Josh Howerton - Finding and Fulfilling Your Calling (01/11/2026)

TOPICS: Calling

Summary:

In week two of the «Getting It Back» series, Pastor Josh Howerton teaches from Nehemiah 2 on rediscovering and fulfilling God’s calling. «It» is the indefinable presence and power of God on a life marked by rearranged priorities for His purposes. Using the story of Olympic shooter Matt Emmons missing the wrong target, he warns against succeeding at the wrong thing. Calling is discovered at the intersection of affinity (what breaks your heart), ability (what gifts has God given you), and necessity (where is the kingdom need). Fulfilling it requires walking by faith over fear (focusing on God’s presence, not circumstances) and making bold moves—doing the next right thing in obedience. Applications include baptism, Next Steps class, serving, and attending Encounter week for fresh outpouring of the Spirit.

Introduction to «Getting It Back»
Well, good morning, LakePointe family! And, man, if you guys have your Bibles, head over to Nehemiah chapter two. Nehemiah 2 is where we’re going to be today. And, man, let me just step right in. We are in week two of a series we’re calling «Getting It Back.» And let me set this up in case you weren’t here last week. You may be going, «Okay, so what are we talking about when we say 'it'?» Okay, here’s what I mean. I’ve heard it described like this: it is that indefinable thing that somebody has who has walked closely with their God.

How many of you have ever walked into a church service, gathering, or worship event, and when you walked in, it may have been large, it may have been awesome, but it was spiritually dead? There was no faith in the room. On the other hand, sometimes you’ll walk into a place, you’ll drive onto a campus, you’ll gather with a group of people, and as soon as you walk in, you can just sense the electric presence of God. Leaving that place, you knew that you were going to be different, that they were different.

You didn’t know what to say; you were just like, «Man, I don’t know what it is, but they have it.» A person can have it, a family can have it, a church can have it—dare I say a nation can have it. Here’s what I know for a lot of you: as you look at your life, you’d look back and say, «Man, there was a time in my life when I had it.» You were hungry for the presence of God, you wanted to spend your life for the purposes of God, and your heart was broken for the things of God. But then, somewhere, if you look back, you’re like, «Man, I don’t know where it happened, but it slipped away. I lost it.»

Here’s the bad news: if you have it, that doesn’t mean you’re going to keep it. It’s possible to lose it. The good news? If you don’t have it, you can get it. The book of Nehemiah is a story about a nation that had it but then lost it, and this is how they got it back.

Now, here’s who this series is for: this series is for the person who’d say, «Man, I had it, but I lost it; now I want it back.» That’s what this is about.

The Presence of God and Rearranged Priorities
I want to lead into this today by talking to you for a few minutes on the subject of finding and discovering your calling. Because whenever you have it, the marked thing about people who have it, who have the presence of God on their life, is that their life is a range of priorities.

Now, I just want to point this out: a lot of people get this wrong. A lot of people think that the sign of God’s presence is emotion. It’s like, «Man, you get to that third night of camp, and everybody’s hugging each other, swaying, crying, and sweating, and smelling; it’s like, 'Oh, the presence of God was there.'» I told this to our students when I flew into camp this year. I said, «Man, the sign of the presence of God is not emotional.»

I’ll be really honest: I used to be a camp speaker, and I feel like, dude, I could get you to rededicate your life to the Easter Bunny. Man, it’s like, dude, really, all it takes is emotion; it takes, like, you know, Red Bull and hormones and sleep deprivation. I can get emotion. The sign of the presence of God is not emotion; it’s rearranged priorities—it’s when the things of God become uppermost in your affections.

Matt Emmons Analogy: Hitting the Wrong Target
Now let me point this out because here’s an analogy for a lot of people’s lives. In 2004, in the Olympics, there was this dude named Matt Emmons. If you’ve never heard his name, you’re about to figure out why you’ve never heard his name. Matt Emmons was known around the world as the greatest marksman that had ever lived—Olympic marksman that had ever lived. In fact, one guy said that he was better at marksmanship than Michael Jordan was at basketball. There ain’t no way that’s true, but that’s what somebody said, okay?

