Walking With God: Dave Ward’s Message on Recognizing God’s Pace

That's amazing Clint, because I I really felt like I was supposed to cast out demons out of the No, I'm just messing with you. Um so good to to be with you all. I'm not I'm not speaking on uh deliverance tonight as far as I know. Um is that biblical rain?

How many of you Well done for making it. You're either desperate or hungry if you're in the room. Uh but the Lord values both and will reward both. If you're at home, you're wise and the Lord will bless you, too. How many of you got the text mid-service about like basically that we're we're trapped?

So, this could be a very very long sermon tonight. We could be here We might be here all night. Um But uh it's a it's a gift to be with you. Um as Clint said, my name is Dave. I have been in this environment now for 15 years, which is amazing.

My wife and I, like so many of us, uh came for 1 year and we got trapped. We got hooked. We got stuck and we're very grateful about it. And um we've since had four red-headed Americans. I've got one of my uh my wingman, John. Stand up. Say hi.

Just give everybody a wave. This is John. And um Yeah, Redding's home. And as Clint said, I get to to lead the second-year environment and uh also Twin View on a Sunday with my wife and uh it's a lot of fun. So, I'm not speaking on deliverance tonight, but I I have a word that I I feel like is on the heart of God.

Um let me just pray and then we'll we'll jump right in. Jesus, thank you for the rain. I was saying this morning, I remember we prayed in a drought for years and years for water, for rain. And uh so this is an answered prayer, but we do we do ask, Lord, that you'd keep those safe.

And you protect houses and valuable things. And I I pray that this um this water, this rain would um bless Redding's land, bless Redding city, and protect us from fires in the summer. And everyone said, amen. Amen. So, um tonight if I had a title, I love I love a title.

I can't help myself. Uh tonight if there is a title for anyone that makes notes, it'd be this, uh walking with God. Walking with God. And I I kind of want to teach a little bit out of my life. Um I'm definitely not preaching at you tonight. I'm very much speaking to my myself, too, as as I hope will become clear.

Um but if I was going to set it up, it would be this. My My life My life first, Dave Ward's life first, is John 17:3. And it says this, uh this is eternal life that they might know him. And [snorts] I think sometimes we get caught on that eternal, so just think of it like this.

This is life that you might know him. Uh and I I uh that's crucial for me because I think we often think we're adding God to life. But if you look in scripture, there's this fresh um revelation in the new covenant that God himself is life and everything else is added to it.

If you think about this, Psalm 103 as well, uh Bill often shares this verse. It says, Moses was acquainted with the ways of God, and the Israelites were acquainted with his works. There's this distinction in intimacy. And I hope you're like me, when you hear there's an option, you can either be acquainted with God's works or actually know his ways.

I hope all of us are like, "Oh, God, I want to know his ways." Is anyone else with me on that front? Okay, good. I'm in the right place. This is what I've learned about myself. When I pray those prayers and I really really mean them, "God, I really want to know your ways.

Oh, I really want to know your ways." I've learned I mean it, but my prayer changes really quickly in trial and blessing. Trial and blessing. When I'm in trial, my prayer from I just want to know you very quickly moves TO GET ME OUT. HELP. HELP. And in blessing times times, it's like, "Oh, yeah, um give me more.

Give me more." And so tonight I said the title was walking with God. I want to if I if I can, teach us about the pace of God, cuz God has a pace. And I've learned that his pace and my pace are not always the same. And I've discovered this most in trial.

Trial has a pace, if you will. And even blessing, which I hope to show tonight, blessing has a pace. And if we're not careful, we can waste our trials, we can waste our blessings, and miss the John 17:3 privilege of walking with him in every season. You ready?

Say, "Yes, Dave." Okay. So, I'm I'm going to uh jump in. We're going to go for trials first. And if you've got your Bibles, turn to Psalm 23. And so I want to try and show you I think this is the human condition. When I'm in trials, I'd love to tell you every time I'm in a trial, my first thought, Dave Ward, goes, "Oh, thank you, Jesus, for this wonderful trial.

Where are you? Hi." But more often than not, my first thought, cuz trial means pain, discomfort, pressure. Are you alive? Do you know what I'm talking about? Trial for me, I'm not like, "Oh, thank you, Jesus. I just love pain and pressure. Yum. Yes, more, Lord. Where are you?"

That's not my first thought. My first thought is, "How on earth do I get out of here?" I don't even think that's an illegal prayer. If you read through scripture, it's full of God delivering us. Uh but I want to show you a sneaky secret, I believe, a key, if you will, to actually uh friendship with him.

And it's to do with his pace. So, if you're on your Bibles, turn to Psalm 23. And I want to tell you from the get-go, Psalm 23 is a trap, okay? Some of you I'm about to show you how You'll understand me in just a moment. Psalm 23 is a trap.

It starts off good, lulls you into a false sense of security, and boom. Okay, so here we are. So, it's like, "The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want." Oh, I love you being my shepherd, Jesus. Isn't that lovely? In other translations, it says, "I lack nothing."

I love lacking nothing. That sounds wonderful. Yes, Lord. What a lovely start to this Psalm. Well done, David. And it goes on, "He makes me He makes me" "lie down in green pastures." Oh, surrender. I surrender green pastures. I love green pastures. Think about this, you're a sheep.

So, what God is saying, he makes you, forces you, poor me, to lie down as a sheep in my food, in my delicious green food. I'm like, lovely, I can do that. Sounds good. Wonderful. Turn the page. Keep going. "He leads me beside still waters." I love still waters.

This is amazing. Yes, Lord, you're a great leader. I love your lordship, Jesus. Oh, the still waters. "He restores my soul." Wonderful. Love that, too. Restores my soul. So, I'm surrounded. I'm a sheep. Remember, you're all sheep right now. You're surrounded by green, abundant pastures. So, food is everywhere.

You just sleep and you wake up and you eat. And then there's quiet water. And while you're doing all that, this amazing shepherd is restoring your soul. Oh, Psalm 23. Go to the top of the list. It's my fave. This is wonderful. It says, "He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake."

Love that, too. It's often in these places, in these seasons, where God just following God It's often like the start of your journey. It's just everything's magical. There's, you know, the heavenly angels are playing and blessings coming and everywhere you look it's comfortable. You're like, "Oh, Jesus, I just love following you."

And uh you pray those prayers in this season, "Lord, I follow you. I surrender. I give you my life. I give you everything. Where you go, I go. Where you go, I go." What you got You know that song that old song? You just love singing that. "I just give you my whole heart, God.

