Birthing the Miraculous Pt. 2

In Pt. 2 of this series, Pastor Luke focuses in on Mary's response to God's invitation. Saying "Yes" to God, isn't a guarantee of a problem free life, but a fearless step into an unknown future.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Thanks for joining us today as you listen to a portion of a message recorded at VineLife Church in Boulder, Colorado. If you'd like to connect with us further, you can visit us online at www.vinelife.com.

SPEAKER_01 0:55

Father, we do just come before your throne right now. And we're just acknowledging that you hurt over injustice. And we can feel your pain and we hurt before. I think that you've given us eyes to speak. The way you used to speak. And so just before your throne, because of the blood of Jesus, we remember what he did. So we're just moving to you right now to use that. We remember what you did for us. We take your body and we take it in and you we remember that it was broken on our behalf. In every place where we have seen people seen ourselves with eyes not like yours. We just ask you to forgive us. And we take in your healings. We take in your strength. We take in your power to be like you. Thank you for your blood, Father. Father, I just ask that your blood would cover our nation right now. You bring healing. And you bring lasting transformative, reconciliated, and restoration. And all tribes are we take your black. Thank you, Jesus. We love you so much, Larry. Give us the eyes to see and ears to hear the way you do, Laura. Give us the heart that feels like you feel thank you, Father. Jesus, amen.

SPEAKER_03 4:55

He shows up what he's what he's wanting to do. And I just had this sense this morning, there's just this uh a sense of God wanting us to meet us in simplicity. Uh in a lot of ways. And I think as I was praying about it this morning, um, you know, we're we're in Advent season. This is the second Sunday of Advent, you know, and we're moving into a time of year that's really beautiful uh and really lively, full of a lot of family and friends. Um, but there's also a lot of noise right now, yeah? There's a lot of lights and glitter and bells and whistles and all the other stuff that kind of comes alongside of it. I just felt this reminder from the Lord this morning that, you know, even you come into the room this morning, and some of us this time of year, it brings up maybe more negative memories than positive memories. Or maybe there's certain pain or hardship or brokenness that you're more aware of now, or maybe you're in a season of life where it's always it's hard to reconcile the two, this beautiful time of the year and what's going on in your life. And I just felt like the Lord wanted to remind us that when when He came to us, He did not come to bring more noise to our lives, He came to cut through it and to come into the simplicity of where you at and where you are. And this morning I just felt like some of you needed to be reminded that where you are is what He has come to. He came into your reality, whatever that looks like right now. He came in humility with a lowly heart to step very humbly into the reality that you and I find ourselves in. And uh I just I just wanted to thank Jesus this morning that God, I thank you that you as the Son of God have been given to us. For unto us a child is born and a son is given. I thank you, God, that you are our mighty God, our everlasting Father, our wonderful counselor, our Prince of Peace. And this morning I just pray that that reality would just settle in a little bit more on us today, Lord God, that we can just take a deep breath. We thank you that you're an everlasting Father, that you're a wonderful counselor, and that you're a Prince of Peace here today. Amen. Awesome. You guys doing well? Cool. I'm gonna hop right in. Hey, um, if you came in a little bit late, um just want to say welcome again. Uh my name is Luke, and I'm just gonna share a word with you this morning. And after the service, if you're just hanging out with us and you want to get to know us better, you can cruise back to that connect center in the back. We'd be happy to um, we'd love to get to know you and just kind of tell you about what's going on. Um man, it is it is a fun time right now. Uh after the service today, I think Christmas decorating party, the halls will be decked officially. Um my house is looking pretty lively right now. I'm just gonna tell you, we got gifts under the tree already, which is a record for me. I'm just gonna say that right there. So there's a testimony this morning. Um I am just I'm just on top of my game this year, alright, guys? And I just want you to celebrate with me, alright? Um we are just seeing progress and fruit in my life. And so, no procrastination this year, ladies and gentlemen. Nothing to wait for. So uh last week, I'm gonna just hop into the message. Last week uh we kicked off a brand new series that we're calling Birthing the Miraculous. How many were here this last week? Unfortunately, uh that talk didn't get recorded, something happened on the computer. And so if you missed that and weren't able to listen to the talk, you just need to know it was the best talk I've ever done. Like there's a cloud hovering among us. I mean, it was just people getting hundreds of people got, I don't know where they they are, but hundreds of people got saved last week, and it was great. You'll never know about it though, because you weren't here. Um I'll try to catch you up a little bit on the big idea. Um but it this is a fun time of year, and and and the whole idea of this series, Birthing the Miraculous, it's not so much about childbirth or even uh, you know, as simple as uh you know, specifically miracles, but uh the way I've been describing it, it's it's about the process by which God accomplishes great and supernatural things in us and through us. And