Episode Transcript
You know, I love that God, God is the God of Seasons. I love that God calls us, He positions us, He leads us, He guides us, He empowers, He inspires us, you know, and I think, if I think about my life over these last 11 years, particularly, I just think, wow, God, how amazing are you?
You know, I think about what God is doing. It's kind of like a couple of announcements in one, but then I'll get into the Word, but, you know, I think about two weeks ago when it was, what, almost 40 degrees and seeing our life groups just all together, having fun, you know, doing life, doing community, you know, I think about the outreaches, going out to the street and meeting with people, and I think about how God is building His house.
We've got our Empower ministry starting this Thursday. I love that God, even as He calls us out into new seasons, God still builds His church.
And so, I'm going to do a couple of thank yous before I get into the Word, and, you know, for me, I just want to thank each and every one of you for whatever part you have played in our story in West over the last seven years.
Even if it's your very first time today, you were part of our story. You were part of our journey.
You know, I count few things honour, you know, to be married to this incredible woman, to be parents to the two incredible children and kids' church.
But to be your pastor has to be one of the greatest honours that I've had, one that I've never taken lightly.
See, for me, I look at ministry as a privilege, not a right.
And it has been an honour and a privilege to lead each and every one of you.
I shared with our volunteers this morning, none of what God does doesn't happen if it's not for the faithfulness of His people.
And to have the incredible volunteers that we've had, to be there on Sundays where I know it's been hard for people to serve because of what's happening in their life, and yet they come and they give God their yes.
It's inspired us, it's inspired me.
It's our incredible leadership team, our five-fold team.
I'm going to be more specific a bit later on, but again, God has put incredible people in our lives that we would trust with our lives.
And last but not least to my wife, the tissue box is still here, I better put it up here just in case.
I shared last week, when I was, what, 20, you were 19, we started dating and she started calling the call of God on my life at that moment.
She's the one that went to buy the VTAC guide and made me apply for youth work when I didn't think I had anything to offer.
And at every stage of my life, you have sowed in God's love and grace in my life.
And when I come back in six, seven months as a volunteer, to call you my location pastor will be one of the greatest privileges of my life.
To serve under your leadership will be one of my greatest privileges in my life.
Can we put our hands together to your location pastor?
I did all right, I got through on that one.
It does feel weird.
You know, 11 years on staff.
I said to God, God, I'll give you one year and I'm back in youth work.
And God added 10.
It's buy one, get 10 free.
It's just that it's not as easy, you know, it's not fun what we do, but you know what, it's been worth it.
And I will do it again.
So when I think about my last message as your location pastor, what does one preach?
So I'm going to preach out of Revelation.
We're going to talk about the end times today.
No.
A few nervous laughs.
Not true.
We're going to preach.
Today I want to speak to you on the topic of the monuments of God's grace.
Hayden, you can take a seat, man.
You're already on a seat, but you can go take a seat.
Don't take the chair with you.
Can we honor Hayden?
I shared it earlier this morning, you know, Hayden and Sarah, they're part of the OGs.
For those that are a little bit advanced in years, that's the original gangsters.
We don't really talk about that in church, do we?
But they were part of our planting team.
They've been our worship pastors for seven years.
And to see them grow, first of all, in their relationship from the proposal at one of our special services to then actually marrying them.
And now having a little bubber over there, that's the best part about being a pastor.
Don't believe the hype, the platform.
I'm not going to miss this stuff.
It's those moments, being alongside people, that will hold dear in my heart forever.
And so monuments of God's grace.
I want to invite you to turn to Joshua chapter 4, verses 1 to 7.
I'm going to share briefly, and then I want to unpack a few testimonies just to bless you.
It says,
And Joshua said to them,
Let's pray.
Lord, I just thank you, God, that we get to be here today to hear your word, Lord.
I thank you, Lord, that your word is living.
It's breathing.
It's still applicable today as it was back then, Lord.
And Lord, I pray that today as I preach, Lord, may it not be my words but yours, Lord, that what it is spoken, Lord, will sow seeds, Lord, in people's hearts and lives, Lord, that in seasons to come will yield fruit.
Lord, I just pray you bless this word in Jesus' name, amen, amen, amen, and amen.
You know, I counted a privilege early on in my life to be able to spend the first four or five years with my grandma.
I think we've got a photo coming up somewhere.
I don't know if they got the photo.
Do you have the photo?
I know it was only 15 years ago.
Can you believe it?
