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] So if you are a guest, welcome. If you are fairly new to Mosaic, welcome. We've been in this conversation, and you're like, you know, what's this church all about? And you're like, I've been coming for a couple of weeks. Yes. We've been in a series called Legacy, and it's really about talking about this moment in history of our church where God is calling us to step in, or I would say, jump into what he's doing. And he's kind of opened a door for us, and we're talking about what it means to actually not just buy this space, but actually move towards the next season of Mosaic. So I'm pretty excited about it. But today I wanna dive into that. But I wanna ask you. I don't wanna ask you a question.
[00:01:37] I wanna ask you if you agree with this. Okay. Would you agree, though, that we all like to be in control?
[00:01:43] Come on. Come on. Those of you who are not, you're like, no, I just. I don't. It's not like I wanna be in control. I just want things to be done right.
[00:01:51] And most of the time, you know, if they're done my way, they are.
[00:01:55] They're right. So I don't need to be in control. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We all like to be in control. But have you ever been in control and been terrified at it?
[00:02:05] Terrified. I had this moment, okay? I remember this guy who was sitting right next to me. He was like, okay, man, it's all yours. It's all yours. And when he. When he said that, I'll tell you where we were. We were in a plane, a rinky dink plane in the air. And he Was the pilot. And he said, okay, man, you got it. It's all yours. And I was like, no, I don't. He's like, you're in control. And he was like, okay, whatever that handle is. And I was like. I said, what to do? He was like, just don't do anything. I was like, okay.
[00:02:39] And I'm like, I don't know what was happening. I was like, why is the plane moving?
[00:02:42] Why is it going? And it was the most terrifying moment in my life. Terrifying. But I tell you, still, though, I have control issues. I still do. I still like to be controlled and I still like it. But, you know, I want to make a case, though, today that maybe, just maybe, you and I are wired up not to be out of control. That we were created. Created to be what? Out of control. Now, some of you parents are like, don't. I pray my kid does not hear this. I pray my toddler does not hear this, because he is living his best life. He's totally out of control.
[00:03:17] That's happening. And Naeem, I don't even know. I don't like this message because I like to be in control. And I think people need to control themselves. And let me just say this. I'm not saying you shouldn't handle your business.
[00:03:27] You should handle your business and your kids.
[00:03:30] And your kids. But I think you were created to not always be in control of everything in your life.
[00:03:36] That in fact, that some of us are stuck in life not knowing what the next move is because we want to attempt something. And we don't know we wanna attempt this or we're trying to step into, like, another perspective in our lives, but we were not sure what's wrong. It feels like we can't move forward. And I would say that possibly it's your level of control, like how much you have control over your own life, that you have control over your. Your relationships, over your finances, over the quality of your life. And see, we want to live. We wanna be generous people, but we wanna control our finances. We wanna have healthy relationships, but we wanna control the people in our relationships. We want this life, but I think the only way to step into it is to dive in and to lose control.
[00:04:26] And what God wants us to realize is that if you're gonna have a relationship with him, only one person's gotta be in control.
[00:04:33] And it can't be you. It can't be you. So in my case, like, if I'm flying this plane, it's not that God's my co pilot. No, God Is the plane like God? That's it. Like his plan, his ways. And for most of us, we spiritually get stuck not being able to really get the healing we want, get the peace that we desire not to live the life that we really wanna live. It's because. Not because we're sinful and not because we're not special enough and God doesn't like us. No, it's because we just wanna be in control.
[00:05:10] And it's tough. It's tough. Why? Especially if you're super talented. If you're talented and smart, if you're talented, smart and good looking, we don't like you, okay? But if you're all those things, you're like, everything I do touches to gold, turns to gold. Like, everything. I make the right calls, I do the things, dude, I'm super successful. Why, like, some of you guys are like, let me have America, I'll fix it, right? You're like, yes, I will fix it. Just give me control. Just give me control of the government. There will be no shutdown, okay? All planes will be flying. All kinds of things are happening.
