In the Absence of a Crisis

MESSAGE TRANSCRIPTION: 

It’s so good to see you. I don’t know if I’ve told you lately or not, but I love each and every one of you. I love this community of faith. I love what God’s doing in and through us. And if you’re new around here, my name is Virgil Grant. I’m the senior pastor here at Eastside, but I’m also one of the leaders. We have about 150 leaders that lead all the different ministries that we have around here at Eastside. And I’m grateful that I get to do life with them, that we do ministry together, and we get to push back the darkness in central Kentucky. And if you are also new. We want to remind you that last weekend we started a new sermon series, You in five years, and we’re basically asking two simple questions where do you want to be in 2028? And what do you want your life to look like? And we just said 12 months is not enough time to really do a deep dive. 12 months is not any significant amount of time to make a difference. So we’re going a little bit bigger, a little bit further, and we’re going to 16 months.

 Today I want to talk to you about an Old Testament story from First Kings Chapter 19. So if you have your Bible, you may want to turn there. If you have your Bible app, you may want to click. If you want to take notes, you can take your bulletin out, and you can take notes. And we’re going to be looking at a story about a Guy name. Elijah and Elijah were the fiery prophets of the Old Testament, and alone with Moses, Elijah and Moses really defined what the Old Testament prophets look like. And so Elijah received word from the Lord that He was going to die. His ministry is going to come to an end, and he needs to pick someone to succeed him now. And lo and behold, the Lord says, The person that you’re going to pick is going to be Elisha. Now, that sounds really confusing because they sound really similar. There’s Elijah, and there’s Elisha. Now, the Lord couldn’t just be simple and say, Hey, just go get Billy, and everything will be okay. He has to make it complicated. And so we pick up the story in First Kings chapter 19 in verse 19. And so notice what it says. And so Elijah, the person that the Lord spoke to, said in a couple of years, your ministry is going to be over with. So Elijah departed from there, and he went, and he found Elijaha Now. Would it be great, Luke, if we knew Elisha’s father? Because if we knew his father, it would help us a whole lot. But lo and behold, this says.

“So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yokes of oxen before him, and he was with the twelfth.”

1 Kings 19:19 (NKJV)

Now, none of you gasped; none of you had any facial expressions. None of you was going. Wow. That’s incredible. Because we just read that Elisha and his family were extremely wealthy. Now, folks, you understand that to have one ox back in that day and age. Yeah, It was equivalent to a big John Deer tractor. It was equivalent to a combine. It was equivalent to the F-150 special edition Raptor. I’m running out of illustrations, but you understand. I mean, it’s like this. It was a lot of wealth just to have one. But this family they have 24. Now, here’s the question How much land do you have to have in order to have 24 oxen? You have to have a lot of lands. And the Bruce Wayne of this whole ordeal is I actually Elisha; he’s the one who’s in charge. He’s the one that’s overseeing the Shuafat enterprise, Shuafat farming. Wouldn’t it be a great name for a farm? Right, I mean, like, like he’s overseeing all of this. I mean, he’s going to inherit a lot of wealth. And let me just stop and say something. For many of you that are here today, your calling is to go into the business world. Your calling is to go in and make a difference, to be a leader in your field of choice. And not only is it to be a leader, but for some of you, it is to make a lot of money. And as you make a lot of money, then you’re not just to keep the money for yourself, but you’re to spread the wealth, you’re to be generous and to fund the work of God’s kingdom. So five years from now, you could be in a completely different place than you are currently with your career, with your vocation, with the path that you’re on. And you’re making a lot of money, and you are funding the activity in the Kingdom of God. And so step into that. Do that. Now, here’s the thing. So, Elisha has this whole empire that he has, and he is over all of that. And his dad and his family’s very wealthy. Now, notice what it says in part B of verse 19.

“Then Elijah passed by him and threw his mantle on him.”

