(This transcript was generated by AI. Apologies for any inacuracies)

Wow, it is a great honor and opportunity to get to be here and be part of the dedication and just to celebrate all the incredible things that God has done.

And you know, I thought it'd be kind of neat as Pastor Clay and Kim were talking to kind of think back for just a moment.

I know there was a season before you got in here that you were actually in a tent, right?

Am I right?

Y'all remember the tent days?

Okay.

Now, let me ask a question.

Is there anybody here that actually started attending of Valorous during the tent days?

Anybody?

Just stand up if you started coming during the tent days.

All right.

I see one here, one there in the back.

All right.

One up there.

Some over here.

Now, I know as we keep kind of go backwards, you have also where y'all met in a theater for a season, right?

How many of you came during the theater days?

Let me see here.

All right.

Yeah.

Let's give it up for those folks.

Y'all are still here.

And I know before that you had a high school days and a hotel days.

Anybody here come during the high school and hotel days?

Anybody here during the high school?

All right.

We got some back there.

That's awesome.

And I know it began in a living room.

How many, anybody here that was there in that living room during the living room days?

All right.

Good to see you guys for sure.

And then of course, we want to celebrate and honor Pastor Clay, Pastor Kim.

All right.

So, would you guys stand, okay?

Yeah, celebrate.

Yeah.

All right, you guys remember, hold on, go ahead, y'all can be seated, but y'all stand up.

And then I saw Cole come in.

I don't know, right, there's Cole, okay.

Now, you know, go ahead and stay standing, okay?

Because, you know, a family gets called and he grew up in this church and many of you have impacted his life.

And as you've watched his life, you've been impacted as well.

You know, and as I stand here and I think about your family and, you know, this building is cool and this building is awesome and we're going to dedicate it and we're celebrating it.

But this building is going to get old too, you know that?

Their ministry wasn't about persevering to get this building built.

Their perseverance was about you.

That's why they did what they did and they made the sacrifices that they made and that they didn't quit, all right?

And that's important.

That's important because as the building gets old and you have to do maintenance and facilities and I know you thought you were coming to celebrate, but that's life, right?

Our bodies get old and we try to do stuff and the same will happen with the building.

It's important that you remember.

No, no, you all go ahead and stand up, okay?

Go ahead and stand up.

It's important on those days that you remember they're not here because of this building.

They're here because of their love for Christ and their love for you, all right?

It's your families.

It's your life journey.

It's your challenges that they've prayed for, that they've cared about, and it's you that they have sacrificed so that God could use them.

And I just share that because to go from where we are to where God wants to take Valerius is going to be challenges, right?

And you're as much as we celebrate them today, six months from now or 18 months from now, when the church has to do something to have the impact that needs to have, you still need to honor them and you still need to love them and you still need to show gratitude to them because God's not finished.

And I can tell you, and then I'm going to let you sit down, all right?

While we all think that they get tons of emails and cards encouraging them, as a pastor, I can tell you every time you thought to do that and you thought, oh, they probably get that all the time, or you came up to them and you said, I just want you to know your family has impacted me.

I'm sure you hear that all.

They don't hear it all the time, all right?

They don't hear it nearly enough.

They don't hear it as much as they need to hear it.

They need to be reminded of the impact that their lives have had.

And so while we dedicate this building and we celebrate it, you're blessed to have pastors who have proven themselves.

They didn't come when it was easy.

They started from the beginning and they have built something that's going to impact this city for generations into the future.

And you're blessed to be a part of this congregation.

And we love you guys.

Pastor Clay, Pastor Kim, Cole, we appreciate your sacrifice, your perseverance, your celebration, and the fact that you didn't give up.

And along the way, you've impacted literally thousands of people around the world.

And so we celebrate you guys as we dedicate this building.

Thank you so much for all that you do.

Now you can be seated, all right?

Have you ever noticed that when something awesome happens, like moving into a new building or other things in your life, that sometimes as you step into it, you're almost afraid?

Like I remember when we had our first child, I was very excited, I'm a dad.

And then I realized I have no clue how to be a dad.

Our firstborn was born early and he was really, really little.

And all of a sudden, I remember looking at him and thinking, I'm not, what do I do now?

And then Steph said, well, change his diaper.