a lot of it was inspired by this book called Birthing the Miraculous, written by this wonderful uh woman, Heidi Baker, and she is a missionary in uh Mozambique, and um uh a lot of the principles are in this book, and this is more of a memoir of her life of God calling her and her husband from comfortable life in California to go to Mozambique and serve the poor and the least of these and just find unbelievable joy there, and then God to call them back, and they reluctantly went back to the first world. Uh but just the whole idea that, man, God He just calls us a lot of different ways in a life journeying with God as we're submitted to Him and yielded to Him, it's full of so much joy and so much adventure, but a lot of unexpected turns along the way. But how many of you agree that God's desire for us is that the way we live, for God to display his power, his glory, even his miraculous might through our lives? Are we there this morning together? And um, you know, I I think it's important to know, I'm not advocating that any of us have the same calling as Mary. Maybe some of us uh when we encounter God and the way that we talk to God or with the way we relate to God, it might not be as dramatic as what we read in the scripture. We're gonna read that passage here again in a second. And so I'm not saying that it all needs to look exactly like this, but what I am saying is this I'm proposing that the way that the word of God was planted and deposited inside of Mary, the way that it was announced to her and took root in her, to for her then to birth something great. I think it's the same way God is still in the business of delivering dreams and promises and whispers of truth into the hearts of his kids, to be nourished and to be carried, and ultimately to bear miraculous fruit for the world to see his might and his goodness. And and I as we talked about last week, I really believe that God is God is wanting to open our ears and our eyes to pay attention to what he's saying and what he's doing, that we would, that we would, in the same way, carry a promise inside of us, that not on our own strength, but because of his strength and at his work within us, it would develop and grow for the goodness of the world. And so that's kind of that's kind of the big idea. That's what's going on here. So we're gonna take another step in that direction today. If you have your Bibles, you can turn to Luke chapter 1. We're gonna read the same passage that we read last week, because it's just that good. And uh and just as I prayed last week, I'm gonna pray it again this week. Um, you know, as we sing Christmas carols and we read um a lot of these familiar passages, familiar passages in the scripture, I'm I'm just praying that um our familiarity doesn't make us immune to its power and God's power in and through this. Are you guys with me on that? It's easy for things to become common. And so, God, we just pray that as we read that you would even make us strangers to your word again so we can see it with new eyes. So, Luke chapter one, verse twenty-six, it says this In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to be uh to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, Greetings, O favoured one, the Lord is with you. She was greatly troubled at that saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and he will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him to the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. And Mary said to the angel, How will this be since I am a virgin? And the angel answered, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth, in her old age, has also conceived a son. And this is the sixth month with her who is called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God. And Mary said, Behold, I am the servant of the Lord, let it be to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her. And so, uh again, as we we read this story, um there's so much we could talk about here. I I still, um, to pick off on where we're at last week, I think one of the most amazing things about this encounter was not only how supernatural it was, but how incredibly inconvenient this was for Mary. Um it's funny, for as much as this passage talks about how favored she was, it's like you're gonna be so favored, you were so set apart, you were so picked out by God that we're gonna help you not live a comfortable life from here on out. That's how favored you are. You're not gonna be able to live the same way, right? You know, obviously that's kind of you know, me reading into the story. I don't know that Mary was considering how inconvenient this would be, but as we know, as we read even in the other gospels, how her husband would be, you know, scheming to divorce her and different things. And um uh but I think it's really important just to be on the same page there, that when God invites us into a life of greatness, when God invites you into a life of greatness, when he invites you into an adventure with him, there is going to be exhilaration and there is going to be joy, but man, things are going to be rearranged in a way that's going to even sometimes be painful in the way it happens. And if you talk to great men and women of God, they don't speak as much about that part because they know who it is that they're saying yes to. But what I love about this passage is I think one of the most miraculous parts about this passage wasn't just the announcement that Gabriel made on behalf of God to Mary, but I think equally miraculous was her response to God. And here's what she said. After all, after Gabriel kind of lays out this whole thing, she says, How's this gonna happen? He said, Here's how it's gonna happen, here's what's going on, your relative Elizabeth is gonna be kind of your, you know, your cohort in this, you know, you're gonna be doing this together, and frames it all in like