[00:05:50] I know we struggle with this. So here's what I wanna do. I wanna take you to a passage of scripture. It's a peculiar passage. It's in Ezekiel, the book of Ezekiel. Anybody heard of the book of Ezekiel? Ezekiel, chapter what, 47. Now, before we get into that, you can remove that. Sharon, you can remove that. Get rid of that right now. Yeah, go back to that. Yeah, yeah, before we get into that, before we get into that, I want to share with you that this passage is a vision that this guy got. And sometimes when we look at the scriptures, we end up thinking everything is written to us and it's not. It's not written to us, but it is for us.
[00:06:28] It is how we can look at it and see how God moves in people's lives. And so in this particular passage or to this particular book, Ezekiel is talking to a group of people who find themselves stuck in grief, stuck in misery. Why? Because they had been exiled to Babylon, which was a very historical moment in history for the Jewish people at the time. And they lost a lot of things and they didn't know how to move forward, and so they were just stuck. And God sent them two major prophets, and Ezekiel is one of them, Jeremiah is the other one. Ezekiel has these visions and then he starts to communicate to what God wants his people to do. The problem is Jeremiah is super practical and he knows what he tells you you can actually do. Ezekiel is like, I Don't know what he's on. You know what I'm saying? Cause he's getting all kinds of visions. And since this particular vision, I think, speaks to us. Now, let me tell you how I landed there. I landed in this passage. Not because I love reading Ezekiel. No.
[00:07:28] You know what I'm saying? No one does. No one does. Actually, you know, it's not. It's not the same as the John 3:16 vibe. It's not. It's a whole different scenario. You're like, what?
[00:07:37] You read it. You're like, what is happening? The reason why I got introduced to this is because I got invited to speak at an event recently. And here's the funny thing. The funny thing is that when I'm about to talk to you, I had to actually live it out.
[00:07:50] So this is. Which is crazy. Ironically, I have a tendency. And Ashley will attest to this. I have a tendency to say yes and then ask what the deal is to events.
[00:08:01] That's why she's my handler. She's like, no, I'll say no for you. And I'm like, good, Great. I'm still the good guy. Okay.
[00:08:08] So I said yes to this event.
[00:08:12] And then I started looking up, like. She's like, it's good. It's solid.
[00:08:17] It's awesome. Now, what was good and solid was because the event was in Laguna beach, and they were gonna put us up in a really nice place, and it just happened to be our anniversary. And Ashley was like, yes. I don't care what you gotta do. I don't care what you gotta do. Just do it and do it well. Cause they're paying well. I was like, okay, okay. So I looked into it, and here's the deal. The deal was they were getting these. The five or six large Bible translator organizations, like Biblika and some others, they were coming together, and this was a fundraiser for them to raise, like, a gazillion million dollars.
[00:08:54] And they wanted me to come and speak twice. And. And two other speakers, and they were like, oh, oh. So I had a zoom call with them. They were like, yeah, yeah. So this is what. So, yeah, so, you know, we want you to do it. And I'm like, so I'm starting the event and I'm ending it. And they're, like, asking the big ask. And the audience is a small group of people, but they are billionaires. So I'm like, you want me to do what?
[00:09:22] Cause in my mind, I'm like, I'm trying to raise just 1 million, and I barely I have anxiety about that. And now I gotta do this talk that's gonna get people given so much money. And then I thought, can I get a commission?
[00:09:37] I mean, you know, I feel like if I'm doing a lot of the work.
[00:09:42] Stimmy. What? I don't even know what is 5. What is 0.1% of a billion? I'll take that. I'll take that.
[00:09:49] And so. And they were like, and it'll be great that if you could Preach from Ezekiel 47.
[00:09:55] I was like, are you?
[00:09:57] Yes.
[00:09:58] Yes. Cause Ashley was like, say yes. Say yes.
[00:10:02] So let's jump into Ezekiel 47. Here's how it starts. It starts off, and it says that the man. Now, this is Ezekiel having a vision of, like, God or an angel or the Lord speaking to him. He calls him the man. He says, the man brought me back to. To the entrance of the temple, and I saw what?
[00:10:22] Water. Water coming down out from under the threshold of the temple towards the east. Okay, so basically, just imagine that he's showing him this temple, and there's this. There's a little bit of water coming. And it says here the water was what? It was trickling from the south side. Now, again, there's just so much to talk about and so much you can dissect in Ezekiel. We're not gonna go there, because it'll blow your mind and blow my mind. But what we do see here is that God shows something to Ezekiel. And I wonder, is that how God speaks to us? He shows us a little trickle of something?
