My Best Yes | Andy Wood

to say welcome to all of our campuses, those of  you who are joining us online, our extensions, our   prison campuses. God is doing amazing things. And  it's Christmas time at Saddleback. And I always   feel like in Christmas, especially at church,  do you say Merry Christmas all through December?   I I think we do at Saddleback. So, merry Christmas  everybody. And the reason why we say merry   Christmas is because we love this time of year.  We get to celebrate the reality that God came from   heaven to earth to become one of us to live among  us having a perfect sinless life, goes to a cross,   dies for our sins, and resurrects from the dead.  And today we're in the middle of a message series,   the second week called Stories of Christmas. Can  we say that together? stories of Christmas. And   we've been looking at stories found in the Bible  from Christmas. It's the true Christmas story that   happened when Jesus came to planet Earth. And so  today, we're going to continue that series. But   I also want to make sure you know at the end of  our time together, we have something very special   happening for our whole church family across  all of our campuses. We are going to participate   together in our Dream Now year-end offering. And  we've been looking forward to this moment since   November. We've been talking about it. We're we're  actually doing this for several reasons. First of   all, it's an opportunity for us to worship God  and just say, "Thank you for your faithfulness   in our lives. Thank you for all the amazing things  that you're doing." And also, in addition to that,   we're lifting our eyes this Christmas to say,  "God, we we want to be your hands and feet  

to be used by you to make a difference in our  communities around us to serve, to love." Uh,   in fact, we we actually noticed this Christmas  because of the crisis and government shutdown,   there were about 50,000 people in the communities  around our state campuses without meals this   Christmas. And we said we want to stand in that  gap. So, the Dream Now year end offering is going   to feed those families to help those in need. In  addition to that, we've been giving away Christmas   presents all month. Uh, today actually, there were  there were kids that came from the foster care   system to one of our campuses. Uh we have this  tent set up. Most of our campuses have a space   like this where there's just gifts being given  away for kids in need, foster care kids coming.   And I heard a story even as you see some of these  pictures, a story from this weekend at one of our   campuses, a woman that walked through the door and  she said she's a single mom. She lives paycheck   to paycheck, minimum wage. She doesn't have the  resources financially, even with food this month,   and to give gifts to her kids. and her church  family stepped in the gap and that's because   of you. So I just want to say thank you for your  generosity to be a part of serving and blessing   all these families in need. You are a generous  church and this is a great moment for us to just   worship God. One other thing you'll hear more  about. Uh this is also this offering is going   to help launch our new South Bay location that  is a part of an adoption uh with a church that   approached Saddleback to say we want to give our  building to you and make it a Saddleback campus.  

So we're going to tell more about that. But one  thing I just want to make sure you know on your   seat around you somewhere around you there's a  Dream Now offering envelope and you can grab that.   Um and at the end of the service we'll be giving  those together. This is an opportunity for those   of us who've committed to Dream Now to give in in  fulfillment of that. And then for those who have   yet to taken that take that step to join in and  we're believing God's going to use this in a very   powerful way. See, God is writing a story through  us together. And we we've been just asking God,   how do we step into the fullness of the story that  you have for our lives and that you have for our   church? And so that's why we're also in a series  called Stories of Christmas. Now, I want to invite   you to pull out your notes. And as we journey  together today, we're going to continue that   series looking at the story of Mary and Joseph  found in the Bible. And what we're going to notice   from Mary and Joseph is that there's a unique  character trait that both of them share together.   And I love their story because they were chosen as  a couple to be the ones that would give birth to   baby Jesus. that Mary would give birth and Joseph  would be the adoptive father of Jesus as he would   grow up. And you got to wrestle through why God  chose them, why God chose them to be a part of   the story of him coming to planet Earth. And as we  look at this, we we've been wrestling at some very   big questions that are a part of stories. stories  in the Bible, stories like movies such as Elf, uh  

where people wrestle that wasn't very spiritual,  but where people wrestle through questions and the   questions that actually happen in our hearts are  one, there's a question in stories, what what do   you want? What does the main character want? So,  Buddy the Elf wants to find his dad. So, there's   often this desire on the inside. If you haven't  watched Elf, man, what's happening with you? So,   go watch it. Um, that's the last elf comment I'm  going to make in the message. Second question is,   why does what they want matter? So, why does the  the character's desire matter? And then finally,   how will they respond? So, there's usually  a villain that comes in and then ultimately   there's a struggle to overcome and at the end  often there's a hero who's responded to that   struggle. Now, the Bible has that story arc and  the hero of the Bible is Jesus. He intersects   humanity and through his life from his birth to  his death. It's the culmination of the story of   God and God invites us into the story that he's  already written and continues to write from   generation to generation. Now, Matthew chapter 1  is the beginning of a snapshot where Joseph, the   earthly father of Jesus, is called to stay with  Mary, who finds out she's pregnant with the baby   that God has said has come from the Holy Spirit.  And there's a lot of mystery to Mary and Joseph.   You know what one thing that we actually do know  is that they would have come from humble means,   meaning that they they probably didn't have a  whole lot of money financially. Most likely they  

