What Would You Do If God Said Go

The hardest part of faith is not believing God exists. It is trusting him when you are tired, unsure, and tempted to grab the steering wheel. After three weeks off the stage following the grind of Easter ministry, we talk about what changed when we sat in the seats with our families, paid attention during worship, and remembered that leadership is not performance, it is presence.

From there we zoom out to the life of our church: missions work around the world, stories of real transformation close to home, and the steady growth of community outreach. We also get painfully honest about the inner pressure leaders carry, the quiet belief that everything rises or falls on us. In prayer, God’s message cuts through the noise: get over yourself. Then comes the real invitation: trust me more.

We open Genesis and follow Abraham from the moment God says “Go” to the moment Abraham can say, with steady confidence, “God will provide.” We talk about obedience without a detailed plan, faith while still being a work in progress, and why provision is about God’s character more than our control. Finally, we bring it into real life: finances, tithing, rising costs, medical diagnoses, addiction, and the daily choice to trust God with tomorrow.

If this encouraged you, subscribe for more, share it with a friend who needs hope, and leave a review so more people can find the show. What is one area where you want to trust God more this week?

Transcript

Back After Easter And Rest

SPEAKER_00 1:04

So it's been three weeks since I've been up here. And if you're part of our church text group, you understand why. Easter is exhausting as far as ministry goes. There's a lot of things that go into. There's a there's a lot of work, a lot of behind the scenes that go into it. And I'm not the only one. I realize that. I'm a very small piece in this puzzle. But the other reason, and and so I went to the leadership, um, I think right at the end of March, and I said, hey, listen, if you guys are okay with it, with your permission, I would, after Easter, I want to take three Sundays off in a row. But I plan on being here. Like I'm not going anywhere. Like we're gonna go on vacation. And I told Cody, I was like, you know, it's okay with you, I'm gonna, you know, take time and not be on the stage with the worship team. And and I broke my own rule last week because I wanted to play with Roy. I wanted to make sure I was up there when we played with Roy, so that was important. But I took some time out in front and I did something that I don't get to do very often. I got to sit with my wife and my kids during church. Pretty cool. I never get to do that, really. I realize that my kids, I love them, but sometimes they're the loud ones in the back. And that's okay. They're still learning. But but I got to sit with them and and and hopefully model for them what it is to engage in praise and worship. And we had some some bigger conversations about that, why why we shouldn't talk when we're singing, right? Because it's it's disruptive to people and it's also not focused on God. We got to talk about why it's important that I think you should stand when we're worshiping, because we're we're standing in the presence of the Almighty God. Not everyone does it, but we talked about why we raise our hands and we're surrendering to Him. And this is a this is a sign of that surrender. Then I got to sit with my wife. We got to listen to the message together. And it's kind of neat because the first Sunday that I didn't get up here, we talked about Mission Sunday, and and so I got to sit back and just kind of look at all the mission work we've been doing and and the magi boxes, and you know, going down to the Dominican, and we've been we're supporting a mission in Zimbabwe now and the Christian Center and um uh Judy Lopez down in Mexico. And and and and I'm not I don't want to take away from any of that, but my favorite part of our mission Sunday was Stacy. You guys know Dan and Stacy. Um I always miss them when they're not here because they sit right here. This is like they're like my anchor people, man. Like I just I know they're there. And she and she talked a little bit about what the church has done in her life. And I don't know if you know this, but when I first came here, they were one of the first people, uh, one of the first families that I baptized. One of my favorite things that I've done is uh they were baptized, and then we went to their house, and I married them on their porch the same day. I've never done that ever before in my life. But they they were so committed to trying to get their life right with God, they wanted to do it right, so they gave their life to Jesus, they got baptized, and then they came together in a union and got married on the same day. And I love it because I I've got to see them grow and watch them how they serve and have incredible conversations. And listen, they're and and and I say this lovingly, and she would agree with me, they're not perfect. They're they're still trying to figure it out. So am I, right? But I we got to hear a little bit, and why I think that's important is because so often we talk about missions, we look overseas and we fail to realize the biggest mission is oftentimes right outside our doors. Because I I don't know what's gonna happen with these kids. I've been to Africa, I saw the work they're doing, but I'm not there. But every day I get to interact with Dan and Stacy and Charlie and Zane and try to help them navigate. We get to do that, right? That's why this is so important. And then we get to Jesse the following Sunday preaching. And listen, I love that kid, man. And I told him, I already told him this someday he's gonna surpass me, and I know it. And I hope that he does. I hope that that we disciple him well