Praise God. Good morning crossing. You all can have a seat this morning. Thank you bro. Thank you bro. It is good to be back with you. Uh, shout out to all of the sites and I heard there's folks in overflow. What's up y'all? How y'all doing? How y'all doing? Um, I'm excited to be back with you all. A huge shout out to the leadership here at The Crossing for inviting me back. I promise you all, I did not bribe them or anything like that. They keep inviting me. So God must be doing something here and it truly is an honor, uh, to get to, uh, come speak and spend time with you all because being in partnership with the Crossing has been truly a blessing. And just to see the video earlier is of, of all that God is doing in our whole metro area. I'm just glad I get to be a part of that. We get to be a part of it together as the Capital C Church. And so if you all are ready to get into the Word, I'm ready. Uh, how many of you all were here last week with my brother from another mother, pastor David Hawkins came. Yep. He brought a great word. And I've got a chance to hear some of the other speakers who have been speaking all summer through the Summer Voices series. I'm just jumping in to keep this thing going. And uh, I've got a few things that I think will help our time together no matter where you may be. Uh, here today. You heard one of them. If you were here last week, David Hawkins told you, he said, listen, you can talk back to the pastor if it's good. You can say it, you can. Amen. Mm-hmm. Shout all of that. Even if it's not good, you can just pretend that it is. Pretend that it is. We don't do the heck the heckling here. Okay? Uh, the second thing is, if there is any life transformation in your life, all the credit goes to the Lord and not me. Okay? I wanna make sure that's very clear. Uh, and I say that because, uh, one time I spoke here and a girl broke up with her boyfriend after hearing one of my messages and he blamed me and I said, it was the Lord, brother. It was the Lord. Now he's thanking me now 'cause he got him a new boo and a new girl in his life. And it's all good right now. So give all the credit or the blame to the Lord. Okay? And last but not least, let's, let's have a good time together, a good time together. We sang a powerful song a little, all the songs have been really good, but one of 'em earlier talked about how God has good plans for us. And that is straight from the Word of God. And it comes from one of my favorite scriptures, which is Ephesians chapter two, verse 10. And it says this, for we are God's masterpiece. You are God's what? Master. Say it again. You are His what? Masterpiece. You are his masterpiece. That's what he says about you. You are God's masterpiece. He has created us a new in Christ Jesus so that we can do the good things He planned for us long ago. And the song we just sang said, we can take God at his word. God has a plan for you. Before any of us were, were even here on earth. God had a plan for us. And they were good things that he planned for us long ago. When I've, I remember reading this as a kid, thinking to myself, man, I don't, I don't know about that. 'cause I, I struggled with a lot of insecurity as a kid and my parents showed me this verse as a kid and it was one of them. But I just continued to, to say and confess and pray over and over and over. And it really did change my life because um, what I know is at some point in your life, the good plans that God has for you is gonna cause you to have to step out of your comfort zone. And it's not gonna feel good. But the word says that the plans are good for you, but it may not always feel good. There may be times in your life that you'll get this nudge from the Lord and you'll be like, I think I should do it. But there'll be some hesitation and something in you will just say, okay, maybe you've been there, maybe you haven't. But I, matter of fact, I know all of you have been there in some way, shape or form. You've said yes to something before you felt ready. Anybody ever been there? Maybe something came to mind if it did. What I know here at The Crossing we like to do, we like to interact with each other. Okay? So what I want you to do, and you gotta do it real quick, so I need you to think, think real quick, think about the time in your life. Here's what I want you to discuss with the people around you. Talk. Share a time in your life where you said yes to something before you were ready for it. And what happened with it. Can we do that? We'll only do it for about a minute, minute and a half. Let's make it happen. Sure. But those that around you share by the time where you said yes to something before you felt ready, a relationship, a class, something. Go boy. All right, all right, all right. I know that was quick. I know that was quick at all of our sites. Come on back in, come on back in. I know that was quick. Maybe not everybody got the share, but you thought about something or a time where you said yes to something before you felt ready. And I bring that up because sometimes we say yes to things that are inconvenient, uncomfortable and difficult. And even when you're saying yes, you hesitate when you say it's like that. No. Yes. And we don't feel ready for it whatsoever. Have you ever, uh, maybe those of