The Threshold Of A Promise | Pastor Jeremy Foster

come on let's give Jesus innovation a worship right out come on shout it for the king of the world come on raise the roof off the room and man man I gotta tell you all right hug somebody make it weird hug somebody tell them I love you I'm glad you're here hug them get get weird hug them all the non huggers are freaking out right now you can be seated man I I don't even know what to say man this place is ridiculous like y'all are too you like a big-headed toddler as what y'all are you know those toddlers that people think they're five years old and they can't talk and you're like nah my son's too I have one of those he's just huge we go places he'd be like God I got people like what's wrong with you son like eight just he's big buddy - just leave him alone y'all like a big body to Europe I love it hey pastor this place is crazy I love it you know I love it because I love it because you crazy I love it cuz you crazy but I also love it because it's diverse there's every tribe and nation and tongue okay I'm gonna tell you a secret but that's our password a really really diverse church and what's funny is people that don't know they ask you there's like so what's the percentage of your touch like is it 50/50 right now like what do you mean by that it was like it wasn't 50% white 50% black I was like you forgetting some other hues dang they just - there's more hues and they're like oh oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah I forgot about the Mexicans oh hey don't you call a Puerto Rican - Mexican thank you they'll cut you with something I get mad the Venezuelans and and all the Mexicans about their going here but you had to come to us to get here vato so hey aren't you glad that we have a church that everybody can come to love that the first time the first time that I ever heard you I didn't know you were you were leading worship at this big conference I think it was at Lakewood you relieved leading worship at this conference and you were singing and it was awesome you did what you just did no it's just like why did some people have all the talent I just like in the beginning God gave Jabin all the talent thanks so long and then and then like in the little praise break moment he stops for a minute and he starts I starts preaching I'm like no you were like oh like a like a big old black Bishop and a Chicano body I mean I just I don't even know what to do with it like well Cabasa in the tambourine and do a little dance I don't know what was happening I was just like I just I need to go home and take a nap I love this dude I love I love pastor David and Shannon Chavez I love me I love me and he also he also said something when he first appreciate our church he just burned the room down and in the middle of it you said I'm the sexy Mexi and I thought that was the awesomest coolest thing I've ever heard I don't know if you've told your church that or not you haven't I'm my bad that's show that's your road trick saying it that's what that is ha don't you call him the sexy maxi he could call himself that um I honor you guys man if you've never heard me before I apologize in advance dude I'm so fired up and I'm gonna tell you why I'm just gonna talk to y'all for a minute this reminds me something like when I walked in the back door we started in a theater just like this and it reminds me so much of what happened in those early years and just the explosive move of God that was happening and it's being stewarded and managed by both of you so well so well such great leadership you know what he did the whole time he talked about the team he talked about you he talked about what God was doing through you he talked about weaknesses in leadership in areas that he needs to we I need to do this and I need to do that he never told me how amazing it was he just told me how awesome you were but didn't tell me how incredible your leadership is both of you are doing a great great job have you ever been have you ever been a senior pastor before you ever been a lead pastor before no no so you too as well you have a two year old senior pastor you killing it for a big toddlers what you're doing brother hey I'm a five year old come on so my I'm a five year old senior pastor and I don't do this I don't I don't know I hope we're not maybe we're streaming I don't know if we're streaming I'm not telling you to cut it off or not okay we're not good because I don't I don't rarely do this but I don't feel what I feel right now everywhere that I go in fact I don't know that I've ever felt what I feel right now anywhere else and all I'm gonna tell you is you're on a powder keg and and you need to lean in to what God wants to do with you if you're in the room you're here for a reason you're not here by accident you're not here by did although my friend invited me no no God has called you because he's he's Awakening something in the desert there's gonna be a deluge in the desert if you'll allow God to flow dude I'm not I'm not just trying to hype you up trust me I know what it looks like to manage a move of God and be on the inside is something that you can't explain and that's what I felt just a while ago in here when we started hope city I'm listen I'll get to my notes at some point but when we when we started hope city I had no idea we just went all-in we just we just poured everything that we had we just went all-in into this dream that God had and we we planted this church in 2015 I had no idea if anybody was going to show up in fact 15 minutes before our first service on January the 25th in 2015 I was right over here behind the curtains this stage just like this and I told my wife I was like I'm oh god I must see paint buys there because she was nervous she was like do you think wheat some $350,000 in this thing we had done we'd given everything we had to