[SPEAKER_01]: Look at Hebrews chapter 11 and verse one, it says this, it says now faith is the reality of what is hope for the proof of what is not yet seen.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jump down to verse six.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now without faith, it is impossible to please God.
[SPEAKER_01]: For the one who drove near to him, must believe that he exists and rewards those who seek him, continue on.
[SPEAKER_01]: By faith, Noah, after he was warned about what he was not yet seen, and motivated by godly fear, built an art to deliver his family.
[SPEAKER_01]: By faith he condemned the world and became the heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: By faith, Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and went out to a place he was going to receive as an inheritance.
[SPEAKER_01]: He went out, not knowing where he was going.
[SPEAKER_01]: So just real quickly this morning, if you're taking notes, if I had a title for this message today, which is not a normal message for you, I don't have points to the sermon or anything like that.
[SPEAKER_01]: But if you would took notes this morning that the title would simply be, make room for more, make room for more.
[SPEAKER_01]: Turn to someone and tell them, make room for more.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, tell them what some confidence they make room for more.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Father, we thank you, Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: God, for what you have done in this place.
[SPEAKER_01]: Over the last six years, we thank you for your faithfulness, Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: Lord, it is not about us, but Lord, it's all about you.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's about you, God, that has rescued souls.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's about you, Father God, or that has redeemed people that has broken the curse that we've seen families restored and lies completely transformed.
[SPEAKER_01]: We've seen addicts come in and completely get set free by the power of God, Lord, it's all because of you.
[SPEAKER_01]: And today, we're not here to celebrate ourselves, but today, God, we're here to actually celebrate you.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're here to give you all the glory.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're here to give you all the praise today, God.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we lift you up today, Father, for every good thing that you have done in this place.
[SPEAKER_01]: We lift you up for your faithfulness.
[SPEAKER_01]: We lift you up for your goodness.
[SPEAKER_01]: We lift you up, Father, because you have remained true, God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah!
[SPEAKER_01]: We thank you for every hard time and Lord you have never left us.
[SPEAKER_01]: You have never forsaken us God.
[SPEAKER_01]: And Lord you have guided our every step.
[SPEAKER_01]: Every single one of these last years leading into this seventh year.
[SPEAKER_01]: And for that, Father God, we are grateful.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we just say, God, Lord, that we, Father, we come into agreement with you today.
[SPEAKER_01]: And Lord, we know that you are up to something in this place.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we come into agreement with the move of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: We come into agreement with what you are doing here today.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we say, we will help make room for more.
[SPEAKER_01]: that we're not going to sit on the sideline.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're not going to watch everything happen in front of us and just wait and just wish and just hope.
[SPEAKER_01]: But Father God, we will do our part Lord, God as we make room for more.
[SPEAKER_01]: So Lord, we thank you for it today, God.
[SPEAKER_01]: We rejoice in Jesus' name.
[SPEAKER_01]: Everybody said, hey man, now there's a video.
[SPEAKER_01]: that we showed last year, and we got, you know, a bunch of pastor friends that we know that sent in videos to help honor and celebrate the church for six years, and it was wonderful.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was a whole montage of videos from different people all over the world.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was reminded, just this week, of Pastor Tony Sures,
[SPEAKER_01]: who gave a specific, really, a specific word in his video message to us last year.
[SPEAKER_01]: We were celebrating six years and everybody was honoring God and celebrating for the six years, but it was very interesting that Pastor Tony Swara didn't just acknowledge the fact of congratulations six years, but he actually talked about our seventh year.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was reminded of that, and this week I said, I got to watch that again.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I want to play it for you real quick, because it's just about a minute and a half.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I want to play it for you because it's important for us to recall the word that was spoken a year ago.
[SPEAKER_01]: One year ago, amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: So just turn your attention to the screen and let's just watch this real quick.
[SPEAKER_00]: Tell me the slides, I'm so sorry.
[SPEAKER_00]: that I'm recording this video from an airport that has a true evangelist.