1 Kings 19:196 (NKJV)

Now, I have to act this out for you because if I don’t act it out, you’re not going to understand it. Now, we don’t know if Elijah and Elisha knew each other or not. We know we don’t have any privy to that information. We just know that Elisha understands who Elijah is, and Elijah is like the wall on the mountain of Mt. Rushmore. I mean, he’s out there, right? I mean, his picture is up there on the rock wall, and he’s like the man. I mean, like, he’s so bad to the bone that he declared one time there’s not going to rain until I say it’s going to rain. I mean, he was just the man in the Elisha who knew who he was. And so what is Elisha doing? Elisha is just plowing. Elijah makes the four-day journey from when God spoke to him to show up where Elisha is plowing. And so Elisha is with the 12th team that he’s plowing with. And the Bible says Elijah comes up behind Elisha, and he slowly takes off the mantle. He takes off his cloak and he takes off his coat. And as he comes up to Elisha, he throws his coat on his shoulders, and Elisha feels the cold. And he goes, Well, that’s nice, but I’m not cold. And Elijah just keeps right on walking. Now, here’s the thing that you need to understand this was symbolic. This was a ceremony that Elisha knew right then and there that this was going to be an unpaid internship, that this was an opportunity for him to be the disciple of Elijah, for him to become the student, for him to come to follow him and to learn what it means to be a prophet. So, Elisha receives the cloak and then notices what happens in verse 20. And he left the oxen, and he ran after Elijah. In other words, he goes, he finds Elijah, and he gives Elijah the cloak back. Because this is a ceremony. This is symbolism. He’s not ready for the mantle. And so he gives it back to Elijah, and he says this.

“And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah, and said, ‘Please let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.”

1 Kings 19:208 (NKJV) 

Now, Elisha understands the gravity of what just took place. I hope that you understand the gravity of what just took place. What we just read is that Elisha was going to be walking away from what? The family fortune. He’s going to be walking away from the 24 John Deere tractors. He’s going to be walking away from the 24 combines. He’s going to be walking away from wealth. He’s going to be kissing Shaphat Enterprise or farming away. And he was going to kiss away the life that he knew, the security that he had at home with his dad. And he was going to go out, and he was going to follow Elijah, and he was going to embrace a life of uncertainty. He was going to embrace a life that would be treacherous because you understand that if God uses somebody greatly if God uses a congregation greatly. Sure, there are wonderful things that will happen, but there are all kinds of treacherous things that will take place. And so, for example, we know that Elijah called down fire from heaven, and he burned up the sacrifice in between the time of Elijah calling down fire. And from the time that Elijah says it’s not going to rain until I say it’s going to rain all in between. That were treacherous Hard times for Elijah. For example, God, on one occasion, said to Elijah, Elijah, I want you to go in isolation, and here’s the stream. Here’s the brook that I want you to hang out at. And while you’re there, you cannot leave. But I’m going to send food to you by Ravens. Now, some of you are saying, well, I’ve never heard of that food delivery service. I mean, is it like Uber eats? Is it like Blue Apron? It’s none of that. It’s literally ravens, the birds of the air coming twice a day to bring Elijah something to eat. So Elisha knows fully. Well, what he’s going to embark upon, he’s going to embark on the life that God is going to use greatly. But there are going to be hardships, difficulties, opposition, and not knowing from one day to the next day what is going to happen. So look with me, verse B of verse 20.

“And he (Elijah) said to him, Go back again, for what have I done to you?'”

1 Kings 19:206 (NKJV)

In other words, I want you to go back, and I want you to count the cost. I want you to understand what the cost is going to be. To deny yourself. Take up your cross and follow me. To use the New Testament language. Make sure that you understand that you’re embracing a life of sacrifice. That you’re forfeiting your will for the will of the Lord. And, folks. But so many Christians do not understand this. So many Christians think that all they have to do is just receive Jesus as the Lord and Savior. Then what they have is just a genie in the lamp. And any time they get into trouble, they just rub that lamp and out comes God, and God will take care of all the problems. Folks, listen to me. When you invite Jesus Christ into your life, you’re inviting him not only to give you eternal life but you’re inviting him to be the Lord and the Savior of your life. And He has full access to your life. And this is the reason why so many people will receive Christ. They begin to serve. They’re going to say, we’re going to make a difference in 3 to 6 months into it. Then they get derailed because they feel used by God. They don’t understand that it’s a life of sacrifice. But look what happens next. Verse 21.

“So Elisha turned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen and slaughtered them and boiled their flesh, using the oxen’s equipment, and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and followed Elijah, and became his servant.”

1 Kings 19:21 (NKJV)

Now, what was Elisha’s response? It was pretty straightforward, right? I mean, he just went all in. And what does Elisha do next? What is the role that Elisha takes after going all in and counting the cost? You know what? Elisha does this for the next 18 years, from the time young ladies from the time to be born to graduate. 18 years. You know what he has done for 18 years. The scripture says there’s one thing that he did for 18 years, for 18 long years. Here’s what he did. Look.