were about 19. Joseph was probably about 19,  20 years old, late teens, and Mary was early   to mid- teens when we pick up their story. As  they're engaged to be married, Matthew chapter 1,   notice this interaction between Joseph and an  angel. And it says this, this is how the birth   of Jesus Christ came about. His mother Mary was  pledged to be married to Joseph. But before they   came together, she went, she was found to be with  child through the Holy Spirit. And because Joseph,   her husband, was a righteous man and did not want  to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind   to divorce her quietly. So he was going to just  leave the scene. And I was reading this week,   I found this to be very interesting. I always  wrestled through why is it that it says that   he was going to divorce her quietly. So in  their culture, if they were engaged, it was   literally the same way in our culture where it's  a commitment unto marriage. And so for Joseph to   leave her, he he'd in essence have to divorce her.  But he would do it quietly and it reveals so much   about his character. So what it shows us about  Joseph is that he was a righteous man and wanted   to honor the law of God. So if Mary was pregnant  outside of wedlock and it wasn't Joseph's baby,   Joseph is actually following the law to stop the  marriage. In addition to that though, Joseph wants   to do it in a way that is merciful towards Mary.  So you see his desire to honor God and please God,   but also his mercy and grace towards this woman.  Just a beautiful picture of his character. And  

then it continues saying, "But after he considered  this, God has a way of intervening in our story.   Sometimes we're moving the wrong direction and God  steps in. So he steps in with the angel and says,   the angel of the Lord appears to him in  a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David,   do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife  because what is conceived in her is from the Holy   Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you are  to give him the name Jesus because he will save   his people from their sins." And all this took  place to fulfill what the Lord had said through   the prophet. The virgin will be with child and  will give birth to a son and they will call him   Emmanuel which means God with us. This is so  important that Jesus is God in human flesh.   God with us. And then it says this. When Joseph  woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had   commanded him to do. And he took Mary home as his  wife. But he had no union with her until she gave   birth to a son and he gave him the name Jesus.  Now I love this because what you see is an angel   coming to a man named Joseph. And Joseph actually  notice from the story, Joseph doesn't say anything   in the story. Like we're going to look at Mary and  Mary actually sings a song after visiting that the   angel visits and Joseph is just like really quiet  and does the right next thing. And this has got to   be good for some of us dudes here. Like, have you  ever noticed men tend not to talk quite as much  

as women? Not all. I talk a lot, but there are a  lot of men that they just, you know, grunt is kind   of how they talk. How you doing? Good. And so that  that like next time something happens and somebody   tells you you don't talk enough, just say, "Well,  Joseph didn't talk at all in the Bible." Okay?   There were no places. But he was obedient to God.  So he did what God asked him to do. And I love   this because it gives us an example of how Joseph  entrusted himself to God. He entrusted his future.   He entrusted his reputation. He put his life into  God's hands and obeyed the vision, the dream that   God gave to him to take Mary home as his wife.  Now, as a result of Jo Joseph's obedience and his   willingness to entrust himself into God's hands,  think about this. Joseph became the first person   that God would entrust himself into his hands.  So, Joseph would be the first hands to catch baby   Jesus as he came out of the womb. Joseph entrusted  himself into God's hands. And as a result,   he became the first person to hold Almighty God in  his hands. And God wants to really call us to that   kind of surrender that so often the invitation to  to receive what God wants to bring into our lives   starts with our open hands. So what does God want  to put in your hands? See, God wants to put more   into your hands, but if your hands are closed, God  can't put it into your hands. And Joseph gives us  

this beautiful example of surrender and his yes  to God. Now Mary, she's like simultaneously having   her interactions with the angel. And notice  what happens in Luke chapter 1 as we see her   part of the story. It says, "In the sixth month of  Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel   to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin  pledged to be married to a man named Joseph,   a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary.  And the angel went to her and said,"Greetings,   you who are highly favored. The Lord is with you.  Now Mary was greatly troubled at his words and   wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But  the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary.   You have found favor with God. You will conceive  and give birth to a son, and you're to give him   the name Jesus. He will be great, and he will be  called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God   will give him the throne of his father David. and  he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever and   his kingdom will never end. Now Mary as she gets  this word from God has a very practical important   question and she looks at the angel and says well  how can this be because I'm a virgin not not sure   if you know that. And the angel says well actually  the Holy Spirit will come over you and the power   of the most high will overshadow you. This is the  only time in human history this has ever happened.   But God gives this immaculate conception where  Mary, she she becomes pregnant as the spirit of  

