September 24, 2025 • 64 mins
Have you ever wished God would just send a clear text message about your next big decision? You're not alone. In this illuminating conversation, Pastors Ryan and Tim unpack what it truly means to discover and follow God's will for your life.
Most of us are familiar with that desperate prayer: "God, just tell me what to do!" We stand at life's crossroads desperately seeking divine GPS coordinates, but as the pastors reveal, understanding God's will isn't about receiving a detailed itinerary—it's about recognizing the multiple ways God already speaks to us.
The conversation explores four powerful "windows" through which God reveals His direction: the influence of others, life situations, the leading of the Holy Spirit, and most importantly, the foundation of God's Word. Each of these channels offers unique insights, but they must work together, filtered through Scripture, to provide reliable guidance.
Ready to move beyond merely existing to truly living on purpose? This episode offers practical wisdom for anyone seeking to align their life with God's divine design. Tune in and discover how to recognize God's voice amid life's chaos.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome and thanks for joining us on this episode
of the Midweek Podcast broughtto you by A Fresh Wind Church.
Each week, our team brings younew content to help you take
steps towards Jesus and discovermore in Christ.
Today's episode is hosted byPastor Ryan.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Well, hey, welcome back to the Midweek Podcast.
Pastor Ryan joined, as always,with Pastor Tim, and we are in
part three of our series GodJust Tell Me, and we are talking
about the will of God and howwe can begin to know and
understand what God's will isfor each of us.
It's something that we all want.
(00:48):
We want God's will.
Especially if you've beenfollowing Jesus for any length
of time, you want to know whatis God's will for my life.
We wish it was a little moreobvious sometimes.
That's kind of the heartbeat ofthis series.
God just tell me.
I want to know, I want to do it, just tell me.
We've covered a lot of groundover the past couple weeks,
(01:09):
talked about the four aspects orlayers of God's will.
In week one, week two, wetalked about how it's more about
a do or more about a who than ado.
God's more interested in whoyou're becoming more than he's
interested in what you do.
You know who you're becomingmore than he's interested in
what you do, and so, whateveryou do, do it his way.
And then this week we talkedabout some windows into the will
(01:30):
of God and I told the church, Itold you, as we were prepping
for these, these past twosermons in particular, some of
my absolute favorite things topreach about.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
I know you were when I called you and said hey, I'll
take this sermon if you needmore time this week.
And you're like no, but we gotthrough them.
And I know it's dishearteningwhen we say, okay, you finally
come to the point where you'reall in and you're just going to
say yes before you even getstarted.
And you say yes and then theLord says, okay, this is going
(02:04):
to be a process of learning mywill in your life.
And you're like no, I finallygot over the hump, Just tell me
yeah.
You know, and you know gettingover the hump.
It's a long climb.
But I tell you this though ifyou're serious about living for
God and finding his will foryour life, you'll find it Just
(02:25):
relax.
You don't need to be running incircles over this.
Just say yes every day, andyou'll find yourself where
you're supposed to be.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Well, we've said it a few times If you'll walk in his
ways, he'll lead you in hiswill.
And so those times, even whenyou get off course a little bit,
but you're praying, you'reseeking, you know you're seeking
what the Lord wants, but youtook the wrong turn.
He is good enough, he isgracious enough, he is sovereign
(02:57):
enough to take those wrongsteps and say hey, I appreciate
you stepping out there.
I know you did that in faith.
I need you to come back thisway a little bit and he'll
redirect those missteps to getyou back on track.
He's a good God, he's faithful,even when we're faithless and
we get it wrong, and so that'swhat we've been talking about.
(03:20):
I love it because I want people, I want our church to live on
purpose.
So many people go through life,but they're just existing.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Right, or pursuing the what do we call it?
The American way or theAmerican dream we call it, which
is you go to work and youretire.
Well and yeah, but there's nopurpose in that.
If that's your only purpose isto live till your retirement,
(03:55):
Let me tell you, when you get toretirement age, you're never
going to have enough money.
You're going to think you haveto work a little bit longer, and
then your money's not going togo as far as you thought it
would, and all those things comeup.
If that is your only purpose inlife, the American dream,
you're going to be bored.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
You're going to be bored.
Yeah, unfortunately, I thinkfor a lot of people, life
happens to them and, man, ifyou're a follower of Christ, you
should happen to life.
Life should feel like man.
What the heck just happened tome?
Because you showed up and I waswatching some of that memorial
service that they put on forCharlie Kirk and man, the gospel
(04:38):
was proclaimed over and overand over again and I can't
remember how many millions ofpeople they said were like live
streaming that thing.
The arena was full that day andI don't care what you think
about Charlie the man, right,here's what I know.
The gospel was proclaimed overand over and millions of people
(04:59):
heard it and I thought, I mean,there's a guy who lived on
purpose, right, absolutely, hehappened to life.
You know, he didn't just sitback and let life happen to him,
he happened to life.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
And.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
I think that arena holds 70,000-something people.
They said every seat thatwasn't roped off, someone was in
it.
People lined up for hours justto get into the arena and then
millions of people, millionsupon millions, tuned in to watch
the live stream and I was likeman that's who I want our church
to be People who live onpurpose and so that's why these
(05:35):
past couple sermons are myfavorite things to talk about.
They've impacted my life.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
They set you on fire.
They surely did.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
And I wanted to do the same thing for the people in
our church that they say, man,I want to know and to walk in
the will of God.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Well, you talked about windows yesterday, some
ways that you can perceive thewill of God as you're walking in
his ways.
I think it'd be good for us towalk through those things and
just give some what that lookslike in real life.
You up for that?
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Yeah, maybe a little behind the scenes here.
Just yeah, to help peopleunderstand, you know, maybe,
what this looks like, at leastin their pastor's lives.
Here's what that'd be kind offun.
So first thing we talked aboutis, you know, is window into
God's will.
If God's going to lead us andwe're trying to walk in his ways
, if we're going to understand,to filter God's word in his will
(06:32):
for us, the first way to do itis the influence of others.
God puts people in our life tolead and guide us in the way
that we should go the rightdirection.
Lead and guide us in the waythat we should go the right
direction.
Man I shared in the sermon aboutmy youth pastor, pastor Nate,
growing up and just how he wasso instrumental in helping to
(06:58):
shape me into who I am, as apastor, as a man, as a follower
of Jesus.
He was someone who took meunder his wing when I was, you
know, a 13-year-old kid, took meeverywhere and just he God used
Nate to lead me along in thatdirection.
But it wasn't just Nate.
I think about my mom, who drugme to church all the time, even
when I didn't want to go, andhow God used her.
(07:20):
I think about my cousin Greg.
I went to visit him.
I think he was a youth pastorhimself in Iowa at the time and
I went to visit him and just theconversations I would have.
My Aunt Sherry you know, Iended up when I graduated high
school living in her basementfor a little bit and the
conversations that Joy and Iwould have with Sherry and just
(07:42):
man.
God has put those people in mylife that have helped to lead
and guide and shape me, and Godwants to do that for each of you
.
Um, one of the things I said inthe sermon if you don't have
the right voices in your life,then you won't make the right
choices, and so we need thosepeople, those right voices, to
speak truth.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
You're such a poet.
Thank you, I appreciate that,dominique likes that quote too.
It's important.
The biggest effect I've had onmy life I think we can say this
just about everyone who wasraised in a home with a mom and
dad was my dad and my mom weremy biggest influences on my life
(08:21):
.
I'm going to tell you a storythat's really rough, but I had a
youth pastor in my life and hewas going to our church for a
while and then they raised himup as the youth director and he
was really good at it.
(08:42):
He had a big impact on my lifeand I can remember him teaching
one sunday and he said you guysare living off what your parents
believe.
You guys gotta, you gotta getin the word and figure out what
you believe, you gotta learn itfor yourself.
And uh, he said, or um, you'regonna leave the church, you're
(09:08):
gonna, you're gonna grow up,you're gonna, uh, get busy and a
bunch of different things andand you're gonna fall away
because you're living off yourmom and dad's spirituality, not
your own.
And I was like, oh, whateveryou, whatever you know, I was a
teenager and, sure enough, lateron, several years later, when I
(09:34):
got out of the youth department, he fell.
He morally fell and screwed uphis marriage, all this kind of
stuff, and it was terrible andeverybody got hurt.
But I was still doing the thinghe told me to do get in the
Word and find out for yourself,you know.
So years later I see him againand he had repented and came
(09:57):
back and one of the things hetold us when he preached that
sermon is you'll lose it.
You'll lose the stands thatyou've made.
If you're standing on somebodyelse's spirituality, you'll lose
the decisions you've made foryour life and you'll forget.
And when I met him the secondtime around, he wasn't the same
(10:21):
guy.
He had ran off into sin and hedidn't know the things that he
taught me.
It was a.
It was a weird thing.
Me and my I sat down with mydad and we talked about it for
hours.
How can that happen?
How can you lose your light,what God has shown you in his
(10:42):
word, or light what God hasshown you in his word?
And he said it happens all thetime, son, when you're not
following Jesus, satan is tryingto block those things out with
other things.
And so that was veryinfluential in my life.
It probably shouldn't be here.
It should be life situationthat happened in my life, but
(11:06):
what he told me and I agreedwith him.
So I started studying all thesethings my dad would preach about
or I'd hear about myself.
Let me see that scripture.
I'm skeptical.
What's the foundation of this?
And I began to study thosethings myself.
I realized he was right.
(11:26):
He stopped and look where heended up.
So that was a great influenceof me and in a span of about six
or seven years, I realizedright away my life with Christ
is on me.
It's not on my dad, it's not onmy church, it's not on my
family or my wife, with Christis on me.
It's not on my dad, it's not onmy church, it's not on my
family or my wife, it's on me,and I don't want to go backwards
(11:51):
, I want to go forward.
So that's uh uh.
He really influenced me in theright thing and it protected me,
even when he screwed it up.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
So, yeah, we, we need those people in our lives that
are going to lead us and pointus to truth.
I love Proverbs 11, 14.
This would be something thatyou guys, you commit to memory.
It says without guidance, apeople will fall, but with many
counselors, there is deliverance.
I think I don't know if it'sour pride, if it's just the
(12:26):
American stubbornness you knowinheriting us.
But, man, we hate to seek outcounsel and guidance.
We got this.
I'm going to forge my own way,do my own thing.
I know what's best for mementality and man, there are
people who have gone before youthat you don't have to pay the
price that they've paid.
(12:47):
We can learn from theirmistakes.
There are some people who haveseen some stuff and been through
some stuff.
They've studied some stuff andif we would go to them and seek
out their counsel, they can helpus take the right steps.
And it's about the closestthing you can get to a shortcut.
We all want shortcuts in life.
But then we won't seek out thepeople who are like, no, no, no,
(13:09):
you don't want to do that.
I know what I'm doing, don'ttell me what to do, okay.
And then here we go, walkingright off a cliff.
You know, take that advice frompeople.
It's one of the things.
You know, joy and we've we'vehad a life group for quite a
while now and I've always triedto have at least one couple in
our group.
That was a season ahead ofwhere everybody else you know,
(13:33):
because we got a pretty younggroup.
They're mostly, you know, 20sand 30s, but I've had those
people in in our group.
You know pat and kathy were inour group for a long time season
ahead of us.
Um, right now we got bridgetand larry in our group.
You know pat and kathy were inour group for a long time season
ahead of us.
Right now we got bridget andlarry in our group, season ahead
of us, so that when a bunch of20 and 30 year olds think the
world has fallen apart,everything's coming to an end,
(13:55):
they can be like y'all gonna bejust fine yeah, like we've seen
this before and you need that.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
I remember uh, pat and I were young men I know that
sounds crazy, uh pat McCorderand I Long time ago Long time
ago and we were in the middle ofthis crisis in the church we
were going to at the time and wewere running around trying to
hold it together and we had bothjust read this book and Teresa
(14:26):
had said to me you need to gotalk to some pastors.
She used that verse.
She said go get you a counsel.
There's wisdom in a multitudeof counselors.
So go do it.
And Pat and I had read this bookand we're like man, that was a
great book and it came to mecall that guy.
And I'm like call an author.
(14:48):
I mean, now you can geteverything you want off the
internet on them.
But I was like so I got thebook, I opened it up, I found
out where he was, had to make afew calls, but I got him and Pat
and I both got on the phonecall and we said this is what's
(15:11):
going on, we're trying.
And he goes stop, churches failevery day, but the church of
Jesus Christ will stand.
Some churches need to fail andreorganize and you need to split
those people up.
He said churches fail every dayand now you guys are walking on
eggshells and you're notstanding up for the truth.
(15:32):
Stand up for the truth and ifit survives, it survives.
If it fails, it can't stand tothe truth.
So said you guys need to growup.
