50/50 Faith: Move On A “Maybe” | Maybe: God | Pastor Steven Furtick

How many are excited about this series that we are in the series is called Maybe: God the theme is his voice his will his ways how do I know if this opportunity comes from the Lord now the scripture for you today that I believe will be a great blessing in your life It's in 1 Samuel chapter 14 verse number 6 the Bible says Jonathan said to his young armor bearer come, let's go to the outpost of those uncircumcised people he's talking trash about the Philistines calling them a derogatory name talking about their uncircumcision wow, he must be excited for some reason he is a little belligerent he is becoming bold now he cannot afford to wait and wait for something to happen from heaven when God has already given him some power on earth so he turns to whoever he has available at this moment and He says come on, its just you and me, but touch someone, say come on now.

I want you to do me a favor if you are the only one in your row praising God today during this sermon. I want you to go and look at someone next to you and say, will you go with me? Amen, he said, let us go to the outpost of those uncircumcised men, perhaps the Lord will act on our behalf, nothing can stop the Lord from saving, whether for many. or by few in this third installment of Maybe: God my topic and my lesson today is called 50/50 Faith I want to teach you about this principle that has been so useful in my life as a leader and is useful to me as a husband.

As a father and as a man, 50/50

faith

, I believe this principle will set you free in some of the areas where indecision has imprisoned you and you have been waiting and God will show you something today through the power and virtue of his word and spirit. that only he could show you about 50/50

faith

praise the Lord I celebrated my 39th birthday this week I appreciate your pity you know that last one with the three in front I own I so own turning 40 I so own these little guys gray whiskers that are appearing. I'm not going to dye them or anything like that.

AHA. I'm going to tell you to take a close-up of these gray things on camera. Get right up close to the grayish spot you can find on this beard. I am proud of her. I don't care what my kids say about it and when they tell me that my jokes are embarrassing and stuff like that, one of my kids told me that. the other day and I just asked him a question, he said your jokes are so embarrassing and I just asked him a question. I told him how many people show up to hear you speak since I'm so embarrassing.

Conversational parenting approach you may want to try. at some point, but one of the things that I think continues to happen to me and is really happening to me at this stage of my ministry in life because I've been doing this as a

pastor

for over 13 years is that it feels really good to say which just felt great, I've been doing this for 13 years, that's a long time to do anything. Amen, I have never been less sure and I have never been more confident, all at the same time, all at the same time and it is strange how when you give up your need for certainty you can gain true confidence that is independent of the circumstances.

Can I preach to someone today right here in this back left section of Ballantyne? The passage I read to you is one of my favorites if they were giving an Academy Award for best Old Testament narrative writing. I would like to nominate Jonathan for best supporting actor because he is not as famous as David but he is a very good example for me and he has helped me a lot. This passage has helped me a lot over the years. Every two years I preach it and when I return to it I see a different dimension of faith.

I see a different dimension to the kind of trust we can have in Christ and the promises of him, but I also see all the uncertainty and uncertainty. -doubt that also entails and that my faith is not a formula and can never be. The more I try to formulate it, the less valuable it becomes to me when life challenges all my presuppositions and all my ideas about what it is. The kind of ways God wants to work collapse under the weight of real life, under the weight of real bills, under the weight of real medical reports, and I need the kind of faith that doesn't depend on my presuppositions.

I need the kind of faith that can deal. with some ambiguity I need a faith as Richard Rohr says that can be patient with mystery I need a kind of faith that does not depend on my plans to prevail I need the kind of faith that can withstand the worst that can happen I need the kind of faith that can shine when God gets dark when I don't know when I can't say it when I can't see it when I feel like I can't make it I need a faith that can withstand these seasons around the verse that I read to you is a small episode and if you have been following the series, I have used some different Old Testament passages from Judges and Samuel to try to give us some kind of arc or give us some kind of context for the way that that transition creates an opportunity for us to trust God in this particular transition, a negative transition for the nation From Israel.