enough that God gives him bigger audiences and bigger opportunities than I ever had. And in the day that he leaves here, and I'm not saying it's gonna happen anytime soon, I could be completely wrong, but if God ever takes him from this place, I hope we celebrate with him. And my favorite part about Jesse is he met Lydia, and Lydia is fantastic. I like Jesse. Lydia's cooler, all right? Just saying. But but I got to, we get to see and how he's he's growing in his faith and he's studying the word of God. And and and one of the things that he said that stuck with me is he's like, you can you can be following Jesus and still be a work in progress. And if that's not the truth. I loved it. And then Mark from Camp Elkorn Valley is another one of our missions we support. Mark came in pretty heavy last week, and and I think rightfully so, because he said, everything we have belongs to God, anyways. And we should live like that. It's not mine to give to him, it's his that he's given to me, and all I'm doing is giving it back. And he's talking about finances and time and and resources, and I know everyone everyone hates talking about money, but I think what Mark said was powerful. I walked out of here thinking, what more could I do with my life? And so over the last couple weeks, I've been spending a lot of time just in prayer. I've been spending a lot of time with my family. I've been spending a lot of time just sitting around plucking on my guitar, doing some things that are fun. And and but the whole focus has been, God, what are you showing me? I've been here four years, which is crazy to think about. When we came here, Miles was just crawling. And now he's trying to jump out the window of our house. Like we came here, Everett was six. And in four years' time, this church has, we've gone through a lot of changes. Gone through a name change, we've changed the way our worship style has shifted. I preach on the floor. I've I've stood in a pulpit and and and I've said some things that I thought were profound, and I've said some things that I thought were completely stupid. I've made mistakes. I've struggled to get things right. On the other side, I see families that have come to know Jesus a lot of times just from a willingness to just be Christ. I've seen God give me an opportunity to stand in places, to stand in gaps that I never thought I would have. We become a church that's known in this community. Oftentimes, when when there's events going on around here, we're the first church people call. Because we're building a rapport. People know us. They know that we love them. We we continue to add the blessing box and the brownback diner downstairs, continues to feed people in this community. We continue to do outreach by our best guests, and it's not about numbers, but our Easter egg hunt this year had 375 people. Which means that the community recognizes us as a place that's safe for their kids, family-friendly. We just added a toddler room, which I'm really excited about. So this is kind of that in-between phase. I'm working with Jesse for those who are in junior and senior high. You're gonna have your own space downstairs here in the near future. We're giving you a whole room to do whatever you want with. As long as you don't paint it like completely black, maybe a dark gray. But but we continue to, we want to build our relationships with this community. We've seen 37 people in four years give their life to Christ. That that's what we want to do, and and yet I can't help but feel this is just the beginning. And so that that's what I've been wrestling with the last couple of weeks is God, what do we do next? How do we how do I lead better? You know, some sometimes in ministry it it's easy to assume that all of this rises and falls on me. I think that's the biggest mistake that I make in my life is I assume that the success and failure of this church is somehow tied to me. And you know what God showed me in these last three weeks? Told me to get over myself. By the way, not the message I was expecting to hear. I was hoping for a more encouraging word from the Lord. But but he reminded me that it's not about me. Instead, it's always been about him. And so that's where we find ourselves this morning. We're gonna go all the way back to the beginning of Genesis chapter 11. So Genesis chapter 11, we we we kind of go through a family breakdown, a generational breakdown coming from Shem, who eventually has a descendant known as Abram. And Abram, if you know, would eventually become Abraham. But but he's from a descendant of the line of Shem, right? And and so he he has a lineage of faith in big things. And so all of chapter 11 is just laying out this account of how we get to Abram. And then you jump right over to chapter 12, and it says, uh, verse 1, it says the Lord had said to Abram, Leave your country, your people, and your father's household, and go to the land that I will show you. God says, I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you. I'll make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you, I will curse. And all people, uh peoples on earth will be blessed through you. And so, what does Abram do? He goes to God and says, Hey, listen, um, cool, uh, what's the plan? Where am I going? How many people am I taking with me? What am I gonna do when I get there? No, that's not what he does. It he literally, verse four, it says, So Abram left as the Lord had told him. So God shows up to Abram and says, I'm gonna bless you. I'm gonna bless the nations because of you. I'm gonna I'm gonna take care of you. Those who bless you, I'm gonna bless those who curse you, I'm gonna curse. And Abram's response is to get up, leave his father's house, leave everything that he knows, leave everything behind him, and he walks out the door and says, God, let's go.