[00:10:58] Have you noticed that God, when he speaks to us, it's never a hello, hey.
[00:11:03] It's always a shh, psst, psst, psst, psst.
[00:11:08] This is important.
[00:11:09] And isn't it always, like, a moment that you could miss?
[00:11:13] It's like you find yourself going. I think that's why we have language like that.
[00:11:17] I think. I have a feeling.
[00:11:19] I think God is saying, maybe. I'm not quite sure. We don't know. Like, why is it that we drive around, then we see a sign? We're like, God speaking to me. Yeah. Why? Because God's always like, this trickle. It's like. It's a little bit. A little bit. It's a little bit. So he shows him just a little bit.
[00:11:35] But then he continues. He continues. He continues. This guy starts walking him towards that. And it says here, as a man went eastward with a measuring line in his what hand. He measured off a. What? Thousand cubits, right? And then led me through water. And that was. That was What?
[00:11:56] Ankle deep. So he goes, he takes him and he sees this water. But now there's. There's. There's an ankle deep situation going on. I love ankle deep water.
[00:12:04] How many of you are beach people? Any beach people in the house?
[00:12:07] Okay, I'm beach people. Any mountain people?
[00:12:10] Okay. Okay. Any pool people?
[00:12:13] Yes. Right? Yes. So with my kids, like, we lived on, like, you know, we lived in Charleston, South Carolina for a long time. And I mean, I love the idea of the beach. Don't get me wrong, I love the beach, but I love, like, I'm not like all in there snorkeling and, you know, getting attacked and eaten by sharks. I'm not doing that.
[00:12:35] I like the idea of it. I do. And so my relationship with the beach is always like, I always go in and what you do is you ankle deep. It. You know what I'm saying? You touch the water and you go, oh, it's too cold. It's too cold. It's too much. It's too much. So here he goes, and he sees that.
[00:12:50] And what happens next is that it keeps on going. So then the guy keeps on moving with him and he starts measuring up. And he says, here, he measured another thousand cubits and led me through water. That was what, knee deep? Knee deep. Now, so we're so. See the image here? We're walking. He shows him and he's walking. And now the water's getting water. The water's getting a little higher.
[00:13:14] Getting a little higher.
[00:13:16] Well, it doesn't stop there, right? And then he measured off, what, another thousand? And he led me through water that was, what, up to the waist? See, that's a different level, right, of commitment there.
[00:13:30] Right, right. If you're ankle deep in your beat in the beach, and you parents, you. You guys know when you have kids, they want to just run out, go out there and you're like, please be okay. And then they're like, dad, mom or whoever, come, come, come. And you go ankle deep. And you're like, okay, it's fine, it's fine. And knee deep. You're like, I'm here.
[00:13:47] Do your thing. I can watch you.
[00:13:50] I don't want to do it.
[00:13:51] You do it.
[00:13:52] You do it. They're like, oh, come on, come on. Especially in pools, you know, like, you have friends and you're like, get in the water, get in the water. And then there's always this annoying people that they're like, no, they want you to get in the water. As in submerge.
[00:14:06] Like, I'm like, If I go to the pool, where do I want to go? I want to be. What, Right here. Why? Hands are free. Hands are free. I can phone. I can, I can, you know, I can do my thing. I can.
[00:14:18] Hat. Glasses. My hands are free. I'm good. It's waste. I'm in. I'm experiencing everything you're experiencing, but with better hair.
[00:14:26] You know what I'm saying?
[00:14:27] That's it.
[00:14:28] That's it. So you think this is good, but then this guy leads him even further. He said he measured off another what?
[00:14:39] Another thousand. He's like, this guy's not stopping. And now it was like a what river that I could not cross because the water has risen and was deep enough to what, Swim in a river that no one could cross.
[00:14:59] And he asked me, son of man, are you getting this?
[00:15:04] Are you getting this?
[00:15:06] Do you know what I'm showing you?
