Don't Settle Below - Pete Campbell

Show Notes

Jesus calls us to be born again from above through the Spirit, not to simply improve our current life but to live from a completely different source - connected to God's Spirit above the chaos. Scriptures: John 3:1-8, Genesis 1:2, Isaiah 40:31

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Hi, thanks for tuning in to this Week's message at C3OC. We hope that it blesses you, equips you, and fills you with faith. Let's dive in. Have you ever noticed in life how it's so easy for life just in general to pull you down, Right? I mean, you get on the 405 and you're like, dang it, I wish this driver wouldn't pull me down. Right? And when we think about life and how it wants to pull us down and how it wants to suck the energy, to suck the joy, to suck all of those different things out of our life, that it's not always something that's dramatic, you know, it's not always something that even leads to destruction. Okay? So when I want to say, when I want to talk to you today about, you know, this idea of the things in life and how it pulls us down, it's not always something that's just way out there in right field, but it's a lot of times it's in how we wake up. It's in how, you know, when we get up and we start the day that we all of a sudden just get sucked down into stress. We get pulled down into a routine. We get pulled into our habits, which is good sometimes. And a lot of the times, we also get pulled in what I would call a survival mode. Anybody been there? So we wake up, we deal with whatever's in front of us, whether. If you've got kids, we know how that works, right? You got to get them to school, got to go through all of those different things. We go to work, we manage responsibilities, we put out fires. We wrestle with the things in our mind that we want to start some fires, right? Then we come home and what happens? We're tired, we're hungry, we're ready to go to sleep. And then we do it all over again and again and again. All the while, something subtle begins to happen. We begin to assume that this is what life is really all about, that this is normal. Everyone say normal. We start believing that the goal of life is simply to now just get through it rather than to actually thrive in it. But this. As we get into the passage today, I want to read these words of Jesus, because we will begin to realize something pretty quickly as we dive into this, that Jesus, right, never called people to just survive life. He called us into something higher. Everyone say higher. Not higher in the sense of status or success or wealth or acknowledgement, but higher in the sense of perspective, higher in the sense of purpose. Higher in the sense of actually having a connection with him. So when we look at the Gospels, when we think about the New Testament, how it starts with Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, right, we can see time and time again that Jesus is constantly inviting people that he meets face to face as he's doing ministry, as he is serving. And he's inviting them into a different way of living, which for so many of us, it's like the world has been turned upside down, when in reality, he's like, this is turning it right side up. Because this is how I. This is how my father created it to be. And so today we're going to see one of the clearest moments where he talks about this in a conversation in the book of John. So if you've got your Bibles, you can turn with me to John, chapter three. If you're there, say yeah. Yeah. All right, awesome. I heard a little bit of little John come out of some of you there. All right, John, chapter three. And we're going to be just doing eight verses today, but I want to read the first three, John, chapter three. And I'm reading out of the New Living, and this is what it says, says there was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. After dark, one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. And then he says, rabbi, he said, we all know that God has sent you to what he says, your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you. And I love how Jesus responds back here, Jesus replied, I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God. We'll unpack the rest of these verses, but this is what I want us to get. Nicodemus, right? Who was he? He wasn't just some random guy off the street. He. He wasn't just some random guy who was asking these spiritual questions or having these deep spiritual thoughts, but he was a Pharisee. And in those times, that was somebody that was very highly educated. That was somebody that, hey, if you got a problem, who do you go to? You go to him. You seek him out. You've got some issues. You've got some dilemmas. You've got some things that you're wrestling with. You go see him. Why? Because he was highly educated. He knew the Scriptures. I want you to catch that. He was respected. He had influence, he had authority, and he had a reputation. So if anybody, right? If we think of anyone that should have their ducks in a row, that should have their spiritual life well put together. Come on, Nicodemus. But what happens here? Something inside of him knew that there had to be more. And we can see it in the way he approaches Jesus. Because what time does he come and see him at night? At night, when the world slows down, when the lights are off, when the attention isn't being invited, saying, hey, come look at this, right at the time of night, Nicodemus finds where Jesus is and he approaches him. And then he has this conversation which tells us something. Sometimes the most honest questions that you and I have about life and about God, it shows up in quiet moments. But how many times do we