Take me wherever you want." But it's quite easy to secretly think that means green pastures and still water. Are you all more mature in the men spiritual or do you Yeah, okay, good. Okay, so Psalm 23. It's been going swimmingly so far. Scene change. The plot thickens. So, you're you're you've been, you know, waltzing through skipping through the green meadows. "Even though I walk through the valley" The valley?

I don't love valleys. Okay, I'll keep going. "of the shadow of death." WHAT? REVERSE. REVERSE. [screaming] BACK UP. BACK UP TO THE GREEN PASTURES and the still waters. This is a terrible plan. Back. Back. Back. Of course, the Lord's the shepherd, so you try backing up back to the nice comfortable place.

But the Lord keeps going. So, then you find yourself saying, "Walking through the Who Who wants to walk through the valley of the shadow of death? Run. Sprint. Hurry. Haste." No, this this great king, this God that doesn't always make sense, wants to walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

God, this sucks. This Psalm is This is going down the list. "You know, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me." Now, let me tell you, you know you're in the valley of the shadow of death. Have you ever seen a rod or a staff?

Like these bony sticks. You know, often uh in scripture, one of the things it means is is discipline. So, you know when you're going through the valley of the shadow of death, when this big like ornery staffy stick, that's your comfort. That's another level. Anyhow, if you're lucky enough, you're blessed enough, you know, you're with God in it, and you make it through the valley of the shadow of death.

You're mad at God cuz you were walking and you could be running. I don't like that pace of God. How many of you would love to, if you could choose, go, "God, can we walk slowly through this valley, this trial, this shadow of death, or can we run as fast as we can?"

Most of us I think would be like, "I'll take the running option. How do I get out of here as quickly as possible?" But anyway, let's say you've made it. We've made it through. Thank you, God. That was tough, but we did it. High five. Thank you. Well done.

You're a great leader. Now we made it through. I would have preferred running, but I'll I'll I'll bless you for walking. So we go on. You prepare a table before me. Thanks, God. We made it through that difficult season together, the valley of the shadow of death. I forgive you for walking.

It's fine. But you're rewarding me with a table. That's so thoughtful of you. You prepare a table before me in the Oh, the presence. I love your presence. Yes. In the presence of my enemies? WHAT? OH, IT'S GOT WORSE. Just a moment ago we were walking through the valley of the shadow of death.

Now we're we're stopped. We're sitting in the presence of our enemies. This is awful. >> [snorts] >> You prepare a table. I just imagine myself being like, "Prepare a table? What about an army? Prepare an army or weapons, escape route?" I want you to imagine you're in the worst season of your life.

Your enemies are all around you and you're like searching for a way out. Over here. Help me, Lord. Look. You look to You look over there. I'll look over here. And you turn around and he's just setting a table in what feels like the worst place in your life.

God, have you gone bananas? Are you crazy? This is not a time This is not a time for fellowship. Rescue me. I'll make a deal with you. How about How about you get me out of here and then we'll make a table. It'll be wonderful. I'll even cook for you.

But God thinks different to us. I'm being slightly funny. I'm being slightly silly. But if we're honest, if I'm honest, my impulse, my desire in pain, in suffering, although my life verse is God every situation, I just want to know you. I want to be with you. I just I want to discover more of you.

Dave finds that when he gets into difficult, painful, confusing situations, my natural response is fight or flight. And yet I wonder in the kingdom if God's response is come sit. Come sit. I want to show you something really precious here. What if there's a table in my trial and your trial right now?

What if there's a table that we're in such anxiety and urgency, such pace, rush, haste, trying to work our way out? What if God's deliverance, which sometimes does look like pulling out, that's clear in scripture. What if God's deliverance actually in our situation right now looks like setting a table and sitting and slowing down.

There's a pace in God. There's a pace in God. There's a a relational pace where he thinks differently to us. And often trial and tribulation speeds us up and we become so quick to [snorts] try and remove ourselves perhaps from the very place he's looking to sit with us.

If you read on here, it's it's stunning to me. So in the presence of my enemies, says you anoint my head with oil. It's interesting. Remember when we're back in the green pastures and the still waters, the anointing, the oil doesn't come there. It comes in the last place I would want it to.

It just gets better. My cup overflows. What does this speak of? This speaks of abundance, of the generosity, of the wealth, of the plenty, of God. How often do I take long enough in my trial? What if the lack, the perceived lack of the season I'm in, the the absence of answer, what if hidden in that very place, if I just stop and sit at this table, what if there's a cup that overflows with abundance?

What if wealth is hidden right in front of me? I want you to imagine you're sitting at the table with God. This is me adding to this, but I I wonder if as David turns his eyes from his enemies and surrenders to sitting at a table when everything inside him wants to work out how to get out.

There's this moment of surrender where you have to go, "Oh, if God has prepared a table, oh Lord, I've got to trust you. I I turn away from my enemies and I sit." And I just wonder as he's sitting, he starts to that urgency comes down. That anxiety comes down.

And he moves from how do I get out to Hi, Jesus. Oh, there you are. And that urgency to remove himself from the situation starts to fade away in the beauty of God in the middle of his mess. And I wonder, it doesn't say this, but to me as he sits, as he feasts with God, as God anoints him with oil, it's like in that flow we have with God, suddenly he makes these bold revelations.

Staggering. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. >> [snorts] >> And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. I don't know if this makes sense to you, but the very place I want to run from, God, what if God has packed full packed full of treasure, packed full of blessing?

What if I I I have this mindset, "I'll get out and then we'll do it." And what happens if God is actually earmarking your trial as a place, if only you and I will look for the table? In my own life, I want to share kind of a season of experiences myself.

In my early 20s, uh it really started in my teenage years, but I suffered from just torment and anxiety at such an awful level. Um It came in ways There were just periods of my life. I did everything I knew, if you will, like the Psalm 23. I very much felt like I was walking in the shadow of death, definitely walking though I wanted to run.

Felt like I was sitting in the presence of my enemies. And the harder I tried to fix myself, the worse it got. I was put on antidepressants a few times. Didn't work for me. Uh I went to therapy a bunch of times. Didn't work for me. Somehow I became a therapist, which is a story for another day, which was strange and ironic.

Um that didn't work for me either. I read every self-help book I could. Um I was just trying to find a way, "How do I get out of this this awful space? How do I free myself? How do I remove myself from this trial?" I was at the time in this particular time a therapist myself.

So every day I had to get on the underground London, across London. And just to get on the underground was panic attack inducing. So I'd get on and just about make it all the way to work, get there, and I had on my list like, "Ooh, five anxious and depressed people I'm counseling today."

