Watch God Work | Chad Veach

0:00 Hey, what's going on, everybody? Thank you so much for listening to this week's message from Zoe Church. It's Vision Sunday, and we're going to release and teach the vision here in just a moment. But I want to thank everybody that gives faithfully to and through Zoe Church the impact that you're making here in L.A., around America, and even around the world. Thank you for your generosity. If you'd like to give today, go to our website, and you can give there, whether you're giving a tithe or an offering. offering. Thank you for doing that. Let's jump in. We're teaching out of Ephesians 3.20, Vision Sunday 2025. The title of today's message and our vision is Watch God Work. Amen. All right, Ephesians 3.20. This is one of my favorite scriptures in the Bible. I like this verse so much that I tattooed it on my body. Your boy's only got three tattoos.

0:57 One is G for George and my daughter. One is better at 70 because I want to be better at 70 than I am today. I'm 46 years old, got four kids, four chest hair, but I'm trying to be better at 70 than I am today. And the third one is this verse, Ephesians 3.20. Watch what it says. Now to him who is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all that we ask or think or can imagine according to the power that works in us. Oh, do I love this verse. If you're going to memorize a scripture, if you're going to put a flash card in your car to memorize a verse or put one on your mirror, there is one verse I'm going to ask you to commit to memory is this one right here. Now unto him who is able to do. Anybody believe God's able? who is able to do exceedingly, and what's the next word?

1:54 Abundantly. Keeps going far above. Watch, anything we can, three things. Ask, think, or what? Imagine. According to the power that is at work in us. I said in the video, let me say it again. God wants to do something in you, and it will naturally just fall through you. but God starts first working in us. We're gonna watch God work in us this year, amen? And so I'm just believing this verse for you this year that you're gonna step into the Ephesians 3.20 life for who you are and where you're going. Look at this next one, Habakkuk chapter one, verse five. Look at the nations and watch and be utterly amazed for I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe even if you were told.

2:50 What I'm praying is that this next year, if we were to tell you today God's about to do X, Y, and Z, today you look at somebody, you look at your friend, be like, shut up. Ain't no way God can do all that. There's no way God's gonna do all, are you kidding me? God's gonna be that good and that faithful that you would not even believe even if you were told God's plans for your life are better than your plans. God's vision for your life is better than your vision. And I'm believing that we're gonna be astounded and amazed by the faithfulness and the goodness of God.

3:29 And I just like this word, watch. We're gonna watch God work. Because you and I, we love to watch stuff. Anybody here, you love to people watch? Ooh, people watching is a hobby. Ain't nothing like going to the mall or going. The airport is good people watching. I gotta be honest. Because the fashion is disastrous. But I like, you wanna really have good people watching? Go to Walmart. Walmart got the best people watching available. I'm just telling you. Just get a car and watch, amen. I don't know what your favorite In-N-Out is. My favorite In-N-Out is the LAX In-N-Out. I like the LAX In-N-Out because across the street, all these people are just watching planes. They're just watching some plane fly in from Korea or Canada or something. They're just watching planes. We love to watch. We watch people. We watch planes. We watch people on social media, your doom scrollers. We watch people.

4:26 We watch celebrities. We just watch. We just always watch it. You watch your neighbors. Anybody spying your neighbors? Don't raise your hand. But we're always watching. And I'm telling you this next year, we are going to lift our eyes to the mountains where we know where our help comes from. It comes from you, the maker of heaven and earth. And I'm just believing we're going to watch. Oh, come on, praise him today. We're going to watch God work. And we're not going into this year looking for evidence of his absence. We're going to look for evidence of his presence. Let me just remind you, whatever you look for, you're going to find. So if you look for everything negative and you look for everything bad and you look for everything evil, you're going to find bad, negative, and evil. But if you look for blessing and you look for breakthrough and you look for good, you're going to find good. You're going to find whatever you're looking for. So I'm not going in this next year looking for, oh, LA is so bad and taxes are so hard and it rains once a year.