allow ourselves to actually sit and wrestle in those quiet moments so that we can say, hey, God, speak, Lord, speak. So when the noise stops, when the distractions fade, Nicodemus, right, he goes to Jesus because we've seen the track record, we've heard the stories, we've seen the miracles. And he starts it out, right? I mean, could you imagine? You get to meet a guy, this gentleman, all this different stuff and you recognize, man, there's something different. There's a hand of God, there's a movement that's happening, there's miraculous things and you can't put your finger on it. And he begins this conversation very respectfully. He acknowledges who Jesus is. He recognizes the miracles. He speaks with honor. And then Jesus cuts through all of that and says, all right, hey, Nicodemus, enough with the small talk. I've had moments, okay? I've had some moments. So in my life, you know, there have been several people that, you know, God has brought across my path, my journey, different things that I've gone to and how many of you know, like you get to meet with somebody or you get to have a one on one with someone and a coffee and you go there and very funny, right? Deep down inside, sometimes we start out those conversations and it's like, all right, let's get the chit chat, let's get the small talk. Because you're kind of nervous. You're like, I really don't want to go into this deep of a conversation that I know that I'm inquisitively thinking in my mind, but yet I know I need to get there. But yeah, not today. Oh man, that was such a great conversation. We just talked and wasted time, right? And so here's Nicodemus going to Jesus. He has this moment, he's seeing him in the middle of the night and he has this conversation and he starts out with these pleasantries and Jesus is like, dude, he goes straight to the heart of the issue. And Jesus responds to him and says, unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of. Of God. He wasn't. Jesus wasn't interested in Nicodemus, like becoming a better version of himself. See, so many of us, we get so caught up, and there's nothing wrong with improving. There's nothing wrong with growing. But we get so caught up in the self help and how we can improve, how we can get better, how we can become a better person or a better communicator or a better husband or a better wife or whatever it might be. But Jesus is like, will you just stop for a moment to understand that there's something more that I have for you? Jesus is talking about an entirely different source of life. See, Nicodemus, he had knowledge about God. He knew the scriptures. It was a part of his job, it was part of his reputation. But here he is standing or sitting in the presence in front of Jesus and he realized something. That knowledge doesn't automatically equal transformation. Knowledge doesn't equal transformation. We can know, we can have knowledge of faith and still miss the life that God offers. Why is that? See, this phrase that Jesus uses here is so important because he tells Nicodemus that you've got to be born again. And if we think of that word, born again, in the Greek, it's pronounced as anothen, okay? You can say that real confidently, anothen, right? However you want, with some personality, some hey, right? But here he is. Jesus uses this word in born again. And it actually has two meanings, kind of two sides of a coin, right? On one, it means again, to be anew, to start from the top, to go from the very beginning. And then on the other one, it's talking about being born from above. So Jesus, this life that Jesus is talking about does not start from the ground up, okay? It starts from heaven coming down. Think about this for a moment. When we think about life, okay, and how we carry ourselves, or where we focus our gaze and our perspective and all those different things, right? If I'm kind of constantly just walking around in my life and just walking with my head down, what does that usually mean? Negative, right? Like, I'm not feeling so good, I'm tired, I'm nervous. I really don't want you all looking at me right now, even though I'm standing right up here, like, what? But then it says, hey, if you want to have to dream, to gain a new perspective, to have hope, where do we usually look up, look up. We look ahead, right? When we look down what do we see outside? Dirt. When we look up, what do we see? The sky? Clouds. God showing off his masterpiece at sunsets here in SoCal. I mean, there's a difference between when we look down and when we look up. There's a difference that happens in our own hearts when we look down and we focus on the things that are down, or when we fix our eyes and start to shift our gaze to what's up. There's a huge thing here, and this is what's happening, right? Life will pull us downward. Fear pulls us downward. Pressure pulls us downward. Culture, the things of this world, the news, all of it pulls us downward. Comfort pulls us downward. And if we're not careful, we will slowly settle into a version of life that Jesus never, ever, ever intended for us to have. The greatest danger isn't always, not all about falling into sin. Sometimes it's settling into just normal. So I want you to ask yourself this question today. Where have I settled below the life God actually invites me into? Just think about that for a moment. Where have I settled below the life that God invites me into? As you're thinking about that, are you living below peace? Are you living below trust? Do you find yourself living below purpose? Do you find yourself living below the intimacy with God? Jesus didn't come to help you manage your life at a ground level, but he came to lift us into a life connected to His Holy Spirit. And