Krystal Walker, Before You Go

Krystal Walker | December 3, 2023

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Transcription

What's up, Embassy City Church. Y'all all right? Yeah. Wow. I am so excited to be before y'all. Thank you, pastor for your leadership. Thank you for your love. It's been almost eight weeks since I've been on a job and it's been a pleasure to just serve alongside of you, underneath you, so thank you for all that you've done for us. I also want to, before I get started, honor my beloved husband because when you see a woman in ministry who's a wife and a mom, you can assume that she has a strong, capable, supportive husband holding it down and he holds it down. So thank you honey.

Thank you. In preparation for this sermon, he allowed me to pull away. He allowed me to practice on him, so he's hearing this for the 50 11th time, so on my way in, I saw my eighty-nine-year-old grandmother. She's in the house. It's a pleasure. It's a pleasure to be able to preach in front of her as she, it's her legacy of faith. The reason why we're here, I'm here and I do honor her. My mom is in the house, my dad is in the house. My mother-in-Law is in the house. I got some best friends in the house. We rolling deep just in case. Ain't got my back. I got my own Amen corner.

Hey, so every preacher must say this. I will not be before you long, but I will use up all my minutes. You won't get out of church early on my account. We have a lot of ground to cover, a lot of scripture to cover, and I'm excited to dig in if you're tuning in online, thank you so much for worshiping with us. You are the real people out there, the real ones, because y'all saw Pastor Tim wasn't preaching today and you're still tuning in. Y'all know that's a thing. Don't act like y'all. Anyway, thank you. I believe the Lord has a word for you. Hey, if you're a resident here, if you've been hanging around Embassy city any length of time, you know that it's our vision for the people of God to come to know God, right? Say with me, grow in faith and what?

Go change the world. I'm going to zoom in on the go today, alright? Because God has given us all assignments to accomplish here on Earth. Amen. In fact, Ephesians two 10 says that we're his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works that he prepared beforehand so that we should walk in them we're his workmanship, his masterpiece, his creation, and God created us not just to look cute, even though y'all look good, he created us for assignments. There are specific assignments that he prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. I love that he prepared these beforehand and I love that idea and almost, and I think about the Father, how he feels when he prepared something for us and we don't walk in it. Sometimes I cook dinner and I may not communicate to my husband that I cooked and sometimes he may pick up something along the way and it's all good.

I didn't communicate. It's my fault. It's not his. But the slight disappointment you feel when you prepared a meal and a person doesn't partake in it. God has given us assignments to accomplish and unfortunately many people are walking are around with incomplete assignments. How does the father feel walking around with incomplete assignments and we can sit here and talk about why someone may not fulfill their God-given assignment. We can. There are a number of reasons, but there's one particular reason I want to zoom in on and expose. I believe it's plaguing the body of Christ. Many people are getting stuck at the start, meaning they're coming up against so many barriers and roadblocks that they're finding it difficult to start the thing that God had called them to do. The enemy is doing all that he can do to keep you from that starting line.

And if you think about it, starting anything can be the hardest step in the process. Tell me this. Have y'all ever tried to start a workout? My God today, getting out that bed, putting on those workout clothes. There's so many steps to it. You got to get, it's hard. Some of the staff, we went to Dallas Community College. It was a great trip we made out there and I was just reminded of the good old college days and tell me if You'all have ever been there where you had to start a paper, a monumental task, staring at that white screen and that cursor always looking at me with an attitude, talking about what you going to write, what you going to say? You notice I always started my papers late, so it was due that night, I'm sure.

Oh, to start y'all, that application to start, that resume, to start anything, there are some challenges. So today I want to expose some of those barriers and I want to talk about what we need to realize and overcome so that we can start the assignment. If you're familiar with track, you're awfully familiar with this phrase. It's ready, set, and then go right, ready, set, go. There's some things you need to do before you go and in fact, that's the name of my sermon today we're going to talk about before you go, we're going to talk about three things that you need to do before you go. Is that all right? Yes. Let's pray. God, as we open up your word, we dare not approach it casually. It is we just remind ourselves of just the power of your word. So would you speak clearly to us?