I'm actually 18.
And one of the things that I remember that I loved and I treasured was hearing the stories of my grandma, just random stories.
I know as Latin Americans, we have creative license.
I'm sure there was a lot of salt and pepper put on every story to just exaggerate it a little bit.
But I remember sitting with her and hearing her stories of things that she did.
And it's funny because we can grow up in physical years.
But for me, when I spent time with my grandma, we'll go to the next photo, nothing changed.
For me, you can't really see it.
I'm giving my grandma a big kiss there on the last time I saw her before she went to be with the Lord.
And I used to love hearing because it almost felt like I was there.
It almost felt like, wow, like I would hear.
And it's a whole different world because where she grew up is a totally different world to what we've experienced in life.
But I love seeing that.
And now I get the privilege to see that with my own children, with my parents, with my parents-in-law,
or to sit there and just see them watching all as my dad tells the same story for the hundredth time that I've heard.
But for them, it's like it's the first time.
It's unbelievable.
La Ciudad de los Niños, the city of the kids where my dad grew up.
Love you, Dad.
I don't know.
He's going to tie me off later.
But there's just something so powerful about the story of what has been.
There is something so powerful in hearing the stories of yesteryear.
And then I think about the stories of our church.
Can I encourage you, if you call Newma home, sit with one of the elders and hear the stories of what has been.
You know, we are blessed to have Pastor Bob del Rosario.
Let's put our hands together for Pastor Bob.
In a simple yes in our West for 30 years, started a life group, then saw over 11 life groups.
And a lot of us are here because of the legacy of people like Pastor Bob and Pastor Claire.
When I think about this year, a hundred years in our church, 10 Ks down the road, people prayed for nine years.
God, would you move in my city?
God, would you move in my city?
God, would you move?
And then, but God, 1925, he moved.
Sunshine Gospel Hall was filled up, you know, overflowing every night.
And then this church was birthed a hundred years ago this year.
There is something powerful about knowing that you stand, I stand, on the legacy of prayers of those that have gone before us.
So we come to this scripture.
You know, this moment was incredibly significant for the people as it had finally crossed into the promised land.
A land flowing with milk and honey and yet a land of the unknown.
And so before we unpack the scripture, I guess we've got to understand what the context is of how it is that we got here.
A few weeks ago, I preached on the topic of preparing for the unknown.
And I preached the preceding verse in chapter 3, verses 1 to 5.
And I'm not going to read it here.
But the context was, this was a group of people that went from slavery to a desert to a promised land.
They needed to trust every single moment.
And they needed to lay down the old thinking because the slavery mindset wasn't going to work in the promised land.
And so they followed the instructions given to Joshua.
They gave space for the Lord's presence to lead the way.
And trusting his presence, they needed to because they had never been that way before.
They needed to consecrate to allow God to demonstrate.
And so they needed to trust in his leading and not their own understanding.
They needed to believe that his way was far better than their own.
They needed to believe that where they were going was unlike anything they had ever encountered before.
You know, as I stand before you today and I share this message today,
I can relate because for me, 11 years ago, it was a season of a chapter 3 to a chapter 4 for me.
For those that know me, I loved youth work.
And there were things that I would never lay down.
That's youth work, I would say.
Two things I'll never do.
I'll never be a pastor and I'll never go on a mission trip.
Why?
I don't need a title to serve.
And you know what?
I'm working with Victoria's Worst Offenders.
Why would I want to leave my own backyard?
Four mission trips later, leading this church for seven years.
Careful what you say to God, right?
So I understand the importance of needing to lay down that understanding to trust God into an area of the unknown.
And so this sets it up to where we are now.
We understand that context.
From the unknown, they followed God's lead and walked in faith.
And they were now standing in the miracle that was promised.
I love that the scripture says,
and it came to pass when all the people had completely crossed.
It was at that moment, there was no shadow of a doubt.
Will he or won't he?
God had already provided.
God had already parted the Jordan.
God had created that way to fulfill his promise for his people.
And so as he parted the Red Sea, he parted the Jordan.
See, I've come to understand in my own life that we want the miracle,
but are often reluctant to take the first step.
And it's not out of laziness.
It's not out of prejudice.
It's often out of a fear.
What if I heard wrong?
What if God doesn't work out the way I thought?
I'm telling a little bit about my age here,
but many of us will remember a long time ago,
those ads, those Darrell Summers ads.
If you never, never go, you'll...