And I can barely hold it together myself. Obviously I didn't tell them that, but I, you know, put on my best, you know, counselor's face. And they're sitting there with me, you know, going through the awful things that they're going through. When you're already really anxious and depressed, spending your working hours talking to people also really anxious and depressed, it's it's not a It's funny now, it wasn't then.

And they're like, "You have no idea what I'm going through." And I'm like, "You have no idea that actually I do have an idea, but I can't tell them that as their counselor cuz then they'd really get hopeless. If you find out your counselor's depressed and anxious, you're like, "I'm screwed.

There's no hope for me." So I'd get through one session and then I'd normally get a gap and I'd just break in my office, just weep and weep. I was so tormented in my mind. The harder I tried to fix my mind, the worse it got. I know that there's a Bible verse that I'm sure is has deep revelation, but without the revelation it nearly killed me.

You know the verse that says, "Take every thought captive." Man, that verse messed me up when I was under religion cuz I was like, "If you've got a brain like mine, trying to take your thoughts captive." I have 400 a moment. So have you ever played that game Twister when it's like, "Put your foot on right here and then your arm under here and then your leg."

That's how my mind felt. It's like take every thought captive. So, I wake up at 7:00 a.m. I'm like, okay, here we go. Go. 1 2 3 4 5, YOU KNOW. AND by like 7:30, I'm like, I'm doomed. I'm screwed. I'm a terrible person. So, if you have great revelation that's actually brought you life and freedom, tell me because I still haven't got it from that verse.

So, the harder I tried to control my mind, the worse it got. I became more and more convinced there was just something wrong with me. And I was in my first year of marriage. It was so brutal. Every day I'd get home and just be a weeping mess.

And you know, you've got all these ideas as a husband I'm going to be this and I'm going to be that. And I'm just every day coming home just like you know. It like so humiliating, just such a defeat. And because this was my third really episode or breakdown in a few years, I genuinely believed that this was my lot for the rest of my life.

So much so that people would sometimes prophesy over me and say, "Dave, you know, you're there so that you can say, I just really see peace on your life." And I'd quietly think to myself, oh, it's a bad word. I I I'm many things, but peace is just something that is just not available to me.

Uh I I had so many good people speak negative things over me. This is because your, you know, grandfather's grandson's, you know, mother's, sister's, uncle's dog had anxiety. You're like, "Oh gosh, I'm screwed, you know." And you know, all that, you know, it goes all the way back.

You're doomed, basically. And people meaning well, trying to give me a human mercy by basically labeling me and saying this is how you'll always be. I remember thinking uh I will only experience peace like when I'm, you know, 50 or 60 and wise and gray and like Gandalf, you know.

Or dead. That was honestly, no joke, I was like, life is just one horrible survival. I get through one day. Oh, that was a good day. Thank God. Go to sleep. Wake up. And off my mind goes again. And in this season it got so bad. Many close to me said, "Dave, go back to the doctor.

Get back on more pills and more medication. Uh do all the stuff that you know to do." And yet I had my wife and a spiritual mom at the time saying, "Hey, you've tried everything. You haven't actually trusted God. You haven't tried the voice of God yet." And I always say this um because there's no shame for me in the journey.

All the antidepressants, all the therapy, all that kind of stuff. All those things I think can be beautiful. And God for many will actually lead you to that path. So, please hear me. I'm not saying any of that stuff is not of God. But for me in that particular season it was masking me trying everything to fix, to get [snorts] out of this messy situation.

And I tried basically everything but the Father himself. So, one particular night I threw away my antidepressants. I threw away my self-help books. I still had a therapist. I couldn't quit that quite yet. Um uh and I basically said, "Okay, God, it's you and me. I'm desperate. I don't have any faith that this is going to work, but I I've tried everything.

I have tried to get out of this trial. And at the harder I try, the worse it gets." And uh I genuinely wasn't like, "Oh Lord, I want to know you here." I was like, "I don't want to know you here. I want to be rescued out of here.

Get me out. Give me peace. Uh I'll pull this lever. I'll do 100 press I'll do whatever it takes. I want to know you to get me out of here." And through [snorts] this strange journey, I won't go into all the details tonight, but um I had a leader in my life say, "Why don't you write down in a journal She said, 'Buy a journal.'

I wasn't a journaler. Buy a journal." I was like, here we go. And she said, "Write down D for Dave and tell God say, 'Hi God.' And tell him how you're feeling." I was like, that's that's going to have lots of rather spicy language. She said, "What have you got to lose?"

I said, "Fair enough." And she said, "At the end of what you when you've written what you've written, which will be very depressing, which it was, write G for God and write back what he says to you." I said to that sounds so back then I didn't really believe in that.

So, I'm like, that sounds just like I'm going to be talking to myself, pretending to be God. That just sounds really dumb. I don't believe that's going to be God and that's going to help me. And she said, "How's your life working out, Dave?" I said, "Very good point.

My life sucks. Yes, I'm falling apart. Very good point." She said, "I want you to suspend disbelief." I think she said for 6 weeks, 2 months. What else do you have to lose?" And I can take you to where I was suspend disbelief. What I mean by that is like, put aside that you don't have any faith or belief.

Just what else do you have to lose? Do it. Even if it's you writing to yourself, what do you have to lose? I can take you to the place Well, I can't now cuz someone else lives there and they'd call the police. But there's a space in London I could take you to.

On that first day, I wrote D for Dave. Hi God. I'm going to talk to you. I think I'm really just talking to myself. But this wonderful person's told me to do it. So, here we go. I'm really mad at it. I've I've had a rant. And then when I went to write for God and I wish I could tell it happened every time like this.

But it really was like the clouds parted and just the sun of his face came into the room. And he took my pen and I started to write things as he responded too kind, too funny, too soft, too gentle, too relaxed as he wrote over me. And it just broke.

It pierced through the shields that had surrounded my heart and mind. And it was like I heard him for me. I heard him for me. It wasn't like that every day. Many days I would write and I'd get to the end of it and think, that could be me.

That could be God. But over those those few months something started to happen where I started to build confidence that I was actually meeting with him. And over time, this wasn't a suddenly. This was I I love to I love suddenly's, but most of my life and I think ours are made up of a million gradually's.

I actually love the God of the gradually's. You have a great marriage. I love the suddenly's in my marriage, but most of them it's the everyday moments that make up a beautiful marriage, a beautiful relationship. And so, as God started to slow me down, remember at the start I'm just like, pull the lever, press the button, how do I get out of here?