Coming into the Olympics, it was like the only thing people were talking about is who was going to get silver. Everybody knew Matt was going to get gold. Who’s going to get silver? His main event was the three-position event. That’s the one where they shoot from their feet, then they shoot from the knees, and they shoot from the stomach; you know, they’re doing all the things.

Well, in the 2004 Olympics, Matt was dominating. Like, through the first two rounds, he was so far ahead of the entire field going into the last round that all he had to do to get the gold was hit the target. That’s all he had to do. Now, Olympic marksmen do not miss targets; they miss by millimeters, they don’t miss targets. So coming into his last shot, all he’s got to do is hit the target.

If you go back and watch it, like he lines up and ready, aim, aim, aim—fire! Bullseye—on the wrong target! He missed the target! Not only did he not get the gold, he didn’t medal; he went home with nothing in that event.

Now, that is an analogy for a lot of people’s lives. A lot of people live their lives and they hit a target that God has not even designed or called them to hit. The worst type of failure is succeeding at the wrong thing. Can I just say something to you? You’ve got to understand this, especially if you’re kicking the tires on the faith. You need to understand the reason you are on this planet. God designed and created a calling, and He created you to fulfill it. You will never be happy, you will never be fulfilled, until you are pouring yourself out—not just for compensation, not just for a career, but for a calling God created you for. This is the whole reason.

Here, I want you to see this in the Bible: this is what the Bible says. It says, «For you are God’s handiwork.» You may have been a mistake to your deadbeat dad, but you are a masterpiece to the living God. You are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God, watch this, prepared in advance for you to do. So before you were born—before you were even born, God had already planned what He wanted you to do with your life.

Now, here’s the problem: most people never discover their calling, so they certainly never fulfill it. In Nehemiah chapter two, you’re going to see exactly how you discover and fulfill your calling. Now, this sermon goes in three steps. If you fulfill these three steps, it’s impossible to miss your calling. So here we go; three steps.

Step 1: Find Your Calling (Affinity, Ability, Necessity)
Step number one to fulfill my calling: I’ve got to find it. Yeah, I think it’s pretty obvious. To fulfill my calling, I’ve got to find it.

Now, here’s what you’re going to notice. Nehemiah discovers his calling at the intersection of three things. You will discover your calling at the intersection of three things, and I love diagrams, so I got a diagram for you. Okay, here we go.

So here’s what this looks like: category number one is affinity. What’s your affinity? Now look at this. This is Nehemiah 2:1. It says, «In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence before.» So the king asked me, «Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.»

And I said to the king, «May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins and its gates have been destroyed by fire?»

Here’s what’s happening: Nehemiah is looking at the city of God and he’s going, «Man, the city’s destroyed and God’s people are unprotected.» And watch this: it broke his heart.

Here’s question number one for you—next slide: What breaks your heart? You’ve got to be able to answer this question. Let me ask it positively: which of the purposes of God do you emotionally reverberate to? Let me ask it negatively: what is it that you can’t stand? What is it that, when you see it, a righteous anger wells up within you, and you’re just like, «Man, it shouldn’t be this way!»

So here’s what you’ve got to get: not everything from Heaven has your name on it, but something does. God has given everyone different affinities. Here’s an example: Jana and I are a perfect example of this. Jana and I both have deep callings, but they’re very different affinities.

If you’ve ever met my wife Jana—a little sweet five-foot-tall redhead—Jana has a pastor’s heart. She loves weeping with those who weep. She loves ministering to the hurting. She loves praying with people who are afraid. She loves encouraging widows. She’s the kind of person who just bubbles over with compassion. She’s the kind of person who’ll see an animal rescue commercial and just can’t take it; she’s just weeping. I’m like, «Man, you’re just overwhelmed.»

I see an animal rescue commercial, and I’m like, «Man, I love animals too; they taste amazing.» You know, we are very, very different people. So that’s Jana. Now for me, if I see a broken strategy, if I see an inefficient system, if I see a poor allocation of resources, it’s like I just lose my mind. We are very different.