Quit trying to please everybodyand massage their feelings, and
just stand for the truth.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
You're like, I don't like that guy's book anyways.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Yeah, but it really freed us.
He just simply said church isdug in, they're going to do what
they're going to do and if itfails, it's okay because the
church of Jesus Christ willnever fail.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
What an important principle to learn.
And how did God lead you tothat conclusion?
He used someone else.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Right.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
You know the influence of somebody else and
don't if you're listening today,don't underestimate the power
and the influence that someonecan have in your life.
It's important and I talkedabout this in the sermon, so if
you missed that, you need to goback and listen to it.
It's important to have theright voices because for
everything God does, enemy has acounterfeit right, and so if
(16:39):
there's godly voices that'lllead you along into his will,
that'll lead you along into hiswill.
Satan's going to send somepeople to drag you away and
deceive you and entice you towalk in the opposite direction,
and you need to be careful ofthat.
If you're going out marriage istough and you get together with
your buddies and they're like,yeah, she's terrible and, man,
(17:02):
you were so much freer beforeyou two were together.
Okay, well, you're not hangingout with those guys anymore,
right, those people are tryingto pull you away from God's will
.
We need people who are going todrag us into it.
You know, even sometimes whenwe have to go kicking and
screaming, they're going to dragus into God's will.
We need those people in ourlife.
The guy like that say stop it,stop it.
(17:25):
I mean to tell us the hardtruths right, and we need to be
open to that and our pride wantsto get in there and say I know
no one's going to tell me what'sgoing on or what I should be
doing in this situation, but I'mtelling you, the closest way to
a shortcut many times is tolisten to the counsel of people
who have gone before you.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
Absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
So the next thing that we talked about.
So that's influence of others.
God will lead you through theinfluence of others.
Another way that God will leadyou is through life situations.
I think it was on that trip toIowa when I started thinking
maybe I'd want to be a youthpastor.
(18:06):
I'll talk a little bit aboutthat as we talk about the next
thing leading of the spirit.
That idea kind of got plantedin my heart then.
Then I started showing up overthe next few years I just kept
having all these weird kind ofthings happen to me, and so one
of them was my youth pastor thatI had Pastor Nate.
(18:29):
He had left our church and hehad taken a job down in East
Liverpool Ohio and so I wentdown to hang out with Nate,
spent the night at his place,went to church with him at his
new church Never been there everin my life.
I don't know that Nate toldanybody I was coming.
You know I'm just just hiscousin and old student.
(18:50):
You know showing up, but I goto church, go through the whole
church service.
It was wild, you know.
There had flags, people runaround flags and blow horns and
stuff.
It was like man this is awesome.
But, uh, after, after church, uh, this lady she had to be six,
seven, eight rows ahead of me.
(19:11):
Um, she walks back to me andshe goes hey, I don't, I don't
know what's going on here, don'tknow why I'm supposed to tell
you this, but but I'm justsupposed to tell you that you
are called into the ministry.
But I'm just supposed to tellyou that you are called into the
ministry.
I'm like I don't even know whoyou are, you don't know who I am
.
But that didn't happen just oncein my life.
That happened at least probablythree or four times.
(19:35):
I went to a camp one time andthe director for the
denomination I grew up in, thestate director.
He came up to me at the end ofone of the worship service
things.
He goes hey, God just wanted meto tell you he's got a call on
your life and you're going tofollow him in the ministry.
Again, I don't know this guy.
(19:56):
He just was up on the stagetalking and preaching and he
leads the whole state.
He doesn't know who I am and heshowed up and God started using
these and it's almost a blend,I guess, of the influence of
others.
But I don't count it so muchthat way, because I didn't know
these people, they didn't haveaccess into my life.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
Yeah, but it's a weight, right?
If you look at a set of scales,right, and when God is teaching
you his will for your life,he's never going to use just one
thing, right, he's going to usethem all.
And, uh, you start puttingthese little uh weights on one
side of the scale and you'relike well, this person said that
(20:36):
and then I went through, I hadthis situation happen to me and
you keep putting it on the scale.
Pretty soon you notice yourleft hand holding the other side
down because it's just startingto crank that way and the Lord
uses these little things tobuild that the weight on the.
Yes, you know he's just no,when you say no to me, you're
(21:00):
going to know what you're saying.
No too, right, yeah, so this isuh, this is pretty, pretty
important.
That's a great story, as Godwas starting to stack the
weights on that side of thescale.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Yeah, and just those life situations that that he
kept putting in my path and Iwasn't looking for them.
You know, it was just thesethings that I just kept running
into Boom, boom, boom.
And at the time, you know nowit's easy to say, well, you're a
pastor and you know that'sgreat.
God called you into ministry.
I was doing everything I couldto not go into the ministry.
(21:33):
That's where I was Everypastor's testimony and I've
shared from the stage.
You know my dream.
I was going to own a business.
I was going to make millions ofdollars.
That's who I was going to be,and I'm like I know what pastors
get paid.
It ain't no millions of dollars, that's true, and so I was
doing everything I could to getout of God's will.
But he kept putting these lifesituations in.
(21:54):
It's like what am I supposed todo with that?
I got this dream, I got thisgoal, I got this plan, and we
think God's dream and goal andplans for our lives is always
going to line up with what wewant.
And for me it was completelyincongruent.
And I don't know, there'sprobably pastors who've got side
hustles that would makemillions of dollars and that's
(22:15):
great.
I'd love to figure that out too.
But in the moment I'm thinking,god, you are calling me to do
something and you're making itso obvious by these life
situations that keep popping up,and it's not what.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
I want to do.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
It wasn't what I wanted to hear, but he kept
making it obvious.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
Well, sometimes God jumps into situations to let you
know that he's tracking withyou, that you're doing the right
thing, but he wants to remindyou I'm the one that puts you
there.
That's a thing that happened tome as I was going to school.
For air traffic control, it'spass or fail.
(22:55):
You add up all your points atthe end and if you got enough,
you get through.
Well, I got to the end and Ineeded to score like 58 on the
test to become an air trafficcontroller.
This was the written test part.
The other tests were hands-on.
You know running airplanes andstuff like that.
(23:15):
So I was in the um.
I got this thing.
You know where are we going tolive.
You know what kind of car arewe going to buy when we start
getting paid.
You know I had all that goingon.
I only needed a 58 and I knew Iwas probably going to ace that
test.
Wouldn't you know that I'mtaking that test and it was one
(23:39):
of those?
You took the test and then youwould take your pencil and make
the color in the circle theanswer.
I think it was.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Scantron.
Yeah, whatever Some of you havenever even heard of what we're
talking about.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
That's right.
And so I'm taking the test andone of the things was you can't
go back, you can't flip back.
They had a guy sitting in frontof us watching us.
So I get to the end of the testand I got five more questions
on my little sheet.
I got five more circles.
I gotta choose and I'm out oftest, oh no.
(24:19):
And I was like oh, oh no, wheredid I get off?
You know where did I?
I'm two pages must got stuck,stuck together, and I'm opening
and trying to look back and hesays you turn that back one time
, you're automatically failed.
And I was like what am I gonnado?
(24:41):
And um, so I filled in the lastcircles, trying to figure out
what was the last things I read.
And I went, I went home thatday and of course I told the
instructor what had happened andI you needed a 70 overall to
get out and I needed 58 pointsto get to 70.
(25:04):
Um, so I went home and saidhoney, I screwed it up.
I don't know, um, and she lookedat me and said you know what?
If it's God's will for us tonot take this job, we'll go back
in the Air Force.
And uh, we'll, we'll, we'll dowhatever we need to do.
This has been fun out here, andnot for you, because that
(25:27):
school was rough.
But she said but this is just athing.
If we don't do this, god willgive us something else.
And I went in the next day andI got a 70.8.
Wow, and uh, I was like, oh mygosh.
And the Lord spoke to me rightin when tears started.
(25:50):
Uh, cause I had already decidedthat I didn't and I must've got
off on the first page, you know.
So I got everything wrong.
And the Lord just spoke to meand said I just want you to know
, I gave you this job, youdidn't give you this job and
(26:10):
you're going to live this jobfor my purpose.
And it was shocking, and I wasfirst that I told Teresa that's
a little rough for God to makethis circumstance to make me
understand that it's not you,it's me.
And I lived my whole careerknowing one thing I am here
(26:34):
because the Lord let me be here,you know, and it was.
First of all, it was freeing.
I knew where I was supposed tobe.
But sometimes, if you're whereyou're supposed to be and God
didn't do something like that toyou, you're like am I supposed
to be here?
So you need to watch thosesituations in your life so that
(26:55):
you can get that confirmation.
Yes, this is what you'resupposed to be doing right now,
but tomorrow may be different.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
One of the things we talked about in the sermon was
you know, when it comes to lifesituations, god will often use
doors.
You know open doors or closeddoors.
Cindy came up to me afterchurch and said man.
I've been studying doors foryears, loves doors and I was
like they got a lot of them atHome Depot.
You can go look at them.
But when it comes to theseopening these closed doors, you
(27:32):
need to spend time in prayer.
When big decisions are comingup, take the time to fast.
You know what I mean.
This is a major life decision.
Spend some time fasting andpraying about that thing.
Seek out you know we're talkingabout godly counsel and wisdom.
You need to seek that out.
Ask some people, be in God'sword and be studying his word
(27:56):
and walking in his ways.
And then you start to look foropen and closed doors and
sometimes there's going to be adoor that seems open and you're
not going to know God.
I've been praying God, I'veasked and people have given me.
You know people I trust.
Some say yes, some say no andI'm just still conflicted and
(28:17):
I've been reading your word andI'm still just not sure.
I'm trying to walk in your ways.
These are those when those doorsseem open.
And that's what Paul said.
I'm going to go over here.
I'm going to do this ministrybecause a wide door ministry has
been open and it didn't say theLord told him to go, that some
angel from heaven showed up.
It was just a wide open doorand so Paul walked through it.
(28:40):
And I think when we, if you'rewalking in his ways in these
doors open, and you say, if youcan honestly say and I have
prayed and sought God'sdirection on this, I have asked
people I trust for counsel onthis decision I've been in his
word that when you step throughthat door and you step out in
(29:02):
faith, man, you can step outconfidently because, if anything
God says, here's a person whostepped out in faith.
They've done all the things andthey stepped out in faith and
God is the rewarder of peoplewho who earnestly seek him.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
And if you get it wrong again and I said this
earlier god will guide you backto the right path I think that's
um, I like the way you put that, because there's a situation in
paul's life that was just likethat.
He told, told Paul, I want youto go to Jerusalem.
And Paul said okay, I'm goingto go to Jerusalem.
(29:46):
So he gets on a ship, he lands,there's a whole church there.
And they all said if you go toJerusalem, you'll be put in
prison.
The Holy Spirit has told usthat and he's like well, he
called me to go and what do youdo there?
Speaker 2 (30:03):
God is calling me to go.
Here's godly counselors sayingyou better not go.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
Yeah, this is what's going to happen to you.
So he says I still got to go.
He gets on the boat and he endsup at Philip's house in
Caesarea and this guy comes downfrom another town.
He said the Holy Spirit came tome and he came up to Paul and
he took Paul's belt off and hetied up his hands.
If you go to Jerusalem, this iswhat's going to happen to you.
And so now we've got the wholechurch, we got this guy.
(30:32):
They were sent from God.
And you're thinking, okay, well,god is telling them not to go,
obviously not to go.
No, god was saying when thishappens to you, I'm just letting
you know.
I knew it and I told you to goanyways.
And so when this happens, don'tstruggle, Don't be upset,
(30:55):
because when you get thereyou're going to be arrested, and
that's what I wanted.
So it's wow, man, that seems so, I know, because we think God
is always going to, I don't know, unicorns and balloons, I don't
know.
It's just.
But that's not how God works.
We live in a sinful world andGod is going to affect the world
(31:17):
through you and sometimes it'sgoing to be tough.
And he told Paul hey, thisisn't going to be what you think
it is.
It's going to be rough, andwhen it gets rough just remember
I sent you there, I got you.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Yep, even that scripture I shared earlier,
there's a wide open door.
And he said many oppose me.
You know it's not going to beeasy, it's not always going to
be the way that you thought itwas going to be, even when
you're in the center of God'swill.
We use that verse.
God works all things togetherfor the good of those who love
(31:47):
him and are called according tohis purpose and I think we've
Americanized that word good.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
Yeah, we really have.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
Prosperity and I'm going to achieve all my goals
and dreams and I'm never goingto have problems and dreams and
never gonna have problems.
I'm always gonna have money.
The good that god is trying towork in your life is that you
look more like jesus.
Absolutely that's the good, andit might be painful.
What I mean?
Paul, when god called him, hesent a man to and says I want
(32:18):
you to go and show him how muchhe must suffer for my name.
