Seize Your Moment: Steps in Your Christian Journey

Bible Reading:
1. 2 Corinthians 8:6-7 [56:19]
2. Colossians 4:5 [38:39]

Observation Questions:
1. What does 2 Corinthians 8:6-7 tell us about the importance of giving in the Christian life?
2. How does Colossians 4:5 relate to the concept of making the best use of our time?

Interpretation Questions:
1. How does the concept of giving as described in 2 Corinthians 8:6-7 relate to our responsibilities as Christians?
2. What does Colossians 4:5 suggest about the importance of wisdom and time management in our spiritual lives?

Application Questions:
1. How can you practically excel in the gracious act of giving as mentioned in 2 Corinthians 8:6-7 in your life this week?
2. What is one specific way you can make better use of your time to grow in your relationship with God, as suggested by Colossians 4:5?
3. Can you think of a situation where you waited too late to fulfill a responsibility or promise, like Jack in the movie? How can you prevent this from happening in the future?
4. How can you actively engage in your spiritual family, the church, to avoid being like Jack who was not an integral part of his family?
5. What is one specific step you can take this week to start or restart your relationship with Jesus, as mentioned in the last part of the sermon?

Day 1: Don't Wait Too Late to Belong

Belonging to a family, a community, or a church requires active engagement and participation. It's not enough to simply attend or be present; we must be an integral part of the group, contributing our unique gifts and talents. This sense of belonging is crucial in our spiritual journey, as it fosters growth and deepens our relationship with Jesus Christ. [44:18]

Bible Passage: Romans 12:5 - "So in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others."

Reflection: Reflect on your current level of engagement in your spiritual community. What steps can you take to deepen your sense of belonging?

Day 2: Don't Wait Too Late to Grow

Spiritual growth is a continuous journey that requires active participation and commitment. It's not a passive process that happens over time, but an intentional pursuit of a deeper relationship with Jesus. This year, consider taking the next step in your spiritual growth journey, whether that's reading the Bible in a year, joining a life group, or serving in a ministry. [50:02]

Bible Passage: Ephesians 4:15 - "Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ."

Reflection: What specific steps can you take this year to grow in your relationship with Jesus?

Day 3: Don't Wait Too Late to Serve

God has given each of us unique gifts and talents, not for our own benefit, but to serve others and build up the body of Christ. Serving is not just about doing good deeds, but about using our gifts in a way that glorifies God and benefits others. Consider how you can use your gifts to serve in your church or community this year. [51:10]

Bible Passage: 1 Peter 4:10 - "Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms."

Reflection: How can you use your unique gifts and talents to serve others in your church or community?

Day 4: Don't Wait Too Late to Pray

Prayer is a powerful tool that connects us with God and allows us to involve Him in our situations. While prayer may not always change our circumstances, it changes us by aligning our hearts with God's will. This year, consider making prayer a priority in your daily routine. [49:08]

Bible Passage: Psalm 18:6 - "In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears."

Reflection: How can you make prayer a more integral part of your daily routine?

Day 5: Don't Wait Too Late to Love Your Church

The church is not just a building or a place to attend services; it's a family that we belong to and a community where lives are transformed. Loving our church means actively participating in its mission and contributing to its growth. This year, consider how you can show love to your church through your time, talents, and resources. [54:39]

Bible Passage: Ephesians 5:25 - "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her."

Reflection: In what ways can you show love to your church this year?

Good morning to our online church.

For those of you that don't know me, I'm Pastor Tim, and I'm the Freedom and Care Pastor here. I'm honored to stand in this platform today. Pastor Terry and Pastor Anita are away, and I'm just very honored to stand in Pastor Terry's platform today.

I just have a few updates to give you before we get started.

Saturday, the 7th at 10 a.m. here in the sanctuary, we're going to do the home-going service for Gary Haines's wife, Miss Penny. Some of you may not know Miss Penny well, but you know Gary, so let's open the church to come out and show your love and support.

And then, kind of a church-wide prayer request. Members of our... Okay, let's do this again. Oh Jesus, thank you, Lord. Kevin and Darletta Reuben are covenant partners here, and they serve on our medical team and next door in our youth ministry. Their son passed away yesterday. So if you would keep them in your prayers, it's all we know at this point in time. Just great people here at the Father's House, so please keep them in prayer today. Appreciate that very, very much.

