IF ITS GOD, iTS A YES | Pst Nate Dumlao

0:00 Hey, welcome back to the Zoe Church LA podcast. We're so glad you're here. Hey, while you're here, you might as well press that subscribe button. And we want to give a big thank you, a big shout out to everyone who's so faithful to give here at Zoe. And if you want to start that journey or continue that journey, head on over to zoechurch.org slash give. You can give right there. Hey, we're so excited to hear a message today about giving God your best yes. And with that being said, let's tune in. Amen. I'm excited today. I'm preaching on the idea of saying yes. Everyone say yes. I felt that. That was a strong yes. I think that when we say yes to God, it allows him to be who he is and allows us to live in the role that God's called us to live in. Here at Zoe, maybe you didn't know this, we have values at our church. That's exciting, right?

0:51 We're a value-led church. The first value, the most important value of our church is that Jesus is our message. Everything about our church, everything about us is to point people to Jesus. Our life is about Jesus. Our preaching is about Jesus. It's not about anything else except for the person of Jesus. Because when you focus on him, he makes all of your paths straight. We believe here at Zoe that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. When we put our trust in him, not only do we get to have everlasting life, what the scripture tells us, but we're able to live like heaven is on earth today. We don't just think that saying yes to Jesus is fire insurance for hell, which by the way, it is good fire insurance. I hope that you say yes to Jesus so we can actually live in eternity with God. But we also believe that when we say yes to Jesus, it allows us to live the greatest life that we could live here at Zoe, amen.

1:49 Isaiah chapter 26, verse eight, I think it encapsulate this idea. It says this, Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you. Come on, don't we live in a culture, waiting is difficult, isn't it? We want microwaves, not crockpots, right? We don't want MySpace messages anymore. We want quick six-second vines. I don't know, vines gone, but TikToks and all that sort of stuff. We need it now, but in God's kingdom, it's agriculture. It's not technology. It's seeds. It's planting. It's watering. It's waiting. anything good is worth waiting for. Amen. It says, we wait for you. Your name and renown are the desire of our hearts. His name and his renown. You know, I heard someone say recently, we need to make Jesus famous. And I'm like, I don't know. I think he's pretty famous. I think pretty much everyone in the, I think everyone that we know pretty much knows they've heard the name of Jesus.

2:46 I think we got to make Jesus not infamous, don't we? We got to start to correct the view. His name, and watch this, his renown. I want to live a life of a yes that makes the renown of Jesus go forth. People aren't afraid to accept Jesus because of my life. They can't wait because of the life I've said yes to. I'm excited. We're going to be in Exodus chapter 3 today. Exodus chapter 3 and verse 10. and we're picking up in this unusual scripture of Moses encountering God. And Moses encounters God in the middle of a desert in the form of a burning bush and God is trying to elicit Moses' yes. And so this is on the end of that conversation and Moses has some issues saying yes to God like I think a lot of us do. It starts like this in verse 10. So now go, I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.

3:42 But Moses said to God, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt? And God said, I will be with you and this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on the mountain. Verse 13, Moses said to God, suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you. And they ask, what is his name? I think it's a reasonable question to ask. Then what shall I say to them? In verse 14, God said to Moses, I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites. I am has sent me to you. Amen. You're writing down, taking notes today. You can write down the title of today's talk. If it's God, it's a yes. Come on. If it's God, it's a yes. If I'm tired, it's still a yes. If I'm unsure, it's still a yes. If I don't know what's going to happen next, it's still a yes.

4:37 If it's God, I've already made the decision. It's a yes. Why don't we pray and then we'll jump in. Father, we thank you for who you are. We thank you that before we ever said yes to you, you said yes to us. And so Lord, we respond to you today, God. We ask that you'd speak to us, you'd stir up our hearts. Lord, I pray right now in the name of Jesus, give us the courage and the strength to say yes to everything you have for us in Jesus' name. And everybody say together, amen and amen. Have any of you ever said yes to something you don't want to say yes to? Right? You're like a lot of grumbling going on, right? Absolutely, right? I call them forced yeses, right? It's like I say yes to doing the chores around my house because I don't want a dirty house and I don't want an upset wife. It's a forced yes, right? I think anybody who's ever been invited to a baby's first birthday, it's a forced yes, right?