God conceives inside of her baby Jesus. And it  says, "So the holy one to be born will be called   the son of God. Even Elizabeth, your relative is  going to have a child in her old age. And she who   was said to be unable to conceive in her sixth  month, for no word from God, will ever fail." Now   notice this next verse. This is one of my favorite  verses of the entire Bible. In Luke 1:38, Mary has   her whole plan rocked. Like, she's thinking about  her wedding. She's a young teenage girl. She She's   got her whole future in front of her. And a moment  it's all different. And look at what she says back   to the angel. I am the Lord's servant, Mary  answered. May your word to me be fulfilled.   See the beauty of that surrender to God that  both Mary and Joseph their whole life they   had been faithful and this moment God says to  them I'm going to entrust you with this plan   of salvation that I'm going to bring to the  entire world. What's unique about them? But   what's distinctive about these two people is their  surrender and their yes to God. And you know you   and I are making tons of decisions all throughout  our lives. In fact, I read an article this week   that said on a daily average, we make about 35,000  decisions per day. Now, I don't know who counts   those decisions, but but that's a lot. And you  think about how we say yes to some things and no   to other things and sometimes you say yes to like,  you're going to get a new car and I'm getting this  

kind of car. That means you can't get another kind  of car. That's also true. You get married to one   person, you don't get to be with all the other  people. Amen. Somebody said amen on that one.   And you when you say yes to one thing, you're  saying no to others. And when you say no to one   thing, you're saying yes to others. This is so  important. So my message title today is my best   yes. And what's the best yes that you can give  the best yes. My best yes is always my yes to God.   So the invitation from God through this story  and the call of God on our lives to to write   a different kind of story at the core of a life  that is written into the story of God is a life   of surrender and obedience. A life of yes to  God. Saying yes over and over and over. And   sometimes our challenge is that we want to say yes  to God in the really big stuff. But oftentimes the   really small decisions seemingly are the ones that  lead to a life that is written into the story of   God. So I want to give you a couple thoughts about  saying yes to God from Mary and Joseph's story and   from uh my story as well. So first of all, saying  yes to God doesn't always make sense. And what I   love about seeing their story is as you consider  the complexity of what they had to navigate. Now,   Joseph is giving up his reputation. Mary is giving  up all of her future plans and laying them at the   feet of God, saying, "God, I surrender to you."  And there are so many questions that undoubtedly  

would have gone through Mary's mind. And yet, she  says yes without all of the answers. And I think   a lot of times for us when it comes to the future,  we feel like we can't say yes to God and move into   the future until we have all the answers. And God  has this way of illuminating the big vision and   the next step that we can take. But there's often  so much between here and now and a bigger vision   that God has and God's yes that he's inviting you  into. There will always be uncertainty when you're   living a life of obedience. There will always be  things in our lives where God has to come through   for us. When Stacy and I felt called to Saddleback  uh in 22, there's so many questions we had. God,   how are you going to work it out with the church  we started that's 14 years old? It's going to   take a pastor there to lead that church. God, how  are you going to do it with our kids? How are you   going to take care of us as we look for home and  leave friends? All of that. And yet, God invited   us to say yes to trust him when there are things  that don't make sense. Saying yes to God comes   with uncertainty. And God doesn't owe me or you  answers to all the questions when he calls us to   say yes. And the response is from Mary and Joseph.  you have my surrender. The other part of this is   that it costs. There's a cost to our yes to God.  And what happens for many people is that in light   of the cost, they choose a lesser path, a lesser  story, and forget or don't notice the reality that   there's a greater reward with the greater cost. So  Mary and Joseph have been written into the forever  

story of God. And as the Bible says, from now on,  generations will call Mary blessed. There's no one   who's ever existed like Mary who had the privilege  of being the mother of Jesus and being at the   cross when he was crucified and being a part of  the the whole journey of raising up God who brings   salvation to the world. And the blessing came  at a great cost and then finally saying yes to   God does not get easier when we delay. And there  might be something in your life right now that   if God is knocking on the door of your heart,  there's there's a subtle part of you that says,   "God, I'm I'm going to push that down the road  a little bit." Maybe there's an area of your   life that God has been saying, "I want you to  surrender that addiction to me." That habit,   that mindset. Maybe it's your pursuit of wealth.  May maybe it's a relationship that God's asking   you to give up. And you say, "At some point in  the future, I'm going to respond in obedience."   But what I've seen in my own life is that when I I  push it down the road, kick the can down the road,   the the delay does not actually make the obedience  easier. It makes it much more difficult. I mean,   maybe you've had a moment like this. I have where  I felt led to say sorry to somebody and I'm like,   I'll say sorry when we have the perfect  opportunity. Nobody else is around and I'll   just apologize. And and that moment never comes.  And then it's a week later or two weeks later. And   those those moments of yes to God are so important  that we obey right away when he puts the prompting  

