What an incredible day this is to celebrate so much! Freedom is four years old today! Four years of seeing God do the most amazing things.

God moved on my heart to place 12 stones of remembrance.
- God speaking at the beginning of 2019 along with the prophetic words. Calling.
- God confirms this is the place in April 2019. Direction.
- First provision comes. Provision.
- Miracle surrounding the purchase of our home. Favor.
- God made a way by launching in a house. Guidance. (Just go across the river)
- The miracle of our first location. Establishing us.
- February 2022’s financial struggles and the $50,000 miracle. Faithfulness.
- 325% exponential growth in 2022. Blessing.
- $100,000 initial gift towards future facility. Preparation. Even God plants seeds.
- God’s constant guidance pertaining to land on the bypass. Correction.
- Prophetic words about the river property. Vision.
- Closing on our forever home. Commitment and Mission.

Not only are we four years old today, but we are also celebrating the grand opening of a literal miracle. These 12 stones have been constant reminders of God’s faithfulness, provision, and leadership. And each day as we’ve arrived at this campus, we’ve seen them and were reminded that he who began a good work in us would see it through to completion.

The large photographs hanging on the wall in the foyer are snapshots of the process of building this facility.

I want to be super encouraging to you today and tell you that this process has been a breeze! I want to say that there were no troubles, no issues,
that everything was right on time and worked exactly according to plan. I'd love to tell you that we didn't have a single issue along the way. Those of you who are close to this process are laughing right now, and those of you who’ve built anything know that's just not the case.

Let me let you in on a little life secret here:
Rarely do things ever go exactly like you expect them to. I remember a contractor from Galveston stopped by one day to pick up a desk we were giving away. He said, let me help you here: “Every single day, there is going to be something that does not go like you expect it to. So expect it. It will really help you.” Best advice ever.

If you are going to build something great, it isn't going to be easy. And I realize that you may never build a church building, but don't make the mistake of believing that you aren't building anything.

Some of you are building businesses, you’re building families, some of you are rebuilding your lives after traumatic events or issues from the past.

You ARE building something.

And on top of that, God has called all of us to help build his Kingdom.
You don't have to have pastor in front of your name to make an impact on peoples' lives in your sphere of influence.

Matthew 28:18-19
19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

And even when you feel inadequate in this process, God gives us his Holy Spirit who empowers us to do what he's called us to do.

2 Peter 1:3
By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life

Let me say it like this: Everything you need to do what God put you on this earth to do, you will find through his divine power, the Holy Spirit.

Just like I said last week, there are gaps in your ability due to lack of knowledge or understanding, due to your past or family of origin, even when you are having to dig out of the repercussions of your sin, God, pours out his grace and he empowers us to do everything he's called us to do.

Remember, the only way we can't do something is when we're doing it in our flesh. But remember, we can do all things through him who gives us strength.

Anything you build is going to take effort, and satan is going to fight you on it! Do you think he wants you to have a godly family who lives to honor the Lord? Do you think he wants you walking in the blessing that comes from being faithful? Do you think he wants God to use tests and trials in our lives to prove God’s faithfulness and miraculous power?

I am sure that all of us have had a moment in our lives where we decided to go all in with something Jesus told us to do, and the very next day it's like all hell was leashed upon us!

1 Peter 5:8-9
Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith.

In this building, we've already seen: tons of baptisms, people taking next steps to lead groups, join the church, make decisions for Jesus, get freedom from their past, forgive, be forgiven, join groups, and we’ve been averaging around 300 people every week.

Building something is hard, but friends, it is worth it.

While I want to spend the time today to celebrate God and what he has done here at Freedom church, I also want to encourage you as you build what God put before you.

For some that is your family, deepening your relationship with your spouse,
training up your kids in the way they should go, (even if you’ve messed that up, it isn’t too late to get back on track).

Some of you have businesses that God’s called you to start, some are in the depths of those businesses now, some of you are shackled by fear to even start that process, (if God started it, he’ll finish it!).

Some of you need to work on the building that is you. This is where I’d like to focus the rest of our time today.

God has a plan and calling on your life, and whether you think you are or not, you are building something. If you want to see God’s best as you build, there are some things you need to know.

If you are going to build something great,

1. Some things are going to be worked out of you.
What does God need to take out of your life so that you can build what he's called you to?