Did you enjoy the Christmas series that we've been in? Did you guys like that? Did you get something out of it? Did you get a next step that you could put into process? I really found some great truths. I mean, I thought Pastor Terry just did an excellent job in pulling spiritual truths out of movies that we're all very, very familiar with.

And because I had such a good time listening to it, I figured I'd give you a bonus movie today, and we'd keep this going one more week. You with me? Keep this going one more week? Awesome, awesome.

So our movie today is Jack Frost. Has anybody ever seen the movie Jack Frost? It's a great movie. It's one of my favorites. Jack Frost stars Michael Keaton as Jack Frost, the lead singer in a rock band based in the fictional town of Medford, Colorado. His focus is on his music and his hopes that his band will sign a record deal so he can financially give his family the life that he thinks they want to have.

Unfortunately, this leads him to neglect his wife Gabby and to constantly make and break promises to his 11-year-old son Charlie. Jack doesn't realize that all they really want is more of him in their life. So to make up for missing Charlie's hockey game, Jack promises to take the whole family and spend Christmas at their cabin in the mountains.

Let's check this clip out.

Open our hearts and open our ears to hear the truths that You would have us to hear. Father, guard my mind, guard my mouth to say only the words that you, Spirit, would have me to say, in Jesus' name, amen and amen.

So Jack waited too late to engage with his family and fulfill the promises that he made to them. Jack died in that car crash. But a year later, Charlie finds the harmonica that he gave back to his dad. He plays a few bars on it, and magically, his dad comes back as the family snowman. Nobody believes Charlie that he's real. Charlie spends the whole rest of the movie trying to convince everyone that this is truly his dad.

This is a great story because it's a story of second chances, of love, of forgiveness, and of redemption. Colossians 4:5 tells us this: "Walk in wisdom towards outsiders, making the best use of time."

It's really what we want to talk about today: making the best use of our time as Christians and how we walk out our Christian life. See, Jack didn't make the best use of his time. He had all the chances to do it, but he never made the best use of his time.

I have one point today. Start out the new year teaching, one point, and it is this: Don't wait too late to fulfill the TFH mission. See, this is something we're all in together. You and I, we are here to fulfill this mission. We said it earlier, but I'd love for us just to say it again. It's getting ready to be up there on the screen. Let's say this together: We are bringing hope and impacting our community by leading people into a growing relationship with Jesus.

Today, we're going to talk about a series of next steps that will all start with this: Don't wait too late to... and then we'll fill in the blank. These next steps will be followed by some specific tools that we have here at the Father's House to help keep you on track all year long.

Now, it's going to be a lot of information in a short period of time. So, I encourage you to take notes. Online church, grab some paper, grab a pencil. We also know that our notes are online. If you're a digital person, you can go and get the notes online also.

This is a sermon today that we encourage you to get your phone out. We want you to get on our website. You can actually scan the QR code that's on your note sheet. It will take you directly to the homepage of our website. Everything that we discuss and talk about today is on the website for us to refer to all year long.

My prayer is that you will pick one next step, either one that we talk about today or one that God lays on your heart to concentrate on this year.

So, our first next step to fulfill the mission is this: Don't wait too late to belong. See, Jack waited too late to really belong to his family. He attended, but he was not an integral part of his family.

I want to give you a quote here from Pastor Terry and Pastor Anita. Check this quote out: "We believe the church is not a building you walk into. It's a family that you belong to."

Now, belonging to a family, there are certain responsibilities in that family. If I want to increase the amount of time that I spend with my family, I have to be engaged in that. If I want my marriage to grow—and believe me, even after 31 years of a fantastic marriage, I want it to continue to grow. I want to continue to have a great relationship with my daughter, with my son, with my grandchildren, with Jodie. I want to continue to do this. But to do that, I have to be engaged, right?

I can't just say, "Okay, I'm a part of the family," and go do my own thing. It's the same with our relationship with Jesus Christ. We have to engage in that. And here at TFH, we have some great tools to help you belong.