And I'm like, well, I think you need to do that, okay?

I remember when I got married, I couldn't wait to get married.

I couldn't wait for the honeymoon, but we hadn't even left the church before I realized I didn't know what the heck I was doing, right?

I was afraid I would screw it up.

I was afraid I wouldn't make the right decisions.

Fear has a unique way of working its way into our lives, even at scary, celebrative times in our lives.

Have you ever thought, what are you afraid of?

Some people are afraid of flying, and so they never really get to travel the world.

Some people are afraid, well, of sharks, Pastor Matt is here and he's afraid of sharks.

And so he misses out on the joy of the ocean, even though he's lived here.

And then he moved to South Florida, he's lived by the ocean, right?

My wife is afraid of storms.

We got married and I grew up and she grew up in Arkansas, and Arkansas is a tornado kind of place.

And so when we were living there, she was always watching the weather and she knows when storms are coming and she's afraid of lightning and all those kinds of things.

And then we moved to South Florida, well, we don't really have tornadoes very often.

We have hurricanes, but you kind of know in long advance they're coming and go get your milk and bread and all that kind of stuff, okay?

But every once in a while, we'll get a storm.

And when we do, Steph freaks out.

She gets really nervous and she starts watching the weather.

And if I'm not home when the storm comes, my phone's gonna start ringing and she's gonna say, you better get home.

They said, there's a tornado, it's coming right our way.

Fear causes us to want to run and hide.

If it's a storm, I came home in South Florida and Steph had the kids and their wives in the bathroom just in case the tornado hit, right?

Because there's a tendency when we're afraid, we want to run and hide.

Did you know that the first time fear is mentioned in the scripture is in Genesis chapter three?

I mean, think about it.

We didn't get very far at all.

We're not at all as humanity in Genesis one.

And by Genesis chapter three, we're afraid.

Let me read to you the scripture.

You may know it, but in Genesis chapter three in verse 10, it says, you remember Adam and Eve kind of screwed up and they heard God walking and God said, you know, where are you?

And here's what Adam said.

He said, I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid.

And why did Adam hide?

Because he was afraid.

See, there's a tendency when we're afraid of stepping into something new instead of embracing it and taking the opportunity, we can sometimes actually miss out and we run and hide.

We're not all afraid of the same things.

While my wife is afraid of storms, several years ago, my heart, I didn't feel like it was doing what it was supposed to do.

And I went to the doctor and he said, you're young, there's probably nothing to worry about.

He said, why don't you do a stress test?

I did a stress test and it came back just fine, but I still didn't feel right.

He said, well, we can do an angiogram.

He said, I'm sure everything's okay, but if it'll make you feel better, we'll do one.

And so I called Steph and she's like, well, you know, whatever you think.

And so I had the angiogram and come to find out, the doctor comes back in and he's like, oh my gosh, he said, you wouldn't have had a heart attack.

He said, your heart would have literally exploded.

So they put me in an ambulance, they took me to a different hospital and they put stents into my heart.

Now, I got to tell you, as I'm riding along in that hospital and that's not what I was expecting to do that day, I was afraid.

I wanted to hide, but my wife, Stephanie, was actually in the waiting room ministering to the other wives who were in the waiting room, whose husbands were having similar procedures done.

She wasn't afraid in that circumstance, right?

So what do we do?

We're going in, I mean, this is a new building, this is a new experience.

The city, the community looks at Valorous Church different as a result of this facility that we're dedicating.

So how do we move forward?

And I was listening to Pastor Clay's series that he's in.

And so I just kind of put in my own little outline here that we need to be valorous.

The name that you are called is exactly who we need to become.

And I was thinking about the journey.

My favorite story in scripture is the story of the people of God, how they go being enslaved to the Egyptians, the most powerful nation in the world, to the promised land.

Because I think that's our journey as individuals and that's our journey as a church.

Listen to what advice God gives.

Now think about it.

Just like you guys, they're going into their destiny.

They're about to cross the Jordan River and they're going in to what they've been marching around in circles for, for 40 years, right?

Now, God did a lot, but I can imagine they got frustrated.

And if you read the story, you know, all kinds of things happen.

They got to the edge the first time and they didn't make it in.

All those kinds of things are going on.

Here they are.

They're about to go in.