Many of us don't like thoughts like this. It's not that we think we are all that and a bag of chips and a pickle, (most of us), but it is very uncomfortable to evaluate ourselves to determine our limitations and liabilities.

If your spouse is sitting next to you, turn to them right now and ask, "What do you think my biggest problem is?”

Limitations and liabilities.
There are some things in your life right now that are going to inhibit your ability to build what God called you to build. As a parent, we know this all too well. Have you ever seen your kid do something wrong only to realize that you do the very same thing? We tell our men all the time: “Don't be the thermometer. Be the thermostat. If there's something in your family that needs to change, you are the catalyst.”

And I know we often want to jump straight to sin as that limitation or liability, but this isn't always the case. For me in this buildout process, it was my expectations. I expected things to go differently than they did. I expected contractors to do their job and do it efficiently. I expected them to care about the facility as much as we did. I expected every time we submitted something to the city we would get instant approvals. I expected that every time we needed to purchase something, we had all the money in the world! Confession: it rarely went like we expected.

But here's what I learned about expectations:
You have to be careful because when you expect something to happen, it is very easy to put all of your faith and hope on that expectation, but then you don't put it on the Lord and his faithfulness. As a result, because we are not trusting him but are trusting ourselves or other people or some other process, it robs God of the ability to do the miraculous.

Is there something that God needs to work out of you so you can build something great? Like an expectation? Or maybe something spoken over you from your past that you've believed?

John 1:45-49
45 Philip went to look for Nathanael and told him, “We have found the very person Moses and the prophets wrote about! His name is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.” 46 “Nazareth!” exclaimed Nathanael. “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”

Maybe that’s you. Maybe that’s what kept you from stepping out into God’s plan. Always discounted, discredited, overlooked. Never going to amount to anything, always broke, no good ideas. Always having to prove yourself, striving to overcome others’ low expectations

“Can anything good come from Nazareth?” “Come and see for yourself,” Philip replied. 47 As they approached, Jesus said, “Now here is a genuine son of Israel—a man of complete integrity.” 48 “How do you know about me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus replied, “I could see you under the fig tree before Philip found you.” 49 Then Nathanael exclaimed, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God—the King of Israel!”

Maybe what the Holy Spirit wants to work out of you right now is this notion that nothing good could come from you, but you need to know that God sees beyond what you believe about yourself right now. He sees who he made you to be, and while he interacts with us as if we're the finished product, he's currently speaking right now through me to the potential that's inside of you to go build something great.

I remember in 2019 before we left to come plant Freedom, I was at a service at New Covenant and Pastor Chuck and Diana had gone on a vacation to Italy to celebrate their 40th anniversary. Pastor Chuck mentioned it while he was preaching that day and at that moment, I realized that I would be 40 years old when we moved to plant the church.

When God called me to ministry when I was 19 years old, I remember telling him that I didn't want to wait till I was 40 to do what he called me to do. I said, “Why’d you make me wait?” He said, “Jason, I had to work some things out of you. You would have destroyed what I wanted you to build otherwise.”

So how does that happen? How are things worked out? Three main ways:

- Your daily relationship with God.
John 16:33
I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

Romans 5:3-5
…we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Because we are daily engaging with God, experiencing his love, we don’t lose hope even in the trials and suffering, allowing the process to develop us. Grow your relationship with Jesus and he will take you on a journey to eliminate that which will keep you from what he has for you.

- Daily consuming the Word.
Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Why this? Why the word? Because the word will cut through the lies that we even believe ourselves and calls us to deal with the sin and dysfunction in our lives. Where there might be some ambiguity in your relationship with God and what you believe he's saying to you in your prayer times, there is no ambiguity in what the Word says. It's the truth, whether you like that truth or not

- Daily engaging with his body, God’s people.
Proverbs 27:17
As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.

Godly friendships challenge you, grow you, and help keep you accountable.

One more: Hebrews 10:24–25
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together... but encouraging one another..."

Community in Christ isn't optional—it's essential for encouragement and growth.

Some things have to be worked out of you, and with a relationship with God, his word, and his people, you can let go of what needs to be gone.

2. Some things are going to be worked into you.
Not only did God tell me that some things had to be worked out of me, he said some things had to be worked into me as well.

