Good morning Church. How are you guys doing? Good, Good to hear it. Good to hear it. Thank you so much for joining us today, Whether you're in person with us or you're online? We love having you guys with us. So thank you so much. My name is clark and I'm your family pastor. If we've never met, uh, filling in for pastor, john, uh, he and his family are just recovering from Covid right now. Um, but I wanted to say on his behalf, just thank you so much for the prayers and the support and the blessings that you've been sending their family wanted to let you know that they're, they're all getting better and they're gonna be back with us very soon. So thank you so much for that. So we're in the middle of john started last week. We're starting off a new series. It's called Dream Big. Um, it's based off of a book called by or by bob Goff. Um, and we actually have one for each of our families out on the guest services table before table before you leave. So pick one up before you go. So last week john asked us to dig deep and find out who we are, where you are in your life and what are the desires of your heart. Then you unwrap the book a little bit further and he challenged us to see who is God calling you to be and what you're supposed to become. So that's what we're talking about today, figuring out who you're supposed to be? So why are we holding back from our dreams? Is it the fear of not making it, Are we, are we scared of what others might think if we fail or are we looking at the end and saying to ourselves, there's just no way I can do it, you know, with the kids and Covid and the job and school. It's just too much. You know, as I was, as I was writing this up, I thought about the guy at the Diamondbacks Stadium, You're the one that sells the soda and the popcorn and the candy. He's got this massive tray right? This strap that goes around his neck. It's got to be super heavy and he walks around and he says, you know, you want it come and get it, you're gonna you know, you want it right? Is that guy still around? Is he? I think he is, I don't know. So the funny thing is that if he doesn't let people know what he has to offer and walk up and down those steps all day, he will never make his goal or you will never be able to figure out, you know, the needs in his own life or the needs of other people, which actually brings me to my first point when you're trying to figure out who you're supposed to be. I want you to take that next step. See we lived at the top of the city when I grew up in Lake Havasu and you're probably thinking, oh clark what a posh palace. You must have lived in at the top of the city. That is not the case. We actually we we lived at the top of the sea which was furthest away from the city and we could get a bigger house for less money. That's why we actually lived up there. So before I get into the story, I want to give you a little family history. So both of my parents are from small town Iowa. My dad actually grew up on a farm, you know in Iowa they both became educators right? And then they decided to live the dream. No more shoveling snow. They're gonna move to Los Angeles. Right? It's California in the 60s baby. It's the beach, it's the city. It's all good things L. A. right? But after 15, 20 years they decided you know what the city is going to change him. We've had enough, let's move to have a suit. Right? Less than 10 people or 10,000 people there. Great place for Clark to grow up small town. Right? Just like they had. What kind of he said, here's the plan. So my my parents got together and said here's the plan, let's buy a bus. Mhm But not just any bus. A double decker english bus that serves ice cream. And it doesn't really move, it doesn't move at all actually because people that visit the London bridge and it's hot. They're gonna want to buy ice cream because can't you picture everybody with the ice cream cone it's all dripping down their hand. He said wait you know what that might be a little expensive. So let's let's go in with my with my dad's folks. They're gonna go in it together, they go half in this business venture, right? Have these you know that I have teenagers have these in the business venture and they said you know what we could probably cut down our cost to if we all just got in one house, all of us folks, everybody just in one house we'll all live together and it'll be happily ever after. Have you ever even been near to a situation like that? You know the pain and the drama that comes out of those kind of family things but here's the deal. I don't look at it as a as a negative whether I applaud my parents for making that move. It was a big bold move from the city moving into a small town and we had nothing. No not for their business decision. That was totally different because you know I had to like bend over and you had to serve the ice cream and I was the only one that didn't hit their head when they were you know trying to serve the ice cream. But anyway I applaud them, I thank them for taking that step to improve our lives if we stayed in L. A. I