Okay, I'm not the only one that remember those cheesy ads.
If you never, never go, you'll never, never know.
Sometimes the reality is you just got to take that step.
I wish that I could tell you right now that come the end of June,
that I would know exactly what my next steps are going to look like.
Let me tell you something.
Let me let you in on something.
I've got no clue.
But I've never felt freer in my life
knowing that what God has entrusted me, he'll provide.
But keep me in prayer because we've got our schedules for uni.
And in like four weeks, I've got six assignments due on one night.
So there's not going to be such thing as a social life.
So if I don't write back to your messages,
don't take it personal because I'm trying to do my work.
But I've come to understand also that proximity with God builds trust.
See, I can look back now in my chapter four moment of this season
knowing that God, I had no clue what you were going to do,
but I trusted you and you never let me down.
So if you never let me down then,
I know that you're not going to let me down now.
But for some of us, we're at that place where we have to take our first step.
Proximity builds trust.
And so the people trusted and they saw their faith rewarded.
But the question is, in that moment, how would people have known what had taken place?
And that's why the Lord instructs Joshua to place stones where the impossible occurred.
To place stones where their feet stood.
So actually go where it was impossible to walk any other day of your life
and place these stones here so that when people see it, they'll ask the question.
And not just you, Joshua.
Get every person, one person from every tribe,
so that you see that my favor wasn't on one, it was on all.
So I'm a visual learner.
I can imagine that moment.
I can imagine, you know, the priest putting down these stones there.
And the question is, why would God want these stones put together?
Well, the answer's in the Scripture,
so that it may be remembered for generations to come.
Now, I'm going to ask a favor.
Can someone turn the air con on?
Otherwise, it's going to be like that Rexona rat as well.
Just flicking the switch on at the back.
I can, I don't want to slay people in the spirit of BO.
So if anyone can just flick the switch at the back over there, that'd be awesome.
Hey, that's me, right?
Let's be real.
We can be real in church, right?
So the Scripture tells us, verses 6 and 7,
it will be a sign among you and the generations to come.
Well, it's not about, look what we did.
Look how amazing we are.
No, no, no.
Look at what God did, man.
Look at what God did.
The conversation starter.
I can imagine, like me with my grandma, walking by the River Jordan and asking,
hey, Nan, what are those stones?
What's that about?
How do they stay where they are?
Oh, let me tell you, let me tell you, my child.
Let me tell you about what God did.
It's the opportunity for the story of God's grace to be passed on.
This is where the prayers of the generation were answered.
This is what is etched eternally so that the stories of God's power and grace would last forever.
What are the monuments of God's grace in your life?
What are the stories that you will tell the generations to come about what God did in your life?
What are those moments where the grandkids and the generations to come,
hey, can you tell me about that?
What are those moments for you?
What stories will you pass on to another generation that were passed on to you?
See, we're the legacy, like I said before, of those that have gone before us.
But we're also the legacy of those that will come after us.
When I think about, and I look in this room, and I think about my own life,
we're the answer to someone's prayer.
Some that we will never meet on this side of eternity.
You know, I look forward to the day when we get to heaven,
and we meet people, and they're like, hey, I prayed for you.
You don't know me, but I prayed for you.
In your family lineage, where things were broken off in your family,
when someone said, enough is enough.
I choose God.
As for me and my house, I'm going to praise the Lord.
And now you're a result of that.
When we think about those things,
what's those monuments in our lives?
See, the stories of your faith,
the stories of God's grace in your life,
they last a lifetime.
And so here I am today.
It's a quick teaching, but we're not finishing yet,
so sorry, Levi.
So here I am today,
preaching my final message as your location, Pastor.
And so in seeking this, I'm like, okay, Lord,
you've obviously prepared the last few months to get to this point.
What is it that you want to share with your church?
And the Lord's like, simple.
I want you to share with the church the monuments of grace
over these last seven years.
So if it's okay with you,
can I share that with you this morning or afternoon,
whatever we're on, bordering the lunch will warm up soon.
And I did come good.
There's like seven containers of brisket,
so everyone enjoy.
May the Lord bless you.
So I want to share with you some of the monuments of God's grace
in my life that I'll get to share with my kids
and one day with my grandkids
and in generations to come
when people walk through these doors.
Because as you see, this church is growing.
God is moving.
That people will come in.
How is it that we got here?
So I'm going to start off with number one.
No particular order.
But the first monument of God's grace
is God's consolation.