make it work and she was like easy by there I was like I don't know I'm gonna go look I did this right here it's 15 minutes till church just for people I went back she was like is there anybody there I was like wow there's four people she's like all Jesus oh god oh Jesus I was like where's your faith and then what was funny is before we're sitting right in the front row it's like well at least they all in they just they ready okay ready they just I was like I'm a breeze like it's 4,000 I'm a pre student board I'm gonna spit all over then splat stone and get the anointed spit all over me fifteen minutes later the whole room was slammed because Houston comes to church late okay they just come to church late and it was amazing and what happened then is this reminds me bro you know you preached there it reminds me and since then in five years our church just celebrated five years two weeks ago we've seen 38,000 people give their lives to Jesus in five years so buckle your seatbelt city lights God brought me here on your two year anniversary to show you what to look forward to he brought me here to tell you don't sit on this get ready because God's in the big middle of this and he's brought you here so that he can use you Vegas needs a revival can't hurt my throat you can sit down here's what I feel led to tell you I believe that you are on the threshold of a promise you're on the threshold of a promise threshold literally means like the dividing point between one place and another and you have to decide which side you're going to be on whether you're going to camp out on this side or whether you're gonna go all in and just get across the threshold and go where God has called you to go how many y'all raised by a raised by a strict parent just raise Shane come on look at you and you're in church let me let me let me change the question how many y'all got spankings does a kid anybody get spanked is look you can't get mad cuz you're in church right now your mama spanked you I never got spanked ease as a kid I did get spanked is I got whooping boys from Texas that's the Texas size version of a spanking the spankings like ow ow ow a whoopin you can't feel your legs you know what I mean for like from the waist down you're just numb for a week you know like in your dad like you knew like you knew how many y'all you knew where the line was with you dad like if your dad looked at she was like I yes sir he ain't got to say anything my dad could just look at me he could be like and he looked calm but he was saying you gonna die and I'd be like hey dad said we better quit dad didn't say nothing look at him oh he said he said we better quit you knew if dad was like hey you gonna get it you're gonna get it but mama you never knew I mean y'all had a crazy mama you know she ain't here she was crazy what she some of you are scared right now you're like she might be here my mother you like you look at her one day you're like oh whatever she's like I know whatever and the next day you're like whatever she's like family don't ever say whatever to me how many are your mama could talk to your mama could talk full complete sentences through clenched teeth you could understand everything what she was saying [Music] you stand beside your friend he's like what's she saying she said I'm gonna die and if you keep standing here you gonna die too we're gonna die together my dad my dad used to say this he would say he would say right before we were going somewhere me and my brother would just be acting a fool he'd say hey if you don't straighten up anybody's dad ever say that yo straighten up anybody ever get because you did this me he said you don't straighten up and fly right I don't even know what that meant you want me to be a pilot I don't even know what that what he's tell me you don't straighten up and fly right we're not gonna go do whatever it was that he had planned for us to do what he was saying is my blessing is dependent upon your obedience I have something great that I want to walk you into but how you respond to my word will depend on whether or not I can give you what I want to give you now notice it did not change my sonship I didn't stop being a son he didn't kick me out of the house I still had a place to lay my head and this is exactly where some of us are we're saved but not set free go into heaven but walking through hell to get there and that's not God's plan for your life if you're walking the obedience and say okay I'm ready to go in to what you have for me and that's what I want to talk to you about it fishes chapter 2 verse 10 says for we are his workmanship dude I just feel like preaching I just this place it's got to preach on who fear his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand so that we could walk in them turn this on my next thing you say you choose turn to somebody else say you decide you get to decide whether you're gonna walk into the plan that God has for you or not I travel a lot and and and a few years ago I was going to preach a conference I had preached on Sunday mornings kind of like this and I was flying out and I was preaching that night and I was standing there in the TSA line and I was just like that I was just like all right it's a long line all right okay God all right I got got somewhere to be I got to go preach and now it's a long line so I'm just like alright I'm gonna go get to the local TSA massage and then we'll get on my way and there's this lady in the little blue shirt and little black pants she's just looking real fierce and she looked right back towards the big line and she said hey yep Sark look at me says like you in the black jacket I was like ever and everybody else is like this she's dumb you know me she was like I'm here right now I was like but I got nothing I got no bomb set these holy ghost bombs and we dropping later this conflict and I