[SPEAKER_00]: I forgot to do it earlier, so here we are, do it on the fly, but I do want to congratulate you all on six years of preaching the gospel, standing for truth, and here's the word I do want to share with you next year, you're celebrating your seventh anniversary.
[SPEAKER_00]: We know that the Bible teaches that the seventh year is the year of Jubilee.
[SPEAKER_00]: in the year of Jubilee deaths are forgiven.
[SPEAKER_00]: In the year of Jubilee, there's a rest.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not so much work but more rest.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's blessing, there's abundance.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the Bible says in the book of Leviticus that the people ask, how will we eat in the seventh year of arresting?
[SPEAKER_00]: And the Lord said, I'm commanding my blessing to come upon the sixth year.
[SPEAKER_00]: That means everything you do this year, everything you give this year, every sacrifice you have, this year,
[SPEAKER_00]: God has commanded a double portion blessing on the 6th year and it's going to be so great.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's going to last you into the 7th and gave even into the 8th year.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's the promise of the word.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I bless you.
[SPEAKER_00]: I celebrate you and I can't wait to see everything that God's going to do with your congregation.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's good.
[SPEAKER_01]: So as you can see, he addressed this the 6th, but he talks about the 7th and it's
[SPEAKER_01]: In the sixth year, we really, everything that he said, we experience.
[SPEAKER_01]: And now we're walking into the season of our seventh year, as many people know and understand seven is the number of completion, whereas the Lord really, you see throughout the word where that seventh year or the number seven, it really symbolizes kind of that stamp of approval of the Lord, kind of a ceiling of what has been done or what has been said.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you know, there's something that is going on really in the atmosphere around this church.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I believe with all my heart that the Lord has prepared us the last six years for what's to come in our seventh year.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I believe that God is up to something, and it's a season of spiritual deposits.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a season of the move of the Holy Ghost.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a season of a greater release of his glory and a greater release of his power.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I believe that there are things that God has not held from us, but God has held for us over the past six years that now we're going to be openly rewarded with as we enter into our seventh year, come on somebody say amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I want you to hear something this morning.
[SPEAKER_01]: Spiritual preparation, if done the right way on our part, not on God's part, but spiritual preparation if done the right way on our part, it never makes sense and it never adds up.
[SPEAKER_01]: When's the last time it made sense?
[SPEAKER_01]: It don't ever make sense and it don't ever add up.
[SPEAKER_01]: However, we don't need to understand it and we don't even need to know what God is doing when He is preparing us.
[SPEAKER_01]: But all we're responsible for is to be obedient to the word and to be obedient to the leading of the Spirit.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we got to make up our minds that if none go with us, yeah, we will follow, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Because this church has never been into the most interesting and latest church fads and cool things to do in the church and all that kind of stuff.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're not about that here.
[SPEAKER_01]: But we have always been about his presence.
[SPEAKER_01]: We have always been about following his lead.
[SPEAKER_01]: And aren't you glad that God doesn't make mistakes?
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm gonna hear me church while we see up the road, God sees around the corner.
[SPEAKER_01]: We can only see up the road, a distance of what's coming, but God sees beyond what's ahead and he sees around the corner.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he's been seeing around the corner the last six years for what's to come in our seventh year.
[SPEAKER_01]: We have no idea what's to come.
[SPEAKER_01]: We can only hope, but we have to come into obedience with him and obedience with the word that has been spoken and obedient to the Holy Spirit, because he knows what's around the corner.
[SPEAKER_01]: So when it comes to Hebrews chapter 11,
[SPEAKER_01]: And then when it comes to what I'm teaching you today, I want you to hear me, is an act of faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: You see, church, the greatest acts of faith is when you faithfully and obediently prepare for something that you didn't even see coming.
[SPEAKER_01]: But God promised it so.
[SPEAKER_01]: All you got is a promise and a little bit of faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: He says, I've given you the promise, I need you to have some faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: And when we are faithful in obedience to that, then we see the hand of the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we see the faithfulness come before our eyes and everything is unfolded.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is why it's important to stay in tune with the Holy Spirit.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because remember, Scripture teaches us that it's the Holy Spirit that teaches us what is to come.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, if you don't know what's on the way, you all know what to prepare for.