King Saul has really lost his way and has abdicated leadership from him because of this, the Philistines who would torment the Israelites. all the way to David's rule, remember that Samson started delivering them, that was last week and you need to go ahead and watch that message about the parenthesis and the pivot and how there is a purpose, even if I have to leave it blank right now, Gods. I'm going to do something in this empty space between these parentheses and I'm going to put the parentheses there and let God fill them because he's too wise to make a mistake in my life and that message is online, it's on YouTube and Facebook and Elevation App and MySpace and if they still had myspace we would put it there on Roku, everything when he was preaching he talked about the beginning of deliverance or partial deliverance and the beginning of deliverance occurred through the judges, but now Saul the king was unable to fully committing to the ways and will of the Lord instead of entering into a relationship with the living God who has begun to manipulate and when he begins to manipulate and treat God is a kind of mechanism to get what he wants when he wants it he loses that unique ability we have to hear God's voice when you lose the ability to hear God's voice you waste energy you waste resources you waste worry on situations that God didn't even want you to give your attention to that's why I need to hear his voice Saul having lost that ability he is now surrounded by his enemies so much that his people that he was responsible for leading are hiding in rocks in caves in thickets I just want to put the word thickets in there because I can't use it every day, but we all hide in places, Sometimes we find ourselves hidden in mentalities, in patterns, isolated, far from people, far from life, far from joy, far from risk, far from opportunity. and this was the situation in 1 Samuel 14 picks up verse 23 of 13 now a detachment of Philistines had come out in Mikmash it is always useful to point out that the enemy always attacks you in the passages, he always attacks you in the transition places of the that you knew to what you don't know, from where you were to where you are going and therefore when he can prepare an ambush in the passage, he can prevent you from moving forward in those crucial transitional moments of your life. and then one day someone shouted one day Jonathan son of Saul said to his young armor bearer come, let's go to the Philistine outpost on the other side but he didn't tell his father be very careful who you talk to about what God is doing within you be very careful who you communicate with about the impressions that God is stirring within you if you talk to the wrong people about the right idea your idea will die before it has a chance to conceive and give birth to what God is doing In your life, how many know that I am right that Saul was staying on the outskirts of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree in Migron.

With him were about six hundred men, among whom was Ahijah, who was wearing an ephod, he was the son of Ichabod, he was the son of Ichabod's brother. rather Ahitub son of Phineas son of Eli the priest of the Lord in Shiloh no one knew that Jonathan had left each side that Jonathan intended to cross to reach the Philistine outpost was a cliff one was called Bozez and the other Seneh Bozez means slippery Seneh means thorny no one told me it would be easy God did not promise me that his will would be convenient stop thinking that the positive proof that you are in the will of God is that you feel good give up thinking that the positive proof that you are in the will of God is that everyone understands it stop thinking that the positive proof that you are in the will of God is that it just fits into place no, you had to go through a thorny, slippery place Place an uncomfortable place in an uncertain place and Just because I'm in an uncertain place doesn't mean I don't have a purpose.

I'm going to need someone to shout about it right there, right there, right there, touch someone, say "I'm in his will and one of the proofs that you're in his will is that you were experiencing a war, it could be in terms of an internal resistance that you feel or even if some things are going crazy in your life and on each side it was a challenge one cliff was to the north towards Mikmash the other to the south towards Geba and Jonathan told his young man. squire come, let's

move

on to the outpost of those uncircumcised men

maybe

the Lord will act on our behalf, nothing can stop the Lord from saving, whether for many or for few I love your word. with him about it.