might be still sitting on the beach smoking something and you know living with my parents and say bro I can't wait for the next wave. That was a terrible accent. So I apologize to anybody that serves. But here's the deal. If you if you hold back and don't take that risk, don't take that step, you'll never know if it was meant to be or not. And I'm here to tell you that it's no different than your faith or with your faith, no matter where you are spiritually. So you can't be afraid of that Next step. Little side note I have I have students and young adults that come to me all the time and they say I'm kind of I'm kind of scared because I don't know what if what's going to happen to me when I do that or I've been burned by that person I can't go back to that. Can you imagine if if God didn't allow us to keep those bad memories. So every time you touch the hot pot you'd be like ah and then you go out, you're hanging out with your friends and they're saying why you got all those scars on your head. Like I don't I don't know, they just keep coming. I'm not I'm not really sure he gave us a memory so we could remember our mistakes. So we don't do it again right? Isn't that one of the reasons that God gave us the bible. So we could learn from our mistakes back on track. So when it comes to following our faith, you have to take that step, otherwise you're not moving. If you're not moving, you're not growing and you know why? Because you're still on the same step, I'm just letting you know, it's not you know, it's not rocket science, I'm just pointing out the obvious. If you're not, if you're not moving, you're not growing. So here's what I want you to do. I want you to picture yourself at the bottom of the staircase. What is the old kind of wood stairs? You got that wayne's coating going up the side, it's all dark wood, you got rounded rails on either side, and at the top is a bright light, you're not sure where it ends or how many stairs there are, that's that lead up to it. But you're drawn to it. It invites you in and you know that it's a good thing. But for some reason we don't step towards it. Why is that? What's holding you back from this relationship? A relationship that won't ever stop, It will never let you down is filled with more joy and reward than you could ever imagine. For some reason, for some reason we don't take that step dr martin Luther King said, Faith is taking that 1st step. Even when you don't see the whole staircase and you're like, what? Say that again, I will, Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase, you know, it's no different than Abraham asking Isaac up the mountain, right? It's no different than peter dropping his pole. And if you're saying to me right now, it's a net clark, it's a net, it wasn't a poll, take a step, just let you don't take that step. So it's not him dropping his pole or his net and following jesus, right? It's no different than my family moving to have a suit because without that, my mom wouldn't have given me the foundation and took me to church and showed me what my life was supposed to be and that's no different than you taking that next step and finding that next level in your face. You know what's funny because you're actually doing that right now, you don't even know whether you're sitting at home in your PJs watching this or you actually came in person. See it doesn't have to be about deep theological discussions, it doesn't have to be about memorizing bible verses, even those, those are all good things, it's about you walking through that door every sunday, it's about you getting a little bit closer to him every day. So when you're trying to figure out what you're supposed to be, I want you to take that next step point number two, when you're trying to figure out who you're supposed to be, I want you to build a boat. You know, sometimes we don't want to take that next step. It's not because we're scared. It's not because we don't think it's God's path, but it's just too big, right? And we say to ourselves, there's just no way that I could do that. You know, a lot of times we look at the big goal that God has for us when we get discouraged, let me tell you a story. It's about a guy. I know a really good guy. He's one of those guys you can trust, right? He's a guy you can hang out with. He's one of those guys that your truck breaks down, you can call him any time of the night and he'll come pick you up and when you talk to them, they'll be straight with you, right? But he'll show you love. And he's always got your back. Always got your back in his faith. He's been walking up that staircase. Mhm. Whenever he can. So it's no surprise when his father looks at all his kids, this is the one that he's super proud of, right, A man who stands out above the rest, you know, he loves all of his kids. Of course he does. He's their dad, right? But this is the one that really steps up and stands out, you know, unfortunately on the other side of this, we we see that it deeply saddens the father to the point where his heart hurts the pain that is so