Let me ask you this question: What breaks your heart? Is it hurting people? Is it a generation being indoctrinated by a godless culture? Is it biblical illiteracy? Is it the lost, the least, or the lonely? What breaks your heart?

Now, category number two—you’ve got to understand this; you’ll find your calling at the intersection of your ability. Now look at verse 11 in chapter 1. Here’s all it says: it says, «Now I was cupbearer to the king.» Okay, now we don’t have this role, so let me help you understand this really quick.

Nehemiah got married to the king; here was his job. A lot of people were trying to kill the king of the huge Persian Empire, so Nehemiah’s job as cupbearer was to eat the king’s food and drink the king’s wine before the king did. And at the top of his job description was, «If somebody poisoned it, your job is to die first.» So, you know, very, very high employee satisfaction survey results for cupbearer to the king.

What you’ve got here: Nehemiah’s job, as cupbearer, he was in the king’s court; he was part of the king’s council. You might call him the chief of staff for the king. As you read the book, you’ll see this; he has a clear gift for organizational leadership, strategic planning, and diplomacy.

Here’s question number two: You’ve got to ask this question—what are my gifts? What am I good at? So it’s not just affinity—what do you want to do? It’s gifts—what has God actually made you good at?

Okay, I have learned this over these many years in ministry: some people think they are called to sing, but nobody seems to be called to listen to them. You see, you have to actually answer the question: What am I good at? If you want to know your destiny, look at your design.

So, I love—I grew up reading The Chronicles of Narnia books over and over when I was growing up. In the first book of that series, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, there’s this moment where the four Pevensie children are visited by Father Christmas, and they receive four gifts. If you’ve ever read it before, they get these gifts, and they’re like, «They have no idea why these gifts have been given to them.» They’re looking at these gifts, and they’re like, «I don’t even know what this is.» You know, Lucy’s given some ointment; Peter’s given a sword, and there’s not even a battle going on. He’s like, «Why is this happening?»

But later in the book, they’re thrust into this battle with the White Witch, and in the heat of the battle, it dawns on them, «Oh, Aslan, the Lion that represents Jesus, sent these gifts to us because He knew what we were going to need in the moment.» They figure out why they were given the gifts. So Lucy realizes that she was given healing ointment to bind up the wounded in battle. Peter realizes that he was given a sword; he’s like, «Oh, I was given it because I’m a leader and I’m supposed to lead an assault on the White Witch.»

So, watch this: they figured out what Aslan wanted them to do by looking at the gifts He had given them. You will figure out what God put you on this planet to accomplish by looking at what gifts He’s given you. You need to know this, okay? You may have no spiritual background whatsoever, but you’ve been given gifts by your Heavenly Father.

Every single person—you’ve got a friend, true story, that’s a pastor in New York City, and in his church, he had a converted drug dealer who gave his life to Christ, and he came and just wanted to be used by God. So he was looking for a leadership role in the church. They said, «Well, what are your skills?» And he’s like, «Man, I don’t think I got any skills.» And they were like, «Well, just tell us, what did you do before?» And he was like, «Well, you know, I was into, like, pharmaceutical distribution.» This is what he said.

And they started digging, and they figured out about his background, and they figured out eventually that actually he had really strong street smarts and business sense. He was good at organizing and seizing opportunities, and eventually, they discipled this man and put him over administration in the church, and the church grew.

So this is what God will do in your life: He’ll use your background and your gifts, and that will point you to your calling. We have thousands—thousands of people all over our church who this is their story.

There’s a man at our Firewheel campus; his name is Steve Juries. I love Steve. Steve has a background of many years in school administration, and Steve was one of the guys at some of the ISDs in Dallas who helped design the system to get students and buses on and off the properties at the beginning and end of the day as efficiently as possible.