on our heart. Could you imagine if Joseph had  said to the angel, "Let me think about this for   a couple days." Like I I need to I need to kind  of wrestle through if I'm going to obey. I I love   this verse. Psalm 119 verse 60. I will hasten and  not delay to obey your commands. I I want to be   the kind of man, the kind of person that when God  says yes, he can count on me to obey right away.   And I want to be a part of a church that that  marches to the vision of God, that when God calls   us, we say yes. And that's been our history as a  church family. And God's inviting a new generation   of us to model and live lives of yes to him when  he speaks, not delay. And we notice as we do this   that we receive and experience the reward on the  backside. Now the question for me personally is   how do how do I do this on a practical level? Like  how do I actually live on a day-to-day level? I   don't have angels showing up telling me to like  go to another country with my kids. And Joseph,   his story is is unique in God's calling. But  you and I also have the the same opportunity   to respond to God. And practically two two ideas I  want to give to you. How do you give God your best   yes? How do you respond as he stirs in your heart?  And the first one is this that my best yes from   God starts with zooming out to get a bigger story  to see a bigger story. And sometimes when we're so  

focused on now, we miss the faithfulness of God.  What I've noticed in my own life is that when I   look back on God's faithfulness to my family, the  way that I've seen him show up miraculously in so   many moments, there's an increased confidence  that he gives me for the future. So, as we've   been married now for 22 years, and we've been  parents for over 19 years, Stacy, dare I say, has   forced our family to take Christmas pictures every  year. And it's a great act. I I honor her for this   great act of family pictures because she does way  more work than I do. She's got a, you know, she's   looking at finding a a place to do the pictures,  somebody to take the pictures, the outfits that   we wear. And I remember there were so many years  where I was like, "Babe, like, let's just skip a   year. Nobody's going to know. We'll just send  a card out. Two years from now, it'll be fine.   Nobody nobody will ever notice." And she's like,  "No, I want to do it." Today I I have we have a   stack of cards from every year of of our journey  of having a family. And I want you to see a couple   of these pictures here from our family. And what  you'll notice is all through the years, different   outfits, different seasons of life. But that top  left one right there, what I remember with that   one is that day I thought, you know what? I'm  gonna be a good dad and take a football with me   to family pictures. And so I took the football.  The photographer was late and I was playing catch  

with Cademan and I said, "Hey, Cayman, go long."  So Cayman goes long and he dives for the football   and gets mud all over his outfit and Stacy right  before that's trying to get all the mud off. Also   in that family picture, Caris is crying. You can't  tell when you look at it, but she's crying. It   kind of looks like a smile. So we got it and we  just said, "Put it on there. looks like a smile.   And all of these pictures, here's another slide.  What they remind me is the faithfulness of God in   every season of our life. It's been so good and  kind to us. Times where we were at our wits end,   but God came alongside, gave us the strength  that we needed in the midst of pain and very   difficult times. Times where God provided in ways  that we could have never comprehend. God had been   God has been so good to me. And when I zoom out  and I see it gives me a confidence and a faith   for the future to realize that God is writing a  bigger story. God is writing a bigger story with   your life and he's inviting you to get a bigger  vision to look back and see his faithfulness and   he's writing a bigger story through our lives  together as a church family. Now, one of the   ways that he's been doing that this is through all  the different campuses that we have as a church.   And there's a beautiful story that God has woven  together that starts with a guy by the name of   Pastor Mark who pastors a church in Luma called  Bay Church. This church has been around for a   really long period of time. And Pastor Mark got it  in his heart that as he approached his retirement,  

he said, "I want this next season of my life  to be the most fruitful season." And he then   approached Saddleach and said, "Hey, would you  guys consider becoming taking us on and adopting   us as a church to make us your Saddleback  South Bay location?" And I want you to hear   his story of Yes to God. And then we'll come  back and look at it, talk about it together. One of the incredible strong points of this church   has always been uh they have  a really great giving spirit. [Music] This church has gone through many  changes. Started in a bar made into a church   and then that grew to a point that it was just  completely overrun with people in the original   building and then they built this 600 seat  auditorium uh in the '60s. Some of the people   actually mortgaged their homes to get money out  of their homes in order to support this ministry.