was scared I was like I was like I don't know what I did like I don't know and as I got closer like I got right up to her she just looked at me just glaring at me I got right closer she said pastor I didn't want you to have to stand in awe I was like aah daughter of the Lord you are blessed and highly favored she was like come on through come on right through this line right here I said hey can I pray with you about anything just don't keep it long you boy got a job to do I had favor I didn't know I had I had access because of a relationship that I was not even using because I didn't even know I had it some of you God is saying come on and you're saying no no can you just let me stay in back here in line God's saying listen I'm not trying to get you out of line to get you in trouble I'm trying to get you out of line to move you through an obstacle that everybody else has got a weight on because I want to take you somewhere but you can't go by yourself that's what city light is all about [Applause] taking you somewhere that you can't go by yourself and God is called to powerhouse prayer warrior leaders who have prayed and who have fasted and who have given up listen this man could he was doing fine they were doing fine before that before the church just if you don't know that they were doing fine they were traveling all over the world preaching to the biggest churches I didn't even know if I could get you the first time that she came to preach I got excited I was like yo David Chavez has company this man preaches it he'll saw it printed everywhere princes in heaven and he's coming to preach at Hope City and and they said okay we're going all-in so when he asks you to go all-in it's not something he hasn't already done and followed the voice of God and sacrificed things to do what God has called and I love that this churches is ready to do this let me get to my sermon just calm down Joshua chapter 1 Moses has just died here's the context he's the last of the previous generation it's it's Joshua and Caleb and that's it and he tells he tells the people something that they've never heard it's a younger generation I love that the Lord laid this on my heart to preach I didn't realize how young this church was I love it in fact if you got gray hair in here you're over 45 we need you because this church needs pillars in this church so thank you for being here we appreciate you'd be your call to be here I know the music might get a little loud if you 50-plus just bring your earplugs and Bob your head like that because we need you in this church because there was not an older generation here everybody was young and and Joshua says something to them because they've been stuck for a long time some of y'all been stuck how many y'all ever been stuck before some of you so stuck you came to raise your hand Joshua chapter one then Joshua issued instructions to the leaders of Israel to tell the people to get ready turn to your neighbor and say get ready we're gonna cross the Jordan River and in three days we will go across we will conquer and we will live in the land which God has given us well if he's given it to us why don't we have to cross stuff why don't we have to conquer before we can live because God will never give you anything to cost you nothing because you won't appreciate what is given to you you just study lottery winners they get broke real fast sometimes I feel like a church mother right over there I heard you all right now now I feel like I'm at home God is doing something new with this generation just like he's doing something there with you do you realize that it's not just lost people who are coming to this church and getting fired up there are churches and pastors watching what God is doing at City Light because you're setting a standard God's doing something new through you God loves to do look he loves new things revelations 21 and 5 I love this verse of scripture it says the one seated on the throne said behold I make all things new then he said write this down for these words are faithful and true I like it for two reasons number one because it kind of rhymes makes God sound like an emcee behold I make all things new write this down these words are faithful and true I just like it it's written by John the Revelator look little John the Revelator yeah alright okay call guys white people are like whoo all right never okay guys [Applause] ah I feel like I'm at home if I offended you I'm sorry the real priests should be back next week the other reason I love this is because God is saying in the last chapter in the last book of the Bible hey all that stuff that I've done I'm gonna do something brand new so buckle your seat belt God loves to do new things have you ever even thought about Jesus's first miracle you thought about how dumb that miracle was ah no offense it was just kind of like he turned his first miracle like nobody really knows who he is only a few people know he hasn't been revealed yet it's not even his time and he turns water into wine but uh like if it's gonna be my first miracle I'm gonna walk on some water I'm a race some dead people me like what's up mic drop and walk off into the desert for 40 days or something weird but Jesus is that a he's at a wedding with this mom because apparently he hangs out with his mom and he's got some of the disciples with him and his mother freaks out she's like all Jesus ha Jesus Jesus Jesus she's like are you praying or what mama what's going on she says Jesus they've run out of wine like it's not that big of a deal like I studied it like the worst thing that could happen is the bride's family could sue the groom's family according to Jewish law but it Willy is just an embarrassing moment and Mary is worried about the embarr dog Jesus they've run out of wine you got to do something Jesus goes woman now that's the first difference