Moses has passed the leadership on to Joshua.

So what do you think God would say?

Because you know, they had to be excited, maybe not be able to sleep the night before.

And I think what God says to them might be what he says to us on this evening.

He says this, he says, this is my command.

Be strong and courageous.

Do not be afraid or discouraged for the Lord, your God is with you wherever you go.

When you step in to your destiny, when you step into your purpose, when do you step into something that's bigger than you are, instead of embracing it, we can sometimes be afraid, be afraid of that marriage, be afraid of starting that business, be afraid of doing something new, being afraid of going in to something with this kind of facilities opportunity.

He says it's a command.

That's interesting, isn't it?

Marriage is a command and therefore it's a decision that we can all make.

The word strong, I thought, well, what does it mean to be strong?

And it means to become powerful beyond expectations in one's constitution, a sense of perseverance.

God's afraid that they're going to cross over and they're going to get overwhelmed by this opportunity.

They've been looking for it their whole lives.

One generation missed it.

And in the midst of this excitement, it seems as if God's actually reminding them to not be overwhelmed with the opportunity.

He says, be strong.

And in the word courageous means to be alert or means to be bold.

And of course, to be afraid or be discouraged means to be without courage, without boldness, without an alertness, without an awareness of the opportunity that's in front of us.

You know, it's interesting, COVID did something that you normally don't see happen.

COVID had the heroic and the scaredy cats doing the same thing, right?

You have the heroic who were saying, we're going to put, lock ourselves down so as not to infect the people that we love.

And so we're going to sacrifice our own freedom so as to take care of other people.

And then you have the scaredy cats doing the same thing.

You couldn't really tell them apart in the beginning.

But as we've come out of COVID, it's easy to see that those who are afraid are afraid to go back to work.

And they're afraid to go back to school.

And it's not just because of the disease, but it's at work where the relationship can fail.

It's where the business can go under.

It's where the church can not be having an impact upon its community.

So what does strong and courageous look like?

And I want to follow along with what Pastor Clay shared this morning.

I want to challenge us a little bit, because this is an incredible opportunity that doesn't come along very often.

You don't often go from a tent to a facility like this.

You don't often go from a theater to 60 acres of land with a school and an opportunity to impact one of the fastest growing cities in all of the US.

You realize how unique you are?

God chose you.

Steph and I came here on our honeymoon.

We came to Myrtle Beach on our honeymoon.

We got lost coming.

And then once we got here, we couldn't find our hotel.

And so we ended up staying at the Blue Dolphin.

I wouldn't recommend that if I were you.

If you happen to own the Blue Dolphin, it's a great place, okay?

But God chose you.

You're not here by, I don't know how you got here.

I don't know if you were born here.

I don't know if you chose to move here.

But however you came, you came for such a time as this.

And there's something within you, just like Pastor Clay said this morning, that God wants to bring together to impact this community.

So let me just remind us of a few things real quickly.

The first one is this, is the whole idea of what God told Joshua, and then Joshua told the people.

The first thing he said is just, you go into this land, and he said it over and over and over again.

He said, I want you to take possession of it.

Look at what it says in Deuteronomy chapter one and verse eight.

It says, I'm giving all of it to you.

And I want you to think about this.

This is valorous destiny.

You are a part of that.

He says, I'm giving it all to you.

Go in and possess it, for it is the land the Lord promised.

In other words, make the most of it.

And then God makes the same kind of promise in the New Testament to the church.

Pastor Clay quoted this scripture this morning in Matthew chapter 16.

He says, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

I love this text because it's not a passive text.

He's not saying we build a church to keep the world out.

He's saying the enemy can't keep the church out.

That's what makes this unique.

Because see, the enemy has hold Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach and Conway and whatever other cities around here.

He's held them hostage for a long time.

He's held our young people.

He's held our marriages.

He's addicted them to certain substance.

But we are the church and we're not passive.

We're actually active, and we're going to take this resource and we're going to possess the land.

We're going to take back what the enemy has tried to steal because he's powerless to do anything about it.

Now, I don't speak Spanish, hola, but I have lived in South Florida for 24 years.

So I picked up a few things.

And one of the things that I've picked up is in John chapter one in verse one, it says, in the beginning was the word.

And the Spanish version of that scripture doesn't say word.