you who've been in the workforce for a little bit, like you got hired for a job and you get in, you're a couple weeks in and you're like, I really hope they don't recognize that I don't know what I'm doing on this job, but they hired you. You're in it. You don't feel ready. We are all gonna face those times at some point in our lives where you're not gonna feel ready and it's going to be difficult. And for some of you, it's going to be unexpected. You are gonna think to yourself, why are they asking me to do this? Whether it's other people or maybe it's the Lord God, why are you asking me to have to step into this? You may even think, can't somebody else do this? Like somebody else has to have more experience, more knowledge. Why are they asking me to do this? That was me a little over six years ago. I was on staff at a church in Oklahoma and it was great. We were loving our lives. We had great community, a great church, we had a great house. And I felt this nudge from the Lord to leave all of that, to come back to St. Louis to serve in the church that my parents had started. My parents had started the church in the early nineties. They pastored it together. My father passed away about 11 years ago and my mom continued to lead it, but she was trying to find someone else to come and lead it. And then one day the Lord was like to me and initially I was like, I don't know, but for some reason y'all, I said yes. And then I was like, oh no, what have I done? And I remember and the before I said yes while I said yes. And then even after, 'cause we've been here about a little over five years now, I still thought to myself, why me? There had to be some people that were already at the church that God like raise them up, let let them do it. Then I was thinking, somebody else can definitely do this. Like there's so many great churches in St. Louis. I mean look at the crossing. Y'all got four locations. Like couldn't they have just opened up one in North County Lord, like that's what I'm saying, can't somebody else do it? And I say all of this because the Lord nudge me then like he's gonna nudge some of you today and in the upcoming days, weeks, and months. And he said to me, but what if this is what I made you for? Now when I say that, some of you are like, oh man, that's so good. You're saying it's so good because it's not you. But what if the uncomfortable, difficult, inconvenient thing that you're hesitating to say yes to from the Lord is the moment that God made you for. See, first time I got like three or four amens, but when I pointed on you, I got one. But that's what we want to talk about today. We were not created just for the mundane just to exist. This life isn't just about us and us getting ours. There are other people that are connected that to us that God wants us to go to connect with, lead people, to lead people to Him. And it's gonna be uncomfortable, inconvenient. And you're gonna say yes sometimes and then you're gonna wish you didn't say yes. But that's what we are made for. We learn. Ephesians chapter two, he has good plans. You are made for more. And so what I wanna do today is I want to take us to the scriptures. 'cause I want to introduce you to another group of people who feel exactly like I felt and how some of you all are feeling right now of I'm not ready to step into anything uncomfortable and inconvenient, but yet Jesus was telling them to go. So let's go to Matthew chapter nine verses 35 through 38. Okay, we're gonna spend more time in chapter 10, but I have to set us up for where we're going. This is the very end of chapter nine. And let's check this out. This is a powerful moment in Jesus' life than what the disciples don't know is that this is about to transform their lives. Matthew, uh, chapter nine, verse 35, Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area teaching in the synagogues, announcing the good news about the kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. He said to his disciples who were with him, the harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who's in charge of the harvest and ask him to send more workers into his fields. In those verses, there's three things that I want us to learn about Jesus. And I'm not, this isn't my whole message, but I just want to prepare us for where we're going. The first thing I need everybody to know, and what we saw here is that Jesus sees us, he sees you, he sees your pain, he sees the hurt. It says that he was everywhere he went, there were crowds just like there are today. And he says he saw them. He sees some of you all that walked into church today and you are confused wondering where is God at? What is going on? We don't know what we're gonna do next. And Jesus is saying, I see you. I see you here today and I'm with you. The second thing he see I want you to know, is that he feels compassion for us and for you. If you're here today and you are helpless and confused 'cause that's what it said. He saw them and he had compassion because they were confused and helpless. And some of you all in here right now, you were confused and you were helpless. Anybody feel that way ever before in your life? Raise your hand. I see some hands that's not up. Why be lying in church today? We all at some point have felt helpless and confused. And you know people in your life right now, that they are helpless, they're confused, they are broken, they are lost. But he has compassion for you. His heart moves toward those who are hurting and the need of a savior. 