between me and Jesus thus Mary the mother of Jesus was very different than Paula the mother of Jeremy because if I was the son of God and I looked at my mom I said woman she'd be like father God you better get your boy I'm gonna kill him right now you glad to race him twice I ain't playing with you Jesus and if she doesn't say anything else to him she just turns rough she's like okay she turns around she walks over the service she says you see him right there whatever he tells you to do you do it Jesus is like mama please Jesus tells he tells the the servants he says listen go get the ceremonial water pots fill them up with water these are kind of the dirty cisterns that sit at the at the door and most theologians believe that that people wash their hands some believe they wash their hands and feet some believe they wash their hands their feet and their heads in these pots they're just not the ones that you would use and Jesus says take that and they get some water out of that and take it to the governor of the feast and give it to him to drink you got to know that servant was like okay but he did it and when he gets it so I mean when he gets it to the governor of the feast of governor the visas like you guys are wild brothers parties lit I don't even know what that means but to all this this is crazy like most people say like they they saved the junky wine they saved a colt 45 to last but you guys have saved the best one for last this is awesome and like this is kind of a dumb miracle it's like water into wine like it's not really a big deal there's like the lady who was driving along on the interstate and she had a bottle of wine and she's just kind of weaving in the state trooper pulled her over and he was like excuse me um what's that I was sat there in your hand she goes it's just some water he said well let me he said let me see she said okay she gave it to me he pour a little bit out he smell he was like ma'am this is very obviously wine she said Jesus did it again ossifer ate and again that's not even that's not even a - that's not even a part of my sermon some of y'all never take notes you're like I'm writing that down that's a good joke it's just kind of a like he turned water into wine big deal until you look and you realize that this miracle foreshadowed his entire purpose because he took the old dirty water pots at the door that nobody would ever say hey go we're gonna drink out of them nobody would ever use them in fact they were relegated to ceremonial cleansing of the dirty things and Jesus said go get the dirty things I'm gonna use the dirty things to do something amazing I'm gonna take the things that are broken and I'm gonna make something beautiful out of them don't tell me that you've gone too far or you've done too much if God's got you in the room that means he wants to use you you're here for a purpose and a reason you don't know the mistakes I've made you don't know to God I served you keep making mistakes he keeps making mercy limitations says his mercy is new every morning great is stopped faithful I feel like I'm at home right now brother [Applause] God loves to make things new he loves to take things that are used and make him new he refurbished is better than Apple he's just just knows what he's doing new hearts and new minds and new creation fact psalm 96:1 says sing a new song to the Lord let the whole earth sing to the Lord listen listen look hey I'm country okay y'all probably tell Ivan my daughter bought me some lace-up boots just like dad you got to get something other than the cowboy boots I wore some lace-up I don't even understand these boots right here because they lace and they zip I don't understand them I'm not very cool I like country music and I don't like weight and a hang on timeout timeout kids cuz I need to I need to I need to define what country me v on me y'all new country ain't country that's that's just music Merle Haggard George Strait can I get an amen twin fiddles come on somebody like Keith Whitley they they don't even know Conway Twitty somebody just don't know I like the old music mostly because I know the words let's funk music is funny like I can stay like I don't even know what song we're getting ready to sing but I can start it and you can finish it you maybe you don't even know who wrote it but you just know the song whoa we're halfway there so good give yourselves a hand now it's beautiful Sweet Caroline in good time never I look so good and that's the club version so we know where y'all been all right we like old songs and this is why some of us are in old habits because the word clearly says sing a new song but some of us are singing an old song living an old life and gods asking you to cross the threshold go all in and do a new thing that's why I listen hey let me make it real practical some of us need to get in a group pastors been up here preaching till he just sweating and got a handkerchief he wouldn't keep sometimes just put it till you use the towel you like a bishop just put just I love y'all get in the group out I start singing he just wants you to get in the groove he wants you to take the next steps course I just I need you I want you to take the next step why why do you think he wants you to take the next steps towards the name tells you why I want you to move forward I want you to take the next step because some of us have been sitting back here pondering and God sent a Texas preacher to say it's time to take the next step it's time to get on the serv team it's time to join on the mission team it's time to get in the groove it's time to help somebody it's time I know I know I know I'm excited I'm fired up I screaming a little bit spitting all I apologize we need windshield wipers on this row right down here we get stuck on the old sometimes listen the way you've been doing it how's that working for you it really