When Your Faith is Being Tested | God, Can You Help Me?

Follow along with message notes at https://www.westsidecommunitychurch.com/notes-resources

Join us as Gabe Kolstad brings us a message about When Your Faith is Being Tested. 

#peace #godcanyouhelpme #thegodwhoseesme #Jesus #fullservice #fullchurchservice #christian #sermon #worship #westside #church #2026sermon #churchonline #gabekolstad

Westside is a place made up of real people from all walks of life. We are a “come as you are” church that strives to be a safe place for people to investigate faith. No matter your story, questions, doubts or struggles, we’re glad you’re here today.

LINKS & RESOURCES:
SUBSCRIBE to always see our content and let us reach more people for Jesus: https://www.youtube.com/westsidecommu...
To support this ministry and help us o reach people all around the world click here: https://www.westsidecommunitychurch.c...

STAY CONNECTED:
Website: https://www.westsidecommunitychurch.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/westsidecommunitychurch/?hl=en
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/westsidecommunitychurchpdx/

Transcript

Copy

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Wow, happy Sunday to everybody. It's August the what 2nd, right? And uh it is an amazing way to start off a new month together. And I'm just glad to see you. We're in a series about God, can you help me? We're learning about the names of God, the character of God, and how we can really trust him. And I hope you've been getting to know him a little bit. We've talked about different names so far. Thank you to Pastor Ken for teaching last week. I was actually uh not I was not out of town, I was out of church though, uh, because I was I was doing reconnaissance at five other churches. So I got to go steal ideas and walk away with brochures, and we always we always go learn from other churches. And if you don't know this about the church in Portland, it's very connected. So people from all different kinds of denominations and stuff, we all know each other. We hang out and we share ideas. So, but I'm really glad to be back here this week. Now I have a question for you this morning. Are you ready to play a game? All right, it's the moment you've all been waiting for its name that problem. You ready? Okay, here we go. Okay, we're gonna talk about problems today because we're the message is about when your faith is being tested, okay? And I want you to know there's a difference between these things. So if you have a problem that you're facing right now, you might not know is it a test, is it a tumble, or is it a temptation? And it's important that you know the difference. So I'm gonna read you this is the game part, all right? You're gonna you're gonna tell me what you think. Uh it is. Is it a test? Is it a tumble, or is it a temptation? And so here's the first one. This is the situation. An attractive coworker starts flirting with you at work.

unknown 1:49

Temptation.