that, and then Mary has a chance to respond. And again, what she says to the angel Gabriel, she said, Behold, I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word. And I'm not sure this passage doesn't give any indication that she had an option to respond another way. I think she did. Okay? I think she did. I think Mary had an option to respond to what God was saying. Because anytime when we read through the scripture, whenever God is inviting somebody into something new or something great or a new purpose for their life, we read about them having an opportunity to respond from the Lord. And it and we don't have any indication, this is what she was thinking, or it could have gone this way. But I wouldn't have been surprised either if he rattles through the whole list of things going on, and then Mary says, Hey, hey, listen, yeah, I am a servant of the Lord, but you're crazy. Like, this ain't no, this ain't gonna happen. I'm a virgin, you know, like I'm young, I don't know anything about this stuff, right? I don't know what's going on. Do you understand what this will mean for me? I'm not prepared, I'm not qualified, I'm not equipped to do exactly what you've called me to do. But that's not the response she says. She says, Behold, I'm a servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word. Let it be to me according to your word. And so we see a posture of her heart right there. And I think this is really important that we just kind of spend a little time here this morning, the importance of responding to God. And here's why. I think a lot of times, I know for myself and in conversations I'm in, we spend a lot of time talking about calling and finding our calling, right? Finding what is the unique thing God's called us to do. And those are really good conversations to be in. But do you not understand there's a difference between called of God and then responding to God's call? And there's a lot of us, I think, all of us across the room are called of God. Amen. You look across the room, every single one of you are called. And even if you don't know what that is, just pick one from the Bible. You were called to what? Go and make disciples of all nations. So you're called to live your life, to lead people to follow and love Jesus in a holy way. You're called to step out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of marvelous light. You know, so you're called to live as a child of light. There's a lot of things that we could look at before we get real specific. But the thing we have to understand about calling is all calling requires a response. And everyone is called, but not everybody says an emphatic yes in their hearts. But we can understand that that calling requires a response. Heidi Baker said it like this in the book. She said, The Lord is looking for those who are so in love with him that they will say yes when they are called and still say yes when great sacrifice is required. And uh so calling requires a response, and I think we can appreciate this. Anybody as a parent can appreciate this, right? Like it's nice to get a response from your kids when they're called to do something. Anyone with me on that? Like, hey, buddy, like, hey, how about how about we pick up the living room and clean up the house for daddy, right? And it's like, hello, did you hear me? Did you get that? How about we pick up the room and finally it's like, yeah, I don't I don't feel like that right now, right? Okay, well, buddy, let me um Daddy's gonna help you feel differently right now. Okay, let me let me help you with that just for a second. You know, we don't want to have to force people, you know, we don't have to force our kids into response. God doesn't like to force us into response. So I am working for a day. Uh, and it is coming, where I will I will say to my son, hey, hey buddy, let's let's let's pick up the toys. It's time to pick up the toys in the living room. And he replies to me, Oh great father. I am your servant. Let it be unto me according to your word. I joyfully perform the chores set before me. Because it is it is thine hand who providest the table set before me. Check back next year, it's gonna be locked and loaded, man. It's gonna happen, I'm telling you. But God allows us to respond. I want to take a look at four passages that I'm gonna go through these fast, so you're not gonna be able to turn there, but you can write down the references, okay? If you have notes. Um we'll have them on the screen, though. Hebrews 11:8. Here's one example. By an act of faith, Abraham said yes to God's call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home. This is the different translation here. I'm reading for the message. But Abraham said yes to God's call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home. When he left, he had no idea where he was going. Remember that story in Genesis where God calls Abraham. I mean, talk about a person with a word on your life. Um, you know, that like all three major world religions trace their origin back to Abraham, you know, the father of many nations. And God had a word on his life, and but that was accompanied with, hey, listen, I'm gonna ask you to leave your home and go to a place I'm gonna show you. And so without any indication, uh, without any specificity onto his location and his future, by faith, Abraham was able to respond yes to God. Because he knew who he was responding to. Yeah. Here's another one Matthew chapter 9, verse 28. I'm reading from New Living Translation here. Jesus asked, Do you believe I can make you see? Yes, Lord, they told him, we do. Then he touched their eyes and said, Because of your faith it will happen. And suddenly they could see. With Jesus, when he was kind of walking this earth, and when he would come to be a blessing, and even to bring healing to somebody's body, he would ask them first, Do you think, do you