It says el verbo, el verbo.

In other words, it's interesting.

It brings action.

In the beginning was what?

Was the verb, was the action, was the movement.

And that's what we are to be as the church.

That's what we are to be as Christ followers.

We are to possess this property and this facility and this land.

And I was thinking, what does that mean?

And I thought, well, to possess it.

And I was thinking about the people of God going into the promised land, that means to take new land and it means to protect borders.

And if you think the vision that Pastor Clay gave this morning about how we come together and we connect with one another, and as a result of connecting with one another, we're able to produce much, much fruit.

So what borders do we have to protect if we're going to possess the land that God's given us, this facility, this resource that God's given Valorous Church?

Well, with this facility is going to come tons of opportunities and invitations.

I don't know a lot about Myrtle Beach, but I would assume that this is probably one of the nicest facilities in Myrtle Beach.

It's the newest facility in Myrtle Beach.

You're the most incredible people in Myrtle Beach, okay?

You've got the most amazing pastoral family in Myrtle Beach, okay?

So with that's going to come invitation and with that's going to come opportunities.

And some of them are going to be incredible and some of them are going to be great, but some of them are going to be a distraction.

And so one of the borders that has to be protected is the vision and the calling of Valorous Church to impact this community, to see people come to Christ, to see marriages reconciled and brought back together.

Everyone who's been waiting is now, right?

Think about us as people, part, because we bring our peopleness with us when we come to church, don't we?

Wouldn't it be nice if we just came to church as saints?

And I know technically we are saints as Christ followers, but our skin, our peopleness comes with us.

And so there is a tendency for all of us who've been waiting for a facility to get our dreams done, our ministry, the thing we've been wanting to do for such a long time, but we just didn't have the space.

And if we're not careful, all of a sudden we've got the space.

So we all want to do what we want to do now, when we want to do it, and it distracts us from the vision and calling that God has given the church.

And so we have to protect that border because I can promise you the enemy isn't as concerned about this facility as he is the vision, as he is the calling, as he is the purpose that this church was given by God.

So we have to protect that.

We have to take new land, right?

When you walk into a building like this, a facility, a tool like this with all of its land, the expectations immediately go up.

And so we have to possess it.

We have to meet those expectations in order to be able to impact our community.

And somebody walks in and they see a platform like this, their expectations go up.

And if we're going to possess that, here's what it means.

It means that our musicians have to get better.

It means that our technology people have to get better.

It means that our lighting people have to get better.

We have to get better to possess the facility that God has given us.

That's nothing.

I'm not ripping on the ones who were here, but there's more expected of this facility than there was of the tent.

And you may not like that, but that's just the reality of the world in which we live.

And if we don't meet those things, then we're not going to be as effective in carrying out the vision that God has actually called us to do.

It feels different when you walk into a facility like this, because it is different.

And I just want to remind us, let's possess it.

Let's get all that we can out of this tool that God has given you and blessed you with and people have sacrificed for, so that it can have the impact.

And it's not by accident that this happens to be one of the fastest growing areas in all of the United States.

God's always planning, isn't he?

His timing is perfect.

And if we want to take advantage of that opportunity, then we have to take advantage of every aspect this facility has to offer.

Every light, we've got to get everything we can out of every light, every video screen, every student room, every children's room, every lobby area, outside.

We got to get everything we can.

Nothing can go wasted because this is the resource that God has given us to carry out the vision that God put on their hearts and that attracted us to be a part of what God's called us to do.

So I just want to encourage you, let's not run and be afraid.

Let's not be overwhelmed.

Let's step up to it.

Let's become who God actually had in mind when he had this in his mind.

The second thing is we have to position ourselves.

I played basketball.

And one of the things when it comes to basketball is if you get out of position, you lose.

Defense is about being in position.

And if you're out of position, they'll go baseline and they'll score.

If you're short and you want to rebound, and even if you're not short, but you got to get position so that you can get the rebound.

Because if you're not in position, you're not going to get the rebound.

You're not going to be able to play defense.

You're not going to be open to be able to make the shot.

It's all about being in position.

And the same thing is true in our spiritual walk.

Again, in Joshua chapter three, as they're going into the promised land, listen to what God says.

He says, then Joshua told the people, purify yourselves for tomorrow.