SPEAKER_00 1:50

Temptation, all right? Because what is a temptation? It's an invitation to sin. That's really what it is. It's an invitation to sin. Uh, so that's one of them, okay? Now you might be facing a problem, but if it's an if it's a temptation, there's a very particular way to deal with that. And we're not actually talking about that today, but the Bible talks so much about it. Here's another one. Your doctor gives you difficult news. Is it a test? Is it a tumble or is it a temptation? Okay, that one's a test, right? Because it's an opportunity to trust God. So that's what a test really is: an opportunity to trust God. Here's another one. You lose your temper and yell at your kids. What is that one? That one is a tumble, okay? And here's why you know, because this one is a result of giving in. So you already had the temptation. That was the situation that made you, you know, uncomfortable. And you know what it is. If you're a parent, you know, like you get that moment where there's the stimuli and the response, right? Between there is the temptation. And so the temptation already happened and you gave into it. The tumble is you you lost your temper. And we we all face these things. We face all three of these things. We we face the temptations, we face the tumbles, but today we're gonna be talking about the tests. These are the opportunities to trust God. And you're probably facing one of those right now. It's that situation that's beyond you, it's the thing you don't have a lot of control over. It might be the thing that God asked you to do and you just don't think you can do it. There's all kinds of these things. And so today, when your faith is being tested, here's what I learned this week as I was getting ready for this is this quote. It says, Everything that can be shaken will be shaken. Everything that can be shaken will be shaken. And that's uh be I I found that to be very true in my own life. Everything that can't be shaken will be shaken. Now, the shake doesn't exist to destroy you, it exists to reveal what cannot be shaken, which is the character of God. And that's what we're in this series talking about, the names of God. Because if you know who God is, then you can know how God is. That matters a lot when you're facing a test. If you know who God is, you can know how God is, how he's going to act, how he does things, how he will come through for you. That is so, so, so important. Uh, Tim Keller said, faith isn't primarily believing God exists, it's staking your life on his character. Really, really important. Staking your life on his character. A while back, Melissa and I, it was December of 2021, actually, Melissa and I went on a little sh uh snowshoeing adventure with Matt and Nancy Castile from West. I went to Trillium Lake, and I think I got a picture of it up here. There it is. Trillium Lake, beautiful, right? It was January, I think it was, or December. It was snowy, and we were up there, and and you you snowshoe into this place, and then the lake is there and it's frozen over. And so Matt, you know, nudges me with his elbow and and says, I bet you won't walk out on the lake. And I was like, I'll walk out on the lake. Bet you won't walk out on the lake. And he's like, I'll walk out on the lake. And then we both kind of looked at each other like you first. But the way we did it is we kind of just like, you know, you take one foot is back on solid ground, and we were just kind of like, you know, a little bit at a time, like, yeah, no, I'll I'll totally do it. I'll walk out on the lake. Absolutely. I'm I'm totally out on the lake, you know? And this is about how we did that. Thankfully, nobody pushed me out onto the ice, but what we were wondering is, will the ice hold my weight? And if it doesn't, that's really bad, right? And and so you're probably wondering the same thing, um, honestly, about your situation right now. And I don't think most of us wake up in the morning on a Tuesday and ask the question, theologically, what is God's character? What's the next Hebrew name I can memorize of God? You know, I think what we're asking is, how the heck are we supposed to pay for Johnny's braces and fix the water heater, you know, and have all these commitments that we're supposed to show up to? Like we're at the end of ourselves. How are we supposed to do this? And that's where God shows up in our lives. But you gotta, I think you've got to know who God is before you can know how he is. And so let's talk about who God is today. There's a passage in scripture in Genesis chapter 22. It's about Abraham. Abraham's the father of faith, he's the friend of God. This is what God calls him the father of faith, friend of God. And so he he knows God real well. And yet he's in a test, like a massive test, massive, massive test. Now, Abraham, so you know the context here, Abraham had received a really, really clear promise from God about something very specific. And Abraham was the kind of guy that that hung on to that stuff and he remembered it. So he was remembering God's promise into and through his test. And I just want to plant that seed because I think you and I need to do that too. If you know who God is, then you can know how he is. And if you know that, that can carry you through your test. So Genesis chapter 22 is in your notes if you didn't already pull them up. Grab them right now. Welcome to everybody online, too. We're so glad you're here with us. We've got notes there for you as well. But here we go, Genesis chapter 22, it goes like this. Sometime later, after the promise, God tested Abraham's faith. Abraham, God called. Yes, he replied, Here I am. Take your son, your only son, yes, Isaac, whom you love so much, and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you. Whoa. That kind of took an unhealthy direction, I feel like, right? Like, what in the world? You know, the Bible says this phrase, God is love. And then you read this and you're like, what? Take your son, your only son, yes, Isaac, whom you love so much, and go to the land of Moriah, go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering? How could how could a loving God ask somebody for something so ridiculous? I mean, that is such an inappropriate request. Don't you think, as a human being living in 2026, you look at that and you're like, that, wow, I didn't see that coming. And what you have to know before you react to stuff like that is, well, who is God? What's his character? How is God? Like, what is the kind of things that he does? And so just park that in your mind as we walk through the rest of this. I want you to see a couple of things. First was Abraham's eagerness. Did you notice that it says, God called, God tested Abraham's faith? Abraham got called, and he goes, Yes, here I am. That was sort of his MO. Like when God called, he's like, Yes, here I am. Matter of fact, God tells him, You're gonna go sacrifice your son, your only son, on a mountain as a as a burnt offering. And the very next verse says, Abraham got up early the next morning. If God came to me saying you're gonna sacrifice your only son, I wouldn't set my alarm for the next day.

unknown 8:59

Right?