The first one is this: It's our website. We've already mentioned it, but I want you to go and check out the website weekly. Can you do that? We all go to a bunch of different sites, right? We're on our phones, we're on our computers. Make sure that you bookmark the Father's House website so that you continue to go there weekly so you don't miss anything that's going on at the Father's House this year.

One of the great things that we have here at the Father's House is Growth Track. Growth Track is where you connect with the Father's House and discover how to make a difference with your life. It's four steps every Sunday at 10:30 in our Growth Track room, which is out in our hallway, down the hallway. And we want you to take them in order. So you would begin, if you haven't taken Growth Track yet, you would begin on the first Sunday in February.

How many people here have completed Growth Track? Awesome. So for those of you that haven't, we would encourage you to please, maybe that could be your next step this year.

One of my favorite things that we do here at the Father's House is Life Groups. Everybody say, "Life Groups." We believe that true connection happens in circles, not rows. And in 2023, can I ask you to please find your circle to be involved with? Life Groups begin on January 29th, and signups begin on January 15th.

This year, find your circle. Men, we can't do this alone. We cannot walk this Christian path and be successful at it being an island by ourselves. So to assist us along our journey, we have the Brotherhood here at the Father's House. It is a place where men come together to encourage one another and to find accountability. We do quarterly events. We do quarterly prayer walks. I want you to keep in touch with us through the website for the next events that are coming up.

Our ladies are the same, you know, and really, to be honest, our ladies have led the way in this arena here. Our Sisterhood believes in building a community of women empowered to recognize their beautiful uniqueness in Jesus. They do quarterly connect events and an annual conference.

How many women have ever been to the annual conference? Is it great or what? All right. Yeah. The guys will, a lot of times, we get to serve, and we're out there in the forest, and we get to hear what's going on. It is fantastic.

January 13th is their first girls' night in, and scan the connection or scan the QR code to register because the deadline to register for this great event is January 4th.

So our next step to fulfill the mission is don't wait too late to grow. That might be counterproductive to what some of you were thinking because it's the new year. Some of you might be saying, "I need to shrink just a little bit in 2023," but we're talking about growing in your relationship with Jesus.

See, in 2022, we were all about rediscovering who Jesus was, but in 2023, we want to help you grow in your relationship with Jesus. And here are some tools that we offer here at the Father's House to help us all grow in our relationship with Jesus.

The first is Sunday service. You are here. You've already taken a next step. Give yourself a hand. You've already taken a great next step. I encourage you all this year to be a regular attender. Online church, we love you. We are so glad you join us, but we would love for you to come out and corporately be a part of us.

The energy that is here from the power of the Holy Spirit when God's people get together to worship, get together to pray for one another, and get together just to encourage one another, it's just something that can't be duplicated online.

The next is our YouVersion Bible app. This year, we are going to read the whole Bible through in one year, and that's actually the name of our study that started today. So I want you to go to the Father's House website, get out your phones, go to the Father's House website, scroll down until you see our new Bible reading plan, and it's the Bible Project reading the whole Bible. It's one story that leads to Jesus. We would love for you to be a part of this.

You could say this may be your first time that you've ever read the Bible through in a year. It's a great accomplishment to shoot for, so maybe that could be your next step.

We also offer here at the Father's House, we have Right Now Media, all the information for Right Now Media, which is like the Netflix of Christian Bible study. There are just hundreds and thousands of different studies on there. There are live conferences that have been recorded, not live, that have been recorded. There are studies that you can do. You can just type in anything in there. You can type in a study on money, marriage, anger, sports—anything that you put in there, you're going to find some great studies that come up.

We give that to you free, no subscription costs to you. Here at the Father's House, we also encourage you to fast, pray, and then obviously worship God through that.

See, the Bible says, Jesus said, "When you fast," so that kind of tells me that that's not an option. He didn't say, "Tim, if you feel like fasting." He said, "Tim, when you fast." And we do corporate fasts together here on a quarterly basis. Our first corporate fast will be January 2nd through January 4th.

Okay? And as you're fasting, I would love for you to remember this verse from Lamentations 3:22-23: "Because of the Lord's great love, we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness."

Now, whatever your 2022 was, Pastor Andrew already told us that we are going to overcome in 2023 no matter what we brought in from 2022. I can guarantee you this: you will not be consumed in 2023 because great is His faithfulness. His mercies are new and everlasting every morning. You will not be consumed by whatever you carried in.