5:31 No, we ain't going to that. We're going to this year going, I see revival. I see a move of God. I see breakthrough. Who am I preaching to today? You got to change your focus. We're going to watch the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of the Dodgers do a new thing. Hallelujah. See, my thing is that we've got to shift our focus to look for evidence of his presence. Remember, when you talk about people, if you want to just look for all the negative in people, you can find that easily. But if you look for the positive, you can find the uniqueness of their life, how they were fearfully and wonderfully made, the plan that God has for them. You've got to be careful how you look at things. Zoe is Zoe beautiful because I say it's beautiful or is it beautiful because of the eye of the beholder no you got to see God's house the way God sees it God sees it as radiant he sees it as magnificent and there's no plan B he only has a plan A and I'm just telling you we're gonna watch God work we're gonna watch God work in South Bay I call South Bay little Orange County we're gonna watch God work in our in our youth and our kids and I'm just gonna make an appeal if you're looking for a place to serve in our church I want you to prayerfully consider this year working and serving in our kids ministry or working and serving in our youth ministry amen those kids workers downstairs they are not babysitting they are raising up the future leaders of the world and the future leaders of this house Thank you.

7:16 We're going to watch God work. We're going to watch God do amazing, incredible, profound things. And if somebody were to whisper in your ear, hey, in the next year, God's about to do X, Y, Z, you look at him and be like, you're so dumb. No way. That's so, there's no way. But I believe God is full of surprises. and God wants to bless you more than you want to bless yourself. God gives good gifts to his children. Anybody believe that today?

7:52 God's not rewarding you based upon your behavior. God rewards you because you're a son and a daughter of the most high God. And God is cooking up and strategizing good things on your behalf. Anybody believe that today? we're gonna watch God work in order for us to watch God work you need three things in your life number one write down number one you need great expectation we are expecting great things from a great God we are turning up the level of our faith and our expectation because we know that God always meets us at the level of our expectation let me say it this way if you got a really small God, you got really big problems. But if you got a really big God, you got really small problems. Anybody believe today that God is who he says he is and he can do what he said he would do? We're going to expect great things from a great God. Look at Isaiah chapter 40. It says this, but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and they will not faint. Those that wait upon the Lord. What the Bible is not saying is that we're going to spend one year on the couch just waiting on God. God, you give me the job. God, you find me the husband. God, you do all this stuff.

9:16 I'm just going to sit back and watch. No, when the Bible says to wait on the Lord, it's like a waiter or a waitress that's serving the one giving orders. I'm coming to God this year and I'm saying, God, what do you want me to do? Where do you want me to serve? How do you want me to be involved? Those that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They will rise on the wings of an eagle. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and they will not faint. You know what the Bible is saying? Waiting on God requires motion. Waiting on God requires activity. I'm not just watching God work. I'm serving God with gladness. And as I serve him, great things disappear. Why did it say run and walk? Because when you serve God, you're running for God, and you're walking in the faith of God. So those that wait for the Lord, I'm telling you, we're going to turn up the level of expectation. And some of you today, maybe you walked in, and you got your expectation level at two. Maybe you've got your expectation all the way, halfway, you're at a five. Maybe you're good enough, you've walked with God, you're at an eight.

10:23 I'm asking Zoe Church to be at a 10 this year. We are expecting great things from a great God. Not because I'm amazing, but because he is amazing. So my expectation is not based upon me. My expectation is based upon his character and his nature. Amen? So I'm level 10 in my expectations. God always meets us at the level of our expectation. Let me say that again. God always meets us at the level of our expectation. So if you're at a two, we're gonna limit and we're gonna cut off God to be two in your life. If you're five, I say you go 10 and you watch God. What's the third word? I'll work, yeah, yeah, we gonna watch God work, amen? Because faith is what honors God the most and it's what God mostly honors.

11:20 Our faith in God is what honors God the most, and it's what God mostly honors. Years ago, I wrote a book called Faith Forward Future. And I wrote this book, Faith Forward Future, because I really believe that life should not be lived through the rearview mirror of glory. We're not called to follow God and look in the rearview mirror. Those were the days. Oh, man, I was so in shape.

11:48 Dude, that was so much fun. You ever go through your photo library and you're like, wow, we were killing it. Dude, those were the days. I was like, no, they weren't. You were just as miserable, just complaining as much. You're just unsatisfied. You're miserable to be around, to be honest. So no, those weren't the days. Those are good photos. life is not to be lived through the rear view glory mirror it's to be lived through the windshield of faith looking ahead unto Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith so I got my eyes looking forgetting those things which are behind me I'm pressing forward to the things that are in front of me what are you about to do in my life what are you about to do through my life? What are you about to speak to me? What are you about to heal in me? What are you about to deliver me from? I'm about to watch God do a mighty work on the inside. It's going to get off. It's going to result in the outside.