“He poured water on the hands of Elijah.”

2 Kings 3:11 (NKJV)

Now, some of you are saying, well, what’s the next verse? There’s not a next verse for 18 years. This is all that he did was pour water. So apparently, I’m keen on Elijah because he’s a germaphobe. Right. And so whenever he would have a greeting meet, he would greet people, and he’d shake their hands. Then Elisha would come up with his fanny pack on. And I was not going to wear a fanny pack, just so you know, he had this fanny pack. He would unzip it, he would take the Purell out, the Pyrex, whatever, and he would just go, swish, swish, swish. For 18 years. This idea was to pour water. He just served Elijah for 18 years. Now, let me ask you a question. Do you think in those 18 years that Elisha ever thought about the time that he burnt his oxen and gave the meat away? Do you ever think that he thought about his family Enterprise, Shaphat Enterprises? Do you think that he ever thought about what his life could have been like? Do you ever think that he thought back and wondered what was going on with the family and the family’s wealth? You know, folks, listen to me. You read the passage; you read the scripture. There’s no miracle. The Elisha performed. There’s no sermon that he preaches. There’s nothing. All he did for 18 long years was to be in the background supporting Elijah in his public ministry. Now we’re getting to the end of Elijah’s life. Elijah’s life is nearing its conclusion. And as it’s about to end, we begin to understand that God is up to something, so Elijah takes Elisha, and they go off to an isolated place. And as they’re going after an isolated place because Elijah is about to go to heaven, Elijah stops, and he stops at the river, and Elisha, knows that if the prophet stops at the river, he has a good reason to stop. And so I have to act this out for you as well. Some of you say the Scriptures are boring. I would just say that you’ve never really read the scripture, the Scriptures, not boring folks, scriptures alive. Here’s what the Bible says. Elijah came to the river. When he came to the river, he took off his cloak, and he took his cloak, and he slammed against the bank of the river. And when he slammed it against the bank of the river, guess what happened? The river parted, and Elijah and Elisha they go across to the other side. Now, look what it says next in the second Kings chapter two, verse nine.

“And so it was, when they had crossed over, that Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Ask! What may I do for you, before I am taken away from you?’

2 Kings 2:9 (NKJV)

You know, you’re such a great servant. For 18 years, you have been in the background. For 18 years, you’ve been carrying that old crazy fanny pack and the Purell and the. And the hand sanitizer for 18 years. Is there just anything that I can do for you? You’ve just been a faithful servant. If there’s anything I can do for you, I’d be glad to do it for you. Now, notice what Elisha said. He says.

“Elisha said, ‘Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.”

2 Kings 2:9 (NKJV)

Now, folks, I love that request. I hope that is what is in your spirit. I hope that you are praying and asking God over this coming year, over the next five years, for God to pour a double blessing out on your life, that you will have the double portion of blessing upon your life. I pray that if you’re a parent, if you’re praying over your children, you’re praying for a double blessing over your children. If you have grandchildren as I do, then we’re praying. A double blessing over our grandchildren. Can I just say something? I hope and pray that you’re praying that God would pour out a double blessing upon Eastside. As we think about the next five years, we look at what God wants to do in central Kentucky by pushing back the darkness and helping more and more people to live all in life for Jesus. I hope and pray that you’re asking God to show up and show off and to double his blessings upon us. Because, folks, can I just say something to you? God is not offended by us praying and asking Him to show up and give us a double blessing. God is actually thankful that we’re praying for what God is saying. Finally, there’s somebody with some faith down there. I wish for more congregations. I wish more Christians would call out and ask me to do the unthinkable because that’s the type of God that I am. And folks, listen to me, You and I, we better be careful in the prayers that we’re praying because God might just answer them and the small prayers that we’re praying. Luke, Those are the answers. Prayers we’re getting. And God is inviting you and me and us as a congregation to rise up and to pray bold prayers and ask God to give us a double blessing. And I believe and trust that he will. Verse 10, verse 11. So Elijah considers what Elisha asked for. Notice what it says here. So he said, you have asked a hard thing. You know, I did 14 miracles. You want 28 miracles. So 14 times two. That’s eight and two times 28. Okay, then notice what the larger say. This guy is never easy. I mean, this guy is difficult. He’s just trying to be a mystic here. He’s just trying to be a troublemaker. He says.

“So he said, You have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be so.’Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.”