The Lord will do great wonders among you.

The word purify means to consecrate.

In other words, the idea is Joshua is telling him, he said, you guys, if you'll position yourself in the right place, you're going to see God do great things.

But if you're out of position, then you're not able to experience what God actually has in mind.

Now we could talk about a lot of, we got to position ourself financially, right?

You have to position yourself financially.

Hey, can I tell you something?

Now Pastor Clay didn't tell me to tell you this, but I don't know if I'm supposed to walk on this or not.

I don't want to fall, I'm getting old, but God brought you here to engage every aspect of who you are.

And part of that is the financial responsibility that comes with this.

And so we have to position ourselves as part of this congregation to take care of the finances.

Because if not, if we don't protect that border, finances will distract us from what God's actually called us to do.

Instead of how can we do something for God, we're going to talk about how can we afford to do something for God?

Do we have the money to move forward?

Do we have the resources to impact?

No, no, no, no.

God brought you here to pay for this place.

Did you know that?

Right?

And if that, listen, that ought to make you excited if he, here's the deal, if God wants to use me and Steph to pay every bill potential church has, I'm fine if he wants to run that through our bank account.

All right.

I'm going to tell you as Christ followers, we need to step up and say, because the Bible even says this, God gives us the ability to produce wealth.

It's not easy, but God gives us that ability so we can do what?

So we can fund what God wants to see happen in this world.

And so we got to position ourselves, Hey, this cost a lot more than a 10, that screen, they cost a lot more than whatever you had in the 10 or whatever you had in the theater.

And if you're going to have this facility, guess what?

You got to have a team of people who are able to make sure that every aspect of it is possessed.

And so we have to position ourselves financially.

That means you and me, if we're going to be a part of this, we have to position ourself so that we're able to be generous towards the future of what God wants to do.

If you want to see miracles.

Now if we just want to do church for the next 20 years, that's one thing, but wouldn't it be awesome if revival started right here?

All this craziness that's happening in the world.

Why can't it?

You think God's up there saying, well, no, God is raring and ready to go.

He's just looking for a people that'll get into position.

And that's why God told them, he said, look, I'm going to do something big and I don't want you to miss it.

And so you need to position yourself.

You need to concentrate yourself.

I think about our lives.

We need to position our lives.

And first Corinthians chapter nine, Paul says this.

He says, don't you realize that it is rare in a race, everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize.

And he says, in order to do that, I discipline my body like an athlete.

Now I don't have time to talk about all this stuff, but I just want to encourage us in some things that I know you're going to have to wrestle with, because if you don't, you're going to be afraid.

And if we're afraid, we're going to hide from impacting this community.

This facility alone will not change Myrtle Beach.

It's just a tool.

And so for us to be able to possess the land, we have to position ourselves.

And here's when it comes to our own lives as individual people that are here and the ones that are watching online, we have to position our ego.

Can you imagine how many folks should be here, but they're not here?

And the only reason they're not here is because they got out of position.

Their attitude, their spirit.

Now God called some away and we celebrate that always, but some folks just allowed their ego to get out of position.

And as a result, they're not seeing this.

And I know that breaks the pastor's heart.

I know it breaks your heart.

It breaks my heart every time someone who sacrificed for a season got out of position.

And as a result, they missed out on the miracles.

This is a miracle in 2024.

You're sitting in a miracle.

So we've got to position our egos in a position of humility.

Now, I don't know what that means.

I haven't talked to Pastor Clay, so I don't know.

I haven't talked to the pastor.

I don't know what they're thinking, but here's what I do know.

This is unlike any tool Valorous Church has ever had.

And that means there's going to be change.

And some of it's going to be exactly what you want.

And some of it's going to take you off.

Well, I mean, again, I'm leaving, but what if we had to stop doing breakfasts on Sunday morning?

I've been doing them for a long time.

I don't know.

I mean, breakfasts are pretty awesome, and I like them, but they're not a biblical doctrine.

Do we want to see miracles bad enough to reposition ourselves so as to be successful?

Or do we allow our ego to get in the way so as to be out of position, and so God moves down the road to those who may still be in a tent, but they're willing to position themselves in a place of humility?

We all have to walk through that, and we will all have to decide that.

And I don't know what you will have to decide, but I do know this.