SPEAKER_01 13:55

What kind of a faith is that?

SPEAKER_00 14:00

I mean, he he literally had nothing, no game plan. I can't even go to the store without making a list for groceries. I'm just being honest. Like, every time I have an opportunity in my life and people come to me, like the first thing I have to do is I have to sit down, I have to analyze. Okay, what's this gonna cost me? What do I have to do? How much time and energy can I do this right now? God goes to Abram with nothing other than a promise and says, Go, and I will go with you.

SPEAKER_01 14:41

What kind of faith is that? So Abram takes what he has and he leaves with Lot and he goes and he starts this journey with God.

SPEAKER_00 14:58

He finds himself in Egypt if you go down through chapter twelve. Says, now uh there was a famine in the land starting in verse 10, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe. And as he was about to enter into Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, I know you're a beautiful woman. You are. It's a good man right there, calling his wife beautiful. It says, When the beautiful when the Egyptians see, when they see you, they will say, This is his wife, then they will kill me, um, but they will let you live. Say that you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake, and my life will be spared because of you. So he goes to Egypt, he realizes that his wife is pretty good looking, realizes they find out that this is his wife, they're gonna kill him. And so, what does he do? He lies. Sort of. He says, Listen, don't tell them you're my wife. Keep that to yourself. But if if they think you're my sister, they're gonna have favor with you, and they're gonna have favor with me. So that's what he does. Ends up taking his wife, and they go, and they eventually take his wife because she's pretty. Because how many times have I walked into something that God told me to do, and I get into the middle of it, and I'm like, well, what if what if God doesn't show up? What if God doesn't protect me from these men because they think that she's my wife? You know what? I think I'm gonna, all right, God, this is good. I like this, but but I'm gonna step over here and I'm gonna kind of I'm gonna shift a little bit. And and God, you're still here, but I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna take a little bit of charge. Alright, God, I'm gonna do it this way. So what happens? He's safe for a while. They end up finding out eventually God actually spares Pharaoh from doing anything stupid. They find out that it's actually his wife, not his sister. Of course, this enrages them. Because they're thinking, why would you put us in a situation? I I think it's interesting, it's a it's notable to me that even though I don't really consider the Egyptians to have much of morality, they find out that this is his wife, and they're like, whoa, you almost made us do something bad. And I'm thinking, okay, yeah, but but but I love it because in their mind, Pharaoh is like, even has enough common sense that I should not be doing this. So they they kind of get kicked out and they move on, and and Abram and Lot go their separate ways. And Lot gets into trouble, chapter 14, and and Abram comes along and protects them. And then we get to chapter 15, and and this is what I love again. Abram has not done great things. He he's been obedient, but but in his obedience, he's kind of he's wavered a little bit because he's still trying to figure out how to do things on his own. So 15, it says, after this, uh verse one, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, said, Do not be afraid, Abram. I'm your shield, your very great reward. But Abram said, O sovereign Lord, what can you give me, since I remain childless? And the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer Damascus. And Abram said, You have given me no children, so a servant in my household will be my heir. But you haven't given me a son. Everything I have is going to go to who? A servant. Then the word the Lord came to him and said, This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir. He took him outside and said, Look up at the heavens and count the stars. If indeed you can count them, then he said to him, So shall your offspring be. Abram believed the Lord and he credited him as righteousness. So Abram's belief in this moment was credited to this was credited to him as righteousness. He trusted God. He also said to him, I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land and take possession of it. But Abram said, O sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it? I just want to be like, because God just told you. But he says, God, I I don't I don't quite understand. How will I know? So the Lord said to him, Bring me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon. Abram brought all these things out to him, cut them in two, and arranged the halves opposite each other. By the way, can we talk about how grateful I am that we don't do animal sacrifices anymore? Spread everything out. They put the birds of prey came down on the carcasses, and Abram drove them away. And as the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then the Lord said to him, Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own. And they will be enslaved and mistreated for 400 years. And I can imagine Abram's thinking, but you just said this is all mine, and now you're telling me it's things are going to happen that are not good for us. And then God said, But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. Fourth generation, your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure. So Abram comes to God and Scott, I want I want to trust you. But I have some questions. And then in verse chapter 16, they're so desperate to have a son that Sarah, Sarai at the time, gives her husband to her house servant. Because if Sarai can't have a son, maybe, maybe this servant. We have Ishmael comes out of this. But again, Abram is just he's trying his best to live up. He's trying to be faithful, he's trying to be obedient, and and he keeps trying to do it on his own. And God has shown him, he's reminded him. He continues to be with him and protect him. And chapter 17 talks about the covenant of circumcision, and that's how God sets them apart. We get to chapter 18, and we're starting to get to Sodom and Gomorrah, and we you just see life continue to happen for Abram. At some point, his name gets changed to Abraham, which is fantastic. His wife becomes Sarah. This is this is what God has done. He's transforming them. But all of this started because of a simple act of obedience and faith. Then we get to chapter 20. Genesis. And it says, Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah, and as he had said, and then the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age. And at the very time God had promised him, Abraham gave him the name Isaac to the son. Sarah bore to him when his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, circumcised him as God has commanded him. And Abraham was a hundred years old. A hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