[SPEAKER_01]: So listen, people who don't know how to prepare, they often get stuck in what God has already called the past.
[SPEAKER_01]: So you got to make up your mind this morning, and we got to make up our mind as a church moving forward, stepping into this seventh year that we're not gonna be stuck in the past, but we are going to allow what has prepared us up to this moment to lead us into something great and that we follow in obedience and according to the Holy Spirit, we follow what's to come.
[SPEAKER_01]: Turn to your neighbor and tell him, get ready.
[UNKNOWN]: Get ready, get ready, get ready, get ready.
[SPEAKER_01]: Ready, get ready.
[SPEAKER_01]: And as you know, church, we've got some big dreams.
[SPEAKER_01]: As you know, church, we got big goals.
[SPEAKER_01]: We got a big vision.
[SPEAKER_01]: Next week, we finally get to check off that last thing for a 2025, which we told you has to do with our 2026 vision and sowing into the next seven years as a church.
[SPEAKER_01]: Next year, we get to officially check that off.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you'll get to see it be replaced by our new vision board for the year.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm excited that we're going to accomplish all of the things that we have set out to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: God promised it.
[SPEAKER_01]: We have faith for it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Therefore, it shall come to pass.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we're not here today to talk about a little God who does little things.
[SPEAKER_01]: But we're here this morning to talk about a big God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, somebody who does big things.
[SPEAKER_01]: He knows it all.
[SPEAKER_01]: He sees it all.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, listen, he owns it all.
[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we're just tapping into a big God who has prepared for us big things, amen?
[SPEAKER_01]: So preparation isn't act of faith, but how do we get the faith we need to prepare?
[SPEAKER_01]: Watch this.
[SPEAKER_01]: We get the promise from walking in the presence of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: As we walk with him, he then talks with us.
[SPEAKER_01]: As he talks to us, he then starts dropping promises in us.
[SPEAKER_01]: What happens when that word is given to us?
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, then faith ignites.
[SPEAKER_01]: Faith begins to take action.
[SPEAKER_01]: You see, church went, when God speaks of promise, those promises are always accompanied by faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: Then all of a sudden, you start believing for things that you never thought you could even believe for.
[SPEAKER_01]: but you were given a promise and you have some faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: So now you can believe for some things that you really didn't know that you can even believe for them.
[SPEAKER_01]: But because he gave you a promise and you have some faith within you, you know that he is faithful to finish that which he has started.
[SPEAKER_01]: Some of you are looking for answers.
[SPEAKER_01]: Some of you are looking for whatever may be from God.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm here to tell you this morning, if all you've got is a promise in a little bit of faith, it shall come to pass.
[SPEAKER_01]: If all you've got is a promise in some faith, I'm telling you, you will see it through.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because when God says it to you,
[SPEAKER_01]: opens up the door of access that was quite frankly previously off limits, but by faith you're able to open up a door that wasn't open to you quite yet and you can walk through that door and you can begin to experience the new things and the faithfulness and the goodness of God in a whole another way.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I say all that to say to you today that the greatest indicator that you've got the
[SPEAKER_01]: and that you have faith for the promise is that you make room for it.
[SPEAKER_01]: You've been given the promise, and you have some faith, but the way that you will see it come to pass is if you make room for it.
[SPEAKER_01]: How do we know that's true, Hebrews chapter 11, by faith Noah heard, and he built, by faith Abraham
[SPEAKER_01]: and he went.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hear me loud and clear church, sometimes you're going to have to do things in faith that other people will think is absolutely foolish.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, has anybody been there before?
[SPEAKER_01]: None of those people in Hebrews chapter 11 knew the end of the story.
[SPEAKER_01]: We know the end of the story because we read the end of the story.
[SPEAKER_01]: Somebody's car alarm is going off.
[SPEAKER_01]: Holy
[SPEAKER_01]: Boom.
[SPEAKER_01]: Figure out what car that is.
[SPEAKER_01]: Everybody get your keys out.
[SPEAKER_01]: There we go.