[00:15:09] See, I wonder if that's maybe how God wants to speak to us this morning, that maybe our faiths are in those levels that we maybe might have a faith that is honestly ankle deep.
[00:15:23] Where we find ourselves, like getting in. And everybody starts there. We start there, we kind of go. We tip our feet into church, into belief, and that's it. You're like, I wonder if I'm going to believe. And like ankle deep faith is really about that. It's about belief. It's like, I believe. It makes sense. So I believe.
[00:15:49] I believe. I believe.
[00:15:52] Yeah, I'm convinced. I'm convinced.
[00:15:55] I think it's good. Makes sense. It makes sense. And so maybe you're there. So every time God actually says something to you, you're like, I don't know if I believe this or something. Someone says, hey, you should maybe, maybe, maybe whatever God's spirit talks to you, you're like, ah, I'm not convinced. I'm not convinced because you're only in ankle deep. You're always testing. You're always testing your faith, your relationship with God. You're always testing. Ah, ah, ah. I wonder if some of us might be. Might be there because what it looks like, what it looks like for you to really move into, you know, total surrender or be. Is to go, hey, I'm going to obey you regardless if I understand it. So my obedience comes before understanding, which it's tough for some of us. Very tough for some of us. Maybe it's ankle deep. Maybe you're sorry. Maybe it's knee deep, right? Maybe it's knee deep faith. And knee deep faith, I would say, is really about.
[00:16:48] I would Say it's about convenience. It's about convenience because the knee deep situation is great. Because your shorts haven't got wet.
[00:16:58] You can back out anytime and you're still good. A little couple minutes and you're good, you're good.
[00:17:05] I wonder if that's the kind of faith that we've been. We're stuck in the faith. Is that like I attend, I'm a part of church, I am a part of community when it is convenient for me and when it's not convenient, I don't. When it's convenient for our family, we show up, we engage. When it's convenient for me, I join a small group when it's convenient. It's really all about convenience. And I'm saying to you, it's not that I don't struggle with this. I get that, I get that. I don't want to get my shorts wet.
[00:17:37] Cause then I'm like, ah.
[00:17:39] But I can move, step out of church, I can step out of faith and no one will know because nothing's wet. I'm good.
[00:17:47] So all good. I wonder if we're stuck there.
[00:17:51] Maybe, Maybe.
[00:17:54] Well, we've gotten along a little further and I think a lot of us are here waist deep.
[00:18:00] There is a huge tendency to get stuck in waist deep faith for a very long time.
[00:18:07] And I don't mean like couple of years, I mean a couple of decades.
[00:18:11] Because this is where it's not necessarily convenient. You don't do things just because it's convenient. No, no, you just like things to be comfortable.
[00:18:19] You're comfortable. You're okay with the level of commitment, okay with the level of how much you put out there. You're okay with the distance and the boundaries you've created in church when it comes to relationships, you know, we're good. We do this, we're good, we're good.
[00:18:37] But we're not gonna get. I'm good here, I'm good here. Cause. Cause then if I move forward, I lose the ability to control the situation. You know what I'm saying? Cause if I go further on, one thing that happens is that I'm going to not be able to touch the ground.
[00:18:55] And we don't like that.
[00:18:58] It doesn't matter how good you are of a swimmer. You're like, ah, I'm good in my faith as long as I know I am feel comfortable. And honestly, for some of us, it's not comfort. It's.
[00:19:11] As long as I feel grounded, secure, safe, I'm good with my faith.
[00:19:21] And God should be too Cause I'm all half in.
[00:19:26] I'm half in.
[00:19:28] I'm convinced. I'm not just showing up, being as convenient. I just want to be comfortable in my faith.
[00:19:34] I just want to be comfortable in what God calls me to do.
[00:19:38] Now, we could just stop here and we go, well, that's great, let's just do that.
[00:19:42] But if we look at the life of Jesus, he starts off calling these disciples, his people.
[00:19:52] And he picked them fishermen, which is interesting.
[00:19:56] Picked them because there was something about them that would not be satisfied living waist deep.
[00:20:06] That living and existing in a faith, in a calling, in a purpose, just waist deep, just always being comfortable.
[00:20:15] Something new, something they knew that it would just not be enough for them.