'cause they said they were like sheep without a shepherd. They're thinking to themselves, I don't, I don't know what's next. And Jesus says, I see you. I have compassion for you. Because he sees not just your pain, he doesn't just have compassion for your pain. He sees you and also your potential and your purpose. And what I need a few of you all to know here today is that the potential and purpose that he has for you is oftentimes on the other side of the pain that you are experiencing. Amen. What I'm not saying is that the pain that you're feeling right now, God sent it. We live in a broken world. God. God, God may not have sent it, but he will use it for the purpose and the good plans that he has for you. So if you're in here, he sees you, he has compassion and he knows what's on the other side of this. And so what He, the next thing I need you to know is that he tells us to pray, to pray. Don't just sit in that place but pray. He invites us into his mission because what he said was, he said, look, there are people that are help us that are confused. I see them, I have compassion for them, but I'm not just gonna sit on the sidelines. I want you to pray for those that are helpless, confused, hurting, broken, that I have compassion for. He says, come on, if you're a follower of Christ, his he said this, these things to his disciples. He says, come on in, let's pray that God will send someone to the helpless, hurting, confused and broken. Who did he say that to? His disciples. He didn't say it to the crowds, he said it to his disciples, those who were following him. And that's what leads us to chapter 10. The very next verse, look at what happens next. Who is he talking to again? Church. He's talking to his disciples. Disciples. He says to his disciples, look out. See all those folks. Pray that God sends someone to them. And the very next verse, he says, Jesus called his 12 disciples together and gave them authority to cast out evil spirits to heal every kind of disease and illness. And hear are the name of the 12 apostles. First Simon also called Peter. Then Andrew Peter's brother James son of Zee. John James brother Philip Bartholomew Thomas Matthew, the task collector James son of Alpheus. Tha is Simon the zealot, Judas Iscariot who later betrayed him. Do you notice what happened? He said, I need you all to pray that God will send somebody to those people. And then he says, tag you're it. And that's what I want everybody here to know, is that there are people that you're praying for that you want God to reach. And God is saying you are the answer to the prayer. Amen. You may have never looked at yourself as an answer to prayer, but you are someone's answer to the prayer that God told you to pray. He sends them. And I know if I'm one of the disciples, I'm like, wait a minute, hold up this. Wait a minute. You told us to pray to God was sends, but now you sending us, yes, you are the answer. And if he was doing it for his disciples, then Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. He's doing the very same thing today. He's saying, if you follow me, if you surrendered your life to me, if you are one of my disciples, ta you're it. You're looking for somebody else to impact your family members, your friends, your classmates, your coworkers. But guess what He said, I put you in that family so that you could reach that family. I put you in that school students. 'cause I know school starts tomorrow or it may have already started for some of you all I put you in that school. I know you didn't want to go to that school this year, but I placed you there because there are people that need to be pointed to me. And I'm sending you, I placed you on that job. You know that job that a few years ago you were p praying, asking for prayer requests that God would open the door for you to get the job. And now today you're praying that God will close the door to open up another job someplace else. 'cause you tired of those folks there. You're still there because there are people that God wants you to reach on the job. You are the answer to the prayer. He's not sending somebody else he sent you because you are made for more. Some of you right now, your heart's starting to be 'cause you've, you've, you've been feeling that n genuine way and you're like, oh, I would come to church on the Sunday. This guy's talking about reaching people for Jesus, blame God. He sees you and he sees those that are near you that are hurting and broken and they will not find hope if you weren't there. So the first thing you need to know is that you're the answer to the prayer. The second thing I need you to know is that Jesus makes you qualified because I know what some of you all are thinking. I'm not ready for that. Like I'm not ready to talk to people about Jesus. I'm not ready to encourage somebody. I'm not ready to pray for somebody. I barely pray for my meal now you want me to pray for somebody? Oh no, no, that's not me. And you know what? That's exactly how the disciples felt back then. Anybody ever seen the show the