SPEAKER_00 8:59

I would be like, I'm gonna be unavailable that day. I'm sleeping in, I got I got lost, you know, I disappeared off the face of the earth. I'm not gonna do that. Abraham plans on it, wakes up, gets up early. You know what you see with Abraham, I think is very important. It's an eagerness. He had an eagerness in him. And that's something that God is looking for in people: an eagerness to obey. The question that I was asking myself, honestly, in as I was preparing, I was looking at this, is like, man, when God calls me to sacrifice, am I eager? Do I get up early the next morning and go, like, ooh, let's get into this sacrifice. Yeah. Or am I avoiding? Because what he's looking for is people who are eager. But Abraham had an established, trusting relationship with God. He knew something about God. He knew how he worked because he knew who he was, because he had inside information about the character of God. God had already revealed some things to him that were very important. Matthew Henry, the old commentator, said, Never, never was any gold tried in so hot a fire. Never was any gold tried in so hot a fire. I mean, that this was the ultimate test. And I've never faced anything like this. But Abraham, he totally succeeded in this test. How do you do that? I want to give you the secrets as we unpack the life of Abraham here and what he did and how God really approved of that and why this made him into the person that was the father of faith. So if you're in a test, here's four things you can do. First, look back at God's faithfulness. If you'll write that in your notes, look back at God's faithfulness because he has been faithful. He is faithful. He's been so faithful in my life. And I love I love those moments when I can kind of look back, right, and and discover that he's faithful. Um, I think about this rope right here. Here's a little rope. And I think about myself. And if God was to say, hey, I want you to find somebody and I want you to throw them over a cliff, and all they get to hold on to is this rope. So here's here's the rope, here's the cliff. Who wants to grab on? You know, I'm the one holding it at the top, and you're gonna grab onto this rope, right? This little rope. And you might be asking two questions. One, can the rope hold my weight? Two, can Gabe hold the rope? Yeah, right? That's gonna be the bigger question, probably. But here's what helps as I've observed in my own life, I look back at my life and I think, you know, man, there was times when I I've been through some tests, not like Abraham's test, but I've been through some tests. And I actually made a list of tests as I was thinking about this message. I made a list of 18 tests. Didn't take me any time at all. I'm a really good complainer, so I was like, oh, I'll tell you the test, man. Boom, boom, boom, boom. I got 18 tests that I just kind of rattled off real quick. Stuff like when my parents separated when I was 12. 11, 12, my parents separated. And I was, you know, your whole world, if you've been through something like that, your whole world sort of falls apart. Nine years later, my my parents got divorced. And um it was it was very tough. It was very tough. Two years after that, my best friend died in a car crash. You know, so I'm just like I'm I'm going through these things. And um a few years after that, I became the the pastor of West Side. And um that was exciting, except that it was happening during a tough time because Pastor Ken was the pastor before me, and his wife Karen had just passed away, and the the church was in kind of in mourning, the whole church was, and um, and then the economy had collapsed and uh the church was growing at the same time that we had financial needs, and and there was no money. And I was brand new at this. And it was very tough. I remember in 2021 when um COVID had happened, my identity got stolen, and we had some staffing changes, and I was going through some personal trauma and personal just drama. And you know, I I look back and I go, but you know what? God showed up for me in all those things. He showed up for me in all those things. And I can look back and go, so he is faithful, because I can remember that. In the in the verse that we have in front of us, Genesis chapter 21, verses 6 and 7, it says, And Sarah declared, God has brought me laughter. Okay, we're flashing back now to before Abraham was tested, it said, God has brought me laughter. All who hear about this will laugh with me. Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse a baby, yet I've given Abraham a son in his old age? This is why God said, Take your only son, Isaac, right? Isaac was the one that was born. It was unsuspecting. It was a surprise in the way that they were, they thought they had outlived this promise. God had made a promise earlier, and they had waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited. You know, like they probably looked at and thought, oh, God's gonna do this the way he normally does, like when you're in your 20s. You're gonna have a son. And then 20s go by, like, oh, okay, maybe it's the 30s. Okay, well, yeah, we could probably do that. And then that happens, and then they're like, 40s? Okay. And then 50s, like, no, you gotta be kidding. 