wasn't that good y'all you know we're like wow this really wasn't that good yeah if you can't preach here bro you just need to quit like you can't preach anyway I might take the next step y'all go ahead ain't man I just wanna take some of y'all home to Houston I wouldn't had to study I just get up here and talk for a minute and that's funny right there you know Semyon studies 25 hours a week and that's the truth this is why Joshua is talking to the children of Israel because they've been stuck for so long on an old mindset God set them free radically how many of you been set for you got set free from something God delivered you from something and listen you know how awesome God is they have been hundreds of years in captivity and and when they left God made the Egyptians God literally turned the Egyptians hearts towards them and they gave them gold and silver and all their precious metals whenever they walked out which tells me God won't just set you free he'll make the enemy finance your freedom and you can walk out free but listen look at me there's a lot of people in here with addictive behavior and when God delivers you from something he always delivers you to something just because you got saved doesn't mean you're set free at some point I've got to walk into the thing and I've got a get addicted to the thing that God has called me to get addicted to for me it's serving people it's loving people it's watching people give their lives to Jesus it's watching people go down in the waters of baptism and come up just crazy wild set free I love that it's coming to a church like this dude I love this place I love it I'd come here every Sunday night I love this play I listen if you're if you hear for the first time you need to be here every time the doors are open you need to have a road full of people with you we got another campus how far is that campus from here 20 minutes we ought to blow the doors off of that campus because you got five more coming just mark my word get ready it's gonna happen I'll really I really didn't think about that before I said it five just just get ready don't don't get comfortable change is inevitable sin evitable you're going to change change is inevitable but progress is optional you have to decide whether you're going to walk forward or not some of us have been on a treadmill of life a whole lot of action and no progress step off the treadmill let's go somewhere let's go where God has called us that's why we're called city life because we want to bring the light to a city that's in darkness it needs Jesus man I could preach anything at this church some of us are so stuck on provision that's what happened to that generation they got stuck on provision and never walked into promise and God will provide he loves you he'll provide but you won't live in blessings I have a bunch of kids I have a lot of kids I have five biological kids and A plus one so I got six so Christmas around my house is crazy and road trips are slow how many how many how many are dads out there we got dads out there when you go on a road trip what do you do you find out what google map says what Apple map says and what ways says and you're like I'm gonna beat it I'm gonna beat it I'm gonna beat that time I'm gonna beat that time and my kids are in the back it's going here and gonna beat that time we're gonna make him stop every time let's all use the bathroom at different times so let's not have to go at the same time so a few years ago but she's seven now but my daughter was one of my daughter's was three at the time and we stopped at this gas station because some of the kids had to use the bathroom and so we make them all go in it then we're like all of y'all gonna go I don't have to go you gonna go try right now in the name of Jesus and so I took her in I was just running some energy out she was running around just I just running around the gas station and as we walked out I noticed that she she had something in her hand that she didn't have when we went in so my daughter had a spirit of shoplifting on her and uh sighs already a little hurt and frustrated like what did I do wrong she's just like your mom and my god I'm just kidding we're not streaming this so I love you Jennifer um but then I look down and realize what it was it was potted meat she had she had she had shoplifted spam I was like look I if you're going still still the butterfingers there's just knickers or M&Ms or something it's so mad I got on the Y's mad at that too I was mad at that too and then as I was leaving the Lord said you do the same thing he said you walk through life holding hands with the one who can give you anything and you just grab whatever is available in your reach why are you settling for potted meat when god's got prime rib if you'll just wait on him and let him do what he wants to do in you listen there's three things three things that you got to do if we're gonna go where God has called us to go as a church then we're 2 years old and 2 to has two meanings in the scripture it can mean unity or it can mean division and I think the City Light has decided that it's going to mean unity and we're two or three agree together we're gonna see some awesome things happen so here's some things if you're taking notes write this down number 1 I need you to understand this this won't be easy just won't be easy but it'll be good it's not easy having a portable Church you got a load-in team that has to load stuff in and like if you come here on Mondays they won't let you on the property because it's a school it'd be like why are you here like I was coming for church mmm no no you know it's hard we got a load-in team who comes I don't know what y'all call them we call ours load in and load out we cut them to lilo fam they make shirts literally lilo family do Christmas together so weird but they load in we have five