believe you can see it? I mean, he could have just gone in there and said, Be healed, right? Just be healed. But he asked the question first because there was something about them responding, Yes, Lord, yes, Lord, I believe. Not just do you believe I can do the miracle, but do you believe in who I am? Yes. Yes, God, I do. Here's another one. 1 Samuel chapter 3. So Eli said to Samuel, Go lie down again, and if somebody calls you again, say, Yes, Lord, your servant is listening. And we know that this in this passage, Samuel was living in Eli's house, and he was woken up a few times by this, it was an audible voice, right? And it was this voice that just kept calling out his name, and he's trying to figure out what's going on. And Eli says, Listen, go back, and when you hear that voice again, when you hear that whisper, you respond to it. And here's how you respond. You say, Yes, Lord, I'm listening, right? And that's important for us, even there, because when God whispers to us, I mean, even if it's through his word, through a conversation we're having with somebody, there's a posture of our hearts where we say, Yes, God, I'm listening. And then here's another one, here's a fourth one. In Luke chapter 9, verse 61. Back to the Gospels. Another said, Yes, Lord, I will follow you, but let me first say goodbye to my family. Jesus told him, anyone who puts his hand to the plow, then looks back, is not fit for the kingdom of God. Now, this is one of those passes that goes in the category of crazy things that Jesus says, right? And there's a lot of those. And he was totally okay with that, by the way. He wasn't worried about explaining himself all the time. I don't know if you've noticed that. He was okay with being misunderstood, but there is something very, very specific he's saying here. Because a guy is invited to follow him, said, Yes, Lord, I'm going to follow him. Can I say goodbye to my family? And Jesus is like, no. Like, what? What does Jesus deal here? Like, is he an anti-family? Like, let the guy say goodbye to his family, type of thing. But he's getting at something different here. And it happens in other places as well, where people would have other things that they need to do before they follow him. And that's the very thing that Jesus is challenging. When they're responding to him, they say, Yes, Lord, but first I must go do this. There's something even about that that Jesus is challenging. Like, listen, if you if you're coming into the kingdom of God and the top of your to-do list has anything else but following me and going with me, then you need to reorganize your priorities here. You cannot do both. And he was challenging this mindset because if this, this, and if if we have other things that we have to do before we do what God calls us to do, then that means we've missed the entire idea that the kingdom of God is not a slice of pie in our in the pie of life. It's not a slice that we give to God. It's the entire thing. Everything we have is given to following, to responding to the voice of God. You guys with me this morning? So it's not that he's anti-family. But he says, when it comes to things of the kingdom, you can't look back. You can't wonder how things would have turned out. You're in. And it's really important that we understand that responding to God is huge, but consistently responding to him. Because it's not enough to say yes. It's a lifestyle that we live that every morning we wake up and say yes. You know, when I was three is when I gave my heart to the Lord. Three years old. I got saved. Right? It sounds funny to say it like that. And I don't really remember much about that because I was three, but apparently I was in the backseat of a car. We were in a parking lot, and I was with my mom, and uh she asked me if I wanted to receive Jesus, you know, and I said yes, you know. It wasn't like I hit rock bottom or something. You know, I was three. I was the lowest I had ever been in my life, you know. It's not, it's not, I mean, I was just like, yeah. Sure, yes, you know, sure, I I I like Jesus, you know. I would love to have him in my heart, right? And then again, when I was 13, you know, growing up in the church, you know, you you you you know, you have to sort through a lot of different things. When I was 13, I remember a youth group again, um, on Wednesday nights as part of this huge youth group, and every week the youth pastor would give two invitations at the end of his sermon. And the first he would give for people who didn't know Jesus to respond to Jesus. And to say, like, do you wanna, do you want to get to know Jesus and his love and his power in your life? You know, and kids would just raise their hand all the room. And then he'd always do a second one. He'd always do a second invitation for the church kids who thought they knew Jesus. And he'd always say, like, you've been, you've been at church, you've been doing this, but you're not living out this vibrant knowing of God, right? And and the Lord is stirring you to come back, right? And and uh, and I remember that on that invitation, there was just the right Wednesday night, something happened, like my chest started pounding. And I couldn't even explain it. But I just know like I have to respond right now. I can't just sit here and just do this thing and just trying to have a quiet time with God. I need to stand in front of like hundreds of high schoolers and acknowledge that like I I God, I I need to know you. And I need to know that you know me in this moment. There's something about, I can't even put language to it, but I responded. And it was one of those things where people surrounded me and prayed, and I was crying. It was like the Holy Spirit overshadowed me in that moment. And there's something deposited in that moment. And it accompanied inside of me this place of yes. And I can point to several other times