I know churches, as I mentioned earlier, they get older naturally.

For churches to remain young and vibrant, you have to be intentional.

And have you ever noticed that as you get older, the things that younger people like just irritate you, right?

You know, the music.

I mean, remember when you were cool and you were irritating your parents or, you know, when every church planner starts the church, here's what they all say, me, myself, hey, we're going to do music that's relevant to the community.

But the neat thing is, is what's relevant to the community is what I like too.

But then every church planner, every folks who are a part of the church eventually get older and guess what, younger people start, and here's what we say when we get older.

Well, I don't know why those young people don't like our music.

It's the same ones they sing.

I don't tell you why they don't like it, because you're singing it.

Right?

I mean, you've been around young people lately.

Okay.

It hasn't changed.

There's going to be things that have to change or this church will get old and it will die.

All right.

Now here's what that means for me.

And here's what that means for you.

I have to reposition myself at different stages in my life so I can continue to be engaged in what God is doing because I want more than anything else to see the miracles that God has in mind to happen within his church, but I have to humble myself.

There are certain things I do that make me feel good about me, but there are certain things that I do that in certain seasons of my life, I have to reposition myself and humble myself so that the church can continue to move forward.

We have to position our family.

I'll talk more about that in a minute.

We have to position our ministries, those that we're leading to embrace new people.

Look around.

This is a big building.

Y'all are doing two services.

Well, you do five.

You know how many new people that is?

That's thousands of new people along with how many ever you reach online and who knows what else you're going to do.

That's thousands of brand new people that you're not going to know.

And some of them are going to be weird.

They are.

There's weird people in this world, especially in Myrtle beach.

I've been driving around, okay?

And you're going to walk in and you're going to be, you're going to be looking around for somebody who's been here forever and you're not going to be able to see them because they come into different service on a different night at a different time.

And you're going to be sitting around a bunch of different people that you don't know.

Maybe they didn't even grow up in South Carolina.

Maybe they don't have a Southern accent.

So you have to position your ministry intentionally to whatever part of ministry you're a part of.

Say, Hey guys, listen, we want to embrace new people and not only want to embrace new people.

We want to mentor those new people.

And then we're going to ask these new people to join us in commitment and sacrifice because that's what Joshua did.

Look what he said.

You're probably familiar.

Maybe with this scripture.

It's kind of a, kind of a famous one.

He says in Joshua chapter one, he says, your wives and your children, your livestock remain here in the land.

Most assigned to you on the East side of the Jordan river, but your strong warriors fully armed must lead the other tribes across the Jordan river to help them conquer the territory.

In other words, they're getting ready to go in and the first place they get to, some of them want to call home.

It's like your wives and your kids can stay here, say, but you strong warriors got to continue to March on.

The bigger a church gets, the more tempting it is to silo ourselves.

Well, I got my new camera.

So I really, you know, the youth really need a new camera, right?

I mean, we got our new kitchen over here.

So do they really need whatever over there?

It's just really easy for us to do.

We have to position ourselves to ask for commitment and to ask for sacrifice, you know, because the power of the church is not my silo or yours.

It's us coming together.

Steph and I went to South Africa, uh, year before, year before last.

And we went on a, what do you call that thing where you go around and see all the animals, a safari.

And, um, you know, we saw the lions.

That's scary.

We don't know about being afraid.

Right?

Now, here's what they told us.

We're riding around in this little buggy and the lion comes right here.

This man eating lion comes right here.

And I happened to be a man, okay?

The guy dude says this, he says, stay seated because as long as you're seated, he thinks it's one giant animal.

He said, but if you stand up, he's going to know you're not, he's going to know you're alone and he's going to come after you.

So stay seated.

And I think that's a great reminder.

The Bible says we have an adversary that's like a roaring lion and he's walking to and fro just waiting for us in the church to silo ourselves or to stand ourselves up alone.

And as we stay together, like pastor Clay said this morning, we can continue to produce much fruit.

So we have to possess it.

We have to position ourselves.

And then lastly, we have a perception.

They all started with a P that's pretty cool, right?

Here's what I mean by that.

We got to dream bigger.

And when I say we got to dream bigger, what I mean by that is yes, valorous church is not finished, but we got to dream bigger than ourselves.

We got to dream bigger than just one generation.