5:35 It's like only the parents are excited about the first birthday. Everyone's like, they're not going to remember this. They don't even know what's going on. Like we're just here for vibes, right? Maybe the worst forced yes that all of us experience is when we get the text message that has just revealed to us without our permission that we're in a group text. I did not ask for a group text. I don't want these text messages. I don't want these notifications. These are bad emojis. The gifts aren't even funny. There's drama going on in the group text. And then it's awkward when you leave the conversation and people text you, hey, we just saw that you left the conversation, but you never said anything. This is crazy.

6:13 I think we face a lot of social situations in our life that it feels like we have to say yes to, to fit in or to get a certain result. And certainly when it comes to church and the following Jesus, we face what God's called us to sometimes with that same sense. like I guess because God loves me I'll try my best not to live a sinful life because I said yes one time and now I have salvation I guess I'm forced to do this church thing I guess I'm forced to tithe I guess it's just part of this thing being in a relationship with God I have to say yes but I'm convinced today that God isn't concerned with your obligatory yes your courtesy yes I think God wants to convince you today that whenever you say yes to him, you'll begin to realize the greatest life that you could ever live is in obedience to what he's called you to do.

7:11 It's not a forced yes. It's not a, I have to. It's I get to, I'm excited. Whatever you say, God, I can't wait to say yes because I know it's gonna take me to places I can never go on my own. I think a lot of us, the reason why we say no is it's rooted in things, right? A lot of us, we don't wanna just like, none of us are malicious about it, right? We're not like, I can't wait to say no to God. God's gonna call me to something today. The answer, God is no. I don't think that's an accurate depiction of us, but I think a lot of us, because of the convenience of a no, because the pattern of a no, because a cycle of a no, it's easy for us to say no to what God's called us to than to say yes to what God's called us to. In fact, there's a few different root causes or root reasons we'd say no. in scripture today. The first one is, the first reason we say no is because we want control.

8:06 It sounds a little bit like this. I'd rather be in charge. I don't know about you. I want control in my life. I don't want anyone else to determine what I'm doing. I want to take control. It's easier just to do it my way. The next one, the root cause is the love of other things. What it sounds like, what will I have to give up? What will I have to give up? Does what I have to give up, is it gonna be as good as what God has for me? Can I just encourage you? The answer is always yes. It's always worth giving it up. It's always worth the replacing, the exchange. It's always worth it. The rich young ruler comes to Jesus and he says, what do I gotta do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus says, go home, sell off your possessions and follow me. And the Bible says that that man, he left Jesus and he walked away and the Bible says he was sad.

8:58 the next one the root cause is conditional faith i want god's blessing but on my own terms in my own timing in my own ways in my own comfort right this is jonah jonah wanted god's blessing but he didn't want to go to the place that god called him to go because he knew that god would actually do what he said he was going to do so jonah out of hatred out of his own thinking he denied God and said no. The next one is disappointment. Last time I trusted God, I got hurt. I think this one hits home for a lot of people. Because if you have the wrong view of God, you'll place the hurt of a man on him. And so because a church hurt you, God's hurt you. So because a pastor's hurt you, or a parent's hurt you, or a friend's hurt you, or the person you thought would never mess up the model that you're supposed to follow, the person you're chasing after because they messed up. Now you've been hurt. How easy is it to project our hurts on God? Because we don't actually have to face him if we don't want to. But can I tell you at the end of your life, you have to stand in front of God and be accountable for all the decisions that you've made in your life, whether it's a yes or it's a no. The Bible says that God is, he's a Faithful God, he's a kind God.

10:18 Kindness leads to repentance. Don't allow the disappointments of your past hinder you from saying yes to what God's called you here today, amen? I think this last one, I think this is all of us, isn't it? And no comes from the place of insecurity. I'm not the kind of person God could use. This is Gideon's story. This is Moses' story. I think this is all of our story to some extent. God, do you know who you're working with here? I've messed up. I've made mistakes. I told you like a hundred times this will be the last time I'm gonna do this thing. And what do I end up doing? That thing a hundred the first time. Paul says all the things I want to do, I don't do the things I don't wanna do. I keep on doing those things. And every time you do that, it chips away at what? Your security, your identity, your confidence. So now your yes is hesitant. Yes, but like last time I did this, I don't know if I did it well.