[SPEAKER_01]: I thought it stopped.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's somebody, somebody said on their keys.
[SPEAKER_01]: There we go.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's over.
[SPEAKER_01]: Good.
[SPEAKER_01]: Glory to God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: But sometimes you're going to have to do things and faith that other people are going to think is foolish.
[SPEAKER_01]: And in Hebrews chapter 11, we read all these short snippets of stories that we know about all throughout the word of people that had some faith that other people thought they were absolute fools.
[SPEAKER_01]: Pastor, we're too little of a charge to raise $25,000.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, call us crazy, baby.
[SPEAKER_01]: But we've got a promise, and we've got some faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if God promised to us, to us, come on, and we have faith to believe for it, we shall see it come to pass.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen, come on.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah.
[SPEAKER_01]: If someone else can raise a million dollars, my Lord, God can just plop 25,000 dollars into the hands of this church.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm crazy to believe that God can double that and just exceed our expectations above and beyond what we're even hoping for.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because he sees around the corner.
[SPEAKER_01]: We only see what's ahead.
[SPEAKER_01]: God said, Noah, he said, yes, Lord, it's getting ready to rain.
[SPEAKER_01]: What's that, Lord?
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't even have seen rain before.
[SPEAKER_01]: What is that?
[SPEAKER_01]: God says, don't worry about it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Next thing that happened, Noah, yes, Lord, build a boat.
[SPEAKER_01]: What's a boat, Lord?
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't worry about it.
[SPEAKER_01]: when Noah got the word that it was going to rain, and he was told to build a boat.
[SPEAKER_01]: He had never seen rain before.
[SPEAKER_01]: He had never seen or heard of a boat before.
[SPEAKER_01]: But God told him to do it.
[SPEAKER_01]: God was giving him insight to build something that had never been built yet, so that he can handle what's never happened before.
[SPEAKER_01]: You see, church for six years, God has been preparing us for something that we have not yet seen before.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why we had to go through some hell.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why we had to face some challenges.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why we had to really exercise some patience in multiple seasons because much like Noah, the thing he never worked until the thing he had never seen came to pass.
[SPEAKER_01]: For six years, we've been preparing.
[SPEAKER_01]: For six years, we've been building an arc.
[SPEAKER_01]: All we had was a word, seven years ago.
[SPEAKER_01]: We sold our house, neither one of us were employed.
[SPEAKER_01]: We had no job.
[SPEAKER_01]: We had no income coming in, no money, zero.
[SPEAKER_01]: We had a move in with family because we couldn't even afford our own place.
[SPEAKER_01]: We were hopping around, trying to figure out
[SPEAKER_01]: We went to one church and we're promised, both of us a job and then they only gave us one job and not two and we were confused and we felt like we were in the wilderness and we say, God, what do we do?
[SPEAKER_01]: And seven years ago, seven years ago, God's all this morning, seven years ago, God's all the next seven years from now.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the Lord took us to our knees, in that bedroom of ours, we had a room, a bathroom that we shared with the kids, and they were in the other room.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we got down on our knees, and we were crying.
[SPEAKER_01]: Tears coming down our face, crying out to God, God, what do we do?
[SPEAKER_01]: We've got no jobs, we've got no this, we've got no that.
[SPEAKER_01]: We want to do something for your kingdom, God, what do we do?
[SPEAKER_01]: And it was in that moment, the Lord said, I want you to plant a city shaking church.
[SPEAKER_01]: A church that was culturally dynamic, a church that looked just like heaven.
[SPEAKER_01]: Every nation, every tribe, every tongue.
[SPEAKER_01]: Not a white church.
[SPEAKER_01]: Not a black church, not a Hispanic church, not an Asian church.
[SPEAKER_01]: But God said, I want you to plant a church where everybody could come.
[SPEAKER_01]: And anybody can come and receive what I have to give to them.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it was in that moment with tears rolling down our face.
[SPEAKER_01]: Melissa and I looked at each other.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we said, Lord, if that's what you're calling us to do, we will do it.
[SPEAKER_01]: We didn't have a worship team.
[SPEAKER_01]: We didn't have a building.