SPEAKER_01 23:44

A hundred years old. A hundred years old.

The Test On Moriah God Provides

SPEAKER_00 24:02

And eventually, if you continue to read through 21, Hagar and Ishmael were sent away, which again, God use this. But all of this started because when God told Abraham to go, he went. Verse 1 says, sometime later, God tested Abraham, and he said to him, Abraham, and he replied, Here I am. And God said, Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. And then God says something that's absolutely crazy to me. He says, sacrifice him there as a burnt offering as one of the mountains I will tell you about.

SPEAKER_01 26:02

God says, take your only son and sacrifice him.

SPEAKER_00 26:13

And I and I listen, can we be honest? That's hard sometimes to process. Right? We read that and think, what in the world is happening here? Why would God do such a thing?

SPEAKER_01 26:33

But a book ends.

SPEAKER_00 26:36

Chapter 12. Abraham hears God and God says, go. And he leaves. And then you see throughout the next what 11 chapters, that every time God tells Abraham something, he kind of questions it, or he kind of does something and adds a little bit to it. But you get to chapter 22, and God says, Take your son and go sacrifice him. And Abraham's response is early the next morning, Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. And on the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship, and then we will come back to you. Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering, and he placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up to his father Abraham and said, Father, yes, my son, Abraham replied, The fire and the wood are here. But Isaac said, Where is the lamb for the burnt offering? And Abraham answered, God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son. And the two of them went on together. So Abraham is, he's at this place in his life where he has seen God do enough incredible things that God says, sacrifice your only son.

SPEAKER_01 28:21

And Abraham's response is okay, God. I trust you with this. What kind of faith is that?

SPEAKER_00 28:42

As they walk along, and Abraham and Isaac are talking, and Isaac says to his dad, Dad, where's the lamb? And like every great father, Abraham uses this moment to teach Isaac the greatest lesson he's ever going to learn. He said, Son, God will provide. Knowing full well in his head what God has asked him to do, but he says to Isaac, Don't worry. God will take care of it. What kind of faith do you have to have to walk through a mountain ready to sacrifice your son to say, God, I know you're going to take care of this. When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. And he bound his son Isaac and he laid him on the altar on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and he took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, said, Abraham, Abraham, here I am. He replied, Do not lay a hand on the boy. He said, Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me even your son, your only son. Abraham looked up there, and in the thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns, and he went over, and he took the ram, and he sacrificed as a burnt offering instead of a son. So Abraham called that place the Lord will provide. And to this day it is said, On the mountain of the Lord, it'll be provided. So the angel of the Lord called Abraham from heaven a second time, and he said, I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me. Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba, and Abraham stayed. What kind of faith do you have? Must you have to stand at an altar ready to sacrifice your son? Because God has called you to do it. And listen, I realize how crazy this sounds. And especially when I'm talking to people who don't go to church, and they're like, well, God's crazy. God's not crazy. Because God knew what was going to happen all along. See, that's the difference in this story, is Abraham is really, he's functioning from this place of limited knowledge. He doesn't know what the next step is. He doesn't know what God has planned. He doesn't know what's going to happen tomorrow. But through the course of his life, his faith has led him to the place where no matter what God asks of him, his response is yes, Lord. Not because he has it all figured out, not because there's a plan in place, not because he sat down and did all the math, but because he knows and he has seen God continue to show up in his life day after day after day and consistently rescue him. Consistently fulfilled his promise. Consistently be God. What kind of faith is that? To stand in an altar and say, God, I will give you my son simply because I know.

