Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Hey, guys, this is naive. And you've reached the Mosaic Church Podcast. So excited that you're part of our listening community, and I'd love for you to be even more connected. So check out our website. There's more content there and there's more opportunities for you to get connected in our ministries and events as well. Also, love for you to share this content if this has blessed you. I know that God wants to use you to bless other people with it, so share this podcast.
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[00:00:59] Good morning.
[00:01:01] Okay, lesson. You guys excited? I'm excited to be here. You know why? Because I almost did not make it, friends. I did not make it. Almost didn't make it. I'll tell you why. Because on Friday, I got on the. In the biggest TSA line in the world. The longest, I kid you not, three and a half hour long. That's all we did, was shuffle, shuffle. There was thousands and thousands of people, and all of you walking through it was nuts. And I can't tell you, I'm like, I usually don't show up to the airport, you know, with time to spare, but I had four hours to spare. I don't know how I did that. And yes, it took all four hours.
[00:01:42] And I'll tell you what, have you ever been in a situation long enough and it's kind of miserable? You start having all kinds of thoughts like, why do I do this? I need to make better life choices. You know what I'm saying?
[00:01:52] So I thought that I was like, why am I traveling? Why am I doing this? We know that right now it's not a good time to travel. It's not a good time. What am I doing? Why? Why, Naeem? Why do you say these things? Why do you say yes to stuff? Okay, why do you do this? And then I got. I'm just thinking. And then I thought, you know what? There's a good reason. There's a good reason why I'm here. You know why? Because someone told me, a wise person told me once that everything happens for a reason.
[00:02:19] That wise person is not my friend anymore. Because that phrase never helped anybody anywhere, ever. You know what I'm saying? Didn't comfort anybody. But anyways, I'm there.
[00:02:29] And I'm like, I know why I'm here. I'm here because I was in D.C.
[00:02:33] with an organization and we are advocating for religious freedom all over the world. And so we're meeting with heads of states, ambassadors, and because of my background, because I've gotten religious asylum, just me being there, you know, they say it helps. And so talking to these guys. And so it's humbling to talk to ambassadors of different countries and all that and to be in their presence. And so I thought, you know what? It's a good reason. That's why I'm here. That's why I'm here. And then I thought, yeah, but still, you know, still, I don't need this. We can do better than three and a half hour long. You know, we can do this. Then another government shutdown. We can do better. And like, oh, yeah, but there are good reasons for it or bad reasons for it. Whatever, Whatever. Whatever. And what I've realized that it's really not about good reasons. Cause we always want good reasons. There's something actually more. There's actually more. In fact. In fact, let me throw out this question, okay?
[00:03:27] This is the question. Are you here. Are you here for a good reason, Good reason or for a. What? Great purpose? Okay, you guys are like, great purpose.
[00:03:41] Great purpose. Okay. Okay. Are you here for a good reason or a great purpose? Yes, like, great.
[00:03:48] Isn't that a commercial? Okay. Okay. Anyways, yeah. So are you here for that? Because here is the space that you're in right now. The season of life. Whatever.
[00:03:56] Maybe it's the. It feels like a line that's long enough and you're not going anywhere. Maybe it's a season of life. Maybe it's in a relationship there's a you're in. Maybe it's the financial situation you're in. Are you here, whatever. Here is for a good reason. You're like, yeah, I'm here for a good reason. And the reason is I made bad choices. That's what I'm here for. That's why. That's why. Good reason. Good reason. And my mom tells me all the time, you know, my family tells me good reason for why you are stuck, why you are this, why you are that. But the question is, could here have a greater purpose for you to serve? So I'm in this line. I'm in this line and I'm thinking these thoughts. I'm thinking all kinds of things. I got to befriend people around me. Obviously, you're there. You're stuck. Hello. So we're talking. We're talking. And you know that. And then finally, finally, three and a half hours later, or close to it, I can see. I can see the TSA machines, you know what I'm saying? The thing. I have not looked so forward to getting scanned. You know what I'm saying? I'm like, scan me, please. Like, let's go, let's go.
[00:04:54] So as we're turning the corner to do that, there's someone. I hear a voice that says, excuse me, sir. Excuse me.
[00:05:00] He didn't say, sorry. He said, just excuse me, bro or something.