11:15 Want to know what's really cool? God has a response for every one of your no's. That today he would look at you and say, you're secure in me. You don't have to be disappointed. I am exactly who I say I am. I'm going to do what I say I'm going to do. I've never failed. I've never faltered. I've never messed up. I've never been, I've never lost. I've never lied. Whatever I say is the truth. We put our yes in the one whose yes is yes and amen. If he says it, it is. Amen? We put our yes in God. I hope that today we make the decision to try to turn our yes from an emotional reaction to the reflex of our life.

11:59 What's your reflex? When life is difficult, when you have great success, what's your reflex? Is it to honor God? Is it to shout your own name from the rooftops? I hope today our reflexes, you know, when you're put in a difficult situation, it reveals your reflex, right? That's why, like, I don't know, maybe I'm trying to work this out with God. Like, I love to scare my family, like startle them. Boom! I got a couple, I got a couple of you guys. I got a couple of you.

12:33 Just see if you're awake. You can tell a lot about someone's past by their reflex. You know, some of you, oh, some of you put your hands up. I'm like, oh, okay. I know who's scared next time, who not. What's your reflex? When life gets scary, what's your reflex? This morning, I was waking up to some crazy sounds. And Chad and I are neighbors, and there's a coyote in our backyard chasing some animals around. and Chad sent over the all-cap sex. There's a coyote. Both of us, we just run to the, I grab a two-by-four and he grabs a golf club. We're just ready to go.

13:14 We're just ready to throw down. It's not even a question. There's a coyote in our backyard. Wiley Coyote's about to get God. What's your reflex? Are you running to God or are you running away from God? Are you running to his grace and his kindness and his mercy and his peace and his wisdom or are you going to some sorcery? Are you going to some tarot cards? Are you going to some TED Talks? Are you going to some podcasts? We're choosing yes. We're putting our yes in Jesus. It's the only yes that we can rest in. It's yes and amen. Come on, if it's God, it's a yes. Maybe it's hard for you to say yes to God. The first thing out of the story of Moses that we've got to realize, if you're taking notes, write down point number one. God is who he says he is and will do what he says he will do.

14:11 God is who he says he is, who will do what he says he will do. Exodus chapter 3 verse 14. God said to Moses, I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites. I am has sent me to you. Now, maybe you're like, that's a weird name. And certainly it was significant and special and unusual in Moses' time. See, this phrase, I am, when Moses asked God, he was like, hey, who am I supposed to say sent me to tell you this? Moses was waiting for a lineage response. because that would give you credibility to your claims. I'm so-and-so, son of so-and-so, son of so-and-so. That's why you should read the genealogies. It's kind of boring, but just read through them. You'll begin to, you know, the trees, family trees, that's what we're saying.

15:03 Moses was waiting for the link. He was waiting for the family tree. Oh, so you're connected with that person, connected with that? Okay, now I can go, and when I say it, I just name-dropped. They'll all have confidence. Instead, God goes, I am. There's no one before me. I'm the first. I'm the uncreated. I'm the limitless one. I'm the boundless one. See, God isn't like us. God isn't like you, and he's not like me. Our God is limitless. He's boundless. He has no end, and he has no beginning. Our God is not bound by time or contained by space. Our God is not concerned the way that we're concerned. He is I am. There was no other thing before him. See, it's hard for us to think of that. Like what was there before there was anything? There was God.

15:55 But what came before? No, no, there was no before God. He was the, he's the first cause. He caused everything. So he says to Moses, as soon as he says, I am, Moses was like, oh, you're, oh, you're him. Well, this, this is who I'm interacting with. You are, I am. I think as soon as you start to realize who you're interacting with, it allows your yes to become a lot easier, doesn't it? See, you got a small picture of God and all of a sudden your yes is really difficult. Like if God is just that like old man in the clouds who's distant and far off and unresponsive. And when he gets angry, there's thunder and lightning. That's what my brothers and sisters told me. Like when it rains and there's thunder, God's mad. Oh, gosh.