campuses and and all of our campuses are portable we got 32 trailers and they pull them up and they load them in they load them out and it's hard it's hard to in portable Church it's hard having vision for your family it's hard staying married I don't I didn't say a man baby I love you anything worth having you got to fight to get this book never promises it it'll be easy well I thought when I gave my life to Jesus that it would all be roses and butterflies well you thought wrong Jesus didn't even say that jesus said I've told you these things so that in me you may have peace in this world you will have trouble period how many I'll love the promises of God I just love the promises of God well that's one in this world you'll have trouble but nobody's making a bracelet out of it are they right hey y'all pick up you in this world it's gonna be hard bracelets on the way out nobody nobody has a picture of an eagle over their dining room table says this life is hard Jesus you know I'm a so it's gonna be hard but he said take heart I've overcome the world what does that mean it's not gonna be easy but it's gonna be good because God is with us and if God is with us who can be against us look at what the Lord's done in two years and this ain't everybody in your church nothing there listen to me this ain't everybody in your church look around please just turn around turn around look around okay y'all don't even know what you have come here kids let they tell you something y'all come here come here daddy loves you come here I've never said stupid stuff like this ever let's my last time here guys it's gonna be fun let's can I tell you this it just can I just kind of walk around Michael if all we had if all we had it by year two was just to this row right here what's up how you doing what's your name samaya Tamiya well you were going to give me a right-handed father and you're like nope left-handed all right if all we had was this row look at me listen I'm trying to tell you something what's up cameraman look at you just rocking your game trying to he's like focus focus if all we had was to hear by year two y'all would be killing it I had no listen I talked to pastors and church planters all the time we every weekend we have church planters that come to our church every weekend they come and they do campus tours every weekend and I talked to these guys who planted a church and they've been they've been working and they love Jesus and they've been pouring their life into a church and they've been going five years and they've got 200 people and I honor them and I love him and we pat him on the back and we give them everything that we can give them and we pray for them and I don't know why God hasn't poured out on them what he's poured out on you but you better steward it well because God's poured something extra on city light and and let me tell you what we got going on back this this these are the people that came to church late and we love young I'm playing I am be unifying I mean y'all came through the second or you these are actually the best seats in the house right here and you kind of hurt your legs so that's a good place for you to sit something I like is he a real preacher I don't know I don't know what I'm trying to tell you is God has called you just something amazing and I just I just want you to see it I just want you to see it that's not going to be easy but God didn't call you too easy second point I only got three you can't stay here no no for real like tonight we had to lead to have school tomorrow I love that you have a one portable campus and one that was given to you there won't be the last one but if I can't stay here what does that mean that means somebody's got to give so that we can go where God is calling us to go somebody's got to dig deep so now here let me tell you this whenever a pastor starts talking about money it always gets a little tight do you know why it gets a little tight because money is tied to your heart in the Bible pray or prayer is talked about in the New Testament more than 200 times the which word am I looking for prayer prayer love ace I've preached 18 times this weekend love is is mentioned over 380 times but give this mentioned over a thousand times why because it's tied to your heart that's why you ought to give because it just shows you where your heart is where your treasure is there your heart will be also when you love something you give to it husband say Amen you know remember when you fell in love you're like hey let's go to that nice steak restaurant bounce the check didn't even care and next week she was like hey let's go back there you're like now let's not go back there no and your check was up there behind the cash register that been looking for you listen if if we can't stay here it's gonna take people contributing in people giving and here's what I know if you have a church this strong there are people here who are sold out and who are giving and I commend you I thank you I'm telling you god bless you can we give the givers a great big hand but there's still some of us there's still some of us it's time for you to jump onboard it's time for you to go all-in it's time for you to give it's time for you to start serving and if it frustrates you listen if it if it gets you a little frustrated like I like this preacher till he started talking about many you have a heart problem and I love you but I wouldn't be a good preacher a good pastor if I didn't tell you that God is actually calling some of you he's speaking to you to dig deep and to give and say all right god I'm trusting you I promise you this when you give to the kingdom of God you cannot outgive God he will always bless you so true we can't stay here we can't stay where we are just because this is where I am doesn't mean this is where I'm gonna stay I've got to go where God has called