chosen before? I love the show. I know if you've never seen it, it's a show that's retelling the gospels and it it, it shows that Jesus is fully God and fully human and it really humanizes the disciples because you don't always get to really see like their personalities and stuff like that. Well, I wanna show you a scene from what we just read in scripture where Jesus is telling them, I'm sending you out to go impact some people. But before we get there, look at their response because it's probably like our response as well. Check this out. Was that a ceremony I missed? This is it. Don't feel any different. I don't need you to feel anything to do great things. With All due respect, rabbi, we've only just begun as students. We're not nearly qualified enough. Why would you need us for this work? He doesn't need us. He wants us. Thank you. Si. Very good, John. If I needed religious leaders or qualified students for my ministry, I wouldn't have chosen. Well, you'll get the point. Jesus is saying the same thing today. You don't feel ready. If I needed people that were ready, I wouldn't have chosen any of you all. But he does. He he is the one that qualifies you. I love how in John and in Matthew 10, it lists all the disciples. And the reason that it listed them is so that we could see today, these were regular guys. Peter allowed mal fishermen, not a theologian. Matthew, the task collector. Basically a guy that nobody liked. Go Matthew and Judas. He qualified and chose somebody he knew or betray him to go to other people. So for anybody up in here that said, well, look man, I done tried the Jesus thing. I didn't, I I didn't messed up too much. You're still chosen, you're still qualified. You're still qualified. What I love about it is Jesus makes you qualified. These guys weren't scholars, they weren't saints. They were regular people. And and I want to give you a a statement here that, that I didn't create, but maybe you've heard it, but I I want those of you that having to hear this, that Jesus doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies those he calls. It's because of him that the disciples will qualify. If he said, I'm sending you, they were sinned. It's not about the skills and the giftings that they had. Now will God use your skills and your giftings? Yes, he will do that. But but but you knowing the the first five books in the Old Testament by heart, it is not a prerequisite for you being sent to impact the lives of other people. You're made for more. One of the funniest verses in scripture to me, like when I read the Bible, I I like really slow down and read. There's a lot of funny stuff in the Bible. If you really slow down and read it, you see the, the so same disciples years later when Jesus had ascended into heaven, these guys were starting the church. And so they're out and they're preaching and they're being a light in their community. And John and Peter get arrested for telling others about Jesus. And here is what some quote unquote qualified people said about them. In Acts chapter four, verse 13, it says, the members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus. It said they were ordinary men with no special training in the scriptures. The Greek word for ordinary right there is the word ees. The ones that are laughing. Got it. I'm gonna say it again. The Greek word there is E dte where we get the English word idiot. The members of the council saw Peter and John and were like, these guys are idiots. They don't know what we know. They were not theologians, the guys of the council were, but they looked at Peter and John saying, they're not qualified, but we recognize that those guys have been with Jesus. That's what it, that's what qualifies you. You've been with Jesus. If you heard one of 'em, he was like, we've only been, we've only been, uh, uh, your students for a little bit. Meaning if you've been saved for five minutes, you're qualified. Jesus is calling us 50 years or five seconds. Jesus is calling you to go reach people for him. The key is that you've been with Jesus. They didn't always say the right things. If you read through the gospels, half the time Jesus was looking at them with, with a face palm of like, oh my gosh, how long are I have to be with you guys? They didn't know the right thing to say or the right things to do. And you may not either church. And when you are worried about what to say, 'cause I know I get that a lot. People are like, I don't, I don't know what to even say. Oh, here's what I love about the Bible. Jesus is saying, Jesus says, I already know that. So let's look at a few verses later. Matthew chapter 10, verse 19 and 20, when you are arrested. Now let me pause for a second Because someone in here is like, oh man, whatever comes after this, I'm using it the next time I get arrested. This is, that's not what I mean, man. And and hopefully you will not be arrested for telling others about Jesus, but at that time they could have been. And so what Jesus is saying to them, and what I want you to hear today is he's saying, when I send you out to your classmates, your coworkers, your family, your neighbors, that's what he's saying. We're not wherever I send you, whoever I send you to, don't worry about how to respond or what to say. That's what some of