do. You can bite at the other
horses, you can kick at your enemies, or you can run and get
out as fast as you can. Those are like your three
options. Bite, kick, run, bite, kick,
run. And I'm willing to wager that if
you were to kind of look at the different areas of your life,
that's kind of been your three options.
Marriage isn't going the way you want.
You get a little bitey. Things aren't going right in
your marriage. Some of you, you kick and you
kick hard and some of you things got rough in your marriage and
what did you do? You ran.
Things get rough in your parenting, you get a little
bitey. Some of you kick a little too
much, others of you you ran. All of your instincts say bite,
kick, run. And so when God comes into the
picture, you bite, you kick, you run.
I just got an honest question. How is that working for you?
What if instead you trusted the Bible says in Second Corinthians
chapter 3 verse 17, the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit
is there is freedom. Hear me, there is no way for you
to experience true freedom outside of an intimate personal
relationship with Jesus Christ because when you begin an
intimate personal relationship with Jesus Christ, the Bible
communicates to us that that is when the Spirit takes up
residence in your life. And so if you're here today and
you're going, I'm ready to have freedom.
I'm ready to trust, We're going to give you an opportunity to do
that. And I just want to give you some
incentive. Here's a little bit of my story,
and it's not just my story, it's the story of a lot of people.
I would tell you that the greatest decision I ever made
was starting an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus
Christ. And my biggest regret is I
didn't do it sooner. And I know there's many of you
all across this region, even watching online, you'd go, yeah,
that's just your story. But I want you to know I'm
surrounded by people that would tell you that that is their
story, too. Let me prove it to you.
Can we get a wide shot for a second crossing family?
If you would say that the single greatest decision you ever made
was starting an intimate personal relationship with Jesus
Christ, would you put your hand up?
Would you also agree with me? If you, if you, if you don't
agree with me, you don't have to raise your hand.
But if you do, we'll say that your biggest regret is that you
didn't start that relationship with him sooner.
Would you raise your hand? Check this.
It's not just me. It's people who work where you
work, live where you live in your neighborhood.
And some of them are even in your family and they're in your
row. Some of them they brought you.
When a horse is on its own, all it's trying to do is stay away
from the predators, get some water, and get something to eat.
And when a horse begins to trust the cowboy and lets the cowboy
take up residence in its life, guess what happens?
Guess who's responsible for feeding the horse?
It's not the horse anymore. It's the cowboy who's
responsible for making sure that the horse has water.
It's not the horse's responsibility anymore.
It's the Cowboys. Guess whose job it is to take
care of the predators. It's not the horses anymore,
it's the Cowboys. Jesus says come to me and I will
give you living water and you will never be thirsty again.
Jesus comes to you and he says I am the bread of life, Eat of me
and you will never be hungry again.
And when you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I
will be with you. I will anoint your head with oil
in the presence of your predators.
That is what He is inviting you to.
And if you are listening to my voice right now and you've never
started an intimate personal relationship with Jesus Christ,
I just want to tell you, don't put it off.
In just a few moments, people around the room at your
different location are going to stand and sing some.
They're going to come to the steps and pray.
And what I want to encourage you to do is walk right over by the
baptistry, wherever you're watching from, and there's going
to be people there that would love to talk with you and pray
with you. If you're here at our 48th St.
location, there's going to be people over the baptistry.
He'd be willing to talk to you as well as Todd and his team
right over here on the opposite side.
And if you have a question about salvation, if you're going, I
want to start a relationship with Jesus Christ.
We would love an opportunity to step into that moment with you.
To those of you who are already Christians, the Bible says trust
in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own
understanding in all your ways. Acknowledge or trust in Him and
He will make your path straight. And so I don't want this moment
to just be lost on those of us who already have a relationship
with Jesus. I want us to capture to the best
of our ability. So if you already have a
relationship with Jesus, can I poke you in the chest for just a
second? Where is an area in your life
where you are not trusting God? And maybe today you'd come to
the steps and get down on your knees and say, God, I am ready
for you to make this part of my life straight.
I'm ready to trust you, and there's others of you.
You couldn't watch this and not think of people that you care
about, people that are close to you that are far from God, that
you can't wait to see come to a relationship with Jesus Christ.
And it would be horrible for us to have a moment like this and
not spend some of our time praying that they'd be brought
back into a right relationship with Him.
Would you guys stand with me? Heavenly Father, I ask that
you'd help us as a church step into this holy moment.
God, you know right now all the different people that need to
start a relationship with you. You know every person that needs
to turn something in their life over to you.
And you know every person that's on our hearts, that's far from
you and God. We have nothing to offer.
We have nothing to give but ourselves.
This is God. If you would, if you would help
us turn who we are over to you, the areas of our lives where
it's hard to trust you, would you give us more capacity?
Yeah, your disciples said, help us in our unbelief.
And so, God, in all the areas where we have shortcomings and
we don't measure up, God, would you fill us to the point where
we need to be? Would you allow us to empty out
ourselves and everything that is not supposed to be in us so that
way we can be holy and completely filled by you?
God? Did you stir something in our
spirit and in our heart so that this moment will not be
forgotten and that we'll live the rest of our lives in
response to it? In your name I pray.
Amen.