Well, our Firewheel campus started to grow. Firewheel campus, you guys are causing us problems because you’re growing too fast. As the Firewheel campus—y’all were causing us problems—we started having all these parking problems at Firewheel. Well, Steve was like, «Man, he looked at his gifts; he went, ‘Oh, I’m good at this! ’»

Steve stepped forward to lead the parking team, designed a system to get people on and off the property at Firewheel, and solved our parking problem! Now, some of you were like, «Get Steve to Rockwall! Get that dude over here!» Well, you know we love Steve, but this is his story.

We have people all over—Beth Ross at our Rockwall campus; she’s a diagnostician in special education—vocationally amazing with people with special needs. Guess where she serves every week? In our SOAR ministry to people with special needs. She’s back there making sure that they’re cared for, that they’re loved, and that they know they are possessing dignity and value; that they are loved by God and that their church loves them. Man, she’s back there giving her gifts every week for their purposes.

The guy that oversees our security teams at LakePointe—all of our security teams; his name is Scott Locke. Scott is a former Marine Corps colonel. Now, you’ve just got to know this, man, if anybody were to ever try to harm the people of LakePointe, here’s the thing: man, Jesus loves you, but if necessary, we will send you to see Him. See, Scott has this gift; he just has this amazing gift.

And you’ll see this: you will find that your calling is at the intersection of affinity and ability. Now, next slide: third category. You’ll find it at the intersection of necessity.

Look at verse three. Nehemiah says, «The king says, ” and Nehemiah says, „Why should my face not look sad when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins?“ And watch this: „And its gates have been destroyed by fire.“

Now, just to put this in perspective, so what’s happening here is Nehemiah’s looking at his homeland of Israel, and he’s going, „Man, if they don’t have a secure border, they’re open to invasion by anybody.“

So he’s going, „Man, what they need is they need a wall. Because unless they got a wall, then anybody can come in and ransack the city.“ He realized, „Man, that wall—this—Nehemiah says that’s not a want; that’s a need.“ Nehemiah asked the question, „Where is the need?“ and he reverberated to his calling.

Now, this category is a little different than the other two because, watch this: the first two categories, honestly, they were all about you. What do you want? What are you good at? But this third category of necessity is about God and His glory and His kingdom and where’s the need.

You know, at Lake Pointe, a lot of times we’ll use this word „volunteer.“ We’ll use the word „volunteer, “ and that’s a fine word; there’s nothing wrong with that word. But I just want to point this out: the Bible never uses the word „volunteer.“ The Bible word isn’t „volunteer“; it’s the word „servant.“ Jesus took the form of a servant. And there’s a difference between the heart of a volunteer and the heart of a servant.

When you volunteer, it’s about your fulfillment; when you serve, it’s about building His kingdom. When you volunteer, a volunteer asks, „Oh, what would I enjoy doing?“ A servant asks, „Where can I be the greatest help?“

And can I just say this, man? I just want us to get this: y’all, Jesus died for you, but it’s not all about you; it’s about Him and His kingdom, His name, and His glory.

Now here’s what you’re going to find, okay? You’re going to find your calling at the intersection of affinity, ability, and necessity. If you can find the thing in your life that intersects in all three of those categories, that is what the Bible calls your calling. That’s what you were put on Earth to accomplish, and only you can answer those questions and figure out what God has called you to do.

Step 2: Walk by Faith Over Fear
Now, warning: as soon as you figure out your calling, you will feel fear.

Step two to fulfill my calling: I must walk by faith. Your calling is going to require faith. In fact, it does in Nehemiah’s life. Look at verse two: „The king says, ‘Why is your face sad seeing you’re not sick? ’“ Then Nehemiah, he says, „This is nothing but sadness of heart.“ Then I was very much afraid. Nehemiah was very much afraid.

Now, a lot of times, like, we’ll miss this because we think of these as Bible stories. Kind of like, you know, Alice in Wonderland was a story, and Cinderella was a story, and Nehemiah rebuilt the wall—that was a story. No, no! This is not a story; this is an event! This actually happened! It was a real guy with a real family, with real wants, and real needs, and real fears, and a real job—and real hobbies—and he was really, really afraid!