great of watching his other sons and daughters continue to go down the wrong road. But it seems like the tears just flow daily with every ugly outburst, with every sign of disrespect. It feels like there's this, this knife that's slowly being pushed into his chest. His father is so disgusted and disappointed in the fact that with the others that he chooses to carry on his legacy with his one son all of his time and energy is now focused on him. So the father calls him over and he says, here's what I want you to do. He said, I want you to grab some of those cypress trees. I want you to build a boat. So the sun at this point, I'm sure is thinking fishing boat, right, lazy days, pull in the water. If you're saying there he goes with that whole thing again, take a step, just take a step. So he's sitting there with a pole in the water. He's got his cowboy hat down, he's leaned up against the cooler. It's a perfect day, Perfect day. He says, yeah, pop sure. Of course. Whatever you want. I got you. The father says, I know what you're thinking, but I was leaning more towards our Cardinal Stadium type boat, right? I wanted to be 100 and 50 yards long. That's a, that's a football field and a half And I wanted to be 75 ft wide. So when it starts in the middle, it'll kinda, it'll hit that first row of bleachers, just kind of rest on those kind of come up. No, by the way, it's gonna be three stories tall, so twice as big as the as the goalpost. So when I'm sitting in the box seats, I can actually see the deck. It looks really good. It looks sweet. But don't worry, don't worry, it's gonna be okay because I have I have your three boys that are gonna help you out with this. You know, I'm picturing young boys at this point, right? They're running around hitting each other making, you know, they're burping, making fart noises, they're doing all these things, right, That's what little boys do. But the sun is looking at his boys and thinking about this boat and his john drops and he's like, and then the father says, oh by the way, I forgot to mention, I need you to wrangle up a male and a female animal and bring it with you, it sounds like, okay, what, Which one would you like me to pick? He says, So each one, every species I created, and by the way, you're gonna bring some food to just so you know, each one of them, you're going to throw it all on the boat. So I'm picturing the sun at this point replying with, okay, so I'm building this massive boat right with my boys, one's picking his nose right now, no power tools because there's no DeWalt at this point, I'm gonna play Doctor Dolittle with a bunch of animals, right? And then I'm gonna throw a bunch of, I'm gonna I'm gonna pull a rabbit out of a hat and I'm gonna throw a bunch of food onto a boat without a fridge and God says that's exactly what I'm saying. No. By the way, you might want to go home and tell your wife because you're gonna need to give her the heads up on this. And he's like, really, really God, how can I do this? But here's the craziness of it all. No. Didn't make excuses or or throw it aside for another day is the reply to God, I'll do whatever it takes. You know, what's great about this story is that it shows there are some things that we just can't do on our own. It takes an all powerful, all knowing, all loving God to make that happen, not us. How are you gonna work your butt off? Yes, you are. You're not gonna be able to do it alone, see, because it's not the size of the task, but who's asking you to do it? And then who who are you really relying on to bring it all to life. Amen. You're just taking that next step. So when you're trying to figure out who you're supposed to be, I want you to build a boat Point number three, when you're trying to figure out who you're supposed to be, you have to know the why? So you're trying to figure out the why is the hardest part anybody can give you steps on how to get there. But the y is the key to all of it. So if you've ever read any other bob golf books, you'll know there's a reoccurring theme that's going on and it's love, not just any kind of love love like you, you love your family and your friends, right? We're talking big crazy wild jesus kind of love si most days we love on the ones that are closest to us and that's good, we should be doing that. But the big jesus kind of love goes way beyond that. So you didn't see jesus sitting around now they're Nazareth with a fishing pole right there? There he goes with the fishing pole. Thank you. You didn't see him sitting around Nazareth, He was out right, He was spreading love to sinners and tax collectors and crazy naked people and prostitutes. When's the last time you hugged a prostitute just saying? You know what? Take it, I take that back, You know what you want to do that, Your your spouse wouldn't appreciate it probably. But you know what I'm talking about? Why do you think you feel good, what do you think you feel good when we adopted the Rodriguez family for christmas or you give that a pair of socks to a homeless person, when it's a really cold