The first two weeks, 11 years ago,
of ministry were some of the hardest weeks of our lives.
We walked in, lost a baby two weeks later.
Everything that could go wrong in a year went wrong.
I almost ran out this door, man.
I remember I had applied.
So it could have been half a year.
I applied and I wanted to walk out.
No, God, I didn't hear right.
No, because everything should go good
when you follow God, right?
Everything should be great, right?
Hey, it's a land flowing with milk and honey, right?
Yeah, it flows,
but we walked through the valley of the shadow of death.
So those first two weeks were a nightmare.
That year was a nightmare.
We suffered a miscarriage.
And yet having to come back
and do baby dedications for people
and talk about the hope of God
when you feel like you've got none for yourself,
the Lord consoled us.
The year later,
our beautiful consolation was born.
Alexis rose.
And I used to tell people the consolation,
that's not second best.
That's in the hour of great need.
The Lord saw my heart ache,
my wife's heart ache,
and he consoled our hearts
with a beautiful girl.
And then almost two years later,
the handsome little fella,
who, can you believe,
Lexi's 10
and Judah is eight.
Lexi's already plotting to move out.
We saw how God consoled us in our brokenness.
But he doesn't just console our own family,
but in our church.
Little did we know
what 2020 was gonna bring.
Little did we know.
I still remember the last service,
March the 8th,
almost, well,
almost four years to the,
five years to the day.
And we had a service
at St. Albans University.
I believe we had 187 people in attendance.
Our church was a lot bigger back then,
but I believe that there's more substance now,
but I'll get to that in a moment.
But I just remember going there saying,
hey guys,
you know,
we're going into this COVID.
I get to be Mr. Daddy.
We had no idea what was gonna happen.
And so then we go into
what seemed like an eternity of lockdown.
And I remember coming to the end of the year
and there's a time for us to start a church,
back at church again,
but we couldn't find the venue.
Remember,
we couldn't find anywhere.
And so,
you know,
city location,
we're like,
hey,
can we just use upstairs on a Saturday night?
So we're like,
how do we empower people?
Because everyone's gonna be hungry
to come back and serve the Lord,
right?
I remember saying,
everyone's gonna miss community,
right?
So we're gonna do West Go City
on a Saturday night.
31 people came that first Saturday.
Most of them were volunteers.
And of the people that weren't volunteers,
it was people like,
oh,
I've just got this thing tomorrow at midday.
So I'm not gonna go to city.
So I'm coming to West tonight though,
but it's convenient.
If I'm honest with you,
I remember that night,
thinking about throwing in the towel.
I was like,
whoa.
But then the Lord consoled us.
He started building his church.
It's taken time,
but the Lord started building,
which then leads to the next monument of God's grace,
which is the stone of God's restoration of people's lives.
In 2014,
my first service after we'd lost our baby,
Pastor,
Prophet Dave McCracken was preaching,
and I was there with my hat on at the front.
It was the first service we'd been back.
And I remember just bawling my eyes out.
I was inside.
It was hard,
but I trust God.
I'm like,
God,
you know my hurt.
And I remember his prophetic words.
He was like,
you know,
young man.
I mean,
I was already impressed.
He called me young man.
With the hat on,
when you were crying,
I saw seeds fall onto a dry barren ground.
And as the dry barren ground were hit by these tears,
seeds started springing to life.
And then I saw this,
what was once dry and barren became this lush,
this beautiful lush green.
And the Lord wants to tell you that your ministry,
what God is going to do through your life,
is you're going to work with people that considered so far gone,
that they would never live again spiritually.
And God is going to use you to bring them back to life.
I was leading the teaching pillar at that time.
I'm like,
Lord,
I'd just be glad if we have four people at a course,
but little did I know that's what this meant.
And then in 2020,
in the midst of good old Rona,
help me Rona,
we had prophet Michael Maiden down for our conference that we ended up doing online.
And I remember my call,
Pastor Stony and I up,
and he looks at me and he's like,
you're a Jesus teddy bear.
And everyone started laughing.
And he goes,
not because you're a big guy,
but I believe God is going to literally use your hugs to bring hope for people.
And your ministry with your wife is people that walk through these doors are going to be suspicious of church,
but not suspicious of love.
But then I'm like,
Lord,
how can we bring,
how can you use us to bring life when there's only literally 30 people?
And then my family and close friends and we're in lockdown.
How can I hug people through the screen?
You know,
the old zoom wave.
Hey,
can you hear me?