that's what Jesus is explaining in this text that we're reading today, that the title of my message is this. Don't settle below. Don't settle below. See, Jesus tells Nicodemus something that completely disrupts his understanding of faith. Nicodemus is going to just have a good conversation to maybe get something like his ego scratched or get some ideas. Okay, cool. I see where you're coming from. I see your perspective, Jesus. I respect you. Good. Now I know how to live my life. That's what he was hoping for. But then we continue in this passage in John chapter three, now verses four through seven, where Nicodemus, right, Jesus says, you've got to be born again. And then I love Nicodemus. He's like, what do you mean, Jesus? Have you looked? I'm an old, old man, right? How can an old man go back into his mother's womb and be born again? Got a six year old. His name's Makai. Some of you guys who are here, if you're here before or after, like, you'll see this crazy kid that's just running all over the place. He owns the Voco Hotel. I haven't found the financial contributions of that yet, but he owns it. But he just runs around. And just the other day we're driving and this kid never stops talking. And we were talking and I was actually telling. He's like, well, how do I just go like we were talking about this whole Bourne thing. And he's like, can I, you know, da, da, like asking, can I? So do I go back to my, like asking the same type of questions? And I'm like, no, dude, that's not how it works. You know, we even have this whole thing, like, he's fixated on the number 100. And I even had this joke the other day when he was like, when I get to 100, what happens, dad? And I was like, well, dad probably won't be here, but if you get to 100, then you'll start back over again at 1 and now you'll be a baby again. He's like, okay, dad, sounds great. Just messing with you guys can help fix all that. All right, I have fun. That's. I'm a parent. We're here to help our kids with their future trauma. And I'm just kidding, I shouldn't speak that. I'm sorry. Forgive me, Lord. Sorry, kids. Jay, love you. But then Jesus, he's making this huge distinction, right? Like Nicodemus is wrestling. And so then Jesus replied, I assure you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and the spirit first. Jesus is telling Nicodemus, you got to be born again. He's already wrestling with that. And now all of a sudden, he's saying, now you got to be born of water and the spirit. He says, humans can reproduce, only human life. But the Holy Spirit gives what birth to spiritual life? So don't be surprised when I say, you must be born again. See, Jesus is making a distinction between two kinds of life. Human life, spiritual life. One comes from the natural world, the other comes from the spirit of God. Jesus is telling Nicodemus something that most of us still struggle with today, that there is a difference between living life and being spiritually alive. So you can be physically alive and spiritually disconnected. You can have success, wealth, your bank account can be full, and you still have no idea what to actually do with it. You can know the right answers. You can know the next 10 step process that you've got to do to accomplish so and so, but yet still feel like something is. Is wrong. And I think this is where so many of us, we live our lives quietly in this struggle. Because on the outside, we can look very full, we can look very successful, very well put together. We've got our responsibilities, we've got our relationships, we've got our circles, we've got our home, we've got our work, we've got our family, we have our plans. But inside, something just feels unsettled. It's rattled. And there's a sense that we were made for more than just surviving, more than just paying bills, more than just managing stress, more than just getting older. Deep down, there is something in us that knows that we were created for something higher. Your soul, my soul. Your spirit. My spirit was never designed to live at a ground level, was never design to settle below. See, culture has a way of teaching us to settle, to settle for below, to settle for comfort, to settle for routine, to settle for distraction, to settle for a life where God becomes someone we visit rather than being the very center of who we are. Don't settle below. Don't settle. Don't settle. Don't lose your heart and your desire to ask deeper questions. Because over time, people will stop asking those questions. And then they begin to just accept the pace. These are the cards that I've been dealt. They begin to accept the pressure. But Jesus wants to interrupt the pattern. And he tells Nicodemus something that changes at the source of life itself. Because without the Spirit, you cannot see the kingdom of God. Religion can teach you and I how to behave, but only the Spirit will teach us how to live. There's nothing wrong with learning how to behave. But, man, how many of you guys know that when we're stuck into that mindset, into just that framework, that form, that life loses its luster, that you begin to overlook and not have gratitude for the things that are good. So don't allow religion to put you into a form, to put you into a place, to cause you to settle below what God originally intended. That's why we need the presence of God. That's why we need Jesus. That's why we need His Word. Because it's in His Word. It's in our intimacy and our relationship with Him. Now we see how we can actually live. Now we can see how we can actually thrive. And this, in this passage, this is where Jesus introduces one of the most powerful images in this conversation that he says that you've got to be born of water and the