[00:05:03] And I look at him, and there's a guy there and his daughter. And he goes, and he has his tickets. It's like, printed out tickets. And I was like, okay. And he goes, if we could just cut in line, we could make our flight.
[00:05:25] I was like, Oh.
[00:05:38] And I was looking at it like, yeah, yeah, you could make it. You could make it. If I let you in. If I let you in, I could do this. I could do this. And then he's like, I've been waiting for two and a half hours. I was like, yeah, try three and a half. Just try.
[00:05:54] I didn't say that to him. And I was like, ah. And then I thought. Then I thought, what if I said yes? If I said yes, the bro behind me, everybody else behind me, they're like, you did. You picked today to be kind today out of all days? You know how you're stuck in traffic and it's a lot. It's traffic, traffic. And then someone tries to be nice and let people in. You're like, what's wrong with you?
[00:06:18] This is not the day. This is not the day. We all have to get places. So I'm thinking, if I let this family in now, it's a family.
[00:06:25] I'm like, everybody's gonna be mad. Like, what am I gonna do? My kindness is going to create chaos. Like, am I gonna get a tap on the shoulder? Says, uh, no, this is all. We're voting on this thing.
[00:06:38] And I was like.
[00:06:40] Said, yeah, you could. Yeah, you could. Yeah, you could.
[00:06:43] I was like, go on in.
[00:06:45] Come on.
[00:06:46] And I was like, okay. And they got in. I said, just come on in. Just come on in. Just come on in. The good thing is they were brown, too. So I was like, we're just family. We're just family.
[00:06:56] We're just family.
[00:06:58] We're all daisies. Because he was Daisy. If, you know, you know. I was like, we're just family. And I was like. The whole time, I was like, I'm good, I'm good, I'm good. And I was just hoping no one in the back goes, hey.
[00:07:08] And they didn't.
[00:07:09] They didn't do it. And I was like. And then they went through, and I hopefully made their flight, maybe not, because all the flights were delayed.
[00:07:17] And then I thought, I am such an amazing person.
[00:07:22] Amazing person.
[00:07:23] And then I thought, you know what? No, no, no. I wasn't here in this line for 3 1/2 hours for a good reason. No, sir.
[00:07:31] Yes, I was here for what?
[00:07:33] A great purpose to get them to get there on their flights.
[00:07:38] Yeah, Forget everybody else.
[00:07:40] You guys go, yes.
[00:07:43] Did it, did it, did it. Why do I say this? I say this because I share this story. Because, first of all, that's why I'm glad to be here, okay? I didn't get beat up by all those thousands of people. But secondly, there are moments in life where God kind of throws a situation at you, and you're like, ah, it's always complicated. You know what I'm saying? It's complicated because for you to do the right thing, it costs you. Have you ever realized that it costs to do the right thing, it also costs to do the wrong thing.
[00:08:13] Crime does not pay, but it costs you other people's opinion about who you are. It costs you a lot of things. And so I just want you to know we're gonna be talking about purpose in life, where God has you here for a greater purpose. But I need you to know the purpose. Purpose comes with a price.
[00:08:31] Comes with a price. It comes with misunderstanding. People misunderstand you, maybe rejection. It comes with failure. It comes with a lot. It comes with some other things, not always good things.
[00:08:41] I mean, it comes with great purpose because it comes with satisfaction in life, but it is always going to come with a price. So I say this because we're gonna jump into an Old Testament story. What's Testament?
[00:08:53] Old Testament story of woman who finds herself in a very dysfunctional marriage. Now, she's not even part of the marriage initially, but she finds herself, like, thrust into a dysfunctional house, a dysfunctional marriage, like I said, but also a dysfunctional kingdom and government system. She just finds herself there. And so her name is actually. Her name is Hadassah. Can you say Hadassah?
[00:09:20] Hadassah actually has a book in the Bible. And you're like, no, sir, I've read the Bible. And. And there is no book of Hadassah. Yes, because her name Also is Esther, Queen Esther. And she, my friend, definitely has a book.
[00:09:36] So we're gonna jump into that. So if you have the Bible, if you got the app, you can jump on there as well. We'll put it on the screen for you. And so here's how it starts off. Now before I get into the first passage, I gotta lay this groundwork. Okay, here's the story. The story is as a king, he's Persian. He's what?