12:52 I like the subtitle of the book we wrote. It was moving past disappointments, delays, and destructive thinking. Moving past, anybody here by show of hands, you've ever been disappointed? Disappointed with somebody or disappointed with yourself? Amen. We've all been through disappointment. What about delays? You ever felt like God was not on your timetable? Not working quick enough or fast enough? delays, disappointments. How about destructive thinking? When you're not thinking well about yourself, you're not thinking good thoughts about others. Therefore, in turn, you're not thinking good thoughts about God. No, we're going to raise up the level of our expectation to say, I know that you are good. I know that you are faithful. I know that you are for me. who can be against me.

13:47 Amen? And Jesus said, in order to have great expectation, you need to have faith the size of a mustard seed. Put it up on the screen. I like this. Matthew 17, he replied, because you have so little faith, truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, move from here to there, and it will move. Nothing will be impossible to you. Nothing, in fact, the next scripture you'll put on the screen. The Bible says what is impossible for man is possible for God. See, if it was a year of going like, you better work, you better make it happen, you better network, you better grind, you better build that business, you better get right. No, no, no, the pressure's not on us.

14:39 we're not gonna have a year of us performing. We're gonna have a year of us believing that you are who you say you are and you can do what you said you would do. Oh, I like this. Put it on the screen. Faith sees the invisible, believes the unbelievable, and receives the impossible. Put the next one up. Even mustard seed faith can move mountains because it's not the size of your faith, but it's about the size of your God.

15:14 I don't know about you, but I got a really big God. Amen? And so my expectations are all the way up. God, if you have done these amazing things in the past, if you have been so faithful and kind, if you have, I'll never forget, when we first started the church, I needed a car. We only could afford one car. and I was Ubering around the city and I was just, we didn't have no money and I was telling God, I need a car, I need a car.

15:46 You ever pray like that? I need a car. I'm done with all the sweet stuff I need. All super upset. Trying to build your church. and I was praying, I was praying, I was praying, I was praying, I got, I need a car, I need a car.

16:07 I'll never forget, I woke up one morning from a text from a friend from Rancho Cucamonga. Why do you think I love Rancho Cucamonga so much? And this guy said, my father, who's a man of prayer, was praying this morning, and the Lord told him to buy you a car. Here's three websites, pick out any car you want. Now, when somebody texts you that, out of courtesy, you ask, what's the budget?

16:35 Like, is the Lord saying Kia or the Lord talking BMW? Like, because I want to be respectful. And he wrote back, the Lord told him to buy you any car you want. Last week, we were driving. Me and my son were on his way to his baseball tournament, and we went by the dealership where I met the pastor and they brought a check paid for the car in full. And I said, you know what that dealership is? He's like, no. And I was like, it's the dealership where the Lord gave us a car. Did that man buy us a car or did the Lord buy us a car? I expect great things from a great God. I've watched God do incredible things. I've watched God move mountains. How about you?

17:29 I've watched the sick recover and be healed. I've watched people that were struggling in addiction get set free. How about you? I've watched families get restored back together. How about you? I've got my faith all the way up because I've watched God work in the past, and I got faith he's going to. Come on, clap. If you believe he did it before and you got faith he's going to do it again, Why don't you take a moment and in advance, give them a praise of thanksgiving. Give them a praise of, I know that my God is about to do exceedingly, abundantly, far above anything I could ever ask. Anything I could ever think. Give them a praise if you believe it's bigger than what you can imagine. It's going to overwhelm you according to the power. Give them a praise today, Zoe. Hallelujah.

18:21 Hallelujah. That's the God we serve. That's the God we worship. That's the God we preach about. That's the God we show up for. That's the God we surrender to. That's the God I've submitted to. That's the God that I give my sacrifice. It's the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And if he did it before, he'll do it again. So I'm telling you this year, we are going to take our expectations, and we're gonna move them all the way up to 10. We're gonna say, my God is about to, I know he's done great things, but if you could buy cars, what else can you give us? Amen? And it's not about cars, although some of you are like, it is. No, it's about cars, sir. it's not about cars it's about the next god thing he wants to do in your life it's about the next god thing he wants to do in this life amen so i'm just telling you we're gonna have great expectations i'm so excited to see the level of your faith soar into new heights of trust belief and confidence new heights of trust belief and confidence you are who you say you are, and you can do what you said you would do. Period. Or as the kids say, that part.