[SPEAKER_01]: We had no money to go buy something or at least something or rent something.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I said, babe, if you sing and I preach and it's just Gabriel and G in the chairs and we'll make it happen.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we said yes to the Lord seven years ago.
[SPEAKER_01]: We said yes to him and it was out of that act of obedience that the Lord began to open doors.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Lord began to sin people.
[SPEAKER_01]: That first Sunday we had 70 something people.
[SPEAKER_01]: The first Sunday, where are these people going from?
[SPEAKER_01]: We were renting the Hurts Conference Center.
[SPEAKER_01]: We had just enough money to rent one Sunday.
[SPEAKER_01]: I went to the girl, her name's Kristen, I'll never forget her.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll always be, I'll always love Kristen, wherever she's at to this day.
[SPEAKER_01]: I went to Kristen, I said, in our office, I said, Kristen, we only have enough money.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're starting a church, I think.
[SPEAKER_01]: We only have enough money for one Sunday.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then we'll see what happens from there.
[SPEAKER_01]: I may be back, I may not be back.
[SPEAKER_01]: I gave her the money.
[SPEAKER_01]: We called up some friends.
[SPEAKER_01]: that we went to Bible College with, said, come help us with, come help us with worship.
[SPEAKER_01]: We called some other people up and said, you know, y'all are friends of ours if some kids show up, that aren't just our kids when you help watch them.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, we try to do the whole thing and make it work.
[SPEAKER_01]: And over 70 people were there that Sunday.
[SPEAKER_01]: I looked around in that room and I said, my God, what just happened?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not that I didn't have faith to believe for it.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just that God blew out of the water, my faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: And my expectation was just blown out of the water.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I said, OK, we took it to the offering.
[SPEAKER_01]: We definitely, oh, here it is right here.
[SPEAKER_01]: Look, it's still in her phone notes.
[SPEAKER_01]: Data January 14, 2019.
[SPEAKER_01]: Here it is.
[SPEAKER_01]: 1, 13, 19.
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, offering.
[SPEAKER_01]: First offering we ever got $1,739.
[SPEAKER_01]: And nine cents.
[SPEAKER_01]: I wasn't at that park because it just sounds funny.
[SPEAKER_01]: CC's pizza used to be $2.99.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know what I remember that?
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know why I thought about that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Must be because I'm off the fast now.
[SPEAKER_01]: We had 56 adults and 13 kids that it made up the, whatever that is and do the math y'all wizards.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we had one person give their life to Jesus for the first time on that Sunday.
[SPEAKER_01]: Praise God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now all of that was a seedstone that we had no idea.
[SPEAKER_01]: I went back to Christians office on Monday, I said, guess what?
[SPEAKER_01]: We come in back.
[SPEAKER_01]: I said, here's the money for next Sunday, but just like last week, I don't know what's going to happen.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm only giving it to you for this Sunday.
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll see.
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll go from there.
[SPEAKER_01]: I gave her the money.
[SPEAKER_01]: That next Sunday, I think we had just about the same amount of people.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, what in the world?
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, God, you really did call us to this.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, you were right.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we just need to be obedient.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then as you know, the story goes, I tore my ACL and had to have surgery and when they went in to do my surgery, my knee was full of infection, I didn't even know.
[SPEAKER_01]: And they had a gut out my knee and leave me with nothing in my knee and I was in a wheelchair with my legs straight out for six weeks.
[SPEAKER_01]: And they said in six weeks, you got to come back and have your full reconstruction.
[SPEAKER_01]: I said, I can't, I woke up from surgery.
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't know this.
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't know that this had happened.
[SPEAKER_01]: Melissa was crying.
[SPEAKER_01]: She said, I don't want to tell you this, but I've got really bad news.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh my God.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I can't feel anything at the time.
[SPEAKER_01]: Just coming out of anesthesia, all that kind of stuff.
[SPEAKER_01]: And she says, they couldn't do your reconstruction because you had an infection.
[SPEAKER_01]: But they took everything out of your knee and you got to come back in six weeks and have the full surgery.