Do you know why Nehemiah was really, really afraid? We miss this. Here’s why Nehemiah is afraid: because he’s talking to the king of the Persian Empire. Oh, by the way, did you know the Persian Empire was a terrorist state? I don’t want to get graphic, but like historians record that after capturing their enemies, the Persians would typically cut off both of their legs and only one of their arms, leaving the other arm to shake the victim’s hand in mockery and laugh at him as he died.

This empire, when they captured people—POWs, prisoners of war—they would often skin them alive and then stretch the human skins along the outside of their city walls as a warning. This is what’s going to happen to anybody that challenges the Persian Empire, and then they would take the skinned-alive POWs, bury them alive up to their heads, and drive a stake through their tongues into the ground so that they would die of thirst and exposure.

Now, I’ll actually take it even a step further. One historian even records that at night they would make them listen to Celine Dion albums over and over and over and over. You know, just brutal, horrific torture of these people. Now, so this is who he’s dealing with, and all you’ve got to have fun with this.

And so I’ll top it off: chapter one says all this happened in the city of Susa. Do you know where that is? Modern-day Iran. So can I paint a picture for you? What you have here is a little Jewish guy making demands of the king of an Iranian terrorist state, and he was very much afraid.

Can I say this to you? When you begin to step into your calling, you will feel fear because God will call you to something greater than yourself so that you’re forced to depend on Him. You are going to feel fear.

Now I need to say this to you. You’ve got to understand this. Let me preach for a second: doubt is not the opposite of faith! In fact, if you’ve got a lot of doubts, can I say something to you? You would make a great disciple! Y’all, Peter doubted; John the Baptist doubted. We got one disciple whose whole nickname is „Doubting Thomas.“ So if you’ve got a lot of doubts, you’d make a great disciple!

In fact, totally different sermon, but can I say this? Do you know what you do with your doubts? You pick up your doubts and you follow Jesus. You pick up your doubts, and you go, „Man, I don’t have the answers to all these questions, but I’m going to follow that guy because he was raised from the dead. And someday in glory, I’ll get the answers to all these questions, but until then, I’m following that guy because he was raised from the dead.“

You’ve got a lot of doubts? You’d make a great disciple. So doubt is not the opposite of faith; fear is the opposite of faith. Because faith produces action, but fear will paralyze you. And God has not given us a spirit of fear but a spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind. Perfect love casts out fear, and perfect love was demonstrated for us at the cross of Jesus Christ.

So when you come face to face with your calling, you are going to feel fear. Think about what God said to Joshua as he stepped into his calling to lead the people of Israel. Three times God told Joshua, „Be strong and courageous! Strong and courageous! Strong and courageous!“ Why? Because Joshua felt weak and afraid!

What was the basis upon which God told Joshua he didn’t have to be afraid? Did He say, „Hey Josh, you don’t have to be afraid because your enemies aren’t any big deal. It’s gonna be fine, bro!“? No, that’s not what He said! Did He say, „Hey Josh, man, chill out. It’s all gonna be good because, man, you’re good enough, you’re smart enough, and doggone it, people like you.“? No, that’s not what He said!

He said, „Do not fear, why? For I am with you!“ Here’s the deal, man: fear comes from looking at your circumstances, but faith comes from looking at your Sovereign Savior. That’s where you get this, man.

So, like, I’ll give an example of this. He says, „Do not fear, for I am with you.“ So my youngest son Hudson, I guess it was like last year, apparently there were like some cartoon zombies in some cartoon he watched—I don’t know what it was. He figured out what a zombie was; that’s all I know!

So we were taking out the trash one night up the top of our little driveway, and Hudson just, in this real scared voice, he was like, „Dad, what do we do if there are zombies?“ I was like, „Oh son, that’s easy: two in the chest, one in the face!“ You know, I said, „That’s it, man! We know exactly what to do!“

That’s not what I said. No, no! But when he said that, here’s what I don’t say. I don’t say, „Oh man, Hudson, it’s okay because there’s nothing scary in the dark.“ I don’t say that, guys! Because we live in a world where actually there are scary things in this world! There’s a prince of the power of the air—this Satan in the Bible says is the God of this world—that we actually do have an enemy and that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and spiritual forces in the heavenly realms—that actually there are scary things in this world.