And we started to talk, if you will, set a table. Set a table in the place in me I hated most about myself. He started to father me there. I used to say it like this. I was chasing peace and I found a person. All Dave Ward wanted was peace and he gave me friendship.

In what was my hell when I'd exhausted every escape route in my in my mind Hello, rain. Maybe this is prophetic for tonight. We're trapped and we've got to turn this into a table. Um in the presence of my enemies he anointed my head with oil. He tended to me.

And I started somehow, even now when I remember it, almost feels impossible. But I started to find treasure and abundance and intimacy and warmth, the warmth of his affection in the last place I'd want to look. This strange thing I happen happened. I used to joke with him.

You know, there's that phrase like two ships passing in the night. I'd be like, "God, I want to meet with you." And I'd be like, "Get out of this horrible place. Get out. Get out. Get out. Get out." And I'm as I'm trying to get out, I'd see like God passing going in.

I'm like, "Whoa, where are you going?" He's like, "I'm going in." I'm like, "Don't go in there. It's hell in there. Don't No, no, no, no, no, no. Let's Let's Let's set a table out here. We can have a date." He's like, "Oh, sweetheart, I want to date you in here."

I'm like, "But I hate this place. I hate this place in me." He's like, [snorts] "I know, but I love this place in you. And when you experience me in your trial, in your hell, when you experience me and I slow you down and I make you sit my pace and we do relationship something more wonderful than peace will happen to you."

And in the very place that I had literally I was tormented by, I spent my whole life hating. God said to me once, "Dave, the part of you you spent your whole life trying to conquer, trying to cut out, I just wanted to celebrate." And after I basically slowly through trial and error quit escaping or trying to it was in the last place I wanted to look that I found my great treasure.

What if what if we resist the fight or flight in us when we're going through pressure, when we're going through hardship? What if instead we look for another way for the table? Oh God, I want to get out. Oh God, I want you to rescue me. All beautiful prayers.

I still pray them all the time. But God, as I'm looking for the escape route, help deliver me. I just I just want to check. Is there a table? Because although I would love to feel safe, out of danger, Oh God, I really hope you're not in this danger.

But if you are, oh, I'd rather I'd rather be in danger discovering what you're really like. Because then the bonus is freedom. The bonus was peace. And the reward actually was the thing that the relationship, the connection my my heart was was aching for. You guys okay? If you let him God will take the worst in your life and make it the best.

I call it the best worst. But it's better than just the worst. I think God's sneaky. I think sometimes like Psalm 23, he starts in the easy place. He starts and we pray those prayers that we forget and the worship song's going. And then in his kindness, he leads us.

He matures us. But there's a pace. There's a pace and sometimes I think we hate the trial because we lost God in the trial because we're so urgently trying to get out. Not knowing that often in the trial God slows us down. Final thing on this before we move to blessing.

When I'm My wife will tell you this. Hopefully not my son, he's here, but my wife's not here. She's at a birth, but when when I'm going through a hard time, I'm great at playing the violin like self-pity. Anybody else struggle? I'm like, I can play with the best of them.

I Self-pity is definitely a weakness of mine. I've definitely grown in a little. But I I can say all the right things. I've just had so many encounters with God where I'm having a real pity party and then I've looked to my left and he's playing the violin with me.

So fun. It like just breaks my self-pity. God's so funny. It's so surprising. There's other times where he's told me to repent. So I want to be fair. But there's something about feasting in a trial surrounded by your enemies and it turns you from a victim into a victor.

God is clever. He's a genius. He's not scared of the shadow. He's not like, "Oh, the valley of the shadow of death. Run!" He's God. He's perfectly relaxed. When we're setting the table and praying, he's not like, "Oh my goodness, your enemies are so big." He's so calm and relaxed.

And something happens when we refuse the pace of the pressure, the pace the the pace of the situation, the pace of the alarm at the pace of our enemies and instead slow down, turn our backs, and start to be relational, there's something that defies the enemy and makes it bow at the abundance of your relationship with God.

I dare you to try it. One of my favorite stories is Chris Gore, who's a leader in this house for many years, amazing amazing man. Talks about when one of his daughters was going through a a life-threatening surgery and I think if I'm right, the surgery at this point had not gone well at all.

And he's literally seeing his daughter, I think it was an 8-hour surgery, just in so much pain. I I can't even begin to tell you the details of the the intensity, the trial of that moment. But he'd learned something from Psalm 23 and so he pulled up a chair and he said, "Devil, sit."

And he turned on the worship music by his daughter's bed and he started to feast and dance and worship and enjoy God, defied the enemy, defied the trial. Let that trial become treasure in your life and feed your walk with God. So that's walking with God in trial.

I want to talk now about walking with God in blessing. You guys alive? I know it's raining and If you got your Bibles, jump with me quickly to Luke 10. Remember, I'm not preaching at you. I'm preaching with you and to I maybe I'm just preaching to me and you're listening.

But it works. >> [snorts] >> Luke 10 verse 38, it's the story of Mary and Martha. So there's a response in us an impulse when we hit trial which is, "Get me out." Like you can be if someone is like, "I just want to know you, God." And then I'm in trial, I'm like, "Oh, forget that.

We'll do the knowing you later. Get me out." In blessing, what I've found in me, it's not the get me out. It's like, "Ooh, this is this is good. I want more of this." And again, is it wrong to desire blessing? No, thank you. Is it wrong to desire like he's a generous generous father.

But I want to show you something that I think can happen in blessing or at least happens to me a different type of urgency that again can make me miss the actual joy People get nervous online if I say this, but I love saying the magic of knowing God.

It's not like black witchcraft magic. Just, you know, life when it's just like magical wonder wonderful. That will make you feel more less nervous. But just the beauty, the magic, the wonder of knowing God. Um I want to show you it through blessing. So I'll read this to you and then again I'll I'll share a situation, but verse 38, "Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village."

It's a famous story in this house and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. She had a sister called Mary who sat sitting again, you see, at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching.

But Martha was distracted with much serving >> [snorts] >> and she went up to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me." But the Lord answered her. "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things.

But one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion which will not be taken away from her." There's something profound to me that I want to show you in this story because in this story, the ambition the desire of Mary and Martha is exposed or revealed. Now Martha, she was satisfied.

She was happy just getting Jesus in her house. Jesus came to her house. If you're Martha, this is biblical times. There's no Instagram, but it's the selfie. Hooray, Jesus in my home, in my kitchen. Woohoo, you know. This is a big moment for her. She's got favor. Jesus chose to come to her house.