Spirit, which. This is a cool part, right, Nicodemus? He should know the word of God. He should know the Old Testament Genesis, which I think when Jesus Brings this up. There's a couple of passages that come into Nicodemus mind. You know, one of them probably being in Ezekiel, where it talks about how God is going to pour water on his people and bring them anew and give them a new life, and he's bringing them home and giving them purpose. But then I also think of Genesis, chapter one in the beginning, see, right. Where do we see the Spirit of God mentioned for the very, very first time? Right there in verse dos. And the picture we see, man, it changes. Not just changes, it freaking rocks everything about your life that God lives above the chaos. See, Genesis 1:2, we can put it up, says that the earth was formless and empty and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering, what, over the surface of the waters. This is the very first time we see in the scriptures the Spirit of God being mentioned. And this picture, right? It's powerful. Think about it. What is the Earth? What is happening in this very moment? The world is chaotic. It's empty. It's dark, right? It's formless. And what is the Spirit doing? What is God doing? It's hovering over the waters. It's a lot cooler than the hoverboard from Back to the Future two. Okay, Right. But here's God hovering over the waters. He's not underneath it. He's not overwhelmed, but he's above. Which means that whatever chaos you and I are facing right now, God is not underneath it. He is above it. He is control. See what feels over your head, what feels like you can't understand. Guess what is still under his authority. So maybe the things in your life may feel a little chaotic, because when we think about water, especially in the Old Testament, in the very first few books of the Bible, you hear about water and you see it, and it represents a lot of chaotic things. A lot of things that are just not in our control, a lot of things that are beyond our understanding. Like the Great Flood, right, when God opened up the heavens and just caused the whole thing to rain. So water, you could feel it. The chaotic. You can feel the craziness of it. You can feel just the overwhelm. And some of you may. Here in this place today, you may feel like life is chaotic. You may have some health issues. You may have some financial pressure. Some of you. You may have some family struggles. Some of you, you've got some anxiety about today. You've got some anxiety from yesterday. You've got an. From the future. Some of us, we have situations that feel completely outside of Our control. And we try so hard. We try so hard to manage it. We try so hard to just organize it and maybe say, hey, we could cover it up and put it in the closet and no one will see some of us. We schedule it, we got a planet. But the truth is there are so many things, simply put, that are just out of our control, that you and I were never meant to control life because of sin. Guess what has chaos built into it. It's built in. But the good news of the gospel is this, that the Spirit of God lives above the chaos. And God is not reacting to your situation. He is not surprised by your circumstances. He is not scrambling, trying to figure out what to do next. But what is he saying? That if you would just trust in me, you can be born again. You can be born above because of the Spirit. So when Jesus talks about being born from above, this is a shift he's describing. He's not saying that life will not be complicated, but he's saying that our connection to God will give us a different vantage point, that we can now begin to live a life that is different because of our perspective. A place where chaos rules, but it does not have the final say. When your life. When my life is connected to the Spirit, Chaos no longer defines our reality. It doesn't define it, because God lives above the chaos. And so when we come into this agreement and we begin to see the truth of this, and it's only the Holy Spirit that can reveal himself to us, it's not my words. It's not just words on a screen or words in a text, but it's the Spirit of God that brings everything to life. And so when I asked you guys earlier, where have you settled below? Where is now the Spirit trying to call you by name and just to reach your heart and just to get your attention, just for a brief moment, to show you who he is and who you can be. So not only. We don't need to settle below. We have to understand that God lives above the chaos. And then the next thing that we've got to do is we've got to prepare for takeoff. Prepare for takeoff. If you've ever. I know. So in 2017, when my family and I moved here to California, we actually moved to San Diego. Okay. And what do they call it? America's finest city. Right? We moved to San Diego. And one of the craziest things that I absolutely fell in love with, and I tell you, I could watch it for hours and hours, was I'd go to the highway Right off the highway, right off the. Right off the five there in downtown San Diego. And literally, you can just see the planes going right over the highway. And there's these iconic spots, man, for photos, for videos, if you're into that type of stuff. Come on, let's talk. It's fun. But then the planes are just coming down and just going over the highway. And then, boom, landing. And there was a couple of video projects that I got to be a part of. And we were shooting and catching, like, the tail whips and stuff that came off the planes as they were landing. And you can kind of just see the air circulating. And it was like, this is amazing. And I love flying. I've never flown a plane, but I love what it represents, and