me to go I've got it and I don't want to get distracted the enemy's gonna try to distract you two or two this is the year of unity unity just be aware when it happens just remember hey remember that preacher when he said hey the attitude that you have right now I remembered remember that preach remember what he said that remember how you talking to you talking about the ministries and you're talking about the things we're doing tell me why you don't have a singing part mostly cuz you can't sing but just let's be unified let's not get distracted have you I know I know in a city like this you ever got stuck in traffic in Houston we have 7.2 million people in Greater Houston and we get stuck in traffic all the time you ever got stuck in traffic and you get real frustrating you're like go go and then you see blue lights up ahead and you see red lights and then you kind of feel bad you're like oh I hope it's somebody that I know god bless you know kind of thing and then as you get up close you realize it ain't even on your side of the interstate it's on the other side of the interstate but all the morons in front of you are slowing down going hunting wonderful knows who it is and you're like God and then you get up there you're like I wonder if another one is never underestimate your ability to be distracted by things that don't matter by things that are not in your lane let's go where God has called us to go let's keep moving forward let's do what God has called us to do and finally number three I want you to remember you have a promise this church has a promise before before you ever came here God placed a promise and pastor Javon and Shannon and he said I'm gonna use you to do something amazing y'all could have just kept doing what you were doing and been comfortable and traveled all over the world but you say you know what we want to sink roots in a sea I remember you talking to me about this saying I love that city I just God's job that's it and you weep don't weep over this city still do look what the Lord has done can we celebrate just a minute what the Lord has done in some ways and this hey can I tell you this city light this is the floor this is not the ceiling this is just the beginning of what God's going to do this is the beginning it's gonna be your friends and your family y'all come come play a little altar music come play a little music to them make them think I'm quittin Deuteronomy 4:29 says this but if from there you seek the Lord your God you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul what does that mean I love that verse of scripture and here's why because any excuse that you can make this verse of scripture overrides it but you don't understand where I've been there if from there but you don't understand the cinnamon yeah right there if from there you seek a little bit you understand all the mistakes I've made I know but from there if from there you seek the Lord you will find him how if I go all-in and so there's a bunch of you here that have different decisions to make some of you tonight the decision is I've got to go all-in and yield my life to Jesus others of you I've got to go all-in and I've got to take this step and I've got it I've got to publicly declare my faith and tonight I'm gonna be baptized and there's a whole bunch of you here's what I believe I believe that whole rows of people are gonna be baptized I believe in husbands and wives are gonna say hey let's start this decade right I believe that friends are going elbow their way out saying I'm ready to be baptized some of you is time it's time to take the next steps course it's time to get on the serve team and you have disqualified yourself here's a word for you you haven't disqualified yourself you've only qualified yourself with your failure when I fail what does that mean I desperately need Jesus and then I want you to take that step so what are you gonna do you got to take the step cause the children of Israel this first thing is they've got to cross the Jordan then they've got a promised land right across the Jordan but the first thing they have to do is get across the Jordan which is the hardest part actually because it's normally a hundred and eighty feet wide at flood season it's three times that it normally flows in about 4 miles per hour at flood season it's about 12 miles per hour and God's like hey I know it's flood season it's time because sometimes God calls you to do some of the hardest things during the hardest things in your life during the hardest seasons in your life why does God called me to do the hardest things there are the hardest seasons because he loves miracles he loves it whenever you rely on him and you you would you when you rest on his perm you'll never break his promises by leaning on you just give him an opportunity to fulfill them this is important here's what they do they took the ark on their shoulders the priests and the priests went first was at me worship went first submission took the first step yielding holy to God took the first step I don't understand everything I'm gonna go for I don't know what to do but I'm gonna trust you I can't doubt him because I know too much about him at some point you're just gonna yeah but I've tried to step before and that's the problem you're trying you tried to step you didn't follow God and when the priest stepped the water stopped [Music] raging river God is waiting on you to step in so that he can stop it and show you his glory it's just gonna take you taking a step I know you might say but you don't understand I don't have very much you don't understand I just I don't I can't do like pastor JD and there's so much I want to [Music] I said bye to myself [Music] I don't know what you've been through but I know that there's somebody waiting on you to conquer something we did a series in our church a few years ago we're