[00:20:20] And I think for some of us, you know that. You know that there's a life you want to tap into, but man, you cannot figure out how to tap into it. And you're wondering, is it because I don't know all the worship songs, is it because I don't know all the scriptures? Is it because I don't do this, I don't read the scriptures, I don't do this? Maybe it's all those things. But also, but also you only you stop at waist deep. You obey to a point, you're committed to a degree.
[00:20:56] We're just staying here.
[00:20:58] We're just staying here.
[00:20:59] So I wonder if some of us are there.
[00:21:03] Now the guy starts showing him what, he says, hey, do you see this? And then he takes him to a place, he says, this is now what I want you to go into. I want you to go into. Not a depth that is like ankle deep or waist deep or knee deep. No, this is a depth that you can dive into. This is deep.
[00:21:23] This is.
[00:21:25] And when you step into it, you are going to be carried away.
[00:21:31] Can I tell you, your faith in Jesus was never meant to be managed.
[00:21:40] No. That your faith in Jesus is called to carry you.
[00:21:45] And for some of us, we are always in control of our lives. We're always, we're always want to make sure, hey, this is.
[00:21:54] We're kind of good on this.
[00:21:57] We're just, we're good on this.
[00:22:00] See, some of us, honestly, I'll tell you, you've had this moment.
[00:22:09] If you've been really, if you, if you're, you know, if you process maybe internally a little bit sometimes you wonder, do I really need Jesus?
[00:22:18] Like, really, do I really need my faith? You see, because you got introduced to Jesus in faith and maybe in a way that said, hey, if you believe in Jesus, you're going to heaven. If you believe in Jesus, you know you're good, you're saved.
[00:22:31] You've heard that, you're like, oh, I believe that, man. I believe that all the way.
[00:22:35] And then after that, after you believe it and after all that, you're good.
[00:22:42] And so everything else you attempt in life, you don't need God for.
[00:22:48] You don't need God for because you're talented, you're smart, and you're cute.
[00:22:56] And so you have it together.
[00:22:58] You don't need him and what you needed him for. You got, you got it, you got it.
[00:23:05] You're good. Heaven, I'm going to great.
[00:23:11] I don't need him because I'm not gonna risk in relationship, in my calling, in my purpose in life. I'm not gonna attempt anything that I need faith for.
[00:23:24] Because faith means you no longer touch the ground.
[00:23:29] Faith means you are now in the river. And all you have to do now is to swim.
[00:23:36] Because if you don't swim, you, you drown.
[00:23:42] You don't get baptized. Baptized means you get up again.
[00:23:46] Big difference between baptism and drowning. Okay, you come up. Okay, just side note.
[00:23:52] So you, you have to swim.
[00:23:56] And here's the thing, some of us are standing in waist deep water for a long time, looking at other people swimming, hearing about people swimming, and we just love that.
[00:24:12] But God's saying, I want you to join them.
[00:24:17] And those people are like, hey, you should come out here. It is awesome. And they're trying to tell you what life fully dependent on God looks like. But they cannot, they cannot communicate that to you.
[00:24:32] They can't. It falls short. There's not enough words. The only way that you and I are going to experience that is that we're going to have to jump into it, the deep end. And then you'll realize, then you realize that you were in fact created to swim, never to walk in this river. You were created to swim in the river of God.
[00:24:57] You were created. And this idea of what the river of God looks like, it's so fascinating because this concept of water and God moving us and God being this water starts in the book of Genesis. In fact, it starts in the creation story. It kind of shows up all the way around, always God linking himself to it. In fact, at the book of Revelation, which is the last book, it talks again about the river of God coming from the throne. There's always this connection of the river of God. And here's what's beautiful about it, that the river of God with Jesus ends up us becoming rivers of God. That God makes in us a spring of living water.
[00:25:44] And so I say this to say, you cannot avoid it.
[00:25:51] If you want to move forward in your faith, you and I have got to make a decision.
[00:25:58] Are we just going to hang out here with, you know, our phones and glasses and drink in hand and checking out the scene and going, I'm getting some sun. It's all good. I'm looking at people. That's awesome. That's awesome. I'm here. I'm part of this movement. I'm part of this. Or are you diving in? Because when you dive in, then you swim.