First 10 years I was here over 150 uh baptisms.  We've seen a lot of people one for Christ and also   uh going some of them going into ministry.  We've done many community outreaches. We   work with community child in the area for  unwed mothers and uh we've also done uh   different fundraisings for various things  in the community. We've rebuilt the school   um lunchroom across the street. I really believe  that what's going to happen next here is to build   on the 82 years of history at the Bay Church,  soon to be Saddleback South Bay. We started uh   remodeling here and we spent well over a million  and a half dollars preparing the uh parking lot   and the children's area and the chapel and a new  office space and bathrooms. And now Saddleback's   come and is working on completely remodeling the  inside of the worship area here. And just really   excited to see what we started here 8 years ago  being finished up. And I think that what's the   real heart of what I think God is going to be  doing is to further the ministry of those who   have come before us cuz they pray that this would  be a huge huge beacon of light in this area. When   I was talking with Andy uh a few weeks ago, he  asked me what did I see as being the main thing I  

hoped for? And I said that we would have in this  area the same kind of influence that Saddleach   has had in Orange County. I really believe that  Orange County is so much better off because of   the ministry of Saddleach. And I believe that as  this building is utilized and uh we will be able   to further the gospel and the whole community  has the potential of changing for the better. It's incredible. Now, I want you I want you just to stop for  a moment with me, all of our campuses, and   realize the the nature of this miracle that God  is providing for our church family and the beauty   of this story. All of these people throughout  the church history of Bay Church where they've   sacrificed and they've said, "We're going to join  with Saddleback to take what God's given to us and   to open our hands to believe that God's going to  use this building to reach our community around   us." Now, the South Bay campus has been praying  for 10 years for a building, and God has provided   in such a beautiful way. If we as a church were  to go buy a piece of land and we're to build   that building, it would cost our church about  $20 million to build that building. And it was   given to our church for free. That's incredible.  With no mortgage, y'all, y'all realize what I'm   saying here? This is unbelievable. And so now as  we step into Dream Now and we we renovate, we're  

we're still going to invest in that. It's going to  take about $2 million to renovate that campus. And   that's why we're doing the Dream Now year end  offering is to think about all of the people's   lives that will be impacted as a result of this  campus launching. Now, after our service earlier   today, I had somebody walk up to me at the end of  the service. Get this. He's he is like 65 years   old roughly. He said, "Over 50 years ago, when I  was 13 years old, I came to that church. I moved   across the country. I went to that church. I made  a decision to follow Jesus at 13 years old and   got baptized in that building." How cool is that  story? And that's that's full circle. There going   to be more stories like that of what God is going  to do through our yes to him. The invitation is to   say yes by zooming out and seeing how he's writing  a bigger story. Now, as we go back to the story   of Mary and Joseph, notice how the angel that  communicates with them says a couple of things in   Matthew 1:21. As he's speaking to Joseph, he says,  "She will give birth to a son, and you're to give   him the name Jesus." Notice the vision, the dream  in God's heart that he shares with Joseph because   he will save his people from their sins. So, this  baby that your story is connected to is the savior   of the world. Same thing happens in Luke 1:31.  He's speaking to Mary and says, 'You will conceive   and give birth to a son, and you're to give him  the name Jesus, and he will be great and be called   the son of the most high God, and the Lord will  give him the throne of his father, David, and he  

will reign over Jacob's descendants forever, and  his kingdom will never end. And the invitation is   like, Joseph, Mary, you're a part of this story  that will go from generation to generation. And   if they could just see that the magnitude of the  story that God was writing through their yes,   the bigger vision, we're here today out of their  obedience to God. And somebody today as you're   thinking about your life, there's a part of  you that's holding on to your story. You're   clutching your fist tightly and God's saying, "I  have a bigger, better story that I want to write   through your life." So here's a question in your  life. Where do you need to trust God in the future   with your story? Maybe there's some area of your  life that you feel like I can't put it into God's   hands yet, but there's an invitation. What part  of your future do you need to place into God's   hands today? And at the end of our time, I'm going  to give you that opportunity to respond and say,   "God, I'm placing my future into your hands."  We zoom out to get a bigger vision, to see   the context of a greater story. But finally, we  also want to zoom in to do the next right thing.   We we want to actually come closer to realize  that there there's also a next step in light of   a bigger vision that God gives to us. That there's  a next step in your life today. Some of you that   next step is to to go public with your faith and  get baptized. Others of you maybe there's somebody   in your heart that God's been stirring to invite  them to come to Christmas services. But there's   that invitation that God gives to locate where you  are and keep taking your next steps. And sometimes  