Would you show us what you want us to do and how to respond to your word? In Jesus name, amen. Amen. Before you go, I realize that I may be talking to some folks who are already fulfilling their assignment. Y'all are gone. God bless y'all. That is amazing. We want you to walk in your assignment and I don't want you to tune me out today because I believe these three things that we're going to talk about will give you longevity and it will keep you gone to stay gone. All right, so as we talk about these three things, whether you need to go or if you're already gone, I believe it will bless you. Today we're going to follow the life of Moses. As y'all know, he had a huge assignment, right? He was to be the deliverer of the children of Israel and God called him to big things that he had some obstacles he had to overcome in order to walk in his calling.

Let me remind you of his life. Most of it can be found in Exodus. Moses came from the children of Israel. He was an Israelite and they were living in Egypt and they found themselves under a king that was evil, often referred to as Pharaoh. Pharaoh was intimidated by the children of Israel because they were growing exponentially, so much so that he decided to oppress them through hard and strenuous labor. He even tried to manage their population by creating a law that said that every male child must be discarded, must be thrown into the now river. Well, this was around the time that Moses was born. Moses was born during a time where his birth date and his death date would be the same day. The Bible says that he had parents that feared the Lord. Hebrews 11 said that his mom hid him for three months by faith when she could not hide him any longer, she had to release him into the now river, and I want us to think for a moment that day when she realized she could hide that baby boy no longer.

I don't know how she came to that conclusion. I don't know if Moses was a crybaby where he cried too loud or cried too much. I don't know if it came to a point where it was hard for her to disguise that she was holding a baby boy, but for whatever reason she had to let go of something that she loved and we're going to pick up in scripture and Exodus chapter two verse five, and we're going to pick up. This is right after she released Moses into the now river. Verse five says, the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the Nile with her maidens walking along the Nile and she saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid and she brought it to her. When she opened it, she saw the child and behold the boy was crying and she had pity on him and said, this is one of the Hebrews children. Then his sister, wait, wait, whose sister is this? This is Moses sister. We know later in scripture her name is Miriam. So Miriam Moses sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women that she may nurse the child for you? Pharaoh's daughter said to her, go ahead.

So the girl went and called the child's mother. She called Moses mother, which is also her mother. She called her mama, y'all for the job. We'll talk more about this later. Then Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Moses mother, take this child away and nurse him for me and I will give you wages. So the woman took the child and nursed him. The child grew and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter and she became her son and she named him Moses. She said, because I drew him out of the water. Let me break this down. As we walk through the story, I want you to follow the God's sovereign hand, okay? Moses mother released Moses in the Nile River at just the right time for Pharaoh's daughter to see the baby boy while she was bathing. The sovereignty are y'all following the sovereignty of God, the sovereignty of God? She sees the baby, takes the baby, she has compassion on the baby and wants to keep it. So Moses sister pops up on the scene. Now, some of y'all are like, where does she come from?

Big sister, just like I'm about to see what's going to go down. All right. The scripture actually says that she was watching from afar so we can assume that she had permission to be in the area, all right? She did not break into Pharaoh's daughter's compound to be there, right? We can assume that because she was a slave, she was serving Pharaoh's daughter in some capacity, so she has a brilliant idea. She says she knows that Pharaoh's daughter, she does not have any food to care for the baby to nurture the baby. So she says, let me go back and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse this child for you. Pharaoh's daughter thought this was a great idea. She said, go now, Miriam. She goes back and she doesn't just grab any old woman, she calls her mama. I can only imagine that conversation. Miriam running back talking about mama, mama, think about the mother. She thought she lost it all. She said, mama, you'll never guess. Pharaoh's daughter saw the baby. She took the baby. She wants to keep the baby now she needs someone to feed the baby. You still got milk, right? You ain't dried up. Come on, come on, come on.