Lord, 2023 is not going to consume you because God is standing by your side. Great is His faithfulness. His mercies are renewed to you every single day.

Our pastor at 6 a.m. in the morning is going to encourage us in our fast. Now, the different types of fasts that you may want to look into are all on our website. But every morning at 6 a.m., Pastor Terry is going to be on Facebook Live to encourage us in the fast.

So, hey, just set your clocks a little bit early, or for some of us who are already up, just set a reminder on there to get on Facebook and hear the great encouraging words from Pastor Terry.

As we talk about not being consumed, I want to go into this just a little bit deeper as we break our fast on our Night of Worship, which is this coming Wednesday at 7 p.m., January 4th. Please come out and gather with us. We're family.

So, as we fast together, we're going to come out. As Pastor Simone already talked about the family gathering at the table, we're going to come out and we are going to break our fast together. So, please come out as we celebrate and worship together.

Prayer. You may say, "Tim, well, of course I pray." Prayer, it's something—why would that be a next step? Because for some of you, maybe really beginning a lifestyle of prayer is a good next step for you.

See, God hears you. Your prayers are not falling deaf on His ears. Your prayers are not bouncing off the ceiling. You don't need a magical harmonica for God to engage in your life. David wrote in Psalm 18:6, "But in my distress, I cried out to the Lord. Yes, I prayed to my God for help. He heard me from His sanctuary. My cry reached His ears."

I know sometimes when we're praying, it just seems like our prayers just bounce off the ceiling. But I want you to know that God hears your prayers. He does not turn a deaf ear to you.

Here's a little principle of prayer that maybe you can hang on to today: Prayer doesn't always change your situation, but you will always be changed by involving God in your situation.

Does it make sense? Does that sound like it makes sense? Let me say that again: Prayer doesn't always change your situation, but you will be changed by involving God in your situation.

A good next step here at the Father's House to help fulfill the mission is this: Don't wait too late to serve. See, God has given each of you a gift from His great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. That's 1 Peter 4:10.

So as we all think about this, inside of us, God is depositing different gifts, different talents—not to hold onto, but to serve one another, to create an environment where people can come to know God.

If you play an instrument, man, don't we have the greatest band? Don't we? I mean, come on. I mean, they just rock. You know what? And if you serve on a Sunday, let me let you in on just something really, really cool that you would get to do. If you serve on a Sunday, you might come early, especially if you serve first service, and you get to hear these guys warming up. I'm telling you, it is actually one of my highlights every Sunday morning.

All right, our guitar players. I have never walked in here and asked them for a riff of any song that they don't know, and they just cut it up in the morning. I'm telling you. And then they just usher us to the very throne of Christ.

How about our greeters? When you come in, the smiles on their faces are ushers. They're always so kind and friendly, and they open us fine seats as we need. Your children are so well taken care of over there. They're not just babysitters over there. They're speaking life into your children. Even the little babies, as they're being rocked, spiritual principles are being taught to them.

This is something that everyone can get involved with. There's a place to serve somewhere here.

I want to give you a great opportunity, though, specifically in one area. And that is how about in 2023, you lead a Life Group? Now, when I said lead a Life Group, some of your stomachs just knotted up, and you're like, "Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. I made a 10-1, but I know, no, I can't lead a Life Group."

Let me help you out on this. Have you ever had dinner with a friend or a family member? Have you ever had a one-on-one conversation or one-on-two conversation with some friends? Have you ever discussed something that you're passionate about? Guys, have you ever talked with some of your buddies the next day at work about the game last night? Ladies, have you ever gotten together in your low-lady circles and talked about the shoes that you bought?

Sorry. The point is this: If you've ever done any of those, you can lead a Life Group because that's all it is. It is gathering together with people and talking about something that we're passionate about, which is our relationship with Jesus Christ.

And you know what? We have great opportunities. We will help train you. If you go to the website, you can pick a training date to lead a Life Group. Our next training is actually next Sunday directly after second service.

And if you'd like to, if you're even interested, if you even think, "Okay, I think I could do that," pull out your connection card right now and just write on there, "Lead a Life Group." Our fantastic next step director, Tanya, will get a hold of you and give you all the information that you need for training.