Probably every single person in this room has had somebody denigrate them, push them down, speak death over them. But how many of you had somebody to speak life over you? Call out the greatness in you? See past who you were in that moment to call out the potential of who you could be?

I'm not trying to draw attention to a specific person, but Pastor Chuck was that person for me during my 7 years at New Covenant Church. I’ve never loved and hated something as much as I loved and hated oversight meetings. Every week I was being challenged, things were being pulled out of me. I didn’t like the process but I loved that God was working in me.

But while things were getting worked out of me, it was creating space for God to work some things into me.

1 Peter 2:4-5, 9-10
4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Look at the language here:
stone rejected vs chosen and precious, once not a people vs now God’s people, once no mercy vs now received mercy. One is what needs to be worked out of you. The other is what needs to be worked into you.

You can’t receive what God is trying to work into you if your hands are clamped onto what God is trying to work out of you. That orphan spirit, that hurtful word, that traumatic event, that broken family, I am not saying to ignore these and just get over it, but God wants to deal with these things so you can be free to receive what he is trying to work into you.

Yes I am talking about serious spiritual issues that will keep you from doing what God has planned for your life, but there’s so much more than the deep spiritual.

I had no clue how to build a building! Blueprints and contractors and surveys and inspections and permits. Electrical and plumbing and mechanical. OH MY. And then there’s the financial side: fundraising and asset management and budgeting and forecasting. All the while leading a church that is growing every week. We are a far cry from celebrating 100 in service 3 years ago!

I could have either wallowed in self pity believing the lies of the enemy that I wasn’t good enough to do it, OR I could embrace the truth of James 1:2-4 that
2 when troubles (or issues or delays or missed expectations) of any kind come my way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

What I learned more than anything over the course of the last 2 years of finding, negotiation, financing, and building out this property is this:
GOD IS FAITHFUL.

Sometimes the best thing you can learn about building something great is that even when we aren’t, HE IS FAITHFUL! God will see us through. He’ll do what he promised.

But we can’t get bogged down in our own lack of ability or doubt. We can’t get seduced into faithlessness, refusing to believe God. Believe sign photo
We even put a sign up to remind us!

I had people around me constantly building ME up, encouraging me,
speaking life into me, reminding me of God’s promises and faithfulness.
And I had a bunch of stones at the entrance to remind me that God has not failed and he won’t start now!

Don’t worry about what you can’t do. Trust God. Seek him. Believe what he says. Do what he says. Just be obedient to the Lord. Why? Because:

3. It’s all going to be worth it.
You’ll know it was worth it when you see that person changed for eternity,
that next step taken, that confession of Jesus as Lord happen, them start serving, that baptism take place, that person in their past forgiven.

You’ll also know it when God blesses that business as you honor him with it, how favor follows you, how what was meant to just be a dream all of the sudden becomes more of a ministry than business.

You’ll know it when your kids start asking you to pray for them when you tuck them in, when your relationship with your spouse starts to improve,
when that lost family member starts asking about a Jesus.

Last week I talked about young, impetuous, brash Peter who begged Jesus to get away from him when they first met due to his own sin, to a person who looked back and could write in 2 Peter about being chosen and made holy through Jesus. Peter could hardly believe the change in his life.

You often don’t see the value of what you’re doing when you’re in the middle of it, but look around you right now at this facility.

Let this be a tangible reminder that, while it is going to be hard, while things are going to be worked out of you and into you, it is worth it. This place is a miracle.

Sometimes it is hard to build something great, whether it is a building, a business, a family, ourselves, or something else God’s called us to. You’re going to have to let go of some things. You’re going to have to embrace some things. But it’s going to be worth it.

What is God trying to work out of you? Are you letting them go or are you clinging to them? We have classes and meetups and tools and resources to help you, but you are the one who has to be willing to let it go!

What is God trying to work into you? Caveat: God typically doesn’t download the data into you. He typically gives you situations that will develop in you what he is trying to work into you. You cool with that?

What has God called you to build? Remember, he isn’t looking for your perfection, your qualifications, or your preparedness. He’s just looking for your willingness.

How does the Holy Spirit want you to respond today?

Let’s pray.

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you through this message?

How does he want you to respond?