Well, how about that?
For a calling to ministry?
Like, hey, I'm calling you tothe ministry, Come follow me and
I'm going to show you how muchyou must suffer.
Is there a plan B, God?
Speaker 3 (32:35):
Because that doesn't sound great, that's when you
look over and you see your lefthand on the scale.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
You're stacking everything you can over there,
right?
So yeah, it's not always easy,but you look for these open
doors and you say, all right,god, I've done all the things I
know to do and I'm still notclear.
That's where faith steps in.
Yep and you take that step, youtake that step and if the door
closes, then you trust man,god's got something better,
(33:06):
there's something better instore and he's going to lead me
in his will.
And so, man, when Joy and Iwere looking for a house I mean
Tim, you know, because I drugyou around a few of those, hey,
I'm thinking about this one,what do you think?
We had to walk through over 200houses before we bought one.
And it's like why is it so hard?
(33:27):
And every time I was like weput multiple offers in on houses
.
We got all the way to closingon two houses and then, boom,
doors started shutting.
You're like what is going onhere, um, and I still don't know
if I'm in the right house.
All I know is the door stayedopen and so we'll be here until
the next one opens, right, butwalk through those in faith and
(33:51):
trust that if you've done it allin faith, god will get you
where he needs you to go.
Speaker 3 (33:58):
Well, that really leads us into probably the most
difficult window, and that isthe leading of the Spirit.
I mean Paul comes right out andsays try the spirits to see
whether they have God.
Hey, satan can show up as anangel of light.
It's like hold on.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
I'm just trying to figure out how to listen to one.
Now.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
You're telling me there's different things going
on here, Right and when peoplecome up to you and say things
like you know, the Lord'stelling me he's called you into
ministry and let me, we need tosquash that.
You got two ministers talkingabout their life, so they're
going to talk about ministry.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
I don't know what's going on in your life, what
decisions that you're making.
It might not be about ministry,so none of this necessarily
means ministry.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
It could be marriage, it could be a house.
Speaker 3 (34:46):
It could be a job, it could be all these different
things, but this is our.
When you got two pastors on apodcast, this is what we're
going to talk about, but we needthe leading of the Holy Spirit.
It's a very difficult thing,but we need the leading of the
Holy Spirit.
It's a very difficult thing.
The first thing you need toknow is the Holy Spirit will
never lead you to do somethingopposite of what Scripture says.
(35:07):
So if you and your wife yourmarriage is, you know it's
really rocky and you meet thisnew woman and she loves Jesus
and you're like well, this isthe woman that God had for me
and I made a mistake.
No, that is not true.
That's right.
And if you feel like that'strue, that's a spirit that's not
(35:31):
of God.
So how you test the spirit tosee whether of God is, if it
lines up with the word of God,which is the foundation window,
which we're going to talk aboutnext.
So that's how you try thespirits do.
Is it in according to God'swill?
Well, god didn't say anythingabout a house you know, okay,
(35:51):
but he's said a lot about beingfinancially sound.
Right, are you going to buy ahouse that's going to put you
underwater right away, or isyour house going to be worth
what you paid for it as soon asyou pay for it?
You know.
So those who think, hey, youknow I want a Corvette.
If I had a Corvette, god, if Ihad a Corvette, you know I could
go to the car shows and youknow I'd have influence on
(36:13):
people.
And the Lord says are you goingto?
borrow money for that Corvettethat's going to depreciate as
soon as you buy it and you don'thave any money on the side that
covers the fact that you're inthe red, I don't think that
Corvette's for you.
The Word of God says no, ohyeah.
(36:33):
But you know I had people say,oh yeah, you can talk to a lot
of people at a car show, try thespirits and see whether they're
of God.
That was a horrible example,but it's what popped into my
brain.
Here's my situation in ministry.
Okay, we were over at the shedon Baumhart and one of the guys
in the church that's been herealmost day one is Dave Meyer and
(36:59):
he said I really want my kidsto be in a good youth department
.
Could you start a youth class,and I'll help you?
Well, that meant teach a youthclass, work full time, raise my
kids, go to all their games andthen preach on Sunday too, and
it was like the straw that brokethe camel's back.
I just didn't know if we weregoing to make it through that.
(37:22):
So I started praying for ayouth minister and.
I was like Lord, I need a youthminister.
I'm.
I know you want to pick thisguy, not me, so I'm just gonna
you just bring one to me and um,and set them down in the church
, just bring them to me, I don'teven have time to look.
(37:42):
Well, that prayer lasted abouttwo days and I started calling
everybody I knew and I said,lord, you are not moving fast
enough on this situation.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
Don't you know how important this is?
Speaker 3 (37:54):
And so I'm looking for everybody.
I've got no's from everythingand I don't know what I'm going
to do and I'm trying to figureout.
How can I do these?
What do I have to change?
And it was not going to mykids' games, you know that type
(38:15):
of thing.
And I was like, oh Lord, Idon't you know what of thing.
And I was like, ah lord, Idon't, you know what's this mean
.
I can't give up my um influenceon my kids for somebody else's
kids.
This is my.
So I'm going through all thisand, uh, a guy walks in with his
mom and dad and sets down andgoes through a service and
(38:37):
leaves, and, um, I didn't knowwho he was, from, anybody.
But a guy in the church came upand said, hey, did you know
that?
Uh, that kid who came in here,and he was a kid then.
And uh, he said he did youthministry and I was like, I want
his name, get his name.
That's what.
That's what I prayed, prayedfor.
(38:57):
I prayed for god to come in andset one down and uh, and it was
you, and so I called you and Isaid, hey, I'd really like to
talk to you about this.
I don't know where the lord'sleading you, but we started this
church.
We really need a youth guide.
And, uh, I'd love to talk toyou about coming on.
And we talked a little bit andwe came from different
(39:20):
denominational backgrounds and,and so I got in my truck after
that conversation.
I was driving home and I said Idon't know if it's going to work
.
We're going to fight all thetime and he might be teaching
something that I don't agreewith behind my back and I had
all this stuff going on.
And the Lord said are youreally going to do this?
(39:45):
And you know you only get acouple audibles from the Lord in
your lifetime, and you know youonly get a couple audibles from
the Lord in your lifetime.
And he said I took a guy, hadhim walk in and sat down.
Those were your exact wordswhen you asked me.
I sent you who I wanted you topick and you're saying no, so
(40:14):
I'm out of your church plant youdo it on.
If you're going to make yourdecisions on your own, then I'm
out of this church completely.
This was the Holy Spirit talkingto me and I'm crying and I'm
weeping and and I'm like what amI?
What am I going to do in?
(40:36):
And and I'm like what am I,what am I gonna do?
And uh, lord just said say yes,stupid, let's, let's go.
And I did and we've hadprobably the greatest working
career together with anybodyI've I've ever met, and it's
been um, it's been fantastic.
And and we never.
We got some things we stilldisagree with, but they're
things that we like to disagreeon.
(40:58):
So I don't know who reallydisagrees or they just like
getting another leg up on theother guy.
But that was the Holy Spiritleading, leading me, and
sometimes, when you ask the holyspirit to do something, we
right away don't expect him todo it, and then, and when he did
(41:19):
it, does it right in front ofus.
We're like this can't be theholy spirit.
Yeah, so, um, the leading of theholy spirit, watch what you
pray, because God might beanswering it just exactly how
you prayed and you're soflabbergasted you don't get it.
And I think these are thethings, this leading of the Holy
(41:46):
Spirit, this is where you getto see God's heart, you get to
see him work.
But we really don't sit downlong enough.
One of the first thing book Ihad you read was the
Contemplative Pastor.
You need to sit down for anhour, at least an hour or two,
(42:06):
without a book, without a Bible,and just think and let the Holy
Spirit speak to you and he willanswer.
Well, finally, you sat down fora minute.
Now I can talk to you aboutwhat you asked about, and so the
leadership of the Holy Spiritis definitely a spiritual thing.
(42:30):
The leadership of the HolySpirit is definitely a spiritual
thing, but you need to quietdown and let him speak to you so
he don't yell at you like hedid me.
Speaker 2 (42:38):
Man, had I known the Holy Spirit was putting that
much pressure on you, I mighthave tried to renegotiate that
$200 a month.
Speaker 3 (42:45):
I don't think we had another $5 in the budget when we
first started.
Speaker 2 (42:52):
Yeah, man, he has been so faithful and if we'll
just give him that time, thatspace and here's what's so
important If you want to hearfrom the Lord in that way, the
best way I can tell you to do itis you need to be walking in
his ways.
As you study his word andthat's kind of the next one
(43:15):
we're going to talk about herein a minute but as you study his
word and walk in his ways, youbecome in tune with the Holy
Spirit, you begin to know God'sheart, and there's just some
things you don't have to prayabout Absolutely.
Should I forgive this person?
Yes, charlie Kirk's wife gotout there yesterday.
(43:38):
I forgive that man.
She said I don't want his bloodon my hands and I get to heaven
.
I can't be with Charlie becauseof my unforgiveness, so I
forgive him.
You don't have to pray aboutthat.
No, you do it.
And so when you start to dothose things, you start to
understand God's heart and thenyou begin to be in tune with it.
(44:01):
You're like David, a man afterGod's own heart.
And so situations in your lifecome up and the Holy Spirit's
going to talk to you.
I mean you think, was it Simeon?
The Holy Spirit said you'regoing to see the Savior.
I mean imagine being so in tuneI mean he didn't do nothing, we
don't handle anything elseabout this guy but he was so in
(44:24):
tune with the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit said hey,before you die, I'm going to
show you the Savior.
Speaker 3 (44:27):
So I know I told that big story, but what Ryan said
just now is so importantFollowing the leading of the
Spirit is not always a voice.
It's what would God want me todo in this situation?
What's his heart here and when?
You do God's heart, that's theleadership of the Holy Spirit.
(44:49):
And do you do God's heart,that's the leadership of the
Holy Spirit.
And do you feel that?
Sometimes you feel it, but alot of times you're feeling the
opposite.
But, in your brain.
You know God would do it thisway.
And when you do it that way, nomatter what you're feeling,
that's the leadership of theHoly Spirit.
(45:10):
That's how that works.
I know what God would want inthis situation.
His Word talks about it all thetime.
I don't have to choose what Ithink he would want me to do and
when I do it.
That's the leadership of theHoly Spirit in my life.
Speaker 2 (45:25):
I mentioned earlier, when I was in Iowa, I was there
visiting my cousin Greg, who wasa youth pastor, and he was
still doing his job.
You know, he wasn't on vacationthat week, so he just took me
around to all the things he wasdoing and I got to hang out with
Greg and that's my big cousinand so I was in heaven just
getting to hang out with him goto his youth ministry.
(45:46):
You know, they had this coolyouth group hangout thing and it
was like a big afterschoolthing where kids would come to
and play all these games in asafe environment.
I got to go and be a part ofthat and I just jam with them.
You know, we, we both playedinstruments and loved music and
so we got to hang out playing abunch of music and it was in
that time with Greg that I feltthe Holy spirit tell me this is
(46:10):
what you're called to, you'recalled to serve me this way.
And I was like and again I've,I've fought it for years.
I fought it every time it wouldcome up, I'd fight against it,
and that's that's what we want.
Is God to speak to us in thatway to tell you you know, hire
the man or I'm out?
You know we, we want God tospeak to us and he will, and he
(46:34):
will.
But Scripture says the HolySpirit.
One of the purposes that youhave the Holy Spirit is he will
lead you into all truth, that hewill search out and reveal to
you the deep things of God.
Well, what is truth?
Scripture says your word istruth.
And so this takes us to thevery last one, the word of God.
And if you remember, on Sundayyou know I was trying to.
(46:55):
I wish I had a physical windowbut I had to build it all on,
you know, powerpoint or Canva.
But at the very last slide Iraised up the bottom pane of the
window where it said word ofGod, and I put it over top of
the other ones so that theinfluence of others, the life
situations leading of the spirit, all of those things have to be
filtered through the word ofGod.
(47:19):
And you said this earlier theHoly Spirit will never tell you
to do something contrary to hisword.
But I won't know that unlessI'm in his word.
Speaker 3 (47:27):
Exactly Now the Holy Spirit can shout at you and
you'll say I don't know if thisis right or not, and the Holy
Spirit saying no, it's contraryto my word, go, look.
Yeah, you know um, and but wedon't, we don't do that, we just
go ahead and say that's weird.
Everybody's everybody's got afishing pole like this.
(47:48):
I should have one.
You know that's weird.
Everybody's got a fishing polelike this.
I should have one too.
And so you buy the boat, or youand a boat.
Let me tell you something, guysBoat is a commitment.
It is a commitment.
I'm looking at mine down at themarina right now and I've got
to scrape it and flush all thewater out and put all this and
(48:08):
I'm just looking at it going, ohmy gosh, do I have to do that
again this year?