you, they're like, I I don't, I wouldn't even know. Don't worry about it. God will give you the right words at the right time for it is not you who will be speaking, but it will be the spirit of your father speaking through you. God, Jesus qualifies you. And then he equips you. He gives you the words to say, I've been a pastor for a little bit now. And oftentimes people come, uh, uh, to me with, with problems and want wanting prayer and advice and, and other pastors, you'll, you'll know what, what I mean when I say this. When people come to pastors 'cause you're like, man, they're gonna know exactly what to say in this situation. And a lot of the times, y'all, I don't know what to say either I'll be in a conversation with somebody and they're pouring out their life and I'm listening and I'm under my breath. I'm going, Lord, I don't know what to even say right now, but God gimme something to say so I can help them right now in the name of Jesus. And I'll, I'll say something and I'll walk away thinking, man, I blew that opportunity. I didn't help them at all. And later on they'll come back and say, oh, what you said to me was amazing. And I'm like, I don't need one. I don't remember what I said. And two, it wasn't me speaking, it was the Lord that will speak through me. And it's not just 'cause I'm a pastor, this is for anyone because don't worry about what to say and if you don't say it the right way. Don't worry about that either. Leave it in the Lord's hands, he's got it. But he's calling you to go do it and to go say it. But he equips you. He doesn't just qual qualify you. He says, I'm going to give you what you need to do, what I'm calling you to do. And that's what I love about this church. If you're a part of the crossing, you're at a church that wants to equip you to go out and reach the people that God's calling you to reach. They've got classes here, leadership, you ex explorations, G one. There's some other ones I that I'm just not even mentioning right now. But if you want just a little bit more knowledge, you can get it here at your church. Some of you all this fall, Join one of those to just give you a little bit more so that you can do what God's calling you to do. There are other people that are in your life that are hurting and broken. Jesus sees him, he has compassion and he's sending you and he's gonna equip you to reach them. You are made for more. So what have we learned so far? Number one, you're the answer to the prayer to reach the people that need Jesus. Number two, Jesus makes you qualified. And number three, you can do what Jesus did or please believe it, you can do what Jesus did. Now, what I'm not saying church is that Jesus, that you're gonna get on a cross and die for the sins of the world. I'm not saying that, nor am I saying at the next party when they run out of drinks and all they have left is water for you to call everybody over and go watch this everybody and turn the water in the wine. That's not what I mean by that. But Jesus says something in the scripture, let's keep reading. In verses five through eight, Jesus sent out the 12 apostles with these instructions. Go to the Gentile. Don't go to the Gentiles of the Samaritans, but only to the people of Israel. God's lost sheep. That's not because God didn't love the Gentiles of Samaritans. What he was letting them know is start where you are wherever I have you now, those are the people I want you to start with. And that's, that's for your encouragement here today. You're thinking, oh my God, does this mean I gotta go overseas? For some of you maybe, but for the majority of you who's in your home, who's in your classroom? Who's in the cubicle next to you? Who's your neighbor, that's who he's calling you to go to them and announce to them that the kingdom of heaven is near heal for sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy and cast out demons. Give as freely as you have received. He didn't just send them out, he sent them with authority and he told them, you all are gonna do everything that I've been doing. Because if you go back to what we started in Matthew nine, what was Jesus doing? He was preaching, teaching, and healing the sick and casting out demons. And now he said, you all got it. Go do everything that I've been doing. But oftentimes we think, I don't know about that one. I don't know if I can do all of those things. Well either you believe everything that Jesus says or you believe nothing that he says because we can't on one hand say, I believe Jesus died for me and he loves me. But then go on the other hand, I can't do what Jesus did. It's gotta be both or it's neither. So if he loves you and saves you, he also says that you can do what he did, heal the sick, raise the dead, and cast out demons. And I know somebody's going demons. I didn't sign up for this one pastor. Neither of those 12 dudes back in the day, they were like, like demons. Demons like exorcist, like head turning around like Jesus. Like yeah, go cast them out. I know how I would've been he talking to you. But if we go over a few books in the Bible in Luke chapter 10 verse 17, check this out. Here's what it says. Jesus sent out 72 disciples. So these were 72 other people from the other 12. We don't know any of their names. So what we know is