that there's been this thing of in response to God, the Holy Spirit overshadows, and something, a defining moment is made. Say, God, today, in my heart, let it be to me according to your word. Today, God, I give myself fully and completely to you. The yes of my heart is you, God. And that's important that we understand too, what is it that we're saying yes to? Is it just saying yes to miracles? Is it just saying yes to a great life? Is it saying yes to the inconvenience of problems? Is it saying yes to whatever? I think those all could be true, but at the end of the day, God calls us to say yes to a person, and that is Jesus. Our yes is looking into the eyes of the one we love and saying, if you're the one I'm following, I will go wherever you go. And that yes, when you make one big yes in your life, that yes uh uh informs all of your other yeses. There's a lot of yeses, there's a lot of decisions that we make in life, but when we know the one yes, when we can look into the eyes of God and say, if you're the one that's going with me, if you're it's you that's the one that's calling me, if it's if it's your heart, it's your mind, if it's your journey that you're calling me to, I am in. And that yes is going to form everything. It's gonna form the way I parent, it's gonna form the way I love, the way I work, the way everything else, that one yes informs all of your other yeses. That's what it looks like to be captivated, not just by decision, by a person. We are captivated, we're sheer because we fall in love. We have been drawn into a loving relationship with the Father who does not fail, who is good all the time. And so the yes lifestyle is important. We're saying yes to a person, and that's why I heard it like this: passion. Passion for Jesus transforms a discipline into a delight. And that's why I don't think Mary was necessarily thinking about everything that could go wrong, because she knew who it was she was saying yes to. When we know who it is, we're saying yes to in our life. When God gives us a dream and a plan and a purpose and He and He He puts that into our life, it's not saying yes to that, it's saying yes to Him. And through Him, God, I will go wherever you want me to go. Are you guys with me this morning? One of the things I love about anybody like improv comedy, improvisational comedy? Yeah? The three of us, cool. Improvisational theater. I'm always captivated by these things. If you ever see this go down, like two people they don't know what they're talking about, then all of a sudden they come together and somehow things happen, and they're able to get like perform a whole scene without having any clue of what they're stepping into. And I don't know if you've ever seen this or heard this, but there's actually rules to improv, like improvisational theater, improv comedy, or whatever it is. There's certain rules, and the first rule that all these guys will say is when you step foot and you start improvising, your first rule is your answer always has to be yes and. Yes and. You can never get in a situation where someone's like, hey, it's good to be your husband. No, you're not my husband. That whole thing, you don't disagree with the person that you're improvising with, but there's something you always acknowledge what they say and then you add to it. You acknowledge what you say. And and somebody said it like this. There's a theologian who said it like this. Improvisation in the theater, says pastor and theologian Sam Wells, is a practice through which actors develop trust in themselves and one another in order that they may conduct unscripted dramas without fear. And here's here's just a fun idea for this morning. When we think about a life lived with God where we don't know what tomorrow holds, or we don't know what the future holds, what if what if we take our a cue from the improv geniuses that in our relationship with God, our cue is that the only way to make our way through an adventure and a journey with God without fear is to acknowledge what he says always with a yes and. Not a maybe we'll see, or no, not not a chance. But there's something inside of it that says, God, when you speak to me, when I see you at work in my life or in my family's, in my family's life, when I see you deposit, I'm going to acknowledge it with a yes and. And this dialogue, this conversation is going to propel us into something we never dreamed of together. See, it's the posture of our heart for those of us who have been invited into this new kingdom that we never thought was possible. That we're actually able to live with a yes and mentality. And so here's where I think this really hits the ground for us this morning. Saying yes to God is not a guarantee that everything works out perfectly. It's a declaration from those that look into their future with fearlessness. Okay? The importance, listen to me, the importance of saying yes, it's not a guarantee that everything is going to work out perfectly and like you think it's going to work out in your life. But the win for us in saying yes is that we get to look to an unknown future with fearlessness. Here's what this means, I think. A lot of times when we share testimonies and we share stories around here in the church, we share stories of times things worked out. Right? Like, hey, I I you know, stories of I went down to Pearl Street and I prayed for this person, and then, you know, they they didn't have an arm and it just grew back and it was awesome, and everyone's like, woo, the arm freaking grew back, you know, and this whole thing, and we're just flipping out. And that it's it's a testimony that it's worth celebrating because we see God's power instantly show up in a moment and do something miraculous. But I also would propose that we need the types of testimonies, listen to me, we need the types of testimonies for those of us who said, listen, I went