Moses mother who thought she lost it all? She probably had a whole lot of mommy guilt releasing that baby. She probably thought she was defeated, but God restored the situation. I need to pause here. This is not my point, but I need to make a pitch stop. I need to talk to someone who's had the let's go of some things. Maybe it was not. It was out of your control. Maybe God has called you to let go of a dream. Let go of a career. Let go of what you thought your life would look like at thirty-five or what you thought your life would look at like at 40, whatever maybe God has called you to let go of a adult child. Whatever it is, everything is always better in the father's hand. Many times we go through these now river experiences where we just have to release things to the unknown, but understand you have a good, good father that can care and nurture and love these things better than us, and he can restore it. He can restore it. He can restore it back better than you can imagine. That's the God that we serve. So Moses mother releases Moses and I love that she got paid. Did y'all catch that? She got paid to nurse her own baby? She got paid to do something she would normally do for free.

If that's the word for you, you better catch it if that's for you. My God, today, God, God, the God is sovereign. Now, the reason why I walked you through the story the way I did is because before we can talk about Moses assignment on his life, we first have to see that he was preserved. That's important that he was protected, that he was kept. He was supposed to be left to die. He was supposed to be thrown away, but God preserved him and I believe I'm looking at a couple of folks that know a little bit about being preserved, being kept. Where's my help? Where are you? God has kept us right? Those drugs was supposed to kill you. That thing was supposed to take you out. That thing was supposed to make you quit. That disease was supposed to have you in the grave, but God kept you. He preserved you. You're clothed in your right mind. Come on. The old saints will say, I got the activities of my limbs. I'm not supposed to be here. I'm not supposed to be where I am today, but God kept me. He preserved me. That abuse was supposed to cripple you forever, but God kept you.

It's not enough just to know that you were preserved. If you're going to fulfill the assignment on your life, this is my first point. You have to know that you were preserved for a purpose. You are preserved for a purpose that every day that you wake up that there's purpose inside of you, there are assignments for you to accomplish, and that is what is going to give you the momentum. That's what is going to allow you to show up to the starting line knowing that you are preserved for a purpose. We're going to keep reading about the life of Moses. Moses is about to show us one of the big reasons why he preserved Moses the way that he did. For about 400 years, the children of Israel had been crying out to their God that they had been enslaved, and after all of these years, God finally responds.

He appears to Moses through a burning bush and he says to him, Hey, it says to Moses, I've seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cry and I am concerned. That's good news. One thing when reading narratives, old Testament narratives, the good news is that the character that's revealed in the word back then is the same character of God that we can hold on to today. So we got a God that sees whatever you're going through, he sees it. He has heard your cry, and he is concerned that third one messes me up because it's one thing to hear to cry. It's one thing to see the misery, but for it to move you to have compassion and be concerned, that's the God that we serve. So this is how God decides to respond. Chapter three verse what? Where were we?

Okay, here we go. Chapter three verse eight. There we go. He says, so I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up and out of the land into a good and spacious land. Let's stop right there. Moses hearing this should have gotten excited, should have rejoiced because his people had been enslaved for all of these years and God is finally going to come down and rescue. Let's keep reading. Let's jump to verse 10. He says, so now go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt. So God doesn't physically or personally come down. No, no, no. He sends Moses to be his representative. Now, if I was Moses hearing this, I would've been like, hold up, hold, hold up, hold up. Didn't you say you were going?

Am I going or are you going? I think God would answer that question. We're both going see, when we fulfill the calling on our lives and when we fulfill the assignment that God has called us to, God is working through us to accomplish his will, we literally become his hands and his feet. We see this really clearly in another place in scripture two, Corinthians chapter five, verse 20, a very familiar passage to this house. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ. Catch this as though God was making his appeal through us. God has always intended to work through us when we don't walk in our calling and fulfill our assignments so that God can work through us, someone could be missing out on their healing. Someone could be missing out on their deliverance, all because we won't do what God has called us to do. That's heavy. I know that's weighty. I know if we're going to fulfill the call on our live show, we have to know that we're preserved for a purpose, and here's my second point. We are going to have to overcome insecurities.