How many of you have children that are middle school to high school, or you work with children that are middle school to high school? Would you like to understand their brain a little bit better?

No, no, no, no, I got enough of that now. No, I'll tell you what, though. That's information I probably could have used a long time ago. Tanya, would it have helped if I understood your brain a little bit better?

Yes, she said yes. She's being sweet, right? So here at the Father's House, we have a great opportunity for you. On January 18th at 6:30 p.m., E3 Family Solutions is going to present their curriculum regarding good life choices and human trafficking warning signs. It will provide invaluable tools to parents and those who work with teens and tweens.

So there's no registration; we want you just to come out. Again, January 18th, 6:30 p.m. right here. Just information that is going to be invaluable to you to help with raising your children or raising your grandchildren. Maybe you're a grandparent that would say, "Hey, that's something that I would come out to because I would really like to understand them and learn better how to help them out."

We've already talked about kind of our student ministries from our kids. Again, Sundays we have from infants to fifth grade over there, great serving opportunities. TFH Youth meet every Wednesday night at 6 p.m. in the Impact Center. If you have a young person, a teenager, sixth grade to 12th grade, they need to be in youth group.

I'm just going to say it straight up: They need to be in youth group, okay? There is no reason why your child should not be in youth group. Number one, you're going to put them into an environment where they are able to discuss issues and spiritual truths that are relevant to them on what's going on, and they are surrounded by leaders that, number one, have Jesus in their heart, and number two, are speaking truth into them every single week, okay?

If you come to me around March or April and say, "Tim, man, my teenager, my ninth grader is driving me insane. I need some help." My first question to you is going to be, "Are they in youth group?" They need to be in youth group.

They hang out in school with their friends. They hang out maybe in the neighborhood with their friends on a sports team and a club. How about putting them in an environment with other youths that are loving Jesus, that are caring about their future in Jesus Christ, and not just trying to figure out all the things that the world has for them, but trying to figure out all the things and all the plans that Jesus Christ has for them?

Maybe that's where we need to have our kids at. Youth camp and kids camp registration is open right now on the website, okay? It used to be we would set tables up here. Pastor Andrew will be up here, and for like three and a half hours, she'd be notarizing papers, and parents would have to fill out like 42 different pieces of paper, and you'd have to bring your insurance card, and you'd only bring the front half, but they also needed the back half of the little card.

They have it so easy now, Pastor Andrew, youth leaders. They have it so easy now. But anyway, that's on the side, but youth camp and kids camp registration is open. Parents, youth camp can change your child's life. You send them to a sports camp, you send them to an outdoor camp, you send them to this camp in the summer. How about sending them to youth camp?

Again, we're there going to get so much of the word of God in them. Pastor Tory and myself, we were both called into the ministry at youth camp—different youth camps, okay? Not the same one. I would have liked to see Pastor Tory at youth camp; that would have been kind of cool, I think.

Youth camp and kids camp can change your child's eternity, so let's not miss out on that opportunity.

Another next step here at the Father's House is this: Don't wait too late to give. And I want to read you this verse before that sets negatively in your head. I want to read you this verse from 2 Corinthians 8:6-7: "So we have urged Titus, who encouraged you in giving in the first place, to return to you and encourage you to finish this ministry of giving. Since you excel in so many ways—in your faith, your gifted speakers, your knowledge, your enthusiasm, and your love for us—I want you, this is Apostle Paul writing through the power of the Holy Spirit, I want you to excel also in your gracious act of giving."

So we could even say it like this: So Father's House, since you excel in so many ways in serving in church, in a regular attender, in leading Life Groups, in loving your neighbor, but God says, "I want you to excel also in this gracious act of giving."

I want to honor you right now. In 2022, you used so many different giving tools. We're going to go over in a second to help us fulfill the mission here at the Father's House. But the first one that I want to talk to you about is tithing. Be a regular giver.

You might say to me, "Tim, look, if you've ever sat down with me and you looked at my bills, there's no way that there's 10 percent of disposable income that I could be a tither." And I might look at you with your bills and say, "You're absolutely right. I agree with you."