down to Pearl Street and I saw somebody and I was scared, and I wasn't sure that if I wanted to, I wasn't sure I wanted to go pray for them because I've never done that before, but I went and prayed for them, and listen, nothing happened. Nothing happened. And in fact, it was really awkward, and I had to kind of walk away quickly. But I was bold and fearless in the moment. Listen, part of saying yes is demonstrating fearlessness to a world that is scared to death. Yes isn't to guarantee that everything is gonna work out. It's an attitude of a heart that I have nothing to be afraid of. I will say yes to any number of circumstances because I know whose I am in this moment. We need more testimonies of people failing along the way, is what I'm saying. Some of you are not taking enough risks. When we get to 2015 in a couple weeks, you're gonna start busting out the old, you know, moleskin, writing down your top ten lists of things that you want to do next year. You need to plan on failing a few times. And we need to get better at celebrating each other's failures. And you know what I'm talking about. I'm not talking about moral failures. I'm not talking about places where we we got serious stuff wrong. I'm talking about places where our heart was set on yes, and I tried something and it didn't work, but guess what? I am so loved in this moment. I'm so fearless in this moment. And what if what if the kingdom of God doesn't need more successful people? We need more fearless people. And what if what if in the kingdom of God fearlessness is success? No good parent, when their son or daughter is learning to walk criticizes them. When they take two steps and they fall, right? No one's like, what are you doing falling? Can't you walk by now? No good parent does that. What do we do? You take two steps, you know, they take two wobbly steps, you know, a little top-heavy, and you know, they're just trying to figure out their way and they fall, and then what happens? Everybody in the room erupts and applause. You took two steps! You failed, but get up! I saw those two steps. You did it with fearlessness. You knew, you knew in your mind that you could do this. And so I just have this sense even today that God wants to remind us that the host of heaven and Jesus and all his angels and all the cherubim and the seraphim that we're singing about in these songs are sitting in heaven. And the moment we decide to step out, even if it doesn't work, there's just this applause and this erupture in heavenly places that there is a son and daughter of God because they are not afraid. So we we we need to not only celebrate each other's successes, but we need to celebrate each other's risks, even if they end in failure. Okay? Um I I want to do that this morning. Some dear friends of ours just recently walked through just an incredible whirlwind of a season. And I asked them if I could share this story. They didn't ask me to share the story, I asked them permission to share the story. And for those of you who know the Wakar family, Kat a Kate and Zach Wakar. There's a picture of them on the screen. Um, these are this is one of the best families I know. And um they have their first son, he's uh biological, and then they've adopted two other sons, Max and Isaiah. And they just felt called to grow their family through adoption. And specifically, um uh Kate is a fraction of her blood that's Native American. And so she has an open door to go into some Native American tribes and nations in Oklahoma and and kids that um can aren't aren't accessible um just to the Caucasians uh uh to Americans, she's able to adopt. And so uh recently they uh uh started their started working on their third adoption. Okay, a little girl, her name is Elizabeth, she's she's up there zax holding her right there. And uh they asked us to be praying. They said, We think we're supposed to do this. There's something inside of us that's coming alive. And she said, I'm going to uh uh Kate knew that she had to go back to Oklahoma for at least 60 days to start legal work and just to be there. And they knew it was going to be kind of a trying thing walking through this to begin with, because Zach would be here with his two boys, she'd be there with their littlest one, Isaiah in her arms there, and then Elizabeth. And they have a house back in Oklahoma, and it was they were trying to sell it so it wasn't uh completely furnished. And so she went back and um for for she just started making the journey of this adoption process, filling out the legal paperwork, all the homestead stuff, and just kind of making her way through just all the financing and the funding of this whole thing, and start and starting to work with um now all the legal side of making this thing a reality. Now, um after being there uh you know uh after several weeks, she had to start working with, they had to start working with the Native American tribe, the Osage Nation, um, to get a final release for their child to come back to Colorado and to fully adopt them. And things had already been getting to about 60 days or so, and she knew that this is going to take a lot longer. And so she stayed, and we kept praying for her and just praying for the family that there would just be favor and ease and release here. And then they had to start pursuing a legal process because this particular Native American nation uh did not want to allow them to adopt this baby. They didn't trust them, there's accusations happening, and and all along the way we'd get these updates of, you know, we're still here, we're still trying to figure this out, please be praying for us, pre peep be praying for a favor, for a miracle, all these things. And uh and then in and then finally things kind of turned because um the the nation just decided, like, listen, this is not this is not going to happen for you guys. And so they had to make a really