16:43 Like that's not our God. Our God is present and he's close and he's leaned in and he's kind and he cares. In fact, I used to think growing up like Adam and Eve had it good. They were in the jungle, in the forest walking around with God. And there was fruit everywhere. And they were so close to God, weren't they? They were so close to God. They were walking, they were going on hikes with God. And they were like, what about the disciples? They actually got to walk the streets with Jesus. I wanted to be like a disciple. How close could you be with Jesus? But the Bible says this, that when Jesus ascended to be with his father, he left us his Holy Spirit to live inside of us. Can I encourage you? We're closer to God today than ever again in human history. We don't have to go somewhere to find him. He lives in us. The wisdom of God, the power of God that raised Christ Jesus from the grave is the same spirit that lives in you and I.

17:42 That means I can say yes, and he's with me. He is who he says he is. Question is, when he calls you, do you know his voice? Remember landlines? Remember those things? Only like a few giggles, because not everybody remembers landlines. I remember landlines, and if you don't know what that is, it means like it was like a wire connected to a wall, and like magic happened outside somewhere and connected to someone else. And so you get calls, right? and you wouldn't know who's calling you unless you were rich and you had a little box. It was a separate box, right? That said caller ID on it, right? And it would tell you who's, we didn't have that, but my friends, they had one of these caller ID boxes, right? And if someone called you, you would actually, you know, if someone else was on the phone or if they're on the internet, like back then, the internet sounded like, you couldn't be on the internet and on the phone at the same time.

18:35 So someone would call you and like my sister and I, we'd race to the phone and we'd both, Hello? It's me. I'm just kidding. We'd run to the phone to try to see who it is. And like, sometimes it would be a telemarketer, you know, and right away, like we wouldn't even let them like finish the sentence. Like it felt good just to hang up on him. You know, it's like being on the other side of those calls in my, in my adulthood, I've had to make those calls. I'm like, please don't hang up on me. So sad. I remember like, you know, a girl would call and my sister would answer the phone and me at the same time. My sister would like try not to breathe loud. She wants to hear of it. I can hear you on the phone. And then like my mom would call or my dad would call and right away I would know their voice. I didn't even need a caller ID. I just knew who was on the other side of the line. I wanna encourage you today, the more you say yes to God, the more sensitive your ears become to know what his voice sounds like so you can continue to say yes to what he's called you to.

19:39 Let me just wanna know a really easy way to begin to hear the voice of God. Maybe you're here in the room, and you're like, pastors always say that. I heard God today. It's really simple. You can hear God today too. It actually sounds just like his word. His voice sounds like his word. So the more you're in his word, the more you recognize his voice. We do this thing here at Zoe called Zoe Devos. And if you don't have a physical Bible, you can certainly download it, the Bible app right there on your phone. Join our Zoe Devos. How cool is this? Almost a thousand people are joining us on our Zoe Devos. just choosing every day to say yes to God's word, yes to getting in his presence. If you want to begin to learn what God says about you, read his word, open it up. Today we are in James four. God just encouraging you. When you pray, pray like this. When you believe, believe like this.

20:32 Maybe here today, you're like, I wish Sunday was every day. Guess what? Sunday is not the greatest expression of God's voice for your life. Monday morning is when you say yes to his word. And Tuesday, when you say yes to his word. And Wednesday, when you say yes to his word. And Thursday, when you open it up and you read the proverb of the day and you go, this was the solution I was looking for. I can say yes. And watch what happens. When you say yes to God, you begin to become in alignment with his will for your life. In fact, write down point number two today. It says this, your yes brings you into alignment with heaven's assignment. Your yes brings you into alignment with heaven's assignment. China Ryan preached an incredible message this last service at nine o'clock. He's preaching again next service. You might as well just go get some coffee and come back. But he says something that stuck out to me so much. He said, God doesn't need you, but God wants you.