Wow, Jesus in my house. But what's revealed in the story is Martha is satisfied with proximity. But Mary desires actual intimacy. What's the point? Martha's like, "Get in my house. Get in my area of influence. This is This is my area of influence. Come join my business. Great, I've got God here.

Sweet, now we'll do what I want you to do." Mary Mary's ambition is deeper than just being near Jesus, being around Jesus. It says that he's speaking in the house and so Mary goes, "If my teacher is speaking, why would I busy myself somewhere else? I'm going to sit at the teacher's feet and watch as he's speaking."

It's really interesting. You know when you slightly miss the point when you're telling God what to do and you're correcting him? That's normally I've done it many times. "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me." Martha's ambition was satisfied by just getting Jesus in her area of influence.

And then she set about telling him what she wanted him to do. We've never done that though, have we? No. Well, it turns out I have like I think I hope all of us have that Mary heart, that Mary prayer. Lord, I just want you. One thing is needed.

Um One thing I'm after to seek your face to get, you know, all that kind of prayer and I think that's right. And yet I am so often surprised by how much of Martha's in me. Anyone else got any good old Martha in you? I love Martha. She makes me feel human.

So I'll give you a situation. So Um the last the last few last This is my 13th year on staff, but the last 12 13 years of being on staff, I have a salary. Thank you, Jesus. And so I pray all these prayers, "Lord, make me a Mary.

I just want to sit at your feet. I want to I'm going to sing that for you. I'm going to ruin that. And ruin that song forever." And that's just my heart, okay? >> [snorts] >> And then something happened 18 months ago. My my gorgeous wife, B, she started a business.

Hooray for business. And so when I had just a salary there was no um I can work 100 hours. I can work 40 hours. It doesn't change anything. There's no It doesn't matter. My ambition doesn't change anything. I can't build an empire with my Bethel pastor salary. B starts this amazing business as a doula which for those of you don't know helps is women helping women give birth before Anyway, it's wonderful.

She's amazing at it. Basically, we went through birth. We both went through the same experience. Play safe. Get out. Man, get out of talking about birth. No, B and I both went through. We had four amazing births. Our kids Our kids are glorious and wonderful. B birthed our children.

That's what I'm trying to say. Panic. Mayday. Help. And we both had the opposite reaction. I was It was wonderful. It was holy. It was magical. It was glorious. We got through our four births. I'm like, "Amazing. I never ever want to do that again." I loved being at my own children's birth, but you'll be pleased to know, dear women, Dave Wood does not want to be at your birth.

How am I in this Help! Get out of here. Bea, on the other hand, did her own birth and was like, "I want to be at everybody's birth." I'm like, "Weird." Thank God it was that way around, I guess. And um So So, Bea gets this business. It's her business, not even mine.

And it exposed something in me. Again, what's my prayer? Lord, I just want to go at your pace. I just want [clears throat] to walk with you in the cool of the day. And suddenly this thing I'm being slightly silly but it was like, "We shall BUILD A DOULA EMPIRE [screaming] AND TAKE OVER THE WORLD."

Suddenly I'm I'm secretly an expert businessman. Is anybody else like that? And I've never had a business. I secretly think I'm an expert at many things. I think the Bible calls that pride. Um but I'm like, "I'm going to be amazing at this." And I'm having all these ideas and this strategy.

And it's basically like Martha, I'm like, "God, come and join our business so I can be blessed, so I can make more money, we can do this amazing doula stuff that I'm not a part of. Thank you, God." And it's like, [clears throat] "Oh, wow." How quick am I to want God to be a part of my thing, my area of influence?

But is my motivation, is my ambition really Oh God, is this just another area to discover what you're like? Tell me what you're like and we'll take the slow route. Or is my honest ambition like Join blessing favor awesome build build up up up faster bigger more powerful more money that sounds wonderful.

Is anyone else sinful and awful like me or are you all just really really spiritual? Okay, good. I'm talking to some other human beings. I think actually trial finding God in trial is often easier than finding God in blessing. There's a pace to blessing. Let me say it like this.

So, how many of you have desired a blessing and then it's happened and you're like, "Woohoo!" for a few weeks and then it's just normal life. I think every blessing is just another place, another another promotion, favor, whatever you want to call it, it's just another arena that if we'll slow down and look for God in his pace, he'll make a table.

And the reward again is the discovery, the adventure of hearing him, learning him, seeing him. And the bonus is the blessing. The thing is God will bless your life regardless cuz he's a good father. But whether it's a car, a house, a relationship Yeah, you pray those prayers, "Lord, just give me this and I'll never go hungry again.

I'll never pray another prayer." And then you you get it and you're like, "Yay, thank you." You are genuinely thankful. But after a while it's just a thing. Because there's a longing, there's an aching, there's a a wound, an ache, a cry in our hearts not just for the situation or the area of blessing, not just for God to come to our house, but actually to meet with God in the house.

Last year I I I was on a fast. And um it was really annoying because on the fast he basically spent the whole time talking to me about two things, waiting and walking. I basically I spent these 40 days just discovering waiting and walking, the pace of God, the relational pace of God.

I'm like, "I get it. Oh, why would I ever want to build, you know my own empire or advance the kingdom for God's glory, obviously. Um There's something in us that drives sometimes. Uh at its at best it's just that human nature, at worst it's just ambition to arrive somewhere, to get somewhere.

And I I'm convinced if I'm not careful I'll miss him along the way. It was so annoying because basically God's often on my wife's side, but I you know, in the early days of the business I'm like, "Baby, we could do this. We could do this." You know, armchair expert, "This will be amazing."

And she'd just be like, "Ah, yeah." I I don't know if I feel good on that. I God, darn it. Get behind me, Satan. No, I didn't you know, just like ah and I'm like, "What about this?" But I was watching a friend of God, I was watching my wife, I was watching a woman just simply trust a bit like Mary.

Her ambition was not to grow something big and high fast. Her ambition is to just obey him, walk with him, discover him. And out of trust, she knows he'll bless us because that's what he's like. And it was confronting cuz it exposed an urgency in my heart that wasn't in God's.

And I don't think it's in certainly wasn't in Bea's. Am I saying desiring business is bad? Am I saying um you know, don't go for business or don't desire to be blessed? No, no, no. I But I do think we have to settle these things in our hearts so that the blessings God wants to give you, the business God wants to give you, the favor God wants to give you doesn't end up strangling intimacy along the way because we become more in love with the idea of the answer than the one that we started with.

I think so many of us are struggling cuz we're either got lost, we've lost God in a trial or we've lost God in blessing. And what if it's just we're simply going at a pace that he's not going? Maybe it's a simple repentance to back up to the pace of God.