hard decision just a few weeks ago. That it was the thing where the legal fees were adding up, adoption fees were adding up. If they were gonna pursue this, it would potentially be hundreds of thousands of dollars, and this tribe was just saying, no, this isn't gonna happen. We're not gonna let you guys take this girl. And so they had to make a really hard decision to let go of this thing and trust that God was going to keep this little girl Elizabeth and preserve her and um and put her in the right family. And so Kate just a couple weeks ago made a drive the drive back to Colorado. And as you can imagine, um, when you spent she spent over 90 days there uh as a single mom in an unfurnished house, uh, mind you, with um uh two two very young children. And and this girl Elizabeth, the reason why they wanted her is because she had been severely abused and even, they think, starved on certain occasions. She would ask, uh, she would ask her food uh over 200 times a day because she she just felt like she couldn't get enough, type of thing. And so they didn't know what to do about this, they didn't know like we cannot let this go, but things are not opening up here. And so they made a very difficult decision that we have to we have to come back home. And so Kate made the drive home, and it was one of those things where they had determined in their heart yes, a yes in their heart, but things weren't working out as they had thought, and the miracle didn't show up as we would pray for it and as we would expect it. But on the way back and in the last couple weeks, they found out that Elizabeth has now been taken in by another family who's a Christian family, and they weren't prepared, but they they decided to take Elizabeth in and to raise her. And so, on one hand, right now, we're celebrating the fact that though that miracle didn't happen, favor from God showed up on Elizabeth's life because she has a purpose and a plan, and she's gonna grow up knowing that she was loved and she's worth fighting for. Okay? That she's gonna know that she has families who love her, that she's worth fighting for. It's not a situation, um, uh it's not a situation that's been easy for the Wakars or any of the you know their circle of friends to walk through and to talk about. Because, you know, when you walk through something and unexpected things happen, the questions you're asking are why? Why? But the thing is, there's some questions we'll never be able to answer the question, why to? And in those moments, the only thing we can pay attention to was my heart saying yes. And I I just I I I just want to do something because we don't do this very often. Um, but I I was talking to Zach. Last night, I said, Listen, man, here's here's what's coming to mind as I'm praying for you guys, and you're struggling with these questions. Why is this going on? We feel like a failure, you feel crushed. Maybe we didn't try hard enough, maybe we didn't do it, maybe we didn't fight long enough, those types of things. And I I felt like the heart of the father needing to be announced to him and his family even last night. I said, Listen, man, the father is looking down at you, and from day one, you guys saw this little girl, and your heart said yes to the purposes of God for her. And you fought and you went crazy into debt. You thousands of dollars in legal fees, thousands of dollars on adoption fees. But the heart of the father is proud of you because he's looking at you. And the win here is that you were fearless in the face of difficulty. God is going to protect Elizabeth however that thing unfolds. But I said, Zach, listen, what you showed me and what you're showing the church, what you're showing the world right now, is there is nothing to fear when you say yes to God. There is nothing to fear. And so I just want to. I know the Wakars are here right now, and you guys, I just, this isn't a moment of sympathy, it's a moment of giving honor where honor is due. When somebody says yes to God, you need to say yes to God. Can you guys stand, please? Alright, no, a few people lay your hands on them right there. We don't need people to move all around. Just if you're around them, lay your hands on them. Let's disagree real quick. I thank you for my friends, God. I thank you for this family, this beautiful family. Who decided long ago how they were gonna live their life. And God, in the last several weeks, in the last few months, things have not trans transpired like they had expected, God. And as we even the church prayed for certain types of miracles, Lord God, it didn't unfold in that particular way, Lord Jesus. But God, we declare over their family and over little Elizabeth, your faithfulness, Lord God, that your faithfulness would be made known to them, Lord God. We thank you that all of heaven is rejoicing over them because they decided how they were going to live. They decided at all costs this is who we're going to be, that they know who they're saying yes to. And Father, we just pray favor and provision and grace, even financial miracles in their life right now, Lord God, as they're trying to make up this place, and as they're trying to reorient to this new season that you're in, Lord God. I thank you, Lord God, that they are your sons and your daughters, and I thank you, Lord God, for not timidity to follow this, but for more fearless, fearlessness as they move into a new year, Lord God. Just pray for boldness and favor over their life, Lord Jesus. We love you, God. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Come on, let's thank them one more time. And by the way, I didn't know I was gonna do this either, but there's they have a site that they were raising money for their adoption. We were planning a big gala to offset, a fundraiser gala to offset their finances. And because the adoption didn't didn't unfold, it just didn't make sense to do the gala in the same way. But listen, they took a risk that was worth taking. And I'm gonna ask you, do you see their thing uh on adopttogether.org slash wakar adoption. If you go there, it's a great place. You can give it a tax-deductible donation to fund and fuel the journey. I would just really encourage you to be a part of that journey and just and just saying yes back to them. You know, we say yes back to each other, we say yes to the unexpected places. And so let's stand together today. I want to pray for you and then we'll do some announcements here in just a second. Let's stand. And if in your heart this morning you feel a little more faith, you feel a little more invigorated, I just want to ask you just to put your hands up, maybe here, you can even go up here. There's a posture of hearts where we want together to respond to God. And some of you have been carrying dreams and promises and whispers and ideas and thoughts, and you you're not sure about them, but some of you, there's a even when you think about them, there's a conviction inside of you, like I I I've got, I can't let this go. So, God, I pray across this room this morning, I pray for every person that is holding inside of them a word of God for their family, for their neighborhood, for themselves, for a dream, for even if they are in need of a miracle in their own life, Lord God, I just pray inside of them right now that they have the ability for their eyes of their heart to look straight to you, Lord God, to look into your eyes and just say yes. God, together we say yes to you. We respond yes, Lord God. And when we wake up tomorrow, Lord God, help us to say yes before we say anything else. We wake up knowing whose day it is, whose time it is, whose energy, whose work it is, Lord God. I pray for faith to continue to rise in this place, Lord God. That just like Mary, just like when you came, Jesus, you're coming in our lives and you're doing something great. And I just pray for favor, I pray for boldness and fearlessness to mark your people in this place, Jesus. We love you together, and it's in your name we pray. Everybody said? Amen. Let's thank the Lord together. Hey, real quick, uh, I want to give this book to somebody. Um, is anybody's birthday today? Is anybody's birthday tomorrow? Was anybody's birthday yesterday?

SPEAKER_02 50:25

What about the Sandy? Friday. Friday.

SPEAKER_03 50:30

Tuesday season Friday. Any other takers back here? Alright. I have no idea what's being said in the room now, so Sandy is the lucky winner back here.

SPEAKER_02 50:52

So we're just gonna take a moment to receive the tithes and offerings, and um I was just really convicted. I got the the words fearless tattooed on my wrists years ago, and I haven't been fearless, and um, I was just so convicted today. Like, what does it look like in each of our lives to be fearless in our relationships, you know, with our giving, with our money, with everything, with our time, our attention, what would it look like if this group of people actually started walking in the boldness and boldness that we've been talking about? What would this region look like? Just awesome. So this is just a small opportunity for us to start walking in fearlessness. So, Father, we give you our attention now. We give you our focus, God. And you say where your heart is, there will your treasure be, and you have our hearts, God. So we just pray that you would take our offerings, this is more token of our love and appreciation for you, and our our way of acknowledging that we trust you. We're saying in a prophetic act that we trust you, God, with our with our giving. We trust you to do more with it than we could do on our own, God. We love you, we thank you for the way you just pour out your blessings on your people. Amen. So we just have a couple quick announcements. Um gonna go out of order a little bit. On December 12th, we'll be doing the fireside Christmas. Um, this is gonna be really fun. We'll have hay rides, hot chocolate, Christmas carols, all around a massive bonfire that we're building right in the field next to Vine Life. I don't know what they're gonna burn, but if you have books, no, I'm just kidding. None of that. But um, we would just invite you all to come. Please dress appropriately because this is an outdoor event. So that'll be cool. We're also doing a Christmas Eve service, um, which will be really cool. Please bring your whole family. Everybody's invited. So obviously, that would be December 24th. We'll have two services at 4:30 and 6 o'clock. And um it's just gonna be a great time to get the family together and celebrate what the Lord has done and kind of reflect on the year and and what he's doing. So it'll be beautiful. And along this Christmas theme, all our announcements are Christmas, but we're decorating today, and we really need more volunteers. So if you have some time this afternoon, we will bribe you with a hot lunch. I don't know who doesn't like a hot lunch, but please stay with us. Um, Nikki and Betty will be kind of like telling us where to go and showing us the ropes. But if you could just meet here at the side of the stage right after the service, we're gonna kind of get started right away and uh just unload the decorations and deck the halls of this place and make it a really warm environment for Christmas. So thank you to everybody who is a part. I just want to invite the ministry team to come on up front. If you need healing in your body, if you need breakthrough in your life, or if you just need prayer for something, please come forward and receive some prayer. If you're new to Vine Life, please meet in the back under this Connect Center banner. We have a free gift for you, and we just have some information about the church that we would like to share with you. So be blessed, have a wonderful day, and let's just be fearless going forward.