And there's something alwaysbroke the rubber is always
broken.
Speaker 2 (48:17):
What I've determined through the leading of the
spirit is I just need a friendwith a boat.
Speaker 3 (48:21):
Thank you for being that friend.
It's a big thing, and you neverthink about that when you're
walking through the boat show.
Are you going to have time todo this?
What are you going to have tosacrifice on the weekends?
Is it going to be church, yourservice to me?
Are you going to come andworship me?
Just worship on the boat?
(48:44):
The question is, do you, though?
Do you really, and so theSpirit's going to lead?
And when you get a no, or youfeel this twinge in your heart
that maybe you shouldn't do this, you need to see if the Lord
wants to speak to you throughhis word on that, because that's
when we do.
I got a joke that my wife Ihope it's a joke that she played
(49:08):
on me.
Now I'm thinking, maybe that'snot funny.
So we got in a big fight and wewere struggling over some things
and Teresa said you know, Idon't know, I'm going to give up
on you.
And then I was reading thestory of Abraham, how he's
(49:32):
taking Isaac to the top of themountain, and he turned to his
servant and said stay here withthe ass.
And she said the Lord spoke tome and that's why I'm staying.
Gosh, I hope that was a joke, no, gosh, I hope that was a joke,
no.
(49:52):
So that kind of stuff happensto you sometimes, a turn of
phrase.
There was one when we werestruggling in ministry, and it
was again Teresa.
She said look at this righthere.
And I looked over it and it saidand Jesus returned to the Lake
(50:14):
shore and he was.
He was getting in the boat topreach and what we were praying
about is whether God was leadingus away from a church named
Lake shore.
And I was like, no, this is notwhat that means.
Means, you know, when you growin christ and you first get
(50:35):
saved and you're like, oh god,speak to me, and you open your
bible and close your eyes andpoint at the verse and and um,
you know, sometimes god willreward you with something like
that.
But that is baby games, rightyou know, you're just that
exception.
Right, those are puzzle piecesthat are really big and there's
only six and you can't reallymess it up.
Speaker 1 (50:56):
That type of thing.
Speaker 3 (50:57):
But as you grow, he's like look, you're going to have
to start living out the lightI've given you and you sometimes
questions that you're going tohave you're going to have to dig
for.
So that's what it looks like ina very basic, parochial way.
But it's bigger than that.
(51:17):
You know, um, forgiveness wasone.
I was reading this passage ofscripture um about no, I'm
trying to think what Jesus wassaying.
He was saying no, you don'tcome home and the master makes
you breakfast and takes care ofyou.
No, you work real hard and thenyou come home and you take care
(51:41):
of the master first.
And I'm like what does this allmean?
And as you track it back Ithink it's in matthew it tracks
back to the parable.
Peter said um, how many times Igot to forgive this guy?
(52:01):
And I'm like, how does?
And then jesus tells theparable about the guy who owed
millions of dollars and he wasforgiven.
And then some guy owed him, youknow, 20 cents and he threw him
in prison debtors prison untilhe was paid.
King found out about it andsaid this not happening, I
forgave you everything.
I'm going to put you in prisonand torture you until you pay.
(52:23):
Well, you can't pay from prison, you know you can't earn any
money there.
And prison, you can't earn anymoney there, and uh, and then
the lord says this will, this iswhat the lord will do to you if
you do not forgive your brother.
And I was like, how do thosetwo things go together?
And basically the lord wassaying I've got a standard that
(52:47):
you've got to meet.
You live for me, I don't existfor you.
And so the word of God justspoke to me right then.
I have to choose to forgive,even though I think I have a
right not to, and because that'smy job.
(53:07):
He's the master, I'm theservant, I command you to
forgive.
Well, lord, you know you got tolead me, you got to bring me to
the point you got to and he goesno forgive now, I'll give you
that stuff later, and that thatis.
Uh, we don't, we don't go homeand and let the Lord feed us and
take care of us.
We've still got to take care ofour responsibility to the master
(53:30):
, and it taught me a greatlesson right there, in a
circumstance where I was reallystruggling with my work
environment.
It was a, it was a wonderfulword from God, but I had to dig
for it.
I was over here, you know, likethree chapters beyond where he
(53:51):
was taking me, but I had to.
He made me fight for it and Iand I got my answer, and so
that's that's as you grow in theLord.
This is, this is what's goingto happen, but when that happens
to you, though it's, it's likeit's going in the database, you
know.
So the next time something likethat comes up, you don't have a
(54:11):
question.
You know's right, and you justdo it.
Speaker 2 (54:13):
Here's what we know.
His word is alive and it isactive.
It is useful for teaching,rebuking, correcting and
training in righteousness.
It never returns void, and thisis why it's so important to
have daily time in God's word.
And you might be reading stuffnow that you're like man I don't
know how this is ever going toapply to my life, but you just
(54:35):
keep reading it, you keepreading it, and then situations
in your life come up and youknow, you begin to know God's
heart, you begin to know how hewould respond in these
situations, and the Holy Spiritwill lead you in that direction
because you have his word.
You have now filtered everylife situation, every influence
(54:55):
of others, every leading of thespirit through his word and you
can be confident that you areliving in the will of God.
And this is why these sermonshave been so important and so
impactful, and I'm truly hopingand praying that you're taking
these things to heart as youcontinue to live this stuff out.
(55:17):
I believe God wants you to livelife on purpose.
Tim, I was thinking when westarted coming over here.
We were renting that barn overon milan avenue in amherst and
had a great relationship withthe owners there and, uh, we
(55:38):
didn't even have a lease thelast couple years right, he's
like I ain't got time for that.
Yeah, just whatever he literallysat us down, was like listen,
if I need your space, that meansI'm storing product, which
means I'm losing money.
So we're good, right.
Then COVID happened.
Their sales started booming,right, um, and they're like, hey
, we need that space.
(56:00):
And he, uh, he said, guys,really, I need you out in three
months.
I looked at it.
I was like, well, how, aboutsix?
He said, said I'll give youfive.
So I feel like I won thatnegotiation.
Five's closer to six than it isthree.
Um, we had five months to getout and, um, we started looking,
(56:20):
searching.
You and I were going to allthese buildings.
We were touring any spot thathad availability, rent for sale.
Speaker 3 (56:27):
We were looking at and we were like, okay, God's
got to do this.
I remember we were looking atbuildings that were $10,000 a
month.
Speaker 2 (56:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (56:38):
And so we'd say, we can do two.
Right and they're like whywould you even come here, yeah?
Speaker 2 (56:43):
why are we having this meeting?
Speaker 3 (56:46):
And we were just expecting.
Speaker 2 (56:47):
God to do something.
And so we're in this process oflooking.
Months are going by and a guyin our church, paul, was driving
down 113 and past this churchbuilding and saw some guys there
and he just drove right on pastit and the Lord said stop and
(57:08):
turn around.
Paul's like what in the world?
He told us later.
He's like I've never had theHoly Spirit or God speak to me
like that.
But he stopped, turned around,came knocked on the door and
some contractor opened the doorand he started getting some
information and he gives us theinformation, says hey, I don't
know what's going on here.
I was driving down that road.
(57:28):
Spirit told me to stop and turnaround, so I did.
Here's a number.
Speaker 3 (57:31):
You do it what you want now?
Listen, this is.
This is an important situation.
Four years before that, wewalked through our church and it
was a dump.
They had a river running downthe middle of the same building
the same building, same building, um the walls were, there was
black mold there was.
Well, I don't know, I don'tknow what black mold is, but
(57:53):
there was there's definitelymold.
There's stuff growing there.
It was.
It was just they.
They had quit taking care ofthe building.
That was four years ago andpaul called us and said the holy
spirit told me to stop.
That's never happened to mebefore.
Here's the number do what youwant, and I remember the
conversation we're having.
Well, that's a dump.
(58:14):
We don't want to go there, nomatter what.
Speaker 2 (58:15):
Yeah you and I looked at one another like no, yeah,
no, been there done that.
That place is is terrible.
I mean, there's the cost to tryto fix it up.
It ain't gonna happen.
Speaker 3 (58:25):
No, through God's word, through our life
experience, we know thatsometimes God speaks to people
and we were like, well, we'regoing to have to call.
Speaker 2 (58:40):
He spoke to Paul, and so we did.
Because God spoke to Paul, wecalled.
He didn't tell us, nope, we hadalready written up.
We weren't even looking at thisbuilding because we did before.
Yeah, and it was bad, we don'tneed to look there again.
God spoke to Paul and Iremember you and I saying, well,
I guess we're going to have tocall Right.
And we called reluctantly,right, just really, just to get
(59:07):
it out of the way, was reallywhy we called.
Well, he spoke to Paul, sowe'll get this call over with
the move on, keep looking atsome other buildings.
And through that one phone call, god began to line everything
up and within I think two months, we opened the doors, launched
Easter Sunday.
I think we actually did oursoft launch Good Friday, yeah,
launched Easter Sunday here inthe new building.
(59:28):
And man, I haven't looked back.
And you look back.
And this is what I talked abouton Sunday.
Why hindsight is so important?
Because you can look back andyou can just begin to see how
God was leading and guiding anddirecting all these things all
along the way.
We had five months to move anentire church.
How do you do that?
You know, and God opened thedoor and and the people that
(59:52):
we're involved with here thatown this building again, the
greatest people that you canwork with in the world.
Speaker 3 (59:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:00:00):
These people love.
Speaker 3 (01:00:01):
Jesus, they love Chris and John Callahan.
Every time I said, okay, we'regoing to try to move a bunch of
junk over there.
They were always there.
And Chris outworked all us guys.
I mean, they were always there.
And this is like, hey, we'vegot to do this now.
And they're like, we'll bethere.
And they had just came to ourchurch, they're brand new, and
(01:00:24):
they're like, okay, let's go,let's go.
And so many times I just leftthem to it.
Just do what John and Chrissays.
Speaker 2 (01:00:31):
It's a lot better.
Usually they do it their way,but man God has made.
Speaker 3 (01:00:37):
Just to say one more thing about that.
They had just walked in thedoor and said we'll do this.
Speaker 2 (01:00:44):
And God has been so faithful.
He sent us the right people atthe right time.
He gave us the rightopportunities, he opened the
right doors and all we weretrying to do is walk in his ways
and as we do that, god leads usin his will.
And I think you know coming outof COVID church was hard for
everybody.
You know churches were down.
(01:01:05):
I think we read you and I cameacross that one study and it was
I think two thirds of pastorsat one time were considering
leaving the ministry.
Speaker 3 (01:01:12):
Right, and one-third did, and the third man.
It was rough on pastors.
Speaker 2 (01:01:19):
I mean nobody was showing up, you couldn't get
anybody to engage, I meannothing seemed to be happening.
And so, coming out of COVID, wewere running anywhere from 80
to 110 maybe.
Speaker 3 (01:01:30):
That was a good Sunday.
Speaker 2 (01:01:31):
Yeah, and you look up a few years later and you've
got almost 300 people here onSundays.
And I tell our church, andespecially our church council
and our business meetings, it'snot about the numbers, but
behind every number is a nameand it's someone who desperately
needs to discover more inChrist.
And all you and I and our teamhave tried to do is to keep
(01:01:56):
walking in his ways.
And as we do that, we keepseeking his word, filtering
everything through it.
God, should we do this?
Should we take that opportunity?
Do we rent this building?
Do we say yes to that, thatministry or that opportunity?
And we just try to walk in hisways each and every time he's
led us in his will.
Speaker 3 (01:02:14):
Let me remind you how that works.
In my life I've heard God tellme some things through his word,
through other people.
In Ryan's life, god has toldhim some things through other
people, through his words,through life situations, and
because we know that's true inour own experience.
(01:02:34):
When Paul said here's thenumber God told me to give it to
you, we called.
And that's just because wealready know and there's some
things you already know and youmight be facing a decision to
make.
Look back on the things youalready know before you make
those decisions, because if youwalk in His ways, you will find
(01:02:58):
His will.
That's right.
Let's pray.
Speaker 2 (01:03:00):
Father, I thank you so much, lord.
I thank you for the peopleyou've put in our life.
I thank you for the situationsthat you've already arranged and
that you use in each of ourlives.
I thank you for your spiritthat leads and guides us in all
truth.
Father, I thank you for yourword.
That is true, it is thefoundation upon which we can
(01:03:21):
build our lives and, father, Ipray that you would help each
and every one of us to begin tofilter all these things through
your word, so that we can livelife on purpose.
Lord, we want to know your willand so, father, I pray each and
every day you'd give us thestrength, the confidence, the
wisdom and the discernment toknow how to walk in your ways In
Jesus' name, amen, amen andamen.