21:28 In other words, God isn't waiting for you in order to extend his will to go forward. He's inviting you into his will that's always moving. My son, his name is River. Shout out to River. I love him so much. And he's exactly like a river. He's always moving. He has tons of energy. And God's will is like that. It's always moving. It's like a river. It's always flowing. It's up to you and I. Yes is the raft that we get on to join the direction that God is aligning us with in our future. Your yes allows you to flow in the assignment that God has for you. See, God is so good. But as soon as you say yes, he allows you to jump on the alignment of his calling. But don't get it twisted. God's not waiting for you to move in order for him to move.

22:25 God would invite you into the process. I used to think that God can't do the miraculous unless I say yes. No, God will do the miraculous. I just won't get the fruit from it if I say no. a lot of us we see people saying yes in their lives taking on a whole different dimension and a whole different look and we're going how come I don't get what they're getting how come they feel close to God and I feel distant from God I just want to encourage you today begin to align your life begin to align in the direction that God's called you to see Moses said a lot of no's to God in fact your no will keep you on the shore outside of God's will. You can watch everyone else flow forward, but your know will keep you on the shore. This is what Moses says in Exodus chapter four, verse one. Moses answered, what if they do not believe me or listen to me and say the Lord did not appear to you?

23:19 To know, Exodus 4, 10. But Moses pleaded with the Lord, oh Lord, I'm not very good with my words. I never have been and I'm not now. Even though you have spoken to me, I get tongue tied and my words get tangled. Exodus chapter four, verse 13. But Moses said, pardon your servant, Lord. Very polite of Moses. Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else. Every time Moses gave a no to God, an excuse to God, a reason to God, God gave him a reason to say yes. And I want to encourage you, God's not afraid of your no. But we got to be open to him changing it to a yes, don't we? One of my first dates, I went on with my wife. we were really broke when we first started dating. So we traded off $10 date days. Every Monday, I would do a $10 date day, then she would do a $10 date day.

24:12 And one day, there was some discount tickets to the ice skating rink. Yo, I don't know why I would do this, but it's the cheapest thing available, right? So we go, ice skating rink. And lo and behold, my wife is, you know, I don't know, whatever that is, triple axles. And I'm like, I don't know how to stop. and so while we're skating like i don't know how to stop i try to stop i fall i throw my back out my back is fully thrown out i can't get up she's pulling me off the ice this is a true story this is a great way to get to know someone take them ice skating okay like i couldn't i couldn't i couldn't move like i couldn't move my back i was just in the car oh and one of our closest friends his dad was a chiropractor so she said hey we're gonna go to their house. Like I already called, we're going to do a home visit and show up to their house. And you know, we get in there and I don't know, he put all these contraptions and stuff and he put my back, you know, he popped my back back in place, which by the way, like chiropractors and like murderers, they're right there. It's like one, it's like, I've seen a lot of movies, you know, the wrong way you're done for, you know, you gotta be careful. You gotta, you just gotta be careful. It's gotta be careful. Okay. I follow the TikToks. It's in my algorithm. You know, I was like, what?

25:33 Two feet taller? Like, where'd you get the extra real estate? Like, I don't know. So I got realigned, right? Like I was able to breathe. It didn't hurt to breathe again. But he said, hey, you gotta come see me in the office later this week because we've got more realignment to do. And so we go to the office and Chase Chiropractic, shout out to Chase Chiropractic if you're watching online, discount code there in the comments. And we go to Chase Chiropractor and we do this whole panel of all my issues and he's like, your left leg is longer than your right leg and all these. This one crash revealed I had a whole set of realignments I had to face.

26:16 It's the same for us. We can choose to prehab and we can choose to realign ourselves every day or we can wait for a crash. And when we're in crisis, we can go through the collateral of God having to take more time and more energy.

26:36 I just want to encourage you. Make the decision to say yes to realignment right now. We don't have to be concerned. God, what are you calling me to? God, I don't know what I'm called to. It's really simple. God has called us to love him and love people. It's that easy. If you're concerned, God, are you calling me somewhere else? Are you calling me to do it? No, no. How about you just love the person that's in front of you? the way that you would love Jesus. Amen?