I love the feeling behind it. And if you've ever watched a plane take off at the airport, there's something that always happens before takeoff. The Runway has to be clear, right? Hopefully. Unless. Oh, there's my piece of luggage. Right, Right. No, it has to be clear, because if the Runway isn't clear, the plane isn't going to go anywhere. Isn't that the same for us spiritually that we hear this word, the truth of God's word, how he's calling us to be born again, to be of the spirit, and we want God to put some lift in our life. We want God to help us to rise above so that we don't settle below. We want lift in our lives. We want peace, right? We want clarity. God, we want to feel closer to you. But the Runway is crowded. It's blocked. There are things in the way. Sometimes it could be pride. Sometimes it's our control and our lack of willing to surrender. To say, jesus, not only you're my savior, but, man, you're my Lord. Sometimes it's this need of feeling like you've got to have everything still put together so that people don't look at you differently. Sometimes it's just the fear and the insecurity of maybe what might happen if you actually took your faith seriously. But yet, God, I want to lift off. I want lift in my life. But in order for us to achieve it, the Runway has to be clear. So you can never experience spiritual lift while holding on to everything that keeps you grounded. Like I told you earlier, I love flying. And I remember in high school, I was in high school in the east coast, and we still had all these shop classes. And these shop classes were freaking awesome. And the one shop class I had was a wood shop. But he also the wood shop Teacher also had a flight simulator that he had built. And so a lot of us who were interested, we got to, you know, kind of learn the basics, some of the principles. We can sit in this cockpit and have the whole entire thing. And part of our wood shop, we were actually helping this dude build a one prop plane out of wood. Crazy. I was like, man, this man is super smart. Because he's got labor, like, free labor, like, included in a semester's worth of classes because students who are interested. I never got to fly the thing, and. But I got to see it, right? And I got to learn all about takeoffs and doing the simulators and getting into the. What is it? Microsoft flight simulator and all the. And it was just so much fun and learning about the yoke and how it would steer the plane and the pedals and doing all of those different things and learning about lift and thrust and. All right, and we can go into a whole science thing and teach you guys all of that. If you haven't learned it. If you're like, pete, you really just lost me. I just know planes take off. But here's the thing about planes, especially when I did those simulators, or, you know, if you've flown on a plane and you sit there, and first off, you're in that taxi moment, and sometimes that taxi moment really stresses and puts the pressure on you because you're like, I'm about to lose my sanity right now. We just left the gate. This plane is hot. There's no air circulating, and I'm sitting here waiting so that we can actually take off. And the last time I checked, and from what I remember, when I've sat in those planes and the pilot comes on, okay, da, da, da, da, da. Get ready for. Flight attendants, get ready for takeoff. And next thing you know, you're just sitting there, and what happens? All of a sudden, your head gets, like, shoved back into the seat, and the plane is going full right, full throttle. See, when I think about planes achieving liftoff, I don't see. I have not seen any plane just casually take off. No pilot slowly drifts down the Runway hoping that something will happen. When the Runway is clear, the engines engage fully, the brakes are let off, the wings are expanded, and the pilot commits, and it's full throttle, and everything is pushing forward because lift only happens when the plane commits to the Runway. Have you ever been stuck there, right? You're curious about Jesus. You're interested in faith, but you're not moving to fully commit. You drift. You keep one foot in. In front of the other. So why? I just want to keep my options open. And I'm not just talking about people who don't know Christ. I'm talking about all of us in this room or some of us in this room, who we've walked with Jesus for years, who we have miracles that we can look back on. We have moments and monuments that we can see his faithfulness, but yet we still settle in certain areas in certain ways. But lift will only happen when we commit. And Jesus is inviting us into something that is not casual, but it's an all out decision. The spiritual lift. It requires a spiritual commitment. And this is what Jesus says in John 3, verse 8, the last and final verse that we'll read. He says, the wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can't tell where it comes from or where it is going. So you can't explain how people are born of the spirit, right? Jesus says the wind is going to blow whatever it wants. You hear it, but you can't put your finger on it. You can't explain where it's coming from, where it's going. And then he says, so it's the same with everyone who is born of the spirit. The life that God is inviting you and I to isn't about controlling the wind, but it's about learning to just trust and surrender. But not trust and surrender. Like, okay God, you take it. No, okay God, let's go. Even if you got to do like a naruto run or whatever like that, your hands are going like crazy like that's how you're going to do it. You got to go all out. Thank you to my Asian people who understood that one. So we have to prepare for liftoff. Joe