Speaker 1 (01:03:43):
Thanks again for joining us for this episode of
the Midweek Podcast.
We'd love to hear from you.
Let us know how God is usingthis resource in your life, or
send any podcast questions ortopic ideas to podcast at
afreshwindorg.
If you would like to supportthis ministry financially and
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(01:04:07):
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We're so grateful for yoursupport.
Make sure to tune in next weekfor a brand new episode of the
Midweek Podcast.
Be blessed and have a greatweek.
Welcome and thanks for joining us on this episode
of the Midweek Podcast broughtto you by A Fresh Wind Church.
Each week, our team brings younew content to help you take
steps towards Jesus and discovermore in Christ.
Today's episode is hosted byPastor Ryan.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Well, hey, welcome back to the Midweek Podcast.
Pastor Ryan joined, as always,with Pastor Tim, and we are in
part three of our series GodJust Tell Me, and we are talking
about the will of God and howwe can begin to know and
understand what God's will isfor each of us.
It's something that we all want.
(00:48):
We want God's will.
Especially if you've beenfollowing Jesus for any length
of time, you want to know whatis God's will for my life.
We wish it was a little moreobvious sometimes.
That's kind of the heartbeat ofthis series.
God just tell me.
I want to know, I want to do it, just tell me.
We've covered a lot of groundover the past couple weeks,
(01:09):
talked about the four aspects orlayers of God's will.
In week one, week two, wetalked about how it's more about
a do or more about a who than ado.
God's more interested in whoyou're becoming more than he's
interested in what you do.
You know who you're becomingmore than he's interested in
what you do, and so, whateveryou do, do it his way.
And then this week we talkedabout some windows into the will
(01:30):
of God and I told the church, Itold you, as we were prepping
for these, these past twosermons in particular, some of
my absolute favorite things topreach about.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
I know you were when I called you and said hey, I'll
take this sermon if you needmore time this week.
And you're like no, but we gotthrough them.
And I know it's dishearteningwhen we say, okay, you finally
come to the point where you'reall in and you're just going to
say yes before you even getstarted.
And you say yes and then theLord says, okay, this is going
(02:04):
to be a process of learning mywill in your life.
And you're like no, I finallygot over the hump, Just tell me
yeah.
You know, and you know gettingover the hump.
It's a long climb.
But I tell you this though ifyou're serious about living for
God and finding his will foryour life, you'll find it Just
(02:25):
relax.
You don't need to be running incircles over this.
Just say yes every day, andyou'll find yourself where
you're supposed to be.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Well, we've said it a few times If you'll walk in his
ways, he'll lead you in hiswill.
And so those times, even whenyou get off course a little bit,
but you're praying, you'reseeking, you know you're seeking
what the Lord wants, but youtook the wrong turn.
He is good enough, he isgracious enough, he is sovereign
(02:57):
enough to take those wrongsteps and say hey, I appreciate
you stepping out there.
I know you did that in faith.
I need you to come back thisway a little bit and he'll
redirect those missteps to getyou back on track.
He's a good God, he's faithful,even when we're faithless and
we get it wrong, and so that'swhat we've been talking about.
(03:20):
I love it because I want people, I want our church to live on
purpose.
So many people go through life,but they're just existing.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Right, or pursuing the what do we call it?
The American way or theAmerican dream we call it, which
is you go to work and youretire.
Well and yeah, but there's nopurpose in that.
If that's your only purpose isto live till your retirement,
(03:55):
Let me tell you, when you get toretirement age, you're never
going to have enough money.
You're going to think you haveto work a little bit longer, and
then your money's not going togo as far as you thought it
would, and all those things comeup.
If that is your only purpose inlife, the American dream,
you're going to be bored.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
You're going to be bored.
Yeah, unfortunately, I thinkfor a lot of people, life
happens to them and, man, ifyou're a follower of Christ, you
should happen to life.
Life should feel like man.
What the heck just happened tome?
Because you showed up and I waswatching some of that memorial
service that they put on forCharlie Kirk and man, the gospel
(04:38):
was proclaimed over and overand over again and I can't
remember how many millions ofpeople they said were like live
streaming that thing.
The arena was full that day andI don't care what you think
about Charlie the man, right,here's what I know.
The gospel was proclaimed overand over and millions of people
(04:59):
heard it and I thought, I mean,there's a guy who lived on
purpose, right, absolutely, hehappened to life.
You know, he didn't just sitback and let life happen to him,
he happened to life.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
And.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
I think that arena holds 70,000-something people.
They said every seat thatwasn't roped off, someone was in
it.
People lined up for hours justto get into the arena and then
millions of people, millionsupon millions, tuned in to watch
the live stream and I was likeman that's who I want our church
to be People who live onpurpose and so that's why these
(05:35):
past couple sermons are myfavorite things to talk about.
They've impacted my life.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
They set you on fire.
They surely did.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
And I wanted to do the same thing for the people in
our church that they say, man,I want to know and to walk in
the will of God.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Well, you talked about windows yesterday, some
ways that you can perceive thewill of God as you're walking in
his ways.
I think it'd be good for us towalk through those things and
just give some what that lookslike in real life.
You up for that?
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Yeah, maybe a little behind the scenes here.
Just yeah, to help peopleunderstand, you know, maybe,
what this looks like, at leastin their pastor's lives.
Here's what that'd be kind offun.
So first thing we talked aboutis, you know, is window into
God's will.
If God's going to lead us andwe're trying to walk in his ways
, if we're going to understand,to filter God's word in his will
(06:32):
for us, the first way to do itis the influence of others.
God puts people in our life tolead and guide us in the way
that we should go the rightdirection.
Lead and guide us in the waythat we should go the right
direction.
Man I shared in the sermon aboutmy youth pastor, pastor Nate,
growing up and just how he wasso instrumental in helping to
(06:58):
shape me into who I am, as apastor, as a man, as a follower
of Jesus.
He was someone who took meunder his wing when I was, you
know, a 13-year-old kid, took meeverywhere and just he God used
Nate to lead me along in thatdirection.
But it wasn't just Nate.
I think about my mom, who drugme to church all the time, even
when I didn't want to go, andhow God used her.
(07:20):
I think about my cousin Greg.
I went to visit him.
I think he was a youth pastorhimself in Iowa at the time and
I went to visit him and just theconversations I would have.
My Aunt Sherry you know, Iended up when I graduated high
school living in her basementfor a little bit and the
conversations that Joy and Iwould have with Sherry and just
(07:42):
man.
God has put those people in mylife that have helped to lead
and guide and shape me, and Godwants to do that for each of you
.
Um, one of the things I said inthe sermon if you don't have
the right voices in your life,then you won't make the right
choices, and so we need thosepeople, those right voices, to
speak truth.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
You're such a poet.
Thank you, I appreciate that,dominique likes that quote too.
It's important.
The biggest effect I've had onmy life I think we can say this
just about everyone who wasraised in a home with a mom and
dad was my dad and my mom weremy biggest influences on my life
(08:21):
.
I'm going to tell you a storythat's really rough, but I had a
youth pastor in my life and hewas going to our church for a
while and then they raised himup as the youth director and he
was really good at it.
(08:42):
He had a big impact on my lifeand I can remember him teaching
one sunday and he said you guysare living off what your parents
believe.
You guys gotta, you gotta getin the word and figure out what
you believe, you gotta learn itfor yourself.
And uh, he said, or um, you'regonna leave the church, you're
(09:08):
gonna, you're gonna grow up,you're gonna, uh, get busy and a
bunch of different things andand you're gonna fall away
because you're living off yourmom and dad's spirituality, not
your own.
And I was like, oh, whateveryou, whatever you know, I was a
teenager and, sure enough, lateron, several years later, when I
(09:34):
got out of the youth department, he fell.
He morally fell and screwed uphis marriage, all this kind of
stuff, and it was terrible andeverybody got hurt.
But I was still doing the thinghe told me to do get in the
Word and find out for yourself,you know.
So years later I see him againand he had repented and came
(09:57):
back and one of the things hetold us when he preached that
sermon is you'll lose it.
You'll lose the stands thatyou've made.
If you're standing on somebodyelse's spirituality, you'll lose
the decisions you've made foryour life and you'll forget.
And when I met him the secondtime around, he wasn't the same
(10:21):
guy.
He had ran off into sin and hedidn't know the things that he
taught me.
It was a.
It was a weird thing.
Me and my I sat down with mydad and we talked about it for
hours.
How can that happen?
How can you lose your light,what God has shown you in his
(10:42):
word, or light what God hasshown you in his word?
And he said it happens all thetime, son, when you're not
following Jesus, satan is tryingto block those things out with
other things.
And so that was veryinfluential in my life.
It probably shouldn't be here.
It should be life situationthat happened in my life, but
(11:06):
what he told me and I agreedwith him.
So I started studying all thesethings my dad would preach about
or I'd hear about myself.
Let me see that scripture.
I'm skeptical.
What's the foundation of this?
And I began to study thosethings myself.
I realized he was right.
(11:26):
He stopped and look where heended up.
So that was a great influenceof me and in a span of about six
or seven years, I realizedright away my life with Christ
is on me.
It's not on my dad, it's not onmy church, it's not on my
family or my wife, with Christis on me.
It's not on my dad, it's not onmy church, it's not on my
family or my wife, it's on me,and I don't want to go backwards
(11:51):
, I want to go forward.
So that's uh uh.
He really influenced me in theright thing and it protected me,
even when he screwed it up.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
So, yeah, we, we need those people in our lives that
are going to lead us and pointus to truth.
I love Proverbs 11, 14.
This would be something thatyou guys, you commit to memory.
It says without guidance, apeople will fall, but with many
counselors, there is deliverance.
I think I don't know if it'sour pride, if it's just the
(12:26):
American stubbornness you knowinheriting us.
But, man, we hate to seek outcounsel and guidance.
We got this.
I'm going to forge my own way,do my own thing.
I know what's best for mementality and man, there are
people who have gone before youthat you don't have to pay the
price that they've paid.
(12:47):
We can learn from theirmistakes.
There are some people who haveseen some stuff and been through
some stuff.
They've studied some stuff andif we would go to them and seek
out their counsel, they can helpus take the right steps.
And it's about the closestthing you can get to a shortcut.
We all want shortcuts in life.
But then we won't seek out thepeople who are like, no, no, no,
(13:09):
you don't want to do that.
I know what I'm doing, don'ttell me what to do, okay.
And then here we go, walkingright off a cliff.
You know, take that advice frompeople.
It's one of the things.
You know, joy and we've we'vehad a life group for quite a
while now and I've always triedto have at least one couple in
our group.
That was a season ahead ofwhere everybody else you know,
(13:33):
because we got a pretty younggroup.
They're mostly, you know, 20sand 30s, but I've had those
people in in our group.
You know pat and kathy were inour group for a long time season
ahead of us.
Um, right now we got bridgetand larry in our group.
You know pat and kathy were inour group for a long time season
ahead of us.
Right now we got bridget andlarry in our group, season ahead
of us, so that when a bunch of20 and 30 year olds think the
world has fallen apart,everything's coming to an end,
(13:55):
they can be like y'all gonna bejust fine yeah, like we've seen
this before and you need that.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
I remember uh, pat and I were young men I know that
sounds crazy, uh pat McCorderand I Long time ago Long time
ago and we were in the middle ofthis crisis in the church we
were going to at the time and wewere running around trying to
hold it together and we had bothjust read this book and Teresa
(14:26):
had said to me you need to gotalk to some pastors.
She used that verse.
She said go get you a counsel.
There's wisdom in a multitudeof counselors.
So go do it.
And Pat and I had read this bookand we're like man, that was a
great book and it came to mecall that guy.
And I'm like call an author.
(14:48):
I mean, now you can geteverything you want off the
internet on them.
But I was like so I got thebook, I opened it up, I found
out where he was, had to make afew calls, but I got him and Pat
and I both got on the phonecall and we said this is what's
(15:11):
going on, we're trying.
And he goes stop, churches failevery day, but the church of
Jesus Christ will stand.
Some churches need to fail andreorganize and you need to split
those people up.
He said churches fail every dayand now you guys are walking on
eggshells and you're notstanding up for the truth.
(15:32):
Stand up for the truth and ifit survives, it survives.
If it fails, it can't stand tothe truth.
So said you guys need to growup.
Quit trying to please everybodyand massage their feelings, and
just stand for the truth.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
You're like, I don't like that guy's book anyways.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Yeah, but it really freed us.
He just simply said church isdug in, they're going to do what
they're going to do and if itfails, it's okay because the
church of Jesus Christ willnever fail.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
What an important principle to learn.
And how did God lead you tothat conclusion?
He used someone else.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Right.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
You know the influence of somebody else and
don't if you're listening today,don't underestimate the power
and the influence that someonecan have in your life.