[00:09:52] He's Persian. She is Jewish. Jewish and Persian. He's King Xerxes. There's movies about him. Okay, so he's a king. He is pretty temperamental. He goes up and down, very emotional, does what he wants to do. And one night he's hanging out with his boys. Who's he hanging out with?
[00:10:12] Boys. All the boys make some sound like, wow, wow, that was.
[00:10:18] I know. Some other people need to join the boys. The men make some noise, do something.
[00:10:25] Wow. I know.
[00:10:27] Well, let's do a choir. Let's do that. So he's hanging out with his boys. He's hanging out with boys. And you know, sometimes when boys get together, you know, guys get together. And when there is alcohol involved, it's never a good thing, right? It's never a good thing. And so, yeah, they're hanging out, they're having time of their lives. And then guess what? The king has a great idea. He, he was like, hey, by the way, by the way, by the way, my wife is so hot.
[00:10:54] What, what's going on? What's happening here? He was like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, she is pretty. She is, she's gorgeous. She's so attractive, you know, and the guys are like, uh, okay, bro, like, why are you talking about this? And he goes, no, no, no, no, no, no, I'm telling you, guess what? Let me call her out here, Let me call her out here.
[00:11:16] And so could you imagine the scene? He's with his boys and then he sends word to, you know, the other side of the palace, says, hey, your husband, the king wants you to come out and wear that dress he likes.
[00:11:29] Could you imagine that happening in your house? Anybody?
[00:11:32] No.
[00:11:33] What would any self respecting woman do?
[00:11:37] Not go. You're like, excuse me, what? You want me to come out?
[00:11:44] What, what are you saying? What are you saying? And that's exactly what happens. What happens is that she does not come out. So if she doesn't come out, she's like, you know what?
[00:11:56] I'm not coming out. And you better be out of the, you better be out of the house. Before I get here, like, this is a bad scene.
[00:12:03] It's interesting, but he is with his. What?
[00:12:08] He's with bros. He's with his boys. He's like, hey, hey. So they get word that she's not gonna come out. Now, you would think that the king would be like, you know what? I don't know what I said, it's all good, guys. Let's talk about the game. I don't know. Whatever.
[00:12:21] No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Now the guys are, like, kind of hyped up. They're like, what? I cannot believe she did that to you, bro. She can't do that to you. She can't do that to you. No respect. Get no respect in this house. Yeah, she needs to do exactly what.
[00:12:37] So we see this and this. My friends, I'm making a lot of it, but it's a very sad story. Such dysfunction happening here. Okay? So they start talking to the king. They go, hey, hey, let me just tell you, this is what we think is gonna happen, okay? And then this is what they say to the king. They're like, hey, listen, listen. Queen Vashti, your queen. Yeah. She has wronged not only the king, the great king, but also what? Every noble citizen throughout the empire.
[00:13:11] Really?
[00:13:12] Because she refused to come out. Yeah, yeah, she's done that. And then. Did you read this? Then check this out. It says, women what everywhere. Will begin to do what?
[00:13:24] Despise their husbands. Guys, this is the end of the world as we know it.
[00:13:29] If she doesn't listen, men are not gonna get any respect.
[00:13:33] You. No, no, no. You need to put your foot down, King. You need to do something. This is crazy. And so he says, they won't respect. And they learn that Queen Vashti has refused to appear before the king. Can't believe it. No, no, no, no.
[00:13:49] It says, before this day is out. Before this day is out, the wives of all the king's noble throughout what, Persia and media, will hear that Queen Vashti did and will start treating.
[00:14:08] Isn't that hilarious? Will start treating their husbands the same way.
[00:14:14] Wow. And that's a good thing or a bad thing? Yes, it's a good thing. What? And then he says, and there will be no end to their. What?
[00:14:25] Contempt and anger for some of you, I'm blowing your mind. You're like, this is in the Bible. Yes. This is in the scriptures. This is interesting. Like, this is happening.
[00:14:34] They're like, oh, my gosh.
[00:14:36] If they do this, if you let the women get away with this, they're Gonna what?
[00:14:41] Take over.
[00:14:43] They're gonna take over. There'll be no respect for the men. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. You're the king of this castle.