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, no. It was in their 90s. You know, sometimes God gives you a promise, you know what it is, but you don't know when it is, right? That's the problem. That's the test, is that you don't know when it is, but God did fulfill the promise way out of their timetable, and it was so preposterous that he said, you're gonna name this kid Laughter. Because that's what the name Isaac means. You're gonna name this kid Laughter, and everybody who hears about this is gonna laugh, be like, oh my gosh, in your 90s, only God could do that, right? Now, I I actually brought a gift for all of you today. I brought you all a rope as well. And so we're gonna pass out these ropes. These ones are smaller. Okay, so you get a rope, and Steve's gonna ask for some uh help getting everybody a rope. But I want you to think about like, when has God come through for you, just like he did Abraham and Sarah? When has he come through for you? Because Abraham was being tested, but he looked back and he goes, Well, you know, God did deliver on his promise. How about you? What have you been through and how has God delivered on his promise? I want you to take that, when you get that little rope that I'm giving you, I want you to tie a knot in it. And I want you to think about a time when God has come through for you. And if you need to, because you're going through a test right now, put it in your pocket and keep it with you this week so that when when you start to doubt, is he real? Is he faithful? You can look at the oh yeah, he did come through for me in that one time. I think it's so important for us to have that rope of memory. You know what God wants us to do is to laugh at the smallness of the problem in light of the bigness of his power. To laugh at the smallness of the problem in light of the bigness of his power because he is so able. He is so, so, so able. Yeah. We sort of get this spiritual amnesia though, right? It's like uh, you know, God can come through for you and you celebrate, you're like, yes, he came. The next day you're like, you're never gonna believe what happened. A week later, you're like, oh yeah, this thing happened last week. A month later, you're like, I can't remember how that went. A year later, you're like, I don't remember God. I don't remember God coming through. And then another test comes and you forget. You get that spiritual amnesia. So this can be a way to help us remember, oh, he came through. He came through. You know how many times God has come through for me? You know how it often happens? It often happens for me, um, honestly, through other people. Often. And I'll share more about that today. But here's the second thing I want you to write down in your notes is this is to realize what's at stake. You know, you gotta you gotta first of all look back at God's faithfulness, but then you gotta realize what's really at stake because you might think that your test is about you. You might think that what's at stake is your dinner tonight. You might think that what's at stake is the welfare of your family or the success of your career. You know, you might think that it's about you, but it is about so much more than that. Think about Abraham. Abraham, it wasn't just about him, he was supposed to have a son. And if you didn't know this, the promise was he was gonna become the father of many nations. That was the promise. So he goes, Abraham, I'm gonna make you the father of many nations. You're gonna have a son. Now he's got this son, and God's like, give up your son. And Abraham's looking at this, going like, give up my dream? Give up my wife's dream. But it was about so, so, so much more than that. This was actually a cosmic drama. And I want you to see Genesis 17, 5. This is another flashback. Okay, we're going further back into Abraham and Sarah's story. He says this to Abraham in Genesis 17, 5. What's more, I'm changing your name. It will no longer be Abram. Instead, you'll be called Abraham, for you will be the father of many nations. This was God approaching Abraham saying, I'm gonna make you a promise. I'm gonna make a prophecy about you, I'm gonna do something through your life. You're gonna become the father of many nations. Now, how many sons would you have to have in order for that promise to be fulfilled? Well, at least one, right? But then that son would also have to go have sons that would have lots and lots. So somebody's gonna have to have a lot of babies somewhere along here, right? And it and so what you want to do is go like keep the babies. Got to keep the babies if you're gonna be the father of many nations. But God's going, give up your baby. However, this was a covenant, this is a legally and spiritually binding agreement between God and Abraham. And that's why we're talking about the names of God, because in in Genesis chapter 17, God comes to Abraham and he literally says, I am El Shaddai. My name is God Almighty. He's revealing himself through