It's important and I talkedabout this in the sermon, so if
you missed that, you need to goback and listen to it.
It's important to have theright voices because for
everything God does, enemy has acounterfeit right, and so if
(16:39):
there's godly voices that'lllead you along into his will,
that'll lead you along into hiswill.
Satan's going to send somepeople to drag you away and
deceive you and entice you towalk in the opposite direction,
and you need to be careful ofthat.
If you're going out marriage istough and you get together with
your buddies and they're like,yeah, she's terrible and, man,
(17:02):
you were so much freer beforeyou two were together.
Okay, well, you're not hangingout with those guys anymore,
right, those people are tryingto pull you away from God's will
.
We need people who are going todrag us into it.
You know, even sometimes whenwe have to go kicking and
screaming, they're going to dragus into God's will.
We need those people in ourlife.
The guy like that say stop it,stop it.
(17:25):
I mean to tell us the hardtruths right, and we need to be
open to that and our pride wantsto get in there and say I know
no one's going to tell me what'sgoing on or what I should be
doing in this situation, but I'mtelling you, the closest way to
a shortcut many times is tolisten to the counsel of people
who have gone before you.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
Absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
So the next thing that we talked about.
So that's influence of others.
God will lead you through theinfluence of others.
Another way that God will leadyou is through life situations.
I think it was on that trip toIowa when I started thinking
maybe I'd want to be a youthpastor.
(18:06):
I'll talk a little bit aboutthat as we talk about the next
thing leading of the spirit.
That idea kind of got plantedin my heart then.
Then I started showing up overthe next few years I just kept
having all these weird kind ofthings happen to me, and so one
of them was my youth pastor thatI had Pastor Nate.
(18:29):
He had left our church and hehad taken a job down in East
Liverpool Ohio and so I wentdown to hang out with Nate,
spent the night at his place,went to church with him at his
new church Never been there everin my life.
I don't know that Nate toldanybody I was coming.
You know I'm just just hiscousin and old student.
(18:50):
You know showing up, but I goto church, go through the whole
church service.
It was wild, you know.
There had flags, people runaround flags and blow horns and
stuff.
It was like man this is awesome.
But, uh, after, after church, uh, this lady she had to be six,
seven, eight rows ahead of me.
(19:11):
Um, she walks back to me andshe goes hey, I don't, I don't
know what's going on here, don'tknow why I'm supposed to tell
you this, but but I'm justsupposed to tell you that you
are called into the ministry.
But I'm just supposed to tellyou that you are called into the
ministry.
I'm like I don't even know whoyou are, you don't know who I am
.
But that didn't happen just oncein my life.
That happened at least probablythree or four times.
(19:35):
I went to a camp one time andthe director for the
denomination I grew up in, thestate director.
He came up to me at the end ofone of the worship service
things.
He goes hey, God just wanted meto tell you he's got a call on
your life and you're going tofollow him in the ministry.
Again, I don't know this guy.
(19:56):
He just was up on the stagetalking and preaching and he
leads the whole state.
He doesn't know who I am and heshowed up and God started using
these and it's almost a blend,I guess, of the influence of
others.
But I don't count it so muchthat way, because I didn't know
these people, they didn't haveaccess into my life.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
Yeah, but it's a weight, right?
If you look at a set of scales,right, and when God is teaching
you his will for your life,he's never going to use just one
thing, right, he's going to usethem all.
And, uh, you start puttingthese little uh weights on one
side of the scale and you'relike well, this person said that
(20:36):
and then I went through, I hadthis situation happen to me and
you keep putting it on the scale.
Pretty soon you notice yourleft hand holding the other side
down because it's just startingto crank that way and the Lord
uses these little things tobuild that the weight on the.
Yes, you know he's just no,when you say no to me, you're
(21:00):
going to know what you're saying.
No too, right, yeah, so this isuh, this is pretty, pretty
important.
That's a great story, as Godwas starting to stack the
weights on that side of thescale.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Yeah, and just those life situations that that he
kept putting in my path and Iwasn't looking for them.
You know, it was just thesethings that I just kept running
into Boom, boom, boom.
And at the time, you know nowit's easy to say, well, you're a
pastor and you know that'sgreat.
God called you into ministry.
I was doing everything I couldto not go into the ministry.
(21:33):
That's where I was Everypastor's testimony and I've
shared from the stage.
You know my dream.
I was going to own a business.
I was going to make millions ofdollars.
That's who I was going to be,and I'm like I know what pastors
get paid.
It ain't no millions of dollars, that's true, and so I was
doing everything I could to getout of God's will.
But he kept putting these lifesituations in.
(21:54):
It's like what am I supposed todo with that?
I got this dream, I got thisgoal, I got this plan, and we
think God's dream and goal andplans for our lives is always
going to line up with what wewant.
And for me it was completelyincongruent.
And I don't know, there'sprobably pastors who've got side
hustles that would makemillions of dollars and that's
(22:15):
great.
I'd love to figure that out too.
But in the moment I'm thinking,god, you are calling me to do
something and you're making itso obvious by these life
situations that keep popping up,and it's not what.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
I want to do.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
It wasn't what I wanted to hear, but he kept
making it obvious.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
Well, sometimes God jumps into situations to let you
know that he's tracking withyou, that you're doing the right
thing, but he wants to remindyou I'm the one that puts you
there.
That's a thing that happened tome as I was going to school.
For air traffic control, it'spass or fail.
(22:55):
You add up all your points atthe end and if you got enough,
you get through.
Well, I got to the end and Ineeded to score like 58 on the
test to become an air trafficcontroller.
This was the written test part.
The other tests were hands-on.
You know running airplanes andstuff like that.
(23:15):
So I was in the um.
I got this thing.
You know where are we going tolive.
You know what kind of car arewe going to buy when we start
getting paid.
You know I had all that goingon.
I only needed a 58 and I knew Iwas probably going to ace that
test.
Wouldn't you know that I'mtaking that test and it was one
(23:39):
of those?
You took the test and then youwould take your pencil and make
the color in the circle theanswer.
I think it was.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Scantron.
Yeah, whatever Some of you havenever even heard of what we're
talking about.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
That's right.
And so I'm taking the test andone of the things was you can't
go back, you can't flip back.
They had a guy sitting in frontof us watching us.
So I get to the end of the testand I got five more questions
on my little sheet.
I got five more circles.
I gotta choose and I'm out oftest, oh no.
(24:19):
And I was like oh, oh no, wheredid I get off?
You know where did I?
I'm two pages must got stuck,stuck together, and I'm opening
and trying to look back and hesays you turn that back one time
, you're automatically failed.
And I was like what am I gonnado?
(24:41):
And um, so I filled in the lastcircles, trying to figure out
what was the last things I read.
And I went, I went home thatday and of course I told the
instructor what had happened andI you needed a 70 overall to
get out and I needed 58 pointsto get to 70.
(25:04):
Um, so I went home and saidhoney, I screwed it up.
I don't know, um, and she lookedat me and said you know what?
If it's God's will for us tonot take this job, we'll go back
in the Air Force.
And uh, we'll, we'll, we'll dowhatever we need to do.
This has been fun out here, andnot for you, because that
(25:27):
school was rough.
But she said but this is just athing.
If we don't do this, god willgive us something else.
And I went in the next day andI got a 70.8.
Wow, and uh, I was like, oh mygosh.
And the Lord spoke to me rightin when tears started.
(25:50):
Uh, cause I had already decidedthat I didn't and I must've got
off on the first page, you know.
So I got everything wrong.
And the Lord just spoke to meand said I just want you to know
, I gave you this job, youdidn't give you this job and
(26:10):
you're going to live this jobfor my purpose.
And it was shocking, and I wasfirst that I told Teresa that's
a little rough for God to makethis circumstance to make me
understand that it's not you,it's me.
And I lived my whole careerknowing one thing I am here
(26:34):
because the Lord let me be here,you know, and it was.
First of all, it was freeing.
I knew where I was supposed tobe.
But sometimes, if you're whereyou're supposed to be and God
didn't do something like that toyou, you're like am I supposed
to be here?
So you need to watch thosesituations in your life so that
(26:55):
you can get that confirmation.
Yes, this is what you'resupposed to be doing right now,
but tomorrow may be different.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
One of the things we talked about in the sermon was
you know, when it comes to lifesituations, god will often use
doors.
You know open doors or closeddoors.
Cindy came up to me afterchurch and said man.
I've been studying doors foryears, loves doors and I was
like they got a lot of them atHome Depot.
You can go look at them.
But when it comes to theseopening these closed doors, you
(27:32):
need to spend time in prayer.
When big decisions are comingup, take the time to fast.
You know what I mean.
This is a major life decision.
Spend some time fasting andpraying about that thing.
Seek out you know we're talkingabout godly counsel and wisdom.
You need to seek that out.
Ask some people, be in God'sword and be studying his word
(27:56):
and walking in his ways.
And then you start to look foropen and closed doors and
sometimes there's going to be adoor that seems open and you're
not going to know God.
I've been praying God, I'veasked and people have given me.
You know people I trust.
Some say yes, some say no andI'm just still conflicted and
(28:17):
I've been reading your word andI'm still just not sure.
I'm trying to walk in your ways.
These are those when those doorsseem open.
And that's what Paul said.
I'm going to go over here.
I'm going to do this ministrybecause a wide door ministry has
been open and it didn't say theLord told him to go, that some
angel from heaven showed up.
It was just a wide open doorand so Paul walked through it.
(28:40):
And I think when we, if you'rewalking in his ways in these
doors open, and you say, if youcan honestly say and I have
prayed and sought God'sdirection on this, I have asked
people I trust for counsel onthis decision I've been in his
word that when you step throughthat door and you step out in
(29:02):
faith, man, you can step outconfidently because, if anything
God says, here's a person whostepped out in faith.
They've done all the things andthey stepped out in faith and
God is the rewarder of peoplewho who earnestly seek him.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
And if you get it wrong again and I said this
earlier god will guide you backto the right path I think that's
um, I like the way you put that, because there's a situation in
paul's life that was just likethat.
He told, told Paul, I want youto go to Jerusalem.
And Paul said okay, I'm goingto go to Jerusalem.
(29:46):
So he gets on a ship, he lands,there's a whole church there.
And they all said if you go toJerusalem, you'll be put in
prison.
The Holy Spirit has told usthat and he's like well, he
called me to go and what do youdo there?
Speaker 2 (30:03):
God is calling me to go.
Here's godly counselors sayingyou better not go.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
Yeah, this is what's going to happen to you.
So he says I still got to go.
He gets on the boat and he endsup at Philip's house in
Caesarea and this guy comes downfrom another town.
He said the Holy Spirit came tome and he came up to Paul and
he took Paul's belt off and hetied up his hands.
If you go to Jerusalem, this iswhat's going to happen to you.
And so now we've got the wholechurch, we got this guy.
(30:32):
They were sent from God.
And you're thinking, okay, well,god is telling them not to go,
obviously not to go.
No, god was saying when thishappens to you, I'm just letting
you know.
I knew it and I told you to goanyways.
And so when this happens, don'tstruggle, Don't be upset,
(30:55):
because when you get thereyou're going to be arrested, and
that's what I wanted.
So it's wow, man, that seems so, I know, because we think God
is always going to, I don't know, unicorns and balloons, I don't
know.
It's just.
But that's not how God works.
We live in a sinful world andGod is going to affect the world
(31:17):
through you and sometimes it'sgoing to be tough.
And he told Paul hey, thisisn't going to be what you think
it is.
It's going to be rough, andwhen it gets rough just remember
I sent you there, I got you.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Yep, even that scripture I shared earlier,
there's a wide open door.
And he said many oppose me.
You know it's not going to beeasy, it's not always going to
be the way that you thought itwas going to be, even when
you're in the center of God'swill.
We use that verse.
God works all things togetherfor the good of those who love
(31:47):
him and are called according tohis purpose and I think we've
Americanized that word good.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
Yeah, we really have.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
Prosperity and I'm going to achieve all my goals
and dreams and I'm never goingto have problems and dreams and
never gonna have problems.
I'm always gonna have money.
The good that god is trying towork in your life is that you
look more like jesus.
Absolutely that's the good, andit might be painful.
What I mean?
Paul, when god called him, hesent a man to and says I want
(32:18):
you to go and show him how muchhe must suffer for my name.
Well, how about that?
For a calling to ministry?
Like, hey, I'm calling you tothe ministry, Come follow me and
I'm going to show you how muchyou must suffer.
Is there a plan B, God?
Speaker 3 (32:35):
Because that doesn't sound great, that's when you
look over and you see your lefthand on the scale.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
You're stacking everything you can over there,
right?
So yeah, it's not always easy,but you look for these open
doors and you say, all right,god, I've done all the things I
know to do and I'm still notclear.
That's where faith steps in.