[00:26:18] And here's the problem. The problem is that the movement and the church of God cannot move.
[00:26:25] If all of the followers of Jesus just stand waist deep looking.
[00:26:32] You can't. The church is not gonna move.
[00:26:35] We were in a point of us as a church having to jump in.
[00:26:40] Now, if you don't know this, we're excited about this space next door because this, this has been a dream of ours for a lot of years. And in fact, beginning of COVID we were going to buy this. Now, we didn't plan this. Hey, Covid, let's get this. No, we'd already decided that we were gonna do this. We had another campus as well, and so we were gonna do it. But Covid hit and it just changed everything about our church. And I did not know what was happening.
[00:27:09] And so I just thought this was a dream that was not gonna be fulfilled for a long time. And then the owner rented it out to another church. And I'm like, what's going on? And didn't tell us about it. And it was just kind of a bad deal. And they had a three to five year lease. And we're like, I don't know what's gonna happen. What's gonna. What's. What is God doing? And I believe that beginning of the year that we were supposed to start, we were just supposed to start preparing for what God was having us walk into. And so I said, let's do a series on prayer. Let's talk about open doors. Let's pray for that. And so I was starting off the year going, okay, we're just gonna raise a million dollars because in two years, when the church does leave, we'll be able to actually buy and build it.
[00:27:52] Well, God opened the door, as you guys know, a lot faster than I thought. You know what I'm saying? And we have a contract on that. Long story short, we've got a contract and we're gonna be able to buy it.
[00:28:10] And we're buying it because Pastor Mike explained that last week.
[00:28:15] But we have money for that, but we don't have money to build it. And I remember talking to Mike about this, you know, Pastor Mike and some of the team. I was like, man, why don't we just be content where we are?
[00:28:26] Like, just be content.
[00:28:29] And I remember having some conversations, and I felt like, there's some of you Mosaic makers who are like, no, we cannot. We need to get that place. And I was like, yeah, but that takes money.
[00:28:40] I don't know about you, but that takes money. That's a big risk for me. It's a big risk because I can say, hey, let's do this together. And everybody's just like, okay, see ya. It was good. We're leaving. I was talking to my sister the other day. I was telling her about this, and she was like, oh, a million dollars. You know how sisters and siblings are, right? They have so much faith in you. She's like, oh, oh, okay. Name. You should probably do one of those dinners.
[00:29:04] And I was like, dinners? She's like, you know. You know, fundraising dinner.
[00:29:09] You know, our different organizations. You know, her husband works for Chick Fil A. I was like, what dinners? She was like, yeah. I said, so the plate's good.
[00:29:19] Like, what are we gonna charge for the plate? Like, $25,000 a plate.
[00:29:23] Like, how are we gonna do this? Hobia. And she was like, oh, yeah.
[00:29:28] I was like, just. Just sell chicken, you know? Just. Just.
[00:29:32] No. And she was like, okay, well, I'll be praying. I was like, yeah, I'm praying.
[00:29:37] We could.
[00:29:39] We could just stay here.
[00:29:41] But we would be missing out on everything that God has for us.
[00:29:45] Everything. So I know, as a church, we need to do this.
[00:29:49] I believe that as a church, you need to do this.
[00:29:53] So let me ask you this, okay? For those of you who have been joining us online for. Maybe this is your first time. Maybe today is your first time. I mean, I don't expect you to. I expect you to ask yourself, God, what does it look like for me to jump into deep water?
[00:30:10] What do I need to let go of and swim?
[00:30:13] But for those of you who've been here for a while and you call Mosaic home, those of you I know I've talked to who go, you know what? If Mosaic wasn't here, I don't know what church I would go to. For those of you who serve here, you've been here for a long, long, stinking time. We cannot get rid of you, okay? You've been Here from day one.
[00:30:34] Hey, let me ask you, could this mean. Could God be speaking to you? It's a whisper. It's a nudge. It's like, hey, listen, I want you to jump in financially. I want you to do this, and I want you to commit to this. So you probably saw this card. If you didn't, it's around you. And now here's why we made this card. We made this card because we wanted to give you just kind of like. Kind of like an option of, like, the amounts that people have in the past committed to and pledged. And so maybe this is something that you could pray over now. You could be like, you could fill this out, but honestly, you have to do this online.