Oh, hi, God. I know you're blessing me. I'm so thankful that you're blessing me. But I just want to check. Is Is there something of you I haven't found yet? Is this a space where we could meet? Could Could we sit together? Could we be together? Is there a relational space and place with your heart?

I know the blessing will be a bonus. But I don't want to miss out on the true meaning of life, which is just to walk walk as your friend. I want to show you maybe one more thing. You guys okay for a couple more minutes? Every preacher asks this.

It's very hard if you say no. I'll burst into tears afterwards. Um It's a very simple analogy, but I just sort of had this picture of it. Galatians 5 verse 16, it says, "But I say, walk by the Spirit." Say walk. "And you will not gratify the desires of the flesh."

You jump to verse 25. "If we live by the Spirit let us also keep in step." Say in step. with the Spirit. This is a really simple analogy, but have you ever tried imagining or actually walking in step with someone? I think when we first follow Jesus like the shepherd in Psalm 23 with the sheep.

And so we're following. So, I want you to imagine like God or someone in front of you. When you're learning to walk in the Spirit, walk in step at first the journey is incredibly [snorts] frustrating and clumsy. You literally, you know, you're you're having to watch their feet, you know, try and walk in step as you're following them.

Very annoying, you know, requires so much conversation, so clumsy. You're like, "Oh, where did he go?" And he's like, "Ooh, butterfly." Ooh, bang and you bump into him cuz he stopped. This is what it's like in the early days when you first follow God, it can feel learning his pace like clumsy and awkward and frustrating.

But you follow him, you follow him and you build trust with him. Now, I think at some point he offers his hand and says, "Let's walk in step." But again, so now you've got his hand but that's still kind of awkward at the start as well. Walking in step.

Now you're holding his hand, but you still got to look. You're trying to Try imagine walking in step with someone and learning their gait, learning their pace. It It doesn't come at first naturally. It's actually quite frustrating. It would be easy to think as you're learning this dance, you're learning this walk, you're learning this journey, ah I'm just not cut out for this.

This is too hard. This is This is annoying. But I found in the early frustrating years when I was writing, you know, "Hello, God. My name's Dave. I'm mad at you." And he was starting to respond, but it felt awkward, it felt stupid, it felt clumsy. But somewhere along the way of learning to walk in step you don't need to look any longer.

Because you've spent so much time on the walk you know their gait. You can recognize in the hand when they're slowing down. You can feel when the pace is picking up. I think this is the holy invitation to me, the secret sauce of life. Blessings have come and gone in my life.

Trials have come and gone and I'm thankful particularly for the blessings. But the thing that moves me, it's like any great memory you and I have. We sit around our table often and we're like, "Ah, think about this amazing memory." I guarantee for most of us almost every memory you have, if you think about it it's actually not what you did.

It's who you were with. The warmth of the memory for most of us, you're not like, "I was at this amazing place on my own, actually." And then I went to this amazing beautiful place. Yeah, I was alone there, too. I mean, for most of us the warmth, the affection, the tenderness the memory you recall is simply that there was a table set in this beautiful place and it was who you were with.

I believe trial and blessing, it's the same with God. Every trial can become a place of warmth, of memory, of testimony, of ah I remember that treasure, that table you set for me. But even blessing too, if I can restrain my appetite for growth, if I can restrain my appetite just to go go go go go, instead check, "Hey Jesus, I want to go at your pace.

Are you going fast or slow?" I want to add one caveat as we wrap up and then maybe we just um just invite I just want to take a moment at the end just to trial just to get our trials set right and our blessings set right before the Lord.

But I do want to say tonight I've been emphasizing God's pace. Hello rain. Uh God's pace and I've been emphasizing the slow. And for me relationally God is often much slower than I'd like. It's like I often joke about this. God says, "We're going over here." And I'm like, "Awesome."

And then he walks that way and I'm like, "Okay, but but you said" and I don't realize that the road is long and windy and he's got all these encounters and moments of tenderness set along the way and we end up there. He just had a much better way in mind.

I don't know if it's just our Western culture or my Dave Ward bramble and I'm like fastest and quickest is the best. Relationship with God and with anyone you really care about doesn't really work like that. In his mercy in his mercy I should say this. In his mercy he frustrates your desire for speed.

It's his mercy. It's his kindness. When B was wanting to go slowly in her business and I'm like, "COME ON, LET'S GO." AND I'M feeling frustrated, I start to learn as I repent to her pace, God's pace. Ah, thank you God. I would have got so caught up in building some big I probably couldn't have done but I would have at least I like to imagine in my head some big empty thing and I would have missed out on what my heart really aches for.

Thank you for frustrating me in your mercy to go at your pace, to feel your hand, to learn your gait. That's the secret joy of life. I want to just throw in one caveat just to show you I'm stealing from Michael Koulianos but he's a great person to steal from.

Um if you go real quick to Acts, I just want to show you the pace of God cuz God can go very fast as well. Uh I've lost Acts. Um >> [snorts] >> Oh, we're good. It's a really simple analogy and I could give you a couple if I had more time.

But I just I just want to show you cuz I think I am wanting to emphasize for me, how many of you feel like God usually goes most of the time slower than you like? Is there anyone else Are you all Okay, perfect and patient. Okay. And then once in a while he goes really fast and then you're like, "Slow down."

It's like I'm never happy. I'm like, "COME ON GOD, GO FASTER." THEN HE GOES FAST AND I'M LIKE, "NO, SLOW DOWN." So I I'm impossible. I'm just a grumbler. Um so I just love this story because it's just such a simple I could share another one with you but if you go to Acts 8 verse 26, story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch.

It's a really simple treasure but I just want to contrast what I've said tonight because I don't want us to all leave now thinking, "Oh, God's always just in slow mo." The point is the listening ear. God, are you going fast? You're going to slow? I just want to go at your pace.

It says verse 26, "Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, 'Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a desert place. And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure.

He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning seated in his chariot and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. Here it is. And the spirit said to Philip, "Go over and join this chariot." So Philip ran. Very simple. Did the spirit say to Philip, "Run?" No. It says, "Go over."

So Philip ran. What's the point? I love this. Philip ran. Michael Koulianos puts it like this. Because Philip ran to the Ethiopian eunuch, because they had that encounter, the whole of Ethiopia, he's under the queen, Ethiopia gets the gospel for the first time because Philip ran. What's the point?

It doesn't actually say this but what I love about this is it's this. Although God said, "Go." He didn't say, "Run." Michael makes the point Philip knew the tone, knew the pace, knew the urgency, knew God, so he could hear the urgency in the voice of God and so he knew, "Oh, God is saying go but he means run."