27:02 What type of realignment do you need for your life? What type of moving and resituating and discomfort? Because realignment is uncomfortable, isn't it? It's not like I've realigned and now I feel great and I'm on the worship team now. That's my audition. No, it actually takes intentionality. It's painful. You get sore because your old life is going away and your new life is taking its place. If you've ever gotten married, you realize really quickly, it doesn't matter how much premarital counseling you go to, when you combine two worlds together, it's difficult. When you say yes to Jesus, you're taking your old life and your new life and you're becoming more into the image of Jesus every single day.

27:56 Can I encourage you? This room on Thursday morning looks a lot different than it does now. On Thursday morning at 10 o'clock here at Highland Park, we do something called all church prayer where we take an hour out of our week and say, God, we're gonna choose to seek you. We're gonna choose to be in your presence. God, Sunday is not enough for me. I need a realignment on a Thursday. I need a realignment to show me what you have for the rest of my week. I don't know how many all church prayers we've been in where on a Sunday we get to celebrate what was then a prayer request turns into a praise report. Just in that small gap. I don't know about you. We need realignment every day, every week, every Sunday. God, my yes is whatever you have for me next. Whatever you have for me next.

28:45 You know, realignment to God's assignment, it looks like getting in the flow and following it until God tells you to turn or to get off. I just want to encourage you today. We live in a world where we're terrified on missing out on the next exciting thing. So instead of going like, God, my yes is to just follow whatever you go for me, it starts to look like this. God, that shore over there looks really cool. And I think they're having a potluck over there. God, should I get off on that exit? and instead of actually looking in the direction God's, the alignment of your assignment, you start looking at that assignment and that assignment and that assignment and all of a sudden you start saying things like this. Well, I think that God is calling me to go somewhere else.

29:35 Are you, I just, as far as I'm concerned in scripture, I just see God calling people to plant and to surrender and to commit and to grow and to be a part of a community. I've never seen a plant grow and be healthy planted in two pots at the same time. I want to go to that shore and that shore. You better have some big legs to stretch across that thing. No, instead I'm just saying, yes, God, your assignment, your will, I'm putting my head down. I'm going to flow. I'm going to follow. I'm going to go in the direction you've called me to. God, as I'm going, just align. Do I got to paddle on this side a little bit more? Paddle on that side. Just a realignment of your life. most of your life is just that, just little adjustments, right? But like when you come to church and you're like, I gotta change it all.

30:28 Monday, my whole life is gonna be different. Good luck. It's difficult. It takes time to change everything. In fact, we won't change everything on this side of eternity, but when we're in heaven with Jesus, we're spending eternity with God, all of a sudden we'll be into the image that God's called us to fully live in. But today we have to say yes and then we have to continue to say yes. Amen? Write down point number three. This is the last point. Point number three. It says this. Faith doesn't just say yes. It keeps saying yes. Faith doesn't just say yes. It keeps saying yes. Imagine I just said yes to my wife on our wedding day and I said no on the next day. not a long lasting relationship right no i wake up and i say yes and i wake up and i say yes and i wake up and i say yes and i wake up and i say yes i say yes when i don't feel like saying yes i say yes when she doesn't feel like saying yes i just continue to say yes faith oh i used to think faith had to be this big heady cognitive decision i believe in you god because of all the evidence. Because the science proves it because apologetics, because God, I've seen you work in my life and I've seen you do it time and time again. God, my faith is in you because I feel like it because I've the evidence, but I've learned pretty quickly as I've grown older that that faith, that belief in God looks like a choice, not a feeling.

32:04 sometimes you have to make the decision of belief before you actually believe. And in your yes, God shows up. In your yes, God proves himself faithful. In your yes, God shows up time and time and time again. Yes isn't just a one-time thing. We've got to keep on saying yes. James Clear, he's famous for a book he wrote called Atomic Habits. and it's an incredible book to learn what the effects of bad habits are for your life and really what the effects of amazing habits could do for your life. Something that he writes about is this idea of temporary goals versus becoming.

32:51 And people who set temporary goals usually have temporary success. After they've accomplished their goal, they go back to the old life they used to live. But when you're focused on becoming, you don't have an old life. This is just who you are now. I want to eat healthy for 30 days is the goal. I want to be a healthy person is the becoming. I want to say yes to God for 21 days of prayer and fasting.