these were ordinary folks just like you and me. He sends out 72 folks and said, and they returned saying, Lord, even the demons obey us when we use your name regular folks that Jesus sent out. And they're like, okay, if we see a demon, you go first. No, you go first, you go, I don't. And they probably saw one, somebody that was had a demon inside of him and they were like, I don't know what to say. Me either. But Jesus said we can do it, cast them out. And it says here, they went back to Jesus going, it worked. It really what you said it was gonna happen and it really worked. There's gonna be opportunities in your life. It may not be casting out a demon like I, I don't know. Some of you may be, I don't, but most of us, maybe not. But there will be an opportunity that where you're gonna go out and you're gonna do the things that Jesus did. And you're gonna go, where did that come from? It's from the authority that Jesus has given you, your call, your chosen, you were made for more. We've been given the same power to go and do what Jesus did. The question though is, and the little bit of time I have left remaining is, will you take a step? Because all of those disciples could have said, no, I'm not doing that. I'm too scared. I don't know what's going on. But all of those dudes, they did it scared. You saw it, I don't feel any different. You're not gonna feel any different. But you take a step. And they all did that. And guess what? 2000 years later, the church is still growing strong because some guys did it scared. It's the same for us today. God is still sending people, he's still working through his church, which is you and me. And at first these guys were just called disciples. But later on it said, Jesus sent out the apostles. That word apostles means sent one. They were disciples when they were following Jesus. But when they went out, they were apostles. Jesus is sending us today, here's what it says in Second Corinthians, chapter five 20. So we are Christ ambassadors. God is making his appeal through us, not through somebody else, through us. Y'all use us together for we speak for when Christ, for we speak for for Christ. When we plead come back to God, he's saying, I'm sending you an ambassador, an American ambassador that typically doesn't live in the us. They live in another land, but they represent the US as followers of Christ. The earth is not our home. Heaven is, but we are ambassadors representing heaven wherever we go. That's why you're in the school that you're in this year. That's why God hasn't opened up a door at another company that you think will treat you so much better than you ought. You're being treated right now. That's why you live in that neighborhood. That's why for some reason, that person is still in your life when you've tried to get rid of them so many times because you're there to be sent to, to reach them because they're helpless, they're confused or hurting and broken. You don't have to know everything. You don't. You don't need a degree to be used. Now, I'm not saying if you have a a theology degree, that's not a bad thing. That's a good thing too. Because initially Jesus started off with 12 idiots, but then later on he brought on Paul who was a theologian. So he's showing us that he's gonna use all of us, but we don't have to have, that's not a prerequisite. You don't even have to have it all together. You can go while Jesus is still working on you and you don't have to be ready. But we do have to be willing. And you may be wondering today, where do I start though? Like, okay, cool pastor, that sounds great, but I don't know where to start. Start where you are. Start where you are. If this is your church home, you've heard it before, three areas of focus, one of them is come to church. Congrats. You did one of 'em. But keep doing it and keep, make it a habit. Make it not just a habit. Make it a priority in your life. The more that you are around other people who are following after Jesus, who know that when you come here on Sundays or Saturdays, whenever you come here, that you're getting filled so that you can go out and be a light where he's sending you to. You keep coming. The second thing is you invite a friend, you know somebody that's helpless, confused, hurting, broken, invite them into this. They may come in here and go, I don't know what's happening here. But the more they keep coming, God is gonna do something in their life too. And the last thing is take a step. For some of you all, you've been coming a long time, but you've never taken a step to just start serving. What if you joined the serve team here and just said, all right, I'm, I'm gonna start small and you know, kids are kind of cool. Maybe I'll go serving kids for a little bit. You're not gonna know what you're doing the first few times, but God will start doing something in you. Maybe you start greeting at a door. I don't, I don't know. But you taken step, some of you all you've been, you've been serving already, but you haven't stepped into leadership. And you know, God is saying, I want you to lead. And you're like, I don't know how to do it. Do it scared you were made for more. Take a step. You don't know what's on the other side of the step that you'll take. I told you all when we moved here to St. Louis, I