[00:14:51] You gotta man up. You gotta do some stuff. And this is how dysfunctional it was. So what happens then after that? What happens is that they start talking, and the king doesn't just kind of relax. No. What he says is, that night he goes, you know what? You know what? I am king. I am king. Guess what? I'm gonna get me another queen.
[00:15:09] What?
[00:15:10] Yes. I'm gonna get me another queen. See, that's what happens when you don't have other people in the room to tell you, that's not a good idea.
[00:15:16] Okay? When you don't have any other women in the room, that's not a good idea. All the guys are like, that's a great idea, man. You go ahead and do that. She's like, I'm gonna do it tonight. We're starting it tonight. And so they go out and start finding women to make queen instead of his wife.
[00:15:32] How dysfunctionally awful is this?
[00:15:36] And that's how.
[00:15:38] And that's where Hadassah Esther jumps in. In the story, because guess what? They find her, and the king picks her.
[00:15:50] And so she is now thrust into this dysfunctional administration, this dysfunctional family marriage. She's just. She's like, in there. And here's what happens in Esther 2. It says, and the king. And the king, out of all the other people, loved. Who loved who?
[00:16:12] Esther. He just met her, but sure, he loved her. Okay? More than any other young woman. He was so delighted with her that he set the. What royal crown from on her head and declared her queen instead of Vashti.
[00:16:33] Okay, could you imagine being in a situation where you're like, I don't want this, because he picked her.
[00:16:41] Sadly, what the story is, he picked her because of her looks, and she's more than that. But he didn't care. He picked her because of that, because of who he was, the guy that he was. But he was picked. But she was picked to be in this place. And I can only imagine she's like, I don't even want to be picked. In fact, the story alludes to the fact that she did not want to be found out. But she was also. Also, she was Jewish, and he was, what, Persian? So that's an issue as well. So they just called it hush, hush. And that time they were like, hey, listen, if he picks a Jewish person, I mean, it's good for everybody. And it's gonna be great because there's Persians in the land, but Jewish people were the minority. And they were like, this is good for us and all that. And she's like, I don't wanna do this. I don't wanna be here. And sometimes we find ourselves in places that we say, I. I don't wanna be here. I don't wanna be here. I got picked for whatever reason I got picked for. I don't wanna do this. And it seems like. It seems like will happen here. It seems like God spoke to her through this cousin. And it seems like God is showing her that you're not here for the good reason, because you are pretty and you're attractive. No, that's not it. There's a greater purpose to where I have you here for. And the king might have picked you because of your looks, but I'm picking you. And you don't know this, but I've picked you to be in this place because of your character. See, man, or people look on the outside, but God looks on the inside. And I just have you here. But she was like, I just don't know. I just don't know why I'm here. Okay, we're just gonna go with this. And then all of a sudden, this story has another character.
[00:18:24] And this guy's name is Haman. He comes into the picture, and Haman's part of the king's royal officials. And he has beef with the Jewish people. And he wants to get to a point where he wants to eradicate. I mean, commit genocide. He wants to kill all the Jews. And he gets the king, you know, because the king is temperamental. He gets him and convinces him to do that, and they start doing that. So now you've got the queen Esther, who is now queen, and she is what? She's not Persian. She's what?
[00:18:54] She's Jewish. And then you've got all this guy in the government trying to go and kill all the Jews. So now what's happening, Queen is. Esther is like, I'll just keep my mouth shut because I don't think she knows that I'm actually Jewish. But so now they're killing all the people. And guess what happens? What happens is they start doing that. And Queen Esther has a cousin and he is a part of the story too, because he starts talking to her and goes, hey, do you know what's happening outside the palace? Do you know what's happening outside the palace? And she's like, I don't want to know. I don't want to know, well, they're killing all of us.
[00:19:31] They're killing all of us.
[00:19:34] All of us.
[00:19:36] And she's like, I just don't know. I just don't know. And so we pick it up, and this is Mordecai, the cousin, talking to Esther and says, he says, if you keep quiet at this time, at a time like this, God will deliver the Jews from some other source.
[00:20:00] I just want you to know that he's gonna find another way to make this happen.
[00:20:05] But if you keep quiet, but if you keep quiet, you and your relatives will die. This will eventually catch on to you.