Moses was called to a very big assignment and when God said, Hey, I'm sending you to Pharaoh, we see that Moses had a total of five objections, five synchal objections, and we're going to look at a few of them. Here's the first one, chapter three, verse 11. So God said, Hey, I'm sending you and Moses says to God, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt? So Moses is having a moment of insecurity. Wouldn't you agree? He's really struggling with maybe his identity and like, am I really the right person for the job? Maybe he feels like he's not qualified for the job. Maybe he feels like he doesn't have the right credentials. Maybe he feels like the job is bigger than him. I don't know. For whatever reason, Moses is having a moment of insecurity and this first objection I'm actually okay with because I think it's a very human response to when God calls you to something bigger than you.

In fact, if you have not asked a similar question like this, I would question if the assignment is bigger than you, you might be playing it safe. God might have more for you to do so God responds. Let's look at his response. He's not going to scold him. He's not going to rebuke him. Verse 12 says, and God said, I will be with you and this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you'll worship God on this mountain. I will be with you and he's going to give 'em a sign check. I'm going to talk about this verse in reverse. He said, I'm going to give you a sign after you do the job. We be wanting confirmation before the job. I don't know about is it just me? We be wanting confirmation like just Lord give me a sign and let me know that this is the right assignment for me to do. But God, God sometimes says, do the work, go and then I'm going to confirm for you. This is not in my notes. I'm not even supposed to be saying this. Do you know how many times I have to walk by faith and the Lord is silent? He ain't said nothing and I just have to walk, Walk down.

Walk it out. That's the word for the house, okay? He said, I would be with you. Let's observe what God did not say in his moment of insecurity. God says, Hey, I'm going to be with you and I'm going to give you a sign. He did not tell Moses how awesome he was in his moment of insecurity. Do y'all see that? He did not say, what do you mean you're the best leader? Our God on my roster? Mo, you got this. Because if the assignment that God calls us to, if it ever depended on who we are and what we bring to the table, it would fail before it even start

Because it's not about us and what we bring to the table. Now, look, yes, he will use your giftings and your talents and your degrees. Yes, he does, but that's not what makes the plans of God succeed. It's his presence. It's his presence that makes the difference. Let's keep reading. We're going to continue to see how God reveals himself in midst of his insecurity. So Moses says to God, suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they ask me, what is his name? Then what shall I tell them? God says to Moses, I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites I am has sent me to you. God also said to Moses, say to the Israelites, the Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has sent me to you.

This is my name forever. The name you shall call me from generation to generation. So Moses, first question was, who am I? The second question is, who are you? Moses? Like it's cool and all that you're going to go with me, but who are you? Again, this is actually a legitimate question because you remember Moses did not grow up in church. He didn't grow up in a Hebrew home. He was raised by Egyptians and they were polytheistic worshipers, meaning they worship many gods. So Moses was not as familiar with God, with God. Did I do that? Hello? The devil's alive. Hello? Hello, hello. Yeah, this is Hello. Can y'all hear me? Yeah. Nice. Glory. Glory. So Moses asked this question because he was not as familiar with God as much as he needed to be in order to fulfill the assignment. So yes for a name.

Now, it was peculiar to me that he asked for a name and y'all know names in the Bible meant something, right? Names aren't like names. Today we just named folks stuff. It's cute names actually had meaning attached to it, and you see the names ascribed to God in the Bible revealed pieces of his character and his nature. So I believe that when Moses asked for a name, he wasn't just looking for a name, he wasn't just looking for a title. He was interested in his nature. Moses, when he asked for a name, he wasn't just wondering what should we call you? He wanted to know, how can we call on you? God reveals himself as I am who I am. This word let's talk about I am. It is derived from a verb to be. It can be translated to Yahweh. It speaks to self-existence and self-sufficiency meaning that God needs no one or nothing to live and exist.

God has no needs. He will never be vulnerable. God is who He is the great I am. So he reveals himself as I am and understand that God could have given him any name here, but he was very careful not to give him a name that would put him in a box. He could have said, tell him that their deliverer has sent you, but God is more than a deliverer. He could have said, oh, just tell him that Jehovah Jireh sent you. But oh, he's more than a provider. He could have said, tell him Jehovah Shalom has sent you, but he's more than our peace. He's everything that we need. He is who he is the great I am. Now, let's take a closer look at these I am statements. I want to uncover something. Verse 14, let's look at it again. He says, God said the Moses, I am who I am.