[SPEAKER_01]: I said, what about the church?
[SPEAKER_01]: which has had some really good weeks, like what about the church?
[SPEAKER_01]: And I remember it was in that moment of just, I was like, really Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like really, like we just had two amazing
[SPEAKER_01]: two amazing Sundays and then this is going to happen to me and I'm going to not be able to be there and I remember the Lord reminded me and the Lord said, did I not call you to plant a church?
[SPEAKER_01]: And I said, I know you did Lord, but how can I be there?
[SPEAKER_01]: How can I preach?
[SPEAKER_01]: How can I do this?
[SPEAKER_01]: How can I do that?
[SPEAKER_01]: And it was in that moment, and I don't know if you've ever been there before, but you just kind of got this right just like,
[SPEAKER_01]: Within you where you're like I don't care anymore.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just don't care.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm done and that's what I felt like and I said The dang heck with this if I have to preach in a wheelchair with my legs sticking out sitting there with a boom stand So I got my Bible.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's exactly what I'll do and if you all remember some of y'all were there That's exactly what happened for six weeks.
[SPEAKER_01]: I said in that wheelchair and they wheeled me up in the hurts conference center
[SPEAKER_01]: And I preached in a wheelchair.
[SPEAKER_01]: We got pictures to prove it, and I said, ain't no devil going to stop me.
[SPEAKER_01]: And ain't nobody going to tell me otherwise, because I've got a promise, and I've got some faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if God promised this thing, He will be faithful to finish out this thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I knew right then and there, if I can make it through this, whoa, we can make it through anything.
[SPEAKER_01]: I said, devil, bring it on, try to take out my legs from out underneath me, bring it on.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now I should have never said, bring it on because there was a whole lot that was brought on.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I should have never said, bring it on, devil.
[SPEAKER_01]: But it's all good because it taught us, it trained us, it molded us, it shaped us, it formed us.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I remember coming my first Sunday back after having that surgery and
[SPEAKER_01]: less than half of the people that we had seen that the first couple weeks.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, man, I was kind of feeling like the sense of disappointment, like,
[SPEAKER_01]: Man, I let the people down, like, you know, we told them we were starting this church and now I'm not even able to be there.
[SPEAKER_01]: And now I'm having to deal through this.
[SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, here you have someone who's preaching, you know, victory and faith and all these things and yet they're in a wheelchair.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, it's like, it was just was tough.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was emotionally and mentally just trying to navigate all of it.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I said, I'm not going to give up.
[SPEAKER_01]: And from that day forward, that has always been kind of our anthem.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, it no matter what hits us, and what comes our way, we ain't given up.
[SPEAKER_01]: Say what you want, do what you want, but we ain't gonna stop, because the promise was never lifted.
[SPEAKER_01]: God promised it, we had the faith for it, and he's never spoken otherwise.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, somebody.
[SPEAKER_01]: So in this next season, in our seventh year, the year of completion, we will begin to see what we have been preparing for all along.
[SPEAKER_01]: We will see the work of the Lord, the hand of the Lord, unlike ever before upon this church.
[SPEAKER_01]: God is gonna bring in more souls than we've ever seen before.
[SPEAKER_01]: You already know the vision for this year.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're gonna begin to see how we're gonna be doing way more than we've ever done before because we have big faith for it.
[SPEAKER_01]: We have audacious faith for it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And some people may call this crazy.
[SPEAKER_01]: You may even sit in the seat on Sunday and say, how in the world are we gonna accomplish these things this year?
[SPEAKER_01]: We've got a promise and we've got some faith and all I know is that we are making room for more.
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for listening to today's message.
[SPEAKER_02]: We pray you were inspired, challenged, and marked by the word you heard.
[SPEAKER_02]: If this message blessed you today, we encourage you to subscribe to the Church of the City podcast.
[SPEAKER_02]: There you can find more faith-filled messages to uplift you and help you on your journey of faith.
[SPEAKER_02]: For more information about Church of the City, head on over to www.cotcdfw.com.
[SPEAKER_02]: And until next time, remember this, the best is yet to come.