Thank you for putting that little word in your word, not the one he said. Nothing can hinder the Lord, not the one where he said come let's go but that little word where he said

maybe

because that word gives me hope it gives me hope. because of my insecurity it gives me hope because of my impossibilities and my uncertainty gives me I hope to know that sometimes even in the midst of progressing in my life, even in the midst of obeying the revealed will of God, there will be moments when one minute I have great faith and The next moment a great fear overcomes me. but be careful the squire tells Jonathan that he had a crazy idea do everything you have in mind keep going I am with you heart and soul and Jonathan said come on then since you talk like that let's go then since I want to do it too, let's go since you don't You think I'm crazy for wanting to advance towards the enemy even though we are outnumbered, come on, since you have no more brain cells or common sense than me.

Come on, so sometimes you need someone to help you even though your plan sounds like a bad plan, try to find God in it so you don't stay stuck and still, come on, then I like how he spoke to him. Let's go, then, and then the armor wearer says, "Come on, then," and he says, well, let's go, then, and they're pumping each other's chests, hitting each other, you know, and they don't have anyone else. Because look at this, the people who should." I have had faith I have been overcome by fear now this is the part of the passage that will give me the contrast as we look together at two different ways in which we try to discover the will of God and each one has a way that we try to discover what the will is of God, even if you don't call it, try to discover what God's will is, you have a way of making decisions that you hope are more advantageous, you have a way of trying to discern wisdom and you can't always get it from a book and you can't always get it from a class and you can't always get it this is what I have discovered, we are all making it up as we go along in this part of my The sermon is meant to encourage all of you people who are writing parenting books about 15 steps to raising a perfect child, they left out some footnotes and the conclusion is that they simply had good luck in the gene pool because God can give them a child who can make you question all your theories.

I love my children. I'm just saying that all of us, as parents, make it up as we go along. We are all trying to figure it out with each child and they are all different. I know. Holly was faithful to me, but sometimes I think: how could everyone be so different if it was just the common factor between you and me? But I trust her, but sometimes they're so different and I'm like, well, you respond like that. and you answer like this and look at Jonathan's plan. This is the dumbest idea you can find in the Bible.

The only one I can think of that is sillier is Moses extending his staff over the Red Sea, that's pretty dumb, or maybe David throwing a rock at a giant who has a sword which is pretty dumb, or maybe Jesus ordering lunch to a guy. little boy in the crowd and trying to feed 15,000 people with it, that's pretty silly or maybe Mary going to Joseph and telling him I'm pregnant but it wasn't another man, it was the Holy Spirit which is pretty silly or maybe it was a widow who went around borrowing jars from her neighbors when she had no oil and thinking of someone who is pretty, now that I think about it, many of the things that God did in His word seemed like a foolish decision to the people as they did it.

They were doing listen how stupid this is listen how stupid this strategy is someone say bad idea okay come on then we'll cross over to them and let them see us he thought. You were supposed to surprise someone if you wanted to kill them, but whatever they tell us, look at this, he's making this up because I want you to know one thing about thispassage. God gives Jonathan the victory, but God does not say. a single word the only people who speak in this passage are Jonathan his assistant and his enemies God does not say a word but Jonathan he invents this strategy he is an innovator, he says, okay, my dad is under the tree next to the threshing floor and the priest is not doing anything, so let's go and show ourselves and expose ourselves to our enemies and if they say, wait there until we get to you.

We will stay where we are and we will not go up to them but if they say come up to us we will go up because that will be our sign that the Lord has delivered them into our hands and just when he cannot get any sillier verse. 11 They both showed up at the Philistine outpost, look, the Philistines said, there are two of them and dozens of us Hebrews are coming out of the holes that were hidden in the men at the outpost, they shouted to Jonathan and his armor bearer to come to us. and we will teach you a lesson then Jonathan said to his armor bearer come up behind me the Lord has delivered them into the hands of Israel how are you going to speak in the past tense of a battle that you had not even fought yet because I know something that is greater than what I know with my mind I know with my faith Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen so wait, it gets dumber Jonathan went up using his hands and feet, you know how vulnerable you are climbing up something thorny or slippery using your hands and feet something fast just for you I love you all victory requires vulnerability victory requires vulnerability in anything you have to make yourself vulnerable to experience a great relationship you have to make yourself vulnerable To Entering a new dimension in your business, you have to make yourself vulnerable to connect on any meaningful level with the life God has given you and that is why, in this position of vulnerability, Jonathan prophecies that it is a great victory.