the biggest impact of our lives starts with the  smallest next step. Like Matthew 1:24, it says,   "Joe Joseph woke up and he did what the angel of  the Lord commanded him." That simple obedience   that God uses to expand his kingdom, to carry out  his plan through Joseph's life. Same with Mary.   I am the Lord's servant. May it be unto me as the  Lord has said, I surrender and I give you my yes.   Now, one way for me on a personal level that I  zoom in and I try to see what is it that God is   asking me to do right now, here's a question that  helps me. Who is in front of you right now that   God wants you to love? Who's that person that God  has placed in your sphere of influence right now   that he's inviting you to give his kindness and  his love? Now, this might be a neighbor on the   street that you you invest in a relationship and  a friendship. I I'm actually very excited because   one of my friends that I've been investing in  and hiking with and inviting to church for three   years now told me that he's going to come to our  Christmas services at Saddleach. And you can clap   for that bit. Right now, I'm going to tell you a  bad story. So, let me give you a bad story. So,   I don't always love the people that are  right in front of me. And on Monday night,   I was coming home and I was actually uh on my  way home and Stacy calls me and says, "Hey babe,   uh I'm out shopping with Caris. Uh the boys  are out. They're they're going somewhere. So,   you're at home by yourself and you should get  yourself some dinner." So, I went by I got myself  

some tacos. I was on the way home. I was actually  kind of excited like I'm I'm going home. I'm going   to eat tacos and watch Monday Night Football by  myself. not as excited as I am about Christmas   at Saddleback, but I was I was pretty I was  pretty giddy about this. So, I'm I'm way on   my way home. I get my tacos. I drive drive into my  neighborhood. And as I'm pulling into my street,   I look and there's a big pickup truck right in  front of my house. And I'm like, who in the world?   The lights are on. Who in the world is like right  in front of my house? And then I'm like, "Oh,   that's the salesman that I told to come back  on Monday, thinking he would never come back,   but here he is." So I pull into the driveway and  I'm like, "Man, what am I going to do?" So I pull   back out of the driveway and drive start driving  through the True story. I'm not making this up.   So I started driving through the neighborhood  and finally I was I don't know if it was the   Holy Spirit or just this inner voice, a man voice  inside of me that said, "Gird up your loins. Go   home. Do not let a salesman drive you away from  your house. So, I drove back into my driveway,   opened the garage, ran inside as fast as I could,  closed the garage, and went went into the all the   blinds and started closing the blinds around  the house, hoping he wouldn't come and see me.   And then I turned on Monday Night Football as loud  as I could. And I'm listening to a podcast at the   same time, thinking maybe if he comes and knocks  on the door, he'll hear the game and the podcast   and just go away. And so he sure enough comes and  knocks on the door and I hear it and I'm like,  

"Oh man, I am not answering that. I am so tired.  I don't want to talk to a solar salesman tonight."   And so I just sit there and watch the football  game. And so finally, I don't know if it was   just kind of like a deal with God, but I was like,  "If he knocks a second time and the dog gets up,   I'll go." It's like a fleece test before the Lord.  So sure enough, like 60 seconds later, bam, bam,   bam. And Mercy, our dog, runs to the front door  and I'm like, "Okay, I'll go open the door."   So I go, I open the door. Sure enough, it's the  solar salesman. He comes in for 30 minutes plus   and we have a great conversation. And you know, I  I internally was like so committed to not bringing   this guy into my house. And God did everything he  could to keep like, "Behold, I stand at the door   and knock. If any man hears my voice, let him come  and open." And that 30 minutes was not all about   solar. It was about his life. And it was about the  struggles he's walking through as a family. And   it was about me just sharing my role in ministry  and my desire for him to know the love of God and   inviting him to church at Saddleback. And I almost  missed an a very very clear opportunity that God   was given to me. And but by his grace, he opened  that door. And there are people right in front of   you. Maybe there are times where you miss it like  me. And yet God gives you a second opportunity.   And the invitation is to say, "God, I give you  my yes. I surrender what's in my hands to you.  

I want to love those that are in front of me."  There's somebody in your life God wants to use   you to bring them to Christmas. Who's the person  in front of you that he wants you to love? And   then finally, the last question is, what's in your  hands that God wants to use? Who's in front of me   that God wants me to love? And what's in my hands  that God wants me to use? Now, in just a moment,   we're going to have an opportunity to respond  to God in worship with what he's placed into our   hands. And I want very quickly before we have a  story of someone's life here at Saddleback that's   been impacted, I want to just make sure you have  your envelope, the Dream Now offering envelope,   and I'll invite you to pull that out. And on the  inside, you'll see there's a place where you can   give back to God uh and make a commitment. Some  of you, this will be your commitment. You you   didn't get to join. You're new to Saddleback.  You step into Dream Now with us. Those of you   who've already been giving to Dream Now, I want to  say thank you for your faithful generosity. These   stories are happening because of you. And there's  a big dream and vision that God's calling us into   that's going to require all of us. And there are  some of you, this is your invitation to respond   to God for the very first time, to be a part of  the story that God is writing through Saddleback.   There are over 3,000 families this year that have  started a journey of generosity for the very first   time. This is a great opportunity. Some of you  have made dream now commitments and you haven't   yet started walking that commitment out. This is  also a great opportunity to begin fulfilling that  