Doing that in uni again.
Oh,
gee,
I need to see a counselor.
But then I look around the room today.
I look around the room and I see the answers to those.
You know,
I see the Matt and Roxy Kirks,
our business pillar,
a key prayer leader.
I see Jane and Dave Rout.
Do you know,
last year through Alpha,
we saw 60 people.
Come on,
let's see if you've got it.
That's almost half this room that aren't part of our church that wanted to know more about God.
You know,
I look at even Levi's and Vanya's.
You know,
I look around this room and I look around this room.
I see just the beauty of what God did in that moment where people came in their hurt and brokenness.
Yes,
I want to hear your story,
but man,
come here,
give me a hug.
Because for me,
what people do is secondary to who they are.
You've heard it said from this pulpit,
and I know we continue to be shared,
that Acts 2 47 says that it's the Lord that adds to the numbers daily.
So how arrogant would I be if all that time I'm like,
oh no,
you're too hard for me.
How arrogant would that have been?
But I'm like,
Lord,
if you've brought them is because there is something in their life that I need.
I didn't even think about what I could do for them is what I,
it's Lord,
you're bringing someone to sharpen me.
I'm not going to look at these couple because I'll end up crying.
So I'll look at,
actually,
I shouldn't look at you either.
I look at Jade and Christian.
You know,
I prophet lied to her the other day about coming back to West.
We call it prophet lying,
right?
But I look at,
you know,
Jade part of,
she was Levi before Levi,
the OG Levi.
And I look around,
I look at Lindy,
Lindy and Rod.
When I came on board in the teaching pillar,
I was still trying to figure out that Haggai was actually a book in the Bible,
and I was in charge of leading a teaching pillar.
And Lindy was always there.
When we lost our baby,
Lindy was there going through her own grief,
mind you,
in losing her own mom.
But she was always there as a friend.
I've never viewed the people that God has brought as assets.
I look at them as family,
man.
And I'm a better person because of people like Lindy,
like Jade,
like Levi,
like each and every one of you.
You need to understand that as I go into a new season,
the monuments of God's grace is that my life is better because you're in it.
Give yourselves a round of applause on that.
I stand in awe of what God does through a simple yes.
We're almost there.
The monument of God's healing.
I hear that he's living it up in Dubai right now,
but Vince,
you know,
we,
Rue and I walk into a room and there's a man that's literally given four months to live
in 2020,
2021,
believe it was.
But then five months later,
he comes and he shows me a screen of a cancer.
That's all gone.
Come on.
Come on.
And we've got to keep him in prayer because the battle's not over,
but God's already restored him.
Years that the enemy tried to take.
I look at brother Renan out the back,
looking cool with his Nike Air Maxes.
He comes up to me during worship and it's like,
I had my final scan.
There's no cancer.
It's gone.
I don't say that because it's about a person.
It's about the monument of God's grace.
This house is a house of healing.
It's not on one leader or a person.
This house for over a hundred years has seen God touch people's infirmities,
people's hearts,
people's lives.
I stand in awe over the seven years and looking at this altar and seeing people's lives restored,
anxieties and depression broken of people.
And I take this with me knowing that all things are possible in God.
I was sharing with someone recently,
one of the challenges in this next season as a counselor is,
well,
we are a professional.
We're a professional service in what we do.
So a lot of the time you're not going to hear the end result of people's stories,
but I carry the faith that what I get to do in this next season is to plant seeds
and pray for people that God would do what only he can do.
And the last monument is a monument of God's miraculously answered prayers.
Again,
I don't know if I can look at this family,
but I look at Neil and Jane,
baby Eliana,
11 years,
they were told they weren't going to have kids or it was going to be very difficult.
And one of the moments that I will always remember,
and I say this to them all the time,
is that on Father's Day,
two years ago,
when traditionally they would go and not be at a service,
they decided not only to just come to the service,
they decided to worship lead.
Out of the despair of their own hearts,
they still chose to serve the Lord.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil.
Even in those moments of faithfulness,
and now I look at baby Eliana who won't smile at me.
I stand in awe of what God did in this house.
You know,
I've seen marriages restored.
I've seen prodigals come home.
I've seen lives transformed.
And one of the things that I can't wait,
as my kids grow up,
and when I have grandkids,
and I give them all the chocolate in the world,
we'll save those for the kids,
is I was there when.
I was there when.
I was there when.
I'm going to invite the band to come up.
God is moving.