day or just give somebody a hug that really needs it. It's love. It's love is that big crazy kind of jesus love. And when you give that to other people, the same kind of love that jesus gave us, it fills your heart and you know, the crazy thing, it fills the other person's heart too. And isn't that what we're called to do anyway? Over 600 miles in the Old Testament? But jesus, jesus comes down and he says, you know what, let me break this down for you because it's obviously a little bit too much for you guys, I'm gonna give you two Just two, that's it, you ready, love God, yep, love God with everything that you have in the second. Love others. Big crazy love the love that goes beyond walls and borders, it doesn't care about political sides, or gay or straight or left or right, even though we have our own ideas on all that. But love beyond your walls, love beyond these walls, because when you set out to do that every day, every day with just one person, this life with jesus takes on a whole new meaning, your y is wrapped around this thing called love, let me sum all this up for you. So when you're trying to figure out who you're supposed to be. I want you to take that next step? I want you to get closer to the one that knows you, the one that created you, the one that calls you his child next when you're trying to figure out who you're supposed to be. I want you to build a boat, I want you to build a boat and go beyond what you do. I want you to find out how big your life is supposed to be with God helping you do it. And then finally, when you're trying to figure out who you're supposed to be, I want you to wrap your y with love and everything that you do, you need to ask yourself, is this the big, crazy, jesus kind of love that we see in the bible that we see in bob's books and am I using it in the way I've been gifted with, you know. Finally, as the band joins me on stage, John Challenger saw last week to 21 days of prayer, we're asking God, what, what do you want me to do and who are you calling me to be? You know, I think a lot of times when you come into our prayer life, it's rushed, right? We have a lot of things going on, but our goal in prayer shouldn't look like a grocery list that we have for God. Our goal in prayer should be just to connect with God to come into his presence, you know, I heard about this interview with dan rather he was an old school cBS news anchor from back in the day, he had a interview with Mother Teresa, you know, he's given the interview and he gets to the end, he says, Mother Teresa, what's the, what's the secret to all this to all this? And she replies with one word, correct. He says, well what do you say to God? Mother Teresa in a calm and confident voice says nothing, I just listened. So dan scrambling at this point, right? He's like, this interview isn't gonna go well, it's never going to get played. So he throws out one last question he said, so if you don't mind me asking, what, what does he say, what does God say to you? Her reply was nothing, he just listens to. So now if you're one of those people that have a hard time with the net and the fishing pole, you're probably spending right now you're saying clark, nobody's talking, nobody's praying, how can we do this? Hopefully this will help. Mhm. Because they're the last words in the interview, she says, if you can't understand that, I can't explain it to you meaning the goal of prayer is being in the presence of God, it's not supposed to be a list of wants, that's not a relationship, it's all about being with him because when you can truly come into his presence and sit and be still and listen, you know, I would bet that's Mhm That's when you're gonna come out of it. Having a better understanding of who you are, where you are in life, what you want and most important who you're supposed to be. So would you do me a favor? Would you just as we go into prayer, would you just take a second come into his presence and then I'll finish this with mm hmm. Would you bow your heads? Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Lord. We thank you so much for this day. We thank you that we have this relationship with you Lord. That we can just come and sit and be still and quiet and it's comfortable and we learn and we grow and we love through that relationship. Mhm Lord. We thank you so much for having the ability to take that next step. The next step in our faith. Lord, That leads to you that gets us closer every day. And we just thank you so much for that. We thank you that that we can build a boat or that that we, that we can rely on you no matter what. And that if we really want to see our dreams come true, we want our life to be fulfilled. Lord. We have to rely on you to get those big dreams to happen. And Lord, we know all of it is centered around this thing we call love and that's why you sent your son to be with us to save us. And it's that love. That's that love that we need. That's why I love with it. We feel it all comes from you. We thank you Lord for all this and more. It's in your son's name. Amen.