This is what you are to say to the Israelites I am has sent me to you. Y'all see that's present tense. I am who I am. God is saying that I'm the God that is. Let's go to 15. God also says to Moses, say to the Israelites, the Lord, the God of your fathers. Y'all see, that's past tense, right? He's talking in the past. He's saying that I am the God that was, let's go to part B of 15. He says, this is my name forever, the name that you should call me from generation to generation. I am the God that will forever be. Just tell them that the God of their past, the God of their present, the God of their future is going to be with you. So if you need peace, I'll be your peace like I was Abraham's, peace. If you need help, I'll be your help. I was Isaac's help. I'll bell be your I'll be whatever you need whenever you need because I am the great I am. It matters who is with you.

This is why folks, this is the reason why we're able to fulfill the calling on our lives and walk confidently in rooms bigger than us, take on assignments that's beyond us because the great I am is with us and knowing that alone ought to shut up any insecurity inside of you. Y'all want to know why I'm able to serve as family pastor here and fulfill that long job description. Have y'all seen? It is big. The reason why I'm able to do that is not because of my seminary degree, even though it helps, it's not because of my leadership experience. Even though that will come into play, it's because God is with me in his presence, makes a difference. God is going to walk with me. He's going to talk with me. He's going to show me what I need because he's with me. My husband and I, we went to Jamaica for eight year, I think anniversary, and my husband is a, I didn't tell all these stories last. I'm sorry he going to talk about me when I get home. But anyway, my husband is a thrill guide. He like to roller coasters, water sports and all that stuff. And I just believe we ought not to test the Lord. Thy God, I like to be on land, right? So we're in Jamaica and he's like, yo, you should try the parasailing. And somebody said, absolutely not exactly. If you don't know what parasailing is, you are in a parachute type of thing over water.

And I was like, oh no. That's not what the Lord is calling me to. I'm going to let you do that. And then he said, well, I will go with you. And that made me pause a little bit because my husband knows how to swim for real and him being with me, even though I did pass a swim class in high school, I'm a little shaky though, even him being with me, I knew that if something would happen, he would be there to protect me. He knows how to swim for real, even if I was scared and afraid. He's been on so many of these parasailing things that he has a little bit more experience than myself. He has a little bit more in that moment. And he would be with me and y'all. I went and will I go again? That's a different story, but I'm alive to tell the story because he went with me. It matters who you have with you. Now, if my daddy would've said, I'm with you, he can't swim like me, that wouldn't have helped me any. It matters. Let me get off of this. Lemme get off this point. It matters who you got with you. The world will say insecurity. We're talking about insecurity. The world will say the remedy to insecurity is to build up yourself. The world will say to put more confidence in self. Listen, those positive affirmations are only going to go so far. Oh, I done messed up somebody's morning routine.

I'm not coming for your affirmations. If they are rooted in who you are in Christ Jesus, I think you're fine. But what I see in the Bible, what makes the difference and what's the remedy for insecurity is not building up self, but building up the God that's with you. That's why the Bible says exalt the name of the Lord, make him bigger. So yes, say I'm a child of God, but how much more powerful would be if you would say the Lord thy God, he's a strong tower. Yes, say that I'm the head and not the tail. But what if you also said that he's a very present help in a time of need that he is all knowing and that he's all powerful. He is good. He cannot even do harm if he wanted to. It is the God that is with us. That makes a difference.

So if you find yourself, if you found yourself in battling with insecurity, it might be because you've forgotten whose presence is with you and the remedy is to get to know God more. I ain't got nothing fancy. Just get to know him more, draw closer to him and watch that insecurity dissipate. Is that all right? I'm moving to 0.3. What's point, okay, my points, they don't rhyme. They don't. I tried. It just didn't come. There's no acronyms. So I'm going to review this so you can remember. Point one, if you're going to walk and fulfill the calling in your life, you need to, oh, shoot, preserve what? Preserve what? Know that you're preserved. You're preserved for a purpose. I forgot my own point. Did y'all see that? You're preserved for a purpose? That's 0.1, right? What's 0.2? Overcome what? Amen. Lastly, y'all we're going to, if you're going to fulfill the assignment on your life, you're going to have to overcome past hurts.