names. We talked about one week one, we talked about one week two. Today we're I'm mentioning this one. We got another one we're gonna focus on today. But El Shaddai, God Almighty, so God's like, I could make anything happen. Here's the promise. So Abraham is being tested on this. You know what's really at stake? It's not Abraham's dinner, it's not his job, it's not even the welfare of his family. It's bigger than that. It's God's reputation. God's reputation is on the line. And Abraham knows it. And Abraham uses that to his advantage. Because God said, I'm gonna make some promises. You know who the people of faith in in Scripture, what they do is they hold God accountable to his promises. The people of faith that I watch in this world, in this life, what they're doing is they're saying, God, you said, you ever see somebody that will do that, that's got the audacity to do that? I think God is asking us for audacity. Hold him accountable to what he said he would do. Will he come through? Every single time. Every single time. And he wants us to go to him and be like, God, you said that you were gonna part the waters. God, you said that you were gonna come through for us. God, you said you're gonna provide for us. You said you're gonna forgive me of my sins. God, you said we're gonna have a son, and I'm gonna be the father of many nations. And so Abraham is holding God accountable to the promises that he made for him. That's what people of faith do. People who receive the promises of God are the ones who believe that he will do what he says he will do because of who he is. And that carries you through. In this season, right now, I'm kind of in a testing time again. And this is a very positive one, but it's still a test. You know what it is? It's called the time is now. Uh, if that rings a bell, that's our current initiative because we've seen our church growing. I mean, just for a second, pause, look around the room. It's summertime. You guys didn't get the memo. Um, that like you're supposed to be out camping and gallivanting around, like, you know. But the truth is that God's doing something, right? He's doing something in our midst, in our city, in our in our community, in our church, in our country. And um, my daughter-in-law Audrey is here, and she said last week her and Dawson were at the beach, and she was wearing a shirt that had like faith something on it, right? And somebody came up and approached her, and they asked her about the shirt, and they got into a spiritual conversation, found out these people are also Christians. And she came back and she said, You know what? I feel like Portland has kind of changed, like the area, Oregon's kind of changed. And I had another person come to me say the exact same thing, totally different scenario. But people are starting to notice that there's this spiritual openness and this spiritual receptivity, and people are saying yes to Jesus, and people are opening up to God. And you know what else is happening is Christians are getting bold again. It's a new season, and so God's grown the church, and now we're like, oh shoot, we need a new building. And God's opened a door, and now I'm I'm like over my skis again. You know, it's like, oh, I've never been in this situation before, where there's all of this opportunity, and the lot of zeros are involved, and a lot of people need to be coming through, and you know, a lot of work needs to be done, and it's a it's a test. And will will I believe that when Jesus said, I I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Well, I believe that. You know, will we believe that as a church because it's a test. So we got to come through, we've got to hold God accountable for his promises, and we gotta we gotta say, yes. Here's what we gotta do. Number three, speak and act in faith. Speak and act in faith. I think this is so important. Abraham did this, he modeled this for us. You gotta give yourself the advantage of history and experience. You gotta give yourself the advantage of history and experience. Look back. Look at that. Did you get your rope? We might have ran out. There's so many people here. We might have ran out. If you didn't get a rope, um steal one from your neighbor and just tie a tie a knot in it right now. Tie a knot in it. Um, because that's your that's your reminder, that's your history, that's your experience, where you go, I'm gonna speak and act in faith because I remember that God does come through. He does come through. Abraham wasn't, by the way, Abraham wasn't trusting the plan. This was his big advantage. He was not trusting the plan, he was trusting the planner. The planner. Because have you ever noticed plans change? But the planner stays the same. He's faithful, his character never changes. There's a line in scripture, he cannot change. He's not capable of changing. Perfection will always be perfection, and his character is perfect. And God's provision, by the way, usually happens on the path of obedience, not before it. So that's why we've got to speak and act in faith, because he's we look at it and go, like, well, God, as soon as you