[00:20:17] I just want you to know. You can hide and say, no, no, no, the rest of the world, no, no, you can catch on. It'll catch up to you. And he says, what's more, who can say?
[00:20:27] Who can say but that God? Who can say but that God? Like, maybe, maybe, just maybe. Who can say? I'm not quite sure, but I think God's a part of this equation. God has brought you into this palace for what?
[00:20:44] For such a time as this, for this very moment, for this opportunity.
[00:20:52] You got picked because of. You think you got picked because of your looks, but God picked you because of your character. He sees the courageous, beautiful woman you are inside, the brave person he put you. He put you in this place for a reason. And so you have to do this. You have to do this.
[00:21:10] So what is she thinking? What's happening? I mean, I'm thinking about this, and I can only imagine this is how it went down.
[00:21:16] So Mordecai goes to her, also known as Eminem, he says, hey, look, if you had one shot, one shot, one opportunity to seize everything you ever wanted.
[00:21:34] One moment you captured, just let it slip away, yo.
[00:21:41] His palms are sweaty knees, weak arms.
[00:21:46] It's probably not how it went down, but I feel like we should do this from sermons, the Bible, Eminem style.
[00:21:54] So Mordecai probably didn't do that, but he definitely told her, hey, you do have one shot. You do have one opportunity. This is it.
[00:22:03] This is it.
[00:22:04] And it will save the people. Not in your world, but in the world. See, sometimes we find ourselves, like, in our place, and we're so worried about our space, right? I know I live in my world. I live in this church. I'm part. And all my concerns sometimes are about this church, this local church, and what I'm doing here. And just going on that trip this week, sitting down with heads of states and religious leaders, talking to imams and talking to Christians and pastors. And rabbis. I mean, it's just interesting how the world is so big, yet so connected that we are all connected. And so the reason why I was doing this work, and I'm part of this work, is because they're realizing is that if the followers of Jesus need to advocate for not just. Not just religious freedom when it comes to Christianity, but religious freedom throughout. And so every religion in every country is allowed, they are allowed to practice their religions without being persecuted and without discrimination. And it's a bigger work. It's just not bigger work just to save all the Christians in all these persecuting countries. No, no, no. It's to save all people of faith, to save them all, to save our humanity. And that's what. What Mordecai says, He says, I'll tell you something. Will die. Your humanity will die. And see, for us, sometimes when we look into in our lives and we're just focused in our world and we don't see what's going on outside, we just think it's not gonna affect us. But friends, it's gonna affect us. What happens here affects the world we live in. We might be like, ah, but it's not affecting me. But it's not affecting me. And the truth is, there are some things that happened recently that they don't necessarily affect me, right? They don't necessarily. When the price of eggs went up, right? Everybody was like, oh, my gosh, the price of eggs. Guess what? Who was not worried about the price of eggs? Me. Cause I don't do the grocery shopping. I don't even. Now the gas prices have gone up. Here's what. It bothers me.
[00:24:09] It annoys me that it's gone up, but it doesn't affect me. Does that make sense? It doesn't mess up my spending habits. It doesn't change what I do. But I know people who are like, I cannot afford gas now.
[00:24:25] I can't afford to live now. I can't afford these things. Why? Because I live in my world.
[00:24:32] It doesn't affect me, but it will.
[00:24:36] See what the way we live, our faith out affects not just your family, not just Mosaic, not just Charlotte, not just the U.S. it affects China, Iran, all these other countries.
[00:24:57] What we do here affects the world around us and about us. See the key.
[00:25:04] So this passage reminds us that when we really, truly understand the Great Commission, we understand that Jesus, Jesus goal for the Great Commission. The Great Commission is to go and tell the world. Make disciples of all nations, not just one nation of all nations. What he's saying Here is, I want you to grow the kingdom. And I gotta be honest, sometimes I feel like I'm just trying to grow the church, maybe just to grow the church in America. And God's saying, well, that's beautiful. That's great. But I'm trying to grow the kingdom. And so what we do here, the question is, is it good for the kingdom or is it just good for our church?
[00:25:46] That's a big difference. And here, the story reminds us that it's always about something that's bigger because there's good reasons for why Mosaic or why we are doing what we're doing, but there is a greater purpose that we are serving.
[00:26:03] And so what does she do?