2 Kings 2:10-11 (NKJV)

Now notice what Elijah said. Elijah says to Elisha, Hey, listen. If you see me take off to heaven, if you see me, just get ejected from Earth into heaven. If you see that, then you’re going to see the double blessing. Let me ask you a question. What do you think Elisha does from that point on? Like, I’m not taking it, I’m not blinking, I’m not anything. And then we know that Elijah is just playing with the right because, of course, the only way that you go to heaven is in the chariot of fire. A horse is on fire. I mean, that’s how everybody goes to heaven, right? And so, like, you know, Elijah is just playing with Elisha. Now, look with me at verses 12, 13, and 14.

“And Elisha saw it, and he cried out, ‘My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!’ So he saw him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes and tore them into two pieces. He also took up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him.”

2 Kings 2:12-14 (NKJV)

Now, why did he take his own clothes in pieces? Because he was grieving. He was showing respect. He was showing honor to Elijah until his day was going to come and go to heaven. So he just wants to say, hey, I’m grieving. And so he also took up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him. Now, I just need to act this out for you because I notice Elisha is watching Elijah go to heaven. He’s watching this world win take place, and horses shoot up into the sky. And this is Air Horse One. The things I do for ya. Okay. Just the things that I do for y’all. And so Air Horse One takes off. And as it all takes off, all of a sudden, out of the sky falls Elijah’s cloak. And as it falls, Elisha picks it up, a sure sign that will have double the blessing. If he continued to read. He goes to the same river that they cross. He goes back to the bank of the river. And what does he do? He takes the cloak, slamming again against the riverbank. And what happens is immediately the water parts, and he walks on into his journey of double blessings.

Now, out of all of this, there are three things I think apply to you and I In order to be the people that we need to be in five years from now. And the. The title of today’s message is In the Absence of a Crisis. And the question is, how do you change in the absence of a crisis? Now, listen to me very carefully because you’re going to disagree with what I’m about to say. It’s okay for you to be wrong. You can be wrong, but you can disagree. But psychologists. Tells us that the majority of the people, 90% of the people on Earth today, are sleepwalking. They’re on autopilot. They’re in a rut. Could you do the same thing every day, day in, day out? I mean, most of you, when you get up, your life is on autopilot. You have the same rituals. You get up at the same time when you shave; you shave the same way every time that you shave. You do the same rituals day in and day out. And we are on autopilot. We are just, if you will, sleepwalking through life. And the question becomes, how do we do something different in the absence of a crisis? Because when a crisis comes, what happens? It actually forces us to change the rhythm of our life. We no longer sleepwalk because why there was a crisis. My prayer is that no one in this room will experience a major crisis over the next five years. My prayer is that we would take responsibility for our own lives, and we’d go, okay. There’s going to be no, crisis. There’s going to be the absence of the crisis for the next five years. What am I going to do to be completely different from now and five years from now?

I think there are three things that you can do to help you to become the person that you want to become in five years. Number one.

It’s going to take Drastic Action.

Now, wouldn’t you agree with me that what Elisha did when his response to Elijah to come and become a prophet in training that his actions were drastic? Would you not agree with me? When he takes his team of oxen, he stops them and slaughters them, then he takes the equipment and starts a bonfire. And then he does one. He cooks the meat, and he gives it away. I mean, folks, that is drastic action. That’s like Cortez in 1519; I believe it was when he and his crew landed here in America. They had their boats. And what did he do with the boats? He took the boats and did what? He set them on fire. And he said to his men, is that we may die, we may succeed. But there’s one thing that’s true of us. We’re never going back. And we have to have the same resolve, the same determination. We have to have the same spirit as Cortez. We have to say that we are all in. And folks here’s a question I have for you. Are you drastic in your action, or are you soft in your approach? Are you gentle and say, you know what, next quarter, I’m going to deal with these things at the end of the year, I’m going to deal with these things well, I’m going to get around to them one day? What is your resolve in doing the things that you need to do? And some of you’re asking the question, well, why is a drastic action so necessary at the beginning? If you were here last weekend, you remember that we had a set of dominoes that were set up. And drastic action is the first domino that you have to knock over. And when you knock the first domino over, then it begins to gain momentum, and you begin to knock over the next domino and the next. And by the time you get to the 29th, the evolution of increasing. One and a half times. The experts say that you’ll be able to knock over a domino as big as the Empire State Building. You have to have a spark. You have to have something that helps you to cross the line and take drastic action. And why do we have to take drastic action? Because there’s this thing that is called inertia.