God is moving.
And I'm so encouraged by what He is doing.
Obviously, you're not going to see me around
until later on in the year.
July, June, July.
But know that I am praying for each and every one of you.
Knowing that I am trusting,
like I preached a couple of weeks ago,
that each of you will be prompted by the Holy Spirit
to play your part.
There is not one part that's more important than the other.
We all celebrate.
We all suffer together.
But we do it as one.
I want to encourage you to keep trusting God in whatever you do.
The reality is, and I've had conversations,
believe it or not,
you're giving up a dream job.
Nah.
I love what Becky said to me in prayer before.
I've been using the language of,
I'm laying it down.
But Becky used the words of,
I'm actually giving it up.
I'm giving it to God.
And I know that what He has for this house,
and I've shared with you,
I've wrestled with this.
Given what we've gone through as a church,
I've wrestled with the notion,
Lord, I want to be part of the rebuild.
Why are you taking me out now?
But the Lord, He's trust me.
And I look at it so on,
and I'm like,
I'm very protective of my wife.
I love her so much.
And I'm like,
but Lord,
but I want to just be able to support her.
And He's like,
yeah.
I don't need you.
I choose you.
And I choose you to sit down.
Okay, Lord.
So I might come back a lot quieter,
because the Lord's going to quiet me in a lot of things.
So it isn't easy.
I'm not running for the exits,
excited that it's over.
But for me,
like I said,
it's been a hard wrestle these last four years,
because like I shared a few weeks ago,
it's been a four-year journey,
where it's easier to run out the exit.
I want to run in,
but I know that God loves His church
more than I could ever love this church.
It's His church.
So can I encourage you,
whatever it is that you're in your journey in,
take that step.
What if I start drowning?
What if you don't?
What if it doesn't look the way?
What if it does?
I remember once,
years,
years ago,
in my first job at a youth work,
we were told that
if you make a difference
in one person's life
in a year,
then that's a great outcome.
And I'm like,
I read,
you know,
the parable of the lost sheep,
and I saw God do incredible things.
And I'm sharing this
because it took a couple of minutes,
so that's all right.
I'm not trying to fill time.
But it's just the Lord just reminding me.
I remember one of the most frustrating days
was when I was at another church.
Well,
technically we're in another building.
We're in St. Albans.
And I remember preaching
and I'm looking at it
and I just see people falling asleep.
Don't worry.
Some people are like,
no, I was meditating.
I'm the Lord's.
And I'm like,
Lord,
why did you take me out of youth work for this?
What's even,
I mean,
I don't even want to be on the platform, Lord.
I'd rather be behind the scenes.
And I remember,
I have never,
it's never happened again,
being rebuked
as you're preaching the Word of God.
Now that's multitasking.
It's like,
it's not about you.
It's like,
look around you.
I remember it like it was yesterday.
Because it used to always come off
and I used to go,
did I do all right?
And I would ask people,
how did I preach?
Did I do good?
Did I do good, guys?
And that stopped on this day.
Why?
I was like,
it's never been about you.
He goes,
look across.
There are 138 pairs of eyes.
Afterwards,
I got the stats,
there were 138 people in the room.
And where I placed you,
you're still behind the scenes,
but where I placed you,
I used you to work through 70 people in a year.
You've already doubled that in one service.
So how about you preach what I tell you?
It's because it's not about your eloquence
that don't need you,
that choose you.
So after that,
from then on,
it's like,
and you've heard me share it.
If you don't appreciate what I've preached,
take it up with Him.
It's the reality of it.
And I say that to you
is because sometimes the step of faith
might feel like you're getting the spotlight on you,
but no,
no,
no,
God's given you greater measure
to bring His spotlight to where you are.
So I want to encourage you.
If you call Newman,
Melbourne,
where's Simon,
you've been here for just a few months,
hey,
take your time.
Like we always say,
be loved by community first
before you step in.
I appreciate we get times
when people come in
and they're like,
hey,
I'm ready to serve next week.
Beautiful.
But hey,
your doing is less important than you be.
Be part of community.
But if you have been here for a long time,
then it's time to ask the Lord,
Lord,
here's my yes.
What would you do with my yes?
Where would you place me,
Lord?
Because there is no one like you.
There is absolutely no one like you.
I'm not,
none of us are more superior than you
or inferior.
We are the Imago Dei,
created in the very image of God.
What will your yes be?
I'm so excited for what God has
this next season.
It's been my honor.