like unleash all the resources of the universe, I'll step out in faith. And he's going, That's not faith. As soon as you step out in faith, I'll unleash all the resources of the universe. Speak and act in faith. So Abram's there in the moment, right, with his son Isaac, and he's just been told by God what he's going to do, and he gets up early the next morning. And now in verse 5 it says, Stay here with the donkey, Abraham told the servants. The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and then we will come right back. Just pause for a second. Who's we, Abraham? You're going to sacrifice Isaac. Who's we? Who's coming back with you? He says, God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son, Abraham answered, and they both walked on together. Here's what happened in that passage. I skipped verse 7, where, verses 6 and 7, where Isaac was like looking around. By the way, Isaac had the wood for his sacrifice on his back. So he's carrying the fuel, and and you know, he's carrying it. And he's looking around and he's counting. He's like, one, two. Where's the sheep? Like, where's the actual sacrifice, Dad? And Abraham says, God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son. And they both walked on together. What did he do? He spoke in faith. We are gonna go worship, and we're gonna come right back. And then he acted. And the wood was placed on Isaac's back for a very important reason. Can you think of anybody else in Scripture who had wood placed on their back on their way to the sacrifice? Jesus. He carried his own cross, right? Isaac is such a great picture of who Jesus is, such a great foreshadowing of the Messiah coming for us. And the rest of the account really lines up with it too. By the way, you don't have to you don't have to guess what Abraham was thinking in this moment, because Hebrews chapter 11, verse 19 tells us. It says this Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, just think for a second. Abraham held in his mind the possibility that he was going to actually have to go through with this. And he said, But if Isaac died, this is what scripture says, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead. Abraham's like, God already told me, I am the Lord Almighty. And then he told me, Go sacrifice your son, even though you're gonna be the father of many nations. This math just doesn't work for us, but Abraham said, But I'm gonna choose to believe. And no wonder he's called the father of faith, right? God is gonna put tests in our way. This one seems preposterous. I wonder if it's put in scripture so that we could look at our tests and go, like, okay, this is no big deal. Okay, mine's just not gonna be a big deal then. I'm gonna trust the Lord. If Abraham could trust the Lord through that, I can trust the Lord with this. And you know that he tests us all the time. You know, there's only one place in Scripture that he asked us to test him. God says, now you test me. He says it's with money. Only one item that we're supposed to test him with, and only one place in Scripture that it said, Test me in this. He says, I want you to tithe. I want you to release not just any 10%, but the first 10% of all your income back through worship through the local church. I want you to, I want you to tithe. Requires a massive rearranging of your entire priority structure. He goes, I want you to put me first, and I want you to see if I will not open up the windows of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you won't have room to receive it. He goes, test me in this. But all along he's been going like, I am the God of peace, I am the God of strength, I am the Lord Almighty, I am the provider, I'm the one. And he's going, now test me. And and this is where we're at right now as a church, it's also where we're at as people, is that we're in this test, and the question is, can I trust that God can hold my weight in this? So, number four in your notes, if you're gonna succeed through your test, the last thing that you gotta do is to look up for the answer. Look up for the answer. It's so easy when you're in a test to look down, isn't it? Most of us, if we're in a test like Abraham faced, we're we're looking at the knife the whole time. You know, Abraham, he was in that moment where he had taken the knife and he was about to plunge it into the chest of his son. And we're most of the time in our test, we're looking at the knife, and God's going, No, look up. Don't look down, don't look around at what everybody else is doing. He's going, No, I want you to look up. Abraham, he wasn't even looking for a ram, he wasn't looking for a lamb, he wasn't looking for a sheep, he was looking for God. And it says in Genesis chapter 22, verses 13 to 14, it says, Then Abraham, look at it, says, looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son. Oh, this is so rich with meaning and symbolism. This is such a great picture of Jesus. And it says, Abraham named the place Yahweh Yairah, which means the Lord will provide. To this day, people still use that name as a proverb on the mountain of the Lord, it will be provided.