And because he ran, he made it in time to the eunuch and Ethiopia gets the gospel. That's awesome to me. So the desire is not that every time God speaks it's in slow motion. God can speak fast. God can speak slow but the invitation is to know him and when you know a friend you actually get to recognize recognize the urgency in the voice, the the calm in the voice.

Can I give you one more real quick? What time do we need to be? We're okay. Okay, I'm going to go one more cuz it's just lovely and all. As another quick one. Let's go to Mark 2. Cuz I just think God is so funny and so different.

Sorry, Mark 1 verse 16. I was reading the Bible a couple of years ago in my old house and this is exactly what happened to me so I'll read it and I'll tell you what happened. Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net into the sea for they were fishermen.

And Jesus said to them, "Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men." And immediately they left the nets and followed him. And going on a little further, he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets.

And immediately he called them and they left their father, Zebedee, in the boat with hired servants and followed him. So I was reading this, again full disclosure, I'm wrong. When when when you and God are having a difference in opinion, the short story is you're wrong but I like to be real with God, okay?

So I read this a couple of years ago and I was offended. I was like, "Jesus, that's so unpastoral of you." I don't know if you thought about this. We get so acquainted with the story. These sons, it's probably, you know, fishermen generation after generation, grandfather, father, grandfather, grandfather.

Comes out these sons, they're helping their father mend the nets. They're in the middle of helping their father, you know, honor thy father and thy mother. That was Jesus' idea as well. They're doing that and their whole trajectory is, you know, take over the family business. Jesus just rocks up. "Hi guys, follow me."

And he expects them to leave immediately their father in the lurch with the family business and just go. Again, you may be far more spiritual than me but this particular day I was reading this verse and I was like, "Jesus, it's a little bit presumptuous. It's a little bit, you know, couldn't you have said, 'Hey guys, I'm going to call you to follow me in a couple of weeks but honor thy father and mother.

Yes, I wrote that too. Um so fix the nets with your father, make sure that's all great, you know, give him time to find a replacement. Um let your mom know that you're going to be heading out. Make sure everything's lined up. Look, you know, etc. etc.' Jesus could have done that yet he just walked up and was like, "Come now."

I was like, "Poor father." He's like, "Boys? Boys?" "Oh, you know." So I was reading this and I had this conversation with God. I literally was like, "Wow, pretty presumptuous. Like God, I love you. I know you're good but that's kind of offensive to me." I love having these conversations with God.

He didn't say anything in response. I was like, "Okay, great." We I carried on my merry way reading the scripture. A couple of minutes later, and this has only happened to me once or twice, literally I smiled as I like to be honest and grumble and complain. Like we have a sweet like I love honesty with God.

He puts up with me. Um so we've had the conversation. A couple of minutes later I've moved on and Jesus walks into the room and he stands there and I don't know how to do this right but it was like the presence of God that like life itself just stepped into my room.

No expectation, no planning. He just stands there and I'm like, and I know he's responding to what I've just talked to him about so I'm like, "Oh dear." And he walks past me and I'm like, "Am I going to get a rebuke? Is he" He walks past me, stops, he smiles, and he walks out.

And just his presence walking into my space, I found myself going, "God, I give you everything. I leave that I leave my life. I leave my business. I leave my family. I leave whatever you do. I surrender. I give you my life. I just want to" It was literally like something in me and I realized, "Oh wow, I've looked at it like earthy Jesus just appears on shore like, 'Hi guys.'" And I forgot this is life.

This is the alpha and omega appears at the shoreline and these guys that have got this trajectory for their whole lives, suddenly life itself looks at them and speaks a word and everything inside them wakes up and the only thing that makes sense is to immediately with pace follow God.

So God can be slower than we like. And he can be faster than we like. But I felt like what I was supposed to bring to you tonight was in trial and in blessing. Don't waste them. Like you know, like a flannel, do you say flannel in America?

You can ring out a flannel. It's like get your trial and ring it out for all the intimacy and treasure and secrets stored in there at the table. And when God wants to bless you and promote you and favor, don't waste it and just go, "Oh, yay, thanks, bonus."

Ring out the blessing. It's God in the house, not just in the house in my proximity. God, do what I want. But what if God is there sitting and about to open his mouth? I don't want to miss him making sandwiches in the kitchen. I'd rather be sitting slowing down.

I don't worry about the money and the blessing, God. I just I just want to look at you. I want to hear what's on your heart. What are you saying? What are you thinking? Something happens when I see him that arrest and corrects everything in me. I say this last thing and I promise I'll stop talking.

My experience is and I think this is true for most humans. You have these moments in God. Jesus walks through your room. You see you behold the beauty of God and everything in you comes alive and you pray those prayers. I will never ever you know, I will go the slow way for the rest of my life.

It's you and you alone and you mean it with your whole heart and it's right. Is anyone else like me that a day, a week, a month later that moment doesn't have that same weight and you're back slightly doing the same thing again. Is anybody else like that?

Are you all just really Yeah, okay, good. You can all lay hands on me at the end if you're all I used to sort of feel like I was failing and I now think, "No, no, no, no, no. This is the privilege. It's not it's a relational lifestyle of walking with God.

Every time I see his beauty, I'm arrested. Everything comes into alignment. I'm like, "Whether it's in blessing or trial, I want you. I've got you and I'm at your pace." And then life happens a little bit again. And I just need to see that beauty. I need to see that face again.

And for me, that's become the journey. It's no longer like, "Oh, I had that one encounter. Why am I struggling with pressure and pace again?" It's I've just got to see you again. I'm not complaining about that. I don't know where you'll be. I don't know if it'll be in trial or blessing.

I don't know how you'll come. Maybe like a little baby. Maybe like big scary woman. I don't know how you're going to come. But God, I just need to see your beauty again. Guilty. Need to see your beauty again. Guilty. Oops, lost it again. Need to see your beauty.

I want the lifestyle of having being forced funneled into needing to see the face of God. Why don't you stand for a moment, Pierre? Pierre, I don't know if you're here. Just a little tinkle on the keys. Um we might as well go after encounter cuz we're all trapped.

We're marooned on the hill. Um I just I felt like um I'll tell Pete I know he's not here, but wait. I am I I I felt like the Lord just wanted some of us it'll be a major correction and some of us it's just a little tweak.

Is there anyone in the room tonight that says deeply prophetic that's in a trial? Wow. Sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh. Um And I hope there's some people in promotion and favor. And often we're in both. I hear the Lord say tonight, "Don't waste it."