I feel the Holy Spirit and it says that his armor bearer was right behind him and the Philistines fell before Jonathan and his armor bearer followed him and killed behind him in that first attack. Jonathan and his armor bearer kill about 20 men in an area of ​​about half an acre, all because Jonathan turned to his armor bearer and said, I have an idea, you know, he said it like that, but now I'm in a place where I really don't believe that the value is in the idea, value is in the courage to act. the impulse when I say it like that you have to realize how many people say things like this every day, you know, I remember talking to someone about uber and they said, well, I could have thought about that, you know, you really think, thinking about something .

It's the key to being successful at anything anyone can think of. I mean, today I was walking out the door and Abbey turned me into a dog because of my furry sweater and she said you want your belly rubbed, you want your belly rubbed and I licked her face and I left and came to the church to preach, that's what dogs do, but she can think about things, I mean, think about it. Holly was just telling me that they have a super for photography. I should really find out the name of this. and see if I can get a sponsorship, this message goes to a lot of people, but they said you can go ahead and get a photographer anywhere in the world, you're like you can get a car on uber and you can get a photographer. wherever you are if you are with your family and want to get a family photo like that so you don't have to ask some random stranger who has apparently never used a smartphone in his life and doesn't know how to touch the screen to make it clearer, you can get have a professional come out and capture the memories, you know, and when she said that, I thought, why didn't I think of that?

Well, there's a lot more to think about it, huh, people say. with me all the time and they'll say like I heard this, there's a sermon on that somewhere and then I'm like where, just because they could think of it, you know, I read this headline, you should preach on that. You should write a song about that. I think you should shut up until you can write one of your own. I know you mean well, but the hard part isn't thinking about it. The hard part is not thinking about it. And that's why. When you are sometimes given advice in marriage, such as being the first to ask for forgiveness, it is not the thought that counts.

Can I alter conventional wisdom for a moment? One thing that really stood out to me in the text was not what Jonathan did, but what the people who should have been leading at the time Jonathan had to act on something that was partial and imperfect were doing when the Bible says that Saul was staying outside Gibeah under a pomegranate tree with 600 men. I always skipped this verse. Because the names were hard to pronounce, I was preaching this passage when I was 17 and I didn't know how to pronounce these names and I still don't, but then I found out that you don't know how to pronounce them either. so if I say it with enough confidence we will

move

on, but by leaving it out I missed something that became very important to me about the ephod.

It says that the priest of the Lord was wearing the ephod under the pomegranate tree. Now the ephod was more than just a garment it was an instrument to seek the will of God in the ephod the high priest would wear a breastplate on the breastplate there would be twelve stones with the names of the tribes of Israel representing his special presence in the presence of God when he would wear the breastplate in the holy of holies to make atonement for the sins of the people so that they could be forgiven once a year. Instructions were given to the priest on what he was to make sure to keep close to his heart.

He started with Aaron. in Exodus chapter 28 if you could give me this text that he will carry the names of the children of Israel over his heart in the breastplate of decision in the literal translation it is the breastplate of judgment it was what he wore when God's judgment was conferred on the animal of sacrifice that took away the sins of the people outside the camp, was the breastplate of judgment, but here the breastplate of decision is translated as a continuing memorial to the Lord and here is why in the next verse, please also put Urim and Tumim, which are two special stones that would not go on the breastplate but behind the breastplate when the priest used the ephod which was like a kitchen apron where he would keep the clothing appropriate for his duty and on that ephod was the breastplate and behind the breastplate It was Urim and Thummim, whether stones or some other type of special object, we depend on the incomplete records of archaeologists to make us known, but one thing we know is that it was one of the ways God spoke about his will to his people .