Yep and you take that step, youtake that step and if the door
closes, then you trust man,god's got something better,
(33:06):
there's something better instore and he's going to lead me
in his will.
And so, man, when Joy and Iwere looking for a house I mean
Tim, you know, because I drugyou around a few of those, hey,
I'm thinking about this one,what do you think?
We had to walk through over 200houses before we bought one.
And it's like why is it so hard?
(33:27):
And every time I was like weput multiple offers in on houses
.
We got all the way to closingon two houses and then, boom,
doors started shutting.
You're like what is going onhere, um, and I still don't know
if I'm in the right house.
All I know is the door stayedopen and so we'll be here until
the next one opens, right, butwalk through those in faith and
(33:51):
trust that if you've done it allin faith, god will get you
where he needs you to go.
Speaker 3 (33:58):
Well, that really leads us into probably the most
difficult window, and that isthe leading of the Spirit.
I mean Paul comes right out andsays try the spirits to see
whether they have God.
Hey, satan can show up as anangel of light.
It's like hold on.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
I'm just trying to figure out how to listen to one.
Now.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
You're telling me there's different things going
on here, Right and when peoplecome up to you and say things
like you know, the Lord'stelling me he's called you into
ministry and let me, we need tosquash that.
You got two ministers talkingabout their life, so they're
going to talk about ministry.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
I don't know what's going on in your life, what
decisions that you're making.
It might not be about ministry,so none of this necessarily
means ministry.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
It could be marriage, it could be a house.
Speaker 3 (34:46):
It could be a job, it could be all these different
things, but this is our.
When you got two pastors on apodcast, this is what we're
going to talk about, but we needthe leading of the Holy Spirit.
It's a very difficult thing,but we need the leading of the
Holy Spirit.
It's a very difficult thing.
The first thing you need toknow is the Holy Spirit will
never lead you to do somethingopposite of what Scripture says.
(35:07):
So if you and your wife yourmarriage is, you know it's
really rocky and you meet thisnew woman and she loves Jesus
and you're like well, this isthe woman that God had for me
and I made a mistake.
No, that is not true.
That's right.
And if you feel like that'strue, that's a spirit that's not
(35:31):
of God.
So how you test the spirit tosee whether of God is, if it
lines up with the word of God,which is the foundation window,
which we're going to talk aboutnext.
So that's how you try thespirits do.
Is it in according to God'swill?
Well, god didn't say anythingabout a house you know, okay,
(35:51):
but he's said a lot about beingfinancially sound.
Right, are you going to buy ahouse that's going to put you
underwater right away, or isyour house going to be worth
what you paid for it as soon asyou pay for it?
You know.
So those who think, hey, youknow I want a Corvette.
If I had a Corvette, god, if Ihad a Corvette, you know I could
go to the car shows and youknow I'd have influence on
(36:13):
people.
And the Lord says are you goingto?
borrow money for that Corvettethat's going to depreciate as
soon as you buy it and you don'thave any money on the side that
covers the fact that you're inthe red, I don't think that
Corvette's for you.
The Word of God says no, ohyeah.
(36:33):
But you know I had people say,oh yeah, you can talk to a lot
of people at a car show, try thespirits and see whether they're
of God.
That was a horrible example,but it's what popped into my
brain.
Here's my situation in ministry.
Okay, we were over at the shedon Baumhart and one of the guys
in the church that's been herealmost day one is Dave Meyer and
(36:59):
he said I really want my kidsto be in a good youth department
.
Could you start a youth class,and I'll help you?
Well, that meant teach a youthclass, work full time, raise my
kids, go to all their games andthen preach on Sunday too, and
it was like the straw that brokethe camel's back.
I just didn't know if we weregoing to make it through that.
(37:22):
So I started praying for ayouth minister and.
I was like Lord, I need a youthminister.
I'm.
I know you want to pick thisguy, not me, so I'm just gonna
you just bring one to me and um,and set them down in the church
, just bring them to me, I don'teven have time to look.
(37:42):
Well, that prayer lasted abouttwo days and I started calling
everybody I knew and I said,lord, you are not moving fast
enough on this situation.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
Don't you know how important this is?
Speaker 3 (37:54):
And so I'm looking for everybody.
I've got no's from everythingand I don't know what I'm going
to do and I'm trying to figureout.
How can I do these?
What do I have to change?
And it was not going to mykids' games, you know that type
(38:15):
of thing.
And I was like, oh Lord, Idon't you know what of thing.
And I was like, ah lord, Idon't, you know what's this mean
.
I can't give up my um influenceon my kids for somebody else's
kids.
This is my.
So I'm going through all thisand, uh, a guy walks in with his
mom and dad and sets down andgoes through a service and
(38:37):
leaves, and, um, I didn't knowwho he was, from, anybody.
But a guy in the church came upand said, hey, did you know
that?
Uh, that kid who came in here,and he was a kid then.
And uh, he said he did youthministry and I was like, I want
his name, get his name.
That's what.
That's what I prayed, prayedfor.
(38:57):
I prayed for god to come in andset one down and uh, and it was
you, and so I called you and Isaid, hey, I'd really like to
talk to you about this.
I don't know where the lord'sleading you, but we started this
church.
We really need a youth guide.
And, uh, I'd love to talk toyou about coming on.
And we talked a little bit andwe came from different
(39:20):
denominational backgrounds and,and so I got in my truck after
that conversation.
I was driving home and I said Idon't know if it's going to work
.
We're going to fight all thetime and he might be teaching
something that I don't agreewith behind my back and I had
all this stuff going on.
And the Lord said are youreally going to do this?
(39:45):
And you know you only get acouple audibles from the Lord in
your lifetime, and you know youonly get a couple audibles from
the Lord in your lifetime.
And he said I took a guy, hadhim walk in and sat down.
Those were your exact wordswhen you asked me.
I sent you who I wanted you topick and you're saying no, so
(40:14):
I'm out of your church plant youdo it on.
If you're going to make yourdecisions on your own, then I'm
out of this church completely.
This was the Holy Spirit talkingto me and I'm crying and I'm
weeping and and I'm like what amI?
What am I going to do in?
(40:36):
And and I'm like what am I,what am I gonna do?
And uh, lord just said say yes,stupid, let's, let's go.
And I did and we've hadprobably the greatest working
career together with anybodyI've I've ever met, and it's
been um, it's been fantastic.
And and we never.
We got some things we stilldisagree with, but they're
things that we like to disagreeon.
(40:58):
So I don't know who reallydisagrees or they just like
getting another leg up on theother guy.
But that was the Holy Spiritleading, leading me, and
sometimes, when you ask the holyspirit to do something, we
right away don't expect him todo it, and then, and when he did
(41:19):
it, does it right in front ofus.
We're like this can't be theholy spirit.
Yeah, so, um, the leading of theholy spirit, watch what you
pray, because God might beanswering it just exactly how
you prayed and you're soflabbergasted you don't get it.
And I think these are thethings, this leading of the Holy
(41:46):
Spirit, this is where you getto see God's heart, you get to
see him work.
But we really don't sit downlong enough.
One of the first thing book Ihad you read was the
Contemplative Pastor.
You need to sit down for anhour, at least an hour or two,
(42:06):
without a book, without a Bible,and just think and let the Holy
Spirit speak to you and he willanswer.
Well, finally, you sat down fora minute.
Now I can talk to you aboutwhat you asked about, and so the
leadership of the Holy Spiritis definitely a spiritual thing.
(42:30):
The leadership of the HolySpirit is definitely a spiritual
thing, but you need to quietdown and let him speak to you so
he don't yell at you like hedid me.
Speaker 2 (42:38):
Man, had I known the Holy Spirit was putting that
much pressure on you, I mighthave tried to renegotiate that
$200 a month.
Speaker 3 (42:45):
I don't think we had another $5 in the budget when we
first started.
Speaker 2 (42:52):
Yeah, man, he has been so faithful and if we'll
just give him that time, thatspace and here's what's so
important If you want to hearfrom the Lord in that way, the
best way I can tell you to do itis you need to be walking in
his ways.
As you study his word andthat's kind of the next one
(43:15):
we're going to talk about herein a minute but as you study his
word and walk in his ways, youbecome in tune with the Holy
Spirit, you begin to know God'sheart, and there's just some
things you don't have to prayabout Absolutely.
Should I forgive this person?
Yes, charlie Kirk's wife gotout there yesterday.
(43:38):
I forgive that man.
She said I don't want his bloodon my hands and I get to heaven
.
I can't be with Charlie becauseof my unforgiveness, so I
forgive him.
You don't have to pray aboutthat.
No, you do it.
And so when you start to dothose things, you start to
understand God's heart and thenyou begin to be in tune with it.
(44:01):
You're like David, a man afterGod's own heart.
And so situations in your lifecome up and the Holy Spirit's
going to talk to you.
I mean you think, was it Simeon?
The Holy Spirit said you'regoing to see the Savior.
I mean imagine being so in tuneI mean he didn't do nothing, we
don't handle anything elseabout this guy but he was so in
(44:24):
tune with the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit said hey,before you die, I'm going to
show you the Savior.
Speaker 3 (44:27):
So I know I told that big story, but what Ryan said
just now is so importantFollowing the leading of the
Spirit is not always a voice.
It's what would God want me todo in this situation?
What's his heart here and when?
You do God's heart, that's theleadership of the Holy Spirit.
(44:49):
And do you do God's heart,that's the leadership of the
Holy Spirit.
And do you feel that?
Sometimes you feel it, but alot of times you're feeling the
opposite.
But, in your brain.
You know God would do it thisway.
And when you do it that way, nomatter what you're feeling,
that's the leadership of theHoly Spirit.
(45:10):
That's how that works.
I know what God would want inthis situation.
His Word talks about it all thetime.
I don't have to choose what Ithink he would want me to do and
when I do it.
That's the leadership of theHoly Spirit in my life.
Speaker 2 (45:25):
I mentioned earlier, when I was in Iowa, I was there
visiting my cousin Greg, who wasa youth pastor, and he was
still doing his job.
You know, he wasn't on vacationthat week, so he just took me
around to all the things he wasdoing and I got to hang out with
Greg and that's my big cousinand so I was in heaven just
getting to hang out with him goto his youth ministry.
(45:46):
You know, they had this coolyouth group hangout thing and it
was like a big afterschoolthing where kids would come to
and play all these games in asafe environment.
I got to go and be a part ofthat and I just jam with them.
You know, we, we both playedinstruments and loved music and
so we got to hang out playing abunch of music and it was in
that time with Greg that I feltthe Holy spirit tell me this is
(46:10):
what you're called to, you'recalled to serve me this way.
And I was like and again I've,I've fought it for years.
I fought it every time it wouldcome up, I'd fight against it,
and that's that's what we want.
Is God to speak to us in thatway to tell you you know, hire
the man or I'm out?
You know we, we want God tospeak to us and he will, and he
(46:34):
will.
But Scripture says the HolySpirit.
One of the purposes that youhave the Holy Spirit is he will
lead you into all truth, that hewill search out and reveal to
you the deep things of God.
Well, what is truth?
Scripture says your word istruth.
And so this takes us to thevery last one, the word of God.
And if you remember, on Sundayyou know I was trying to.
(46:55):
I wish I had a physical windowbut I had to build it all on,
you know, powerpoint or Canva.
But at the very last slide Iraised up the bottom pane of the
window where it said word ofGod, and I put it over top of
the other ones so that theinfluence of others, the life
situations leading of the spirit, all of those things have to be
filtered through the word ofGod.
(47:19):
And you said this earlier theHoly Spirit will never tell you
to do something contrary to hisword.
But I won't know that unlessI'm in his word.
Speaker 3 (47:27):
Exactly Now the Holy Spirit can shout at you and
you'll say I don't know if thisis right or not, and the Holy
Spirit saying no, it's contraryto my word, go, look.
Yeah, you know um, and but wedon't, we don't do that, we just
go ahead and say that's weird.
Everybody's everybody's got afishing pole like this.
(47:48):
I should have one.
You know that's weird.
Everybody's got a fishing polelike this.
I should have one too.
And so you buy the boat, or youand a boat.
Let me tell you something, guysBoat is a commitment.
It is a commitment.
I'm looking at mine down at themarina right now and I've got
to scrape it and flush all thewater out and put all this and
(48:08):
I'm just looking at it going, ohmy gosh, do I have to do that
again this year?
And there's something alwaysbroke the rubber is always
broken.
Speaker 2 (48:17):
What I've determined through the leading of the
spirit is I just need a friendwith a boat.
Speaker 3 (48:21):
Thank you for being that friend.
It's a big thing, and you neverthink about that when you're
walking through the boat show.
Are you going to have time todo this?
What are you going to have tosacrifice on the weekends?
Is it going to be church, yourservice to me?
Are you going to come andworship me?