commitment to dream now. Now, as you do, as you  prepare your hearts for this moment of worship, I   want you to hear a very powerful story of a family  from our church. Now, Eric and Carrie Bus been a   part of Saddleback for a long time. Carrie was in  the march from the high school to the Lake Forest   property. That's how long they've been a part of  our church family. They lead out small groups.   Eric leads a small group for high school students.  They've graduated now. Now, he is being used by   God in a very awesome way in our church family.  And he's going to share his story of opening   his hands to God. Will you all please welcome  Eric Bus as he comes to this stage. [Applause] Well, hello Saddleback family. Uh I appreciate you  giving me the opportunity to share our story. As   we were preparing and look and just reflecting  back on kind of our spiritual journey, uh we've   been walking with Jesus uh from a very early age.  It became very clear that there's a pattern that   was persistent throughout that whole journey. And  it's it's whenever we pause. We trust and listen   to God and then we say yes, it's amazing what  happens immediately after. There's there's it's   time and time again, God has been so faithful and  consistent whenever we just say yes to his will.   And my wife and I learned this concept very  early in our marriage. We got married fairly   young. We were, you know, we've been married  for about 25 years. And we were we were just   out of college when we got married and we finances  were not necessarily flush at that point in time.  

We were living in the Bay Area, not a inexpensive  place to live. And there was a few years that were   very very tight. Uh one of the things though that  we had done from the time we got married. It was   week one of marriage. We committed to tithe every  single, you know, every single week indefinitely.   That was a non-negotiable for us. No way would  we ever figure out how to pay it forward or do   something different. We were all in on tithing  and there was a lot of months that were very   very tight for us. Um the you know Top Ramen  Mac and Cheese were standard fair in the bus   house during those seasons. Um I remember vividly  there's about a two-year period where we chose to   do date night every Friday. And more often than  not, date night was we were about a mile away   from Costco. It was like walking to Costco, hot  dogs, sodas, and free samples. And that was date   night. Maybe some of you could relate to that.  it. But we look back some of the best times, but   uh definitely tight. And there was a discomfort  whenever we kept continued to financially uh or   put put our faith in front of our finances.  There was there was sometimes a discomfort.   It was never easy. And what we've learned is that  whenever that discomfort kicks in and and you kind   of could feel it, that's kind of that's God going  to work on you. That's the that's the open heart   surgery that he's doing in your life, saying,  you know, prioritize here. what's more important,   finances or me and and my will for you? And  so, fast forward to Dream Now, uh you know,   we heard Andy share the vision and the impact that  we could have not only in our local community, but  

globally with the Dream Now campaign, and my wife  and I are like, "Hey, we're all in. Let's go." So,   we chose to pray for a few weeks and figure out,  you know, where we'd land at a financial offering.   And we came back and we said, "Okay, well, here's  the number." and we just sat with it and it didn't   feel right. We felt like we were playing  it safe. We really we we weren't really le,   you know, leaning out in faith. And um it's during  that point in time that we said, you know what,   let's reset. Let's take two weeks, go back and  pray about it and come back and see if God stirs   something more uh interesting in our hearts. We  did. I came back and I remember this day vividly.   I was like, "Okay, so let me start. here's the  number I think that God should uh that we should   be given to God. And it was three times what we  had originally said. Big gasp. And I love my wife.   She looked at me and she goes, "Okay, let's go."  I mean, didn't even hesitate. I was and it was   just blew my mind. And since that point in time,  uh it's amazing. Just that one simple yes. It's   amazing what God has opened up for us in the years  since we did this. uh not only financially has he   uh continued to bless us, but more importantly,  relationally and spiritually, God has completely   opened up new doors that we never saw coming and  and we couldn't even imagine. We've been praying   for a small group that we can get involved in  and do life with. And he literally dropped like   the best small group right in our lap within  like two or three weeks of of our commitment.  