33:23 Versus I want to be a person who says yes to God no matter what. Yes isn't, it's not a moment. It's not like a one-time thing. It becomes the reflex of our life. And when you get scared, when you get shaken, when you get startled, when life becomes difficult, your reflex, your knee-jerk response is yes. What would that look like for you? I've gone through seasons where my yes wasn't a reflex.

33:54 It's more of a wrestle. I want to know what God invites you into those seasons. He can't wait to prove to you what your yes could do for you. He can't wait to show you his kindness and his mercy and his grace. You know, Moses wasn't the only one who said yes in the scripture, but there was a whole group of people who said yes. I think it's gonna come up on the screen. Noah said yes and built an ark despite public ridicule and despite rain never having appeared on the earth before. Abraham said yes without knowing where to go. Mary said yes when she said, let it be according to your word. The disciples dropped everything to follow Jesus with their yes. Zacchaeus said yes to Jesus' call to come down and be changed. Ruth said yes to staying with Naomi and God. Esther said yes to where God placed her and saved Israel. Moses said yes and let Israel out of slavery.

34:48 Jesus said yes to the cross and the plan for our salvation. Come on, when are we gonna say yes? How do you spell miracle? Y-E-S how do you spell blessing Y-E-S how do you spell impact Y-E-S how do you spell anointing Y-E-S the greatest gift that God has for you is on the other side of your yes Go ahead and stand to your feet this morning. You know the greatest thing that you could say yes to? the greatest thing that you could say yes to. It's not where God's called you to in this next season. It's not in the person you're going to say yes to to spend the rest of your life with in your marriage. The greatest thing that you could say yes to is God's grace.

35:43 That first yes will become the foundation of the rest of the yeses that you say to God for the rest of your life. you know what's really cool about all these people that we just mentioned all their yeses were connected to someone else someone is waiting for your yes your yes isn't in a vacuum it's not in isolation, it's not hidden away your yes isn't between you and God it actually has an impact with everyone that's around you someone is waiting on the shore for you to say yes to invite them into the flow of God's purpose for their life. You're the reaction. You're the result of someone else's yes. Someone said, yes, I'll invite them. Someone said, yes, I'll include them. Someone said, yes, I'll believe in faith or in prayer. It's not a coincidence that you're here today.

36:40 Someone's yes got you here. Shout out to the Uber drivers. Say yes. your yes, you'll never know. You'll be shocked. You can never overestimate the power of your yes to God.

37:00 One day you're going to get to heaven and you're going to go, how in the world did you get here? Because you said yes one time. When I asked you to pray for me, you prayed for me. Because you said yes one time, you were praying, or you were reading your Bible in a coffee shop. and someone who was struggling with their faith said if they could do it, look at that guy. I can put my trust back in God too.

37:22 Your yes might have the biggest influence, might have 100 acres of land. Your yes might be connected with your siblings or your kids and maybe no one else. But that one yes will make the biggest difference for someone else's life. Go ahead, bow your heads and close your eyes here this morning, maybe today you've been struggling with, maybe it's insecurity. Maybe you feel disappointed. The last time you trusted God, you feel like he left you out to dry or he hurt you. Maybe you feel like you just want to hold on to that control of your life. My way, not God's way. And today you're realizing, maybe for the first time, or maybe this is the hundredth time, that you want to make the decision to say yes to whatever God has for you. Maybe it's just saying yes to reading the word in Zoe Divos.

38:17 Maybe it's a yes to all church prayer. Maybe it's a yes to connect groups. Maybe it's a yes just to keep on showing up. But if that's you today, not with some crazy smoke and loud music, just in a sober decision, you want to say, I want to commit my yes to God, whatever that looks like. If that's you on the count of three, why don't you raise your hand? One, two, three. come on people committing their yeses realigning their lives back to Jesus Lord I thank you right now for every person who's saying God I don't want to do it my way not my will be done but God your will be done my answer is yes God because it's you it's a yes hey we hope that message encouraged you and inspired you to give God your best yes hey we want to keep you up to date with everything going on in the life of Zoe Church head over to zoechurch.org slash events. And just a reminder, subscribe to our podcast. Subscribe to YouTube. We're dropping fresh sermons every single week. We hope you have the best.