You say, "Well, okay, Pastor Tim, how am I going to become a tither?" I'm glad you asked me that question today because if that is you, if that's rolling around in your mind at all, I would love for you to call here at the church and set up an appointment with me. I have a tried and true plan—one that I worked myself, Brendan and I worked this ourselves—to start out with being a regular giver and bringing you along the path to becoming a tither and then an extravagant giver after that.

This plan works. This plan is real. It's scriptural, it's biblical, and it will bring you along this path. Give me a call this week. I'd love to sit down and talk with you about that.

Let me just list real quick the great things that the Father's House you gave to this year. We gave to missions locally, nationally, internationally, multiple crisis relief efforts. Local community needs such as our pregnancy care center and the homeless ministry. A-21 fight against human trafficking. We gave to military Bible sticks, the canned food drive, Thanksgiving meals, and Project Christmas because of your generosity.

All these projects this year were a great success. And in 2023, we'll have these opportunities along with some more to help fulfill our mission locally, nationally, and internationally.

Here at the Father's House, every year we do a legacy offering. The legacy offering this year, though, is going to be in 2023. We'll be February 5th through March 26th. Normally, we do it at the end of the year. Some of you may have been thinking, "Hey, we didn't talk about legacy." We decided to change it to the beginning of the year.

Our legacy offering is a once-a-year opportunity that supports our vision to be a life-giving presence in our community and carry out the ministry of the gospel at home and around the world. Previously, we brought our legacy offering at year's end, but this year, we will bring it on TFH anniversary Sunday, March 26th.

See, this offering goes well beyond our ties and giving. It requires sacrifice, but the impact is enormous. The legacy at least will extend to future generations.

Your next step to fulfill the mission is this: Don't wait too late to find hope and freedom. Jeremiah 29:11 says this: "For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord, "there are plans for disaster for 2023 to be the worst year of your life for you."

That's not what it says. No, that's not what it says. It says this: "There are plans for good and not for disaster to give you a future and a hope."

And as you guessed it, yes, TFH has hope and freedom tools. We start out this year with our Freedom Conference and Freedom Life Groups in our first semester of Life Groups. The Freedom Conference is a one-day experience followed by an eight-week study that is designed to help you learn about God's love, His grace, His forgiveness, and how this will enable you to overcome guilt, shame, worry, fear, anxiety, and anger.

Our Freedom Conference is Saturday, January 28th at 9 a.m. Please, this is open to the entire church. Please come out to this great Freedom Conference. Even if you say, "Well, Tim, I'm not struggling from any of that." Great, come on out and be a support and worship with someone else who is. Can we do that as a church? Can we do that as a church family?

Freedom Life Groups. We're going to offer Freedom Life Groups again this semester. We're going to have at least one on campus here through the week during the day, maybe another one in the evening. It depends. Maybe some of you would like to lead a Freedom Life Group. Write that on your connection card.

Celebrate Recovery is one of the greatest opportunities we have here at the Father's House to help you find hope and freedom. It meets at 6:15 every Monday, and I want to read you right now a testimony.

"My parents were only together a short time, and my mother left when I was four months old. My father was a college student and working, so he needed help raising me and moved back into his parents' home. I was fortunate and had grandparents who loved me and took me in, and aunts and uncles who participated in my life. The most fortunate thing was they were all followers of Jesus.

My perception of Christ, however, was riddled with self-pity, abandonment, and rejection. I chose to observe any occasion someone appeared unloving and see that as hypocrisy. I buried myself in resentment and began to seek escape at an early age. They began showing anti-drug films in school, which educated me on a method of escape that looked appealing, and I was ready to try it when it became available to me.

I was about 11 when I began looking in medicine cabinets and trying alcohol. By the time I was 14, being high was what I looked for. In part, it was an escape, but in part, it was a twisted revenge on those who didn't want me. By the age of 16, I was a runaway. I spent 10 years without an address, living to use and using to live.

Even while I ran the streets, I could not completely drown out the messages of Christ my grandparents had poured into me the first 10 years of life. Finally, at age 24, I was sent to Hawaii to live on a ranch and hopefully find recovery. I found my chair in Narcotics Anonymous, and for me, it began a slow walk back towards the church and Jesus Christ.