And now they're some of our closest friends. We  do life together. and they've been instrumental   as we've been as our kids have been moving out of  high school into college and our life is looking   very different. They've been they they they've  led that and they're teaching us how to think   about it and how to adjust. We've also brought  um a women small group into my uh wife life   um a a bunch of men that I've been doing life  with for the last year. Absolutely invaluable.   And it all started with a simple yes. And so as  you're hearing this story and if there's anything   stirring inside of you or if you've been here  for a while and campaigns have come and gone and   you've contributed a little bit here and there,  but you're thinking about really diving in and and   seeing what what what God has uh in store for this  church and the impact that this church could have,   that's probably God working on you a little bit,  doing a little heart surgery there. And for some   of you, this story may be a little uh foreign. uh  you know, fairly new to the church or never been   part of a a giving campaign. To be honest, it just  starts with a simple yes and one foot in front of   the other. Just one step forward and let God take  it from there. We called that that that point in   time when we had to like, you know, say yes and  and really go 3x in on what we said. We called it   the monkey bars because what we learned is that  I'm going back to elementary school. with monkey   bars, like you hold on to two monkey bars, but you  can't move to the next one until you let go of the   one that you're on. And sometimes it just takes a  big let go and then you finally see what God had  

all long in store for you. So maybe I urge you  that if this is stirring in you at all, ask God   what that monkey bar is. What is that thing that  I need to let go of in order for me to understand   and and see the full blessings that you could have  for for our lives. So anyway, I appreciate you   uh letting me share and uh thank you Andy  for the vision and dream now. Thanks. [Music] You know, I I hope for you as you hear Eric's  story and what God's doing in South Bay in   this brand new location and even just seeing the  pictures of people that are being impacted by our   church family that your heart is stirred and you  realize this is an invitation. It's an opportunity   for us to respond to God and be involved in  what God is doing on planet Earth. And so,   in just a moment, as the band leads us,  we're going to worship God with our Dream   Now year-end offering. And you can drop that  envelope in as the buckets go by. And this is   an act of worship. And I want to say thank  you for being obedient to God. You know,   this beautiful moment of renovating this church  facility is going to take all of us, feeding   uh close to 50,000 families, giving away gifts.  You know, somebody said, "H how do I know how much   I can do to make a difference?" And one family  to feed one family for a month is about $200. So,   you think about if we are in the place to give  to help those families, God calls us and invites   us to serve and to love. And I know that God has a  number for you. Many of you guys have been praying  

about that. But my hope more importantly than a  mount is just that you would be a part of what   God's doing. The greater story that he's writing  through our church family in our day. And there   going to be so many beautiful things that God  brings out of this next season. They're going to   be changed lives at Christmas because of your yes  to Jesus and invitation. There going to be people   at this new South Bay location that generations  are impacted. They're going to be families that   we're serving and giving meals to that are going  to come to faith and Jesus. And stories will   forever be different because of you. And so, as  we pray and as we respond, I want to just invite   you to join in with your worship to give your  offering as an act of saying, "Thank you, God,   for your faithfulness." I'm going to pray and that  at all of our campuses, there will be some buckets   that go by and we're going to hear a beautiful  song of God's faithfulness of Mary responding   to the voice of God. And I pray your heart is  stirred as we respond in this moment. Lord,   we thank you for your goodness. Thank you for  your faithfulness as we worship now. I pray,   Lord, that you would just move inside of us.  Lord, that as we give our offerings that you   would take our yes and use them to bless families  in need to help launch this new campus. Lord,   we are so grateful and we pray these  things in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. [Music] Mary, did you know that your baby boy  would one day walk on water? Mary,  

did you know that your baby boy  would save our sons and daughters?   Did you know that your baby boy has come to make  you new? This child that you delivered will soon   deliver you. Mary, did you know that your baby  boy would give sight to a blind man? Mary,   did you know that your baby boy will calm the  storm with his Did you know that your baby boy has   walked where angels try? When you kiss your Lord,  oh baby, you kiss the face of God. Did you know?

Did you know [Music] the blind will see  and the deaf will hear and the dead will   live again. [Applause] The lame will leap. The  mute will speak. The praises of the lamb. Oh,   the blind will see. The deaf will hear and  the dead will live again. The lame will leave   and the mute will squeeze. The praises of the  lamb. Mary, did you know that your baby boy was   Lord of all creation? Mary, did you know that  your baby boy would one day rule the nation?   How did you know that your baby boy is  heaven's perfect? [Applause] The sleeping child is the grave. I am

Mary. Did you know? Did you know? Did you know,  Mary? Did you know? [Music] Well, what a great time of worship together. And  I love getting to hear of how God is moving in and   through our church family. And I'm so grateful  that so many of you are a part of it as well.   And if there's anything that you need prayer for  that maybe stirred up in your heart during this   message, we would love to be praying for you.  Or if there's a different next step that you   might want to take and helping you to grow  in your faith, we would love to be helping   you take that step as well. So you can let us  know by clicking the link in the description   or you can open our Saddleback app and let  us know that way as well. Church family,   we love you so much and we hope to see you again  next week for our Christmas service. [Music] [Music]