I think the scripture teaches that we should influence multiple generations, but we are responsible for three generations.

Over and over in the Bible, you hear it talk about the grandkids.

For example, let me read to you Proverbs 13, 22 says good people leave an inheritance, not to their children, but to their grandchildren.

In other words, what do good people do?

Good people make decisions for three generations.

Those who are leading, those who are being trained to lead and those who will lead.

And so we as God's people have to have a dream that's bigger than just our lifetime.

Because see, if we just dream about ourselves, if we get discouraged or it doesn't go the way that we like, we can make decisions.

We can build traditions that the grandkids are ineffective in reaching their community because they're trying to keep a tradition that somehow has got conveyed as doctrine and it's just a tradition.

In Numbers chapter 27, Moses raises up Joshua.

It's the reason they go into the promised land.

Remember, God told David when he was getting ready to build the temple, David was all pumped to build this temple and God said, no, David, you're not going to build it.

Your son Solomon is, but guess what, David, you get to raise the money.

You get to pay for it.

And you know what David said, I'll do it.

Because building that temple is more important than me being exalted.

So my dream is bigger than my life.

And so I'm willing to play whatever role I'm willing to position myself as a fundraiser.

So as that temple to be able to be built, we have to do the same thing that happened with Moses.

Moses, he had to put up with all there.

And they get right here.

I mean, they're about, oh my gosh, you're right on the verge, the edge.

And God says, no, Moses, you're not going.

Now I can't tell you what I would do.

I'd pout, wouldn't you?

I would go on Instagram and X and I just would rip on the people and say it's not fair.

And I would deconstruct my faith.

That's popular right now.

Right?

That's not what most look at what Moses does.

Look what Moses does.

It says, then Moses said to the Lord, oh Lord, this is when God tells him, he says, oh Lord, you are the God who gives breath to all the creatures.

Please appoint a new man as leader.

He's not whining.

He's not crying.

He's not saying, whoa, it's me.

This is not fair.

What's he saying?

He's saying, God, raise up another leader and notice, notice he says, give them someone who will guide them wherever they go and will lead them in the battle so that the community of the Lord will not be like sheep without a shepherd.

And the Lord says, you've already done that, Moses.

Take Joshua, your assistant, who went up the mountain of God with you when you got the 10 commandments, who went to battle with you.

The guy that you have been mentoring, take him.

The spirit is in him.

Lay your hands on him.

And again, Moses doesn't whine and say, what, Joshua, that's not fair.

He wouldn't even be where he's at if it weren't for me, God.

No.

So Moses did just as the Lord commanded him and he presented Joshua to the priest and the whole community and he laid his hands on him and he commissioned him to lead the people just as the Lord commanded him.

We have to make decisions today that will allow us to not just influence many generations, but understand that we are responsible.

I can tell you, we have had churches given to us because they died.

Last year, I think it was 7,500 churches, well, let me say this, 3,500 churches were planted last year, 7,500 closed their doors last year.

Think about it.

Those churches somebody gave money for, prayed, I don't know how big the sacrifices were, but somewhere along the line, a generation decided no longer worry beyond themselves.

And when they got all they could out of it, they just gave it away.

Now, thankfully, they didn't just sell it.

Many of them just get sold.

There's a great pizza place in Times Square in New York.

It's got a balcony and everything because it used to be a church.

Look what happens in Judges, because Joshua wasn't so hot.

Somewhere along the line between Moses and what, and I don't know if Joshua, I don't know where it got screwed up, but look at what happens when Joshua and that generation dies in Judges 2.

It says, and the Israelites served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and the leaders who outlived him, those who had seen all the great things the Lord had done for Israel.

And after that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the Lord or remember the mighty things he had done for Israel.

The Israelites did evil in the Lord's sight, and they served the images of Baal.

They abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt.

They went after the gods, other gods, worshiping the gods of the people around them, and they angered the Lord.

We have to teach the truth.

We have to be solid in the truth, but we have to be careful about making traditions that keep three generations from being impacted for the community.

Let me give you an example.

When I was growing up, one of the things you did not do is you did not wear a hat on the platform.

It just was seen as disrespectful, okay?

And I can remember in that little country church that I pastored, I mean, you couldn't even wear it in the building, let alone on the platform.