He spoke through the prophets, He spoke through dreams and He spoke through these stones, I will call them stones because that is the closest thing we can know to what they were, one represented yes and one represented no, which was Thummim Urim was a little different, it was said that it was a stone that illuminates and look at this you must put it behind the breastplate or on the breastplate so that they are on Aaron's heart every time he enters the presence of the Lord, so Aaron will always have the means to take decisions. I love that little phrase the means to make decisions in the presence of the Lord.

Everyone has a means to make decisions. Everyone has a way of trying to figure out where it's going. Can I trust this person? And I really like this method because all the priests had to do was take out the stones, the Thummim, which represents perfection or decision, and then they took Urim, which represents light, which always represents revelation, which always represents knowledge, and When God spoke through these stones, you asked him and if the answer was yes. Urim would light up and you would know that God wants us to do it, like when David was facing a battle in Ziklag and he had to go back and get his family and the families of his men and he asked the priest to bring me. an ephod because I need to seek the Lord because if I go to this battle and God doesn't want me to go to this battle if I do this adventure if I go after this and God doesn't want me to do this I will be defeated but if he says yes no power in hell can resist me nothing can stop the Lord from saving me whether by many or by few then David said bring me the ephod because if God gives me light on this situation I can fight this battle if God gives me light on this situation I can endure the trial I can endure the test I can pass it I can do it if God says yes but sometimes God said no and then sometimes the stone didn't do anything and what that meant was God doesn't want to answer this right now in other words if I can take you back to the high school I love you do you love me? check yes or no and sometimes I would put a third box called maybe and sometimes they would ask God you know, should we go, should we stay, should we do it, if not, and the stone wouldn't do anything, what do you do with a maybe?

Because many times in our lives you wouldn't want to have an Urim and a Thummim in your closet, come on, right next to your belts. I would rather have an Urim and a Tumim than a Rolex. I mean, ice cream. I'd rather have it. I would love it if I could. What a blessing that would be. You know how many staff members I would never have. I have hired to start, come on, this is a big church. Can I be honest with you? Do you know how many staff members I would have? If he could have taken out that special stone, wouldn't it be great?

You imagine? How many things would you have done differently and how helpful would it be when making decisions if you could have a stone to shine a light on it and tell you that yes, this is God? You know how you and your kids start hanging out with friends. I wonder like I don't know about these parents, they seem like I don't know. I smelled something on his clothes, it smelled like it could have been grass or maybe it was something else, but I'm not sure, Lord, should I? I let my kids go out with these kids and God says yes and you could get some sleep or you know, God, I should take this job, it has more pay but it will mean more hours.

I just think it would be cool if it lit up. and tell me and yet God knows something about me that I don't know about myself is that even if he gave me the light to know what to do many times I wouldn't have the faith to do it you are I'm going to make myself preach alone and sit there looking at myself as if I were an artist. You know, the truth is that even sometimes, when you know what to do, even sometimes, when you know that this is God and they had these stones, they had these stones.

It was behind the breastplate and the breastplate was under the pomegranate tree and the priest did nothing with it. They had the means to make decisions to know the will of God but their fear had put them in a place and their complacency had put them in a place because when you have the instruments but you don't use them, how can God speak to you when you can't find this among the Sundays? How can God give you his wisdom? and the important thing was that Jonathan said we don't have any. the ephod Ahijah has the ephod we don't have complete clarity on this situation but what he had was so important that he had the right person to turn to and talk about it.

I need you to understand the value of not only what God says to you in your life but who you say it to after God tells you the right people will give you the go-ahead the right people will tell you you know what I will help you while you do this I know addiction has I've got you through about three different cycles now and it looks like this one will be no different, but whether you make it or not, I'll be here with you, so let's go ahead and do this stupid thing, this impossible thing, this crazy thing. and then sometimes they have to turn around and tell you it's not God at all, it's who you tell it to, it's a 50/50 thing, it's not just my relationship with God, it's my relationship with others and many of us we're suffering. in silence in our relationship with God because we are living in bitterness with our relationship with others you cannot listen to God like this I guarantee it if Jonathan had had a armor bearer to say to him you know what man let me know how It turns out that I am praying for your sign from the cross.