Don't waste it. The car will be lovely for 5 minutes. The spouse, hopefully that'll be lovely for a little longer. The house, the the blessing, it will but the warmth will leave that thing. Instead, I invite you into a deeper way to search a little deeper than just the pace of the trial, the pace of the bonus blessing.

What if just a little deeper there's this big beautiful God that's just waiting to be sat with. Like David in Psalm 23, I want to sit with you in the presence of my enemies. Like Mary, "Yes, you're in my area of influence. Boom, you're in my business. Oh, hooray."

But Lord, don't just come and bless me like I I want to hear what you have got to say. I want to encounter I want to discover I want to spend my lifetime discovering the secrets of your heart. Would you trust me again with more secrets? Pick a trial.

Pick a business. Pick a blessing. I don't care. Just don't let me leave without encountering you. So just put out your hands. I just want to invite you feel free in your chair or uh find space if you want to. But don't leave tonight even if you're trapped.

Don't leave tonight without telling God grab your moment. If this if you're in the middle of a trial and you've exhausted every escape route what if if you just turned and you started hunting what if this almighty yet humble God has prepared a table and there's ((music playing)) there's a tablecloth and there's knives and forks.

You can see he's got an apron on and he's like, "Shh, I've cooked [snorts] something wonderful. You're going to love it." What if hidden >> ((music playing)) >> in the middle of the moment you don't want to be in is something that you've always wanted. >> ((music playing)) >> And if you're in blessing you're in favor promotion or a business.

I do feel like something for business. There's a >> ((music playing)) >> there's a speed to business. And sometimes it's godly ambition and sometimes we're calling it >> ((music playing)) >> advancement of the kingdom. And without meaning to somewhere along the way we've lost God >> ((music playing)) >> and we're just building for our own ego, our own ambition.

Oh, Lord, would you slow us down? >> ((music playing)) >> Slow me [snorts] down. Thank you for frustratingly slowing me down in your mercy to the relational pace. So I'm just going to get Pete to sing a song. This is for you. Just in some way just give God your heart fresh surrender.

And and then we'll we'll pray in a moment. I stand before you all by ((music playing)) your majesty. Covered by [music and singing] your mercy your blood has ((music playing)) made me free. Draw me [music and singing] to you and ((music playing)) set my heart on fire. I want ((music playing)) to know [singing] you. You're [music and singing] my one desire. I give you my worship.

[singing] I give you my worship. All [music and singing] of my passion >> ((music playing)) >> I give you my whole heart. All [singing] my devotion ((music playing)) >> ((music playing)) >> I give you my [singing] worship. >> ((music playing)) >> All all of my passion I give ((music playing)) you my whole heart. >> [singing] >> And ((music playing)) all my devotion and here ((music playing)) I will bow down and say ((music playing)) that I need you.

Worship. And here I will worship and say that ((music playing)) I love you. Say that I love ((music playing)) you. Say that I love you. Just that simple. Just that easy. Say I love you, Lord. Cuz I want to know This is it. This is the prayer. >> Let your spirit [singing] overwhelm me.

Let your presence ((music playing)) overtake my heart. >> Sing this in the middle of your trial, in the middle of your blessing. And I want to know you. Let your spirit overwhelm me. Let your presence ((music playing)) overtake my heart. I want to know you. Let your spirit overwhelm ((music playing)) me, Lord. [singing] Cuz I want to know you.

Let ((music playing)) your spirit [singing] overwhelm me. Let your presence overtake my heart. >> ((music playing)) >> And I want to know you. Let your spirit ((music playing)) overwhelm me. Let your presence [singing] overtake my heart. I want to know you. Let your ((music playing)) spirit overwhelm me. Let your presence overtake my heart. I want to know you.

Let your spirit overwhelm [singing and music] me. Let your presence overtake my heart. Father, I thank you that you you took the places in me that I hated. You took the places in me that I spent everything I knew trying to get out of. And you didn't prepare an army. You didn't give me a great ((music playing)) strategy.

You laid a table. And you wooed me, and you danced with me, and you loved me there. >> ((music playing)) >> And I found in the place of hate a secret treasure. A secret treasure. I found a friend in the place that I didn't want to be in. You made me feel like the wealthiest man alive cuz I found you.

And I pray for every heart in this room, every every person that's stuck in a trial, in a place that they hate, whether it's in themselves ((music playing)) or around them. God, I ask tonight that they would see this wonderful ((music playing)) humble father laying a table with anticipation ((music playing)) and excitement. Sometimes ((music playing)) we defeat our enemies by chopping them down.

Sometimes we defeat them by eating. And I really ((music playing)) like eating. I prophesy to you somebody's fight ((music playing)) and flight body responds. And I prophesy something more wonderful. Sit and eat. ((music playing)) No more fight or flight. It's time to sit and eat. I thank you, God, that the place I despised most about me, I'm now most thankful for because of who you've been to me there.

((music playing)) I thank you that my children get to walk in a peace because of a table you laid for me in a Psalm 23 season. I pray, Holy Spirit. I prophesy encounters ((music playing)) in the places we wouldn't normally go to look. I prophesy anointing anointing oil. I prophesy a cup that overflows, abundance ((music playing)) abundance hidden just under the surface.

I prophesy great revelation. Surely his goodness and mercy will follow me. As the sheep follows the shepherd, so goodness ((music playing)) and mercy will follow me. As I found God, the peace I spent my whole life chasing started to follow me. And I'll tell you this. People said, "Dave, how They said, "Dave, how did you get out of it?

What's your secret? How did you get out of it?" And I suddenly realized I never got out. I didn't get ((music playing)) out. He got in. And I prophesy to some of you in the room that you won't get out. God will just cram his big self so far in, you'll forget that once was a trial, now is it just a big treasure chest ((music playing)) of beauty and wonder and wealth.

Oh, God, for those in the room that need a great big God to come and fill their trials. God, I'm asking tonight you do that. And then, Lord, protect us in blessing. Lord, protect me in favor and promotion. Help me not fall in love with the gifts you're giving me and lose you along the way.

((music playing)) I don't want to build an empire and stick kingdom on it. God, I want to discover you. And if we build something together, oh, how wonderful. I pray for every expert businessman, every armchair CEO. Lord, where we are driven >> ((music playing)) >> by a pace that isn't yours. Oh, in your mercy, frustrate us.

Awaken us to your pace, to your hand, to your gate. So that we would be truly rich, truly rich, and spend a ((music playing)) life learning to walk with you. And everyone ((music playing)) said, amen. Amen. Bless you, guys. Thank you for your time. Travel home safely.