[00:31:12] And you can, like, tap the tag on your seat and you can put in the form, put in your commitment. That's how we need you to do. But this is something for you to pray about or just think about. Like, this could be something.
[00:31:27] Here's the deal with this. You know, Ash and I have this relationship where when it comes to money, you know.
[00:31:33] You know, I sometimes, you know, we've given to so many things, and we always have a. You know. You know, she'll give. She'll say, okay, what are we gonna give to this? And I say, what's your number?
[00:31:45] You know, what's your number? And she's like, what's your number? And she's like, I don't even wanna know your number, but I wanna give you my number. And so we go back and forth and we end up.
[00:31:54] And so what's interesting about this is that she is very practical. And then we need practical people in our lives. Can I get an amen? Because then things get done. Things get done. Okay? So.
[00:32:08] And then she'll put a number. And I go, well, I think we should do this. And she was like, how?
[00:32:14] How are we gonna do this, Naeem? How are we gonna do this? And I was like, I don't know.
[00:32:19] I don't know.
[00:32:21] And I want you to know that's what faith is. See, some of you, you're like, naeem, if I. And I know some of you guys told me, naem, if I had a million, if I had a this, if I had a dad, I would write that check. I would write that check. First of all, I'm not sure if you would. But second of all. Cause it's hard, okay? It's hard to give money away. I know. Okay, but what if God's saying, why don't you pledge something you wish you could do not what you could do.
[00:32:53] See, for some of you, you're standing there, waist, you know, level, grounded in your faith. You're like, I cannot do any of these numbers.
[00:33:03] I can't do that. I can't do this. I can't do this. I can't do that. And some of you guys are like, I'm not even gonna attempt to do it. How many people I've known who are like, you know what? I'm not even gonna give a dollar because I can't give a hundred.
[00:33:15] And I'm like, please don't believe the lie of the enemy.
[00:33:21] Don't believe that lie.
[00:33:22] You put a dollar in, you're still an owner. See what I'm saying? You're still contributor. You put $2 in, you're like, I can't give 200. You can give two. Do not. So I want all of your names on that building. I don't care how much.
[00:33:38] Don't believe that lie. But if you're sitting there going, ah, this is what I can do. I know we can do this, and we can't do that. Okay, what if you were floating?
[00:33:47] What if you were swimming? What could you do? Well, name then. I could.
[00:33:51] Okay, then let's, you know, get the practical person, too, and then find a number. You're like, you know what? Maybe we can pray towards it. It's for two years.
[00:34:02] For two years. For some of you, you know what it is. For some of you, it's like, okay, well, if we do this, we're not going on that vacation this year.
[00:34:12] Yeah, that's a sacrifice.
[00:34:15] Yeah, it is.
[00:34:17] No question about it.
[00:34:18] Hey, this year we're not getting that new car.
[00:34:21] Yeah, this year we're not. Maybe next year. But this year we're going to give this. Hey, this year we're not going to.
[00:34:27] We're not going to take that trip.
[00:34:30] Hey, we're not going to remodel that. You know, the kitchen or whatever. We're not going to remodel that. This year we're going to delay some things that we want so we can dive into what God has for us this year.
[00:34:45] It could be that. It could be that. But all I know is as long as you and I control our resources, what we have, as long as we hold on to this thing, my precious, as long as we hold on to that, we can't give it to anybody.
[00:35:09] We can't allow God to use it at all.
[00:35:12] We can't do it.
[00:35:14] So what would it look like for you?
[00:35:16] What would it look like, you know, these tags here. Last week I asked you guys to write down your prayers.
[00:35:24] And so this. If you didn't grab one, maybe you have one. You left it. But it's all good. You can have another one.
[00:35:32] Maybe you write down an amount and say, you know what? If I could, if I put all the faith in the world, God, I want to do this. I don't know how I'll do it, though. I don't know how we'll do it. I know it's going to require some kind of sacrifice. I know that. But, like, could God move supernaturally on our behalf? Friends, if we have people in our church that go, hey, if someone comes up to me and says after service, hey, I got a million dollars, don't even bother with the church.