I guarantee you the battle would not have continued beyond Beth Aven that day like it did mm-hmm and even for myself I can say this when people say how did you know God? I wanted you to start a church I read a book I felt inspired I got up and preached I seemed to help people read a book I got a wife We were doing our thing one day she looked at me in the mountains of Tennessee We were at some youth camp Carl Cartee was leading worship we go back to the room people say how did you know how God spoke to you it was time for you to start the church because I wanted to start when I was 40 the church I wouldn't even be here right now if Holly didn't turn to me no God she was my Urim God used her like this she said it's time for you to start this church I said when I'm 40 she said not now look JJ if you hear me saying in this message you know God is calling you to go, you know how many people I've seen open coffee shops because they like coffee and they hear a message like this and they abuse it and think the point of the message is to just Go do the dumbest thing you can think of that you have half an interest in and then blame the devil when it doesn't work because it was spiritual war and attack and no one believed in my dream and I am nothing more than Jesus on the cross in the garden of Gethsemanesqueeze like olives and the oils that come out that's all stupid because I don't even talk about it, I talk about who you talk to about what God is telling you and now I can return The favor, I mean, the other day she turned to me and he said, Hey, I'm about to tell you something that I think God is speaking to me because it's always a 50/50 thing, always, so I'm sure I'll do it.

I'm not sure you know she and she said, um, don't laugh at me. I told him: why would I laugh at you? Tell me what she told me. I said not only do you have to do that, but you have to do this and this and this and this. Because that's incredible, so I think she regretted telling me because she didn't want to do this this and this and this she just wanted to do that but we started talking, you see how important it is not just what God says. It's not just this ray of the cross, but it's also this one, so I don't have Urim and Thummim, but I have Eugene, it was a stretch at best, and Irene and I have people now.

This is so key. a 50/50 faith is a 50/50, that means it's a divine partnership where Jonathan says you know there's something that God can do and then there's something that God won't do and only we can do. Faith is 50/50 James. clearly demonstrates it not only does Jonathan exemplify it James explains it when he says that faith without works is dead it takes two this is a 50/50 proposition why God would do for you what he gave you the strength to do for you is a 50/50 50 faith is not my faith that saves me and I am grateful for that, how many are grateful that their faith in Christ for salvation is not 50/50 come on because if it were I would be in hell before Monday at 3 p.m.

Eastern Standard Time, but because he is my great high priest, all of you I am about to rejoice with this sermon and because he took the breastplate of his own righteousness in the most holy place and shed his blood on the mercy seat. You will never have to doubt if he wants to see me or hear me or love me or hug me. He is my righteousness and I am his son and he is my great High Priest. Come on, shout it like you have good sense. knowing this is not up to me fundamental faith even that faith is a gift from God so no one can boast but look at this Jonathan said maybe maybe the Lord will do it is 50/50 I know we can I believe you will 50/ 50 I know God He is with me and I believe this is where He is leading me.

It's 50/50. I am a 50/50 leader. I gathered 70 employees this Monday and said this is what I believe God is doing and I can't. put a snare on it but let's discover together why because God will not reveal the truth if he never moves towards it and the problem is that this experience is a friend of wisdom but can be an enemy of faith. I need you to go over that experience, experience is the friend of wisdom, but if you become like Saul and Ahijah and keep the ephod under the pomegranate tree, Jonathan said we will have to be our own ephod, we will have to expose ourselves. and see if God will do it and when Eugene Peterson got this right idea, he was trying to preach the Bible, now he's in heaven, but he was trying to preach the Bible to his church, he realized they didn't really understand it, so who sat down. write a translation of the Bible in a way that they can understand you know that little version in your Bible on your phone I hope you have the Bible on your phone I hope you have the Bible up Facebook on your phone because you need it To start the day, really you know it, you really know it, you don't need to know what's going on in Russia every second, but you need to know what's going on, what God wants for your life and if you click on it there will be a version that says MSG and not It has nothing to do with a Chinese restaurant, it is the translation of the message and it was written by a man who simply had an idea, what if I wrote the Bible in the language that is common to the people and ended up translating the whole thing?