Inertia was a concept that was founded by Sir Isaac Newton in the 1600 and 1700s. And here’s what he said about the law of motion. He says objects will remain at rest. Now, folks here’s the principle. You and I will remain at rest unless something changes. We will stay in the rut. We will stay in the sleepwalking format. We will stay on autopilot unless something happens. You know, the Latin word for inertia means lazy. Everybody is comfortable where they’re at. Everything is completely comfortable by just staying where it’s at. Nobody wants to change. Nobody likes to change. So objects will remain at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless compelled to change a state by the action of an external force. In other words, folks are that all of us just want to be lazy. We just want to remain where we’re at. Our default is to say where we are; we are completely happy to be there. We don’t want to move. We don’t want to change. So, for example, take this brick right here, this brick right here. You want to have a conversation with this brick, and you go, Hey, Brick, do you want to do anything today? And the answer is, What? No, no, don’t do anything. What do you want to do today? The brick says, I just want to remain where I’m at. I don’t want to change. I don’t want you to do anything. I’m just completely content. Just been at this table. And here’s the deal. A thousand years from now, if nothing drastic happens, guess where this brick will be sitting? A thousand years from now, it’ll be sitting exactly right here. Unless the table rots and falls through. It’s just going to be right there. Because why? Because it does not want to move. And it’s just there. Now, here’s the thing. You could take an external force, and you can actually move the brick, but it takes a lot because. Why? Because there’s a lot of mass there. Now, I can take this balloon that would blow up. And because the balloon doesn’t have a lot of mass, what can I do with a little bit of external force? What can I do? I can move the balloon real quickly. And this is the reason that you can take this brick. And it’s not a solid brick, but if it was, you could take a solid brick. You could take this hammer, and you can pound on this brick, and it would not hurt your hand. And the reason why it would not hurt your hand is that the force of the head is not going through to your hands because it is being used to move the brick out. And very little force comes to your hand. And here’s the thing, my friends, is that if you’re going to be somebody different five years from now, if you’re not going to be the exaggerated version of yourself now in five years, it’s going to cause you to take drastic action. And I just want to ask you, what is the drastic action that you need to take to be in a different place five years from now? This is the beginning of knocking the domino over. This is what will get you jumpstarted.

For some of you, what you need to do, the drastic action that you need to take is of you is to get baptized. I mean, you receive Christ; you raise your hand. You have prayed the prayer. You have said it in your heart. And you know that you’re Christian, but your drastic action is for you to get wet from head to toe. How many of you remember your own baptism? I remember mine when I was nine years of age. I remember being wet. I remember watching my sister be baptized. Now, folks, listen to me. For some of you, the drastic action that you need to take in order to get the domino effect into place is to get baptized. And I got great news for you on February 19th. We’re going to have open baptisms in both services, and you can register and get baptized. And we’re just going to have a big baptism service on February 19th. So some of you, that is your drastic action. For some of you, your drastic action is to delete some people from your phone. You need to delete some numbers, and you need to delete some digits. It might be different, but you know, you have to delete some stuff. Right. And here’s the reason why. Because those individuals are highly dysfunctional. For some of you, you need to ditch that boyfriend or that girlfriend that you think is Mr. Right or Ms. Right, and this is not the right person, and you need to get rid of them so that God can be your love your soul. And when God becomes the lover of your soul, then God will bring the right person into your life. For some of you this morning, your drastic action right now is to somehow or is to stop living in isolation. I mean, here’s the deal. Covid made it easy for you to live in isolation, and it’s going to take drastic action for you to get out of isolation, to move into a community. And the thing that you need to do, you need to draw a line in the sand and say, you know what, I am going to join the life group. I’m going to lean into the community. I’m tired of being the Lone Ranger. I’m tired of living in isolation. And you’re going to make the resolve, you’re going to make the determination in the next month. You’re going to find the right life group or staff that will help you. And that’s going to be a drastic action for some of you. The drastic action that you need to take is to start your generosity journey or to restart your generosity journey because life happens. You just quit giving; you quit being generous. Why should you take drastic action in generosity? Because, friends, listen to me. If you’re not generous, then the stain of stinginess will take over your heart. And generosity drives out the stain of stinginess. And I don’t know anybody who wants to be referred to as a stingy, greedy individual. And folks, what is it? What’s the drastic action? That will help you to begin to move into the life that you were meant to live. The second thing in Elisha’s story is.