My gosh, you'd go to hell for that, okay?

It was disrespectful.

It was dishonoring, okay?

And you may believe that it is, and that's a different discussion, but what I will tell you, culture's moved on, and they don't see it as dishonoring at all.

So if you want to hold on to that tradition as if it is a doctrine, then you can say goodbye to reaching the next generation.

Is a hat on the platform worth people going to hell over?

Those are the kind of decisions that have to be made along the way, or churches die in their righteousness, or self-righteousness, I would say.

And we're you, you, me, we are the ones.

I don't know how old you are, how young you are, but there is your generation, the next generation, the generation after that, and we have to be intentional about that, or we'll make decisions only with our generation in mind because we happen to be 35 or 40 or whatever age we are, and we forget about those who are going to come after us.

Invite the next generation, and engage the next generation.

Joshua said, but if you don't want to worship the Lord, you need to choose.

You can worship the idols our ancestors did or the ones in the land in which you live.

He said, I won't.

My family and I are going to worship and obey the Lord.

So like Pastor Clay and Pastor Kim said, we have to be valorous.

Our best days are ahead of us, but they're going to be more difficult than the past.

That's why God told Joshua to be strong and courageous.

The promised land is not heaven.

The promised land is not the lack of problems.

Listen, every problem Valorous Church has, has just went up.

There's more zeros, and there's more to lose, and goodness gracious, if you closed your doors in a tent, you lost some fabric.

Think about it now.

You hurt the community.

See that big church?

Because, you know, that's who you are now.

Big church off, I don't know what this road is, but that's kind of hard to get to.

But the mayor is going to fix that.

I have confidence, all right?

So the fact that we're not talking about hundreds of dollars, we're not even talking about thousands or hundreds, we're talking about millions of dollar decisions now.

And we're talking about decisions that when they're made, do we do this ministry, or we do that ministry, or we go there, or do we do that, all those kinds of things.

Now there's a lot at risk, and that can make us afraid.

And so we can, as a church with a great facility, we can run and hide from the incredible opportunity that we have, especially in these next few years.

This is your time.

This is your opportunity.

So how do you do it?

And I'll shut up.

And this is the awesome part, because you don't have to just grin and bear it.

No, no.

First John 4 says this, there is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear.

So how do we make ourselves more courageous and strong?

We love more.

We love deeper.

Let me show you a 30 second video that will show you exactly what I mean.

Let's watch this.

Our relaxing day at the pool turns into a crazy moment of pure panic.

That fence was four feet high.

Okay.

Now you notice that the dad immediately gets up.

He jumps over the fence, pretty four feet high, and he dives in and rescues his boy.

Now there was, you see, there's another dude there.

Now he stood up, but then he thought, well, do I really want to get my clothes wet?

I got my phone in my pocket and, you know, he's probably going to be okay, isn't he?

I mean, the dad's here.

That's what a lot of churches do.

They stand up and well, you know, we were, somebody else going to, ah, that church down the road, you know, they got more money than we do and, no, no.

Why did the dad do that?

Because of his love.

He wasn't afraid of the fence, he wasn't afraid of hitting his head on the bottom.

He only had one thing on his mind, I love my child.

And he loved that boy more than whoever the dude was sitting beside him.

That's the reason he beat him.

The other guy may have been a better athlete, it didn't matter.

Love cast out fear.

And that's what we have to be as his church.

We have to love this community.

And, you know, I was thinking, and I really am going to shut up.

I love my kids just like that dad.

We're blood, right?

They have my blood flowing through them.

I was thinking my wife, she doesn't have any grambling blood in her.

I know it's depressing for her, but she's got cocks blood.

I love her out of commitment.

I said, I do.

And that commitment for how many years, Steph?

35, she's got it right, okay?

For 35 years, we've jumped into the pool to save one another multiple times.

It's just a commitment.

And that love has kept us together, doing whatever was needed for 35 years.

So church, let's love God and love people.

Can I pray for you?

All right.

Father, I just simply ask that you would help us as your people to love you more, to love people, and that our fear of change, our fear of being overwhelmed, our fear and our ego, I just pray that we'll do all that's necessary to possess the land you have promised us, to be the people you've created us to be, so that you will be glorified in Jesus name.

Amen.