[00:26:06] Hadassah does the right thing, the dangerous thing, the most courageous thing that she could do. She could have just lived her life in the palace and said, whatever, whatever.
[00:26:17] I'm not gonna do this. But she's like, I gotta speak up for my people. I gotta take a chance. And I know this king is just temperamental. I don't know what he's gonna do.
[00:26:27] So here's what happens.
[00:26:30] So then says Esther sent this reply to Mordecai, Go.
[00:26:38] Go and gather together all the Jews of Susa and pray and fast for me.
[00:26:46] Get them all. Get all the surviving ones, and let's start praying. Let's start fasting. He says, do not eat or drink for three days, day, night, or day.
[00:26:56] And my maids and I will do the same. And we are going to cover this in prayer. We are going to cover this decision in prayer. We are going to do this. And then.
[00:27:08] And then, though it is against the. What?
[00:27:11] The law, I will go in to see the king.
[00:27:18] And if I must die for this, what does she say?
[00:27:27] I must die.
[00:27:28] It's like I'm.
[00:27:30] If this is it, this is the purpose, then I'm gonna step into it, and I'm just gonna do it. And if this is the purpose that I was set in place for such a time, of this, come what may, I'm gonna do this.
[00:27:44] I'm gonna do this.
[00:27:46] And so what seems like a story of a woman who's just known for her beauty, now she's known for her courage and inner strength. She's appreciated for that. The story of her is not stories of how gorgeous she was. No, the story of this is how courageous she was.
[00:28:06] And that's the story of women throughout history, because women have been the most courageous people in the world that we know, because they step into it, and they know that whatever happens, happens.
[00:28:26] But like I said, purpose comes with a. What comes with a price. There's a cost to it.
[00:28:33] And the cost for her was her life.
[00:28:36] And so as I think of, like, where we might be as a church, there's a cost to stepping into a greater purpose. We've been talking about, you know, trying to raise a million dollars in two years, and some of you guys are already committed to that. And I asked some of you guys last week to take this and put down a prayer, something out of faith. Just maybe write something that's a prayer connected to what you are going to give and. And to commit to it. And that today was gonna be the Sunday that we were gonna pray over this. And we did this in the first service, and it was beautiful, people pledging to make this happen. And it's really great, but it comes with a cost. It comes with a cost of just, like, this risk of failure. So as I was away standing in that line, you know, shuffling, Mike Smith, Pastor, called me, and he was like, hey, man, what you doing? I'm like, nothing much. Just, you know.
[00:29:33] He's like, you got time? I got all the time in the world.
[00:29:37] He's like, hey, so I got some bad news, and I got some good news.
[00:29:42] Now, what do you guys do when people say that? I go for what? I'll tell you what I go for. What do you go for? Bad news. I do. We all do, apparently. I go, give me the bad news. Give me the bad news.
[00:29:52] He goes, well, so I approached our bank to loan us the money to buy the space, and they rejected us.
[00:30:04] I was like, oh, oh.
[00:30:08] I said, what's the good news?
[00:30:11] He was like, well, there are more banks out there. I was like, okay, all right, buddy. I know that.
[00:30:21] He's like, yeah, there are banks out there. There are more banks out there. I was like, okay, great.
[00:30:26] Bank said, we're gonna. I said, what's the problem? He was like, well, the problem is that they look at pledges.
[00:30:32] They look at the number of pledges that come in and the money, and we gotta get pledges in. And I was like, okay, well, we got one more week to talk about it. And he was like, yeah, you better bring it.
[00:30:43] I was like, dude, I don't think I'm gonna make it. I'm gonna be in this line forever.
[00:30:49] And he was like, well, just so you know, what? We gotta get pledges. And I wanted to let you know this because, listen, there is a risk of us falling flat on our faces. We might not be able to get the pledges the money, and we're just gonna figure out what to do here.
[00:31:04] We don't know. We don't know because we need money to buy it and build it, and we need the banks to.
[00:31:12] Yeah. So if you guys wanna take this and write a name of a bank or something, I don't know.
[00:31:18] You know.