[00:36:03] Don't even bother asking church, I got you, that's gonna be a little bit of a bummer story.
[00:36:10] I mean, it's gonna be a great story because that's cash money. Hello.
[00:36:16] But it's like, yeah. So no one else gets to play. Yeah, you don't. You don't need anybody else.
[00:36:23] It's kind of a bummer.
[00:36:24] I don't know. I mean, I think. I think I need a story that at the end of it, I don't say, this person did it for us.
[00:36:33] It would be really nice to say, and God did this with us.
[00:36:39] God made a way where we could not find a way. There's no way. This does not make sense. But it happened.
[00:36:47] It happened.
[00:36:49] So what could God do? What could God do?
[00:36:53] You know, in this retreat, this conference or whatever that I went to, they had this moment where they were talking about holding on to some things, you know, in your hand and holding onto your life.
[00:37:07] And I thought, you know, that's some of us, you know, we're holding on to all our resources, all our faith, all our everything. And we hold onto it like this in our hands most times. All our families, our kids, all that. And with waist deep and knee deep and ankle deep, we have to hold on to things.
[00:37:27] But when swimming, I don't know if you ever swam like this.
[00:37:33] If you did, I don't know. That's new.
[00:37:37] But you have to kind of go like this, don't you?
[00:37:40] And I wonder if God's saying, I want you to hold on to things like this, and if it's still in your hand, it is me.
[00:37:51] You're letting go of it, and I'm keeping it.
[00:37:55] That's how we have to do that. You know, that's how we hold Onto our kids. Not like this, because they'll despise us for that.
[00:38:03] We hold onto them like this.
[00:38:06] We hold on to all the precious things because we can't hold on and keep things.
[00:38:11] No, no, no. Our lives. When we give it away, we save our lives.
[00:38:18] When we give away, we get.
[00:38:21] This is what faith is, that God still has what you hold dear close to you, even though you're swimming and he's keeping everything afloat with you. Experiencing that kind of faith will.
[00:38:38] Will not, friends, will not happen.
[00:38:44] Standing on the shore.
[00:38:47] We'll only hear about it.
[00:38:49] You'll only get to talk about it. You'll never experience it. So what does that look like for us?
[00:38:55] For you next week? I'd love for you to bring that. And we want to hang them on there and pray over them with your commitments and maybe you're like, you know what? I'm just brand new. All right.
[00:39:08] What does it look like for you to let go of this area of your life that you're just so holding onto?
[00:39:18] Maybe God says, hey, I just want you to swim. I'll take you places that you'll never, never. You never dreamed about.
[00:39:28] Let me pray for us. Can I do that? Let's pray.
[00:39:32] Lord God, we just thank you so much for your life, the life that you are calling us to live, the life that you want us to live.
[00:39:44] So, Father, I just pray. Would you speak to us?
[00:39:47] Would you, God, remind us that you are. You've been in our lives, You've been there before we entered into this reality, and when we exited, you'll always be there, God, you are, in fact, this river that's running through everything, and we're just jumping in.
[00:40:07] So, God, would you give us the courage to do that? For some of us, it is so hard because we're so scared. And we. Honestly, God, it felt like.
[00:40:16] It felt like last time we almost drowned.
[00:40:23] We're still here, though.
[00:40:26] So, God, would you speak.
[00:40:29] God, I pray that you would speak to us in terms of what we need to do when it comes to and what we need to give and commit to in terms of creating the future for our church.
[00:40:41] God, speak to us for others of us. God, we ask, would you speak to us about our lives?
[00:40:49] What am I holding onto so much and so fiercely?
[00:40:56] They were actually just choking the life out of it.
[00:41:01] What is something that I need to turn my hands and let you.
[00:41:08] Let you carry?
[00:41:12] God, I pray you speak to us as we receive communion, as we go light a candle, God, as we go to the cross.
[00:41:25] God, Help us respond.
[00:41:29] Help us respond in Jesus name God.
[00:41:33] Thanks for listening to this message from Mosaic church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
[00:41:38] For more audio and video content, visit us at MosaicChurch TV.