Bible that way the translation of the message all because maybe God would use this you know if you act accordingly if you act it's 50/50 it's 50/50 I'm not sure I don't know look what he said when he translated 1 Samuel 14:6 my favorite verse about faith in the old testament look what he said Jonathan said to his armor bearer come on now let's do it now let's do it now not when the priest gets going not when the government gets going not when, but now we have to do this, come on let's go to these uncircumcised pagans and then he said the title of my series maybe God works for us maybe maybe faith is being able to move forward in a maybe and you know.

What that means is 50/50, it may not work, but God is always working. I'm confident in the latter even when I'm not sure about the former and it takes the church type of faith to say maybe maybe if I do this maybe. and maybe I won't and maybe God will use this thing that I think I should do to lead me to something I was really supposed to do, so that even if the first thing fails, at least I won't sit still in fear, but It takes faith to move forward, maybe when Urim has gone dark and Saul is under a tree and you don't know what to do, but to move toward him, God says move toward him, it can work, and even if it doesn't.

I will, it is the power to move forward, perhaps knowing that God is a mystery, but he has revealed that his character is trustworthy. I can move on, perhaps, father, I do not want to do this, but nevertheless it is not my will, but yours, so be it. I'm going to go see this and maybe someone will scream maybe maybe I'll have enough faith to do it and I don't know the conclusion but I trust God in the process. It's a faith perhaps. I'm sure, I'm not sure. but I have confidence and you will meet many times in your life in a moment maybe some of you are there right now it is a moment maybe for you maybe you are giving yourself over to a marriage that you don't know if you can live like Ezekiel in the valley of the bones, you don't even know if something is going to happen, but you are prophesying, speaking and believing that God will send the winds and you are living in the moment maybe, maybe if we start a church, maybe maybe me.

I know who God is and I know nothing can stop him but it's 50/50 man you want to do it anyway maybe the miracle is in the maybe I wish I could preach this to every discouraged heart today God lives in a place called maybe the faith lives. in a place called maybe, so if today you are in a maybe moment, that is where God lives, get up when you are in that maybe moment and if you are, you know it and if not, you will need this message within the next few six. weeks because life is full of moments that perhaps you will feel at that moment the coexistence of uncertainty and trust and you will feel that you are making it up as you go.

I like that image because Jonathan said: come up after me, come up after me. I was thinking about how they made it up as they went along, but I had to go, I had to do it, I had to do it, I had to trust God in a moment maybe, maybe moments are like the moment you can look stupid, maybe moments. These are the times when you might be rejected, most of us don't face Philistines, thorny, slippery cliffs and geographical obstacles, most of us face things that are within us that seem insurmountable, and God is in the moment. maybe from your life where you move on anyway when I stopped by my dad's house and gave him the letter on Father's Day after we hadn't spoken in months because I moved him to Charlotte when his health took a turn for the worse with my mom because he asked me and I told him he said dad I want to do this for you you are my dad I want to take care of you and we didn't know that he had ALS yet we only knew that he was very sick and since he was a self-employed barber I didn't know, do you know if he was honestly, my Dad at that time in his life was so illogical and irrational.

I didn't know if it was a good idea or not, but I knew my dad was asking me for help and I knew it. that something was wrong and when he asked me to do it I knew something inside of me knew that this could go very wrong, you know, like I told my dad, I told him that you lived 3 and a half hours away from me right now and that works. pretty good for us if you come and we're all in each other's space you know it might not be good and he said I need you to do this for me and I said I'll never forget to tell him you know Don't even think this is a good idea, but I'll do it.