Faith For Money Suffering And Tomorrow

SPEAKER_01 32:52

God, I know you'll provide. I still don't have the plan. God still hasn't had a meeting with me and told me what the next five years is gonna look like. But that's the point.

SPEAKER_00 33:37

This kind of faith isn't developed in knowing the outcome. This kind of faith only comes from knowing who God is, knowing how consistent and loving and compassionate and caring He is. And it's so much more than this moment of sacrifice. When we when we we when we go to the doctors and and we get a diagnosis that we don't know the outcome. This kind of faith says, God, I know you're gonna take care of it. This kind of faith allows us to look at our bank account when we don't have a dollar to spend, you're living paycheck to paycheck, and say to God, I know that you will provide for me. I trust you with this. This kind of faith moves mountains. This this kind of faith is how the church started. This kind of faith is what's going to change this community. This kind of faith is what set addicts free when they're struggling and their marriages are falling apart and they're and they're battling addiction. And they get up every day and they say, God, I know you can do this because I know who you are. It's not me. It's not about me. It's not about what I can do, it's it's not about how well I lead. None of this depends on me. None of this depends on you. Because even in our failures, God is still God. Abraham battled with it. He he messed up, he did stupid things, he said the wrong thing. And God still proved himself faithful because that's who God is.

SPEAKER_01 35:31

What kind of faith does it take to trust that every day of my life God is in control to not worry about tomorrow? God never told Abraham the outcome. All he did was ask Abraham to be faithful and obedient.

SPEAKER_00 36:03

When I say go, you go. When I say build, you build. When I say you have a conversation with someone you had never talked to before in your life, trust me. When I tell you that, you know, you just came from the doctors and you just find out that you have this stage four cancer, I need you to trust me with it. Trust me, not for what you want, but trust that the outcome I have for you is what I am going to do, and then I'm going to be faithful to you and I will take care of you. I will provide for you. I will give you what you need. When when you know we talked about last week, and and Mark says, you know, we talk about giving and offering and tithing, and that's such a difficult thing because listen, I live in the same world that you do. I live in the same place where gas is$5 a gallon, where groceries continue to creep up, where the money around us continues. I feel like the dollar is worth nothing. I live in the same world that you do, and yet God continues to ask us to give of our time and our energy and our resources, not because he needs them, but because he needs us to trust him with them. I will tell you this, and I'm not bragging. I have never given more of my time, energy, and tithe to the church and had God fail me on the other side of it. Never once. Never. 40 years I've lived in this world, and I have never been lacking for anything. I have never spent more time in Scripture and came out worse than when I went in. I've never spent more time with my kids and my wife and trying to build a solid Christian family and came out worse on the other side. I've never given more time and energy to evangelizing the lost and somehow became a worse person. That's not how this works. Everything that I give to God, he has given back to me oftentimes tenfold over. Because that is who he is. All he asks is for faithfulness and obedience.

SPEAKER_01 38:23

I don't know what you're going through.

SPEAKER_00 38:30

I don't know where you're struggling. Maybe it's addiction. Maybe it's a marriage.

SPEAKER_01 38:40

Maybe it's it it's it's you're going through grief.

SPEAKER_00 38:47

Maybe you're broken, maybe, maybe you're the overdraft fees on your account are are more than what's in your bank every month. Maybe you're living paycheck to maid check, maybe, maybe you have an abundance. I I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 39:02

I don't know what you're going through. But I know the God that you serve is faithful.

SPEAKER_00 39:12

The God that you you have committed your life to, the God who who is willing to die on a cross for you. That's faithful to keep his promises.

SPEAKER_01 39:28

There was two things that came out of the last three weeks.

SPEAKER_00 39:33

One, God told me to get over myself.

SPEAKER_01 39:42

Which is fair. But the bigger thing that came out of those last three weeks was God said, Trust me more.

SPEAKER_00 39:55

Because when I get over myself, when I stop thinking it's because of me, when I stop relying on my talents and my resources and my abilities, the only place I can go is to him. The God who is faithful to Abram is the same God who's faithful to us. And it's not because we know everything. I don't think I'd want I'm pretty much convinced that if I knew the whole plan, I would screw it up. I guarantee it.

SPEAKER_01 40:33

God's not calling us to follow a plan. He's calling us to follow him. So when he calls, may our response always be Here I am, Lord. That's right.