Steady progression.

Steady progression. Slow and steady. 18 years. What was he doing in those 18 years? He was pouring water. Drastic actions. Knocks over the first domino, but a steady progression. Being consistent makes the difference. I love what Darren Hardy says and the compound effect. He says.

It’s time someone told it to you straight. You’ve been bamboozled for too long. There’s no magic bullet, no secret formula, and no quick fix. You don’t make 200,000 a year spending 2 hours a day on the Internet and losing 30 pounds in a week. Rub 20 years off your face with the cream. Fix your love life with the pill, or find lasting success with any other scheme that is too good to be true. It would be great if you could buy your success, fame, self-esteem, good relationships, health, and well-being in a nicely clamshell package at the local Wal-Mart. But that’s not how it’s going to work.

See, folks, it’s a steady progression. It’s worship. Its life group is serving. It’s being generous. It has the right friends. It’s giving. It’s about planting. It’s about watering. It’s about fertilizing. It’s about weeding. It’s about Jesus. It’s about the Bible. It’s about the day in and day out. Planted in the house of God. Flourishing in the courts of our Lord. Drastic action, steady progression. But the third thing really quickly is.

Enjoy momentum.

Enjoy momentum. I have to go back to give you this John Maxwell quote. John says Improvement doesn’t happen in a day, but it must happen daily.And what we’re talking about is just being consistent day in and day out, and we have steady progression day in and day out. Then we get to enjoy the momentum. What do I mean? We do enjoy the momentum. But if you know this or not, when the space shuttle takes off. And is launched into space. The greatest amount of fuel that is used is for takeoff. There’s more fuel that is used in takeoff than the entire trip combined. Because why? Because what’s the second part of the law of motion that an object that is in motion will stay in motion until something intersects it. So if I could throw this brick out of the atmosphere into space, this brick would continue to move in a straight line until it hit a planet or another star or something that collided with it. It would just keep moving and keep going. And folks, listen to me. When you take drastic action, and then you become steady, then you get to enjoy the momentum. Here’s how I summarized it.

Drastic action is unbearable. Steady progression is uncomfortable, but by enjoying momentum, you become unstoppable In the name of Jesus

Now think about that, my friends. When you look at your life and where you want to be in five years, can you really get there? Here’s what I would say to you. I didn’t realize this, Luke, until I was through with this sermon is what I just outlined for your life for the next five years is what I believe Eastside has been doing for the last ten years, is that we’ve taken drastic action. We have stepped outside of the box. We’ve asked God to double his blessing and his portion on Eastside, and we’ve done some drastic stuff, but as we’ve done those drastic things to knock the dominos over, we’ve been steady in our resolve to help more and more people to live the all in life. And what we’re experiencing right now, we’re actually enjoying the momentum of that steady progression over the last ten years. And can I just say something to you? We’re not finished with drastic actions. We have some more things that God is calling us to do, and there’s going to be more progressive, and there’s going to be more momentum. And the question is, are you going to be a part of it, or are you just going to live in the rut, or are you just going to live on autopilot, or are you just going to sleepwalk through the next five years, and the choice is yours?

Would you pray with me, please? Father, right now, I just want to say thank you for your word. I just want to say thank you for the story that we just debriefed and digested. Thank you for the learnings from this story. And Father, it’s not only applicable to us as individuals. Are these applicable to us as a congregation and father right now; I just ask. That every person in this room would identify their drastic action, their next step. Lord. Some of us were in this room, and, well, we go, I’ve been a Christian. I’ve been attending to each other for 30 years now. There’s nothing left for me. Yes, there is. Because the gospel is not only for the loss; the gospel is for Christians as well. The gospel is for Virgil. The gospel is for every person in this room. And the gospel challenges us to take the next step and to go deeper with the Lord. We just have to stop sleepwalking. We had to stop being on autopilot. We had to stop living in the rut. And in the absence of a crisis, we have to be proactive and say, God, I’m going to do something drastic to knock over that first domino, to rebuild that marriage, whatever it is. Well, I just pray that you would help each person to identify the drastic action that they need to take and that they would take it and that they would not be an exaggerated version of their current self in five years, but they would be someone who looks more like you and act more like you. So, Father, I just ask that you would take this message, take this service, and use it for your glory, for Your Honor and Lord; I pray all these things and the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.