So I don’t say, „Hudson, there’s nothing scary in the dark.“ Here’s what I do say: „But it’s okay because Dad’s here and I can take any zombie. And, oh, by the way, Hudson, when we get back to the garage, I’m gonna turn on the lights, and when I turn on the lights, all the darkness has to flee.“

Are y’all picking up what I’m putting down? When God says, „Do not fear, for I am with you, “ what He’s saying is, „Every step, everywhere you go, your Heavenly Father is with you, and greater is He that is with you than he that is in the world.“

Here’s the deal, man, that God— that’s right, man—that God fights your battles! If God is for us, who can be against us? The greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world! You may be like, „Man, but it’s just little old me.“ Yo, God plus one is a super majority! That God is always with us, and wherever His light goes, the darkness has to flee.

So in order—listen, Nehemiah does this. There’s this one verse where, when Nehemiah is afraid, here’s what it says. It doesn’t say what he prays; it just says, „So I prayed to the God of heaven.“

Here’s the deal: Nehemiah was looking at a bad king of kings, and he was afraid of a bad king of kings, but he was aware that above the bad king of kings was a sovereign good King of kings. And his faith in the sovereign good King of kings gave him the ability to act in faith over fear in front of the bad king.

You’ve got to get that! Anymore, you’ve got to get your eyes off of your circumstances and onto your Sovereign Savior so that you can walk in faith. So, step number two to fulfill your calling: you will have to walk in faith.

Step 3: Make Your Move
Now, step number three—I’ll land it right here. Step number three is: to fulfill your calling, make your move. You’ve got to make your move. Now I’m going to read you this passage—three verses—and it might not make sense while I’m reading these, so let me say it and explain it.

This is what it says: Nehemiah says, „And I answered the king: If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my ancestors are buried so I can rebuild.“ In other words, he’s making a bold request. „King, would you send me—your chief of staff—away? I know I’m a POW, but would you send me away to go back and rebuild the city that you conquered?“ That’s a bold request.

Then he says this: „I also said to him, If it pleases the king, may I have letters to the governors of the Trans-Euphrates so that they will provide safe conduct until I arrive in Judah? And may I have a letter to Asaph, keeper of the royal park, so he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple and for the city wall for the residents I will occupy.“

So here’s where he’s going: „Oh, not only please send me away, but also provide me protection, and I’ve got to rebuild something, and King, like, your lumber is the best lumber, so can I have yours?“ He’s just very, very bold, okay?

And watch this: „Because the gracious hand of my God was on me, the king granted my request.“ Nehemiah, watch this: he understands his calling, he steps forward, he walks in faith, he overcomes his fear, and once he does that, he makes a bold move.

There’s a time to pray and then there’s a time to act. There’s a time to have faith and there’s a time to step forward in faith. Nehemiah makes his move.

So here’s my analogy for this. So it’s kind of fun: my two daughters are getting to the age where I could actually do fun things with them, you know? So Mimi and Papaw introduced them to checkers, and now we play checkers together every night after dinner. And let me just tell you, I am dominating! I mean, like, I am 32-0 right now! Well, as I’m crushing them—and here’s why I feel your judgment—I know some of you are like, „Oh, you’re supposed to be building their confidence, their self-esteem.“

Listen, I would never do that to my little Johnny. We have never even spanked little Johnny; we can tell, you know, it’s like all this stuff! Like, you’re like, „You know, I know this is what you’re thinking.“ No, you need to build their—listen, here’s your deal: I’m not trying to build their confidence; I’m trying to assert my dominance. That’s what I’m doing right now, okay?