On December 8th of 2013, I walked from the deathbed of my stepmother into the garden of the Cornerstone Hospice in Leesburg and asked Jesus to help me follow Him. I had prayed the prayer for salvation many times in my life, but because I didn't feel anything, I quickly drifted back into escaping.

I had learned in my years in recovery that recovery cannot hinge on feelings but must be followed with intentional actions, and I was finally able to apply that lesson to salvation. From that day, I became active in church and Life Groups and have discovered the deeper healing that Christ intended for all of us.

I joined Celebrate Recovery when we started it at TFH and began working steps with a biblical focus. Celebrate Recovery has been a wonderful journey that is open to all people who have anything they need to recover from, whether it is an addiction or hurts and trauma or hang-ups. It continues to reveal and heal and brighten my life as a Christian.

Today I can say my name is Diane Kutcher Eastling, and I am no longer a regular visitor to jails and institutions such as hospitals and treatment centers. Yes, I am no longer homeless. I no longer ricochet through people's lives, leaving scars and skid marks, devouring their right to happiness. I have become a loving wife to my husband, a loving mother to our children, a daughter who honors her parents.

I have been given the immeasurable joy of being a grandparent that can be positive and loving and speak life into my grandchildren. I am a follower of my Lord Jesus Christ. I have a story to tell about being an addict of the hopeless variety to living a vibrant life of love, gratitude, praise, and worship.

The struggle to recover continuously unveils new challenges, but one day at a time, as long as I utilize the tools of the program, surrender to the steps and the principles, I will continue to recover. Aloha, Diana. Remember, the miracles of God are in every sunrise."

Diana and her husband Charles, along with many others, serve faithfully every Monday night in Celebrate Recovery. If you have anything you're struggling with, whether it be an addiction, whether it's a hurt, a habit, a hang-up, come out at 6:15 on Monday nights.

Speaking of CR, being welcoming to everyone, they are welcoming the entire church to see the movie No Vacancy, the true story of finding hope and freedom as a church struggles to purchase a motel to help a homeless family. Sound familiar? It might to some of you because that's the story of First Baptist, and that movie was filmed right here in Leesburg.

Celebrate Recovery is going to screen this film for us on January 30th, Monday, the last Monday of the month, at 6:30 p.m. It is a free event. So come out, popcorn, snacks, a great movie. Let's support Celebrate Recovery in their 2023 kickoff for the year.

All right, plus it's a great movie. I am really super excited to see this movie.

A new opportunity that we are offering here at the Father's House is Freedom Coaches. Your pastoral care pastor, if you ever need a pastoral care appointment, please go to the website, click on pastoral care appointment, or call me on the phone.

All right, I don't have all the answers, but as we together hear from God, we will determine some next steps to help you find hope and freedom. So in keeping on that same vein, in 2022, we trained eight Freedom Coaches that will listen to you, hear from God, and guide you in your next steps to finding healing and freedom.

And in 2023, I would love to take another class through this Freedom Coaching for you to use the skills. So if you have ever talked to somebody late at night on the phone, shared a scripture with them, prayed with them, said, "Hey, I think God might be saying this to help you out in your situation," you could be a Freedom Coach.

Just take your connection card and write on the back, "Tim, information on Freedom Coaches," and I will get with you. We'll sit down and we'll explore that a little bit more.

Your next fill-in today is: Don't wait too late to love my church. See, Jesus loves the church, and so should we. TFH just isn't a building. It's a place where Jesus changes lives and people take next steps.

So don't miss this great series. Pastories have been working on this series. He is so excited. It begins next week. Hey, bring somebody with you next week to the start of this great new series.

Excuse me, don't wait too late to love your church.

On your connection card or on your notes, rather, excuse me, there's a place for you to fill this in. Today, my next step is... What's your next step today? I want you to fill that in.

As you fill that in, can you bow your heads and close your eyes with me? What's God been saying to you today? What's one next step that you'll commit to? Make it easy. Make it obvious for yourself. Do it for the glory of God. Don't try to do 20. Do one.

And for those of you that say, "Pastor Tim, I'm with you. I want to partner with you this year. I'm going to do one. I'm going to be faithful to what God is telling me to do." Would you lift your hands right now? If you'll join me in saying, "I'll do one next step. Just one." I'm not asking you to do 20. I'm asking you to do one.