was hesitant. I was like, why me? Couldn't you have sent somebody else? And the first few months, uh, our church really small. And so while we're meeting, my wife and I are taking people to coffee and lunches, trying to get to know people. And there were these two young ladies that were at our church. And so we invited them to dinner and I just, I just straight up asked 'em. I was like, listen, y'all are young adults. Why y'all here? Our building stinks. Our church is small. Like why you, there's so many other great churches you could go to. And they were like, well, no, this is, this is where God transformed our life. And I I'm, I'm talking to them in the middle of it, I, I just said something. I was like, I don't even know why God sent me and my family back here because I just like we said yes almost blindly. Not fully blindly but almost. And she looked at me and my wife and she said, I'm why God sent you here. 'cause I was so far from the Lord, I was hurting, I was broken. And I came to Cone and God transformed my life. And she invited her friend and God transformed her life. And then she invited her boyfriend and God transformed his life. And now they're married. And so there was this trickle down effect that all came back to this point of me just going, I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm gonna take a step. And early five years later that we know of a little over 200 people have surrendered their lives to Christ at this church up in North County. And I don't say that 'cause we're so cool to do all of that stuff. I say that because I don't know if any of that happens. If I don't. Just say, oh, okay. And you can take the steps too. You may not on this side of heaven. Somebody may not come to you and say, you are why, uh, I gave my life to Christ. 'cause you shared, you shared Jesus with me in our, in our algebra class. You may not get that on this side of heaven, but when we do get to heaven, there will be people that are only there because you said yes and you did it scared. You're made for more. Will you take a step? Where is has God placed you? And where is he leading you to impact the lives of other people? Every one of you, you are made for more. Say, I am made for more. I'm made for. Oh, you don't believe it. I can tell how you said it. Say, I am made for more. I'm Made for more this time. Say it with your chest. Say, I am made for more. I'm made for more. If he said it, we believe it and we take a step. So if you're here and you even believe it that much, let me pray with you. Jesus, thank you that you see us, you see where we are and what we're carrying. And still you call us into something greater today. We say yes to that calling. God, I pray that people are in this room right now. They've been feeling a nudge for a while. Today is the day that they take a step. They're not gonna run from you. They're not gonna hide from you. They're not gonna try to close their ears, but they're going to hear you. And even if they're scared, God help them to take a step. Help them to take the step into the more you created us for. Use our lives to make a difference in our families, in our neighborhoods, in our schools, on our jobs in this community. Lord, in our church, make us workers for your harvest. We don't want to sit on the sidelines. We want to be a part of what you are doing in the world around us. And as we continue in the attitude of prayer, there are others of you that are here right now and you've been feeling far from Jesus. Maybe you've been searching and maybe you are, like we saw in the scriptures, that you are feeling helpless and confused and you don't know what to do next. Your step today is to surrender your life to Jesus. And who is Jesus? He left heaven came to this earth, lived sin free willingly at the age of 33 was beaten beyond recognition. Why? Because he loves you got on a cross, because he sees you. He had compassion for you. And he said, I'm the answer to the prayer that everybody's praying they need hope, they need life, they need forgiveness. I'm the answer. And he got on the cross, died, was placed in a tomb. Three days later, he walked out of that tomb as our resurrected savior. And he says, don't clean yourself up. You surrender to me. You call on my name and I'm going to make you into a new person. And today that may be your step. And if it is at all of our sites, wherever you may be watching before you leave here today, do not leave here today without connecting with the pastor to say, I want to take this step to surrender my life to Jesus. Why? Because everything that I've been talking about today, church is for those who follow Jesus. The first step is surrendering to him. And if you're here today and you haven't done it, today is the day to everyone else that has taken that step. Let's go back to where we started off today, Ephesians two, verse 10. For we are God's masterpiece. He created us a new in Christ Jesus so we can do the good things he planned for us to do long ago. Those good plans don't change. If bad things have happened in your life, the plans are still good. Those aren't my words. Those are wor the words of the Lord. So take a step today into the inconvenient, into the uncomfortable. Why? Because you were made for more. God bless everybody.