Now, some of you are like, „Those poor kids!“ Man, we’re having a great time! But here’s what will happen: a lot of times they’ll make a move, and then they didn’t pay attention, so they didn’t see me take my turn. So then there’s this awkward moment where they’re looking at me thinking I’m thinking about my move, and I’m looking at them thinking that they’re thinking about their move. Eventually, it’s like a game of intellectual passive chicken, and eventually they break down and they go, „Dad, is your dad taking your turn?“

Then I erupt and go, „It’s your move!“ Can I say something to you? Some of you guys are in a spot where you’re waiting on God, and God’s going, „It’s your move!“

I’ve given you clarity in your calling; I’ve given you faith. You’ve prayed; I’m with you; you know what to do; you have my word; you have my spirit. Now it’s time for you to step forward in faith. Do something! Take a step!

You’ll see this all throughout the Bible: that faith—stepping forward in faith—activates the power of God. That when you move, Heaven’s going to back you up! You’ll see this in Joshua chapter three. Israel was getting ready to pass through the Jordan River at flood stage.

Have you ever noticed this before? A lot of people miss this: it was at the moment that the leader’s feet touched the water that God parted the Jordan River. When Moses parts the Red Sea—have you ever noticed this? God tells him to go forward, but the Bible says that God waits until the moment that Moses raises his staff in faith, and then God does the miracle!

In Luke chapter 17, Jesus heals these lepers. You remember what he says? He goes, „Hey, go show yourself to the priest.“ Go show them you’re clean. But when He tells them that, they’re not clean—they’re still full of leprosy! But the Bible says, „As they were going, they were healed.“

You see, faith activates the power of God! And when you get clarity on what God has put you on this planet to do and you step forward in faith, what the Bible says is that Heaven’s going to back you up.

Can I just say something, man? Some of you right now—here’s what you’re doing. Can I coach you? Let me do a little leadership coaching right now. This is what I coach in leadership; this is how I think. Some of you right now, you have something that you want to see accomplished in your life for the purposes of God. But you’re going, „Well, Josh, but I’m waiting for a better opportunity. I’m waiting for the perfect opportunity!“

Can I tell you what somebody told me that I want to share with you? This is how I think: A good plan executed today with passion is better than a perfect plan executed months from now without passion. Just do something! Make your move!

In fact, can I say it like this? Here’s what faith looks like in your life: just do the next right thing. What’s the next thing that you know is the right thing?

Can I kind of be a—here’s what my life looks like. If I look out at my calling, like what I want to see God accomplish through me in my short time on Earth—in my—is serve the purposes of God in my generation and then go and sleep with my fathers, like the Bible says. If I look out at everything, can I be honest? Get overwhelmed.

What if somehow we sparked that movement, and we blanketed them to the point of a tipping point that actually we saw a generation turn back to the living God?

Yeah, I’m like, man, if I think about all that stuff, I get really overwhelmed. So I just need to look at what’s the next right thing? What’s the next right thing for you?

Some of you want to start a ministry. Here’s what you need to do: you need to dream big, but you need to start small. You need to start serving in a ministry in the church that aligns with your passions and gifts.

Some of you want to become a leader. Do you want to know how to become a leader? Here’s what you do: you get a meeting with somebody who is a great spiritual leader; you ask for 45 minutes of their time. You do not take up any more than 45 minutes of their time. You come with prepared questions; you walk into that lunch, you ask your questions, and then you shut your mouth. Your job is not to talk; your job is to listen.

You ask your questions; you let them talk; you take notes on what they say, and then you leave in 45 minutes, and you go and apply what they said.

Some of you what you have in your heart is you want to get a while; you want a date. Oh, God put me right here right now to preach to you. You’ve been praying; you’ve been having faith. Do you know what you need to do? Here’s what you need to do.

I love that you’re praying. You need to take a shower. You need to buy a shirt with a button on it. You need to go to Target; that’s where women go to find things they don’t need. Go to Target! You need to do these things!

God put me on this planet right here right now to tell you exactly what you need to do next. Listen: success isn’t about achieving something way out in the future; it’s about being faithful to do the right thing today. It’s your move! It’s your move!