Keep your hands up because I want to pray for you.

Thank you, God, that you've spoken to us. May we hear from you even more this year. Help us to be faithful in taking and directing that next step so that we can become more like your son Jesus. Help us to be obedient today. Successful today in doing what you called us to do.

Thank you. Online church, if you just write in the chat right there what it is that you have selected as your next step.

So to wrap up today, in the end, our family in the movie almost waited too late to believe in each other. See, Jack connects with his son, Charlie gains confidence in himself. Gabby finally believes her son is telling the truth that the snowman is Jack, and she's allowed a brief moment to see her husband again with a great ending to a Hollywood movie, right?

I love happily ever after. But unfortunately, our lives aren't Hollywood movies. We're not always guaranteed that happily ever after every day. But even though our lives are not a Hollywood movie, today you can take a next step to make 2023 the best year of your life.

The last fill-in for us today is this: Don't wait too late to believe and be baptized. See, today we've talked about starting in next step. What about the word start that some of you need to start a relationship with Jesus or restart that relationship?

God wants to have a relationship with you. So you say, "All right, Tim, what's the problem?" The problem is that we're all sinners, and our sins separate us from God. That's why Jesus was born. He's the only person that ever walked the earth that did not sin. He was the innocent sacrifice who became sin for us on the cross. He's innocent. He died for us, the guilty.

And by the grace and goodness of God, God raised Him from the dead. He defeated death. He defeated hell, victory over the grave so that anyone that calls on His name could be saved.

If you bow your heads with me one more time, please. See, there are those of you here today that if you're honest, you're not following Jesus. You recognize you're doing life without Him. He's not the dominant source of truth in your life. He's not your savior. He's not the Lord of your life.

And you realize you need to start something. You're not here by accident. You're not watching by accident. God brought you here for this moment. You know it in your heart. You can sense it. You want to start a relationship with Him. You want to say today, "I give my life to Him," as the first time or as a recommitment.

And if that's you today, lift your hand. I'm just going to make quick eye contact with me. You feel it right now. Thank you. Thank you. Hands going up here. Thank you. You know hands back here. Thank you.

Church, we have people that we are going to welcome into the family right now, and because no one should ever say this prayer alone, we're all going to say this prayer together.

So let's pray this: Heavenly Father, forgive all my sins. Make me brand new. Jesus, be my savior. As best as I can, I want to serve you. Fill me with your spirit. Direct me in my next step. In Jesus' name, amen.

Church, celebrate today. That's what it's all about.

So we had some new family members that took a next step already today. And if that's you and you raised your hand and you prayed over here and back here, as our band cranks up and leads us out with one more song, I'm going to come down off this stage. I want you to meet myself and Tanya in the back. We have some material we want to give you.

I don't want you to walk this journey out yourself. I want to help you, and we have some material to put in your hands so that you can take a next step.

So church, let's stand. Over here and back here, if you raised your hands, come on. Meet me in the back right now.

1. "Don't wait too late to belong. See, Jack waited too late to really belong to his family. He attended, but he was not an integral part of his family. We believe the church is not a building you walk into. It's a family that you belong to." - 40:18

2. "Don't wait too late to grow. That might be counterproductive to what some of you were thinking because it's the new year. Some of you might be saying, I need to shrink just a little bit in 2023, but we're talking about growing in your relationship with Jesus." - 44:15

3. "Because of the Lord's great love, we are not consumed for His compassion's never fail. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. Now, whatever your 2022 was, Pastor Andrew already told us that we are going to overcome in 2023 no matter what we brought in from 2022." - 47:14

4. "Don't wait too late to fulfill the TFH mission. See, this is something we're all in this together. You and I, we are here to fulfill this mission. We said it earlier, but I'd love for it just to say it again. It's getting ready to be up there on the screen. Let's say this together. We are bringing hope and impacting our community by leading people into a growing relationship with Jesus." - 38:39

5. "The last fill in for us today is this don't wait too late to believe and be baptized. See, today we've talked about starting in next step. What about the word start that some of you need to start a relationship with Jesus or restart that relationship? God wants to have a relationship with you." - 01:11:06