That's in studying this. I realized that Moses had experienced some hurt in his life, and you'll see that some of those objections were rooted in past hurts. And prior to studying this, I thought all of his objections had to do with fear of going up against Pharaoh, going up against the enemy. But I found that not all of his objections had to do with fear of Pharaoh. He also feared going to his own people. You remember his second objection? Do you remember when he asked for a name? Let's go to verse 13. Let's look at it again. He says, Moses is saying to God, this is his objection. He's like, I don't want to go. Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them. So that was intriguing to me. Why is he hesitant to start his assignment? Why is he hesitant to go to his own people? Those is his people, his kinfolk. But he had some fear, some hesitation there, some worry there. He was afraid to go to the church folk.

He had a lot of past hurt, and I believe it had something to do with what some people will call in twenty-twenty-three, church Hurt. We're about to read Moses first ministry attempt. You can find this in Exodus chapter two, but I'm going to read Stephen's account in Acts chapter seven, Stephen, before he was stoned, before he was martyred, he had this long dissertation about the history of the children of Israel. So we're going to read his account because it's going to give us a little more information about Moses life. Verse twenty-three. Stephen says, when Moses was 40 years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian. So he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. Let's look at his motive for doing this. Keep reading. Verse twenty-five. Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. And imagine the disappointment, the rejection that Moses felt.

The scripture says that the scripture says that he thought they would realize that God was using him, but they did not understand. He thought that he was fulfilling an assignment from God. He thought that he was walking in what God called him to do, but they rejected him. They did not understand. Let's keep reading. The next day, Moses came down, Nuh-Uh, let me read that again. The next day, Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, men, you are brothers. Why do you want to hurt each other? But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses, they were scuffling. Y'all pushed them aside and said, who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian? Yesterday when Moses heard this, he fled to Midian. When Moses heard this, he fled the Midian where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons.

Do you see when God called him to be the deliverer of the children of Israel, why he was like, nah, I'm am good. I try. They don't like me. They don't get me out there. I don't think they really like me over there because last time when I tried to do it, they rejected me Last time I wasn't received the way I thought I should have been received. So it makes sense that he would have hesitation. It makes sense that he would be a little worried going to his own people. So he ran and the Bible says that one reason he ran was because he feared for his life. He feared that Pharaoh would retaliate and try to kill him. But I believe there was also another reason that he ran too. The rejection was so great, so he ran. And 40 years after that incident, God calls him to minister to the same people that hurt him.

God called him to the same ministry that left him disappointed. In many times, God will call us to do the same. He'll call us to minister to the same people that hurt us. He'll call us to try that thing again. That caused so much disappointment. I believe with all my heart. This is one big reason why I felt like the Lord told me to preach this message is because I believe he wants some of us to go again. He wants some of us to heal from that hurt the disappointment and to do that thing again, I don't know what that means for you, it might be start that business up again. That didn't do too well in the past. It might be something like start that Bible study back up that many people didn't attend. It might be to start and get in ministry again even though the church folk, they really hurt you and that there's so much disappointment and pain there.

But I believe with all my heart that God is calling some of us to go again. See, the enemy would love for you to think that those past situations were failures, failed ministry attempts failed, church experiences, failed relationships, failed businesses. But I don't think God sees it as failure. I think God sees it as an opportunity for you to exercise your faith. Again. He sees it as an invitation for you to come and trust him again and say, Hey, God, I'm placing this back in your hands again. Some of us need to go again. I want to tell you about a time when God called me to go again after experiencing some disappointment. When it came to my teaching and preaching ministry, I always felt like God called me to preach and teach. I started doing it preaching since I was a kid. My parents would tell stories of how I was like the kid evangelist.