[00:31:20] Yeah. So anyways, last week there were people who pledged, right? And so on Tuesday, we pray over them and pray over all kinds of things. And so I got one of these cards on Tuesday, and I looked and it was actually filled out. Now, we use this card just to let you know, hey, this is an amount that you could kind of pick. You know, I'm saying you could. You could pick this and. And one of the amounts is like, you know, you can pick, you know. You know, for two years, you can pick $2,000. And monthly it breaks it down to $83 a month, right? Which is 20 bucks a week. And I just thought this would be good for people to kind of, you know, break it down, understand that. So I looked at the card and it said there was a commitment for 2000 in two years.
[00:32:05] And it was $83 a month. And I was like, okay, cool. And then I looked at the name and I was like, I think I asked Ashley or someone. I said, is this for real?
[00:32:19] Like, who is it? You sure about this?
[00:32:21] Because I know this girl.
[00:32:25] Because it's a girl.
[00:32:28] She's 13.
[00:32:31] So I was like, is this for real?
[00:32:35] So I did whatever you all were supposed to do. I called Mom. I was like, hey, so did you know you are.
[00:32:43] You were signed up for a pledge? And she was like, no, that's hers.
[00:32:47] That is hers. I said, are you serious about this? She's like, oh, yeah, she's already given her first installment and she's going to do it. She's figured out how she can do 20 bucks a week and figure it out, and she's going to do it for two years.
[00:33:02] And I was like, I like, what came to mind is Psalms 1:45, where it's the passage. It's the passage where it says, one generation, right? One generation will declare your works to the next and will proclaim your mighty acts. And I thought about this. I'm like, she is actually not waiting for other people to invest in her generation. She is saying, I'm doing it.
[00:33:35] I'm like, whoa, okay.
[00:33:37] Wow, that's amazing. And let me just tell you, if you have some kind of cynicism, which we all deal with, right? You're like, Is she gonna actually do it?
[00:33:51] I don't care.
[00:33:54] She made the first payment.
[00:33:56] That's gonna be more than some people.
[00:33:59] She made the first one. I don't care. What she's saying is, I'm gonna do this with faith, with sacrifice. I'm going to step into this. I'm gonna do this. So she, I don't know about you. And they might be like, I don't know, I don't know. But I'll tell you what she gets, she gets the Queen Esther award. You know what I'm saying?
[00:34:18] I'm like, yes, because that story that she is writing at 13, she is going to tell when she's 30 or 83 years old. That story is going to be told.
[00:34:34] So I just want to challenge all of us. Hey, where you are right now, you're here? Are you just trying to figure out a good reason why you're here?
[00:34:43] Maybe you're here for a greater purpose when it comes to your marriage, when it comes to your finances, when it comes to your career, especially when it comes to this church.
[00:34:56] You're here for such a time as this, I believe, to help us step into what God has for us. So what I want you to do is I want to pray for us. And I want you to, yeah, write down a prayer here and please hang this on either sides. But then also go to the app, go online, tap the tag on your seat and pledge, because that's gonna help us really possess what God has for us.
[00:35:26] And so it doesn't matter how much you do, you know, how much one 13 year old did, but man, that's pretty amazing. So I'm gonna pray for us.
[00:35:40] Let me do that.
[00:35:42] Let's pray together. Lord God, thank you.
[00:35:47] Thank you for your love for us.
[00:35:49] Thank you for being with us, God, in moments where we don't know what's happening, when we're trying to figure out why we're here and what's going on.
[00:36:02] You got. Those are good questions.
[00:36:05] And we are looking for good reasons why we need to do what we are supposed to do and be here for whatever reason, God. But I pray that you would move us from good reasons to great purpose in our lives, in every area of our life.
[00:36:25] That way we understand, God, that life with you is not finding good reasons. It's about fulfilling a great purpose. A purpose that's bigger than ours.
[00:36:36] It's not our purpose, it's your purpose, God.
[00:36:41] So, God, I pray. Would you lead us? Would you allow us?
[00:36:46] Would you speak to people, all of us, God, of what you want us to do today.
[00:36:55] God, who knows?
[00:36:57] We're sitting here, we're watching here.
[00:37:00] You brought us here for such a time as this.
[00:37:07] So God I pray as we respond, as we think about it, as we worship, as we sing this song. God speak to us in Jesus name. God I pray.
[00:37:21] Thanks for listening to this message from Mosaic church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
[00:37:27] For more audio and video content, visit us at MosaicChurch TV.