is like, is that what kangaroos do? I don't get it. Okay, dingo. Yes. The last one is this. We have to ride the wind. Worship team, you can come up. You have to ride the wind, right? So we see in verse 8 what Jesus is communicating and we understand. You and I, we can't control the wind. But here's one of the truths that I've seen in my life, that the more that you follow the spirit, the less predictable your life actually becomes. And for some of my planners out there, I know that just totally irks the heck out of you. But Jesus says, welcome, you're invited, let's go. The more you follow the spirit, the less predictable your life becomes. See, in 2016, my wife and I, we had been in this, what we would call the hoosier state. And I still don't know what the Hoosier actually means, but the state of Indiana. And we were in northern Indiana and we were pastoring and serving at a church and probably going on like six and a half years, something like that, or whatever. And I remember God was working some things in my heart and also speaking and working some things in my wife's heart. And we're sitting there standing there in the kitchen and I'm doing dishes and all the different things. And we both kind of came to the agreement, like, is God calling us into something different? Because where we were at was really. It was good. We were comfortable. You know, just a few weeks before that, like I had, because I was a pastor on staff there, and the lead pastor at that time really, man spoke a lot of great things into my life as a young guy who didn't know Jack Squatt. And we had the four of us, his wife and then Sarah and I, we met for dinner and he was like, hey, what would you feel? And God already had started prodding this and putting into our heart. And he's like, how would you guys feel if, you know, we kind of went and entered into this process where you guys could become the new pastors of this church here in like a year or so. And we were like, Human wise, like, hey, that's cool, because you have things laid out, you've got things planned out. But yet God was asking us to do something different. And all at that time for me that I knew was that God had vividly given me was just West Coast, West Coast, West Coast. And through a series of events, through a lot of chaos and craziness, through a lot of questioning, through a lot of doubts, through a lot of insecurities and different things and just wondering, God, did I miss it? Did I hear you right? I had to come to a place in my life as the head of our house to be like, no, like Sarah. We didn't miss it. And God reaffirmed it in his loving way that he does with her. And she breathed some new life in the me. And then in 2017, after hearing the voice of God and working through different things, God opened up an opportunity that moved my entire family of four. At the time, Makai wasn't in the picture. From Northern Indiana to drive all the way across the US to Southern California. And now it's 2026 and here we are. Life looks a whole lot different than what I thought it would. We expanded the family to a party of five, right? No more. What God is asking me to be obedient and trust him with is a whole lot different than what I thought it was from when I first started. But the only thing that I could possibly do. And I have my moments where I fail. I have my moments where I settle below. But I have to keep coming back to saying, spirit, you lead spirit, you guide spirit, speak to me. Because I can't go back. You can't go back. Don't settle below. Because when we think about a plane that is now preparing for takeoff and fully committed, now we get to just ride the wind. When that plane reaches the right moment, something incredible happens. Lift now takes over. The plane isn't fighting it anymore, but it's being carried by it. I think that is one of the best pictures that God could ever create. For you and I to have an understanding of what following and being in relationship and trusting in the Holy Spirit looks like. It's not about fighting anything. It's not about wrestling anything. It's not about trying to control everything. But it's actually finding yourself to live in a place of trust and surrender. But not surrender to where I'm leaning back and chilling and relaxing because someone's in control, but leaning in, leaning forward, understanding that, hey, I've got a place to go, but the only way that I'm gonna get there is if I give everything, if I fully trust, if I fully surrender, if I fully commit to say, yes, this is it. This is where I'm going. This is who I'm with. And nothing else matters. Because In Isaiah, chapter 40, verse 31, it says, but those who trust in the Lord, they will find not old strength. But it says that they will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint. If you find yourself running and growing weary, if you find yourself trying to walk and you're out of breath, whatever it is, understand that you need to be connected into the Spirit. And there are many times in my life where I try to depend more on the flesh than in the Spirit. And it's like God, here I am, I am not going back. But I'm stepping forward. Because this is what you called for me. This is what you have for me. And he has got something magnificent and amazing for you. But it requires you to step forward. It requires for you to say, you know what? I've got to be born again. Not in the flesh, but in the spirit. So, Holy Spirit, would you just invade every part of me. So that I can move and rise above. Hey, thanks for tuning in. There's a bunch of different ways that we connect throughout the week, including Sunday mornings, and we would love to see you there. You can check out all the [e-mail].