I would preach as a kid and I always knew that calling was on my life. A few years ago, I felt like the Lord wanted me to lean in a little bit more in my teaching and preaching ministry. At the time I was operating in music ministry and I spent a significant amount of my ministry experience doing music, and I felt like God was telling me to put that down and to lean more in this area. So I did what all I knew to do to be able to make myself available in that way. I did the websites, social media presence and years past and little to no opportunity came my way. And that was hurtful. That was disappointing. I felt like I was following the voice of the Lord and I said, if this is what you want me to do, surely you will open up doors. And even as a woman preacher, you always start trying to find your footing and find your place. So I was so discouraged, so much so that I pushed preaching to the side. I was able to disguise it pretty well because I just had to become a new mom. And I'll just tell people, I'm trying to figure out this mommy life. I'm trying to feed this baby. I ain't getting paid for it, but I'm trying to feed this baby.

And a few years after that, the Lord tapped me on the shoulder. Instead. It was time for me to go again. It was time to start preaching again. And at the time, we were fairly new to NBC City Church, so I knew that I wouldn't have traditional opportunities in the local church to preach. And so the Lord told me to do something peculiar. He told me once a month to invite family and friends to my house, and I was to preach from my living room once a month to my family and friends. That sounded so silly to me. He told me to do it on a Sunday night, and I was like, they already been in church all day. They got good preaching. There ain't nobody coming to my little old house to hear little old me preaching in my living room. And if I was honest, I didn't know if I wanted to trust God again with this because in the past I thought I heard his voice clearly and I tried it and it didn't work. It failed. And he was calling me to do something strange and to preach again.

And in order for me to go again, I had to reconcile those disappointments and I had to heal from that hurt and trust God again. And I did y'all. And for almost a year and a half, I preached from my living room to a small group of people, about 10 or 15 people. We called it the Gathering. And God met us there. God used me. God did amazing things. I heard stories, what God was doing. I thought I was just practicing on them, but I was like, oh, God is really working. I would study like I was studying to be in a big auditorium to preach. I didn't slack on my preparation. And I showed up every Sunday, fourth Sunday night and I preached and that was my assignment. And I had no idea what was on the other side of my yes. I had no idea.

This wasn't even in the cards back then. When God told me to go again, I had no idea what he would do, the preparation, what he was preparing me for, but I just knew that the voice of the Lord spoke and I had to respond. I have no idea what God is calling you to do. And as you think about going, I don't want you to overthink it. Y'all want to know when I decided to start serving in this church, the first thing I did and I just stopped doing it two months ago, I got hired as family pastor. I ran ProPresenter back there. Y'all know what that is? That's a software to put lyrics on the screen. I operated that button faithfully. Every time they called me, I pressed next, make sure they had their lyrics, and that was my assignment and I was faithful to it. And you know what? Before anybody put a mic in my hand, I saw that youth was starting up and I was like, oh, maybe I could serve there and y'all want to know what I did and youth, I serve snacks to the kids. And that was my assignment.

I know for sure as a church body that God is calling us to get up and go. Last week, pastor preached about walking it out. I think it's very clear we didn't even talk about what we were preaching, and I think it's very clear that God is calling us to go. It needs to mobilize some folks today. Your families, your neighborhood, your community. This church will never be what it's called to be if you don't do all that God has called you to do. In a moment, the worship team is going to come and sing the last song and the altars will be open. And there's a question I want you to ponder because I believe God spoke. I believe God said something. And when God speaks, it is rude not to respond. When somebody speaks, you got to respond. So the question I want you to ask yourself is, how should I respond?

God is calling us to do something the New Year. It's coming. God is calling us to something great as a church, something great in your lives and your families, and you are going to have to go. But before you go, may you remember that you are preserved for a purpose. Overcome those insecurities and overcome those past hurts. Let's pray. God, thank you for being so kind for showing up in our midst today. Thank you for your word. Thank you for what you're doing in the hearts of the people. Many people will say yes today and make decisions today. And we pray God, that when they walk out of these doors that the enemy will not snatch the word, but this word is falling on good ground and that they will go and change the world. I pray this in Your name, Jesus. Amen.