telling stories of life change I got a letter from a lady and I want to read it to you she said my mother was a single mom and life wasn't easy growing up but we loved my mother dearly she worked like a dog with only an eighth grade education the support for little girls and never got any child support I knew she loved me but there were always habits and addictions lurking in her life that continually knocked her off course at the age of 11 my world fell apart my mother divorced her third husband I was heartbroken and devastated because he was the only man that I'd ever called daddy a biological father had abandoned us when I was little and now another daddy was leaving are lots of fun out of control as mom fell deeper into addiction we moved from Texas to Oklahoma and it was a life altering move we were closer to my grandmother and she began to take me to her church thank God for the church she said I'd never felt anything like this I remember walking down that long aisle and kneeling down at the front and giving my heart to Jesus and it was a profound moment of realization in my life that there really was a love that wouldn't leave and that's the moment that God truly became my father I didn't realize then how much I'd need that protecting and loving hand of my new father I lived through verbal mental physical and emotional abuse constantly somehow my conversion to Christ had caused my mother to feel guilty it was hard for her to take that I had found a real love and the abuse got worse she married again and in that marriage we became a blended family and I acquired two stepbrothers the marriage didn't last long but during that time I was able to leave my two stepbrothers to Christ mother got hooked on prescription drugs and became even more abusive I know what it is for my own mother to pull out a loaded 45 and hold it against my temple and scream I'm gonna blow your brains out as an eighth grader we go through Iran next door and shook as the neighbors called the police judge committed my mom to a state mental hospital for six months my three sisters and I lived with her grandmother and those were some of the greatest moments of my childhood because she took us to church when mama got out of the institution we went home with her but she was angry and bitter and slipped right back into the drug habit and there were different men coming in out of in and out of our home every week she quickly divorced husbands five and six and continued the lifestyle of drugs and booze she'd grab me by the hair of the head and knocked me in the door facings and sling me into the coffee table screaming and cussing I struggled not to believe the things that she would say about me spankings were beating she could backhand you quicker than you could blink but through it all I was so desperate for God that I'd ride to church with anyone who would take me one particular man and his family would come and pick me up and I remember riding in the back of a pickup truck for 60 miles round trip just to get into the presence of God momma got worse I remember her storming into church one morning and screaming for us to get up and get out of there I threw my hands up in embarrassment I finally told her that's it I'm quitting church she stopped her eyes cleared up in the soft sober voice she said please don't quit going to church I'm miserable and I don't want you to turn out like me after I graduated from high school my mother married husband seven eight and nine but my life has taken a different path when I walked into Hope City I felt that same presence of God that I felt as an 11 year old girl desperate for love and acceptance thank you for providing a place where people can find healing hope and happiness my story has a happy ending a year and a half before momma died with tears in her eyes she gave her heart to Jesus and I thank God every day for churches like this who reach hurting people it's because of a church like this that an 11 year old girl gave her heart to Jesus I've never looked back keep on doing what you're doing it's saving lives [Music] I love that letter love at the moment I read it because I knew immediately was from this is my mama my mama righteous letter and because my mother conquered pain and heartache and shame and suffering and overcame some things [Music] [Applause] [Music] because a man by the name of Chris Peters who I never met because he's dead and gone he's never been lauded and applauded he's never been a hero all he had was the truck but he drove 30 miles to pick my mama and then he drove back he's not a hero but because of Chris Peters I'm standing on a stage shouting about the freedom and mercy Jesus cries don't tell me that you got nothing in the hands of Jesus is the raw material for everything it's God who stepped out on the edge spoke to darkness reached his hand where there was no door grabbed a doorknob that doesn't exist and made away where there is no way so don't tell me that God is not able to take something broken and make it beautiful if you will go all in and place your life in his hands he'll blow you away with what is a [Music] hey everyone its Jabin here I'm praying that this video was a blessing to you now remember two things make sure you hit that subscribe button so you're up to date with everything that we're doing here and also if City Light has been a blessing to you why don't you get that give button and give something to help us continue to take this message not only to Las Vegas but to the world I'll see you real soon

Channel: City Light

Views: 9,603

Rating: 4.8542509 out of 5

Keywords: city light church, city light vegas, jabin chavez, church in las vegas, jeremy foster, jeremy foster hope city, jeremy foster sermons, jeremy foster sermons 2020

Id: HhmXKSP0qbA

Length: 53min 53sec (3233 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 10 2020