Application to LakePointe Church
Now, because let me apply this to the season of our church’s life, and I just want to speak to you, the people of LakePointe Church. Right now, some of you, here’s the step you need to take. Go ahead and toss this up here. Some of you, we know there are hundreds—there are probably a thousand people who will worship with us this weekend—who recently you have crossed the line of faith. You’re going, „Man, I’m in! Like, I’m in on Jesus; I’m in!“

Do you know what your next right step is? Listen, you did not just accept a Savior; you bowed your knee to a Lord. And Jesus said, „If you’re going to follow Him, you’ve got to be willing to pick up your cross and follow Me.“

And what you need to do is you need to follow Him into water and be baptized to publicly proclaim what Jesus has done for you. And like, come out as a follower of Jesus. That’s what you need to do.

And can I just say this? Jesus said, „If you’re going to follow Me, you’ve got to follow Me to a cross.“ If you won’t follow Him into water, I promise you won’t follow Him to a cross.

So step one—like some of you just need to text LIFE to 20411, and you need to be here next week at Baptism Weekend. We’re going to celebrate with you—right LakePointe Church? We’re going to celebrate with you because we are just—we’re excited about what God has done in your life. That’s it; that’s some of your next right step.

Now some of you—here’s what yours is. For some of you, you just need to—you’ve been around LakePointe for a while. You’ve never been a part of a church before. You hear us talk about the Next Steps class all the time. One of the things we do at the Next Steps class is help you understand what your calling is. We help you with that.

And some of you, very frankly, you’ve never been a part of a church in your entire life. God commands this: a person without a church is like a spiritual orphan—it’s like a child without a family. God wants this in your life.

So for the first time, some of you, you just need to take the step to text NEXT to 20411. You need to—this is your obedience to the Lord! —to be here next week and to get plugged into a church for the first time in your life.

Now, last, let me zoom out. Let me apply something to the entire life of our church right now. Man, this week is Encounter. It’s Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Doors open at 6 PM; the night actually starts at 7 PM. We have an army of praying people in this church—that’s what I have discovered. And Matt, if you can get here at six, just to be at all of our locations, to be praying over the night, praying over the seats, what God’s going to do, I’m going to ask for that.

But listen, here’s what I think: here’s how I chose what’s going to happen at Encounter. I listen on average to a sermon per day, five days a week. Do the math, and that comes out to 300 or 400 sermons per year. I listen to a lot of preaching.

What I did for Encounter is I picked the two sermons I’ve heard in the last year and I went, „My people have to hear this! My people have to hear this!“

And I just want to say this: if you’re asking what’s the next right thing, there are some things in my heart that I think God is moving us towards that I’m not—I’ll find out if we’re ready for yet, but we’ll find out this week.

But I listen: I believe that God is calling us to lean into a prayer culture and an openness to the power and activity of the Holy Spirit in a fresh way. I’m asking you to be here as a church to gather Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and just consecrate the week to the living God—your kids, especially your students, your teenagers. Now let’s be here, man; let’s get to the next right thing He’s got for us.

Closing Prayer
I want to pray that God will do this in your life. So right now, let me pray for you.

Father, right now, thank You so much for Your Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, would You please right now be the preacher that I cannot be? Would You preach the sermon inside the chest of men and women? I pray that right now, You would be personalizing what was just preached. There’d be purposes of God that are welling up inside of people as they are hearing me and that You’d be breaking their hearts for some of Your purposes.

God, I just want to go ahead and pray it. I pray for a fresh outpouring of Your Spirit, like divided tongues of fire, like a mighty rushing wind, like Your word says. And this week, we would encounter the presence of the living God in a fresh way.

And I do, Lord—I just ask—I ask that You would stretch out Your hand to perform signs and wonders. I am asking You to do the miraculous in our midst to exalt the name of Jesus. And we would see spiritual awakening in our lives, in our family’s lives, in our church’s life, in our nation’s life. So, Father, we love You, and we pray those things in the crucified, risen name of Jesus. Amen and