19:49 It felt so good to say it. Just so excited to say it. The first thing it's gonna require is great expectation. Second thing, write it down. Practical obedience. Practical obedience. Because our faith is going to be here and our feet are going to run to whatever God has asked us to do. We're not gonna watch on the couch God work. We're gonna get up off the couch. How about this? Let's pray like it depends on him and let's work like it depends on us. We're gonna pray and trust God with our faith and then we're gonna move our bodies and move our feet in the direction that God has planned for our life. We're gonna be aligned and anchored in the will of God.

20:41 This is gonna take practical obedience. I love this about God. It just takes practical obedience. And some of us, we gotta understand that in order for the blessing to happen, you gotta obey. Because we just sometimes are satisfied with just hearing from God. No, you gotta step out and you gotta obey God. The blessing doesn't show up because you heard something. The blessing shows up when you obey someone. And then all of a sudden, the blessing of God will overwhelm your life. But we're gonna just get practical in our obedience to God. We're gonna do whatever he says. I love this, that the first miracle that Jesus ever performs in the scriptures, the first miracle we ever see Jesus perform, I like it so much because it's at a wedding and it means the connotation is festivity.

21:30 So I like it right away. And they're at a wedding and they're not at the ceremony because the ceremony is boring, no offense. But the good stuff is afterwards when we're going. And the Bible, I'm just teaching you what the Bible says. The Bible says they run out of wine. Oh, no.

21:50 And Jesus' mama says to him, it's your time because we run out of wine. And he said, mom, it's not my time. And she says, it'll be your time when I say it's your time. And she says, it's time because we've run out of wine. Reveal your glory. And so Jesus turns water into what? Wine. Watch what it says. John chapter 2. What his mother said to the servants before the miracle, do whatever he tells you to.

22:22 I like that. He's going to perform his miracle if you do whatever he tells you to do. Some of us just want him to turn water into wine. Some of us just want God to do the stuff. You fix it, God. You reconcile it, God. You give me the, you provide. No, no, God's got, you have to do whatever he tells you to do. So our faith is here and our feet are, oh, come on, clap like you're ready to obey God. Jesus says, if you love me, you will obey me. How could you say you love me and you don't obey me? There's four reasons why people don't obey God. They don't obey God because they're insecure, immature, they're stifled in fear, or they're addicted. Sometimes people are too insecure to step out and obey what God said.

23:17 Do you know how secure Noah had to be to build an ark in Palm Springs? he out here building an ark in Palm Springs. People every day walking by on their Instagram story, there go that idiot. He go to that cult.

23:39 Noah's like, okay, what y'all think? I'm not afraid of what you think. I'm not insecure in me. I'm secure in who Christ has called me to be. Insecurity, immaturity. Some people are too immature in your character or just life yet. That's why I always think people that are too immature to obey, give them three years. Life will beat you up so much, you're like, all right, you win. Yeah, I don't want to go to Tarshish again. I'm not trying to end up in the belly of a whale. I will obey.

24:17 Insecurity, immaturity, fear. How about addiction? People are literally stuck in addiction. They wanna get free, but they can't until they surrender to the love of Jesus. What I'm here to tell you is that you having faith in God without obeying God is having lip service. I worship you with my mouth and my words, but I don't worship you with my lifestyle. I pray here at Zoe that we will have great expectation and we will have practical obedience to what God has asked us to do. We are not just hearers of the word, we are, sorry, what was the word? We are doers. If you're new to church, look at this scripture. Watch this, James chapter two, verse 17. In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. Our faith coupled with our action is the lethal combination.

25:18 It's not just that I believe in God, it's that I've got so much faith that it gets into my feet and affects how I live Monday through Saturday. So I'm gonna have great expectation, but I'm gonna have practical obedience to what God tells me to do. Anybody in the Bible, anybody in the Bible that had to see something great from God had to first obey God. If you ask Abraham, he'll tell you about his obedience. You talk to Elijah, he'd tell you about his obedience. If you interview David, he'd tell you about his obedience. Anybody in the Bible had to obey God. One of my favorite stories of obedience in the Bible is a guy named Naaman. He's a captain in the army. He's of high rank. He's of high official. He's very respected, and he's got a skin problem. He's got an issue with his skin. He's got leprosy, and he's kind of embarrassed, and so he goes to see this one prophet, and the prophet, instead of just laying hands on him and just healing him right there on the spot, says, I need some practical obedience, and tells him to go dip into water seven times.