You asked me and I love you, but please, when you come here, please, when you come to live in Charlotte. I knew my mom would be fine. She's great. I told. Please don't do any of this crazy stuff and honestly to God, as soon as I sent the mover over to give him a quote, he kicked the mover out of the yard with his cane. I mean this guy was a good father. for much of my life, but at that point his medications and his physical condition were starting to go haywire, but I knew I needed to move him anyway and it actually didn't make sense at the time when he arrived. here when he finally moved after running away from the moving company after he finally found a moving company that was suitable for moving and I went to see him and see how he was doing and the house we had found for them, the first thing he did when I walked in out the door and complained about the house when I told them I said some Hebrew words and some Greek words, some Monks Corner words, some compound swear words and it was like for the next few months everything bad that I thought was going to happen if I tried to do the right thing and the strange contrast was that my ministry was going very well and the church was growing and my dad and the way he treated my mom and he finally left and went to live alone. culminated in this horrible, like the worst Thanksgiving we ever went to see him, the only place he would live was in this nursing home and they had him singing bingo in the nursing home and yeah, okay, you can laugh at That's because it was like, did we come to this?

How come they don't even live together? How do we spend all this money and all this time? And he raised me all this time and he coached my teams and all this, so he's going to end up like this when we try to talk. on the phone he ended up yelling I ended up yelling and then he ended up preaching and then I went back and talked to my dad and I ended up yelling and he ended up yelling but when I went to his house on Father's Day I thought, well maybe maybe if I write I took a notebook and I said to Holly, can you drive for me for a minute?

We were coming back from a family trip and I told him I need to do something real quick. You drive for me and can we stop by my father's house? He was living alone at the time by choice and I sat there while Holly drove and wrote a memory of every year he had been alive that he was my father. because I knew we couldn't talk, but I thought, maybe if we could communicate in writing and when we got home and he opened the door, I liked reading him the list, you know, like Happy Father's Day, I made a list for you because maybe this is a silly idea but maybe it could open a door for us to have a relationship these are the moments maybe you know if I'm going to tell you about my moments maybe that result in starting a church that reaches the world I think I owe you tell you about my moments maybe that were also messy it's not always so clear it's not always so perfect it's not always so brilliant it's not always so strategic life is lived in those moments maybe and so I sat next to him as he breathed his last after three days in hospice, much later, after a progression where my mom kindly let him come home and cared for him until he died and I was able to be there reading to him. from Charles Spurgeon's sermon, the quiet sleep of the beloved, after I sang him the rugged old cross and I thought he was going to die quickly, but he stayed about three days and I ran out of hymns and I started having to sing James Taylor and Hootie and the puffer fish, I mean, I was there through all of that at the time because I went ahead with a maybe, I think God sent me with this message today and I ran out of time, I ran out of time, it will be horrible in the parking lot. in the rain and may God forgive me and please smile at people on the way out and tell them it will be worth it but please listen to me listen to me are you in a moment maybe you are in a moment maybe it's slippery on one side thorny on the other no You have everyone with you that you thought you would have with you.

You only have one squire father. I pray today for faith for your people to move forward in a maybe right now you are the God of all wisdom you are the God who sees everything, he knows everything and can do anything. I thank you Lord that miracles are emerging even now as I speak in bodies, in relationships, in careers, in families God, I thank you that ministry was born perhaps from us. Thank you God for giving us the Holy Spirit within us. We thank you for giving us the finished work of your son to let us know that you are good and do good and all things work together for the good of those who love you. talk about every maybe situation, give your people now, by your grace, the kind of faith it takes to move forward in a maybe, because we believe that nothing can stop you from saving, whether by many or by few, thank you for see the Elevation Church YouTube channel. don't stop here, join eFam, our extended online family and join us live every Sunday, subscribe to this channel so you don't miss a singlejust video or live stream and share it with a friend.

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