Just worship on the boat?
(48:44):
The question is, do you, though?
Do you really, and so theSpirit's going to lead?
And when you get a no, or youfeel this twinge in your heart
that maybe you shouldn't do this, you need to see if the Lord
wants to speak to you throughhis word on that, because that's
when we do.
I got a joke that my wife Ihope it's a joke that she played
(49:08):
on me.
Now I'm thinking, maybe that'snot funny.
So we got in a big fight and wewere struggling over some things
and Teresa said you know, Idon't know, I'm going to give up
on you.
And then I was reading thestory of Abraham, how he's
(49:32):
taking Isaac to the top of themountain, and he turned to his
servant and said stay here withthe ass.
And she said the Lord spoke tome and that's why I'm staying.
Gosh, I hope that was a joke, no, gosh, I hope that was a joke,
no.
(49:52):
So that kind of stuff happensto you sometimes, a turn of
phrase.
There was one when we werestruggling in ministry, and it
was again Teresa.
She said look at this righthere.
And I looked over it and it saidand Jesus returned to the Lake
(50:14):
shore and he was.
He was getting in the boat topreach and what we were praying
about is whether God was leadingus away from a church named
Lake shore.
And I was like, no, this is notwhat that means.
Means, you know, when you growin christ and you first get
(50:35):
saved and you're like, oh god,speak to me, and you open your
bible and close your eyes andpoint at the verse and and um,
you know, sometimes god willreward you with something like
that.
But that is baby games, rightyou know, you're just that
exception.
Right, those are puzzle piecesthat are really big and there's
only six and you can't reallymess it up.
Speaker 1 (50:56):
That type of thing.
Speaker 3 (50:57):
But as you grow, he's like look, you're going to have
to start living out the lightI've given you and you sometimes
questions that you're going tohave you're going to have to dig
for.
So that's what it looks like ina very basic, parochial way.
But it's bigger than that.
(51:17):
You know, um, forgiveness wasone.
I was reading this passage ofscripture um about no, I'm
trying to think what Jesus wassaying.
He was saying no, you don'tcome home and the master makes
you breakfast and takes care ofyou.
No, you work real hard and thenyou come home and you take care
(51:41):
of the master first.
And I'm like what does this allmean?
And as you track it back Ithink it's in matthew it tracks
back to the parable.
Peter said um, how many times Igot to forgive this guy?
(52:01):
And I'm like, how does?
And then jesus tells theparable about the guy who owed
millions of dollars and he wasforgiven.
And then some guy owed him, youknow, 20 cents and he threw him
in prison debtors prison untilhe was paid.
King found out about it andsaid this not happening, I
forgave you everything.
I'm going to put you in prisonand torture you until you pay.
(52:23):
Well, you can't pay from prison, you know you can't earn any
money there.
And prison, you can't earn anymoney there, and uh, and then
the lord says this will, this iswhat the lord will do to you if
you do not forgive your brother.
And I was like, how do thosetwo things go together?
And basically the lord wassaying I've got a standard that
(52:47):
you've got to meet.
You live for me, I don't existfor you.
And so the word of God justspoke to me right then.
I have to choose to forgive,even though I think I have a
right not to, and because that'smy job.
(53:07):
He's the master, I'm theservant, I command you to
forgive.
Well, lord, you know you got tolead me, you got to bring me to
the point you got to and he goesno forgive now, I'll give you
that stuff later, and that thatis.
Uh, we don't, we don't go homeand and let the Lord feed us and
take care of us.
We've still got to take care ofour responsibility to the master
(53:30):
, and it taught me a greatlesson right there, in a
circumstance where I was reallystruggling with my work
environment.
It was a, it was a wonderfulword from God, but I had to dig
for it.
I was over here, you know, likethree chapters beyond where he
(53:51):
was taking me, but I had to.
He made me fight for it and Iand I got my answer, and so
that's that's as you grow in theLord.
This is, this is what's goingto happen, but when that happens
to you, though it's, it's likeit's going in the database, you
know.
So the next time something likethat comes up, you don't have a
(54:11):
question.
You know's right, and you justdo it.
Speaker 2 (54:13):
Here's what we know.
His word is alive and it isactive.
It is useful for teaching,rebuking, correcting and
training in righteousness.
It never returns void, and thisis why it's so important to
have daily time in God's word.
And you might be reading stuffnow that you're like man I don't
know how this is ever going toapply to my life, but you just
(54:35):
keep reading it, you keepreading it, and then situations
in your life come up and youknow, you begin to know God's
heart, you begin to know how hewould respond in these
situations, and the Holy Spiritwill lead you in that direction
because you have his word.
You have now filtered everylife situation, every influence
(54:55):
of others, every leading of thespirit through his word and you
can be confident that you areliving in the will of God.
And this is why these sermonshave been so important and so
impactful, and I'm truly hopingand praying that you're taking
these things to heart as youcontinue to live this stuff out.
(55:17):
I believe God wants you to livelife on purpose.
Tim, I was thinking when westarted coming over here.
We were renting that barn overon milan avenue in amherst and
had a great relationship withthe owners there and, uh, we
(55:38):
didn't even have a lease thelast couple years right, he's
like I ain't got time for that.
Yeah, just whatever he literallysat us down, was like listen,
if I need your space, that meansI'm storing product, which
means I'm losing money.
So we're good, right.
Then COVID happened.
Their sales started booming,right, um, and they're like, hey
, we need that space.
(56:00):
And he, uh, he said, guys,really, I need you out in three
months.
I looked at it.
I was like, well, how, aboutsix?
He said, said I'll give youfive.
So I feel like I won thatnegotiation.
Five's closer to six than it isthree.
Um, we had five months to getout and, um, we started looking,
(56:20):
searching.
You and I were going to allthese buildings.
We were touring any spot thathad availability, rent for sale.
Speaker 3 (56:27):
We were looking at and we were like, okay, God's
got to do this.
I remember we were looking atbuildings that were $10,000 a
month.
Speaker 2 (56:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (56:38):
And so we'd say, we can do two.
Right and they're like whywould you even come here, yeah?
Speaker 2 (56:43):
why are we having this meeting?
Speaker 3 (56:46):
And we were just expecting.
Speaker 2 (56:47):
God to do something.
And so we're in this process oflooking.
Months are going by and a guyin our church, paul, was driving
down 113 and past this churchbuilding and saw some guys there
and he just drove right on pastit and the Lord said stop and
(57:08):
turn around.
Paul's like what in the world?
He told us later.
He's like I've never had theHoly Spirit or God speak to me
like that.
But he stopped, turned around,came knocked on the door and
some contractor opened the doorand he started getting some
information and he gives us theinformation, says hey, I don't
know what's going on here.
I was driving down that road.
(57:28):
Spirit told me to stop and turnaround, so I did.
Here's a number.
Speaker 3 (57:31):
You do it what you want now?
Listen, this is.
This is an important situation.
Four years before that, wewalked through our church and it
was a dump.
They had a river running downthe middle of the same building
the same building, same building, um the walls were, there was
black mold there was.
Well, I don't know, I don'tknow what black mold is, but
(57:53):
there was there's definitelymold.
There's stuff growing there.
It was.
It was just they.
They had quit taking care ofthe building.
That was four years ago andpaul called us and said the holy
spirit told me to stop.
That's never happened to mebefore.
Here's the number do what youwant, and I remember the
conversation we're having.
Well, that's a dump.
(58:14):
We don't want to go there, nomatter what.
Speaker 2 (58:15):
Yeah you and I looked at one another like no, yeah,
no, been there done that.
That place is is terrible.
I mean, there's the cost to tryto fix it up.
It ain't gonna happen.
Speaker 3 (58:25):
No, through God's word, through our life
experience, we know thatsometimes God speaks to people
and we were like, well, we'regoing to have to call.
Speaker 2 (58:40):
He spoke to Paul, and so we did.
Because God spoke to Paul, wecalled.
He didn't tell us, nope, we hadalready written up.
We weren't even looking at thisbuilding because we did before.
Yeah, and it was bad, we don'tneed to look there again.
God spoke to Paul and Iremember you and I saying, well,
I guess we're going to have tocall Right.
And we called reluctantly,right, just really, just to get
(59:07):
it out of the way, was reallywhy we called.
Well, he spoke to Paul, sowe'll get this call over with
the move on, keep looking atsome other buildings.
And through that one phone call, god began to line everything
up and within I think two months, we opened the doors, launched
Easter Sunday.
I think we actually did oursoft launch Good Friday, yeah,
launched Easter Sunday here inthe new building.
(59:28):
And man, I haven't looked back.
And you look back.
And this is what I talked abouton Sunday.
Why hindsight is so important?
Because you can look back andyou can just begin to see how
God was leading and guiding anddirecting all these things all
along the way.
We had five months to move anentire church.
How do you do that?
You know, and God opened thedoor and and the people that
(59:52):
we're involved with here thatown this building again, the
greatest people that you canwork with in the world.
Speaker 3 (59:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:00:00):
These people love.
Speaker 3 (01:00:01):
Jesus, they love Chris and John Callahan.
Every time I said, okay, we'regoing to try to move a bunch of
junk over there.
They were always there.
And Chris outworked all us guys.
I mean, they were always there.
And this is like, hey, we'vegot to do this now.
And they're like, we'll bethere.
And they had just came to ourchurch, they're brand new, and
(01:00:24):
they're like, okay, let's go,let's go.
And so many times I just leftthem to it.
Just do what John and Chrissays.
Speaker 2 (01:00:31):
It's a lot better.
Usually they do it their way,but man God has made.
Speaker 3 (01:00:37):
Just to say one more thing about that.
They had just walked in thedoor and said we'll do this.
Speaker 2 (01:00:44):
And God has been so faithful.
He sent us the right people atthe right time.
He gave us the rightopportunities, he opened the
right doors and all we weretrying to do is walk in his ways
and as we do that, god leads usin his will.
And I think you know coming outof COVID church was hard for
everybody.
You know churches were down.
(01:01:05):
I think we read you and I cameacross that one study and it was
I think two thirds of pastorsat one time were considering
leaving the ministry.
Speaker 3 (01:01:12):
Right, and one-third did, and the third man.
It was rough on pastors.
Speaker 2 (01:01:19):
I mean nobody was showing up, you couldn't get
anybody to engage, I meannothing seemed to be happening.
And so, coming out of COVID, wewere running anywhere from 80
to 110 maybe.
Speaker 3 (01:01:30):
That was a good Sunday.
Speaker 2 (01:01:31):
Yeah, and you look up a few years later and you've
got almost 300 people here onSundays.
And I tell our church, andespecially our church council
and our business meetings, it'snot about the numbers, but
behind every number is a nameand it's someone who desperately
needs to discover more inChrist.
And all you and I and our teamhave tried to do is to keep
(01:01:56):
walking in his ways.
And as we do that, we keepseeking his word, filtering
everything through it.
God, should we do this?
Should we take that opportunity?
Do we rent this building?
Do we say yes to that, thatministry or that opportunity?
And we just try to walk in hisways each and every time he's
led us in his will.
Speaker 3 (01:02:14):
Let me remind you how that works.
In my life I've heard God tellme some things through his word,
through other people.
In Ryan's life, god has toldhim some things through other
people, through his words,through life situations, and
because we know that's true inour own experience.
(01:02:34):
When Paul said here's thenumber God told me to give it to
you, we called.
And that's just because wealready know and there's some
things you already know and youmight be facing a decision to
make.
Look back on the things youalready know before you make
those decisions, because if youwalk in His ways, you will find
(01:02:58):
His will.
That's right.
Let's pray.
Speaker 2 (01:03:00):
Father, I thank you so much, lord.
I thank you for the peopleyou've put in our life.
I thank you for the situationsthat you've already arranged and
that you use in each of ourlives.
I thank you for your spiritthat leads and guides us in all
truth.
Father, I thank you for yourword.
That is true, it is thefoundation upon which we can
(01:03:21):
build our lives and, father, Ipray that you would help each
and every one of us to begin tofilter all these things through
your word, so that we can livelife on purpose.
Lord, we want to know your willand so, father, I pray each and
every day you'd give us thestrength, the confidence, the
wisdom and the discernment toknow how to walk in your ways In
Jesus' name, amen, amen andamen.
Speaker 1 (01:03:43):
Thanks again for joining us for this episode of
the Midweek Podcast.
We'd love to hear from you.
Let us know how God is usingthis resource in your life, or
send any podcast questions ortopic ideas to podcast at
afreshwindorg.
If you would like to supportthis ministry financially and
help us continue offering newresources that equip you to
discover more in Christ, simplytext any amount to the number
(01:04:07):
84321.
We're so grateful for yoursupport.
Make sure to tune in next weekfor a brand new episode of the
Midweek Podcast.
Be blessed and have a greatweek.
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