26:19 The problem with this is this is gonna make him feel vulnerable, it's gonna make him feel exposed, it's gonna make him feel weak in front of the eyes of others. But Naaman knows I cannot expect a blessing without obeying the voice of God. So Naaman says, I know you might make fun of me, I know it's not what I want to do, I know it's not comfortable or convenient, but it's the God thing that he's asked me to do. So Naaman just goes ahead and gets in there seven times. He goes in and out of the water on the seventh time. Somebody say seventh time. On the seventh time, the miracle happens. Stop expecting God to move in your life after you just do one thing one time. You gotta stay faithful and obedient and committed and submitted. Come on, clap if you believe it. My faith is here and my feet. Hey, give him a praise today. Okay, obedience is showing up, forgiving again, tithing again, serving again. Obedience is how we keep our hearts aligned and anchored to God and his truth. It's just obedience in the same direction. I'm going to keep showing up. I'm going to keep praying. I'm going to keep serving. I'm going to keep tithing, and I'm going to keep watching God work in my life in unbelievable ways. Come on, clap and praise him today. And what I love about God, what I love about God is our God is not a God that's mute. God is not a catch me if you can kind of God.

27:54 Jesus said my sheep will recognize my voice And and and god will tell you what to do marching orders from heaven I'm still going back. I was thinking as I was preparing When's the last time I really felt like I heard god heard god? You know sometimes people like How do you know if you heard god you will know when you hear god? and I'll never forget, I was in New Zealand. This is before COVID. I was in New Zealand. I was in a worship service, and I felt God speak to me. I grabbed my phone so fast, I started to write as fast as I could. I wrote down five things the Lord told me to do, and I'm still walking in obedience to those five things today. I'm still thinking about them today. so much of what you and I experience are because of what God told me to do six years ago.

28:54 My expectation is here, but my obedience is practical. Don't get souped up on worship music. God's about to move. No, when I move, you move. Just like that. That was good. That was good. It came to me, I was like, should I check it down? Julia's right here. Nah, just go with it. She's gonna be mad anyways, huh? Number three, worship team, come join me. So it's great expectation. It's practical obedience. And we are going to worship in stillness, worshipful stillness. As we wait on God, as we follow Jesus, we are going to worship and surrender to whatever God asks and whatever God wants.

29:52 The Bible says in Psalm 46, verse 10, be still and know that I am God. be still. So that verse to me speaks of don't manipulate, don't force, don't coerce, don't make stuff happen in your own strength, in your own merit.

30:16 Do you know how many people I've watched marry the wrong person because they forced it? Go through bad business deals because they wanted something so bad? We will not force. We're gonna wait for it's clear, this is heaven. How do you know it's God? I'll tell you how it's gone. so much peace when he shows up in there last verse put this one up, Psalm we are going to taste and see that the Lord is good tangible I can taste it but not only can I taste it, I can see the goodness of God in my life and I don't know what goodness looks like for you next. That's between you and heaven, or whatever breakthrough you need, whatever miracle you're believing for, but I believe that as you're blessed, we're blessed.

31:17 As you prosper, we prosper. What I didn't ask you to do today is watch God work at Zoe. You are Zoe. So it's not about the buildings. It's not about the different outreaches. It's about the people of God flourishing in the house of God. Watching God do immeasurably more than you could ever ask, think, or imagine. I'm believing for you that you're gonna taste it and you're gonna see it God is good when we get done next year in November it will not rain on Vision Sunday next year I prophesy that I allowed it this year I will not allow it next year and if you look back and you go whoa whoa What?

32:16 All that in a year? man, God got a hold of my character. He got a hold of my heart. I submitted to him. I am more free today than I was a year ago. I got more joy today than last year this time. My friendships are richer. My family is better. My soul is prospering. how did you get there well i just put my expectations on god and i said i know that you're not a man that you would lie you're a promise giver and a promise keeper and i expect you to be good in my life let's start obeying god i obeyed him in my morals my standards my values my principles i obeyed him when nobody was watching i obeyed him when everybody was watching I just walked with God.

33:16 And I worshiped. Man, did I worship. This was how I fought my battles. I fought my battles with my hands raised and my mouth lifted, saying, God is good. I'm just telling you, you do that, you do those three things, you're going to watch God work. Amen? Come on, stand to your feet. Again, thank you so much for listening to this message. We pray that it brought you great strength and great encouragement and that it brought you and taught you more about Jesus. If you'd like to subscribe to these podcasts, make sure you hit the subscribe button so you don't miss out on any messages. But we'll see you back next Sunday at Zoe Church.