unknown 29:13

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 29:13

It's the same name if you've ever heard Jehovah Jirah, same exact name. Means literally, the Lord will provide. Whatever your test is, you you gotta know something. The Lord will provide. Has he done anything for you before? Yes. Can you hold on to that as you're in your test now and go, oh, he's come through. He's so faithful, he's so good, he's so perfect, he's so consistent, he will never change, he will always fulfill his promises. He will carry us through, he will take us through, he will make us into what he wants us to be. He can do it, only he can do it. I think it's important for us to recognize something. I'll go back to what I uh opened up earlier. There's actually only ever been one uh child sacrifice authorized by God. His own son, Jesus, for us. That's the only child sacrifice he ever authorized. And it's because it was the only way. It was the only way. Our sin was too great. Our need was too great. There was no way besides Jesus coming and giving his life for us and shedding his precious blood and making atonement for our sins. He made up for all of my lack and all of your lack. He made up for all of my sins and your sins. He closed the gap completely that existed between us and God. He completely closed the gap. And he's invited everybody to respond. The Bible says, anyone who's thirsty can come and drink freely of the water of life. Jesus says, if anyone believes in me, I'm going to give them the power to become the children of God. And one of the things that I think we all have to consider is where am I in my journey? Because depending on where you're at, that'll color how you respond to this message about testing. Your tests are different. Your response is different. So we always ask the question: what's your next move? Where are you at on this journey? We have three different mountains that we talk about. First is the mountain of Jesus. You know, we connect with Jesus. That means coming to him in faith and believing he's our Savior. That's the beginning of your relationship with God. And then it's the mountain of community to say, I'm in relationship with other people. And so when I'm in a test, I can look for help with other people and I get through it. And the third one is the mountain of mission. To know that I have a purpose and I can make a difference in the world. That God could use me to help others. Maybe God can use me to help share the message of hope, to touch the world and bring his light and his love. And so my question for you is like, what's your next move? Where are you at on this journey? And how's God going to help you walk forward? How can we help you walk forward? I think it's really important for us to pause there on the first one, the Jesus mount. Because this is really where it all begins. And maybe you've been today looking in, kind of peering through the windows of faith a little bit. Maybe you've been exploring and asking questions. Maybe you've been putting this off. Maybe you know that Jesus came for you, but you've never surrendered, as we've been talking about today, to this one who said, Come, who said, believe and receive. Believe that I'm the Savior, Jesus would say. Believe that I came for you. Believe that I shed my blood for you. Believe that I've forgiven you. And then receive that salvation. Receive that relationship. Receive that restoration. Know that I'm with you. Know that I hear your prayers. Know that I've built a home for you in heaven when you die. Know that you are secure in my love. And that I'll never leave you. And if you're ready for that, I want to invite you right now. Would you all bow your heads with me? I want to invite you right now. If you're ready to take that first step, or maybe for you it's a different step. But would you pray with me? Lord, we thank you so much for your amazing faithfulness. Just me, I look back in my life and I thank you so much that in those moments where I just felt like it was impossible that you showed up again, that you came through. Yeah, sometimes it felt like it was the last minute. Sometimes it felt like all had been lost. It felt like there was no hope. But you came through, and you always come through. I pray for my brothers and sisters who are here today considering this step, just considering coming to faith in you, considering saying yes to Jesus. If that's you, can I just tell you from me to you, this is the most important decision of your life? Jesus is the best friend you will ever have. He's the faithful one. He's the one that comes near. He loves you. And he's inviting you to say yes to him. And if you're ready for that, if you're online or if you're in person, I want to invite you just to echo these words back to God in your mind and heart. You can tell him this Jesus, I give you my life. Thank you for saving me. I believe in you, your life, your death on the cross, and your resurrection. Forgive me of my sins. Fill me with your spirit. Lead me and teach me to follow you in Jesus' name.